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The Head-butt heard 'round the world

The World Cup Final match was mildly interesting -- Italy defeating France on PKs 5-3 -- but the real story of the match was French uber-star Zinedine Zidane losing his mind and head-butting an Italian defender. Mindless act of violence! Cost his team the championship!

But, as this video proves, Zizou should be greeted as a hero. He saved Marco Materazzi's life from a rampaging sniper kitty.

For more GIF fun with the "Glasgow Handshake", check out The Register's collection of interpretations.

Random Web Findings

   I'm a logical person, and things that go against logic bother me. Little things that improve everyday life using tecnology and common sense..those are things I can enjoy. For instance, UPS is using electronic mapping systems to set up routes for its drivers that minimize left turns, and employ the maximum amount of right turns. Why? For fuel efficiency. Sitting at a light waiting for the signal to turn left, or crossing lanes of traffic, a truck can idle for some time. No big deal, right? Well, spokesperson Steve Holmes says

"It seems small, but when you multiply it across 88,0000 vehicles making nearly 15 million deliveries every day during the course of a year, it adds up."

This will probably save them big money. My grandma does the same thing, swearing that she'll drive around the block rather than make a left turn in traffic. Who knew she was onto such a good thing?

Via Digg

He has succeeded.  This story has been picked up by Yahoo!, David Letterman, GMA, CNN, ABC's 20/20. He has a book deal in place already. This is what the internet age and a good idea can do for a person.

Unfortunately, all I have are the plain metal colored clips. Guess I'll have to settle for the apartment I'm in.

Welcome aboard, Reds

Being one of the hundreds of thousands of transplants living around DC has its challenges. One of them is rooting for sports teams. As mentioned previously, I'm torn between my long-time support for the homestate Cincinnati Reds, and my new adopted local team, the Nats. I jumped onboard the Nats bandwagon, because I need at least one local team to pull for, and I couldn't stand to be an O's fan. I'm an NL guy at heart, and I kind of like to go against the grain and root against the local favorite O's. And I can be at equal level with all other Nats fans--nobody has been a Nationals fan longer than I have, because we all started last year.

That said, this recent trade between the Reds and Nats has really grabbed my interest. At first glance, it looks like Nats GM Jim Bowden really fleeced his old team. On a closer review, I think the exact same thing.

Nats Traded: Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris, and Daryl Thompson. One strong MR, one young MR, one defense-specialist SS, one utility infielder, one young hitting prospect.

Reds Traded: Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez, Ryan Wagner. A power-slugging OF (1st Half: 16 HR, 50 RBI, 53 R, 7 SB, .276 AVG), an offensive-specialist SS (1st Half: 9 HR, 30 RBI, 55 R, 23 SB, .268 AVG), and a young MR arm and former first round pick with the most upside of any pitcher in the deal.

In my eyes, the Nats seriously upgraded their offense by adding a big middle-of-the-order bat and a young speedster who can hit near the top of the lineup. They gave up two good, but not great, middle relievers and a couple of workman-like prospects. A lineup of Soriano, Lopez, Vidro, Johnson, Zimmerman, and Guillen is not bad at all.

Putting Lou Pinella to shame

 Many of you may have seen this on SportsCenter a few days ago. If not, take 3:50 from your life and watch this video of Joe Mikulik going ape-crazy at a minor-league baseball game. If you did see it earlier, watch it again. It gets better with age, I promise.

The wide-ranging path of his rage may never be topped. In rough chronological order, Joe:

• Screams at the infield ref
• "re-enacts" the controversial slide (superman style)
• rips out the 2nd base bag, tossing it into right field
• tosses the rosin bag (nice form)
• Kicks dirt on the plate
• Having noticed a bare spot, gets down on his hands and knees to cover the plate by hand, lovingly, with more dirt
• Tosses 4 bats from the dugout (check out the batboy almost walking into the path of trouble)
• Feeling contrite, he grabs a bottle of water and heads back to home plate to clean it up
• Gets down behind the plate to "re-enact" the bad call from the umpire's position
• Takes a long, long walk to the showers.

Unbelievable. And he only got a 10-game suspension!! A Delmon Young got 50 games for a bat flip at the ump. Anyway, check it out.