Categories
Sports

[76] Of why Ajax Amsterdam?

I’m officially done with my first year. So, I should be a sophomore but technically, I’m a junior.

Currently, I’m working on a renewed code for The __earth Inc. and tentatively, the new code will be uploaded into Umich’s server before the fall term starts. No major renovation occurred but the source code will certainly become shorter than the current one. Plus, more java language added to it.

At this moment, I can’t think of anything to write. In fact, I am writing this entry just for the sake of writing it. Let me think.

Hmm… I’ll come back to this later. Wait, I know. Ajax.

Ajax is a mythical character based on Homer’s classic – the Trojan War, written in Iliad but the Ajax I just mentioned above is not about classical literature but rather, it is about AFC Ajax Amsterdam.

Ajax Amsterdam was established at the dusk of the 19th century and this year will be its 102nd year in the world of football. As the name suggests, it is a football club based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The name Ajax Amsterdam usually reminds the world of Frank Rijkaard, Macro Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, the de Boer brothers and many others. The list would go on and on. Truly, Ajax is one of the best sides Holland has to offer the world.

I first fell in love for De Magish van de Meer approximately seven years ago, the year when Ajax Amsterdam saw off the Italian giant AC Milan in the European Cup Final 1 – 0. It was an emotional moment for the Dutch side during the night of their victory. It was on that day that I saw Edwin van der Sar, said to be the tallest goalkeeper at that time. Seeing him what made me think Ajax was impenetrable. Forgive me for admiring a goalie but I was nothing but a small boy seven years ago. Therefore, I saw van der Sar as a giant, the valiant knight with his shining sword ever ready in his hands. Nothing could pass a guard as mighty as Edwin van der Sar.

The next year, Ajax made it through to the European Cup Final again to the Amsterdamers’ delight. We were making headlines throughout the world after winning both the Super Cup and the European Cup last year. The year of 1996 however proved to be a start of a bad run.

First of all, Ajax could have won the Final but unfortunately, they lost to another Italian giant, the Old Lady Juventus after extra time option had been exhausted.

It all started during a night that needed to be remembered. It was May 22nd 1996 in Roma, Italy. The arena was loud with both Dutch and Italian cheers. I could imagine how the stadium looked like. One part of the stadium was colored with Red and White while the other part was tainted with Black and White. The noise was loud. The sight was simply magnificent. I wish that I was there. I wish I was in Roma during the night that made Ajax fell to the ground hard and never got up for a few painful years. I do remember that I cried that night alone in my room after seeing the game.

If you saw that match, both teams gave all that they had. Juventus took a lead in the 12th minute with Ravanelli’s goal. The Old Lady fans suddenly erupted – far more glorious than Pinatubo eruption. Ajax doubled their effort in the midst of Juventus’ celebration.

About 20 minutes later, the Finnish terror squared off the score for Ajax. Jari Litmanen saved Ajax face in the end of a fantastic first half. The blood pressure was reduced during the half time but that bliss was only for a short time. The second half proved to be worse but it was scoreless nevertheless. Thus, that game of the year went towards extra time.

The night in Roma seemed to be longer that usual. Midnight looms but the champion of Europe had not been decided yet. With millions of hearts beating, still, the extra time proved to be pointless and tiring for the Dutch and the Italian. It was scoreless. Both van Gaal and Lippi knew that after this, only luck will do the working. It was time for the penalty shootout.

The teams gathered in the middle of the field, praying and comforting each other teammates. Then, the moment of truth came. Van der Sar stood in between the post with Ferrara just a few feet away, ready to kick the ball pass the keeper. The referee blew his whistle and later, the ball was inside the net. Van der Sar was down. A moment later, it was Ajax’s turn to torment Juventus yet it was Ajax’s Davids whom was crushed. His shot was stopped; making the score stood one against nothing. He was motionless but the game was not done yet. The Italian took the ball again for the kill.

Pesotto stood bravely in front of the Dutch national keeper and scored. Litmanen didn’t repeat Davids’ mistake. 2 – 1.

Padovano yelled “GOAL!!!” So did Scholten. 3 – 2.

Jugovic’s turn and he scored. 4 – 2.

Then, it was Silooy’s kick. This is the one. If he misses, than Ajax won’t be able to earn it 5th European glory. He knew that. Sadly for the de Meer team, he shot and the ball was stopped dead by Peruzzi – stopped dead. Peruzzi quickly ran towards his team. Silooy stood hapless, staring at the ground and trying to hold back the tears. So did every other Amsterdamers throughout the world.

I was certain that the stadium was in a load mode but to me and to every other true Ajax supporters, it was a night of silence. We heard nothing. We were thinking of nothing. We were only trying to do what Silooy was trying; holding back our tears.

So ended Ajax’s successful run in the European arena a while. The next few years saw Ajax’s stars that rocked the world – Kluivert, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Davids, Overmars, Litmanen, Kanu, Seedorf, Bogarde and many others left Ajax to struggle in Holland. Even van Gaal left Ajax behind to fail needlessly in the KNVB.

But last season, the season of 2001/2002 gave us hope that Ajax is returning to the European screen once again. Recently, Ajax beat Celtic, Manchester United and Barcelona with the score lines of 3 – 1, 2 – 1 and 4 – 3 respectively. Even better, Ajax had just beaten PSV in a comfortable 3 – 1 victory. And with player the likes of Rafael van der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mido, Andy van de Meyde and Christian Chivu, we are set for the 2002/2003 European Champions’ League domination. We shall rule the world once again. Mark my word.

Categories
Gaming Sci-fi

[75] Of conquering Alpha Centauri

It has been a while since I last wrote anything in my diary or in this page.

The week had been somewhat a depressing gaming week. First of all, I accidentally deleted my favorite game of all time – Civilization 3. The next worse thing that could happen happened. Here is the story.

I was playing Alpha Centauri as a Gaian. Of all the factions, the Green is my favorite because I myself am a moderate supporter of green movement. I was on an island alone with a fanatic Fundamentalist who wishes to spread the idea that the Church must rule the Planet. Hah, I should use wished instead of wishes. My ideology was the environmentally-concerned democratically society who thinks power is the only way to save the Planet from further environmental disasters from happening. Through that, I made a lot of enemies and little friends.

In the first few decades, I expanded at a fast rate until I met up with the fundamentalist lunatics. My first impression of them was fairly good but their bases location made my expansion policy ran disarray. So, deep in my heart, I want to get rid of these maniacs. That hope seems to be vanquished but later after a few years, the unexpected happened.
The Fundamentalists leader threatened me. They were mad because I was the ally of the United Nations movement and I was upholding democracy against God’s will. I was certainly delighted to hear those threats for at the same time, I was searching for a reason to start a quarrel with them. Snatching the chance, I simply pushed their demands aside and thus, the expulsion of the Fundamentalist immediately began. I was more than ready to overrun them.

My rovers were all set for war mode. They invaded the Church faction lands and quickly overcame their pathetic defense. Consequently, I gained half of their land-based bases before they managed to say “Oh my God!!!” (Janice’s style). By the time it was their turn to move, I expected them to liberate a few key cities but my expectation was wrong. Instead, they made a cease fire offer of which I refused. They were infuriated by my decision and said something like “We’ll destroy you while you are prancing nakedly among the trees”.

Later, it turned out that they were merely bragging as I conquered all of their land based cities without even sweating but that was not the end. The Academicians were worried of my expansionist ideology and told me to stop expanding eastward. I complied with their request seeing that I need to rebuild my military after such a huge expansion in such a short time frame.

All the same, it was not long until the Academicians started to become an annoyance. Like flies, they built their water cities and stole my precious resources in the east. Eager to reclaim those minerals that were rightfully mine, I sent an expedition against the Church so the that possibility of the Church launching a surprise attack while we reclaim our resourses from the University will be eliminated. A few beating later, the Church surrendered and agreed to be my servant. Before accepting their surrender, I persuaded them to make those unbelieving Academicians reach hell first. Desperate for a peace treaty, they mindlessly declared a holy war against the Academicians. Back in Gaia’s Landing, the Greens government seat, I was laughing evilly, like Satan after a successful “persuasion”.

The University was more resilient than the Church. Instead of seeing the Academicians’ influence diminished, the Church was reduced to a mere whipping dog. Pushed against the walls, the Church sent a representative to me asking for help. They were angry seeing me dancing nakedly among the green trees while they were fighting for their lives. After much urging from them, I said to myself it is time to reclaim those natural resources and use it for sustainable growth, not for excessive modernization that could repeat the mistake that the Human did back on planet Earth.

The first phase was initiated by the bombing of the Academicians’ water cities. They were caught by surprise and unready because their forces were concentrating on their northern enemy and never had they considered a western threat. The Green Air Force swept through the University sphere of influence and took all the University’s water cities near to our eastern shore. Victory was achieved but the Academicians were not the as weak as the Fundamentalists. They technological advanced society is liken to of a bee hive and one should never disturb a bee hive if one doesn’t want to be stung. Our victory was achieved due to the University’s water cities distance from their western shore and the fact that their forces were looming over the northern front against the Church but with the Church weakened, I realized my time of defeat will come if I keep on pressing eastward.

Furthermore, a new threat from the south had emerged. The United Nations had just declared war against the industrious Hive society. Fighting at two fronts was not included in my plan of expansion. Therefore, I made a decent proposal of peace to the University. The University, realizing that the militarist Spartan was intensifying their expansionist policy in the south keenly accepted my offer and thus peace was restored in the northern region for decades to come.

But unfortunately, that peace was giving way to the wind of war that was blowing as powerful as a typhoon from the south.

[To be continued…]

Categories
Environment

[74] Of reply to recent letter to Lee R. Raymond

Read this.

An excerpt from a reply that I received. To be honest, I didn’t write a letter but I did send something to them:

I have been asked to respond to your recent letter to Lee R. Raymond regarding our position on global climate change.

Climate change is an extremely important and complex matter, which has elicited a number of significant proposed responses in both the public and private sectors. Measures such as the Kyoto Protocol, for example, contain mandates that would prove misguided, would be quite damaging and would not achieve their intended results. The protocol also falls far short of treaty guidelines established by the U.S. Senate (95-0 vote) in 1997. This vote shows the widespread and bipartisan opposition to the Kyoto concept and reflects strong concerns of organized labor, farm, consumer and business groups.

ExxonMobil has undertaken a number of economically justified steps that reduce carbon emissions. For example, we have installed over 2000 megawatts of cogeneration (simultaneous production of electricity and
steam) capacity, which typically reduces energy use by 30%. We are also involved with automobile companies in joint research that could significantly reduce future emissions by, for example, using fuel cells powered by hydrogen from advanced gasoline. We have partnered with the group American Forests to plant trees across the United States and more recently Siberia and Germany. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, and this partnership has planted 2 million trees. Related efforts have planted millions more in areas around the world. We have already improved the energy efficiency of our plants by over 35% during the last 25 years, saving the equivalent of 71 billion gallons of oil.

Noting your comment regarding the state of the science related to climate change, I would like to call two recent publications to your attention. One is “The Science of Regional and Global Change” by the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The other is an article “Rising Global Temperatures, Rising Uncertainty” by Richard A. Kerr in the April 13, 2001, issue of the journal, Science. Both publications help to highlight the many fundamental gaps in our current understanding.

I hope these additional materials and comments will convey a greater perspective on our views. You may also be interested in our brochure “Global Climate Change” and other information on the topic, which can be viewed, on our website at www.exxonmobil.com. We remain committed, today and for the future, to supporting responsible public policies and private actions to address the many aspects of climate change.

Sincerely,

Kenneth P. Cohen

Yeah, right.

Categories
Gaming Liberty

[73] Of Democracy is such a foul word

Democracy is such a foul word.

One quiet night, I was in front of the computer playing Soldier of Fortune II multiplayer game. However, I was on a new server instead of redcoat.net or dontsleep.org. Those two servers were offline for unknown reason. In fact, a lot of cracked servers for SoF2 were  offline, leaving only several cracked servers located in Europe.

I was connected to a server in Austria and was playing a deathmatch game peacefully. There were eight players trying to shoot each other’s head off for a few minutes. One guy was leading the pact with unbelievable amount of frags with the second-placed player having no way of getting near the leader score. I was fighting for a second place with a grenade launcher.

In the middle of the game, a new player logged on and was playing well enough to avoid from being called a noob. After a few cycle, he was tired of deathmatch and called for a team deathmatch. The nine players voted and the motion was passed with five with against three against. The map changed and the cycle restarted. For some reasons, the new player was unsatisfied with the new game type and called for another vote, asking for infiltration game type. I love infiltration game but with only nine players, it would certainly be dull game. So, I voted against. Most of the other thought of the same thing and the motion was denied from becoming active. He was not happy with the result and called for another vote and it failed yet again.

After a few kills, he called for yet another vote for an infiltration game. Annoyed by the needless calls, I sent a global message to him asking him to stop calling for a vote. In return, he said that I cannot do anything because it is his rights. I told him later that he won’t win because he had called the same motion three times and all tries had failed.

Certainly common sense would have told him the same thing but he just wouldn’t give up.

Having enough of his nuisance, I called for a vote to kick him and it was passed swiftly. After that incident, now I remember why democracy was not practiced on redcoat.net or dontsleep.org. There will always somebody who will abuse the system.

Talk about rights and democracy.

Democracy is not the nature of human society as some would have claimed. The ideology is neither the best nor perfect; not when it is fully exercised without restrictions.

I believe in a limited democracy. The word limited is not a bad word as it would seem to be. It is merely to describe a controlled environment and it doesn’t matter whether the control is a total grip or just a couple of weak strings keeping a lot of sticks together.

Nevertheless, by uttering these words doesn’t mean that I am against freedom. I am a freedom lover. I am simply stressing that a few regulations made intact is a good thing.

Oh, did I mention that I made a new personal record for Minesweeper’s beginner level?

My record is six seconds without cheats but unfortunately for me, the world record is two seconds. I wonder how on earth somebody could complete the game without excessively being lucky. Hmm…

Oh well… Btw, read this will you?

Categories
Personal

[72] Of what a lovely day

I love the weather condition today.

For some reasons, today is a very fantastic day indeed although I slept just for four hours – from five thru nine in the morning due to the invention of differential equation, infamously known to humankind as the capital dee dot capital eee dot.

Yesterday, I did a full pump for D.E. after two weeks preparing for the much expected midterm. Although the sound of it makes it looks bad, I actually enjoyed the pain that I went through. The suffering of not able to comprehend some of the weird equations made me mad and discouraged. Nevertheless, God saved me by making my mind worked better and thus, I suddenly saw through the misty forest of mathematics and found its secret. Out of the blue, the solutions seem to be clearly written in my mind and I could do any problem that was spitted out at me.

Discouragement quickly became eagerness and I sat in front of my desk until four o’clock in the morning, studying the population, acceleration-velocity models and homogeneous equations. By the time I closed my weary eyes, all that I could think of were P (t), M, C, k, P’, e, and all the other math stuffs.

One REM later, I woke up and all ready for the confrontation. I was all ready for midterm. Actually, I doubt I even had a REM sleep.

Two hours later, I was done and smiled all the way from Dennison to Stockwell. I smiled and that means that it was a nice day.

Reason number two, it was a bright but mildly warm day. Previously, Ann Arbor’s atmosphere was extremely hot with static air. The last two days, a so-called isolated storm occurred. It’s not that I hated the storm. I appreciated the storm. The storm did function to cool the environment down a bit but the fact that it was a gloomy day didn’t make me felt happy.

But today, TODAY, I repeat again, was a bright but mildly warm day. It reminds me of how the days during the fall season would be, nicely litted up and gently warm. I am looking to experience fall again. I guess that makes fall as my favorite season.
Thirdly, met up JJ though I don’t really know why I was glad of meeting him. Maybe it was just that it has been awhile since I last met him. Or perhaps, he is one of the few American friends that I think I have a very good relationship. I guess I’ll be looking forward of meeting Matt again. And Khateeb and Unmesh etc. Guys, I seriously miss your squabbling over the dinner.

Fourth, the Commonwealth Games will be up and running in a few hours time.
Next, the food was good (minus the milk which JJ complained to the manager about. AND the greens were yucky).

Sixth, I am just feeling happy. Plain happy and loving myself although I doubt this feeling will last long. Nevertheless, I am happy for the time being and savoring every drop of the juice.