But Guardian readers have finally produced a definitive answer to the big question about Euro 2008, at least if you're British - who to support in the first major football tournament without either a British or an Irish presence since 1984. And the answer is: the Netherlands. The final verdict was arrived at via an online poll from a shortlist of Romania, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

snip

There were 48,232 votes cast in the poll, the overwhelming majority of them - 96.2% - for the Netherlands. Spain came second with 1.8% of the vote, followed by Germany (1.4%); Sweden (0.4%) and Romania (0.2%). If the level of support for the Netherlands seems surprisingly high, it is because Dutch ingenuity even extended to hacking into and trying to rig the Guardian's online poll.

In the final days of voting, the Dutch website GeenStijl (literally "no style") instigated a campaign to tilt the balance their country's way, eventually spawning a triumphant piece of hacking that gave Holland an improbable percentage of the votes.

Since they would have won without cheating, the Guardian decided not to disqualify the team.

Bold mine. GeenStijl is an anarchistic, politically right leaning  blog hugely popular in the Netherlands - yet when I came across this gem in the Guardian this morning I did have to chuckle. GeenStijl is notorious for unhinging on-line polls.

School teachers and soldiers in Zim now receive an allowance of 13 billion; factory workers 5 billion. Considering that a taxi ride (single fare) is 200 million, 5 kg of mealy meal is some 1 billion and 2 litres of cooking oil is 2.5 billion sold at the black market, it still doesn't cut it. Police is bribing for food, not money. Malnutrition has been setting in. How long can this continue?

He's afraid of war. With the xenophobic crisis in SA in its aftermath (suppressing curses), the focus should be going back to Zim. Three weeks and counting for the presidential run-off.

I accept that I'm coming across a bit Lynne Truss here, but can I ask something.

I can accept that in the US the first person perfect tense of the verb "to dive" is  "I dove". Despite it being properly "I dived" and a dove is a bird.

But I really, really cannot bear reading that in the US the first person perfect tense of the verb "to wreak" is "I wreaked", or even "I wrecked". It is wrought, as in "I wrought".

This is not aimed at anyone here (afaik) but I saw it several times on kos and elsewhere recently and I just had to rant.

And no having back about my lousy typos. I know, I know, I know. See how I care.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Dear Swami:

My mind never ceases its dialogue and is always asking questions. I'm wondering if you have a secret method that can end all questions? I seem to be trapped in a mental feedback loop.

Helen Teheven, Midland, Texas

Dear Helen:

First of all, you can be thankful for one thing. Your problems are all in your mind! Therefore, the solution is simple. If you want to stop the constant dialogue, you must go out of your mind and into your heart. The best way to do this is to gather all the thoughts in your head in one intense ball of tension, and then release these rapidly while breathing out: "Aaa-a-a-a-a-ah!" The "ah" sound is specifically related to the heart, and the process of sighing -- particularly when there is a sizable sigh -- allows maximum release. This isn't my idea, by the way. I learned it years ago from Sigh Baba, who was also known as "The Wizard of Ahs."

Of course, given the way the mind works you will find questions creeping back into your consciousness. No problem. Just remember that it takes two to dialogue, so don't answer them. Before long, the questions will stop and you will begin to hear answers instead. Now you're getting somewhere! Still, to clear the mind and transcend thought completely requires constant vigilance, especially nowadays where information seeps in from everywhere. No wonder so many of us are suffering from truth decay! That's why four out of five transcendentists recommend mental floss. That's what I do. Anytime I feel the effects of too much thinking, I place my thumb and forefinger about six inches from each ear and gently move it back and forth like I'm flossing. No better way to release excess flossophy, and go from the static of the head to the ecstatic of the heart.

© Copyright 2008 by Steve Bhaerman.

Emphasis mine.

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena.

At any rate they exhibited a letter from Dr. Nina Pierpont (hmmm - a Pierpont - hmmm) concerning a research project that grew out of her practice in Maine. Soon to be published, she mentioned. Gist was that less than a mile of distance on the downwind side may present a potential for several health problems.

I talked to the Planning Dept. head of our east-neighboring county, which is approaching $2 billion USD in wind-turbine property assets, and he said that they get almost no complaints, except an occasional one about "light flicker". However, that county has a very low population density, and all of the 'wind farms' are being sited on the properties of willing participants.

Upshot is that I take such concerns seriously enough to ask the experts for their experience/opinion. Any information for me?

paul spencer

Have to be in Paris by the end of July. Just dropped the price of my house by a big amount....time to dump the thing now...

If you were looking for a 4-bedroom home in Minneapolis/St Paul's finest urban neighborhood, have I got a deal for you!

"C'est un scandale !"

The European Commission has issued an alert over an incident at a nuclear power plant in Slovenia.

The EU's executive body says it was informed by Slovene authorities about a problem with the primary cooling system of the Krsko nuclear plant in the southwest of the country.

It says the plant was implementing a safe shutdown procedure and no discharge into the environment has been immediately detected.

That is all there is.