Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
- A well-presented account of the life of the prophet Mohammed on this Islamic site.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
An Inconvenient Truth
We went to see An Inconvenient Truth on Saturday. The film centres on a lecture on climate change given by Al Gore, which doesn't sound like gripping subject matter, but really it was. I haven't been to many films where the audience has applauded at the end.
I'd always thought of myself as reasonably ecologically responsible, but perhaps just a tad lazy. The film made me realise just how insignificant my personal convenience is compared with the threat to our little planet. For example, if someone had suggested switching the microwave off at the plug while not using it, I'd have complained that that would mean having to reset the clock every time. In fact, though, I rarely look at the microwave clock, and if I do, it's to save me the not exactly massive effort of looking at my watch. So I now switch the microwave off at night, and unplug the NTL box and DVD recorder. The amount of power saved might not be enormous, but why consume that power at all?
Coincidentally, on the same day we took delivery of one of these energy-saving plugs. It's a great idea—it automatically powers down all the computer's peripherals when the computer shuts down. It has three sockets, and you just plug the computer into the main one, and all the peripherals into extension leads coming off the two auxiliary sockets. I was worried initially that our internet connexion would become temperamental if the cable modem and router were being rebooted at the same time as the PC, but it's all worked fine.
So, if you get a chance, go and see An Inconvenient Truth.
I'd always thought of myself as reasonably ecologically responsible, but perhaps just a tad lazy. The film made me realise just how insignificant my personal convenience is compared with the threat to our little planet. For example, if someone had suggested switching the microwave off at the plug while not using it, I'd have complained that that would mean having to reset the clock every time. In fact, though, I rarely look at the microwave clock, and if I do, it's to save me the not exactly massive effort of looking at my watch. So I now switch the microwave off at night, and unplug the NTL box and DVD recorder. The amount of power saved might not be enormous, but why consume that power at all?
Coincidentally, on the same day we took delivery of one of these energy-saving plugs. It's a great idea—it automatically powers down all the computer's peripherals when the computer shuts down. It has three sockets, and you just plug the computer into the main one, and all the peripherals into extension leads coming off the two auxiliary sockets. I was worried initially that our internet connexion would become temperamental if the cable modem and router were being rebooted at the same time as the PC, but it's all worked fine.
So, if you get a chance, go and see An Inconvenient Truth.
