Fans and Mexican Food

The bowl featured BSU vs. TCU*

So I recently went to the Poinsettia Bowl here in town. It was a lot of fun and a really great game. I wrote all about my thoughts relative to it in my sports blog. I did mention a bit about some of the fans there and Mexican food that I thought I could show here on this blog, so here's the portion in which I talk about that:

I did have a couple of other observations relative to my experience, but that weren't necessarily football oriented entirely. First, if you don't like idiots, don't go to sporting events. I think everybody should have the right to enjoy sports without having to deal with morons. Wouldn't that being wonderful? That being said, it's not going to happen in this life. The crowd is filled with people called fans and that name was given for a reason. Keep in mind, fan is short for fanatic. That's what you often find in the crowd and sometimes those people can be obnoxious. Of course, I think often times the really obnoxious one's aren't the one's who are these type, but more of the social sports fan.

At the game, a group of rather loud and rowdy young men were sitting not far from my group. I'd guess these guys were probably in their late teens, so either still in high school or they had barely started college. I didn't notice them drinking is one of the big tip offs I'd say. Most of the individuals sitting near our seats were BSU fans. These boys, however, were cheering on what they referred to as LT-U (and making moronic signs with their hands to show it). I think nobody was paying them much notice until they happened to get their hands on some purple thundersticks. Well, they really went to town with those thundersticks and undeniably, they were smacking them around in part just to be absolutely obnoxious. Well, it started getting a number of the BSU fans a bit upset. Part of the problem I'm sure was the fact they were rooting on TCU, rather than their precious Broncos. Well, that got a pretty good rise out of the BSU fans which I'm sure the kids loved, but they did decide to behave better. I can't deny I got a pretty good laugh out of it too because frankly I think people are just too uptight about a lot of things. Anytime TCU did well, these boys took their opportunity to get loud and proud, much to the chagrin of the BSU fans but they started using the thundersticks during appropriate times so it was hard for the BSU fans to object. But just to restress the idea: If you don't like idiots, don't go to sporting events! In this case we were all lucky that these boys weren't inebriated because that only intensifies the problem. Honestly, if you're looking for a good, well cultured, calm experience, a sporting event isn't where you're going to find it, except to some degree at BYU. But even at BYU, you have so many fans that have absolutely no idea what is even going on to drive anybody who knows even a little bit insane.

Second, if you're looking for good Mexican food don't go to a place called Roberto's Very Mexican Food. I can't deny, the food in the pictures for their website look reasonable authentic and good, but if a restaurant has to reassure you that their food is "very Mexican" it's probably not all that Mexican. I didn't actually try this place, I just saw it in passing as we were riding in the trolley. If there's one thing that gets me worked up in life it's crummy Mexican food and places that just scream wannabe I avoid like the plague.

You know, I really can't deny it though. I got a big kick out of watching the guys rooting on LT-U. They were just so special ed and it got so many of the BSU fans so worked up. And if you ever want some good Mexican food give me a call and we'll get some.

*Photo taken from the Idaho Statesman's Poinsettia Bowl photo gallery

I'm Branching Out

Yes, that's right, I'm extending my reach into further realms. Actually, what this is about is the creation of 2 new blogs. It seemed like my sports talk scared a lot of my good friends off that preferred philosophical talk or mindless Youtube videos, so I created one where I can blog about sports. If you like sports and having sports discussions with me, definitely a great place to be. I also created a blog specifically for the legend that is 203. I don't know what direction we're going to take with that. Heck, I don't even really know who all is going to participate. I guess we'll see what happens. But yep, that's how I've spent my first day here in San Diego. I'd love to have new readers on both blogs so check them out!

Walking on the Wrong Side of the Pond

"Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."

-Henry David Thoreau

So I was walking down the stairs in the JFSB the other day and a really random thought hit me. I was observing the manner in which we as a society walk around. It's pretty much an accepted cultural norm here in the U.S. that you stay to the right. I mean we do that on the roads obviously, but it typically occurs in the same manner with running and walking as well. You walk on the sidewalk, you stay to the right. You go up or down the stairs, you stay to the right. So the thought crossed my mind, is this a norm specific to America? I know in Great Britain they drive on the wrong side of the road, do they also walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk? So anybody that can answer my question (I imagine you can C. and probably will) I'd love to hear. Also, if there are any other mannerisms that you've noticed in general that are funny between cultures that aren't glaringly obvious or you've just been curious about feel free to post.

Not Quite Chemical Heart

"If life is so fair, why do roses have thorns?"

-Tickle Me Emo

So love it or hate it, the emo movement is very real. I'm sure you've heard some of the music and seen some of the emo kids. I think we can all relate to our emo moments even. Pain is a very real part of life. I know I had a status up on Facebook recently that stated "Scott is wallowing in his sorrows." My friend sent me a message stating she hated my status. I guess she thought it was me being all emo, which I guess you could say I was, I was definitely in mourning over a recent funeral. Of course frankly, I think most of us look at the emo stuff as mostly something to laugh at, which brings me to the real reason for this post: The Emo Band Name Generator. I thought this beauty was pretty wonderful. I played around with it a bit and it does seem like it uses a regular pattern to create names. When I ran my name multiple times it came up with the same answer and only a slight variation when I ran it with my first name instead or my full name.

My emo band's name is Not Quite Chemical Heart.

My emo band's name with my first name instead is Some Kind Of Chemical Heart.

My emo band's name with my full name is Some Kind Of Helicopter Heart.

They aren't the most thrilling ever and I think I like the original the best. I ran my roommates and those were pretty good I'll just quickly list them:

James - Somebody's Shimmering Application

Terry - Everybody's Lack of Application

Jeff - Projected Resplendent Cola

Jordan - Some Kind of Shimmering Significance

Matty Cakes - Metal Head Helicopter Valentine

I definitely like Matt's the best. It doesn't seem like the list is exhaustive as far as the possibilities, but it's definitely a lot of fun. But have fun with it and post your own in the comments section. I'd love to see any other good one's.

P.S. Yes, C. (I'll refer to you as C. since that's what you refer to yourself in your blog as) I did steal the opening quote idea from you. I think I'm going to employ that regularly because I really like the lead in that it gives yours. Of course I'll probably be more likely to quote things such as songs or ridiculous Youtube videos.

Capstone Paper Day 2: Sports and a Big Mouth

So it's day two of working on the paper and no Facebook in my life. I'm actually holding out pretty strong. I know a lot of you out there are rather shocked and probably are wondering if you'll ever see me again. I will return, someday...

So about my day. It was also day two for my running with Megan. We went six miles today. I'm frankly shocked I'm holding up as well as I am. I love running with her though, we have a good time and it's just been a really good influence on me all around. It gets me up early and doing the important things first such as reading my scriptures and all that.

So I had some different homework assignments I was working on as well as my paper. Things went reasonably well as far as that. I think what made me the most happy was the fact that I finally am getting things to click for my Ethnic Conflict and Civil War course. Really it has been a very difficult subject for me to stay up and comprehend completely. But when I was in class today it all just seemed to click. It was fantastic. It really made me so happy because I have just seemed so lost as far as that.

This evening was a lot of fun. I went to Cougar Tip Off which was awesome! I'm really excited for the start of the season. It was good to be there with a group of friends and get excited for Cougar Basketball to start up again. They had this paper airplane contest and I can't deny I was really pathetic about it. My plane did not want to fly at all! I'm sure I looked like such a fool. Oh well, what are you going to do. Like my blog title says, this is The Short Bus Crew and it's definitely a very "special" look at the world because I'm a very "special" person. After the basketball game I had a flag football game. We played really great tonight and I got a sack. But unfortunately we came up a bit short and so that's the end of our season.

Now for the final part of my post, my big mouth. So anybody that knows me pretty well knows I'm rather blunt. Well, I'm pretty sure I've overstepped my bounds a few times recently as far as that and I'm kind of concerned that I might have offended a few people as far as that. It makes me sad, but what are you going to do? I've apologized profusely to all of them but still am a little concerned, especially because I think I'm letting it become a bit of a problem. It's really pathetic that I'm letting this happen lately. Our Bishop mentioned that we would have lessons on gossip this Sunday so I decided to study up on it a bit and I really appreciated a quote from President N. Eldon Tanner relative to this. He said, "The tongue is the most dangerous, destructive, and deadly weapon available to man." And so me, being the wise individual I am, I decided to do pretty much everything I could to go contrary to that in the past few days. I really don't think I hurt anybody too badly (hopefully). But I'm pretty sure I was out of line. And I'm sorry about that. I really hope I didn't hurt or offend anybody. I apologize to all those again that I might have offended and know that I do love you dearly, even if you never do see this blog post.

So yeah, definitely going to work on that wicked tongue of mine. Anybody that is interested in reading President Tanner's talk about gossip it can be found here.

Capstone Paper Day 1: Signing Off

Well, I suppose I should address first things first. I can imagine there's been quite the uproar among many of my Facecrack friends. Yes, my status does read "Scott is signing off..." and I can imagine some probably have wondered what on earth that means. No, it is not the end. But I am taking a break from Facebook. I can imagine this is probably much to the detriment of many a good soul I've entertained for countless hours on Facebook. So I especially apologize to my roommates (my apologies to James and Jordan for that link. I don't know of an apartment picture with the two of you). And I apologize first and foremost to Matty Cakes. Love ya Matt :) :putnam:! Oh and I despise you and all that you stand for.

So the next big question I can imagine a lot of people are asking is why? Well as the title of this post suggests: I have my capstone paper due! It's on Nixon and the environment. On the plus side, it's not due till next Tuesday. Of course the down side is I really have not done nearly as much as I should have, so I'm going to definitely have quite a bit to do over the next few days. I figure I should have most things done with it other than like some of the fine points such as a bibliography by Thursday. But yeah, I definitely know not having Facebook in my life for a bit will help with some of my productivity, especially with something that is so crucial to my graduation.

So that leads to the next question: How long? Well, the quick answer to that is however long it takes. I think I'll probably be back by the weekend, but we'll see for sure. Of course that doesn't mean I'm still not going to have some fun along the way, but Facebook is the fun I'm taking out for a bit. I will be attending Cougar Tip Off tomorrow and then my flag football game afterward. Now I will give everyone fair warning as well. I will also be taking another Facebook hiatus starting Election Day. That one will be one full week. I have my reasons for this and I'm sure the world will be far different for it, but it's really my own little Facebook Fast. It's somewhat of an experiment and such.

So that being said, next question: How do you contact me if you want to talk to me? Well I'd recommend either email, my blog (yes, you could actually post a comment for once you pinko commies!), or come see me in the basement of the library in the Political Science Section. Yes, Harold and I have gotten to be rather good friends over the past little while. Although I've known him well through my years here at BYU. You can try to call or text me, but I don't get service down here usually and I will be down here for long hours typically so it will probably be a while before I see that I have a text or message. All right, I think that covers most of the questions, so I'll give everybody a quick update on my day.

I started my day really early. I went running with my friend Megan. This was the first time I had been running in quite a while and I was shocked I faired as well as I did. We were out there long before the sun was even up. It was fun running and chatting for a bit and that's going to be a daily ritual for us now. I like it because having a running buddy ensures that I'll actually run. She's a really fantastic person and so she made me an awesome pancake breakfast afterward. So great! Thanks Megan!

So I definitely was feeling it a bit afterward, but I was somehow able to stumble up to campus. I didn't have class till 3 today, so I was doing plenty of homework for quite a while. This included working on the dreaded research paper. We'll see how this all comes along. Class was AMAZING today. Professor Daynes is so funny. He is amazingly liberal. Look and I know I'm pretty conservative, but this is legit. He starts yelling and screaming during class, it's pretty funny. He gives all the conservatives a really hard time, it's semi-jokingly but it really is kind of messed up. If it weren't for the fact he's like 80, I'd probably be a bit more concerned. He goes off all the time about how Bush is the worst president ever (and no, I don't need comments agreeing with that statement, I've heard it plenty). So I can't deny I get a little bored in that class. We just talk about these reading assignments that are really pointless because it's for my capstone and most of the time they're not really on topic or anything. Just believe me, very little of it is related to what I'm doing. So I was reading some news on the internet (no Facebook though as I already stressed). And my friend that was sitting next to me (mostly because he was jealous he didn't have a laptop) goes "Oh man a royal flush!" So everybody in the class cracks up and my professor of course stares at me and honestly thought I was playing poker on my computer. We assured him I was not, but he was a bit overly concerned that I was "multitasking". Well, later he accused another student of "multitasking" as well and so I told my professor "Oh yeah, we play poker together all through class!" and my friend next to me says "Yeah, I watch and get all sorts of good poker strategies." Needless to say, everybody laughed pretty hard about it. Man, the jokes that fly around that class are hilarious and so often it is because of the inflammatory comments made by Professor Daynes. We've all learned to be rather sarcastic with him. And lest you think it's a case of Republicans/Conservatives gaining up on the Liberal/Democrat, a lot of the class is actually rather liberal. It's about half. But yeah, good times.

So afterward I've been working hard in the library finishing up this paper. I know, I know you're saying "Wait a second, you're 'working hard' yet you're writing your blog, that doesn't add up." Here's how it goes, writing is like everything in life. The more you practice it the better you'll be at it. Also, you really should kind of warm up, so that's what this post is: a warm up. But yeah, I really feel it all coming along. I really am working hard on this paper, good thing I have a built in camera on my computer so I can show you myself:

And a quick shout out to my buddy Ian. He also had a good (although much more brief) post about writing papers.

Satan Cored Troll or the Wonderful Results of An Anagram Maker

So one of my buddies, Jack, just had up as his Facebook status about his name as an anagram. I thought that was kinda neat so I put my name in got some fun results. It's amazing how quickly a computer can create pretty much every single possible anagram for your name. Some of my favorite from my list were: Translated Color, Doctoral Antlers, Doctoral Rentals, A Contrasted Roll, A Collards Rotten, A Collators Trend, A Tsar Controlled, Arcade Troll Snot, Ancestral Old Rot, Anal Cold Retorts, Satan Cored Troll, and Satan Rector Doll. Yeah, pretty amazing.

So go ahead and enter your name and see what kind of results you get. And either share some with me or give me a link in your comment.

To share links in the comments section copy and paste this into your comment:

<(remove this space)a href=""><(remove this space)/a>. Make sure to put the link between the quotations and whatever the word you want to list in between the ><. So for example,

<(remove this space)a href="http://www.thisisafakelink.com/">My Example<(remove this space)/a>. Have fun with your own anagrams!

Facecrack or Internet Addictions of College Age Students

So I can't deny I've had a few people ask me lately about me and Facebook. I assume pretty much anybody that is going to waste their time reading my blog knows exactly what Facebook is. It's a social networking tool. Yep, a tool. I can't deny, I do spend a lot of time on there. All right, all right, I'm being modest. I live on there. It's my life now, I know no other life. You know though, it's funny how it really is most college student's lives. And here's the thing I'll say, I'm really just kidding when I say it's my life. The internet in general does suck me in though. In all honesty, that's what I do while I'm "on Facebook." I constantly keep up with news and blogs.

But I've definitely heard my fair share of the "Facecrack" jokes. That's what my friend Claire often refers to it as. It really is such an interesting thing how a device of interconnectivity does become such a common thing for us to almost defer our lives to. But here's the funny thing as well, Facebook has greatly amplified my social life! It's the truth. I interact with people so much more often because of Facebook and that actually gets me out of the house and away from Facebook.

Of course I can't deny the how pathetic that really sounds because I talk about Facebook almost like it's a person. Of course to some people it might as well be. My friend Carson refers to Facebook rather jokingly as her "boyfriend." So is this really unhealthy? I think not, but like all good things in life it must be moderated. One of the things I've really found about the whole Facebook craze lately is the way it honestly does make things better and more enjoyable for others. Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was speaking about the idea of Christian Courage. In his talk he spoke about the idea of some of the negative publicity the Church receives. He stated, "We can take advantage of such opportunities in many ways: a kind letter to the editor, a conversation with a friend, a comment on a blog, or a reassuring word to one who has made a disparaging comment." Now I know his context isn't quite the same, but I believe the principle is still applicable. Really so much of what this is about is having the courage to do the right thing, which includes the idea of the kind thing. The kind thing is to try to keep up on our friends' lives and giving them words of encouragement or finding simple ways to brighten their lives. Lately I've been focusing a lot on the idea of commenting on blogs. I have a number of friends who have their own blogs and some of them update them quite regularly. It's a nice thing to know that people still know you're alive and that they care about you and what you have to say. I think that's something I love about Facebook. So many people are on there and they're on there quite frequently that it presents various opportunities to really brighten people's days. I know it's retarded, but seeing that little red bubble in the lower right hand corner of the screen does make people happy. It's like getting a phone call from a friend or a letter. There's just something special about it because you know somebody cares enough to put forth that kind of effort. Also, those that know me pretty well, know I can get rather silly when it comes to my Facebook habits. I really find that it helps me to release a lot of my inhibitions and just be happier about life. When I'm with my friends I'm more carefree, I'm more myself, and I can have even more fun.

So I guess this really does leave us with a bit of a conundrum. Is this addiction that is "Facecrack" really a nightmare? Or is it a way for us to reach out and make a difference in the lives of others? I guess like so many different things, that's really about us. We've been given a tool, we must choose how to use it. I like to make people and I love it when other people make me happy, so personally I'm glad I can have this interconnectivity with so many others and various times in the day. If that's not quite your cup of tea, that's fine. I'm happy for you. I hope the Facebook addiction doesn't suck you into something that you don't really want in your life. But either way, seek for those simple little ways you can brighten somebody else's day. Whether it be the untechnological means: Go visit or write a letter; the semi-techno means: make a phone call or drop a text message; or the full out internet age: email, write on their wall, comment on their blog, or chat with them through some sort of instant messenger, it all can really brighten a person's day. I think too often we forget to even speak to many of our Savior's sheep, especially when they're reaching out for help. We all need friends and thankfully through technology we can expand that influence and our circle of friends rather easily. We can show so many individuals they are important to us by brief little interactions and we don't have to forget about them. Bringing joy to others will certainly bring us the greatest joys of all.

Top 25 Picks Week 7

Ok so I need to hurriedly make my picks (but frankly I don't put a ton of thought into them anyway. The Wake game is starting in about 10 minutes and I haven't made my picks, so I'll make the picks and I might add some commentary after the fact.

*UPDATE: So can I ecstatically say that I beat the kickoff of the Wake Forest-Clemson game by quite a bit. I guess the coverage time was quite a bit earlier than kickoff. You can never really tell as far as that kind of thing. But I need to breakdown my picks from last week. 14-4 for my picks last week. Not too shabby. Got one top 10 pick wrong and I'm not sure I made any real daring picks so I guess I'm not overly proud of that. I did feel a little off about the South Florida pick and it turns out I was right. Oh well. 4 teams were on byes and 6 Top 25 Teams played each other. So I've done this for 2 previous weeks is all but I'm 24-10. Wouldn't mind getting that percentage up a tad bit but that's not too bad. Things sure are shaking up now and I've updated this after this week's games have already been played, so they've really shaken up. At least BYU should come out of all of this in a rather favorable position. Hoping for the best against TCU.

Without further ado, here's the AP Top 25 for this week:

AP Top 25
1. Oklahoma (51) 5-0 1,608
2. Alabama (13) 6-0 1,537
3. Missouri (1) 5-0 1,487
4. LSU 4-0 1,444
5. Texas 5-0 1,374
6. Penn State 6-0 1,287
7. Texas Tech 5-0 1,163
8. USC 3-1 1,137
9. Brigham Young 5-0 1,103
10. Georgia 4-1 1,014
11. Florida 4-1 977
12. Ohio State 5-1 931
13. Vanderbilt 5-0 833
14. Utah 6-0 815
15. Boise State 4-0 677
16. Kansas 4-1 623
17. Oklahoma State 5-0 565
18. Virginia Tech 5-1 485
19. South Florida 5-1 392
20. Auburn 4-2 236
21. Wake Forest 3-1 205
22. North Carolina 4-1 196
23. Michigan State 5-1 161
24. Pittsburgh 4-1 121
25. Ball State 6-0 97

My picks:

1. Texas @ Oklahoma: Sooners. This game is actually played at a neutral location, kind of neat. I wish more big games could be like that. But frankly, the Sooners play phenomenal ball. They'll find a way to blow something big this season, rest assured of that, but I don't think this is going to be that one. Texas is a tad bit over ranked and isn't going to be a team of any real consequence after going through the Big-12. They'll win big in the Big-12, maybe even their division, but no way will they win the conference.

2. Alabama: Bye.

3. Missouri @ Oklahoma State: Missouri. Pretty much nobody can compare with Chase Daniel.

4. LSU @ Florida: Gators. Florida is a superb program that underperforms. That being said, LSU is over ranked. Look for a Tiger loss this week.

5. Texas: See #1.

6. Penn State @ Wisconsin: Nittany Lions. I'm convinced Penn can lose, but whether or not that will be in the Big-10, I don't know for sure.

7. Nebraska @ Texas Tech: Tech. They'll keep producing that awesome offensive show.

8. Arizona State @ USC: Trojans. They're back to full form. Look for more SC dominance.

9. New Mexico @ BYU: Cougars. Did you have to ask?

10. Tennessee @ Georgia: Bulldogs. Look for a great Georgia team to walk all over UT.

11. Florida: See #4.

12. Purdue @ Ohio State: Buckeyes. They're pretty good and Purdue really isn't.

13. Vanderbilt @ Mississippi State: Commodores. They'll continue their wins against a crummy team.

14. Utah @ Wyoming: Utes. Hate to pick them as always, might be an interesting game with their new rivalry.

15. Boise State @ Southern Miss: Broncos. This is a solid program, although not quite BCS caliber.

16. Colorado @ Kansas: Kansas. Colorado might be some trouble though.

17. Oklahoma State: See #3.

18 & 19. Virginia Tech & South Florida: Bye. Lucky for them.

20. Arkansas @ Auburn: War Eagles. Auburn is still pretty bad, but not Razorback bad. Plus the new offensive coordinator might make a difference, might...

21. Clemson @ Wake Forest: Wake. I really am a big Reily Skinner fan. Clemson has proven to really not be all that good too.

22. Notre Dame @ NC: NC. I really don't like the Irish. They almost lost to SDSU.

23. Michigan State @ Northwestern: Northwestern. I don't like the Spartans this year and it is an undefeated team they're playing at home (although undeniably unproven).

24. Pitt: Bye.

25. Ball State @ Western Kentucky: Ball State. They're good enough.

Quick Hits For 2 October 2008

Hello new month! So there's certainly plenty of big things going on in the world. The economic crisis is still the hot topic and it's a new week of College Football (Go Cougars!). Otherwise, I think most of the world is kind of up to business as usual. Here's my rundown on some of the major topics:

1. The Vice Presidential Debate - Anybody else think it's pretty ridiculous to have a lady as "moderator" that has written a book on Obama? I realize it's impossible to completely find somebody that's truly objective, but you gotta at least make it seem like the person is. I'd be griping about this irrespective of which side she maybe was on. That's just a poor job by the host of the debate. What's worse, the McCain campaign had no idea. Apparently he's not concerned. Also, there is some question as to the objectivity of Ifill in general. There is some question as to why the campaigns hadn't already figured this out. It's up in the air just how well Palin will do for sure, but she apparently has had a decent history in smaller scale debates. Here is a more in depth analysis of her Alaskan debate. The debate may be the first time we get to hear about a lot of Palin's stances on major policy issues. Up until now she's been rather reticent. For some analysis of what to expect at the VP debate read here... The New York Times explores some of Biden's potential pitfalls. The fact of the matter is, he has a big mouth so Palin's cluelessness may not hinder the McCain Campaign after all... Palin doesn't know where she gets her news. This poor lady just can't do herself any favors in the way she speaks sometimes, including her referring to herself as the leader for "Joe-six pack." You know, I'm sure there are some voters that kind of find this comforting, but frankly I'm not looking for a football buddy in a presidential or vice-presidential nominee. I want somebody that is more of an elite and sophisticated. She's definitely an elite as far as income, so I'm not sure she relates to the blue collar as much as she claims, unless that's more about her level of sophistication and lifestyle of choice. What do you think, Ahmadinejad would enjoy throwing back a few brewskis with Palin? There's a great foreign policy plan... The McCain campaign is trying to protect Palin from the media. Given what's happened thus far and her experience, this isn't really a surprise. Of course they've got to be realistic that she can't hide for forever and hiding her only makes her look like she's not prepared for the job. I wonder how much longer this will go on or that they can afford to do this... McCain has turned to Palin for foreign policy advice in the past. You know given what's happened thus far, even if that's true, I'm not sure I'd own up to that. Not to mention the fact his statement that "she has the world view that [McCain has]"sounds a little too much like cronyism... McCain deflects questions with sarcasm. I'm not sure what to think about this.
2. The Economic Meltdown - Yep, it's still there. Here's my thing about it, problems take time to fix. Why do we think we're going to fix this one with one "simple" piece of legislation and with such immediacy? Hopefully I'm wrong on that. I'll add to this tomorrow.

Top 25 Picks Week 6

Polls were released yesterday after a really crazy weekend for the Top 25. I didn't think I'd ever be excited that BYU had a bye with where they were ranked. I went into the weekend completely convinced we would fall in the polls, especially since I knew Penn State would jump us. I'm ecstatic that we're 8 for not having played this past week. But yeah, some crazy upsets from last week. There were 6 byes last week and I missed 6 picks, 3 of those were Top 10 picks. I don't think anybody in their right mind can pick an unranked team to beat a Top 10 team under most circumstances. If you look at my comments on USC and Florida from last week, those upsets didn't really surprise me. That being said, I can't deny I got them wrong and my Wisconsin pick turned out to be ugly. Beautiful 4th Quarter for the Wolverines. I am definitely going to give myself a pat on the back for the Alabama pick, of course I was kind of disappointed when Corso had the same pick as me on College Gameday. Also, there were 6 Top 25 teams that played each other. So out of the number of games I picked, I went 10-6 for picks last week. Not incredibly pretty, but I'll take it. Here's this week's Top 25:

AP Top 25
1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599
2. Alabama (21) 5-0 1,565
3. LSU 4-0 1,466
4. Missouri (1) 4-0 1,453
5. Texas 4-0 1,362
6. Penn State 5-0 1,252
7. Texas Tech 4-0 1,105
8. Brigham Young 4-0 1,098
9. USC 2-1 1,087
10. South Florida 5-0 1,035
11. Georgia 4-1 1,018
12. Florida 3-1 914
13. Auburn 4-1 860
14. Ohio State 4-1 829
15. Utah 5-0 713
16. Kansas 3-1 650
17. Boise State 3-0 549
18. Wisconsin 3-1 520
19. Vanderbilt 4-0 459
20. Virginia Tech 4-1 290
21. Oklahoma State 4-0 277
22. Fresno State 3-1 232
23. Oregon 4-1 199
24. Connecticut 5-0 126
25. Wake Forest 3-1 107

Here's my breakdown:

1. Oklahoma @ Baylor: Sooners. Yeah, they're way freaking good. Stoops is a lot like the "Sweater Vest" though, he finds a way to lose some big ones.

2. Kentucky @ Alabama: Roll Tide! I love me the Crimson Tide. They're pretty amazing and maybe that's because Sabin is hellbent. Either way, he coaches a good team and Kentucky doesn't stand a chance.

3. LSU: Bye.

4. Missouri @ Nebraska: Missouri. Chase Daniel is my Heisman pick and I think he's getting another victory this week.

5. Texas @ Colorado: Texas. Did you see how bad Colorado was against FSU?

6. Penn State @ Purdue: Penn. This is a ridiculous good team and good things will continue to come.

7. Texas Tech @ Kansas State: Tech. This will be their first real test, so we'll see if they truly are good. I think K-State is a bit undervalued as well. That being said, I don't think they've got what it takes to beat this talented Red Raider offense.

8. BYU @ USU: Do you know what school I go to?!?!? USU escaped ESPN's Bottom 10 this week, but they've been regulars (3 out of 5 weeks and the preseason).

9 & 23. Oregon @ USC: Trojans. Why are the Ducks even ranked? Seriously! Didn't they just grab some random guy from the stands to play QB for them? I feel bad for them because they've definitely had some rough luck, but at the same time I can't believe how much losing a QB has killed them.

10. Pitt @ South Florida: South Florida. I hate this pick because I've seen what Pitt can do. That being said, South Florida is a respectable team playing at home, gotta go with that.

11. Georgia: Bye.

12. Florida @ Arkansas: Gators. The Razorbacks are pretty lousy and Florida is seeking blood.

13 & 19. Auburn @ Vanderbilt: War Eagles/Tigers. The Commodores get their first test. I'd say "real test" but if you've seen how bad that Auburn offense is you'll understand why I don't. That being said, they aren't so hot either, but it should be yet another tight game for Auburn.

14 & 18. Ohio State @ Wisconsin: Buckeyes. This team is going to keep playing strong and Wisconsin definitely doesn't have what it takes.

15. Oregon State @ Utah: Utes. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. The Utes are respectable and I can't deny it and the Beavers haven't been other than whatever team showed up to play last week. That being said, I can't believe the Beavers didn't get a bit more love and actually break in to the Top 25 beating the #1 team in the nation. Anybody else not get that logic?

16. Kansas @ Iowa State: Kansas. Neither of these teams are really that good. Kansas is sorely over ranked, but Iowa State lost to a far too highly touted UNLV team. UNLV is really bad and they couldn't hold their own.

17. Louisiana Tech @ Boise State: Broncos. They're playing a not so great team on the blue monster. Need I say more?

18. See #14.

19. See #13.

20. Virginia Tech: Bye. Man, how'd these guys sneak in their? They're lucky it's a bye week, that'll keep em in longer than they probably would have been.

21. Texas A&M @ Oklahoma State: Oklahoma State. Another team I'm surprised snuck it's way into the Top 25, but the Aggies really aren't any good.

22. Hawaii @ Fresno State: Fresno State. Home game against a team who's only win is Weber State. They shouldn't be too concerned.

23. See #9.

24. UConn @ North Carolina: Huskies. I'm reasonably impressed with the way they play and it seems like the ball really bounces their way. Bet we'll see some more of that this week.

25. Wake Forest: Bye. Rough week for the bye, they'll be out of the Top 25 short of Divine Intervention.

Quick Hits For 25 September 2008

So I guess since I've started titling this "Quick Hits" as opposed to some of the other titles I've used, I'll start it off with a video of a great hit from the football season. Here is a fantastic hit by the always brutal Ray Lewis:

 

Now that's absolutely brutal

Speaking of brutal, the economy seems to be on a real meltdown lately. The Bush speech (here in its entirety, I recommend reading it if you didn't catch it) finally got me really concerned about this economic crisis. This is such a big thing that Bush invited Obama and McCain back from their campaigning to help the Senate and the House take action. That's really big news. McCain seemed to have gotten wind of all of this a little beforehand as he suspended his campaigning before the Bush speech. Also, a part of this was him requesting to put a delay on tomorrow night's presidential debate. Obama is striving to deny him that. I can't deny that it seems like this may just be McCain playing politics, but it definitely is a serious issue, so for good for him for at least making it more of a public concern, even if it was only for selfish reasons. Here's Letterman poking fun at McCain for suspending his campaign and canceling his appearance on his show. Anyway, any thoughts on the economic situation and McCain's move? Should they debate?

Palin a continued proponent of the "bridge to nowhere." I think we probably should all be a little troubled by this. I mean this was scandal at its best, especially given Senator Ted Stevens' recent legal problems... Politico writer Mark J. Penn offers some pointers on this weeks debate. This article is interesting and informative, although he comes out with some very strong direction early on and then gets a bit wimpy late in the article. Good read... Obama back on top according to the polls. Looks like it should be a close one, but I don't think I'm surprising anybody by saying that. That seems to be more and more the case lately even, wonder how many more elections it will continue?... Biden accuses McCain of being "dangerously wrong" about his national security policy. This is just a quick blurb because it's only some tidbits released early from a future speech of Biden's. I'm curious to see exactly what Biden has to say, see if there's anything really to it, and if the news media is really going to latch onto it. I think it's a bit too much of an opinion thing to have any real proof or evidence though... Nobel Peace Prize Winner Al Gore encourages civil disobedience to enforce standards upon new coal power plants. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a Nobel Peace Prize Winner should take a higher road than this.

What if Mormons are right? Hat tip: Matt.

Wacky news of the day: Man charged with battery for passing gas on a cop (yes, this is for real). Seems a bit extreme and harsh, but at the same time, people really should learn to think and control their alcohol intake.

Lance Armstrong to make a comeback. I'm all for it... The Matt Millen debacle: It's official, he's finally fired. I love this blog post leading up to it quoting Roy Williams about the circumstances and their playing philosophy. It's hilarious. Oddly enough, Millen had a pretty good career before the Lions. His future? Still up in the air... Feds to prove Bonds' trainer gave him steroids. Can we just convict the guy and get past this, please?... Vince Young is working on coming back. I've never been sold on him, of course I didn't really expect him to have a mental breakdown like he has. Wish him the best... Josh Scobee steals the ball he kicked for a field goal from a poor ball boy. Funny story... Former NFL players donating their brains to scientific studies. Bravo, should be some good research that comes out of that.

How do lawyers say Duke football really sucks? Hear it here. Hat tip: Jordan

Knight Rider comeback. I'll get more on this later.

One of the most amazing catches EVER!

Top 25 Picks Week 5

So the polls are out again, wish BYU was higher but I always will. I don't know that I can really dispute our ranking and I'm at least thankful that the AP is showing us a little more love. I figure I'll start making picks on the top 25 games of the week every week for the rest of the season, lets see if I'm any good at it. I'm not adventurous enough to even attempt scores though.

Here's the AP listing:
AP Top 25
1. USC (62) 2-0 1,621
2. Oklahoma 3-0 1,484
3. Georgia (2) 4-0 1,475
4. Florida (1) 3-0 1,442
5. LSU 3-0 1,363
6. Missouri 4-0 1,360
7. Texas 3-0 1,174
8. Alabama 4-0 1,132
9. Wisconsin 3-0 1,091
10. Texas Tech 4-0 962
11. Brigham Young 4-0 919
12. Penn State 4-0 891
13. South Florida 4-0 798
14. Ohio State 3-1 790
15. Auburn 3-1 785
16. Wake Forest 3-0 711
17. Utah 4-0 574
18. Kansas 3-1 555
19. Boise State 3-0 363
20. Clemson 3-1 300
21. Vanderbilt 4-0 242
22. Illinois 2-1 224
23. East Carolina 3-1 201
24. TCU 4-0 117
25. Fresno State 2-1 105

So I'll go through each game:

1. USC @ Oregon State:  USC. Can you really pick against the Trojans? Although, this may be a bit of a struggle for them and I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to lose some sort of ridiculous game this season. Remember Stanford last year?

2 & 24. TCU @ Oklahoma: Sooners. Nough said.

3 & 8. Alabama @ Georgia: Alabama. I'm going a little bit out on a limb for this one, but frankly Georgia has been getting less and less impressive versus the tide just keeps on rolling. I don't know that either is truly a National Championship contender, even though Georgia probably should be. I feel like Georgia probably should be, like last year's LSU, but they underperform and they probably will throughout the season. Unless things change pretty quick, Georgia shouldn't be in the National Championship.

4. Mississippi @ Florida: Florida. They play a good, solid fundamental game. It isn't necessarily the prettiest and they don't necessarily blow people out, but they get it done. Watch for them as National Champion contenders exactly for this reason.

5. Mississippi State @ LSU: LSU. I can't stand LSU so I hate picking them ever, but they did manage a decent win against Auburn last week. That being said, Auburn looked awful against State, so who knows, maybe they'll throw a wrench in LSU's works?

6. Missouri: Bye.

7. Arkansas @ Texas: Texas. Not necessarily the most impressed with Texas, but they do get it done for a large part like Florida. Arkansas got smashed by Alabama last week and look for more bad news from this bad team.

8. Alabama: See #3.

9. Wisconsin @ Michigan: Wisconsin. Michigan is that bad. Really. Things are going to be even more of a mess for coach Rich Rod shortly. Frankly controversy is going to continue to follow him. Karma coach.

10 & 11. Texas Tech & BYU: Byes.

12 & 22. Illinois at Penn State: Coach Joe Pa returns to the sidelines for another victory. Illinois just can't handle the big game pressure when it's on the line, just the occasional big game upset, watch out again Ohio.

13. South Florida @ North Carolina State: South Florida. Yikes they're bad, how'd they get ranked this high? That being said, don't expect another miracle for North Carolina State. Looks like South Florida survives another week.

14. Minnesota at Ohio State: Ohio State. It's the big comeback for big Beanie.

15. Tennessee @ Auburn: Auburn. Yes, Tennessee is THAT bad. Of course Auburn's horrific offense is still going to struggle putting points on the board.

16. Navy @ Wake Forest: Wake. Those Demon Deacons are a bit underrated, of course if they face a real threat, don't expect them to go too far.

17. Weber State @ Utah: Utah. Can I please pick against them? Please? Can't do it against such a small threat. Go Weber!

18 & 19. Kansas & Boise State: Bye. Watch Kansas fall in the polls, as they should. If they're a top 25 team, it's just barely.

20. Maryland @ Clemson: Maryland. Maryland had a good showing against Cal. I think there's more good things to come.

21. Vanderbilt: Bye. Just like you can say bye to this top 25 team shortly.

22. Illinois: See #12.

23. Houston @ East Carolina: East Carolina. This is a good team that had a poor showing last week. Expect them to pick back up where they left off.

24. TCU: See #2.

25. Fresno State @ UCLA: UCLA. Yeah, UCLA's got their problems, but they need a win so they'll dig deep and find it this week. Buh-bye Fresno.

Quick Hits For 19 September 2008

All right well the news feed seems a little more calm today thus far than it was yesterday, so I thought I'd just throw out some quick blurbs I thought were interesting.

Obama is a better football watching buddy than McCain. Okay, so maybe it's just me, but who really cares? I want a president, not a guy I'm going to go throw back a couple of cold ones (not that I drink anyway) and chat it up with during the game. Kind of reminds me of my buddy Ian's post about how the world prefers Obama as presidential candidate. Yet again, who really cares? They aren't the one's voting and we're note voting for who would be more fun to pal it around with.

North Korea no longer wishes to be taken off the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Guess we'll see how this tug of war plays out. This game keeps going back and forth. It's very reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's Iraq or the current struggle with Iran. They keep pushing their limits, then draw back. All about testing limits.

Woman sexually harrassed by a man with a cell phone camera fights back with her own cell phone camera. Technology is so often used to exploit others, we sometimes forget that we can fight back with the same means.

If you know my roommates and me pretty well, you know we love emoticons. Here's an article about some of the history of emoticons :)

The power of an idea. A young college student creates a website dedicated to showing off college campuses for potential students. I really like the way this article also explores some of the idea of how the internet is just broadening so many different horizons. I couldn't get the website to work properly for me, but I think that might have been tied to my resistance to creating an account.

Dr. Saturday speaks on Florida's matchup with Tennessee and how terrible of a father Kansas State running back Leon Patton is. And my late addition, new Head Coach Bill Stewart can't watch the team's 3 and 2 attempt in overtime. Can't close out when it's on the line. Story of West Virginia and the Big East.

Dr. Z's NFL mailbag.

New Orleans Saints sign Joey Harrington to be their 3rd string quarterback. Can't NFL teams just give up on this guy already? He's a joke and he's never going to be worth anybody's while.

The NFL's moving to using veteran QB's in place of their highly touted recent draft picks.

News Update 18 September 2008

So I haven't given one of my news updates in a while and I think there's been some rather good readings lately so here's my spiel:

Drudge Report

Not so familiar with Drudge? Get your Drudge-ology 101. This is a fascinating article that talks about the power of Drudge and really a lot of his purpose. The big guy himself keeps a lil mum about why he does what he does, but there's people that have an idea. (Note: There's an interesting link in the article about John McCain inventing the Blackberry. And yes, he invented Blackberrys, just like Al Gore invented the internet. Check it out here.)

Obama, the celebrity, is raking in the cash from the celebrities.

Stocks are bouncing back.

China may buy parts of Morgan Stanley.

Russia selling defensive missiles to Iran and Venezuela.

New software detects political spin in speeches.

Big Brother and Big Bird: Homeland Security partners with Sesame Street.

Obama plays hardball with McCain and encourages people to argue with others and "get in their face."

Mavs Josh Howard disrespects The Star Spangled Banner.

Politico

Showing the love for Mike Allen's Playbook.

Can Obama Really Pull it Off?

How John McCain Lost Me (Not literally ME, but an informative article if you're debating the issues.)

GOP bouncing back.

Yahoo

Joe Biden refers to paying higher taxes as being patriotic.

Palin's husband ignores subpoena to testify before panel concerning potential abuses of power by the governor.

New York Times

Working out on the job! (You gotta see this, it's amazingly ridiculous!)

Blogs

The former Professor John Payne is at it again. (I absolutely love his blog for so many reasons, so I'm ecstatic that he's picked it up again.) Here is a critical look at the presidential candidates, of course it mostly focuses on a Obama rather than McCain, but John's sister does acknowledge some good points about McCain.

I got this link also from Payne, it's about Tina Fey's performance as Sarah Palin on SNL. I didn't think it was the funniest ever, but I enjoy staying up on what's big.

Nike is so powerful, they can bend time and space.

U Dub players injure OU star in retaliation.

Thank goodness for moms. Tavaris Jackson's mom sure sticks up for him well.

And finally, I wanted to give my own quick rant on college football. Hooray for how great the Cougars are this season. I don't care how bad UCLA might be, 59-0 doesn't happen to PAC-10 teams. Also, thank goodness for Colorado beating West Virginia. The Big East and especially West Virginia are getting exposed for the fakes they are. Of course the Big East is going to look good, they play mostly nobody teams until late in the season usually and they all can't play defence so they run up the score on each other and look like decent teams. Defence is sorely underrated in rankings because it's harder to keep good stats on.

One last note, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if my news picks seem a little biased. I'm not a perfectly objective person, I was a lot more impartial on the race, but as I've made my decisions that bias I'm sure has become more noticeable. I want to give both sides of the issues equal press, so if you have anything you feel like I missed from the news, let me know and I'll throw it in!

Altruism and Economics

So I'm taking Econ 110. It's been a reasonably enjoyable class and I had a writing assignment for that class. I've been saying for forever I need to post to my blog and I rather liked the writing I did, so I thought I'd share it with my non-existent readers. Basically I explored the ideas of Altruism (or Christlike charity) and Economics. Here it is:

This is a concept I’ve often thought about myself and had a few discussions on. So Naked Economics suggests that every single decision we make is affected by our desire to maximize our utility. I think this is a very fair statement and the book exhausts that idea rather fully to show how it really is accurate. The book is reasonably tactful in its presentation of this idea by suggesting that not everything we do is necessarily selfish, it’s just about us trying to maximize that utility. So in the case of those that donate time, talents, and efforts to good causes we do so because we have some sort of utility we seek out of it. That can be a variety of things: happiness, seeing the difference it makes for others, or to receive blessings. This is a common teaching in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we receive blessings for the good things we do in life. I think to some degree we’re even taught that we should do things because of the blessings it will bring into our lives. However, there is the idea of being a Christlike individual, which is the ultimate goal we can hope for our character. Christ is described as being “the perfect example of charity.” (True to the Faith p. 28) So what is this element that is charity? The prophet Mormon describes, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (Moroni 7:45) Basically it is a vastly encompassing love for others. I think the core of what I am discussing is the actual idea of altruism though. The American Heritage Dictionary describes altruism as “Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.” Now I would take this definition of altruism a bit further to a state of pure altruism, meaning that there is absolutely no personal motivation in what we do for others. From the teachings I have heard of what Christ embodied, this sounds like an accurate description. So we are left with a bit of a dilemma. So many things that we do, even as righteous, worthy members of the Church are still motivated by our desire to secure blessings for ourselves. But we’re supposed to be like Christ, who had no personal motivations whatsoever in what He did. How do we reconcile this? I think Elder Oaks probably did the best job of this in his talk “Why Do We Serve?” Basically he suggests there are varying reasons to serve and most of them are at least to some degree self serving. There is only one pure, altruistic, charitable Christlike way to serve and have it be completely selfless and that’s not an easy task. Most of us, with most of what we do are not quite to that point. It’s still okay to not have reached that far, but really most of us have some sort of personal motivation for why we do what we do. And economics definitely addresses that and says that everybody does that. Of course I don’t think economics can quite reconcile the idea of Christ and His attributes. I mean it makes perfect sense, Christ is perfection and economics is a manmade device meant to help understand the world. I think it takes an approach rather relative to Realism and so how could it hope to capture and embody the idea of perfection. So I think economics is wrong in suggesting that nobody can do anything without some sort of personal desire to maximize utility, but looking at it from that realistic approach, I think there are few that will actually rise to that higher plateau of true Christlike charity to take action with complete selflessness.

Drudgieness For Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Drudge Report

New McCain attack ad of the Obama campaign released. I found it to be a rather interesting ad. It is interesting to see how much Obama is this celebrity and almost a global celebrity. I think the President of the United States often has been, probably especially since the days of FDR. Frankly the American President is a global hero of sorts, or at least was at one point (I guess that's kind of a changed story for a large part, but there was always Bushie's trip to Albania). So I don't know what sort of take to look to for this. We'll see how it plays out in the near future. I noticed this was a hot topic on Fox News this evening as I was waiting for my flight. Obama's campaign has spoken out against it rather strongly, but frankly as far as attacks go, this doesn't seem the most malicious. Things were a lot nastier between him and Hillary than this so I don't know why they're acting so appalled all of the sudden, especially because I can imagine they have their salvo's in reserve ready to fire right back. Also, given the sad state of America today, this might almost pander more to the American public rather than drive them away. America is so celebrity crazy it only makes sense to have "the biggest celebrity of them all" to be the President.

More to the note of the Celebrity Presidential Candidate, rapper Ludacris has come out with a song devoted to the Obama campaign. Maybe it's just me, but I want a man of high moral character and fiber as President, and so I don't know what a 50-something year old man is doing running around with Luda on his iPod and saying its on heavy rotation. I would hope Obama would want black people to rise above much of the ills sometime associated with the whole rap culture, not eschewing it. I mean just because he listens to it doesn't mean he's a supporter necessarily, but I don't know that it's helping the cause. Apparently the Obama Campaign has spoken out against these lyrics. But for supposedly being against such lyrics, yet again I ask, why even associate yourself with the filth in the first place?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

Obama's biggest foe may be his own hubris.

Drug found to halt the effects of Alzheimer's.

Boo to the IOC, okay's China's censorship of the internet for the Olympics.

Speculations on the candidates' running mates.

McCain extends gracious words for Pelosi and Gore.

California Attorney General is sticking it to Nestle over global warming.

The UN takes on global warming by raising the temperature.

L.A. puts a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in the poorer areas. Good thing we have a nanny state.

Revelation: Obama tells Congress Israel will attack Iran if sanctions do not stop their enriching of uranium. Good thing he went all over the world to learn this one. It's not like Israel has done this before or anything...

Illegal Immigration Solution: Do you want to leave? We'll let you! Okay, maybe it's just me but this seems ridiculous. First of all, why wasn't this already an option basically. And two, do they really expect it to be all that successful? I mean they're here for a reason, I can't imagine most are too anxious to leave.

Obama wants the U.S. to apologize for anything and everything its ever done wrong. All right, so he isn't quite that extreme, but I mean where do we draw the lines as far as apologies and does the country really have that much of an ability to apologize, especially for crimes committed by a nation composed of entirely different people? It's an interesting discussion to say the least. Of course the government did just finally apologize for slavery and Jim Crowe laws. I do think that is an appropriate thing to apologize for, as is probably the treatment of the Native Americans that Obama seeks, but why now?

New York Governor considers selling bridges to alleviate the state budget deficit.

Meet Princess Chunk.

School decides to make students dress like prisoners for violations of dress code. I guess that really makes school feel like a prison.

Ahmadinejad accuses America of creating AIDS.

Politico

Mike Allen's Playbook not written by Mike Allen. Always an enjoyable read and interesting not having Mike Allen writing it.

Yahoo

North Korea experiences the joys of Communism.

Dunkin Donuts goes healthy, sort of.

The House holds Karl Rove in contempt. Congress is still doing great things...

Castro enjoys a resurgence of power and prominence.

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq drops lower than since the beginning of the invasion.

Tiger cubs find a new mom.

New York Times

Another Earnhardt on the way.

CIA shows ties between Pakistani spies and militants.

Windows down or A/C on, which will save you more gas? The debate continues.

Bush administration sought cronies. I thought news was supposed to reveal something new?

Sports News

Donaghy gets 15 months. Really doesn't seem like too bad of a rap to me.

National Champion's new life as a small time loser.

Blogs

Mere Complexities

Some love for my good friend Amanda's blog. Rather brief post today, but I enjoyed the poem that she linked to (and I have a tough time appreciating poetry).

Satire Report

Michael Powers explores the gym. If you look at it for nothing else, at least check out the sweet picture of the hamster weight lifting.

Bonus

A good article about CEO's aversion to Facebook. That's right, Bill Gates fears Facebook. Kudos Jeff.

Drudgieness For Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Drudge Report

The McCain rumor mill is churning big with talk of his potential running mate. Could it be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty or former Massachusetts' Governor Mitt Romney? I can't help but laugh at the quote from the person allegedly close to Mitt saying he is "near the top of a very short list." Isn't that what a short list is? I mean I can't imagine it having much more than 5 people and to be "near the top" suggests being no lower than #3, la-di-frickin-dah.

Figure I'll mention Dolly briefly. Having been through a few hurricanes, I'm not too terribly concerned, I don't think the damage will be too bad. It's only a Cat 2, but it has slowed a bit so that does pose some concerns. My favorite quote from the article though, "With Dolly's stubborn movement, severe beach erosion is becoming a major concern." Wow thank goodness we're not going to lose any homes or anything...

A bank in Florida is allegedly giving out counterfeit money. As if the economy isn't already struggling enough.

Bob Novak hits a pedestrian with his car. Interesting the fuss that gets created about this, I mean it's a bad thing, but it seems like a bit too much. Hopefully it's because he is a rather high profile figure and not because of his political affiliations.

Batman accused of beating his mother and sister. This story broke a couple of days ago, but since it is high profile news I thought I'd throw it in there. Plus I hate how society idealizes and glamorizes these celebrities. Hopefully the accusations aren't true, but either way, something bad is going on and so hopefully society isn't still thinking of him as "the golden boy."

People fear a "John McCain war with Iran" but don't be too certain Obama won't start one either. Obama said he would take "no options off the table" to help prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. I'll be honest, I'm not OK with the idea of Iran having nukes either, but I really don't think the world is going to collapse for it. Frankly, I think we're making way too big of a fuss about it and I don't think we need to even lightly suggest a nuclear strike against Iran to prevent them from having nukes (no options off the table, right?). Besides, I think when they get close enough, I think Israel will probably take care of things themselves.

Video interview of McCain with CBS's Katie Couric.  

Some of the more interesting quotes: Speaking of Obama, McCain states, "He would rather lose a war than lose a campaign," "Obama does not understand the challenges we face," "He just is wrong and has been wrong about the issues."

China seeks to repress freedom of speech as much as possible shortly before the Olympic Games. They are arresting "internet dissidents" (people that are probably not unlike the average blogger). I love the fact that Ben Blanchard of Reuters says in their article that China is doing it "to ensure the Games go smoothly." I don't know what about throwing people in jail and restricting freedom of speech encourages a smooth running of the games, but apparently Reuters feels like it does. Also, China is cracking down on the types of advertising it's allowing. I can't deny I like the fact they're trying to take out a lot of the smut and filth that is advertising, but yet again, that whole freedom of speech thing still lingers (not that that even remotely exists in China).

Man arrested for taking 42 cents from a mall fountain.

Man from environmental group Plane Stupid (very appropriate name) attempts to superglue himself to the British PM.

Yahoo News

Wireless HD in the works. This should be pretty cool.

Economists feel like the stock market would do better under McCain than Obama.

Carson Palmer alienates his fan base. I respect Palmer for his loyalty and hatred of a team that is somewhat of a rival for USC, however, I can't deny the fact that this was a moronic thing to do. I saw them talk about the interview on ESPN and couldn't believe how much he spoke out against Ohio State when he knows that his fans are Ohio State fans. Sometimes when you're in positions like that, you can let yourself be known, but you gotta be a little PC about it.

Woman attacked by bear gets away and drives to the fire department.

The New York Times

Is Anti-Catholicism Dead? This article explores it. Seems like a kind of hokey  question to me because I'd say mainstream they really are, but there are still some people out there with these kinds of sentiments.

Good work Mayor Bloomberg and Mr. Gates, hopefully you can help stop the world from smoking. Of course, not to sound unappreciative, but $500 million between the two of these moguls sure doesn't seem like much.

Some quick blurbs about the Facebook conference in San Fran.

Politico

David Zucker is creating a right leaning political satire to combat against Michael Moore.

Blogs

Jeff Nielson's Just Watch the Fireworks: Jeff takes a closer look at Hancock and it ain't pretty.

Ian McConaughey's Satire Report: Ian talks about a prank he played on his brother and friend. I thought it was funny. If you don't, then click on the Strongbad link he posted and you should find that funny.