Posts by Duncan

25

Life of Brian

by William Penwell in

hey i just watched for the first time, monty python's "life of brian".

i know the film is 25 years old but being a dub we could never watch such a show.

it was great the way it made fun of the biblical story of jesus.

Duncan

Romanes Eunt Domus?

People called the Romans, They go, the House?

22

ENGLAND 2 PORTUGAL 1

by City Fan in

well yet again i'm left speechless by another inept refereeing display.

that should have been the score.

i don't care if portugal faffed about with the ball better than the english.

Well, I was mad as hell about the ref last night (taking my lead somewhat from the TV studio pundits who couldn?t talk about anything else), but thinking about it all on the drive in to work today - noticing a marked reduction in the number of St. George flags on the white vans - I?m now thinking it wasn?t so much to do with the ref and one specific wrong decision.

Refs make mistakes all the time. In fact, you couldn?t even rightly call this a reffing mistake ? not like Maradona?s famous ?hand of God?. It was just the referee?s opinion that Terry impeded the Portuguese keeper , and you have to say that there?s case to argue that. As Hanson always says ? ?I?ve often seen them given? .

The real problem last night was something much deeper-seated and long-lasting: it was the chronic English footballers inferiority complex when facing technically superior foreigners.

You saw it with France in the opening game, with Brazil in World Cup 2002, and any number of other games over the years. The English go out to play all full of fire and passion, they might even score first, and then the cancer of self-doubt creeps in. They start to ?play safe? - defend deep, no attempt to keep the ball for any amount of time, just bash it up the field when you can get a kick in.

What was different this tournament was Rooney. He gave the players some self- belief. Against Switzerland and Croatia we actually looked half-decent. The Team and the Nation began to think we might actually do well.

And he gets injured against Portugal, and the self-belief visibly drained out of the English side as he limped off.

We were back to the old frightened defensive England of the past. Trying desperately to hold on to a slim one-goal lead for 87 minutes. Portugal stroked the ball around, had possession for minutes at a time in long, coherent passages of passing football. England, in contrast, when they got the ball enjoyed possession for 4 or 5 seconds. A couple of passes and then smack! - up the field, one for Owen or Vassell to chase. The Portuguese dealt with those kind of tactics with almost contemptuous ease.

At eighty minutes in, it did indeed look like we might squeeze through. I was certainly hoping for it, but felt a little bit ashamed at the same time. England had done almost nothing (Owen?s early goal was good) to justify the win. It would hardly have been a glorious victory, but maybe there would be a chance at redemption in the Semi?s and the Final.

Then they equalise and it?s extra time.

I?ll admit that England?s heroics in getting that last-gasp seeming ?winner? and then again in extra time getting an even laster-gasp equaliser were brilliant ? the best period for us in the game.

But then it?s penalties, and Rule One of International Football Tournaments is that England don?t win shoot-outs. My heart sank.

The way it goes in these shoot out competitions is that most people score. The match is decided either by the single poor unfortunate individual who happens to be the one who misses the goal (there?s always one) or by an inspired heroic performance from the Goalkeeper.

Nobody would ever connect the words ?inspired, heroic performance? with David ?Calamity? James.

So we were just hoping that one of their players would choke on the occasion and miss.

Up steps Beckham to take our first. Always leading from the front, Beckham.

I don?t know if you ever do this, but in moments of high tension, I think to myself ? ?well, what?s the VERY WORST thing that could happen?? - it seems to me that if you think the thing, if you name it, you call it up, then you can defuse it, so it can?t possibly then happen.

I thought to myself ? ?Well, the VERY worst thing would be if Beckham did what he did against Turkey, and blast the ball over the stadium roof and then point angrily to the penalty spot as if that patch of ground were to blame. Phew! Thank Goodness that?s not going to happen again.?

And what did he do?

It pretty much summed up his tournament.

It was downhill from there. James, as expected, saved precisely none. One Portuguese player did, in fact, miss (there?s always one), so briefly we seemed to have a chance. But, looking at the replays, none of the English penalties were terribly good efforts, they were lucky to go in, whereas the Portuguese were assured and calm, one guy even doing the ?chip the ball? trick, assuming correctly that James would, in effect dive out of the way. Did I say contemptuous a minute ago?

And Vassell?s shot was saved, and the Portuguese keeper himself comfortably shot past James to win it.

England badly let themselves down in this game. THIS was the Tournament they had a chance to win. We were not ?building? here for some World Cup years in the future, THIS was their chance, and they blew it.

Assuming we can qualify for Germany in 2006, don?t expect Rooney to be the same sensational player ? you only get a chance to burst upon the scene once. This was his tournament, next time round he?ll be carrying a heavy weight of expectation on his young shoulders, and dare I say it, will probably disappoint his country ? it won ?t be his fault.

It?s only football, it?s only a game, but these things do affect the National mood. The whole country seems flatter and less joyous today. Me and my boys took down our St George flag from the front garden this morning.

Duncan.

22

Astronomy: Three Dates: A Young Witness

by Duncan in

jw
friends

so, taking those title elements in reverse order: the young witness is me ?

this story goes back to the early sixties.

the three dates are: february 1986, august 11th 1999, and june 8th 2004. it's the fact that the last of those dates is , after all these years, finally nearly here that made me think of writing this post.

Duncan

Thanks for the bttt, Rachel.

I already posted two follow-up threads to this, including a picture of the transit that I took in my garden this morning. Nathan Natas also started another thread.

Were there many people in Astley Hall? On the TV coverage from Greenwich and other places it looked like there were thousands of people all viewing away. Papers'll be full of pictures tomorrow, I guess.

Duncan.

12

Picture of the transit - 8 June A.D. 2004

by Duncan in

jw
friends

.

i hope this works - first time i've done it.. i took this picture of the transit in my back garden 5 minutes ago.. the sun doesn't look perfectly round because it's a picture of a projection and i was standing to the side a little bit, but i think you can clearly see the black dot of venus.. duncan

Duncan

I thought it was an egg with a dirty spot on it.

LOL!

Listen, this is science, right? It's serious stuff.

Anyway, I processed the picture a bit more to correct the skew...

see how this looks.

Duncan.

12

Picture of the transit - 8 June A.D. 2004

by Duncan in

jw
friends

.

i hope this works - first time i've done it.. i took this picture of the transit in my back garden 5 minutes ago.. the sun doesn't look perfectly round because it's a picture of a projection and i was standing to the side a little bit, but i think you can clearly see the black dot of venus.. duncan

Duncan

I hope this works - first time I've done it.

I took this picture of the transit in my back garden 5 minutes ago.

The sun doesn't look perfectly round because it's a picture of a projection and I was standing to the side a little bit, but I think you can clearly see the black dot of Venus.

Duncan

11

Tomorrow - Tuesday, June 8 - "Duncan's Day" - the transit of VENUS!

by Nathan Natas in

jw
friends

duncan fired up our expectation with this post back in april,.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/70078/1.ashx

and on tuesday, we'll get to see if "science-based?

Duncan

Hilary,

...and I will bring a ruin to Duncan

Who might that be? are you planning a visit here?

Just been out in my back garden doing a bit of projecting onto card, so as to see it.

How historic! It's happening right now!

[The needle on Duncan's excitability dial goes into the red zone]

11

Tomorrow - Tuesday, June 8 - "Duncan's Day" - the transit of VENUS!

by Nathan Natas in

jw
friends

duncan fired up our expectation with this post back in april,.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/70078/1.ashx

and on tuesday, we'll get to see if "science-based?

Duncan

Hi Nathan!

I also posted a little reminder-thing about this yesterday.

It's getting closer! Quite exciting, really.

Duncan.

13

Less than 36 hours away...

by Duncan in

dear all,.

the transit of venus, that i wrote about here:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/70078/1.ashx.

Duncan

Talesin,

On Tuesday morning I'm supposed to be (and I've promised I will be) at some dull-as-hell Sales Meeting in the City of London fron 10:00 - 4:00.

Like I said in the earlier thread, I'm quite happy to follow the whole thing in a kind of second-hand way, through TV and the press. I'll sort of be spiritually there on Tuesday morning, anyhow.

Joyz, lt looks like I can't make it to E-man's this year (family commitments), hope to see you next year!

Duncan.

13