My New Blog Home

I wanted a new name and a fresh start, so check out my new blog home here. Sushi No!

Omar's GOTW

Finally, a Rapid gets Goal of the Week. I had to post it so I can look back at that glorious moment when 16,000 RSL fans hopes of a win were ruined. Thank you Omar for causing pain to RSL. It was a beaut.

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy

The latest song to be stuck in my head for consecutive days without my getting sick of it. I love the simple, rocking video too.

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy

Trailer for Food, Inc.

Finally, a big documentary about the insanity of the food industry. Featuring the wisdom of Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan. Here's the trailer for Food, Inc.

Terry Effing Cooke

Terry Cooke does not play in week 1. Week 2 at home he sits on the bench until the 65th minute, when Colorado happens to have a free kick. What does he do with his first touch of 2009?

Upper 90. First touch. What. Cookie, earning his spot.

Oh, yeah, the game-winning goal? Cookie set that one up too. Cooke to Clark to Cummings. Done.

Tough Love for the Rapids

Chivas 2, Rapids 1. It was tough to watch that second half. The Rapids just collapsed after giving up the second Nagamura goal. For that, I think the whole team needs to work on their resilience. It was like they knew they were lucky to take the lead, and lost hope when reality caught up and they fell behind. The first half Rapids dominated, and deserved the Cummings goal. The second half Rapids panicked.

Now for the tough love. There are a lot of Kimura fans in Colorado. I am not one of them. I know you can't place blame on one player for a loss, but I cannot sit back and pretend Kimura is a reliable defender when I see his blunders lead to goals so often. When I saw him starting again on Saturday, I thought, here we go... but I will try to love him. He did ok, but it did not last. And neither did my hopes of trusting him this year. Let's go to the tape:



A Chivas cross goes harmlessly into the box with three Rapids around, no Chivas challenging for the ball . Kimura has lots of options: control-and-clear, head wide right out of danger, head-tap back to Pickens... but no. Instead, a nice soft head-pass, across the top of the box, to settle perfectly at the feet of Paulo Nagamura. Clear shot, easy goal. Appalling. Unacceptable.

Gary Smith has called for accountability and earning your spot every week. If that is true, he must hold Kimura accountable for these gaffes. Last year's last-minute Movsisyan RSL goal in that knocked us out of the playoffs was also a nice setup from KK. I noticed these things several times last year, and the problem has not been fixed. So, in the name of accountability, I am starting a tally sheet, tagged here for the first time as Kosuke Kimura own-goals. Somebody's gotta keep track of these things. I mean, I know its not literally an own goal, but a gaffe like that might as well be.

Kosuke Kimura 2009 Own-Goal Tally: 1

By the way, Soccer by Ives noticed it too. Ives has Kimura on his week 1 Worst XI, along with Zach "The Snack" Thornton who gave us a gift for the first goal.

I love you Rapids. That's why I rant.

Thoughts

"I would love to have the faith..." skip to 4:28 for classic Lewis Black quote.

More Non-believers than you may have thought

The Times in the UK published an article yesterday that says non-believers are now the third largest group in the US, after Catholics and Baptists. Third! It's a surprising rank, and makes it sound a bit better than it really is, unfortunately, but hey, it's a start.

Disneyfication in a Positive Way?

Disney will release Earth this month in theaters. It looks to be a re-editing of Discovery's amazing Planet Earth series into a family-friendly collection of stories that should appeal to children. I guess that means less hunting scenes, and more baby polar bear antics. I seldom find myself applauding Disney, mainly because they are one of those giant super-power corporations. In this case, I have to nod approvingly. There is a big need for nature-enthusiasm among American kids. Disney knows what kids like, and I think an increased love for our planet and all its amazing animals can only be a step in the right direction.

Here's one of my favorite clips from Planet Earth featuring a couple of New Zealand's unreal birds of paradise.

Note To Self

I need to get that Smashing Pumpkins song from the trailer to Watchmen. I thought it was on a Batman soundtrack previously and I was right: Batman & Robin. The song title is The Beginning is the End is the Beginning. According to Allmusic, it never showed up on a SP album, just that soundtrack. Whoever did this trailer made a wise musical choice. Dark, compelling, different but still familiar.

The Day is Near

The boys are back in 6 days. Rapids at Chivas on Saturday March 21st, and then the home opener vs KC on Saturday March 28th. New kits, a new striker, and hopefully a new era. The Rapids are running a new promotion this year that I love: the so called "Lads' Night Out." It entails 2 tickets to the game, plus 2 beers at Fado's downtown, and a free party bus ride to and from the Dick! 39 bucks. Not bad.

A Moment I Almost Forgot

Hawks in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina. Picture taken by D. Mueller on Jan 10, 2009. We saw them hanging out on the beginning of our canopy tour.

Radiolab: Darwinvaganza

Radiolab is an excellent radio program from WNYC. Jad and Robert, the hosts always put together an interesting conversation about the many ways science can meet culture, and how it matters to us. Last week they posted Darwinvaganza, a special evolution episode, to celebrate Darwin's bday, and it has some great thoughts on what it means to believe in evolution. I need to listen to it again because I was distracted the first time, but it had some great ideas, and really is an example of why i love public radio (PRI in this case). Radiolab is on NPR every week; 90.1 fm in Denver. Have a listen.

God makes the laws 'round these parts

Two Colorado Senate Republicans are letting their true colors show. I call those colors "Bigotry Brown" and "Holy-BS Red."

• Senator Dave Schultheis (R- Colorado Springs- big surprise) voted against a bill to get pregnant women tested for HIV (he was the only "no"vote). Why? Because he thinks HIV comes from promiscuity, and that those women and their children deserve to suffer the consequences of that promiscuity. A direct quote from him: "What I'm hoping is that yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, but the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that."

• Greeley's R Scott Renfroe quoted scripture in the senate to explain why gay partners shouldn't be able to share health benefits: "We are taking sins and making them to be legally OK, and that is wrong. That is an abomination, according to scripture.
  "And I'm not saying that this is the only sin that's out there. Obviously we have sin, we have murder, we have all sorts of sin. We have adultery ... and we would never think to make murder legal."

The saddest thing is that these people probably actually reflect the opinions of their God-crazy constituents in the bible-black-holes of the Springs and smells-like-Greeley. Seriously people- all this religious lawmaking stuff is getting old. You are acting like children. Grow up.

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and by the way... So long to the Rocky Mountain News. I grew up with that paper every morning, and was always annoyed any time I got stuck reading a giant Post. Now our fair city takes a small step backwards and we have one newspaper. Great.

Coen Brothers' ad about "Clean" Coal

Just because they call it clean...

WWFSMD?

www.venganza.org

Happy Darwin Day!

Today is Charles Darwin's birthday. His ideas have been the basis of biological science for 150 years. Unfortunately, we live in a country that still thinks he was full of BS (see chart below, from The Economist). More than half of the US population rejects the scientifically proven fact of evolution. It's like rejecting the idea that gravity exists. It's mass delusion.

Fortunately, there is more data all the time to help us open our eyes.

I think things are slowly changing. We have a long way to go, but people are starting to see the light. Evolution is a beautiful theory that really makes the world seem more amazing and interesting to me. It may be easy to think the complexities of the human brain and the sophistication of the eye are designed by some sort of supernatural god. But it is wrong. All it takes is a little interest in the subject; just a little research, and it opens up a world of understanding of how life works. It can be hard to figure out how an octopus' skin changes color, but that doesn't mean it is a magic trick; it isn't God showing off. To say so is to discount how amazing it is that life exists on our little planet in all of its amazing varieties. All of these sentiments have been expressed by millions of people already, I know. I just thought I should add to the growing roar of people fed up with this age of ignorance we have been living in. Wake up, people. The world is more amazing than your God could have ever imagined. Happy b-day Charles.

Suggested reading: Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins

CG Back to DC, Rapids get DP Back!

It looks like the rumors were true. Christian Gomez has been traded back to DC United, along with GK Mike Graczyk. In exchange, the Colorado Rapids picked up Ivan Guerrero and the Designated Player slot they originally traded away for Gomez last year. Considering the rumors of how Gary Smith wanted to get rid of CG for whatever reason, and Gomez's apparent unhappiness in Colorado, it seems like a great outcome to me. It's exciting to see we have a DP slot again, though it is hard to imagine the Rapids front office using it. It definitely opens up some more possibilities for that much-needed pedigreed 2nd striker. The optimistic dreamer in me can't wait to see what happens with the DP slot and added salary cap space. However, the realist in me cannot see the FO shelling out the big dough.

I was a big Christian Gomez fan while he was a Rapid. It was a shame to me that the whole thing didn't work out. Seeing Nick LaBrocca get the start over CG week after week just never made sense to me, but then I never knew what happened in training or the locker room. I did see some magic from Gomez. I could tell he had that vision to link up with savvy players like Conor Casey. But somehow he was not very impactful as a Rapid. I would have liked to see him roam around the field more to disrupt other teams' plans, like Blanco does for Chicago. Maybe it was his unwillingness to take that role that led to his being benched, and ultimately traded back to DC. Good luck Christian. It's time for Medhi Ballouchy to prove all the naysayers wrong this year, I hope. Go Medhi.

Read This: The Omnivore's Dilemma

I think everybody should read this. It was honestly one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Pollan breaks down how the food industry works in an honest and interesting way. It's not a vegtarian's manifesto or anything, but it certainly presents a case for eating very little meat, especially once you realize where it comes from. I'm not just talking about the nasty, animal cruelty stuff either. I'm talking about how the whole American food system works, and why it is broken. Pollan explains how most of the cheap easy foods we are used to come from two unlikely sources: corn and oil. I won't bore you with my rehashing of it, but it was eye-opening to find out why McDonald's is really so cheap, and why natural foods tend to cost more.

If you have any interest in food, health, and understanding where your dinner comes from, I strongly recommend The Omnivore's Dilemma.


Get it cheap here, or check out http://www.michaelpollan.com/

Call Me. I'm Home.

Back in Denver. So happy to be here. My phone is reactivated to all those who haven't been able to call me the last few months. Call me.

I'm Coming Back to the 303!

Yup. We'll be back in Ballerado on Saturday, and to get ready I've been catching up on my 3OH!3 videos and gang signs. Can't wait to eat some Qdoba and Toffuti Cuties.

3OH!3 - Don't Trust Me (MySpace Music Alt. Version)

Represent.

Japan Plans to Keep Whaling

Will it ever stop? Well, of course, eventually it has to... when all the whales are gone.

The National - Apartment Story

From The Boxer. The National is an example of a band that I just did not like until I saw a video of theirs. Somehow, sometimes, when you see a well-made video for a band, it just clicks. I had listened to them a few times, read about how great they supposedly were, but I was convinced I would never get into them. Now they are one of the bands I listen to most from my library. This is the video that made it click for me.

Cerro Campanario

Cerro Campanario, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

Sufjan Stevens - For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fathers in Ypsilanti

From the Michigan album.

Artificial Selection

I just read Carl Sagan's Cosmos for the first time (I was stoked to find it at an English bookstore in Buenos Aires). One of the many interesting things Sagan wrote about was the idea of "Artificial Selection," which is basically rapid evolution caused by human interference. Some manifestations of this phenomenon are intentional: sheep bred to have something like 300x more wool in their coat than occurs naturally, domesticated dogs, etc. There are also unintentional examples of humans changing entire species.

Sagan told a cool (true) story about the Heike crab in Japan. The Heike gets its name from a Japanese legend of a samurai clan (the Heike) who were defeated by another clan. In their defeat, the surviving samurai all jumped into the sea. The legend says that these Heike became crabs and walk the seafloor to this day. For centuries, Japanese crab fisherman have been finding crabs that seem to have a samurai face on their shell (as seen below). They assume these crabs are the Heike and throw them back in the sea out of respect for the Heike.

Of course, these are not mystical samurai crabs. They are simply descendants of a specific species of crab that has passed on its genes for hundreds of years because it looks like a samurai. Human fisherman selected which crabs would survive. In fact, they did in a way that the only crabs to survive were the ones that looked most like samurai faces on their shells. Artificial selection.

Recently, a study came out showing how humans are the earth´s super-predators, and how we have changed the characteristics of 29 different species forever (only 29 were in the study, there are undoubtedly many many more). Big-horn sheep have smaller horns, Atlantic cod are shrinking, and you can imagine how we have affected others.

Cosmos was written in 1980. This study will be published in the July 31 issue of ScienceNOW. It's just another scary example of how we know we are harming the planet, but most of us just don't give a shit. The next 50 years will be scary. It looks to me like the African elephants, polar bears, and many great whales will go extinct. Maybe everyday Joes can't do anything to stop those inevitabilities. But we can start thinking about what happens to other species and parts of the world when we make everyday decisions; what to eat, what to buy, how to get to work. There are consequences.

Bye Bye Bouna!

So, Ives is saying that Bouna Coundoul is leaving the Rapids for Europe. It is sad news for Rapids fans. He has been one of my favorite Rapids the last 2 years and I am not happy to see him go. He has a great future ahead of him. It looks like Matt Pickens will be our new keeper, which I am not terribly excited about right now. I remember seeing him play for Chicago in the 07 playoffs and was not impressed, (or was that Perkins?). I'm sure I'll come around and end up liking him, but he has big gloves to fill. He has a lot to prove, especially since it looks like he is coming off a failed stint in England with Queens Park Rangers. Maybe that experience has helped him, but on paper it looks like we'll have a less-promising keeper, probably with a much higher salary (than Bouna's in 07 and 08). Prove me wrong Matt. Please.

Good luck Bouna Time. We'll miss you.

El Chalten

Cerro Fitz Roy and Laguna Capri. A particularly nice accumulation of stardust in El Chalten, Argentina.

Midlake - Head Home

myspace.com/midlake

El Vegetariano - Bariloche

I just had the best meal of my whole Argentina trip. Actually, it was probably one of the best meals of my life. That may sound like an exaggeration, and my perception may be distorted by the fact that I have had so many unsatisfying meals down here, but I cannot remember the last time I enjoyed a dinner so much.

The place? El Vegetariano in San Carlos de Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina (20 de Febrero 730). Our waiter was extremely friendly and was even cool with us sharing the main dish. They have a daily menu, meaning the main plate is different every day. Along with that, they have a soup of the day and an excellent salad. The prices are even reasonable for Patagonia ($25 pesos for main dish, P$12 for a sizeable salad).

I felt the need to note it, because this is exactly what Argentina needs more of. As much as I have enjoyed travelling this great country, they are sadly lacking quality vegetarian food. The salad was fresh, colorful, tangy, and perfect (too big, if anything). The main dish was an almost-vegan sampler of 6 different dishes, including a polenta with turmeric, a home-made soy milanesa with green onions, and some sort of green crepe with red peppers and the best sauteed onions I have ever tasted.

I don't want to gush too much. Suffice it to say, if you are ever in Bariloche (one of the top destinations in Argentina), you must go to El Vegetariano at least once, even if you are not vegetarian. The flavors and experience were better than I had in any other morsel in the last 7 weeks here.

Glaciar Perito Moreno

We spent New Year's Eve here (during the day). If there is such a thing as the opposite of fireworks, it is watching bus-size chunks of ice fall 60 feet into the water below.