Man moves things with brain.

A paralyzed man with a small sensor implanted in his brain was able to control a computer, a television set and a robot using only his thoughts, scientists reported yesterday.
-NYtimes.com (courtesy of Claire)

The hell? If this doesn't result in a cyborg army snuffing out the human race, I don't know what will.

Cyborgs are cool.

achenblahg

Joel Achenbach's Sunday piece about blogging and journalism is pretty good. Here are the first paragraphs:

"In the news media there is much talk of "interactivity," of breaking down the wall between journalistic producers and consumers. No longer will the news be proprietary to a professional elite that attempts, in an Olympian voice, to speak down to the unwashed masses. Instead, everyone will be an equal, fully respected partner in the news process, including nitwits, fanatics, the extremely daft and the recently straitjacketed.

"I'm all in favor of this, as I have a blog, with many excellent commenters, some of whom comment on the comments of other commenters and manage to develop, over time, a kind of cult following of their own, such that the readers of the blog tend to forget all about the writer to whom the blog technically, in an old-fashioned sense, "belongs." Which is fine! Into the future we go! My feelings aren't hurt. We all know who's actually getting paid around here. Paid. Paid. Not to rub it in. Paid."

Most of it is old hat, but it's entertaining and the last paragraph is an unexpected, but welcome, tack off course, revealing the larger implications of the blogosphere on public discourse.

War on Terrorism

Listening to Open Source on NPR right now. William E. Odom made a point about this that I think everyone realizes, but not many have articulated particularly well. A war on terrorism is a ridiculous because it's a war on a tactic, which is ridiculous. Militarily it doesn't make sense, it doesn't allow for a real enemy. He likened it to waging war against people who use knives--it's impractical. The rhetoric is distracting us from the real problem. Our war isn't really against terrorism, it's against al Qaeda, the Taliban, Wahhabis, and against, essentially, those who are violently anti-American. This is a culture war. Democrats should grab ahold of this.

USA 1- Ghana 2

That was never a penalty. While I can't blame the ref for our poor finishing, I can blame the ref for giving Ghana a freebee. I can also blame the ref for not carding the two or three flagrant dives from the Ghana side. That said, with the exception of a clever backheel from McBride that ended up fizzling into nothing, the US lacked any kind of creativity. Our counterattacks, until the last fifteen minutes, were far too slow. We didn't press enough in the first 20 minutes of either half. Our bright moments were few and far between, but they were there. Lewis did a good job with his crosses; Dempsey was all over the field for the first sixty minutes and hammered a fantastic shot into the back of the net; Beasley finally put in a good effort, grabbing an assist, winning a lot of balls in the midfield (even if they didn't amount to much), and helping out the back line; and McBride broke my heart with his header off the post. And I was happy to see Ben Olsen get a CAP, even if he didn't contribute much. Donovan looked sluggish. I think putting Convey in was a mistake. I would've dropped O'Brien in. We needed someone with a little more of a creative mind.

All in all, I would say it was a pretty mediocre game. It's a shame that the ref had such a heavy hand in its outcome. At least there's some hope with our next generation of players... Adu, Convey, Quaranta, Johnson, and Donovan and Beasley still have another cup left in them. South Africa in 2010!

the netherlands vs argentina

remember what happened the last time the oranje played the blue stripe-y team?



(thanks for the reminder nytimes.com)

more of the magnificence that is dennis bergkamp (a man who, like john madden, refuses to take an airplane):


(or in a slightly more legible google video version)

OMG!

US-Italia

About US forward Brian McBride, who took a vicious elbow to the face in the first half of the match:

No broken bones were reported as a result of the elbowing. In fact, McBride said he did not even feel much pain. After repeated operations — including plastic surgery — to repair shattered cheekbones, McBride said: "I don't have a lot of feeling in my face. My nerves are all dead from the surgeries. You get hit and you get back up."

The team out on the field on Saturday looked like a completely different squad of players. We made some good cuts up the front, with some nice runs down the wings. We also won a number of 50-50 balls and held possession quite well in the first half. Dempsey even showed a little flair with some stepovers and a couple decent crosses.

WC Trivia: Apparently Ukraine has seven Andriys in their squad...

And Argentina's amazing goals.

Oy...

Highlights of the US - Czech Republic game:



You'll notice that most of the hightlights involve the Czech Republic attacking. This is because we played like ass. The only reason I post this is to remind us that (1) the first goal was scored by the 6' 7-1/2" Jan Koller, or Frankenstein as he's better known, and (2) Reyna did actually hit a post.

Other cup news: I listened to Spain destroy Ukraine, a team which may have looked worse that the US. Granted the Ukraine may have only had 10 men on the field for half the game, but still, at least we don't look like the only chumps in this tournament any more. Spain were dominant even before the red card though, and it sounds like they may have actually fielded a contender this time instead of a lot of hot air.

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Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzz!