The Car of the Future?
Gordon Murray is one of the most innovative car designers of the past few decades, famous for racing and sports cars. So what do you get if he turns his mind to designing a car for everyone?
You get this!
It just goes to show what happens, when you throw convention out of the window, and think about what people really what. Whether they can be convinced they need it, is another matter! But give people good design and they usually like it!
But as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door!”
Sir Christopher Achieves His Goal
In the Great North Run yesterday, Sir Christopher Chataway achieved his goal of a time of under one hour fifty-two minutes, to beat eighty percent of the other runners in the half-marathon. Here’s the report in The Independent. Apparently, he’s giving up competing.
“It will be my last half-marathon,” he announced afterwards. “In future I shall be concentrating on the only sport in which I’m improving – bridge.”
I suspect he might recind that statement. After all, he did nothing for many years and then came back a star!
Science Fiction about Market Research
Seeing some of the comments in The CEO’s E-Mail Address, reminded me of one of my favourite books; Counterfeit World (Simulacron 3 in the US)by Daniel F. Galouye, This is a classic science fiction tale set in the world of market research and computers. It is out of print now and hasn’t been reprinted like another of his books, Dark Universe (Gollancz SF collectors’ editions)
According to Wikipedia, GAlouye is one of Rjchard Dawkins’ favourite writers.
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They Weren’t Pansies in the 1950s and 1960s
Bobby Smith was one of those real hard bustling centre-forwards of the 1950s and 1960s. I saw him play many times for Spurs at the time, and when he was on song he was very good, striking fear into opponents. But he was skillful too and in addition to scoring a lot of goals, he made many for those players around him. Sadly he has died at the age of 77.
This extract from the obituary in The Times today, sums up Smith’s style and attitude.
His bustling style came in for particular treatment from foreign players in European matches such as Spurs’ 5-1 win in the 1963 Uefa Cup Final against Athletico Madrid.
Smith recalled: “Bill Nick told me that their centre half would come up and hit me hard the first time. And he did. The second time he tried it, I elbowed him in the gut. The ref came up to me and said ‘Well done!’ ”
The tale typified Smith’s willingness to take punishment for the team from opposing centre halfs, which made him so popular with the fans and team-mates. His battles with players such as Leeds’s Jack Charlton freed up space for players such as Jimmy Greaves and created marvellous theatre for the fans as he and his marker traded blows, at varying degrees of legality, usually mixed in with plenty of banter and all tolerated by the referee who would often volunteer a few humorous remarks of his own.
But he was not alone in taking and giving punishment. Nat Lofthouse, Stan Mortensen and others could be equally abrasive in those days, when referees were far less strict and goalkeepers were fair game for a hard shoulder charge.
Permanently Feeling Glutened
I still have the bad nails and itchy scalp and sometimes I think that I’m getting almost a daily dose of gluten. I should get the results of the blood tests in the next day or so, so I’ll hopefully know whether I have a biochemical issue.
Could it be the statins or the Warfarin tablets I take? I’ll give the manufacturers a call today too!
The ECB is not Commenting
And quite rightly so, given the latest allegations from the head of the Pakistani Cricket Board; Ijaz Butt. This is what MIke Selvey says The Guardian.
Actually, what he is suggesting, in his hamfisted, truculent way, is that if Pakistan players can get accused of malpractice whenever they underperform, then how about a taste of your own medicine when it is England, not Pakistan, who lose five wickets for 17 runs and with it the game. It is a pathetic yah-boo response, of course, and childish when there have been serious issues raised these past few weeks, but that is all it is. However spiteful it might seem, we should really take no notice of Mr Butt.
Nor should we just accept the latest fixing story at face value, for there are chancers out there, and not just those who would try to bend matches and incidents. There might be a fast buck to be made by someone who could pass off a tale: it has been tried before. This particular story, one in which it is said the outcome, or rather elements of the Pakistan innings on Friday, were known in advance, ought to be treated with a little more suspicion than appears to have been the case with those who simply interpret what they read as gospel without thinking it through.
I hope that we don’t invite the Pakistani cricketers again for several years, as they and their officials are really devaluing this so-called series of matches.
I might watch some of the match today and I hope that England win by a country mile.
The Anonymous Widower 