Notable

We love Roald Dahl's stories and we've had a lot of fun reading this book the past few days.

Price: £3.32

Posted 6th Aug 2019 @ 11:50

Posted 6th Aug 2019 @ 09:00

While I really enjoyed the first two seasons of 13 Reasons Why, I'm not sure how this season is going to unfold. Season 2 ended in a way that looked like it would take the characters in a different direction and this trailer shows that we'll be taken on a new journey to discover who killed Bryce Walker.

Posted 5th Aug 2019 @ 16:16

There was a lot of buzz about this Tiny Desk Concert by Lizzo last week, but I was waiting for it to be published on YouTube before sharing.

Posted 5th Aug 2019 @ 12:46

There are three transactions, though, that those inside the club discuss with particular pride.

The first is the one that started it all: the sale of José Antonio Reyes, a homegrown prospect, to Arsenal in 2004. The departure of Reyes was greeted with fury by fans, but it was unavoidable to get the club on sound economic footing. “It did not cancel our debt completely, but it made a big difference,” José María Cruz, the club's chief executive, said.

The second is the one that made Monchi's name. In the summer of 2003, Sevilla dispatched a scout to watch the South American under-20 championship. It was the only European club in attendance, and its representative raved to Monchi about an 18-year-old right back playing for Brazil. Dani Alves would go on to play for Barcelona, Juventus and Paris St.-Germain, and win some 40 trophies.

It is the third deal, though, that is perhaps most significant, that had the greatest impact on how Sevilla works in the transfer market today.

On Aug. 31, 2005, at 10:30 p.m., Monchi's phone rang. Real Madrid, he was told, had paid the release clause in the contract of Sevilla's young, locally reared defender Sergio Ramos.

Monchi had thought it “impossible” that Ramos would leave, so he and his team had not been scouting for central defenders. “We used to only work on finding new players for the positions that we thought we had to strengthen,” he said. With only a few minutes left to find a replacement before the transfer window closed, he had “nothing on my list, so I threw it to fate.”

He called a few contacts. Someone in Belgium, someone he trusted, recommended a Serb named Ivica Dragutinovic. Monchi had never seen him play. “I knew he was white, that's it,” he said. He had nothing to lose. Sevilla bought him.

Dragutinovic spent seven years in Seville, winning six trophies. “We could have decided that all we should do is call that same person every time and ask for his recommendations,” Monchi said. “Or we could learn that we have to work more, to look in all positions, so that it never happens again.”

I'd love to have seen Dani Alves at Liverpool and I'm sure the player was talked about many times before he opted for Barcelona.

As a Roma supporter, I was excited when it was announced that Monchi was joining the club, but 18 months later he found himself back on his way to Seville. Liverpool suffered a similar journey with Damien Comolli, a person often credited as the man that found Tottenham players that would improve the team for a small cost that could then be sold for a bigger profit. It's exactly the business Seville are in but for both Roma and Liverpool, it just didn't work out.

Seville and Monchi seem to compliment each other very well, Liverpool seem to have found the formula that works for them too, despite very little activity this year.

Posted 5th Aug 2019 @ 11:39

It's always about money.

In 1981, Andreas got his wish. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan—another close ally of the ADM chief—signed a law placing high quotas on imported sugar, which quickly raised the domestic price of sugar to twice the price on global markets. Suddenly, HFCS was the cheaper sweetener, and the quota ensured that the domestic sugar price would remain elevated. Both Coke and Pepsi quickly started using more HFCS, Bovard reports.
...
The sugar quotas he championed remain in place.

Posted 5th Aug 2019 @ 09:11

Posted 4th Aug 2019 @ 12:00

One of those stories that shouldn't be true, but is. I've been looking for a domain name recently and was reminded of this story because of the amount of squatting going on.

What's in a name? For the owner of sex.com, a cool $100 million a year. With five million page views every day, sex.com was the most valuable piece of virtual real-estate on the planet and the dubious jewel in the crown of the newborn internet. But the fact that it didn't physically exist didn't mean that it couldn't be stolen. With an ingenious scam - the full details of which have never been revealed until now - lifelong con-man Stephen Cohen was able to snatch sex.com and walk into a life of untold wealth and luxury. But Cohen had under-estimated the determination of Gary Kremen, the man he had stolen it from, to get his property back. It would take ten years and millions of dollars, but Kremen would see Cohen finally pay for his crimes.

Price: From £0.50

Posted 3rd Aug 2019 @ 15:21

Posted 3rd Aug 2019 @ 12:28

Tailored to the US market (it is from the NY Times), it's an interesting way to help you frame your income as 'rich' or not and what percentile you fit into.

The concept of “rich” is more complicated than this, of course. Every household is unique; housing costs and other living expenses can vary widely within metro areas; student debt and medical expenses can be crippling; children are expensive. And income isn't the only variable that affects economic standing — savings, investment portfolios, real estate and other holdings not accounted for here all factor into a family's overall wealth.

But these figures can provide perspective. They show the income distribution of people and households in your area to demonstrate where you stand relative to other residents. They also make clear the wide regional variations in American income — a high earner in Omaha would not necessarily be a high earner in San Francisco.

Posted 3rd Aug 2019 @ 11:24