Blog of Hamlesh

I’ve never really liked Porsche’s, never seen the point, overpriced, no passion, yada yada yada. Sorry, bored thinking of something to say about them…

My views of our Fuhrer; over tax the car, cars are bad although short haul flights are worse for the environment, congestion tax is about reducing congestion and not about revenue generation, yes you should use public transport, although its more expensive than driving, even with my brilliant congestion taxing policy/revenue generation/tax, and I use taxis to get around, use public transport, not for me thanks, Ken Livingston… *breath*

The car park I use on Park Lane is also a transit location where cars that have been evading the congestion tax are clamped, picked up and taken to. Walking from the car park to the office this morning, this made me feel all warm inside.

Begs the question… is the Westminster council on a mission to rid our streets of crappy Porsche “cars”… I feel ill even associating the word “car” with P…

RSPCA murder protected Hindu cow without allowing Hindu’s to perform last rights and prayers!

It is a widely known fact that within the Hindu faith, the cow is a revered and sacred animal.  I say widely known, but apparently the Secretary of State, and the RSPCA are unaware of this.

I have written what follows with great care to maintain the facts, and to put my personal feelings aside.

Bhativedanta Manor, the Hare Krishna temple in Watford is home to many Cows under the ISKCON Cow Protection Programme.  The temple has a number of working cows and bulls, who are well looked after, work the land, and provide milk used in the day to day worship and food preparations.

A year and a half ago, one of the cows was injured when a bull jumped on her back, vets and animal welfare professionals were called, and their professional advise followed.  The prognosis was that the cow would pass away naturally in a few days due to the nature of her injuries.  However she has been making a slow and steady recovery for the last year and a half, well cared for by the temple monks, and visited regularly by a number of vets and animal welfare professionals.

Last week a vet from the State Veterinary Service came to conduct a test (presumably for foot and mouth) on a number of cows at the temple and assed the injured cow’s position.  The vet was informed on the Hindu faiths position on cow care, and the progress in recovery she has made over the last year.  He indicated on his departure that nothing further would probably come of his visit, given the manner in which the temple has continued to care for and nurse the cow back to health.

On the 12th of December the temple was visited by senior members of the RSPCA, escorted by the police, they were served a warrant, stating that the cow would have to be euthanised in due course (not immediately).  During the visit the temple monks were given the impression that they would have the opportunity of taking legal action to stop the murder of the cow, or at the very least have their say.

This morning the RSPCA and police visited the temple barn with a warrant, without due notice the cow was murdered.  The senior RSPCA officers had delayed and distracted the monk caring for the cow, to allow his colleague to murder the cow.

My thoughts

I struggled while writing the “article” above, and it is constructed so that the average member of the public can read it and understand what follows.

I am, what most would understand as a Hare Krishna, a member of the Hindu faith.  Frankly, and simply put, I am angry, very very angry, and as this disseminates throughout the Hindu community, everyone else will be getting angry too.  It is one thing to put down an animal that is infected, and proves a threat to other animals and the human populous at large.  But to sneak around and murder a cow who’s condition and health had been steadily improving, who had been well cared for, regularly visited and assessed by independent (not of the Hindu faith) vets, this, this despicable action will not stand.

Our faith and beliefs have been completely disregarded by the authorities, had they followed the correct legal channels, and given us the chance of representation, this would have been a different matter entirely.  The temple devotees were not even given the right (given by law in this country!) to perform “the last rights”, or any other prayers for the soul of one of Krishna’s sacred cows.

Given my affiliations, I am refraining from voicing much of what I really feel, but this will not stand!

Well, since the Frankfurt motorshow theres been a lot of buzz around this car, and after the initial “oou, ahh” phase had passed, I wondered to myself what the point was - yes I realise *me* questioning the point of a hyper car is assanine, but yet I wonder.

• Only 20 of them are going to be built - and duh, they’ve all already been sold.
• It’ll cost around about £900k - then again the price isnt the point.
• They only produce 650 bhp… eh?

Then theres the way the thing looks, hyper cars, as far as I am concerned, and given that I am usually always right, should make you fall in love with them; just on their looks (think Countach, CCX, etc.. now stop drooling).  Ripping your face off with power comes later, like super models, honestly, you really dont care whats upstairs until you get past the initial (in the imortal words of Joey) how you doin’ phase - and hopefully that phase takes time to get past.

Well look at this thing, its too much, too aggressive (WTF am I saying!!), it looks like the bastard love child between a 612 Scaglietti and a stealth bomber… that said, I am looking forward to the reviews of it, hopefully it will follow in the footsteps of the LP640.  We shall see…  On the plus side, the interior looks superb (given Lamborghini’s usual standard) - Audi’s influence is paying off it would seem - oh and, Kenwood head unit… say what?!  You’d expect something a little better if you’re shelling out £900k on a car, that said, you aren’t likely to hear the sound system over the V12 monster in the back
I know this sounds like a bit of a Lamborghini bashing, and given my Ferrari links, it may well be a biased view, but they can do better, this seems a little rushed, and just a new body on top of the LP640.  That said the Lamborghini only came about as an alternative to Ferrari, and they have yet to surpass the prancing horse.

For those of you that dont know the history, you really should read more
Ferruccio Lamborghini went to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory to complain about the quality of the clutch in the Ferrari 250 GT he owned. Enzo Ferrari sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors (which Lambo make!) because he was not able to drive cars. Lamborghini went back to his factory, had his Ferrari’s clutch dismantled and realized that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches for his tractors. In his warehouse he found a spare part which he thought suitable, and when it was installed the problem was solved.  The bull was born.

Right enough of my ramblings.  More piccies can be found here.

Two and a half years ago now, I presented a whitepaper on the future of the data center marketspace. This was linked to a business pitch and some funding that we were trying to raise at the time. The feedback, although constructive, essentially told me that I was wrong… mainly due to my age (20 at the time) and supposed “lack of experience”.

The key things I was predicting, and to be honest anyone that really understood the industry at the time would also have known;

• Supplying power (electricity) would be the biggest issuefor the London data center space.
• Effectively cooling servers/data halls, would be a close second.

The biggest problem with cooling is the heat transferal capability of air, companies like spraycool have finally commercialised and are bringing to market water cooling technologies that case modders and enthusiasts have been playing with for a long time. Its strange in a way as the old IBM mainframes and VAX20 systems used to use water cooling, or “cold water cooling” well before the days of i386 and the Intel/AMD infrastructures we are used to today. Air cooling at the time made sense, at least now we are starting to learn from some of the wisdom of the past.

Anyway, the reason for this ranting; We’ve (a few of us select battling entrepreneurs) have been working on a plan to build a datacenter, or at least a chain of datacenters, for the market of tomorrow. What will the data center scape look like in 2 to 3 years time? Well… I’m not going to share that now am I I was right two years ago, and I’m sure as hell going to be right in a few years time! Hopefully this time people would have learnt that the way of the Hamlesh is the right way \o/

Recent new data center build announcements;

TelecityRedbus has begun construction on a new $100 million (£50 million) data center in Central London. The Powergate facility, will include 50,000 square feet of space and open in the second quarter of 2008, will be TelecityRedbus’ eighth data center in London.

“Google, welcome to Iowa!” With those four words, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver ended months of speculation this morning and confirmed that Google will locate a major data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The $600 million data center will provide 200 jobs for the local economy, and “will have a tremendous impact on Council Bluffs, western Iowa and the entire state,” Culver said.

Sourced from TG.

I have highlighted my favourites
1. According to Euro NCAP, an Audi Q7 is less harmful in a pedestrian impact than a Ford Fiesta.

2. A season of F1 racing burns less fossil fuel than a single transatlantic 747 flight.

3. The Stern Report found that cars make up less than half of all transport emissions in the UK.

4. The average British home emits 1,500kg more CO2 per year than a Ford Focus.

5. Buy local. A car carrier burns 1,756 tonnes of heavy fuel oil one way from Japan to the UK.

6. Oxford Street is the UK’s most polluted street. Most of Oxford Street’s length is closed to cars.

7. Like trains, cars are only efficient when they’re full. A fully loaded Discovery emits less CO² per occupant than a fully loaded Smart.

8. Acid rain created from mining nickel for Prius batteries has destroyed the landscape in Sudbury, Ontario to such an extent that NASA now uses the area to test drive its latest lunar vehicles.

9. It’s at least three times cheaper to drive a small diesel from London to Edinburgh than it is to take the train.

10. The average saloon car is responsible for its own kerbweight in CO2 per year. The average Brit accounts for 30 times his own body weight.

11. The UK’s superminis emit three times as much C0² as its SUVs.

12. While 85 per cent of cars are recyclable by law, trains go unregulated, with much of each heading to landfill.

13. A domestic flight emits around 400g/km of CO² per passenger, four times that of a small diesel car with only the driver onboard.

14. Despite being smaller and emitting less CO² than a Toyota Prius, the Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion is not exempt from London’s Congestion Charge.

15. Farting cows are responsible for 18 per cent of all greenhouse gases, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

16. Anti-car evangelist Ken Livingstone doesn’t even have a driving licence. But he does have a Prius.

17. A Land Rover Discovery has a smaller carbon footprint than a London Cab.

18. Carbon offsetting could do more harm than good. Forests north of the Tropics retain heat and actually contribute to global warming.

19. A Boeing 747 emits 400 tonnes of C0² in 24 hours. It would take 250 cars a year to achieve this.

20. Some electric cars aren’t even governed by today’s safety legislature. The G-Wiz being one example.

Once again proving that all you eco-motoring muppets are wrong, and I am right; all this eco-motoring crap is yet again another example of the media getting their teeth into something that sells papers (lets just ignore the eco ramifications of this for now).

I get back home to Reading at around 23:45 last night, after a long day at the office, working hard, keeping my head down, paying my taxes, contributing to society.

I go to bed, wake up, walk out to get something from my car this morning and find this;

Someone thought it would be fun to break into my car… so lets look at this logically, theres nothing on display, Saab’s are pretty much un-boostable, the car is on my driveway, theres a little light that turns on if someone comes onto the driveway. So this person, walked off of the street, onto my drive, and smashed in my car window.

People like that should be put down. They serve no purpose in society. Fortunately for me the BT engineers deployment center directly opposite my house should have CCTV overlooking their entrance and the street.

I used to think some of my more compasionate friends may have had a point, everyone in society serves a purpose and that we should be understanding to peoples differnt situations, bullocks to that, just put them down and stop wasting everyones time and money.

I know, I know, most people think I am 30 odd when they first meet me, and that I can deal with.  I think its better to come across as older and more mature, being that way has played a big part in the growth of Berkeley IT.  But come on… this is just silly…

I currently share a large house in Reading with 6 other people (the place is huge, so much so that I have my own server room, with a rack in it!).  Two of the guys I shared a house with last year.  One of the two girls that lives in the house, until yesterday thought I was 30 odd… we’ve lived in the same house for almost 4-5 months now… granted I leave home at 0530 and dont get back till 2300+ on a regular basis, but we still go to the pub from time to time, or play poker.  Oh and btw I act like a complete child when I am not in “work” mode, a very hyper child that enjoys jumping off of buildings and doing other crazy things… yes… indeed.

Meh anyway, enough of my ranting and raving.

I’ve spent 12.5 hours in one of the London datacenters that we have a few racks in today. I have been assaulted by white noise, even though I had my headphones and music on all day. Being a muppet I forgot to take my midrange Sennheiser’s with me, damn running headphones allows external noise to bleed through.

Days like today I don’t miss doing techy stuff, although the sadistic side of me enjoyed the day. I got sooooo much done though, and closed some business too.

Time to go home now \o/…via the pub I think…

Go go caffeinated ferret…

… don’t ask … Andy came up with the name to depict how I bounce around after too much coffee

On a daily basis I park my car about 10 mins away from Gunnersbury tube station, and tube to Green Park (via Hammersmith).  This makes my commute from Reading somewhat longer, however for now, needs must.  The cheapest central London parking I’ve found is in Hammersmith, around 20 for the day (bare in mind my typical day runs from 0600 till 2300).  Parking nearer the office sets me back 35 for my typical day, so for now I tolerate the longer journey time - the longer term plan is to buy a parking space in the car park near the office… Mayfair, not cheap!

Anyway, back to the reason for my ranting; this morning I arrived at Gunnersbury for 0615, there was a train scheduled for 0620, this would have allowed me to get to the Soho temple in time for morning prayers.  I have been encouraged to attend the morning program before work by one on my clients, who helps and guides me a lot , and who I look up to.

You can understand my frustration then when the bloody tube doesn’t show up.  Not cancelled or delayed, it just disappears off of the board as if it had arrived and left… The following two tubes do the same thing, and no one says boo.  Its not like its the first time this has happened, but still its worth ranting about.  We get slapped with congestion tax supposedly to improve public transport, when in fact the money is poured into enforcement cameras.  The tax funding the taxation… I look forward to the day that I can sever any reliance on the public transport in this country - its one of the things that really lets our great nation down.  I’d understand if this happened (as it typically does) in the country, such as up in Malvern, but come on, this is London!

Makes you really appreciate the Swiss public transport system.

eBay have without a doubt the worst and most frustrating customer service in the universe, both known and unknown.  I am sure as we discover more of the universe they will still continue to offer the worst level of customer service.

I am too irritated to go into why they suck, but suffice it to say I deal with a lot of people and a lot of companies, this is the worst experience I have ever had.  They are worse than the Three phone network - and thats saying something!