Justice in Pakistan?

I've had an idea in my head for a while that I wanted to start
blogging about things a bit more political than my technical blog. Not
party political, because frankly, that bores me, but political in the
grander sense. Today I was having a discussion on Facebook about Osama
bin Laden, and whether killing can ever be a good thing. And I would
say that the question isn't what is right, a question of if it is OK
in this circumstance, but not in that circumstance.

It is a question of justice and forgiveness. If justice and
forgiveness are to mean anything, then they, like the human rights
they are based on, must be universal. We cannot say "this person is
not worthy of justice" because then justice is hollow and becomes a
tool to control others by imposing values on others that you would not
follow yourself.

To demonise one man for his actions dehumanises both him and those who
oppose him. Simply calling him "evil" absolves you of responsibility
to hear his grievances. Not listening to the victim does not justify
the crime of murder. And for those who would say that he would not
give his victims compassion, I would ask why you choose his actions as
a guiding principle when you condemn those same actions in his hands?

Will this death undo all those who have died before? No. Will it stop
future terrorist attacks? Unfortunately not. Is celebrating death,
anyone's death distasteful? Of course.

Do you want justice, revenge or compassion? What sort of person do you
really want to be?

MonoTouch Error - Missing UIKit.h

From Ben Hall (via Google Reader) - Using Mono to write an iPhone app. Hopefully the first of many posts.

MonoTouch Error - Missing UIKit.h: "If you haven't heard about MonoTouch, then you need to be on twitter. MonoTouch allows you to write iPhone applications using C#! It's in early, private, beta at the moment but it is very cool with huge amounts of potential.

However, on my first attempt to compile an application I received the following error:

'uikit.h no such file or directory'

UIKit.h is one of the iPhone SDK files. I knew I had the iPhone SDK installed, however it turns out I didn't have the 3.0 SDK! After installing the latest version, the application compiled without a problem. A note of the future in-case you hit the same error.

UPDATE: Sorry about edits, I was playing around with MarsEdit and the formatting.

"

Leading demonstrators must be executed, Ayatollah Khatami demands -Times Online

I've read a lot about US and UK involvement in Iran, I've heard about how Iran is held as a pariah whilst Saudi is given free rein in turn for oil. I've heard plenty of people say that the election wasn't rigged. To all those who seek to justify Iran's actions, have a look at this. A full and free democracy does not kill its people for questioning its authority. It does not cut off communication with the outside world. The protestors in Estonia in their revolution against the USSR were protected by the communication channel they had to Helsinki and the outside world who could hear them sing. That communication froze the Soviet troops. Whilst the people of Iran are talking, it is our duty, as human beings, to keep listening.

The Ayatollah claimed that Neda Soltan, the woman shot during a demonstration last Saturday, had been killed by fellow protesters because “government forces do not shoot at a lady standing in a side street”.

Leading demonstrators must be executed, Ayatollah Khatami demands - Times Online

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Genetic Algorithms

I wanted to post a new blog here via Flock, but Flock and Blogger won't play together :-( this post is also available here.

I had a great time at the Tech MeetUp (@techmeetup) in Glasgow this week. If you want to meet up with other tech minded folk in Scotland, it's definitely worth checking out. See the details at the end of this post.

At the meeting this week, I got talking to a few folk (including John Gallagher who gave a great talk) about AI and Genetic Algorithms. This inspired me to dig out my old experimental code for doing GAs using C++ Templates. The code's very rough and ready, and it was written long before I discovered TDD or subversion, but it should be standards-compliant, and it compiles in the latest GCC (I can't vouch for other compilers, if you try it, let me know). As it's a source-code library, you'll have to compile it yourself, but if you don't know how to use a compiler, you're probably reading the wrong blog anyway. I will be tidying up the code and creating a wish list as I get the chance, but I'm throwing it out there in case it's useful to anyone.

If you're interested, check it out at the link below and let me know what you think.

Genetic Algorithm Templates


If you're interested in Tech MeetUp, you can see videos from previous talks at their website

The Tech MeetUp is the informal opportunity to meet other developers and tech companies, to showcase your hacks or projects, and to find out what's happening around us. Help build the tech community - set up a profile and come along to a Tech MeetUp.

Home - Techmeetup

You can find out about upcoming meetings on their mailing list

Description: An easily accessible and friendly community of tech minds, skills and startups around Scotland and Northern UK.

Tech Meetup | Google Groups

Genetic Algorithm Templates

I had a great time at the Tech MeetUp (@techmeetup) in Glasgow this week. If you want to meet up with other tech minded folk in Scotland, it's definitely worth checking out. See the details at the end of this post.

At the meeting this week, I got talking to a few folk (including John Gallagher who gave a great talk) about AI and Genetic Algorithms. This inspired me to dig out my old experimental code for doing GAs using C++ Templates. The code's very rough and ready, and it was written long before I discovered TDD or subversion, but it should be standards-compliant, and it compiles in the latest GCC (I can't vouch for other compilers, if you try it, let me know). As it's a source-code library, you'll have to compile it yourself, but if you don't know how to use a compiler, you're probably reading the wrong blog anyway. I will be tidying up the code and creating a wish list as I get the chance, but I'm throwing it out there in case it's useful to anyone.

If you're interested, check it out at the link below and let me know what you think.

Genetic Algorithm Templates


If you're interested in Tech MeetUp, you can see videos from previous talks at their website

The Tech MeetUp is the informal opportunity to meet other developers and tech companies, to showcase your hacks or projects, and to find out what's happening around us. Help build the tech community - set up a profile and come along to a Tech MeetUp.

Home - Techmeetup

You can find out about upcoming meetings on their mailing list

Description: An easily accessible and friendly community of tech minds, skills and startups around Scotland and Northern UK.

Tech Meetup | Google Groups

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Testing BlogIt

BlogIt allows me to update all my blogs from my Facebook page. Interesting idea.

Alternative blogs

I'm trying out an alternative blog at http://craignicol.wordpress.com to see how the two platforms compare. Flock seems happy enough with either, but I'll see which one wins out in the long term. For now, I can cross-post anything important.