On Euro 2008 and maybe more

Yesterday the finals for UEFA 2008 was held, the Euro cup or whatever. Spain won 1-0. I had previously predicted a 2-1 victory for Spain.

Spain had the more dominant play for the majority of the game. It was much closer in the first half, with Lahm commanding runs down the left flank. However, he made a defensive mistake (though not huge, just got outplayed) that gave Fernando Torres his, and Spain's, only goal. He was subbed out at the half for Munchen Teammate Jansen. Germany never quite had the same offensive touch. Despite Schweinstagger's efforts, as well as Ballack's and Podolski's, Germany just had problems operating, and even when the opportunity presented itself, could not finish.

My choice for player of the game would be Sergio Ramos, who seemed to be a part of most of the successful offensive plays, and nearly all of the successful defensive stands. Ironically, I'd say the worst play of the game came from Spain's left wing (Silva?), who only seemed to have a right foot. So many opportunities presented themselves to him as left footed shots, however, he often had to stop and turn into center traffic, or spend extra time stopping the ball to get to his right foot, and this either resulted in the defender clearing it or giving time for Jens Lehman to get into position. Cesc Fabregas was also a minor disappointment. Though he had some good plays early on, he was never really able to establish himself as a force on the field, and once the game was clearly away, he was subbed out for a more defensive minded mid fielder.

It was a hard fought game, but Spain was just the better team. I'd shudder to think what would've happened if David Villa was healthy. Germany didn't lose this game. Spain simply won it.

Maybe more:

So I'm reading this book now, called 1421. It's about Chinese navigation in the 15th century. At first the sings said by the book seem plausible on some level, but you want some more evidence to believe it. The evidence is never shown. In some cases it is simply made up (mylodons were believed to be extinct since the BC's, though may have existed until 1500, though if they did, they certainly did not exist in numbers to be feasible for overseas trade). While some of the voyages made by the fleets of Zheng He are more believable than others, the slopshod and irresponsible use of minuscule amounts of evidence and a lot of imagination make them all seem more unbelievable. His ultimate proof lies with the similarities between Chinese and certain Native American DNA's. This proof only shows that there is some link between them, such as the migration over the Bering land bridge during the ice age. There is little evidence of the Chinese reaching America, and even less that they colonized and intermingled. Putting the eventual European exploration of the American west coast roughly at 150-200 years after the Chinese reached there would mean any Chinese colony should still bear a remarkably Chinese characteristic, something not noted.

It's simply a huge leap of faith that until 1421, the Chinese only knew China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and the coast of the Indian Ocean, but in the two years afterwards - 1421 - 1423, managed to discover the cape of good hope, the west coast of africa, brazil, argentina, tierra del fuego, the falkland islands, antartica, australia, new zealand, fiji, peru, chile, mexico, california, the carribbean, and Alaska -- basically everything else in the world besides Europe.

This particular leap offers little padding.