(Leo's world)

 

Well. Well. Okay. The sand people capture robots and drive, and sell 'em in a garage sale - kinda like a garage sale but except they're selling robots. And no one's gonna buy R2 and the shiny guy - the shiny guy always worries - Luke's gonna buy those. And Obi Kenobi's a kinda teacher. He's teaching Luke how to learn how do to his little light-up-sword. He has to try to block the little pokie ball. He tried to do it without seeing. Obi Kenobi sometimes move things around, sometimes he disappears. Princess Leia got out a jail and out in the spaceship. And they got the big thing that blown up stuff, we blown it up together. It blown up Princess Leia's planet. But don't talk back to Darth Vader - he'll get ya. It's an exciting movie.

So spain did it..............after a long gap of 44 years they are back in action for final of EURO 08. Well chokers and underachievers was what they been called in between these yrs........but brigade of Spain made their fans proud this time. The team led by Casillas outshone Russia in every aspect of game. Hats off to mighty defending by Puyol and Sergio Ramos and great mid field movements by Silva, Xavi, Senna and Iniesta. The forward duo Villa and Torres were shaky in the begining. But they were well supported by Febregas after Villa got himself in an unfortunate trouble while taking free kick. After a couple of misses Torres was timely substitued by Guiza and he proved himself with a smart goal that brought the match out of reach for the Russians.

When we were watching the game everbody realised the same..........Is this the same Russian team that showed exit doors to the Dutchs? i mean nobody from us expected this second rate shocking poor performance by the Russians.......and that even after the moral boosting win over Netherland. But i think it is Spain whom should i talk about 'cause they outfoxed Russian pretty easily. This win bring them in a final of a major event after 44 yrs........oh heaven for the Spain fans.......but they will certainly feel it when the last hurdle will be crossed against the  resolute Germans. They are well organised and compact. It will be tough going ahead but if they will ...then this will add another glory moment for the Spain's soccer history. So Ballack and team get equiped with your gears...........the Red Bulls are coming........!!

Spain beat Italy 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a highly tactical Euro 2008 clash to set them up with a semi-final against Russia. After a largely uneventful match, Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas was the hero after saving from Daniel De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale to send Spain through after Cesc Fabregas slotted coolly home.

 

Inflation has crossed all expectations with the figure rising to an unprecedented 11.05 percent for the week ended June 7, a 13 year high. This is expected to be on account of diesel and petrol price hikes announced in June 4.

The markets have taken huge beating after inflation numbers, which stood at 11.05% for the week ended June 7 as against 8.75% in earlier week. It is at 13-year high and the main reason was oil price hike, which happened at the end of last month.

Analysts say that we can see more action in the Repo and CRR rate. They say the RBI would come out with some measures on the rate and liquidity side much before the July policy.

The rate is now at the highest since May 6, 1995, when it was 11.11 percent.

The energy group index rose 7.8 percent in the week of June 7 when the government raised fuel prices.

Inflation for the week ended April 12 was revised upwards to 7.95 percent from 7.33 percent. The annual inflation rate was 4.28 percent during the corresponding week of the previous year.

The wholesale price index is more closely watched than the consumer price index, which is published monthly, because it covers a higher number of products and is published weekly.

This is a thirteen year high according to analysts. Many analysts had expected inflation to touch 10 percent soon after fuel price hike. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram is expected to come out with the government’s view on the unexpected double digit inflation figure

The figures for inflation released last week did not take into account the recent hike in petrol and diesel prices which were effective only from June 4. Inspite of that inflation rose to a seven year high of 8.75% in the last week of May, as compared to 8.24% in the previous week. This is was the fastest rise in inflation since February 2001.

 

It seems like the Firefox download frenzy is slowly fading away, but Mozilla has some serious reasons to celebrate: in just two days, people from around the world have downloaded over 10 million copies of Firefox 3.0.

Mozilla is also happy that its browser could enter the Guiness Book of World Recored as the most downloaded software in 24 hours.

Initially the milestone was set at 5 million downloads, but Mozilla has serve 8 million downloads in the first 24 hours.

However, is hard to estimate if this impressive number of downloads it will translate in increased market share for Firefox 3.0.

According to the analysts and the research companies, Mozilla’s browser currently has a share of 15 - 18 percent from the global browser market. Despite Firefox’s raising popularity, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still the market leader with a very comfortable 70 percent share.

Of course, many of those who have rushed to download Firefox 3 are already Firefox 2 users, but let’s hope that the browser has managed to attract also new users. Some analysts were quick to predict that the released of the 3.0 version will help Firefox to reach 25 percent market share in a very short period of time.

Other thinks that 22 is a more realistic figure, while some other voices are predicting that until the end of the year, Firefox will reach 30 percent market share. And Firefox will grow on the expense of Internet Explorer. But Microsoft is also scheduled to release a new version of Internet Explorer, so we are heading very quickly to a new browser war.

Firefox 3.0 has evolved also from the technical point of view and it has a lot of advantages compared to its competitors.

For example in the new version you can click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site you are visiting. The identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand.

The new browser also integrates malware protection, a system that will warn users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware.

Mozilla also improved the add-on update security and those add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.

As for the usability, Firefox 3 has also a number of ease of use enhancements. For example, it offers easier password management,  simplified add-on installation, new Download Manager, full page zoom, tab scrolling and quickmenu and text selection improvements: Multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; Double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; Triple-clicking selects a paragraph.

One of the best features is the resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting the network connection. On the interface side, Firefox 3 has introduced a simpler management of bookmarks.

I guess even if you are a heavy Internet Explore user you could download Firefox3.0 and see how it works.

Glad to see that the hype surrounding Scolari's so called genius management is just hype as I thought.

He won the world cup with Brazil..., not quite that difficult when they had one of the best Brazilian line ups in their fantastic history. Anyone could have done that, the team picked itself. Michael Ballack, the Chelsea midfielder, helped dump his future manager at club level out of Euro 2008 with the third goal in a pulsating quarter-final triumph for Germany over Luiz Felipe Scolari and Portugal.

I guess Scolari will doubtless have something to say when the pair meet for the first time on the Chelsea training ground later this summer, though Ballack’s goal merely highlighted the ineptitude of the Portugal defence and their goalkeeper, Ricardo.

Aided by a push in the back of Paulo Ferreira, his team-mate at Chelsea, Ballack created the space to

 nod home Germany’s third, a task made all the easier by Ricardo’s reckless rush off his goalline when he had little hope of collecting the ball.

Earlier, Bastian Schweinsteiger put the Germans in front in the 23rd minute following a flowing move involving Ballack and Lukas Podolski, before Bayern Munich team-mate Miroslav Klose headed in their second four minutes later when unmarked at a free-kick.

Portugal were largely disappointing in the opening 45 minutes but Nuno Gomes managed to halve the deficit in the 40th minute. After Ballack had restored Germany's two-goal advantage, a headed goal from Helder Postiga, the former Tottenham Hotspur player, with three minutes remaining, gave Scolari's side hope of an unlikely revival.

The other major significance of this result is that it brings into focus the future of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United forward so coveted by Real Madrid. The £60 million-rated player has parried questions about his future until his tournament was over. Now it is, and he can hide behind the smokescreen no longer.

After a disappointing opening to what had the potential to be the most entertaining of the quarter-finals, the match suddenly burst into life on 13 minutes as Simao drew a comfortable near-post save out of Jens Lehmann, the Germany goalkeeper.

Then Joao Moutinho wasted a great chance to open the scoring when caught in two minds over which part of his bodyscoring for Germany in the 23rd minute. Ballack and Podolski linked up superbly down the left, and the latter crossed for the incoming right-winger to slide home a delightful finish.

Klose doubled Germany’s lead four minutes later when Portugal’s defence went missing. Schweinsteiger sent in a free-kick from a central position and the Bayern Munich striker bagged his 40th international goal by glancing home a simple header from eight yards out with no marker in sight.

Just after the half-hour Moutinho - who had injured himself minutes earlier - hobbled off the pitch and was replaced by Raul Meireles. Portugal fought back and halved the deficit five minutes before half-time.

Ronaldo, who was having a quiet match, was set free down the left channel by a crossfield ball from Deco but his left-foot shot was saved by Lehmann. The ball rebounded out to Nuno Gomes, whose scuffed finish from 10 yards crept into the back of the net despite the best attempts of Christoph Metzelder on the line.

Gomes’s goal made him only the third player to score in the finals of three European Championship finals, after Jurgen Klinsmann and Vladimir Smicer.

Ballack almost helped Germany restore their two-goal cushion just before the break but his fierce effort was kept out at the near post by Ricardo, while Ronaldo, becoming increasingly influential, curled a shot around Per Mertesacker but just beyond the far post.

Pepe headed over for Portugal from close range after Deco's flick on of Simao's corner had taken him by surprise. Ballack put the Germans in control with his headed effort just after the hour, but it was to be a nervous end for Joachim Loew's side after excellent work by Nani, the Manchester United player on as a substitute twisting clear of his markers and crossing from the left for Postiga to head past Jens Lehmann.

Untlimately, though, it is Germany who will meet the winner of tomorrow's match between Turkey and Croatia for a place in the final.

Finally the wait is over......after 2 years another big tournament for the soccer fans is just arounrd the corner. The last major tournamnet was world cup in 2006, which ofcourse was the mother of all soccer tournaments. But Euro in popularity is not that much behind. You can say it the second most sought after cup in soccer after world cup.
Last time i was cheering for england as always but minnows greece took everyone by the surprise and lifted the cup. This time with england unable to qualify for the finals i have many reasons to back up the spainiards......the young guns of spain are the charismatic individuals...be it gunners Cesc Febregas or Valencia's David Villa or Torres who had a wonderful debut EPL season for liverpool. The team also contains some of the best known mid-fielders and defenders in Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Puyol, Sergio Ramos.....on top of that the only goal keeper of the caliber of Italy's Buffon.......Iker Casillas. Yes this real madrid man can alone make the difference and make the opposite team sweat by denying every single chance of goal.

Euro2008

 
The other teams which will definitely make their presence felt at the Euro 08 will be Portugal...will be riding high on CR7........Germany as usual a strong contender ...France ..   they are desperate to burry the bitter memory of the world cup final and Italy the mightiest of all as per ranking and afterall we can't underestimate world campions.
Rest include Czech, crotia, turkey and previous champion greece. These all teams are also capable of turning the tables .....just as greece did in the previous tournament.
So it will be a tight challenging tournament, whoever will keep their nerve till the end will lift the cup and make the history.

Definite feast for the soccer fans!! ENJOY.