Vale Eddie Barlow
I think it’s true that you’re getting old when funerals outnumber weddings. Kerry Packer died, but he was overweight, diabetic, had a dodgy heart and was sick for a long time. It came as a greater shock to me that former South African all-rounder Eddie Barlow died this week, aged 65.
I saw him play World Series Cricket at provincial Traralgon in the late 70s. It was probably the biggest non-football crowd at the Traralgon Showgrounds, around 7000 people. Max Walker was playing too and I remember revelling in the atmosphere.
South Africa was isolated at that time and Barlow was a novelty. He impressed with his all-round skills. I think it was a game between Australia and the Cavaliers, or something like that. Read more
State funeral for Kerry Packer
I don’t believe a state funeral is justified for media magnate Kerry Packer. Sure, he was a successful businessman who contributed much to Australian society.
However, a state funeral should be reserved for those who served in the public interest, instead of their own.
Despite the platitudes that Packer gave millions to charity, he almost certainly avoided taxes worth treble the amount that he donated.
Let’s recognise his achievements, but John Howard is wrong to acknowledge him as a servant of the nation.
The past few days
I’ve been offline since Boxing Day apart from some email checks and one post while staying with my parents. Here’s an update:
1. We visited my parents at Moe. It’s awfully hot everywhere at the moment, and the Latrobe Valley was no exception. After a couple of nights, Juliet and I went to Melbourne for two days, while my parents minded the twins and Kathleen and Dude went with my sister and her husband to their holiday house at Port Albert. It was the first time Juliet and I had left the little ones.
2. We stayed at the Novotel on Collins. It’s a great location and the rooms were comfortable and quiet. Read more
A dilemma of parenthood
Christmas week is a time when families come together and bridge the generation gap. Grandparents get to watch video games and DVDs. Kids get to hear a singalong.
Something I’ve noticed this year is that Dude has come of age with his cricket. He’s no longer the awkward little kid who could hardly hit a ball and couldn’t bowl straight.
He hits the ball more often than not, but more impressively, he generates some serious pace when bowling and is fairly accurate.
I used to love backyard cricket when I was young, and when Dude was born in March 1996 it was almost a cliche that I had someone to share that passion.
Now that he’s at the point where he can actually play, my time to play with him is limited to holidays and maybe some weekends. That’s the dilemma of parenthood and responsibility.
Free online word processors
I’m writing this in ThinkFree Online. It’s a free, web-based Java word processor.
The look and feel is familiar. It’s just like writing in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice, except I’m typing in Firefox.
It seems to be a fully featured word processor, with spell check and formatting options. Documents are saved in .doc format and there is a one-click option for PDF conversion. The suite also comprises presentation and spreadsheet equivalents of Powerpoint and Excel.
The service requires registration and login at www.thinkfree.com and includes 30MB free storage space. Read more
Christmas mayhem
Tis the season to be jolly and all that, but Christmas morning for parents is madness. We managed a seven o’clock sleep-in this year, only because the big kids were under orders to wait until the toddlers woke up. James was the last to rise.
We then opened presents, which in proportion to the time it takes to buy and wrap them, represents a ratio of about one to a million.
It takes longer to pick up and dispose of the wrapping paper. Read more
Kalgoorlie weather
I found a nifty Word Press plugin called EzStatic. It enables static pages to be called within a Word Press template, so the look and feel is the same.
An example is my use of the Kalgoorlie weather update from Weatherzone.
While mentioning Kalgoorlie weather, I’ve compared long-term averages between there and Bright. Maximum temperatures are roughly five degrees higher every month, eg January is 35 instead of 30, July is 17 instead of 12. Minimum temperatures are between five and eight degrees higher.
Ricky Ponting is indecisive
Congratulations to South Africa on fighting to survive the First Test against Australia in Perth.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Australia’s decision not to declare earlier in the second innings helped South Africa to save the match.
I deliberately say it was "Australia’s decision" because fast bowler Glen McGrath confirmed as much when he told the media: Read more
10 things we’ll miss about Porepunkah
- Cooling down with a dip in the river on a hot day.
- The village atmosphere.
- Short walk to the school, pub and shops.
- The school, which was great for our kids and the people were terrific.
- Scenic views of Mount Buffalo and Mount Porepunkah.
- The walk up Winters Hill.
- Bike riding on the rail trail and up the Buckland Valley.
- Mount Buffalo.
- Our house.
- The weather, especially splendid autumn days.
New Word Press theme
I’ve got some spare time at the moment before I start packing for the big move west. I decided to change my Word Press theme, and came across this one you’re reading in now called Tiga, by Shamsulazhar.
I think the colors and fonts are neat, tidy and easy to read. The theme came ready to use for Flickr photo sharing and the Gravatar blog avatar tool.
I don’t need the latter, and I don’t use Flickr, but I substituted the Coppermine CPMFetch plugin to grab photos from my gallery.
I haven’t changed much else, just included my plugins and a personal banner. I had trouble getting dropdown menus to work for archives and categories. I’ll revisit that some other time.
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