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Biofuels ban?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7065061.stm

A United Nations expert has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity.
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It was, he said, a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops which are then burned for fuel.
He called for a five-year ban on the practice.
Within that time, according to Mr Ziegler, technological advances would enable the use of agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves to produce fuel.

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IT recruiters are crap

The BCS website puts it more diplomatically: No skills shortage just poor recruitment practices

The only way employers will regain access the IT skills required to support key business initiatives is to reject current practices and take more direct control over their recruitment. Great IT skills are out there and they don’t cost the earth. The only thing standing in between IT and the right contract staff is commoditised recruitment practices.

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The ethics of computing

This article from the BCS makes some good points about the ethics of computing.
It also says,

There is a view that the storage of personal data is only problematic for those with something to hide. But we cannot know for sure how data we supply today will be used tomorrow – goalposts shift, governments change – and not all are benign. When in 1933 the population of Germany provided their personal data for census purposes, they could have had no knowledge of ultimate consequences.

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Oh just shut up! you pathetic, petty worm

Howard, you are an arse. Hurry up and call the election so you can be booted out and stop ruining our country.

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday dismissed the significance of Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work highlighting climate change, declaring that no one had a monopoly on wisdom.
Mr Howard congratulated Mr Gore on winning the prize but said it would not make him rethink his refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol.


The Age