Don't Stop Your Screaming - Video

Very clever - and well made - parody. If you love the original (or even if you don't) you'll like this one.

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Twitter links for the last 48 hours - 25th November 2009

Here are the links I have tweeted or Re-Tweeted (RT) over the last 48 hours or so
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Thought for the day - 'Reach' and 'Influence'

Had an interesting experience yesterday.

I'm trying to get some idea of the commuting habits of people I interact with on social media etc. I've put out a one question poll which basically asks how far you travel to work on your daily commute.

Now consider that I have over 700 followers on Twitter, 250 followers on Friendfeed, 26 subscribers on Posterous and 182 RSS subscribers for 'The Musings Cafe' which is the blog the poll was originally posted to, I would have expected a reasonable number of answers. After all the poll is one question, one answer and would take about 25 seconds to complete.

So far I've had 4 replies. Which is a little disappointing. Obviously my on-line influence isn't anywhere near as large as the figures would suggest. C'est la vie...

However, if you have 25 seconds and feel like you want to answer my one question poll, please head over to this link and let me know how far you commute to work. I would really appreciate it.

And if you are one of the 4 who has already done this, then "Thanks!"
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A favour please - Take my one question poll on commuting habits...

For those of you who don't read 'The Musings Cafe ' - my general thoughts and articles blog - I have a poll up there at the moment which is trying to find out how far people commute to work.

If you feel like answering the single question - which would help get some meaningful results the more people answer - please register your answer below

How far do you commute?

A quick retweet using the appropriate retweet button at the bottom of the article might help spread the word too.

Thanks

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My guilty food pleasure

Take 2 Chocolate Hob Nobs

Top with Tesco Creamy Custard

Eat.

Mmmmmm....

(Sounds wierd, but you'll have to go with me on this one).

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Twitter links for the last 48 hours - 21st November 2009

Previous Tweets
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Really? These are the 100 books of the decade?

The Times has just published it's list of the top 100 books of the decade.

Although I consider myself to be quite well read I can only own up to having read 6 of the top 100 (although all the ones I have read were in the top 30). However out of those six, one was the 9/11 Commission Report which I read in PDF form and one was The Da Vinci Code which EVERYBODY was reading at one point.

Is this a damning indictment of my commitment to reading, or more a statement about the choice of the Times literary editors?

(Be warned the actual article is 17 pages long and has something like 5 or 6 books on each page. It is incredibly infuriating to read.)

How many can you lay claim to?
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Testing Time-Management Strategies - WSJ.com

Are things you need to get done falling between the cracks? Does taking an entire day off seem impossible?

Maybe you need a time-management system.

Using GTD, Pomodoro and FranlinCovey's Focus methods to determine which is more useful in managing time. (The answer is: Whichever works for you is the best - take bits from every one). A good read for you - especially if you don't have time to read it.

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Thought for the day: Colts/Pats and NFL rivalries

For various reasons (which are not important to this discussion) I found myself awake at 4.00am this morning. Normally that's not an issue for me. I turn over, check that it is, in fact, 4.00 and not 20 past 12, and go back to sleep

But today was different. Today was a Sunday night Colts game.

For those not in the know let me give you a few facts

1) I'm one of the small (but growing number) of Brits who follow the NFL here

2) I'm a huge Indianapolis Colts fan having spent a lot of time in indy during my career

3) The Colts are currently on a 17 game unbeaten regular season streak, and are currently 7-0 this season

4) They were playing the New England Patriots (The enemy!)

Currently Sky TV here in England broadcasts two NFL games on a Sunday night - usually the main games supplied by CBS and FOX - ad they start around 6 in the evening and go through until midnight. I like to sit and watch these (well the 6pm game at least) until I get tired. Then I'll head to bed.

The Sunday evening game isn't covered by Sky. It was last season, this season Channel 5 has it. It usually starts at 12.30 on a Monday morning here in the UK and goes on until 4.30 ish. This is way too late for me to stay up so i usually miss the game and check the report when I wake the following morning.

But this morning - as I have already said - I happened to be awake at about 4am. I thought to myself "This is the Colts playing the Patriots. it really could go eaither way. I could read the news in the morning and find that the Colts were shut out, that the Patriots were beaten, that the Colts lost a close one or that the Pats lost a close one". The history of these two teams goes back years and focuses mainly on the two team generals - Payton Manning (Indy) and Tom Brady (NE). it's a classic rivalry. Since 2003 one of these two teams has won the AFC title or superbowl in almost every year. The road to the Superbowl will usually go through either Gillette Stadium or Lucas Oil Stadium (and before that the RCA dome).

So I switched on. And immediately wished I hadn't. The Colts were losing. Quite resoundedly losing. They were down by two scores with about 14 minutes left in the game.  The stats were not good. The Pats had never lost a game when leading by over 13 points in the fourth quarter. The Pats were playing superbly. Brady had thrown 4 passes of 25 yards or moe in the game, Maning's longest pass in the game was only 25 yards. Manning had a measly passer rating around 88 at that point. Brady had over 110. The Patriots advanced the ball but turned it over on downs. Then Manning came in... and threw an interception which the Pats converted to three points

It didn't look good.

So I sat there with my cat on my lap, in the cold, watching what I thought would be the first loss of the season for the Colts.

Then something amazing happened.

Indy got the ball back at their 21 yard marker and drove the full length of the field to give Joseph Addai the touchdown run. There were 2 minutes 23 seconds left. New England had the ball. All they needed to do was go 11 yards to force a new set of down and chances are they would win the ball game.

They went:  No gain: 8 Yards: incomplete: 1 yard. They turned it over on downs at their own 28 yard marker. Manning came in, ran a pass play and two run plays to set up the Reggie Wayne 1 yard touchdown pass to seal the game win.  I'm not going to go into whether it was the right call to go for it on fourth down, or whether the 1 yard catch was actually a two yard catch that would have given the Pats a new set of downs. That isn't important to what I'm saying here. What is important is that the game was a bitter, intense rivalry. Decisions were made. Tempers flared. Plays were made. And before I knew it I couldn't remember that it was approaching 4.45 in the morning and I was sitting in a cold room watching the tv.

The game was electric. It was tense, it was surprising. It was exciting. It was everything a rivalry should be. Like the Cowboys and the Redskins, The Steelers and the Eagles, The Packers and the Vikings, it was a game worthy of the term 'rivalry'.

There is something about wanting to beat 'That team' that brings out the best in a rivalry. For many years the road to Indy's superbowl aspirations went through Gillette Field in Foxboro, and for many years the curse of Foxboro beat the Colts and left them dejected and, usually, covered in snow. But this only increased the rivalry. As well it should. The first official NFL game I ever saw was a Patriots/Colts game in the old RCA dome back in 1999 or 2000. Drew Bledsoe was still the Pats QB at that time and the Pats were not seen as a rival then. But since then - and especially with the coming of Tom Brady and the ascendency of Payton Manning - this has grown to be one of the preeminent NFL rivalries.

Long may it continue.

No doubt New England will be back at Lucas Oil Stadium during the play-offs wanting revenge.

I can't wait.

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Twitter links for the last 48 hours - 15th November 2009

Here are the links I have tweeted or Re-Tweeted (RT) over the last 48 hours or so.
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Writer, Actor, Blogger - and Business Process Consultant. Wierd eh?