Paul the octopus found dead

Paul the Octopus dead at 2
Paul the Octopus, who rose to prominence for his accurate predictions of Germany's matches during Euro 2008 and the World Cup, has died at the age of two
 
Tena bora amekufa.. Matumizi yake yalikuwa aina nyingine ya ushirikina!!
 
Heheh kuna mkono wa waholanzi hapa si bure [sic]. Huyu mdudu alijaribu kutabiri matokeo ya uchaguzi mkuu wa Tanzania nini watu wakamtenda?
 
Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, has died, his aquarium in Germany said on Tuesday.
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"Management and staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight," the aquarium said in a sombre statement.
"Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then of the final," said Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll.
"His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself ... We had all naturally grown very fond of him and he will be sorely missed," said Porwoll.
Paul beat the odds during the World Cup by correctly forecasting all eight games he was asked to predict, including Spain's 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the final.
For the prediction, two boxes were lowered into the salty soothsayer's tank, each containing a mussel and a flag of the two opposing teams.
Watched by a myriad of reporters, Paul would head to one box, wrench open the lid and gobble the tasty morsel, with the box he plumped for being deemed the likely winner.
Paul's body is now in cold storage while the aquarium decides "how best to mark his passing."
However, Paul's fans need not despair. The aquarium has already been grooming a successor, to be named Paul like his mentor.
"We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine," said Porwoll.
"While this may seem a curious thing to do for a sea creature, Paul achieved such popularity during his short life that it may be deemed the most appropriate course of action.
Source -AFP
 
Paul the Octopus, unlikely football pundit, is dead

The octopus blessed with an uncanny knack of predicting football results, has died at a German aquarium.
He became a worldwide celebrity in July after correctly predicting several World Cup scores. .
 
Obituary: Paul the Octopus (2008-2010)

Star of the World Cup (well, behind Diego Forlan)

By Alex Dimond

26 Oct 2010 13:15:00





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RIP Paul the Octopus (alt. 'Paul Oktopus', 'Pulpo Paul', 'Paul der Kracke')

What can a mere octopus achieve in just a two year life-span?

It is a question of mortality that has held back millions of other eight-tentacled Cephalopods from ever attempting to achieve anything; but in his short time on Planet Earth Paul the Octopus showed that if you reach for the stars, you may at least land on a mussel.

Facts about Paul's life are hard to truly ascertain, but he was believed to be born at Weymouth Sea Life Park in 2008. Of the genus Octopus vulgaris, there was nothing really vulgar about the young Paul, and staff were sad to see him leave after his initial period of quarantine ended.

"He didn't show any special abilities while he was here for his eight weeks of quarantine, but that's probably because we didn't have a chance to give him the opportunity," senior aquarist Matthew Fuller told the BBC in a summer profile of Paul, while at the height of his fame.

"Octopuses are the most intelligent of all invertebrates, so it's not a shock that Paul turned out to have such impressive skills."

It was at his second home, at another Sea Life aquarium in Germany, that Paul would finally show the world his talents. Euro 2008 was his coming out party, as he correctly predicted the winner in four of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches (only erring for a group game against Croatia and the final against Spain).

But Paul himself would admit he was young and naive in those days - rather like a young Pele in the 1958 World Cup - and it wasn't until this summer's World Cup in South Africa - effectively Paul's Mexico 1970 - that he would really make his mark on the wider world.

Observers at the Oberhausen Sea Life centre say his preparation for the summer tournament was unremarkable, that he rarely left his tank and never studied form guides or watched any of the pre-tournament friendlies. But when it came to the main event, he was ready and raring to go.

He correctly predicted all of Germany's group results - including a surprise defeat to Serbia - and spotted the talent within Joachim Loew's side to correctly back them to make it all the way to the semi-final. That included difficult decisions against Argentina and England, the country of his birth, a decision insiders admit was one he found very easy to make. "He'd seen Matthew Upson enough to know how that train wreck was going to turn out," his carer reportedly noted.

Like all famous thinkers, Paul would soon face a backlash from opposition fans unhappy at his accurate judgments. He would eventually face the same vitriol from his own previously adoring German public, after going out on a mussel to predict Spain to beat them in the semi-finals.

Threats were made against his life after his prediction proved to be correct, with various Facebook statuses reported as saying, "Paul the Octopus is Sushi tomorrow morning!", "That bloody octopus should be killed, cooked and eaten...!!!!"

He would even become the subject of criticism from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who accused him of spreading "western propaganda and superstition."
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Defining moment | Paul makes the decision seen around the world​
But, to his eternal credit, Paul didn't shy away from such threats and continued to make his brave predictions. He correctly identified Germany as likely too strong for Uruguay in the third place playoff, before taking on one final prediction - the final itself.

He picked Spain. It would prove to be a masterstroke.

After all, it was around this time that Paul faced some unlikely competition, as Singapore's own Mani, 'the psychic parakeet', reportedly correctly predicted five straight results leading up to the final. But the bird was exposed as a fraud after picking the Netherlands to win the final, leaving Paul to assume his rightful place among the animal kingdom's most revered academics.

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"His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself"
- Stefan Porwoll​
Fame became too much for Paul, however, who opted for retirement soon after Iker Casillas lifted the famous trophy, but could not extracate himself from the high life he now found himself in. He gorged himself on the mussels that had previously been his main weapon, and he became harder and harder to deal with.

"He turned his back on a lucrative career on the after-dinner speaking circuit," one observer may or may not have bemoaned. "It was like how I imagine watching Elvis in his final years was."

Eventually, such excess caught up with him, and Paul suddenly died on October 26 of natural causes. He was two. He left no heirs, no one to continue his predicting legacy. Euro 2012 - let alone World Cup 2014 - will be a minefield without him.

"His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself," Stefan Porwoll, manager at Oberhausen, said afterwards.

"We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine."

His shrine might be modest, but his legacy certainly won't be. His final public act was to officially support England's World Cup 2018 bid. It would surely only be fitting that such a final prediction eventually came true - it is only too bad he will not live to see it.

So long, Paul. You are an inspiration to octupuses (octopii?) everywhere. The ink will run dry on this obituary, and within your own body, long before the jokes do.
 
RIP Paul the Octopus.....atleast he did something remarkable while living in this world!!!
 
Paul the Octopus of World Cup Fame Has Died

Oct. 26, 2010

Paul the Octopus, the eight-armed oracle that correctly predicted the outcome of eight World Cup matches this year, has died. Devastated staff at his aquarium in Germany say they will build a memorial to him, and they have a comforting message for a world in mourning -- Paul II is waiting in the wings.
Paul the Octopus, who gained worldwide fame this year by correctly forecasting the outcome of eight World Cup soccer matches including the final, has died peacefully of natural causes, the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen said on Tuesday.
"Management and staff of the Oberhausen Sea Life Aquarium were devastated when Paul was found dead this morning," the aquarium said in a statement.
It said it would erect a memorial to the little brown octopus whose astounding predictive powers turned him into the true star of the tournament, eclipsing the likes of Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Thomas Müller and Andres Iniesta. Spain, which won the tournament, embraced "Pulpo Paul" as a hero.
During the World Cup in South Africa in June and July, TV channels around the world provided live coverage of Paul's forecasts, made by picking a tasty mussel from one of two transparent boxes emblazoned with the national flags of the two opposing teams.
There was a one in 256 chance that he would get all eight predictions right. Paul's success rate confounded mathematicians, angered bookmakers and spooked hundreds of millions of football fans around the world.
"Paul delighted people from all continents with his seven consecutive correct predictions for the matches of the German national team and for the final," said the aquarium's general manager, Stefan Porwoll. "He was dear to all our hearts and we will sorely miss him. He died peacefully in the night of natural causes. It is a comforting thought that he had a good life with us with the best possible care delivered by a committed team."
Some Germans, disappointed by Paul's unfavorable predictions towards their own national team, had joked that they wanted to fry him up as calamari. Sea Life officials on Tuesday that Paul's remains are currently being stored in a freezer and that he would be cremated in the coming days.
"In honor of Paul and in view of the worldwide interest, a memorial will be put up to him in our exhibition," said the aquarium, which is clearly adept at milking his fame. "We will show his most beautiful and moving moments on a screen. And we will also display the presents we received from all over the world, along with the two glass boxes. We will also show Paul's urn."
The fame of the creature variously dubbed "Psychic Paul," "El Pulpo Paul" and "Paul le Poulpe" grew with every correct forecast. When Spain won the final, ecstatic fans in Madrid were seen waving octopus banners. The small town of Carballino in northern Spain offered a €30,000 "transfer fee" because it wants to make Paul a mascot of its food festival, a disturbing notion.
In the nations whose teams were knocked out of the tournament early on, Paul's predictions added a little much-needed tension to matches they no longer had a stake in. "He was right again!" was a common post-match exclamation in bars and newspaper headlines around the world. Paul even provided England fans with some desperately needed pride because he is believed to have been born in the southern English town of Weymouth in early 2008, before he moved to Oberhausen.
But Paul's uncanny accuracy wasn't the only reason for his fame. The lack of excitement in many of the matches also played a part. Every World Cup needs its heroes, and South Africa 2010 came up short in this respect. Many of the stars that had been predicted to dominate the tournament, such as Rooney and Messi, failed to shine.
Germany sparkled with two stunning victories over England and Argentina, but those matches were the exception in a string of clashes marred by poor and unimaginative passing, some appalling referee errors and, in the case of Sunday's final, by relentless fouling. Not to mention the drone of Vuvuzelas.
So Paul offered a welcome distraction. His success rate enabled him to brush aside competition from other animals chosen to rival his predictive powers during the tournament, for example a chimpanzee called "Pino" in an Estonian zoo, a parakeet called Mani in Singapore, or a crocodile called Harry in Australia.
Attempts to find a scientific explanation for Paul's choices have come to nothing. A Russian biologist, Vyacheslav Bisikov, suggested that he might have been attracted to boxes that displayed flags made up of stripes. But that doesn't explain how he distinguished between two boxes with striped flags, such as Spain and the Netherlands. Besides, octopuses are believed to be color blind, which precludes the explanation that he picked the brightest flags.
Germany's leading octopus researcher, Volker Miske, said Paul may have been making his choices based on the size of the mussel in the box, or the ease with which the box could be opened, or traces of mussel flavor on the outside of the box. It is clear, however, that Paul was highly intelligent. Apart from being a soothsayer, he was an expert at unscrewing the lids off jars.
Before the World Cup, Paul's powers were already known in Germany because he had correctly predicted four out of Germany's five matches in the 2008 European Championship. But his clean sheet this year has made him immortal.
He helped to make the World Cup memorable. Just like everyone will remember the 2006 tournament in Germany for Zinedine Zidane's astounding head butt, and the 1986 one in Mexico for Maradona's "Hand of God" goal against England, South Africa will forever be associated with an octopus.
If he really was born in 2008, then Paul was nearing the end of his natural life. Octopuses only live three years on average and he was never going to be around for the next European Championship in 2012, let alone the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
But here is some comfort for football fans. "Behind the scenes, a young Paul is already acclimatizing himself, he was meant to be trained by Paul the First in the coming weeks," aquarium officials said.
Fellow sea creatures will also benefit from his immortality in future. Oberhausen said it plans to donate some of its income from the sale of commercial rights relating to Paul -- he adorns a clothes brand and adverts for a supermarket chain, for example -- to help finance a rescue station for endangered turtles on the Greek island of Zakynthos.
Click to expand...
Paul the Octopus Who Predicted World Cup Winner Has Died - ABC News
 
This is too childish real!! I consider it the worst way of using this forum. Unaweza kuwasababishia watu pressure zisizokuwa na maana. Kama ulitaka kufanya utani, ungepeleka kwenye jukwaa la utani na si kuleta kitu cha utani katika jukwaa ambalo lina serious issues.
 
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