It has to be admitted: thus far, the blog's not going very well. Mostly because it just hasn't been going at all. Out of all the things in my life that I have to do, this is just pretty far down the list, and so keeps getting put off, and off, and off.
Which leads nicely into my New Year's Resolution. Singular, this time round. Normally I make a long list each year, of all the things that I'd like to do, or to do more of, or to start doing. I write them all down on the 31st of December, ready to spend the next year becoming happier, fitter, more sociable, more learned, more well-rounded, with creative achievements overflowing. And every year, none of it happens.
So this year, there's just the one. I've finally worked out where I'm going wrong with each of my separate Resolutions-of-New-Years-Past, and when the answer turned out to be the same for each, the path was clear.
So next year, my one and only resolution, which I will be trying like anything to achieve, is to find a better work/life balance. As in, less of the work, more of the life.
And hopefully find time for a blog in there somewhere.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
Farewell Pepper
I just wanted to write a quick post about the very sad passing of little Pepper, my sister and brother-in-law's much adored cat.
Being a rescue cat of uncertain background, Pepper had always had somewhat indifferent health, but it was still a great shock when an emergency visit to the vet's over breathing difficulties turned out to be incurable cancer.
And so last night, after many hugs and kisses and pats and crying, little Pepper was put to sleep.
As anyone who owns or has anything to do with cats can attest, they're idiosyncratic little creatures, with very distinct personalities. This was always especially evident with Pepper, who always considered herself to be every bit as much of a person as the bipeds - indeed, in the Venn diagram of life Pepper would no doubt have considered there to be far more intersection between the Pepper circle and humans than cats.
She always graciously accepted her role in life as the centre of everyone's focus, cordially receiving all her well wishers, and if she ever got a little imperious - well, surely this was because humans are sometimes bafflingly slow to get one's bickies?
There are many things about Pepper that everyone who knew her will remember - from the way her disproportionately small butt and tail used to look as she walked, to the insistent meows whenever anyone so much as glanced in the direction of the kitchen ("Ah, surely you are going to give me food now?"), to the eternally shining optimism which she time after time attempted to eat cravers from empty hands held out ("Ah, surely you are going to give me a craver now?"), but my special favourites are the way she used to look up at her dad when he was carrying her in the special (and peculiar) fashion that only a cat like Pepper could ever consider comfortable - completely content to sit, but just wanting to look at him; and the way she delicately made her way through all her admirers, being picked up and made much of, the night a houseful of people stopped by to see her that coincidentally happened to be around the same time as her dad's 30th birthday.
A very striking girl with huge, bright green eyes, unusual silver/chocolate/apricot calico colouring and a ridiculously outgoing personality, she will be much missed.
Being a rescue cat of uncertain background, Pepper had always had somewhat indifferent health, but it was still a great shock when an emergency visit to the vet's over breathing difficulties turned out to be incurable cancer.
And so last night, after many hugs and kisses and pats and crying, little Pepper was put to sleep.
As anyone who owns or has anything to do with cats can attest, they're idiosyncratic little creatures, with very distinct personalities. This was always especially evident with Pepper, who always considered herself to be every bit as much of a person as the bipeds - indeed, in the Venn diagram of life Pepper would no doubt have considered there to be far more intersection between the Pepper circle and humans than cats.
She always graciously accepted her role in life as the centre of everyone's focus, cordially receiving all her well wishers, and if she ever got a little imperious - well, surely this was because humans are sometimes bafflingly slow to get one's bickies?
There are many things about Pepper that everyone who knew her will remember - from the way her disproportionately small butt and tail used to look as she walked, to the insistent meows whenever anyone so much as glanced in the direction of the kitchen ("Ah, surely you are going to give me food now?"), to the eternally shining optimism which she time after time attempted to eat cravers from empty hands held out ("Ah, surely you are going to give me a craver now?"), but my special favourites are the way she used to look up at her dad when he was carrying her in the special (and peculiar) fashion that only a cat like Pepper could ever consider comfortable - completely content to sit, but just wanting to look at him; and the way she delicately made her way through all her admirers, being picked up and made much of, the night a houseful of people stopped by to see her that coincidentally happened to be around the same time as her dad's 30th birthday.
A very striking girl with huge, bright green eyes, unusual silver/chocolate/apricot calico colouring and a ridiculously outgoing personality, she will be much missed.
Thursday, 17 September 2009
THE CLASS NAME MUST BE THE SAME AS THE FILE NAME
For some reason, that title doesn't seem to appear anywhere and everywhere Actionscript 3.0 document classes are discussed. Which is weird, because it should. In bright red capital letters. Believe me, if you don't know that one simple fact you can end up tearing your hair out trying to figure out what the Flash compiler's extremely specific but basically incomprehensible errors actually mean.
I've just started my first real foray into AS3, which is why that naming rule is so pertinent to me at this time. I'm not a complete pro at AS2, but I'm fairly proficient, and able to do some pretty complicated things. However, I've built up these skills over time and from familiarity with using the language, not from a natural gift of programming - which I don't have.
So upgrading to AS3 isn't proving to be very easy for me. Across the web there are always many tutorials and code snippets, none of which are ever precisely what I am looking for. In AS2, that had ceased to be a problem, as I was pretty good at working out how to make stuff work how I wanted it to. In AS3 it's not so simple, however I've successfully made my first package that does exactly what I want it to.
And what it does is pretty straightforward - it preloads an external file into a main .swf, and offers feedback to the user in the form of a loading bar and text stating the percentage loaded.
The key parts of this preloader that are different to others I've seen are: the script takes in variables specifying the file to be loaded, and its x and y positions on the stage; and it dynamically draws a rectangular loading bar. Many of the others I've seen loop through an animation instead of having a bar - of course you could adapt this code to do the same thing, if you know how (I currently don't, although I expect it's something that I'll do at some point in the future).
So without further ado, here's the code for the package:
package {
import flash.display.Loader;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.display.LoaderInfo;
import flash.text.*;
import flash.events.*;
//Class name must be the same as the filename
public class preloader extends Sprite {
//Set variables
private var displayTxt:TextField = new TextField(); //percentage textfield
private var txtFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat(); //formatting for textfield
private var percent:Number; //percentage variable
private var loadBar:Sprite = new Sprite; //drawing variable
/*LoadExternalSwf takes the name of a file as a parameter, then uses showProgress and loadedSwf to make the preloader */
public function loadExternalSwf(fileName:String, xPos:Number, yPos:Number) {
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
loader.x = xPos; //xPos of external file
loader.y = yPos; //yPos of external file
addChild(loader); //must addChild to add to stage
loader.load(new URLRequest(fileName)); //loads in swf or jpg
/*other functions below are used to control the progress bar and percentage*/
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loadedSwf);
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, showProgress);
}
/*ShowProgress makes and formats the text to output in the percentage box, and makes a rectangular progress bar based on percentage*/
public function showProgress(event:ProgressEvent):void {
percent = Math.round((event.bytesLoaded/event.bytesTotal) * 100);//standard percentage formula
displayTxt.text = percent + " %";
/*xPos of text is to be just to the left of the progress bar. The position is arrived at by finding the centre of the stage, then adding the 50% value of the loading bar plus 8 for a little extra spacing*/
displayTxt.x = stage.stageWidth/2 + 98;
/*yPos of text is to be more or less centred. The position is arrived at by finding the centre of the stage, then minusing the height of the text field to position the bottom of the text field at the stage's halfway point*/
displayTxt.y = stage.stageHeight/2 - displayTxt.textHeight;
//formatting for text
txtFormat.color = 0x333333;
txtFormat.font = "Arial";
txtFormat.size = 12;
displayTxt.setTextFormat(txtFormat); //add format to text field
addChild(displayTxt); //must addChild to add to stage
/*drawing rectangle - begin fill, specifying the desired colour in hex, then use function drawRect(xStartPos, yStartPos, width, height)*/
loadBar.graphics.beginFill(0xAABBCC);
/*xPos of rectangle is arrived at by finding the centre of the stage, then subtracting half the desired width of the progress bar, so that the midway point of the bar is at the midway point of the stage - in this case 180/2 = 90; yPos of rectangle is arrived at by finding the vertical centre of the stage, then subtracting the height of the bar plus 1, in this case to compensate for the difference in height between the bar (10) and the text (12). Width is arrived at by multiplying the current percentage by the multiplier. The multiplier is arrived at by dividing the desired width of the progress bar by 100 - in this case 180/100 = 1.8*/
loadBar.graphics.drawRect (stage.stageWidth/2 - 90, stage.stageHeight/2 - 11, percent * 1.8, 10);
//must always end fill when making filled shapes
loadBar.graphics.endFill();
addChild(loadBar); //must addChild to add to stage
}
/*LoadedSwf gets rid of the dynamically made text field and progress bar rectangle when the external file has finished loading*/
public function loadedSwf(event:Event):void {
removeChild(displayTxt);
removeChild(loadBar);
}
}
}
Now, of course, because (insert post title here), this file will have to be called "preloader.as", and it is an external ActionScript file.
Part Two is to add a little ActionScript to the timeline of your .fla that you want to be preloading external files into. The code to include the external AS file, and to use the class, looks like this:
import preloader;
var externalSWF:preloader = new preloader();
addChild(externalSWF);
externalSWF.loadExternalSwf("relativePath/filename.swf", 10, 10);
The "10" and "10" above are of course the x and y positions of the external .swf or .jpg, and can be set to whatever you want them to be.
Now in my .swf, I just have this code sitting in a frame, but you could easily attach it to a button or similar:
button_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, loadExt);
function loadExt (event:MouseEvent) {
var externalSWF:preloader = new preloader();
addChild(externalSWF);
externalSWF.loadExternalSwf("relativePath/filename.swf", 10, 10);
};
Naturally, you still need to include import preloader; on your timeline somewhere if you are going to use the button code.
I hope this is useful to someone looking to make their first preloader in AS3.0 I don't pretend to be an expert and it's pretty basic, but it is probably a good starting point.
I've just started my first real foray into AS3, which is why that naming rule is so pertinent to me at this time. I'm not a complete pro at AS2, but I'm fairly proficient, and able to do some pretty complicated things. However, I've built up these skills over time and from familiarity with using the language, not from a natural gift of programming - which I don't have.
So upgrading to AS3 isn't proving to be very easy for me. Across the web there are always many tutorials and code snippets, none of which are ever precisely what I am looking for. In AS2, that had ceased to be a problem, as I was pretty good at working out how to make stuff work how I wanted it to. In AS3 it's not so simple, however I've successfully made my first package that does exactly what I want it to.
And what it does is pretty straightforward - it preloads an external file into a main .swf, and offers feedback to the user in the form of a loading bar and text stating the percentage loaded.
The key parts of this preloader that are different to others I've seen are: the script takes in variables specifying the file to be loaded, and its x and y positions on the stage; and it dynamically draws a rectangular loading bar. Many of the others I've seen loop through an animation instead of having a bar - of course you could adapt this code to do the same thing, if you know how (I currently don't, although I expect it's something that I'll do at some point in the future).
So without further ado, here's the code for the package:
package {
import flash.display.Loader;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.display.LoaderInfo;
import flash.text.*;
import flash.events.*;
//Class name must be the same as the filename
public class preloader extends Sprite {
//Set variables
private var displayTxt:TextField = new TextField(); //percentage textfield
private var txtFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat(); //formatting for textfield
private var percent:Number; //percentage variable
private var loadBar:Sprite = new Sprite; //drawing variable
/*LoadExternalSwf takes the name of a file as a parameter, then uses showProgress and loadedSwf to make the preloader */
public function loadExternalSwf(fileName:String, xPos:Number, yPos:Number) {
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
loader.x = xPos; //xPos of external file
loader.y = yPos; //yPos of external file
addChild(loader); //must addChild to add to stage
loader.load(new URLRequest(fileName)); //loads in swf or jpg
/*other functions below are used to control the progress bar and percentage*/
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loadedSwf);
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, showProgress);
}
/*ShowProgress makes and formats the text to output in the percentage box, and makes a rectangular progress bar based on percentage*/
public function showProgress(event:ProgressEvent):void {
percent = Math.round((event.bytesLoaded/event.bytesTotal) * 100);//standard percentage formula
displayTxt.text = percent + " %";
/*xPos of text is to be just to the left of the progress bar. The position is arrived at by finding the centre of the stage, then adding the 50% value of the loading bar plus 8 for a little extra spacing*/
displayTxt.x = stage.stageWidth/2 + 98;
/*yPos of text is to be more or less centred. The position is arrived at by finding the centre of the stage, then minusing the height of the text field to position the bottom of the text field at the stage's halfway point*/
displayTxt.y = stage.stageHeight/2 - displayTxt.textHeight;
//formatting for text
txtFormat.color = 0x333333;
txtFormat.font = "Arial";
txtFormat.size = 12;
displayTxt.setTextFormat(txtFormat); //add format to text field
addChild(displayTxt); //must addChild to add to stage
/*drawing rectangle - begin fill, specifying the desired colour in hex, then use function drawRect(xStartPos, yStartPos, width, height)*/
loadBar.graphics.beginFill(0xAABBCC);
/*xPos of rectangle is arrived at by finding the centre of the stage, then subtracting half the desired width of the progress bar, so that the midway point of the bar is at the midway point of the stage - in this case 180/2 = 90; yPos of rectangle is arrived at by finding the vertical centre of the stage, then subtracting the height of the bar plus 1, in this case to compensate for the difference in height between the bar (10) and the text (12). Width is arrived at by multiplying the current percentage by the multiplier. The multiplier is arrived at by dividing the desired width of the progress bar by 100 - in this case 180/100 = 1.8*/
loadBar.graphics.drawRect (stage.stageWidth/2 - 90, stage.stageHeight/2 - 11, percent * 1.8, 10);
//must always end fill when making filled shapes
loadBar.graphics.endFill();
addChild(loadBar); //must addChild to add to stage
}
/*LoadedSwf gets rid of the dynamically made text field and progress bar rectangle when the external file has finished loading*/
public function loadedSwf(event:Event):void {
removeChild(displayTxt);
removeChild(loadBar);
}
}
}
Now, of course, because (insert post title here), this file will have to be called "preloader.as", and it is an external ActionScript file.
Part Two is to add a little ActionScript to the timeline of your .fla that you want to be preloading external files into. The code to include the external AS file, and to use the class, looks like this:
import preloader;
var externalSWF:preloader = new preloader();
addChild(externalSWF);
externalSWF.loadExternalSwf("relativePath/filename.swf", 10, 10);
The "10" and "10" above are of course the x and y positions of the external .swf or .jpg, and can be set to whatever you want them to be.
Now in my .swf, I just have this code sitting in a frame, but you could easily attach it to a button or similar:
button_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, loadExt);
function loadExt (event:MouseEvent) {
var externalSWF:preloader = new preloader();
addChild(externalSWF);
externalSWF.loadExternalSwf("relativePath/filename.swf", 10, 10);
};
Naturally, you still need to include import preloader; on your timeline somewhere if you are going to use the button code.
I hope this is useful to someone looking to make their first preloader in AS3.0 I don't pretend to be an expert and it's pretty basic, but it is probably a good starting point.
Friday, 21 August 2009
I can't work out why I'm not on the board of selectors, either
I don't really follow any cricket opinion, so I'm not sure whether this has been said before (although I'd suspect it has): it's time for Michael Hussey to go.
Now, don't get me wrong here - I'm definitely a Hussey fan. I'm predisposed to liking him because he's Western Australian, like me, and I'm also fond because (when he's on form) he's a dynamic, exciting player to watch, and he has a great sportsmanlike attitude. And I should point out I'm not calling for a metaphorical "Off with his head!" the way I did for about the last five years of Matthew Hayden's career. However, it is definitely time for Hussey to prove he's still got the goods.
Statistically, he's still got it - at an average of over 50 in Test cricket, you'd think his spot well justified . . . if that statistic was all you were going on. But the fact of the matter is, Hussey's current average is based on the fact that he hasn't managed to entirely dilute the extremely high average he built at the start of his Test career, with this recent series of ever-declining poor performances.
Since I'm not a selector, I'm not going to back this up with precise statistics. But anyone who's had more than a passing interest in Australian cricket over the last 5 years will know that Hussey started his career at top speed, and seemed like never letting up. His average was astronomical at above 80 for the first 2 years or so, he was a solidly high-performing, freely-scoring player whom you could depend on to come through with a big score when the chips were down, in both forms of the game (that's right, folks - there's only two forms according to me, and I will never believe that the bludgeon-circus is anything more than that :P ).
But in the last year and a half, this average has seen a disatrous decline. I don't have the exact number, but I saw his average for the past couple of seasons on the TV the other day, which is in the 30s. (In fact, mathematically you can work this out for yourself; at the beginning of 2008 his average was just over 80; it's now in the low 50s). Correspondingly, of course, his general game has suffered. He doesn't seem to be able to pick the ball well, is not moving his feet how he should be, and just generally looks awkward at the crease. He doesn't look confident the way he used to - in fact he now bears more than a passing resemblance to a tail ender in his general body language and demeanour.
Clearly, something needs to be done. Regardless of his past performances, it can't be denied any longer - a batsman with an average in the early 30s has no place in the Australian team, and this is essentially what Hussey has become. And yet, for a year and half, he's been allowed to maintain his spot in the team.
Of course, every player over the course of his career will go through slumps in form. And of course, the best action to take under this circumstance is to back your player the whole way - let him work on his game, build his confidence again, and hopefully he'll be back on top. But the point is, is a year and a half really a "slump"?
I would argue it's not, and here we come to my real beef with the board of selectors.
It's a two part issue, really - the second part I'll get to in a minute, using the spiritual son of another West Australian, Damien Martyn, to make my point. The first part of my criticism is that we allow our established players to get away with too much in the way of poor form, and always have done.
From letting Tubs hang around because we didn't trust Steve Waugh to captain well enough, to allowing the slow death of any admiration for Matthew Hayden before the final mercy kill, we simply don't hold the players with secure spots in the team accountable enough for their performance. Someone like Hayden is allowed to maintain his spot in the team by dint of throwing out the odd double century in between a series of mediocre starts and half-starts.
It's hard to argue against the inclusion of players who have consistently been a part of such a successful team. But sometimes the bigger picture needs to be looked at. In this case, the bigger picture is making sure that Australia's young up-and-coming players get a chance to cut their teeth as part of a successful team, and giving them the opportunity to get a good few years of experience behind them while they're still young and in their prime. It's this technique that allows us to have Ricky Ponting ascending to captaincy at the reasonably young age of 30 but still with 10 years of experience behind him.
It's hard to imagine when this will ever happen again; even Michael Clarke was 23 on debut. The next time such a thing might occur is with Phil Hughes, that is, if they ever let him back in the side.
Which brings us neatly to part two of the two-part problem with Australian cricket: while once you have proved yourself to the selectors you seemingly don't have to worry about performing well, actually getting a permanent spot in the team is virtually impossible without a superhuman effort of top scoring.
Witness Phil Hughes: an exciting young player, indubitably talented but very inexperienced, is picked for the Ashes series. He underperforms in the first two tests and is dropped like a gun.
Now, quite obviously, he had a few issues with his game, and he wasn't performing well. On the other hand, he arguably wasn't performing any worse than Hussey has been for some time now. This is the same thing we've seen time and again - most notably with Damien Martyn, who was dropped for a poor start to his career and then exiled for 6 years on the basis of turning in a (admittedly, abysmally) bad performance in a day full of bad performances.
Now, maybe this is a positive thing for Hughes. Maybe it gives him the chance to straighten out his technique before throwing him in at the deep end once again. But I'm prepared to bet that he's champing at the bit to get back in there and prove himself.
It might have been nice to give him the opportunity - especially when the rest of the more experienced team have been largely underperforming for this series. The way things are going, we're going to have to play the game of our lives to win this fifth and final test. Maybe a young and enthusiastic opener with the full backing and confidence of his board could have made a bigger impact on some of the other games in the series, and then we wouldn't even be in this position.
Bringing it back to Hussey - why couldn't he be dropped in favour of giving a younger player some experience? Surely time to rest, recuperate and refocus is what Hussey needs? Leaving him out of the team for a few matches is not enough - he needs to be told, in the same way Phil Hughes was told - "There are some issues with your game. Sort them out, and we'll see what we can do about the selection." Time away from the high pressure of international matches, and the added incentive of using domestic games to prove himself able to be in the Australian team are what Hussey needs - so we can see a return to form of one of the most exciting players of recent times.
I await my call from the ACB, or whatever they're calling themselves these days, with an immediate offer of a job. I'm sure one will be forthcoming, don't you?
Now, don't get me wrong here - I'm definitely a Hussey fan. I'm predisposed to liking him because he's Western Australian, like me, and I'm also fond because (when he's on form) he's a dynamic, exciting player to watch, and he has a great sportsmanlike attitude. And I should point out I'm not calling for a metaphorical "Off with his head!" the way I did for about the last five years of Matthew Hayden's career. However, it is definitely time for Hussey to prove he's still got the goods.
Statistically, he's still got it - at an average of over 50 in Test cricket, you'd think his spot well justified . . . if that statistic was all you were going on. But the fact of the matter is, Hussey's current average is based on the fact that he hasn't managed to entirely dilute the extremely high average he built at the start of his Test career, with this recent series of ever-declining poor performances.
Since I'm not a selector, I'm not going to back this up with precise statistics. But anyone who's had more than a passing interest in Australian cricket over the last 5 years will know that Hussey started his career at top speed, and seemed like never letting up. His average was astronomical at above 80 for the first 2 years or so, he was a solidly high-performing, freely-scoring player whom you could depend on to come through with a big score when the chips were down, in both forms of the game (that's right, folks - there's only two forms according to me, and I will never believe that the bludgeon-circus is anything more than that :P ).
But in the last year and a half, this average has seen a disatrous decline. I don't have the exact number, but I saw his average for the past couple of seasons on the TV the other day, which is in the 30s. (In fact, mathematically you can work this out for yourself; at the beginning of 2008 his average was just over 80; it's now in the low 50s). Correspondingly, of course, his general game has suffered. He doesn't seem to be able to pick the ball well, is not moving his feet how he should be, and just generally looks awkward at the crease. He doesn't look confident the way he used to - in fact he now bears more than a passing resemblance to a tail ender in his general body language and demeanour.
Clearly, something needs to be done. Regardless of his past performances, it can't be denied any longer - a batsman with an average in the early 30s has no place in the Australian team, and this is essentially what Hussey has become. And yet, for a year and half, he's been allowed to maintain his spot in the team.
Of course, every player over the course of his career will go through slumps in form. And of course, the best action to take under this circumstance is to back your player the whole way - let him work on his game, build his confidence again, and hopefully he'll be back on top. But the point is, is a year and a half really a "slump"?
I would argue it's not, and here we come to my real beef with the board of selectors.
It's a two part issue, really - the second part I'll get to in a minute, using the spiritual son of another West Australian, Damien Martyn, to make my point. The first part of my criticism is that we allow our established players to get away with too much in the way of poor form, and always have done.
From letting Tubs hang around because we didn't trust Steve Waugh to captain well enough, to allowing the slow death of any admiration for Matthew Hayden before the final mercy kill, we simply don't hold the players with secure spots in the team accountable enough for their performance. Someone like Hayden is allowed to maintain his spot in the team by dint of throwing out the odd double century in between a series of mediocre starts and half-starts.
It's hard to argue against the inclusion of players who have consistently been a part of such a successful team. But sometimes the bigger picture needs to be looked at. In this case, the bigger picture is making sure that Australia's young up-and-coming players get a chance to cut their teeth as part of a successful team, and giving them the opportunity to get a good few years of experience behind them while they're still young and in their prime. It's this technique that allows us to have Ricky Ponting ascending to captaincy at the reasonably young age of 30 but still with 10 years of experience behind him.
It's hard to imagine when this will ever happen again; even Michael Clarke was 23 on debut. The next time such a thing might occur is with Phil Hughes, that is, if they ever let him back in the side.
Which brings us neatly to part two of the two-part problem with Australian cricket: while once you have proved yourself to the selectors you seemingly don't have to worry about performing well, actually getting a permanent spot in the team is virtually impossible without a superhuman effort of top scoring.
Witness Phil Hughes: an exciting young player, indubitably talented but very inexperienced, is picked for the Ashes series. He underperforms in the first two tests and is dropped like a gun.
Now, quite obviously, he had a few issues with his game, and he wasn't performing well. On the other hand, he arguably wasn't performing any worse than Hussey has been for some time now. This is the same thing we've seen time and again - most notably with Damien Martyn, who was dropped for a poor start to his career and then exiled for 6 years on the basis of turning in a (admittedly, abysmally) bad performance in a day full of bad performances.
Now, maybe this is a positive thing for Hughes. Maybe it gives him the chance to straighten out his technique before throwing him in at the deep end once again. But I'm prepared to bet that he's champing at the bit to get back in there and prove himself.
It might have been nice to give him the opportunity - especially when the rest of the more experienced team have been largely underperforming for this series. The way things are going, we're going to have to play the game of our lives to win this fifth and final test. Maybe a young and enthusiastic opener with the full backing and confidence of his board could have made a bigger impact on some of the other games in the series, and then we wouldn't even be in this position.
Bringing it back to Hussey - why couldn't he be dropped in favour of giving a younger player some experience? Surely time to rest, recuperate and refocus is what Hussey needs? Leaving him out of the team for a few matches is not enough - he needs to be told, in the same way Phil Hughes was told - "There are some issues with your game. Sort them out, and we'll see what we can do about the selection." Time away from the high pressure of international matches, and the added incentive of using domestic games to prove himself able to be in the Australian team are what Hussey needs - so we can see a return to form of one of the most exciting players of recent times.
I await my call from the ACB, or whatever they're calling themselves these days, with an immediate offer of a job. I'm sure one will be forthcoming, don't you?
Making a start
I've finally taken the plunge, and started a blog. I've been thinking about it for a while, but haven't actually gone ahead with it. Mostly this is because although I am manifestly incredibly witty and wellspoken (written?), I'm also nobody particularly important, have never done anything exceptional, and don't even have a specific theme in mind to give the blog focus and cohesion.
Therefore the only reason I'd be starting one is from pure self-aggrandisement, and while naturally that's a good enough reason for just about anybody, I still wasn't sure it was really enough impetus. Add to the mix that I am simultaneously very hardworking (at work) and indolent (in leisure time), and you don't really have a good combination for even starting the thing - let alone continuing to write with any regularity.
The thing that finally inspired me to jump into the exciting world of blogging (you must imagine a gently ironic tone just there) was that I managed to find the solution to a Microsoft Outlook 2007 problem that the internets had been totally unable to assist me with. Not anywhere in the hits for the (fairly precise) keywords that I googled was there any a straightforward answer what is a confusing but in the end, fairly straightforward problem.
And so I thought to myself, this is where a blog could actually have a point. If I have a blog, and I write about my solution to this problem using those same fairly precise keywords, surely at some point in the future another lost victim of Microsoft's daring leap back to the dark ages will come across my answer, thereby saving themselves 2 hours and endless amounts of trawling through onto the (shock! horror!) second or third pages of Google results, only to find forum after forum of this question not being answered.
Of course, I'd still actually have to write the post, but at the moment, it's a start.
Therefore the only reason I'd be starting one is from pure self-aggrandisement, and while naturally that's a good enough reason for just about anybody, I still wasn't sure it was really enough impetus. Add to the mix that I am simultaneously very hardworking (at work) and indolent (in leisure time), and you don't really have a good combination for even starting the thing - let alone continuing to write with any regularity.
The thing that finally inspired me to jump into the exciting world of blogging (you must imagine a gently ironic tone just there) was that I managed to find the solution to a Microsoft Outlook 2007 problem that the internets had been totally unable to assist me with. Not anywhere in the hits for the (fairly precise) keywords that I googled was there any a straightforward answer what is a confusing but in the end, fairly straightforward problem.
And so I thought to myself, this is where a blog could actually have a point. If I have a blog, and I write about my solution to this problem using those same fairly precise keywords, surely at some point in the future another lost victim of Microsoft's daring leap back to the dark ages will come across my answer, thereby saving themselves 2 hours and endless amounts of trawling through onto the (shock! horror!) second or third pages of Google results, only to find forum after forum of this question not being answered.
Of course, I'd still actually have to write the post, but at the moment, it's a start.
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