Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 17, 2007

This week saw the start of the serious campaigning for the local elections. Not quite as exciting as the general election but it is everyone's democratic duty to vote or if there is no one you like, to spoil your ballot paper.

So what else has been occupying my mind in the last week?

Green electricity target in doubt (BBC)

Regen SW, a electricity industry pressure group is trying to put pressure on local councils in the South West to deal with planning applications for Wind Farms. As I have previously reported one of the major blocks to new wind farms is the long complicated planning approval process. Therefore the more pressure the industry can bring to bear the quicker schemes can get approved.

Of course are these companies really caring about the environment or merely about the profit that is being lost whilst the farms are stuck in the planning stage?

Gloom lifts for riding schools (BBC)

In today's blame culture there is no such thing as an accident, someone is to blame. Hence the minute anything happens people look round for someone to sue.

This story about the horse riding industry reports on recent cases where judges have ruled that some accidents are simply that, the instructors are not to blame and individuals must accept that horse riding has a risk attached.

A clear result in favour of common sense that will hopefully mean that people can still enjoy horse riding and other sports without having to worry about spiralling insurance costs.

Wave farm passes funding hurdle (BBC)

The wave power snakes have finally arrived in Cornwall. Funding has now been secured to build a wave farm complete with connection to the national grid off the coast of Cornwall. The wave farm will be able to supply power to 7,500 homes which is 3% of Cornwall's total power consumption.

Train leasing market investigated (BBC)

Another story that has been reported before on this blog. The Competition Commission is now going to investigate the train leasing industry. There is a belief that prices may be too high and train operating companies are not getting the service they deserve.

The Department of Transport suggests that the leasing companies may be making upwards of £175 million in excess profits every year.

Watch this space.

World rallies for Darfur action (BBC)

Today was a global day of action for Darfur demanding intervention to stop the fighting in Darfur.

I have said a lot about Darfur but I think this quote tells you what you need to know:

"In certain parts of Darfur, blood is running like water."

-Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International

Celebrity photo shoot in support of the global action day - Excellent photography well worth a look.

The Office Mole

'The Office Mole' was a book idea which was too derivative and generic to ever get anywhere. The plot had the book ever been written would have been around the underground town flooding and the moles have to go down the great tunnel to unknown territories.

The Office Mole bit was because the main characters were the tunnel builders who were intelligent builders with rules of management and a good sense of bureaucracy.

It was in the style of a Terry Pratchett novel.

All that is left are a few random pages of notes and the odd sketch of dialogue.

Standard Disclaimer: This might not be funny to most people.

'Lets Go North'

A group of moles wearing yellow builders helmets in an underground chamber.
Mole 1 is the leader with a clipboard.

Mole 1: So let's go north
Mole 2: It's the only route left.
Mole 3: Under open grassland, what could go wrong.

[slight pause, everyone looks at each other nervously]

Mole 4: Well if this was a film...
Mole 2: Which it isn't.
Mole 4: Yes, but if it was a film, taking the safest option would be where the alien turns up and rips everyone limb from limb.
Mole 1: So anyway...
Mole 2: So your saying we need the slightly riskier option than the safest option...
Mole 4: Not really.
Mole 1: Mind you nobody in a film has ever said "Lets go north" its usually south, east or west.
Mole 3: True.
Mole 1: So North?
Moles: North!
Mole 4: Checking for Mutant aliens first.
Mole 2: Yup just to be safe.
Mole 3: You know I think that would make a solid rule of management.
Mole 2: Sort of 'Rule 429 - Check for mutant aliens first'
Mole 1: So anyway North then.
Mole 3: North. I'll go first.
Mole 2 (whispers): It;s always the one up front that gets it first.
Mole 3: Isn't it lunch time though, don't want to go tunnelling on an empty stomach.
Moles: True, Lunch time.
Mole 1: But we need to get digging.
Mole 3: Union rules. Have to take our one hour lunch break.

In a nutshell my philosophy is...

The Independent has a series of articles called "The 5-minute Interview". Often the last question of the interview is about their own personal philosophy. As I collect all things quotable and philosophical I thought I would collect a few of them together after of course starting with my own answer.

Note to 'The Independent', please can you make the five minute interviews a blog or rss feed.

In a nutshell my philosophy is...

Zephyrist , Blogger and poet

Always look on the bright side of life, you can waste a lot of time being miserable or finding someone to blame. Take ownership for your own life and do the best you can.

Ross Halfin, Rock photographer

The stupid neither forgives nor forgets. The naive forgive and forget. the wise forgives but doesn't forget.

Andrew Lancel, Actor

To quote Rod McKuen: "It doesn't matter who you love or how you love, but that you love."

Darren Campbell, Athlete

Be happy, try to make time for people.

Jose Carreras, Tenor

In Spain we say: "Do good and don't look to whom you do good."

Phillip Glenister, Actor

If at first you don't succeed try again, keep trying, then if you don't succeed after five years give up and realise it's not for you - whatever that may be.

Nathalie Mendoza, Actor

Be simple, graceful, compassionate and encourage joy in others.

Jeremy Hardy, Comedian

Don't kill anybody. I've been quite good since I got out but I have to see my probation officer tomorrow.

Michael Mansfield, QC Barrister

Be actively positive for the benefit of other people and inspire others to do the same, ie, don't let the buggers get you down.

Kathy Lette, Author

Never wait to be rescued by some knight in shining armani. A woman must learn to stand on her own stilettos.

Sally Gunnell, Athlete

Enjoy whatever you do, whether it's work or social. Life is too short so enjoy it as much as you can.

Julia Sawalha, Actor

To keep everything in the moment.

John Thomson, Actor / Comedian

Live life on life's terms no matter what shite is thrown at you.

Rachel Yankey, Footballer

You can't plan everything.

Tess Daly, Presenter

We're here for a good time, not a long time.

Daniel Mulloy, Director

Concentrate on the moment and enjoy it.

Sean Bean, Actor

Listen to people and treat people as you find them. There's an inherent goodness in most people. Don't pre-judge people - that was me mam's advice anyway.

Lisa Snowdon, Model and TV Presenter

Living in the moment and just loving life and if you can give people compliments along the way it makes you feel better!

Dominic Cooper, Actor

Be content with what you have, if it isn't meant to happen, you'll get over it.

Melinda Messenger, TV Presenter and model

Find one thing in every day to make you smile, even if you're having the day from hell.

Jools Holland, Musician and TV Presenter

Love.

Lenny Henry, Comedian

Everyday you wake up breathing and not foaming at the mouth is a good day.

Interesting links: Google Sightseeing

Well for those who have downloaded google earth and are not sure what to look at, I can highly recommend the 'Google Sightseeing' blog. Every day a new location to view, you may never need to go on holiday again.

There is also a large archive of articles and links for you to browse, you can even download all the bookmarks to add to google earth.

Even if you manage to exhaust the archive links with a new link every morning you can go sight seeing anew.

If you don't want to download google earth don't worry as it also links through to google maps the online version.

If you like trains don't forget my google earth train-spotting articles.

Little Theories: The 3 am call

Little theories, are perceived observational truisms of the world

Little Theory of the 3am call:

It's either bad news or a wrong number. Absolutely no other possibility.

More Google Earth - trainspotting

I thought I would bore you to death with more google earth trains. I also have a theory that you cant see trains at high speed as they are most common around stations.


A long US Goods train.







First Great Western HST Outside Bristol Temple Meads.







Three engines South of Milton Keynes.







Possibly a Freightliner Class 66 engine with a train load of vans near Southampton docks.

Scientists find most Earth-like planet yet (CNN)

Well European Scientists have found the most earth like planet yet, a planet with a similar temperature as Earth which could therefore sustain liquid water and potentially life.

Unfortunately scientists are a bit useless at naming things and have called it '581 c'. In order to correct this mistake I hereby use the ancient method of naming new places that are similar to old places by naming the planet 'New Earth'.

So what do we know about 'New Earth', well a full rotation of the 'New Sun' takes just 13 days so an octogenarian will be just getting ready to go to primary school.

Gravity is a bit heavier at 1.6 times earth's gravity so people might be naturally shorter, who knows they might even be ewoks.

The red dwarf 'new sun' will be twenty times larger than our 'old sun' and the planet may not even rotate.

The scientists were very cautious about the discovery and the possibility of life on 'New Earth':

"It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

Michael Mayor - University of Geneva Astronomer

So we may be at the start of the journey to find out whether there is life out there. What if on 'New Earth' there are astronomers looking to the stars who are also announcing the discovery of a planet orbiting a bright yellow star which is twenty times smaller than their sun. Who discovered who first, and will they be our first visitors at only 20 light years away.

Of course when we finally get round to destroying earth we now have somewhere for the escape pods to head for.

So this is the first earth like planet to be discovered but where there is one there is likely to be many so we will have to get much better at naming them.

The truth may still be out there ...

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I Laying Plans contd....

[The Moral law - number one of the five constant factors to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field]

5,6 The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

(Zepyhrist: In other words winning a battle is much easier with the support of your own people and all other things being equal this support would determine the winner. Plus if you do not have the support of the people, should you really be going to war.)

Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 16, 2007

Well this week I have been google earth train-spotting. I cant remember much from the news except more bleak news from Iraq and concerns about rising UK inflation and interest rates.

Here are some of the things that have crossed my desk this week:

A hard rain's a-gonna fall (Guardian)

I was watching the film "The Day after tomorrow" where abrupt climate changes causes super cell ice storms and floods, freezing New York. It is an excellent disaster movie but it supposedly has science in it. So is the film based on accurate scientific theories or is it just Hollywood fiction. Find out in the Guardian article.

On a personal note I was hopping it would be more like the BBC drama 'Super Volcano' with science being central to the story. In "The Day after tomorrow" they didn't get the same balance and really should have skipped the bit where the dad was the scientist, it would be an easier plot if the dad was like a marine, fire or police officer. Then they could concentrate on the rescue as the main plot and the politics / science as a back drop.

Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future (Guardian)

Everyone looks to the future including governments and companies. The Ministry of Defence has looked 30 years into the future and this article reports what they see.

Here are some quick bullet points:

• electromagnetic weapons will be operational
• Neutron weapons will be in use
• Unmanned delivery / weapons platforms will be used
• Electronic brain implants hard wired to the brain
  
• flash mobs - rent a mob by internet
• Middle classes become revolutionaries against the super rich
• The terrorism threat will grow
• The threat from climate change will grow with potentially the start of a temperature drop in Northern Europe.

Russia threatening new cold war over missile defence (Guardian)

The cold war may have ended but no one seems to have told the Americans and Russians. The US continues to build super weapon technology in order to protect itself from countries such as Iran or North Korea. This method of building super defence technology just antagonises everyone and helps create the uncertain world we live in and suggests the Americans would prefer war to diplomacy.

Now they are planning to place a new missile defence system in Eastern Europe which could potentially start a new nuclear arms race.

'Smart dust' to explore planets (BBC)

This is just like one of those science fiction stories. Intelligent computer chips as small as dust particles get blown on the wind exploring an alien planet (earth in the science fiction plot version).

They are able to act over a local network with each other to distribute computing power.

I can see a horror movie script in this story.

Another week done, tune in next week for more of the same.

Google Earth -Trainspotting

OK I admit I am fascinated by trains and tracks. Before you all starting rolling around on the floor laughing its not an obsession and it is only the same as being a petrol head car lover.

Anyway I have been spending some time with google earth and rail lines are quite easy to follow, so I thought I would post up some links for fellow arm chair train spotters.

The only snag is not all of the UK has hi-res imagery.


Virgin Voyager just outside Bletchley, UK





Long Coal train waiting outside Didcot, UK







Three Car Turbo set bound for Reading.
(Also some interesting circles in the field top left)




Reading Turbo Depot

New web / blog words

I read a few blogs, forums and the 'have your say' feature on the BBC and it seems apparent that the English language could do with being enriched with a few extra words.

I was searching for a word that describes the 'rent a mob' attitude that prevails in most of the forums. The armchair politicians view that is easy to give an opinion on a subject that people often know little about or they cannot understand the implications / decision making process.

That is not to say I have contempt for these people but I would like to see a bit more thought before people give an opinion and perhaps more openness to debate rather than flame wars.

Anyway I did not find the word I wanted but offer two other new words for consideration:

Webararazzi - bloggers and other commentators on the web who sensationalise news items.

Commekazi's - People who comment on blogs or forums who give an extreme opinion and then get burnt in the flames.

Drugs may boost your brain power (BBC)

This story might seem a bit dull until you start to think about some of the implications for society.

This article tells us about two studies, first a scientific investigation into whether such drugs work and second a study into how such drugs might effect society.

If you assume they do work what are the implications for society?

Well you could theoretically buy intelligence, buying the pills would give you an edge over other people that didn't in exams, jobs etc. Would exams have to get harder to compensate or would pills be banned for exams to level the playing field?

What about employment, as part of high performing schemes companies could insist that managers take the drugs to enhance their performance. Could taking the drug be written into someone's contract if the company paid for the drugs?

What about the long term health effects, it will be decades before any time bomb is realised. What if prolonged use leads to parkinson's, alzeheimers or cancer?

One area of life that the article does mention is at school, parents will push the drugs onto children to enhance their performance at school, so they can get in the right schools and get the best chance in a career. If you as a parent chose not to let the child use the drugs would that constitute child abuse?

The UK Government has commissioned a report to assess the impact of 'intelligence' drugs on medicine and society. The report will be published later this year.

I always thought it was going to be brain implants or biochemical body enhancements that would create this kind of social divide but it seems I forgot the power of the pill, intelligence in tablet form.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I. Laying Plans contd...

3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.

4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The commander; (5) Method and discipline

'The Apprentice' week 2 - money, money, money

All they had to do this week was make money, they were given £200 to run a business during the day and a business at night.

The key here was get your business idea right and you could make a mint. You needed to go for simple ideas and volume sales.

The boys with Tre as leader went for gardening on a rainy day and sing-a-grams.

The girls with Naomi as leader went for face painting and kiss-a-grams.

The boys ideas were pretty poor, gardening took too long and anyone that wanted any gardening done would already be paying someone to do it. The sing-a-grams main plus was that there were no start up costs.

The girls did ok with the facepainting but location and a lack of customers on a school day let them down. Again the kiss-a-grams had no start up costs.

For the evening I might have gone for rose selling, selling single red roses to lovers for £5 a shot.

Both teams argued a lot with Tre and Jadine standing out on each side as the opiniated ones but Sir Alan has got his eye on both of them. They better start delivering results or Sir Alan will get bored of their attitude.

In the end the boys put in some hard effort and won the task.

Geri got fired for being a slow starter and failing on two tasks to pick a good enough location for the sales team. Jadine had her card marked by Sir Alan for her disruptive behaviour, he is watching her closely and she could be next if she doesn't start working with the team.

Episode in quotes:

Katie: "Girls are so different to boys"
(As the only girl on the boys team, referring to their secret ballot for leader)

Nick Hewer: "Tre confuses physical work with leadership..."
(After Tre rushes around doing the gardening)

Katie:"Eat your heart out Charlie Dimmock...and I do it in underwear"
(Whilst sweeping up some leaves)

Naomi:"I am a busineeswoman not a prostitute."
(when told about the kiss-a-gram idea)

Tre: "We just need to ******* make some ******* money... Quite frankly I'm getting tired of all this bullshit."
(one of Tre's rants)

Sir Alan: "Give me some money, would you like to kiss me...sounds like another old profession"
(talking in the boardroom about the girls kiss-a-gram scheme)

Next week: Flog candy to the public at London Zoo

Jarhead by Anthony Swofford

I have just finished this book and I can highly recommend it.

Swofford goes to war in the gulf as a green 19 year old scout sniper and comes back as a vet who has seen too much. The book shows what is left after war has stripped away a person's humanity.

Life as a marine is described in terms of raw emotions and relationships all with the beat of war drums in the background.

As a marine your only job is to be an effective killing machine to follow orders and to get the job done. War isn't as simple as that even if you have spent years preparing for it, the desert is a different place than boot camp but in the end the people around you can make it the same place.

Is war, a battle with the enemy guns or with the people around you and the person you are or may become?

"Remarkable. A scathingly honest and bleakly powerful book. A hugely disturbing insight into the minds of the very young men who long to go to war"

-William Boyd

Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 15, 2007

Well the week of the grand national with plenty of sunny weather. Here are some of the articles I have been reading this week.

Google Earth turns spotlight on Darfur (BBC)

Now if you zoom in on Darfur in google earth you will see high tech satellite imagery combined with photo's and eyewitness accounts.

You can see the satellite images of the desstroyed villages, scorched earth and vast refugee camps. These images will also be updated as things change.

"We need President Bashir and other perpetrators to know they are being watched..."

-Daowd Salih, a former red cross and red crescent worker
who was forced to leave his home in Wetern Darfur.

Hopefully, the stark imagery and eye witness accounts will reach a much wider audience and in turn put pressure on world governments to finally take action.

Browne may need to quit - Cameron (BBC)

The row over the captured RN personnel in Iran selling their stories rumbles on. The media have gone into resignation mode, if they shout loud enough maybe someone will resign.

The real lesson is that tabloid journalism is socially unacceptable and society should stop buying the trash rather than moan about everyone selling their stories and then secretly popping down the news agents to buy the latest instalments of tabloid trash. The only people that should resign are the people that buy the red top newspapers.

It is good to see that the media writing the stories have not done any soul searching over the matter, as long as they sell papers ironically they cannot afford to worry about morals.

Why should we have eight hours' sleep? (BBC)

This is a story that strikes a cord with me, I am a night owl but my job requires me to get up just after 6 am, hence I am always short on sleep.

This survey reports that only a small minority get the recommended 8 hours a night, but not to worry the real test is whether you are tired during the day.

The 19th Century labour movement's classic demand was

"Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest"

Obviously they didn't have to worry about long commutes in the 19th century.

And that as they say is the week that was. Good night and don't have nightmares about fridges.

Life as a tube station assitant - It's hell down there

What's it like to work on the tube?

Well Jesse Fuller has been a tube station assistant for the past three years and will tell you all about it.

First you have to meet the general public, who are quite often brain-dead, rude and obnoxious. In order to survive you have to be ruder and more obnoxious either that or loose your self esteem and go slowly mad. Either Way 'Mr Angry' from Wapping will still write in with his complaint.

Looking at the other side the money is good and nobody seems to work too hard. There are worse jobs in the world and every day is different even if it is only a different kind of boredom or a different kind of complaint.

Grand National 2007

Well I had a few small bets on the grand national, none of which came in. It was just a bit of fun and gives better odds than the lottery.

One of my bets was on long shot cloudy bays, if you watched the race he was the one left at the start line when every other horse was halfway down the course. Not that you can really blame the horse or jockey as with 40 runners it was a bit of a scrum at the starting tape.

Another of my bets was Sonevafushi at 201-1, the worst odds in the race but I like to back the underdog especially after the BBC were so derogatory about the poor horse on the BBC sport website saying that sometimes a horse was just not good enough to win.

Well that horse showed he was good enough to compete, he finished the race and didn't come last. In the middle of the race he was in the pack and in the running. I had to support him because sometimes the million to 1 shot does come off and the grand national can make heroes out of nobodies.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I Laying plans contd...

2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

(Zephyrist: Even Sun Tzu knew it was important to prepare for job interviews)

Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 14, 2007

Sunday night briefs on a Monday, what an earth is going on? Don't panic just the four day Easter weekend meant that I left it till Monday night to write the briefs.

So this week the Royal Navy prisoners were freed by Iran as a gesture of good will and arrived back home to a media storm. Questions were asked about why they didn't resist, the MoD and should people profit from telling their story.

MoD ban on troops selling stories (BBC)

The MoD have reversed their earlier decision to allow navy personnel to sell their stories as they saw fit. This follows a row where Faye Turney has sold her story to the Sun.

This is a very complex situation, the story does need to be told and it should be told by those people who know about it first hand. The Sun and therefore a significant section of society put monetary value on such stories. This poor taste voyeurism is one of the baser levels of society but if the public buy the Sun to read those stories how can they then criticise people for selling their stories. Surely that is double standards as society at large is responsible for moral standards not just one person.

At least one of the officers has decided to tell his story but has declined any payment, he has also gone to more reputable less sensationalist media outlets such as the BBC. He and perhaps some of the other members of the team have realised that the story needs to focus on what can be learnt from the incident rather than provide stories for entertainment.

I do not blame any of them for deciding to sell their story. I personally believe that they should if they wish be able to sell their story, although I would question the need for obscene payments to be made. I would urge anyone considering selling their story to consider the media outlets they choose and avoid ones which would turn the story into sensationalist or inflammatory stories.

East - West Rail link Boost (Bicester Advertiser)

I have previously written articles on the east - west rail link which would link Oxford to Cambridge. In a further boost to the fight to get it re-opened English, Wales and Scottish Railways (Freight operators) have announced it is one of their "super 16" list of projects which it says will allow the railways to increase freight traffic and remove it from the roads.

There is now a online Number 10 petition so people can pledge their support to the proposed east - west rail link.

Shoppers eat chocolate billboard (BBC)

Thorntons designed a large chocolate billboard 4.4 by 2.9 metres made entirely out of 390 kilograms of chocolate. They then encouraged the passing public to help themselves.

The display was expected to last a week, guess how long it actually lasted?

It was polished off in just three hours, 50 brownies who were allegedly just passing were implicated in the speedy chocolate snaffle.

Companies urged: 'let your staff blog' (BBC)

Generally unless you work in a tech / software company you work in a blog un - friendly environment. Most rules are draconian forcing bloggers under ground especially if they wish to criticise the organisation.

However bloggers can also spread positive news about the organisations they work for and can help counter the negative information in the blogosphere and the wider interweb. So in this article companies are encouraged to reconsider their positions on blogging. The article suggests that rather than ignore these forums of customer communication they should embrace them.

Scientists' 'perfect' bacon butty (BBC)

Scientists have researched the formula for a perfect bacon butty. How dare they, a good bacon butty is a work of art not of science. In addition what constitutes a good bacon butty is very subjective, so really thanks for your help but back to the lab.

Random Thought: Writing Conventions

I have been watching a tv programme where the characters crash a hot air balloon into the ocean off a tropical island.

You see the crash and then two of the characters wake up in the surf.

My random thought is is it just a writing convention to:

allow time to pass, you crash, swim about a bit, end up on the beach, fall asleep and then wake up the following morning.

Or

You fall unconscious in the ocean during the crash and then get swept onto the beach where you regain conciousness.

You see this happens all the time in this sort of shipwrecked stories. So if the plot is actually written according to the latter premise I remain unconvinced of the practicality of that survival technique.

Thinking logically if you fall unconscious in the ocean you would drown. I have no intention of testing the premise myself or of encouraging others to test it themselves. I would however be interested in any professional opinions.

Perhaps this falls into the same category as the convention where any plane punctured at cruising altitude sucks large objects through small holes. This theory was debunked on BBC 2's (US:Discovery Channel) 'Myth busters'.

'The Apprentice' week 2 - Dog Daze

Week 2 continues with a doggy challenge.

The Challenge

Two days to design an innovative product for dog loving "nutters". Pitch the product to three retailers and of course the highest profit wins.

The key to this task was designing a product which appealed to everyone and was cheap enough for the mass market. The final aspect was then the sales pitch to the retailers.

The Brainstorm

Rory, the team leader, told the team that brainstorming required everyone except the leader to take off their jackets and ties. The leader kept his on to show he was the leader.

Rory explained about discipline:

"Discipline - something I go f***ing crazy for... I will send you out"

Adam had a few comments about Rory's leadership style.

"...bit of a headmaster... feel like a five year old.."

Stealth(Girls):

Katie, the team leader, doesn't brainstorm she has an "Ideation". She acted as a good leader during the brainstorm controlling and opening up discussion. I can also credit her with one of the best quotes of the week (speaking to one of the other girls who is pushing a dog nappy idea):

"I'm going to ask you to drop the nappy."

Focus groups / Prototyping

Eclipse(Boys):

Rory led the team and virtually enforced his idea on the team with the "pooch pouch" which essentially was a Velcro belt / pouch contraption.

Jadine was still harping on about clips thinking about 'eclipse' clips for the doggy blanket one of the ideas that was rejected.

During a late night argument Rory and Tre continued their argument:

Rory: "I am your boss"
Tre "Your nothing to me"

Some classic quotes from Tre during this bit:

Tre frustrated about the lack of design at the prototype meeting:

"Cant be bothered... tossers!"

Tre on getting hold of the other half of the team:

"go outside and leave them a nice message"

Tre says more on Rory's management style:

"Rory, only thing he knows how to say is shut up"

Stealth(Girls):

The girls eventually settled on the dog cabinet and I must have switched off during that bit of the show as nothing much seems to have been memorable.

The Sales Pitch

Both teams pitched to 'Harrods', 'Pets and the City' and 'Pets at home'. This was supply and demand economics, the maximum profit was always going to come from volume sales and therefore 'Pets at home' was the key pitch.

Eclipse(Boys):

The boys did better at the up market small scale shops even though 'pets and the city' stated their product was "not a fashion statement". For 'Pets at home' they had clearly priced themselves out of the market.

Stealth(Girls):

The girls had a problem appealing to the upmarket shops with a flat pack but with the large retailer they hit the mark with their IKEA / Argos style dog closet.

Ghazal who was in charge of pitching just froze and had to hand over. We have all been there but what an unfortunate time to freeze.

During the girls pitch to 'Pets and the city' there was a fantastic exchange:

'Pets and the city': so you are stereotyping people?
Candidate: No... this epitomises a group of people...

Exactly what is your definition of a stereotype?

Boardroom One

It was all a bit close to call both teams had made mistakes, the boys would appeal to the upmarket retailers but the girls would probably corner the mass market.

Sir Alan started with the boys:

Sir Alan: "Think it was a good idea?"
Tre:"No"

Tre then proceeded to twist the knife in blaming Rory for just about everything.

In the end the girls won having sold 2000 units to 'Pets at Home' and making a solid profit of £5000.

Sir Alan imparted his wisdom on the task to the boys:

"Moral of the story...Effort into talking to the person with the potential to buy."

In the Cafe

In and around the cafe before the boys went back into the boardroom there was a final bit of honesty for Rory and Tre:

Rory: "picked the wrong product"

Tre talking about Rory:

"Has dug his own grave... talk about his faults for a day...talk about his good points waste of a fag packet if I wrote it down..."

Boardroom Two

Francis said her usual line to tell the boys to get in the boardroom.

Sir Alan kicks straight off with "Listen, you lost"

Ifta's poor performance and lack of contribution quickly came up the following exchange:

Sir Alan: "What did you actually do?"
Ifti:"Afraid I didn't contribute much."

The grilling continued as Sir Alan demanded to know who was responsible:

Sir Alan: "Who's responsible?"
Tre: "Rory"

Tre adds another knife to the pincushion in Rory's back.

Rory elects to bring back Tre and Ifti and it very much looks like Ifti would be a goner.

The Final Firing

Sir Alan instantly focusing on Ifti asking for an explanation and Ifti honestly explains that he misses his family and finds it crippling being away from them.

For the first time Sir Alan softened the blow:

"With regret, your fired"

But wait its not over, Sir Alan still wants to fire someone else as the other two don't deserve a "get out of jail" free card.

Sir Alan presses on with his interrogation of the remaining two candidates, turning the spotlight on each in turn:

Sir Alan to Rory:

"Do not want to hear chapter and verse, half the magna carter read out to me."

Sir Alan to Tre about Rory:

"Make mincemeat out of him."

Rory on Tre:

"...Not a team player..."

Sir Alan to Tre

"You're very disruptive ... very, very concerned."

Then finally as usual Sir Alan makes his final pitch:

Sir Alan to Rory:

"... Total absolute disaster... Rory here's the hat trick You're fired!"

Final Words

With Rory gone only Tre is left to go back to the house and I shall leave the last word about Tre to Simon who makes this comment whilst waiting to find out who survived:

Simon: "If you keep Tre on a leash you will be alright"

Next Week: Sir Alan tells the candidates to go make some money.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I am going to offer up the teachings of Sun Zu in regular bite size chunks.

I. Laying plans

1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the state.

Railways: French speed and British investment

Two railway stories for you today.

French set new rail speed record (BBC Article)

A French TGV broke the speed record for a train running on conventional rails at a speedy 356 mph. This was done on the new high speed line which has been built between Paris and Strasbourg.

There was the standard fantastic media comparison, apparently according to the BBC:

"The train travelled almost as fast as a World War II Spitfire fighter at top speed."

For info the maximum speed of a spitfire was approximately 378 mph (Source:Wikipedia)

The UK train speed record is 208 mph (BBC Article) set on the channel tunnel link in 2003. Now that the new line is opening who knows they may try to beat that.

Of course the UK probably holds the record for fastest steam run by the world class Mallard which ran at 127 mph in 1938. (Reference: The Mallard)

Rail network given cash injection (BBC Article)

Network rail have unveiled 900 projects totalling £2.4 bn of investment over the next two years. The are even creating a new post to oversee all this investment, Director of Infrastructure projects who will be Simon Kirby.

This is all good news even if this isn't a sudden announcement of massive investment, a lot of projects are already under way. Having said that, it is a record level of investment in infrastructure enhancements and Network Rail should be congratulated for investing inthe future.

Usually I finish with a few quotes but frankly John Armitt Network rail CEO is a bit dull, so only read on if you are suffering from insomnia, and imagine it being said in a dull mono tone voice:

"Three million people use the railways each day, more than at any time in the past 60 years, and we're not standing still waiting for the big infrastructure projects to be delivered."

- John Armitt, CEO Network Rail

Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 13, 2007

Well this week the UK / Iran incident was all over the news. I personally believe that the UK navy were within Iraq waters and the Iranians are trying it on and provoking the west. This week has all been about propaganda but I think one thing that everyone can agree on is that Iran is wrong to parade the navy personnel on television.

Legal issues over captured crew (BBC)

Apparently the legal status of the navy personnel is not as clear cut as one might think. After all we are not officially at war with Iran so they are not officially prisoners of war which means there are questions over whether the Geneva conventions apply. The article tries to make sense of the legal status and what international rules apply.

Mystery of Great Pyramid Solved (BBC)

Jean-Pierre Houdin, a French architect has solved the mystery of how the Great Pyramid was built. It was built using an inner ramp to lift the massive stones into place. Mr Houdin has studied the problem for eight long years and even built 3D computer models. Even now there will be a long project of follow up work on site to try and prove his theory.

A man's life work proving how a pyramid that is 4,500 years old was built. All that work deserves some recognition which is why it is on my Sunday night briefs.

Heathrow Concorde model removed (BBC)

The real final end of Concorde at Heathrow airport as the model that has graced the roundabout for the last 16 years is retired as British Airways gives up its lease of the roundabout. If you want to know it costs £1.5 million to rent the roundabout which must make it one of the most expensive roundabouts in the world. Pretty secure as well, you cant really load the roundabout in the back of a lorry and make off with it.

Call for blogging code of conduct (BBC)

This is about bringing some kind of common law to blogging or maybe some etiquette rules. Some bloggers get death threats and as a close knit community fellow bloggers have had enough. In this article the BBC talks about the community lead response to recent prominent incidents.

Evanomics - Figuring out real life (BBC Blog Evan Davis)

This is a blog that I will be keeping a close eye on. It takes current issues and applies economic theories to work things out.

Schoolgirls rumble Ribena (NewScientist)

Schoolgirls in New Zealand tested different drinks for vitamin C content. It transpired that some versions of Ribena did not contained the amount of vitamin C stated on the label. The NZ Government were made aware of the results, did a bit of digging and then fined GlaxoSmithKline NZ$217,000.

School girls 1 - GlaxoSmithKline 0

France Releases UFO Files (New Scientist)

Every country has the UFO files locked away in a really secure filing cabinet. Well the French have now published all their reports on-line. They also openly admit they can only explain 75% of accounts but suggest that just because they cant explain the rest doesn't automatically prove the existence of aliens.