Scott Westron

SW vs. shaneTTT (FICS Game)

2012-02-01T05:53:00.001+01:00

Getting annoyed with players who disconnect as they're losing to avoid reducing their rating. Bad sportsmanship.

[Event "FICS game"]
[Site "www.freechess.org"]
[Date "02/01/2012"]
[Round ""]
[White "scottwestron"]
[Black "shaneTTT"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "*"]
1. e4 e5 2. Ngf3 Nbc6 3. Bfe2 Bc5 4. c3 Ngf6 5. d4 Ne4 6. c5 b6 7. b6 b6 8. Bb5 Bb7 9. Nbd2 d5 10. Qda4 Qdd6 11. Nde4 e4 12. Ne5 Qe5 13. Bc6 Kf8+ 14. Qab4 Qe7+ 15. Bb7 Rd8 16. Bg5 f6 17. Bgf4 g5 18. Rad1 Rd1 19. Kd1+ Qb4 20. b4 f4 21. Rhe1 f5 22. f3 e3 23. g3 Rhg8 24. f4 Rg2 25. Re3 Rh2 26. Bc6 h5 27. Ree8 Kg7+ 28. Re7 Kf6+ 29. Ra7 h4 30. Ra6 h3 31. Rb6 Rh1 32. Ke2+ h2 33. Be4 Kg7+ 34. Bf5 Re1 35. Ke1+ h1=ê 36. Ke2+ Qh2 37. Ke3+ Qb2 38. Rbg6 Kf7+ 39. Rb6 Qa2 40. Bfe6 Kf6+ 41. Ba2 *

- SW

Location:Canterbury Pl,London,United Kingdom

SW vs. coolnicksin (FICS Game)

2012-01-31T21:58:00.001+01:00

Forfeited on time (Silence for last 7 minutes - boring!) rather than resign. Very unusual petulance for this community. Enjoyable game up until the 'silence fell'.

[Event "FICS game"]
[Site "www.freechess.org"]
[Date "01/31/2012"]
[Round ""]
[White "scottwestron"]
[Black "coolnicksin"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. e4 e5 2. Ngf3 d6 3. h3 h6 4. Nbc3 c6 5. b3 Qdf6 6. Bca3 Bfe7 7. Qde2 Qfg6 8. O-O-O Nbd7 9. Qe3 d5 10. d4 Ba3 11. Kcb1+ d4 12. Rdd4 Bac5 13. d5 Kd8+ 14. Nfe5 Qgd6 15. Nf7 Kc7+ 16. Nd6 Bd4 17. Nde8 Kd8+ 18. Qd4 Ke8 19. Qg7 Ndf6 20. Qh8 Bf5 21. c6 c6 22. g4 Be6 23. Bg2 Kef7 24. g5 Bf5 25. h6 Rac8 26. Qg7 Ke6+ 27. Re1 Kd6+ 28. b4 Rce8 29. Red1 Nd5+ 30. Ncd5 d5 31. Rdd5 Kc6+ 32. Rf5 1-0

- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

SW vs. evilmistic (FICE Game)

2012-01-31T06:16:00.001+01:00

[Event "FICS game"]
[Site "www.freechess.org"]
[Date "01/31/2012"]
[Round ""]
[White "scottwestron"]
[Black "evilmistic"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. e4 e5 2. Ngf3 d6 3. Bfe2 Ngf6 4. d3 Bcg4 5. Nbc3 c5 6. Nfg5 a6 7. h3 Be2 8. Qde2 b5 9. Nd5 Nc6 10. c4 Nd4 11. Qee3 Nd5 12. d5 Bfe7 13. Qee4 Nc2 14. Kef1+ Na1 15. Ngh7 Nc2 16. d4 c4 17. Qc2 d4 18. Bcg5 Bg5 19. Qca4 Ke7+ 20. Ng5 f6 21. Ne6 Qb6 22. Ng7 Qb2 23. Nf5 Kf7+ 24. Qd7 Kg6+ 25. Nfh4 Rh4+ 26. g3 Qb1 27. Kg2+ Qbe4 28. f3+ Qe2 29. Kgg1+ Rh7 30. Qdg4 Kf7+ 31. Qe6 Kf8+ 32. Qf6 Rf7+ 33. Qd6 Kg7+ 34. Rhh2 Qe3 35. Kgg2+ Qef3 36. Kg1+ Qf1 0-1

- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

SW vs Shredder for iPad (@ 1,200)

2012-01-31T03:53:00.001+01:00

[Event "23:25"]
[Site "Shredder for iPad"]
[Date "2012.01.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "SW"]
[Black "Shredder"]
[WhiteElo "1000"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[ECO "B06"]
[Opening "Modern Defence"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 g6 2. f3 e5 3. c3 d5 4. d4 dxe4 5. fxe4 Qf6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bb5 exd4 8. cxd4
Qe6 9. d5 Qxe4 10. Qe2 Qxe2 11. Kxe2 Bg7 12. dxc6 bxc6 13. Bxc6 Kf8 14. Rd1
Rb8 15. Bf4 Rxb2 16. Rd2 Bf5 17. Bxc7 Rxb1 18. Rd8 Ke7 19. Re8 Kf6 20. Be5 1-0

- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

SW vs MtlGre (FICS Game)

2012-01-30T21:26:00.004+01:00

[Event "FICS game"]

[Site "www.freechess.org"]

[Date "01/30/2012"]

[Round ""]

[White "scottwestron"]

[Black "MtlGre"]

[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ngf3 Nbc6 3. Bfe2 d6 4. O-O Ngf6 5. b3 d5 6. Bb2 Bfd6 7. d4 Nfe4 8. e5 Bdc5 9. Bbd4 b6 10. Bc5 Nec5 11. Nbc3 Bce6 12. Beb5 O-O 13. Bc6 Rab8 14. b4 Ne4 15. g3 Nc3 16. Qdd2 Ne4 17. Qe3 f6 18. Rad1 Qdc8 19. Nfd4 e5 20. Ne6 Qe6 21. Bcd5 Rf3 22. Be6 Kf8+ 23. Qf3 1-0

SW vs. blknights (FICS Game)

2012-01-25T05:21:00.001+01:00

Few catastrophic mistakes shows I'm tired and it's definitely time to stop playing before my rating is irreparably stuffed.

[Event "FICS game"]
[Site "www.freechess.org"]
[Date "01/25/2012"]
[Round ""]
[White "scottwestron"]
[Black "blknights"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Ngf3 d6 3. Bfe2 g6 4. d4 Qde7 5. Bb5 c6+ 6. Bba4 Ngf6 7. Bcg5 Bg7 8. c3 O-O 9. Nba3 Nbd7 10. d5 Ndb6 11. Bab3 Qc7 12. c4 Ne4 13. Be3 Bg4 14. h3 Bgf5 15. g4 Bfd7 16. Nfg5 Ng5 17. Bg5 d5 18. d5 e4 19. Rac1 Qcb8 20. Rc3 Bc3 21. c3+ a5 22. Nac4 Nc4 23. Bc4 b6 24. Be7 Rfe8 25. Bd6 Qbc8 26. Qd4 b5 27. Qf6 c4 28. Bde5 Re5 29. Qe5 Qb7 30. O-O Rae8 31. Qd4 Bdb5 32. Rb1 Qba6 33. d6 Re6 34. a4 Bd7 35. Rb8 Ree8+ 36. Rbb6 Qac8 37. h4 Qcd8 38. h5 Qh4 39. Rb7 Qhg4 40. Kf1+ Qh3 41. Ke1+ e3 42. Rd7 Qd7 43. e3 Qh3 44. d7 Ree3 45. Ked2+ Rd3 46. Kc2+ Qg2 47. Kc1+ Qf1 48. Kb2+ Qe2 49. Ka3+ Qe7 50. Ka2+ Rd4 51. d4 Qd7 52. h6 Qd4 53. Ka3 Qc5 54. Kb2+ c3 55. Kc2+ f5 56. Kc1 f4 57. Kc2 f3 58. Kc1 c2 59. Kb2 c1=¿ 60. Ka2+ Qca3 0-1

- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

SW vs Zekas (FICS Game)

2012-01-25T03:50:00.001+01:00

[Event "FICS game"]
[Site "www.freechess.org"]
[Date "01/25/2012"]
[Round "1/1"]
[White "scottwestron"]
[Black "zekas"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. e4 c6 2. Bfe2 e6 3. Ngf3 Ngf6 4. e5 Ng4 5. Nfd4 Qh4 6. Bg4 Bfc5 7. g3 Qhg5 8. f4 Qgh6 9. c3 Qhg6 10. f5 f5 11. Bgf5 Qf5 12. Nf5 1-0

- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

SW vs. PB

2012-01-09T23:00:00.001+01:00

[Event ""][Site "London"][Date "2012.01.09"][Round ""][White "SW"][Black "PB"][Result "1-0"][ECO "B07"]1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 Bg4 3. Bb5+ c6 4. Ba4 f6 5. O-O Na6 6. c4 Nc5 7. b4 Nxe4 8. b5 Rc8 9. bxc6 a6 10. cxb7+ Kf7 11. bxc8=Q Qxc8 12. d3 Nc5 13. d4 Ne4 14. Qd3 f5 15. Ng5+ Nxg5 16. c5 Nf6 17. Bxg5 Ne4 18. f3 Nxg5 19. Bb3+ Kg6 20. fxg4 Kh6 21. gxf5 Qc6 22. Rf4 Qb5 23. Rh4# 1-0- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

New Year's Resolutions 2012

2012-01-02T05:32:00.000+01:00

1 Take a substantial holiday somewhere hot.

2 Don't cut nails when drunk.

3 Master the Rubik's cube.

4 Increase stocks of spare lightbulbs, batteries and staples.

5 Read more for pleasure. At least twelve books this year.

6 Replace threadbare rear bicycle tyre.

7 Do not buy a new iPad this year.

8 Respond to personal emails within 24 hours and personal text messages within six hours, max.

9 Try extreme cryotherapy.

10 Take better care of personal health.

11 Reduce number of 'spare' laptop bags, briefcases and rucksacks.

12 Have a physiotherapist correct the torsion of your right tibia.

13 End four-year procrastination and finally re-pot house plant before it dies. Action before end of February.

14 Double collection of easy-pair socks so that a fortnight without laundering is feasible.

15 Focus on career more.

16 Replace all red-wine-stained clothing items instead of just collecting them.

17 Drink more water.

18 Limit post-midnight drinking to two nights per week.

19 Donate 2% of gross income to charity.

20 Be less critical of yourself.

21 Time laundry so that it finishes whilst you're at home so as to avoid inconveniencing flatmates.

22 Acquire orthopaedic memory foam pillows.

23 Replace food steamer.

24 Avoid impromptu news interviews.

25 Visit family more often.

26 Be more serious about studying. Be less serious about switching off plugs.

27 Catalogue personal libraries in Wales and in London.

28 Finish everything you start.

29 Invest in an electronic toothbrush.

30 Be more realistic when considering new volunteering opportunities.

31 Create second cork-board with 350+ corks collected.

32 Commit Barclay's internet banking membership number to memory.

33 Try to get eight hours sleep at least six out of seven nights per week.

34 Don't start drinking until you've eaten something more substantial than a Snicker's bar.

35 Endeavour to secure an assignment outside of London with work.

36 Eat more fruit.

37 Register with the British Library.

38 Look into permanent laser hair removal of facial hair.

39 Audit personal medicine cabinet. If you don't know what it does, throw it away.

40 Learn how to use the new cooker's timer function.

41 Visit San Francisco and/or LA.

42 Research vacuum packer for kitchen.

43 Make use of NLP at work.

44 Keep a record of money spent on alcohol.

45 Organise a 27th birthday party / event for yourself.

46 Cook more often than not. Try to bulk-cook and freeze / reheat more often.

47 Visit the theatre regularly. Encourage friends to do the same.

48 Look into emWave heart math.

49 Consider getting out of London during the Olympics.

50 Be yourself, enjoy 2012.

2011 New Year's Resolutions Review

2012-01-02T03:42:00.003+01:00

Last year's Resolutions; http://bit.ly/sncDsG

50 Total Resolutions, 2011

36 Kept

72%

Resolution Kept?

1 Yes

2 Yes

3 No

4 Yes

5 Yes

6 Yes

7 No

8 Yes

9 No

10 Yes

11 Yes

12 No

13 Yes

14 No

15 Yes

16 Yes

17 Yes

18 No

19 No

20 Yes

21 Yes

22 Yes

23 No

24 Yes

25 Yes

26 Yes

27 No

28 Yes

29 Yes

30 Yes

31 Yes

32 Yes

33 Yes

34 Yes

35 No

36 Yes

37 Yes

38 Yes

39 Yes

40 Yes, 3.5%

41 Yes

42 No

43 Yes

44 Yes

45 Yes

46 Yes

47 No

48 No

49 No

50 Yes

SW vs. JB 13/12/11 II

2011-12-13T23:54:00.001+01:00

1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bd3 g6 4. O-O Bh6 5. b3 b5 6. Nc3 b4 7. Nd5 a5 8. a3 Ra6 9. Bb2 e5 10. Bxa6 Bxa6 11. d3 Nf6 12. axb4 Nxb4 13. Nxb4 Bb5 14. Rxa5 O-O 15. Rxb5 Qd7 16. d4 c6 17. Nxe5 dxe5 18. Rxe5 Qb7 19. Ba3 Qa7 20. Na6 Qxa6 21. Bxf8 Kxf8 22. Qe1 Qa2 23. Qb4+ Kg8 24. Qb8+ Kg7 25. d5 cxd5 26. exd5 Ng4 27. h3 Nxe5 28. Qxe5+ f6 29. Qe7+ Kg8 30. d6 Qa8 31. d7 Bf8 32. Qe6+ Kh8 33. Qxf6+ Kg8 34. Rd1 Qd8 35. Qxd8 Kg7 36. Qg5 h6 37. Qe5+ Kf7 38. d8=Q Be7 39. Qexe7# 1-0

- SW

Location:Wesley Close,London,United Kingdom

SW vs. JB 13/12/11 I

2011-12-13T23:01:00.001+01:00

1. e4 d6 2. Bb5+ c6 3. Ba4 Nh6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. O-O Nd7 6. Bb3 Ne5 7. h3 Be6 8. Ng5 Qb6 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qe2 d5 11. d4 dxe4 12. dxe5 Rd8 13. Be3 f5 14. Bxb6 axb6 15. Nxe6 f4 16. Nc7+ Kd7 17. Ne6 Kc8 18. Nxd8 Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Ke8 20. Qc4 Nf5 21. Qf7# 1-0

- SW

Location:Canterbury Pl,London,United Kingdom

Better but not brilliant.

2011-12-06T21:50:00.001+01:00

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bb5 Qg5 4. g3 Nc6 5. Nh3 Qd8 6. O-O d5 7. d3 e5 8. Bg5 Be7 9. g4 Bxg5 10. exd5 a6 11. dxc6 axb5 12. cxb7 Ra6 13. bxc8=Q Qxc8 14. Nxb5 Bf6 15. g5 Qxh3 16. Nc7+ Kf8 17. Nxa6 Be7 18. d4 cxd4 19. c3 dxc3 20. bxc3 Qc8 21. Rb1 f5 22. Rb8 Qxb8 23. Nxb8 Bxg5 24. Qd6+ Be7 25. Nd7+ Ke8 26. Qe6 Nf6 27. Nxf6+ gxf6 28. Qc8+ Bd8 29. Qe6+ Be7 30. Qc8+ Bd8 31. Qe6+ Be7 32. Qxf5 Rg8+ 33. Kh1 h6 34. Rg1 Rg5 35. Rxg5 hxg5 36. Qg6+ Kd7 37. Qf5+ Kc7 38. h4 gxh4 39. a4 Bc5 40. Qxf6 h3 41. a5 Bd6 42. a6 e4 43. a7 Kb7 44. Qf7+ Ka8 45. c4 e3 46. fxe3 Bb4 47. e4 Bc3 48. c5 Be1 49. c6 Bg3 50. Qb7# 1-0

- SW

Location:Frith St,London,United Kingdom

Tough game. SW vs. iPad

2011-12-06T21:34:00.001+01:00

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bb5 Qg5 4. g3 Nc6 5. Nh3 Qd8 6. O-O d5 7. d3 e5 8. Bg5 Be7 9. exd5 Bxh3 10. dxc6 Bxg5 11. cxb7+ Kf8 12. bxa8=Q Qxa8 13. f3 Be3+ 14. Kh1 Bxf1 15. Qxf1 Nf6 16. Re1 Bd4 17. Qh3 Bxc3 18. bxc3 a6 19. Rf1 axb5 20. a4 bxa4 21. d4 cxd4 22. cxd4 exd4 23. g4 a3 24. g5 a2 25. Ra1 Nd5 26. Qd7 Ne3 27. Kg1 Nxc2 28. Qd6+ Kg8 29. Rxa2 Qc8 30. Rxc2 Qa8 31. Qxd4 h6 32. gxh6 Rxh6 33. Rf2 Rg6+ 34. Kf1 Re6 35. Kg2 Re1 36. Rf1 Rxf1 37. Kxf1 Qxf3+ 38. Ke1 Qh1+ 39. Kd2 Qxh2+ 40. Kd3 Qg3+ 41. Qe3 Qd6+ 42. Ke2 Qh2+ 43. Kd3 Qh7+ 44. Kc4 Qc2+ 45. Kd5 Qf5+ 46. Kc4 Qc8+ 47. Kd3 Qa6+ 48. Ke4 Qb7+ 49. Kf4 Qd5 50. Kg3 Qh1 51. Qe8+ Kh7 52. Qxf7 Qg1+ 53. Kh4 Qh2+ 54. Kg5 Qg3+ 55. Kh5 Qh3+ 56. Kg5 Qh6+ 57. Kf5 Qe3 58. Qg6+ Kh8 59. Qh5+ Kg8 60. Kg6 Qe7 61. Qh7+ Kf8 62. Qh8# 1-0

- SW

Location:Greek St,London,United Kingdom

"Walkivator"?! Surely one of the most ridiculous ideas ever.

2011-10-31T15:29:00.002+01:00

TfL/YMCA Walkivator:

Transport for London and Central YMCA are working together to improve London’s

air quality through the Workplace Walkivator programme. As part of this, we would

like to offer one of your employees free training to become a Walkivator Champion.

Why should you take part?

Walking is underestimated as a means of transport within business. With the right

skills and knowledge you can introduce more walking in your organisation and benefit

from significant cost savings on unnecessary forms of business travel. In addition,

walking will help contribute towards your carbon and environmental goals.

Even relatively small changes in behaviour can have positive impacts on profitability,

improve the working environment and the health of your employees.

The Workplace Walkivator training programme

Our one-day training session will provide your Walkivator Champion with the skills to

engage effectively with people across your organisation and change attitudes

towards walking. It covers:

• How to break down accessibility barriers and common misconceptions over

distance, time and effort; and

• Promoting walking within your business and to visitors to encourage it as part

of business travel and commuting.

The training day will include:

• Information on the health benefits of walking and cycling;

• How to foster workplace health;

• How to lead a guided walks programme;

• The principles of behaviour change and social marketing; and

• Introduction to your own bespoke toolkit full of activity ideas and signposting.

A successful Walkivator Champion will have:

• An interest and commitment to physical activity and fitness;

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills; and

• Confidence and organisational skills.

For further details, please contact businessengagement@tfl.gov.uk

Did you know that walking is effective at reducing stress, depression and anxiety?

SW vs. Matthew 28/10/11

2011-10-29T15:23:00.001+02:00

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 c5 4. Be2 b5 5. O-O Nc6 6. Bg5 Nh5 7. Bxd8 Kxd8 8. g4 Ba6 9. Ng5 Nf4 10. Nxf7+ Kc7 11. Nxh8 Ne7 12. Nf7 Nh3+ 13. Kg2 Nf4+ 14. Kg3 Nf5+ 15. Kf3 Nd4+ 16. Kg3 Nfxe2+ 17. Kg2 b4 18. c3 Bxd3 19. cxd4 c4 20. Nxe5 Re8 21. f4 g6 22. b3 d6 23. bxc4 Bxe4+ 24. Kf2 Nc3 25. Nxc3 bxc3 26. Qa4 Kd8 27. Nc6+ Bxc6 28. Qxc6 Ke7 29. Rfe1+ Kf7 30. Qc7+ Re7 31. Rxe7+ Bxe7 32. Re1 c2 33. Rxe7+ Kf6 34. Qxd6# 1-0

- SW

Location:Little Newport St,London,United Kingdom

SW vs. JB 25/10/11 Game 3

2011-10-25T22:20:00.001+02:00

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Nxe4 b6 5. d5 Bg7 6. Be3 Bxb2 7. Bd4 O-O 8. Bxb2 Nc6 9. dxc6 dxc6 10. Bd3 Bf5 11. Qd2 Qd5 12. Qc3 Rad8 13. Qg7# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

SW vs. JB 25/10/11 Game 2

2011-10-25T22:14:00.001+02:00

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5. Ba4 b5 6. Bb3 c6 7. O-O a5 8. a3 a4 9. Ba2 Na6 10. b3 Nc5 11. bxa4 bxa4 12. Re1 Rb8 13. d4 Ncxe4 14. Bf4 Rb6 15. Nxa4 Ng4 16. Nxb6 Qxb6 17. h3 Ngxf2 18. Rb1 Qa5 19. Rb8+ Bc8 20. Rxc8+ Kd7 21. Rc7+ Kd8 22. Rxc6 Nxd1 23. Rxd1 e6 24. Bc7+ Kd7 25. Ne5+ Ke7 26. Bxa5 f6 27. Bb4+ Ke8 28. Rc8# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

SW vs. JB 25/10/11 Game 1

2011-10-25T21:53:00.001+02:00

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 Bd7 4. Be2 d4 5. Nxd4 Bb5 6. Nxb5 c5 7. N1a3 Qf6 8. Nc7+ Kd7 9. Nxa8 Nc6 10. c3 Ne5 11. Qa4+ Kd8 12. Qa5+ b6 13. Qxa7 c4 14. Qb8+ Kd7 15. Qc7+ Ke8 16. Qc8+ Qd8 17. Qc7 h5 18. Qxe5 Rh6 19. Nc7+ Ke7 20. Bg5+ f6 21. Qxe6# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

What a day! 73km around London!

2011-10-15T01:06:00.001+02:00

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

SW vs. iPad 1050

2011-10-14T17:55:00.001+02:00

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. d3 d5 4. Nd2 e5 5. Qe2 Bd6 6. Ngf3 Nc6 7. c4 d4 8. Ng5 h6 9. Nh3 Bxh3 10. gxh3 Qa5 11. Bg2 Nb4 12. O-O Nxa2 13. Nb3 Nxc1 14. Rfxc1 Qb4 15. Ra3 O-O 16. Na5 Rae8 17. Rca1 Re6 18. Rb3 Qxb3 19. Nxb3 Ra8 20. Na5 Rb8 21. Ra3 Rbe8 22. Nxb7 Ra8 23. Qd1 Be7 24. Qa1 a6 25. Ra5 Rb8 26. Nxc5 Bxc5 27. Rxc5 Rb3 28. Rc8+ Kh7 29. c5 Rxd3 30. c6 Rb3 31. c7 Rc6 32. f4 exf4 33. e5 f3 34. Bf1 Nd5 35. Bxa6 Nxc7 36. Qb1+ Rg6+ 37. Kf2 Nxa6 38. Qc2 Rb4 39. Rc6 Nb8 40. Rc7 f6 41. h4 Na6 42. Rf7 fxe5 43. h5 Kg8 44. Qxg6 Rxb2+ 45. Kg3 Nc5 46. Qxg7# 1-0

- SW

Location:Renfrew Rd,Lambeth,United Kingdom

SW vs. JB II

2011-10-12T23:39:00.001+02:00

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bd3 Ng4 4. O-O Bc5 5. h3 O-O 6. hxg4 a5 7. Qe2 Ra6 8. e5 d5 9. c4 Rd6 10. Bc2 Rd7 11. Qd3 d4 12. Qxh7# 1-0

- SW

Location:Millbank,London,United Kingdom

SW vs. JB

2011-10-12T21:12:00.001+02:00

1. e4 h5 2. g4 g6 3. gxh5 gxh5 4. Be2 d6 5. Bxh5 e5 6. Qf3 Qg5 7. Qxf7+ Kd8 8. Qxf8+ Kd7 9. Bg4+ Kc6 10. Qxc8 Qe7 11. Qf5 Nh6 12. d4 Rf8 13. d5+ Kb6 14. Be3+ Kb5 15. Be2+ Kb4 16. c3+ Ka5 17. b4+ Ka4 18. Bd1+ Kb5 19. Be2+ Ka4 20. Qh5 Qf6 21. Bd1+ Kb5 22. Qe2# 1-0

- SW

Location:Albert Embankment,Lambeth,United Kingdom

Critique of Dr Who Series 32 Episode 11 - The God Complex

2011-09-18T01:12:00.004+02:00

Too much going on too quickly, far too light on detail and explanation.

Most disappointingly of all and fundamental to why I didn't enjoy this episode so much is that neither the plot nor the characters were developed well - if at all.

The classic advice taught to schoolchildren about a story requiring "a beginning, a middle and an end" appears to have been ignored. It seems they ran out of time because they put so much in. The consequence is that the beginning and end are very rushed indeed and the middle is just tedious repetition of a 'there goes another one'.

As a result, I couldn't feel any particular sadness when the extras met very sudden deaths: even the female nurse who was developed a little more than the others was so 'irrelevant' because the introduction of the episode-specific characters was inevitably so rushed that they were only ever really extras and no one cares about the extras. Comparing this to how uneasy / somewhat unsettled I felt when people died in the The Rebel Flesh and it's really quite a poor outcome.

Partly because so much was going on almost nothing was really explained and that's not enjoyable.

Sadly, a 'simple idea' was over complicated. The best plots explore complex ideas in a simply and succinct episode. This week's episode contrasts unfavourably with last week's brilliantly complex paradox elegantly conveyed.

Too many characters.

If this had just been the Doctor, Amy and Rory (probably one too many core-characters anyway to my mind) as per two other notable, clever and thought-provoking 'get-out-of-this-dilemma' type episodes (Amy's Choice and The Girl Who Waited) the story and the concept behind it might have become clear and I might have had time to start thinking about the episode. I think you could have told the story without the others and their inclusion was therefore superfluous

As it was, with so many semi-important 'extras' and their various sub-plots having to be pointlessly slotted-in to the main storyline, I ended up too confused and unable to concentrate properly on the episodes core message / point.

Dreadful ending(s).

Suddenly, because Amy is told to, she stops believing in the Doctor. Immediately, as an apparent consequence a barley-explained ancient creature which 'feeds on praise' / 'feeds on belief?' staggers and drops dead. The place is revealed to be a star-trek-type holodeck.

Reminded me a little of a child's way of drawing to a close a story: "And then I woke up and it had all been a dream".

The 'second' ending too was just peculiar. Now he's decided they're unsafe? He always knows they're unsafe: they're not the first to take the chance and it's not reasonable to expect that he's suddenly had a change of heart.

I hated the line about the alternative to his letting Amy and Rory live happily-ever-after being that he'll otherwise stand over their graves on day. He's a Time Lord - that's his fate: he stands over all of their graves at some point other other. The Doctor's normal 'live-for-today' mentality and wise rationale behind it seems to have been thrown out and I find that unsettling: it's really quite important that his fundamental character / style remains intact.

The setting.

Uninspiring set in a grim looking hotel - very "The Shining". Oddly appears to be another 'bigger on the inside' place: getting to have too many of those given that one of the greatest novelties of the franchise is that the TARDIS is - exceptionally - 'bigger on the inside'.

With the cast all running around but not often getting lost (unless they wanted to?) it reminded me a little of the Doctor's Wife episode in the last series (which I loved but which had a very tedious Amy-and-Rory-run-around-the-TARDIS scene). It doesn't make for a good viewing experience because as Howard Hughes found out when he tried to film aircraft flying in a clear sky: you can't easily appreciate the scale. Indeed, the scenes just end up looking like a Tom and Jerry cartoon with people whizzing backward and forwards across the screen to and from in identical corridors: it becomes a farce when done for more than a few seconds.

Too many things just not explained at all.

To name only some of the things that bother:

Rory seeing a fire exit and failing to explain? What was that all about?
Rory is fearless / has no belief?
Unnecessary / cheap reference to being afraid (or not) of Muslims.
How / why did the other humans suddenly find themselves on board?
Why did Amy succumb to it and the other guy didn't? Why was the timescale?
What was that Police woman all about? Was the (a) lengthy writing the note (b) lengthy reading of the note all really just to get the "Praise Him" line in? If yes, it was a bit of a waste of time.
What happens to all of the dead bodies? Only one remained: that of the Minotaur-thing. The other 3 / dozens from past are where?

I didn't think it was scary.

Billed as the scariest ever episodes but compared to the Weeping Angels in the Time of Angels (and briefly, confusingly, back in this episode) or the Silence (as in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon) who were very scary, the more or less silent Minotaur-esque creature wondering around killing in this episode failed to frighten me remotely.

I thought the wooden puppets / the clown had the potential to have been a bit creepy but even they weren't done too well and like all of the other apparent irrelevances in the episode they weren't explained or in the plot long enough that I cared to work them out.

Also, a less-serious point perhaps but who thought to make the monster's eyes sky-blue? You can't be afraid of anything with nice-coloured eyes. Fiery red or bright green - that would have been more like it....

I didn't think it was that funny.

David Walliams is amusing in his way but then he's a comedian and I suspect he can hardly help himself. In spite of his make-up he still ends up looking and sounding like 'Lou' from Andy and Lou in Little Britain. Aside from that, nothing much amused me.

The Doctor acquires and then gives a house and car to Amy and Rory?

What, how, when and Why?! This isn't secret millionaire! Since when does the Doctor do that sort of thing? It's so 'simple' and slightly gratuitous so as to be quite out of character and even a bit seedy. This is very different to when the Doctor, knowing he's dying goes to give Donna Noble a lottery ticket at her Wedding - something he does silently without grand-standing through a proxy rather than as some benevolent benefactor.

Is this to be the way of things now? If you're a side-kick you get automatic inclusion in the TARDIS pension scheme when you're retired - just in order that there's no unhappy ending?

Another example of something thrown in last minute that could just as well been left out so as not to confuse things even further.

The Doctor is hopeless, again.

A recurring irritation in episodes featuring the Eleventh Doctor is that he is so frequently coming across as being clueless / out-of-control / and generally powerless to actually do anything. The cleverest thing he did in this episode was to trap a monster by tricking it with a speaker and barring the doors. Hardly the stuff worthy of a millennium of Time-Lord life experience?

Once again the resolution of the situation is brought about basically by dumb luck, right at the end and principally by yet another Amy-is-all-important-and-brilliant ending.

Maybe the line about not being a hero but actually just being a mad man with a box was a nod to this general theme but actually, I want Doctor Who to be a hero: to be impressive and inspiring. I want him to be a genius and special: I don't want him to be just lucky / a mad chancer always. Where's the fun in that?

I'd make the same point about "Let's Kill Hitler" - suppose it hadn't to have just so happened that River was in possession of the ability and will to do something I didn't know a Time Lord (let alone a half-human-Time Lord, Like Donna Noble?) could do; he'd have been dead. I don't want him to always be alive just by sheer luck: I want to see him be brilliant.

Gym / Running Music Suggestions

2011-08-28T22:38:00.006+02:00

Here's my list so far:

Favourite Quotations

2011-08-26T06:21:00.001+02:00

Adrian Mole, via Sue Townsend

"Pandora found Cavendish's A4 torture list. She has made an appointment for me to see her friend Leonora De Witt, who is a psychotherapist. I agreed reluctantly. On the one hand, I am terrified of my unconscious and what it will reveal about me. On the other, I am looking forward to talking about myself non-stop for an hour without interruption, hesitation or repetition."

George Bernard Shaw

"Alcohol is the anaesthesia by which we endure the operation of life."

Unknown, though Daniel Lutece taught me the phrase whilst I was in Paris

"On ne peut pas s'attendre à un homme qui est sérieux du matin au soir pour être sérieux du soir au matin."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Money has never appeared to me as valuable as it is generally considered. More than that, it has never even appeared to me particularly convenient. It is good for nothing in itself; it has to be changed before it can be enjoyed; one is obliged to buy, to bargain, to be often cheated, to pay dearly, to be badly served."

Seneca the Younger

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful"

Marcus Tullius Cicero

To know nothing of the about what happened before you were born is to forever remain a child."

H.R. McMaster

"It’s so damn complex. If you ever think you have the solution to this, you’re wrong and you’re dangerous."

Tony Blair

"When I arrived for the first time on that Sunday, the valet – yes, you got your own valet – asked me if he could fold my clothes and generally iron the underpants and that type of thing, and so disconcerted me that when he then asked me if he could ‘draw the bath’, I lost the thread completely and actually thought for a moment he wanted to sketch the damn thing. Using the bathroom on the other side of the corridor was a singular act of courage, sneaking open the bedroom door, glancing right and left and then making for it at speed."

Galileo Galilei

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

Confucius

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in getting up every time we do."

"Study the past if you would define the future."

Unknown

"The trouble with life is you're halfway through before you realise it's a 'do it yourself' thing"

Napoleon Bonaparte

"Les hommes sont comme les chiffres : ils n'acquièrent de valeur que par leur position."

René Descartes

Perfect numbers are like perfect men: very rare.

Heinrich Heine

"Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende"
(Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.)

"Experience is a good school. But the fees are high."

A Single Man

"I was never terribly fond of waking up. I was never one to jump out of bed and greet the day with a smile like Jim was. I used to want to punch him sometimes in the morning, he was so happy.

I always used to tell him that only fools would greet the day with a smile, that only fools could possibly escape the simple truth that now isn't simply now. It's a cold reminder, one day later than yesterday, one year later than last year and that sooner or later, it will come."

Socrates

"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."

"Death may be the greatest of all human blessings."

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have laboured hard for."

Location:Dugard Way,Lambeth,United Kingdom

Very Enjoyable Game of I'm-an-Insomniac Chess.

2011-08-24T07:21:00.001+02:00

[Event "New York Rosenwald"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1956.10.07"]
[Round ""]
[White "Scott Westron"]
[Black "tChess (933)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Qb3 d5 4. d3 dxc4 5. dxc4 Ne4 6. Qb5+ c6 7. Qa4 Bg7 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. Qb3 Ne4 10. Qe3 Bf5 11. Bd2 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 Bxb2 13. Rd1 O-O 14. Nf3 Qa5+ 15. Qd2 Qxa2 16. Ng5 Qxc4 17. e3 Qb5 18. Bxb5 Be5 19. Bc4 Nd7 20. Qa2 Bc3+ 21. Kf1 Rad8 22. Bxf7+ Kh8 23. Qb3 Be5 24. f4 Nc5 25. Qc4 Rxd1+ 26. Kf2 Nd3+ 27. Ke2 Rxh1 28. Be6 Rc1 29. Qb3 Re1+ 30. Kd2 Nc5 31. Qc4 Bxe6 32. Nxe6 Nxe6 33. Qxe6 Bc3+ 34. Kxc3 Rd1 35. Qxe7 Rb8 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. g4 c5 38. h4 Re8 39. h5 Rxe3+ 40. Kc4 Rc1+ 41. Kd5 Rce1 42. Kxc5 Re6 43. Qd8+ Kf7 44. Qd7+ Kf8 45. Qxh7 R1e4 46. Qh6+ Ke7 47. Qg5+ Rf6 48. Qd5 Rexf4 49. h6 Rc6+ 50. Kb5 Rcf6 51. h7 a6+ 52. Ka5 Rf8 53. Qe5+ Kd8 54. h8=Q Rxh8 55. Qxh8+ Kd7 56. Qe5 Rxg4 57. Qd5+ Kc7 58. Qc5+ Kb8 59. Kb6 Re4 60. Qc7+ Ka8 61. Qxb7# 1-0

- SW

Location:Dugard Way,Lambeth,United Kingdom

So should riotors actually lose their benefits or not?

2011-08-15T12:04:00.007+02:00

So, we've all seen the glaring typo: "Convicted London rioters should loose all benefits." and it appears some will even have signed in spite of this small but embarrassing boob.

FT - Ministers plan removal of rioters’ benefits

Reading the FT this morning, it struck me that the quality of the argument about such a fundamentally important principle could have been better. Still reeling with anger at both the audacity of the criminals and the failure of the safety net to prevent the wide-spread chaos, those for and against this proposal appear to be neither thinking clearly nor expressing their arguments coherently.

My analysis is thus:

In summary, the basic points coming through are these:

FOR

(1) We're angry and want justice. (a) to punish the wrongdoers (b) to disincentive flagitious behaviour.

(2) It seems unfair that those breaking the law continue to receive benefits from society's pockets. Indeed, perpetrators of this violence are continuing to benefit from the tax-paying victims.

(3) Benefits have been considered a 'right' whereas they ought in future to be assumed to be a 'privilege'.

(4) It is not desirable to sustain hundreds or thousands more people in prisons. This is costly, apart from anything else but it also fails to demonstrate governance by consent in the longer-term.

(5) Break the law and rights and privileges should, can and will be removed from you.

AGAINST

(i) Benefits are a right.

(ii) Removal of benefits will not help in the longer term.

E.g. A person desperate for survival (food, shelter etc.) they will turn to stealing, mugging, looting or whatever else they in order to survive. If the solution is to punish through the courts and send people to prison, they will cost more there than they did on benefits. Hence this false economy serves neither to solve the cost problem nor meets the goal of crime reduction: if anything, it is counter-productive on both of these fronts.

(iii) It would be costly to implement a 'barred from benefits' list in an otherwise (already failure-prone) automated system.

(iv) The measure does nothing address the fix the "broken society" - i.e. will deal deal with symptoms not causes.

MY COMMENTARY

For:

(1) The criminal justice system ought to do this already. For the most part it seems to at any rate (Crime rates are relatively by historical standards). If it's not doing it well enough, i.e. it's not punishing and disincentivising criminal behaviour; isn't the criminal justice system in need of review?

Since this violence was pretty exceptional (much like the rare times a prison [Remember Ford Open Prison earlier this year?)] has failed to keep order and then ended decimated) and we don't generally make laws in the UK based on exceptional cases, this is a dangerously short-term precedent to set.

It would encourage media-friendly, knee-jerk policies which are poorly thought out, enacted in the heat of the moment.

I wouldn't like to see laws made each time an e-petition goes viral over the social media network.

Laws should be made as a result of manifestos, properly debated and voted upon - this process legitimises the laws of the land: governance by the will of the people, not by the will of the social-media-sphere.

Also, some perspective: 150,000 people signing a petition is a lot of people; but not a high proportion of the population (approx a third of one percent of current UK population!)...

(2, 3 and 5) Indeed, I sympathise enormously with these points. The hand that giveth shall taketh away, and all that. It does seem fundamentally wrong that anyone guilty of wanton criminality - a complete disregarding of the laws of the land - should then turn around, cap-in-hand and insist on being charitably cared for by the innocent victims* of that crime (in this case, the innocent are numerous and consist indirectly of almost anyone in the country who failed to take part in the violence).

As forgiving and charitable as we the British are, there are lots of times when we'd like to withdraw that charity. Some behaviour just warrants an 'enough is enough' response.

Some examples? Mass murders ; pedophiles; fraudsters; all of whom we house in relatively comfortable prisons. I'm sure many would sooner revive more archaic forms of punishing the guilty:- Hang 'em? Flog 'em? Send them to the front line? Send them to America... All illicit a rye smile from me but realistically, I'd suggest we look instead at why prison is so ineffective.

I'd suggest forced labour or community service would be more effective but that's just me. Alternatively, I like the idea of food-banks: essentials only. No inflated benefits cheque with which to buy a BlackBerry or Sky dish.

The bigger point is that a system that doles out money irrespective of recipients' lack of gratitude and irrespective of his/her behaviour / participation in society must, I agree, have its days numbered if we're ever to avoid this feeling of complete injustice. That however, like is not limited to the rioting incident.

*ironically there are lots of guilty victims too - they're the ones who have ruined their own lives and town centres by idiotically participating in the violence last week.

(4) Prison is a very crude and expensive generally. It's hardly a deterrent to many 'mild' criminals (hence record prison numbers) and has very little use at all as an immediate deterrent to those creating the type of mayhem that we saw last week. 'Tougher' prisons might be one step in the right direction but I think it would benefit society more to look at alternatives - community service, for example.

I overheard someone in the street suggesting those convicted ought to be barred from major cities for a period of a year / two years. I think that would be very interesting as an experiment - totally disperse them away from one another and from encouragement to re-offend.

I liked the idea of having the rioters, for example, hauled back and shamed in front of the communities (those they recently so showed such blatant disregard for) and made to clear up their own mess. Must be careful not to be find too 'soft' an alternative though.

That said, when it comes down to it sometimes Prison is the only option (reluctantly) and the cost of that should be seen as immaterial compared to the cost to society of those people being free to inflict whatever chaos they choose.

Against:

(i) No, they're not. Or if they are (by virtue of bureaucratic / legal definition) they shouldn't be. If you've paid into the system then they're a contractual right but there ought to be terms - you should not be able to flout the law and claim benefits. This is even truer in the many cases where people have never contributed (or contributed too little) to the system - benefits were an 'insurance policy' - how they ever came to be considered a right I do not know. A message should be sent - it's such a tremendous privilege to live in the UK at all - let alone enjoy the fruits of our societies combined effort - but don't take the honest, hardworking and law-abiding taxpayer as a fool forever obliged to look after you: play by the rules or your out of the game.

(ii) This is probably the best point the nay-sayers have but believe even this point precariously stands on socialist sand. The assumption here is that the benefit system 'benefits' society / the individual in the longer-term and the removal of that benefit would result in further desperation and an exacerbation of tension thereafter*.

Actually, I don't think they do. Benefits ought to be a short term, time-dependent pay out: this immediately incentivises proactive redressing of someones situation whereas unbound, unlimited, unstoppable and unending benefits do precisely the opposite - they incentivise a lethargy, kill ambition and ultimately result in an adjustment - a lowering - of expectations for life to a point where 'surviving' with a TV, mobile phone and occasional new tracksuits / trainers is acceptable.

I've seen this happen to my own twin brother. This 'easy' path is heart-breaking to watch, addictive and all to easy to tread forever. This must stop else we will truly have a society of two 'classes'.

*People in desperate situations do desperate things and law enforcement is impossible if the penalty for, e.g. not stealing is starvation whereas the penalty for stealing is a brief visit to a prison where you're fed.

(iii) The benefits system needs a complete replacement. Although the numbers are big they're really not 'that' big : a few million payments once a fortnight shouldn't be so ludicrously error-prone and unwieldy. The private manage very complex transactions - thousands or millions a minute - with exceptionally low levels of errors. The financial sector has talent aplenty who could, I'm confident, replace the benefit system very quickly. The political will may be another matter. Private firms should be brought in to run an improved benefits system. The largely-paper based system in operation by the public sector is dizzyingly archaic and utterly incompetent.

(iv) Agreed - completly. Responding in a knee-jerk fashion to this one-off, exceptional spate of violence is failing to see the wood for the trees. Major changes are needed in criminal justice and benefits systems. It's a step change but it's doable. Focussing on 'a fightback' against the rioters is one thing - a fleeting moment only. Focus on the Big Society. [Stop laughing - it's serious and clever in spite of its gimmicky name]

To conclude more succinctly:

This was an exceptional event which justifiably draws the attention to a dangerously reduced confidence and satisfaction people feel in respect of the criminal justice system and to widespread indignation at a benefits system which seen as a right to be enjoyed irrespective of

We should though be careful not to exacerbate levels of desperation and to fix the 'broader' system failures rather than trying to come up with a 'response' to a single issue - a style of governance this country would do well to steer clear of. Only by doing this do you help proactively firm up the foundations of society; meddling with knee-jerk, reactionary legislation is to miss the point completely.

Rome to Murdoch - The Failure of the Family Empire isn't New (and Shouldn't be Surprising.)

2011-08-02T17:16:00.001+02:00

"From the study of this history we may also learn how a good government is to be established; for while all the emperors who succeeded to the throne by birth, except Titus, were bad, all were good who succeeded by adoption; as in the case of the five from Nerva to Marcus. But so soon as the empire fell once more to the heirs by birth, its ruin recommenced."

So wrote Niccolò Machiavelli in 1503. Spot on Niccers.

- SW

Picture - The Economist (16th July 2011)

Location:Little Newport St,London,United Kingdom

Too easy. Much prefer an irrational / emotional human opponent.

2011-07-03T16:33:00.001+02:00

1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Nxd5 Qxd5 5. d3 e5 6. c4 Qd4 7. Nf3 Qd8 8. Qa4+ Bd7 9. Qd1 Bb4+ 10. Bd2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 Nc6 12. Be2 O-O 13. O-O Bf5 14. Qg5 Bxd3 15. Bxd3 Qxd3 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qxe5 c6 18. b3 Rad8 19. Qc7 Rd7 20. Qe5 Rfd8 21. Rfd1 Qc2 22. Rxd7 Rxd7 23. Qe8# 1-0

- SW

Location:Newport Ct,London,United Kingdom

Getting better as the Sunday Pimms wakes me up...

2011-07-03T16:00:00.001+02:00

1. f4 e6 2. e4 Qh4+ 3. g3 Qh6 4. d4 c6 5. Be3 b5 6. Nf3 Ba6 7. Ne5 f6 8. Nf3 d5 9. exd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Nd7 11. O-O O-O-O 12. Re1 Bd6 13. Nc3 Ne7 14. Qd2 Rhe8 15. f5 Qh3 16. Qg2 Qg4 17. Qd2 g6 18. fxg6 hxg6 19. Qe2 Rh8 20. Qd2 Ng8 21. Qe2 g5 22. a3 Re8 23. Qd1 Bxg3 24. hxg3 Qxg3+ 25. Kf1 Rh1+ 26. Ke2 Qg2# 0-1

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

Hangover Chess. Playing appallingly. Won, but only just.

2011-07-03T15:58:00.001+02:00

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. f3 Bf5 5. e4 Be6 6. Qe2 Qh4+ 7. g3 Qd8 8. O-O-O Be7 9. Bh3 Bxh3 10. Nxh3 Nc6 11. f4 Nd4 12. Qd3 Nf6 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Nb5 O-O 15. c3 Nxb5 16. Qxb5 Nxe4 17. d3 Nd6 18. Qxe5 Bf6 19. Qe1 c6 20. c4 Bxb2+ 21. Kxb2 Re8 22. Qc3 Re2+ 23. Rd2 Rxd2+ 24. Qxd2 f6 25. c5 Ne4 26. Qb4 Qxd3 27. Qxb7 Qc3+ 28. Ka3 Rd8 29. Qxc6 Nd2 30. Qe6+ Kh8 31. c6 a5 32. c7 Qxc7 33. Nf4 Qc3 34. Ne2 Qc2 35. b4 axb4+ 36. Kxb4 Rd3 37. Qe8# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

Why doubling the iPad's chess rating at 3am is unwise.

2011-06-28T04:14:00.001+02:00

[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2011.06.28"]
[Round ""]
[White "tChess (1628)"]
[Black "Scott Westron"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D01"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 e6 4. e4 c6 5. e5 h6 6. Bf4 Ne4 7. Nxe4 dxe4 8. Bc4 Bb4+ 9. c3 b5 10. cxb4 bxc4 11. Qg4 g5 12. Be3 a5 13. bxa5 Rxa5 14. Qxe4 Rb5 15. Qc2 Qa5+ 16. Bd2 Qb6 17. Bc3 c5 18. a4 Rb3 19. a5 Qb5 20. O-O-O cxd4 21. Rxd4 O-O 22. h4 f6 23. Qg6+ Kh8 24. Qxh6+ Kg8 25. Qg6+ Kh8 26. hxg5# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

Tired during this game, it shows.

2011-06-28T03:39:00.001+02:00

[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date "2011.06.28"]
[Round ""]
[White "Scott Westron"]
[Black "tChess (800)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B10"]

1. e4 c6 2. Be2 d6 3. Nc3 e5 4. g3 d5 5. f4 exf4 6. gxf4 Qh4+ 7. Kf1 Qxf4+ 8. Bf3 Be6 9. Nge2 Qxf3+ 10. Kg1 Bd6 11. Qf1 Qxf1+ 12. Kxf1 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Be5 14. d4 Bc7 15. Bf4 Bxf4 16. Nxf4 Ne7 17. Nd6+ Kd7 18. Nxb7 Bc4+ 19. Nd3 f5 20. Nc5+ Kd8 21. b3 Bxd3+ 22. cxd3 f4 23. Ne6+ Ke8 24. Nxg7+ Kd8 25. Ne6+ Ke8 26. Nc7+ Kd8 27. Nxa8 f3 28. Rg1 Re8 29. Re1 Nd5 30. Rxe8+ Kxe8 31. Rg8+ Kf7 32. Rxb8 Ke6 33. Re8+ Kf7 34. Rd8 Ke6 35. Rh8 Nf6 36. Nc7+ Kf5 37. d5 cxd5 38. Rf8 d4 39. Nd5 f2 40. Nxf6 Ke5 41. Nxh7 a5 42. Rxf2 Kd6 43. Rf6+ Kd7 44. h4 Ke8 45. Ng5 Ke7 46. Rf4 Kd6 47. Rxd4+ Ke5 48. Re4+ Kd6 49. h5 Kc6 50. h6 Kc7 51. h7 Kc6 52. h8=Q Kb6 53. d4 Ka6 54. d5 Kb6 55. d6 Kc6 56. Qd4 Kb7 57. d7 Ka6 58. d8=Q Kb5 59. Qc3 Ka6 60. Qdxa5+ Kb7 61. Qcc7# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

New Chess App + A New Blogger App. Result? Chess blog.

2011-06-28T02:53:00.001+02:00

[Date "2011.06.28"]
[White "Scott Westron"]
[Black "tChess (800)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C00"]

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Be3 Bxe3 5. fxe3 e5 6. Nxd5 Be6 7. Nc3 Qh4+ 8. g3 Qg4 9. Bh3 Qxd1+ 10. Nxd1 Bxh3 11. Nxh3 Nd7 12. O-O O-O-O 13. Rxf7 g6 14. Ng5 Ngf6 15. Nc3 h6 16. Ne6 Rde8 17. Nxc7 Kxc7 18. Rf1 Ng4 19. Nb5+ Kc8 20. Nxa7+ Kc7 21. Nb5+ Kd8 22. Nd6 Nxe3 23. Nxb7+ Kc8 24. Nd6+ Kb8 25. R1f3 Re6 26. Rxd7 Nxc2 27. Nf7 Rf8 28. d4 exd4 29. Rb3+ Ka8 30. Nxh6 Rxe4 31. Rb6 g5 32. Ra6+ Kb8 33. Rb6+ Kc8 34. Ra7 d3 35. Ra8+ Kc7 36. Rxf8 d2 37. Rf1 d1=Q 38. Rxd1 Kxb6 39. Rd6+ Ka5 40. Rd5+ Ka4 41. Rxg5 Re1+ 42. Kf2 Re4 43. Ng4 Nd4 44. b3+ Ka3 45. Ra5+ Kb2 46. Nf6 Re2+ 47. Kf1 Rxh2 48. b4 Kc3 49. b5 Kd2 50. b6 Nf3 51. Ne4+ Kd3 52. b7 Kxe4 53. b8=Q Kd3 54. Qb3+ Kd2 55. Qxf3 Kc1 56. Rc5+ Kb1 57. Qd1+ Kb2 58. Qb3+ Ka1 59. Rc1# 1-0

- SW

Location:London,United Kingdom

Jogging

2011-01-16T11:17:00.003+01:00

New Route

Times

New Year's Resolutions 2011

2011-01-01T05:06:00.004+01:00

1. Research the best roller coaster rides and visit a theme park.

2. Proof read more thoroughly. Don’t send important emails when drunk or angry.

3. Try a fish pedicure.

4. Make a renewed effort to settle eight-month £11 dispute with eBay.

5. Visit a new place at least monthly.

6. Dramatically reduce time and money spent in Ku Bar. Open tabs only in exceptional circumstances (rather than daily). Particularl spend less time there alone.

7. Cancel bicycle insurance and instead self-insure.

8. Join The Conservative Party.

9. Take all of your holiday allowances and make better use of time off.

10. Remember you’re only in your mid-twenties and that things could be much worse. Refer to some of your close friends and family for examples.

11. Get wristwatch serviced / regulated to stop it losing ever greater amounts of
time each day. You haven’t time to waste.

12. Redesign blog / website. Write blogs more often.

13. Learn to tie a bow tie and wear one once in a while. They’re cool.

14. Go swimming in the sea, perhaps off the Gower peninsula.

15. Spend less time faffing on Facebook.

16. Don’t lose any towels in the work showering / locker room this year.

17. Cook more often. Don’t go without a Sunday Roast dinner.

18. Complete a challenging Suduko at least once a day.

19. Do not renew gym membership. Approximate cost per visit this year was £58.67 because I went so few times for my annual fee. Pay as you go gyms only from now on.

20. Without being too impassive, try not to get so dejected by rejection.

21. Completely replace sock collection with easy-to-pair socks.

22. Get eyes tested, invest in new spectacles.

23. Acquire mild tranquiliser tablets and take one at least 30 minutes before calling any call centres. If phoning Barclays, make sure aspirin is close to hand in case of anger-induced heart attack during call.

24. Return the 20+ yellow highlighters you inadvertently pilfered from work in 2010. Stop putting highlighters in your jacket pockets.

25. Introduce yourself to immediate neighbours to establish which ones are employed. Befriend those who aren’t with a view to asking them to accept parcel deliveries.

26. Stop bemoaning your bad luck.

27. Invest in digital weighing scales. Avoid becoming obsessed with weighing though.

28. Endeavour to regulate sleeping pattern during the week. Consult a specialist if necessary.

29. Regularly audit food stocks, disposing of all but frequently consumed
items. Start with throwing away the fish sauce.

30. Cancel monthly Spotify premium subscription; invest instead in an iPod and begin investing in music collection. Action this by March.

31. Don’t work on Saturdays.

32. Increase spending on new clothes. Buy lots of new ties since they please you. Assess and clear out clothes not worn in 12 months.

33. Consciously improve seated posture as per physiotherapist’s advice. Stop using laptops in bed.

34. Stop feigning racism. Really mean it. Not really…

35. Buy a new alarm clock – one which is guaranteed to wake you and which doesn’t have a snooze button. Develop idea for an alarm clock app. which only stop bleeping after the completion of an ‘awakeness’ test; e.g. ‘solve the following equation’ or ‘re-arrange the following letters into a word’ before the bleeping stops.

36. Polish your shoes regularly or better still, finally find someone to do this.

37. Snack less frequently and more healthily. Eat less Pringles and Snickers, drink less Coca-Cola. Stop taking [so much] sugar in tea.

38. Be less abrupt / belligerent when writing work e-mails.

39. Re-read “How to Deal with People You Can’t Stand”.

40. Donate 1.6% of gross income to charity. Make sure to claim tax relief. Vive la Grande Société.

41. Start unsubscribing / blocking emails where you’re clearly on a marketing list in an effort to reduce time wasted checking emails.

42. Invest in the following DVD box-sets: The West Wing, Blackadder and (New) Doctor Who Series 1-5.

43. Be less critical – especially of the Irish.

44. Don’t get angry with people whose opinions diverge from your own.

45. Learn to roller-blade. Consider feasibility of commuting via roller-blading or push-scooter.

46. Spend less time worrying about other people’s problems.

47. Invest in some sort of self-help book for serial monogamists. Time to stop being
so bad at this dating malarkey.

48. Go to three Village Drinks events but don’t get stupidly drunk while there.

49. Embrace Cloud computing – transfer all important digital documents to a cloud storage service.

50. As always, be yourself. Be happy. Enjoy 2011.

2010 New Year's Resolutions Review

2010-12-31T21:13:00.010+01:00

Resolution	Kept	Not
01. Cease morbid obsession with sad things. Stop being obsessive actually altogether. People at department stores really don't appreciate it when you switch off their unused electricity sockets.	x
02. Find another ~150 corks to finish of my second cork board before the year is out.	x
03. Don't lose a single umbrella all year.	x
04. Listen to happier music - ban James Blunt, U2, Five for Fighting and Michael Bublé altogether.	x
05. Be less tolerant with people who are late - stick to your guns. Since this annoys you immensely you ought to say so rather than submit to the inevitable lateness of rude friends.	x
06. Eat as many winegums as your heart desires and don't worry about the price anymore. If you don't make it to 2011 you'll be glad to have kept this resolution.	x
07. Get a better fashion sense. Current theme of 'wear whatever is clean and ironed' clearly isn't working.	x
08. Arrive punctual and happy to work.		x
09. Limit drinks during the week to a 'sociable' minimum.		x
10. Cancel Orange Broadband Dongle - out of contract, hardly ever used and now just a waste of good money.	x
11. Reduce clutter. Scan in all old paperwork and recycle the lot.	x
12. Throw away receipts older than two years. I have complete personal receipts back to age 16 and that takes up many, many shoeboxes. Get rid finally.	x
13. Make at least one iPod work again.		x
14. Buy a decent pair of headphones.	x
15. Play more games. Brought back Risk, Monopoly, Othello and Backgammon from Wales this Christmas. Play them all, as frequently as possible. Invest in a set of "Go".	x
16. Improve Chess skill level substantially. Learn to play a new board game regularly. Avoid learning too much about card games.		x
17. Take the next level of French class on completing the current one.		x
18. Begin some sort of professional vocational qualification - either in finance or computing. Decide which.	x
19. Dust and vacuum more often. Once a year would be an improvement. Find someone to do this.	x
20. Eat less cheese and try to make sauccisson bought at Borough Market last more than a day.		x
21. Invite more people to dinner. Try to eat alone less frequently, especially in restaurants - it's not very becoming, really.	x
22. Replace mobile phone. Sell old one to someone in Africa.	x
23. Don't call call-centres unless absolutely essential. Write no letters of complaint whatsoever.	x
24. Re-arrange living situation - need a double bed and an electric blanket.	x
25. Stop drinking red wine in bed. Duvet covers are too expensive to be disposed of weekly.		x
26. Find out how to strengthen nails without making them shiny with gunk bought. Buy something to remove shiny gunk.		x
27. Take a minimalist's approach to bunch of keys. 11 are surely not actually needed on a daily basis.	x
28. Reduce the number of bottles on my now fragile bathroom shelf. 90% aren't used any more. Perhaps there's an eBay market place for half-used expensive (but useless) hair stuff? Look into this.	x
29. Drink more tea. It's all been down hill since you reduced your tea intake. Stop taking sugar with tea.	x
30. Forget all of the boys who have sensibly forgotten me.	x
31. Work out a standard spiel for graciously and sincerely accepting compliments without being offensive or dismissive.	x
32. Accept that there are limits and that you too are bound by them.		x
33. Re-pot my beloved and only house plant. It's twice as big as it was 5 years ago when I bought it whilst at University.		x
34. Consider re-evaluating policy of having mobile phone switched on 24/7.	x
35. Go to Wales a maximum of twice this year. Your family are just as capable of travelling as you are and would likely benefit from a change of scenery. Encourage them to visit London.		x
36. Really make the most of the weekends. This doesn't mean be drunk and/or sleeping from 6pm Friday to 6am Monday.		x
37. Have the lovely Amazon people send a book per month sent to your twin brother. He likes reading and his total abject poverty shouldn't stop him.		x
38. Buy a stamp, at least once every 3 months. Not knowing the price of a stamp is not funny. I can't believe they're 39p. They were about 21p last time I bought a stamp.		x
39. Engage a lawyer to draft a Last Will & Testament - "End of Life Issues" are neglected by most young(ish) people - don't fall into this statistic.	x
40. Keep your food cupboards better stocked. Commence a phased reduction of ridiculously vast personal stationary store.	x
41. Replace bicycle helmet.	x
42. Try Hydrotherapy.		x
43. Learn to cheer yourself up. Quite good at cheering others up - can't be hard to project that inwards as well as externally.	x
44. Take a proper holiday and really relax. Leave Europe on holiday at least once. Perhaps it's time you visited Egypt?		x
45. Visit Kew - the Gardens and the National Archives.	x
46. Try to eat breakfast most days.	x
47. Close Blockbuster account - they have cripplingly high late fines.	x
48. Finally visit The Château de Chenonceau and make sure you do so at a time whereby you can row a boat down the river. Procrastination alone stopped you from doing this last year, idiot.		x
49. Design and deploy a Twitter Background.	x
50. However reluctantly; consider investing in a television.	x
51. Be yourself and enjoy 2010.	x

Death Tax

2010-02-15T11:30:00.001+01:00

Nightmares

2010-01-10T11:28:00.002+01:00

Lately I've had five reoccurring dreams / nightmares:-

1) Annoying someone in the street and then being shot, specifically in the neck.
2) Being hospitalised with the flu.
3) Running completely out of money.
4) Dreaming that my mother is alive and then losing her, again.
5) Inadvertently failing to attend work for a day and being sacked as a result.

formspring.me

2010-01-08T15:23:00.001+01:00

Are you afraid of dying?

I'm afraid of not doing enough before I go.

Ask me anything

2010 New Years Resolutions

2009-12-31T15:44:00.003+01:00

Is it bad luck to post this before midnight? Who cares...

01. Cease morbid obsession with sad things. Stop being obsessive actually altogether. People at department stores really don't appreciate it when you switch off their unused electricity sockets.

02. Find another ~150 corks to finish of my second cork board before the year is out.

03. Don't lose a single umbrella all year.

04. Listen to happier music - ban James Blunt, U2, Five for Fighting and Michael Bublé altogether.

05. Be less tolerant with people who are late - stick to your guns. Since this annoys you immensely you ought to say so rather than submit to the inevitable lateness of rude friends.

06. Eat as many winegums as your heart desires and don't worry about the price anymore. If you don't make it to 2011 you'll be glad to have kept this resolution.

07. Get a better fashion sense. Current theme of 'wear whatever is clean and ironed' clearly isn't working.

08. Arrive punctual and happy to work.

09. Limit drinks during the week to a 'sociable' minimum.

10. Cancel Orange Broadband Dongle - out of contract, hardly ever used and now just a waste of good money.

11. Reduce clutter. Scan in all old paperwork and recycle the lot.

12. Throw away receipts older than two years. I have complete personal receipts back to age 16 and that takes up many, many shoeboxes. Get rid finally.

13. Make at least one iPod work again.

14. Buy a decent pair of headphones.

15. Play more games. Brought back Risk, Monopoly, Othello and Backgammon from Wales this Christmas. Play them all, as frequently as possible. Invest in a set of "Go".

16. Improve Chess skill level substantially. Learn to play a new board game regularly. Avoid learning too much about card games.

17. Take the next level of French class on completing the current one.

18. Begin some sort of professional vocational qualification - either in finance or computing. Decide which.

19. Dust and vacuum more often. Once a year would be an improvement. Find someone to do this.

20. Eat less cheese and try to make sauccisson bought at Borough Market last more than a day.

21. Invite more people to dinner. Try to eat alone less frequently, especially in restaurants - it's not very becoming, really.

22. Replace mobile phone. Sell old one to someone in Africa.

23. Don't call call-centres unless absolutely essential. Write no letters of complaint whatsoever.

24. Re-arrange living situation - need a double bed and an electric blanket.

25. Stop drinking red wine in bed. Duvet covers are too expensive to be disposed of weekly.

26. Find out how to strengthen nails without making them shiny with gunk bought. Buy something to remove shiny gunk.

27. Take a minimalist's approach to bunch of keys. 11 are surely not actually needed on a daily basis.

28. Reduce the number of bottles on my now fragile bathroom shelf. 90% aren't used any more. Perhaps there's an eBay market place for half-used expensive (but useless) hair stuff? Look into this.

29. Drink more tea. It's all been down hill since you reduced your tea intake. Stop taking sugar with tea.

30. Forget all of the boys who have sensibly forgotten me.

31. Work out a standard spiel for graciously and sincerely accepting compliments without being offensive or dismissive.

32. Accept that there are limits and that you too are bound by them.

33. Re-pot my beloved and only house plant. It's twice as big as it was 5 years ago when I bought it whilst at University.

34. Consider re-evaluating policy of having mobile phone switched on 24/7.

35. Go to Wales a maximum of twice this year. Your family are just as capable of travelling as you are and would likely benefit from a change of scenery. Encourage them to visit London.

36. Really make the most of the weekends. This doesn't mean be drunk and/or sleeping from 6pm Friday to 6am Monday.

37. Have the lovely Amazon people send a book per month sent to your twin brother. He likes reading and his total abject poverty shouldn't stop him.

38. Buy a stamp, at least once every 3 months. Not knowing the price of a stamp is not funny. I can't believe they're 39p. They were about 21p last time I bought a stamp.

39. Engage a lawyer to draft a Last Will & Testament - "End of Life Issues" are neglected by most young(ish) people - don't fall into this statistic.

40. Keep your food cupboards better stocked. Commence a phased reduction of ridiculously vast personal stationary store.

41. Replace bicycle helmet.

42. Try Hydrotherapy.

43. Learn to cheer yourself up. Quite good at cheering others up - can't be hard to project that inwards as well as externally.

44. Take a proper holiday and really relax. Leave Europe on holiday at least once. Perhaps it's time you visited Egypt?

45. Visit Kew - the Gardens and the National Archives.

46. Try to eat breakfast most days.

47. Close Blockbuster account - they have cripplingly high late fines.

48. Finally visit The Château de Chenonceau and make sure you do so at a time whereby you can row a boat down the river. Procrastination alone stopped you from doing this last year, idiot.

49. Design and deploy a Twitter Background.

~~50. However reluctantly; consider investing in a television.~~

51. Be yourself and enjoy 2010.

2009 - Review Part III

2009-12-31T15:31:00.002+01:00

The High-Level Review

Happiness

This year I've been more aware than ever of my mood swings. I bounce from deliriously happy to morbidly, deeply depressed completely effortlessly. Must get it under control for the sake of both myself and my few suffering friends, colleagues and family. Made more friends, more easily this year than in previous ones - they've brought me a great deal of happiness. Didn't visit France once; unsure whether it's a good or a bad place for me to cheer up. I've also decided that I do love London, afterall. (Not as much as Paris, of course)

Wealth

Wealthier than last year (more luck than good judgement, frankly) but far more volatility in personal finances. On course for a very good 2010 though, pleasingly.

Health

2009 was a very bad year for physical and metal health. I can't even bring myself to blog just how bad it's been; just take my word for it. Hoping for an improvement in 2010.

2009 - Review Part II

2009-12-31T15:29:00.001+01:00

I've considered all 40 of my 2009 New Years Resolutions and whether or not I'd kept them. It's not black and white at all but here goes:

1. No chance - not even close. Less fitness-related new years resolutions next year, I think - they're just not achievable.
2. Happily, yes.
3. No and I've decided not to since I can now get this for free.
4. I certainly read at least two but didn't finsih all that I'd started. I suppose I've added another 5 or 6 to my list of 'in progress'
5. No, though I have started lessons which are proving more effective.
6. I did more but also thought more. Unsure that the ratios involved between the two things actually changed very much.
7. I took salsa for a month or two but it was inconvenient to get to after work. I'll look into restarted this as it was vaguely enjoyable.
8. Perhaps not strictly once a month but sometimes more, sometimes less. In any case, I'm happy I enjoyed quite a lot of good films. The best of the year was "My Sister's Keeper".
9. Yes, I've succeeded here - mostly cycling but I've covered a lot of London and I estimate my cycling to have been approximately 2,000 miles this year.
10. I did join the climbing wall and but enjoyed the bouldering more than the climbing so I've stuck with that. It's very costly and so I haven't been as often as I'd have liked. I also joined the British Mountaineering Council.
11. Yes, I've been more patient this year. Some will find this hard to believe.
12. I've worried this year more than previous ones, but then I've genuinely had more to worry about. If we were to normalise the amount of worrying by removing the 'bad 2009' factors, I feel I've done brilliantly.
13. Yes, I did it twice. Ached like crazy and felt damned foolish with the breathing exercises. Not my bag of chips, baby.
14. I learnt how but rarely actually put this knowledge to use.
15. I cannot sleep on my back. If sort of illness necessitates this one day, it will be fatal as I cannnot do it.
16. I had less haircuts but spent more money - little and lamentable actual improvements.
17. Mostly ironed shirts first thing in the morning in a mad rush.
18. No but did go swimming far more than in 2008.
19. No - I did try and get in touch through the website but the local party must be very poorly organised as they haven't been in touch. Feeling stragely apathetic this year anyway.
20. I went to a fair few but not enough. More improvement required.
21. I did cook more often and I learnt how to cook a fillet steak to 9/10 standard.
22. Complete success - I have now had unique lunches since August 2008, inclusive.
23. Yes, I did cut down on alcohol drinking frequency but probably overall increased the volume.
24. Easily managed 7 glasses of water a day.
25. Yes - thank goodness for Men's Health Magazine and it's very basic cooking instructions.
26. Yes, I didn't incur any new fees but decided that since I rarely use the library there's little actual benefit to paying them since no one is going to take me to court (touch wood) for £6 odd.
27. Yes
28. No - not one. Just didn't get around to it - the summer seemed so short and full of woes.
29. Tricky one! "Could've done better" but not a bad try.
30. Increased intake of all vitimins with the introduction of a complete multi-vitamin tablet into my daily routine.
31. Yes - only 5 rolls of winegums costing more than 40p purchased this year.
32. Apart from one train ticket, to visit my Eldest brother on his return to Iraq. Not really life or death but it was a last minute decision so just had to do it.
33. Yes but probably substituted for sweets instead.
34. This was expensive and although it's worked to some degree, not happy with the result yet.
35. Probably, roughly.
36. No, not at all.
37. Yes, probably more than 90% actually and I extended it from April to December.
38. Yes.
39. No.
40. Yes. Good bargain on this PC too.

2009 - Review Part I

2009-12-15T13:52:00.010+01:00

What. A. Year. (WAY) :o)

A year during which the above odd new punctuation style first became known to me, on twitter. For that matter, a year during which I finally succumbed to the lure of twitter.

Cliché as it is, this year has been a real 'roller-coaster' year. It's had some of the biggest / most prolonged highs and one or two of the deepest lows I've ever experienced.

A very quick glance backward on these last, short, twelve months and I instantly - morbidly - ranked 2009 at third-worst of my life, just behind 2000 and 2007, in first and second worst place respectively.

But was it really as bad as all that?

On the plus side:-

I achieved 67.5% of my 40 new year's resolutions - a thorough review of these is to follow as well as the compilation of a new list for 2010.

I've made some good new friends - much needed.

A new job found me and I left the miserable and obscure company I had previously been slaving for - greatly improving my work/life balance.

I learnt to share my life and my personality, a little. Mixed success - naturally.
J'ai amélioré mon français, un peu.

Went on about 100 first dates. Yes, you heard right. In fact, I'm going to record some of them...

Dear reader, I bid you warm welcome to...

Scott's First Date Awards - MMIX

The Top 5

First Place - JO

No contest - won hands down, fair and square. Truly wonderful lad from Hull who runs a pub. Very last minute and spontaneous first date arranged in Shoreditch, London. Only person I've met in many years who I'd seriously have wanted to share my life with. Honest and sensitive, interesting and intelligent. Sensibly rejected me after third date and posted a hand written 'goodbye letter' about which I have mixed feelings.

Second Place - RW

Very frighteningly - like me! (I know - poor thing) Very 'compatible'. Works for The Bank of England (An economist.. urgh) but interested in history books and adores wine and travel. Lives in Greenwich in a flat spookily furnished with almost precisely the same items as you'd find in my humble East London abode. First date was outside a bar at the very windy Canary Wharf and I was bitterly cold. Lost touch somehow - a shame.

Third Place - AW

Another nice Northerner - humble and calm - a very nice person to be around but failed to arouse any interest in more than a cup of tea and a biscuit, either in me or himself (apparently). Date was initially a cup of tea at my pad which actually turned into dinner, film and a long chat into the small hours. Still in touch.

Fourth Place - AR

Spontaneous dates tend to be more successful in my experience. This one consisted of a very last minute dinner with a funny and interesting architect from Sweden, after work - mid week - in a perfect restaurant in Angel, (Elk in the Woods) followed by cocktails - though he didn't (assuming still doesn't) drink. Saw one another for a couple of weeks before I was rejected over commitment

Fifth Place - JM

Strictly speaking, this was a second date since we met very briefly in late 2008, long enough to exchange numbers and take about 6 weeks to arrange the first date of 2009 on a cold night in January. Exceptionally interesting person - very knowledgeable and the conversation was stimulating - first over cocktails, then over dinner and finally over the dance floor (also happened to be one of the most competent non-professional dancers I've come across to date). Managed to seem very interested in me that evening but alas, the night proved to be one of those 'one-hit-wonders' - really great but never repeated.

The Bottom 5

Worst - ??

Can't even remember the initials, let alone first name or telephone number. A dreadful, vein Italian 'model' who arrived late, who'd aged badly on his way into his mid 30s (helped along no-doubt by over-use of the tanning machine). Perhaps my most boring date ever - not just 2009 - and although it was only about 16:30, insisted on 'taking me for dinner', in a lamentable £3.95 Chinese buffet in Soho, which I had to pay for since they wouldn't accept cards and he didn't have cash on him. We parted almost immediately after dinner, thankfully.

Second Worst - SJ

I'd been out drinking with work colleagues and I turned up an hour late and so drunk I could barely speak. Entirely my fault. Very awkward and short conversation with a very awkward and short person who had a very awkward and short temper. Invited me to a very over-sized bar (huge and empty) on Brick Lane at about 8pm. I arrived at about 9pm (having forgotten all about it until he text, cross having waited for an hour) and I was back in the pub with my colleagues by 9.45pm as it was just very obvious we didn't like one another. So that was that.

Third Worst - NC

A sober daytime date - risky always. Saturday afternoon - offered to take me for a walk around Victoria Park. When he arrived he seemed hangover and or very, very tired. Was just finishing an espresso as he plodded (15 minutes late) up to me, and then insisted on being allowed to buy another before he'd be ready to walk anywhere at all. Moped around the park stopping to sit at every opportunity - didn't really seem interested in talking to me so much as staring into space. Very arty, lovely looking etc. but just vacuous in the extreme. Asked if I had coffee in the house. Replied that no I didn't, and don't, since my first and last cup of coffee was in Ireland in 1995. I didn't like it so didn't have it ever again - I decided to treat this particular coffee-drinker in the same manner as I treated coffee itself: once was enough.

Fourth Worst - PW

Cinema dates don't work - they're a nice idea but really it's just not the most sociable place. Enjoyed the film but at the end found we'd booked at an awkward time so that it was too late to sensibly stay out any longer and too early to be satisfied that the whole evening had been well spent mid week - c.10pm. Awkward exchange of promises to do something again soon followed by a short (and final) goodbye.

Fifth Worst - DL

Originally had grand plans to see something great at the Barbican or somewhere similar, maybe have dinner beforehand too. This was downsized by me on realising that it was an awkward time of the month (cash flow-wise) for me (something like the day or two before payday.) Thinking cap on, I ended up proposing taking a commuter river-boat down to Greenwich and back, from Canary Wharf. The boat had a bar, thankfully, and I love the Thames Clippers services past Canary Wharf because the speed restriction isn't applicable and that allows the boats to speed up such that your hair (and Gin if it's carelessly positioned) is blown backwards with significant force - quite invigorating. Alas, that was all that was invigorating. I suspect I was to blame for a very quiet, shy performance from my date: I had probably been something of an anti-climax as a ticket for a trip on the Thames wasn't quite the tickets to Tchaikovsky we'd both have preferred.

Why insisting that banks count and disclose how many employees on it's payroll earn £1million + is not a good idea.

2009-11-26T12:05:00.004+01:00

I read today that the latest knee-jerk policy suggestion to come from the banking crisis is the idea of forcing banks to disclose the number of staff the bank employees who earn a million pounds a year or more.

Now that my initial objection based entirely on 'this doesn't sound right' (Governments "forcing" always sets alarm bells ringing for me) has passed I've been able to afford this proposal more rational, relaxed and objective consideration and this process has led me to the following conclusions, in bullet as I'm conscious few people read paragraphs nowadays.

The number of £1m + earners (£1M+Es) in a bank will be falsely regarded as somehow indicative of a banks propensity for risk-taking or remunerating too liberally: as though this very high-level figures would somehow be meaningful - whereas in fact this will be a media-friendly figure, it is also very easily misunderstood and thoroughly hollow.

E.g. If Bank-A for example were to be forced to disclose that they have say 100 £1M+Es, and another, Bank-B were to disclose that they had 75, Bank-C forced to show that they had 50+ - whereas we might quickly establish a 'league table' for Banks A-C of £1M+Es in banks, this information has no intrinsic value whatsoever.

Whereas I suspect it likely that the general public and media (nowadays so quick to be against high-remuneration for those of us in the financial sector) would enjoy a few days or weeks of media-fuelled faux-anger with nasty Bank-A for supporting more £1M+Es than either Bank-B or C, there would be little benefit to a regulator, consumer or the industry as a whole.
For too many people the idea of earning in excess of £1 million a year is incomprehensible - it's not an amount that can be sensibly compared or related to and so inevitably triggers resentment.
This sort of high-level statistic wouldn't help anyone to govern banks since it wouldn't demonstrate a bank's tendency for risk-taking (or anything else) – it doesn't explain the reasons or considerations behind the pay packages and isn't easily (if indeed at all) comparable: though it is clearly designed to be crudely compared that would never be possible, accurate or beneficial. Bank-A / Bank-B may be bigger / smaller in very many different ways: one may have more staff but not more customers or more profit but less revenue, healthier margins but lower capital reserves or a less diverse portfolio.
The figure wouldn't even help see how much is spent per bank on the £1M+Es since although we'd know that Bank-A spends at least £100m year on remuneration for the £1M+Es and Bank-B spends at least £75m a year, we don't know which bank spends more (not that even knowing that would be particularly useful to my mind) since Bank-B may be spending £500m a year compared to Bank-A spending just £102m.
Even if it were possible to come up with some sort of complex formula which normalised the £1M+E count figures from bank to bank so that they were comparable – what would they propose to do about a bank which had more than an average (?) proportion of £1M+Es?

...Are we going to set arbitrary caps on the number of £1M+Es a bank may pay?
...Perhaps insist that the bank remove say 50 of it's top earners (i.e, decapitating its leadership and making people unemployed on a whim?)
As ever, the great threat to Britain's financial sector – people will just go elsewhere. If you effectively disincentivise higher earning goals in a bank or any other organisation, unilaterally as one country, you just encourage talent to move abroad, taking with business with them.
The amount that a bank pays a handful of individuals is fairly irrelevant, in the scheme of things – it's perhaps the easiest thing to wave a finger at but that's not what's needed now.

Ultimately, making public a high level statistic in this manner only invites misunderstanding, mass-hysteria and potentially unfair and unjustified damage to reputation for a bank without providing a shred of tangible or useful data. Decisions about remuneration require case-by-case, low-level and in-depth deliberations – this does not lend itself to high-level comparison and would need to be done by professionals - people with knowledge and understanding of what is a complex calculation in a highly advanced market. Another Sir Fred-Goodwin style public hate campaign on a larger scale should be avoided.

The Cheek of East London Bus Group

2009-11-03T21:10:00.003+01:00

Two weeks after I spent an hour on the telephone to their 'customer complaints department' asking that my journey fare (circa £1) was refund since it was terminated less than a third of the route, when a driver inexplicably stopped our bus at a station and opened the doors - most people including me - staying on the bus for 10-15 minutes wondering what was going on before finally giving up and getting off, still none the wiser, just late, I received the following response today via email:

Dear Mr Westron

I am writing in response to your complaint about your journey on route 8.

I was sorry to learn of the inconvenience you experienced, [Never mind that, you should be sorry for the poor service your company provided - I'm sorry about the 'inconvenience' too, your being sorry helps no-one] I would assure you that every effort is made to avoid buses breaking down. [Of course? But these things happen - it's life, I obviously realise that and don't expect for a moment that a bus or any other vehicle never break down...] On the odd occasion that this occurs, the driver should advise passengers of what has happened and arrange for passengers to transfer to the following bus without further payment. [He did not, of course] While there may be some inconvenience involved, [There - may - be?!] if passengers decide to make alternative arrangements [As opposed to sitting on the bus indefinitely?] to continue their journey, then we are not liable for any additional costs involved. [Never mind the additional cost (though now you mention it, since it's apparently rare you should certainly, provide a fare for an alternative mode of public transport e.g. the Tube / Overground) how about the fare for the journey, that's the least one should expect, surely?!]

I hope that this clarifies our position. [Clear as day: you couldn't care less]

Yours sincerely [I failed to pick up on the sincerity]

...

Customer Services Manager [Seriously?]

East London Bus Group

New Job = New Cycling Routes...

2009-10-04T14:32:00.010+02:00

... to map on google Earth.

Home to work, Monday-Wednesday 29-32 minutes:

9.52km / 5.91 miles

18.73km/hr, average

Est. 210 kcals/day

Work to Home, Monday-Wednesday 30-34 minutes:

9.46km / 5.88 miles

17.74km/hr, average

Est. 224 kcals/day

Home to Work, Thursday & Friday, 26-29 minutes:

8.01km / 4.98 miles

17.48km/hr, average

Est. 196 kcals/day

Work to Home, Thursday & Friday, 29-33 minutes

7.62km / 4.74 miles

14.75km/hr, average

Est. 217 kcals/day

---------------------------------

88.2km / 54.1 miles per week

Averge: 17.19km/hr

Est. 2128 kcals/week

---------------------------------

This needs to improve.

London's Small, Really

2009-08-13T01:20:00.002+02:00

Ha, I used to think London was dauntingly huge - far too big to cycle around comfortably. This isn't so though. I proved this today (again) by cycling from my house, to my gym (for an hour's swimming), the Central London for a drink, to South East London for (sort-of) dinner plus an errand and back. I made 23.2 miles and it was perfectly manageable.

I'm unsure quite how long this took but I'm quite sure it would have taken twice or three times as long via public transport. Thankfully the weather held for me as this has been the only sticking point of late whilst cycling.

Also worked out that getting to and from work each day is 5.7miles.

Oh No

2009-04-16T12:25:00.002+02:00

How disappointing to hear this morning that Sir Clement Freud has died. I'm truely saddened. What a loss.

GPS Exercise Recorder for BlackBerry - Brilliant

2009-04-13T22:59:00.003+02:00

This site does not support embedded trip maps. View the trip here instead.
Take a look at this - it's fantastic.

In my enduring battle to stay reasonably fit and healthy - in defiance of my irritating inheritance of genes apt to favour the contrary - I have today found another toy which I hope will help to spur a new revival in my jogging routine.

I've long found that jogging in the gym gets tremendously monotonous but that the statics which keep me interesting can only really be derived via the data recording made possible whilst on a treadmill.

The application, "All Sport GPS" works much like the (cost-prohibitive) watch I trialled whilst in Paris, except it conveniently sits on my smartphone and uses the built in GPS to track my whereabouts and then automatically uploads the .gpx file containing said data onto a server from which I can view a map, histogram and statistics. I can then monitor my progress (or otherwise) and compare my performance during each trip.

I'm delighted with it's perfectly well thought out usability and practicality - it's an excellent use of technology and although I've currently got just a 60 day free trial, I will be sure to be subscribing at the end of it.

Click here to view the data and trip.

My favourite kind of day...

2009-01-03T23:01:00.003+01:00

Today I continued my new-year-health-kick just about perfectly:-

I slept for 8 hours, ate a healthy breakfast of museli, dried fruit and nuts - good start to the day.

I went on to walk through the local Victoria Park, visited the British Museum to test my recently acquired knowledge of the ancient Greek artifacts. Two hours there was quite enough - the American and Japonese tourists there taking photos of everything. I suspect I've had my portrait snapped at least a dozen times as I strolled deliberately through their make-shift studios - they seem to manage to get the polite British to move out of the way and make plenty of rooms so that they can take half the gallery up taking a photo of one another but it means that people have to stop and wait while they do so.

Later I went to the gym (third day in a row, first day was working on upper-torso with some cardio, the next day was lower torso with no cardio and today was entirely cardio with no weights). I earned a 'well done' from the French personal trainer.

Afterwards I wandered through the assortment of Charing Cross bookstores for a while before spending nearly an hour shopping very carefully - two reasons/targets: super-healthy and budget. Reckon I've managed to get half the weeks food 100% healthy for less than £15.

Tried and failed to get a haircut. I think it might be sensible for me to take a course in hairdressing and do my own if that's at all possible. Thoroughly fed up of a) paying to have my hair shortened b) having to alot time to having someone do so.

For now I'm going to work a little more on my iPod (a friend got me one for Christmas and in doing so finally brought me into the Apple-world) so that I can fill it with interesting podcasts to soon enjoy. I find iTunes very awkward to use though compared with Mobile Windows Media which for so long sufficied as my mobile-music solution. We'll see how it goes...

Two Blogs in One Day - Good Start

2009-01-02T00:58:00.003+01:00

My day officially started at just after midnight, I suppose. I was with my friend, JAJ and we were rather ridiculously purched on a roof-balcony in Holborn, having tried and failed to see the fireworks over the Thames.

At about 11.00pm we walked, along with the other half a million or so people, in huge crowds down some of London's biggest streets, marshalled by scores of police before bailing-out on after taking a policeman's advice that there was no chance at all in us getting a good view by that point (as ever we'd left it too late). Instead then we duped a security guard into letting us trespass into a building... got to the 6th floor and found that luckily there was indeed a balcony and a toilet (both very hand on New Year's Eve.). We finally manged to set some alarm off and so sharpishly got out of the building and back into the choas for a while.

Visited a bar / club for a while but got squashed and fed up entirely so decided to go home.

On the way home, had to tolerate some truly horrible, drunken people from Bethnal Green (fun place it seems) attacking single women on the bus before slopping off to cause general destruction to anyone and anything in their way and finally dissapearing into the night, to my enormous relief. It all rather delayed the journey home which eventually took a couple of hours. (Sometimes I don't mind long journey's, othertimes I abhor them)

Anyway, finally got home somehow in one piece , got in a good night's sleep and woke surprisingly early - circa. 11am ; quite naturally. The alarm clock did go off at 7am (I must stop forgetting to switch it off when not needed) as I vaugely remember hopping across the room to thump it.

It was a slow start to the day and decided it was time to finally get back to the gym. I phoned and was amazed they were open on New Year's Day - it being a bank holiday, of course.

Second pleasant surprise of the day came when I decided to read some of my mass-mailed-emails which I rarely check these days. I discovered the Barbican were showing the 2008 version of La bohème (in a film) today and that as a member I was able to secure a few pounds off the price of going along. Consequently, I went and saw that en route.

Whilst I was there and since I'd arrived early, I also visited Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Frequency and Volume at the Curve which was genuinely a pleasure to 'take part' in. Appealing to me technologically and culturally/politically. Often when artists write some sort of blurb to explain their work it strikes me as utter nonsense written for the sole purpose of securing some sort of funding / grant but this was different, interesting and clever and I think everyone visiting whilst I was there had a novel smile on their face in appreciation of the work. Highly recommended by me anyhow.

The film was pretty great but I think I was in the wrong mood for it - I fidgetted like a schoolchild and probably annoyed my nearer neighbours by stretching all of my limbs in every concievable direction.

I've started getting quite good at zipping around on the London bus network and so used that to finally get down to the gym late this evening where I spent a long time discussing my needs with a personal trainer. Save for me alone the gym was entirely deserted and that was great - I was able to do just as I pleased without others getting in the way or feeling daft. I worked on my arms, neck and back muscles as well as having a quick jog to burn a couple of hundred calories. tomorrow will be a jog with abdominals and obliques and Saturday will be leg muscles and some rowing. It's a plan anyway, we'll show how we actually get on.

I am obliged to be in work tomorrow for about 5/6 hours in the middle of the day so I'd best go and get some sleep. Thankfully I'm now a lot warmer in my room as I bled the radiator (again - it's addictively satisifying), bought a higher-tog duvet and had a fleece blanket donated to me (the latter measure probably did more than anything else to improve my comfort at night, curiously enough).

New Year

2009-01-02T00:19:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I blogged and so I thought I'd get back to it.

I have actually decided to make it one of my resolutions for New Year - blog more...

Since I started working I genuinely haven't found time to blog much but I think it's a good thing to do once in a while - put things straight.

One of the first things I want to do is compile a proper list of my resolutions - I've been making loads of them up all day so thought it's time it was in writing.

Here goes, hold on tight:

Visit the gym at least six times a fortnight and spend at least 1 hour per visit. Follow and stick to programme and advice rather than just pottering around playing with random machines.
Listen to the radio more often.
Take out a new Economist subscription.
Read at least two books per month. Further, stop starting books and start finishing some! I have about 15 books on the go currently.
Complete the three self-teaching-French books, each that I've invested in, started well, but none of which I've ever got near to finishing.
Think less, do more. Many people have the opposite problem but I spend far too much time dreaming.
Take some form of dancing lessons - I like the idea of Salsa lessons personally. Attend at least three times per month.
Watch a good film at the cinema once a month at least.
Cycle, walk or run to explore more of London - this is a continuation of genuinely good progress made in the latter half of last year.
Enroll to learn how to climb properly - join the climbing wall and get qualified to the first / beginners level; whatever that may be.
Have more patience with people, especially with work colleagues.
Relax. Stop worrying and being angry about things all of the time. Write a maximum of five letters of complaint this year and avoid at all costs phoning call centres since I know from experience that they don't get me to where I want to go.
Consider Yoga. At least go and try it out and see if it helps.
Learn to stretch properly before exercising.
Try to learn to sleep on back instead of side.
Get less haircuts, buy less clothes, shave less often.
Iron shirts on the in bulk on the weekend instead of every morning in a rush. Look into costs for getting someone else to do this for me, for that matter.
Try to go swimming at least once a fortnight. Investigate best times to go.
Take out a new membership to a political party before April. Get in touch with local representatives.
Investigate all local public events - meetings and the arts. Attend as many as is humanly possible - stop being idle and using other things as an excuse to do nothing.
Cook more often - stop eating out, especially fast food. Cook lunch for work and take it in rather than buying lunch ready-made at least three out of five days per week.
Restart but continue no-repeating of lunches for 2009; following on from success of five month August to December trial in 2008 which included nearly 100 unique lunches.
Drink alcohol less frequently.
Drink yet more water following on from ten-glasses-a-day attempt of 2008 - failed. Attempt seven-glasses-per-day in 2009.
Learn to cook at least ten new different main meals and practice for near-perfection, preferably non-British.
Pay all library fines, avoid incurring any further fees.
Reduce overall commercial (student) debt by 15% by the end of the year. Repay all personal-debts by 24th birthday.
Learn to identify fifteenn different types of British tree by leaf, shape and bark.
Stop falling for people quite so quickly. Stop worrying about being single eternally. Make most of being single.
Increase intake of protein, Vitamin B1 and Zinc.
Reduce number of winegums bought at cornershops at unreasonably inflated 'convenience' prices - by wholesale if possible if not at least buy from major supermarkets.
Buy all long-distance train tickets in advance unless life-and-death emergency demands otherwise.
Eat less chocolate.
Investigate better facial moisturiser; aim for one which doesn't make sking so greesy.
Sleep for at least 56 hours per week; majority in the night.
Wake up with plenty of time for slow preparation in the morning for work 100% this year.
Walk / run / cycle 90% of the time to and from work between April and August.
Improve grammar.
Join British Museum friends and become member of Tate.
Replace computer. Seriously consider a Mac.

I can't pay my gas or electricty!

2008-09-11T19:38:00.002+02:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7609036.stm

While I was at University and working in a part-time job, I once joked with my fretful bank manager that my wages were so low that I could only afford a champagne at breakfast, one day a week. 'What am I to do for the other six days?', I asked.

Now this evening I was reading about the Labour Government's announced measures, designed to pacify those demanding help for the 'poor' this winter who can't afford to pay their energy bills and are as a consequence, purportedly facing dire hardship.

I came across a video at the bottom of the article which was of a young(ish) lady, a single mother of a boy who has a cold, who had a bit of debt with British Gas and struggled to pay (that's bene 'sorted' now).

She said she'd switched off the heating because she can't afford the gas bill. She has instead dressed her son in a jumper to keep him warm.

A few things struck me, so I thought I'd share them with you.

Firstly, her hair and dress were immaculate and included, I believe, a dyed hairstyle. I've recently been informed the cost of women's haircuts. OK, she may be talented or have a friend who might have helped with hairstyle and even the dye. Perhaps she got the dress in the sale or even made it herself. I do realise she was appearing on the BBC and would have wanted to look her best. Who knows... Putting that initial thought aside a moment...

What's wrong with wearing a jumper if it's cold instead of putting the heating on!?

I have often visited poorer members of my family, forever on the breadline, who are sat in the swealtering heat all winter but insist on always wearing next-to-nothing.

Being warm through dressing properly is not a travesty - it's sensible, simple and perfectly healthy.

My father keeps the heating and hot water in house off unless absolutely needed, even going so far as to boil a kettle to wash dishes.

I'm not for a moment suggesting she adopt that approach - you can't sit in the cold all winter with just a jumper, but certainly it helps.

Further, it's not been cold enough so far this year, I feel, to have the heating on. I haven't put my heating on whatsoever since moving here and spend most of my evenings in just PJs and a t-shirt quite comfotably until the sun goes down and after that I put something warmer on.

I even remember students who used to visit the library / stay in bed when it was seriously cold to avoid using the heating. (So that they could afford to go out drinking instead)

All sensible, it seems to me.

Next the camera moved to watch her typing away at her laptop, which was a Windows Vista machine. Astonished, I paused the video to check and yes, there on the laptop there was the windows vista compatibility logo. That means she's had a brand new laptop and paid a premium to have the latest OS within the last 18 months, tops. Mightn't she have been better off if she'd bought a laptop on eBay / some other second hand source / bought a cheap laptop without vista ... or went to her local library and used the internet for free there?

Finally, the icing on the cake for me came when I noticed a bottle on the table. No, not a bottle of warm milk for her baby. No, not a bottle of water for herself. Neither was it a bottle of cheap and cheerful red wine to help herself to occasionally this winter...

...it was a bottle of Moet et Chandon, rosé champagne!

What in the name of god is that woman complaining about!?

The life of luxury that many of us have become accustomed to might just have to be adjusted and it's unlikely to be has heartbreakingly difficult as the tabloids might have us believe.

To my manager, who is often talking about how short of cash he and his partner are, I point-blank asked why he's always broke. He said his outgoings were £1700 per month. He lives in a two bedroom council flat, has one child and a partner who also works full time.

He really couldn't tell me why he was forever broke but I did hear him later talking, on his personal blackberry mobile phone about his new laptop, new car, his heavy drinking weekends and gambling on the sun newspaper's website. Another mystry to file under 'case-solved' I think...

I for one am glad that Brown hasn't introduced a windfall tax. That's not to say that I'm glad about the obscene profits that the energy companies make, but I do think that would have been a mistake. Not doing so, I think, is the best decision he's made so far in his Premiership.

Credit Crunch II

2008-08-25T16:41:00.002+02:00

I've now seen Maynard's Winegums in Tesco for 38p! That's an extra 2p since May 2008. I'll have to start cutting back...

Credit Crunch

2008-06-30T09:43:00.003+02:00

I'm starting to feel the first effects of the credit crunch. It's with deep regret that I report that this morning I saw a pack of Winegums on sale at Tesco for 37p, up from their usual 36p.

La majorité des français sont pessimiste...

2008-06-25T13:18:00.002+02:00

It struck me as odd today that the usually finicky EU Observer entitled an article:

Majority of French pessimistic about their country's EU presidency

...Strange because this would have done nicely:

Majority of French pessimistic ~~about their country's EU presidency.~~

Do I need a TV licence to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer?

2008-06-20T15:59:00.000+02:00

You do not need a television licence to watch programmes on the current version of BBC iPlayer.

You will need to be covered by a TV licence if and when the BBC provides a feature that enables you to watch 'live' TV programmes on any later version of BBC iPlayer, which has this option. Your TV licence for your home address will cover your use of the BBC iPlayer in your home (and outside the home if you use BBC iPlayer on a laptop or any other device which is powered solely by its own internal batteries).

A 'live' TV programme is a programme, which is watched or recorded at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is being broadcast or otherwise distributed to members of the public. As a general rule, if a person is watching a programme on a computer or other device at the same time as it is being shown on TV then the programme is 'live'. This is sometimes known as simulcasting.

You cannot currently watch 'live' TV programmes as part of BBC iPlayer, however, we hope to offer this function in the future.

What will happen if I don't have a TV licence?

It is a criminal offence to watch 'live' television without a TV licence or to posses or control a device which you know or reasonably believe will be used to watch 'live' TV without a TV licence. You could be prosecuted and fined up to £1000 (plus be ordered to pay legal costs) for these offences.

Where can I buy a TV licence or get more details?

To buy a TV licence or to obtain further information about licensing requirements call TV Licensing on 0870 241 5590 or visit www.tvlicensing.co.uk.

Second Attempt

2008-05-05T05:21:00.001+02:00

So this was my second attempt at using Google Sketchup, created tonight. Do let me know what you think. Those of you who know this house especially.

Wall Street

2008-05-01T01:07:00.001+02:00

Parthenon, Athens

2008-04-26T10:45:00.002+02:00

Well now, in my search for 'different' ways to pass the time on a Saturday morning... I came across yet another superb free application from Google. It's called SketchUp (which my spellchecker wants to correct to 'ketchup'). A couple of hours spent playing with it so far let me create a very basic, (badly scaled, pitched etc.) 3D model of the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens. It's a really easy to use, clever program and I'd recommend it to anyone with some time on their hands. I do of course plan to do something a bit better but as a very first attempt, I'm reasonably proud of my self (even though I've nothing to be proud of, the fact that I was able to do it is down to the clever people who programmed it so neatly).

TV5 Monde - Good site

2008-04-25T03:34:00.003+02:00

So this is what I was getting up to last night. Found a great tool on the TV5Monde website which has (reasonably) current affairs news broadcast extracts in French, along with exercises and 'tests' (as such) to complete. I completed 8 different tests, 7 completely perfectly and 1 with 1 mistake: namely I misheard the pronounced "six" and "dix".

I was quite pleased with myself and hope to progress sufficiently that I can do all of the exercises soon. They take me a while so I didn't finish them all tonight - I will do battle again tomorrow.

In other news:

Today I went to opticians to have another eye test and have my glasses sent off to be made up. I'm looking forward to wearing less cumbersome glasses whilst reading and using the net; especially since it is between those two occupations I spend most of my days currently.

Tomorrow morning EMP & I are going to the hairdresser here in Swansea to sort out her hair. Well overdue - she hasn't had it cut in a year! Today we got some new clothes - one expensive outfit and tomorrow we're hitting the shops again - this time for more reasonably priced attire. Unfortunately, we've missed many of the sales; but we'll struggle on somehow, I'm sure.

What did you do?

2008-03-30T07:13:00.004+02:00

[Person 1] asks: "So... What did you do in the early hours (before dawn broke) of Sunday 30th March?"

[Person 2] says "Uhh.. Sleep!?" ... "Why? What did you do?"

[Person 1] excitedly informs [Person 2] that he had "researched all 53 of the Heads of State and Heads of Government in the 27 European Countries and then made them into flashcards with photographs so that people (including myself) can memorise them... Then I shared them on-line for free, look: http://www.byki.com/lists/Politics-current-affairs/Eu-states-heads-of-state-government"

[Person 2] "Don't go anywhere, I'll call the Doctor..."

Sleepless

2008-03-30T05:49:00.003+02:00

This weekend I've given my credentials as a nocturnal maniac-obsessive to the absolute test. Not entirely sure why I've chosen this weekend but so far I have slept zero hours of the night and only about five hours over two days during the day.

Sure - That all sounds a little dire - but it works:-

I've caught up on all the worlds news, reorganised much of my life through some new and innovative web based applications and exploited that new level of hyper-organisation to conduct a very thorough job search and short-listing compilation project (Approx. 30 hours work over Friday - Saturday) stretching from here to London.

I've also eaten my three square meals; all entirely healthy, done some exercise, been out for a long walk (in the rain) and kept up to date with family and friends in the meantime.

The conclusion: If only I could get a 'proper' job working during the nights and perhaps afternoons too, I would be super-productive and ludicrously efficient. Of course another advantage is that there is no wine in this house - that might well have been a downfall... the almost complete lack of alcohol has surely helped spur my creativity. I really am considering going teetotal... by the way.

My Personality Profile

2008-03-29T10:14:00.002+01:00

Nearly 500 questions (proving firstly that I do have patience once in a while) of a psychology survey resulted in this:

Your Personality Profile:

Extraversion
Openness
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability

The profile above describes you in terms of the five factor model of personality. Research over many years, using many questionnaires, in all kinds of languages and cultures, has consistently demonstrated that responses to personality questionnaires (which are self-reports of your feelings, thoughts and behaviour), cluster together according to five themes; we call each theme a personality "factor". Think of these five factors as providing a "map" of your personality. In the same way that different points on a map are described very well by latitude, longitude and altitude (a 3 factor model), people's self-reported feelings, thoughts and behaviour are described very well by the five factor model of personality. So what are the five factors?

Extraversion: High scores reflect a tendency to be sociable, enthusiastic, assertive, and to experience strong positive emotions. Low scores reflect the tendency to be quieter, milder, more reserved, and not as "wired" and in need of stimulation.

Openness: This is short for "Openness to Experience". High scores reflect intellectual curiosity, creativity, and interest in culture and aesthetics. Low scores reflect the tendency to be more practical and conservative, less dreamy and idealistic.

Agreeableness: High scores reflect a tendency to be friendly, trusting, tolerant and modest. Low scores reflect the tendency to be more "tough-minded" or "hard-hearted", more impatient, suspicious, and canny.

Conscientiousness: High scorers are proactive, responsible, thorough, organized and hard-working. Lower scorers are less disciplined, and more hasty or distractible; not as concerned about following rules and being a good citizen.

Emotional Stability: High scores reflect a tendency to be calm, optimistic, clear thinking and "chilled-out". Low scores reflect the tendency to worry, over-react, and be more susceptible to moodiness, anxiety and even fearfulness.

International Space Station Tracker

2008-03-29T07:20:00.002+01:00

Well... who knew?

This site allows you to see where the international space station is, over earth... and it goes a lot quicker than I'd have imagined. In the time I kept it on the screen it went from about mexico to the south atlantic - about 5 minutes (probably a few thousands miles!).

http://www.n2yo.com/

Brilliant Photography - Alex Salmond MSP

2008-03-27T03:13:00.001+01:00

Tee hee hee...

Cork Board

2008-03-26T03:36:00.003+01:00

God - Cluny vs. Monty Python

2008-01-27T22:48:00.000+01:00

See what I mean...

Mars!

2008-01-02T12:37:00.000+01:00

Well who knew Mars was still being explored by the Rovers? I certainly had no idea, imaging that they had a few weeks of life, but they've been up there for months and years apparently. In November they took this fantastic shot of a ridge, which looks to me to be a sedimentary rock formation? Fantastic quality, much better than the last time I saw a photo from Mars.

Beijing Olympics Stadium

2008-01-01T16:50:00.001+01:00

Wow-wee. Now that's an impressive stadium, wouldn't you agree? Actually I think that's the single most breathtakingly impressive bit of architecture to have been erected in recent history. I'm very impressed. Starting: 08/08/08. Can't forget that, can we? 219 days to go.

Christmas

2007-12-25T20:05:00.000+01:00

I feel that I should write a blog entry for Christmas but actually feel a little too deflated to try, so here is the token entry.

Prospective films to watch this week...

2007-12-16T17:48:00.000+01:00

Pick from:

Elizabeth: The Golden Age: Drama / History (2007)
I'm Not There: Drama / Music (2007)
My Blueberry Nights: Drama / Romance (2007)
The Heartbreak Kid: Comedy / Romance (2007)
We Own the Night: Crime / Drama (2007)

Les échecs...

2007-12-15T23:53:00.000+01:00

J'aime jouer aux échecs
Gem joo_ay ooh zay-sheks

J'aime les échecs
Gem layza-sheks

Currency Conversion

2007-12-10T22:59:00.001+01:00

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J'ai fait des progrès en français récemment

2007-12-10T20:50:00.001+01:00

Yes, it is slow. But I'm learning daily bits'n'bobs. Probably not ideal the way to learn, but it's the best I have at the moment. Today I am concious that I have learnt:

mon pauvre - literally, "my poor" but probably better translated as "poor you"

tout à fait - a phrase for agreement, "completely", "absolutely" or '"indeed".

épouvantable - horrendous / appauling.

tais toi / moins fort - be quiet (politely but direct)

tu peux te taire s'il te plait - can you please be quiet

I am also working through a grammar book and plan later to explain some of the grammar I have leant by extending this blog with some examples.

:o)

22 Years 2 Months 8 Days

2007-11-30T02:37:00.000+01:00

Today is my 8104th day alive. I'm disappointed not to have found this particularly useful on-line tool sooner, since I missed the 8000 anniversary (19th August 2007) which I do feel ought to have been celebrated. (9000 is a few years off after-all). Thankfully I've found it now and there are some significant anniversaries fast approaching which I'll be sure to lament upon. For example:

200,000 hours: Friday, 18 July 2008, 05:52:00
9,000 days: Saturday, 15 May 2010, 21:52:00
10,000 days: Friday, 8 February 2013, 21:52:00
15,000,000 minutes: Tuesday, 1 April 2014, 13:52:00
1500 weeks: Monday, 23 June 2014, 21:52:00
1,000,000,000 seconds: Thursday, 1 June 2017, 23:38:40

So, who's free for an all night-party on the 18th of July 2008?

Thanks to the ever boggling, http://www.timeanddate.com to whom I owe untold hours of procrastination.

Stop Press: I'm in Love

2007-11-20T14:58:00.000+01:00

Why stop the press though? Because the age of print, popular in Europe since 1300AD, may finally be coming to an end. I love books but I love, love love this:

Amazon Kindle

Wow. Wow. Wow. I sincerely hope they ship to France for Christmas. Touch on the expensive side, I grant you. £195 - 280 euros.

2007-11-16T00:10:00.000+01:00

THE PAIN IN THE NECK - De Gaulle and the Strategy of Ingratitude
“General de Gaulle saved France, or so he often said. But who saved de Gaulle and why did he repay them with spite, obstinacy and ultimately betrayal?

Well, what more is there to say but... how funny. This is from a book called, "50 Reasons to Hate the French" which I don't like the idea of since Nationalism / anti-nationalism is not my thing, but I thought this quote was mildly amusing at any rate.

And you...

2007-11-12T00:11:00.001+01:00

Progress in French:

'and you' - (I guessed this might translate as 'et tu / vous') means nothing, apparently. So instead I am reliably informed I must use:

toi aussi (You too)

(e.g. bonne nuit à toi aussi)

Fluent by 2010, perhaps?

Remembrance Sunday

2007-11-11T16:12:00.001+01:00

I've been spending my Remembrance Sunday in the Cemetry. Pere Lachaise to be precise, where various famous graves can be found. I went in particular to see Jim Morrison's grave and that of Oscar Wilde. It has to be the oddest cemetery I've ever visited. Firstly, I've never been to a cemetery that has its own online virtual tour and distributes maps for tourists on the entrance. Secondly I haven't ever been to a cemetery which has so many ludicrously big family mausoleums. Some are significantly bigger than a three bed house in the UK. It was an odd place to visit but I'm glad I went. My main joy was that there were several graves there which I would be very pleased to have copied for my own!

Here are some of the photos of the day.

Expect nothing and accept everything and you will never be disappointed. (Laurence Overmire)

2007-11-11T01:44:00.000+01:00

I have now finished all of 'Sex in the City'. I have to confess a little dissapointment. At last however, I have my life free to... loose my wallet, meet friends, eat fondue, update my blog and encourage my hair to grow back as quickly as possible.

Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony

2007-11-09T04:18:00.001+01:00

The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short... (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651)

2007-11-09T02:39:00.000+01:00

So lets note beat around the bush tonight. The subject is life and death...

Yes, it's 2.39 am (at least on beginning this blog) and I'm being morbid. I watched another episode or two (OK, I watched six) of "Sex in the City" and in one of them 'Mr Big' was going in for some heart treatment. On hearing this news, Carrie (ever the epitome of emotional strength) bursts into tears, repeatedly for days. Too often for my liking I have learnt that life is too short and so that's how I've come to be writing this.

I've just been reading the World Health Organisations Statistics on the subject and was truly shocked. Whenever I have pondered my own mortality, I've always irrationally imagined that old age would be the most likely way for me to die and there was an unfortunate and unavoidable chance that I may die in advance of old age. Believe me, I wasn't thinking much past 70's or 80's (the life expectancy in both France and the UK is exactly the same for someone of my age, I can expect another 57.4 years of healthy life) so it seemed a reasonable enough an aspiration until I found that there are about 140 significant ways of dying recorded by the WHO and which constitute a serious threat to my number one asset - time remaining on this planet!From the data in the statistics I made the following graph. Two things are immediately obvious (this is not one of them: if you click the graph, it'll be bigger).

Firstly, there are a few major causes of death that I must try and avoid which would drastically reduce my chance of dying prematurely. Namely: Malignant neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases, and depending on which country either neuropsychiatric conditions (worst in France) or respiratory diseases (worst in the UK)
Secondly, the UK is worse for the major causes, so I've inadvertently made a step in the right direction.

So theoretically the most important question that should be on my mind today is how best to significantly increase the chances of a long life? That is, how to avoid cancer, a heart attack, alzheimers and other dementias, or chronic bronchitis, emphysema (etc.).

How to Prevent Cancer:

In 25 steps with highlights from yours truely. Mainly so that I never have to read them again and can still check every now and then to refresh my memory which I thought were practical for me.

Avoid rigid diets or rigid lifestyles. Variations in a person's daily habits is desirable, when feasible, to avoid the unconscious continued application of unsuspected carcinogens.
Limit consumption of highly seasoned food, black pepper, curries etc.
Limit consumption of herbs and herbal remedies. Some herbs have been found to be carcinogenic. Most herbs have not been tested for carcinogenicity.
Avoid a high animal fat diet and limit red meat consumption. Eat fish, chicken, turkey.
Limit consumption of charcoal-broiled or smoked meat or fish.
Limit consumption of nitrite/nitrate treated food: ham, bacon, sausages. For bottled water check the label for nitrate content; the lower the better. If possible use glass bottled water.
Avoid iron tablets and food with added iron; low blood iron helps protect you from cancer as well as from bacterial infections.
Avoid excessive exposure to the sun; some of the ingredients in sun-screen lotions are suspect carinogens.
Avoid exposure to bleach/chlorine fumes.
Limit frequent use of hair dyes; they have been associated with bladder cancer.
Do not smoke and if possible avoid exposure to passive smoke.
If you have a choice between eating a vegetable, fruit or other food raw or cooked, eat it raw; e.g. carrots, cabbage etc. If possible do not heat and reheat food.
Eat bran, oat-based cereals, reduced-fat cottage cheese broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, watercress, walnuts, apples. *(I sense a potential future diet coming up...)
Eat vegetables and fruit rich in beta-carotene and other carotenoids such as carrots, apricots, tomatoes, Cantaloupe-type melons, mangoes, paw-paw, pink grapefruit, spinach
Eat fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts rich in folic acid: blackberries, raspberries, clementines, oranges, asparagus, sunflower seeds. Folic acid has been shown ro protect against the risk of cervical cancer. It may also protect against prostate cancer.
Eat one or two Brazil-nuts periodically for their high selenium content.
Drink green tea. Epidemiological and laboratory studies have shown green tea to have cancer-preventive properties.
Use stainless steel or glass cooking utensils.
Women to completely avoid the use of talcum powder around the lower abdomen or near their private parts; it has been associated with ovarian cancer.
If you are pregnant do not keep any pets, especially cats; they have been associated with childhood leukaemia.
If you are pregnant do not expose yourself to petrol fumes, such as when filling up the petrol tank.
Maintain a healthy body weight. Numerous studies have shown that obesity appears to increase the risk for some cancers.
Avoid taking megadoses of vitamins or minerals.
Avoid consuming very hot drinks or very hot food; this has been associated with cancer of the oesophagus, as has high alcohol consumption.
Hormones have been associated with breast cancer, hepatitis B or C viruses or alcohol with liver cancer, high salt intake with stomach cancer, asbestos or tobacco smoke with lung cancer, excess animal fat and low calcium with colon cancer.

After offering up so much doom and gloom, the WHO site did have some positive answers for me tonight, on prevention of heart attacks for example:

How to Prevent Heart Attacks

The good news, however, is that 80% of premature heart attacks and strokes are preventable.

Eat a healthy diet: A balanced diet is crucial to a healthy heart and circulation system. This should include plenty of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish and pulses, and restricted salt and sugar intake.
Take regular physical activity: At least 30 minutes of regular physical activity every day helps to maintain cardiovascular fitness; at least 60 minutes on most days helps to maintain healthy weight.
Avoid tobacco use

How to Avoid Alzheimers and other Dementias:

Read, do puzzles and continue to stimulate the mind in old age.

Learn new skills, like painting, quilting, knitting or wood working.

Eat foods with folic acids and antioxidants.

Eat pink grapefruit, tomatoes, watermelon or guavas.

How to Avoid Chronic Bronchitis & Emphysema:

Avoid smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. Tobacco smoke increases your risk of chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Get an annual flu vaccine. Many cases of acute bronchitis result from influenza. Getting a yearly flu vaccine can help protect you from getting the flu, which in turn, may reduce your risk of bronchitis.
Ask your doctor about a pneumonia shot. If you're older than 65 or you have risk factors such as diabetes, heart disease and emphysema, consider having a pneumonia shot. In addition, a vaccine known as Prevnar can help protect young children against pneumonia. It's recommended for all children under age 2 and for children 2 to 5 years old who are at particular risk of pneumococcal disease, such as those with an immune system deficiency, asthma, cardiovascular disease or sickle cell anemia. Side effects of the pneumococcal vaccine are generally minor and include mild soreness or swelling at the injection site.
Use hand sanitizers regularly. To reduce your risk of catching a viral infection, get in the habit of using hand sanitizers, and don't touch the inside of your nose or rub your eyes.
When practical, wear a face mask. If you have to spend a lot of time around other people who are coughing and sneezing, it's a good idea to wear a face mask to reduce your risk of infection.

I hope you found that as interesting as I did. :o)

By the way, nobody in 2002 in the WHO's data table died of reason "W092", Obsessive Compulsive Disorder so I think I'm safe for the researching of this blog post.

Ignore. Just for my personal reference...

2007-11-06T00:02:00.001+01:00

American Library in Paris
10, rue du Général Camou
75007 Paris, France
Open Tue-Sat 10h-19h
Tel +33 1 53 59 12 61
Fax +33 1 45 50 25 83
email alparis@cybercable.fr

Scott Westron

SW vs. shaneTTT (FICS Game)

SW vs. coolnicksin (FICS Game)

SW vs. evilmistic (FICE Game)

SW vs Shredder for iPad (@ 1,200)

SW vs MtlGre (FICS Game)

SW vs. blknights (FICS Game)

SW vs Zekas (FICS Game)

SW vs. PB

New Year's Resolutions 2012

2011 New Year's Resolutions Review

SW vs. JB 13/12/11 II

SW vs. JB 13/12/11 I

Better but not brilliant.

Tough game. SW vs. iPad

"Walkivator"?! Surely one of the most ridiculous ideas ever.

SW vs. Matthew 28/10/11

SW vs. JB 25/10/11 Game 3

SW vs. JB 25/10/11 Game 2

SW vs. JB 25/10/11 Game 1

What a day! 73km around London!

SW vs. iPad 1050

SW vs. JB II

SW vs. JB

Critique of Dr Who Series 32 Episode 11 - The God Complex

Gym / Running Music Suggestions

Favourite Quotations

Very Enjoyable Game of I'm-an-Insomniac Chess.

So should riotors actually lose their benefits or not?

Rome to Murdoch - The Failure of the Family Empire isn't New (and Shouldn't be Surprising.)

Too easy. Much prefer an irrational / emotional human opponent.

Getting better as the Sunday Pimms wakes me up...

Hangover Chess. Playing appallingly. Won, but only just.

Why doubling the iPad's chess rating at 3am is unwise.

Tired during this game, it shows.

New Chess App + A New Blogger App. Result? Chess blog.

Jogging

New Year's Resolutions 2011

2010 New Year's Resolutions Review

Death Tax

Nightmares

formspring.me

2010 New Years Resolutions

2009 - Review Part III

2009 - Review Part II

2009 - Review Part I

Why insisting that banks count and disclose how many employees on it's payroll earn £1million + is not a good idea.

The Cheek of East London Bus Group

New Job = New Cycling Routes...

London's Small, Really

Oh No

GPS Exercise Recorder for BlackBerry - Brilliant

My favourite kind of day...

Two Blogs in One Day - Good Start

New Year

I can't pay my gas or electricty!

Credit Crunch II

Credit Crunch

La majorité des français sont pessimiste...

Do I need a TV licence to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer?

Second Attempt

Wall Street

Parthenon, Athens

TV5 Monde - Good site

What did you do?

Sleepless

My Personality Profile

Nearly 500 questions (proving firstly that I do have patience once in a while) of a psychology survey resulted in this:Your Personality Profile:

International Space Station Tracker

Brilliant Photography - Alex Salmond MSP

Cork Board

God - Cluny vs. Monty Python

Mars!

Beijing Olympics Stadium

Christmas

Prospective films to watch this week...

Les échecs...

Currency Conversion

J'ai fait des progrès en français récemment

22 Years 2 Months 8 Days

Nearly 500 questions (proving firstly that I do have patience once in a while) of a psychology survey resulted in this:

Your Personality Profile: