have been goalkeeping since I was a young kid. My body type suited that position and I naturally became good enough to win some medals and be the goalkeeper for Computer Science at the Victoria University of Manchester (before the UMIST merger). I still have the kit. I don’t wear it much; I want to preserve it.

Goalkeeping is not as easy as it seems (despite being idle a lot of the time) and a lot boils down to reflexes as there’s not much time to think or plan. Goalkeepers can be significantly older than the average player on the field because they compensate with experience and seniority for a declining stamina and inability to jump far/high. Many goals are scored because the goalkeeper didn’t do well enough, e.g. stood at the wrong place, spilled the ball, dribbled too much.

Goalkeepers that are good not only stop balls from entering the net; they know when to catch, when to hit the ball down to the ground, then catch (no rival player nearly and fast/strong shot – making a direct catch riskier), when to pinch/parry the ball over the bar, when to deflect the ball back into play (if a defender nearby can take the rebound), when to carry the ball, when to punch/kick the ball (and how far), and so on…

There’s not much time to think about all this. The decision needs to be a reflex, based on who’s near you, how strong the shot is, the position relative to the bar etc.

Spatial awareness is important (distance to bars, which players stand where, and whose team they play for).

It’s a lot to do with gut feeling, it’s like playing an instrument.

There is also a lot to be said about how to handle different ways of taking penalties (e.g. kicker stops near the ball to trick the keeper into jumping prematurely) and one-on-one situations where the keeper can run outwards to face the player or stay close to goal, wherein the position of the feet can help obstruct a kick, but not while “on the move” (must know when to stop moving, prepare to stretch out limbs).

There’s a lot of fine strategy involved in goalkeeping, many different scenarios to learn from (in order to improve). That’s why goalkeepers need their own dedicated coach like Caballero, usually a very experienced but greying (or balding) keeper like aging gymnasts who focus on “theory”, not “practice” (anymore). They “pass the knowledge”…

I like goalkeeping, but when mistakes are made it can be harsh.

went out last night after 9PM. Rianne and I saw the barriers being set up for today’s home match:

Enzo says they want to compete for trophies and the most prestigious one is the one involving the most matches: PL.

The “cups” typically involve just winning 6 or 7 games in a row, sometimes in penalties. That’s little compared to 38 games against hard rivals (not teams from lower leagues).

So far it’s looking positive for EnzoFC, which brings many new players (many left).

ichard Stallman’s Web site is online again, but he seems to have lost a lot of work after this very long downtime and he’s not getting younger. What a shame. How often were full backups taken?

Stallman is 73 and like everyone his age he is not in fine health, he is surviving and coping with conditions.

When he was young, Stallman did not have a beard. No long hair either. It seems like the long hair developed some time in the 1980s.

nowing that next week will be the second week of an autumn/semi-summer month, I tried to take advantage of the weather that provides a recess from heavy and moderate rainfall. I picked up this season’s last beans from the garden and was gratified to see fluffy green grass where only 2 weeks ago there was dried yellow ‘straw’, nothing resembling grass at all.

We’re coming to the end of summer, but maybe we get to savour one last weekend of it.

rowing uncertainty and worries due to tensions with Russia are felt here, as our government openly encourages citizens to ‘stockpile’ food under the assumption of lack of power (to cook good). As if there is recognition of threats to the power grid, which is unlikely to happen due to bad weather but it likely to happen during conflict (as Russians and Ukrainians learned).

Stockpiling was not encouraged but discouraged during COVID-19 lockdowns (e.g. toilet paper).

OME of the birds have begun moulting, as inevitably they will, and it is never pleasant to look at, even if it’s beneficial to animals especially in places that transition between seasons with sharp differences temperature- and precipitation-wise.

Bot (Bottle) seems to be the first with visible moulting this year. I’ve just given her as many seeds as she wanted (until she felt full and flew away). She is a mother now and winter this year might get very cold due to climate breakdown. The chicks must have grown by now (but unable to fly).

he noise on the Web has grown to the point where human traffic (not trafficking) can go undetected, not trivially discernable from botnets at times.

A visits spike like the above was likely a combination of real (legit) visitors and bots, but good luck finding which % was junk traffic.

Today’s Web is such a sad mess.

What. The. Heck.

Sold out, so I guess this is what counts as “best” now (coming to Manchester in 2 days).

I want the old culture of music back. I want bands, instruments, and good voices. Not flesh. Flesh makes no music.

The new stuff is awful because the new standards are very low.

reed is bad. Greed is a form of mental illness, more so when it exceeds some rational, logical levels (e.g. people trying to hoard more capital than they conceivably and meaningfully spend in their remaining lifetime).

Stuff has gotten more expensive and companies try to make us believe or compel us to accept that we need “apps” or fake “modernity” that does not enrich life in any meaningful way.

“When I buy something,” as ploum.net put it the other day, “from a small kitchen appliance to a car, I’m now forced to get formal confirmation by the seller that I will be able to use it without installing one, two or three different apps. I kept the count: in the last year alone, I had to argue against the installation of 18 smartphone apps. Just in my toilet, I’m supposed to have an app for the seat, an app for the flush and one for the ventilation.”

We already reached “peak s–t” decades ago, there’s not much left to enhance in a toilet seat. We don’t need “apps” there.

Then again, never underestimate the power of aggressive marketing. Or an employer or hotel manager or “landlord” (landlady also) who puts “smart” things everywhere.

I was recently reminded of the Mancunian band protesting for freedom and also against greed and hoarding (back in the 1970s and 80s). They’re all still alive, doing well, and well into their 80s.

They did “art for art’s sake” and enjoyed the art. “Money for God’s sake…”

Does “God” take your bank balance when your life ends?

ears ago we used to buy sacks of seed like these, but later we chose premium (vastly better) seeds at a local market. Months ago the government asked people to lessen or altogether stop the feeding of birds, saying there was no need during summer. This was immediately refuted by some NGOs. I had this theory about grain shortages leading to that advice. Are we prioritising humans over all other living beings?

It’s no secret the planet is overpopulated (by humans mostly).

Anyway, months ago I noticed that many stores no longer stocked large bags of seeds for birds. Last month not even the largest stores stocked them. Was this a business decision or something else?

I still have my sources for sacks of seeds, but they’re not cheap, even if they’re better and less “official”.

There are already press reports about how the oil shortages, the wars, and the drought lead to a grain shortage, potentially driving hunger/famine.

The demand grows, so do the prices. Poor countries are not prioritised for exports and the weather leads to crop (agra) failures.

And they tell us we need more energy-hungry datacentres that drive climate change!