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1. Today I didn't go to work, instead I went to a small town in the upper North West to do some training with a customer. It went OK, but not as well as hoped, plus the travelling was tiring and despite not having done more than an hour and a half 'work' today, I don't feel partic relaxed as a consequence. Still, some plusses - finished one book (pretty excellent, but the more I think about it, the less impressed I am) and started another (beautifully described, grim alcoholism, can't escape the feeling it's more important for the writer than the reader, though I am getting plenty enjoyment/interest from it). Had cous cous in a castle (and fresh fruit and berry coulis by a bowling green). Got some books for myself and various shit for my nephew's birthday.
2. It's Nicola Sturgeon's birthday today, she is forty-seven. A year, exactly, younger than Vitali Klitschko. Today also marks the seventieth anniversary of the assassination of Lyuh Woon-hyung (aka Yo Un-hyung), a Korean politician who argued that Korean independence was essential to world peace, and who argued for reunification of Korea during the 1940s. He was shot to death in his car when travelling through Seoul by a 19-year-old man named Han Chigeun, a recent refugee from North Korea and an active member of a nationalist right-wing group.
3. Back in 1992ish, in a record shop on holiday in Scotland, I bought the album 'Strange Things' by Tackhead. I knew nothing about the band or the type of music they produced, it was a bit of a punt buying this - their third album. I didn't much like it at the time (I was at the time developing my tastes, mainly metal and rock at the time) and haven't a clue where the cassette is now, perchance I might like it were I to dig it out again. The band were part of The Sugarhill Gang, and played on Grandmaster Flash 'White Lines' and became Living Colour.
4. Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, Inc. is a nonprofit conservation organization located in Newark, Delaware, dedicated to indigenous wild bird rehabilitation, especially rehabilitation efforts related to oil spills. It is notable for its research and rehabilitation efforts concerning wildlife affected by oil spills, which have been international in scope. In addition to practical oil-spill response and bird rehabilitation activities, the staff and organization also publish papers and journals, and provide workshops and training for affiliate and local personnel from other organizations and agencies elsewhere.
5. Of course, clapping is just hitting yourself because you like something. Ten years ago today I watched 'Requiem For A Dream' on DVD (not watched it since, bit of a waste of money buying that, innit?) and chatted to an ol' schoolfriend who I'd not really spoken to in twenty years in a surprisingly uninhibited manner. I was watching Big Brother a bit, and them blonde twin girls were in it.
6. The train journeys today were pretty noisy, hence I managed to get read less than intended/hoped. A crying baby on one section. A young student lass who was very keen on the sound of her own voice talking about shopping and make-up to some male friend. She had quite a moon face so probably used quite a bit of the ol' slap. Shut up, people, just shut up.
7. Hermann Kemper was a German engineer and pioneer in magnetic levitation. He began his research on magnetic levitation in 1922, and in 1933 constructed a working circuit for hovering on the principle of electromagnetic levitation, using electromagnetic attraction. He was awarded the Reich Patent number 643316, "Schwebebahn mit räderlosen Fahrzeugen, die an eisernen Fahrschienen mittels magnetischer Felder schwebend entlang geführt wird" (the invention of a hovertrack with wheelless vehicles which hover along iron rails using magnetic fields). This invention eventually led to the development of Transrapid. In 1972, he received recognition of his research achievements, the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
8. The "Cornfield Bomber" was the nickname given to a Convair F-106 Delta Dart, operated by the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force. It made an unpiloted landing in a farmer's field in Montana, suffering only minor damage, after the pilot had ejected from the aircraft. The aircraft, recovered and repaired, was returned to service, and is currently on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
9. The Channel Island of Herm was first discovered in the Mesolithic period, and the first settlers arrived in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Many tombs from that period remain today, the majority in the north of the island. The island was annexed to the Duchy of Normandy in 933, but returned to the English Crown with the division of Normandy in 1204. It was occupied by Germany in the Second World War and was the scene of Operation Huckaback, but was largely bypassed. Herm is currently managed by Herm Island Ltd, formed by Starboard Settlement, who acquired Herm in 2008, following fears during the sale of the island that the 'identity' of the island was at threat.
10. I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow, but I have to. The first time I watched the Dave channel was in an inn in a Devon village. I never went to The House of Marbles. I did read Peter Robinson novels though. Unconnectedly, the south bank of the Humber estuary in England is a relatively unpopulated area containing large scale industrial development built from the 1950s onward, including national scale petroleum and chemical plants as well as gigawatt scale gas fired power stations.
[UWEC] Spain 2-0 Portugal
The Spanish would be the favourites here against debutants and lowest-ranked side in the tournament Portugal. The pattern of the game was predictable as a consequence, and midway through the first half Perera played in Vicky Losada to poke past the advancing keeper. Five before the break, a second from Amanda Sampedro - the wee lady heading home from a dangerous cross, ominous for the Portuguese. It proved not to be the same story in the second half, Spain didn't press anything and create anything, it was a very quiet second period with neither keeper called into action very much. Portugal's away strip is spearminty.
[UWEC] England 6-0 Scotland
Ten minutes in we had a goal by Jodie Taylor which stamped England's authority on the game - played in really well, Kirby's shimmy, Taylor showed composure to put the ball past the Scots keeper. From a set piece twenty-five minutes in, a second goal - scrappy and bouncing aroun, cleared off the line by Taylor hooking it in from an angle. On the half hour, a lovely Jill Scott strike rattled the crossbar and Ellen White put the rebound in - this game was turning into the first real shellacking of the tournament. Seven minutes into the second Jodie Taylor latched onto a White flick and got to the ball ahead of the Scots keeper, looped in, excellent hat-trick. Jordan Nobbs scored a nice volley from a rebound dropping kindly to her on the edge of the box, and in injury time Duggan flicked Houghton's header from a corner past the keeper. I'm not just saying it because it's England, and I know the likes of France and Germany have had tougher opening games, but of all the favourites in this first round, the only team that's really impressed all game has been England.
