Athletics Training and Performance

I found this gem showing how the great miler and Olympic champion, Peter Snell, trained and approached his races. When training, changing things up a bit is important, and Snell's hill work would have strengthened him considerably. Note also, he played a wide range of sports, all of which would have helped build his overall aptitude. Basically, I think it is important to try out a wide range of sports, but specialise in two, one winter and one summer activity. Then, when in the late teens, start to take one seriously. 

War in Yemen Escalates

With Egypt now considering joining the conflict, that leaves the Suez Canal exposed. The Houthis have shown they can target accurately, and they can reach as far as Israel. If Egypt start attacking them, then the obvious response would be for the Houthis to damage the canal by sinking a large vessel in the middle of it, or by putting its support infrastructure out of action. This would have a significant impact on the global economy. 

Musk and the Tech Oligarchs

At one point, Elon Musk openly supported Democrats. Now he supports Republicans. Is that because he goes wherever the wind is blowing, or is it due to more nefarious reasoning, avoiding investigation and possible prosecution?

And the rest appear equally self-serving. They'll do anything to survive.

UK Propping up Saudi Arabia

Is the UK attempting to save English soccer? The Saudis are heavily invested in the game the English call football (it is Association Football, or soccer for short). Their move to send RAF Typhoons to support the Saudis looks to be an act of desperation. It'll be ineffectual as down on the ground, the Houthis appear highly motivated, while the Saudis are pathetic.

Elon Musk Movie

Oh no, I wanted to go to see it, but the early box office for the 4-hour documentary on Elon Musk is doing very poor numbers. It is now in 472 theatres across the US, but doing only about $200 per theatre, per day. These are really bad numbers.

Meanwhile, the documentary on Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything is doing very well, being right up near the top of box office daily reporting.

I'm surprised at this result, but it must be because Holmes is far more interesting. She's such a flawed character, with a good idea she could never deliver on. Musk, on the other hand, is just dislikeable. 

I'm starting to wonder whether spending money on Musk is wise.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/4-hour-elon-musk-movie-145930078.html

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/date/2026-10-18/?ref_=bo_di_table_1

Persian Gulf Complexities

Iran appears to be hitting half a dozen ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz each day. The ships are not being sunk outright, rather they're being damaged instead. Damaged vessels need to go for repairs, but space available to conduct these repairs is fast running out, leading to queues. Thus, the number of vessels carrying petroleum products is fast declining. Now, Iran has started targeting tugboats. Large vessels cannot dock without the help of tugs, so damaging just a few seriously impacts the loading of vessels. 

Basically, a lot of this is not being reported. We are being led to believe that everything is returning to normal, but that is far from the truth. Presently, the world is in deep trouble and especially with regard diesel, which is in critically short supply.

Riots and Protests Across Europe

Riots that started in France have now spread to other parts of Europe, notably, Italy and Albania. The riots in France have the look of 1968 about them. Back then, France almost went full revolution. It happens when workers join students in protest. As long as things are just student protests, then they fizzle eventually. But broaden the reach and regime change can result.

I'm sure French President, Emmanuel Macron is sweating. Maybe not as much as MBS is sweating in Saudi Arabia, but enough to make him feel very uncomfortable. He's such a loathsome servant of the Davos class, I cannot feel any sympathy for his predicament. 

Two States Compared and Contrasted

California vs New Zealand

Population: California 40 million, New Zealand 5 million

GDP per capita (nominal): California $109,196, New Zealand $49,951

State level Politicians: California 120 representatives and senators (bicameral), New Zealand 120-123 representatives (unicameral).

New Zealand has half the per capita GDP, a population one eighth the size and yet has more politicians.

New Zealanders, a message here; when voting, bear this in mind, is Kiwiland receiving value for money?

Kimberly Guilfoyle May Go Rogue?

Now she's been fired from her role as US Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle may have a few scores to settle. What does she know?

Kamala Harris for 2028

Should Kamala Harris run for President in 2028? She is the most popular of current candidates from among the Democrats. Realistically, the DNC will be choosing the next President as the GOP has sunk into the abyss.

She's a safe pair of hands. However, she'll say whatever on the day and has completely fluid principles. Her prospects could have been improved had Joe Biden stepped aside in his last year, elevating Harris into the oval office, and becoming America's first female president.

Has Trump Done a Deal?

The question is why has Donald Trump not pursued truth regarding the attempt on his life at Butler Pennsylvania?

Iran and Houthis Unstoppable?

It is strange that we have to follow small independent channels to find out what is going on in the Middle East. This whole story has a strong bearing on the supply of diesel. Texas, for instance, has declared a state of emergency regarding diesel.

The collapse of Saudi Arabia appears imminent. The main reason being no-one is going to fight for MBS, and Saudi soldiers are as useless as tits on a bull (to use the technical expression).

The whole Sykes-Picot framework put in place toward the end of the First World War seems to be falling apart. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and his adventures, and the business of the Anglo-French empires carving things up between them on a map, is now dust. Who knows what will emerge, but we are definitely watching history in the making.

Rugby League World Cup - Game 1

The first game of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup was an entertaining match up between two old rivals, New Zealand vs Australia.

New Zealand lost by two points, but they physically dominated the Australians the entire time. What the Kiwis need to do is get better at making tactical decisions. Basically, they gifted Australia 14 points, and I'll explain why.

There were two intercept runaway tries scored by Australia. This should never happen, but if it does, then no more than once. Twice means the Kiwis were forcing their passes, and doing so in situations where there were too many hands in the way to be safe.

The last segment of play was where Australia was put in the position of closing out play while ahead on the scoreboard. This was when the Kiwis were hard on attack and up by two. The wise thing to do, from right in front of the goal posts, was to kick a drop-goal for 1 point. This would put them up by more than a penalty kick or long range dropkick (both worth two), but critically, they'd receive the ball from the restart.

Instead, the Kiwis played glory ball and went for the try. They put the ball up high into the in-goal area, and the Aussie caught it, which results in a restart for Australia from the 20 metre mark. They then took that ball from the restart and scored a try which went unconverted. Australia went from two points down, to two points up, when they should not have been allowed in the position of having possession. The Kiwis when looking for a try, if they were to kick, needed to put the kick in low, forcing Australia to come back from their own goal line.

All-in-all the refereeing was excellent, but I have to say some calls simply would not be possible without the video referee. I'd rather play flowed and was not be held up while some mysterious figure thinks about it. 

Russell Brand on Trial

Russell Brand is facing serious criminal charges in London. The trial will last about nine weeks. The BBC have outlined the charges he faces, see the below video.

RAF Fairford

It's all very peculiar; what was going around the airbase in England? RAF Fairford is where the US bases its B-1B Bombers, covering all of Europe and the Middle East. Now, suddenly, they've been withdrawn with very little notice. Was this due to an imminent threat?

Speed Wobbles in the Investment Landscape

AI cloud-computing company, CoreWeave (Nasdaq: CRWV) is facing strong headwinds. CoreWeave rents out infrastructure that trains hyperscaler AI models. But now, their shares have plunged 15.34 % today and their bonds have risen to yield nearly 15%.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/14/coreweave-stock-bond-yields-ai-debt.html

There is only one certainty on share markets, and that is they fluctuate. So, don't go getting your panties in a knot just yet. However, if this trend emerges consistently across all tech stocks, then this could wipe out billions, possibly trillions, and that would be something of a crisis. 

Bailouts will be more difficult this time round, because back in 2008 there wasn't a major regional conflict going on. But now, we can see several ongoing and the supply of diesel worldwide has been impacted. Industry runs on diesel, and we need diesel to eat, that's because farmers provide our food and they run their farms on diesel. 

What I'm describing are several whammies. Stock markets dissipating wealth, farmers unable to grow crops and animals, transport becoming costly, and don't forget banks becoming very nervous. During the GFC small businesses found it very difficult to obtain overdrafts, and that could happen again.

A lot to think about then as elections loom.

Two Elections in November

The midterm elections in the US will be held on Tuesday, 3rd of November, while the New Zealand general election will be held a few days later on Saturday, 7th of November. The last time these two countries had elections coinciding so closely together was in 2020. Right now, 2026 could be even more important than six years ago. 

In NZ the two largest parties are struggling to gain support. Just weeks away from the date and both Labour and National are polling below 30%. They'll both need coalition partners to govern.

Meanwhile, in the US the Republican party seems to have found a way to turn their election success in 2024, into almost certain defeat across the board in 2026. But then, the Democrats appear to be trusted only a little more. Both appear to be equally distrusted.

Are we witnessing an across the board change of established political power? The old-fashioned machine politicians seem to have had their day. People want to be represented by people they identify with and the current offerings just don't do it.

Will the US Actually Buy Iran Diesel?

Ben Meiselis of Meidas Touch media claims that, due to Ukraine's successful attacks on Russian refineries, the US will really be buying Iranian diesel, rather than Russian diesel in the much publicised deal Donald Trump has been boasting about.

Has anyone noticed that since Ukraine attacked Yandex data centres, that the prevalence of bots on the internet has dried up?

Houthis Make Gains

Something tells me the Houthi rebels in Yemen have been seriously underestimated. Next thing you know, they'll be marching down the main street in Riyadh.

Tim Dillon - Funny

Tim Dillon does an hilarious ad read which could be a wind-up of Erika Kirk. You've got to laugh.