The count down is on in Melbourne. No sooner than the big guns of world tennis leave town thsan the biggest FASTEST guns in motorsport roll into town.

Mark Webber in Canada thanks to Mark McArdle

While cruising through Foxsports website there is a story asking: “Australia’s last Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones says Mark Webber is a chance for the 2012 title”

There are some pragmatic comments as well as really pissy ones too!

I commented this, and I write it here too in case they don’t post it

The way I see it is simple, a team, any team, cannot help but giving priority to the number one driver. A we saw 2 years ago, Webber was a great chance to win the whole thing, but for bad luck and a free and open last race of the season.
Mark has the talent, and as stated before a really unlucky driver. (As freely admitted by the team owners when he was at Jaguar). I thought last year was the “last chance” but I’ll be the first to be there screaming and cheering the lad from Queanbeyan.
Its hard to sook when you are winning, but very hard not to when you are not quite winning. History will write that the first team mate to the greatest F1 driver in history, in his first 2 (3) championship years was Mark Webber.
Mark is the modern day version of Ronnie Petersen (giving the best to his team mate because he had to) in Mark’s case has little choice but to support his team mate.
“Go Mark Webber in 2012″

The way I see it……

Leading sporting teams to success and leading ‘Teams’ in business draw many parallels. I had a chance, along with my sporting co-host on the Zinc Radio network to chat to Scott Hill former NRL player & now co author of a second book looking at  the second book in the series of Sports Wisdom this one is “Secrets of Inspirational Captains Revealed”. Draw your own conclusions but tips from the likes of Cameron Smith Vikki Wilson and Jame Hird, its easy to gather many hints on how to lead and motivate your ‘Team’ The book is available at book stores & from here.

This is the interview from Saturday morning Jan 14th 2012

There are some things from my youth that just get the memories flooding back, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy  by Douglas Adams was one of those special pieces that was so “Out there” it was ….”out there”. I have been laughing to myself all day, thus I write.

I read all the books, added Dirk Gently as well. I loved Douglas Adams writing, simple yet cleaver. a style that is rare. With quotes that people are using in day to day writing and vocabulary, yet they most likely do not know where they came from.

The most common is 42, the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate question  of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Douglas Adams chose 42 simply because he thought it was the funniest-sounding of all two-digit numbers. “A completely ordinary number, a number not just divisible by two but also six and seven. In fact it’s the sort of number that you could, without any fear, introduce to your parents.”

The plans for the intergalactic bypass, comparing it to the bypass going through Arthur Dents house. The quote from the Guide: “Space,” it says, “is big. REALLY big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the street to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space. Listen…” and so on.

Click on the link to IMDB laugh a little & then search for more quote, Google “Dont Panic”.

Better still get the books, yeh books plural. The film took a highlighted look at it all. The books go through to the “Restaurant at the end of the Universe”, “Life the universe and everything”,  “So long and thanks for all the fish” and later the fifth book “Mostly Harmless”

Finally, when you have laughed your way through those, get a Douglas Adams view of an “Holistic Detective” Dirk Gently.

And the lasts words from God, as read by Marvin the paranoid android,  ‘We apologise for the inconvenience”

Thank you and good night

Probably a little late right now but the best way to get commercials made ‘Fast‘ or should I say make commercials fast these are a few tips
1 Make a template for your session. This can be copies to your new make folder and will have your starting point session basics. Copy and away you go
2 Make sure you have the eq’s of the voices you use regularly. The extra voices you use will “sound” similar to those you use so try one of those as baseline to start from.
3 In you template you’ll have the compressors you like the best, in the order you like for the generic ads, the voice over music. If the ad you have to build os more complex you have the option to add more tracks and adjust the compression and fx in the mix

Quick ways to “glue together” commercial production really efficiently.
I use it all the time because over time I found that I need the same session time and time again
I also have the producers working with me with the same settings on the master out for mixing. This way, the last thing that happens is always the same, how the producer mixed before the point is all them.
Worked well in all studios for the last 12 years

Maybe the time is a little late on the main topic, but as there are many questions being asked, I thought why not!!!

The NBL clash between the Cairns Taipans & the Melbourne Tigers from Dec 10th 2011

Read these articles from “The Backpage” Website

http://www.backpagelead.com.au/basketball/5477-split-second-error-robs-tigers-of-win then also

http://www.backpagelead.com.au/basketball/5486-tigers-seek-please-explain-from-nbl

My thoughts go this way. Agreed that the refs missed the shot clock violation but everything else after that is mute. The shot was clean, but it was taken after the shot clock buzzer expired and 0.2 sec inside the game clock.

Here is where I say “What the…”

Referees, anyone,  expected to see and react to that small amount of time is stupid. The blink of an eye is around 0.3 of a second from open to close & back open again. So we use the cameras. But are there the same amount of cameras at each game played, their placement roughly the same?… NO don’t use them at all, YES move onto the next point.

Which is “The illuminated backboard” that has the light and buzzer for shot clock violations. Why can this be in some gyms and not others. You wouldn’t let the Kings play with a plastic/composite ball when the Tigers use the full leather ball, just because the club can’t afford it (as an example) the same type of ball is always used, all NBL games. So, why has one got the lights and not all. Season start, the hoop systems have to be the same just as the line markings and all other equipment to FIBA standards. Simple.

Lastly, “NBL asked to explain” well, if they had to do that we’d never get a season past week one! “Why did they do this? What was that referee doing there?  Openness is great for sport, keeping things behind closed doors is bad. The crowd, the spectators should be able to hear that the official was “benched for a week” because they missed that shot clock violation or the guy getting thumped behind play before the real fight started. We are the first to see a coach or player suspended for fined for saying the wrong thing, “lowering the standard of the game” isn’t that what a slack referee is doing when officiating is not up to standard.

We are only human, and when technology is there (at every game, equally) use it, otherwise it’s game on and the excitement of the game continues. That is what sport is all about!!

I have just finished watching the documentary on Formula 1 driver Jody Scheckter. He was the World Drivers Champion in 1979 racing for Ferrari.

In that documantary, narrated by Stirling Moss the greatest racing driver never to be World Champion, it went through the days at Tyrrell and the 6 wheeler with Patrick Depailler up to the year at Wolf with that pretty little car that was far better than it should have been it Scheckter hands. I was thinking about how they will view the “Sebastian Vettel years”.

We’ve had, since Jody, the Schumacher Years (another German) in which they were almost boring. 2 at Benneton then a break before joining Ross Brawn at Frerrari for the glory days there. Even what we thought was going to be the Hamilton years, that one is still on the presses. Already double World Champion & only 24 years old in a car that could be “the big thing” until the return of the turbo era in 2014.

The story is here http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/6/12237.html

Licking my lips in anticipation, till then… possible 4 time champion before that time, what would the bookies give me on that one?

Buffalo External HDD SUCK !!!
The Warranty provider, Uniden SUCKS !!!!!

I bought a Buffalo USB2 External Drive (SUCKS) for the “just in case senario” from WOW Sight and Sound (Provider of the External HDD that SUCKS).
That senario arrived about 4 weeks ago (9 months after purchase) what I needed to change over a Time Machine Back-up drive. After a number of tests that showed it might be a little slow, I proceeded to use it for a Time Machine back up drive thinking that as long as it progressively backs up speed wont be too much of an issue.
When the 180gig back up took 48 hours + 2 hours to validate the back-up enough was enough.
Contacting Buffalo (Their USB external HDD SUCK BTW) they pointed me to their Warranty provider in Australia. This mob said they had only been doing it 2 weeks and that Uniden (Sucky Warranty Provider) was the place to go.
I provided “the sucky warranty provider” all the details of the drive (STILL SUCKS) and I sent it to them, at my expense, and waited. Today I received a letter in the post,
“Warranty Rejection” no reason why, just rejected.
Maybe they rejected it because they dont make it any more, or maybe because it SUCKED THAT BAD they stopped making it.
Either way they want $109 as a repair cost !!! Repair (replace) a HDD that sucks for $109 when I can go and buy a good, no brilliant brand, with the same capacity for $78!!
I seriously laugh back in your face, Buffalo / Uniden you must think I am Fucking Stupid !!!!
And the Warranty and Product still SUCK and BLOW hard!

Without question, pay a little more to get a reputable brand, you will not regret it.

Thoughts?

ADDITION:

The warranty claim was successful, in the end, and the new drive arrived, connected and the backup took a mere 3hrs 35 mins. A touch quicker than 48hours+

Bottom line, persist, dont let the problem hang & keep going till its resolved.

All the hype of the Apple event has me wondering after every event, whats all the hype about? And I get sucked into the hype too!
Apple had the original iPhone, then the 3G ( a change in broadcasting format) then, not the 4 but the 3GS. Then came the 4, this had to the a 4S. This is on the second anniversary of the 2 years contracts so plenty of uptake fromt those who were in the second wave of iphone users here in Oz.
IOS5 will upset the balance of the numbering between the next iPhone iPhone 5 (guess) & the next IOS6 (guess again).
But if Apple had only a revision for the internals for the iPhone 4S, the next phone (5) should be exceptional.
The next iPad will be the plum version, predict a redesign, like the iphone, a small plinth to help picking it up, faster processor again, and IOS5 that is closer merging to the Lion experience.
I dont like to trivialise the efforts put into such an instrument (yep crafted like a fine violin) but this must be a path to the Apple vision of where the communication device is going to take us. The iPad is there by Steve Jobs admission, but imagine the iPhone only as a voice activated device, maybe hung off your ear or the like and its complete workings in the iPad or Mac itself when you are near a ‘paired’ Mac. That allows the screen of the mobile to be a little bigger than the current iPhone, but not as big as the iPad, on the phones receiver device that comes part of the phone as the mobile paired device. Wow, now we are talking about full integration between devices, bluetooth or whatever the pairing technology will be, will carry the settings of the visual device so where ever you go the visualisation will be the same.
Inside 5 years, all will be revealed.

Call me crazy, (pauses) thanks, had to wait the the crazy comments, but I am now so used to the reverse scrolling in Lion on my iMac that I have found a small app that reverses the scrolling on my Macbook Pro.

On the notebook track pad, as with the full Apple Trackpad, it is now really natural to use it that way. I have a Magic Mouse for both machines so that works just fine. On the Mac at work the Mighty Mouse is connected with the scroll wheel its less natural so that doesn’t bother me.

Scroll Reverser from Nick Moore The Link Its simple works great and my life is now back in balance.

The other part of my media life is on the radio, www.radiozinc.com.au linking to “The Locker Room” I anchor/co-host with buddy “Nugget”. In the process of learning video editing I took some shots of the radio show. Here it is The Locker Room Video.