Month: September 2007

The year of the minnows ..

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At both the Rugby World Cup and the Twenty20 world cup it is the minnows and second string teams that are stealing the limelight.

It all started on Friday when Argentina  beat France at the RWC.  Then Namibia played out of their skins against Ireland and USA did not give up against England.  Even last night most people probably thought that Italy would run rampant over Romania.  This did not happen.

But our neighbors went one better yesterday evening in the Twenty20 cricket.  Zimbabwe beat the mighty Australians.  This is just great.

Six rainbows across Norway

Credit & Copyright: Terje O. Nordvik

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Rugby World Cup and Twenty20 Cricket – Schalk’s ban??

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Flicked between 2 channels yesterday evening watching some Rugby and Cricket.

One thing that strikes me from this year’s World Cup is how well the lesser teams play.  Last night it was the turn of Georgia.  I just hope that they do not give their all for the first game and then there is nothing left for the rest of the tournament.  Poor Schalk, did he deserve a 4 match ban? —  if I count correctly that will include the first quarter final match.

Onto the cricket.  After Gayle’s whirlwind 117 who would have thought that South Africa would have won the game with 14 balls to spare.  Well done to the boys.  Pity on Graham’s hand though — will have to see what affect this will have on the rest of the tournament.  Also looks like Gibbs is not at his best with the fact that he had to use a runner.

Expanding Bubble in Space:

Image Credit: NASA, Donald Walter (South Carolina State University), Paul Scowen and Brian Moore (Arizona State University)

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RWC – South Africa, Namibia and RSS Update for 9 September 2007

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So South Africa had their first game. All in all, it was not bad at all.  Samoa played a very spoiling game and I think South Africa probably played as well as they were allowed to play.

I just finished watching the Namibia, Ireland game and how impressed was I with the Namibians.  They made a lot of friends tonight.  The score flattered Ireland.  If one take away the penalty try and the last try from Ireland, which was not a try, then there was nothing in the score.  And it was nice to see a Bock playing in the World Cup.  The wing for Namibia is Heini Bock, no not family.

Onto my feed items for today.

South Pole Lunar Eclipse

Credit & Copyright: Robert Schwarz(South Pole Station)

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RWC 2007 — French disaster!

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I was not intending to blog about the Rugby World Cup but after last night’s disaster (looking from a French perspective), I had to pick up the keyboard. Have to agree with Mike, the opening ceremony was not good at all – that is the bit I saw since I left half way to go pick-up my daughter.  This also meant I missed the anthems but believe that the Argentineans gave it their all.

The game itself was one off tenacity from Argentina.  Never giving up and always right in the faces of  the French.  If this is what the second string teams are going to be like then the Boks better watch out for Somoa tomorrow.  They can be just as physical and tenacious as Argentina.

I just hope that Tony Spreadbury is not an indication of the quality of the refs to come.  What a bad day he had at the office.

Today looks like a one sided day with big guns playing the real small guys, maybe with the exception of New Zealand vs Italy.  NZ should still easily win that one. 

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Rugby World Cup 2007 and RSS feed update for 7 September 2007

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Hope all of you worn your casual day stickers and contributed your bit.

Today is also the start of the Rugby World Cup being held in France.  As a patriotic South African I do support the Boks … good luck to them and I honestly think they have the team to bring the cup back.

Now for my feed entries:

One of Jupiters icy moons — Europa:

Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

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Lotus Collaboration Summit

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Today I attended a Lotus Collaboration Summit that was held here in Cape Town.  The more I see and hear about IBM’s new Lotus range of products the more impress I get.  Products like Notes 8, Sametime 7.5.1, Quickr 8 and Connections 1 will put IBM back where it should be in the collaboration space.  IBM has really embraced the idea of social networking and collaboration with these group of products. 

It was also good to see how modern looking these products are by using WEB2.0 technologies.

I am off to go install Notes 8.  And I can now even get rid of Word, Excel and Powerpoint since I can do all that within the Notes 8 client.

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Spring and RSS Feed update — 2 September 2007

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Yesterday was supposedly the start of Spring, well you could have fooled me. Not here in Cape Town, it was raining and very winter like.

Onto my RSS feed items for today:

With the eclipse earlier this week, I came across this photo. Click on the image for more information.

Credit & Copyright: Yuichi Takasaka

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