Keys Corner

Just over ten years after the GPS system went fully operational in April 1995, the first of a new generation of GPS satellites has been launched.

This is good news for civilians, because it opens up an additional civilian channel which should provide better accuracy (the military has had two channels in operation since the GPS system was commissioned), and the satellite uses more-efficient transmitters. The satellite replaces an existing GPS satellite which has been in operation since 1993.

How many bullets do you need to kill an insurgent in Iraq or Afghanistan?

The number of bullets that the US army needs is truely mind-boggling. As a result, the US ammunition manufacturers can’t keep up, and the US is having to import ammo from Israel to keep up with demand.

John Cowan has summarised the top eight languages of the world (by number of speakers). In places 1, 2 and 3 are Chinese, English and Spanish in that order.

The commented list is here. I was surprised, that less people speak Russian than Portuguese.

What would it take to destroy an iPod Nano? It’s very slim, so is it fragile?

Well, no. Actually. Throwing it out the car window at 50 mph isn’t go to do the trick, nor is driving over it in the car…

An article by Harold Evans on the BBC’s web site about how the creed of Social Darwinism – long established in the USA - may be swept away by Hurricane Katrina. Makes some interesting comparisons between George W. Bush and Herbert Hoover.

We have three cupboards containing around 530 CDs in our lounge and several further shelves of DVDs. The cupboards are almost full, and for some time I have been toying with the idea of using a Mac Mini as a music- and video-server and banishing the CD and DVD collections to the cellar.

However, if it’s going to look at home in the lounge, we really need a pretty small TFT screen – nothing bigger than about an 8 or 9 inch diagonal and the sort of sleek styling you expect from Apple or Sony, plus some sort of pointing device (remote control or mouse) in the lounge, so that we can select what we want to play, and so far I haven’t found anything I like. A small laptop or a sub-notebook could be an alternative, but for the moment, we have chosen to go in a different direction and just make the CDs redundent. We have hooked up a 60GB iPod to the stereo, added a Griffin Air Click to be able to remotely control it, and have put all 530 CDs onto the iPod (which leaves around 12 GB free for further acquisitions).

We like to be able to listen to a block of music by one artist or in one style and the iTunes smart playlists cover that need quite well. What is not so good is if we want to listen to a specific album, as with 530 albums, it can be a little tedious choosing the album you want using the Apple click-wheel. However, with the Air Click remote control listening to our Spanish language course CDs is very convenient – it couldn’t be easier to pause the recording or skip back to the beginning of a track to hear something again. Overall, we think it is an improvement over the 5-CD changer that we previously used, and in a few years time, there will probably be a good selection of reasonably priced UPnP devices to replace it, if it eventually breaks down.

It has been really lovely weather this week in Frankfurt, and I noticed that the Alte Oper (the old opera house) looks really good in the morning light, so this morning I took a camera. And after waiting for about 10 minutes for a group of Japanese tourists to finish taking pictures of each other, took this picture at about 08:45.

You can get a good rundown on your current health and how it affects your life expectancy at www.agingresearch.org. Takes both imperial and metric measurements for your weight and height, which are required input for the evaluation. (Click the red button on the page if you want to avoid giving your contact details.)

(Via Wired)

A quote from Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in today’s Guardian:

“We are extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government, all of our federal partners, to this terrible tragedy.”

Well, if that is the view of things at national level in the organisation set up specifically to deal with national disasters, no wonder that there has been chaos, looting and rape – and precious little else – going on in New Orleans most of this week.

Here, by the way, is the DHS’s Six Point Agenda, published less than two months before the tragedy in New Orleans on their home page:

A six-point agenda for the Department of Homeland Security is planned to ensure that the Department’s policies, operations, and structures are aligned in the best way to address the potential threats – both present and future – that face our nation. The six-point agenda will guide the department in the near term and result in changes that will:

1. Increase overall preparedness, particularly for catastrophic events
2. Create better transportation security systems to move people and cargo more securely and efficiently
3. Strengthen border security and interior enforcement and reform immigration processes;
4. Enhance information sharing with our partners
5. Improve DHS financial management, human resource development, procurement and information technology
6. Realign the DHS organization to maximize mission performance.

And here the DHS mission statement on helping first responders to disasters and emergencies:

The Department of Homeland Security is committed to helping first responders nation-wide

• by ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared, equipped and trained for any situation, and
• by bringing together information and resources to prepare for and respond to a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency.

Bush hasn’t sacked a single crony of his for failing to perform since he became president. It will be interesting to see if he acts this time.

Update – 2005-09-010:
It took a little while, but another, more junior Bush-crony has been sacrificed – Michael Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). Fema is a subordinate organisation to the DHS.