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Different column this week, stretching from Foxboro (Tom Brady) to San Diego out West (Dan Fouts), from an unhappy Dolfan in the Southeast (Daniel Tosh) to Russell Wilson in the Land of Opportunity in the Northwest (Seattle), from a hotel in Oakland to a bar in D.C., from a hockey rink in New York to the busiest building in North America (Staples Center in Los Angeles) … well, let’s just get on with it.

***

Last of the (New England) Mohicans, and he’s not planning to leave anytime soon.

Matt Light retired the other day. Peyton Manning plays for Denver now. This means that Tom Brady is the lone member of an exclusive club.

Sept. 30, 2001. Ninety players dressed for the first start of Brady’s career, against the Indianapolis Colts, at the rickety old Foxboro Stadium on a cloudy and windy Sunday afternoon. Eighty-nine played. And Tom Brady, 34, is the only man who suited up that day who still plays for the Patriots, and one of just two left from that game overall, with Colts long-snapper Justin Snow the other. (Notes for you sticklers: Reggie Wayne was inactive that day, and he still plays for the Colts. Kevin Faulk had 11 touches that day, but he’s an unrestricted free agent and doesn’t play — yet — for the Patriots this year.)

Look at the turnover, less than 11 years after the first start of Brady’s career. It’s Brady and Bill Belichick against the world now.

"Well,” Brady said Thursday afternoon, trying to figure out what it meant but not sounding at all surprised about it, "Matt called me a while ago and told me what he was planning to do, and I’ve called him every week since then trying to talk him out of it. He had such a great year for us. But there was no way I was going to be able to talk him out of it. He’ll be a tough player to replace. But, you know, every year in this game, there’s a lot of change.”

Except with one guy. One guy living a bicoastal life, married to one of the most famous women in the world, with two kids, and with a coach who’s not very concerned with all of that stuff.

Who can know now, but it’s going to be interesting to see if Brady outlasts Belichick. Because Belichick has been coaching in the NFL since Carlton Fisk willed the 12th-inning home run fair in the ’75 World Series — actually, he’s been coach a few months longer than that — and, amazing as it seems, Belichick is three years shy of 40 seasons as an NFL head coach or assistant. Not to get sidetracked, but this will be Belichick’s 38th year as an NFL coach. Don Shula coached for 36.

Now, Belichick announced his new coaching staff last week, and it includes his son Steve as a coaching assistant. So Belichick, who just turned 60, will likely be around for a while to show the kid the ropes. But you get the impression talking to Brady that he’d like to be around longer than a while.

"My wife [Gisele Bundchen] said to me, ‘When I met you [in 2006], you said you wanted to play 10 more years. How come that number never goes down?’ It’s that I love the game. I love the game. I’m going to play until they tell me they don’t want me anymore.”

Coming off a season with 13 wins, a career-best 5,235 passing yards and 39 touchdown passes (second-best in his career), he won’t be evicted from the lineup soon.

"I just met with coach Belichick this morning,” Brady said. "I still feel like I’m in my first year trying to prove myself. There’s no entitlement around coach Belichick. I’ve got to be the best guy for him to keep playing me. When I’m not, someone else will play.”

I’ve wanted to ask Brady about one play in the Super Bowl since the game was played. Early in the fourth quarter, with New England up 17-15, Brady escaped traffic in the pocket, faded right, and threw the ball 54 yards in the air, aiming for tight end Rob Gronkowski. The ball was underthrown by four to six yards, and New York linebacker Chase Blackburn intercepted it.

"Has anything happened to your arm, or your arm strength, that prevented you from throwing that ball where you wanted it?” I asked.

"No,” he said. "It was a bad throw. Bad throw. You hope your bad throws don’t come at big times or really hurt the team, but that one did. Bad throw, bad decision.”

I don’t think it was a bad decision at all. I thought it was a good decision and a good matchup — the athletic Gronkowski on the not-so-athletic Blackburn. It was just underthrown. I could hear the disappointment about the play in Brady’s voice, and I don’t blame him for that. He had to watch that play on replay and say, Are you kidding me? Chase Blackburn in coverage and I can’t get it over that guy’s head?

"I can throw the ball today as far as I’ve ever been able to throw it,” Brady said. "That’s not the issue there. [Brett] Favre threw it great in his last year or so. Jamie Moyer’s still getting people out. That’s not a problem.”

Brady called the other day to discuss one of the things he’s felt strongly about for years — an organization called Best Buddies, a volunteer movement that promotes personal and professional relationships and work opportunities for intellectually and developmentally disabled people. Brady’s been attending the major Boston fundraiser since 2002, and his support has helped the cause raise millions.

"This is not the hip, cool cause of the day,” said Best Buddies founder Anthony Kennedy Shriver. "But Tom has been huge in helping us build our brand. I think he saw an underserved population, and he saw an organization with a commitment to help, and he’s been there for us to help us grow.”

"Anyone who takes part is never the same,” Brady said. "You can see how important this is in so many people’s lives. It’s a great feeling for me to be able to give back to a community that’s been so wonderful to me.”

Brady plays in a touch football game on June 1 at Harvard Stadium, then takes part in the 100-mile bike ride from Boston to Hyannis June 2 with several Patriots and local celebs. Last year, Belichick made the bike ride. For free tickets to the Friday night game, go to hpchallenge2012.org/tickets, and for information on joining the bike ride, go to hpchallenge2012.org.

"For as long as I’m here in Boston, and beyond, I’ll spread the message,” Brady said.

As for how long that will be, Brady says all the right things — he’d love to play his entire career in New England, but he’s got to earn his spot every year. He saw what just happened with Peyton Manning, and he knows that might be something he faces one day. "That’s a great example of how sometimes true professionals have to move on,” he said. "Nothing surprises me anymore in the NFL.”

It’s unlikely Brady moves on, but it’s not impossible. Brady knows if it can happen to Manning, it can happen to him, especially with a bottom-line guy like Belichick making the calls.

***

This was a weekend for the Tryout Guys. Guys like Wayne Dorsey.

Imagine you’ve been playing football since you were 9. You’re an inner-city kid, and you play basketball too, but you love football, and once you get to high school, you dream about one day playing in the NFL, not the NBA. You go to a junior college, then an SEC school, and the dream seems close. But you don’t get drafted, as you thought you might.

You don’t get signed as undrafted free agent, as you think you would. And you wonder: Is this it? The end of the line? Then you hear the NFL has expanded team rosters from 80 to 90. You hear most teams are having players in for tryouts, and at the end of the tryout, they might sign some of them to the 90-man roster, and 320 more players than a year ago will get to have their NFL dreams extended through a real training camp.

But there’s a catch. At these three-day tryout camps, you won’t be scrimmaging. You won’t be playing full-speed with pads. You’ll have helmets and jerseys and shorts and spikes, and you’ll have to make the best impression you can without going live. At the end of the three-day camp, maybe you’ll get signed. Maybe you won’t. And if you don’t, well, you can continue to work out and keep the faith that some team that liked you a little in college will call one day. In the back of your mind, though, you’ll know it’s probably time to start your life’s work.

The Oakland Raiders had 30 of those trial guys at their weekend rookie camp, Thursday night through Sunday afternoon. One of those men was Ole Miss defensive end Wayne Dorsey, from the tough streets of Baltimore.

Dorsey started playing Pop Warner football in Baltimore when he was 9. "I was always one of the biggest kids,” Dorsey said from his Oakland hotel Sunday afternoon. "So I was a defensive lineman then and stayed there through high school and college.” He went to a New York prep school after high school, then to a Mississippi junior college for two years, then to Mississippi for two years.

This weekend was the Ole Miss graduation weekend, and he badly wanted to be there for his parents’ sake as much as his; but he was about three weeks from finishing his final class toward his bachelor’s in psychology. He’ll finish, but in the last few weeks, he’s had a few other things on his mind — like doing everything he could to be an NFL player.

Dorsey, 6-foot-6 and 272 pounds, was a late-round prospect until last Oct. 15, when a freak accident happened in a game against Alabama. A teammate stepped on his arm and two bones were broken severely. He couldn’t work out for several months, and by the time he felt well enough to work out, he was off every team’s radar. "I believe I would have put up great numbers for the season,” Dorsey said, "but I got hurt. It was disappointing, but that’s how life goes sometimes.”

The only team he worked out for before the draft was Baltimore, but the Ravens didn’t think enough of him to offer him a free-agent deal. Nor did any other team. But several teams were interested in offering him a tryout. Not that tryouts are totally new; the Patriots have done them for years, and invited a few players over the years to training camp. But this year, the numbers are way up because of the roster expansion. Tampa Bay called, and Dorsey went to the Bucs’ rookie camp last weekend. After three days, the Bucs said thanks but no thanks; Dorsey went home to Baltimore.

Then the Giants called. The Saints called. He thought he’d go to New Orleans and try out. On Monday, Oakland called. New coach. New administration. Compared to the Giants and Saints, it seemed like the land of opportunity. Dorsey flew to Oakland Thursday. He took a physical and met the coaches Thursday. The Raiders gave him No. 94 to wear.

On Friday and Saturday, he had classroom work, drills on the field, and practice in the afternoon; the coaches wanted to see how much he could remember from what he’d been taught that morning. He studied at night. The final practice was Sunday morning at 11, and after that, coach Dennis Allen and GM Reggie McKenzie were going to call in the tryout guys who’d made it.

"I didn’t know what would happen,” Dorsey said. "A couple of times, coaches told me watching the film that I did the right thing, and I knew it could come down to whether I got my assignment right or not. I just tried all weekend to work hard, stay humble and play the game I love to the best of my ability. You think about things, and you know it’s a numbers game, and you just think, ‘I hope they have room for me.’ ”

Dorsey and six other tryout players were brought into a room at the Raiders’ practice facility. McKenzie told them they’d impressed the coaches, and the seven men in the room would be offered contracts and given the chance to make the team.

Seven dreams alive. Twenty-three dreams extinguished.

"Relief,” said Dorsey. "That’s all I felt. Relief that I’d have the opportunity to compete for a roster spot. You know, you always have the thought that creeps into the back of your mind that if this doesn’t work out, what are you going to do. You talk to the other tryout guys, and it’s a thought for all of us.”

Dorsey thanked Allen. He thanked McKenzie. Then he went to sign an NFL contract. Then he went to his hotel and called his mother, Cathy. It was, after all, Mother’s Day. He had called his mom that morning, wishing her a happy day and telling her, "Hopefully my next call will come as a member of the Oakland Raiders."

His mom was at a family gathering for the holiday. When he told them, "I’m an Oakland Raider,” there was much rejoicing in Baltimore. His mother said: "This is the best Mother’s Day gift I could have gotten.”

And Wayne Dorsey, back in his hotel room, had work to do. Today the Raiders begin their Organized Team Activities (OTAs), and Dorsey would have to dig into his playbook to study a new defense — a defense he apparently understood well enough to earn kudos in three days of weekend work. He’d survived the first gauntlet. The next one will be tougher. From 90 men to 53, when he was neither drafted nor a preferred free agent … Dorsey knows the odds. He also knows all he ever wanted was a chance, and here it is.

"Today is the closing of one chapter of my life, the college chapter,” he said. "Now it’s on to the pro chapter. Now I’m going to try to make an NFL roster here. I’m going to remain humble, trust in God, work every day. This is the chance I’ve always wanted.”

The United Nations has adopted global guidelines for rich countries buying land in developing nations.

The voluntary rules call on governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples who use the land.

It is estimated that 200m hectares, an area eight times the size of Britain, has been bought or leased over the past decade, much of it in Africa and Asia.

But aid agencies warn it will be very difficult to ensure the guidelines are implemented everywhere.

AFP quoted Clara Jamart from Oxfam as saying this was just a first step and urging caution.

"Governments have no obligation to apply these measures," she said.

There has been growing concern about so-called land grabs, when foreign governments or companies buy large areas of land to farm.

In Africa countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone have all signed major land deals with foreign investors.

It is hoped this new agreement will secure access to land, fisheries and forests for millions of poor people who have historically used the land.

The document took three years to draw up and calls on governments to be transparent about land deals, consult local communities and defend women's rights to own land.

It also emphasises the responsibility of businesses and multinational corporations to respect human rights when they move in to an area.

Problems can arise because in many parts of Africa local farmers, herders and gatherers do not have any formal documents for the land they use, which is often owned by the state.

Authorities often argue that big international deals bring investment and new technology to a region, benefiting local people.

But this is not always the reality and human rights organisations have highlighted cases where tens of thousands of people have been forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands to make way for foreign investors.

By NINIEK KARMINI | AP

Published: May 13, 2012 17:31
Updated: May 13, 2012 17:31

JAKARTA: Indonesian special forces and professional climbers scaled down a treacherous ravine on a volcano face Sunday in search of the missing flight recorder that could explain the deadly crash of a Russian-made jetliner.

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 had 45 people aboard when it crashed into Mount Salak on Wednesday during a flight intended to woo potential Indonesian airline buyers. All aboard are presumed dead and helicopters have been ferrying remains to Jakarta, the capital, for identification since Saturday.

Top civil aviation official Herry Bakti Gumay says Indonesian and Russian investigators were searching for the black box Sunday in a ravine near where the plane’s scattered wreckage was found on the slopes of the long-dormant volcano 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Jakarta.

The Superjet is Russia’s first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago.

Wednesday’s ill-fated flight was a demonstration for Indonesian fast-expanding domestic airlines that the manufacturer hoped would buy the jet.

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The paucity of hotel tech offerings, particularly when it comes to internet access, has become a common bugbear for guests — with many objecting to paying a hefty surcharge for a service they’d get for the price of a latte in a local coffee shop.

See also: Why are we still paying for hotel Wi-Fi?

But that looks to be changing, as a new generation of hotels embraces technology in all aspects from check-in to check-out in a deliberate strategy to appeal to tech-savvy clientele.

“Technology is increasingly becoming a brand differentiator for hotels and chains which want to identify with a certain market,” says Katherine Doggrell, editor of Hotel Analyst Distribution & Technology.

The type of guest drawn to technology and smart design is an attractive demographic to target, “not least because they’re equipped to spread the word,” says Doggrell.

“The great leveler for the hotel sector has been social media,” she adds. “Small, boutique hotels can afford to compete at the same level as the big, global operators, and without having what can be a stifling corporate structure in place, they can develop identities which are attractive to consumers and set themselves apart.”

Check-in

Hotels such as New York’s Andaz Wall Street and Andaz 5th Avenue, and The Upper House in Hong Kong, have done away with the traditional check-in altogether. Instead, at the Andaz hotels, guests are greeted by a host bearing an iPad, which they can use to check in over a glass of wine in the lobby. If they’re in a rush, the host — who acts as a personal concierge on call via text message throughout the stay — can accept payment and produce a room key via the iPad en route to the room.

“Being able to cater to your guests’ needs during their stay through their own technology will become the norm, and is a great way to make sure they use the bar,” says Doggrell.

At the Upper House, the high-tech experience begins at the airport, with internet connectivity in the hybrid vehicle that ferries guests to the hotel. The hotel’s “paperless” approach allows it to not only “streamline guest arrival and departure experiences,” but has environmental benefits as well, says Dean Winer, Swire Hotels’ Hong Kong area general manager.

Room keys

Hotels such as the Las Vegas Aria at CityCenter provide RFID (radio frequency identification) keys that unlock the room door when flashed over a sensor. Once inside, the system recognizes if it is a guest’s first time in the room, and “greets” them by lighting the room, parting the curtains to showcase the cityscape or mountain views, and turning on the television to display a list of controls for guests to personalize. The hotel makes a boast of its internet connectivity, promising download speeds up to eight times faster than other hotels — all included in the room rate, of course.

In-room entertainment

“Increasingly, technology is less about what hotels provide and more about accommodating what consumers bring with them,” says Doggrell. “They want to be able to connect their iPads to the existing TV, for example, and watch content they’ve bought with them, rather than use the pay-per-view.”

The JW Marriott Seoul‘s offerings are an example, offering what it calls the remote Jack Pack in guest rooms. This single-source interface allows guests to control audio and video and play files from their MP3 players or laptops through the room’s 40 inch flatscreen TV.

See also: Marriott mogul’s 55 years of hotels

London’s Ecclestone Square Hotel — as well as featuring in-wall docking and charging points for guest’s devices — provides visitors with an in-room iPod2 to play with, and a library of 3D Blu-rays (and accompanying 3D eyewear) to watch on the room’s 46-inch television. If that isn’t a big enough screen, the hotel’s bar and library areas are equipped with 103-inch 3D screens.

Activities

The wired approach does not have to be limited to the hotel grounds. The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo was the first in the city to offer walking tours of the surrounding neighborhoods and the hotel’s own art collection through a guided iPod commentary.

Guests can request complimentary use of an iPod to embark on a tour taking in the Imperial Gardens, a major shopping area and other sites along the way, or opt for a tour of the hotel’s 1000-odd works of art.

Bookings

Doggrell says that many larger hotel groups, such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts, are increasingly investing in apps for the mobile market, which allow users to find nearby hotels and check their room rates. Doing so allows them to “not only to capture more bookings, particularly in the growing last-minute market — but also to remain in contact with their customers,” she says.

A mother has appeared in court charged with two counts of murder after the deaths of her two children in south-west London.

Mason, a 10-week-old boy, and his 14-month-old sister Lily were found dead in the family home in Killarney Road, Wandsworth, on Wednesday evening.

Felicia Boots, 34, was remanded in custody until Tuesday by South Western magistrates.

Post-mortem tests have so far given no formal cause of death for the children.

More examinations are planned. Police officers believe the children were smothered.

Ms Boots was charged with murder in the early hours of Saturday.

She was remanded to appear at the Old Bailey.

Around two-thirds of Finland is covered in forest and about a tenth by water.

In the far north, the sun does not set for around 10 weeks during the 'White Nights' of summer, while in winter it does not rise above the horizon for nearly eight weeks.

Hundreds of years of Swedish rule were followed by a further century of Russian control before independence in 1917, and the country displays distinctive elements of the Scandinavian and Russian legacy.

Independence failed to stem the demands of Finland's giant Soviet neighbour, and World War II saw fierce fighting along Finland's eastern border.

Finnish troops mounted a vigorous response to Soviet forces and stalled their advance, but the country was eventually forced to cede 10% of its territory and pay extensive war reparations to Moscow.

Throughout the Cold War Finland's neutrality depended on a de-facto Soviet veto on its foreign and defence policy, a status dubbed "Finlandisation".

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s allowed Finland to step out of the Cold War shadow. It applied for membership of the EU soon after its friendship treaty with the Soviet Union became void in 1991, becoming a full member in 1995.

Finland is the only Nordic EU member to use the euro as the national currency.

The country spends heavily on education, training and research – investment which pays dividends by delivering one of the best-qualified workforces in the world.

This has been a key factor in the development of a modern, competitive economy in which an advanced telecommunications sector has been added to the traditional timber and metals industries.

Jenson Button drivers his McLaren Mercedes during a first free practice at the Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Friday, May 11, 2012. The Formula One race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

By REUTERS

Published: May 11, 2012 21:32
Updated: May 11, 2012 21:42

BARCELONA: McLaren’s Jenson Button set the pace in Spanish Grand Prix practice on Friday with half the field separated by little more than a second.

With the frontrunners all trying out new car developments on a hot and sunny day, the 2009 world champion lapped the Circuit de Catalunya with a best time of one minute 23.399 seconds set on the soft Pirelli tires.

Button warned however that he was still struggling to extract the maximum from the hard tires.

“It was a good afternoon but a tough one,” he told reporters. “We still don’t quite understand the hard tyre, I just can’t get them working. I just can’t get the temperature into the tires.”

The top 10 cars were all within a second and 12th-placed Mexican Sergio Perez, in a Sauber, lapped only 1.023 off Button’s best.

Red Bull’s double world champion and overall leader Sebastian Vettel, who won in Barcelona last year, was second in both sessions.

“The wind played a role today,” he said. “You could see some cars going off the track and the asphalt temperatures can go high here which makes the car slide.

“It’s similar here to last year and it’s likely we will see a few stops on Sunday during the race,” added Vettel who made four stops in last year’s grand prix.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who gave his home fans what they wanted with the top time of 1:24.430 in the morning, was 14th after lunch. Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa was 11th.

Alonso is looking for big improvements in his car after tests in Italy last week ahead of the first European race of the season.

Ferrari have struggled to keep up with champions Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes despite Alonso’s win against the odds in a rain-hit Malaysian race in March and the Spaniard is now fifth overall.

So open is the championship, with four different winners in four races, the Ferrari driver is still only 10 points behind Vettel.

“I am confident we will do the job and with the updates the first signs are positive, we need to look more at the data but it looks as we suspected,” said Alonso.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, winner in China in April, was third fastest in the afternoon with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton fourth. Lotus team mates Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were fifth and sixth.

Indian Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a lap time in the HRT after stopping on the track in the afternoon while Australian Mark Webber went through the gravel in his Red Bull and was seventh fastest.

Webber has been on pole at the last two Spanish Grands Prix, winning in 2010.

The day got off to a low-key start with little track action and Alonso keeping his fans waiting for more than an hour before he set a serious time.

Vettel, winner of the previous race in Bahrain, had been quickest until then.

While Ferrari assessed their upgrades, McLaren were trying out a new raised nose after their strong start to the season tailed off. Button was fourth fastest before lunch.

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas impressed with the fifth best time in the morning after taking Brazilian Bruno Senna’s place for the session.

French reserve Jules Bianchi took Paul Di Resta’s Force India for the morning while American Alexander Rossi made his Caterham debut and Spaniard Dani Clos replaced Karthikeyan.

The arrival of Clos will go down as a footnote in Formula One as the first time a Spanish team had run two Spanish drivers at a Spanish Grand Prix.

Rossi was the first American driver to take part in a grand prix weekend since Scott Speed left Toro Rosso in 2007.

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