I've been very happy with my new Dell PC (when it finally arrived after the supply problems Dell seemed to suffer over the Xmas period). Of course much of this is down to having set it up to dual boot Ubuntu 9.10 with the supplied Windows 7. (I have to say that Win7, while not exactly my cup of tea, performs considerably better than the Vista Business I tried a few years ago).Since we bought this PC largely for working from home, I've been prevailed to see what the 60 day trial of Office 2007 is like, with a view to buying it if we like it. Now, what's never been clear is whether that's 60 days from purchase of the PC, or 60 days from activation. I assumed thelatter.So I clicked the desktop icon, which set in place the process.  First I had to install some ActiveX script to install an Office 2007 update.  presumably, therefore, the system detected I had an out of date trial of Office.  This update, incidentally, seemed to relate to the USA and its dependencies - I assume in the Redmond World that the UK is now a dependency of the USA.  As far as I could see, it was a patch to remove code infringing software patents at the end of 2009 (see for example this article).So, being a dutiful user, and quite keen to have a look at office 2007, I followed the onscreen instructions.  Everything installed.  Next step, click the big green "continue" button.  Oh Dear! A typically opaque message.

&mbsp;We are sorry, but we are unable to complete your request.The following problem(s) exist:The Microsoft Office Activation Assistant was unable to detect a 2007 Microsoft Office release.

And that's where it ends.  If I click the trial icon on the desktop, I get the same message.  I did a quick Google and found numerous pages discussing the message, but frankly can't be bothered to pursue this as I'm quite happy with OpenOffice.org for my office software suite.  And Openoffice.org was installed in full on my PC when I installed Ubuntu 9.10.  And in full when I installed the Windows package downloaded from OpenOffice.org.  As the insurance meerkat (and the ensuing interweb meme) might say: "simples".

It's reported that the British Chiropractic Association have admitted defeat in their ill-fated and stupid attempt to silence criticism (Ely Place - News).  I wonder where this leaves Simon Singh who, as I understand it, is a couple of hundred thousand pounds out of pocket for defending himself against a libel action that should never have been brought.  Can the BCA get off the hook as easily as that?UPDATE:  The original article is back on the Grauniad website.  The BCA have commented with a press release.

This was the first of the evening club events, and the start list was limited to ensure we'd all get finished before sunset.  On the face of it, we had a rather nice evening, quite sunny and dry.  In fact there was a stiff easterly that was rather chilly.  Anxious that I be able to get home safely without lights, I signed on as number 3.Lining up to start, I felt distinctly chilly, but this soon dissipated as I set off.  Fortunately, the breeze afforded me a helping hand all the way up to the Stoke Hammond bypass (beginning at the left turn on the third roundabout - see map below).  This was most welcome, and the tail wind remained as I set off along the dual carriageway section.By the time I'd reached the turn, I'd caught both riders in front of me, and I was looking forward to the return leg, unfortunately not as quickly as on the way out.  This was particularly noticeable once off the dual carriage way section (and having negotiated the appallingly damaged road surface at the roundabout), when even the downhill section was hard!As I approached the finish, I retained some hope I might pull off a long 22, but the headwind was just a bit too much, and I ended up finishing in about 23:11.  I don't at this stage have the final result, as I left pretty quickly, before the light faded too much.  This may be my quickest time on this course...Results below the map
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								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	21	Tony Parks	NBRC	22.45	V45	26.30	.+ 3.45	4
2	19	Aaron McCaffrey	AW Cycles	22.47	S
3	3	Robert Saunders	NBRC	23.12	V50	27.33	.+ 4.21	2
4	18	David Glossy	Team Corley Cycles	23.22	S
5	13	Lindz Barral	i-Team CC	23.37	S
6	22	Geoff Perry	TeamMK	24.11	V50	27.33	.+ 3.22	6
7	5	Darren Haydon	NBRC	24.21	S
8	6	Glenn McMenamin	NBRC	24.24	S
9	10	Kevin Stokes	TeamMK	24.38	V47	26.54	.+ 2.16	8
10	9	Ian Stokes	NBRC	25.03	V50	27.33	.+ 2.30	7
11	20	John Buchanan	TeamMK	25.38	V40	25.30	.- 0.08	10
12	14	D.Carrington	TeamMK	25.45	V44	26.18	.+ 0.33	9
13	17	Rob Chaundy	TeamMK	25.55	V58	29.20	.+ 3.25	5
14	8	Clive Faine	TeamMK	26.39	V64	30.45	.+ 4.06	3
15	12	Gilbert Wheelwright	NBRC	26.50	V67	31.30	.+ 4.40	1
16	16	Brian Primett	NBRC	27.01	V42	25.54	.- 1.07	11
17	4	David Skeggs	NBRC	27.24	V41	25.42	.- 1.42	13
18	7	Yvonne Gurney	TeamMK	27.42	Lady
19	1	Alan Lawson	NBRC	28.08	V41	25.42	.- 2.26	14
20	11	Tony Brunton	NBRC	30.25	V45	26.30	.- 3.55	15
21	2	Dave Garrard	NBRC	31.57	V62	30.16	.- 1.41	12
		Two up TTT
	15	Simon Cannings	TeamMK	21.40	V40
		Jason Gurney	TeamMK	DNF	V40
Time Keeper :- Tony Farmborough NBRC
Pusher Off :- Bryan Scarborough NBRC

I've been playing further with Mythbuntu. Using the Mythbuntu 9.10 installation (which uses MythTV 0.22), I never managed to get the Hauppauge remote working at all. And then it seemed to me that there was a rather a lot of hard disk activity while the computer really ought to have been idle.A quick Google search suggested this might be solved by upgrading to MythTV 0.23.  This was straightforward using links at the Mythbuntu site.  I also took the plunge and upgraded to the beta2 of Ubuntu while I was at it.  This was straightforward, except I rendered the system unbootable by incorrectly answering a setup question relating to Grub2.  Rescue was straightforward, and by running grub-install from a live Ubuntu CD, as described on this useful guide to grub 2.Somewhere along the line I was asked what remote I was using, and the upshot is that I now have a partially functional remote.  It's not there yet, but there are a variety of handy wikis out there with sample configuration files for this model of remote, so I am confident I'll be able to set up full support for it.So, now onward and upward for more complete testing.

The Lea Valley CC '25' was held on the E2/25 course with an HQ in Exney, near Newmarket.  It was also the victim of a car break-in during which all the entry forms were pinched.  It's to the organiser's credit that the event went ahead at all, let alone so smoothly.  I went over to the event with my club mate Tony - both slightly apprehensive, and in particular in my case rather worried about the course, which is based on the A14 and A11 dual carriageways near Cambridge.Anyway, for a change I found myself setting up to race on a warm and sunny afternoon, rather than the wet and cold conditions I've raced in recently.  Both Tony and I decided that for our first '25's of the season, we'd be happy with results in the 57 or 58 minute range.  After we set up the bikes, we went to recce the ride up to the start, and do a brief warm up.  After that it was off to the start.  I was there good and early as I was a bit concerned about the start time (15:12 isn't usually correct for number 62!).  Eventually the start came, and off I went, down the sliproad onto the A14.As I joined the A14, I was surprised to find myself tearing along at over 30mph. On the face of it, the A14 is rather alarming, with three lanes in each carriageway. In practise, the E2/25 (this was my first ride on the course after last year's debacle) turned out to a be a rather nice course - quite flat with few sliproad junctions.  I didn't expect to keep up that pace, but much to my surprise, I found myself rocketing along at an average of 30mph.  I'm a realist, so I didn't actually believe I'd become Chris Boardman - most likely the breeze, which had got up during the afternoon was assisting me.I kept on roaring along, occasionally seeing speeds in excess of 34mph and never dropping below 28mph, to the junction with the A11 (see the map below).  Here riders just stick to the left and the lane scoots off to form the A11.  The only problem were the potholes, but having been pre-warned at the start, these presented no difficulty.  In my mind, the A11 ran at in a slightly different direction than the A14 (but this isn't the case), so I was pleased to see my speed holding up, and I found myself ascending the sliproad to the turn at about 25 minutes.Descending from the turn, it was clear that there had been significant wind assistance - once out on the A11 again, I found it hard to keep up 23mph most of the time.  As usual in these circumstances, I started mental calculations of my likely finish time - I figured I was heading for a 57.  However, by the time I rejoined the A14 I found my speed picking up again.  At the time I though this must reflect a change of direction relative to the wind, but looking at the map, this can't be the case.Very soon, I passed the two service stations that flank the course not far from the start, and saw the sign for the exit slip where the finish is (this is nice, it gives the rider half mile notice of the finish!).  And with some delight I crossed the finish in what appeared to be a long-ish 55.Back to the car to change and recuperate, while waiting for Tony (who's start was 47 minutes behind me) - when he turned up, he thought he'd done a long 53 or a short 54.  In the end, it turned out Tony had recorded a 53:54, and I'd done 55:38 - results we were both very pleased with.Reviewing my old records, this might be my fasted '25' since 2004 when I recorded  54:38 on the F1B/25.  I'll need to check more carefully!  I'll post more results when they become available. The map below includes some of the warm up prior to starting.
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Here's a report criticising recent Government pronouncements on DNA data retention (one of many to surface on the internet today) Public being misled over DNA benefits - Public Service.  In the runup to the UK elections, the main political parties are jostling for the right message - in this case, to be seen to be "tough on crime".Having been smacked down by our European protectors (at least where human rights and privacy are concerned), the Government still plan to keep DNA fingerprint data on unconvicted individuals for a considerable period.  Everyone collared for an offence has there DNA sampled and fingerprinted.  It's what happens to those data if said individual is not charged, or is found not guilty of the offence that's the issue here.  In Scotland, this is limited to 3 years.  In England, the Government proposes to hang on to these data for 12 years in cases where the individual was charged with a serious offence, or 6 years where the charge was of a less serious offence.Pause to think.  In both situations, the individual will have been found not guilty.  So the Government is effectively suggesting there are two degrees of innocence!  Someone found not guilty of rape is somehow less innocent that someone found not guilty of car theft.A further point is that the case being used to argue for long term DNA data retention does not in point of fact support the retention of DNA data from unconvicted individuals.  As the article points out:

Because Bowman's killer was arrested after a pub brawl, Labour has claimed he would have been much tougher to find under Tory proposals as his profile would have been deleted.But GeneWatch said the killer, Mark Dixie, was arrested after the murder. This means his DNA did not need to be retained for an indefinite period as it would have been checked against the database at the time of the arrest.It said there are "numerous other high profile cases cited by ministers" that also did not require the retention of innocents' DNA."Murders solved by keeping innocent people's DNA records are as elusive as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," said Dr Helen Wallace, GeneWatch's executive director. "If the government has a case to make why can't it produce the evidence?"

Genewatch also claim that "crimes brought to court following DNA detections have not increased since 2002/03, despite the DNA database more than doubling in size."  How much truth will be sacrificed in the pre-election posturing?

A consequence of the events that followed a recent club event at Astwood was that I needed to replace both tubulars on my Corima wheelset.  Veloflex Records appear to be hard to find - and when you do, they are rather pricey, so I plumped for a pair of Continental Tempo tubulars.  I've always found that Continental tyres are rather hard to fit, and always need an undue amount of heaving and effort to get them on the rim, so I guess I should have expected to have hassle getting these blighters on.I'd recently bought a few tubes of Continental rim glue, as I'd found that tub tape is just a bit too tight for rapid removal (for example after said club event).  In the past, during my (so far only) ride in a 12 hour time trial, I have successfully and rapidly replaced a Veloflex Record when I punctured during the event.  This was using Continental glue to fix the tub to the rim.  With this in mind, I've been keen to return to gluing tubs again.Then the problems began.  Here's the Continental instruction leaflet, which makes it look oh so easy:[caption id="attachment_702" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Instruction sheet for fitting Continental tubulars"][/caption]What I particularly like is the suggestion that a mere 8h after wrestling these things onto the rim, I'd be winning an event.  Heh, some hope!Anyway, I found the tubulars so tight I even checked I'd ordered the right size.  In desperation, I arranged for my long-suffering Team Grumpy team mate to show me how to fit the blasted thing onto an unglued rim (stage III above).  Even he had some hassle, but at least on went the first tyre.  Last night I deflated the tyre and, following stages VIII to X above.  Glue went on fine, dried for an hour, but then there was an almighty struggle to stretch the damned tubular back onto the trispoke wheel (Team Grumpy team mate was not available).  By the time I'd managed this, the air in the garage had turned decidedly blue and my thumbs hurt spectacularly.  Fortunately a Corima trispoke wheel is fairly robust and stood up well to the "manipulation".Tonight will see the attempt to fit the rear tubular to a disk wheel, a wheel that has already suffered from impressions of fingers and thumbs from prior tubular fitting experiences (most carbon disk wheels appear to be constructed from a carbon fibre skin over a foam interior).  I may not be able to grip the handlebars firmly for a few days, so it's a good thing my next event will see me mostly on the tri-bars.

Some progress.  I now have Mythbuntu 9.10 working on at least one of the TV input channels. It seems to work very well, with easy to navigate programming schedules.  The first real test to to record a couple of films this evening (Control and 24 Hour Party People as it happens - I have a long-standing affection for Joy Division and Factory Records).I've also got it daisy-chained from the Humax box, and the S-video output comes into the TV on a separate channel from the Humax box.The big challenge now is to get the remote control working, so I don't have to run it via a vnc connection from my Linux notebook.  More later

Cyclingnews today reports further on a series of searches that have been taking place during an Italian crackdown on doping in cycling (Bernucci House Search Part Of Larger Investigation | Cyclingnews.com).  What's interesting is this little gem (my emphasis):

This same work led to the arrest of former professional rider Aleksandar Nikacevic, the seizure by police of a line of homeopathic products from a pharmaceutical company in central Italy and the searching of dozens of pharmacies following complaints that doping practices were being undertaken by a Venetian doctor on athletes, some of whom were minors, from various sporting disciplines.

It baffles me why homeopathic potions, which after all contain no active ingredients, could be considered in any way performance-enhancing.

For those of us tired of hearing how Apple have reinvented mobile computing with the iPad, here's evidence there's one less iPad on the planet - "Will it blend? - iPad" courtesey of Blendtec, via YouTube. As ever, not to be tried at home!