Have you ever carefully thought about your Google cookie? It can perpetually keep information about:

• Your address/es
• When you are logged on if you Google frequently enough
• What you search the Web for
• Which sites you enter (from SERP‘s)

That is an excess of information, so where has privacy gone? I used to block the Google Cookie, but it resulted in inconveniences when using AdSense. The blocking was matter of principle; there was nothing particular to disguise.

Google co-founder was once asked about the information bound to each cookie identifier. The answer is still unknown. Microsoft are doing something evil by sharing the information listed above across their empire (see related item).

Many on-line mapping systems exist, but Google Maps is by far more impressive than most when judged by its speed and ease of use. One can scroll/drag the map in real-time (the page is Java-reliant), search by location reliably and expect a short response time. There are no advertisements either so the screen is used to its full capacity (see below, click to enlarge)

The down-side: only northern America is included, as in the case with Google Local (also in its Beta phase).

A recent item from the BBC reports on the severity of global warming. Although it means that our children can enjoy bathing in the sea, the consequences world-wide are devastating as ice continues to thaw.

…Unless we know what we’re dealing with, I think it’s going to be pretty hard to fix it…
 
    Dr. Tim Barnett, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Many ways exist to search and download images by keyword/s. Nevertheless, copyright issues are usually raised. One source of graphics that is both extensive and free is stock.xchng. Its servers tend to be busy during daytime (America and especially Europe), but nothing else seems to beat it.

As a side note, Google Images will collect and index any image regardless of copying permissions.

An item from the BBC reports on the severity of global warming, which appears to exceed past expectations.

We are all seeing rather less of the Sun, according to scientists who have been looking at five decades of sunlight measurements.

They have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface has been gradually falling.

…

That means a temperature rise of 10 degrees Celsius by 2100 could be on the cards, giving the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable.

CBS News and the BBC report another mad cow woe in Canada. This is likely to sway the U.S. to stick to a current Canadian cattle ban.

One more reason to stick to poultry and fish…

The forum uk.philosophy.atheism of UseNet was noisy today. One guy called Jim Hawkings expressed the sadness and anger in a way I can embrace:

“Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

Sri Lanka shoreline, before and after the earthquake. Picture from the BBC.