10 reasons why I love the French team...

WIN AGAINST SPAIN


1. No discrimination of players - around 7 main players are black. An amazing statistic for a European team
2. Zidane
3. Platini
4. Style versus Skill. The French don't just score goals, they do it with style. Gaya mesti ada
5. Zidane
6. They even have an ethnic Indian player
7. Am a sucker for style
8. Henri
9. Zidane
10. I can speak a few words of French

Well done against the Spanish. You deserve it.

Sei lor... next quarter finals with Brazil.. I will pray.

USA deserves credit...

Last night's game between Ghana and USA was a thriller... tight markings, good tactics and hard play in midfield. You cannot keep your eyes off the game. Its also good to see USA players having equal if not better skills to match the Africans... and their first goal is testimony to relentless hard work and talent.

World Cup is something special for everyone... something like the Olympics. You train, suffer and sacrifice for years and years... before you can reach this level. Only 'special' and gifted athletes can step foot in that field... equal as men and opponents. Its not how rich your country is or how much money you spend on the team... its a level playing field for those who qualify. The legends or Gods of football throughout the years shine in example and spirit... some have won the Cup... some not... Platini, Zidane, Maradona, Pele, Cruyff, Moore, Beckenbauer... sometimes it takes a lifetime before you even play 15 mins. That is how great this game is...

USA... u deserve full credit and praise. Be VERY proud of the way you played... well done to all the players. Hope to see you in the next World Cup.

Maradona

Pele

Cruyff

Ivory display...

Last night's amazing game between Ivory Coast and Holland reminded me of the Nigerian World Cup team of the past... fast, highly skillful and physically strong. It was an excellent game, a true and fair match between European tactical play and African footballing passion. It has all the makings and definition of a classic World Cup game. Both teams were playing with good tactics and skill.

Even though the scoreline was 2-1, it does not reflect the true nature of the game... Ivory Coast played slightly better. Holland was stuck to defending towards the end. Both teams deserve respect and recognition. It was fun and exiciting for fans to watch football played in such an exiciting atmostphere... I just wish ... was there in the stadium to experience it.

viva en france...

Its the break now... France VS Swiss in World Cup 2006. Lotsa impressive skills and fast midfield moves by the French but their attacking is still not sharp and lacking. Zidane as usual making his mark with his sublime skills... but strangely not much from Makalele or Viera as we would expect. Hopefully they can show some improvement in the second half. The Swiss had a few chances ... scary ones for me.

Everyone is also talking about the Aussie win last night... against a good Japan side (3-1). What a comeback and superb goals... I could not believe watching them... especially at World Cup level. Well done to the Socceroos for all their hard work and good planning. Sad to note that Zico's style of attacking play, though entertaining... it cannot work for the whole 90 minutes especially with fitness and strategies changing. Zico made a mistake for not playing defensive after the first goal and continued to attack... leaving the defense so open. Anyway, thats football.

Zidane

Moore

Beckenbauer

wats the fuss... Dr Mahathir??

Hhhmmm ... how can we ignore the recent spat between Dr M and Pak Lah?? Its direct... its harsh... and its hitting hard. We are in the midst of an interesting ideology clash and difference in governance. Here are my 2 cents...

Firstly, I feel the whole issue boils down to... a prevailing lack of initiative, creativity and change in many government departments... and that includes schools and local authorities. Even if there are any good changes, its taking too long to implement and deliver. This thorn has been around since Dr M's time and its not a new issue we are facing here. However, I feel the accumulation of these problems and issues in the government is getting worse over time. The challenge for the current administration and the state governments is to unify and make changes quick. New and better ideas must be implemented. If this means changes in management style and methods... then... do it now. We really need this cognitive difference in management and administration of the huge government engine... which also includes the various state governments, universities and ministries. New and improved professionalism must be implemented from top to bottom, even if that means removal of pengarahs and unmotivated / unprofessional governement staff in management level. In that sense... a revision of the way the government employs, trains and delivers is the only way forward for Pak Lah.

Secondly, information technology, internet and software should be used and implemented more widely in ALL levels. Technology is moving fast and we are in many ways slow to implement them in Malaysia. The government purchases millions of ringgit worth of hardware, servers and software every year but without proper planning on its use, management of quality IT staff and a professional delivery mechanism... there will always be white elephants and abandoned projects. Quality digital data and good software research results is seriously lacking in many government sectors... this is now MORE critical as we face globalisation and competition in a wider perspective. The scope of work for many government employees today has changed so rapidly that we are faced with a lot of redundant work and bored workers. How we employ, train, remunerate and manage employees must change. We need good and IT savvy people.

This is the only way forward for our beloved country to prosper, unite and face the many economic and social changes ahead. We cannot be doing business or managing the government like 10 or 15 years ago. Dr M has to change... and in that note Pak Lah also has to change. Every 5 years we need to change and re-invent this country. On this note... change is the only thing certain in this world. Malaysia 'mungkin' Boleh.

how to develop ArcGIS.... Pt2

We continue with.. how to develop ArcGIS.... Pt2

In today’s blog we take a closer look at the building blocks for ArcGIS and also how to develop custom applications for your projects.

The core of ArcGIS and any customization is ArcObjects, which can be developed via several APIs (VB, VC++, Delphi, Mainwin, C#, VB.NET). The APIs are mainly either COM based or dotNET.

The first thing you have to do as an ArcGIS (ArcObjects) developer is to look at the ArcObjects Class Diagrams. These class diagrams provide useful insight into ArcObject’s model and implementation. In addition to the class diagrams provided as PDF files, you can use the Microsoft object browsers like OLEView or the ESRI Object Viewer. These object browsers can view the coclasses and methods within the ArcObjects model.

One of the fundamental or most common pitfalls among ArcObject programmers is to ensure optimal coding when working with databases and GIS data storage. There are strict rules to follow to avoid data or application corruption. If you want the application to perform inserts, updates and deletes… you need to make sure there is an Edit Session running, which turns on a behaviour in the geodatabase for proper edit transactions.

One of the ways I started with ArcObjects is to customize in a VBA environment. I feel it’s the best place to start if we wanna learn or master ArcObjects development. VBA is used for many years in Excel, MS Access and MS Word to customize its interface right up to full blown applications. There are some reasons why we should start with VBA:

* Its fast to create, test and debug inside ArcMap and ArcCatalog.
* The standard libraries and classes for ArcObjects have already been referenced and added
* Global variables that reference ArcMap, ArcCatalog and the Application are available
* You can create fast and reliable VB Forms using VBA and Active-X components. You can also add new Active-X components or Microsoft objects

So start your first ArcObjects application in ArcMap and have loads of fun developing ;-)