When I signed up for the Crazy Cycle with Families Relief I knew it would be an event to remember, and thanks to all of you I was able to raise over £2200 towards the orphanage! Don’t believe that we did it? Check out the full gallery here!

If you have pledged money towards the cause, or are yet to sponsor, the justgiving page will be online for a few more weeks so please do get me to my fifth and final target of £2500! J http://justgiving.com/usayd/

And once again thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement – financial and otherwise!

Haven’t written on here for ages. Why? Because I’ve been training for my 60 mile cycle from London to Oxford! Why? Because I want to do what I can to help orphans in Bangladesh!

Okay, well theoretically that’s true. I think I’ve done my psychological training than physical, but hey, I’m doing the cycle next Sunday so wish me luck! Actually, wait, there was something else I wanted to ask for…Oh yea, please sponsor me too!

Watch it and worry. Read the comments for an interesting analysis!

ZDNet.co.uk reveals that a state-of-the-art computer system installed in a public swimming pool in Wales detected the motionless girl at the bottom of a extremely deep swimming pool and informed the life guard of her whereabouts and how long she had been there for. The computer managed to alert the lifeguard after 30 seconds of her being in the water.

The local council installed the system after lifeguards were having problems seeing to the bottom of the pool in the deep end and cost around £65,000 to install. The computer detects whether someone is in distress by calculating swimmer’s trajectory in the pool using both above water and underwater cameras installed around the pool.

You can read more about it here…
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5845447.html

You can see more pictures of the system here…
http://news.com.com/2300-1012_3-5845482-3.html

Taking Over!

Well what’s going on? Much like the computing world (remember Adobe and Macromedia) and so on, when a relatively sucessful company is not doing as well as its rivals, instead of trying new ways or having ran out of methods of fixing their issues, they seem to do the only thing feesable – Sell out!!

The world’s second- and third-biggest sports goods companies said Wednesday Adidas would buy the outstanding shares of Reebok for $59 per share in cash, a 34 percent premium to Reebok’s closing share price Tuesday.

The combination will create a more formidable competitor to battle Nike’s dominance of the market for athletic gear, particularly in the United States, which accounts for 50 percent of the sports footwear market alone.

Read the rest from Yahoo!

Well I am happy to say that London has won the bid to host the Olympics in the year 2012! This will be the first time the Olympics have been held in this country since 1948!

 London won the two way fight with Paris by a remarkable 54 votes to 50 at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Singapore after bids from Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated.

The IOC President Jacques Rogge made the dramatic announcement at 1249 BST. 

It’s all over for Iron Mike?!

The BBC reports:

Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson said he will quit boxing after losing to Irish journeyman Kevin McBride in Washington on Saturday.

Tyson looked far from comfortable during his fight which many expected him to win, and referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight before round seven.

McBride, from Monaghan, was awarded the bout on a technical knockout.

"I’m not going to fight again. I haven’t got the fighting guts or the heart any more," said the 38-year-old.

Tyson, who has a record of 50 wins, including 44 knockouts, six defeats and two no-contests, said he did not want to disgrace the sport.

 I kind of agree with him in that he’s had his time maybe its the end and he should move on, after all he’s no longer in his prime. Still he was a notorious boxer and I have to say it still is a shame that it had to end.

 Mike Tyson Biography and Links:

Gallery

Biography 

The DVD, entitled The Pride of the Nation, had been included in a welcome pack for newcomers to the englandfans official members club.

Sven-Goran Eriksson introduced a retrospective look at the leading footballers to have worn an England shirt over the past 40 years.

But while the initial list given to video producers Octagon is understood to have included black players, none of them made the final cut as the running time was reduced to 30 minutes.

And when the complaints then started at the unwitting offence caused by the FAs failure to check the finished copy, the governing body were forced into action.

This will involve the expense of all copies of the DVD being scrapped and a new edition being put together, featuring several black players.

FA head of media Adrian Bevington declared: “The FA is fully committed to promoting diversity in all areas of the game and in society.

“We regret and apologise for any offence that may have been caused due to a lack of black player representation on this DVD.

“With immediate effect, the DVD, which have been distributed to new members of the englandfans club to date, has been withdrawn.

“The FA is in the process of producing a new DVD, which will include several outstanding black players, who have, of course, made a huge contribution to the national team and football in this country.

“Additionally, the FA is writing a letter of apology to all England fans who have received the original compilation, together with a copy of the new DVD.

“A letter will also be sent to the Professional Footballers Association, apologising for any offence caused to any current or former players.

Senior FA figures have been keen to rectify the situation, while stressing that the cost to the governing body will be minimal.

However, it is still highly embarrassing, especially just a few months after the FA complained vociferously at the racist abuse hurled at black England players in Madrid and stressed their own commitment to tackling the issue.

Piara Powar, spokesman for the Kick It Out anti-racism campaign, welcomed the FAs apology, while stressing the need for the governing body to remain acutely aware of such sensitive issues.

“We can understand the concerns that have been raised as black players have contributed an immense amount to the game in England, but the FAs apology shows they realise that they have made a faux-pas, he said.

Many of the 17 players on the original DVD would be uncontroversial choices, including Bobby Moore, Gary Lineker, Sir Bobby Charlton, Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer, Bryan Robson, David Beckham and Terry Butcher.

However, Martin Peters, Chris Waddle, Stuart Pearce and Steven Gerrard were also included, while black players such as Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Paul Ince, John Barnes, Ashley Cole and Viv Anderson were not.

Bevington added: “There have been numerous outstanding black footballers since Viv Andersons debut in 1978 and that should have been highlighted on the
original DVD.

The original list of players – including some black internationals – was selected by a group of englandfans members but, after editing, the FA still had final responsibility for the contents.

They are now deciding upon which black players will be included on an extended version of the DVD.
Football365.com [ article ]