Probably nobody except me has been following the plight of the Bedlington Terriers. If you want you can read the whole sorry saga on the official web site but after coming this close (imagine finger and thumb almost touching) to disappearing forever, it seems my home town football team has been saved by a benefactor - a guy in mobile phones called Redpath apparently.
Well done to him. I'd like to think that the £2 I give every fortnight to their lucky numbers draw in some way helped to convince him of the sound business case for keeping the club running - particularly the fact that I've put in about £300 over the years and only ever won back £5.
I'd also like to think I'd actually manage to get my arse down to their games this season because they need the support - whether it happens or not we'll have to see.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Podcast, schmodcast
Am I the only person of a slightly geeky nature that does not dig podcasts? I keep hearing about how they're the way of the future. I'm afraid I just don't get it. Here's my analysis:
1) They are replacing the written word for many blogs - It seems like a lot of people who would otherwise have blogs are moving to podcasts instead. This is often a recording of them droning on and umming and erring their way through a subject. In other words, it is a quick way for them to dump their thoughts onto the internet without thinking about them too much. This works if you are witty, clever and good at speaking but many people are not. The electronic written word has many qualities, including the ease with which it can be reviewed and edited (or abbreviated - Blaise Pascal had it right).
2a) They transmit information at exactly the speed of the speaker - No matter how good you are at listening, you can only stream a podcast into your brain at the speed the speaker wants you to. This is great if you are listening to a drama or comedy but of little value if the audio is purely informational. The great thing about the written word is that I can consume it at my own speed and review it or skim it easily when I wish to.
2b) They transmit information at exactly the speed of the speaker - Who has the time? I don't have 3 minutes to listen to some guy whitter on when I could skim over a few paragraphs in seconds. Are podcasts only popular with people who use public transport a lot? I imagine they're great on the bus. But who else has the time?
3) The very name implies Apple iPod - I find it interesting that many Apple lovers, some of whom have supported Apple on the basis that it was not the Microsoft hegemony, have now been sucked into their own corporate con. Apple have done an amazing job of selling a product on the strength of image alone. It was enough to give it critical mass so that suddenly, if you wanted to use certain applications (the evil iTunes being the biggy), you had to have an Apple iPod. That made even some right-thinking people buy them because it is, after all, all about the features. Personally, I now see my non-Apple MP3 player to be the same kind of anti-corporate statement that Linux users are making against Windows. That's what Apple's marketing and DRM strategies have driven me to - I'm a lefty Linux-style lunatic!
I started out on an anti-podcast rant and it turned into an anti-Apple rant. If any Apple supporter has the gall to say to me that "At least they're not Microsoft" I will point them to the many similarities between the two these days.
My original point was that I think podcasts are a terribly inefficient way of communicating information that will not live long beyond the current hysteria. For partially sighted or blind people I'm sure they're great and I'm all for making the 'net accessible. But very few people are interesting enough that I want to listen to them speak in preference to reading their edited thoughts afterwards.
1) They are replacing the written word for many blogs - It seems like a lot of people who would otherwise have blogs are moving to podcasts instead. This is often a recording of them droning on and umming and erring their way through a subject. In other words, it is a quick way for them to dump their thoughts onto the internet without thinking about them too much. This works if you are witty, clever and good at speaking but many people are not. The electronic written word has many qualities, including the ease with which it can be reviewed and edited (or abbreviated - Blaise Pascal had it right).
2a) They transmit information at exactly the speed of the speaker - No matter how good you are at listening, you can only stream a podcast into your brain at the speed the speaker wants you to. This is great if you are listening to a drama or comedy but of little value if the audio is purely informational. The great thing about the written word is that I can consume it at my own speed and review it or skim it easily when I wish to.
2b) They transmit information at exactly the speed of the speaker - Who has the time? I don't have 3 minutes to listen to some guy whitter on when I could skim over a few paragraphs in seconds. Are podcasts only popular with people who use public transport a lot? I imagine they're great on the bus. But who else has the time?
3) The very name implies Apple iPod - I find it interesting that many Apple lovers, some of whom have supported Apple on the basis that it was not the Microsoft hegemony, have now been sucked into their own corporate con. Apple have done an amazing job of selling a product on the strength of image alone. It was enough to give it critical mass so that suddenly, if you wanted to use certain applications (the evil iTunes being the biggy), you had to have an Apple iPod. That made even some right-thinking people buy them because it is, after all, all about the features. Personally, I now see my non-Apple MP3 player to be the same kind of anti-corporate statement that Linux users are making against Windows. That's what Apple's marketing and DRM strategies have driven me to - I'm a lefty Linux-style lunatic!
I started out on an anti-podcast rant and it turned into an anti-Apple rant. If any Apple supporter has the gall to say to me that "At least they're not Microsoft" I will point them to the many similarities between the two these days.
My original point was that I think podcasts are a terribly inefficient way of communicating information that will not live long beyond the current hysteria. For partially sighted or blind people I'm sure they're great and I'm all for making the 'net accessible. But very few people are interesting enough that I want to listen to them speak in preference to reading their edited thoughts afterwards.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The highs and lows of Zinedine Zidane
While the media circus surrounding his sending off in the World Cup final continues apace, I thought I would present a couple of animated gifs that have been doing the rounds on the Intertron.
One shows the kind of thing we'd like to remember ZZ for.
The other is the best of the countless "comedy" animations I've seen featuring that head butt. It's a classic.
I don't know who made these gifs but they both deserve credit.
So long, Zidane. Like all great geniuses, you had a mad streak in you. But we'll miss your beautiful football all the same.
One shows the kind of thing we'd like to remember ZZ for.
The other is the best of the countless "comedy" animations I've seen featuring that head butt. It's a classic.
I don't know who made these gifs but they both deserve credit.
So long, Zidane. Like all great geniuses, you had a mad streak in you. But we'll miss your beautiful football all the same.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Try Office 2007
No need to risk installing Beta versions. Microsoft have got an online trial of Office 2007 running using remote desktop. It's really good. The online trial is such a great idea and Office itself also seems pretty great. Outlook hasn't changed much and the other applications still have some of their dodgy old dialog boxes in place when you start exploring (like the Modify Style dialog in Word or the Options dialog in Outlook). However, the changes to Word, Excel, Powerpoint and, possibly most improved of all, Access, are quite something. Worth a shot if you've got decent bandwidth.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Ban this sick filth!
I know I've gone on about the joys of Google Video in the past but when it serves as an outlet for this kind of sick filth I think it's gone too far. Surely they should not be allowed to host videos that appear to promote kerb crawling, old men abducting young girls for sex, or the use of childhood icons as grooming tools?
From what I've been told, this kind of thing is very popular in Germany, where the star of this video apparently has a great many admirers.
It's the sickest thing I've ever seen.
From what I've been told, this kind of thing is very popular in Germany, where the star of this video apparently has a great many admirers.
It's the sickest thing I've ever seen.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Good riddance, Eriksson
This post contains some mild profanity.
Christiano Ronaldo may be the biggest cheating bastard in the whole football world. Even my wife wanted to punch his lights out when he winked after Rooney got sent off today. The arrogant tosser obviously wants to be the superstar and doesn't like the fact that at Man Utd the biggest superstar is Rooney.
However, his antics (and those of his cheating bastard mate, Figo) should never have made any difference. If not for Sven-Goran Eriksson, England would have had a chance of winning the World Cup this time.
The whole country told him it was folly to take only four strikers, two of which were injured at the start and one more that he apparently never had any intention of putting on the pitch (why take Walcott and never even give him a run out against the weaker teams?). The whole country told him it was folly to play a system the players weren't familiar with. The whole country told him he should drop Beckham. The whole country told him that England play better when they attack with a high tempo and that trying to win is more likely to succeed than trying not to lose.
It takes a manager of unbelievable ineptitude to take such a talented group of players to a World Cup and make them play so badly.
Good riddance, Eriksson, you useless, overpaid cretin. Don't come back and don't expect any thanks.
Christiano Ronaldo may be the biggest cheating bastard in the whole football world. Even my wife wanted to punch his lights out when he winked after Rooney got sent off today. The arrogant tosser obviously wants to be the superstar and doesn't like the fact that at Man Utd the biggest superstar is Rooney.
However, his antics (and those of his cheating bastard mate, Figo) should never have made any difference. If not for Sven-Goran Eriksson, England would have had a chance of winning the World Cup this time.
The whole country told him it was folly to take only four strikers, two of which were injured at the start and one more that he apparently never had any intention of putting on the pitch (why take Walcott and never even give him a run out against the weaker teams?). The whole country told him it was folly to play a system the players weren't familiar with. The whole country told him he should drop Beckham. The whole country told him that England play better when they attack with a high tempo and that trying to win is more likely to succeed than trying not to lose.
It takes a manager of unbelievable ineptitude to take such a talented group of players to a World Cup and make them play so badly.
Good riddance, Eriksson, you useless, overpaid cretin. Don't come back and don't expect any thanks.
No sh*t, Sherlock
Experts say job stress raises blood pressure. As a scientist I understand that proof is essential but as a person with a brain I constantly wonder at the money that goes into proving things that are blatantly self-evident.
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