AY2.ORG

Classified information straight from the Secret Intelligence Service. Don’t tell anyone.

(noun) The disappointment experienced by one on checking one’s RSS reader to find that no one has updated their own blog.

{paraphrased via dervala.net)

I’d imagine this is very much the Internet zeitgeist. Of course, I only said that to get another German word in gratuitously. Note that, also the act of defining this word in a blog and the physical realisation of the definition of this word are mutually exclusive. At least until next time you check this site or update your RSS feeds.

Well, you could say that one’s a trashy novel, about Jesus Christ and enigmatic objects, that’s been made into a film, while the other is a film about an enigmatic object of desire, a writer of trashy novels, whose antics may well make someone shout “JESUS CHRIST!” But a better answer would be simply Royal Holloway, University of London.

In Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code, the female protagonist Sophie Neveu is a cryptologist with the French Judicial Police. Beautiful and brilliant as she is, there’s no better place for her to have been educated of all things cryptographic than the world-renowned Information Security Group at Royal Holloway.

The Founder’s Building at Royal Holloway, on the other hand, provides (as I’m told) a backdrop as a psychiatric facility for Miss Stone’s age-defying appearance. Opened by Queen Victoria in 1886, Founder’s is a truly stunning architectural masterpiece. It is also featured in MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis.

This trivia is brought to you by ay2.org. Millionaire rating: £8000.

The deed is done. I finished my run in just over 48 minutes - a satisfactory result, if not particularly marvellous. The weather at Hampton Court was sunny and warm at the start, and as the glucose burns, it gradually felt hotter. At the finish, sweat was streaming down my face like those “fat” raindrops in Matrix Revolutions (you’d know if you’d watched the DVD extras). Despite all that, I’m happy to report that I ran all the way, only breaking inito a walk for the mid-course drink of water, as I have never quite mastered the art of drinking while running, at least not without spilling half of it and choking on the rest.

Thanks to all who’s pledged donations and especially those who’s already paid up. The sponsorship is still open, so you’ve still got a chance to top up your good karma before too late!

Yes folks, it’s that time of the year again. In the morning of this coming Sunday 4th September 2005, I, along with a few others, are going to participate in a sponsored 10k run at Hampton Court Palace in aid of Cancer Research UK; and I am, of course, sincerely seeking your generous donation. The most generous sponsor will feature in my Can-Cancer and Cancan Hall of Fame™, where your name will be hailed in glory for eternity.

The course is described as completely flat, in contrast to the Leeds Castle run that I did last year whose endless gradients were formidably tough. So I’m hoping to acheive a better time of 45 minutes or so. But then I haven’t really put in as much training as I did last year, so the improvement may not be as marked as I am hoping, if at all.

Please contact me directly for UK account desposit or, predominantly for non-UK sponssors, you can donate via PayPal using the link on side bar (left hand column). Thank you very much.