The Num Num

Audiobooks, where art thou?

2010-01-30T11:09:00.002Z

I've taken to listening to audiobooks on the drive to work. Its a nice way to get educated and relax. So far its been a mix of 60% educational and 40% fiction.

The problem is, where to get good audiobooks? I'm rather tired of the Audible user interface, its hard to search the catalog. For an Amazon based company, its appalling. Buying CD's from Amazon direct is not for me, I prefer digital downloads, they take up less space and frankly, they will sit on my ipod anyway, so why not buy them in that form. Lastly the iTunes store is just pants.

You'd think someone would nab this market with ease right?

--
tnn

Get Things Done

2010-01-16T19:02:00.004Z

Two weeks in, and I am suffering from the ever increasing workload that causes that deep anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach. Oddly, none of this is due to my inability to plan or manage my time - its due to the inbound workload increasing due to a variety of reasons.

As I cannot improve the abilities of those upstream to plan their time and interfaces to me better, I must learn to manage the anxiety of having lots to do. This is difficult to do for me, as I am the type of person who wants to do well for others. So never wanting to let someone down, and having so much to do, pretty much leads to scope creep into life.

But not in 2010. In 2010, I am on top, and life is the priority. So frankly, now I've written about it, I won't worry about it anymore. Live life in day-tight compartments.

--
tnn

Shaving like wot Dad did

2010-01-12T21:47:00.003Z

On Xmas eve, I awoke and had a shave, with this. Its a parker interceptor double edge blade razor, the kind my Dad used. Why, in this era of five blade gillette razors, would I go for this?

Well I have been using shaving soap for a long time, over 8 years now. My wife bought me a top notch brush for valentines many years ago, and since I've been enjoying lathering up using this traditional method.

My issues with razors is blogged here for many years (search for it ;) and of late I've been preferring the Wilkinson Sword Xtreme 3 disposables. They are great for head shaving. I have an issue with cost though, and so buy them in bulk from boots.com whenever they have an offer. On these grounds I decided to look at the resurgence in DE razors - due to the cheapness of the blades.

Blades definitely are cheap, and oddly shaving with a single blade is a 'noisy' affair. You can hear the blade shear through the beard. A good lather avoids any issues and friction, and I've learnt to lather twice using the same brush-prep.

Sure it takes longer in the morning, but you know, I quite enjoy the chance to listen to radio 3 and engage in a bit of a ritual.

--
tnn

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T20:35:00.001Z

Hope it goes well

--
Tnn
[mobile]

One Ring To Rule Them All...

2009-12-29T15:36:00.002Z

Well one remote to be precise. This Christmas I decided to remove the remote control clutter and simplify into one of those swanky one-for-all devices. But being a power user, I needed more than just a rubber button replacement unit. Thats where the Logitech Harmony 555 comes in.

This is more than just a point and shoot remote folks, it is built around the concept of 'activity', in other words 'what you doing now'. So if you want to watch a DVD, you set it up to switch on/and configure the appropriate devices. If you want to record a tv programme, same. And you get the picture.

Beyond that, you can actually control the devices in a 1:1 mode too, ie it can fully replace your tv remote if needed. But the benefit is really when you get the remote into 'activity' mode - so for example, if you have a surround system on when you play DVDs, its much easier to have the unit in 'Watch DVD' mode so one layout controls disc playback, surround functions, and tv contrast etc.

To achieve this you obviously need to use a computer to 'programme/configure' the remote - it comes with software for Windows and Mac. I used a Mac and had the remote configured for our set up in about 1 hour. Sounds a lot, but in truth it was OK to go in 20 minutes, but I spent the next 40 minutes getting the activities configured to suit my custom setup.

In summary, this is the next evolution in remote controls. So don't get an All-in-one from Argos, no grab yourself a Logitech Harmony to suit your needs and pocket - they have one of the largest online databases of units around.

Everything I have is now controlled by one ring, sorry remote :)

Merry Christmas!

--
tnn

We had a dream...

2009-12-20T11:59:00.005Z

I am not an expert in Climate control or the current (alleged/definite/devastating/immaterial) tragedy that may or may not be impending. But I do know that if the leaders of the world get together, they would probably have needed to be briefed by scientists and those who are experts.

Instead we witnessed a political bargaining session. Perhaps, this was the week that the music died.

Independent

Guardian

Times

--
tnn

Most Awesome

2009-12-19T10:37:00.001Z

Check this out

http://www.360cities.net/prague-18-gigapixels

tnn

Not so freenternet

2009-12-15T22:48:00.003Z

Dear friend,

Season's Greetings from all at Liberty!

Campaign for online justice

Proposals in the Digital Economy Bill would allow for the suspension of internet access to entire households on the basis of unproven suspicions. These proposals will be debated in the House of Lords in early January.

This Bill includes worrying provisions which would allow the Secretary of State to impose technical sanctions on people who are only suspected of breaching copyright, and in fact, as the powers are currently drafted a household's internet access could be cut off for 'any consideration', be that copyright infringement or not.

Information from copyright owners can be used by the government to impose disproportionate sanctions (for example the suspension of broadband connections) without criminal or civil due process safeguards.

Take action:

Help demand a proportionate response to copyright infringements by asking your MP to pressure their colleagues in the House of Lords to support Liberty's amendments in the Digital Economy Bill.

Ø Email your MP here

Ø Read our briefing here

Sign our petition to end Unsafe and Unfair control orders

Since 2004 control orders have allowed the Home Secretary to place an almost unlimited range of restrictions on people they suspect to be terrorists. With no charge put to the 'controlee' and with limited evidence provided before the order is made, these restrictions are indefinite. Control orders are unsafe - if, as the Government says, a person is a dangerous terrorist they should be put on trial and, if found guilty, imprisoned rather than left to live at home. They are also unfair because no one should be subjected to years and years of punishment without having first been found guilty after having been given a fair trial.

The control order policy has kept liberty and security in a compromised state which satisfies neither and opposition to the scheme is growing. Add your name to our petition and show your elected representatives that that this policy is unsafe and unfair.

Take action:

Ø Sign our petition

Ø Pass it on to five friends

Ø Email your MP here

Playing with knives...sorry pens

2009-11-21T19:00:00.002Z

Another batch of pens arrived today, this time very cheap ones that I had been wanting to try for a while. In one case, it was 'retry'.

Behold, the very first pen I have ever used - Berol handwriting pen. Given to me by one of my best teachers ever, and thankfully the same design after all these years. Awesome.

The others are rather fine indeed, and I shall be enjoying using them over Xmas - I'm writing a book you see (alas a techie book, in a notebook (moleskine) and for my reference only).

--
tnn

Sky at night

2009-11-16T21:46:00.003Z

I have never seen a sky like this, but I would probably stop in awe at it. What a sight, I mean, look at it.
--
tnn

University Challenge

2009-11-15T14:07:00.004Z

Been away, mostly on twitter, due to work pressures. Am stepping back a little now, so back to the ranting and raving about nonsense.

The following pictures made me wonder - what does it say if there is a 'collection' effect with regards to distribution of these universities? Is it because they were founded in that order, or something else.

Nice pictures anyway, enjoy.

--
tnn

Hilarious - West Wing Rules

2009-09-07T00:43:00.001+01:00

"You still don't know my name do you?"

"It's Gertrude."

"No it's not."

Sweet.

tnn

Eat

2009-08-16T14:07:00.000+01:00

A startling thought has struck me. How do we know we need to eat?

Consider this, an early human standing in the plains. Trees lions
elephants fruits and stuff. He feels odd, dizzy, tired. What instinct
causes him to pick something to put into his mouth and chew?

In a lab, a human who has had intravenous feeding for 6 years since
birth. Put into a room. Apple leaf cat and dog with him. Soon he gets
hungry. What would he do?
Man bites dog?
Man bites leaf?

Would he even know to bite and chew?

Nature va nurture.

My brain has exploded.

--
dp
[mobile]

I think I saw your face before...

2009-08-09T20:20:00.003+01:00

...not Phil Collins, but the theory that we are all traced to one of just 36 women.

I've been remembering the book Seven Daughters of Eve a lot lately, as I notice that many more people are looking very similar to me. Not by style or fashion, but just basic features. So here it is, for open viewing once again, the map that shows that perhaps we are all linked to these 36 or so women who were probably the final few survivors of one of the many mass extinctions we seem to go through on this here planet.

--
tnn

Paper doom - pt 2

2009-08-09T02:15:00.001+01:00

And alas...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/betrayed-by-its-own-guardian-what-next-for-the-observer-1769397.html

tnn

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

2009-08-08T15:59:00.007+01:00

I've ordered a mini samurai figure for my desk at work. I thought long about which one to order, and in the end I settled for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

A nice summary of him is as follows, but more is available at the samurai archives:

The most significant figure in Japanese history, as far as the Japanese are concerned, is Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598). Even his lifetime he was considered one of the greatest of the Japanese, and he was made a Shinto deity shortly after his death and given the title, Hokoku, or "Wealth of the Nation." He began in the most obscure circumstances—the homeless son of a peasant— and rose to become the complete master of Japan by 1590. Hideyoshi had no last name when he began to serve Oda Nobunaga; by the end of his life, he had assumed the family name, Toyotomi, or "Abundant Provider."

Oda Nobunaga had attempted to unify Japan through sheer brute force; Toyotomi furthered this endeavor by concentrating on the arts of peace and administration. Oda had done, you might say, all the dirty work and it was left to Toyotomi to forge a new administrative organization to guarantee unification. His goal was to establish a national structure which allowed various regional feudatories to remain independent and yet still cooperate among one another. He did not wish to establish a centralized government under his control, even though, by 1590, he was the undisputed master of Japan. The government that he built was founded on the old feudal system of personal loyalties rather than administrative centrality. While he pacified the country, he did not fundamentally change the Japanese way of national life.

Most of the measures that Hideyoshi employed would become the basis of Tokugawa rule only a decade later and were instrumental in the long period of domestic quiet that characterized the Tokugawa period (1603-1868). Foremost among these was Hideyoshi's laws barring social mobility. He was concerned about people like himself and his former lord, Oda Nobunaga, who had risen from obscurity through the force of ambition and ruthless single-mindedness. Hideyoshi made class a permanent status for individuals and their offspring; in particular, he made the samurai ("servants"), who were the professional soldiers of Japan, into a separate class and forbade anyone from the non-samurai class to carry weapons or armor.

Hideyoshi's greatest ambition, however, was a Japanese empire extending over the whole of Asia. Throughout the medieval period, the centrality of Japan became more and more an intrinsic aspect of the Japanese national identity. Nobunaga had harbored dreams of a Japanese conquest of China and Hideyoshi attempted to bring those dreams into reality. Shortly after he had unified the feudatories of Japan, he began planning his conquest of China. In 1592 and 1597, he invaded Korea and seized much territory in order to prepare a jumping-off point for the conquest of China through Korea. When he died in 1598, however, all his plans died with him. It was not until the twentieth century that the dream of a Japanese empire would again stir the Japanese to attack Korea and then China.

Hideyoshi had amassed tremendous wealth and lavished it on the imperial court and on various lords throughout the country (hence his posthumous title, "Wealth of the Nation"). He was enshrined in his own temple, called Toyokuni ("Wealth of the Nation") sitting above the Great Buddha he had built in Kyoto. His shrine became a prominent Shinto site, but the affection form him and his era could not hold the country together. The various feudal lords again fell into contention with one another and Hideyoshi's son lost out in the scramble for regional power. The final unification of Japan would fall to the third great hero of Japanese history, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

And so, in preparation of galactic alignment (2012), a new era of Samurai form...

--
tnn

Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems

2009-07-28T00:33:00.001+01:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxe_kwc8klw

--
Tnn
[mobile]

Bad Online Shopping Experiences

2009-07-18T13:41:00.012+01:00

Its very disappointing when you buy something online and things start to go wrong. So its very disappointing when the seller just wants to make life difficult for the buyer.

So here we have two experiences I have had.

Firstly, BMC Digital (http://www.bmcdigital.co.uk/) - I bought an Otterbox iphone 3G cover from them. They sent me a package, with a rather tatty Blackberry cover inside. No invoice (that would have shown it was obviously the wrong product) and no return instructions. So when I contact them, they reply automatically with something of a gem - observe:

Q. I have recieved my item but I believe it is incorrect or it is not what I wanted? A. If the item you recieved is the wrong one then we will of course replace the incorrect item. Please return the item to us, including all order information, so that we can take the required action. If the item is not what you wanted or you ordered the wrong item, you have 7 days to return it to us for a replacement or a refund. The address to return it to is - RMA Dept, BMCdigital Ltd, Unit 8B, Lancaster House, Vale Business Park, Vale of Glamorgan, CF71 7PF, UK.

Isn't that just precious? It appears to be such a common issue, they actually have a FAQ entry for it. And oh yes, because they don't send you any invoice, with any details on it whatsover (too easy to check against to see youve put the wrong item in the jiffy pack), they want all that precious order information back from you - so urm, probably they can search outlook for it.

I decided that I had no faith in them actually sending the correct item, and the fact that I'd have to pay P&P twice on an incorrect item, just peed me off. So I sent it back, asking for a full refund. I also informed Paypal, who were very nice and said they'd keep an eye on them.

Second culprit is Digital fusion (http://www.digital-fusion.co.uk/) I bought three cameras from them. The online system said they were in stock, and so I paid. I received an email that says:

Your order Request ID: xxx is processed and will ship via City link. It was dispatched on a next day service. The total charge, for you order is on the attached invoice number xxx. We have endeavoured to turn your order around as quickly as possible, and hope you receive your goods Within the time frame you specified, and in good working order.

That looked promising - except nothing turned up. So I called, no answer. I sent an email, and this is what I got:

This is on a back order and will be dispatched as soon as fresh stock is available.
We have no eta at present

FFS! Liars the lot of them. So I have emailed them asking for a full refund and confirmation of such by Monday. If I don't get that, I'm calling my credit card company and telling them to chase.

Moral of the story? For me, its about circles of trust and customer service. I don't trust those sellers, and they have abysmal customer service. So from now, I'm sticking with the names I know, and sellers that are recommended to me.

For anyone who is contemplating buying from either - dont.

tnn

Mobile Internet

2009-07-12T14:51:00.005+01:00

My fascination with mobile internet has been a long one, starting back when I wanted to share my calendar with fellow office workers and family (think blackberry, family ical etc.) I have always chosen a mobile smartphone that allows me to check email and blog whilst on the move. This was largely due to the fact I commuted by train on long journeys, firstly into Paddington and then Waterloo.

For many years I've blogged whilst on the move, and caught up with email. Now I have an iPhone. Despite my dislike of it (poor battery life, iffy reception, no way of getting photos off it, bad camera, stone age mms etc.) it is still the most convenient mobile device (though I do like my work blackberry).

Alas now I'll be driving to work. So what do I do? Well I decided against a £1k GPS navman system in the car, opting instead to rely on an A-Z. Well I don't see Jason Bourne relying on Mr Tom Tom whilst driving a tank like skoda through russia being chased by the mob do you? It means I have to increase my map reading, which is good as it served millions of people well for decades. Also I'd like to increase my memory to beyond three turns in advance - much more fun and challenging than figuring out how to charge a tom tom.

So how to check the mail on the move? Thats where the two strands meet. I've been looking for a good hands free kit for the iphone, and to date this looks like the best. But that's calling. What about email?

Yep, its dangerous to email on the move, but why can't technology manufacturers figure out how to unify things? There is a big screen in the middle console unit of my new car. It will integrate (finally) with my iPod - but not iPhone.

Frankly, this is quite an easy problem to resolve, and I may see myself doing it as a project. But why must it be people like us, and not well paid individuals working for VW.

Yes, I'm getting a VW - like the one above.

When I was a child the Beastie boys used to wear VW signs around their neck, as well as Merc ones. Most of the guys I knew had parents with VWs or Mercs - infact to this date I recall how one chap's Dad was convinced utterly that I was the culprit to take his Merc sign. Dude, I never ever touched it let alone took it! Scarred for life. Anyway, my parents had a Ford, they were teaching me a long game, thats what I know now. The Ford sign never really took off, and nobody took it off.

Now I have a VW. I doubt I'll take the sign off and hang it around my neck. But the price tag of the car, yes its a loadstone. Boo.

Enjoy the week people...

--
tnn

Newspaper final call?

2009-07-02T22:16:00.002+01:00

My SO's employer, a family run newspaper, is signaling some changes. She's been asked to reduce her salary, and go on a per hourly basis. Essentially the publisher is in need of money, and needs to make savings. This is not unusual in the industry, its more of a case of a change in approach.

I have always looked at newspapers like this:

- there is an event going on in the town square

- someone notices it, call them person A

- pA then tells another person B, PB then tells PC etc. You get transfer of news.

Thats how it essentially works. But as the size of the community grows, it becomes changed, you look for something you trust, something that has access to more news than PA, or PC.

- there is an event going on in the town square

- the local busy body who runs a single-sheet news paper notices it, and writes it down for the next print run

- PA prints it, and everyone 'reads it'

This led to people paying for the 'paper' that the story was on. Great, as more people saw it, the advertising space become more expensive. So PA starts to make a nice profit from just writing down what was seen.

Then the event, and access to the event, and ability to print that event, gains monetary value. So it becomes cherished, prized (note how OK/Hello pay for wedding pictures - its for the advertising cost uplift).

So all is well, print is big business.

Until, the internet. It was always 'assumed' that there will be a shift away from print to screen. It never really happened in the dot com boom era. But its happening now. In an unusual way.

Essentially the model is changing, its becoming a case of access is free and ubiquitous, and the advertising revenues on screen are not great (unless you have a swifty smart method like Google). So event-exclusivity and trusted-authority are more valuable - as is the rather unusual 'spread' of news. Lots of websites that are up there for news are one of these, if not two.

- event is going on in the town square

- website A has exclusive rights (bingo, makes moolah)

- website A is recognised as a bit of an expert in this area, and not only reports on it, but adds a journalistic view/slant that helps tie it into the bigger picture

- website A buys a feed from website B that has written a broadcast piece on the event

So you see, the model is moving up for most people. Reuters and PA and other news feeds are becoming the lifeblood in a big big way. The SO's paper is essentially a CnP of feeds, but most readers would not notice, as they don't have access to these feeds...until the internet.

Google most stories that are printed, and you see the same piece (perhaps slightly modified) in a variety of places, websites that are not linked to print, as well as those that are. This is because they are all buying the story from a feed.

So, in that era, it becomes a penny market for print. Why? Internet access is really penetrating, and access to news is considered commodity. Infact, news on demand is ket (RSS).

End of print? Not really, its nice to read a paper. But certainly a case of some papers hitting the wall...

--
tnn

Great film

2009-06-30T10:13:00.002+01:00

Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books Miss Saunders.

Men should hold it up in front of them every single day and say:

"I'm free... to think and to speak.

My ancestors couldn't.

I can.

And my children will."

--

Tnn

Official message

2009-06-26T12:44:00.000+01:00

I am lost for words, michael was a legend and I will miss him dearly.
His contribution to the business of entertainment was fantastic and he
provided ample opprtunity for the legal system too. The world of song
and dance acts has lost a beacon.

He will be missed.

But not by all, which is fine and understandable. Please join me and
the Iranian people and a day of mourning.

All violence and hunger and festivals of happiness will pause. All 24
news channels will enjoy free material. The recession will end.

He will be missed.

Tnn - a fan

--
Well everyone else has an official statement, why not us mere mortals
too?
[mobile]

Moonwalk Friday

2009-06-26T07:55:00.001+01:00

May his legacy live on through his music.

May his fans put his catalogue online for free, to tell the world 'you
can't sue him or take his money anymore'.

May we dance forever in happiness.

Mjj - gone

--
Tnn
[mobile]

The Mac experience gets an upgrade

2009-06-23T14:37:00.003+01:00

The mac experience is getting better, bit by bit. I've upgraded to Leopard recently, and have had some interesting encounters with software that I previously thought was not quite leading edge.

To start with, Safari is now much more usable and accommodating. For example, it now has Xmarks support, and there is the all important AdBlock plugin. So you get a browsing experience that is clean, crisp and rivaling firefox.

Secondly, the mail app is now nearing Outlook standards. There are 'notes' that sync with the iPhone, and to-dos that seem to appear in iCal too. The snag is this, whereas Outlook is one application that has Mail, Todo, Notes, Calendar together, Apple are continuing with the separation. This is fine for most, but it requires some switching - no big deal really.

Time machine is OK, it now works with ReadyNas so thats sweet.

The speed is obviously a factor of new hardware and a smarter OS - which will only get better with Snow Leopard, which will have an upgrade cost of pittance when its released.

So, all in all, a nice package thats slowly but surely getting the act together.

--
tnn

The price you pay...

2009-06-07T19:22:00.000+01:00

Been having some problems with my iPhone twitter client - its been dropping friends and not giving direct message capability. So now, the dilemma. Which paid-for twitter client should I get to remedy the issue?

Also, my blog template needs revising. I had a tag for edits, which funnily enough deletes. Oops.

Final problem - got a really bad head-cold, so none of this will happen soon.

The price you pay for a busy weekend I guess.

tnn

Please consider this

2009-06-05T13:49:00.001+01:00

Dear supporter,

I am writing to ask you to complete WaterAid's online petition to the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a matter of urgency.

There is just one month to go until world leaders meet for the annual G8 summit, where many high level, global decisions are made.

The summit provides a key opportunity for world leaders to address the ongoing global water and sanitation crisis. Therefore it is crucial for us to build as much public pressure as possible ahead of this key influencing opportunity.

WaterAid is urging the UK Prime Minister to be a 'Sanitation Champion', by encouraging him to talk taps and toilets with other world leaders. Let's flood him with a unified call tourgently act to address the global water and sanitation crisis.

It's really simple to add your voice to the campaign and will take less than a minute. Simply follow the link below. Please also encourage your friends, family and work colleagues to sign the campaign too. Your actions really do make a difference, please forward this email.

Thank you for your ongoing support of WaterAid. Together we can help achieve lasting political change.

Sign the online petition at www.wateraid.org/champion

Barbara Frost
Chief Executive

WaterAid

tnn

Awesome Transformers USB Drive // Current

2009-05-20T20:16:00.000+01:00

Want!!!!!

http://m.current.com/items/90072829_awesome-transformers-usb-drive.htm

--
Tnn
[mobile]

FBI Use of Patriot Act Authority Increased Dramatically in 2008 | Threat Level | Wired.com

2009-05-20T06:38:00.000+01:00

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/fbi-use-of-patriot-act-authority-increased-dramatically-in-2008/

Freedom - overrated.

--
Tnn
[mobile]

Is The Recession Turning New Yorkers Into Minnesotans?

2009-05-13T07:11:00.001+01:00

Wow

http://m.current.com/items/90040125_is-the-recession-turning-new-yorkers-into-minnesotans.htm

--
Tnn
[mobile]

Flickr: The Official White House Photostream's Photostream

2009-05-01T13:23:00.000+01:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/

He cool
Nuff said

--
Tnn
[mobile]

Hurry up apple

2009-04-08T07:33:00.001+01:00

It's official, iPhone sans cut and paste is as smart as homer in the
nuke plant.

Mmm donuts.

Look a great article I want to blog about, let's see how do I get the
URL to blogger.....doh!

--
Tnn
[mobile]

The problem with profit...

2009-04-05T10:22:00.003+01:00

I've been watching things at work and outside work for a few weeks now. I've noticed that the world is definitely different, primarily in the way we treat each other and in the way we behave generally. Not sure if the whole depression angle is getting to everyone. The G20 this week had london in F.E.A.R. mode, vilifying anyone who had an opposing view to BAILOUT. Shame really, as perhaps the solution is not to bring the system back to life, but to ask a fundamental question: The system got us to this beautiful state that we are in today, is it the right system to take us forward?

Anyway, I've also decided to get back on the facebook bandwagon. The problem is, like the picture above, I do not know what each site is for anymore. There are a plethora of sites out there, and I purposely maintain some anonymity (because you get sued by your employer you know!) but I wonder - are there certain 'types' of people that prefer certain 'types' of site? Probably, since my motto has always been: some like coffee, some like tea, some like both, some like neither. In other words, just enjoy whilst you can.

A final note - if your employer buys you an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, then they are a better employer than mine. I have to buy my own, and BOY have I made it clear that they are PRIVATE PERSONAL PROPERTY. Two can play at that game...

Profit, gotta love it.

PS Wonder how many of us will still use these services when they charge us for them? I bet it becomes game changing as they say...

--
tnn

Beam iCard

2009-03-31T18:47:00.000+01:00

How do iPhone users beam a business card between devices?

Palm had that one nailed...apple?
--
Tnn
[mobile]

Back to the grind...

2009-03-08T15:37:00.002Z

Alas, despite not being fully recovered, I must return to work. This is going to be a tough week, hope I can handle it (sic). Last night I relapsed into agony, hoping its due to swelling calming down. Who knows.

Will resume service over time, have much to say about how we look after the unwell in our society...
--
tnn

Recovery

2009-02-11T10:03:00.002Z

Am going to be AFK for a while. Service will resume in March.

--
tnn

Defiance - the spirit of freedom

2009-02-08T16:03:00.004Z

The movie, defiance, it saddens me. I really do wish the generations coming through, are inspired to happiness, and peace - by witnessing the absolute devastation that greed, anger and war brings upon us all.

Also, I am worried - what of the needs and views of the people, when the powers that be take these away. Who stops being a protector of the people, and a dictator - when does this transition happen?

The ancient greeks might be able to shed some light on this...

tnn

Something odd on the airwaves

2009-02-07T23:19:00.003Z

There is something odd on the airwaves, according to this report in Time...

I have to admit, sadly, that I do like Britney's new album, and that the expanse of audio scope and range is increasing - leading to a nice dolby 5.1 ready type of music format.

But then, I listen to The Monkees, Beatles, and Loving Spoonful - and I realise that sometimes 8 track is great!

--
tnn

When you have a hammer...

2009-02-05T21:16:00.003Z

I actually call this the red-car syndrome, where once someone asks you how many red cars you can see, thats all you see. Well right now I am into the thought of starting or joining a great social enterprise...and voila: Harvard Business Review

tnn

The Turning Point

2009-02-04T16:54:00.004Z

The SDC have somehow managed to come about, from a government that on one hand is prepared to talk a green talk, but walks a carbon loaded big brother walk. Anyway, J Porritt says we are entering a pretty interesting period. BusinessGreen suggest we need to rethink certain aspects of our IT planning.

Well, here's what I think. You're darned right. Just we all wait for those rolling blackouts to hit us, then we'll be pretty interested in how things work. Oh and all that data we store in a cloud, when the cables get cut, well we might never get access back. And the sustainability of powering massive data centres that sit there inefficiently using power - well more tornado forces I guess.

I'd like to join a firm or group of people that are interested in doing things differently. I believe now is the time to make a difference. Wonder if the govt actually want to hire forward thinkers or kowtowers? :)

Be safe!

tnn

Co-incidental

2009-02-04T08:54:00.005Z

For fans of GTD, the iphone didn't hit the spot initially due to the lack of 'Tasks' synchronisation via iCal. Thankfully tools like RememberTheMilk and ReQall are helping fill the gap.

Step-up Google...

We just had an iPhone update...tasks are still missing :/

--
tnn

The year of living...

2009-02-03T22:22:00.002Z

...efficiently

Its inevitable isn't it - we have new years resolutions and we try to keep to them for, oh, all of January. Then they fall by the wayside, and its back to the same old same old.

This year is my year of wisdom.

Its a big word, and I'm just a small human, yet I try. One aspect of what I'm trying to be wise about, is efficiency with my time. It is something I cannot buy, something I lose every second, something I value, and the only currency I have to offer those whom I love and cherish. Yet, now and then, I urm...waste it doing dumb things. Don't we all eh?

Anyway - quest continues to figure out how to do things swiftly and cleanly. I changed my moleskine to a Muji blank page book. I changed my montblancs to uniballs and faber-castells. I still carry those index cards but I kind of, well, not sure how to use them anymore now that I have an iphone with evernote and reqall. And then I notice interesting things online that try to help...

Do quests ever end?

--
tnn

For those of you who are without a laptop...

2009-02-02T19:04:00.004Z

...much like I was today, here is a solution your company should invest in:

http://www.vmware.com/products/view/ - it is called VDI, and it puts your desktop in 'the cloud' (so to speak) so that you can access your mail, files, settings from anywhere.

The problem we have with most UK companies, is that they lack trust of employees, and they are fixated on the need for tethered fat-client computing. The blackberry, the iphone are showing that semi-tethered solutions are great, and if connectivity is near-ubiquitous, you can do really well.

This way, should you be at home and without a laptop, you can access your stuff if you have broadband. Also, if you move to a new floor or office, you just, well move...

Sorry /geek
--
tnn

Snow

2009-02-02T11:01:00.002Z

There is a saying, 'when weather hits the UK, the UK stops.'

It matters not if its Sunny (we overheat), Wet (we flood), or as today Snow (we urm, get cold).

My commute is usually stopped at source, but today I managed to get into London. Only to face a closed london underground. Perhaps global warming allows snow to fall in tunnels, I dunno, but something happened.

Anyway, making my way back home now. Its a bit of a mess, as my laptop is in canary wharf, but the blackberry should suffice for today. Shame my company doesn't have true thin client working, then i could just vpn in and carry on regardless...

Hope all ye are well on this snowy day.

Pondering

2009-01-31T13:04:00.001Z

There are many terrible things that happen in this world, daily and almost every hour. But sometimes, an event occurs that really stops me and makes me despair at where humanity is going.

I read with sadness the plight of this man: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7862290.stm

Without full evidence of what was said, what happened, whether it was baggage from a previous altercation or whatever, we see that in life we face an almost terrible enemy that is determined on preventing us from being happy for too long. In most cases situations dilute away, but here, we have another 'stabbing' where a life is terminated by a single (perhaps) swipe of a sharp blade.

Now way back in the ages, our ancestors were faced with this situation, where they realised they could terminate lives so easily. But rather than let the situation escalate, they decided to define some morales that would limit such action to scenarios of defence for the 'greater good' - ie war against another tribe etc.

We have laws today, but our 'elders' today are not concerned about morales it seems. It appears, at least, that they are looking for 're-election' and 'targets of performance'.

Many times I have sat and considered how it all went wrong. In my extended family there was always the concept of the 'council of elders' where people got together to discuss how best to get through things. In the early days it was how to finance someone who wanted to buy a shop, or who just had a child but was now out of work. During my employment, I set up a council of elders who sat over the technical architecture of many large system projects. Again, a senate of equals and whose purpose was not to one-up eachother, but work on the greater good.

Right now, I want the following:

- MP salary capped at 50k

- No expenses provided

- Police told to catch criminals, not spend time on targets. Humanity is not an organisation that time-n-motion studies can help optimise

- Media to vilify these acts, not glamorise them

- Elders across the globe to encourage the next generation to consider carefully the effects of their actions

And there in lies the rub.

Cause-effect is no longer something that drives life. It is just an element we consider when things are REALLY BAD.

I suggest we drop the pretence. What we do today, affects someone or something today or tomorrow. Its as simple as that.

So in the words of an ancient buddhist: Live your life with the consequences of tomorrow in mind

tnn

I expected this...

2009-01-17T12:57:00.001Z

...one thing I have been debating this with people of late. That if there is a massive depression, and hundreds of thousands are out of work in the UK, then there is going to be a social issue. If you replicate this worldwide, there is going to a war-type issue.

So these banks, well - they are about to cause massive social upheaval. I sincerely hope that crime is not going to escalate too much, that violence is contained, and that the americans lead the way in stopping these so called 'masters of the universe' from living it up in billionaire mansions whilst the world suffers for their incompetence/deceit - you decide which.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-recession-crimewave-1418228.html

Best wishes to all in a tough 2009 - though I hope the tail end picks up.

tnn

Xfiles series 2

2009-01-16T07:47:00.001Z

We completed series 1 on Tuesday night and are 4 episodes into series 2.

Each reminds me of my old days, with my sister and I watching episodes
on a really small b+w tv. Happy then, happy now.

Cruc-the conduit episode is good. I have my own pick but it's not in s1.

There were only two episodes in s1 that were not in the DNA thread of
alien invasion. I hadn't realized then, but the story starts to build
really well, piece by piece.

Icy has never watched xfiles, she's a star trek fan (not me). She's
finding it fascinating, but I am trying to point out that each episode
layers in some thin or thick way. Except those two in s1 and fourth in
s2. can't see how sleep deprivation links to the master scheme?
Perhaps it's just to create a battle force to defeat them?

Anyway, enjoying the marathon.

--
Tnn
[mobile]

X-Files Marathon

2009-01-09T20:44:00.001Z

Having purchased X-files complete series on DVD, I begin the marathon tonight (right now) with the Pilot Episode.

They look so young!

tnn

Convalesce

2009-01-06T12:11:00.001Z

Rightio,

off for a minor op now - so will be awol for a while. Reason, its an eye one, so frankly will be avoiding small text on a screen for a bit :)

Hope all goes well for all, and I especially hope the innocents in the various war zones around the world are able to smile a few times and experience the wonder of being happy. Life is hard for most, we forget so easily...

Tomorrow...

tnn

Happy new year ...

2008-12-31T15:06:00.001Z

To all, a peaceful and loving 2009.

May we all overcome sadness and despair as one.

And may Milan win serie a again.

/dreams

--
Tnn
[mobile]

Danger Will Robinson...Danger

2008-12-28T15:39:00.002Z

Oh dear.

Icy would like a keyboard, aka digital piano, such that she can learn
new songs for her choir practise.

It appears I will need to buy a keyboard. This means I am currently
thinking - perhaps I should buy a Midi keyboard, that way I can start
making music again. I've a mac, and cakewalk etc would be easy peasy to
run. Urm...danger. I've been known to lock myself away for whole
weekends in a room making music using my old Yamaha SY22, Commodore
Amiga, and Music X. Ahh, I was in heaven.

I've four audio tapes (remember them) of compositions. Some rather funky
(composers prerogative).

So, at present I'm thinking I'll stick with Yamaha, and going to go for
a NP30, which is by itself a top class Yamaha piano, as well as a midi
keyboard. That way, in the future, I can expand to some sound modules,
software, mixing desk, amps...you see, its started already!

--
TNN

My PA has left me...

2008-12-20T11:38:00.001Z

...well kinda.

I used a service called "I want sandy", rather good as it let me fire off email commands to a PA-like system called Sandy, and she'd remind me and do things for me that could be done.

Alas, today, I am greeted with this notice. It just goes to show, sometimes, pen and paper is the only way!

Thanks Sandy - miss ya already.
--
tnn

Cricketing excitement

2008-12-16T07:04:00.001Z

The current series of England in India is very exciting. I've missed
every game due to work etc but like that both teams are improving.

Four more days to holiday...

--
dp
[mobile]

Family Man vs. Chief Executive

2008-12-11T19:31:00.000Z

I don't know what I want to say in this post, but I'm going to start and
it will finish whenever.

For some of you, it will sound like I'm a broken record, in my annual
lull of confidence. However this time its different. For the first time
in my life, I am in a position where I may become unemployed. Deep down
inside of me, I know that this is not a disaster. I know that I am not
my job, I am not my career and that most of my best loved friends are
not the people I currently work with. Thats family man. But there is
this horrible other reality, Chief Executive man. He's telling me that
getting laid off from this particular job is going to set me back a few
years in a career. That the increase in pay and experience will
disappear with it. He's telling me that I will be a failure if I'm
redundant.

Why is it that society imposes such awful rules on us, rules that are
not intrinsically part of the nature of man? I had this conversation in
passing with a few people over the past weekend. How do we measure each
other, how do we figure out if a person is worth looking up to?

I know exactly how i personally measure someone. And you know what? It
really has nothing at all to do with their job. Why? The best most
wonderful people I know, don't have high flying careers. They reserve
the power and energy in life for their social relationships and
enjoyment of life. And none of that involves luxury cars, fancy toys,
designer clothes or gold cards from airlines or stores.

Yet here I am, the unlikely executive. I really am. I'm working
alongside people who are have the fancy stuff, who live by it, who live
for it. The way they hold themselves, present themselves, and talk even,
all says - wealthy and successful in career. Me, I'm the bloke who still
laughs when he is happy, frowns when he is sad, shakes his head when he
disagrees, and lays every hand on the table whenever its dealt. Work for
me, is a place to do good, not to play politics or games against people.

So, why am I fretting? Because I am totally utterly confused as to what
the f@£$ I should do next? Icy and I talked about me setting up on my
own. I think I'd be a great boss. But I'm lousy at selling, lousy at
being stern and I enjoy things too much. Work would be too much like fun!

What I really want, is a club to join. A club of like minded people who
just need to make a good living, but who have a priority away from work.
The priority of Family Man. I think I know deep down inside who I really
am, who I would wish for if the choice was diametrically opposite and
binary. Maybe that thing called fate, destiny, magic or future, will
show me the way.

Until then, I carry on, trying to be good, trying to be honest, and
trying to be me.

--
tnn, very unwell with reaction to medication, probably explains the rant.

Herbal Bach Remedy

2008-12-08T13:14:00.001Z

Trying this:

http://www.rescueremedy.co.uk/

Rescue Remedy is world famous for quickly restoring inner calm, control
and focus helping you manage your daily stresses and get on with your
life. The distinct 'little yellow bottle' is the only combination remedy
formulated by Dr Edward Bach over 70 years ago, and is relied upon by
millions when things get too much; it really is becoming a handbag, desk
drawer, luggage and glove box essential...

Rescue Remedy is a unique combination of five BachTM Original Flower
Remedies all working on emotional imbalances associated with daily
stressful situations:

Rock Rose Rock Rose - for terror and panic
Impatiens Impatiens - for irritation and impatience
Clematis Clematis - for inattentiveness and to counteract faintness
Star of Bethlehem Star of Bethlehem - for shock
Cherry Plum Cherry Plum - for irrational thoughts and lack of self control

Wonder if it will work?

--
tnn

Scrooge

2008-12-01T20:16:00.000Z

Bah Humbug.

This Christmas I am going to be a spend-thrift. No penny will pass my
hands for 31 days without a joint decision with Icy. It will remind us
of how we enjoyed Christmas as kids. Just us, the Radio Times, books and
some nice food to eat.

So, when it gets cold...one log for the fire aaiiii!

--
Scrooge

Ill

2008-11-28T11:56:00.001Z

I've got the customary Xmas Virus - Urgh.

Buyer beware.

--
tnn

2001

2008-11-14T19:44:00.001Z

India plants flag on Moon

"Impact probe" crashlands to glory

India has become the fourth nation to join the stuff-on-the-Moon club,
after the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in lunar orbit successfully launched
an impact probe at the lunar surface this afternoon. The 35-kg impactor
was blazoned with the Indian flag.

"It will signify the entry of India on Moon," an Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) official said, quoted by the Times of India. The
probe drop was described as a "perfect operation".

The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) module was primarily intended "to
demonstrate the technologies required for landing the probe at a desired
location on the Moon", according to ISRO. It consisted of a "honeycomb
structure" and carried a video camera and a mass spectrometer for
examination of the tenuous lunar atmosphere during descent.

Indian TV reported the story under the headers "Indian flag lands on
lunar surface" and "Tricolour on Moon".

Chandrayaan-1 will remain in orbit above the Moon for two years,
carrying out scientific research. Apart from the MIP it carries a
further ten experiments and instruments.

--
tnn

Am I going to change?

2008-11-13T20:03:00.001Z

Met some friends from work last night. A company I worked at in 2000.
We all remarked how we remain as we were, just older wiser and slower.

I am continually told at work that I must change to advance in roles.
Yet I get pushed forward anyway.

Last night confirmed for me that being me is best. I harm very few,
care fir many, help as many as possible and still have integrity
through it all.

That's me. Frivolous, mad and yet reliable.

Will I change? Maybe but not on purpose.

--
Tnn
[mobile]

How the mighty fallen...

2008-11-10T09:22:00.001Z

India beat Australia by 172 runs in the final Test in Nagpur to seal a
2-0 series victory and win back the much-coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Harbhajan Singh (4-64) and Amit Mishra (3-27) wreaked havoc on the final
afternoon as the Aussies collapsed from 111-2 at lunch to 209 all out.

Test Match Series: India v Australia
06-11-2008 at Nagpur , Day 5 of 5
India beat Australia by 172 runs
India won the toss and decided to bat

India 1st Innings
441 all out (124.5 overs)

India 2nd Innings
295 all out (82.4 overs)

Australia 1st Innings
355 all out (134.4 overs)

Australia 2nd Innings
209 all out (50.2 overs)

Pretty decent result - wonder who the Aussies are lined up to take
revenge on?!?

--
tnn

What is an authoritarian government really like?

2008-11-07T09:11:00.001Z

Is it like Saddam? Is it like a mad dictator that does things regardless
of popular opinion?

I tell you, this is the dumbest thing that Labour have decided to do -
frankly I'm not looking at them as viable leaders until they reverse this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/06/smith_dabs_grab/

Perhaps we should introduce some of them to prisioners who had their IDs
stamped on them by the Nazis. Perhaps that might change their opinion -
or judging the current flurry of IQ-challenged persons in the cabinet,
maybe not.

--
tnn

From Scientific American - Destruction...

2008-11-03T06:37:00.001Z

World without Frogs: Combined Threats May Croak Amphibians

From climate change to herbicide pollution, it's not easy being an amphibian

The northern leopard frogs that inhabit the boreal U.S. have never recovered from some catastrophic population declines in the 1970s. Some blame it on the acidifying lakes and streams caused by coal-burning, others point to the ongoing loss of wetlands to development, and now new evidence shows that the herbicide atrazine—widely sprayed on crop fields throughout the region—is killing the frogs by helping parasitic worms that feast on them.

"Atrazine provides a double whammy to frogs: It increases both amphibian exposure and susceptibility," says biologist Jason Rohr of the University of South Florida in Tampa, who tested the impact by re-creating field conditions in 300-gallon (1,135-liter) tanks in his lab. "Atrazine is one of the more mobile and persistent pesticides being widely applied. In fact, residues have been found in remote, nonagricultural areas, such as the poles."

That may explain why amphibians are on the decline worldwide. As many as one third of the nearly 6,000 known amphibian species—frogs, toads, salamanders, even wormlike caecilians—are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). And no one knows why.

In the case of the northern leopards, the culprit appears to be the common herbicide acting as a double-edged sword: It suppresses the frogs' immune systems while boosting the population of snails that play host to parasitic worm larvae, the latter of which infect the weakened leopard frogs.

Such herbicides are present in 57 percent of U.S. streams, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and it is that water pollution—not inbreeding—that is the prime suspect in the high rate of deformity in U.S. amphibian populations, according to new research from Purdue University.

But national parks and other areas protected from pollution and development are providing no refuge. The frogs and salamanders of Yellowstone National Park have been declining since the 1980s, according to a Stanford University study, as global warming dries out seasonal ponds, leaving dried salamander corpses in their wake. Since the 1970s, nearly 75 percent of the frogs and other amphibians of La Selva Biological Station in Braulio Carrillo National Park in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica have died, perhaps due to global warming.

Throughout the tropics, amphibians are also falling prey to a devastating disease, believed to be exacerbated by climate change: chytrid fungus. This pathogen is marching though Central America at present, leaving silent streams—those without the chorus of dozens of frog species—behind. Researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens have surveyed such streams before, during and after such extinctions, and documented the impacts in those waters that have lost all of their amphibians, including muddier waters and a less productive food web.

"There are a whole lot of things that aren't being eaten, mostly insects," says biologist Joseph Mendelson of Zoo Atlanta. "And there are a whole lot of other creatures that don't have prey."

But the really bad news is that amphibians may be just the first sign of other species in trouble. Biologists at the University of California, San Diego, have shown that amphibians are the first to respond to environmental changes, thanks to their sensitivity to both air and water. What goes for amphibians may soon be true of other classes of animal, including mammals.

Whereas the exact causes of the amphibian decline remain a mystery, it is clear that man-made problems like atrazine pollution and climate change are contributing factors, both of which can be reversed. "The easiest thing to do," Rohr notes, "would be to identify an alternative herbicide that controls the desired pests but is less detrimental to amphibians."

--
tnn

In a way I am ashamed...

2008-11-01T21:00:00.001Z

...it is coming to the end of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. It
is supposed to represent a multitude of the great things of the human
condition, triumph of justice over injustice, good over evil, female
over male etc.

However, I have just now, to the benefit of the internet, seen a clip of
something that makes me ashamed to be associated with people of the same
'following' as me. I am someone who believes in equality, in the basis
of philosophy, that the human mind and being is based on universal
principles that are immutable across time-creed-religion-and country. So
it is with great SHAME that I write this. When people of my
'following/religion/belief system' call for destruction of others it is
embarrassing and upsetting.

How can a place of great tradition, of philosophy of the mind and heart,
spout such CRAP?

So here it is, the mission of tnn - love, peace and harmony to all -
whoever you are, and wherever you are from, whatever you believe and
however you live - as long as your heart is true, your actions good and
your will intact, I stand with you.

And to those of mine, who say such ignorant things - I'm sorry, I'm
above you...can't stand with you at all. You're on your own in the dark,
in the past, and in ignorance.

Happy New Year to the best of us...

--
tnn

Happy Diwali

2008-10-28T15:49:00.001Z

Here's hoping this coming year is happier and healthier for us all...

The Num Num

As Nelson Mandela would say...

2008-10-26T11:41:00.000Z

..."I have an iPhone"

at least on Harry Enfield's show he says that.

Yep finally took the plunge and got one. I know its a bad time to get
one, but frankly I just wanted to try it. If they release the god phone
in Feb, who cares. I will stick with that I have until a time when I
need another.

A driving factor in my plunge was that my battery on the Sony Ericsson
P1i was less than good, and it had a terrible habit of 'crashing' half
way through me typing up blog entries or emails. I lived with it for a
while, but then figured 'bah humbug'. And 50 quid down the drain on a
8gb iphone.

The iphone battery, not as great as the p1i battery and i miss the
keyboard already. /moan

Otherwise its fine...

Xmas decorations are going up in shops already. Fab.

--
tnn

Oz down

2008-10-21T07:26:00.001+01:00

*Australia succumbed to only a second Test defeat since the 2005 Ashes
as India took just 18.4 overs on the final day to win the second Test by
320 runs.

Sometimes its nice for the underdog to win, no?
*

--
tnn

The little master

2008-10-17T18:39:00.002+01:00

India's Sachin Tendulkar has set a new record for the most runs scored by a batsman in Test cricket, overtaking the mark set by West Indies' Brian Lara.

Tendulkar, 35, scored the 15 extra runs he needed to overtake Lara's aggregate of 11,953 on day one of the second Test against Australia in Mohali.

Already the holder of a record 39 centuries in 151 Tests, Tendulkar hit the landmark runs off Peter Siddle.

A rapturous but sparse crowd in the Punjabi city stood to applaud him.

Afterwards, having been dismissed for 88 - and becoming the first man to 12,000 runs - he said: "It's definitely the biggest milestone because it's taken me 19 years to get - it's not something that can happen overnight.

"The journey has been fantastic. There have been ups and downs. So many times there have been stones thrown and you have to turn them into milestones.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

"I knew I was 14 runs short [when Friday's innings started]. I have just been trying to focus on the game but whoever I see in front of me they have an opportunity to remind me.

"I decided to keep it simple and keep watching the ball."

Tendulkar insisted he had no plans to end his career in the immediate future.

"As long as I'm enjoying it I will play. I don't need X, Y or Z to tell me when I should stop or continue. When I started playing nobody told me that. So nobody need to tell me now either," he added.

He spent the tea interval on 13 not out, just one run away from Lara's record. But after the 20-minute break he hit his first ball for three down to third man and saluted the crowd before the Australian fielders went to shake his hand.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Tendulkar celebrates record achievement

Fireworks were set off around the ground.

India's President Pratibha Patil later said Tendulkar had "given joy to millions of Indians", while the country's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, described the batsman as a genius.

"I congratulate Sachin Tendulkar on becoming the highest run-scorer in Test cricket," said Singh.

"Sachin is truly worthy of the mantle of the greatest run-scorer in Tests. I have been following his cricket and there is no doubt that he is a genius."

Former India captain Kapil Dev says his compatriot is a hero to a cricket-loving nation and admire the way he has dealt with the adoration.

"I think he is one of the finest batsmen the world has ever seen," said Dev, who was once the world's leading wicket-taker.

"Millions of people in this country love him. Every kid wants to be come Sachin Tendulkar.

"He has set a standard for those young people to follow him. The country needs heroes like him.

"It is not easy to play for 19 years with the pressure he has had throughout his career. People love him. He can't go out, do the things he wants to do.

LEADING TEST RUN-SCORERS
SR Tendulkar (India): 12,027
BC Lara (ICC/W Indies): 11,953
AR Border (Aus): 11,174
SR Waugh (Aus): 10,927
R Dravid (ICC/India): 10,302
RT Ponting (Aus): 10,239
SM Gavaskar (India): 10,122
India and Australia dominate the table.

"Every simple thing he does in his life, people notice. Hats off to him for still coming forward to play cricket."

It was fitting that Tendulkar established the new mark against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era - and a side against whom he has achieved distinguished success.

A prodigy as a youth, his century as a 19-year old on an ultra-fast wicket in Perth is often regarded one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia.

He was only 16 when he made his Test debut, in 1989 and scored his first Test hundred, a match-saving one against England at Old Trafford, a year later.

Tendulkar was regarded by the late Sir Don Bradman as the one batsman of the modern era who most reminded him of himself.

A tremendous performer in the one-day arena, Tendulkar is also the highest scorer and century-maker in that format.

Former England batsman Geoff Boycott , who became the first Englishman to score more than 8,000 Test runs, breaking West Indies all-rounder Sir Garry Sobers' batting record in the process, told BBC Radio 5 Live that Tendulkar will hold the record for years to come.

But the 67-year-old still regards Bradman as the greatest batsman the game has seen, saying: "There's none of us who have come near him."

"Tendulkar's handled publicity very well. In India where they're mad on cricket it'd be easy to get sucked into it, but he's managed to keep a private life and kept that at arms length from his public life and it's nice for him," said Boycott.

"There'll always be people who break records because nowadays they play more Test matches than ever, more one-day internationals.

"It was inevitable that people like Lara and Tendulkar - two of the great players of the last few years - would break records of some distinction almost every other year or two.

"I broke Garry Sobers' record and I said at the time that if you play enough Test matches and you're pretty good at what you do then you'll break records.

"But it didn't make me a better player than Garry Sobers and it won't make Tendulkar a better player than Bradman, a genius - the best batsmen of the lot."

Former England batsman Allan Lamb paid tribute to Tendulkar's feat, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: "He's very classical. He's a batter who keeps very still at the wicket. That's something that every youngster is told to do.

"He's got all the shots in the book. He can play all round the wicket and he's got a lot of time to play his shots, and that's what makes him such a great player.

"Lara got his runs in 131 Test matches, so you've got to say that's an incredible achievement.

--
tnn

The autumn leaf timetable

2008-10-13T07:28:00.000+01:00

If there ever was an excuse for issues and bad planning it is an autumn leaf timetable for trains.

Wtf

Tnn
[mobile]

Another 24 hour marathon

2008-10-11T18:21:00.001+01:00

We embark on another marathon of 24.

This time, it is series 4, here we go...

--
tnn

Kindle 2

2008-10-04T16:48:00.001+01:00

After my harping on about how eBooks might be quite a good idea for
those who have little space but a voracious appetite for reading and
re-reading stuff, gladly I find amazon releasing Kindle 2.

Now to wait for a UK version...amazon, be my bookshelf please!

From cnet...

After rumors surfaced on the Web a few months back that a new Kindle
might be on the way, Amazon.com did its best to shoot them down, saying
a new Kindle was not coming this year. Well, Boy Genius Report has
gotten ahold of some photos
<http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/10/03/amazon-kindle-2-ebooks-its-way-to-bgr/#more-5941>
that appear to be the Kindle 2, so we're curious what Amazon has to say
now.

From the looks of the new device, Amazon has tried to address some of
the criticisms of the Kindle
<http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/amazon-kindle/4505-3508_7-32751890.html>,
most of which revolve around its somewhat homely design and a few poorly
placed buttons. The shape has been modified to make the new Kindle more
attractive, but it appears Amazon is sticking with the same off-white
color scheme--for better or worse.

Old back versus new back.

(Credit: Boy Genius Report <http://www.boygeniusreport.com/>)

The Boy Genius Report's mole or "ninja," has some comments about the new
Kindle. First, ninja says the device is basically the same size as the
older model, but is thinner and has "a slightly heavier feel, and it
feels much sturdier." The source indicates the new model uses the same
cellular EV-DO network for downloads (it's Sprint's network in the
current model) and a metal back is visible in some of the pictures. I
particularly appreciated the look of the new leather carrying pouch for
the device since I don't like the existing Kindle's protective case.
There are more photos here
<http://www.boygeniusreport.com/gallery/devices/amazon-kindle-2/>.

Boy Genius Report also notes:

As far as buttons go, on the right side, the bottoms from top to
bottom are: Home, Next Page, Menu, a joystick, and Undo. On the left
side, there's Previous, Page, and Next Page. We're told the buttons
are significantly smaller to avoid accidental page turning. The
joystick takes the place of the scroll wheel and it "takes a little
getting used to." As far as the redesigned keyboard...it "has a good
layout, but lettering on the keys could be darker." Continuing our
tour around the unit, next to the sliding sleep button, there's the
headphone jack, and on the right side edge you've got the volume
up/down buttons. What's interesting (and you can see this in the
photos) is that the backside of the unit is mostly metal with the
speakers at the bottom pf the back. One more plus? They've finally
ditched their own charger. The Kindle 2 is able to be charged with a
miniUSB cable.

No word on when the next-generation Kindle will arrive, whether there
will be a European model, or how much it will cost. However, I have a
feeling we'll soon get an announcement from Amazon--if indeed this turns
out to be a real product that will go up against the upcoming Sony
Reader, the PRS-700 <http://reviews.cnet.com/8300-18438_7-82.html>,
which features a touch-screen display and will hit stores next month in
time for the holiday buying season.

--
tnn

Uncomfortable

2008-10-02T07:09:00.000+01:00

Sat on train and the person next to me is reading a story about mass immigration even though there is crisis.

Rather she read the bit about sharon wanting to inject her son with botox.

Hide pls.

Tnn
[mobile]

Ua

2008-10-01T07:40:00.000+01:00

Adrenalin starts to flow,
You're thrashing all around,
Acting like a maniac.

Whiplash
[mobile]

Those who I've spoken to, know I predicted this about two years ago...

2008-10-01T06:20:00.001+01:00

Netbook <http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/26/netbook.jpg>

You may not know it yet, but the next computer you buy is going to be a
netbook. The numbers say so.

Despite their compromised feature sets and puny screens, netbooks have
pulled an all-out coup d'état on the portable PC market. Currently, nine
out of the top 10 best-selling laptops on Amazon are netbooks
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/ultra-mobile-de.html>. Over 2008,
manufacturers shipped 10 million netbooks. And looking farther ahead,
ABI Research forecasts that manufacturers will ship 200 million
ultra-mobile devices, including netbooks
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/ultra-mobile-de.html> by 2013 --
which is about the same anticipated size as the entire laptop market
worldwide.

Who could have guessed that low prices and ultra portability would have
struck such a chord with consumers?

People are going gaga over these pared-down devices, and manufacturers
are keenly aware of that fact. Most of the big PC makers, including
Toshiba, Dell, Fujitsu, Siemens and Samsung, have recently introduced
their first netbooks to this rapidly expanding market.

It's somewhat ironic that netbooks are shaping up to be the computers of
the future: They're hardly revolutionary; they're essentially a smaller,
dumbed-down version of standard notebooks.

"You're going to start seeing netbooks become more mainstream, as [top
manufacturers such as] Dell and HP begin to include more features in
these devices," said Vijay Rakesh, a ThinkPanmure analyst.

Rakesh said that the relatively low price point of netbooks -- they
range from $300 to $500 -- is their primary driving factor, especially
in light of a troubled economy. He added that other key factors
attracting consumers are their mobility and weight: Most netbooks weigh
no more than three pounds and measure about an inch thick.

Netbooks are only going to get more attractive and successful as they
expand their feature sets, Rakesh said. And many companies are already
taking aim on delivering a full computing experience to these miniature
devices, with new chips, batteries and power-saving methods on the horizon.

At the 2008 Intel Developer Forum, Intel officials announced
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/intel-shows-off.html> their focus
on empowering the netbook universe. The company is developing Moorestown
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/09/the-iphone-is-o.html>, a platform
due in 2009 that Intel promises will be exponentially more powerful and
more power efficient <http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=40040>
than the current Silverthorne (Intel Atom) platform.

Meanwhile, netbook software also promises to evolve. Phoenix
Technologies, the company responsible for the BIOS (Basic Input/Output
System) that boots many Windows computers, is developing a low-power
mobile computing operating system it calls PC 3.0. Running parallel to
Windows, the instant-on environment will allow netbooks to perform
several internet-centric functions without actually booting into
Windows. Functions promised in PC 3.0 include multimedia players,
browsers, internet telephony, e-mail and IM.

The most important issue Phoenix's concept would address is battery
life, explains Woody Hobbs, CEO of Phoenix Technologies. If you want to
deliver mobile performance, you have to ensure a netbook can even handle
it without running out of juice.

"You can give up and say 'It's a trade-off; you can't have all that
power and solve all those problems,'" Hobbs told Wired.com. "But it's
not true: Technology is capable of addressing the problems. We just have
to address them smartly."

And if Phoenix's PC 3.0 environment isn't enough, Toshiba has the bases
covered with batteries, too. Toshiba recently unveiled its Super Charge
Ion Batteries
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/toshibas-super.html> (SCiB) in
Japan -- which take a bit over ten minutes to charge and will last
longer than current lithium-ion batteries.

A challenge manufacturers will face is keeping the price point low as
they cram more features into these puny devices, Rakesh said. He noted
that Apple has yet to step into the netbook world -- and consumers
should have high expectations from the company that revolutionized the
mobile phone.

Not much has been said about what Apple has in store. The rumor mill has
been churning about a special event announcing a revision of the
extremely successful MacBook, and many have speculated the next release
will be Apple's netbook: Perhaps the fabled "Brick
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/apples-brick-a.html>" or the
MacBook Touch
<http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/07/rumor-apple-to.html>, which would
essentially be a larger, more powerful version of the iPhone.

Whatever direction manufacturers decide to take, it's clear netbooks are
getting closer to fulfilling the vision of Alan Kay, the former Xerox
PARC researcher who first drew the concept of the mobile, personal
computer back when computers were still eating punch cards. In his
concept, dubbed "Dynabook," Kay assessed that a portable computer must
weigh no more than two pounds, sport a display containing at least 1
million pixels, and be extremely thin in one of its dimensions. And most
importantly, a Dynabook would have to be "an amplifier for human
(especially child) endeavors."

"I'd like to think that [netbooks] are finding a form factor and weight
that fits human beings better," Kay said, "but I'm presuming that it is
because many people use only a small part of what they could do on their
larger machines, and much of what they do use computers for can be done
through a browser or a few simple apps."

--
tnn

It is important to get a good insight into things...

2008-09-30T22:24:00.001+01:00

I like some of the magazines I buy - when I read this article, I liked
one of them more. Frankly, there are things that we should know, even if
they don't look newsworthy or glamour-based.

---

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to
ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in
American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed
in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's
Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It
didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave
her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues
with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the
United States of America. Where—where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just
right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make
sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia,
because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state."

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I
flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert
on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the
rest of her response. "It is from Alaska that we send out those …" What
does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a
set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras
that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. ("We mustn't blink.")
But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often,
quite frankly, gibberish.

Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion
bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if
Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and
liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that's why, in
the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben
Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street's most
toxic liabilities. Here's the entire exchange:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion
helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care,
housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money
into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions
that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were
ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the
taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is
help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed
to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job
creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right
track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending
has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And
trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive,
scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector
today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things
under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about
economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's
Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under
wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright
lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see
that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain
campaign to treat her like a time bomb.

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be
vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done
some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about
any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a
time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of
challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military
operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against
the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is
not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic
challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take
years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless
curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security,
immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to
get much worse if they are not handled soon.

And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush
tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout,
the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of
the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the
trillions).

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these
times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate
is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country
first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

--
tnn

LOL

2008-09-27T08:24:00.001+01:00

So last night I was at a cultural gala event, with some interesting
speeches and some rather dull ones as I mentioned in my last post.

Well, much to my amusement, I notice this article in today's paper:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/27/polls.conservatives1

I have to laugh - because last night there was a tory chap, saying how
great it is to be a 'X' in modern Britain. I leave it to you to figure
out whether X is acceptable by the chap quoted in that article.

Superb.

--
tnn

Another gala dinner

2008-09-26T21:56:00.000+01:00

Sat at a gala dinner, celebrating
A section of the indian community here in britain.

Lots of speeches, lots of politicians. Frankly i wish they would change their speaking idols from stale professional peeps to wild and engaging folk.

Ironically as a recently elected official of a large org, i will have to set the bar.

So expect to hear of a mad num num who took a speech that little inch too far.

Hats off to the millionaires in the room tho.

Tnn
[mobile]

Recession

2008-09-17T07:14:00.000+01:00

I have bleen debating the pros and cons of modern life with colleagues, and we have all agreed that somewhere it started to go wrong.

Its not clear where that was, but what is clear is the fact that society is now a very fragile thing.

Luckily there are still pockets of strength and sense, and whilst we are suffering inflation and an economic slow down, these pockets of strength are stepping up to shape the future.

But in this moment i must ask - all those people that paid a total of 100m for thingscalledart, did they think of how better to spend it? Are they the kind of pocket that will actually thrive whilst most starve?

Tnn
[mobile]

Dinner with delores

2008-09-16T19:14:00.000+01:00

Listening to the song on the train. I like prince, i like him a lot. Been a while since his last album.

Work update - apparently i cant write. Things need editing and re-writes. Wouldnt mind but who reads my stuff anyway? It gets lost in gigabytes of noise. So does it matter if in a 18 page doc approximately 1 page of rewrites are necessary - taking a total review time of 8 hours?

I would think its not that big a deal. But when you cant argue with the content i guess the presentation is next best thing.

What i do need to do is be more abstract. Apparently concepts like simplification are more sexy than standardised offerings.

Its all irrelevant when the chips are down on the happiness table though.

Tnn
[mobile]

This is SMART

2008-09-15T08:38:00.000+01:00

3M, that bastion of innovation, has released a pocket projector. So what
you might ask - well look at these videos, then think. Think like kids
think, the future spenders. What do they like doing these days, with
those 5mp cameras on their mobiles?

http://www.popsci.com/video/2008-01/3m-beats-everyone-micro-projector-business

Amazing little gadget. The first step in this personal broadcast
revolution I suspect.

--
tnn

eBooks

2008-09-13T09:08:00.001+01:00

These have piqued my interest lately. I have lots of physical books, and
whilst i appreciate the feel and experience of reading a real book, I
can't help but think I'd be able to free up soooo much space if I let
amazon (where I buy most of my books) be my bookshelf and just 'get'
them when I need them.

That is, ladies and gents, the Kindle's simplicity. Forget its dodgy
v1.0 issues, the fact that four days of battery life isn't fabulous, and
the lack of tablet-pc type browsing capability. Instead concentrate on
the fact that it is many books in one unit.

There are many reviews out there, here's an arbitrary one:
http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/amazon-kindle/4505-3508_7-32751890.html

Problem is, when will it be available in the UK?

The best would be:
- make it available in the UK for about 150 quid
- let amazon.co.uk customers 'convert' real books to ebooks for free, I
mean we've paid OTT for paper, emphasise the nature of the beast by
turning bookshelves virtual at no cost
- flat price books at 3 quid
- flat price magazines at 99p

That would all work, because think about it - no more printing and
distribution costs.

Anyway, thats what I would do if I were a billionaire eCommerce dude.

--
tnn

Why are kids PCs so expensive?

2008-09-12T17:54:00.001+01:00

Exactly that - I want to buy my Nieces and Nephew small laptops (they
don't have room in their home for three desktops), but the best price I
can see for an entry level machine is 300 quid.

That's a lot of money for basic equipment in my opinion. If you consider
an iPhone is only a little more expensive, and contains much more
innovative technology. So why hasn't commodity laptop pricing reduced
these to say around 200 quid?

I am hoping this pinch in the economy will drive prices down. That way,
these kids can get a good usable laptop to work through school assignments.

At present, I am thinking of getting this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146032/show_product_overview

Its got good battery life, good reviews, and is Linux rather than Windows.

--
tnn

Worryworts

2008-09-11T07:11:00.000+01:00

Like my mate swisst, i worry.

I am now worried about something. Its immediately impacted me physically. My stomach is funny and breathing shallow.

Hate this feeling. Time to think of nicer things.

Tnn
[mobile]

Oceans 13

2008-09-10T22:27:00.001+01:00

...if you don't know why they made it, you'll hate it.

If you know, you'll appreciate the puns, tricks and humour immensely.

Clever, yet sometimes banal and always cheeky.

enjoy...

--
tnn

Manipulation, hmm

2008-09-10T18:02:00.001+01:00

Perhaps i am skeptical but after reading about the very large class sizes in the uk, in a broadsheet yesterday - was it coincidence that bbc breakfast (that figurehead of wry comic news in the morning) had a piece about the great new schools being built by the govt?
Hmmm

Tnn
[mobile]

Interesting times

2008-09-10T18:02:00.000+01:00

Had some nice news yesterday. Its going to be wonderful progressing it but it will also cause issues at work.

Not sure why i'm blogging it, guess i'm pleased.

No doubt it means more trips to manchester. Cool.

Tnn
[mobile]

This is very interesting

2008-09-09T20:40:00.000+01:00

The following article from The Indy caught my eye today. I don't mean to
be a bit silly here, but this is the kind of thing that has affected
some of my friends and as one teacher remarked, myself. Still, I quite
like what happened to me, I met even more interesting and better friends
than ever before. However I would like to think that one day, perhaps,
someone in my lineage will attend. Actually my wife's bro and
sister-in-law went to an Oxbridge - but that is another story...

Nothing causes a louder shriek in Britain than if you challenge the
right of the rich to pass their privilege untouched on to their
children. The shadow chancellor George Osborne has just decreed that the
richest 1 per cent will – under David Cameron – be allowed to inherit £2
million estates they have done nothing to earn without paying a penny of
it towards schools and hospitals. The "horror" of inheritance tax –
introduced in the great progressive wave of the Edwardian era – will be
over. This has been greeted with a gurgle of pleasure by Conservatives;
why should anyone get in the way of wealth "cascading down the
generations", as a Tory Prime Minister once put it?

Over the next few months, an even more tender spot for the privileged
will be pressed: Oxford and Cambridge admissions. Today, a third of all
Oxbridge students come from just 100 top schools. For example, half of
the entire intake of £20,000-a-year Westminster School go there every
year: some 410 pupils. The wealthy now have a taken-for-granted
expectation that their kids will go to the best universities.

Some on the right, like the late Bill Deedes, explained this by saying
the wealthy are a genetic over-class who naturally have cleverer
children. But there's a hole in the side of this theory: several studies
have shown that when rich people adopt kids from poor backgrounds, those
children go on to do just as well.

To see how this buying of unearned privilege works, I have to introduce
you to two people I know who applied to study Philosophy at the same
Cambridge college as me in 1998. The first is a likeable, confident guy
whose parents are wealthy businesspeople. Let's call him Andrew. They
sent him to one of the most expensive private schools in Britain, and he
had never been in a class larger than 12. He was trained for over a year
for his Cambridge interview – a near-scientific drill that included
one-on-one tuition by Oxbridge graduates, extensive rewriting of his
application form "with" a teacher, and even being videoed so his body
language could be analysed.

The other person, by contrast, was a chain-smoking teenager brought up
on an Enfield estate by her dinner-lady mum. Laura wrote her application
alone, and she had no preparation for her interview at all. None. Most
of her A-level classes had 25 people in them, and were led by teachers
who hadn't even got top grades themselves. Andrew got four As. Laura got
an A and three Bs.

Who had demonstrated they were smarter? I'd say Laura did – but she was
rejected, while Andrew got in. His training – and a lifetime in such
surroundings – paid off. Laura was nervous, and her complex thoughts
about Nietzsche and Hume and Russell must have appeared less polished.
It was Cambridge's loss: the cleverer student got away. This isn't a
stray anecdote. For too long, it was the main story. In 2006, for
example, the gap between the best private schools and the best grammar
schools in exam results was just 1 per cent – but the private schools
students were still twice as likely to be admitted.

Here's where we get to the pressure-point. For the past few years,
senior figures in Oxford and Cambridge – pressured by a Labour
government – have resolved this can't go on. They want to run a
university for the best, not a highbrow finishing school. So they have
begun to introduce very mild reformist measures. Instead of just looking
at the surface of exam and interview performance, they will judge them
in the context of the student's life. They'll look at your school's
average exam grades, whether your parents went to university, and the
area you're from: if you got good grades at a school in Moss Side,
you'll be rated higher. This is painted by huffing headmasters at
private schools as "positive discrimination". But the choice is not
between a system that discriminates and one that doesn't. It's between a
blunt, blind admissions system that discriminates in favour of wealthy
well-trained interview-machines, and a sophisticated, seeing one that
snuffles out the genuinely clever.

Soon the green shoots of these new policies will become clear. Geoff
Parks, Cambridge's Director of Admissions, says early indicators show
there will be a "significant" increase in pupils from normal backgrounds
this year. Expect a firestorm of anger. The right-wing press will rage
that "middle-class" children are being "persecuted". Their definition of
"middle-class" is increasingly comic: the median wage in Britain is
£24,000. Half of us earn more; half of us earn less. Yet they describe
as "Middle England" people who spend that entire sum every year on one
child's schooling.

Often, the privileged will defend their place merely with a visceral
howl of "It's mine!" For example, David Cameron's relative Harry Mount
has written an angry article asking, "What's wrong with keeping Oxford
within the family?" He admits his success at his interview was
"staggeringly unfair" but went on to say the only problem is rich people
can't buy preference for their children outright with "donations."

There will be furious predictions that Oxbridge will collapse under a
"chav-alanche" of inferior students. Those of us who believe that in
Britain you should be able to get to the top if you are smart need to
push back hard for these changes to be stepped up. Of course Oxbridge
can't get us all the way to genuine meritocracy. For that, the schools
system needs to be reworked to be genuinely comprehensive, rather than
the parody we have today where they are split between good schools
selecting by house-price and sink schools for the rest. But even with
the unequal products of that system, Oxbridge can go a lot further.

In the 1970s, when the former Conservative Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan was Chancellor of Oxford University, he was amazed by the
changes in the admissions process. "In my day," he said, "all they asked
you was where you got your boots made." In the 2040s, we will be equally
astonished that Oxbridge used to rely so heavily on interviews that give
an unfair advantage to the well-drilled children of the wealthy.

--
tnn

Its not global warming, honest

2008-09-08T16:31:00.002+01:00

Its just rain...

"Article in The Indy"

Incidentally, try not to fall into the trap of thinking that the
national government will save your home for you. Why would it?

/antagonistic

--
tnn

Web Tax, one step closer perhaps...

2008-09-08T12:46:00.001+01:00

Internet surfers, have a look at the future of Web Tax!

Everyone hates their Internet service provider. And with good cause: In the age of ubiquitous Internet access, Web service in America is still often frustratingly slow. Tired of being the villain, telecom companies have assigned blame for this problem to a new bad guy. He's called the "bandwidth hog," and it's his fault that streaming video on your computer looks more like a slide show than a movie. The major ISPs all tell a similar story: A mere 5 percent of their customers are using around 50 percent of the bandwidth—sometimes more during peak hours. While these "power users" are sharing three-gig movies and playing online games, poor granny is twiddling her thumbs waiting for Ancestry.com to load.
The ISPs are certainly correct that there's a problem: The current network in the United States struggles to accommodate everyone, and the barbarians at the gate—voice-over-IP telephony, live video streams, high-def movies—threaten to drown the grid. (This Deloitte report has a good treatment of that eventuality.) It's less clear that the telecom companies, fixated as they are on the bandwidth hogs, are doing a good job of managing the problem and planning for the future. The ISPs have put forward two big ideas, in recent months, about how to fix our bandwidth crisis. We can arrange these plans into two categories: horrible now and horrible later.

Check out http://www.slate.com/id/2199368 for more

--  tnn

When the public owes itself...

2008-09-08T11:10:00.002+01:00

Looks like the bail-out of dodgy financial mortgage lending has rallied markets. The American Public now is in the business of lending money to itself to buy houses - cool.

Shares in Europe and Asia have rallied after the US government said that it was taking over troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Investors hoped the largest bail-out in US history would prop up the country's housing market and ultimately help to end the credit crunch, analysts said.
London, Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo markets all rose by more than 3%.
US president George Bush said the two mortgage lenders had posed "an unacceptable risk" to the economy.

--
tnn

A very interesting twist on the credit crunch

2008-09-07T18:16:00.004+01:00

This has quite interesting ramifications for the credit crunch...

US financial officials have outlined plans for the government to take over the failing mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

The two companies account for nearly half of the outstanding mortgages in the US, and have lost billions of dollars during the US housing crash.

The most recent figures show about 9% of US homeowners were behind on their payments or faced repossession.
The federal takeover is one of the largest bail-outs in US history.

We shall see what this means in time...

--
tnn

Cricket record breaker

2008-09-07T11:54:00.002+01:00

This man continues to astound in his feat of 100s for his county...

Mark Ramprakash smashed his 103rd career century as Surrey's rain-hit championship match against Kent finally saw action on day three at Canterbury.

The 39-year-old arrived at the crease at 0-1 after opener Scott Newman had been bowled by Robbie Joseph.

And Ramprakash laid into Kent's attack, smashing 127 off 176 balls with 12 boundaries and six sixes before he was caught off Yasir Arafat (3-42).

-- 
tnn

Global Warming is a Myth - live with it...

2008-09-07T10:51:00.002+01:00

Actually, what I mean to say is - its too late. We have pretty much messed things up. So we will see more of the following for sure:

The Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos are being hammered by Hurricane Ike, the fourth major storm to sweep the region in the past three weeks.
Ike, a ferocious Category Four storm, barreled over the archipelago with winds of up to 135mph (215km/h).
Forcecasters say it could dump up to 12 inches (30cm) of rain as it powers towards Cuba and the Bahamas, passing just north of Haiti, over the next day.
Haiti is still reeling from earlier storms, which left at least 600 dead.

And closer to home, because we all know we are immune to problems elsewhere:

Heavy rain that has affected parts of England and Wales may continue to cause flooding for several days, the Environment Agency has warned.
It said that while the rain has eased, river levels are still rising. Flash floods have hit Yorkshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Northumberland is particularly badly affected with an estimated 1,000 properties flooded in Morpeth.
Hundreds of people have had to spend the night in temporary accommodation.

And finally, here is an interesting issue highlighted:

People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN's top climate scientist.
Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will make the call at a speech in London on Monday evening.
UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport.

There you have it, its just a myth. Myths are not real. What we see above has nothing to do with global warming - its just stuff that is happening to us, regularly, and we will like previous cultures, deal with it.

Won't we?

--
tnn

How to start a camp fire

2008-09-05T12:36:00.001+01:00

I have a fireplace, and I am not very good at starting a fire. I saw this, figured I'd share it with people like me:

There is a primal link between man and fire. For ancient man, fire provided warmth, protection from wild animals, light in the dark wildness, and a place to cook food. While fire is no longer vital to most men’s existence, it still has a magnetic power that attracts us. The flames of fire can inspire legendary stories, generate uplifting discussion, and build camaraderie among the men circled around them. Also, there’s nothing more romantic than cuddling up to your gal next to a warm fire. And I’d take some manly campfire cooked grub over the food of a four star restaurant any day. Thus every man should know how to start one and be well-practiced in doing so.

Create Your Fire Bed

When building a fire, always think about safety first. You don’t want to be that guy who starts a raging wildfire in a national park. If your camping site has a designated fire area, use it. If you’re camping in a more rugged area that lacks fire sites, you’ll need to make your own. Select a site away from trees, bushes, and other plant material. Your fire bed should on bare earth, not grass, especially dead grass. If you can’t find a bare area, make your own by digging and raking away plant material, taking particular care in clearing away all dry plant material. Dry grass, branches, and bark catch fire easily.

After you’ve cleared the area, it’s time to make your bed. Gather in dirt and place it in the center of your cleared area. Form the dirt into a “platform” that’s about 3-4 inches thick.

Time to Gather Your Wood

You’ll need three basics types of materials to build your roaring campfire: tinder, kindling, and fuel wood.

Tinder. Every good campfire starts with good tinder. Tinder catches fire easily, but burns fast. Material like dry leaves, dry bark, wood shavings, dry grass, and some fluffy funguses make for good tinder. If you’re a smart camper, you’ll bring your own tinder in the form of dryer lint. Bringing your own lint is especially important when everything outside is wet. Wet tinder does not catch on fire.

Kindling. Tinder burns fast, so you’ll need something with more substance to keep your flame going. You can’t move directly to big logs. You’ll just smother your little flame. That’s where kindling comes in. Kindling usually consists of small twigs and branches. Go for something that’s about the width of a pencil. Like tinder, kindling needs to be dry or else it won’t burn as easily. If all you have are wet twigs and branches, try whittling away the damp bark with your pocket knife.

Fuel wood. Fuel wood is what keeps your fire hot and burning. Contrary to popular belief, fuel wood doesn’t have to look like the huge logs you use in a fireplace. If you go too big, it’s going to take a long time for the wood to catch fire. Look for branches that are about as wide as your wrist or your forearm.

General tips. When gathering wood for a fire, collect wood that snaps and breaks easily. Dry wood burns the best. If your wood bends, it’s too wet or “green.” If your try to make a fire with this sort of wood, you’ll just get a lot of smoke. Unlike tinder and kindling, fuel wood can be a little damp. The fire will dry it out. But it’s definitely not ideal.

Collect twice as much tinder, kindling, and fuel wood as you think you’ll need. You’ll be surprised how fast you’ll go through tinder and kindling when you’re starting your fire.

Lay Your Fire

There are several ways to lay your fire. Here are three of the most common types of lays.

Teepee Fire Lay

1. Place your tinder bundle in the middle of your campfire site.

2. Above your tinder bundle, form a teepee with some kindling. Leave an opening in your teepee on side the wind is blowing against. This will ensure that your fire gets the air it needs and will blow the flames onto the kindling.

3. Continue adding kindling to the teepee, working your way up to pencil sized twigs.

4. Create a larger teepee structure around your kindling teepee with your fuel wood.

5. Place a match under your tinder. Because this lay directs the flame up, the flame should rise to the kindle and then on to the fuel wood.

6. The teepee structure will eventually fall, and at this point you can simply add some fuel logs to the fire.

Lean-to Fire Lay

1. Stick a long piece of kindling into the ground at about a 30 degree angle. The end of the stick should be pointing into the wind.

2. Place a tinder bundle underneath the support stick.

3. Place some small pieces of kindling around your tinder nest.

4. Lay small pieces of kindling against the piece of kindling stuck in the ground. Add another layer with larger pieces of kindling.

5. Light the tinder, and watch it burn.

Log Cabin Fire Lay

1. Start off by creating a small teepee lay.

2. Have you played with Lincoln Logs? Basically, you’re going to play a larger version of Lincoln Logs and burn them when you’re done.

3. Get large pieces of fuel wood and place them on opposite sides of the tepee.

4. Find smaller pieces of fuel wood and lay them across the first set of fuel wood, parallel on the other sides of the tepee. Just like you would with Lincoln Logs.

5. Repeat laying smaller and shorter pieces to form a cabin or pyramid shape.

6. Light this baby up.

Putting Out Your Fire

So you’re done with your fire. Unless you want to break Smokey the Bear’s heart, you need to put it out thoroughly. The following guidelines will kill your fire good and dead.

Start early. Putting out a fire completely takes longer than you think. Plan when you’re going to bed or leaving and start putting out your fire about 20 minutes before then.

Sprinkle, don’t pour. You should have a bucketful of water near your campfire for safety reasons. When it’s time to go, this will serve as your fire extinguisher. Avoid the impulse to pour all the water on the fire. You don’t want to flood the pit because you or someone else will need to use it later. Instead, sprinkle as much water as you need to put out the embers and charcoal.

Stir. As you sprinkle water over the embers, stir them with a stick or shovel. This ensures that all the ashes get wet. When you don’t see any steam and don’t hear any hissing noises, you know you’re getting close to a completely extinguished fire.

Touch test. Don’t actually run your hands through the ashes. You don’t want to brand yourself with a searing ember. Put the back of your hand near the ashes. If you still feel heat, it’s too hot to leave. Keep adding water and stirring. As soon as it feels cool, you’re good to go.

Dispose the ashes. You don’t want to leave the next camper a fire bed full of old ashes. Also, if you had to create your own fire bed, you want to leave the land in the same condition as how you found it. Scoop up the ashes in a bag and spread them out around the campsite.

Patch up your ground. If you made your own fire bed, replace the dirt and sod you dug up.

thanks to the art of manliness website for this one...

--  tnn

Iceberg alert!

2008-09-05T12:22:00.001+01:00

Here is an interesting snippet:

A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from
Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic
indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier,
scientists said Wednesday.
Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in
Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice
Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now
adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

So, how long before more melts and more of these melts are published.

--
tnn

What the richest dudes think about life...

2008-09-04T09:05:00.001+01:00

These are Warren Buffet's quotes on some simple stuff. Its a bit interesting...

Secret # 1 : Happiness comes from within.

In my adult business life I have never had to make a choice of trading between professional and personal. I tap-dance to work, and when I get there it’s tremendous fun.- Warren Buffett

Secret # 2 Find happiness in simple pleasures.

I have simple pleasures. I play bridge online for 12 hours a week. Bill and I play, he’s “chalengr” and I’m “tbone”. — Warren Buffett

Secret # 3 Live a simple life.

I just naturally want to do things that make sense. In my personal life too, I don’t care what other rich people are doing. I don’t want a 405 foot boat just because someone else has a 400 foot boat. — Warren Buffett

Secret # 4 Think Simply.

“I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand.” - Warren Buffett

Secret # 5 Invest Simply.

The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund. - Warren Buffett

Secret # 6 Have a mentor in life.

I was lucky to have the right heroes. Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you how you’ll turn out to be. The qualities of the one you admire are the traits that you, with a little practice, can make your own, and that, if practiced, will become habit-forming. - Warren Buffett

Secret # 7 Making money isn’t the backbone of our guiding purpose; making money is the by-product of our guiding purpose.

If you’re doing something you love, you’re more likely to put your all into it, and that generally equates to making money. - Warren Buffett

--  tnn

Considerate constructors...

2008-09-01T22:06:00.000+01:00

Excuse the construction - blog style changes afoot!

Normal services will be resumed as soon as possible (read, when I figure
out the right css).

--
tnn

Is it friday yet?

2008-08-28T19:43:00.000+01:00

This week has been mixed. Began with a bank holiday at home with icy. Lovely and chilling watching sherlock.
Then another trip up north to work for a couple of days. My manager is buzzing and raving about his new team member. Obviously forgetting to tell me a few key things hes taken from me and handed to new chap. I try to not let it bother me and after 20 mins ive moved beyond it. Quite good and fast for me, im improving.
Today was bad. I thing the top top dude thinks im dumb. Maybe i am but heck i am moving beyond that too.
Now i await friday when i get to see was and andy. Cölio.

Tnn
[mobile]

Inspiration

2008-08-24T09:42:00.001+01:00

I've been thinking lately, asking myself a question that frankly I've lost the answer to: "Who inspires you?"

By that I mean, which persons are role models.

My answers used to be simple, people like Prince, etc. You know the types of role models you have when you are a kid, famous celebrities and so forth.

Now, my answers are changing. Its more like 'my dad' and some of my friends (who are without a doubt the finest persons I have ever been fortunate to meet!) Oddly, I don't really look up to many 'famous' people anymore. I used to read about some of the tech-giants, but even then I lost the interest over time. Now I barely care what some of them do, or what happens to them.

So why this change? Is it just a case of 'maturing'? Do I finally now realise that it is important to excel in the things that pertain to your own personal life? Or is it that celebrity worship and rolemodels are only there for a purpose, to keep you moving in a direction of your choosing?

Regardless of this, I do like my current aspirational personages, they may not be rich, nor have photospreads in magazines, but they inspire me regularly and remind me what it is to be a human, in a world where relationships are the most important thing you can have.

I thank them for it.

--
tnn

Nice

2008-08-18T13:40:00.001+01:00

So we are getting the results. Unfortunately they are mostly in sailing, swimming or cycling. Still, we cannot complain, what an awesome haul so far!

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	TOTAL
1	China	37	14	14	65
2	USA	20	22	25	67
3	Great Britain	12	7	8	27
4	Australia	11	10	12	33
5	Germany	9	6	7	22
6	South Korea	8	9	5	22
7	Japan	8	5	7	20
8	Russia	7	12	13	32
9	Italy	6	6	6	18
10	Ukraine	5	3	8	16

--
tnn

Up up and away...what a race too.

2008-08-17T10:43:00.003+01:00

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	TOTAL
1	China	29	13	9	51
2	USA	18	19	22	59
3	Great Britain	11	5	7	23
4	Germany	9	5	6	20
5	Australia	8	10	11	29
6	South Korea	7	9	4	20
7	Japan	7	5	6	18
8	Russia	6	9	9	24
9	Italy	6	5	5	16
10	Ukraine	5	3	6	14

I have to say, we're on a roll now.

But did you see UBOLT run yesterday. What a star!

--
tnn

Thats more like it...

2008-08-16T22:37:00.003+01:00

Woohoo, we're slow starters, thats what it is.

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	TOTAL
1	China	27	13	6	46
Archery: Men's Team		0	0	1
Archery: Women's Individual		1	0	0
Archery: Women's Team		0	1	0
Artistic Gymnastics: Men's Individual All-Around		1	0	0
Artistic Gymnastics: Men's Team		1	0	0
Artistic Gymnastics: Women's Individual All-Around		0	0	1
Artistic Gymnastics: Women's Team		1	0	0
Badminton: Men's Doubles		0	1	0
Badminton: Women's Doubles		1	0	1
Badminton: Women's Singles		1	1	0
Diving: Men's 10m Platform		1	0	0
Diving: Men's Synchronised 3m Springbo		1	0	0
Diving: Women's Synchronised 10m Platf		1	0	0
Diving: Women's Synchronised 3m Spring		1	0	0
Fencing: Men's Individual Sabre		1	0	0
Fencing: Women's Team Sabre		0	1	0
Judo: Women +78 kg		1	0	0
Judo: Women -52 kg		1	0	0
Judo: Women -57 kg		0	0	1
Judo: Women -78 kg		1	0	0
Rowing: Women's Pair		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's 10m Air Pistol		1	0	0
Shooting: Men's 10m Air Rifle		1	1	0
Shooting: Men's 50m Pistol		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's Double Trap		0	0	1
Shooting: Women's 10m Air Pistol		1	0	0
Shooting: Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 400m Freestyle		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Butterfly		1	1	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Freestyle		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Rel		0	1	0
Weightlifting: Men's 56kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Men's 62kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Men's 69kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Men's 77kg		0	1	0
Weightlifting: Men's 85kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's 48kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's 58kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's 69kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's 75kg		1	0	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 74 kg		0	1	0
Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 55 kg		0	1	0
2	USA	16	16	22	54
Artistic Gymnastics: Men's Team		0	0	1
Artistic Gymnastics: Women's Individual All-Around		1	1	0
Artistic Gymnastics: Women's Team		0	1	0
Athletics: Men's 100m		0	0	1
Athletics: Men's Shot Put		0	1	0
Athletics: Women's 10000m		0	0	1
Athletics: Women's Heptathlon		0	0	1
Cycling Road: Men's Individual Time Trial		0	0	1
Cycling Road: Women's Individual Time Trial		1	0	0
Equestrian: Eventing Individual		0	1	0
Fencing: Women's Individual Sabre		1	1	1
Fencing: Women's Team Foil		0	1	0
Fencing: Women's Team Sabre		0	0	1
Judo: Women -70 kg		0	0	1
Rowing: Women's Single Sculls		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's 10m Air Pistol		0	0	1
Shooting: Men's 50m Rifle Prone		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's Double Trap		1	0	0
Shooting: Men's Skeet		1	0	0
Shooting: Women's Skeet		0	1	0
Shooting: Women's Trap		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 100m Backstroke		1	1	0
Swimming: Men's 100m Butterfly		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 100m Freestyle		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 200m Backstroke		1	1	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Butterfly		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Freestyle		1	0	1
Swimming: Men's 200m Individual Medley		1	0	1
Swimming: Men's 400m Freestyle		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 400m Individual Medley		1	0	1
Swimming: Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 100m Backstroke		1	0	1
Swimming: Women's 100m Breaststroke		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 100m Butterfly		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 100m Freestyle		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 200m Backstroke		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Breaststroke		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Individual Medley		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 400m Freestyle		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 400m Individual Medley		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Rel		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Rel		0	0	1
Tennis: Men's Doubles		0	0	1
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 96 kg		0	0	1
3	Germany	8	5	5	18
Canoe/Kayak Slalom: Kayak (K1) Men		1	0	0
Cycling Track: Men's Points Race		0	1	0
Cycling Track: Men's Team Sprint		0	0	1
Diving: Men's 10m Platform		0	1	0
Diving: Women's Synchronised 3m Spring		0	0	1
Equestrian: Dressage Team		1	0	0
Equestrian: Eventing Individual		1	0	0
Equestrian: Eventing Team		1	0	0
Fencing: Men's Individual Foil		1	0	0
Fencing: Women's Individual Epee		1	0	0
Judo: Men -81 kg		1	0	0
Rowing: Women's Double Sculls		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol		0	1	1
Shooting: Women's 25m Pistol		0	0	1
Shooting: Women's Skeet		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 100m Freestyle		1	0	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 96 kg		0	1	0
4	South Korea	7	9	4	20
Archery: Men's Individual		0	1	0
Archery: Men's Team		1	0	0
Archery: Women's Individual		0	1	1
Archery: Women's Team		1	0	0
Badminton: Men's Doubles		0	0	1
Badminton: Women's Doubles		0	1	0
Fencing: Women's Individual Foil		0	1	0
Judo: Men -60 kg		1	0	0
Judo: Men -73 kg		0	1	0
Judo: Men -81 kg		0	1	0
Judo: Women -78 kg		0	0	1
Shooting: Men's 10m Air Pistol		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's 50m Pistol		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Freestyle		0	1	0
Swimming: Men's 400m Freestyle		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Men's 77kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's +75kg		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's 53kg		0	1	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 55 kg		0	0	1
5	Australia	7	8	10	25
Athletics: Men's 20km Walk		0	0	1
Canoe/Kayak Slalom: Canoe Single (C1) Men		0	0	1
Canoe/Kayak Slalom: Kayak (K1) Women		0	1	0
Diving: Women's Synchronised 10m Platf		0	1	0
Equestrian: Eventing Team		0	1	0
Rowing: Men's Double Sculls		1	0	0
Rowing: Men's Four		0	1	0
Rowing: Men's Pair		1	0	0
Shooting: Men's 50m Rifle Prone		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 100m Backstroke		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 100m Freestyle		0	1	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Breaststroke		0	1	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Freestyle		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 100m Breaststroke		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 100m Butterfly		1	0	1
Swimming: Women's 100m Freestyle		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Breaststroke		0	1	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Butterfly		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 200m Individual Medley		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 400m Individual Medley		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Rel		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Rel		1	0	0
6	Japan	7	5	5	17
Artistic Gymnastics: Men's Individual All-Around		0	1	0
Artistic Gymnastics: Men's Team		0	1	0
Cycling Track: Men's Keirin		0	0	1
Fencing: Men's Individual Foil		0	1	0
Judo: Men +100 kg		1	0	0
Judo: Men -66 kg		1	0	0
Judo: Women +78 kg		0	1	0
Judo: Women -48 kg		0	0	1
Judo: Women -52 kg		0	0	1
Judo: Women -63 kg		1	0	0
Judo: Women -70 kg		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 100m Breaststroke		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Breaststroke		1	0	0
Swimming: Men's 200m Butterfly		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 200m Breaststroke		0	0	1
Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 48 kg		0	1	0
Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 55 kg		1	0	0
7	Great Britain	7	3	7	17
Canoe/Kayak Slalom: Canoe Single (C1) Men		0	1	0
Cycling Road: Women's Individual Time Trial		0	1	0
Cycling Road: Women's Road Race		1	0	0
Cycling Track: Men's Individual Pursuit		1	0	1
Cycling Track: Men's Keirin		1	1	0
Cycling Track: Men's Points Race		0	0	1
Cycling Track: Men's Team Sprint		1	0	0
Equestrian: Eventing Individual		0	0	1
Equestrian: Eventing Team		0	0	1
Rowing: Men's Double Sculls		0	0	1
Rowing: Men's Four		1	0	0
Rowing: Women's Double Sculls		0	0	1
Swimming: Women's 400m Freestyle		1	0	1
Swimming: Women's 800m Freestyle		1	0	0
8	Italy	6	5	5	16
Archery: Men's Team		0	1	0
Cycling Road: Men's Road Race		0	1	0
Cycling Road: Women's Road Race		0	0	1
Fencing: Men's Individual Epee		1	0	0
Fencing: Men's Individual Foil		0	0	1
Fencing: Men's Team Epee		0	0	1
Fencing: Women's Individual Foil		1	0	1
Fencing: Women's Team Foil		0	0	1
Judo: Women -57 kg		1	0	0
Shooting: Men's Double Trap		0	1	0
Shooting: Men's Trap		0	1	0
Shooting: Women's Skeet		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 200m Freestyle		1	0	0
Swimming: Women's 800m Freestyle		0	1	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 84 kg		1	0	0
9	Russia	5	8	8	21
Archery: Men's Individual		0	0	1
Athletics: Men's 20km Walk		1	0	0
Canoe/Kayak Slalom: Canoe Double (C2) Men		0	0	1
Diving: Men's 10m Platform		0	0	1
Diving: Men's Synchronised 3m Springbo		0	1	0
Diving: Women's Synchronised 3m Spring		0	1	0
Fencing: Women's Team Foil		1	0	0
Shooting: Men's 50m Pistol		0	0	1
Shooting: Men's Trap		0	0	1
Shooting: Women's 10m Air Pistol		0	1	0
Shooting: Women's 10m Air Rifle		0	1	0
Swimming: Men's 100m Backstroke		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 200m Backstroke		0	0	1
Swimming: Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay		0	1	0
Weightlifting: Women's 58kg		0	1	0
Weightlifting: Women's 69kg		0	1	0
Weightlifting: Women's 75kg		0	0	1
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 120 kg		0	1	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 55 kg		1	0	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 60 kg		1	0	0
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 96 kg		1	0	0
10	Ukraine	5	2	5	12
Archery: Men's Individual		1	0	0
Athletics: Women's Heptathlon		1	1	0
Diving: Men's Synchronised 3m Springbo		0	0	1
Fencing: Women's Team Sabre		1	0	0
Judo: Men -81 kg		0	0	1
Shooting: Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol		1	0	0
Shooting: Men's 50m Rifle Prone		1	0	0
Weightlifting: Women's +75kg		0	1	0
Weightlifting: Women's 69kg		0	0	1
Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 66 kg		0	0	1
Wrestling: Women's Freestyle 48 kg		0	0	1
11	France	3	9	10	22

In actual fact, we're not so bad. I saw a table in newsweek, it shows to-date medals. We're amongst the top, so not bad.

Guess I'm just wishing we had a stronger field - lets hope for 2012.

--
tnn

The Num Num

Audiobooks, where art thou?

Get Things Done

Shaving like wot Dad did

Happy New Year

One Ring To Rule Them All...

We *had* a dream...

Most Awesome

Not so freenternet

Playing with knives...sorry pens

Sky at night

University Challenge

Hilarious - West Wing Rules

Eat

I think I saw your face before...

Paper doom - pt 2

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems

Bad Online Shopping Experiences

Mobile Internet

Newspaper final call?

Great film

Official message

Moonwalk Friday

The Mac experience gets an upgrade

The price you pay...

Please consider this

Awesome Transformers USB Drive // Current

FBI Use of Patriot Act Authority Increased Dramatically in 2008 | Threat Level | Wired.com

Is The Recession Turning New Yorkers Into Minnesotans?

Flickr: The Official White House Photostream's Photostream

Hurry up apple

The problem with profit...

Beam iCard

Back to the grind...

Recovery

Defiance - the spirit of freedom

Something odd on the airwaves

When you have a hammer...

The Turning Point

Co-incidental

The year of living...

For those of you who are without a laptop...

Snow

Pondering

I expected this...

Xfiles series 2

X-Files Marathon

Convalesce

Happy new year ...

Danger Will Robinson...Danger

My PA has left me...

Cricketing excitement

Family Man vs. Chief Executive

Herbal Bach Remedy

Scrooge

Ill

2001

Am I going to change?

How the mighty fallen...

What is an authoritarian government really like?

From Scientific American - Destruction...

World without Frogs: Combined Threats May Croak Amphibians

From climate change to herbicide pollution, it's not easy being an amphibian

In a way I am ashamed...

Happy Diwali

As Nelson Mandela would say...

Oz down

The little master

The autumn leaf timetable

Another 24 hour marathon

Kindle 2

Uncomfortable

Ua

Those who I've spoken to, know I predicted this about two years ago...

It is important to get a good insight into things...

LOL

Another gala dinner

Recession

Dinner with delores

We had a dream...