Awesome…

Thanks for the link Casey.

Rival groups of birds behave like soccer fans, shouting chants at each other and commiserating with each other after a loss, research from England’s University of Bristol revealed Wednesday. Green woodhoopoes, a South African bird, live together in gangs of up to 12 and “rival groups often engage in raucous vocal displays, akin to opposing football supporters chanting at one another”, the university in the west of England said.

The research by Dr Andy Radford, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, also revealed that the birds preen each other after a conflict, particularly when they have just lost or the battle lasted a long time. “Just as football fans commiserate with their friends in the pub when their team loses a match… birds support one another following contests with their rivals,” the university said in a statement.

Image via Zoomr

James Bond is swapping his vodka martinis for Coke Zero.

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has agreed to a £5million deal to plug its brand alongside the movie. Limited edition black bottles and a special Coca-Cola Zero Zero Seven logo have even been created to tie-in with the 007 title.

‘Bond has to move with the times,’ an industry source tells the Daily Star.

‘And if that means switching drinks then so be it.’

Quantum Of Solace opens next month.

Image via CinemaRetro

TFC loses nine players to international duty, but MLS won’t postpone game.

“I’ve had some challenges in my life,” Carver said. “But never have I faced a situation like I’m facing this week.”

The situation Carver speaks of is that he has lost nine players to international duty as qualifying starts this week for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa leaving him with only one starting defender — Marco Velez — on his roster.

And TFC’s pleas to Major League Soccer that the Saturday game be postponed have fallen on deaf ears.

Image via Yimg

A court in Naples recently ordered Inter to pay a Napoli fan €1,500 compensation for “existential damage” caused by banners displayed during a match. The banners described Naples as the “sewer of Italy”, an insult referring to a chronic refuse crisis that had left rubbish rotting in the streets of Naples.

Provocative abuse was displayed on other banners at the match, which Inter won 2-1, including “Ciao cholera sufferers!” and “Neapolitans have tuberculosis”. Inter fans also sang offensive chants. Raffaele Di Monda, representing the Napoli fan (identified only as GDB), argued that the concerted and vindictive abuse made his client feel “indignant and deeply hurt”. In addition to damages, the court ordered Inter to pay Mr GDB’s costs, making the courtroom contest 2-0 to Napoli.

Image via Flickr

Victor MacFarlane, who runs MacFralane Partners and just happens to be one of the owners of DC United has put his San Fransisco penthouse on the market for $70 million large. Seriously…I couldn’t make this up even if I tried.  I don’t even know what to say about this one, so I’m going to stop typing now.

[SF Chronicle]

It seems Nemanja Vidic is so fed up with England’s gloomy skies and incessant rain that he is casting envious glances towards sunny Spain.

‘I will never stay to live in England, that’s for sure,’ said Vidic in a Russian magazine. ‘The climate here is something special! You get only a brief glimpse of sunlight before it’s all cloudy again. The winters are mild but in summer the temperatures seldom go higher than 20 degrees Celsius. And it rains, rains, rains! In England they say that Manchester is the city of rain. Its main attraction is considered to be a timetable at the railway station where trains leave for other, less rainy cities!’ As if the rain isn’t enough to moan about, he criticises the joyless way of life and admits he misses the social life he enjoyed with his team-mates in Moscow….

….Clearly he needs a quality WAG to spice up life in gloomy Madchester.

Image via Yimg

The New York Times investigates what happens when some Brits go abroad. “They are the ones, the locals say, who are carousing, brawling and getting violently sick. They are the ones crowding into health clinics seeking morning-after pills and help for sexually transmitted diseases. They are the ones who seem to have one vacation plan: drinking themselves into oblivion.”

British Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver adds fuel to the fire. The 33-year-old describes his fellow countrymen’s materialistic attraction to widescreen TVs, cars, mobile phones, and - above all else - beer as being symptomatic of “the new poverty” blighting the UK.

Even The Chambers Dictionary has added the term “WAGs” to their latest edition. And there is even talk in the EPL of no relegation.

What is happening here, what does any of this mean…?

In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 became the first humans to walk on the surface of the Moon. But how far did they actually walk? Luckily, somewhere in the bowels of Cape Canaveral lives a soccer fan who has created a lunar map and added a proper pitch to show the distances travelled.

The guys looked a little sloppy on the left side of the defense, but you have to love the spectacular run in stoppage time for the winning goal…

Image via NASA

Matos shoved the referee and kicked him in the head in a furious reaction to be disqualified.  The Cuban took gold in the 2000 Olympics, but he did not take kindly to being disqualified halfway through the bout for taking too long to return to action after an injury.

Matos was leading 3-2, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent. Fighters have a maximum of one minute’s break for injury, and the referee removed him from the competition as soon as the time elapsed.

Matos pushed and kicked the referee, drawing blood from the mouth, then attacked the Swedish judge before spitting on the floor and being escorted out of the arena.

Both Matos and his coach Leudis Gonzalez have been swiftly handed a lifetime ban from all World Taekwondo Federation championships, subject to confirmation by the International Olympic Committee.