This is truly ace. The things people can do with technology. This is gaming 3.0 for Playstation 3.
It's a longish video, but skip a few minutes in for the fun.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Hello (cool change), is it me you're looking for?
Courtesy of (and apologies to) Lionel Ritchie
Thankyou. Donations welcomed.
UPDATE: And right on cue, here it comes.
A brief lesson in the BOM's weather mappage.
This is the extremely cool new Doppler Wind indicator that was introduced late last year (click to embiggen). It shows the shift in air towards (blue) and away from (red) the central weather radar. The darker the colours, the faster the air speed. In essence, this is showing the prevailing winds at any given moment.

You can see from this screen grab (taken a short while ago with my pretty green arrows added) that the change is literally sweeping through from the South West.
The green arrow on the right (pointing down) shows the wind direction in Melbourne at present, moving from the blue patches to the North West to the red patches in the South East. A howling North Westerly wind (note the dark red patches in the bottom right corner), hence the ridiculous heat.
The green arrow on the left (point up) is the band of cold air being pushed through with the change, switching the wind direction from the North West to the South West, bringing all that Antarcticy goodness.
Whee!
I've been alone with you inside my mind
And in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
I sometimes see you pass outside my door
Hello (cool change), is it me you're looking for?
I can see it in your eyes
I can see it in your smile
You're all I've ever wanted, (and) my arms are open wide
'Cause you know just what to say
And you know just what to do
And I want to tell you so much, I love you ...
I long to see the sunlight in your (h)air
And tell you time and time again how much I care
Sometimes I feel my heart will overflow
Hello (cool change), I've just got to let you know
'Cause I wonder where you are
And I wonder what you do
Are you somewhere feeling lonely, or is someone loving you?
Tell me how to win your heart
For I haven't got a clue
But let me start by saying, I love you ...
Hello (cool change), is it me you're looking for?
'Cause I wonder where you are
And I wonder what you do
Are you somewhere feeling lonely or is someone loving you?
Tell me how to win your heart
For I haven't got a clue
But let me start by saying ... I love you
Thankyou. Donations welcomed.
UPDATE: And right on cue, here it comes.
A brief lesson in the BOM's weather mappage.
This is the extremely cool new Doppler Wind indicator that was introduced late last year (click to embiggen). It shows the shift in air towards (blue) and away from (red) the central weather radar. The darker the colours, the faster the air speed. In essence, this is showing the prevailing winds at any given moment.
You can see from this screen grab (taken a short while ago with my pretty green arrows added) that the change is literally sweeping through from the South West.
The green arrow on the right (pointing down) shows the wind direction in Melbourne at present, moving from the blue patches to the North West to the red patches in the South East. A howling North Westerly wind (note the dark red patches in the bottom right corner), hence the ridiculous heat.
The green arrow on the left (point up) is the band of cold air being pushed through with the change, switching the wind direction from the North West to the South West, bringing all that Antarcticy goodness.
Whee!
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Monday, 7 January 2008
The spirit of the game
Australia's extraordinary last minute victory in the second test was one of those great moments that only test cricket can deliver. After five days of high quality cricket it all came down to the last few overs. With long shadows cast by the fielding team grouped impossibly tightly around the batsman, the rambling, drunken chants of the fans too boozed to notice the tension, and every ball carrying the threat or promise of defeat, it was an hour or two of test cricket at its best.
Except.
Fucken Ricky Ponting.
With all the grace of a petulant 12 year old, the captain of the Australian cricket team, intimidated, complained and bitched and moaned his way through the entire final day. With Michael Clarke's third wicket in one over delivering the seemingly impossible, Ricky Ponting led the celebrations, thrusting his pelvis towards the Indian dressing room before leaping around with his team mates, oblivious to the shattered Anil Kumble whose stoic innings had come to nothing as he watched from the bowler's end as his hapless team disintegrated in front of him.
Poor little Ishant Sharma, the 19 year-old in only his third test, who had come to the wicket not two balls before with two right-hand gloves (he had to call back to the dressing room for a left-hand and was abused by Ponting for his efforts for presumably wasting time) stood disbelieving as the Australians cavorted around him. It was Sharma who had been robbed (by Symonds own admission) of the early wicket of Andrew Symonds in the first innings and it was Sharma who congratulated him some 130 runs later when he finally left the field. Despite his sporting gesture earlier in the game he was ignored by the Aussies as they indulged in an orgy of self-congratulation.
Some commentators have compared the Australian celebrations to the now famous moment when England won the second test of the 2005 Ashes series (in very similar circumstances) and Andrew Flintoff knelt to console the devastated Brett Lee.

None of that for the Aussies against India.

Some (most notably in today's Age, Peter Roebuck) have started to call for Ponting's removal as captain. I tend to agree, not simply because of his performance in Sydney, but because I don't think he's ever been worthy of the post. There's no doubt he is one of the greatest batsmen in the world, but the captain of the Australian cricket team needs to be more than just a good cricketer. Ponting has never been a diplomat, he's never been humble, or sensitive to how his actions (and those of his team) may be interpreted by others. If he was just another player that would be fine. But he's not. He's the captain and therefore the spokesman for the Australian team.
It's almost exclusively his lack of diplomacy that has brought on the whole crisis with the current tour. With jaw-dropping hypocrisy, Ponting insisted that the issue with Harbhajan be dealt with through official channels. Harbhajan's apparent verbal abuse of Symonds should not be encouraged, but I shudder to think of the barrage of comments from the Australians that goaded him into it.
The Australian preciousness over 'racial slurs' is ludicrous given their infamy for saying anything and everything to opposition batsmen to (as some may say) get under their goat. Apparently it's all very well to swear like a sailor, but call someone a monkey!? One could suggest some perspective is in order.
And then, just to cap it all off, the Indian Cricket Board has reacted as hysterically as possible and canceled the tour 'pending the appeal' of Harbhajan's misdemeanor - essentially blackmailing the ICC into overturning the ruling.
If the Australian's, led by Ricky Ponting had behaved with a little more decorum, if they had dealt with Harbhajan on the ground at the time with Tendulkar as mediator, if they had refused to intimidate the umpires and had accepted their decisions and if they had congratulated their opponents for one of the few genuinely competitive games they've played in recent years, the second test in Sydney would be remembered as one of the great contests - an equal to the second test at Edgbaston. Instead, we now have a summer of cricket that will be, at best, overshadowed by the nastiness of the Australian team's attitude and at worst non-existent.
Ponting would do well to acknowledge that however much they claim it's just about winning, cricket is so much more than that.
Except.
Fucken Ricky Ponting.
With all the grace of a petulant 12 year old, the captain of the Australian cricket team, intimidated, complained and bitched and moaned his way through the entire final day. With Michael Clarke's third wicket in one over delivering the seemingly impossible, Ricky Ponting led the celebrations, thrusting his pelvis towards the Indian dressing room before leaping around with his team mates, oblivious to the shattered Anil Kumble whose stoic innings had come to nothing as he watched from the bowler's end as his hapless team disintegrated in front of him.
Poor little Ishant Sharma, the 19 year-old in only his third test, who had come to the wicket not two balls before with two right-hand gloves (he had to call back to the dressing room for a left-hand and was abused by Ponting for his efforts for presumably wasting time) stood disbelieving as the Australians cavorted around him. It was Sharma who had been robbed (by Symonds own admission) of the early wicket of Andrew Symonds in the first innings and it was Sharma who congratulated him some 130 runs later when he finally left the field. Despite his sporting gesture earlier in the game he was ignored by the Aussies as they indulged in an orgy of self-congratulation.
Some commentators have compared the Australian celebrations to the now famous moment when England won the second test of the 2005 Ashes series (in very similar circumstances) and Andrew Flintoff knelt to console the devastated Brett Lee.

None of that for the Aussies against India.

Some (most notably in today's Age, Peter Roebuck) have started to call for Ponting's removal as captain. I tend to agree, not simply because of his performance in Sydney, but because I don't think he's ever been worthy of the post. There's no doubt he is one of the greatest batsmen in the world, but the captain of the Australian cricket team needs to be more than just a good cricketer. Ponting has never been a diplomat, he's never been humble, or sensitive to how his actions (and those of his team) may be interpreted by others. If he was just another player that would be fine. But he's not. He's the captain and therefore the spokesman for the Australian team.
It's almost exclusively his lack of diplomacy that has brought on the whole crisis with the current tour. With jaw-dropping hypocrisy, Ponting insisted that the issue with Harbhajan be dealt with through official channels. Harbhajan's apparent verbal abuse of Symonds should not be encouraged, but I shudder to think of the barrage of comments from the Australians that goaded him into it.
The Australian preciousness over 'racial slurs' is ludicrous given their infamy for saying anything and everything to opposition batsmen to (as some may say) get under their goat. Apparently it's all very well to swear like a sailor, but call someone a monkey!? One could suggest some perspective is in order.
And then, just to cap it all off, the Indian Cricket Board has reacted as hysterically as possible and canceled the tour 'pending the appeal' of Harbhajan's misdemeanor - essentially blackmailing the ICC into overturning the ruling.
If the Australian's, led by Ricky Ponting had behaved with a little more decorum, if they had dealt with Harbhajan on the ground at the time with Tendulkar as mediator, if they had refused to intimidate the umpires and had accepted their decisions and if they had congratulated their opponents for one of the few genuinely competitive games they've played in recent years, the second test in Sydney would be remembered as one of the great contests - an equal to the second test at Edgbaston. Instead, we now have a summer of cricket that will be, at best, overshadowed by the nastiness of the Australian team's attitude and at worst non-existent.
Ponting would do well to acknowledge that however much they claim it's just about winning, cricket is so much more than that.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Drinkemisation
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