Book: "Odd Man Out" by Matt McCarthy
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth reading.

Just OK... it's basically a bunch of minor league baseball stories.
This is the definition of light reading.
And now, the guy's a doctor or something. OK.
BTW, that's "Odd Man Out", not "Eight Men Out", the movie with John Cusack in it.

That's Henry the Puffy Taco over there... there's a minor league story for you.

Good QOTD though.

QOTD

"Go ugly early, gentlemen. No sense waitin' all night for the girl of your dreams."
- Minor league coach on players finding a "slump buster", an ugly girl

out...yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, books

Phew.
That was close.
Looks like we'll just miss global environmental armageddon by:

1. Painting our roofs white
2. Making roads a paler color
3. Paint cars in cool or light colors
   

Glad we figured this shit out in time: US wants to paint the world white to save energy
OK, "we" didn't figure it out... Energy guy (and scary nobel lauriate) Steven Chu figured it out.
Again. Phew.

QOTD

"We are on a path that scares me."
- S Chu, US Energy something or other

Me too, bub.

Hey, I want to contribute! The feds should mandate that all bikinis be white. No, wait. We'll tax all non-white bikinis. Hmm... is that politically incorrect? Jeez, this is tougher than I thought. No wonder Steven Chu is so dang smart.
white bikinis plural... yow, bill

Labels: globalwarming, politics, qotd

Movie: Angels & Demons
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing.

This movie was a big upgrade from yawn-fest "The Davinci Code". A&D is much more an action movie. It was fun. Mindless fun. I gotta read A&D again.

QOTD

"We have to do it this year, not next year. Mother Nature does not do bailouts"
- Al Gore, source

I'm with Big Al.

1. Sell panic.
   
2. Tax it.
   
3. Rinse.
4. Repeat.

green... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, politics, qotd

1. Memorial Day = John Sullivan
Memorial Day for me will always be remembering Felecia's nephew John Sullivan, who was killed in Iraq in 2003. He was a sweet, sweet guy.

1. Tribute on my site: www.williamt.com/johnsullivan/index.htm
2. Someone else's: www.militarycity.com/valor/256917.html

2. Reading for President Obama
President Obama recently decided to milk the political cow of Gitmo, "torture", the US is "bad", blah blah. Here's Dick Cheneys' outstanding, substantial response: No Middle Ground on Terrorism.

It's so tough to pick a QOTD from Cheney's piece. Alright, I'll take these two. One is a factual point that is important, but virtually unknown. The second is... well, read on.

QOTD1

"You've heard endlessly about waterboarding. It happened to three terrorists."
- Cheney

QOTD2

"The United States of America was a good country before 9/11, just as we are today. List all the things that make us a force for good in the world--for liberty, for human rights, for the rational, peaceful resolution of differences--and what you end up with is a list of the reasons why the terrorists hate America. If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don't stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for--our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity."
- Cheney

Here's President Obama's speech on the matter: President Obama speech. The phrase "rule of law" appear 8 times. "Rule of law" competes with "for the children" as the best indicator of lying crap in any political speech.

3. 40-something Dating Advantage
40-something dating is a dang competitive proposition. And you've got to keep your edge to succeed. I'm studiously accumulating the box tops necessary to obtain my Frosted Flakes Star Trek flash drive wristband.

What 40-something Naper-yenta could resist? Imagine walking in a cougar-packed martini bar, full-a snooties, Frosted Flakes Star Trek flash drive dangling freely from my bony, effeminite wrist..."Here hot stuff, let me save those files for you." Ka-ching!

BTW, did you get your head wrapped around that one? A free 1GB flash drive with 8 boxtops of Frosted Flakes? It couldn't be more than 5 years ago that such a thing didn't even exist, and now they're giving the things away in boxes of Tony Flakes. WTF?

According to the Wikipedia page on flash drives, the first drive sold was in 2001 by IBM. It held 8 MB. That's less than 1% of 1GB. But 8MB was more than 10X the size of an old 700K floppy disk. Awesome technology.

4. Fisheads, Fisheads
Sammie the Schipperke is our crazy uncle who lives in the attic off buckets of fisheads we send up once a week or so. I've never met a crankier, crazier mutt. That's Sammie to the right as a killer pup, like 12 years ago. One of my earliest posts on the web was Brownie and Sammie from way back in 1997: Mutts

Here's a representative schipperke video... the dog is growling and snapping at its owner for like 2 minutes: Killer Schipperke video

People almost universally ignore me when I first tell them that Sammie will bite them. It takes a second earnest, "I'm not kidding; he will absolutely bite you" to get their attention. My favorite non-response is "Oh, dogs love me." SNAP! On a positive note, Sammie's jaws are really weak and it's never more than just a snap.

So, Sammie has been terrorizing the local critters at The Castle for years... deer, squirrels, raccoons, birds, children... just chasing them out of the yard or whatever. Well, Sammie ran at a deer yesterday in the backyard, and a critter finally turned on him. I heard Sammie's gol dang, blood-curdling shriek and ran out there, and that fucking deer was running at a downed and bloodied Sammie to finish him off. It was crazy. And intense. My appearance turned the deer around, and I grabbed Sammie up and ran inside.

We did a few hours at the doggie emergency room, and Sammie's gonna be OK. He got a good whack to the eye. It'll be interesting to see if Sammie goes back to his cranky, faux attack dog ways once he's all healed.
grrrrrr... yow, bill

Labels: fun, politics, qotd

1. Un-American

QOTD

"Rep. Alan Grayson said he was standing in the middle of Disney World near Orlando when the idea came to him."
- Grayson is a congress-dolt from Florida... he introduced a bill to legally/federally mandate paid vacation for employees, source

Kind-a harsh to call a brother, "un-American."
Dear Rep Grayson, you are un-American to want to legislate paid vacation.
If you want to live in France, go live in France.
In fact, if "un-American" is too much for you, how about I'll just call you "frenchie".
Jeez. Dolt.

2. Book Review
Book: "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... excellent

First off, well... this is an Oprah book.
But hey, a hot chick recommended/gave it to me. So lighten up, Francis.

Well, now that that air is cleared... the first half of the book is pretty yummy character development. Dogs and Wisconsin and family and crazy rural America and all that. It's pretty good, and the guy has a very pleasant writing style.

The second half of the book gets all plot-ty and ghost-y (which I really dislike) and falls off a bit: different, but not all that good, just OK.

I enjoyed "Edgar", and it's probably more a 3 bill-star experience, except for the gnarly/cool ending and that a hot chick gave it to me.

QOTD2

"Harry Potter Meets Hamlet"
- A ridiculous review of "Edgar Sawtelle" on Amazon

3. Shameful Blasphemy
Lebron James might be better than Michael Jordan.
Gulp.

Here's Lebron draining a winning three from last night... 1 second on the clock, down 2 points, heading to 0-2 in the series against the Magic, can't fucking believe it, incredible.


It's blasphemy, and I should be burned at the stake for uttering it. Hey, I was actively rooting against Lebron last night. When the Magic went up by 2 with a second on the clock, I smirked from my couch indentation, "Ha! This'll take the starch out of all this Lebron nonsense."

Dop.

The case for Lebron is pretty easy: 24 years old, MVP, unmatched physical specimen, doesn't seem to be a jerk/idiot, clutch, now playing "D", and so on.

Now, Michael has 6 rings... so Lebron has some playing to do. I'm just saying if Lebron wins 6 titles over the next, say, dozen years, we may be looking at the best basketball player ever.

12 years is a long time... we can say this now: If Lebron wins this year, with this group of faker tourists, then he'll have won a title with a worse team than Michael Jordan ever did. The Bulls core in the first 3 titles wasn't as strong as the second 3. Go:

• Bulls: Johnny Pax, Michael, Scottie, Ho Grant, and Bill Cartwright
• Cavs: Mo Williams, Delonte West, Lebron, Anderson Varejao, and Big Z

What a collection of debris! You don't even think about slipping a single member of Lebron's supporting cast into the Bull starting 5. The closest is taking Big Z over Cartwright. Oh, and Michael's coach was Pheel and Lebron's coach is... um... somebody.

Here's a nice site (ala www.baseball-reference.com), it's www.basketball-reference.com. Go:

1. Michael's career stats, source... 30 point, 6 rebound, 5 assist, 1 block, 2 steal per game. (That's 44 nibls/game... he he). Michael shot 49.7% from the field and 83.5% from the line.
2. Lebron so far, source... 27.5 point, 7 rebound, 7 assist, 1 block, 2 steal per game. He's shooting 47% from the field and 74% from the line.
   

Michael's first title was in his 7th season, at age 27.
Lebron is in his 6th season here at age 24.

I'm a blasphemer and ashamed. And I'll continue to actively root against Lebron. But if... if...
hawk win... yow, bill

PS - Yes, Hawk win game 3 last night in OT. Marty Havlat got fucking jacked by one of the commies (below) who got tossed from the game for the bad behavior. Check out the crowd reaction in this shot. Dang, hockey rules!

Labels: 4stars, books, politics, qotd, sports

Attempting to parlay his acquaintance with a nerd into something/anything, some nice person recently asked me, "Hey nerdy Bill, how does Twitter make money anyway?"
My response: "Um, I don't know. Ads, I guess."

Nice guess, Bill. Not!
The correct answer: Twitter doesn't make money and doesn't even pretend to want to try.
See?

QOTD

"Twitter has many appealing opportunities for generating revenue but we are holding off on implementation for now because we don't want to distract ourselves from the more important work at hand which is to create a compelling service and great user experience for millions of people around the world. While our business model is in a research phase, we spend more money than we make."
- Twitter doesn't make money, source

I love that... let's not "distract ourselves" by making money. Good one, boys.

This is funny... a 5K race run on/by Twitter, The Tweet 5K.
Here's the idea: It's a 5K race, but nobody actually gets together anywhere. You just run and tweet your experience and then, finally, your time in the run.
OK. [eye roll] [pause] [sigh]

My nerdy question: Shouldn't twitter rhyme with "pet rock"?
And hey, Twitter guys, cash out... and soon!
yow, bill

PS - google tweet hot chick... Matrix right???

Labels: fun, qotd

QOTD

"Bankrupt companies making 39 mpg autos. Are we nuts?"
- WSJ op-ed

Yeah, the feds mandate 39 mpg cars by 2016.
Here's the story: WSJ op-ed

It's a nice, cool breeze when things are easy and clear-cut.
If this were about saving money, oil or whatever, then what would the feds do.

1. Maybe you provide grant $$$ to research fuel-efficient cars
   
2. Maybe you give a tax incentive to car companies to produce more fuel-efficient cars... or a surcharge on less fuel-efficient cars
   
3. Maybe you provide tax breaks for people to buy fuel-efficient cars

But no, this is about power. Control. Reducing freedom. Reducing choice.

Let's see... the government forcing people to buy a certain kind of car... hmm, has that ever been tried before? How about an East German Trabant?


QOTD2

"For advocates of capitalism it is often cited as an example of the disadvantages of centralized planning as even refueling the car required filling the tank with gasoline and oil and shaking it back and forth to mix. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years with over 3,000,000 cars made."
- Wikipedia page on the Trabant, source

I can't read the future... economy, politics, Cubs in the World Series... but one thing has been proven with stunning clarity and swiftness, the Obama presidency mean less freedom for you and for me. And more power for the feds.
trabant, my ass... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

Silliness + capitalism = money (I hope).

QOTD

"You could save 2 trees a year"

- spam from Office Depot, in a big-ass font because it's so important

Yeah, I can save the planet by buying Office Depot's recycled paper.
OK, maybe not.
Of course, I'm not actually saving the planet or even 2 tress... I'm just making them more money. That's what this nonsense is about.

How about this little money-maker:

The Hand Washing For Life Institute

It looks like some dorky guy making a buck. Oh, there he is right there... all consultant-like. God bless him. And wash your hands!

Everybody is twisting in odd, nonsexual (just clarifying) shapes to get some of the "green" kitty or whatever other politically correct nonsense comes down the road.

I'm a bit ambivalent I guess. Dang, I'd rather companies focused on something real, or does that even really matter? There is a big difference though between Office Depot and the Hand-washing guy and the feds. I decide whether to give those guys money... the feds just take, take, take... money and control.
scrub-a-dub-dub... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

QOTD

"So many dreams that flew away
So many words we didn't say
Two people lost in a storm
Where did we go?"
- Lionel Richie, "Still"

Why does IMDB still use popup ads?
Anyway, read on.

Movie: Star Trek 2009
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... worth seeing.

Well, the best thing about the movie was the excellent cast. The guys playing Kirk and Spock were especially good. The movie was a lot of fun and had funny moments.

The bad?

• Well, the plot was silly. I know... they all are. But this one was very un-Trek-like in not giving a whit about the science or technology or whatever.
• Generic, boring villain... a disgruntled Romulan. Aren't they all disgruntled?
• The IMAX version didn't have any special IMAX juice for my two cents... unlike Batman and Watchmen.
• It was almost like a "GalaxyQuest" satire of Star Trek, but not.
  

I enjoyed it, but just ok. Mozy liked it more than me.

Hey, the new Kirk had a new hot green chick... not as good as the old, I mean, original hot green chick.


QOTD2

"We played the games that people play
We made our mistakes along the way
Somehow I know deep in my heart
You needed me
Cause I needed you... so desperately!
We were too blind to see"
- Lionel Richie, "Still"

I'll bet Jim Kirk plays Lionel Richie for his hot green chicks.
he he... yow, bill

Labels: 3stars, movies, qotd

QOTD

"Nationwide, sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties made up about half of the market."
- Yahoo article on crappy housing market, Median home prices fell in US in Q1

I went running Sunday around a little subdivision near The Castle called "Washington Woods." The houses are million dollar homes, and I'll thumbnail the number of properties that are for sale/foreclosed/generally messed up at about 1/3. Scary.

QOTD2

In "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville anticipated people being governed by "an immense, tutelary power" determined to take "sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate." It would be a power "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident and gentle," aiming for our happiness but wanting "to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness." It would, Tocqueville said, provide security, anticipate needs, direct industries and divide inheritances. It would envelop society in "a network of petty regulations." But softly: "It does not break wills; it softens them, bends them, and directs them" until people resemble "a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."
- from a George Will article, source

Dead on: "a network of petty regulations"... "government is the shepherd."

How about this bullshit: www.buckleupillinois.org
That's some nice shepherding... May is "Click it or ticket" month in Illinois, where cops will pull people over for not wearing their seat belt. Sigh.

It's not about the ticket, or the money, or telling you what to do... it's all about saving lives. Cha.
blow me... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

1. Foaming at the mouth
Obviously, this school choice thing makes me foam at the mouth. Here's a great quote from a great op-ed on school choice (or lack of) in (teacher) union-laden NYNY.

QOTD

"The child is not a mere creature of the state. Parents have the primary responsibility to see how and where their children are educated."
- NYNY Archbishop Timothy Dolan, source: Proudly Pro-Choice on Education

I guess Dolan was a substantial part in the voucher system that works so well in Milwaukee. We'll see how he does in NYNY. Choice!!!

2. The REAL green
This is what "green" and "diversity" and "environmentalism" and all that shit is about. Money. NY Times dweeb Thomas Friedman gets $75K for a 2 hour appearance to talk about how green he is, story. And who footed the bill for this mope... the "Bay Area Air Quality Management District", which is code for the taxpayers of California.

I wonder how "green" Mr. Freidman's first-class plane ticket was, or his limo, or the hotel suite he occupied, or...

I propose that "green" be a bikini color... rather than a religion.

green this... yow, bill

Labels: fun, politics, qotd

QOTD

"Transporter malfunction"
- The beginning to many a Star Trek episode

1. Evil Goatee
Three best "transporter malfunction" Star Treks:

1. Best is easy... good/evil universes and Spock with a goatee.
2. Kirk exchanges bodies with a chick
3. The transporter turns Captain Janeway (Star Trek Voyager) into a space turtle or something and she takes the opportunity to get pregnant. I remember taunting Holly about it (she loved Janeway) more than I remember the episode.

2. Jump a car
Here's a video of current (not for long) Cub Joey Gathright jumping over a car. He does it so effortlessly, it's anti-climatic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cySfw8f0beg

I'll admit I jumped a car or two in my day. Little different than Mr. Gathright:

• I jumped over the hood.
• Or jump from the ground to the roof.
• I always had to bust a gut to do it.

QOTD

"I don't remember the last time I touched a basketball rim."
- Williamt

3. Illogic

QOTD

"The illogic is exquisite."
- WSJ article (below) on President Obama pulling the plug on school vouchers

Here's the op-ed: A President and his Priorities
Politics over education.
illogical, captain... yow, bill

PS - There's old Captain Janeway. We met her at Disney World. Very nice. Holly still has her autograph somewhere. I'll bet she was a hot turtle. He he.

Labels: fun, politics, qotd, video

There's no one like pols. The definition of double standard... you live this way, I'll do what I want. And then, cherry on top, I'll tell you exactly what to do, what is right and wrong.
Here are a couple primo examples for your consideration:

1. The Edwardses
Elizabeth Edwards:


It's hard to summon people creepier than the Edwardses.

1. She knew of the affair early on in John Edwards' presidential campaign, and threw everybody and their mother under the bus out of her own self-interest. What if this guy had gotten the nomination?!?! That's just incredible conceit and selfishness on both their parts.
   
2. Oh, and the chick Edwards had the affair with... yeah, she popped out a kid. Elizabeth consoles us with her observation that the baby doesn't look like her kids. So, are you guys helping support the kid? Is John being a father to an infant? If not, why haven't you gotten a paternity test?
3. Elizabeth tells us that the affair girl was a star-f'er. Of course, she does this on Oprah. who's f'ing who Elizabeth.
   

John and Elizabeth Edwards. Yuk.

2. Private School for some
President Obama, his sec of education, and other pols plan on cutting a school voucher program in Washington DC.

Great article on this amazing hypocrisy:


That's private school for the children of President Obama, Arnie Duncan, and Senator Dick Durbin.
And crappy public school for the rest.

QOTD

"I didn't want to try to save the country's children and our educational system and jeopardize my own children's education."
- Arnie Duncan, Sec of Education on why his kid's don't go to public schools in DC

Ya get that? Arnie's saving the country's children.
Yuk again.

Do you know people like this in your personal life?
Liars. Hypocrites. Blowhards. Fame and fortune at any cost.
I don't. I think we'd shun them if we did.
school choice for all... yow, bill

Labels: politics, qotd

Amazing site: www.baseball-reference.com
Just type in your favorite player, and there is every conceivable stat for the guy.

This is particularly hysterical... you can get a detailed report on each and every home run hit by a player: what pitcher, what inning, what field... shit, everything.

Like this: Don Kessinger's career home runs, all 14 of them: link

QOTD

"This money isn't manna from heaven. It comes with a price"
- Jim Buck, IN state senator

That quote comes from a USA Today story that for the first time in our history, states now receive most of their dough from the feds, as opposed to their own income, sales, and property taxes.

If this trend continues (and why wouldn't it), then it means a larger and larger federal presence. Such a thing is, um, bad.
That Buck senator knucklehead from the QOTD is right... the price is individual freedom/liberty.
duh... yow, bill

PS - I ain't seen nothing sweeter than Don Kessinger going into the hole, gobbling a grounder, twirling and throwing to first. Cha!

Labels: politics, qotd, sports

Absolutely fascinating, short op-ed here on what "genius" entails:


I've read this a couple times now... 10,000 hours plus some ability is the minimum requirement to become an expert or really good at something. Let's see, 10,000 hours / 40 hours/week = 250 weeks. That's 5 years.

It does make some sense, right? Genius is not some scary, magical thing you possess... it's ability plus tons of work. Or is it just that it would be great if that's how things really worked?

Hard work and passion are their own reward... so, it works either way.

Speaking of passion... Ultimate frisbee rules!

QOTD

"We put on the longest shirts we had.
We have some jerseys that are pretty long."
- Oregon Duck ultimate frisbee guy on playing without pants, source: Link

go deep... yow, bill

Labels: fun, qotd, sports

QOTD

"It's crazy, but you got to love it"
- D Rose

Man, Ty and I are on a flipping roll... we saw:

1. The Bull/Celtic game 6 triple-overtime thriller last night. Jeez! ESPN boxscore. Too many stories to tell... best Bull game since the Jordan era, I reckon.
   
2. Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter in Milwaukee last year against the Astro with the Poap and Poap, Jr.
   
3. Chicago Wolves win the championship in summer 2008

It doesn't get any better.
huzzah... yow,bill

PS - Here's a photo of Ty and I before the game... unaware of the 4 hour, triple overtime Bull playoff victory we are about to see!

Labels: fun, sports