Firemen Extricate Victims of Road Accident

Still Think Ramgoolam is Not Made For Politics?

Or you might be in the mood for that dumb fairy tale that his dad had said he should never dab into politics. The way he's been controlling the local political chessboard for the past 10 or so years should be ample proof that he simply has no match for now. It's not that he's invincible. Rather his opponents are painfully too weak.

Granted the PM has matured quite a bit: he's been understanding the importance of monetary policy for a while now; foreign policy has become more skillful (the opposition simply cannot deliver this kind of performance) and the toxic bean-counting duet has been neutered. Yet, he still doesn't have a legacy that will not be sneezed at. After three terms.

That could change in a few weeks when he presents his first -- and much awaited -- budget.

Mauritian FB Pages With The Most Likes

I googled but didn't find any lists. But it's not difficult to get a rough idea:

Air Mauritius: 520,672; L'express: 207,879; Lux* Island Resorts: 123,358; MCB: 104,479; Beachcomber: 72,249; Defimedia Group: 45,843; PMSD: 31,432; ION News: 31,348; SBM: 30,213; MMM: 30,172; Parti Malin: 27,975; Mauritius Labour Party: 27,825; Courts: 25, 268; Le Mauricien: 18,863; Flying Dodo Brewing Company: 13,670; J Kalachand: 5,474; MSM: 5,055; MPCB: 2,710; Le Matinal: 1,564; Kozelidir: 288 (Yahoo!); Conserverie Sarjua: 177.

So the PMSD and Party Malin have more likes than the Labour Party. I guess these two parties will win by a landslide in the next general elections. MK looks like it will be the first company to hit a million likes. When you deal with more than 1 million passengers every year surely it's no big surprise that you are right on the top here. But likes don't necessarily mean a lot as people like pages for all kinds of reasons. And page administrators don't all do as good a job.

Meet A 6-year Old

Yep, it's August 23 today so Kozelidir is one year smarter. We've reached 1,182 posts and nearly 3,700 comments. But as you may have noticed the pace of the posts and comments has slowed down for essentially two reasons. First let us look at posts.

I have a lot less time to blog here -- which would explain that only 45 posts have been published so far this year -- and because I had to resume writing more meatier stuff on the crucially important topic of electoral reform on The Jag! I already wrote 5 posts in 2014 there or 50% the total number of posts published between 2005 and 2008. That's been a lot of work but more should appear there soon.

Comments also flow in less often because those there already cover most of the interesting angles of the relevant posts. So there is little to add. People that are new to Kozelidir might also be intimidated by the quality of the discussion that takes place here. So they shy away.

See you in here!

Premier League Season Starts Today

Manu will kick off the league by welcoming Swansea City at 15h45. They got a great new coach: Louis Van Gaal. Arsenal will meet Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium at 20h30. The two best teams of last season will be in action tomorrow. Liverpool, post-Suarez, will play against Southampton -- a team where it bought a number of players -- at Anfield at 16h30. And City will travel to Newcastle for the 19h00 game. Finally Chelsea -- Drogba has returned and they now have Diego Costa -- will visit newly-promoted Burnley on Monday.

The fun resumes!

Robin Williams Dead At 63

The funny man's body was found in his Californian home yesterday. He made millions laugh over decades. This has been his verse.

Stray Dogs To Join Work-for-Food Scheme

Those of New Delhi that is. A number of them will undergo training before working as guard dogs in the police force. The reward will be food. That's a smart idea because it will take them off the streets of the Indian capital -- which means fewer cases of fatal rabies -- and at the same time improve security of India's second most populous city.

There are as many as 200 million stray dogs in the world.

Run 5 Minutes Everyday and Live 3 Years More

That's what a new study concludes. It just has to be vigorous so as to give your system a jolt. Working out is good too. Or a swim. Or skipping rope to a 100 -- which shouldn't take you more than a minute-and-a-half.

And we'll surely get more useful info given that Google has launched a large-scale study of what makes us healthy. While Apple is expected to launch an iWatch in a couple of months.

Sithanen Says He's No Expert in Electoral Systems

That was Tuesday last on Radio+. And boy couldn't I agree more with him. You can have a Phd but still be no expert because you're too bookish. Or suffer from the great man's disease. Or you're kind of arrogant. He made that statement when his radio host was telling him -- scroll to 31:50 -- that there might be problems with his stupid amendment. Here's percisely what he said:

"Mo pa exper mwa, mo pe fer sa kado pu la popilasyon. U kone mo pe fer sa lor enn baz volonter. Mo pe donn enn kudmin. E u kone kifer mo pe donn enn kudme ? Li bon mo dir sa la popilasyon u kone. Parski pena exper. Dan lezot pei nwena enn panel de expert pu fer sa. U kone ?

Alor la wadire u pe met mwa u pe dir mwa mo bizin truv solisyon. U kone. Mo pe donn enn kudmin kuma enn sitwayin. Mo pa paye par guvernman mwa. Non non, u pe dir mwa ki exper. Mo pe donn enn kudmin pu mo pei. Dan lezot pei zot ena 25 expert. Bann profeser liniversite. E bann dimunn ki fer sa travay la. Nu pena sa. Nu pe seye mem dan bann kondisyon extreman difisil pu truv enn solisyon. Enn problem difisil. Maintenant si bann lezot dimunn ena solisyon la me nu pe donn enn kudmin..."

The snag is that Rama Sithanen has been introduced many many times as THE expert in Electoral Systems over the past 5-6 years -- he completed his degree in 2008 -- but I never heard him point out the error people were systematically making. What I have read though is an interview where he was saying who is an expert.

Why Sithanen Should Be Ejected From The Faugoo Committee

Here are a few reasons:

1. His flawed 2012 report on electoral reform has been widely discredited almost immediately after its publication. And many more flaws have been discovered since then.
2. Our excellent Constitution is the supreme law of the land and shouldn't be tampered with. Any amendment to it shouldn't be done in a hurry and should definitely not be entrusted to people like Dr. Sithanen who has funny ideas about democracy and who has proved to us on more occasions than one that he has serious problems in interpreting data objectively.
3. He has confessed that his mini-amendment is stupid: it works only if it is not used for the purpose it was proposed.

31% of Host Countries Won The World Cup

But Brazil didn't when it was organized there in 1950. It won 5 since then and there have been manifestations of the seleçao that looked out of this world but still didn't lift the trophy. That is to say it's kind of difficult to predict how a match will go. At least for mere mortals.

But not for Felipe Scolari who for example was hoping that Chile would not qualify for the World Cup because they have always been tough opponents. It appears to be a surprising statement until you watch the two sides play. So there are teams which seem to be naturally predisposed to give you a lot of trouble because of the size of the players, the game they play, the quality of passes, the discipline level and what not.

So when the auriverde meet the mannschaft Wednesday 00h00 to try to clinch their ticket to play the finals at the Maracana in Rio we're best to look forward for an exciting match. Given that the Germans have finished third or better 11 times. As long as Brazil wins that is.

And then on Thursday we'll have a rematch of the 1978 final.

Selecao Narrowly Escapes Chilean Jaws in Belo

This was on Saturday when the host country could have exited the completion when they were saved in the final minute of the prolongation by the woodwork. And by Julio Cesar during the penalty shoot out.

This football match -- which occurred on the same day the famous Brazilian jersey turned 60 -- is now the most tweeted sports event ever.

The Seleçao will now meet the impressive Rames and his Colombian teammates on Saturday 00h00 at the mother of all stadiums: the Maracana. 

Meet Amanda Jones

You might have heard about her: she is the former employee of an international school who had refused that her fingerprints be used to mark attendance. And that the Data Protection Commissioner subsequently concluded -- after carrying out an inquiry -- that the Data Protection Act had been breached.

This interesting case will likely have a bearing on the very controversial biometric ID card.

Constitution Temporary Provisions Bill Published

Yep. Government has published the temporary provision bill which will be debated and possibly adopted in our Parliament next Friday. The latter will be exceptionally open for the occasion. And given how tired the few MPs who will speak on that day will be our august Assembly will enter another indefinite period of prorogation. Right after.

As everybody knows no pressing national problem should get in the way of a well-earned rest.

Happy Christmas!!!

Life Perspectives From Comic Genius

How Not To Get Rid of A Washed Up Whale

Navin Ramgoolam Joins Select Club

As the third of our Prime Ministers to also cumulate the Finance portfolio. Of course the first and most famous member of this very exclusive group is SSR who happened to be our FM at the most famous time in our history.

It's a real pity that Navin Ramgoolam did not take over that ministry back in 2005 as I had suggested when it was already kind of obvious to the trained ear that a toxic politician was doing his level best to send the country to the dogs. Especially when you consider that Mauritius not only had the best growth rates of the past twenty years during the first mandate of Ramgoolam II but the cake-cutting was also a lot more compatible with that of an avowed socialist. But it's true that PMs can sometimes, but not always, get busy. Still, he could have entrusted the ministry to a Rs5 coin and the outcomes would have been a lot better. But let's not cry over a spilled decade. And instead watch how he plays the trump card he's been dealt.

Ghana Loses Match Against US Foolishly

I am a fan of Ghana since their good performance in the 2010 World Cup. So I stayed up late to watch them take on the Yankees. Although they conceded a very fast goal from Dempsey they kind of dominated the game -- Ghana had a 62% possession rate. And it was evident that they would probably put one in the second half. Which they did in the final eight minutes of the game. But then some really sloppy defending gave their opponent a corner which John Brooks deflected into the net of Kwarasey.

I hope they will bounce back because there's a lot of talent on this team. Go Ghana! Go!

Robie van Per-Seal and Holland Trash La Hoja

In a brutal 5-1 win in Salvador, Bahia. RVP scored two goals including an amazing 'flying-seal' header. Robben also scored two magnificent goals after literally making fun of the defence of the reigning champs. They have surely impressed everybody while coach van Gaal has said that his team can get better.

Suarez is in action at 23h00 while Gerrard's side will meet 4-time winners Italy at 02h00. Which means you have one hour to get those chips and beer. Or whatever.

Brazil and Croatia Meet in Their First Match, Again

Eight years after Germany. But not before the opening ceremony where JLo will sing the 2014 World Cup anthem and Iron Man pays tribute to national icon Santos Dumont. We'll have some pretty huge matches early in the competition: a re-run of the 2010 Final at 23h00 on Friday, England will play Italy 02h00 on Sunday and Germany will meet CR7's side on Monday 20h00.

Not every Brazilian is happy about their country -- where more than a third of the population lives in poverty -- spending $11 billion to host the Copa do Mundo. Indeed there have been protests for a year about the huge price tag as locals believe some of it is the result of wrongdoing. For example they can hardly understand why over $300 million had to be spent on a brand new stadium in Manaus where only a few games will be played. And allegations of the 2022 World Cup being bought doesn't help.

In any case you can always sniff out the latest financial statements of the FIFA while you wait for those late matches.