A Bruxelles! Una buona occasione per farci ridere dietro ..

Mentre a Bruxelles si discute della cosa più delicata del mondo, ciè come ripartire i sussidi nell'Europa a 25, quindi di quanti soldi si avranno/daranno dal bilancio comunitario, i forzitalioti non perdono occasione per far compatire il nostro paese.

Star del giorno Giulio Tremonti e Gabriella Carlucci, che protestano con qualche decina di "italiani" contro le nuove paranoie. Una cretinata ad uso dei nostri Tg, quattro gatti con le bandiere della Turchia e quella della Cina, i nuovi spauracchi da agitare per cercare di nascondere il fallimento epocale di questo governo.

Particolarmente terrificante la maglietta della Carlucci, sfottuta in seguito negli eurocorridoi. Sulla maglietta vi era infatti riportata, in grande e rosso su bianco in bella vista, la parola DAMPING.

Peccato che l'unica parola che sono riusciti a scrivere sia sbagliata, il DUMPING (con la U) è la pratica della vendita sottocosto per eliminare i concorrenti; ciò di cui Tremonti e i quattro valligiani accusano la Cina; senza sapere cosa sia il dumping e neppure come si scriva.


E tutti risero.........

Why do women tennis stars grunt?

By Megan Lane BBC News Magazine

At 101 decibels, Wimbledon's defending champion Maria Sharapova is judged the loudest grunter so far. Is it only female players who make a racket on court - and is it tactical?

It was Monica Seles who originally inspired the "gruntometer", the measuring of decibels on Centre Court by newspapers. The first of the female power players, the Yugoslav teenager's trademark was a loud grunt each time she belted the ball across the net.

Seles registered 93.2 decibels, enough to make her quarter-final opponent at Wimbledon in 1992 demand that she not be allowed to make noise. Seles clammed up - and eventually lost the tournament to Steffi Graf.

Seles would have been a formative influence when today's grunters - Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova, the Williams sisters among them - were first honing their skills.

Today grunting among female tennis stars is the norm rather than the exception.

And grunting begets grunting, as quieter players try to out-psyche their opponent, says retiring Wimbledon referee Alan Mills. "A kind of counter-grunt has emerged in recent years whereby offended parties ape their opponent's noises."

At Wimbledon on Tuesday, defending champion Sharapova shattered her own personal record with a grunt of 101.2db - almost as loud as a police siren heard at close-quarters. She, like Seles and other grunters before her, denies that it is a tactical move to put off opponents. It is, they say, simply a natural release of pent-up energy as the ball is hit.

What a racket!

But Mr Mills has told reporters that not only are these grunts deliberate, tennis coaches are teaching women players to grunt the loudest.

Many of those noted for their grunts are the product of Nick Bollettieri's Florida tennis academy, where Seles first yelped her way through training aged 12. Bollettieri said last week that he doesn't encourage his students to make noise: "Never once has that entered into my mind. But I believe releasing your energy is good because if you don't, it tightens up the body."

Another rather wishful theory is that the grunt may be an indicator of what the lovely lady is like in bed. During flirtatious banter on Jonathan Ross's chat show last Friday, Serena Williams was playfully teased with repeated recordings of her on-court grunt (she registers almost 90db).

Noise makers

Nor is it only women players. In 1974, Jimmy Connors grunted his way to the first of his two Wimbledon titles.

And when a teenage Andre Agassi played Ivan Lendl in the US Open, the older man complained - without success - about the quite deliberate martial arts-style howls from across the net.

Lendl said later that the noise threw his mental game. "When Agassi goes for a big shot, his grunt is much harder, like he thinks it's a winner. If you have a play on the ball, it throws off your timing."

But it didn't stop Lendl winning that match. For tactical reasons or no, sports psychologists say that among world-class players, any advantage gained by distracting an opponent is probably minimal. Those most likely to be annoyed by it are the spectators and commentators.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/magazine/4118708.stm

Published: 2005/06/22 13:16:27 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

Church and state in Italy

Church and state in Italy

International Herald Tribune THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2005

The failed referendum to ease Italy's restrictive assisted-fertility law was the first test of the new pope's willingness to inject himself into politics, and the results were discouraging. Italian law, which defines every union of egg and sperm as the beginning of a human life, places severe limits on the creation and use of embryos, not only in the field of stem cell research but also in standard treatments for infertile couples. Heeding a call from the Italian bishops' conference, supported by Pope Benedict XVI, enough voters boycotted the referendum to render it invalid. The Catholic Church has every right to create its own doctrine on such issues for the faithful, to enforce them within the church, and to make its views public. But using the power of the pulpit to urge people to stay away from the ballot box is not a religious act, but an antidemocratic one. It is unacceptable interference.

 

The vote was the first major test of the power of the church in Italy since the election of the conservative Benedict XVI, and it raised fears that the Holy See would next turn its sights on abortion and divorce. Certainly the stunning success of the church in keeping the turnout for the referendum down to a dismal 25.9 percent demonstrated that however empty Italy's churches might be, the church has a considerable influence on moral issues. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his conservative government largely stayed on the sidelines, and even some opposition politicians, such as Francesco Rutelli, Berlusconi's unsuccessful challenger in 2001, found it politically expedient not to cast a ballot.

 

The Italian debate echoed many of the impassioned political conflicts that have divided American society under the broad umbrella of "moral values," threatening many social achievements and eroding the barriers between church and state. We welcome an open and ardent debate on these issues. But the separation of church and state is a vital part of a real democracy. Democracy guarantees the right of every religion to preach its values and beliefs. It does not grant churches the right to dangerously tamper with democracy to impose their rules on everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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