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Backup your data for Christmas.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:25:20 UTC

In the run up to Christmas, people are starting to take care of the admin tasks that need doing.
One of them is backup.

With this in mind we have just sent a small email out to some local businesses about our Cloud Backup solution. With a hope that we catch people whilst they are preparing for the festivities and make them realise that perhaps they can utilise “The Cloud” to protect their business data with minimal costs… less than tape!

I have been backing up my data to “The Cloud” for proabably 2 years solid now; and it is nice to be able to help others utilise the technology. I was so sick of having to buy external hard drives, then bigger drives, replacing lost power supplies, etc etc.

Now I just backup via the internet. I can do it from home, the office, Starbucks, where ever I can get the internet. Because the software sends only changes, the bandwidth usage is okay too. because the data is encrypted BEFORE it is sent, I am comfortable with it sitting in an anonymous data centre. As per my previous post in relation to the DPA, I genuinely think the data is probably more secure in “The Cloud” than on my laptop!

I really hope that this email that has been sent, catches the recipients eye. And that they considder backing up to “The Cloud”. It just makes so much sense!

Lance

Good Morning Monday.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:26:52 UTC

Hi everyone,
Monday is here, December 1st 2008. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and I feel (comparatively) terrific!

The cold/chest infection I have had is almost gone, which is a relief.

yesterday I gave a talk to a group of coaches at the Dartford Judo CLub about "Coaching Digital Natives", which seemed to go down well. It was interesting as it was the least "web-savvy" group I have given the talk to so far. I think it went down well, so I am happy. I really enjoy discussing the web to Judo people as I think it is an area that Judo on the whole is failing to utilize.

Which brings me to the first thing I did this morning. I applied for a 6 month contract with the BJA (British Judo Association) as an events and PR assistant.

Now, you are probably asking yourself "why?". Especially, if you've been following the blog and my other blog over at www.judocoach.com/blog .

The reason is that I am probably the most publicly critical person about the PR/Web presence of the BJA. I have written post after post about their website. I have written to them and made suggestion, some ignored, some replied to, some implemented (although I might add implemented poorly and without bothering to acknowledge my input).

I mentioned the role on my Judo Blog and people emailed me saying "GO FOR IT!"

So I have, my purpose in criticising was/is always to make things better, so I decided that if I want to criticise I should at least offer to be an employee and help them. Given I have publicly offered to take on the BJA website, applying for a job that involves working on that site seemed the only honourable thing to do.

A six month contract is also pretty desirable in terms of my short term finances. As regular visitors will know I am building my own business at the moment ( www.enVirtua.com ) and as you can imagine it takes time to develop a revenue stream, so some regular income would be good right now. After all, enVirtua has only got a couple of clients so far and the incorporation process hasn't even been completed.

Of course there are some things to navigate with the BJA role and running my own business. Not least of all is balancing hours and a working location. The BJA role is based in Loughborough and I am based in Southampton. But I shall cross that bridge when/if I cross it.

---

Today is the first of December and I have my first "big" advertising campaign planned and should start today. It is promoting the Cloud Based backup service enVirtua is offering.

I have been using a cloud based backup for... quite a while, something like 18 months at least, probably more. And it is awesome, cheap and reliable.

I used to backup to external hard disk (in fact I still do via "Time Machine", but cloud based backup is terrific for me. I can archive things like podcast episodes up there and forget about them. If I ever need the files, I can access them from anywhere which has been used on more than one occasion when I have needed something and left my laptop at home.

Cloud Backup means I never run out of backup space. When I upgraded the hard disk in my laptop, the capacity suddenly grew larger than the disk I backed up to. So I had a problem, but my cloud based backup just kept growing to whatever size I need it to be.

The offering I am making via enVirtua I hope will prove popular with laptop users and small businesses. The ability to within minutes be backing up your data "offsite", and minimal cost is really valuable. No ordering expensive tape drives and tapes and waiting for delivery and installation. No having to plug in the external hard disk, just to find it's full.

Cloud backup is great, just click and go. You can backup from the office, from home, from Starbucks, where ever you have internet access. As it's all encrypted prior to transmission, it's safe.

I am hoping that the campaign I am starting today will prove successful and I can get people backing up to "The Cloud". I sincerely/genuinely believe in the concept and the product, I use it everyday and hope lots of other people do too.

---
Playstation Home looks awesome in Beta!
I can't wait for it to open out and the universe to expand. My secret desire is that Sony and Linden Labs make it possible for you to access Second Life on your PS3. That would be amazing!

Hi people from Dartford

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:47:40 UTC

This is a quick note, written on my phone.
I just wanted to thank the people who attended my talk today.

I shall add some links to the slides etc later tonight.

Please do email me with your thoughts now you've had some time to digest the talk. Better yet leave a comment here. :)

Lance

BJA Facebook Group + BJA PR Job.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:39:16 UTC

Hi everyone,
so tomorrow I head to Dartford Judo Club to deliver my talk on Coaching Digital Natives again to a different group of coaches. I am really looking forward to it, I have made a few small tweaks, but fundamentally the same message.

As part of the revisions I did this week for it, I looked at Facebook and realised that there was no Facebook BJA group... so I created one! ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50714858472 )

I created it on the 26th and 3 days latter there are 112 members and 128 pending invitations! Facebook is such a powerful tool to communicate and pull people together and to help build a community. So... go join, now, go!

Still here?

Okay, so a couple of people (one in particular) sugegsted I look at a job the BJA has going ( http://britishjudo.org.uk/home/eventspr.php ) for a Events and PR Assistant. At first I just laughed (and laughed!).

But then I thought... hang on, I spend (far too much) time criticizing the BJA and their failures in just these areas. Specifically in using the internet, just check my previous posts.

It would be an interesting proposition to become an "insider". To do some work under the banner of the BJA. To effect some positive change within the BJA. Of course my outspoken-ness probably excludes me from the role. :-)

So....

What do you think? Should I put my name in the hat?

I would genuinely appreciate your opinion, please drop me an email to lw@judocoach.com and let me know what you think.

Lance

Basic principles for Judo throws.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:49:29 UTC

Judo is all about application of principles, as a parent you can understand the principles without having applied them yourself.

As such, you can help your child learn to throw better even if you have never done Judo.

In this post, we shall outline some fundamental principles of Judo standing work and throwing. If you can understand these ideasand help your child to understand or at least apply them, their Judo will improve.

Balance

Balance is the key to Judo. If you child is on balance they can not be thrown… at least until their balance is broken. So you want to ensure that your child stands in a balanced posture. This generally means standing upright not bent over pushing and pulling. They want to be in a posture that would be comfortable and maintainable if their partner disapeared suddenly.

Breaking Balance

Before any throw will work your child needs to break their partners balance. Once they are off balance, your child can throw them in the direction they are off balance.

A common way to break the balance is with movement. If your child moves backwards, their partner will need to move forward to prevent themselves being taken off balance. If your child moves backwards and quickly turns 180 degrees and drops their weight, their partner will be off balance and fall forwards over your child. At this point your child is throwing with Seoi Nage.

Levers (seesaws)

Back in school you will remember learning about levers, about fulcrums and that sort of thing. A principle of many throws is the use of levers and turning yourself into the fulcrum around which your opponent rotates/falls.

In the throw discussed above (Seoi Nage), your child takes the partner off balance by moving backwards. They then rotate 180 degrees and lower their body, so that their hips are low. When they throw, bending forwards, their hips act as a fulcrum.

Imagine your child and their opponent as a seesaw, your childs hips is the center axle, the partner the plank.

If your child does not lower their hips low enough, then imagine a lopsided seesaw, it will be hard to throw. If they drop low enough, forces are equal and it will be easy to throw. Drop slightly lower and the partner may be top heavy and throwing will be even easier.

Mum/Dad as coach.

As you can see from the above text, it’s pretty simple to see when your child has not gone low enough. Seeing when the partner is not off balance is harder but often easily seen from off the mat.

As a parent, you can coach your child (when and as appropriate); by watching for mis-application of principles. In the example we have been using in this post you can coach your child be observing the following points:

Moving backwards to break balance
180 degree rotation
Lowering of body/hips to act as fulcrum

If you notice that your child is not doing one of these things, you can help encourage them to do them. Especially if you are practising in the living room. If it is a club situation, best leave the coaching to the club coach normally.

Cloud Computing and the Data Protection Act.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:55:24 UTC

Data Protection Act 1998

One of the common arguments I hear against cloud based computing is around compliance and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998. In this post I want to look at the DPA and see how it actually affects the use of “The Cloud” for organisations based here in the United Kingdom.

Before i begin, this article is being written by a IT person, not a lawyer. It in no way constitutes legal advice!

The Data Protection Act 1998, describes the legal obligations all organisations in the U.K. have in terms of handling data. The act covers such areas as data collection, data storage and data sharing. The act itself is “policed” by the Information Commisioners Office (ICO). The act covers both electronic AND paper data storage. Basically of you collect data on people, you need to obey the act. You will need to register with the ICO and follow their guidance.

In the most simple of terms, the act is “supposed” to ensure that all data in the UK is stored securely, never shared inappropriately, and kept only as long as required. The act effectiveness in this area is questionable, with a large selection of public failing (without serious consequences) being catalogued ( ORG Website ).

The failings as I see them relate mainly to the secure storage of data and the sharing of that data. Why the software (and hardware) in these large public bodies has not been built to prevent the ability to transfer data insecurely is beyond me… but I digress.

In regard to Cloud Computing, the areas that relate directly to the DPA and that I want to examine in this post are:

Secure storage of data
Transferring Data outside of the U.K. “without adequate protection”

I shall be exploring this in the context of storage. Specifically in terms of using “the cloud” to store your organisations data.

Secure storage of data

So, this means is the data being adquately secured. Now in a paper world, this would mean that you kept the personal information in a fireproof safe, which only a small number of people knew the combination. The receptionist counld not walk in and read a file. In an electronic world the bare minimum would be storing it on a disk, that is backed up appropriately and secured so only a small number of people can access the data. The receptionist should not be able to type a name into the CRM database and read someones information.

In an electronic world, the data should also be securely encrypted. That way, if a server is lost/stolen, nobody will be able to put the disk in another machine and copy the data off. Nor should Joe the junior IT guy be able to copy data off the server and put it on a CD. Or perhaps more accurately, even if Joe the IT guy copies the database onto a CD it is useless as it has been encrypted properly, both on the disk and inside the database potentially.

In the cloud the same applies. You should be storing your files in a securely encrypted format. The data should be encrypted BEFORE it is sent across the WAN to the cloud. This encrypted data is then stored on a secure host in the cloud, that has adequate backups etc.

If I look at my laptop before me, I keep all the data on the disk encrypted. So not even taking the disk out of my laptop and lookin at the disk on another machine will allow you to open my files. I backup my data onto “the cloud”, I do this via a 256-bit AES encryption mechanism. Each file is encrypted and then sent to my data storage on “the cloud”. It does not matter if someone is “sniffing” my traffic, the data is encrypted prior to transmission.

The data centre my data resides in on the cloud, is secure, more so than my house or office I suspect. It has redundant power, air con, fire protection, swipe card access, etc. Even if someone got in there and stole some servers, the chances are that my data is split across multiple servers. So the risk of someone gettingf my specific files is smaller than if they broke into my office. The data is also stored, you will remember, encrypted, so even if they get their hands on my data, they won’t be able to read it.

Compare and contrast this to the all too common backup tape, where data is stored unencrypted on tapes, often in a relatively low security offsite location, like a warehouse or staff members home! If some gets hold of that tape, they just need to put it in a tape drive and they are 90% of the way there to getting access to your data!

So in the storage area, I genuinely believe that “The Cloud” meets your DPA obligations.

Transferring Data outside of the U.K. “without adequate protection”

Okay… I am going to approach this from the angle of storing your data overseas as opposed to transferring/giving your data to a third party. I.e. selling the data to someone else overseas.

Much like a lot to the DPA, and all legal documents, what they are saying is difficult to understand and perhaps is intentionally vague. My interpretation here is that if you are transferring data outside the UK, you need to ensure that it is secure.

But what about storing you data on “the cloud”, where the disks the data resides on are in Europe or the USA?

This is a more difficult topic, but I again think that the encrypted file storage possible with cloud based storage meets the obligations set out in the act. Although the data has been “transferred” outside the UK, it has been done so with some serious (more than adequate) protection. Of course if you simply copied the raw files onto the cloud, then NO, you do not pass go and do not collect $500.

To return to my laptop example, the data i am transferring out of the U.K. is encrypted on my laptop before transmission. Even if a server techie in the USA gained access to a file, they can’t open my data. So I consider it protected. As only I have the pass phrase for my encrypted files, only I have access, so the data should be safe.

So I believe that the cloud meets the DPA obligations for data transferring outside the UK.

Those of you who are giving this some thought have no doubt spotted some holes in my arguments, what if the data is not encrypted first is the first question I’d raise. In that case, all bets are off and I do not believe that the cloud meets the DPA requirements.

It comes down to implementation (as with all data security, be it paper based or electronic).

This is why I think that people like me have jobs. It is my role to advise organisations as to how issues like this affect their organisations implementation of technology. A tape vendor can easily say the cloud for backup is all bad. It;s slow (it is), it’s insecure (it can be), it does not meet the DPA/SOX/HIPAA (it might not). But equally, as has been shown by the almost weekly reports of data loss in the media; neither is tape, or disk, or memory stick, or paper!

WAFS for remote offices…

As I wrote this post, I started using the example of opening an overseas office, and getting the data people need over there. It’s an example I have practical experience with. I didn’t use it above, but it does raise some interesting DPA issues.

Lets say you are opening an office in Mumbai/Warsaw/Paris/wherever. How do you get data to and from the new office? Do you take a copy of your UK data and fly it over with Joe the IT guy and get him to copy it onto a new server over there? If so, I suspect you have just broken the DPA. You have transferred data outside the UK with virtually no protection at all.

If Joe takes the data on a external hard disk or tape, is it encrypted?

Even if it is, the moment you put it on a server outside the UK, you may be losing control (and security) of that data. The cloud, may offer a way around this. Store all the data on a cloud based network drive that is shared between the two offices perhaps? The other solution (that I know has been implemente by numerous UK organisations) is to share the data from London to the other site across a WAN connection.

The data resides on a server in the UK, so in part it has not been transferred and is being stored securely. A great solution for this is WAFS or Wide Area File Services, let me know if you want to talk about it. Again the opposite argument is tha the data is available outside the UK in any way your control (and security) is compromised. It’s very hard to prevent people making a local copy of a piece of data they have remote access to; be that via the cloud or WAFS.

James Urquhart on Scoble.tv

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:34:54 UTC

James from the Wisdom of the Clouds blog, who I met some years ago when he was with Cassatt has made his move to Cisco and helped host Robert Scoble.

Robert filmed the meetup and has posted it online, so take a look over at http://www.kyte.tv/ch/6118-scobleizer/2 ... acenter-30

Lance

New office, first floor, with a view.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:38:07 UTC

This morning I have moved my office from out in the "dojo" to upstairs in my house.

This is mainly because it is Winter and I suspect my working in a cold, damp 'shed' may well have had a little to do with my recent (ongoing) ill health.

So I have moved my computer desk and chair upstairs into the spare(-ish) room. I tried working from the couch (no good), the kitchen table/bench (no good), the study/music room (no good). Upstairs feels good.

Much of working for yourself, is about acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses. Moving upstairs is my being aware that I need separation from my "home". I simply struggle to be productive if I am sat in parts of the house I associate with home life. The Dojo was excellent as it was physically removed from the house and is still my preferred option. But upstairs in the spare room works for me too.
It is a room I have never spent time in, so it is not tainted with experiences of watching TV, etc.

It also has the huge advantage of being the warmest room in the house, so shall help my health. It will also hopefully help the power bill as it is the warmest room and also has a single bulb (unlike the kitchen and living room).

In the long run, I think I will get someone in to fit out the Dojo as a office properly with insulation and so forth. It will be able to seat about 4-6 people in an office configuration so if (as I hope) enVirtua grows, then I'll have a work space as i need to take people on.

But for now, the upstairs room feels right. It is isolated and quiet. It feels productive, and that is what matter.

Lance

Coaching Digital Natives... Spaces Available.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:54:57 UTC

Hi all,

some of you are probably aware, I am delivering my talk on coaching Judo to "Digital Natives" (i.e. young people) this weekend at Dartford Judo Club, here in the U.K.

There are still seats available and I would love to fill them.
The talk is a variation on the one I gave as a keynote lecture at the University of Bath. I have updated it slightly to reflect some important changes since I gave it in Bath. One of the really nice things about delivering it this time is that many of my examples are now UK based clubs and coaches. Some in fact who have made changes to their methods as a result of the lecture in Bath.

The organiser let me know today that there are seats available, so please do book yourself in.

The day itself is split between myself and a Strength and Conditioning coach, so lots to catch up on I am sure.

Below are the details from the BJA website:

30 Nov '08 Introduction to Strength & Conditioning in Judo + Coaching Digital Natives - COACH REVALIDATION - (SO20-08)
TIMES : from 10.00am to 3.00pm.
VENUE : Dartford Judo Club, Cotton Lane, Dartford, Kent, DA2 6PD.
COST : £25.00 per candidate (cheques payable to BJA Southern Area).
APPLICATIONS : Please send completed form and payment to Alan Roberts at Dartford Judo Club to secure your place.
CONTACT : Alan on 07956 917576.
COURSE ORGANISER : Christ Doherty - RTO.
COURSE TUTORS : Dave Richardson and Lance Wicks.
Email: alanrobertsjudo@aol.com
Click here for entry form

An Internal Cloud for the SME.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:17:45 UTC

I was talking with a colleague the other day about cloud computing and internal clouds and how they impact Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

The abstract is that SMEs have a lot to gain from building a “cloud compatible” infrastructure from the start.

After all, a SME is more likely to exerpience the need for rapid growth and rapid reduction in IT services by virtue of it’s size. The flexibility offered by cloud computing is also valueable to smaller organisations who need IT services quickly and at minimal delay and cost.

It takes time to spec’ up a server, order it, have it delivered, build it and configure it, you can be up and running with a cloud based infrastructure the same day!

No longer need a server? In the traditional model you now have a redundant machine sitting there gathering dust, losing value daily. In a cloud based model, you just turn it off and it stops costing you money.

The first step is often to run a virtualised infrastructure. In the discussion we had, we were asked about the man running a single Windows 2003 SBS server?

My answer remained the same, I would virtualise it!

The moment a server is virtualised it becomes for flexible. The model changes and life gets easier for Mr. Business Owner. Once virtualised, you can backup the server as files. You can snapsot it’s state, apply updates or changes then test. If they break the operation of the server, just rollback to the snapshot.

Once virtualised, there are so many opportunities that were not there before. There is a performance cost, but in a small business it is often not a noticeable one. As the business grows a larger more powerful host server (or servers) can be bought and the original SBS virtual server migrated simply across to it.

Most servers available today could run a hypervisor, it might cost a little more than a server that will run SBS but IMHO it is well worth it!

Lance

3-2-1... and you are back in the room.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:25:01 UTC

Monday morning and here I am sat in front of the keyboard again.

Reviewing my last post, and little has changed, I'm still sick. It's slipped down into my chest, which technically means I have pneumonia! So I am on anti-biotics and not feeling that much better after a weekend of coughing!

On the plus side NZ Rugby was on form!
Both codes (Union and League) were on winning form and won their respective matches.

It was interesting to watch league again, not watched any for a while and it's weird. I find it less sophisticated and less enjoyable to watch than Union.

The Union match was good too, in particular, the second half. It was awesome to see the difference in execution between the first and second halves. I can only assume that "words were said" by Graham Henry at half-time.

It is a sign of the caliber of the All Blacks, that they could respond that well, when things had not been going smoothly prior to the end of the first half.

If anything shouts "well coached" to me, it was the way the All Blacks responded in the second half. They were like a different team.

Anyway...

This week, I hope to make the changes to the Envirtua site I have been thinking about. The more I work on the site and the business, the more I appreciate I was right to leave where I was. I certainly believe that I am going down the right path for where IT services.

The days of "boxes" and "box shifting" are dead!

Physical servers are hosts for services. The service provided by a server in this day and age is simply hosting of service providing virtual machines!

I'll be writing a series of posts along this line on the Envirtua site, even if your business rubs simply off a Windows 2003 SBS server, the days have arrived to not install SBS on bare metal but to install a hypervisor first and SBS on top of the virtualisation layer.

Taraje likes coaching!

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:47:39 UTC

Taraje Williams-Murray wrote a post on his blog about some instruction work he has been doing at ITC NY.

The post is entitled "Coaching IS Satisfying". The title is curious, and maybe shows how an elite athlete's mind works perhaps. Taraje was/is as you know two-time Olympian. He is a fighter, a competitor and like his team member Ronda Rousey, he is transitioning from one life to another.

Taraje, is enjoying coaching and the title perhaps suggests that it is a surprise to him. Which is not surprising as to make it to the heights that Taraje has reached he will not have perhaps been able to explore Judo fully. So has perhaps never been exposed (with eyes clear of larger Olympic goals) to the joy and deep satisfaction of coaching.

I have stated elsewhere that I do not understand Judo people who have never fought in competition. I can't. I started fighting as a kid and have competed ever since, and still do occasionally.

Taraje has done what I regrettably did not, he has chased his own potential all the way to the Olympics, and done it twice! I can not understand what that is like, any more than I can comprehend what it is like to do Judo without ever competing.

But I have become a coach and I am still exploring Judo, this is Taraje's mission and I wish him well with it. I also hope that you all explore Judo fully in your own way.

For me, my exploration is in the research area, I am currently notating the matches of the Beijing Olympics (including some of Taraje's); Taraje alternatively is exploring coaching and seminars and DVDs, etc. Ronda is heading to school and to coaching.

Where is your personal exploration of Judo headed? Perhaps you are on a path to Area medals, perhaps to bigger medals than that. Maybe you, like Mike Darter are breaking earth on a new Dojo. Maybe you learning Kata, or becoming a referee?

The question is, what are you pursuing? What are you exploring? Have you chosen the path you want to take? Or has it chosen you? Research chose me, blogging and creating Judo websites chose me. But I am exploring it as much as I can and so should you!

In Taraje's post title, he states that "Coaching IS rewarding". So is any endeavour you give yourself to fully! Be it competing in the club champs or the Olympics, be it coaching kids or the next Taraje. Commit to something that your choose or that chooses you.

Lance

Amazon AWS CloudFront

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:48:42 UTC

Amazon have announced/released CloudFront, which provides a content delivery network for data stored on S3. With “edge locations” in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt and London here in Europe it means that if you are serving files to “The City” you should be able to provide files as fast here as you can to the USA or Asia.

Of course being AWS, this is charged on usage not by monthly contract. So if you are not serving many files you are not getting charged much.

Doug Kaye and Phil Windley for example seem pretty impressed, with Phil describing it a “no brainer”. Given their backgrounds with IT Conversations I am inclinded to listen to their opinions on content delivery.

The Ocean State International

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:26:00 UTC

OCEAN STATE INTERNATIONAL 2009
USA JUDO Junior Point event
March 21st- 2009

Hosted by: Mayo Quanchi Judo
Director: Serge Bouyssou (401) 647-4678
Sanctioned by: United States Judo, Inc.
Chief Referee: Richard J. Celotto

Registration: Serge Bouyssou (401)647-4678 Or Liz Byrne (401) 647-4678

Headquarters: Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Crossings
801 Greenwich Ave
Warwick, RI 02886 (401) 732-6000 - Fax(401) 732-6000 (800) 2CROWNE Mention Mayo Quanchi Judo OR for online registration go to crowneplaza.com Group code is MAO Room Rates will be $119 per night

Tournament Site: Coventry High School, 40 Reservoir Road, Coventry, RI 02816-6457

Prize Money will be awarded for all senior elite divisions with 5 or more competitors

Training camp March 22 With ..TBD cost $75 per person, Team rate $250 location of camp will be held at Mayo Quanchi Judo 751 Main street West Warwick R.I. 02831

Eligibility:

Juniors - Must have current USJI, USJF, USJA or foreign national membership card. A copy of proof of age (birth certificate or passport) and copy of membership card must be sent with the application or shown at the time of registration.

Seniors and Masters - Must have current USJI, USJF, USJA or foreign national membership

card. A copy must be sent with the application or shown at the time of registration.

Rules:

This is a Modified Double Elimination tournament. Golden Score will be used for all junior,

senior and master matches. The winner will not have any losses. Losers will fight in a losers

pool to determine an eventual silver and bronze medalist There will only be one bronze

medalist however.

Current IJF rules will be used with the following modifications:

1. IJF and Juvenile B matches will be 5 minutes Juvenile A and younger matches will be three (3) minutes long

2. Junior judoka ages 13 and above will be allowed Shime-Waze, but not allowed Kansetsu-

Waza with the exception of the Juv. B and C division where Kansetsu-Waze will be permitted.

3. Junior boys who are ranked on the senior elite roster and/or the IJF junior elite roster

and/or the Juvenile B or C rosters may compete in the senior mens Division 3-M

category (black belt division) only. The other senior male divisions will not be accessible

to junior boy judoka.

4. Junior girls who are ranked on the senior elite roster and/or the IJF junior elite roster

and/or the Juvenile B or C rosters may compete in the senior womens Division 1-F

category (all ranks).

5. IJF match times will apply to senior mens 3-M and senior womens 1-F divisions all

other senior and master divisions will be three (3) minutes long

Blue and White Gis

Judoka competing in the senior mens 3-M division and the senior womens 1-F division

must have both a white and blue gi. All judoka in team competitions must have both a

white and blue gi. One team will be assigned white and the other blue for each team

contest.

Black Belt Competition & Masters

Competitors in the senior mens 3-M division, senior womens 1-F division and all

master divisions must be Dan grade or have completed the certificate for non black belt

Awards:

Note: Must be dressed appropriately in a gi or team uniform to receive the award

Note: Points earned during team competition will only count for the team competition contests

and will not earn points for the club as a whole when considering the junior and senior club

trophies.

Gold, silver and bronze medals for each junior and senior division

Outstanding male and female junior trophies

Outstanding male and female senior trophies

Outstanding male and female master trophies

Junior club trophy

Senior club trophy

Entries:

All pre-registration entries must be received by March1st, 2009

Mail registration to:

Serge Bouyssou

290 Matteson Road

Hope R.I. 02831

Late entry/walk-ins will be accepted at the tournament registration and weigh-ins

DO NOT MAIL ENTRY FORM AFTER February 15th RATHER GIVE IT TO US

AT THE TOURNAMENT DURING REGISTRATION!!!

Entry Fees: NO REFUNDS

Individual Contests: Limited to fighting three individual divisions

1st division if received by March 1st, 2009 $55.00

2nd division if received by March 1st, 2009 $30.00

3rd division if received by March 1st, 2009 $20.00

Please note: Due to junior points being awarded, competitors may not fight a second division within their age group unless it is an open division. You may fight juniors and seniors or Juv A or B and IJF. You also MUST fight in your own age division. Seniors may fight in multiple divisions.

Team Contests:

Fee per male or female team $50.00

Late Fees for any Contest:

Late fee after March 1st, 2009 Additional $25.00

Walk-up registration will be an additional $35.00

Any questions about registration can be referred to: Serge Bouyssou (401) 647-4678 or Liz Byrne (401)580-0604

Make check or money order payable to: Serge Bouyssou

_ __

Schedule:

Note:Friday March 20th Registration and Weigh-ins will take place at the tournament headquarters Crown Plaza hotel

.

Friday, March 20th Registration / Weigh-in for Saturdays events from 2:00 9:00 PM

Saturday, March. 21st Weigh-ins will take place at the tournament site

7:30- 9am Juniors, weigh-in for declared weight divisions (Pre-Registered only)

9:30am Competition begins with bantam and IJF divisions

11:00am Start of Juv, A,B and Intermediate

12:00-1:00 pm Weigh-in for Seniors and Masters

2:00pm Start senior divisions

End of tournament Team Competitions

Sunday, March. 22nd Camp schedule 9:00 11:00am

Notice:

The tournament committee reserves the right to make any changes necessary in the best interest

of the contestants and in the interest of fair play. Any falsely submitted forms and direct display

of poor sportsmanship will result in ejection from the tournament.

SPECIAL WEIGH-IN AT TOURNAMENT SITE:

· Competitors may weigh-in the morning of their event provided they

are pre-registered, and make their stated weight as

noted on their registration form.

· If the competitor does not make weight, they are out of that particular

division they pre-registered for. We will have the brackets prepared

by that point in time for the tournament and cannot change bracket

posting in order to accommodate a missed weight.

· Coaches Make sure your players make their pre-registered weight if

planning to weigh-in at the tournament site the morning of their event.

· NO REFUNDS FOR MISSED WEIGHTS!!!

Team Competition:

Teams are composed of the following:

Senior Male Team

· male weight divisions (55, 60, 66, 73, 81, 90, 100 and 100+Kg.)

Senior Female Team

· female weight divisions (44, 48, 52, 57, 63, 70, 78, 78+Kg.)

_ __

Age and Weight Divisions for individual competition:

JUNIORS

Junior judoka age 13 and above will be allowed Shime-Waze (chokes), but not allowed Kansetsu-

Waza (armlocks)

Bantam 1 (Born 2003)

Female and Male:

19kg, 23kg, 28kg, +28kg

Bantam 2 (Born 2002)

Female and Male:

21kg, 25kg, 30kg, +30kg

Bantam 3 (Born 2001)

Female and Male:

23kg, 27kg, 31kg, 35kg, +35kg

Intermediate 1 (Born 1999-2000)

Female and Male:

26kg, 30kg, 34kg, 38kg, 43kg, +43kg

Intermediate 2 (Born 1997-1998)

Female and Male:

28kg, 31kg, 34kg, 38kg, 42kg, 48kg, 53kg, +53kg

Juvenile A (Born 1995-1996)

Female and Male:

36kg, 40kg, 44kg, 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 64kg, +64kg

Juvenile B (Born 1993-1994)

Female:

40kg, 44kg, 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 70kg, +70kg

Male:

51kg, 55kg, 60kg, 66kg, 73kg, 81kg, 90kg, +90kg

IJF Junior (Born 1990 and later)

Female:

44kg, 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 70kg, 78kg, +78kg

Male:

55kg, 60kg, 66kg, 73kg, 81kg, 90kg, 100kg, +100kg

Junior boys who are ranked on the senior elite roster and/or the IJF junior elite roster and/or the

Juvenile B roster may compete in the senior mens Division 3-M category (black belt division)

only. The other senior male divisions will not be accessible to junior boy judoka.

Junior girls who are ranked on the senior elite roster and/or the IJF junior elite roster and/or the

Juvenile B roster may compete in the senior womens Division 1-F category (all ranks).

SENIORS AND MASTERS

Shime-Waze (chokes) and Kansetsu-Waza (armlocks) permitted in ALL senior and master

divisions

Senior IJF weight classes - _ 44kg, 48 kg, 52 kg, 57 kg, 63 kg, 70 kg, 78 kg, +78kg

Women 1-F Division (all ranks must have a white and blue gi)

Master light, medium and heavy weight classes

Women 2-F Division (ages 30-39)

3-F Division (ages 40-49)

4-F Division (50+)

Senior IJF weight classes - 55kg, 60kg, 66kg, 73, 81kg, 90kg, 100kg, +100kg

Men 1-M Division (rokkyu to yonkyu)

2-M Division (sankyu to ikkyu brown belts)

3-M Division (Dan grades, Elite athletes, qualified juniors must have a white and blue gi)

Master light, medium and heavy weight classes

Men 4-M Division (ages 30-39)

5-M Division (ages 40-49)

6-M Division (ages 50+)

_ __

COACHES CREDENTIALS AND PASSES

Coaches may check-in during the regular registration times. All coaches must show proof of current

coach certification with either USJI, USJF, USJA or their national organization.

Coaches passes are free. A club/team may have as many coaches as they wish provided they are qualified

and can produce the credentials as noted above. All coaches enter the competition site for free.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

During weigh-ins, competitors will be permitted to test weigh on the official scale as often as they like.

We promise to do everything possible to run this tournament as fair as humanly possible, with our main

concern and attention being given to the competitors.

Because this is an international tournament with young competitors from different countries speaking

different languages, we reserve the right to re-fight a match if necessary because of any

misunderstandings or mistakes on the part of a player or coach making what we determine to be an honest

error. We see no harm in re-fighting a match under these circumstances.

We realize problems in transportation can arise due to no error on the part of the competitors. If a

problem arises, please call and speak to one of the following people. The phone numbers provided are

cell phone numbers which should get you in contact with the tournament staff in case of such as

emergency.

Serge Bouyssou Liz Byrne

Cell phone/Mobile (401) 440-0010 Cell phone/Mobile (401) 580-0604

Well see you in March and good luck!

OCEAN STATE INTERNATIONAL

INDIVIDUAL COMPETITION ENTRY FORM

PRINT YOUR INFORMATION IN ENGLISH

Just use this one form for all individual divisions you are entering

Sex:____________ male or female Age:_______

Name: _________________________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________

City____________________________State______________Zip_____________

Country_____________________________

Email: _____________________________ Phone: _____________________________

Judo Club: _____________________________ Instructor _______________________

National Judo Organization: _________________ Membership Number _________________

MARK (circle) YOUR DIVISION(s)

Bantam 1 (Born 2003) Bantam 2 (Born 2002) Bantam 3 (Born 2001)

Intermediate 1 (Born 1999-2000) Intermediate 2 (Born 1997-1998)

Juvenile A (Born 1995-1996) Juvenile B (Born 1993-1994) IJF Junior (Born 1990 or later)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Senior Women 1-F Division (all ranks) Master Women 2-F Division (ages 30-39)

Master Women 3-F Division (ages 40-49) Master Women 4-F Division (age 50+)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Senior Men 1-M Division (rokkyu to yonkyu) Senior Men 2-M Division (sankyu to ikkyu)

Senior Men 3-M Division (Dan grades, Elite athletes, qualified juniors)

Master Men 4-M Division (ages 30-39) Master Men 5-M (ages 40-49)

Master Men 6-M Division (ages 50+)

ENTRY FEE

1st division $_________

2nd division $_________

3rd division $_________

TOTAL $_________

OCEAN STATE INTERNATIONAL

TEAM COMPETITION ENTRY FORM

PRINT YOUR INFORMATION IN ENGLISH

Name of Team: _________________________________________________________________

City____________________________ State______________

Country_____________________________

Email: _____________________________ Phone: _____________________________

Judo Club/Team: _____________________________

Instructor _______________________

National Judo Organization: _________________

Teams are composed of the following:

Senior Male Team

· male weight divisions (55, 60, 66, 73, 81, 90, 100 and 100+Kg.)

Senior Female Team

· female weight divisions (44, 48, 52, 57, 63, 70, 78, 78+Kg.)

List your team members and their weight class

Male Team _______ or Female Team _______

Weight Class Competitor

Submit fee for team competition as previously explained. Entry Fee $______________

Substitutions will be permitted with adequate advanced noticed provided the substitute competitor is

registered and properly weighed in.

Camp Application

Sex:____________ male or female Age:_______ approx weight_____________

Name: _________________________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________________________

City____________________________State______________Zip_____________

Country_____________________________

Email: _____________________________ Phone: _____________________________

Judo Club: _____________________________ Instructor

Camp fee will be $75 per person

Special team rate of $250 for entire teams attending

COMPETITORS MUST COMPLETE AND SUBMIT !!!

WARNING, WAIVER AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY, AGREEMENT TO PARTICIPATE

AND NON-BLACK BELT COMPETITOR WAIVER

In consideration of being permitted to participate in any way, including travel to and from, Ocean State

International, and related events and activities of United States Judo, Inc., United States Judo Federation, United

States Judo Association, Mayo Quanchi Judo, La Salle Academy and all tournament staff and referees, I hereby:

1. Acknowledge that I am familiar with the sport of Judo and understand the rules governing the sport of

Judo.

2. Agree that, prior to participating, I will inspect the mats, equipment, facilities, competition pools or

divisions, and the elimination or scoring system to be used, and if I believe anything is unsafe or beyond

my capability, I will immediately advise my coach, supervisor and/or a tournament official of such

conditions and refuse to participate.

3. Acknowledge and fully understand that I will be engaging in a contact sport that might results in serious

injury, including permanent disability or death, and severe social and economic losses due not only to my

own actions, inactions or neglect, but also to the action, inactions negligence of others, the rules of the sport

of Judo, or conditions of the premises or of any equipment used. Further I acknowledge that there may be

other risks not known to me or not reasonably foreseeable at this time.

4. Knowing the risks involved in the sport of Judo, I assume all such risks and accept personal responsibility

for the damages following such injury, permanent disability, or death.

5. Release, waive, discharge and covenant not to sue the United States Judo, Inc., United States Judo

Federation, United State Judo Association, Ocean State International, Mayo Quanchi Judo and La Salle

Academy, together with their affiliated clubs, their respective administrators, directors, agents, coaches,

and other employees or volunteers of the organization, event officials, medical personnel, other

participants, their parents, guardians, supervisors and coaches, sponsoring agencies, sponsors, advertisers,

and if applicable, owners, lessors and lessees of premises used in conducting the event, all of whom are

hereinafter referred to as releasee, from any and all claims, demands, losses, or damages on account of

injury, including permanent disability and death or damage to property, caused or alleged to be caused in

whole or in part by the negligence of the releasee or otherwise to the fullest extent permitted by law.

I HAVE READ THE ABOVE WARNING, WAIVER, AND RELEASE, UNDERSTAND THAT I GIVE UP

SUBSTANTIAL RIGHTS BY SIGNING IT, AND KNOWING THIS, SIGN IT VOLUNTARILY. I AGREE

TO PARTICIPATE KNOWING THE RISKS AND CONDITIONS INVOLVED AND DO SO ENTIRELY

OF MY OWN FREE WILL. I AFFIRM THAT I AM AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE, OR IF I AM UNDER

18 YEARS OF AGE, I HAVE OBTAINED THE REQUIRED CONSENT OF MY PARENT/GUARDIAN AS

EVIDENCED BY THEIR SIGNATURE BELOW.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Participant (print name) Participant Signature Date

FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS OF PARTICIPANTS OF MINORITY AGE

(UNDER AGE 18 AT TIME OF REGISTRATION)

This is to certify that I, as parent/guardian with legal responsibility for this participant, do consent and agree to

his/her release, as provided above, of all the Releasees, and, for myself, my heirs, assigns, and next of kin, I release

and agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Releasees from any and all liabilities incident to my minor childs

involvement or participation in these programs as provided above, even if arising from their negligence, to the

fullest extent permitted by law. I have instructed the minor participant as to the above warnings and conditions and

their ramifications.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian (print name) Parent/Guardian Signature Date

ALL NON BLACK-BELT COMPETITORS IN THE SENIOR WOMENS 1-F DIVISION, SENIOR MENS

3-M DIVISION AND ALL WOMEN AND MEN MASTER DIVISIONS MUST HAVE CERTIFICATE

BELOW SIGNED AND A COPY OF THEIR INSTRUCTORS/COACHES BLACK-BELT CERTIFICATE

MAILED WITH THE APPLICATION

I, (name of instructor/coach)________________________________________, a Shodan or higher recognized by a

national governing body of Judo, certify that the able athlete, although not having been award the rank of Shodan or

higher, is of sufficient aptitude and skill in Judo to compete in this event and division.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Signature of Instructor/Coach Date

DONT FORGET TO ATTACH A COPY OF:

1. Proof of age (copy of birth certificate or passport)

2. Copy of membership card with national organization

Add Booklet

Inside front cover $300.

Back cover $250.

Full page $200.

Half page $150.

Quarter page $75.

Eight page $50.

Please send your add and money by February 15th, 2009. We will be going to print by March 1st.

Send your add to Liz Greco. 50 Umiak Ave, Jamestown R.I. 02835

Attention Referees

All referees that are pre-registered with Serge Bouyssou will receive payment for refereeing and hotel reimbursement for ½ occupancy . To register simply contct Serge Bouyssou at judocoach@cox.net. You are responsible for making your own hotel reservations. Payment will be made to you after the conclusion of the finals.

Thank you

Serge Bouyssou

Mayo Quanchi

Sales Booth Registration

Name_______________________________________________

Company ____________________________________________

Fee for sales booth is $200 due by March 1st, 2009

The Ocean State International after tournament dinner & party will be Sunday at 5pm. All are welcome.

Please let us know if you plan to attend and how many you will have in your group. We will have a 300 person maximum at this event. Write to Serge Bouyssou, judocoach@cox.net for your reservation.

Danger! Danger! ManFlu!

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:34:41 UTC

As regular followers may have noticed, I have been pretty quite the last week or so.

I have caught the cold my son had (he was off school for 4 days), and it's kicking my butt. Nasty nasty bug this one, I've been coughing so much and for so long that I ache and each cough is awful!

It has also affected my productivity pretty badly too I am ashamed to say.

Normally when I get sick I just go to work and get on with things. Sadly, being based at home I have been slack and not working as hard as I should have. Not good!

It meant I have missed getting across to University of Bath on Monday as I had hoped and Camberley Judo Club on Wednesday.

Today I am heading off to see my accountant to collect the paperwork to incorporate enVirtua.

I shall probably try and blog later today.

Australasian Masters...

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:38:06 UTC

Hi to all Judoka

Australasian Masters Games - Team Event

The Australasian Masters Games will be held in Geelong, Victoria on the 27th and 28th February 2009. In addition to individual shiai and kata events there will be a Masters Team Event.

Each Australian State and New Zealand are being asked to encourage as many Masters Judoka as possible to come along - a Master Judoka is a player over the age of 30 years.

Ideally teams will made up using the standard IJF weights and World Masters age categories - however it is likely that a certain amount of amalgamation will be required to make Teams. Using this method the World Masters Championships developed from a competition of 120 Judoka in 1998 to a competition of 1500 judoka in 2008.

All levels of players will be welcome. This is a good opportunity for judoka of all ages and grades to enter a fun tournament where they will get the fairest opportunity possible to compete against their peers.

Masters judo is growing around the world and if this competition is successful it will encourage players from the other Unions to enter in the future - it is worth persuading your friends to train!

Information for the Games can be found at the following site

www.australasianmasters.com

Is my child the next Olympic Champion?

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:35:56 UTC

So you little Jane or John just loves Judo and looks really good at it, but are they “Good“.
Are they better than average, are they a potential champion?

The short answer is sadly… NO.

Statistically speaking, the odds are severely stacked against your child being a world champion. There are a tiny number of champions and a huge number of people that are not champions. Remember, if the goal is Olympic Gold; then there are only 14 champions every 4 years. Lets look at this closer, if you have a child who is a female 48kg fighter for example, there is only 1 person every 4 years. But there are millions of people doing Judo, so it is unlikely that your child is a future Olympic Champion.

To further dash your hopes, unless you are reading this post from Japan, Korea, China, France or Cuba, the chances are even less likely that your daughter will win a Olympic Gold. Sorry!

So why am I destroying your dreams?

Because you have to be realistic and it may be worth considering not even trying to be a champion! Seriously, every player, parent and coach needs to look at a player and consider the commitment and pain involved in trying to be the best and weigh that against not trying.

Especially as the parent you need to find what is best for your son or daughter in the long-term. Is chasing Olympic gold what is in their best interest? Or should they go to University and become a doctor? Judo is hard and the rewards are few, your son will not be earning millions as a World Champion in Judo. After it’s all over, they’ll need to come back to the world most of us live in and get a job etc.

All that said, your five year old may well have everything it takes to make it!

Until this year, an American woman had never won an Olympic medal in Judo. It would have been easy for Ronda Rousey to decide that there was no point even trying, but she did and she now has a place in Judo history and will forever be the first US woman to win a medal in Olympic Judo history.

Maybe you daughter is going to be the first person to win Olympic gold in judo for your country? Maybe your son will win more World titles than anyone else in History? Maybe they’ll be come a legend in the sport.

If they don’t try they’ll never know.

The awesome legend of Ice Hockey, Wayne Gretzky is credited with the quote:

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”

If your child never trys to be their best, they (and you) will never know if they had what it takes to make it.
As a parent, you are concerned with ensuring that your child achieves the absolute best they can in life. Maybe Judo is the area where your child will achieve their greatest accomplishments. Only you and your child can decide that.

So… maybe they are, maybe they are not.
But there are clues you can look for. Some indicators (arguably) that your child will “make it”, are:

They are obsessed/passionate about Judo.
They love the practise as much as the fighting
They practise more and harder than anyone else… without being told to.
They win everything they enter.
They lose everything, but come back for more!
They hate losing.
They train with the best coaches and players in the world.

You’ll notice that there is no physical attributes listed. Being able to do 100 chinups at six years old is not an indicator that your child will win a gold. The mental attributes are often regarded as more important than the physical. And the proof may be the number of champions who have won their title whilst injured.

If you think your child has the seeds of greatness, then talk to their coach. Ask them to realistically assess if your child has potential. Remember the odds are stacked heavily against them being “that good”, but I would say it is almost always worth trying!

VMware AppSpeed a brief summary.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:32:27 UTC

AppSpeed, is a new product (in Beta) from VMware.
The guys on the VMware Community Roundtable Podcast recently discussed the product with Asaf Wexler, former CTO of B-hive and now Sr Director of R&D at VMware. It is well worth listening too yourself, but I thought it might be of interest to summarise it here too.

VMWare AppSpeed (Formerly B-hive Conductor).
Application monitoring of Performance
Assure application service levels

Features/Functionality:
Looks at network traffic Passive monitoring of traffic on internal vswitch (port 4095)
1. Application mapping
2. Map transactions of applications. Map user transactions to servers/applications.

Concerns over security, promiscuous mode cards/switches.

How much thu-put and overhead?
- Three probes to three switches
- Performance impact:

What does AppSpeed provide you info wise?

Can it span hosts? If a an application goes across ESX hosts?
Probes + “Brain”
How many hosts can it cover: 50 hosts.
Bandwidth issues.

Useful for single VM application?
Only end-user measurement in that case.

If across VMs, then you can measure performance of communications between tiers.

Protocol based.

—-

AppSpeed looks very much like products like Mazu and Netuitive. Though being a VMware product we can expect it to be able to target VMware more specifically. Monitoring and alerting of issues is a good idea, but I don’t at this stage think that AppSpeed is the best way to go. There are plenty of alternatives that are perhaps more holistic and able to provide a broader picture of your entire infrastructure.

The guys on the podcast rightly grilled Asaf about the security implications of having to use “Promiscuous” mode on you LAN. Also there was some hard questioning about the number of AppSpeed nodes you would need to monitor a large infrastructure as AppSpeed is limited to monitoring 3 virtual switches per VM, so if you are making extensive use of virtual switches you’ll need a lot of AppSpeed nodes.

All this said, AppSpeed is only in Beta. So we shouldn’t judge it based on the present incarnation.

To me, AppSpeed is like several of the ancillary products VMWare does around ESX.
They generally asnwer a specific requirement, rather than providing abroad functionality that all VMware users will want. So I am sure there are people that need AppSpeed badly.

Thinking about the Cloud.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:09:35 UTC

On Thursday I attended CloudCamp London, it was a fantastic event, so first a "shout out" to Chris & Alexis from CohesiveFT.

It was attended by 200+ people which was quite impressive to say the least. The format was 5 minute lightning talks which was a good format and some of the speakers were terrific. Some less so. Afterward there were "openspaces" sessions where we were able to discuss some selected topics, I was in the "Interoperability and Standards" session.

It was terrific to see that level of interest in Cloud Computing and it really made me realise I should stick with my gut decision to focus in this area. I have been moving in other directions, now I am encouraged to remain more focused on this area.

It is also a great thought provoker.
The discussions and talks are interesting and show how little progress we have actually made towards real Cloud Computing. How few people have implemented solution and how much fear there is. Some of course justified.

It also made me think we have a very immature view of what "The Cloud" is; or will be. Most things seem to be about extending hardware virtualisation, with a small amount of "services". But even that is limited to things like Google AppEngine, SalesForce etc.

Amazon seems to have the biggest lead in extending the Cloud area. EC2 and S3 are the obvious leaders in the cloud. But i think that the other AWS services such as SimpleDB and SQS are pushing into interesting areas. For that matter so is Mechanical Turk! :-)

What other areas of computing can be pushed to the cloud? DB obviously, but what about a HUGE MySQL cluster in the cloud?

I am enamored with Freshbooks (as you know) at the moment. One of the features is the service they provide to print and post your invoices for you. "Post as a Service" maybe? A big mailroom in the cloud?

I am interested also in how services like IfByPhone might enable more interactive things to be pushed to the cloud. "Salescalls as a Service", I myself am involved in something along these lines, using the phone services now available in the cloud.

I like this idea of extending the cloud beyond the obvious compute and storage areas. What else needs large amounts of "x" resource but is expensive/ineffective/inefficient to have in-house?

Thoughts?

British Interservices Judo Championships 2008.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:32:24 UTC

Today I headed over to Portsmouth for the Interservices Judo competition. The Interservices (for those of you not "down with the lingo" is a Judo competition where the Royal Navy (the hosts), Royal Airforce and the British Army compete.

As with all the interservice competitions, there is many many years of history and pride on the line. The day started with the traditional team events, kyu grades and dan grades. In the afternoon a more standard individual event insues.

There is also a points system by which each individual result adds to a service total. I confess i don't know quite how that worked. Nor what the final results were, I am sure the various service websites will have the results soon.

The interservices tournament is my favourite domestic event. By a long shot!

There is much to sell the event, great sense of importance being on a miltary base. Knowing that these matches have been happening for a long time. Also, it is only military personnel, so the level varies. This is very similar to the British Universities Judo event. Excluding people from attending is I thing something that all tournament organisers should consider.

That said, there are fulltime athletes and international level players attending. But this did not mean they had it easy. I saw several instances where a novice did amazingly well against the more serious athletes.

If I make a complaint, and yes of course there is a complaint coming, it's... the referees! There were some big errors and mistakes; but that's life. These things happen and sometimes they were corrected, though not often.

BUT my gripe for the day is this...
Just because a player lands on their side, this does not mean its a darn Yuko IMHO!
There were several instances of big throws ending with Uke landing (argueably) on their side and Tori only getting a Yuko. Then moments later some little knockdown got yuko too.

Maybe it's the "official interpretation" I'd like to know. But as I remember the rules, its a technique executed with force, speed, control where they land "mainly on the back" that scores Ippon. If one element is missing it is Wazari.

So, if they land on their side I would say that this is one missing element, so Wazari.

I got shouted at by "the table" when I shouted when someone was thrown in one of the bigger throws of the day (a standing Ippon Seoi) and only got Yuko. "They" stated it was because it was because he landed on his side.

Now maybe this is the official interpretation, though I doubt it and suspect it was just another instance of low level referees being... well low level and getting it wrong.

If it is the offical ruling on this, then it needs to change!

In the occasion I mentioned above, the player threw the opponent from full standing shoulder height. It was a lovely Ippon Seoi nage! The other guy hit the floor hard and fast! he was on his side, though I would argue that he was on back and side. So I saw a Wazari, but no.. Yuko!

If this is the "correct" ruling, then the rule absolutely needs changing and you, I and all of us need to fight to get it changed! It is unfair and bad for the sport! What motivation is there for me/you to try the big throw when it is substantially safer/easier to go for a lesser knockdown that lands them on their side.

What do you think?

Anyway, be sure to visit the various "services" websites:

http://www.rnjudo.com/
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafjudo/
http://www2.army.mod.uk/sportandadventu ... /index.htm

Basic Judo groundwork principles for Mum & Dad in Lego.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:52:04 UTC

Judo is done standing and on the ground. Often with juniors more time is spent on groundwork or “Ne Waza” as it is called in Judo. In this post we shall discuss the basic principles of Ne Waza so you are a parent can help your child develop good Judo groundwork.

In Judo groundwork for children, there is one way to win, hold your opponent on their back for 25 seconds (soon changing to 20 seconds). The more dangerous methods of victory used by adults are banned; specifically strangles and armlocks.

The reason that you have to hold your opponent down for 20/25 seconds is that the goal is to “control” your opponent, not just to get them on their back briefly (such as in wrestling for example).

So when learning Ne Waza, it is important to keep the idea of control in mind. The goal is not to immobilize, or crush, or tie someone in a knot. The goal is to control your opponent to keep them on their back.

As always, Judo is not a game of pure strength. Simply using muscles to try and hold down a person is not most effective. Good principles and technique will win over strength alone. As a parent you want to encourage your child not to use strength, rather to learn good principles.

On this subject, letting your child practice on you on the living room floor is a great idea. In part because your child is not likely to have the strength to hold you down. So good technique/principles will be more effective.

So, what are SOME the basic principles of Ne Waza?

The Lego picture above is in fact a good example of good Judo groundwork principles.
The “player” in white is holding down the “player” in blue; lets look at what the player in white is doing right…

On Top.
Basic, but suprisingly often done wrong. To hold someone down, it is immensely helpful to have your weight bearing down directly onto your opponent. In the picture above, I would suggest that white moves their weight forward a little more perhaps.

A good “key point” for this is the phrase “chest to chest“. If your childs sternum is directly over their opponents sternum, they are generally in a good position.

At right angles.
The storm trooper above is lying at right angles to the player in Blue. This helps prevent the person being held down from turning over.

Hips Down.
The white players hips are on the floor, not up in the air. This means his/her centre of gravity is kept low, minimising the chances of the person on top getting turned over.

There is one more very fundamental principle that the player in white is NOT doing in this picture. And this would be holding on tight !

CloudCamp London II

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:20:01 UTC

Event: London CloudCamp

Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008 from 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM (GMT)

Location:
The Crypt, Clerkenwell Green, London
The Crypt, St James Church
Clerkewell Close
Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0EA
United Kingdom

http://londoncloudcamp.eventbrite.com/

The event is sold out and enVirtua will be represented there by Lance Wicks.
If you are attending say hello to Lance as he’ll be there from mid afternoon helping setup for this the second cloudcamp in London.

The Matrix Parody.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:04:03 UTC

You've probably seen this one, but in case you haven't this is a really sharp piece of satire. What if the Matrix was running on Windows XP?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I came across it via Popey's blog (who found it here)and the original is here. Like the man says, hang in there till the punchline at the very end.

New IJF rules... again.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:58:42 UTC

The IJF has been testing new rules for competition, these were trialed at the 2008 Junior World Champs. (Podcast about it here and here).

Since the event in October, the IJF has published some more documents in regard to the rules; including on the (new) gi measuring device.

I couldn't on first glance see them anywhere on the IJF website ( www.ijf.org ) but to save you some surfing I am putting them here/below:

2008 Ijf Ref New Rules Wc Bangkok'08 Final Tested

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Sport Judo

2008 IJF REF Rules Kumi-Kata 1

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Sport

2008 IJF REF Rules Negative 2

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Sport

How to Use Sokuteiki

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Sport

Sokuteiki Rule Eng Spa Fre

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Sport

Please post your thoughts in the comments.

** Those of you reading this in a feedreader or on www.PlanetJudo.com the documents may not be visible so please come to http://www.judocoach.com/blog/index.php ... 112-095842 to see them. ***

Unboxing the Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone 3G.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:22:23 UTC

About two months ago I pre-ordered a battery for my iPhone.
I ordered the Mophie Juice Pack and it arrived today! (And by the way, I love battery pwered devices that show up with some charge like this one did!)

On first impressions, I like it, it does add a lot of weight to my iPhone, but it’s a comfortable weight. The design also makes the weight sit low, so it all seems to balance nicely in my hand. It doubles (roughly) the depth of your phone so not so smooth coming in and out of pockets. That said if it gives the durations they list online I’ll be happy.

Standby Time – Up to 350 hours
Talk Time – Up to 6 hours on 3G | Up to 12 hours on 2G
Internet Use – Up to 6 hours on 3G | Up to 7 hours on Wi-Fi
Audio Playback – Up to 28 hours
Video Playback – Up to 8 hours

So here is a small “uboxing” photo collection, I shall update you as to my impressions of it in a week or two.

Back... note the battery indicator

TDD with Perl, Episode 2 - Getting Started.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:39:03 UTC

Test Driven Development or TDD is a increasingly common phrase and idea that you need to get your head around. The concept here is that you write pieces of software that tests the actual software you are writing.

The idea is that for every subroutine you write, you write a test (or several tests actually) that proves it works. In the purest methodology you write the test first, then the code. But for someone new to it, this is not realistic. That said, the sooner you start writing tests, the more sense it makes and the easier the process.

So how do you begin? Well that is what we cover here, Basically what we will do is create a "Smoke Test" script and a bunch of generic tests and also start of testing some of your subroutines. What I include here is based heavily on .......

What is a smoke test?
Okay, here is my take on what smoke testing is. A smoke test is basically a script that runs a bunch of other tests. The idea being that it'll test all your other tests and come back saying all is well. Your smoke test will be run all the time just to give you confidence that everything is well with your project. Think of it as a summary of all your other tests.

How do I start smoke testing?
Basically you need a smoketest script (mine is called smoke_test.pl) and some .t test scripts. So lets start with the smoketest script, heres mine as an example:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use File::Find::Rule;
use Test::Harness qw(&runtests);
 
my $rule = File::Find::Rule->new;
$rule->or(
   $rule->new->directory->name('CVS')->prune->discard,
   $rule->new->file->name( '*.t' )
);
my @start = @ARGV ? @ARGV : '.';
my @files;
for ( @start ) {
   push( @files, (-d) ? $rule->in($_) : $_ );
}
 
runtests(@files);

You "should" be able to cut and paste this into a file and save it as smoke_test.pl. Next you need a test script, here is one I have:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use File::Find::Rule;
use Test::More qw(no_plan);
 
sub check {
 my $filename = shift;
 local $/ = undef;
 open( my $fh, $filename ) or
   return fail( "Couldn't open $filename: $!" );
 my $text = <$fh>;
 close $fh;
 like( $text, qr/use strict;/,
   "$filename uses strict" );
} # check()
 
 
my $rule =  File::Find::Rule->new;
 $rule->file;
 $rule->name( '*.pm', '*.pl' );
 
 
my @files = $rule->in( './');
for (@files){
check($_);
}

You can cut and paste this into a file called say use_strict.t and save it.

Run you smoke_test.pl script (perl smoke_test.pl) and it should run the use_strict.t test on every .pm file in that and sub directories. Now, if the only code you have in this directory, your smoke test will fail... that's ok, its what should happen at this point.

If you look at the output of the smoke test you should be able to see that smoke_test.pl failed the use_strict test, which is right as at the moment it does not have "use strict;" near the top. Go add it just above use "File::Find::Rule;" and re-run the smoke test. Hopefully it will now pass.

Congratulations!
You have now done your first bit of test driven development TDD. Your use_strict test pointed out a flaw in your code (you didn't have "use strict;" in your smoke test). You corrected the error and now you test passes.

So whats next?
Best practise says we should use "Use warnings;" in our code too, so lets test that we are doing that. Here is my example use_warnings.t file, feel free to cut and paste:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use File::Find::Rule;
use Test::More qw(no_plan);
 
sub check {
 my $filename = shift;
 local $/ = undef;
 open( my $fh, $filename ) or
   return fail( "Couldn't open $filename: $!" );
 my $text = <$fh>;
 close $fh;
 like( $text, qr/use warnings;|perl -w/,
   "$filename uses warnings" );
} # check()
 
 
my $rule =  File::Find::Rule->new;
 $rule->file;
 $rule->name( '*.pm', '*.pl' );
 
 
my @files = $rule->in( './');
for (@files){
check($_);
}

Now run your smoketest script again. Oh no! It fails again right? Similar issue, your smoke_test.pl script hasn't goy "use warnings;" in there has it, go ahead and add it. Hopefully your smoketest should pass now.

You are now a TDD developer!!!
You wrote your test first, it failed, you altered your code, the test passed.
This is basically what TDD is all about, you decide on something you want to write/add, before you add it, you write a test to prove the feature worked. You run your test, which fails. You THEN write the code to do whatever you wanted, then test again, hopefully it passes. Then you repeat this for every change to your project. Write test, run test, write code, run test....

But I have not tested my code?
True, so lets do an example of that now...
We are going to write a little module that tests if testing is cool.
Start of by creating a file called tdd_is_cool.pm and a file called tdd_is_cool.t
Inside tdd_is_cool.t lets write some stuff to let us get started testing using Perl's Test::More (which we have already been using):

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Test::More tests => 2;

So hopefully you get the first three lines already, they are basically just normal for Perl code ok. Now, line three... Line three loads the Test::More module and tells it that we are going to run two tests.
Next we add:

use_ok( 'tdd_is_cool' );

This tests that you can load your tdd_is_cool.pm file ok. You can run your smoketest now and it will fail.

now add this line:

is( tdd_is_cool::test_cool(),'1','TDD is cool!');

This line calls a subroutine in our (unwritten) module and checks if it returns '1', if so then testing is cool. You can again run your test (and your smoketest and they will both fail).

So lets write our module, heres a bare minimum for you to cut and paste into tdd_is_cool.pm:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
package tdd_is_cool;
 
 
sub test_cool {
   return('1');
}
1;

Now run your tests and hopefully they should pass!! You are now well down the path of TDD.

Remember, its as simple as deciding what you want to write, writing a test for what you are going to write, then writing the code that does it.

Re: [NoseRub] Re: BriteKite

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:39:42 UTC

Cheers Dirk,
an example profile url is: [link]
And the feed is: [link]
Thoughts?

BriteKite

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:31:42 UTC

Okay I have been tinkering this afternoon with adding BriteKite support.
Sadly I have hit a problem.
It is not finding a feed. :-(
Could this be because the feed is a GeoRss feed?
Below is the service model:
class BritekiteService extends AbstractService {

public function detectService($url) {

BlueCoat integrating Packteer deeper into their products.

http://lancewicks.com/noserub/lancew — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:02:05 UTC

Sean Michael Kerner over at internetnews.com is reporting that BlueCoat is integrating the Packeteer traffic identification technology deeper into their existing ProxySG products. Not really news, more an update I guess as to what BlueCoat are doing with the technology they acquired earlier this year.

Anything they do to improve their products will make me happy as it will make up for killing off the fantastic iShared product that Packeteer had acquired via Tacit Networks. iShared was, and still is, my preferred WAFS solution; even though you can’t buy it any more. It was/is particularly effective at CIFS optimisation and I for one was disapointed when Blue Coat chose to terminate the product in favour of their own WAFS product.

The reporting the BlueCoat are integrating Packeteer products deeper into their own products, hopefully bodes well for existing Packeteer Packetshaper users. As it probably means that development is still ongoing for Packetshaper. And that in turn means improvements for users… hopefully.

Lance

Social Stream - NoseRub Feed

Backup your data for Christmas.

Good Morning Monday.

Hi people from Dartford

BJA Facebook Group + BJA PR Job.

Basic principles for Judo throws.

Cloud Computing and the Data Protection Act.

Secure storage of data

Transferring Data outside of the U.K. “without adequate protection”

WAFS for remote offices…

James Urquhart on Scoble.tv

New office, first floor, with a view.

Coaching Digital Natives... Spaces Available.

An Internal Cloud for the SME.

3-2-1... and you are back in the room.

Taraje likes coaching!

Amazon AWS CloudFront

The Ocean State International

OCEAN STATE INTERNATIONAL 2009USA JUDO Junior Point eventMarch 21st- 2009

Danger! Danger! ManFlu!

Australasian Masters...

Is my child the next Olympic Champion?

VMware AppSpeed a brief summary.

Thinking about the Cloud.

British Interservices Judo Championships 2008.

Basic Judo groundwork principles for Mum & Dad in Lego.

CloudCamp London II

The Matrix Parody.

New IJF rules... again.

Unboxing the Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone 3G.

TDD with Perl, Episode 2 - Getting Started.

Re: [NoseRub] Re: BriteKite

BriteKite

BlueCoat integrating Packteer deeper into their products.

OCEAN STATE INTERNATIONAL 2009
USA JUDO Junior Point event
March 21st- 2009