STOP PRESS!

Liverpool Football Club has just announced that, as from the next match against Fulham, the Liverpool players will wear blue outfits (as too many people mistook them with players from a somewhat less successful club operating in the same country) and will be proudly sponsored by American International Group, Inc. (AIG)

Steven Gerrard, the captain, says: “I am delighted. Blue is easier to wash. And AIG is easier to spell.”

I wrote my first post, Noulakaz.net Weblog online!, on 16 March 2004, exactly five years ago. Since then, the following took place:

• I wrote 456 posts,
• containing 146,141 words,
• received 6,115 comments (13.5 comments per post on average),
• with 438,726 words in them (exactly 3 times more than what I wrote myself.)

I would like to thank all of you who have contributed to my blog. I sincerely think that without your insightful comments, it would have made no sense for me to continue writing.

Someone once asked me: “How can I create a successful blog?” I gave that a thought and rapidly came up with: “A successful blog is one which is read!” with its corollary: “A successful blog is one which is read because it has interesting posts!” and its uber-corollary: “A successful blog is one which is read because it has interesting posts which prompt people to leave comments!”

As this is a special birthday post, I’m going to revisit some posts I wrote from 2004-2006 (say 2 per year to keep the length of this post reasonable.) They are not necessarily interesting but they count for me:

25 March 2004: Kill Bill

The European Union had just fined Microsoft 497.2 million euros (more than Rs 15 billion at that time) for using its monopoly to hinder the progress of competitors and this was my first anti-Microsoft post. Of course, I was already a geek at that time having founded the Linux User Group of Mauritius around 2000 but still…

Since then, nothing substantial has changed. Microsoft is still hindering the progress of humanity by harming competition and Bill is still one of the richest guys on the planet. Fortunately, we Apple fanboys and *nix geeks have found a way to limit our exposure to Microsoft and we are very happy. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people suffering…

Naturally, the title refers to Quentin Tarantino’s two masterpieces as well as the infamous William Henry “Bill” Gates III.

15 September 2004: Kyan is here !

Our son, Kyan, who is four now, was born in the morning and I wasted no time making the whole world aware! In a certain sense, this was a first. It was the first time (I think) that a dad in Mauritius blogged on the birth of his son on the very same day he was born! And I have to tell you all that that photo was made using my previous film camera, a Canon EOS 500N, and I had the film developed on the same day, dashed home, scanned the photo and wrote the post. Things are much simpler now with digital cameras but I’m sure Kyan will love that story when he’ll be a bigger boy.

Interestingly, Kyan was a name Christina and I came up by simplifying Keanu (Reeves.)

28 February 2005: A new adventure begins

I left the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce & Industry on the 28 and started at the University of Mauritius as a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering the next day on the 1st of March.

The reason why I left the MCCI was that I felt I had done everthing that I could have done there and that I wanted a fresh challenge. The reason I opted for the UoM was that I really wanted to be in an environment full of intellectuals, both academics and students. Unfortunately, I got bored after less than three years. I was disappointed to discover that some academics were not really intellectuals. I was also disappointed to discover that some students did not really care about acquiring knowledge. And I was also disappointed in the lack of support and facilities exiting there for academics to do their work properly.

So, last year, I decided to quit the University and try to obtain a visa for the USA. Of course, that didn’t work out but I never thought about going back to UoM. I belong elsewhere I guess.

25 May 2005: Liverpool King of Europe

Liverpool is the most successful football team in England and I’ve been a Liverpool fan for at least 20 years now. On 25 May 2005, something magical happened: Liverpool won the Champions League for the 5th time after having been down 3-0 at half-time.

How? By combining the brains and brawns of two special persons: Steven Gerrard and Rafael Benitez.

The match was practically lost at half-time. And then something happened: the Liverpool right back got injured. Normally, when this kind of thing happens, a manager tends to ask a defender to come on. But Benitez did differently. He introduced Hamann, a midfielder, to mitigate the effect of Pirlo et al and asked Gerrard to help the (now) three man defense cope with the AC Milan attackers. And Gerrard did something only a handful of players throughout history can do: he did everything. He headed. He tacked. He marked. He passed. He shot. And he scored. From every position on the field. And, of course, he won.

Zidane was god. Gerrard is next to godliness. Zidane says so. And who am I to argue?

18 August 2006: Hello World! My MacBook has arrived!

I finally got an Apple computer after years and years of craving. When I was still at college, I discovered screenshots of the NeXTstep operating system and it was love at first sight. When Apple acquired NeXT and Steve Jobs announced that their new operating system, Mac OS X, was going to be NeXTstep and Unix based, I knew it was time for me to make the plunge. And still it took some years before I actually did it.

But now, after having used a Mac for about two and a half years, I can say that there is nothing comparable on the desktop: neither from Microsoft and, unfortunately, nor from the open source world. In fact, I can safely say that Mac OS X is the best desktop operating system ever and Linux (et al.) is the best server operating system which can be easily obtained and installed on commodity hardware.

I love both.

29 November 2006: We are going to India

I don’t like watching Indian movies a lot. I feel most of them have feeble scenarios and I find the actors very caricatural (the actresses are beautiful though…) So, I had a somewhat distorted image of India, partly caricatural (because of the films) and partly frightening (because of what people have told me of India over the years.)

But when I went there, sponsored by Data Communications Ltd, for the ACM Inter-Collegiate Programming Contest to accompany three UoM students, I found out that India was just a great place to visit! I loved the people, the food, the trains, the auto rickshaws, everything! And I loved the fact that I felt practically at home all the time even though I didn’t understand a word of Hindi.

Incidentally, I have just watched Slumdog Millionaire and I think it is a very good film. Not exceptional but very good and which gives a relatively true image of India as far as I know.

~

Once again, thank you a lot for your participation on my blog. Let’s hope we’re all still around in 2014 to celebrate the 10th anniversary. (Tomorrow, I’ll do the same exercise for posts written from 2007-2009.)

]]> http://www.noulakaz.net/weblog/2009/03/16/noulakaznet-is-five-years-old-today/feed/ 18 http://www.noulakaz.net/weblog/2009/02/01/no-football-on-parabole-maurice/ http://www.noulakaz.net/weblog/2009/02/01/no-football-on-parabole-maurice/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:24:00 +0000 avinash http://www.noulakaz.net/weblog/?p=1158

Bloody hell!

I can’t watch Liverpool vs Chelsea right now because G-Sport 1, the channel on Parabole Maurice which was supposed to show this match, has stopped broadcasting because Gateway Broadcast Services, the company behind that channel, has been put in liquidation since yesterday presumably because of “the current financial and global crisis.”

Of course, Parabole Maurice  has forgotten to announce this to its paying customers.

I hope that they fiind a solution to this or else bye-bye…

Holy crap!

… but I can distinctly hear some Manchester United and Chelsea supporters condescendingly saying that this won’t last as they are the only ones to have the divine right to win the Premiership.

Winning the Premiership is easy:

• Your team must be among the top four (sorry…) and
• It must win most of its matches especially those against the three others (as each match is then a six-pointer.)

This year, Liverpool is playing very badly against weaker opposition (outside the top four) and is winning. But more interestingly, Liverpool is also playing much better than its closest opponents when facing them (for instance, the second half against Manchester United was close to perfection and yesterday’s match against Chelsea was a lesson in nullifying opposite attacking players.)

It seems that Rafael Benitez is reproducing what he did in Spain a few years ago with Valencia: build a team (and not 11 individuals) capable of winning against its closest opponents (and this included Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain.)

Whether he’ll manage to make Liverpool win the Premiership is another story as there are about 30 matches left. Personally, I’m confident as I know there is no such thing a divine right to win the Premiership. We all know Chelsea bought that “divine” right with Russian petrodollars. So there isn’t anything divine involved.

Simply said, the best team will win.

Rendez-vous around May.

Today is, for me, the most important football match of the whole season: Liverpool against Manchester United at Anfield!

Of course, year in year out, I blog about Liverpool being the most successful english football team and about how I’m sure that Liverpool will comprehensively beat Manchester United at Anfield. Except that I was right only for the first part. Liverpool is still the most successful team in England. But, unfortunately, since 2001-2002 where Liverpool won 3-1, my team lost against Manchester United at Anfield last year (0-1), in 2006-2007 (0-1 again), in 2004-2005 (0-1 once more), in 2003-2004 (1-2) and in 2002-2003 (1-2 as well.) Liverpool only managed to draw 0-0 in 2005-2006.

So it seems the odds are against Liverpool winning today. Five defeats and one draw in the last six years do not look too good.

Reading the match reports reveal the main reason behind this run of defeats: terrible defensive mistakes which Manchester United players were quick to capitalise on. In 2002-2003, the match was even until “[Diego Forlans]’s 65th-minute opener came after an abysmal mistake by Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal.” In 2003-2004, “[Ryan] Giggs’ wicked left-foot cross evaded [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, but also deceived the diving [Jerzy] Dudek and flew into the far corner.” In 2004-2005, “[Jerzy] Dudek allowed Wayne Rooney’s tame 25-yard shot to slide in after 22 minutes to gift the former Everton striker a goal in front of The Kop.” In 2006-2007, “substitute [John] O’Shea pounced after Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina fumbled Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick.” Last year, “[Carlos] Tevez was lurking to turn in Wayne Rooney’s driven shot from a Ryan Giggs corner three minutes before half-time.”

Three mistakes by Jerzy Dudek. One by Pepe Reina. And, last year, a goal from an unmarked player during a corner kick.

Apart from those dreadful moments, the matches have been fairly even as can be seen in the one goal differences. Liverpool was unlucky at least once or twice in the sense that they dominated the game but lost because of one terrible mistake. But losing is losing. Manchester United has won five times during the past six years and this is a fact.

So why do I think that Liverpool will win today?

At least for two reasons. First, I am a Liverpool fan and I can’t be rational today. Manchester United is THE enemy and every single drop of blood in me wants Liverpool to win. Call it blindness. I call it passion.

The second reason is that Rafael Benitez knows that Liverpool’s failure to win over Manchester United at Anfield was mostly because of defensive errors. I’m sure he has worked on that part a lot with the players. Liverpool has an excellent defense and, with Javier Mascherano, a world-class defensive midfielder. Defense also starts from the front and Fernando Torres, Robbie Keane, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard have enormous work rates. I’m, of course, assuming that Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are starting today but they are our two best players and can be rested later…

My prediction for today’s match is 2-0 for Liverpool.

An update:

I was wrong. So wrong. And I apologize. Liverpool only won by 2-1

The beauty of the match was that both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres started on the bench. Liverpool managed to completely outplay Manchester United during the second half. Once more, Robbie Keane failed to score but he worked a lot. I was impressed with Albert Riera. He was first-class today and his dribbling mesmerized the Manchester United defenders. His crossing and physical presence were also very good.

I watched the match with my father (who is a die-hard Manchester United fan) and I was telling him that the big difference between Liverpool and Manchester United was the price Liverpool could buy players. For instance, the $9m Dirk Kuyt has a bad first touch compared to the $31m Dimitar Berbatov but the only way to mitigate that is to buy more expensive players…

The best thing that can happen now (following the massive influx in money at Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City) would be that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, finally buys Liverpool and injects the cash which is needed to compete at the very top every season.

22 August 2008 Update II: Bruno Julie has earned a Bronze medal for all of us!

Bruno Julie lost on points against the Cuban. Even though I am completely ignorant of boxing techniques, I felt that Bruno Julie was tired at the end. The TV commentator suggested that the referee made a mistake but, frankly, I don’t have a clue…

The most important thing is that Bruno Julie is officially now the first ever Mauritian to earn a Bronze medal at the Olympics. It will be years (at least 4 more) before another Mauritian tries to equal this so this is a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to you, once more, Mr Bruno Julie!

My wife, my two kids and myself will be at the SSR International Airport to welcome Mr Bruno Julie to Mauritius! Who is coming?
 
22 August 2008 Update I: Bruno Julie’s fight at 15:31 today!

Today, at 15:31, a lot of Mauritians will stop whatever they are doing and watch Bruno Julie’s fight against Yankiel Leon Alarcon of Cuba during the first semi-final of the 54Kg boxing competition at the 2008 Beijing Olypics.

Bruno Julie is already sure of winning a Bronze medal at least. And this is a first for our tiny country, Mauritius. I sincerely hope that Bruno Julie’s performance will make Mauritians realize the importance of preserving our unity and working towards the same goals and objectives. Allé Bruno! Allé Maurice!

18 August 2008 Update: The first ever Olympic medal for Mauritius!

Bruno Julie has won convincingly. Therefore, he is the first ever Mauritian to obtain an Olympic medal. He now is in the semi-final. Who knows what may happen next.

Thank you for giving us, fellow Mauritians, so much joy. And May The Force Be With You for the next fight!

18 August 2008: May The Force Be With You, Mr Bruno Julie!

Today is an historic day for our tiny country, Mauritius, as Bruno Julie, will fight in the men’s 54kg boxing quarterfinal in the Beijing 2008 Olympics at exactly 15:16. If he wins against Hector Manzanilla Rangel of Venezuela, he will be the first Mauritian ever to win an Olympic medal and he’ll be one of the few real heroes of our country.

Good luck, Mr Bruno Julie! May The Force Be With You!

I know. I know. The state of football is not that great in Mauritius. And, to be frank, I don’t even know the names of the teams in the 1st division.

I’m writing this blog entry because I got a mail from someone called Piotr Chmielewski (he is from Poland) who writes about football on a website called Afryka. He is currently writing about Mauritian football and would like to have the following information:

• What is the best Mauritian team?
• Which team has the largest number of supporters?
• Who are the stars of Mauritian football?
• Who is the biggest star?
• What is the current Mauritian national team?
• Who are the national team players playing abroad?
• Who are those playing locally?
• What do you think of our chance to qualify for the 2010 African Cup of Nations?
• Can Mauritius beat Cameroon?
• Can Mauritius beat Cape Verde?
• Can Mauritius beat Tanzania?
• Anything else interesting about Mauritian football.

Please feel free to comment. I will consolidate the information I get and send it to Piotr.

My personal opinion

I don’t know anything about current teams and players. The biggest star might (still) be Jean-Sébastien Bax. I think we have a chance to qualify for the second round of the ACN 2010 qualifications as one of the second best. We will get beaten by Cameroon (naturally) and beat both Cape Verde and Tanzania at home. We will also be beaten by Cameroon away and we will draw with both Cape Verde and Tanzania on their home soils.

As for the “anything else” part, my feeling is that it’s a pity that football is in such a bad shape here. Football is (by far) the largest religion on the planet and I find it sad that most of us know more about Barnsley than the Mauritian National Team…

About the photo above

May I introduce to the world the next Liverpool striker, my son Kyan

Two days ago, Vikash Dhorasoo announced that he was retiring from football.

He started playing at Le Havre AC, then spent a few years at Olympique Lyonnais (where he won two French championship medals) and even played for Milan AC (he was on the bench during that most dramatic Champions League final ever…). He was a member of the French national team and played during the 2006 World Cup.

Incidentally, he arrived at Lyon when Christina and I were studying there. We went to watch his first match ever for the club against Atletico Madrid and he was excellent. We even went to the same cinema once except that he was waiting in another queue and we did not have the courage to go and talk to him… Talking of cinema, Vikash Dhorasoo will also always be known as the football player who directed a film.

He played for the Mauritian team once during an exhibition match against Marseille and he was the best player by far.

He is without doubt the best footballer born of Mauritian parents ever. He played with Zinedine Zidane and Paolo Maldini against the likes of Steven Gerrard and Djibril Cissé. I wonder if we’ll ever have another as successful footballer as Vikash given the state of football in Mauritius…

I wish him good luck for the future.

An hilarious quote I got from Telegraph.co.uk:

“Can you imagine Italy hiring an Englishman to run their national team? Nor can I. But at least under Fabio I’m sure you will go farther in the World Cup than for ages. So congratulations, England – you’re the new Jamaica.”

Priceless.

The Premiership is great to watch. Fantastic speed. Great tackles. But I’ll watch the El Clássico today to witness some real football.

Not half bad, is it?

An excellent goalkeeper. Talent and experience in defense. An excellent and explosive midfield. And deadly young attackers.

With Gerrard as captain, of course.

I was just having fun with the Telegraph Fantasy Football application and this is the team I came up with. Mind you, it was not easy as there is a limit of £50m to spend.

But, once more, it’s not half bad, is it?