That Bloke In The Big Smoke

WIKILEAKS:
16 DEC - The rights and wrongs of hacktivism (Economist)
16 DEC - Art imitating life: Funky new ad puts a spin on personal hygiene and politics (The Express Tribune, Pakistan)
14 DEC - Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange: Michael Moore (Huffington Post)
10 DEC - Ron Paul’s Passionate Defense Of Julian Assange And WikiLeaks On House Floor (MEDIAite)
09 DEC - Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables attacking India (Guardian)

LAW:
16 DEC - Top judge complains about 'sex with corpses' rules (Daily Telegraph)
16 DEC - Court backs tourist ban for Dutch cannabis coffee shops (BBC News)
15 DEC - Tweeting in court: why reporters must be given guidelines (Guardian)
14 DEC - Qatar: A centre for 'quality' international dispute resolution? (Guardian)

TUITION FEE PROTESTS:
14 DEC - Let’s get London’s riots into the right perspective: Simon Jenkins (London Evening Standard)
14 DEC - An attack on the royal carriage by angry protesters. Sound familiar? (Guardian)

UK:
14 DEC - 'We the people' deserve something better than a high-class villain's charter (Guardian)
13 DEC - Toby Ord: Why I'm giving £1 million to charity (BBC News)
06 DEC - Medieval Britons were richer than modern poor people, study finds (Guardian)
03 DEC - Woman dials 999 to report snowman theft in Kent (BBC News)
03 DEC - Christmas with a German accent – the PR ploy taking Britain's towns by storm (Guardian)

INDIA:
03 DEC - India's third richest man gives £1.27bn to children's education charity (Guardian)
19 OCT - Indian man of 100 goes back to university for PhD (BBC News)

OTHER:
12 DEC - German man castrates teenage daughter's 57-year-old boyfriend (Daily Telegraph)

SPORT:
18 DEC - Liverpool fans outraged after Paul Konchesky's mum launches Facebook blast (Daily Mail)
16 DEC - India enter Formula One limelight (ESPNstar.com)
09 DEC - The top 10 worst misses in football history: your votes are in (Guardian: Sports Blog)
17 SEP - Blackburn's Sam Allardyce 'more suited to Inter or Real Madrid' (Guardian)

Exactly two years to go. Will you be there?

It's my fave non-video app and the one I waste most of my time on. It's really worth it. Thought I'd share some interesting articles:

The Library of Congress, the world's largest library based in Washington DC, has announced that it will store every single tweet posted on Twitter, going back to March 2006, for posterity. Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets a day, the total numbering in the billions!

Staying with America, it's come to light that George Washington, the country's first President, never returned two books he borrowed from the New York Society Library in 1789, resulting in a fine which in today's prices (when adjusted for inflation) would total $300,000. One was an essay on international affairs called Law of Nations and the other, the 12th volume of a 14-volume collection of debates from the English House of Commons. When the librarians checked their collections, they found only thirteen volumes out of the fourteen! Other prominent borrowers such as Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr didn't seem to have the same problem returning their books, but the current head librarian has kindly offered to waive the fine on Washington's descendants if at least the books are returned.

Meanwhile Down Under, Penguin Australia has ordered the destruction of 7,000 copies of The Pasta Bible held in its warehouses. A recipe for tagliatelle with sardines & prosciutto contains the misprinted suggestion that the dish required "salt and freshly ground black people"!

Closer to home, Geoffrey Alderman, professor of politics and contemporary history at Buckingham (Britain's only private university!), explains the Jewish vote really does count. Not in terms of the big picture, as British Jews only make up 0.5% of the population, but because they are heavily concentrated in London and Manchester. He says there are 7 seats with Jewish populations of at least 10% and all are held by Labour. But some of them are key marginal battlegrounds, for example Finchley & Golders Green, Hendon and Bury South.

Speaking of battles, IT geeks will be closely following the interesting tussle taking place between Apple and Adobe. Apple's iDevices are not Flash compatible (unless they are jailbroken). Flash, developed by Adobe, is the multimedia platform that has become the de facto industry standard to add animation and interactivity to web content. But Apple doesn't want to become dependent on a competitor's product, so they've made a key change to their 21,000-word 'agreement' that you have to sign if you want to develop applications for Apple's iDevices. Section 3.3.1 of the document contains a provision that prohibits the use of "an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool" to develop applications for iDevices. Why? Because four days earlier, Adobe launched the latest version of their Creative Suite software which tucked within it, is a new tool that converts Flash applications into something that'll run on the iPhone. Coincidence?

And finally a bit of sport. "Is the rise of the super-athlete ruining sport? From Usain Bolt to Rafa Nadal, top sports stars are fitter, faster and stronger than ever. But how long will it be before the pursuit of perfection takes all the drama out of sport?" Read David Runciman's rant.

I just discovered that Ronnie O'Sullivan's dad is serving a life sentence for murder while his mum served seven months of a year-long jail sentence for tax evasion worth £250,000. Where were the profits raked in from? His dad's Soho porn shop empire. It got me thinking. Who else do you know has overcome their parental follies to become a legend of their own, for all the lawful reasons?

I watched a BBC programme called Lewis Hamilton: Billion Dollar Man that was originally broadcast last year but was naturally re-aired earlier this month following his Formula 1 victory. It's under an hour long and so totally worth it. Unfortunately, you can only watch it using the link above if you live in the UK but I'm sure it must be available as a torrent. It traces his life from a young boy growing up in Stevenage to his stunning arrival on the Formula 1 circuit last year. Interestingly, the Beeb have been following him since he was eight years old when he appeared on a local show called Blue Peter. The Beeb have been following him ever since so there's some awesome footage of his rise through the racing ranks. He's younger than me and only spent two seasons in Formula 1 but his story is already the stuff of legend.

The beginning of the show reminded me of the video below which is of an interview conducted with Sachin Tendulkar when he was just fourteen years old and was making waves on the maidans of Mumbai in the late 80s. The focus, drive and single-minded determination is easily noticeable in both child prodigies. I sincerely hope and believe that Hamilton is going to become as big a brand in his sport as Tendulkar did in his. There's simply no doubt about it. It's such an incredible story. The relationship between Hamilton and his dad also reminded me of the relationship between Tendulkar and his dad and also between Tendulkar and his older brother. It is a truly inspiring story.

A great week for Black people, first with Hamilton becoming not only the youngest Formula One Champion but also becoming the first black driver to race in Formula One, and also secondly with Obama becoming the President of the world's most powerful country. Both pioneers come from mixed-race backgrounds, a fitting attribute to a world moving forward and where traditional cultural barriers are no hurdles to achieving the ultimate success in life. I cannae wait till next season's Championship!

Rebecca Adlington is the first British female swimmer since Anita Lonsborough (in Rome in 1960) to win an Olympic Gold medal. To make things even better, compatriot Joanne Johnson won bronze. The commentary was electrifying and the American should've won.