AN angry group of North-east residents held a crisis meeting at the weekend to discuss plans by an absent landowner to build a windfarm in their area.

More than 30 disgruntled residents from the Hatton area attended the three-hour meeting on Sunday.

If accepted by Aberdeenshire Council, the planning application would see the erection of three wind turbines each standing 84metres high, at Auchenten, near Hatton.

The applicant, Dr G. Masson, lives in Hampshire, but owns several areas of land in and around the Hatton area. His application was received by the council on November 5, leaving locals until December 21 to lodge any objections.

Residents who attended the meeting were furious at the proposed windfarm, which they claim could devalue their properties, cause mass noise pollution, damage the local ecosystem, cause sleep deprivation and would have no benefit at all to their local area.

Aberdeenshire Council has already received 20 objections from locals over the contentious plans and now residents plan to hold more public meetings, gather a petition and send letters of complaint to the council in order to get their views across.

Local resident Alan Quirke slammed Dr Masson’s application to build the wind turbines as “rosy”.

Mr Quirke, who hosted the meeting, told the crowd that the planning application lacked any engagement with the local community or an environmental impact assessment. He also questioned why no on-site monitoring of wind speed had been carried out before the planning application was lodged.

He added: “There will be no direct benefit to the local area from this windfarm and the applicant knows of this zero per cent benefit. The application was frankly rosy.

“There may only be a short timescale in which we can object, but I am absolutely delighted that so many people came along this evening. It just shows that we all have the same concerns.”

Many residents voiced their concerns over the transportation of abnormal loads across their land, with one resident complaining: “There will be 20 trucks needed for each turbine. That could seriously damage the roads.”

They were also concerned about the effects the wind turbines would have on local wildlife, including that of the local geese population who feed and rest in the surrounding fields.

James Anderson, a technical expert from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), was concerned at the impact the wind turbines could have on the privately-owned Hatton aerodrome, as the turbines could be in direct line with a local airstrip.

He said: “The erection of this windfarm could mean pilots having to fly closer to houses, causing more noise and distress to local residents.

“There have been noted examples of aeroplanes colliding with wind turbines and there is the danger that planes could be damaged if they are blown into the turbines, especially inexperienced flyers. Turbines can also be difficult to see.

“These are all facts set out in CAA guidelines that the developers have chosen to ignore. They are posing an unacceptable risk to aviation in the area.”

Fellow resident David Moore said: “Everyone in this room here today has strong reason to object to this application and everyone should report their concerns to the council.

“It’s shocking that planning applications on this scale often go under the radar if people affected don’t get involved.

“This is exploitation at the cost of local residents and a way for the absent land owner to generate revenue for himself.

“This windfarm will be an eyesore. Tourists often come to this area and think -quite rightly- that it is beautiful.

He added: “I think Dr Masson thought he could just come here and do it without anyone noticing. But we will object and we will fight him all the way.”

Some people were worried about the proximity of the wind turbines to residential properties and those of Hatton village.Another resident added: “This is most likely a precedent of more to come. I don’t object to wind farms in general, I just object to them being in people’s back gardens, especially when there is greedy people behind the plans.”

Mr Quirke dismissed any claims that the windfarm would benefit the Scottish Executive in reaching its renewable energy targets, saying: “”There is no need for this project to go ahead, and the applicant is more than aware that there is zero benefit to the local community.”

Agent for the applicant, Gavin Catto from Green Cat Renewables, told the Buchanie that all standard procedures had been carried out in assessing the impact of the wind farm to the local area.

He said: “With projects on this small a scale there is no obligation for an applicant to hold a public consultation but Dr Masson decided he did want to hear what the residents thought, so held a public meeting around six weeks ago, three weeks before the application was made. The feedback from this meeting was then passed on to the council.

“Unfortunately you will be able to see the wind turbines, but they need to be in a prominent area, where they can catch wind so it is not possible to hide them away.

“Environmental, noise and wildlife concerns have all been assessed following well established guidelines and all this information has been passed on to the council.

“It is well-established how you assess these projects and we have followed the standard procedures. It is up to the council to make the ultimate decision, but we believe the project is acceptable.”

The next public meeting on the issue of the wind farm is being held on Saturday, December 12 at 3pm in Hatton Mill.

Anyone interested in the issue is welcome to come along.

Somethings in life gather so much of their own momentum that even if it were to try and halt its own inertia, fate would slap it across the face with a raw 40 pound tuna and send it on its way. With Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather in retirement last year, a new ‘pound for pound’ star blossomed into the peak of his career. This was none other than the Philippine sensation, Manny Pacquiao: a soft-spoken, well-mannered, religious and extraordinarily gifted fighter who used to sell dougnuts in Manila for a nickel a piece. Born into an impoverished family, they were so poor at one point that Manny’s father actually cooked and ate the family dog. Now a prolific boxer, fans around the world have seen him involved in epic battles with Juan Manuel Marquez, Antonio Barrera, Eric Morales: saw him out-class De-La Hoya, destroy Hatton and pulverize Miguel Cotto most recently. But it is in this last year or so that his boxing class has truly developed under the watchful eye of his trainer and ‘Master’ Freddie Roach.

Mayweather, who could not stay retired for long, stepped out to fight Marquez.  Pacquiao, having devastated Ricky Hatton was in the process of setting his sights on  Miguel Cotto in November. So it seemed that the former world pound for pound champion and the new pound for pound prodigy were on an aligned collision course. Mayweather needed to beat Marquez, and Pacquiao needed to beat Cotto in order to set up what would possibly be the fight of the decade between ‘Money Mayweather’ and ‘The Pac Man.’

Marquez was made to look average. Average he was not, but that is how Mayweather made him look. One felt so sorry for Marquez and sympathised with his frustration at Floyd’s elusiveness and ability to hit him at will. He was virtually made to miss over and over again, and was punished for every single mistake. Take nothing away from Marquez, and give every praise to Mayweather, who was in scintillating form and dominated him the way Pacquiao never could. One could argue that Floyd’s performance that night completely out-shone Manny’s. But let us remind ourselves of how Manny destroyed Hatton inside of two rounds, Mayweather only managing it by the tenth. However, Floyd’s first knock-down of the Hatton fight was arguably one of the greatest left hooks ever witnessed. On the back foot, in the corner of the ring, while side stepping! I do digress.

What Mayweather did to Marquez,  Pacquiao answered with his performance over Cotto. Inch by inch, closing off the ring, picking him apart and darting in and out with waspish tactics. By the eighth or ninth round, it was evident that Cotto had nothing left in the tank. He was running on his pride as a fighter, the only thing keeping him on his feet. The referee should have stopped the punishment earlier, as Cotto’s face was beginning to resemble a bruised watermelon with Pacquiao’s relentless marauding taking its toll. And so the inevitable result bubbled to the surface. Mayweather defeated Marquez in dominant fashion, and so too did Pacquiao. The two ‘acclaimed’ best pound for pound fighters in the world are indeed the best ‘pound for pound.’ At this moment in time, no-one else even comes close.

So now we are closer than ever to a real possibility of a clash between the cream of the crop. But there is only one space on the throne for these two kings of the division. Mayweather or Pacquiao? Class, skill, speed and strength versus class, skill, speed and strength. Skill wise and physical conditioning-wise, they are nigh inseparable. However, I believe the advantage does lie with Mayweather. His defensive skills are superior, he’s bigger, has more reach, has a more well-rounded boxing style and is unbeaten. It would be a crying shame for both of them to come this far, and miss out on a momentous duel. I am not a superstitious man, but somewhere right now, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have just been slapped by a 40 pound tuna.

According to various news sources Amir Khan has expressed a desire to fight Manny Pacquiao after his first WBA Light Welterweight Title defence against Dmitriy Salita.  While that does sound like a mouth-watering clash between ‘young lion’ and ‘old lion’ in Khans own words the reality is that it would be the relative rookie taking on the seasoned professional – not to mention one of the best boxers of this generation.

Khan's 'glass jaw' is his biggest weakness

Therein lies the problem for Khan, he is still a rookie professional boxer.  Yes, he is a champion and has picked up some impressive wins en route to the title, but each fight was against vastly inferior opposition excluding Breidis Prescott – who knocked him out in 54 seconds.  The fact is it’s far, far too early in his young career to even be thinking about taking on a man of Pacquiao’s calibre in my opinion.  He also mentioned a potential fight with fellow Brit Ricky Hatton, but despite his fall from grace in recent years the two are still worlds apart.

In a fight against either Pacquiao or Hatton not only would Khan’s relative inexperience let him down but also what’s known as his ‘glass jaw.’  In case you hadn’t guessed that means he has an incredibly weak chin, and naturally taking blows to that area of the body happens frequently in a boxing match.  Both of the veterans he one day plans to fight would have no trouble exploiting his weaknesses and beating him with relative ease, other big names in his weight class like Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd Mayweather would do the same as well.  Amir Khan needs to work on his defensive skills before challenging the big boys of boxing as well as get a lot more wins under his belt.  The guy is only 22 and has had as many fights in his pro career, whereas Hatton has 47 and Pacquiao has 55. He’ll need to notch up at least another eight wins or so (against better opposition than he’s faced so far) for me to take his challenge seriously, there’s no denying he’s a good boxer with a great future ahead of him but it’s simply far too soon to be thinking about challenging Manny Pacquiao.

Ricky Hatton will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez, who continues his role as the Kelly Rowland of boxing.

Not sure if this makes Lackey a better or worse fantasy option for 2010.

Ricky Williams owners, block the wind and roast a bone!

Hippie poem.

Some guy won the Man Asian Literary prize. Never heard of the guy, but thought the name of the prize was a good Engrish approximation of the word Chinaman. “The Man Asian is not issue he-yuh, Dude. I talking about drawing rine in sand.”

Every book review I read pushes me that much closer to the Republican Party. Your indignation, Mrs. Harrison, is probably stupid. (but it is fair to ask whether or not Philip Roth has reached the “faking it” part of his career.)

*- I originally wanted this blog to contain more literary stuff, but I’ve found that I can’t read anything by anyone from Brooklyn who lists Sebald among their favorite authors, who has been over Union Pool for 5 years now, who uses the word “genius” when referring to Jonathan Ames and who talks loudly in coffeeshops about being bored with book parties, without wanting to tear out my eyes, subscribe to a survivalist magazine and salute George W. Bush.

Końcówka walki Mathew Hattona z Lovemore N’dou. Pojedynek odbył się 13 listopada 2009 roku.

Promocje w sklepie Pretorian – sprawdź teraz!

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Skrót walki Manny Pacquiao z Ricky Hattonem. Pojedynek odbył się 2 maja 2009 roku.

Bestsellery w sklepie Pretorian – sprawdź teraz!

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Kompilacja najlepszych walk Ricky Hattona.

Bestsellery w sklepie Pretorian – sprawdź teraz!

Zestawienie najciekawszych nokautów na zawodowych ringach.

Zab Judah is a well known American welterweight who has seemed to be around for ages now. He made his debut before in 1996 before his 19th birthday and has fought many great champions including Kostya Tszyu, Cory Spinks, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Angel Cotto, and Joshua Clottey. The 31-year-old Judah possesses a 37-6-0 record with 25 KOs while being knocked out in 2 of his losses (Tszyu, Cotto). Judah, a 5′8″ southpaw, is currently ranked by boxingrec.com as the 10th best welterweight and the 3rd best American welterweight at this time.

Matthew Hatton on the other hand, is a British boxer from Manchester, England who comes in not as well tested as Judah. Hatton, who started boxing professionally in 2000, has fought most of his bouts in England and Europe with only six bouts taking place in the States. The 28-year-old Hatton is 37-4-1 with 14 of those wins coming from KOs. He himself has only been knocked out once. Hatton is an orthodox fighter who is a full inch taller than Judah. Hatton is ranked by boxingrec.com as the 32nd best welterweight in the world and the 2nd best Brit at the welterweight weight class.

None of Hatton’s losses have come on American soil, so getting acclimated to the environment should not be a problem for Hatton. What should be a problem is that Judah is the most experience and best fighter Hatton has ever fought. All of Judah’s losses has come at the expense of some of the most highly regarded welterweights and junior welterweights in the sport. So should this be a walk in the park for Zab?

For Matthew Hatton to win:Hatton should go early and often to the body of Judah to limit Judah’s superior athleticism and quickness. Hatton should also not like Judah take control of the fight by landing his jab. Hatton needs to counter off of Judah’s jab and turn defense into offense. And lastly, Hatton needs to just be gritty and know that this is the toughest opponent he has ever faced. As we saw from the Kostya Tszyu fight with Judah, Judah is one clean punch away from landing on the canvas and Hatton should look for that opportunity where Judah is perhaps a bit overzealous.

For Zab Judah to win: Judah must use his experience to box smart against Hatton. Judah needs to use his quickness and athleticism to control the fight with his jab. Once Judah lands the jab, he can follow that up with the left hand hoping to land a few combinations for a quick and easy win. And most importantly, Judah needs to avoid leaving himself open for Hatton to get lucky.

Prediction:Judah overwhelms Hatton with his speed and experience eventually wins out. The favorite puts on a good display and psyches up the crowd at the MGM for the Main Event with a 6th round TKO.

source: boxingrec.com

BThomps

THERE WAS A SHOOT OUT OUTSIDE OF A SKATING RINK ON SUNDAY NIGHT IN FLOYD “MONEY” MAYWEATHER’S HOME TOWN OF LAS VEGAS.

POLICE SAY THAT MAYWEATHER’S ROLLS ROYCE WAS SPOTTED OUTSIDE THE LOCATION OF SAID INCIDENT.

MAYWEATHER’S ADVISER, LEANORD ELLORBE HAS DENIED THAT MAYWEATHER HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE INCIDENT BUT WOULDN’T COMMENT ON WHETHER OR NOT MAYWEATHER’S VEHICLE WAS PRESENT.

POLICE HAVE SAID THAT MAYWEATHER ISN’T A SUSPECT BUT THEY WILL LOOK FURTHER INTO THE SITUATION.

Fight Night round 4 has been out for almost two months now.
Since I don’t have the extra cash to throw on a game, I downloaded the demo yesterday.

The best part so far is the video edit feature. Before you save an instant replay, you can customize and fine tune it then upload it online. It’s almost like directing your own Rocky movie.

You can place camera angles wherever you want then piece them together. You can add slow motion or fast motion… you can modify the color.
Check out mine, hey check out mine.

I named this one “Retaliation”.
After getting a fist to the chin, Manny Pacquiao Hulks out on Hatton.

“Good Night”
Pacquiao rearranges Hatton’s face, then slips in a quick Good Night kiss.

This is what the videos look like without editing.
“Left Hook”

As mentioned on the Official Site earlier today Terry Brown was on Talksport this evening talking to Danny Kelly also in the studio was Stewart Robson.

If you missed the interview you can hear it in full by clicking Here

*** update *** Some people are having problems with the link so it may work if you cut and paste the following into a web browser http://imbd.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/terry20brown20on20talksport.mp3

If that still doesnt work please post a comment and i can investigate further

Mayweather vs Marquez

on Mayweather vs Marquez, Mayweather said “I am relieved to be cleared to fight as I was already lookings forward to getting back into the ring”, Mayweather’s opponent which he able to defeat by TKO was Engleand’s Ricky Hatton which was also beaten by Pacquiao last May 2, 2009 by TKO in 2nd round ONLY. Mayweather Jr. also added “When I get back into the ring, I plan to show my fans what they’ve been missing these past 18 months. I will destroy Marquez and reclaim my rightful place as boxing’s pound-for-pound king all in one night.””

Meanwhile, Marquez who was a 5-time world champion in 3 weight classes also tries to insert his name into the pound-for-pound debate… but was also beaten by Pacquiao twice. Marquez said “I am glad Mayweather has been cleared to fight and we can get down to business,” Marquez said. “My win will be for all the people and entire country of Mexico. I am sure of victory.” <br.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. VS JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ

Well it’s taken long enough!

Since Round 3’s release back in 2006 boxing fans have been desperate for a new version of Fight Night.

Round 3 was basically just a graphically superior version of the PS2 game and while we were all wowed by the graphics it wasn’t long until we noticed two main flaws with the game:

1) Each knockdown had the same animation set.

2) You could win fights in seconds by using the haymakers – well over powered.

So as I sat waiting for the demo to download last night I had my fingers crossed that these points had been remedied.

Upon loading I’m treated to a trailer explaining what will be in the full game and I have to say it sounds great – especially the career mode and the idea of having champions online that you can challenge if you rank high enough

But back to the demo, first things first we head to the gym for training.

Now the big change as far as I’m concerned is that haymakers are now activated by holding R2 and going through the punch motion rather than dragging the right analogue stick back further before following the punch through like in round 3.

Pushing the stick towards the bottom of the pad now lands body shots.

This for me is a much better system, although I think it’ll take me a while to get used to it – I found myself instinctively trying to pull off haymakers only to punch at my opponents body!

It means you have a full set of punches at your desposal just on the right analogue stick.

If you do land a haymaker it’ll do more damage than a normal punch but luckily it’s not as devestating as the previous game (where a haymaker followed by one punch was often enough to put you down).

Parrying has gone but blocking remains, as well as leaning. Both of which are used to land counter punches that again do more damage but it’s all down to timing.

Occasionally a counter punch (or just a really good normal one) will stun your opponent – their health will drop to almost zero (flashing red) and it seems geniunely that all they can do is hang in there, blocking, looking for an opportunity to clinch.

Fighters can now get in close and punches aren’t a case of hit or miss – there are glancing blows and each punch is different.

You only have two fighters to choose from in the demo, Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao, but it’s such a step up from Round 3 you’ll be more interested in the game itself.

The demo is limited to 3 rounds and having played maybe 6 or 7 fights only one knockdown has occured (see below).

I suspect fights will last a lot longer in this game and tactics will come into play – especially with the between round RPG element of spending points you’ve earned in the fight on either Stamina, Damage or Health.

For me this looks like a great game and I’ll be interested to have a crack at the career mode.

I remember spending hours on Greatest Heavyweights on the Mega Drive (below) and boxing games have come a long way since then.

I’d recommend downloading this and giving it a try, whether you’re a fan of boxing or not. I’ll certainly be picking up the full game based on this excellent demo.

Sometimes the Lovely Melanie expects me to get cross about things: really annoying, stupid or frustrating things – but I only tend to get cross at a build-up of silly little things.  Extremely large FUs – events and circumstances guaranteed to annoy most people – only make me slowly shake my head and grin a wry grin.

For instance, today we navigated our way to Hatton, a place on the absolute opposite side of London to where we live, for the birthday party of  Oscar and Thomas Day, the sons of some friends of ours.  It took about two hours to get there, it was blazing hot and Millie had a huge tantrum on the train.

When we arrived at the venue we soon discovered the Lovely Melanie had gotten her days mixed up: the party had been yesterday.

How we laughed as we turned around and came back home! (that’s sarcasm, by the way)

It took over two hours to get home, it was blazing hot and Millie had an ongoing tantrum (with scattered spells of normality) pretty much all the way.

All.  The.  Way.

I had thought we were immune to such behaviour nowadays, but Millie was so bad even the Lovely Melanie felt embarrassed.

The cherry on this dubious cake is that I had turned down a chance to party backstage with the Manic Street Preachers the night before (thanks to our mutual friend and industry bigwig JimmyMac) because I didn’t want a huge hangover at today’s birthday party.

So tonight I’m slowly shaking my head and grinning a wry grin.

For the past couple of weeks I have been watching Pacquiao vs Hatton 24/7.  The trailer is below:

Being Filipino, I wanted my countryman to win.  However, after viewing both men train for the title, I was almost positive the Hitman was going to take it all in 10th round, the latest.   I obnoxiously proclaimed my vote for the British fighter.

Less than 5 minutes into the match, I’m eating a $50 bill and my words. In essence, I paid $25 for 2 rounds as Pacquiao completely overpowered Hatton.

Right now I am a mix of emotions: pround, happy, shamed, and above all, poor.

I learned two things today:

1. Always support your own people.
2. Never buy anything off Paperview.

Pacquiao, from here on out, you have my undying support.  Should you fight Floyd Mayweather Jr, I will be watching (from a bar or a place without a cover) attentively, and I will be cheering your name.