Noughties Highlight #3: Taming the Mighty Shubenacadie

I am a naturalist at heart. I love being outdoors and I love being in awe of nature. I can never fully describe the sensation of guiding a 16ft Zodiac with up to 8 passengers powered by a 40hp Yamaha outboard engine on a river undergoing a transformation unparalleled on this planet. The Shubenacadie River is Nova Scotia's largest (72km in length), springing from Grand lake (which connects to Halifax Harbour through a series of lakes and rivers that once composed the ambitious but never completed Shubenacadie Canal) as fresh water before meeting it's tidal influx for about the last 30km where it's mouth opens onto the Cobequid Bay. The Cobequid Bay opens into the Minas Basin which connects onto the Bay of Fundy. The Cobequid Bay is home to the world's largest tidal rise (53.7ft), as the Bay of Fundy's perfectly synchronized tidal oscillation is funneled into the apex of the V shaped bay system that comprises the Minas and Cobequid Bays. As the area narrows, the water accelerates and the energy transmitted intensifies. All this force reaches the mouth of the Shubenacadie River with the town of Maitland as witness. The lazily outflow to sea comes to a dramatic halt as the course of the river is reversed instantaneously and is heralded by a tidal bore if all conditions are favorable. Nearer the new or full moons, I have witnessed a bore stretching from bank to bank achieving a height of 6-9ft and stretching backwards in a succession of back bores of similar height. However, that is just the first easy push, the water keeps pouring into the river and gets choked up as it starts to fill over sandbars and tries to push through narrower parts of the channel. This results in my favorite all time manifestation of the first Law of Thermodynamics: energy is neither created nor destroyed. The excess energy in the velocity of the water is transferred into amplitude in response to those choke points as the water slows. Literally right before you eyes, the water begins undulating and within seconds you are going over 2ft, 4ft, 6ft, 10ft of water that appears out of nowhere. The waves last as long as the choke point restricts the water flow and intensify as the water keeps streaming in from behind, throwing greater and greater amounts of energy into the waves amplitudes, so their height keeps increasing until the water finds its way through once the depth of the river has increased enough so the the floodplain becomes progressively wider and the water can flow through. After the water can flow easily through, the waves disappear and the river calmly fills up over the course of 3 and 1/2 hours, raising its depth in places over 30ft. The beauty of the Rafting trip I conducted lies in a very simple principle: when the phenomenon described above abates near the mouth, you simply have to motor upstream to find it beginning to happen all over again in another spot that has another choke point. The places you find this occurring are predictable enough, however the timing and the tidal strength producing a great effect are entirely subject to change on any given day. One becomes instinctive in reading the River, reading how her sandbanks have shifted, reading how a series of tides are building off one another. The greatest joys I've found driving my boat were when I trusted my instincts, broke off from the pack of up to 30 other Zodiacs (I know it sounds like a lot, but trust me this River gets wide in a hurry) and have found amazing waves that no one else even knew where happening. And then going back for more in the following days of course. Sending that Zodiac through the eye of the needle and forcing it through 12ft of breaking water is one of my fondest memories. The days of finding sets of 16ft,18ft rollers and crashers left me with an adrenaline rush I have never experienced. Finding the right balance to navigate such monstrosities took me a few summers to achieve but once I had the right balance, taking people into the fury of that River with a delicacy to match the courage of taking on such power in such a small boat I think I left a lot of pain out there to be swept away. I think in a lot of ways I found my peace out there, over and over again as each summer I worked brought its own fresh scars in need of some healing. Oh, Shubie, I will never forget the lessons you taught me. Change is a daily necessity, growing, healing, dealing with the unpredictable by living in the moment, I know your silt stained eddies will forever twirl in my heart.

Noughties Highlights # 2: Funneling Friday, First Friday of February

I think one of the most ridiculously awesome things I was involved with at Mount Allison was the brainchild of four amazing residents of Bigelow House (Pete Aikman, Graeme Bezanson, Nick Fry, and myself) due to our status as poor first year students and the cheapest drunk available at the time, Colt 45. 8% alcohol, 1L available for $5, and a taste like tin only a cheap malt liquor can give, it was an iconic part of my first semester at university. The label read on its backside once you'd drank it down to that point "It works every time" and they were not far off the mark. Drink two of them and you were almost guaranteed a black out drunk for $10. I remember bringing up the possibility of chugging a whole Colt 45 at meal hall and I remember the debate it sparked that led to the first (yes, it became an annual thing) Funneling Friday, Friday Feb. 4th, 2000. How we took it from just trying to see if we could do it to trying to see if we could do it in front of a mass audience in Bigelow's first floor mens bathroom featuring gangster apparel and with a DMX prayer circle before we walked into the "arena" was appropriate considering the imaginative potential of the four of us. We all had theme music and drew straws for position. I remember Pete funneled his in two shots, Graeme gave it a good effort, Nick tore his stomach lining and puked up blood, and that left me to demonstrate chugging a colt 45 was possible in one shot. Thus the "One Shot Wonder" was born, although I did power puke after it was all backlogged in my stomach, can't quite describe the sensation adequately. It was awesomeness incorporated and cemented our imprint on a long binge drinking history within Bigelow House. Our second year in Bigelow was like one long build up to the First Friday in February for our frosh class as the legend of Funneling Friday was cast down upon them and their membership in the second annual event highly encouraged. Obviously, after tearing his stomach lining the first time round, Fry was not actively participating, but the rest of the original quartet gave it another go. Pete had made us uniforms shortly after the first show, so we were decked out in uniform and Fry's was hung on the wall behind us as a mark of respect. This time there were 10 of us and we had outgrown the bathroom on first floor so we hosted this spectacle in our common room in Bigelow's basement. Over 80 people attended the most ridiculous thing I've ever been a part of. Everything had continuity, gangster apparel, theme music to a prayer circle beforehand. I kick started the event by funneling in one shot and not power puking. Three others followed in the same vein interspersed with some horrific puking episodes by others- the crowd brayed for more like in the Coliseum. With everyone having their turn, in an act of infamy, I took the extra Colt 45 we had on hand and funneled my second in one shot before power puking like no other. I had become a celebrity. When I showed up at the MTA pub later on that evening it seems like word had spread and everyone gave me a heroes welcome. It was as if I had done something great, a feeling I will never forget. Finally, the third edition of Funneling Friday was hosted at the Funhouse on 43 Bridge St., my house I shared with fellow Bigelow alumni for my third year at MTA. I did not actively perform in this event (felt like I had nothing else to prove) nor did any others from the original foursome, but was master of ceremony (pouring all funnels) and led the prayer circle beforehand to ensure the greatness of the event was not lost on that freshman class. My house was packed to the rafters and the show was as good as ever. I was in awe of how big it had become, how a simple query of "Do you think you could funnel a Colt 45" could become a cult tradition of our residence a few years later. In my fourth year I know the show did go on but I think it had started to lose its luster a bit as none of the original participants were involved and I think the original creative energy behind its preparation was started to ebb. Do they still funnel Colt 45s on the first Friday of February in Bigelow House? I certainly hope so. Let your Roughriders roll!

Noughties Highlights #1: Y2K

I think that the mass hysteria concerning the coming of the new century because of the computing code issues around the changeover from 19__ to 20__ almost epitomizes how the decade played out. It started with the terror of our capitalist structure collapsing without computer monitoring/infrastructure and mutated into a different beast altogether after the assassination of the twin towers in NYC. Y2K was a joke; much as the terrorist manhunt is a joke. The reaction of people, especially in America, of stocking piling supplies, etc. was a bit much. I remember New Year's eve of 1999 and getting completely wasted off whiskey sours with old friends Bradly Vickers and Lindsay MacPhee in a little over a hour or so. Whiskey sours are so tasty regardless of alcohol content and the classic binge drinking I ended the 90s with are symptomatic of the way I spend the last part of that decade. There is something about growing up in Rural NS and alcohol/marijuana abuse that seemed to gel when I was a teenager. This continued into my early twenties and still lingers sometimes to this day. Drinking heavily was our social activity, and on Dec. 31st 1999 I was true to form. My brother Doug had this huge house party in his apartment on Kent St. in Halifax's south end that he shared with old friends Ryan Peterson, Steve "Doctor" MacDonald and the aforementioned Mr. Vickers. I managed to get blackout drunk, puke all over the front of my shirt (+ their bathroom and their tub), passed out for a hour or so then somehow got a second wind just before we rang in the New Year. A mass exodus from Doug's apartment towards Grand Parade in downtown Halifax left us strolling down Barrington St. in great expectation of the end of the world when our clocks struck 12. For some reason, I remember expecting the power to just go out and us all just to be standing in the street left wondering when/if it would ever come back on & to be caught up in a mass drunken looting session the likes of which you only see in post apocalyptic films. In reality, I remember us braying out that Y2K was going to destroy us all only to have the biggest anticlimax I'd experienced in life up to that point-- after all that hype, absolutely NOTHING happened. The Noughties were meekly born despite the apocalyptic fanfare but a decade was born that would leave its inauspicious birth far behind. Never in human history would the very technology we were so afraid of crashing down around us and leaving us cut off from everything bring us the capability of coming so close to each other. A little thing called Google was about to take the fledgling "internet" to places that could not be imagined by those outside the realm of computing science. Access to information, access to each others lives, were about to shape a decade like no other before it.

Counting down to the end of the Noughties

Quite funny what a year can bring with all of its peregrinations. I wrote that last entry as I way to kick start my life when I was in a place where I felt like I was floundering far, far from the shore of what I consider a normal life to be. In a way, simply writing that out then disappearing from this blog again until today was the spark I was looking for. Writing has always been therapeutic for me but I've never been able to commit myself to a steady flow on ink on paper. I tend to have a nadir then reboot myself in a different direction by pouring my feelings out on paper in a burst, always promising to continue in the near future but never committing to that. In a way that is a metaphor for how I've spent the Noughties; searching, searching, searching for answers but never living in solutions. Very backwards. However, considering the various traumas that this last decade has served me up, I think that the way I've handled things was my defensive mechanism against myself. Living with a mental illness is an extreme challenge; coming to terms with psychological break downs is THE necessary step to being able to life a normal life after those episodes. That process takes TIME. Until that healing takes place living with a mental illness is impossible. It really is that debilitating. Trust me, I know, I've been through it three times in the Noughties and have had to rebound from each one. As this decade closes, I feel like I'm ready for the challenge of living with my disease instead of suffering from it. A huge difference in scope. Like I say, implementing solutions instead of searching for more problems to try to find more solutions and on and on and on in a cycle that has in its own way stolen much of the past decade from me in terms of experiences I had always envisioned myself having when I was young, naive, and unaware of the capacity of my own thoughts, and potently, the significance of my emotions and how they are sculpted by what I think about. To clear that up, I think feelings are your barometer to how your thoughts harmonize with what IS, not what you think what IS. That dichotomy is the key to understanding how mental illness can sneak up on you, it is a deficiency where intellectually you override you emotional self without a fail safe button in place like a disease of the mind free person has. That person catches themselves and adjusts there imbalance. I don't do that without effort. I don't have that autonomous capacity so I have to consciously make adjustments, which is hard work because my mind tends to focus intensely of things outside of my body. It has hard to rein myself in and just be without letting my thoughts start up there engines again. It still is.

A New Beginning

It's a funny thing is life. The jungle of posts below were all left in a episode of mania (my 2nd of 3) that shredded my life to pieces. Here's a reattempt at trying to find a bit of peace in this world, almost a year to the day that I left hospital after my 3rd (and most terrifying) period of mania (lasting a little over two months off and on) that has left me unemployed and sick and tired of constantly trying to put my life back on some sort of track. Needs and wants are what this blog is going to help me achieve. Those last rackets of posts were me trying to show the wider world that I had found a path to peace and happiness; let this mark the beginning of a radical philosophy, now I blog for myself, for a way to rediscover how to live like a normal person. I am more than what I've become; I need to teach myself to realize that. Blogging daily is a step toward that goal.

One,
JR

Word of the Day

ken \KEN\, noun:

1. Perception; understanding; knowledge.
2. The range of vision.
3. View; sight.


He was to make several important discoveries, the most significant being that infantile paralysis was caused not by germs, as cerebrospinal meningitis had been, but by a mysterious agent just then emerging into the ken of science.
-- James Thomas Flexner, Maverick's Progress

So we are predisposed -- if not preprogrammed -- to accept tales of animals who display human motives, understanding, reason, and intentions. It takes a far greater imagination to conceive the possibility that a dog's mental life may assume a form that is simply beyond our ken.
-- Stephen Budiansky, If a Lion Could Talk

Libussa, the youngest, particularly beautiful, unworldly and serious, was able to see what was hidden from other people's ken and to prophesy.
-- Peter Demetz, Prague in Black and Gold



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ken is from Middle English kennen, from Old English cennan, "to declare, to make known."

Today's Quotable Quote

"Though we fail everytime, surely we do not fail so completely as we should have failed if we were not in the beginning prepared to attack the whole."

-- Virginia Woolf

Giving Thanks (In My Own Words)

Hello again,

Following a week of 99.4% seclusion and after the self reflection that flying across my country allowed (compounded by two layovers), I've gathered a few of the blessings this past year have bestowed upon me which I'm going to share with you just now.

Firstly, two thanksgiving dinners (one working its way through my belly; the other to be cooked tomorrow) is a feat that shall probably never be repeated.

Secondly, and far more importantly, is the engagement I received from you during the turbulance of my life during late summer / early fall. I went dancing towards the stars; you each, in your own uniquely wonderful ways, took turns sheparding me around the dancefloor of the outer galaxies. When I got scared, confused, or overwhelmed, ever approaching black holes scattered throughout the universe like trap doors ready to snap my mind to bits I found one of you; one of you who tapdanced, tangoed, or simply spun me away from danger and back to a nebula where I could cope with things for a bit before my itchy feet got me back dancing impetuously towards those stars again. Luckily, I'd find another one of you just in time to avoid being sucked into timelessness. Eventually, busting moves out for so long sapped the energy straight outta me and I crashed back to earth BUT back to earth and not lost forever like a neutron star. Intergalactic lyricism aside, thanks for sharing the experience. I hope the exchange was as valuable to you as it most definately was to me. For that you have my sincerest thanks, my undying respect, and my lifelong friendship (if you deem it worthy of maintaining).

I lied. I've got a few words of Tolstoy's to sign off with. Namely----

"In infinite time, in the infinity of matter, in infinite space, a bubble-organism separates itself, and that bubble holds out for a while and then bursts, and that bubble is ... me."

I am thankful for bubbling into existance at the same time and at the same place that you did.

one

Jake's Ill

Been illin

Been syntaptillin
Been lithillin
Been zyprexillin
Been adavanillin
Been respiridolillin

Been nonfreewheelin
Been chillin
Been borillin
Been guineapiggin
Been hoopjumpin

Be Back FT Soon

Lyrics for this day

"One Love"

[Verse One]
Whattup kid? I know shit is rough doing your bid
When the cops came you shoulda slid to my crib
Fuck it black, no time for looking back it's done
Plus congratulations you know you got a son
I heard he looks like you, why don't your lady write you?
Told her she should visit, that's when she got hyper
Flippin, talk about he acts too rough
He didn't listen he be riffin' while I'm telling him stuff
I was like yeah, shorty don't care, she a snake too
Fucking with the niggaz from that fake crew that hate you
But yo, guess who got shot in the dome-piece?
Jerome's niece, on her way home from Jones Beach - it's bugged
Plus little Rob is selling drugs on the dime
Hangin out with young thugs that all carry 9's
At night time there's more trife than ever
Whattup with Cormega, did you see 'em, are y'all together?
If so then hold the fort down, represent to the fullest
Say whassup to Herb, Ice and Bullet
I left a half a hundred in your commissary
You was my nigga when push came to shove
One what? one love

[Verse Two]
Dear Born, you'll be out soon, stay strong
Out in New York the same shit is goin on
The crack-heads stalking, loud-mouths is talking
Hold, check out the story yesterday when I was walking
The nigga you shot last year tried to appear like he hurtin' something
Word to mother, I heard him fronting
And he be pumping on your block
Your man gave him your glock
And now they run together, what up son, whatever
Since I'm on the streets I'ma put it to a cease
But I heard you blew a nigga with a ox for the phone piece
Whylin on the Island, but now with Elmira
Better chill cause them niggaz will put that ass on fire
Last time you wrote you said they tried you in the showers
But maintain when you come home the corner's ours
On the reels, all these crab niggaz know the deal
When we start the revolution all they probably do is squeal
But chill, see you on the next V-I
I gave your mom dukes loot for kicks, plus sent you flicks
Your brother's buck whylin' in four maine he wrote me
He might beat his case, 'til he come home I play it low key
So stay civilised, time flies
Though incarcerated your mind (dies)
I hate it when your mum cries
It kinda wants to make me murder, for real-a
I've even got a mask and gloves to bust slugs for one love

[Verse Three]
Sometimes I sit back with a Buddha sack
Mind's in another world thinking how can we exist through the facts
Written in school text books, bibles, et cetera
Fuck a school lecture, the lies get me vexed-er
So I be ghost from my projects
I take my pen and pad for the week
And hittin nails while I'm sleepin
A two day stay, you may say I need the time alone
To relax my dome, no phone, left the 9 at home
You see the streets have me stressed somethin terrible
Fuckin with the corners have a nigga up in Belleville
Or h.d.m., hit with numbers from 8 to 10
A future in a maximum state pen is grim
So I comes back home, nobody's helpin shorty doo-wop
Rollin two Phillies together in the Bridge we called 'em oowops
He said, "Nas, niggaz could be bustin' off the roof
So I wear a bullet proof and pack a black tres-deuce"
He inhaled so deep, shut his eyes like he was sleep
Started coughing when I peeked to watch me speak
I sat back like the mack, my army suit was black
We was chillin' on these benches where he pumped his loose cracks
I took an l when he passed it, this little bastard
Keeps me blasted he starts talkin mad shit
I had to school him, told him don't let niggaz fool him
'cos when the pistol blows that's when a murder be the cool one
Tough luck when niggaz are struck, families fucked up
Could've caught your man, but didn't look when you bucked up
Mistakes happen, so take heed never bust up
At the crowd catch him solo, make the right man bleed
Shorty's laugh was cold blooded as he spoke so foul
Only twelve trying to tell me that he liked my style
Then I rose, wiping the blunts ash from my clothes
Then froze only to blow the herb smoke through my nose
And told my little man that I'm a go cyprose
There's some jewels in the skull that he can sell if he chose
Words of wisdom from nas try to rise up above
Keep an eye out for jake shorty what
One love

Today's Quotable Quote

Science is organized Knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Kant

Coach's corner

McCLAREN: MY TACTICS DIDN'T WORK
Posted 11/10/06 21:51EmailPrintSave



Steve McClaren shouldered the blame for England's defeat in Croatia after his radical tactical switch backfired.

McClaren admitted his 3-5-2 formation had not worked as his team slumped to their first defeat of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

England went behind to a header from Croatia's Brazilian-born striker Eduardo da Silva early in the second half, before a bizarre own goal from Gary Neville killed the game.

Neville's backpass bobbled over Paul Robinson's foot and rolled into England's net.

McClaren said: "We lost the game so obviously the tactics didn't work.

"The end result is that we came here to win a football match. We haven't done.

"We lost the game so obviously the tactics didn't work but in patches it did.

"We'll look at it more thoroughly and I always believe we do need to change systems and we do need another one.

"It was my decision to change and we lost the game so it's my responsibility.

"I looked at the injuries we took and the suspension of Stevie Gerrard and, knowing it was a difficult place to come, I thought we needed experience and character in the team.

"When you come away in international football, you have to try to control the game and quieten the crowd. We thought that system would do that."

England have taken only one point from two games after their goalless draw at home to Macedonia on Saturday, and the manager is braced for a barrage of criticism when he returns home.

McClaren, whose team won each of his first three games in charge, said: "Criticism is part of the job. I know that. I've been around the scene for five years and I know what it entails.

"You pick a team, you pick the tactics, you pick the shape to win a game.

"If we win it I accept the plaudits, and if we lose I accept the criticism. We lost because of our own mistakes.

"We conceded two goals. We knew we'd be under pressure. Paul Robinson kept us in the game and then we settled down.

"We controlled the game in patches.

"We were penned back in the second half and I was very disappointed we conceded the first from a cross.

"Once that happened we were always chasing the game."

Goalkeeper Robinson had kept six successive clean sheets before the trip to Zagreb and would have equalled Gordon Banks' record of seven had he kept Croatia out.

He pulled off some brilliant saves before he was beaten by Da Silva, and his night ended in misery when he missed Neville's back-pass.

McClaren said: "He didn't deserve that, after so many games. He was going to break Gordon Banks' record if he'd kept a clean sheet. It was unfortunate.

"Paul Robinson had been outstanding all night and was very disappointed about the bobble that went over his foot.

"That killed the game and it's very difficult to come back from that.

"Reflection is the key now and I'll be reflecting on events over the next month before our next friendly and over the next five months before our next competitive game."

McClaren takes his team to Holland for a friendly next month but must wait until March for the next qualifier, away in Israel.


Croatia coach Slaven Bilic admitted he was delighted when he saw England line up in a 3-5-2 formation.

Bilic said: "I hoped England would play 3-5-2 because it would give us more room to attack on the wings.

"Croatia played with that system when I played and I knew if we could switch the play quickly we would be two-on-one.

"We played that way and our main threat came on the wings. For me, our best period of the game came after the second goal.

"I expected England to come out and pressurise us but it was more a question of whether we would score a third.

"They could not push us back past our 18-yard line."

Croatia have never lost a qualifier at home and went into the game full of confidence after thrashing Andorra 7-0 on Saturday.

Bilic said: "I was thinking before the game we would walk away with three important points.

"England had 15 minutes of control before half-time but it was to no effect. The whole point for controlling the ball is to score a goal.

"We decided to play long on Peter Crouch because we didn't think he posed much of a danger.

"When Wayne Rooney has the ball anything can happen but we had four players hemming him in."

Former West Ham and Everton defender Bilic went home with the three points and Rio Ferdinand's signed England shirt to give to his son Leo.

The Croatia boss said: "Beating a great team like England means more than three points. It builds confidence for the forthcoming games.

"We were weakened by the loss of three important players but we still played better than England.

"England have to still play Israel and Russia and have no room for any mistakes."



Robinson described the 69th-minute incident which enabled Croatia to double their advantage as "a freak".

He explained on Sky Sports News: "It's one of those things - there was nothing I could do.

"I think the ball bobbled where their goalkeeper took his goal-kicks in the first half.

"You don't expect things like that to happen - I'd gone to kick the ball as usual and it wasn't there.

"But I can take positives from the game rather than just look at that."

The Tottenham goalkeeper added: "I don't think anything went for us.

"We controlled the game in the first half without causing much of a threat - we exploited them in wide areas in the first half.

"But we didn't offer much tonight - we didn't cause them too much trouble and were not much of an attacking force.

"But it (the defeat) is not going to damage us - there's a long way to go in this group."

European Championship Qualification on Ice

Round-up of Euro 2008 qualifiers
By Julian Shea




GROUP A

Litmanen opened the scoring for Finland

Group A leaders Serbia had to wait nearly an hour to break the deadlock before easing to a 3-0 win over 10-man Armenia.

Marko Pantelic missed a first-half penalty before Dejan Stankovic showed him how it should be done from the spot on 54 minutes.

Danko Lazovic added a second before Rafik Nazaryan was sent off, and Nicola Zigic added a third in injury time.

Belgium's Moussa Dembele scored and was sent off as Belgium beat Azerbaijan 3-0.

Timmy Simons' first-half penalty and a Kevin Vandenbergh chip set up the win.

Substitute Dembele added a third before he saw red for kicking Aslan Kerimov.


Finland captain Jari Litmanen led by example as his team bounced back from an embarrassing draw with Armenia, beating Kazakhstan 2-0.

Birmingham's Mikael Forsell set up the former Liverpool player for the first on 29 minutes, with Sami Hyypia heading another early in the second half.

And two early goals by Ebi Smolarek gave Poland a 2-1 win over Portugal, with Nuno Gomes pulling one back in injury time.


GROUP B

Shevchenko (left) scored Ukraine's second goal

Scotland's fantastic start to their Group B campaign came to a sudden halt as they lost 2-0 to Ukraine in Kiev.

Olexander Kucher's close-range shot broke their resistance late on.

Kenny Miller came close to an equaliser as he hit the crossbar with a speculative effort, and headed a wonderful chance wide on 80 minutes.

But late on Steven Pressley was sent off, shortly before Ukraine captain Andriy Shevchenko wrapped up the points with a penalty.

Elsewhere, World Cup winners Italy eased to a 3-1 win over Georgia.

Daniele De Rossi opened the scoring with a long-range bouncing shot, before George Shashiashvili's shot from outside the box on 24 minutes levelled things.

Dzhaba Kankava was sent off for his second yellow card shortly before Mauro Camoranesi headed Italy's second, and Simone Perrotta made sure of the points.

And David Trezeguet scored twice as World Cup runners-up France thrashed the Faroe Islands 5-0.

Premiership trio Louis Saha, Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka claimed the other goals




GROUP C

Defending European champions Greece enjoyed their third successive victory as they won 4-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Angelos Charisteas' early penalty silenced the home fans, but Greece had to wait until the last 10 minutes for Christos Patsatzoglou, Giorgos Samaras and Costas Katsouranis to add to the scoreline.

Rangers defender Sasa Papac was sent off shortly after half-time for a foul on Bolton's Stelios Giannakopoulos, but television pictures suggested the foul was committed by Emir Spahic.

Hakan Sukur scored four times as Turkey romped to a 5-0 win over Moldova.

His first-half hat-trick included a penalty, with Tuncay Sanli adding a fourth after the hour mark, before Sukur finished off the visitors.

Malta made history as they beat Hungary 2-1 for their first European Championship qualifying win in 24 years.

Andre Schembri opened the scoring on 13 minutes, only for Sandor Toghelle to level six minutes later.

Hungary's Vilmos Vanczak was sent off shortly before half-time, and seven minutes into the second half, Schembri netted his and Malta's second goal.


GROUP D

Killbane's goal sparked delight in Dublin

Kevin Kilbane's goal against the Czech Republic looked to have put the Republic of Ireland on their way to a first win.

But Jan Koller's equaliser meant they had to settle for a draw, although the improved performance will have come as some help to under-fire manager Steve Staunton.

Wales bounced back from Saturday's mauling by Slovakia by beating Cyprus 3-1.

A Jason Koumas header and Robert Earnshaw shot put them ahead at the break, with captain Craig Bellamy adding a fine goal 72 minutes.

But Yiannis Okkas denied Wales a clean sheet with superb lob late on.

Chelsea's Michael Ballack was on target for Germany as they eased past Slovakia 4-1.

Bayern Munich's Lukas Podolski also claimed a brace, with Bastian Schweinsteiger scoring the other.

Stanislav Varga of Sunderland headed the consolation goal.




GROUP E

Croatia's second goal was a nightmare for keeper Robinson


England suffered the first defeat in Group E, as they went down 2-0 to Croatia.

Eduardo da Silva's looping header put the hosts in control, before Gary Neville put through his own net when the ball bobbled as Paul Robinson went to clear his back pass.



Two late goals gave Russia their first win, 2-0 over Estonia, who had Raio Piiroja sent off at the death.

Pavel Pogrebnyak's 78th-minute close-range strike broke the deadlock, with Dmitry Sychev adding the second.

FYR Macedonia followed up their draw with England by beating 10-man Andorra 3-0, with first-half goals by Goran Pandev, Nikolce Noveski and Ilco Naumoski.

Andorra's Antoni Sivera was sent off between the second and third goals.



GROUP F

Healy's goal was his 24th for his country


David Healy was Northern Ireland's hero once again as his goal out of nothing earned them a 1-0 win over Lativa at Windsor Park.

Keith Gillespie flicked the ball forward to Healy, who broke away from marker Maris Smirnovs and slotted the ball low into the bottom corner.

Maik Taylor's save from Girts Karlsons' close-range shot was the most dangerous moment for the home side.


Christian Wilhelmsson scored Sweden's winner as they recovered from conceding an early goal to beat Iceland 2-1 and maintain their 100% record.

Arnar Vidarsson put the home side ahead on six minutes, but within two minutes Kim Kaellstroem put Sweden level.

That was how things stayed until just before the hour mark, when Wilhelmsson struck.

Jon Dahl Tomasson scored twice as Denmark beat Liechtenstein 4-0 to get back to winning ways after their draw with Northern Ireland.


Daniel Jensen and Michael Gravgaard were their other scorers.



GROUP G


In Group G, Holland needed an own-goal by Arjan Beqaj to beat Albania 2-1.


Arsenal's Robin van Persie opened the scoring, with Beqaj doubling the lead before half-time.

Debatik Curri pulled one back in the second half to ensure a nervous finish, but the Dutch remain unbeaten and top of the group.



Sergei Kornilenko scored twice as Belarus came from behind to beat Slovenia 4-2.

Denis Kovba gave Belarus an early lead but within 30 seconds Bostjan Cesar equalised, with Klemen Lavric's header putting Slovenia ahead at half-time.

A quick Kornilenko brace early in the second half restored Belarus' lead.

Substitute Vladimir Korytko made it 4-2 to Belarus late on with a free kick in the 85th minute following a foul on two-goal hero Kornilenko.

And Aleksandar Tunchev's first-half goal was enough to give Bulgaria a 1-0 win in Luxembourg.

One lil earthquake and we forget so easily

'Huge rise' in Iraqi death tolls

Many Iraqis have lost relatives to violence
An estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion, according to a survey by a US university.
The research compares mortality rates before and after the invasion from 47 randomly chosen areas in Iraq.

The figure is considerably higher than estimates by official sources or the number of deaths reported in the media.

It is vigorously disputed by supporters of the war in Iraq, including US President George W Bush.

John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH) estimate that the mortality rates have more than doubled since the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, causing an average of 500 deaths a day.

I stand by the figure that a lot of innocent people have lost their life... and that troubles me, and it grieves me

President George W Bush
In the past, Mr Bush has put the civilian death toll in Iraq at 30,000, and hours after details of the latest research were published he dismissed JHBSPH's methodology as "pretty well discredited".

The John Hopkins researchers argue their statistical approach is more reliable than counting dead bodies, given the obstacles preventing more comprehensive fieldwork in the violent and insecure conditions of Iraq.

"I stand by the figure that a lot of innocent people have lost their life... and that troubles me, and it grieves me," Mr Bush told reporters at the White House.

"Six-hundred thousand or whatever they guessed at is just... it's not credible," Mr Bush said.

Sharp rise

The researchers spoke to nearly 1,850 families, comprising more than 12,800 people in dozens of 40-household clusters around the country.


Anti-US insurgents launch daily attacks with civilian casualties
Of the 629 deaths they recorded among these families since early 2002, 13% took place in the 14 months before the invasion and 87% in the 40 months afterwards.

Such a trend repeated nationwide would indicate a rise in annual death rates from 5.5 per 1,000 to 13.3 per 1,000 - meaning the deaths of some 2.5% of Iraq's 25 million citizens in the last three-and-a-half years.

The researchers say that in nearly 80% of the individual cases, family members produced death certificates to support their answers.

Reliable data is very hard to obtain in Iraq, where anti-US insurgents and sectarian death squads pose a grave danger to civilian researchers.

The survey updates earlier research using the same "cluster" technique which indicated that 100,000 Iraqis had died between the invasion and April 2004 - a figure that was also dismissed by many supporters of the US-led coalition.

'Survivor bias'

While critics point to the discrepancy between this and other independent surveys (such as Iraq Body Count's figure of 44-49,000 civilian deaths, based on media reports), the Bloomberg School team says its method may actually underestimate the true figure.

"Families, especially in households with combatants killed, could have hidden deaths. Under-reporting of infant deaths is a widespread concern in surveys of this type," the authors say.

"Entire households could have been killed, leading to survivor bias."

The survey suggests that most of the extra deaths - 601,000 - would have been the result of violence, mostly gunfire, and suggests that 31% could be attributable to action by US-led coalition forces.

The survey is to be published in a UK medical journal, the Lancet, on Thursday.

In an accompanying comment, the Lancet's Richard Horton acknowledges that the 2004 survey provoked controversy, but emphasises that the 2006 follow-up has been recommended by "four expert peers... with relatively minor revisions".

Today's creativity website award goes to....

www.bbc.co.uk

10/11

Aircraft hits New York building

The crash sent flames pouring out of the building
Two people have died after a small aircraft crashed into a high-rise apartment building in New York City's affluent Upper East Side.
The plane was owned by New York Yankees baseball pitcher Cory Lidle. US media reports say he was piloting the plane at the time and died in the crash.

Flames and smoke can be seen coming out of the 50-storey apartment building on Manhattan island.

The FBI says there is no indication that the crash is terrorism-related.

A White House spokesman said they were not ruling out any theory.

As a precaution, fighter planes are now flying over a number of US cities.

'Screaming'

The New York Fire Department said the aircraft struck the 20th floor of a building on East 72nd Street and York Avenue - identified as the Belaire, a prestigious residential tower.

Witnesses told the Associated Press news agency the crash caused a loud noise, and burning and falling debris was seen.




Crash triggers 'terror'
In pictures: New York crash

Emergency workers have rushed to the scene, while firefighters shot streams of water at the flames from the lower floors.

A freelance journalist at the scene, David Cox, added that there were "hundreds" of emergency workers on the ground.

"It's just next door to a hospital so there's a large amount of people wearing doctor's coats and various other nurses gear standing round the street," he said.

Witness Mark Schaffer saw the crash from a building across the street.

"I looked up when I heard a low flying plane and saw it as it crashed. The rear half of the plane broke off and fell to the ground in flames. Glass sprayed out everywhere and people were screaming," he told the BBC.

Another eyewitness told the BBC: ''The plane levelled out and then the next thing I knew it disappeared behind the building and was gone.

"I said I can't believe that this is what I just saw and they kept saying it was a helicopter but it was a plane.''

A woman who lives nearby, Chris Foege, said: "I just stood there in shock, I thought 'this can't be happening to us again'. It was like 9/11 all over again," she told the AFP news agency.

BBC correspondent Guto Harri in Manhattan says there are scenes of chaos on the streets, with fire engines, police cars and ambulances blocking nearby roads.

His Most Intelligent Moment

N Korea to face 'repercussions'

President Bush said the US was still seeking a peaceful solution


Bush statement
US President George W Bush has said North Korea will face "serious repercussions" over its claim to have carried out a nuclear test.
Mr Bush said Washington was working to confirm the claim, but would increase its co-operation with allies on ballistic weapons defence systems.

The comments came as Japan imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea in response to its claim.

The US is leading efforts to get the UN to impose separate measures.


N KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Believed to have 'handful' of nuclear weapons
But not thought to have any small enough to put in a missile
Could try dropping from plane, though world watching closely


Q&A: Nuclear crisis
Underground nuclear testing

Earlier, North Korea's second most powerful leader threatened more tests if the US remained "hostile", in the first comments from a senior North Korean official since the claimed nuclear test on Monday.

The underground test reportedly took place in Gilju in Hamgyong province at 1036 (0136 GMT). Russia is the only country to have confirmed that it was a nuclear explosion.

'Threat to peace'

President Bush told reporters that Washington remained committed to diplomacy, and had no intention of attacking.

But he said the US "reserves all options to defend our friends in the region".

US SANCTIONS PROPOSAL
Halting trade in material that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction
Inspections of cargo going in and out of North Korea
The ending of financial transactions used to support nuclear proliferation
A ban on the import of luxury goods


Press split on sanctions
In pictures: Joy and anger

Pyongyang's claim "constitutes a threat to international peace and stability", he said.

"In response to North Korea's actions, we're working with our partners in the region and the United Nations Security Council to ensure there are serious repercussions for the regime in Pyongyang."

As Mr Bush spoke, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the US to hold one-on-one talks with North Korea, which Washington has refused to do.

The UN Security Council is debating what multilateral sanctions North Korea should face in response to the claimed test.

It is due to continue discussing a draft resolution of punitive sanctions proposed by the US.

There is agreement in the Security Council that North Korea should face punitive measures.

The US wants the sanctions to be brought under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which means they would be mandatory and ultimately enforceable by military means.

HAVE YOUR SAY
There is still time to cap nuclear arms proliferation in Asia before it gets out of hand

Wong, Singapore


Send us your comments
N Koreans face daily struggle

But China, Russia and South Korea have expressed varying degrees of opposition to such a resolution.

The Japanese sanctions, announced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, will come into effect following a formal cabinet meeting on Friday.

They include banning all North Korean imports, stopping its ships entering Japanese waters and new restrictions which will prevent almost all North Koreans from entering Japan.

Trade between the two countries was worth $180m (£97m) last year, although it has been falling for several years as political relations between the two countries deteriorated.

The BBC's take on it..

McClaren delivers a shambles
International football |
by Phil McNulty - BBC Sport 11 October 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

England coach Steve McClaren issued a lengthy list of demands to his players before they entered battle in Zagreb.

The meaningless soundbytes rolled off the tongue as McClaren called for "character... pride... passion... attitude... an English performance."

England captain John Terry even joined in the jingoism by announcing he was to deliver a Churchillian speech to rally the troops.

All splendid stuff - and all obviously left behind in the dressing room as McClaren's supposedly brave new era was exposed as a sham.

Talk of football and how England might win this game was conspicuous by its absence.

This became more understandable given the clueless efforts of McClaren, his tactical guru Terry Venables, and England's players.

McClaren's trademark grin has graced almost every occasion since his appointment.

Sadly for McClaren, it was wiped emphatically and humiliatingly off his face by a Croatia team prepared and inspired in a far superior fashion by his colourful counterpart Slaven Bilic.

McClaren's list of cliches and Terry's tub-thumping inspired a performance devoid of all the qualities they listed.

England, as so often before, talked a far better game than they actually played.

The only surprise is that anyone should be surprised that this team of players, cossetted and almost treated as a superior race by the Football Association, should flop again.

Croatia deserved their win, admittedly helped by a freak second goal when keeper Paul Robinson missed Gary Neville's back-pass.

But England produced a lifeless, atrocious performance that lacked direction and inspiration and will only increase the doubts of a nation decidedly underwhelmed by McClaren's arrival in Soho Square.

And as for McClaren's quote afterwards about hoping to "sneak" a win - what a depressing message for an England coach to convey.

McClaren's, and Venables' lest we forget, tactical switch to 3-5-2 created uncertainty and incompetence in equal measure.

Ironically, it was only Robinson who kept Croatia out until the 61st minute and Eduardo's looping header.

England's display was in keeping with their palsied efforts at the World Cup and on Saturday against Macedonia.

Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch were poor, but where was the faster, better service McClaren's overhaul was supposed to provide?

McClaren's reshuffle, with the deserved introduction of Scott Parker, did not stiffen midfield as Croatia created all the chances.

Ashley Cole had a nightmare at left-back, flouting his billing as the world's best in that position.

And the Michael Carrick myth continues.

Manchester United's £18m man could only show less urgency in possession if he actually fell asleep on the ball.

And a defence that had looked sound, even when England had struggled previously, looked ill-at-ease and exposed thanks to McClaren's tinkering.

If a Sven-Goran Eriksson side had produced this performance, one can only wonder at the blood-letting that would be demanded.

McClaren was an integral part of that regime, and this defeat was more of the same - only worse.

England's coach will need all his spin doctors at his side to paint a pretty picture of his recent days in office.

He was outmaneouvred by a rookie coach in Bilic, who at least backed up his brave talk before the game with actions.

Bilic has transformed a Croatia side that had a dreadful World Cup.

McClaren has taken a side that had a dreadful World Cup and delivered no discernible improvement.

Croatia were lively, created chances, and took full note of Bilic's message that McClaren's tactical shift was playing into their hands.

England and McClaren now have five months to ponder two poor performances before the serious Euro 2008 action resumes against Israel in March.

McClaren will hope missing stars of the calibre of Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves are fit and available.

And he must also find more than a few throwaway words - as well as a tactical plan that works - if the doubts expressed when he was appointed in such haste by the FA are not to increase.

Croatia 2 England 0

The England Players Rated And Slated...
Posted 11/10/06 21:03EmailPrintSave



F365 reviews the Three Lions' participants in Zagreb...

Paul Robinson
The correct judgement of a goalkeeper is not based on the number of saves he makes but the amount of mistakes he commits. While Robinson produced a series of fine saves in the opening hour, and that airkick was an unfortunate fluke, the Tottenham keeper was caught in no man's land for the Croats' opener. Even then, a top-quality keeper may have been able to redeem the situation, but Robinson's footwork is notoriously leaden.

He remains a second-rate goalkeeper for what is, at present, a second-rate team.
Rating (out of ten): Five.


Jamie Carragher
The junior member of the three-pronged defence, as demonstrated by his deployment on the left of John Terry. Typically, Carragher's commitment was total, but he was nonetheless palpably uncomfortable and regularly exposed by tactically superior opponents.

That superiority was also evident in the damning invitation for Carragher to advance forward in possession before, with frustrating inevitability, he had to turn inside onto his stronger right foot and telegraph a harmless pass.

Sad to say, the best moment of Carragher's night was his substitution.
Rating : Four.


Rio Ferdinand
If the inspiration for the 3-5-2 formation was a desire to improve England's distribution from deep then the experiment failed at stage one because, while the Croats happily permitted the limited Carragher to progress, they put up effective buffers to deny Ferdinand any meaningful forays.

The ManYoo defender endured an equally unhappy night on the backfoot as England's new-look defence struggled to adapt to the Croats' intelligent mobility.
Rating: Four.


John Terry
Carelessness in possession typified an undistinguished evening for the England skipper. Far from inspirational, Terry was beaten in the air by Eduardo da Silva when Croatia took the lead and appeared as uncomfortable as the rest of his team-mates in the new system.
Rating: Four.


Gary Neville
The less said about Neville's first ever international goal the better.

Few, perhaps not even the player himself, would argue that the Neviller prospered as a right wing-back. It was certainly noticeable that England attacked infrequently on the right compared to the left. All in all, an utterly dismal evening.
Rating: Five.


Michael Carrick
Inconsequential, lightweight, and negligent in tracking Kranjcar when Robinson was summed to make a fine sprawling save in the first half.

Carrick's penchant for five-yard passes sixty yards from the opposition's goal would be a useful function if he was supplying creative players. Instead, he spent much of the evening supplying Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. No wonder England failed to muster a shot on target until the 91st minute.

Utterly anonymous in the second-half, Carrick retains the dubious distinction of being the first 'holding midfield player' in football history to possess the role whilst being apparently unwilling to make a tackle.
Rating: Four.


Scott Parker
Once Parker's unstinting industry has been acknowledged it becomes difficult to speak favourably of the Toon skipper's evening in Zagreb. Possibly dragged down by the midfield mediocrity around him, Parker scurried around to little effect and will struggle to remember his international debut with any fondness.
Rating: Four.


Frank Lampard
The best that can be said of Lampard is that he was no worse than the players in white around him. The worst is that his shooting was reminiscent of the World Cup and that he comprehensively failed to shine in a team and formation that was essentially built around him.

He keeps promising a riposte to his critics but instead just serves up new ammunition.
Rating: Four.


Ashley Cole
Saw plenty of the ball before the interval but, with a nasty case Downingitis, failed to produce a telling contribution. Having disappeared in the second-half, he finished the match lame and with a booking for a rash tackle that renders the Chelski player ineligible for England's trip to Israel.
Rating: Three.


Wayne Rooney
When you're out of form, everything goes against you. And thus an erroneous offside call prevented Rooney, with a sublime first touch that served as a salient reminder that class is permanent and form only temporary, transforming the evening by winning England a penalty shortly after half-time. Fifteen minutes later, the match was Croatia's.

Arguably the least worst of a rotten bunch, Rooney may not have suggested an end to his slump but he was the only England player to offer the semblance of an offensive threat.
Rating: Five.


Peter Crouch
Combined spasmodically with Rooney and was regularly viewed unfavourably by a whistle-happy referee. Crouch's struggles with international football officialdom are becoming so habitual that his supposed aerial menace is being rendered completely redundant.

The sight of the England striker being replaced despite the Three Lions' desperate need for a response in the final twenty minutes testified to his ineffectiveness.
Rating: Three.


Substitutes
Defoe, Richardson, Wright-Phillips: Game was up by the time of their 72nd minute introduction.

Pete Gill

Mr. Beckam has a decision looming

Madrid warn off Beckham suitors

Beckham is part of Real coach Fabio Capello's future plans
Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon is confident David Beckham will sign a two-year contract extension - despite admitting interest from other clubs.
He said: "Beckham is the sort of player that has a lot of suitors and I know that he has a lot of offers because he is a key player in many ways.

"I think he will sign for two more years, that is to say that he will stay here for this season and two more."

The 31-year-old's current deal runs out at the end of the season.

Calderon revealed coach Fabio Capello also wanted Beckham to stay.

He said: "I've spoken to Capello about Beckham, and Capello has told me that he is counting on Beckham and has therefore asked me to extend his contract and that's what we are trying to do."

Beckham has not won a major trophy since joining Real from Manchester United in 2003, but has gone on record as saying that he wants to end his playing career with the Spanish club.

He relinquished the England captaincy after the World Cup and has not made the squad since under new coach Steve McClaren.

His position at Real has also come under threat since the arrival of Jose Antonio Reyes on a loan deal from Arsenal at the beginning of the season and he has started on the bench for the side's last four games.

Lyrics for the House that's a combination of all colors

EMINEM LYRICS

"Yellow Brick Road"

[Intro]
What we have to do is deal with it when these individuals are young enough. If you wish to be
saved, not in a religious sense but not to constitute what this country at times calls if or
which over. We seem to be approaching an age of the gross. We all have this idea that we should
move up from our parents station and each generation should do a little bit better.

[Verse 1- Eminem]
Come on, let's cut the bullshit enough
Let's get it started, let's start addressing this issue and open it up
Let's take this shit back to basement
And we can disscuss statements thats made on this tape
And its whole origin of the music that we all know and love
The music that we all enjoy the music you all accuse me of tryna destroy
Let's rewind it to 89 when I was a boy on the east side of Detroit
Crossin 8 Mile into Warren, into hick territory
I'd like to share a story, this is my story and cant no body tell it for me
You will well inform me, I am well aware that I don't belong here
You've made that perfectly clear, I get my ass kicked damn near everywhere
From Bel-Air shopping center just for stopping in there
From the black side all the way to the white side
Okay there's a bright side a day that I might slide
You may call it a past I call it haulin my ass
Through that patch of grass over them railroad tracks
Oh them railroad tracks, them old railroad tracks
Them good old notorious oh well known tracks

[Chorus x2]
So lets go back
Follow the yellow brick road as we go on another episode
Journey with me as I take you through this nifty little place
I once used to call home sweet home

[Verse 2- Eminem]
I roam the streets so much they call me a drifter
Sometimes I stick up a thumb just to hitch hike
Just to get picked up to get me a lift to 8 mile and Van Dyke
And steal a god damn bike from somebody's backyard
And drop it off at the park that was the half way mark
To meet Kim had to walk back to her mama's on Chalmers after dark
To sneak me in the house when I'm kicked out my mom's
Thats about the time I first met Proof with Goofy Gary on the steps
At Osbourne handing out some flyers, he was doin some talent shows
At Centerline High, I had told him to stop by and check this out sometime
He looked at me like I'm out my mind shook his head like white boys dont know how to rhyme
I spit out a line and rhymed birthday with first place
And we both had the same rhymes that sound alike
We was on the same shit that Big Daddy Kane shit with compound syllables sound combined
From that day we was down to ride somehow we knew we'd meet again somewhere down the line

[Chorus x2]
So lets go back
Follow the yellow brick road as we go on another episode
Journey with me as I take you through this nifty little place
I once used to call home sweet home

[Verse 3- Eminem]
My first year in 9th grade, can't forget that day at school
It was cool till your man MC Shan came through
And said that Puma's The Brand 'cause the clan makes troops
It was rumors but man, god damn, they flew
Musta been true because man we done banned they shoes
I had the new ones the Cool J, Ice land swayed too
And we just through them in the trash like they yesterday's news
Guess who came through next, X-clan debut
Professor X vanglorious exists in a state of red, black, and green
With a key sissies now with this bein a new trend
We don't fit in crackas is out with Cactus albums
Blackness is in, African symbols and medallions
Represents black power and we ain't know what it meant
Me and my man Howard and Butter, we would go to the mall with 'em
All over our necks like we're showin 'em off not knowin at all
We was bein laughed at you ain't even half black
You ain't supposed to have that homie let me grab that
And that Flavor Flave clock we gon' have to snatch that
All I remember is meetin back at Manix's basement
Sayin' how we hate this, how racist but dope the x clan take this
Which reminds me back in 89 me and Kim broke up for the first time
She was tryna two time me and there was this black girl
At our school who thought I was cool cuz I rapped so she was kinda eyein me
And oh the irony guess what her name was ain't even gon' say it plus
The same color hair as hers was and blue contacts and a pair of jugs
The bombest god damn girl in our whole school if I could pull it
Not only would I become more popular but I would be able to piss Kim off at the same time
But it backfired I was supposed to dump her but she dumped me for this black guy
And thats the last I ever seen or heard or spoke to the oh foolish pride girl
But I've heard people say they heard the tape and it ain't that bad
But it was I singled out a whole race and for that apologize
I was wrong cuz no matter what color a girl is she's still a hoe

[Chorus x2]
So lets go back
Follow the yellow brick road as we go on another episode
Journey with me as I take you through this nifty little place
I once used to call home sweet home



[Thanks to Savegoodautonfg1@aol.com for these lyrics]
[Thanks to deadwrong213@aol.com, inopus666@gmail.com, desismrocks@yahoo.com, sportcrazy_19s@hotmail.com for correcting these lyrics]

[ www.azlyrics.com ]

Captain Terry's Rousing Speech Revealed

Posted 11/10/06 10:42EmailPrintSave



The England captain is preparing to rally the troops before the Croatia game. We've got a few ideas what he might be planning to say. And we got through the whole lot without mentioning JJ...



1) "The good news is that Stewart's not playing."


2) "We've kept six clean sheets with two centre-halves. Just think what we can do with three..."


3) "Look, we all know Owen Hargreaves was never any good anyway, so there's absolutely no way we'll miss him."


4) "We're a team of world-class players - we've got Rooney and me and Wayne and..."


5) "...And they've got Bosko Balaban. How hard can it be?"


6) "They've never lost a qualifier at home in 14 years, so they're definitely ripe for a thrashing."


7) "Davor Suker, Goran Ivanisevic, Saint Joseph, Dr Kovac - your boys are going to get one hell of a beating."


8) "Just give the ball to Lamps on the edge of the box and let's just all bloody hope there's somebody standing in the way."


9) "Steve says that statistically we're the best team in the world. Obviously I don't know what statistically means, but it sounds good."


10) "Hang on, wait a minute, I've just got a text message...she wants to what? Rio, I might need you later."

Word of the Day

hypnagogic \hip-nuh-GOJ-ik; -GOH-jik\, adjective:
Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the state of drowsiness preceding sleep.


It is of course precisely in such episodes of mental traveling that writers are known to do good work, sometimes even their best, solving formal problems, getting advice from Beyond, having hypnagogic adventures that with luck can be recovered later on.
-- Thomas Pynchon, "Nearer, My Couch, to Thee", New York Times, June 6, 1993

. . .the phenomenon of hypnagogic hallucinations, or what Mr. Alvarez describes as "the flickering images and voices that well up just before sleep takes over."
-- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "The Faces of Night, Many of Them Scary", New York Times, January 9, 1995

His uncensored and uncensoring subconscious allows him to absorb the world around him and in him, and to spit it out almost undigested, as if he were walking around in a constant hypnagogic state.
-- Susan Bolotin, "Don't Turn Your Back on This Book", New York Times, June 9, 1985



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hypnagogic (sometimes spelled hypnogogic) ultimately derives from Greek hupnos, "sleep" + agogos, "leading," from agein, "to lead."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for hypnagogic

Daily Wiki: Victoria Beckham

Victoria Caroline Beckham (born Victoria Caroline Adams on April 17, 1974) is an English singer best known for her position in the Spice Girls and her marriage to footballer David Beckham. Victoria is a pop singer, songwriter and fashion designer. Known also as "Posh Spice", a nickname given to her by the BBC's Top of the Pops magazine, Victoria is one of England's most celebrated, photographed, criticised and gossiped-about celebrities of the modern era[citation needed].

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Music career
2.1 Virgin Records
2.2 The Telstar / 19 Management era
2.3 Unreleased music
2.4 Future in music
3 Personal life
3.1 Media coverage
3.2 Weight
4 Fashion career
5 Books
6 Discography
6.1 Albums
6.2 Singles
6.3 Other releases
7 External links



[edit]
Biography
Victoria Beckham was born in Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow in Essex to Anthony William Adams, an electronics engineer, and Jacqueline Doreen Cannon. She was brought up in Goff's Oak, Hertfordshire. She is the eldest of three children. Prior to joining the Spice Girls, Victoria trained as a dancer and had a number of modeling and dancing jobs. Before answering the advertisement that led to her becoming a Spice Girl, Victoria was the lead singer of an unsigned band named Persuasion[citation needed]. Even though she admits having sung off-key in the audition for Touch (later renamed the Spice Girls), claiming the song was in the wrong key for her but 'she can really sing', she was chosen anyway.

Victoria Adams married the ex-Manchester United and former England captain and current Real Madrid footballer David Beckham, on July 4, 1999, with whom she has three sons: Brooklyn Joseph (born March 4, 1999), Romeo James (born September 1, 2002), and Cruz David (born February 20, 2005).

[edit]
Music career
[edit]
Virgin Records

Victoria Beckham (2001) album cover.Despite being one of the most famous celebrities in Britain, and having all her music reach the top ten (the only solo Spice to do so), Victoria Beckham's career as a solo artist is largely considered to have been a commercial failure. She was the last of the Spice Girls to launch a solo career, allegedly due to her reluctance to 'go it alone'[citation needed].

In August 2000, Victoria released her first single outside of the Spice Girls: Out Of Your Mind, a collaboration with the Garage act the Truesteppers and Dane Bowers. The week of release coincided with the release of Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) by Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, resulting in a chart battle dubbed 'Posh vs. Posher' by the tabloids [1]. Following a huge publicity campaign, Out Of Your Mind was outsold by 20,000 copies and debuted at number two with first week sales of 180,584 copies (a figure that would have usually guaranteed a #1 position)[2].

As with the other Spice Girls, Victoria was given a solo recording contract by her group label Virgin Records. Her true début single as a solo artist, Not Such An Innocent Girl, was released in September 2001. Again, she faced competition in another hugely hyped chart battle, this time with Kylie Minogue's single Can't Get You Out Of My Head. Victoria was unlikely to beat Kylie, but she gave the project huge promotion and the record had an expensive and futuristic video. In the week of release, the tabloid newspaper The Sun ran a daily progess chart covering the chart battle, but they gave up half way through the week when it was clear the battle was a one horse race. A potential factor attributable to Victoria's weaker sales could be the due to the media furore she created after wearing a fake lip ring during a live performance in Birmingham[3], an event that also saw her getting booed and pelted with fruit by a hostile public. She was widely criticised by many groups, including the British Dental Association, for setting a bad example that her younger fans may wish to emulate. It has since been argued that this 'stunt' and the ensuing media backlash was the beginning of the end of Victoria's music career[citation needed].

Released a fortnight after Not Such An Innocent Girl, Victoria's eponymously titled debut album reached number 10 in the UK album chart. The album featured the much talked about Every Part Of Me, a song co-written by Victoria and dedicated to her son, Brooklyn, who features at the start. Brooklyn's 'part' allegedly being an off-chance recording which took place during a recording session break.

The second and final single to be released from the album was A Mind Of Its Own. This track was much slower and a more mature effort by Victoria, for which she received some critical praise. Despite this, the single stalled at number 6 in the UK and sold 66,000 copies [4]. Following this lacklustre chart performance, rumours started spreading that Beckham was soon to be dropped by her label. These were refuted at the time [5].

A third single, I Wish, was promoted but never materialised. The single version was a remix featuring Robbie Craig, and was performed on TV on Friday Night's All Wright. Many hoped this single would revitalise the album's fortunes, but following the announcement of Victoria's second pregnancy it was shelved, and Victoria was dropped by Virgin Records [6].

[edit]
The Telstar / 19 Management era

Single cover for "Let your Head Go/ This Groove"To the surprise of the music industry, Telstar Records signed Victoria in 2002 in a deal made with Simon Fuller's 19 Management. She spent much of 2002 recording a 'pop-influenced' album, but Victoria herself shelved it after not being happy with the results [7]. Instead of pop, Victoria wanted to record tracks with a more RnB and hip hop influence, and to accomplish this she began working with urban producer Damon Dash. These plans reportedly worried Telstar and Simon Fuller, but they compromised with Victoria, allowing her to release a Dash produced track (This Groove) along-side one of her earlier pop tracks (Let Your Head Go) from the shelved album.

The resulting double A-side single Let Your Head Go / This Groove was released in the UK in late December 2003, following heavy promotion and many TV appearances across the Christmas period. The single charted at #3, although critics were fast to point out this wasn't much of an accomplishment due to singles receiving their lowest sales of the year the week after Christmas. This Groove sparked some media interest due to the song being about phone sex. This double A-side remains Victoria's last single release to date.

As another compromise, Telstar allowed Victoria to release some of her urban tracks on The Réal Beckhams DVD. This 2003 documentary was released in January 2004, and bonus material included the videos for Let Your Head Go and This Groove, as well as four previously unreleased tracks: Resentment, That Dude, Me And You This Time and Valentine. Resentment has since been covered by Beyonce Knowles and released on her solo album 'B'Day' (2006).

Outside of the UK, Damon Dash had plans for Victoria in the United States, including a potential release of Let Your Head Go / This Groove under the name of Posh Spice Victoria Beckham. The release was proposed for sometime between March to May 2004, but never occurred. ([8]). A Dash produced track It's That Simple featuring M.O.P. was promoed to vinyl, and received a premiere on BBC urban music radio station 1Xtra. This only generated further criticism, with the feeling being that Victoria was a far from convincing urban act[9]. Around this time, a 90 second snippet of a track called Come Together was released to the media, which was notable for sampling the Beatles' song Come Together. A full version never leaked.

With the UK media describing her music career a failure, and combined with a rumored fall out between Dash and Fuller, remaining plans for Victoria's music career were cancelled [10]. To try and salvage her music career, Victoria again began work on pop-styled tracks in 2004. It is known that she recorded a track written for her by Cathy Dennis entitled My Love Is For Real (not to be confused with the Paula Abdul song of the same name). With the collapse of Telstar Records, the pressure to stay with her family caused by the Rebecca Loos scandal, and the announcement of Victoria's third pregnancy, this song has never been heard, except for a leaked remix by Armand van Helden.

[edit]
Unreleased music
A previously unknown track, Back To Life, leaked online in 2005 after someone found it in a small record store. Although uncertain, it is believed this track dates from early recording sessions for the Victoria Beckham album.

In spring 2006, hope for new tracks was raised when an auction for a CD of 25 unreleased songs from the Telstar / 19 Management era appeared on eBay. It eventually sold for £390, although the buyer never leaked the songs onto the internet after being warned by lawyers representing the copyright owner of the material[citation needed].

Despite this, on 5th September 2006, eleven of Victoria's unreleased songs from the shelved Telstar pop-style album leaked online in various music and fan forums. The titles are the same as those in the aforementioned eBay CD. The owner has listened to the recently leaked tracks and confirmed that they are in a slightly remixed form than the previous CD. The version of Let Your Head Go included with these leaks is very different to the released single version. Victoria is reportedly 'furious' that an album she deemed unfit for release has been heard [11], although many fans are delighted with the strength and quality of the material.

List of unreleased music:

Back To Life (internal promo)
It's That Simple feat. M.O.P. (promo CD)
Pop Version Main Mix
Pop Version Instrumental
Pop Version A cappella
Remix Version Main Mix
Remix Version A cappella
Come Together (snippet) (promo CD)
Let Your Head Go (Album Version)
Open Your Eyes
Be With You
Full Stop
Flow
Hustler
25 Minutes
Me Without You
I Should've Known Better
I'd Give It All Away
Bittersweet
Can't Get Enough (Of You DJ)
Shake It
Back To You
Every Little Thing
Remixes

My Love Is For Real (Armand Van Helden Remix)

[edit]
Future in music
On February 26, 2006, Beckham stated in an interview with the Sunday Mirror: "I'm never going to sing again, unless it was a chance to do something with the Spice Girls. I don't really miss the shows we did together. I miss the girls more. I see Geri a lot — I love her, she's amazing. I speak to the others from time to time. I love them too and miss them."

Beckham also declared that, for the moment, she and her former Spice colleagues are enjoying their solo careers in various fields. She says: "We're all still doing our own thing. But that's the great thing about the position we're in now — when we decide we want to do more stuff, we can. There's no pressure and, at the end of the day, our fans have been so supportive — and so loyal — that hopefully, when we do come back they'll still be there." [12]

Her husband David has offered a conflicting statement to Victoria's. When asked if she was planning on more solo music, he said in a CD:UK interview, "You never know". A spokesperson for Beckham has said she could return to music in the future. "She's focusing on her fashion activity at the moment and should she wish to do music at a later date then obviously that's something we can consider. She has a flexible career with which she can do whatever she wants to" the spokeswoman said. [13]

[edit]
Personal life
[edit]
Media coverage
In 2004, her happily married image suffered when a string of women claimed to the tabloid press to have had affairs with David, including Rebecca Loos. All were dismissed as "ludicrous", "absurd" and "unsubstantiated" by David Beckham, and the Beckhams showed a publicly united front against the allegations. However, Loos maintained that she had not fabricated the allegations, and since the Beckhams took no legal action to disprove them, they have continued to mar the image of the Beckhams as the UK's "golden couple". The British press and public, however, eventually lost interest in the story, and the Beckhams have appeared to continue life as normal. During the 2006 World Cup Victoria was seen by the press as the leading "WAG" (as the wives and girlfriends of the England team came to be dubbed).

In 2003 Victoria denied rumors of breast enhancement on British TV insisting, "I'm completely natural, except for my fingernails and I have a bit of help with my hair and a bit of St. Tropez going on." A year later she told British chat show host Michael Parkinson, "I haven't had a boob job." This was widely believed to be proven as a lie in 2005 when a court document relating to a libel case she and her husband filed revealed she did have her breasts enhanced. The file, obtained by Britain's The People newspaper, says "That the Second Claimant (Victoria Beckham) had in fact undergone breast enhancement surgery and had lied about it on the 'Tabloid Tales' television program."

Victoria Beckham has had a well-publicized feud with supermodel Naomi Campbell, which began when she publicly branded Campbell as "a massive cow" and a "bitch" in 2000. Campbell later remarked that she could not understand how the former Spice Girl ever got the nickname "Posh". However, any bad blood (tabloid-induced or otherwise) between them seems to have subsided and the women have appeared to be friends, Naomi having introduced Victoria to Damon Dash.

[edit]
Weight
Following the birth of her first child, Victoria's weight loss became a topic of much discussion in the British tabloid press. She agreed to appear in adverts for a potato crisp brand but there were claims that she would not actually eat the crisps. She has claimed to this day that she never had an eating disorder though she says former band member Geri Halliwell did get her dangerously addicted to dieting. She has said that her dramatic weight loss was due to polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that more usually causes hirsutism, central obesity and occasionally masculinization.

[edit]
Fashion career
In 2004 Victoria designed a fashion line for Rock and Republic called 'VB Rocks'consisting mainly of jeans for the high end of the market (retailing at approximately $300 in the U.S.). The line was successful and Victoria has contributed further lines, including children's and men's wear, for the Spring/Autumn of 2006. She has also worked on a range of women's clothes including shirts and skirts. The clothing features a logo of a crown with the letters VB. It was reported that Victoria Beckham might be sued by HM Queen Elizabeth II for use of what appeared to be the Queen's crown in this logo.

In July 2006 Victoria released a highly successful line of sunglasses (which she had been seen wearing at the World Cup games). In September 2006 Victoria along with her husband David will release 'Intimately Beckham' a his and her fragrance line.

In August 2006 former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller announced that he was developing a TV fashion show for Victoria [14].

[edit]
Books
Victoria Beckham wrote an autobiography, Learning to Fly. The book was the 3rd best selling non-fiction title of 2001 (total UK sales stand at more than 500,000 copies)[citation needed], and has been translated into several Asian languages, although Victoria Beckham told a Spanish journalist in 2005 "I haven't read a book in my life". That quote was partially recanted when Victoria told another interviewer she meant she had never had time to read a book "cover to cover".

Her second, a non-fiction fashion book titled That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels, And Everything In Between is to be released on 30 Oct 2006. It was co-written by Hadley Freeman, deputy fashion editor of the Guardian and a contributing editor of Vogue.

[edit]
Discography
[edit]
Albums
2001 Victoria Beckham #10 UK
[edit]
Singles
2000 "Out of Your Mind" [with Truesteppers and Dane Bowers] — #2 UK, #27 Australia
2001 "Not Such An Innocent Girl" — #6 UK , #36 Australia, #15 Spain
2002 "A Mind of Its Own" (2002)" — #6 UK
2003 "This Groove / Let Your Head Go" — #3 UK , #17 Ireland
[edit]
Other releases
Songs available on 'The Real Beckhams' DVD:

Resentment
Me And You This Time
Valentine
That Dude
[edit]
External links

Straight Into Medschool?????

To Whom It May Concern:


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One
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Enter Those Taoists Again

Those who know others are wise;
Those who know themselves are enlightened.
Those who overcome others are powerful;
Those who overcome themselves are stong.
Those who are contented are rich;
Those who act strongly have will.
Those who do not lose their place endure;
Those who die without perishing live long.

Lao Tse

A Captain's Verse

SI TU ME OLIVADAS

Queiro que sepas
una cosa

Tu sabes como es esto:
si miro
la luna de cristal, la rama roja
del lento ontono en mi ventana
si toco
junto al fuego
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todo me lleva a ti,
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piensa
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en mi nada se apaga ni se olvida
mi amor se nuetre de tu amor, amada
y mientras vivas estara en tus brazos
sin salir de los mios

Pablo Neruda

Lyrics of the Day

RADIOHEAD LYRICS

"Everything In Its Right Place"

Kid A, Kid A, Kid A, Kid A
Everything, everything, everything, everything..
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Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
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Everything, everything, everything..
In its right place
In its right place
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There are two colours in my head
There are two colours in my head
What is that you tried to say?
What was that you tried to say?
Tried to say.. tried to say..
Tried to say.. tried to say..

Everything in its right place


[ www.azlyrics.com ]

Horoscope of the Day

Cancer (June 21 - Jul 22)

It feels as if you have something on your mind that must be said. You could be afraid of missing the chance to express what's important to you. It isn't that you can blow the opportunity; it's just that you are entering a more active period, so you might not have as much time on your hands. Tie up your emotional loose ends now.