Dean's Blog

This year is just going too quickly for me. It’s almost April and though they say that the years move faster as we get older then I don’t think that I want to grow that old. The fact that it only seems like last weekend when it was New Year’s Eve make it even worse.

I have so much to do this year, plan my move to Sweden, complete the writing of “Departure” and “The Street” and somewhere in the middle live a life. I’ve been neglecting a lot of my friends lately, each time I see them they make comments about me being absent and “Have not seen you in a long time”, maybe this is a good thing, and maybe it’s a bad thing.

One thing that I will always make time for is my family and love ones, no matter how much I write or how many endless nights that I stay awake trying to rack my sometimes creative brain it is not always that easy to balance a life between writing and socialising. How mothers cope with babies is something I can no relate too!

But it’s not all hardship as I have always been a believer in karma and what you put into life you will also get out of it. I am sure that all this writing and working will pay off in a few years time and that things in life will be a lot better. The only things I have ever strived for in life are to make my family proud, my own self belief a reality and of course the bank manager very happy ;)

So sorry for being so absent. I will try harder.

Russian architects Arch Group have designed a booth for taking a quick nap in busy urban environments.



Called Sleepbox, the units could be rented for between fifteen minutes and several hours.



The architects envisage them installed at train stations, airports and shopping centres. Between users the bedding would be automatically changed, with sheets wound from one roller onto another.





SLEEPBOX

Imagine the situation that you are in the modern city, where you are not a local resident, and you have not booked a hotel. It is not comfortable situation, because in the modern, aggressive cities there are no opportunity to rest and relax. If you want to sleep, while waiting your plane or train, it may cause many security and hygiene problems. We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable for people. For this purpose we have developed a device SLEEPBOX. It provides moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city without wasting time searching for a hotel.



Here are the possible locations for SLEEPBOX:

* Railroad stations
* Airports
* Expocentres
* Public and shopping centers
* Accommodation facilities

In countries with warm climate SLEEPBOX can be used on the streets. Thanks to SLEEPBOX any person has an opportunity to spend the night safely and cheaply in case of emergency, or when you have to spend few hours with your baggage.

SLEEPBOX is a small mobile space (box) 2mx1.4mx2.3m (h). The main functional element in it is a bed 2×0.6 m, which is equipped with automatic system of change of bed linen. Bed is soft, flexible strip of foamed polymer with the surface of the pulp tissue. Tape is rewound from one shaft to another, changing the bed. If a client wants to sleep in maximum comfort, he can take the normal set of bed linen for an extra fee. SLEEPBOX is intended primarily to perform one main function – to enable a person to sleep peacefully. But it can also be equipped with various additional functions, depending on the situation. Application of the device can be very broad, not only in the form of paid public service, but also for internal purposes of organizations and companies.

Visit http://ipad.io/HtS to hear my latest ipadio phonecast

Or listen here:
[audio http://ipadio.s3.amazonaws.com:80/mp3/506300000027488620100328182725_5063.mp3]

A campaign to get the Wurzels, the West Country band who had a hit with I am a Cider Drinker, back into the charts gathered pace. Various Facebook pages, set up to hijack the charts and topple Lady Gaga with the Wurzel's distinctive folky sound, had received at least 3,000 followers.

Meanwhile the Leave Our Cider Alone campaign had attracted 21,000 followers by yesterday afternoon, with many vowing to make Sunday "Cider Sunday", to celebrate the last day before the duty takes effect.

Simon Russell, of the National Association of Cider Makers, said: "They burned effigies of Lord Bute across the west country in 1763 when he introduced a tax on cider and perry. He was a dour Scotsman too.

"I wouldn't want to be Alistair Darling if he dared venture down to Bristol. There is real anger around here."

Mr Darling announced, during the Budget, that cider duty would increase by inflation plus 10 per cent, equating to a 13 per cent rise in duty, adding as much as 10p to a 750ml bottle of cider.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, on a trip to Devon, said he supported a duty increase for the high alcohol cider such as Diamond White, but not on the traditional apple drink. He said: "The Government has

made a mistake. They don't understand the West Country, they don't understand this part of our country and they've got it wrong.

"Of course we need a higher tax on the dangerous high strength, things like White Lightning, which have as much relation to an apple as I do with Gandhi.

"But proper cider that people like to drink down the pub, we shouldn't be having a great tax hike on that."

Also in the West Country was Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, who was in Somerset and described it as a "smash and grab tax on an industry which is immensely important to many people here".

"They say [in Somerset] this sudden tax, this 10 per cent tax, has come out of the blue with no warning, no proper explanation, no proper thought given to the consequences. It is not the way you treat an industry which has done extremely well, particularly in the West Country, to suddenly whack them with a smash and grab attempt to get a bit of extra money for the Treasury."

In the Commons, Conservative MP Bill Wiggin asked environment minister Jim Fitzpatrick how he had "the nerve" to talk up agriculture, while the government hiked up duty on cider.

He added: "There are 600 businesses in Herefordshire alone producing this exclusively British drink. How are you ever going to persuade anybody to take anything you say about British agriculture seriously again?"

Mr Fitzpatrick said there was a "small cider makers' exemption" to the increase for firms producing less than 7,000 litres a year – he estimated it meant nearly 400 UK cider makers would not be affected by the duty rise.

I am a Cider Drinker reached number three in the chars in 1976, but it would be an achievement if it were to make a comeback. However, a successful internet campaign last Christmas helped Rage Against the Machine's protest song Killing in the Name beat the hot favourite, The Climb, sung by the X Factor winner Joe McElderry.

Mr Russell said: "I'm not entirely sure that the Wurzels being at number one will be entirely good for cider's image. But we are thrilled at how much popular support we are getting as an industry."

I have just read that The Times are, like The Sun, going to start charging people to use their news websites this summer. In the past ten years since the explosion of Broadband internet and WIFI the sales of newspapers has dropped dramatically and the Newspaper companies are now beginning to charge online.

Personally I am against this due to the fact that the news is something that should be available free of charge to any web visitor. I have total sympathy with the newspaper companies for the decline in profits but is this really necessary? News websites are the most updated available and I am always checking the BBC website to see what is happening in the world.

I can see this really going one way and that is people abandoning news sites all together. With social sites such as Twitter being a constant source of news will people really need to visit a papers site to catch up on what is happening? I am not too concerned that they are taking this approach as some papers are still stuck in the 19^th century towards their attitude to the internet.

Lately I have been getting the travel bug again. As the weather is getting warmer I always tend to drift off thinking of warmer climates. I have been very lucky in my life and have had the fortune of travelling Europe, America, South America, the Far East and Australia and it has not broken the bank.

With enough pre-planning travelling can be a very cheap experience and offers us the chance to see new parts of the world that we would not normally get the chance to see. I know that one day I will return back to Australia and South America but right now my heart is really set on Scandinavia which might sound odd as I will be moving there in a year.

But the more I research the more I want to know. The history of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark is as old, if not older, than most European countries yet it’s a history that is so unknown. Moving to Sweden I know that I will have the chance to explore much more in my time there so this year I’ll be travelling a lot to the other Scandinavian countries to find out more about this illustrious history.

I have not had a hot holiday for several years now but will have the fortune of visiting Japan this August when I know the weather is going to be warm, but it’s not all about the weather. The world is truly an amazing place and as people we are so lucky to live in times where travel is fast, affordable and not too much of a burden.

We have beauty within our own countries that we can also enjoy but there is little harm in hopping on a plane to a new location that we have never been to before. That’s the real beauty about travelling, it’s going to a new place, facing the unknown and learning something new to improve ourselves as people in both knowledge and culture.

Now where did I put my suitcase?

Visit http://ipad.io/Hjg to hear my latest ipadio phonecast

Or listen here:
[audio ]

Each day goes by where we think of you
Beauty shone in your heart that much was true
Only the heart of an angel could provide this love
Now your flying with wings high up above
Your brief short life will live on in within our heart
J ust because your gone we are not far apart
All your family and friends ensure your love lives on
In our hearts you remain but in life your gone
Destiny means we will meet again one day
Endless memories make the pain go away
Keep a place in heaven my friend until we meet again
Always you will smile through the sun and rain
Till that day I celebrated your life through mine
On and on your heart will shine
Now sleep tight dear friend and I think of thee
An eternal angel you now have heaven's key

Sometimes it is not all about me, me me. Often life will grant you an opportunity where you can possibly make the difference in the life of another. It does not have to be anything monumental or life changing, in fact it can be something so trivial that you might not even realise how important it is.

Taking the time to talk to a friend of mine today on Facebook ended with them saying "Thank you that has really made my day". Now this dos not mean a lot to some but knowing this person they actually meant this with sincerity. In our ever-increasing busy lives we often forget that friends are there for us in times of need and though they may drift in and out of our thoughts over these busy times the fact is they are always there.

From now on I am going to make a new resolution in my life and that is to take at least five minutes out of each day to speak or chat to someone who I may not see that often. We surround ourselves with those we work with more than we do our own friends, families and loved ones. So why not make that effort to put a smile on someones face?

It is hard when we lose friends. However they choose to leave this life they leave behind a void that cannot just simply be filled. It’s a time where they are at peace yet there is still turmoil and anguish in our own lives. The emotions begin to run through our minds at a hundred miles per hour, what, why, when and how.

The hardest part is knowing we will never see them again alive, that is the thing that hurts the most. Suddenly the trivial moments that we once shared become cherished memories; the small things that seemed so insignificant become lifelong treasures. It is only at times like these do we realise that life is precious and we should be grateful for what we have and who we are.

We can never turn back the hands of time; we cannot change the feelings and emotions of those who are gone. All we can do is take stock of what we have and try and celebrate the lives of those who have gone through our own happiness. In our lives we will meet people that will come into our lives for a reason, those that touch us deep at every conceivable moment. Some will briefly enter our lives; others will remain with use forever. Let’s never forget them.

I will leave you with a quote from The Sheltering Sky (James Bowles)

“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything only happens a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon so deeply a part of your being that you can't imagine living without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you see the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty; and yet it all seems so limitless.”

R.I.P Ebony Katona 1990-2010

Eternally grateful for our chats and talk. Thank you for all the inspiration.

Gone far too soon

Is it me or did this winter seem like the longest ever? As the temperature hits a warm 15 degrees today the sky is filled with blue.

The ladies are dusting down their summer dresses and heels and the guys seem to be ditching their winter coats. Just having the warmth on your face as you get on the train feels so refreshing. I love snow, in fact it was fun to see so much this winter but when you have to rely on one of the poorest transport systems in the world it’s not a nice feeling. Endless break downs and cancellations of trains is never a nice feeling.

I went out yesterday and actually purchased some new summer shirts, it feels that I have been living in heavy winter wool for an eternity. It would be pointless to pin our hops on having a decent summer this year, it would not be practical nor worthwhile even doing so as the weathermen never seem to get it right.

However for now I just want to enjoy the sunshine and let it melt the last remains of a rather dark winter.

Why are so many people just pure idiots? Life is not all about rushing around like headless chickens. We often do tend to fall into a routine of living everyday life and becoming part of the “rat race” but do we all have to take life so seriously?

There are occasions where life can seem frustrating and get us down but those who tend to take it out on others are to me just very sad individuals. I’ve encountered two such people today both thinking that they are more important than they actually are. One reduced a girl to tears but it’s not her fault that unlike this rather rude and obnoxious man that she has her whole future ahead of her where as he’s has already passed him by.

These bullies that can make or break people have a lot to answer for and the answer clearly lies within their own inability to make their lives better. For not pushing yourself to realise your dreams and full potential to me is a waste of life. Life is the most precious gift we have so why abuse it and possibly hold down the dreams of others just because they failed?

Some days do you wake up and just wonder “Why do I bother?” Today is one of those days.

Visit http://ipad.io/HIQ to hear my latest ipadio phonecast

Or listen here:
[audio http://www.ipadio.com/mp3/]

I don’t hold many possessions in life, in fact over the last decade I have managed to remove a lot of clutter and crap. In the two long term relationships that I have had I have erased all memories of them the minute they end. That means destroying photos, gifts, clothes, shoes in fact anything associated with the memory of being with that person.

My last ex girlfriend I hated with a vengeance after we broke up. I removed all traces from my life and it felt good to thoroughly cleanse myself. The other day I realised that I still had some items that she purchased me, namely a PSP, PS2, games and controllers.

So I have decided to put these on Ebay. I don’t care about how much money they raise. All will go to a Domestic Violence charity. Knowing that it’s the final reminder of a terrible relationship is a burden lifted from my mind. Some say my methods are drastic, but for me a clean start is a must after a relationship ends. I just hope this time that this relationship is for keeps.

Yesterday was a very good day indeed. The sun was shining; the Chelsea fans were out in force. But not just for that, it was also my dad’s first live game at Stamford Bridge in over 25 years.

Chelsea did not disappoint, they won 2-0 and the smile on my dads face after the game was priceless! I did not attend myself, had too much to do but hopefully we will attend the FA cup semi final at Wembley together and this will be our first Chelsea match together since 1986.

I hate to think how much money I spent yesterday (going to check it later!) but it was worth every single penny. My dad had a great time even though he had to be back at work at 5am this morning. I eventually crawled home and fell asleep listening to Alphabeat.

One thing I do recall is my father and I sat underneath a large TV in Brogan’s bar and there were so many people looking at the TV that it felt like they were staring at us. My dad and I were being watched so of course we had to start singing “We f**king like two goldfish, feel like two goldfish, we f**king feel like two goldfish”..good times.

Here is my dad (in the green) mingling with the other Chelsea boys.

Visit http://ipad.io/HEa to hear my latest ipadio phonecast

Or listen here:
[audio http://www.ipadio.com/mp3/]

Some think we live a simple life, I really do not care

Yet in my kaleidoscope heart, your love is always there

Spring turns into summer, the rain replaced by sun

My heart is always raised by you, you truly are the one

When the floods descend from heaven, you protect me from the rain

Life can hit as hard as it wants, you shelter me from pain

Distance may divide us, yet you whisper love into breeze

It echoes through our garden of love, a symphony among the trees

Each time I rise from the night and embrace the day so blue

My heart beats the rhythm of a drum, a song from me to you

So let’s walk this life as one, we take each day together

Entwined as one pure beating heart, united in love forever

I usually avoid fast food places as they tend to make me feel ill just smelling this shit they produce. But after only a small bowl of cereal this morning I still had a little hangover so went to the nearest Burger King. I always laugh at the customers and though I was only there for twenty minutes I, along with the staff, had to giggle at these two customer comments

Customer 1

Staff – “Can I take your order sir”

Customer – “Yes can I have a Three Cheese Angus but without The Cheese”

Customer 2 – “How big are your Cheeseburgers?”

Staff showed them the burger

Customer 2 – “Hmmm they are a bit small, that won’t really fill me up. Can I have four Cheeseburger Meals with large fries”

Staff – “Drink?”

Customer 2 – “Diet coke please, trying to slim for summer”

Priceless!!

Let the video do the talking.

Rising from the ashes, you spread your wings to fly

Reaching for all your dreams the belief will never die

Beautiful and so glorious, the eternal red bird of fire

Soaring up into the sun, leaving behind the pyre

Dreams are now your destiny; reach with all your might

You’re a powerful inferno, ablaze and in full flight

Yesterday is over, today has just begun

The sky is now your playground your home is now the sun

Destiny is in your grasp, forget the doubts and fears

Your flame will burn eternally for all remaining years

There will be times of doubt, and moments of pure sorrow

But one thing that is ever true, you’re the angel of tomorrow

Those who know me well will testify that I cannot stand watching reality British TV shows that involve “celebrities”. Shows like “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” and “Celebrity Big Brother” are compulsive viewing for some but not for me. The mere thought of people that were once famous being paid for making complete fools of themselves and shattering the general illusion of just how they really act is not what I pay my TV licence for.

In the last few months I’ve caught some American equivalents of shows that we have here and found varying differences between the two. The first that struck me is that the celebrities were actually well known people, unlike the UK who seem to pick people that are so past their sell by date you have to look up on Wikipedia to find out exactly who they are.

This years Celebrity Apprentice which begins on March 14^th is a show based on The Apprentice that was made famous by Sir Alan Sugar. Among the contestants this year are Sharon Osbourne, Bret Michaels,  and Michael Johnson, . Also there is a certain Maria Kanellis.

One thing that I have always been a champion of is those who are involved in Sports Entertainment (Wrestling). Myself being a martial artist of over 25 years I know just how hard it is to train and compete and a world class level. These athletes not only train constantly through the year they are often on the road for up to 300 days per year. For the likes of other where they may have to travel for one day a week away from home, these dedicated people are away nearly five days a week and how they balance their home lives and work is astonishing.

Maria is taking part in this years Celebrity Apprentice for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charity that has given hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Maria is also one of the most hardest working people around (if not the hardest!) and her determination and ambition to succeed outside of Sports Entertainment will keep her dreams going from strength to strength.

So please all support and vote for Maria on The Celebrity Apprentice (Season 3) which starts on March 14^th on NBC. (For those outside the USA contact me and I will find some sites that will be showing this, or TV stations that will be airing the show)



Good luck Maria! We are all behind you.

I’ve been a loyal Iphone owner for around two years now. Not that I queued up for hours in the cold to be one of “the first” just to have the latest fad, I waited. Technically the 3G was inferior to the phone I had but the Apple App Store made it all the better to have, some of the apps became essential to my life, as sad as that sounds.

The Iphone has it all except one thing, Flash.

It is more than annoying to view a website and not be able to play Flash videos or presentations, at first I did not mind but even with the launch of the Iphone 3GS and the Ipad Flash is STILL absent.

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona saw the launch of software aiming to try and solve some of the bigger issues such as handsets not playing Flash videos. Despite the majority of video, animation, and many games on the net being Flash based, the system is not yet fully supported on handsets.

Currently 19 out of the top 20 manufacturers have signed up to support the video and animation platform. The update will not be available on the iPhone because Apple has decided not to support the software.

The excuse that Apple provide is that they claim it drains the battery life of the phone, which is one of the worst I have ever seen. But in all honesty they are going to be left behind very quickly. The Iphone is the dominant handset on the market and will be for many years to come purely due its popularity. However smart phones from HTC, Nokia and LG are slowly catching up and with Flash enabled they would be close if not equal to the Iphone.

In my opinion Apple are purely being stubborn. I would have expected the Ipad to have Flash, if they launch a 4GS Iphone with Flash without an upgrade for Ipad owners this is going to SERIOSULY piss off a lot of people, myself included.

So my message to Apple is, sort it out swallow some pride and just sign up with the other 19 developers. Otherwise I maybe an ex-Iphone owner very soon.

There were a few things I was going to blog about today. The first was about Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton. For those outside the UK Blue Peter is a long running children’s television show here in the UK. The show talks about topical vents, tells you how to make things and sometimes throws the presenters into challenging situations. Now in the past there have been instances like presenters being put on a roller coaster, or walking a tightrope above a river.

But what Helen did was somewhat remarkable. This time last year she had never set foot in a kayak and could not even paddle across a pond so it was with great awe and admiration that for the UK charity Sports Relief they asked Helen to kayak 2000 miles down the Amazon River. Not only did she complete this but she broke world records along the way, the longest solo Kayak ever, the longest row in 24 hours and also the only woman to ever kayak the Amazon. A remarkable achievement.

The second item I was due to blog on was I read today that the introduction of several animals back into the UK was being proposed including, Beer, Deer, Wild Boar and Elk. Sometimes when I am in Sweden I see these animals in Sweden it does throw me but to see these in the UK would be something very special for pagans like myself!

But the main focus of this blog is something that I read about in the paper today about social networking. A company in Sweden is developing a new Iphone/android application that if you take a photo of someone it will search Facebook and other social networking applications and if the photo matches it will display that persons name and phone number.

Recognizr creates a 3D model of a person’s face when you point your phone camera at them. The information is then kicked up to a cloud server that compares the facial recognition information to a database. It then slings back matching the subject’s name and links to any social networking sites they’ve given it access to.

The augmented reality part of Recognizr shows the social networks that the subject is a member of floating in a halo around their head in the photo your phone snaps.

There are obviously plenty of privacy problems highlighted by Recognizr but the system will only allow you to identify people who have opted into the service by uploading a photo and a profile.

So can you imagine some creep walking into a pub and pointing his phone at a girl he likes points the camera and then suddenly has all this information available about her. Will the lead to people not putting up real photos of themselves on Facebook and Twitter? It’s a dangerous app and one that will need protecting.