Clocks go back & Halloween !

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honour of saints. Anyway I just thought I would give a few facts on Halloween tonight!

In the real world, last night I went out with friends once again, before spending the whole day working on my dissertation before visiting Scarborough this week. It will be my first visit for a fortnight! An added bonus was the extra hour in bed this morning which is always a bonus. Hope everyone is well and has also had a good evening!

Osama Bin Laden's Back!

Osama Bin Laden is back, and has sent a message to the U.S. and the Western World! In the video, he warns the US could face more 11 September-style attacks. I think this is a very worrying development and shows the Western World has not got rid of the mass terrorist Osama Bin Laden!

Gym & Pub

I now plan to make my way to the Gym for my second work out this week, I better be careful or I will be called a fitness freak!

Tonight I went out in Hornsea and did my usual Friday night thing, go to the pub with friends! I then went to a friends house to round the night off!

Dissertation!

Today, I have been a busy bee writing some more words for my dissertation! I am at this point looking forward to Christmas when it will hopefully all be over! My planned visit to the Gym did not take place today as planned, but I had decided that from now until Christmas work has to take priority over just about everything, apart from my blog, which I update at stupid times normally when I have finished work for the evening!

Computer Crash!

Sorry, about the delay in posting at present I have had a few problems with my computer and have had to totally reload the system! This is the reason for my late posts at present, however, now my newly reformatted system has Norton Systemworks 2005 Professional installed so this should help prevent future crashes!

Gym!

I have been a little bit busy today organising several things mainly my dissertation, which is due in, in an ever reducing number of weeks now! Hence, I have spent the day working hard on it and not updating my Blog as regularly as usual, hope my readership will forgive my late posts at present!

Windpower in the UK!

At the weekend I watched countryfile and saw that government targets demand that by 2010, 10% of our electricity must be provided by renewable energy. Currently, only 2.7% of our electricity comes from renewable sources.

Scroby Sands, where the program reported from consists of 30 wind turbines which will produce enough power annually to meet the demands of 44,000 homes.

The program said that this is just the start. The next stage of offshore wind farm development will see enormous wind farms built in the North West, the Greater Wash and the Thames Estuary. These wind farms will be the biggest in the world.

Countryfile said that the fishermen say that the massive offshore wind development will destroy their livelihood. But Alison Hill from the British Wind Energy Association is optimistic. She believes that this is an opportunity for the UK to be at the forefront of the green industrial revolution.

Really somebody should show the US how to go about turning green, but instead they run their 3.0 litre cars that provide endless pollution!

The debate about offshore wind farms focuses on England and Wales because there are currently no offshore wind farms in Scotland or Northern Ireland. There is a proposed site for an offshore wind farm off the north coast of Northern Ireland.

I have posted this because I believe future energy generation is very important, especially with my geographical background and therefore I thought it was important to highlight the issues being raised, and also I could think of nothing much to talk about. Good Evening!

Last Grand Prix of the Season!

Today, I watched the last Grand Prix of 2004 on ITV, which I was quite surprised was not won by a Ferrari as usual, Juan Pablo Montoya turned out to be the worthy winner and it looks like next year will be more exciting with the proposed new rule change! It will be a shame that Jaguar F1 (Ford) will not be on the grid next season, but you can't have everything I suppose.

Today, I have also been shopping for some new clothes as I really needed some new tops which I purchased from Next at Kingswood in Hull, which I am really pleased with, I also did some more work on my dissertation which was pleasing, anyway I will post again tomorrow, goodnight!

Hull City Playing Luton

The Tigers (Hull City) take on league leaders Luton at the KC Stadium today and striker Delroy Facey has said he is keen to treat the encounter the same as he would any other game this season. Lets hope the tigers win this weekend, as Luton have been off form just lately and it would be good if city could take three points from the fixture at the Kingston Communications Stadium, if they do they will be back in the top three in League One which would be good!

I have been working on my dissertation once again, however I am starting to get a little bit tired of trying to promote a place I do not live in! Anyway only another two months to go until I am finally finished my dissertation, and then my life will return to normal which will be good!

Spent the day working on my dissertation!

I had a fun day working on my dissertation, hence my late post!

Hull City Back to winning ways!

After yesterdays post I listened on the radio to Hull City playing Milton Keynes Dons, and they won which made a pleasant change for Hull City, even though they left it late once again!

This evening I made my way to help at Scouts as I normally do on a Thursday evening which was good, as it helped take my mind off my dissertation if only for a few hours! I Spent the day working on my dissertation once again which was good! Anyway we shall have to wait and see what tomorrow brings, speak soon!

Went to the University of Hull

Spent the day in the Brynmoor Jones library located on the University of Hull's main campus in Hull, it turned out to be a very wet day but nothing in my bag managed to get wet, thank goodness! So I spent more time working on my dissertation and renewing my library books!

Funnily enough I saw quite a few people I haven't seen for a long while! They all seem to be enjoying their life and that made me very happy as always, if anyone wants to contact me, there is always the contact box on my Blog, I would love to hear from anyone I know past friends or acquaintances or indeed people from University would love to hear from any of you to!

Dissertation!

Spent the day working on my dissertation, I am working very hard on my dissertation and have been working on this for most of the day! By the time the night came I decided a break was needed so I decided to watch the football on the television, still working on my Dissertation whilst Manchester United played Sparta Prague!

Can Britain Really Go Back to Coal?

I was quite interested in the linked article about Britains future dependance on coal! It seems only a few years ago, when I was studying G.C.S.E. Geography that we where told that there was no future for coal in energy generation in the U.K.

The report seems to be saying that not as many developments have taken place in renewable resources as was thought a few years ago. Mainly due to environmental disputes over the location of the renewable sources, such as wind farms and a lack of funding, and the old Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY), which is someone who doesn't want certain things in his/her immediate vicinity, like a wind farm or hydroelectric plant!

We all know the environmental problems people think they can cause, when realisticly they do not cause many problems at all. Last year I went on holiday to Wales and I saw the windfarms they have built on the moors around their, and they do not really look so bad, in fact you could maybe say they looked kind of beautiful!

And in some of our estuarine locations we could maybe create some resources to harness the tidal power of the sea, however, it seems from the above article we do need some more Nuclear Power Stations to help generate electricity until the renewable forms of energy can be made efficient enough to generate enough energy for all!

Anyway, this evening I visited the gym, this is the reason for my late post! Will speak more soon!

Gym

Today, after many days of trying I made it to the Gym once again (for the second time in a week), to have my regular workout! It's funny but since I have been back in Hornsea I haven't been attending the Gym that much. On average though I am still doing relatively well at keeping fit, I am making it to the Gym at twice weekly intervals!

I was watching the news this morning about the proposed placing of the US's son of star wars missile defence program in the North York Moors National Park, which will be quite controversial.

I also saw the governments plans for new cheaper housing to be built down south which is also controversial, as it would be the biggest building project for fifty years, since they built the commuter towns of the fifties, oh well that means more of the countryside will be lost!

Went out in Hornsea!

Went to the local public house to see my friends before moving on to Hornsea Floral Hall where a band where playing this evening, however I was already pretty tired having spent most of the day working on my dissertation and installing Firefox extensions.

Changed my default Browser to Mozilla Firefox!

I finally have got around to changing my default web browser! I have moved away from the default Internet Explorer under Windows to Mozilla Firefox, I think is a much better alternative, and with it being open source anyone can make extensions for it, which is good!

Scouts, Rain and blocked drains!

Having a nightmare of a day I awoke to find that all the rain water and bath water I had let out last night was not running away as the drain had become blocked! I rang Yorkshire Water but was told they probably could not sort it until tommorow as they have a backlog of similar complaints!

Talking about rain water, it sort of ruins the plans we had for Scouts in Hornsea tonight meaning that we will not be able to carry out anything outdoors, so it looks like some kind of indoor programme!

More work on dissertation!

Spent the day working on my dissertation once again! However, I got sidetracked into installing a newsreader on my computer called Rssreader, it is very good so now I know the ongoing news without having to leave my computer which is good! I still have not got my wireless-G PCI card working under linux which is causing more problems! However, I did spend the evening doing some more updates on the eurojam site, so take a look!

Eurojam site updated and more work done on dissertation!

Spent today working on my dissertation as well as updating the Eurojam website. I also tried putting news articles on the side of my blog courtesy of What the Papers Say but they would not fit, oh well I will just have to read them via email instead!

Tonight, I think I will go to the gym, so the statement I made yesterday will still be correct. I was going to go last night but got distracted by work and then a new series of the drama Spooks, "Which is MI5 not 9 to 5", on the BBC!

I also saw on the BBC News website that many of us will have to work longer to get a decent pension. The report said than 12 million working people are not saving enough for their retirement, a major report into pensions has found, which I have to say is a little worrying!

Downloaded Mozilla Firefox 1.0!

Today, I downloaded the latest release candidate of Mozilla Firefox, which is now up to 1.0! The only problem I found with it was it took a long time to download all the new releases of the extensions for it! Anyway, I have now got it and some extra extensions so I will now go back to using Firefox as my default browser once more!

I am starting to feel that I should really take a break from working at computers, but the problem is I try to take a break and then get distracted by the smallest thing, especially with broadband which still works well through my wireless connection.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully visit the Gym which should be good for my fitness regime as I intend to go in the morning before I get distracted by my work once more!

Humberside Scouts Fells Marathon!

Today, has seen the conclusion of this years Fells Marathon, this year it took place at Hebden Hey Scout Centre at Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge in the West Riding of Yorkshire. I was thinking about going as it has been 5 years since I last visited Hebden Hey Scout Centre and I believe it is quite a nice location for Scouting activities, but unfortunately I didn't have the time!

I hope all the teams involved in the event had a good time, and more importantly I hope that the Hornsea Explorer Scouts, the group I assist with, did well!

Went out to the local public house before moving on to Floral Hall!

Today, I have once again spent most of the day doing work for my MSc Dissertation, which at this point is really starting to take shape. I also went to the gym to try and increase my fitness level!

While perusing the internet I saw lots of articles about the pension gap, which could pose quite a problem for those retiring in the next few years! I also went for a walk around Hornsea to try and increase my fitness levels

I have been having a few wireless problems!

Today, I have spent the morning on the phone to Linksys who are part of Cisco systems, trying to get my wireless network sorted out as for some reason after about three hours use it seems to loose the connection, which is a tad annoying! After about quarter of an hour on the phone with them I think it is sorted, fingers crossed!

I now plan to make my way to the Gym for my second work out this week, I better be careful or I will be called a fitness freak! Anyway, just a few more updates to do on the Eurojam site and it will be finished for another month! Tonight I hope to go out in Hornsea and do my usual Friday night thing, go to the pub with friends, will speak soon!

Scouts!

In the day I worked on my dissertation, before moving down to the Scout HQ in the evening to help organise the running of a camp fire! The scouts seemed to enjoy themselves which was good, even though I think the Scout HQ is due for a spring clean and I am not volunteering this time! I also received my first issue of the new Scouting magazine today, which seems to be a good read!

British Grand Prix saved again, maybe!

Today I was reading this about the British Grand Prix had been provisional saved, which is good news if true, and I quote
"The British Racing Drivers' Club has played down claims by a consortium involving Nigel Mansell that it has saved the British Grand Prix"!

I hope this really means it will be saved as Britain needs a Grand Prix!

Today I wrote some more of my dissertation!

Today, I have been a busy bee writing some more words for my dissertation! I am at this point looking forward to Christmas when it will hopefully all be over! My planned visit to the Gym did not take place today as planned, but I had decided that from now until Christmas work has to take priority over just about everything, apart from my blog, which I update at stupid times normally when I have finished work for the evening!

Anyway tonight I decided to take a quick glance at the BBC News website and saw the Conservative Party Conference had been on, I just have the feeling that Michael Howards Eurosceptic approach will never quite win over enough of the voters, but, what do I know!

I also saw a article about new freshers opinion about higher education linked to above which also surprised me! Anyway, that's me done for the night will speak tomorrow, all things permitting!

Today I went to University!

Today, I went back to University to discuss my dissertation progress with my tutor, I think it is going well, so far, but I will just have to wait and see, it certainly is a stressful experience having to write a dissertation!

However, it was good to see that the rocket plane SpaceShipOne has shot to an altitude of more than 100km for the second time inside a week to claim the $10m Ansari X-Prize. I bet Richard Branson was pleased!

Anyway, I think at this point I should get back on with my dissertation, and thank the BBC for the above link!

Today I have been busy!

Today I have had a busy day working on my dissertation before visiting my tutor tomorrow. I also visited the Gym and watched Monarch of the Glen and Michael Palin's new series called Himalaya on BBC1. He always manages to visit some nice places in his work, the programmes he makes are always very good and informative, much better than watching soaps! It's also funny how BBC programmes seem to be loved around the world, like this New Zealand based site linked to above which seems to have just as much information on the programme as the BBC's own site!

American Election!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

British Grand Prix facing axe!

I read with horror this morning that the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is finally facing the axe, which is not good new for all us Formula 1 fans out there! What is needed is some government investment around the circuit, however I personally think that Bernie Ecclestone wants rid of the British Grand Prix, to make room for the new circuits, however he seems to be saying take a year out and rebuild the circuit, which I suppose would be good if it got lottery funding!

I honestly don't understand why as he is as British as you and me, but I think it will be a real shame if the original Silverstone race is lost especially when only a short time ago they where talking about two British GP's, one at Silverstone and one around the streets of our capital city, London!

However, when you look at the standards of the new Grand Prix's in China and Bahrain you can see why the British grand prix faces the axe as well as the French one!