There Is No Possibility of Reading Anything Interesting Here

Why The Hiatus? Recently the frequency of posting to this blog has dropped off markedly. Unfortunately, I suffer from a chronic health condition and over the past few weeks I've experienced a relapse. This has meant that day-to-day living has been difficult and I've not been able to write any posts. I apologise for not keeping up with my usual sparkling repartee, but circumstances currently dictate that I focus my remaining energies elsewhere. I hope to pick up the rate of postings as and when I can recover. The blog hasn't been abandoned. Thanks for reading.

Talking Heads Over the recent months and years we've seen many talking heads from the Web and advertising companies telling us that if we want 'free' services and 'apps' on the Web then we're going to have to accept advertising as the price for this. The increasing numbers of users employing various "ad-blockers" in their browsers are portrayed somehow as "evil" and are denying these companies a legitimate source of revenue. They warn users that if you deny this revenue stream then you'll have to pay, they argue. OK, I get it. Running and hosting Web sites doesn't come for free and most Web companies aren't charities; someone has to pay for it. There are many worthy Web sites out there that are run on a shoestring and use advertising as a way of 'keeping the lights on', as it were. However, if they and the advertising companies are wondering why more users are deploying ad-blockers and revenue is flattening out, then

On the 7th August the UK Government's Department for Digital, Media and Culture (DCMS) published a press release to the effect that they intended to strengthen the UK data protection laws to give individual citizens enhanced rights to determine what happens to their personal data on the Internet. You can read their press release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-strengthen-uk-data-protection-law To quote from the DCMS GOV.UK Website the thrust of the enhancement to the law is: Public to have greater control over personal data - including right to be forgotten. New right to require social media platforms to delete information on children and adults when asked. What Is Proposed Broadly, this will mean that once the proposal is made law then: The Data Protection Bill will: Make it simpler to withdraw consent for the use of personal data Allow people to ask for their personal data held by companies to be erased Enable parents and guardians to give con

It's been a while since I last posted here for which, I apologise. Unfortunately, chronic health problems have sapped all of my energy (and will to live) recently and it's been difficult to concentrate upon anything other than the things necessary to get through the day. What to talk about? Given that my brain is particularly dull, maybe I should focus upon that old chestnut Brexit. Oh God! Really? Again? Well, yes; this is the topic that just won't lie down. It is the obsession of the country and certainly the chattering classes du jour and it's likely to be until we finally leave in June 2019. The major issue that I've got with it is that it's taking up the entire effort of the UK Parliament to the exclusion of all else. This includes actually running the country. What's staggeringly obvious is that we came into this process gloriously unprepared. The whole Brexit negotiation is rediculously under-rescourced and it seems that the entire Civil Service h

Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of posts on the blog recently. Unfortunately, a bout of chronic illness has altered my priorities, although I'll try to keep posting, if anyone's reading. Third Stone From The Sun With apologies to Jimi Hendrix, I'm focusing upon Earth and the place of the human species within the biosphere. There are roughly seven billion of us around and this number is projected to grow wildly by the end of the century. Put simply, that's a lot. We live on a blue-green marble, with the emphasis upon the blue bit, i.e. water. One of the stand out things about humans is being both primates and one of the Great Apes, we're remarkably good at dealing with and surviving in water. Unlike most primates and more like cetaceans (whales and dolphins) we exhibit the 'diving reaction'. That's to say, when we stick our faces in water, our blood pressure, breathing rate and pulse decrease rapidly and our heartbeat slows as our body sh

Although I'm very interested and engaged in the current domestic political process here in the UK, I'm conscious that a lot of my posts are covering political events and attitudes and I worry about becoming one of the myriad 'political commentators'. I have no intention of wanting to, or becoming one. The world has far too many already; most of them burning oxygen for no good benefit! To keep it light and to vary the post content, I'm going to sound off, this week, about an everyday observation that some of you might find amusing, but I guess, most of you won't. The Evils of Smoking Tobacco The UK has recently introduced new legislation to further regulate the sale of tobacco. That's a whole (or series) of posts in and of itself, but I'm staying away from politics this week. My observation is of a more personal nature. Since the new legislation has taken effect, the standard amounts that can be legally retailed in the UK has changed. It&