I don't often stray from geek content here but...

it is not every day of the week that an artist of the calibre of Joan Armatrading plays West of the Shannon.

She was excellent. Took me to a different place for 2 hours. Nuff said.

Fascinated and horrified

in equal measure by the amazing field of remote physical device fingerprinting.

A database by any other name...

what is a 'database' anyhow?

The downside of electricity

Watching the heart-rending events unfold in the aftermath of Katrina I'm reminded of how utterly dependent on electricity modern life has become.

Land lines down for comms? Use mobiles. Nope. The base stations are on the ground remember. They need to exist every few kilomters and need constant power to work. Besides, even if the base stations are up, mobile batteries need mains to recharge.

Floods? Use boats coming in from the sea for aid and rescue? Nope. Not that simple. Bridges across the rivers powered by electricity that cannot be lifted when there is no electricity.

Just two examples...It is becoming terribly hard to imagine life without electricity. Take out the power and the first world essentially grinds to a halt. Add storms then floods etc. into the mix and...well, you have seen it on T.V. or read it on the Internet.

If you have power that is.