Now that the Euro's are over....

..... we can get back to the proper side of football (by that I mean following the mighty blues).

Yes it was a mildly entertaining tournament and yes the Spanish deserved to win it by virture of being the best team by a country mile; but overall it was a series of disappointments from my perspective. Really wanted to see a good Dutch performance, hoped that the Czech Republic might come good, couldn't believe how poor the French and the Italians were...... but then England weren't even good enough to qualify - hey ho

Anyway, I've had a blogging break and got over the heartbreak of the Champions League final - well as much as any blue blood possibly can - so its back to the keyboard and bring on the Premiership

Come on you Blues

Newsbiscuit nails it again

Iraqi PM wishes Western politicians would call before visiting

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq, called on politicians from his country’s allies, including the UK and the United States, to telephone in advance before making surprise visits to the country.

‘Of course we’re very grateful to them for getting rid of Saddam and all that…’ said the country’s first democratically elected leader for a generation. ‘But it doesn’t mean they can just keep turning up whenever they feel like it for a photocall with the Iraqi government.’

‘It’s always the same,’ complained Mrs Maliki, “just as soon as me and Nouri sit down to dinner in front of ‘Afghanistan’s Next Top Martyr’, the doorbell goes. It’s sure to be Condoleeza ‘just passing through’ but expecting a 7-course state banquet – despite her claims that she already had something on the plane. You could set your clock by it.’

The Prime Minister’s plea for a bit of advanced warning from visitors followed ‘the final straw’ when Dick Cheney turned up just as he’d got into the bath. Having answered the door sopping wet and in his dressing gown, Maliki was worried he’d catch a chill while making polite chit-chat with the US Vice-President, ‘I was freezing my nuts off standing there but he woouldn’t take the hint when I didn’t invite him in. Kept making these little jokes about me having a towel on my head, and that ‘I thought we banned the bath party’. Very funny Dick.’

At the moment during the interview Maliki put his finger to his lips and crouched down behind the sofa. ‘Shh! Pretend we’re not in. It’s that Des Browne bloke from England. He’s always dropping by and I’m not even sure exactly who he is or what he does. I wouldn’t mind so much if he didn’t always eat all my biscuits. If we keep quiet he should give up in a minute,’ said the Iraqi PM, as an insistent tapping started on the hallway window.

Posted: 25 March 2008 by sheldonprice (with thanks to Red)

Dramatic increase in the number of proud parents whose sons ‘do something with computers’

The government has been criticised for cutting the number of staff working for the British Jobs Survey, and relying instead on information gathered from the elderly parents of those in work.

The latest figures based on this method of collecting employment data has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people who ‘do something in computers’ with the encouraging news that 100% of them ‘are doing very well.’ Other jobs that were revealed to be on the increase were ‘working in London’, ‘something to do with money’ and ‘in a very smart office’. According to the survey of parents, not a single individual was reported to be working as a ‘senior financial advisor to systems analyst set ups’ although this may have been covered by the wider demographic described as ‘working for a big firm who are one of the top ones.’

‘It is ridiculous to attempt to rely on this sort of vague and ill informed data,’ said Professor Sally-Anne Donohue, Senior Statistician at the British Jobs Survey.

However her authority to comment on such matters was brought into question by her official entry in the Elderly Parents’ survey. According to the latest information ‘Sally-Anne’s still working at the moment, yes, which is a shame. I think she’s a secretary or something. But these days it’s actually quite common for a girl to work for a little while before you start a family.


I expect she’ll meet a nice man soon and be able to stay at home. Our Bryan’s doing very well though. He’s something to do with computers…’

.....another gem brought to you by newsbiscuit

Archbishop claims introduction of Sod’s Law is inevitable

The Archbishop of Canterbury caused controversy today by claiming that the adoption of elements of Sod’s Law into UK law ‘seems inevitable.’ He claimed that Sod’s Law had a strong hold over many marginalised groups within the country and that it would create sense of unity.
Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4 that the law could apply to many areas, such as toast landing butter-side down or three buses arriving together after a half hour wait. He stressed that ‘nobody in their right mind would want to see the more extreme application of Sod’s Law such as the unemployed man who threw himself under a train with the next weekend’s winning lottery ticket in his pocket.’
Politicians were quick to oppose the Archbishop’s ideas. Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, told journalists that to fragment British Law set a dangerous precedent, unaware of the pigeon dropping on the shoulder of her brand new suit. Leader of the Opposition David Cameron condemned Dr Williams’ views to the House of Commons, but Sod’s Law dictated that the Members’ Bar had just opened so no MPs were in the house to hear it.
Sod’s Law has already been introduced in some parts of the UK. New Welsh secretary, Paul Murphy, introduced his own version of the law in Wales this month. From 1 February ‘Murphy’s Law’ dictates that anyone who applies for a public sector post will be interviewed by panel that includes the driver you crashed into on the way to the interview or an ex-girlfriend who found you in bed with her sister.
Ironically the Archbishop’s comments caused grave offence to one Muslim cleric who immediately issued a fatwa calling for ‘the infidel leader’s wicked tongue to be struck from his mouth for suggesting that there could ever be any other law other than the one true code of ‘Sharia Law.’ But as luck would have it, the microphone had just broken so nobody heard him.
Posted on Newsbiscuit: 9 February 2008 by MitchellAdcow

Newsbiscuit hits the spot again

Are you getting tired of polls and pundits telling you the likely outcome of elections only for them to get things spectacularly wrong ??

Over to NewsBiscuit for another slice of 'on the money' irony

Polls predicting pollsters will get US election wrong, may be wrong

Key national opinion polls in the 2008 US election race may be wildly inaccurate according to a new poll of opinion polls. However, pundits have predicted that the new poll will prove to be wrong as American voters take to the polls in the next round of US primaries.

Cole Lymon of McBride Munro McBride conceded: “We got it wrong in Iowa, we got it wrong in New Hampshire and we got it wrong in Michigan and Florida. But I am totally confident that we will get it wrong on Super Tuesday. Of course there is always a chance we might get it right, but that would be such an abberation, that that would actually be wrong as well.’

Sol Brockstein, a commentator on NSBC’s Election Round-Up, and a former blogger for the Clinton campaign, penned a strongly worded letter in the New York Times in which he condemned ‘the more lunatic fringes of the polling community’. His attack appeared to be aimed at those pollsters who had predicted a landslide for Democrat John Edwards in Iowa; a late swing to Republican Fred Thompson in New Hampshire and a possible win by an outsider in Michigan. Among the outsiders named were Osama Bin Laden (due to misprinted ballot forms), Justin Timberlake (not running) and John F Kennedy (who was assassinated in 1963).

Analysis of the early polls by research firm Hudson Hall concluded that there were too many pollsters involved in the elections, although, conflicting research by the Hayz Institute in Michigan concluded that voters felt they weren’t being polled enough.

And yet the average American has now been polled at least seventeen times since the election campaign began. By the time the battle moves on to the race for the White House the entire American population will have been polled at least fifty-six times and will have changed their mind an estimated 70% of the time, usually while actually being questioned.

Cole Lymon adds: ‘I think that pollsters, pundits, bloggers, opinion formers, lobbyists and marketeers have overlooked an underlying characteristic of the American voter. Sometimes the shit they do is just plain weird.’ Frank Trudeau of pollsters Lupus agrees. ‘The bottom line is no-one really knows what the American people are thinking, or indeed if they are. I don’t know, what do you think?’

Posted: 5 February 2008 by darkbill

The greatest action story ever told ...

Can you really beta a car !!

.... apparently you can according to a post in the FT which explains that the electric car company set up by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk has been struggling to produce an advanced transmission for its hotly anticipated sports car. To avoid further delaying the launch, it has now opted to launch a "beta version".

This is how new Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori explains it:

To help speed delivery of cars, we will begin production in 2008 with an interim transmission design. These transmissions will meet high standards for reliability and durability, but the car will not meet the original performance spec for acceleration, reaching 60 mph in 5.7 seconds instead of the promised 4 seconds. When the final transmission is ready, we will retrofit all cars, at Tesla’s expense, to meet the promised performance specifications.

Its a good job that its primarily Silicon Valleys finest - like Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google - who are at the top of the Tesla waiting list. They'll know all about living with beta products

You couldn't make it up :-)

You better not pout, you better not cry

probably the best of the Xmas ditties



Have a great holiday everyone

You need hands - just hands

It's goning to be a bit quiet here for a while - I'm travelling on business

It's goning to be a bit quiet here for a while - I'm travelling on business

Some things never change - just the faces and the names

Prince at O2 (6th Sept 2007)

The little purple one returned to the O2 for his last set of shows at the venue and I was lucky enough to be there. Its my first Prince show since seeing him back in the eighties (when Jacko was disappointing 'em all at Wembley Stadium, I was enthralled by the little man at the Arena) and I have to admit I was quite excited – despite the patchy reviews. I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

From the opening medley, that lasted for some 25mins – who can manage that !! - it was clear that this is a guy who just lives for the performance. Some call him arrogant, self obsessed or just down right strange but no-one can deny this mans talent. Whether he was dancing, singing, soloing on his symbol shaped guitar or just sat paying solo at the piano you couldn't’t take your eyes off him. His pre gig video had his bands saying that he could and does play all their instruments and you get the idea that he probably can play them as well or better than any of them. He is the ultimate showman and works an audience with consummate ease. Let’s go crazy sets a blistering pace, Little red corvette is delivered as a piano solo and Purple Rain takes the roof off. Prince tells us the “dis is mahhhh house” and frankly we believed him.

It all got me thinking, particularly in the light of the recent “controversy” about giving away his album in the Mail on Sunday, about the measure of talent and value. Some people had complained about the length of the Prince set. He played with no support and the show itself was well under two hours – less if you deduct the encore gaps. However this misses the point. Seeing Prince live is a rare event and frankly I'd rather see 100mins of pure genius than 3 hours of padded out dross. JP Rangaswami posts on the subject of the because effect in this context and rightly observers that ".... the point is that Prince understands how he makes money, what’s scarce and what’s abundant about it. Digital downloads are abundant. Concert appearances are scarce. He makes money because of his CDs and not with them". This is spot on. Seeing Prince is a rare event, one that I was fortunate to be at and one that I hugely enjoyed.

I'm off to see The Police in a few weeks - a gig that will no doubt further underscore my views on abundance, scarcity, talent .... and probably the because effect.

My favourite sketch (.... possibly ever)

Young Rick .... on theatre

On immersion therapy ....

... or why grown ups just don't get it (.....and maybe we never will)

I posted a long time ago about Second Life and Facebook and how I didn't really understand the attraction of either. Just to recap, I considered Second Life to be an unsatisfactory role based gaming experience and I didn't understand why we needed yet another way to interact and communicate online using Facebook.

I was of course deluged by people who would gleefully tell me that "I just didn't get it". As was my wont back then, I listened carefully, read diligently and then simply concluded that everyone was wrong :-)

Well it turns out that I was wrong - I didn't get it ..... and the worrying thing is that my generation (if you don't know me, I've slipped into the wrong half of my mid forties) don't get it and in all probability may never get it.

The "it" that I'm referring to is what happens when someone immerses themselves completely in an experience. I realised this when a colleague (of similar age) and I were discussing our Second Life and Facebook experiences. What became clear was that we used them as you would use any other computer applications or game. We started them up, used them for a while, shut them down, went and used something else, came back etc etc ..... which is a very structured and detached relationship. My kids, and those that I know, use these solutions very differently. They immerse themselves in them. In the case of Second Life, adopting genuine persona's, constructing new relationships/interactions and behaving in a new way as a result. Actually, if you watch committed gamers playing the current genre of networked computer games they do the same. It seems to be the same with Facebook. Of course my daughter could phone, txt, IM or email her friends to tell them how shes feeling - but she doesn't - she updates her status in Facebook to reflect her mood and then interacts with her friends using it (and its associated application)s to communicate all manner of related feelings, information and activities as a result.

And maybe that's the point, and the real reason why 'grown ups don't get it'. We've forgotten what its like to be immersed in something and to engage at that level. We are too thoughtful and practical. We are looking to use something to get something done. We are academically interested and deal in practicality rather than allowing ourselves to become immersed in the emotional impact.

Maybe its just part of growing up ....and maybe, if we really want to understand this stuff, we need to stop behaving and thinking like adults. Now, what would that bring ... ???

Just a thought ...

Wilma Finstone

The BBC have stopped this being embedded or edited but it still has the best opening sequence of the Red Dwarf series - click and enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKy8CzX4TEU

but do be sure and click back :-)

Learning from your kids .... cont

I've no idea how long I'm gonna continue this topic - I guess until my kids stop surprising me so it'll probably run forever .....

Anyway, I always said I'd never be like my parents when it came to music. If I had £1 for every time my father came upstairs to tell me to "turn that bl**dy racket down" when the Marshall was cranked up and I was practising along to something suitably heavy, I'd be a wealthy man right now.

I'm sure his comments were more often than not directed at the songs rather than my skills as a guitarist (I hope) but recently I have caught myself doing the same thing and its quite a frightening experience. So imagine my surprise when my 19 year old daughter gives me a CD and says "just put this in the car and drive".

We'll I'm 9 tracks in, haven't heard a duffer yet and I'm suitably surprised. The band are Fall Out Boy and I'm sure lots of people know them. Now this doesn't make me 'down wiv da kids' or increase my cool / street cred one iota but hey - it made me smile

Sometimes people just need to be told....

you can empower, cajole, encourage, influence, create climates.... but sometimes you just have to say it as it is.

This just makes me smile - thanks Norm !