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Tommy Smith: It’s painful to watch Xabi Alonso shining for Real Madrid.

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 11:26:54 +0100

ANYONE watching Real Madrid bulldoze Spurs this week couldn’t have been other than impressed.

But in some ways I suspect it made painful viewing for Liverpudlians because for me, Xabi Alonso was outstanding.

He pulled all the strings just as he did so often while at Liverpool. And he is clearly still a terrific player.

It’s such a shame he left and I guess we’ll never know the full story behind his departure. But he has been saying this week how much he still loves the club and when you hear that too, it makes it even harder to take that he’s no longer at Anfield.

But with Alonso gone, Mascherano too and now Steven out for the season, it’s a stark reminder that we need our midfield reinforcing this summer.

I know we need new players elsewhere too - certainly out wide and at the back too.

All I can hope is that our new owners understand what is required and will back Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli in a crucial transfer market for us this summer.

In fact I hope the players we need have already been identified and have agreed to join us next term. Because there’s no time to lose.

We need to be signing players of Alonso’s undoubted class this summer - not watching them go to play so well for other teams.

Earthquake Science: The Japanese Quake Explained

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:18:44 +0100

A powerful tsunami spawned by the largest earthquake in Japan's recorded history slammed the eastern coast Friday, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s. Geologist Harley Benz told Fox News it was the fifth largest earthquake in the last 100 years.

What caused the gigantic Japanese earthquake, and will it be followed by aftershocks? Here are answers to these and other questions.

What caused the earthquake?

The massive earthquake near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, occurred as a result of faults on or near the subduction zone -- the interface plate boundary between the Pacific and North America plates, the USGS said.

The Pacific plate thrusts underneath Japan at the Japan Trench, and dips to the west beneath Eurasia; these rocky plates cover the planet like a giant jigsaw puzzle and creep past one another at a very slow rate. The Pacific plate moves approximately westwards with respect to the North America plate at a velocity of 3.2 inches per year. The release of energy as the the two plates move past each other is what causes the earthquakes.

The Japan Trench subduction zone is relatively volatile, experiencing 9 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater since 1973. The largest of these was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake approximately 162 miles (260 km) to the north of the March 11 event, in December 1994, which caused 3 fatalities and almost 700 injuries, the USGS said. In June of 1978, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in the area caused 22 fatalities and over 400 injuries.

What does magnitude 8.9 mean?

"It's comparable in size to the earthquake in Chile last year, that was a magnitude 8.8. And very similar kinds of ruptures in both cases," Robert Williams, a geologist with the USGS told Fox News.

Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake. Since magnitudes are given on a logarithmic scale, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake would release 10 times as much energy as a 6.0-magnitude temblor. Geoscientists also look at an earthquake's intensity, which measures the strength of shaking produced by the earthquake at a certain location and is determined from the effects that shaking has on people, structures and the environment.

What's the potential for future aftershocks? And foreshocks?

The March 11 earthquake was preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days.

"There was a 7.2 on March 9, not far from the epicenter of the magnitude 8.9. It looks at this point like that was a foreshock of the 8.9 event," Williams told Fox News. The foreshocks continued with a further three earthquakes greater than 6.0 magnitude on the same day.

A 4.5 magnitude earthquake recently hit Hawaii Friday morning as well, but experts say it is unrelated to the gigantic Japanese quake.

"There's been a series of small earthquakes near the big island of Hawaii where this event happened, and it may be related to the volcanic eruption that's been taking place for several days," Williams said. There have been dozens of large aftershocks since, however, and hundreds of small ones with more to come.

"We've got 35 [aftershocks] now greater than magnitude 5 -- and there's probably hundreds of magnitude 3 and 4." There have been 13 greater than magnitude 6, he said.

"Over the next month, there will be thousands of aftershocks -- many of them felt," he said.

Is there a possibility of an even larger aftershock?

"There's always a slight chance of a larger earthquake," Williams said. "But I'd say it's a very low possibility. What we are seeing so far is that there's a very good chance of magnitude 6 and 7 earthquakes to continue, in an aftershock sequence."

What was the world's deadliest earthquake?

While the death toll in Haiti is still unknown, the deadliest earthquake in history struck that struck Shaanxi, China, in 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people.

Can Luis Suarez Be Liverpool’s New Hero?

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:14:26 +0100

The 31^st of January 2011 was an extremely busy day for Liverpool football club. The club had sold Fernando Torres to rivals Chelsea for a record-breaking £50 million, which upset many fans as they saw the departure of a world class striker as a major step down and that things might look bleak for the future. Fast-forward to March and things seem very different…

On the same day that Torres left the club, Liverpool purchased both Andy Carroll from Newcastle and Luis Suarez from Ajax, who cost roughly the same combined as Torres did. Andy Carroll made his debut on Sunday and will surely offer them something different up front and Torres has not made much of an impact at Chelsea so far. On the other hand, Luis Suarez has come into the Liverpool side and already looks like he will be a fantastic acquisition.

There seems to be a new lease of life for those wearing Liverpool football shirts at the moment. A lot of this is down to the return of Kenny Dalglish to the club, but Suarez has injected more energy and buzz about the time that has not been seen for quite some time.

The Dutch league is often criticised for having a poor standard as several players have come over from the Eredivise with a fantastic goal scoring record and have completely flopped in the English Premier League. Suarez’s goal record at Ajax was 81 goals in 110 games and although it doesn’t look like he will score anywhere near that amount in England, he can offer an awful lot more than putting the ball in the back of the net.

He might actually be the perfect partner for Andy Carroll and could end up with a great amount of assists at Liverpool. There’s no doubt that the Uruguayan forward can score goals, but I think he’ll be more useful playing the way he did against Man Utd on Sunday.

Suarez seems to be able to beat a man (or four) with ease at times and with energy levels that can match Steven Gerrard, it can only be a positive sign for things to come at Liverpool. It will be very interesting to see how his partnership develops with Andy Carroll over time, especially next season. Many wondered if Suarez and Carroll combined would be better than Fernando Torres for Liverpool, but it could turn out that Suarez on his own will do more for the club.

Fergie can’t psyche me out – Dalglish

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:56:20 +0100

Manchester, England – Any attempt by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to psyche out his Liverpool counterpart will have no affect as the pair go back too far, Kenny Dalglish said on Friday.

Ferguson has gained a reputation for deploying what other managers call his “mind games” before big matches and Dalglish was wary of being a target before Liverpool attempt to derail their arch-rivals' Premier League title pursuit on Sunday.

“He has used psychology before in the pre-amble to matches, but he will only get sparring practice if he tries to use it on ourselves,” Dalglish, celebrating his 60th birthday, said on his club's website (www.liverpoolfc.tv).

“We've both been a long time out of short trousers. It will have to be a good one to catch us out.”

Ferguson's track record includes saying Wayne Rooney would definitely not be fit to play in last season's Champions League game against Bayern Munich before naming him in the starting line-up.

There was no chance on Friday for Ferguson to engage in any public games as he cancelled his pre-match news conference the day after being charged with improper conduct by the Football Association.

United head to Anfield after a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea put the brakes on their march towards a record 19th league title and there would be no one happier than Liverpool fans if their side inflicted further damage on their visitors' efforts to break the record they currently share.

Dalglish, who returned as Anfield manager this year after leaving the job when they were last champions 20 years ago, first came across Ferguson when they were players in a second-string match between Celtic and Ferguson's team Rangers.

“It was 40 years ago and I was marking him in a reserve game,” said Dalglish, a former Celtic striker.

“I read somewhere that he said he'd scored, but I thought we won 2-0. I'm probably wrong about that one as well. We definitely beat them, though.”

Liverpool have lost once to United since Dalglish took over in January, a 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup third round, but he has since sparked a revival to lift them from the bottom half of the table to sixth. – Reuters

Social networking sites: do not pry, says online community.

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:17:37 +0100

The government's plans to monitor social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have prompted a furious reaction online.

There is already a new petition on No 10's website calling for the idea to be stopped.

Inevitably, a number of Facebook groups have also been formed to oppose the plans; the most active so far include "No to the government monitoring Facebook" and "Stop the British government from monitoring Facebook!"

The news emerged on the day that the government's plans were revealed to teach Twitter to primary schoolchildren. Mark Cridge merges the two stories in a spoof tweet: "Primary schools to monitor Facebook for the government via Twitter."

Others don't see the funny side. On the Politics website, Ian Dunt writes: "The government's approach to the issue of privacy is not unlike a rat hooked on heroin. It just can't get enough of our personal information."

Writing on the Whipped Senseless blog, Jason Brown, says 'Database Britain' has come closer to reality."

He points out that US army was reported to have prepared a paper which included a chapter called the Potential for the Terrorist Use of Twitter. The report, which reads like spoof, is available on the website of Federation of American Scientists.

It says:

"Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences. Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance. This could theoretically be combined with targeting."

Is this rampant paranoia or is there a case for monitoring social networks?

Rumours circulating that FACEBBOK will end on march 15th!!

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 09:40:34 +0100

PALO ALTO, CA –Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful.

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts.

“After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back after Facebook goes out of business.”

Zuckerberg said the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset.

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

Some Facebook users were furious upon hearing the shocking news.

“What am I going to do without Facebook?” said Denise Bradshaw, a high school student from Indiana. “My life revolves around it. I’m on Facebook at least 10 hours a day. Now what am I going to do with all that free time?”

However, parents across the country have been experiencing a long anticipated sense of relief.

“I’m glad the Facebook nightmare is over,” said Jon Guttari, a single parent from Detroit. “Now my teenager’s face won’t be glued to a computer screen all day. Maybe I can even have a conversation with her.”

SIGN THE “SAVE FACEBOOK” PETITION HERE

Those in the financial industry are criticizing Zuckerberg for walking away from a multibillion dollar franchise. Facebook is currently ranked as one of the wealthiest businesses in the world, with economists estimating its value at around 7.9 billion.

But Zuckerberg remains unruffled by these accusations. He said he will stand by his decision to give Facebook the axe.

“I don’t care about the money,” said Zuckerberg. “I just want my old life back.”

The Facebook Corporation suggests that users remove all of their personal information from the website before March 15th. After that date, all photos, notes, links, and videos will be permanently erased.

Manchester United defender Vidic claims Torres isn’t a problem!

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 09:31:02 +0100

Nemanja Vidic claims he won’t worry about facing Fernando Torres when Manchester United meet Chelsea on Tuesday.

The Serbian defender has often had trouble when facing Torres while the Spaniard was with Liverpool. However, the Manchester United captain says he isn’t phased about his battle with Torres this coming week.

“I don’t worry about facing Torres – I don’t worry about playing against any opponent,” said Vidic.

“As a defender you have to enjoy the battles you have because the top four or five clubs in the Premier League always have good forwards.

“It is always tough against Chelsea because they have Drogba and Anelka – and now they have Torres.”

Torres has yet to score for Chelsea in his first three outings.