I was busy googling wii noises all the time while my hard drive was gurgling. Makes it even worse. Should have gotten a clue when the hd was so slow last night. I attributed it to Windows acting up again. What a waste!
On a happier note, Spain won on penalties. Justice done, for the game should have been Spain's. I thought they deserved a penalty and two free kicks from the edge of the box, which leads me to the refereeing. What the hell was the referee doing there at this important a game? Does UEFA have it in for Spain? Not just the penalty and free kicks, the ref had a uniformly horrid game.
Each time Spain made a break, the Italian who lost the challenge would go down in 'pain' and the referee just stops the play and negates Spain's advantage. I am positive that the referee does not have the authority to take the ball out of play unless there is a foul and to see the power go to the ref's head was maddening. As if this were not enough, David Villa gets a Yellow for slipping in the box. He did not ask for a penalty and neither die he 'dive' to make the ref give a penalty. What a shocker of a game from the ref. I hope this is his last game in the tournament.
This is my Arsenal fanboy coming to the fore, but I thought bringing Fabregas in made the game just a bit more open and pacier, and talking of pace Daniel Guiza looked all out of sorts there and Aragones must be so relieved his miss did not come back to haunt Spain. Daniel Guiza is the leading scorer in the Spanish league as is Toni in the German league.How, just how is that possible, both guys have just ambled along never looking like they would score in this tournament.
This sets up one mouth watering semi-final between Russia and Spain and I am pretty sure that we are not going to see a repeat of the 4-1 scoreline in favor of Spain. I hope Russia stay true to their attacking ethos they have shown so far and I am looking forward to Arshavin having a good game. Both teams are suspect to dead ball situations, so this should be a fascinating game.
The other semi though, with Turkey missing so many from suspensions and injury looks to be Germany's for the taking. So who do I support to win it all? Is it Germany cos Ballack has never won a big final always losing at the final hurdle, Spain because they have never won anything or Russia because they are just so exciting, or Turkey because they are not expected to even make the finals. I am a neutral and for a change, it is not going to hurt who loses or wins. What a relief.
]]>Before I leave, it is so refreshing to watch Euro 2008 without rooting for anyone. This has been a good tournament for a neutral, but is it too much to ask for Russia to do well? All teams I have supported bar the Red Sox have lost this year, so I hope I am not jinxing Russia, but seeing them lose would not hurt at all.
Seeing Arsenal lose everything can do that to you, you no longer care much about other teams cos no other disappointment is likely to match it, so hey the Lakers went down, but it isn't a big deal anyway. Here's hoping Arsenal and Lakers do better next year.
If anyone has noticed, there haven't been many posts on the political scene here. Primary reason being John Edwards stepping out early and also the fact that I took the Dem loss in the previous election hard and have no reason to get into the whole process this time. I am quite resigned to accepting the same outcome as earlier. I am having a very hard time believing Obama can overcome Mccain.
But hey maybe 'We can' do it. Wouldn't that be an awesome day?
There, I have finally posted something. That's a huge load off my back.
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No win in five games and well on their way to a flameout today, already down to ten men and going by the track record of these petulant whiners, surely one more red card is in the waiting. Who would have thought that it would be a Manyoo - Chelsea race again, I thought this was Liverpool's season with Torre's addition, but they are out to prove that they are no less chokers than Arsenal.
I am not waking up early for anymore of these paper tigers' games.
PS: I never saw great worth in Diaby certainly not to merit the comparisons with Viera, what a horror tackle, I do hope he gets the three match suspension.
]]>New York City securities industry firms paid out a total of $137 billion in employee bonuses from 2002 to 2007, according to figures compiled by the New York State Office of the Comptroller. Let's break that down: Wall Street honchos earned a bonus of $9.8 billion in 2002, $15.8 billion in 2003, $18.6 billion in 2004, $25.7 billion in 2005, $33.9 billion in 2006, and $33.2 billion in 2007.
Those years were the heyday of the hedge fund pirate, the private equity buccaneer, the 9- and 10-figure-salary quant jock, and other financial creatures who created all kinds of complex securities and highly leveraged transactions, many of which are now coming a cropper, from LBOs to CDOs.
What a deal. Financiers preached the free-market gospel and pocketed unheard-of sums of money—yet when times got tough, they called for a government bailout. "Markets work if participants are at risk to both positive and negative consequences," says Raghuram Rajan, an economist at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. "But on the upside, [financial firms] said, 'Hands off, don't upset the party,' and 'Don't even think of regulating us,' yet when things go the other way they say, 'We need help.'"
To be sure, not everyone has escaped unscathed. Nine months ago, Bear Stearns stock sold for $150 share. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) bought the beleaguered investment bank for $2 a share over the weekend, wiping out much of the wealth of the firm's employees.
I am now waiting for the op-eds which warn us against any knee-jerk reactions towards more regulation which could stunt the growth of the economy. Again I am struck by the tone I see in the press, most of the reporting just seems to be just that, a dry recitation of what happened with seemingly no insight into why we got into this fine mess and the unseemliness of the Fed doing all it can to shore these guys up with no sense of accountability.
And yes Obama and Mccain had responses, the wishy washy non response which got praised for not being (yes you got it right) a knee jerk reaction. No one dare question what's happening, or the establishment.
All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking* in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard*,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the canon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon* lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws* and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon*
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his* sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans* teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything
(As You Like It, 2. 7. 139-167)
My thoughts are with my 98 year old maternal grandmother who is in the final stages of her seventh act and has just lost all movement on her left side among other things. As callous as this sounds I hope she gets her wish of leaving this earth real soon. It is really painful to hear my mother recounting my grandmother's frustration and helplessness.
Run in the shadows
Damn your love
Damn your lies
And if You dont love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain.
I swear I am not going looking for these songs, these songs are finding me and resonating with me. And again this is a really really good song and I am talking about the song overall not the lyrics alone. I have never liked a song just because of the lyrics and it is not about to change anytime soon.
I never 'got' poetry despite the efforts of many people to steer me towards it. If there's any poetry I get it's Ogden Nash though someone (Nayagom periappa) might have told me that Jacques 'All the world's a stage' was poetry too. It was part of our syllabus for ninth grade and I remember that being the most beautiful thing i had ever read up to that point. (I hadn't read Emerson yet). So maybe I am not a lost case after all.
Ali G interviews Noam Chomsky