On a platter

Big Brown finishes last, Federer wins four games in an entire match, and as I type this the Lakers are getting humiliated in Boston. We can't be far from the end of the world.

Off in distant corners of the world lie some very strange sites. Scroll down on the page to see the pics.
Kamchatka, Russia

A financial services company, I don't remember their name, has a series of commercials on TV that show someone meeting themselves as they'll be in the future. For example, one features a woman sitting in a hospital hallway while her husband is apparently off being treated for a serious health issue. Her older self sits two chairs away and assures her he'll be OK.
Have you seen them?
The one that bugs me is the guy sitting next to the window in an airplane when his older self comes and sits in the aisle seat (the one in between is vacant). The older self congratulates the guy on flying coach and thus saving money. After telling him that his financial situation is going to get better the older self excuses himself.
"Where are you going?"
The older self answers, "Back to first class. I can afford it now."
The last shot then shows him walking to the back of the plane!
How many people at the ad company, and then the company that bought the ad, looked at that spot before it went on the air without asking themselves if they'd ever seen a plane where first class was in the back?
OK, I may be paying too much attention to details.

A recent local news story about Olympic wrestling probably didn't make the national news but I found it fascinating.
The U.S. had never done well in Greco-Roman wrestling. Freestyle is the dominant type here, which, unlike Greco-Roman wrestling, allows holds below the waste. Greco-Roman allows only holds and moves above the waste.
Roman Wroclawski won the world championship in Greco-Roman wrestling for Poland in 1982 and that turned him into one of that nation's biggest celebrities. He was even granted an audience with Pope John Paul (as in the Polish Pope).
Wroclawski used his celebrity status to write a book very critical of the Polish government and the way Eastern European countries treated their athletes. That got him in trouble, and while here on a wrestling tour in the mid-90's he was charged by the Polish government with treason. So, he defected to the U.S.
He quickly got involved in the very limited Greco-Roman wrestling scene here and the results were phenomenal. Remember Rulon Gardner, our guy who whooped the heavily favored world champion Russian wrestler in a huge upset at the 2000 Olympics? He was coached by Wroclawski.
In 1996, after he was granted asylum here, the Polish government filed charges against him for falsifying loan documents back when he lived in Poland. A few months ago, over 11 years later, the Polish government filed extradition papers, which meant Wroclawski had to be imprisoned until a hearing which wouldn't happen until late summer.
Last week a special hearing was held here in Phoenix, at which a group of people, mostly Americans associated with the Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling committee, asked the judge to release Wroclawski until the extradition issue was settled. He presents a very low flight risk, the Polish filing 11 years later was suspect, and his presence at our Olympic training facility was essential if our Greco-Roman wrestling team was going to have any success in Beijing.
Now you might think that the last of those reasons is pretty self-serving, and doesn't rise to the level of relevance to international law.
But that's exactly their point. The petitioners suggested, and in the end the judge agreed, that it is at least likely that the Polish government filed their action when they did precisely to keep Wroclawski in jail so he couldn't train our wrestlers, and thus put Poland's chances for a medal at risk. They knew he'd be imprisoned until the hearing, which wouldn't happen until after the Olympics.
And we all believe that the Olympics transcend nationalism.
Right.

We had, I think, a good morning at Pathway. And we're growing. The new families bring with them a total of 5 children. That's excellent! What's amazing is that Megan, at five and a half, is the oldest kid at church. Eleven kids, and all of them younger than six years old!
It's a party!