Aircraft boneyard goes high resolution

Officially known as the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility, but probably better known as The Boneyard, the massive US airbase shown below is reputed to be the world’s largest military aircraft cemetery. Set up shortly after the end of World War II, the facility is located in Tucson, Arizona, on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, chosen for its high altitude and arid conditions, which allow the aircraft t0 be stored outdoors without beginning to deteriorating rapidly.

The site covers 2,600 acre site, said to be the same as 1,430 football pitches, and contains some 4,200 retired aircraft representing almost every type the US armed forces have flown since World War II, as well as 40 aerospace vehicles.

AMARG is also a major industrial centre, refurbishing aircraft prior to their return to flying status, or preparing them for overland transport. Officials at the base say that the parts reclaimed and aircraft withdrawn turns every tax dollar spent into 11 dollars in return.

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UK Web Archive finally launches

The UK Web Archive finally opened for business on February 25, 2010.

We mentioned it before Website archive delays mean digital heritage is being lost, and little has changed in some respects, as one of the first warnings the head of the British Library (BL), Dame Lynne Brindley, has issued is one to the effect that the there is a digital black hole in Britain’s national memory, as there has not been a change in the law to ensure the capture and recording of UK websites.

Under current interpretation of the law, archiving libraries have to identify and then seek the permission of each individual site webmaster before adding a site to the archive. A spokesperson for the library described the situation as ridiculous, and said: “We’ve got the know-how but we need the rules to say we don’t need to ask permission. We’re archiving for the nation rather than commercial gain.”

One example given was that of Woolworth’s. With the business now gone, it’s online presence also disappeared from the internet, although the former company’s web presence has been preserved in the archive.

The National Library of Scotland is also archiving sites. With the average lifespan of a site between 44 and 75 days, and one in 10 lost or replaced each six months, most of the unrecorded 99% are gone for ever.

More background on the issue of copyright and archiving in respect of digital subjects such can be found in this article:

Is copyright getting in the way of us preserving our history? | Victor Keegan | Technology | guardian.co.uk

It makes the point:

The BL is doing a marvellous job of preserving key historical events, but what it covers is only a tiny part – about 6,000 sites so far – of the nation’s digital memory. Even doing that has proved hugely time-consuming because the BL’s small staff has to seek permission every time it takes a copy of anything. This is because of the UK’s archaic copyright laws, which will hopefully be partially corrected in the digital bill now going through parliament. Fewer than 25% of the bodies approached by the BL for permissions even bothered to reply. (My emphasis, Admin).

The issue of copyright is a global nightmare for anyone interested in digital preservation. The problems that Google has encountered in its – utterly praiseworthy – quest to digitise the world’s books are nothing compared to the problems of preserving documentary films where the multiple permissions needed for each one from commercial interests will, as Lawrence Lessig brilliantly describes in the New Republic, lead to a situation where ” the vast majority of documentary films from the 20th century will be forever buried in a lawyer’s thicket inaccessible (legally) because of a set of permissions built into these films at their creation”.

The pathetic response rate is a typical one, and SeSco has the same problem, and suffers an even worse rate of response when trying to get permission to use some wonderful material found online, while attempting to preserve it, and allow more to benefit from it.

In some ways, it is also strange, as those who do respond are usually only too pleased to help, and offer their material freely (for acknowledgement), making one wonder why the others even bothered to place their material online, and all but forget about it, which effectively locks out others from (legitimately) sharing it. It is a great pity, as it means that the material will be lost when those sites are taken down, or die.

Stop and Search under the Terrorism Act 2000

Lest anyone accuse me of trying to spin the only available data, I can only point out that I can only show what figures may be made available, so although I will refer to the preceding posts made in the Blog regarding harassment of photographer using the above Act as justification, I will object if anyone suggests I’m giving the following number as being photographers stopped, rather than merely “Stops and Searches”.

However, what I will point out is the thankfully small numbers listed for Scotland in the following statistics – regardless of anything else, it must make us glad to live here rather than most of the other areas listed.

200,444 people were stopped under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, in the year ending September 2009.

But, it is still a controversial subject, and it has been noted elsewhere that the European Court of Human Rights ruled that police who use Section 44 without grounds (my emphasis, Admin) for suspicion are violating individual freedoms and acting illegally. We also noted that the police announced their plans and intention to curtail use of these powers, Section 44 abuse of photographers continues despite warnings to police. It may be that this has been done, or perhaps the pattern of use has been altered to bring about a change, since the number for the year ending September 2008 was 227,431, meaning a fall of 12% this year compared to last.

Although only 124 were stopped in Scotland, we can still ask how effective the policy is, and if it is doing public relations damage? Only 965 (0.5%) were arrested after being stopped last year.

In the same period, the Metropolitan Police also made 1,896 stop and searches under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (which was referred to in the preceding post, Photographer harassed by police in Kidlington), which allows an officer to stop a person they suspect to be a terrorist. Only four arrests resulted from the use of this particular section, a rate of just 0.2%.

What we don’t know from this particular set of Home Office figures is how many of the arrests resulted in charges or convictions, and how many of those arrested were merely left in a police cell for a few hours, then released without charge.

Stop and search 2008 and 2009

The data can be downloaded here: The full datasheet

What can you say?

Well, with 124 of 200,444 stops being in Scotland, then for the moment at least, I know where I prefer to be found.

datablog/2010/feb/25/stop-and-search-uksecurity”>Terror stop and search police statistics | News | guardian.co.uk

Photographer harassed by police in Kidlington

Stephen Russell picture from the Oxford Mail

Not just old stories about harassment, but new stories popping up as well, and not only the Met down in London.

Like myself, Stephen Russell, from Thrupp, thought the sight of police massing in a street (in this case Kidlington High Street), was out of the ordinary, and worth taking a picture (or four) of.

In return, one of the officers demanded that he delete the photographs he had taken.

Mr Russell, described by the Oxford Mail as an ex-RAF engineer, refused, as it is not illegal to take photographs of police in a public place.

The officer then carried out a search of Mr Russell, and handed him a form which informed he was searched under authority of Section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000, legislation which gives officers the power to stop and search a suspect ‘they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist’.

Probably not what he expected to come home with after leaving home only to buy some fish and chips.

Police “In fear”

Dating from before the existence of this blog, I used to be fairly close the cruise on Ayr Shore. Digital cameras were fairly rare and expensive then, but becoming more common, and playthings for anyone that wanted to look “kewl”.

While I didn’t witness any instances, the above story reminded me of tales circulated at the time that some visitors to the cruise along the esplanade found themselves being taken to one side by police officers who had been driving along with the cruise cars, and had been photographed along with them.

The story was that they would take the photographers to one side, and demand the film, or deletion of digital pics, either on the spot or after being taken to the station in the town centre. The reason given then was that the taking and publishing of pictures which showed the officers’ faces put them in fear for their safety, or some such story.

I don’t know that it was true, and can make no claims regarding something I did not witness or see, but it was a recurring tale, and could also be found on the Ayr Shore web site and forum, however this seems to have been wound up, so I can’t point at it.

That’s also a rather disappointing find, as I know there were one or two ‘locals’ from the area who were determined to have the cruise banned, and although the genuine cruisers biggest sin was a little high spirits, there was an unfortunate attraction of undesirable types, and downright criminals on cruise nights, who the police presence did not seem to deter.

Taking photographs is now Antisocial Behaviour

You really have to wonder if there anyone with an ounce (gramme?) of Common Sense working in the upper levels of the police authority, as its ground troops seem to be out to do their best to sour relationships with the public, at a time – given the number of times its officers refer to terrorism – when it would seem to be a better idea to foster good public relations, and public cooperation. See also Police continue to abuse people with cameras.

The Terrorism Act 2000, and in particular Section 44, has raised its profile and drawn comment in here before, if for no other reason than I have been happily wandering around both town and countryside with camera in hand, taking photographs for no other reason than personal interest. It seems that this may not be sufficient or good reason.

I now genuinely fear that the following videos illustrate that this is no longer a valid reason to such a thing if representatives of the country’s police force are nearby. And I do use the term representatives deliberately, as it would seem that Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) like to use this as an excuse to harass people with cameras. PCSOs are not proper trained police officers, but they are given certain powers, and it seems that some authorities think their use is dubious at best. Although granted the power to use reasonable force, they can’t make an arrest – other than a Citizen’s arrest such as you or I might to – and give all the outward signs of Jobsworths, and maybe even straying into thugs (see the witnesses in the last video below if you think this is an extreme interpretation). I was brought up to question the suitability for anyone that actually volunteered for such a job, as opposed to someone properly trained and assigned (to it). While I think this is a gross oversimplification, I now think it’s also a valid concern, and granting volunteers significant powers seems to be a major mistake – such powers should only ever be granted to those who are trained, and have proven their competence to wield them.

To confuse things slightly, but remain correct, it should be noted that in Scotland, a PCSO is a Police Custody and Security Officer, a civilian employee of the Scottish police force. Most (but not all) of the accounts relating to this problem arise in England, often within the area controlled by the Metropolitan Police.

Photographers’ video reports

The first video was shot by a photographer who ended up spending eight hours in the cells after being stopped twice by PCSOs, then detained by a police officer the third time he was stopped and declined to give his details, on the basis that he believed there was no good reason for him to do so, and was told that his photography was antisocial behaviour. A fuller account of the incident appears in this article.

The second video shows first a plain clothed officer and then a uniformed police office trying to justify their demands after a private security guard called them when a photographer questioned him. The private security guard had been insisting that the photographer only point his camera at the upper floors of the building concerned, and not at the reception area or fire exits.

In the third video, we see an Italian student who was stopped by PCSOs, one of whom appeared to be chewing gum throughout. When she said she was “Filming for fun”, his response was not to believe her, and when thwarted in his attempts to extract details from the woman, decided to remember he had seen her cycle the wrong way in a street. Witnesses (a group of nearby workmen who can be heard shouting in the original video) later described how she had been forced to ground while being arrested and handcuffed, and that one officer involved deliberately used more than reasonable force. After five hours in a police cell, she was issued with an £80 fixed penalty for “Causing harassment, alarm and distress in a public place” – which she had to accept if she wanted to leave.

In all these cases, and probably most others, the suggestion that the individuals concerned are suspect terrorists is laughable, or would be if it did not show how incompetent the official were. In one case, the way the photographer was holding their camera was cited as justification for what amounted to “Stop and Search”, and that they were being intimidating.

What would a terrorist photographer look like?

After looking at these examples, you have to wonder what a genuine terrorist out to take photographs would look like.

Would they take pictures openly and close to their subject, like the individuals referred to here, and risk being accosted by the authorities as per these examples?

Or would they be more likely to visit a target subject or area carrying cameras with stabilised lenses that now offer anyone the ability to shoot pictures at zoom levels of X15 to X30 (and more with high megapixel CCDs and digital zooming or post-processing) with little or no camera shake or blurring, and mean that provided you have a clear view of the subject, can shoot from a distance that means anyone watching for “terrorists” is relatively unlikely to see you before you have your pictures, and make your escape… unmolested.

Videos

Video: Caught on camera: Lancashire police arrest amateur photographer | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Video: A few photographs add up to a minor terror alert | UK news | guardian.co.uk

‘You’re filming for fun? I don’t believe you’ | UK news | guardian.co.uk

And finally…

A shocking excuse is offered to a 27-year-old female filmmaker, who tells how undercover police officers allegedly handcuffed her after she tried to film their colleagues using her mobile phone:

An inspector from the local police station telephones her months later to offer the excuse: “They didn’t know what they were doing.”

Video: ‘I felt totally helpless. I was being restrained’ | UK news | guardian.co.uk

I wish it was finally, but I suspect that there will be more to follow.

MoD blanks out uncomplimentary comments on UFO reports

Coincidentally, just after I mentioned that Scottish UFO reports had been released, a related news item popped up down south.

In this case, the BBC was reporting on the discovery that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had blanked out insults about reports. This followed an earlier decision by the MoD to publish its full archive of reported sightings, following the realisation that it was going to receive a deluge of Freedom of Information Act requests.

Once a secret itself, the memo regarding this blanking out of comments was published on its website, and reveals that “uncomplimentary comments” were edited out. The memo also records that comments on international relations and defence technology were also deleted, and not surprisingly notes that these “include references to air defence matters, defence technology, relations with foreign powers and occasional uncomplimentary comments by staff or police officers about members of the public, which will need to be withheld in accordance with FoI principles.”

The documentation goes on to reveal that:

Contrary to what many members of the public may believe, MoD has no interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life forms visiting the UK, only in ensuring the integrity and security of UK airspace…

The MoD is aware of no clear evidence to prove or disprove the existence of aliens, and consequently the files are considerably less exciting than the ‘industry’ surrounding the UFO phenomena would like to believe.

Interesting to note the MoD has come to the same conclusion as me, and sees the UFO phenomenon as nothing more than an ‘industry’, perpetuated and fuelled by a few self-interested individuals who have made themselves extremely wealthy by preying on the gullible.

I wonder what the guy that told that first tall-story of flying saucers (back in 1947 I think, but don’t quote) would make of it all now, and the apparent fact that the Americans were handed one of the best cover stories for their various top-secret stealth spy-plane development programs that would be carried out in the area of Groom Lake, better known as Area 51, following the end of World War II, and the atart of the Cold War.

The cynical might even suggest that someone from the CIA started that very first story – if so, they deserve a raise. It worked very well.

You can find the various MoD documents on their own Ministry of Defence web site web site. I used to include direct links to help, but they seem to have a habit of re-organising things every now and then, so breaking the links. Just search the site on ‘UFO’, and the relevant contents will be returned.

On UFO and UAP

On looking at the various memos, it can be worth stopping for a moment and reflecting on whether or not the UFO (unidentified flying object) phenomenon would have quite the same magical attraction if the other TLA (three letter acronym) of UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon) had been the preferred term.

Somehow, uapologists just don’t sound as sexy and interesting as ufologists, do they?

Scottish UFO reports released

Included as part of a larger document release from the National Archives, a number of Scottish UFO reports have been placed online, and will be available for free download for the following month.

The reports include references to such things as flying toblerones, travelling across Scotland at 1,100 mph.

Another refers to a document which describe a request submitted to former Prime Minister Tony Blair from a councillor for an inquiry into 600 alleged sightings in the so-called Bonnybridge Triangle, near Falkirk. (One might think a check of the local water supply might have been a more sensible request).

Little more than a rip-off of the Bermuda Triangle myth, the similarity between the two will hopefully come when the same debunking is done to Bonnybridge as has been done to Bermuda, which becomes one of the biggest pieces of nonsense if any of the claims made about that area are tested objectively.

The saddest thing about this release is that it is accompanied with a BBC News report that tells of  Bonnybridge councillor Billy Buchanan, of Falkirk District Council, who wrote to then Prime Minister Mr Blair in October 1997, demanding the phenomena be investigated after five years of pursuing the matter.

An MoD response to the letter said there were no grounds to investigate the matter.  But Mr Buchanan did not give up and wrote to Mr Blair once again in 1998 demanding “the truth”.

You feel sorry for people with someone who would do this serving as their local councillor, and it’s one reason why things like UFO stories need to be relegated, as there is simply no objective proof or evidence, only tribes of “believers”. When evidence does turn up, it either turns out to be something ordinary, and the “believers” don’t accept that – far too logical and simple. “Believers” evidence tends to vanish – no doubt spirited away by MIB (Men In Black).

I’ve been there myself, many years ago, but after getting the T-shirt and building up a heavy library bookshelf filled with the writings of people such as Erich von Däniken, I realised that this was nothing more than a small group of writers who had become extremely wealthy writing about things they had never actually produced any tangible evidence to support, and that if you questioned their writings, you very quickly found yourself unwelcome. If they’re not writing about UFOs, then you’ll find them being paid phenomenal amounts to make guest appearances at gatherings of “believers” – apparently a very lucrative lecture circuit to be on.

It’s something similar to the Dan Brown phenomenon today, with his “holy grail” twaddle that some believe is truth.

He became wealthy too, based on his stories, but he doesn’t sell them as truth.

Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights set to return

The sun goes through an eleven year activity cycle, which last peaked during 2oo1, and according to NASA, is next due to peak in 2013.

The maximum does not occur on any particular day, but last for a period, during which there is increased sunspot activity, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. These take about two days to reach the Earth, when the interact with the planet’s magnetic field, and can produce a much enhanced Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights, as the charged particles are concentrated at the Earth’s magnetic poles. These can cause electrical interference and affect communications. Even though I never saw any significant effects to GPS (Global Positioning System), which I was using extensively in the years around 2001, the media has got hold of it this time, and is already making dire predictions regarding the system’s failure in the coming years of solar maximum, and of SatNav, which currently depends on GPS for its operation. Given the numpties that already blindly follow their SatNav instructions without looking out of their vehicles, and drive off cliffs and along dirt tracks to people’s front doors, how will we know?

As has been noticed in numerous blog entries here, the Scottish Government has decreed that Scottish tourism shall rise by 50% by 2015, and it come as no surprise to learnthat the official Scottish Tourist Board – VisitScotland team have been briefed on the aurora, and will be using it as an attraction to draw tourists, and their wallets of course, to the country.

I have to say that I really do wish them luck, and hope they don’t have too many disappointed visitors.

At the time of the last maximum, I was lucky enough to be spending a lot of time running around the northeast of the country, and could usually be found driving around the wide open space up there at 2 or 3 am. I never saw so much as a eerie glow in the sky, let alone anything that resembled films I had seen of the aurora. I had thought my chances were good, as the sky view there is superb, especially when compared with the light-polluted skies that blight the view anywhere near places like Glasgow. All I ever got to see was the odd shooting star (meteor), and precious few of those.

Looking at NASA’s prediction for this cycle, the activity looks lower than last time, so the chances don’t look as good, but things could be completely different when it arrives, so I’ll still be keeping a watchful and hopeful eye out this time too, but not from such a good vantage point, as I won’t be so far north, but at least being an insomniac means I can watch for most of the night, but I think I’ll be setting up a low-light camera this time. It just might work.

Red squirrel comeback

While I like to avoid reaching the level of a campaign, I also like to keep any eye on some interesting items, such as the plight of incumbent red squirrel population.

Like most ordinary folk, I just used to wander about and go “Oh look… there’s a squirrel!” when a bushy tail flashed past, and it wasn’t attached to a fox – of which there are plenty. It was only later I came to realise there was a significant difference between the red and the grey variety, and that the grey were little more than American import thugs, able to out-eat their UK counterparts (there’s a surprise, Americans eating more), and carriers of a disease that is harmless to them, but fatal to the reds.

Bringing them here a hundred years ago – probably not one of the better ideas someone had.

It should also be a timely warning for the green loony do-gooders that want to introduce non-native species onto Scottish islands. Although they claim green credentials and to be “animal lovers” just wanting to give them a nice home (or some such utter rubbish) they are nothing more than idiots, and do more harm than good to the environment they claim to care about. The animals they “re-locate” generally die of starvation after being abandoned in a location that cannot sustain them, or become prey for something bigger.

A recent report indicates that the UK population of reds is only 121,000, and most of those are to be found in Scotland. It also suggest that work to halt grey squirrels advancing north, and spread of the squirrel pox virus they carry. Sightings of reds in the areas of Aberdeen and Tayside indicate that control of the grey population is beginning to stop, and even turn their advance, and allow the reds to return to populate areas they had been driven out of.

Under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, the red squirrel is one of the first species identified as requiring conservation.

Further information at: Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS).

Next time it snows call the Russians

After covering the amphibious coach (or bus) options discovered after it was announced that the Renfrew ferry service was to end, we happened to come across a Russian option for dealing with the snow, and other minor inconvenience.

I can’t speak Russian, or I’d tell you more, so you’ll have to depend on the videos below, but suffice to say all you need is a suitable vehicle, and the corresponding caterpillar tracked base unit, and a little time to bolt the two together, then it would seem that snow, rough ground, and even water, are unlikely to prove any sort of obstacle.

Between amphibious coaches for summer, and snow-cat conversions for winter, there just has to be a business opportunity out there for someone positioned in the right place to take advantage of these toys, especially with climate change promising to raise water levels, leading to more streams and the like to be crossed, and either more mud as things get wetter, demanding tracked vehicles rather than 4x4s, or maybe more snow when it’s colder.