World Cup Final 2014

After 63 games, 170 goals, 13 penalties, 5 own goals, 183 yellow cards and 10 red cards it has come down to Argentina and Germany to play the final game to see who can officially call themselves the best football team in the World. 
History shows that 7 South American teams have won the 9 World Cup finals played against European sides and a European side has never won the cup in the Americas.
Throw in the head-to-head record of 22 games played between Argentina and Germany, Argentina winning 10 and Germany 6 with the other 6 drawn and it's not looking good for the Germans.
On current form, Germany have scored 17 times in their 6 World Cup games and let in 4 while Argentina have scored 8 and let in 3 during their 6 so if my maths was any good i could work out what the final score will be but it isn't so i can't.
The last time they met in the final Germany won but in the only other previous final meeting, Argentina went home with the prize but ultimately it will all come down to the players and Germany have 3 Arsenal players and Argentina don't have any so it's a slam dunk, i agree with David Hasselfhoff and i'm backing Germany to win it.

Israelis Celebrating Deaths In Gaza

An image of Israelis gathering on a hill to watch and hold a 'party' to celebrate Gaza being bombed has quite rightly caused uproar.
Allan Sørensen, the Middle Eastern correspondent for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, said that he took the image on Wednesday in Sderot, a city about two kilometers from Gaza and described the scene where over 50 people had gathered for a 'party'.
'The hill has been transformed into something that most closely resembles the front row of a reality war theatre. It offers a direct view of the densely populated Gaza Strip', wrote the paper’s Middle Eastern correspondent Nikolaj Krak.
He explained how they had brought chairs and sofas to watch Israeli night airstrikes while enjoying pop-corn, hookah and chit-chatting.
'We are here to see Israel destroy Hamas' Eli Chone, a 22-year-old American living in Israel told Kristeligt Dagblad. He then pointed to a dot of light in the sky explaining that, 'it is a fighter who is about to dive. This means that it is about to shoot'.
Following the airstrike the spectators on the hill started cheering, and 'solid applause' followed, the Danish correspondent wrote.
No wonder Israel has so little support and so few friends around the globe, sickening. 

Russia Hitting Back

Russia and Vladamir Putin seem to have taken the reasoning that if America messes in its backyard, it will return the favour and the Russian President is embarking on a tour of Latin America.
Always a sore point in America's side, he has already written off $32 billion, 90%, of Cuba’s debt and has appointed Russian oil company Rosneft to help Cuban State oil company Cupet explore the country's offshore oil reserves along with other co-operation deals signed between the two nations.
The next stop following Havana will be Buenos Aires and Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner who has been very supportive of Moscow in its recent stand-off with the West where they are expected to increase trade including a new multibillion dollar nuclear power plant which is expected to be built by Russia’s state-owned energy firm Rosatom.
Then it is on to Brazil and meetings with Dilma Rouseff who was a recent victim of the US phone hacking scandal and a joint information security project is on the agenda.
Putin will also meet a dozen Latin America presidents in hope of striking new partnerships and culminate in the BRICS summit where the plans for a joint development bank will be discussed.
Russia making friends and having influence in an area that America has always considered its own to shape to its own liking might make things very interesting, especially if Russia returns the favour of posting it's military in the area.

Moral Implications Of Using Disturbing Images

Visual imagery has always been able to stir the emotions therefore a carefully selected picture in newspapers can influence and stir our emotions in seconds which is why editors have a obligation to select pictures that enhance and sit alongside the report.
The images that newspapers and broadcasters can use are regulated by rules of taste and discretion but ultimately it is down to the individual newspaper or station to what they show and if it steps outside the bounds of decency, it is them that face the complaints and any subsequent action.
As the World watches on in horror, we have the current ongoing Israel and Palestine conflict and with the invention of smartphones, everyone everywhere has a camera available and combine that with explosions in densely populated Palestinian areas where people are afforded little protection, there are some gruesome and grisly photographs being made available. 
Bloggers, almost completely unhindered to write and post what they like, are also free to include any of the photographs available online that would not make it through the first stage of any selection process for publication or airing on television, but because they can does it also mean that they should?
I was at a fellow bloggers blog earlier and he has an emotive post setting out his view on the Palestinian crisis and a graphic of the shrinking Palestine to enhance his point but when you click on the continue reading link, a truly sickening and horrific image of an injured child hits you with the acknowledgement that the image is 'very unpleasant and disturbing' but justifying that 'it’s the reality of Palestine'.
To his partial credit, the horrific picture was not on the front page (albeit with no warning of what was to come) and as previously mentioned, it is down to the individual blogger what he or she chooses to put on their blog and that is as it should be, but that then also means that the responsibility then falls onto us bloggers to ensure that grotesque images are not made available to people who shouldn't see them.
The use of horrific and shocking pictures is a powerful and valid way of highlighting your argument but a seven year old won't much care for the moral stance taken to bring attention to a certain message, they will just see the horrific image in their mind over and over again when they close their eyes to sleep at night.
I refuse to use these images, i would prefer to take the long route and write the thousands words as we have to be aware that these pictures can and do have a detrimental effect on a young mind long after the conflict is over and we are now blogging about the latest pop sensation.  
The alternative argument is of course that war is hell and to not show these images is sanitising conflict and not correctly reflecting what is happening and it is an argument i understand and have some sympathy with but is always trumped by the knowledge of knowing war is horrific and the moral implications of introducing children to that concept by way of a shockingly explicit picture of the victims of war is a moral decision for the conscience of each blog owner that write about these matters.

Hey, Ho, They're Gone

I saw the Sugababes once towards the end of their life-span but as none of the original band members were still there, i could never quite get my head around whether had i just seen the Sugababes or not?
I assumed not and satisfied myself that what i had just witnessed was little more of a tribute band and the question came back to me today on news Tommy Ramone, the last remaining Ramone, had died. 
Despite a surprising but welcome surge in kids wearing Ramones t-shirts recently, not many seemed to know who they were or would look blankly at me as i rattled off their songs but i knew people who were there at the time who were unaware of them so it's another surprise that in spectacular hyperbole they seem to be credited with creating punk.
All their songs had a similar pace, length and sound to them but they did churn out some great songs, Blitzkrieg Bop deserving of special mention and their brilliant breakneck version of 'I Don't Want To Grow Up' one of those rare moments where the copy not only surpasses the original but becomes the definitive version of that song.
The band line up fluctuated over the years but now that the fourth and final original member has died it has a feeling of that's is the official end of the Ramones, they can't come back now and leave us fans with a Sugababes type conundrum of whether they are still 'The Ramones'.
They may not have been commercially successful or done anything other than turn out formulaic, short, furious songs but what great short, furious songs they were. 
As this is probably the last time i will ever be able to write about the Ramones i really should just put it out there that to my ears the Ramones always sounded very similar to the Beach Boys in their early years.
The Ramones then are a well worthy entrant to the Lucy Museum of Musicians who deserve entry to Lucy's Museum of Musicians. 

Sodor And La Rise

Sodor was a large island but many people lived there but one day a man with a black suit and a bowler hat turned up and asked to see the Sodor King.

The man in the black suit explained to the King that the people of another island, ’La Rise’ were in danger due to the rising sea level and they would have to move somewhere else and as Sodor had a lot of spare land, they would have to have half this island.

When the King told the people of Sodor they were not very happy about it as they liked having all the island but days later 10 big ships arrived and the many people of La Rise came out and set up their home on the East side of the island, leaving the people of Sodor the West side with a line of leaves and the waterfall where the yellow liquid was made marking the halfway point between the two.

The people of Sodor did not like losing half of their island so they armed themselves with sticks from the trees and they decided to move the La Rise people away from their island but the La Rise people were ready for them as the man with the suit had given them even bigger sticks and they kept pushing the Sodor people back to their own side.  

As they had such big sticks from the man in the suit, the Sodor people knew that they could not beat the La Rise people who had come to live on their island, even when the La Rise people moved the line of leaves to give them more space on their side.

Slowly over time the line of leaves moved again and again and when the Sodor people complained and threatened the La Rise people with their little sticks, the La Rise people would attack them with their big sticks and move the leaves some more and tell the Sodor people to stay on their shrinking side of the island.

The man in the suit would turn up in Sodor every know and then and give the La Rise people some even bigger and better sticks and very soon the Sodor people were left very little space on their island and the waterfall and yellow liquid that they sold was now on the La Rise side of the island.

Knowing that they could not beat the La Rise people with their little sticks, the Sodor people would run across the line of leaves and throw sticks at the La Rise people so they took away the line of leaves and planted tall trees there instead with tree houses at the top so the Sodor people could not come onto the La Rise side of the island and the La Rise people could watch over them from the tree houses and hit them with the big sticks if they tried to cross over.

After they lost the waterfall and the yellow liquid to the La Rise side of the island, the Sodor people did not have much money to buy things and were kept on their side of the island by the trees so when the man in the suit next came the Sodor King went to see him and explain that the La Rise people had taken over his island and the Sodor people were now in a very small area with no money or food and the La Rise people kept moving the line so the space they did have was getting even smaller.

The man in the suit said that the Sodor people were very naughty for throwing the sticks at the La Rise people and they should be nice to the La Rise people so they do not have to keep hitting them with the big sticks.

As the man in the suit went to the La Rise side of the island with some more big sticks, the Sodor King went back to his people and told them that they must be nice to the La Rise people and they will stop hitting them with the big sticks and moving the trees to the Sodor side of the island. 

The Sodor king went to see the La Rise king and promised his people would stop throwing sticks at them but when he was going for a walk a week later to say thank you to his people for not throwing anymore sticks at the La Rise people, he was sure that he saw a few of the trees move closer to him.

We Know How This Latest Conflict Will Play Out

Israel hits 200 Gaza sites, 8 children reported dead, Hamas fires rockets. I am pretty certain that we know how this latest operation is going to go.
Israel bomb Gaza for a few weeks until the death toll on the Palestinian side gets so high and so many pictures of dead Palestinian children fill the airwaves that international pressure makes it pull back.
Meanwhile, the US and UK start off saying how Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas rockets for the first week and then go quiet for another week therefore giving Israel breathing space to bomb and invade at will before making half hearted pleas for Israel and Palestine to stop the fighting which they do a week later.
Then, as Israel pulls out it's troops and the Palestinians bury their many dead and rebuild their houses from the rubble and while Hamas are declaring victory, details of Israeli human rights and war atrocities leak out which are replied to as anti-semitic and we return to the status quo and everyone says how we need a peace process and everything goes back to normal. 
Hamas use the invasion as justification for their on going fight against Israel, Israel use the invasion as a justification of their ongoing fight against Hamas and innocent Israelis and Palestinians get killed by both.
Sickening that Hamas target Israelis by firing rockets into Israel and equally sickening that Israel continue to target the homes of Hamas members and have no compassion for the family in the same house or those in the immediate vicinity.
All sides are as guilty as each other of keeping the feud going, Israel so it can steal Palestinian land and Hamas so it can justify its existence.

Blackberry Still Fighting

As someone who doesn't like or want to use a touchscreen phone, i would dearly love Blackberry and there actual keyboard phones to succeed and continue making mobiles but they have been struggling in recent times and things are looking rather bleak for the Canadian firm.
As i will soon be in the market for a new phone as my contract comes to an end, i have been looking at the phones available and as none of the other main suppliers such as Samsung or Apple have cottoned onto the large contingent of touchscreen keyboard avoiders, Blackberry is the only Smartphone to choose but as i was advised the other day by a sales assistant in Phones4U, Blackberry is no longer making phones so i will have to lump it and go for a touchscreen before guiding me through the options available.
Days later Blackberry announce a new phone, the Passport so once i has finished a mental note to myself to ignore any advice from anyone wearing a Phones4U uniform, i went to have a look and sure enough the Passport has a real keyboard but wow is it a weird looking unit. 
I do understand their thinking regarding a large square mobile, a cross between a phone and a tablet and it certainly is different but i think i will pass and wait for the Q20 (Blackberry Classic) which is set to be released in November.
At least they are still in their trying for us QWERTY types and i won't be returning to Phones4U as their staff are either ignorant of their own field or happy to lie to your face to get a sale.

Good Joke Scotland

This is the Scottish uniform for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Now I'm all for equal opportunities and it is nice to see that a lack of eyesight is not the barrier that it once was in the fashion world but you would have thought at some point between the design and actual manufacturing stage someone would have pointed out that this outfit is horrendous. 
I am assuming that Scotland is having a bit of a wee joke at the sassanach's south of the borders expense but i'm not fooled and expect them to unveil the real outfits anytime soon.
As if you thought we would believe that anyone would ever wear such hideous clothing in real life but it is nice to see that Scottish humour is alive and kicking. 

Bush: Version3

First we had George H Bush, then we had the son George W Bush and waiting in the wings is yet another Bush, this one is called Jeb and is generally considered to be the brains of the Bush family although judging by what we have seen so far that's not saying much as all.     
Unfortunately for Jeb, his dad started the war with Saddam and his brother then went and hung him so he can't carry on that particular family trait but if Jeb decides not to run for President in 2016, the Bush nepotism will go on with Jeb’s son, George P Bush, almost certain to be elected to office in Texas this year.
Despite some Bush family law that seems to state that in each generation, one of them must be called George, they are all Texans except Jeb who is a Floridian, having served two terms as governor and they are all fully paid up members of the God-squad with Jeb admitting that during his time in office he 'tried to act on my faith as best as I could' which echo's his brothers 'God told me to do it' line to the Palestinian foreign minister regarding the Afghanistan war. 
Jeb (real name John Ellis Bush which makes his name John Ellis Bush Bush) has been described as more conservative than his brother and as GWB was one of the most furthest right wing Presidents in memory, we can only hope that Jeb's role in Presidential Election is confined to being in the right place when his brother required the Florida vote in 2000, hanging chads and all that.