Brent Bozell Sticks It To The MSM On Castro

Brent Bozell says it better than I could, and without resorting to obscenity and name calling either!!

Castro: Not a President

"Fidel Castro Resigns." That's a fantastic headline, and should be cause for celebration. But just because the doddering dictator is stepping aside doesn't mean that Cuba's abandoning tyranny. And just because he's leaving doesn't mean the media are dropping their fictions about Castro, the Cuban "president." Glancing at a TV set, I caught this CNN screen graphic: "Fidel Castro Resigns: Cuban Pres. Rejects New Term." Where on Earth is the media's regard for accuracy?

A "new term"? This murderous despot has only had one long, abusive term, and it's lasted 49 years. Anyone who says otherwise, that the Cuban "parliament" would be setting another "election," is not just a useful idiot. He's simply an idiot.

AP reporter Anita Snow suggested using the word "dictator" to describe Castro is tantamount to mudslinging. While "Castro's supporters admired his ability to provide a high level of health care and education for citizens," his "detractors called him a dictator." The American media was absolutely allergic to words like "dictator." Rudy Giuliani can be routinely attacked by liberal reporters as "despotic," "authoritarian" and "totalitarian," but Fidel Castro is just a "president" or a "Cuban leader."

For decades, this has been an easy display of the media's foreign affections. Every right-wing dictator, like Chile's Pinochet, is a "dictator," while every left-wing dictator is merely a "leader" or, in Castro's case, a "dashing revolutionary" and a "rock star." That was ABC's Diane Sawyer on the morning of Castro's abdication announcement.

It was nauseating to watch ABC's Robin Roberts assert that so-called "Cuban President" Castro was stepping down, and then see reporter Jeffrey Kofman suggest that the "so-called" sneer should be leveled against his opponents! "The fervently anti-Castro community of so-called Cuban exiles here in Miami erupted in celebration" when Castro grew ill in 2006.

Cubans living in Miami are "so-called exiles"? They traveled on "so-called" boats, risking "so-called" death at the hands of a regime that promised to "so-called" kill them if they were caught escaping, too.

Kofman added insult to injury by dragging out the ancient trope that Castro outlasted our pathetic presidents and their bungling attempts to damage him: "The world's longest-serving political leader is leaving on his own terms, having survived efforts by 10 different U.S. presidents to bring him down, including a disastrous CIA-backed invasion in 1961 and a missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962." Everything wrong with Cuba-U.S. relations is the fault of American presidents.

How, to a media that would claim to favor democracy as a political ideal, is it a virtue to "outlast" freely elected presidents who have submitted their office to the people by killing or imprisoning all your political opponents?

Throughout Castro's long history of dominating Cuba, he has also dominated the American media, who have covered him with a sickening parade of ardor and accolades, even after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Consider these morally bankrupt valentines:

1. Barbara Walters on ABC in 2002: "For Castro, freedom starts with education. And if literacy alone were the yardstick, Cuba would rank as one of the freest nations on Earth."

2. Dan Rather on CBS feeling all warm after Elian Gonzalez was ripped away from those "so-called Cuban exiles" in 2000: "There is no question that Castro feels a very deep and abiding connection to those Cubans who are still in Cuba."

3. Katie Couric applauding communist achievements on NBC in 1992: "Considered one of the most charismatic leaders of the 20th century. … Castro traveled the country cultivating his image, and his revolution delivered. Campaigns stamped out illiteracy and even today, Cuba has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world."

4. Peter Jennings on ABC in 1989: "Castro has delivered the most to those who had the least, and for much of the Third World, Cuba is actually a model of development."

5. Even sportscasters darkened their reputations. In a 1991 special covering the Pan Am Games, ABC's Jim McKay could have been speaking for the media in 2008: "You have brought a new system of government, obviously, to Cuba, but the Cuban people do think of you, I think, as their father. One day, you're going to retire. Or, one day, all of us die. Won't there be a great vacuum there? Won't there be something that will be difficult to fill? Can they do it on their own?"

Castro has announced his retirement. I'm happy he'll be gone, and hope he'll spend his final days on Earth contemplating his eternity in hell.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. To find out more about Brent Bozell III, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Everything You Needed to Know About Communism You Could have Learned From Lego's

To quote Dave Barry, I swear I am not making this up. It seems "Lego Time" turned into a lesson on Lenin and Marx. And let me say upfront, if my kids were in that class, I'd have yanked them out of there so fast heads would spin, preferably the teachers. Funny how they can impose THESE values on the kids, but others are legally prevented from even being mentioned in schools. Here is a capsule, which I found on the Mises site:

From Legotown to Communist Utopia
Jeffery Tucker

A commentator on this blog draws our attention to this piece on the site Rethinking Schools. It is called "Why We Banned Legos." It is indeed an amazing piece of work, a perfect distillation of the romantic attachment that bourgeois educators in a prosperous society have for a communist ideal they have never experienced or seen or, apparently, read about.

In the short version, the teachers allowed the children in an after-school program to build a massive and growing Legotown. As kids will do, they students tended to homestead certain pieces and structures, and then barter them. Eventually resentments over who owns what emerge, and, after some inadvertent destruction of some buildings took place, conflicts arose.

The teachers then used the occasion to teach a lesson straight from old-time communist ideology, bringing the kids around to the view that all structures must be public structures, that nothing can be owned but by groups, and that all structures will be standard sizes.

It is an engaging if very alarming read! I would be curious to know to what extent the kids absorb the "lesson" they were given, or, if their heart of hearts, they really do miss the excitement and beauty of the real Legotown.

In any case, reading this piece, you can understand how it is that Castro's resignation has unleashed mind-boggling statements about the glories of the society he created, and its "immense achievements in terms of healthcare, poverty reduction and education."

The link to the article is here. Now you really need to read and follow the piece. Early on:

"I'm making an airport and landing strip for my guy's house. He has his own airplane," said Oliver.

"That's not fair!" said Carl. "That takes too many cool pieces and leaves not enough for me."

"Well, I can let other people use the landing strip, if they have airplanes," said Oliver. "Then it's fair for me to use more cool pieces, because it's for public use."

Never was a fan of Eminent Domain. It "was not fair" to use the "cool pieces" for a private house or structure, but for public use, it was OK. It seemed there was hope for the kids:

Children dug through hefty-sized bins of Legos, sought "cool pieces," and bartered and exchanged until they established a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places.

Barter and exchange. Sems to me to be the cornerstone of a free economy. After all the piece one kids values may mean nothing to the kid that has it and worth a trade. He may want it more than the pieces he has. I remember learning about trade with baseball cards.

Legotown grew and grew. Space and lego pieces grew scarce (and more valuable and desirable):

Occasionally, Legotown leaders explicitly rebuffed children, telling them that they couldn't play. Typically the exclusion was more subtle, growing from a climate in which Legotown was seen as the turf of particular kids. The other children didn't complain much about this; when asked about Legos, they'd often comment vaguely that they just weren't interested in playing with Legos anymore. As they closed doors to other children, the Legotown builders turned their attention to complex negotiations among themselves about what sorts of structures to build, whether these ought to be primarily privately owned or collectively used, and how "cool pieces" would be distributed and protected. These negotiations gave rise to heated conflict and to insightful conversation. Into their coffee shops and houses, the children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive. As we watched the children build, we became increasingly concerned.

Kids being kids, tragedy struck. I remember making huge Lego layouts and playing Godzilla (rahr, rahr) or some other freak force and destroying my towns and meek residents. Loads of fun. Despite the article saying it was an "accident", I kinda like to think some kid played Godzilla like I use to and smashed that town to bits. So now, like Katrina, devastation leads to rebuilding:

When the children discovered the decimated Legotown, they reacted with shock and grief. Children moaned and fell to their knees to inspect the damage; many were near tears. The builders were devastated, and the other children were deeply sympathetic. We gathered as a full group to talk about what had happened; at one point in the conversation, Kendra suggested a big cleanup of the loose Legos on the floor. The Legotown builders were fierce in their opposition. They explained that particular children "owned" those pieces and it would be unfair to put them back in the bins where other children might use them. As we talked, the issues of ownership and power that had been hidden became explicit to the whole group.

We met as a teaching staff later that day. We saw the decimation of Lego-town as an opportunity to launch a critical evaluation of Legotown and the inequities of private ownership and hierarchical authority on which it was founded. Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation.

Again, who are they to decide WHAT VALUES will be taught? What separates "social" values from "religious"? The next part of the article goes on to say "how" Legotown was rebuilt, the new "rules" the kids had to abide by in rebuilding Legotown. The missed good opportunities to teach how the free market works. They decided to turn it into a lovefest, everybody shares, everybody happy, everybody wins. It is one of my biggest complaints about AYSO and youth soccer in the States, where "everybody" hasd to get a chance to play, and "everybody" wins, you can't have a losing team because it leads to hurt feelings. Kids need to learn the reality of life, and the sooner the better.

Here are "the themes" the teachers and kids learned from each other in the "new, better" Legotown:

• Collectivity is a good thing:

"You get to build and you have a lot of fun and people get to build onto your structure with you, and it doesn't have to be the same way as when you left it.... A house is good because it is a community house."

• Personal expression matters:

"It's important that the little Lego plastic person has some identity. Lego houses might be all the same except for the people. A kid should have their own Lego character to live in the house so it makes the house different."

• Shared power is a valued goal:

"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building. And it's important to have the same priorities."

"Before, it was the older kids who had the power because they used Legos most. Little kids have more rights now than they used to and older kids have half the rights."

• Moderation and equal access to resources are things to strive for:

"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes.... We should all just have the same number of pieces, like 15 or 28 pieces."

You wanna know why things are so f'd up just look at who and what they are teaching kids today. Yes, in playtime it may have made for a wonderful solution, but in the real world history has shown us it is a failed experiment.

On Fidel "Stepping Down"

Quite a bit on the web and news about Fidel "retiring". In this post here I have links to a few articles I found via my Google Reader. For Cuba related news, you can find plenty at Babalu Blog and Review of Cuban American Blogs. I may not always agree with the positions and views they take, but there is news and conversation a plenty there. Two more articles/ posts I want to call attention to is this one, from The Economist, and this one, at Marginal Revolution. What does this mean for Cuba? Probably nothing. At least not now. Raul is in charge. There is still a dictatorship in place. There are political prisoners and no civil liberties. Until that changes, same shit different smell.

Assortment Of Links and Articles

Here is a collection of stuff that popped up on my "Google Reader" rss feed thingamajigger:

From The New York Post:

Cuba Libre, Someday

Fidel Steps down

A hero's welcome for Dubya

From The New York Sun:

Farewell to Fidel

On Cuba Policy, Copy Poppy

From Fidel, a farewell or a fraud?

From The Washington Times:

Castro, Cuba, and the future

Economic Duldrums

From Little Green Footballs:

Castro Bails

From Google Blogoscoped:

Really interesting post about lost and found on Google. Searches people have typed looking for, or saying they have found certain items:

Google's Lost and Found

The price of a can of Pepsi? 10 gum balls and 5 chocolates.

There is a coin shortage in Brazil. A big problem for stores, bars, businesses in general is getting change from the banks. A common practice is rounding up or down 5 cents: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I really don't have a problem with that. I figure on average it all balances out. There are even times where I come up 5 or 10 cents short and the keeper just waves me off and rings up the purchase. But there is a really weird practice of giving candy and the like as "change". At most registers and counters you will see types of candy, chocolate, gum, etc for sale. There are times, when the register just does not have enough coins to give change so they "offer" the candy. Supposedly this practice is illegal. The curious thing is, if a store does this, then the store "is required" to accept the candy as payment, even though the issuing of the candy as change is not permitted in the first place. This is supposedly "law" but no one can point me to the statute. I have seen customers at the counter make a point about it, and the person at the register backs down. (Both ways, I have seen a person refuse the candy, and the coins that the store "did not have" magically appear, and I have seen people say "you gave me a 5 cent candy 10 times as change, so here they are in lieu of 50 cents") The problem is I cannot use the candy on the bus to pay the fare, use it to pay a light bill, etc. You can only "do this" at the same place that did it to you. And I really have a problem when they do it to kids. Despite Brazil's reputation for violence, it is very common (at least where I live, and have seen) to send kids over to the store to buy bread, milk, eggs, etc. They even sell cigarettes and alcohol (although it is against the law) to them, if the store keeper knows the kid and the family, and know it is for an adult. Of course a kid is going to accept the candy, and I am sure this has caused problems at times. Brazil!?! I love this place, but this is one of the many things that makes me scratch my head at times.

SSEC Roundup

It's been a while since I wrote about the team, and a lot has happened. Results were just not positive. We played well, but ended up a little short each time. The second round of the first phase has us grouped with Nauticio, one of the "Big Three" in the state, Petrolina, and an old rival, Centro Limoeirense, which we faced last year in the second division. In our game against Petrolina, even though we were the home team we had to play away, in Ypiranga's statdium, due to problems with our stadium and the Federation. We got an early lead, but ended up giving points away on a late own goal. Our next game was against Nautico in Recife. Again, we played great. We fell behind 1-0 but kept fighting. We tied it in the 44th minute, and when it looked like we would secure a tie, Nautico nailed a free kick and got the victory 2-1. This brought a major change. Our old coach was brought back. Last year we had an Argentine coach, Marcelo Neveleff, who led the team into the first division. He left at the end of the season. After the poor results, many fans asked for his return, and finally a deal was worked out. Everyone was happy to see him back. Yesterday was his first game since his return. Our old friends Centro. Last year in four games we took 3 wins and a tie in hard fought matches. We fell behind early but managed a tie. 1-1. In the first half we had to use our 3 substitutions due to injuries, and lost a player to a red card. Before the half ended, Centro scored and the score was 2-1, a man down, and no substitutions left at the half. It looked grim. Sete played like champs. We tied it, only to fall behind again, 3-2. We tied it again, 3-3. Each time we fell behind, the team played with more heart. With about 5 minutes left we grabbed the lead 4-3, and thats the way it ended. Our first victory of the season. It gives new blood and hope for our chances of remaining in the first division.

What's In A Name

When I first got to Brazil, I kept another blog, and made a post with the same title. One of the things in Brazil that fascinates me are the names parents give their kids. Another is the nicknames people have, and the way they are used in day to day life here. There are two main "types" of names here. One is the "family tradition", of naming all your kids with the same type of beginning. For example, my wife (soon to be, whenever we get around to it) has three kids from her first marriage. They are named Erito Junior (who goes by Junior, I will explain that in the nicknames), Ericka, and Eric. All start with "Er". There are familes with 10 or more kids, and all start the same way. It is common to see something like a set of kids named like this : Jose, Josefa, Jomilson, Joelma, Jonara, Josantos, etc. The "start" of the name is usually taken from either parents name, or a combination of the two. There is also a fascination here with "pop culture" or "historical names". US Presidents as names are extremely popular. The most common are Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln, Adams, Kennedy, and Washington. Sometimes, this leads to another phenomena, misspellings or misunderstandings. Now, illiteracy is a common problem here. Sometimes parents go register their children and when they give the name, either they, or the person registering the child may not know how the name is spelled. You might see someone named "Washington" who spells his name "Uashinton". Sometimes, a name is misunderstood, and the kid gets a name you never wanted in the first place. Pop culture names are popular. Micheal Jackson is a popular name, commonly seen as "Maicon". There is a family in my neighborhood with four boys named : Jonleno, Paumacatiney, Joeharrison, and Hingostarre. Hingostarre is curious one. In Portuguese, the "R" is mostly silent. Soccer player "Ronaldo" is pronounced "Honaldo". When "Hingo" was registered, either the parent or the person at the registry didn't realize there was supposed to be an "r" there. There is a soccer player whose name is "Creedence Clearwater" (like Dave Barry says, I swear I am not making this up, his full name is Creedence Clearwater Couto). There is another player named "Olywood". In the town where I live, there is not one, but two guys named "Moshe Dianne".
Another popular tradition here is nicknames. There are three very common ones that are actually part of the name. "Junior", "Neto", and "Sobrinho", which mean "Junior", "Grandson", and "Nephew", and are used appropriately. So if a guy named Paulo names his son Paulo, he is known as Paulo Junior. Paulo Junior names his kid Paulo, he is known as Paulo Neto. and if either of the first two Paulo's have a brother, and he names his kid Paulo, he is Paulo Sobrinho, since his uncle is also Paulo (confused yet?). Despite all the thought and originality that goes into these names, it is common to know someone for years and not know their real name. You might be known by your appearance, or your job. It is almost like a mafia gathering. Pedro da pipoca is Pedro, the guy that sells popcorn. Felipe do cafe is Felipe, the dude that works at the coffee factory. Manoel da fuskinha is Manny, the guy that drives the Beetle (Beetle Bugs are known as Fusca in Brazil). "Magro" is a skinny person. Sandro Pequeno is a short person named Sandro. Sometimes, you are known by the city or place you are from. You know Saul Caricoa is from Rio, because people from Rio are known as "Carioca's". Paulista is from Sao Paulo. Some of the players I work with have no idea my name is Daniel, they just know me as "Cubano" or "Cuba". When the team has closed door practices, there is a list of certain fans that are allowed in. When they put the list together, some didn't know the name of others. The list said stuff like "Joe, the guy that sells peanuts" or Franklin (another historical US name) the guy that roots for Flamengo (a popular team in Rio, in fact, the most popular team in Brazil). And these are people who have known each other for years, they get together everyday to watch the team practice. Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite parts of life here in Brazil.

Recession? What Recession?

Location, location, location goes the saying. All politics is local is another. This article from The Economist shows how some areas of the US are in a boom, and others are a bust:

YOU won't hear the R-word much in the modest governor's mansion in Helena, Montana. The occupant, Brian Schweitzer, insists that Montana's economy is in better shape than it has ever been. It has had one of the fastest rates of job growth in the country. The state is prospering on the back of booms in mining and farming, as well as steady growth in tourism. Paul Polzin of the University of Montana forecasts that the state's economy will grow by 4.1% this year, the fifth consecutive year of growth above 4%. “We've been searching for realistic doomsday scenarios,” he says, “and we just can't find any.”

Go to Michigan, by contrast, and it is hard to find anything but gloom. The collapse of America's car industry, coupled with a nasty subprime mortgage bust, has left the state reeling. It has the highest unemployment rate in the country (7.6%) and the third-highest foreclosure rate, and was the only state to lose a large number of jobs in 2007. In the run-up to the state's Republican primary (which he won) Mitt Romney traversed Michigan, promising to save voters from a “one-state recession”.

The infographic they have is pretty interesting too. Miami and Tampa among others have a more than 10% drop in housing prices, while others have zero or even positive growth. Unemployment rates are varying as well.

Bernard Hopkins Thinks Obama May Be Assassinated

Boxer Bernard Hopkins thinks Barack Obama may be assassinated if he is elected President

"If he gets the nomination they won't let him become president, but if they do, it will be for a short time, maybe less than a month or two," he said.

Philadelphia-born Hopkins, known in the ring as The Executioner told the Independent on Sunday newspaper in Britain that he did not think the US was ready for an African-American president.

Sadly, I agree with the part of the US not being "ready" for a black President. I don't think it is ready for a woman either. I have been away from the US for almost three years now, but I do not think the landscape has changed that much. There are still pockets of deep prejudice. Remember, David Duke got elected, and everyone knew his background.

IPL Puts The Pressure On The Aussies

IPL says "sign up, or else" to the Australian players who want to participate:

Australia's cricketers have been told to join the Indian Premier League by Sunday, even if it means defying their own board, or face a three-year ban from the tournament.

Interesting to see the IPL being the one making threats now.

BCCI, CA, and Most Any Other Cricket Body vs the IPL

Plenty of articles all over the net on the governing cricket bodies versus the IPL. You can read some here, or here. You can read about the IPL player auction here. Now, what I want to know is, why the cricket bodies get all worked up over the IPL, which so far seems to be working in the interest of promoting the sport, but let things like the Bucknor/ monkey, he said-he said, controversy slide.

Ricardinho Adjusts To Life In Detroit

Article on Brazilian soccer player Ricardinho adjusting to life in a new country, and a different version of "futebol", indoor soccer in the MISL.

So Good It's Illegal

Hat tip to George the "pitbull" over at Babalu Blog for this piece on "illegal" bacon wrapped dogs in Los Angeles. I understand that the crux of the problem is sanitary cooking conditions, and not so much the health aspect (from a fat content point of view) like the transfat or smoking controversies, but when will people say "enough is enough". They regulate the small stuff and turn a blind eye to real problems.

The Stanford Twenty/20 through the eyes of a 10 year old.

Via the West Indies Cricket blog, I found out about this blog, belonging to a 10 year old named "Dumani" who is blogging about the Twenty/20 at Stanford. Nice work for a 10 year old!!

Stanford Twenty/20 round up

Soulberry at The Cricket Watcher's Journal has a nice roundup of the action here.

Tendulkar gets 16,000

Big ups to Sachin Tendulkar for reaching an extraordinary mark of 16,000 runs in ODI. Now, as a kid, I remember thinking no one would ever displace Hank Aaron in baseball as the home run king, and we saw that record fall, so it will be exciting several years from now seeing someone reach this mark in Cricket.

The Super Bowl In Brazil

As a kid, I always got a kick during the Super Bowl broadcast when they would switch to the international feed for a play or two. I always wondered, what it is like to watch the game in another country. Well, last night, after more than two years in Brazil, I watched my first NFL game in as long a time. Of all the sports, NFL is probably the one I miss the least, I would much rather watch an NBA or NHL game, and a NASCAR race would be awesome. On the "pay networks" they do show a good amount of NBA, and some NFL, especially on ESPN. The game was shown live on one of those networks, I think ESPN, but I got the "free feed" and that is the one I will review.

For starters, I turned the game on half way through the second quarter. I live in the northeast of Brazil, and the rest of Brazil is in DST, so we are one hour ahead of the rest of the country. When they announced the game would be on at 1 AM (we are -3 GMT, and that means I am 2 hours ahead of whatever time it is in New York when they are in DST) I totally forgot to adjust the time. What they did was broadcast the game. Just the game, plays, none of the "down time". You can't believe how much useless stuff adds to the length of the game. They stopped as soon as the play was dead, and started when the ball was snapped. The entire broadcast took an hour and a half. They only showed commercials (they showed 'local' commercials, not the ones from the regular broadcast) at halftime. They showed replays, for key plays only, and as far as the halftime show, all I got to see was "American Girl" by Tom Petty. The commentators were enjoyable. Most everything is pronounced the "same", albeit in Portuguese, sack, field goal, pass, etc, they names don't change, they are just said with an accent. Same with the player names. The best was any time a "bomb" or long pass was thrown, and they would yell "FOGO NA BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" which literally translates to "Fire on the bomb" but they would strech it out much like they do with a goal in soccer. The commentators were pretty informed about the NFL, they would explain the ins and outs of the game, explain rules quickly, and they really seemed to enjoy the "first down" marker that the broadcasts superimpose on the field, they would explain to the viewers that the yellow line really "does not exist", it is just there for the viewers, and that the official sport is kept with the field markers. I was impressed with the quality of the commentators and how they explained the game to the viewers, and I was really impressed that the whole broadcasts was over in less than an hour and a half.

Old Traditions Live At Brazil's Carnival

Wanted to pass this along since it mentions Carnival traditions in Pernambuco, the state I live in

OLD TRADITIONS LIVE AT BRAZIL'S CARNIVAL

NAZARE DA MATA, Brazil (AP) — As morning breaks over the rolling green cane fields, the 19-year-old sugar cane cutter takes an herbal bath and offers a prayer to indigenous and African spirits before transforming himself into something resembling an electric, Day-Glo lion from outer space.

Josenildo Estevao da Silva dons colorful pantaloons, hoists a rack of cow bells onto his back and tops off the outfit with a brilliantly sequined poncho and a screaming headdress of neon ribbons. Then he marches several miles down dirt roads to rehearse with hundreds of other lance-wielding revelers who will converge on the state capital of Recife Sunday.

"When I'm all dressed up I become a warrior. It's a very powerful feeling," says Silva, a member of Cambinda Brasileira, a group of Maracatu revelers founded in 1898.

The most visible manifestation of carnival occurs more than 1,000 miles to the south in Rio de Janeiro, where nationally televised samba parades have fans rooting for their favorite groups with a passion usually reserved for soccer teams.

But nearly every region of Brazil has its own carnival traditions. In recent years, a growing number of revelers turned off by the commercialism of Rio's grand spectacle have begun looking elsewhere, to states such as Bahia and Pernambuco, where more homegrown rhythms dominate the celebrations.

Perhaps none of these traditions has benefited as much from renewed attention as maracatu, a deeply secret, semi-religious ritual born among former slaves in the sugarcane fields of Pernambuco state, with roots stretching back to African and indigenous cultures.

"We have the most democratic carnival in Brazil. It's open to everyone and it's free. You don't have to sit in a stadium like in Rio or pay to party in a cordoned-off area like in Bahia," says Recife Mayor Joao Paulo Lima Silva, who for eight years has dressed up as a maracatu lance-bearer to kick off the party.

Anthropologists say the origins of the ritual are mysterious, a mixture of several traditions with the dancers fancying themselves warrior members of an Indian tribe for reasons that are not entirely clear.

The music of maracatu consists of improvised verses sung a capella and answered by the thundering of trumpets, trombones and host of percussion instruments — a very different sound from the drums of Rio's samba schools.

Maracatu was disappearing in the 1980s, and in 1989 only 11 groups remained in Pernambuco state.

But then an association was formed to promote the tradition, and authorities cracked down on violence by maracatu groups who would often attack their rivals to steal their costumes.

The number of groups grew to 112 as they admitted women and children. Women cannot perform as lance-bearers, but take on roles that had previously been performed by men in drag.

Maracatu also received a boost from popular musicians Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi, who dressed as maracatu lance-bearers in their video for "Maracatu Atomico," a huge hit on MTV Brazil. Science died in a car crash in 1997, after working to restore Brazilian music's reliance on traditional rhythms rather than American pop.

The success of that movement sent hordes of middle-class Pernambuco residents into rural areas and slums to study at the feet of long-forgotten masters, breathing new life into maracatu and other traditions.

But some say the growing popularity of maracatu is watering down the tradition.

"Some groups today have lost their religious link and a lot of the younger people no longer respect the rules. They are interested in the look (of the costumes) but have no interest in sustaining the meaning of the ritual," said Sumaia Viera, a researcher of traditional cultures at the Federal University of Pernambuco.

The groups themselves are secretive about their spiritual preparations, which include abstaining from sex for two weeks and imbibing special potions, including one made of sugarcane brandy and gun powder.

But many maracatu supporters welcome the newcomers.

"If you're going to be picky about who is going to dance, you're not going to have too many people dancing," says Manoelzinho Salustiano, vice president of the Association of Maracatus Baque Solto of Pernambuco. He says old-timers teach the new arrivals about the rituals, and "the more they learn about it the more interested they get."

Vermeulen Cleared of Arson Charges

Mark Vermeulen has been cleared of charges of arson. Vermeulen had previously pled not guilty by reason of insanity. Vermeulen began to suffer complcations, including compulsive behavior disorder and epilepsy after being hit in the head with a ball during a Match in 2004.

Test Match Cricket for Palm Review

I found a cricket game for my Palm Pilot last year during the Cricket World Cup and wanted to write up a review for it. I want to be clear and say this is NOT one of those "pay for posts" type reviews that have become popular lately. This is just one users opinions and views on the game. I have not and will not receive any type of renumeration for writing this review. I was one of the early users who purchased the game, and my name does appear on the credits page as someone who submitted feedback to the programmer.

I will start with that, feedback to the programmer. The brains behind the game is a fellow named Alan Simpson. Customer Service is top notch with him. Quick replies to emails, and always helpful to answer questions and resolve any issues with the game. Good to know someone is standing behind the product and available to help out .

Now the game is Test Match Cricket. You act as selector and captain of a team in, well, a Test match. Once you have selected you team, you select the players you want to use in the Test and you play the match against the Palm unit, that is controlling the other team. Right now, there is no way to play against another person, perhaps that feature may come in the future, although Alan has not mentioned it at all. You can also set up the unit to play the match against itself. You can select the country, the grounds, and even initial condition of the pitch. In regards to game play, you can control the order the batsmen, and the type of attack, from 1-5, 5 being most aggressive. On the bowling side, more or less the same operation, you select the bowler for the over, and his aggression level. Game play is pretty simple and straight forward. The game factors in weather, condition of the pitch, and fitness of the players which changes as the match goes on. Bowlers can get tired, injuries can occur. You control every aspect of the team (well, you don't control field positioning, AI handles that), so you can decide to declare, force a follow on, protect the wicket or slog away. If your bowlers are struggling you can bring in a fielder to bowl an over or two. Injuries can also play a factor. The game will also track several records including all time partnerships, fastest 50, fastest 100, individual score, and best bowling figures.

Now part of the "fun" of the game is the teams included:
Australia 1876, 1932, 1958, 1965, 1973, 1981, 1995, 2006
Bangladesh 2006
England 1876, 1932, 1958, 1965, 1973, 1981, 1995, 2006
India 1965, 1973, 1984, 1995, 2006
New Zealand 1984, 2006
Pakistan 1965, 1973, 1984, 1995, 2006
South Africa 1995, 2006
Sri Lanka 1984, 1995, 2006
West Indies 1965, 1973, 1984, 1995, 2006
Zimbabwe 2006

You can replay classic Tests, or create a fantasy match, say Australia 1876 versus West Indies 1965.

You can also download "All Time Teams" for the teams mentioned above, the 2007 teams, several other nations (2007) and county teams. There is a "fantasy" selection of teams of famous historical and fictional characters: Kings, Dr. Who characters, Dickens characters, Famous Aussies, etc. This is available with a fun little option that allows you to customize and edit teams. For example, I made up a team of characters from "The Simpsons" (Apu took 7 wickets once over two overs and Ralph Wiggum has a record 305no) and a team called "Jazz Cats" of famous jazz musicians (Miles Davis is a spinner and Thelonious Monk is one mean wicket keeper!!). You could enter stats for your weekend team and watch them face off against the greats. The players are rated for batting and bowling. For bowlers, you can select "Fast", "Medium" or "Spinner".

The last two updates added a series option, where you can select two teams to play a series of 2, 3, 4, or 5 matches, and a league option, where you can select up to 6 teams and play a league format, where points are awarded accordingly for victories, draws, and losses (negative points).

The game also tracks stats for the players, and you can look up any player and see how he is performing. These stats are for the games the unit has played. There is also a historical library for the "real" players, based on their real life performance. The library is updated frequently, usually after a series has been played (the next update is planned shortly, now that the Australia-India series has finished).

I really can't say enough of how well this game is put together and how fun it is. I even feel I am forgetting little things here or there that make the game enjoyable. There is a trial version, so you can download it and test it out. If you are a cricket fan I am pretty sure you will enjoy it enough to purchase the full version. I think it is a bargain at under US$10.00. Give it a look and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Will Money Lead T20 To Edge Out Tests?

Patrick Compton writes an article asking if the money involved in T20 will push out or replace Tests. Now, there are too many traditionalists for this to happen. However, if he was to argue T20 pushing out ODI, perhaps. I could also see T20 becoming the type of "cricket" (there are those who even refuse to call ODI cricket) embraced by the US. There is a lot of money involved in T20, no doubt, and its quick format seems tailor made for todays fast paced world, and it is very TV friendly. But Tests are Tests, there is no need to fear the demise of the format.

O Baixhino and the Animal

Edmundo and Romario are together again at Vasco. A stormy relationship that produces results. This time around though, Romario is player coach, and both players are at the end of their careers. Romario is 42, Edmundo 36, so this very well could be the last time they pair up. Both players are "idolos", idols, fan favorites of the Vasco faithful.

Carnival float to have Holocaust theme

Jewish groups in Brazil have expressed disgust over a controversial float to appear in Brazil's upcoming carnival parade that depicts dead victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

Carnival is getting ready to go full swing. I have to say, after watching the past few years, the floats, the costumes, the whole show makes the Rose Bowl parade seem like some mid-America high school marching band revue. The whole production is impressive. First, a quick explanation of how it works: There are various "schools" are part of a club, usually by neighborhood or areas of the city. Many times a certain school is from a club that also has a football/ soccer team, or there is a close connection between them. It varies from place to place in Brazil. They get graded on various aspects of the float, and it is extremely competitive. The floats usually have some sort of message or theme, they will tell a story, or depict a historical event, or series of events. Last year there was one depicting the "burning girl" (I know I can look up her name but I am pressed right now) from the Viet Nam era picture. They had her dressed in a skin colored suit, and dancers depicting the flames, really impressive. Well this year it seems there will be one depicting the Holocaust. Despite the "festive" atmosphere surrounding the event, I have usually found the most "critical" of floats to be done in a tasteful manner. Here is the crux of the argument:

'Tragedy in their skin'

Sergio Niskier, the president of the Israelite Federation of Rio de Janerio, said it was "inappropriate" to punctuate the festival atmosphere of carnival with a scene symbolising the systematic murder of 6 million people in Nazi concentration camps between 1938 and 1945.

"Really, it makes no sense to highlight this issue with drums and dancing girls when there are still survivors of that horror and many of their descendants who carry the mark of that tragedy in their skin," he told reporters.

Barros, however, said he informed the Jewish group of his plans months ago.

"They were anxious about putting this float in a carnival atmosphere," he admitted.

But, he predicted: "When the float goes by, people will feel respect."

A counterpart at the rival Grande Rio samba school, Roberto Szaniecki - himself of Polish Jew descent - disagreed.

"It's insensitive. The parade is going to be broadcast in Europe. I don't have grandparents because of the Holocaust," he told the newspaper O Dia.

Oh, but for Salgueiro

Once again, Salgueiro. Is there any way we can beat this team? 4 games, 4 losses. And it is not like they dominate the game, they are for the most part even contests, where we do well, then they do well, back and forth. With the exception of the game last Sunday, we just can't seem to put the ball in the net against them. We have lost three games 1-0. We lost last Sunday 3-2 after having a 2-0 lead. Those points are costly, and we need to win today, against Central of Caruaru. The first game we tied 1-1, but we now have most of our starters who were not available for the first game. The flip side is they do to. Two teams, both in need of the three points for the victory, and hopefully it ends with us on top. Game day is a busy day, so I will try to post the results at the end of the day, if not, early tomorrow. Have a great Sunday!!

Australia vs India, 4th Test

Wow. Wow. Wow. I mean, WOW. This is what everyone had been hoping for all along. First, india goes 526 ao. Australia responds with 563. Fine individual performances, Sachin Tendulkar gets a ton, Anil Kumble bats for 87, Ricky Ponting goes mad for 140, two other Aussies (Clarke and Hayden) get centuries, wickets being spread around amongst the bowlers. Which makes me and every other fan out there, pleased, and pissed at the same time. Why couldn't we have seen more of this and less of the whining and accusations?

Sorry

Sorry about the light blogging. Caught some sort of virus that had me sleeping through most of the day. The worst seems to be over so I am back, for now....

4th Test, Austrailia v India, Day One

At stumps, Sachin Tendulkar is at 124 no, and India is at 309/5. This is the kind of performance most everyone had been hoping for. Nice play all around, from batsmen and bowlers alike. Scorecard is here. Now, while this is a nice welcome change, it leaves everyone asking, why weren't we treated to this since the start, instead of the soap opera we got?

The Deceptive 2-0

I have always felt that an early 2-0 lead in soccer is deceptive. It gives a false sense of security. At 1-0, you know it is only one goal, you need to keep alert, on your toes. At 2-0, you feel a bit better, more secure, at let your guard down. A quick goal by the opponent, and suddenly they are back in the game. You are nervous about allowing a tie, and boom, thats what they do. All of a sudden, you are tied in a game where you had a "comfortable" lead. You try to regroup, and suddenly you find yourself losing 3-2. that is exactly what happened to Sete yesterday. We were leading 2-0 early in the second half, let our guard down, and lost 3-2. Salgueiro is a team that seems to have our number. Last season in the second division, we went 12 games with no losses (8 wins, 4 ties), but when we faced them in the final we lost both games 1-0. This season, we had two ties against better teams, but Salgueiro found a way to beat us once again. The season is long, and not all is lost, but hopefully when we face Salgueiro away this Wednesday we can grab a victory and three points and feel better about our chances in the first division.

Outoe of the Day

Luis Garcia of Child of the Revolution has the best quote I have read so far this year:

"Here, if you see someone wearing an American flag, they're probably Cuban. If they wear Che Guevara, they're probably a tourist."

Havana-based blogger Yoani Sánchez, quoted in this feature story published on Sunday by The Observer, in London."

Since I shamelessly copied his post, please be sure to visit his site, and check out his book.

On The Death Of Bobby Fischer

Quite a lot written on the passing of Bobby Fischer. I am a chess fan, I enjoy the game, play a bit online here. You can see my games in progress here and my rating here. I also have these links on my sidebar. Bobby Fischer was an immensely complex individual, quite eccentric, and haunted by demons some say. This article is among the better that I read.

Sete Ties Sport Recife

Well, we tied Wednesday night. Considering we played the State Champions, a team that did not lose a game in the state championship last year, a team we have never beaten, a team that plays in the first division of the national championship, I think we did pretty good. Sport Club Recife is with out a doubt a much better team, better players, better facilities, etc. The score was tied at the half, 0-0. Sport grabbed a quick goal in the second, but our players did not give up, fought back, much like last week, and scored to tie it up. Our next game is Sunday, against Salgueiro, the team we lost the championship to. That, with the fact they pirated two of our players will make for a good rivalry.

Approved!!

Well, the stadium was approved!! Late last year, there was an incident at a stadium in Bahia, part of the structure gave way, and some fans were killed. As is the habit in most places, they locked the barn door after the horses had escaped. Now all the federations and agencies crack down and make sure the stadiums are "up to code". It is not just the structure, but a lot of ticky tacky things, though most of them are for the safety of the fans. You need separate entrances and exits, to avoid trouble, you need separate bathrooms, separate lunch counters. You even need to separate the seating sections. Depending on the size of the stadium you X number of this, X number of that. The field (grass) needs to be a certain quality. Before the season starts, the stadium needs to be approved by a whole host of agencies,: the federation, the fire department, the police department, the health department, the mayor, the mayor's mother, the mayor's mother's neighbor, you get the point. After you get all those approval's, you still need to get a judge to sign off on the ok. And it all needs to get done 48 hours before the start of the game. Well last night at the 11th hours, (actually we did it with about an hour to go) we got our approval and we will host Sport Club Recife tomorrow night. Like I mentioned before, they are the team with the largest fan base, so we should get a nice crowd, part of the reason we had so many requirements for this game. The game is being televised in the state as well. The entire region is looking to us and this game and everyone wants to out out their best effort. Hopefully we will be successful on the field as well!!

Twins separated at birth met and married.

Sounds like a headline from Weekly World News, but it's true.

A couple discovered after they had married that they were twins who had been split up at birth and adopted by separate families, according to a member of Britain's House of Lords.

Check it out here.

Sete Ties in First Division Debut

Well, we finally made it!! Today was our first game in the first division and we started on the road against Central of Caruaru. Our group is the "Group of Death" in the Pernambucano A1, it has the champion of the A1 last year, Sport Recife, the second place team of A1, Central, the team we played, Salgueiro, the champion of A2, and us (Sete De Setembro Esporte Clube), second place A2. Before we walked on the field we already faced problems, as a good bit of our players were not properly registered with the federation and could not play. We used a few players from "juniores", the youth team (17-19 year olds mostly). (Concurrent with the games of the A1 is the "Juniores", were the teams have their younger players to develop.) The game started poorly, we were down 1-0 in the first two minutes. The team composed themselves, played the way that got them in the first division, and managed a goal before the end of the first half. The second half was tightly contested, with both teams having good chances but not being able to capitalize. Sete played a man up after a red card for about 25 minutes, but the game ended 1-1.

I am pretty happy with a tie. First, we are playing in a harder division. We were playing the runner up last year. We were playing without many of our regular players, most of them getting their first professional game time, and we were playing on the road. Nothing to be ashamed of. If this team can start like this, I feel good about the season.

Pakistan: Not To Be Outdone

As if the ICC did not have enough on its hands with the Aussies and Indians, Pakistan is asking the ICC to overturn the 2006 forfeit over the ball tampering incident. I mean come on, can't this wait? Is Pakistan feeling that left out of the cricket headlines that they need to bring this up now? I won't argue they have a claim, but the timing is just beyond me.

Steroids and NHL

Not wanting to be left behind, the NHL is getting in to the steroids act now. As mentioned in the article, baseball waited till the horse was long gone before locking the barn door. With all the troubles winning back fans that the NHL had, they best address this issue before it snowballs out of control.

Lula To Visit Cuba, Wants To Meet With Fidel

Brazilian President Lula will be visiting Cuba next week and hopes to meet with his good friend Fidel. Fidel and Lula are old friends. It is not mentioned in the articles, but I am pretty sure while Lula was exiled from Brasil he spent time in Cuba. Many in Lula's inner circle surely did. His former Chief of Staff, who resigned in one of the many scandals here, Jose Dirceu, "trained" as a "revolutionary" during the late 60's and early 70's. There is no denying Lula is leftist. But to his credit, he did not take Brasil on a sharp left turn as many expected. Before Morales and Chavez and Bachilet, there was Lula. When he took office many feared the worst. Now, perhaps because of his election, and the fact that he wasn't as bad as many thought, fears eased up a bit and that led to the elections in other countries. The Brasilian economy is strong, stronger than it has been in recent memory anyways, and the business sector has not had its worst fears realized. Lula however, is red as red can be, and his friendship with Fidel is all I need to know about him. A few years back there was even a scandal that Cuba donated dollars to Lula's re-election campaign and his party, the PT, Partido Trabalhadores, the Workers party. (There are hundreds of political parites here, an alphabet soup, all known by initials). Anyways, Lula is visiting Cuba and wants to meet with his old buddy Fidel. Anyones guess if this actually happens. Lula has "bought" into the Fidel myth and doesn't realize Fidel has no friends. There was even a huge split in his party because Lula refused to denounce Human Rights abuses in Cuba. The purpose of the visit is to say goodbye to friend before he dies, I mean make some business deals. More here and here.

Sri Lanka Outlook 2008

Kumar Sangakkara writes an excellent piece in CricInfo on the outlook for Sri Lanka in 2008. He hits the nail on the head with this comment:

The key is not to find someone to replace Murali or be the next Murali, but rather to figure out who the next best spinner is, and see if he can back up Murali or play on his own. We shouldn't judge him alongside Murali because no one will ever be as good as Murali. But we should play the next best spinner and trust him to turn up and take wickets for Sri Lanka. If we have such an approach and have confidence in our spinners, I think we'll go a long way.

Murali may be gone, but they have Malinga da Slinga and Maharoof , who I think will lead the charge for them this year. They looked surprising in the World Cup, and I think they will continue their form in 2008.

Sangakkara is also responsible for what has to be one of the greatest sledges of all time. No obscenity, no family mentions, no racial or ethnic comments, just a pure sledge (if for whatever reason the vid does not work, you can check it out here:

What are you doing here? - man asks wife at brothel

I want to make a comment, but I don't know what to say..
What are you doing here? - man asks wife at brothel

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town."I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper Wednesday.

The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported.

Vermeulen: The Voices In My Head Told Me To Do It

In another of the strange chapters in cricket, Mark Vermeulen admitted torching the Zimbabwe cricket board's headquarters but pleaded not guilty to arson on the grounds he had been suffering psychiatric problems. CricInfo has the story here.

Family Addition!!

Sorry Ma, it is not THE addition you were waiting for, but it is an addition nonetheless!! Presenting, PINGA!! See, the doggie is Pingo, so his "sister" will be called Pinga. Now, the word does not mean here the same thing it means to Cubans, so I get a kick out of it. Hey, it's just me being me.

Shades of Bodyline?

Dileep Premachandran of The Doosra, the South Asian cricket blog for the Times Online has written a piece about all the controversy with the latest Test. Now I don't think it is as bad as Bodyline, but I can't think of a Test with as much action away from the playing field. He does raise an interesting point,

Anil Kumble's remark at the end of his press conference on Sunday night - "There was only one team playing in the spirit of the game" - immediately invited comparisons with the events of 75 years ago. "Not since Bill Woodfull in the 1932-33 Bodyline series has a rival captain spoken so strongly against his opponents," said the Daily Telegraph in Sydney.

A very similar comment was made by Woodfull during the famous series. It is not the first time Andrew Symonds or Harbhajan Singh are involved in similar controversy, and sadly, it will not be the last. From shoddy umpiring to accusations of racism, what could have been a series remembered for stellar play, will now be remembered for controversy.

Hey Ma, I'm Famous!!!

No matter how many times it happens, it is always exciting to see your name, get credited, or hat tipped for a link or tip!! I sent this link about Paul Krugman to Donald Luskin of Poor and Stupid, and he used it today on his site. WOOHOO!!!!

When Athletes Blow a Gasket

Ricky Ponting was none too pleased when the media questioned a catch during the Sydney Test.

When asked during the post-match press-conference about whether he caught the ball cleanly, an incensed Ponting took offence to the question.

"I claimed the catch and there was no way I grounded it (the ball)."

"If you are questioning my integrity, then probably you shouldn't be sitting here," retorted a furious Australian captain.

Now, the interesting thing here is, I just saw an athlete lose his cool on the field yesterday. As I mentioned yesterday, I work for a small club in Brasil. Yesterday we were playing a friendly against some "Washington Generals" type team. We were winning 4-0, and most of the reserves entered the match.

Now, we have a player who left after last season, under rather bad terms. Fate, however, brought him back. He was released by the team he had left us for, was on his way to try to catch on to another team, when he ran in to a member management at a bus station. He was literally waiting on his bus to go to another team and try out. He was apologetic about the way he left the team, and was given a second chance.

So back to the game, 4 nil, and he's got a breakaway, wide open shot, he hits it terribly, right into the goalkeepers hands. At this point the crowd turns on him. Screams at him, calls him a traitor and that type of shot is the reason the other team released him. Typical stuff, nothing offensive at all. The kid (he is 19, btw) lost his head. He rips off his jersey, throws it on the ground, and walks off in tears. Never seen anything like it. I guess it is because sports is so "public" that athletes errors and shortcomings are so visible.

Edmundo is back!!!

Looks like one of my favorite players of all time is set to return to one of my favorite teams, Vasco da Gama (RJ). Edmundo has played for the team at several times through out his career, and is um idolo, an idol, to the torcida, the fans/ supporters groups. The link here is in English. The press in Brasil is reporting this more of a sure thing, but they are notorious here for reporting signings like this before they are a done deal. If one thing in Edmundo's career is a certain, it is that any time he has been left without a team, he finds his way back home to Vasco. Edmundo will always have Vasco, and Vasco will always have Edmundo.

Caste a factor on the Indian team?

This article from the Sydney Morning Herald says the caste system plays a factor on the Indian Cricket Team. This article on CricInfo refutes it. I would love if any of my visitors from that region can give me their opinions and views, cause I swear I never even gave it a second thought till I read those two articles.

Lox and Black Beans

Well I stand corrected. Last week I wrote a post about my mom and the emails she sends. I was wrong, I apologize, and will address it shortly. Right now I would like to thank her for forwarding a link to the following article, about a photo exhibit regarding Cuban Jews called "Lox with Black Beans".

In Lox with Black Beans, some well-known Cuban Jews are featured in striking portraits: Painter Baruj Salinas in his studio; George Feldenkreis, chairman and CEO of Perry Ellis International, at his beach estate; television personality Mauricio Zeilic at work.

Read the whole article here.

Right of Reply

I guess it wouldn't be a blog without controversy. It seems last week I may have been a bit hasty and took a bit too much poetic license when I said my Mom forwarded superfluous emails. She brought it up to me, and upon further review, I would like to retract some of those statements and publicly apologize. So here goes:
Mama, you are right, I was wrong, and I am sorry for making it seem like you forwarded silly spam emails. Sorry Ma, I love you, always have, always will.
Here is the note I got from my Mom:

To set the record straight; As a matter of fact, I'm the one (Danny's MAMA) who does NOT forward ANY Email until I check snopes.com. I NEVER have. That includes Mr. Kangaroo and Mr Green Jeans were war heroes through Obama does not salute the flag, to AOL will send 10 cents foe every Email you forward, to Bill Gates will share his fortune (I'm in math, remember? I know about GEOMETRIC PROGRESSION) to whatever. All my friends ask me if something is true or a hoax and have been doing it for YEARS. The jokes, yes, I admit I used to forward everything. Now I am choosier. You ARE getting old and beginning to forget and/or confuse things. I mean it! I may forgive you, Danny but only because you are my son and I love you.

Mama

Spoken like only a mother can do!! Once again Ma, I love ya!!

R.I.P. Andrew Olmsted

Andrew Olmsted was a blogger and a soldier. Nothing I can write can express the respect and admiration I feel for an individual such as he. He made arrangements for any eventuality, and unfortunately for Andrew and his family, the worst has occurred. His final post has been made. The original post appears on his blog, but I have had trouble accessing it, so I provide the google cache link here.

Sunday friendly match

For those of you that do not know, I work for a small soccer/ futbol club in Brasil. Last year we finished in second place of the second division, and were promoted to the first. Today we are hosting our first home game with a new coach and new team. The season starts for us on the 13th of this month, and our first home game will be on the 16th. For that home game, we will be playing Sport Club Recife, the best, most popular team in the state. I am kinda pressed as we prepare for todays friendly, so I am short on links and explanations, but as the season goes on I will explain more about the team and the job. A great Sunday to all!!!

It's the smugglers, stupid.

See, it's not that I agree, or disagree with Cuban Americans financing the illegal smuggling of their relatives off the island. You could defend it with a stretch of "is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family". And it's not that I want to argue that wet foot/dry foot policy is faulty and rewards illegal immigration. I can defend that with "Was the Underground Railroad morally right?". What gets me is the blame is not put on Cuba, and its policies of oppression. Former local TV journalist Mark Potter, who knows better from the time he spent in South Florida tells the tale here.

Joke E-Mails

When my mom (Mama!! I love ya!!) first got her email and started to use the web, she would forward me every joke, every "help Johnny collect a world record number of business cards before he dies of (insert rare terminal illness here)", every "don't stick your fingers in the change slot of the pay phone, lest you prick your fingers with an AIDS infested pin", you guys get the point. I guess she was excited about having an email, and she only wanted to make me laugh, or be alert and careful, like any Mom. With time, she got better. A lot better. The quality of what she forwarded improved. Now, rather than roll my eyes, I can be sure that whatever she sent will be enjoyable, and most get a good laugh out of me. It may be silly, but this one made me laugh, so thanks Ma!!

The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had just gotten married -- for the fourth time. The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband's occupation. 'He's a funeral director,' she answered. 'Interesting,' the newsman thought. He then asked her if she wouldn't mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living. She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years. After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, explaining that she'd first married a banker when she was in her early 20's, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40's, later on a preacher when in her 60's, and now in her 80's, a funeral director. The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers. She smiled and explained, 'I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.'

So how exactly is Cricket played

The people who surf in from a link on a cricket site already know how the game works. But most of the people I know really aren't cricket fans. So if you are one of those, and were wondering how the game works, it's really rather simple. You ready? OK here goes:

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. Sometimes, depending on the light and the weather, they send everybody in, whether they are out or not. When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

I keed, I keed. (Although that really is all there is to the game.) OK seriously, there are some excellent explanations of cricket on the web, geared towards fans of baseball. While there may be some tickytacky objections that all the intricacies of the game are not covered, they do give a great overall explanation.

CRICKET EXPLAINED - AN AMERICAN VIEWPOINT (from CricInfo)
EXPLAINING CRICKET TO AMERICANS (from seattlecricket.com)
DM'S EXPLANATION OF CRICKET (from dm's cricblog)

And special thanks to former coworkers David Whiteman and Samir Cherkoui, and Mahmood and Ghazala from the donut shop who calmly and patiently explained the game to me, several times, before it finally set in. Mahmood paid out of his pocket to set up his shop in 1999 with TV's and satellite to transmit the games (he did the same in 03) and explained the smallest detail while running the counter. If it wasn't for them, I would have never discovered this fascinating game. Thanks guys!!

Wolfe to write on immigration, novel set in Miami

Tom Wolfe has not only changed publishing houses, but locale as well. Wolfe is writing a new novel about immigration. According to the release, the novel will look at "class, family, wealth, race, crime, sex, corruption and ambition in Miami, the city where America's future has arrived first." Major characters include a "young nurse of Cuban ancestry," a "second-generation Cuban police officer," and "a woman of Haitian background who passes for Anglo. Wolfe originally researched the Vietnamese community in California before settling on Miami "would make a richer, more complex setting. "As far as I know, it's the only city in the world in which more than half the population is recent immigrants," he said. "They run Miami politically. This is a situation in which there is one collision of racial and ethnic groups after another. You don't have to make up anything. You don't dare. The imagination is scrawny compared to what goes on down there." The WSJ has the details, and they even quote one of my ex bosses, Mitch Kaplan of Books & Books "There will be a lot of interest in how he takes what Miami is and how he spins it," said Mr. Kaplan, who is confident that the book will be a strong seller in his market. "Anybody who reads Tom Wolfe knows it will be his vision. But I don't know that any one person can get to the heart of the reality of south Florida today."
What Tom Wolfe will write about the immigrant community is anyones guess. Hopefully he will approach it fairly, and show all aspects if them, instead of focusing on certain segments

D. B. Cooper

Way back when....
We used to have a pay-tv service called On-TV. It was a converter box that you had to set to on, while a certain TV channel was set. In our case it was 51. For whatever my dad didn't want cable so we got On-TV. I think it had something to do with too many R rated movies on cable, too many channels, too much policing, so it was easier to control one channel. Anyways, the point here is one of the very first movies I remember watching was The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper with Treat Williams and Robert Duvall. At the time I loved the movie, and I remember when DVD's replaced VHS, I found the tape for sale at a rental place. I bought it and upon further review the movie really wasn't all that good (or accurate, for that matter). But the story of D. B. Cooper fascinated me. It remains the only unsolved "skyjacking" as they were called back then, in the history of the F.B.I. The case was never officially closed, and on the 31st of Decemeber they sent out a press release asking for help in closing the case. Here is the text, and their site has the pics. So as public service I will pass it along. And I just think the case is interesting as hell....

D.B. COOPER REDUX
Help Us Solve the Enduring Mystery
On a cold November night 36 years ago, in the driving wind and rain, somewhere between southern Washington state and just north of Portland, Oregon, a man calling himself Dan Cooper parachuted out of a plane he’d just hijacked clutching a bag filled with $200,000 in stolen cash.

Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? And what happened to the loot, only a small part of which has ever surfaced?

It’s a mystery, frankly. We’ve run down thousands of leads and considered all sorts of scenarios. And amateur sleuths have put forward plenty of their own theories. Yet the case remains unsolved.

Would we still like to get our man? Absolutely. And we have reignited the case—thanks to a Seattle case agent named Larry Carr and new technologies like DNA testing.

You can help. We’re providing here, for the first time, a series of pictures and information on the case. Please look it all over carefully to see if it triggers a memory or if you can provide any useful information.

A few things to keep in mind, according to Special Agent Carr:

• Cooper was no expert skydiver. “We originally thought Cooper was an experienced jumper, perhaps even a paratrooper,” says Special Agent Carr. “We concluded after a few years this was simply not true. No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a 200-mile-an-hour wind in his face, wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky. He also missed that his reserve chute was only for training and had been sewn shut—something a skilled skydiver would have checked.”
• The hijacker had no help on the ground, either. To have utilized an accomplice, Cooper would’ve needed to coordinate closely with the flight crew so he could jump at just the right moment and hit the right drop zone. But Cooper simply said, "Fly to Mexico," and he had no idea where he was when he jumped. There was also no visibility of the ground due to cloud cover at 5,000 feet.
• We have a solid physical description of Cooper. “The two flight attendants who spent the most time with him on the plane were interviewed separately the same night in separate cities and gave nearly identical descriptions,” says Carr. “They both said he was about 5'10" to 6', 170 to 180 pounds, in his mid-40s, with brown eyes. People on the ground who came into contact with him also gave very similar descriptions.”

And what of some of the names pegged as Cooper? None have panned out. Duane Weber, who claimed to be Cooper on his deathbed, was ruled out by DNA testing (we lifted a DNA sample from Cooper’s tie in 2001). Kenneth Christiansen, named in a recent magazine article, didn’t match the physical description and was a skilled paratrooper. Richard McCoy, who died in 1974, also didn’t match the description and was at home the day after the hijacking having Thanksgiving dinner with his family in Utah, an unlikely scenario unless he had help.

As many agents before him, Carr thinks it highly unlikely that Cooper survived the jump. “Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open.”

Still, we’d all like to know for sure, and Carr thinks you can help.

“Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream. Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.”

If you have any information: please e-mail our Seattle field office at fbise@leo.gov. And for more details on the case, see our story of November 24, 2006.

SHOCKER: Symonds: I was out

The umps got it wrong?!? Nah, it can't be....
Symonds went 137no today, and led the charge for Australia 376/7. At 134/6 the Aussies were struggling, and Steve Bucknor gave Symonds an iffy call when Ishant Sharma seemed to get Symonds at 30. Then on 48, Bruce Oxenford turned down a stumping appeal from Anil Kumble.

"I was very lucky. I was out when I was 30, given not out," said Symonds.

"That's cricket though. I can sit here and tell you about my bad decisions as well, but I won't. That's the game. It's just one of those things."

We start the year with umpire controversy, whodathunkit!?!?

Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back

Major hat tip to Luis Garcia of "Child of the Revolution" for this piece, which I must pass on for my queirda aunt Alina. Luis also has an excellent book by the same name which I recommend. It seems Frank is back, and he's making nightly performances at the Hotel Nacional. In typical Sinatra fashion, he was at the mini bar tossing back a few. Guess the flask of Jack Daniel's he had was dry. No mention if he had his pack of Camel's. (If you believe in rumors, he was buried with pack of Camel's, a Zippo lighter, a roll of dimes, and a flask of Jack Daniel's). According to the report, Jude Law was staying in one of the luxury suites where Sinatra once stayed. Law “sampled lots of the hotel’s rum cocktails to celebrate his birthday so he thought it was just a drunken vision”, according to a "source" at the hotel.

Australia v India, 2nd Test, Sydney

Australia and India face off in the second Test of their series. Australia dominated the first Test. Unless India makes serious changes, we may see the same result. India looked strong in their first innings, but the Australian attack was massive. Their bowlers came out in the second innings and made short work of India. Australia is strong at home, especially in Sydney. Lets face it, they are strong wherever they play. But India has the pieces they need to pull off a win, they just need to put them in the right places. Anil Kumble may still be learning his way around, but I think he's done OK so far. Perhaps one more spinner (I know, I know, who is that spinner?). Sachin Tendulkar was reported to be ill, but should be OK come game time. I think Kumble will put Zaheer Kahn in the line up, but right now it's anyones guess. India is facing a monster opponent, but they have plenty of fight and I think they will not go down as easy this in this Test.

Probable starters:
Australia 1 Phil Jaques, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Stuart Clark.

India 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan/Irfan Pathan, 11 RP Singh.

South Africa v West Indies, 2nd Test, Cape Town

The Windies looked good in the first Test. Shivnarine Chanderpaul grabbed a century and while he is a far cry from Brian Lara, he is filling the void that Lara's retirement left, at least for now. Marlon Samuels was surprising and impressive, and if he continues his current level of play he will give South Africa problems. The Windies have fallen on hard times, and that is putting it nicely. 2007 was horrendous. Their performance at home in the World Cup was disappointing not only to their fans, but fans of cricket in general. So it was a refreshing turn of events when they grabbed their first test win in over a year and a half. Towards the end it looked as if the Windies would fold when South Africa made a strong charge, but a nice performance form the Windies bowlers, especially Fidel Edwards sealed the victory. The West Indies need the same offensive output they had in their first innings of the earlier Test, and their bowling needs to watch themselves, especially as the match draws to a close. South Africa has been able to jam themselves up early in a series, only to come back and take it in the end. The Windies need to keep their composure, not rest on the laurels of their victory if they want to start 2008 with a much needed series victory. A win like that will boost their confidence, and the cricket world can welcome the return of the Windies to top level play.

Probable starters:

South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Neil McKenzie, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 AB de Villiers, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Daren Ganga, 3 Runako Morton, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Daren Powell, 11 Fidel Edwards