I am at work now so don’t have time to post, but this story continues to be covered in the newspapers quite well. I was reading about the update again in today’s newspaper. I have not seen anything more on tv, but at least the newspapers are continuing with it.

Can you not use a mouse with an ipad?

I could see the point if I could use it say on a train in ipad mode, and then get to an office and plug it in to a keyboard and mouse.

Can you use iWorks with it?

I can’t see any wine glasses to criticise but that cake looks lush 🙂

I think the problem for me is reading pdfs in letterbox format, i.e. on a normal laptop. Academic papers are often written in two columns, and an ipad format (as opposed an actual ipad) seems very readable.

I may well investigate a netbook as that could be a good compact compromise. Any models you recommend are welcome (assuming this is not too much of a hijack. I did think about starting a new thread but then people may complain about that as well).

Well the Mac wireless thingy is absolutely terrible, as is Mac technical support. Shocking. And also PCs work with my video camera without me having to do a PhD in digital movie reformatting to get it all to work! Oh and you can just move a piece of music onto a creative Zen without going through the mare that is itunes.

But then so far I have never had the blue screen of death on my mac, and when you are such an internationally successful writer as I am, that is the main thing worth its weight in gold 😀

I have a question.

I currently have a Mac Book for personal use. I would really like something light for travelling, and I read a lot of pdfs (especially academic ones).

I had thought about buying an ipad for work, and having a keyboard at my place of work. I would need word processing, net, email, powerpoint and a spreadsheet. Nothing major.

The ipad looked great but then I saw the price!

Is there a £200 tablet that uses windows and will do what I need it to do?

The alternative would be to say have a normal pc at work, and then travel with something like a kindle, but I am not too sure if they can accept any pdf without messing them up.

Any thoughts?

I also want to be as eco friendly as possible, and really do not want to have one for the sake of having the latest thing.

The alternative is to have a second laptop, maybe a VAIO in order to keep all my personal stuff very separate from my work stuff.

Here is an update on the situation

http://tinyurl.com/4gjk8ju

This link is to a newspaper article which I put through Babel fish. The driver now seems to be jailed, i.e. is awaiting some form of trial.

Also, this article has a 10 minute video of the incident and event too.

Doah

The riders are a bit blurred so that may be an issue for you, but they do show the natural rootyness of the place:

[/url]
September 4th[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0018[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0011[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0010[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
November 16th[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0025[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0008[/url] by simon ralli[/url], on Flickr

Although I live in Brazil, I am from Dumfries so will be able to take you up on the offer of at least one coffee as I am back next week for a few days 😀

Molgrips

It’s not really a moot point. When Lovelock introduced it in the 70s, it was just a theory, as he was unable to propose any mechanisms. The scientific world went crazy and totally and utterly rejected it.

He then teamed up with Lynne Margulis, who was also developing her own (at the time) very controversial theories about symbiotic evolution of cellular life.

However, as another poster pointed out, this is now generally accepted as an evolutionary mechanism.

So science is still evolving itself in terms of how life evolved. Yes of course natural selection is a mechanism, but there are other mechanisms too that contribute to the evolution of life. The arguments are of degree, and of understanding the couplings and processes that have resulted in a planet that is able to sustain life over millions of years, and creating a very stable overall planetary temperature.

When you read someone like Dawkins or Gould, they do not seem have any kind of systems thinking in their writings, no consideration of the complexities of life, they just seem to focus on one mechanism at the expense of the others. That is why it is interesting to me, and it is also why we are at a very dangerous point for all of life, if we go through too many tipping points and really mess the planet up good and proper. Biodiversity really does sustain “life” it seems and this is a lesson we are not learning in our rush for example for soya and ethanol.

that is exactly what we are saying; that organisms’ long-term reproductive success depends upon responses to the environment and becoming fitter (= more adapted) for that environment,.

I am maybe being terribly inarticulate, but I was just trying to say that living organisms interact with the environment in order to create a hugely interactive and complex system, far from equilibrium, to sustain conditions on this planet which are suitable for life. Hence the long term carbon cycle for example. We live in a complex world. 🙂

This is of course in addition to adaptive mechanisms. I think my point that I didn’t make is that there is the scientific understanding of “evolution” and there is the lay understanding, which is often simplified just to one thing, the survival of the fittest, as opposed to any symbiotic or systemic evolutionary mechanisms.

But yeah, I really enjoyed a book by Stephen Gould which was a collection of his best essays. All spandrels and things like that : ) And don’t forget he disagreed with Richard Dawkins on various aspects of evolution too. We don’t know everything but it’s all really interesting how life evolved.

No one is saying that the environment “drives” evolution, but that the evolution of life can not be uncoupled from interactions with the environment. Gaia is not a spiritual theory – it is a systems theory.

Of course symbiosis is compatible with natural selection – the arguments are about to what extent natural evolution is the major component of evolution – there are a number of evolutionary mechanisms, not just natural selection.

Also, don’t forget that the genome project made the prediction that humans would have around 100, 000 genomes or so. Turns out we have what, around 25,000? We therefore need to establish just how genomes really do work, and hence new theories are looking at epigenetic systemic solutions.

You know, just saying, things are not done and dusted in terms of agreeing on the actual mechanisms of evolution.

To say that evolution is a theory based on chance is to completely ignore the undeniable influence of natural selection

Well not too many scientists would deny that life has evolved on earth, the question is how. Is it purely through neo-Darwinian evolution, or are there other mechanisms in place.

If you look at the theories proposed my Lynne Margulis:

The most striking evidence for evolution through symbiosis is presented by the so-called mitochondria, the ‘powerhouses’ inside most nucleated cells. These vital parts of all animal and plant cells, which carry out cellular respiration, contain all their own genetic material and reprouce independently and at different times from the rest of the cell. Lynne Margulis speculates that the mitochondria were originally free-floating bacteria which in ancient times invaded other micro-organisms and took up permanent residence in them.

The theory of symbiogenesis implies a radical shift of perception in evolutionary thought. Whereas the conventional theory sees the unfolding of life as a process in which species only diverge from one another, Lynne Margulis claims that the formation of new composite entities through the symbiosis of formerly independent organisms has been the more powerful and more important evolutionary force.

This new view has forced evolutionary biologists to recognise the vital importance of cooperation in the evolutionary process. In the words of Margulis and Sagan:

“Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking.”

You also have another theory, the Gaia hypothesis, which has another model of the evolution of life. Life evolved through systemic interactions with non-living systems. This is different to neo-Darwinian evolution where non-living systems are just some constant in the background.

Does this help evolve this thread? 😀

Yeah – just wondered if anyone had any really good showcase videos as opposed to lots of shaky helmet cam stuff : )

“The Shaman and Snow White” 🙂

Been reading it many times these last few weeks!

The Guardian have blogged this today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/mar/01/diver-brazilian-critical-mass-ride

There will be another protest ride tonight, maybe to ensure that justice is done to the driver?

I am not too sure oppressed is the right word, but Brazil really is a country of paradoxes for Westerners, as I am finding. However, many undesirable people from the military regime are still actually in power, in parliament or in government, one way or another.

One other thing about city bike riding is that the speed limit is 60 kph, and although that does not sound too fast, when I am in a taxi I can get really stressed, as junctions often do not have a right of way and at that speed there just does not seem to be any margin for errors at all. You dont see too many cyclists, really often because of the heat (it’s been 35 here in the day time), but there are many many motorbike accidents, although some of the riding leaves a lot to be desired in terms of weaving in and out of traffic.

What Brazil needs, especially somewhere like Sao Paulo, is better public transportation to begin with, but that is a long way off. They are really struggling to cope with rain right now, and flooding seems to be occurring ever other week.

Yeah – I can assure you the Brazilian people I meet are just amazing, especially their hospitality and openness to foreigners. But the violence is still horrendous, and Brazilian people still live with the threat of violence and crime daily. You walk around and all houses are more like prisons, with electric fencing and guards at the doors.

But yes, there are fantastic places too and I was checking out an area for biking this weekend. Brazil is just insanely big, and there is plenty of uncharted territory for biking. The only downside is that I was told you need to bike in groups, as there is a big possibility that you will get mugged and have your bike taken. Taxes here mean that consumer goods are twice as expensive, so an £800 hardtail in the Uk would cost £1500 in Brazil. Given the poverty, it is not surprising that this is a danger in the countryside.

The other thing to take into account is that many Brazilians still are psychologically scarred from years of military dictatorship. I have friends in their mid to late 40s who had friends taken from school and university, never to return. It is therefore still quite a big thing to demonstrate (as opposed to say us taking part in an anti war demo or anti tax avoidance demo), as some people will worry about what it means for their reputations and repercussions, especially as much business is done based on personal relationships, maybe more so than we are used to in the West.

Terrible huh, but as I said, I am doing volunteer work in the area of sustainability, and there some brilliant things happening too which yo don’t really see on tv or in the news.

I wouldn’t do a Critical Mass thing, and certainly not in Brazil, the likelihood of an angry driver shooting you or doing something like this is too high.

While I understand where you are coming from, it really is an amazing thing for some Brazilian’s to be taking action. Yes it is a violent country, but also corruption is still extremely rife. The reason why the country has hardly any trains, is that the car companies lobbied so much that the Governments of the time did not make any investments in rail infrastructure. When driving, the number of lorries on the roads are just a mare, whereas in the UK much freight is by train.

Also, I read that update article, and the guy is an official of the central bank. If he is well connected, then don’t be surprised for his defence of “self defence” to be accepted.

The news is very open about reporting corruption. Last week a 21 year old government official drove his car into a lamp post. He refused a breath test, and the police took him to the police station where he was then released without charge. Anyone else would be prosecuted.

I am involved in work relating to sustainability here, and there are many beautiful projects happening. Obviously I wasn’t at the critical mass, but yeah, these guys really do run the risk of violence against them, although maybe the risk is not always as high as you may think it could be in Brazil. I’ve met many brilliant people over here doing excellent projects.

Oh blimey sorry for the double post. I was away all weekend and didn’t think anyone would have seen it.

Yeah – I am hoping to do some much happier bike reports from Brazil once I have a bike. My bike is still in Scotland so have just been out and about doing reconnaissance.

There are some mad things on the news over here every week. I didn’t hear them say there were any deaths, which is quite a amazing.

Hey don Simon, I think you’ll be competing against these kids

Well he should have sang “I would do almost anything for you” in order to be logically consistent really.

I never did find out what it was that Meat Loaf wouldn’t do. Am I missing something? is it like, really obvious?

Well I liked it :flounce:

Well as the Daily Mash put it, “welcome to a slightly faster version of this”:

Police braced for velodrome stampede

I would rather say “Plus One Jam Bo” 🙂

Love the trail on the second photo down. And yes, I found that too about Spanish car drivers.

We are now looking for an entreprenurial, ambitious and talented developer/programmer to join Much Better Travel as Head of Technology and Development. This a partnership/equity offer, not salaried employment.

Its a dream role for someone with enough money to get them through 18 months + without payment, and a bit of a gamble that the shares will actually be worth something. Also, they may need to hold the shares for a period of time before being able to sell. Apart from that, very nice work, this is true. Maybe the partnership aspect will offer some share of profits in the shorter term?

Well the new ipad comes out next week which is carbon, and will no doubt render the old ones an embarrassment to be seen with 🙂

At least that chap didnt fall into a shopping mall fountain!

Well I made it up the climb without too many issues but for me it is maybe the fact that the climb starts from the car park and your legs do not get a chance to warm up. However, it is only the very first part of the climb that is steep, the rest can be a nicely paced ascent to the top.

I am not a downhiller, and therefore I absolutely loved the first half of the descent. However, you then start seeing all these signs saying “skids are for kids”. Well I was on my brakes for pretty much the whole of Caddon Bank, and even then I was worried I would get some accidental air time. It’s a pretty hairy descent, but if you like that kind of thing a very amazing piece of trail indeed and one that gives the rider rich rewards for making it to the top.

I went in the summer, and the views at the top of the moor were just amazing.

Well it isn’t exactly going to trouble a NAIM, but for the money I do not think you can get much better for a travel speaker.

This is amazing quality for £13. I have one and use it in a gym. It’s also been backpacking with me too, and survived the Amazon. It ticks every one of your boxes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XMI-X-mini-II-Mini-Speaker/dp/B001UEBN42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298494636&sr=8-1

The picture shows it expanded for use when playing. You squash it together closed when not in use; it is pretty small.

You can buy more and chain them together, but even just one is excellent and you can’t argue for the price. There are a very large number of reviews for it too.

If that includes all the people who have never been to Glentress then I would have thought it is not such an exclusive club. 🙂

I was in the front row at Birmingham for the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me tour. Happy days 😀

Also the singles collection is brilliant too, but I am sure “Killing An Arab” does not make it on to the new collection?

Was it as big as the “Big One” last 2008 ish? I was in Comet and thought that a lorry had driven into the side of the warehouse the bang was that loud.

Well I don’t know the first thing about bikes but just thought I would say a little hello and welcome 🙂

I had a Kona smoke for my 3 mile commute when living in Leeds. It’s a fabulous bike, but it probably needs thinner tyres I think – I had the large tyres.

Also, it has quick release wheels – not so great if you do not have somewhere secure. But I loved it to ride.

Well I have just suggested Alex include a book coming out next month that is pretty much the epitome of “the world, as seen from the inside” 🙂

Navigation issues aside, I think it looks good and seems to be pretty fast (I am on a pretty slow connection here).

While I am not too sure how much I can say to help you with the positive vibes, try and remember that you are not the only person in the world to hit such a low.

With you mother, I am very sorry to hear that. When my sister suddenly died, a doctor told me to just go with the flow with my emotions. She was my best friend. I had a bit of a breakdown in a very public place, but you know what, people didn’t judge me, some complete strangers came up to me and just sat with me and they were great.

As for your wife, well I can’t say I have been in the same situation, but when my sister died I had just had a really really bad break up with a girlfriend. All I can say is that of course it is a tough situation, and for now try not to be too hard on yourself, and try and know that things will be ok in the future, maybe some time away, but try and learn from this, and in the lows just try and see how you can take something, if anything, positive from the situation. I had the feeling that I was going through something that only happened to other people, but you realise that no, this is happening to you. You’re not alone, people have gone through things which maybe not similar but are in the same ball park, and there are always people who will help you through it.

Big love

Si

We’ve just been talking about this – have a look here:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/first-trip-to-whinlatter-tomorrow-anything-i-need-to-know

There are also quite a few vids on Youtube of the descents.