25/12: Merry Christmas
A very Merry Christmas to everybody out there reading this!
I've written my first Nucleus plugin - NP_PopUpLink!
Well, I say I wrote it, in fairness it was more a case of creating it. The main body is heavily based on NP_AdminPreview, with a healthy dose of NP_TechnoratiTags, and some of the core Nucleus HTML & javascript. And I say it's my first, but I'm not sure I'll be writing a second.
So why did I do it, and what does it do? Well, as you may have noticed, I like all external links on the site (eg to my Flickr account) to open in a new window, and all internal links (eg to my photo albums and older posts) to stay in the same window. Maybe that's bad practise, but that's how I like it. Unfortunately, the javascript toolbar in the admin area for adding/editing posts doesn't provide this functionality - I have to manually add a target="..." attribute after the fact. After two years of doing this manually, I finally decided to do something about it. I've been interested in how plugins work (having customised one or two to meet my needs), and this seemed a good excuse to write one.
A look round the Nucleus plugins turned up NP_AdminPreview which adds functionality to the Add and Edit pages in the Admin area, so this seemed like a good place to start. This gave me a way to add functionality into the "Extra Plugins Options" subsection of those pages. The actual button code (and graphic) were based on the same used for the "Make Link" button in the standard javascript tool bar, but tweaked to add target="_blank" to the <a href="..."> element. NP_TechnoratiTags gave me a way to add this code into a javascript include file, linked from the page header, rather than writing the script out with the button. (For now that probably doesn't matter, but if I wanted to add new buttons in the future, it's a more flexible approach.)
The good news is (after one aborted attempt caused by leaving some redundant code in the re-purposed NP_TechnoratiTags function) it works. The bad news is it's not exactly usable, as I can't have both the standard javascript toolbar and my new button on screen at the same time. Further research (which I should have done earlier...) shows a FAQ entry "How do I add custom buttons to my Add/Edit Item page?". This says, in summary, you can't do it with a plugin! It can be done, but you need to edit the core Nucleus code, so it gets wiped out whenever you upgrade your version of Nucleus.
It wasn't a completely wasted exercise. I've learnt a bit about Nucleus plugins, and I do have my new button (just in the wrong place). I shan't be publishing it on the Nucleus plugin site, but if anyone desperately wants a copy, it's here: NP_PopUpLink. extract the zip file into your Nucleus plugins directory, ensuring you've got both the PHP file and the popuplink directory containing the button graphic and javascript file. If you want to see the code, read the full version of this article (which should be nicely highlighted by NP_GeSHi2).
Well, I say I wrote it, in fairness it was more a case of creating it. The main body is heavily based on NP_AdminPreview, with a healthy dose of NP_TechnoratiTags, and some of the core Nucleus HTML & javascript. And I say it's my first, but I'm not sure I'll be writing a second.
So why did I do it, and what does it do? Well, as you may have noticed, I like all external links on the site (eg to my Flickr account) to open in a new window, and all internal links (eg to my photo albums and older posts) to stay in the same window. Maybe that's bad practise, but that's how I like it. Unfortunately, the javascript toolbar in the admin area for adding/editing posts doesn't provide this functionality - I have to manually add a target="..." attribute after the fact. After two years of doing this manually, I finally decided to do something about it. I've been interested in how plugins work (having customised one or two to meet my needs), and this seemed a good excuse to write one.
A look round the Nucleus plugins turned up NP_AdminPreview which adds functionality to the Add and Edit pages in the Admin area, so this seemed like a good place to start. This gave me a way to add functionality into the "Extra Plugins Options" subsection of those pages. The actual button code (and graphic) were based on the same used for the "Make Link" button in the standard javascript tool bar, but tweaked to add target="_blank" to the <a href="..."> element. NP_TechnoratiTags gave me a way to add this code into a javascript include file, linked from the page header, rather than writing the script out with the button. (For now that probably doesn't matter, but if I wanted to add new buttons in the future, it's a more flexible approach.)
The good news is (after one aborted attempt caused by leaving some redundant code in the re-purposed NP_TechnoratiTags function) it works. The bad news is it's not exactly usable, as I can't have both the standard javascript toolbar and my new button on screen at the same time. Further research (which I should have done earlier...) shows a FAQ entry "How do I add custom buttons to my Add/Edit Item page?". This says, in summary, you can't do it with a plugin! It can be done, but you need to edit the core Nucleus code, so it gets wiped out whenever you upgrade your version of Nucleus.
It wasn't a completely wasted exercise. I've learnt a bit about Nucleus plugins, and I do have my new button (just in the wrong place). I shan't be publishing it on the Nucleus plugin site, but if anyone desperately wants a copy, it's here: NP_PopUpLink. extract the zip file into your Nucleus plugins directory, ensuring you've got both the PHP file and the popuplink directory containing the button graphic and javascript file. If you want to see the code, read the full version of this article (which should be nicely highlighted by NP_GeSHi2).
Another fun game for you - Portal: The Flash Version. This time, a flash version of Valve's Portal. For those of you not familiar with it, you have a device which allows you (or anything else) to open two portals which let you pass through the first and appear at the second, which given a 4th dimension (well, the flash version is only 2-D, so in this case a 3rd dimension) to moving around gamespace. It starts off quite easy and progressively gets harder. And it's probably worth playing with a real mouse, not the crap touchpad on your laptop.
Thanks to Imran for reminding me about this!
Thanks to Imran for reminding me about this!
OK, it may not be Friday afternoon any more, but it was when these were passed on to me.
Earlier in the year, I mentioned Onslaught. Well, it appears development of this has been ongoing, and there's a bunch of new weapons and upgrades in Onslaught Version 2.1. It's still very addictive ... well, it beats work at any rate!
Secondly, we have Ramps. This is another flash game, build by it's author as "an exercise in dynamic, ActionScript-driven Flash physics". The aim is to drop a ball at the top of the screen and guide it into the bucket at the bottom, without dropping it in the lava. You have various movable platforms to help you, plus other obstacles as the game progresses. Depending on your score, there's cheat codes to let you replay the game with altered physics, multiple balls and other things. Not necessarily the most challenging game in the world, but still a good way to kill a lunch break.
Earlier in the year, I mentioned Onslaught. Well, it appears development of this has been ongoing, and there's a bunch of new weapons and upgrades in Onslaught Version 2.1. It's still very addictive ... well, it beats work at any rate!
Secondly, we have Ramps. This is another flash game, build by it's author as "an exercise in dynamic, ActionScript-driven Flash physics". The aim is to drop a ball at the top of the screen and guide it into the bucket at the bottom, without dropping it in the lava. You have various movable platforms to help you, plus other obstacles as the game progresses. Depending on your score, there's cheat codes to let you replay the game with altered physics, multiple balls and other things. Not necessarily the most challenging game in the world, but still a good way to kill a lunch break.
Here's the latest instalment of photos from our safari to Kenya last year. Out third port of call was Lake Baringo. Lake Baringo is one of only two freshwater lakes in the rift valley, unlike Lake Nakuru (which was our next stop, but I've already posted about it). The road from Mount Kenya was rather mixed. An initial tarmac section was swapped for a fairly good off-road track to get further west, and then another good section of tarmac took us a long way north. However, closer to Lake Baringo, the road had been washed away, so we had some rather jarring off-road sections across dry river beds for the last hour or so. On arrival our first stop was Lake Baringo Club, a pleasant oasis after the last bone-crunching section of the journey. We watched the local birdlife flitting in and out of the fruit trees in the garden whilst out guide sorted out what happened next. Finally we load ourselves and our luggage onto a small boat/large canoe to head over to Island Camp on Ol Kokwa Island.
Island Camp is a fantastic location. Accommodation is in "tents", but although they are partly canvas structures, they are pretty permanent (the back wall of ours was stone, and the roof was thatch on a wooden structure), and well fitted out - definitely luxury camping, not backpacking! Even better, the end of the tent opens to views across the lake and we spent plenty of time just sat here watching birds and lizards in the trees at the lake side, plus pied kingfishers fishing on the lake.
After recovering from the journey, we went for a bit of a wander. It's definitely not a place for those of limited mobility - Island Camp is on the side of the hill, and there are steps everywhere. There's a couple of bars/lounge areas/garden areas for guests to sit and relax. Unlike Samburu, Masai Mara etc, there's no big game, but there are birds everywhere, and Island Camp is well placed amongst the trees for you to get quite close to them. Definitely a bird watchers paradise!
The only downside is the amount of time we spent there - we arrived for a late lunch, and left early next morning for Lake Nakuru. It was a lovely, relaxing location, and definitely on our list of places to go back to if we return to Kenya, but probably staying for a couple of days. Oh, and next time I want to take a 600mm lens with me too!
The best of the photos are in my Kenya set on Flickr, and the rest are in the Lake Baringo section of the Kenya album on this site. Enjoy!
Island Camp is a fantastic location. Accommodation is in "tents", but although they are partly canvas structures, they are pretty permanent (the back wall of ours was stone, and the roof was thatch on a wooden structure), and well fitted out - definitely luxury camping, not backpacking! Even better, the end of the tent opens to views across the lake and we spent plenty of time just sat here watching birds and lizards in the trees at the lake side, plus pied kingfishers fishing on the lake.
After recovering from the journey, we went for a bit of a wander. It's definitely not a place for those of limited mobility - Island Camp is on the side of the hill, and there are steps everywhere. There's a couple of bars/lounge areas/garden areas for guests to sit and relax. Unlike Samburu, Masai Mara etc, there's no big game, but there are birds everywhere, and Island Camp is well placed amongst the trees for you to get quite close to them. Definitely a bird watchers paradise!
The only downside is the amount of time we spent there - we arrived for a late lunch, and left early next morning for Lake Nakuru. It was a lovely, relaxing location, and definitely on our list of places to go back to if we return to Kenya, but probably staying for a couple of days. Oh, and next time I want to take a 600mm lens with me too!
The best of the photos are in my Kenya set on Flickr, and the rest are in the Lake Baringo section of the Kenya album on this site. Enjoy!
14/12: Maintenance & Bug Fixing
I've spent a bit of time this evening doing general maintenance and tweaking some of the NucleusCMS plug-ins that I use.
Firstly, I discovered that if I used the tag cloud on the right to bring up a list of posts with a specific tag, then the links on the navigation menu were all broken on either the tag search page, or any subsequent post linked from the tag search page. They were all prefixed with "tag". It turns out that the problem is between the TechnoratiTags plugin and the Fancy URLs plugin (which isn't actually a plugin, and now appears deprecated...). The end result is that you also need to reference the Fancy URLs config file in tags.php (and tags, which you need to work with Fancy URLs) by adding the following before including the standard config file:
I've also tweaked the Action Log entry created by Technorati Tags. I keep finding the following in the Action Log, which I suspect is a result of spammers trying to post comments directly:
I've changed the ACTIONLOG::add statement (in the doSkinVar function) to be as follows:
which should record the IP address of whoever is triggering the error. I can't test it, because I can't replicate the error (well, I can't be bothered to try), but I'll keep an eye on the Action Log to see whether it continues to occur, and whether I can tie up the IP addresses with other known spam attempts.
Meanwhile, I keep wondering about changing the skin, or developing my own. The only problem is I've now tweaked so many things, I'm not sure I want to risk such a drastic change. Maybe I'll just stick to migrating to a more up-to-date version of Fancy URLs...
Firstly, I discovered that if I used the tag cloud on the right to bring up a list of posts with a specific tag, then the links on the navigation menu were all broken on either the tag search page, or any subsequent post linked from the tag search page. They were all prefixed with "tag". It turns out that the problem is between the TechnoratiTags plugin and the Fancy URLs plugin (which isn't actually a plugin, and now appears deprecated...). The end result is that you also need to reference the Fancy URLs config file in tags.php (and tags, which you need to work with Fancy URLs) by adding the following before including the standard config file:
include('./fancyurls.config.php');
I've also tweaked the Action Log entry created by Technorati Tags. I keep finding the following in the Action Log, which I suspect is a result of spammers trying to post comments directly:
TechnoratiTags Error:http://www.jacurutu.org.uk/item/#nucleus_cf
I've changed the ACTIONLOG::add statement (in the doSkinVar function) to be as follows:
ACTIONLOG::add(WARNING, 'TechnoratiTags Error. URI: ' . serverVar("REQUEST_URI") . 'IP: ' . getenv('REMOTE_ADDR'));
which should record the IP address of whoever is triggering the error. I can't test it, because I can't replicate the error (well, I can't be bothered to try), but I'll keep an eye on the Action Log to see whether it continues to occur, and whether I can tie up the IP addresses with other known spam attempts.
Meanwhile, I keep wondering about changing the skin, or developing my own. The only problem is I've now tweaked so many things, I'm not sure I want to risk such a drastic change. Maybe I'll just stick to migrating to a more up-to-date version of Fancy URLs...
As I mentioned a few weeks back, a team is being put together from players in the ONE League to play at Nautilus and the UK Nationals competitions. Following the trials held back in October, I've been selected for the team. I don't have a full team list yet (Jamie from Durham presumably has that), but Ali, also from York, Jamie & Dan (?) from Durham (DUUHC), and the rest from the Fenham, Byker and Jesmond teams in Newcastle (NEM-OC). Sorry, I'll work out everyone's name eventually!
Given that Nautilus is happening on the weekend of 5/6 January, it was decided that a training session and match was in order fairly soon, so last Friday we all congregated at Fenham for a warm up session, to be followed by a friendly match against Sunderland (aka Neros).
(As a quick aside, Fenham have an interesting pool - the deep end is about 2 metres deep, but slopes up to about 1.5 metres at the wall. It also has two raised (about 5 cm) covers over the water outlet in the deep-end. Still, this just makes for a more interesting game!)
Actually, the match was very similar to the York A versus Durham match - Neros were all over us in the first half, but come the second half it was a lot closer. Again, much of this comes from the ONE Team not having played together before, and slowly getting used to each other's styles of play.
From my point of view, it was interesting playing against Neros, as they are well ahead of any of the teams that York have played against recently. The result is that you've really got to be on form, as any mistake will be punished, and my usual style of play (which is to lurk in defence but play a bit of midfield and attack at the first opportunity) doesn't really work as it leaves too big a hole at the back. Especially when at least one of Neros forwards has a fantastic turn of speed - towards the end, I was nearly catching him, but not quite!
Unfortunately, I doubt we're going to get another chance to play together before we reconvene at Sheffield for our Nautilus games on the 5 January 2008, in part because at least Ali and Jamie are heading home for Christmas. Still, I might see if I can head up to Newcastle one evening to tag along at one of their training sessions - especially as there are no more official York Uni sessions until 13 January 2008.
Finally, according to the Nautilus team selection info on the BOA website, we're going to be in Division 5 (as NEM-OC). The bad news is that Neros are also in Division 5! The full list of teams is as follows:
That's it for now. I'm going to spend the weekend with the bandsaw knocking up some new bats, as mine are looking a touch tired already, and I've had a couple of requests from former York Uni players. See you in Sheffield!
Given that Nautilus is happening on the weekend of 5/6 January, it was decided that a training session and match was in order fairly soon, so last Friday we all congregated at Fenham for a warm up session, to be followed by a friendly match against Sunderland (aka Neros).
(As a quick aside, Fenham have an interesting pool - the deep end is about 2 metres deep, but slopes up to about 1.5 metres at the wall. It also has two raised (about 5 cm) covers over the water outlet in the deep-end. Still, this just makes for a more interesting game!)
Actually, the match was very similar to the York A versus Durham match - Neros were all over us in the first half, but come the second half it was a lot closer. Again, much of this comes from the ONE Team not having played together before, and slowly getting used to each other's styles of play.
From my point of view, it was interesting playing against Neros, as they are well ahead of any of the teams that York have played against recently. The result is that you've really got to be on form, as any mistake will be punished, and my usual style of play (which is to lurk in defence but play a bit of midfield and attack at the first opportunity) doesn't really work as it leaves too big a hole at the back. Especially when at least one of Neros forwards has a fantastic turn of speed - towards the end, I was nearly catching him, but not quite!
Unfortunately, I doubt we're going to get another chance to play together before we reconvene at Sheffield for our Nautilus games on the 5 January 2008, in part because at least Ali and Jamie are heading home for Christmas. Still, I might see if I can head up to Newcastle one evening to tag along at one of their training sessions - especially as there are no more official York Uni sessions until 13 January 2008.
Finally, according to the Nautilus team selection info on the BOA website, we're going to be in Division 5 (as NEM-OC). The bad news is that Neros are also in Division 5! The full list of teams is as follows:
- Solent Viragos
- West London C
- Orkney
- Inverness
- NE-MOC
- Nero's
That's it for now. I'm going to spend the weekend with the bandsaw knocking up some new bats, as mine are looking a touch tired already, and I've had a couple of requests from former York Uni players. See you in Sheffield!
Buoyant with our success against Byker, last Sunday the York A team converged on Durham for more of the same. The last encounter between York and Durham, a friendly match earlier in the summer at York went York's way, so whilst I wasn't expecting a whitewash, I was feeling confident we could beat them again.
Oh dear.
I could give all sorts of excuses as to what happened. We didn't have any substitutes (even though we'd expected one). Neither Ali nor I were feeling particularly well. My snorkel started leaking resulting in me trying to breathe water (hence me jumping out part way through the second half - I needed to grab a spare). Seeing a puck against the wall and thinking Durham had scored - only to realise play was carrying on and the light green puck was a goalpost, not the dark green puck the match was being played with.
But, to be quite frank, we were outclassed.
Actually, it wasn't that bad - the second half was a lot closer. We hardly got a look in in the first half, but in the second half defending the shallow end was easier - especially as the deep end is 9 feet rather than the 6 were used to (oops, that sounds like another excuse...) and I think we were getting it together a bit more as a team. If the first half had been the same as the second, then I think it could have gone either way.
So, what went wrong?
Firstly, Durham has some great players - they're very strong in attack, and Jamie Parsons is excellent in defence. (Durham's other defenders may be great too - but I never got close enough to find out.) But where I think they really excelled (and York A didn't) is playing together as a team. They always had players down and ready to support, and everyone seemed to know more or less where everyone else was, or was going to be. From my position in defence I could clearly see that whenever someone from Durham made a break, there was someone with them to support - either ready to take a pass, or ready to pick it up from our defence if we succeeded in winning the puck.
In contrast, York isn't very good at supporting the player with the puck. And yes, I include myself in that statement. What this means is that when any player has the puck, when they run into trouble (the opposition, or possibly the need to breathe), that player has two choices: 1) off-load the puck blindly; or 2) stop, look around, try and spot a team mate, and try to pass to them. Option 1 works if you know your team inside out. Your team mates need to know you well enough to guess (accurately) where you are going to pass to, and you need to know your team mates play well enough to know where they're about to appear. York A isn't quite there yet, although this works sometimes, and more frequently between one or two particular players. Option 2 is a disaster against a stronger team because in the time it takes to look round, the opposition will relieve you of the puck, or you'll have lost all forward momentum. Plus, often your teammate is on the surface, so by the time they get down to the bottom, the opposition is already there. What I see us doing (and again, I'm as guilty as anyone) is option 1, but without the confidence that your teammate is going to collect the puck. Against a strong team like Durham, there's a greater than 50/50 chance that the opposition will collect the puck after such a blind pass.
The solution is to ensure that whenever someone has the puck, their team mates get themselves into a useful support position on the bottom of the pool where they can be seen. OK, the downside is it makes it easier for the opposition to mark you, but half the battle is keeping the puck (at least the opposition aren't scoring when you have the puck). Also, given that on the whole players don't have a greatest ability at flicking/long passes, we need to keep it much tighter together. There's no point being on the bottom of the pool to support your team mate if he or she can't actually pass to you because you're too far away - you might as well be sat on the side of the pool instead: a stronger team will probably beat you to the puck.
We also need to work on integration between forwards and defence. Playing a 3-3 formation, there's no midfield to bridge the gap. It certainly felt at times like the whole Durham team were sat between our defence and attack, so if we did manage to get it away from Durham's forwards, we struggled to get it up to our own forwards. One area in particular that should be really easy to improve on is when the puck goes out to the sidewall and it becomes one on one. There's only really 3 ways the puck is going to go - forwards (we win it), backwards (we loose it) or back towards the centre of the pool (could be anyone's). If we do manage to get the puck to go forwards, we need to ensure someone is there from our team to collect it and do something useful with it, because I'm quite sure the opposition will be there to collect it if we don't. Often in these encounters you can't actually swim the puck forwards, but you may be able to pass it forwards, perhaps even before running into the opposition, so it's important we recognise this situation occurring and get someone the other side of the opposition player. If we loose the encounter and it goes backwards, we need to ensure one of our defenders is there to collect it. And what if the puck comes back towards the centre of the pool? You've guessed it: we need someone ready to deal with that as well - either to collect it, or to take on the opposition player who's got hold of it.
OK, enough with the criticism. As I said earlier, York played much better in the second half. I'll let Ali comment on how the forwards played, but I thought both Tom and Sam played well. Sam did a sterling job as usual, and Tom's game has improved noticeable since Byker. If we were playing both home and away legs (which unfortunately we aren't), I'm quite confident we'd have been able to win the second match.
After all that, I hear you asking, what was the score? 11-6 to DUUHC. So, congratulations to Durham. But don't get too confident - we'll get you next time!
With 3 games played, I reckon the league results stand as follows:
I guess that puts Durham ahead on goal difference, although with only 3 games played, it's still wide open.
Oh dear.
I could give all sorts of excuses as to what happened. We didn't have any substitutes (even though we'd expected one). Neither Ali nor I were feeling particularly well. My snorkel started leaking resulting in me trying to breathe water (hence me jumping out part way through the second half - I needed to grab a spare). Seeing a puck against the wall and thinking Durham had scored - only to realise play was carrying on and the light green puck was a goalpost, not the dark green puck the match was being played with.
But, to be quite frank, we were outclassed.
Actually, it wasn't that bad - the second half was a lot closer. We hardly got a look in in the first half, but in the second half defending the shallow end was easier - especially as the deep end is 9 feet rather than the 6 were used to (oops, that sounds like another excuse...) and I think we were getting it together a bit more as a team. If the first half had been the same as the second, then I think it could have gone either way.
So, what went wrong?
Firstly, Durham has some great players - they're very strong in attack, and Jamie Parsons is excellent in defence. (Durham's other defenders may be great too - but I never got close enough to find out.) But where I think they really excelled (and York A didn't) is playing together as a team. They always had players down and ready to support, and everyone seemed to know more or less where everyone else was, or was going to be. From my position in defence I could clearly see that whenever someone from Durham made a break, there was someone with them to support - either ready to take a pass, or ready to pick it up from our defence if we succeeded in winning the puck.
In contrast, York isn't very good at supporting the player with the puck. And yes, I include myself in that statement. What this means is that when any player has the puck, when they run into trouble (the opposition, or possibly the need to breathe), that player has two choices: 1) off-load the puck blindly; or 2) stop, look around, try and spot a team mate, and try to pass to them. Option 1 works if you know your team inside out. Your team mates need to know you well enough to guess (accurately) where you are going to pass to, and you need to know your team mates play well enough to know where they're about to appear. York A isn't quite there yet, although this works sometimes, and more frequently between one or two particular players. Option 2 is a disaster against a stronger team because in the time it takes to look round, the opposition will relieve you of the puck, or you'll have lost all forward momentum. Plus, often your teammate is on the surface, so by the time they get down to the bottom, the opposition is already there. What I see us doing (and again, I'm as guilty as anyone) is option 1, but without the confidence that your teammate is going to collect the puck. Against a strong team like Durham, there's a greater than 50/50 chance that the opposition will collect the puck after such a blind pass.
The solution is to ensure that whenever someone has the puck, their team mates get themselves into a useful support position on the bottom of the pool where they can be seen. OK, the downside is it makes it easier for the opposition to mark you, but half the battle is keeping the puck (at least the opposition aren't scoring when you have the puck). Also, given that on the whole players don't have a greatest ability at flicking/long passes, we need to keep it much tighter together. There's no point being on the bottom of the pool to support your team mate if he or she can't actually pass to you because you're too far away - you might as well be sat on the side of the pool instead: a stronger team will probably beat you to the puck.
We also need to work on integration between forwards and defence. Playing a 3-3 formation, there's no midfield to bridge the gap. It certainly felt at times like the whole Durham team were sat between our defence and attack, so if we did manage to get it away from Durham's forwards, we struggled to get it up to our own forwards. One area in particular that should be really easy to improve on is when the puck goes out to the sidewall and it becomes one on one. There's only really 3 ways the puck is going to go - forwards (we win it), backwards (we loose it) or back towards the centre of the pool (could be anyone's). If we do manage to get the puck to go forwards, we need to ensure someone is there from our team to collect it and do something useful with it, because I'm quite sure the opposition will be there to collect it if we don't. Often in these encounters you can't actually swim the puck forwards, but you may be able to pass it forwards, perhaps even before running into the opposition, so it's important we recognise this situation occurring and get someone the other side of the opposition player. If we loose the encounter and it goes backwards, we need to ensure one of our defenders is there to collect it. And what if the puck comes back towards the centre of the pool? You've guessed it: we need someone ready to deal with that as well - either to collect it, or to take on the opposition player who's got hold of it.
OK, enough with the criticism. As I said earlier, York played much better in the second half. I'll let Ali comment on how the forwards played, but I thought both Tom and Sam played well. Sam did a sterling job as usual, and Tom's game has improved noticeable since Byker. If we were playing both home and away legs (which unfortunately we aren't), I'm quite confident we'd have been able to win the second match.
After all that, I hear you asking, what was the score? 11-6 to DUUHC. So, congratulations to Durham. But don't get too confident - we'll get you next time!
With 3 games played, I reckon the league results stand as follows:
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goal Difference |
| Byker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -6 |
| DUUHC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +5 |
| Jesmond | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +4 |
| York Uni A | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| York Uni B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4 |
I guess that puts Durham ahead on goal difference, although with only 3 games played, it's still wide open.
Edited to fix DUUHC entry - they haven't lost a match as the table originally showed!
As promised many times, I've finally got some of the Kenya photos edited and online. This first batch is taken at Lake Nakuru National Park in central Kenya. Although there's lots of mammals there, including White Rhino (as per the picture of one taking a rest in the shade), there's also lots of birds too. Although there are many wading birds (such as Pied Avocets, Little Egrets and of course Flamingos), there's other birds too, including the Superb Starling (see below - a personal favourite, mostly due to having seen them in captivity locally at Lotherton Hall). We also got to see several eagles, although identifying them and taking decent photos of them proved difficult.
Unfortunately, the flamingo numbers have declined somewhat. The older guide books described the lake as being tinged pink with flocks of flamingos. However, as evidenced here and here, this is no longer the case. I'm not sure there's a clearly understood reason for this, but drought (reducing water levels, which in turn alters the chemistry of the soda lake) and pollution of the lake from sewage and industrial effluent are likely to be significant contributing factors.
There's now a Kenya set on Flickr where I'll upload all the Kenya photos, although I may create separate sets for each area we visited as well. I've also created a Kenya album on this site, which will be split into each area/park, including a Lake Nakuru album, as and when I get the remaining photos edited and posted up.
Talking of which, the Lake Baringo photos are edited, and awaiting to go online, the Nairobi, Samburu and Mount Kenya photos are filtered and awaiting editing, which just leaves 1,000 photos from Masai Mara to sift through. Oh, and the photos of Northumbria (including the Farne Islands) from earlier in 2006. And a few other bits and pieces too!
Streetpush is something dreamt up over the summer at York. York Council was holding an open day in the city centre for sports clubs, and some of the York Uni graduate students and assorted hangers-on (Jodie, Alan and Ben) booked a stall. As few people have heard of octopush, they came up with a way to demo it without a swimming pool - hence Streetpush! It's played just like octopush (masks, fins, snorkels, pushers, puck), but on whatever surface comes to hand. I gather the original plan was to use a plastic sheet and buckets of water, but the buckets weren't necessary due to the rain. Players crawl, wriggle or roll to get to the puck - no walking!
The club were doing Streetpush demos again at York University's Freshers' Fair at the start of the 2007 academic year, so I tagged along to take some photos. (And had to turn down the offer to play - a wise move, after seeing the resultant bruises on Jodie's legs!)
In time honoured fashion, there's a set on Flickr, and the full lot in the (new!) octopush section on my own albums (together with assorted other octopush-related photos).
Finally, after all those promises, I've got some of the photos from our Kenya safari in 2006 edited. Watch this space for links!
