Back to the extended run route, did 4 good running stints:
Distance: 2.90 miles 4.67 km
R0: 0.36 km - Past hotel to under trees
R1: 0.36 km - Past traffic lights to halfway before next lights
R2: 0.32 km - Bus stop to second T junction
R3: 0.23 km - Crescent to Crescent
1.27 km in total, 27% of the route
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Blind Search
With the web it's easy to get stuck in your ways, just checking a few sites for things of interest. Very rarely in this mode do I find myself searching out new sites or even going back regularly to check discoveries I have made.
Maybe it's time to start using RSS feeds, a bit of a hopeless omission that. Bookmarks I kind of use but never have the discipline to go back and check, preferring to just searching for what the site I want to visit.
Maybe it's time to start using RSS feeds, a bit of a hopeless omission that. Bookmarks I kind of use but never have the discipline to go back and check, preferring to just searching for what the site I want to visit.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Bike Ride: Abbey North Route
10 km, 6.26 miles - 31 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.
First bike ride since April, have been concentrating on the walk runs. Still I did this in better time than previously.
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.
First bike ride since April, have been concentrating on the walk runs. Still I did this in better time than previously.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Directed by David Yates
I think this is the first ever time I have gone to watch a film on the opening night and I can hardly be described as a Potter fan - as I barely know the background of the stories to make sense of the films.
I elected to watch in 2D, there might have been a handful of scenes where 3D might have bought something - but the demise of this gimmick surely cannot be far away? A shame really as technically it's clever, but as usual it is a case of because we can do something should we?
The film plot itself is pretty good, the final showdown. We're led to believe that Harry might die in his pursuit of the Hallows, but of course this is Hollywood and he does not.
The final scenes see a jump of 19 years, and Harry and co sending their children off to Hogwarts - a touch over nostalgic but you can forgive the franchise this over indulgence.
I elected to watch in 2D, there might have been a handful of scenes where 3D might have bought something - but the demise of this gimmick surely cannot be far away? A shame really as technically it's clever, but as usual it is a case of because we can do something should we?
The film plot itself is pretty good, the final showdown. We're led to believe that Harry might die in his pursuit of the Hallows, but of course this is Hollywood and he does not.
The final scenes see a jump of 19 years, and Harry and co sending their children off to Hogwarts - a touch over nostalgic but you can forgive the franchise this over indulgence.
Film: Senna Directed by Asif Kapadia
A documentary film that was getting rave reviews even by non motorsport critics.
The film uses extensive archive footage to piece together the personality of Senna and what motivated him. There is plenty of motor racing footage, but also lots of interview converage that touch on the causes he supported outside of motorsport.
Of course he was adored in Brazil, a ray of light during difficult times.
The film finishes with a 20 minute weekend coverage of Imola and his eventual death, but does dwell on this or dig into the technical details of why things may have occurred.
Great documentary.
The film uses extensive archive footage to piece together the personality of Senna and what motivated him. There is plenty of motor racing footage, but also lots of interview converage that touch on the causes he supported outside of motorsport.
Of course he was adored in Brazil, a ray of light during difficult times.
The film finishes with a 20 minute weekend coverage of Imola and his eventual death, but does dwell on this or dig into the technical details of why things may have occurred.
Great documentary.
Book read: Darwin's Island by Steve Jones
Have seen this book at stores for a while, but finally decided to buy and read it.
The title is subtle, the island Jones is referring to is the British Isles and the point of the book is to expand on Darwin's other life long works beyond the Origin of Species.
He does a very good job at this historic coverage and linking it to present day science and discoveries. The chapters on bees and worms are particulary interesting. In the case of worms it the under appreciated efforts that keep our argriculture running.
An interersting read.
The title is subtle, the island Jones is referring to is the British Isles and the point of the book is to expand on Darwin's other life long works beyond the Origin of Species.
He does a very good job at this historic coverage and linking it to present day science and discoveries. The chapters on bees and worms are particulary interesting. In the case of worms it the under appreciated efforts that keep our argriculture running.
An interersting read.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Walk: Extended Run Route
I've kept doing the extended run route, and managing to run 3-4 stints of around 250m-300m length.
Did two back to back this weekend, extended run route and a shorter walk/run to pick up the paper on Sunday.
Did two back to back this weekend, extended run route and a shorter walk/run to pick up the paper on Sunday.
Call Centre Return
An interesting news story about call centres returning to the UK, these industries were probably amongst the first to disappear with reduced labour and office costs in India.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-14025904
So with India overheating, labour supply becoming more competitive it is difficult to retain staff that you have trained. The opposite is true in the UK, more loyalty from harhser economic conditions.
These are not high wage industries, £14000 a year is quoted - which is not a lot to live on. But a job is better than no job and it is an interesting rebalancing of the labour distribution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-14025904
So with India overheating, labour supply becoming more competitive it is difficult to retain staff that you have trained. The opposite is true in the UK, more loyalty from harhser economic conditions.
These are not high wage industries, £14000 a year is quoted - which is not a lot to live on. But a job is better than no job and it is an interesting rebalancing of the labour distribution.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Phone Hacking
This story seems to have not run out of steam yet, and with the allegations going to get worse (can they possibly get more worse than hacking phones of crime victims?) I think it has a place in the headlines for another couple of weeks.
So all at the expense of other news, heard of Libya, Afghanistan or anything else recently?
If one thing comes out of the inquiries it will be the untying of politicians from the reins of a media tycoon who appears to have far too much sway over decisions and policy. Shameful that it has taken so long to expose, people were much too comfortable for too long knowing this was going on.
As to where the story goes, if it goes too far into the government then it could put the country into crisis.
So all at the expense of other news, heard of Libya, Afghanistan or anything else recently?
If one thing comes out of the inquiries it will be the untying of politicians from the reins of a media tycoon who appears to have far too much sway over decisions and policy. Shameful that it has taken so long to expose, people were much too comfortable for too long knowing this was going on.
As to where the story goes, if it goes too far into the government then it could put the country into crisis.
Atlantis Final Launch
Link to the final launch of Atlantis on the BBC news site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14085502
I can remember being at primary school and the class being taken to the "TV room" to watch the first launch of the shuttle. I remember it being delayed a couple of times and it was history in the making (at the time it was NASA getting back into manned space flight):
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8147866533180818812
Although much critiscised for not delivering the cheap reusable service, I think sometimes we forget that getting into space is still non-trivial. It will be interesting to see how the private companies do at delivering the same idea.
A high point for the shuttle must be the repair of the Hubble space telescope, and audacious repair from which it took some stunning pictures of the galaxies.
There is now a gap of a few years before any potential next generation launcher, so we are back where we were in the late 1970s. It remains to be seen whether nations such as China or India overtake the stranglehold that the US and Russia had on space flight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14085502
I can remember being at primary school and the class being taken to the "TV room" to watch the first launch of the shuttle. I remember it being delayed a couple of times and it was history in the making (at the time it was NASA getting back into manned space flight):
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8147866533180818812
Although much critiscised for not delivering the cheap reusable service, I think sometimes we forget that getting into space is still non-trivial. It will be interesting to see how the private companies do at delivering the same idea.
A high point for the shuttle must be the repair of the Hubble space telescope, and audacious repair from which it took some stunning pictures of the galaxies.
There is now a gap of a few years before any potential next generation launcher, so we are back where we were in the late 1970s. It remains to be seen whether nations such as China or India overtake the stranglehold that the US and Russia had on space flight.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Over The Top
A term you hear more, delivery of services via streaming over the internet rather than traditional broadcasting.
So BBC iPlayer for example, and other on demand services like Netflix. All effectively a download model for content.
All well and good, but hang on where is all that bandwidth going to come from? If these services have massive uptake then surely there will be a problem? Even a quick search now reveals North America at 20-30% Netflix traffic at peak times.
And this area is still in its infancy - I for one do not want to see the internet clogged up with people who do on-demand instead of being able to plan what they want to watch entertainment wise.
With planning you shift out all the peak time traffic to quieter times. All you have to do is choose the things you want to see, and have them downloaded and then available locally when you want to see them. At that point you are guaranteed the content, and don't have to rely on an flaky bufferring over the top service in "on demand" mode.
Still I think we'll have to see a bandwidth crunch before anything sensible like that happens.
So BBC iPlayer for example, and other on demand services like Netflix. All effectively a download model for content.
All well and good, but hang on where is all that bandwidth going to come from? If these services have massive uptake then surely there will be a problem? Even a quick search now reveals North America at 20-30% Netflix traffic at peak times.
And this area is still in its infancy - I for one do not want to see the internet clogged up with people who do on-demand instead of being able to plan what they want to watch entertainment wise.
With planning you shift out all the peak time traffic to quieter times. All you have to do is choose the things you want to see, and have them downloaded and then available locally when you want to see them. At that point you are guaranteed the content, and don't have to rely on an flaky bufferring over the top service in "on demand" mode.
Still I think we'll have to see a bandwidth crunch before anything sensible like that happens.
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