So Google Surprised Everyone And Updated Pagerank

If you read around the web you will surely have read about the demise of pagerank.

Here's a quote from SearchEngineLand back in August:

Maybe it hasn’t [killed it] technically, but in practice, Google’s failure to update the PageRank values might effectively be killing it, all the same.

And here's a quote from them yesterday:

The SEO community, discussion forums and social media outlets are lighting up with the news that Google has actually updated the Toolbar PageRank values. Why?
(1) The SEO industry always lights up when the most visible indicator and easiest to see metric of Google linkage data changes.
(2) Because no one expected a Toolbar PageRank update this year.

Self Expression

When I was in South America some years ago I met a couple who were on a round-the-world trip. 

They were unhappy at how quickly the demands of the flight schedule was pushing them onwards, even though their trip was a year long.

I knew the feeling.

I recall once walking along a beach in Spain and sensing the feeling of being able to keep on going. Just keep on going.

 Back to the couple in South America, they were psychiatric nurses who badly needed a break from work - hence the trip.

 I thought they were both wound up and 'difficult' to be with, the man more so than the woman. But then one day he came back with a guitar.

He had held out on buying one, but couldn't stand it any more.

 He sat in the kitchen - I was the only other person there - and he played My Funny Valentine.

His playing was poignant, heartbreaking, and clear.

 The difficulties in his self expression with words just disappeared.

Badger culls - Debate in Parliament 11 December - Add your voice as a UK citizen

Badger culls: How to ask your MP to vote in the debate in Parliament this Wednesday 11 Dececember: #stopthecull via @RSPCA_official

1,861 badgers have been needlessly slaughtered since August and even though the pilot culls are now finished, the battle for badgers is far from over. 

There is an important debate in Parliament on WEDNESDAY 11TH DECEMBER to discuss the future of the culls. Please take action to ask your Member of Parliament to vote no to culling more badgers:

 Click to fill out this form to begin

The form is easy to fill out. Add your address and the campaign will find 'your' MP and send this message (which you can add to, of course). The text of the standard message is:

Following the failure of the pilot culls to meet even the revised minimum targets, despite an extension in both areas, I write to urge your attendance and continued support at an important and long overdue debate on the policy of badger culling this Wednesday 11th December. 

The events of the past weeks and months have been nothing less than farcical with ‘goal posts’ moved, a dramatic and unexplained drop in badger numbers and unwarranted extensions to both pilots. 

Experts in the field of wildlife disease management are now warning that the pilot culls could have made the spread of TB in cattle worse and the idea that the culls could now roll out across the country is a frightening one. 

The pilots prove that the cull is not a practical or achievable way to reduce the spread of bovineTB. 

This is not the right way to help farmers, cattle or badgers and it is time that the Government abandoned the policy in favour of improved bio-security measures, a comprehensive vaccination programme and tighter controls on the movement of cattle which are effectively enforced. 

The long overdue Westminster Hall debate on this issue on Wednesday 11th December will take place from 2:30 - 4pm. 

I urge you to attend and voice concerns about a wider roll out of the badger cull next year. 

I direct you to a useful briefing on this topic ahead of Wednesday's debate: http://www.politicalanimal.org.uk/RSPCA/TeamBadgerDocumentPilotCullEffectivenessver4.pdf

Here's the briefing document again:
http://www.politicalanimal.org.uk/RSPCA/TeamBadgerDocumentPilotCullEffectivenessver4.pdf

Extract from briefing:

The effectiveness of the cull has to be judged under the framework defined by the Independent Scientific Group (ISG), appointed by the Government to manage the randomised badger culling trial (RBCT). 

The Government has claimed that its policy is based on conclusions from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT). The RBCT was conducted from 1998 to 2006 and resulted in the killing of over 12,000 badgers. 

It found initially an average decrease in the disease of approximately 23% in the centre of proactively culled areas but an increase of approximately 29% on neighbouring land outside the culled area. 

This difference is thought to be due to the biology and behaviour of badgers, and the phenomenon known as “perturbation” where surviving badgers from the cull area and badgers from outside the cull area move to new areas as a consequence of cull disturbance, leading to increasing prevalence of bTB infection in badgers and a consequent increase in the risk of transfer of disease to cattle. 

Overall benefits from culling were modest with an average reduction of just 12-16% in the new herd incidence of infection over a period of several years. 

The final conclusion of the trial was that ‘badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to bovine TB control in Britain.’

Medium is now open to everyone with a Twitter account

What can you do on Medium?

You can write.

You need to sign in with your Twitter account to be able to write on Medium

You can read.
You don't need a Twitter account to read Medium, of course. Well that's true, but then there is no index or navigation menu to help you find what's been written... just a search field. It brings to mind the exchange between Alice and the cat in Alice In Wonderland:

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don’t much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"...so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

You can search and find collections to post or cross-post to.

You can search and find collections to which you can post or to which you can cross post (version avoiding ending a sentence with a preposition).

In order to search, you need first to see the 'guts' of Medium. In order to do that, click the M logo and then click the magnifying glass to the right of the word home.

Who knew you could have an ampersand in web addresses?

My Medium address is https://medium.com/@davidbennett

If you go look at it now, it will say:

David Bennett hasn’t posted or recommended anything yet. Check out our Editor’s Picks for Medium’s newest must-reads.

I find myself thinking ungodly things. When Medium was by invitation only and there were gatekeepers, it felt like one thing. Now I find myself looking askance at all my possible fellow contributors and thinking another.

Before, I thought 'Medium was full of well-written stuff.' Now I think 'Medium is full of mindless rubbish.' ... and that's before I have even read any stories. Oh dear, oh dear. And I have only just had breakfast.

Photos from my travels

Interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem showing the light streaming in through the window at the top of the domed roof.

The Dome Of The Rock on the Temple Mount In Jerusalem.

Divestment and 350.org

A couple of weeks ago we went to the 350.org roadshow in Edinburgh.

The roadshow is travelling all over the world promoting a simple idea... Divest investment from fossil fuel companies.

Why? Because their share value is based upon the value of the future assets that are located but still locked up in the ground.

But if that oil, gas, etc. Is released - we can all say goodbye to life as we know it on this little planet.

How bad is it ? Five times the safe amount would be released.

Read more at Do The Math

Royal Mail

Now that it has been sold off, should it still be called 'Royal' Mail?