The SquizLogKeith Pitty takes a squiz at the world. |
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The SquizLogKeith Pitty takes a squiz at the world. |
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After many years of trying (35 in fact), Australia have finally conquered India in India in a Test series.
The Aussies took an unbeatable 2-0 lead yesterday when they won the Third Test at Nagpur. And that was without their best batsman and captain, Ricky Ponting, who returns for the final Test match. Whilst it was the pace bowlers, McGrath and Gillespie, who did the damage, I think it was fitting that Shane Warne took the final wicket. It's the first time he's played a Test series in India fully fit.
Well done, fellas!
Right, that's enough... time for some refreshing ale and conversation at the pub.
You've got to marvel at Glenn McGrath's economical bowling. I just checked the score in the cricket and his figures were: 21 overs, 12 maidens, 2 wickets for 21 runs.
Oh, and Gillispie just got Agarkar, caught at second slip by Clarke. India 7/173 and heading towards their first series defeat at home against Australia in decades...
A while a go I noted that I was in favour of using a wiki to improve communication within project teams. (I had been aware of wikis since about 1996 when James Noble, then involved with the Sydney ACS OOSIG, enthused about Ward Cunningham's original WikiWikiWeb).
And due to the fact that we are a J2EE shop, JSPWiki was a good candidate. Well, several months down the track I can report that our JSPWikis are being well utilised. They are easy to set up and facilitate jotting things down in an easily accessable and maintainable electronic form.
And, on a more personal note, I can also report that I'm finding VoodooPad on my iBook G4 to be very useful!
As you can see, the extension is nearly finished! Inside is a strong smell of paint, the tilers have been and gone, and carpet is due to be laid next week.
Not long now...
Those few souls who read this weblog but don't know me well may not be aware that Tim Winton is my favourite Australian author.
The man is a creative genius. He writes as himself, a Western Australian bloke who spent his early childhood in Perth before being transplanted into the country when his Dad was stationed to a town called Albany on the south-west coast. Winton's prose is a joy to read and he is one of those rare writers who now and again moves me to pause in wonder at the brilliance of his unique expression.
I've just seen a fascinating interview between Winton and Andrew Denton on Enough Rope, and am looking forward to reading The Turning, a collection of short stories that has just been published.
I'm on a mission to find some bugs in our software before the customer does.
I think I'll use a combination of destructive testing and code inspection. On the one hand, I hope I don't find anything serious but on the other, obviously I'd much rather find any lurking serious defects sooner rather than later...
Wish me luck!
Good to see that Sydney University has taken the lead in the Sydney Grade Cricket Club Championship.
Keith "Nugget" Miller, the magnificent Australian all-rounder who also played Aussie Rules for St Kilda and served as a pilot in World War 2, has passed away. He would have been 85 next month.
As a player, his record speaks for itself. However, as these reports show, his legacy extends well beyond his achievements on the cricket field.
I have only had the benefit of hearing of his deeds second-hand, but it seems that Miller typified the spirit of enjoying cricket as a game rather than a battle of life and death. Miller knew a thing or two about that.
Let the much-awaited Test series between India and Australia begin!
Construction of the granny flat continues apace, despite several days of rain recently...
When one is used to using GUI-based text editors, getting your head around using vi or vim can be a grating, frustrating experience.
But if one is anticipating using computers with any flavour of Unix, being proficient in vim is a very useful skill. Even if you're using Windows, Vim is a handy tool to have around.
Having said that, I must admit that I still don't find Vim intuitive to use. Useful, but not intuitive. Simon has recently reported on his experience, which he describes as moving from feeling utterly bewildered to being at least familiar.
In my own case, I'd say that Vim is a useful acquaintance. I appreciate having Vim around, I find it's colour coding very helpful but I don't have many of the key stroke combinations for the various commands committed to memory. We haven't exactly connected on the same wavelength.
So I appreciate having online documentation available.
As Brian McCallister has pointed out, the second edition of Programming Ruby has just shipped. Having recently been reminded about Ruby by Charles Miller, I have decided to embark on a journey to learn Ruby.
On a technical level Ruby appeals to me already. It is a pure OO language and includes features such as closures which exist in Smalltalk, my first OO language.
Then there is the philosophy of Ruby's creator, Yukihiro Matsumoto. Included in his preface to the first edition of the book is this paragraph:
I believe that the purpose of life is, at least in part, to be happy. Based on this belief, Ruby is designed to make programming not only easy but also fun. It allows you to concentrate on the creative side of programming, with less stress. If you don't believe me, read this book and try Ruby. I'm sure you'll find out for yourself.I'm a sucker for experiencing happiness and agree with the notion that programming should be as much fun as possible.
So, Ruby here I come!
Imagine.
Close your eyes and imagine an infinite collection of true friends who are always available to provide you with a peaceful place of pleasure, relief, protection and great support.
Unencumbered by longing and immune from distraction and delusions these true friends are able through their tranquil, calm, clear minds to provide you with compassion constantly. They employ brilliant wisdom and use their well-timed tact to help enlighten your mind, freeing it from suffering.
These true friends are a blessing, for they always bring the best qualities out in you.
A good image, that.
With thanks to Nara, and the authors of the Threefold Lotus Sutra