mike hawkins - thinking out loud

I am not certain that Putin's rumoured intention to regain the presidency of Russia is a good thing - though as 'puppet master' to Dmitry Medvedev did he ever really relinquish any power - for either the people of Russia and her surrounding states, or indeed the world as whole.

Putin hints at presidential bid - BBC News
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Putin is an old-fashioned 'sabre rattler' with a KGB mentality coupled with a worrying love of decadence - in my opinion, that makes him a dangerous man.

Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total warare part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

Fantastic news for those who supported the campaign to gain a UK government apology for the treatment of Alan Turing.

The petition was organised by John Graham-Cumming and elicited a great deal of media interest as well as a great response, in terms of signatures.

The apology comes very quickly after the posting of a petition on the No.10 website – that was covered on this site here.  It is a tribute to John Graham-Cumming’s inspired approach to highlighting the matter, that this apology has been achieved so quickly - well done to him!

He has also asked questions about the circumstances of Turing’s death, there are numerous rumours of MI5 involvement – it will be interesting to see if anything is ever uncovered on this front.

However, the aim of the petition has been achieved – excellent news.

Gordon Brown is quoted as saying:

"While Mr Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him…So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better."

The Daily Telegraph report the success - “Gordon Brown today issues a posthumous apology to a Second World War code breaker who killed himself after being tried and convicted of being homosexual.”

BBC NEWS | Technology | PM apology after Turing petition

The surviving nieces of Alan Turing are said to be delighted.

An amusing piece on the BBC news website, which underlines the low upload speeds with ADSL.

4Gb of data on a USB drive attached to an 11 month-old pigeon arrived while the broadband upload was still lumbering along.

Quite funny, have a look at the comments of the folk who set the race up.

 BBC NEWS | Africa | SA pigeon 'faster than broadband'

A disk defragger is, possibly, not one of the sexiest types of application - but I have long held the belief that it is of great importance - in terms of the stability and performance of my network's machines.  Enter...Perfectdisk.

For a long time DiskKeeper was the only serious player in town and I used it both on my home network, and in the business environment - it is a good product.  But having tried PerfectDisk my allegiance has shifted completely.  This product ticks all the boxes for this type of software - allowing those of us who love to play with settings to tinker, but perfect for a novice who just wants to click 'accept' to the default settings offered during installation.

Pros:
Very simple set-up, un-intrusive, low system overheads, truly set and
forget. Does a very good job of defragmentating drives and keeping them
defragged. Stable in both XP and Vista environments. Priced sensibly.
Ideal for inexperienced and pro.

Cons:
After months of using this product - I have nothing negative to say.

Summary:
PerfectDisk is a superb product. I have used defragmentation software
for many years, primarily DiskKeeper, and as an experienced user feel
able to comment. My comment would be that this is a fantastic product!
I have taken DiskKeeper's software off my small home network, and
replaced with PerfectDisk and here is why:

• Ease of set-up
• Less intrusive
• Lower overheads
• Truly set and forget
• Seemingly does a better job of defragmentation
• Stable
• Well priced

DiskKeeper is not a bad product - PerfectDisk, in my opinion, is just that bit better!

Download the software here - PerfectDisk