In the past week, a lot has been said about the fallout between Indian Cricket captain Saurav Ganguly and the coach Greg Chappell. For those of you who don't know - sometime during the recent Zimbabwe tour (IIRC, it was before the 1st test), Ganguly asked Chappell on which player (between Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif) to leave out of the test squad. Chappell told him, that on current form, Ganguly should consider leaving himself out and rather play both Yuvraj and Kaif. Later, there was a leak of an email that Chappell sent to the Indian Cricket board detailing Chappell's points on why Ganguly should no longer remain captain.
While there has been a large outcry, one of the important points is that Chappell is essentially right. Ganguly, while he is an inspirational leader, does not seem to be performing on the field. And this is not a temporary slump - it has been going on for over 2 years! It is high time that other players, who are just as talented and who are actually on form.
Maybe India should consider the off-field captain. After all there are some sports - notably Tennis - that uses this approach. If captaincy is about strategy and inspiration, the captain could easily do the job on the sidelines (which Ganguly does anyway considering the number of times he goes off the field). There are just too many talented players (on form) that go in the Indian middle order and frankly there is no place for Ganguly. This will be a bigger problem once Tendulkar is fit (and ready to play).
30 September 2005
26 September 2005
A1 vs F1
This past weekend marked the inaugural A1 GP race at the Brands Hatch Circuit in England. In many ways, A1 GP is a new concept in motorsport - its all about teams, and the driver does not matter. In A1 GP, dubbed the world cup of motorsport, the teams are essentially countries with each country having one team. The whole concept of the driver does not matter was well demonstrated by Malaysia which used different drivers for the race and qualifying (and it worked quite well too).
But the main point of A1 GP was to address the deficiencies in current Formula 1 series - a lack of overtaking, high budgets and a focus on the technology and not the show and the driver skills. A1 GP's first race shows promise - and there was plenty of entertainment. The qualifying was mesmerising, and even better than how F1 qualifying used to be before Mosley and Bernie screwed it all up. As for the race - there was overtaking and a lot of it! Although, Nelson Piquet Jnr and Team Brazil were obvious contenders for the win, the remaining positions were well contested right up to the checkered flag.
That does not mean that A1 does not have problems - the pit system was fun to watch but a bit too contrived IMO. And I would really like some live timing on the TV broadcast. But other than these minor factors, A1 GP was is well worth watching.
The same cannot really be said of F1. Along won the drivers title, becoming the youngest to do so, on Sunday but the race was boring except for the first few laps. I have not watched F1 qualifying at all this year, and while the production of the F1 show is brilliant, crappy directors (like cutting away to Ralph pitting instead of showing a rare pass on the track) really detract from the whole experience.
I have been a F1 fan for a very long time, I have gone to races, and rarely miss a race on TV - and if there was a clash between a F1 race and a A1 GP race, I am more likely to watch A1 GP ... Its just more rewarding.
But the main point of A1 GP was to address the deficiencies in current Formula 1 series - a lack of overtaking, high budgets and a focus on the technology and not the show and the driver skills. A1 GP's first race shows promise - and there was plenty of entertainment. The qualifying was mesmerising, and even better than how F1 qualifying used to be before Mosley and Bernie screwed it all up. As for the race - there was overtaking and a lot of it! Although, Nelson Piquet Jnr and Team Brazil were obvious contenders for the win, the remaining positions were well contested right up to the checkered flag.
That does not mean that A1 does not have problems - the pit system was fun to watch but a bit too contrived IMO. And I would really like some live timing on the TV broadcast. But other than these minor factors, A1 GP was is well worth watching.
The same cannot really be said of F1. Along won the drivers title, becoming the youngest to do so, on Sunday but the race was boring except for the first few laps. I have not watched F1 qualifying at all this year, and while the production of the F1 show is brilliant, crappy directors (like cutting away to Ralph pitting instead of showing a rare pass on the track) really detract from the whole experience.
I have been a F1 fan for a very long time, I have gone to races, and rarely miss a race on TV - and if there was a clash between a F1 race and a A1 GP race, I am more likely to watch A1 GP ... Its just more rewarding.
23 September 2005
DRM Protected CDs
Slashdot is running a discussion on a statement from a Finnish politician who claims something like:
"Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally, people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos. If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player."
For the confused (i.e. people who get their music from alternate sources, many new CDs are restricted to CD players only and cannot be played on PCs without special software. The theory is to prevent piracy; the practice is to annoy everyone and not really work (numerous hacks exist).
Despite the outcry; the politician is somewhat correct. The CD player on a computer is a data disc reader and the music companies have every right to sell a compact disc that will only work on CD players; just as they have every right to sell DRM enabled music. That is their business. It is the consumers that must stand up and say that they will not buy DRM enabled music or not buy DRM enabled media. By bitching and moaning about the media is not really the answer - ultimately the product is for the consumer and if the consumer is unhappy they should not purchase the product. After all, a music CD is hardly a necessity.
"Now, we need to understand that listening to music on your computer is an extra privilege. Normally, people listen to music on their car or through their home stereos. If you are a Linux or Mac user, you should consider purchasing a regular CD player."
For the confused (i.e. people who get their music from alternate sources, many new CDs are restricted to CD players only and cannot be played on PCs without special software. The theory is to prevent piracy; the practice is to annoy everyone and not really work (numerous hacks exist).
Despite the outcry; the politician is somewhat correct. The CD player on a computer is a data disc reader and the music companies have every right to sell a compact disc that will only work on CD players; just as they have every right to sell DRM enabled music. That is their business. It is the consumers that must stand up and say that they will not buy DRM enabled music or not buy DRM enabled media. By bitching and moaning about the media is not really the answer - ultimately the product is for the consumer and if the consumer is unhappy they should not purchase the product. After all, a music CD is hardly a necessity.
SHAWCO IT
As some of you know, I am a volunteer for the SHAWCO IT project in Khayalitsha. The project tries to teach high school kids from Khayalitsha (grade 10 - 12) IT skills like using computers and M$ Office. Today was the closing function - kids who attended regularly were awarded certificates; there were some boring (and not so boring) speeches and some food.
In many ways the project is remarkable and highly necessary - IT skills are important in the new millennium (even the checkout ladies in separate and Pick 'n Pay use quite sophisticated computererised systems to ring up purchases) and are crucial tools that are needed by students. In the environment that is Khayalitsha, the project is a major highlight in this regard.
However there are many questions that remain unanswered:
- Can they really apply what we have tried to teach them?
- Have they understood what we tried to teach them?
- Did we teach them the right things?
- Is teaching them M$ Office enough?
- How are the kids going to effectively retain what they have been thought?
- What about the kids that were not in the project?
- What about adults in Khayalitsha?
Some of the questions are easy to guess but the later questions are the really crucial ones - especially considering the fact that the centre cost about R250 000 but is only used for about 16 hours a week for about 30 weeks of the year. For the rest of the time the centre is effectively a white elephant.
SHAWCO does not have the means to run the centre for longer periods of time, and unfortunately there are many political issues that run beneath SHAWCO. Only time will tell if the true potential of the SHAWCO centre can be achieved.
21 September 2005
Movie: Crash
Not many people seem to remember Crash, a movie about people with a fetish for car accidents. While the movie was certainly very interesting, it was hardly everybody's cup of tea. The new movie explores a totally different subject - a complex set of disjoint relationships that are all connected to each other. Above all, the movie explores various racial stereotypes (in the US, but equally applicable all over the world) and how these stereotypes affect the relationships. There are some brilliant scenes, and overall the movie forces us to question everyday interactions - for example, what people do you consider threatening when walking on the street?
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/
Two of the best quotes:
Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gangbangers? Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared, it's us: the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So, why aren't we scared?
It's just black people demeaning other black people, using that word over and over. You ever hear white people callin' each other "honky" all the time? "Hey, honky, how's work?" "Not bad, cracker, we're diversifying!"
More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/
Two of the best quotes:
Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gangbangers? Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared, it's us: the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So, why aren't we scared?
It's just black people demeaning other black people, using that word over and over. You ever hear white people callin' each other "honky" all the time? "Hey, honky, how's work?" "Not bad, cracker, we're diversifying!"
18 September 2005
Problem with SA Music
The SATNAC closing dinner featured "Mean Mr Mustard" as the evening band. For the uninitiated, Mean Mr Mustard are one of the best rock bands in South Africa, having sold many thousand records and having a great following. Thus we were all quite excited at the prospect; although we were puzzled to how the "0u toppies" will mosh to Mean Mr Mustard. We were heavily disappointed ...
As corporate functions would have it; Telkom more or less decided what songs Mean Mr Mustard should play - the result being a glorified cover band! For years, South African music lovers have wondered why South African music is not really appreciated - and the answer is simple - because the really good bands are playing cover versions of imported music in their really important money earning gigs - the corporate functions. I would have understood if they played covers of South African songs; but when the covered bands like Busted it really left a bad after taste. In the approximately 2 hours that we did stay for; they played only 3 of their own songs! What was the point?
As corporate functions would have it; Telkom more or less decided what songs Mean Mr Mustard should play - the result being a glorified cover band! For years, South African music lovers have wondered why South African music is not really appreciated - and the answer is simple - because the really good bands are playing cover versions of imported music in their really important money earning gigs - the corporate functions. I would have understood if they played covers of South African songs; but when the covered bands like Busted it really left a bad after taste. In the approximately 2 hours that we did stay for; they played only 3 of their own songs! What was the point?
14 September 2005
SATNAC Reflections Part 2
So SATNAC is finally drawing to a close - there were more academic presentations yesterday and today. Unfortunately the bad Internet connection situation has continued - although it has improved dramatically from Monday. The download speeds are still rather crap though. To be honest, there has been very little value from SATNAC - most the work is either uninteresting (because its not our field) or seems rather poor. That is not saying that there are no good papers; but they seem to be too few. Maybe if SATNAC was about security or DRM I would be more interested.
The closing function was in an "English Pub" theme - i.e. the food was not that great (although there was malva pudding) and it was not as well decorated as last year's District 6 theme. More on the entertainment on a later post ...
The closing function was in an "English Pub" theme - i.e. the food was not that great (although there was malva pudding) and it was not as well decorated as last year's District 6 theme. More on the entertainment on a later post ...
13 September 2005
SATNAC Reflections
So SATNAC started officially on Sunday evening with a very flashy, techno-rave style opening dinner. Most importantly, the food was good, and we all stuffed ourselves (except Paul, who does not like to eat too much in the evenings). And we all got a lot of freebies - a bag, a sweatshirt (which everyone was asked to wear to the opening function), a jacket and a mug. I also got a Huawei radio this morning ... not sure if everyone else got that one ....
SATNAC is not really an academic conference - if one looks at the program for the first day. The majority of the sessions involved corporate big wigs discussing technology using huge buzzwords like convergence. It was boring, somewhat dumb and more or less a total waste of time.
The academic presentations at the end of the day was not much better - except for Paul's presentation, none of the presentation really had much substance. Take for instance the presentation "Detecting Uncooperative Ethernet Elements using Accurate Round-Trip Time Measurements" - how this project differs from the "ping" command is yet to be established.
Surprisingly, even though SATNAC is a telecommunication, the Internet connection is very unstable (or maybe unsurprisingly considering that we are talking about Telkom). Another interesting fact was that, Windows machines had difficulty in using the WiFi, but Linux didn't have any such problems.
Finally, another addition to the Appletiser index - and a cheap entrant at that. Last night, we had supper at the Monk's Cowl Country Club (there seem to be a number of sports facilities in this part of the country, much more than the number of people living in the area). The food itself was good, although I did get my food very late (every one finished before I got my food ....). We all put it down as a mistake on the waitresses part and she was very embarrassed. Appletiser index entry:
Monk's Cowl Country Club: 6.50
SATNAC is not really an academic conference - if one looks at the program for the first day. The majority of the sessions involved corporate big wigs discussing technology using huge buzzwords like convergence. It was boring, somewhat dumb and more or less a total waste of time.
The academic presentations at the end of the day was not much better - except for Paul's presentation, none of the presentation really had much substance. Take for instance the presentation "Detecting Uncooperative Ethernet Elements using Accurate Round-Trip Time Measurements" - how this project differs from the "ping" command is yet to be established.
Surprisingly, even though SATNAC is a telecommunication, the Internet connection is very unstable (or maybe unsurprisingly considering that we are talking about Telkom). Another interesting fact was that, Windows machines had difficulty in using the WiFi, but Linux didn't have any such problems.
Finally, another addition to the Appletiser index - and a cheap entrant at that. Last night, we had supper at the Monk's Cowl Country Club (there seem to be a number of sports facilities in this part of the country, much more than the number of people living in the area). The food itself was good, although I did get my food very late (every one finished before I got my food ....). We all put it down as a mistake on the waitresses part and she was very embarrassed. Appletiser index entry:
Monk's Cowl Country Club: 6.50
12 September 2005
The Appletiser Index
You have heard of the Mac index; I now give you the Appletiser index. The Mac index gave an index on how expensive a country is based on Big Mac prices. You can do the same regarding how expensive a restaurant/take away is comparing the price of drinks - hence the Appletiser index. This was primarily motivated by the cost of Appletisers at the Chapagne Castle Sports resort - the domicile of SATNAC 2005.
So the first entry - Champagne Castle Sports resort: R13
For comparison, the cost of an Appletiser at Loxley's in Rondebosch is R11 and the Independent Armchaoir Theatre is R9.
So the first entry - Champagne Castle Sports resort: R13
For comparison, the cost of an Appletiser at Loxley's in Rondebosch is R11 and the Independent Armchaoir Theatre is R9.
09 September 2005
Up the mountains we go
On Sunday the DNA lab flies off to Durban and then drive up to the Drakensberg for a Telkom sponsored holiday, otherwise known as SATNAC. Not presenting a paper this time, just a poster, which was done by Duncan and Marlon (the honours students I am supervising as they can reuse most of it for their honours poster). But the highlight of SATNAC is not the papers really but the dinners (the opening and the closing), the huge supply of good, free, food (and drinks) and the free bandwidth (seeing that it is sponsored by TELKOM.
On the TELKOM note, looks like the made a very quiet retreat from suing the Hellkom founder, but I think wearing a Hellkom t-shirt to SATNAC would be ill advised.
On the TELKOM note, looks like the made a very quiet retreat from suing the Hellkom founder, but I think wearing a Hellkom t-shirt to SATNAC would be ill advised.
07 September 2005
Signs : The Oracle
In the past few days, UCT has been promoting "Heritage@UCT" - a drive to let people know the history about some of UCT's main landmarks like Jameson Hall, the rugby fields (Nelson Mandela was awarded his honorary doctorate at the rugby fields to accommodate more people), the Rhodes statue etc. I think its a brilliant concept, and wish it was actually extended to some of the other buildings and places on campus (like who is Robert Leslie?). As for The Oracle - that's the name of the fountain on Jammie Plaza ... you learn something new everyday.
06 September 2005
Movie: The Great Dictator
So Chris and I took advantage of the armchair's pizza and movie offer, and decided to go watch Charlie Chaplin's classic "The Great Dictator". The movie is a parody of Hitler revolving around Hynkal, the dictator of Tomania and a jewish barber. Produced during WW2, it carries a strong anti-war message with the famous last speech encouraging soldiers to lay down arms to build a better future for all, and is often rated as one of the best anti-war movie ever made. The comic genius, that was Charlie Chaplin shines through and the movie is a great laugh even when dealing with a very sensitive topic. Hitler had apparently watched the movie, but what he thought of it is not known.
05 September 2005
Black Saturday of South African Sport
If you haven't heard; Bafana Bafana are out of World Cup 2006. So, even though we are hosting 2010; we won't be playing in 2006. Bafana Bafana have had a very poor run lately, they lost in the COSAFA cup semis, they lost 4-1 to Iceland and then they lost 3-1 to Burkina-Faso. Even worse is the chance that Bafana Bafana could still not qualify for the Africa cup of Nations (also in 2006). On the brighter side, the under 23s did thrash Uganda 4-1 - the 2nd goal (from Lewis IIRC) was an amazing display of teamwork and good finishing ... maybe that's the team we should have sent to Burkina-Faso.
Also, we lost the Tri-Nations on Saturday when the All Blacks thrashed the Wallabies. For the first 20 minutes in the second half, South Africa had hope when the Aussies fought back from 20-0 to 20-19; but then a certain sub named Dunning gave away 9 points in less than 5 minutes; and after that it was all downhill. But even though we lost; this was probably the best Tri-Nations performance from the Springboks.
Oh, it was also Sarai's b'day party on Saturday ... the aftermath of alcohol consumption is best left untold.
Also, we lost the Tri-Nations on Saturday when the All Blacks thrashed the Wallabies. For the first 20 minutes in the second half, South Africa had hope when the Aussies fought back from 20-0 to 20-19; but then a certain sub named Dunning gave away 9 points in less than 5 minutes; and after that it was all downhill. But even though we lost; this was probably the best Tri-Nations performance from the Springboks.
Oh, it was also Sarai's b'day party on Saturday ... the aftermath of alcohol consumption is best left untold.
31 August 2005
fp
So, I have finally taken the plunge and started a blog. Have been meaning to for a while (before I went on my European trip) but lazyness has always won out (as per usual). I was surprised that I could not get alapan as an username; but I suppose even though my name is rare; there are still people who actually have alapan as a name.
So what will I ramble on about?
Not to sure - definitely will have movie and anime reviews for Ronald; comments and thoughts from places I travel to; reviews of gigs I go to (when I actually do); Formula 1, sport etc ... all the usual crap really.
So what will I ramble on about?
Not to sure - definitely will have movie and anime reviews for Ronald; comments and thoughts from places I travel to; reviews of gigs I go to (when I actually do); Formula 1, sport etc ... all the usual crap really.
Movie: 7 Samurai
The Independent Armchair Theatre usually screen old movies on Monday night. Its 10 bucks for a ticket or 30 bucks for a ticket and a pizza from Diva's (delivered to you). I was thinking about the legality of the whole operation - after all you are not really allowed to show a movie to the public without a license ... but since this is quite an old operation, they either have a license or no one cares about them.
On monday they showed 7 Samurai, which is one of the great classic movies about a village in feudal Japan that hires some samurai to protect them against bandits. Its a long movie (over 3 hours) but definitely worth watching.
On monday they showed 7 Samurai, which is one of the great classic movies about a village in feudal Japan that hires some samurai to protect them against bandits. Its a long movie (over 3 hours) but definitely worth watching.
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