Representative Expression

Just a quick post because I'm away from home right now, but I couldn't NOT say something about today's opening ceremony for the Olympics. So while I'm laying here waiting for my meds to kick in so I can slip into my drug induced 'haze' which I call sleep, I decided to give my congratulations to China on an amazing opening 2008 Olympic Ceremony.

Just how the heck the UK is going to compete with something like that I don't know. We'll be "knackered" for starters if we try and base it on our 'past' history.  We're probably responsible for 99.99% of all world cock-ups (colonisation, religious wars, slavery, corruption, etc etc)...  It should be fun seeing how we match up to what the Chinese did today.

It was fascinating to watch and even had all 3 of my kids glued to the TV for the whole even (which did surprise me).

Apparently China has "human rights" issues, and China has "a bucket load of other issues" according to a bunch of so called "perfect people" in some "perfect country".  Well hello...  Who are we to preach to anyone with our track record? (And that stands for both the US and the UK).  Who are we to impose our beliefs, our social and moral judgements on a country that basically 99.99% of us know absolutely nothing about. We (both the US and the UK) are not perfect, we don't live in a perfect world and hello, at least some people are at least open to change.

I hope that these games allow us to see China in a different light, a much better light than the media/governments would have us see.  The Chinese people are themselves are amazing and I wish them the best of luck with the Olympic games and hope it brings them the success that they deserve.  (To be honest, I have absolutely no knowledge what-so-ever of the Chinese Government on a personal level, only from some business dealings, so I base all my assumptions on the various Chinese people I have worked with or have come to know socially over the past few years).

$20 Billion is a lot of money I guess, and even I wonder if that money would have been better spent elsewhere, but then it is about more than just the money.  It's about the hope and belief that it brings to a country (and to all those taking part). It's about bringing the whole country together, which after the earthquake disaster has got to be a good thing. (Which won't be of any comfort to the families of the 20,000 people still missing). But who knows, it might give them something to focus on, to help them move on.  It might also educate the ROTW that the Chinese are not so different to the rest of us and it might actually bring us all that little bit closer.

"One World, One Dream"

We can only hope so.

Image via Wikipedia

It must have been the third week of the summer school holidays in most places around the UK.  My wife was still working and wasn’t due her vacation for a few more days, so I had to keep the kids entertained until we could all do something together.
As is always the case this time of the year, the subject of "what to do and where to go" was all over the national and local news.

But I am confused?

Two adults, two children, 9-10 hours of watching top class motor racing at one of Europe's best racing courses (and I really do mean one of the top circuits in Europe!). Total cost? £24 (£20 if you had booked your tickets online). 

But the most confusing part, was that the place was virtually empty, and I mean really empty.  There were more family members of the drivers than actual visitors. I would even go as far as saying there were probably more circuit marshals than their were spectators.

Admittedly, the weather forecast for the day wasn't too good, but it wasn't that bad either. Yet again, perhaps people know just how crap the weather forecasts are in the UK because actually, the weather was horrendous. It was cold, windy and the rain came down like stair rods which played havoc with my back, but made for better racing rather than having just the one or two cars speeding off into the distance (as happens in F1).
We got to see drivers driving which sounds quite daft until you think about it.
There was also the small matter of the Olympics starting today, but I can't believe for one minute that people would have preferred to have watch that on television in preference to a day out.

So where was this all happening?

Image via Wikipedia

A few months back PIPEX changed my fixed IP address without warning. Ok, so I lost a few days in fault finding a few network issues when a few things stopped working because of the IP change. The fact that PIPEX changed my IP wasn't so much an issue, it was the fact that they never told me about beforehand. For operational reasons, I understand that sometimes an IP has to change, it just can't be helped. So I really wouldn't have minded. But to be not told beforehand is just bad business practice and causes a lot of unnecessary work. But PIPEX's ineptitude doesn't end there.

So Pompey have drawn Vitoria SC from Portugal in the UEFA Cup.
I could do with an away trip to sunny Portugal, just not so sure I could get away with it right now.
Oh well, I’m just glad that Pompey are in Europe for the first time in my life time that I can remember.
I shall just have to find out which non-terrestrial station will be broadcasting it and bemoan the fact that I don’t have a subscription for it.

The rest of the draw looks pretty good for British clubs too:

Portsmouth v Vitoria SC (Portugal)
Manchester City v AC Omonia (Cyprus)
Nancy (France) v Motherwell
Everton v Standard Liege (Belgium)
Litex Lovech (Bulgaria) v Aston Villa
Tottenham v Wisla Krakow (Poland)

Jogue acima o pompey, pompey jogam acima as they say in Portugal.