I wrote an entry nearly a month ago about an online survey run by the Fine Living Network, looking for a host for their upcoming series 'The Wandering Golfer'. New Zealander Jeff Crowe was one of the four 'finalists' for the dream job, up against three Americans. The last time I checked (shortly before the survey was closed), Jeff had an overwhelming majority of the votes, with about 55% of the total and almost triple the amount of votes as the second placed guy. Troy Brettson and Chad Maulsby were neck and neck for second position, with Sam Williamson picking up the leftovers.

The Fine Living Network recently announced the winner. Jeff, right? Nope. They gave the position to Chad Maulsby, who was ranking 3rd in the vote tally for most of the duration. What the hell is up with that? Why did they ask their viewers to vote for it and then just ignore the result?

"While this was an extremely difficult decision, we ultimately selected Chad Maulsby because we felt he was a golfer of the people, who could really share his love for golf and its extraordinary courses with the millions who enjoy the golf lifestyle," said Stephanie Eno, Director of Programming, FINE LIVING. "All four finalists would have brought different and very appealing qualities to `The Wandering Golfer' role, but we thought Chad's passion for the game and ability to communicate it stood out. Viewers should really be in for a treat wandering with Chad to many of the world's most spectacular golf locales."

Ok let's look at this guy's resumé shall we? Maulsby has spent the last seven years working in the telecom industry in the Dallas area and comes from a long line of family golfers. He began playing the sport at the age of eight and he currently rates his game as between an eight and 11 handicap, with plenty of room for improvement. Yeah ok, about as qualified for the position as any random person on any random golfcourse.

Now let's look at Jeff's resumé. Jeff has been hosting television shows and commenting sports events for years, as well as being a member of the NZ cricket team for about 7 years, and is a golf fanatic with a handicap of 3. He's a born entertainer and sportsman, and very well liked and admired by all who have met him, both in person or in the media.

So why the hell did the Fine Living Network ignore his voter support, his vastly superior experience and more importantly his charisma, and go for Chad Maulsby instead? I don't know, but it stinks. Their words above do not explain it, as Jeff has all those attributes in spades. Their "you decide" poll was nothing but a farce.

This should be interesting. Unsure of where you lay on the political field? Think you're far right or far left, authoritarian or libertarian? You might be mildly surprised. You might be shocked. You might nod and smile knowingly. This relatively short opinion questionaire gives a pretty accurate account of where you really stand. Go to The Political Compass Test and come back and post your results and comments here. Thanks John for bringing this to my attention.

My political compass:
Economic Left/Right: -5.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.03
Yup, I'm down in the corner there with Gandhi, The Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. Go figure.

..and there's the graphic representation. Pretty.

With the Republican National Convention getting underway on Monday, protests have already started in NYC. Friday night's Critical Mass monthly bike rally turned into a 5,000 strong anti-Bush ride through Manhattan causing a few traffic problems and leading to the arrest of about 250 cyclists. There has been a smaller nude protest outside Madison Square Garden, as well as protesters abseiling a building and putting up a huge anti-Bush sign. I have nothing against protesting and if someone feels that's the only way they can get their message across then so be it. Yesterday also saw the 'Mothers Opposing Bush' protest cross the Brooklyn Bridge, and this is where I got a bit annoyed.

An entry I read on popular NYC website The Gothamist linked to the image posted here (posted originally on Yahoo News with the comment, "Gothamist thinks there's little cuter than a 2 year old holding an anti-Bush sign."

Now tell me, do you honestly think that child even has a clue what's going on? She looks pretty damn scared to me, and why wouldn't she? She is surrounded by hundreds of angry adults shouting to remove the President while being closely monitored by a police presence kitted up with automatic weapons. What sort of positive influence is that going to have on her mind? She looks confused and, as I said above, scared.

In a response to my comments on the Gothamist, Mike wrote;
"I think it's a great lesson in civics to bring your child to a demonstration."
Reality check! When they're old enough to understand what is going on and the reasons for it, then yes I agree, but forcing a 2-year old to carry a placard calling for the removal of the President of The United States is hardly going to be a lesson in civics. A 2-year old would not know nor understand the concept.

As Mike advised, the whole idea of the march was to raise the point about what Bush's policies are doing to the next generation. That's an honorable cause in my book too, but it doesn't make it ok to subject frightened young children to that kind of situation, regardless of how relevant the children are to the reason for the protest. You should never use children just to make a point, it's bad judgment and could almost be regarded as a form of child abuse.

My advice to anyone thinking of joining protests over the coming week: do NOT bring your children, particularly knowing that over this week tensions will be high and the police will be a lot tougher than usual and in much greater numbers. If you want your opinion respected, at least have the courtesy of respecting the welfare of your own children.

New Zealanders Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty just doubled NZ's medal count in one race by winning the gold (Hamish Carter) and silver (Bevan Docherty) medals in the men's triathlon final, considered one of the more gruelling events in the Olympics, since there are three diciplines involved - a 1.5km swimming leg, a 40km cycling leg and a 10km marathon leg.

It's the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games that New Zealand has enjoyed a gold and silver medal finish in the same event. That time it was three-day-eventers (equestrian) Blyth Tait and Sally Clark on the podium.

The only other occasion two New Zealanders have been on the dais in the same Olympic event was Peter Snell and John Davies finishing first and third in the 1500m final (running) at Tokyo in 1964.

Ok I haven't so much as mentioned the Olympics, so here ya go:

I don't know who made that picture, just happened across it on a weblog.

New Zealands medal tally so far - 2 Golds:
August 21: Women's Double Sculls Gold: The Evers-Swindell Twins (rowing).
August 22: Women's Individual Pursuit Gold: Sarah Ulmer (cycling).
Good stuff!

If you're into checking out big surf, you've gotta check this out. From the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards come these videos (via you tube). The winner, Pete Cabrinha, rode a world record 70foot wave at Jaws (Maui, Hawaii) on January 10th, 2004, to take out the title. That is a friggin' monster of a wave. The first video is the wave that got Pete the title, the second video is from the same day of Pete riding a couple of other monsters. Go for it.

Cabrinha XXL Title (approx 1.2MB) - click the play icon in the middle of the screen once it's loaded.

Cabrinha Jaws (approx 1.5MB) - click the play icon in the middle of the screen once it's loaded.

Insane or what? I'd be filling my wetsuit on a wave like that.

I was just checking out NASA's Near Earth Object Program website and realized we has a pretty close call recently. On 16th July an asteroid of up to 25m (82feet) in diameter traveling at about 32,000kmh (20,000mph) sped past earth at a distance of 0.4LD. The LD is an abbreviation for a measurement called Lunar Distance, which is the equivalent of about 384,000km. That may sound like a lot, but here's a relativity check; the moon is about 384,000km from earth (which is clearly how the LD measurement came about), so this asteroid was a whole lot closer to the earth than the moon is. Hrmm. The name of the asteroid was '2004 OD4'.

On 29th September there's another one coming relatively close, and it's a big sucker. Named '4179 Toutatis', this asteroid is up to 5.2km (3¼miles) in diameter and traveling at a speed of nearly 40,000kmh (25,000mph), and will apparently come within 4LD from earth. The impact of an asteroid of that magnitude could quite likely wipe us out.

To give you some idea of consequences, I found the following info from this website after a quick search:

• Asteroids under 100feet (diameter):
  Don't always make it to earth but instead explode in the atmosphere. If they do, the damage is localized.
• 150 to 200feet:
  Severe local damage; a city could be flattened. The Tunguska event was caused by an object of around 200 feet. The energy released was in the order of 10 megatons of TNT. Trees flattened up to 20 km away from the blast wave, fires.
• 200 to 1000feet:
  Progressively increasing area of damage. A region or entire state could be affected. Could leave a crater 3-10 miles in diameter.
• 1000feet to 1mile:
  Continent killers. Energy release of 10,000 to 1 million megatons of TNT. Although the scale of destruction is huge, they would probably not produce catastrophic global effects.
• 1mile to 10miles:
  These huge objects can cause global catastrophe. The dust cloud would block out sunlight, leading to falling temperatures, failed crops, mass starvation, etc. More severe impacts cause mass extinctions. At the upper end of this range was the Chicxulub event, in the Yucatan region of Mexico. This was caused by an object of about 10km in diameter impacting the earth, and probably led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The energy has been estimated at 100 million megatons of TNT.
• Over 10miles diameter:
  These events are so rare that it's hard to find direct evidence of them on earth. The Chicxulub event left a crater about 180km accross. Larger craters have been found, possibly caused by objects in the 10-15 mile range. Objects that are much larger are not known to have impacted earth, but it's possible to guess what would happen. The impact energy would raise the surface temperature, boil off the oceans, sterilize the earth. The earth's surface might revert to a molten state. Volcanism and earthquakes would shift and fracture the continental plates, the earth would be quite unrecognizable. There are not many objects in the solar system that could do this, and currently none are known that have even a remote chance of impacting earth in the foreseeable future.

Well, that was comforting reading..

An email from fellow Kiwi and personal friend Yvonne bought this to my attention. New Zealand cricketer Jeff Crowe is in line for winning his dream job in USA hosting a golf tour programme, but can only win the job via votes. Obviously he isn't as well known in the US as the three other contenders so he needs all the help he can get. All you Kiwis out there already know who he is and know he's a top-notch international-level sportsman and a great entertainer (not to mention he has a golf handicap of 3), so get in and vote! Tell your friends and workmates to do the same. For those reading this that aren't Kiwis, trust me, he's the man for the job for sure. Please go give him some much-deserved support and vote ..and yes, he is related to actor Russell Crowe. To vote, click on this link, the voting panel is on the right hand side of the article - click the radio button next to his name & photo, then hit the submit button below the photos. Thanks.