How many tennis matches can you watch at the same time?

The BBC has finally got its act together and is streaming live video feeds of the World Cup and Wimbledon sporting events.

We still don't have BBC interactive (the 'press the red button' service) at home on the telly so instead I'm having to make do loading the video streams onto my brother's laptop and then placing it next to the TV. Its great fun to play around with. I was just watching 3 Wimbledon matches all at the same time. Hewitt vs Lee, Murray vs Bennetteau and Roddick vs Mayer. Lots of quality tennis and lots of fun experimenting with the different video feeds available.

Its gonna be very useful tomorrow to follow Wimbledon whilst Germany are playing Argentina in the World Cup Quarter Final and then Italy vs Ukraine. Its a shame that Wimbledon officials have refused to show the football on Henman Hill (or Mount Murray as its been newly christened). But instead I shall look forward to watching both from the comfort of my own arm chair!

I love being on holiday!! :o)

Weather Freaks

Well you can tell Wimbledon has started because I woke up and it was raining.

And then I heard that Uncle Phil had returned to Hong Kong and they were expecting a T1 typhoon!!!

Well what can I say... coincidence? I think not! ;o)

Meditation on Joshua 9

Thoughts from Josh 9 taken from Mike Smailes sermon 25/6/2006

Israel, camping at Mt Ebal, had just renewed its covenant with the Lord (jos 8v30-35). The kings to the west of the Jordan river heard about this and formed an alliance to wage war against this threat. The people of Gibeon, an important city in the region (jos 10v2)(map), were afraid that the Israelites would wipe them out, so they disguised themselves as foreigners from a distant country in order to trick the Israelites into accepting a peace agreement with them.

Loaded donkeys, worn out sacks, old wineskins, patched sandals, old clothes, and mouldy bread did the trick. Looking at the evidence, the Israelites judged it to be authentic, but they did not enquire of the Lord (jos 9v14). The peace agreement, however, was made in the Lord’s name. Three days later the ruse was uncovered. The Israelites surrounded the cities of Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim but because of their oath they did not harm them. Upset by their mistake, the Israelites grumbled and made the people woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community.

All this came about, because the Israelites had not enquired of the Lord and sought his wisdom first. You don’t get God’s wisdom if you don’t ask for it.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” Ja 1v5

However, the Lord showed mercy and worked his purposes despite the ignorance of his people: In King Solomon’s time, many years later, Gibeon was the most important high place in Israel to worship the Lord, (1 Kings 3v4) as the temple had not yet been built. While Solomon was visiting Gibeon, offering sacrifices, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Ask for whatever you want me to give you” - 1 Kings 3v5

Solomon asked for and received a “wise and discerning heart”.

Despite the history of Gibeon, symbolic of the Israelites failing to seek the Lord’s wisdom, God chooses this place to make his generous offer to Solomon. Was Solomon aware of the past history at Gibeon? We don’t know, but most probably considering his knowledge, making his choice of “discernment in administering justice” even more poignant.

Where God’s wisdom is not sought for or central, life decisions become unclear, the way forward becomes blurry and indecision paralyses his servants. By failing to “enquire of the Lord” mistakes are made and the consequences are painful. But as the Lord’s grace and mercy encompass Solomon, the core centrality of His wisdom in the governance of his people is reinstated.

“With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.” Eph 1v8-9

Christ, the revelation God-image, makes known the plans and purposes of God. He tightly holds our difficult decisions and life-plans. We are fully known by Him (Ps 139) and therefore our way forward is fully known by him. ‘Enquire of the Lord’ to uncover his ways, and in obedience walk in the truth that sets you free.

Australia vs Japan

I was about to blog about the Australia vs Japan match...then found out my friend had already done it - here.

I would like to say that at half time I stuck my neck out and said the Aussies, though they were 1-0 down, would win the game. In the 84th minute they equalised, then scored 2 more just for fun. Brasil are next...sorry Aussie fans but my money is still on the South Americans.

Credit to Gus for changing his name to Guus though. (Guus Hiddink is the current Aussie national football coach)

Remember that Columbian Goalkeeper?

Remember that Columbian Goalkeeper?

Here's a little bit of nostalgia for you...

Remember that Columbian goalkeeper's back-kick in the friendly vs England. Awesome yet incredibly dangerous!

... and remember that amazing curling freekick by Roberto Carlos?


... look no further.

Ah! the memories come flooding back!

Google gets World Cup fever

Google gets World Cup fever

I was highly impressed this morning when I walked into the office, logged in to my computer, and loaded my browser. Google fed last nights world cup results directly into my homepage and I hadn't even asked them to do it! There's only one difference between this being rude and invasive or clever and intelligent...the simple fact that I actually do want to follow the world cup. Its information that I wanted to see, replacing other items on the page that I don't want.

If you haven't come across Interactive Google before then you're in for a treat. Goto http://www.google.com/ig and sign into your Google account. Then you can create your own interactive homepage full of feeds that please you.

As you can see from this image, Eric Cantona adornes the right with his Nike "Joga Bonita" advertising campaign (it means "play beautifully" - in case you don't understand Portugese)

On the left is the lowdown on the Germany vs Costa Rica game (bring on Paulo Wanchope the one-hit wonder from the 90's - was very pleased to watch him play last night) and the sad news that Poland lost to Ecuador (sorry Joe).

Personally I was looking for an upset in the Germany game...but alas...though it could almost have been...it wasn't and the Germans dispatched themselves with their usual methodicy, though their defense was rather shakey, as Wanchope proved on several occasions (ok ok his second goal was offside)

Anyway, the most important match of the World Cup so far is this evening. England take on Paraguay in Munich and our very own Mike Tozer is probably already sitting in the stadium. He was watching last night's game in a betting shop at the airport just before he flew out to Germany. Should be an easy dispatch for England...let's hope this optimism doesn't go to waste!

World Cup Predictions

World Cup Predictions

Well the World Cup 2006 is finally upon us and we're all getting rather excited over here in HK. So before it officially starts, Richard and I have published our estimated outcomes of the Finals.

We also obtained an internal news article from UBS recounting their detailed statistical analysis of the up and coming Finals in Germany. Their money's on Italy... sorry guys... no chance! But it was an interesting read nonetheless...!

But the question remains... Brasil or Argentina... I'd favour Argentina...watch this space...we'll be updating the model once the 2nd stage begins...

Click on the image to get the full view and be able to see the team names!

Life's struggles

Just read this from a friend...

We must activate our wills and command our soul to submit to our spirit. It is easy in life to do all kinds of good things to skirt this level of brokenness. It is just too devastating to the flesh. We want our way. We have our plans. We are afraid of the brokenness and out of control feeling that God is requiring of us. We are afraid to let Him be in absolute control of our lives.

Radioio

I recently commented to a friend here that I would really like to start getting into more Jazz music but just don't know where to dive in - its such a broad range and I wanna skim the surfaces and find out the types that I do like.

So I started getting into a little www.radioio.com but had a few technical difficulties getting started (unusual for an IT guy!) and a few emails later, Dr Mike Matheny, the Jazz DJ, offered me a year's free subscription which also fixed the problem! An extremely kind gesture and I'm very grateful - thank you Mike!

Now I'm streaming jazz away quite happily and enjoying a lot of the tunes that make their way to HK.

Time to get myself edumacated!

Vacation dates

I'll be coming to the UK, 24th June until 25th July. Looking forward to catching up with everybody again!

I'm a ... blogger

Dave Heath posted an interesting article on his blog about the types of bloggers out there.

• Referential - linking the guts out of pages
• Experiental - churning out the depths of your heart into bit and bytes
• Newscaster - his own construction of a "Just so you know" blogger, rather sporadic posting
  

Read his post here

I think I have referential tendiencies [example post] as well as experiential (well not to its fullest) [example] but also newscasting potential (example not available because I haven't blogged for 66 days - I think you get the point)

Might I suggest my sub categories:

• Sporadic blogger
• Guilty sporadic blogger - know he/she has a habit of not posting. Most blogged about topic - the fact that they haven't blogged in a while".
• In-denial sporadic blogger - gets it together everynow and then, likes people to think they have a healthy blog.
• Mindless sporadic blogger - really hasn't got a clue about the whole blogging thing, but remembers a conversation with a friend that convinced them to start anyway.

I tend to morph into one or many of the above categories in some strange anarchistic flux. I really resonate with "sporadic", sorry guys. My most blogged about topic really is 'sorry for not blogging recently"

Update: perhaps I should be called a "Belated Blogger?" :o)