Marka Ragnos

How? Why not explain what you mean?

You can believe or not, discredit or not, but Romano's still saying it's going Villa's way ... Which is good.

Now look, as long as Villa get more touchdowns on Sunday than the Toon, what else must I understand? Yes. I'm getting a strong sense of some bad blood from England spilling over into Philadelphia this weekend, too. I can't wait to see our players. I can't imagine this being a sleeper of a match. It's a big stadium and it won't be filled, but hopefully we'll at least equal attendance vs. Leeds in Australia last summer, and surely the players will respond to the excitement. But please no injuries, yes.

Do you have the link to the mainstream media news story that verifies the deal? Would love to see that. Seriously, I seem to have missed it this morning. This is the closest "latest" I've seen:

Ask what's so complicated and goes on to offer complicated, opaque explanation of matters with zero sourcing ... haha (But I agree, if it's agreed, well, the complications end.)

Yes, as silly as it sounds, if he picked the Saudis for the money, he's probably not right for us. But it's so hard to know what some of the footballers are dealing with in their lives and families and their financial situations, and I still can't hold it against a player too much for taking the big money. Most players get, what, 10 years of professional play, if they're lucky, and they have effectively made themselves in their dedication to football unqualified to do much else? So if Saudi comes calling with big money, it can perhaps even seem like an obligation to take it and run.

Don't agree. From what I can tell, he's mostly accurate, and compared to the general standards of Transfer Twitter, Romano's restrained.

Come on, Moussa.

And ... possibly ... Diaby and agent wanting to leverage his Villa salary, right? This all does feel like the ritualized haggling process at a Marrakech market. Which is good. The dance of the deal is on, it seems. It can only be a matter of time, one hopes, a few more million dirham getting shuffled about, etc.

Yes. Need you ask?

Maybe one day he'll end up at Villa. The irony would be delicious. I rate him -- but I don't overrate him. A reminder of how ill-equipped for life the football talent factory can be. It's a little sad, really. Still, if his antics are making this transfer window a bit more entertaining, no one will ever beat The Drive in 2013. Remember that? Classic.

The fun never ends with the Félix sh**show ... but hey, don't smear us with your cast-off, Athletis. (Now I'm desperate to get to the CL and beat Athletico. It will happen!)

All discussion seems centred on transfer fees and add-ons. But aren't competing salary offers just as important? Not sure I get this aspect of summer window brinkmanship. Why do we hear less about salary?

Is it time we reconsider ... uh-hem ... <cough, cough> ... Phil Collins?

All I really care about on this thread is Villa, not Felix. I wouldn't mind seeing him humbled a bit by other clubs' snubs --- then he and his agent can (if they're wise) come back calling to Villa Park, and maybe, if they're lucky, we'll make an offer. He mostly just strikes me as a bit immature. I'm not surprised some folks remain besotted with him. His expensive Athletico signing and his image-rights deals and his big agent and his truly impressive spell at Benfica all bedazzle certain people. But the accruing evidence of his general asshattery and underwhelming pitch form are real, too; I don't think there's some complicated and unfair conspiracy out to derail his career. (Plus, he's already an extremely wealthy young man who will be just fine in life if he doesn't waste his money. He's no victim.) He and his fanboys need to come back to planet earth.

Drugs. What is LSD in digital tech?

Jeez, ... Interpol totally re-created the Chameleons' sound 20 years later. It's not "inspiration." It's pure pastiche. Amazing. I knew Interpol liked them, but wow

Random question: Ever seen an LSD blotter design from the 1970s? I saw "a few" in the 80s, but I'm trying to get an example of how they looked back in the 1970s for something I'm working on.

I actually do wonder about this way too much. I don't understand, chemically, why bar soap works so much better to strip oil away than the various gels. I love bar soap. I can't stand shower gels, apart from one pre-gel era hippie standby called Dr. Bronner's, which leaves you minty fresh and squeaky clean. The gels just don't seem to work like soap on the molecular level. The oils are very hard to surround and rinse away for reasons I don't understand.

Ah, but there's a paradox: What we call other places is also part of our own identity in expressive and important ways, is it not, and maybe something others want to hear? What others call my homeland in their language, for example, can tell me more about culture and perhaps even enrich my perspective. Interesting subject, anyway. I do get your point. A good podcast on related topic. What, why, and how we label things in "reality" (whatever that may be) is so incredibly complicated!

Amber is so fun ...

Has slight emoish quality. Are they from that era?

What's the best way to offer help to a colleague you're not very close to but who has just been given a cancer diagnosis and facing serious surgical procedures? This kind of thing always confuses me ...