Apocalypse Now 2: Who's Afraid of Virginia Foxx?

Forgive the biased political humor, but I think if Republican members of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress vote for a government shutdown this evening, they should clean up the elephant dung at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (for those of you in Dubai, the elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party).

Alas, a family of six from Winston-Salem, NC, or Knoxville, Tenn., who were hoping to visit the National Zoo during a weekend trip to Washington, DC, will have to make alternate plans. Perhaps, they can tour the Dutch Embassy?! (yes, that is a joke, but it gives us a reason to post a photo of windmills).

And, this brings us to Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC, pictured top) who was at one time considered to be most conservative Congressional member of the North Carolina Republican delegation. But, those were in the grand ole days of 2009.

Here are 10 tweets regarding the mess in Washington, DC:

1) HuffPost Politics: Unless Congress acts, the govt will shut down in 4 hours.

2) David Frum (a conservative who has been critical of GOP): "Just to put things in context: tomorrow, the Italian government will be open for business as usual."

3) E.J. Dionne: "Great Edward Gluce column: It makes more sense for Obama to talk to the leader of Iran than the GOP in Congress."

4) WashDCNews: "WUSA9 speaks to DC Mayor Vincent Gray about government shutdown."

5) The Daily Edge: "Republican extremists dig in their heels 'We remain determined to kill as many Americans as possible."

6) Huffington Post: "Michele Bachmann compares being dependent on health care to being addicted to crack cocaine."

7) Talking Points Memo: "Senate will reject House's latest Obamacare gambit before midnight."

8) WashingtonPost: "Man arrested at the National Zoo after police find white powder, shards of glass at zoo exhibit." (This is our one tweet not related to a govt shutdown, but it caught our attention).

9) Amanda Terkel: "Ted Cruz, whose wife works at Goldman Sachs says he'll give up his salary in shutdown."

10) LOLGOP: "If you judge House Speaker John Boehner by all the laws he's repealed rather than the laws he's passed he's even worse."

http://www.rollcall.com/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.visitholland.com

Image to Fill Space: The Yugo Car

We learned today that "Time" magazine considers the 1985 model of the Yugo, a car that was made in the former Yugoslavia, to be one of the 50 worst cars of all time. We have no idea when this car was made.

Yugoslavia disbanded after a tumultuous civil war: The modern countries which were a part of the Land of Yugos, include Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro* and Kosovo.

*-This marks the very first time we've mentioned Montenegro on this blog..............

Image to Fill Space: An Antique Chevy Van

Editorial Comment: In the 21 hours and 19 minutes that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex/TP-Tex.) spoke he could have driven from Capitol Hill to Fargo, North Dakota, in an antique Chevy van!

In Honor of Banned Book Week: Passages from Six Books (not all of them were banned)

WARNING THIS ENTRY CONTAINS ONE VULGAR WORD.

Books by William S. Burroughs, Jim Thompson and Bret Easton Ellis are among the books we will be citing here. Banned Book Week concludes tomorrow. Of the books cited, we are pretty sure "Junky" by Burroughs (pictured top) and "Motorcycle Diaries" by Che Guevara were once banned. The other authors have each written controversial novels, including Ellis, who is best-known for "American Psycho," but we quip a sentence from "Glamorama" (pictured bottom) here.

For this project, we are taking the fifth sentence from page 52 of each work. The answers will be at the very end of this entry:


1. "She pulled her mouth away from his and pushed it against his neck, then pushed one of her hands down between them and the buckle of his pants."

2. " 'Uh-hah,' he nodded: "Miss Ruth told me she thought you might be here, but you was already gone when stopped by. Got you a job, eh?"

3. "He sounds terrible."

4. "How long this present order, based on an absurd idea of caste, will last, I can't say, but it's time governments spent less time publicizing their own virtues and more money, much more money, funding socially useful projects."

5. A gambling-house dealer from East Saint Louis was describing a method for cooking the carbolic acid out of a phenol, seet oil and tincture of opium script."

6, "No myths. M-y-t-h-s. Like a fag was gonna introduce you to Miss America, what would he say?"




1. "The Graduate" by Charles Webb (yes, it's the novel that was made into a Dustin Hoffman movie)

2. "Savage Night" by Jim Thompson (pictured middle)

3. "Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh

4. "Motorcycle Diaries" by Che Guevara

5. "Junky" by William S.. Burroughs

6. "Glamorama" by Bret Easton Ellis (yes, that has our one vulgar word).


http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com (Our sister blog)

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/ (bookshop in Durham, NC)

http://www.kramers.com/index.html (book store in Washington, DC)

http://www.tatteredcover.com/ (book store in Denver, Colo.)

http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/ (Richmond Public Library, Richmond, Va)

http://www.provlib.org/ (Providence Public Library in Providence, Rhode Island)

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Tweets Conisdering All Things Washington DC (2 of 2): Saving the Ferret from a Govt Shutdown

If House Republicans get their way, a family from Nashville, Tenn., who travels to the nation's capital may not be able to go to the National Zoo. Conversely, they may not be able to go to Smoky Mountain National Park in their own state as well (it's always good to open with an editorial comment, it gets people's attention!).

Here are a look at today's DC tweets, from the right and the left alike. Just so no one is confused, just because I'm including tweets from a Republican member of the House, and a conservative magazine, doesn't mean, I agree with them:

1) Mo Ellithee (Democratic strategic commenting on the Virginia Gov. Race): "Ken Cuccinelli says Terry McAullife is the only candidate with a F-rating from the NRA. Tim Kaine did too. Won statewide 3 times. Next?"

2) Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va): "Another Obamacare delay announced. Another reason the #SeanteMustAct."

3) Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC): "Tomorrow, I'm leading a hearing on my bipartisan bill to improve newborn screenings, which reduces preventable deaths among infants."

4) National Review: "Obama thinks O'care is unpopular b/c it's unfamiliar. Or maybe b/c it's more expensive and less quality healthcare?"

5) National Zoo (not a partisan tweet): "We're still working to help black-footed ferrets!"

6) George Washington U's women's volleyball team: "Very excited to welcome Alumnae this weekend for a our match vs. Towson" (modified version of the tweet they posted.)

http://www.nationalreview.com/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

Tweets Considering All Things DC (1 of 2): Interesting Suggestion About the Creation Museum

A tweet from LOLGOP, which makes fun of the Tea Party and Republicans, posted a tweet today about one thing conservatives would want in the federal government; it concerns the Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky. When I saw liberal folk singer Billy Bragg play at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, I was amazed he visited the Creation Museum! But, again, so has Bill Maher.

Here are the tweets about Washington, DC:

1. The Fix: "(Imagine) The government shutdown debate as a game of ping pong."

2. LOLGOP: "#GOPDemands: Move the Creation Museum into the Smithsonian and/or depict the Founders as riding dinosaurs."

3. Ambassador Namik Tan (Turkish ambassador to the USA): "President Abdullah Gul's interview with "The Washington Post"....Assad must go."

4. Ezra Klein: "The falling deficit has been a disaster for the GOP."

5. The Daily Edge: "#GOPDemands: National buyback program to replace dangerous video games with assault weapons." (This is meant to be satirical).

6. Roll Call: "OMG!! A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Or maybe not."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/

http://creationmuseum.org/ (Not an endorsement)

http://www.rollcall.com/

8 Things You Need to Know: Turkish Soccer Riot, the Durham Bulls and Billy Bragg on Tour in America

Here are 8 Things You Need to Know Today:

1) The 11th Annual Washington D.C. Turkish Festival gets underway this weekend. The event will take place between 12th and 14th Street, two blocks from the White House, of course, Turkish food will be served!

2) In a nationally-televised game on ESPN-U tonight at 8:00 p.m. (eastern time) the undefeated University of North Carolina Tarheels take on the North Carolina State Wolfpack (Mr. Wuf, one of the Wolfpack mascots is pictured bottom) in women's volleyball. UNC has two international players in Ece Taner, a junior from Turkey, and Jovana Bjelica, a gradate student from Serbia. The Wolfpack's lineup includes stand-out Tamm Aljoe.

3) Ivy League women's volleyball gets underway this weekend. Among the games is a match between visiting Columbia University and Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY, at 2:00 p.m. Kelly Marble of Davie, Fla., is among the seniors for Cornell.

4) A major soccer riot broke out in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, in extra time, no less! The game featured two Istanbul powerhouse rivals, Galatasaray and Besiktas. The game had 76,000 spectators in Ataturk Stadium. The Eagles of Besiktas had a 1-0 lead going into half-time. But, Ivory Coast stand-out Didier Drogba scored two goals within minutes for the Lions of Galatasaray. Felipe Melo, (pictured top),got a red card in the 92nd minute, and shortly thereafter hooligans came down on the field. There is still no official winner of the game. Various sources blame far right wing activists disguised as Besiktas fans for the incident, but there appears to no conclusive resolve as to who is to blame. For more on this situation, and Turkish soccer, we highly recommend the blog of our friend Ahmet Bob Turgut: http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

5) Kudos to the Durham Bulls of Durham, NC, (pictured middle) as the Triple-A affiliate of the Tamps Rays won its fourth International League title by besting the Pawtucket (Rhode Island) Red Sox. The team went on to the Minor League World Series, which was won by the Omaha (Nebraska) Storm Chasers. Vince Belnome of the Bulls was named as the MVP of the Rays' organization.

6) Legendary progressive singer Billy Bragg, who hails from England, takes the stage at the State Theatre in State College, Pa., which is home to Penn State University, on Oct. 2nd. The venue is located at 1300 W. College Avenue.

7) Insert Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joke here........

8) Teasers: We are hoping to post entries about tweets regarding Washington, DC, and quips from some of our favorite novels on this blog later in the week.

http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t234 (Durham Bulls)

http://www.turkish-football.com/

http://www.billybragg.co.uk/

http://www.turkishfestival.org

Antiques Roadshow in Salem, Va.

This weekend, several antiques dealers, including my mom and myself will be participating in an Open House at the Salem Antique Market, located at 2700 West Main Street, Salem, Va. 24153. The phone number for the store is 540-389-6559.

The shop will be open from 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., as it is during every weekday. Sunday hours for the store are from 11 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Among the featured items will be: Vintage comic books (the top image is very first issue of "Richie Rich," we don't have it, but there are plenty more), antique postcards (the middle image is of a postcard from Richmond, Va.), cups and saucers, paintings (prints), and old typewriters (we don't have any, but our neighboring booths in the shop do).

https://www.facebook.com/SalemAntiqueMarket

http://www.visitroanokeva.com/visitors/region/cityofsalem/

Image to Fill Space: Van Cat

The adorable Van Cat is named so because the breed stems from the Van, a province and city is far southeastern Turkey, near the border with Iran.

Image to Fill Space: A Dalmation

Greetings to our blog readers in Senegal, South Africa, Honduras, Jamaica, Chile, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Australia, Japan, France, Iceland, Bulgaria and Slovenia.

Tomorrow, we shall have something more substantive.

Today is This Blog's 8th Anniversary

It was on this day that we started blogging with this blog eight years ago. Very few of us from the 'Keystone Kops' days of the blogosphere have kept up with our blogs for this long. One person who comes to mind is my good friend Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC.

I should point that the Chris Knight I know was not on "The Brady Bunch" (it aired before he was born, and when I was an infant), nor is he the singer who is playing Kirk Avenue Music Hall in Roanoke, Va., on Sept. 29th.

http://kirkavenuemusic.com/

Nor is he related to the great cartoonist Keith Knight of "K-Chronicles" and  the "Knight Life" comic strip, which runs in the Sunday "Washington Post." Keef, as he likes to call himself, is actually an African-American. The Chris Knight I know, and the other two Chris Knights are all white guys.

http://www.kchronicles.com/


But, the Chris Knight I know is the guy aired a Star Wars-themed tv ad when he unsuccessfully ran for an open seat for the Rockingham County School Board in 2006. (Interestingly, both Chris Knight the blogger and Keith Knight are huge Star Wars fans).

 http://theknightshift.blogspot.com/

http://www.theforce.net

The most popular blog entry on this particular blog is one that discusses a tweet from Bristol Palin (Sarah Palin's daughter.) It has close to 15,000 hits. We are still amazed by that!

Here's to eight more years.....

Although I'd like to take a day off and go to the Museum of Bad Art in Massachussetts:

http://www.museumofbadart.org/

Soocer Week (8 of 8): Good Day for Swansea City (plus 11 European teams you've never heard of)

Today, our image is of Wilfried Bony, an Ivory Coast teammate of one of our favorite soccer players Didier Drogba, formerly of Chelsea who now plays for GalataSaray (Istanbul, Turkey). Today, Bony scored one of Swansea City's three goals in their 3-0 victory over Valencia on the road in Spain.

Swansea City is a Welsh team that plays in the English Premiere League as does Cardiff.

Today, a staggering 24 games were played across Europe, which in soccer also includes Israel and Kazakhstan, two countries which are clearly in Asia (but, hey the Dallas Cowboys play in an 'eastern conference' in the 'other football.')

Here is a look at 11 teams you may have never heard of:

1) Austria Wien (Austria): This team based in Vienna is playing in the UEFA Champions League. Though they lost at home this week to Porto (Portugal), one can continue to expect good things from them.

2. Swansea (EPL)

3. Freiburg (Germany): This Bundesliga club held their own today at home in a 2-2 tie with Liberec (Czech Rep.); Swiss national Admir Mehmedi scored for the home team.

4. Plzen (Czech Rep.) Though this team lost to Manchester City 3-0 in the Champions League two days ago; Plzen are one of several competitive teams in a small, but soccer-worthy country.

5. Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan): Though this team created a scandal when they sacrificed a sheep before their match with Celtic United in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, they do have an array of talented players including Roger Canas, a Colombian player, who scored for Karagandy in the team's 2-1 loss to PAOK (Greece).

6. PAOK (Greece): They are a team with lots of long last names, and one of the most successful Greek clubs. In their 2-1 win over Karagndy, Zvonimir Vukic of Serbia scored the winning goal.

7, Tromso Il (Norway): This team plays all the way up in the Arctic Circle! Though they went scoreless today in London with a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham; this squad will likely be competing strongly in Norwegian domestic play.

8. AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands): Though American star Jozy Altidore to Tottenham, the team still has a great Icelandic futboler in Johan Gudmundsson who scored the team's lone goal in a 1-0 over M.Haifa in Israel today.

9. Legia Warsaw (Poland)

10. Steau Bucharest (Romania): Alas, this Romanian team did not fare well in Germany in the Champions League with a 3-0 loss to Schalke '04, but hey they are in the Champions League.

11. Elfsborg (Sweden): Not to be confused with Esberg in Denmark; both teams are in the Europa League. Though with a 4-0 loss to Salzburg in Austria, it appears Esberg which won its game 2-1 over Standard Liege in Belgium had a happier flight back home.

We were going to make fun of Iranian soccer, but it's almost midnight here at the sports desk in Portland, Maine (not really where we are at), so we'll save that for another time!

http://www.greeksoccer.com

http://www.az.nl/en

http://www.swanseacity.net

Soccer Week (7 of 8): American Player Tim Howard Shuts Down Chelsea

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
We now how Dutch international Maikel va der Werff, who plays for the Dutch soccer team Zwolle, felt when he kicked in an own goal which propelled Ajaz Amsterdam to defeat Zwolle 2-1.

As we were typing to score for the Southampton-West Ham game which ended in a 0-0 tie, we punched the wrong button and all of our work (if one can call blogging work) vanished.

But, our header was that American goal-keeper Tim Howard (pictured above) came back from helping Team USA earn a World Cup bid by defeating Mexico 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio. And, then he flew back to England to help his team Everton (based in Liverpool) defeat London powerhouse Chelsea 1-0.

The lone goal of the match was scored by Steven Naismith of Scotland during extra time of the first half.

Mesut Ozil, a German national of Turkish heritage, had a solid debut with Arsenal as he contributed an assist in the team's 3-1 win over Sunderland.

Gyfli Sigurdsson of Iceland score two goals for Tottenham Hotspur.

French national Yoan Gouffan scored the game-winner for Newcastle United in the 73rd minute of play.

Finally, the stars came out for Manchester United as both Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney came through for the home team.

Here is a complete list of weekend games in the English Premiere League:

Man U 2 Crystal Palace 0

Southampton 0 West Ham 0 (tie)

Liverpool 2 Swansea 2 (tie)

Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 2

Fulham 1 West Brom 1 (tie)

Tottenham 2 Norwich 0

Everton 1 Chelsea 0

Sunderland 1 Arsenal 3

Stoke City 0 Man City 0 (tie)

Hull City 1 Stoke City 1 (tie)

http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.evertonfc.com

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com

http://www.nufc.co.uk/

Soccer Week (6 of 8): DC United Beats L.A. Galaxy 2-2

This image above is of Ghana international Dominic Oduro who kicked in the winner for the Columbus Crew as the Ohio-team beat the Montreal Imapct 2-1. Oduro's goal came in the 78th minute of the play. Earlier, Chad Marshall scored a Crew goal in the 66th minute.

But, our slightly misleading header (no pun intended, yeah no one will get that in Latvia) refers to D.C. United's 2-2 tie with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a mere two days prior to yesterday's tragic shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, near the U.S. Capitol Building.

The L.A. Galaxy were the highly favored team with a significantly better record, but thanks to a goal from DCU's Kyle Porter in the 84 minute, the home team 'upset' the star-studded visiting team, which features Irish national team captain Robbie Keane who scored in the 7th minute of play.

In weekend play, American Ricardo Clark scored the lone goal in the 52nd minute of play to help the Houston Dynamo beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0.

And, tonight, Sporting Kansas City had a come from behind tie with Repal Esteli, a visiting soccer team from Nicaragua, who was playing SKC in the CONACAF Cup. The final score of that game was 1-1.

Here are the scores from weekend MLS play:

Montreal 1 Columbus 2

DC United 2 L.A. Galaxy 2 (tie)

Philadelphia 0 Houston 1

Chicago 3 New England 2

Colorado 2 Dallas 1

Chivas (LA) 1 Portland 1, tie

San Jose 0 Vancouver 0, tie

http://www.mlssoccer.com

http://www.dcunited.com

http://www.screaming-eagles.com

http://www.thecrew.com

http://www.chicago-fire.com

Soccer Week (5 of 8) Games of the Week Scores

Stefan Klessing (pictured) a German national player who scored two goals this week for his team Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga is one of the items we will cover as we look at the results of the Games of the Week, which were mentioned in Friday's blog entry:


Germany:

Bayern Munich 2 Hannover 0

Bayer Leverkusen 3 Wolfsburg 1

Netherlands:

Ajax Amsterdam 2 Zwolle 1

Twente 2 PSV Eindhoven 2 (tie)

England:

Stoke City 0 Manchester City 0

Sunderland 1 Arsenal 3

USA/Major League Soccer:

Real Salt Lake 0 Seattle Sounders 2

Colorado Rapids 2 FC Dallas 1

Mexico:

Santos Laguna 1 Club America 0

Cruz Azul 0 UANL Tigres 1

Soccer Week (4 of 8): Soccer Players with Very Very Long Lastnames

Who is this player from Georgia, a former Soviet republic, who is the captain of the Turkish team Kayserispor, which plays its home games in the central Turkish city of Kayseri? Well, you will have to find out as we don't want to spell or misspell his name more than once.

Here is the list:

1. Tarik Elyonoussi (Norwegian player or Moroccan heritage who plays for 1899 Hoffenheim in Germany)

2. Manuel Schmiedebach (German player who plays for Hannover '96 in Germany)

3. Angelis Charalambous (Cypriot player who plays for Appolon Limassol in Cyprus)

4. Zurab Khizanishvili (Georgian player who plays for Kayserispor in Turkey; he is the player pictured above...........his name is not actually the longest one we have)

5. Kamo Houhannisyan (Armenian player with Pyunik Yerevan in Armenia)

6. Javid Imamverdiyev (Azeri player with Neftci Baky in Azerbaijan)

7. Sergei Khizhinichenko (Kazak player with Shakhtar Karagandy in Kazakhstan)

8. Dinya Bilyaletdinov (Russian player with Spartak Moscow in Russia)

9. Ruslan Mukametshin (Russian player with Rubin Kazan in Russia)

10. Dzhamaldin Khozhaniyazov (Russian player with Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia)

11. Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russian player with Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia)

http://www.turkish-futbol.com

Soccer Week (3 of 8) International Players in Turkish Super Lig

There are no American players in the Turkish Premiere League as Maurice Edu of Bursaspor headed to play in the English Premiere League, but there is one Canadian. He is Atiba Hutchinson (pictured) who left PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands to play for Istanbul powerhouse Besiktash.

Here are 11 international players in Turkey:

1. Pablo Batalla (Argentina) plays for Bursspor (his name is not spelled right on the tags)
 
2. Ufuk Budak (Azerbaijan) plays for Eskisehirspor

3. Mervan Celik (Sweden) plays for Ankara Genclerbirligi

4. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) plays for GalataSaray

5. Anton Fernidand (England) plays for Antalyaspor

6. Atiba Hutchinson (Canada) plays for Besiktash

7. Marc Janko (Austria) plays for Trabzonspor

8. Dirk Kuyt (Netherlands) plays for Fenerbahce

9. Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) plays for GalataSaray

10. Rodrigo Tello (Chile) plays for Eskisehirspor)

11. Abdou Traone (Burkina Faso) plays for Gaziantepspor 


http://www.turkish-football.com/

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

Soccer Week (2 of 8): International Players in Major League Soccer

There are quite a few players from outside the United States and Canada, the two countries which share in the Major Soccer League, especially on the highly diverse roster of the Portland Timbers.

Today, we mention 11 of those players, the number of soccer players on a given team. The soccer player pictured is Jamaican international O'Brian Woodbine who plays for the New England Revolution in Boston:

1) Lalo Fernandez (goalkeeper, Mexico w/ Real Salt Lake)

2) Stefan Frei (goalkeeper, Switzerland w/FC Toronto)

3) Thierry Henry (captain, France w/ New York Red Bulls)

4) Robbie Keane (captain, Ireland w/ Los Angeles Galaxy)

5) Joel Lindpere (Estonia w/ Chicago Fire)

6) Philip Lund (Denmark w/Seattle Sounders)

7) Nelson Rivas (Colombia w/ Montreal Impact)

8) Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala w/ DC United)

9) Jamie Smith (Scotland w/ Colorado Rapids)

10) Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica w/ Portland Timbers)

11) O'Brian Woodbine (Jamaica w/New England Revolution)  

http://www.goal.com

http://www.mlssoccer.com

Soocer Week (1 of 8): A Look at Big Games in the USA, England, Mexico (and more)

This is the start of Soccer Week, which is also running on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com ..........In this edition, we look at ten important games in Europe and North America.

The above images are of: 1) David Ferrera, a Colombian international who is captain of FC Dallas in the United States, 2) Maurice Edu, an American international with Stoke City in England who also recently played for BursaSpor in Turkey and 3) Oswaldo Sanchez, the Mexican international who is the captain and goalkeeper for the popular Mexican team Santos Laguna.

Here are the games (we hope to post the results on Monday):

USA/Canada (Major League Soccer):

Fri: Real Salt Lake vs. Seattle Sounders (the two top teams in MLS)

Sat. Colorado Rapids vs. FC Dallas

England/Wales (English Premiere League):

Sat. Stoke City vs. Manchester City

Sat. Sunderland vs. Arsenal (this game will presumably be the first Arsenal match for Mesut Ozil)

Netherlands:

Sat. Ajax Amsterdam vs. Zwolle

Sat. Twente vs. PSV Eindhoven

Mexico:

Fri. Santos  Laguna vs. Club America

Sat. Cruz Azul vs. UANL Tigres

Germany:

Sat. Bayern Munich vs. Hannover

Sat. Bayern Leverkusen vs. Wolfsburg

http://www.fcdallas.com/

http://www.stokecityfc.com/

http://www.psv.nl/home-english.html (PSV Eindhoven web page)

Tweets of the Day: What To Do About the Great Dictator?

We can't bring ourselves to post an image of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, so in his place, we have an image of Mad King George. The other two images are Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn., top) and The Katzenjammer Kids, a beloved American comic strip of yesterday; we are using their image in reference to a tweet from the always hilarious faux news publication "The Onion."

Though many of these tweets suggest vast opposition to intervention in Syria, I support any measures as it now seems clear that thousands and thousands could be randomly killed if something is not done to stop him and his insanity. But, we do feel obligated to show a range of public opinions.

Here we go:

1) CommonKnowledge (@CommonKnowUK): "China sends warships to #Syria. Joining Russian warships in the Mediterranean."

2) Raquel E Saraswati @RaquelEwati: "Oh Thank God Madonna lent her foreign policy expertise to the debate on #Syria. SAID NO ONE EVER."

3) Reason @reason, a conservative Libertarian magazine: "Polls show Americans demand Obama get Congressional approval for #Syria airstrikes."

4) TheNation @thenation, a liberal magazine: "President Obama was right to seek approval to strike Syria- but new Congress must turn him down."

5) Hurriyet Daily News@HDNER: "Eleven G-20 states, including #Turkey and #US urge strong response to #Syria #chemicalattack"

6) The Onion @theonion: "Nation Throws Great Temper Tantrum Upon Learning Syria is Complex, Nuanced Issue."

7) Dennis Kucinich @Dennis_Kucinich, a former Democratic congressional rep from Ohio:"Busy day today! I'm on @oreillyfactor tonight; 8:30 ET talking #Syria. Tune in if you can."

8) Roll Call @rollcall: ""Cong. Eric Cantor (R-Va) sees Syria vote coming within two weeks."

9) Slate @slate: "With #Syria, Obama made the exact same mistake Bill Clinton made 20 years ago with Serbia."

10) The Daily Beast @thedailybeast: "@nytimes staffers got 'physically ill' watching and editing #Syria execution video."

11) The Hill @thehill: "Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) leaning towards supporting military action in Syria."

12) DenverPoliticsNews @denverpolitics: "AP Survey: House shows opposition to Syria attack."

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.rollcall.com/

http://reason.com/

http://www.thenation.com/

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/

Tweets of the Day and Night: Damascus is Causing Problems

With images of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, and Secretary of State John Kerry, we begin our tweets of the day about the sensitive matter regarding possible military intervention in Syria, which I personally support as I feel if the late American folk singer John Denver were to support a war, it would be this one.

Let's go:

1) The New Republic @tnr (a center-left magazine): "As long as the Christian population is ok, Rand Paul seems unconcerned with #Syria's fate."

2) The Daily Edge @TheDailyEdge: "Republicans express concern that Obama plan for #Syria doesn't slip in any multi-billion-dollar no-bid contracts for Haliburton."

3) Hurriyet Daily News @HDNER: #Russia says strike on #Syria could mean nuke disaster. (Hurriyet is a Turkish newspaper with Turkish and English editions).

4) Slate @slate: Congressional Republicans now using the example of Iraq to oppose #Syria

5) Free Syria Media Hub @FSA_Media_Hub: "Obama, Putin Handshakes and Smiles at G20 Summit."

6) The Onion @TheOnion, this is a satirical journal: Obama assures Americans this will not be another 1456 Ottoman seige of Belgrade. (Our favorite tweet of the day).

7) @TodaysZamancom: Turkey says Syria strikes should aim for regime collapse. (Zaman is a Turkish newspaper with Turkish and English editions).

8) The Nation @TheNation, which is a liberal American political magazine: "Media Question Kerry's mysterious 1,429 death toll in Syria."

9) Jason Chaffetz @jasoninthehouse, Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is known for his social media savvy: "Utah delegation not sold on Syria air strikes."

10) John McCain @SEnJohnMcCain: "Another scripted town hall on #Syria in #Tucson this afternoon with lots of participation and great t-shirts!"

11) The Colbert Report (an American satirical tv show): "29% of Americans want the U.S. to attack #Syria; plus side means 29% of Americans know there's a place called Syria."

12) Plaid_Seida (Plaid Seda is president of the Syrian National Council, and an opposition activist): "I am still in Istanbul, Turkey. I wish I could be at the G-20 summit, convincing world leaders to help #FreeSyria."

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.theonion.com/

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.newrepublic.com/

http://www.todayszaman.com/home

http://www.free-syria-foundation.org/

Free Form Blogging: Sportsmen of Yesteryear

Greetings to our blog readers in Brazil, Estonia and South Africa.

Today, we are continuing the free form blogging series. This basically works kind of like "Mad Libs." We take a couple of words or phrases and make a short piece out of it. Tonight, we will try to achieve using the names of sporting men from yesterday (we have the same exercise with female athletes on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire").

We are going with Turkish soccer great Hakan Sukur, who just turned 42 (Conan O'Brien actually wished him a Happy Birthday on Twitter; pictured top), tennis legend Jimmy Connors, who just turned 61, boxer  Leon Spinks (pictured middle), golfer Arnold Palmer, baseball player Reggie Jackson and Serbian basketball star Vlade Divac (pictured below).

All these athletes are retired, which is a good thing perhaps for Palmer, as he is 93.

Let's go:

"The Turkish soccer team Sivasspor in Sivas, Turkey, has contemplated asking Hakan Sukur to come out of retirement and help them sell more tickets (this is a joke). He had a birthday on Sunday, and 24 hours later, Connors had a birthday too. We imagine these guys have probably never met. But, both athletes are better remembered that Leon Spinks, who once beat Muhammad Ali in the ring, in 1978 (we think).  We have to wonder if Arnold Palmer played putt putt in Myrtle Beach, SC, with Reggie Jackson, who'd win. We imagine that mini-golf is a sport that Vlade Divac is not too good at because: Well, it's one of the few sports where being tall is a disadvantage."

Also, kudos to our beloved Durham Bulls. They beat the Indianapolis Indians 2-0 tonight at home in Durham, NC, in the opening playoff game in the International League.

Coming Soon (we hope): Futbol Week

On Friday, we are hoping to launch a seven-day series devoted totally to soccer both here in the United States with weekend MLS games as well as Mexico and Europe.

The top image is of Serbian national Branislav Ivanovic, a star player for London's Chelsea football club. Today, German national Mesut Ozil, who is of Turkish heritage, signed with one of Chelsea's main rivals, Arsenal.

The bottom image is of Drew Moor, an American defender who plays for the Colorado Rapids in the MLS. Alas, our personal favorite MLS team, DC United is having a disastrous year so far!

7 Words in Norwegian (7 of 7): Shrimp

Today, we conclude our 7 Words in Norwegian series with the word for shrimp.

Greetings to our blog visitors from Denmark, Egypt and Greece. Since I'm half-Turkish, I should point that Turkish shrimp is much better than Greek shrimp (forgive the ethnic humor).

We gather that Key West, Florida, which is a city that Ernest Hemingway and Jimmy Buffett made famous, is a good place in America to dine on shrimp.

So, here is the answer.........

shrimp=reker

(I don't actually speak Norwegian, but Google and Bing have been a great help to us).

For the Turkish word for shrimp, check out our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" and the 7 Words in Turkish series: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.margaritaville.com (Jimmy Buffett's web site).