Iron Man-style power suits

Is this the future of warfare or is it a last gasp of the old way of fighting as compared with cyber war (see Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare LiveScience and BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers )
Click here for graphic demo

Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience

LiveScience (Malware Will Change the Face of Warfare | LiveScience) would appear to be supporting the thesis, discussed on this blog, that cyber war will significantly change the very nature of war itself.
Watch this space!

BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers

This is an item - BBC News - Stuxnet worm hits Iran nuclear plant staff computers - about a virus that has infected Iran’s nuclear reactor that is designed to destroy it by attacking the Siemens plant operating software.   It is suggested that the attack is the work of a nation state.
Could this be the start of a new type of warfare, already much heralded but yet to be initiated?
Clausewitz reminds us that the aim of war is to disarm the enemy i.e. to defeat the enemy’s ability to wage war.
Sun Tzu tells us that the supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
What appears to have happened relates to both dictums with dramatic resonance.
But we shouldn’t ditch our conventional weapons quite yet.

Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience

WHAT’s IN A NAME? 

This LiveScience article ”Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience” is quite interesting but for a while I was wondering which animal was being referred to.  The talk, as shown by the title, was of panthers.  But I didn’t think there were any wild panthers outside of Asia and Africa so the bit about panthers in Florida had me a bit bemused.  So some Wiki Work was called for.

Turns out there are (at least) three wild big cats that wear the label Panther:

• Melanistic leopards (Panthera pardus), found in Africa and Asia;
• Black Panthers which are melanistic Jaguars (Panthera onca), found in the Americas; and
• Florida Panthers which are a blue-eyed subspecies of of the Puma [also known as a Cougar] (Puma concolor), also found in the Americas.

The one thing they all have in common is being big black cats.  So when you say Panther it depends on who you are as to what you mean. That’s exactly why scientific names are so important because each one is specific and unique.

In any event all big cats, with the possible exception of lions, are in trouble so the substance of the article is good news.

My top 10 most important cars in history. What are yours? - Anything goes

 
Autocar scribe Sutters has listed (below) what, to him, are the ten most important cars ever.  Needless to say I don’t entirely agree with him.  So here are mine
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale – because it is the most beautiful car…ever
The Mini (Alec Issigonis’s one)- because it made small cars trendy and showed that a good big’un  doesn’t always beat a small good’un.
Lotus 7 and its heirs and descendents- because lightness is the soul of good engineering
Toyota Landcruiser- because it can go anywhere and is indestructible
Honda NSX – because it showed that anyone can drive a true supercar
Lancia Lambda- for showing that monocoque construction was a goer
Citroen Traction Avante- for proving front-wheel drive.
MG TC – for turning America on to sports cars
Toyota Prius – for being the first hybrid that people actually wanted to buy
My top 10 most important cars in history. What are yours? - Anything goes

BBC News - Seagulls 'may be spreading superbugs'

This item brings together two of my intellectual interests – ornithology (particularly Larids) and microbiology – both of which I studied at Monash University in the 70s.  It’s like bumping  into a couple of old friends.

But alas the contents of the item bring no comfort.  Given the numbers of gulls in urban areas in Scotland: Common Gulls, Back-Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, all of which wage merciless war on mankind, it is surely only a matter of time until they add biological warfare to their repertoire.

BBC News - Seagulls 'may be spreading superbugs'

Goodwood Revival 2010 - pics - Motoring - Picture Gallery - Autocar.co.uk

Autocar has published a gallery of evocative  pictures of clasic sports and racing cars (plus a couple of warbirds, some buses and motorbikes) taken at the Goodwood Revival meeting.
Go on take the challenge and identify all of them (there are no captions!) – just click this link:
Goodwood Revival 2010 - pics - Motoring - Picture Gallery - Autocar.co.uk

BBC News - Pink-footed geese return to Scotland

 

 

The rhythm of the seasons continues unaffected by Man (and Woman for those who care about these matters)  and the pink-footed geese return to Scotland.  See this article on the Beeb site:

BBC News - Pink-footed geese return to Scotland

Internet Explorer 9

I am trying out the new IE9 and I have to say it is a vast improvement.  It seems as fast as Chrome but it has vastly more functionality.  I suppose its target competitors are, in the main, the heavy duty high functionality browsers such as Firefox and Opera and to a lesser extent the less functional high speed browsers such as Chrome and Safari.

Its functionality is pretty impressive including “Blog This” using Windows Live Writer which means you don't have to use the ghastly Blogger interface.  I’m drafting this using Live Writer.  And there are lots of other nice bits including a Google tool bar, a Button Bar like Chrome and a nice spell checker, ideal for ham-fisted typists like me.

But it doesn't do everything perfectly, which is only to be expected as it is still in Beta version, so don't un-install your existing browsers quite yet.  It seems fairly stable though if a bit slow in some of its bells and whistles.  Hopefully all will be ironed out when the final version is released.

You can download the Beta version at here:

Relaxing by Lake Como

A fortnight ago we spent a terrific week at Carate Urio on Lake Como with our Australian friends Christine and John whom we have known for years.  They are spending time in Europe and invited us to join them for a week on Lake Como.  So it was with great anticipation we flew out to Milano and met them the following day at Stazione Centrale in Milano and travelled to our appertment in Urio by train and bus.

We spent the next few days touring the lake by ferry, including a day in Como, and on the final day we crossed into Switzerland and visited Lake Lugano and its town.

Had a terrific time needless to say and it was great to see Christine and John once more.

We took plenty of photos of Milano, Lake Como and Lake Lugano.