tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-127008152011-11-27T23:57:22.151ZRandom thoughts from the mind of Claudio Gopez aka someone with an internet connection and too much spare time.Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-55342908310614838372010-08-22T16:35:00.011+01:002010-08-22T17:03:14.569+01:00

Henry Winter today on Sky's Sunday Supplement program opined that you can't teach a "football brain", you have to be born with it (he was referring to Theo Walcott, who over the last 3 seasons at Arsenal regularly made bad decisions on the pitch).I think Henry Winter is talking about the mental parts of a footballer's skills, so things like positioning, anticipation, vision, decision making

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-69125406651632302832009-07-04T15:18:00.008+01:002009-08-01T20:09:33.689+01:00

I've noticed recently that a lot of takeaways and restaurants have a sign on their door with their hygiene rating, ranked from 1 to 5 stars.Whenever I see a sign with less than 5 stars, I can't help wondering what it takes to lose a star.Is a cockroach worth a star? Or does it take a bunch of roaches? And what about rats - a rat's bigger than a roach so it wouldn't be fair for one takeaway to

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-76396226477626223372008-12-21T23:27:00.009Z2010-09-05T08:38:09.749+01:00

So the final of Strictly Come Dancing was on this weekend, and with it came some controversy.Though normally not a viewer (I have a dislike for any program which involves the public voting), I happened to see the end of the semi-finals the week before, where there were three couples dancing.The normal procedure is for one of the couples to be eliminated and for there to be a final dance-off

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-23468046837762113572008-10-08T00:09:00.007+01:002008-12-21T23:25:28.198Z

In the spirit of this credit crunch bargin bin era we currently find ourselves in, I found this album on the homepage of Napster today, a greatest hits album from Cypress Hill called Original Album Classics: Cypress Hill.Consisting of 76 tracks over 5 discs, I had a quick look on Amazon.co.uk and was surprised to see it was going for a Lidl like £17.47 (which makes it super saver eligible, ching

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-86495066701559841332008-10-06T01:56:00.001+01:002008-10-07T11:47:15.763+01:00

Full disclosure: This was written on a Windows PC.I recently watched some of the US "Macs vs PCs" ads on YouTube (embedded below - probably worth watching before reading the rest of this post), and a few of them really annoyed me.They are funny, and the concept behind the ads (PCs for work, Macs for the home) is a good angle for Apple to take. However, I don't understand how these ads are/should

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-7912201269091807042008-04-28T14:42:00.006+01:002008-08-21T00:01:06.801+01:00

I was reading an article today in Wired magazine (this one) about a woman who had just become head of IARPA, a government agency tasked with outfitting US spies with advanced technology.The part I found interesting was the reason she gave for switching from academic work to government work:Like many Americans," she says, "I felt a need to step up and contribute."It seems to me her thought process

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-695465467898295372008-04-22T06:09:00.005+01:002008-05-23T12:28:37.506+01:00

Last week several UK ISPs banded together to tell the BBC that their iPlayer application was "overwhelming" their networks, and that unless the BBC pay them to increase their network capacity they will start throttling the traffic being sent over their networks by iPlayer.In the same week, in an interview with the Royal Television Society's Television magazine, Neil Berkett (the new CEO of Virgin

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-2553426717370427092007-10-10T00:07:00.000+01:002007-10-10T00:13:33.379+01:00

Something I saw Chris Rock say during a stand-up show:A black C grade student can't even manage a Burger King, but a white C grade student is the President of the United States of America...Probably not true (I'm sure Bush dreamed about getting C grades) but funny nonetheless.

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-1598274190155337072007-09-26T20:37:00.001+01:002008-05-26T11:54:26.561+01:00

I thought I'd post this reply to an article from the Guardian Unlimited website. My first (over) reaction to Carlos Bilardo's views was "b*ll*cks, this guy's a moron", especially when he said "I honestly think these teams would struggle to fight for third or fourth position in Argentina".But after thinking about it, I think I can understand the point he's trying to make (although I still disagree

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-76240703132843168952007-08-20T13:09:00.000+01:002008-12-09T10:44:50.369Z

Little known fact: God hates shrimp.According to Leviticus 11:9-12:These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-21475175442721884802007-07-22T02:07:00.000+01:002007-07-22T02:34:39.504+01:00

I close my eyesI hear my breathingI feel my mind clearAnd I hear pain and sufferingFor I am the worldAs I concentrateI hear people cryingI feel their fear and hopelessnessI hear the world avoiding looking at meFor I am DarfurAs I concentrateI feel violence within meI hear myself attacking someoneI feel their possesions in my handAnd I feel I have no choiceFor I am the cycle of crimeAs I

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-27352493875135783322007-06-02T16:15:00.000+01:002008-12-09T10:44:50.556Z

I first read about this site in an article on the BBC Sport website.The idea of the website, My Football Club, is that members sign up and pay £35 a year to buy an equal share in a football club.What makes this idea different to a club owned by a Supporters trust is that each member gets an equal vote on almost every aspect of the running of the club, from picking weekly formations, transfers to

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-49257730220974283182007-06-02T15:46:00.000+01:002007-06-02T16:10:21.394+01:00

I learnt an interesting fact today: Despite the shortage of blood donors, gay men (or men who have ever had intercourse with another man) are discouraged in the UK from being blood donors and are actually banned in the US.From what I've read, the reason is that men who sleep with other men are a high risk for HIV.While on the surface this seems to be a sensible and valid argument, it ignores the

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-56626555933389853572007-05-30T03:59:00.001+01:002008-12-09T10:44:51.533Z

As Avril Lavigne is my favourite female vocalist (my favourite male vocalist is Adam Levine of Maroon 5. I know, how similar are their names, [US teeny bopper] it's like - freaky!!), I eagerly downloaded her third album as soon as it was released on Napster, having loved her first two.While promoting the album, Avril Lavigne suggested that the album had a more fun, brattier sound than her

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-46794054511076567342007-03-28T20:55:00.000+01:002007-10-10T00:16:53.172+01:00

Technically not a race (sorry if the title got you excited) but while I was writing the previous post, I suddenly thought "I wonder which religion's got God.com?"Click here to find out...

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-69498419786446289292007-03-28T20:37:00.001+01:002008-04-22T04:29:50.223+01:00

Walking to work today, I was thinking about the existence of God, and whether he exists or not.Personally, I don't believe in any religion as they all seem man made (I know they'll be lots of you willing to argue that your religion is directly from God, but that's not what I see).So while thinking, I had a small revelation.One of my biggest problems with God is that if he exists, why would he

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700815.post-40386800195146712092007-03-23T22:56:00.001Z2007-03-28T21:04:35.107+01:00

For the first post I thought I'd try and define why I created this blog.For a while now I've been thinking. To some people this may come as a great surprise because people find that I'm either one of two people, either someone who is quiet and doesn't seem to say very much, or they find I'm someone who talks a lot but still doesn't seem to say very much.So I figured at some point I should put the

Claudio Gopezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07209054359251556058noreply@blogger.com3