Football on Sundays. Heaven forbid. Or should that be Sunday trading laws?

The question or issue I'm talking about here is 'Football-free Sundays'.

Over the recent row over Easter Sunday football, the Archbishop Vincent Nichols weighed in opposition to live football on Easter Sunday.

Now, the ever famous Desmond Tutu lookalike (John Semantu, Archbishp of York) has weighed in, too.

Using Sunday trading laws or not to prevent games on a Easter Sunday, for a footballing neutral, I would have to say more has to be done to stop games being played on a Sunday as it is.

Historically, games are played on a Saturday at 3PM. With the advent of Sky and tv football, games are moved from 3PM to earlier on a Saturday or on a Sunday/Monday (or any day, take your pick) so that the ones played at other grounds, for the smaller clubs, don't lose out. That is the idea - on the one hand small clubs don't lose out, but also more people watch the tv games too.

If the first argument for tv football is the case, and should we accept Sunday trading laws; should it not be at all possible to prevent games being played on a Sunday at all? Sky have a choice of channels to choose from and are no strangers to interactive "match-choice" via the red button when it comes to the UEFA Champions League. This could be easily acheived by 7-8PM kickoffs on a Saturday and 11AM kickoffs on a Saturday respectively, so no matter what the case is TV football and the traditionalists will win in the end.

Super Sundays (as Sky love to call them) will become Super Saturdays. What is there to lose?
 1) Tradition will be somewhat restored - for football and religion
 2) Clubs can rest in the knowledge that fixture schedules are in sync with the rest of their league so they cannot gain an unfair advantage or be at a disadvantage.
 3) More fans will be able to travel to the games with public transport BETTER on Saturdays than Sundays.

I can't see where the great advantage is for Sundays - other than filling in blanks in the tv listings. Sky could easily throw on repeats of 'Hold the Back Page', WWE, 'Boots 'n' All', etc. Nobody will miss out.

The argument to agree with what Semantu and Nichols are saying, is not a religious argument as the media paint out. It's more one of tradition, heritage to the British nation.

Like the campaign to 'Save the Coachmakers', I'd feel only one party in the political system would be in favour - the BNP.

Heaven forbid!

Sociology and Religion: Belief in the Supernatural

A Theos survey found:
27% believe in reincarnation
39% believe in ghosts
55% believe in Heaven
53% believe in life after death
70% believe in human soul.

Comparing with 1950s:
22% believe in astrology or horoscopes & 15% believe in fortune telling
1950s: 10% believe in ghosts (2% seen one), 7% in fortune telling, 6% in satrology.

Comparing with 1998:
18% believe in fortune telling
38% believe in astrology
40% believe in ghosts, 15% seen one.

"The results indicate that people have a very diverse and unorthodox set of beliefs. Our research may point to a slight increase in scepticism about aspects of the supernatural over the last 10 years." (Wooley)

Source: BBC

So what does this tell us?

True that results indicate a diverse and 'unorthodox set of beliefs', and I would like to refer back to my last blog in a mention of a 'Civil Religion' - and that for some, even a sports game can be followed somewhat religiously. So perhaps given this, the results are not all that suprising.

But, what is really meant by a belief in... heaven, or life after death, or reincarnation, or astrology, or fortune telling? We can't by any stretch of the imagination draw anything conclusive other than the very obvious: There is a degree of an increase in such diversity of beliefs. Yet also, we cannot ignore there are degrees within these beliefs. For example, just what IS heaven? Also, what kind of life after death are we talking about? Something along the lines of John Hick's philosophy of a physical existence in the next world, or Christian resurrection, or that we move on to a higher mental plane after our physical death?

I would also like to make the suggestion that some beliefs could well be interlinked: consider the soul, life after death, and ghosts. One person may believe that when we die, our soul continues after death and is reconstituted in the form of a ghost. Another may feel the soul dies with the body, or that it carries on after death and there are no such thing as ghosts.

So there are many different (and interesting things) we can draw from the sociological survey, and importantly that while people may seem to be less religious (consider church attendences), that does not mean that people are any less spiritual and searching for this fulfillment in other ways.

Religion, Faith, Spirituality, Belief... all this smacks of a DIY ethic on the one hand, and a more critical, open-minded and considerate ethic on the other.

Happy Good Friday?

Found this on my Feedly newsreader via Firefox which I found rather strange:



Happy Good Friday. It seems a bit strange, but I asked my dad, Fr Peter and he says its not a day of celebration as such but rather one of remembering. Quite right, too.

This Easter has seen a religious holiday getting all political over the football being shown on Easter Sunday - only ever happened 8 times, ever, in the past. For a country that is historically Christian, I do think that there is a point.

We should remember the Passion of Christ and Easter for specifically those reasons but also I think, for an atheist, who might not have any holidays, a compromise should be found: a religion of one is no less relevant than a religion shared by 6, 6 million or 6 billion.

Robert Bellah puts forward his argument of a 'Civil Religion in America' ; which we if accept this premise, can translate for many football fanatics that football is religion too, and the stadium is the church and the game is the service.

Should there be any clash of religions, (as ridiculous as football being a religion may seem to Catholics, Christians and vice-versa), what I propose is the art of compromise:

Whereby there is a clash, there are those that are religious, and watch their football too, and so both should be allowed in the spirit of things - but the football should be screened at a time that does not disrupt the Easter festivities. Where Setanta are showing the game at 1PM (kickoff at 2PM) - this does not allow most Evertonians travelling from Merseyside to get to the game on time where Christian services are likely to take place around 10:30AM. So I would argue the game should be kicked off at 4PM instead, to allow for Easter to go somewhat less disrupted, ample time to arrive for the game.

All this bleating might seem a bit crazy for some - it's impossible to please everybody. Still, this reminds me of an email my dad sent me on religious days for the atheist:

In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews and observances of their holy days.

The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring,"Case dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists."

The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned."

You got to love a Judge that knows his scripture!

Day/Night in Leeds

Leeds, if I could describe it, is Manchester but cleaner. A bigger city too, on first impressions and a nice night last night with friends - Charlie Chan Chinese food, Grolsch Beers and a bit of 360 gameage. Good times. And isn't this just a pretty sight?





Had a bit of a walk round Leeds centre in the morning thanks to Google walking directions & map. It is excellent!

-- Post From My iPhone

Monsters v. Aliens

Watched Monsters v. Aliens tonight, and what a good film it was (as always with a Dreamworks epic).

Well worth the entrance fee, but in typical film fashion, the sadness in the film is vindicated by a happy one.

One for the family, indeed. :)

Come to think of it, haven't I see the gooey dude in Monsters Inc.?

****/5, for a rating, though I am no critic!

News, Twitter v. Facebook and a new kid on the block - AudioBoo

As previously mentioned in my Analytics for this month, there are exciting new developments for LucasWeatherby.com and the Social Networking community.

First, I would like to mention and recall the blog on Facebook v. Twitter I posted just a couple of weeks ago. I did intend on keeping a 'trial period' going with the idea of keeping status updates separate on both for some time, but with the advent of AudioBoo, I have decided to forego the experiment.

AudioBoo is new on the scene, the new kid on the block. Like Twitter, it is a micro-blog, but with a difference. Like podcasts, AudioBoo allows you to record your voice - up to 3 minutes to say what you want. Short, snappy, and you get to share your thoughts, jokes, news with the world. It's already seen it's importance in the latest G20 developments, just like it's Twitter cousin.

The power of aggregation, I think, is a very powerful tool that I think trumps any traditionalist, purist argument of different uses for Twitter/Facebook statuses. Now, with AudioBoo, you might want to share things that just come across better in voice. I've also come to the conclusion that 'yes', while it can be annoying on Facebook to see someone post lots of statuses, when you play a game, do a quiz, comment on a friend's page - just quite anything comes up in your "News Feed" like it would on your Twitter wall. That being said, I can't see why things I might choose to speak of in the AudioBoo scene or share in the Twitter community, Facebook people might not want to see that as well. It is the choice of the supposed friends, afterall. And yes, I have friends blocked from seeing my statuses who I might not want to see my 'status updates', which I see as a more networking use; whether this be recalling song lyrics or general wonderments or amazings on my status without going into 'touchy-feely' emotion types. There is a place for that, I feel.

Your closest friends are the ones on your phone, who you can SMS, email, and call, or send private messages via Facebook - so why broadcast something that's intimately personal as some do? That is my justification for bringing the aggregation back.

You can find my AudioBoo here, but you will soon, I hope find links on LucasWeatherby.com to playback my 'Boo's' on the webpage.

Finally some exciting news. I have considered with fellow bloggers the use of a 'branded' blog name, to give it a bit of zest, but personality as well. So from this day forth, the blog will be known as Lucas 3:16, an idea and a biblical reference of course, given my roots - but also reminds me when I used to watch WWE (WWF), and `Stone Cold' Steve Austin and his famous 'Austin 3:16' catchphrase.

To complement this, I have changed my authorship name again from 'Lord John Marbury' to 'Lucas 3:16', to encourage readership to my blog rather than something so random.

This is all a bit boring, of course, but I find a sense of fun in these things.

The future's bright.

The future's AudioBoo.

Analytics for March 2009

December 2008
January 2009
February 2009

Just first, a quick notice on this belated Analytic post, usually customary for my blog - Been somewhat busy over the past week or so and you can refer to a more recent post for exciting news for the blog, things I'm considering, and website/general social networking news. But onto the Analytics!

March 2009

5 quick points I found interesting:

1) A 25% increase on amount of visitors, 11% for overall visits. (This is a rounded figure).
2) Going Global - now getting more hits from the Americas and Europe.
3) Many hits still coming through Facebook, despite the change in status aggregation - providing for 20% of my hits, but Google search engine a close second.
4) Labels proving a popular hit, but my topical post on abortion generated 47 pageviews, and a few comments. Read here if you haven't!
5) Manchester is still the highesat hit in the city stakes, probably due to my University connections I figure, but possibly also because ISPs locally can be 'seen' by Google as Manchester rather than Stoke-on-Trent. Manchester is 1st, followed by a growing London in second place and Stoke in 3rd.

Goals:

Growth is always good, and see the more recent post for an exciting new development in social networking and LucasWeatherby.com!

Stoke-on-Trent is now Snog-on-Sofa

Just left Stoke-on-Trent station for London Euston, and look what I found at the station. There appeared to be some filming going on, too.








Weird, but it made me laugh!

-- Post From My iPhone

Save the Coachmakers

Unfortunately I wasn't aware until it was on to be there, but I pledge my full support to the Save the Coachmakers campaign, getting local news coverage! See video below, my father set up the petition.





Please sign the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/coachmakers/

See the Coachmakers website at http://www.thecoachmakers.co.uk/

Think heritage. Think real ale. Think a friendly, community, thriving pub. Think, it actually is a pub in the truest sense of the word.

It should never go!

The funniest thing you will see all year....

It's just so so wrong, but hilarious too....

Britain is not 'broken', the media is.

Thanks to a reader, I have been alerted to the news that Alfie Patton is not the father, as was once suggested - see my blog here

It seems that there is barely any news anywhere on the subject, perhaps because its not so sexy now that the 'youngest father' in Britain is not really the father. It took a feedly search to find any news on the subject, and all I got was a blog. (and, by the way, my feedly RSS gets all the major UK news sources, shocking, really.)

So is this a surprise?

Not really. Perhaps the media don't like to admit they are wrong - the Sun will do anything to sell their newspapers, but not to damage their own credibility at publishing false stories. The Hillsborough disaster is a case in point - the author has never retracted his story.

Britain is not broken - the media is.

Dashboard Confessional - Even Now (Video, Lyrics, Download)

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Dashboard Confessional - Even Now
download for free here!

Even now I can smell the clothes
Freshly from the wash
Still hot from the dryer

Even now I can smell your skin
To wrap you in a towel
Lay you on the bed
And try to love you

Even now I can feel your arms
I can feel your breast
I can hear your songs
And I always can find you again

Even now I can feel your hand
Gently over mine
With almost no weight at all

Even now I can feel your eyes
Watch me as I strum
Much too late at night

Even now I can see you smile
I can hear you hum
I can hear you sing
And I always can find you again

Even in the dark of night
Even in the lowest light
Even as the world outside
Is spinning, and spinning

Even now I can feel your hair
Blow across my cheek
As we sit in one of two chairs

Even now I can feel your face
Resting on my chest
Wrestling for sleep
And failing at it

Even now I can see you sleep
I can see the dream
I can see you fly
And I always can find you again
And I always can find you again
And I always can find you again

---

Note: A song, from my favourite band/artist, Dashboard Confessional (Christopher Ender Carrabba) - see here - for a live video of the performance I saw last year. It was special, in so many ways. I won't forget. ♥

Sexual Ethics: Abortion and Condom Advertisments before the Watershed?

As I type, my mother is drawing up a petition against the news that the advertising agency are planning to air TV advertisements giving pregnancy advice before the 2100 watershed.

You can read the planned news here
You can read news on anti-abortion agency being against this proposal here.
And a heartwarming mother’s perspective on the blogosophere on the nature of abortion, here.

There are various positions we can argue from; for and against. The debate rages and comes to light in this blog in light of my own Catholic beliefs and my philosophical background. They are, it seems to be at odds and it is a very emotional issue. So, what’s the fuss about?

---

Against

The sanctity of life is a moral imperative for Catholics. It would be quiet controversial to suppose that murder is acceptable. Abortion and the morning-after pill equals murder. Condoms and the pill for contraceptive use prevents the possibility of life, the natural order of things. Abstinence is the answer - STIs are avoided and babies can be raised in a traditional, nuclear family.

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For

The reality is different: STIs are on the increase, media sensationalization of sex and the acceptance of sexual promiscuity is clearly the problem and we must respect the rights of the mother and the social circumstances that lead to use of contraception and abortion methods. A last resort, is needed to prevent the breakdown of society and we must provide for the circumstances in abortion and condom use is sensible and necessary.

---

Conclusion

Speaking with my philosopher’s hat on, it is not disputed that abortion is abhorrent, the destruction of life. I would have to agree with BBC Mark Easton’s blog:

“What stops teen pregnancies: condoms or family meals? I suspect that the problem is more down to lifestyle than to lack of information.” [Read blog here]

This hits the nail on the head and fits into both arguments - the conservative, religious view and the liberal, pro-choice view. So what’s the answer?

The reality must be accepted - that we exist in a society where sex is apparent, and yet it seems that discussion of sex and sexual ethics is a ‘taboo subject’. It is not the place of government is legislate what is right and wrong on this personal issue, but some guidance and acceptance in the difference of opinions should allow people to make a rational choice. Perhaps this is too philosophical to contemplate, maybe no society can become one-dimensional in its moral directives. Yet if the education is there, condoms and abortions can be used for the more rational and acceptable means: Preventing spread of STIs, Family planning, abortion to protect the life and welfare of the mother and child. To resolve this dilemma of ‘what is right’ here is an age-old question that I cannot answer. Something to consider…

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PS: You can read my personal opinion in the comments section here.

Toilet Scandal

Thought this was funny:

"A US firm is offering $5,000 (£3,450) for clues leading to the arrest of an arsonist who has been setting portable toilets on fire across San Francisco."

Read Full Article HERE

Reminds me of the investigation in my school years of the mysterious 'poo' toilet vandal. Some kid was apparently putting their poo and hanging on the toilet pegs as presents for people coming in to do their business.

Never did quite find out who that was...

Stoke to Stay Up!

Stoke City won a must-win game against Middlesboro today, winning 1-0 and taking them 3 points clear. Here's a list of their remaining fixtures: (in brackets I have put their league position as of writing. Newcastle play Arsenal tonight:

Saturday, 04 April 2009

Barclays Premier League

West Brom (20th) v Stoke, 15:00

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Saturday, 11 April 2009

Barclays Premier League

Stoke v Newcastle (18th), 15:00

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Saturday, 18 April 2009

Barclays Premier League

Stoke v Blackburn (17th), 15:00

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Saturday, 25 April 2009

Barclays Premier League

Fulham (8th) v Stoke, 15:00

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Saturday, 02 May 2009

Barclays Premier League

Stoke v West Ham (7th), 15:00

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Saturday, 09 May 2009

Barclays Premier League

Hull (13th) v Stoke, 15:00

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Saturday, 16 May 2009

Barclays Premier League

Stoke v Wigan (9th), 15:00

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Sunday, 24 May 2009

Barclays Premier League

Arsenal (4th) v Stoke, 16:00

Barclays Premier League : Table 21 Mar 17:01

			| Home					| Away
	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Man Utd	29	12	1	1	31	9	8	4	3	18	9	31	65
2	Chelsea	29	8	5	2	24	8	10	2	2	25	8	33	61
3	Liverpool	29	8	6	0	22	8	9	4	2	27	13	28	61
4	Arsenal	29	8	5	2	22	11	6	5	3	23	15	19	52
5	Aston Villa	29	5	7	3	21	17	10	0	4	22	14	12	52
6	Everton	30	6	5	4	23	17	7	4	4	17	14	9	48
7	West Ham	30	7	2	6	19	17	4	6	5	16	18	0	41
8	Fulham	30	9	3	3	24	12	1	7	7	6	14	4	40
9	Wigan	29	6	4	4	13	12	4	4	7	16	16	1	38
10	Man City	29	9	0	5	30	12	1	5	9	15	25	8	35
11	Tottenham	29	5	5	4	15	9	4	3	8	20	25	1	35
12	Bolton	30	6	2	7	15	18	4	2	9	17	26	-12	34
13	Hull	29	3	4	8	16	30	5	5	4	19	21	-16	33
14	Sunderland	29	5	3	7	17	18	3	5	6	12	20	-9	32
15	Portsmouth	29	6	2	7	20	23	2	6	6	12	23	-14	32
16	Stoke	30	8	4	3	18	13	0	4	11	11	34	-18	32
17	Blackburn	30	3	6	6	16	22	4	4	7	17	27	-16	31
18	Newcastle	29	4	6	4	20	22	2	5	8	15	24	-11	29
19	Middlesbrough	30	4	7	4	13	16	2	2	11	8	26	-21	27
20	West Brom	30	5	3	7	20	28	1	3	11	6	27	-29	24

Of the remaining 8 or 9 games left in the season, it appears that any team below 35 points could get suckered in and be facing relegation.

Stoke are soon to face West Brom, Newcastle and then Blackburn - win all 3 and they should stay up. You wouldn't bet against it. West Brom drew today 1-1 with Bolton and you could just see on the looks of the players at the final whistle that they have consigned themselves to relegation.

Middlesbrough, having lost at Stoke are on a downward spiral as of late and their remaining games include Villa, Manchester United and Arsenal - so they look certain for relegation now too.

All leaves that magical 3rd spot. Who is it going to be? Too close to call perhaps but I'm going to put my neck on the line and nominate 3 teams - Newcastle, Hull and Blackburn to be fighting on the last day. And the one to go down? Hull.

At the other end, United lost a shocking 2-0 to Fulham (away) today with Rooney and Scholes both sent off - now along with Nemandja Vidic facing suspension. They more than have the squad to cope you would feel but they seem to be cracking under pressure. A big big game next against Villa which could turn the title on it's head.

Villa could, as I predicted have a real say in the title race this season

Twitter, Facebook, Status Updates & Blog Traffic

There hasn’t been a lot of blog activity this past month - and much has contributed to it, mainly illness and other commitments (What other commitments? - Those close to me may ask) but the past few days, with the latest iPhone OS 3 being announced and me becoming more immersed into the actual workings and potential of Twitter (Installed TweetDeck today and found out via Twitter that actor Ron Silver has died, rest his soul) - I have come to wonder about the purposes of Twitter v. Facebook status updates, particularly since the new Facebook layout was announced (‘What is on your mind’ seems a bit more Twitterrific). What’s more, I too, have wondered given the success of my blog in recent times whether this would impact on my Blog Traffic.

I am not going to get into a debate about the delicate nature of what status updates are meant for on Twitter, or on Facebook - but be a part of either and you will soon get the idea. That is not the point of my little ‘wonder-ment’ here. Instead, I am going to take these little thoughts in my mind and as of today, my Twitter-syncs with Facebook will be suspended until ‘come what May’. (I get the feeling that isn’t the right idiom/description to use here but whatever!). Indeed, come May, I will write back, maybe, just maybe get into a little talk about what my feelings are on both (status updates-wise) and whether there is indeed a place for Twitter and Facebook statuses being together, in one place, rather than apart. It will be interesting to see in the meantime, whether this will impact on my blog traffic.

If you don’t have Twitter but ‘fear’ for my Facebook statuses probably never really, if ever, changing; you can see my ‘Tweets’, or Twitter updates at the LucasWeatherby.com homepage - www.lucasweatherby.com - or on my Twitter - www.twitter.com/lucasweatherby

This bit of contemplation is all striking me as a little bit weird now - its strange what your mind can do to you sometimes when you really, really should be doing something else - Like University essays and research. That, is something you can be rest assured I will be doing if you see little blog action at www.lucasweatherby.com, but at least, still you will be kept entertained by my Twitter updates…

iPhone 3.0 Conference, Summary and Thoughts

Features:

1. Applications : Subscriptions, sell new levels within app, new content

2.P2P Gaming/Applications (Peer to Peer) - Automatic Discovery, Bluetooth, Devices are not paired, use of the Bonjour technology, used for applications too.

3. Custom Apps will now be able to interact with 3rd party hardware. EG. FM transmitter.- Dock Connector, Bluetooth functionality.

4. Google Maps can now be used within applications (Not just the Maps app!) = Now with TURN BY TURN DIRECTIONS!

5. Push Notification - but NO background processing. :(

6. The Sims, Meebo to come to the iPhone... Also fitness apps and hardware accessories for the diabetics! Also TouchPets (a bit like the Sims...) and LiveFire, a FPS (with wifi, global play). Dr Wang of Smule unveil 'Leaf Trombone', a multiplayer music app.

7. Cut, Copy and Paste. (finally...) With Undo support, and works across apps!

8. Landscape mode in Notes, Mail and SMS...

9. SMS has forwarding and deleting texts! (yay!)

10. MMS support.

11. Contacts with photos/audio alerts per contact (pretty cool...)

12. Voice Memos.

13. Overhaul of that crap Stocks app - now with news stories and details...

14. Search/Spotlight capability in all applications.

15. Notes Sync too!



----

Details:

16. OS 3.0 will be free, backwards compatible to 1st Gen iPhone, and at a cost of $9.95 for iPod Touch....

17. Q&A - Copy and Paste took long because of security issues, Flash not yet announced (but HDTV streams now possible).
Peer to Peer is Bonjour only.
Tethering support is being built in, but not yet in as a function.
Can't move files over Bluetooth, but the Q&A guys were a bit stumped!

----

My thoughts?

Nothing on possible skinning the phone screen, background and such.
No news on editing the sounds for texts/alert sounds.
Can't manage screens on the iPhone via iTunes?
Tethering and Flash not there yet.....
Can't record video (only with a 3rd party app)
People are still going to jailbreak for reasons I've just mentioned (and probably more, but I'm not the best informed)....

Looking forward to the next iPhone model to be announced!

See the conference in all its glory - here. - No Steve Jobs though....

A great way to boosting attendences?

In Rugby Union, they have resorted to inflatable fans to make the crowd look more full. See article here.

With Port Vale attendances below the 5,000 season ticket holder sales for this season, maybe it's a way to increase support?

Coachmakers Arms - Venus

5% ABV

At 5% it actually tastes fair light, creamy too. Good Stuff. ***/5


-- Post From My iPhone

New Facebook just reads my mind!

After the media frenzy over Facebook lately over privacy and their terms and conditions, Facebook has tried to gloss it over with a trendy new look. Time reports that Facebook wants more contemplation in their status updates, and more power over who you get news from - because let's face it, you don't want to see love birds comparing themselves to Scooby and Shaggy sharing love notes over a status update and a random, jealous person getting all hot under the collar.

It also creates the intention too, that it's okay for people to cry, and moan about stuff going on. To each their own, I guess.

The great thing though, is you can use your friend groupings to only get news about people you want - I do this already to help with my privacy settings, but now I will only get news from people I actually want to bother hearing about. (30 out of 277, for me!)... so it cuts out all the clutter for me.

And the layout? Much, much better I think. I don't know what all the fuss is about!