Cake is a powerful weapon

  Earlier last week I was at the Dynamo North East office for one of our regular weekly meetings. To be honest, they are regular but I am not. Due to, in the main self-imposed time restraints and diary clashes I have only been able to attend sporadically, so infrequently in fact that I don’t … Continue reading Cake is a powerful weapon

All people are…

I shudder these days when I read the news, especially online. I say news yet what I really mean is opinion. With all this talk of fake news it is difficult to separate the reporting of events from the writer’s perspective. Much of what I come across these days is little more than propaganda. One … Continue reading All people are…

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is the biggest machine that mankind has ever built. It is designed to collide sub-atomic particles at speeds close to that of light and watch what happens after the impact. It is hoped that in this way we can get a better understanding of how the universe was formed. I am … Continue reading Large Hadron Collider

Building credibility

How can you build credibility? By being credible of course. It is easily said but not so easily done. Hopefully you are aware that I am trying to help build a cyber (information security) cluster in the North East. I want to see the region positioned as a leading player in this important and growing … Continue reading Building credibility

Poetry as a Service

A poem for all occasions, rhymes for all situations. Words from cyberspace, any subject, any taste. Just enter your description, the app provides encryption. Passions will be stirred and algorithms will be whirred, Spews out a transcription, tailored to the subscription. With no human intervention to dilute original intention. Racks of faceless servers provide poetry … Continue reading Poetry as a Service

In praise of naivete

Often I have been told that I am naive and that is not the way the world works. At times I think that is an unfair criticism. It is clear that I have a lot of experience and believe I can offer wisdom and use good judgement. I appear naive then, not because I don’t … Continue reading In praise of naivete

Let’s agglomerate

A few months ago I went to buy some perfume for my wife’s birthday. She had been dropping hints for a couple of weeks and so I thought I was on a safe bet. I set off for the Metro Centre, a shopping mall not far from where I live and went into Debenhams. The … Continue reading Let’s agglomerate

Rip up the textbooks on private schools

I occasionally buy a copy of ‘The Big Issue’. Homelessness is a serious issue and I would like to support the work that they are doing but they compete on the high street with so many other worthy causes. I feel guilty every time I pass someone rattling a tin, shaking a bucket, sitting at … Continue reading Rip up the textbooks on private schools

Health and cyber safety

There seems to be a lot of parallels between where we are with cyber awareness and the early days of Health and Safety. I thought this was a unique observation until I raised it at the latest North East Fraud Forum event. The speaker quite rightly pointed out that he had heard such observations before. … Continue reading Health and cyber safety