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 The BBC have just reported that Jan Ullrich will not ride this year's Tour de France as he has been suspended following a doping investigation. Ullrich is denying the allegations at this stage.
If he is proved innocent, then he will surely be gutted to have been pulled from his T-Mobile Team squad a day before the race starts and, with Lance Armstrong retired, with his best chance of winning the event in years.
UPDATE: It seem Ivan Basso has also been suspended - this Tour could turn out to be another nightmare like the post-Festina scandal Tour in the late 90s 
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Today Tiscali moved me on to their LLU service as part of their "network enhancements". LLU means that rather than getting my broadband using BT's equipment in the exchange, Tiscali have installed their own dedicated equipment at the exchange which is only for their own customers. Presumably Tiscali is gradually moving customers on to these LLU lines, therefore I can only suspect that at the moment I find myself on an unnaturally "empty" connection - which explains why it is 5pm and my Usenet download is bouncing off the 200kb/s limit I set.
Long may it continue!!! (though I doubt it will…)
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No, really!
[cpg_image:17,2,t] [cpg_image:17,6,t] [cpg_image:17,9,t]
Just as I was walking to work this morning a fire engine pulled up outside the faculty. Given that I couldn't hear an alarm I was a bit confused until I saw the small but developing crowd pointing at a very large tree. Yes, a cat was actually stuck waaaay up at the top and the boys were here to rescue it. They had to send for the large "cherry picker" to reach far enough up, which was a good job as the cat legged it even higher when it saw the platform approaching…
The fire brigade were there for a good 45 mins before they managed to bag the cat and return it to its extremely embarrassed owner, amid an impressive cheer from the crowd 
The incident rather showed up the inadequacy of the camera in my phone, but if you fancy a squint then the inevitable photo gallery can be found here.
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I think Steve Gibson (Middlesbrough chairman) chickened out big time here. He turned down that legend of the game John Boileau and instead went for Gareth Southgate as the new team manager, just because (and I quote) "your tenure with us would have been short lived, as your undoubted talent would result in one of the big European Clubs seeking your services".
Which is certainly true - Boileau lists his top career highlight as signing Henry, Raul and Torres for Doncaster on Football Manager 2005.
If the chairman of Barca or Real Madrid is reading and would like to peruse Boileau's credentials, just look here:
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~kritip/managers%20job.htm
(also click to see Gibson's quality reply in full)
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Tiscali provide my internet service at home. I've grown quite accustomed to their barefaced lies when it comes to my supposed "Unlimited 2Mb" ADSL service - which in reality means I'm not allowed to do anything other than check email and browse the web between 6pm and 11pm (otherwise I'll be put on an even slower service) and also that any attempt at downloading from Usenet during daylight hours rarely tops 20kB/s (compared to the 240kB/s I'm paying for), even though Tiscali swear blind they don't restrict such usage. I can only imagine how "hilarious" it's going to be once their 8Mb service becomes more widely available and the network completely grinds to a halt…
Anyway, I currently pay £17.99 per month for the "privilege" of this service - so I wasn't overly amused when I looked on their website today and discovered that the current prices are £17.99 per month for 8Mb (not available to new customers) and £14.99 per month for my 2Mb service. Funny how they failed to mention this to me at any point.
So if any users of Tiscali's 2Mb Unlimited service are reading this - go to the website and do the 'upgrade' to the same service you're already on - saving yourself some cash. If you're currently on a bundle, visit the appropriate link on the left hand side.
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The final lap of yesterday's MotoGP round at Assen was a bit special. Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden were the leaders with a few laps remaining, and when Hayden took the lead it looked like the Repsol Honda rider had the race won.
However, Edwards had a serious case of red mist and managed to get right on to Hayden's wheel during the last lap. Coming into the final chicane Edwards made a dive for it and not only managed to enter the chicane first, but also sent Hayden into a shortcut across the gravel trap. Unfortunately Edwards had gone in too hot and couldn't fully negiotiate the first turn of the chicane, sending him on to the astroturf and flicking him clean off his bike. Despite the trip to the beach, Hayden crossed the line first to take an unlikely victory! Edwards managed to get his battered Yamaha across the line in 13th place and he did not look happy as he pulled into the team garage…
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