More cheating – Sun 4th Feb 07

United won 4-0 at Spurs today. Christiano Ronaldo was booed, as per usual.

I hate Ronaldo too, but not because he got Rooney sent off for England. The England squad is full of players I don’t like, so I don’t have that many complaints when something bad happens to them.

No, I don’t like Ronaldo because he is a cheat. To him, if you can dive and get away with it, as long as you win, it’s all fair.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s reaction when he came off? A handshake. Perhaps Ferguson is going to blast him privately for cheating yet another penalty out of an opponent? Well, we’ll see. If Ronaldo never dives again, I’ll apologise and say “well done” to Ferguson. Let’s see eh?? Remember this the next time Ferguson moans about decisions going against his team.

I’m not bitter, so I can admire a player no matter who they play for. Rooney is a fantastic player. So is Giggs. So is Scholes, albeit a dirty bastard. And Christiano Ronaldo is good enough that he doesn’t need to dive and cheat. But, as long as United keep winning you can expect him to carry on cheating…and nothing will get said.

People will continue to despise him, and he deserves nothing less. “Who cares what people think? As long as he wins…” is the usual reply. All I can say is, yeah, if you can live with that kind of morality fair enough…for me it makes any victory hollow and sour.

If that is the sort of mentality it takes to win the Premiership, then I’d rather not win it.

Lunar Eclipse – Sun 4th Mar 07

Amazing. Awe-inspiring. Humbling.

Last night wasn’t the first lunar eclipse I’ve seen, but I don’t think I’d ever get “used” to them, even if they came every month.

To actually see our sun 93 million miles away cast Earth’s shadow on our round neighbour 239,000 miles in the other direction, is awe-inspiring. But I can’t exactly explain why. Maybe the sight of it is just fantastic, or maybe it puts the size of our planet in perspective, hundreds of times smaller than the sun, whereas our moon is 0.02 times the volume of the earth.

Richard Dawkins comments on the world (and universe) around us in his book “Unweaving the Rainbow”. The poet Keats accused Newton of the above as he explained how light is refracted through a prism and split into its constituent colours. He basically accused Newton of taking the magic and mystery out of the world by explaining it. Dawkins explains that Keats couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Yes, a lunar eclipse is a great spectacle on its own, but how much wonderful is it when you understand exactly what causes it! Who needs magic, stories, fables, legends, spirits, ghosts, myths, gods, faith, and ignorance when we have the universe itself?! Take a look at the night sky on a totally clear night. Or a sunrise or sunset. Or look at pictures of the earth from space. We’re lucky enough as a species that our brains can not only appreciate beauty and be awe-inspired, but we can also UNDERSTAND WHY and EXPLAIN IT. That’s why science is amazing. Not only does it give us the scope to see even more of this tiny planet and vast universe, but it also gives us the BEST way possible of explaining it.