Critters

I’ve discovered in Virginia we have a new classification of animal, critters (pronounced kret-urs almost like crater in English).  These “critters” include a wide range of animals I’d previously considered mammals.  The key examples in this arguement being the squirrels and chipmunks who have decided to attack every piece of new planting in our back yard, and every tub or container on our decks.

Now I know these little woodland critters are just looking for food, but my backyard backs onto a large forest so surely there must be easier pickings than wading through our mulch and uprooting our lavendar!  To this end Laura has purchased us some “Critter Repellent” which we’re hoping will do the trick.  Interestingly two of its main ingredients are urea and garlic, a bizarre seasoning combination and makes me wonder if it would work as well on French squirrels!

The name though reminded me of the film Critters from 1986… so here we have the two battling forces, I’ll let you know who wins!

Handguns in Washington D.C.

I’m having a bit of a quandry at the moment.  I’ve just read that the US Supreme Court have struck down a ban on handguns in Washington D.C. as unconsititutional (See BBC News article here and Washington Post article here) and i’m not entirely sure what to think.  On the one hand, the Englishman in me remembers the terrible shootings in Hungerford and Dunblane and the ban on handguns brought in by the new Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997.  On the other hand I know that although Britain is now known as a country with strict gun controls these laws have existed for less than 100 years.  Both the US Constitutional right and the British constitutional law (we don’t need a constitution as I previously discussed here) come from the same legislation, the 1689 Bill of Rights brought into law by William of Orange (See BBC News article on Britain’s changing gun laws here).  As stated in the Bill of Rights:

Whereas the late King James the Second, by the assistance of divers evil counsellors, judges and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of this kingdom;

By causing several good subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when papists were both armed and employed contrary to law;

William of Orange revoked King James old law and enacted a law:

That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;

So I have a quandry, I think that guns are dangerous in the wrong hands.  I know that if all guns could be effectively banned and destroyed the opportunistic gun crimes, and firearm incidents, would be greatly reduced but I am not unrealistic and I appreciate that criminals will always be able to get guns if they really want to.  Where is the balance?  I feel Britain has become legally bogged down under some of the current legislation, and the current spate of gun crimes using either reworked imitation firearms or fully automatic submachine guns shows that the existing legislation isn’t working.  Guns are still getting through and the only people who find it hard to own them are the people who were probably safe to own them in the first place!  On the other hand, I live in northern Virginia where handgun purchases have become tougher since the Virginia Tech Massacre but these new restrictions do not really prevent anyone from owning a gun.

In my neighbourhood I know most of my neighbours have at least one gun.  That said most of my neighbours wear a variety of uniforms (or specific lack thereof) and I feel much safer knowing that they do have these weapons since they know how to use them, and how to keep them safely.  I’ve never seen a gun in our neighbourhood even though I know they are there. That said, I’ve discovered live ammunition in the carpark of my previous employer and still cannot get used to seeing every police officer and most security guards in stores carrying handguns.  Would banning these weapons make any difference?  Will the change of the law in D.C. make any difference to the recent spate of murders and gun crimes?  I don’t know the answer, but it keeps me thinking and as this Gallup Poll shows, I don’t think the law will change anytime soon…

Did Shakespeare play World of Warcraft

I’d been out to lunch, and as I was getting back into my car 3 lads shouted

“F@ck World of Warcraft”

at me from across the street and proceeded to get into their (work supplied) pick-up truck, laughing.

I found myself wondering if it would be worthwhile mentioning to them that my license plate is “The Bard” not because of Word of Warcraft, or even because of this blog title, but because my hometown is home to the most famous bard of them all, William Shakespeare!

Then I realised that 3 kids in baseball caps and ripped jeans driving a construction pick-up truck weren’t likely to have heard of Shakespeare, and if they had maybe they knew something I didn’t and Shakespeare did play World of Warcraft!

Driving home from Fairfax

While Laura was driving us home today I thought I’d try the video mode on my new phone.  It isn’t brilliant, but compared to missing a moment altogether it works pretty well.  The clip shows you how green and forested our little part of Virginia is.

Changing technical perceptions

Over on N=Blue there is a great idea to help turn “the perception tide for women in tech”.  This isn’t just a great idea from the standpoint of helping to educate and create greater sexual equality in the tech industry, it is also a great idea to make conferences more socially acceptable places and to help break down some of the gender barriers in and industry that still struggles with “the old boy network” image.

I’ve worked in quite a few tech firms, and have worked for both men and women, and would say that the differences I have seen have nothing to do with gender, and everything to do with good management skills and bad management skills.  It is time the tech industry took a long hard look in the mirror and realised that the beer-gutted geeks are no longer where the talent, or the dollars, are.

I feel N=Blue’s post is especially timely during a week when the most sexist edge of the tech industry, the video games market, in the Uk claimed that they are having a hard time inding suitable employees from university graduates due to the poor selection of suitably defined degree courses (Skills shortage hits games firms – BBC News).  The games industry is notorious for its pandering with sexual imagery to an assumed ‘all powerful’ teenage male market, as seen earlier this week by the new articles reporting a U-turn by the deveopers of the Age of Conan video game over the berast size of female characters (Age of Conan – gamer fury as breasts reduced – Telegraph).  However the times are changing as proven by Ninteno’s success with the family, and gender friendly, Wii platform.  With news that Nintendo dominates May sales (BBC News) in the US, we can hope that the industry will realise that this isn’t a knee jerk reaction to violent games, but actually a general shift towards games that respect the lifestyle, attitudes, and interests of a wider user base.

So if you’re interested in new ideas, and a potentially beneficial way to encourage young women into the tech industry, then check out the following article on N=Blue: Good Idea #2: Turning the perception tide for women in tech.