Virtua Team Talk

Here at Virtua we are renowned for being quite a sporty lot and some days, we must confess, the office looks like a cyclist’s convention. A recent news report though referred to a survey of sports activity relating to children and the findings were both surprising and a little alarming.

The survey of 1,500 children aged from six to fifteen found that almost a quarter (22%) of those surveyed had never run a distance of 400 metres. A third of the children questioned also said they did not own a bike, while three quarters (77%) had a games console and 68% had a mobile phone of their own. The survey concluded that in general terms a generation of British children are simply turning their backs on sport and physical activity in favour of ‘couch potato’ style living.

The survey, conducted by British Triathlon and Tata Steel, suggests 10% of children cannot ride a bike and 15% cannot swim. In the week before the poll was conducted in March, just 46% had ridden their bikes and 34% had swam the length of a pool, but 73% had played a video game. 15% of the children also said they had never played sport with their parents. Read the rest of this entry »

Today is going to be my lucky day!

Or maybe not…

It depends of course whether or not you believe there is such a thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ luck or whether everything is simply due to random chance.

A lot of people in the more technical and scientific professions tend to give more credence to ‘logic’ than luck. That is probably because working all day in a job that uses calculation and experiment to determine cause and effect does not have much time for such airy-fairy notions as ‘luck’. But then again how many of us could not admit that we have occasionally said things like “Hmm…that was a bit of luck!”

So, is there such a thing as a lucky person or having a lucky streak? And does a belief in good and bad luck play a part in whether we are prepared to take chances to get what we want? These are difficult questions to answer.

A Cambridge University psychologist, Dr Mike Aitken, is the co-creator of BBC Lab UK’s new “Big Risk Test” which has been designed to explore the types of people who are likely to be a “risk-takers” or “risk-averse”. Lab UK’s Big Risk Test takes about 25 minutes to complete and includes attitudes to luck. The tests ask users to weigh risks of activities such as smoking, air travel and gardening. Read the rest of this entry »

The recent London marathon saw Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai set a new course record in winning the men’s race with a time of two hours, four minutes and 40 seconds beating the previous best by 30 seconds. This was the fourth fastest in history and a new course record! And, I should add, our very own Brian Watt ran the race this year – his 17th London Marathon in a row in a time of 4:12. Congratulations Brian!

Every time the marathon comes around the same old intriguing question will continue to be asked by everyone from sport commentators to experts in the medical profession – can anyone ever break the mythical ‘sub two-hour marathon’?

A marathon is an incredible feat of endurance by any standards. It is a staggering 26.2 miles, or 41.2km, in 120 minutes. It’s not easy – and only the fittest will make it across the finishing line within a reasonable time. But expert opinion on whether a sub two hour marathon is ever possible is very divided.

For some it is the next great sporting barrier to be broken – but for others it will always remain beyond the limit of human capability and endurance. So could it possibly happen during the 2012 Olympics? Unlikely.

The current world record holder, 38 year old Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, who completed the 2008 Berlin Marathon in 2:03:59, has no doubt that it could be done – but does not think it will happen in the next few years. His belief is that the first sub two-hour marathon will need 20 to 25 years, but it will definitely happen. And Britain’s top woman runner and world women’s record holder Paula Radcliffe agrees.

“Records are there to be broken” she has said, “And people are going to be shooting for it. But someone is going to have to run really hard to beat this one. That’s the kind of mindset it will take.”

But even the thought that it could be broken within a generation causes excitement. To run a marathon in two hours would mean running each mile at a lung bursting four minute 35 second pace. The reigning Olympic men’s champion, 24-year-old Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru, who ran the distance in 2:06:32 in Beijing, believes it is beyond his own abilities. Another sceptic is Glenn Latimer, one of the leading authorities on marathons in the USA. He doesn’t believe it will happen in his lifetime commenting: “You watch these great athletes up close like Gebrselassie and you can see the strain. He looks magnificent through 20, 21, 22 miles and then the body starts to break itself down and maintaining pace is hard enough.”

As the marathon gets closer to the magic mark though, race directors will be dangling huge financial carrots to attract the best runners.

The general belief is that the record will come down to two hours and two minutes, at which point it will plateau. But then again, 60 years ago, people were saying the same thing about the four-minute mile, before Roger Bannister came along.

The science of endurance running is highly complex, but physiologically, there are three key factors which determine how quickly someone can run:

- Their maximum rate of oxygen consumption, known as “VO2 max.” - Their running efficiency – how quickly they can cover the ground. - Their endurance capability – what percentage of their VO2 max they can sustain.

That being said, looking at the progression of the marathon world record is fascinating – reducing the record from 2:16 to 2:12 took seven years, 2:12 to 2:08 took 19 years, and cutting it from 2:08 to the current mark of 2:03:59 took 24 years. Using this data a professor at the University of Montreal has calculated that the first sub two-hour marathon will be run in the year 2028.

My opinion is that it we’ll have some great races over the coming years as we get closer to the two hour mark and it starts to seem possible. That’s what makes individual sport so brilliant – watching the struggle as people push themselves further than even they think they could. Whether that is an elite Kenyan trying to break the world record or an age-grouper trying to set a new personal best the struggle is the same and it is the stuff of sport.

Do I think it will happen?  Yes – and sooner than people think. Every sport now and again gets an athlete whose physiology or psychology is so different that they take it to a new level in one generation. Paula Radcliffe knocked three and a half minutes off the previous world record in her early career. Just think of the change in their sport caused by Usain Bolt, Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods.

Is there a teenager training in Kenya today who will do that to the Marathon? Quite possibly!

I think I’d better start training soon…

As the big day draws near for the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the internet is not surprisingly buzzing with royal wedding stories.  For many people the big day is nothing more than an unexpected extra “day off” but for ardent Royal watchers and wedding fans the imminent wedding is top of the hot gossip list.

One burning question keeping the internet chat lines busy is whether the nearly 2,000 people invited to Westminster Abbey when Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot will behave themselves according to royal protocol?

If you’re not sure what royal protocol means then you need to consult an etiquette expert. Etiquette experts are already doing a roaring trade offering wedding attendees advice on everything from how to approach a member of the royal family to whether or not it is acceptable to tweet in church. Etiquette rules are designed to make social occasions flow more smoothly but history shows that gaffs are common!

According to St. James’s Palace the wedding guest list is an eclectic mix of European royalty, charity workers, military personnel, ‘A’ list celebrities, diplomats and friends and relations of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Some guests will undoubtedly have been born into families that teach children to curtsey as soon as they can walk – but others may need a bit of help navigating the niceties the big day demands.

While invited guests are studying the guidebook to best manners, rumour has it that some of the ‘uninvited’ are already plotting ways to get around security and into the action at the wedding. The Daily Mirror is even predicting that pop star Katy Perry has made plans to crash the nuptials of the future king and queen and so far she is not denying it.

The entire royal ceremony is apparently going to be a mecca for social media enthusiasts. The whole event including the vows, blessings and all musical accompaniments is going to be made available on iTunes and other digital-download sites just hours after the wedding service. It will also be available on CD, cassette and even vinyl say the wedding organisers.

Not only that but, perhaps somewhat predictably, app developers have already started creating countless royal wedding-related smartphone applications.

At least a dozen smartphone apps are offering to give fans everything royal wedding related wherever they are located. So they can check the days and minutes until the big moment, save news and pictures about the royal couple and instantly share their favourite royal wedding gossip on social media networks. One iPhone app called ‘Alarm Royale’ – even lets people set their phone alarm clock to a wedding march, ‘God Save the Queen’ or ‘Rule Britannia‘. When they wake up each day the app also reveals a new amazing fact about the royal couple. Already people all over the world are downloading the apps from places like the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.

Now call me old fashioned if you will, but somehow I don’t think I’ll be gate crashing the royal wedding – and I don’t think I’m going to change my ring tone to play “Here comes the Bride” either. Sure it’s a big day for the media and all the razzamatazz that goes with it, but for me it’s a day off from the office so I’ll probably slip away from our street party to go out for an enjoyable ride on my bike.

Unless of course I find a gilt edged invitation on my doormat that is!

Virtua UK Limited, a leading Swindon based supplier of expertise to the telecoms industry has set up a triathlon club. The club is made up of the employees of the company and is a part of wider scheme, invigorating the company‘s work culture with fun and sports.

Andy Watts said: “The tri-club has been set up in response to the fact that we now have around a dozen members of staff interested in the sport and even considering race entry.  As keen tri-athletes ourselves, the directors wanted to help develop staff members’ interest in the sport and allow them to progress beyond their own training regimes.  It is also part of our wider health and safety policy to encourage our employees to take up sports and remain healthy.”

Love for sports, in particular has been an integral part of Virtua’s growth as all three directors are keen athletes. Two of the company’s directors, Andy Watts and Brian Watt have competed in the Ironman triathlon in Switzerland, whilst Brian has also taken part in the London marathon 16 times in a row.  Brian and Rob Brown (the third director) are also currently in training for a 250 mile charity bike ride for Multiple Sclerosis Research.

To help team members train and improve the company has also established a leader board in the office for times on the local measured 10 mile time trial route.

When you are responsible, as I am, for your company’s expenditure it doesn’t take long to notice how the costs of little things like items of stationery soon mount up.

For example, did anyone else notice happen to notice the fascinating revelation made this week by the Royal Mail that their postal workers get through a staggering two million red rubber bands per day? In fact, over the past five years the organisation has spent almost £5m on four billion rubber bands which are used to bundle letters together. The figures released under the Freedom of Information Act said that the amount the postal organisation spends on bands has increased by 40% in five years.

This is such a huge number that the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign has called for their use to be reduced because wild animals can choke on them. Apparently the Royal Mail responded that the bands are very necessary but they now use biodegradable ones.

In 2009, about 13,000 discarded bands were collected by individuals and sent in to the Keep Britain Tidy charity who then delivered them to the Royal Mail’s headquarters. A spokesman from Keep Britain Tidy said: “We accept that dropping an elastic band is hardly the worst littering offence in the world, but none-the-less it is litter. The bands look terrible strewn on the floor and pose a choking danger to pets and wildlife.”

A Royal Mail manager responded that “The Royal Mail regularly reminds postmen and women about the importance of avoiding litter.”

Well it may not be the most exciting topic of conversation in the world but I’m sure there must be other uses for these ubiquitous pieces of modern day life. In fact I’d like to hear from any of our readers who have great ideas for what to do with rubber bands. We might even offer a prize for the best suggestion.

Here are my ideas for starters…

10 suggested uses for a red rubber band:

1. I’m a keen cyclist so a rubber band is always a handy substitute for a lost cycle clip.
2. Madonna wears a red Kabbalah wrist band which cost her £26 from the Kabbalah Centre in London. A rubber band would have cost her nothing.
3. Why not collect them? Consider them as collector’s items of the future. Try to find as many different coloured one’s as possible and stick them in an album.
4. Fire them in the air to indicate support of someone’s great idea in the office.
5. Consider the bending down and the picking up of rubber bands off the floor as a form of exercise. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep up a regular rhythm.
6. Use them to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Red is considered lucky by many in China and is worn during festivities.
7. Make a red rubber band ball – like a cricket ball. Check how well it bounces.
8. Give your child’s Barbie or Barbie-style doll a fetching red belt, or a Rambo-style red headband. (Or yourself for that matter)
9. Wrap one around your face at a party. If you angle it correctly you can create the impression of having a pig’s snout. Always good for a laugh.
10. Gather as many together as possible and then sell them back to the Royal Mail for a cheaper price than their current supplier.

I’m nothing if not creative…

The rules used to be so simple.

Every week, Monday to Friday, we’d all go to work wearing a smart suit with a collar and tie and then at the weekends we could revert to jeans and T shirts. Simple.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, the cities of Britain at rush hour were a vista of dark suits, sensible ties and shoes, bowler hats and umbrellas. A veritable army of briefcase carriers with folded copies of ‘The Times’ under one arm and a very stiff upper lip.

So what has happened to those predictable but reassuring days?

The contrast with today’s 2011 workplace is stark. Some, of course, blame the Americans and the Australians for starting the rather shocking trend of discarding the throat throttling tie and flinging it into the nearest bin in favour of the ‘cool’ and casual open necked look. Others blamed the arrival of more women in the workforce for the move to more casual and less sophisticated apparel.

Clearly something has changed. Slowly, gradually and almost imperceptibly we have all started to shift away from smart suits and ties to the new ‘smart casual’ look with even jeans, T-shirts and trainers starting to creep into the boardroom.

There are still many defenders of traditional dress codes though. Earlier this year UBS created uproar when it unveiled a 43-page dress code rulebook for staff. It soon backed down, however, in the face of mockery over its demand for women to wear skin coloured underwear and men to have monthly haircuts!

Not everyone laughed though. The Financial Times’ business commentator, Lucy Kellaway, wrote in her column: “Clad in my sloppy flannel pyjamas and fleece dressing gown, I’m looking again at the UBS booklet and thinking how crisp those lovely shirts look and marvelling at the wisdom of the advice. Rather than ‘Big Brother’ as some critics have claimed it smacks more to me of ‘Big Sister’ and a kindly, helpful one at that.”

Claire McCartney of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) thinks such prescriptive dress codes are becoming increasingly old-fashioned.

“There’s definitely a tendency for more and more employers to let their staff feel comfortable in what they are wearing” she commented, adding “Obviously there will always be limits to what is appropriate. But there is a wider acknowledgement that you don’t have to wear a suit to be smart.”

Many professions have been adopting “dress down Friday” for the last few years but the trend in the rather conservative financial services industry began on Wall Street with dress down Friday about 15 years ago. But doesn’t this rush towards chinos, shirts and jumpers signal a lowering of the tone and a loss of focus?

Viewpoints range widely. Some argue that Suits are nothing more than the unimaginative uniform of middle-aged men. Others believe they are smart and attractive and that it is the casual look that smacks of blandness and sloppiness. Many though, increasingly feel that the humble tie has finally had its day.

Some professions like waiters, policemen and lawyers still understand the value of looking the part. And I do have some sympathy. If you needed a good Accountant and found someone wearing beach shorts, a T-shirt with a garish logo and battered trainers, are you going to have same confidence in him as you would a smart suited professional looking person?

As far as I am concerned the way you dress for work is not a set of rules or things you do on particular days. It’s all about context. I believe that how you dress for a meeting reflects the relationship and respect you have for the people you are with. I like to wear a suit for customer meetings but I’ll only wear a tie if it really needs it. If we’re on works sites I, like all of our team, will wear a company branded polo shirt, hi-viz jacket and work trousers – because it’s smart and reflects a pride in our business and a respect for our customer.

And on a Friday (or any other day) I’ll dress down if that’s right for the meetings I have that day. So all in all I like to think that I dress appropriately for the occasion. My two teenage daughters though, tend to disagree. They think I get it wrong most of the time.

Apparently I never know when it’s not okay to wear cycling lycra…

In the spirit of not only providing all our readers with scintillating and stimulating news and anecdotes I recently came across this rather useful set of tips which I’m happy to share with you.

Have you ever accidentally dropped your mobile phone in the sink? Or accidentally left it in your trouser pocket and then your trousers got put into the washing machine? Or have you ever left your phone out in the rain? If any of these situations sound familiar then these tips are definitely for you!

Most people believe that a water damaged phone cannot be repaired and that they will simply have to purchase a new one but sometimes this need not be the case…

So here they are then. Some top tips you could try in order to try and save your phone:

1. If you are able to take the phone out of water quickly, there is a high possibility that your phone will not be permanently damaged.

2. If your phone is wet then do not switch it on. If you switch on the phone, a short circuit will take place which will internally damage the phone.

3. Make sure you remove the battery immediately to ensure there is no chance of a short circuit. To check whether your phone is water damaged or not you need to look for a white square or circle that can be present with or without red lines at the corner of the battery. If the lines are present in pink or red colour it means your phone is water damaged.

4. If it is a GSM phone, you need to quickly remove the SIM card so that you can take a backup of the contacts. This step is not applicable on CDMA phones.

5. Try to remove as much water or moisture as possible. You can do this by using a dry cloth or paper towel. Do not shake the phone while drying though because this can cause water movement inside the phone.

6. You can suck the water out of the inner inaccessible areas of the phone by using a vacuum cleaner. This step should only be performed if your phone is completely drenched with water though. Don’t use a hair dryer though. A dryer does not suck air but blows it. This could move water towards smaller components of the phone.

7. Place the phone in a bowl of uncooked rice overnight as rice has high affinity for absorbing moisture. You can also use a desiccant for the same purpose. Also make sure you frequently change the position of the phone so that the all the areas of the phone get dried equally.

8. You can also keep the phone on absorbent towels or any other absorbent material such as a napkin or paper towel.

9. After you have tried all the above steps and waited for 24 to 48 hours, you can re-insert the battery and try turning the phone on. If your phone does not start, you should connect the charger to the phone to charge the battery. If it still does not start, check whether the battery is faulty or not.

10. If you are knowledgeable about the internal components of the phone, you could try disassembling it. Once disassembled, you can dry each and every part of the phone gently. Then re-assemble the phone and see if the phone works or not.

11. If none of the above suggestions work then seek assistance from the professionals or face facts – it may be time to buy a new phone.

So there you go then – another useful service provided by Virtua!

As someone who works in the mobile phone industry I’m always amused by some of the stories I hear about how these wonders of modern technology are being used – or misused! Take the News this week for example. There was a feature about an aquarium in the Ukraine where a visitor accidentally dropped her phone while trying to photograph a crocodile.

Apparently visitor Rimma Golovko had stretched out her arm over the enclosure whilst trying to take a photograph of a large crocodile called Gena opening his mouth, but the phone slipped from her hand. Obviously Gena thought the falling mobile phone was a tasty titbit because quick as a flash (if you pardon the pun) he’d swallowed it.

According to the news report the aquarium staff did not believe Mrs Golovko’s complaint that her phone had been eaten – until it began ringing! Since the incident the fourteen year old crocodile has been refusing food and has become listless which has been causing concern for the aquarium. “He moves very little and swims much less than he used to” a staff member told the Associated Press news agency. Oleksandr Shushlenko, the aquarium’s chief vet, said that if Gena continues to refuse food he will be given an X-ray next week and could face surgery. Experts have tried to tempt Gena with live quail injected with a laxative, but he still would not eat. An operation would be a last resort though as the procedure would be difficult and operating on crocodiles is neither common practice or easy.

As for Mrs Golovko she is very upset about losing her new mobile. “It could have been a very dramatic shot” she said “But things didn’t work out as planned and now my lovely new phone is in the belly of a crocodile.” Mrs Golovko then added that she really does want her SIM card back as it contains other photographs and important contacts.

In my view I think it’s never a good idea to reach you arm out over the edge of an enclosure full of crocodiles – and certainly not if you are clutching a prized new mobile phone. The hapless visitor probably only wanted to take a quick photo but it now looks like Gena is the one with a real bellyache.

I wonder what Mrs Golovko told her friends when they tried to call her and got no answer. “Sorry I didn’t get your call. My mobile has been eaten by a crocodile.” Yeah, right.

I guess some people will now feel sorry for Mrs Golovko and no doubt others will feel sorry for the crocodile. Whatever the outcome of this rather strange state of affairs one thing is certain. The one thing they both have in common is that they were both obviously looking for the perfect snap!

You may have read in the news over the last few days about the embarrassing glitch that recently came to light with iPhones as the New Year dawned. Apparently a technical fault stopped the integrated alarm clock from going off leading to a lot of oversleeping.

Like it or loathe it the alarm clock has undoubtedly become an integral part of our life. For some it is the essential tool that stirs us from slumber and signals a new day filled with excitement and expectation but for others it is the lurking beast on the bedside cabinet waiting to shatter our pleasant dreams and plunge us into the unwelcome reality of another stressful day.

Whether your chosen alarm buzzes, bleeps, rings, plunges your addled brain into breakfast radio or whistles as it makes the tea it’s hard to imagine how modern society would get jolted into action each day without the assistance of the ubiquitous alarm clock.

Today our radios, ipods, digital watches, TV’s, phones and a welter of other gadgets and gizmo’s include an integral alarm clock to make sure we are never far away from the ability to program a nerve-shattering and irritating noise to arouse or alert us on cue.

Now users of the iPhone have had this reliance on technology brought home the hard way. The glitch on the Apple device somehow prevented its inbuilt alarm from going off causing panic stricken scenes across the globe.

Professor Jim Horne of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University commented:

“As long as there have been clocks of some description, there have been alarms. In pre-industrial times we used to have ‘waker-uppers’ who would go from house to house tapping on all the windows with poles to get everybody out of bed. In fact, the iPhone represents simply the latest incarnation of a device that has been with us, in a variety of guises, for centuries”.

Historians know that the ancient Greeks and Romans had quite sophisticated water-powered clocks, the flow of which could be measured and timed to give off a signal. In the seventh century the Chinese developed a device on the same principles which would strike at set hours. Then the invention of the pendulum in 1656 and the balance spring circa 1670 meant timekeeping could be more accurate than ever before. But still the alarm clock remained beyond the reach of the vast majority of the population until the late 19th century. It was the Industrial Revolution that sparked the widespread use of alarm clocks making them available to the masses so that workers could get to the factories at specific shift times.

These days it’s never been easier to get jolted into life by an alarm and that’s how 99% of the population manages to get up in the morning. Until it goes wrong that is.

As for me, I’ve got early morning swim training and school runs to deal with so I don’t get to miss an alarm very often. It would be nice to wake up naturally feeling refreshed and ready to face the new day without recourse to artificial timing aids. Modern society is ruled by the clock enough as it is – so why not look at the positive side of a failing alarm clock? Another hour in bed!

Now, where’s that iPhone snooze button…?