Tomorrow is SuperBowl XLII, the final of the NFL season. This year it matches up the undefeated New England Patriots vs the New York Giants. The Patriots are looking to make history by being the first team ever to go...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 6:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I can understand people being passionate about their favourite sports team. But getting your head tattooed so that it matches your team's helmet's is just a tad over the top. Eventually Tom Brady is going to retire and you'll be...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 3:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
There's yet another reality show on in the UK at the moment called Britain's Got Talent, which is a search for the best amateur talent act. They're up to the final, and there's a couple of acts that have suddenly...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 10:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
So much for a quick return to democracy in Fiji. Commodore Frank Bainimarama has reappointed the previous Fijian President (after seizing Presidential powers during the coup), but instead of allowing a real government to be selected and quick elections held,...
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Saddam Hussein has been executed today after losing his appeal against his conviction and sentence. While I am not a fan of the death penalty by any means, I certainly won't be mourning his passing. Unfortunately it's not likely to...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The French foreign intellignce directorate (DGSE) has managed to lose 25 million euros of a secret war chest intended to fund a government in exile in the event of invasion or nuclear attack. The money was apparently dispersed in accounts...
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http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2004/nov/30look.htm...
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The fourth test between England and Pakistan has ended in a farce with it being the first ever test match forfeited in 129 years of test cricket. The initial incident took place in the 56th over, when umpires Hair and...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Zinedine Zidane has just head-butted an Italian player in the stomach and quite rightly received a red card for his efforts. He was playing very well, but an act of stupidity has just ended his career in a shocking manner....
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
So we got to the semi-finals of the World Cup now, and there are only European teams left. Germany managed to defeat Argentina in a penalty shootout, yesterday, and this morning, France eliminated Brazil by 1-0. Interestingly, despite how good...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
In an interesting turn of events, Australia has drawn 2-2 with Croatia, thereby ensuring their progress into the second round of world cup. Well done to them - that was not expected, but they have done very well. Of course...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
So Japan has won its first vote at the IWC in around 20 years. The vote itself was purely symbolic with no legal standing, but may indicate that they may find the numbers to overturn the ban on commercial whaling...
Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
So Bill Gates has announced that he will significantly reduce he role at Microsoft in 2008, so he can spend more time being involved with the Gates Foundation. In preparation for this, he has already handed over his current role...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Financing the Palestinian Authority has become an interesting affair. Civil servants invaded their Parliament yesterday demanding wages, as they haven't been paid for several months and understandably are rather upset. The Finance Minister, Mahmoud Zahar, crossed the border from Egypt...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
It appears as though English football hooligans can't even watch their own team win. There were some big screens setup in London for England's first game in the World Cup, but 200 fans watching it managed to get into a...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 7:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
A US federal judge has ordered a pair of attorneys to settle a dispute via a game of rock, paper, scissors. Despite working in the same building, the lawyers were unable to agree on the location of a deposition, and...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 10:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Greenpeace New Zealand is claiming that if Australia starts nuclear power generation, nuclear weapons will only be a small step away. Their executive director claims that there is a very thin line between nuclear power and nuclear weapons technology. While...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
You may have heard about the legal battle between Apple Corp, the Beatles record company, and Apple Computers. Apple Corp was claiming that the 1991 agreement between the companies for Apple Computers not to engage in "creative works with music...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, is in serious trouble after it has just been revealed that he (on President Chirac's orders) started a secret investigation into possible corruption in 2004 by the then Minister of Finance, Nicolas Sarkozy....
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 3:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The UK Labour party's support has dropped to a 19-year low according to a poll in the UK, placing them 2 percentage points behind the Conservative party (32 and 34 respectively). Yes, this is within the margin of error, but...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 7:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Unsurprisingly, Malcolm Kendall-Smith has been found guilty at his court martial and has been sentenced to 8 months in jail, presumably followed by a dishonourable discharge from the Royal Air Force.The judge specifically commented on the fact that as a...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 10:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
As you may have heard, Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith of the Royal Air Force (UK), is being court martialled for refusing to go to Iraq last year. He has subsequently be barred from arguing in court that the order to...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Australian team is in a bit of trouble in the first test against Bangladesh. Bangladesh batted first and managed an impressive 427. Australia then could only reach 269 in reply, narrowly missing the follow on. Bangladesh has now reached...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Today a British surgeon will perform an operation live on TV on a patient who has been hypnotised, rather than having been given an anaesthetic. The operation is a hernia repair, involving a incision in the groin.Sounds like fun... I...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
As you may have heard, the Italian general election is rather close. It looks like the main centre left party is just ahead in the lower house (49.80% to 49.73% of the vote), but the main centre right party has...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
There are reports this morning that the US is stepping up plans to invade Iran, or at least to perform air strikes in a bid to eliminate Iran's nuclear plans. While I have absolutely no idea whether the US will...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
New Zealand members of China's Falun Gong movement intend to sue Chinese Minister Bo Xilai in the Auckland High Court today - he is due to visit New Zealand along with the Chinese Premier tomorrow. Falun Gong claims that Bo...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 1:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
David Farrar has posted about a story in a book he is reading called Freakonomics. In the United States taxpayers used to get a tax credit for their children. In 1987 the law was changed so that in addition to...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Well, the Commonwealth Games are done, and New Zealand has performed rather badly overall. We had some great performances from some individual athletes, but given we got our worst medal tally for about 24 years, it cannot really be regarded...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The President of France, Jacques Chirac, and the entire French delegation, walked out of a EU summit because he was "profoundly shoked to see a Frenchman express himself in English at the (EU) Council table".Now this is just laughable. I'm...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 2:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Michael Crichton (the same person who wrote Jurassic Park) has an interesting article in the New York Times about a very silly patent case coming up before the US Supreme Court shortly. The article is entitled "This Essay Breaks the...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
The Telegraph has published further details about the loans scandal engulfing the UK Labour party. Apparently the party treasurer knew nothing about it, and it was approved by the Party Chairman (who is also a cabinet minister). In addition, the...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 5:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
David Farrar posts about how NZ Labour's $400,000 public money for their pledge card is nothing compared to what UK Labour have been doing. Labour has been forced to admit that they received loans of 14 million pounds for the...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 2:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Now here's a silly law. The State of Victoria has passed a law called the Commonwealth Games Arrangements Act. Among other things, this act bans any media reporting on any aspect of the opening ceremony in advance, with a penalty...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 6:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
There was a great game of cricket on overnight in Johannesburg. Australia batted first and got a world record score of 434/4 off their 50 overs with Ponting getting 164 off 105 balls.South Africa then bet the world record again,...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Last week, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, was suspended for 4 weeks due to a racist remark he made to a Jewish reporter. The Adjudication Panel decided that he had brought the office of Mayor into disrepute, and so...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has been suspended for four weeks for causing "damage to the reputation of his office". He apparently compared a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard. He subsequently expressed regret that his remarks may...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 11:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Prince Charles is in a bit of hot water at present about his private lobbying of ministers and some of the extracts from his private diaries, that is trying to prevent being published by Mail on Sunday.At first glance this...
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A group of James Bond fans is trying to organise a boycott of the new Bond movie, Casino Royale, when it comes out. They are outraged over the firing of Pierce Brosnan and his replacement as Bond by Daniel Craig,...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
David Irving has been sent to jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust 17 years ago. I think that this is quite shocking, and the Austrian law allowing this should be repealed immediately. Where is freedom of speech here?I think...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Stuff reports that the IRB is considering trialling a number of radical rugby law changes including:Allowing the ball to be played with the hand at the breakdown.Only foul and offside play to result in penalty kicks; all other offences to...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 7:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Most people have heard of Oracle, one of the leading database companies. MySQL is a semi-free, semi-commercial database that competes with it in some sectors.Apparently Oracle has recently tried to acquire MySQL, but was rejected. However, I think MySQL are...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Australia won the VB Series last night, defeating Sri Lanka by 9 wickets in the third and last final. Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first, managing 266/9, despite losing several early wickets. However, the Australian batsmen were never...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 11:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The third and deciding VB Series final between Australia and Sri Lanka is tonight in Brisbane. Although the Sri Lankans must be commended for their efforts in this series, I really don't see them getting close tonight. The Australians will...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 3:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Sunday Telegraph alleges that the United States is drawing up plans to attack Iran, which is also reported by Wikinews. It would not surpirse me in the least if the US was doing this, and not just because some...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Wikinews has an article on how a number of staffers to US Senators have been removing controversial information about the Senators that they work for. Maybe one day people like that will learn that IP addresses are traceable....
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Sri Lanka beat South Africa last night by 76 runs, elevating them above South Africa in the overall standings. So the final series will now be between Australia and Sri Lanka.South Africa looked good for quite a while, but lost...
Continue reading "Sri Lanka makes the VB Series finals" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 7:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The last game in the preliminary round of the VB series, South Africa vs. Sri Lanka at Hobart, started not too long ago, with Sri Lanka winning the toss and electing to bat first. After 10 overs, Sri Lanka are...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Pittsburgh Steelers have won Super Bowl XL by 21 points to 10 over the Seattle Seahawks. It was fairly convincing in the end, with Pittsburgh holding the ball from about the 6 minute mark to almost the 2-minute warning,...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Pittsburgh Steelers lead the Seattle Seahawks 7-3 at half-time in the Superbowl, due to a late, and controversial, touchdown to the Steelers with just under 2 minutes to go. The Seahawks screwed up a bit on their following drive,...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 1:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Australia have beaten South Africa again in the VB series, winning by 57 runs. There is only one game left in the preliminary round, South Africa vs. Sri Lanka. South Africa is currently ahead by 3 points, but as there...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 1:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Today America stops for about 3 hours for the annual Superbowl match between the NFC and AFC champions. The game this time is between the Seattle Seahawks (NFC) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC) at Detroit, Michigan. For the first time...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Dominion Post have published the controversial Muhammad cartoons today, claiming that while they may be offensive, freedom of speech is more important. I would have to agree with them. If the news media avoid printing anything that was offensive,...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Today (well, yesterday US time) Alan Greenspan has retired as chairman of the Federal Reserve, a role that he has held for 18 years. He is regarded as possibly the "world's greatest economic leader of our generation" and having seved...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Samuel Alito has recently been confirmed by the US Senate as an Associate Justice of the United States, and has subsequently taken the oath. He replaces Sandra Day O'Conner, a justice appointed by Reagan near the start of his presidency.This...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
South Africa play Sri Lanka again today in the VB series, in what is getting near a must-win game for them. There are four matches left in the preliminary round - South Africa is playing in all four of those...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The United States Senate has just voted for cloture on the debate for Alito's confirmation as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Cloture was approved by 72 votes to 25, a significantly bigger margin than expected (60 votes...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The US Senate will soon vote (4:30pm EST - in 1 hour) for cloture in the confirmation debate for United States Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Cloture requires a 3/5ths majority (60 out of 100 votes) and ends debate on...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Australia will shortly play Sri Lanka again in Perth in the VB series. Ponting is not playing again, so Gilchrist will get another go as captain. Normally Perth is a very hard and bouncy pitch, but when South Africa played...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Australia play Sri Lanka today in the VB series, having won one game each against each other so far. Ponting has this game off, so Gilchrist will captain Australia.I think Australia will be fairly fired up after their last loss,...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Paul Martin, the Prime Minister of Canada and (former) leader of the Liberal party has just conceded the canadian election and subsequently resigned as leader. Final results look like:Conservatives - 124 seats (+26)Liberal - 103 (-30)Bloc Quebec - 51 (-2)NDP...
Continue reading "Conservatives win Canadian election" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 7:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
South Africa are currently playing Sri Lanka in Adelaide in the VB Series. They batted first and have finished with 5/263. They had a slow start, but Dippenaar and Gibbs managed to significantly lift the run rate late in the...
Continue reading "South Africa vs. Sri Lanka" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 7:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I must say that this did surprise me somewhat, but Sri Lanka, especially Jayasuriya, batted brilliantly, and the Aussie batsmen just failed to fire. CricInfo has the details here.So for once it looks like the VB series will actually be...
Continue reading "Sri Lanka beats Australia" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
As I thought, Australia won comfortably this time around. They ended up with only 245, despite being at 3/170 at around 30 overs, however, they managed to lose the rest of their wickets for only 75 runs due to some...
Continue reading "Australia wins by 59 runs" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The fourth game in the VB series is scheduled to start in a few hours in Melbourne. CricInfo doesn't seem to have a link to their live reporting as yet, but I will try and remember to add it later...
Continue reading "VB Series Game 4 - Australia vs. South Africa" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 2:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Defective Yeti have a hilarious script showing George W Bush decision making as if he was a character in an online adventure game.Some extracts:Oval OfficeYou are standing inside a White House, having just been elected to the presidency of...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 8:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
From the Herald: Animals at zoos across Russia were being given shots, or in some cases buckets, of vodka, to keep them warm yesterday as temperatures in the European part of the country plunged towards an exceptional minus 40 degrees...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 3:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The NZ Herald reports on a decision today by the US Supreme Court that held that the Federal Government did not have the power to prevent Oregon doctor's issuing drugs to help patients end their lives under the federal Controlled...
Continue reading "Sloppy reporting by the NZ Herald" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 3:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
South Africa went down to Sri Lanka by a massive 94 runs. Graeme Smith won the toss and made a strange decision to bowl first despite the conditions (hard and fast pitch, and very hot weather), and allowed Sri Lanka...
Continue reading "South Africa goes down" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
VB Series game 3 in Brisbane is about to start. South Africa have won the toss and elected to field first. I think Sri Lanka will get in the low 200s, allowing South Africa to cruise to victory....
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 4:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Well, South Africa surprised a lot of people by managing to win by 5 wickets yesterday. A superb bowling performance to limit Australia to only 228, and then a good effort by Dippenaar with 74 and Boucher with 63 to...
Continue reading "VB Series Game 2" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 2:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Australia vs South Africa in Brisbane today. I think that South Africa will get much closer than Sri Lanka did, as their batting is much better. But I would still expect Australia to get 270-280ish, but South Africa to fall...
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Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
My guess of a 40 run win for Australia isn't looking too flash at present. They are now 5/64 after 16 overs.On an unrelated note, it looks like the New England Patriots are not going to make it three Super...
Continue reading "Not looking good for Australia" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 5:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Judge Alito, nominee for Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, has finished his hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee after 3 1/2 days of questioning, followed by another 1-2 days of witnesses. CNN reports that he is likely...
Continue reading "Justice Alito hearings wrap up" »
Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)