Yes, it’s available right now. Click here to purchase. I wonder, though - will it fit in the dock??

In my schooldays, Germany - West Germany - were the team no neutrals wanted to follow. They no longer had the class of Franz Beckenbauer and the deadly accuracy of Gerd Mueller; Karl-Heinz Rumenigge was cold-eyed and Teutonic and a pale imitation of Sting. And that was before we got to Harald “Bonecrusher” Schumacher. Even when they won in 1990 the positive energy that seemed to flow from Lothar Matthaeus and Pierre Littbarski was undermined by the much-maligned Rudi Voller.

They were monochromatic and dull, seemingly automated, like Kraftwerk would be if they were a football team. Not anymore. In three matches, where they have scored four goals each, they have buried that image, most emphatically against Argentina on Saturday.

It was said, before the game, an Argentina win would complete the job began in 2006, where a promising side were cut down by Germany in the quarter-finals. That actually holds more true for Germany; their play here is a continuation of the freedom of the mind and spirit that was seen throughout that tournament four years ago, on the field and in stands. It comes from the top - for example from the unashamedly fanatical Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose reaction to the first, early goal was to look around the VIP box and then do a little jig. It stems from Joachim Low, who looks as if he’s a paid-up member of Berlin’s hip, arty set.

Read more

We watched TV tonight. After NCIS was over, Erik switched over to TSN and there was a documentary on about South Africa, Nelson Mandela and Rugby. I was ready to get up from the couch as I hear Morgan Freeman’s voice as the narrator, and suddenly I was drawn into this story about how Nelson Mandela was attempting to unite a country that had been divided by years and years of apartheid, and how he had been able to do so by igniting national pride in black and white people when they were all cheering for their national rugby team, the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup in 1995. 

We heard interviews with the original players of that team, politicians, activists, regular people, and even Mandela’s former enemies. And everyone had admiration for Mandela, and love. I have to admit, I didn’t know so many of the backgrounds of this part of our world’s history. And I didn’t know much about this man, Nelson Mandela. I do not know much now, either. But the little I learned tonight, watching this documentary, has filled me with incredible admiration for a man that was able to give love in return of hatred, and forgiveness to whom had done him so wrong, for the benefit of all the people in his country, regardless of the colour of their skin. 

Read some more about the documentary here, and if you can, catch it on TSN HD. It’s definitively worth watching. 

Let’s not panic, everyone, ok? Yesterday alone I’ve been sent two different YouTube links with videos that are stating that the government is going to try to force everyone to get the flu vaccine because they want to DEPOPULATE the planet. WTF?? I think quite a few people have seen too many scary movies. Yes, I am not going to get vaccinated, at least not yet, because I don’t like the adjuvants and the mercury in the flu shot (despite the fact that the flu vaccine could be produced without either of those things, it just would cost more and take longer to make), but I don’t believe anyone is out to get us. I do believe that the pharmaceutical industry is trying to get rich on this one, and that there is more panic about the stupid swine flu than there should be. Yes, maybe the swine flu has even been created in the lab in order to sell more vaccines, sure, what the heck, I might even believe that. But mass murder? That is really going too far. Please don’t get all wound up about this whole thing vaccine thing. The one thing I like about this whole commotion is that people are finally going to question what exactly is going to be put into those needles, and ultimately into their bodies. Get informed, make your choices but USE COMMON SENSE.