Divine Nostradamus

Paul the Octopus predicted the results of 2010 world cup football matches. He made several accurate predictions which brought him worldwide attention. He died 26 October 2010.

Shaheen the Dubai-based camel has also been predicting the winners of the 2014 World Cup.

Nelly the female elephant at a wildlife park in Germany is predicting the results for the 2014 World Cup as well.

Big Head, a 25 year old turtle in Salvador, correctly predicted Brazil would beat Croatia in the opening game of the World Cup.

Sarge and Oscar, macaws at The Gincase farm in Cumbria, England are also stepping forward to give their predictions.

Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant software, Cortana has been receiving attention after it correctly predicted winners of the World Cup.

Baidu, the biggest search engine in China, has joined the World Cup prediction fever.

Google’s Cloud Platform has been predicting the winners of the World Cup since the round of 16.

World Cup Tools

An innovative tool in the 1994 World Cup in the United States was the appearance of the injury buggy.

And BBC descibed it as adding a slightly comedic air to a colourful World Cup.

The first man to be driven off the pitch in such a buggy was Romania's Hagi.

Golf cart turned field ambulance have not reappeared at any subsequent World Cups.

The good old 4 man stretcher bearers are here to stay. OLE !

The World Cup

The World Cup. Its effects on the economic output of countries worldwide is real. Rate of work absence is the single biggest problem during the World Cup. And the gambling created by the office pools during the games.

 

The World Cup this year uses a new invention. The Vanishing Spray.

 

The spray has been used for several years in South and North America's domestic leagues but this is the first time it has been used in the World Cup.

Argentinian journalist and businessman Pablo Silva developed the spray called "9:15 Fairplay," a reference to the free-kick distance requirement.

The spray is a mixture of butane, isobutane and propane gas, a foaming agent, water; and chemicals. When it leaves the can, the gas depressurizes and expands, creating small, water-covered droplets on the field. The butane mixture later evaporates, leaving only water and surfactant residue behind.