Interesting what you can find on Microsofts blog - this guy doesn't seem sold on the potential Yahoo! deal. (also, how annoying is it to have to0 include the "!" after Yahoo? - almost as bad as "Monday")

http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/02/microsofts-yahoo-acquisition-is-bold.html

Aberdeen play Bayern Munich tomorrow in the UEFA Cup. It occured that they might, possibly, have a better team that us. Let's look at the evidence, based on International experience:

Bayern:
Kahn (86 caps Germany)
Sagnol (54 caps France)
Lucio (63 caps Brazil)
Demichelis (9 caps Argentina)
Lahm (37 caps Germany)

Altintop (25 caps Turkey)
van Bommel (40 caps Netherlands)
Ze Roberto (84 caps Brazil)
Schweinsteiger (48 caps Germany)

Klose (73 caps Germany)
Toni (32 caps Italy)

Aberdeen:
1 Langfield (Uncapped scotland squad member)
28 Maybury (10 irish caps)
4 McNamara (33 scottish caps)
5 Diamond (Former scotland under-21 captain)
23 Bus (Eh, nothing)
8 Nicholson (3 scottish caps)
19 Young (Former scottish under-21 player)
6 Severin (14 scottish caps)
27 Walker (Captain of england under-19's)
10 Mackie (1 scotland B cap)
16 Miller (1 scottish cap)
Subs
14 Foster (Former scottish under-21 player)
21 Considine (Current scottish under-21 squad member)
22 Maguire (Current scottish under-19 squad member)
20 Soutar (Eh, nothing)
9 Lovell (Eh, nothing)
11 Duff (10 scottish under-21 caps)
26 Aluko (Current england under-19 squad member)
Others
3 Byrne (1 ireland B cap)
7 Ja.Smith (2 scottish caps)
15 Touzani (Former dutch youth player)
17 D.Smith (Eh, nothing)
18 Mair (Former scottish youth player)
24 De Visscher (Eh, nothing)
25 Jo. Smith (Eh, nothing)
30 Kelly (Scotland under-19 squad member)

On second thoughts, let's not...Even their 3rd choice striker has something like 22 caps for Germany.

Well, at least it's on early, plenty of time for drowned sorrows afterwards. Thank goodness for BBCi on red button who are showing the game live.

Now, this is geeky...

This guys has developed software that uses the Wii controller in a variety of interesting ways. The Wiimote is an amazing and very accurate device, and these side projects give you an idea how the technology could be reused. I love the interactive whiteboard!

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/

Don't you hate it when people don't think about the implications their work? There is a prime example today of understanding the impact of things where people thought it would be a good idea to scan a document. The document is new, however the designer hadn't spoken to anyone about the scanning requirements as they had made some assumptions. Which were incorrect. The people designing the process for the scanning hadn't spoken to anyone about the technical requirements of the scan process. It then comes to the technical people to chase all the answers to get an answer within a day. As per normal.

And you wonder why us techies mock non-techies sometimes?

I try and avoid religion. It's not that I'm anti religious, it's just that it people can take their views very seriously and it can end up in violence - and that's just football crowds who get a bit a drunk, never mind the extremist views some people have.

I came across this video which I found interesting. A Dutch comedian was confronted about some of his satire on a Dutch TV show which was run by three Muslim girls. They took offense at what he said. He responds and expresses it is his right to free speech and they are taking offense when they should just get on with it and deal with it. "Everybody else does it, why can't you?" seems to be the message.

There is an interesting back story to this. Hans was friends with Theo Van Gogh, the director who was shot in Holland a few years ago having made a film about Islamic culture, and this seems to have fueled his ambition to ensure nothing is ever deemed "out of bounds" as to what can and cannot be said in free countries. It's a valid point and one that you can see every day in the UK, with concessions here and there in case it upsets someone, or their religion.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=knRLJp-nqSg

Anyway, I'm not going to preach and say he is right or wrong, but in a free world, people can say what they like regardless of the target. You may not agree with them or their views, but that is what makes life interesting. If we all liked the same thing, it would be a very dull place.

It's always nice to be at home, and this week I'm on a course in central London learning about the application we are building. It seems it will be a good week but the first day is scene setting and most was a recap or confirmation of approach. What was good today was it was my first "hands on" with the product. It has it's own little foibles and tricks, but once you start thinking about how it works it all makes sense and it should be a good week.

What was not so pleasant was the rush hour commute to the city - I've not done it in three years since I left work on a project on the Strand, and I forgot just how many people try and get onto the trains and tubes. It does make you think like the Egg Card advert - for every clever thing that happens in the world (me being at home) there is an opposite reaction somewhere else (the tube journey).

I also read an interesting article in GQ about blogging and that 50% of blogs created every day has the subject matter of the author and his or her life. I scoffed till I realised that's what this was. I might come back to the topic as you could get all deep about this subject and I don't think I can deal with it just now.

Tetris

This is one of the funniest things I've seen on you tube in ages - Human Tetris from Japan. What I find really funny is the panic in the faces as they try to work out how to get into the correct shapes to fit through the holes!

I see that you can now book (or very soon) Eurostar tickets online in conjunction with regional tickets. So if you want to go to Paris from York, you'll get it in one place.

Link

Now, there is a very good European site called Seat61, which has tons of information about European train travel. I used this extensively when booking my tickets to go to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 as there is loads of useful stuff on it. However, the ultimate European train site has to be the DeutscheBahn site (LINK)which lets you search every train in Europe (and I've just checked - it allows you to include York in it's search). So why have they bothered to do it? I guess it makes it easier for people, but I don't know many people who book train tickets online. As the online services are not great for train travel, in my experience. I don't trust the train company websites to give me the right price for love nor money - I'd rather buy the single fare to get to London and then do the rest on Eurostar's site.

As an aside, a total journey time of 10 hours and 21 minutes to go by train from York to Dortmund by train is impressive but I wonder how many people would consider it. Take into account the entire travel time to get from York to Dortmund by air (assuming you can fly from Leeds to Dortmund) would be:

• Drive from York to Leeds Bradford - 1 hour
• Park and get to terminal - 30 minutes
  
• Check in before flight - at least 2 hours
• Flight - 3 hours (I've not checked that btw)
• Get off plane and collect bags - 45 minutes
• Get into central Dortmund - 45 minutes
  

So, a total there for about 8 hours by air. None of which would be particularly stress free as airports these days are just a nightmare. Compare that to 10 hours on some of the most efficient, clean, well serviced and comfortable trains you can travel on these days. That's worth two hours of my time any day. But I'll bet the ticket to get from York to London costs more than the air fare alone.

Shame.

Now, I'm a well behaved driver but I take an interest in the speed camera debate as it affects me as a driver. Came across this site, some interesting and knowledgeable people on there, discussing scameras and parking tickets.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/

Back to work with a bump today. Quiet day catching up on admin and the activities that have been going on in the world of work. Quite nice to be able to do it all in peace!

Christmas passed with much fun and laughter, though with colds all round it wasn't quite as much fun as it could be. Wii caused much laughter all round - there is nothing like the sight of your 81 year old Gran playing Wii tennis... New Year was a complete washout, the other half managed to get this winter vomiting cold thingy, so we shut the door and packed her off to bed. Not exactly party time! Still, these things happen.

Many days have been spent looking at a new camera to supplement the Ixus we bought in late 2006. This one will be used for long distance and outdoor type shots, leaving the Ixus for indoor type shots in preparation of the honeymoon where we will be on safari in Botswana. Much research has gone into this, and an order placed, which should arrive tomorrow which is rather exciting. The rate of change is frightening - the new camera one of the new breed of bridge cameras with super zooms and has a 18x optical zoom on it. I've been very impressed with it when we tried it in the shop so cannot wait for it's first outing. Next on the hit list is a set of binoculars.

What else? Well, I spent a few days sorting out my photo library on the PC, having run out of disk space and with no upgrade option, having previously filled the spare drive slot with a DVD burner. So an external drive was bought, DVD burning for archiving taken place and a second copy placed on the drive. You can almost see the PC breath out as it gets disk space back!

Unbelievably, Aberdeen won last night! I'm stunned, but so happy! Beating the Danish champions, who beat Ajax and Manchester United last season is good, but beating them 4-0 is unreal!

So we go into the last 32 of the draw, to play a group winner and with no limitations on playing teams in the same country, we can play Everton, Athletico (again - who beat us in the groups), Villareal, Hamburg, Leverkusen, Getafe, Bordeaux and Bayern Munich. Of that lot, I want one of the big German teams, Leverkusen have a stadium which would have an incredible atmosphere, but Bayern would be the big one - seeing as we beat them in the last 16 in the European Cup in 83. Maybe we should just keep them for the next round :-) As an aside, the key players that night in Fergie's first big team where Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish. Fergie's team from the 80s has produced a huge number of good managers so can you imagine how many there will be from his team of the 90's????

Wii

Last weekend I managed to finally get hold of a wii. It's brilliant, a workout and a games console. The interactivity is awesome, you really feel part of the game as you lunge across your lounge throwing a bowling ball in the same action you would in the bowling alley. If only I could get a second wii remote - they are rarer than a wii!!!

Also, this is interesting - the BBC moves to personalised portals on the beta site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/beta/

Well it seems there will be some kind of protest this week about the cost of fuel in the UK. The plans seem secretive, so I'd suggest filling up on Tuesday night if you need to like me, when the car is essential next weekend, when we visit a friend from Oz home with their kids for the first time and my cars range would get me there, but not back home again afterwards. Should probably have bought a diesel, but they don't sound anywhere near as nice :-)

Anyway, I suspect this has been coming for a while and I try and keep politics clear from here, but something needs to change with the way the motorist is treated.

Link if you want more info.

Do you ever have to work with someone who you just want to smash against a wall? Particularly when you just know they will try and claim your work as their own?

Time for a cunning plan to be actioned...

It's one of those times where life is just busy. Lot's on at work, as usual at this time of year which always seems to be admin crazy. As I'm meeting the leader of my part of the business today I might mention it. Then again, perhaps not.

Long day yesterday due to a couple of incidents on the M40 - it amazes me how long a queue can get in such a short time. Yesterday had two - one where a car was on it's roof in the outside lane (how? I mean you've got to be driving too fast and like an idiot to have to end up on your roof surely? the watchword on the motorways is anticipation and consideration people!) followed by a power cut which knocked out the traffic lights at the top of a slip road. 2 mile tailback...

The price of petrol has raised it's head again. I stopped last night on the way home and it was 104.9ppl!!! Madness. So the moral of that story is always use www.petrolprices.com before you travel to see the cheapest petrol near you.

Oh dear, that didn't go to plan did it?

Croatia played with passion, with pace and intelligence. They were worthy winners. England didn't play with any of those things and deservedly lost. I won't dwell on it, but Lampard was bloody awful - how he gets a game in an England shirt is beyond me. Club football he is good (ish - he still plays for Chelsea remember!), international level he has not played a good game in ages. Gerrard was ineffective, although I can't help but feel that's because he didn't get the ball enough going forward. I feel sorry for Carson - the pitch and conditions were awful to play in such a big game and I hope he doesn't let it get to him.

You could see the pressure the players were under on their players faces, particularly Gerrard and Lampard, and it showed with the performance on the pitch. The press has changed in recent years on how much influence they have over football, and wider public figures lives, and it's not for the good. It's to sell more papers, and as such McLaren will be sacked today. Who will replace him? Nobody with an ounce of sense, that's for sure. So expect to see Sam Allardyce in place soon.

The positives from an England view was the giraffes finish for the second goal. A perfect cross from brand beckham, and Crouchs first touch was superb, the finish even better. It reminded me of a debate my mates and I have every time we get together - what's the best touch/pass in this move? The long ball from De Boer was inch perfect, the first touch makes the chance, the second makes the space, and the finish is sublime.



Also, one more thing - Scotland finished on 24 points in a much harder group to Englands 23 ;-)

Wembley madness

Why spend £780M on a stadium designed to make sure the pitch is in good condition, and then build a retractable roof on it as well to keep it dry, and then not use it? Wembley is a technical masterpiece for it's design, and as a venue it's superb with little queuing for anything, easy to get in and out of, great view all around the stadium of the pitch. But was it really needed?

Would the Stade De France have done the job? It's certainly big enough, was a lot cheaper to build, and if they were to do it again I'm sure they would lose the running track to get a better atmosphere. Millenium Stadium - looks like a dog, but what an atmosphere. Shame the pitch suffers so badly. However, if you really want to see a brilliant covered stadium, there is only one - and it's German.

The Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen is the home ground of Shalke. It has a retractable pitch, so it can sun itself when not in use, retractable roof, a moveable video cube and one of the stands move. It seats 60,000+, but there would be no reason why you couldn't make it bigger. Why people start again with design when something as brilliant as this exists, I'll never know. And having been to both it and Wembley - I'd rather watch football in Gelsenkirchen. The atmosphere is just unbelievable, the view perfect and did I mention the atmosphere? Noise like you've never heard from a crowd (well, maybe Hampdem on Saturday, but as I wasn't there I can't really comment!)

See for yourself. The pitch is out the front in this one.




The video cube can be moved if needed, or left where it is even with the roof open.



http://www.arena-auf-schalke.de/portrait_arena_en.php

Part of my house has a flat roof on it. This was replaced last year as it was leaking. However, I'm now convinced it leaked less than the new one. Everytime we get prolonged rain, it comes in through the roof in the study. Now, this is where all the computer gear is, so it always makes me nervous!

Luckily, I was at home yesterday to catch the water, and so the roofer comes out today to fix it. Only good thing about it is that I get another night at home.

Just to compound my week, England will qualify by fluke of an Israel result against Russia. So a few thoughts on England if I may...

The campaign has been awful, though you could see it coming as England have underperformed with the best set of players they have had in years. The World Cup was poor, and as Sven has shown he's not a bad coach, where does the fault lie? Well, yes, the coaches need to take some blame, but not all of it and if there is a witch hunt for Mclaren then that's a huge shame. He was never the right man for the job (but with the Scolari situation in Portugal, he wasn't either!) but if England don't qualify for the championships don't sack the coach. It's a reaction to please the fans and the press. And just who would take over? You don't see world class managers running for the job so it'll be Sam Allardyce, who has no big European experience.

So the players - well Rooney hadn't scored for years, Owen was permanently injured, and David James and Paul Robinson are flying (not) but the spine of the team is one any manager would like. Rio, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, Hargreaves (well, most managers would like him!) plus one of the worlds best (as well as most hated) left backs in Cashley Cole. Huge experience in Gary N at right back, and then up front there are world class players in Rooney and Owen. It's the right players, but they just don't gel and play like a team. And that comes back to the coach.

The Premiership has to be part of this - the top players play two games every week, no wonder they are knackered as they run at least 10km in each game. So ease up the games and players can perform better for the national team.

I hope England qualify, if only to keep the press amused next summer. They don't particularly deserve it, but that's life. I also don't think they would have got out of our group if they had been in it, but at least the dark days of 4th level seeds are gone for us now we are ranked 13 in the world (oh yes, England are only 11th) so we'll be the second pot for World Cup qualifiers. Combined with a squad who are predominantly under 25, things are looking rosy for the Scotland squad. If I was an English fan, I don't think I'd be looking forward quite so much...

The tension builds....

Can Scotland qualify for the Euro's by beating the world champions? It's classic Scotland though. This could all have been sorted out in the last round of games when we failed to beat Georgia on their patch, leaving us the hard one.

Scotland believes though. And with good reason - we've beaten France twice, and the Ukraine, and were unlucky to lose 2-0 in Italy. It's a big difference to the World Cup qualifiers when you couldn't give tickets away. In fact, I went with my Dad and brother to watch a rubbish game in what was Berti's last game in charge. Now, they could have sold Hampdem out twice.

Do I believe we'll win? Well I want to, and I think we'll be well up for it - but isn't it classic Scotland to get this far and fail? For once though, I do believe...

Now, where did I put that Runrig CD?