A Smallville recap, Google's empty gesture to users and Riot Watch! hits Iran

- After dancing around one another all season, the Kandorians and Clark Kent finally saw their paths cross on tonight’s Smallville. But first we found out how the Kandorians came to be on Earth in the first place. Seems that 20 years before the destruction of Krypton, there was a war on the planet and Zod and his battalion were involved. Before they entered battle, the planet’s ruling council mandated that samples of their blood be taken. That was because an elite scientist, none other than Clark Kent’s Kryptonian father Jor-El, had developed cloning technology that would allow them to be brought back to life if they were killed in battle. However, Jor-El did not want his technology used for this purpose and so he pulled the plug on the project. Moments later, a massive explosion decimated Kandor and the last memory of anyone who had their blood drawn was that moment. The two who didn’t, Jor-El and Zod, survived the explosion but found themselves in a tough spot. The council wanted Jor-El executed for disobeying their orders, but Zod intervened during his trial and saved his friend’s life. He expected that favor repaid when he brought Jor-El a lock of his dead son’s hair given to him by his wife and asked the master scientist to bring his child back to life. That was as Jor-El finally made good on the council’s order to complete his DNA project, the results of which would be put into the very Kryptonian orb that was sent to Earth and eventually unlocked by Tess Mercer in last season’s finale. Jor-El refuses to bring Zod’s son back to life, leading his former friend to declare that Jor-El is dead to him. Meanwhile, in the 20 years that follow that day and lead up to the destruction of Krypton, those whose DNA is inside the orb go about their lives and have families, experiences, etc. But because they show up on Earth as their clone selves from DNA collected 20 years prior to Krypton’s decimation, they have no memories of those two decades. On Earth and in the present, Clark Kent is feverishly searching for the Kandorians who have come. He asks Chloe for addition help and she calls in Oliver Queen, who flies Clark on his private jet to a desert in Turkey where one of the Kryptonian symbols hailing the arrival of an other-worldly visitor was seen. Tess’ scientists have been digging in the area, but so far have found nothing. Clark realizes that the secret may lay beneath the sand and uses his super-powered breath to blow the sand off of what turns out to be a huge version of his Kryptonian symbol burned into the Earth. CK realizes that his father must be on Earth and he didn’t even realize it. Having found what they came for, Clark and Ollie turn around and fly back to Smallville. Along the way, Clark wonders why the voice of Jor-El at the Fortress of Solitude didn’t tell him that the in-person version of himself was on the planet. Around this time, that in-person Jor-El is stepping onto the Kent Farm in Smallville. He goes there because when he visited Earth earlier in his life, he visited the farm, met to Kent’s and was so touched by their kindness that he later sent Clark to the farm when Krypton was being destroyed. Jor-El makes himself at home and is soon met by Chloe Sullivan, who shows up to take Clark’s dog Shelby for a walk. Once she learns who Jor-El is, she sets to filling him in on the parts of Krypton’s history that he doesn’t remember. Jor-El is happy that his son found a good home and is doing well, but he’s crushed to learn that his former friend Zod has turned out to be such a piece of crap. Out in the Kent barn, Jor-El looks through souvenirs from Clarks’ younger days but the happy times end when a team of Tess’ men arrive and are looking for a fight. To protect Chloe, Jor-El knocks her out with some sort of Kryptonian sleeper hold. He rushes off to fight Tess’ men, but after taking out the first two he is Tasered from behind by a third man and taken captive. Tess has him brought to the cellar at the Luthor Mansion, where she informs Jor-El that the reason she unlocked the orb was so the Kryptonians inside could save the Earth from mankind. Jor-El counters that they are not that different from humans and if Zod and his battalion regain their powers, they may end up destroying the planet instead of saving it. Tess replies that she’s actually helping his son by keeping Clark a secret from Zod, who thinks that Jor-El is actually the one with his Kryptonian powers and who is doing good deeds around Metropolis. To keep up the façade, Tess allows Zod and his men to “find” Jor-El in her cellar and after shooting down Zod’s advances on her personally, she watches with a wry smile as the Kandorians leave with Jor-El in tow. Zod brutally interrogates his former friend about how he was able to get his powers back on Earth. Jor-El tries to keep up the lie, but eventually he slips up and Zod realizes that Jor-El actually has a son and that son is the one who has the powers. He orders Jor-El released so he can lead them to that son. When Clark finally arrives back at the Kent Farm, he finds a bloodied, near-death Jor-El in the field. The reunion is short-lived, as Jor-El is about to die and his final words are a request for Clark to “Save Zod” from the monster he’s becoming. Oliver visits soon after this sad scene and vows to have Clark’s back from here on out as he looks to find out who killed his father and bring them to justice. CK then must bury a father for the second time, laying Jor-El to rest in the woods nearby with a Kryptonian symbol-engraved stone to mark the grave. He apologizes in advance for not saving Zod because he’s “seen what he becomes.” Speaking of Zod, he watches the scene from behind a nearby tree, smirking because he knows he’s found the Kryptonian he’s looking for. Does this mean Zod no longer needs to partnership he’s forged with Tess? Not sure. Also in this episode, Clark admitted to Tess for the first time that he is Kryptonian when he storms the mansion demanding to know where Jor-El is. Another revelation came when Clark learned that while he was away following the tragic events at the end of last season, she installed security cameras at the farm to keep an eye on the place. The cameras are still in place, to Clark’s dismay, although they do help him learn about the attack by Tess’ men. No Lois in this episode, although Clark does tell Chloe about their kiss at the end of last week’s episode. Chloe explains that when confronted with intimacy, Lois often runs, thus her being “out of town” this week. Overall this was a very interesting episode and one of the stronger ones so far this season. Tune in next week to see if it continues………

- Boy, this is not going well for embattled Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson. He was already having a terrible season, averaging less than four yards per carry and having no rushing touchdowns, when he got hooked by a Twitter follower, unleashed a gay slur at that follower and chased it with that same gay slur the next day when confronted by media members in the locker room. That came last week and the Chiefs wasted no time slapping him with a one-game suspension that will result in Johnson missing Sunday’s game against Jacksonville. You might think that having their team’s most-talented offensive player suspended, even in the midst of a tough season, would be a bad thing for Chiefs fans. Umm….not exactly. Not only are fans not disappointed to see Johnson, who has a history of run-ins with the law and off-field issues while in Kansas City, suspended and unavailable for this week’s game, they are busy logging signatures on a petition to keep him away from the field. Because Johnson is 75 yards from becoming the team's all-time leading rusher and some Chiefs fans don’t want an immature, (alleged) abuser of women and a malcontent as their franchise’s all-time leading rusher, they have started an online petition asking general manager Scott Pioli to deactivate Johnson and keep him on the sideline so he cannot pass the classy, respected Priest Holmes for the team rushing record, or join the team's Ring of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium. Holmes holds the Chiefs' rushing record with 6,070 yards; Johnson currently has 5,996 yards. "While we are thankful for his service, we feel that Larry has been a black eye on the organization and has no business being mentioned" among the team's all-time greats, the petition reads. "We are asking you, as fans of this team, this organization, and of the pride that this city has in the Chiefs, please deactivate Larry Johnson. Please do not let his name sit atop the all-time rushing leaders in Kansas City Chiefs history. He has never represented anything close to the values that we have for our Chiefs and it would be another dagger to the fans that continue to support this proud franchise. We are asking this as a favor to those of us who have supported this team long, long, long before you were brought in," This petition isn't exactly a massive declaration of fan dissent yet, boasting only 1,400 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon ET. I certainly appreciate the effort on behalf of the fans, but this is a futile effort to say the least. As much as the team’s ownership values the fans and their opinions, the bottom line is that Johnson didn’t commit an actual crime this time and if they feel he can stay in his shoes from here on out and help the team, he’ll be back on the field once his suspension without pay is over. No, having the fans who once cheered for you start a petition to prevent you from ever playing another down for their team can’t feel good, but at the end of the day Johnson will still be getting paid boatloads of jack to play football. Whether a few thousand fans hate him or not, that can’t suck…………

- Something I know about you, without ever having met you, if you keep a collection of goats on your property and you’re not a farmer: You are a weirdo. Point blank, people who keep goats around and don’t have any farming-related purpose for them are just a different breed. Southington (Conn.) resident Dan True is just such a man, having kept goats on his property for years. All of a sudden, his town has brought the hammer down and decreed that the goats must go. According to town officials, Southington zoning regulations state that an owner of farm animals needs at least 3 acres of land. Because True owns less than an acre, he doesn’t meet the standard. He received a cease and desist order from the zoning commission last month, after which he asked for and received an extension until the end of November. “I don’t know what to do,” True said. “Two of them are pregnant. Where do I take them? Who’s going to take them? Is there a shelter for goats?” Not sure on that, but I’m guessing not. You can see where True might be bent; he’s never had a single complaint about the goat from his neighbors. In fact, he says neighbors often stop by to feed them and have conversations with him. “I think it’s crazy that they want to get rid of these goats. They’re not hurting anybody,” mused neighbor Steve Clark. “They are entertainment for the kids and special needs people that do come by. I just don’t like the idea that they want to get rid of these.” If you believe the zoning department, they’ve been battling with True about his furry friends since 2003 and even if he’s not hurting anyone by keeping them, if they make the exception for him, they would have to make the exception for everyone else. Still, True does plan to go to the zoning board of appeals and ask for a special exemption. I can't see that going well for him, but as a supporter of wacky, kooky and bizarre people everywhere, I’ll be rooting for him…………

- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Let’s sojourn to the Middle East, where Iranian protesters are taking it to the streets with angry, fire-throwing riots to make their voices heard against their repressive, totalitarian government. Protestors vow to continue their anti-government demonstrations indefinitely despite violent crackdowns and arrests. According to witnesses, the number of demonstrators rioting in the streets is in the tens of thousands. At their outset, the protests were time to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy. The date is celebrated as an official holiday in Iran and on Wednesday, tens of thousands showed up to hear anti-American speeches in front of the building that once housed the U.S. diplomatic corps and many chanted "Death to America." But the forward-thinkers among them realized it as a great chance to restart the anti-government protests that took place in June following a stolen/rigged/disputed presidential election. Knowing that the protests might reignite, Iranian authorities issued warnings for dissenters to stay home, but of course, The Man wasn’t going to hold these people down. They took it to the streets, chanting "Death to the Dictator" and others saying, "Obama - Either you're with us or with them.” They were met by riot police and pro-government Basij militia, resulting in explosive and bloody showdowns in the streets of Tehran. “We were running from the police in the alleys off of the main streets," said Soheil, an opposition protester. "Strangers were opening up their garages so we could hide until the police went away. I ran into a garage for about 15 minutes. When I went back into the main street, I saw riot police arresting a group of young men, then putting them inside a bank and locking the door. Only God knows what will happen to them after that." Running from them? No, my man, you need to be looking for something to set on fire and throw at them. Because many of the protestors from this week’s uprisings also took part in demonstrations over the summer, they should know that. Videos of the riots have already made it to YouTube and the images aren’t pretty: riot police clubbing protestors with their batons, throwing them around like rag dolls and generally using excessive force whenever and wherever possible. Protests also took place in smaller cities such as in the southwest Iran city of Shiraz, where demonstrators marched down the main street of Shiraz, yelling "Death to the dictator" and "We will not stand down to you, together we are united." Police attempted to slow or prevent demonstrations by blocking roads and sending out threatening messages, but to no avail. I am proud to say that my riot brothers in Iran, the country’s reformists and forward-thinkers, ignored those warnings and did their thing. They faced tear gas, batons, police in riot gear and all manner of resistance but they didn’t back down. Big ups to everyone who took part in these riots/protests, keep it up and make your voices heard…………

- The all-knowing, all-seeing behemoth that is Google is offering to give you a peak behind the curtain, so to speak. On Thursday, the Web’s most popular search engine released a feature that allows users to see and control data that Google has collected about them. Google Dashboard is the name of this new tech gadget and it provides an online summary of a user's Google files -- Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa photos and so on -- by collecting pre-existing privacy controls in one place. Dashboard users can review and delete recent Google searches, see recently opened and shared documents and check out their interactions with Google-powered sites such as YouTube. This new service comes in response to heavy criticism Google has received from politicians and privacy advocates for its data-collection practices. The company was none too transparent about its intentions, announcing the service with a blog post boastfully headlined, "Transparency, Choice and Control -- now complete with a Dashboard!" The post itself stated, “Over the past 11 years, Google has focused on building innovative products for our users. Today, with hundreds of millions of people using those products around the world, we are very aware of the trust that you have placed in us, and our responsibility to protect your privacy and data." As you’d expect, this new service wasn’t nearly enough to silence all of Google’s critics. Many of them insist that if Google really wanted to give users control over their privacy, it would allow them total anonymity from the company and its advertisers in terms of search data and online behavior. The general consensus seems to be that this isn't nearly a big enough step to protect users’ privacy and that Dashboard merely collects a bunch of already-existing pieces of information into one place without adding anything new to the mix. In other words, it’s a hollow gesture by a massive corporate entity and has no real teeth to it. For some odd reason, I’m not surprised………