Bowman Radio

There were some good articles today covering Afghanistan in the media. Good to see as it is an under reported conflict.

Historically the British army has always been poorly provided for. This is a major news item now and it has been bought into the nations minds. The frustrating thing is we spend enough money on equipment procurement.

Today's example was the Bowman radio system, to provide secure communications. So a couple of billion spent there, 15 years in the making. But it turns up as too heavy, with no battery life indicator, and limited range. Maybe it can be improved but it made depressing reading.

Book read: Ghost Rider by Neil Peart

The author is the drummer from my favourite band Rush. In 1998 his daughter was killed in a car crash and then his wife died under a year later. The book describes his recovery process. Part of this was a couple of years bike touring as a way to keep himself from staying in the home environment where all the memories were.

On one level this is a great travel read - he tours all over western America and into Mexico. It also contains transcripts of letters written to friends on his travels.

The main backdrop is the sad circumstances he finds himself having to deal with. He comes across as a genuinely decent and thoughtful man. Subsequently to remarry the book ends in 2002 and the early production of tracks on the album Vapor Trails.

Book Read: A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr

This was a short series on TV, describing the UK post war history through the politics and the leaders of the 1940s right through to the present day. The series was an excellent history so I bought the book, and it too is an excellent read. My postwar history knowledge certainly benefited from reading this, and for the bits I had lived through it was interesting to remember back to the country of those times (70s, 80s, and 90s).

Although the message is somewhat despairing, painting the Britain of squandered opportunity and political incompetence, Marr is never slow to describe the good things that our post war leaders had tried to achieve. The NHS formation, the misguided battles with devaluation, the reforms of Thatcher, the list is not short. The book is also good on detail and describing the feelings at certain times in history - it's either taken a team of researchers or a huge amount of work on Marr's part.

Not short at 600 pages, but something that was very readable - I'm glad I made the time to read it.

Freeview PVR Take Two

I still have my Topfield but bought someone a Humax 9200-T. Having set it up and played around with it I was very impressed, another company that almost "gets" it in this forgotten market.

Twin tuner, 160GB hard drive, series link support, and all the on screen menus are well organised. It also has card support but that side of freeview is fragmenting into custom boxes so will likely die out (as will the providers supplying them).

One extra bonus - and believe me every STB manufacturer needs one of these as it's an unreliable software business. A real on/off switch at the back. Better than a software controlled one which is no good because the reason you went to switch it off was because the software had crashed.

Oympics Beijing Opening

I saw some of the opening ceremony of the olympics today. Typically these are quirky affairs which are overlong and drawn out. But the bit I saw was very impressive visually and played on the Chinese heritage of centuries.

Then a worrying thought, what is 2012 going to open like - what will we draw on? Not that opening ceremonies get remembered or have been that great in the past. I'm guessing Australia had nothing to worry about from Atlanta, and Greece had the same levels of history to use as a backdrop as China.

So London? Most of our history was about war and empire building, so we cannot mention it. Maritime history, our royal family? Something more contemporary maybe the London of today - hooded gangs wielding knives, traffic jams - we could work those into it!

Well probably the least of our worries, 4 years left and the foundations just laid of the new stadium will be an achivement to get that in on the £450 million budget.