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index, follow
Posted Oct 19, 2009
This is going to be quite a dull bit of news for most people, but I've just noticed that the robots tag on all h2g2 pages now says ''.
This, in theory, means that we should get nudged rather higher in search results, as the whole site is indexed and all the internal links between Entries come in to play. And, as conversation forums will be indexed by Google from now on, we're going to get conversation threads starting to appear in Google searches much more frequently.
I wonder if this is the first step in getting the search facility fixed/improved? If not, it will be a hell of a lot easier to design a custom Google search box that works.
Discuss this Journal entry [34]
Latest reply: Oct 19, 2009
No More Wildlife... Thta seems to be poretty much that.
Posted Oct 14, 2009
I was looking forward to today. I had the day off, and I managed to get rid of most of the stuff that 'had' to be done on Monday. I always have *something* to do, but it's nice to be able to get on with things at a leisurely pace rather than filling my day with stuff that I really should be catching up on.
I didn't get up as early as I'd planned, but that was fine. My plan was to finish the proposal for my access work for next year, something I've put a lot of time and effort into as a volunteer (with, of course, half an eye on making sure I was well-placed for next year).
And I was bloody glad I hadn't got up nice and early.
By the time I'd had a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, I'd had an email telling me that there wasn't the money there to pay me for next year, and probably not the time to analyse my results even if there was.
I'm gutted. I spent the whole afternoon slobbing on the sofa eating biscuits. After blowing my best chance at getting a job in an outdoor ed centre in the spring, I've now lost my best chance of working with the Wildlife Trust regularly.
A lot of people have lost their only jobs, so I feel a bit guilty about moaning about a job I didn't need to do and did mainly because I believed it was a worthwhile use of my time. I guess it isn't really the job - it was a project I'd invested a lot of time and energy into and something that would have brought the WT a good income within a couple of years.
So I suppose that's pretty much the childhood dreams over. I'm a hotelier, just as was apparently predetermined (see previous journal for definition).
That's how I feel, anyway. But is there a point at which one should give up? I make a decent living at the hotel and don't really need to do anything else, but it isn't very challenging and, without wanting to sound immodest, I think I've got a decent enough brain to be doing something better.
Yeah, I'm fed up.
Discuss this Journal entry [18]
Latest reply: Oct 14, 2009
FAO Producers, British Eurosport 2
Posted Oct 14, 2009
Dear Sirs,
Please would you inform your cricket commentators of the following:
'Predetermined' and 'premeditated' are not quite the same thing.
'Predetermined' implies the result of an action is decided by the fates in advance. If you say it was 'predetermined' that a particular shot would be hit for six, in some situations that would almost be true; but if a batsman top-edges a ball into his face by mistake, that probably isn't going to be predetermined.
The word you are looking for is 'premeditated', to explain that the batsman has decided to play a particular shot regardless of the ball that is bowled.
A premeditated shot may well fly over the ropes, or might end up splattering the batsman's nose. A predetermined shot will hit the boundary or the batsman's face regardless of the shot he actually plays, and you're getting a bit further into philosophy than a Twenty20 match can handle here.
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Oct 14, 2009
I Love The Mail
Posted Oct 8, 2009
No, not really.
But I do love the responses to the frothing-at-the-mouth stories, like the Anton du Beke row:
http://bit.ly/CNMy6
You don't have to go far to find a real beauty:
'The box-ticking PC brigade should bear in mind that if their smug and sanctimonious little campaign to get du Beke sacked from Strictly succeeds, they have quite neatly scuppered any chance Laila Rouass has of going on with the competition.
Well done to the rent-a-quote crowd!
- Grumpyoldman, Europe, 8/10/2009 16:16'
Yeah, you fools! That's the big issue here! Poor Laila! Heartless fiends!
And then:
'All you people get a life its only television Lola, we may be in the 21st century, but with someone in another Muslim country being sentenced to 1000 lashes.. IT SEEMS LIKE WE COULD BE IN THE 17 th CENTURY.'
I don't understand that one at all.
And this one is brilliant - towards the bottom of page three in the comments, but worth finding:
'This won't get printed but as a woman, I blame women for alot of this nonsense as so many are incapable of answering back with a witty remark. Its so easy.
- sonia, France and UK, 8/10/2009 13:22'
That one actually had thirteen more 'good' clicks than bad. Astonishing.
Everyone that said 'actually, I can see how she would have been offended' got huge negative scores; everyone who said things like 'the world has gone mad' or 'We're living in Hindustan!' [if you're going to be like that, surely 'Islamistan'?] got whooping hurrahs.
Even better than reading Mail comments is the 'spEak You're bRanes' website, which I won't link to because it contains a little flowery language. Take a look if you enjoy the mindless ramblings of the nutters on these stories. I guarantee you won't be disppointed.
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Latest reply: Oct 8, 2009
Cavaliers 09
Posted Sep 30, 2009
We've got the Cavaliers end-of-season bash on Friday (an actual proper formal dinner: tuxes, port, awards and everything followed by a nonced-up trip to a pub that's never seen a tie before), and I've just put the final touches to our 2009 video.
You've probably heard the story of how the Cavaliers started often enough by now, so I won't bore you with the details too much. But looking back at the summer, we actually did incredibly well. We started with about four of us, a pub and the back of a fag packet, trying to work out if we could get eleven hardy souls together who might fancy a game once in a while. We played four times last year and lost them all. Last winter, it all got a bit more serious; I managed to sort us out 16 fixtures, and on a wet day in Okehampton we took the field and got hammered by 145 runs.
Since then, we've got better. So much better, in fact, that some of us are actually starting to look like cricketers. My personal tally of 306 runs was fairly astonishing given that I barely scored a run in the early days. We won three times - once against one of the teams that comprehensively thrashed us twice last year. Chalky scored 50 one glorious day at Budleigh Salterton, and three of our bowlers took three wickets in an innings.
But we've also stayed true to the 'if you want to play, you can play' ideal. We play because we love cricket first and foremost, and if we do well it's a bonus. So we've had the delicious sight of old Bryan, who doesn't know the first thing about how to bat, playing six games for us and scoring exactly half a run an innings. And every run he gets is cheered wildly, because we share his happiness in being able to go out and play cricket. None of us could ever play for a club, I don't think, but thanks to the Cavaliers, that doesn't matter. If you've always dreamed of hitting a six or taking a wicket, you can play for the Cavaliers and eventually, you might just do it.
We've had 32 Cavaliers playing for us now - some just once, some turning up every week. And we're all mates, which is beautiful; everyone is a member of the family, or a friend, or a friend of a friend.
Putting together and watching the video reminds me what a beautiful thing we started. Our partners out there in the rain cheering us on. Our fat bellies wobbling around the field attached to huge grins. Our obvious delight in one another's achievements. And the ecstacy when we get something right for a change.
Some of the highlights for me have little to do with the cricket itself. Getting texts from our wicketkeeper, who was always the first to arrive, marvelling at the weather and the ground and urging me to get there quick to soak up the atmosphere. The curry-house in-jokes. One of our bowlers putting a winter's illness and strife behind him by taking a wicket in our first game and tearing off around the pitch in celebration. Someone who didn't like cricket until they came along one day running in and out of the clubhouse with updates on the Ashes score. Fifty people turning up for a barbecue at our midsummer match. And everybody smiling just about all of the time.
Yeah, it's a pretty special thing. We've got big plans for next year: maybe affiliation with a local club so we have a 'home', more emphasis on playing in the more beautiful clubs in Devon, maybe even a mini-tour somewhere one weekend.
It's going to be a seriously long winter, I think.
I'll post the video up on our website when the Cavaliers have seen it 
Discuss this Journal entry [32]
Latest reply: Sep 30, 2009
Skankyrich [?]
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