“He was a dead man walking… he didn’t have a leg to stand on.”

Local broadcaster Malcolm Boyden on BBC Radio Five Live, reacting to the departure of Bryan Robson from West Bromwich Albion.

She was Darren, she was.

Her presence was there from the moment Tiger hit his tee-shot into the water on Friday morning to the Guinness fueled celebrations on the balcony on Sunday.

Surely never before has a tournament between nations been so much about one person who wasn’t there.

~ TranceFixed

On Wednesday, Top Gear presenter Richard ‘Hamster’ Hammond had an accident driving a jet-powered dragster, and suffered severe brain injuries. Thankfully, he is making good progress, and has every chance of making a full recovery.

It was uncertain for a while as to the full extent to his injuries, but he appears not to have suffered any permanent damage. He is lucky to be alive, and owes a great deal to the dedication and professionalism of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service and Leeds General Infirmary’s neurological unit.

The level of support Richard and his family have received has been generous in the extreme, with thousands of flowers, cards and letters being sent from members of the public from around the globe.

Donations in excess of £150,000 have also been made to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity which airlifted him to the hospital, and has enabled the charity to ‘bring forward’ plans to buy a second helicopter in the near future.

After a near tragedy such as this, it restores your faith in human nature to see the kindness and generosity, and I’m sure it is a great comfort to Richard.

Fellow Top Gear co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson wrote in Saturday’s The Sun:

“All we ever hear about the NHS is that it’s rubbish. But anyone who ever experiences the emergency care it provides always notices just how un-rubbish it is in reality.

Leeds General Infirmary is a no star hospital. According to the bureaucrats it’s terrible. But trust me on this. From where Richard Hammond is lying, it was about as terrible as Angelina Jolie’s left breast.”

I’m not entirely sure how Richard could see Angelina Jolie’s breasts from his hospital bed (probably best not to ask) but I agree the NHS is nowhere near as bad as everyone complains it is. Within minutes of the accident, he was in mid air en-route to hospital, which is as good as anyone could hope for and better than most parts of the world.

Having said that, the transport was provided by a completely donation based charity rather than a government funded health service which is outrageous but unsurprising. The funding of these very necessary charities is permanently contentious issue, but hopefully as a result of the Hamster crash, at least one will get a much needed boost.

~ TranceFixed

( Click Image for Larger Version )

Either he’s doing some new extreme nudist climbing sport I’ve never heard of, Spiderman’s outfit is still in the wash, or somebody’s husband came home a bit earlier than usual…

Microsoft has decided to keep up their policy of having a finger in every pie, and have launched a beta version of Soapbox, a new online video-sharing service.

The rapid rise of YouTube has turned a few heads, and seems to have unleashed the MS green-eyed monster.

The idea of anyone having a product or service that Microsoft doesn’t have a rival for is apparently an alien concept to the MS Boffins.

Identify a growth area 6 months after the competition, throw money at creating a poor imitation MS version or just buy the competition, seems to be the reoccurring theme.

YouTube may feel flattered at Microsoft deciding them worthy of it’s attention, but shouldn’t be too worried at the competition.

” Soapbox is exactly what you’d expect from a Microsoft service — late to market, imitative and uninspired. “

A sharing service is only ever as good as it’s content, so the crunch will be how many users Soapbox will be able to attract since it appears to not offer anything new.

Time will tell, but this could be another expensive MS misadventure, that will do little to the competition and even less for the hollow MSN empire.

~ TranceFixed

>–<*>–<

The Myth

” Elephants are afraid of mice “

>–<*>–<

The Truth

Elephants are one of the most fearless animals in the world due to their size and lack of natural predators when fully grown. Elephants do get anxious about nearby sounds or movement they can’t identify, but their poor eyesight means they are unlikely to even notice mice, let alone be scared by them.

>–<*>–<

(Click Thumbnail for Video)

This advert is pure genius. Simple, clear and funny.

There’s loads more community generated Firefox adverts at http://www.firefoxflicks.com/flicks/

” Gotta get that fox.. “

Download it here if you’re having plugin problems.

~ TranceFixed

Buy a pack of cornflakes, get a kids toy. Buy a Florette, get a free pet.

Now that is imaginative marketing.

” As he would not give the ball, I yelled out ‘Give me the ball you useless fucking bastard’.

He did not give me the ball so I yelled again ‘Come on mate, give me the ball’

He kept on walking so I yelled out ‘You fucking useless cunt’. Then I said ‘You big-haired bastard’.

He then placed the ball on the floor and I said ‘What a fucking loser. Good on ya.’ “

Northampton scum half Mark Robinson’s version of events after he was reported to the RFU for being racist to Bath centre Andy Higgins by five supporters during a match. He has been cleared of racism and reprimanded from using swearwords within earshot of spectators and children.

Are you glad to be alive?

If you are are a resident of Nyandarua village in Kenya you are.

Why?

Because the world was supposed to end on 12th September.

In this life, there are some things you can be certain you can’t rely on: politicians, the train timetable, English penalty takers and predictions about the end of the world.

The duped villagers might feel a bit daft now, but it’s far better to be daft than dead.

Putting your plans for the day in the hands of the House of Yahweh might now look a bit foolish, but no more than planning a journey around when you’ll catch a train or putting money on England winning a penalty shootout.

Hopefully they will learn from this, and move on, but like England football supporters, there will always be some poor gullible fools who will believe anything.

~ TranceFixed