US Policy Shift
it was announced yesterday that the US would now abide by the geneva convention concerning the treatment of detainees. well its about damn time, its not as if the geneva convention hasnt been around since wwii. and who was more than likely a principle negotiator and deal maker during those conventions... the US. it never fails to amaze me what prez bush will try to get away with and then have to change his mind or shift his policy because the world is in outrage.
World Cup Final
well the world cup final has now been over for 24hrs so there has been adequate time for processing on the events that occured. one cannot make any comments regarding the final without first mentioning the amazing headbutt that zidane put on materazzi. i have never seen anything like that in any sport. i think the fact that zidane went for his chest showed that he was not attempting to injure materazzi just send him a message. while it has not been reported what was said between the two yet, one can only assume how serious the comments were as zidane was walking away then stopped and went forward with his attack.
the game itself was just as good as advertized. the play by both teams was superb and led to a truly exciting game deserving of the final. overall the officiating in the game was pretty good. the only down spot is the red card given to zidane, and while justified, the fourth official saw it on the replay screen. fifa is denying this but it is obvious what happened as no one had a clue until moments later after it had been shown multiple times in the stadium. the penalty shootout is no way to end a world cup, but it must be done in the interest of the players. many causal fans have said this is not the way to do it and that they should continue to play until someone scores. while this would likely happen after another overtime period or two it just cannot be done. soccer is not like other sports where there is free subbing, and unless fifa changes the sub rules there is no way that the players can play more than 120 mins. as soon as they do too many big name players will be injured and then everyone will be complaining about that. what the shootout showed is that the weakness for france was barthez as he was nowhere close any of the pks even when he guessed right. its not as if buffon made any saves either, he just got lucky that frances best three penalty takers were on the bench, zidane, henry, and vierra.
so this leaves us with italy as our world cup champions. personally i believe they are the least deserving of all the teams that made it to the final 4 and possibly the final 8. the fact that they put de rossi on at all was sickening after what he did in the US game. many italian fans wanted him kicked off the team. then you just have the fact that they are the biggest actors in the world cup. just look at materazzi when he was headbutted. you would have thought that he had been shot. he layed there and rolled for a good five mins. its time for him to man up and deal with it. i believe that the officiating this year just placated there diving style. fifa called the games so tight that players were diving all over the place trying to get calls. and to think if they hadnt gotten the pk in the last few seconds of injury time against australia they may have not made it out alive of that game as they were a man down and more than likely would have lost in overtime. hopefully in the next world cup the italians will get in the wieght room a bit and stop being little babies everytime a player breathes on them.
Here's to you North Korea
my tribute to north korea... here's to you north korea... you startle the world with your typeodog 2 missle... and then like a virgin you blow up in less than 45 seconds.... so north korea scientists, keep up the good work, maybe one day you will live up to the expectations that your gaming friends have given us.
Space... the final frontier
it was the fourth of july, independence day, the perfect day to launch another shuttle into space. there is nothing more exciting than watching as we attempt to test the limits of physics and go to places where no one has gone before. the shear size and speed of it all is amazing, the fact that something that big could in less than a minute go from a standing position to over 1000 miles per hour. then just a few minutes into launch be going faster than 10,000 mph. those are speeds that are just incomprehensible. with all the great traditions of the fourth it was great to see something that is truly american, going above and beyond normal, reaching for the future and to better all human kind.
