You Can't Coach That

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

nice4rice is a great site that does reviews of blogs and allows users to comment and vote - or “give rice”. You get a free link back by voting but this is not the only reason for visiting and reading Spud’s stuff. His writing is informative and witty at times and he really gives you a good impression of the site he is reviewing. The review reflects the fact that he has a good look around the blog in question and contains many links to interesting stories.

What’s not to like about nice4rice?

“You can’t coach that”

After a serious post yesterday and a semi-serious one earlier this evening time for a bit of flippancy.

My new band is called “My Friend Merle”. For some reason this small phrase has captivated me, has some sort of weird hold over me. So much so that I can only think that it makes the perfect name for a rock band.

Only one problem - no musical talent whatsoever. Never mind, back to dreaming.

“You can’t coach that”

Just read on the Digg front page that there is even more water on Mars in the polar ice cap than first thought. While this might indeed be exciting news for those in the science field and others interested in the area, I say big f***ing deal.

Mine may not be a particularly popular opinion and I admit that I am not particularly well educated in this area but how does this affect me? For that matter how does this affect anybody here on our rapidly filling world? Where I live we are in the middle of the worst drought on record. There are real threats to our supply of drinking water and we are being forced to make long overdue changes to the way we use water. Of course this is nothing compared to others in the third world (can one still use that term in the age of political correctness?) who are drinking contaminated water or have none at all.

So unless they can send a rocket to Mars and bring back some of that water held in the polar ice cap I don’t really give a stuff. I suggest that the money spent on finding out that there is water on Mars would be much better spent here on planet earth making the lives of some of the less fortunate a little better.

“You can’t coach that”

Monday, April 02, 2007

Much progress has been made in recent years in protecting those in our society who are in a position of vulnerability. For example, there are strict procedures in place to deal with allegations of abuse in the work place or in schools. These procedures are often mandatory and in the most serious cases require that the matter be referred to the police. I think that these measures are necessary and go a long way to ensuring that people in a position of power cannot misuse this power.

Here comes the but.....

It is my considered opinion that there is often a lack of balance in these matters. An allegation that is made and investigated can have one of two resolutions - either the allegation is found to have substance and the next stage of the process is commenced or the allegation is found to be baseless and ... well therein lies the problem as I see it.

In my experience (both personal and anecdotal) there is generally very little in the way of justice for someone against whom a false allegation is made. It seems that everyone is very relieved that they do not have to deal any further with what could be a difficult situation so the matter gets dropped quite quickly. This, often despite the fact that someone has had their reputation damaged, not mention been subjected to a degree of emotional turmoil.

Of course in the case of very serious allegations, the person who made the unfounded complaint would be dealt with in some way. I would argue however that in most cases this pales into insignificance compared to the impact of the investigation on the accused party. In cases which are prima facie less serious, there is often nothing done at all despite the fact that a reputation has still been damaged.

The bottom line is that mud sticks and people will remember that an accusation has been made against a person and some will wonder whether there was in fact something to the allegations. I would suggest that an groundless allegation would not follow the accuser to the same extent.

I am not saying for one minute that mandatory investigation or reporting should not take place or should be watered down in any way. This would not be good for anyone. I am saying however that specific measures need to be communicated regarding the consequences of a false accusation. Victims deserve to be protected regardless of what made them a victim.

Rant over.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

From Store at my house dot com:

Storeatmyhouse.com provides a way for people to rent out, or find storage and parking spaces.

Have extra space around your home? Use Storeatmyhouse.com to advertise storage space in your around home or attic and charge other people to use it.

If anyone has a Porsche 911 or something similar that they can’t find room for you can keep it at my place - I won’t drive it, honest.

“You can’t coach that”

I love words. I love finding new words. Thought I might try to post a new word every week. So here goes:

Week 1 - pusillanimous

If you know the meaning of the word of the week, write a comment (no dictionary use of course)

I have seen on a number of blogs that I read (most recently at the bet shop boy) that China is restricting its citizens’ access to the “net” through what is being dubbed “The Great Firewall of China” (that one comes straight out of the genius department ). You can check out your url to see if it has been blocked here.

Well the good news for me is that I am OK, 100% safe, if you are Chinese nothing to see here move right along. Yes, the citizens of that great collection of humanity can currently soak up all the coach wisdom that they like.

I think I see an opportunity for world domination here (insert evil laugh). Based on a quick (5 minute) search of some of the best known blogs that I can think of it appears that all the popular, high traffic blogs are blocked in China (that’s the market research done). Therefore all I need to do is promote myself as “The Blog for China” and I will have all the readers I need in no time.

I suppose there is a small problem related to the language. I wonder how you say “You can’t coach that” in Mandarin or Cantonese.

Afterthought - I think I need another blog category - “Crap”

Friday, March 30, 2007

Dear Madam Finance Minister (a.k.a. my beautiful wife)

Further to our recent discussion regarding the purchase of a new personal computer, I would like to make my final arguments. These are set out below.

1. I am aware that we already have 6 computers in the house and only four occupants (and one dog). You however have dozens of shoes and only two feet.
2. While a new computer will allow me to engage in additional hours of gaming at the expense of talking to you and the children, I will be more prepared for the eventuality of Australia being invaded by murderous aliens and will therefore be able to protect my loving family (as long as I can find a gun that uses a mouse to aim and shoot)
3. Yes, it really is important that Word documents load two tenths of a second faster and that spreadsheets calculate a fraction of second faster.
4. Yes, when I told you that there has been an upgrade to the internet and it only works on dual core processors now, I was lying.
5. No, computers are not just porn machines, I really do use mine for work

And my final argument:

I really, really, really want one.

Your ever loving husband

Coach

There has been a distinct lack of activity here at cantcoachthat lately. I have been on a Whirlwind World Tour (WWT if you like) that included

• stopping in at the David Hicks trial in Guantanamo Bay. I said “this shit has been going on long enough - plead guilty already and get this over”
• catching some cricket at the World Cup. You see this is just like the Baseball World Series only it really does involve the whole world and the game is much better. Only joking my American friends Learn more about this other bat and ball sport at Cricket Australia
• checking out Casey Stoner riding into fifth at the Spanish MotoGp. Who’d have thought you could ride a motorcycle at 300Km/h when you are a stoner?

It’s good to be back.

“You can’t coach that”

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Is it human nature to want to make money? Perhaps not, but it is a driving force for many people. Bloggers are no exception I suppose. Not only do a lot of people make money from their blog, there are a multitude of people blogging with advice on how to do so.

For some bizarre reason, the more of these “make money online” blogs that I see, the more I think of the “Amazing Ab King” and other similar exercise devices. You know the ones, for 3 easy payments of $49.95 and 10 minutes per day in front of the television you can have a washboard abdomen (not to mention well defined everything else).

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that such blogs do not offer good advice or that they are not well written. In fact I continue to look at some of them regularly. For example John Chowis an established blogger with a lot of worthwhile things to say, while although Chris Gill might not yet have the same level of readership he has plenty of useful advice especially in the area of SEO. There is just so many of them.

Is the “Ab King” that I saw advertised on the idiot box this afternoon any different from the equally amazing “Ab Blaster”? Is one making money related blog really any different from another?

Do they really work? Of course they do for some people. As a relatively new blogger I haven’t even thought of making any money yet. If I do I know there will be plenty of information out there to help out. I think though that like the Ab Blaster, success will be dependent on spending more than 10 minutes in front of the monitor.

For now I am just happy to have an outlet for my thoughts and perhaps to have a few people read them and share theirs with me.

“You can’t coach that”

John Chow dot com is a blog that helps people to make money online. He offers a link back to anyone who write a review of his blog.

This is a “This Is Your Life” style look at this popular and informative blog.

You came into the world on December 1 1995, evolving after 5 years from “The Wired World of John Chow”. Readers were later to find that your gestation period was a long one, with the John Chow dot com name being born many years earlier. You were welcomed into the world by an older sister The Tech Zone. 64 comments from readers greeted your first post, most of which were appreciative.

By the end of your second month, it was written that you were advertising free and not making any money. The writing may have been on the wall however, as the same article noted another blogger making $4700 per month from google adsense.

Another month goes by and on February 28 2006 your readers are treated to photos of the Chevrolet Z06 - what else would a dot com mogul aspire to own.

The months tick by and while your pages are largely filled with the miscellaneous ramblings of a dot com mogul, articles related to making money online are becoming more prominent. These include - how often should you update?; google don’ts and hot weather = lower income

By August 15 2006 you were the No 1 dot com mogul and by the September 29 2006 your google page rank was 4.

October 2006 saw a further move towards the idea of making money online with a four week trial part time blogging, full time income. Adsense revenue for the first week of the trial was $179.

In December of 2006, the first batch of the review my blog contestants made the news. This has been a very popular addition to your pages and continues today in a modified format.

December also saw the first anniversary of the first post. The title of this groundbreaking article - His banana is bigger than my bananas and features a MC Hammer dancing banana from a rival blogger.

2007 has seen a continuation of the focus on making money online. You offer a wide variety of advice to fellow bloggers on all aspect of making money from blogging and you are taking many blogs along for the ride in your quest for readers, page hits and advertising revenue.

John Chow dot com - this is your life.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

A google search for the term “stupid criminals” returns 113,000 hits, so I am aware that I am not leading the field here. I haven’t even checked as to whether these two stories are reported elsewhere. They are local stories for me so I thought I would share them.

They both relate to ram raids where a car has been used to drive through the front doors of a shop after hours.

Case 1: A ram raider targeted a store that sells surveillance equipment. What he failed to realise was that the store made exceptional use of their state of the art equipment and the police had several excellent images for identification purposes and he was know to them. Case closed.

Case 2: Two exceptionally bright (and perhaps very lazy) felons decided that the best car to use for their ram raid was their own - yes folks their own. The unfortunate thing for them was that when they drove the car through the front doors it become stuck and they could not get it out. They had no choice but to abandon the vehicle and make their escape on foot. The police were able to apprehend the men based on the address on the registration. Case closed.

“You can’t coach that”

Thursday, March 22, 2007

This may have been in the news for some time elsewhere but is being reported currently in the Land Downunder.

Stilnox, an apparently popular sleeping tablet is being blamed for a number of bizarre deaths and injuries. These include:

• a 37 year old walking off the balcony of his 12th story unit
• a man who rode his motorcycle half naked and without a helmet while asleep and was killed
• a women who committed a break and enter while half asleep
• a patient who gained 23 kilograms from “sleep eating” while taking the drug

I would have hoped that we had reached a stage of medical advancement where these sort of side effects constituted a reason why the drug would not be released.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Last month, Sanofi-Aventis’s Australia-New Zealand medical director, Gordon Hirsch, told ABC Radio hallucinations, memory loss and sleepwalking were known side effects of Stilnox and were highlighted in the product information leaflet.

“Hallucinations and memory loss, for example, are uncommon so they would occur in less than one in 1000 people taking the drug and sleepwalking, for example, is reported as rare, so that would occur in less than 1 per cent of patients,” Mr Hirsch said.

“And to date, the numbers of patients that have reported side effects while using Stilnox in Australia are well within these figures.”

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Jim at I’m forty-what? tagged me on the idea of Simply Successful Secrets or in other words:

“What little secrets do I have that have helped me to be successful?”

I am supposed to come up with 5 or 10 little gems, but there is probably one thing for me that overshadows everything else so I will offer only that (I know, a bit of a cop out).

Any success that I feel that I have had has evenutuated after I learned a very simple truth. My measure of success had to be something that was unique to me. Something that was real to me rather than what society, family, friends and the world at large considered to be necessary to be a “success”.

For years I ran on the corporate treadmill, sometimes at a flat out sprint. The rewards were substantial. I was successful according to many definitions. Plenty of money, plenty of long lunches to celebrate having plenty of money and plenty of prestige and status. Oh yeh, a signigicant dose of misery to go along with it (can you hear the violins playing).

Anyway, enough of that. My advice for what it is worth - to be a success, be true to yourself and don’t measure yourself by anyone else’s yardstick.

So I think I am supposed to call on some others to share their thoughts. How about it:

• Arnie
• Steli
• Anyone at twocentblog

(Tell me to get stuffed if you like)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I am not writing here as a money making exercise (is that a murmur of “just as well you loser” I hear?) although I must admit that the idea does have some appeal. If I were no doubt I would be much more interested in things as google page ranks. Just out of interest I used the page rank prediction tool at iwebtool. It gave me a predication of 4 - perhaps that is low but I wasn’t expecting anything at all after only doing this for month and a bit.

On a related note, iwebtool offer a directory to sign up on when you use the page rank tool. While I didn’t sign up I was perplexed by the number of categories available. There seemed to be thousands of them (well a lot). Some of them were a bit out there too - who would want to be in the “death” category. Each to his own I suppose.

Maybe what I need is a category called mongrel.

[via: the wrong advices]