Sansa Clip

A while ago I bought myself a Sansa Clip, 4 GByte MP3 player to replace my older 1 GBytes model.

It has some neat features, remembering playback point in podcasts, being able to charge from the USB port (no more AAA battery charging!).

But there is one important feature that I overlooked, it can play .ogg format files! This is a patent free open codec, that always struggled to get support alongside the dominant mp3 format.

I never thought I would see the day when this would happen, but I was really pleased - slightly annoyed with myself for not checking earlier, and I only found out by accident.

Bike ride: Abbey North Route

Fourth ride, 9.18 km, 5.71 miles - around 35 mins.

Cycle out to the Abbey, turn right, head north on the A road, up some slight hills and under the main motorway bridge.

Turn right into the Village, and through the main road, severe climb up back under the motorway bridge.

A good route, slightly isolated but with some great scenery.

Trident Replacement

This question came up in the leader's debate, can we really afford the £20 billion to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent.

It would be a tough thing to give up, and maybe there are some halfway houses of having nuclear capable subs, but maybe with a more useful conventional role like cruise missiles. Allow conversion in times of world ending gravity.

I thought this might be a subject Lewis Page will have written on, but he's found a much better target - the third tranche of the useless Eurofighter:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/15/eurofighter_tranche_3/

So the usual thing of BAE promising to cut hi-tech jobs, if the deal is not signed. Now there is an equivalent amount of money sitting there...

FA Cup: Tottenham Hotspur 0 - Portsmouth 2

Amazingly Portsmouth nullified Tottenham over 90 minutes and then take the lead in extra time, sealing things with a penalty.

And well deserved too, hanging on at times Tottenham never made the most of their openings, and Portsmouth made the most of theirs.

Not a result that I could predict, I thought this would be the end of the road. The now relegated team get another trip to Wembley. A nice way for this team to sign off before returning to the championship with a much depleted squad - probably not to return or repeat this achievement again.

Also nice to see Redknapp beaten, I don't blame him for the club's plight but this is a pretty sweet victory. Manager Avram Grant and the team deserve this moment.

Film: Burn After Reading Directed by the Coen brothers

A quirky film about a washed up CIA agent who quits the agency but allows some secret data to fall into the hands of hapless fitness instructors played by Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand.

They try to blackmail him for return of the CD of data, one of the instructors is hoping to use this to pay for some cosmetic surgery.

The plot is then intertwined with George Clooney a state investigator who by random chance is dating the female fitness instructor. The plot contains a lot of random chance and connections that do not seem plausible.

Still a reasonably good film, everyone ends up dead or incapacitated - with the CIA monitoring guys wondering what ever happened.

Film: The Damned United directed by Tom Hooper

I picked up this cheap on DVD, Brian Clough's 44 day reign as Leeds United manager in the early 1970s.

Don Revie becomes England manager and leaves Leeds - making the opening for Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor. Taylor goes to work for Brighton who the pair had already struck a deal with, after their dismissal from Derby.

Clough is portrayed as having a massive chip on his shoulder about Revie previously ignoring him in previous encounters. He sets out to change the Leeds mentality and their robust play.

He fails miserably, but along the way all the famous Clough moments are portrayed.

Not a bad film, some good history of the game back in a different era.

Documentary: The Doctor and Douglas

Caught this interesting documentary about the late Douglas Adams time writing scripts for Doctor Who. Also it seems fitting that this is the 42nd post of 2010.

Before Hitchhikers took off Adams wrote several scripts for Doctor Who in 1979, then played by Tom Baker. They were difficult times, during strikes by technicians at the BBC. The scripts added something different apparently, a little bit of comedy to the role which suited Baker.

Bike ride: Village Short Route

Third ride, 6.4 miles, 10.3 km, time 32 mins.

This is my short village route, that skirts around the outside but still uses the Peak Lane route home. Measuring it out I was surprised how long it still is. A good short route for when the weather conditions are not so good.

Future Frigate

A good article on the register from Lewis Page about the Type 26 study:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/30/frigates_wag_the_dog/

Describing the £120m study on the future frigate to replace the 22 and 23 fleet.

He makes a compelling argument for a more merchant ship approach, allowing the carrying of more helicopters and troop deployment options. Bolt on the longer range missile system like Tomahawk.

In their current form they would have limited air defence capability and submarine hunting capability.

But they do keep the RN career ladder alive, something he has alluded to in the past. Also it allows BAE to build the ship it wants rather than the ships we need.

Let's see what the study brings ?

iPad Launch

Hype, hype and more hype. I've no doubt it will be a very good device, if you like your Apple walled garden - which in fairness is to make the average consumer experience better.

But I just cannot ever see myself getting one, also with Apple looking to patent action against an Android competitor - I would feel uneasy about supporting a company who would use their patent portfolio like this.

Also I reject the better than a netbook claim, and I was very sceptical about a netbook being any use. I now use one more than my laptop. Underpowered yes but perfect for most surfing needs.

Book Read: Bomber Command by Max Hastings

A really interesting account of both the high level decision making and the examples of life of a bomber crew. Regarded by many as the forgotten campaign of the war (there was no medal associated with this action).

The early stages of the war are of a service looking to define itself and show it's capability. Initially this was very limited with poor navigation, and engagement rules that meant planes were sitting ducks.

Throughout the whole war precision bombing was really a myth, sights and technology improved but it was a business with very high error margins. Arthur Harris always pressed for bomber capability, and blanket bombing of German cities. The costs were immense for the German cities involved and also for aircrew losses.

There was always tension between the bombing effort looking to win the war on it's own - in reality it could never have - and supporting an eventual land operation. It is probably true to say the bombing action delayed the land campaign and made it less costly when it did happen.

America also provided much effort, but concentrated on daylight operations with good fighter escort. The British campaign although independent eventually had to fall into line with the planning of D-day.

It is interesting to note the truly strategic resource bombing, such as oil supplies and refining only really occurred in the later war years. This is claimed to be the true war turning contribution.

Another interesting fact is that while Britain was truly flat out in war effort - effectively bankrupting herself and her future world standing - Germany was more sedate and measured in war production, hard to believe given the hardship for the population in Britain.

The last part of the book has a letter from Harris over the anticipated Japanese invasion - insisting that bomber force could be used to save massive casualties of a landing army. We all know what the Americans had in store in that campaign.

Bike Ride: Village Medium Route

Second ride, 8.5 miles, 13.6 km, time 45 mins.

Longer distance this time, typical of the ride I would always do. Head out west up the hill, back into the village down a steep hill, cut through to the back of town along Peak Lane. A good mix of flat and hills. The initial hill is always tough going, and heading out of the village has a short steep climb.

Bike working ok, gears may need some fine tuning but rode well.