Best goals in history? Some are rather nice .....

Back and almost gone again ...

Back from Heerenveen where I was with my parents for Christmas. Tomorrow I will fly to Otley in England to meet some of my best friends, English though :-).

Otley is a Yorkshire market town of about 15,000 people, set on the banks of the River Wharfe. It is an ancient, friendly and picturesque town with a rich commercial and community life. The town lies in attractive countryside in Mid-Wharfedale at the centre of the rural triangle between Leeds, Harrogate and Bradford. Immediately to the south of the town rises Otley Chevin, which gives magnificent views over Mid-Wharfedale, and in the past provided much of the stone from which the town centre was built. Much of the town centre is eighteenth or nineteenth century or earlier and has Conservation Area status. Otley has been here from about the mid-Eighth century, when Otta made his Leah or clearing in the forest.
Since then Otley has evolved a rich and varied character. Its Parish Church houses some of the best examples of Anglo-Danish crosses in the country. Thomas Fairfax, Cromwell's general came from nearby Denton Hall. Thomas Chippendale, the world-famous furniture maker was born and learnt his craft in Otley. Turner often stayed nearby, and used the Chevin as the backdrop for at least one of his famous pictures (Hannibal crossing the Alps). The Wharfedale Press, which revolutionised nineteenth century printing, was invented and manufactured in Otley. And the town hosts the country's oldest agricultural show. The town continues to be a varied and resourceful place.
It is still very much a market town; with two cattle markets, agricultural suppliers, blacksmiths, paper manufacturers, printers, engineers, lens manufacturers, a busy shopping centre and popular open markets. There are events throughout the year, the Otley Show in May, the Carnival in June, the Folk festival in September and the Victorian Fayre in December to name but a few. The town centre is renowned for the number and quality of its pubs, and the surrounding countryside provides ample scope for walking, fishing, riding and other outdoor sports.

Exclusive: Apple to adopt Intel's ultra-mobile PC platform (Kasper Jade/AppleInsider)

Exclusive: Apple to adopt Intel's ultra-mobile PC platform  —  Apple Inc. will form a closer bond with once-rival Intel Corp. early next year when it begins building a new breed of ultra-mobile processors from the chipmaker into a fresh generation of handheld devices, AppleInsider has learned.

Source:   AppleInsider

Author:   Kasper Jade

Link:   http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/12/21…

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Apple expected to announce sales of 5 million iPhones at Macworld (Cleve Nettles/9 to 5 Mac)

Apple expected to announce sales of 5 million iPhones at Macworld  —  Insiders tell us that Apple expects to announce sales of roughly five million iPhones at Macworld 2008 in January.  Of these, around one million are expected to come from Europe.  Apple is seeing very strong Christmas sales despite …

Source:   9 to 5 Mac - Apple Intelligence

Author:   Cleve Nettles

Link:   http://www.9to5mac.com/5-million-iphones-4235654546345

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Possible new route

New planning for New Zealand

Well I was extremely disappointed that I had to cancel my trip (due to some reasons) to New Zealand in January 2008, but today it was agreed on not to bad terms I could reschedule the flight for later in 2008.

So it is now planned (Winter though in New Zealand) end of June en 2 weeks in July.

No San Francisco and Tokio as stop-overs, now both ways recharge in Shanghai (Summer around 30 degrees). I have never been there and will try to plan something on the way to New Zealand.

From Wikipedia:

Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; Pinyin: Shànghǎi; Shanghainese: /zɑ̃'he/; abbreviation: 沪; nickname: 申), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the People's Republic of China and the seventh largest in the world.^[4] Widely regarded as the citadel of China's modern economy,
the city also serves as one of the nation's most important cultural,
commercial, financial, industrial and communications centers.
Administratively, Shanghai is a municipality of the People's Republic of China that has province-level status. Also, Shanghai is one of the world's busiest ports, and became the largest cargo port in the world in 2005.^[5]

Originally a fishing town, Shanghai became China's most important city by the twentieth century and was the center of popular culture, intellectual discourse and political intrigue during the Republic of China era. After the communist takeover in 1949,
Shanghai languished due to heavy central government taxation and
cessation of foreign investment, and had many of its supposedly "bourgeois" elements purged. Following the central government's authorization of market-economic redevelopment of Shanghai in 1992, Shanghai has now surpassed early-starters Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and has since led China's economic growth. Some challenges remain for Shanghai at the beginning of the 21st century,
as the city struggles to cope with increased worker migration, a huge
wealth gap, and environmental degradation. Despite these challenges,
Shanghai's skyscrapers and modern lifestyle are often seen as
representing China's recent economic development.

The two Chinese characters in the name "Shanghai" (see left) literally mean "up, on, or above" and "sea". The local Shanghainese pronunciation of Shanghai is /zɑ̃.'he/, while the Standard Mandarin pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin is Shànghǎi. The earliest occurrence of this name dates from the Song Dynasty (11th century),
at which time there was already a river confluence and a town with this
name in the area. There are disputes as to how the name should be
interpreted, but official local histories have consistently said that
it means "the upper reaches of the sea" (海之上洋).
However, another reading, especially in Mandarin, also suggests the
sense of "go onto the sea," which is consistent with the seaport status
of the city. The more poetic name for Shanghai switches the order of
the two characters, i.e., Haishang (海上),
and is often used for terms related to Shanghainese art and culture. In
the West, Shanghai has also been spelled Schanghai (in German), Sjanghai (in Dutch), Xangai (in Portuguese) and Changhaï (in French), but since the 1990s the Hanyu Pinyin spelling of "Shanghai" has become universal in the West.

Shanghai's abbreviations in Chinese are Hù (沪) and Shēn (申). The former is derived from the ancient name Hu Du (沪渎) of the river now known as Suzhou Creek. The latter is derived from the name of Chunshen Jun (春申君), a nobleman of the Chu Kingdom (楚国) in the 3rd century BC
whose territory included the Shanghai area and has locally been revered
as a hero. Sports teams and newspapers in Shanghai often use the
character Shēn (申) in their names. Shanghai is also commonly called Shēnchéng (申城, "City of Shēn").

The city has had various nicknames in English, including "Paris of
the East", "Queen of the Orient", and even "The Whore of Asia", a
reference to the widespread corruption, vice, drugs, and prostitution
in the 1920s and 1930s.

Because of Shanghai's status as the cultural and economic center of East Asia
for the first half of the twentieth century, it is popularly seen as
the birthplace of everything considered modern in China. It was in
Shanghai, for example, that the first motor car was driven and the
first train tracks and modern sewers were laid. It was also the
intellectual battleground between socialist writers who concentrated on
critical realism (pioneered by Lu Xun and Mao Dun) and the more "bourgeois", more romantic and aesthetically inclined writers (such as Shi Zhecun, Shao Xunmei, Ye Lingfeng, Eileen Chang).

Besides literature, Shanghai was also the birthplace of Chinese cinema & theater. China's first short film, The Difficult Couple (Nanfu Nanqi, 1913), and the country's first fictional feature film, Orphan Rescues Grandfather (Gu'er jiu zuji,
1923) were both produced in Shanghai. These two films were very
influential, and established Shanghai as the center of Chinese
film-making. Shanghai's film industry went on to blossom during the
early Thirties, generating Marilyn Monroe-like stars such as Zhou Xuan. Another film star, Jiang Qing, went on to become Madame Mao Zedong. The talent and passion of Shanghainese filmmakers following World War II and the Communist revolution in China contributed enormously to the development of the Hong Kong film industry.

Many aspects of Shanghainese popular culture ("Shanghainese Pops") were transferred to Hong Kong by the numerous Shanghainese emigrants and refugees after the Communist Revolution. The movie In the Mood for Love (Huayang nianhua) directed by Wong Kar-wai (a native Shanghainese himself) depicts one slice of the displaced Shanghainese community in Hong Kong and the nostalgia for that era, featuring 1940s music by Zhou Xuan.

The blogging system I am running

From TechCrunch:

Although it's been long-expected, Six Apart finally transitioned itsMovable Type blogging software to an open-source license today. In many ways this is a response to the success of Wordpress, the open-source blog-publishing software that is increasingly popular, especially among bloggers who like to tweak their own code. (TechCrunch uses Wordpress, for instance).

Now, Movable Type can benefit from improvements to its code contributed by its most ardent users. The competition should be good for bloggers everywhere who choose to host their own blogs (as opposed to those who use hosted services such as Six Apart's Typepad or Automattic's hosted version of Wordpress or Google's Blogger). Six Apart's Anil Dash, who notes the company's commitment to openness in general, gives the low-down on how Movable Type took the open-source route. Movable Type Open Source (MTOS) is based on Movable Type 4.0. Dash notes:

--MTOS has every feature in Movable Type 4.0 along with several new minor improvements and bug fixes.
--All plugins, themes, templates, designs, and APIs that work with MT4 work with MTOS. MTOS also works with other Six Apart open source technologies such as memcached.
--MTOS is one of the only open source blogging tools with built-in support for an unlimited number of blogs, an unlimited number of authors, and sign-in with OpenID, with no plugins needed.
--We'll be adding additional paid benefits for people who've paid for commercial licenses for Movable Type, with benefits like improved technical support and custom add-ons such as plugins or themes.
--You can find out how to contribute to the MTOS project and the MT community at movabletype.org.
--Movable Type Open Source is being released under the standard GPL license.
--We welcome and encourage the distribution and reuse of all or part of MTOS in other open source projects.

You can find more details here.

Otley

Well I have canceled New Zealand and will "instead" stay for some days for a short holiday at friends in Otley.

Below info from Wikipedia:

Otley is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, by the River Wharfe. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town has a total resident population of 14,348.

The town lies in Wharfedale, and is divided in two by the River Wharfe. It is surrounded mostly by arable farmland.

The south side of the valley is dominated by a large gritstone escarpment overlooking Otley called The Chevin. In 1944, Major Le G.G.W. Horton Fawkes of Farnley Hall
donated 263 acres (1.1 km²) of land on the Chevin to the people of
Otley. This has now been expanded to 700 acres (2.8 km²) and is known
as Chevin Forest Park. It was from the quarry on The Chevin that the foundation stones for the Houses of Parliament were hewn.

To the east and west of Otley there are flooded gravel pits, where
sand and gravel have been extracted in the 20th century. The gravel
pits to the east are known as Knotford Nook, and are a noted birdwatching site. Those to the west are devoted to angling and sailing.

To the West are the nearby villages of Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston. To the East is the smaller village of Pool-in-Wharfedale.

Otley lies in the Leeds North West constituency of the UK Parliament and is represented by MP Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrats). It is part of the Otley & Yeadon ward on Leeds City Council and is represented by three Liberal Democrat Councillors Ryk Downes, Colin Campbell & Graham Kirkland. It is twinned with the French town of Montereau, south of Paris.

Otley and Wharfedale ward has a population of 24,000, and Otley itself has a population of 14,348, according to Census 2001.

The town hosts Wharfedale General Hospital which serves the surrounding area, and also Prince Henry's Grammar School, which holds Language college status.

The town dates from before Roman times, and belonged to the Archbishopric of York. Otley is close to Leeds and thus may have formed part of the kingdom of Elmet. The southern flank of the Wharfe valley which lies above Otley is known as The Chevin a term that has close parallels to the welsh term "Cefn", meaning ridge and may be a survival of the ancient cumbric
language. Remains of the old Archbishop's Manor House were found during
the construction of St Joseph's RC Primary School near to the River Wharfe. The town formed an important crossing point of the River Wharfe and was an administrative centre in the wapentake
of Skyrack in the early medieval period, and this importance continued
with its being the seat of the Mid-Wharfedale Urban District council up
until the local council reorganisation of 1974.

The first church was built there in the early 7th century. In All Saints Parish Church there are the remains of two Early Anglo-Saxon
crosses, one of which has been reproduced for the town's war memorial.
Buried there is an ancestor of the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the grandparents of Thomas Fairfax who commanded Parliament's forces at the Battle of Marston Moor
in 1644. In the graveyard of the parish church stands a replica of an
entrance to the Bramhope Railway Tunnel, a monument to those killed
during its construction.

Otley is a market town
and has held a regular market for over a thousand years. Market days
are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and there is also a Farmers' Market
on the last Sunday of every month. Documented history for the market
begins in 1222 when King Henry III granted the first Royal Charter.
Cattle markets are still held at the Wharfedale Farmers' Auction Mart
on East Chevin Road although the Bridge End Auction Mart closed a
number of years ago and has now been demolished.

Thomas Chippendale, the famous furniture maker, was born at Farnley near Otley, and his statue stands in the town next to the old Prince Henry's Grammar School in Manor Square that he once attended. The current site of Prince Henry's Grammar School is in Farnley Lane.

J.M.W. Turner, the famed painter, visited Otley in 1797,
aged 22, when commissioned to paint watercolours of the area. He was so
attracted to Otley and the surrounding area that he returned time and
time again. His friendship with Walter Ramsden Fawkes made him a
regular visitor to Farnley Hall, two miles from Otley. The stormy
backdrop of Hannibal Crossing The Alps is reputed to have been inspired
by a storm over Otley's Chevin while Turner was staying at Farnley Hall.

The Wharfedale Printing Machine was developed in Otley by William Dawson and William Payne. An early example can be seen in Otley Museum.

Famous Methodist preacher John Wesley
was a frequent visitor to the town in the 18th century. Famously his
horse died in the town and is buried in the grounds of the parish
church. Its grave is marked by an unusual toblerone-shaped stone, also
known locally as the "Donkey Stone". In his Journal for 1761
we read, "July 6 Monday; In the evening I preached at Otley and
afterwards talked with many of the Society. There is reason to believe
that ten or twelve of these are filled with the love of God." One of
the main streets in Otley (Wesley Street) is still named after him.

From Webware.com: JetBlue to start testing in-flight e-mail, IM next week

Low-cost airline JetBlue has equipped one of its Airbus A320 planes with an onboard wireless network and has forged partnerships with Yahoo and BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion to give passengers access to the companies' e-mail and instant messaging functions while in the air. The airline considers the plane, nicknamed "BetaBlue," to be an early-stage test as the company explores expanding in-flight communication options.

(Credit: JetBlue)

Passengers won't be able to surf the full Web. But if they bring Wi-Fi-equipped laptops along, they can access lightweight versions of Yahoo e-mail and instant messaging services; BlackBerry owners who have Wi-Fi-enabled handsets (the BlackBerry 8820 and BlackBerry Curve 8320) will be able to access their personal and corporate e-mail. BlackBerry models that have only cellular connections rather than Wi-Fi won't be compatible--the Federal Communications Commission still has a ban on cellular service in-flight.The plane will take its inaugural flight on Tuesday morning, making the cross-country trip from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to San Francisco International Airport. After that, "BetaBlue" will be added to JetBlue's regular flight lineup; a company representative told CNET News.com that there will be no way to specifically request the messaging-equipped plane, nor will any additional fee be charged for the service.
It's been known for well over a year that JetBlue had been planning some sort of in-flight wireless initiative. LiveTV, a division of the airline, was awarded a 1MHz air-to-ground wireless license from the FCC in June 2006, following an intense bidding war. After 120 bids, LiveTV paid $7 million for the license, which offers full coverage of the continental U.S. above 10,000 feet. Another company, AirCell, obtained a 3MHz license for $31.3 million in the same FCC auction.

Earlier this year, JetBlue representatives hinted that they were interested in exploring options for in-flight text messaging--but that would require a relaxation of the FCC's stringent regulations.

As the major players in the airline industry compete with one another in an increasingly tech-savvy world, carriers have touted in-flight tech innovations like satellite TV service and electrical power connections. JetBlue already offers DirecTV service, as well as XM satellite radio on some of its newer planes. When Virgin America first took off in August, geeks drooled over the USB and power connections, MP3 library, and a messaging service that lets lonely passengers strike up conversations with fellow travelers on the same plane.

But when it comes to communication services (Virgin America's intra-plane messaging aside), there have been some major momentum issues. Cell phone use on planes is still a contentious topic, but it's nevertheless likely imminent on some foreign carriers and some wireless companies see it as a potential source of profit.

Broadband Internet is a different story. Connexion, a paid in-flight broadband service from Boeing, was used by a number of foreign airlines, like Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, before it was officially shut down at the end of 2006. There's been no word from Panasonic recently on a rumored plan to succeed where Connexion had failed.

And when BetaBlue takes off on Tuesday, it will make the Forest Hills, N.Y.-based JetBlue the first domestic airline carrier to offer any kind of wireless service in the air. Virgin America's planes have Ethernet ports at each seat, but they remain inactive.

JetBlue representatives said that if BetaBlue proves successful, expansions to the program will become evident over the next year. This would possibly include either installing the Yahoo and RIM services on other planes, or expanding the wireless offerings.

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Ultra-portable MacBook display rumors surface

Filed under: Laptops

Apple rumor mill aficionados, prepare for action. According to reports that are making their way out into the public arena today, the Cupertino monolith has placed orders for a new type of 13.3-inch LED backlight unit, destined to be used in an as-yet-unannounced product... like, say, a new ultra-portable MacBook. The "news" here, as divulged by "industry sources" is that Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology (Nano-Op) have recently become suppliers to both Apple and Dell for the aforementioned goods -- meant to be used in "high-end models" -- with a shipment of over 90,000 units this month. Those numbers are expected to rise to 200,000 before year's end, and 300,000 during Q1 of 2008. Whether or not this tips the scales in favor of a new Apple MacBook is questionable, but it certainly provides some food for thought.

[Via AppleInsider]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Back from Berlin

I have been a week in Berlin, last three days at Online Educa in Hotel Intercontinental. We were staying from last Sunday in Sylter Hof, 

avery nice hotel conveniently located at the Kurfürsterstrasse, near the well known Kurfürstendamm.

From Wikipedia:

The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin, Germany. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten (Electors) of the Holy Roman Empire. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered theChamps-Élysées of Berlin - full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular most important famous designers have their shops there like Gucci, Bvlgari, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Cartier, Hermès, Swarovski, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms.

When Berlin was separated into East and West Berlin, the Kurfürstendamm became the leading commercial street in West Berlin. It starts near Bahnhof Zoo (that used to be a major railway station, before the Lehrter Bahnhof was opened which is now the Berliner Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station)) at the Zoologischer Garten, near the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and runs through Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.