Holiday Imminent!

To my returning visitor in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Google Analytics is so useful). I am visiting your fair country next week for my September break. Look out Oleron! Tweets only from Saturday onwards.

Trouble in Thailand

So! The troubles grow in Thailand for former leader and football fan Thaksin Shinawatra. As protests become more intense in Bangkok, the knock-on effects for the football club he owns, Manchester City, are clear. A trivial matter compared to the travails of a country, obviously.
A wry smile from ickledot, however, as for the second week running pundit Lee Dixon declared on Match of the Day 2 that there was no better man to be in charge of footballing matters in these troubled times than City’s manager, Mark Hughes. One cannot help thinking that the likelihood of this crisis happening were plain to see when Hughes took the job only a matter of weeks ago and his ‘world-view’ radar may not be quite as finely tuned as his football senses. The sensible option might have been to remain in the relatively secure waters of Blackburn. We shall see.

Steve Parry and Michael Phelps

A couple of days ago the BBC got their swimming pundit and Bronze medal winner Steve Parry to venture out into the crowds in Tiananmen Square and report on proceedings. Unfortunately, he was accompanied by a life-sized cut out of Michael Phelps which had been in their studio throughout the games. What fun ensued as an increasing number of people began gathering round him, mistaking him for Phelps, we were told. I suppose it was a mildly amusing snippet of video to run in between events.

By today, networks throughout the world must have been running low on new angles to cover on the Olympics, particularly as most events were over and only there was only the closing ceremony to come. So there was the BBC reporting on Parry’s adventure once more, only this time with the added twist that the story had been picked up by one of the American networks and Parry was being interviewed by what looked like a morning show anchor team. For some reason they were trying to get him to put on an American baseball cap, presumably to see if he actually looked like Phelps.

Talk about the media covering itself. BBC runs the story. American channel picks it up. BBC reports on American channel. Where will it end?

New Version of Rapidweaver

Rapidweaver 4.1 came out yesterday and today there was RW 4.1.1. This may have been as a result of some of the problems pointed out by RapidIdeas whose post I read this morning. Also, I decided to turn off permalinks again. For some reason it made all my posts appear as summaries which I don’t really want.

More bit changes

Few tweaks tonight. Still more to do. Maybe a little text on the home page to explain who we are. Also turned on the permalinks. Tried this before and everything stopped working. Here goes once more.

A Change of Theme

Not too many people pass this way but those few who have been here once and have returned for some reason will notice a couple of changes. Firstly, I have moved this blog off the home page. Just wanted a pic or two to appear instead of a load of text. Also, am trying out a new design. It’s based on a Rapidweaver theme from SeyDesign. Not getting the best from it yet, but we’ll see how it goes.

An Excellent Sporting Day

It’s difficult not to sound nationalistic, but today’s successes for GB in the Olympics were particularly exciting. Maybe it was due to us having a few years where medals of any colour have been a bit thin on the ground.

Particularly refreshing were the post-effort interviews. First, they revealed just how much effort and emotion had been expended, not only during competition, but in the previous weeks and often years and how much the subsequent reward, the medal, was valued. In addition, whatever each athlete lacked in interviewing technique was more than made up for in sincerity. Having witnessed the clipped comments of those pampered premiership poseurs on Match of the Day last night, it was so refreshing to hear it from the heart for once.

New Technorati Claim

Technorati Profile

Rapidweaver 4.1 Release Candidate 1

Jus downloaded this latest offering from the very nice people at Rapidweaver and posting this using the very latest version of their application of the same name. Am I one of the first?

To celebrate, I am definitely, definitely going to begin updating the website devoted to the history of my local football club. As you can see (but not for much longer), it is desperately in need of attention. And RW will be my weapon of choice.

Claiming My Blog On Technorati

Technorati Profile

Hope this works.

MobileMe debacle

It’s finally been admitted. MobileMe was launched too hastily, thereby causing much confusion, inconvenience and a huge loss of face for Apple. So when are they going to get round to accepting that the problems began with the crap name? Presumably it was aimed at a younger generation, but surely it’s too lacking in what constitutes ‘cool’ even for the most gullible teenager?

I realise they wanted something that did not include the word ‘mac’ so as not frighten off the PC crowd. But MobileMe is not the answer. Hopefully, when all settles down and begins to work smoothly, MobileMe will be quietly dragged off to the place where bad tags go.

Another Jolt of 1968

I’ve mentioned before how much talk there is ths year of 1968. It’s as if those pundits who were around then and remain today can hardly believe it is all of forty years ago. This morning there was an item on the Today programme about the Prague spring, followed by the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. For me this was a stark reminder of a traumatic few days I spent in Bridlington at the time when all this happened. I was 11 and had only recently joined the St John Ambulance Brigade - bit like the Scouts but with bandages.

As with most other such organisations, a highlight of the year was the summer camp. Initially, this had seemed like a good idea to me, and I remember being keen to go. On the day of departure we were required to meet at Chester Street bus station in the centre of Bradford. It could have been the early start, or more likely the fact that it was to be my first time away without the family, but there were a few tears were shed. Thankfully, this was done within the privacy of home.

Don’t remember a great deal else about the trip apart from going into Bridlington centre on the bus to the cinema. And then came that news. The Russians had invaded Czechoslovakia! There must have been eight or nine boys of various ages in our tent. Certainly I was one of the youngest. The eldest must have been in their late teens, and they immediately began speculating on the events that would surely follow: World War Three was imminent. The Americans would not tolerate such behaviour and Britain would have to support their allies. They would all be called up and everyone was doomed! For the first time in my life I was away from parental reassurance and if these older boys were saying these things then they must be right! I remember being petrified. I might even have blubbed. In public this time.

On my return home, the adults didn’t seem so bothered about the international crisis, perhaps because that generation had seen it all before. After a few days, my world returned to normal. Not quite the same for those in Czechoslovakia, I suspect.

Spooks Spin-Off

Last comment on this programme. It doesn’t deserve more. As one comment said on the BBC site, the very fact that it’s on 3 is in itself a kind of quality warning. Anyway, I watched the recorded second episode last night, originally shown on Sunday in a double bill with the opener.
It took a bit of a sinister turn. When the goodies start doing violence, torture and being first to shoot people, I worry. A negative influence on the young? Probably not. I doubt that many of the young will be watching it. Too busy out enjoying themselves.

TV Dilemmas (2)

Ended up watching Long Way Round ‘live’. I’ve really come to like this repeated series. At first I was somewhat sceptical, feeling that such a high profile film star could go thrugh true adventure and danger a la Ted Simon. But the pictures don’t lie, and last night’s episode showed our two heroes and their support team in some hard and arduous scrrapes.

Then I watched the Spooks spin-off (recorded). Had the production values of the original although there was something about some of the chase scenes that looked wrong. Don’t know whether it was the youthful cast or the futuristic setting, but it somehow lacked that feeling of seriousness and danger, despite quite a high death count. Overall a bit like Threads meets the Double Deckers.

So, might have a look at Britain From The Air on iPlayer tonight.

TV Dilemmas

Every now and again something pops up to remind me I am no longer young. Not old, mind you, but certainly long past the first (or second) bloom of youth. Like sometimes when I’m going out and I think ‘Seeing as it’s warm and I’ll only have trouser pockets, shall I bother taking the mobile?’ And then I think ‘Stupid. It’s a mobile. That’s what it’s for. If you don’t take it out with you, there’s no point having it.’ For someone younger, the mobile is a part of their being. They wouldn’t venture as far as the next room without their mobile, let alone the vast outdoors.

A similar thing has happened just now with the TV schedules. At nine o’clock tonight there’s Britain From the Air on Beeb One, the repeat of Long Way Round on Two (which I’ve been watching, having missed it the first time round) and a new Spooks spin-off on Three. My first reaction was one of disappointment at having to miss at least one of these. Split second later remembered the Sky+ thing but that only records one programme while another is being watched (I think). Then I remembered the iPlayer. If I’m bothered enough to remember, I can watch the third one through the iPlayer!

I suppose the point I’m making is that having grown up in the days when the only opportunity to see a programme was at the time of broadcast, it is still something of a novelty to realise we are now in the new age of viewing on demand. OK, I know the video’s been around for many years, and I’ve owned several. But I have never reached the point of taking the recording facility for granted. And I still feel more comfortable watching a show when it is put out - always have the nagging feeling that if I watch it later, I could be missing something more interesting.

So! Michael Vaughan. Gone.

I have to say, I could see it coming. That rather petulant interview with Jonathan Agnew on the Today prog last week. Obviously the lack of form and defeat against South Africa didn’t do any good. But overall it seems to have been the pressure of the job that finally took its toll. This is at least the second England captain we have lost to ‘burn out’.

People should be worried. There is no way on earth a sporting person should be forced to an emotional edge such that he breaks down in a press conference as did the admirable Vaughan yesterday. No country had been invaded. No murder committed. If this kind of scene has become the norm then we as a nation need to address our priorities.

That was a bit heavy, wasn’t it? Totally out of character.

Wheelie bins

To the Today programme:

So!  There's a shortage of wheelie bins.  

I am so pleased!  There is nothing so ugly as a straddled line of these things along roads and streets, waiting to be collected.

We never asked for them and so they are living proof that we do not actually live in a democratic society.

Bring back the humble dustbin!

Firefox 3 and Delicious

Not too many years ago, if anyone has asked ickledot about bookmarking, he would have thought it meant sitting down for a few hours with a pile or two of exercise books and a red pen, ticking and crossing his way through the night. Now, of course, red pens are hugely non-pc, ickledot’s life has changed completely and bookmarks have a whole new meaning.

Internet pioneers have been on about Web 2.0 and the social networking revolution for a number of years now, and the fact that ickledot is becoming aware of its power shows it is moving into the mainstream. The principle of storing all ones stuff away from your actual computer and into ‘the Cloud’is spreading to all aspects of computer usage and storage. This not only includes blogs, photos and movies but also bookmarking, most notably through delicious.

Delicious now has a new look and domain name: delicious.com.

ickledot downloaded Firefox 3 web browser a couple of weeks ago after it was recommended by friend Tim (who runs an excellent site about food in West Yorkshire). One of few disappointments was the loss of the delicious tagging option. Thankfully this has now returned with added options. Now all my bookmarks are stored in the aforementioned ‘Cloud’ as well as on my machine.

Thanks for news of this goes to Mitch Joel of the Six Pixels of Separation blog.