The iron-eating tree

From the land of Irn-Bru - where else? - comes the story of an ancient sycamore which has absorbed over the years such objects as an anchor and a bicycle, whose handlebars can still be seen protruding from the trunk.

I am grateful to the latest issue of "Broadleaf", the magazine of the Woodland Trust (Coed Cadw in Wales) for the reference. There is more on Forestry Commission Scotland's web pages.

Conficker virus

Conficker (also known as Downandup or Kido) is technically speaking, a worm. Around the world, it is lurking on millions of personal computers whose owners are unaware of it (it was recently detected on the House of Commons network). Its purpose is unknown, but it's likely that Conficker is designed to create a botnet that could be used to send spam, launch denial-of-service attacks to shut down Web sites or steal data from infected computers.

Be careful about searching for Conficker removal software on Google. Scammers have managed to get fake security sites among the top searches. Bogus sites are designed to steal your credit card information and could install malware on your computer instead of a legitimate security program.

There is a test, which is not 100%, but gives a good indication as to whether your computer is infected with Conficker.

There is more here, including how to prevent being infected in the first place. For an even more technical appraisal, see the Conficker working group's pages.

Telenovelas, birth-rates and divorce

The conclusion has been drawn from research in Brazil that tuning in to the output from the country's soap-opera factory, Globo, is an effective form of birth control.

The sceptic might suggest that other factors might be at work here. A rise in living standards, of which being able to receive TV for the first time is an outcome, not a cause, seems prime candidate.

The big blue beast is not dead

The New York Times reports that IBM is on the point of buying Sun Microsystems for almost double the younger company's market value (the NYT reckons the price will be $7bn, the Financial Times just over $6bn). The deal has not made the headlines over here, but it could affect us more than you might think.

Sun not only invented the Java programming language, which, among other applications, enhances World Wide Web pages, but also sponsors OpenOffice, a free alternative to Microsoft's offerings for word-processing, calculation and presentation. Sun's open-source MySql is possibly the most popular database management software for Web developers.

For all its support of Linux, Java and open-source software generally in recent years, IBM has proved as ruthless as ever in protecting its mainframe interests. The danger is that some of Sun's activities will be cut back if they compete with IBM's existing offerings, or do not contribute to IBM's fight against other software providers.

The EU has proved tougher on on one would-be monopolist, Microsoft, than the authorities in the US, where anti-trust legislation was born. Already, interested parties in the States are turning first to the European Competition Commission to maintain competitiveness in the wake of this new consolidation in the information technology market.

Update 2009-4-6: the takeover talks hit a snag over the weekend. An announcement had been expected today. There is no indication as to whether this is a blip or a complete breakdown.

Appropriate venue for First Lady's message

I am sure that the name of the school which Michelle Obama visited yesterday was significant. I'd like to think that one of the most well-read president's wives had some input into the choice of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school as the venue for an inspiring speech to a rising generation of women, of all skin colours and many religions. It was an emotional occasion; did I detect a slight tremor in the voice of the First Lady, usually so composed, as she delivered her speech?

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was famously the first woman to qualify in England as a medical practitioner. What is probably less well-known is that her sister Millicent Garrett gave her name (or rather the name of her husband, Liberal MP Henry Fawcett) to a society which still exists to promote the cause of women's rights. An older sister, Louisa, who died young, was also a suffragist and another sister, Agnes Garrett, was a pioneering businesswoman.

All Sheepshape and Samsung fashion

• There are more things you can do with sheep in Wales, and here's a bit of marketing to prove it.

End of the Courier

The Neath & Port Talbot Courier (a weekly insert with the Evening Post) ended as a separate title last Tuesday. The cost of production has proved too great for the Daily Mail group, which ultimately owns the title. With it also dies the Neath & Port Talbot Tribune. This had dwindled to a monthly four-page insert, published only, as I understand it, to fulfil an obligation in the contract when the publication was bought by the Evening Post people.

We are promised more pages of local news in the Evening Post on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. It remains to be seen whether the community news pages from the Courier (the main reason for reading it, in my opinion) are published together or spread over the three days.

Comb-overs

Daily Mail provides a diagram of Donald Trump's. Will it go further, and supply details of David Cameron's?