Some days you're the dog

I'm taking the afternoon off to go and become Taiwanese. That is at least the theory. This may therefore only be a short entry. Look out for news about how it goes tomorrow.

I had a depressing day yesterday. I can't really put my finger on what the problem is, but I think I'm mostly just bored and disenchanted with work. James will soon be gone, and so will Don. There are no plans to replace either of them it seems. Word on the street is that the weasel in charge wants to keep the tech writing business alive, but only with the three most productive writers. I'm of the opinion that he still wants to shut us down. I have no plans to renew my contract at the end of the year. One wonders what he will do then. I feel a little sorry for the boss, but some days you're the dog, some days you're the lamp post, and I'm not sticking around to be peed on any longer than I have to.

In the news today it seems that Prince Harry's teacher, the one that claimed she'd done Harry's A level course work for him, has won her case for unfair dismissal. This is interesting. The teacher recorded Harry confirming that he'd done almost none of his course work himself. But this was all denied and Harry got his A level. The teacher was mysteriously dismissed on the grounds that she was a "substandard teacher" and she claimed unfair dismissal. That's when she claimed that she did Harry's course work. She also claims that she was bullied. Well the judge appears to have completely skirted any issues involving Harry, very wise m'lud, but has upheld her claim that she was bullied.

I've just seen a note from Jim about global warming and I have to say, our views may differ slightly, but I think we're pretty much on the same side of the argument here. We both agree that burning fossil fuels, at least at the current rate, is undesirable. We both agree that Taipei air can be quite foul, as a direct result of fossil fuel use. Some days you can chew the atmosphere here, seriously. I can't argue either about the potential health risks of an atmosphere filled with fossil fuel exhaust. I'm not convinced global warming is actually happening, and I think the evidence to link global warming with fossil fuels is not really very convincing, despite what the politicians wanting the environmentalist vote tell us.

I'm of the opinion that, if you look for something hard enough, you'll probably find it. That's to say, if you want to find a place in Britain that's hotter than any recorded temperature in the past 100 years, you'll probably find one if you plant enough thermometers around. One also has to point out that the methods used for measuring temperature have really only been accurate enough to measure 100ths of a degree for about the past 30 years, and that's not long enough to draw any sort of conclusions. Temperature rises measured from space appear to differ from those measured on earth and I think I'm right in saying show no global warming effect, though we don't often hear about this. We hear about glacial retreat everyday, but we never hear anyone mention that glaciers come and go all the time and always have. We also never hear mention of the fact that the temperature in the Antarctic has been falling significantly for years.

Going off topic a little, can someone explain to me why it is that these holes in the ozone layer, generally accepted to have been caused by CFCs, formed over the only unpopulated continents on earth? I asked a professor who lectured on environmentalism why this was and he gave me a wonderful diagram that showed how the air flowed around the globe. He was unable to explain however why the CFCs all jumped out of the atmosphere at the poles and caused the holes. I'd also like someone to please tell me how we know that these holes haven't always been there. I'd like to stress here that I don't know that global warming and ozone depletion are not a problem, I'm just not sure they are, and my reasons for wanting to limit fossil fuel use are not really based on any global warming argument. Contrary, perhaps, but I like to think I am impartial on this one. I have no axe to grind, no votes to win, and my family income does not depend upon burning oil.

Another intersting thing that showed up in the news today concerns id cards once again. You may remember that academics at the London School of Ecconomics caused some embarrassment to the government recently when they questioned the quoted cost. Charles Clarke, Home Secretary, claimed that the LSE "fabricated" their results. In other words he called them liars but didn't back it up with anything. Well the LSE has hit back with some scathing comments. It's a really intersting report if you're into the id card debate. An alternative scheme was put forward by the Simon Davies of the LSE which has been described as, "as preposterous as his original report". Again, nothing to really back it up though. It's wortha read,click.