Start the Season Off Right

So, I wake up this morning, and it's the morning after another soccer tournament. I'm bleary-eyed and in need of caffeine, a little dazed from driving and having watched too many soccer matches featuring 12-year-old girls; just stumbling along and then. I realize. The Community Shield is on TV! It's EPL, baby! And best of all, Liverpool puts down Chelsea, who looks a mite tepid, other than Andriy Shevchenko, who seems to have rockets attached to his boots. Six more days and Arsenal takes the pitch!

I also heard the Mighty Diamonds' "Pass the Kouchie" on my favorite station, KEXP, and can't get the tune out of my head. You may remember the very similar hit from the 1980s, "Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth.

Science gets a bad rap, fer sure. Global warming. Bird Flu. Killer asteroids. A million ways the world is going to kill us all. But there is good news, too. First off, beer can help treat polluted wastewater. The byproducts of beer brewing are effective filtrants to toxic wastewater (and take much less energy to produce than conventional methods). Drink more beer. It's for Mother Earth! Secondly, I read in New Scientist that research has revealed that attractive people are 36 percent more likely to produce daughter than sons. With 3 daughters, I'm feeling pretty darn handsome. Thanks, science!