Writer in Residence - Cornwall

Just a short post now to try out 'mail to blog' on my Blackberry. As I spend more time on the road, I want to make real use of the mobile facilities at my disposal. Let's see how this works.
------------------
Sent with Instant Email from T-Mobile

Infosecurity is once again taking place in Olympia London and I've relocated myself away from the sea to the edges of Hyde Park for the three days. I took the sleeper from Truro to arrive in time for Tuesday morning's breakfast meeting and presentation by Bruce Schneier, Information Security guru and founder/CTO of Counterpane. Apart from giving away copies of his book - Beyond Fear - a look at security from a more measured standpoint away from the usual hype that comes from the security vendors (most of whom are here and hyping the magic that they can do). Bruce noted that much of cyber crime - hacking, viruses and worms, spam and spyware come through criminally controlled bot nets - groups of compromised home and small business PCs whose security was either non existent or out of date. Question is how do we eliminate the problem. Education of users has been mooted, but who should do this and how would it be funded? The metaphor often used is the Driving Test for motor vehicles but could that sort of operation work - and would it improve things? Schneier points out that problems arise when home users take to the internet and that they do that through ISPs. Some ISPs offer spam/virus/spyware checking currently and most don't. If they all did, maybe we could deal with the problem.

However, as we have seen many times before, solving one problenm simply sends the vast army of very clever individuals out to find a new way of making money out of the dark side of the net. Happy surfing.

My good friend and Ecademy colleague Robert Rush has drawn my attention to a fine piece of blogging on the BBC Cornwall site. It follows the London Marathon last Sunday where Paula Radcliffe stopped by the roadside to empty her bladder on the way to once again winning the event. Thruster is a mature surfer (if that is not an impossibility) who draws a comparison between Paula and the frequency with which surfers pee their suits and concludes that surfers who do this must now be considered "among the most dedicated athletes in the world" rather than "a festering scumbag" as might have been the case pre Paula's pee. See the whole article here (and do look at previous blogs, too).

Today sees the Web launch of Hungry Week, a project which has been gestating in Ecademy for a while. It has been developed using collaborative tools on the web and we are now looking for YOUR support. Around the world there are more than 1 billion overfed and obese people and more than 840 million people who are living in a state of chronic, persistent hunger. Developed countries are spending billions every year treating obesity related illnesses whilst 6 million children under the age of five die from the effects of hunger every year. Up to 7% of some healthcare budgets is spent on treating obesity-related illness - for example heart diease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoarthritis and psychological symptoms.

This situation is not inevitable. According to the World Health Organisation, there are 2,750 calories of food per day for every person in the world at current production levels – enough to provide everyone with their minimum nutritional needs every day – and still have some to spare.

Take 30 seconds now to register your interest in this campaign. Then from 13th June this year, spend seven days feeling a little (or a lot) hungry.

One of our team, Jeremy Dent has just undertaken a Hungry Week in which he lived on 1,000 calories a day. His comment on Day 6 was "You know those things you take on rather glibly - giving your own time; helping someone out; giving to charity....you part with resources but it isn't too painful. Try parting with one of the most fundamental resources you need: shelter, companionship, love, warmth or....food.
My 1,000 cals a day diet this week has affected me fundamentally. It has changed my attitude to food, what we use it for, how people suffer without it, how listless you become on a below-par diet."

Please, if you do nothing else - do this. It costs you nothing except a little weight and it could be big enough for the politicians to hear us. In the 21st century there should not be such a shocking situation where some of us stuff ourselves with plenty whilst others die through lack of basic nutrition.

Seems like I've been a little remiss in posting here for the past two weeks. The excuses come tripping off the tongue so smoothly - Easter got in the way, dial up networking whilst waiting for Broadband - but the truth is that my brain hit overload and I really couldn't find space to think what should appear here.

As I may have noted here before, the move to Cornwall was made to free me up to write more and better stuff. Then I chose to get involved with activity taking place in other parts of the UK and other parts of the world. Travelling may broaden the mind (and the backside) but it also adds costs to life and makes those of us who are getting on in years more tired.

However, I am where I am and that is precisely where I wanted to be. Somehow in the welter of activity that has been the past year, we have moved to where we want to be (well, perhaps a little further from the sea but it's only five minutes away) and are beginning to recognise the benefits of living in Cornwall. So why make excuses for the fact that I've been spending some time in the garden getting it straight (I'm hired labour not the creative element!) and I've been enjoying the environment I'm in. Most of the pressure I feel is self-made and it can be sorted. Instead of sitting here in front of my computer, I should be relaxing ready for a busy day tomorrow.

Oh yes - Broadband arrived in the new place on Friday. 2MBs of it! The difference between dial up and Broadband just got much bigger. Now I'm back on Broadband, I will commit to putting this blog out there more often. So, if anyone is listening - good night and speak soon.

Andy