2010-02-20 11-39-15 – IMG_2571, originally uploaded by Craig J Hadfield.

Went to Morro Bay 2 weeks ago for our wedding anniversary, got a chance to shoot some surfing while I was there.

Craig.

Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs has a great article on his website, a tribute to Phil Harris of Deadliest catch.

See it HERE.

EBob.

phil-harris, originally uploaded by JustAbt-EveG.

I have always been a big fan of the Deadliest catch and my favorite skipper was Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie. His no nonsense, no BS approach to captaincy always agreed with me and he was just a good guy to watch.

I was very sad to read a few days ago he had had a stroke while filming the recent season, luckily he was in port and was able to be medivaced to hospital, sadly he passed away yesterday.

The show won’t be the same without him.

Knight #2 Goes Down, originally uploaded by Craig J Hadfield.

Knight #2 crashes to the ground after a perfect strike from his opponents lance.

The new season of Dot Football begins today in Ernest! Pre-season is over and the dots will be doing it for real for the next 32 days!

Will your GLB team be the Saints or the Colts in Season 14!

Craig.

By Bort

The last day of offseason is THIS FRIDAY. That is the last day to boost for season 13, and the last day to get stadium sections queued up! Also, thanks for your patience with all the league stuff this offseason; I hope it can help give you all some more fun and competitive games in the future!

That makes season 14 start on Saturday, and the first preseason games on Sunday.

I’ve been working with the testers and QA group during the last couple of days to iron out a few details on the things we’ve been working out this last season, and build a list of stuff that’s ready to go. The following is what we’ve been working on, and should be good to go for Saturday:

Sim and Tactics
- Updates to QB targeting method, showing a line where the QB is looking during his checkdowns
- Updates to QB’s “openness check” and read ahead ability to work better in general
- Allow changing of QB checkdown progressions via AI or package
- Slow down reaction time in zone D, to more human speeds
- Increase PD/Int chance for defenders
- Increase QB “scramblyness” to allow him more freedom of movement as if he were super-elusive
- Fix for spy QB to follow QB properly and work better
- Basic tactics spy QB options
- Add ability to allow QB to audible leaving blockers in when faced with a blitz
- Reduce encroachment penalty rate
- Improvements to elusive running style, including running out of bounds frequency
- Add a balance loss effect when being faked by a juke or head fake, making tackling harder after fake
- Allow G’s to head down field like lead blockers on running plays when they are not blocking anyone at the line
- Improve plays that include pulling G’s, allow G’s to turn more easily when pulling
- Improve some of the lead blocking routes for FB/TE on pitch plays

AI interface
- Remove “I (Any)” from Defense AI and replace with simply “I”
- Remove Big I, Singleback Big from AI, since there are no plays with those formations
- Add “insert input here” link to AI, in addition to the normal “add at end”

DPC
- Shift DPC’s flats zones a bit further into the actual flats
- Add option for “zone immediate” to DPC which tells players to rush to their zone as quickly as possible without reading the play

Other Website Stuff
- Quick links to common team tasks on home page list of teams owned
- Video tutorials on common newbie areas
- Build total SP value is now calculated and displayed on player page, along with a comparison to the average value for that level. Team roster page shows the average of the top half of the players on the team.

We are also working on some new plays with the help of the community. If we get some good ones built and tested, we will add them during the preseason/season as required. Check out Stobie’s thread in the main GLB forum if you want to help out!

I have also got one more wait list run queued up to sell the rest of the lv 14 and 4 teams that have not had spots claimed yet, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re on the list.

It’s the off season in Goal Line Blitz and season 14 will likely be the last for most season 1 players, those that aren’t already retired that is. Player decline is starting to increase and the old guys will just not be able to keep up!

Now would be a great time to try GLB, the start of the new season is fast approaching.

Bob.

Water Drop – Natural, originally uploaded by Craig J Hadfield.

Just Water:

Setup was done with my 50D, Sigma 150mm F2.8 Macro lens and Canon 580 EXII.
Flash was mounted off camera and pointed at a gold reflector behind the water bowl.
I suspended a zip lock with 3 glasses of water in it over the water bowl and made a single pin hole in the bottom, this gave a steady stream of water droplets and meant I didn’t have to drip them with one hand and trip the trigger with the other. It also meant I was able to bold a pointer at the place the water was landing, and focus on that manually.

Shot on Fully Manual, F9 to F11, 1/250th, ISO 100. Camera was on a tripod and the Flash was camera right.

Merced River Rapids, originally uploaded by Craig J Hadfield.

Taken before Christmas in Yosemite National Park, just before you get to the Bridal Veil Falls turn off.

Nick Watney, originally uploaded by Craig J Hadfield.

This is a picture I took of Nick Watney, a Fresno State Alumni, teeing off at the 2007 Savemart Shootout.