Qualification matches for European Championships used to be a rare delicacy in the United States. Often times it would be impossible to watch or listen to the games. The next best thing was reading the scores on the Internet and trying to imagine how the game must have played out in your head by reading the match report. Or paying scandalous fees for pay-per-view or handing over a cover charge to watch it in a pub.
But no more. Thanks to ESPN3.com and it’s long list of 2012 European Championship qualifiers it’s showing, and Fox Soccer Channel for showing England against Bulgaria, we’re again spoiled for choice. I wasn’t able to watch Montenegro versus Wales, one of the few European games not shown in the U.S., but based on the analysis I read and heard, maybe it’s best that I...
Amplify’d from www.dailymail.co.ukDoctor Who star Karen Gillan nearly broke her mobile phone after getting over-excited during a shopping trip in London yesterday.After dashing across the road to greet her pal, the redhead dropped her phone in the path of traffic in the excitement of it all.Read more at www.dailymail.co.uk See this Amp at...
mickmoart on deviantARTOh yeah, this was a fun one to do up! When I was a kid, I saw TRIAL OF A TIMELORD! Which would have a profound effect on me, even in this day and time! The final ending in the reign of the 6th Doctor's run as the Timelord was a fascinating one for me, and even now when I watch it from old library videos!Colin Baker is put on trial, by the high council of Gallifrey by The Valeyard! Who is “learned court prosecutor” of the courts.The Valeyard is in all four sections of Trial Of A Timelord. The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror Of The Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe. He claims The Doctor to have transgressed the 5th Law Of Time and trying to convince the doctor that he was a time meddler and that he killed Peri. And that The Doctor is also accused of genocide.Well,...
Amplify’d from jasonarnopp.blogspot.comI've written two Doctor Who or Doctor Who-related audio releases. They're both original stories rather than adaptations, and are as follows:THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: DEADLY DOWNLOADThis will be published by BBC Audio on November 4. Every year since the TV series began, the BBC have released two original audio stories alongside the show. I'm really privileged to have written one of the 2010 pair (the other being Wraith World by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright).I'm also delighted that Deadly Download has been read by Sarah Jane herself, Elisabeth Sladen. Elisabeth's voice is intrinsically linked with my childhood, just like Tom Baker's, and so it's amazing to have her read my 11,000-word prose story on CD.As you might imagine from the title, Deadly...
Amplify’d from astore.amazon.co.ukDVD DescriptionFeaturing Sylvester McCoy as the newly regenerated seventh Doctor, this new DVD features the Doctor’s battle with the evil Rani. After being attacked by the Rani, the TARDIS crash-lands on the planet Lakertya. On the floor of the console room, the Doctor begins his sixth regeneration... In his post-regenerative confusion the Doctor is separated from his young companion Mel and tricked into assisting the Rani in her megalomaniac scheme to construct a giant time manipulator. Lost on the barren surface of the planet, Mel has to avoid the Rani's ingenious traps and her monstrous, bat-like servants, the Tetraps. She joins forces with a rebel faction among the Lakertyans, desperate to end the Rani's control of their planet. The...
This device on this car is probably the future of auto security as we know it.
Someone has gone to the trouble of installing an Eee PC 900A into the dash of this Volvo, and has gone to even more trouble to make the computer part of the automobile’s systems.
Not only does it have two pressure sesnors for boost and vacuum, but the computer displays the RPM, O2, and the exhaust directly. By the way, the user enters in a PIN number in order to start it.
I have included a video of it that you can see after the jump. Granted, the camera movement is shaky, and the narration reminds me of the show Dexter, but I like what he has done here.
In fact, I take back the Dexter comment, as you are no serial killer, but a complete genius. I think we all know that a PIN number could really...
In this case, it won’t be cake, but french fries. Everyone knows that a basket of freshly cooked fries are superb to the palate, but they certainly aren’t the healthiest food to have if you’re trying to do something about your health. Philip’s Airfryer is different, however, as it requires “little or no oil” in order to perfectly cook a bunch of delicious golden french fries. Sounds impossible? Well, Philips must have taken Adidas’ slogan to heart, ensuring that impossible is nothing in this case. Having been unveiled at IFA, the Airfryer will be able to cook certain foods with just a touch of oil, although which food can be ‘fried’ oil-free have not been revealed yet as well as its methodology. We’re looking at the use of “Rapid Air...
The publicity around Tony Blair's memoirs reminds us of just how alien he was from many of the Labour party's traditions and perhaps helps to explain why the Liberal Democrats have been so united and robust in responding to criticism from Labour supporters over the coalition.This week's New Statesman editorial praises his early achievements in office and believes he went off the rails towards the end of his first term.In fact, the key to the New Labour project, starting with the period of opposition before 1997, was moving political discourse several notches to the right, particularly on crime and taxation, in a way that was anything but progressive. Blair discarded socialism in order to position Labour as a centre-right Christian Democratic party rather than a liberal one.On criminal...
There has been a lively debate at Liberal Democrat Voice on Niklas Smith's defence of free schools. This is in response to a motion due to be debated at the Lib Dem conference later this month effectively calling on Lib Dems to oppose at local level any attempts to set up free schools.Niklas is promoting an amendment to the motion, asking delegates to endorse a more positive view of free schools and I am happy to support this. While I have my reservations about the free school idea, particularly that they may undermine local education authorities (LEAs), my view is that the pros outweigh the cons. While some may see free schools as part of a right-wing agenda, I see them as in the Liberal community politics tradition of giving power back to the people. It means that if people really are...
In war, the person with the biggest gun or weapon doesn’t necessarily emerge as the victor, but having one in your possession will surely give your side a psychological boost although it might end up as a liability. Nevertheless, we’re pretty sure that most folks won’t mind having the Nerf Stampede ECS Blaster as part of their arsenal when it comes to Nerf gun fights. This £49.99 purchase is worth every cent, since it will be a fully-automatic, clip-fed weapon that will send your fellow Nerfers running for cover the moment it unleashes a torrent of relentless Nerf that makes the Nemesis project from Resident Evil look like a sad little puppy. You can use a 6 dart rapid reload clip, and the Stampede will come with a trio of 18 dart clips. Not only that, defense is also...
This is the Modern Chess Set, and, as you can see in this illustration, this Chess set is able to fit very compactly in this tiny box.
You will notice the pawns are these little cubes that fit together well. The rooks are a little larger and do the same thing. The bishops and knights have some sort of symmetry, to create a rectangular solid, I like how the king and queen dovetail together, as it is rather poetic, in a Freudian way.
I am assuming that the chess board is not there, but it looks like it would fold up and fit inside this box. In fact, I just checked my Source, and there is no board included. I’m sure you have probably seen this on the photo, but the pieces are made of maple or cherry wood. Remember that white goes first.
You should be able to get it at the...
We’re not short of political memoirs at the moment, yet such tomes almost universally disappoint, especially after the flurry of news stories that sensationalise them. Tony Blair’s recent memoir has been criticised for being more like an extended memo than the personal journey it purports to be – who knows, though. I certainly don't have the patience to read it. Memoirs are the second draft of history, coming a few years after the journalism that scratched the surface and, unless they're entertaining, it's hard to fathom a reason for reading them.With that in mind, I can’t help wondering if it wouldn’t be better if there was a parallel business in satirical memoir writing, powered by the geniuses at The Onion. Like Private Eye and Spitting Image, their characterisations of...
Although BlackBerry Torch’s pricing on major carriers in the US and Canada have been public from some time, but there was no such scoop for its UK-counterpart. Torch’s carrier in the UK, Vodafone, largely remained mum on this issue. However, the good people at BBLeaks have managed to snag some Vodafone price sheets. The plans are typically one to two years along and there are quite a few options for picking up the right plan. The floor price for the data plans has been set at £20 which … [visit site to read more]
BlackBerry Torch 9800-Vodafone Pricing Leaked is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com...
It’s funny how you can see something and it just so strongly reminds you of something else you’ve seen before, like this very subtle Golden Robot USB Drive that I just can’t seem to put my finger on. Every time I glance at it I just hear this annoying voice yammering off a bunch of ridiculous survival statistics. It’s just the strangest reaction. Clearly this robot is nothing more than a gold robot and that’s it.
Alright, so it’s obvious they were just trying to dodge having to give George Lucas some royalties by not coming out and calling this robot C-3PO. What’s odd is that this is actually a little nicer than some of the C-3PO toys I’ve spotted. By just skipping out on the facial features it makes this one look a little more...
When, last November, it was suggested on here that maybe The Stoop might not be big enough for Sunday's World Cup Final, it was greeted with some amusement. Something along the lines of having 12,500 people stay behind at Twickenham to watch a free women's game following the Autumn men's international was one thing, but that many coming - and paying - to watch just a women's game? No! Couldn't happen.Well, if you check the TicketMaster site you will find that - apart from a few individual seats - the East, West and North stands at The Stoop are now sold out for the Final on Sunday, and the South stand is already filling up. With less than 48 hours to go to the clear message is... this really looks like being a sell out.That means that, at around 15,000 (the official capacity...
There was a very strong turnout in Camden Town Hall tonight to hear a joint Labour Leadership and London Mayoral hustings. I was only able to stay for the leadership bit but thought it was rather interesting.Almost the first thing that happened was the mere mention of Oona King provoked a stirring boo from the crowd as she'd pulled out at the last minute, something that a fellow attendee told me "She'd been making a habit of round London."That doesn't seem very wise as, with a room full of Labour members, losing a dozen votes at a stroke (if you discount all the Ken supporters) is just a bit silly and arrogant.We then heard that Andy Burnham had pulled out at last minute too which left just Diane Abbott as the only candidate present. The other pretenders to the throne were represented by...
The centre of Drachten, Holland
(I wrote this a few days ago, but it got ‘stuck’ on a laptop.)
The Tories are against street clutter, and Eric Pickles is either telling or encouraging local authorities – depending on how you see the recent announcement – to get rid of it.
I’m certainly not against the general idea of removing urban street signage and markings, because I know a thing or two about road safety, having been an active safety campaigner on road safety matters for the last decade.
The whole notion that removing signage and markings in towns and villages will actually improve road safety by forcing drivers to slow down, watch carefully for the movements of other drivers and pedestrians, and generally take responsibility for their car’s potentially...
I was a relatively early adopter of the Kindle, and although I didn’t purchase the first generation model, I jumped at the chance to get the second generation when they released the international versions. Now that the Kindle 3 (or “Kindle”, which would be really confusing in a post like this) is out, the UK, along with many other countries around the world, has its own Kindle store, where you can purchase titles in Pound Sterling rather than US Dollars, and save the extra “international delivery charge” that applied on some items.
This is great for new Kindle owners, as by default if you buy it from Amazon UK, it will provide you with access to the UK store. However, international Kindle 2 owners are still stuck with the US store on their devices. Although...
(notes for a sermon at IPC Ealing February 2001Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC, King of Macedon Philip V, 238-179 BC, King of Macedonia ,Marcus Aurelius, 121-180, Emperor of Rome Three of the most powerful men of their times. What do they have in common? Each was adopted. American adoption law, unlike most common law, is not derived from British common law, but rather from Roman law. The British steadfastly refused to recognise any dilution of inheritance rights established by family bloodlines. Adoption 1926 legal in England but 1958, inherit on intestacy. However, Romans practised both child and adult adoption to enable citizens to continue family lines and inheritance rights. This has become the basis of American adoption practices. Adoption has been part of our human experience...
I love reading and I love political biographies/autobiographies. There's certainly a real rush of them at the moment.Recently I have bought and read the Mandelson book - the Third Man and the Chris Mullin one - Decline and Fall.And how very different they are. The Mandelson one was, frankly, rather dull and self serving. I actually got bored and didn't really finish it.The Mullin on the other hand reads well, has lots of insights (some of them surprising) and is clearly by an author who is not trying to justify himself the whole time. Chris Mullin's earlier book - View from the Foothills - was equally good.So if you are on the lookout for a good book, I thoroughly recommend the Chris Mullin...
Nick Thornsby has caught Labour MP Phil Woolas, already facing a court challenge to his victory at the last general election, faking a photograph of Liberal Democrat opponent.The death of Sir Cyril Smith is marked by Sandy Walkington: "Cyril’s tragedy was that his weight made him a figure of fun when he was in fact a shrewd and insightful politician who never got the recognition he deserved."Disgruntled Radical says the Coalition "must ... be a launch pad for Liberalism, not a slippery slide into decline". Better than that, he suggests how we can ensure that it is.Tom Watson MP reproduces the letter he has written to the Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.A feature in the Leicester Mercury introduces us to Gary Silke, who edits a...
The Total Politics magazine has published the first of its 2010 ranking charts of blogs. Last year I was delighted to be voted the third best Councillor blog in the country and the highest ranking Conservative Councillor. With the number of new bloggers entering the blogosphere I was resigned to seeing my ranking this year slip a bit but thanks to you lovely readers who voted, I have held my third place in list for the second year running.
Labour’s Luke Akehurst retains his first place and my old friend and Sutton colleague Paul Scully has jumped ahead of me into second place. However, I may have to ask for a recount as (sadly) Paul is no longer a Councillor, having lost his seat in this May’s local elections. So that leaves this blog in second place in the Councillor list and...
The legendary babybarista is next up to face the questions. How did BabyBarista come about? Did you just wake up one morning and think, “I’ll start a legal blog today”? I’d dreamt of writing a novel but struggled to imagine how it might come about. I’d written or co-written a bunch of law books but it was a pretty big jump to think about fiction. The next step was through co-writing a motivational book entitled ‘Why Lawyers Should Surf’ (xpl Publishing, 2007) with Dr Michelle Tempest which suggested the possibility of lawyers looking for inspiration outside of law and used surfing and the power of the ocean as metaphors for living the day to day. When this was done I very much wanted to sit down and write a legal thriller. But instead what popped out was...
I was awfully sad to hear today about the death of Liberal Legend, Sir Cyril Smith, former MP for Rochdale.Cyril was a legend, who rekindled the Liberal tradition in the English northern towns. He held Rochdale with ease for 20 years - the party has succeeded in holding the seat only some of the time since then - and it was lost again in May. Cyril has a huge following and he was a highly effective MP for the people of Rochdale and a real TV personality to boot.There is some history between Cyril and a much younger Fraser Macpherson. In 1985 (if I remember correctly - I may be a year out) the UK Liberal Assembly came to Dundee. Cyril wrote to Liberal News saying he wouldn't be going to Dundee as it was too far away from Rochdale for his elderly mum to attend. Young Mr Macpherson replied...
I know it hardly comes as a big surprise to read that the Iranian regime's hired thugs are using violence to destroy dissent but they are at it again. This time the target is Mehdi KarroubiAP reports that Pro-government militiamen attacked Karroubi's home with homemade bombs and beat one of his bodyguards unconscious.Karroubi has remained a public dissenter — with his car being the target of pro-government mobs several times. But authorities also have directed pressure on Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami.Crowds also encircled Karroubi's residence for several hours Friday as Iranians filled Tehran's streets for the annual state-sponsored rally known as Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day.The government uses the occasion as an anti-Israel...
The following article also appears in this week's edition of TribuneCan you really run a state school for a profit? Education Secretary Michael Gove seems to think so. However, what Gove has either ignored or missed is that, in the United States, for-profit charter schools have been a huge disaster for the children in the cities where they were first imposed.In 1997, the US Congress passed the Charter Schools Act – forcing local school districts to allow private enterprise to take over or set up schools. The justification for this was that the competition of “market pressures” would force both public schools and charter schools to perform well and deliver a quality product. The record shows otherwise. For example, in Michigan, more than 75 per cent of charter schools are run by...
(Ilya Somin) John McWhorter has a good column at Root urging African-Americans to make a priority of opposing the War on Drugs {[HT: my fiancee’s blog]:
The Reclaim the Dream March “recaptured the flavor” of the March on Washington. But it isn’t an accident that this brings to mind popping an old piece of gum from the underside of a desk into your mouth to see how much “flavor” might still be left in it.
The 1963 March on Washington, of course, was a signature and significant event. The question, however, is what the value is of trying to do it again. There comes a point when these marches are gestures rather than actions. And that point has come....
Every time I see one of these marches or forums covered as significant, what occurs to me is that there is one thing we should...
While his Liverpool teammate and close friend Steven Gerrard will be captaining England tonight, Jamie Carragher will be preparing himself for a well earned testimonial against an Everton XI.
Carragher’s time at Anfield has been varied. He has achieved some incredible success most notably on that night historic night in Istanbul. But there is no doubt that Carragher will look back on his time and say I should have won more trophies.
It’s Carragher’s pride that will have created this sense of disappointment. You only have to look back at his England career to see that the Liverpool man doesn’t like not being successful. Success at international level was just getting in the team and when Carragher wasn’t in the side his pride got the better of him and he decided to retire...
This past week in football taught the world that Harry Redknapp is a football manager first and a ‘wheeler dealer’ last. If you missed his verbal tirade on the poor Sky Sports reporter who so mistakenly uttered the phrase in Redknapp’s direction, you’d have also missed Tottenahm’s securing of Dutch playmaker Rafael van der Vaart as the transfer deadline so quickly approached – both were major news items during a not so exciting week.
The question that Redknapp now faces is just where to play van der Vaart in a Spurs side currently not bereft of midfielders. Redknapp will first want to assess (and surely already knows or he wouldn’t have bought him) just where van der Vaart’s strengths will best be used for Spurs. In the middle of the pitch as a central playmaker is...
The "this is Kent" website is reporting that councillor Ewen Cameron has stood down from the conservative group and will now act as an independent on Thanet council, this follows on apparently, after a second charge of drink driving. Simon Moore is quoted in the article and praises Mr Cameron's contribution to the council however he makes the point that these charges are serious and incompatible with membership of the conservative group a tough and uncompromising position. There is no doubt that drink-driving is indeed a serious matter as of course are other things such as speeding to which I believe that Simon has had a slightly more tolerant view in the past. However as bad as drink-driving is I don't see quite how this would be viewed as incompatible with...
