I can’t begin to count how many of my friends from childhood have the same memories as Dave of growing up in that part Etobicoke, playing for the Queensway Canadians and learning to skate at Mimico Arena, traveling kilometres for the best street hockey games, playing shinny outdoors in the middle of winter at places like Park Lawn, Prince of Wales and High Park and basically how hockey was the lifeblood of the area.

Good on Dave for bringing the Cup back to the area, just like Brendan Shanahan did before him and hopefully the next generation of kids who are just learning the game see that trophy, work just as hard as those guys have to make it and then one day win it themselves and continue the cycle.

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John Howard’s rightful place as Chairman of the ICCC was blocked by India, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakistan largely.  The ICCC role rotates and it was Australia/New Zealand’s turn to pick and they selected Howard.  Then, for the first time EVER, the Council voted against his nomination.  This was largely due to Howard’s stance against the horridly corrupt and wicked government of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, but now one has to question the motives of the others who voted against him.  Having a man as inscrutable on the ICCC wouldn’t be good for all of the backroom shenanigans that India has been responsible for lately and now as it would appear the outright match fixing and cheating of Pakistan.  Let’s not forget, South Africa have a recent history of corruption in their cricket as well.

Alan Isaac, an accountant, who accepted the seat as the third choice (Sir John Anderson, the preferred Kiwi choice, pulled out after Howard was not elected) should resign his seat and Cricket Australia MUST demand that Howard be given this position.  The ICCC needs to be cleaned up and the game of cricket itself is getting a black eye because of the underhanded dealings of a mere few.  Howard is the man to lead this charge, he is passionate about the game and a leader of epic stature when compared to the rest of the rabble running world cricket.  Howard should be put into the top job and told to weed out everything in the game that is causing this cancer, expose it and then cut it out without prejudice.

If this can’t be done, then Cricket Australia needs to have a very hard look at itself in the mirror.  First of all, the initial slap in the face for Howard should have been enough to make Australia question its position in the ICCC.  Now, with last year’s Sydney test called into question by an obviously corrupt Pakistani team, this current Lord’s test in England under a massive cloud and filmed footage of a Pakistani player agent taking bribes for spot fixing should be enough for Cricket Australia to come to a landing on the terms of reference for Australia’s future participation in the game at the ICCC level.  

Unfortunately we’re stuck in limbo with a lame duck government, but with all of the money that gets tossed into Cricket by government and the betting that surrounds the game at the highest level, perhaps the Federal Government should step in and offer up an opinion to Cricket Australia.

My feeling is that there is far too much wrong with the administration of the game at the highest level for it to be fixed by a now incompetent and exposed ICCC.  I’d be content for Australia to have routinely organised Tests with England, New Zealand, the West Indies and even South Africa.  However, the situation with Pakistan is now untenable.  If these allegations are proven true, then that country needs to be expelled from world cricket for some time – maybe five to ten years.  You also have to question the viability of Pakistani cricket when countries like Australia fear to go there.  Perhaps this is the signal that until there is political stability and the game is cleaned up, Pakistan will not be allowed to play on the highest stage.

India has become a different type of corrupt.  The wealth in the Indian game is so massive that they have taken to effectively buying votes at the ICCC level, which is unacceptable.  The crazy situation with the IPL further demonstrates this.  

Cricket needs to establish an organisation similar to FIFA and what world football has or even the IOC.  The governing cricket body of each country is overseen by the world governing body.  The formats and schedules of the matches are set by the World body.  TV rights are negotiated with the world body and the money is distributed fairly, but also with a view to development of the game in new markets.  Having a test match in Toronto between India and Pakistan because you can’t play in Karachi is not developing world cricket.  No longer can a private club in England be the arbiter of the rules.  Things have to change or what’s left of the audience will just turn off.
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I am a supporter of a salary cap system that ensures the players get 55% - 60% of the revenue the league generates on the gate, TV, merchandise and sponsorships.  If the team owner has taken the risk and built the arena too or has managed to get parking rights or concession rights, then I don’t think the players deserve any of that because frankly, the owner is taking risk outside hockey.  I think the escrow is unfair – the league should set the salary cap and if the revenues don’t meet expectations then move teams to regions where they will be successful or run the businesses better.  I think the players are paying for the fact that Bettman wants teams in stupid locations who are then giving away tickets, whereas if they moved those teams to real hockey markets, you’d get 15,000 fans per game paying real money.  

What I’m not in favour of is a system that “protects” the owners from being crazy, caps the players’ income, makes them subsidise bad franchise decisions and then still allows the clubs to make ridiculous deals like the Kovalchuk contract to dodge the cap.  I’d rather the players make as much as they can, have failing franchises all over the place and clubs like Toronto and the Rangers be able to spend whatever the hell they want.  That’s the most fair way.

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The theory posits that a protein used to create the egg COMES from the chicken so therefore, without the chicken, the egg could not exist.  Ok... So the modern chicken appeared magically on the Earth (as if designed by God) and started laying eggs, which begat further chickens.  This scientific discovery is going to do wonders for creationists everywhere.

Here are my thoughts for what they’re worth and I don’t have a Supercomputer called HECToR at my beck and call, I just have common sense.  Let’s go back in time to a day when a genetic predecessor to the modern chicken existed.  Follow me here, this gets into evolution concepts which might be hard to grasp.  One of two things happened: one, the chicken’s predecessor laid an egg, containing a mutant that when hatched would become a modern day chicken; or two, the chicken’s predecessor gave some kind of crazy live birth to the mutant (the modern day chicken) and it would forgo this live form of breeding and start laying eggs as part of its mutation.  I suppose there could be a third case and that’s God made chickens in one of the seven days, but I’m trying to stick to science here.

Now, I wasn’t there and I don’t think I know anyone who was, but my first theory sounds much more likely, which if true, supports the theory of slow progress evolution AND also says that the egg came first.  Conversely, if the second theory is true, it throws out all of our current knowledge about the evolution of birds (even Chickens) coming from dinosaurs (which laid eggs).

I suppose the biggest question remaining about the chicken is why it crossed the road?

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We’re then treated to shots at Jason Calacanis and others for having the audacity to challenge the benevolent leader of the Facebook empire.  What have his detractors accomplished in their careers?  Nothing compared to The Zuckerberg.  We’re all but peons basking in the warm glow of Facebook, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg.

Poor guy, he didn’t ask for that, he’s just trying to build what he thinks is cool stuff – I admire that.  I’m sure he didn’t commission Scoble to build a shrine.  Then Scoble tells him to hand over the reins (presumably to Sheryl Sandberg, more on her in a minute) and go be a geek.

In Jason’s last email, he outlined a whole series of thing that Zuckerberg could do to try and regain some public trust in him and his company.  That approach would inevitably help him grow as as a CEO and eventually it would be better for the company.  He has the “founder’s passion” which nobody else can have.  That’s why we’re captivated by the Bill Gates’ and Steve Jobs’ of the world – they BELIEVE in what they are doing and have grown into the role.

I also think Zuckerberg has come under a fair bit of criticism that is unwarranted, but not for the reasons Scoble is suggesting.  Sandberg is the COO and right on the Facebook website it says that she is responsible for Communications, Marketing and Public Policy.  So this entire privacy policy debacle is under her purview!  Working directly for Sandberg is Elliot Schrage, VP of Communications, Marketing and Public Policy.  These people are the two “supervising adults” and it falls directly under their job descriptions to handle privacy and they’ve botched it.  Not only that, part of Sandberg’s role is to protect Zuckerberg and the kid has gone under the bus for this privacy mess.  She now walks out the other side with people talking about making her the CEO?!?  Madness, get a clue.

I find Scoble a fascinating character, but sometimes he becomes a parody of himself – instead of a character, he’s a caricature.  His undying admiration for what Zuckerberg has achieved already at such a young age becomes ridiculous.  I also think his shot at Calacanis and Mahalo was pretty lame – Scoble is a guy who is a “Social Media Star” but for some reason needs to hide under the wing of big companies like Rackspace and Microsoft.  It is entirely disingenuous to commend Mark Zuckerberg for his creations, then mock Jason for his while you yourself create nothing of your own.

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I’ve been following Premier Keneally on Twitter for some time now to get a feel for what she’s up to.  I’ve come to the conclusion that she more or less uses it as an electronic press release technology and was getting ready to stop following her the next time I cleaned up my Twitter lists.  I’ve also used Twitter to try and get her attention on a very important personal issue.  My son’s local public school is stupidly overcrowded.  This is largely due to the fact that in the past two years Kindergarten enrollment has gone through the roof – Costello’s “breeding” programme from a few years ago seems to have worked.  We also live in a fairly affluent area in Cammeray along the lower north shore of Sydney which is a desirable place to live and more people are coming here.

Unfortunately the state government has not kept up with the growth in the area in terms of public services, particular schools.  Neutral Bay public school is full, Cammeray is bursting at the seams and the old Naremburn school can’t be fixed up to accommodate children anymore.  To our stunned amazement, a huge block of flats adjacent to the school came up for auction – all fifteen flats.  A number of the parents tried contacting the state education minister, Verity Firth, but that went unanswered.  Joe Hockey the Federal Member for the area personally responded to a number of parents in writing making suggestions.  

I took a different route and tweeted the Premier directly.  Needless to say the Premier didn’t respond at all, despite a few attempts.  Today the Premier announced on Twitter that we the people of NSW were being gifted by the state government with a boost in “CSI type technology” and more spending on police.  I couldn’t help myself and responded with:

“@KKeneally Way to go - TV Show determining our budget spend, but you're government couldn't afford land for Cammeray Public School  #fail“

I figured that would go to the keep like everything else, but how wrong was I!  I got the following response from the Premier within minutes:

“@skaye since 2001 23,000 cold links in NSW, leading to 7000 charges, 4600 convictions, offences from stealing to murder.”

No mention of the Cammeray Public school issue, but some meaningless statistics about Cold Cases and conviction rates.  I’m sure somewhere in Hollywood a television producer has gotten his wings.  Again, I responded to the Premier, thinking that I’ve now engaged her:

“@KKeneally Awesome! And Cammeray Public School has nearly 800 kids in a school built for 300, but you couldn't afford to fix that!”

“@KKeneally Premier, Law and Order is easy to run on, lots of stats.  Doing what's IMPORTANT for communities is hard and not so high profile.”

This is the kind of thing that makes me dislike politicians so much.  You’ve got a local public school which over the past year have asked for a turning light to be installed at an intersection and an extension to a bus route to pick-up kids in their catchment that really should have their own local public school and both requests were denied for stupid reasons.  The RTA said that the turning light wasn’t necessary because there wasn’t a great enough risk of incidence or some such rabble.  What has to happen, a kid has to be hit by a car to get a turning light?  What does that cost Premier – maybe I can pay for it and make it a bit safer for the kids WALKING to school.  They have to walk because the minor extension to the bus route they requested would have somehow required a whole extra bus driver.  Heaven forbid we spend money on public transport in a blue ribbon Liberal riding.  Hey, but the NSW Police department are going to have some kind of new fangled micron spectrometer for doing DNA tests on people who stole something ten years ago.

Social media tools are a wonderful thing.  They give you the power to act locally, engage one on one with people on issues that matter to them.  For politicians, this stuff should be a god send.  While no doubt the Premier gets a boatload of tweets directed at her, she can use that to see what the active electorate are saying.  They spend countless dollars stuffing envelopes that we all throw in the rubbish bin whereas if they spent the same resources monitoring the tweet stream they’d get so much more value.  

I’ve now decided that I’m not going to drop the Premier from my list of people I follow.  I’m going to continue to send her tweets because many of the people who follow me, also follow her and they can see what I’m writing her.  Those people can see her lack of responsiveness.  And I will keep flogging her on it.

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I don’t live in Canada, so that doesn’t really bother me directly.  However, I do live in Australia where interest rates are going up, again!  Unlike Europe and the US where interest rates fell away to virtually nothing, here in Australia our current cash rate is 4.5% which is working out to a variable home loan rate of between 7% and 7.5% depending on your bank.  That’s a very wide spread and indicative of the lack of true competitiveness in the Australian banking sector.  

The other thing to note is, Australia didn’t have a recession and there is a debate about whether the country even had a single quarter of negative growth.  So if the world continues to rebound, we’re looking at a pretty odd situation here in Australia.  The Federal Government through away the massive surpluses to avoid a recession and have run up a debt.  Inflation is getting to the point where the Reserve Bank is worried about it and will have to continue to raise interest rates to keep it under control.  Rising interest rates will make the debt more expensive to service for the Federal Government.  The Federal Government is undertaking a popularist health care reform agenda and are already tabling some crazy tax grab ideas to pay for these things.  The only positive piece of news is that tax receipts for the Feds are up and that means more money in the coffers than budgeted, but its an election year so both parties will race to throw it away.

Then you look at other things like the price of Gold, the situation in Europe with debt, the falling Euro, the posturing of France and Germany and you start to wonder.  If I were China, I’d be very worried about my foreign currency holdings – Russia looks pretty smart for buying Canadian dollars.  The US economy looks like it could turn the country into a banana republic at any moment.

All up, I’ve decided to de-leverage.  When times are good, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to carry some personal debt but with all of this uncertainty around, I’m thinking cash will soon be king.  So we’re going to start getting rid of anything that incurs an interest charge and move our money into things that yield some kind of return.  I’m also starting to think we’re going to see some opportunities and having cash always gives you the chance to take advantage of an opportunity.

Or maybe I’m just a skittish cynic.  At the very least I’ll be a cashed up, debt-free cynic.

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