Goodbye Amo Baba :-(

Amo Baba buried in Iraqi football's biggest stadium*

Fri, May 29th - AFP

BAGHDAD, May 29, 2009 (AFP) - Iraqi football's legendary player and coach Emmanuel Baba Dawud, known affectionately as "Amo (uncle) Baba," was buried in the country's biggest football stadium on Friday in line with his dying wish.

"We loved Amo Baba from our heart, as a player, trainer and a teacher. We loved him and bid him farewell with our hearts, and he will always be in the Iraqi people's hearts," Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi said.

As a player, he was famous for his attacking flair and scored Iraq's first international goal at the 1957 Pan Arab Games. Named coach of the national team in 1978, he led Iraq to the Olympics in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul.

Amo Baba, a member of Iraq's Assyrian Christian minority, died on Wednesday in northern Iraq at the age of 74 of complications from diabetes.

The funeral took place in a Baghdad church before the coffin draped in an Iraqi flag was transported to Al-Shaab stadium on a military vehicle, in a state tribute with the blessing of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The coffin was carried aloft by soldiers and lowered into a grave in the stadium compound.

"With the name of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people, we console the family of this hero who carried the name of Iraq in Al-Shaab stadium and other stadiums ... for 50 years," Mahdi said in a speech at the ceremony.

Youth and Sport Minister Essam al-Diwan said it was Amo Baba's will to be buried at the stadium.

"The last time we visited Amo Baba in hospital, he demanded to be buried in Al-Shaab stadium and said: 'Death is a professional player. I'm sure he will get me'," Diwan said.

*Source

To learn more about him, check out this wikipedia entry. 

May his soul rest in peace.

* photos source

Really Virtual Reality

ScienceDaily (2009-05-29) -- Far from being geeky and exotic, virtual reality could be the key to a new range of innovative products. European researchers and industrialists have come together to build a world-leading community ready to exploit that promise.

Full article is here.

How you look at things...

The map of online communities

reference

Intelligent Life Sciences Search Engine: Grid Browser Understands Technical Terms And Context

ScienceDaily (2009-05-23) -- A web browser that can understand technical terms in life sciences and automatically find additional resources and services has been developed. It could lead to a new generation of intelligent search engines.

Full article is here.

Forgetting....

'Five Dimensional' Discs With A Storage Capacity 2,000 Times That Of Current DVDs

ScienceDaily (2009-05-21) -- Futuristic discs with a storage capacity 2,000 times that of current DVDs could be just around the corner, thanks to new research from Australia. For the first time, researchers have demonstrated how nanotechnology can enable the creation of 'five dimensional' discs with huge storage capacities.

Full article is here.

Celebrations....

Celebrating 25 years of online communication by yahoo mail:

and celebrating my b-day too :-D

On this day in history......

1536

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was beheaded.

1588

The 130-ship-strong Spanish Armada set sail for England; it was defeated in August.

1643

The colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Harbor met to form the New England Confederation.

1921

Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, establishing national quotas for immigrants.

1928

The first annual Calaveras County "Frog Jumping Jubilee" was held in Angel's Camp, California.

1935

British author and soldier, T. E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.

1962

Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday” to president John F. Kennedy.

1992

The 27th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises, went into effect.

1994

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York.

I share this birth date with ~.

Achieving Fame, Wealth And Beauty Are Psychological Dead Ends, Study Says

ScienceDaily (2009-05-14) -- If you think having loads of money, fetching looks, or the admiration of many will improve your life -- think again. A new study demonstrates that progress on these fronts can actually make a person less happy.

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Develop Next Generation Mobile Applications And Services: Open Source Middleware On Its Way

ScienceDaily (2009-05-06) -- Self-adapting Applications for Mobile Users In Ubiquitous Computing Environments. The EU-funded MUSIC project announces the interim release of the MUSIC platform (v 0.3.0), which would be of use for the development of mobile application software and services.

Full article is here.

Happy 'Canadian' Mothers Day :-D

Today is Mothers Day in Canada, it was on March 21st in the Middle East. I think everyday should be a mothers day,

To all the mothers out there:

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ;-)