Semi tonight

Well once again Collingwood have the chance to show us all they can win. A really nice news story came out about Collingwood's captain Nick Maxwell (see below). Maxwell is a genuine nice guy who gives his all for the team and promote the club. Found here, He is playing the team that told him they were going to draft him, didn't in 3 drafts and then told him 2 days before a 4th there was no place for him in their side. Hopefully this come back to bite them on the backside. This is also a good article here on why Collingwood fans are passionate. In other news, the three people Lions supporters have held up as the great hopes of the team are leaving... rats leaving a sinking ship???

NICK Maxwell's dad will have a present for all his son's doubters if Collingwood wins the premiership.

The Magpies skipper was overlooked for several national drafts and rejected by Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney and Port Adelaide.

On Friday he will lead out the Pies against the Cats in the preliminary final at the MCG.

In 2002, Geelong coach Mark Thompson broke Maxwell's heart when he told him the Cats wouldn't draft him after Maxwell had trained at Kardinia Park for three weeks.

Doug Maxwell will never forget it.

"You know I was pretty dark on 'Bomber' Thompson that night," he said.

"When Nick came home he was gutted. I'd still love to, to this day, see Nick holding up the cup.

"And if he did, I'd take a photo and post it to all who doubted him."

Maxwell, who went to school at St Joseph's, Geelong, was cut from three Geelong Falcons teams and overlooked for two national drafts and a rookie draft.

Two days after Thompson delivered his shattering news, the Pies selected Maxwell with their first pick of the 2003 rookie draft.

He made his debut in Round 9, 2004, and was made captain of the most famous sporting club in the country at the end of the 2008 season, replacing Scott Burns.

Despite the rejections, Doug Maxwell knew his son was a leader.

"He's captain because he's the best leader there," he said. "We knew he was a leader before he got there, from when he was playing Little League. He led by example."

His sister, Lucy, 22, said her brother's attitude got him the job.

"Because he got rejected by five clubs, he kept working and working and working. That's how bad he wanted it," she said.

"People know they can rely on him."

Vuvuzela Hero

Have you missed the Vuvuzela? Well fear no more, here is vuvuzela Hero.

Mouse Trap Survivor Cheese Commercial

Hehehehehe

If

'if' by rudyard kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Cup Fever! Masterchef

Probably one of the best parts of the world cup has been the SBS show Santo, Sam and Ed's Cup Fever. Here is one of my favorite clips from the show- A masterchef edition

TOUR DE FRANCE (REMI GAILLARD)

In a similar vein where they treat riders like they have won the tour de france.

Election 2010 Spoof Trailer - GetUp!

Most have seen this already but anyways :)

Chaser's are back

I get quite sick of the lead up to an election. However this year it appears the Chaser team are coming back to cover it as well as the Gruen transfer bringing in a publicity analysing show... could be good. From news.com.au

THE controversial Chaser comedy team will soon return to TV in a series of five election specials to air on the ABC.

After nearly a year off our screens the Chaser boys will serve up a new show called YES WE CANBERRA!

The comedy group created international headlines in Sydney in 2007 when they breached the APEC conference cordon in a fake Canadian motorcade carrying a team member dressed as Osama bin Laden.

But last year they were sin binned by ABC management for two weeks mid way through the third series of The Chaser’s War on Everything after a skit poking fun at terminally ill children was slammed.

The new show is a case of back to the future for the group who began their television career with 2001’s Logie nominated The Election Chaser, under the watchful eye of industry legend Andrew Denton.

Since then they have covered two more elections – the 2004 and 2007 polls.

But this time the comedians will be trialling a new format.

The premise will be the only job they can get is as warm up guys for the ABC’s flagship current affair’s program, Lateline, so they’ll be doing their coverage from there.

"Most people don't know that Lateline is filmed in front of a live studio audience," said executive producer and star Julian Morrow
"That's the problem - they're terribly quiet. So the ABC hired us to rev them up a bit. Hopefully, we can help Tony (Jones) and Leigh (Sales) receive the wild applause, hollers and whoops they deserve."

While the public has seen little of the comedians since last year’s comedians they haven’t been idle.

And they certainly haven’t lost their taste for pithy humour.

They’ve spent the last 12 months developing their iPhone and iPad applications pumping out stories like “Refugee policy: Gillard regrets East Timorese independence" and "Dannii Minogue gives birth to babii boii”.

So politicians, even the wounded Kevin Rudd, shouldn’t be expecting any sympathy.

“Our biggest target until two weeks ago was Kevin Rudd, so we had a little burning ceremony of those scripts,” Julian Morrow told news.com.au.

“We do like to kick a man while he’s down and he’s pretty far down... he’s not out of bounds and we found it quite hard to get to him when he was Prime minister.

“I think Kevin will appreciate any media attention.”

And controversial issues like immigration won’t be off the agenda either.

“It’s really great to combine harsh policies that exploit people with comedy, it’s a natural strength for us,” says Morrow.

“We will be running all of our jokes past Xanana Gusmao before we do them just to make sure we’ve got the right person, on board… is that who we ask or is it Ramos-Horta?” added fellow Chaser member Craig Reucassel.

And while the team will be zeroing in serial the usual suspects - like Senator Bill Heffernan, Barnaby Joyce and Wilson ‘Ironbar’ Tuckey - Morrow and Reucassel admit over the years they have got more than a few decent comebacks from their targets.

“Mark Latham initially was quite fun… particularly when he was slightly drunk,” says Reucassel.

“Peter Costello initially rebuffed us totally but later on he started dancing with us and he would start singing and doing strange things and he would actually make the piece.”

“Tony Abbott started off by never talking to us, he’d just walk away and never say a word, and then he’d start interacting - he’s actually got a bit of a sense of humour as well.”

“Bob Brown is actually got a pretty good sense of humour, he’s happy to play along it’s just that even when Bob’s upbeat, a bit giddy and laughing it’s still a quite dull,” adds Morrow.

But the Chaser’s new show will not be the only funny take on this year’s election.

Wil Anderson’s The Gruen Transfer will become Gruen Nation and analyse political advertising and campaign strategy in the lead up the poll.

It will air directly before YES WE CANBERRA!

YES WE CANBERRA! will air on Wednesday’s at 9.45pm in the month before the election and will feature an election special the week after the poll.

The Stupid Cup (Rémi GAILLARD)

This guy Nathan Has posted a few of his vids including the pac man ones- Sorry Nathan if you have posted this already. The premise is the guy with a big army of supporters turns up at a small local football game and support like it is a champion's league final. Not keen on the pitch invasion thought :)

Off on Camp

Well I'm heading off on a camp tomorrow and one of things I'm doing is giving the 'campfire' talks which will be evangelistic in nature. I'm copying something that was done on NQ Xtreme and using Jungle doctor stories. As I finalised my preparation I came across one I hadn't read before and thought it apt and consistent with some of my thoughts of living in the world but not being of it.

Nyani pressed his thumb against the limb of the buyu tree and again a dudu (lice) died.

The grandfather of many monkeys was filled with scorching anger. He chattered long and loudly as he climbed through the limbs of his favorite buyu tree.

He swung from a limb and confided his troubles to the ear of Twiga the giraffe.

"O Twiga, there are dudus of the baser sort in this buyu tree. Everyone has fleas; ticks are irritating but at least respectable. But lice!--NO!"

Nyani shuddered delicately, wrinkled his nose and scratched vigorously at the very thought.

Twiga listened with no little sympathy, moistening his lips with his long black tongue.

"No doubt the resting of vultures on the limbs of your family tree will account for this unhappy circumstance," he ventured.

Nyani flew into a rage and leaped from limb to limb.

That bird of disgusting ways, that eater of carrion, that, that, that..."

Words failed him.

He trailed off into high-pitched chatter.

Twiga twisted her long tongue gently over the irritable tip of his black nose and remarked mildly, "Should you act with firmness, Nyani, it is unlikely that vulture will light on your buyu tree."

Nyani listened with interest and scratched with decorum.

Twiga went on.

You cannot stop vultures flying over your buyu tree but you can stop them from roosting there."

Nyani thought for a time and the matter became clear to his monkey intelligence. Immediately he set about collecting stones to be kept in the hollow limb for use in such an emergency.

Daudi threw some sticks on the campfire. A shower of sparks lit up the faces of his listeners.

"Koh," said Daudi's listeners, "this, great one, is a riddle of depth." The dispenser waved his finger at them.

"You can't stop them flying over. You can stop them from roosting," he prompted.

A whispering went on, barely louder than the song of the cricket, and then one laughed.

The answer, great one, is this. For Shaitan (Satan) the devil to whisper in your ear is not sin, but to stop and listen is a different matter."

Daudi nodded slowly. "Truly, temptation isn't sin. You can't stop Shaitan (Satan) the devil's voice from reaching your ears, but to take notice of what he suggests and do it--that is sin.

Look at God's words for yourself. The letter that James wrote, chapter one, verse 12 (James 1:12) and those that follow."

M'gogo murmured the reference over and over. At first light in the morning he would read it in his new Book.

As the sun came over the baobabs, he read:

"Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin, and the sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death."

Fury kicks off tonight

The new look fury plays its first game tonight against the NQ razorbacks (state league team). Free game I might go and have a look. Until then- love this new add :)

The fellowship of the vuvuzela

Just to continue being annoying


And a song about my Vuvuzela ela ela ey ey ey

Hehehehe

These things used to be annoying- then I found the iphone app

WARNING: World Cup watching is bad for your heart- take up crochet, Japanese Flower arranging or watch Rugby Union instead-SMH

Found this funny article on the Sydney Morning Herald- guess it proves like I said Union is boring to watch and isn't likely to give you a heart attack. Found here

WARNING: the World Cup can be bad for your health. During important games, heart attack rates increase dramatically in the countries involved, studies have found.

Medical experts have urged people with heart conditions to take up interests that are less likely to cause their heart rate to fluctuate, such as Japanese flower-arranging, crocheting or watching rugby union.

According to an analysis in the British Medical Journal, the risk of being admitted to an English hospital for acute myocardial infarction increased by 25 per cent on June 30, 1998, US website Miller-McCune reported last week.

Acute myocardial infarction is, of course, a technical term for a heart attack: acute, meaning it really hurts; myocardial, meaning my heart; and infarction being the curse that Englishmen utter while clutching their chests in agony. The full Latin name is, of course, acute myocardial "infarction hell, I'm in bloody agony here", but let's not get too technical.

June 30, 1998, was the day England lost to Argentina in a penalty shoot-out. As opposed to the days England lost to Germany in penalty shoot-outs, the days they lost to Portugal in penalty shoot-outs and the particularly demoralising occasion when they lost to the Little Gigglewick Under-6s in a penalty shoot-out. (They're incredibly mentally tough, the Little Gigglewickians; it's no wonder the Englishmen crumbled.)

In fact, sources close to the project say analysing the data proved particularly troublesome for researchers due to the difficulty of finding a day when England hadn't lost a penalty shoot-out to someone.

Nonetheless, the research was concluded and found that the increase in heart attack hospital admissions continued for two days after the England-Argentina match had finished. This suggests that the penalty shoot-out system for deciding drawn matches is not only cruel and excessively stressful but may need some simplifying: some people took a long time to work out who had won.

Heart attack isn't the only health risk that World Cup watchers face. Lack of sleep can make viewers dangerously run down, leaving them physically vulnerable to colds and man-flus, and mentally vulnerable to the advertising hoardings that surround World Cup pitches.

This may lead to large and unnecessary purchases of Budweiser, McDonald's and Coca-Cola: a potentially lethal cocktail that can lead to acute myocardial "infarction hell, why did I say yes to the super size meal?"

The fans' trumpets known as vuvuzelas also pose a health risk, experts have warned. The Hear the World foundation has measured the vuvuzela at 127 decibels, making it louder than a lawnmower, chainsaw or air horn, The Wall Street Journalreported last week.

Multiply that by the number of fans in a stadium and you have the sound of 50,000 lawnmowers, making a South African stadium a bit like Mosman on a Sunday morning: a haunting proposition for all but the most devoted football fan.

Vuvuzelas can also spread colds, doctors have warned, raising the prospect that games during the second half of the tournament might be accompanied by the sound of 50,000 people coughing, sneezing and clearing their tickly throats.

Whether or not this would be an improvement is a matter that divides football fans. The vuvuzelas bug people – literally. They sound like swarming insects because people in the crowd are blowing the instrument at different times and with slightly varying frequencies, causing the sound to wax and wane, New Scientistreports.

Broadcasters have increased audio filters to reduce the noise. For people watching on computers, the Centre for Digital Music at the Queen Mary University of London has designed software that can muffle the vuvuzelas while keeping the commentary intact.

However, anyone who finds the sound of trumpets that annoying should probably steer clear of watching football altogether: if you're highly strung the next sound you hear may be the incredibly infuriating beep-beep of a heart monitor unit in intensive care. You'll hate listening to it but you won't want it to stop; it'll be torture.

The findings of the heart attack study in the BMJ were backed up by studies in Switzerland during the 2002 World Cup and Munich during the 2006 World Cup. Both found elevated heart attack rates during the tournaments.

The exception to the rule was a study conducted in France during the 1998 World Cup final, in which France beat Brazil, watched by 40 per cent of the French population. A "significantly lower" heart attack rate was recorded that day compared with five days before or after.

This may well have been because France won and a winning team doesn't cause as much heartache as a losing one. Australian hospitals are on high alert.

In other news . .

The NSW Blues are said to be considering a change of kit after their mauling at the hands of Queensland last week.

The Blues were thrashed 34-6 in the second game of the series in Brisbane on Wednesday, with commentators noting that they looked sluggish compared with the slick and nimble Maroons.

A source close to the Blues camp said the players didn't want to make excuses but having to wear long white cloaks and pointy white hats didn't help their performance.

Follow up 2 on Tim Tebow

At the begining of the year I blogged about Tim Tebow the College Football player who was staring in Focus on the Family's Superbowl adds (here and here). I thought I'd post a few things as an update.

Despite being bagged out everywhere he was drafted by the denver broncos in the first round. (Experts had him drafted in round 3 at best)

Some stats emerged that during the game and shortly after he wore John 3:16 in the chapionship game in his face paint 92 million people googled john 3:16 In a another game he switched verses to Prov 3:5-6 and 3.4 million people googled it.

Challenge for all I think to use where we are and what we do to share about Christ- even in small ways

New Fury Coach- you have heard it here first :)

Well with the NQ Fury about to name their new coach I'll give you the inside scoop. Was sent this on google translate

The seventh team of Australian league soccer North Queensland Fury agreed on engagement Czech coach Frantisek Straka. "I can only confirm that you have the correct information," responded to a question Straka, who is flying to Australia next Friday.

Photo: Reuters Coach Frantisek Straka

"I'm glad my name in football still means something," said the Magpie, who recently succeeded Slovak Ruzomberok. Dvaapadesátiletého coach contacted the manager on the engagement of Australian band from England.

"The offer of course pleased me in the club I was in the past weeks and I look at the environment and the people there happy," says Straka, who signed a one-year contract with annual options.

"This engagement is for me the kind of satisfaction, because in the Czech Republic is about my doubts trenérských qualities. So I'd try to convince the Australian club, in my case made a good move."

Leagues in Australia starting the 7th August.

According to Straka is not an Australian engagement with his previous stint compare.

"Working at the Antipodes for me to be something completely new," said the Magpie. "But it advised me and my former teammate Vita Bench of Sparta, who this year with Sydney FC won the Australian title."

Straka last year's competition significantly raised Ružomberok team. In the middle of last autumn, he took over in last place and led him to fifth place final.

Last year, Straka lead in one game of the Czech national team when he was appointed following an appeal by Peter rejoice. Straka under national team beat Malta 1-0 and after he became chairman of the Football Association, Ivan Hasek, became the Czech national football team coach Michal Bilek.

Sorry this is badly translated but :)

here is his wikipedia page

Well I think that is positive- better than Farina or Kosmina or Okon.

Advice

I know this has done the rounds but I still find it challenging.

Bill Gates (of Microsoft fame) has released his 11 bits of advice about life! This is from a talk to high school kids about the things you won't learn in school:

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Cold shower for Cup's very first casualty - Times LIVE

Hahahahahaha one the guys I used to play soccer with :)

know as the F-troop's resident drunk :)

Cold shower for Cup's very first casualty - Times LIVE

Promoting australia?

There isn't anything like it. Or this add? Cringe..... Thoughts

I do like the line "That's not a bear"
This is the call for us to get involved and I don't mind that

Formspring

Some people has been bugging me to join formspring but I'm not going to. Instead I'll make this an open forum- give me some topics and I comment on them or blog on it. Just lacking inspiration