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I have a second team in the World Cup. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

The world cup is running smoothly in South Africa, annulling the security concerns that some observers had. This is great news, not because I did not believe that this young country was not capable of hosting a global event, but because through this World Cup, South Africa will have the chance to erase this belief in the minds of the outsiders. I think they deserve this after all this years after overthrowing the last major racist regime in the civilized world. Incidentally, I was fortunate enough to read Disgrace ,one of the best books I've read in the last 5 years, just before the World Cup. It is by the South African Nobel Literature Prize Laureate Coetzee. This great book came at a time when I was about to reach the conclusion that two different persons of comparable intelligence and manners can reach completely opposite conclusions on a divisive subject solely based on their upbringings and the culture they belong to. This book about "white" intellectuals, "b...

This is insanely funny.

The German efficiency is still working. No matter how strong/weak Australia was, the performance of this young and new team is remarkable, or as the Germans would put it "bemerkenswert". However, I couldn't enjoy the game, rather the post-game as much as I could. In Germany, World Cup is broadcast on two channels alternatively. ZDF and ARD. In ARD, there is the cult football commentary duo Gerhard Delling and Günther Netzer. They are by far the most hilarious thing I watched on German TV. In ZDF, a serious old lady and Oliver Kahn, whose nickname was the Gorilla. No wonder I prefer ARD. Netzter was the first super-star of German football. A Porsche driving, night-club owning player from the small German town Mönchengladbach, lead his team to trophies in Germany and Europe. He was transferred to Real Madrid as the first German player in the Spanish side. He went on to become a media entrepreneur, marketing sports tournaments to media companies. He's a clever guy w...

I was watching Besiktas-Porto CL game on first row, thanks to my friend Ozan. Quaresma was playing with tremendous pace and technique. When the ball went out for a throw in, I shouted at Quaresma, and told him "Slow down Quaresma, you are too good for our players!" He replied by kissing his Porto jersey, and laughing. Well, this superb player will be running in Inonu and kissing Besiktas jersey this year. I am very excited. By the way, wouldn't he be a perfect Caravaggio model?

And do watch the goal of the century in original Argentinan commentary ( link to video ). I almost cried.

56 years ago, one of the brightest minds in human history committed suicide. He was chemically castrated according to the laws of the leading democracy in the Western World. An avid athlete, he died as an obese man, as a side effect of oestrogen injections he received. He died, because he was doing, what makes everyone happy. Loving another human being. It took 55 years for this "leading democracy" to apoligise. His name was Alan Turing, and if you are reading these sentences, you should be thankful to him. 

My latest posts have not been cheerful, to say the least. Over at Pharyngula there is a BBC short of Caribbean Monkeys -yes, the ones that populate the legendary Monkey Island, which have acquired a taste for alcohol. It is both relieving and sad to see how similar the mankind is to monkeys. It is relieving from the perspective of mankind. At least I can explain some of our foolish behaviour with the Stone-Age brains we have and share with apes. It is sad from the monkeys' perspective, that I use their species to explain the low-intelligence behaviour of their ape cousins Homo Sapiens. The video I added above is a must-watch. So, if the monkeys got a taste for it, maybe Lou Reed was right. There is a power in positive drinking: Talking of Lou Reed and animals, if you happen to be in Sydney, and have a house pet, make sure you don't miss the Vivid festival curated by Lou Reed and his wife. They will be giving a concert just for the pets. Here is the ( link to the articl...

AP Photo/Charlie Riede Today, I am once again ashamed of being human. See more pictures from the Gulf Coast here ( link to the article. ). We are all guilty. But some are more guilty. This includes the hot air talking Obama, growth obsessed Chinese politicians. Do watch this video from Copenhagen Farce of last year. The video ( link to the video ) includes voice recordings from the last minute talks between China, India, Germany, France and USA. The recordings are in English, subtitled in German. BP was rather ambiguous, what they meant by  with their hip and greenwashed slogan "BP: Beyond Petroleum." I know what is beyond petroleum: DEATH. Watch their commercial ( link to the video ).

I have such a low opinion of mankind these days. The tribalism surrounding all matters of international and local politics, our ability to fool ourselves into self-importance, our lethargic response to matters of environment, and above all, how easy it is, for people of similar intelligence and manners to draw completely opposite conclusions about a matter that is so obvious makes me tired and pessimistic about the mankind. World Cup is therefore a very welcome break from all of this never ending and repeating history of human stupidity. In case you haven't noticed yet, I support the most stylish team in the tournament. Which  happens to be managed by the God himself.

Turkey's dynamic and to be honest visionary foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu boasted the new Turkish foreign policy doctrine in this Foreign Policy article . I am quoting from the article: The second methodological principle is to base Turkish foreign policy on a "consistent and systematic" framework around the world. Turkey's vision for the Middle East is not in opposition to its approach in Central Asia or in the Balkans; our approach to Africa is no different from our approach to Asia. Turkey is also actively trying to improve relations with nearby countries like Greece, Iraq, the Russian Federation, and Syria. Prime Minister Erdogan made a brave speech during the meeting of his parliamentary group. I hope his call for a tougher approach to Israel's violent and reckless approach to the Middle East problem will bring a change to the response of the international community. I am not optimistic about this, since Obama is in a real hard position to open up yet an...

David and Goliath is an important story for the believers of the three Abrahamic religion. It is an allegory, how the weak can overcome the mighty opressor. Jewish people were prosecuted through the ages, since they represented the perfect "other" for uncivilized communities to build their identities. The story of David and Goliath must have helped them in their darkest hours, this I am sure. But the story of David does not end there. After uniting the kingdoms of the Israelites, David brought the Ark of Covenant to Jerusalem, intending to build a temple in the name of Jehovah. Jehovah forbids David from building this temple, since David has blood in his hands. The temple is built by Salomon, his son. The government of Israel should remember the second part of the story. They cannot build a peaceful homeland for their citizens with blood on their hands. On the other side, I am disgusted by the lack of compassion and the calculatedness of the words of Nobel Peace Prize Laureat...