No Posts!

Hey everyone!
Lots of things going on in Soccer and tennis, but no posts. Actually I'm going to be pretty busy for a while now. So there won't be any posts coming up soon.

By the way,the link "nikki's site" is shaping up really well. Visit it and enjoy!

Sorry for the irregularity.

The Red Devil,
Blog Administrator

"The Nations Unleashed" (Part 3)

Sorry I haven't written a post this week. I've been pretty busy actually. I'm going to a new school called National Public School. It's supposed to be the best in Bangalore. Anyway, I don't think I'll have much time for posts soon- school is re-opening on June 2. I've been spending more time surfing the net and found some hilarious instances. Here are some BBC guidelines for the World Cup commentators:

1. Within one minute of kick off in the opening match (Germany vs. Costa Rica) of the world cup, the commentators must mention England.
2. The commentator should refer to Falkland Isles in passing at some point in the match if England play Argentina.

For more BBC Guidelines, visit : The Site of Doom.

Coming back to the World Cup, I'll forget the other top seeds for a few more days and have a look at some of the underdogs. There are a lot of surprise finalists and first time qualifiers this time. These include Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Ukraine and Trinidad & Tobago. I'll begin with Ukraine, the highest seeded first time qualifier[26].

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, he Ukraine National football team played its first match as Ukraine against Hungary on April 29, 1992. Despite having one of the best players in the world, Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine has failed to qualify in any major event till 2005. There are 6 players named Andriy, the most famous being Shevchenko. the others are Rusol, Nesmachny, Husin, Voronin and Vorbei. Let me give you a factfile on Andriy Shevcheko, Ukrainian Captain and AC Milan Striker.

FACTFILE

• Andriy Shevchenko, nicknamed "Sheva" started his career with Ukrainian club, Dynamo Kyiv in 1994.
• He was named the European Footballer of the year in 2004.
• He was a boxer before he switched to soccer.
• He is the first ever Ukrainian player to win the Champions League.
• In November 2005, in the second rnd of the CL, he scored all 4 times in AC Milans 4-0 whitewashing of Turkish side Fenerbahce. He became only the 5th man in the history of the Champions League to do so.
• Brazilian Legend Pele has named him in his Top 125 living football players.
  

I was going through many soccer blogs the other day. To get more info and tidbits on other countries and players, I suggest you visit the following links:
Deadspin
Ukraine national football team (wikipedia version)

The FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League

Let's take a short break from the World Cup and check up the latest news in the FA Cup and the Champions League.

Hmmm....In the most prestigious English Cup, The FA Cup , Liverpool beat West Ham United 3-3(3-1 on penalties). It was an amazing match. Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard scored an unofficial hat-trick and guided them to victory. Stevie-G saved the Reds from embarrasment twice in the actual match and once by scoring in the Penalty Shoot Out. The Reds were trailing the Hammers 2-0 at one stage, when Djibril Cisse came up with a brilliant goal just before half time and after that Stevie-G took the game away from the hammers. On the whole it was a nice, neat game and nothing like the previous year's final.

In the Champions League, well... many would say its a battle between Ronaldinho and Henry. Barcelona are no doubt the more superior team, but Arsenal's comeback in the English league and the Champions League has been amazing. They finished fourth in the Premiership, which means they don't have to WIN the Champions League to secure a berth next season. The Final is coming up on the 17th of this month, and I'll be up and awake watching it till 3 a.m.(IST).

This was just a small post to give you people and idea of what is going on elsewhere in football, 'coz I'm suddenly obesessed with the World Cup. Anyway, more posts later.

"The Nations Unleashed" (Part 2)

After favorites Brazil, I'll now move on to another big favorite and second seeds England.

Hmm- now England.. I don't think there is much to say about them. They are a star studded team after all. When there is a comparison made among players , England definitely has some of the world's greatest players. They have Wayne Rooney, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Michael Owen, John Terry...... That does seem to be a big list of stars doesn't it? Yep. But the only thing is these Star studded players are never that good on terms with each other. That's the problem when there are too many stars in one team. For all you'd know, they might be the best players in the world and yet lose to some pathetic, unheard of team like Northern Ireland.

Forgetting this problem, England are one of THE favorites for winning the Cup, even with Wayne Rooney out of action. I think they have enough stars without Rooney who can do the job for England. Anyway, forgetting the cuurent day England, let us go back a bit into the past. England until now have won the World Cup only once, that is in 1966 and have not been able to qualify thrice after its entering the World Cup in 1950. Let me give you a factfile on my favorite player Wayne Rooney, even though he most likely won't be playing for the first few matches.

FACTFILE

• Wayne Rooney became England's youngest player ever at 17 years and 111 days against Australia in February 2003.
• Rooney is considered one of the most precocious of the present lot of footballers.
• Former Everton prodigy, he is now a key player for Manchester United.
  
• He is infamous for his foul mouth. He picked up 12 red cards in the 2003-04 season.
• On March 9, 2006, Rooney signed the largest sports book deal with publishers HarperCollins. His yet to be published autobiography has earned him a record advance payment of 7.5 million Euros.
  
• He is supposed to be featured on more than 500 million Coke cans.
• England Coach, Sven Goran Eriksson described him as the greatest teenage football player since the great Pele in the 1958 World Cup.
  
• He has won the PFA Junior player of the year twice, consecutively.

Hmm.. those are my facts on Wayne Rooney. I'll catch up on other teams later. Bye for now!

The World Cup 2- "The Nations Unleashed" (Part 1)

Hey everyone, I'm here to begin my FIFA World Cup 2006 campaign.
I'll begin with team No.1: Brazil

The Brazil National Football team is the most successful football team in the world with five FIFA World Cup victories. It is the only nation to have qualified for every FIFA World Cup finals that have taken place till date. Brazil has produced the greatest players in the history of soccer. Pele and Garrincha are some of them.

Well, sure enough I'll start with one of the greatest players on earth and my favorite Ronaldinho.

FACTFILE

• His name is Portuguese for "Little Ronaldo"
• His actual name is Ronaldo de Assis Moreira.
• Born on March 21, 1980, Ronaldinho is currently one of the finest players in the world.
• He is the most important player for his current Spanish league club Barcelona along with Samuel Eto'o.
• On April 25, 2006, he overtook Real Madrid star David Beckham as the highest paid footballer in the world, earning 23 million Euros. Beckham on the other hand earned 18 million, 7 less than what he earned last year.
• Ronaldinho has been awarded the FIFA World player of the year twice, as well as both the European player of the year award and the FIFPro player of the year award once.
• The great Pele named Ronaldinho in his 125 Top living footballers in March 2004.

Barcelona FC, his current club is one of the most popular clubs in the world. They recently won the Spanish Premiera Liga for the second time in a row. They also find themselves face-to-face with English Giants Arsenal in this year's UEFA Champions League Final.

His National team Brazil are the favorites to win this World Cup. But unfortunately, they have never won when started as favorites, especially in Europe. They'll be hoping to rub off those memories and I'll be hoping to see them win again this year. So- Fingers crossed- 29 days left!!!!

The World Cup- 1

I'm writing this post with 30 days left for the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. No other soccer event captures the world's imagination like the FIFA World Cup.
Since the first competition in Uruguay in 1930, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football association) is growing really popular.

A team of French football administrators in the 1920s under Jules Rimet came up with the idea of bringing together the strongest football teams in the world to compete. There were roughly three World Cups contested in the 1930s, before the Second world War put a 12 year stop to it.

The FIFA has seen only seven different winners till now. This year is bound to be just as exciting as the others were. Brazil, the reigning champions and "Champs of the World", I may describe are no doubt the favorites and the record holders with 5 World championships. With the present day Ro-Ro pair (Ronaldinho and Ronaldo....in the 90s it was Ronaldo-Romario), Brazil look invincible. The other favorites for the cup are Argentina, Germany and England. The England part of winning the cup looks dubious now that their *Star* striker Wayne Rooney is out of action for 7 weeks thanks to a fracture in the foot.

Anyway, the World Cup is gonna be exciting enough without him!! Come on Brazil-Come on Ronaldinho!!!!

Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal- A detailed analysis

Since Rod Laver in 1969, no one in the mens' singles has ever won a Golden Grand slam.In 2004, Roger Federer came close to doing so by winning at Melbourne Park, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows. Yet no one, after Jimmy Connors in 1992, has one the first two grand slams, the Australian and the French Open back-to-back.

Nadal seems to be the only one better than Federer on clay. Being one of the most defensive players on court, he gives Federer a run for his money. He holds a 4-1 record against Federer and that is pretty good considering Federer practically blows off the rest of his opponents. This year seems a bit unpredictable since Federer seems to be getting better on clay each day. Many people would think Nadal being the King of Clay, would win the French Open easily. I don't think that will be the case this time.

This year, Nadal seems to focus more on winning against Federer, and yet we've seen him lose to some unknown people or some lower ranked players at the other two Masters series. If that is the case, I don't think Nadal will last much longer. Let me give an example: Andy Roddick at one stage became soo obsessed with Federer and how to beat him, he left aside the other rising players. Infact, I'm surprised to see him in the top five considering his miserable performance this year.

Federer is on a different league altogether and he probably is one of the greatest players the sport could ever have. Here's my view- Federer will get a Golden Slam- he'll beat Nadal at Roland Garros, Roddick at Wimbledon and someone unseeded at Flushing Meadows.

Horcruxes.... the general status

Well, I think that the status of the 7 horcruxes of Voldemort is going to be the main storyline of the 7th book. Quite a lot about the horcruxes was known by the release of the HBP. Basically these are the horcruxes found and to-be found.

Definite Horcruxes:

Horcrux 1: Himself [voldemort]
Reason: Voldemort must keep one part of his soul within his body.
Status: Not destroyed.

Horcrux 2: The Diary.
Reason: It was confirmed in Half-Blood Prince.
Status: Destroyed by Harry in Chamber of Secrets.

Horcrux 3: Slytherin’s Ring.
Reason: It was confirmed in Half-Blood Prince.
Status: Destroyed by Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince.

Horcrux 4: The Locket.
Reason: It was confirmed in Half-Blood Prince.
Status: Taken by R.A.B., whose intent was to destroy it, but it is not known if he was successful. Likely last seen in Grimmauld Place in Order of the Phoenix, [in the british edition, page 108].

Here ends our list of confirmed Horcruxes and leaves us with three more spots to fill.

Horcrux 5: Something from Hufflepuff. [most probably the cup]
Reason: Tom Riddle murdered Hepzibah Smith and stole the cup of Hufflepuff, one of her most prized possesions.
Status: Object unknown. Not known to be destroyed.

Horcrux 6: Something from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.
Reason: Dumbledore believed it to be one of the two Hogwarts founder’s possessions.
Status: Object unknown. Not known to be destroyed.

Horcrux 7: Unknown [Dumbledore believed it to be Nagini, the snake Tom was awfully fond of]
Reason: Nagini was a snake which, as Dumbledore said, Tom had a power control over/passion for it. Dumbledore assumed that Tom, even for a Parselmouth, had an unusual power over Nagini. [Half-Blood Prince]
Status: Object unknown. Not known to be destroyed.

Information from Veritaserum: Let the Truth be Known, with changes by urs truly Rita Skeeter, lol.

[Edit]: Confirmed: Last word of the Seventh book IS "scar" [/Edit]

PHI and the Fibonacci series

Those of you who have read the Da Vinci Code know that Dan Brown sets up puzzles based on PHI and the Fibonacci series. As I mentioned in one of the previous posts on this blog, I liked these puzzles and became interested in them.

Let me tell you a bit about it. I got this cool lot of info from PhiNest.
Leonardo Fibonacci discovered the series which converges on phi. Starting with 0 and 1,each new number in the series is simply the sum of the two before it. It goes like this:
o,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55....
The ratio of each number to its predecessor is approximately equal to phi i.e. 1.618.

The formulae given look pretty complicated to me. So maybe I'll try and work it out later. Anyway, I think thats enough of phi and math for today. Have to go and have lunch and after that I'll have a siesta.

Someone New.....

Hey everyone! Rita Skeeter, the HP reporter here! Im the new writer for Hakuna Matata. Let me tell you guys some stuff abt me. Im old, but young :S, and I like readin and the net. Im the biggest fan of Harry Potter you'll ever find, thats why i was 'hired' [lol] to do the HP stuff in this blog. I also like reading sorta-girly/punkish books like the Princess Diaries and the Mediator, both series by Meg Cabot. Im starting to read older types now, like Agatha Christie etc. They're pretty ok. Now for my next hobby. THE NET!!! Its something i cannot live without! I own my own site, which u can visit by clicking here. Its a graphics site, so I guess that implies, I love making graphics as well! I use Adobe Photoshop 7 which is far by the best graphic program i know of! Hehe :P. My whole site is my own HTML, so u probably guessed that Im a compy geek!! Well, I sorta am, lol, Im generally online till 12 am etc. I like learning compy stuff, and Im currently trying my best to learn PHP/MySQL and getting nowhere[lol]. Ha! and Im egotistic, but nice to nice people!

I also like music and chatting with my friends online. My fave band is Nickelback. They're an awesome band for anyone who like soft/rock sorta music! I also like Bon Jovi, Eminen, BEP, Akon etc. I like basically all kinds of music. I dont have any fave genres or anythin :). My current fave song is Far Away by Nickelback[duh!].

I do lots and lots of activities, extra-curricular I mean. Its a piss off at times, but mostly fun.
I like playing the piano and I learn. I also do competition-training SWIMMING, lol thats hard, but fun *for certain reasons**. I learn classical dance, which I generally hate and I go for for Basketball in the morning. OMG thats a lot isnt it. No wonder I cant do my homework, lol, they never check!

Now.... school! I hate school, Im going to the 8th grade. Lol, they're so strict! Anyway, I think that should give a general idea about me. So, until my next blog....
x-toodlez-x
Rita <3