The Times Rich List

What is it with lists and the obsession with peoples money. Most rich people have had the money given to them on a plate in one way or another , politicians, wide boy bankers , some royals and eastern bloc bankers spring to mind. There are a few multi millionaires I do respect though , who have got their riches by hard work and a big slice of luck . Luck does play a huge part in success, but hard work , planning , acumen have to be in there.

So the people I do have time for are Richard Branson and Chris Blackwell who started importing specialist records and kicked onwards and upward with their Virgin and Island imprints. Alan Sugar who made his fortune with Amstrad and is now a media personality , though I don't think the Apprentice represent the real Mr Sugar. The there's Felix Dennis , publisher and poet and finally George Soros who knows markets inside out and makes his money exploiting flaws in the system.

The Football Season Draws To A Close

Yesterday The Championship , Leagues One and Two and the rest completed their programmes. Preston were reelgated two weeks ago by a combination of bad luck , bad refereeing  in their last games on Phil Brown and bad management under Darren Ferguson . To be fair Darren cleared out the dross , gave youth a chance , brought in some good players and presided over one of the greatest nights in North End's history in the magnificent 6-4 defeat of Leeds . Would I give away that to stay up? My answer is no because that night will be etched in every North End fan's memory forever.

The other thing is , given who is coming down from the Premiership , West Ham and possibly Wolves , Wigan , Birmingham or Blackburn , the Championship will be even more difficult next season , so League One football give's Preston a chance to regroup , get back to winning ways and maybe even win League One.

The Premiership kicks off with Wolves against Adrian Chiles' beloved West Brom who are effectively though not mathematically safe from relegaton . That should be a hell of a black country derby!!  Arsenal then visit Stoke , with Aaron Ramsey set to play on the ground where his leg was broken. Arsenal could mathematically still be champions if Manchester United and Chelsea manage to screw up their run ins , and they meet  in the final match of the day , awin for United all but sealing their hold on the title , while a win for the Chelsea blows it wide open and will put them top. Arsene Wenger would probably prefer a draw , but he still has the menace of the visit to the britannia Stadium to contend with.....

Foo Connection

Was talking with a friend about the Foo Fighters and telling her how good they actually were , though sh aint a fan of Nirvana. Anyway just thought of how Learn To Fly and Wheels remeinded of Tom Petty's Learning to Fly . See what you think!!

Foo Fighters: Learn To Fly



Foo Fighters: Wheels



Tom Petty: Learning To Fly




Enjoy - I do!!

Kindle vs Paper - Round 1

This is a short post , basically a joke my mate Chris (the author of the Ape of Wrath blog) told me that he heard in a Comedy Club:

 

Suit on train platform with his attache case , laptop bag (on trolley) , answers his mobile phone and drops his Kindle which hits the platform edge on and shatters into a million pieces. Guy next to him drops his paperback copy of "Great Expectations" , bends down , pick it up dusts it off , and says "No Damage Done!!"

Sill not convinced , and still like my paperbacks

Royal Wedding = Tat Explosion

Today one of Charles' lads (think it's William)  gets married to Kate Middleton . The gutter press have been going on about the fact that she is a "commoner" and the rules should be changed so that her daughtes can be queen , gawd bless 'em, completely missing the point that monarchty is totally about privilege and putting a barrier between the godlike royals and us mere proles. I mean if you start changing the rules , it'll become a total media freak show like X-Factor or I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Then you look and the whole sorry state and realise that William and Kate probably have almost little or no say in the wedding, just like the contestants on X-Fact. Simon Cowell come on down .........
The other thing is the amazing amount of tat that these events generate , destined to fill remainder bins for the next ten years. Just hope Kate and William have a long and happy marraige just like a fairy tale , really do wish the well , although the alternative is another rewrite of "Candle In The Wind" and that we could definitley do without !!

Contactless Cup Cakes

Today has been quite interesting. Was wondering whether to buy a new "thing" , came out of the shop and heard an unmistakeable sound down Northumberland Street. The magnificent Baghdaddies had graced us with their presence outside the defunct Mi-Shake shop next to Burger King. Watched them for ages , trying to spot a break , but their songs have more fals finishes than "The Return of The King". Anyway eventally heard a break and found they had a new CD out and they let me have a copy (for a tenner) , the snappily named "Dancylvania"



After that I went round the corner to the appropriately named "Cake" . And purchased several cup cakes , then noticed they had a "contactless" card thing . I have three cards that are supposedlt kitted out for this technology , however the lovely young lady behind the counter didnt even know they had it , and we coudnt get it to work . So we did the chip and pin , but I intend to go in next week and get "contactless on their ass"!!

A Phone With A 3D Camera

The new LG Optimus has two cameras that allow you to take 3D images. This is a gimmick obviously , but they keep yammering on about the 5 megapixel Cameras and nothing about the lenses . It's the lense that makes the camera , had a 1.3 megapixel Kodak Camera that outperformed a 5 megapixel camera. It's all in the lens.

Nokia produce the best cameras in phones , followed by Sony, so if you have to have one go for a Nokia . Problem is the rest of the phones arent up to much!!!