Our Mate and Greens Responsibility

Sitting on the bench, preparing for a game; you notice a player (visitor or club) tossing his bowls from his bench position to the green.  What do you do ?  Whom should you suggest that the bowler be approached.  Or maybe you do it yourself and consider it ok.

Of course, fun play requires a mate to be more
cceptable with club members.

Many greens appear to run toward the ditch for the last few feet because of the continual walking behind the mat, and the placement of the bowls at the mat.  Every club when instructing the new member suggest what should and should not be done when putting bowls to the green. And it is sad to see a club, whether visitors or at home, which does not have respect for the greens.

 

Is this a mate giving green behind the skip ??

There was a time, in the past when bowls was more of a gentleman's game, where the Mate or Second (in Thirds) was the game and club ambassador.  It was normal when two team came to the mat, to find the mate busy introducing his teammates by name and position. "Our Second will be Dave Thompson from Armprior Club with several years experience".  and finishing with his own introduction.
Today, we walk to the mat, shake hands and wish each other a "Good Game" and sometimes finish the game without even knowing the name of the players.  As ambassador for the team, the mat has also responsibilities toward the Stewardship of the Green.  He should be the communication to his lead and second about damage they do to the green by faulty deliveries, and also should be the communication to the opponent mate about unacceptable debits by their players.

The mate is the respresentative of the skip and in communication should be holding his team together by suggesting actions which will improve the game.  If the mat need to be moved forward to protect the green, he should be visiting the mat and suggest to his lead such action.  If it occurs that damage is being done to the green and the possibility that screens will be installed, the mate should know the proper method and communication.

When screens are installed it changes the whole game because the position of the mat can not be changed as rules require that the mat be placed with the mat line (front of the mat) be at the back line of the screen.  No, damage will not be created on the greens with the installation of the Green's screens; but also the inability to move the mats forward as a strategy can also change the game.

Why the screens ?  Maybe fast greens which are more
sensitive to damage.. Social learners ?

Every club should have a Greens Manager who like a Tournament or Social Play Manager, is responsible for actions which help the club executives and greens keeper to Manager the Greens. So often I have seen the game start without the needed protection because it was doubt able if it was going to rain, only to find after a fair down pour the greens were very sensitive and easily damaged.
A green manager would be the individual who would approach the skip or mate to suggest that maybe it would be necessary to place protective screens.

The mate would, knowing his responsibility, discuss with the skip and even supervise their lead and second.  Supervision might be the simple instruction to never put the mat in the same position twice in a repeat of the end because of the sensitive nature of the greens and the wish to not need to install the Protective Green Screens. Who said that the mats had to all be at the same distance. This decision if not taken by the Greens Manager, becomes the decision of the skips (in agreement) and administrated by the mate.

 

In the above question of whom to suggest the action of talking to a player about possible damage to the green, the answer is your team player who is "Mate" for that game. He is then free over the period of the game to mention to the opponent mate his concern when next he notices an action which continues to damage the green. 

Very often the team"s mate is busy discussing the game with his lead and second (in the game of fours) or giving instructions from the skip.  When the front end of a team begins to fall apart because of weakness, either delivery, game strategy or performance, it is the "mate" who will attempt to reunite the team by supporting the skip to the leads and helping the lead improve his performance.

 

 

(Sometimes looking for a blog photo finds hidden away in club photos 10 of 18 on Champion Club Photos)

A Leads as Greens Steward

Greens stewardship is taking a responsibility for the greens condition and maintenance as a club member or lawn bowls player. It does not mean becoming a Greens keeper but being aware of the damage and protection you as lead can do.

 In these blogs I was attempt to be short and tackle only one suggestion of stewardship..  Each club member or game position has certain responsibilities, whether delegated by rule, by the skip or by individual efforts to improve and do what is right.

 



Greens protection with good delivery and bowling step (photo
 http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/lawn-bowling.html )

When the lead places the mat does each mat placement give  a good receiving area for the Bowls? Receiving area ?.  Each bowler has a different style of delivery and where his bowl is layed down onto the green is his "Receiving area". Never place a mat where the debits of previous end are the same area where new debits, if created by error, will be created  



Does a Drive or long Step require a bouncing Bowl ?

 Coaching will teach a new bowler to step into his line of delivery and delivery across the center line.   Usually suggesting the bowl should come to the green at the center line. Over time as new bowlers become long time members their style of delivery changes and the receiving area become further from the mat or from the center line.  A team of three players may have three different receiving area. 

 

If the mat always placed at the same place, on the mat line and center line, certainly after a 12 end game there may be debits or damage to the greens. Even the best bowlers will make debits. Taught to lay the bowl down lightly onto the green, many coaches forget that the front foot while doing the step arrives on the green and digs in to stop the body's forward movement.

 

Although the forward movement of the mat is considered a decision of the skip, most skips will place very little importance on a small forward movement of the mat if it results in  good receiving area for the team members.

 

Several years past, I was playing pairs with Scott as skip and Richard, as the opponent team skip.  Both skips are club green keepers at their club.   I left the debits of the previous ends directly in the receiving area, and to my surprise, Richard's delivery did not  faultier while Scott, my skip, just freaked. His bowls were every where on that end.
 

 

Why ??  I was just beginning to understand the duties of the lead and  I learned that by studing the deliveryreceiving area, we also identify if the bowler is left or right handed.  Here, the debits were made the opponent lead who was right handed as was my skip, Scott. On the other hand, (punt) I am lefthanded as was Richard the opponent skip, having no worry about those debits.

Are you a Alley bowler during the off-season of lawn bowls? Why ?  Because there is a different style of bowling  for alley bowling and often new lawn bowlers may find that they have that "swing around your body" bowling alley style delivery. 

If this is the case, there is always a pivot on the mat which will cause damage under the mat. Another raison to change the mats position a few feet.

 

Even without any errors in delivery, the damage from all 6 bowlers on the same mat every end can be seen when the game is finished..  Also remember, when the Greens Keeper makes a shorter cut for a faster green, these conservation action of the lead and others is more important as we will see faster, the damages to the green under the mat.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Jesus.. Humbug Christmas

Well I just wrote on facebook.."Dear Children, grandchildren.. too late this year.. but write it down for next year. my phone is xxx 999 2245 and sadly I would love to hear from you on Christmas eve or Christmas day.. I love and miss you all and I know everytrhing is so busy.. but plse next year find a few minutes.  Just to say Merry Christmas Dad or Grandpapa. "  but decided to not say that... so I know they don t read here..

First of December the lights went up around the balcony and were on everynight between 6 and 8 until the last week before christmas and there were on all night until I went to bed.
The manger scene was prepared and surrounded by red lights and last night the babe Jesus was put out with Mary and Joseph. 
Last night from 11 to midnight I played on a speaker christmas music  "Silent Night and others and today I played Children songs like Here comes Santa Claus  or Frosty and others

I waited for a phone call.. I even called Tina at 9 when I knew she would be opening the gifts. and with the speaker of the phone wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

All I want for Christmas is to know what I have done wrong.. maybe I have not put enough important on christmas in the past...

I did not receive a christmas card  and waited all day for a phone call.  I am as good as dead.

I gave gift with joy and would not change anything but just that little thing.

Merry Christmas  Dad  or Grandpapa..

Maybe next year..

God Bless you all... I know I can empty my sad heart here because no one reads it.  So maaybe with these few words I kill the sadness.. Yes I have stopped crying.. Guess I got some satification writing this.

Happy Birthday Jesus....  Merry Christmas  all my family.. 

good Photography

Source: space.com via Space.com on Pinterest

What make this a great photo is it probably was done with a old shutter camera.  The light on the mountains need to be a time exposure which gives about 3 to 5 minutes open shutter.. Of course, these falling stars are short and only one or two ever minute.. but over the 5 minutes of course there seems a lot.  If the time of the exposure was too long the sky stars would have began to move. (If you do a 1 hour exposure, the stars all are moving around a centre point)

Time and Numbers..

This Blog is for Kevin and I write these blogs to make my grand kids think.. What do we know about the watch we wear?
Watches like the one here, were invented 1500 years ago, The wristwatch on your arm was invented less than 100 years ago. Soon it is Remembrance's Day.. Well the watch is our gift from the war. The First World War, pilots and soldiers needed a quick method to know the time (for reports and actions beginning at the same time) without reaching into a pocket and the army asked for something to be invented. the wrist watch was invented and used and may service men came home with their watches.
The twelve hours on the clock are marked with numbers. But what are Numbers? They are symbols used to count.
How do we count... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and so on up to thousand or millions. but these symbols (numbers) that we use to count could also be other symbols.
The ten symbols we use for numbers, are zero and 1 to 9, and are called the Arabic Numerals . Because there are only 10 symbols used this is called a Base 10
The Romans who conquer most of the world in the time of Jesus Christ found these numbers more helpful than the system they were using which was called Roman Numerals.
During the time of Jesus, the civilized world was using Roman numbers which use 7 symbols. "I", "V", "X" "L", "C", "D" and "M". Today, we sometimes see them on a clock and watches as. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X XI and XII (12) as on the photo watches. Here in Roman I is 1, V is 5, X is 10 and L is 50 and C is 100 (cent) so MMXI is 2011 and today's date is IX V MMXI. As there are only 7 symbols in the Roman numbers, we say that it is a BASE 7. The Romans changed it because in the Base 10,numbers after all 10 number are used (10, 11, 12, or 21,22, 23,). In Roman some of the symbols only get used later when a higher count is need (like C at 100 where CXI is 111)

But if we worked in a shoe store we would count our shoes in pairs. Left and Right or Gauche and Droite. So when we have 10 pairs we really have 20 shoes. One could say that there were only two symbols for the shoes (L and R or G and D) or this was like a Base 2 counting system. ( so L R, 1pair, LR 2pairs).

The most daily counting of BASE 2 is the computer. or called Binary.. Actually computers work like a light switch ( it is either on or off) .

And all a computer does if decide if electricity (very small) is there or not. So it checks if the bit is.. on (with current) or off (without current) and the computer switch. Because 3 bits are called a byte. and used by the computer to make a word or number. Because of 3 switches or a base 8. Base 8 because 3 switches can be on/ off and create a total of 8 different symbols. This is Octal System If the three switches are 1 for on and 0 for off then we can have.. 100, 101, 111, 000,001, 010, 011, 110.

Lets have some fun Kevin..
A clock has how many possible symbols.. 12 ..Right.. yes we use the numbers from 1 to 12 but see the watches above they have different symbols..I is base 12 because when we see other parts of a clock or time. like the 60 minutes and the 60 seconds we see the 60 is simply 5x12=60.
But our calendar is based on the earth orbit around the sun so the number of days are Lunar.. but our days are based on a 7 different day of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday..

Kevin how many others can you think of that I have not mention.. eggs, beer, What is a baker's Dozen (13). Hope you enjoy this test of Math and the Base system.

Facebook and Criminal Charges

Yesterday's news in the Plymouth Patriot Ledger reported how four young 15 year old girls and .
students at Plymouth North High School were charged because of making Columbine like threats on Facebook. Then on Sept 16th news
(right photo) a police officer is being charged in Honolulu for posting a mobile camera video of a burn victim in a hospital bed on his Facebook page.
How does this apply to students and what they write on Facebook.
As my grandkids are on Facebook all the time and with sometime 100 friends, I think it is time to point out the responsibility they must show... and the danger of not respecting how much FACEBOOK is dangerous.
First,In october last year, a 13 year old, 8th grade student was mad at a School administrator and posted a threat on his Facebook, Then one of his friends (girl of 13) replied to the post and said that the school should be bombed (on Facebook). These posting results in them both being suspended and even criminal charges. The mother, who saw the FB posting and called the police, felt bad but knew it was serious and did what was right. What would you expect your mother to do?? The Right thing ??

We ask, "Who is responsible for teaching our kids on how to use the internet ?". A reporter writing about a Brandon Manitoba student who is facing charges for Facebook impersoning one of his teachers. He says " There is a moral, ethical and legal compound to this issue . "And while parents bear a significant amount of the responsibility to educate their children on the use and abuse of the internet, schools need to take a leadership role on access and education."
Students are being charged but also adults are being found guilty of improper use of Facebook. For example; When a NewMarket (Toronto) father got mad at the Social workers who took his kids and attacked the Children Aid Society (Protection des Enfants)by creating a FB group of parents attacking the organization. He was jailed and although, his lawyer said. " People use Facebook to Blow-off-Steam.
His lawyer argued that "today, people use Facebook today like the way people used to use their DAIRY and did not intend his personal thoughts or opinion to be made public. Remember FB comments are read by many poeple; not just your friends, their friends and parents.
So first, be careful of what you say and be sure what ever you say will be misunderstood by someone.
Today, you can not say. "I will kill him, if he..." because it is a threat. unless no-one hears you. But of course, if you write on facebook where 100 friends can read it.. you will be charged for assult or making a death threat.
Posting Photographs. Who owns the photo ? Who is in the photo ? Do they want their photo posted. Respect.. the word that must apply and Privacy. Everyone has the right to privacy and unless they give up that right by doing something illegal (a crime or possible crime) or legal (authorize publication). When a police officer posted on his facebook page, a picture of a suspect as he laid in the hospital bed in Honolulu and said that this possible thief was burned when stealing copperwire; he was charged for what he did.
And we even find the Police being guilty of imporper use of Facebook. The photo and video above tells about a Honolulu Police who placed on his Facebook last friday, a photo of a burnt thief and is now in trouble. In this case, the photo was intended to show how bad burn a person can become if they are stealing copper wire and forgot to disconnect the electricity. Photos are BAD.
The point is, you may not have a bad intention when publishing a photo. But does the person like the photo. Is it a small child in a bathingsuit and can be consider sexual? (especially if the person was a old man and the photo was a young girl) Maybe, the individual did not like their looks or the way the photo showed something in the background. Example: look at the photo below.
This photo from a news story, shows how Facebook has done good by showing that Rodney Branford was home. When in October, 2009, he was charged for 2 crimes in brooklyn area of NY, it was possible to see that at 11.47 he had written his status comment of "Where are my pancakes" on Facebook. The Brooklyn judge said this proved his alibis of being at home with is parents.. As for someone else using his password on his parents computer; the judge said "This implies a level of criminal genis which you would not expect from a young 19 year old".
But if I was to look at this photo and say that the bars on the window behind Rodney, indicates the type of neighbour in the Brooklyn area . It becomes judgement because I do not know if they are bars. I do not know if they live in that part of Brooklyn. Enjoy and learn to be smart online.

Trust.. "Who can you Trust?"

What a beautiful photo. . That is our Tidal Bore here in Moncton.
The picture is in the moncton newspaper, because over the last year our river had been allowed to make a lot of changes..Some poeple builded a Dam and Causeway about 10 years ago, which blocked the river for 10 years; and now the dam is open and the river is allow to flow and be "A River" Over time things change and we say " Who cares or who can change it back ? Sometimes, in our life we do a wave (or thing) and like the Tidal Bore, where the water comes up the river one wave behind the other wave; our thing becomes a Big thing.. When the little wave with a lot of other wave behind it, seems impossible to change, we must be wise and try to fix it. Don t leave it.
Today, Sept 11 I am working on my phone bill. When the sold me the phone, they promised $10 off for the next 12 months ($120) Now I see they forgot it and owe me $27. Also, I send back my cell phone which they charged me $9.99 and $15 for 1 month of using. I never used it.. But they still charged me the $25. I will be on the phone tomorrow to correct their mistake. But a lot of poeple donot take the time to chase and correct these "waves" behind what was a simple thing..
So be careful. I hope this blog for the older grand children will teach, that you must be wise and not trust anyone fully. Always be careful.

I hope that Samuel and Marie-Pier see this blog as "xibdyaubf" or ???????? what is the word.. all I did in moved my fingers one key left on the keyboard..Simple to mix up poeple with a little mistake. And I ask that they talk to their parents, my daughters, about what I write and I hope they understand. The lesson is what you do has effects which might get more and more big.. Snowball effect.. Keep rolling and get very big.. Be careful.
First, lets get the visit to Grandpapa done. This summer I had a beautiful hedge in front of my balcony door. The owner asked the worker to trim it and in order to have a nice belcony I had to plant flowers..
I am proud of the way the flowers came but most of all I am proud of the photo gallery over the Television. I need to get new photos and with the internet I will soon print them.
I so love my new apt. ha ha

So here is my Blog and like school it teaches a good lesson but can be very hard to understand. When you understand you will say.. Oh, that is strange..
I sat down to type this Blog.. my keyboard has changed. Where the key has "?" on it I now get "É". Where the Key that has " ^ " over the number "6" I find the Question mark "?". Who did what to my computer ? No kids were here.. It just happen.. When computers were first started before the Internet and Facebook the keyboard (clavier) was becoming Smart.. Not as smart as the Smartphone but smart enough to change from English to French keyboard. (I discovered the next day after this blog that the cat had gone behind the computer and the keyboard cable was loose.)
The keyboard would change if you typed "F1" and back to English if you typed "F2" Guess, . Boring...Boring.. not really... This could happen to you.. To your life.. It happens to all of us.


The story I tell here is, we Trust big companies like banks and telephone companies, and like the cartoon (left) they are big men next to us little poeple..Are they honest? Yes the poeple may be, but in today.s society everything is computers and they will say.. "Oh the computer did that" as if it is ok and it will get fixed. "Trust me.. the bill will be fixed" Trust is what makes us good.. We believe in the good in poeple. Especially kids believe adults... Their parents should be a sign of trust.
On TV now, CBC news, is a document called Google World.. Yes, the Google of internet and they are talking about Cloud Technology.. Putting all your information which you might have on your computer today.. "out There". On the internet, storage somewhere.. Like on a Cloud floating overhead, which you can just look up and see.. (or get your information).. Is this too much for children.. Yes, but Marie-Pier and Samuel my two oldest grandchildren are 15 and living on the internet.. Living on Facebook or doing many things which involve the computer.
First, a few blogs earlier I was excited about my new BlackBerry phone.. It is called a Smartphone.
Why? like the keyboard above it was doing things for itself. Tina said to me "You have to be smart enough to use it" which is true because there is so much to learn. Last week, I got a message from TELUS my phone company saying I had used 6390 kilobytes of Data and would be charged $150 for 5,000 kilobytes. I had not ordered a Data package.. Data package is like a phone but the way we connect to the internet. (you are building a data package as you bring this blog to your computer and read it..) But we pay a fee to have the internet and that is what or how much data (information) you can read. Like taking out a book at the library and paying to borrow it.
What happen ? My smartphone was on "Cloud 9" referring to the Cloud technology of Google. The smart phone was using the satillate to get GPS location where I was. It was sending information to BlackBerry. and many other things.. Do them all by it self. I asked TELUS, Why ? I did not ask for that.. "Oh, you should have told us to Block your phone from doing it" Do I pay the $150. I talked with them and they said.."we will cancel the bill because you did not know" but then the credit department send a message saying "You have passed your $200 limit" and unless you pay $120 your phone will be disconnected" I called and was told "Oh ok, your bill will be send to you on Sept 11, and the $150 will be taken of by then.. Just wait until then and it will be fixed" Then my phone was disconnected.. (probably because I did not pay the $120) and when I called it was "Why not pay the $120 and have money for future bills when the $150 is cancel as you only owe $68.. ($25 a month and the Service connect fee of $35.) The lady went on to say. If you don.t and wait until September 11th you will then be charged $35 to reconnect your phone.
Grandpapa got caught in a snowball which keep rolling and got bigger and bigger. I forgot to check and ask questions about my phone service and I hope that I show how things build and build until you are paying even if it was nothing you did wrong.
Because they are big does not mean they don t make mistakes and should be trusted. Take banks. Marie-Pier is now using a Debit card.. it is a small Grandpapa and Marie account. and she is learning to buy clothes for school. Buy things like a coffee at Tim Horton for Mom with money she earns. I give an allowance and even $5 a week for work.(like her room and reading this blog) Last month it was working on being careful what you sayWords hurt poeple". This month it is learning to Not Trust everyone.
At 16 Marie-Pier (and Samuel,) will sign a Bank Signature Card for her own checking account and then her signature will be put on checks, buying things and by then maybe she will know who she can trust. With a debit card she checks what the girl at the cash charges her. When she signs the checking signature card for the bank it will allow the bank to take out what ever service fees it wants. I know of one incident (thing that happen) where I had a balance of $10 and a check for $15 came in. The bank could have send back the $15 and charge me $40 and the person who received the returned check would have also charged me $30 dollars because their bank would have charged them for the returned check. (I would have paid $70 for the $5 missing in the bank)

Yes, I was responsible to make sure the money was there.. but at the end of the month the bank took $5.60 in service fees so the money was there. What I am saying, the computer took out the money, the computer send back the check for the insufficent funds, and the computer charged the $40. ( I talked to the bank and they cancelled the fees.. but I still had to tell the insurance company who received the check returned what happen and they charged me $30 because their bank charged them) Like the $150 above for TELUS, they accepted it was their mistake... and did not charge me.. but they could have been difficult.
I trusted that the Smart phone was just a phone..
. but I knew it was a special phone, I just did not know it could do so many things and end up costing me $150. As children coming into this computer world you must remember that computer is a machine, like a car, it does what you or someone tells it to do. Don.t walk across the road until you see the person driving starting to slow down.. maybe the car is running itself and does not see you.. So that is the story. Be careful Life is like the Bore here in Moncton, the big wave might be a lot of small waves behind it.. You will like it when you visit Moncton and see this wonder of the world