Monday, June 28, 2010

RIP the 96

Hey guys, just a few quick things to talk about. First of all, I have just reached 96 followers.


Most of you may not be aware of the significance of this number, however for those of you who follow English football to any degree, you may be aware of what I am talking about. On the 15th of April 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were killed at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. The entering fans bottlenecked at the gates, causing the stadium (that lacked seating) to become severely overcrowded. Those who had entered, and were at the front of the spectator pen, were crushed by the constant flow on unknowing fans being allowed entry behind them.


What made the situation worse, was the blatant mis-reporting that was conducted by the newspaper "the sun" later on. The publication laid blame upon the fans, rather that those responsible for the correct allocation of tickets and entry. As a result, the "Justice" campaign was ignited, in order to restore parity. The following "Taylor Inquiry" found the police to be at fault, hence granting solidity to the ensuing (and still current) boycott of "the sun".


I happened to be over in Liverpool on the 20th anniversary of the disaster, and the day we trained at Liverpool's academy, was the day of the memorial service. This is a photo of me in front of the "Shankly Gates", covered in flowers and both Liverpool and Everton jerseys in remembrance.


RIP THE 96........................

In other news, I have to apologize for not posting in 3 whole weeks. As I may have indicated, this year is a shocking one to undertake commitments such as blogging, as I am rather preoccupied with exams etc being in my final year of school.


As a result, i may be a little short of posts in the next few weeks as well, so if you could all be as patient as possible, I will greatly appreciate it.


Thanks guys =]

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Foosball Table Pt 2

Ok so an update of my progress on my foosball coffee table. For those of you unaware, I am designing and building a foosball coffee table. It is essentially a foosball table, with a glass top to accomodate drinks/food/remotes etc. If you haven't already, check out my first post on this topic, which should be there if you scroll down a bit.


So since my last post, it appears limited progress has been made to the table physically. Work has been done to cut out each of the goalmouths, as displayed below:




The goalmouths are 76 by 206 millimetres, with rounded top corners of radius 20mm (for all you currently used to imperial measurements, I frankly do not care =])


To cut the cavities, a simple electric jigsaw was used to cut the basic shape, with scoring (using a stanley knife) along the perimeter to reduce chipping of the wood.


Next was the process of measuring and boring the holes on either side of the table, to house the rods for the game. This is particularly important as accuracy is key. If measurements/cuts are off by the slightest, the game will be affected somewhat.


This is a picture of what the mechanism looks like currently:





Next I will need to work out the leg structure, of which I shall develop a computer model in the next few days. I will include that model in my next post. I will also be laminating the playing surface, and further investigating the idea of having lights built into the sides of the table.

If you have any more suggestions, I will be happy to listen to them, the feedback I received on the last post was wonderful, so thanks for that.

Cheers, Loads