Messages

[Song:]

Song: Wellkumn, by Bagster
Comment: This song just grabbed me instantly, a ska, punk, rock anthem type song, with some funny lyrics, well worth a listen
How I discovered it: I've seen the band play a few times, they are local, but I haven't seen them for over a year. I noticed them on one of my myspace friends pages and checked out their page and heard some of their latest songs and this one stood out for me
Fun fact: I had this song in my head today, and after a while it had changed into the Teddy Bears Picnic - ie
"If you go down to the woods today, You're sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today, You'd better go in disguise."

They are supporting Reel Big Fish on their tour over here

Good to see the Windies notch up a win over a decent side, although missing 2 players that are "injured" (but more likely stood down with their recent drug scandle) They should end up top of their group.

It's not a great time zone for me, and I don't think it's on free to air TV until the super 8's, So I won't get to see much more than highlights, maybe see a bit in mornings before work, and on weekends.

Australia play Scotland today (after midnight for me) I think Scotland will need a lot of luck to win

I'm Halfway thru my own local semi final at the moment (played over 2 Saturdays) we're 8/163 after the first day (75 overs, we'll keep batting til we're all out) sounds like a low score but the ground is massive and the grass is quite thick so really hard to get boundaries only 3 fours for the match, so that's 151 of the runs actually run. I'm a bowler, so I'm looking forward to defending our total on sat, and taking a few heads off along the way. We have the best bowling attack in the grade by far, so the other team know it's going to be tough to get the runs.

It gives "The url contained a malformed video id." error.

EDIT: For some reason the forum is editing the url for txt style spelling. Just copy and past the url and change the 'are' to a normal 'r'. Thanks

Nice vid by the way

My best mate went into a huge depression for a few years after breaking up with a long term girlfriend who he expected to marry.

For months he would just lie down in front of the tv, not say anything, and barely respond to any form of communication. For most of this time he still worked as a postman, went to work, came home and lay down, went to work etc (I still don't know how he managed to do it, but I guess it took his mind off his problems while he worked) [he was probably about 25 then, now almost 31]

His brother and I tried to get him to come out as often as we could but all his response was, was "nah" using a lot of effort just to get that murmur out.

We never gave up on asking him to go anywhere, even just to the shops, but still never did anything. he said he could never sleep either but he was always snoring in front of the tv.

His ex girlfriend got married to the guy she left him for within a year, and I still haven't told him [probably about 4 or more years ago] (cause I didn't want him to slip back into depression) and strangely he still doesn't know (not that it matters now)

Eventually his parents had enough of his problems and got him to see a few different doctors, eventually he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder which used to be called manic depression, which is really the same thing as clinical depression.

He was put on a variety of meds, I'm not sure what they were, one was Lithium, but almost instantly, instead of being a sloth, it was like he was on speed. He wouldn't shut up, and every second word was fuck.

He's still on meds years later and he still talks a lot more than he used to, but can't listen for shit, these drugs fuck with your short term memory, you become only interested in what you have to say. I always talk to him about stuff and have to repeat myself all the time or say "yeah, that's exactly what I was telling you about five minutes ago.

It's better than being a sloth, but there comes a time in your life when you really need to be clean, and not have to be dependent on meds or other people for that matter, just to function normally.

He had another girlfriend a couple of years ago that he treated badly (not physically) but just didn't take seriously, cause he didn't want to get emotionally attached, he's still friends with her.

But he's got a very serious girlfriend now, who he'd been friends with for a year before they got together, and I think he's almost off his meds. there's still always been signs of depression but there's a difference to not being happy all the time, and completely removing yourself from society.

I don't think this story is going to be of much help.




I would still keep contact with him, but whenever he starts to try and bring you down to his depressive level, just end the conversation.

Just let him know that you are still there, If he doesn't want to go out anywhere, that's fine, but don't stop asking, it just keeps them in the loop and may make them feel accepted at some subconscious level. and eventually one day they may feel up to it, but they may also just want to bring everyone else down and possibly make a scene in public.

I'd advise against any medication if possible, but it can help them break out of a rut (but that's the danger of any medication whether it be prescription or illegal drugs, they are addictive and once dependent, contradict what they were used for in the first place)

He's probably jealous of your relationship, cause he sees a similar situation he could have possibly been in, and it eats him up inside. Time may help eventually, but I don't know your friend so I'm not sure how he's bounced back from previous situations.

And with time, it totally varies between people, and how they treat themselves, and what they've been through in the past, could be months, even years, and they'll probably never be the same, but sometimes that can be a good thing.

I've got other stories about depression, but this one seemed to fit the situation

well i never really had any confidence in us winning WC

I wouldn't get too down yet, rankings gives a brief idea of form over a long period of time, doesn't show who is in form at the current time.

Also it doesn't show stats of how a team performs in their own country, that's a big advantage, having the majority of spectators supporting the home team.

and with a few good match winners, Chanderpaul, Lara, Samuels, Gayle, anything could happen.

I hope they do well

pity they don't have the power in the bowling they had in the past, Marshall (rip), Walsh, Ambrose, Garner, Holding etc.

Australia just lost a 3 match ODI series against NZ in NZ 3-0

They didn't take a full strength side, leaving Ponting, and Gilchrist at home to rest for the world cup (captain and vice captain). And this was considered very arrogant by NZ and it probably was.

Brett Lee got injured at training before the series and may miss the world cup, and Andrew Symonds may also miss the world cup with a shoulder injury he acquired in the previous series. Michael Clarke also went home injured. Matthew Hayden is now also injured with a broken toe, during his massive innings of 181(an Ausrtalian record)

I can't believe Stuart Clark wasn't even picked in the World Cup Squad, he's probably the bowler Australia needs right now.

NZ smashed them in the first game, bowled the Aussies out for 148 and got the runs in 27 overs without losing a wicket

game 2: Australia got a ground record of 336, then NZ got the runs with 8 balls to spare

game 3: Australia got 346, then NZ got the runs with 3 balls to spare

apart from the 1st game, it was really close and competitive, but that's Australia's 5th loss in a row, probably many years since that has happened, possibly even decades.

It seems that the bowling is the problem.

I'd never write off their chances for winning the world cup as they do usually have the knack for peaking at the right time, but this just puts more doubt in their minds, and would lift the confidence of any other team.

It's definitely going to be a competitive world cup, and I think anyone can win it, well by anyone I mean, (West Indies, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, England, India, Sri Lanka or Pakistan) If anyone else does, that would be amazing, but very doubtful.

I remember in the days before pop-up blockers and accessing sites for serial no.s and cracks etc, being bombarded with pop-ups for porn, which kept coming and closing one would open up many more, even using alt-f4, didn't help. pressing the reset button was about the easiest way to stop it. (and it always seemed to happen just as your mum or sister was walking past)

If this case is real, that's ridiculous, kids of any age have seen porn on computers, especially at school, or thru spam emails, it's virtually unavoidable. but to get 40 years, that's a joke

Some one saying turn off the computer, in what way, try to shut down a computer when there are lots of pop-ups, not possible, you can hold down the on off button for 10 secs, press reset, or try ctrl-alt-del a few times (this is for win98) and she may have been told these are the last resorts for switching off a computer, and as it was not her computer she wanted to shut it down properly, not causing it to break. and knowing most teachers, she probably wasn't the most computer literate person, and didn't even know these methods.

Are the kids going to be that upset for seeing some naked people for a few seconds? is it going to ruin their lives? I don't think so, I'm sure they'll see plenty more in their lives.

With a bit of common sense, this type of thing wouldn't go to court, I guess it must have been a religious type school, and the flavour of the month for things to prosecute against, and make an example of, it hardly sounds like the act of a sick individual. Fucken idiots

England won the series 2-0

Quite a turn around of form from the English

Collingwood had a great series, and I think Plunkett will become a good bowler

The match was rain effected, which brought in the Duckworth/Lewis system which totally changes the way you have to play, but I still think England would have won regardless.

It's taken 3 months but England finally have something to smile about.

Although I can't say that we deserved to win the trophy on the whole!

They may have not had a great series from the start, but they played their best in the games that counted, which is good practice for the world cup

Well it's into the finals of the tri nations ODI series Aus v Eng, NZ didn't make it

And England has just won the 1st of 3 finals, with 3 balls to spare.

Collingwood's  century did the trick and his partnership with Bell, then Flintoff helped.

England's bowling at the end of the Aus innings was excellent, after they looked to be heading towards 300, they were restricted to 252. a decent total, England still had to bat well, and they did it.

It's made the series much more interesting, and it's going to be tough for Australia to win, but I still think they can do it.

The 90's is over? shit I'm just coming out of the haze

Here's a few snaps of a Holiday road trip I went on last week with some friends.

Hired a car and drove from Sydney to Adelaide all the way along the coast (just over 2700km) pretty much the south east corner of Australia, and it's only a really small fragment of the coast, but an excellent piece of it.



Having a break in a forest after making a wrong turn which turned out more interesting as we had 105km of winding roads through forest instead of boring freeway


Lakes Entrance, Victoria


Wilson's Promontory, the furthest southerly point on the Australian mainland


Phillip Island, where they hold the Australian Moto Grand Prix


taking silly photos whilst drinking


where seals and penguins (and Great White Sharks) hang out on Phillip Island


Bells Beach Victoria, the beach made famous by the movie Point Break, 50 year storm etc


The Great Ocean Road, Victoria, awesome road along the southern coast which a lot of these photos are taken from


The 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road


Port Campbell, great little coastal town (in a scenic sense)




The London Bridge, Great Ocean Road. It used to be connected to land with another arch but crashed into the ocean years ago (I went there as a kid and walked across), apparently 2 people were trapped on it, and 1 of them was just married on their honeymoon, their partner was back on land.


Bay of Islands, Great Ocean Road


Trying to catch some ocean sprays


Blue Lake, Mt Gambia, South Australia, It's a volcanic crater lake, very blue in colour from the minerals


The quieter coast along Adleaide


The flight home (less than 2hrs [after spending 5 days driving there])


The mission of the trip was to firstly not have to work for a week, then enjoy the scenery slowly getting to Adelaide for The Big Day Out (a music festival) I could have gone to it in Sydney but it's more fun to go somewhere different and make an adventure out of it.

Not 500 years. Try (2007 - 1776 = 231 years.)

I'm not American but that's just independence day, Columbus arrived in 1492 and settlement began in the years after that, So I'd say DG's numbers were more accurate

I guess the only positive England can take from this ODI tour is that we have a player who has mastered the 'Sweep' shot 

It's a pretty good sweep shot too, I'd never heard of Mal Loye before, and it's interesting a batsman debuting at 34. Sweeping fast bowlers for 6 when they're bowling in the 140-150+km/h is very unusual and entertaining. Though he still hasn't had more than a cameo inns yet, I'd like to see him when he gets going, as he must have done regularly in the county comp to make the English side.

Petersen is a big loss, he's one of those irreplaceable players that can win a match, and a consistent player with all the shots and not afraid to take on any bowler, he was in form when he got injured too.

Though the strength of a side can be shown by the guys that can't make the side, which also puts pressure on the guys in the side to perform.

England played terribly today, Australia rapped up the game before the lights came on. I think they're just totally over the tour, and really want to just go home. They must be at a low point mentally, which can't be good for the upcoming world cup.

It has been really frustrating that Australia hasn't won the toss lately, so they can choose to bat first, then at least there will be some entertainment and possibly a high score.

The sad thing is Australia hasn't really hit form yet either and they are still winning easily, I think they still need some hard run chases to help for the world cup though, they may get a shock when they come up against a team with some good form

Yeah, I remember that game, I think Symonds got suspended for drinking the night before the match

New Zealand just smashed England by 90 runs in a low scoring match, it'll make the series interesting to see which team makes the final

I'm not so sure, as Australia have looked quite bad in their last two ODI's, and perhaps shouldn't have won them

They have played pretty bad in the last 2 ODI's but they did win them, and quite comfortably too in the end after a shaky start, thanks to Michael Hussey (Averages just under 80 in tests and ODI's).

When Gilchrist, Ponting and Symonds fire they're virtually unbeatable, and generally at least one of them does, good back up from Hayden, Michael Clarke, Hussey, White and Lee. If a team can get through those guys cheaply, they've done well and should win, but it's rare to happen

The good thing about one day cricket is that no team is invincible, one individual, on their day, can win a match for the team.

Australia has the best batting line up, fielding is one of their strong points too, but the bowling is at a more experimental stage currently, but they have a lot of options and quite a few guys are getting a bit of experience

I'm so biased

I love cricket, I'd love to be able to go to the world cup in the West Indies, unfortunately money and time off work is the main problem.

I'm looking forward to the world cup and hopefully Australia can win its 3rd world cup in a row, I hope there is some good competition though.

I like the West Indies side, they've always been popular since they dominated the game in the 70's 80's and early 90's, they've been pretty ordinary in the last decade but are on the improve. I'm guessing Brian Lara will retire after, but who knows. They definitely have a chance to win the world cup, especially at home.

Meet Elly

I can imagine, as I read this thread as an American, that the way I'm feeling right now is the same many of you feel while reading threads about the super bowl.

The difference is, most people around the world know about the super bowl, and I don't follow gridiron but I understand the game and have followed it in the past.

Another difference is this is an international competition rather than national, so there's a couple of countries getting behind a team, rather than a few fans.

Also the series is 5 games of cricket, with each game going for a maximum of 5 days, and each day goes for a minimum of 6hrs of play. This series lasted 22 of the 25 days of play. compared to a few hours for 1 game.

The stadiums in Australia are quite large also, with the largest ground, The MCG, holding close to 100,000 people, so you can imagine over 22 days (with most days sold out) how much interest there is.

It's interesting just looking at this information, that America hasn't yet got the interest in the game with the potential income if it became popular. It's also got more statistics than baseball, and http://www.cricinfo.com/ is apparently the largest site for a singular sport.

I think more countries participating in world sports like soccer, rugby and cricket can bring more peace to the world with more interest in competitive sport than trying to kill each other.

sorry to crap on, but I felt I needed to explain things a bit to the people unfamiliar with cricket, and how big it is worldwide, especially in the sub continent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh)

5-0

This is only the second time in the history of The Ashes (1876-77 - 2006-07) that's 130 years, that a team has won the series by winning all the matches. The first time since the 1920-21 series when Australia won 5-0. England has never done it.

It was another test where England had their chances but failed to take them.

Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath & Justin Langer all retired after this match and all went out on a high, not many people in sport get the chance to do this.

Just shows how much of a gap there is between the No.1 and No.2 sides in the world.

The Australian team were so disappointed losing them last series, that only winning this series 5-0 would make up for it and restore the order of test cricket, and that's exactly what they did. This is something that England must take note of for 2009.