Third Strike in 24 Hours in Tribal Areaby Jason Ditz, December 18, 2009

US Predator drones launched their third strike in the past 24 hours today, firing multiple missiles at a suspected “hideout” in Datta Khel village, North Waziristan Agency, and killing at least 12 suspects.

More Drone Killings

The “hideout” in question amounted to a cluster of tents occupied by nomads who regularly migrate back and forth across the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan. The identities of the slain were not clear.

A pair of drone attacks yesterday killed at least 17 people and wounded numerous others in roughly the same region. The US has yet to comment on any of the attacks, which is in keeping with their usual strategy with the CIA drone strikes.

US officials have been trying to cajole Pakistani forces into invading North Wazirsitan, a difficult proposition for a government already fighting myriad wars across its northern border at America’s behest. If the US attacks continue, however, it could provoke a reaction from the militants in the region, sparking a broader war that forces Pakistan to get involved, ready or not.

NEWS

U.S. backs $100 bln climate fund, world leaders meet
Gerard Wynn and Pete Harrison

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announces pledge for tackling global climate change amidst final days of negotiation at the climate summit in Copenhagen.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – U.S. backing for a $100 billion climate fund to help poor nations revived hopes for a deal to combat global warming on Thursday as world leaders met on the eve of a U.N. deadline for breaking deadlock.

Many leaders mentioned risks of failure at a two-day summit that started with a gala dinner for about 120 world leaders at Christiansborg Palace, hosted by Denmark’s Queen Margrethe.

“Time is against us, let’s stop posturing,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a speech to leaders. “A failure in Copenhagen would be a catastrophe for each and every one of us.”

Environment ministers planned to work late into the night on draft texts outlining curbs on greenhouse gas emissions as part of a 193-nation deal due on Friday to avert more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.

The United States, the number two emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, helped the mood by promising to back a $100 billion a year fund for poor nations from 2020. President Barack Obama will arrive early on Friday.

“The United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference.

Such funds would be more than all current aid flows to poor nations, a U.N. official said, and in line with demands put forward for African nations. “That’s very encouraging,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the U.S. pledge.

OBAMA

A U.S. official said Obama was unlikely to be more specific about U.S. commitments to help provide funds for poor countries.

And the U.S. official said he could not predict whether world leaders would reach a deal but said Obama would stay committed to working on the issue if talks were not successful.

A few Greenpeace activists carrying signs saying “Politicians talk, leaders Act” walked straight up the red carpet into Christiansborg Palace after arriving in a motorcade in front of Clinton, Greenpeace said. They were removed by guards.

Accord on finance is one part of a puzzle that also includes a host of other measures, such as saving rainforests, boosting carbon markets and stiffening global carbon emissions curbs.

“If each and everyone does a little bit more than we can do this,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. She said the European Union was willing to do more but would not act alone.

But any deal will have to be agreed by unanimity. Some small island states and African nations — most vulnerable to climate change — insist they will not agree a weak deal.

“We are talking about the survival of our nation,” said Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia of the Pacific island state of Tuvalu of the talks that began two years ago in Bali, Indonesia.

The talks, deadlocked for 24 hours, resumed after Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen dropped plans to present his own compromise texts. His plan had been opposed by poor nations which insisted everyone should be involved.

The draft texts include possible goals such as halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or obliging developed nations to cut their emissions by between 25 and 40 percent by 2020.

“We are moving out of the valley of death. We are beginning to see the outlines of a compromise, helped by the U.S. offer on finance,” said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF environmental group’s global climate initiative.

Earlier on Thursday, prospects for a strong U.N. climate pact seemed remote as nations blamed leading emitters China and the United States for deadlock on carbon cuts. But ministers and leaders urged fresh urgency.

“Copenhagen is too important to fail,” China’s climate change ambassador Yu Qingtai said, adding that the presence of Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday evening, was testament to China’s commitment.

India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh accused rich countries of planning a “propaganda campaign” to blame developing nations for any breakdown. Developing economies are expected to add almost all future growth in carbon emissions.

Clinton said a deal would fail unless developing nations, specifically China, committed to transparency on their emissions curbs.

(With extra reporting by Anna Ringstrom, David Fogarty, Richard Cowan, Emma Graham-Harrison, Krittivas Mukherjee, Karin Jensen; Writing by Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle; Editing by Dominic Evans)

About Psychic Medium Marcus Starr

Manchester United win yet another title in 2008-09, their eleventh in seventeen years

“The most exciting league in the world” is a phrase that’s become synonymous with Sky TV’s presentation of the Barclay’s Premier League, such is the TV station’s devotion to hyping up even the most dullest of matches.  Although there are great players and teams in the league, just how true is it to say that the English Premier League is “the most exciting league in the world”?

One couldn’t doubt the quality of the players on show in the Premier League, on the contrary it’s true to say that with players such as Fernando Torres, Wayne Rooney and Dider Drogba to name but three that the English Premier League contains some of the finest players in the modern game. However this discussion focuses on the concept that the league is branded as much about ‘entertainment’ as much as it is ’sport’. When one thinks of last day cliffhangers they are very few and far between in the Premier League. As for the multitude of teams capable of winning the title in any given season then you can usually count them with a couple of fingers on one hand. If this criteria were applied to football then the English Premier League (EPL) would be no better than being a glorified Scottish Premier League (SPL).

When people in England talk about the SPL they will patronisingly refer to it as a ‘pub league’ and lament the fact that only two teams, Rangers and Celtic (the Old Firm), have any chance of winning the title. But it’s usually the case that only two teams have any chance of winning the EPL too, Manchester United and A.N. Other. The main challenger to United may change from time to time but it’s hardly any more exciting to see the Red Devils win title after title than it is to see two supposed ‘pub teams’ in Rangers and Celtic win title after title north of the border.

The only thing that maintains a sense of quality in England is the notion of the ‘Big Four’ (i.e. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool) and their regular appearances in the UEFA Champions League, European football’s showpiece tournament, helping to preserve English football’s position in the UEFA Co-Efficient table (a place in the top three of this table guarantees a nation four places in the Champions League). It seems increasingly the case, however, that some teams are happy just to finish in a top four spot – ‘fourth is the new first’ if you want – and secure the riches that the Champions League provides. In the case of the Old Firm at least they have been punching above their weight in European competition. Regular Champions League appearances coupled with two UEFA Cup finals, Celtic in 2004 and Rangers in 2008, has seen the SPL maintain a respectable standing despite its lack of wealth and international exposure. There have been examples in recent years of  English teams qualifying for the Europa League (ex-UEFA Cup) then trying as hard to get knocked out of a competition that they’ve tried even harder to qualify for. When some English club managers talk about finishing in the top four rather than winning a trophy then it seems to strengthen the view that most clubs in the EPL have very limited ambitions.

Another thing which adds to the lack of real excitement in the overall picture of the English Premier League is the absence of any final day cliffhangers at the top of the table. There may be some exciting finishes at the bottom of the table but the lack of any meaningful matches in respect of the championship means that the EPL is not always so worthy of its hype. You would think this would worry the people at Sky TV seeing as they talk about “the most exciting league in the world” as if its an unquestionable truth. Despite the dominance of the Old Firm in Scotland at least there have been exciting climaxes on the final day in three of the last five seasons including the last two in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Since the English Premier League’s formation in 1992-93 there have been only two final day pieces of drama to witness: the 1994-95 season when Blackburn Rovers beat Manchester United to the title despite losing their final game against Liverpool and the 1998-99 season where Manchester United saw off a spirited Tottenham Hotspur performance at Old Trafford to beat nearest challengers Arsenal to the title by one point. All of the other Premier League titles have been decided on or before the penultimate matchday.

One may argue that it’s too early to write off the English Premier League as a contest but then there are teams such as Liverpool and Arsenal whose title challenges have been written off as early as December after some bad results therefore leaving Manchester United and Chelsea as the only realistic challengers. The irony is that the EPL doesn’t look as entertaining from a competition point of view as its northern neighbour at the moment where the Old Firm have a challenge from Hibernian and Dundee United. For those of you who enjoy a regular two-horse race then “the most exciting league in the world” may just be your best bet for the season.

What’s not to love about streaming Sky Sports TV on your iPhone? Certainly, it had me all over iTunes like a rash.

“The first live television iPhone application has been launched, allowing users to watch live TV coverage any time and anywhere they want.” was the line from Sky News, which is true up to a point.

What it actually should say is “any time and anywhere they want as long as they’ve got a WiFi connection there” since it doesn’t yet work across 3G.

Given that about the only place I can (a) guarantee to have a WiFi connection and (b) expect to be in often enough at kick-off time is my house, where my HD box and TV is, I’ll keep hold of my £6.99-a-month for now.

When it works on 3G, however, my cheque will be the first one Rupert gets.

first published in The Lion Roars issue no 221 reproduced with the kind permission of the editor

Like a lot of people who couldn’t get tickets for Southampton, I settled down to watch the game on Sky. The game was screened in our local hotel but there was only one other Millwall supporters with me, & the rest of the clientele were made up of lunchtime diners. The result being that the sound had to be quite low meaning I missed some key incidents & the atmosphere was decidedly subdued for a Lions game. I watched the game end to end, and although happy with a draw I was disappointed with some of our play. Later that evening I met up with a few mates & I was amazed to find that their view of the game was totally at odds with my own.

So let’s start with what I saw (and this has been written completely independent of any other match review in TLR or elsewhere):-

Going into the game I thought Southampton would be disjointed and suffering from the off field goings on. Millwall by contrast had a settled side and had enjoyed a good pre-season. I reckoned if we took the game to them this was as good a chance to beat one of the top rated sides as we were going to get. I thought the Lions started well and moved the ball about brightly. But after about 15 minutes we started to punt the ball long up from the back. All too often their central defenders collected it and played it out of defence. Passes were missed by our midfield and we seemed disjointed. A couple of good chances went to Southampton, notably Schneiderlin’s lob & Perry’s volley hitting the post. Just before half time though, Morison scuffed a tight ball in the area, sending us in at 0-0.

The 2^nd half started out the same way and I despaired as the Saints were allowed to play football around us with no tackles being made. When we did get the ball we gave it away cheaply. After 51 minutes almost inevitably the ball breaks to Paterson in the area who drills it home. The Lions responded in the best way and started to take the game to Southampton, the ball being played out of defence, and crisp passes tore their midfield apart. This was helped by the introduction of Ali Fuseini and Jason Price for Bolder and Martin. The pressure mounted & we had several corners before the penalty. Yes it was a definite penalty long before Price was bundled to the floor. Shame Dunny couldn’t convert it but the Lions kept the pressure up and minutes later a lovely looping header from Jimmy Abdou puts us level. Then I saw a 2^nd very good penalty shout when a Saints defender under pressure from Alexander handled the ball pushing it out over the line. Price had the ball in the back of the net only for the linesman to disallow it. The Lions finished strongly but overall I thought a draw was all we deserved. Our defence was excellent despite key players being unavailable, but too often our midfield were either by-passed or ineffectual.

So what had other people seen? Now Peter has, like me, been a Lions supporter for well over 30 years, travelling home & away so he’s no mug when it comes to calling a game. And Liam may only be in his mid teens but his knowledge of soccer in general & all things Millwall in particular is almost encyclopaedic (Ah yes, I remember the good old days before age, alcohol & controlled substances took their toll on my neuron receptors. Nowadays I can barely remember my name!). He also plays in a very well respected youth team, so you would expect him to give a good valid opinion. But we had three different people and three different verdicts, and that’s before you mention Keith who attended the game and gave a fourth interpretation on the match.

Pete said he thought Millwall had played really well and had held the upper hand throughout. He felt that our strikers had created chances against an experienced and well drilled defence. Our midfield & defence had played well, specially given the fact several were playing out of position.

Liam concurred up to a point, feeling that our midfield were not aggressive enough but that when they had the ball they played well. Neither saw the repeated hoofing the ball from the back that frustrated me so much, or spotted the 2^nd handball penalty shout.

Now I know opinions are like arseholes – we all have one but think everyone else’s stinks more than our own – but this is ridiculous. So what is going on?

We all know that watching a game live is totally different to watching it on TV. The way the human eyes & brain handle information just isn’t designed to work with the way TV coverage is presented to us. For a start the eye is drawn to movement and variations in colour, hence the rotating, moving advertising boards around the edge of pitches these days (which is bloody infuriating in my opinion). Also the eye focuses on one item (or player) for a split second then moves on to another, then another, then another around the field of vision. All this information is relayed to the brain which tries to make sense of all the information that is being input to it. So when you are sitting in the East Upper and you watch Forde kick the ball out of goal your eye may first focus on the keepers kick then switch for an instant to the run of Hackett as he traces the balls movement, then switch to the ref to see what position he’s in, then switches again to Alexander who is wrestling with his marker, then switches again to the 20 year old shapely blonde girl who has just jumped out of her seat in the West Lower, then switches again to the run of Morison as he draws his defender away from the ball. From this split second snap shot your brain will make an informed opinion of what is happening. Now watch that on TV and the director will use a wide angle shot to follow the movement of the ball following the kick, then switch to a tight shot of Alexander as he & his marker move to meet the ball, hence missing all the peripheral action. It’s also a bloody shame as that blonde is quite fit in my opinion.

The brain has to then interpret all this information, but will take its cues from other factors such as noise, sensory movement, tension and the like. So was my reaction to the game just a reflection of my surroundings & my overriding sense of frustration? There was no “big match atmosphere” in the pub, I was straining to hear the commentary over inane chitter chatter in my ear, plus my own over-riding sense of pessimism. So was I watching the game I EXPECTED to see? After the initial few minutes my pessimism took over & I no longer expected Millwall to play well. As a result my mind emphasised all their mistakes while playing down their good points. On the other hand, those eternal optimists Pete & Liam were willing Millwall to win so enjoyed the draw much more. It’s certainly something to be considered isn’t it, and explains the massive discrepancies in our opinions of a match with our mates. Maybe we should all refrain from watching Millwall unless we are certified as being in a happy mood – or barking mad of course.

You tube interview

Good Afternoon.

Fishing in style at Blue Water Lakes!!

This is all rather luxurious. I am sat writing this post at a big table in the lodge. The rods are out and my receiver box is beside me. The remote control for the Sky TV keeps trying to tempt me to turn it on, but I am going to save it for the evening. I have not missed TV at all since I left the UK. I do like a dvd every so often so you can get really lost in a film, but TV is something I don’t need in my life at the moment. It controls and dictates what you do each day, and so many people run around making sure they don’t miss their favourite programme; slaves to the screen! When I returned to the UK in July for some fishing business and a family visit, the same old programmes were still playing and I have been gone nearly two years. I have the best entertainment all around me, nature, the dogs and my only lifeline to reality; my laptop. That will do me for the next few years with any luck!

It has been a while since I have seen one of these!!

I fished at Blue Water for a couple of days last November. There was a party of six anglers fishing at Gigantica for a week and I was part of that group. Blue Water Lakes provided a couple of nights fishing before we could travel the short distance up the road and start our week’s fishing, which always commences on a Saturday. I caught a small mirror from Blue Water on the first night and nothing on the second night and I was fishing at the shallower end of the lake by the picnic table on the point. Almost a year later and I am here again and this time I have the lake to myself for a few days. I have the use of Blue Water till Thursday and then I shall do a couple of nights on the smaller of the two lakes. The reason for this move is due to some anglers turning up on Thursday and as I am a guest it is only fair that I give them the main lake back!

Very popular with lots of carp anglers from the UK and Holland.

So, I have four days and nights to try and catch a carp or three. I have already put the rods out and have placed them in a variety of depths from 8-13 feet. I have a range of hookbaits on offer, all with a little bit of colour. Two rigs are 360 rigs and the other two are blowback types. It is generally a night-time water but as the weather has turned in the last couple of days and we are now in for a mild week, this will hopefully encourage the carp to have a really good munch. I have ‘plenty’ of bait with me, and I am hoping I may need to use it all. I have started off with a small introduction around each rod and have put in whole and chopped boilies, which I crushed easily with my Krusha. Dynamite boilies are generally soft out of the bag and the Krusha makes light work of them. I am also fishing with the Korda PVA stocking, full of crushed baits.

Crushing with my Krusha

PVA stocking full of Mussel and Oyster attraction.

A selection of hookbaits on offer.

Nick Helleur (smash em’) did an article for Carpworld last year about Blue Water Lakes when he was testing some new bait from Dynamite Baits and this was with the Spicy Tuna & Sweet Chilli boilies. Guess what? That is what I am using alongside the Mussel & Oyster boilies from the fresh fish range. The lake has not been on top form recently but no lakes in the area have been fishing their heads off and this is probably down to the very cold Northerly winds that have been blowing the last couple of weeks. The two lads fishing at Blue Water last week managed about eight carp between them and the previous week about fifteen were caught. Gigantica did produce a carp this morning and it was to Dan the bailiff. He had fish over his spot very early this morning and at 7.30am a run came and a pretty 25lb linear was the end result. At least we saw one carp and it was definitely worth a photo.

At least a carp was caught in the end!

It will be rather strange sleeping in a lodge tonight. My bedchair is set up in the social area and it is only a ten yard dash to my rods. My swim is in front of the lodge! I have opted to drop two rods from the boat at approximately a 100 yard range (inflatable boat…not remote bait boat) and I have cast two rods from the bank.

Two rods dropped from the boat.

And two rods cast from the bank.

My remote controlled bait boat. I control it with my arms and oars!

Even the dogs have a spot of luxury tonight as they are sleeping on the lodge floor on their beds. They will thank me in a few days time when they are back in the bivvy!

"Is there underground heating Dad?"

Carp wise Blue Water Lakes holds a good head of fish to over 50lbs. The fish are apparently now full in weight and some of these fifties could be big upper fifties. There are also a few catfish to over 100lbs but I am hoping the colder temperatures will have put an end to their boilie feeding till the spring. I have come for the carp and fingers crossed, they are what I will get. I am now going to cook some lovely food and get myself comfortable. I don’t want a good night’s sleep, I want to be busy, and I am looking forward to my first night at Blue Water Lakes.

A Blue Water cat!!

And a lovely Blue Water carp!!

Back soon.

Jake and the dogs.

Rupert Murdoch has dominated the media in the UK and elsewhere for several decades and has shown a sound grasp of the way things operate. But you can’t help but feel the old sod might be losing his grasp on reality (or what he likes to call dominance).

By muttering that he might ban Google from carrying his stories, he seems to have missed the fundamental way the web works. If he pushes through his idea to put all News International content behind registration and cuts off Google, you have to wonder who he expects to look at the stuff online.

Any online business will tell you they need Google and other search engines and news aggregators to increase page views. Search Engine Optimisation companies earn large sums to tell businesses just like News International how best to exploit them to the maximum advantage.

Murdoch’s challenge is to find a way to make the websites pay, something which threatens the vast majority of online providers in the years ahead.

In the meantime, his ideas make as much sense as him banning televisions and wondering why nobody is watching Sky anymore.

ARGH. Right, for the past 3 months we’ve had intermittent connection which has resulted is hours of downtime and annoyance. We’ve had a new router and cables and filters, two engineers.

Now we’re switching to Virgin Media. Hopefully that’ll fix this shit.

Over a week since an embarrassing and very public launch failure, Sky TV and Microsoft appear eventually to have uncrossed their wires to provide the Sky Player to Xbox 360 users in the UK. After seven days of less-than-patient anticipation, earlier this evening the Sky Player software was finally available to download from the Xbox 360 dashboard – we were there, camera in hand, to show you what it looks like step by step.

Xbox 360 Sky Player Installation and Set Up

Figure 1. Sky Player on Xbox 360 Dashboard

Telly-hungry gamers have been facing cautious and somewhat unspecific statements on the Sky website suggesting a gradual roll-out of the service since last week, but only now are they beginning to be sated as the option to download the elusive Sky Player software onto their Xbox becomes available (figure 1).

Figure 2. Downloading Sky Player Software

Simply selecting this gives you the option to download the ‘app’ (figure 2).

After starting the application, you’ll need to sign-in before you can watch any Sky content (figure 3). The credential you supply is your Sky Player login (the login you’d normally use for the Sky TV website and where, presumably, you’ll have signed-up for Sky Player – if not then visit the Sky Player Sign-Up page) – figure 4.

Figure 3. Accounts & Settings Menu

Figure 4. Entering Sky Player Account Details

If your sign-in is successful, some Sky magic will happen and your Xbox 360 will now be registered with your Sky Player account (figure 5) to ensure that only one Xbox 360 can be used to view Sky programming. Darn it, those Sky dudes think of everything.

Figure 5. Xbox is registered with your Sky Player account

If you get this far, then you’re pretty much good to go and can begin exploring the Sky Television content that’s available to you, depending upon your subscription with Sky. If you have a standard single set-top box Sky subscription then you’ll be able to watch on-demand content from channels within your subscribed channel package and also live Sky News. However, if you’re already subscribed to one of Sky’s multiroom or unlimited broadband packages then you’ll able to watch live telly, but only a subset of Sky’s normal gazillion channel line-up (24 at the time of writing).

Xbox 360 Sky Player in Use

The Sky Player is, unsurprisingly, a dream to use given the Xbox treatment. Microsoft have fine-tuned the 360’s user interface to a tee and, wisely the Sky Player mostly sticks to its design and navigation principles (figure 6).

Figure 6. Sky Player Navigation

However, one area where Sky’s similarly class-leading UI does make an appearance is the TV Guide EPG when navigating live television channels (figure 7).

Figure 7. Sky Player TV Guide

When attempting to watch a programme that is outside of your subscription pack, Sky don’t miss a trick and will offer you the chance to upgrade or perhaps even the opportunity to rent the programme – most notably at prices that don’t seem particularly unreasonable (figure 8).

Figure 8. Upgrade Package or Rent a Programme

Sky Player Gripes

Overall, the service is smooth – there’s a minimal amount of pre-view buffering (no more than 5 seconds for the programmes I watched through an 8Mb broadband connection), and the adverts are kept short and sweet (at the moment, of course this may/inevitably will change).

However, I was disappointed with Sky Player on a couple of fronts:

The picture quality was generally pretty poor. Aside from all of the Sky Player content being delivered in standard definition at the moment, the compression applied to the video is particularly lossy and even fairly static scenes displayed with significant blockiness. Scene with quick cuts faired even worse. Perhaps picture quality has been a concession amongst the capacity issues which forced the service offline hours after its initial launch.

Some of the on-demand content seemed less-than-current. For example, whilst Sky News offered daily updates going back nearly a week, a look at the sports channels offered quite a different view (figure 9) where there appeared to be about a six week lag – quite why anyone would want to watch Burnley v Sunderland live is almost beyond my comprehension, but watching it nearly two months after the event suggests devotion beyond sanity.

Figure 9. On demand sports late to the plate

Conclusions

As an existing Sky subscriber making extensive use of the Sky+ set top box and its legendary PVR, I’m struggling to recall the last time I actually watched anything live on TV apart from sport: live TV is so 20th century. With this in mind, the live streaming feature of Sky Player on Xbox 360 doesn’t interest me in the slightest, particularly given the reduction in picture quality, and even less so as I’d have to pay extra to receive it. The only possible application of this as an existing Sky subscriber might be in a genuine multiroom setup, or when using the ‘watch with friends’ party feature – this last feature does sound like it could be a lot of fun, but again is probably best suited to sharing verbal abuse when watching live sport.

However, access to the on-demand programming is much more compelling and surely is the real killer application of Sky Player: whilst not yet as comprehensive as other on-demand offerings such as BBC iPlayer, it still gives the welcome opportunity to browse programmes that you missed watching when live or didn’t record on the PVR.

One trick that Sky perhaps has missed is the integration Sky’s standard TV Guide EPG (see figure 7 above) with the access to on-demand content – a single timeline could provide the ability to go back in time with the EPG as well as forward, showing which programmes are available on-demand as well as live or to watch later.

That being said, unless there’s a particular programme that I know I’ve missed and want to watch on-demand, the bottom line is that I simply can’t see myself preferring to watch telly on my Xbox over my Sky box, but then perhaps this Sky Player platform isn’t for me: for many without existing Sky subscriptions who won’t or can’t have a satellite dish but would still like access to Sky’s programming it does present an interesting option, but perhaps one I’d like to trial for a month before signing up to a 12 month contract.

Alternatively, if you happen to have an Xbox but no Sky TV but you do have a friend/parent who does subscribe to Sky, there may be opportunities for a (cough) reciprocal arrangement to get your Sky on the cheap(er) – ideal for son/daughter in digs at University without Sky dish but with internet. I’ll leave you to figure it out the details, but remember: you didn’t get the idea from me.

Que puedo decir “POW justo en la boca” al Tio Bill, ¿esto por qué? pues hace poco el Director de Sky TV -Griff Parry-, declaro que el sistema de televisión podría implementarse en el PS3 sin problema alguno, en un futuro muy cercano y que solo falta la aprobación de Sony para hacer esto posible, por eso, POW directo al rostro al tio bill.

Estas fueron las palabras de Griff Parry:

“Puedo hablar en general de nuestro deseo de expandirnos a cualquier dispositivo capaz de soportar una buena experiencia de gran calidad para nuestro contenido”

La PS3 es un dispositivo donde es claramente posible y fácilmente podría suceder en el futuro. Dicho esto, hay que admitir que estamos muy contentos de estar trabajando para Xbox.”

Hace una semana este sistema de entrenamiento fue implementado en Inglaterra (versión xbox) con muy buenos resultados, claramente vemos como Sony gana terreno a pasos agrandados y que no necesita pagar por exclusivas ya que solitas llegan jajaja.

By Margarita Dimitrova

xBox 360

Britain’s biggest pay- TV broadcaster Sky TV is making 24 channels available over the Microsoft xBox 360 console without the need for a dish.

This was set to be a revolution representing Sky’s move onto a gaming console for the first time.The Xbox brings true on demand to subscribers television and for other people the chance to get movies, entertainment and sports onto their television without a satellite installation.

Well…terrestrial channels are not available and people wanting to see Sky Sports or Sky movies channels have to pay more. And also programmes are not shown in HD, but that is because broadcast speeds in Britain are simply not good enough.

Put those minor issues aside we, costumers can agree with digital media analysts saying this move is a big step forward for both companies, Sky and Microsoft. Because this is what matters for us, isn’t it?

There is just one little problem for the great revolution of the live satellite TV- it did not work. ”October 27 that’s the date when you’ll be able to watch TV from Sky on your xBox 360” announced Graeme Boyd xBox community manager for Microsoft Europe via Twitter days before the event.next was an official announcement the following week. Unfortunately it was a bit delayed.

“The service has been suspended due to an unforeseen technical issue”. Sky said in a statement. “Sky Player engineers are hard at work to resolve the problem. We expect to have the full service available on Wednesday”.

Microsoft has said that it is “investigating” the technical problems delaying the launch of Sky Player on Xbox Live.

Unfortunately still the service has been down most of the time and clearly both Sky and Microsoft are overwhelmed by the demand.

Now, this is revolutionary.

Yesterday I provided the last couple of bits of audio for Revelation TV’s programme Halloween Trick or Treat? I’ve just watched the first on air broadcast of the programme and I must say it’s really good!! Of course I would say that having narrated it – but honestly if you have SKY TV check out Revelation TV because the show is on again this evening and across the weekend. Check it out if you can – here’s their website address with more info should you need it. http://www.revelationtv.com/news.php?newsid=c86843a2-137b-102d-9add-00219bfb

With Netflix coming to a PS3 near you, we were left wondering what would happen to the Xbox 360. Most Xbox 360 owners are already using their consoles to stream media from their computers, but how about getting some streaming TV?

Read More…

*** Update 23:30 3rd November 2009 ***

It seems like the roll-out is now underway – see hands-on pictures of Sky Player in action on the Xbox 360.

Sky Player Navigation

*** ENDs ***

At first glance, this seems like a great idea – watch Sky TV at home via your Xbox 360. And before delving into the detail it looks that, if not already a SkyTV subscriber, you’d have a great way to get Sky TV onto your big telly in your house/flat/barge. And as the service is supplied (in standard def only, mind you) over your broadband connection, there’s no need for a dustbin lid and associated scaffolding on the side of your house, and the subscription fees seem pretty reasonable. But if, like many of us, you’re already a Sky TV subscriber, the proposition is less compelling, but still potentially useful.

However, delving a little deeper, it’s altogether less straightforward.

Eagerly turning on my Xbox 360 early on the afternoon of launch day, and without doing any research whatsoever into how this Xbox/Sky marriage was supposed to work, I naively expected an Xbox software update instantly to provide me with access to the likes of Dave, Men and Motors and Ocean Finance TV (channel 888, don’t you know). Of course, I was disappointed.

The Xbox.com website was my next stop where I found this handy page which takes you through a wizard, asking various questions such as:

• are already a Sky subscriber?
• are you Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber?
• do you subscribe to Sky Broadband Unlimited or Sky Multiroom?

As a minimum, you need a broadband connection (at least 2Mb) an Xbox LIVE Gold membership to use the service in any form. If you’re already a Sky subscriber, you must also have Sky Broadband Unlimited or Sky Multiroom (at £5 per month) if you want to watch live Sky TV on your Xbox. As it happens, I don’t, but as a Sky subscriber with Xbox LIVE Gold, I am still able to watch Sky’s On Demand TV services. If you’re not a Sky subscriber, you can subscribe for the Sky Player service only (but you’ll still need Xbox LIVE Gold).

So, whilst mildly disappointed that I’m only able to watch on-demand TV, but at the same time slightly smug that most of the telly I watch is via Sky+ and hence already on demand, I head over to the Sky website to sign-in and try to activate my Xbox Sky Player from there.

Signing in to the Sky.com website and taking a little more care than usual reading the terms and conditions for the Sky Player service, I’m ultimately presented with a Sky Player mini site trying to sell me more stuff which I decline. Each device upon which you choose to watch Sky TV (which can be a PC or an Xbox 360) must be registered here, up to a maximum of four devices. However, it’s not immediately clear how to enable it on your Xbox.

Some further hunting on the SkyPlayer Xbox 360 portal suggests it should be as simple as going to the Video Marketplace on the Xbox and signing in from there, but upon trying that on my Xbox, there’s nothing that mentions SkyPlayer there. Predictably, there was nothing on the Sky online help, but the Xbox.com forums reported what I’d feared: it’s already broken and has been taken offline! The SkyPlayer website has this to say:

Hi All,

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are currently experiencing some technical issues with our much-anticipated launch of Sky Player on Xbox 360.

Please rest assured we are working extremely hard behind the scenes to rectify this as soon as possible, and we look forward to bringing TV from Sky to your Xbox 360 console very soon.

Thanks for your continuing patience,

The Sky Player Team

I’ll report back when I know more…

ISCL 2009 INTERNATIONAL STRONGMAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

WEMBLEY ARENA – LONDON – ENGLAND. 18^th OCTOBER 2009

AN EXPLOSION OF POWER!

The Strongman Champions League series finally makes its debut in London, becoming the biggest Strongest Man competition ever held in the uk, at the only venue big enough to contain such power Wembley Arena!

ISCL 2009 CAMPEONATO INTERNACIONAL DE LIGA DEL HOMBRE MÁS FUERTE

WEMBLEY ARENA – LONDRES – INGLATERRA. 18 de octubre de 2009

¡UNA EXPLOSIÓN DE PODER!

¡El Campeonato de Liga del Hombre más Fuerte finalmente hace su estreno en Londres, llegando a ser la mayor competición del Hombre Fuerte que se haya realizado nunca en U. K., el único lugar bastante grande para contener tal poder Wembley Arena!

Bringing together the elite of the Strongman World with the biggest upcoming stars from all over the world, the London leg of the Strongman Champions League promises to be the most spectacular in the series!

With thousands in attendance, over 83 million watching across Europe via Eurosport & up to 44 million watching on SKY TV, the ISCL ‘09 is going to be like its competitors, massive!

Series leader Andrus Murumets is threatening to steal away the title from reigning ISCL champion & holder of 19 Strength World Records Zydrunas Savickas! The rest of the elite lineup looks to steal away the title of ISCL Champion 2009, the biggest International Strongman event ever to take place in the UK!

Reuniendo a la élite del Hombre Más Fuerte del Mundo con las estrellas próximas más grandes de todo el mundo, la edición en Londres del Campeonato Liga del Hombre Más Fuerte promete ser lo más espectacular en su género!

¡Con miles de espectadores, más de 83 millones de miradas en Europa por el canal de televisión Eurosport y hasta 44 millones de miradas por la SKY TV, eL ISCL 09 va a ser tan masivo como los competidores!

¡El líder Andrus Murumets y el titular de 19 récords mundiales de Fuerza, Zydrunas Savickas, amenazan con hacerse con el título de campeones del ISCL! ¡El resto de la alineación de la elite también intentarán hacerse con el título de Campeón de ISCL 2009, el mayor acontecimiento de Hombre Más Fuerte Internacional que se ha celebrado en el Reino Unido!

Can England’s Strongest Man of 2009 Terry Hollands claim a victory on home turf? Or will UK legend Mark Felix rise up to the challenge in front of a home crowd?

Also staking their claim for the title of ISCL ‘09 champion are:

Latvia’s Strongest Man 2008 & 2009: ‘Crazy’ Agris Kazelniks

Slovakia’s Strongest Man 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 & 2009: Golier Branoslav

Spain’s Strongest Man 2008 & 2009: Juan Carlos Heredia

Belgium’s Strongest Man 2008 & 2009: Jimmy ‘The Belgian Beast’ Laureys

Ukraine’s Strongest Man 2009 Kostiantyn Ilin

Giants Live Champion 2009 & 7 – time World’s Strongest Man competitor Jarek Dymek

Bavarian Stones record holder, Martin Wildauer from Austria

Don’t miss the first ever ISCL competition in the UK!

¿Puede el Hombre Más fuerte de Inglaterra de 2009 Terry Holand hacerse con la victoria sobre el césped de casa? ¿O se elevará la leyenda británica Mark Felix hasta el desafío delante de una muchedumbre de casa?

Otros aspirantes para el título de campeón del ISCL ‘ 09 son:

El Hombre Más fuerte de Letonia 2008 y 2009: ‘ Chiflado ‘ Agris Kazelniks.

El Hombre Más fuerte de Eslovaquia 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 y 2009: Golier Branoslav.

El Hombre Más fuerte de España 2008 y 2009: Juan Carlos Heredia.

El Hombre Más fuerte de Bélgica 2008 y 2009: Jimmy ‘ la Bestia belga ‘ Laureys.

El Hombre Más fuerte de Ucrania 2009 Kostiantyn Ilin.

El Campeón del Giants Live 2009 y 7 veces competidor en el Hombre Más Fuerte del Mundo, Jarek Dymek.

Campeón de Las Piedras de Bávaro, Martin Wildauer de Austria.

¡No olvidéis la primera competición del ISCL en el Reino Unido!

Visit the official ISCL Site: http://www.strongmancllondon.co.uk/

Un appuntamento da non perdere per il mese di ottobre con Match Music Special: Morgan intervista per la prima volta uno dei piu’ grandi cantautori italiani, Claudio Baglioni.

Una chiaccherata quasi informale con contenuti e video che hanno fatto la storia del cantautore definito da molti “quello dei buoni sentimenti”

Match Music Special: ottobre – ogni venerdì alle ore 22.00
(canale 716 di Sky)

Fonte

Sabato e domenica a Lampedusa c’è stato il festival O’Scia.

“Il progetto O’scia’ (Odori, Suoni, Colori d’Isole d’Altomare) nasce nell’estate 2003 da un’idea di Claudio Baglioni.

Nella sua forma originale prevedeva una serata di musica dal vivo sulla spiaggia della Guitgia, a Lampedusa, per

sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica sul delicato tema dell’emergenza immigrazione e, allo stesso tempo,

esprimere solidarietà agli abitanti delle isole Pelagie, così direttamente interessati dalle drammatiche cronache degli sbarchi dei clandestini“.

Quest’anno, attraverso Fondazione Pubblicità Progresso, sono stati invitati i vincitori di Suoni senza confini: i MonMonde.

Ecco un loro brevissimo resoconto arrivatomi via mail:

Just watched Chelsea put Liverpool to the sword 2-0. As much as I hate Chelsea they do have an awesome team though I think if you take Drogba out the equation, they drop down several levels. I have admired Drogba (in that hatefull sort of way). He, in my opinion, has been the outstanding player in the Premiership for several seasons now. I just wish he would lose all his thespian characteristics. Today it was his ankle. Every time he was touched, he crumpled to the floor clutching his ankle and rolling around. It’s a real shame. He is a great player. Strong and with pace, committed to the cause, a player that genuiniely plays for the team. I’d love to have him wake up tomorrow, sip his coffee, have a think, and say “You know what, sod this for a game of soldiers, I think I’m better off playing at Arsenal….”

fat chance….but we can all dream