This poor bear nearly bought the farm after being scared off a bridge by passing vehicles. Probably the most amazing animal rescue story ever photographed:

Spectators, officers and advocates save bear from fatal fall

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | Beleaguered bear in bridge rescue

Technorati tags: bear rescue bridge California wildlife

OU First team beat Swan Fenny in today's Milton Keynes Sunday League match, but not because Swan's keeper was rubbish. Actually, he did a brilliant job but had to retire injured in the second half - only to come back on again as a forward and nearly score.

Technorati tags: football soccer action sports photography

What's with the German? Every time I post, Blogger seems to come back with this screen. I did study German at school, but that was a long time ago...

Technorati tags: Blogger German language post

"Bush climate plans spark debate
A plan by US President George W Bush for countries to set their own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions has drawn considerable criticism. Some delegates at a meeting of the world's top 16 polluters saw Mr Bush's comments as a US reluctance to commit to binding action on global warming. Officials at the Washington forum said legally-set international targets were the only way to tackle climate change. Mr Bush stressed that combating climate change should not damage the economy."

Yet again, Bush shows his true colours on climate change - he won't let anything get in the way of making money for himself and his big industry - mostly oil industry - buddies. He's got his head buried so far in the sand, he can't even imagine how research and investment into new technology could actually benefit his country.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush climate plans spark debate

Technorati tags: Bush climate change global warming enviroment pollution Washington

Northampton's motocross event at Long Buckby yesterday - full gallery now live.

Technorati tags: motocross motorcross sports action photography

Apple's iPhone hype reaches the UK

"iPhone wedding gets mixed reception
As Apple's Steve Jobs unveiled the UK deal for the iPhone with his usual showmanship, O2's Matthew Key and Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse looked on like blushing brides. The O2 website crashed soon after the iPhone announcement, apparently gasping under the weight of inquiries from excited customers. They may be a little more cautious once they look more closely at the price - £269 is pretty steep these days for a mobile phone...

BBC NEWS | Business | iPhone wedding gets mixed reception

Lets do a comparison between this an a Nokia N95 on a Vodafone contract:

	iPhone/O2	Nokia N95/Vodafone
Contact	18 months	18 months
3G	no	yes
Wireless	802.11b/g	no
Camera	2 Mpixel	5 Mpixel
Storage	8Gb	extra memory card
Phone	£269	Free
per Month	£35	£30 (first 3 months half price)
Entire contract cost	£1259	£495

Well, that's quite a difference...
Technorati tags: Apple iPhone O2 contract handset 3G

OU Vets did well in their first competitive game of the season against Milton Vets, having won three out of three of their pre-season challenge games.


OU Firsts, on the other hand, were hammered 1-5 by Wolverton Town.

Technorati tags: football soccer sports action photography

I recently bought the 500Gb Premium version from the Western Digital MyBook series of external hard disk specifically to backup my various machines using Retrospect 7. It seemed to be very flakey, however, taking ages to get going, or simply not working at all. Apparently the problem is common and may be down to Windows System Restore. You can turn this on or off on a per-drive basis:

Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties
Click the System Restore tab
Click once on the target drive and click the Settings... button
Check the box marked Turn off System Restore on this drive

Technorati tags: Western Digital MyBook external hard disk Windows System Restore Retrospect

Lets combine these two news stories and see what we come up with:

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | UK 'must have human space role'
"The UK must play an active and central role in future human space missions to the Moon and Mars, a report concludes. It has proposed a plan in which two British astronauts could go into space by 2015 at a cost of £50-75m."

BBC NEWS | Health | Fears over NHS e-records system
"A key plank of the £6.8bn NHS IT upgrade project in England has come under attack from MPs. The Health Committee said there was a 'worrying lack of progress' and raised concerns about the security of patients' electronic records."

So, we can either have a national computerised medical records system, or we could send approx 272 people into space, for the same money. Perhaps instead we could send all the idiots in Government who want to waste OUR money on these hair-brained projects into space. If we send them one-way, it would be cheaper too...

"Brown welcomes Thatcher to No 10
Former prime minister Baroness Thatcher has left 10 Downing Street after a meeting with Gordon Brown. Lady Thatcher, 81, spent more than two hours at her former home, where she was greeted with a warm handshake from the current prime minister.

Mr Brown recently surprised many by praising Labour's long-time political foe as a 'conviction politician'. The Tories said they were 'relaxed' about the meeting, pointing out that she had previously met Tony Blair. The visit followed an exchange of letters between Mr Brown and Lady Thatcher, who led the country from 1979 to 1990, shortly after he became prime minister in June."

I guess she is so impressed at how Blair and now Brown have continued her policies with New Labour, she wanted to thank him in person.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown welcomes Thatcher to No 10

"PC buyers: 'Vista Capable' machines weren't Vista capable
How misleading was Microsoft's 'Windows Vista Capable' campaign? Misleading enough for a judge to approve a federal trial.

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that two PC buyers, Dianne Kelley and Kenneth Hansen, can proceed with a lawsuit that accuses Microsoft of deliberately deceiving the public with the 'Window Vista Capable' stickers it slapped on Windows XP machines in the run-up to Vista's January debut, InformationWeek reports. Microsoft had asked for a dismissal, but US District Judge Marsha Pechman of Seattle is happy to oversee an October trial.

With their class action suit, filed in March, Kelley and Hansen claim that Microsoft used 'bait and switch' tactics to move XP systems as the world waited for the long-delayed Windows Vista. They argue that Microsoft's stickers reassured buyers "that they were purchasing Vista-capable machines when, in fact, they could obtain only a stripped down operating system." Some 'Vista Capable' machines, they say, were only capable of running versions of the OS that lack things like Microsoft's new Aero interface and a spruced-up Windows Media Center."

I think they're on dodgy ground here - they're basically arguing that whilst the machines in question can run Vista, they will only take a very cut down version. Well, is it Vista or isn't it?

PC buyers: 'Vista Capable' machines weren't Vista capable | The Register

"Contagious yawn 'sign of empathy'
Yawning may reveal more about a person than their boredom threshold, according to research. A susceptibility to contagious yawning may actually be a sign of a high-level of social empathy. Although many species yawn, only some humans and possibly their close animal relatives find yawning infectious, suggesting the reason is psychological. "

As soon as I read this article, I yawned. No, really.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Contagious yawn 'sign of empathy'

"US B-52 in nuclear cargo blunder
The US Air Force has launched an investigation after a B-52 bomber flew across the US last week mistakenly loaded with nuclear-armed missiles. It follows reports in the Army Times that five missiles were unaccounted for during the three-hour flight from North Dakota to Louisiana. The air force said the cruise missiles were safe at all times. Army Times said the missiles were to be decommissioned but were mistakenly mounted on the bomber's wings."

I guess its just as well they weren't flying over Afghanistan.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US B-52 in nuclear cargo blunder

Technorati tags: Nuclear weapons cruise missile USAF B-52

"Amazon tops online retailers list
Amazon remains the UK's most popular online retailer, a study has found. The website has once again come top of the latest quarterly IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List of the 50 most used online retailers in the country."

BBC NEWS | Business | Amazon tops online retailers list

I would argue that Amazon are running the risk of loosing this lofty position because of their "Marketplace Sellers" programme. The Amazon website has become almost like eBay - it isn't entirely clear where a product is going to come from and some of their third-party suppliers are less than entirely honest. There appears to be no way of saying to the system "only list products actually supplied by Amazon".

"Thousands of crimes by under-10s Teenagers
Children committed 66 sex offences last year, figures suggest almost 3,000 crimes were committed last year where the suspect was too young to be prosecuted, the BBC has learned. Figures show there were about 1,300 incidents of criminal damage and arson, and over 60 sex offences where suspects were under-10s in England and Wales."

And here we see the result of New Labour's idiotic Nanny State.

BBC NEWS | UK | Thousands of crimes by under-10s

Congratulations to the Open University cricket team on earning promotion to Division 2 in a very hard-fought end-of-season match against Shenley Church End today.