Sports

The Dish: Ugly Americans at the World Championships

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There is no joy in Krzyzewski-ville.

Maybe it’s because they’re celebrating it in Japan, so it’s challenging to watch it on TV here in North America. Maybe it’s because the 2002 World Championships in Indiana (third place) and the 2004 Olympics (third place) are still in our mouths. Maybe it’s because we still associate the United States in these world tournaments represented by the rude Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury and, well, we don’t like those guys.

But whatever the reason, no one seems to care about the World Championship in basketball.

Coach K leads the squad, which until Wednesday was undefeated in the group stage. The US opened with a 111-100 victory against Puerto Rico, which doesn’t sound like much until you realize that Puerto Rico stunned the world by defeating the United States in the first game of the Athens Olympics last year. two years. The US also crushed Yao and the Chinese and Primoz Brezec and the Slovenians.

It seemed that, before Wednesday’s game against Italy, coach K had turned the current group into a more humble and less ridiculous group. The last Olympic team and (even more so) the 2002 World Championship team were very easy to criticize. Somehow they seemed like a symbol of American arrogance and playfulness around the world: clueless millionaires dancing around the Parthenon, calling it an ugly pile of rocks. I’m an American, but did I really have to root for Marbury, Iverson and Lamar Odom? Ew. With Krzyzewski around, I had higher hopes: hopes of fundamental basketball and, like, being able to enjoy my team’s wins.

Unfortunately, as adversity hit Italy on Wednesday, the US stars returned to one-on-one play and shooting from long range. They found themselves down 12 points in the second half, and only late performances from Carmelo Anthony and Dywane Wade saved them. Still, the seeds of disaster have been sown, and this group officially has the potential to become just as unsavory as its predecessors. They haggle. They dribble a little more. They still haggle a bit more. They threaten to go to the hoop. They threaten a little more. They get frustrated and pass the ball out of bounds. It happened over and over again. If it hadn’t been for Anthony and Wade saving America’s bacon on Wednesday, you’d be reading nothing but basketball humiliation articles once again.

And believe me: that humiliation will come. It’s probably not Coach K’s fault; he relies on really young players who play in a league that encourages one-on-one play and doesn’t teach their youngsters how to pass effectively. And that’s the whole international game: unselfishness. Unfortunately, selfishness is the biggest part of what these children have. Oh yeah, that and the bad free throws.

Are the Red Sox fully cooked?

BoDog Bookmakers, BoDog.ws: No. Despite their recent struggles, the Red Sox remained 6 1/2 games behind in the AL East and four games off the pace in the wild-card standings. They still have 37 games to play, including four against the Yankees and three against the White Sox and Twins. If they can survive this next stretch (eight straight road games), the Red Sox could really start in September, a month in which they play 16 games at home.

The favorite college football team to win the National Championship on the BoDog board is Notre Dame, at 4-1. Are those odds so low because of the Irish’s huge fan base?

BB, BoDog.ws: They’re not too low. Granted, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are coming off a 34-20 loss to the Buckeyes in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, but the time seems right for them to make a serious run at the BCS National Championship. Quarterback Brady Quinn has been stellar under coach Charlie Weis and many of his offensive and defensive players are coming back. Meanwhile, teams like Texas and USC have lost stars on both sides of the ball due to the NFL Draft. All signs point to Notre Dame or Ohio State being the favorites to go all the way.

Can you give us your favorite team in double figures (10-1 or better) to win the 2007 NCAA title game and tell us why?

BB, BoDog.ws: A good sleeper pick would be the California Golden Bears, currently 12-1. While the USC Trojans have been making history in recent years, Cal has been quietly building. Now, with USC weakened by the NFL Draft, the Golden Bears could be on the verge of taking control of the Pac-10. Last season, Cal went 8-4 with a powerful running game that had running backs Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett in the backfield. The two running backs combined for 2,245 total yards and 16 touchdowns. With both running backs returning as juniors, Cal’s offense appears to be even better. On defense, preseason All-American tackle Brandon Mebane leads a team with eight returning starters. So absolutely, a Pac-10 crown is within reach, as is a national title.

With the PGA Championship behind us and Tiger Woods dominating as ever, the last big golf event of the season is the Ryder Cup in September. Since we’ll all be preoccupied with football by then, I’ll ask now: Does the Ryder Cup make a big impact? And do bettors tend to bet on the side of the Americans no matter what?

BB, BoDog.ws: All true sports fans have time for the Ryder Cup, and bettors love it for its heads-up format. Sure, you can place head-to-head bets in a regular tournament, but the competitors aren’t actively competing against each other, they’re competing against the entire field. In other words, we expect a lot of interest in the Ryder Cup in September. Most golf bettors are knowledgeable enough to know that the Americans have struggled in past Ryder Cups; Tiger Woods’ Ryder Cup record is 7-11-2 in four appearances and Phil Mickelson is 9-8-3 in five appearances. With the event taking place at Ireland’s K Club, Europeans will have home court advantage. We’ll have to see if national pride gets in the way of bettors’ objectivity.

Tours Travel

Arenal Volcano – The Most Picturesque Volcano

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Arenal Volcano is also known as Arenal Volcano in the Spanish language. It is a living andesitic stratovolcano found in the northwestern region of Costa Rica, at a distance of around 90 kms in the northwestern region of San José, within the Alajuela region, San Carlos in the La Fortuna district. In addition, the Arenal volcano is 1,633 m high. The crater is conical in shape and extends 140 m (460 ft). The Arenal Volcano is geographically measured as a young volcano and its age is predictably below 7,000 years. This volcano is also known as “Canaste”, “Pan de Azúcar”, “Volcán Costa Rica”, “Pico Guatusos” or “Volcán Río Frío”.

This volcano was dead to the world for a great number of years and showed a single crater at the top, with negligible fumarole activity. The volcano is covered by opaque vegetation. In 1968 the volcano had an outbreak and destroyed the small town of Tabacón. Due to the eruption, three craters were later created on the westernmost flanks, however only one of them exists to this day.

While bursting into the skies in the year 1968, the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica has been continuously active. The volcano glows at night and sends lava flowing down in a northerly direction. The area around the volcano is full of the best opportunities designed for tourists, such as the Termas de Tabacón, where the geothermal pool is heated through hot currents that flow from the pedestal of this volcano. Also, Lake Arenal is also a great trip. In addition, a path runs from the municipality of La Fortuna past a lookout point, which looks to the north side of El Arenal and continues into the lake region and down to the massive Monteverde Cloud Forest. You may spend more than your planned days exploring these northwestern regions of Costa Rica.

These days, places like Arenal Lodge, Tabacon Hot Springs, and several other tourist retreats have sprung up near the volcano. It is very impressive to see the fiery red glow coming off the pinnacle in the blue skies of this tropical sunset. Also, although this nation is full of volcanoes, the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica is unconditionally the most enchanting of them all. Explosions of at least five minutes take place daily, and some can also be heard, plus the flowing lava is easily visible. Around 10 hours before its explosion that took place in 1968, there was an earthquake in this area for almost 10 hours, so the inhabitants of this place take it into account and do not fear as long as there is a small eruption.

Several major events have occurred at El Arenal, some occurring as recently as the year 2000. Areas in the volcano region are abandoned and intense precautions are taken. This region is carefully monitored to avoid the catastrophe that occurred in the year 1968. The Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica is the highlight of each and every tour in this country.

Arts Entertainments

Bula Spirit of Fiji

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Two weeks of Bula Spirit from Fiji made an impression on me in 1999.

Now with a child in tow, Bua’s party of 3 was destined for a memorable week-long family getaway, the first Christmas. Still, this was uncharted territory.

For this trip, unlike the first, figuring it out as we went along and backpacker accommodation in a basic thatched hut (bure) was not going to cut it. We had to factor in the needs of a 9 month old baby now with amenities like a crib, basic kitchen facilities, and at the very least a fan at the top of our wish list.

Some homework would be required, so after much diligent research online and phone calls from Bec, it was finally resolved. We would stay just 4 kilometers from Nadi International Airport at the Club Fiji Resort.

Now we just needed to get there, I told myself, secretly dreading the big unknown of having to fly with a child. But a combination of well-timed bottles and a small dose of Phenergan turned our initial fears of EQ issues and possible tantrums into a quiet point, and Kaia passed her first test with flying colors. I wish navigating the glacially moving immigration and customs line at Nadi had been half as easy.

But in the end, we managed to get through and find our driver waiting patiently to take us home for the next week. Located a few hundred yards from the island’s main road down a dirt road badly in need of grading, we were pleased to find Club Fiji, the well-kept, oceanfront, palm-fringed oasis as shown in the photos at Trip advisor. .

All it took was sorting out our gear, and in less time than it takes to down a full cup of kava and clap your hands three times, we were quickly settled in. In our daily routine of a delicious included breakfast, water hour, naps by the water with dad, walks on the beach, open-air tour bus rides by local bus, and lots of drinks at happy hour before dinner. All interspersed, of course, with feeding Kaia and, more importantly, getting Kaia to boil the endless supply of bottles for her next round of feedings by one member of staff in particular, who couldn’t do enough. to help.

Annie’s smile was as big as it was genuine and she took a special interest in Kaia and doted on her every morning at breakfast with hugs and kisses and pinches on the cheek and, Dad’s favorite, extra helpings. It was a level of kindness and affection that would follow us throughout our time in Fiji, more so than when we boarded a fast ferry to South Sea Island for Christmas Day.

I’ve worked in tourism long enough to know that no matter how unique and exotic your office is, there are times when it’s still just that: a job. Especially at big parties where, truth be told, hanging out with friends and family would be your first choice. It is in these moments when maintaining that sincere smile is more difficult.

But apparently, the South Sea Island crew did not receive that memo. “My family will be reunited later this afternoon,” an island employee adorned in a Bula shirt assured me with a big nonchalant smile that suggested he was happy where he was, thank you very much.

And why not? There really was nothing more perfect for a postcard than the tiny pile of coral they punched their weather cards into in the middle of a turquoise South Pacific. It very well may have been ‘just a job’ but it was definitely one that he seemed to enjoy and it was an attitude shared by pretty much all of his co-workers and it helped raise the level of friendly hospitality to a whole other level.

Ultimately, Fiji with Kaia opened my eyes to the fact that traveling with a young child has its own unique set of rewards. Rewards in the form of an ‘open heart’ policy that makes travel rewarding in ways unimaginable for untrammeled parents.
But then, I should have known better after having been there once. It’s called the Bula Spirit for a reason.

And that spirit, along with Kaia at the helm, probably ruined me…although, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that we intend to test the theory.

Technology

Find out how old UCG technology really is and who created it

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In recent years, rising oil prices have made the public curious as to whether this is the only way to fuel their cars. Considering all the technology available today, one would think that at least one oil deprived country would find an alternative way to get gasoline. Few people are happy with the costs and inconvenience of having to import oil from other countries, except perhaps the owners of the oil themselves. Therefore, there is a lot of motivation to develop an alternative fuel source. What many members of the public don’t understand is that there are many ideas floating around, some of which actually make sense. Underground coal gasification, or UCG, could be exactly what we need.

UCG is as natural as it gets, combining our natural resources, like coal, with smart technology. The process begins with the drilling of two holes on the surface above the coal, which is known as a coal seam. Air is pumped through the first pit and the charcoal is ignited until it reaches extremely high temperatures. This heat creates a mixture of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and methane. The oxidants are introduced through the first well, guiding this new synthesis gas, or synthesis gas, through the second well. The final step is that the synthesis gas is filtered to create a clean fuel, without impurities such as carbon dioxide or sulfur.

Any problems that the UCG process may have have been resolved by its creators. For example, some environmentalists are concerned about the carbon dioxide generated by the UCG process. However, there is no need to worry, as proponents of the process claim that the substance will never reach the atmosphere. This is because the UCG process creates a cavity below the surface where solid carbon once was, and since it is now empty, it is the perfect place for carbon dioxide storage. The gas is filtered before it reaches the surface, so a crisis can be averted simply because the process takes place underground. This probably sounds cool, but one might wonder who the creators of UCG are.

The idea of ​​UCG has been around since the late 19th century, when Sir William Siemens assumed that the process could remove any residue or unusable carbon. Dmitri Mendeleyev, a Russian chemist, came up with the idea, and experiments were soon carried out in the early 20th century in the UK, under the watchful eye of Sir William Ramsay. World Wars I and II effectively shut down any further research with UCG, although Stalin of the USSR initiated funding during that time to experiment with the process. Although World War II delayed further research, at the end of it the Soviets returned to experimenting with UCG, leading to 14 underground coal gasification plants in the 1960s.

When few people understand a single idea but see a need for it, they often continue to investigate it. However, when they don’t understand it or see the need for it, they often ignore it or shut it down. Although scientists had made great progress with UCG in the 1960s, there was no energy crisis at the time like there was immediately after World War II. Oil prices were low, since there was plenty, so interest in an alternative energy source waned in Europe. However, the US wanted its turn with UCG and worked in the 1970s and 1980s with field tests.

In 1989, the UK, Belgium, and Spain decided to participate in trials that would prove or disprove the commercial viability of UCG. Despite the interest from these countries, China has the largest program, consisting of 16 trials. The country that has played a major role in the development of UCG most recently is Australia, which boasted the successful underground gasification of 35,000 tons of coal between the years 1999 and 2003, with no environmental repercussions.

Clearly, several large countries have expressed renewed or entirely new interest in the technology behind UCG. However, the fact that some countries are finally joining the interest does not make UCG a new idea. This alternative method of obtaining energy has existed for more than a hundred years, passing various tests and milestones. It’s about time the rest of the world took notice of this unique and viable method of obtaining clean fuel.