timwheatley.org

I recently moved my blog to WordPress.com from my own Web space and I am still getting a lot of 404 errors from people trying to find this content where it used to be. As I know that Google is already indexing this location, all I need to do is remove this content from the Google cache.

It turns out that I have a few choices, one of which was to do nothing and let the content expire. For me, this was the best choice as I still have content (or will have, eventually) at the old location that I want Google to index. If I remove the site from the search entirely, Google wont come back for 90 days (if I’m reading their instructions right). Another choice was to remove the URL’s individually, which might actually work because a WordPress blog usually uses the domain.com/date address format, so as I only have content going back to 1999 that’s just 8 lines I have to block.

What I thought was really great though, is that Google have a support section for Webmasters that explains everything you can do, so if you’re ever looking at how to do something about how your site displays on Google, go here!

Well, Lance Briggs has come clean, has said he was stupid and that he crashed his car, got scared, called in a fake police report (saying it was stolen) and ran from the scene of the accident. He did later call in to the police to admit what he had done.

It reminds me of what I was told by a Skip Barber Racing School driving instructor about people who buy cars like Briggs’ Lamborghini Murcielago… He said “Lots of people buy cars like this [Dodge Viper], then hurt or kill themselves or somebody else soon after because they lost control…”

I kind of wonder if there should be some sort of advanced driving education given to people as a part of the sale of this type of vehicle. When you’re buying a $400,000 car like the Lamborghini, a few $1K’s on lessons of how to control the darned thing can’t be a bad idea. Driving the Viper last year I was amazed by how much grip the car had, it seemed stuck to the road, but paradoxically it was also really easy to get it out of shape and lose control.

As for Briggs, he was obviously stupid - but the law will deal with him. My biggest concern though is why the hell was he driving at 3am when he is meant to be at “work” (for the Chicago Bears) just a few hours later?

So armchair coaches, what did you learn? Did you learn yet that Rex Grossman is a first-team Quarterback? His performance in the game was outstanding and even with his two errors (fumble on the snap and an interception), he was superb - superb! That is the player Lovie Smith has obviously seen and wanted to keep. With experience he will get rid of those errors and could head towards the hall-of-fame. With last night’s stats, why not? The offense look real good and I’m very pleased to hear that Devin Hester (who went to ground for over a minute in pain), was not seriously injured. The kick returns look great and I’m pleased to see Danieal Manning growing in the role, he should be very useful if he catches when Hester does not. I would like to see Wolfe in for some kick returns though, looking at some of his college games he has a lot of speed and I’d love to see him use it.

My only concern during the whole game was that we’re relying on Robbie Gould on kicking. The rest of the kickers just seem totally awful! If Gould is injured, we’re screwed… Brad Maynard has a quick head and when he dropped from a good snap last night he scooped up the ball and made the 1st down, with an 18 yard dash.

The defense were awesome, we’re looking at a Superbowl defense. Enough said.

It’s hard to even explain to anyone who has never experienced a Mid-West USA storm, being from the UK I had never experienced them myself until last year…

The storms we have out here are unbelievable, the other day I spent 4 hours watching TV coverage of a storm developing in western Illinois, it threw out 3 tornadoes, a whole load of rain, thousands of lightning strikes and winds of 70mph+ were “normal” compared to the speeds near the funnel clouds and tornado areas.

I now finally understand why The Weather Channel exists, it’s because if you live out in some of the suburbs, if you live out in the rural areas of Illinois, you can lose property, get injured or killed on a weekly basis in the storms here.

I’ve grown used to hearing lightning storms more harsh, loud and charged than anything I ever experienced in the UK happening on a daily basis during this time of year, it just seems normal to me now. It’s just so hard to explain it enough to the folks back home without them thinking I am exaggerating!

Thankfully for me, the city doesn’t suffer with great flooding problems. The lake is obviously very close and ready to take all the water, also the lower streets (there are two/three layers of streets below what looks like the “street level” used for traffic and sewerage) are a great assist in getting rid of the water. The worst thing we got from the storm the other night was that our chairs moved from one side of the balcony to the other…

OK so, I’ve had enough now.

The police raided Earl Simmons’ house in Arizona, they seized a number of guns, freed twelve Pit Bulls (who were not being fed or given water) and on a further search they discovered three dogs buried in the yard, one of which had been burnt. Hmm…

…and his seemingly innocent lawyer expects people to believe that this guy isn’t a gang banger with no respect for anyone or anything, that he didn’t mistreat any animals and that it was all the “caretaker’s” fault… You, lawyer, will get what’s coming to you. Life always seems to work out payment for people like you…

I mean, come on, who are you kidding? You Scum… I hope you and Vick share the same cage and have someone to watch over you… Someone who will be making sure you’re safe, making sure you get food, making sure you get water, making sure you aren’t forced to do anything illegal, painful, cruel… Making sure you aren’t forced to fight, to kill, to survive, someone who will make sure that even if someone starts a fight with you, you won’t be murdered in a torturous way for not fighting back. I hope you’ll be treated with compassion, I hope you’ll be treated just like you deserve…

May the soap be constantly slippery and may your Prison Guards show as much care for you as you have shown for your animals… You Scum.

From the Ghost Recon Web site:

Eastern Europe, 2008.
The world teeters on the brink of war. Radical ultra-nationalists have seized power in Moscow - their goal, the reestablishment of the old Soviet empire. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan - one by one the nearby independent republics slip back into the Russian orbit. Russian tanks sit in the Caucasus Mountains and the Baltic forests, poised to strike to the south and east. The world holds it’s breath, and waits.

For one small group of elite soldiers, the war has already begun: U.S. Special Forces Group 5, First Battalion, D Company. Deployed on peacekeeping duty to the Republic of Georgia in the Caucasus, this handful of Green Berets represents the very tip of the spear - the first line of defense. Equipped with the latest battlefield technology, and trained in the latest techniques of covert warfare, they strike - swiftly, silently, and invisibly.
They call themselves “The Ghosts”

Is Putin the revolutionist who wants the old Soviet Empire back? He sure is acting like it.

Finally, finally, finally… Channel 4 has axed the 2008 season of “Celebrity Big Brother” - this show where fourth-rate celebrities and almost-nobodies vie to be the top-turd on the pile of shit that is Big Brother.

Unfortunately I don’t think Channel 4 will remove BB from our screens entirely.

One of the last few times I made a post about this I had some useless non-commenter posted that I had never been to war. Not being sure what the hell that had to do with anything, I asked if that meant someone who has never been to war, isn’t allowed to talk about it, but alas, the person never seemingly felt like posting again.

While I understand that what the person probably meant is that I have never been on the ground in a situation where I am fighting for my life and would probably shoot anything that moves, that isn’t what we’re talking about. What we’re talking about, very often, are attacks by pilots who are relatively safe compared to land forces, opening fire on friendly troops.

Here is a thread I posted previously listing just some of the many friendly fire incidents seen by U.S. forces on just British military personnel. Here is an article about the most recent known friendly fire incident.

I can understand that when calling in an air-strike it’s possible that the British forces made an error in the positioning and told the pilot where to drop the bomb, but previously when U.S. aircraft have killed British soldier’s that hasn’t seemed to be the case.

I’ve nothing against the soldiers, it’s just that I don’t understand it… Why are there proportionally more U.S. performed friendly fire incidents? In the first Gulf War there were more British killed by Americans than by Iraqi’s!

I had my fingerprints taken by USCIS today as I sl-o-o-o-o-wly move through the immigration process. I found out that I apparently have rare prints, ones where the areas the lines link on either side of the finger are far apart. It took quite a few attempts on each finger just to get an acceptable scan, except the little pinky, that one seemed to scan perfect on both hands first-time. It was pretty quick and I was actually out of there 15mins before I was even scheduled to attend.

I wonder if because I’ve got this far it means I filled out all the forms correctly? I think I did good with no lawyer… Every form has a space for law firms to enter their details and I did it all myself!

The speed limit in most built-up areas like the one this incident happened in is 30mph. If your brakes failed, can you imagine any corner that couldn’t be taken at 30mph (or less - because if your brakes were not responding, wouldn’t you let-off the right pedal?)

I’ve been in a car before with someone who really was not capable of driving safely and it wasn’t because of drink or drugs, it was because of age. For this incident to have resulted in the death of a baby is horrifying, but the very LAST thing you do, even if you have brake failure, is mount a pedestrian walkway… You should be trying to stop with the hand-brake (as it’s unlikely that ALL brakes failed) or you should be trying to have the car gradually come to a halt (but remaining on the road!) The man in question has stated that he was on the pavement for 25 metres (82 feet), BEFORE hitting the woman and child.

I haven’t done a lot of driving in my life, I’ll admit, but I have pushed the limits. I can’t think of any corner that would have 82 feet of available running area that couldn’t just be taken at 30mph on the roadway. So his story just makes no sense… If his brakes did fail, he should have been should have been going slow enough to not have to mount the pavement. He was either speeding, or he cannot control a car and should not have been on the road anyway. What a shame for that young family.