Convergency

Just in case you missed it on World Environment Day…

Ever wondered where the wind comes from? Apparently it is mostly a combination of the sun, and the earth’s rotation – namely the Coriolis Effect. I just saw this and found it to be very good, and quite amazing illustration…

A friend of mine dropped off her Compaq laptop the other day, apparently it had been running slow and a friend of hers came round and “did stuff” to “sort it” – unfortunately it didn’t go to plan, and instead of the system performance improving as a result of the activity – it deteriorated to the stage where XP would display a blank desktop on startup (as in no taskbar, start menu, desktop shortcuts or anything).

So this was the state it was in when I got it. Here’s what I did:

Step 1: Get access to Windows Explorer
Hit ctrl-alt-delete – this only worked after leaving it alone for a couple of minutes after boot-up. Click “File>New Task (run) and type “explorer”. This brings up the windows desktop furniture.

Step 2: Find out why it isn’t loading
I wondered what her friend did.. I looked at the most recent installed apps in Programme files – there was an app called “TuneUp Utilities 2009″. A likely suspect I thought. In the wrong hands these tweak/tuneup utils can do more harm than good. I loaded up the app and undid all the “fixes”

Step 3: Check a little deeper
Restoring the TuneUp files didn’t solve the explorer.exe problem, so I figured that something else must be up with it. I suspected malware. I have rescued several Windows systems from malware (spyware, trojans etc) before using a great bit of software called MalwareBytes AntiMalware. I couldn’t get the faulty system to read the installer from my USB drive, so I had to burn it off onto CD. While I was doing that – I also stuck ‘FixShell‘ on there (a visual basic script that restores explorer.exe to the XP shell).

Step 4: Safe mode scanning
I restarted the PC and hit F8 repeatedly as the laptop started up, which brought up the XP menu with the option to load ’safe mode’. I did this and logged in as administrator (which for some reason had not appeared during normal startup). This time it loaded up with explorer.exe no problem. I ran MalwareBytes AntiMalware quick-scan and it picked up 27 items. Some were trojans, mentions of rootkit (eek) and other registry entries (including disabling security centre). I opted to ‘fix’ them all and restarted again as prompted (some nasty bits of malware can only be deleted on boot). This still did not fix the issue. I ran another scan just in case. It found a few more bits. Restart.

Step 5. Manual(ish) restore of explorer.exe
…. this is where it got quite interesting… after several unsuccessful attempts to restore command.exe, including creating a slipstreamed SP3 disc to run sfc /scannow – I finally installed Avast Antivirus Home Edition and did a boot time scan (AVG8 was already installed but I removed it, finally realising it hadn’t done its job). Avast picked up lots of win32:JunkPoly infections. JunkPoly is Avast speak for Virut.

Virut is bad.

Very bad.

Worse than bad – it’s terminal.

Format and reinstall is the only option. Backing up is risky.

So now I need to get the photos off, scan them thoroughly and format the hard-drive and reinstall XP.

It probably came from a P2P service, somehow got passed AVG8 (outdated virus def probably), and started infecting the system with all kinds of malware.

Just downloading Ubuntu now – will attempt to back the data up tomorrow…

Bees pollinate a third of the food we eat. They are essential for farming and if we wanted to do the pollinating work ourselves – it would take a workforce of 30 million. And that’s just for food – bees also pollinate most wildflowers.

In the United States over a million hives have been lost since 2006 due to Colony Collapse Disorder – a very mysterious condition. Apparently, we don’t have it in the UK yet – but even so, 2008 was the worst year for bees in the UK – with up to 30% of hives not surviving the winter.

I can’t begin to imagine a world without bees. Or some of this stuff:

Alfalfa, Allspice, Almonds, Apples, Artichoke, Asparagus, Avocado, Blackberries, Blueberries, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cabbage, Cacao, Cantaloupe, Caraway, Cardamom, Carrots, Cashew, Cauliflower, Celeriac, Celery, Cherries, Chicory, Chives, Cinnamon, Citrus, Coriander, Cranberries, Cucumbers, Currants, Dill, Fennel, Garlic, Gooseberries, Kale, Leek, Macadamia, Mango, Mustard, Nutmeg, Onion, Parsley, Parsnip, Passion fruit, Peaches, Pears, Plum, Pumpkin, Radish, Raspberries, Squash, Sunflower, Tangerine, Tea, and Watermelon to name a few. Not forgetting honey and beeswax of course.

There are things we can do – the Co-op has taken the initiative and set up a campaign called Plan Bee, along with a website that provides lots more information, and a couple of videos if you prefer to watch than read. (hopefully they will enable embedding at some point)

I applaud what they are doing, and attempting to do, and strongly encourage everyone to see what they can do to give the bees a hand whenever I can, so I thought I would take this opportunity too

Through Plan Bee:
1. The Co-operative Food will temporarily prohibit the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides on own-brand fresh produce. These are Acetamiprid, Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, Fipronil, Imidacloprid, Nitenpyram, Thiacloprid and Thiamethoxam. To find out about The
Co-operative’s market-leading policy on pesticides, please see our latest Sustainability Report (p.95).

2. £150,000 will be made available to support research into the demise of the honeybee, with a particular focus on UK farming, pesticides and gene-diversity. This is the largest ever private contribution to bee research in the UK.

3. Over three years The Co-operative Farms will trial a new wildflower seed mix that will be planted alongside crops on our farms across the UK.

4. The Co-operative Farms will invite beekeepers to establish hives on all our farms in the UK.

5. The Co-operative will engage our three-million members in a campaign to protect and nurture the bee population in the UK, with advice and tips featuring on our website.

6. Members were invited to attend one of 40 screenings of a special preview from a forthcoming film that addresses the decline of the worldwide bee population and the significance of the bee in food production. In addition, The Co-operative has also commissioned a new bespoke documentary on the decline of the bee population in the UK.

7. The Co-operative will partner with RSPB’s ‘Homes for Wildlife’ team and empower members to garden in ways that are honeybee-friendly.

8. An initial 20,000 packets of wildflower seed mix will be distributed to members free of charge at membership events throughout the UK.

9. Bee boxes are being sourced and made available to The Co-operative members at discounted prices. Find out how to get hold of a discounted bee box.

10. The Co-operative will support our members and colleagues to find out more about amateur beekeeping and will encourage links between local beekeepers and members. Find details of your nearest beekeeping association.

Also – there is a documentary worth watching called “Who Killed the Honey Bee” showing on BBC4 starting on Thu 23 Apr 2009 at 21:00, with repeat showings. It will also be available on iPlayer.

Oh. My. God.

I am still reeling at this. It would be bad enough if a protester was assaulted by police, but this was an innocent man who worked in the area being callously attacked by one of our boys in blue. He died approximately 3 minutes later.

Despite the fact that under European human rights’ laws the police are required to actively protect the public’s right to peaceful protest, here we see a gross abuse of police powers, if not the kind of mindless aggression that the police are supposed to protect innocent members of the public from.

The police had bizarrely been talking up the potential for violence in the weeks up to the G20 protests, which one can only presume was strategic scare-mongering in order to frighten ‘normal’ people away from the demo, but it doesn’t seem to have worked out quite as planned.

If the footage had not been submitted to the Guardian – would we ever have heard the details surround Ian Tomlinson’s tragic death? I seriously doubt it, despite there being numerous (?) CCTV cameras and police witnesses. It even turns out that the IPCC wanted the video taken down from the Guardian website.

I suspect (and sincerely hope) that this will lead to a shake down of the increasing hard-line legislation being churned out by Jacki Smith and her cronies, and a serious change in police tactics regarding reasonable force, officer identification and culpability.

Technically speaking – the filming of this incident by a member of public is probably illegal, thanks to recent anti-terror legislation.

The Guardian has compiled a ‘rogue’s gallery’ with videos of heavy-handed policing at the G20 demo – worth checking out if you think that the Tomlinson tragedy was an isolated incident.

I am sure I am not the only one who found last nights episode of Natural World – A Farm for the Future incredibly important and somewhat frightening.

If you didn’t see it – do have a look – it is available on iPlayer (for those in the UK at least) until 7:49pm Tuesday 17th March 2009.

You may recall the name Rebecca Hoskins? She was the wildlife documentary maker (one of only three female wildlife documentary film makers in the UK!) who went to Hawaii and was moved to tears by the impact our carrier bags are having on the marine environment. She came back and became the ‘bag lady of Modbury‘.

In May 2007 she convinced all the 1,500 residences and traders of her home town of Modbury to stop using plastic bags in favour of more sustainable long lasting alternatives. This made Modbury the first town in the Europe to become plastic bag free.

Here’s the synopsis from the BBC:

“Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is.

Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.”

Are we really going to bury our heads in the (oil) sands right up till the day where we are 9 meals from anarchy? I really hope not.

There is still a chance of turning it around, but we won’t find the answer at Tesco – or even at Waitrose!

Be very prepared for change. It’s just a question of whether we can make the steps to transition before it is too painful.

Well, it wasn’t so rare when I was a kid, but we haven’t seen snow like this round these ‘ere parts since 2003 that I can remember, when people ended up stranded in cars on the A417 and had to abandon them and walk home.

It looks beautiful though – pristine and virginal. Even our garden looks clean and tidy

So, the Met didn’t really predict that there would be snow fall last night in this area, and at about 2pm yesterday the previous couple of days snowfall began to melt, and the residents of our little hill top village were jubilant at the prospect of a risk free day today. But last night we got another 10cm or so, with the previous gritting having no effect whatever. It was bad enough on Monday and Tuesday, but there is no way we are going to get out, or into the village.

We had a snow plough coming round early this morning, but that only served to compact the snow into slippery veneer or to reveal the frozen icy layer below. It’s another snow day for all the kids in the village.

Here’s a few snaps (some of them credited to my 10 year old daughter). More to come – we are off for an expedition into the woods and fields at lunchtime (I am working from home again).

The Age of Stupid: final trailer Feb 2009 from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

I often have ideas, that I mull over and never get around to doing anything about (man cannot live on ideas alone!), but in this case I am glad somebody else did it first

I was thinking… somebody (perhaps me?) should write a book, a screenplay – a full blown movie even, set in the future when the shi-shi has truly hit the fan, and have someone look back to the present day… and ask why.

A lot of societies glorify ‘the ancestors’ – if not worship them. I think our generation (regardless of ‘culture’), will be the first bunch of ancestors that are reviled and hated, if not cursed, for the legacy we are leaving for our descendants, not because of crimes against humanity, or for starting wars or stealing land or people, but because we are destroying the future of the human race and many of the other flora and fauna that we ’share’ our precariously spinning space rock and its resources with…

I am looking forward to seeing the film – but just like blog readers dislike being berated, I get the impression that the movie watching public would generally prefer to watch movies where the hero is a superhuman and from another planet/time or something… as opposed to a movie saying “it’s up to you! fix it! it’s your fault! it IS your problem” – but I hope that being proved wrong about that is part of our transition, nay paradigm shift, to becoming honourable and respected ancestors

Seeing as today is the most depressing day of the year – I thought I would try and help out.

Watch this.