Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

Astronomers at Cal Tech have spotted a new planet. The current designation is 2003 UB313.

The planet is in what is called the Kuiper Belt, which is just past the orbit of Neptune. It is located about 97 times as far from the sun as the Earth is, and twice the distance of Pluto from the sun. The object was first spotted in October of 2003, but didn't see it move until January. The planet is actually larger than Pluto, whose status as a planet has been contraversial as of late.

There is a hard and fast definition for the difference between a star and a planet (If it burns deuterium and is 13 times as big as Jupiter, it ain't a planet), but no one has established the boundries between planets, asteroids and minor planets. It seems that no one has a problem with calling this thing a planet, at least not yet.

The same day that this object was spotted, a second "large" object was spotted in the Kuiper Belt as well, 2003 EL61, by astronomers working in Spain. It doesn't seem like they are considering this ball of water ice a planet, although it seems to have a satelite.

UB313's orbit is highly inclined, 44° from the plane of the solar system (convieniently, this is Earth's orbit). It's orbit is oblong like Pluto's, and apparently occasionally travels inside of Pluto's orbit.

Interestingly, two of the astronomers that found UB313, Chad Trujillo and Mike Brown, were also the discoverers of Quaoar, another Kuiper Belt Object that was announced three years ago.

For those of you wondering how long before they give this planet a real name, it is up to a nomenclature committee of the International Astronomical Union. There are different nomenclature committees depending on if the object is say, a star, a comet or an asteroid. Objects such as planets and larger satelites tend to have a shorter process than distant stars or tiny asteroids. There is a tradition of naming the planets after Roman gods, so expect this to hold. The planet may be officially named in a couple of years.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la Proxima.

I am allowed blatant localism once in a while, right? Former Tucson Amigo and national team stand-out Pablo Mastroeni will be on the roster when the MLS All-Star team takes to the field against Fullham FC tommorrow. He played for the Amigos two years before I was an assistant manager for the team. I rode the bench for one game, with a jersey and everything, because the manager thought I'd get a kick out of it. Does that make me and Pablo teammates?

Thankfully, the still overrated Cobi Jones will not be there, since the locker rooms at the stadium can't accomodate his and Landon Donovan's egos.

I don't follow the Premier League too closely, but Fullham has players I have actually heard of. Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra are Americans. The team also includes Polish player Tomasz Radzinski and the Senegalese striker Papa Boupa Diop. I have a replica jersey of Diop's. He was the guy that scored the winning goal against France in the World Cup opener in 2004.

With a name like Papa Boupa Diop, he is definitely on my All-Name squad. Fullham seems to have another for that squad on their roster, a guy named Zat Knight.

Zat?

The guy is English, so who the heck knows where that came from.


Jeff Simpson told me that he doesn't read the soccer related posts. But Jeff, my soccer journalism is so insightful.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

The British website Metro is carrying an interview with Fall frontman (as well as Rock's greatest curmudgeon and certified Manchester's Greatest Citizen) Mark E. Smith. Those of you who have seem interviews with him before will be shocked that his answers consist of complete sentences and are free of misdirected vitriol. I wonder if his doctor has him on new meds?

The interviewer asks him if he keeps up with the newer bands:

The group members are all a good ten years younger than me and they keep me informed on Green Day and all that. That Party Bloc, or Bloc Party - whatever they're called - they're not bad.

Wow, Mark, keeping up with Green Day...way to stay hip. I wonder when they will tell him about Oasis or Veruca Salt.

Here was another bit I enjoyed. Bear in mind...he missed a gig here in Tucson because he decided to go on a bender in Houston:

You've got a reputation for being a boozer and quite confrontational. Is that fair?
No. They can't pin much on The Fall. I'm not a heavy drinker but I'm not a secret drinker.

Sheesh. I noticed he didn't address the confrontational thing, probably because that would have led to a confrontation.


Okay, I don't mean to kick people when they are down. But, damn, we just aren't the sort of people we used to be in this country.

Take, for example, the goings on at the Boy Scout Jamboree being held in Virginia. There was a time when a Boy Scout was seen as the guy that would know all of the basics of how to stay safe in the outdoors. Not that things don't happen, but you expect really basic mistakes not to be made. Heck, if you were stuck in the woods, the young scout would have field dressed some squirrels, cooked them up for you, then built you a lean to out of moss and branches before the sun even set.

First thing that happened was four scout leaders (not novices, right?) were electrocuted while putting up a tent. Apparently, they let an aluminum pole get too close to a power line. Heck, I know this is bad from the PSAs that the power company runs.

Then, they had a memorial service for the leaders, complete with President Bush. Three hundred people collapsed due to the heat. I've survived a place a heck of a lot hotter than Virginia through 35 Summers (hey, that's a great name for a band, I'll call Chris Holliman), and I have never had this trouble. But the scouts, who are supposed to be so prepared, apparently didn't realize that when it gets hot, you have to keep hydrated. I know that, and I don't have the fancy badges or the cute blue shorts.

With this sort of thing happening these days, it's no wonder why the Chinese are kicking our ass.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

I was walking north on Fourth Avenue (but I was north of North on Fourth...), and a guy, pudgy white guy in his twenties, was walking the other direction. He was wearing a shirt, but it wasn't buttoned, so that pale, formless body of his was on display for all of us lucky pedestrians.

He said, "You got any money?"

I said, "No."

"Well, f*** you!"

I turned around since he had already walked past me. He said, "What are you staring at, faggot?"

Bear in mind, I had a bad week, and I had a pool cue.

"I wouldn't be staring at you."

"F*** you. I'll get you."

"Easy to say that when you are walking away."

He kept walking, shouting things at me the whole time. I have a feeling that he isn't just some down on his luck guy, probably some broke smoke head or speed freak.


Nothing more to write. Move along.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

Well, Mexilina didn't get it totally right, but close enough for government work, which is what she does.

• The Beans: This was a Phoenix band led by a guy named John Waldo. Waldo and his pals moved to San Francisco, changed his name to Fee Waybil, and changed the name of the band to The Tubes. Mexilina got this right.


• The Spiders: A Phoenix band led by a guy named Vincent Furnier. He changed his name and the name of his band to Alice Cooper supposedly because a oujia board told them too. Once again, good answer.


• Thai Pink: Yes, they moved to Seattle and became the Supersuckers. Despite what Mexilina said, they have had a level of success, the are on the famous SST records (Nirvana's first label, and the home of Phoenix band Meat Puppets, as well as Black Flag and Hüsker Dü) and their last album made the Billboard alternative chart. That doesn't seem like much, but it's more than YOU'VE done.


• Pineapple Upside Down: Yes, you are correct, this was Michelle Branch's old band, not in Scottsdale, but in Sedona. Her first album was named for a Sedona hangout where she used to play.


• The Serfers: The Serfers included Chris Cacavas, as well as Van Christian of the band Naked Prey. Cacavas and the rest of his crew went to San Francisco and changed the name to Green on Red. Interestingly, the Phantom Limbs made a temporary move to San Francisco around the same time, and lead singer Jefferson Keenan wore green on red bowling shoes.


• Skip and Flip: Skip and Flip had one hit, but also struck a bigger hit with the song "Alley Oop" under the name Hollywood Argyles. The Hollywood Argyles were a studio conglomeration that included a very drunk Kim Fowley.

What did you win? Geez, what did the last guy win?



TRD Saddletramps versus AzRD Tent City Terrors tonight! Maritza says that I write too much about Roller Derby. So, -sigh- I guess I'll have to not write about it.

Maritza is no fun at all.




Maritza, can I still write about MLS?

The damn Revs...lost last night to the worst team in the league. Yes, they were missing Dempsey, Noonan and Ralston. Dammit though...

I wrote about Polish soccer, so it is only fair that I write about the big story in Mexican soccer. The coach of my favorite Mexican team, Cruz Azul, Rubén Omar Romano, has been kidnapped (a story in English here). The kidnapping is apparently related to some sort of doping scandal, and is a big part about the growing concern over violence associated with the game. La Máquina Azul has dedicated the cup tournament to him.


Katherine wrote a pro-Canadian response to my missive on James Doohan. Interesingly, she said nothing about my use of the perjorative "Cannuck."

Anyhow, I'll link her blog, This is the Moment. She writes about the Gin Blossoms, so it isn't all bad. She's also got an anti-Tom Reade blog, that, coupled with the anti-Tony Cani blog, indicates how insular our little group is.


The Canadian thing reminds me of a story. Back when I was in student radio, we had a guy named Dave Rooney who, gasp, had actual broadcast experience. He told us about how to make for a good "mix" of music in the program. It mostly has to do with the tempo of the songs. He said that playing a fast tempo song and immediately following it with a slow tempo song is not good.

"You need to play a mid-tempo song. At 96, we used to call it the Bryan Adams rule, because all of his songs seem to work for this."

My friend Rob Ferrier popped up, "Does this work for other Canadian artists, such as Rush or Gordon Lightfoot?"


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

James Doohan, "Scotty" on Star Trek died today. Here are some things you didn't know about him:

• He wasn't Scottish at all, he was from Vancouver. So, he was one of two Canadians on the Enterprise. Chicanos don't make it into space, but cannucks do.
• He apparently didn't like fellow Canadian William Shatner. He said in a 1998 interview: "I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill. He's so insecure that all he can think about is himself."
• He was in the Canadian Army, achieving the rank of captain. He was part of the force that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day and was hit by enemy fire six times, and lost a piece of one finger. Let Shatner beat that one.
• It was Doohan's idea that Scotty would talk like Groundskeeper Willy. Doohan had developed a mastery of dialects as a radio actor, and he tried out several accents and decided that Scottish was the most "commanding."
• He was a student at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where his fellow students were Leslie Nielsen (another Canadian), Richard Boone and Tony Randall.

When I was young, there was a live action show on Saturday mornings called Jason of Star Command. Doohan appeared on it as Commander Canarvin, but was replaced in the second season by a blue guy. Yeah, a blue guy.

Jason was played by a fella named Craig Littler. Littler's career didn't go too well after that, you may remember him as the "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" guy.

I'm not even making that up.


One of my readers was apparently inspired by the bi-ethnic nature of this blog, and now he and his wife have put toghether a Chinese/Filipino/Chicano blog called Arizona Hoochness. Mexilina posts here often. Her husband goes by the name stack0verflow. (I was going to make a breast joke, but I thought better of it.) He works with computers, and seems to be a proud geek. He has the Tick as his avatar.


My brother got a mention on Mark Guerrero's home page. He visited Phoenix when his father, Lalo Guerrero, was posthumously inducted into the Arizona Music Hall of Fame. Tom introduced a resolution honoring Lalo, and Mark along with some other members of the family were there for the event.

Mark refers to Tom as "young and hip." Hip? What, because of the pony tail? That hasn't been hip since '77.


Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.

The following are former Arizona bands:

• The Beans
• The Spiders
• Thai Pink
• Pineapple Upside Down
• The Serfers
• Skip and Flip

All of these groups left Arizona, then scored various levels of success under different names. What names did they become most successful under? My brother is ineligible to answer.

Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

In an earlier post, I said that there may be more Polish coaches in MLS then in the Polish First Division (Ekstraklasa). I assumed because there are so many foreign coaches in Eastern Europe, that this must be true of Poland too.

My crack research staff has found that this is not the case. Of all 12 teams (the same number of teams as in MLS) in the Ekstraklasa, only one, Zagłębie Lubin, has a foreign born coach. Zagłębie is coached by Drazen Besek, a Croat.

I know all of you were going to jump on me about this, but you are all free to get back to what you were doing.

Hasta la prozima. Do Zobaczenia.

You like that Gen X reference? I figure we are all getting old enough that we can start making everyone participate in our mid-life crises the way the boomers did.


When I first moved to this neighborhood, I was told it was quiet.

Last night, we had another incident of some sort. I don't know what it was. As I went north on Country Club, I spotted a police car that had just pulled a car over on one of the side streets a few blocks south of where I live. Then, when I turned onto my street, there were two more police units who were looking over an empty car. I have no idea what was going on.

Since I moved in, there have been two big incidents that I know of. Shortly after I got here, a guy stabbed a police officer which led to them basically shutting down this neighborhood along with most of the area between Pima and 5th Street. It made the news and everything. I went out front to see what all the noise was, and a cruiser drove by and shined a spotlight in my face. I am not into blindness, so I went inside.

One time, I went out front to use the grill, and there was a police car across the street and a tow truck taking a car away. I didn't think too much of it. Then Todd drove up. He saw police all over the neighborhood and asked one what was up. He told him that there was a fugitive in the neighborhood, nothing to worry about but lock up when you get home. Great.

I have seen times when there has been an elevated presence in the neighborhood, driving through and seeing three or four units cruising the neighborhood. I never find out what is up. Heck, I don't know what was up last night.

Like I said, it was real quiet...until I moved in. I bring in a bad element, I guess.


I don't know how any of you have noticed, it is hot out. When I went to Roller Derby, I expected it to be one of those nice indoor events we Tucsonenses do over the summer because it is the only thing that makes sense. No dice. I don't think Bladeworld is used to that many people in that place at one time. I was sweating like Randy Graf at a Los Tigres del Norte concert. I don't know how the skaters did it, especially with all those pads. As usual though, Berlin Wall's outfit was, uh, well ventillated.

The fans worked though. I mean the mechanical ones, not the people screaming for Barbicide to take someone out. I first discovered the power of those fans when I played an indoor soccer game there and I way over did it. I was so worn out that I wasn't paying attention to what was around me, and I started feeling really chilly. I looked up and saw the fan, I decided that it was my new friend.



Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

Big TRD match between Vice Squad and Iron Curtain today. Interestingly, Furious Truckstop Waitresses standout Jezebelle Jonez will be playing for absence and injury plagued Iron Curtain. Jezebelle and Berlin Wall on the same team? How the heck will that work out?

I think Jezebelle told me that her nom de guerre (nom de skate?) will be Fire Belle. I don't think that the name is sufficiently communist. Jez is just too much of a capitalist tool to come up with one, I guess.

The doors open up at Bladeworld (1065 W Grant, just East of I-10) at 6:30. The match is expected to get underway at 7:20. Bring the kids, it's always good, clean fun for the whole family.

Also remember that next week will be a contest between the Saddletramps and the Tent City Terrors of the Phoenix-based AzRD. Both teams are all-star "travel squads" for both leagues.

Last year, the Phoenix teams were much better than the Tucson teams, but they have had trouble with infighting and rival leagues being formed. Back on May 21, the Vice Squad crushed the Surly Gurlies of the AzRD 104 to 43. The Gurlies were outclassed at every turn. So, I expect this to be a blow out. Unless Ditka is playing.


There was an article in Friday's Tucson Citizen on the league. Heck, why wasn't it in the sports section? They sports section featured a story on a basketball camp for ten year olds, but no room for Derby? What is that about?


Today is former Everton, Columbus Crew and Górniku Zabrze midfielder Robert Warzycha's first game as coach of the Columbus Crew. The game is against Chicago, so the league's press office headlined it: "Baptism at Fire." Wow, these guys are clever.

Now that they have hired Warzycha, he joins Piotr Nowak as one of two Polish coaches in the league. Given how many foreign coaches work in Poland, this may be more than in the Polish first division. His hiring even made news in Poland. Now, the league needs to find jobs for Jerzy Podbrożny, Roman Kosecki and former Rev Janusz Michallik.

(Note: Podbrożny used to play for Widzew Łódź. I really have no reason to mention that, I just wanted to see if those fancy diacritic marks would show up.)

I never thought that Warzycha looked physically strong, but I always had the impression that if you got into a fight with him he would kick your ass because he is a wiry guy that just would care if he gets hurt, as long as you get hurt more.


The thing that all of you need to realize, the Poles have infiltrated everything. Lou Dobbs and Tomás Tancredo are worried about a Hispanic takeover. I am obviously going to be one of the few demographically prepared for this eventuality.



Do zobaczenia Robert i Piotr. Hasta la proxima Lou and Tom.

A while back, I recieved a strange message in Spanish on my cell phone. It was from a foriegn number. Now, it appears I have recieved the sequel:

Todd and I were discussing metal bands, and I brought up the Norwegian band Mayhem. Mayhem, for those of you who remember the story, is a "Black Metal" band who were involved in some, uh, mayhem. No, Black Metal does not mean Sevendust or Living Coloür. These are bands that think they are evil. All that stuff that the old lady in church warned you about how rock and roll was Satan's playground? These guys are trying to live it.

At one point, Mayhem's bassist, Count Grishnackh, killed the guitarist, Euronymous, because he wanted to be more evil than he was. Grishnackh was also found to have been plotting to blow up churches. After their dummer, Dead, killed himself (the name sums it up well, I think), drummer Hellhammer used pieces of his skull as a necklace and Grishnackh made a soup out of him. One fan was nearly killed by a flying sheep's head at one show.

So, to prove to Todd that such a band did in fact exist (and still tours, even with almost the entire original line up dead or incarcerated), I looked them up on AllMusic. AllMusic provides small snippets of their songs. We gave it a listen to see what they sound like.

Man, they suck.

I thought it was supposed to be menacing or something. You know that music that is used in lame commercials and movies that is supposed to sound like Heavy Metal? You know, a few distorted power chords to make it Rock and/or Roll? Take that and add a keyboard line that is all whiny and tinny. There you have Mayhem. I no longer fear Satan.

Gawd, they are as weak as Christian Rock. Hopefully, the two sides will learn to rock harder before the Tribulations.

Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.

Okay, so KLPX plays a Rush song from 1988 and it is "Classic Rock," but KFMA plays a Clash song from 1979, and it is "New Rock."


I was listening to KLPX the other night, and the DJ was playing a bunch of requests. They all were those cheesy "power ballads" that every metal band had to do in the late 1980's and early 1990's. One was "Wait" by White Lion. It scared me that I knew the lyrics. Well, only the chorus, but that's bad enough.

Some guy called in and said that they were playing the coolest songs ever.

I'm just making some guesses about this guy, but bear with me. He probably would complain about an equally over done love song from say, Luther Vandross or Natalie Cole. Heck, he probably would even say "that's gay!" But, he enjoys hearing the same saccharine sentiment from a blonde pretty boy dressed like a pirate. You draw your own conclusions.

At the top of most "blogger" sites is a bar that lets you look at a random Blogspot blog. Most of the time, you end up with some poorly done commercial site (they oughta do something about that), but sometimes you end up with cool sites like this one.


Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.

I went to see Fantastic Four last night. I liked it, but being the young curmudgeon, I had a few observations:

• Dr. Victor von Doom has been changed from a foreign potentate out to take over the world to a greedy CEO that is mad at Reed Richards. Makes the comic book battle to save the world into a Steven Segal revenge flick.
• I have been reading the comic since I was five, but I had no idea that the Invisible Woman was Mexican. Also, Alicia Masters is now black. I guess this makes up for them changing the reporter sidekick's race from black to white when they made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Mr. Fantastic's stretching power is even more amazing than we all thought. They have some closeups of his bare arms when he stretches, and they stay just as hairy. When he stretches, he spontaneously develops new hair follicles so there will not be any unsightly gaps. I think I deserve a "no-prize."

• I realize that these things always become stunt and special effect extravaganza, but two of the car accident sequences in the movie are way too drawn out. It's like watching an old episode of CHiPs.
• Sue Storm comes off as a total bitch. Johnny Storm comes off as a total tool. Why would Reed and Ben hang with these people?
• Stan Lee has a cameo as Willie Lumpkin. I wish that Jack Kirby lived long enough to have his own cameo.
• Near the beginning, Dr. Doom tells Richards that he tends to "stretch things." Ho! Foreshadowing! So clever!
• Tag lines from the comic that make it into the movie: "It's clobberin' time!", "Flame on!"
• Tag line from the comic that didn't make it into the movie: "Oh, Reed, please be careful."
• There is no Herbie the Robot. God is merciful. This irritating character was introduced in the 1970s to replace the Human Torch on the cartoon because of a fear that kids would light themselves on fire.

Some bozo in USA Today reviewed the movie, and showed he was clueless about the genre, for example:

One of the movie's problems is timing. Because the quartet's superhuman skills remind you of the family's superpowers in last year's hit The Incredibles, Fantastic Four feels derivative and looks even more wan when compared with the exceptionally clever computer-animated movie.

Even though Fantastic Four's comic-book escapades long pre-date the adventures of The Incredibles, the predictable plot can't help but seem tired and rehashed.

Well, hate to tell you this sir, the writer of The Incredibles says that it was a tribute to Fantastic Four, his favorite comic. Fantastic Four debuted in 1963. I think somebody pointed this little temporal problem out to him, and he added the second paragraph so he wouldn't look so stupid.

Also, the author claims that Dr. Doom is a rip-off of Darth Vader. See above.


Because I haven't talked enough about jukeboxes, here is another item. I wasn't paying any attention to the music because I was too busy being beaten, once again, by Todd at pool (he is a swim coach, there has got to be a connection there). While in the rest room, the music shut off and there was a commotion. When I went back out, all of the patrons were either cheeing or jeering the bartenders.

I asked Jamie, one of my two favorite bartenders, what was going on.

She snapped, "Well, when you pick every song off of a Danzig album, I'm going to turn it off..."

There is a good reason why they call it the Surly Wench.


The Revs play Chicago today. Last week, they released Cassio and Felix Brillant. Both were fine players, but couldn't get much playing time given who else was on the team. The release of Brillant is the worst thing that has happened to my "all name" team since Stern John left the league.

The US Women play against Ukraine tommorrow. The game marks the return of Abby Wambach. Tiffany Milbrett is expected to score yet another goal to bring her closer to Mia Hamm's level. Expect a blowout, I think USA 4 - UKR 0.


Fall fan and Wesley Clark supporter Michael James Pinto posted this item to FallNet. Feel free to come up with your own metaphors about politics or consumerism.


Hasta la Proxima. Do zobaczenia.