Quick hello

Togo lost it's first match, against Korea. We thought it was would be a win with Togo scoring the first goal, but Korea came back with 2 more and once a Togo player was red-carded a few minutes into the second half we pretty much knew it was over. At least the coach, who had quit 3 days ago, was back on the sidelines. Not that it did much good. I felt bad after reading the story on how the Togolese cheering squad had been denied visas from the German Embassy here, then seeing the see of red in the stands supporting the Koreans. I really do hope they have at least one victory. A giant fetish near some friends' house predicted a 2-1 victory. I guess they just weren't sure which team would end on the winning side.

At least Togo played better than the U.S. team against Czech yesterday! That was a sad 0-3 loss for us.

The whole BBC story:
Togo's official World Cup supporters have been denied visas to go and cheer on their national team in Germany. The Togolese government has donated $500,000 for the 100 football fans to travel to the tournament. But the German Embassy refused the visas because they did not provide bank statements with their applications.
The fans' leader known as "Mama Togo" led angry protests outside the embassy, saying most of them were self-employed and did not have bank accounts. "Most of us are not official workers. In my case I sell iced water to earn my living. So how can I provide bank statements? " she said on Thursday.
The fans chanted slogans accusing the German embassy in Togo's capital, Lome, of deliberately refusing to grant them the visas.
Last week, Togo's chief voodoo priest predicted success for the national team, the Sparrowhawks, who have qualified for World Cup for the first time. Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro III said Togo would definitely beat South Korea and France to get to the next round.
But unless conditions for visas are relaxed, the fans have little prospect of cheering on the Sparrowhawks themselves."
And a follow-up to the hurricanes question... I've had several people e-mail with the thought that the 74mph for a category 1 hurricane is related to a knots measurement. Unfortunately it's also been pointed out that 74mph = 64.3knots, which isn't all that enlightening either! Hmm.