The Land of TWS (aka Ian)

There Is More To The Weather Than Whether It's Settled Or Unsettled

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:22:00 +0000

As time goes on I am fearing that the Model Output Discussion is going to degenerate into the usual summer fare, where the UK's weather is over-simplistically divided into two types: "settled" aka "good", and "unsettled" aka "bad".

The main problem is that the desire for "settled" weather, for most...

A Journey Is Not Just A Means To An End

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:40:00 +0000

In many walks of life, a journey doesn’t just have to be a means to an end- it can also be about incorporating enjoyment along the way. We see this in sports (referenced in my previous blog) where many fans like to be entertained with end-to-end football matches that end 4-3, in preference to the mechanical grinding out of 1-0 wins.

We’ve all heard...

The "all Out Attackers" Vs "all Rounders" In Sports

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:11:00 +0000

Having kept a close eye on the recent snooker tournaments and been thoroughly entertained by the all-out attacking style of Judd Trump, I've been seeing a fair number of comments flying around like, "he needs to tone down his attacking instincts, play more safety, mature into an all-rounder". This is a common situation in sports- we had the...

Copyrights Revisited

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:06:00 +0000

Firstly, a reminder of what copyrights are for: they are to give content creators some control over the use and distribution of their work, typically to protect ownership and/or financial revenues and thus give them an incentive to continue producing. There is a balancing act to strike between copyrights and "fair use", because too much copying...

My Proposals For F1 Penalty Systems For 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:34:00 +0000

I've been quite a big critic of the F1 penalties for wheel-to-wheel incidents this year, although having recently seen the "Senna" movie, we are still in a much better position than we were a couple of decades ago, when inconsistency was rife, relatively minimal penalties like drive-throughs didn't exist and some drivers got away with a...

Pc Gaming And Digital Distribution

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:09:00 +0000

This blog article will explore the future of PC gaming using DRM on the one hand, and online extras/support on the other, and how things may pan out if we see numerous competitors such as "Origin" compete (if that's the right word for it, as we will see below) with Valve Software's "Steam".

As many will already know, I am a...

Monogamy Revisited

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:09:00 +0000

Some may have wondered what on Earth I was blithering on about in the monogamy thread and some other related ones.

I don't have a problem with the demand for sexual monogamy (except when it's thrust upon people who consent to having "open" relationships). My opinion on polygamous/polymorous relationships has changed a fair bit...

Sustainability- A Brief Final Summary

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:46:00 +0000

The other two posts are a bit in-depth, so here is an overall summary of my views- extending to sustainability generally and not just sustainable transport.

In short, I am 100% behind the concept of sustainability, but the key is that in order to be sustainable, we have to make some sacrifices and determine what is "necessary" and what isn't-...

The Police Show Their Lighter Side

Tue, 24 May 2011 10:17:00 +0000

Police in Surrey, who were on patrol, decided to join in a snowball fight! Just thought that with the stick that a lot of police get (some deserved, some not) that it would be worth showing that not all police are averse to having a bit of fun.

Sustainable Towns And Transport Proposals Part 2

Sat, 21 May 2011 18:52:00 +0000

Here's my sustainability manifesto, continued over from Part 1.

3. Some general urban planning ideas.
I am in favour of "filtered permeability" in city centres and around "home zones", the idea being a high density of pedestrian routes, a moderate density of cycle routes and a low density of roads. The idea is similar, to...