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There is a point where you reach in your misery, after which even the songs of hope loose their touch with reality. We have reached this point. Besiktas lost 2-1 to Moscow. What hurt was not the score, not even the terrible performance. It was the sense of getting used to all this misery. Both on the fans and players side. I don't know what helps after this point. Self sarcasm perhaps. "Sent from a mobile device, sorry for the typos."

Here are the pieces of a very gloomy picture: Besiktas played 12 away games in Champions League history. 10 defeats, 1 draws and 1 win. Of those 10 defeats I experienced the record-breaking 8-0 in Liverpool in the stadium. Our only win was 2-0 against Chelsea, which was 5 years ago. The same year I had to watch in agony in a 56K Real Player connection in Texas our qualification chances melt away with a last minute goal at the last game by Sparta Prague. Even the win has a bitter connotation to it. Our trainer Denizli participated in Champs League once with Fenerbahce, with another record. 0 points out of 6 games. We have a single win in last 6 games. We have not been able to score in the last 3 games. The goal keeper of CSKA Moscow is the Russian Casillas. And here is our answer, a Nazim Hikmet poem based chant: Believe in this kids, Believe in this kids, We will have beautiful days, We will have sunny days, We will beat CSKA in Moscow, And sing songs of glory... Believe in this kids!!...

Ibrahim Altinsay'in her sozcugune katiliyorum: http://video.ntvmsnbc.com/?362711#v200184072011050031173204202142183028080122095189 Bu Bursa'li Nazi'ler Gay ve Lezbiyen Yuruyusunu alenen olumle tehtid ederek engellemislerdi. Bugun de uzerinde Carsi T-shirt'u olan bir genci dovdukleri haberi geldi. Cok sevdigim bir sehrin, eskiden sevdigim bir takiminin bu hale gelmesinden buyuk uzuntu duydum. Ama bu Bursaspor'un degil, tüm Türkiye'nin sorunu. Farkli olani kabullenmemek. Zenofobi. Sonu irkciliga cikar, bu kadar basit.

Lennin's back. At least his beard. Time for spritual politics! New Age postmodernists unite! He's not a candidate. I wish he where. Thuan's role model. We are not enemies of the foreigners. We are friends of Germans. Nazisim in disguise.

German democracy is interesting. A woman will be the prime minister, and her coalition party is headed by an openly homosexual liberal. The next candidate of SPD may also be gay. The president of the Greens, which made a historic leap, is Turkish. Yet there are still racist banners on the streets. Immigrant politicians receive polite letters from the National Democratic Party to leave the country. Here is a first part of my collection of interesting electtion banners: Want to get rid of Bayern? Vote Bayern Party. Islamisation? No thank you. Note the red and white headscarf. Very welcoming. Angela Merkel the Superstar Part 1. Angela Merkel the Superstar Part 1.

"April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. ... Waste Land - T.S. Elliot " If April is the cruelest month as Elliot says, then October is the warmest month. I spend the summer days dreaming of winter, and October is the month when I feel the winter coming. The only piece of news that I anticipate the whole year is the news of the first snow fall of the season . This year, I did not have to wait October for it. I can already feel the itch at the bottom of my feet, where my skies belong...

Disarida yuzbin taraftar, Birgün aglar, birgün cosar, Disarida yuzbin taraftar, Birgün aglar, birgün cosar, Seni bu sesler oyalar, Aldirma Kartal aldirma, Aldirma Kartal aldirma, Kartal Aldirma... Basin one egilmesin, Aldirma Kartal Aldirma... Basin one egilmesin, Aldirma Kartal Aldirma... En buyuk sen degil misin? Aldirma Kartal aldirma, Aldirma Kartal aldirma, Kartal aldirma... Besiktasli olmak yengiden yenilgiden bagimsiz bu sarkiyi soyleyebilmektir. Besiktasli olmak bu sarkiyi milyon taraftar degil, yuzbin taraftar diye soyleyebilmektir. Besiktasli olmak tipki amator lige dusen Goztepelilerin söyleyebildigi gibi 14. siradayken bile en buyuk sen degil misin diyebilmektir. Kendi adima konusayim -moralim cok bozuk Besiktas konusunda, biraz ovunmemi mazur görün- 8-0'lik mac sonrasi Liverpool havalimaninda boynu bükük Besiktasli genc topculara "dik yürüyün, siz Besiktaslisiniz" diyebilmektir. Herseyden otesi, Besiktasli olmak Zeki Demirkubuz'un Masumiyet'i bitirdig...

Isn't this ironic? Renault cars gracefully crashing. I loved the commercial. Now it looks like Renault had too much confidence on their crash-safety of their cars, and deliberately crashed one of their F1 cars last year in Singapore, so that Fernando Alonso could win by pit stop strategy. The news is allover. I find it a pity, but I don't think F1 has a bright future in the changing times, unless it re-invents itself. This abhorring display of lack of sportsmanship should shake Renault and the sport deeply.

I used to wake up with Nothing But Flowers by Talking Heads back in the states. I found a new favorite wake up song. Iggy Pop's Lust For Life. I've been listening to Iggy Pop lately, and am amazed by the depth of his seemingly basic lyrics. A social critique is hard to miss in his songs. This is not surprising, considering he may well be the only Rock'n'Roll artist to have published in a scholars magazine about Roman History. The piece is short , yet entertaining.

"Yolu yok çekeceksin, isyan etmenin faydası yok. Kaderin böyle. Yol belli, eğ başını, usul usul yürü şimdi..." Duydum ki dunya uzerinde Tanri'nin bile tahti sallanmis bugun. Diego Armando Maradona' bile basarisiz olurmus futbolda. Varsin biz de yenilelim Manchester Unite'da. Varsin yuruyelim yolumuzda. Benim isyanim yola degil. Seve seve bu yolu yuruyen yoldaslarimin ve benim sevgisini istismar eden Baskan'a, yönetime. Isyanim 23 yasinda zimba gibi delikanlinin karsisina 35 yasinda Deli Ibo'yu koyan, 35'lik Yusuf'u kurtarici diye sokan, Ekrem'den Fink yapmaya calisan hoca'ya.

Whoo da fuck are man united, Whoo da fuck are man united, Whoo da fuck are man united, And the City marches on!

They Might Be Giants has a new album for the kids. This songs about the importance of Science. I love it. Considering the Scientific illiteracy in the USA, this song serves a good purpose: They Might be Giants like stating truisms. Here's a cover they did long time ago:

I was discussing the trouble Greeks have with the name Macedonia with friends on Friday. Actually more trying to understand how they feel about it. I argued it is not the right of Greece telling what name Macedonians use for their country, and Macedonia has no right claiming Greek territories. That seems to be what Greeks believe. Argumentation goes, what comes after the name, territory claims? We must draw a red line somewhere. It reminded me the exact same argument against acknowledging the terrible atrocities committed against the Anatolian Armenians around 1915. The knee jerk reaction is: "What happens after the apology, territorial claims?" Nowadays Turkish political agenda is focused around what is called "The Kurdish Expansion" -which should be "Human Rights Expansion" in my opinion- which boils down to the recognition of Kurdish identity in Turkish. Status Quo protectors -who in a travesty of the term happen to be Social Democrats- cry out the same...

Nobel Laurete Economist Paul Krugman published a great article in New York Times magazine titled " How did economists get it so wrong? ", which is in essence "the brief history of American Economics." In the wake of the financial crisis, economics profession will definitely do some soul searching, and this article explains which souls are to be found in the near time future. Those intrigued by this article should definetely have a look at this somewhat long, but very exciting New Yorker article on the same issue. It draws parallels between postmodernism in human sciences and the current crisis. Finally, for those of a somewhat more geekish taste, this Scientific American article is also great. It describes the mathematical models that gave the buyers and issuers of the toxic derivatives a false sense of being in control. In the end, I believe what we should take out of this mess is, that we need a healthy dose of skepticism in every aspect of our lives. Finally, f...

Runkeeper is one of the most useful Iphone apps I've ever used. Load this, and your Iphone becomes a GPS-based activity (running, hiking, skiing) tracker. It measures your speed, distance, altitude. It gives you audio cues, and you can also load running routines on it. Then you can see your results on a nice webpage with graphs and google maps. It is definitely worth the price.