Fairer medal tables

The BBC have an interesting article on the Olympics, providing several different medal tables based on a variety of factors. The “official” table is, I think, somewhat cock-eyed as related to the position of teams. The Americans, having to be the best at everything as they’re about the most insecure nation on Earth, have based their tables on number of medals won, regardless of the metal they’re made of.

Of course, this puts them top. But completely disregards the fact that it’s the same as saying that every team in the quarter finals of the World Cup is as good as the others. Which is, let’s face it, horse-****. Not that it’ll bother the screaming success-mongers on Fox and CNN who’ll bend any fact to make their country better than anyone else’s.

Of the ones the Beeb have produced, I prefer the one that’s similar to our football league tables – different “points” for each medal, and position based on the overall score. Yes, it means we drop a spot in the table (Russia overtakes us, or did when they worked out the figures) but I just think it’s fairer.

The ones based on population and GDP have some relevance, but overall are pretty meaningless. A poor country could spend a large proportion of its money on sports development, while a rich one could spend only a little. Likewise, you could have an enormous population but 99% could live in poverty thus making them unlikely to produce Olympic-standard athletes.

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Hint for new fundamentalist organisations

There’s an option here – check out a reference site or open your eyes to the outside world before you name your organisation.

As a case in point, let’s look at the Filipino Islamic group Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The Borneo Post had a headline today reading “Philippines To Scrap Peace Deal With MILF”. Now, to me that means that some attractive older woman has done something to annoy them.

Pop onto Google and do a (non-content-filtered) search for MILF and I guarantee that the most popular searches aren’t about Islamic groups. But you’ll get some great photos.

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Twatting Britain

ASDA Stores LimitedAsda – whatever you want,
except the word “****”

This is yet another example of what pisses me off about the UK. A book is being reprinted with a change in the text because one word has upset a few parents who don’t want their kids reading it. Of course, these parents obviously have no ******* idea of the language theit little preciouses are using at school.

The part of the text that got me more than anything else was that Asda would refuse to stock My Sister Jodie after “a complaint from one shopper”.

One.

A single, ******* one.

Out of 28,000 sales.

That’s an enormous 0.00357142857% of total customers, if my maths is correct. And because of that, they’ve withdrawn it from sale.

It reminds me of when I was back in Low Fell and wanted to get some Richard Laymon books out. I couldn’t find some of them on the shelves, so asked if they had them in stock. “Yes”, was the reply,”but you’ll have to reserve them as they’ve been removed.”

Someone (and I mean “one”) had complained at the content. Of a horror book. In the adult section. Thus it was taken from the shelves and only obtainable if you paid money to make a reservation for it.

The country’s gone to ****. Is it any wonder I’m not hanging around there any more?

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What a game of football

COMMERCE CITY, CO - JULY 12: Goalkeeper Hope ...

Well, that was entertaining. 90 minutes of hard-fought action, hardly a foul committed, no play-acting, solid refereeing. Then 30 minutes of back-and-forth extra time as tactics and weary legs both made their effects felt. A single goal separating a team from a nation with a huge footballing history from a nation which treats it as a second-class sport for girls.

Apt, really, as it was the Olympic Women’s Football final. The United States squeaking through to win gold against Brazil. Excitement, pressure, end-to-end play and very little cheating – if any. You know what? It was better than most Premiership or other men’s football games I’ve watched for some time.

And the American goalkeeper, Hope Solo, is a hottie.

I hear Arsenal‘s boob-blessed starting eleven have a good history. I wonder if Newcastle have a women’s team? And no jokes about our new defender’s somewhat bouffant hairstyle. Or ex-players nicknames “Mary Poppins“.

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Have you seen this man?

Child-molesting piece of ****

If so, beat the **** to a bloody pulp and ship his bits back to the UK so we can put him on the sex offender’s register. Gary Glitter, the child-abusing low-life piece of ****, has done a runner after Thai officials refused him entry to the country and threatened to deport him back to the UK. Which is strange as only a day ago his publicist (who the **** would sink to being this bastard’s publicist?) stated that he wanted to return to Britain.

Last seen boarding a plane for Hong Kong, so it’s in the Chinese government’s hands as to whether they let him in. They’ve got an exemplary human rights record, so you never know. Either they’ll welcome in a rich man who can afford all the 7 year-olds he can bugger, or they’ll take him to a cave and flay him alive.

I dearly, dearly, hope for the latter.

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