Dr. Neil Hair

Rose and I recently spent a weekend in a lovely bed and breakfast in the Adirondack mountains. The Saranak Club and Inn is a wonderful boutique bed and breakfast off of Lake Saranac. I cannot recommend this place highly enough to you - with only 6 rooms though you should book well in advance. I was very pleasantly surprised by the customer service I was offered. The owners weren’t around (having scampered off to New York city) and we were taken care of by a Macedonian couple that were as charming as they were conspicuous by their absence (the best kind of hosts in these situations). A few little tales of service for you: I enquired about the in room fireplace - next thing I know it's ready to be lit. I ask about decent restaurants in the area - next thing I know, Nick is on the phone and I have reservations. They even had wifi for me so I could watch England get a thrashing by South Africa in the Rugy world cup on my trusty UK Slingbox (alas, we did what we English do so very well - we lost - gracefully of course). The trip was also memorable by the drive to and from the location - just 5 hours from Rochester, through some very quaint villages and of course the mountain range itself. Such a shame that New York is thought of primarily by its City and not its beauty upstate. I would though recommend it highly to you.

YouTube have recently announced filtering technology that will prevent copyright materials from spreading on its site. Want to watch that famous Ally McBeal episode of the love god Barry White? Forget it. Its long gone. For that you'd have to go to parent google video instead. Whats interesting though is the arguments coming out of YouTube central office suggesting the new tactic is to try to convince copyright holders, once a video has been found, that there is a revenue stream to be had from leaving it up and charging for advertising space. Now this makes perfect sense to me. It's win win win win. Consumers, copyright holders, YouTube, and the advertisers. Trouble is the mind set of the greedy media companies that want to spoil everyone else's fun. There are revenue models hidden out there - waiting to be uncovered. Trouble is, no one but YouTube and Google are looking for them.

The first ten are always the most challenging… I am of course referring to my students. I always find myself spending over half an hour on each paper reading, analyzing, and reflecting on how I can help someone improve. That was the start of my day, working hard. Reading, analyzing and writing. So, after five hours I decided that was enough - Ive done enough with ten students to go on home and spend a little time watching the Rugby World Cup. England - my team - my glorious team - world cup winners of the last tournament - against the French - THE FRENCH - AS IN IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO WE PLAY OR WHETHER WE BEAT OR NOT SO LONG AS WE BEAT THE FRENCH - especially on French Soil… we won. We won. We are in the final. And it has me thinking, why aren't the Americans in longing for this game? You would LOVE this game you really would… so you play with pads… we forgive you… you try to play with your worst players… we forgive you… you want to go to the video screen within 3 seconds - WE FORGIVE YOU… but just imagine, beating the French on French soil - IN PARIS… this we cannot forgive, nor wish upon anyone… to feel it you have to play America… England. England beat France. England beat France. We are in the final. Don't expect much from me next weekend. Sorry Rose… Dont expect much this week - England beat France… we beat France.

What a way to start the weekend - England thumping Australia (our favourite past time) in the Rugby World Cup. Courtesy of my slingbox at home I got to watch the entire match from work and yelped along with 60 other million Brits as we moved aside one of the favourites of the tournament. What I love about beating Australia is the furore of the media leading up to and then after such an encounter. The comments were particularly vicious this year and aimed squarely at the English. It seems the entire rugby world love to hate us. Which is just fine - especially when we win. Only my father predicted the outcome (in his usual unreservedly positive manner). Then, lo and behold as if things couldn't get any better - the French do it to NZ. That means a semi final between the old foes the French and the English in due course. Next Saturday will be a wonderful match. I cant wait!