Star Trek: TNG

Enjoy you weekend! (more here)

Media Circus

I have come to a rather obvious conclusion. The media is out of control on all fronts. This may seem obvious to everyone, but take a look at how they are actually affecting our world. Every once in a while, I've got to let one of these rants fly to try to keep my sanity.

Sports
They have ruined sports by covering every team with 27 reporters 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There just isn't that much news to report, so they just make shit up! Good trades are often ruined because of media leaks. Dissension between owners, players, managers and fans is brewed by talk radio idiots. The constant coverage feeds the egos of athletes and creates embarrassments like TO, Manny and A-Rod. ESPN makes up the news with "Original Programming." Networks buy events and then use their influence to hype said event unfairly. ESPN can influence voters in college football to set up BCS games which they cover.

Politics
They have ruined politics in the exact same way. There is such a frenzy to scoop other reporters and break a story that facts are rarely checked - even on the primetime network nightly news shows - remember Dan Rather? Accusations fly as big headlines and when proven wrong are rarely retracted or corrected. The liberal bias is an added twist. Check out this website about a new documentary named, "Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted." Don't buy the DVD or anything, but the trailer alone is scary. It proves with interviews and video what we all suspected during the 2008 election. Scary stuff.

Science
The global warning issue that Kevin brought up set me off today for this post. The media attention to this non-issue is actually driving the science. Actual facts and data are disregarded as conservative propaganda because they don't support the supposedly "obvious" truth that we are creating a global Armegeddon with our greenhouse gases and polar ice-cap melting ways!

Entertainment
The Oscars last week cemented what I had always known deep down inside. Movies are made and rewarded based upon their political message, not the merits of the film or the acting. This is why the same political speeches are uttered at all the lame awards shows. This is why Al Gore and Sean Penn get Oscars. This is why certain actors/actresses get blackballed from the industry or shut out of awards again and again. Think the Acadamy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would ever give Frank Langella an Oscar for playing hated GOP president Richard Nixon with some degree of sympathy? No way. Give it to the movie about gay politician who supports gay marriage.

Religion
Another pet peave. You know it was Darwin's 200th birthday last week. CNN published a big story online about the opinions on Darwin today. Read this link and weep. They actually did a very scientific poll through Gallop evaluating people's beliefs concerning Evolution. A quick summary of the results:

• 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution"
• 25% do not believe in evolution
• 36% have no opinion either way

This was last month. An older Gallop poll also cited in the article from 2008 had these gems:

• 14% of Americans believe that humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life
  
• 44% believe that God created human beings almost overnight within the past 10,000 years
  
• 36% believe that God guided humans' evolution from animals over a much longer period of time

I weep for our nation.

Waterworld

No, I'm not putting in a post praising the movie (though I did like it). I was reading an article on Yahoo about how Antarctica's Western Glacier is melting and how seas levels are going to rise, and I wanted to do some fact finding. I went online and found the following article about the likelihood and consequences of all the world's ice melting.

It's backed up by sources, and generally does a good job of making fun of people making outrageous claims such as: 1) Scientology is a religion, 2) French people are industrious, 3) Intelligent Design and 4) we're all going to drown in 10 years when the human-caused global warming melts all the Earth's ice and causes flash floods and tsunamis everywhere!

Just a little food for thought, and few cool 'what-if' pictures. Oh, and Ted and Ali, good job getting out of New Orleans. Those of you in DC and Florida, you'd better hope those wackos aren't right!

NFL Draft Inanity

I've been following the NFL combine the past few days thanks to NFL Network HD and I must say, it's a total joke. They make such a huge deal out of 3 hundredths of a second in a 40-yd dash like it's the end of the world, then they show a video with competitors superimposed over one another and there's absolutely no discernible difference between a guy running 4.38 and 4.45. Yet because some a-hole scout or talking head harps about it, those 7 hundredths of a second can determine some kid's entire future - even though it's probably immaterial to his ability to succeed in the NFL.

Let's take a look at two separate combine participants, both DBs - Vontae Davis of Illinois (a highly touted, top-of-the-class prospect heading into the draft) and David Bruton of Notre Dame (best case - good NFL special teams player). Here's what SI.com had to say about Davis after yesterday's DB workouts...

Vontae Davis/CB/Illinois: Davis measured 5-foot-11 and 203 pounds upon arriving at the combine then completed 25 reps on the bench, a big number for a cornerback. He was fast Tuesday and clocked both of his 40-yard-dashes in the mid 4.3-second range [ed: he didn't, see below]. Davis then showed a lot of skill during defensive back drills, displaying the ability to quickly backpedal and flip his hips. NFL scouts still have questions about his character but Davis cemented himself as one of the most physically gifted cornerbacks available in April's draft.

And here's what they had to say about Bruton...

...

Yeah, nothing at all on Bruton. Now let's take a look at how they actually performed in the combine, courtesy of NFL.com (DNP = Did Not Place in NFL.com's top performers list).

40-yd Dash: Bruton 4.46, Davis 4.49
Bench Press: Davis 25, Bruton DNP
Vertical Jump: Bruton 41.5, Davis DNP
Broad Jump: Bruton 11'0", Davis DNP
3-cone Drill: Bruton 6.60, Davis 6.75
20-yd Shuttle: Davis 4.07, Bruton DNP
60-yd Shuttle: Bruton 10.96, Davis DNP

Bruton consistently outperformed Davis and got zero credit. The knock on Bruton is that he's too big (believe it or not) and can't keep up with wide receivers. Yet Bruton's results consistently matched, or were better than, the top wide receiver and tight end participants - the very people he will be going up against on future Sundays.

The NFL combine is a freaking merciless meat market. All your past accolades during actual competition are ignored, which is ridiculous. If you come in with high expectations, people are just looking to tear you down. If you come in with low expectations, you're more than likely to leave with the same. It's a place where reputations are very easily destroyed, but rarely made. And it does a discredit to anyone participating by throwing out years of evidence about their ability to succeed and replacing that with 2 hours of under-the-microscope analysis.

Mashed Potatoes!

Enjoy your weekend!

Ahhhh! Nooooooo!

The following was posted by Trent Reznor at NIN.com yesterday...

In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's "Lights in the Sky" tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year. The approach to these shows is quite different from last year - much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane's to see if they'd want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Are there big record label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope.
Does it feel right to us and does it seem like it will be fun for us and you? Yes it does.
Look for tour dates soon and I hope to see you out there.

Trent

I'm an NIN junkie, and any true fan of music should at least appreciate the innovation, quality, and musicianship that Reznor pours into each of his releases. For awhile I've been realizing that a lot of the bands I've grown up with are getting pretty old. When Reznor said it'd been 20 years since PHM I said, "No f&*(ing way...". Then I did the math and became sad. What am I going to do as my NINs, QOTSAs, Radioheads, Weezers, Beastie Boys, Local Hs, and others decide to unstring their guitars? I've seen the watered down horror shows that became of such once-great acts as the Rolling Stones who didn't know when to quit and I just don't want my favorites to go that route.

Anyway, I'm truly hoping that this hiatus that Reznor describes is short-lived. He's been on such an incredible creative streak these past few years that it seems like I've gotten a new NIN fix every few months. I guess I just always expected them to keep their hard-rocking vitality alive through groupies as I slowed down, but, alas, I guess age gets to everyone eventually. Growing up sucks...

That's Some Pretty Big News

Notre Dame football held a press conference last week to announce some coaching changes. Here's the important things that came out...

• Charlie Weis will be the offensive coordinator in 2009 and may call games from the booth.
• Jon Tenuta has been named defensive coordinator and will call all defensive plays in 2009.
• Corwin Brown has been "promoted" to associate head coach.

These three items are, in my opinion, pretty huge deals for Notre Dame football - especially considering how Weis made such a big deal just last year about being a more complete head coach and dropping play-calling duties on offense. Have you ever heard of a head coach even mention voluntarily removing himself from the sideline? Brown being "promoted" by removing his play-calling duties? (Officially he's still co-DC and supposedly will assist in game planning.)

Read into it what you will, but my guess is they liked the formula that proved so successful in Hawaii. Charlie knows he's not a rah-rah guy like Corwin, so Corwin becomes the motivator and mouthpiece on the sideline while Charlie focuses on calling plays. Meanwhile, the hyper-aggressive style that was so successful for Tenuta at Georgia Tech gets implemented without hurting Corwin's feeling.

It's a pretty major shake-up, even more so if Weis does end up calling games from the booth. It also reeks of Weis' desperation in pulling out all the tricks in order to be successful next season and save his job.

Joaquin Phoenix Superstar

I got a tip from an online source yesterday evening that I HAD to watch The Late Show with David Letterman last night. You see, Joaquin Phoenix was the guest and apparently, he had a complete meltdown!

Joaquin Phoenix

Dave has had some classic guest appearances in the past. A few I recall were Andy Kaufman, Farah Fawcett, Paris Hilton, and my personal fav - Crispin Glover. YouTube those interviews for comedy gold!

Anyway, after watching the show live, I was in awe. Letterman tried really hard to be nice and sing Phoenix's praises, but he acted completely clueless. Dave then got fed up and turned on him, and Phoenix started to get really pissed off. Personally, I believe that Phoenix is screwed up ever since he hung out with that robot Jinx in Spacecamp! Now he is quitting acting and starting a career as a "Hip Hop" artist. Whatever! At first, I thought he was stoned. After a second viewing, I now think it was all an act for publicity. Decide for yourselves, but it is still hilarious!

A Victory For Non-Idiots

Geez... I'm on fire with posts lately.

Anyway, here's something that will make Ted happy.

Boom Shaka Laka!

Another US-MX game on US soil, another 2-0 victory for the States. It's getting kinda routing anymore, isn't it. Still, I enjoyed eating more wings than I should have and watching the Mexicans crack under pressure immensely. On to the player ratings...

Tim Howard - 8
A H-U-G-E save in the first three minutes keeps the US in the game. Bonus points for drawing a red card on Dickhole Marquez later in the second half.
Heath Pearce - 5
Good marking. Good job coming forward and supporting Beasley. Horrible job serving crosses.
Carlos Bocanegra - 5
Solid tackling, but still sucks when people run at him. Also can't get on the same page with Onyewu.
Oguchi Onyewu - 4
Slightly less clumsy than past appearances, but still commits more fouls - or, more accurately, puts himself in a position to get whistled for more fouls - than he should. Has no sense of positioning.
Frankie Hejduk - 7
He's just everywhere. Bonus points for an AWESOME two-footed tackle.
DeMarcus Beasley - 6
For once, he got back to help on defense and it made a difference. Seemed tentative to use his speed to run at people.
Michael Bradley - 8
Every offensive pass came through him and he broke up as many on the other end. Oh, and he scored both goals. He's still erratic - for every performance like last night, you get two at the other end of the spectrum - but he showed up last night.
Sacha Kljestan - 3
Did you hear his name mentioned all night, for anything? No, because he did nothing.
Clint Dempsey - 6
He didn't do a ton, but hustled to play both ways, was consistently involved in the offensive buildup, and just makes everything look so easy. By far the best player on the field, he just didn't show it tonight.
Landon Donovan - 7
I usually can't stand him, but the fact that Mexicans hate him raises his stock. He setup both goals and seems to save his best for the Mexico games.
Brian Ching - 3
Pretty much worthless. Falls down a lot for a big point forward. Can't hold on to the ball. Slower than frozen ketchup. I don't know how he continues to earn starts.

Subs...
Jozy Altidore (Ching, 83) - 5
Didn't have much time to show his stuff, but he ran down and held up two balls that Ching probably wouldn't have even bothered chasing and setup the second goal. You could tell the Mexicans were afraid of his size and speed.
Ricardo Clark (Kljestan, 86) - 2
I didn't think it was possible to contribute less than Kljestan, but congratulations, Rico, you proved me wrong. Great, he runs hard and hustles. He also consistently passes to the wrong team and holds the ball way too long.

This is Why I Hate Government

Read this site and then join me in seething...

If you didn't follow all that, here's the summary. In this morning's house vote to approve the Stimulus package certain representatives tried at squeeze in additional language to shoot down net neutrality - a completely unrelated issue that has no business in this conversation. Well, word of this got out and Congress was flooded with calls that shot this down. But now it's back on the table as the bill heads to closed-door voting where it's less likely to get trumped.

Here's the problem - now you're not just voting on an $800B stimulus package, but you also need to consider the sweeping internet reform that was suddenly and unexpectedly tacked on by some jerk. No doubt if you vote no on the bill because of all the crap that got tacked on you'll get labeled an asshole that doesn't care about the country's economic crisis and never get a chance to explain.

It's typical government shenanigans - tacking a low probability bill onto one that will surely pass - and it makes me sick to see people take advantage of such a high-profile issue. Way to go Congress... you suck.

Dropbox! Finally...

How many times have you been at work and needed a file off your home computer? Or had a bunch of crap you needed to share, but it was too big to fit as an email attachment? Finally, a decent and FREE solution has arrived. It's called Dropbox.

Here's how it works

1. Download their software and install it on any number of machines.
2. Put shit in the special My Dropbox folder like you would any other folder on your machine.
3. That shit instantly becomes available on those other machines! I know!
4. Put shit in the Public folder and it can be shared with your friends.
5. Login to their website and you can manipulate the same files from anywhere. Anywhere!
   

It comes with 2GB of free space, which should be more than enough for the majority of the use cases. Anyway, I've already installed it on multiple PCs and laptops and even a Mac (I'm gay) and it's working great. It's the best option out there until Google gets their shit together and releases their GDrive...

Why MLB is Dying (It's not Steroids)

In a week in which pitchers and catchers report MLB is embroiled in yet another controversy. This is usually a time of year that I look forward to. The Reds still have a chance. This year more than ever, we actually have pretty good pitching that could help us contend. Anyway, news broke that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for steroids in 2003. He quickly admitted his guilt and asked for understanding and forgiveness. So of course, this will be the dominating story for the rest of the baseball season, and at least until ARod retires, as he will be chasing some of the biggest HR records of all-time.

I for one am sick of it. This is clearly compromising the game, and many fans have given up on the sport. Baseball is plummetting in popularity, TV ratings and attendance. Many claim this is the end of baseball. I for one would have to agree.

However, the steroid use by the players and the "steroid era" that is described by the media is not why baseball is dying. The real reason is the dreaded organization known as the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association). Run by Donald Fehr since 1983, this is the strongest, most belligerent union in the country. They have maximized player salaries, held off drug testing, opened up free agency, increased rookie salaries - and all of this is killing the game.

Here are a couple of MAJOR issues that I have with the union:

Steroid Testing
Baseball has long needed drug testing for steroids, like EVERY OTHER SPORT IN THE WORLD! This has been a known problem for decades. Its not like steroids snuck up on baseball in the 1990's! The MLBPA has refused to allow any drug testing under the collective bargaining agreement for years. How many unions do you know that can block drug testing?

Then in 2003, they allowed random, anonymous drug testing. The reason was to prove that such testing was unnecessary. The agreement was that if over 5% of players tested positive for steroids, mandatory testing would be enacted. Union leaders pleaded with players to get clean as this was a 1 time only test series. If they avoided the 5% threshold, no more testing. Reportedly (although they will always deny this), players were actually tipped off about tests in advance! Guess what, they still went over 5% in the samples!!! This is the test series that caught ARod. MLBPA was supposed to keep the samples anonymous, but I guess they blew that too!

Now there are 103 other positive results out there that will put doubt over all players in the era. Who knows how many other players did get clean after being warned. These 104 are just the arrogant ones that didn't heed the warnings. To put the icing on the cake, some clean players have offered to submit to voluntary steroid testing. Those players have been severely repremanded by the MLBPA. Can you believe that???

Salary Cap
Every major sport has a salary cap. Players still get TONS of money in salaries. The MLBPA has successfully held off any salary cap for years. This is the major issue killing baseball. Teams like the Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox buy their way into the postseason every year, and take turns winning the World Series. MLB counters this argument by talking about the Twins, the Rays and the A's as small market teams that can succeed. I will say that these are the RARE exceptions of extraordinary TEAMS built around teamwork. There are way many more teams that have no chance to compete based upon salaries. The Reds fall into this category.

Baseball needs a salary cap to restore the integrity of the game. Teams need to be on a level playing field. It works pretty well in the NFL, so I don't see any reasons to resist. I think the MLBPA needs to be decertified and baseball should start over. Donald Fehr needs to go away for the good of the game!

Billy Mays Here!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Blurring the Lines

Remember a few years back when Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed their name to an acronym - KFC? The thinking was that having the word 'Fried', which conjures up unhealthy thoughts, prominently displayed in your name probably wasn't the best idea. So they just changed their name to the commonly abbreviated form hoping that, over time, people would simply forget that KFC was actually fried chicken from Kentucky and continue to stuff their fat faces with it. That Colonel Sanders is a f#$^ing genius...

This isn't the first time this has happened in the food industry - anyone remember Super Sugar Crisps? But we may be witnessing the same phenomenon in a much larger scale today. Next time you see a car commercial take note of how they reference fuel efficiency. You are witnessing first-hand the automobile industry's attempt to replace the term 'Miles per Gallon' with the abbreviation MPG in the English lexicon. They are doing this so that when it's referred to, it's just a number that can be compared to another number and not an actual metric that has meaning. If you say that car A gets 12 miles per gallon of gasoline compared to car B which gets 24 miles per gallon, it's obvious what the advantages are - it's a linear relationship with car B being twice as efficient. Compare that to horsepower - something that people just want more of, even though they don't really know what adding 25 HP means from a practical standpoint. That's where it's going with MPG - the industry wants the public to just think more is better, without really understanding what it means.

Why would they want to do this? It should be obvious - the push today is towards more efficient vehicles, which costs the auto industry billions upon billions of dollars in research and manufacturing. They want to bring it back down. So today 12 MPG compared to 40 MPG sucks, obviously, because you know what it means. But 10 years from know they'll be able to say this car has 18 MPG but that one only has 15 MPG, with the hope being the populace is dumb enough to simply say, "Well, 18 is better than 15" and not realize the impacts.

So cherish this moment! The moment where billions of marketing dollars are at work, attempting to make consumers the world over that much dumber...

8 Days of Waiting

Fogginess is expected from weather and heavy drinking

On Feb. 11, 2009 the next installment of the heated USA vs. Mexico soccer rivalry is taking place. And while many of my family members cast disparaging remarks about Columbus, OH, it's one of the few places in this country where the game can be played without it being a Mexican home game. It also means that I'm going to the game.

Tickets are sold out and it ought to be a solid representation of the Red, White and Blue. I myself am planning on taking a half-day to tail-gate prior to the game. I'm getting fired up for this game, because of, as Will Farrell said, "my intense hatred for immigrants [from Mexico]". The US has been dominant recently in the series, and I hope they keep it up. We're calling back our top players from abroad, all for my viewing enjoyment.

In the meantime, check out this story by Noah Davis. I tend to agree that it's one of the best rivalries in the world, because the teams are evenly matched, the supporters have such a passion for the game, and because Mexico is a third world country. I predict a 3-1 win by the US.

It Was Bound To Happen

After Sunday's rather enjoyable Super Bowl I started the countdown to the inevitable question - is Ben Roethlisberger one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time? The countdown lasted about 12 hours.

Anyway, let's keep this short and sweet - No. No, he is not.

Pittsburgh is one of those rare good teams. They don't have any great players, just a collection of good players that play extremely well together (Troy Polamalu may be the exception here, although getting burned deep with the game on the line while in a prevent defense doesn't help your case, Troy). Roethlisberger is one of those game-manager types who can just as easily cost you the game as pull it out in the clutch, i.e. he's no different from a dozen or more other quarterbacks in the NFL today. Just because he's got two Super Bowl rings doesn't mean he must now and forever be included in some mythical, fabricated "Greatest Ever" discussion.

So let's just keep it simple and try to get caught up in the nostalgia and hyperbole that always happens when you kiss football goodbye for 7 long months...