Friday, February 26, 2010

Schilling Red Sock Doctor in hot water

Why would one leave their job as a team physician for a minor league baseball team AND their gig at St. Vincent Hospital AND voluntarily give up their license to practice medicine all at the same time?

That's apparently what Doctor Bill "Bloody Sock" Morgan did last fall. Herald says he's under investigation for "unspecified allegations." Not exactly showing the same fighting spirit he did when the Sox' backs were up against the ropes, is he?

I wonder if there's any connection between his trouble last fall and his departure from the Red Sox.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Goodbye Mosi

Mosi Tatupu, former fullback and special teamer extraordinaire has died. Cause of death is unknown right now.

I hate to hit him when he's dead, but this is my biggest lasting memory of Mosi. A heartbreaker. He was a big fan favorite, though, so this was kind of a Wakefield-Boone moment on a much smaller scale.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lost or Found?

Ok, so what do we know now? Is the sideways plot what happens if they go back to where Jacob touched them and start over? Lots of the same stuff, but no crash and a few different outcomes?

I wish they would've kept the actor who played the unknown man in black. The actor that plays Locke is good, but he wasn't this character. From what I've read, the actor who talked to Jacob on the beach was a well respected actor. So let Locke live on in flahbacks or flash sideways, even as a ghost. But keep that other guy playing the man in black.

Who's going to be the candidate and what are the job requirements? All signs have pointed to Jack since the start. They've spent so much time trying to perfect him it's hard to imagine them going in another direction, but I hope they do. There's something unlikable about him. Something a little too preordained. Like things have essentially been handed to him all along and he just doesn't want them or appreciate them.

I get the whole thing about his redemption, finally accepting his role, his duty and fufilling his apparent destiny, but I'm still rooting against him.

I think I'm leaning Sawyer/Ford. He's remorseful, admitted even to a death wish, presumably out of guilt, as a reason for getting on micheal's raft at the end of Season 1.

Speaking of which, Waaaaaaaaaaaalt was such a strong interest of the Others and seemed to hold so much power and potential that it's hard to imagine he's not coming back to play a role of some sort. Bit he wasn't a candidate we saw listed on the wall with one of "the numbers" was he? If we can believe that was Jacob's list and not one the man in black was working.

Toyota keeps piling up the bullshit, pardon my French

Interesting and disgusting revelations in Washington today, as Congress holds hearings on quality/safety problems in Toyota vehicles. This stuff doesn't even go into the evidence that they knew about the problems and how serious they were, but made a business decision, more or less, not to address them.
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said "We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
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The president of Toyota's U.S. operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally" solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
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House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.

LaDamian

NFL running backs lose it in a real hurry, don't they? LaDamian (out of respect for the real LT I will only call this guy LaDamian)was the best back in the league for a few years. But when the league is full of really big guys that run really fast and just about everytime you have the ball the play ends with one or more of those guys hitting and/or landing on you, the lifespan at the top of the mountain is short.

Adrian Peterson took over as the elite back, but he fell off quite a bit this last year. Let's see if he can get back to the top.

They look great in commericals, but these guys still pale in comparison to Brown, Payton, Sanders and Emmitt.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Song of the Day: Kool Thing

Quality Sonic Youth material from back in the day.

Thanks to Whiskey Fire's rant on feminism for the suggestion.

While you're there, read some more Whiskey Fire. He's got some high quality rants on there. Warning: it's political and language is not "G" rated.

Good stuff

Trying to justify bad things. You can always kind of tell it's wrong on it's face. But if you're willing to do some mental gymnastics, you can start to think something's not all that bad. I guess.

Dealing with climate change deniers



found on Blue Mass Group

Friday, February 19, 2010

Shhhhhhhh, it's lent

Don't make too much noise about it because then Catholics will remember they aren't supposed to eat meat today. That would ruin the fun of trying to trick a Catholic into eating meat which would damn their souls to hell or something.

The particular axe I have to grind today is that I want to get Sushi tonight and I'm worried that the place will be bogged down by too many Catholics who are allowed to eat the flesh of aquatic animals instead of the flesh of barnyard animals.

I'm worried it will be like trying to get Chinese food on New Year's Eve.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Song of the Day: You don't have to believe me



Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Jump Back! Get the feeling this skiny white guy was influenced by Stevie Wonder and James Brown?

Eric Hutchinson's the guy.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Song of the Day: Teen Angst



Hoppin' tune by Cracker. Good lyrics, too.

The band's much more famous single is Low (remember the disgraced cosmonaut?). But I actually think this one's more fun.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Steve Nash is a pretty cool guy

YouTube evidence here...

The halftime show

My idea for future halftime shows is to feature the year's inductees to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. They've been at it for a while, so most of the really, really old groups have been put in. Granted there are still a few oldies from the 2009 class but you could do an entertaining show. What is it, 20 minutes?

It would be good publicity for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and would ease some of the annual tension the NFL seems to endure in trying to find an act.

For the record, I'm a huge fan of the Who, have been since I was in middle school. But I don't think they're want the Super Bowl crowd was looking for. Would've been better to throw out Metallica, Jeff Beck and Run D.M.C., don't you think?

What a weird dude (not about Micheal Jackson)

Ok, so King Tut takes over when he's 10 years old and ten dies when he's 19. Odd enough. But the latest revelations are mind bottling.

--He had a cleft palate.
--And a club foot. Probably walked with canes.
--He died of a malaria infection linked to a broken leg.
--His father was his uncle and his mother was his aunt. Translation: his mother and father were brother and sister.

Science suddenly needs consensus?!?!

A very good discussion over at BMG about global warming/climate change which raises the issue of how lay folks understand and react to sciency folks. Politicizing science. Carve out some time and take a look. Here's a taste, a comment in the thread from one of my favorites, lightiris.

I'd be interested in the reaction to this of any sciencers out there.
No science is going to convince the "deniers" or "skeptics" or whatever you want to call them at this point. Climate change has jumped the shark, so to speak, and now resides in the realm of hoax and conspiracy theory. The science has been done, and anyone who claims there is any "debate" about that is a) lazy, b) disingenuous, or c)ignorant. Climate change has received a toxic injection of politicization, ensuring no rational treatment of the topic is forthcoming. The "deniers" or the "skeptics" have a vested interest in rejecting the evidence and furthering their narrative; they're not going to give that up any time soon, even though the overwhelming body of science is not on their side.

This issue is a perfect example of how this generation's crop of scientists is poorly trained. There's a reason MIT is now requiring eight semesters of English for its undergraduates: science, as a discipline, is unable to communicate effectively. It's not enough to hole up in your lecture hall or your lab and shun the unwashed masses, but that is what science has done. I've had a lot of conversations with educators as well as my own family members who are PhDs in hard sciences--genetics, geology, biology, virology--who all seem to indicate that this is a serious concern among the nation's university leadership. My brother-in-law even went so far to say that at his research university, the tipping point for graduate students getting good fellowships is a) their ability to reduce complex ideas into lay terms--in writing and b) their demeanor. The geeky, socially awkward science kid with the straight As is going to find s/he has some competition based on skills that they do not have. Fortunately, there are a small number of outliers to this trend--Brian Greene, Neil deGrasse Tyson, V.S. Ramachandran, and Neil Shubin to name a few--but the history is not good--and we're living the consequences. Science, too long ensconced in its labs and ivory towers, has become an object of ridicule rather than admiration. Neil deGrasse Tyson is particularly eloquent on this topic. Carl Sagan is is more likely weeping than laughing in his grave at what has happened since his groundbreaking dream of bringing complex science to the masses so that people can understand and make informed decisions.

The corresponding ascendancy of anti-intellectualism in the United States is a concomitant problem and is as likely to ensure our relegation to the international back row sooner rather than later, all the hand-wringing by conservatives about wanting "good schools" notwithstanding.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Someone please fire Bob Costas

Seriously, the guy is insufferable. Does he have pictures of that many NBC executives in compromising positions?

He knows his stuff, no doubt. And he 's a decent presenter. But all of that is undermined by the fact that he insists on being too cute by half...and then some. He's got absolutely no humility. He is totally unlikable.

So please, fire him. He doesn't need to be drummed out of the business, just knocked down a peg or two so he can recalibrate his persona.

BTW: the Canadian mogul skier who won the country's first gold medal is a great story. Just saw the feature piece on he and his brother. Good stuff. Glad he won the first gold for Canada instead of the woman who was favored to repeat.

Lost the Knack?

The lead singer of the Knack has died. Who are they, you ask? Shame on you.

f

Thursday, February 4, 2010

This is great stuff!!

And it's not from the Onion, it's from Boston.com.

Excellent work.

For the record, on LOST

The Man in Black, who is also the smoke monster, did NOT invade Locke’s body. Locke’s body is whole and unpossessed, lying dead on the beach. What the Man in Black did, somehow, was create a replica or clone or apparition or some sort of image of Locke’s body for his own use.

I don’t know if this is relevant in any way, but I’ve seen too many people describing Locke’s body being taken over or possessed and it simply is not true.

This may or may not play into scenarios people are floating about Jacob taking over Sayid’s form. What also might play into that is the fact that we have no evidence the Man in Black died before taking Locke’s appearance. Jacob certainly appeared to have been killed. For Jacob to do with Sayid after death what the Man in Black is doing with Locke would take one more ability than we’ve seen from the Man in Black so far.

As always, take this for what it is.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Give some love to Thuglit.com

Big Daddy Thug here, wishing all you degenerates a Happy New Year!
So our salutations are a month late. Bite me.  Besides, if you're a true Thugliteer, then your hangover should just be wearing off right about now.  What IS on time however, is the new issue of Thuglit, you lucky dogs, you.  Just in time to infect your greasy little minds with eight new baaaaaadass tales of the down and dirty, the cool and the criminal, the... uhhh... young and the restless?

Scrap that last one.

Before we get down to business, we got two points of order to establish. As always, we got to give our thanks to each and every writer who hit us with their words for the issue.  We couldn't use all the stories, but mad respect to each and every one of you for sending them our way.  Keep 'em coming.

Secondly, tune in this Thursday to CBS at 10 p.m. and catch yourself some of The Mentalist. This weeks' episode was penned by none other than Thuglit veteran, guest editor and brudda from anudda mudda -  the Pope of St. Louis hisself - Jordan Harper.  We couldn't be prouder of you buddy.  Most of the time we actually DON'T wish that you choke on those fat tee-vee checks.  Double-up chest pound.

And now, without further ado, the eight skull-cracking stories presented for your twisted pleasure in Thuglit - Issue 35 ARE:
The Consummate Professional - by Graham Bowlin
The Nest Egg - by Nicola Haywood
Daytime Drunks - by Nolan Knight
Miss Kenner and Me - by Nate Southard
The Big Touch  - by Jordan McPeek
Last Call - by Tom Casatelli
Two Minutes - by Christopher E. Long
Come To Roost - by S. Craig Renfroe Jr.
THUGLIT - ISSUE
35 <http://THUGLIT.COM>


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Someday I Will
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