Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Robocup or Cone?

After a busy Monday (culminating in an exciting, first-ever Breadsoda Trivia victory for "Anderson Cooper Is My Individual Man-Date"), the Report returns!  And with the epic Cats and Dogs battle concluded, the world presses on as usual.  Even I, dear readers, found myself engaging in a brief bit of dog-sitting this weekend, following the monster Friday night storm.

If Cats versus Dogs was the battle of the week, then Italy versus Spain was the battle of the weekend, with Spain prevailing in the Eurocup.  A near typo just created "Eurocop," no doubt an unauthorized European Robocop spin-off, and an accidental segue into the story I was introducing here anyway... The RoboCup!  That's right, the 15th annual (how am I only learning of this now?!) robot soccer championship happened recently in Mexico City.  While the robotics are no doubt impressive (watch as a felled-robot rights himself!) the gameplay is a bit slow.  Mr. Gershenson's goal of a robot team competing against the human world champions in 2050 seems a bit distant at this point... I mean, for starters, look how small those robot players are.  They would get crushed!

Perhaps some of our storm-addled readers were unable to watch the Eurocup, though.  (These readers would also have trouble charging their Robot soccer team up for a game.)  Much of DC is still struggling through the rising heat and power outage.  To those looking for ways to beat the heat, I'm suggesting ice cream.  First of all, this past Sunday, July 1, was apparently "National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day."  So how about it, readers?  Let's explore the worlds beyond vanilla.  What's your favorite creative ice cream flavor?  In light of a Peanuts character round giving us a commanding lead in last night's trivia, I'm inclined to put my support for the Lago's original flavor, "Charlie Brownie," a golden vanilla ice cream with a fudge stripe, chocolate covered peanuts, and homemade brownies.  Though Lago's "Jaws" is delicious, too, with the chocolate graham cracker goldfish and that suggestive red-raspberry swirl...  (But now I'm just bragging about creating ice cream flavors...)  Just don't eat the sweet treats too fast, or you'll get a brain freeze!

No shame in jumping on the couch today... At least you're not on national television.  It's Tom Cruise's birthday!  Go Crazy!