The world of rugby union has undergone a profound change since the advent of professionalism. This <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=202&amp;entry_id=117″ title=”http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyunion/comment/0,10070,1442292,00.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyunion/comment/0,10070,1442292,00.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> from the Guardian has some interesting observations made out of a study done on the health impacts of the game on the player’s body.<br />
<br />
Some numbers include:<br />
<ul><br />
<li>Professional forwards now weigh, on average, 8kg more than their pre-professional counterparts at around 108kg.</li><br />
<li>Backs now weigh 10kg more, up from 80kg a decade ago.</li><br />
<li>A 85kg player is now 30% stronger.</li><br />
<li>The average top speed of a back is 10 metres per second.</li><br />
</ul><br />
<br />
Apparently professional American Grid-iron players exit the game 5mm shorter than when they first started and researches are theorising that it will not be long before rugby players experience the same thing.

If you are looking to save some money, 3M has an article on how to make your own wallet out of duct tape!<br />
<br />
Article is located <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=198&amp;entry_id=116″ title=”http://www.3m.com/intl/CA/english/centres/home_leisure/duct_tape/dt_wallet.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.3m.com/intl/CA/english/centres/home_leisure/duct_tape/dt_wallet.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>here</a>.<br />
<br />
Guess that it would be pretty tough, and easy to replace if something happens to it <img src=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png” alt=”:-)” style=”display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;” class=”emoticon” />

Into a Belfast pub comes Paddy Murphy, looking like he’d just been run over by a train. His arm is in a sling, his nose is broken, his face is cut and bruised and he’s walking with a limp.<br />
<br />
“What happened to you?” asks Sean, the bartender.<br />
<br />
“Jamie O’Conner and me had a fight,” says Paddy.<br />
<br />
“That little shit, O’Conner,” says Sean, “He couldn’t do that to you, he must have had something in his hand.”<br />
<br />
“That he did,” says Paddy, “a shovel is what he had, and a terrible lickin’<br />
he gave me with it.”<br />
<br />
“Well,” says Sean, “you should have defended yourself, didn’t you have something in your hand?”<br />
<br />
“That I did,” said Paddy… Mrs. O’Conner’s breast, and a thing of beauty it was, but useless in a fight.”

I made this recipe tonight, courtesy of <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=250&amp;entry_id=113″ title=”http://24hourfitness.com” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://24hourfitness.com’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>24 Hour fitness</a>. Vic loved it and rated it pretty highly!<br />
<blockquote><br />
Greek season salt:<br />
2 teaspoons of garlic salt,<br />
2 teaspoons of lemon pepper,<br />
2 teaspoons of oregano, and<br />
2 teaspoons of dried mint<br />
<br />
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces<br />
1/4 cup of flour<br />
Greek seasoning salt, divided<br />
1 teaspoon of olive oil<br />
1 large onion, sliced lengthwise<br />
1 green pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into strips - because I like capsicum, I also added a red capsicum for some more colour, yellow would be good as well.<br />
3 roma tomatoes<br />
3 tablespoons of Kalamata olives, chopped (I used pitted whole olives)<br />
3 tablespoons of feta cheese (I prefer the harder goat cheese, but you can use the softer cow’s milk cheese if you want)<br />
<br />
Dredge chicken in flour mixed with 4 teaspoons of Greek seasoning. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add chicken, sauteing for 3 to 4 minutes on both sides until cooked through. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. With the flour, just add pieces at a time so you don’t make the flour sticky, coat both sides and then put straight into the pan.<br />
<br />
Add onion to the skillet and saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the peppers and cook another 2 minutes. Return chicken to skillet and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until no longer pink, sprinkling with remaining Greek seasoning. Mix in tomatoes.<br />
<br />
Remove from heat, sprinkle with olives and feta cheese and then serve.<br />
</blockquote><br />
Some stuff that you could do to it would to add some chopped chillies. I also ran out of seasoning so I just sprinkled it with some lemon pepper and the garlic salt. This makes about 4 large serves or 8 normal serves - so depends on how hungry you are.<br />
<br />
Recipe takes almost no time to prepare, perhaps 10 minutes of chopping and the cooking stage only takes another 10 minutes so you could have this ready in about 20 minutes if you are reasonably quick.

Again from <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=196&amp;entry_id=112″ title=”http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/survivor/2005_Feb_10_probst_seasons” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/survivor/2005_Feb_10_probst_seasons’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>realityblurred.com</a>. My favourite is:<br />
<blockquote><br />
Survivor Pearl Islands: “I wish we had a Jonny Fairplay every season. Personally, however, he’s an absolute jackass whose actions at the Vanuatu finale after-party pissed me off so much that he’s banned from any event that I’m at from now on. … I hated the Outcasts. I felt it went against everything we say the show is about — that if you are voted out, you are out of the game. In addition, it cost us a great player in Andrew Savage and in return gave us Lill, the most undeserving final-two member ever.”<br />
</blockquote><br />
Also he mentions that Surivor All-stars was his least favourite Survivor ever.. totally agree with his comments about Jonny and Lill.

From <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=195&amp;entry_id=111″ title=”http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/the_amazing_race_7/2005_Mar_14_betting_halted” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/the_amazing_race_7/2005_Mar_14_betting_halted’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>realityblurred.com</a>:<br />
<blockquote><br />
Spoilers have come to The Amazing Race 7, as the winning team may have been revealed by people using inside knowledge to bet on the show’s outcome. Sportsbook.com issued a press release about its decision to stop wagering on the series, and in it, helpfully revealed the identity of that team in the first sentence.<br />
</blockquote><br />
Apparently, the sportsbet source has claimed that, “Over a 12-hour period last week, from the evening of Thursday, March 3 through the morning of Friday, March 4, a significant increase in betting on these contestants alerted Sportsbook.com odds makers of a possible leak into the show’s outcome. All the bets under suspicion were placed from accounts in California and Massachusetts and were for the maximum allowable wagers.”<br />
<br />
First thing first.. people bet on this? Is this a sign of how popular a show is that they are taking bets on it? Or is the USA so mad for any kind of gambling that they would bet on the outcome of a show?

The SMH has an <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=192&amp;entry_id=110″ title=”http://www.smh.com.au/news/Asia-Tsunami/Tsunami-repairs-what-Hollywood-ruined/2005/03/13/1110649061289.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.smh.com.au/news/Asia-Tsunami/Tsunami-repairs-what-Hollywood-ruined/2005/03/13/1110649061289.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> about an unexpected benefit of the tsunami.<br />
<blockquote><br />
Leonardo DiCaprio put Maya Bay on the global tourist radar with his film The Beach, but that fame came at a cost.<br />
<br />
The film crew remodelled and flattened the beach, making it unstable. When the monsoon rains came, the dunes were swept away.<br />
<br />
Now Thailand’s Boxing Day tsunami, in a rare act of reconstruction, has put it back. The dunes have returned.<br />
<br />
And yet as locals quietly celebrate nature’s grace, it may be short-lived. That very act will place fresh tourism pressure on the beach’s fragile ecosystem.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
“Before the tsunami hit there were no sand dunes at all. But afterwards, everything came back just like the old times,” Mr Nattawuth said via an interpreter.<br />
<br />
Maya Bay is not the only natural beneficiary of the tsunami. At Phuket’s Patong Beach, the water and sand quality is markedly improved. People can now swim without risk of eye infections and skin rashes, say residents. “The beach is like it was at the beginning of tourism 30 years ago,” said Somchai Silapananon, of the Phuket Tourism Association.<br />
</blockquote><br />
Wonder how long it will take before the tourists start destroying the beach again.

Recently I attended the launch of the <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=199&amp;entry_id=109″ title=”http://www.foxteliq.com.au” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.foxteliq.com.au’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>foxtel iQ</a> unit at a Myer Center in Sydney. I had been looking at way of recording tv shows from the <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=200&amp;entry_id=109″ title=”http://www.foxtel.com.au” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.foxtel.com.au’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Foxtel Digital</a> service. I had a fair idea what I wanted out of the service and from the demonstration it did not disappoint. <br /><a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/109-Foxtel-iQ.html#extended”>Continue reading “Foxtel iQ”</a>

For those of you who don’t know who Jon Stewart is, he hosts a show on Comedy Central called the “<a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=181&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Daily Show</a>”. It features a lot of political commentary about the current US administration and pokes fun at some of the Republican party members. In particular he likes to comment on the current trend of news networks to promote “partisan hackery” trumped up as real journalism.<br />
<br />
Anyway he was invited to debate on <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=182&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/crossfire/” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/crossfire/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>CNN Crossfire</a> and launched into an attack on Tucker Carlson, the show’s conservative, bow-tie wearing pundit on ethics in journalism.<br />
<br />
You can watch the video <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=183&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831′;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>here</a> or read the <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=184&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://mediamatters.org/items/200410160003″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://mediamatters.org/items/200410160003′;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>transcript</a>. Also watch what <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=185&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2653047″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2653047′;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Jon said the next day on his show</a>. Here’s a link to an <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=186&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-10-19-stewart-carlson-feud_x.htm” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-10-19-stewart-carlson-feud_x.htm’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> by <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=187&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://www.usatoday.com” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.usatoday.com’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>USA Today</a> on the whole affair.<br />
<br />
# Jon Stewart was on CNN’s Crossfire another time to talk about his book America. Here’s the <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=188&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>transcript</a> from that show.<br />
<br />
Subsequently, Tucker Carlson was let go from Crossfire. Here’s his <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=189&amp;entry_id=108″ title=”http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/01/05/entertainment1658EST0684.DTL” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/01/05/entertainment1658EST0684.DTL’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>take</a>.

From <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=180&amp;entry_id=107″ title=”http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12501078-2,00.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12501078-2,00.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>News.com.au</a>:<br />
<blockquote><br />
An explosion has been reported outside the Australian embassy in Malaysia overnight.<br />
It caused no damage or injuries, and police have said it appeared the embassy was not the target of a bombing.<br />
<br />
The explosion hit the Kuala Lumpur embassy at around 11pm (AEDT) last night, Associated Press reported.<br />
<br />
The road outside the embassy was closed while a bomb disposal unit and tracker dogs were sent to the scene, AP said.<br />
<br />
A forensic team was at the scene to determine the cause of the blast, police said.<br />
</blockquote><br />
An explosion near the embassy and it is not the target? I wonder how they came up with that conclusion??