p2pnet view Cool:- Yesterday, when I was in hospital for routine tests, the TV in the waiting room was tuned to the FIFA semi-finals match between Holland and Uruguay.

So I sat in the hallway and read a book.

When I went home the first thing I did was switch to the CBC replay, idly checking my email as I watched the opening minutes.

And the subject line of one of the emails — from Australia — revealed the result.

To make it worse, the !@#$%%^&* writer had done exactly the same thing at the beginning of the games.

With that in mind, it’s a good thing I don’t live in Germany.

Because there, an eight-limbed prophet is driving FIFA footie fans frantic.

“The cries of despair from all around Germany could probably be heard in South Africa as a ‘psychic’ octopus called Paul tipped Spain Tuesday to beat Germany in the football World Cup semi-final”, says the Montreal Gazette.

Paul has “successfully predicted all five of Germany’s games in South Africa, carefully weighed up the two teams, before plumping for Spain, prompting anguished groans from the assembled media scrum”, says the story, going on >>>

Carried live on national television, two plastic boxes, one with a German flag and one with a Spanish, were lowered into Paul’s tank at an aquarium in western Germany, each with a tasty morsel of food inside.

The box which Paul opens first is adjudged to be his predicted winner.

If Paul’s performance is replicated on the pitch, it promises to be an end-to-end thriller. He teased the crowd by initially lingering at the German flag before heading for the Spanish box.

The mollusc medium has shot to fame by defying the odds with a perfect record of picking winners.

Meanwhile, having “accurately predicted Germany would beat Argentina in the quarter-finals, Paul faced the wrath of angry Argentinian supporters who have blamed the octopus for their World Cup exit and expressed a desire to eat him in an act of vengeance”, says the Telegraph, adding:

“But Paul’s keeper Oliver Walenciak remains confident that the octopus will continue performing his remarkable act for years to come from the safety of his tank in Oberhausen as opposed to the dinner table.

“He said: ‘There are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive’.”

I’m in hospital again today. But this time I’m taking my MP3 player and a book. And I won’t be checking my emails.

Cheers!
Jon

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Montreal Gazette – German angst as ‘psychic’ octopus tips Spain World Cup win, July 6, 2010
Telegraph – Germany v Spain: Psychic octopus Paul unfazed by death threats, says keeper, July 7, 2010

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 10:36 am and is filed under Cool Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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