I posted the other day about the new BTCare customer support forums ( BT and the heavy hand of censorship).  In the intervening few days, the leaden effects of BT censorship have become ever more evident, not least because of the actions of moderators, which has caused a number of the long-standing and helpful/knowledgable members.  Check these threads out:

How do I send a P.M., how private is it & are there any restrictions?

Cyclingnews. com reports that Riccardo Riccò, whose partner and fellow cyclist Vania Rossi recently tested positive for the CERA derivative of EPO, has now separated from her (Riccò Splits With Girlfriend Rossi Over CERA Positive | Cyclingnews.com).  Nice timing, Riccardo.

I'm fairly sceptical that the two were ignorant of each other's apparent doping practices.  And Riccò has always come across (to me at least) in magazine interviews as rather unrepentant over his doping past.  Cyclingnews quotes Riccò as saying

"I am disappointed with my girlfriend and there can be no reconciliation until Vania is shown to be innocent of the allegations that were raised," said Riccò, according to Italian website Tuttobiciweb.com.

I have a Google Mail account, principally because it was the easiest way to set up an account with Google (for things like Google Maps APIs and a few webmaster tools).  I noticed a bit of a buzz on the interweb, but hadn't really looked into it (I normally use Evolution to access my gmail account via IMAP).

I was more than a little surprised to find that I'd been signed up for Buzz by default.  Fortunately I only had two contacts, because I rarely use gmail except as a mail drop for subscriptions, and I hadn't set up a public profile, so there was rather little impact.  I've now turned it off (via the little letters at the bottom of the gmail screen).  For others however, their contacts have been spread around as followers, and their mailboxes receive additional and frequently unwanted input.

The xkcd web comic has been particularly good lately (a standout was the Mars rover comic), but I found the quirkiness of this one just tickled my funny bone:

British Telecom's customer help forums appear to have moved from beta to a final version.  During the great Phorm Phiasco, when BT were planning to use the vile Phorm DPI system to illegally pry into their customers' internet usage, there was great censorship in the beta forums (BT Total Censorship).  I bailed out when I got my final warning from the mods for using the word "it" - to refer to matters that were forbidden, in this case Phorm/Webwise.  All very amusing.  So how do the new forums shape up? Not well.

We have threads being locked, and repressive conditions.  The whole edifice seems to be a kind of BT newthink where dissent is curtailed, and where moderators' responses differ as a discussion proceeds.  It's notable from the conditions, which explicitly state (and these are drawn from a banning email sent to one of the nodpi.org forum members who had posted there):

[..] Terms of Use, section 6.3 (g) which states: You must not upload, post, or otherwise transmit any content (including but not limited to text, links, communications, software, images, sounds, data, or other information) that includes any of the following inappropriate content: (g) Repetitive or continuous complaints about BT policy including allegations of abuse of privacy, use of third party suppliers or any other policy for any purpose. If you contravene these terms, this will be grounds for your access to the community to be suspended or revoked.

Ho hum business as usual, I think.  There's been a very interesting thread on new firmware that according to the OP allows BT access to the HomeHub, and is actually quite insecure.  Now, I'm not technically experienced enough to comment on the basis of the OP's complaint, but just read how the moderator's story changes as the thread proceeds, ending with an abrupt brush-off and locking the thread.

Finally, the BTCare home page has a twitter feed from @btcare.  A comparison of that twitter feed with the messages on btcare is very interesting.  Are they filtering out critical tweets?

Last week, I took delivery of the first new desktop PC I've bought in several years. One of the driving motivations was the form factor of the computer: I wanted a bigger screen than commonly available with a laptop, but also to keep the main box's footprint as small as possible. A decent keyboard & mouse also appreciated.  Just before Xmas, a flier from Dell plopped out of a magazine, and the Inspiron Zino caught my eye. This has a wireless keyboard and mouse, with a pretty small case. The monitor was extra. With Windows 7 upgraded from Home to Professional, the whole package was well under £500.

This is my first exposure to Windows 7 (other than looking at other peoples' laptops). I did have Vista on the Sony notebook that currently runs Ubuntu 9.10, but the notebook's specification was woefully underpowered for Vista, which made for a pretty vile experience. Plus 95% of my computer usage is with Linux these days (mostly Ubuntu). Windows was selected because the household uses both Windows and Linux.

Since receiving the PC, I've installed Ubuntu 9.10 on a partition, and have been setting up various bits of hardware and software (an on-going process). I think the comparison between the two systems is interesting from several perspectives.

For users moving from WinXP to Win7, I reckon there'll be a bit of a learning curve (there certainly has been for me). Everything's there, but arranged in slightly different ways. Icons are rather over-elaborate, making their function a little hard to discern at times. The start menu is vile (as it was in Vista), and makes it a bit of a pain to find programmes. It's possible this can be addressed in some setting tweak however (hints and tips most welcome via the commenting!). There's a nice Mac-style floating tool bar thing that's easily configurable to auto-hide off the edge of the screen. Not sure if that's a default feature of Win7 or if it's just themed by Dell.

The PC is blessed by an almost complete lack of crapware (Thank you Dell, thank you!). On the other hand, the default install doesn't really come with much in the way of serious software. There is a 60 day trial of Office 2007, and a default installation of Works. It came with McAfee antivirus/security software, which rather annoyingly set itself up without giving me the opportunity to say no - as my work network requires that we use Sophos, this was irritating. I set up VPN very easily. The PC sees the home network reasonably effectively, though I find the default layout of the Windows 7 file manager rather confused.
Overall, I find Windows 7 to be pretty good as far as it goes - rather a snappy boot time, but not much to do with it once it's booted. I downloaded GIMP. I downloaded Firefox 3.6 and a bunch of my favourite add-ons. The default browser with 7 is of course Internet Explorer, complete with a single search engine. Bing. With the IE shortcuts consigned to oblivion and replaced with the curly fox, I set about exploring. First up, to get the backup system working (this had been trivial with the Ubuntu partition). I had to identify and download a cygwin installation with rsync and ssh. After a few false starts, I got that done. I set up folders to share and got the rsnapshot.config syntax set up OK. Did a test run, no dice, appeared to be a firewall issue (confirmed by turning the firewall off for a brief period). No problemmo, just open a port. OK, how? I have to identify a programme, then point the firewall interface to the exe file to open a port (no indication what the port number is). Yep, works.

I installed iTunes (not my most favourite programme in the world, but I use it for the iPod Touch) - looks as though migrating my iTunes library may be a bit complex. Decide to postpone this. I go to install a driver for my printer (HP 2575). No joy, it's not listed. I wander off to the HP website, where a 378Mb download is available. Blimey! 378Mb! I decline. I notice an search for drivers option on the original Win 7 dialogue box. Click it. After a significant wait, lo and behold! a driver is available, which I download and install. I've no idea what it is, how big it is, or where it's from, but it can't be the monstrous HP file, since it sets itself up pretty quickly. And it works.

In contrast, the Ubuntu installation came with just about anything needed, with everything else (just about) available on demand via Synaptic. And it wasn't until jumping in and out of both OSs for a couple of evenings that I realised just what it was that I was finding difficult with Win7 (which to be honest, I don't actually dislike particularly).  This was a sense of constraint. I felt constrained by having only one desktop, by not really being able to change the desktop theme beyond basic colour and image options. Constrained by not knowing exactly what was in the various updates the system has been downloading. Constrained by software availability. And constrained by all the tweaks I'm able to implement on Linux but not on Win 7 (top must be a showdown between the guake terminal and being able to set double-clicking the window titlebar to roll up the window).

Postscript: Amid the myriad of small booklets that arrived in the box was a brief guide to the Ubuntu desktop! From the look of it, aimed at first time users of the Netbook version of Ubuntu...

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I picked the news that Better Advertising Acquires Ghostery via the No DPI forum.  Ghostery is a very popular plugin that identifies tracking scripts on webpages, and offers the option of blocking said scripts.   I'm not sure how significant this will prove to be, but I note from the Better Advertising web page that

We created Better Advertising because we knew there had to be a better way to conduct online behavioral advertising. Our goal is simple: provide solutions that help deliver the best ads and provide the best privacy, bringing transparency and trust to the online advertising ecosystem.

We do this by helping advertisers, advertising agencies, advertising networks, publishers, consumers, and industry associations to be accountable to each other and to make it clear, simple, and easy to understand how online behavioral advertising is occurring. We think improving the way data is collected, used and disclosed – and doing so in a transparent manner – will raise the quality of the entire online advertising industry. Most importantly, Better Advertising understands the importance of privacy to consumers.

Better Advertising’s technology helps online advertisers, agencies and networks continue to self-regulate. Working closely with our design partners, Better Advertising is at the vanguard of online advertising. The Better Advertising platform will enable advertisers to maximize their use of innovative digital strategies, including behavioral targeting, while meeting anticipated demand for enhanced transparency and consumer privacy.

I'm not sure that the acquisition of Ghostery by this lot is a good thing, and it's probably worth keeping an eye on the situation.  The NoDPI forum also points out a bug in the current Ghostery plugin which causes Firefox to take ages to close down.  This is something I've noticed lately, but not pinned down.

According to a report at the Cyclingnews website today (Valverde Offers To Submit DNA Sample | Cyclingnews.com), Alejandro Valverde has offered to provide a sample for DNA testing to establish for once and for all whether the blood in the blood bags (i.e. the bag or bags labelled Valv.(Piti)) is indeed taken from him. It astonishes me that such a test has no been conducted thus far, as it would provide indisputable proof as to whether or not the blood was his.  Now, of course, that is only important if the transfusions service was aimed at supplementing an athlete with his own blood (autologous transfusion).  If the practice was using another athlete's blood (homologous transfusion - use of blood from a donor that has been checked for compatibility*), the bag might contain blood from someone else. While the UCI and WADA are happy to take him up on this, CONI isn't - Cyclingnews reports:

In an effort to "show the irregularities in CONI's procedure," according to a press statement by the rider, Valverde would be willing to supply his DNA if it was tested in an independent lab outside of Italy.

Alejandro Valverde has his appeal (against the ban imposed by CONI) currently being heard by CAS Mixed Fortunes For Valverde In CAS Appeal | Cyclingnews.com.

Valverde, who is currently in Australia preparing for the Tour Down Under, is challenging the ban imposed by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on the basis of DNA evidence collected by them in the wake of the 2006 Operacion Puerto blood doping investigation. The UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency have supported CONI's stance and asked for the ban to be extended across the world.

The good news for Valverde is that the CAS appeal's only dealing with CONI's ban: additional sanctions by the UCI and WADA won't be heard at this hearing.  On the other hand, one of the CONU prosecutors is quoted as saying:

Since I overhauled this website a couple of years ago, the main focus on the site has been through the Joomla! blogging extension MyBlog. This is a commercial extension from Azrul, and I have to say I've been very pleased with it.

Unfortunately I'm less enthusiastic about Azrul's commenting extension, JomComment, designed for use with MyBlog. It has a caching activity, which seems to generate huge numbers of files which are supposed to be deleted each time a comment is posted. Well, maybe I suffer from a paucity of readers willing to comment, but the cache just grows and grows indefinitely. I have tried commenting, but no decline in the sheer volume of the JomComment cache.

There's a report in Cyclingnews.com today that, if the rider's assertions are proven, makes me a little concerned (Bani Says Team Doped Him Without His Knowledge | Cyclingnews.com)

Eugenio Bani has said that his former team Ambra Cavallini Vangi “forced” him to take medications and that he did not know what they were. The 18-year-old, who tested positive for the pregnancy hormone HcG (Human chorionic gonadotrophin), has signed for this year with Amore & Vita despite a 21-month ban within Italy.

So here we have a rider who's barely more than a kid being doped with bioactive human hormones.  Who knows what long-term damage can be caused by modern hormonal doping?  And I include here "more conventional" steroids, growth hormones and EPO in its mutifarious forms.

It's long seemed to me that professional teams escape serious scrutiny in the war against doping - it takes considerable negative publicity to dent a team, and even then it seems as though the team only folds if the sponsor takes the view that the negative publicity has reached excessive levels.

Bani goes on to describe how he was regularly injected with liquids that were pre-loaded in syringes - liquids that were only described as "tonics" or "vitamins".  A cycling team with riders as young as this owe a considerable duty of care, and should not only behave with utmost propriety but should be seeking to protect their riders from getting involved with doping.

A new site promoting a rational attitude to homeopathy has gone live (Homeopathy: There's nothing in it | The 10:23 Campaign | #ten23). The focus appears to be

The 10:23 campaign aims to raise awareness of the reality of homeopathy - how it can be proven not to work, how it can be shown to be impossible, and why it's important to give patients the right information to allow them to make an informed decision on their healthcare.

The site features an open letter to Boots (probably the biggest UK high street pharmacist), who persist in selling homeopathic "remedies" despite knowing these "remedies" contain no active ingredients (I'm not even taking into consideration whether or not the starting ingredient has any activity).  This was clearly stated at a recent Commons Science and Technology Committee enquiry (see Ben Goldacre's Bad Science blog, for example).

I imagine the site's name reflects Avogadro's Number (now known as the Avogadro constant) - 6.022 x 10²³ mol^-1.  What's less clear to me is why there appears to be a countdown timer on the site's front page!  See also the
In unrelated news (other than the general topic of homeopathy) David Colquhoun has reported on the content of the University of Central Lancashire's now discontinued Homoepathy course at his blog (What actually gets taught on a homeopathy course: part 1).

As I mentioned the other day (Christmas project 2009: installation of a NAS...), I was spending some time over the Xmas break configuring a new NAS device.  This was set up as a two drive RAID1 array of 2x1Tb.  However, once I'd set up the rsnapshot backup system (which seems to be pretty efficient in terms of disk space and ease of setup), I turned my eye to the other uses of the device.  I've installed the following via the QPKG system or by activating the firmware options (during all this, I upgraded the firmware to the latest stable version):

MySQL - to enable this, I needed to upgrade the firmware.  Or at least that was what the system said, and who am I to object?  Administering MySQL databases is easiest using a GUI such as PhpMyAdmin, so I installed...

A bright but very cold morning greeted the five intrepid (or possibly foolhardy) riders who turned out for the 2010 edition of the North Bucks Road Club's annual New Year 10 mile time trial.  As last year, the event was run on the F5d/10.  I suspect it was actually colder this year than it was last year, but bathed in sunshine instead of the clammy atmosphere of last year, it almost seemed balmy. 

This was the first competitive outing for my new time trial bike, so I was bound to be a bit cautious as I made my way over to the club room.  I'll probably write some more detailed notes on the bike later, but two points for now - the steering seemed alarmingly twitchy as slow speed, but once down on the tribars and at racing speed, everything seemed very good; this was my first proper ride on Speedplay pedals, and I'm most impressed.  I had decided to try out the GPS receiver for the Polar bike computer, but I couldn't get it to work, so rode the event solely on heart rate.

The Conservatives, fired by the controversial arrest of their immigration spokeman within the House of Commons earlier this year appear to be somewhat exercised by the issue DNA sample retention by the police (Police policy on deletion of DNA records is shambles, say Conservatives | Politics | The Guardian).  The dear old UK Government appears to be fighting a rearguard action to evade the judgment from Europe that the retention of DNA samples and associated data on individuals who end up either not being charged or not being found guilty infringes human rights.

Freedom of information requests to police forces in England and Wales by the shadow immigration spokesman, Damian Green, reveal a huge disparity in the way records are treated. "The force most likely to remove your DNA profile is South Yorkshire, with 83% of requests granted," said Green. "However, of the total requests to 26
different forces, less than half were granted. Some forces, including Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire and Nottingham, refused to remove any profiles."

What's even more astonishing is the Government's belief that an individual arrested but not found guilty of a minor offence is in some way more innocent than an individual arrested but not found guilty of a serious offence.  As the Guardian reports:

One would have to be a spectacularly unaware competitive cyclist to remain ignorant of the spread of power meters in the ranks of bike racers.  In the past I've not moved in this direction, for a number of reasons, some practical (e.g. typical power meters would be a faff to move from bike to bike, unlike the typical HRM), some more theoretical ( e.g. isn't it best to assess the physiological demands of a training session).

At the end of the 2009 season I bought a Polar CS600X bike computer with power metering capability.  I've written the first part of a review on the usage of power meter data (framed by a book review) over at the Team Grumpy website.

So, the latest investigatin of an organised doping ring (Virú Investigation Turns Up Kelme Documents - Cyclingnews.com) appears to be turning up evidence that accusations of systematic doping were suppressed.

Wind back the clock a few years to 2004, and we find Kelme rider Jesús Manzano (who I recall collapsed from side effects of doping practices) made accusations of systematic doping in the Kelme team.  I don't however remember any significant action being taken.  Cyclingnews reports that

According to Tuesday’s edition of Spanish sports daily AS, among the papers found during a search of a Valencia clinic run by ex-Kelme doctor Walter Virú were records of doping plans and treatments. AS indicates that some of the plans could have been drawn up for riders who are still competing.
AS claims that these plans are exactly the same as those that former Kelme rider Jesús Manzano showed to the Spanish cycling federation and police investigators back in 2004 when Manzano alleged systematic doping had taken place within that team.

Even better is the secretive system of using code words to denote different doping substances.  My goodness these doping clinics do seem to fancy themselves as being in some kind of James Bond business.  I just worry that someone, somewhere will give them a licence to kill.

Each year, I try to have a project for the christmas break - it's usually a bit more interesting than sitting around in an overfed state watching poor quality TV.  A few years ago I decided to do internet genealogy, which became something of an obsession for a few months (and which I occasionally revisit) and indirectly resulted in this website's first incarnation.  This year, I decided to re-evaluate our domestic computer provision.

While I have almost completely moved to using GNU/Linux on my computers (for the last few years I've been using Ubuntu), Mrs Grumpy remains a Windows user (principally XP), so whatever changes I make need to take that into account.  At the moment, we have a number of portable devices which hook up wirelessly to our router, and two Ubuntu desktop PCs and a printer which connect via ethernet cables.  One of those desktop PCs is rarely booted, while the other is used to make backups from laptops and stream music to a Squeezebox 3 (now renamed Squeezebox Classic and no longer marketed).  Backups are handled using BackupPC, which is fairly fiddly to set up, but which is really rather robust and easy to manage via a web interface.

The BBC reports the latest planned device from OLPC BBC News - OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC. Turns out that the last proposal, for a sort of hinged design (XO-2) has been scrapped in favour of a tablet design (XO-3).  They are aiming for launch in 2012.  But in two years' time, what will the tech landscape be like?

And, despite my admiration for the aims of OLPC, might this not just turn into vapourware?  I do note that the BBC report says

OLPC recently said that the organisation would just focus on promoting its concepts and educational aims, rather than manufacturing laptops.

The Register reports that Mobile networks line up to bash net snooping plan. El Reg has used FoI requests to obtain information related to the public consultation on the UK Government's euphemistically named "Internet Modernisation Programme", under which all ISPs were expected to eavesdrop and record information about their clients' communications.  Criticism has been severe enough to stall development of this vile and intrusive plan until after the next election.  The Register reports that

The mobile operators variously attack IMP's technical feasibility, its legality, its impact on customer privacy and its opaque £2bn cost estimate. They also question the consultation's assertion that the ability to access records of all communications is essential for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to do their jobs.