Angel and Tiggs


Why the UN headquarters should be moved to Barcelona, Spain by TA
2 November 2008, 15:40
Filed under: Democracy, History, International Relations, Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Since the day I visited the UN building in New York City, I’ve been thinking about why that organization is located there and not in Barcelona. There are obvious reasons, especially the historical context. The UN was founded in 1947 under the influence of the newly-winners Western allies. Nothing more logical than physically installing the organization in American soil, given how strengthened the country was at the early post-WWII scenario. It was a great way to avoid Russian conflict of interest. Anyway, my idea is that in a G-20, “multipolarized” world the UN building should be moved to Barcelona, Spain. My arguments are below:

  • It’s more coherent with the dominating Eurocentrist vision of the world. That vision comes from the Middle Ages, but up to these days our maps still have the “Old World” (Europe) in the middle;
  • Spain is a sort of middle point between major continents in the world like the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. This should reduce the influence by north-western countries like UK and the US or at least increase pressure and influence by other countries;
  • Spain is a relatively neutral/moderated western country. It doesn’t tend heavily in favor or against the biggest/richest countries in the world. True, they supported Bush in Iraq, but have already withdrawn. Jose Luis Zapatero, head of the Spanish government, has a strong relationship with Latin America (Venezuela has been symbolically voted out of Latin America) and deep understanding of African issues. Besides, they were neutral (sic) in WWII and WWI;
  • UN in Europe would favour a narrower collaboration with so many other worldwide agencies/organizations such as other branches of the UN (e.g. Unicef FAO), NATO, European Union. The proximity with major hosting countries for these organizations (in particular Belgium and Switzerland) can be of great value;
  • Why did I suggest Barcelona and not any other city in Spain? Well, the Basque country region is still very instable to host the UN. Madrid sill holds a very conservative city. Also, it is the capital and official residence to the Spanish government, what could generate some sort of conflict of interest. It’s just like picturing the UN as a White House neighbour. It could be extremely biased. Besides, Barcelona has always had the reputation of being a slightly left-wing bastion, far more liberal than Madrid and very inclined to arts and tourism in general.
Leave a comment


Confessions of a clumsy and snob tourist by TA
23 October 2008, 13:08
Filed under: Culture, Entertainment, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

At least once in your life, you’ve probably felt a great excitement to go somewhere new. If you’re a good tourist, it won’t be hard to do some study about the places you’re about to visit. I always research historical places, monuments, landmarks in general so I can go there and take pictures. Well, for a number of reasons you can just skip great places. See some of them below.

Paris, France. Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Quai d’Orsay, Hôtel des Invalides, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe. These are all great French monuments, right? Partly. These are also all the places I couldn’t take pictures from. My digital camera was almost brand new and I forgot to recharge it before travelling. The result was tragic. Just before both monuments I couldn’t take pictures because my battery was dead.

Underneath the tower

Underneath the tower

This is all I have from the Eiffel Tower

San Francisco, US. A very nice city by the Pacific Ocean. Full of entertainment, attractions, sunshine etc. There’s a very popular and delicious local chocolate called Ghirardelli whose factory is located in a big, super busy fisherman’s wharf by the bay of Alcatraz. They even give you free bars after your visit. I went there one night unaware of the factory. Worse, I decided not to take my camera because I thought there would be nothing interesting to see. Lost a sweet opportunity to visit a nice place. Literally.


The Presidio area, not too far from the Ghirardelli factory

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Newcastle’s been there for almost 2,000 years. In the outskirts there’s a beautiful Roman construction named after Emperor Hadrian (Hadrian’s Wall), a massive fortification built to contain the “barbaric” Scots. That was the final frontier of the Roman Empire. Living for almost 1 year in Newcastle, I didn’t go there. What a miss!


Haymarket, downtown
Newcastle

Nuremberg, Germany. A medieval city in the centre-north of Bavaria full of restored monuments. Legend says that Allied bombings in WWII destroyed up to 91% of the city’s buildings. Talking about war, one of my itinerary plans was to go to the buildings where the famous Nuremberg trials were held. On the map it looked really far. It happened to be a 20-minute walk from my hostel.


Leaving the Central Station in Nuremberg

Beijing, China. I was there a year before the Olympics. The Bird’s Nest (Olympic Stadium) was on my map and, again, looked far. It was less than 10 minutes on a cab from where I was that would probably cost me 3 dollars. I chose not to go.


Downtown Beijing

Oslo, Norway. Walking downtown Oslo I saw a very simple museum with a bust of Alfred Nobel (yes, that one). Incredibly I thought it was some sort of a bogus place. The Nobel Institute couldn’t be that small. I took picture and left without visiting the building.


The “small” Nobel Institute

New York, US. It was a beautiful spring Sunday in New York. I was hungry, but still enjoying the sunshine and mild temperature downtown Manhattan when I saw a cathedral very similar to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It was Saint Patrick. I looked at the towers, a lot of people moving around and decided to eat instead of visiting it. 20 minutes later I had changed a ticket toSaint Patrick for the greasiest pizza of my life at Sbarro’s.


Saint Patrick Cathedral

Leave a comment


Ten really deceiving players in football by TA
3 September 2008, 14:09
Filed under: Football | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

People say they’re among the best, but are they really skilled or lucky to play for good teams?

Yuri Djorkaeff (FRA – Retired)
– Where’s the ball?

Eidur Gudjohnssen (ICE – Barcelona)
– Go to check the net with the ref. That’s the only I can see it.

David Beckham (ENG – LA Galaxy)
– Don’t need a corner kicker, don’t need me.

Paul Gascoigne (ENG – Retired)
– 26 cans of Red Bull a day?

Victor Valdés (SPA – Barcelona)
– Safe as a pottery vault?

Luca Toni (ITA – Bayern Munich)
– When a mustache draws more attention than his skills there’s something wrong.

Afonso Alves (BRA – Middlesbrough)
– Who?

Nicolas Anelka (FRA – Chelsea)
– How many teams this week?

Arteta (SPA – Everton)
– Best Everton player last season. Changed my life.

Juliano Belletti (BRA – Chelsea)
– Speechless.

Leave a comment


Finances, stocks, depreciation and amateurism in football by TA
3 September 2008, 13:52
Filed under: Football | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Think with me. Companies these days are being pushed to deliver results. Do you think clubs and even national teams are following or setting the example? The answer is no. Players are assets, right? Yes. Let’s try to think of every individual player in this world as a small company. Now think of the clubs as big corporations who are set to merge or buy small companies around. Consider most of the transfers are not free agents so the big corps have to pay a price for the transfer, but that’s not at all. By acquiring a “small company”, the club needs to pay salaries for a determined period of time. Salaries of a player are a sort of depreciation, an amortization of costs to acquire long-term assets.

I learnt companies pay for other companies what they CAN be worth and not what they ARE worth. It’s the same for a job seeker. You have to use your past experience to sell future personal possibilities to the recruiting company. That’s what happens when a club buys a player’s pass. They pay for what he is at the moment of the transfer. This one-time fee cannot be redeemed or turned into a performance bonus throughout the player’s contract. It will be paid immediately and it’s gone. That’s not my problem though. My problem is with the depreciation.

I know a lot of players that moved from one club to another for zillionaire ciphers, but never paid back the investment. I’ll quote but a few: Jonathan Woodgate from Newcastle to Real Madrid; Antonio Cassano from Roma to Real Madrid; Denilson from Sao Paulo FC to Real Betis; Rivaldo from Barcelona to AC Milan; Patrick Viera from Arsenal to Inter Milan; Thierry Henry from Arsenal to Barcelona so on and so forth. Worse than just spending a lot of money in transfer fees is keeping a burdening payroll of were-stars.

My suggestion here is creating a system based on performance and stock brokerage. A lot of clubs have already been signing “risk contracts” with players worldwide where the latter earns based on his performance in the field. Causes vary from recent and delicate surgical interventions to adaptation to a different football culture. However, that system is incomplete as I believe the criteria are still very casual. I’ve heard of clubs paying by number of matches played. That means nothing!

A stock symbol should be given to every player. They would work as a true quote for that player’s performance just like stock exchanges operate. If a player goes down on a season, tournament or league, his quote goes down as well. The criteria used should be more than only matches played. Today’s match scouts are a magnificent tool for statistic comparison. They shouldn’t be there only for random information but to serve to a higher purpose, the clubs, their finances and investments. 

Leave a comment