Mostly Daily Thoughts: 10/01/2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

V

New series starts Tuesday... I loved the movie (mini-series actually) and hated the series that came after.

This series is about the movie, so it should be better... with a recruiter like that, it would be hard not to be taken in :)

Friday, October 30, 2009

HD

Got me a new 500gb Seagate today and currently installing/formatting it. Wish me luck (heh)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Lies, Damned Lies; Statistics

The Obama administration on Thursday slammed a report from The Associated Press alleging the government had overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under President Obama's $787 billion recovery program.

The White House seized on an initial report from a government oversight board weeks ago that claimed federal contracts awarded to businesses under the recovery plan already had helped pay for more than 30,000 jobs. The administration said the number was evidence that the stimulus program had exceeded early expectations toward reaching the president's promise of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.

But the 30,000 figure is overstated by thousands -- at the very least by nearly 5,000, or one in six, based on AP's limited review of some of the contracts -- because some federal agencies and recipients of the money provided incorrect job counts. The
review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs were credited to stimulus spending when, in fact, none were produced.[link]

And these people want to run healthcare?

Bowling

Me and pops dropped to 2nd place in the bowling league, but we won them all last night and probably will be back in a tie for the lead.

Next week we bowl the guys that are currently in first (or tied with us) so we can get some separation [or lose some heh].

We've finally started bowling better, so maybe we've turned it around.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Weekend Sports Update

High School:

Austin lost a battle 31-24 to Buckhorn that sadly means no playoffs this year (no link)

College:

Tennessee outplayed Alabama, but lost on a blocked kick as time expired (my post)

Pro:

Dallas looked good and dismantled a previously 1 loss Falcon team that has playoff aspirations (37-21)

Mixed bag weekend; 2 losses and 1 win (won in fantasy league also, but meh) so not good, but all teams played hard and had a chance to win...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Humor

I rear-ended a car this morning.
So, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car.

You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just seem funny?

Yeah, well I couldn’t believe it…. he was a DWARF!!!

He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, ‘I AM NOT HAPPY!!!’

So, I looked down at him and said, ‘Well, then which one are you?’

And then the fight started…..

(from lolblog)

Football Update

Tennessee outplayed the #2 team in the country (Alabama, #1 in the AP) but it was still short (thanks to Ala blocking 2 field goals and the kicker missing another).

12-10 Ala and a great game. If Alabama doesn't fix their qb, LSU will own em heh

bleh

Friday, October 23, 2009

Football

Tennessee plays at Alabama tomorrow (3:30 eastern / CBS)

Going to be a rough game, our defense is good and I like their chances against the Ala offense. Their defense is great though and our offense is ... never know.

The line is 14 1/2 for Ala, take the points and go with UT

(Auburn plays LSU also)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Watchmen

Going to watch Watchmen tonight, heard its good, now to find out :)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Arrested

Someone should be ... shot for this one:

Springfield, Virginia resident Eric Williamson was arrested and charged with indecent exposure yesterday for failing to put on any clothes after getting up at 5:30 am to make some coffee. A woman and her 7-year-old daughter had cut across Williamson's front yard and saw him through his kitchen window.(Reason)

Can we now assume that every naked lady in her own home 'wants to be seen'? I think not

Criminal Arrest

I wonder if anyone in Hollywood will sign a petition to keep this guy out of the country:

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said Wednesday that Nelson, 59, was convicted last year in a California court on 52 counts of sexual abuse of minors and sentenced to 110 years in prison.(link)

Thanks to Interpol and Israel another scumbag will be coming home to rot.

Monday, October 19, 2009

LoL

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Football

Tennessee has an off week this week, so no game (Dallas does also in the NFL); but there were plenty of good games in the college ranks.

Kentucky had not beaten Auburn since 1966 (stretch of 16 games, they don't play every year) and that streak looked to stay intact this year. Auburn got the early lead but couldn't stop the 'vaunted' Kentucky run game :) After a late touchdown put Ky up 21-14 (with a little over 3 minutes left in the game), the defense held Auburn out and celebrated the win.

Ohio State looked like a Big Ten team in a bowl game... but they were playing Purdue and you only get to mess up so many times before it bites ya. 26-18 Boilermakers

Virginia Tech has been making a lot of noise this year; they lost game 1 to Alabama but have been crushing people ever since. Losing your 1st game to a highly rated team won't hurt you on the way to the National Championship, but losing a 2nd game to Georgia Tech will. GT 28 VT 23

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Socialized Idiocy

Idiotic Story of the Day:

A West Yorks farmer has been slapped with a £150 fine for keeping a cow in a darkened barn and therefore failing to 'meet the psychological needs' of the bovine.

Ronald Norcliffe, 65, was nabbed under the Animal Welfare Act in August 2008 when operatives from Kirklees Environmental Health department and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) visited his Scammonden farm on a tuberculosis test mission.(link)

Poor cow :( Now I wouldn't keep a cow in a dark barn without a good reason, but did they ask the cow what it thought of the situation? Just as likely as fining a man for failing to meet the 'psychological' needs of a bovine eh?

The barn (dark at that!) was where the farmer planned on keeping his cow and its calf during the winter (cold ya know) and the people who know better(^TM) didn't think that was a good idea.

Year One

Just watched Year One. Decent movie, funny and stupid (why do they all have to be stupid). Jack Black and Michael Cera star in it (along with June Diane Raphael and Juno Temple [Olivia Wilde is a princess in it).

The movie centers on Zed and Oh getting kicked out of their village (hunter/gatherer village) and embarking on a journey to see the end of the world (or not).

They find Cain and Abel, slave-traders, Hebrews and finally the city of Soddom. They rescue their friends, save the day, etc...

Ok, it's not that good, but it was funny.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

NCAA View of Alabama

Ouch

According to documents released Tuesday, the NCAA in responding to Alabama's textbook appeal called Alabama a "serial repeat violator" with an "abysmal infractions track record" and an "extensive recent history of infractions cases unmatched by any other member institution in the NCAA."

I'm a SEC guy and love to see the conference win the NT every year (almost), of course I don't actually like every team and have hated Alabama since I was little :) I don't actually hate them anymore (the one good thing from the BCS?) but that doesn't mean I can't poke fun at them from time to time [most of the fans I know around here are big Roll Tide people, so this just makes it all the better].

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Swine Flue Update

It's getting bad out there :(

Monday, October 12, 2009

Don't Poke Me!

Police in Hendersonville, Tennessee have obtained screen grabs of the victim's Facebook page showing evidence of the poke, according to the local newspaper The Tennessean.
Jackson, who lives in Hendersonville, faces up to a year in prison and fine of $2,500 if she is found guilty of breaching the protection order. She is due to appear in court later this month. (link)

Kind of a silly article, but if you're not supposed to contact someone, I guess poking on Facebook would be contacting them. Although you can't do anything but 'poke' with that feature and afaik it can be blocked, I really see no reason for the police to be involved in this one. Of course I'm not involved in this (even if it's close to me) so I don't really have a say in it.

3X Bloggers

Started a new blog roll (on the side bar there) click if you want to join :) [3x is for 30-something bloggers, but anyone can join if they want to]

Sports update for this weekend (since it's a holiday, raining and I got nothing):

Austin in the rain defeated Sparkman 10-7.

Tennessee (with an offense) killed Georgia 45-19.

Dallas (with little offense) had to goto O/T to beat the winless Chiefs 26-20.

But 3-0 for me this weekend is a good weekend (my fantasy team got killed though, heh)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Football

I was almost prophetic last week when I said that the last quarter was the most important thing (the fact that Crompton looked like a quarterback). The momentum of that little run carried over this week and Tennessee destroyed Georgia.

The first-year coach got some help from Jonathan Crompton, who passed for a career-high 310 yards and threw for four touchdowns.(link)

The game wasn't as close as the 45-19 score; the UGA special teams got a touchdown and safety and the defense got a TD off a tipped pass.

Otherwise the Tennessee team played outstanding and now get a week off to prepare for the murderous trip to Alabama (Bama 22 Ole Miss 3)

Football

UT vs Georgia today in Knoxville. Both teams are coming off hard losses (Georgia with a controversial loss due to the 'excessive celebration' penalty and UT with the fact that they have no O) and both will be looking to rebound.

The country and the experts are all taking Georgia (they have a QB) but it should be a good game. Our defense is good enough to win the game if the offense can keep from making mistakes and stay on the field long enough to get the D a breath on occasion.

Other games: (1) Florida at (4) Lsu , (3) Alabama at (20) Ole Miss, (17) Auburn at Arkansas

Take Florida, Alabama and Arkansas with the points.

Vampires

Video Games - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

From Ace's ONT.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Weekend!

Peace

Barak Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize... further proof that it is indeed a political prize instead of actually honoring peace.

The only peace he has brokered in the world was during the 'beer summit' and we're not actually sure how much of a war that was before he stepped in.

The man who has accomplished nothing has now won an award that means nothing.

Edit: New info from JWF tells me that the nomination for the Nobel is February 1... so the O can't even claim the beer summit in his list of 'peace' accomplishments.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Vroom

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Movie Time

Watched Showgirls yesterday. It's amazing how you can forget just how bad a movie is until you see it again. I didn't make it until the end so I don't even remember that part. And I use to think that Elizabeth Berkley was a good actress ...

Bowling

I stunk it up again; first game started well, then sucked (still not used to the wood lanes and their less-hook ability). Second game started the same then...

the knee popped (again). So pretty much my style is out, can't take the pain and don't want to seriously mess up the knee (anymore than it is) and ruin my softball for next year so... terrible game again.

Game 3; I switched to a style that I could not use in Florence (synthetic lanes that hook a lot) and with the wood lanes, the hook was smooth, not jerky. One bad ball (split) but 9 good ones got me a 232. Maybe I've finally figured something out.

(Pops bowled awful also, we probably will got 2-5)

Climate Porn

How can you tell it's the biggest lie in government?

...far below the 25-40 percent cuts by then that the U.N. climate panel and developing countries say rich nations should support to avoid dangerous climate change.[emp added LN]

Simply read that sentence and remember that China (the #1 'bad' producer would be exempt.

If any of these people were serious about climate change (heh) then they would be attacking all countries, regardless of wealth in an effort to stymie the flow of 'global warming emissions'.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Nature

Rapist Still in Jail

In 'other' world news today, Roman (drugged and anally raped a 13 year old) Polanski is still in jail after the Swiss denied his attempt to get out. [There is still the matter of the criminal court upholding the recommendation, but the Swiss are usually very good at upholding treaties.]

Polanski was accused of plying the underage girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot in 1977, and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy.

He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation.(link)

Nice leade eh? That's paragraphs 14 & 15, not para 1. Although the article is nicely written and leaves only small things out, the habit of putting the 'good stuff' so far down is annoying. Most people don't tend to read all of articles (whether online or in print) so it's easy to do this and misinform almost everyone. Whether the writer(s) did it or an editory, I don't know, but it's not honest.

Rosary

In July of 1942 a young man was undergoing the rite of passage into the United States Marine Corps at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was raised a poor farm boy, the second eldest son in a family of 18 children, in the rolling flat-lands of western Ohio. Working the fields as soon as he was old enough to hold a shovel, the harsh existence of Depression era life had made him a strong, muscular, and tough man. He had already proven himself a brave one also, personally running moonshine from the family still to Al Capone. But nothing in his hard scrabble life had adequately prepared him for boot camp. He was wondering just what the hell he had gotten himself in for.(link)

Read the rest, a riveting tale that belongs more in a movie than a blog. Very well written and enough to get you through whatever may be going on in your day.

Monday, October 5, 2009

MNF

Green Bay at Minnesota tonight.

Brett Favre goes against the team that didn't want him (after he retired on them and then decided months later that he wanted his job back and cried about it) and the qb that took his spot (Rodgers).

I have no vested interest in either team except that I lead my fantasy game by 16 points and I need Grant (GB), Harvin (Minn) and Minnesota's kicker to not exceed that total :)

Atm it's 14-14 and I've given up 4 points on my lead... if it stays like this, I'm good and 3-1 on the season.

From the Email

The blonde in mourning:

A blonde goes into work one morning crying her eyes out.

Her boss asked sympathetically, 'What's the matter?'

The blonde replies, 'Early this morning I got a phone call saying that my mother had passed away.'

The boss, feeling sorry for her, says, 'Why don't you go home for the day? Take the day off to relax and rest.'

'Thanks, but I'd be better off here. I need to keep my mind off it, and I have the best chance of doing that here.'

The boss agrees and allows the blonde to work as usual. A couple of hours pass, and the boss decides to check on the blonde. He looks out from his office, and sees the blonde crying hysterically. 'What's so bad now? Are you going to be okay?' he asks.

'No,' exclaims the blonde, 'I just received a horrible call from my sister. Her mother died, too!'

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sports Update

Bad weekend for me :(

Austin lost to Huntsville (23-16) on Friday night.

Tennessee lost to Auburn (26-22) on Saturday night.

And today Dallas lost to Denver (17-10) bleh

Climate Porn

Good news on the Climate Porn front:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's top energy adviser said Friday there is no way Congress will be able to pass a bill on climate change this year.

"That's not going to happen," said the adviser, Carol Browner.

Browner made the statement at a conference organized by The Atlantic magazine, just days after Senate Democrats introduced a major bill on climate change. In a video posted on the magazine's Web site, Browner was asked about the prospects of enacting climate legislation by the time negotiations on a global climate treaty begin in December in Copenhagen.(link)

Using the Don Surber time+no=no method this is a treat for the economy and sane people everywhere.

NFL

You got Tennessee Titans (0-3) at the Jacksonville Jags (1-2) (dad's favorite team the titans); Minnesota vs Green Bay on Monday night (sister in-law for M and mom for GB).

NY Giants (3-0) at Kansas City (0-3) (brothers team NY; this will be a slaughter, poor chiefs)

And my Cowboys are heading to Denver to take on Orton and the Broncos. With Felix Jones out, Tashard Choice will be the workhorse today. Barber is supposed to be available so Choice won't have to do it all alone, but Barber won't be 100%.

Auburn vs UT

Was a pretty good game in the 2^nd half; if UT had played offense like that the whole game, it could have been a different story. Our defense gave up big yardage to Auburn's non-conventional offense, but for the most part kept from giving up the big play (until late in the game when they gave up the big kickoff return and drive to ice it with the last field goal). But the offense was the story.

If nothing else in this game, at least Crompton actually looked like a quarterback in the 2^nd half. Yes he still through behind receivers on crossing routes and sometimes looked lost; but he didn't throw to the other guys and managed the game well, putting Tennessee in position to try to win.

That may be the most important thing that came out of last night on down the road.

Technorati Claim (redux)

wcet579b7d

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do?

Good Vid

Football

Should be a good game tonight. Great offense (Auburn) vs great defense (Tennessee) at Knoxville so UT should have a slight edge (slightly more than half the people voting at espn are taking the Vols).

Scores:
(3)Alabama 21 Kentucky 6 at the half
(6)V Tech 17 Duke 13 in the 3rd qtr
(10) Cincy 20 Miami(OH) 0 2nd qtr
(13) Iowa 21 Ark State 7 3rd qtr
(22) Michigan 6 Michigan St 13 3rd qtr

Friday, October 2, 2009

O(no)lympics

Via Ace of course

PostCard

Our Congress

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Softball

Last night of ball. We won our 1st game 11-10 by scoring in the bottom of the 7th. We won game 2 (the Championship) 16-11 but it was their 1st loss so we played a game 3 (deciding game) and lost 13-7. We were simply gave out.

Ash, our 2nd basemen hurt her knee... she's had 2 surgeries prior and hopefully not a 3rd; keep her in your thoughts.

I went 3-3 / 3-4 / 2-4 for a season total of 44 out of 60 (.733 average).