Ok, so like everyone else in the world (except for the Americans) watching the World Cup this past month has been gratifying and overwhelming to say the least not to mention full of questions.Following are links to statistics, drama queens, sore losers, tv viewership, club budgets and some inspiring video for those interested in a little alternative commentary on the world's greatest sporting event.

Information Builders posted wonderful statistics on divers and divas  along with tantrum throwers and others that made less spectacular headlines during the month long competition. This is also the company that has helped market the event.

Football (soccer) is not known for its onslaught of statistics unlike its American counterparts but a wealth of information can be found here. See who scored when, over what time and filter according to your fancy with this interactive spreadsheet for football fanatics.

Ever wondered if team performance is related to the overall value of your players? With player budgets of several clubs such as Chelsea and Real Madrid approaching the half billion dollar mark  SoccerNet had a sweet analysis to this very question. The title of "Best Value for the Money" team this year must go to Ecuador, ranked number 27 at $23 million.

FIFA's  World Cup 2006 starts today. One month of soccer for us soccer starved in the United States. So just a quick few facts (in case you didn't know) - Soccer IS the most popular sport in the world and World Cup viewership is much larger than the Olympics. Supposed "peoples" games like American Football, Basketball and Baseball don't even come close.

Matches seem to be around 10am and Noon US Eastern time so I will be missing most of them. However there are a number of live blogs around, the New York Times' being highly recommended. I find the commentary good and also a little humourous. As always the favorites seem to be Brazil (the current title holders) France and Germany with England and Italy as serious contenders. The fact that out of 32 teams, over half are from Europe is not lost on me. So we shall see. In the meantime do check out a few wonderful articles on soccer including - National Geographics Why Soccer Rules The World, a great article on the Brazilian style of attacking play, a great intro to Pele (the god of soccer) by Henry Kissenger who was instramental in bringing the World Cup to the US in 1994 and the now infamous Most Bonito article which originally appeared in the New York Times talking about soccer culture and the sheer pleasure of watching the canary shirts play. So a little read - then settle back and watch the games.

I will also be covering the World Cup and mobile technolgy to check out the news section for related articles. It is rumored to be the most mobile friendly sporting event ever.

I'm looking for a Germany/Brazil rematch in the finals!

Time for a new car

I just realized that my trusted car just crossed 150K miles and it's time to move onto something else. I never planned on driving this car for over seven years but seeing as it held up and I enjoyed not having a lein on my soul it made perfect sense to just keep it going.

Enter addiction on Craigslist and Autotrader.com. After numerous sleepless nights on them and review sites I guess what I really want is something about five years old with maybe 70k miles on it and definately a manual transmission. With gas prices being where they are, a 4 banger also makes more sense. Initial budget around $7000-$8000. With my present car still holding some value and having much work done on it (because it needed it) within the past few months I figured this would be a good time to start looking around.

Potentials:

2000 Mazda 626 - great price but they've had issues with their transmissions needing swapping out or rebuilding around 80k miles. I found one that just had a lot of miles on the frame.

2000 Jetta VR6 - yes, the engine is legendary but so are the repair costs. People either seem to hate or love these cars and everyone complains about the bumper falling off. Still, out of the ones I've tested so far - this one was the smoothest but probably the most expensive to maintain.

2001 Mazda Tribute - Small SUV with low miles and a manual transmission but it was a little above my price range especially when you figure dealership taxes and misc charges.

Dealerships and more ways to get your money

The dealerships want to charge $300-$600 for a "processing" fee which essentially entails them giving me paperwork telling me that I own the car. Since I can't charge them $600 to hand over my money I decided that this was an expense I should not have to deal with.

So ADIOS dealerships and although my car search is delayed, I'll look for a private seller where I can save on taxes and other clauses to rip off the consumer.

Source: Compfused.com

Featured on The Cellar image community . It's a homemade ferris wheel being used by children in a Karachi Pakistan slum. A powerful image of third world poverty - Sad!

Apparently a beach resort in Libya was the best place this side of the globe to see the partial solar eclipse that occured today. I remember seeing one in South Asia a long long time ago. It might have even been that event which started my love of astromony which is now two decades strong although it has limited itself to books and films and not a backyard observatory  - YET!

See Flickrs "solar eclipse" stream below:

Check it out for yourself. How many eggs do you think this took to make? It's a city complete with buildings and even express ways.

Source: Geisha Asobi 

Boing Boing is the "dictionary of wonderful things" for good reason. For years they have collected the funniest, the most bizarre and entertaining stories and links from the netherworld and posted it on their site for everyone to enjoy. I enjoy them so much that I've added an rss feed on this page. See the latest that Boing Boing has to offer and laugh your heads off - or at least frown while deep in thought.

• Size does matter (bigger companies have more money and less risk)
• R and D needs coordination with sales and management
• Handling of the motivation process (to invent and encourage) is paramount