David [SiT] jokes that I only attended the Networked Learning Environment Project workshop yesterday to ... get hold of some more acronyms. I replied to this acronymonious suggestion with news of one that provoked some reaction at the workshop ;-)

Sir Ernest Rutherford, President of the Royal Academy, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, related the following story:

Some time ago I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed a perfect score. The instructor and the student agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected.

I read the examination question: "Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer." The student had answered: More...

Read the Full Story

Major bummer!! I've just lost the best part of an hour's preparation of my thoughts about the areas of interest I submitted when registering for the TLTP Dissemination Event held in Newcastle later today. Should have known better than not save my BBEdited file and just rely on a cut'n'paste into an IE form for this website. IE5 locked up my machine completely before I had a chance to post my message.

I'm not taking any chances with this message! Save often!!

Since I have an early start later this morning - to catch the 06:30 train from Edinburgh to Newcastle, I don't have the time to reconstitute my list just now. Suffice to say my interest in, and potential contribution to, the event is geared around the four Zope-based final year student projects from my ZEUS Projects and CRUXIAL Projects suggestions. Namely:

• ZAPHOD Project,
• ZEALOUS Project(s),
• ZOETROPE Project, and
• BONEZ Project

:: Boxmind.com ::

BOXMIND is the world's premier academic resource directory and ratings agency.

Or so they claim!

The Register: Vendors, users team to create secure XML

A group of 45 IT companies and enterprises has formed a group that aims to create a standard way to secure internet-based transactions that use XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

The AuthXML Working Group will develop a specification covering authentication and authorising information in XML which it will then submit to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

The group includes security firms such at Check Point Software; networking vendors, such as Novell; consultancies like PricewaterhouseCoopers and end-users such as the Royal Bank of Scotland. However, the group is more interesting for who it does not include - most noticeably Microsoft, which has formed a group to develop a complementary technology.

Looks like secure XML is going to bifurcate. Microsoft's vs The Rest!!

The Register: Govt ministers distance themselves from email spy plan

Government ministers are distancing themselves from the Draconian surveillance measures proposed by NCIS deputy Roger Gaspar in a report to the Home Office.

The full text of the NCIS Submission on Communications Data Retention Law.

Thanks to Brian Carnell's hints about Using Weblog View to Create a RSS file I now have a daily RSS feed that only contains weblog entries - at http://www.smeed.org/rss/daylog.rss

via Andrea - AllTheTests.com - The Searchengine and Directory to all IQ-Tests, EQ-Tests, Career-Tests, Health-Tests and much more

Jim fills in the the RUst of the story about the pricing of Radio Userland. Like me, and I guess virtually everyone else that has had their web/music experience enhanced by RU, Jim would be happy to pay for it and help recompense Userland for the substantial investment that has already gone into the development of such a gallus app.