Originally published October 27 2010
Paul, the octopus, has died. You remember Paul. He predicted the winner of 8 world cup matches in the last world cup series in South Africa. OK, he was based in Germany – or should I say “tanked” in Germany. Caretakers would put a flag from each of the opposing teams on one of two tanks. Whichever tank Paul crawled into, that team was predicted to be the winner – and he was right 8 times – he was an Octopus.
The Yin….as one British bookmaker said…”it created a lot of interest in betting from people who would not have bothered, otherwise.”…and this is a good thing?”
The Yang…. Paul cost the betting world 1.5 million in loses….a drop in the bucket, I’m sure.
What has Paul got to do with business or knitting or anything else besides Soccer and gambling? Well a lot really.
He became a celebrity….how many famous octopodes (shorter Oxford English Dictionary) do you know? Yes, I remember 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea…any more? He came from obscurity – try making it in this world from a marine centre in Oberhausen. He’s not really what you would call glamorous, – again try making it with flaccid, scaly flesh covered in tentacles. He’s as far as we know, mute – but he rose to the top, so to speak. He is what the Brits would call “canny” – no pun intended. When we feel that things are just too overwhelming, that maybe we should throw in the towel – remember Paul – enlist the help of caregivers – add some mussel…err…muscle and set out to create a winning profile.
I love Paul because he has 8 “arms”. I can’t count the number of times that I have prayed for just another set of hands to help finish up a few extra projects in too short a time frame. Well when I really sat down to think about it – could I really manage doing 2 or 3 lace projects simultaneously? Perhaps, if they were all the same stitch and all at the same spot in the repeats. But what if I had to tink one, stop to count another and still work on the third…it gets worse when you add different projects in different gauges not to mention the sewing up!!!
No, Paul was good at what he did and we are adequately equipped to knit our way to stardom with two hands and a little imagination. However, I would still like to have a Paul or something similar to predict what samples, yarns or patterns etc to stock, or take to knitting shows or..or..or. Now this is really a “crap(s) shoot.” The game is “Craps”. The common usage is “crap shoot.” If you don’t make the right decisions the outcome could be a load of ______.
Dinner tonight? Nothing marine – we’re in mourning. How about KD – maybe not – do you remember the commercial about the guppies?
I know, I used to teach with a woman, who always maintained that you could do Breakfast at least one night during the week – go for it – just hold the kippers!