Friday, August 01, 2008

Fallout 31 / Irregular Report 2

Back to posting after picking up two Maine Coons, God help us!

This is the wave of the future folks, if there's nothing of relevance to post on any given day TBV probably won't go up.



News
The CyclingNews says that Ricardo Ricco has been suspended, but Leonardo Piepoli still denies using banned substances at this year's TdF, this is only one story in a doping filled edition of CN. Vladimir Gusev is going to sue Astana for firing him, and is going to ride in the Olympics. And more.

The VeloNews mailbag feature is back and bursting with opinions.

TAS-CAS's instant justice department has decided its first case, in favor of an athlete against the federation. Christel Simms is swimming for the Phillipines with dubious residency, and FINA said "no" for the Olympics. CAS said, "yes", because FINA had allowed her to compete in previous international events, and was therefore estopped from refusing her now. This means some people at CAS understand estoppel, even though nothing was said about the changing arguments of USADA against Landis. Consistency is not CAS' strong suit.

Exercise in a Pill already has a WADA mass-spectrometry test, says Reuters via Yahoo. Glad that is taken care of.

Aketze Peña released a statement yesterday after winning his case on the basis of lab "irregularities". We're hoping to find the award so we can try to reconcile it with the Landis case.

Blogs
Racejunkie pens the much anticipated 2008 Tour de France "Awards" with this category being representative, and yeah what about this?:

I Call Bull!@#$ Award (Individual): Alessandro "Wheezy" Petacchi, busted for asthma meds he had a get-out-of-jail-free Therapeutic Use Exemption card for, didn't get to ride, but Leonardo "Gaaaaasssspppp!" Piepoli, similarly implicated at last year's Giro, did (and we all know how well *that* turned out). Alberto Contador, opaquely linked to Operacion Puerto by his initials, didn't get to ride, but Alejandro Valverde, opaquely linked to Operacion Puerto by his dog's name, did. Big lovable lunk Tom Boonen, busted for out-of-competition coke, didn't get to ride, but Stefan "I Heart Amphetamines" Schumacher did. What the !@#$ is wrong with you, ASO?

While Rant finds it laudable that Ricardo Ricco "confessed" to using EPO during this year's Tour de France, he is concerned, as is Ricco, about the lack of reliability in the testing.

8 comments:

Larry said...

Looks like not everyone has received ASO's message that all's right in cycling.

Credit Agricole Fails in Quest for New Sponsor

bostonlondontokyo said...

TbV and the Gang - I think we erred in thinking a few days ago that we were reading the Last Post. I'm chuckling now, it was a rather rash assumption, eh? I was glad to come back and see more activity here.
- J

Ali said...

Hi,

Good luck with your cats. Before you provided a link, I wondered whether you were referring to Coonhounds - not too far removed from my own Basset Hound.

Anyway, good luck with them. Pets are great. I've never been without them - growing up we had everything from St Bernard dogs to Corgis (I also like cats, but don't have much experience of them)

Cheers, Ali

Rosemary said...

TbV, please don't leave me! After having you around for so long, I can't imagine life without you. (Do I sound pathetic?) Even a weekly update would be better than losing you for good!

strbuk said...

Hi Ali!! Both cats are doing well , We are however not getting much sleep!! The little boy, Cosmo, is three months old, and Star (a female) is almost 8 months old. Cosmo is a brown mac tabby with white and will weigh about 20 lbs when fully grown, Star, who is a silver patch mactabby will weigh about 15 lbs or so. You can see that Maine Coons are very large cats, but are very gentle and sweet (when grown up that is :-) I am thinking of blogging about the every day to chart their progress. Later...


str

Ali said...

Str,

Chmapion. Just remember that you're the boss. It's probably more difficult managing cats than dogs, but I guess they all need a leader. I know with dogs, they appreciate having a pack leader ... it takes the strain off them and alleviates numerous problems. Interesting to see if the same approach works with cats - although it's not like cats ever seem over-burdened with stress. Quite the opposite in-fact. Maybe those fun-loving furry free-loaders could do with some responsibility training. Dogs are so keen to accept responsibility ... I think it's time the cats of this world stood up to the plate and paid their dues ... guard cats anyone ? (they'd certainly scare off all dogs, no question)

:-)

Ali

strbuk said...

Ali, what I love most about cats is that they are barely domesticated, as a matter iof fact they have not been nor ever will be domesticated. They "agreed", long ago in Northern Africa most likely, that they would do duty as rodent killers while the farmers growing grains agreed that the cats could live with them IF they killed the rats. The rest is history, and the bond between cats and humans is one of mutual understanding and not subservience, on either side. I will post pics of the babies on my personal blog, they are extraordinary even if I do say so myself.


str

Ali said...

str,

Just for the record, if you judge dog behaviour as subservient, I think that displays a lack of understanding of dogs. I also think that most dog owners would not wish to own a pet who was in a subservient position (possibly excluding working dogs). The fact that you can train dogs to do things is treated as a game for both the owner and the dog. I think my mention of being the "pack leader" is obviously open to misinterpretation.

The protective characteristics that dogs exhibit toward their owners isn't trained or even asked for (infact, many owners would wish it didn't exist). It just happens to be the nature of dogs.

Implying that, as a dog owner, I wish to put another creature in a subservient position is offensive to both me and my dog.

Cheers, Ali