Olympic Stories- Camille Muffat Wins Gold for France

French swimmer Camille Muffat, 22, won gold today for France in the 400-meter free-style. Earlier in the 2012 London Olympics, she won silver in the 200-meters race.

In today's action, Muffat edged out Allison Schmitt of the United States who won silver and the home pool favorite Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain who finished in third and received a bronze medal. Frederica Pellegrini of Italy was also expected to medal in the race, but she failed to come through.

France is having a particularly strong Olympics so far with 8 gold, 5 silvers and 6 bronze medals.

Other French gold medalists include Tony Estanguet (men's canoeing), Teddy Riner (men's judo) and Lucie Decosse (women's judo).

Parade of Nations (One of Four)- Turkey to New Zealand

Today, we start our first of four blog entries on the Parade of Nations, which occurred on Friday during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics; there are also four entries on the subject on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

We start with Turkey, the homeland of my late father, then Great Britain (United Kingdom), which is the host country, and the rest of the nations will be in alphabetical order.

Turkey-Nesilhan Darnel (pictured top, women's volleyball)

Great Britain- Chris Hoy (cyclist)

Argentina- Luciana Aymar (pictured below, women's field hockey)

Belgium- Tia Hellebaut (women's track and field)

France- Laura Flessel-Colovic (women's fencing)

Germany- Natascha Keller (women's field hockey)

Netherlands/Holland- Dorian von Rjsselberghe (women's windsurfing)

New Zealand- Nick Willis (pictured middle, men's track and field)

http://www.olympic.org

http://www.tvf.org.tr/

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.welcomeargentina.com

http://www.newzealand.com

http://www.goturkey.com

Ten People Who Will Decide the Presidency- (2 of 10) Casino Dealer in Nevada

Today, we continue our series of looking at how individual decisions can greatly affect the outcome of the American presidential election. So far, this year, there have been elections in  some 70 countries, including Egypt, Greece, France and Russia, but the American presidential election receives the most attention and it is conversely the most expensive.Dave Gilson of the liberal publication "Mother Jones" stated in a February column that President Barack Obama spent $730 million to become president in 2008.

Here is a look at today's fictional person who represents a real person who could decide the presidency; please see our disclaimer at the end of the blog_

Name: Linda Garcia

Age: 43

Residency: Las Vegas, Nevada

Will Likely Vote For: Barack Obama

Obama made significant gains over John Kerry to win the Silver State in 2008. Though Nevada has only five electoral votes, it is one of the main swing states. Nevada has chosen the president in every election cycle since 1912 with the exception of 1976 when the state picked Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter.

In the '08 election, Obama garnered 55 percent of the vote in Nevada. Regionally, his biggest win came in the Las Vegas-metro area. In 2004, George W. Bush won over Kerry by a mere 2.6 percent margin. The city of Elko was considered to be the one zip code responsible for the narrow re-election of Bush as the former president won a whopping 78 percent of the vote there. But, Obama trimmed the margins in Nevada's most conservative area by winning 32 percent of the vote in Elko.

Obama also won in the Nevada capital of Carson City and Reno, two areas that just barely went to Bush four years earlier. Many insiders expect the Hispanic vote to decide many western states. In addition to Nevada, the Hispanic vote will be crucial in New Mexico, Colorado and even Arizona, a state that went to John McCain (he is one of the state's two Republican U.S. Senators) in 2008.

According to the Pew Research Center, Hispanics voted for Obama by a 67-31 percent margin in 2008. Obama also became the first Democrat to win Florida's Hispanic vote by a 57-42 percent margin. And, he even made strides with the traditionally Republican Cuban-American vote by gaining 35 percent of the vote in that demographic. Cuban-Americans started becoming partisan Republicans after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Linda Garcia is a fictional character. There are many people with that name including a Georgetown professor. There is also a Linda Garcia Cubaro, who is a former Air Force officer. But, this fictional Linda Garcia is not based on them in any way. Nor does this character necessarily reflect the politics of any individuals with her name.

While this has consisted of many political satires from a center-left perspective, this series is meant to be informative and non-partisan.

http://www.pewhispanic.org

http://www.capitolhillcubans.com

http://www.miamicubandems.org

http://www.nvdems.com

http://www.nevadagop.org

http://www.visitlasvegas.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Claude Monet

Greetings to everyone in Dubai, where we understand the local economy is very, very good.

Today we quote the great French artist Claude Monet (1840-1926). Five of Monet's lily masterpieces will be on display this summer at an exhibition at Tate Liverpool, which is an art museum on Tate Street, in Liverpool, England (United Kingdom). This might be our first mention of Liverpool which not about soccer or The Beatles.

Here is Monet's quip, which sounds rather negative:

"My life has been nothing but a failure."

Quote of the Day/Week- Marie Curie

Today, we start our series of quotes from artists and scientists this month with a quip from the Polish chemist Marie Curie (1867-1934) who went to university in Paris, France in 1891, and remained there until her death though she frequently visited her native land.

Curie was known for her ground-breaking research in the area of radioactivity, which is a term she originated. She also won the Nobel Pace Prize in 1911.

Here is her quote:

"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."

UEFA Madness- Our 2,000th Entry

Perhaps, of all the millions of blog entries posted from Denver to Diyarbakir to Dubai to Pyonyang, this is the very first one to feature both Ciao, the mascot of the 1990 World Cup in Italy and Nasreddin Hoca, the famed Turkish folk figure, who is known for riding a donkey backwards.

We are using Ciao because yesterday proved to be a very good one for the Italian soccer team Napoli (more on that later), and we are utilizing the Hoca because this is our 2,000th entry. We were trying to think of a person who could represent longevity and it came down to the Hoca and Noah, of Noah's Ark fame. Ironically, Noah's Ark landed on Mount Ararat which is in modern Turkey.

Getting back to futbol, Napoli beat the Spanish team Villareal 2-0 yesterday with goals from Gokhan Inler (65th min.) a Swiss national of Turkish heritage, and Marek Hamsik, the Slovakian superstar, who is co-captain of Napoli and captain of the Slovakian national team (we almost mistook him for a Czech!).

With the victory, Napoli was able to advance to the round of 16 along with Bayern Munich who won Group A in spite of losing to Manchester City 2-0.

But, the strangest game of the day occured in Zagreb, Croatia, where the home team Dinamo Zagreb shockingly got savagely beaten by a Hungry Lyon as the French poured it on in a 7-1 victory. Though Lyon was expected to win, only the most partisan Lyon fans could have expected such an outcome. The game was a particularly glorious one for Bafetimbi Gomis, as the French player of Senegalese heritage scored an amazing four goals (45th min; 48th min; 52nd min; and 70th min.). With the lopsided win, Lyon was thus able to pass Ajax Amsterdam and get the second slot in Group D behind Real Madrid.

Despite resting many superstar starters, Real Madrid went to the Netherlands and came out with a 3-0 win over Ajax Amsterdam. The star of the day for Real Madrid, a team that won its league with a perfect 18 points (each team gets three points for a win, and one point for a tie), was the Spanish player Jose Callejon, who scored in the 14th minute and in the 92nd minute (extra time) of play.

Jose Callejon's twin brother plays for Hercules, another Spanish League team. His club teammate Hamid Altintop, a German-born Turkish national, also has a twin brother Halil Altintop, who plays soccer. Alas, for Halil Altintop, Wednesday was not much of a celebratory day as his team Trabzonspor (Turkey) tied Lille (France) by a score of 0-0 in Group B, which knocked both teams out.

Here is a complete list of scores from Wednesday's UEFA action; the other games not mentioned in this entry are covered in our sister blog "The Daily Vampire:"

*-Denotes team which advanced

y- Denotes team that won its group

z-Denotes that winner won an upset

Group A

*Napoli 2 Villareal 0

Manchester City 2 *y Bayern Munich 0

Group B

*z CSKA Moscow 2 *y Inter Milan 1

Trabzonspor 0 Lille 0, tie

Group C

*y Benefica (Portugal) 1 Otelul Galati (Romania) 0

*z FC Basel (Swit.) 2 Manchester United 1

Group D

*y Real Madrid 3 Ajax Amsterdam 0

* Lyon 7 Dinamo Zagreb 1

Quote of the Day/Week- Diego Rivera

Today's quote of the day comes from Mexican artist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) who was the companion of fellow artist Frida Kahlo:

"Through her paintings, she breaks all taboos of the woman's body and female sexuality."

SIDEBAR: One of our favorite punk bands Gogol Bordello is playing Rome, Italy on Friday night before heading to Paris, France, for a Dec. 13 gig. But, they will be coming back to their hometown of New York for a series of 'traditional' New Year's Eve shows on Dec. 30th and 31st at Terminal Five.

Quote of the Day- Tarkan

We conclude our month-long series on quotes from famous Turkish people past and present with a quip from Tarkan, the pop mega-star, who has sold millions of records not only in Turkey, but also in Argentina, Germany, France, Greece and just about every place else except the United States. He is best-known for songs like "Simarik," "Dudu" and "Kuzu Kuzu."

The fact that he usually sings in Turkish has a lot to do with this, though on the advice of the late, great Turkish-American record producer Ahmet Ertegun, Tarkan did try to sing some songs in English. And, alas, it did sound like William Shatner's ("Star Trek"'s original Captain Kirk, for those of you born after Bush 41 was president) version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhadsopy," which is in record stores now (we are actually not making that up!).



Here is Tarkan's quote:

"Dancing and singing are always like games to me. I sang constantly."

Quote of the Day- Marcel Marceau

Yes, we like the idea of quoting the great French mime Marcel Marceau (1923-2007) who was famous for 'never saying a word.' Here is his quote:

"Do not the most moving parts of our lives find us without words?"

Quote of the Week- Alexandre Dumas

Our quote of the week comes from the late French novelist Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) who is best-known for his two famous novels "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Crisco."

I think this quote exemplifies the reasons why Donald Trump could never become a manager of a Taco Bell in Trenton, NJ, as it is he is a real germophone (according to a "Rolling Stone" interview published earlier this year) as it is.

Here is the quote:

"It is almost as difficult to keep a first class person in a fourth-class job, as it is to keep a fourth class in a first class job."

SIDEBAR: There was a commercial a few years ago for American Express where Donald Trump went into a dumpster to look for his wallet (yes, it is pick-on-Donald Trump day). As it turns out, there is an environmental activist in Los Angeles named Jeremy Seifert who is engaging in dumpster diving, which is a way to dig into dumpsters to get out potentially recyclable materials. Seifert wrote and directed a film about his experiences and his compatriots in the dumpster-diving venture for a documentary film called "Dive!" Apparently, much to his surprise, Seifert found a high amount of good, edible food in these dumpsters. The film will be screening next on Thurs., July 28, at Internationalist Books in Chapel Hill, NC.

Special Quote of the Day- Voltaire

Since today is Bastille Day in France, the country that brought us Tintin (just kidding, Belgium!), we thought we'd quote from the famous philosopher and plawright Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778) whom everyone simply knows as Voltaire. And, here is the quote:

"Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need."

Of course, he said all this a few centuries before the advent of Facebook and Twitter.

Road Trip- Paris to Moscow

Today, we are not actually you to guess the distance between Paris, France, and Moscow, Russia, but rather the distance between Paris, Texas, and Moscow, Idaho, neither of which are world capitals.

For our points of destination, we randomly chose two family restaurants in both zip codes from Google; we have no idea if either place has been featured in a "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip, but perhaps its creator Bill Griffith has stumbled upon our blog?!

We start with the Roadhouse Restaurant in Paris, Texas, a town made famous by the brilliant 1984 art film "Paris Texas," directed by the great German filmmaker Wim Wenders. As it is, the town, like Las Vegas, has a replica Eiffel Tower but this one has a cowboy hat on top of it.

Our other destination is Dad's Diner, which is actually located just outside Moscow, in Potlatch, Idaho; the other Moscow is known as a collegetown and the base of operation for the popular singer Josh Ritter.

So, just how far apart are these two places?

Is the answer:

A) 29 hours even

B) 30 hours even

C) 31 hours even

D) 32 hours even

Happy Trails to you, until we meet again, which reminds me there is a Gene Autry marathon on TCM tonight.

The Next Ten Films in My Netflix Que

Just in case you were wondering, Humpty Dumpty is for Eliot Spitzer; the Norwegian fiag pin is for the Norwegian horror film "Hidden." We wanted something more flamboyant for the Norwegian film, but oh well!

Here is the list; I have yet to see any of these films yet:

1. "No One Killed Jessica." (2011. Dir-Raj Kumar Gupta. India)

2. "Angel's Fall." (2005. Dir- Semih Kaplangul. Turkey).

3. "Hidden." (2009. Dir- Pal Oie. Norway)

4. "Irreversible" (2002. Dir- Gaspar Noe. France)

5. "A Tale of Springtime." (1990. Dir- Eric Rohmer. France)

6. "Les Bonnes Femmes" (1960. Dir- Claude Chabrol. France).

7. "The Baader Meinhof Complex." (2008. Dir- Uli Edel. Germany.)

8. "Marwencol" (2010. doc. Dir- Jeff Malmberg).

9. "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer." (2010. doc. Dir- Alex Gibney).

10. "Dogtooth." (2009. Dir- Giorgis Lanthios. Greece).

Quote of the Week- Jean Paul Sartre

While putting this piece together, I was struck by the irony that my late Turkish father and the late French Marxist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) both enjoyed smoking pipes even though my father was a bit of a right-wing Turkish nationalist!

Sartre, who was also among the leading atheist intellectuals in France, is known for his widely-read short story collection "Le Mur/The Road" (1938) and his philosophy collection "Being and Nothingness" (1943).

I found a copy of a book called "Sartre for Beginners" (1998), written by Philip Thordy and Howard Reed and published by Icon Books, at the Internationalist Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC.

Icon Books recently published a book by English author Kate Munro called "The First Time" about modern sexuality, which also sounds like an interesting read.

Due to time constraints are quote today is going to be extremely short; we are planning to have quotes from many French people past and present in July. This entry is part of our month-long series on quotes from left-wing, radical figures. Here is the quip from Sartre:

"Hell is other people."

SIDEBAR: While I was trying to put this entry together at the Wilson, NC, public library (not really where I am at!), a group of children came through the doors and they really annoyed me. As the late American comic actor W.C. Fields once said: "No one qho hate dogs and children can be all that bad."

I don't dislike children as individuals, but when there are large groups of them, they get on my last nerve, which is perhaps why it is a good thing that I am not a father.

But, I found this interesting disclosure from someone who did not give their name or hometown on myworstsecret.com who professes an even more profound distaste for children than I do. This person and I are probably very different in other aspects of life, which I will go into after showing what he or she said:

"I hate children. I really do. Oddly enough, I'm pro-life and have a 2 year old. I don't want kids to DIE, I just can't stand them."

Personally, I am a moderate liberal (though I love to quote socialists; it must come from being surrounded by Yosemite Sam Republicans) and I am pro-choice. Also, I would not use the word hate for how I feel about children, but in groups of two or more, they do tend to profoundly annoy me!

Ironically, I had a post on this blog for Children's Day in Turkey, which is on April 23rd....

Quote of the Week- Jacques Derrida

This is the first entry in a series of quotes from famous philosophers that will run on Mondays in March. It is perhaps fitting as we posted a blog entry in "The Daily Vampire," which is also by Tilly Gokbudak (who is me, yes I think referring to yourself as if you are someone else is quite obnoxious too!), about names that we had not spelled correctly that we have a quote from Jacques Derrida (1930-2004).

Up until I googled him about a half-hour ago, I wasn't sure if the late French philosopher's name was spelled with one 'd' or two 'd's. Well, it is Derrida!

Speaking of which, we should mention that we butchered Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's name in an entry last week, but like him, we refuse to apologize for any wrong-doings even if they are painfully obvious (unless, you can sue us and then of course, we will send you a dozen roses from FTD).

Derrida, who was the subject of a documentary film with his name in 2002, was born in Algeria as were many French intellectuals and cultural icons, including the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

The French philosopher is known for developing the critical theory known as 'deconstruction' and his work has been associated with post-structuralism and post-modern philosophy.

We also gather that former president George W. Bush has read a lot of Derrida's works and is a great admirer of his (that is a joke, but I think even my Republican friends like Bill Kristol* will find it amusing).

Here is our quote from Derrida:

"I never give in to the temptation of being difficult just for the sake of being difficult. That would be ridiculous."

We must profess that since there is a tuxedo cat named "Gizmo" roaming around here in the office, that we really like this photo, that slightly reminds us of Marlan Brando's pose in "The Godfather."

*-I am not actually friends with the neo-con intellectual Bill Kristol, who founded "The Weekly Standard" which I assume is to the 'far-left' of "Soldier of Fortune" magazine, but he did, much to my shock, personally answer an email (it was actually not political in nature even though I have much different views than Kristol) that I had assumed one of his associates would read. So, I do feel obliged to say nice things about him which might be harder to do if I read his columns, which I presume are rather negative towards President Barack Obama.