Posted 25.5.04 by Cathy

Go Martina! I so admire what this woman has achieved. Actually she's been regularly playing (and winning) doubles at Eastbourne and Wimbledon. It's re-entering the singles this year that gets the media attention.

Mostly people comment favourably on my active lifestyle. On rare occasions some silly idiot says wteo ‘aren’t you a bit old to be doing that’ (rollerblading, driving fast cars fast, steep ‘n’ deep off piste skiing, slalom water skiing, distance swimming, dance music, etal). How anyone could say that about someone only in their 40s is beyond me, but I’ll now say me and Martina, mate.

Posted 24.5.04 by Adrian

This isn't what it looks like. It's my first picture post to blogger and it supposed to be a space elevator. Think of a bridge where one end is earth and the other a large chunk of rock. 

Posted 24.5.04 by Adrian
This takes some beating as a headline.Professor Lovelock has been a green supporter for energy longer than I have been alive. To read an article that quotes him calling for nuclear power is a bit like hearing George Bush wish the sixties were back so he could grow his hair and smoke pot.

Posted 23.5.04 by Adrian
Gates can stay out of it as far as I'm concerned.

Posted 22.5.04 by Adrian
It all seemed so easy. A divorced friend our ours wanted to join JDate but is not computer literate. She who Must Be Listened To offered to help which means me as well. All I can say I missed the drop in security settings and before I knew it we had spyware popping up very odd adverts. So it's good old AdAware scan time again.

Posted 22.5.04 by Cathy
Yes please!!! Do they mean me???

Posted 22.5.04 by Cathy
I did a double-take when I first saw this shopfront in Kilburn. At first I wondered if London is seeing the return of 1970s-80s-style single-issue militant politics.

Posted 21.5.04 by Cathy

I have just unsuccessfully advised a not-for-profit client to develop a helpful, easy-to-use information-based website (that’s information or use to the client’s customers/users) instead of implementing a very costly CRM system. This letter (scroll down to White elephants) in yesterday’s Guardian IT about the fiasco that is the UK e-government project lifted my spirits but at the same time left me more downhearted.

“…billions have been invested in websites and customer relationship management systems, and they still fall short of making public services more accessible, efficient and customer focused…”

“…The public sector appears to be repeating the mistakes made by the private sector during the CRM hype days…”

“…Many websites and CRM systems are ill-designed to answer specific and individual questions, with traditional systems requiring users to understand how information is categorised…”

“…Unless accessibility is improved, significant amounts of taxpayers money will have been wasted as many of these systems will become "white elephants"…”

Posted 21.5.04 by Adrian
The USA has always preferred to play the man rather than the movement. As usual it brings pain to all concerned rather than results. Ahmad Chalabi likes money and never had a political base in Iraq so why back him? The intelligence he provided was plain wrong.
Syngman Rhee was a autocratic leader in his time and South Korea gradually came around. I would also have thought that the lessons learnt after what happened to Chinese and North Korean Pows would have been remembered.

Posted 20.5.04 by Adrian
Rabbi Dov Lior reminds us that in his view:

The IDF is allowed to use all means at its disposal to defeat terrorism “even if it means ‘innocent’ people are killed”, the sources said.

As far as I'm concerned, he's forgotten all he read in his long life. Now I know why getting out of the West Bank and Gaza is so important. It's to stop people like him polluting Israel.

Posted 20.5.04 by Adrian
I found myself agreeing with the leader of the British Conservative party. This can't be right can it? An sensible article that all can agree with?

I have, for example, been arguing for some time that we should have a high-powered UK representative in Baghdad as Paul Bremer's deputy, making sure our voice is clearly heard and heeded. We are the second biggest contributor to coalition forces. We are surely entitled to a say.

More tea required over this.

Posted 20.5.04 by Adrian
I shouldn't be but I am. The USA getting is wrong is more newsworthy than Israel getting it wrong.

Posted 19.5.04 by Adrian
Of course not. It makes so much sense not to allow Israelis to call themselves Israelis. I also note I am not allowed to register as Anglo Saxon Zoroastrianism either. Miffed am I.

Offering citizens the option to register as Israelis in the "nationality" clause in their identity cards "does not reflect, is not suitable and undermines the very principles under which the State of Israel was created," according to the State Prosecutor's Office.

So why call it Israel then? Why did Ben Gurion long for a 'state like any other' if we can't be Israelis?

Posted 19.5.04 by Adrian
Well done Bnei Sakhnin ,the first Israeli Arab team to win the State Cup. Fireworks aplenty here in the North. Beating Hapoel Haifa 4-1 in the National Stadium is something special.