Poetry

Hills smile

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Spring hills faintly melting seem to smile
Summer hills of pale green seem to trickle
Autumn hills bright and clean seem all dressed up
Winter hills faintly sad seem to sleep

The origin of haiku may be spontaneous but its craft depends on a lot of structural and exacting norms. This process, which is the essence of the haiku art, has no spontaneity. It is like a jeweller’s craft after “the feeling” has been caught. In fact haikus represent a delicate balance between spontaneous feeling like what Zen called “Satori” and subsequent craft.

— from a review by N.K. Singh

Security

Danish safety

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Do you see the 50?I recently commented on the innovative approach to road safety in parts of Europe where all signs will be taken down. The Danes have apparently come up with the opposite strategy — make warning signs as distracting as possible:

Julia Pauli of the Danish road safety council told the BBC that the reaction to the Speedbandits video had been mostly positive.

“If you want to reach the young people, you have to communicate on their conditions… So, topless women are working,” she said.

She said the advertising campaign had been tested and in the target group it was really positive – more than 50% said they were thinking more about the dangers of speeding when driving.

Rediculous. But I have to wonder if the same approach might help in reducing the number of security bugs in web applications.

Edited to add (26 Nov 2006): Funny to see men in the promotional video hanging out of their truck to take pictures of the topless women. That seems safe. And then there is the interview of the truck driver smoking a cigarette while his passenger munches on lunch. With this approach I supect there will be more smoking, eating, and photography before there is more attention paid to road safety. Incidentally, I also thought it funny that the offical Danish Road Safety Council site suggests “Respecting the speed limits is the simplest way to save lives.” Respect, indeed.

Security

The Olympics and project management risk

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The BBC has a rather sarcastic but informative comparison of the London and Beijing project management styles:

With two years to go until the Beijing Olympics the Chinese government says its preparations are on schedule and on budget.

So as London prepares to hold the Olympics in 2012 what can it learn from the Beijing experience?

Not surprising that the Brit’s recommendation is to remove worker’s rights and squash dissent in order to compete. I’m not saying I disagree with his characterization of what makes the Chinese method less prone to risk, but I wonder if that was the position he started with and thus the story is an affirmation of extant cultural beliefs (e.g. stereotypes) rather than an investigation…

Food, History, Security

Kras 1911 Marcipan Dessert

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I usually find Marzipan more like building material than a dessert, but the Kras 1911 Marcipan is highly recommended. I can not remember the last time I had such a fine dark chocolate with subtle almond flavor. The consistency is perfect. However, I’m a little suspicious of ingredients E322, E420, E1102, E475, E202, E330, and artificial vanillan flavor. Something tells me those are not from the same process originally used in 1911 by the “first chocolate manufacturer in southeastern Europe”. On the other hand, this is a chocolate made compliant with IS0 9001, according to the Kras site. Mmmm, you can taste the compliance.

Kras was among the first to agreed to requests of the new international ISO 9001:2000 Standard, the implementation of which provides quality of work and of overall business operations of the Company.

Apart from quality, Kras pays special attention to the control of food safety of its products.

Owing to the controlled selection of raw materials, and in line with the applied integral HACCP concept of providing food safety, all of the Kras products are GMO free.

Maybe they should relabel this treat as the Kras ISO9001:2000 Marcipan? Their quality policy can be found here (PDF).

Delicious. But may I suggest real vanilla? Not sure what number that would be in the E series…

E322 Lecithins, (emulsifier) (from soy bean, egg yolk) (# overdose intestinal problems, sweating) (used in combined oils margarine, chocolate)
E420 Sorbitol, Sorbitol syrup (from glucose in berries or synthesized (artificial sweetener, bulking agent, humectant )
E1102 Glucose oxidase (enzyme, acidity regulator)
E475 Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (emulsifier)
E202 Potassium sorbate (preservative)
E330 Citric acid (from citrus fruit) (food acid, acidity regulator, flavouring) (used in infant formula, processed cheese, soft drinks)

One thing I like about about these reference numbers is that it suggests a very simple way for a consumer to scan an ingredients list and immediately identify dangerous or undesired substances. Would be interesting to have a scanner in a shopping basket that could trigger an alarm when you put an item in, or maybe just give a risk rating summary based on total contents. Or perhaps waiting until it is in the basket is too late (marketing got ya?) and the scanner should help you select appropriate items from the shelves…no more label turning and squinting. Could the numbers be extended as well to add more specificity of origin, suggesting region, or organic/quality levels?