It’s raining…goals!

England’s U21 football team won in style their first home match for the European qualifier after a breathless 6-3 against Macedonia.

A great half for Arsenal’s young star, Theo Walcott, before being substituted for an injury and West Ham’s player Zavon Hines managed a double at his U21 debut in front of 20 074 cheering fans at Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

Kieran Gibbs and Micah Richards put England on the lead in minutes 22 and 30, but Macedonia’s forward Muarem Muarem made it 2-1 before the end of the half time.

A surprising start to the second half for England, Macedonia made it 3-3 after Agim Ibraimi’s goal, Kieran Gibbs own goal and Andrew Carroll’s equalizer.

Despite the score, Stuart Pearce remained calm, and showed that his boys are the future Beckham, Scholes or Rio Ferdinand.  The young lions managed to take the lead after Zavon Hines scored a magnificent goal, followed by Andrew Carroll’s double and another goal by Hines.

After the 4-0 defeat against Germany in the summer, Stuart Pearce completely changed the tactics, with just four players from the usual formation starting at the Ricoh. The midfield quartet Jack Wilshere, Danny Rose, Jack Rodwell and Tom Cleverley were obviously the best solution, as they managed to pass very easily through the Macedonian defense. Despite the crushing victory, England’s side defense still was not convincing.

The young lions had a great start in the qualifiers, although Theo Walcott suffered a dead leg, while Manchester City’s defender Richards was injured by his own team-mate, Fabrice Muamba. England will encounter in the qualification group Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Macedonia.

Mihai Rosu – 9th October 2009

Does British journalism have a future?

During the recession, several thousand journalists were laid off because of the low income that media companies made during this year. Now a journalist has to work twice as hard to fill the gap that the financial crisis made and the salaries were cut down to a bare minimum.

Journalists have started to ask themselves if you could still make a career from working at a newspaper, radio or in television. In order to find out if the young generation is interested in journalism, Mihalache Alexandru, a student at Journalism and Media from Coventry University was interviewed for his sincere opinion.

Interviewer: Why did you choose journalism and media? I know you are from Romania, why studying at Cov Uni?

Mihalache Alexandru: I want to make people aware of the things that are happening right in front of their eyes. I want to inform people and not tell them lies. Unfortunately there are still some journalists who are telling lies. This is not ethical. Why here? Well, because England is one of the best countries in the world, and I don’t mean just education, but all it involves. More than that, it is the home of sport and football, and as I want to become a sports journalist, I considered it the perfect place for me to start.

Interviewer: Was there something or someone that inspired you to becoming a journalist?

Mihalache Alexandru: Probably my passion for football made me want to report everything that is related to this sport and not just watching it, but to analyze it too.

Interviewer: What is your opinion about the British journalism?

Mihalache Alexandru: Journalism in this country is based on professionalism and hard work. In order to stay in front, you have to prove that you are capable of doing that. Only the best manage to succeed. BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. I think that this tells it all. More than that, there are many good publications, such as Daily Mail or The Guardian, and tabloids as well, The Sun.

Interviewer: Being a media student, what is your opinion about the British media?

Mihalache Alexandru: The main purpose of media is, like in any other countries, not just providing information, but entertainment as well. There are many reality shows and most of them have become models for other shows all over the world.

Interviewer: What is your target? Where and what do you want to work after you graduate?

Mihalache Alexandru: I want to become a journalist. I am not sure if this involves just writing for a publication or working in the media as well. I will let the time decide. Obviously I will have to start from below and maybe write for a local newspaper, maybe Coventry Telegraph (who knows). After I will gain more experience I will be looking after national publications.

Interviewer: Despite the recent lay-offs, which mean extra work, job uncertainty and low salary, you still want to work as a journalist. Why?

Mihalache Alexandru: Yes, I would, because you do not work as a journalist for the money, free time and the job comfort, you do it for yourself and the people out there that are eager to receive quality information. It is a risky job, but it certainly is worth it.

Mihai Rosu – 25th October 2009

Rave at Kasbah!

Another successful “Gamma Funkula” event last night in the Kasbah Nightclub, with the best drum and bass and dubstep DJ’s rocking the party. Starring the drum and bass legend Pendulum, the main room was filled with fans waiting for their favorite DJs to start the party.

The event started with a warm up from the younger DJ’s Noizee B, Becca Funkula, Empire and Blinke with the vocal support of MC Ruption and Toddler. The Gamma Funkula night is also used by its organizers to promote young talents from this industry, as the DJs gave their best on the stage to please and make a good impression on the stage. Gamma Funkula is the main drum and bass event in Coventry, with people from all around West Midlands coming to have a great time and listen to their favorite music.

After the warm up, the drum and bass stars “Brookes Brothers” came straight from London to give a show to remember. As they started a bit slow, the brothers managed to show the people of Coventry why they are top DJs in their field and turned everyone at the event into wild party animals.

The climax of Gamma Funkula was the moment when Pendulum started mixing for the big crowd that they gathered for this big event. They didn’t come with the entire band, only the DJ set, which means the only ones from Pendulum that came were DJ Paul Harding and Ben Mount, known as MC Verse. Their hits smashed the club’s speakers such as Tarantula, Fasten Your Seatbelts, Hold Your Colour and Kingston Vampires from their older albums and songs from their new album “In Silico” like Propane Nightmares, Granite and Showdown. As they were pulling a show to remember, the two members from Pendulum were celebrating Harding’s birthday, which made this event a special occasion for them to give their best.

The event was a total success, with the tickets being sold out and the club crowded with drum and bass fans. Ingrid Mihut, a 19 year old student at Coventry University, said that “This party is the greatest I’ve ever seen in Kasbah and in Coventry since Pendulum came last year. The club is full, people are having the time of their life and the music is incredible. Just amazing.”

In the second room, people could enjoy the slow deep bass of dubstep, mixed by DJs such as Superslim, Dubkid, Thought and Hybrid.

The next Gamma Funkula event on the 12^th of November will host the drum and bass top groups High Contrast and Subfocus and the new dubstep rising star Stenchman.

Mihai Rosu – 16.10.2009

I’m Feeling bar coded !

The bar code is being celebrated by Google by replacing the usual homepage doodle logo with the common black and white stripes of a bar code.

This familiar application of technology is commemorated by Google by marking the 57^th anniversary of the day it was first patented on 7^th October 1952 by the American physicists, Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver.

It all began when Mr. Silver, a graduate student at the Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia, overheard that a local food chain boss needed a system for reading product data automatically. He and his fellow colleague, Mr. Woodland, tried using patterns of invisible ink but proved to be expensive and fallible. However, in 1952 they came up with the bar code, which was actually made out of circles for them to be read at any angle.

Now we can find the bar codes on almost every product, becoming a necessity in our modern society, because it allows supermarkets to track every product by scanning the black and white rectangle. Not only products use bar codes, different types of cards use the same technology in order to let only the authorized personnel into certain restricted areas.

This special date coincides with the day when Charles Kuen Kao, George Smith and Willard Boyle, won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their “charged-coupled devices” without whom the bar codes could not be read. The CCD’s are used in various fields, such as broadcasting, in digital cameras, endoscopy, architecture, astronomy, fax machines, CCTV cameras and of course, the bar code readers.

Sources:  Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/07/bar-code-google-doodle-nobel

Telegraph – http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/07/bar-code-google-doodle-nobel