VBasic

Wednesday, July 30, 2003:

Ties suck. And again, ties suck.
Haggis // 2:48 AM

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Tuesday, July 29, 2003:

It's been a great Tour de France, and here's my wrap-up. Per team.
AG2R: There is of course the tragedy of their colleague, who died in Estonia while training. Race-wise, Andy Flickinger did a good job, I think.
ALESSIO: Totally nothing. This team didn't show anything, and I doubt they will be selected next year. A team like Phonak would have been much better.
BRIOCHES LA BOULANGÈRE: They deserved a stage win. But they didn't get it. Lots of great French riders, and this team could develop a bit more I think, if the sponsor will go on.
COFIDIS: There's of course David Millar, whom the team is shaped around. This Tour he proved his worth as a time trialler.
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE: This team is always good for some entertaining escape, and this year was no different. In addition, Moreau rode a good enough classement général.
EUSKALTEL: Back. Iban Mayo did a terrific job, and Haimar Zubeldia shows he is a good one for the CG.
FASSA BORTOLO: You'd think that with only 3 riders left after a week, they didn't do very good. Well, not with these guys. Petacchi has shown that he is currently the best sprinter in the world, and Ivan Basso rode very good in the mountains.
FDJEUX.COM: The 'other Australian', Baden Cooke, surprisingly won the green jersey. And a stage win. Also, the first week of this team was fantastic. At one moment, they had almost all the jerseys, in that week. Australian cycling is big (Cooke, McGee).
GEROLSTEINER: Blah, not much to say about them. Which says it all, really.
IBANESTO.COM: The glory days of Indurain are long gone, but somehow they managed to ride a satisfying Tour, with two stage wins and the white jersey. It's a shame that Banesto is quitting.
JEAN DELATOUR: Great move of Jean-Marie Leblanc to invite these guys again. Not only did this small team capture the yellow jersey before the team time trial for Jean-Patrick Nazon, but this guy also won the last stage. Brilliant.
KELME: To be frank, I expected more of them in the mountains. Throughout the Tour, they have been very disappointing though. Maybe next year. Oh, and there's always the Vuelta.
LOTTO-DOMO: Argh! The green jersey should have been a sure thing for Robbie McEwen, but in the end, they didn't even get a stage win. Lotto isn't what it used to be, and Belgian racing needs another impulse.
ONCE: Beloki could have won the Tour. But he fell. Talking about drama. They really deserved better.
QUICK-STEP: This team reminds me of the great Mapei glory days. Mountain King Virenque, stage wins for Servais Knaven and Richard Virenque, and Paolo Bettini, who made the Tour a bit more entertaining. Great team with a great future ahead.
RABOBANK: Dramatic fall, Levi Leipheimer and Marc Lotz out, and the rest of the team didn't do very good either. Only Bram de Groot rode well. But no victories.
SAECO: I don't know what to think of this team, other than that you gotta admire what Gilberto Simoni did. Winning a stage after considering to leave the race.
TEAM BIANCHI: Der Jan made a delightful comeback. And the Bianchi shirts rule.
TEAM CSC: The best team. Tyler Hamilton. Carlos Sastre. Jakob Piil. But especially Tyler 'fractured collarbone' Hamilton. Riis is a good leader.
TELEKOM: They probably expected more from Santiago Botero, but Alexandre Vinokourov made up for that. Vino is one of the revelations of this Tour. A great all-round rider. Zabel tried, but he's too old.
US POSTAL: Lance did it again. And they won the team time trial.
VINI CALDIROLA: Er... I'd rather see Cippolini in stead of these guys.
Haggis // 2:06 AM

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Tuesday, July 22, 2003:

Just checking my e-mail. Mostly spam. But one of them was funny. I didn't read it, but I saw the subject: "re: Your Bowels". This implies that I sent someone an e-mail, informing about their bowels. That is usually not something I would do. On to more serious business.
The RIAA is, as ever, coming down hard on normal users sharing music online, e.g. through Kazaa. But wouldn't it be better to do something about this problem, rather than dealing with isolated cases? This is where the ISPs come in. High-speed Internet connections - as used by file sharing network users - are, I believe, becoming cheaper and cheaper. So, why not freeze the prices at the current rate, and give what's left to the music producers? Internet users wouldn't notice, and the RIAA would be happy. ISPs wouldn't lose any money either. In my opinion, this is a win-win situation. Why don't they do it, then? Beats me.
Haggis // 12:14 AM

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Wednesday, July 16, 2003:

I realise that I haven't been blogging very much lately. And I haven't been online very much. See, I'm like, totally preoccupied by the Tour de France. Sorry. It's just so exciting. Yeah. I'll go and post some more when everything calms down a bit. I don't know how long I'll lose my Internet connection when moving, by the way, but that shouldn't take too long. Oh, and freedom (07-31-2003) is fast approaching. Just remember, I love you all.
Haggis // 5:37 AM

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Wednesday, July 02, 2003:

Hmmm, I found out something about Google. You know how you can search posts on Google Groups? Right. Well, if you search for posts and then sort the results by date, you get the most recent one first. But let's assume that, for whatever reason, you want to see the earliest post that matches your search query. You browse to the end of the list, and then click the link to display all search results (also the ones similar to the results already displayed). You happily browse to the end of the list, and then you get to page 100. And that's where it stops. If you have thousands of search results, there's no way you can get to the earliest post. Also, if you like Wimbledon and/or tennis and/or pointless Flash games, you might like Tardis Tennis.
Haggis // 5:32 AM

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Tuesday, July 01, 2003:

Every day, I see more light at the end of the tunnel. I hope it will not blind me.
Haggis // 12:41 AM

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