They think it's the Streisand Effect, I can't Imogen why!

I am not breaking any injunction by reporting the fact that the most boring joke on Twitter, repeated ad infinitum over the past 48 hours (at least 196,000 times according to Google), is Ryan Giggs is suing Twitter I Can't Imogen why!

This is supposed to be an example of the Streisand Effect according to Wikepedia.

The Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely.

The Footballer who has taken Twitter to court, is refuting rather than accepting the Streisand Effect.

I had heard the name mentioned three weeks ago, chatting in the pub a few days ago everybody used the footballer's name – everybody knew who he was!

By naming Twitter in Yesterday's injunction the footballer was not causing a Streisand Effect, because that effect was already old news.

The thousands of I am Spartacus tweet drive to try and invalidate the footballer's attempts to find out who initially named and shamed him are futile!

The first tweet that named the footballer is the only evidence that we Spartacus types have for repeating the footballer's name. If the first tweeter was wrong – all 196 thousand of us are also wrong, and we have been made mugs of!

If that first Tweet that alerted us to the footballer's identity is correct, then it came from a very small privileged circle of people. Even the judge, before the story broke, didn't know the identity of the plaintiff.

So who was the individual who leaked the footballer's identity, and broke the injunction and Tweeter's T&C's by so doing?

Somebody who took the internet community for fools!

An MSM Journo who is on his / her way to gaol, I suspect!

I hope that s/he is caught and severely punished!

Yes! For Rugby

Despite the best efforts of Yes for Wales and Untrue Lies there doesn't seem much enthusiasm about debating the pros and cons of moving to part four of the Government of Wales Act (2006).

There is however one question that can always guarantee to raise Welsh passions and to divide our nation into two separate camps: What is the National Game of Wales – Rugby or Football?

By being led by the Chief Executive of the WRU and by its excessive use of rugby images is Yes for Wales in danger of scoring an own goal by alienating those who would vote Football in a vote that really mattered?

Know your own balls

The news that John Hartson is suffering from complications of testicular cancer is very sad. I wish him well and hope that he beats it.

Here is a video that explains how to check yourself:



Unfortunately some of the most at risk group will not be able to view this video. It is age restricted because it shows real testicles so people between 15 and 21 are not allowed to view it due to US obscenity laws!

Testicular cancer is most prevalent amongst young men aged 15 - 35, so a large section of those who need to know how to check their own balls are denied on line video advice! That is immoral, disgusting and unacceptably obscene!

YouTube should know better.

If you are a boy who is old enough to masturbate, you must know how to check for TC! Ask your Dad, your uncle, big bro, the man next door - anybody (sensible) to enable you to view a TC check video.

If you are too embarrassed to check your own balls for TC, you could really Die from Embarrassment.

England or South Africa?

I am not very interested in sports. I have never quite understood the significance of the fact that my country is better than your country because a dozen or so of my compatriots can kick, throw, head or bat a ball better than a dozen or so of your compatriots.

Having said that I am aware of how politically significant 1966 was. 1966 was important not just because England won the football World Cup, but that it was won by beating Germany. It was the real end of the two world wars. Had England won in 66 by beating France, Brazil, Sweden or Argentina, it wouldn't have been half as significant an event as beating Germany was.

Every England supporter over the age of 21 had been born during or before the war. They had known the feeling that England had won the wars in theory but had lost out in practice. 1966 proved that England WAS better than Germany.

1966 was also important because it showed that England was a nation and not an euphemism for Britain as had been the case before. England beat the Fritz, alone in 66, without the help of Scotland, Wales or the Irish Unionists.

England won the rugby World Cup in 2003. England has probably more than a 50/50 chance of being the first country to win the cup twice in a row, but even two rugby World Cups wont add up to the significance of 1966.

But yet the thought that England might win is enough to send some of my sport loving acquaintances into fits of apoplexy - including those who claim to consider themselves to be more British than Welsh, they will be shouting for South Africa on Saturday rather than our neighbours who share this island with us. Why?

Gwe, Ceredig and Normal have written about British / Welsh identity recently and have all claimed that a dual identity is possible. Can they explain how this dual Welsh / British identity can also be so anti English?

I have little interest in the outcomes of sporting events, but as a quarter of my ancestry is English and none is South African, I wish England all the best for Saturday.

Which team will other Welsh bloggers support: England or South Africa? Let me know who and why in the comments