Title

Although just thinking about this, it was Friday 13th, right? And havent they made movies about this being a bad day? So maybe the beard can stay after all.

Err no, was my response.

The best thing ever happened this morning. I found, hidden in my bag, a Fathers Day card from my two super daughters. Words cannot express how much of a lift that gave me.

Very disappointing. On the plus side it was easy for my editor, Wolfgang Rattay, as he didnt have much to do.



Pretty much the only differences are that I dont need booties and there is definitely no Sonny and Cher on my iTunes.

Their job is to make me look like Im Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver and not Robert De Niro in the Little Fockers.



Thank you Kai and Mike for that.

Friday June 20



So no chance of getting anything done before I go back to Blighty. Oh well, who needs cameras, right?

Heres our view at Rio airport as we caught the tail end of Germanys lucky 2-2 draw with Ghana. Everyone was cheering for Ghana we all love an underdog.

Everything I had feared could go wrong, went wrong, and then a whole set of other things I hadnt even considered going awry also went south. Pretty much the only good thing to happen was Jorge buying me a whiskey as soon as we got to the hotel, as sitting in wet clothes in thepress room with theAC turned up to the max was not ideal. Jorge was happy as Mexico defeated Cameroon 1-0 and he had a cracking picture. Double win for him.







Not everyone has been so fortunate. In bad news, photography kit continues to be stolen at an alarming rate. Hire car depots seem to be a favourite haunt for thieves, there are even stories of taxi drivers who speed off with your bags as you get out to pay. The old mustard trick has reared its ugly head as has the flat tyre scam. There are scumbags aplenty, unfortunately.

Or maybe I could start with the advice that our photography colleague Marcos Brindicci learned the hard way: avoid a certain pizza unless you want to get severe food poisoning and vomit during a World Cup match.

Heres the view from my bed at 0600 this morning.



But picture of the game goes to Siphiwe Sibeko.

Dylan Martinez, chief photographer for the United Kingdom and Ireland, is in Brazil to cover the World Cup. Hell be keeping a diary of the highs and lows here.

Tuesday July 8

A small group of ushave alsodone the tourist thing and gone tovisit the statue of Christ the Redeemer, which overlooks Rio. The word impressive does not really do it justice.

A slightly damp but ultimately pleasant Salvador

A big minus, waistline-wise, is that everybody seems to be waiting for us to have their big night out

My mother, who is from Argentina, called all panicked saying how can we beat this Robocop team? (assuming, of course Argentina defeat The Dutch).

Here is my picture of the hand of God. Get it?

Another warm and lovely day in Brasilia (seriously)

Next we are off to Salvador for Germany v Portugal. If my luck doesnt change there, the razor is definitely coming out.

Thursday July 3

I was going to ask our taxi driver on the way to the airport what he thought about the World Cup, but didnt want to distract him as he drove in the pouring rain while keeping one eye on his sat nav showing a live stream of the match between Colombia and Greece.





A somewhat less sunny Rio

For us here on the ground, after the Brazil game yesterday we all went out for a meal. But the editors just went straight on to looking at images come streaming in from Colombia v. Uruguay.

Thanks to Toru for the somewhat romantic picture of me and Jorge by the sea.

I have a comfortable bed and sheets at last. Believe it or not, we got none in our Salvador hotel. Although why they put the air conditioner up to max, so the room was (no kidding) 10 degrees Celsius, is beyond me.





I did get a nice shot of some people doing keepie-uppies on the beach though.

For once, everything went like clockwork but we still missed Argentina showing Nigeria what happens if you give them and in particular, Messi space.

So I stopped looking at the game and just waited for him to show us what it is like to be 43 years old and on a winning team. What a dude.

Unfortunately for us,an incident involving a certain Uruguayan playerkind of stole our thunder.





Oh yes, and teams played sports. France won 5-2 (should have been 6). I said I liked Benzema.

So I was going to go have some big rant in this postabout leaving my room at 6 a.m. this morning to arrive at the airport, only to be told by the airline rep that my flight was cancelled didnt anyonetell me?

This is maybe my favourite shot by our Italian/German Stallion Fabrizio Bensch

A rainy, sunny and slightly chilly Rio de Janeiro

Middle Row (L-R): Paulo I live by a lake Whitaker, David always miles away Gray,Leonhard this is me excited Foeger, and Damir somnambulist Sagojl.

A cloudy and then a very rainy Sao Paulo



Tomorrow we shoot Switzerland v. France. Should be a good one I always enjoy watching Benzema.

This bloke in the centre is the Belgian prime minister.

Early Wednesday June 11

Well, as much as I loved the Brazil v. Chile game,I was not so enamoured with Frances pretty unimpressive win over Nigeria.

But I will take my two single beds here in Sao Paulo over what our luckless colleagues in Belo Horizonte had to book into.

As it happens I was half lucky, one of my check-in bags arrived the one with the gas mask and flak jacket and one change of clothes.

He talked about the merits of Germanys Thomas Muller (who has already scored a hat-trick) not really being an out-and-out striker but playing from the midfield and how tough it was to defend against that. I will have to take his word on that one.

And here is a cute one from yesterday, well just because..

It is true pictures can speak a thousand words, but sometimes numbers say it even better.



And just because life is sometimes better than fiction, David let me tell you about soccerroos Gray amusingly captured this moment.

Sunday June 8



Luckily for me, top photographer Dominic Ebenbichler, a former Austrian national swimmer and probably an ex-swimwear model too, was on hand to give me some tips.

http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2014/06/27/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-diary-of-a-world-cup-photographer/

It was, as they say, emotional. You know when you know something is going to happen? Well I knew that in the final minutes Colombia would score and he would go mental and for once I was on the button.

Thanks too to my editor Hannah Vinter, who posted this blog every day, and somehow kept me employed by editing out some of my craziermusings.

Just in case our pix team Spains Sergio the gigolo Perez, the legendary Toru Hanaisan, Eric Alain Delon Gaillard and Austrian catwalk model Leonhard Foeger had worked out a perfect penalty plan that couldnt possibly go wrong. Yeah right. But somehow it all came together just as if we have actually done this before. I love it when a plan pans out.

It seems the whole country is grinding to a halt tomorrow when Brazil and Germany go head-to-head in the first semi-final, and no one is too sure as to when it will crank up again.



I left here at 6 a.m.

After getting my luggage back, Im pleased to find nothing is missing.

Suddenly everybody on the plane is thinking I hope its not my luggage But we cant all be lucky and, lets face it, I am sure there are people more desperate to get their luggage than me.

As for the game it was wonderful. Absolutely amazing, and a real privilege to be there, sun or no sun. It had it all, goals, disallowed goals, near misses, tears, ecstasy, lucky coins, great saves, the wood work took a real hammering, and of course winners and losers.

After all, I have my cameras and music and something to read with me. And if I am not mistaken they do have shops in Brazil, so whatever.

Monday July 7

So far Bonns Banana Boy, Wolfgang Rattay, former international Olympic basketball star, the practically unspellable Tom Szlukovenyi and Woodstock legend Rickey The Hippy Rogers have all had the dubious honour of editing my pictures.

Airport etiquette out of the window as people get inexplicably very territorial over their space next to the conveyer belt. Never understand that one.

Well, after all that, there was this game of football. And Germany winning 1-0 was not my preferred score. Just saying.

Slept. Ate. Took a few pictures. Posed (more on that later). Ate. Slept.

Heres the loo Eeek.

But today was all about Argentina sending Belgium crashing out of the World Cup. Maybe not the most exciting game of football I have ever seen, but as they say, you only have to win by one goal.

Credit where credit is due. Jorges persistent sneezing, coughing and spluttering finally paid off and he has managed to give me his flu. Hopefully this may explain the fact that, while video-chatting with my wife yesterday with an whirring fan overhead, she told me I looked like some crazed Benjamin L. Willard from Apocalypse Now.

These pictures by Italian/German Stallion Fabrizio Bensch, and Austrian Leonhard Foeger of the unfortunate Neymar are simply heartbreaking:

Leavinga rainy Rio

And last but not least, oneby our very own head-banger Sergio Moraes



And heres the group of us doing our best to look like some kind of rock band posing next to some funky graffiti in acool part oftown.

Answer: too many.

And here are a couple more that kind of work too.

The evening ended up at a very nice seafood restaurant and in a show of genuine class our German Weltmeister colleaguespicked up the tab.



And here is Ronaldo looking glum

I just dont have a thesaurus big enough to describe the woeful place they stayed in. As luck would have it, a guardian angel saved them from purgatory and they have now moved.

It was a day of unpleasant airport food and attempting to catch glimpses of some football.



Today was my first day off since arriving in Brazil andI now get to stay in one place for almost a week. Total joy.



Apart from the World Cup I havent watched any actual TV since arriving in Brazil, so after catching the final three games of Djokovics five set win over Federer, I channel hopped and the only undubbed thing I could find was an episode of Downton Abbey. This has to be some kind of joke. I travel almost 6,000 miles and this is all there is on offer.

When I was wistfully thinking about my lost bag I imagined it full of all the secrets to the universe and able to solve all my problems. Im not so sure now. Instead its just some rather unexciting t-shirts and shorts etc I had hoped there would be more.

Butterflies are starting to flutter, just thinking about it.

Picture-wise the jury is still out on whether my new beard is bringing me luck I was in the right end for three of Germanys four goals and got kind of lucky with Pepes head-butt on Muller.

Here is a picture proving an old adage that you can take everything including (three) kitchen sinks.



Brasilia is crazy. Its like an artists impression of how you might imagine the future looked in the 1950s. Sort of as if Woody Allens Sleeper movie has come to life. Ive got his glasses. I just need to track down that magic device of his. Anyway it looks amazing, I love the architecture, wide boulevards and twee little trees everywhere. Very groovy. Our hotel must have been super trendy in the 1970s, the only thing missing is the staff dont wear jump suits. Its built for some Donna Summer soundtrack.



Oh yeah, andBrazil lost to the Dutch big time.

But before then, there is just one more match, a match that is the whole entire point of the past few weeks. Argentina and Germany will face off in yet another World Cup Final.

Now it really isnt as though I havent travelled the world and witnessed abject poverty and squalor. But right here, next to a football stadium that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, it seemed kind of incongruous





And this one by Milan fashionista Stefano Rellandini.

Tomorrow Argentina v. Belgium, should be a humdinger.

Via here:

Today only one thing happened that means anything. Argentina defeated Switzerland in a nail-biting cracker.

A hot Brasilia to a very pleasant and warm Belo Horizonte



A humid Rio

Tomorrow off to Bello Horizonte for Brazil I think.

Ok, so we might not be everyones favorite and we wont buy you supper, but so far wherever we go, our fellow photographers, technicians, text reporters and TV crew have always been very happy to see us. Were brand new and best of all no one has heard any of my old jokes yet.

Sunday June 29

Below are the Reuters photographers who will be inside the Maracana Stadium covering the 2014 World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina on Sunday.



One of the best things about these big, set-piece events is getting to work alongside some of the best photographers and reporters in the game. One of the worst things is a bad diet. The hotel breakfast included undrinkable coffee that looked like tea, and slices of food which, visually, I recognised as cheese and ham, but which, taste-wise, made me not so sure.

Bottom Row (L-R): Kai theres only one Pfaffenbach, Darren this is me happy Staples, Eddie nice cameras Keogh and Michael the machine Dalder.

I look out of the hotel window and weirdly there is never anyone on any of the balconies, but the same man is always sweeping the road and what looks like the same couple always seems to stroll by. And no matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up at six.



Where to start?

Beatrice, the Italian I sat next to on the plane said well of course I am Italian so I want Italy to win. But Brazil will win, come on its in Brazil for goodness sake.

Monday June 16

As for other news, I had a slight panic today as I finally had a chance to do some laundry. Either the hotel has shrunk every piece of clothing I own or I have managed to put on a few extra kilos.Ive decided to live in one of the best districts I know, Denial, and have concluded thatit HAS to be the hotel.

A cloudy and rainy Sao Paulo

Faith, Messi and some luck is all we need, I said with fingers, legs, toes, and heart crossed.

These hats could become all the rage this summer, with just a couple matches to go.

Next we return to Salvador for Switzerland v. France. Oh and my beard is really coming along.



And exactly 11 hours later (almost to the minute) we were here. JOY.



Later Wednesday June 11







Top Row (L-R): Fabrizio always on top Bensch, Sergio wheres the restaurant Moraes, Ricardo dont mention the football Moraes, and Dylan have you seen my blog Martinez.

My whole body is practically on fire after sitting in direct sunlight for almost six hours. Over 30 degrees all day. It should be mad dogs, Englishmen and insane photographers stay in the mid day sun. A cold shower and some cold beers have helped ease the pain.

Mr Silva and I have been looking forward to today since the whole nightmare of being completely drenched by rain in Natal.

Brian, a British taxi driver who took me from my home to the airport, said he wanted Brazil to win. He remembers the great Brazil team of 1970 and wants to see more football like that.

Sunday July 13

Trying to keep up with Iron Man was not easy but we braved the seas for what felt like miles and miles and miles.

Heres a picture of people not too concerned with watching Ivory Coast v. Colombia at Rio airport.

Anyway another flight, thankfully it was too short for them to show that episode of Two and Half Men again, and yet another suicidal taxi driver. But on the plus side this looks like a comfortable bed.

So these are the pictures I mentioned earlier.



A humid Salvador and then a surprisingly chilly Rio

The flight was a tad rough and I had a genuine fear that the guy in the middle seat was going to show me his breakfast. Lucky escape.

I love this one too byArgentinas answer to Don Juan (or is it Don Quixote?) theinimitable Marcos Brindici.

Here is a picture of me sneaked by David Miles Away Gray, at the Bar Brasilia.

This one by a former freelancer for me (couldnt resist that one) and now Reuters Chief Photographer for Italy, fashion guru Stefano Rellandini.

This picture taken by Chilean lens maestro Ivan The Amazing Alvarado is beyond perfect.





Here is a picture that David Miles Away Gray said was his favourite of the day

On a serious note, people are stealing camera gear with alarming regularity. From hotel rooms, from media buses, from media centres, from the pitch, and most disarmingly from right under your nose some even at knife point with a smile on their face. So if it happens to you, do what Eddie Keogh does and run.

In other news, I need more stuff. I dont have enough cameras, cables, wires, unfashionable hats, bags, pedals, laptops or water



A day of disappointment is almost always followed by a restless and unsatisfying nights sleep. Waking up half a dozen times in a panic thinking of all the things I could have done better didnt make for a great start to the day. Add to that our 90-minute direct flight from Natal to Salvador was cancelled only to be replaced by an 10-hour trip via Brasilia. Oh well, good for air miles, at least.

But as top Swiss photographer and pin-up idol Stefan No one Wermuth ominously said: Will the Swiss Guards continue to protect the Pope?

Tuesday June 24



And what about this one, this man was actually using a public phone. I havent seen anyone do that for years.

A very hot but pleasant Cuiaba



Sunday July 6

Or I could start with another piece of wisdom: watch your gear as some scum bag cannot wait to nick your stuff.

So what do you take with you when you are going to Brazil to cover the World Cup, and your trip involves 14 flights, and about 39 nights in seven different cities with nine changes of hotel?



Now back to the World Cup. Brazil got seriously spanked 7-1 by Germany.

And I know its not exactly football, but youve got to love these crackers by Swiss heartthrob Stefan no one Wermuth and our Minnesota Marvel Suzanne check out my cowboy boots Plunkett, of Djokovic on Centre Court from the final day of Wimbledon.

BUT the light sucked big time and someone needs to teach the Germans how to really celebrate a hat-trick.

Saturday July 12

Wednesday July 9

Saturday June 14

Water is always nice, the only problem was the pool. This was the best we could find nearly three meters at its longest points. I lost count when I reached 372 lengths, and then gave up.

The wonderful Lionel Messi skipped over a desperate, lunging Swiss leg, drew two defenders and then played a perfect pass for number 7, Angel (I told you) Di Maria, to slot the ball into the back of the net and break Swiss hearts.

A big plus on this pretty insane tour is that we get to meet up with old friends and make new ones as we travel from place to place.





Now Im just waiting until Russell let me just crop that a bit more Baxter Boyce, the practically unpronounceable Pawel Ten Brains Kopczynski and our supreme leader, best just call him Reinhard Krause get the opportunity to pick my best ones.



Still, I like David Sideshow Bob Luiz, and here Eddie Nice Cameras Keogh captures him beautifully



Anyway enough about me, check out these beautiful pictures taken by a few of my great friends who also happen to be some of Reuters creme de la creme.

A very hot Brasilia

This is maybe not a good idea, so I decide to go shopping.

Bear in mind I wont be spending more than two nights in a single hotel for the first three weeks. So no chance of doing laundry then.



The referee blew his whistle and it was as though the heavens opened on us. Rain, rain and more rain. So we could pontificate (pun intended) for hours about the game and what happened and who was booked and who should have scored and who did this and who did that and the blah blah blah, but as ever its just not important. The best team won.

But the morning was beautiful. Clear, blue sky and a light breeze.

No suicidal taxi drivers, no airports, no travelling, no cars, no carrying luggage, no delayed flights, no airplane air, no uncomfortable chairs, no bad coffee, no popped ears, no security checks, no more repeats of Two and a Half Men, no nothing.

Tuesday July 1

Natal

Friday June 13



Except, that is, try to find a place to watch Argentina demolish Switzerland.

Check out these belters.

She said she even enjoyed Aerosmith, with all their leather and hair, who had played there the day before. I felt very jealous (of her seeing Stevie Wonder, not Steve Tyler). It just goes to show that you dont always have to travel halfway around the globe to see something great sometimes it is right there on your doorstep.

Eric, one of our taxi drivers today, said: okay, the politicians they rob everything but now we must all support Brazil. For meNeymar will be the main man.



Tomorrow, Rio. And we really are on the home straight now.

Tomorrow we go to Brasilia for Portugal v Ghana. Am looking forward to that one.

Heading to a very sunny Natal via an equally sunny Fortaleza

On the outskirts of Rio

And here is a picture I forgot to send yesterday showing us driving the wrong way on a motorway. That will turn your hair grey thats my excuse anyway (ok the road was supposedly closed but it was still pretty spooky).









So far I have asked two people who will win the World Cup.

This is their third such encounter its one each so far. And if Im not mistaken it is Argentinas turn to win this time

A hot Cuiaba to a warm Brasilia

Tomorrow I get my first chance to see the Maestro Messi train and also some of Tottenham Hotspurs B team (only kidding).

I said a final goodbye to my photography partner, the famous Mr Silva, as he flew off to Belo Horizonte. Jorge now has other fish to fry as he makes last-minute preparations for his solo exhibition at the Perpignan photography festival. Sweet.

Last night, after the USA v. Portugal game, we got to share a meal with our Manaus crew, South African photographer Siphiwe Sibeko and Andres Stapff, a Uruguayan who shares Suarezs killer instinct but luckily for him not his looks (just saying).

The next plane I get will take me home, although (unfortunately) I have to get another flight before being reunited with my family, who are already enjoying the Umbrian summer.

But what is it they say about every positive having a negative, yin and yang, good and bad, what goes up must come down, etc..?

Oh and I enjoyed a very nice meal with our very own league of nations, a Greek, a Philippina, an American, an Austrian, a Frenchmen, a Brit, a German, a Japanese, a Spaniard and a Uruguayan (just dont mention Suarez).

And this kick in the head had to hurt.





As for the match. Well Portugal beat Ghana but so what? Kind of a waste of time really since both USA and Germany (from the same group) progressed to the next stage. Painful. Honestly, it was actually painful. I sat in direct sunlight for two hours. Still the light was nice, and we got the opportunity yet again to photograph a disconsolate looking Ronaldo. So the World Cup loses another star.

And just to show the Brazilian team were not the only ones who got lucky today.

I took my last internal flight today. Im not enough of a wordsmith to truly express how pleasurable it is to say that.







And it was 30 degrees. And the light left a lot to be desired. And the pictures were not as wonderful as we had hoped. And basically it was a typical MD-1 (match day minus one) experience. In other words, slightly disappointing.BUT I did get to swim in the sea.

We arrived in Rio more than five hours late, at the height of rush hour or, more importantly, exactly as Brazil faced Mexico. We learned an important secret: if you want to do anything in Brazil, just wait until their team is playing football and youll find all the roads empty.

A trip which should have taken over an hour was done in less than 15 minutes. We even got to our BnB in time to watch the final 30 minutes of the game, drink two beers and cheer on Mexico.

Friday July 11

In short, we learned lots of things today. Jorge should have the surname Golden not Silva. Marcos Brindicci has now been rechristened Don Vom Juan. And anyone who has seen a Jean Claude Van Damme movie should know not to mess with the Muscles from Brussels, or his lookalike, my colleague Eddie Keogh.

I am getting nervous, inexplicably, so really cannot imagine how the players are feeling.

Tomorrow, lets see.

Also I have this lovely room to welcome me to some place that I was told was Rio, but is actually 3 hours drive from the city. Luckily I love taxis.



This really is about as good as it got, a back view of Nigeria scoring an own goal in the last minutes. Umm

Tomorrow, while the entire country is at a standstill, Michael the Machine Dalder and I will be taking pictures of Argentina training.

Apart from finishing off a John Le Carre book, and chatting to that talking cat I dreamed about the other night, my biggest achievements today were breakfast, lunch and supper.

Special mention to one of the unpronounceables, Dominic check out my guns Ebenbichler for this cracker.

Also we got to fly over the Amazon in daylight: we saw an awful lot of trees, a spooky amount of deforestation and a big brown river.

A pleasant Brasilia to a warm Sao Paulo





This picture by David Miles Away Gray made me smile; it shows somepoor photographer trying to find a good signal.



Its never a good sign when pushy passengers and conveyer belt shenanigans start to annoy you. Time to take five and let it all wash over me

Absolutely the best thing to happen was my lost luggage finally turning up. Now I can shave off this beard that makes me look like a cross between Dumbledore (without the brains) and the Big Lebowski (without the cardigan).







And lastly, this one pretty much sums up the match by the Guvnor Ruben first class or no class Sprich.

These were sort of ok too.

Oh, and while Im at it, let me say a big hello to everyone else who knows me.

Clearly I should have said: go away you freak of nature. But rather weirdly, less than five minutes later I found myself in the Atlantic and doing anunconvincingimpersonation of that old-time swimmer-cum-Tarzan-actor Johnny Weissmuller. I have his slightly puzzled look down to a tee, I just need to work on the monochrome looks.

Wednesday June 18

This one of Spanish captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas wasnt too bad either.

And I dont totally hate this one of a downcast Ronaldo.

A good game, a good meal, a good bottle of Argentine red and a very good nights sleep meant I felt like a millions dollars when I woke up.

The heatstroke, the adrenaline comedown and the late-night meal and beer probably dont help much either.



And this is their view. Gotta love that attempt at a roof garden

How many days is it okay to wear the same t-shirt? And can I make a flak jacket look fashionable? Unless I get a razor I am soon going to be mistaken for Father Christmas.



And heres that nice light I was talking about

Sunday June 15

My farmers tan is coming along a treat, as is my belly.

Since I did all that swimming with Argentinas answer to Daniel Craig, photographer Carlos Barria, I have done no exercise. And that time in Natal seems like a lifetime ago.

I like this one, the moment Brazil win.

Heres my favorite picture of the http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-Your-Car%27s-Air-Conditioner game showing Andres Iniesta all alone, taken by Ricardo Moraes.

The worst and also the best part of being ill with a major temperature is the deep sleep and the bizarre, weirdly vivid dreams that follow.

Friday June 27

The worst thing that happened in the last 24 hours was that I sat on a dodgy chair with a protruding nail and ripped my ONLY pair of shorts in the buttocks area. Not nice if youre not into that kind of thing.

This one by the infamous Kai Pfaffenbach is simply beautiful.

Today was another day spent at yet another airport, where I got a pretty average view of the Netherlands kicking Mexico out of the World Cup.





Sunny London

On the plus side (come on, things couldnt continue like this) I won a three-way wager on the outcome of the England v Italy clash involving myself, the wily Paul Barker, picture editor for Asia,and super cool fashionista Stefano Rellandini. I felt a little guilty betting against England but just because I might look a tad dumb



Not all was bad as I did catch up with Jorge Silva again and although he was still a little (very) bitter about Hollands last-minute victory over Mexico, he at least had some free time to do a very groovy series of pictures of some of the weird buildings designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Mr Silva and I have separated. Jorge stays in Brasilia with all his new friends in the big hotel.





This is what they call an in your face picture, just in case you were not 100 percent sure what it was supposed to show.

I was right about the bed, Goodness. Best nights sleep for a while. Although I did have a very strange dream about a talking cat, gonna blame Philip Pullman for that one. Unfortunately we were up early as we had to get to the Brazil v Chile match ahead of the thousands of fans who took to the streets to watch the home nation squeeze past Chile and make it into the quarter finals.



I was going to go on a tour of the city, but Bobby the dog seems intent on keeping us here at the Casa Beleza. So guess Ill spend all day in bed then.

Monday June 23

Passengers on the plane, the hotel check-in lady and the old man at the local chemist asked if I was from Chile and in the city to cheer on their foe. Im half English, half Argentine and was born in Barcelona, not even slightly Chilean.

Spanish sports daily, La Marca used it acrossthe entire front page with the headline (in English) THE END. Pretty cool.

As days thatI want to forget go, this one is right up there with coming down with a bad case of food poisoning on a Vietnamese train if you were ever on a rattler from Hanoi to Saigon in the 90s you will know what I mean. And the day I learnt that beer and pizza were fattening.

Guess what? Another warm and lovely day in Brasilia

Could be an interesting breakfast at the Vatican tomorrow.



Tomorrow Argentina v. Netherlands. Remember you only have to win by one goal.

What telephone boxes were actually designed for watching football. This time we saw Holland and Mexico.

I want this fan.

Saturday June 21



Here, there is no rest for the wicked as our photo editors have somehow managed not togo goggle-eyed as they continue to edit match after match after match



Still, to me, this one kind of sums up Ronaldos World Cup so far.



A good 3G signal also made it possible to video chat with my family for the first time in days. Unfortunately the beard did not go down too well. I promised to get rid of it, unless I get very lucky with the Germany v. Portugal match on Monday.

Bring on match number 49 of 64.

Heres a comfortable bed.

Another warm and lovely day in Brasilia

I am sure a lot of things happened around the world today, good and bad, big and small. But really only one thing mattered. And there was something kind of cool about being there to witness it in person. In fact, it was really very cool.

Passing shanty after shanty, and seeing families who had made their homes under a bridge, made me feel a bit like a whiney, annoying Ned Ryerson, BING . (Another Groundhog Day reference, you either know it or you dont.)

As assignments go this one sounded like it had potential go and photograph a bunch of topless women tussling with policeas the sun sets onIpanema beach. But you know that expression if its too good to be true it probably is? Well I was able to prove that. In the end there was no topless protest, no police and to round it off I didnt even see the sunset.

But it aint over until the fat lady or in this instance Ronaldo sings. USA were seconds away from a great win over Portugal, but it was not to be.Ronaldo made a cross, and Slivestre Varela headed the ball into the goal.

And you kind of have to feel for the guys in Salvador who photographed 120 minutes of an exciting match as Holland battled it out with Costa Rica before finding themselves at minute zero again at the penalties. Format cards, start again, pretend the last two hours didnt happen.

Thursday June 12

I learned a couple things today. First, when Reuters LA editor Mary Milliken speaks, you should listen. And second, I basically dont need to bother switching on my cameras until the 90th minute of a game.



A rainy Natal to a rainy Salvador via a rainy Brasilia

So how many nights, matches, sidelines, meals, pictures, headaches, national anthems, football chants, hotels, flights, taxis, new faces, friends, annoying people, breakfasts, uncomfortable beds, beards, repeats of useless sitcoms, stolen cameras, hotel laundries, bags, beers and dodgy rooms have we had now?





Mexico v. Cameroon is our next challenge.

It rained, we got very wet, then very cold (what is itwith peoples obsession with air conditioning, even when its freezing?), then the sun came out and it was almost lovely.

Instead I can just sleep and watch the World Cup in a bar like the rest of humanity. Just as well really, as I was starting to lose that famous good humour of mine.

It has taken a while but I was kind of lucky today

Ive been looking forward to Brasilia. I love being surrounded by weird and wonderful architecture.





Im used to little chocolates on the pillow or fancy soaps in the bathroom, but never been given one of these by a hotel before.

Strangely, of all the things that didnt go astray with my luggage at the airport was a very old hotel sewing kit. Remember they used to supply those back in the 90s? Well, I have one and now all I need to do is learn how to sew.

I decide I really, really need music (that fits on my phone), books (they fit on my tablet thing), a laptop for whatever, headphones (of course) and credit cards. And tea (just in case).

But Im going to take this opportunity on a quiet day to pretend Im calling a radio station and give a big shout-out to our photo editors in Miami.

Im starting to feel like Phil Connors in that old classic Groundhog Day.

He had two Brazilian flags on his car, so no surprise really.

This shot is by the talented but somewhat somnambulist Damir did you know Zlatan Ibrahimovic was actually Bosnian and better than Maradona Sagolj.



A warm and pleasant Brasilia

Now, Wednesday morning,Im about to get a flight to Natal with my main partner in crime the awesome Jorge Silva. Hes Mexican and we are going to shoot Mexico versus Cameroon on Friday.

In fact the whole day was wonderful, a few degrees below 30 Celsius (86 F), even though, as our taxi driver reminded us, its winter here. He then added that they only have two seasons in Cuiaba: winter and hell.



This is the bedspread Nasty.

Wednesday June 25

Now, heres to Italy, holidays, and a little while without any football. Next match August 10.





While Eddies back was turned (for a moment) some chancer picked up his bag and sauntered off. But Eddie the Eagle Eye saw that something was awry and chased the culprit.



They are worth checking out. Here is just one.

Tomorrow Ive not got much to do. Nice.

At Salvador we watched a pretty unimpressive Argentina take on Iran, and I had to bite my tongue as almost the entire airport cheered Iran on. I did smile though when I overheard a Brazilian boy ask his father: who do we support? The red ones, son



It seems a little late in the day to get serious, but all this talk of dirty sheets, single beds, horrible airline food, Two and a Half Men, disappointing breakfasts, Dowtown Abbey, suicidal taxi drivers, turbulence, loud aircon, intolerable passengers, expanded bellies (ok that is serious), uncomfortable beards, the odd stolen camera, delayed flights, and bad views of football screens etc didnt seem so important today

I am weirdly superstitious, dont know why, and unfortunately I am beginning to think that maybe this beard is a hex. Which is a shame as I have just purchased a parrot, a peg leg and a tin can.



A very wet Rio and then on to a muggy Salvador.

Monday June 30

This is maybe not a surprise but it was kind of easy to get twelve photographers togetherwith thepromise of having their picture taken at the studio of famous Brazilian fashion photographer and former modelNana Moraes (yes, part of the infamous Moraes clan).

I was on Frances attacking endin the first half and was sure I was going to be in thelucky corner, but no. The first half was all Nigeria in the opposite end and then the second half was all France, again, and obviously, in the opposite goal.

We left our Salvador hotel at midday and didnt arrive at our Manaus hotel until well after 1.a.m. To put that into some kind of perspective, I could have flown from London to Joburg and been eating a steak and drinking Shiraz at the famous Bull Ring restaurant in that time.

Still, my main news today is that the beard is gone. Why would anyone have a beard? It continually itched, I spent all day fiddling with it, it added about 15 years and at least 10 kilos to my looks, not to mention the fact that I am sure it was to blame for extra body-checks whenever I went through security.

A hot Manaus to a hot and pleasant Cuiaba, via some airport or other.

I also took some warm-up pictures of players controlling the ball.

There is something of the morning after the night before following a big match like Brazil v. Chile yesterday.



Ever get the feeling theres a party going on somewhere else and you are not invited?

But now the cameras are ready and Elena took my accreditation photo.

Most importantly, I should travel light, and remember not to take the dog.

The view en route from our hotel to the stadium where Argentina was training put it all into some kind of perspective.

Well he is.

Unfortunately there are no pictures of our editors: Reinhard the boss Krause, Russell the cropper Boyce, Wolfgang the professor Rattay, Thomas one roll of film Szlukovenyi and Mal one best Langsdon But lets just say they are more Traveling Wilburys to our Happy Mondays.



Here Marcos Don Quixote Vom Juan Brindicci captures the save nicely.

Disappointing, but as Liverpool fans know only too well, Suarez loves to score off a Gerard assist.

Im back to Phil Connors from Groundhog Day territory. But this time its a return to insane taxi drivers, airports, luggage, and turbulence.

Tomorrow I have to buy a hammock and then shoot Portugal v. USA. Should be a goodie.

Ikind of believe in karma, and thought that the luggage business had already balanced out the empty seatwhen the air hostess reached me and said they had run out of the popular chicken curry and all they had nowwas some ratherunappetising,wildly overcooked, pasta dish.



Pretty much the entire country was thinking about, preparing for and then eventually watching Brazil squeeze past Colombia to make it to the semifinals.

Heres are a couple of great pix from today

I also collected one more persons opinion about the World Cup.

Then the pilot comes on and says in his oh-so-special dulcet pilotvoice that more than 100 of us passengers will not be accompanied by our luggage today. All those carefully prepared bags, gone astray because of some global computer malfunction.

Some pictures are not great pictures they are just pictures that are great NOT to miss. I cannot tell you the relief I feltwhen I saw I had this last-minute goal.

Tomorrow I have nothing to do. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Nista. Nichts. Rien. Niente. Lutho. Khong.

Almost the best thing that happened was being sent yesterday to cover a demonstration by women protesting for their right to go bare-chested on the beach.

Im thinking luck is on my side. Ive got an aisle seat for this 12-hour flight and next to me is one of the very few empty seats on the plane.By the window is a small, quiet Italian, there are movies I havent seen and I recognise an old family friend who I was not expecting to bump into. So all should be well, right?



On the plus side, I managed to chat to my wife who had just walked five minutes from our home to Clapham Common to see the fab, one-and-only Stevie Wonder perform live at a local festival.



Thursday June 26

Saturday July 5

As for this next picture, well, it would have been churlish of me not to take it. Honestly, its been quite a while since anyone has waved a banner in my honor.







Err no, once again.



Its not ideal to be photographing a World Cup match between Spain and Chile with a temperature andthe shakes, especially when one of your cameras has now officially died. But at least we got the opportunity to work with our very own dead-ringer for Madeleine Stowe, the exceptionally gifted photographer Pilar Olivares. Chile defeated Spain 2-0.



Unfortunately feeling and looking dont always go hand-in-hand. A quick glance in the mirror and I thought a badger had died on my face. This beard will have to go. I now know why I havent grown one since 97 I was in Kabul when the Taliban first took the city and outlawed shaving. Not a good look for me then and even worse now.

And a much bigger thanks to everyone who actually followed it (both of you).

We got to our favourite restaurant, Bar Brasilia, and luckily we were just in time, as the roads were almost completely deserted.



Oh and in other news Germany defeated France 1-0.

Tuesday June 10

A rainy and sunny Rio de Janeiro

Sunny Rio

Workwise we got lost trying to go to a stadium where they are still laying concrete and putting up signposts.



Thank you Mario for those.

Heres our great view of Argentina v. Iran (in RED).

In the end, the journey only lasted eight hours today, but we still managed to miss all the football.

And this one by the infamous Kai Pfaffenbach, is well just very funny

But, in the end, there is only one thing you have to do as a photographer at a World Cup Final and that is not screw it up. Thats it. Just dont miss it or muzz it.

A hot Belo Horizonte, a long time in a boring airport, to a pleasant evening in Brasilia.

A big hello to all the unmentionable, unspellable and unpronounceable photographers who have all made it home already. And of course the processors and technicians who make it all happen.

Heres a shot of him by Eric Gaillard.

But our team of unpronounceable photographers Damir Sagolj, Dominic Ebenbichler, Ueslei Marcelino and David Gray (you just have to say that with an Aussie accent, its the law) covered Argentina and Belgiums news conferences and training. It was, well, average at best.

Yes, another lovely day in Brasilia

The pilot kept us informed of Brazils fortunes as they played their match against Cameroon, which they ended up winning 4-1. I wonder if he would have done so if they were losing?



A sunny and very pleasant Rio de Janeiro



And heres one from a couple of days ago by Brasilias only beach bum, the gifted but totally unpronounceable Ueslei Marcelino. Seriously, how do you say that?

Oh, and my partner in crime Jorge Silvahas come down with the flu, which is no fun for him and will be a real shame for me in a day or two when I get it. Rio tomorrow.

It was another long day of traveling and it appears thatevery time I get on a plane to Salvador, England lose 2-1. First to Italy and then today to Uruguay.

We thought we would soon be at the aptly named Casa Beleza or House of Beauty, sitting by the pool sippingcaipirinhas while we watched Algeria take on Belgium; then we could stroll to the local bar and soak up the atmosphere as Brazil battled it out with Mexico (remember Jorge is Mexican).



A rainy Sao Paulo and then a very wet Rio de Janeiro

A very, very hot and humid Manaus

There are lots of ways to describe what happened to Marcos: barf, pray to the great ceramic idol, yodel groceries, do the multicolour yawn, spew, yak, upchuck, hurl etc And it happened all as French superstar and man of the moment Karim Benzema scored a goal and then ran towards him.



Chianti, cinghiale, cacio e pepe, pizza romana, Greco di Tufo, porcini, and fresh ciliegie are all just days away.

I liked this one too by King Eddie Keogh, formerly known as the Muscles from Brussels, due to his uncanny resemblance to Jean Claude Van Damme.







Penalties are always a real emotionfest. My rather unstylish hat goes off to Brazils answer to Side-Show Bob, David Luiz, he is a real gentlemen I have noticed it on many occasions and today was not any different. Very dignified.

Heres our view of the first half of Bosnia v. Nigeria. Sorry to Damir, my Bosnian colleague.

Still, football is football, and I dont care how good you are, I took pleasure in texting Damir throughout the match. In the end we accepted that Bosnia understood the basic concept of scoring goals and that every team should have a Messi, just to make it fair.

And this one by Sevilles answer to Antonio Banderas, the exceptionally talented Marcelo del Pozo.



Tomorrow I finally get to fix that busted camera I have been carting around since Natal.



Okay, no worries I was told, I was booked on a flight in 12 hours time

A cloudy but warm Sao Paulo

Overcast Salvador, via a grim Rio airport, to a very hot and humid Manaus

A very rainy Salvador and then a sunny Salvador

Turns out I was a bit premature in saying that I would get my camera fixed today.

And for once it actually happened in front of me and in nice light. Thank you very much, Gonzalo.

A sweltering Belo Horizonte

And a shot of Colombias Juan Cuadrado by Jorge Silva.





And this one of Frances Paul Pogba pretty much sums up my day. A back view of not very much.

A wet then very humid and hot Salvador

I could start with my fellow photographer Jorge the goal and celebration magnet Silva, and tell you what it is like to know that wherever I sit it doesnt matter, because everything happens in front of his camera, and he captures every moment beautifully.

Talking of putting things in perspective, I grant you that the Germans were pretty good, but my 14-year-old daughters water polo team could have defended better than the hapless Brazilians.

And this is a picture by the infamous Kai Pfaffi Pfaffenbach, well, just to help prove a point.

My farmers tan is coming along a treat after another few hours spent in the sun. All that vitamin D.







Mixed emotions today, as I (yes just me) head off to Belo Horizonte to cover Brazil v Chile. Happy as I get to shoot the home nation for the first time, but sad as I feel like a character from a Philip Pullman novel who has just lost his Daemon (always thought it would be cool if mine was a lynx).



On board a plane and arriving in balmy Rio

I got good news from back home though, where school is out for the summer. Remember that feeling of an entire summer off? It takes some beating.

Sunday June 22

Friday July 4

Now let me get back to Downton Abbey. This whole Lady Edith saga is quite something.

Horrendous torrential 10 hour downpour in Natal

Ahhhh, finally a decent hotel. Joy.

Tomorrow we head to Cuiaba via somewhere for Colombia v. Japan.

There is a razor but now I am almost liking this santa beard and have convinced myself that I resemble some cool cat from Mad Men or maybe even a suave beatnik. Never let the truth get in the way of reality, as they say.

In other news, I lost the coin toss and got to cover Argentina and Germany news conferences, which was lucky.

Last night, maybe not too surprisingly, Martin Sheen and I had a very pleasant supper together. He was surprisingly knowledgeable about the World Cup and pinhole cameras.

Oh yeah and we got here in time to celebrate the birthday of another Reuters photographer, the legendary Toru Hanai, who was 29 (not for the first time).



Saturday June 28

I was watching this moment captured wonderfully by Eddie The King Keogh as the post came to Argentinas rescue.

Saturday June 7



I was going to bang on about how having two single beds sucks. And really, why would a hotel have them? Who would ever want two singles, when a double bed is so much nicer? Do they think its a spare bed just in case you lose one?

Oh, and dont forget three cameras, five or six essential lenses, monopod, chargers, myriad computer accessories, security clothing, adapters and, and, and

Thursday July 10

Whereas I join a whole new team. Ok its only for one game but Im sure I dont have to spell out the advantages of travelling with an easy-going dude who speaks very good Brazilian, is well over 6ft tall and looks like he knows how to handle himself.

This is a major thoroughfare in downtown Brasilia at 5 oclock on Friday afternoon

Wednesday July 2



Tomorrow we have France v. Nigeria.

And check out this picture by Leo of Chiles final penalty hitting the post. Very cool.

This beauty taken by The Big Lebowskis little brother Marco Djurica.

I have no idea what the total TV figures were, but its certain that people all over the globe tuned in to see Argentina make it into the World Cup Final at the expense of the Dutch.

Tomorrow, Sao Paulo.

I didnt get much sleep last night after finding myself with the choice between trying to kip in a sweltering room or else listening to an AC unit that made about as much noise as an ACDC sound check.

Instead we spent the whole day at Salvador airport moving from gate to gate as our flight was continually delayed. Fog they said, which is weird as there was no fog reported in Rio.

In World Cup news, Argentine and Belgian fans are descending on our hotel in great numbers. I cannot believe how many are asking for tickets, it seems a long way to come to watch it on TV

Relief, pure, utter and unadulterated relief, pretty much sums up how I felt when I saw these pictures.

My luggage still hasnt arrived. And my famous good humour (!) is waning as I start to become a public health hazard.

Rather predictably, day one in a new place ahead of a major tournament is all about setting up cameras, laptops and getting accreditation. Very dull.

One of the best cakes ever. Thanks to TV producer Angie who organized this delicious chocolate cake for cameraman and proud Uruguayan, Sebastian.

And I spotted this inside a sports club that I thought about going into, and then didnt quite make it. Just love all these old dudes.

Jorge Silva and I feel kind of like your favorite uncle, who you havent seen for a few years, and who turns up out of the blue and buys you a great meal.

What do you do when the one-and-only Carlos Barria, a Reuters photographer who is in training for some Iron Man contest, knocks on your door before 7 in the morning and says wake up greybeard, the weathers perfect, lets go for a swim?



How did I do? Well, in the end, it all weighs in at over 60 kilos.



And heres a night shot of the stadium.

Tomorrow back to the cool buildings in Brasilia.



Here is a character who is actually called Master Bates. Really.

He got inside the Costa Rican heads and seemed to own the goal. It was never in any doubt once he touched the crossbar while practically still sitting on his knees.

And what a cracker the game was. What did I say about David Sideshow Bob Luiz being a dude?

Still no luggage.

Im just hoping that of all the things that can (and inevitably will) go wrong, that ones that actually come up wont be too important.

Long story short, security guards, a FIFA official, Brazilian police and indignity came down on the offender. Unfortunately not everyone has been nearly as lucky as Eddie. Keep your eyes peeled and be quick on your toes if some light fingered so-and-so tries to pinch you stuff.





Argentina played Bosnia, which was good for me (my family is Argentine) although not so good for Bosnias most famous export, and maybe the best photographer I have ever had the pleasure of working with Reuters Damir Sagolj.

Anyway my day was not nearly as interesting as my night of hallucinations.

As we all know, Pope Francis, a huge football fan, is Argentine and I cannot help but wonder if it was fortuitous that the match was indeed decided by an Angel (honestly).

And what a beauty it was. Gonzalo Higuain, with one perfect touch, laced the ball into the bottom, right-hand corner of Thibaut Courtois net.

Monday June 9





A good game. Japan lost 4-1, giving Colombia their third win on the trot. And Jackson Martinez (who else?) was man of the match.



Tuesday June 17

Slight panic at check-in this morning when the nice airline lady looked me up and down, smiled and said if I wasnt careful she would have to charge me extra for the bags under my eyes. Must sleep tonight.



I got a middle seat, and was subjected to episodes of Friends such as the one with the jokes you have heard before. Drank horrible coffee and didnt get anything to eat.But who cares? Pictures, as they famously say, speak a thousand words, and this is what happened.

More air miles and another chance to see this particular airlines favourite episode of Two and Half Men which I am assured is a comedy.

I cannot help but wonder what Pope Francis would make of these 12.

I was covering Colombia v. Japan, and even though there were plenty of goals, everything seemed to happen elsewhere. Until right at the end, that is, when Mondragon came on as goalie.



Friday June 6 Packing headache





Football-wise, after 94 minutes and some seconds of covering USA v. Portugal, I was starting to think that this was a long way to come to sit at the wrong end of the pitchfor three goals and tocapture no celebration.

It ALL came down to the spot kicks and the giant Tim Howay Krul, who plays for Newcastle, actually almost speaksGeordie andcan save a penalty.

This one is a genuine cracker by the Machine, also known as Michael Dalder. Love it when a great goal makes a super frame.

Mary explained at breakfast that there was this really old Colombian dude, Faryd Mondragon, aged 43, (I remember that year fondly), and if he came on the pitch he would make World Cuphistory by being the oldest footballer ever to play in the finals.

As the World Cup draws to an end, the pictures team is starting to thin out and we have been saying farewell to friends and colleagues for a few days now. Its nice to know, though, that we will meet again somewhere.

Tomorrow Portugal v Ghana.

And here is the Chile captain showing what it means to lose.



Luckily the nice lady took pity on Jorge and me and got us onto a flight to Natal but we had to go via Fortaleza.

And here is the great man less than 5-minutes walk from my house. Picture by Alice Dunhill (my wife).



Tonight we hooked up with Gaza photographer Suhaib Salem and Nices answer to French actor Alain Delon, Eric Gaillard.

I didnt eat again until the evening when I was so starving that I let beer quench my thirst and hunger.

Now I have three days to pretend to be healthy again and lose all the weight that I have managed to find here.

Im starting to get the feeling its almost as if there were some policy to hire people with weird, wonderful, unpronounceable and unspellable names.

A very hot Brasilia

It has not been easy to keep tabs on it this summer, but for three out of every four years Wimbledon is the best two weeks going.



Tomorrow the 2014 World Cup Final.

Thursday June 19

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/U.S.+STEEL+UPDATES+BLAST+FURNACE+REPAIR+TIME-a018207724



/delval/

-0- 4/18/96

/CONTACT: T.R. Ferrall, 412-433-6899, or R.W. Glenn, 412-433-6792, both of USX/

CD -- PGTH013 -- 3737 04/18/96 11:35 EDT

COPYRIGHT 1996 PR Newswire Association LLC

No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.

Copyright 1996 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

CO: U.S. Steel Group of USX Corporation; Davy-Songer ST: Indiana, Pennsylvania IN: MNG SU:



GARY, Ind., April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Steel Group of USX Corporation (NYSE: X) indicated today that repairs to the No. 13 blastfurnace at its Gary Works now are estimated to take two weeks longerthan preliminary estimates -- or a total of 50 to 55 days from the April2 hearth break-out incident which idled the facility.

The current estimated repair schedule was developed by http://www.acrepairguide.com/ U.S. Steel and Davy-Songer, the general contractor for the project. It updates a preliminary repair estimate announced by those companies on April 8.

(X)

A USX spokesman said that the investigation into the break-out is ongoing. He added that it is still too early to speculate on the financial or commercial impact of the outage on the U.S. Steel Group.

If you appreciate the look of stained glass window film you ought to consider decorating one or two windows in your house to see if you get the sought after look. Even though the film shouldn't block out the view completely, it does hamper an individual's view to a certain extent.

Another great use for window film is smudges. For instance, it's not unusual for friends or your kids to bump into and smear your sliding glass doors. To try and stop the smudges and injuries, you might think about adding decorative window film. A frosted, stained glass or etched window film are all great alternatives to help remedy the situation.



http://www.articlebiz.com/article/1051607726-1-the-numerous-perks-of-decorative-window-film/

Another type of decorative window film is etching window film. This decorative window film will allow you to give the illusion of owning etched glass without the big price tag. The etched window film comes in many different styles and is actually a good idea for sliding glass doors. Etched glass carries a very popular look, nevertheless it is costly, which is why using film provides a great option.



Decorative window film comes in many different styles to allow you to incorporate an aesthetically pleasing look to your home. There are lots of different kinds of decorative window film. There is stained glass window film, privacy window film, etched window film, etc. To select what design of decorative window film to use in your house you may have to assess your needs along with the style you are attempting to obtain.

The privacy window film is really a fantastic solution to prevent an individuals from seeing into your home. The privacy window film is traditionally place over the bathroom windows instead of putting up cloth curtains. Cloth curtains are prone to getting mildew build-up, but privacy window film is simple to wipe clean and it will give you the privacy that you desire in an interesting and tasteful way.



Covering your windows by using a window film is a great way to help maintain heat in your home during the cold months. Nowadays window film is produced http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-Your-Car%27s-Air-Conditioner to enable you to not only decorate your house but also provide an extra layer of safety against ultra violet rays and help decrease your energy expenses.

"It shares the load in spectroscopy with COS (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph)," Jeletic said. "COS gets a little bit more work, but STIS gets its fair share."

NASA still plans to attach a small rocket motor to the base of the telescope at some point to make sure it can be guided to a safe entry, one that will ensure surviving debris falls into the ocean.



Predicted failures of Hubble's science instruments and subsystems give NASA managers optimism the spacecraft will remain scientifically viable through the end of the decade. As the above charts indicate, engineers believe there's a better than 80 percent chance the telescope can reach 2020 without any major failures.

The ACS, like the repaired Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, no longer has any internal redundancy.

Likewise, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, which also is operating in "single-string" mode, is still going strong.

More recently, Hubble has been used to search for minor planets beyond Pluto, to look for planets orbiting other suns, to improve the accuracy of astronomical distance measurements and to study gravitational lenses created by galaxy clusters that magnify the light from even more distant, and ancient, galaxies that formed shortly after the big bang.

During the final visit in 2009, four spacewalkers working in two-man teams carried out five back-to-back spacewalks, installing six new stabilizing gyroscopes, a full set of six nickel-hydrogen battery packs, a new data computer and two new instruments, the $126 million Wide Field Camera 3 and the $81 million Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.

With its razor-sharp vision restored, Hubble quickly became one of the most scientifically productive observatories ever built, chalking up a steady string of major discoveries and sending down spectacular images that now grace everything from scholarly journals to grade school textbooks, T-shirts and posters.

Hubble was launched 24 years ago, on April 24, 1990, aboard the shuttle Discovery. In what became the opening chapter of a space drama rivaling the "Perils of Pauline," engineers discovered its presumably near-perfect 94.5-inch primary mirror suffered from spherical aberration, a condition that prevented it from bringing starlight to a sharp focus.

"They're all ready to roll," Jeletic said of the software packages. "The two-gyro [software] was the first one, we actually used that before the previous servicing mission and then the one gyro we've implemented and tested as well. That's ready to go."

Three of the six gyros installed in 2009, including the one that in March, used an older style flex wire design while three incorporated silver-coated "enhanced" flex wires to improve durability. In an unrelated event, another gyro was put in powered-down reserve because of "noise" in its circuitry. Engineers have since uploaded software to compensate and the gyro is considered fully operational.

"Its images have become part of our culture in our textbooks, magazines, art and even popular movies and TV programs," Ed Weiler, former Hubble project scientist and Grunsfeld's predecessor at NASA Headquarters, said before the final shuttle visit. "Although we probably never will be able to visit these places or objects, Hubble actually allows our human minds and spirits to travel light years and even billions of light years to the farthest reaches of the cosmos."

In any case, Hubble normally operates with just three gyroscopes with the others in reserve, powered off but ready for use if needed. The gyro with the noise issue is one of the two currently held in reserve.

After multiple gyroscope failures in the late 1990s, NASA managers decided to split a third servicing mission into two shuttle flights.

NASA

If those forecasts hold up, NASA will be able to use Hubble in concert with its successor, the $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, giving astronomers a golden opportunity to compare Hubble's visible-light images with Webb's deep infrared views to better understand the structure and evolution of the early universe.



The shuttle Discovery, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope in its cargo bay, climbs away from the Kennedy Space Center during launch April 24, 1990.

2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



The repair crew also installed an upgraded fine guidance sensor, new insulation blankets and a grapple fixture that will permit attachment of a rocket motor at some point down the road to enable a controlled re-entry when Hubble's orbit decays to the point of no return.

But planning for Hubble's re-entry is many years away. In the near term, as a recent senior-level NASA management review concluded, "Hubble is operating at or near the highest level of performance and scientific productivity in its history."

Along with helping astronomers pin down the age of the universe -- 13.7 billion years -- with unprecedented precision, Hubble observations confirmed the existence of super-massive black holes and played a key role in supernova observations confirming the presence of "dark energy," a mysterious force that appears to be speeding up the expansion of the universe.

The Space Telescope Science Institute still receives five to six times more applications for observing time that can be honored and Grunsfeld said NASA will continue funding the observatory, at more than $90 million per year, as long as it remains scientifically viable. NASA has spent $7.5 billion on Hubble in real year dollars since the program was approved in 1977, not counting the cost of six dedicated shuttle missions.

NASA

Neither is shrinkage caused by a phenomenon known as desorption, in which atoms and molecules making up a spacecraft's components can slowly migrate to the surrounding environment. As a result, the telescope's structure has actually shrunk ever so slightly over the years. One of Hubble's Fine Guidance Sensors, while still operating normally, is suffering from a slightly reduced aperture.

"If we can keep Hubble going through 2020, with an October 2018 James Webb Space Telescope launch, the scientific opportunity is tremendous. Now we can't guarantee that. It's space, it's really hard. [But] knock on wood, we can keep Hubble going a long time."

"You reset the electronics and you're back in business," Jeletic said. "So no damage or anything like that, and we were back up and running in less than 30 hours. So that's a no brainer. We get those on different parts of the spacecraft, that's not unusual."

While engineers could improve Hubble's life expectancy by putting more gyros in reserve now, three are required to maximize the observatory's science return.

Grunsfeld and his crewmates also repaired two science instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, which suffered a power supply failure in 2004, and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which malfunctioned in 2007.

The secret to Hubble success was NASA's ability to launch shuttle servicing missions to replace outdated or malfunctioning components, to repair systems that could not http://www.homeadvisor.com/task.Central-A-C-Service-or-Repair.40074.html be replaced and to install new, state-of-the-art instruments to keep the observatory at the forefront of astronomy.

In a remarkable display of Apollo 13-style ingenuity, engineers precisely mapped the aberration and designed corrective optics that were installed during a December 1993 shuttle servicing mission, the first of five that eventually were launched.



The Hubble Space Telescope was equipped with corrective optics during a 1993 shuttle servicing mission, counteracting a flaw in the observatory's primary mirror. Hubble has operated at the forefront of optical astronomy ever since.

Four years after Hubble was equipped with corrective optics, astronauts on a second servicing mission installed two new instruments -- the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer, or NICMOS -- replaced a fine guidance sensor, a gyroscope and installed a solid-state data recorder.

All that said, Grunsfeld added, "I think we'll get to 2020 with Hubble."

"We want to optimize that situation and get as much science back as we can while all the instruments are truly working," Jeletic said. "So we're going to stay in three-gyro mode. If that changes, if all the sudden we've lost two instruments or something, we may take another look at that. Or, if we end up losing gyros over time and we're down to two gyros, then we will automatically jump to the one-gyro mode and put one in reserve. That's the game plan."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hubble-telescope-marks-another-milestone-in-space/

Based on an average solar cycle, the latest projections show atmospheric friction will cause Hubble to fall back to Earth around 2036. In a worst-case scenario, re-entry could come as early as 2027.

"Hubble's doing great," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's director of space science operations and one of the spacewalkers who helped service Hubble during a final visit in 2009. "We've had one gyro failure, but that's to be expected.

Operating Hubble much beyond 2020 will be technically and politically problematic. And no matter what happens, the telescope will continue slowly but surely losing altitude because of atmospheric drag, a phenomenon that depends in large part on the 11-year solar cycle and how much the sun causes the atmosphere to heat up and expand.

NASA

He made the decision in large part because Hubble and the International Space Station were in different orbits and a Hubble repair crew could not reach safe haven aboard the station if their shuttle suffered a Columbia-class problem.

Then, 11 months later, the shuttle Columbia was destroyed during re-entry by a breach in its wing leading edge heat shield. Plans for a fifth shuttle visit, Servicing Mission 4, were put on hold and eventually cancelled by then-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.

During Servicing Mission 3A, launched in December 1999, spacewalking astronauts installed a new flight computer, a second solid-state data recorder, another fine guidance sensor and a full set of six gyroscopes. During Servicing Mission 3B, launched in March 2002, another shuttle crew installed two new solar arrays, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, an experimental cooling system for NICMOS and a replacement power control unit.

The only other instrument issues have been transitory space radiation-triggered single-event upsets "where a particle came down and hit some part of the computer circuitry and caused a bit to flip."

But NASA and contractor engineers eventually came up with heat shield repair techniques and O'Keefe's successor, Michael Griffin, reinstated the fifth servicing mission.

"It's amazing. It truly is," Jeletic said. "Given all the things that can fail, a lot of people were hoping for one or two years of continued work with it. Now we've gotten over five."

The only other issue of any significance is the March 7 loss of a gyroscope, apparently due to the failure of a hair-thin flex wire that carried current to the unit. The gyro had operated for more than 50,000 hours when it failed, a near record.

Jeletic said the loss of one gyro poses no issues for Hubble, especially given that engineers have developed software that would permit science operations to continue with two gyros or even with one.

"Batteries are fine, solar arrays are fine, all the communications equipment is fine, we don't see any glitches with the computers, the instruments are all fine," he said. "In fact, an interesting statistic, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which was repaired by the astronauts during the last servicing mission, that's actually now run longer on the repair than it did originally for the Wide Field Camera part of it."

"Hubble seems to be in remarkably good condition, the gyros are holding out, the instruments are holding out far better than we anticipated," he said in an interview.



"We see that, for example, with the optical telescope assembly, which is the structure that holds the mirrors," Jeletic said. "Every so often, every two or three years, we'll actually do a secondary mirror move to pull it back into focus. Similarly, with the Fine Guidance Sensors, there's still some of that going on. Nothing that we can't manage right now, just watching that trend."

Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University, is equally optimistic.

Jeletic said other than a single gyro failure, the observatory is operating in near-flawless fashion five years after the final shuttle crew departed.

"If the over-subscription (rate) drops down to a much lower number, and I don't know where that threshold would be, and there's more pressure on James Webb or a new telescope, then we would put it into a senior review where it competes against those other instruments."

"The real issue for us, which is what's proving very exciting, is though the instruments have now been up for almost five years, we're finding news ways to use them and new ways to correct the effects of being in space," he said. "And so they're becoming even more sensitive than they were when we went up there."

Five years after a fifth and final shuttle servicing mission, the Hubble Space Telescope's instruments are operating in near-flawless fashion and while one of its six stabilizing gyroscopes has failed, project managers are optimistic the observatory will be able to operate through the end of the decade, wrapping up 30 years at the apex of astronomy.

"The spherical aberration story is one for the history books," James Jeletic, deputy project manager of Hubble operations at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told CBS News. "And then the astronauts and the whole idea of the servicing, which allowed us to put new instruments on board and things of that nature, that has worked just absolutely spectacularly."

"When we get to 2020, if we're down to a single instrument, maybe we only have Wide Field Camera 3 left and we're on the cusp of launching a wide-field survey telescope ... the science community may decide funding isn't worth it and we ought to put it into the next-generation telescope," Grunsfeld said.