I just saw on France24 that Mourinho has reportedly quit Chelsea. I wouldn’t blame him if he has, and wonder if he would put his name forward for the Spurs job if Jol gets the sack? Getting Spurs into the top four would indeed make him special. The worst thing about this is that it’s 01:32AM and there’s nobody for me to tell!
Google.com was registered on 15th September 1997. Wow, that was a quick 10 years.
Sweet mother of fantabulous fines, McLaren were hit with a $100m fine for spying on Ferrari. I don’t see how they have proven they used the information, but it seems they did prove that McLaren knew about the information. Last week McLaren were fined $50,000 for using a new part that hadn’t been crash tested by the FIA. Presumably this is to raise the levels of driver safety, yet it seems driver safety is very unimportant in comparison to “LOOK, I’VE A BIGGER PENIS” politics, if purely measured on financial levels.
I think removing them from the constructors championship would have been sufficient punishment, but again the “I’VE A BIGGER PENIS” factor kicked in and they decided to try to kick Ron Dennis in his. It does seem that they want to kick Dennis out of the sport, but I think they’d have to try much harder than this. Of course, they didn’t punish the drivers, as they granted them immunity for providing evidence. If the Lewis Hamilton wasn’t leading the Championship, and wasn’t British, would the same immunity have been granted? It’s like stripping a sprinter of their 100m relay title, but leaving them keep their individual one?
Another thing about the fine is where does this $100m actually go? They could use it to develop engine technology so it’s much greener, which would be in stark contrast to their current qualifying system where they have “a fuel burning session”.
From No Impact Man:
We all have this drive (to create). And I think that, at times, conspicuous consumption can even be the result of people’s appreciation of creative talent. So for me the question became: how can we reduce the use of resources without squashing the creative drive I think we should celebrate? How can we not throw the baby out with the bath water?
A good question indeed, but it’s one of those questions that will remain unanswerable while the pursuit of coin remains the most important thing in world. Until we realise that life alone is reward enough, we will continue to buy buy buy. A depressing way to end my day.
In keeping with my current level of surprise I feel it is appropriate to link to the Double-Tongued Dictionary, and reproduce the definition of the word piquerism:
piquerism
n. the derivation of pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from stabbing another person.
What! That brings a whole new meaning to the term mutton dagger.
I was surprised to discover that the guillotine was still in operation in France 30 years ago. I was even more surprised to discover that the earliest recorded use of a guillotine like device was in Ireland in 1307!
21st Century Citizen asks:
How Should I Talk with my Kids about Global Warming and the Environment?
and summarizes their answer as:
Complex theories about global temperatures rising are too complicated for kids. And probably too scary — those issues are for us grown ups. They’re our battles to fight - for now. Our kids will take up that battle when they’re ready.
For now, we just need to teach them the difference between right and wrong from an environmental perspective. Armed with those values, they’ll learn to change the world when they’re old enough.
There are some obvious ways of teaching them this difference. Teach them how detrimental flying is to the environment. One foreign holiday a year was considered a luxury until recently. Teach them that you don’t need to drive absolutely everywhere and that you should drive a vehicle suited to the task at hand and not a so called status symbol. It still amazes me that people consider that it’s cool to drive jeeps. Teach them about nature and how wonderful it is. Teach them how to respect other people, because if you are knowingly damaging the environment, you are being disrespectful to everyone else you share this planet with.
I guess No Impact Man is teaching his daughter values like this on a daily basis. Their plan is to leave no net impact on the planet after 1 year of living!
For one year, my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, my dog and I, while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets…
I wonder will it get to the stage where we all have to live like this?
I just read on Joel Makower’s blog that Coke have announced a new recycling campaign. Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America said:
We have set an ambitious goal to recycle or reuse all the plastic bottles we use in the U.S. market. Our investments in recycling infrastructure, coupled with our work on sustainable package design, will help us reach this target.
I’m unsure about these big recycling statements nowadays, obviously it’s good news, but I’d prefer to hear about big corporations cutting air miles, changing to renewable energy supplies and protecting large tracts of endangered land.
The British media are horrified that the McCanns are suspects in the Madeline case. Regardless of whether they had anything to do with it or not of course they’d be suspects. Their actions since day one have been unlike anything we’ve seen before when it comes to missing children. A massive media campaign, a tour of Europe, concerts, and celebrity appeals. Again this doesn’t mean they are guilty of anything, but it would raise suspicions as the actions could be interpreted as elaborate smoke screens.
The British media’s painting of a useless and incompetent Portugese police force doesn’t help anyone apart from the lazy journalists who have a word quota to reach.
In the midst of this furore does anyone still think of Madeline? The only true innocent in the whole sad episode.
