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Team Chevy/R1 Eliminations/NOPI/Englishtown

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ, May 4, 2008 - Round one of eliminations at the 2008 NOPI Springnationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. In HOT ROD, Team ...

Betamax and Harris Tweed.

This week has been National Cask Ale Week - an event to encourage people to try cask ales for the first time; something that may be difficult when one considers that the current government have increased the tax burden on real ales by a little over 25% in the last two years, despite their stated support for local pubs as a cornerstone of local communities. You can read more about National Cask Ale Week by clicking here . It is a never ending source of amazement as to how people treat mobile telephones. Almost on a daily basis, I will be sitting on a bus or train when I am subjected to the most intimate and personal details of the lives of other passengers. Don't people realise that they are in public when they talk to friend and family on their cellular telephone? Only last week I was on the 99 bus towards Erith; sitting diagonally opposite me was a woman with a pram and toddler. Her phone rang and she proceded to have a detailed conversation with her mother, who had evidently rung because the Police had been round to arrest her for breaking her bail conditions for an unspecified offence. The criminal woman was screeching into the phone handset "They'll do me now!" making it clear to all and sundry that she was a crook - if she had been more restrained then her fellow passengers would have been none the wiser. Quite an interesting reality soap show I suppose. On a more sober note, I see that this week marked the demise of Dr. Henry "Ed" Roberts, the founder of modern micro computing, and the inspiration behind both Microsoft and Apple. I think many people think that the first home computer was the ZX-80 by Clive Sinclair. He was indeed a pioneer of affordable computing for enthusiasts, but he was not the first by quite a long chalk. Henry Roberts invented the Altair 8800, the very first home computer, which was released in kit form back in 1975. It famously featured in the pioneering computer hacking movie War Games . The Altair 8800 inspired two university drop - outs...

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