Team knuckles down in Auckland
August 30th, 2010
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Local referees steps up
August 28th, 2010
been producing top referees in the Oceania and international arenas
and last weekend saw Vanuatu Football Federation referee Robinson
Banga whom is a FIFA referee himself awarding 3 red cards to Ifira
players.
Banga has shown maturity and confidence in sending off the 3 Ifira
players last weekend and has called out to other local referees in the
PVFA to not hold themselves back and play their part in showing who is
the boss in a match.
"I am urging all my colleagues to stand up and not be afraid to flash
some cards and take control," Banga appealed.
Banga took charge of the match between Ifira and Academy last weekend.
Harry Atisson whom is a FIFA Referee Committee Member has since
praised Banga following his move and urged him to keep up the good
work and has appealed to other local referees to follow in the
footsteps of Banga.
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Academy makes controversial win
August 27th, 2010
Vanuatu Academy Football team comprising mainly of Under 17 players from the local Academy have secured their first win in the Port Vila Football League Premier TVL Cup against new comers Ifira Black Birds last weekend.
A superb 35 meters Brian Kaltak free kick and Yvon Wilson goal sealed the victory for the young Academy side.
Ifira had a goal in but it wasn't enough for the Academy side to grab the controversial victory against Ifira.
Academy dominated throughout the game but Ifira defender Andrew Chichirua led a solid defense which at times proved an obstacle to the Academy side.
At half time saw a goalless game.
It was late into the second period when Academy's Brian Kaltak sent a screamer from a 35 meter free kick into the right hand side of the Ifira goal which sent the keeper the opposite direction.
Ifira then replied with a goal to get back into the game but couldn't hold their defense together when in the dying minutes of the game Yvon Wilson got one back for Shepherds to secure the first ever victory for Academy in the TVL Cup tourney.
During the second period 3 Ifira players were sent off with red cards.
Academy will take on former champions Tafea FC this weekend and will look to put on a similar game to last weekend's. --------------------------------------------------------- |
Jack Whitney join Amical FC
August 27th, 2010
Solomon Islands Futsal star Jack Whetney is in Port Vila to team up with the Amical FC.
Whetney whom is a familiar name in the OFC Futsal arena and has won 3 Oceania Futsal Campionships with Solomons has recently been transferred to Vanuatu's new champions Amical FC in a bid to boost the teams O-League campaign.
Amical FC Team Manager whom is also the clubs vice President Andrew Leong in a statement said that Whitneys arrival to the club has come at a right time and he is sure that together with Whitneys experience and flare Amical will is heading at a right direction to a successful O-League campaign.
Port Vila fans will be able to witness Whitney's raw talent this weekend when Amical take on Ifira for the day 3 of the TVLCup at 1:45pm.
Fans in Port Vila watch his interview on Vanuafoot TV show on Wednesday night and know that Amical will not be a easy team to beat in Port Vila and also during the O League tournament. --------------------------------------------------------- |
OMG I accidently deleted the database!
August 27th, 2010
I accidentally deleted my database in the move to WordPress in the redesign. The site is not yet complete, so bear with me as the blog continues to be developed. Since I deleted the database I will have to re-upload my 200+ stories from my travels around the world (along with ALL of the photos!) so that may take a few weeks to get everything back up. Thanks to everyone at Pecha Kucha that enjoyed my speech here in Houston! Boo Yah.
If you haven’t already please “Like” my new Where is Jenny? FaceBook fan page! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Where-Is-Jenny/134076163304125?ref=sgm
VFF pleased with Vanuatu’s YOG performance
August 26th, 2010
President Maltock said that he is pleased with the result after Vanuatu had secured the 5th place with the controversial 2-0 win over Zimbabwe.
"Even though we were unlucky in qualifying for the finals the win is enough for us to send out a message to the world that Vanuatu has the capacity to play football in the world stage and we can compete alongside the big names in football today like Bolivia," Maltock stated.
"If we are to analyze Vanuatu's performance at the YOG we can see that out of the three games played Vanuatu has gradually progressed slowly starting with a 2-0 lose to Bolivia, then going 2-1 against Haiti and finally beating Zimbabwe we can see a slowly ascending performance here which for me is really good.
"For me this already is a good indicator that shows football in Vanuatu is developing and bearing the boy's age in mind, says 10 years down the road Vanuatu will be expecting winners among this group."
Vanuatu's YOG team has inside 3 players whom had represented Vanuatu in the 2007 Danone Nations Cup in France, they are, Mermer, Raoul Coulon and Tenene Sylvain.
You Are All Driving Pintos And I Want You To Stop
August 26th, 2010
I have a bone to pick with you.
I’ve lived with this for a while now, but really, it’s getting intolerable. The vast majority of you are using the computer equivalent of a Ford Pinto. Poorly built, underpowered and yet inefficient, lacking both in style and substance. And unsafe at any speed.
Worse still, you’re not even driving it.
Back in 2007, Vint Cerf, one of the inventors of the Internet, stood up at the Davos Forum and announced that, out of about 600 million personal computers worldwide, about 150 million are remotely controlled by criminals. These ‘zombies’ or ‘bots’, as they’re commonly known, are formed into legions of compromised machines called ‘botnets’.
Let’s put this in perspective: If your own PC is not infected, then odds are very high that one of your next-door neighbours’ is. When you factor in the strict security and controls that many enterprises maintain on their corporate resources, the odds that your home PC (and your neighbour’s) is a bot increase significantly.
Next time you’re having a coffee and using the wifi service, take a look around. Count the number of non-Mac laptops. Divide by 4. That’s how many computers are trying to infect you on the very network you’re using to buy stuff. You wouldn’t jump into a hot tub with a bunch of strangers even at better odds than that. Why do it with your laptop?
The Pinto is notorious for actually blowing up if you bumped into it in a certain way. Botnets currently aren’t doing as much damage as that. They could, but they don’t. Simply put, their controllers would rather use them than lose them. They are quite happy to pollute the Internet with spam, viruses and other nasties, but they’d much rather steal your credit card number than your Internet access.
To switch analogies, it’s like some dark overlord deciding to postpone the zombie Apocalypse, using his legions to pick pockets and snatch purses instead.
Why am I so upset? Why should I care if most people cruise the Internet in the equivalent of a polluting, gas-guzzling, style-less lemon? Because you’re not only destroying my view, you’re damaging the road itself.
According to a recent report, 40% of the world’s spam is being generated by a single botnet. The botnet, named Rustock, comprises approximately 1.3 million individual PCs. This one botnet, in other words, has enlisted the services of almost the same number of people as there are in the US Military. Their combined efforts result in about 46 billion spam messages a day.
46 billion-with-a-B spam messages. Every day. From one botnet alone.
Take a look at this graph. See those peaks and valleys? Notice how they match perfectly the pattern of people turning on their computers in the morning and off again later at night? See the lull over the weekend? This graph tracks spam activity over the course of a normal week on just one spam trap operated by some people who run an anti-spam operation.
The Y [vertical] axis is emails per second. “5.0k” means 5000 emails/second. For each 1000 emails/second this trap averages over a day, the total is another 86 million emails/day. For example, a 5000 emails/second average over a day represents 432 million emails per day.
Botnets are used for other nefarious purposes, but spam is the most noticeable. The Rustock botnet mentioned above sends mostly pharmaceutical spam, offering to sell dangerous, controlled substances, among other things.
But even if they were flooding the Net with messages of love and hope, botnets would still be a menace. Imagine if every time you drove on the freeway, 1 in 4 fellow commuters’ vehicle would blow a gasket, slow down to a fraction of the speed limit, start making an infernal noise and spew smoke so thick that you had no choice but to slow down to a crawl.
That’s what’s happening, but you can’t see it. The computer industry has responded to this threat by selling the moral equivalent of frosted windows. Email providers have become so good at hiding spam that only a tiny fraction of it ever appears in your mail box. So, I can hear you say, where’s the problem, then? Spam created; spam deleted. Problem solved.
Not quite. That spam chews up a tremendous amount of bandwidth and processor time. Bandwidth you pay for. Don’t imagine that your ISP is going to say, “Oh, that’s just spam, our beloved customer didn’t actually mean to send that message 14,000 times. Let’s not charge him for those megabytes.”
Billions of dollars are spent on software and hardware to treat the symptom without once addressing the cure. Your PC runs slower and costs more because of the antivirus that comes installed on it. And even that isn’t nearly adequate to protect you.
To be clear: The Pinto in this picture is the Windows XP operating system. I’m going to apply some precise technical terminology here, so pay close attention:
Windows XP Security Sucks The Hind Teat of a Scrofulous Cow.
Some argue that once there are as many Macs (or Linux machines, or iPads, or Android phones) on the market, they’ll be just as beset by malicious software as Windows. Theoretically, that’s possible. In the real world, however, the opposite is true.
In the realm of computer servers, Linux-based operating systems are taking a dominant position. Yet when it comes to the number of servers compromised by malicious software, they represent a vanishingly small fraction of the cases.
Despite the recent proliferation of Macs, linux-based netbooks, tablets and smart phones, none has yet to show any significant signs of affliction. That’s not to say it won’t happen, but it hasn’t yet.
Do yourself a favour. Do us all a favour. Stop using Windows. Buy a Mac. Try Linux. Do something, anything, but stop polluting the view and the digital motorway with your second-rate death trap of a clunker.
Seriously: stop.
If you absolutely must use the Pinto OS, the least you could do is get the latest version. Windows 7, while still flawed in oh-so-many ways, is nonetheless a vast improvement over XP.
Do something, please. Anything is better than what you’re doing now.
Originally published at the Scriptorum. You can comment here or there.
A new beginning and my decision to travel around the world.
August 25th, 2010
I had always dreamed of traveling to far away places and living an adventurous unconventional life, far from the safe traditional upbringings of my childhood. I marched to the beat of my own drum and was always being reprimanded for my creative and adventurous outlook on life. I was worked like putty to fit into a mold already made for me since the day I was born. “Girls don’t do that” and “Your going to break your neck” are phrases that repeatedly haunted my childhood. I was expected and forced to follow a path that had been laid out before me. Because of the backlash and disappointment I always received I felt an extreme sense of guilt to not do what was expected of me. It would have been easy to fall into that path, but I would be lifeless, miserable, and unhappy. I’d be sitting in a cubicle trying to climb the corporate ladder and play office politics while simultaneously working towards the allure of the retirement carrot placed in front of me. Is this what life is supposed to be like? Work your entire life and give up the best years of your life for a time that is not fully guaranteed. Then, if that retirement time does come your body is already well past its prime both mentally and physically and you likely will be incapable of living your dream. It just never made sense to me.
When I graduated college I came to a point where I needed to decide where I wanted to go career wise. I visited an ad agency in town to interview their staff and see the logistics of how this type of job worked. I left disgusted. I didn’t like what I saw. I was passionate about design and being creative, but didn’t see this as a viable option for me. ‘What now?’ I thought while feeling lost.
A design contest I had entered and won got me an entry into a student conference in town. It was there a speaker talked about how he started his business straight out of college despite the naysayers. It was like a light bulb went off in my head… if he could do it, so could I. I made a leap of faith, without any career experience, and started working as an independent graphic designer. My friends, family, and college career services all expressed deep concern for my well-being and worked hard to persuade me otherwise. I had already made up my mind though. It was done.
I was told I would fail, never be successful, and should quit being ridiculous and get a real job. Actually, I’m still told that I should get a real job. Although the first few years were rough I eventually made it. I put in a lot of hard work and it paid off. I made a good living and was able to live out whatever dreams I had at the time. I was an amateur motocross racer backed by sponsors, volunteered in Vanuatu, traveled throughout the States, and backpacked South America for 5-months. Even in my success the people I wanted to be most proud of me weren’t. In fact, they were disappointed. I could always see it in their faces and hear it in their voices. The way they talked about me and the way they talked about others were completely different. It broke and continues to break my heart. They never said this unconventional path was easy. Despite being criticized for every little thing I did and being the black sheep of my family I continued on my path. After all, it’s my life. Had I listened to them I wouldn’t have had any of the amazing adventures I’ve had thus far such as swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos, finding the Lost City in Colombia, or watching a volcano explode.
My business was doing well and I had just returned from my volunteer trip in Vanuatu. It was my first time out of the country and opened up my eyes to the world. It was the happiest time of my life and I instantly knew I wanted to travel and learn more about the world. I was reading many travel blogs and people on around the world adventures and was inspired to do the same. I began to prepare for and plan my 3-year trip around the world. I started www.whereisjenny.com and documented the process. Then entered a boy named Curtis. He had just returned from a trip backpacking in Europe with his dad and expressed similar interests. We fell in love and my life changed. I put my RTW (Around the World) trip on hold and began building life with him. We settled into a routine and always talked about one day taking off to travel. He was a pilot and was always on the road. I envied that. One day, my wanderlust grew too strong and I had to take a trip myself. We came to the conclusion that I would take a solo 5-month trip through South America (the 1st leg of my planned 3-year RTW) and maintain a long-distance relationship. Upon my return we would save up for several years and take off for 6-months to 1 year to backpack every continent in the world throughout our lives together.
When I returned home from South America I was a changed person. I really struggled to fit back into routine and start this life again. I had found out what I wanted and had a renewed passion for it. After a year of routine a situation popped up that Curtis and I had to deal with. The situation made me realize that although Curtis and I were great together and we had an amazing relationship we wanted different things out of life. If I stayed with him, I could see myself settling into a routine and life I didn’t necessarily want. A quote popped up that said, “Life is too short to make compromises,” and it was then I decided to leave the relationship. Since Curtis was the only reason I was living in Houston I knew it was time to open up the next chapter in my life. My dream of traveling the world would become a reality. I stopped thinking about what I should be doing and started thinking about the things I wanted to be doing. This all leads up to the moment I’m in now. I’ve decided to sell everything I own and leave for the ultimate adventure around the world. Where will I start? Where will I go? How long will I be gone? These are all questions I don’t have answers for just yet. We’ll just see where the wind takes me.
Visit my site, read my adventures, and watch me go through this life changing process. I’ll be working hard on my businesses prepping them for full on location independent working and ending this chapter of my life here in Houston as I sell all my belongings. Leave everything behind and come with me.
Where is Jenny gets a design overhaul!
August 25th, 2010
Where is Jenny has been a source for my thoughts, travel experiences, and trip planning since early 2006. It has gone through many phases since then including a bad decision to move to Drupal CMS. Drupal (and the developer that built it) left much to be desired with a lack of functionality and user friendliness. I’ve made the decision to move back to wordpress and put Where is Jenny back on the map. Where did all the blog entries go? Well, in the move I accidentally deleted the database! Oops! Over the next few weeks I’ll re-upload my old stories, so come reminisce with me.
I’ve recently decided to begin a new life. I’ve left my boyfriend, I’m giving up my dogs, and I’m selling all of my possessions to travel the world indefinitely. To celebrate this new lease on life I’ve decided to overhaul the Where is Jenny brand. Not only does it look different and have better functionality it has a new editorial direction. It will continue to host my travel stories along with information and resources on around the world travel, backpacking, and location independent working.
Where is Jenny is back and bolder than ever! The theme will be completed over the next few days! Be sure to let me know what you think!
