England Prevail Over Ireland In The Cricket
30/03/07 22:10 Filed in: Sport
England
have just bowled Ireland out for 218
to claim victory
in the
Super Eight match in Guyana.
We'll get our revenge! Just wait till the Hurling World Cup, then we'll show them!
We'll get our revenge! Just wait till the Hurling World Cup, then we'll show them!
|
Calm Down, Everyone!
29/03/07 22:24 Filed in: Sport
Hooray! The
Republic of Ireland football team win four games on
the trot! Twelve points from four matches! Whenever
we have done this before, qualification for the
tournament in hand has followed, so we're a shoo-in
for the European Championship in 2008, right?
Eh, no. Six of those points came from the home and away fixtures with San Marino, which at the end of the day, like, don't count. Whenever a group has San Marino in it, the other teams effectively start with six points and a goal difference of about +8 to +10 in the bag. It's like an international competition with Castlebar Celtic as one of the qualifying nations. San Marino is a punchbag, and you lay as many on them as possible, because you may need those goals later in the competition. We came out of our home and away encounter with the tiny republic with the six points, scored seven and conceded one. Our main rivals for qualification, Germany and Czech have already put 13 and 7 past them respectively and still have one leg to go.
So effectively, we have won two games. We won Saturday's game against Wales simply because Wales were even more awful than we were. The win over Slovakia was the first creditable performance since the draw with Czech on 11 October. There were a lot of positives to be taken from the game, and hopefully we will be able to build on it for the rest of the campaign. We still have to play Germany in Dublin and Czech in Prague, so hopefully by the time these fixtures come around, confidence and stability in the squad will have progressed.
I don't believe that we will qualify, but a third-place finish in the group would be a creditable finish, given the lack of ambition that the FAI has for the international squad.
Contrast that with Northern Ireland, who after a long period in the doldrums, are now top of their group, having beaten Sweden last night. The team is made up of Premiership journeymen and reserve players from Championship clubs, but when they play for Northern Ireland, they are transformed. This is because they have a very good manager in Lawrie Sanchez, who manages to get a lot more out of his players than should be available to him. His team adds up to a lot more than the sum of its parts. I hope they can keep up this momentum and qualify.
Eh, no. Six of those points came from the home and away fixtures with San Marino, which at the end of the day, like, don't count. Whenever a group has San Marino in it, the other teams effectively start with six points and a goal difference of about +8 to +10 in the bag. It's like an international competition with Castlebar Celtic as one of the qualifying nations. San Marino is a punchbag, and you lay as many on them as possible, because you may need those goals later in the competition. We came out of our home and away encounter with the tiny republic with the six points, scored seven and conceded one. Our main rivals for qualification, Germany and Czech have already put 13 and 7 past them respectively and still have one leg to go.
So effectively, we have won two games. We won Saturday's game against Wales simply because Wales were even more awful than we were. The win over Slovakia was the first creditable performance since the draw with Czech on 11 October. There were a lot of positives to be taken from the game, and hopefully we will be able to build on it for the rest of the campaign. We still have to play Germany in Dublin and Czech in Prague, so hopefully by the time these fixtures come around, confidence and stability in the squad will have progressed.
I don't believe that we will qualify, but a third-place finish in the group would be a creditable finish, given the lack of ambition that the FAI has for the international squad.
Contrast that with Northern Ireland, who after a long period in the doldrums, are now top of their group, having beaten Sweden last night. The team is made up of Premiership journeymen and reserve players from Championship clubs, but when they play for Northern Ireland, they are transformed. This is because they have a very good manager in Lawrie Sanchez, who manages to get a lot more out of his players than should be available to him. His team adds up to a lot more than the sum of its parts. I hope they can keep up this momentum and qualify.
Silly Music Links
26/03/07 23:29 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Cat listening to Stevie
Wonder (and some other
things too.)
A hillbilly version of Motorhead's classic, The Ace of Spades:
A hillbilly version of Motorhead's classic, The Ace of Spades:
Doing The Stormont Shuffle
26/03/07 23:13 Filed in: Politics
Well, it
all went quite well in the end. Ian said some nice
things, Gerry said some nice things in Irish, and
everyone toddles off for six weeks. But this six
weeks thing puzzles me. Why not now? I mean, it's
not like the DUP and Sinn Féin don't know one
another's positions by now, given that they have
been dancing around one another for the last four
years or so.
This is a big gamble for both parties. For Paisley, he is doing what he said he would never do - go into government with Sinn Féin. He has clambered onto the high ground of unionism over the last four years, digging his hob-nailed boots into the backs of the Ulster Unionists on the way, by saying he would never countenance power sharing with Sinn Féin. Yet here he was today, sitting alongside Gerry Adams in Stormont. I know that many unionists are resigned to seeing this happen someday, but it will be interesting to see how the grassroots reaction unfolds now that it is - almost - reality.
For Adams, there is the risk that it might all unravel in the six weeks between now and 8 May. Will Paisley or one of his lieutenants try to introduce a new obstacle to the process, in order to raise the bar further for Sinn Féin? I'm sure that there are some in the DUP who would have been confident in the assumption that Sinn Féin would never either decommission their weapons or support the police. But both have happened, and so now the DUP have nothing left with which to stall the momentum. There's many a twist twixt cup and lip and all that…
And if it does get going, how long will it last?
This is a big gamble for both parties. For Paisley, he is doing what he said he would never do - go into government with Sinn Féin. He has clambered onto the high ground of unionism over the last four years, digging his hob-nailed boots into the backs of the Ulster Unionists on the way, by saying he would never countenance power sharing with Sinn Féin. Yet here he was today, sitting alongside Gerry Adams in Stormont. I know that many unionists are resigned to seeing this happen someday, but it will be interesting to see how the grassroots reaction unfolds now that it is - almost - reality.
For Adams, there is the risk that it might all unravel in the six weeks between now and 8 May. Will Paisley or one of his lieutenants try to introduce a new obstacle to the process, in order to raise the bar further for Sinn Féin? I'm sure that there are some in the DUP who would have been confident in the assumption that Sinn Féin would never either decommission their weapons or support the police. But both have happened, and so now the DUP have nothing left with which to stall the momentum. There's many a twist twixt cup and lip and all that…
And if it does get going, how long will it last?
Another Historic Deadline
25/03/07 22:31 Filed in: Politics
Tomorrow
marks the day where Northern Ireland will finally
get executive it was promised almost nine years ago
- or maybe not. The DUP have said that they aren't
quite ready to go into power with Sinn Féin just
yet and have asked for a further six weeks. What's
six weeks when we have been waiting nine years,
after all?
The DUP should be told on no uncertain terms that the deadline set for tomorrow is unchangeable. For too long the people of Northern Ireland have been promised "jam tomorrow" in respect of the devolution they voted to endorse back in 1998. The parties have played around, and deadlines have come and go, so it is only right that the gravy train should come to a halt.
It's time to piss or get off the pot. Devolved administration or direct rule. Make your minds up.
The DUP should be told on no uncertain terms that the deadline set for tomorrow is unchangeable. For too long the people of Northern Ireland have been promised "jam tomorrow" in respect of the devolution they voted to endorse back in 1998. The parties have played around, and deadlines have come and go, so it is only right that the gravy train should come to a halt.
It's time to piss or get off the pot. Devolved administration or direct rule. Make your minds up.
Twenty's Book
22/03/07 22:18 Filed in: Blogging
Sinéad
announced Twenty's
major news [see what I did
there? (as Kav might say)] to the
world last night, and when I read of it, it
inspired me to get that Photoshop icon in my
Dock a-bouncin'.
The fruits of my toil are below the fold (as some might not consider it safe for a work environment).
Wait! There's More…
The fruits of my toil are below the fold (as some might not consider it safe for a work environment).
Wait! There's More…
More Cricket
21/03/07 22:34 Filed in: Sport
Holy Moly!
If someone had said to me six months ago that I
would post two consecutive pieces about cricket, I
would never have believed them.
But anyway, Pakistan's tour-de-force of an innings has left Zimbabwe with an almost impossible task, and as I write are 94 for 9 from 18 overs. I'm glad that Pakistan have managed to redeem themselves, as they have had a horrible campaign, losing their two opening matches and then suffering the sudden death of their coach, Bob Woolmer. Pakistan is a proud cricketing nation, and to have to go home whitewashed after all they have been through would have been too much.
Their expected win means that Ireland have reached the Super 8 stage for sure. Think ahead to Friday - both Ireland and the West Indies have already qualified. Neither side needs to win to stay in the tournament. They will be playing for fun. That can only mean one thing:
Wait! There's More…
But anyway, Pakistan's tour-de-force of an innings has left Zimbabwe with an almost impossible task, and as I write are 94 for 9 from 18 overs. I'm glad that Pakistan have managed to redeem themselves, as they have had a horrible campaign, losing their two opening matches and then suffering the sudden death of their coach, Bob Woolmer. Pakistan is a proud cricketing nation, and to have to go home whitewashed after all they have been through would have been too much.
Their expected win means that Ireland have reached the Super 8 stage for sure. Think ahead to Friday - both Ireland and the West Indies have already qualified. Neither side needs to win to stay in the tournament. They will be playing for fun. That can only mean one thing:
Wait! There's More…
Are You Watching, Pakistan?
16/03/07 07:57 Filed in: Sport
Fair dues
to the Irish cricket team, earning a draw in their
opening world cup match with Zimbabwe. The
Zimbabweans looked like they were in control as
they settled into their innings, but the Irish came
back at them and forced the draw on the very last
ball of the match.
Hang
on a second - an Irish team, in a World Cup pool
game, finish with a draw… Hmmm, that sounds vaguely
familiar, doesn't it?
Pakistan are next, on St Patrick's Day. I wonder if anything is happening in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo to mark this occasion. Ballyhaunis has one of Ireland's longest-established Pakistani communities, dating back to the late 1970s/early 1980s, when a halal meat plant was set up there. Since 1999, the town has had a thriving cricket club, drawn mostly from the local Pakistani population. They have been very successful in their early years and have won a number of competitions against opposition from across the country.
St Patrick's Day will be a busy sports day for sure. the final round of the Six Nations, the cricket match against Pakistan, the GAA club finals and the schools rugby finals. The RTÉ sports department will be busy on Saturday.
Adds, Monday: Hmmm, it turns out that my headline could mark me out as being prescient. Well done, Irish cricket team. Sincere condolences to the family of Bob Woolmer, the late coach of the the Pakistan team.
Pakistan are next, on St Patrick's Day. I wonder if anything is happening in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo to mark this occasion. Ballyhaunis has one of Ireland's longest-established Pakistani communities, dating back to the late 1970s/early 1980s, when a halal meat plant was set up there. Since 1999, the town has had a thriving cricket club, drawn mostly from the local Pakistani population. They have been very successful in their early years and have won a number of competitions against opposition from across the country.
St Patrick's Day will be a busy sports day for sure. the final round of the Six Nations, the cricket match against Pakistan, the GAA club finals and the schools rugby finals. The RTÉ sports department will be busy on Saturday.
Adds, Monday: Hmmm, it turns out that my headline could mark me out as being prescient. Well done, Irish cricket team. Sincere condolences to the family of Bob Woolmer, the late coach of the the Pakistan team.
More On The PDs' Reality Distortion Field
14/03/07 21:48
When I saw
that PD poster about health for the
first time, I just laughed. They have some
cheek, as they are peddling a blatant lie, but
probably feel that they have to try to point
to
some sort of achievement by Mary
Harney as Minister for Health. The claims are
deliberately vague, and virtually impossible to
quantify or deny.
Shorter waiting times? In comparison to when? How are they measured? Waiting times for what - getting a bone set or being treated for a heart attack? At what point does the clock start - when you initially present at A & E or when someone acknowledges that you are there?
Cleaner hospitals? How much cleaner? 5%? 10? More? How is it measured? By the number of cases of MRSA infections? Or maybe by someone running their finger along the dado rail in the corridor and seeing how much dust they accumulate?
In fairness to Harney, I don't think that she is any better or worse than many other Ministers for Health we have had in the past. At least she has tried to take on the vested interests like the consultants and the unions. But such is the grip the various sectional interests have on the service that overcoming them is probably a greater task than any one individual can achieve.
But this poster campaign is a step too far. Even if Steve Jobs himself, the master of the Reality Distortion Field, was doing the PR for the PDs, no-one would believe him on this one.
Shorter waiting times? In comparison to when? How are they measured? Waiting times for what - getting a bone set or being treated for a heart attack? At what point does the clock start - when you initially present at A & E or when someone acknowledges that you are there?
Cleaner hospitals? How much cleaner? 5%? 10? More? How is it measured? By the number of cases of MRSA infections? Or maybe by someone running their finger along the dado rail in the corridor and seeing how much dust they accumulate?
In fairness to Harney, I don't think that she is any better or worse than many other Ministers for Health we have had in the past. At least she has tried to take on the vested interests like the consultants and the unions. But such is the grip the various sectional interests have on the service that overcoming them is probably a greater task than any one individual can achieve.
But this poster campaign is a step too far. Even if Steve Jobs himself, the master of the Reality Distortion Field, was doing the PR for the PDs, no-one would believe him on this one.
Words Can't Describe This
13/03/07 23:09
For all of
my adult life, one of my most steadfast political
principles has been an uncompromising opposition to
the death penalty.
That principle got a severe test this evening, when I happened upon this story on the BBC (Warning: You may find this disturbing, especially if you are the parent of a baby girl.)
I really hope that every other prisoner in the jail he's going to knows exactly what he did to his seven-week-old daughter.
That principle got a severe test this evening, when I happened upon this story on the BBC (Warning: You may find this disturbing, especially if you are the parent of a baby girl.)
I really hope that every other prisoner in the jail he's going to knows exactly what he did to his seven-week-old daughter.
McKenna Gets Mauled
13/03/07 23:08 Filed in: Politics
Whenever
I'm in the car during "The Drivetime Slot" I tend
to listen to The Last Word on Today FM more than
most. A day rarely passes when The Last Word
doesn't get someone from the Green Party on to
offer us their predictable "Down With That Sort of
Thing" analysis of any given subject, media whores
that they are.
Today was no different, and Patricia McKenna was on to offer the party's line on the fluoridation of drinking water (predictably, this is a Very Bad Thing And Needs To Be Stopped.) I find the Greens pretty annoying and self-righteous at the best of times, but McKenna is particularly shrill. She came on and said her piece, explaining that fluoridation was the cause of several maladies and saying that parents were putting babies at risk by bottle-feeding them with formula made up with fluoridated water. Then Matt Cooper introduced another guest (who's name escapes me [Added 12 April: His name is Keith Redmond]), a dentist who also happens to be a PD election candidate.
This guest demolished McKenna's argument and left her floundering, and also accused her of advising parents not to have their children vaccinated or immunised. Cooper picked up on this, even though it was off-topic, and invited McKenna to respond to the accusation. What followed was pure gold. McKenna trotted out the old line about the alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Cooper himself (who would normally play a disinterested devil's advocate role in a debate like this) was on her like a ton of bricks and vehemently pointed out that this theory was bogus and had been utterly discredited. More flapping from McKenna, as she desperately tried to validate her points, but by then it was hopeless.
Trevor Sargeant, if he was listening, must have been banging his head off a table at this point.
Hopefully Today FM will put it up as a podcast, and if they do I'll link to it.
Update, 12 April: Justin Mason has links to the audio file, and a transcript of the relevant part of the interview here
Today was no different, and Patricia McKenna was on to offer the party's line on the fluoridation of drinking water (predictably, this is a Very Bad Thing And Needs To Be Stopped.) I find the Greens pretty annoying and self-righteous at the best of times, but McKenna is particularly shrill. She came on and said her piece, explaining that fluoridation was the cause of several maladies and saying that parents were putting babies at risk by bottle-feeding them with formula made up with fluoridated water. Then Matt Cooper introduced another guest (who's name escapes me [Added 12 April: His name is Keith Redmond]), a dentist who also happens to be a PD election candidate.
This guest demolished McKenna's argument and left her floundering, and also accused her of advising parents not to have their children vaccinated or immunised. Cooper picked up on this, even though it was off-topic, and invited McKenna to respond to the accusation. What followed was pure gold. McKenna trotted out the old line about the alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Cooper himself (who would normally play a disinterested devil's advocate role in a debate like this) was on her like a ton of bricks and vehemently pointed out that this theory was bogus and had been utterly discredited. More flapping from McKenna, as she desperately tried to validate her points, but by then it was hopeless.
Trevor Sargeant, if he was listening, must have been banging his head off a table at this point.
Hopefully Today FM will put it up as a podcast, and if they do I'll link to it.
Update, 12 April: Justin Mason has links to the audio file, and a transcript of the relevant part of the interview here
PDs' Reality Distortion Field
13/03/07 22:29 Filed in: Politics
Easy Qash
12/03/07 22:34 Filed in: General
Nonsense
The UnLaoised Form Guide…
12/03/07 22:28 Filed in: General
Nonsense
… to
Chelmsford fuck no, that's not
it, Chelsea no, not there either...
[fades in] ... which managed to stay ahead by a length in the feature event at the Curragh back in February unlike Make My Day Punk the promising two year old from the Coolmore stable which fell at the last in Chepstow last week but even still he might be a decent each way at 33/1 in the Paddy Power on Wednesday or indeed you might be better off putting a few bob on the nose if the odds tighten up a bit like You're Some Tulip which started off at 50 and is now down to sixteens in the 2.15 on Tuesday starting alongside Get Off The Road Motherfucker which went to post odds-on in Punchestown last Tuesday week and was still running on Wednesday when the action had moved to Gowran Park where Get Out Of My Knickers romped home unopposed which was no surprise really as she was the only horse in the race and so couldn't lose which could well happen on Wednesday when she's in the 3.30 under Johnny Maguire who hasn't managed to win a single race all season a fact that has caused concern in the stable yard at Ballydoyle from where A Wop Bop A Loola A Wop Bam Boo Got A Girl Named Daisy She Almost Drives Me Crazy the favourite for the Champion Chase has been in intensive training for the last four months under the watchful eye of trainer Jimmy Savage the man who took us all by surprise by entering Anamewithnospaces a mare gelding into the Powers Gold Label at Leopardstown after Christmas which took both punters and bookies by surprise by winning at a canter virtually unbacked ... [fades out]
Continues ad nauseam, everywhere, for the rest of the week.
[fades in] ... which managed to stay ahead by a length in the feature event at the Curragh back in February unlike Make My Day Punk the promising two year old from the Coolmore stable which fell at the last in Chepstow last week but even still he might be a decent each way at 33/1 in the Paddy Power on Wednesday or indeed you might be better off putting a few bob on the nose if the odds tighten up a bit like You're Some Tulip which started off at 50 and is now down to sixteens in the 2.15 on Tuesday starting alongside Get Off The Road Motherfucker which went to post odds-on in Punchestown last Tuesday week and was still running on Wednesday when the action had moved to Gowran Park where Get Out Of My Knickers romped home unopposed which was no surprise really as she was the only horse in the race and so couldn't lose which could well happen on Wednesday when she's in the 3.30 under Johnny Maguire who hasn't managed to win a single race all season a fact that has caused concern in the stable yard at Ballydoyle from where A Wop Bop A Loola A Wop Bam Boo Got A Girl Named Daisy She Almost Drives Me Crazy the favourite for the Champion Chase has been in intensive training for the last four months under the watchful eye of trainer Jimmy Savage the man who took us all by surprise by entering Anamewithnospaces a mare gelding into the Powers Gold Label at Leopardstown after Christmas which took both punters and bookies by surprise by winning at a canter virtually unbacked ... [fades out]
Continues ad nauseam, everywhere, for the rest of the week.
Finger On The Pulse … Of A Corpse!
11/03/07 21:54 Filed in: Blogging
While we
were waiting for the ferry at Dún Laoghaire last
weekend, my wife was reading Hello! magazine's
account of the break-up of Hugh Grant and Jemima
Khan. I said to her that I reckoned that Grant and
Liz Hurley would probably get back together before
too long. She shot me this withering look, before
informing me that Liz Hurley was actually getting
married that weekend.
Oh well, there goes the plan for a showbiz gossip site on the gerryos.net domain.
Oh well, there goes the plan for a showbiz gossip site on the gerryos.net domain.
Motorway Muppets
11/03/07 21:19 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Whenever I
go abroad and drive on motorways, it brings home to
me just how poor the standard of motorway driving
is in Ireland. The vast majority of drivers just
don't get the simple rules, like stay in the inside
lane and use the outside lane for overtaking only.
We went to Birmingham last weekend, and because we now have a little 'un, the €30 Ryanair option was not an option. By the time we would have checked in the travel cot and the pram, not to mention all the other necessary acoutrements that babies need, we would have faced a bill that heretofore would have safely seen my wife and I to Auckland and back. First class. So we ferried it.
Holyhead to Birmingham is dual carriageway or motorway the whole way, (going the A55-M56-M6 route.) And it was a doddle. Not once did we get stuck behind a truck doing 61 mph attempting to overtake another truck doing 60 mph. Nor did we end up in a tailback in the outside lane behind a Nissan Micra, driven by some oul biddy going "Well, as far as I'm concerned 60 mph is perfectly fast enough!"
But I get these every day on the M7/N7. Last Tuesday night, I was making my way home on an almost empty N7. I was tootling along in the leftmost lane at or about the speed limit. There was a car ahead of me and I was slowly catching up on him. As I was approaching the point where I would have to overtake, a van appeared on my shoulder in the middle lane. I stuck on my indicator to overtake the car ahead of me, expecting the van driver to either move over into the outside lane or to get his arse in gear and finish overtaking us both. But he didn't. He just stayed dawdling alongside me, and so I was forced to slow down, move in behind him and then overtake both of them in the outside lane.
The other issue I have with Irish motorway drivers concerns lights. Some people seem to think that just because you're on a motorway, you can drive with your full beams on. Or that it is acceptable to drive with fog lamps on when there is no fog.
We went to Birmingham last weekend, and because we now have a little 'un, the €30 Ryanair option was not an option. By the time we would have checked in the travel cot and the pram, not to mention all the other necessary acoutrements that babies need, we would have faced a bill that heretofore would have safely seen my wife and I to Auckland and back. First class. So we ferried it.
Holyhead to Birmingham is dual carriageway or motorway the whole way, (going the A55-M56-M6 route.) And it was a doddle. Not once did we get stuck behind a truck doing 61 mph attempting to overtake another truck doing 60 mph. Nor did we end up in a tailback in the outside lane behind a Nissan Micra, driven by some oul biddy going "Well, as far as I'm concerned 60 mph is perfectly fast enough!"
But I get these every day on the M7/N7. Last Tuesday night, I was making my way home on an almost empty N7. I was tootling along in the leftmost lane at or about the speed limit. There was a car ahead of me and I was slowly catching up on him. As I was approaching the point where I would have to overtake, a van appeared on my shoulder in the middle lane. I stuck on my indicator to overtake the car ahead of me, expecting the van driver to either move over into the outside lane or to get his arse in gear and finish overtaking us both. But he didn't. He just stayed dawdling alongside me, and so I was forced to slow down, move in behind him and then overtake both of them in the outside lane.
The other issue I have with Irish motorway drivers concerns lights. Some people seem to think that just because you're on a motorway, you can drive with your full beams on. Or that it is acceptable to drive with fog lamps on when there is no fog.
Wingnut Wiki
01/03/07 23:23
As everyone
knows, the Emm Ess Emm is a vast liberal plot, and
is biased beyond redemption. But did you know
that Wikipedia, the user-generated
online encyclopedia is also written by
dope-smoking, Jihadi-loving, America-hating,
Obama-admiring, abortion-promoting, gay
marriage-proposing, gun-restricting,
war-opposing, Gore-worshipping leftists?
Well,
that's why Conservapedia exists, according to
its home page. Too many libruls writing for
Wikipedia, so off they go and start their own.
It's hilarious, but I'm not sure that was their
intention. Have a look at their entry for
Bill Clinton. You can't parody
this stuff, because it does the job for
itself.
Best of Luck, Everyone!
01/03/07 23:10 Filed in: Blogging
Unfortunately, I won't
be able to get to the Blog Awards bash this
Saturday in Dublin. We're going away to England for
a few days, and I will have to see if I can sneak
onto the net to see who's won what.
With
so much media coverage
in
recent days, it looks like blogging is heading
for the big time in Ireland. I wouldn't be
surprised if some of our more talented writers
(yes, Ms Swearing
Lady, you in particular)
got offered gigs by the mainstream press.
Whenever I read the weekend papers, I despair at
some of the turgid shite that gets published
from columnists that are a bit too comfy in
their little niches.
So best of luck to all that have been nominated for awards. I'm looking forward to seeing the Flickr sets next week.
And congrats to Damien for another magnificent achievement in organising the whole thing.
So best of luck to all that have been nominated for awards. I'm looking forward to seeing the Flickr sets next week.
And congrats to Damien for another magnificent achievement in organising the whole thing.