Graham Henry Article on current state of Rugby

regional rugby co-ordinators,
no prizes for coming second in New Zealand rugby,
One of our continual work-ons is to make good decisions on the field and enhance our game knowledge,
If you go and watch kids play rugby in New Zealand, they don't kick the ball very often. Watch the Air New Zealand Cup, which is the layer below the professional tier, and again it's a ball-in-hand game.
our biggest challenge is to make the right decisions and understand how you can control a game.
It's about creating space and scoring tries and having the understanding of how to beat the opposition.

full article

LearnVantage offer for Thirdforce

LearnVantage make 27 million euro offer for Thirdforce - further

IRB Strength & Conditioning Course

The IRB have announced that their Strength and Conditioning web site is now fully available once you have completed the Rugby Ready online test.

More details

Shanks in £8m bio-power plant deal

Waste management group Shanks has announced an £8 million deal to build a renewable energy plant which will be capable of powering 3,000 homes using food scraps.

By-products from kitchens, supermarkets and food production will be treated at the facility in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.

Shanks said it had signed a joint venture agreement with Scottish-based Energen Biogas for the development.

Planning permission has already been granted and the plant, known as an anaerobic digester, is set to be operational by next summer.

The facility is expected to process 60,000 tonnes of organic waste every year, producing up to 3 megawatt hours of renewable electricity as well as a high quality fertiliser for use on agricultural land.

Anaerobic digestion is the process where plant and animal material is converted into useful products by micro-organisms inside sealed tanks.

As the micro-organisms digest the waste they release methane that can be used to provide heat and power.

This will be Shank's first facility in the UK, although it already has similar operations in the Netherlands and Canada.

Shanks chief executive Tom Drury said: "This plant will provide producers of organic waste with a cost effective and sustainable alternative to landfill."

The firm said the project was part of a Scottish Government initiative to minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill. It will also help local authorities increase their recycling rates.

Copyright © 2009 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Education at the Crossroads

Good summary from Seth Godin

Scottish Success in Sport

Comment in the Scotsman from media at one, which whilst not palatable to many Scots, probably isn't too far from the truth:

Cricket is not a game taken seriously by the Irish, the Dutch or the Scots, yet at the recent T20 world cup the Dutch and the Irish faired well whereas the hapless Scots were the first team to be shown the exit door.

Darren Fletcher would be the only player chosen in a British football team.

And our rugby is so bad we dont have one player in the Lions team.

Medically, we are always reminded that the Scots take more days of work than anyone else in Britain, we apparently have the worst diets and the worst teeth and the most heart attacks. We have the highest stabbings in Europe and the most drinkers.

However, as I also pointed out, we are genius in Science and technology, our professors and lecturers are the best you will find and our literary genius is world renowned. We have the most beautiful capital city on the planet and probably the most spectacular country you are ever likely to see.
So let's take the positives and turn the negatives into good.

We need to admit we are absolutely rubbish at sport and as a nation we suffer from small dog syndrome and bad attitudes. We hate hearing we are bad at something, criticism is NOT allowed hence the removal of my earlier post.

Snap out of it, life isnt fair and people dont need to be nice in order to save your feelings from being hurt.

We have a problem and it needs fixing at all levels of society.

I said a good start would be compulsory sport for school children and less money spent on prisons and more on schools. A shake up of the SFA and SPL their systems and attitudes altered forever. Let us get rid of the dead wood and hire people who are all about change, results and the willingness to fail in order to find the perfect recipe for success. We need help and we can only do it from within.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/rugby/No-Scots-in-the-Lions.5381656.jp

New Technology - the threat to our information

Norman taking the piss as Norman does:

New Technology

Watch This:

Watch this YouTube video, watch all of it, don't get half way through and stop it:

Publishing Credibility

How do we now determine the credibility of what's published - be it on-line or by more traditional methods?

Not too long ago, traditional educators expressed concerns about trusting anything that's on-line, but if this story's true (perhaps it's not, perhaps it another on-line scam), where does this leave the beliefs of those who still dislike the on-line medium.

Future of News & Business

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/17/future-of-news-and-b.html

"eventually someone will figure out a business model that works for online news. But it may take some time, and lots of outfits will fall by the wayside in the meantime. That's capitalism for you."