Broken Records Part II

So, you want to see for yourself?

Ag, just to relive a bit of history. Here's the 6-6-6-6-6-6 over.

Your morning fix

Like so many of you, I yearn for that first cuppa coffee. But there's always the tea time drink, then around lunch time you think "maybe I should switch to tea." Then mid-afternoon .... and finally the obligatory bed time cup of hot chocolate. Let's not even mention those all-nighters I have to pull from time to time!

How good is that for you? Heck, I have no idea, but here's a website that allows you to calculate your total caffeine intake from all your coffee breaks. It claims to have over 200 drinks to choose from (I haven't checked) and you can add them together to get a rather scary assessment.

They even do the same with sweets, chocolate & mints!

See for yourself, and feel free to share your results.

http://www.energyfiend.com/the-caffeine-database

Broken Records

Two posts, in a day!

Fortunately, I decided to watch the first South African foray in this year's cricket world cup. South Africa were sent in to bat by their opponents, the Dutch.
After a shakey start, De Villiers going out second ball totally unnecessarily, Why he felt it necessary to waft at a ball so wide off the off stump, only he will know. Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis steadied and accelerated the ship until Smith skyed one in the 19th over. 114/2 , Hershel Gibbs comes in and then the fun begins. Fours and sixes scored by both players, Kallis had quickly passed 50 and Gibbs decided to catch up.

In the 30th over all hell broke loose! Dutchman van Bunge gets klapped for 2 sixes in a row by Gibbs, then a third ... and a fourth six flies over deep midwicket. Now all have realised, hey, he could get a full house. Six, sixes in an over. Surely not?
The fifth ball gets hit over wide long off, just one more to go.
The sixth ball gets bowled, hit and lands well over deep midwicket. That's it, six, sixes!

The bloodbath continues and the eventual result is 353/3. In just forty overs! The start was delayed due to some early morning rain. EISH!!

So, I titled this post 'Broken Records.' Here are they are.

1. Most amount of sixes hit in a one day innings - 18
2. 36 runs off one World Cup over - Gibbs
3. Fastest World Cup 50 - Boucher (21 balls)

There could be more records that I missed.

AB must feel a right charlie now, and well he should. He missed out on a golden opportunity to get some batting practice and confidence before facing some real opposition. The only other negative being that once again the lower middle order have not been given any time in the middle.

Let's see how long the Dutch can last against the SA bowlers. We are counting on an early night.

btw. We watched Western Province (Cape Cobras) try very hard to lose the 20/20 semi-final against the Warriors imbetween balls. They eventually won off a misfield on the last ball. Stalwart Alan Dawson scoring the winning runs to prolong his professional career by one more match.
Scores : Warriors 139/9
Cobras 140/8

Anti-virus

With food inflation expected to hit 20% this year, here is something that may help extend the monthly stipend just a little.

There are some good free anti-virus packages available for download.

I have been using Grisoft's free version of AVG anti-virus for some time now. What made me think of sharing this in today's post was a comments made by well-known columnist and blogger John Dvorak (www.dvorak.org/blog) endorsing AVG in the popular This Week in Tech podcast earlier this week. (www.twit.tv)
If he uses it, with all his resources available, hey, it can't be all that bad.

So my tip for the weekend, surf over to http://free.grisoft.com and download yourself a copy. Not only is it free, but it uses way less resources when scanning and updating in comparison with the other commercial competitors, particularly Symantec's Norton anti-virus.

Another open-source option is Clamwin (http://www.clamwin.com/), I have given it a short-term test, and the only frailty is the lack of real-time scanning.

Bye for now!

Free MTN Airtime anyone?

So, I have never used, or even thought about using the Mxit mobile instant messaging system that has taken off like wildfire and caused such controversy here in South Africa, but ...

They are now giving away 10 000 six month airtime contracts worth R135 every month to their subscribers. Tempting, very tempting!

The catch? Well, you need to be an existing MTN pre-paid subscriber and the R135 is the total NOT per month contract value.
But hey, if you fit into the profile, why not. Go to http://forum.mxit.co.za and click on the 'Tradepost Treasure Competitions' forum for more details.

For the one of you who does not know what Mxit is, it's a cellphone base Instant Messaging system. The attraction being that it allows for test communication using data transfer protocols as opposed to the way more costly sms alternative. A simple download of their program to your cellphone and you are up and ready to chat. But remember it's only with those who have also done the same. I.e. downloaded and activated the chat client on their cellphone.

I use a (in my opinion) much more universal alternative...I must tell you about it some time, he he!

The CycleTour

"30th Cycle Tour one of the best yet!
Excellent weather conditions, thousands of spirited supporters lining the route and the fact that there were no fatalities provided the perfect backdrop for yet another successful Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour.
Just over 30 000 cyclists from around the globe participated in the world's largest timed cycle race, including familiar names and faces like Francois Pienaar and tandem partner, Lucas Radebe, as well as Tour de France greats, Greg LeMond, Jan Ullrich and Steven Rooks."
Quoted from the Argus/PicknPay's website.
Although I can't help thinking the support was a little muted in areas when compared to previous years, the trip around the Cape was a great deal of fun yet againthis year. Yes, the weather helped but then so did the little bit of training!

If you haven't done so already check out www.cycletour.co.za and you will be able to search for your or your friends, colleagues, neighbours etc results. While you are at it click over to www.actionphoto.net and see if the pain has been sufficiently captured by one of the many photographers around the route.

No idea what I am talking about? EISH ... See you next year.

It got out!

Well, I suppose it had to happen. I don't know how but someone managed to sneak out a copy of the ill-fated FNB advert that caused all the controversy. I wouldn't be surprised if it was done on purpose!!

Check it out.

btw this was found on S.A's answer to YouTube, www.myvideo.co.za so if you are having problems viewing the embedded video go to http://www.myvideo.co.za/video/plea-to-the-south-african-president I actually found it played better. They must be using offshore bandwidth!