Maliki continues his bid toward consolidation of power, this time taking on the http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/03/iraq.kurds>the Kurds. Doubt whether there is an implicit co-operational deal as with Sadr.

Posted by: anna missed | Sep 3 2008 7:49 utc | 101

Hey,

Yes this is me ranting but with the cost of my season ticket going up this year (again), huge amounts of cash being thrown around by Arabian oil magnates and American insurance salesmen in an attempt to buy the title / Champions League and Sky’s nauseating coverage, it seemed to me that the guys behind this site have got a decent idea.

It’s a campaign to see a salary cap introduced in European football and to be honest, I think it makes some very good points.

The argument is put forward very well, it’s got support from some pretty high-profile corners and it seems to be a campaign that has the game as a whole at heart.

Put simply, there are too many clubs running up ridiculous amounts of debts to pay unsustainably high salaries to players whilst at the same time, the top names are able to cream the best of the talent to the detriment of the competition.

The site is http://footballerswages.com/>footballers wages and personally, I support the idea of having a salary cap. It works in other sports and not only will it save some clubs from themselves, but it might at least bring footy back to being a contest decided on the pitch, rather than in the boardroom.

Thanks

Posted by: The_Football_Maniac | Sep 9 2008 14:14 utc | 102

b real 98, your link ... Maggie Jackson's Call for Focus -- Fighting Back in an Age of Distraction

excellent link, i have been thinking about this very thing lately, not only in my own life but the permanent effects on our patterns.

specifically:

The idea of continuous partial attention -- that's a term that's being used -- or what I call split focus, really undermine relationships, not only because cognitively you can't really pay attention to two things at once very well. But also because it's just downright rude.

it amazes me how rude it is sometimes. especially considering when people eventually may not even remember a time, it will be a thing of the past, when an interruption is considered rude. how a personal interaction takes second/third/tenth place via tech communication.

very strange.

It really is a big change in how the human being lives. For hundreds if not millions of years, a message could be given to someone else only if someone physically delivered it.

her book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age

"Attention is the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress. If we squander our power of attention, our technological age could ultimately slip into cultural decline."

i think it already has.

Posted by: annie | Sep 9 2008 16:08 utc | 103