USA Beats Spain

Does the USA national team's shocking defeat of number one ranked Spain in the Confederation Cup competition mean that the team will actually stand a chance of doing well in next year's World Cup? Perhaps.

In 2002, the team delivered a sound performance, but disappointed in the 2006 competition. Nonetheless, the program has showed steady improvement over the past eight years, and most of the team play for European clubs, including at least five in the English Premier League.

So, is there a chance of a win in the 2010 World Cup? Probably not, but depending upon the draw, they should reach the quarter-finals, maybe even the final four.

D'oh!

Now you can get Homer Simpson as the voice of your TomTom sat-nav system.

Their tag line is "Let Homer Simpson be your co-pilot." They say "driving with Homer is as easy as 1,2 … doh!"

Excellent!

Tennis Anyone?

The Wimbledon fortnight begins today, and the British have again pinned their hopes and dreams on Scotsman Andy Murray. If he wins, he will be the first Brit to win since Virginia Wade in 1976 and the first British men's champion since Fred Perry won in 1936.

The British have become so desperate to win on their home court that even the English will cheer for Murray, despite the fact that he doesn't seem to care much for them. He once infamously said he'd support any team playing football against England, which didn't particularly endear him to English sports fans.

Fortunately, with Nadal out this year he may actually have a chance to lift the trophy. Fred Perry sportswear has even designed a new retro-style kit for him to wear, presumably to help him channel the former champion to guide him to victory.

I do hope that Murray wins, but I cannot help feeling that the next two weeks will follow the typical British/English sporting scenario: everyone works themselves into a frenzy of expectation for an epic victory, only to face bitter disappointment and humiliation in the end.

At least we can all enjoy the strawberries and cream in the meantime.

How Close Did We Come

How far down the road to this did the USA travel in the past eight years?

Probably farther than most people think or would like to believe. Remember a government that:

• Stole an election
• Routinely and brazenly lied to its population to further its ideology
• Used fear unashamedly to cling to power and further its agenda
• Spied on its own people
• Publicly branded dissent as treason and hounded critics as traitors
• Assumed powers of arrest and detention without habeas corpus
• Tortured prisoners
• Invoked religious tenants as drivers of policy

Not possible you say?

Most Americans take our freedoms for granted. We cannot imagine our government, a body empowered by us to defend our freedoms, could possibly act in a way that would jeopardise them. The idea that the abuses most Americans associate with third-world regimes would happen in America seems outlandish. But they did.

Thankfully, America remains pretty good at self correcting. The country is beginning to get back on track. Nonetheless, it will always amaze me that those claiming to speak for freedom (teabaggers -- sorry, tea-partiers, Glen Beck, Limbaugh and the rest) continue to vociferously cheerlead for those who have done the most to steal those freedoms from us.

And remember, Dick Cheney is still watching you!

Goths at the Beach

Ever wonder what Goths do when it gets hot? Goths in Hot Weather shows you, and even ranks each subject's "goth" and "sweatieness" factors.

(Picture from Goths in Hot Weather)

Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan.

No TV!

The big switch to totally digital TV happens in the US today, and the LA Times says that the Los Angeles area, the place many TV producers and studios call home, is "among the nation's top slackers" in preparing for the switchover.

More than 250,000 LA area homes have still not converted, and nearly 2.8 million homes across the US will receive only blank screens on Friday if they do not get a converter box for their old analog televisions.

The article also suggests that "some people might use the transition as an opportunity to give up on broadcast television, at least temporarily."

That sounds like a pretty drastic solution!

Wine Cellar Under the City

Tonight we went to a very cool place in Budapest called Domus Vinorum where we tasted Hungarian wines (who knew?) and ate dinner in the restored ancient wine cellar.

I don't drink, so I cannot comment on the quality of the wines. My French colleague was predictably not impressed, the Brits couldn't wait to switch to beer (but that's no indication) and the Italians seemed to like it. Everyone did enjoy the Bikavér, or "Bulls Blood," the most famous Hungarian wine, though apparently many consider it mediocre. That shows how much we know.

The food was good, but not great. I managed to eat two desserts, so I have no complaints.

So, although nobody thought the wines or the food were anything special, we nonetheless all thoroughly enjoyed our evening in this unique setting. Our host should get most of the credit for this. He carefully explained the details of each wine and provided some amusing anecdotes to go with each one.

Of course, he also gave us a grappa-like apricot liqueur (Palinka?), which probably helped as well.

iPoo

From Maybe You Shouldn't Buy That, now you can listen to tunes while you poo. Fabulous!

Reality Check

On Fox News Sunday last weekend, Sen. Richard Shelby repeated the tired Republican party mantra that Obama is taking the country down the road to socialism. When asked by host Chris Wallace to elaborate, he stated "So, they intervene last fall in the bank crisis. No one has ever done it on that scale before."

Um, last time I checked, George Bush was president in the autumn of 2008 and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was the architect of the banking bailout (not that there's anything wrong with that - although it could have been done differently and better).

So the truth, using Shelby's definition, is that the Republicans started us down the road to socialism (not that there's anything wrong with that). But of course, the Republican party does not often let the truth get in the way of their message.

It seems that the Bush years were so bad, even for Republicans, that their communal brain has blotted out those years altogether. In their repressed-memory reality, the US government has moved seamlessly from the Clinton years to Obama, and all of our problems are down to them.

When a Bush administration aide asserted a few years ago that "we make our own reality," I guess he really meant it!

Blunkett Gets Dumped Again

Former UK Home Secretary David Blunkett got trampled by a cow while on walkabout yesterday when the cow decided to chase after Blunkett's seeing-eye dog. The MP and former government minister broke a rib and sustained sum bruising, but was otherwise all right.

He says that the incident his given him in new insight into Labour's problems and says he's a metaphor for what's happening to the Labour party: "I have a broken rib and am bruised all over but am still walking."

"Even the animals are angry with us," he said of his embattled party. That about sums it up, but for now, Gordon Brown's government continues to cling to life.

The dog, by the way, escaped unharmed.

Jesus Loves Guns

A Kentucky pastor has told his congregation to bring their handguns to church later this month for a gun celebration. They will also raffle off a handgun for $1 a chance.

The preacher says, "As a Christian pastor I believe that without a deep-seeded belief in God and firearms that this country would not be here." Because we all know that Jesus loves guns, right?

I'm sure this will end well. No doubt we'll be hearing about this event on the evening news.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

In the meantime, watch out for this mob!

Man v. Machine

It seems that I'm not the only one who tries to beat the sat nav system. The UK's Metro reports that 40% of people surveyed in Britain try to better the travel times predicted by their satellite navigation systems.

I guess it's just human nature. People look at the estimated arrival time and view it as a challenge. They want to prove to themselves that they're smarter than the machine.

By the way, I usually win.

Kerbside Singalong

Just when I thought city living could not get more irritating, Boris Johnson and company have come up with more lunacy that will make it just that.

The Sunday Times reports that the mayor of London is backing a new scheme where "31 pianos are to be plonked around the capital to encourage people to gather for a singsong with strangers. They will be placed at prominent sites such as the British Library, the Natural History Museum, the Bank of England and Tate Britain."

A full-time piano tuner will zip around between pianos on a bicycle to keep them all in working order.

The article goes on to say that:

The organisers believe the scheme will encourage trust. Although the pianos will be chained to bollards and railings, members of the public will be trusted not to vandalise the instruments or steal the laminated songbooks.

Colette Hiller, director of the scheme, which is part of the Sing London festival [says] “We want people to treat the piano nicely, as they would a piano in their own home, to enjoy the songbooks with care and to cover the piano when it rains.”

Right. (Can you imagine how long these things would last in Manhattan?)

Anyway, now between wedging myself into overcrowded tube carraiges, dodging motorcycles and avoiding free newspapers being shoved into my face, I can listening to screaming Susan Boyle wannabes belting out show tunes on street corners courtesy of the Mayor of London.

Thanks, Boris.

Palm London

Saturday night's dinner at the new Palm in London proved a great success. I will admit to a bit of scepticism before we arrived, and remained unconvinced that the New York steakhouse experience would travel well across the ocean. On that count, I was assuredly (and happily) wrong.

Although nothing can re-create the original (nor should it try), the space felt like a steakhouse should feel, despite the fresh paint and newly polished wood floors. Perhaps in eighty years it may even come to resemble Second Avenue - the ingredients are there.

Most importantly, the steak was the real thing and equal in taste to that served in the US. The prices are staggering, £69 for an 18 oz. New York strip (I expect that's somewhat due to importing the meat), but well worth it. The 14 oz. is more reasonably priced (relatively) at £49, and normally I think this should be big enough to satisfy my appetite.

The slightly scaled-down menu includes USDA Prime American beef (NY strips and filet mignon only), British beef and lamb, Nova Scotia lobsters, fish and many of the traditional Palm side dishes and appetisers. Fried onions and cottage fries were identical to those served in New York and the creamed spinach was very good, but slightly different (I think it had cheese in it). The authentic New York cheesecake and Chocolate fondant deserts provided a fitting finish to a superb meal.

I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner at the Palm. Best of all, now I do not need to wait until I travel to America to get the authentic New York steakhouse experience. I cannot wait to go back, but first I need to make some more money!