Ron Artest will become ?Metta World Peace? on Aug. 26

Several weeks ago, we brought you the story of Ron Artest's decision to change his legal name to the wonderfully weird "Metta World Peace." It was a bizarre choice entirely befitting Artest's personality, but also a very nice (albeit overly idealistic) attempt to make the world a better place. This name will not hurt anyone. At worst, it will make us laugh. At best, it will solve all the world's problems. I am an optimist and choose to expect the latter.

Still, announcements are not actions, and it remained to be seen whether Artest would follow through on his promise. Thankfully, according to TMZ, he has. In fact, we should see the name change become official before the end of the month. The details (via EOB):

Long story short -- anyone looking to officially change their name in the State of California has to get a public declaration of the name change�PRINTED in a local newspaper 4 times -- once a week, 4 weeks in a row.

On July 19th, Ron's LAST declaration to become�Metta World Peace�was published in the L.A. Daily Commerce -- but the�name change�won't become official until August 26th ... when a judge is scheduled to sign the order.

There you have it: We must wait a mere 24 days before we can call a grown man "Metta World Peace." Sadly, the NBA lockout will probably stop the production of any official "World Peace" Lakers jerseys, but something tells me the streets of Los Angeles will be filled with acceptable knockoffs. The kind people of our planet will finally have a counterweight to Miroslav Satan hockey sweaters.

We will update you as World Peace updates continue to trickle in. On Aug. 26, widespread hunger and pestilence will become a thing of the past.

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