Stuff

Loads of stuff to try and cram in so here goes.

Car stuff first - the bodywork will take a week to fix and just to add to the fun the exhaust fell apart on Sunday while driving across a field at Lydden Hill.

England Manager - McClaren got it for one reason and one reason only - my mum is Scottish and was thus disbarred, otherwise she has similar credentials in that she's not won anything as a football manager.

If you want to see what happens when you and yours are out and about, gadding, you need only invest in the Pupillo and a 3G phone. How good is that? Hook your phone up to a webcam, using a video call, to show your empty home and fill those awkward silences between the visit of the waitress while enjoying the latest special at Pizza Express.

Some thanks

Okay - first up.

Thanks to anyone still hanging around here wondering whether or not I'm ever going to post again.

Thanks to those who have mailed me to ask if I'm okay.

No thanks to the bloke who drove into me on the roundabout on the way home tonight but thanks to Charles Clarke for giving me a giggle while trying to balance the call for biometric ID cards with the idea that, despite having people banged up, he administered a system which failed to deport known criminals.

But the biggest thanks have to go to Two Jags. When those of us who are of a certain age and shape see young, fit guys enjoying the company of ladies we tend to nod and accept that this is the natural order but when we see John Prescott, a man who even he himself wouldn't describe as a young Adonis, being hounded because he's been courting an attractive young lady it gives us all hope - however fleeting and brief. The natural order has been attacked, the fat bloke got the girl - albeit because of power and politics and that should be something we all celebrate shouldn't it?

17/04

The anniversary of Apollo 13 splashing down and a Bank Holiday in the UK this year! Enjoy!

Slack blogging again

No excuse - just busy.

Degree ceremony today so here's me in the gear - BSc gown from the Open University, all being well I'll be qualified for a different one next year

Marathon and on and on.

Don't forget to sponsor Gill in the London marathon - the money is for a good cause (great cause actually). If you drink just think of it as the price of a few beers or a few peach martinis. If you smoke donate the price of a day's ciggies. If you work how about an hour's pay and if you drive how about a couple of gallons of petrol. The Children's Society do some amazing things for people who need stuf and help far more than most of us - go on, you know it makes sense and the more good you do in life the more good you get back.

Assignment update!

Two thirds finished with five hours to the cut-off. Amazon order arrived but I've resisted the temptation to watch the DVDs or start the book. Just turned down a plae at the "Wine & Wisdom" tonight, someone has dropped out but it would be terribly irresponsible to go and do that until this assignment is done and dusted and today I'm wearing my "responsible" hat - it gets so little use that it is clean and neat and doesn't fit very well but I'll give it a go. Of course that doesn't mean I'm not involved in other displacement activities of which posting this is one.

In other news; Jackie has printed off the post about The Mermaid so that Steve can read it - he struggles to look at any screen which isn't showing live sport - and she thinks that the part about every 20th customer getting a friendly greeting from Steve is over the top but she's hoping he can aspire to such a high hit rate, it's currently one friendly greetng every 20 days by her estimation. (Seriously - it's a very friendly pub)

Anniversaries

Some of you guys were here in October when I celebrated a year here so lets raise a glass to another one (or two?) anniversaries. 23/10 was the anniversary of my wife and I separating and while it's not something I'd count in the great things I've done it means that I can now apply for a "quickie" divorce and move on. So wherever you are - cheers! Here's to the next few years - per ardua ad astra!

Sold out?

After 11 months without a "go out to work" job I've been offered and accepted a part time (2.5 days/week) job to help deal with the mounting costs associated with my debauched lifestyle. Not negotiated which days and on one each week I'll be working until eight PM - it's also not local but that's no big deal. It's with an organization that I have an emotional link with and I know a lot of the people there so it'll be cooler than a cool thing wearing a cool hat and cool coat and sucking a cool pill after a day at cool school. Because these things always arrive in bunches - rather like bananas - I'm also at the early stages of discussing an idea for a web based business, if that works out my ambition to earn money whilst sleeping is one step closer. Clearly all this activity may curtail my already haphazard blogging but that's part of the price I'll have to pay.

Child cruelty

I was going to ask which country the following applies to:

A child is killed by a gun every three hours. According to the latest statistics, nearly 1,000 children under 19 are shot dead every year. Another 800 use guns to commit suicide, and more than 160 die in firearm accidents.

But frankly I find it so horrific I don't want to mess about. It's America of course and comes from a piece in The Guardian today. The piece is about a 66 year old man who shot a 19 year old for crossing his lawn. He shot him, with a shotgun, from his house and then walked over to the felled boy and shot him again from close range. That figure of 1,000 under 19s a year is a greater average than the number of US soliders who have died in Iraq in four years (approx 2,500). I'm not going to add anything else - I'm sure there are a range of views on this but gun controls in the States are being eroded so these numbers can only get worse. I'm very glad my children do not live in a country where 40% of the populace own a gun and over 30,000 people were killed by firearms in 2003.

Washes whiter than white!

Cleans better than anything else and still respects you in the morning! Too good to be true? Who cares! I don't have the ASA on my back :-)

The Mermaid is reopened in all its wonderful glory. Those who saw my photo of studying in the pub this time last year will miss that old piece of bar but the new, improved, Mermaid is bigger and boasts a non-smoking area that will be the envy of Kent. It is now posible to get to the terracota rooms from what was "behind the bar" and a pint of the finest Masterbrew in the county is still only GBP 2.20! Parking is still best near the church (rather than outside my house) and coach parties should ring before arriving - well behaved walkers or children are welcome, Steve has promised that every twentieth customer will get a friendly greeting (the other nineteen will be treated like regulars and thus take their chances!). Visit The Mermaid, buy me a beer - you know it makes sense!

Thing!

Blogger is wobblier than a wobbly thing with a wobbly hat! Posting this by email to see it works but I can't get into Blogger dashboard to post on the web :-(

Later: Message now tidied up as Blogger is back up

Just what you need!

Of course Nog's Blog is dedicated to delivering solutions to meet your every need (quite in Canada perlease!!!! - We don't need your mucky interventions :-)))). Anyway, in our endless search for good stuff our Bavarian based contributor has offered a "Mission Statement generator" - you know it makes sense! No more wandering the corridors wondering about what it all means, no more endless meetings trying to determine why you were employed by that company. Here is the online answer to organizational blues! Give it a whizz!

Coincidences

On Friday I spoke to Stuart who lives in Sheffield, he invited me to his wedding - it's on my birthday! Strange or what? Stuart was heading to his brother's pub to celebrate his brother's 50th birthday. On Sunday evening I was watching Midsomer Murders and Steve's pub was featured throught this episode! Spooky!

Snow joke!

Grief but it was cold! Not sure if you can see the snow in this photo but it was there! Tough, scrappy game with Canterbury playing uphill in the first half and leading by a couple of points at the turn. In 5 blistering minutes at the start of the second half they scored two tries and the contest was over. Final score: 24 - 7, the Staines number 13 was sin binned twice, Canterbury's Jamie Forsyth carried off with an injury in the final 10 minutes and Calum managed to eat 4 mini pork pies in the first half - a personal record!

But God doesn't think he's Blair

Sorry this is late - the email flagging this up went to an account that seems to redirect some stuff but not all of it. Thanks for the link Bluefluff!

Anyway - this is from the Guardian on Wednesday:

"If Tony Blair thinks his friendship with George W Bush is worth rubbing out a couple of hundred thousand Iraqi men, women and children, then that's something he can talk over with me later," said God. "But when he starts publicly claiming that's the way I do the arithmetic too, it's time I put my foot down!" It is well known that God has a very big foot.

Grab it here

Carpet picnics

Carpet picnics are great aren't they? I've got Calum with me so we decided on a proper boyz night in; beer, pizza, garlic bread and a good film.

The cheapo DVD/TV combo is playing up - DVDs cut out and the football results are variable - so I put the lappy on the floor in front of the fire and we had the pizza and garlic bread there too. Great film - loads of chases, technology, action, love interest and gun fire - I can strongly recommend "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" but Ill have to watch the end again as I dozed off.

Rugby later today. Canterbury are standing proud at the top of London 1 and looking good for promotion, today's opponents are Staines - for those who don't know that's an idyllic little coastal town well away from the hubub of the modern world with it's own rustic charm and rural ambience, those who know it may have a slightly more jaundiced view. 15:00 this afternoon if anyone wants to watch a great game for only a few quid - if you come along say "hello".

Busy!

Been a busy few days so I apologise for slack blogging.

I like this idea - the British Design Awards are inviting votes for design icons. It's down to the final three so go vote for Concorde, the Spitfire or the London Underground map. An interesting group; Concorde was a truly beautiful piece of engineering and design but is also a political statement - the name symbolised the entent cordiale with our nearest continental neighbours. Concorde flew its maiden test flight within 69 years of the Wright Brothers' efforts at Kittyhawk. Mitchell's Spitfire is also a potent symbol but this time one of war rather than peace. Almost the logo of the Battle of Britain the Spit is still an emotive sight and sound, the RR Merlin engine simply purrs and the aircraft seems at one with the sky - deadly and gorgeous. Beck's map is a different animal completely. It's seeming simplicity hides an awesome achievment, detailing the underground in a diagrammatic map which has now changed the way people think of the geography of London - visitors will often use the tube because distances look greater than they are between some stations.

Get over there and vote!

Do something good today!

Go over to Bluefluff's blog and remind her that it's her birthday :-)

Blog threats

Bluefluff has this - so read it here. I hope Ang picks up on it too because I can imagine here take on it! Go to Bluefluff's piece and follow the links from there - be prepared to suspend disbelief, this is happening now, today, in the United States.

Oh Christ!

Sorry - I'm really sorry. I set myself some rules when I started this blog and one was that I would write it assuming that my children read it. This means that I temper my language at all times and this post will be no different but that means it won't say exactly what I want it to say.

Some of you know me online in other places or you've heard my voice or we chat regularly so you can interpret how I might say the following.

Tony Blair has now said that he asked God before taking the UK to war in Iraq.

Crap.
Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.
He didn't ask anyone.
He didn't ask parliament, he told them.
He didn't ask the electorate, he told them.

The only earthly body he discussed this with is Bush - and they had already decided that whatever the inspectors said about the search for WMD they were going to commit this country to an unprecedented "pre-emptive" war despite the lack of a UN mandate. Unprecidented in this century and for much of the previous one. Prior to that of course we might send a gunboat and rape a country for its natural resources but we aren't big enough for that anymore so we hold the big guy's coat while he fights but in holding his coat we give him legitimacy - we pretend to other civilised countries that it's "the right thing to do". We even stand by while our neighbours and closest allies are denigrated by the big guy because they stand by their principles and don't join the playground throng chanting "Fight! Fight!" but manage to retain at least a little dignity.

But it's all okay because Blair's imaginary friend said it was fine.

Here's a little trick you might want to try at home boys and girls. Whenever people start saying that "God said this" or "God said that" simply change the name of whichever poor deity is being blamed for the word "Harvey". Those who know this classic will remember that Harvey is the benevolent 6' white rabbit visible only to James Stewart and blamed for all sorts of scrapes throughout the film.

I haven't got a problem with anyone else's beliefs as long as they don't diss mine - Blair and Bush are hiding behind the same bogeyman that Hitler used - but if you decide to take this country to war and kill thousands of Iraqi citizens and (so far) over 100 of our service men then please stand by that decision, we may disagree but you have the honesty and courage of your convictions but please don't start laying the blame off on entities who don't have a right to reply.

Teaching

I got this from Ang - thanks hon. Click here for a recording made in a classroom in the US. Of course the teacher is getting grief now as un-American but I honestly hope my children are taught by people as passionate as this guy, I hope they are taught critical skills and challenged as part of their education. This guy is excellent whether you agree with him or not.

Spring!

First day of spring! Wonderful! This time last year we were snowed in for a few days and the weatherman is threatening snow again. We had some flurries last week but tonight it's very cold and by the weekend we could have the real thing. Where is all this global warming???

Good grief!

BlueFluff sent me this - I make no comment other than to remind you that he has the nuclear codes and can, should the whim strike him, decide to invade almost any country on the planet and probably get Blair to support him. I hope Ang shares this with the guys over the water :-)

Karma

I can't sleep, past the point of lying in bed wondering why I can't sleep. Read a couple of chapters of a book, wandered round the house trying not to wake up the neighbours and then had a think about today (yesterday as was).

I went and did some training and got incredibly frustrated with myself because I simply wasn't explaining something in a way that the person I was with could understand - my fault not their's. I hate it when that happens because however easy it is to blame the other person we all know, deep down, that it's our fault - we're being paid to help them understand a task and if they "don't get it" whose fault can it be?

Anyway. On the way back I stopped for some logs from a petrol station that I use infrequently (it's on the A2 heading towards Canterbury from the M2 if anyone knows it) and while paying for the logs I noticed that for GBP 4.99 they had my favourite film on DVD and what's more it's the two disk edition so it has all the bonus stuff. It's cheap as it's ex-rental but for a fiver? Has to be worthwhile.

People who know me know that I'm passionate about a lot of things, I'm like a cross between a magpie and a rotweiler - I see something interesting and pick it up and then, no matter how hard you might try to stop me, I will not let it go. The space race is one of those things. On a good day ask me to name the crews of the major US flights and I'll tell you. Ask me to describe the final touchdown of Apollo 11 on the lunar surface and and I can show you how the astronauts were standing, how they were controlling the motion of the lunar module and much of what passed between Houston and the crew. Ask which flight did what from 1 - 13 and I can detail the purpose of most. On a better day ask me to name the twelve men who have walked on the moon and I'll get at least 75% of them. Even on my poorest day I'll tell you who died in the fire on what was later designated Apollo 1 and why the accident happened.

I am forever amazed and in awe that men can get themselves to a position of trust and training where they will overcome the survival instinct and allow themselves to be blasted into space - or fly experimental aircraft (two words you would never wish to see next to each other), and it's not just the astronauts but cosmonauts too - Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was literally heading into the unknown in 1961 and fuelled the race to the moon. Sputnik, the first artificial satellite was launched the year I was born so I'm a child of the space age (and still only 37!)

On 11th April, 1970 three guys took off in Apollo 13 and that's the film I got today. Of course it's not entirely accurate, Lovell didn't say "We have a problem" he actually said "We've had a prolem", but the film is true in most regads to both Lovell's excellent book and the NASA flight logs (yes I'm that sad!). It's also well acted with Hanks good and Ed Harris excellent as Gene Krantz, a character he seems to get accurately as the other books about the space race all agree with the portrayal of this incredible man who managed a disaster with such skill while facing incredible political pressure as well as the desire to save three lives.

Apollo 13 splashed down on 17th April - the flight lasted just less than 6 days. 29 years later my father died on the same day - another reason Apollo 13 is special to me.

So why karma? Well - it's great karma to simply come across the film like that. It's also good to be reminded that a sense of perspective is needed. The mission gave us "Houston, we've had a problem" but it also gave us "Failure is not an option!"

Idiot Wind!

Mentioned Dylan before but I wanted to return briefly. As mentioned earlier last night was a long one and during the discussions we touched on Bob's songwriting and looked at one album in particular. "Blood on the Tracks" is a brilliant demonstration of storytelling and word craft and it has one of the best lines in a song:

They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy,
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.

I can't help it if I'm lucky.

The deadpan delivery adds to it and it always makes me smile. I mention this because I've not been able to get that song out of my head today. The full poem is here and worth reading for the way he uses the same theme, slightly shifted, on each repeat of the chorus.

ClustrMap

This might be a bit rambling as I'm not long out me bed - I was up rather late (about 04:30?) sipping an agreeable red and Skyping.

Anyway. Alert and keen eyed readers may have noticed a new piece of furniture, the ClustrMap bottom left of the blog. It's fascinating looking at where people are and trying to imagine what their little bit of the world is like - I already know some of you; Ang in her palatial Bay Side residence overlooking the Golden Gate bridge, Cheri on the alligator infested beaches of Florida, Kat oop north where it's grim, GW in Watford (nuff said?), but I wonder what Botswana is like? I wonder how many bierhalle Chiquita can walk past without having to pop in for a sip of the amber throat medicine for which Bavaria is rightly famed. We know that Mouse lives in an igloo and, according to the map, someone in the city that doesn't sleep - Grimsby - is a frequent flyer (Okay - I know it's BlueFluff). How mindbending is it that people all over the world (I've clearly upset everyone in Australia as the Pacific rim is notably absent) can find nothing better to do than read blogs all day?

Keep an eye on the map my little chickadees - you never know when your neighbour might find you lurking on here! :-)

Warning!

Do not follow this link. If you do you mustn't giggle or laugh. I did warn you!

Astrology

So what is it with astrology? Am I to believe that something written by someone who doesn't know me is likely to be accurate about who I am and what I think and what will happen to me? (Okay - what is likely to happen to me is determined by a load of blokes in suits in Westminster but that's by the by). How can anyone think that when they were born can shape their ideas and views and personality? How does all that work??? If anyone is interested my birthday is in early August (so start saving now for cars and presents) and my birthsign is Tupperware on the cusp of Absolut Blue - that help?

Tagged

Die Chiquita tagged me and I didn't know so here it is!

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so

1) MikeChau
2) Jessie Griffith
3) Kat
4) Chiquita
5) Nogbad

Next select five people to tag:

Whoever feels so moved

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was "Operational audit and communications manager" for a chain of supermarkets and I was studying my fifth OU course (M205: Fundamentals of Computing). Calum was one year old.

Five snacks you enjoy:
chocolate, chocolate, chocolate - got that one?

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
American Pie
All along the watchtower
Born to run
Most early Bowie, Queen, Dylan

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
Wine, women and song (and I might fritter some away)

Five bad habits:
Huh? Easier to list five that aren't too bad!

Five things you like doing:
Oh use your imagination!

Five things you would never wear again:
very high heels
big golden gypsy style earrings

Five favorite toys:
Laptop
PDA
SPV C550 phone
Log fire
My tatty old car

760 million miles/hour

Easy innit? If you want to read a story of men and women working together, of war and peace, light and shadow and standing on the shoulders of giants - check this out. We're talking about Albert and Faraday, Clark Maxwell and Emilie du Chatelet. Linking together the work of these pioneers exemplifies what Sir Isaac meant, "I couldn't get here without the work of those who have gone before. I was able to see this far because I was standing on the shoulders of giants". It culminated in the simplicity of E = MC². Einstein's work built on work by Planck who then appointed him to work at the university in Berlin which later became the Max Planck Institute. Check it out - I'm not trying to retell this story, just get you excited enough to have a peek.

Vote for Micah!

Micah Richards is one of five players selected as "Player's of the round" by the FA. It's now open to a public vote for which player should win.

If Micah gets the most votes, in addition to being crowned FA Cup 'Player of the Round', he will win Stlg.1000 worth of UMBRO football kit for a local school, club or organisation of his choice. Micah would be the eighth and youngest player to join The FA's Team of The FA Cup this season, guaranteeing him VIP attendance at the 125th FA Cup final. John Nisbet MCVITA, edition 1200, 20/02/06

So if anyone want's to vote go to The FA site and the poll is halfway down the page. Cut off for votes is next Monday (27/02).

Irving gets 3 years

David Irving has pleaded guilty to charges of denying the holocaust in a court in Vienna and has been sentenced to three years. While many, including the BBC, describe him as a historian it's difficult to square many of his statements;

"History is a constantly growing tree - the more you know, the more documents become available, the more you learn, and I have learned a lot since 1989."

In 1989 Irving said that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz and that Hitler didn't know about the Holocaust. This is a man who has published books about Hitler yet found himself able to make claims such as that? I've come over all "Angie" but I'm very pleased he's facing some sort of jail time rather than travelling round the world pedalling his terrible lies.

Micah!

Anyone catch Micah's interview after tonight's game? He's only 17 and had just scored the equaliser four minutes into injury time in a game we should have won at a canter. Anyway, add all that together and it's not much of a surprise that he let slip a word that had the interviewer reminding him about the live, national audience and a stern looking Lineker apologising to anyone who was offended.

Latest new law is passed

Thanks to Rob for flagging this one up!

Presentations

Mousely posted a link to "Coding Horror" blog and I found it fascinating. My favourite post is about presentations and how to avoid Death by PowerPoint. Thanks Mouse - this is a real treasure.

Web design

I'd like to prove that I can talk the walk as well as walk the dog (or whetever it is). About five years ago Sarah and I worked on a web page and it's still out there so that we can demonstrate our web design skills. Take a moment to enjoy it and read the tips carefully - I'm sure Mr Rammell's web team might still learn a little from it.

Competition!

Those who follow the comments might already have seen Bill Rammell's website. Bill is Labour MP for Harlow and the Under Secretary of State for Education (or some such which, I can never remember the titles in these quasi-Masonic groups).

Here is the competition and it's in two parts:

Part 1 - Find, on Mr Rammell's home page (only!) - one web design principle that the page doesn't ignore.

Part 2 - Find a site as happy to ignore design quality as this and post the link.

Not an easy competition I'm sure you'll agree but five "nogbad points" for the winner! :-)

And there's more

Just found this - it's the government's follow up to the top-up fees and mopping up the area they were struggling with, part-time students. Cards on the table, I am a part-time student and I have been for eleven of the last 13 years so I know something of this and I may be a tad biased. In fact I don't feel I can comment too much on this as I'll breach my own, self-imposed, language controls.

Mr Rammell said on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "Part-timers is an issue that we are looking at. "Many of them are well-off, many of them are in work,"

So there you are. In Blair's Britain being in work equates to being well off. The fact that many of those in work are studying to improve their job prospects makes no difference, that many part-time students are in very low paid jobs and struggle to pay their exsting fees is not a problem to Mr Rammell. Clver getting an ex-regional official of the NUS to deal with this but I'm afraid I think that PT students are in for a spanking over fees if Rammell and his mates think they can afford it.

Shocker!

Didn't see this one coming did we? The price of full time higher education has gone up by up to three thousand pounds and despite this enrolments are down by 13,000 - who would have thought it?

Confused

Okay now I'm confused. We've got all these "big" laws being passed through Parliment right now so I'm getting muddled up. Can I smoke while my irises are being checked for my biometric ID card? Do I need my ID card to glorify terrorism? Can I discuss international issues in a pub if I have my ID card and don't light a cigarette? If I do smoke in a pub will I lose my ID card? Can I get half-price drinks with a student ID card? If I binge drink, light a ciggy as I leave the pub and then go home and have a bacon sandwich have I breached any of our latest statutes?

Once upon a life.....

in a time long, long ago an ogre created a new thing.

This thing was imbued with many of the attributes we see as human but was missing a few key components. The main one was the ability to RTFM. This lack of the RTFM gene proved no barrier to gaining employment but it created a vacuum, an unfilled space in creation.

Had this space been left unfilled the whole fabric of the universe might have been torn apart so a beneficent genie, seeing the dangers, created the magic bullet - the only hope for humankind. This being, this "magic bullet", was crafted with precision and care, with muscles hewn from Italian marble and the wits and skills of an Arctic Fox, with the eyesight of an eagle and the agility of a gazelle, acute hearing to catch the futile clicking of a dead space bar and the language skills to translate grunts and growls into enough information to save the planet almost daily. These superhumans had the patience to nurse poorly servers or try to console users who have lost years of work, the sang froid to shrug when a DOS attack is beaten off by a hastily configured firewall and the resiliance to repeatedly explain why sending an email to everyone in the world about the "cute little teddy bear" virus is less than helpful.

Read about these brave souls here.

Help research into climate change

Remember SETI@home? Or the search for a cancer drug? The latest use of "meshed" computers is being supported by the BBC and aimed at predicting climate change. "Distributed computing" has been a viable concept for years but every now and again I have to wonder - if we have all this computing power and we're not answering the "big" questions are we asking the right question? Makes you wonder doesn't it?

BTW - The OU has a resource about climate change that is very interesting.

I'm posting this early to remind anyone who hasn't sent me a Valentine's Day card that............... Do the clicky thing here to go to the Anti-VD web site. (Found on the Wrath of Dawn)

Hair colour

I got this from GW

Your Hair Should Be Pink

Hyper, insane, and a boatload of fun. You're a traveling party that everyone loves to follow.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Shakespeare

The other day I was chatting with a very, very, very clever lady from America (I usually chat with people far cleverer than I will ever be but she is stellar). We were discussing cultural exchanges at the level of McDonalds Vs Magna Carta and Dick van Dyke Vs Olivier - you know the kind of thing. She offered Scott Fitzgerald Vs Shakespeare but I think she missed a trick.

When I had access to Sky I used to watch The West Wing, I now only have PMT (Poor man's TV - four channels) but I'm now watching the sixth series on DVD and I'm still in awe at the way Sorkin has crafted these characters and the language they use and the way they use it. Of course they use a language to which Shakespeare is credited with adding thousands of words and phrases but Sorking is working in the modern age using modern techniques to deliver carefully crafted and timed playlets within the play. He delivers homilies wrapped up in entertainment. I'd suggest that Sorkin is up there with the best.

A rose by any other name would still be hex value

This was prompted by fjl's comment (two different links close together there!) which made me think about colours. It's also a break from reading "Using Constructivism in Technology-Mediated Learning: Constructing Order out of the Chaos in the Literature".

Those who haven't looked under the bonnet of web pages and HTML might be surprised to know that in amongst the gobblydegook there is some very poetic stuff. In the beginning there were 16 "web safe" colours available and they could be invoked using their hexidecimal code or by name. Thus "white" is #ffffff where each pair of characters is a hex value and indicates the amount of a colour to add to the mix. The pairs denote red, green and blue so white is made up of 255 parts red, 255 parts green and 255 parts blue, "ff" is hexidecimal (base-16) for 255 and, as all artists know, white is all the colours in the visible spectrum. Black is the absence of light and thus is #000000. But this is where we take a sharp left. The idea that we can use names as well as the hex value means that good old #fffacd is also known as lemonchiffon (add the space yourself, the browser interpreting the code would choke on it so we concatenate the words). The background to this page is aliceblue but I might have chosen palegoldenrod or papaya or thistle or bisque - all are valid names for colours that the browser will support. If I add a horizontal line the colour I use is steelblue and when constructing web pages for others I'll use ghostwhite or whitesmoke as a background rather than using pure white.

Some years ago I put together a web page showing just some of the available colours with their hex values and their name - I picked the ones with the best names. The page is still available here and serves to show that techies are not as hardbaked as people would like to believe.

Thanks for inspiration Fiona.

Turner

So they planted a test unit in the sea so that they could collect wave data for six months - it lasted 48 hours. Now they've decided that building the real thing, Turner Contemporary, in the sea will cost a few bob more than the first quote. The latest estimate is £50m and the council have said that they don't think they can get that past the tax payers of Thanet. We will still get culture in Margate because they've decided to build the thing on land, on a car park, instead.

Late breaking news!

The Mermaid isn't going to be closed next week but the week after. This is straight from Jackie who was browsing this very blog this evening and rushed (okay - she didn't rush) down to tell me knowing that I (okay she didn't know) was in the bar. Anyways, open next week - closed week commencing 13/02 - got that? Good! You have this before the Kentish Gazette!

Didn't I say that?

I know I commented that the Superbowl officials had a mare on Sunday and I'm not alone in that view.

Seattle fans have a right to feel sick. Their team just suffered the most unjust loss in Super Bowl history.

This from Kevin Hench (who he?) on FOXSports where he dissects a sport which loves statistics almost as much as cricket. But why was I there? Well I followed a link from Ang's site to a site which lists and reviews all the adverts shown (on US TV) during breaks in the game. How anal is that???? Go check it out - marvel at the sheer range of mainly male biased advertising. Gasp at the fact that they are still allowed to call Bud and Miller Lite "beer", giggle that the first car advert, during a game based in the Motor City, was for Toyota nand wonder why anyone would spend so much time and trouble compiling this site! To my friends over the water - get the BBC to cover the game, as they do with the FA Cup, and you won't get all this rubbish.

Local news

Our local paper, the one covering Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable and the rural bits in between, comes out once a week. As the playground of the gliteratti Bishopsbourne news is always included even if it's just the latest flower rota at the church or something about the village hall. Last Thursday's edition carried news of a different kind though - news that will effect many people in and around the village. The Mermaid is to close for a week! I've known this for a while but I've been able to drive the news from my mind - this sort of stuff can lead to serious trauma so I have to approach the idea carefully and from an oblique angle. Anyway it's happening now so realisation is kicking in. The proposed work will make the little bar area where I often sit with a book larger and non-smoking. This week is okay but when the whole pub is shut next week I may need some support :-)

XL

I've got me crisps (chips in American) and a bottle of red (a glass of red a day is good for you and I haven't had one all week so I can have a bottle tonight!) . The heating is on override so it won't go off and the sofa is cleared of books and papers and half-read newspapers. I'm ready for the Superbowl!

Salami

Some time ago I seriously told someone that the days of C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ as a widely available, legal drug were numbered. Many of us use it daily, frequently in large amounts, but its use is becoming proscribed.

It's the "Salami Principle" - taking a little at a time until you have everything (or nothing).

When I was young cars were far fewer, the motorways had no speed limits and seatbelts were rarely fitted much less used. The cars also had little in terms of safety equipment, the braking available in most family saloons was roughly as effective as opening the doors at speed and letting the increased drag slow the vehicle. The chassis and bodywork didn't have today's crumple zones and had unpredictable deformation characteristics and the overall strength, when two cars bashed together, of a damp tissue. Motorcycles were similarly built - before Brembo braking and on early Japanese tyres a few drops of rain made riding a Triumph Trident or a Ducati Le Mans a test of skill, balance and determination and could cause no end of problems in the underwear department. Of course now we have cars capable of cruising at 120 MPH on roads limited to 70 MPH. Cars and bikes have braking systems which make stopping happen rather than the old "slam it down and pray" process. Tyre technology means that even the worst driver in the world should be able to get a car round a tight corner, in the rain, without losing control and the side-impact, front-impact, rear-impact protection, allied to more airbags than the Montgolfier brothers would have dreamt of, means that people walk away from accidents that would have killed drivers 30 or 40 years ago. And we have to wear seatbelts as soon as we start the car.

In the 1940s and 1950s most doctors smoked. Now any admission to partaking of nicotine is, at best, frowned upon (rightly because the medical evidence has progressed but stick with me). I won't mention booze, we all know about the public campaign against its use. Salt is a baddie too - food manufacturers are highlighting salt content of processed foods and we now know that there are "good" fats and "bad" fats.

Yesterday two manufacturers of chocolate announced that they will be printing health warnings on their products. Chocolate, when abused, is bad for us - we all know that but it seems we need reminding!

I have no doubt that as a result of all this legislation coming generations will live longer, more productive lives and the daily ingestion of all these bad things will go the way of the opiates that William Blake, et al used and which, possibly, led to pieces as powerful as the words to "Jerusalem". But I think we should be careful what we wish for - reading, particularly from compter screens can damage the eyes. Radiation, we are bathed in it daily from the sun, causes all sorts of problems. Where will it end?

The drug I started with? Caffeine - it's already under threat and coffee and tea manufacturers already offer decaff/lowcaff but in the words of a man killed by Aids and a prolific drug and alcohol user "Who wants to live forever?"

Got this from Kat's site - I think it's pretty accurate for me :-)

You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis. Postmodernist 100% Existentialist 94% Cultural Creative 75% Idealist 56% Materialist 38% Modernist 31% Romanticist 19% Fundamentalist 13% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

Facism?

I got here from a link I followed on Ang's blog. I don't think it's the full story by any means but some food for thought certainly.

Stop

End of an era stop Western Union has stopped the telegram service stop Blame the Internet and mobile phone stop

Wicked doings at Wikipedia

Wikipedia are investigating some edits made to pages about US congressman Marty Meehan as it appears congressional staff have been airbrushing out information which casts Mr Meehan in a less than flattering light.

An aide for Rep. Meehan made two edits to the article on Meehan's biography. The first was on July 18, 2005 and replaced the article with his official biography, which was biased towards Meehan.

The second edit seems to change a statement made by Meehan that congressmen should sit no more than four terms - possibly because although he made this commitment part of the platform on which he was elected he's now been in the congress for seven terms. This story is also being run on the press wires.

Ignoring for a moment the implications this might have for the veracity of some infomation on Wikipedia I wonder what it says about the percieved power of this online commons? It's clearly important enough to some politicians that their staff will edit out the things they see as problems. Oliver Cromwell famously told anyone commissioned to paint him that it should show "warts and everything" (sometimes quoted as "warts and all"). Few of us are perfect (probably just me in fact) and many of us change our minds about things but the idea that we should go back and hide the problems seems to be a particularly 21st century political disease.

Those cartoons

I've been mulling over how I feel about the uproar about these cartoons but was struggling to put it into words until I read Tim Ireland's take on the situtation here. He's said, far more eloquently than I could, much of what I was thinking.

The right to free speech and the right of people to have their beliefs respected is being banged together to no useful purpose other than to incite both sides. In a world where religion is driving both sides do we really need this being dragged out? I have no problem with the cartoons but I'm not a Muslim. I have no problems with anyone worshipping any god or none. I am far from a paradigm of anything but it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to see that both sides are going to use this as an excuse to carry out yet more acts of violence. And today Griffin and Collett walked out of court with some charges still outstanding but acquitted on others. We need this all sorting out boys and girls or the world we leave our children will be that little be nastier than the one we inherited from our parents.

Are we really surprised?

This is terribly depressing. As the number of dead, servicemen and women and civilians, continues to rise in Iraq we are now being told - by someone who certainly appears credible - that the decision to use military force in Iraq had been agreed between Bush and Blair months before it was discussed in parliment. The BBC report is here. In The Observer review of the original edition, the details of the meeting at which it is said the decision was reached is in a new edition being released today, John Kampfner said

"His is a penetrating, detailed account of the extent to which those who claim to be spreading global values have ridden roughshod over them."

The author, Philippe Sands is a QC and professor of international law at University College London so seems unlikely to make assertions he knows to be inaccurate - or am I being naive?

Co-blogging

Anna had a great idea (not Annarid, a different Anna). We are both tutoring the same OU course and we'd both started blogs to bung stuff that might be useful to students on the course. In a fit of genius Anna suggested that we combine our meagre efforts so far and blogged together. It was almost like living with someone again! We had to choose a colour scheme and then how we'd categorise posts and what to do with comments and the date/time formats and so on and so forth! She didn't even make me a cup of tea - but she is a few hundred miles away. Anyway, after a few hours of looking at curtains and sofas and carpets and other such stuff our new pied a terre is open. It's here and please don't anyone say they don't like the colours..............

My mate and the marathon

My mate Gill Wilson ran the London Marathon for the first time last year. Battling against her advanced years (it's okay, she doesn't read my blog :-)) she finished in about 4 hrs 40 minutes and said she would never do that again.

Of course time blurs the memory and age addles the mind so she's got a place for this year's race and has set up a site for people to sponsor her. She's running to support The Children's Trust, a national charity working with children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs. Even if you can't sponsor Gill hit her site and you'll see a photo of her looking windswept and interesting at the finish last year and hit The Children's Trust site to see some of the amazing work they do.

Photo from the BBC site. For those who haven't been following this story I won't go through it again - Rob and I know what it's about! Anyway - the fans, as predicted, were less than happy about Joey's antics this week but he fronted up and played very well by all accounts. He made the first goal despite being loudly heckled whenever he got the ball and according to the highlights on MOTD this evening he got a standing ovation when subbed late in the game. Psycho is far more pragmatic, he was interviewed after the game and pointed out that Barton still has 18 months left on his existing contract so he'll play when picked - and however daft our Joey is he can't be stupid enough to fall out with SP can he?

Lawro clearly reads this blog as his first comments about Barton were that he's been very poorly advised - exactly what I said!

For Kat!

Kat asked about the connection speeds from the cabins on HMS Daring so I went back to the BBC report to see what it said.

Lt Cdr Woodruff said it was a distinct step forward for the Royal Navy.

"We've certainly caught up with the electronic age," he said.

"Nowadays the crew can write home on their laptops and it can be with their loved ones within hours rather than days, which is what I was used to when I first joined up."

Now I may be a tad old fashioned but my understanding was that an email travelled slightly quicker than "a couple of hours". I'm not convinced that Lt Cdr Woodruff has a firm grip on the electronic communications age but I suppose his main job might be driving the boat or something.

Seriously - I wonder if there is some inbuilt delay to allow for censoring posts in and out? I know it's usually the MoD or RAF who leave files or laptops with top secret plans lying around in cabs or pubs in London but there may be some issues about the element of surprise if Johnny sends an email to his mate at The Sun telling him that they are sailing at full speed to carry out a suprise attack on.............

Wow!

New piece of kit was launched today. HMS Daring has had some wonderful claims made for it - during testing of the radar it was able to track all incoming and outgoing aircraft at Schipol, Heathrow, Gatwick and Charles DeGaulle - handy if EasyJet ever launch an unexpected attack. The missile system can shoot down an object the size of a cricket ball travelling at mach 3, that's faster than most West Indian bowlers I'll grant you but there has been no mention of it coping with anything slightly larger - like an incoming missile or one of Stelios's Airbus A319s attempting a sneak in under the radar. The firepower of this new Type 45 Destroyer is equal to a fleet of the Type 42 which it replaces and instead of having the old-style messes where up to 40 men lived and slept they have cabins sleeping six and each cabin has an internet connection - yes they see this as a recruitment tool too! Of course the Royal Navy have been very active in the Gulf but it's difficult to see them getting a great deal of action if Bush keeps picking on landlocked countries so I'm wondering whether he has plans for regime change in the Isle of Wight? Daring comes into service in 3 years time so there's still time to start peace talks in Ventnor!

Key to diagram
1 Flight deck to take Lynx or Merlin combat helicopter
2 Navigation radar
3 Long-range radar monitors air and surface threats
4 Communications mast
5 Small-calibre gun
6 Multi-function radar can guide ship's missiles and detect enemy ones
7 Gunfire control system
8 Vertical-launching system for short- and long-range missiles
9 Medium-calibre main gun
10 Bow sonar (under keel)
11 Sauna
12 Bar
13 Conservatory
14 Otter sanctuary
15 Multiplex cinema
16 Captain's greenhouse and allotment
17 Olympic sized swimming pool
18 B&Q Retail Centre
19 Fluffy dice (not shown but hanging from the rear-view mirror on the bridge)
20 Equestrian centre with indoor and outdoor sand schools
21 Eighteen hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer
22 Basingstoke

Correta King

Correta Scott King, widow of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, has died aged 78. After her husband's murder Mrs King carried on his civil rights work and also fought for Dr King's legacy to be remembered - because of her his birthday is a national holiday in the states. The world has come a long way since the 4th of April, 1968 but still has a very long way to go - Ang has a piece about police officers being caught on film kicking and beating a black suspect in St Louis. Of course this may have been the appropriate action in the circumstances but recent research suggests that the colour of the victim of a crime in some states of America can determine whether the killer is sentenced to death. In Louisiana black inmates are far less likely to be given parole then white inmates jailed for the same crimes. And it's not just a problem in the US. Here in the UK the leader of the BNP is in court charged with spreading racial hatred and racism plays a major part in Middle East politics.

Rest in peace Mrs King - I hope those of us left have the courage and energy to continue the fight.

In Bayern............

I'm sure we all knew that appointing a Bavarian Pope would mean changes but.....................

Samaras

No idea who he is but I can't be the only one who thinks he looks like Gabriel Batistuta? If he plays as well as "The Angel" we've got a great deal! (And I'm hoping it's the bloke in the blue stripes rather than the oaf in red who he's clearly skinned)

Oh heck!

The Bush/Blair axis is busily installing democracy in places they feel that the populace deserve it and then something goes wrong. You just can't trust the electorate can you?

Both the EU and the US have said they will starve Palastine of humanitarian aid because Hamas, a militant group of thugs responsible for many of the atrocities in Isreal, have won the elections. Of course we're back to the "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" argument - Menachem Begin was Prime Minister of Israel but as a member of Irgun planned the bombing of the King David hotel in which 91 people were killed and at Deir Yassin the objective was to evacuate an Arab village and then destroy it but 100 civilians were killed by forces led by Begin. The rhetoric of many Israeli leaders is not so different from the language used by Hamas and others now. There are countless other examples but the main issue is the hypocrisy of suggesting that imposing democracy on places like Iraq is the answer and then demonstrating that democracy is only valid if the people we like are the ones who win.

I wish I'd written this.........

Whether you follow football or not I implore you to read this column! It's by Harry Pearson and it's a wonderful example of witty writing which demonstrates pace and direction and the joy of the language as well as some sharply observed points - particularly about listening to football on the radio and, perhaps, how we might often imagine Alan Green.

There have been persistent rumours in the agricultural community that, like badgers, Manchester United players spread bovine TB among dairy cattle.

Don't you have to read something which contains that line??? I was pointed in that direction by Memex 1.1

Oh dear!

Just watched the highlights of the Barnet Vs Sunderland cup game. I've always liked McCarthy - he's an honest bloke who has turned many a sow's ear into a silk purse but also been upfront and told it like it is when his team have played poorly and/or other teams have played better. I honestly hope he's stopped off at MFI on the way back north because a couple of wardrobes would make better defenders than those he played today - and would certainly be more animated!

Hindsight

Although I often take risks and gamble I'm not a betting person so I wonder if anyone can help. Has anyone any idea what odds I would have got 6 months ago on the LibDems managing to self-destruct in such a catastrophic manner and in such an extended way? They are disappearing one a week, it would have been less damaging if they'd all stood together on stage and exposed their foibles one at a time rather than dragging it out like this. Who knows what lies ahead? Menzies Campbell admitting to a heroin habit? Chris Huhne revealing that he's undergone gender realignment surgery? It's only three weeks since they managed to push Charles Kennedy into resigning and there must be a large number in the party who wonder about the wisdom of that! This soap opera will change from Wednesday when nominations for the leadership close and then they shift in to full-on electioneering before the announcement of the new leader in early March. I bet we can't wait and I, for one, wouldn't be surprised to see Chantel from Big Brother scooping the leadership and then going on to beat Brown and Cameron in an election in three years time. You heard it here first and when you collect your winnings from Ladbrookes don't forget me! :-)

Rude beer

I can't get this link to work properly so here are the instructions. Hit this link and then follow "News in pictures" and look for "Store Says New Beer's Packaging Is Pornographic". It then opens a slide show which tells a bizarre story about a beer being sold in Susquehanna Valley, Lancaster County, Pa (dunno where Pa is but there ya go - it's somewhere past Land's End going west I think). Some people are upset about the packaging so the bloke flogging it is wrapping the cases in brown paper. Summat bonkers about it - if the booze is good who looks at the box? If the box is rude why was it approved? The beer will kill you before the images and - and this is where my head collapses under the weight of all this thinking - the US is the home of some of the heaviest pornography available on the planet.

Dust off your CV

Sorry I've not been around but I'm frantically learning a new programming language so that I can demonstrate robotics next Monday. The language is very simple and uses a drag & drop interface but because it's greatly restricted I'm learning what it won't do (or how to do things I'd so in other ways otherwise). For those interested it's the Lego Mindstorms kit but programmed through a slightly different interface.

Anyway! Last year a few of us missed out on a really cool job that came with a great company flat and country pad and wheels and loads of staff but Ratzinger got that so we've had to keep looking. Here it is then - a few million quid a year, first class travel around the world (but usually to nice places, we're not talking back streets of anywhere grubby), your employer will have far lower expectations than your customers - in fact your employers rarely have their sh*t in a pile so once you have your feet under the table you'll get away with all sorts of stuff. There are a few downsides, you'll probably have to spend time with some real idiots and they work for you. The press will be all over you all of the time and if you try going over the side the details will be printed and public before you've pulled your strides back on. The job becomes available sometime during the world cup - hopefully after the final but it might also be after the first round.

They get my vote!

Following Kennedy standing down as leader of the LibDems and the Lords leader of the party admiting to being a heavy drinker during the 1970s and 1980s a candidate for leadership has today withdrawn his bid after rumours of a dalliance with a rent boy. Mark Oaten's entry in Wikipedia has already been updated but I'm having problems linking to the BBC page - it keeps falling over.

I'm not and never have been attracted to rent boys and I recognise that addiction to anything is a terrible problem but you have to admit that they do sound like the most interesting bunch to spend time with!

You are what you drink

This piece on the BBC site caught my eye. It's drawn from research findings (known as "basket analysis" in the retail trade) which extrapolates diet information and relates it to what alcohol people purchase. According to these data wine drinkers eat healthier food than beer drinkers. One surprising factoid:

An earlier Californian study suggested that those who drank beer tended to be less-educated men who with a higher alcohol intake.

I've still to find any research regarding the academic status of those who don't drink or if anything can be inferred from whether people drink lager rather than Guinness (though I have my own thoughts). Overall, and without seeing the research, I think this is probably deeply flawed as it seems to make some big assumptions - does everyone buy everything they consume in the supermarkets sampled? Is everything we put in our basket just for us? I buy frozen chips but rarely eat them - they are here for when my children stay. I also buy wine and beer - perhaps it reflects my less-educated days as well as my reasonably normal days.

Go and check it out and be careful what you buy!

Numbers

I'm just back from a conference at the OU HQ in Milton Keynes. It was great being there as an interloper as all these high-powered academics strutted their stuff and bandied words like "pedagogy" and "technology" (I understand technology but it was clearly a new concept to some of the academics on show! :-)).

There were some webcast plenary sessions and all were very good - our very own Bluefluff watched one from home and emailed a question which was asked live, don'tcha have to love technology?

Anyway, in amongst all this there were also breakout sessions running in parallel so there were four options of 3 or 4 sessions at a time. Again I saw some great stuff but the one I'd like to share with everyone was stunning.

First up some numbers. There are about 63 million children of secondary school age without access to schooling in Africa. Read that again - the population of the UK is fewer than that all up. Also in Africa one million children each year lose their teacher to Aids, a teacher dies, on average, every two hours. In Lesotho the state started offering free education to all and now classes at the Thamae Lec school are in excess of 200 pupils, many of those teaching have no more than primary school education themselves. Many schools are nothing more than tents and they frequently blow down, even brick-built schools often don't have electricity or telephone lines.

The OU is working in collaboration with partners in the area (and from further afield) to help train teachers, in schools, using mobile phones as the main communication and delivery mode. Part of the OU's mission was always to be a public good and this is just one example of how it is using technology and near global reach to help with a problem that is described, in education terms, as being as big as HIV/Aids. The programme is called TESSA - Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa and is working with the DEEP - Digital Education Enhancement Project (I often wonder whether there is a special department dedicated to coming up with these acronymns??).

Take a moment to look at these sites and think about the educational advantages you and your children enjoy, I know I sat through this presentation thinking about the number of times my children had complained that their bags were heavy or that there were 30 children in a classroom and it was hot that day.

Restraint

I hope everyone admires my restraint. I've been home since 17:30 and I checked my mails and looked at a few blogs and listened to the radio and did a couple of batches of washing and cooked a nice meal and it's taken me this long to post on the blog.

Lovely day today meeting some new OU tutors and chatting with people from the regional office. Terrible phone reception in the school so I had to pop out to get a signal every now and again but I finally saw the HT score and then, a little later, saw what I thought was the FT score - it was 16:30 when I got in the car and heard the final score properly.

If anyone doesn't know what I'm on about hit that link to read the match report. Blue Moon over Manchester tonight!

Four things

El Mouse invited me to share this thang (you know what these 'Mericans are like) and I don't want to upset her so here goes..............

Four jobs you've had in your life: Nice easy one to start, just soooooo many to choose from! Children's Entertainer on a holiday camp, chef, Operational audit and Communications manager (put that in because I like the way it trips off the tongue, business cards were A4 sized), Open University tutor.

Four movies you could watch over and over: Shawshank Redemption, Casablanca, All that jazz, Wayne's World

Four places you've lived: Another long list to go at! Loose (Maidstone, Kent), Scarborough (North Yorks), Munich (Bavaria), Manchester - where I was born and dragged up.

Four places you've been on holiday: Andros (Greek Island), Preston Brook (the Trent & Mersey canal), Vienna (Austria), Portugal.

Four websites you visit daily: BBC, Open University, Smart Mobs, Echo Mouse :-)

Four TV shows you love to watch:BBC News, The West Wing, Match of the Day (sometimes), Later with Jools Holland (Struggled with this - TV is often on but I don't really watch much)

Four of your favourite foods: Salad Nicoise (bet I've spelt that wrong), Tournados Cordon Rouge, chocolate, Guinness

Four places you'd rather be: Erm! Tricky this one as I'd usually be where I am but........... Munich (in Zum Donisl on the Marienplatz having a nice cold Helles and watching the world rush by), having a coffee on the KuDamm in Berlin, New York, Anywhere with my children

Four albums you can't live without: Blood on the tracks (Dylan), Beethoven's 9th (Berlin, Christmas 1989, Bernstein conducting, words changed to "Ode an Die Freiheit"), Holland (The Beach Boys), Born to run (Springsteen)
Ask me again in five minutes and that list will have changed!

I'm not going to tag anyone but I'd love to see what GW, Bluefluff, Morning and Kat would make of this.

Footy!

Great game this - manage England at Euro 2004. Pick the team and tactics, don't pick players who are turning up for training drunk! Sort out your tactics and style and battle against France, Switzerland and Croatia in the group games. Top two teams go through and you're only three games from European glory! Not long ago games like this would cost money but this is a lovely little Flash game with a great deal of detail, check out the player descriptions by holding the mouse over them in the team selection screen and during the games watch for the assistant's comments! Enjoy!

FA Cup third round

For those who don't follow football the third round of the FA cup is when the Permiership teams join in and play teams from lower leaguse and sometimes non-league teams. As a follower of a team often likely to come a cropper at this point I was pleased that we came back from being a goal down at half-time to win after a Robbie Fowler hat-trick! There was a brilliant game last night when Liverpool were 3:1 down and came back to win 3:5 with a 65 yard goal and today we've seen the first giant killing - lowly Leyton Orient, two leagues below Fulham, went to The Cottage and won 1:2.

As long as your team is in the hat for the draw in the next round the third round of the cup is always special and this year there are still some replays that may provide shocks, non-league Nuneaton earned a replay at Middlesborough. Nuneaton are a typical non-league side made up of part-timers including teachers and social workers so it's great to think that they will have a chance to play at a Premiership ground. The magic of the cup!

TV Viewing

Calum and I chilled yesterday and he wanted to watch, of all things, darts on the TV. I think it's the numbers - adding and subtracting but I was drawn to the conclusion that this is probably the only professional sport for which I am equipped. I was never tall enough to continue playing rugby after I left school but in darts being 5' 6" need not be a major disadvantage. I have a tattoo but it's not as garish or visible as those on display at the Word Championship and I don't feel uncomfortable in a large room where beer is served. I'm sure I could find myself some silly nickname and as training seems to involve sinking a few pints I'm prepared to give my all for the sport.Anyone interested in sponsoring me?

Tonight's TV viewing is decidedly blokey too. From 6:30 we have live footy on BBC1 (I only have PMT - Poors Man's Telly, no Channel 5 or Sky) and then a brilliant film - "Con Air". Something to distract me from this marking :-)

Ageism!

Only in America? The organisers of the Superbowl felt that those of us over the age of 45 wouldn't be able to boogie to The Stones. They are inviting 2,000 people to go onto the field at half time to bop when Mick and the boys are strutting their aged stuff. Now it strikes me as slightly silly when you consider that the youngest member of the band is in his late 50s. They've lifted the upper age limit now - common sense prevails. The daftest part is that although they have a global following and I'm sure they attract younger fans but those of us who grew up with this music are now getting into middle age, it's a simple matter of numbers. The game is on February 5th if anyone plans to watch.

I do think it's ironic that their Satanic Majesties have been booked to perform, all over the place people were having an attack of the vapours when Janet Jackson showed her breast at the Superbowl yet they've now got a group who were banned by many radio stations and who are one of the raunchiest acts in the history of music. I know it's only rock and roll.................

More beer

Okay I know that, in principle, we can find links and conjunctions between almost everything but here's another few. On Sunday all right minded football fans will be supporting Burton Albion in the FA Cup - a team based in one of the brewing meccas of the world and called The Brewers. One team is managed by an ex-publican still known for his love of a tipple and the other is managed by an ex-Manchester City player (one of the most expensive to warm the subs bench) and his father famously battled alcoholism and received a liver transplant before dying of stomach cancer. C'mon Albioooooooooooooooooon!!!

Tonight my son and I are going to the pub though - and he'll be on Diet Coke :-)

Booze again

It seems like the most credible bloke to lead a political party in this country for a while has been hounded because he has a drink problem. Nick Robinson, BBC telly blokey, has the story on his blog and identifies times when Charlie denied a problem with drink. I'm no expert but I thought that most people with a booze problem spend a long time denying it to themselves so it hardly seems earth shattering that he didn't admit it live on TV! One of the comments on there makes the very valid point that a surgeon who drinks is dangerous, a politician who drinks isn't (in fact I'd think that a few bracers might actually cheer some of them up!). I'm sure the tabloids will have a field day with this and however he faces it in public the guy is going to feel kicked about a bit for a good while - a terrible shame.

Emails.........

Emails erfect you're IQ. Sorry for the delay in posting this - it was published in November - but I've had too many emails.

Spreading the net

Not sure if this should be on this blog or one of my others but I'll bung it here as I think it has application outside the narrow confines of education. Elgg describes itself as a learning landscape and it's another interface where we can blog and share ideas and link like minded people. I think it's interesting because, again, it shows how groups and communities can grow and share and find common ground. It has some funky elements not available through Blogger - file sharing for example and the opportunity to create closed groups (or open groups) to collaborate online. This is more structured than simply blogging but the advantages are that it's easier to find members and/or posts within a certain interest area. Many of the folk on there right now work in education (around the world) and some interesting folk they are too! Have a look!

Trivia time

Before each Bond film is made the actor is measured for shirts by Turnbull & Asser. The shirts have distinctive cuffs and collars, T&A also make shirts for The Prince of Wales and other members of the royal family. They also design a new range of ties (silk, of course) for each Bond film and yes, I have some of their shirts and ties. If anyone can get to Jermyn Street in London or East 57th Street in New York I'd recommend a visit if just to window shop - lovely schmutter!

We the people

Craig Murray- remember him? - has an ineresting analysis of why some people who have recently breached the Official Secrets Act have been prosecuted while others, himself included, haven't had their collars felt by the bill or the front door kicked in during the early hours. He also highlights that the torture memos appeared on over 4,000 blogs within 72 hours, I wonder how many other PCs have copies which aren't publicising the fact? On both sides of the Atlantic and across Europe more and more people are asking questions about the governance of both the UK and the US - this isn't new, Britain has a history of pamphleteering.

Take the growth of political pamphleteering as a potentially informing example. When the printing press became a public instrument in the mid-seventeenth century, the autocratic voice of England's King Charles I could no longer remain discrete, inexorable, or unchallenged. Pamphleteers could sound off to their allies and adversaries alike in the form of one-cent* printed flyers created with Gutenberg's moveable type. This free (relatively speaking) flow of expression gave birth to the British Civil War.

This is from a really interesting piece about the cultural repercussions of the print and digital media and can be found here. It's been oft stated that the web was the next step in empowering anyone with access to the technology but now everyone, even those who can't hack a bit of HTML, can publish and be damned using blogging software that takes out the need to know a tag from an attribute and an absolute to a relative reference. Can we change the world, if only just a little, using blogs? Will articulate bloggers suffer by being drowned out in the Tower of Babel that is the blogosphere? Will we learn to find and trust reliable commentators for the 21st century? Will we ever teach the Americans to spell? :-)

* It's very unlikely that the people paying for pamphlets in 1641 used cents though we did have a dollar and a half-dollar from the 16th century!

Happy New Year!

So that's it! Those who feel they made errors in 2005 can breath again, we messed it up but we've still been given a brand new, shiny year to play out in!

I hope you all get whatever you want from this year - let's get out there and bite it on the bum!