Some random travel/hippy articles

US immigration ‘worst in the world’

Entry requirements in the United States are the “worst in the world” and visa rules are “cumbersome”, causing tourists to steer clear of America, according to a leading figure in US travel and tourism.

It’s certainly one reason I’m not going to or through the US.
In other news, organic food really is better:

The biggest study into organic food has found that it is more nutritious than ordinary produce and may help to lengthen people’s lives.
The evidence from the £12m four-year project will end years of debate and is likely to overturn government advice that eating organic food is no more than a lifestyle choice.
The study found that organic fruit and vegetables contained as much as 40% more antioxidants, which scientists believe can cut the risk of cancer and heart disease, Britain’s biggest killers. They also had higher levels of beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc.

Call to use leftovers and cut food waste

Research by the government’s waste reduction agency, Wrap, found that one third of all food bought in Britain is thrown away – of which half is edible. Wrap will claim that this discarded food is a bigger problem than packaging, as the food supply chain accounts for a fifth of UK carbon emissions and decomposing food releases methane, the most potent of the greenhouse gases. Wasted food is estimated to cost each British household from £250 to £400 a year.
‘If we stopped the amount [of food waste] that we could stop, it would be the same as taking one fifth of cars off the road

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.

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.

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.

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.

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