Uncategorized on Graeme's

The Geography of Covid

Sun, 21 Jun 2020 14:47:09 +0000

I cannot explain this map, but the clear division in compelling. A few lines divide the world into high, medium and low covid death rate countries and there are few exceptions in the high and low death rate areas.

Why we are never prepared for a crisis

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 12:13:52 +0000

From 2005 Sri Lanka has been well prepared for a tsunami, unfortunately it was entirely unprepared in 2004. From 2021 onwards I have do doubt that the world will we well prepared to deal with a pandemic. We are always ready to fight the last war..

Its not paradise, but lets not exaggerate

Sun, 29 Mar 2015 10:35:15 +0000

I can understand Ankie Renique’s frustration about people who think that living is the tropics and working as a remote freelance is idyllic, but her reaction is to pick on a number of minor issues, or those that say more about her than the country, rather than picking very real problems.

The real purpose of DRM

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:45:25 +0000

Ian Hickson, maintainer of the HTML5 specification, argues that the real purpose of DRM is to give content providers leverage over device manufacturers. Although this is true for some applications of DRM, in many cases the purpose is to lock customers to particular devices and services, and to raise barriers to entry against new devices and services.

Five plausible nightmare hypotheses

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:54:34 +0000

This is a list of various possibilities that could be true, and which would be very frightening if they are. They are varied in scale an effect, but are all unpleasant. I have left out nuclear war and natural disasters (such as super volcanoes) as we know they are possible. I am interested in things that have a reasonable likelihood of being try, but are not known.

Don't trust complex climate models

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:14:09 +0000

My previous post did not make it clear why climate models are so similar to complex financial models, which failed so spectacularly.

Credulous police and bad English

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:30:03 +0000

I cannot decide whether I am more shocked by the news that the police are relying on Wikipedia, or the bad English in this discussion of it (more of the comments that attempt to use the word “credible” get it wrong than get it right).

Thomas Gall International School website

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:52:27 +0000

As a few people arrive at this blog searching for information related to Galle, it is worth mentioning that I have done a website for my daughter’s school: The Thomas Gall International School, Galle.

Update, Sept 2012: That website is no longer up, as the school failed to renew the domain name. I believe they have plans for a new site.

Update, April 2015: My daughter moved to another school some time ago as well.

Is Ubuntu destructive?

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:59:29 +0000

Adam Williamson thinks that Ubuntu has been destructive, unfair competition, and that Mark Shuttleworth could have taken a different approach that would have been less destructive.

Race is arbitrary

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:32:54 +0000

Willem Buiter’s blog post on the arbitrariness of racial classifications are spot on. I wonder if he is too decent to realise that the whole point of the concept of race is to divide people; to provide people with a sense of belonging to a tribe. Race is purely whatever society defines it to be. Both the countries I know well, Britain and Sri Lanka, show this.

Freedom for teenagers

Fri, 16 May 2008 18:57:33 +0000

In an interview with Psychology Today, Robert Epstein discusses his view that adolescents are harmed by being restricted and infantilised. This strengthens some of my views about schools and over-protective parenting, which I mentioned in my post on the lies we tell children.

Sex and normality

Sun, 04 May 2008 09:00:06 +0000

The easy assumption that both The Guardian and Relate make when faced with men who have lost interest in sex have a medical or psychological problem seems to be to be forcing people into a mould of “normality” that is just as bad as Victorian behaviour that we would now find appalling.

Limitless stupidity

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:38:27 +0000

This is old news, but I only just found someone even stupider than the woman who refused to believe that -6 is higher than -8. Even stupider than Jerry Taylor, City Manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma, who threatened to call the FBI because he could not understand how to configure his computer. The record breaker: another small American city that came close to banning items made using dihydrogen monoxide.

Nisha Clare Pietersz

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:32:44 +0000

My second daughter Nisha Clare Pietersz was born day before yesterday.

She has one older sister, Lucy Tarika.

If you know the derivations of the names (or their Latin and Sanskrit roots) you may notice a pattern. Both mother and baby are well and full of life.

How to buy cameras and PCs

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:09:09 +0000

Having previously complained about how consumers are too confused to choose complex technology, I am doing my bit to improve the situation with a little explanation, and some useful links.

Credit crunch humour

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:32:42 +0000

Two outstanding bits of humour:

This cartoon at the Washington Post: found via this blog post.

The Daily Mash understands the government’s action over Northern Rock better than most of the serious media.

On a slightly different topic The Daily Mash also has a good grasp on the future of work: die at your desks.

Gay English for the hoi polloi

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:18:57 +0000

It appears that some people are using the phrase “the hoi polloi” to mean “the elite” rather than “the masses”. I have never come across a better argument for a classical education.

Turtles everywhere

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:21:15 +0000

I was on holiday last week, which, together with being sick this week, is why things have been a bit slow here. The highlight of the holiday was the invasion of the hotel by 50 or 60 green turtles.

Is The Economist still worth reading?

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 08:26:33 +0000

This post on The Economist’s rather bizarre liking for the Bush government (found via Brad DeLong’s post) only highlights what is wrong with The Economist. While it is still often better than the competition, but nothing like as good as it once was.