LeBron's Supermans

Before LeBron James joined up to form the Three AmEGOs for the Miami Heat, he played for Cleveland Cavaliers. For 8 years, LeBron wore #23 while playing for the Cavs, unlike the now familiar #6 jersey he wears for the Heat. While playing for the Cavs, in 2009, the Nike Zoom LeBron VI - Superman colour scheme was released. Unlike Dwight Howard's Superman Beasts, there is no official branding or affiliation with the Superman logo - only the same colour scheme that makes up the comic book character's costume (a fuller range of colours of the LeBron VIs can be seen on the sneakernews.com site - originally I was looking for the "Chalk" shoe, but was happy to get this one instead).

The packaging is not the traditional box with a lid, but it comes as a drawer - similar to the other pair of LeBron shoes I have - the LeBron VIII V2 Christmas edition. This is where the similarities end with the VI and the VIII. The shoes are constructed differently as well as having a different feel. Where the VIII feels lighter and allows for more ventilation of the foot, the VI feels heavier, and lacks the same breathability. The VI does feel more solid and stable on feet, and this is due to the internal Zoom Air cushioning, as opposed to the use of the 360 degree Air Max full length bag used in the VIII. The shoe feels like it was made for a person playing a heel-to-toe transition, as opposed to a person running on the balls of their feet. Due to the construction, it feels sluggish when trying to change direction quickly.

The VI does not feel as flimsy or as delicate as the VIII, and in a way, this reflects LeBron's physical build. While he has not recently become more delicate or flmisy, he has added more techniques to his game, making him evolve to a more rounded player. It has a definite feel that the shoe was built to last a long time.

Visually, the VI encompasses much detail. The upper of the shoe has 3M reflective materials on it, which was a concept that was originally pioneered on the Air Jordan V - the idea being it would light up when people took pictures with a camera flash. To illustrate the 3M concept, I have attempted to take the same angle of the shoe's cuff L23 symbol, one with flash, and one without:

The other details on the shoe include lion heads on the tongues, LeBron's signature and initials on the side and the heel, 2 on the toe of the right foot and 3 on the toe of the left foot, the word "UNSTOPPABLE" on the outer of each sole, as well as the word "ZOOM X2" on the heel of the sole.

Without further delay, here are the rest of the images:

My thanks for these sneakers goes to Footage by Thecoolshoeshine. Those guys have fast shipping, and a good range of shoes that stretch back a few years. Contact them, and ask them for their "best price", especially when shipping to a foreign country (like Australia) is involved. As time goes on, these shoes are harder to get, as there has been no indication from Nike that they will start reto'ing them, like they have with other shoes like the Jordan range, or even CB34s - so companies like Thecoolshoeshine are providing a much appreciated service.

Spudman's bookshop

Some time ago, I used to work with Spudman. He was a very wise person, who favoured using command line tools over a graphical interface. He preferred running scripts more than clicking on buttons. Open source over proprietary products.

And he was good for a chat and a laugh.

He has left IT, and now works in his own bookshop in Tasmania - Shambles. If you are down his way, and you want to pick up a book, or have an interesting chat about poetry or IT, don't hesitate to pop in. He is a very approachable guy!

Some additional articles I have recently written

Additional to the recently written article about the Qantas A380 flight that needed to stop for refueling, I have also authored:

• Copying of digital media to be OK'ed in UK
• Ghostbuster's HQ to be closed by City of New York
• Vettel wins the 2011 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix

Track all the articles I have authored - via Google News. My thanks goes to Armen Hareyan of huliq.com for giving me an opportunity to write articles for his news site.

Anyone got any suggestions on writing style, or topics? Feel free to put them in the comments section of this post.

Piping programs in shell

When I started to write this thread of articles on shell scripting, I did not know where it would lead me. I just started writing to try and cover what I knew about scripting, and how I have applied it. During this, I have written about:

• Conditions (or tests)
• Variables
• Bare basics

The next bit I want to cover is about the toy block like structure of this type of language. You can build programs on top of other programs, and then "pipe" their output from one to another. Piping (also known as the verticle bar - "|" ) is a way of chaining output from one program in as the input for another program. Here is the shell script:

$ cat new.sh
#!/usr/bin/sh

echo This is a find on the test directory:
find test/ -print

echo ""
echo This is the same find, being passed through to grep to only find stuff ending with txt
find test/ -print | grep txt$

The first line defines this as a shell script. The second line prints the words "This is a find on the test directory" to the screen. The third line runs the find program on the test directory, and outputs the contents to the screen. The forth line line prints a blank line. The fifth line prints the line "This is the same find, being passed through to grep to only find stuff ending with txt". The sixth line is similar tot he third line, but before outputting the data to the screen, passes it via the grep filter (by the pipe character) to only print out lines that end with txt. I saved the file as new.sh, and running it produces:

$ ./new.sh
This is a find on the test directory:
test/
test/CheckThis.pl
test/servers.txt
test/CheckThat.pl
test/CheckSomethingElse.pl
test/web_pages.txt

This is the same find, being passed through to grep to only find stuff ending with txt
test/servers.txt
test/web_pages.txt

As a side note, while this script is straight forward, it introduces two new programs - being find and grep. Find, as its name suggests, finds files on a filesystem (it behaves differently on a Windows system). Grep is different. It is a filtering tool based on regular expressions. A regular expressions is a way to match strings. I could write an entire book on how to master regular expressions - there is so many combinations and permutations on how to write them. If you are interested in doing more with regular expressions, have a look at the Mastering Regular Expressions site.

New look for the blog, and some more news...

Regular readers of this website may have noticed I have just updated the template while still keeping some of the design elements from my old look.

Blogger have brought in new blog templates some time ago, and I never got around to looking for one that I liked the design, giving me an excuse to transition. After looking through all the designs on offer, I merged some design elements of the old blog with this new template - the main one being the "wallpaper":
Additionally, I have been contacted by Armen Hareyan of huliq.com, who asked me if I would like to try writing a news article about a current news topic. The result was a quick article on the recent incident of the Qantas A380 Quick Fuel Stop in Adelaide. I will advise if there are more to follow, but I do not think I will be suited for the life of an on-line journalist.

AJ7s in Bordeaux

Back in 1992, Michael Jackson released the video to the song Jam - and one the video, it featured Michael Jordan. The shoes Jordan wore in that video were the original for the retro model that is the topic of this post - the Air Jordan VII Retro - Bordeaux.

I remember back in 1992 or 1993, after getting my first pair of AJ VIs (which were retro'ed a few years back), I was looking at the Air Jordan VII in the Bordeaux colour. According to sneakerheads, although this model has been remade several times over the years, this is the first time this colour scheme has been remade since the original release. Many sneakerheads as well as casual shoe wearers will remember this as the first pair of Air Jordans that had a mainstream distribution in Australia. The VIs were somewhat of a quiet release, and anything before that was either non-existent, or came into Australia very quietly. I do know that back in 1992, a few people I used to know had the Air Jordan I in the original red and black colour scheme. I cannot confirm, from memory, where they had obtained the shoe from.

Visually, the shoes are unique. No two shoes in the Air Jordan VII release are exactly the same - based on the "one of a kind" tongue. I have heard this is due to the process of creation. Imagine a big fabric sheet and someone coming along with a huge cookie cutter to stamp out the top of the tongue. You will get shoes that are very similar, but not exactly the same. I would like to hear from someone that can prove this to be false - but until then, the story seems feasible.

The sole of the shoe shares the divots that are similar to the AJ VI. For traction, I do not believe they are as grippy as the herringbone pattern used on the sole of the Nike Zoom Hyperfuse. A casual wearer will not notice this, but a person playing on a hard surface who makes a lot of quick direction changes may. It is not as bad in traction as the Reebok ZigTech Zig Slash.

In the areas of comfort, the shoe hugs the foot well, and there is not much heel movement. The only other negative point about this shoe (if you consider the first negative point to be the traction) is the lack of ventilation. There is practically no breathability in comparison to the Hyperfuse, and I do not know why this was the case in the 1990s. From all reports, the Air Jordan VIIIs was even worse.

After assessing this shoe, on its merits of grip, looks, and ventilation, I doubt that the majority of these shoes would be used to play basketball in. My guess would be that they are purchased to be worn casually. Regardless what emotions they invoke, these shoes will trigger some feelings of nostalgia in many 30-somethings that see them.

These shoes were obtained from the Footlocker on Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

After obtaining these shoes, I have realized I have obtained 4 of the 7 shoes that make up the Air Jordan 6ix Rings:

• VI
• VII
• XI
• XIII

I do not know if I am too interested in trying to find a pair of VIII or XII, but I will be interested to see what the XIV is - which will be released near the end of this year.

Heat beat Boston in 2011 Playoffs

News of the Miami Heat beating the Boston Celtics in game #5 of the 2011 NBA Playoffs is starting to trickle around the web. Well done to the Miami Heat - they played a good powerful type of basketball. Boston in the past have played like that, but obviously this time around, it did not.

As mentioned previously, Rondo was the key to success for 2011. With Rondo's dislocation of his left elbow in game #3, it was incredible that he came back on the floor later in that game to lead the Celtics to a win. His arm hung limply in game #4 and game #5. It was an incredible performance.

For 2012, the team may need to consider a few things:

• Coach Rivers may not be coming back. If this is the case, they should find someone over the summer to fill in a passing mindset with good defensive strategy.
• Shaq does not look like his body can handle anymore basketball. Jermaine O'Neal is not a good replacement for Kendrick Perkins. I have not felt any confidence in any of their other center positions. They should try to do some smart "shopping" over the summer to get a center with a defensive mindset with a hard-work mentality.
• Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are approaching the sunsets of their careers. Garnett is only playing with bursts of brilliance every other game. Pierce and Allen should be OK for the next year. They need to find quality backups for all these roles in the next 2 years.

Other than that, I hope the Celtics team and family have a good rest, heal well (especially for Rondo), and come back strong next year. I do not want to wait another 22 years for the next championship.

GO CELTICS!!!

Perforated Black Leather AF1s

In the same line as the cheapest AF1s I have ever found, here is another pair of shoes I also got cheaply - the Nike Air Force 1 '07 - Perforated Black Leather.

The shoe feels about the same as the other pair I have, but had a slightly longer break-in period. I think this was due to the use of stiffer leathers in the materials that make up the shoe. Once again, the AF1 line provides a comfortable, yet rock solid stable shoe. The review would be very similar to the previous pair, so without having to reiterate myself too much, here are the images:

These shoes were purchased from the Nike Factory Store, on Smith Street, Collingwood - for a sale price of $60. Unfortunately, I could not buy more than one pair, as these were the last pair in US Size 11 on the shelf. Looking at what Google Products has on this shoe, its price ranges from $80 to $106 - making this a great cheap pickup, as I do not have to pay any shipping.