Month: February 2009

Macs are still a little expensive for me … although saying that, if expensive stuff lasts longer, then it can turn out cheaper because you’ve only bought 1 good thing instead of 3 bad ones.

I’m going to have to check out Linux again 🙂 Not really looked at it since shoe horning one of the early dists on to a 4Mb K5. And I just happen to have the carcass of my old PC lying idle …

Bit of a farce today …

I started this morning looking to get the Task Of The Day for work done as rapidly as I could get away with doing it so I’d be clear for going home early enough to let me watch the cricket all afternoon. Good plan … Part A got done handily, even with a few distractions coming in. And working flexible hours will allow me to catch up through next week.

Part B is a different story. 10 years ago, Test Cricket saw its shortest game get called off after just 10 overs and 1 ball, after England batsmen got hit 7 times on a dangerous pitch. What can happen is that the strip of ground that a game is played on becomes unstable, with the bounce either going low or high. Low bounce isn’t so much an issue, high bounce isn’t that great an issue if it’s consistent and predictable. It becomes dangerous when balls of a length where you’d expect the bounce to go hip high, these go over your head (if you’re lucky!) That’s what cricketers call Variable bounce and without the protective gear, it can be lethal. And even with the protective gear, it leads to broken bones.

That’s what happened 10 years ago, today is a little different. On this day, the English and West Indian teams have arrived to find a ground that is totally unfit for games of any kind. The problem is the footing … So much sand in the pitch to attempt to get decent drainage that when the bowlers run up to bowl, their feet slip out from under them. Holes being dug as they go. Potential for ankles to get twisted and ligaments to get snapped. Memories of the English bowler Simon Jones who suffered a horrific knee injury in conditions like this in Brisbane 3 years ago, an injury he has not fully recovered from yet.

I’ve played in conditions like this ! It’s not fun. And you breathe a hefty sigh of relief when the game ends and you’re physically intact. There’s a ground I started refusing to play on because the square just wasn’t up to it. Instead of sand, this place suffered from ground which turned quagmire. Almost every game I played there usually had me getting a leg muscle explode on me. That’s from my legs over adjusting from the little slips and slides caused by poor footing … and this is with spiked shoes on. It’s also the ground where I broke my nose, although that was utterly my fault, not the pitches 🙂

So what’s happening over in Antigua now ? No play today, so I’ve been having the talking head coverage on in the background while trying to slog more through Matter by Iain M Banks. (It’s his new Culture novel and sadly, I’m finding it hard work – glacial pace compared to his usual). No more play today and I don’t think there will be any play at this ground for months (it’s that bad).

I don’t think cricket will be distracting me away from the 6 Nations Rugby this weekend. A shame, I’d have liked to see England get back on terms.

More here on the Cricinfo site : http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wiveng2009/content/current/story/390647.html

PS Looking on the bright side, this is a game that won’t be ruined by the antics of one of the umpires … Cricket is currently suffering from a clutch of very poor umpires at international level and the worst of them is due to perform in this game.

Addon – extra bit for CQ who is probably wondering what I mean about a lady singing for Mercy 🙂 Here we go : Youtube link. Lots of potential with this particular one.

Or have we moved away from that …

I’ve been watching with concern some of the news stories about a certain Crazy Person who’s been trying to spread his own brand of religious hatred. I usually stay away from talking about politics and religion but I’m making an exception here.

The issue is one Geert Wilders, who has attempted to enter the UK today because of his anti-Islamist views. The link above is to the BBC News story about his being refused entry.

I’m finding this a little scary because :

It shows that we have a few people who make up their own rules on laws in this country. Geert Wilders is a European citizen, which means he should have access to all European countries. I’m not altogether clear how legal it was to exclude him. What laws are going to be ignored next ? And my long memory is remembering a certain Deputy PM who was not charged with assault after striking someone who threw an egg at him.

It exposes even more naivety on the part of the people who are supposed to be running the country. How to get a hateful person with an evil message more attention ? Ban him from talking ! Or issue a decree attempting to silence him. I’m not sure how much of the world would have heard of Salman Rushdie or Dan Brown if they hadn’t had measures taken by various parties to attempt to stop them talking. The usual effect of silencing a message is typically an amplification of that message.

As a “democracy”, we’re supposed to allow free speech. Allowing people to talk doesn’t mean we have to listen. Same as putting violent images on the telly doesn’t mean we have to watch them and I didn’t rush out to buy the Manhunt game because of the notoriety induced by its ultraviolent* nature. I think the various groups who like to ban everything, apparently for our protection, whether we like it or not. I’ve got a message of my own for those people – “I want to make my own mind up.”

*(I don’t shy away from violence or death in games – I’ve been known to Death Star inhabited planets regularly in Moo2. But if ultra violence is a game’s only selling point, sorry – not interested here)

I don’t think the people interfering with freedom of speech or freedom of expression are too interested in allowing other people to make their own minds up about what they want to be exposed to. I’d rather check something out for myself than go by what someone else tries to tell me what to think. Maybe they don’t want us to actually think.

So what should have happened today, instead of the media circus generated by excluding this fellow ?

Let him in. Allow him to present his message … to an empty room. And when asked by the media about it, tell them that we were aware of the individual but only wished to give him as much attention as his credibility deserved. Which would be none. That kind of statement would quite happily show a distancing from the message.

I wonder if the next step is to ban soapboxes from Hyde Park ?

PS Time to scrub my hands … talking about politics makes me feel unclean ! 🙂

Even a gig isn’t enough for XP. A lot of the new netbooks ship with 1 Gb of RAM and XP, and I shudder to think how slowly they must run.

Give me a Mac or a Linux machine any day…

I have a little more testing to do …

The old laptop got opened up today, for what must be the first time since I got everything copied across to the new one. I’m actually quite shocked by the difference between the two. You only really appreciate improvements in technology levels when you go back to old stuff after getting used to the new toys. Where my last laptop really suffers now is in the memory department … 448Mb (512 total, 64 of that taken by graphics) isn’t really enough for Windows XP, especially when you have 6 or 7 utility applications that insist on updating themselves as soon as you turn the machine on.

There’s more changes too that I’ve gotten used to. The bigger size is a pain in terms of getting a bag but now that I’m used to it, I don’t think the 4:3 screen in the last one would work for me. I get very used to spreading windows out all over the place, having them overlapping. It lets me keep an eye on things like which box of my email the message came into, whether to anticipate something in the MSN conversation and at the same time, I can keep an eye on the bar saying how much of the iTunes track is left.

Anyway – where’s the testing … I’ve tried the iTunes to Airport link over 3 machines now and haven’t been able to reproduce that stuttering playback thing. I suspect I know why 🙂 But when I go back to my mum’s & dad’s place I’ll have a little tinker at that.

Bit more old vs new 🙂 I’ve been buying things again … Nooo – nothing really expensive, just cd’s.

One of them involves an artist I grew up with 🙂 When I was a teenager, I listened to a lot of All About Eve. I also read a lot of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon books set on the world of Pern. They’re a good read to go with excellent music, although they’re both let down a little by how they evolved. The Dragon books ran out of steam after a bit of revisionism crept in and AAE’s Ultraviolet album was just plain horrible. Either that or I acquired a copy that was distorted and unlistenable.

Heh heh heh – I’m digressing again 🙂 I tend to associate what I’m listening to with what I’m doing. Somehow the game HalfLife has got associated with Alisha’s Attic music (probably because the latter half of their Alisha Rules The World album has similar music) but the big association is Julianne Regan with the character Menolly. When reading the songs by the character Menolly, I’m hearing Julianne Regan’s voice singing those words. I guess that’s the way my mind works when reading 🙂

That’s the first of the albums I’ve bought most recently, a collaboration between Julianne Regan and Mice. They only got one album out but it’s a decent one. Combines Julianne Regan’s voice with some very quirky backing. I think I’ll be enjoying that one a fair bit in the future. Here’s a Youtube link to Blue Sonic Boy, which is one of my favourites for the album.

What else ? Evanescence’s The Open Door is a good one, although the band make up changed a little. There’s still Amy Lee’s vocals on show here and it tends to be the vocals which really determines a bands character. From Tori Amos’s primal nature, to Arctic Monkey’s CheekyTeenager to the dirge of a Knopfler (I like him, honest!) and finally to the range on show in a Kate Bush album.

Not sure if I’ll be going for more from Gabriella Cilmi. I bought her album on the strength of Sweet About Me but to be painfully honest, her voice doesn’t do that much for me. People who were near a telly through the Xmas period may recognise Warm This Winter, which got adopted for an advert … I recognised the song but couldn’t remember what it was for 🙂

Avril Lavigne’s Under My Skin is the last one – lots of angst on show. I’ve got two Avril Lavigne albums now and I get the feeling more will be on the way 😉

PS Ow.
PS2 Must figure out permanent fix to chair that doesn’t involve hitting it with a hammer every couple of days.
PS3 Picture of offending article coming later in the week.

Lol – snow could be back tomorrow … Just in time for when I’m looking to do another trip down the motorway 🙂

Scotland v Wales wasn’t bad today but suffered from the usual curse of sport – the result was pretty sure from the kick off.

I want the snow to thaw now and come back next weekend so I can enjoy it and go and take photos.

I don’t watch sport for two reasons:

1) I prefer to do things myself rather than watching others but i understand your interest seeing as you do play!
2) Being English, it can be too disappointing!

Yep – that’s my latest buggy 🙂 It’s not drawn the same comments as my last one yet – a little lad was walking to school with his mom and came out with “Mommie Mommie it’s a spaceship!” Which brought out the massive grin 🙂

I love that picture! The pristine nature of the shot really makes it. Is that a Euro-spec Ford Focus in the foreground? Love the shape!

All our snow’s melting today. I’m sure the next big snowstorm is just around the corner, though. It never seems to end!

Little bit bored of snow now, it’s been having an effect on what I want to do.

What’s up with England at the moment ? We have our recession at the moment, being caused by the consumption society turning into a No Spend society. With all those headlines about fields of cars lying unsold, high street shops gradually disappearing and some nebulous thing called “Confidence” making the Stock Market go BOOM. All leading to the banks not wanting to lend anyone money (although they are still begging me to in loan letters), which furthers that stall in the consumption economy.

Nervous times at the moment, especially when an otherwise healthy organisation can fold due to being the latest scapegoat of the individuals who lurk in the stock market buildings. I’m deliberately choosing some of those words because I don’t have a particularly high opinion of economists, I prefer giving respect to Hard Work.

I’m probably on a bit of a downer because I’ve had the misfortune to watch two England sports teams pretend to play their chosen sports today … Firstly the rugby team in the Six Nations opener. Ok, they ran in more tries than they have done in recent years but they should have scored rather more than the 36 points they got. Italy really were that bad in the first half. No invention from England, no inspiration, no real quality and no inkling of how to take advantage of an Italy side crippled by injuries to key players.

And then there’s the cricketers … Oh dear. When I started playing cricket, I had a few times when I was itching to get out to where the international team was because I knew I could play better. They actually managed to beat that standard again today, very nearly breaking the record for the lowest England total ever. Pretty abject … and it’ll continue until the management break up the closed shop that is currently England cricket.

We have a few players in the side who don’t appear to believe in improving their skills in the game. If you’re not improving, you’re going backwards and are very quickly neutralised by opposition players who rapidly learn how to counter what you could do. The best players are always tinkering with their game, learning new things but Never Standing Still.

So we have :
The spinner who hasn’t learned an Arm Ball (one that goes straight – a good variation if you’re always turning the ball)
An opening bat who plays like the proverbial millionaire – except he won’t be unless he tightens up his game
A number 3 who has had plenty of chances to entrench his place but continues to dig his grave
A shaggy haired bowler who needs to get angry with himself rather than his team mates
Another bowler who hasn’t learned the old one : “Practice makes perfect”

England do have some generally excellent players but they are let down by believing they can win games without truly putting the effort in to earn that win. Huge amount of talent but not enough application.

I hate to finish on a downer, so it’s time for a closing note on the other bit of sport I watched today : Ireland vs France in their Six Nations rugby game. The two protagonists in this one are both amazing teams to watch. Ireland are mercurial geniuses who can beat anyone on their day but really do frustrate their fans sometimes by rolling out second in games they should have won. France are an awesome rugby side, they play the game it should be played. (Yes – this is sticking in my craw a bit!) The French always come out with power and passion and the pace of their runners never fails to scare the hell out of fans of the opposition team.

Fantastic game between Ireland and France tonight. If you catch highlights, you’ll see why rugby can be one of the most exciting sports on telly. Between two equally matched teams like these, you never really know who’s going to win until the final whistle. Scoring comes often so you have to keep an eye on the game. (unlike cricket where you can read a book while it’s on 🙂

Hopefully things will improve from here, in the economy as well as in sport. I like wandering around shops hoping I’ll be buying something, it’s less fun doing that if they’re all been shut due to economists having no confidence in them !