Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Archives for June 2005

Discovering Flickr and AJAX

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Today, I’ve decided to look around for some new web applications using the AJAX development technique.

Basically, AJAX’s aim is to have responsive web applications with maximal processing done on the client using Javascript. When some processing is required on the server (ex. for accessing a database or running a “secret” algorithm), the client Javascript use a XMLHttpRequest object to execute a script on the server which returns a ready-made XML object which can be traversed using DOM.

The main applications I’ve found so far using AJAX are:

Quoting Flickr’s blurb,

“Flickr is the best way to store, sort, search and share your photos online. There is a huge mass of photos in the world, and Flickr provides a way to organize yours, and for you and your friends and family to tell your stories about them”

What is very nice is that Flickr and this WordPress weblog work incredibly well together. In fact, this post has been written in Flickr and, incidentally, the photo has been done by a couple in honeymoon in Mauritius.

Latest rumours at Liverpool

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Since winning the Champions League and, thereby, getting a decent budget for buying players for the coming season, Liverpool FC has been linked with all sorts of players (from rather mediocre to truely great). Of course, most of those rumours are complete bollocks…

Here are some players who are in principle being considered by Liverpool at this moment. Of course, no guarantee offered :-)

  • Jose Reina – a goalkeeper from Villareal (Spain)
  • Patrice Evra – a quick and powerful left fullback from Monaco (France)
  • Gabriel Milito – an Argentine central defender from Real Zaragosa (Spain)
  • Pablo Ibanez – another defender from Atletico Madrid (Spain)
  • Pablo Aimar – the magnificent Argentine playmaker from Valencia (Spain)
  • Vicente – a fantastic winger from Valencia (Spain)
  • Shaun Wright-Phillips – one of the best English winger playing at Manchester City (England)
  • Boudewijn Zenden – a good Dutch midfielder available for free after completing his contract at Middlesborough (England)
  • Alberto Luque – a forward from Deportivo La Coruna (Spain)
  • Dirk Kuijt – another forward from Feyenoord (Holland)

Theoretically, with some of those signing, we could have this team for next year:
 
 
 

         Morientes     Cisse

Vicente  Gerrard      Alonso     SWP

Evra     Ibanez    Carragher  Finnan

                Reina

 
 
 
Fantastic !

Liverpool are in Champions League 2005/2006

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Today, UEFA has confirmed that Liverpool has been granted the right the participate in next year’s Champions League… but we’ll have to do it the hard way as we will begin at the very start, the 1st Qualifying Round!

For those who don’t know a lot about the Champions League, the 1st Qualifying Round normally consists of the league champions of the 20 weakest countries in Europe (a quote from my own page on last year’s 1st QR)

Basically this means that Liverpool will play against one of, hold your breath, Rabotnicki Skopje (Macedonia), Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), Sliema Wanderers (Malta), Pyunik Yerevan (Armenia), SK Tirana (Albania), Levadia Tallinn (Estonia), Glentoran (Northern Ireland), Total Network Solutions (Wales), F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg), Neftchi Baku (Azerbaijan), HB Torshavn (Faroe Islands) or Kairat Almaty (Kazhakstan) on 12-13 and 19-20 July.

Reflecting deeply about this situation, I am in between two minds:

  • Sh*t!!! The title holders need to play against such lowly teams and forgo a very lucrative trip to Japan :-(
  • Great!!! The title holders need to play competitive matches very early and reach full fitness quicker that the other English clubs for the definitive battle of Britain (yes, the Premiership) :-)

And, frankly, I find assertion No 2 much more beneficial for us.

We’ll win the Premiership thanks to UEFA :-)

24/6/2004 Update : Liverpool will play Total Network Solutions (Wales) in the first round with the first match at Anfield and, if we qualify, we will play either HB Torshavn (Faroe Islands) or FBK Kaunas (Lithuania) in the second round…

(Image courtesy of the BBC)