Djibril Cisse (tattooed neck, ridiculous shaved head) celebrating his superb, individual, match winning goal (err, well, a converted penalty) in front of the Gallowgate End at St James Park by removing his shirt to remove a grubby white vest declaring his undying love for his wife, his cat, God, Robbie Fowler, his late gerbil and dearly departed Lady Diana, Queen of Our Hearts. After all, I mean, his last goal was last year (28 December 2005) so that vest must absolutely stink. ...

Since the Regulus theme was added to WordPress last November, I have stuck with it through thick and thin, for richer for poorer, through sickness and in health. Lots of themes have subsequently been introduced to Wordpress and I always preview each of them but none of them look as easy on the eye and as functional as Regulus. However, I must say that the recently added ‘Andreas04’ theme is very attractive and had me dithering for a moment. You can see this theme in action, down under, at squash.wordpress.com, by Phil Sim, who was obviously similarly impressed. ...

I am not going to report on the “Starting From Zero” meme again until day 666, with no more intermediate steps along the way. I am tired of the project, personally, and it’s obviously driving others mad, too.

On Friday, I was surprised (and honoured) to receive an email from Prince Philip.

A Channel 4 documentary about 9/11 and the controversial photographs capturing the final seconds of people who jumped to their deaths. Harrowing and yet compulsive viewing. Not for everyone and the sort of program you might expect a warning about the content (21:00-22:30) which some may find disturbing, upsetting or offensive. Instead, Channel 4 announce ‘This program contains images and video footage featuring repetitive patterns that may cause problems for people with photosensitive epilepsy’. Bizarre. Truly bizarre. ...

Everything was in its place. Then I went and changed everything (again). My therapist says this is a character defect and a sign of subliminal procrastination. Hard reset Palm Pilot. Download Thunderbird extension to sync address book. Doesn’t work. So now my Contacts are in Thunderbird (periodic manual export/import) and I am using the Palm for Calendar and Tasks. If it’s good enough for Dave Allen, then it’s good enough for me. Next Action: Wait for Thunderbird/Sunbird to fully support Palm synchronisation. ...

There is a terribly sad story in the UK about clinical trials that have gone (badly) wrong leaving six people critically ill in hospital. Radio 5 carried an interview with a person who has taken part in previous trials. He was so full of praise for Parexel that I thought he was a stooge. That was, until, he uttered the unfortunate words ‘So, 1,000 GBP for one trial and 750 GBP for the second. For a student, that is a lot of money and can actually be life-changing’ ...

Just went to delete ‘whiteside.wordpress.com’. Hit ‘Yes’ I am really, really sure I want to delete this blog for eternity. Yes. I acknowledge I will never be able to access the blog again or reuse the name ever. Or, in vi terms, ‘:q!’. Received an email from the WordPress Workflow Monitor Agent. Clicked the link to confirm I really, truly do know what I am doing and do indeed want to consign the blog to Room 101. ...

Thanks to Igor (who is a human being and not a monster) kindly modifying an inbound link, an article briefly appearing in Dave Sifry’s Link Cosmos (a proud moment indeed) and a citation from this very odd gentleman, this blog has edged up the Technorati ladder Day 211. Technorati Rank: 145,329 (33 links from 19 sites) However, the grim realisation is slowly dawning that there is more chance of MUFC catching Chelsea than my humble blog overtaking Stowe Boyd. Consequently, I have reluctantly lowered my sights and now have Doug Burns (bathing in the afterglow of the HotSos effect) on my radar. ...

13. Years since Manchester City reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup. 30. Years since Manchester City last won a trophy. The best football banner in the world was very simple and understated - just two large digits at the Stretford End. The number was incremented on or around 28th February each year. The banner is no longer at Old Trafford (following the Glazer takeover) but can still be seen at FCUM matches apparently. Easier to get tickets too. ...