Policy Innovations - Creative Industries as Growth Engine

Interesting how things work. I posted this pic on Flickr. It was used to illustrate this article, written by Keith Nurse, with whom I work!

Empty seats baffle Ponting

This is so true. The WI has not got the support from the fans turning out. We need to go to the matches and support the team. With little local support, we aren't doing well. The WI team needs the crowds to do well. Jacqueline Cricinfo - Blogs - World Cup Monitor

Empty seats baffle Ponting

Posted by Sriram Veera

Ricky Ponting is used to playing in front of some massive crowds but the low turnout at some matches in the Caribbean has left him nonplussed. The first day of Australia's rain-interrupted match against West Indies at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium attracted only 9000 fans, despite the ground's capacity of 19,000.

Ponting believes if West Indies crash out during the Super Eights, the spectator-count will diminish further. "I couldn't believe there wasn't a full house for the West Indies-Australia game here the other day," he told AFP. "I'm not sure what the reason was for that. But then, if the West Indies do go out, there probably won't be much support around the grounds at all which will be disappointing in a World Cup.

"Getting towards the latter stages there will be a lot of visitors coming in from around the world but it would be nice if a lot of the locals got out and supported the games as well. It would be great for the Caribbean if the West Indies could make it through to the final stages of the tournament."

ICANN Lisboa - Day 1-3

SO I got to Lisbon, but my luggage remained in Heathrow. This seems to be a major problem with this meeting - I've met more than 30 people whose luggage decided not to come with them to Portugal! However, I was lucky and only lost my luggage for 1 day. It was finally delivered on Sunday. In the mentime, it was cool that we got ICANN tshirts in our registration pack. Socks and undies would also have been useful! ICANN Lisboa has some really cool giveaways in the participant pack. I even got a full length apron - to wear while I see what .cat is "cooking up"! :) Now I'm in the Registerfly session. This is really important to the end users that ALAC is reponsible to. I have to do a whole post on that - it's important. Now - ICANN now has loads of really cool innoovatins specially for people who cannot make it to the meetings in far-flung areas of the world. There's the public participation website at http://public.icann.org and they are also webcasting the meetings. Documents are often translated, and there is simultaneous interpretation for people who do not speak English (something that esp LAC has been asking for) We'll see how the whole thing pans out. There are some very very important issues on the table at this meeting. All for now!

Protests against Elton John in Tobago?

The Jamaica Gleaner has a story about and "ArchDeacon of Trinidad and TObago" trying to get Sir Elton John banned from Trinidad and Tobago. He's due to perform at the 2007 Plymouth Jazz festival. This is interesting as, living in Trinidad and Tobago for 42 years, I have no idea who this "ArchDeacon of Trinidad and Tobago" is. Yes, the Immigration Laws do provide for the ability to deny entrance to homosexuals, but then the immigration laws in most countries allow for denying entry to pretty much anyone. Just try to get a visa to Europe or the US as a Trinidadian citizen. The point is that this is a minority religion, a minority opinion. Most people are thrilled that Sir Elton is coming. It's been impossible to get lodging in Tobago for the Festival this year, as so many people are going just to see him. A lot of the people who own villas and rental properties in Tobago are not renting them, as they want to go themselves. My friend who rents villas has told me she wishes that Sir Elton could come every year - business is soooo good. If the country were anti-Elton, would this happen? Yeah, there are bigots in T&T, but there are bigots everywhere. All countries have their share of idiots. If they demonstrate, it might even be good, in that we can see who these bigots are, and we can then boycott them, their businesses, their social events, etc. \