Convergency

My favourite web browser - Mozilla’s Firefox, has recently begun to cause consternation - only on my work PC. On the laptop it is fine. There are a gazillion blog/forum posts complaining about the new functionality of said URL bar, but so far I haven’t found anyone else describing the same issue as myself and several of my work colleagues.

This is what it looks like:

My broken Firefox 3

So - it looks like the autocomplete is ‘working’ (as in it brings up the icons for the pages) but it is not displaying the text - which makes it pretty useless. Even more odd is the fact that my Live Bookmarks (RSS) are no longer displaying either.

I tried everything (safe mode, delete localstore.rdf, new profile etc as per the Firefox Standard Diagnostic) ending in a complete and utter fresh install. A few of these seemed to fix it but on restart - the problem returned…

Another one of those annoyances I thought I would share just in case anyone else out there has the same/similar issue.

I will keep you updated as to whether a fix is found.

UPDATE: Today’s 3.0.2 update didn’t fix it either… well - it did until system restart (just like all the other installs I performed). Another thing I noticed today is that it doesn’t reload tabs when it does a browser restart, also ‘recently closed tabs’ is greyed out.

I am thinking that my initial conviction that it is caused by Group Policy at work is still the most likely… although our IT guy says he has the same problem at home (but there is a connection there ;-))

UPDATE: Today’s 3.0.3 update didn’t fix anything, although I notice that if I right click the url bar (where the star is) and select ‘customize…’ then click ‘Done’ - all my live bookmark feeds in the toolbar re-appear (until the next restart). Hmmmm…

I finally succumbed to installing Windows XP Service Pack 3 on my Asus F5RL laptop yesterday… it all seemed to go well, until I was surfing around the web and noticed that my internet connectivity dropped out (but my wireless connection to the router seemed fine). I tried an ipconfig /flushdns in the command prompt, but that didn’t help. In the end I managed to temporarily get back on the internet by ‘repairing’ my wireless connection. It seems to happen randomly every hour or so - I haven’t yet discovered a pattern.

This is what Firefox tells me:

Connection Interrupted

The document contains no data

The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again.

It doesn’t actually help that I had some trouble with my ADSL the evening before the SP3 install, that’s just muddying the waters. That turned out to be fixed by unplugging the telephone lead from the router for no less that 70 mins - but not before the muppets at plus.net made me reset my router back to factory settings of course. I wish they would rip that page out of their crib sheets where it says “Get the numpty customer to reset their router and reinstall their operating system before you actually listen to their description of the problem”

Anyway - my next step at trying to fix the annoying SP3 issue (which, incidentally - I recommend you do not install unless you have read find a thread here with a cluster of folks who had similar symptoms… no real solution there - the reset the Winsock Catalog comment looks promising - I might try that if I can replicate the error after I changed the DNS settings to point to the ISPs DNS server, rather than the routers IP address.

Are you with me so far? I will be back in a bit with some updates - I need to see if I get the error again.

UPDATE - I got the error again. Clicked ‘try again’ and it loaded the page up… mmm

UPDATE - I also found this which discusses possible issues with WPA-PSK and TKIP… great!

UPDATE: I changed the wireless channel on my router a couple of days ago from ch 13 to ch 11, and haven’t had any issues since. As far I am concerned - this is fixed.

I want one of these, well - when it is finished anyway:

Like the 'shaguar' but greener

More about the GB electric car here on Dale’s blog

Also - here’s the first instalment of the build video:

I may get around to commenting on this soon, but the guardian seems to be doing a pretty good job at that - in the meantime here’s some video. I am hoping that there will be some daily video reports appearing, but I hear they are having trouble due to police blocking access to the site.

You have probably seen this image. You may have even heard that it was a ‘hoax’ - especially if you read this article in The Observer by Peter Beaumont

Well - it wasn’t a hoax, Peter got a bit confused with semantics and wrongly accused the tribe as being reported as undiscovered. He seemed to be mixing up ‘unknown’ or ‘undiscovered’ with ‘uncontacted’ (which is how Survival International described them) and unfortunately for him, he shouted about it in a national paper.

Anyway - as if that wasn’t bad enough, he then (in a moment of panic?) telephoned Survival International and threatened to sue them:

“Hello, this is Peter Beaumont from The Observer here. I’m getting extremely irritated about the way in which you’re associating me with the allegation that you may have been responsible for a hoax. If you use that word once more, either in association with emails or letters sent to my office or anywhere else, I will be taking legal action and I will sue you for defamation or libel, whichever is appropriate. I’m available at 077x xxx xxxx. You are really on the brink of going too far, so I suggest you get in touch with me.” Listen to the actual voicemail

Stephen Corry, Director of Survival, said today, ‘This is the first time in 39 years that a journalist has threatened to take legal proceedings against us. What makes it all the more astonishing is that the wave of reports precipitated by Mr Beaumont’s article has seriously undermined the fight for tribal peoples’ rights. So far from taking responsibility for the inaccuracies of his piece, he’s going to sue us unless we keep quiet! It might reflect better on The Observer if they simply acknowledged that they had got it wrong, and that our original story was completely accurate.’

You can read more about it over on Survival International’s site

I was directed to this video on Eating the Seasons blog tonight - if you have 45 mins to spare - do check it out. Very funny, thought provoking and eye opening cycle powered stand-up routine. I won’t say any more - here’s the link:

Robert Newmans History of Oil

Please Note: If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, you can contact the Transition Network for support.

As you can see from the two posts I have actually published - I am suffering from what I have termed ‘draftitus’ - the symptoms are:

• At least 4 draft posts awaiting concluding and publishing
• A gap of at least 1 month since the last post
• Not having  narrow enough subject matter and being too tangenital
• A tendency to read other peoples blogs and comment on them rather than finish your own posts

Anyone else afflicted? Or is it just me?

Have we stopped evolving? Only time will tell of course… but I don’t think so - I think we have started our own evolutionary track - call it ‘technology’. It remains to be seen whether we will continue to evolve physically, but I suspect we will just re-engineer ourselves and possibly everything around us based on the current mindset of the majority. It might get a bit out of hand though.

It is fair to say we are at a fairly crucial stage in our relationship with the natural world, having given up being shaped by our environment and deciding to make it do our bidding…

I am not really wanting to get into Oryx and Crake territory - although I suspect that if things go horribly wrong for us in the future - it will be because someone in the present wants to maximise their gain by exploiting present day resources at the expense of successive generations. This will probably be due to shareholders wanting to increase their value in a company so that they can sell it off and enjoy the profits before they shuffle off this mortal coil. Very few corporations are concerned with ‘doing the right thing’ - it is contrary to their nature, and usually if they seem to do so, it is because they see it as a PR opportunity - a chance to ‘sell more stuff‘ by convincing you that they are doing it for your benefit.

I find the non-commercial nature of open source technology refreshing. It’s about people coming together to solve a problem because it needs solving, and often the participants want nothing in return except to see the software evolve. The value is in the solution and the reward is in contributing.

So, back to the title of this post, I think that the dystopia can be avoided by taking the open-source movement’s approach and applying it to almost everything. Let’s start with the foundation for life - our planet. It is our planet, yes. But it is also their planet - like this kid:

So - let’s imagine we are on his side, and we are capable of thinking beyond our own life span - how would we actually make a difference? I can assure you that it won’t be big business that saves his world, we won’t get there by buying more stuff - no matter how much is spent on persuading us otherwise. It probably won’t be government to the rescue either, politicians are more concerned with staying in office or getting into it. All this ‘Punch and Judy’ party politics is just a big distraction. So - what exactly am I proposing? Well, for now I propose that we get together and work it out. After all - there are some great open source software tools out there that will help the process, by connecting together the greatest minds and problems solvers, and let’s remember, as we surf around, that much of what we are doing is only made possible because of the fundamental human drive to sort out problems and that things only start to happen, and evolve when you get involved and contribute.

In the words of the great Buckminster Fuller:

“Take the initiative. Go to work, and above all co-operate and don’t hold back on one another or try to gain at the expense of another. Any success in such lopsidedness will be increasingly short-lived. These are the synergetic rules that evolution is employing and trying to make clear to us. They are not man-made laws. They are the infinitely accommodative laws of the intellectual integrity governing universe.”

Last year I grew some carrots from seed - and chucked some spuds in the ground - the carrots worked but the spuds got blight - still got some nice little earlies though. We also grew some tomato plants in a grow-bag outside and got a few tasty trusses (one of the plants got blight too though - it was awfully damp last year)… although I didn’t really know about topping them…

Anyway - this year - I have gone a little overboard! I do love the bit where the seed germinates and bursts forth full of promise with its cute little cotyledon. Here’s some of the seeds I have planted this year:

• Marjoram
• Sweet Basil
• Greek Oregana
• Thyme
• Summer Savory
• Coriander
• Parsley

• Barlotta Lingua Di Fucco Nano
• Carrot
• Potato
• Chinese Cabbage
• Little Gem
• Pumpkin
• Red Onion
• Pentland Brig Kale
• Melon
• Strawberry

Most of them were from Tucker’s Seeds but I also picked up a few cheap packets from Lidl.

I was going to bore you with an account of this year’s horticultural endeavors, but I found this great site called myfolia.com and will be detailing it all in excruciating detail (if I manage to find the time to update it in between watering everything, weeding and fighting slugs and snails!). This isn’t a gardening blog btw