Friday, November 17, 2006

Google maps

maps.google.com já cobre o Brasil, inclusive com mãos de direção. Também dá pra colocar os mapas de ruas em cima do Google Earth. É impressionante.

Google vai dominar o mundo.

Ou melhor, já domina.

Monday, November 13, 2006

All is not lost...


I lay on the couch at my girlfriend`s place and watched Arsenal v Liverpool while she took a nap on my lap. On one of the occasional waking-ups she had, she witnessed Mark Gonzalez receive a ball from an Alonso steal on the edge of the area, then neither cross nor shoot - just do an utterly shitty kick aimed at nowhere - which prompted her to exclaim "Jesus, why do you support this team? They are so crap"

I did not want to start some ellaborate musings on why I have become such a fierce, addicted supporter of LFC. But she actually had a point - Liverpool played really bad at the Emirates. To be fair, at the beginning of the match, circa Crouch`s disallowed goal, it was not that bad. Finnan cleared brilliantly at Henry's foot and made everyone proud. Kuyt came back to chase balls and a couple of his speculative shots were thrilling. But... still it wasn`t like when we play at Anfield.

So what has been happening?

Truth: Away form has been dire.
Home: Played 6, Won 5, Draw 1, Lose 0.
Away: Played 6, Won 0, Draw 1, Lose 5.

But: Away fixture list was the toughest it gets.
Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal, Everton and Bolton are, indeed, the worst places to go to. Of course, if you wanna be a champion, you gotta be able to steal some points from the big guys at their homes, but it`s not like we were being outclassed at Watford.

Having said that, Man U thrashed Bolton at the Reebok, and Everton lost at home to Villa. And 0-3 scorelines are always embarassing.

Truth: New squad members are struggling to adapt
This is not the year when we`ll see the best of Gonzalez, Fabio Aurelio, or Paletta. Just see how much Agger has improved from hsi start.

But: What's going on with Gerrard?
The captain is the person of whom it was expected to lead the team in situations like yesterday. But his positioning leaves him as a peripheral, sometimes nonchalant figure.

Truth: We'll miss Sissoko
Any team would miss the best anchor midfield in the world these days (I dare people pointing me a better one. He's fitter and more effective than Makelele, Gattuso, Gilberto, Edmilson....)

But: Who's his replacement?
Oh Rafa, now we curse the day when you let Didi Hammann, the Kaiser, the German Shepherd, leave. He was so important at Istanbul and Cardiff. Now Zenden makes do at the centre, and that way we won't go far.

Friday, November 10, 2006

"America..... f*** yeah!"

www.borgenproject.org

Very Interesting. I stumbled into this while reading

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals

where by the way I ended up while reading

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bolton

which i was reading out of curiosity after getting astonished by

cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/10/bolton.congress/index.html

[browsing is cool].

Some parts that try to link the story:

"THE BORGEN PROJECT IS BRINGING U.S.
POLITICAL ATTENTION TO SEVERE POVERTY.
The plan to end world hunger is underway and agreed to by every nation on earth. Are you ready to force U.S. leaders to achieve the Millennium Goals?"
(from the Borgen Website)

"Bolton, (...) interim U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (...), began his term by laying out a list of wanted amendments to details of the 2005 World Summit to be held in New York City in September 2005. These included stopping the UN use of the term "Millennium Development Goals"."
(from Wikipedia)

"Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (...) said he would block Bolton's nomination.

Sen. George Voinovich (...) read a list of complaints by Bolton's subordinates who said he had a reputation of bullying his colleagues, taking facts out of context and exaggerating intelligence.

Carl Ford, the former chief of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, called Bolton "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy" and a "serial abuser" of subordinates."
(from CNN)

So this guy is what Mr Bush is sending to tackle the Millenium Goals. Oh boy. Thank god they just changed the Congress.

Things like this amaze me - how much internal American problems end up impacting the whole world.

This is why I stayed up late watching the vote count live on CNN last Tuesday.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Train stations

I like train stations a lot. They're great for those moments when you wanna remain anonymous among the crowds.
So I was brosing and found some B-side pics on the topic. I mean, pictures I took but probably did not publish before.


Me in Frankfurt Hauptbanhof. Liked that. Huge. But honestly, less impressive than Tokyo's Shinjuku or Paris's Gare de Lyon (no pics from those though, sorry)


Berlin U-Bahn Hallesches Tor.


Main exit of Canary Wharf station. One of my favorite own pics ever. Yes this one is an A-side. Hence the deja vu.

Monday, November 06, 2006

What I'm listening to

"Hamburg Song"
Keane


I
Don't wanna be adored
Don't wanna be first in line
Or make myself heard
I'd like
To bring a little light
To shine a light on your life
To make you feel loved

No,
Don't wanna be the only one you know
I wanna be the place you call home

I lay myself down
To make it so, but you don't want to know
I give much more
Than I'd ever ask for


Will
you see me in the end
Or is it just a waste of time
Trying to be your friend

Just shine, shine, shine
Shine a little light
Shine a light on my life
Warm me up again

Fool,
I wonder if you know yourself at all
You know that it could be so simple

I lay myself down
To make it so, but you don't want to know
You take much more
Than I'd ever ask for


Say a word or two to brighten my day
Do you think that you could see your way

To lay yourself down
And make it so, but you don't want to know
You take much more
Than I'd ever ask for