Stead-y Jon breaks Paul's Hart

Rangers headed into their second game in three days as the busy festive period continues to entertain all football lovers. Today gave us the opportunity to go to Ipswich and pinch three points in East Anglia.

For the first time this season, and the first time in quite some time, there was no representation from the Lofty Heights crew so a full match analysis and our frank opinions will be slightly less accurate as I lay here listening to the match on the radio trying to write this as it happens. Reasons for us boycotting the fixture were the price of todays ticket, £33 for a championship game is too much especially at this time of year, mind you we do charge £30 don't we? Ah well I'm sure away fans moan at us for being money grabbers as well.

Paul Hart made two changes from the battling victory over Bristol City. Damion Stewart and Adel Taarabt returned to the starting line up in the the place of Fitz Hall and Alejandro Faurlin.



The game started frantically with both teams looking to break quickly but it was Ipswich that dealt the first blow of the afternoon. Shortly after a Rangers attack was broken down it was Ipswich that attacked Ramage down the Rangers right and when the cross came over Jon Walters was on hand to tuck the ball into the back of the net and give Rangers the worst possible start.
After the goal Ipswich dominated proceedings and had the Rangers defence in all sorts of trouble and looking very shaky. Damion Stewart managed to get back and clear an effort off the line and from the resulting corner former R's defender Damien Delaney came very close to putting the home side 2-0 up as his effort flashed over the bar.
Finally with 25 minutes on the clock Rangers started to get themselves in the game and were guilty of two fantastic chances, both of which fell to Taarabt, the second chance being a header from a full four yards out!
For the remainder of the half Rangers slowly came more into the game and started to stifle out the Ipswich attacking threat whilst creating chances albeit none of them clear cut. Taarabt was a constant thorn in the Ipswich and Rangers sides as his trickery was being superb but was always ending the end product. Gorkss in the R's defence was by and far the best performer and was highly praised for his efforts as the half came to a close.

Half time for me was slightly warmer than usual and was treated to an ice cold pint of water and a delightful ham sandwitch to keep me going. A few text updates were sent to members of the Lofty Heights crew that had been dragged out to do other menial tasks.

Rangers started off the second half the better of the two sides and retained most of the possession without creating any telling chances. From hearing many of the commentators comments it sounded as if Adel Taarabt was having another one of those frustrating games and was hogging the ball more often than not instead of playing in players in space, it happened quite a few times and they just laughed every time he lost possession.
As always the pressure didnt tell and the R's were punished for it. Jon Stead picked the ball up and curled a tidy effort around Cerny into the back of the net to put Ipswich well and truly in the driving seat.
I could faintly hear the chants of "U should've kept Magilton" as Akos Buzsaky was taken off shortly after that second Ipswich goal.
Things really didnt get any better and I must admit I started to switch off and missed the build up to the third goal, I can tell you that Jon Stead scored it though, he just loves playing against us doesn't he!! Ipswich fans continued their goading by singing "You're getting sacked in the morning....." With our lot who knows!!



Well it really did sound as if Rangers were not at the races today. The attacking options were limited and once again Mr Taarabt seemingly had a very selfish game. Our defence last year was one of the best in the league last year and yet they are atruglling to keep things tight, only three clean sheets this season tells its story! What does Paul Hart do to sort out an out of sorts Rangers?? Only time will tell.

Ipswich Town: Lee-Barrett, Delaney, McAuley, Leadbitter, Norris (Colback 54), Peters, Stead, Walters, John (Wickham 75), Rosenior, Edwards (Garvan 54).

Subs not used: Bruce, Counago, McLoughlin, Brown.

Goals: Walters (4), Stead (63 & 78)

QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Stewart, Leigertwood, Routledge, Buzsaky (Agyemang 66), Gorkss, Watson, Williams, Simpson, Taarabt (Balanta 78).

Subs not used: Hall, Connolly, Faurlin, Taylor, Borrowdale.

Referee: Mr S Tanner

Attendance: 25, 340

Rangers win despite negative ending

Today the traditional Boxing Day fixture returned to Loftus Road for the first time in quite a few years as QPR hosted Bristol City.

The Lofty Heights crew was at near full strength today as Lofty, PK, Corp, Jenson, Justin and myself gathered outside the Springbok in the blistering sunshine(we wish!) in W12. After a swift halves we made our way into the ground to grab a traditional yorkshire wrap and a pie before taking our seats.

Paul Hart made three changes from last weekend’s draw against Sheffield United, one of which was forced. Damion Stewart was forced to sit out after receiving his 5th booking of the season against United, his replacement was Fitz Hall. Adel Taarabt and Patrick Agyemang dropped to the bench as Alejandro Faurlin and Akos Buzsaky returned to the starting line up.



The opening exchanges were pretty tight and the visitors created the better chances with Gavin Williams, Danny Haynes and Skuse having efforts at goal saved by Cerny and blocked.
Having been the lesser creative of the two teams in the opening exchanges Rangers soon made the all important breakthrough. Ben Watson’s corner was cleared to the edge of the box and was picked up by Fitz Hall, his lofted ball to the back post somehow found Jay Simpson and he controlled the ball before firing across the keeper into the right hand corner.
Rangers grew in confidence from the goal and began to attack Bristol City with a little more conviction.
Tommy Williams’ run and fantastic cross from the left hand side was missing one piece of the jigsaw, a finishing touch, otherwise Rangers would’ve been 2-0 up and coasting into half time. However the R’s weren’t to be denied of the cushion.
Leigertwood picked the ball up from a throw in and beat his man before letting rip with a left foot drive that just flew into the back of the net and gave Rangers a two goal lead. To be quite honest the two goal lead kind of flattered us as in my opinion we were not that much better than them, we were just defensively better and had Hall and Gorkss playing excellently at the back.



Half time came upon us and despite us being two goals to the good the mood wasn’t as upbeat as it usually would be, maybe it was because there was a hangover or two amongst a few of us but the football on display was hardly inspiring if I’m perfectly honest. Half time seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were back in our seats hoping the second half would go by as quickly as the interval.

Rangers were on the front foot at the start of the second half and when Routledge slid Simpson through on goal with his marker putting pressure on him, he elected to shoot early and placed his effort wide when maybe one more touch to compose himself and would’ve helped more and at least worked the Bristol City keeper.
Minutes later Bristol City were back in the game and what a goal it was.
Maynard had his back to goal on the 18 yard box as he was fed the ball by one of his team mates, he held off two defenders as he flicked the ball up and turned to lash in an unstoppable shot for what will be a contender for goal of the season. Numerous Rangers fans around the ground graciously applauded the genius of the goal and it was good to see football fans appreciate something like that.
Rangers responded to the goal positively as Jay Simpson attacked the left hand side a swung over a delightful cross for the shortest man on the pitch, Wayne Routledge, and he flung himself at the ball and was unable to get a decent head on the ball and the opportunity went begging.
Further attacks on the Bristol City came in the form of substitute Patrick Agyemang when he replaced Faurlin on 63 minutes as Rangers pressed for the all important third goal.
As Rangers were pressing more and more Bristol city started to slowly take advantage of the cracks appearing in the Rangers midfield.
A last minute intervention by Fitz Hall stopped Maynard grabbing the equalizer for the Robins as they became more and more dangerous. Hall was then at fault for some casual defending letting in Clarkson would smashed his effort into the side netting when he really should’ve scored.
Then came a moment that many that bought great displeasure to the Rangers faithful. Buzsaky and Simpson came off and were replaced by Connolly and Borrowdale. Connolly took his place just in front of the back four and Borrowdale looked to be on the left wing but we effectively had 6 defenders and two defensive midfielders on the pitch for the final ten minutes of the game. Ranger’s players also seemed to be under instruction to run the ball into the corners and waste time........ with 10 minutes to go and when we were in a position where we looked more than capable of scoring a third and this tactic was employed. I’ve never known a home team to do this and I think the reaction of a fair few Rangers fans summed it up really as chants of “we’re supposed to be at home” and there was even a chorus of boos that rung out pretty loudly as the time ticked down. Rangers were inviting the pressure onto them and looking to counter attack but only into the corner and with no attacking intention, you could only fear what would’ve happened had Bristol City snatched an equalizer, as it was the 3 points stayed in W12.

Well at the end of the day we won the three points but unfortunately many of the fans will go away remembering the final 10 minutes of the game when really we should be happy that we beat a team that is going to rival us in the hunt for a play-off place. I hope what we witnessed today is not the start of a negative tactics game that we are going to employ in the final 5-10 minutes of game, especially when we are at home. My belief is that the R’s fans pay bloody good money to come through the turnstiles and to be subjected to that when really we were strong enough to hold on without doing that. We won nonetheless so my rant is over.

Today’s Man of the Match was a unanimous vote between us all and has been awarded to Kaspers Gorkss for his sterling performance at the back and has really excelled in the past three games for the R’s. Tommy Williams and Mikele Leigertwood also turned in good performances but were overshadowed by the big Latvian.

QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Hall, Leigertwood, Routledge, Buzsaky (Connolly 83), Gorkss, Watson, Faurlin (Agyemang 63), Williams, Simpson (Borrowdale 83).

Subs not used: Taylor, Pellicori, Balanta, Taarabt.

Goals: Simpson (32), Leigertwood (40)

Bristol City: Gerken, Orr, McAllister, Fontaine, Carey, Maynard, Hartley, Skuse, Williams (Sno 70), Haynes (Sproule 83), Saborio (Clarkson 71).

Subs not used: Henderson, Elliott, Edwards, Nyatanga.

Goals: Maynard (57)

Bookings: Haynes, Maynard, Sno

Attendance: 13, 534

Dhea And Endometriosis

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ART



NOTE: To view details of each event, click on it, and to see a larger shaft, visit this link:

http://www.xtimeline.com/ timeline / THE-CENTURY-XIX

Lady Gaga Bad Romance VIDEO: Vodka-Drinking Sims In Lace, Heels Recreate Music Video

Lady Gaga told MTV her Bad Romance music video was the product of her "weirdest and most psychotic ideas."
The already wild video--which includes charred skeletons, the Russian mafia, and wicked supermodels--just got even stranger: it's been taken over by Sims.
YouTube user SleepyBum682 has created a frame-by-frame copy of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance music video, made entirely out of Sims.
Accoring to SleepyBum682's post, multiple Sims users helped out with the video, assisting to create different parts of Gaga's outfit, sets, hairstyles, and more. (For example, SleepyBum682 credits Serkiro for "the "Alexander McQueen" hair. I just remeshed it and recolored it.")
See the Sims version of Bad Romance, and Lady Gaga's original video, below.
WATCH:



WATCH:

Sperm donor dad has 400 children

One of the Midwest's most prolific sperm donors may hold the key to understanding how genes affect our health.

Courtesy Rachel Lehmann-Haupt

Kirk Maxey with two of his known donor offspring: Caitlyn and Ashley Swetland.

By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Dec 16, 2009

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It's a crisp fall day in Northville, Mich., a small suburb of Ann Arbor, and Kirk Maxey, a soft-spoken, graying baby boomer with a classic square jaw, is watching his 12-year-old son chase a soccer ball toward the goal. Maxey is doing what he does every Saturday, along with hundreds of other family men and women across the country, but he's not your average soccer dad. Maxey, 51, happens to be one of the most prolific sperm donors in the country. Between 1980 and 1994, he donated at a Michigan clinic twice a week. He's looked at the records of his donations, multiplied by the number of individual vials each donation produced, and estimated the success of each vial resulting in a pregnancy. By his own calculations, he concluded that he is the biological father of nearly 400 children, spread across the state and possibly the country.

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British Scientists Claim to Create Human Sperm

7/8/09: British scientists claimed Wednesday to have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells for the first time, an accomplishment they say may someday help infertile men father children.

When Maxey was a medical student at the University of Michigan, his first wife, a nurse at a fertility clinic, persuaded him to start donating sperm to infertile couples. Maxey became the go-to stud for the clinic because his sperm had a high success rate of making women pregnant, which brought in good money for the clinic. Maxey himself made about $20 a donation, but says he was motivated to donate more out of a strong paternal instinct and sense of altruism. "I loved having kids, and to have these women doomed to wandering around with no family didn't seem right, and it's easy to come up with a semen donation," he says. "You would get a personal phone call from a nurse saying, 'The situation is urgent! We have a woman ovulating this morning. Can you be here in a half hour?' "
Maxey, now the CEO of Cayman Chemical, a 300-person global pharmaceutical company, says back then he just "didn't think about it a lot." He didn't have to. When he began volunteering, he wasn't asked to take any genetic tests and received no psychological screening or counseling. He merely signed a waiver of anonymity, locked himself in a room with a cup and a sexy magazine, and didn't consider the emotional or genetic consequences for another 30 years. Both his cavalier attitude and the clinic's lax standards, Maxey says, explain why he may have so many offspring. But now a fierce conscience is catching with his robust procreative drive. When he's not running his company, Maxey has become a devoted advocate for better government regulation of the sperm-donor business. He is also making his genome public through Harvard's Personal Genome Project, and hopes that the information collected there might one day help his offspring and their mothers. "I think it was quite reckless that sperm banks created so many offspring without keeping track of their or my health status," he says. "Since there could be [many families] that could have to know information about my health, this is my effort to correct the wrong."
Maxey began donating before sperm banking became the big visible business it is today, where single women and couples can purchase STD-free, Ivy League, celebrity-look-alike sperm that has been quarantined and meets FDA mandates. But, in the '70s and '80s, the business operated behind a veil of secrecy. A man could clandestinely make some extra cash by donating to an infertile couple, and more often than not the ob-gyn, not the prospective families, would choose the sperm—his favorite tennis partner, perhaps, or in the case of Kirk Maxey, the handsome, blue-eyed, Nordic husband of his nurse.

Now the confluence of genetic science and an increased awareness around the consequences of sperm donation is changing the game—and potentially the lives of Maxey's offspring. Today sperm donation is no longer a shadow business, partially because infertility, single motherhood, and homosexual parenting have become more socially acceptable. (The California Cryobank alone now sells an average of 30,000 vials of sperm a year.) At the same time, donors and offspring have begun to connect though genetic testing and Web sites like the Donor Sibling Registry. In 2007 two of Maxey's offspring, Ashley and Caitlyn Swetland, who are now 21 and 18, used the site to find Maxey, who had been a registered user since 2005. The sisters lived just 45 minutes away from Maxey, and soon began visiting a few times a year, going rock climbing with Maxey and his son or meeting up at an old-fashioned-style ice-cream parlor. No other children have come forward, but as Maxey's relationship with Ashley and Caitlyn progressed, he began to think about the consequences of his earlier donations.
"I had this 'Oh my God' moment, thinking, how many kids have been produced?" he says. "I thought the doctors were keeping track of each birth, but when I realized they weren't, I began to worry. What if they start dating one another?" He also began to worry about their genetic health. "I wanted to know if I have anything totally lethal or deranged or recessive in my genes that I may have passed along."

These were questions that neither the sperm bank nor the government was asking. Several times Maxey tried to contact IVF Michigan, the bank where he made most of his donations, but it refused to release any information, noting that he signed a waiver to give up his rights to know who used his sperm. That's still common practice among sperm banks unless a donor has agreed to be an "identity release" donor, which gives his offspring the right to get in touch when they turn 18. Even today, sperm banking is not strictly regulated. Currently, there are only recommended guidelines put in place by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine that say a donor should be required to provide a complete medical history to rule out "genetic abnormalities" or a family history of inherited disease and should receive proper counseling. The FDA has guidelines saying that a clinic cannot use a donor with a "relevant communicable disease agent or disease," but does not require genetic testing. Most banks do not do genetic testing either. Despite these loose attempts at guidelines, sperm banking continues to raise a host of ethical, medical, and financial questions. There's no social template for donors who are found by their offspring, or even rules about how many children should come from a single donor.

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Multiple Madness

From the celebrated triplets of yesteryear to the miraculous octuplets of today

 

Clinics are now struggling to answer some of these questions. In October, The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a 23-year-old donor used by a San Francisco sperm bank passed on a potentially deadly genetic heart condition to nine of his 24 offspring, including one who died of heart failure at the age of 2. The sperm bank now gives electrocardiograms to screen for genetic heart diseases among potential donors.
Dr. Cappy Rothman, the medical director of the California Cryobank, says that his bank does extensive genetic screening. "We have a medical advisory board that constantly reviews our testing and adds any additional tests we feel will help protect our clients and their future children," he says.
Like most banks, however, it does not have a strict limit on the number of families per donor, though it says it tries to limit it to between 15 and 25. "Each sperm bank determines its own limits," Rothman says. "CCB controls this number by limiting the number of vials we collect on each donor and actively soliciting clients for pregnancy reports." The bank also does not offer psychological counseling to its donors, but he says it tells every donor that it's important that they understand what they are doing—and the potential that they will be contacted by their offspring in the future.

Last year Maxey read an article about Harvard's Personal Genome Project, lead by George Church. Church began the project with the goal of building a public database of 100,000 people's genomes in order to create a kind of Wikipedia of physical, behavioral, and medical genetic traits. The idea is that one day, if genome mapping becomes a standard practice, people will have access to better information about the relationship between genes and traits or genetic mutations and disease, and doctors may even be able to use the information to practice more accurate personalized medicine. Maxey contacted Church, relaying his concerns about the health of his potential offspring. As a result, Church chose Maxey as one of the first 10 volunteers to have his genome mapped and the results placed on the Internet.
"Due to fertility-clinic policies, many donor offspring don't have complete access to medical history, and having their genome sequence might catch some predictable and actionable gene," says Church. "Making Maxey's genome available could help people who actually want to find their father, or mothers who feel the current regulation of sperm banks is inadequate. Rather than merely beguiling with descriptions of tall, blue-eyed professionals as sperm donors, the clinics should also be checking for potential genetic tragedies."

With just a blood and skin sample, scientists at the PGP project were able to isolate strands of Maxey's DNA. These strands of DNA make proteins that drive the chemical reactions that make our bodies and brains run, and regulate the expression of our genes. Within these strands, there are unique sequences of A, C, T, and G molecules—the language of DNA—called nucleotides. Variations in these sequences called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs (pronounced "snips"), make individuals differ, and they serve as signposts for variants of a nearby gene on the DNA highway. Maxey worried that one of his SNPs would turn out to be a recessive mutation expressed as a disease such as Tay-Sachs or cystic fibrosis that would be passed along to his children.

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Fortunately, Maxey's genome has turned up nothing shocking so far: he has a 1.9 percent increased risk for coronary heart disease compared with the general population. He has a reduced risk for Alzheimer's and a reduced risk of baldness, which surprised him considering he has lost most of his hair. "The question is not whether everything is predictable from genes alone—or even genes plus environment, but whether we can improve quality of life with deeper knowledge of genes and environment," says Church. "The PGP hopefully will turn up lots of examples of people sharing [DNA sequences] but having divergent medical outcomes because of differing lifestyles, medications, and diets."
But where Maxey's public genome can get really interesting is the way that his children may be able to figure out if indeed he is their biological father without ever seeing him face to face. This is possible through something in the genetic code called short tandem repeats. These are sequences of A, C, T, and G molecules that repeat themselves over and over along an individual strand of DNA and are specific to that individual's DNA.
Potential offspring could have some of their genetic markers run for a couple of hundred dollars by a company such as Family Tree DNA or Ancestry.com, and then take those markers and look at Maxey's genome markers, which are now not only posted on the Personal Genome Project, but also on the Donor Sibling Registry. "If they see the same short tandem repeat number, then it's very probable that I'm their dad because they would inherit the same pattern from me," Maxey explains.
The possibilities for genetic recognition have also pushed Maxey to start working with the Donor Sibling Registry to create a nonprofit database called the Cayman Biomedical Research Institute, in which he is collecting genetic information from donors and offspring who are interested in finding one another. This database goes beyond the work of the Donor Sibling Registry, through which donors and offspring are mostly matched through donor numbers and often poorly organized or incorrect medical profiles. People who pay $80 and send in saliva samples to CABRI can have certain genetic markers run in order that their short tandem repeats are matched, which will be the most accurate information about a biological connection. Since he began the project, Maxey has made hundreds of sibling matches and a half dozen parent-and-offspring matches. The nonprofit also advocates for more government regulation of sperm banks in terms of the kind of information that donors and families receive about births, background checks, and the degree of genetic testing.

In the future, Maxey believes that every sperm donor and donor recipient should be genetically tested for the potential risk of the top 100 recessive genetic conditions in order to prevent them. "Statutory rules for genetics tests on donors should be part of FDA guidelines, which should also require that sperm banks follow up on the children to make sure they are healthy," he says. "All I'm really advocating for is the absolute informed consent for the mothers."
Rachel Lehmann-Haupt is the author of In Her Own Sweet TIme: Unexpected Adventures in Finding, Love, Commitment and Motherhood (Basic Books, 2009)

The Known Universe

The Known Universe zooms out from Tibet to the limits of the observable universe. Dim the lights, full-screen it in HD, and you're in for a treat.

Like Powers of Ten, except astronomically accurate. It's not a dramatization, it's a map; the positioning data was pulled from Hayden Planetarium's Digital Universe Atlas, which is available for free download.

Since 1998, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium have engaged in the three-dimensional mapping of the Universe. This cosmic cartography brings a new perspective to our place in the Universe and will redefine your sense of home. The Digital Universe Atlas is distributed to you via packages that contain our data products, like the Milky Way Atlas and the Extragalactic Atlas, and requires free software allowing you to explore the atlas by flying through it on your computer.

The Yes Men Explain How To Pull Off An International Prank

Last week while I was in Copenhagen, I got a press release in an email stating that Canada was totally reversing its climate change position, announcing aggressive limits on carbon emissions, and would start paying "climate debt" to developing countries.
"This is interesting, I thought. I'm going to have to see how this will play out." I didn't realize at the time that I'd been punked by The Yes Men. The Yes Men are a group of international pranksters who challenge free market doctrine, capitalism and unresponsive governments and call attention to environmental crises and injustice through elaborate public hoaxes.
Past hoaxes have included announcing Dow Chemical would pay $12 billion in reparations to the victims of the Bhopal gas leak on BBC World News, pretending to be the US Chamber Of Commerce and announcing it was totally reversing its position on climate legislation (they are now being sued for this) and creating fake editions of the New York Times and New York Post. You can learn all about their antics in their recently-released film, "The Yes Men Fix The World".
The prank continued in elaborate detail, chronicled and updated by our Eat The Press Editor, Jason Linkins. After the fake announcement, there was a fake press conference between Canada and Uganda (Watch it here) on a fake UN set streamed on a fake UN website. A fake Wall Street Journal article covered Canada's change of heart, which was followed by a fake statement from the Canadian government condemning the prank. Elaborate!
I went behind the scenes in Copenhagen to meet The Yes Men and their team of pranksters to find out what it takes to pull off such an elaborate hoax. I particularly loved the tour of the set they created for the UN press conference, which was designed by art students and used tons of found objects.
WATCH:



A special thanks to Jennifer Prediger from Grist.org for shooting and editing this video.

Blunt Rangers lack cutting edge.

Today we witnessed the opening game of the reign of Rangers new dynamic duo of Paul Hart and Mick Harford, the opponents Sheffield United.

Jenson returned from his holiday in Cypress and joined Lofty, California Hoop, Sam and myself in the stands on what was a cold afternoon in W12.

Paul Hart made no changes from the team that courageously battled to the draw at West Brom on Monday night. Angelo Balanta returned to the bench after being ruled out by injury since the start of the season.

Rangers got off to the perfect start with a goal in the opening 90 seconds.
Watson's inswinging corner was only cleared as far as skipper Mikele Leigertwood and his shot was deflected as it flew goalwards and buried itself in the bottom right corner of the Blades goal.
The lead didnt last long as five minutes later the scores were level. Ben Watson was guilty of giving the ball away cheaply in the right corner of the R's defence and quicker than you could moan about it the ball ended up in the back of the net. Kallio centred his cross into the path of Richard Cresswell and he managed to scramble the ball into the back of Cerny's goal.
Sheffield United put in a typical battling performance and really managed to slow the tempo of the game down and really stifle the Rangers attack. The remaining 80 minutes of the game were played between to battling sides that were playing a game of chess and were unable to break each other down.
Two very strong penalty shouts were somehow waved away during the second half, firstly it was Jay Simpson who was about to pull the trigger and he was swept off his feet and bundled to the floor, it looked stonewall but apparently not. The secind shout was when Kaspers Gorkss was bundled to the floor and it was quite clear for both the ref and linesman to see but yet again the shout for a penalty by the R's were waved away once again.
In the final moments of the game and with Rangers looking to press for the all important winner there was one more chance it the game and it fell to the R's. A delightful cross from the right found Ben Watson's head and it looked as if it was destined to fly into the top corner but agonisingly we all witnessed the ball smack the bar and into safety.



As ever Kevin Blackwell's Blades came in with a game plan to close down the R's and not allow the Rangers dangermen any space to create anything and really suffocated the midfield. A draw is a fair result but it would've just been nice to see Rangers change their game plan and try something different when their backs were against the wall.

Todays Man of the Match is awarded to Tommy Williams for some very good defending and also the attacking presence he bought to the R's left hand side and floated in a number of great crosses that caused problems in the Blades defence.

I'd like to apologise now for the lateness of this report today. I have been suffering with a bout of food poisoning thoughtout the day and has hindered my progress in writing all day.


Finally Myself and Lofty would like to thank you for your support that you give us in our efforts on here and we'd like to wish u a very merry christmas and a superb new year!

U R'SSSS!!!

Bottomless Party Harold And Kumar 2

URBAN (task 01/B8)

Now we're on vacation and to relax a little with so much revolution as a social movement, I spent a presentation on urban street art. Hope you like it and Merry Christmas.
Urban Art

View more presentations from online deltiempo .

Rounded Shaped Sectional Sofa

A parenthesis: fotillos class (task 01/B5)

Will Normal Bloodwork Show Signs Of Hiv

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN SPAIN (task 02/B6)

And now, for review, see a video and then answer some questions very easy:

New product to manage business interactions

Better Lives Through Dairying in Northeast India

Susan Boyle and Jedward make Gawker's top 100 viral clips of the year

Performances by British reality television stars Susan Boyle and John and Edward Grimes feature in a run down of the top 100 internet videos of 2009 compiled by the US gossip website Gawker.

 

By Matthew Moore
Published: 5:58PM GMT 17 Dec 2009

Susan Boyle

The Britain's Got Talent and X Factor stars appear alongside surprised cats, dancing dogs and the lucky survivors of near-miss road incidents in the three minute clip.
Their inclusion by Gawker, which is based in New York and generally limits its coverage to US popular culture, reflects the transatlantic appeal of British reality shows, particularly those starring Simon Cowell.

Boyle's mesmerising audition for Britain's Got Talent was watched by more than 120 million people around the world after being posted on YouTube, and it seems that the Grimes twins, collectively known as Jedward, are well on the way to building a cult following in the US.
Other videos sampled in the compilation include a world record attempt at "human mattress dominoes", an infamous clip of a teenage boy throwing a tantrum after being banned from playing the World of Warcraft computer game, and footage of woman footballer Elizabeth Lambert assaulting an opponent during a university match.
Fittingly, the compendium of amateur talents and attention seekers is brought to a close by Keyboard Cat, the musical moggy who has played off hundreds of failures in YouTube clips this year.
Earlier this week YouTube released its list of the most viewed videos of 2009, with Boyle's rendition of I Dreamed A Dream taking the top spot.

Welcome Paul Hart and Mick Harford.

Hot on the heels of the departure of management duo Jim Magilton and John Gorman comes the announcement of their replacements, Paul Hart and Mick Harford. The new duo have been signed up until the sign of the season.



Paul Hart recently departed Portsmouth after a poor start to the season. However last season after Tony Adams left Fratton Park with the club in a precarious position it was Hart that helped the club to pull clear of relegation trouble and preserve the clubs Premier League status.
Hart has also had managerial spells with Chesterfield, Nottingham forest, Barnsley and Rushden and Diamonds which were not highly successful. However Hart was in charge of youth development at Leeds from the early 90's which produced the youth players which were highly influencial in Leeds rise to challenging for the Premiership and Champions League honours in 2000-2001.



Mick Harford returns to Rangers having been assistant manager under John Gregory's reign and when Gregory departed he was in caretaker charge and left the club shortly after Luigi De Canio's appointment as manager.
Harford became Luton's manager in January 2008 for the rest of the season before committing to The Hatters for the following season despite the club having a 30 point deduction put upon them. Harford's men went on to win the Football League Trophy against Scunthorpe but were not able to overturn the 30 point deduction and were subsequently relegated to the Blue Square Premier. After a poor start to the season Harford was relieved of his duties in October in this year.


I hope you will join us here at Lofty Heights in welcoming the duo and wish them luck......

Another one bites the dust.

Tonight we heard the inevitable news that the club have parted company with Jim Magilton and John Gorman by mutual consent.



Last Monday after the poor performance at Watford there were claims of an apparent headbutt to Akos Buzsaky in a heated dressing room exchange, which has been subsequently denied by both Magilton and Gorman. Wedsnesday last week Magilton was suspended pending an internal investigation on the events. Both John Gorman and Keith Ryan backed the manager and refused to work until Magilton was brought back to the helm. A players meeting with Gorman and Director of football Gianni Paladini was apparently staged, in which the plyers gave a vote of no confidence to Magilton's reign continuing. Steve Gallen and Marc Bircham were put in temporary charge for Monday nights game at West Brom, in which the R's were extremely unlucky to concede a 93rd minute equalizer.

One can only assume that Magilton's position was deemed untenable and the two parties agreed to part ways.

Early indications are that Gareth Southgate is to be the next man under the microscope at Loftus Road, although there are also strong rumours of the two man team of Paul Hart and Mick Harford, a former R's caretaker manager, are also in line.

Analysis: 48 hours to go and no progress at Copenhagen summit

Ben Webster, Environment Editor in Copenhagen

With a little over 48-hours left of the two-week Copenhagen climate change conference, there has been no significant progress on any of the major issues.
There are no numbers from individual countries on how much each would be willing to contribute to a global climate protection fund. Nor has any country improved on its opening offer for cutting emissions.
Most developing countries, led by China, are still refusing to commit to legally binding actions to reduce the rate of growth of their emissions. They are clinging to the ten-year-old Kyoto Protocol, which allows them to carry on increasing their emissions indefinitely.
There is no certainty that any of the pledges made to date will be fulfilled because the 193 countries cannot agree on a consistent, independent monitoring system.

Even assuming all the commitments to emissions reductions were implemented, global emissions of CO2 equivalent would still be five billion tonnes, or 11 per cent, higher than they need to be in 2020 to have a 50/50 chance of the average temperature increase remaining below 2C.
It is still possible that the arrival of 115 heads of state today and tomorrow will force a breakthrough. Many, like Gordon Brown, are counting on returning to their countries on Friday night or Saturday morning with a piece of paper to wave at voters to convince them they have secured a planet-saving deal.
Everyone is waiting to see if President Obama will improve the offer from the US when he joins the conference on Friday. There is a widespread reluctance among other countries to make significant concessions until the country which has caused most of the problem takes more of its fair share of the burden of solving it.
Yet the British Government is publicly defending Mr Obama’s weak offer because it has decided it is the best the world is likely to get, given the degree of opposition in the US Congress to making any sacrifices or spending any significant sums to tackle emissions.
The only concrete agreement to emerge on Friday may be a deal on halting the destruction of the world’s rainforests by 2030. Everyone here seems to agree that the rainforests are worth saving and that people in rich countries must pay to protect them by making the trees more valuable alive than dead for their owners. The negotiators seem to find it easier agreeing on something tangible like trees rather than something invisible like CO2.
The communiqué signed by the leaders on Friday will confirm the intention of capping the temperature increase at 2C but the details of how to achieve that will be left to future negotiations.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Secretary, says he wants the intentions expressed on Friday to be turned into a legally binding treaty within six months.
That timescale is likely to prove wildly optimistic.

The Mormon Song: "The Tonight Show" Sings To Orrin Hatch

With Utah Senator Orrin Hatch's rollicking "8 Days Of Hanukkah" tearing up the charts, Max Weinberg decided to return the favor and write a holiday song specific to Mormons. The only problem? Max (along with Andy and Conan) know nothing about Mormonism.
Set to the tune of "The Dreidel Song," the lyrics consist only of what the guys could muster up online: references to "Donny and Marie," "Big Love", Ms. Pac-Man (apparently Mormon related). Their cluelessness is forgiven when they welcome the Mormon Tapper-nacle Choir to bring the house down. We don't know if they're their real, but they tapped up a storm. Orrin would be proud.


WATCH:

Rachel Bilson's Deleted Sex Scene

Rachel Bilson's a classy actress, so it's no surprise that she might shy away from a nude scene. Not a problem. Her director, McG, puts her at ease and finds a body double, promising to cut it together tastefully. Whether the final product is tasteful is up for debate. Whether it's disturbing is not...because it is. No doubt about that. But it's also hilarious.
WATCH:

Rachel Bilson's Deleted Sex Scene from Rachel Bilson

Lord Monckton, Climate Change Denier, Punked By International Youth Climate Movement

Lord Monckton may have had it coming. The International Youth Climate Movement decided to confront the well-known climate change denier on camera in Copenhagen over the fact that he referred to youth advocating to stop climate change as "Hitler's Youth" last week.
As part of their prank, the group attached a 350 sticker and an "I (Heart) Climate Change" sticker on his back as he was spouting his fallacious claims. And from the looks of it, no one seemed to care about him getting punked. The youth, alongside other reporters, tried to challenge Lord Monckton's claims, but to little avail. This wasn't surprising, considering that he likes to ignore youth activists and doesn't seem to care that most people, especially those at COP15, know that climate change is real.
WATCH:

Toyota Yaris Ad Pulled After Sexism Complaints

Toyota has been forced to pull a new advertisement in Australia following numerous accusations that the video was not only sexist but also making light of incest.
The online ad, entitled "Clean Getaways," is for the Toyota Yaris, a small car mainly sold to young women, according to the TheAge.com. The video, which is full of sexual innuendos and suggestive double entendres, begins with a young man arriving to pick up his date and telling the girl's father at the door, "I'm here to take Jennifer's virginity out tonight." From there the young man reels off such lines as "I hope I haven't come too prematurely," "it has traction control for when it gets a bit slippery and wet," and "I'll have her on her back by 11, I promise."
The ad was created as part of the "Clever Film Comp," a short-film competition organized in part by Toyota. Not long after the ad became the winner of the online contest, the competition's Facebook page was flooded with outraged comments from users, the London Times reports.
One entry on the competition's Facebook page said, according to the Telegraph:
"I have written and lodged a formal complaint with Toyota's Australian head office regarding this specific competition entry/winner. I would encourage those who feel the same to also write formal complaints to Toyota. This is 2009! Women should not have to be dealing with this vulgar objectification."
The charge that the ad made light of incest seems to stem from a line in which the father tells the young man, in reference to his daughter, "She can take a good pounding in any direction."
As one user wrote about this particular part of the ad: "The ad features a father and his daughter's boyfriend agreeing together, in a matey way, that the daughter is going to get a 'good pounding'. It has incestuous overtones."
The ad has been pulled from the "Clever Film Comp" website, and a spokesman for Toyota has apologized for any offense caused.
WATCH the ad:

Battling Rangers denied at the death.

Last night we travelled up to West Brom for our second Monday night in front of the Sky cameras in a row after our awful defeat at the hands of Watford last week and the well publicised events that followed the game. On this occasion we hoped for a better performance as we headed up to the Midlands.

On today’s journey Sam, Justin, Me and my mate Pete took to the road just before 4pm as we took what was a surprisingly easy journey that we expected to hit plenty of traffic but in fact hit none at all and arrived at our destination at 6pm. The mood in the car was pretty positive as both Sam and Justin predicted a 1-0 Rangers win, Pete saying that he felt pretty positive that we’d get a good result whilst I was on my own in thinking that another defeat was on the cards. We met our welsh friends Richard and Sophie in the ground to discuss our chances whilst enjoying a nice cold beer to really warm us up.

In Steve Gallen and Marc Bircham’s first game as a caretaker manager team four changes were made. Kaspers Gorkss, Tommy Williams, Adel Taarabt and Jay Simpson came into the starting line up as Fitz Hall, Gary Borrowdale, Akos Buzsaky (injured) and Rowan Vine dropped out.



The opening exchanges saw the home side have the better of the game and if it wasn’t for some poor finishing then we could’ve easily seen the first goal of the game, luckily we didn’t.
We also witnessed a goal kick from Cerny that looked more like a golf shot as a huge divot was taken out of the ground and resulted in the R’s keeper having to get his ankle tightly taped up as support. Cerny looked to struggle with this injury throughout the game.
After an edgy looking opening 20minutes the R’s started to come into the game a bit more. Adel Taarabt, who was proving to be as unpredictable and as frustrating as ever, had the first real effort on goal for the visitors as he shot from 25 yards and saw his effort tipped away by Dean Kiely. From the resulting corner the R’s should’ve been awarded a penalty, which no-one seemed to spot, as Patrick Agyemang’s shirt was near enough torn off him as the corner came over. It seemed in the replay as if the ref had a decent enough view and really should’ve awarded it.
Soon after West Brom were handed a great opportunity after a mistake by Damion Stewart. Luke Moore battled his way through and shot, Cerny saved and as the ball spun behind him he swung an arm at the ball and battered it out for a corner.
With the game nearing the end of the half it was evident that the entire Rangers team was prepared to fight and battle for everything. Kaspers Gorkss, Damion Stewart and Mikele Leigertwood were the stand out stars, in my opinion, throughout the first half and really helped build a platform where the confidence grew throughout the game.



Half time came and I received texts from Lofty and PK saying that we were looking good on TV and that we really could go on, cause more problems and maybe even go on and win the game. I thought we looked as if we just about looked second best from the stands and were defending heroically, but as they say pictures paint a thousand words.

The second half started off extremely lively and it was the home side that had the first chance, Brunt effort was beaten away by Cerny before Stewart came in to clear the danger.
10 minutes into the second half we saw our first piece of action in front of the away following.
Rangers won a corner on the right hand side. Ben Watson delivered the corner which was inch perfect for Gorkss to get his head onto..... only for Olsson to nip in ahead of the big Latvian and inadvertently head into his own net and send the 300-400 travelling Rangers fans crazy.
Only seconds later, buoyed by the opening goal, Rangers came so close to making it 2-0! Taarabt picked the ball up about 40 yards from goal and drove towards goal before unleashing a fantastic strike heading for the top corner but Kiely got a fingertip to it and it proved to be just enough to direct the ball onto the crossbar and bounce out to safety. So very close!!
However only 5 minutes later it was 2-0.
Watson again was the provider, swinging in a free kick which could only be palmed away by Kiely before Joe Mattock flicked the ball across goal where Kaspers Gorkss was unmarked and on hand to nod home into the empty net. All of us in the away stand went absolutely mental, it was something that was totally unexpected at the start of the night and the feeling of ecstasy just grew beyond the point of belief.
Again it was 5 minutes later that we saw our 3rd goal of the game, this time going to the home side.
A cross came in from the right and the ball eventually fell to the feet of a former R’s loanee, Jerome Thomas, and he made no mistake and drilled his effort past Cerny.
Straight from kick off the R’s came so close to adding to their tally. Routledge picked the ball up from the right hand side and ran at defenders down the wing before cutting in and beating another two defenders and letting fly with a left footed effort, once again it was heading into the top corner but once again Dean Kiely got a fingertip to it and pushed it out wide for a corner. I really don’t know how he got to it!
We then endured a 20minute spell of pure pressure by West Brom and defended with every bit of heart, grit and determination that you could hope for. Bodies were being thrown in front of shots and the pure will to win was evident for everyone to see and it looked to of paid off as we got through the last minutes of injury time but there was still time for a telling attack.
Rangers broke free down the left hand side with Faurlin and all he had to do was run into the corner and waste sometime but instead chose to pass to an advancing Pellicori, who if he had more pace would’ve beaten the defender to the ball and surely put the game beyond doubt, instead the pass was cut out and allowed West Brom to launch one more telling attack. A long ball was pumped up field and Chris Brunt drove an effort on goal which could only be parried by Cerny and there was Simon Cox on hand to put home the rebound and break Rangers hearts, 16 seconds over the 3 minutes of added on time. If only we kept the ball in the corner!!

In reflection, after having all night to calm down, I would’ve taken a draw at the start of the game but having seen the pure determination of the players and to bounce back from the goings on from last Monday night shows that we do have some steel in our squad and that they are prepared to battle on for the cause. I just hope that this is a stepping stone for better things to come from the team.

West Brom: Kiely, Mattock, Olsson, Brunt, Thomas, Moore (Wood 65), Dorrans, Zuiverloon (Bednar 85), Meite, Cox, Jara.

Subs not used: Allsop, Cech, Teixeira, Mulumbu, Martis.

Goals: Thomas (67), Cox (90)

Bookings: Brunt (84)

QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Stewart, Leigertwood, Routledge, Agyemang (Pellicori 84), Gorkss, Watson, Williams, Simpson (Hall 90), Taarabt (Faurlin 81).

Subs not used: Taylor, Vine, Alberti, Parker.

Goals: Olsson OG (56), Gorkss (62)

Attendance: 21, 565

Onto the nights Man of the Match. For me there are 3 main contenders from the game and I mentioned them earlier, Kaspers Gorkss, Damion Stewart and Mikele Leigertwood. All three had fantastic games and the way they continued to battle, put a foot in and closed down attackers really personified the performance put out on the pitch tonight, but there can only be one winner and the person that Lofty and myself agree deserves it is Kaspers Gorkss.

Despite feeling pretty gutted on the way home, which only took an hour and a half from battling our way out of the car park, we had a little puzzle to solve. Justin had bet on Gorkss scoring the first goal of the second half at a cool 50/1 but we were unsure of the rules seeing as the first goal was an own goal. I was pretty sure that it went on to the next goal scored but wasn’t 100%. Having seen Gorkss score the second we were hopeful that he had won the money. Luckily he kept the betting sheet and cashed it in today and found out that he had a winner and was £51 better off, well done Justin! Lucky git!

World's fastest train unveiled in China

As China's economy and population expand, so do its transport needs. Although car ownership is on the increase, the Government is investing more in the railways.
China now has the fastest train in the world. It runs from the central city of Wuhan down to the south coast, at a speed of more than 380km/h.

Berlusconi PUNCHED, Attacked In Face At Rally

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was punched in the face at the end of a rally on Sunday by a man holding a small statue in his hand, leaving the 73-year-old media mogul with a bloodied mouth and looking stunned, police said. The 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi in Milan as he signed autographs was immediately taken into custody.
TV showed the stunned leader with blood under his nose, on his mouth and under one eye being lifted to his feet by aides after the attack. Berlusconi was hustled into the back of a car, but he immediately got out, apparently in an effort to show he was not badly injured.
After looking out into the crowd, the premier, without saying a word, was pulled back into the vehicle.
The attack occurred after Berlusconi had just finished delivering a long, vigorous speech at the rally to a crowd of applauding supporters from his Freedom People party at about 6:30 p.m.
Officials at Milan's police headquarters, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the premier was conscious and apparently not badly injured. They said the attacker was wielding a miniature statue of Milan's Duomo, the city's gargoyled cathedral and symbol, but couldn't say what the souvenir was made of.
Berlusconi's spokesman, speaking by telephone from the emergency room from San Raffaele hospital where the premier was taken, told Sky TG24 TV that doctors had decided to keep the premier in the hospital overnight for observation.
"We'll see what the doctors say tomorrow morning," spokesman Paolo Bonauiti told Sky.
The exams of his jaw area included a CT scan, Bonaiuti said.
Police identified the man they were questioning as Massimo Tartaglia, 42. They said Tartaglia didn't have any criminal record.
Here's video from the incident -- photos are below:

• Silvio Berlusconi

ROME (AP) -- Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was punched in the face at the end of a rally on Sunday by a man holding a small statue in his hand, leaving the 73-year-old media mogul with a bloodied ...

ROME (AP) -- Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was punched in the face at the end of a rally on Sunday by a man holding a small statue in his hand, leaving the 73-year-old media mogul with a bloodied ...

Maoists Bomb Election Candidates' Offices in India

Polls to the Jharkhand state legislature are conducted in five phases. Three stages have already been completed and polling for the last two phases will be held on December 12 and 18.

To protest the ongoing polls, Maoists allegedly, on Wednesday, set posters and banners on fire of candidates and bombed their makeshift offices. The suspected rebels also burned candidates’ vehicles.

Reports say that the office of Ranjan Yadav, a former Maoist running from jail, was among those attacked.

[Ramesh Singh, Local]:
"They came around 8 in the night and burned jeeps and two wheelers."

Videsh Singh, a former lawmaker and an independent candidate, warns more violence may occur.

[Videsh Singh, Independent Candidate]:
"The law and order situation has turned from bad to worse here. Though the election commission has claimed that they will conduct a peaceful election but I feel that in Palamau district in Jharkhand that is not possible. This is a kind of a challenge for the Election Commission and they must take the matter into consideration else more devastating things would happen during December 18 polls."

The counting of votes and the results will be announced on December 23rd.

Child Laborers Rescued in India

A joint raid was conducted on Thursday in the Garhi area in south Delhi by the labor department, police officials and the child rights organization Save Childhood Campaign.

[Om Prakash, Indian Labor Department Official]:
"Today, during surveillance, we have rescued 57 children from the Garhi area, who were working in hazardous factories."

Most of the children were trafficked from Nepal, and India's eastern Bihar and West Bengal states.

They were rescued from an embroidery unit where they were working 12-13 hours per day and paid about a dollar or two a week.

[Om Prakash, Indian Labor Department Official]:
"For the rehabilitation of these children, they'll be produced before CWC (Concerned for Working Children) officials, and they will send them to Women and Child Development homes. After that, they'll be handed over to their families. And from the government's side they'll be given 5,000 rupees (about $107) and 20,000 rupees (almost $430) fine, which would be recovered from their employers.”

A law prohibiting employing children in homes and in the hospitality industry went into effect in October 2006.

However, there have only been around 1,700 prosecutions and not a single conviction during the three years.

The law is an extension of a previous ban dating from 1986, which prohibited children from working in jobs deemed "too hazardous" for minors, such as in factories, quarries and mines.

Child rights campaigners say that like the previous ban, the 2006 law has neither been properly implemented nor enforced.

R's on The Road.......... To West Bromwich Albion

Tomorrow the R’s once again find themselves in front of Sky’s Monday Night Football cameras away from home. This time their opponents are West Bromwich Albion. Here are a few hints and tips to help you along the way.



The Stadium.

Current Capacity – 26,500

The club was formed in 1878 by workers from Salter's Spring Works in West Bromwich, and have played their home games at The Hawthorns since 1900. They were renamed West Bromwich Albion in 1880, becoming the first team to adopt the Albion suffix. Albion was a district of West Bromwich where some of the players lived or worked. Albion's main club crest dates back to the late 1880s, when the club's secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle sitting on a crossbar be adopted for the crest. Since then, the club crest has always featured a throstle, usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a hawthorn branch at some point after the club's move to The Hawthorns in 1900. The Hawthorns became an all-seater stadium in the 1990s, in order to comply with the recommendations of the Taylor Report. At an altitude of 551 feet (168 m) above sea level, The Hawthorns is the highest of all the 92 Premier League and Football League grounds.
Away fans are usually housed in the Smethwick End and usually have to share this with some of the home support. The facilities in here are ok but you will find that if you are on the tall side of the scales that you will struggle for leg room.



The History between the teams.

At West Brom (17)

West Brom 9
QPR 3
Draw 5

The Hawthorns hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the R’s, with their last victory being a 1-0 win back in 1999. Stuart Wardley bagged a 52nd minute winner for the R’s that day.

How to get there.

By Car:- The post code you need for your sat nav today is B71 4LF.
People using the Motorways are advised to use the M40 - M42 – M6 – M5 route due to the roadworks being done on the Motorways in the Midlands. Upon leaving the M5 at junction 1, head down the A41 towards Birmingham and about a mile down the road you will hit your destination.
Street parking as well as private match day car parks, costing in the region of £4-5, is available to you.

By Train:- The closest railway stations are The Hawthorns which is about five minutes walk from the ground and Smethwick Rolfe Street, which is about a 15 minute walk from the ground. The Hawthorns is served by a Metro service from Birmingham Snow Hill station, whilst Smethwick Rolfe Street is served by local trains from Birmingham New Street. The Metro service takes eight minutes to the Hawthorns from Birmingham Snow Hill and trains run every 15 minutes.

Pubs 'n' Grub.

Two pubs are worth trying if you fancy a beer before the game. The Park Hotel which is located just off the M1 and roughly a 10 minute walk to the ground is worth a try and holds a friendly and safe environment, so I read. Parking is also available here at £5 so it holds some appeal. An alternative is The Royal Oak, which is half a mile past The Hawthorns and has also greeted friendly away followings.