captsolo weblog

Torino 2006 20th Olympic Winter Games:

Latvia and USA played 3:3 (tie) at the olympic ice hockey. While a win would have been nice both teams are strong and bravo to the Latvian team for a good game!!!

TURIN, Italy (AFP) - Artūrs Irbe stopped 39 shots and Atvars Tribuncovs and Herberts Vasiljevs scored two quick goals in the second period as Latvia held the mighty United States 3-3 in Olympic men's ice hockey.

Irbe made 18 saves in the final period as his team was outshot 42-25 overall but still managed one of their best Olympic performances in their history.

The 39-year-old Irbe is the most prominent player on the Latvian team which almost scored the first big upset of the tournament despite having very few NHL players in their lineup.

Tribuncovs and Vasiljevs scored 40 seconds apart in the middle frame to give Latvia a 3-2 lead which they took into the third.

American defenceman Jordan Leopold tied it with just over two minutes gone in the final period and it stayed that way.

Latvia give mighty USA a massive scare [Yahoo News]

* 2006 International Ice Hockey Championship will take place in Riga, Latvia.

Reading a book "Angel Eyes" by Eric Lustbader.

It is a suspense that grasps your attention and does not let it go until you've read it all. A story around women with spirits of warriors, with action taking place in a number of cool places - San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Moscow to name a few - and it is fascinating how he ties all these events together.

I will not be telling you too much now, but judging by other his works the ending must be interesting and unexpected.

The immersion into warrior spirit and Japanese culture is not surprising - that's what many of his books are about. What is surprising though is a part about events taking place in the USSR at the time of falling apart, even if a worldwide conspiracy plan is something I would rather expect to see in Tom Clancy's books. His portrait of the USSR and people, places and events is good.

All in all - it is a good book.

Yet there is one word in the book that the author uses far too much. Absolutely all references to women in Russian boil down to a single word - koshka (?????) - which means a kitten or a pussy. While it is fine to see it used in a sexual context (though it is boring if it is the only Russian word used) it probably is not the word you would use when talking with one's very ill daughter. This destroys the emotional "touch and feel" of some scenes in the book.

Also - in some places in the book people [in USSR] are speaking too openly about their beliefs to strangers. Something most would have been scared to do at that time. Of course there were those who did, but they must have been more careful than that.

P.S. It was a long time ago when I was last reading one of his books. Glad I found this one in a used books store somewhere in Palo Alto.

GMail Chat has finally arrived to my mailbox.

Nice to notice this and explore. These additions can be summarised by 3 changes:

1. Ability to text chat with other Google/GMail account holders;
2. Quick Contacts list has appeared in the left sidebar - showing your friends and their presence online;
3. Chats can be saved and searched - see the "Chats" menu item added to the sidebar - this is where your past chat sessions can be found should you choose to keep them.

At the same time I noticed that very few of my e-mail contacts are using GMail. That's why Skype will remain my primary chat platform for now. But in the long run this might attract more people to GMail same way as I was inviting friends to Skype. Read more about GMail Chat.

Another change - which many including me have asked for a number of times - the ability to delete messages has been finally added. There is inconsistency though - you can delete a message with a single click now, but you can't do that at all using keyboard shortcuts. That's probably be the single shortcut I really need.

It's funny how introduction of delete button spawned reaction that it is confusing and the readers now will delete instead of archiving. Or - as someone wrote - "I may delete when I did not want to". Answer to the first would be - let users choose (!). And Google has already built the UI the way that you'd be tempted to Archive, so there is not a problem here. To the second - it's not the only choice and not the most important choice in life where you have to decide (and think) before doing.

And please add that shortcut!

Overheard in San Francisco:

- Yahoo worker: I went down to Sunnyvale on the train.
- Man 1, in surprise: Yahoo workers have to take the train? Google's got a bus. Don't you?

It's funny. Read how it ends - ValleyWag: "We've got a bus too."

Too busy to blog now.
And North California is just fine.