AKA Lord's the home of English cricket. Must be the only test match cricket ground that has a slope LOL. First Ashes test has started tonight, and I have it on in the background here - Australia currently 150 for 6, Gilchrist out, and Shane Warne playing entertainingly (an over of four, four, french cut, missed edge, four, run out attempt - you get the drift) - but must stop thinking in one day mode - 155 for 6 is NOT a good score. Where are the days where teams could get near 700 over 3 days hard graft and then skittle the other team without raising a sweat (apart from Bangladesh of course) - well, apart from Australia over the last decade I mean.
Hmm, James Doohan, aka Scotty off Star Trek, has died at 85 - this is a good take on the whole Star Trek phenomenon. It got caned in the ratings against Bewitched apparently in the three years the original show went, but one of the first examples of life after cancellation I guess. Fave episode of the original series, and I think the silliest, was Trouble With Tribbles - LOL fluffy slippers attack Kirk et al, and then to make it sillier, Deep Space Nine went back in time to spice the old show with their characters LOL.
Hmm, more emergency scares in London today - 'incidents' at three Underground stations, and a bus taped off. From what I can see and hear on TV at the moment, and BBC is reporting that it seems detonators only have exploded at Shepherd's Bush, The Oval and Warren Street - possible nail bomb at Warren Street, and apparently someone dropping a bag in the train and running away. Reports of gunshots at Warren Street, and also University College Hospital, near Warren Street tube station, being sealed off by armed police.
Also a No. 26 bus in Hackney had an explosion on the upper deck, not ripped apart like at Russell Square two weeks ago today (has it only been two weeks?), but windows blown out, and the surrounding area has been evacuated. Speculation on the news feeds so far is that the detonators could have been attached to bombs that didn't go off - and hmm, some of the cops going down into the tubes are wearing chemical suits.
As two weeks ago, very jumbled at this early stage. Only one injury reported so far, and no mass of paramedics around the stations. More will become apparent shortly no doubt.
Back to the cricket, 7 wickets down, Shane Warne is out, 178 for 8 wow. The other wicket must have fallen while I wasn't looking. LOL I was wondering how SBS would juggle the Tour de France and the Ashes, two sessions of the cricket live and then the Tour, with frequent news from Lords. Only four more days to go of the cycling juggle though, and then five other test matches all live no doubt.
Hmm, so much news, so little attention span LOL - John Howard, the Australian PM, is doing the grand coalition of the willing tour this week - was in Washington earlier in the week, is now in London. He met the two Australians still seriously injured by the July 7 bombings, and got ambushed by one, who asked, in front of the media and cameras and such, whether the war on Iraq was one of the things that caused the bombings. For once, I saw Howard lost for words - he came out with the line everyone is entitled to their opinions, but that Al Qaeda was around before Iraq got invaded. No, won't even go near the topic of Saddam was supporting Al Qaeda, won't even LOL.
Oh, and I completely forgot the timing of Howard's trip - he will be able to watch the test at Lords no doubt. Must be good to be a world leader :)
I won't go near the Afghanistan Al Qaeda Iraq link, but an interesting (from a liberal pinko point of view of course, and yes I am being self depracating there LOL) article in the Guardian here, about the mess that is Afghanistan currently. Are the Canadian troops still there? I remember Chretien basically promising the troops to Afghanistan, and in no way did he do that to avoid sending the forces to Iraq LOL.
'In Bush's 'global war on terror' (Gwot), Iraq and Afghanistan present one extended battlefield against a common enemy - and the strategy is and must be the same. So far as Bush is concerned, it's always either the day after 9/11 or the day before the Iraq invasion. Time stands still at two ideal political moments. But his consequences since are barely managed chaos.'
Latest from that other theatre of the Gwot is that another couple of diplomats have been kidnapped by the insurgents, this time the Algerians have been targeted. A 'quiet' day in the civil war around Baghdad - five soldiers (all Iraqis), a policeman and two civilians killed in attacks today. I say civil war because the Sunni insurgents seem to be deliberately targetting Shia and Kurdish targets, it's become more apparent over the last couple of weeks.
In Washington, Bush has put forward John Roberts as nominee for the Supreme Court. Who, I hear you ask (or, actually the majority of you I am sure are saying who cares), he seems to be fairly conservative, but doesn't seem to have actually made too many rulings on contentious issues. Hey, Democrats and liberals, it could have been worse, and he is only fifty, got years and years for him to be seduced to the left LOL. Hell, when Alberto Gonzales' name came up, I was thinking at least he is a known quality - aargh, how rightist I am becoming in my US thinking LOL.
Bush avoided another chapter of the culture wars by this nomination, as David Brooks says in that op-ed piece I linked in the above paragraph. I haven't really heard any feedback from the religious right about the nomination, so maybe that is a good thing LOL. A nominee that is acceptable to the Dems as well as the Republicans in the Senate - and as Brooks says, it will be interesting to see which Democratic party comes out at the confirmation hearing, the nutter 'woo of death' Deaniac side, or the pragmatic boring Clintonites. Or the wiffle waffle Kerry mob LOL.
And when on earth did Niger become the next Sudan or Zimbabwe with the food shortages? Under the Western radar indeed...
'Mr Porter pointed out that Niger's crisis "began at precisely the time of the Live 8 concerts and the G8 meeting at Gleneagles, yet the world could not find the money needed to intervene. It is sad an unacceptable. There is no war in Niger, no rebel groups, no despots, no problems getting the aid in, it is just poverty. And kids are starving to death...'
Apparently the harvests failed.
And Indonesia have had their first human deaths due to bird flu - all poultry at affected farms are to be culled now. Previously it was only the sick birds themselves - yesterday they were reporting that the three deaths they had they weren't sure whether the victims had exposure to poultry, and the worrying implication that there could be human to human transmission. Very very scary - question of when, not if, it blows up and do the full human to human transmission thing.
Wow, the US Administration and the protectionists and the anti China brigade should be a bit happier this (North American) morning - China have said they will drop the yuan's peg to the dollar, and are revaluing as of today by 2.1 percent. There goes the budget deficit LOL just like that :)
Oh, I found that article I was looking for the other day - is a piece on how successful Subway is in the UK - in five years they are saying it could be the biggest chain in the UK, even bigger than McDonald's. I had a meatball sub today for lunch, even after reading the following description a couple of days ago -
'The meatball sub sauce is indeed flavoursome, but in the same way that McDonald's hamburgers or Starbursts are - there's a tanginess that your saliva glands leap into action without you honestly being able to identify an actual taste, though I presume the Trades Description Act requires that it has had, at some stage, a passing acquaintance with a tomato. I unpick a meatball and HL Mencken's famous description of hotdogs as 'the sweepings of the abattoir' springs to mind. Ditto when I look at the slices of ham and turkey in my second sub, which clearly haven't been carved directly from a pig or poultry carcass, unless someone has invented a rectangular species of each without telling me.'
Hmm, in the cricket, Australia all out for 190, England are already 11 for 2. Some dedication guys please? It is the Ashes?
Am too tired to do much apart from link to this story. An immigration detention story from Sydney, where the two children were detained at the Villawood facility due to a misunderstanding - the minister is saying that the children weren't 'technically detained', merely that the mother was and the kids wanted to visit her.
Eyelids are falling here, and Howard is doing the side by side thing at Blair's press conference about the latest incidents in London. Where's that remote for the cricket or Tour de France LOL. Some funny - as in peculiar - footage coming from Whitehall, some guy being led away in handcuffs. And still those stories that University College Hospital is in armed police lockdown as well. Will hear more of the story tomorrow morning I am sure.
Sorry for the length of the post peeps, will try to limit my interests to five topics a post perhaps LOL.
Pauly
Hmm, James Doohan, aka Scotty off Star Trek, has died at 85 - this is a good take on the whole Star Trek phenomenon. It got caned in the ratings against Bewitched apparently in the three years the original show went, but one of the first examples of life after cancellation I guess. Fave episode of the original series, and I think the silliest, was Trouble With Tribbles - LOL fluffy slippers attack Kirk et al, and then to make it sillier, Deep Space Nine went back in time to spice the old show with their characters LOL.
Hmm, more emergency scares in London today - 'incidents' at three Underground stations, and a bus taped off. From what I can see and hear on TV at the moment, and BBC is reporting that it seems detonators only have exploded at Shepherd's Bush, The Oval and Warren Street - possible nail bomb at Warren Street, and apparently someone dropping a bag in the train and running away. Reports of gunshots at Warren Street, and also University College Hospital, near Warren Street tube station, being sealed off by armed police.
Also a No. 26 bus in Hackney had an explosion on the upper deck, not ripped apart like at Russell Square two weeks ago today (has it only been two weeks?), but windows blown out, and the surrounding area has been evacuated. Speculation on the news feeds so far is that the detonators could have been attached to bombs that didn't go off - and hmm, some of the cops going down into the tubes are wearing chemical suits.
As two weeks ago, very jumbled at this early stage. Only one injury reported so far, and no mass of paramedics around the stations. More will become apparent shortly no doubt.
Back to the cricket, 7 wickets down, Shane Warne is out, 178 for 8 wow. The other wicket must have fallen while I wasn't looking. LOL I was wondering how SBS would juggle the Tour de France and the Ashes, two sessions of the cricket live and then the Tour, with frequent news from Lords. Only four more days to go of the cycling juggle though, and then five other test matches all live no doubt.
Hmm, so much news, so little attention span LOL - John Howard, the Australian PM, is doing the grand coalition of the willing tour this week - was in Washington earlier in the week, is now in London. He met the two Australians still seriously injured by the July 7 bombings, and got ambushed by one, who asked, in front of the media and cameras and such, whether the war on Iraq was one of the things that caused the bombings. For once, I saw Howard lost for words - he came out with the line everyone is entitled to their opinions, but that Al Qaeda was around before Iraq got invaded. No, won't even go near the topic of Saddam was supporting Al Qaeda, won't even LOL.
Oh, and I completely forgot the timing of Howard's trip - he will be able to watch the test at Lords no doubt. Must be good to be a world leader :)
I won't go near the Afghanistan Al Qaeda Iraq link, but an interesting (from a liberal pinko point of view of course, and yes I am being self depracating there LOL) article in the Guardian here, about the mess that is Afghanistan currently. Are the Canadian troops still there? I remember Chretien basically promising the troops to Afghanistan, and in no way did he do that to avoid sending the forces to Iraq LOL.
'In Bush's 'global war on terror' (Gwot), Iraq and Afghanistan present one extended battlefield against a common enemy - and the strategy is and must be the same. So far as Bush is concerned, it's always either the day after 9/11 or the day before the Iraq invasion. Time stands still at two ideal political moments. But his consequences since are barely managed chaos.'
Latest from that other theatre of the Gwot is that another couple of diplomats have been kidnapped by the insurgents, this time the Algerians have been targeted. A 'quiet' day in the civil war around Baghdad - five soldiers (all Iraqis), a policeman and two civilians killed in attacks today. I say civil war because the Sunni insurgents seem to be deliberately targetting Shia and Kurdish targets, it's become more apparent over the last couple of weeks.
In Washington, Bush has put forward John Roberts as nominee for the Supreme Court. Who, I hear you ask (or, actually the majority of you I am sure are saying who cares), he seems to be fairly conservative, but doesn't seem to have actually made too many rulings on contentious issues. Hey, Democrats and liberals, it could have been worse, and he is only fifty, got years and years for him to be seduced to the left LOL. Hell, when Alberto Gonzales' name came up, I was thinking at least he is a known quality - aargh, how rightist I am becoming in my US thinking LOL.
Bush avoided another chapter of the culture wars by this nomination, as David Brooks says in that op-ed piece I linked in the above paragraph. I haven't really heard any feedback from the religious right about the nomination, so maybe that is a good thing LOL. A nominee that is acceptable to the Dems as well as the Republicans in the Senate - and as Brooks says, it will be interesting to see which Democratic party comes out at the confirmation hearing, the nutter 'woo of death' Deaniac side, or the pragmatic boring Clintonites. Or the wiffle waffle Kerry mob LOL.
And when on earth did Niger become the next Sudan or Zimbabwe with the food shortages? Under the Western radar indeed...
'Mr Porter pointed out that Niger's crisis "began at precisely the time of the Live 8 concerts and the G8 meeting at Gleneagles, yet the world could not find the money needed to intervene. It is sad an unacceptable. There is no war in Niger, no rebel groups, no despots, no problems getting the aid in, it is just poverty. And kids are starving to death...'
Apparently the harvests failed.
And Indonesia have had their first human deaths due to bird flu - all poultry at affected farms are to be culled now. Previously it was only the sick birds themselves - yesterday they were reporting that the three deaths they had they weren't sure whether the victims had exposure to poultry, and the worrying implication that there could be human to human transmission. Very very scary - question of when, not if, it blows up and do the full human to human transmission thing.
Wow, the US Administration and the protectionists and the anti China brigade should be a bit happier this (North American) morning - China have said they will drop the yuan's peg to the dollar, and are revaluing as of today by 2.1 percent. There goes the budget deficit LOL just like that :)
Oh, I found that article I was looking for the other day - is a piece on how successful Subway is in the UK - in five years they are saying it could be the biggest chain in the UK, even bigger than McDonald's. I had a meatball sub today for lunch, even after reading the following description a couple of days ago -
'The meatball sub sauce is indeed flavoursome, but in the same way that McDonald's hamburgers or Starbursts are - there's a tanginess that your saliva glands leap into action without you honestly being able to identify an actual taste, though I presume the Trades Description Act requires that it has had, at some stage, a passing acquaintance with a tomato. I unpick a meatball and HL Mencken's famous description of hotdogs as 'the sweepings of the abattoir' springs to mind. Ditto when I look at the slices of ham and turkey in my second sub, which clearly haven't been carved directly from a pig or poultry carcass, unless someone has invented a rectangular species of each without telling me.'
Hmm, in the cricket, Australia all out for 190, England are already 11 for 2. Some dedication guys please? It is the Ashes?
Am too tired to do much apart from link to this story. An immigration detention story from Sydney, where the two children were detained at the Villawood facility due to a misunderstanding - the minister is saying that the children weren't 'technically detained', merely that the mother was and the kids wanted to visit her.
Eyelids are falling here, and Howard is doing the side by side thing at Blair's press conference about the latest incidents in London. Where's that remote for the cricket or Tour de France LOL. Some funny - as in peculiar - footage coming from Whitehall, some guy being led away in handcuffs. And still those stories that University College Hospital is in armed police lockdown as well. Will hear more of the story tomorrow morning I am sure.
Sorry for the length of the post peeps, will try to limit my interests to five topics a post perhaps LOL.
Pauly
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