FIFA are already talking about a contingency plan for South Africa 2010. As I recall, Athens 2004 was beset by myriads of problems over construction, squabbling amongst the organising committee yet to my mind, if the IOC had a contingency plan, they sure as hell didn't let the rest of the world know in 2001! Thabo Mbeki, if there's one thing that should galvanise you to GET INVOLVED, it's South Africa 2010. Germany did a good job in 2006 and South Africa should look to tap into their expertise to ensure teutonic efficiency is brought to bear on the various projects that need to be done. For the stadium construction, look to the Chinese as they are experts in that particular field. For logistics, look to the English. But above all, let it retain its South African identity inspite of the global input.
The news from across the pond is that the Chicago Bulls have swept the defending NBA champions aka Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs - maybe it's time for Shaq to retire his size 22 shoes.
Liverpool will rout Chelski at Anfield especially since Ricardo Carvalho is injured and Michael Essien is being played out of position. TTFFUM will see their dreams of a treble crumble at the San Siro - lets hope the second leg is as scintillating as the first.
All hail the clay court king aka El Pirata aka Rafael Nadal who has extended his winning streak on clay to 72 matches after winning the Barcelona Open for the 3rd time. I'm going to put a bet on him winning the French Open AND Wimbledon. He reached the Wimbledon final last year when noone gave him a chance and I'm sure he can go one better this year.
Vamos Rafa, vamos!!
I espied an article in a newspaper last week which said that Iraqi oil reserves are double what had previously been thought. This means the American troops won't be leaving anytime soon as American interests have now doubled. Did you know that the US Baghdad embassy is the biggest in the world - WHY?
The Bushman has shown himself to have a sense of rythm, his own!! However, he seems to know how to hit a drum, perhaps that's because he marches to his own beat!!
A la semaine prochaine.
Monday, 30 April 2007
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Bye for now
Parting is such sweet sorrow,because who knows about tomorrow?
So I'll harness the inspiration and creativity you engender
and hope that when we meet again, you'll remember.
Friday, 27 April 2007
Facts
Einstein, when asked the speed of light, responded, "I don't bother to fill my head with facts that I can easily find in books." Well how he was able to do that, I would love to know because my brain gathers up facts the way a Dyson vacuum cleaner hoovers up dust! I'm especially attracted to facts of the historical and numerical variety.
There was a magazine called Look and Learn that I used to read every school holiday. It was a great source of factual information and here are some of the myriad facts that have accumulated in my grey matter:
There was a magazine called Look and Learn that I used to read every school holiday. It was a great source of factual information and here are some of the myriad facts that have accumulated in my grey matter:
- the speed of light is 300,000 m/s, but so far the speed of thought has not been measured
- it was while Winston Churchill was Secretary of State in 1921 that the Kurds of Iraq were first gassed - do you think that's where Sadaam Hussein got the idea from?
- at the height of his power, ie when he was Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte had a net worth significantly more than Bill Gate's current net worth
- Thierry Henry can run 100m in 10.75s. When Marion Jones won the 100m Olympic title in Sydney 2000, she stopped the clock at 10.78s.
I find that juggling helps with my factual recall. Something about focusing on a mechanical act while whatever it is does the search and retrieval.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Mmm
Chelski want to crush TTFFUTM's title aspirations in their backyard which is understandable, lets just hope they don't bottle it. At least that would allow DD to get one over Twinkle Toes after he pipped DD to the PFA Player of the Year Award. On balance, Twinkle Toes deserved to win it, but I think DD would prefer to win the Premiership than individual trophies - he's the consummate team player. Now, if only he would do something about his hair!!
How TTFFUTM's makeshift defence will cope with AC Milan's Kaka and Seedorf is one of the more intriguing
matchups. Think Maldini will use all his vast experience to thwart Twinkle Toes and Shrek - it will be Istanbul all over again in Athens.
Oh Nigeria, Nigeria, Nigeria, how could you let us down so?! This was supposed to be your big chance to show the world that you can have a smooth transition of power. But instead, we have ballot box napping, ballot boxes being stuffed and intimidation at the ballot box. You would have thought that with all the resources available to the PDP, they would have been able to win without resorting to such skulduggery.
Last Monday, 33 lives were stolen in Virginia, USA and 200 lives were stolen in Baghdad, Iraq. Guess which lives were deemed more worthy of media coverage? We see this happening all the time. Round about this time in 2001, 10,000 lives were lost in Gujerat as a result of an earthquake, 5 months later, just under 3000 lives were lost in New York and the western media and politicians would have us believe that the world changed on September 11. PLEASE, lets have some sense of perspective. The world changed for the victims' family and friends. For the rest of us, what changed was the gradual erosion of our civil liberties, John Ashcroft used September 11 as a pretext to pass the PATRIOT Act which meant that libraries could be forced to divulge what books were being borrowed. Then we had the diversion that is the invasion of Iraq. Now as chaos and anarchy reign supreme, Tony Blair has the bloody cheek to say no mea culpa. In the meantime, the Taliban have become emboldened in Afghanistan and the death toll of the NATO troops continues its steady rise.
The singularly American regard for authority was on display again when a chap took a fatal exception to his performance appraisal and killed his appraiser before killing himself.
El Pirata dispatched the Swiss Maestro in a manner which should make him an odds on cert to retain his French Open title next month.
So the Windies & England wait until they are eliminated from the Cricket World Cup before they put on an entertaining spectacle - its such a shame that Lara was run out like that, but to answer his question, he did entertain us.
Have an entertaining week.
How TTFFUTM's makeshift defence will cope with AC Milan's Kaka and Seedorf is one of the more intriguing
matchups. Think Maldini will use all his vast experience to thwart Twinkle Toes and Shrek - it will be Istanbul all over again in Athens.
Oh Nigeria, Nigeria, Nigeria, how could you let us down so?! This was supposed to be your big chance to show the world that you can have a smooth transition of power. But instead, we have ballot box napping, ballot boxes being stuffed and intimidation at the ballot box. You would have thought that with all the resources available to the PDP, they would have been able to win without resorting to such skulduggery.
Last Monday, 33 lives were stolen in Virginia, USA and 200 lives were stolen in Baghdad, Iraq. Guess which lives were deemed more worthy of media coverage? We see this happening all the time. Round about this time in 2001, 10,000 lives were lost in Gujerat as a result of an earthquake, 5 months later, just under 3000 lives were lost in New York and the western media and politicians would have us believe that the world changed on September 11. PLEASE, lets have some sense of perspective. The world changed for the victims' family and friends. For the rest of us, what changed was the gradual erosion of our civil liberties, John Ashcroft used September 11 as a pretext to pass the PATRIOT Act which meant that libraries could be forced to divulge what books were being borrowed. Then we had the diversion that is the invasion of Iraq. Now as chaos and anarchy reign supreme, Tony Blair has the bloody cheek to say no mea culpa. In the meantime, the Taliban have become emboldened in Afghanistan and the death toll of the NATO troops continues its steady rise.
The singularly American regard for authority was on display again when a chap took a fatal exception to his performance appraisal and killed his appraiser before killing himself.
El Pirata dispatched the Swiss Maestro in a manner which should make him an odds on cert to retain his French Open title next month.
So the Windies & England wait until they are eliminated from the Cricket World Cup before they put on an entertaining spectacle - its such a shame that Lara was run out like that, but to answer his question, he did entertain us.
Have an entertaining week.
Saturday, 21 April 2007
What is it with the Lefties?
What do Brian Charles Lara, Diego Armando Maradona, Rafael Nadal, Martina Navratilova have in common? They are either left handed or left footed and have all bamboozled, befuddled, bemused and bewildered opposing players on a regular basis, whilst holding spectators in their thrall.
The Swiss Maestro had a staggering win/loss of 82/5 last year, but 4 of those 5 times he lost to El Pirata. El Pirata has not been beaten on clay since 2005 and is currently on a 65* match winning streak. When Diego dribbled, it appeared as if the ball was glued to his left foot and opposing players resorted to underhand measures to dispossess him. Martina Navratilova bowed out of competitive tennis after winning her 59th Grand Slam title, at last year's US Open, at the age of 49. Brian Lara is the finest batsman of his generation and currently holds the record for the highest Test innings, the most Test runs and the highest first-class runs.
The left side of the brain is responsible for creativity so don't lefties have an advantage to begin with?!
Strangely enough, I'm right-handed, but left-footed.
*he could extend this to 67 if he wins in Monte Carlo this week.
The Swiss Maestro had a staggering win/loss of 82/5 last year, but 4 of those 5 times he lost to El Pirata. El Pirata has not been beaten on clay since 2005 and is currently on a 65* match winning streak. When Diego dribbled, it appeared as if the ball was glued to his left foot and opposing players resorted to underhand measures to dispossess him. Martina Navratilova bowed out of competitive tennis after winning her 59th Grand Slam title, at last year's US Open, at the age of 49. Brian Lara is the finest batsman of his generation and currently holds the record for the highest Test innings, the most Test runs and the highest first-class runs.
The left side of the brain is responsible for creativity so don't lefties have an advantage to begin with?!
Strangely enough, I'm right-handed, but left-footed.
*he could extend this to 67 if he wins in Monte Carlo this week.
Friday, 20 April 2007
In Maradona's footsteps
Many have been called the new Maradona, an unfair tag if ever there was one, but even the great man himself acknowledges that Lionel Messi is something special. Like Diego in Japan, in 1979, Lionel inspired Argentina to triumph at FIFA's U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, in 2005, where he was voted the tournament's best player aka MVP (John Obi Mikel was 2nd and Taiye Taiwo was 3rd). He also picked up the Golden Shoe for top scorer - Diego was 2nd highest top scorer in '79.
Diego had a rather unhappy time at Barcelona, where he moved after his exploits in Japan, but found his feet at Napoli where he led them to 2 scudettos in 1987 and 1990. Messi has already won La Liga twice with Barça and in Germany last year, he tantalised us during his all too brief cameos for Argentina - it was mystifying, to say the least, when Jose Pekerman decided to substitute him in the game against Germany.
Maradona's 2nd goal against Enland in the 1986 quarterfinal match has been labelled the best World Cup goal, even though the English players seemed spellbound and didn't make any decent tackles. To my mind, this makes Messi's goal against Getafe better because he skipped past some committed tackles. It was fitting that in the post match interview, Messi paid tribute to Maradona and wished him a speedy recovery.
Messi to lead Argentina to victory at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 - you read it here first.
Diego had a rather unhappy time at Barcelona, where he moved after his exploits in Japan, but found his feet at Napoli where he led them to 2 scudettos in 1987 and 1990. Messi has already won La Liga twice with Barça and in Germany last year, he tantalised us during his all too brief cameos for Argentina - it was mystifying, to say the least, when Jose Pekerman decided to substitute him in the game against Germany.
Maradona's 2nd goal against Enland in the 1986 quarterfinal match has been labelled the best World Cup goal, even though the English players seemed spellbound and didn't make any decent tackles. To my mind, this makes Messi's goal against Getafe better because he skipped past some committed tackles. It was fitting that in the post match interview, Messi paid tribute to Maradona and wished him a speedy recovery.
Messi to lead Argentina to victory at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 - you read it here first.
Churchill, Disraeli and Nelson
Winston Churchill, voted the Greatest Briton in a 2002 BBC poll, and Benjamin Disraeli, Britain's only Jewish Prime Minster and the man who did much to lift Queen Victoria's spirits after the death of her beloved Albert in 1861, are to be joined in bronzery by Nelson Mandela, freedom fighter turned statesman, in Parliament Square, after Westminster Council finally agreed on a home for the latter's statue. The Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, had wanted Mandela's statue to be erected in Trafalgar Square, facing South Africa House, the site of numerous anti-apartheid and free Mandela rallies.
....we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.... - Winston Churchill, 4 June 1940
...During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. - Nelson Mandela, 20 April 1964
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