Drew Ginn resting after the Olympics

September 8, 2008 – 12:22 pm

Drew Ginn brought home in a stretcher

I was shocked to see this photo on Drew Ginn’s blog post Back home after surgery.

Last Thursday I went into hospital after two days of pain. Not
the easiest moments and on Friday the doctor operated on my ruptured
disc.

It seems that Drew Ginn was having back problems throughout the Olympics and didn’t get much sympathy from his pairs partner Duncan Free. From Duncan Free’s blog:

I have to admit at the time I was not showing too much sympathy for Drew and tryed to ignore the injury as much as I could. Not because I have no heart, but becuase I didn’t want any other option than for us to race together as per normal and for us to put down a great performance. I’m pretty sure that was Drew’s mindset aswell. Its amazing how strong the mind is and the control it has over the body. As Drew put it…..you only have to block the pain signal from the injured area to the brain….simple!!

That last sentence is just amazing! I don’t know how much pain Drew was really in, but obviously it became quite serious last Thursday. A rowing race, especially at such a high level is a particularly mentally exhausting experience. I cannot imagine racing with such an injury in the back of my mind.

Duncan Free and Drew Ginn delivered an amazing performance in the final of pair. I’m astounded to learn that this injury was lurking at the time.

By James Little | Posted in rowing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Sneakerplay: The social network for sneakers?

September 8, 2008 – 11:53 am

The article is two years old… Creating a Successful Social Network

But it all still applies, don’t compete with the guys at the top… find a niche and then use as many sources to populate your product as you can. Check out the social network SneakerPlay

By James Little | Posted in web2.0 | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Waikato Great Race 2008

September 7, 2008 – 8:39 pm

Today the kiwi version of the great race was rowed on the Waikato river in Hamilton. The Waikato University Women raced Sydney University and won; the men lost for only the second time in the events history to a crew from Cambridge University.

Results from Stuff:

The women’s team easily won the 4.2 km Waikato River race having taken the lead over rivals Sydney University early in the race.

The men’s team weren’t so lucky having spent the race chasing Cambridge, who lead by as much as two boat lengths. A final sprint resulted in the Waikato crew narrowing the gap on their European rivals, losing the race in the final seconds.

Twaddle had earlier said that this would be his last great race. I’m wondering if Twaddle goes to London 2012, will be competing, part of the management team or a spectator… I’ll definitely be a spectator!

The men’s crews:

Waikato University: David Eade, Graham Oberlin-Brown, Nathan Twaddle, Graeme Hill, Ben Hammond, Tobias Wehr-Candler, William Shaw, Jared Pehi, Ainslee Ashton (coxswain).

Cambridge University (from): Joel Jennings, James Strawson, John Clay, Shane O’Mara, Henry Pelly, Hardy Cubasch, George Nash, Colin Scott, Rob Wietermeyer, Helen Hodges (coxswain).

Race overview from NZRowing.

By James Little | Posted in rowing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Facebook about to introduce adult content?

September 4, 2008 – 12:09 pm

Perhaps people were a little uncomfortable showing skin with children able to browse their pictures; but soon they won’t need to worry - make those naked photos R18! Is this the direction Facebook is hoping to go? Or perhaps adult tagged albums will be easier to censor in countries where such displays would be illegal?

From the Facebook pages:

Sharing the right content with the right users

Today at 11:15am

Facebook Pages are a powerful way to reach a mass audience and their friends. Sometimes, however, you’ll want to limit who sees what. Here are three tools to help:

(1) Age Restrictions for Pages: You can restrict your Page to users over age 13, 17, 18, 19, or 21, or the legal drinking age where they live. On your Page’s edit page, scroll down to “Settings” at the bottom.

(2) Targeted Messaging: When you send a message to fans, you can target it by geography, gender, and age. For example, a musician can promote a concert to fans in the area. When sending an update, check the “Target this update” box.

(3) New FBML Tags: If you use FBML (http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=4949752878), you can restrict content by country and age. For example, if you have licensed content for U.S. and Canada users only, you can to restrict it to those countries, and show alternative content to other users. More details are on the Facebook Developers Blog: http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=150.

By James Little | Posted in web2.0 | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Gradjobs New Zealand is live

September 2, 2008 – 3:12 pm

Gradjobs New Zealand is ready for your business - where students and graduates go to find the best jobs in New Zealand.

Gradjobs was one of our initial ideas when we incorporated in September 2007. Essentially we wanted to create a career portal that would allow graduates and young professionals to map their career goals. We don’t think there is a lot of real information around in New Zealand that really compiles graduate opportunities and career paths.

In the long term, we hope that Gradjobs will expand to include much more information for New Zealand graduates. Right now we have profiles from some young kiwi professionals and we are contacting businesses who are interested in utilising our services for graduate recruitment. We will be publishing employer profiles online and via our email subscriptions service.

Anybody can sign up to our email subscriptions for free, or register as an employer in September for the next 12 months for $199.

  • We can ensure you that we will provide accurate information about your profile views! We are using Google analytics, so if you want to know how many times your profile was viewed you won’t get a guesstimate.
  • We will be maintaining our own list of registered graduates and young professionals through our subscription service. So you will be able to deliver targeted emails to graduates.
  • We will be creating a buzz around your recruiting campaign to assist the strength and focus of your advertising.

Considering the services delivered, $199 is good value… So get in quick before we re-evaluate!

By James Little | Posted in web2.0 | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (3)