Tuesday, August 29, 2006

English is a phunny and a LONG language!

I was surfing through some blogs the other day, when I found a cool blog, whose name claimed to be the Longest word in the English langauge.

That got me interested and after some research in Wikipedia - that great ocean of information for info geeks like me - I found that there are many long words in English, that are each individual claimants to the post/honour of being the longest words. Its funny and interesting to see how people manage to come up with words which no-one is likely to use in their entire life. Most of us struggle with "amalgamation", and here we are creating words that are about a mile long!

Anyways, these are some of the links from Wiki pertaining to the topic -
Wiki_LW_MainPage
Wiki_LW_ByConstruction
Wiki_LW_ByPlaceNames
Wiki_LW_Floccinaucinihilipilification
Wiki_LW_Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

And the best one! This one is just plain hilarious! -

In 1975, the 71-letter Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun was used in a McDonald's Restaurant advertisement to describe the Big Mac.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is a jocular term for phobia, indicating fear of long words

Till some more such interesting nonsense is brought to my notice by accidentally stumbling across as I crawl across the internet, bbye!


PS: The factual accuracy of the above links cannot be verified, as Wikipedia is an open-source, open-edit Encyclopedia, so all 'facts' must be taken with a grain of salt.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

The Best Race we had this season!


"Mera Number 1!" - Felipe Massa - The Man of the Moment!



Whow! What a race! Its been a while since we had such an exciting, eventful and power-packed race. The Hungarian GP was small fries as compared to what unfolded in the Turkish GP. It started spectacularly and ended with a bang. Cars getting banged from front, rear and the side. Collisions and failures and overtaking opportunities gone terribly wrong! This race had it all. Alonso and Schumi were spearated by just 0.1 second on the clock! What a race!

It was a bitter-sweet race for a Renault fan like me. On one hand, Renault's lead over Ferrari in the Constructors championship was reduced to just 2 points, while on the other, Alonso managed to stay ahead of Schumi, gaining a 2 point advantage in the process.

It was also good to see Massa win the race. I am not as much Anti-Ferrari as much I am Anti-Schumi. No offense to the 7-time Champ, but he should be retiring and paving the way for fresh blood in F1. I still respect Schumi as a driver - let there be no doubt - he's the best F1 driver in the history of the sport - but its time to call it quits and let the sport be more dynamic and young.

So, in that sense, it was good to see neither Alonso nor Schumi on the top pedestal of the podium. Just like last time, in the Alonso-Schumi rivalry, we forget that there are fine drivers like Massa and Button who have the mettle and the skill to be race winners.

What was even more endearing was to watch an emotional Massa, battling his tears while the Brazilian national anthem played in the background. Here is a young guy who has just won a tough race - the toughness within him however melts away to reveal his human side. Remember his days at Sauber anyone? Kudos to him.

What was the turning point in the Alonso-Schumi battle I think was the safety car time pitstop that Ferrari made, where Schumi lost valuable seconds, enabling Alonso to get ahead. I found that move hilarious and stupid. They should have allowed him to stay ahead. I am certain Schumi would have had a much better chance of finishing ahead of Alonso and mebbe even win the race. What were the Ferrari guys thinking? I am not complaining at the suicidal pitstop though. Here's wishing more such screwed up pitstops to Ferrari. :P

With 4 races to go, I believe the Constructors race has been settled - it was settled long ago, when Fisichella just coudn find the form. But the Driver's race is still very much open. All it would take is one screw-up and either Schumi or Alonso would kiss their ass goodbye. This has been a gr8 season to watch! No one driver/team dominating - under such circumstances, its okay to see a couple of Ferrari/Schumi wins. F1 should be open, dynamic and unpredictable. Finally we had a season which has been all that and much more.

Here's looking forward to a fine 4 races more to go!

Some Links :
RACE SUMMARY
RACE PHOTOS

Guns without Bullets


"Damn! I should have stayed at home
and made love to my wife instead!"
- Jens Lehmann in a moment of despair as Arsenal continued their poor (or should I say pathetic) form in the EPL.


There seems to be plenty of Guns in the Arsenal, but unfortunately no ammunition. Arsenal misfired a week back with Aston and they repeated their uninspired and lacklustre performance yesterday against Man City. Pundits and fans alike were predicting a comfortable victory for the North London Club, but Arsenal with amazing consistency disappointed yet again. The performance left many Arsenal fans (including me) disillusioned. Wenger himself admitted that "we are not ready".

Nothing seemed to be in order. We kept most of the possession, but mainly in the midfield. We managed to get some good balls near the Man City box, only to find that fellow Gunners were coming in the way. Rosicky was a let-down. He was all over the place yet going in no particular direction. Skipper Thierry Henry looked tired and unsettled. Perhaps its an indication of the fatigue from the World Cup. The Arsenal forwards were all in the box at once, with no-one indulging in wing-play. There was mayhem and chaos as the players bumped into each other and proved themselves worthy defenders for the other side.

All in all, it was a night to forget. Hopefully, Wenger picks up the threads and builds up a more inspired and intelligent team. The area we need to be strengthened the most immediately is defense and wing-play. That is where a lot of work needs to be done. All of a sudden, Arsenal's chances in the premiership this season is looking bleak. We need to seriously pick up our game and show more teeth, width and innovation in our attack.

In the meanwhile, a Brazil Vs Argentina friendly will be played at the Emirates Stadium. This is certainly heartening, but it would have been so much better had the Gunners been on winning form. No matter, there's always a next time.