Glad I wasn't coaching North Korean kids.....

Apparently losing is very bad:

The broadcast of live games had been banned to avoid national embarrassment, but after the spirited 2-1 defeat to Brazil, state television made the Portugal game its first live sports broadcast ever. Following ideological criticism, the players were then allegedly forced to blame the coach for their defeats.

HT MR

Vuvuzela virtuoso visiting Eastman Theatre?

Seems unlikely, but clearly so far the biggest winner at the World Cup is this delightful little instrument - and the biggest losers are those condemned to have to hear it unwillingly. Perhaps, as with garlic, the solution is "If you can't beat them, join them."

Now we can not only see any web site to the background of vuvuzela sounds, youtube has added a gadget (soccer ball shaped) that lets you mix the audio of the clip with the appropriate sounds.

Another loser would be astrology, after France rather convincingly showed that it is NOT useful when selecting your soccer team.


Update: the horror!

Looks like I'm NOT the only one!

Running that way.

The Kama Sutra and Chess

A rather attractive grandmaster of chess is coming out with a new book relating chess and sex. Her name is Natalia Pogonina and she is also a model and a lawyer. Sorry, she's married to another chess player already in case you boys are salivating (HT MR, by the way). Quote:

We will be reviewing the most interesting openings and middlegame positions, and relating them to positions from Kamasutra. We surprise our readers by introducing the “love theory”, which is extremely effective for developing your chess skills and becoming happy in personal life. We will share unique training methods in “sexchess”, approbated by ourselves.

Yes, I feel like playing chess again all of a sudden myself.

I admire his sense of humor...

The guy in this story might have been a loser, but talk about a good loser!

The prank resulted in him becoming a national laughingstock, an indecent picture of him becoming widely available, and the end of his marriage.

His reaction?

“There’s no doubt I’ve been done good and proper by the lads from Liverpool.

“It was cruel, but I’ll hold my hands up and say they really wound me up.”

Perhaps he is merely trying to lull them into a false sense of security while he thinks up a revenge prank that will top it.

HT The Agitator