Col’s Weblog

Chain emails normally get about 3 seconds of my time, if that, before they get sent straight to the rubbish bin, but this one (thanks mum) actually piqued my interest as it involves the strange way the mind works. This little excerpt of text just goes to show what a great tool the human brain really is and proves it in such a simple “before your very eyes” manner.

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Someone once told me that South Africa was the most violent and unsafe place in the world to live. Well, a recent report in the Daily Mail would indicate it’s not nearly as bad is good ol’ Blighty.

Now this is the Daily Mail, known for a fair amount of sensationalism and fact selection, so we should take this article with a pinch of salt, but it’s quite disturbing to read this excerpt from the article…

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Today’s a big day. No, not Independence Day (we live on this side of the pond), it’s Claire and my first wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary my love. One down… hundreds to go.

Look what I encountered when I came home this evening…

Inconsiderate arse!!!! :-/

What an exciting game yesterday’s British Lions vs The Springboks test was. It was a really exciting and nail biting game which, given the way the game started and the overall statistics, South Africa really shouldn’t have won.

However a spectacular 2nd half of the 2nd half (or last quarter for the pedantic) by the Boks changed the outcome of the game and we saw Ronan O’Gara gift the Boks with the game and series win with this beauty in the last minute of the game, which Morne Steyn slotted between the posts from 53m.

If we look at the possession, territory, penalties conceded and over all play for the match, the Boks should never have won, but if we look at it like the British press do, and count up all the missed kicks, the Boks should have thumped the Lions.

Whichever way you look at it, it was a great game, but a shame the series has now been decided. It would have been a brilliant encounter next week had it been a decider. I suspect next week’s game will now have a completely different feel too: the Boks don’t have to win, so may be more experimental and the Lions are facing a white-wash, so they’re not going to reciprocate. We’ll have to wait and see.

It’s all over the everywhere, but I just felt it was worth mentioning here, too. Sadly, Michael Jackson died yesterday, 25 June 2009 at the age of 50. He was a supremely talented musician who has no doubt had a huge impact on a lot of other musicians over the years. I’m sure we’ll all be hearing the tributes over the next few days but he’ll live on in people’s memories for a lot longer.

Watch the music charts this and next week; I think we may have a Michael Jackson number 1. Possibly Man in the Mirror or Thriller - the two tracks that are already in iTunes’ top 100. If Amazon’s sales charts are anything to go by, it could be a definite: Amazon’s top 15 selling albums are currently ALL Michael Jackson related.

Whilst searching for a picture for this post, I stumbled upon this very moving video. Apparently it’s from a Pepsi advert…

Interesting links for 10 May 09 - 22 Jun 09:

• Please don’t eat your horse, EU asks owners - So long as you don't register it as yours, you're free to tuck in I love the "Moderatrix Post-It" part of this story too.
• ‘World’s smallest car’ revealed - Wow!!! What a brilliant use for an old Postman Pat kids' ride.
• The 2009 TIME 100 Influential People List - And it includes two South Africans - Barbara Hogan (cabinet minister) and William Kentridge (artist)
• Zuma unveils new-look Cabinet - SouthAfrica.info - Lots of changes here, but this quote is interesting: "We reiterate that we will not tolerate laziness and incompetence, and that we will emphasise excellence and achievement from the Cabinet and the public service,". Hmmm, how long before the first MP is fired by Mr Zuma?
• New Pattern Found in Prime Numbers - Cool. Now why didn't anyone else notice this before?

The traffic in Wokingham is a right pain-in-the-derrière when a train comes through. The barriers on the level crossing come down and the traffic stops. Now imagine living in Gibraltar where the same process happens whenever an aeroplane - yes an AEROPLANE - comes in to land or takes off.

Check it out…

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I’ve just been introduced to a rather extra-ordinary number: 142857.

Now as it stands, it doesn’t look particularly fascinating or special but it does when you start to play with it. So lets get playing.

Lets start with some multiplication…

          142857 x 1 = 142857
          142857 x 2 = 285714
          142857 x 3 = 428571
          142857 x 4 = 571428
          142857 x 5 = 714285
          142857 x 6 = 857142

Oooooooo, well look at that. Do you see it?

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