JioCinema Almost Ruins The World Cup For Millions Of Indians

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Thought Indians have never been near a World Cup, unless tourists, fans and reporters count, we love to watch the World Cup matches and get excited over the wins and loses. We all used to glue our eyes to the tv when Doordarshan used to air it. We have all groaned when the idiots at the national station would record the matches and play it 45 mins late and the fucking announcers in the stadium would boast about “first time ever, we are giving you Deferred Live” like it was a big achievement. Why did they do that you asked? So they could add commercials in between like that fucking disgrace of a sport called cricket.

Anyways, with the increase of cable tv power we would get the matches and all programs done professionally. At times since this is still India, they would get Indian celebrities and non-footballers to give their expert opinion on the players and matches which were usually a joke. And then we got streaming services to watch the games. All done well as long as you have a good broadband connection. But this year things are different. This time JioCinema, a Reliance company, got the rights to stream the matches in India. Now JioCinema is free to use; all you need is to sign in as a subscriber and it is free.

But, many viewers faced issues during the livestream of the opening ceremony. When I tuned in, there was no sound in the English selection but the Malayalam one was working fine. Ok. I then waited till 9:30 pm when the opening match between hosts Qatar & Ecuador would start and the service was laggy and would freeze after 30 seconds. I switched to Malayalam and it last for a few minutes and freeze. I went to Twitter and entire India was swearing at Jio. They tried to laugh it off by showing some stupid video but things didn’t get fixed until the next day. Glad to say that yesterday and today it has been good.

Some Fun Facts About The Continent Of Antartica

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1. Antarctica holds most of the world’s fresh water

An incredible 60-90% of the world’s fresh water is locked in Antarctica’s vast ice sheet. The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest on Earth, covering an incredible 14 million km² (5.4 million square miles) of Antarctic mountain ranges, valleys and plateaus. This leaves only 1% of Antarctica permanently ice-free. Some areas are ice-free in the summer, including many of the areas we visit on the Antarctic Peninsula. At its deepest, Antarctica’s ice is 4.5km (2.7 miles) thick – that’s half the height of Mt Everest! If it all melted, global sea levels would rise about 60 m (200 ft).

2. Antarctica is a desert

With all of that fresh water held in the ice sheet, how could Antarctica be a desert? When most of us think of deserts we think of sand dunes and sizzling temperatures, but technically a desert doesn’t have to be hot or sandy, it’s more about how much precipitation the area receives as rain, snow, mist or fog. A desert is any region that receives very little annual precipitation. The average annual rainfall at the South Pole over the past 30 years was just over 10 mm (0.4 in). Although there is more precipitation towards the coast, the average across the continent is low enough to classify Antarctica as a polar desert.

3. Antarctica used to be as warm as Melbourne

Given that thecoldest ever land temperature was recorded in Antarctica of -89.2°C (-128.6°F), it can be hard to imagine Antarctica as a warm, temperate paradise. But Antarctica hasn’t always been an icy land locked in the grip of a massive ice sheet. In fact, Antarctica was once almost as warm as Melbourne is today. Researchers have estimated that 40-50 million years ago, temperatures across Antarctica reached up to 17°C (62.6°F). Scientists have also found fossils showing that Antarctica was once covered with verdant green forests and inhabited by dinosaurs!

4. There is no Antarctic time zone

The question of time in Antarctica is a tricky one. At the South Pole the lines of longitude, which give us different time zones around the globe, all meet at a single point. Most of Antarctica experiences 6 months of constant daylight in summer and 6 months of darkness in winter. Time starts to feel a little different without the normal markers for day and night.

Scientists working in Antarctica generally stay in the time zone of the country they departed from, but this can cause some issues. For example, on the Antarctic Peninsula you can find stations from Chile, China, Russia, the UK and many other countries. You can imagine that if all of these neighbouring stations, keep to their home time zones it could get a little confusing trying to share data and resources without accidentally waking one another up in the middle of the night!

5. Every way is north!

If you stand at the South Pole, you are at the southernmost point on Earth. It doesn’t matter which way you look, every direction is north. So why do we talk about the Antarctic Peninsula as being in West Antarctica, and the section directly south of Australia as East Antarctica? It’s based on the prime meridian, an imaginary line which passes through Greenwich in the UK at 0 degrees of longitude. If you stand at the South Pole and face towards Greenwich, everything to your left is west Antarctica and everything to your right is east Antarctica.

6. Antarctica has active volcanoes

Antarctica is home to several volcanoes and two of them are active. Mount Erebus, the second-highest volcano in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on Earth. Located on Ross Island, this icebound volcano has some unique features such as ice fumaroles and twisted ice statues that form around gases that seep from vents near the volcanic crater. The first ascent of Mt Erebus was made in 1908, when a team led by Australian scientist Edgeworth David, and including Douglas Mawson, completed an arduous and very chilly five day climb to the steaming crater.

The second active volcano is on Deception Island, a volcanic caldera in the South Shetland Islands. Once home to a thriving whaling station and later a scientific station, it was abandoned after the most recent eruption in 1969, and today it is a fascinating place that we visit on some of our Antarctic Peninsula voyages.

7. There’s a subglacial lake that flows blood red

In 1911 on a remote glacier in East Antarctica, a strange phenomenon was observed. The lily white ice of the Taylor Glacier was being stained a deep red by water flowing from deep within the glacier. For many years the source of the red colour remained a mystery, but in 2017 scientists announced that they had discovered the cause. The water flowing from within the glacier was from a subglacial lake high in salt and oxidised iron, and when it came into contact with oxygen the iron rusted, giving the water its striking red shade, and its name: Blood Falls.

On This Day, November 21

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On this day, November 21:

My Excruciatingly Frustrating Experience With Guniia.com

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So I placed an order for 2 shirts on this website called Guniia. I have never heard of them before but I saw a sponsored posts on my Facebook app and when I searched for my plus sized John Pride shirts on Google;s shopping tab. You see I usually buy these shirts from Amazon or Flipkart or even their own website. However last Saturday when I checked the selections were so less on any of them but Guniaa had more shirts.

So I placed an order for 1 shirt on John Pride’s website and then 2 on Guniia as they had so many good prints. That was last Saturday – 12th Nov. After I placed the payment I got a confirmation of the order and a tracking id from eKart. Then on Sunday I got a confirmation email from Guniia that the order was on it’s way. However there was no tracking update when I did a quick check – it showed that the tracking id did not exist. I thought it was possibly because it hadn’t been shipped by the carrier yet so I though I would wait for a day or 2. I then forgot about it till Wednesday and checked again. No tracking id found with that number. Frustrated, I sent them an email. No response till Saturday.

Saturday morning I called their customer care number which was only working from 10 am to 6 pm. After 20 minutes past 10 a woman picks up and says she can’t hear me and hung up. I called again and she sounded sleepy and I could hear kids in the background. OK, maybe she is working from home. She tells me that the system is slow and that she would call me back in an hour. She doesn’t so 90 minutes later I call her back. She tells me the same thing and asks me to wait for 2 hours. I said ok even though I was getting annoyed. She doesn’t call me back again. I then wait and call her back and I give her a piece of my mind. She tells me that it was shipped – I said what about the tracking.

Then she tells me that they have had some issue with the carrier and that the tracking id is wrong so here is a new tracking id. And that the carrier has just picked up the package!!! After one week? I also get an email from another staff with the same tracking id. Then someone sends me a new id says that it was just picked up as they had problems so they had to select a different carrier. But this woman tells me it was picked up the previous day. All sorts of BS later she apologizes and sends me the new tracking update. Atleast it shows some movement and it should be here on Tuesday. I hope so!

2002 World Cup Japan South Korean Facts

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In 2002 I watched most of the afternoon games (shown in India in the afternoon) at my uncle’s house two doors away with my uncle and grandmother – who was under medication and supposed to sleep a little after lunch and her medicines but still wanted to spend time with her son & me. On May 31, 1996, FIFA decided the 17th FIFA World Cup would be hosted in continent Asia. Never in soccer history had Asia hosted this magnificent event. For the first time in FIFA World Cup history, two countries would host the 2002 World Cup together: South Korea and Japan. Another exciting aspect was that in 1996 when the announcement was made, Japan had never yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup Finals. They would, however, qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

China qualified for the first time. South Korea became the first country outside Europe, South America, North and Central America, and the Caribbean to qualify for the fifth successive finals tournament. France showed an excellent performance four years earlier to lift the FIFA World Cup trophy. But four years later, France finished last in Group A. Their first loss was against Senegal. Senegal drew the two other matches against Denmark and Uruguay. As a result, both Senegal and Denmark advanced to the Round of 16. Senegal would also beat Sweden and advancing to the Quarter-Final.

Another surprise was Portugal known for players such as Rui Costa, Luis Figo, Joao Pinto, and trainer Paulo Bento. It was highly expected that Portugal would win their group, but this didn’t happen. Their first surprising loss was against the USA. Germany started the tournament with an impressive victory: 8-0 against Saudi Arabia. Miroslav Klose scored a hat trick with his head! As with France, Argentina played one of their worst World Cup performance in 2002. Argentina only won the first match against Nigeria. In this match where the rivals England and Argentina played each other, it was England which was finally able to defeat Argentina. David Beckham scored the only goal, which was a penalty.

A highly controversial match was the Round of 16 match between South Korea against Italy with the former winning. This is because the mistakes that referee Byron Moreno made were so controversial. Italian Damiano Tommasi scored a Golden Goal, but this was controversially ruled offside. Another controversial decision by the referee was giving Francesco Totti his 2nd yellow card in extra time since he supposedly dived. Brazil would beat England to advance to the semis. The Koreans were finally stopped by Germany in the semis, while Brazil beat Turkey, who eventually won 3rd place by beating the co-hosts. After Brazil lost 1998 final, it once again had a chance to become the first country to win five World Cups.

After 12 years, Germany managed to reach the Final again. However, this was the first time Germany reached the Final as Germany instead of West Germany. A crucial player who would miss the Final was Michael Ballack. He received his first yellow card against Paraguay and second against South Korea. On the 30th of June 2002, the Final was held in the International Stadium Yokohama in Japan, with an attendance of 69,029. Brazil won again with Ronaldo scoring 2 goals.

2002 World Cup Facts

Date: 31 May – 30 July 2002
Final: Germany – Brazil 0-2
3rd place: South Korea – Turkey 2-3
Teams: 32
Stadiums: 20
Host cities: 20
Matches played: 64
Goals: 161
Attendance: 2,705,197
Top scorer: Ronaldo (Brazil) (8 goals)

Work From Home Effectively Ends In December

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So that’s it. It is almost time to close up the work at home dream that I have been living for more than 2.5 years. Since we went into a lockdown back in March 2020 and my work desktop was delivered to me, I have been working from home. Mostly as I have worked for a couple of weeks in the office in 2020 and 2021 and just 2 days this year. I have grown accustomed to working from home, relaxing immediately after the work is over and logging in just 20 minutes or so before work. And now that comes to an end.

We have been informed that we will be working from the office from December 1st onwards. Not everyone will be doing so as many people still haven’t been told when they should come back to the office. However for my department, of which there are currently 11 people and possibly we will add 3 to 4 more, the date has been decided. Decided by who and why we do not know and none of us has asked. I do not want to go back and work in the office and I hope something happens and they change their minds.

The only good thing is that I get my desk space back. That is the only positive thing that I can thing about. I do miss having my laptop sit on my desk in my room but that was a small price to pay for being able to work from home. I don’t know how it is going to be.

Some Fun Facts About Bacon

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  • The word bacon means “meat from the back of an animal.”  
  • The Chinese were the first to cook salted pork bellies more than 3000 years ago. This makes bacon one of the world’s oldest processed meats.
  • American bacon is made from the pork belly, which accounts for its trademark streaks of fat. European and Canadian bacon are still made from the back meat of a pig, which is considerably leaner.  
  • 70% of all bacon in the US is eaten at breakfast time.
  • More than 2 billion pounds of bacon is produced each year in the US.
  • The phrase “bringing home the bacon” originated back in the 12th century when a church in England offered a side of bacon to any man who could swear before the church that he had not fought or quarreled with his wife for a year and a day. Any man who could “bring home the
    bacon” was highly respected in his community.
  • The first bacon factory opened in 1770. For generations, local farmers and butchers made bacon for their local communities. In England, where it became a dietary staple, bacon was typically “dry cured” with salt and then smoked. In the late 18th century, a businessman named John Harris opened the first bacon processing plant in the county of Wiltshire, where he developed a special brining solution for finishing the meat. The “Wiltshire Cure” method is still used today, and is a favorite of bacon lovers who prefer a sweeter, less salty taste.
  • There’s a Church of Bacon. This officially sanctioned church boasts more than 25,000 members under the commandment “Praise Bacon.” It’s more a rallying point for atheists and skeptics than for bacon lovers, per se, and there’s no official location as of yet. But the church does perform wedding ceremonies and fundraisers, and has raised thousands of dollars for charity. All bacon praise is welcome, even if you’re partial to vegetarian or turkey bacon over the traditional pork. Hallelujah!

1998 WORLD CUP FRANCE FACTS

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Ah, The 1998 World Cup held in France. Probably one of the best world cups ever and I really liked it a lot. Lots of memories. I watched most of the matches and I was able to watch a few of them with some of my cousins. I was studying at NIIT at the time – the matches would end at 2:30 am and I would sleep till 5:30 am because I had to get up and shower and shave to go to classes which started at 7:30 am. But it was worth it. After our classes, a bunch of us friends would discuss the games and the goals.

The 1998 World Cup in France allowed more nations to participate in the tournament. Instead of 24 teams, 32 sides would qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. Therefore, South Africa, Japan, and Jamaica managed to qualify for the first time in history.  For the 16th World Cup, three countries were interested in hosting the tournament. The European countries Switzerland and France and African country Morocco placed a bid. Switzerland had to withdraw due to the inability to meet FIFA’s requirements. As a result, only the remaining two countries would be included in the voting process. Morocco received seven votes and France 12 votes. France would be the 3rd World Cup country to host the famous sporting tournament twice after Mexico and Italy. The first time France hosted a World Cup was 60 years earlier, back in 1938.

Memorably Norway beat Brazil in the group stages 2-1. Roberto Baggio had his moment of redemption in which he scored off a penalty in the exciting match against Chile which ended in a 2-2 draw. In the Quarter-Final, Robert Baggio had to retake a penalty in a penalty shootout. Although he scored again, it was France who won the shootout. This world cup saw the rise of Nigeria on the world stage as in the match between Spain and Nigeria was fatal for Spain losing 2-3. Also Iran beat USA 2-1. One of the most memorable and entertaining matches was between Argentina and England. Classic moments occurred in this match. Each team scored its first goal with a penalty kick. The first was scored by Gabriel Batistuta for Argentina and the 2nd by Alan Shearer for England.

Sixteen minutes later, English striker Michael Owen scored a legendary goal, considered one of the most incredible goals. He was only 18 years old. rgentinian midfielder Javier Zanetti scored the equalizer just before halftime. David Beckham received the red card. While lying on the field, he made a kick attempt at Argentinian Diego Simeone, who purposely fell to the ground, and was sent off. Argentina won on penalties. But they then went out to the Dutch in another beautiful game 1-2 with goals from Patrick Kluivert and a magnificent goal from Denis Bergkamp.

Brazil would win on penalties against the Dutch while France edged out Croatia 2-1 with goals from Lilian Thuram. Brazil and France met for the first time in a Final. This was the first time France reached a World Cup Final; for Brazil, it was the 6th time. Brazil was considered as 1 of the favorites with star players Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Bebeto, Roberto Carlos, and Denilson, among others. With star players such as Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Laurent Blanc, and Youri Djorkaeff won all of their matches Zindane scored twice while Emmanuel Petit added the 3rd as France won at home 3-0.

1998 World Cup Facts

Date: June 10 – July 12, 1998
1998 World Cup Finalist: Brazil and France

1998 World Cup Final Score: Brazil 0 France 3
3rd place: Netherlands – Croatia 1-2
Teams: 32
Stadiums: 10
Host cities: 10
Matches played: 64
Goals: 171
Attendance: 2,785,100
Top scorer: Davor Suker (Croatia) (6 goals)

Dominos India Finally Starts Delivery To My Area

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So last year in December I wrote  about my frustration with Dominos India. While I am living near the heart of the city, they wouldn’t deliver to me. Not because I was living far away – they wouldn’t deliver to my place via their app or if you call them or via the delivery apps Swiggy & Zomato.

At that time my apartment was 3.6 kms away from one outlet & 4.1 km from another as per Google maps. Note I am less than 5kms away and yet they won’t deliver to this area. Which I found ridiculous. I can understand if they can only deliver within 2 to 3 kms if it was their own staff and they have a corporate given restriction but even with3rd party delivery services they wouldn’t do it. And yet I can get food from other places 10kms away! Only they restrict this stupidly.

There were other fast food restaurants that were in the same area or further away yet they would still deliver via the delivery services. But not Dominos. And truth be told the local pizza places are mostly all better than Dominos & Pizza Hut but also mostly more expensive. And brands like Pizza Hut & Dominos will give discounts via their own apps. But finally I can now get pizza from Dominos delivered to me because – they started a new outlet which is just 2 kms away from me.

I meant to write this blog earlier but I forgot so now finally I can get some. I ordered some on the 27th of last month but it skipped my mind to write about this. Anyways, I am happy and I hope this outlet stays open for a long, long time.

Amazon India Black Friday Deals?

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Yes, Amazon usually has a Black Friday sale in India. This year in 2022, we can expect Amazon Black Friday India sales to be from 22nd November to 25th or 26th November.  Though deals may not be as attractive as in the US.

Amazon India Black Friday Sale Offers Deals 2022

  • 5% SBI Cashback on EMI Transactions during the Amazon Black Friday Sale India
  • Up to 50% OFF on smart TVs & electronics on shopping in Amazon Black Friday sale India
  • An up to 70 to 90% OFF on clothing, accessories & winter furnishings & more
  • You can also expect to see Mi or Redmi mobile phones at good discounts on Amazon Black Friday sale 2022 as well as Flipkart as part of Xiaomi’s Black Friday Sale 2022 if it goes live at the same time
  • Discount offers on brands like Solimo, Samsung, Sony, HP, Dell, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Amazon Echo, bOAt
  • Up to 40 to 50% OFF on international brands including Eksa gaming headsets, Robotic vacuum cleaners, Huion graphic tablets
  • Apple AirPods may also be available on a good discount

Note that these are only expected offers in the Amazon Black Friday sale India 2022. We can expect the Amazon Black Friday 2022 India date to be around 22nd November to 25th or 26th November 2022.

1994 WORLD CUP USA FACTS

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1994 – the United States succumbed to soccer, as they call the world’s most popular sport, and hosted the 1994 World Cup. The 1994 World Cup had the biggest crowd in the FIFA event’s history, 3,587,538 spectators, and other equally impressive figures. This victory made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. The competition saw no less than 141 goals, the best mark since 1982. During qualifiers, 147 teams fought for 24 spots. In addition, Cameroon player Roger Milla got another record: he became the oldest player to ever score a goal in a World Cup. This World Cup was a tough time period for me personally and I was devastated at some personal stuff. I remember even breaking my spectacles by accident one night while trying to watch the games and I was like “great”!

Milla was 42 years, one month, and eight days when he scored Cameroon’s only goal in their 6-1 defeat to Russia. That match also registered another record in World Cups: Russian player Oleg Salenko scored five goals in just one game. The 1994 World Cup is also remembered because of two episodes. The first was Diego Maradona testing positive after a drug test, caught on the anti-doping test, which detected ephedrine. The second damaging episode was the death of Colombian defender Andrés Escobar. The player scored an own goal against the United States in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup. The mistake resulted in Colombia losing 2-1 and being eliminated from the tournament. After returning home, Escobar was murdered in front of a nightclub in the city of Medellín, supposedly ordered by Colombian gamblers who lost a lot of money with the negative result.

Europe had its turn four years earlier, in 1990, so the following non-European countries placed a bid: Morocco, the United States, and Brazil. The FIFA Executive Committee (Exco) announced on July 4, 1988, in Zurich that the United States won the bid with a little more than half of the votes. For the United States to host the 1994 World Cup, it had to meet one condition. This condition was that the United States had to create a professional football league. The sport has become more popular, and the professional football league was established in 1993 called the Major League Soccer (MLS).

West Germany and East Germany finally reunited in 1990; therefore, the German participant in the 1994 World Cup was called Germany again. The 1994 World Cup had country Russia as a participant as well. Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia would never be referred to as the Soviet Union again. This was the first World Cup where the country qualified as Russia. Yugoslavia was suspended from international competition in 1992. This suspension was part of the United Nations sanctions against the country due to the Yugoslav Wars. The suspension ended in 1994, but it was too late to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. Euro winners in 1992, Denmark did not qualify, and neither did England and France.

In their five previous World Cup finals, Bulgaria had never won a game. Their fourth place finish was a surprise. Under coach Dimitar Penev, Bulgaria surprised many soccer fans. Bulgaria had never even won a game at the World Cup finals prior to this tournament. Led by top scorer Hristo Stoichkov they defeated the reigning World Cup winning side Germany in the quarter-finals while on their journey to the 3rd place play-off. In the World Cup 1994 quarter-final, the most exciting match, Brazil had to play the Netherlands, with players like Dennis Bergkamp, Frank Rijkaard, and Marc Overmars. At the beginning of the second half, they scored twice, with Bebeto’s famous celebration, pretending to carry a baby, in homage to his son who had just been born.

Then the Dutch equalized with Dennis Bergkamp and Aron Winter. It was then that left-back Branco, also the target of criticism, was fouled outside the box, took the ball, and scored via the free kick. Brazil also had to beat Sweden in the semis, who finished 3rd. After five successive World Cup Finals containing Argentina or West Germany, or both, the 1994 World Cup Final consisted of different countries. On the 17th of July 1994, the Final was played in Rose Bowl, Los Angeles, with an attendance of 94,194. For the first time in history, the world title would be decided on penalties. What no one expected happened when Roberto Baggio went up to take his penalty. Italy’s World Cup hopes relied on the forward to score his penalty.

The player responsible for carrying the not-so-brilliant Azzurra on his back ended up a villain when he sent his shot over the bar. Brazil was the 1994 World Cup winner and the first nation to win the FIFA World Cup four times.

1994 World Cup Facts And Records

Dates: June 17 – July 17, 1994
Final: Brazil – Italy 3-2 (penalties)
3rd place: Sweden – Bulgaria 4-0
Teams: 24
Stadiums: 9
Host cities: 9
Matches played: 52
Goals: 141
Attendance: 3,587,538
Top scorers: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), Oleg Salenko (Russia) (6 goals)

1990 World Cup Italy Facts

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When the 1990 World Cup was again hosted in Italy, 56 years after the Azzurra’s first title, a lot had changed in the country and the world too. I was about to turn 14 and this was the first World Cup that I was able to sit up and watch a lot of the matches. Infact I think I missed just a few games and every day at school we would discuss the games and the goals. Many European countries were interested in hosting the 14th World Cup. Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany, Soviet Union, Italy, and Yugoslavia were all interested. However, most of them withdrew their bid before the vote started.

Only Italy and the Soviet Union remained. On the day of the vote on May 19, 1984, in Zurich, it was announced by the FIFA Executive Committee that Italy gained the most votes, a total of 11. Italy would become the 2nd country to host a World Cup for the 2nd time after Mexico. Of the 24 teams participating in Italy 1990, Italy (host country) and Argentina (1986 World Cup winner) automatically qualified. The Republic of Ireland qualified for the first time. Romania qualified for the first time since 1970. This is the last World Cup where only 2 points were awarded to a win. Argentina still had the brilliant Maradona. In addition to Gary Lineker, the top scorer in 1986, England also had Paul Gascoigne, who was on top form.

Germany boasted Franz Beckebauer as their manager and had Lothar Matthäys, Jßrgen Klinsmann and Andreas Brehme amongst their ranks. However, despite the great line-ups, the 1990 World Cup had the lowest goal average in history: only 2.21 per game. Led by the charismatic Roger Milla, the contagious Cameroonians started to make history with a 1-0 victory over Argentina in their first match. Then, they beat Romania and qualified first in their group, beating Colombia in the round of 16. The first ever African team to reach the quarter-finals, Cameroon had to say farewell to the dream when England beat them in extra time.

The English made it to the 1990 FIFA World Cup semi-final for the first time since 1966 and have never managed to get as far since. Indeed, in 1990 their chance of winning their second title was real. The English team had outstanding players like Gary Lineker, David Platt, Ian Wright, and veteran goalkeeper Peter Shilton. In addition to Paul Gascoigne, of course. They were eliminated in the semi-finals by Argentina on penalties. Hosts Italy would face Argentina in Naples, a city that idolized Diego Maradona in the second semis, which saw Argentina win on penalties and get through to the final. The final in Rome was a rematch of the previous four years earlier. The winner would match Brazil and Italy in the number of world titles.

Argentina and West Germany. West Germany entered the Final for the 6th time and Argentina for the 4th time. Germany wanted revenge. And it came from Andreas Brehme’s feet. Argentina, however, entered the Final with several players injured and booked. On the 8th of July, in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the Final was played with an attendance of 69,029. Pedro Monzón had the unfortunate honor of setting the record of being the first player to be sent off in a final. He was sent off due to a foul on German player Jürgen Klinsmann.  the only goal of the World Cup final was scored, which was a penalty. The referee awarded West Germany a penalty due to a foul by Roberto Sensini on Rudi Völler. It was German player Andreas Brehme who successfully shot the penalty (85?) as German went on to be crowned champions.

World Cup 1990 Facts

Dates: 8 June – 8 July 1990
1990 FIFA World Cup Final: West Germany – Argentina 1-0
3rd place: Italy – England 2-1
Teams: 24
Stadiums: 12
Host cities: 12
Matches played: 52
Goals: 115
Attendance: 2,393,031
Top scorer: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) 6 goals

5 Ways You Can Help Your Local Animal Shelter If You Can’t Volunteer Or Foster/Adopt

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XX Ways You Can Help Your Local Shelter, Even If You Can’t Volunteer: National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week: 2-8

1. You Can Help Shelters by Transporting Animals

Transport rescued animals to their foster homes. In the last decade hundreds of thousands of dogs have been transported from U.S. shelters to rescue organizations. Many rescues take in shelters dog from rural areas, and many are located in the southern states. Shelters in rural areas often have low foot traffic and a large pet overpopulation problem which leads to their high kill rates. Volunteers drive to these shelters and transport the animals back to their foster homes or new owner.  If you’re interested in being an animal transporter you can find many resources online for animal rescue organizations in your area.

2. Donate Items to Your Local Shelter

You can donate to local rescues or shelters. Money is always needed but there are so many other items that are needed and appreciated. Some of the most common needed items at shelters include:

  • Towels

  • Chains

  • Leashes

  • Toys

  • Brushes

  • Beds

  • Food & dishes

  • Cleaning supplies

  • Newspapers

Many shelters have their donation policies listed, and many include a list of items they need most. Find a local shelter near you and see if there’s any items you can help out with. Policies vary on whether or not they accept gently used items and/or food items.

3. Buy Items on a Shelter’s Wishlist

Most animal shelters & rescues have links to their wishlists on their website. Amazon wishlists are common,  and they provide a list of the items they need which you can sort by order of importance. Amazon wishlists include the shelters address which means you don’t have to ship any items yourself; they’ll go right from Amazon to your local shelter. You can buy items for your local rescue without even leaving your living room.

4. Help By Taking Photos of Adoptable Pets

If you have some photography skills you can help animals in need by taking adoption photos for local shelters. Most people find search for pets on pages like petfinder, and with a great profile picture animals have a much greater chance of being adopted.

5. Network Shelter Pets on Social Media

If you have some graphic design, social media, or web design skills offer those skills to a local rescue. They rely on word of mouth to network their animals, and the internet is usually the first place potential adopters start their search.

Prompt from 100+ Blog Posts Ideas & Writing Prompts for November at Pretty Opiniated