ric on the go

Websites on strike

2012-01-19T11:54:00.003+11:00

As mentioned in a previous post I made on this blog, SOPA is being considered by the US government. Apparently it is being "shelved" for the moment. This has not stopped websites like Wired.com or Wikipedia (English version) from depicting a SOPA'ed web site:

While both "strikes" from web sites can be bypassed with browser settings, they do show what the websites could look like if SOPA was enacted.

SOPA is censorship. It will allow companies that feel threatened from loss of profits to accuse international web sites of piracy, and be able to block them. Seeing how the government of the USA has in the past had a mentality of "shoot first, questions later" (eg. weapons of mass destruction in Iraq never eventuating), it would be feasible to consider that web sites and businesses will be shut down pending further investigations.

For more information, have a look at the latimes article for a more comprehensive list of sites that are trying to fight this new form of censorship. If you are in the USA, do something about it - sign up on the petition with Google.

And for Australia - openinternet.com.au.

Everyone - do something (useful (now))!

Summernats in Canberra for another 25 years

2012-01-09T21:21:00.005+11:00

Summernats is something that needs to be experienced at least once in your life if you are into cars / being a rev head. It is a festival centered around cars - mainly Australian and American V8 cars. It is one of the best known car festivals in Australia, and it generates interest and revenue in Canberra - a dull city for most parts of the year. It also brings in a somewhat drunken exhibitionist type of person to the city, but this is a small disadvantage of the festival.

The Canberra Times recently published an article about how Summernats could be hosted in Canberra for another 25 years. It is also interesting to read some of the shallow and narrow mindedness of some of the commenters, who claim to live around Canberra when Summernats is on. They have said they do not want Summernats in Canberra - "Too much bad behaviour. Not good for the environment. Bad, noisy, bad..."

As mentioned, Summernats, for all its bad points, actually gives Canberra something to look forward to for the year. I will admit there are some other festivals as well, like Floriade, but nothing is to the same scale as Summernats. If Canberrians do not like Summernats, then I suggest they move away from Canberra. Try Karumba - population < 1000, on the beach, but then again they would find something to complain about that. Stop making Canberra duller!

First win in the M:TG League at Games Laboratory

2012-01-05T16:35:00.002+11:00

In what seemed to be a basic to medium tier level match up, I have finally won my first match in the Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) League at the Games Laboratory. The reason I say it is a basic to medium tier level match up was due to the opponent I was playing was using the store's deck.

To be honest, the store's deck was not extremely well made. It was playing the same colour as I was using - a green and black deck, but it did not really have any combat tricks. All it was trying to do was essentially a brute force attack with creatures, with hardly any removal. There was some enchantments that slowed down my attacks, but the real tipping point was that, out of nowhere, a creature with the infect mechanic would be cast to attack me. One infect creature out of the entire deck that did not have infect - not a very well thought out deck, and it appeared to be just cobbled together by just opening some boosters. The only late game interesting card was Sorin's Vengence, but by the time it was played, I had already established my main creatures I wanted to attack with. There was also good use of the Dismember card.

I think the store deck is meant more for a confidence boost for players that are just figuring out the game and the format - much like me. I wouldn't mind playing it with my other deck, which is white and blue. Hopefully I will have a chance to win with that too. I did say to one of the other guys I do play in the League that I have learnt more from playing him than I have from playing any of my regular friends that do play - due to the fact that he is always trying to win as quickly as possible. I have beaten him in only one game (possibly out of the 5 times we have played). Hopefully luck will be on my side and I will be able to win some more games.

The counterpart to the "Exception" deck in M:TG

2012-01-04T21:55:00.001+11:00

Some time ago I wrote about the "Exception" deck in Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) - being the War of Attrition event deck. I forgot to mention that event decks come in pairs, and this article is about the counterpart to it - the Rot From Within event deck. The decklist for the Rot From Within deck is available on-line.

I have not had much experience playing with this deck, as I do not really enjoy playing mono-green decks. I have always equated with green items like creatures with trample, creatures that produce mana, and tutors that fetch lands (to produce more mana). I do not mind having green in my decks, but not as the sole colour in them.

From memory, this deck is enjoyable to play due to the fact it does not damage the opponent or their creatures in normal ways, but deals its damage in the form of infect - dealing damage in poison counters to opponents or in -1/-1 counters to opponent's creatures. If any player has more than 10 poison counters, then they loose the game - regardless of life total. -1/-1 counters on creatures can accumulate on creatures between turns, and while you may not be able to dispose of a creature this turn, you may be able to damage or destroy a weakened version of it next turn. This deck lacks the main mechanic to accelerate the demise of an opponent - proliferate. With proliferate (it does appears on some of the cards in the deck) you can add additional counters onto cards you choose to - including poison counters on your opponents, -1/-1 counters on your opponent's creatures, +1/+1 counters on your creatures, loyalty counters on your planeswalkers, and, in general, counters you choose.

While powerful, I do not enjoy using those mechanics. Therefore, I have used this deck the least. My only suggestion to improve this deck is to incorporate black into it, and hence more creatures that also have the infect mechanic. Head to head against its counterpart deck, War of Attrition, I would put the War of Attrition deck in front, due to the fact it is a much faster deck, and has a lot of responses for this deck. They are roughly balanced in the end.

When it comes to enjoyment, I would prefer using the Innistrad event decks. I would put the Hold the Line deck ahead of all others in terms of speed and efficiency for a win, and the Deathfed deck being more fun to play. I hope my fellow card floppers see my views as valid in my comparisons on event decks.

Back into the grind for 2012

2012-01-03T11:43:00.003+11:00

As 2012 starts up, I'm back at work, along with all my work colleagues and the interesting challenges still face me. Even though it is a new year, it still has not changed much to the type of work I am doing - which makes you think that the whole new year celebration, while fun, does not actually alter too much in the day to day lives of people.

In Australia, we do not end the financial (fiscal) year with end of the calendar year, but with the middle of the year. There is no "clean slate" feeling of coming into the new year. The only thing I do have to be concerned about is car registration, and the expectation of another mouth to feed soon. More news when that happens.

I hope you all have a happy, safe, and prosperous 2012. And hopefully my teams will start winning.

GO CELTICS!!
GO VICTORY!!

All the best for the upcoming 2012

2011-12-31T17:13:00.004+11:00

Just a quick note to everyone who reads this blog, either regularly or casually - I hope each and every one of you have a safe, joyous and prosperous new year for 2012.

KittyKat and I were going to catch up with Jay at the top of Melbourne, but tickets sold out to that before we got our act into gear, so he'll be kicking on with Az, and we'll be BBQing for dinner, and then most likely be popping into Melbourne city to watch the fireworks.

So where ever you are, what ever you are doing, and whomever you are with, may you have a fun in a safe manner ushering in the new year.

Safe and joyous festive period to all for 2011

2011-12-24T23:28:00.003+11:00

Just a quick note to all who read this blog - I wish you, your loved ones, and your families a safe and joyous festive period - whether you believe in the story of Christmas, or have some other faith, or you just like spending the time with family and loved ones.

This season for me has been one full of excitement. A few nights ago I decided to go out at 11:15pm to get a pair of shoes. I did end up with a pair of Air Jordan XI Concords for myself in size US 11, and one in size 8k (toddlers) - for the future addition to family. I will post up some images when in the next few weeks. I was lucky. Lucky to get those shoes. I am lucky. Lucky I get to share them with someone one day.

So, where ever you are, who ever you are with, I hope you are as fortunate and as lucky as I am.

Victory broken by Heart

2011-12-23T23:32:00.004+11:00

Tonight, KittyKat and I went to our first away game of the Melbourne Victory. Fortunately, it was in Melbourne as the opponent was the Melbourne Heart. The result was not in Victory's favour, ending up with a 3-2 loss against the Heart, but it also provided a glimpse of what football can be and should be in Australia.

Victory scored first, but should have scored sooner from the penalty spot if it was not for the brilliant block from the Heart's keeper. Heart came back with the next 3 goals, and Victory scored one in the 92nd minute.

While it was a loss, with the Heart's second goal being one that could have been caused by a handball (albeit an unintentional one), it was a great match in front of 26000+ spectators. Victory could have defended far better, and their attacks were self-dismantled with poor passing. The scores could have been divided even further with goals going either way. Heart won. Victory (and their fans) need to acknowledge that, and move on.

A lot has been written by people and the media on the rivalry that exists with the Melbourne Derby. I for one do not buy into it at this stage. I did not really notice it in the stands where KittyKat and I were sitting. I am guessing the only people that act this way are the hardcore fans who are looking to cause trouble - something the media loves to vilify. The supporters in the area I was sitting in were all in appreciation of the game in front of them. I appreciated the fact that there is a healthy environment for football in Melbourne, and I hope that all games have high crowd attendance like the one I saw tonight. It was a fantastic atmosphere for football, and one that would have only been made better if Victory had won.

Victory and Heart meet up again on the 4th Feb 2012, and I hope the results go the Victory's way!

GO VICTORY!!

Garruk vs Liliana duel decks

2011-12-22T00:15:00.003+11:00

As mentioned in a previous post on Jace vs Chandra duel deck, I also have the Garruk vs Liliana duel deck for the Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) game. You may want to look at the previous post for a picture of the box, along side that of the Jace vs Chandra duel deck. The decklist for the Garruk vs Liliana set can be found on Wizard of the Coast's website.

This duel deck set was the second set to come out to include planeswalkers - the first one being the Jace vs Chandra duel deck. Wizards of the Coast do not include a planeswalker with every one of their duel decks, but they are increasing the frequency of sets coming out with them.

As mentioned previously, I enjoy the way you can just buy a set like this, and start playing against an opponent. Unfortunately, all is not balanced with this set.

I have mainly playtested this set with SpecialK - with SpecialK playing the Liliana black deck, and me playing the Garruk green deck. I have yet to win a game playing the green deck - even though I in most cases I am able to play a land every turn. I find the problem is the black deck is very quick in getting creatures out, and once the creatures are out, they have enough evasion to get past the creatures in the green deck. If the black deck looses a creature to the graveyard, then they can cast spells (including Liliana's ultimate planeswalker ability) to retrieve the creature back from the graveyard.

This goes against what most duel deck sets are appear to do. Every set I have purchased so far is balanced against its opponent's deck. Liliana's black deck has an advantage over Garruk's green deck. I am not talking about the occasional lucky win, but the black deck consistently defeats the green deck in reliable manner. This may come down to me not knowing what to keep in my opening hands, and not knowing when to mulligan my starting hand. If anyone has any insight to win more regularly with Garruk's green deck, I would appreciate your comments below.

Jace vs Chandra (english) duel decks

2011-12-21T21:01:00.002+11:00

As mentioned previously on this blog, in the Knights vs Dragons duel decks article, I enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), and one of the easiest ways I play it is by grabbing preconstructed decks and playing those as they are. This article is about the first of the duel deck series to contain a planeswalker - the Jace vs Chandra duel decks product. This deck was release originally in 2007 or 2008. I was not playing much M:TG back then, so I did not get one until recently via the internet. It originally was sold for $20, but I ended up paying slightly more than that. I have heard it was even priced as high as $150 at one stage (and I am lucky enough not to have paid that). The decklist for the Jace vs Chandra decks is available on the internet (as well as visually on the gatherer website), and people wanting to play this set have a few options. They can either:

Buy the set as it is - for around $50 to $150 depending on where they buy it from
Make up the set from single cards - which can be obtained from the internet or from shops that sell M:TG single cards and products
Buy the Japanese-only Jace vs Chandra duel deck set in for around $20 to $30 - which is readily available as it was re-released in 2011. I would have selected this option if I could read Japanese, or if I knew the images of all the cards - but unfortunately I do not know either.

The box looks like this:

The images above show the back and the front of the Jace vs Chandra duel decks, as well as the front of the Garruk vs Liliana duel decks. I will not mention much about the Garruk vs Liliana decks, but I will mention them shortly in the future. People with sharp eyes will notice that the planeswalkers that should be facing the front of the box have been replaced with the deck boxes themselves. In a rush to play this set I did not take the photo of the box as it was when I first received it. I hope you get the idea of what to look for if you are thinking of purchasing the set yourself. The Garruk vs Liliana are as they came.

I have played the Jace vs Chandra set mainly against SpecialK, and moderately against Chewie. Chandra's deck is played how a good mono-red deck should be played. Play a lot of damage early, and keep it up. I did notice the lack of a Lightning Bolt card (or several) in the Chandra deck - something I would have included in almost all mono-red decks I would create. Chandra Nalaar is great, but is more expensive than casting Jace Beleren. If you can get Chandra out, especially before your opponent casts their Jace, you should be able to breeze through and win the game.

Jace's deck is played like a typical mono-blue deck. It is based on controlling the other player and limiting what they are able to do. It also allows for card drawing, but ultimately gets some flying creatures that can strike for the win. I appreciated the inclusion of the Counterspell card, and I look forward to its return to M:TG's modern format. Getting Jace out does not guarantee a win, as it does not cause damage to your opponent. It does facilitate card draw, and milling your opponent - which I would consider a plan B strategy - used when you cannot draw enough creature cards to attack an opponent. It would backfire when used against a deck similar to Graveborn, that allows your opponent to retrieve creatures out of their graveyard, or Deathfed, that allows your opponent to fill their graveyard and then play cards from it.

I did have a minor problem with this set, as some of the cards were missing. I contacted Hasbro Australia, who sourced a replacement for me and sent it out to me. Well done to Hasbro, and much of my thanks and appreciations goes to their Australian staff for facilitating a replacement - even though the product has been out of print for some time. I believe I may have received one of the last replacements they have on hand - as there may be a policy in place to not stock products after a certain time.

The USA believes in Internet Censorship

2011-12-20T20:10:00.002+11:00

Apparently Australia's good Senator Conroy has some support in his belief that the internet should be censored - at least in Australia. And this time it comes in the form of a covert operation from the entertainment corporations in the USA to regulate what appears on the Internet.

Known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a law is attempting to be passed allowing censorship of the internet to be made in the USA. Time for you to stand up America - go to americancensorship.org - and find out what you can do.

I wonder what Mrs Clinton's opinion is on this. Any form of censorship is unacceptable.

And for Australia - openinternet.com.au. Do something (useful (now))!

Victory rises from the ashes against the Phoenix

2011-12-19T11:18:00.005+11:00

It may have been poor form of me, but I could not resist writing the title. In what turned out to be an exciting Sunday afternoon of football, the Melbourne Victory beat the Wellington Phoenix 3 goals to 1.

When it comes to football, I did not want to sit through an entire season of frustrations when the Melbourne Victory played their home games. Their current records is 3 wins, 6 draws, and 2 losses. The more draws they get, the higher the level of frustration, as I have seen on several occasions that they have obtained the lead, only to draw when the final whistle is blown.

One of those occasions this year where a draw was achieved was when the Victory played the Brisbane Roar for a 2-2 draw. The Victory started well, but ended up drawing. What was exceptional about this performance was that the Victory was reduced to 9 men - 2 men short of the full team's roster - due to tough referee decisions. Now to Brisbane Roar appear to be going through a minor slump, after their long streak of no losses, with a 3 game streak of defeats.

Football is a strange game at times. You can be the best team on paper, but not produce the results. You can be awful at times, and still come up with a win, even though the team did not play well or even have the majority of possession in the game.

I look forward to the next game the Victory have against the Melbourne Heart, and I urge all Melbourne Victory supporters to go to the "away" game at AAMI Park this Friday to support the Victory in the Melbourne derby. Fill the stadium with blue. KittyKat and I should be there to cheer the boys on!

GO VICTORY!!

Standard League at Games Laboratory

2011-12-14T19:07:00.004+11:00

I have been playing in a Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) League at the Games Laboratory, and while I am yet to win any matches (after playing 4 matches), I am enjoying myself.

For me, this game is very much going back to basics. While I can win games amongst my small group of friends that play, I do not win very much when I play against people I do not know. And as I explained to one of my fellow competitors in the M:TG League, if I beat one of them, it feels like more of a real victory. Beating one of my friends is nice, but it is not on the same level. They do not have the same passion to try to win.

For those that do not know what a M:TG League is, basically a competitor starts off in week 1 by purchasing 6 booster packs, and make a deck of 40 cards from them. The deck can be made up of as many copies of any cards found in the 6 boosters, and additionally as many basic lands as required. Ideally, you should have around 17 creatures, 6 other spells (made up of artifacts, pumps, removals or others), and around another 17 lands. Those are a rough guide line, and should be altered as required. Every week, a competitor is allowed to purchase another booster pack to add to their card pool - and then be able to alter their decks. During matches and outside of matches, competitors are allowed to swap out as many cards from their pool as they desire. Competitors are not allowed to add additional cards outside their pools, or trade cards with other competitors in the League to alter their pools. It is somewhat fair, requiring some luck, but also a lot of knowledge of the game, the cards, and using the individual competitors skill to win. You turn up, ask to see who is available and play them. You play 5 matches every week, and you cannot play the same person twice. You also must leave your deck at the store, to avoid you forgetting it, or modifying it accidentally with additional cards.

Games Laboratory also have a store League deck, so if no one is around, you can just play them.

My weakness is not understanding what I have in hand, and only a basic understanding of how the cards I have in my pool work together. I do listen to what my competitors say, and I do feel like I am getting better over time, but I need to judge myself against them with wins.

Lastly, if you are looking for something to do on New Year's Eve - Games Laboratory will be doing drafts all night. I may pop in, but I doubt it. Wish me luck in League games.

Infinite copies deck

2011-12-12T19:02:00.005+11:00

I have been spending some time trying to put together a deck for Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) that would make me competitive in the modern format. When I talk about being competitive in a game / tournament, I am implying it will essentially make me sit there not having to think too much on how I play, but just play it as it is - also known as basic piloting. I do not keep track of my game very well, and I need to improve on that aspect of the game to be truly competitive at higher levels.

Stating that, I started to put together a deck based on Samuele Estratti's winning modern Splinter Twin deck. The sole reason I chose this deck over attempting to recreate any other deck is simply the cost. I worked out that the cost of the entire deck would be around the $300 mark. Samuele's deck came in 1st place for the M:TG Pro Tour Philadelphia tournament. The deck that came in 2nd had 4 cards that already totaled in excess of $300 - being the Tarmogoyf. My new challenge with this deck was not just to replicate it, but to keep it in a modern legal format. Since Samuele's win, 2 of the main cards he used have become banned - Ponder and Preordain.

This is what I have come up with so far:
Lands:

Creatures:

Other:

I still need to work on what I would include in the sideboard. The deck works well against most decks, and it does have a good chance of getting a win condition by turn 4. I have played a few people with it, and it appears to be successful against most decks with the exception of decks that strongly manipulate the graveyard - and decks that are either vintage or legacy format.

I will post an article in the future about this deck when I decide what should go into the sideboard. Until then, I am open to suggestions.

Zendikar block fatties

2011-12-10T00:47:00.002+11:00

Playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), I am always interested in different products that they come out with. In the case of the Zendikar block, I had just stopped casually playing M:TG about the time of the release of the first set of the block. I bought some cards before hand, and even have one of the Zendikar intro decks which KittyKat uses - Kor Armory. Her deck is no longer intact and has been modified somewhat.

The Zendikar block set is made up of 3 sets, being Zendikar (hence the name of the block), Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi. I missed out from some of the most interesting cards by departing from M:TG just before they came out - only really playing it for about 2 months with KittyKat and Jarvo.

Fortunately for me, and with the help of ebay and eliza4172, I was able to track down the Fat Packs for the Zendikar blocks, and luckily they were not too much more expensive than were they were released. The Zendikar Fat Pack, the Worldwake Fat Pack, and the Rise of the Eldrazi Fat Pack provide the purchaser with around 8 or 9 boosters, along with a life counter (in the shape of a 20-sided die), a box to house cards, and most importantly, a guide containing images of all the cards as well as some background story. They are similar to the Innistrad Fat Pack I purchased a few months ago.

One interesting side note about these fat packs is that I ended up not opening the boosters immediately. SpecialK came over, and I ended up opening them to supplement a pseudo limited format we had - which started off with Rise of the Eldrazi, but ended up adding some Zendikar boosters. Neither of us has ended with the chase card of the block, being Jace, the Mind Sculptor, but it has been fun opening boosters and attempting to make a deck of 40 cards and then playing each other.

This time has been a rewarding one. I used to hang out with SpecialK a lot while I was in uni, and we did not catch up with each other for a few years, and now due to M:TG, we are seeing each other once or twice a week. KittyKat is yet to complain - which is a good thing. With the extra physical strain on her at the moment, I think she is appreciating me leaving her alone to rest.

Simulated sealed deck games with SpecialK

2011-12-06T19:04:00.002+11:00

Since SpecialK and I have been in contact with each other again, we have been playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) - a card game that simulates us being fantastical spell casters in battle against each other. While it may appear to be a kids card game on the surface, it does lend itself to managing resources (in the way of obtaining mana to "pay" for spells), as well as understanding probability when attempting to build decks to compete against each other.

While it is simple enough for a casual player to walk into a M:TG store and buy a deck to start playing, the next level of understanding of the game is when you start creating your own decks. With some simple rules - like no more than 4 copies of any card besides basic lands, you have to construct a deck that attempts to beat your oppoenet down from 20 life to 0, or gives him 10 poison counters, or fulfills some other win conditions - without your opponent doing the same to you.

SpecialK and I took that concept one step further by having a limited sealed game with just him and I. We opened up 6 Rise of the Eldrazi boosters, added some lands, and made a deck of 40 cards. We would later add some Zendikar booster to the mix as well. We played this over the course of around 3 weeks. Every time we met, we would add one booster to our respective pools, and attempt to come up with a deck to beat each other. SpecialK kept reusing his first deck, and just substituting a few cards from it here and there. I would swap my entire deck in and out. One week I would play one combination, and another week I would be playing a totally different combination of cards. In this format, the 4 card maximum rule does not apply. The only rule that does apply is that you cannot add cards from outside of the packets you have opened.

In a way, this simulated the type of format used in some M:TG leagues that are held in the card shops around Melbourne. While I am not doing well at those types of formats, I do enjoy myself when I play this game.

At the end of the simulation with SpecialK, it ended up roughly even, with me possibly edging ahead with an extra win or two. It also gave SpecialK an insight into M:TG, a game which he thought was originally dead and no longer being played. I do not know of a time where it has been as popular as it is now.

Victory and Celtics

2011-11-28T19:29:00.004+11:00

With much happiness, I am pleased to have attended my first home game of this A-League season (2011-2012) where the Melbourne Victory have actually won the game. In what appeared to be a close game after Melbourne lost a 2-0 lead to the Gold Coast team, Carlos Hernández headed in the winning goal for the Melbourne Victory in the final 10 minutes to win the game 3-2. Hernández also scored the second goal, with the initial goal being scored by Harry Kewell.

GO VICTORY!!

On other news, it appears the NBA is coming back with a shortened season of only 66 games. The first games will be on Christmas day, and it includes the Boston Celtics against the New York Knicks.

GO CELTICS!!

My sports watching is back to normal!

Knights vs Dragons duel deck

2011-11-20T23:56:00.004+11:00

I enjoy playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), and one of the easiest ways I play it is by grabbing preconstructed decks and playing those as they are. Wizards (the company behind M:TG), came up with a great concept in duel decks. Within their low cost offering, you have two decks per pack. Each deck has one or two powerful cards, and good mix of complementary cards that two people of any skill level can start playing straight away. The price point works out cheaper to buy duel decks than event decks - the former getting you 120 cards, and the later getting you only 75 (tuned) cards. This article revolves around their Knights v Dragons duel decks (go to the Wizards.com website for the full decklist).

In a rush to start playing these decks, I actually did not take photos of it first. So here is what the decks look like without the cards in them:

When it comes to an even match, I would say that these two decks are quite equal - but it depends on the timing of the game. If you are playing the Knights, you will be playing a lot of small creatures, which will come out quickly. They will be able to give benefits to each other - similar to the way that Humans give benefits to each other in the Innistrad block. If you are playing the Dragons, you will usually play a few goblins, and some quick attacks, but you are just holing off your opponent until you can get a dragon out. Once a dragon does enter the game, it will usually mean the end for your opponent in a few turns.

One aspect of the game I do notice in these decks that I have not noticed in other decks as much is the importance of having a good supply of land to generate mana. While you do not want to have too much mana draw, and hence not be able to draw creatures to dispatch your opponent, you do not want to little, so you cannot keep up with the flow of the game. Each game I play, have noticed it that when one person (playing either the Knights or the Dragons) starts to falter with playing their land cards, it will usually indicate that they will loose the game.

As mentioned before, the decks are evenly matched. I have played against Chewie and with SpecialK, and have mentally noted that the winning decks are not one, but are about even between the two. I have yet to play this with KittyKat.

This product (consisting of the two decks) is currently available in stores, and should provide no challenge in obtaining. I look forward to hear from any other people who do use duel decks willing to share their experiences with me.

Innistrad event decks

2011-11-16T17:46:00.005+11:00

Wizards of the Coast have come out with products in an attempt to include more people playing the standard format of Magic: The Gathering (M:TG). In the same way they came out with War of Attrition deck that contained the banned card, Stoneforge Mystic, they have also come out with event decks for the current set release of Innistrad. These Innistrad event decks, being Hold the Line deck and Deathfed deck, are designed to be played out of the box - each coming with a 60 card main deck and a 15 card sideboard. All cards in both decks are standard format legal (unlike the Stoneforge Mystic card).

Hold the Line (left in the images above) is a mono-white deck, and it is fast to play. Get out a cheap (low mana cost) creature in the first few rounds, and keep attacking. Use equipment like the Butcher's Cleaver to pump up creatures and attack hard for the win. Use Bonds of Faith as required - whether you need to pump up one of your own creatures, or lock down one of your opponents creatures. It is more flexible than an Oblivion Ring, which you also get in this deck.

Deathfed (right in the images above) is a blue, black, and green deck. It is centered around putting items into your graveyard (discard pile), and then retrieving them, or making them count towards something else that you are about to play. It is not quick to play, and requires some setting up, but once it is established, it is hard to beat. Spider Spawning is one example of a card that will provide results with preparation. Play it late, and again with flash back, for a swarm of 1/2 token spider creatures that all have reach (allowing you to block flyers). You may loose a few to their large bomb creatures, but a few will get through. If enough get through each time, then a win will be sure to follow. One danger I have experienced with this deck is that due to the self-milling effect, you will loose by not having any more cards to draw from your library. It will not happen often, but there is always a risk for it to occur.

At this point in time, I favour playing the mono-white deck. It is quick, simple, and does not require too much planning to get win conditions. Both would make good bases for people who wanted to get into standard format play in M:TG.

Social notworking...

2011-11-15T15:44:00.005+11:00

Two interesting articles recently came to my attention:

Let me start off this by saying that I do not use Facebook, and I have never seen the need to use it either. Why would I? Every one I would like to speak to, I do. Some people more than others. Some I see on a daily basis. Some I see periodically. Some I only speak to on the phone. Some I speak to via email or SMS. If someone needs to contact me, they will.

I do not need to have hundreds of thousands of friends. I do not need to be liked by people (not that I am). But with the increasing spread of Facebook in people's lives, is this a positive impact? Like all forms of media, you cannot have a simple yes or no answer, but it lies somewhere in the middle. I do believe it can be used innocently to be a form of communication - but I also strongly believe it can be used as a huge time waster, and a way to stalk / cyberbully people. It also is a great way to showcase humans being stupid. This is really waiting for statistics to illustrate that there is a small percentage of people that will do silly acts and publicize it. Apparently the use of Facebook is so addictive that users cannot cancel their accounts, even when they are being stalked or bullied.

I do not object to all methods of social networking. Used in a professional context, it can be a useful tool. Linkedin shows this - but once again, it can be corrupted and abused.

Do we loose the way we communicate to each other when all we do is a shout out post on a virtual wall? Do we even know how to interact with each other? I know this does not apply to everyone on the planet, but it does apply to a lot of technologically savvy people who use a computer on a daily basis.

How does everyone feel about this?

Piracy, copyright, patents, and other corporate tactics

2011-11-07T16:50:00.002+11:00

In an interesting recent article, there seems to be a reason (for at least the author) of advocating the use of piracy. I am not going to advocate breaking the law, but in this article, I am hoping to get people to think about the law - and is it just?

Being just and being lawful, while being intertwined - are not always the same. For example, if you look at the slavery code in the USA, they may have been the law of the day, but they are far from being right or just. No man should own another man (or woman). Following a civil war, an amendment to the law was made, prohibiting slavery (unless used as punishment for crime).

Hopefully by now, you may be questioning what the purpose of these laws are. So, is patenting and copyright just? Or does it stifle innovation, and only serve to create more money for the corporations and individuals that hold the patents and copyrights? A Google lawyer may have a vested interest in questioning the laws, as they are currently being held ransom by patents and copyrights from Microsoft over their Android operating system for phones. Even an Australian has registered the patent for the wheel.

Is patents and copyrights fair or just? Or is it a way for the 1% to get richer while the 99% are kept below them. I am happy to hear comments from all sides in this issue.

Chewie got milled!

2011-11-01T19:34:00.004+11:00

Chewie came over the other night, and we played some games of Magic: The Gathering (M:TG). In this case, we played some games using the Innistrad Intro decks. Chewie played the Carnival of Blood deck and I played the Eldritch Onslaught deck (see the Wizard's site for the full deck lists).

An interesting scenario happened. I "milled" Chewie so that he had no cards in his library, and won the game. The rules stated that if he had no more cards in his library, and was required to draw a card, he lost the game. Stating all that, there was a few earlier opportunities that I could have finished him off - but I chose not to. I wanted to experience what it would be like to mill an actual person. Up until that point, I had only milled a computer competitor.

It was an interesting feeling, and it is one I suggest that every M:TG player try to do, at least once. The game hung in the balance from around half way, and there were many opportunities Chewie could have attempted to cause damage to me, but in all those cases, I was lucky enough to have something which could stave off his attack. When the game was finished, I felt exhausted (as it went on for about double the time of a normal game), but highly satisfied in my achievement.

I wonder if he will have the same luck in attempting to mill me. Fortunately for Innistrad players, there is a new card - Laboratory Maniac - that turns the rule around. If you have that card in your control, and you have no more cards in your library, you win the game. Maybe I should try to insert that card into the Eldritch Onslaught deck and see if I can mill myself for the win.

SpecialK and M:TG

2011-10-30T16:05:00.006+11:00

SpecialK came around last night for dinner. I have known SpecialK for around 15 years. We first met in university. On that first day, I turned up late to my first class, and the last seat in the room was next to SpecialK. It was a strange friendship that formed, but it did. In the 15 years that has passed, we have been in a situation where we have been in constant contact, and times we have not spoken much to each other. These days we do not see each other regularly, but when we do, it is very much appreciated.

After dinner, SpecialK and I played some Magic: The Gathering (M:TG). I knew, from the days in university, that he played a little - so I was curious if he had any of the cards from when he did play. Fortunately he did. He brought them over, but we did not end up using them. SpecialK was more interested in what was currently happening in M:TG. From what I have gathered, SpecialK had not played M:TG for around 10 years, and was in the belief that M:TG was no longer being played. He did not know about the current sets, or the resources on the web.

As the night progressed, we played the Phyrexia and Coalition decks, the Ajani and Nicol Bolas decks, and had a look at some of the other decks I have like the Slivers deck, as well as the Fire and Lightning deck. I showed him some of the cards I put together from the Innistrad set, and he showed me some of the cards he put together. Over the period of around 3 hours, we ended up playing 4 games, along with looking at a lot of the history of M:TG in the form of its cards.

SpecialK remembered most of the tricks on playing M:TG - like when to play cards, and how to generate resources (mana) to maximum efficiency. We also figured out that while introducing a Planeswalker (in this case - Ajani), while usually a game winning tactic, if played at the wrong time, would result it it being it being easily defeated. If you are going to introduce a Planeswalker into the game, you have to have ways of protecting it against an opponents established creatures. When I played these decks with Chewie, him bringing out Ajani would usually result in him being able to lock me out from doing anything else. Additionally, it is hard to bring out Nicol. His casting cost is very restrictive.

I look forward to playing SpecialK again soon, and hopefully I will find a time to play his older brother too.

What is the idea with "brown bag" sessions?

2011-10-24T12:16:00.004+11:00

Who ever came up with the idea of "brown bag" sessions was smart. The idea behind them is that it is an informal seminar / session to convey information. The concept is that attendees get a packed lunch either themselves or supplied - comprising of cut sandwiches, and maybe some fruit and a drink. Attendees would then eat while participating in the session. Used correctly, it could be an efficient use of what many would consider a lost hour.

While this is good, I believe it falls down on one key point. People value their own time. And if you are cutting into someone's lunch time, you should give them a benefit. I am not referring to the benefit of gaining more information, but something more tangible.

Something that organizers of these events should consider is providing the lunch to the attendees - not relying on the attendees to bring their own lunch. More people may then be interested in attending, and it would offset the feeling that attendees are loosing an hour of their own time. I guess this would be a different view if people worked in hard labour / sweatshop conditions, and personal lunch time is a rarity.

Occupy Wall Street in Melbourne

2011-10-22T02:36:00.008+11:00

It disappointed and upset me that Victorian Police forces moved in today on protestors who were occupying the middle of Melbourne. Based on a decision by Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu and Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle, the police were told to physically move protestors, who were occupying Melbourne's City Square, out of the area and to "give the square back to the citizens of Melbourne".

As a citizen of Melbourne, I had no problem with these protestors occupying the space. I do not think Mr Baillieu or Mr Doyle agree with me, especially with the upcoming visit of Queen Elizabeth II of England. How embarrassing would it look for Melbourne for the Queen of another country to visit, and find these "awful" protesters (and I say "awful" with a sarcastic tone) in the middle of the city? After all, they are protesting about the huge gap that exists between the haves and the have-nots (the 99%). Mr Baillieu and Mr Doyle are associated with the Liberal Party of Australia - a political movement that is interested in protecting the wealth of the wealthy. The visitor they are attempting to prepare the city for (ie. the Queen of England) is one of the richest persons in the world.

In what is looking like a media nightmare, it really is the 1% dictating the terms to the 99%. The politicians involved have also put the spin on, saying that professional protestors had joined the ranks of the peaceful protestors. How does a person become a professional protestor? Why did the Victorian Police just start physically battering protestors? Why did they not target the professional protestors? What is the criteria that makes someone a professional protestor?

Does anyone else wonder what is truly going on here?

KittyKat asked me, "What can we do?" That is when I told her that if the people in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya did nothing, then they would not have changed in their country (commonly termed as Arab Spring). I do not want to live in a country where politicians give lip service by saying "OK all you protestors, we get the message - move on now!" Mr Baillieu and Mr Doyle were just patronizing in their actions. Do we really want those types of people in charge?

I do not want to live in a country or a state where after I voice my opinion that I am told I am powerless and I have to move on. I would like to engage in a form of communication at a minimum, and invoke change as my eventual goal. The way Mr Baillieu and Mr Doyle managed the situation with the protestors was appalling. The world is watching!

Hopefully this post (or rant) has started you thinking. What can you do? If you are in Melbourne on Saturday 22.10.2011 see the reconvening of the protest for yourself. Bring your video cameras / cameras / mobile phones. Capture and document what you see. You may be witnessing the first steps of something much larger...

Observation on double-faced cards in Innistrad

2011-10-15T21:40:00.008+11:00

With the latest set of Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) - Innistrad, one of the new mechanics is "Transform", and this affects Double-Faced cards. Never before has M:TG had cards where a playable face has been printed on both sides of the card. The cards that have the "transform" mechanic on it can be found on Wizard's Gatherer website.

I have been using cards with the new mechanic for around a month, and I am pleased to report that they are working well from my observations. I initially thought that would be difficult to use, with either having to flip them in sleeves, or requiring use of the Innistrad double-face checklist card, but it has proven quite easy - as long as I am given the time to set up the method you want.

Although I do use opaque card sleeves, and therefore I am permitted to use the double face cards in the sleeves, I still prefer to put the checklist cards in the opaque sleeves, and the actual card in a clear double sided sleeve. I do not know if that fits with the general consensus on how the majority of people use their cards, but I believe it cuts down on wear and tear of the actual card itself.

The cards themselves are good. If you can transform the card, so the the back of the card is showing, then the majority of them will provide a great benefit. I have charged to victory around 6 times (out of around 10 games) after getting out Ludevic's Test Subject, and within a few turns being able to transform it to victory. In one of those games, I was able to "pump" it up with Spectral Flight resulting in a 15/15 flying lizard with trample. The other good Double-Faced card is the Reckless Waif - a one-cost red human werewolf. Getting him out in your opening play (especially if you go first), will usually result in you transforming it by your second turn as your opponent will usually play a land, but not much else. This is not always the case, but the times I have been able get him out will usually result in me landing a 3 point hit in my second turn. With some good deck planning, I am usually able to get out some more creatures to come in and either defend, or add to the attack.

All I need to do is to figure out how to transform my cards to the more powerful side, and keep them that way. I have been caught out before by accidentally transforming my werewolves back into their human form by casting two or more spells. Anyone have any strategic tips?

Innistrad Intro decks

2011-10-12T03:13:00.008+11:00

Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) has different ways of introducing new players to the game. While some may see it as a (simple) card game, there enough rules to fill out over 200+ pages in their rulebook. One way to learn the game is to turn up at a shop that sells M:TG and chat to the person behind the counter. If they cannot show you how to play the game, they would usually be able to suggest local groups or other stores to try. Occasionally you will also have "learn how to play" sessions, much like the one I attended at the Games Laboratory (who hold them every 2 months or so).

This article is centered around another introductory product - that of the Innistrad Intro decks. These decks are designed to be simple and the cards within them are meant to work with each other. A pair (or more) of players would be able to grab a deck each, open them up, and start playing with them. They will be introduced to a mixture of Innistrad cards as well some core M12 cards. The Innistrad Intro decklists are available readily on the Wizards web site.

You also get a booster of Innistrad per Intro deck. This is a good idea which allows the new player to start modifying their deck, but will introduce some cards that they may not have a clear understanding - like the transformable cards. I would have appreciated if they created an intro deck that included the Transform mechanic. Along with the booster pack, you also receive a "How to Play" brochure, as well as guide on how to play all the Innistrad Intro decks.

Eldritch Onslaught

This deck is designed to put cards into the graveyard (discard pile). You can play this one of two ways. You can put your own cards into your own graveyard, and then play them out of there - or you could mill your opponent and try to empty their libraries (card pile) for a win. Cards that would assist this deck would include the Jace cards, and if you want to reverse the scenario to mill yourself, then include the Laboratory Maniac. I find this deck the most enjoyable to play out of all the Intro decks in this set.

Spectral Legions

This deck is full of flying spirit creatures, or creatures that turn into flying spirit creatures. It is very straight forward to play, and there are tribal cards that give benefits to each other the more you have on the battlefield (the main play area). My suggestion to change this deck is to use more blue or white removal spells. This will give the player more time to be able to establish their flying spirits for a big attack.

Deathly Dominion

I considered this deck the hardest of this set to play well. I do not like killing my own creatures (moving it from the battlefield to the graveyard) or timing a death of a creature to obtain a bonus - which is exactly what this deck does. My suggestion to make this deck more playable is to get token generating cards - like Spider Spawning. This will be able to generate a good amount of chump blockers, allowing you to fuel the morbid mechanic.

Carnival of Blood

This deck features the tribal theme of Vampires in M:TG. Similar in a way to how the Spectral Legions deck has a flying spirits tribal theme. I find this deck very slow. My suggestions to fix it up would be to include 4 Stromkirk Noble cards, and at least 2 Olivia Voldaren cards. Olivia could be equipped with a Wooden Stake for a very effective creature removal combo. Additionally, to increase the speed, add in some Typhoid Rats and Reckless Waif cards for additional speed.

Repel the Dark

In a similar way to the other tribal theme decks in this set, this one centers around human creature types (careful about that link - it will display the images of 1300+ cards). I found this deck quick, but I also found it flawed in some areas. My suggestion would be to remove Jade Mage, Thraben Purebloods, and Unruly Mob - and replace them with more useful human creature cards. Possibly try a Mayor of Avabruck - although his bonus does not apply when he transforms into a werewolf. On a side note, I think the Mayor should have been slightly more powerful, and been given a legendary supertype. In a strange way, I find it wrong that more than one person claiming to be the Mayor turning up in the same place at the same time.

In conclusion, I intend to keep these decks as they are until the next set of intro decks are released. I will then breakdown all these decks and add them to my general card pool. I am also willing to hear suggestions from anyone else on what to do with them.

M:TG Tournament experience on a budget

2011-10-10T16:28:00.004+11:00

I do not know if many people that play Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) have actually been in an event at their local store, but I am sure most of them have heard about it. I also understand that there is a growing audience of people who play M:TG online - I guess that when it is 3am in the morning, and you can't sleep, it's an option to pass the time away.

Back to the real world, there is nothing that can compare to playing a real opponent. Even if you are not super-competitive, the interaction cannot be truly replicated on-line. People will make facial gestures when they get certain cards, allowing their opponents to read them. So, to be competitive, but without spending the full amount, I am suggesting this:

Approach your local M:TG hobby store with 5 other friends, and ask him that if you guys buy and crack open the booster packs in a booster box, can you guys casually play with the cards you get.
If the owner agrees with that, ask them if you can use their spare basic lands. Most card stores that have space for casual gaming will have an abundant supply of basic lands. If the shopkeeper does not agree to it, then you can take the booster box to another location, and use one (or many) of the players basic lands - if you have been playing for some time, then most people will have a cache of basic lands.
Divide the price of booster box 6 ways, and buy an additional booster pack - to represent the "grand prize".
With (usually) 36 packs per booster box, allocate each person 6 booster packs.
Each player opens up their booster packs in isolation, and creates a 40 card deck with as many lands as required. This is a form of limited format in M:TG tournaments.
After making their cards, each player plays each other opponent in the best of 3 games. Score each match with 3 points for an overall win, and 1 point for a draw. If everyone who plays agrees to no time limits, then the likeness of a draw is lower.
All players are allowed to "sideboard" (ie. swapping cards in and out of the deck) between games and matches. They are not limited to the amount of cards with "sideboarding", but they can only do it from the pool of cards they obtained from opening up all the booster packs.
After 5 matches, the top person gets the additional booster as the prize. Everyone else keeps what they have opened. If there are two people on the same amount of points for the "grand prize", they can choose any way to resolve this - more matches, "rock, paper, scissors", flipping coins, etc

Playing this way is usually more cost effective than going to a DCI-sanctioned tournament, and simulates what event conditions are like. Unfortunately, you do not get Planeswalker points, but you have gotten the pseudo-experience of a tournament for a minor additional cost on top of the booster pack purchased in bulk.

Currently the average booster box can cost around AUD$150 (for the new Innistrad release). A new booster pack is AUD$6. So for AUD$156, or around AUD$26 per person, you have simulated conditions, as well as the cards to keep. If every match drags out to 3 full games, you may be looking at around 5 hours to complete the event. In comparison, for a simlar style event, you would be looking at around AUD$40 per person, totaling AUD$240 - an additional AUD$84. Greater savings can be made by buying older / cheaper booster boxes, and the "grand prize" does not need to be in the same set. Additionally, you may also get promo cards thrown in, which may be used as the prize for the ultimate winner.

Checking disk space on a UNIX / Linux machine

2011-10-09T14:54:00.000+11:00

I have been looking for an all in one script that I can use to check on disk space on a UNIX / Linux machine, and if it past a certain percentage, email out a message to an email address informing about the result. I searched the web, and found a page called "Monitor UNIX / Linux Server Disk Space with Shell Script".

The code from that page looked good, but did not work properly on the Solaris machine I was trying it on - possibly due to some weird configurations in the command line shell. I made some modifications to the script, and hopefully have made it generically enough so it can be run on any UNIX / Linux system. The code is:

#!/usr/bin/sh
############################################################
# disk_test.sh
############################################################
# http://riconthego.blogspot.com/
############################################################
# This script is check disk space on a machine, and email
# out to a list of people if any file systems are on 90+% ############################################################
df -k|awk '{ print $5 " " $6 }' | while read output; do
  usedPercentage=`echo $output | awk '{ print $1}' | cut -d'%' -f1 `
  driveMount=`echo $output | awk '{ print $2 }' `
  if [ $usedPercentage -gt 89 ]; then
    echo "Running out of disk space \"$driveMount ($usedPercentage%)\" on `hostname` as of `date`" | mailx -s "Alert: Partition on `hostname` is at $usedPercentage%" someone@somewhere.com
  fi
done

In the script, change the someone@somewhere.com argument passed into the mailx command to the email address that is the recipient of the information. Copy and paste the above code into a file called disk_test.sh, and then in the directory you saved the file in, type in the following command (without the "$" at the start):

$ chmod u+x disk_test.sh

This will change the permissions of the file allowing it to be executed as a script. Execute the script by typing the following command:

$ ./disk_test.sh

If everything has worked, you should not see any returned strings or characters to the console. If any of the partitions on the system meet the criteria in the test, a separate email should be sent for each mount that exceeds the threshold. Lastly, you should set up a periodic cron job, to automatically run the job on the filesystem. Depending on your requirements, you may want to run this script anywhere from once a week to once an hour.

Finally learning how to draft M:TG properly

2011-10-08T15:41:00.008+11:00

In my fourth event of playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), I have finally won more than a single game in a match. I won a match. Actually, I won two matches. It was an elated feeling to win two matches, altogether made sweeter with getting a reward for my efforts of an additional booster pack. The final score after 3 matches was 2-1, 2-0, and 0-2 - ending up 4th in a field of 12 players.

Chewie, who accompanied me to the event last night, made a great assessment of my situation. When you beat your friends, it is one level of satisfaction. At the end of the day, they are your friends, and most of mine play M:TG due to fact I have introduced (or encouraged) them to play. When you go to an event, you are playing against people who are enthusiastic in playing the game. Which means they will have read up on how to play the game, studied the strategies, and played in a larger network of people that do play. Beating them feels better. Strangely, loosing to people who are enthusiastic of the M:TG game is not that bad - I equate it to loosing a game of one-on-one basketball to Michael Jordan (seeing how he is the one of the greatest basketball players of all time and I can not even dunk). You can easily tell yourself you were outmatched and mentally move on.

My current network of people I play with is made up of Chewie, Captain Powderpuff, TanMan, with the occasional Jarvo, KittyKat playing, and I am hoping to get SpecialK back into it. I chatted to SpecialK a few days ago, and he has some old sets, but has not played in a while. He actually thought the game had died off. Happy to play anyone, but I am too busy / lazy to make my way to M:TG stores to play on the weekends.

Going back to M:TG events, in particular the events that has a 40 card deck minimum, there seems to be 2 main types of cards you want when playing M:TG (on top of your mana-producing cards):

Creature cards
Creature removal cards

Every other card is either going to hinder you, slow you down, or give you minimal advantage. Strategically, when it comes to creatures, those with evasion keywords (like Flying or Intimidate) fare better than those without. Having cards that can pump up cards is also somewhat advantageous, but you need to be able to have the creatures in the first place to play them. Other things to keep in mind is the cost of each card (CMC). You do not want just expensive cards, and you do not want expensive cards that have little benefit. Lastly, you want to see what synergies you can exploit.

It is a different style of mentality from 60 card deck minimums, whether it be played socially, or in standard play. I will eventually build up enough understanding of how those work, try them, and attempt to document what I have figured out. I am also sure it is a different style of play in comparison to a game of EDH / Commander.

Playing at the Games Laboratory, the usual players I would like to thank are AT and LS - firstly for beating me (down hard) when I played them, but then by taking the time of going through my deck and my additional cards in an attempt to figure out new cards to try. In that, they also explained some of the concepts of M:TG when played with a 40 card deck minimum. All help is greatly appreciated!

Setting up cron

2011-10-07T15:45:00.001+11:00

Setting up recurring tasks in a Unix-like / Linux environment is done via a program / mechanism called cron. You edit it (usually) using vi, and you put in variables of when you are supposed to run jobs - similar to a scheduler. The order of those fields is something I always seem to forget, so here they are (to remind me to populate the top of the cron files):

# Minute Hour Day of Month Month Day of Week Command
# (0-59) (0-23) (1-31) (1-12 or Jan-Dec) (0-6 or Sun-Sat)

As an example:

0 2 12 * 0,6 /usr/bin/find /stuff

Putting those comments at the top of every cron file should be enough for others to figure out what is being done. To display cron jobs, type (without the "$"):

$ crontab -l

To edit cron jobs, type:

$ crontab -e

Remember to use vi commands when editing. The Gentoo Linux vi page is a really good start, or you can just go directly to the vi "cheat sheet".

Uptime in MS Windows

2011-10-06T10:16:00.004+11:00

I've been looking for a while to find a consistent way of finding uptime in Windows. It appears that Windows does not natively come with an uptime reporting program, even though you can install one (unlike Linux or other Unix-like systems). They do have other system commands, but you have to sift through the output of these programs to find out what information you want. From what I've seen, here is the most consistent commands:

Windows XP Professional:
To get the uptime of a system, start up a command window by clicking on Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt.

In the command prompt window, type in
systeminfo | find "Up Time"
and press Enter. This will isolate the line of information containing the uptime of the system.

Windows XP / 2000 / 2003:
Start up a command window by clicking on Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt.

In the command prompt window, type in
net statistics workstation | find "since"
and press Enter.

Linux / Unix:
It is much easier on a Unix / Linux type system, just to type in command line (without the "$"):
$ uptime

Don't pick on the geek

2011-10-05T00:35:00.006+11:00

This article has some references to Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), but it serves only as a basis of a story of initial ridicule, but caught fire on the internet to drive a huge backlash from the internet users. You may have already guessed, but this is around the story of an internet website editor dating a M:TG former champion - Alyssa Bereznak and Jon Finkel.

The dust has somewhat settle, and the internet has responded:

The summary was that Alyssa, who herself works for an IT related journalist web site, was labeling someone she had met on an online dating site, as a geek or nerd. On top of that, she was upset that this fact was not disclosed to her in his profile. It appears to be a pot labeling a kettle. And then the internet "had their say"...

There is one thing that Alyssa, and I am guessing a lot of people (regardless of gender) are missing - without geeks or nerds, your world would be different - VERY DIFFERENT INDEED. You would not have:

Industries built on Information Technology (IT)
The internet (ie. you would not be able to read this blog post) and its websites
Computers
Mobile Phones (and this would probably extend to regular phones)
Television
Radio
Medicines
Electricity
Food technology (although some may argue that genetically modified food is harmful)
Video games
Credit cards
Cars and most other forms of transport
Everything cool that Apple makes (iPhone, iPad, iMac)
Countless other items

All these aspects of modern life came about due to involvement of nerds and geeks.

I am not going to put forward the argument that the world is a better place with ALL these items in it, but I will say that it is a very different place. I am not saying that entertainers and sports people do not have their place in society either, but if you seriously think about it, being able to kick a ball does not assist in helping to solve communication issues between countries separated by geography. I do appreciate watching sports, but it is as a distraction. As Chewie said to me recently, "If it wasn't for all the distractions around us, we would get more time trying to solve things and better ourselves."

Next time you want to label something as "too nerdy" or "geeky", take a look around you and at your own life. If you are reading this article, it was because a nerd or a geek thought up the technology to bring it to you. Your mocking (no matter how "playful" or "innocent" it may be) may be having a profound negative impact on someone around you.

Well done to the internet community in raising one voice against people like mean girl Alyssa. And to Alyssa: "Your opinions are not always appreciated!"

I love the fatties!

2011-09-30T23:15:00.008+10:00

When I am referring to loving the fatties, I mean the Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) Fat Packs - not the huge creatures in the game. In this case, I am referring to the Innistrad Fat Packs.

It was launch weekend this weekend for the Innistrad set for M:TG. This follows on a week after the prerelease weekend. You have to acknowledge the sole purpose for these events - it comes down to marketing to turn over money. I do acknowledge that it also introduces the people to the new sets, but we are not talking about a life saving technique or event here - it is a card game (a fun one at that). It could turn into making money for the individual players themselves (if they decide to turn "pro"), but essentially this is an opportunity for the stores selling the product as well as Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro (the manufacturers of M:TG) to make money. It is a symbiotic relationship, where the retailer and the manufacturer work together in an attempt to bring the product to the consumer. While the consumer has the final decision in this, the strength lies with the strategy used by both the manufacturer and the retailer.

As mentioned in the title of this article, I appreciate the package known as a fat pack, and hence purchased one this weekend, along with a copy of all the Intro decks for Innistrad. The contents of the Innistrad fat pack can be found on-line.

Others there were even more keen than me on this game (and this may lead to why I am not consistently good at this game, as I am not willing to put in the investment of time and money as much as other people). To me, this game is still a hobby, not a profession. While the fat pack I purchased cost AUD$50, I saw other people this weekend sitting in front of booster boxes, opening up the 36 booster packs found inside. Each booster pack costs around AUD$5.50 to AUD$6, but when purchased as a box, it costs AUD$150 and they usually throw in a promo card (while stocks last). The promo card for buying a box of Innistrad boosters is Devil's Play. Buying a booster box works out roughly to getting 6 booster packs free when buying in bulk.

From estimations, I have spent somewhere around AUD$400 to $500 (as a rough total) on all my purchases for M:TG. I was dwarfed by the amount of people who were spending money buying products. The one guy at a table near me had opened two booster boxes already, and was working his way to his third box. I hope he gets out of the game what he needs - as that one afternoon, he was working his way through AUD$450.

All the prices I have mentioned in this article are from the Games Laboratory. I have not seen a "recommended retail price" anywhere for these items, so you may find prices fluctuate depending on where and who you are buying products from. The guys at Game Laboratory appear there to help, so buy in bulk, and they'll try to help you out.

(I'm hoping that no one who reads this article mistook the title for a broadcast that I am in anyway attracted to BBWs I may have been with.)

The "Exception" deck in M:TG

2011-09-28T14:19:00.011+10:00

After one of the recent major pro tournaments that Wizards / DCI ran for Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), they deemed that two cards were too powerful for the tournament style game, and were subsequently banned. Those cards were "Jace, the Mind Sculptor", and "Stoneforge Mystic". The first card was very powerful, and banning it seemed to put some equality back into the game. Banning the second card caused a dilemma for Wizards, as around the same time, they were releasing a ready-to-play Event Deck that contained that card - the War of Attrition deck.

An Event Deck is a preconstructed deck that is geared towards winning games. It contains 60 cards, with an additional 15 cards as a sideboard. By banning the Stoneforge Mystic card, they effectively banned the War of Attrition deck. Since they were all ready to by shipped or already in the stores, Wizards deemed that those decks were tournament legal - as long as you played the deck as it was. If you want to modify the deck, then Wizards have deemed that you need to remove the 2 Stoneforge Mystics in the deck.

This leads to an interesting position for me. I am not the greatest deck builder. That has been shown to me by my lack of being able to win matches in all the M:TG events I have been involved with - although I am starting to win games. Getting this deck meant that I would loose out in doing something M:TG - customizing decks.

From the majority of initial reports, the War of Attrition deck is still quite useful at dispatching the majority of other decks. In the next few weeks, when I get to play it as is (ie. "out of the box"), I will make mention of its performance in the comments section below.

I purchased this from the Dungeon of Magic (located in the Royal Arcade, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne City).

Ajani vs Nicol Dueling

2011-09-27T01:22:00.006+10:00

After purchasing and playing my first Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) duel deck, Phyrexia vs. The Coalition, I purchased a second one - Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas. This is the first duel deck I have had that has been built around a Planeswalker type.

From my understanding of these decks, Wizards of the Coast (the developers of M:TG), made these decks to be played by two people against each other. With just the basic understanding of the game, two people would be able to purchase this product, shuffle, and then start playing. You can always change the cards in the deck, or take cards out of it to add to other decks you may have, but it is not how to use the product as it was originally intended.

After playing a few games with these decks, I feel that the Ajani deck tries to swarm out a lot of creatures while gaining life at the same time. On the other hand, the Nicol deck needs time to build up a large store of mana to play some powerful cards - but meanwhile will try to counter and remove the opponents cards on the table and cards in hand. The deck lists can be found on the Wizards website. The key aspect of the game I have noticed is that whoever gets their Planeswalker out first will usually have enough of a position to win the game. A Planeswalker in the opening hand would be a huge advantage, and knowing when and when not to mulligan is critical.

For the moment, I am content to play both my duel deck sets as they are, and against their corresponding opponents. I think they are a great way for casual players or people who are just interested in playing occasionally (that do not have their own decks) an opportunity to play instantly. The only suggestion I could make would be to remove 3 cards from either deck, and include 3 more copies of each of the Planeswalker type cards.

Microsoft is stifling your freedoms (again!)

2011-09-26T17:49:00.006+10:00

This article was originally sent out on the Linux Users of Victoria (LUV) mailing list by Luke. After emailing Luke, he has release the below (with some of my alterations) as public domain:

It as part of the Windows 8 OEM scheme Microsoft requires the OEM's to lock down the computer to only run Windows 8 or other "authorized" OS'es via a signature system for "security" reasons.

Put simply, Microsoft as part of their OEM system require all new computers shipping with Windows 8 to use secure signing keys to prevent "unauthorized software" from running on the computer. This will prevent all free software operating systems from running on the computers that come with OEM by default.

So, we need YOU to stand up for Linux in Australia (and other countries)!

Simply follow these easy steps:

Click this link: here
Fill out your concerns (find a reference letter below that you are free to copy / use).
Submit with Personal Information (this is a real complaint, and the ACCC requires this information to possibly verify it is legitimate).
Tell your friends to do the same.
(optional) Forward this to your favorite Linux Mailing List.
(optional) Phone the ACCC on 1300 302 502.

Here is the reference letter:

To ACCC,

I have recently learned that any new computer or laptop that ships with the upcoming Windows 8 Operating System will not be able to run any other Operating System. Microsoft's new UEFI Secure Boot system prevents 'unauthorized software' from running on any new computer sold with Windows 8. Making a system that ships with only Microsoft Windows not being able to boot a copy of Linux or any other operating system. I wish to use Linux on future computers, and this will not allow me to use Linux at all. Microsoft is engaging in seriously anti-competitive behavior by forcing the lockout of all competitors - see: http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/open-sauce/49889-will-windows-8-succeed-in-locking-out-gnulinux

Not only will Microsoft kick out Linux off the computers, they will prevent 'upgrading' of windows versions: creating forced obsolescence. I am disgusted, is Microsoft legally allowed to do this? Microsoft has been slowly becoming more anti-competitive: computing used to be about choice, having the ability to choose the Operating System. Now Microsoft want to have complete control.

Regards,

[insert your name here]

Do something (now) about protecting your freedoms! And if you want to read more, try the originating opinion in itwire.

Innistrad pre-release weekend

2011-09-25T22:03:00.003+10:00

I went to my first prerelease for Magic: The Gathering (M:TG), even though I have played the game on and off for around 16 years. I have previously been to a prerelease for M:TG, but only to see what was going on. That was for Zendikar, and now, for Innistrad, I was going to participate.

I may have forgotten to mention that the Zendikar prerelease was in Canberra, and had around 20 participants. Not many people turned up. I thought the Innistrad prerelease was going to be about the same, especially since it was going to be a midnight release - starting at 12:01am on Saturday (24.09.2011). I was wrong!

Participation involved a sealed limited format. I, and 41 other people, were given 6 booster packs (a random selection of around 15 cards sold in individually packets) of the Innistrad set, and was required to construct a deck of 40 cards out of those cards found in the 6 boosters supplemented with as many basic lands I wanted. This was similar to draft limited format, except there was no passing of cards from one person or another. You got what you received at the start of the session, and you made your deck out of that. Swapping was not allowed.

My first match was a walk-over. I was pummeled into the ground by my opponent. He knew what was going on, and did what he did to win - by a large margin. I was never in the game. Since we finished very quickly, he offered to assist me in building out my deck to avoid a repeat situation. My problem was that I had a very unbalanced mono-coloured deck (being red). With a few tips, I was shown how to rank cards on a mana-curve, and to weed out just creature / artifact spells, attacking spells, and removal / counter spells. Creatures are usually used to attack with, and removal spells are used to get rid of attacking creatures, spells, or artifacts. With this new information in hand, I tried to construct a more balanced deck by adding black to the red.

It proved successful, but only marginally. I did win 2 more games, but I lost all the best of 3 matches. Still, I see this as a learning curve. I did not learn how to run in a day, and I see these defeats as my attempts to learn how to crawl and walk first. I hope it is not going to be a long slow crawl.

Thanks goes to the guys at Games Laboratory, for putting on a great prerelease event (which I ended up getting home from at 5:30am). As some assistance to me, they have pointed me in the direction of the following online resources:

When I did get home, I decided to do some additional reading, and review the cards I have gotten from the sealed limited event. Within 30 minutes, I had created a red-green deck with a small portion of white. I tried some example opening hands (ie. drawing 7 cards), and found it to be a far more viable deck - assuming I shuffle it well every time. Who knows what would have happened if I spent the time on making that deck, instead of taking the easy way out and constructing a mono-coloured red deck? Maybe I would have won my first best of 3 match?

The iconic Adidas Shelltoes

2011-09-23T22:01:00.011+10:00

There are only a small number of sneakers, in my opinion, that have been made that can be considered truly iconic. Amongst them I would have to put the Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, the Nike Air Jordan I, the Nike Air Max ('87), and the Adidas Superstar - also known as the Shelltoes. This article is about the next iteration of the Shelltoes, being the Adidas Superstar II. There is apparently some minor differences between the original Adidas Superstar, and the Adidas Superstar II - hence why the name has changed. The rubber toe covering is still there, which is where the nickname of the shoe came from.

These sneakers were originally popularized by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The shoe was modeled off the Adidas Pro Model, which was similar in design but had a higher ankle cuff (also known as being a "high top"). It was not until the rap group Run-D.M.C. wore them in their acts that the first cross over from hip hop to fashion occurred, and it was Shelltoes that made that transition. The list I proposed in the first paragraph of this article may be short, but the Shelltoes is a sneaker that can be immediately recognize, and attributed to the 1980s hip hop culture.

The shoe requires some wearing-in. Trying the shoe on for the first time, I noticed it was digging into my arch, as the shoe does have a high arch support. While this is not too uncomfortable, it does take some time for the materials to soften, as well as my foot adjusting to the new shape. Traction is superb for indoor or outdoor sports usage due to the usage of a herringbone / ripple sole. With the emergence of this shoe being in the hip hop spotlight, I doubt that this should would be used for sport, but more geared towards fashion. In the case of the model I have, the tumbled leather used throughout the upper of the shoe creases gently, without looking too shabby after a few wears. The rubber toe covering initially rubbed on my toes, but within a few days was flexible and comfortable. Another benefit of the rubber toe cover is that most scuff marks are easily cleaned off with a damp cloth.

The only disadvantage of this shoe is that it has poor heel lock-down, and it feels like my foot slides around in the shoe. I doubt this will matter to most of the people that wear this shoe, as the lack of a heel lock down may be considered an advantage for people who just want to slip in and out of this sneaker. By lacing the shoe loosely, this is easily achievable.

From what I've seen in retail stores, these shoes originally sold for AUD$120, but with some shopping around, I was able to get these for AUD$48 from the Adidas Factory Outlet on Smith Street, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. I will be sure to look for more if they ever come on sale.

Phyrexia and the Coalition dueling

2011-09-22T18:31:00.008+10:00

I have been playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) on and off for around 16 years. I initially started off being introduced to it by a guy at uni, but I never bought my own cards. He brought in his own set of cards, and we played a few games. I was interested, but at the time I could not afford the initial investment of playing the game. The game requires collecting cards, and a huge number of them (unless you know which ones to purchase individually) - hence why I believe that they added the words "The Gathering" to the end of the game's name. Luckily, the guy at uni lent me his copy of the Microprose computer game of M:TG, and while this was much appreciated, and well used, it was eventually met with disapproval from my partner at the time claiming it was consuming too much of my time.

Go forward to around a few years ago, I actually starting buying the physical cards. I have played with KittyKat, Jarvo, Chewie, and a few other guys from work. Some of them have likened the game, while others have just blatantly put up a mental barrier against the game stating it is too geeky and requires "too much reading". I'm quite interested at the comment of "too much reading". I wonder if anything will ever be labeled as "too little reading"? What is "the correct level of reading"?

Anyway, to get back on track, here is my latest acquisition - based on the initial theory of Chewie, that you should play M:TG as it is - out of the box. It is the Phyrexia vs. The Coalition duel decks. In case you are wondering what is contained in this set, the decklist for both the Phyrexian deck and the Coalition deck is easily found on Wizard's main website (the subsidiary of Hasbro that develops M:TG). The two decks play very differently. The Phyrexian deck is all black in mana, and plays very straight forward, attempting to cause damage with a swarm of creatures immediately. The Coalition deck is all 5 colours, but with green as its predominant colour of mana. To win with a Phyrexian deck, you need to keep attacking and swarming your opponent, while doing some graveyard and mana manipulation. To win with the Coalition deck, you will need to hold off / endure your opponent's attacks, until you can get enough of the correct colour mana generators to cast one of the three dragons in the deck. Once the dragon comes out, the game will be completed within another 3 or 4 rounds.

I purchased this from the Dungeon of Magic (located in the Royal Arcade, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne City). Their prices are competitive when compared to what is on offer from ebay.com.

Lastly, I have started being more involved with M:TG in Melbourne, by even fronting up to events to play against people I have never met before. It was very surprising to find that the attitude of the shop owners and the players are very courteous to new players - like myself. While I do know how to play the basics of the game, I am new to playing competitively. Upon playing my first booster draft game, I was issued my own DCI number, which can be used to track my progress over time. I doubt I will climb fast in the ranks, but it is still a fun game to play.

Anyone up for a game?

EDH / Commander play

2011-09-18T20:02:00.011+10:00

One of the aspects I like about playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) is playing the cards in combination with each other for interesting effects and outcomes, and the social play. I do like playing competitively, but I really enjoy play in a relaxed atmosphere, where each person has enough time (and life points) to be able to get some combos out, before the game grinds to a halt due to someone winning. One on one is fine, but it is much more social and fun playing in a group, where alliances can be forged in one turn, only to dissolve in another.

One sub-game of M:TG is attempting to address that - called Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), or as it is better known now M:TG Commander. The rules can be found on-line, or in the main website, but in summary:

You have 100 single (no duplicate except for basic lands) cards in your deck including your commander card
The deck has to be in the same colour as your commander's colour/s
The commander must be legendary
Your commander starts off in a "commander zone" and stays there until it is ready to be cast - it does not add to your hand total
It costs more every time your commander dies to cast it out of the commander zone
You have 40 life (instead of the 20 you get in a normal game), but if you sustain 21 or more points of damage from a single commander, you loose
Games take longer - not the 25 minutes a normal game may take, but closer to an hour
You are encouraged to make up more rules to add more fun to the game

Getting together 100 cards is a lot to ask for, especially if you are new-ish to the game, so to assist, the guys at Wizards (developers of M:TG) came out with preconstructed Commander decks - with oversized cards for the deck's commander. Those decks (with their mana colours) are:

1. Heavenly Inferno (white, black, red deck)

2. Mirror Mastery (blue, red, green)

3. Counterpunch (black, green, white)

4. Political Puppets (red, white, blue)

5. Devour for Power (green, blue, black)

Each deck's checklist can be found on the wizard site, or you can find the entire card list for the M:TG Commander set on Gatherer.

Along with that, I also got some sleeves, and storage boxes:

Since I am new to this format, I have not had a huge opportunity to playtest the different sets. I will be able to give a better indication over time, but I will leave that to another articles. My thanks for allowing me to put all this together goes to:

Maelstrom games - for great prices of the actual decks themselves
George Raymo Toys - for the blue sleeves (sent in bulk to save on shipping)
CCG Magic Central - for the storage boxes (sent in bulk to save on shipping)
Good Games Melbourne - for the oversized sleeves

Lastly, I have noticed some people actually constructing commander decks by hand, and doing this all in one colour. It limits the possibilities you have, but if you can get the cards you need, you can be very annoying for other opponents. Think of an Erayo's Essense (the flipped side of the card) as your commander, and then playing an Arcane Laboratory - hence locking out your opponents from casting regular spells. It would make you very unpopular, very fast.

Typing speed (or lack of it)

2011-09-05T18:30:00.004+10:00

I have never been a good typer. I make many mistakes and I sometimes have to look at the keyboard. I never have taken a course for typing, but it has been something I have picked up from the many years I have spent working with a computer and a keyboard. I now have some measure of what I can accomplish when it comes to typing:

WPM Test

Your Typing Speed is 41 Words Per Minute.
You typed 2 incorrect words.
Your gross typing speed is 43 words per minute.
Your accuracy is 95%.

Anyone out there any faster? Click on the link to test yourself, and I welcome all "braggers"...

Burn, Chewie, Burn!

2011-08-24T19:44:00.003+10:00

Along the lines of a previous post of Cheap Slivers Premium Deck, I found the Fire & Lightning Premium Deck at the Dungeon of Magic (located in the Royal Arcade, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne City). This all relates to the game Magic: The Gathering (M:TG).

In the same way the Slivers deck was cheaper than what I have seen before, the Fire & Lightning deck was also cheaper than I have seen before - being $30. In case you are wondering what the package looks like, here it is:
This led to an interesting revelation from Chewie. I was buying some cards to top up my deck when he accused me of cheating (while we were in the store).

I asked him "Why?"

He responded by saying I should have used my (customized) Kamigawa ninja deck as it was. I told him I built it myself by merging some pre-constructed decks with some of my own ideas. At this point is where the revelation struck Chewie - the game / deck is fully customizable to the way you want to play it. He tried to make an argument that I should have played the deck as it was (again). I said I could not as it has already been altered. At this point, the store attendant suggested to Chewie that he could also customize his game by purchasing some of the products he had for sale.

So, to be "fair" until Chewie gets a better understanding of the game, I will use either the Fire & Lightning deck or the Slivers deck on him "out of the box". Any other suggestions on how to be fair?

A carton of Quai54s

2011-08-18T18:13:00.003+10:00

In a follow up to Quai54s, here is an image of the shoes before I disposed them:

I only took this picture, as I rarely buy the same shoe more than twice. I have bought some of my favorite shoes, in quantities of two, as I find myself liking an item (and this does not directly apply to shoes), then finding out a few years later on that I would like another item, but they no longer produce them.

In the case of this particular shoe, I was far from impressed by it. I do not appreciate the look for the Air Jordan V, and I did not like the colour scheme employed by this shoe. If other people like this shoe's look, then that is fine with me too. I do not have an issue with that - I will not judge or discriminate against your tastes or choices. This particular shoe is not the shoe for me.

Cheap Slivers Premium deck for M:TG

2011-08-17T18:08:00.006+10:00

I have been on hiatus from playing Magic: The Gathering (M:TG) for a few months. Jarvo is busy doing what he's doing, and KittyKat has lost interest in playing with her current deck, and finds no time to make up a new one. Step in Chewie.

Chewie asked me about the game a few weeks ago, and I finally dug up some decks I have played with. One is my usual deck (blue and black ninjas), and the other is KittyKat's deck (with the annoying Chaos Confetti strategy). Chewie did not have a deck, so we went off to the Dungeon of Magic (located in the Royal Arcade, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne City) to pick up a starter pack for himself.

That is where I stumbled upon this:

This is the M:TG Slivers Premium Deck (click on the link to have a look at the card list). When it was first released in Australia, it retailed for $55. Currently on ebay.com you can find them from $40 and upwards - and that does not take into account shipping. The price at Dungeon of Magic is $30. That is a brand new box - not second hand. You can find about 3 or 4 of the cards in there that sell singly for around $10. This is great value, and if you play M:TG, do pop on in to take advantage of this special.

As for the future, when Chewie gets up to speed, I'll blog about some of the games we have.

Is Nike toying with their sneaker buyers?

2011-08-16T19:00:00.003+10:00

This article is not about a particular shoe, but more about getting shoes in Australia. When I'm referring to shoes, I am specifically referring to sports shoes - usually from Nike, and sometimes from Adidas, that are released in some parts of the world, but not in Australia.

To sum it up - "it's pathetic that Australia gets ignored for certain shoe releases". I currently have a appreciation and a hatred for the shoe resellers. I'm mainly talking about the people that camp out in front of shoe stores when certain limited releases occur, and buy shoes only to sell them later for a marked up profit.

Take for example, the Air Jordan XIII - Ray Allen PE. This shoe retailed for USD$175 in the United States of America. Apparently there were stories that it was going to be a limited release of around 2561 shoes - to coincide with the 3 point record breaking of Ray Allen. People camped out for this shoe, and in some cases, 4 days in advance. I would like to have this shoe, being a long time supporter of the Boston Celtics, but I am not willing to pay the $500+ prices that some people are trying to charge for this shoe. I have even seen in some ebay entries prices of $1100+. This is totally insane.

While these resellers make a massive markup on these types of shoes, the unfortunate truth is that sometimes, being in Australia, you have to deal with them to get shoes that the major sports goods companies do not bring over here.

Something else I would like to make a note of is the amount that has been released. Initially the shoe was set to release in Miami and Boston only. Then it released in some European shoe stores. Then it released in Hong Kong. For such a limited release, it has had a very international market. From my rough calculations, there is still around 1800+ shoes that have not been accounted for. I hope that Nike is going to release these shoes in Australia, in the similar fashion that the Quai54s were originally a Europe-only release, that saw its way to Melbourne.

Otherwise,

WANTED:

2 x size US 11 Air Jordan XIII (13) - Ray Allen PE 414571-125
1 x size US 8 Air Jordan XIII (13) - Ray Allen PE 414571-125

Shipped to Melbourne, Australia.

All reasonable offers for sale will be considered!

Air Jordan V Quai54s

2011-08-09T17:39:00.001+10:00

Art is associated with beauty, and as the saying goes "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Art has a component of the subjective in appreciating it. This can also translate over to design. I have never been a big fan of all the Air Jordans that have come out, but I thought I would give these a chance to grow on me, being the Air Jordan V Retro - Quai 54.

I do have a pair of Air Jordan Is, VIs, a few VIIs, a XI, a few XIIIs, a 2009, a 2010, and a few 2011s. I am interested in getting some more, but the Vs were never apart of that interest.

There are essentially two versions of this shoe made for the Quai54 (a street basketball tournament that is usually held in Europe) - a white version (as shown below in the images), and a friends / family release being a black pair. The black pair is limited to around 50 to 60 pairs. This article is about the white pair, which was somewhat of a general release. These were initially going to be a Europe-only release, but for one reason or another, they found their way to Melbourne, Australia.

The shoe is a high quality leather Air Jordan V. The "23" on the outside heel is replaced by the Quai54 logo, but the rest of the shoe appears to remain true to the originals (with the exception of the word "Jordan" replacing the word "Nike" on the bottom of the outsole). The tongue is made out of 3M reflective material, which was initially designed to reflect camera flashes when photographers would take pictures of Michael Jordan in the motions of making a dunk. Quality was good, as the paint work appeared to be in the right areas, as well little to no excess glue found on the shoe where it was not supposed to be.

I cannot comment on how they feel as I never wore them. They were not very endearing for me (and I know this is opposed to the current opinion of them), so I decided to dispose of the shoes, but not before I took some pictures:

These shoes were obtained from the Footlocker on Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. If you would like to obtain them, you can try the Dead Stock Society web site - as the guys there may have some different sizes still in stock.

Rondo's 2011 Hyperfuse PE

2011-08-04T18:55:00.003+10:00

The Hyperfuse shoe has influenced the way Nike has made shoes. The fused upper materials have appeared in other lines of shoes, and it sprang from the original Hyperfuse from 2010. This article is about the Nike Zoom Hyperfuse 2011 - Rondo PEs.

As mentioned in some of my previous articles on the Hyperfuse (being the original Hyperfuse in 2010, the Rondo PE Hyperfuse 2010, and the Rondo PE Hyperfuse 2010 Low), the upper is made from a fusing of 3 types of materials:

Stable base layer that acts like a skeleton for the shoe's upper.
Breathable mesh layer.
Durable outer skin layer to protect the shoe from scratches and damage.

It is a totally synthetic shoe.

The midsole is made up of phylon and a Zoom air pocket at the ball of the feet. It is comfortable, and from wearing this, Nike have fixed a minor problem with the 2010 version by making the 2011 Hyperfuse slightly wider. There was a lot of suggestions that the 2010 Hyperfuse was too narrow, and if people were buying it, to go half a size up. I would have to say that everyone's feet are different, and I found that it took about 3 weeks of wearing for the 2010 Hyperfuse to get truly comfortable. There is a less of a wear-in period with the 2011 Hyperfuse, as they feel comfortable immediately.

Other than that, the new 2011 model feels slightly heavier (as I have not weighed it properly on scales), and the upper of the shoe is slightly different. The mesh windows have been rearranged, and there appears to be more arch support on the outside of the shoe. This might be a way to give extra lateral support to what is already provided by the outriggers on each shoe. The traction feels about the same as the previous model.

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

IE users not that smart

2011-08-03T17:47:00.005+10:00

In an interesting article on mashable.com - it appears that users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer have a lower IQ than users of other browsers.

Who would have thought this?

I do not know of how reputable the survey was, but I offer some insight to the article's findings. If you make something for the masses, by the law of averages, you are going to have a mix of smart people, average people, and not so smart people use it. This will "even" out any sample and mean that what you have is a typical indication of IQ in this case. Make something more obscure, and not readily available, and only people that read and are willing to learn will try things.

Therefore, it may make some sense that Microsoft's IE average users are lower in IQ (over a large survey spread), than people that use Firefox, Chrome, or even Opera, and Camino.

The best thing this survey does show is that we are not forced to use only one browser, but everyone has a choice.

Apparently, the survey has been labelled as a hoax, but it still has me appreciating browser choice!

Cardinal 7s

2011-07-21T18:38:00.001+10:00

I have previously written an article on the Air Jordan VII - being the Bordeaux colour scheme. This article is on the same shoe, but in a different colour scheme - the Air Jordan VII Retro - Cardinal.

As opposed to the Bordeaux colour scheme VIIs, the Cardinals are very similar to each other. They also differ by replacing the suede / nubuck upper material with a tumbled leather. And besides the obvious colour differences, I cannot really comment on them being much different from the Bordeaux ones.

The appeal of this shoe is one I think will be broader than the Bordeaux. Whiteish shoes appear to be more popular than darker shoes, and I believe this will appeal to a younger demographic as opposed to the Bordeaux, which appealed to an older demographic who may have once upon a time have owned a pair. I do not think these shoes will be used very much for playing basketball, and will find their way onto feet of people into fashion.

Without taking up too much more time, here are the images:

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

Things they could fix in Canberra #10

2011-07-20T09:19:00.001+10:00

This next "thing" to fix in Canberra is going to be quite harsh, but I believe it is a reflection of the environment - the suicide rate in Canberra. My intention is not to offend or disrespect the memory of anyone lost to suicide - but to address a propaganda campaign trying to attract people to the region.

For many years, people have speculated about the suicide rate in Canberra being high. There is now documentation that the suicide rate per capita in Canberra is higher than New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland (the suicide rate is published in a brochure made by the Australian Government).

Loss of life, especially when someone takes their own, is truly a sad event. Suicide is very tragic.

According to the liveincanberra.com.au website's front page:

Take advantage of the employment opportunities and lifestyle benefits available in Canberra, Australia's capital city.

There are jobs available right now in Canberra for skilled workers across selected industries. Canberra's unemployment rate is consistently among the lowest in the nation at around 3.0%. The pay's good too - in fact, workers in Canberra enjoy the highest full-time average income in Australia.

What's more, Canberra offers a fantastic lifestyle for you and your family, with an outstanding school system, excellent health services, shorter commuting times, plenty of fresh air and community living. Much of what is best about Australia can be found in the nation's capital - it's a clean, safe and relaxed place to live.

Canberra has all the lifestyle amenities, city services and events of a world-class capital, yet the bush is on our doorstep and Sydney, the snowfields and south coast beaches are within easy reach.

If Canberra was so good, why is their per capita suicide rate higher than some other areas in Australia? Surely people would flock to Canberra and find it an utopian paradise.

I believe what the website fails to mention is that with the advantages of working in Canberra, comes the disadvantages of higher cost of living, higher petty crime, higher drug usage, all stemming from a higher boredom - as there is very little to do in Canberra. The typical resident is still elitist and arrogant.

To address this problem, the local Canberra government needs to determine why the city is "soulless" and boring, and why the mentality of its residents is to be elitist and arrogant. It will require a huge mentality shift in the people who choose to reside there. If they can bring in schemes to counter those problems, the city would be far more livable, it would attract more people, and, dare I predict, the suicide rate would be lowered.

Carbon Tax - is it worth it?

2011-07-19T11:06:00.008+10:00

I recently received this in an email from ninja (someone I used to go to University with):

Carbon Tax explanation. EVERYONE can understand when it’s put like this...

ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) tax for dummies - regardless of your political persuasion. Let's put this into a bit of perspective for laymen!

ETS is another tax. It is equal to putting up the GST to 12.5% which would be unacceptable and produce an outcry.

Read the following analogy and you will realize the insignificance of carbon dioxide as a weather controller.

Pass on to all in your address book including politicians and may be they will listen to their constituents, rather than vested interests which stand to gain by the ETS.

Here's a practical way to understand Julia Gillard’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Imagine 1 kilometer of atmosphere and we want to get rid of the carbon pollution in it created by human activity. Let's go for a walk along it.

The first 770 meters are Nitrogen.
The next 210 meters are Oxygen.
That's 980 meters of the 1 kilometer.
20 meters to go.
The next 10 meters are water vapor.
10 meters left.
9 meters are argon.
Just 1 more meter.
A few gases make up the first bit of that last meter.
The last 38 centimeters of the kilometer - that's carbon dioxide.
A bit over one foot.
97% of that is produced by Mother Nature. It’s natural.
Out of our journey of one kilometer, there are just 12 millimeters left.
Just over a centimeter - about half an inch.
That’s the amount of carbon dioxide that global human activity puts into the atmosphere.
And of those 12 millimeters Australia puts in 0.18 of a millimeter.
Less than the thickness of a hair. Out of a kilometer!

As a hair is to a kilometer - so is Australia 's contribution to what Julia Gillard calls Carbon Pollution.

Imagine Brisbane's new Gateway Bridge, ready to be opened by Julia Gillard. It's been polished, painted and scrubbed by an army of workers till its 1 kilometer length is surgically clean. Except that Julia Gillard says we have a huge problem, the bridge is polluted - there's a human hair on the roadway. We'd laugh ourselves silly.

There are plenty of real pollution problems to worry about.

It's hard to imagine that Australia's contribution to carbon dioxide in the world's atmosphere is one of the more pressing ones. And I can't believe that a new tax on everything is the only way to blow that pesky hair away.

Pass this on quickly while the ETS is being debated in Federal Parliament.

I do not know about the validity or the truth behind the analogy, but it made me think.

I don't oppose a carbon tax. Not at all. I believe something which is implemented to take care of the environment is a good idea. Something which stops people from just wasting resources on this finite planet is a good idea.

What I oppose is what will happen to the revenue of the carbon tax once it is collected. Will the funds be allocated correctly? Take for instance the tax on cigarettes. Around 2005, it raised over $6 billion in revenue for the Australian government. I would say it would exceed that amount today. My query is where does that $6 billion in revenue go? I doubt it would all go back to the health systems. Ministers need to pay for their superannuation funds, their air flights, and their spending budgets. The same can be said about the vehicle fuel excise, which should be used to upgrade the infrastructure / roads of Australia, but rarely is.

With the current "sales campaign" of the government, they have allocated $25 million to spend in "educating" the Australian public on carbon tax. Where did that money come from?

While I do not have a problem with the principle of the carbon tax, I do have a huge concern over the accountability of the funds raised in this manner. I seriously doubt it will be used to make the environment of this planet any better.

I welcome anyone's comments on anything I have written in this article, as well as anyone who can sustain or refute ninja's email. Is it misinformation, or is the government trying to increase taxes by pulling to wool over the eyes of the Australian tax payer? Will it mean an increase of conscious companies trying to clean up their businesses, or will it just mean an increase in the cost of living for all Australians? I hope this tax does not get implemented, and then Australians just get used to living in a more expensive society with less money...

Another person's view on WebSphere

2011-07-13T18:48:00.004+10:00

As some of you may know, I work with computer "thingies", and this will usually involve me working with application servers. While not the most fun of all roles, it is interesting enough to keep me involved.

Recently, Chewie has gotten involved, and has started his own blog on doing WebSphere - WebSphere being a Java application server from IBM.

I look forward to seeing what he has to write up...

Australian Internet filter is easily bypassed

2011-07-05T10:18:00.003+10:00

The good Senator Conroy is in the belief that he is still doing the correct thing - trying to save Australian net users from the dangers and disgust of an unregulated Internet. Even though he looks like he may be blocked in the Australian Senate, I believe he is still trying to advance his agenda for an internet filter for Australia - and still going ahead with rollout.

The rollout on Optus has an interesting twist in this story. The filter can be defeated by changing the DNS server in the operating system.

The news of bypassing the filter irritates me. A lot! The reason being is that I would have thought that to bypass the internet filter would require some fancy manipulation and installation of some interesting proxying software - not something a child or teenager can do in under 30 seconds. This is a multi-million dollar system, that can be bypassed with the simplest of ease. And this multi-million dollar filter is going to slow the internet down for all other users. The filter is useless and a huge waste of money, and just like the carbon tax, it will be paid for by Australian taxpayers.

If this article has inspired anything within you, please click on the link below and try to do something about it.

Do something (useful) now!

Jay gets older, Win Scripting is poor, and NBA is out

2011-07-04T18:02:00.003+10:00

I have not got much to report at the moment. It has been a while since my last post, and while I am busy, I am effectively news-less.

What I can say is that my bro Jay is another year older. Happy Birthday to him.

I have also been doing quite a bit of Windows scripting in my current role to get application servers installed onto Microsoft Windows servers. While this does not sound like a difficult task, being exposed to other forms of scripting has essentially spoiled me. I much prefer the scripting on a UNIX / Linux system. It allows for better handling of different conditions - for example, checking to see files or directories exist, and acting appropriately afterwards. This experience only inspires me more to write more in my series on how to script on this blog.

Lastly, if you have not heard, the NBA is under a player lockout as they have not come to an agreement with the player's association for the "working conditions" for the players. The NBA wanted to introduce a new range of conditions that effectively means they can cut down on the amount of money that goes to the players. I have a mixed mind on this matter. I know at the end of the day, these players earn millions of dollars in today's modern game, and effectively we (the fans) are paying them to distract us from our day to day troubles, but I also understand that to a lot of these players, all they have is sports, and if you take that away from them, they will have little else.

If I think of anything else, I will be sure to jot it down here...

Mavs win the 2011 NBA Championship

2011-06-13T22:22:00.002+10:00

Congratulation today goes to the Dallas Mavericks, who in game 6, have beaten the Miami Heat to win the 2011 NBA Championship. They played like champions, they played hard, and now, they win like champions.

The Mavs played with a core group of people that played like a team. They had less superstars than the Heat, but they played the way the game should have been played. Much of the comments so far have fallen back onto LeBron James. LeBron made The Decision to go to Miami, turning his back on the Cleveland Cavaliers. I did not mind the type of player LeBron was when he was with the Cavs. It was personally disappointing the way he decided to turn his back on that team to go play with D-Wade and Chris Bosh. LeBron is one of the most complete players in the NBA today. He can score, handle the ball, penetrate the defense, as well as defend well. If he had been traded by the Cavs to the Heat, then this would not be a discussion, and I would still think that he is a fair person. The fact that it was his choice has not just upset people like me, but an entire city of fans. I may have his Superman VI shoes, and his Christmas VIII shoes, but I do not like him.

Congratulations, once again to the Mavs, but for 2011/2012...

GO CELTICS!!!

Over-engineering and sales in IT

2011-06-06T14:43:00.002+10:00

I see so much over-engineering in my work while I work in the IT field. People have decided on products based on sales people coming in, showing a fantastical presentation, and then get sold on a product that will meet their needs (with the promise of having enough features to make it "future-proof"). In some instances, this may work. In many it fails.

In times like this, I reflect on an article which was written back in 2005 to address allegations that open source cannot compete with proprietary enterprise ready applications (usually the ones that are over-engineered) - Ryan Tomayko's article: IBM Poopheads: "LAMP Users Need to Grow Up".

I suggest that all decision makers in all organizations, regardless where you are on the corporate ladder, has a read of the article and draws their own conclusions. Have a read of the attached comments, and feel free to voice your opinions either there or on this blog.

LeBron's Supermans

2011-05-30T17:39:00.004+10:00

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

2011-05-26T13:54:00.003+10:00

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

2011-05-23T00:34:00.005+10:00

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

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

2011-05-20T17:08:00.005+10:00

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:

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...

2011-05-18T00:17:00.005+10:00

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

2011-05-13T00:41:00.003+10:00

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

2011-05-12T17:46:00.001+10:00

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

2011-05-12T00:23:00.000+10:00

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.

Conditional scripting

2011-05-11T18:06:00.002+10:00

When you break programming down, regardless what language or syntax it is written or developed in, the basis of a piece of code is how it handles a condition.

What happens when you have something? How do you handle it? What do you do with it?

The absolute basic conditional statement in shell scripting is the "if" statement. The basics of the if is that "if the conditions are met, then do something". To be fancier, you can also add "else". Here is an example:

#!/usr/bin/sh

variable1=Hello;
variable2=Goodbye;

echo "Let's start!";
if [ "$variable1" = "$variable2" ]; then
  echo "The salutations are the same!";
else
  echo "The salutations are not the same!";
fi

variable2=Hello;
echo "";
echo "Let's try again!";
if [ "$variable1" = "$variable2" ]; then
  echo "The salutations are the same!";
else
  echo "The salutations are not the same!";
fi

This simple script sets up 2 variables, and the compares them. In the second paragraph, it changes the second variable to be the same as the first variable, and runs the same if statement test on them again. The output looks like:

$ ./test.sh
Let's start!
The salutations are not the same!

Let's try again!
The salutations are the same!

While not very exciting, you can do many different types of data. Keep in mind that comparing text is different from comparing data. More comparison tests can be found here.

Lastly, I would like to mention that you can put a shell script into a type of "debug" mode where it will output more verbose information while it is running. This is by changing the first line of the script from:

#!/usr/bin/sh

to

#!/usr/bin/sh -x

Now the output looks like:

$ ./test.sh
variable1=Hello
variable2=Goodbye
+ echo Let's start!
Let's start!
+ [ Hello = Goodbye ]
+ echo The salutations are not the same!
The salutations are not the same!
variable2=Hello
+ echo

+ echo Let's try again!
Let's try again!
+ [ Hello = Hello ]
+ echo The salutations are the same!
The salutations are the same!

Good luck with your scripting, and I welcome any comments or queries.

Things they could fix in Canberra #9.1

2011-05-06T10:13:00.029+10:00

This is not a post in its own right, but more of an additional comment to a previous post that I made about the Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE). Not much useful thought goes into Canberra, and here is more evidence of the single lane road that was to connect north Canberra to south Canberra - which was a short-sighted decision by the local government in Canberra.

These images were taken during Easter 2011, driving from Gungahlin towards Woden (ie. south):

Due to lack of proper planning, the local Canberra resident had to put up with delays and bottlenecks in traffic while using the GDE. And from these images, they would have to put up with them even more, as they have moved entire sections of road, and had to widen and reconstruct certain bridges.

I hope all Australians now realize why taxes are high. What else funds this stupidity ($85.5 million worth of it)?

All black AJ 2011s

2011-05-05T18:50:00.001+10:00

The Air Jordan 2011 - Year of the Rabbits, that I already have, were just one colour variation of the Air Jordan 2011. This article is about the Air Jordan 2011 - All Black.

The main difference in materials is the replacement of the patina styled grey leather of the Year of the Rabbit shoes with patent leather. Besides the colour scheme, there are no other major differences. Replacing the patina leather with the patent leather added some slight stiffness to the sides of the shoe, but otherwise the feel was indistinguishable from the other pair I have.

Therefore, if you want a more in depth commentary of the Air Jordan 2011s, I recommend you go to my other article on them (the link is in the first paragraph). Here are the images of the All Black AJs:

My thanks for shipping me this pair of sneakers goes to the team at crazyforsneaker.com. Their site is still going through maintenance, but feel free to email them with your "wish lists" for your shoes. Their owner / manager assures me it is business as usual - and their new website should be up and running soon.

Basic variable creation in shell

2011-05-03T18:32:00.003+10:00

In my last article on basic shell scripting, I did the universal hello world program. This time around, I will discuss making variables.

A variable is a symbolic name for information. You can call a variable nearly anything in unix shell scripting. There are some exceptions though. Here is the simple program outlining variables:

#!/usr/bin/sh

salutation=Hi;
name=Fred;

echo $salutation $name;
echo "";
echo salutation name;

The first line describes this program as a shell script. The second line assigns the value of "Hi" to the variable of salutation. The third line assigned the value of "Fred" to the variable of name. The forth line outputs the two variable values. This is done by using the "$" in front of the variable name. The fifth line prints out a blank line. The sixth line is only for comparison of what the fourth line would have looked like if it did not have the "$". I have saved the contents of the file to a file called "test.sh" and made it executable. The output is:

$ ./test.sh
Hi Fred

salutation name

That is as easy as variables can get. You can store text and letters in variables, as well as strings. With some clever delimiting, you can also turn these variables into mini lists - similar to arrays in other more advanced forms of programming.

I will attempt to write up how to do some basic comparisons in my next article on scripting. I am also welcome to suggestions via the comments of this post.