[poll result] how you breakfast

Thanks to the 39 people who contributed to the poll. It's the quality, not the quantity, eh? One visitor explained that the poll looked like some sort of marketing ploy to get you in but actually, it was just there for academic interest.

Results on what you eat when you get up in the morning were:

31%..........hearty breakfast
15%..........light breakfast
54%..........little more than coffee

I'll be running a piece soon on dietary trends.

[technical things] warning – only for blogging beginners

Ever had a look around inside your template?

You must have done, if you blog, if only to insert html and java code from freepolls, technorati and so on. Do you understand it all? Have you ever wanted to experiment with different colours and formats within the same template?

Have you ever wanted to just – well – design?

I first went looking for the explanation of colour coding and that comes up in the next post. Then I came upon this site, which answered all my initial questions about those pesky little symbols. No wonder my whole blog distorted out of recognition the first time I tried it – I eventually found the blogger button skulking somewhere down the corner of the backyard.

Oh, just two more things. Firstly, be wary of sites which use the word ‘beginner’ – they suck you in with mock advice and then, halfway down the page, hit you for the folding stuff. The second is what the code in the photo [to the left] says, in plain English:

An Unordered List:

. Coffee
. Tea
. Milk

[oil and gas] brinkmanship means a long cold winter for ukrainians

Ukraine may still face an energy crisis this winter, Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuev said on Thursday, Aug. 17, despite assurances from Russia that it will not sharply raise the price of gas supplies to its neighbour.

Simple statement, yes? The DPM should know, right? Yes, he knows all right – knows how to play the game of brinkmanship with his fellow countrymen and women. This thing is all about the subsidized gas Vladimir Putin alluded to when, at the press meeting in Moscow before the G8, he said:

Let’s work out uniform rules together. You, for example, represent a German news agency. Why should German consumers pay 250 USD for 1000 cubic metres and Ukrainians 50? If you want to give Ukraine such a gift, why don’t you pay for it? Why do you want us to give such presents?

Full text here.

[oil disaster] finally the world takes notice

It took so long for anyone to wake up.

The Solaris 1 tanker is still an ecological "ticking time bomb" as it sits in 900 meters of water with 450,000 gallons [not litres, as I previously incorrectly reported] of oil ready to burst open. Petron has now said it is coordinating with an international fund assembly to finance the pullout of a tanker that sank off Guimaras island.

Petron spokeswoman Vivian Ruivivar said in an interview with Magandang Umaga Pilipinas, "We have been coordinating with the International Oil Pollution Council for funds." Ruivivar said Petron does not have the capability nor financial capacity to re-float the submerged vessel by itself.

What utter bilge.

She said the IOPC was set up to assist private companies in oil spill disasters worldwide and that Petron has also sought the services of a contractor to survey the situation of the tanker settled at the bottom of Guimaras sea. The survey is needed to determine the cost of the tanker’s pullout.

Ruivivar further said the liability for the sunken vessel and the oil spill rests solely with the owner of Solar 1, Sunshine Maritime. "We already took the moral responsibility that’s why we are very active in that area doing the cleanup and arranging for the salvage of the vessel."

Greenpeace, since their late arrival on the scene, is investigating reports that the captain of the ill-fated tanker was not properly trained to handle the ship. The government, meanwhile, has ordered "round-the-clock" operation to contain the oil.

[food and drink] join me for afternoon tea

Couple of days old but still ...

More money is spent on eating out than eating at home in Britain, official figures showed on Friday.

Spending on food and drink consumed outside the home doubled between 1992 and 2004 to 87.5 billion pounds, nearly two billion more than spending on food and drink for the home.

Many Brits now pride themselves on their exotic diet, yet the British still do eat in - it being the cheaper alternative. Spending on food and drink at home still rose by more than 50 percent between 1992 and 2004.

[far-east] latest in the lead up to the poll

Old stereotypes come out in the Japanese electoral race.