Jeopardy Lane

That was an interesting line up Fabio Capello fielded in Croatia on Wednesday. A winning one at that as England, led by a three goal outburst from Theo Walcott, frolicked to a jolly 4-1 win over recent rivals Croatia in World Cup qualifying.
Clearly, Capello is methodically doing his homework. Maybe, just maybe, the English FA got this one right?
Welcome to the art of tactics and strategy, England.
Now you know what the fuss is all about when it comes to this sort of stuff. It does matter.

Susannah Hickling
The Observer, Sunday September 7 2008
As the cost of petrol blows an ever-bigger hole in our bank accounts, more of us are hopping on to bicycles instead.
Sales at Halfords, one of Britain’s biggest bicycle vendors, improved 7.2 per cent last year; cycling is on the rise in most cities and increased in London alone by 91 per cent in the past 12 months; and the government is wedded to encouraging pedal power nationwide as a way of getting fit, beating the traffic and bringing down carbon emissions.
In fact, there’s so much going for cycling that people are increasingly inclined to ignore the dangers and how much an accident could cost them. According to accident prevention charity RoSPA, about 16,000 cyclists were injured in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, but between 60 and 90 per cent of incidents go unreported.
Penny Knight, who heads the cycling and [...]

Disruption continuing over tunnel
Misery is set to continue for thousands of Eurostar passengers with services unlikely to resume on Friday.
The Channel Tunnel is closed after a fire broke out on a freight train about seven miles from Calais. Fire fighters are still tackling the blaze.
Thirty-two people on board were led to safety. Fourteen had suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation.
The operator said in a statement it “did not expect” to operate any services on Friday.
The fire broke out on a UK-bound lorry aboard the shuttle train at about 1400 GMT on Thursday, around 11km (7 miles) from the French entrance, the operator Eurotunnel said.

The French Interior Ministry said the lorry, which is understood to have overturned on the train, was carrying the chemical phenol, a toxic product used by the pharmaceutical industry.
At 11.40pm on Thursday fire crews were still working to put out the fire, but [...]

As most of you may and probably know, today is the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. My views on the event haven’t changedd in that I believe that there is more to this picture than what most people perceive. Am I 9/11 “Truther”? Quite possibly but I’m certain that I’m not just another gullible person that believes whatever the government spews out. To all those that don’t question the government and think the Truthers are pathetic I ask you this, “Where did you get your information about the attacks?” 75% of you will say you got it from the news and that’s all that needs to be said to close this debate because your argument is now void. It’s a fact that any, and indeed all, news services are biased and censor information. Hell, even YouTube is lopsided in their views.
Anyway, today is not a day to bring up [...]

Dimosthenis Tampakos
Dimosthenis Tampakos - Gold Medalist Devotee Of Sathya Sai Baba
A foreign, Olympic gold-medallist, Dimosthenis Tampakos, is inspired by an Indian saint. V. V. Subrahmanyam talks to the athlete.
When Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece was strolling along the corridors of the Andhra Pradesh Olympic Bhavan in Hyderabad, none realised that he was an Olympic gold medallist gymnast (Roman Rings, 2004 Athens).
What was this Greek sporting hero doing in Hyderabad? Being an ardent devotee of Sri Satya Sai Baba, Tampakos was on a visit to the Sports Coaching Foundation in Hyderabad which is run by K. Sai Baba, another devotee of the Puttaparthi saint.
Tampakos says he is always inspired by the teachings of Baba. “You tend to feel in a different world when you think of him. There is always a special ambience in Puttaparthi,” he remarked. He also mentioned that ever since he became a follower of Baba in 1996, he [...]

The status of Twenty20 cricket as the sport’s most lucrative avatar has been confirmed with commercial rights to the Champions League being sold for US$900 million to broadcasters ESPN-Star Sports (ESS). This makes the Champions League, promoted by the national boards of India, Australia and South Africa, the highest valued cricket tournament on a per-game basis.
The ten-year deal, which includes an additional $75 million for marketing the tournament, gives the network the global commercial rights to every Champions League match from this year’s inaugural event in December until 2017.
The organisers confirmed the deal when they opened all the bids in Dubai on Wednesday. ESS was preferred ahead of DIC, who offered $751.3 million, and the Abu Dhabi Sports Club, whose bid was disqualified for being conditional.
The deal marks ESS’s entry into the specialized Twenty20 market; it had lost out on the bid for the Indian Premier League after what seemed [...]

I’d never seen Madonna before so I was going to this gig with high expectations. I mean this girl has been around the same amount of time as Prince!
The video intro sequence set the whole thing up - it was amazing. A candy-styled pinball extravagansa. You could see that this five minute intro was a project in itself. From the video content to the way it was displayed on moving screens. It really set the gig up. Dancers appeared and then the Queen of pop was revealed on a throne turning on a platform.
The opening ‘Hard Candy’ was Madonna informing everyone that she is still working on delivering her best material. Then she followed it up with two more off the new album ‘Beat Goes On’ and ‘Human Nature’ so when ‘Vogue’ kicks in the crowd are well up for it. Madonna is in great shape and is dancing flat [...]

Every now and then I come across a band that completely sweeps me off my feet. You know that scene in High Fidelity in which John Cusack says, “I will now sell 5 copies of The 3 EPs by the Beta Band”?
No?
It’s right here:

(seriously, I love YouTube.)
I admit to being a lot like that “it’s good” guy — except a little more manic. I’m the person who could hear a snippet of something and then rush to the counter to purchase the album (and yes, I did go out and buy The 3 EPs shortly after seeing this movie. “Dry the Rain”? Amazing song. Give a listen here). Some music I need the time to get to know; some music I just know I love from the first note.
iTunes has made getting swept away by bands a hell of a lot more convenient, of course, dangerously so. Because I’m [...]

We got back to London (well, we’re staying with my sister and her fiancé in Epsom, southwest of London) on Tuesday evening, and spent Wednesday walking around London. We got a nice early-ish start (you want to get on the commuter train to London after 9:00 am ’cause it’s cheaper) and arrived at Waterloo Station…

…in good time to head over to the Tower of London (our goal). We walked along the Riverside walk on the south bank of the Thames…

…and crossed over at Millennium Bridge…

We decided to head over to St. Paul’s Cathedral, since it was right there at the end of the bridge. I decided I wanted my photo taken on the steps of the cathedral…

…but what’s this here? Seems like something is going on at St. Paul’s…

There are reporters, barricades, a crowd of people and a bunch of Rolls Royces flying the royal standard.  A quick question to [...]

Internet I just got one of the best gifts ever. My mother, the dear that she is, bought me a membership to the BFI, which means I get priority booking for the British Film Festival. So as soon as I got my membership confirmation email, I began looking for all the possible movies to see. And then I found the list. The list with 189 movies on it.
Where to begin?? I want to see them all, but that is so not possible. And I’m pretty sure I really don’t want to see them all, but with a list like this there are just so many possibilites.
She never should have bought me that membership.