Wimbledon Whingers, get some perspective!

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So, apparently something like 12 players have now withdrawn from this year's Wimbledon due to injury. On top of that, a number of the higher ranked players that have lost have been blaming the courts and even describing them as dangerous. Dangerous, seriously people this is tennis we are talking about! So, in the interest of adding a little perspective I thought I'd highlight a tale of real sporting injury: Clint Malarchuk

Clint-Malarchuk-Throat-Injury
Clint-Malarchuk-Throat-Injury

During a game on March 22, 1989, between the visiting St. Louis Blues and Malarchuk's Buffalo Sabres, Steve Tuttle of the Blues and Uwe Krupp of the Sabres became entangled while chasing the puck and crashed into Malarchuk's goal. Tuttle's skate caught Malarchuk on the neck, severing his jugular vein. With blood spurting from Malarchuk's throat onto the ice, he was able to leave the ice on his own feet with the assistance of his team's athletic trainer, Jim Pizzutelli. Many spectators were physically sickened by the sight. Eleven fans fainted, two more suffered heart attacks and three players vomited on the ice. Local television cameras covering the game cut away from the sight of Malarchuk bleeding after noticing what had happened. Malarchuk, meanwhile, believed he was going to die. "All I wanted to do was get off the ice", said Malarchuk. "My mother was watching the game on TV, and I didn't want her to see me die." Aware that his mother had been watching the game on TV, he had an equipment manager call and tell her he loved her. Then he asked for a priest. Malarchuk's life was saved by the team's trainer, Jim Pizzutelli, a former Army medic who had served in Vietnam. He reached into Malarchuk's neck and pinched off the bleeding, not letting go until doctors arrived to begin suturing the wound. Still, Malarchuk came within minutes of becoming only the third fatality to result from an on-ice injury in NHL history after Howie Morenz (1937) and Bill Masterton (1968). It was estimated that if the skate had hit 1/8 inch (3 mm) higher on Malarchuk's carotid, he would have been dead within two minutes. It took doctors a total of 300 stitches to close the wound. It was also said that had the incident occurred at the other end of the ice, Malarchuk would have died - the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium had the locker room exits at one end of the ice instead of the location behind the benches, and he was at that end.

Tennis players, get some perspective!

In Praise of GPS

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It's strange how thought pop into your head. Sitting 10Km above the Atlantic Ocean catching up on Podcasts, I took to thinking about the technological advances of recent years. Lets face it there have been lots, many of which are wonderful (step forward the smart phone in particular), however for my money one stands apart as a game changer. Personal GPS Navigation. The personal navigation device (be it stand alone unit, smartphone etc) especially those with online traffic data are truly a life improving piece of kit. Do I need push email? No, it's nice to have but far from essential. Web & Social Media access in my pocket? Again, it's great and can be useful but I could live without it.

But, a box that sits in your car, tells you if a delay has occurred on your route and automatically directs you around it? That's Genius! A device that can take you to the door of a building that you've never visited before, and save you from hours sat in Traffic? That's what the future is supposed to be about.

Now if only in flight WiFi was more prolific I wouldn't have to wait till I land to post this!

PS Noise Cancelling headphones are also right up there, but that's a post for another time...

LTE in Tring!

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20121205-143933.jpg So, a couple of weeks back I decided to move from T-Mobile to EE. Although the initial roll out of 4G is limited at the minute, the cost was much the same, and I figured I'd spend a reasonable amount of time in areas with coverage.

The first opportunity to see LTE in action came last week, with a work trip to West Brom. As we drove up the M6 through Birmingham the LTE icon appeared, and firing up SpeedTest confirmed some pretty decent speeds.

A couple of days later I was in the Tescos in Tring (Tring it should be noted is not one of the 16 cities on EE's list!). Glancing at my phone, I noticed the three little letters sat where I would expect it to say 3G. SpeedTests confirmed an LTE connection! Having done some testing, there is LTE coverage between Cow Roast and the bottom half of Tring.

Whilst this is of limited use in itself (although I may do a speed comparison against Tesco's in store Wi-Fi), it does show that EE are expanding their LTE coverage outside the listed cities and bodes well for expansion in the new year. It will be interesting to watch...

Sounds That Can't Be Made

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The new Marillion Album "Sounds That Can't Be Made" has arrived and it is great. Easily their best work since "Marbles" back in 2003.

The album consists of 8 songs, several of which are long and far reaching in their scope. Stand out tracks for me include "Gaza", "Sounds That Can't Be Made", "Power" and "The Sky Above The Rain". The full track listing is as follows:

Gaza Sounds That Can't Be Made Pour My Love Power Montreal Invisible Ink Lucky Man The Sky Above The Rain

If you haven't listened to Marillion before or not for a long time I highly recommend checking this album out. The media stereotype the band based on their first four albums (with original front man, Fish), but in the 13 albums since Fish left the band has made a wide and varied range of music.

They also offer a free sampler CD which you can order from their Website, so go on, give them a try. More details at http://www.marillion.com/music.htm