Entries from January 2007 ↓

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Hugh Macleod, known internationally for being the business card artist, an exceptional marketer and author of the HughTrain is going on a UK nationwide Big Love road show to Tesco supermarkets to promote Stormhoek’s “Big Love” St Valentine’s Rose’.

Please go. You gotta go to see Hugh and support Stormhoek and the Wellington wine-growing area of the Klein Karroo region near Cape Town. So get on your bikes, ponies, buses, taxis, roller skates, scooters or Bentleys and go buy some Big Love St Valentine’s Rose’ at all the Tesco supermarkets listed below near where you live:

February 2nd: Inverness, Corstorphine [Edinburgh].

3rd: Newcastle, Durham, Tadcaster.

4th: Blackpool, Bidston Moss [Merseyside], Horwich, Warrington.

5th: Stockport [Manchester], Altrichham [Manchester], Redditch [Worcestershire], Cardiff [Wales].

6th: Yeovil [Somerset], Bournemouth.

7th: Purley, Gatwick, Chichester.

8th: Sandhurst, Bursledon, Cirencester.

9th: Reading, Newbury, Abingdon.

10th: Barr Hill, Royston, Watford.

11th: Aylesbury, Ipswitch.

12th: Cheshunt [Herts.], Colchester.

13th: Pitsea [Essex], Twickenham.

14th: Brooklands [Surrey], New Malden [Surrey].

Download a detailed schedule here

Go give big love to Stormhoek at a Tesco near you! And put your hand in your pocket and buy your loved one a fantastic bottle of Stormhoek “Big Love” St Valentine’s Rose’

I’m there. I am so there already. Where are you??!! Fill your wellies with Big Love!

“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”
– Pearl Buck (1892 - 1973)

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, most familiarly known as Pearl S. Buck (June 26, 1892 - March 6, 1973), was a prolific writer and Nobel Prize winner. Pearl Buck was an extremely passionate activist for human rights. In 1949, outraged that existing adoption services considered Asian and mixed-race children unadoptable, Pearl established Welcome House, Inc., the first international, interracial adoption agency that has been operating for nearly five decades. Many of Buck’s life experiences are described in her novels, short stories, fiction, and children’s stories. Through them she sought to prove to her readers that universality of mankind can exist if man accepts it. She dealt with many topics including women’s rights, emotions, Asian cultures, immigration, adoption, and conflicts that many people go through in life.

Note for Success #3

This evening I want to upgrade this version of WordPress to Version 2.1 “Ella” so no posts today.

Hope you all had a good weekend. Was glad to see the British public voted Shilpa as winner of Big Brother 7. Has Jade’s, Jo’s and Danielle’s abusive and bullying performance toward Shilpa been uploaded to YouTube yet?

UPDATE:

Have completed the upgrade. Notice anything different? I do but you might not because I am using a theme sitting ontop of the front-end. What you are looking at. Behind the scenes is where I see a big difference. This version, runs smoother than the previous upgrade.

This reminds me of someone.

Aaah yes, Mrs Gollum or a Big Brother housemate we know and loathed.

I came across this on the web:

Gender egalitarianism is the belief in the equality of the sexes. Many followers of this philosophy would like to see this term come to replace “feminism” or “masculism”, when used to describe a belief in basic equal rights and opportunities for members of both sexes. They strive for ultimate fairness, and seek cooperative solutions so as to make things better for both males and females. …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_egalitarian

Why would anyone want to fix something that is not broken?

This morning you read the writings of a man potentially honoured to be called the brother of a sister blogger. She who goeth by the nameth of, “The blogging woman with a bad case of the verbals” has confirmed what I wanted so long to believe - there are women out there possessed of evil magic complimented by a sick sense of humour!

It takes a brave woman to go blog to blog with a society who rejects her. It takes guts to withstand the withering racism she encounters. It is a braver soul than I to remain in situ knowing the abuse she encounters is not yet over.

You can imagine the folly of her prospects. Life and future flounder and she is reminded of it daily but still “The blogging woman with a bad case of the verbals” manages to add to her woes by outing me as her brother. Eeeeeewgh, sis!

Well we two know it is not necessarily untrue and have to investigate this avenue of possibility further before making any further statement on what after so many years of being sibling free, is indeed a truly emotional and appallingly sick thought to deal with.

But above all this bravado of mine and silly commentaries here and at “The blogging woman with a bad case of the verbals” own site, I respect Misty for being so true to herself and her principles. Life at Umea may be tough but life got rougher because Umea has just encountered one heck of a lady to try to keep down.

I know a good bet when I see one and you will be safe to place a few spare shillings on Misty winning out by grappling Umean life and forcing Ume into submission and to go forward on her terms. Misty is absolutely and unreletingly outspoken, rude ‘n crude and loutish. But lovable and compassionate, a good and dependable friend for life while still being a woman fighting like an alley cat on her own to defend her corner of life and the principles that govern her stay on earth. Wouldn’t you be honoured to have Misty as your friend? I would.

When it comes to adversity and attacks against you, it is comforting to have a Misty by your side for spiritual fortitude, principled forthrighness, integrity, intellect, wisdom, pugilistic bravery and most of all a sense of seriously well developed humour. Do not forget this piece of advice for that day will surely come to you.

As sources of inspiration go, Misty you are the best.

Virtually,

Your ‘brother’

Last summer I had to complain (with other villagers) to the police and the local council about the 24 hour non-stop bassline noise coming from a rave which sounded as if it were next door but in fact was some miles away in the countryside. The village seemed to act like collection bowl for soundwaves passing through the hills between the party and the village. Well, the party organiser was caught and taken to court and fined for making a noise or holding a rave without permission of the landowner. Or something else, I forget.

Anyway, yesterday I strolled into a rave!

Yes, I was hiking on The Ridgeway as I do from time to time. I was trying a route I have never walked before which I knew would eventually lead me all the way back to my village. So I started out early Sunday morning. It was a brilliant morning. Clear sunny skies with a cold breeze. Ideal conditions for hiking. Errr and for the person who thinks I am a “Rambler”, please note, I am not.
I would never belong to a formalised national group that spends weekends hiking in various locations of the UK and abroad. Besides, I cannot stand the organised formality of it all or the numbers of people I’d be forced to have to spend my precious time with. I get to be alone too few times and I like to use this time selfishly to reflect, think , plan and relax in my own company. I enjoy my own company. Luckily I am one of those people who does like being alone. I am not lonely.

Well there I was strolling along enjoying the outdoors when all of a sudden beyond the crest of an incline, I saw cars riding on my precious Ridgeway. WTF! I was livid. These jerks were ploughing up the turf and creating a miles long mudbath. No way. Then I saw the police roadblock. Yippeee! The old bill was out in force. What was going on? And then the police helicopter arrived and began making low passes up and down the Ridgewy ahead. It hovered for a while so it must have been taking photos. I just plodded on and after a while come to the roadblock where a few police were taking down details of the vehicle drivers. Ahead, one car appeared to not want to come closer. As I got abreast of it (a remodded old VW Beetle), I noticed that it had sunk into the mud up to the rear bumper and was’nt going anywhere. Nice gooyey sticky mud. The kind that rips you wellies or boots off if you are unlucky enough to walk through it and sink in too deep! I offered the guys in the beetle a hand to push but they declined and were waiting for the RAC to come drag them out. (Note: would the RAC truck be allowed to drive on the Ridgeway? Don’t think so!)

Then it struck me - I realised that their accents were rather posh! Despite the dreadlocks and grunge gear, they were posh people! Sooooooo this must be that Oxford lot who got nabbed last year!. The organiser of last summer’s rave(s) was sent to court and fined a hefty sum. I bet myself that he was back with a winter rave on my doorstep! Cheeky bugger! I like it. Cocking a deaf at authority and flicking a birdie to the cops! An entrepreneur who will let nothing get in his way to make some money. So I trudged on as more cars began to appear ahead of me driving in the direction of the roadblock. Silly, they should stayed put or gone in the opposite direction.

Instead they kept coming as I plodded on to where the A34 crosses over the Ridgeway. As I got close to the bridge the cars and people began to increase in number as did the music in decibels. I was walking into a rave man!! Cooooool!!

I was greeted by the people at the outer perimeter of the throng and had a chat with them all. They confirmed they’d been there all night (froze their posh butts off) but had a great time. No sign of drugs, just beer cans and cider bottles. The main crowd (or what was left of it) were under the bridge trying to keep warm. No fire. That was a good few brownie points to them.

The kit was unbelievable. The size of the genny was amazing. As was the size of the speakers. Serious stuff. I bopped a bit and had a chat then left but got into discussion with more ravers. All very eloquent, articulate and posh sounding! Students from some of the many colleges of Oxford University and judging by the quality of the cars and the makes, from affluent families.

For me this made my day. Me a doos, trundling happily along an ancient road coming across a modern day posh rave! My luck!

Today has been a bad day weatherwise. Add the howling winds to motorway works and resultant traffic jams to a day from hell at the office then you can only guess at what my day turned out to be.

Yes it was a bad one. I arrived at the office at 0710am and things went downhill from there BUT being the wunnerful chappie I are, I managed to motivate myself to stay at office until I could bear the nonsense no more. In order to do that I took myself off to a Quiet Room and tranced out into a really relaxed state and visualised a fantastic day I’d had a couple of years back. I anchored that thought, instructed my myself to be cool n calm all day, opened my eyes and the world had changed into a better place.

I went back to my office and took the slingshots and arrows that a day of strife unrelentingly chucks your way until I looked at my watch to find that 9 hours had flown by. I thought to myself, “Self, you have been at all day and so you can pack up and go home now”!. I did. But at my junction off the M4 a nice little surprise awaited - backed up traffic formed into a 9 mile tailback! Luckily I was abreast of another offramp which I swung onto and took the countrylanes route home.

Had to play dodgems all the way. The high winds had snapped branches, uprooted hedgerows and bushes and saplings and strewn them across the country lanes just to see how quick our reactions are while travelling at 75 -85 in pitch black with dimmed lights! I loved it and had a few very anxious nanoseconds but the skill of this guy is amazing!! Heehee.

I hope tomorrow is better than today. As in more obstacles to miss!

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.”
– C. P. Snow (1905 - 1980)

Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, CBE (15 October 1905-1 July 1980) was a scientist and novelist. Born in Leicester, he was educated at Cambridge University, where he became a Fellow of Christ’s College in 1930. He was knighted in 1957 and served as an assistant to the Minister of Technology in the Labour government of Harold Wilson. Snow is most noted for his lectures and books regarding his concept of “The Two Cultures,” as developed in The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959). He wrote that the breakdown of communication between the sciences and the humanities is a major hindrance to solving the world’s problems. Snow’s work aroused considerable ferment at the time of its delivery, partly because of the uncompromising style in which he stated his case.

Note for Success #2

Andrew Rettman at EUobserver.com reports, “The days when King Henry VIII met King Francis I in a field full of cloth of gold are gone but VIPs still have big egos, with the EU’s protocol chief tells EUobserver about the intricate hierarchy of the family photo, the “paranoia” of US delegations and which EU leader has the firmest handshake.”

“Protocol is about respecting the dignity of the visitor and making sure everything goes smoothly”, says Austrian Hans Brunmayr, who has been welcoming VIPs at the EU’s headquarters in Brussels for five years.

So why do the EU people get pissed off when Mr GW Bush arrives in town?

Is it because three weeks before Mr Bush came, 200 US diplomats arrived for daily “walkthroughs” of how the visit would go, flying in lecterns from Washington, flying Bush’s EU badge-pin back to Washington for analysis and insisting that only his special guard of US marines could serve him so much as a glass of water.

Click here to read more of what silly protocol games are played that Hans Brunmayr has to make sure do not go wrong.

EU dance The Protocol

A continued concern for me as evidenced by one of my related posts here, is the continued sustainability of the blogosphere and Web 2.0 as we know it this morning. I do not think blogosphere can survive in its current structure nor at the rate of new blogs. I have to question Technorati’s statistics (from what I can find at the site they were last published here on 6 November 2006 by Dave Sifry) about the growth of blogs. For instance, do they keep counting those blogs that are opened but never updated? Do they only survey active blogs?

Anyway, all my worst fears about this topic seem to be of concern to other authoritative figures in blogosphere as well. In his Business 2.0 blog called The.Next.Net, Erick Schonfeld wrote a blog article called Web 2.0 Flameouts on 8th January, raising questions and suggests, “Some are calling this signs of the Web 2.0 bubble bursting”.

In fact Techcrunch has already started a Web 2.0 Deadpool where you can read about the company ‘flameouts’. This section is updated with new entrants as and when a flameout occurs. All too rapidly for my liking.

Will the number of new blogs peak and plateau then fizzle out as fads normally do? Am I the only one who sees blogging as a fad that 90% of bloggers may give up at some date in the future when family, kids, school, the office, career, marriage, divorce and maturity will determine the time available to continue the fad?

Is Web 2.0 simply another wiser Web 1.0 but with new flaws that Web 1.0 gestated for Web 2.0 to give birth to? Or has Web 2.0 really not learnt much from the Web 1.0 debacle?

Is VC greed still as ferocious and ignorant of sound investment rules?

Will the number of flameouts begin to increase?

Flickering Web 2.0 Pilot Light

“Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.”
– Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie (November 24,1888-November 1,1955) was an American writer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born in poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, which has sold over 30 million copies through many editions and remains popular today.

Note for Success

Got a few minutes to spare? Yes. Then watch this BBC Online’s Geek Week 2.0 report.

Enjoy.

Geek Week 2.0

Inspired by ChampagneHeathen’s post, I feel the need to respond. Not on behalf of all men. Just for me.

So here goes:

If I ever manage to understand women I will become a rich man. Women are unfathomable. They are an enigma wrapped in silk and satin and perfume aromas that are so beguiling they lead me happily astray.

Who said we need to explore space and the ocean depths when we still have to learn how to love, live with and care for women. We know so little about them. We think we know a lot about them. I think I know more than the next bloke but in reality, I do not.

I am glad I don’t otherwise my lifeswork would be seriously boring.

Women

This is not in anyway my cup of tea as topics go but I think it’d be remiss of me to not quote from an article that Brady Forrest wrote here on 14 December in a post titled “AJAX Affects Page Views“. Please note that it is the follow up comments which I consider to be the most interesting piece about the article.

Brady follows up on a comScore Media Matrix report that has MySpace taking over top spot from Google. He says,”This is a great issue. How do you calculate the “top site” if the value of page views is constantly changing? By making their site more efficient Yahoo! has potentially hurt itself in the eyes of the sound bite, yet has increased user satisfaction - a better metric for them to care about in the long run. Instead of page views, Reel Pop is suggesting that we use “average time per user” on a site.”

Now that is all good and well for those who do not care a jot about ranking lists. I do, but only from the perspective of taking disagreeing and cynical pops at the lists and also at those who swear and live by them. And as always I have to yet again ask the big question - who makes up the rules and metrics by which rankings are governed? There is no conformity so how can Technorati’s engine (for instance) be the one to go by? Or any other for that matter? They all have different rules.

Anyway, the best bit about Brady’s post is the follow up comments. Here aresome crackers:

I thought we were beyond page views 5 years ago.

Posted by: anon at December 14, 2006 12:13 PM

And better still….

I wonder if comScore can even tell the difference between a pageview and an ajax request? Does anyone know? If it can’t, then moving over to ajax would not necessary hurt Yahoo’s page views according to comScore.

Posted by: Kris at December 14, 2006 05:35 PM

and then finally something I relate to……

I’ve always believed is not how many people you get to see your page, but how many of them return for seconds… and thirds… But that metric is even harder considering internet cafes, wifi, and privacy issues…

Posted by: JustAThought at December 15, 2006 05:33 AM

So there you are. I hope you learnt something from this. I did. And I think you know which orifice I think ranking lists can be shoved up!