This government is so getting overthrown.

Not that this is at all surprising, but Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia are legitimate Iranian national heroes. In fact, it was Mahdavikia who scored what ultimately turned out to be the winning goal against the USA at World Cup '98.

Don't look now...

but there is a distinct possibility that, in next summer's World Cup hosted in South Africa, the United States will be paired with North Korea along with two other teams (most likely one from Europe and another from either Africa or South America). In one of the biggest stories in world football, the North Korean national team managed to beat out Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UEA for a place in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1966. President Obama has already expressed an interest in the tournament (suggesting that the US play host in 2018). Who could imagine a cozier atmosphere for the President and Dear Leader to get together for a chat?

An even more outrageous scenario would be if North and South Korea (who qualified with ease) were to advance from their respective groups and meet in the knockout stages. Tensions were high last year when a qualifier between the two nations had to be moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai after Kim's government refused to allow the South Korean team to sing their national anthem and display the country's flag prior to kickoff.

This wouldn't be the first time that the US has faced a political rival in the tournament: in France 1998, the Americans had their dejeuner handed to them in Lyon by a highly-motivated Iranian team in a 2-1 loss. Even more timely is the rumor that the US team may travel to Tehran to play a friendly match some point in the next six months as a tune-up for the World Cup. Recent political events, however, may have diminished the likelihood of such an exhibition. Still an exciting prospect, nonetheless.

Edit: According to Sepp Blatter, the head of FIFA, Obama has accepted an invitation to the opening of the World Cup finals next summer.

It was 105 years ago today...

Although Ulysses was written over a span of seven years (1914-1921), the entirety of James Joyce's novel is set in Dublin on a single day, June 16, 1904, when Joyce and Nora Barnacle went on their first date together. A short 27 years later they were married. To commemorate that famous day, here are the opening lines of chapter 4 in which we are introduced to the character of Leopold Bloom:

"Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods' roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine."

Delicious.

Additionally, these tit-bits from the Times, the Guardian and the Examiner.