Salam Pax is back in the 'hood! The Baghdad Blogger pretty much gave up posting while he was out of Iraq promoting his book, but he appears to have had a high old time of it in London and elsewhere, and has plenty to say on his return.
His London stories make me feel more of an affinity with him than ever. He did pretty much what I did last time I went to London - met interesting people, went out on the town, and loaded up on books and CDs. His non-encounter with Jack Straw is quite amusing.
Tracey Nelson's awesome game stats are back on Paul Waite's Haka! site. Her analysis of the All Blacks' first World Cup match against Italy tells the story of a game of two halves, in which the forwards spent a good deal of the second half standing back and admiring the speed and skill of their backs.
The All Black front row's impressive mobility is borne out in the stats - its strength against the big bruisers will be properly tested later in the tournament. Young Dan Carter's keenness to be in the game - he was there early at the breakdown more than twice as often as any other back - is also illustrated.
It was a weekend of mismatches, and in that context I guess the ABs did alright. The lineouts and scrums seemed pretty organised, and the bewildering touches of skill from Rockocoko and Carter in the second half were testament to what makes this side different from every other one in the competition. But if Spencer can't kick fairly adjacent goals in an indoor stadium …
I was impressed by the way that Italy never lost their shape, even when they were well beaten. Fiji, on the other hand, were a rabble, and Argentina were extremely disappointing against Australia, who didn't look too flash either. France and England looked pretty scary.
As regards the coverage, the stand-off between TVNZ and Sky is pretty irksome. TVNZ is playing most games live, but only once, and most people will be finding it hard to be in front of a TV for the 4pm to 6pm highlights show. Sky, meanwhile, is dealing with the difficult situation of trying to cover the tournament without actually being able to show any of the rugby.
Funny thing is, there is the odd full replay to be had - but only if you can receive TVNZ's trial satellite signal, although most of the time it's just a TV One simulcast. I understand that some aerial installation companies are geared up to provide generic dishes and boxes able to receive the signal.
I think half the world probably wonders why there isn't a reasonable and viable solution to the Middle East conflict: well, it appears there is. Israeli Opposition politicians and former Palestinian ministers have been negotiating a peace plan in a process guided by the Swiss government. The Palestinians have agreed - momentously - to give up the right of return for refugees in exchange for Palestinian sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Israel would withdraw from almost all of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and Jerusalem would be legally, but not physically, divided.
Arafat has apparently given tacit support, but the plan remains but a dream for so long as Ariel Sharon and his cronies remain in office in Israel. So who's the barrier to peace, then? The Independent had the story and a further analysis.
Petitioner Keith Humm has an interesting analysis of the value - or otherwise - offered by Telecom's DSL products as compared to plain old dial-up. It offers some insight as to why the market has been so disinterested in JetStream.
And Ahmed Zaoui has been reprieved by TVNZ Interactive! The "criminals" directory on TVNZ's images server (noted in Hard News last week) has been migrated over to a new home - where its inhabitants are all just "people".