Speeding

My route to Sainsbury's takes me past a big Halfords type place. On
the wall next to the pavement are adverts. Recently, they have been
advertising these devices that detect and tell you about speed
cameras. Now, each time I walk past this tends to rile me a little
as I think such devices are dangerous, stupid and encourage people to
drive irresponsibly (s if most people need any encouraging).

As I randomly browsed the LSN forums (I just can't keep away), I
noticed a discussion about speeding and Vasco made a very interesting
point:

"So these detectors are actually accident black-spot detectors and
maybe they should be mandatory?"

Which sort of makes sense. I replied with:

"Only if they flash up stats showing accident, injury and fatality
counts. Then maybe, just maybe, people may get it into their heads
that speed limits are there for a reason."

Yet again it is another example in favour of my continuing campaign
to get people to take responsibility for things. You speed, you have
an accident it is your fault, you killed somebody. Don't speed, less
likely to happen.

NaNo Forums

It worries me that the first helpful post that I have made on the
NaNo Forums this year had this answer:

"I have always been a fan of rut and tup. They are both old words and
as they technically refer to livestock (pigs tup I believe), they
would probably be used as coarse slang. Ploughing is another one that
I have come across in fiction."

The question being:

"I've been looking everywhere, but haven't been able to find anything
on the sorts of words used for genitals/sex in the 13th-14th
centuries, in Britain."

Two weeks

Two weeks to go. I have a detailed plan, things are in my head and I
am ready and waiting for November. I can and will do it this time.

Expect a few odd posts as I test my backup script.

The Ashes

I appreciate that this is slightly late to be posted, but I did write
it quite soon after the end of the last test.

Also, apologies for the problems with recent posts being published.

***

The Ashes are over and a summer of excitement and sporting excellence
is drawing to a close. I know I said that I would cease from
commenting on cricket, but this I feel is a special occasion. I
shall indulge myself with a little comment on my favourite players.

Shane. What a man. At no point was Shane Warne not completely
dedicated to his cricket. He gave everything he had, physically,
bowling for vast stretches of time and mentally, plotting, planning
and never giving up. Only late on the last day of the last Test did
he finally seem to admit that it was all over. His struggles were
heroic and he very nearly single handedly won the series for the
Australians. And most importantly of all, he enjoyed every second of
it, even in the losing. Warne is my all time sporting hero and
always shall be.

Brett Lee was at times similarly committed. From the tear away,
uncontrolled bowler that he has been in the past he became
controlled, dangerous but no less aggressive and shined with the bat.
He too gave everything he had and was utterly distraught when
England won the second Test and the series. But he was a gracious
loser and a gracious winner in the third Test. Another true
sportsman.

Glenn McGrath is still the epitome of a pace bowler. With control
still better in modern times than any bar maybe Courtney Walsh, even
his sliding pace makes little difference. Here is a man to learn how
to bowl from. Once the English batsman had found their confidence
(i.e. after McGrath didn't play in the second test), his mental hold
slipped a little but he was still great. Things would have been much
different if he had been fit for the whole series.

Kev. Much lauded and dismissed before playing, Kevin Pietersen has
been wonderful. Form dipped mid series, but he was the only player
at Lords to deal with the collapse and his last day century was
perfectly timed and magnificently executed. I considered placing a
smaller bet on him making a century and really should have done. He
has a personality and skill and has great fun. Shame he can't catch
really.

Freddie Flintoff has been made a hero amongst a team of heroes and he
deserves it. He gave everything his body could give, running in with
the ball time and again, fielding superbly and making runs. He is a
gentlemen. He commiserated with Brett Lee at the end of the second
Test and congratulated him at the end of the third. Freddie is a
role model for those who want to know what sport is about. He is
modest, enjoys his trade, loves playing with his friends and just
wants to play cricket.

All of the players are to be applauded, they gave their best and did
it in a decent fashion, barring one or two slight incidents. I don't
care about the result, I care about the skill, commitment and
sportsmanship that I saw. Long live cricket.