Messi

From 2007, but amazing how much skill Messi has while running at breakneck speed.

An American in Spain

Villareal see Altidore as a key to their future.

This is good news, both for Altidore, and for US Soccer. La Liga is currently one of the two best leagues in the world, and Villareal has been taking the steps necessary to challenge Real Madrid and Barcelona -- although this year looks to be Barça's year... they look indomitable. With a chance to grow and develop in La Liga, Altidore will be a future anchor for any US World Cup team (2010 will probably be too soon).

Riots in Oakland

This is what happens when civil government loses moral authority.

A similar, more egregious, situation developed in Greece not that long ago.

It does not make the protesters 'right' or any more moral. But it is a consequence.

The Surgeon General

The Surgeon General is largely a ceremonial position with actual oversight of an important, but small agency. Most Americans are aware of the Surgeon General's office because of warning labels on Cigar, Cigarette, and (various) Alcohol products. The only Surgeon Generals to achieve notoriety for something different than warning labels were C. Everett Koop (an anti-abortion doctor who stood against the tendencies of the Reagan administration during the AIDS epidemic) and Jocelyn Elders (who made some ill-advised comments about masturbation and sex ed).

I started thinking about Surgeon General Warning Labels and wondered if the next Surgeon General... admit it, Surgeon General is a cool kick-ass title... should come out with a new, improved, extended line of labels.

"No Fat" food:

Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that eating this product will not cause you to magically lose weight, nor does it taste any better the second or third time you try it.

Bottled Water:

Warning: The Surgeon General has found that bottled water products do not provide any health advantages over drinking tap water.

Video Game Consoles:

Warning: In addition to wasting considerable amounts of your time and increasing your risk for repetitive motion disorders, the Surgeon General has found that this video game console will be obsolete in three years.

I wonder what other warning labels one could come up with...

(n.b.: I am a video game addict and have been known to drink bottled water. I detest 'no fat' food. Also I think the 'low carb' and the 'no carb' diets are unhealthy scams, but that is just my opinion.)

Holy WTF

A police officer is going to go to jail and a police department is going to lose a wrongful death lawsuit.

But more important than that: why in the hell did this happen? WTF were these guys thinking? And how can we stop this from happening again?

Update: More info in the following news report.

2036, the date of death

Watchmen watch

Just saw the two trailers for Watchmen (coming out in 2009, hopefully), and aside from Ozymandias, it seems to be incredibly faithful, visually, to the original comic. I have no idea how they are going to condense the story into less than 3 hours... but I'm hoping it will be good.

Nonsense still continuing

War Vet, 50, Stunned By New Deployment

"(I was) kind of shocked, not understanding what I was getting into," said Bandel, who lives in the Nashville, Tenn., area.

In 1993, Bandel took the option of leaving the Army without retirement and never thought he would be called back to action.

"Here he's 50 years old, getting his AARP card, and here he's being redeployed with all these 18-year-olds," said Paul's wife, Linda Bandel.

"I can understand, say, 'Here, we have this assignment for you stateside. Go do your training,'" said Paul Bandel. "But, 'Hey, here's a gun, go back to the desert.'"

Involuntary recall allows the military, regardless of age or how long someone has been out of service, to order vets back into active duty.

"Anger's not the word. I was more concerned about the financial impact it's going to do. My pay's probably cut in half," said Paul Bandel.