Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Talavera De La Reina Here I Come. Again.


I'm heading off to the beautiful and amazingly friendly Talavera de la Reina tomorrow.
It's a fat, long weekend trip in my role of MotoGP geek and Alvaro Bautista fanboy - meeting with Michaela and Tamara to attend Alvaro's official fanclub winter dinner.
The summer party in August was a superb and unforgettable experience and whatever time and contact I may or may not get with the Batster, I already know that his family, friends and fanclub members will be ridiculously warm and welcoming.
I may post up notes nad pics over the weekend, or not - I have no idea how things will pan out at the moment and where all the time will go.
Hopefully there'll be stuff to share in due course. For now I just can't wait to get there :)



The Late, Late, Late, Late, Late, Late...

Possibly the latest ever obituary I'm aware of....




Friday, November 21, 2008

Yarrrrr!!! Tis A Bag O' Shite...

Facebook adverts tend to be annoying at the best of times, but surely - given the current news of a crew and ship being held off Somalia for a ransom of supposedly $25m by a bunch of people who let's face it probably aren't as much fun as Johnny Depp - isn't this just a teensy bit crass????




Feliz Cumpleaños Alvaro Bautista!


As random as pretty much any other post on here, I need to send big best birthday wishes to the fab Alvaro Bautista who turns 24 today.
The MotoGP 250cc ace and former 125cc world champion has had a slightly frustrating, but still phenomenal year, finishing the championship in 2nd, and turning in some of the fastest, most exciting races I've seen. Genuinely edge of the seat stuff.
I'm heading off to his hometown of Talavera de la Reina (southwest of Madrid) next week with a couple of friends to attend his official fanclub's end-of-season dinner and party, which should be brilliant... Any odds on meeting him again are basically a bonus, as his friends and family, fanclub directors, fans - and the whole population and town in general are just awesome anyway. I'll be a very happy bunny just to be there again to be honest :)

Anyway:
Happy birthday mate - have a good one!
Gareth



Thursday, November 20, 2008

Random Pic: MacBook X-Ray


Just random... Lifted from Cult of Mac

Related geeknews says that Mac OSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard" is now slated for a release in Q1, 2009...



Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Courageous Hamilton Aims To Prove Mercedes Faster Than Bicycle


The annual Race of Champions event is coming up again soon - Dec 14th at Wembley to be precise; and it looks to be a cracking tournament featuring the likes of Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Andy Priaulx, Mark Webber, Troy Bayliss, Sebastian Loeb, and David Coulthard in battle against each other in the tarmac-shod stadium.
One luminary, and indeed champion, who won’t apparently be taking part in that battle though is Lewis Hamilton.

However - in a genuinely baffling PR event that can only belittle him as far as I can see - rather than competing with the likes of Schumacher, Coulthard, Button et al on pretty equal terms, Hamilton (the current F1 champion and British media darling) will instead be driving a big bloody Mercedes sports car in a race with a bicycle. Seriously.

In PR terms, surely this is an unholy fart of a gesture... Not only does he not behave in the spirit of the event (and the spirit of a champion) by avoiding competing with his peers (when he’s clearly available!), he also competes on completely unequal terms in another event. An event that is basically lose-lose whatever the outcome on the ground. If the sports car beats the pedal bike then the obvious and presumably only reaction is “well of course he beat it - it’s a frikkin’ bike!”. If however he loses, even though the bicycle is obviously going to be a nice one, and be ridden by olympic cyclist Chris Hoy, the fact remains that it’s a bloke pedalling a bicycle. And he’s beaten a bloody great sports car. Driven by Lewis Hamilton.
See? Lose-Lose... Not as preposterously hilarious as when he “flew” posing as Apollo at this year’s Turkish GP perhaps, but still thought up and taken on with a degree of idiocy and crassness that almost demands admiration.

If he could manage to lower himself to compete with someone as lowly as 7-times world champion Schumacher however, it might look really good as PR. Win-Win in fact...



Monday, November 17, 2008

It's Like They Took My Life & Put It Online


From the excellent Simon's Cat series on Youtube.




Friday, November 14, 2008

Peter Pan Appears In iTunes Music Store


No, not some re-re-re-re-release of a Disney re-release - nor any kind of reference to pop zombie Michael Jackson, but to the beautiful video for "Peter Pan", most recent single by the boys from Madrid, El Canto Del Loco, taken from the album Personas.

Like the clip for "Puede Ser" that I posted up here a while back, it's a lovely subtle piece of work, and likewise a top video for an equally strong song. Nice colours, old Super 8 textures, scribbly crayon animation mixed in - it hits exactly the right vibe.
Click here to go check it out... (and buy it if it grabs you, of course...)

And let's hope that now the band are putting a toe in the water with extending their iTunes portfolio, they'll not leave it too long before adding "Puede Ser", "Besos", "Volvera", "A Contracorriente" and their other best videos.
Pretty please guys... :)



Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Max Mosley Sticks It To Paul Dacre

(*Above: Max Mosley - Respect!)


Whilst I deplore Max Mosley for squandering many opportunities to save the sport that I loved for so long, I can't help but rejoice at him sticking it to the contemptible Paul Dacre in this Comment Is Free piece.
"Squalid" is a perfect word for the way the Mail - and the rest of the gutter press behave over their seamy exposures in 'the public interest' - as should be transparently obvious to anyone with half a brain, and Dacre's hypocritical cant is given a prefect "Sod Off" by Max in this article - encouragingly supported by many of the comment posters below it.
Mosley's setting aside of what is surely considerable embarrassment to stand his ground on serious questions of *genuine* rights and morality (as opposed to Dacre's grotty little excuses to sell more of his rags) is wonderful.

Good on you Max :)
(Shame about F1 being crap though....)




Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Remembrance II

From the Independent



Monday, November 10, 2008

Remembrance


...Great in theory.
But just to prove how little we do seem to remember - or indeed learn, here's a list of conflicts around the globe since Armistice Day, 1918.



▪ 1918 Finnish Civil War
▪ 1918 - 1922 Russian Civil War
▪ 1918 Polish-Czech war in Teschen Silesia
▪ 1918 Viena expedition
▪ 1918 - 1919 Poland and Lwow against Westukrainian Republic
▪ 1918 - 1919 Great Poland Uprising, Provinz Posen against Germany
▪ 1919 Third Anglo-Afghan War
▪ 1919 First Silesian Uprising
▪ 1919 Aunus expedition
▪ 1919 - 1921 Polish-Soviet war Poland and Ukrainian Peoples Republic against Soviets
▪ 1919 - 1921 Anglo-Irish War / Irish War of Independence
▪ 1919 - 1922 "Turkish War of Independence"
▪ 1920 - 1922 Second Greco-Turkish War
▪ 1920 Second Silesian Uprising Silesian Poles against Germany
▪ 1921 Third Silesian Uprising Silesian Poles against Germany
▪ 1922 - 1923 Irish Civil War
▪ 1932 - 1935 Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay
▪ 1934 - 1936 Northern Expedition by Kuomintang
▪ 1935 - 1936 Second Italo-Abyssinian War
▪ 1936 - 1939 Spanish Civil War
▪ 1937 - 1945 Second Sino-Japanese War
▪ 1939 - 1945 World War II
▪ 1939 - 1940 Winter War; Part of WW II, Finland against Soviet Union
▪ 1941 - 1944 Continuation War; Part of WW II, Finland against Soviet Union
▪ 1944 - 1945 Lapland War; Part of WW II, Finland against Germany
▪ 1941 - 1945 Pacific War; Part of WW II, Japan against Australia and the United States
▪ 1941 - 1942 Border war between Ecuador and Peru
▪ 1944 - 1949 Greek Civil War
▪ 1945 - 1949 Chinese Civil War
▪ 1946 - 1954 First Indochina War
▪ 1947 - 1949 First Kashmir War between India and Pakistan
▪ 1948 - 1949 First Arab-Israeli War
▪ 1947 - Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan
▪ 1948 - Palestinian / Israeli conflict
▪ 1948 - 1960 Malayan Emergency
▪ 1950 - 1953 Korean War
▪ 1952 - 1960 Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya
▪ 1954 - 1962 Algerian War of Independence
▪ 1954 - 1964 Vietnamese Civil War
▪ 1955 - 1972 First Sudanese Civil War
▪ 1956 Suez Crisis (Second Arab-Israeli War)
▪ 1956 - 1959 Cuban Revolution
▪ 1960 - 1996 Guatemalan Civil War
▪ 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion (CIA-sponsored invasion attempt)
▪ 1961 - 1975 Angolan War of Independence
▪ 1962 - 1963 Sino-Indian War
▪ 1964 - 1973 Vietnam War
▪ 1964 - 1975 Mozambique's War of Independence
▪ 1965 Second Kashmir War (Second Indo-Pakistani War)
▪ 1965 - 1996 Chad Civil War
▪ 1966 - 1988 Namibian War of Independence
▪ 1966 - Colombian Civil War
▪ 1967 Six-Day War (Third Arab-Israeli War)
▪ 1967 - 1970 Biafra War in Nigeria
▪ 1967 - 1975 Cambodian Civil War
▪ 1971 The Pakistani Civil War that becomes the Third Indo-Pakistani War
▪ 1973 Yom Kippur War (Fourth Arab-Israeli War)
▪ 1974 - 1991 Ethiopian Civil War
▪ 1975 - 1989 Angolan Civil War
▪ 1975 - 1991 Lebanese Civil War
▪ 1975 - 1998 War of Indepence in East Timor
▪ 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War
▪ 1979 - 1992 El Salvador Civil War
▪ 1977 - Somalian Civil War
▪ 1978 - Afghanistan Civil War
▪ 1978 - Communist coup of 1978
▪ 1978 - 1992 Civil war between Mujahideen and Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
▪ 1979 - 1989 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
▪ 1980 - 1988 Iran-Iraq War
▪ 1981 Border war between Ecuador and Peru
▪ 1982 Falklands War
▪ 1982 Lebanon War
▪ 1982 - 1984 Mozambique's Ciwil War
▪ 1983 U.S.-sponsored invasion of Grenada
▪ 1983 - 2000 Civil War in Sri Lanka
▪ 1988 - 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan
▪ 1989 - 1990 United States invasion of Panama
▪ 1990 - 1991 Persian Gulf War
▪ 1990 - 1992 Rwanda Civil War
▪ 1991 - 2001 Yugoslav Wars
▪ 1991 Slovenian War
▪ 1991 - 1995 Croatian War
▪ 1992 - 1995 Bosnian War
▪ 1998 - 1999 Kosovo War
▪ 1991 - 1993 Georgian civil wars
▪ 1991 - 1992 South Ossetian war
▪ 1992 - 1994 Abkhazian War
▪ 1993 Georgian civil war, western Georgia
▪ 1991 - 1997 Sierra Leone Civil War
▪ 1993 - 1999 Burundi Civil War
▪ 1994 Yemen Civil War
▪ 1994 - 1996 First Chechen War
▪ 1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador
▪ 1996 - 1997 Liberian Civil War
▪ 1998 - 2000 Border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea
▪ 1999 Kargil Conflict
▪ 1999 - 2003 Second Liberian Civil War
▪ 1992 - 1993 Civil War between different tribal military forces
▪ 1994 - 2001 Civil War between Taliban movement and Northern alliance
▪ 1983 - Second Sudanese Civil War
▪ 1992 - Civil War in Algeria
▪ 1994 - Zapatista Revolution in Mexico
▪ 1995 - Second Ugandan Civil War
▪ 1996 - Civil War in Nepal
▪ 1999 - Second Chechen War
▪ 2001 Macedonian War
▪ 2001 - United States war in Afghanistan
▪ 2001 - Civil War in Côte d'Ivoire
▪ 2003 - Invasion of Iraq
▪ 2003 - Darfur conflict, Sudan
▪ 2004 - Haiti rebellion
▪ 2006 - Lebanon War
▪ 2008 - Second South Ossetia War




Saturday, November 8, 2008

Eakring, Nottinghamshire - Approach With Caution


From the Minutes of Eakring Parish Council, Nottinghamshire...


ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

1 - Another parishioner wished to know if the problems with the telephone directories had been solved yet.

2 - Mr Neal said a parishioner had drawn his attention to overhanging foliage on the pavement on Main Street between Wellow Road junction and the old school.
Clerk to contact Highways Department.

3 - The missile launcher parked on Kirklington Road has caused comments from a number of parishioners.
Clerk to contact Highways Department...




Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Yes, It's An Election Post


As George W Bush struggles to find the exit door (and probably manages to inflict just a tiny bit more damage on his way out) it's best left to The Onion to capture the moment, and to deliver one of the most entertaining and probably true bits of analysis of the election.
Here's the article...