Fritos

are corn chips, not potato chips. So I guess JP's claim to chip-ignorance is self-evident.

I've heard bee larvae can be tasty, texture not unlike popcorn. I'm not eating it unless a real live Chinese person makes it for me, in China, though. Not as a Cal Day gimmick, for sure.

The link to whatever picture JP posted seems dead.

all star voting

it's such a crock. Jeter and Nomar are the top two SS vote getters in the AL.

Makes no sense, baseball-wise. It's obviously a flawed system. A lot of NYC voters and Boston voters.

Carlos Guillen is having a great year. Next to Pudge, no one has done more for the Tigers who are slowly climbing back into the AL Central. Only 4 games out if they seal the victory tonight.

I wonder if Selig thinks the voting system is flawed. Or if it just equals more NYC and Boston viewers for the All Star game.

yeah

I meant that I didn't think the Giants would do much if they make it to the playoffs. They've obviously been doing pretty damn well. Something like the best record in the MLB since a month or two ago. But it seems like it won't last with that pitching

Blogger smarts up / odd foods

it is now offering "salamanders" and "marine biology" on the search line. Go 'benders!

And no, I've never had a Frito sandwich. Is it actually good?

It always struck me as a food created by the class cut-up to impress the other children, right up there with the Chee-toh sandwich, and the "Cap'n Crunch" sandwich of Breakfast Club fame. I have cultural limitations as far as food goes. A sandwich is meat and condiments, occasionally some vegetable product, on bread. No cereal in there, except maybe in the bread.

Worse, the freaks over here in Insect Bio insist on making such delicacies as "rice krispie treats with crickets" every year to feed kids at Cal Day, and I just can't deal. Like I'm gonna go all Fear Factor because I study bugs. F that. Do herpetologists get a kick out of frog-leg eating contests? Yeesh.

Frito Sandwich

Anybody else still make the frito sandwich?
The guy who invented that combo was a genius.
It's gonna help push me through the afternoon for sure.

Giants, Tigers

Giants don't have a chance unless they pick up some pitching talent before the trade deadline.

As for the Tiges, they've won 5 in a row, three were against the Diamondbacks, but still in the past they hadn't taken advantage of those weak team series (e.g, KC Royals). It will definitely be interesting to see how they fare leading up to the trade deadline. If they're above Cleveland in third place, there's an outside chance they make a run by trading for another starting pitcher. They're hitting is pretty damn good and guys like Eric Munson and Carlos Pena, who don't hit for avg, are starting to get their dingers.

How did the sox get so average in such a short amount of time. They got Nomah back. Was their pitching this big of an issue in the beginning of the season or is it that the Yankees just started to show up?

The Tape Deck

Oh yeah, my VIC had the tape deck too. It could take like, 10-15 minutes to load your saved program-- all 3k of it. At 10 yrs old, I couldn't even *imagine* having the single Benjamin required to get the 5+1/4" floppy drive for it.

Those bird-poo screen shots are pretty hilarious.

On the subject of old-games nostalgia, I almost bought this doodad at the mall that was like a single joystick (black, hard rubber, one red button) with 100 classic Atari 2600 games on it that plugs into your tv, for $20.

I saved the $20, and probably an extra year of grad school when I walked away.

my computer programming skills

died when Commodore stopped making home computers. I used to know how to make fairly functional copies of arcade games on a "Vic-20" with only 3.5K of memory, using a combination of BASIC and machine language. Now I couldn't even make a PC print "RTA rules" over and over again. I've been tempted by trash80s at garage sales, but my tv probably doesn't have the hookups for one.

Parham

Yeah, I think there definitely is something physiological about getting up way to fucking early when you've had a night of drinking. Thankfully I only had one beer last night.

Man, I think it's pretty incredible to be using my wireless connection right now. I feel like my dad when computers came out.

OK

but check this out: Euro 2004

All Quiet on the Western Blog

Aah, Wimbledon.

Hellbenders

Good luck in your move. I hope it is not too dreadfully hot in Austin when you arrive. I think Austin is prob a great place to move from Berkeley; one of the few places in the country that might compare favorably in a lot of things to Berkeley.

packing and moving

I am in the final (i.e. ugly) stages of packing my office and apartment. to date I have moved 30 boxes (almost all books, journals, and reprints) from my office to my apt. !!! yikes.

today I think I will be packing up my computer and I'll be online only sporadically for the next week or so until I settle in Austin. I'm heading out Monday.

Anybody going anyplace kick-ass

for fieldwork or meetings this summer?

I'm going to Belgium for (believe it or not) the International Congress of Arachnology.
I will have some beers made by monks and bring back chocolate for my girls.
Sweet.

internet media and separately, the NBA draft

Do you guys use Real or Windows Media (for PC users) for your internet music and videos?

Curious, because I got my new computer and am adding software and preferences, etc.

Boring question I know, but not much else going on.

Parham what the Celts do in the draft? anything good?
The bulls looked like they got a few good players

And the Mavs are trading like mad.

Big Question for FF season

what happens to blogger? I know it *started* as a stand-in for the Yahoo-provided FF board. But it has grown to be so much more.

Do we go back to posting madly on the shitty Yahoo format, or will most of the conversation still happen over here?

Just wonderin'.
RTA

Football is approaching

Big Questions:

1) Is Chiefs gonna take the aged Rich "Once had a Cannon" Gannon for the 4th consecutive year?

2) Is LOTTIA gonna take the concussed Kurt "I've still got it, trust me" Warner for the 4th consecutive year?

3) Can anyone beat Jumbos? (note to Parham: that is a joke.)

4) Will anybody take McNabb in the first round, even though he sucked major ass last year?

5) Is Parham going to draft only Patriots?

6) What controversial un-PC name will Totenkopf come up with this year?

Lots of stuff to think about, folks.

X-Men are real

Mutant SuperBaby

I don't agree. Go England!

then as now, written Constitutions

and written laws in general have a nasty habit of taking away a leader's right to say, "just trust me."

In simplest terms, that's why our current administration is so un-fond of ours.

I want England to lose

Because their fans aren't as hot as fans from the other countries.

Ibrahimovic goal

I was trying to find a site that had that goal, but could only find pay sites. Thanks jumbos.

That was an amazing goal (Sweden vs. Italy)no less in the last 5 minutes to tie it up.

Euro goals, if you're interested

All the goals of Euro 2004

one more

aah, france.

Jumbos is back; was gone for the weekend; posts new picture of hot girl watching soccer

wondering

if there's a new blog and I didn't get invited.

Blogging to myself isn't so bad though.

Everybody else must be on a blog-cation, I hope at least.

golfer people and Friday nights unposted thoughts

why the hell does Tiger Woods suck ass now??

He hasn't won a major since he got rid of his old coach. Coincidence, I'm not sure folks, but I'm not a golfey guy, so how would I know.

Thoughts, comments, criticisms, please respond.

Does anyone else not post on Friday night because they're afraid that other board members would think, "Hey that guy's a loser posting on Friday night". Just curious, really just curious.

a's bullpen

sfgate.com referred to it as the "A's Hellpen" after today's loss.

A's obvious weakness

their bullpen sucks ass. The big three keep it close for 6, 7 innings (except Zito this year, what's up with that?), then Rhodes, Mecir & co stink it up. They don't have the offense to get the 6 run leads they need consistently. Two blown saves in three days. Mecir's record is 0-5. That's pretty horrible for a middle reliever, before the allstar break.

Is there some sort of glaring hole in the "moneyball" philosophy that requires that every year, you trade/let your closer go to free agency and hope you pick up a winner? It worked ok with Foulke, after Isringhausen blew town for the $, he somehow went from journeyman to star in one season but, Arthur Rhodes? c'mon, that dude was famous for giving up late inning dingers when I used to watch him in Baltimore in 96&97. His reputation should precede him.

Beane needs to fix that situation, and it isn't gonna be with somebody fresh from Sacramento or Modesto.

Forget Beckham

what about Beckham's bowing buddy? He has already Assumed The Position.

bravo

bravo

thanks quilmes

but, can't we all get behind this picture of beckham?

For hellbenders

come on Jumbos you dropped the ball on this one

"BURSTING WITH PRIDE
England are well-supported in every sense"

It all started when...

i right-clicked the Swedish bird to find out what URL Jumbies had linked from. Then it became a research project

Right-click, drag to properties, it'll give you the picture's URL & filename.

Whether I download them or not is none-a your beeswax.

Aahsome filenames

anybody notice that the blonde women's pics have "bird" (the british equivalent of our "chick") in their filenames-- eg latviabird.jpg, while the Portuguese woman is just "lady.jpg" What does this say? Good taste in birds, I guess.

russian chicks

these seem to have already gone through the ontogenetic shift Parham noted.

camera men

are usually men, so during sports games they're always scanning looking for the hotties.

By the way, did anyone else think Larry Brown's wife was kinda hot? Maybe I'm too big of a Pistons fan and was caught up in the moment, who knows really?

That last pic of the Russians

Those girls were at the Russia-Portugal game, watching soccer. Parham, I promise the pics will only be of hot girls at Euro 2004, and nothing else. No fun in that. I think it is kind of funny that all these major news agencies with serious coverage about this soccer tournament always put in pics of hot women fans.

i'm sure you enjoy banana hammocks as much as I enjoy women in bikinis. to be fair, jumbos last pic was not bad (in terms of me not being as embarassed to have it pop up on my screen as some of the other photos).

nice hammer and sickle tat

that would've been really hot during the cold war.

d'you remember that russian that Chevy Chase scores in spies like us, right at the end in all the white snow gear. that's kinda what I'm going for.

ah, men's diving

kyle prandi, olympic diver

Aah, Russia

How

can you compare Mr. Speedo to Miss Sweden?

just sharing the love

now you know how I feel about miss sweden the soccer fan etc.

Ah, jeez.

Now that makes me seriously wary of opening up the blog, fearing the possibility that there's a pic of some dude in a speedo. Jeez.

okay Jumbos

troy dumais, member of the US olympic diving team

I think I would go for

Portugal. They are ahead against Russia 2-0.

The gold medal goes to . . .

SWEDEN!!!!

Compendium

Aah, Portugal

Portugal v. Russian today. Right now Portugal is up 1-0. Sorry, hellbenders, I can't seem to be able to post pictures of Dudes. We all have our duties and roles on this board, and I think that posting pictures of Dudes (e.g. like you did with Orlando Bloom in Troy) is your role. My role is to post pics of hot European girls who are watching soccer.

who's currently the best coach

in the NBA


the NFL


MLB


and then same questions but include past coaches.

I should've posted this earlier

but I was busy reading and listening to news clips on the NBA World Champs.


GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIIIIIIIIISSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNSSSSSS!!!!!!!!




Can't wait to rib GM about this next FFL Season.
Send him my best Parham.

You're welcome Auerbach.

once in a while

it would be acceptable to certain members of the blog if you posted pictures of dudes too. they can be admired for their athleticism and/or their short shorts by those so inclined.

Parham

I look at all the "Dude pics" because they are action shots of the best soccer in the world, of which I am big fan. I am more of a fan ONLY of the Red Sox. Other than that, I am a fan of soccer. And, lucky me, interspersed among the pics of goals and soccer "Dudes" are pics of super hot women fans. So I post them here. You're welcome.

Jumbies altruism

is appreciated by me, because I went to "soccerworld.net" or wherever those pics are posted,
and I know that he had to wade thru a lot of crap about, including pictures of, dudes from other countries playing soccer to find those two attractive ladies for the blog to view. For those of us who don't have time or intestinal fortitude to go thru that many pics of dudes in short shorts, it is a really good free service. Thanks dude.

More Pictures from the European Cup

Fan from Latvia. Ahh, Latvia.

packing

I'm following the blog, but haven't felt inspired to post. the discussion is interesting entertaining.

I'm packing mostly, and thinking about my move (thinking about it occupies a surprising amount of time). I'm renting a U-Haul to drive to Austin because all the major moving companies were full up into July. I didn't want to trust my stuff to a smaller moving company. the last time I did that I regretted it. I'm going down to Austin next week for a couple days to get a place. then I will drive down at the end of the month.

To: Parham. Re: Detroit = Boston

OK, so first of all, if you read closely at my original post, I say "I will acquiesce to Quilmes and Parham, and say that Boston and Detroit are equally the best Sports Towns." Obviously, I was being facetious, and I was responding to your and Quilmes' little feud over Boston vs. Detroit. Just trying to make a joke there. Once again, my joke goes unseen by Parham but seen and understood by everybody else. Weird.

Second of all, after reading Quilmes' mention of Ty Cobb (and Hank Greenberg, Al Kaline, Mickey Cochrane, Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson, etc.) and then Detroit having teams in all of the original MLB, NFL, and NHL leagues, and all that, I actually am starting to agree with him that Detroit rivals Boston in terms of Sport Towns. Detroit has fallen on hard times relatively recently, what with the Tigers sucking, the Pistons drought until the last couple of years, and the Lions poor recent years. That is combined with the fact that Detroit doesn't pull in 500,000 college kids a year who end up rooting for the Sox or the Celtics and then moving back to wherever they come from and continuing their Boston fandom, which certainly helps Boston's Sports Town status. Detroit is just unlucky that Japan makes good cars and that there is no Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, Northeastern, UMass, (and also Providence College, URI, Brown, too, which get all the Boston sports media). Detroit has what, UMichigan about an hour away? Can anybody besides Quilmes name a college in Detroit? There are reasons that certain cities appear to be more Sporty than others.

main posters

Jumbos
RTA
Parham
Quilmes


Why doesn't anyone else post regularly?

SIMEY come on dude, play along.

Hellbenders where are you?

SS, thanks for the computer help, but how bout some input out there.

Let's go people, plenty to talk about.

historically

I would probably agree that historically Boston is more storied than Detroit. But Detroit is definitely in that class, as far as history is concerned. It is among the originals in all of the big 4. Although I don't really know about NBA originals, I know the Pistons started as the Fort Wayne Pistons before the NBA started. Don't know what other teams were around then.

But I think (can't remember and too lazy to look) the question posed derived from your question about what have Detroit teams done since the 1990 bad boys. So it was more of a look at recent teams (post 1990). In which case the Celtics history doesn't factor in. But to be honest it's hard to look at a sports town without considering the deeper history if they have one.

But come on Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers, Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings, the Bad Boys, etc. etc. are all historic figures and teams that belong in the sports history books.

waaaaaaaaaaaaa

I wasn't criticizing Jumbos, but merely clarifying that the first step should be to determine what is worth more in the scheme: evenness or dynasty. And I haven't heard anyone's opinion on that, except the opinion implied by Jumbos tentative weighting scheme in which he weighted evenness higher than dynasty. I guess I was looking for some support of that scheme or another scheme rather than simply a scheme.

And unfortunately I agree with Jumbos and RTA that the MLS is not in the league of the 4 major sports. I disagree with Parham though and think that hockey is a major sport. Obviously it looks like I'm saying that b/c of the Red Wings, but I stand behind RTA's analysis.

Thanks RTA

"Jumbos is just taking it to the next level." Nice to hear.

OK, OK, OK

I will acquiesce to Quilmes and Parham:

no MLS, no weighting, Boston and Detroit tied for Best Sports City in the USA.

What I wanted to index was

Championship-winningness, by town, across Major Sports.

I don't care if Boston has the best fans, bars, or cries the hardest when they fall short of the World Series, they don't fare all that well. We had the string about "best sports town" in that vein before, didn't we? It's very subjective, and not what I was after.

Why criticize JUMBOS for operationalizing an implied philosophical concern about 1vsmultiple sport championships? He's just taking it to the next level.

A cutoff of "3 sports minimum" certainly would prevent the San Antonio/East Rutherford problem.

So what's the score if you A) enforce 3 sport minimum, B) give a .1 bonus for each sport >1 that a town has won a championship in?

Here's where I cut off the "major league" issue, re: MLS. Does the league attract the BEST players in the world, by paying the highest salaries for that sport? NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL = yes, MLS = no. To be fair to womens' sports, I'll count any league that's been around and independently financially solvent for 10 years.

With all due disrespect Jumbos

My question wasn't how to operationally deal with the problem, but philosophically, what is worth more in the sports city rankings: 3 championships in the same sport (i.e., a dynasty) or 3 championships in 3 different sports (i.e., evenness)? Based on your system you seem to think that evenness is better. To play devils advocate, three NHL championshps has led Detroit to be called "Hockeytown, U.S.A". That my friends is definitely a moniker of a great sports town.

If we were looking at this from a biodiversity perspective, then we may consider the latter a more "healthy" community while the former is dominated by a single pecies. Thoughts to ponder, folks.

Weighting of Championships

Come on folks were all phylogeneticists here. Let's weight the championships, with the championships from single sport dynasties = 1, but championships in the same city but different sport = 1.3 (or something greater than 1 but less than 2; up for discussion). That would make Chicago less fantastic, it would raise Denver and NYC and Dallas, and weaken LA and Jersey.

P.S. Don't forget about the MLS... It may not be AS big as the other sports, but it is certainly major and I think the championships should be considered. San Jose (I say Bay Area category), DC, etc.

evenness vs. dynasty

First of all, there shoould be a cutoff for cities with only one or two pro teams. You have to have at least three pro teams to be included.

Secondly, I'm having trouble deciding whether I think that a city should be rewarded for evenness (3 championships spread over three sports means that no season is really that dull) or if they should be rewarded for the dynasty factor (3 championships all in one sport is a pretty big deal). What do you guys think?

it's quite right

I was kind of looking to see if there was anything to developing an "index" of town-winningness relative to a null expectation, and who would win according to that. It's kind of a lame exercise, 'cause the town with only 1 team and a coupla championships wins. Chicago (ok) and East Rutherford (dumb) come in 2nd, so I think my "index" fails to find anything other than a lot of teams and championships in the NY metro area. Also, most towns don't win shit, ever.

JP can have the beer for the persistent posting, and because I was unclear about the format for finding an "index" the way I was thinking about it.

The winner...

San Antonio-- 1 major sports team, 2 championships, 2.0, followed by
Chicago, with a championships/team ratio over the past 13 years (this year's not over, couldn't count it) of 1.5 (6 total championships, 4 major teams).

New York had the most (6) total championships, but was hurt by having 6 total major sport teams, giving a ratio of 1.0, which it shared with Denver (4/4), L.A. (3/3), and Green Bay (yeah, a weakness in methodology there, 1/1=1). A small handful of .75's (Detroit, Dallas) and .66s (Miami, Houston, Toronto).

One problem-- what to do with the New Jersey Devils/Nets. New Jersey is not a "sports town." It's a whole fucking state. However, they could be considered to be "tied" with Chicago if you'll count East Rutherford (3 championships/2 teams=1.5). No offense to any of you East Rutherford homers here... I'm gonna not to count it. If the home teams won't claim the home town neither will I. This could cause problems with Golden State and Colorado Rockies, but, they never win so it doesn't matter in the overall standings for now.

Q don't be sad

Consider this: with all 4 major sports (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL), with an average of 30 teams/league, if championships were assigned completely randomly, you'd expect about 4 total championships every 30 years. Thus, 3 major championships in the 14-year span of 1990-2004 is pretty good. Four would be very good. Detroit could then go another 15 or so without winning any, and still be average.

Somebody figure out what city is hottest in that span, in those terms. I will buy that person a six pack, if their facts check out.

RTA

what I understand

each team can only protect 8 players, and the bobcats can't take more than one player from any team.

I know at least these guys are available

Chucky Atkins, Boston Celtics
Juan Dixon, Washington Wizards
Derek Fisher, Los Angeles Lakers
Reece Gaines, Orlando Magic
Anfernee Hardaway, New York Knicks
Allan Houston, New York Knicks
Eddie Jones, Miami Heat
Kerry Kittles, New Jersey Nets
Aaron McKie, Philadelphia 76ers
Moochie Norris, New York Knicks
Eric Piatkowski, Houston Rockets
Jalen Rose, Toronto Raptors
Jerry Stackhouse, Washington Wizards
David Wesley, New Orleans Hornets

Select the Bobcats' forwards (check two boxes):

Derrick Coleman, Philadelphia 76ers
Marcus Fizer, Chicago Bulls
Rick Fox, Los Angeles Lakers
Brian Grant, Miami Heat
Jason Kapono, Cleveland Cavaliers
Christian Laettner, Washington Wizards
Ruben Patterson, Portland Trail Blazers
Aleksandar Pavlovic, Utah Jazz
Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls
Rodney Rogers, New Jersey Nets
Malik Rose, San Antonio Spurs
Antoine Walker, Dallas Mavericks
Gerald Wallace, Sacramento Kings
Jerome Williams, Chicago Bulls

Select the Bobcats' center (check one box):

Elden Campbell, Detroit Pistons
Antonio Davis, Chicago Bulls
Jerome James, Seattle SuperSonics
Ervin Johnson, Minnesota Timberwolves
Zaza Pachulia, Orlando Magic
Jahidi White, Phoenix Suns

ESPN insider

Does anyone have access to ESPN the Insider?

I wanna see the list of unprotected players that could go to the Charlotte Bobcats.

A nice pair

Henke Larsson had two great goals.

Scandinavia

here I come.

The European Cup is going on is Portugal

And Sweden just beat Bulgaria 5-0! I wish I could have been there to watch......the soccer game.

yes

Jumbos was first on the bandwagon.

Wednesday March 31, 2004

I posted this:

---
NBA Champion
My Pick for NBA Champion: (and you heard it here first)

Detroit Pistons

I am starting to like that team.

- posted by Zero @ 9:05 AM
---

Now who's doing the predicting?

Simey/Parham

Simey, I'm pretty sure I'm a true fan. I get ulcers watching the games, and can't work on anything when they lose. And I pay attention to stupid blogs that only talk about Detroit sports (Lions, Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings).

But I don't really like betting on my teams. If they lose, which is still a possibility for the Pistons, you're hit with a double whammy--you feel horrible for the loss and for the $20 bucks you lost. If they win, I'm already so happy that I really don't care about the $20 bucks.

Parham, the only Detroit pro teams to win anything since 1990 are the Red Wings which won in 1997, 1998, and 2002 and the Detroit Shock (WNBA) in 2003 which most of you won't consider a real championship anyway.

a prayer

just one more. That's all I'm asking. my sports year will be fulfilled. I don't care if the Lions lose 10 games this year, as long as the Pistons pull this off. Please.

yay!

no more k*** ads. I get cr**tion now. good thing. I was looking for some meaning in my life.

As far as computers go

Jumbos says, "GO BIG, OR GO HOME."

Dell costs

the high end model with the 1.6 MHz and 512 memory and 60GB is something like $1789 or so. then Scholar's workstation also has two lower end packages with slightly slower processors and slightly less memory and hard drive space. the lowest of which costs $1589 or so.

Weird

Now my blogger ad is back to the KB jersey shit. Must have been our use of the word "Pi**tons" in the morning's discussion.

if you reload the page

sometimes the color changes.

why is it personalized?

And am I doomed to see that same ad forever? Where's my Discovery Institute ads?
Bogger should count click-thrus-- if I haven't bought the autographed crap from the first six weeks it was up there, or even looked at the ad, why would I do so NOW? Sudden windfall?

OK Google/Blogger, we'll make a deal: If I win the lottery, I'll buy ten of that product, dip them in liquid nitrogen, and throw them off the roof of VLSB. But only if you put some other ad up there.

RTA

PS to blogger
Jesus, God, Noah, Ark, catastrophism, materialism, Ronald Reagan's legacy, Bill Clinton, hot rod parts, mullets, Johnny Cash, pizza pie, 72 r.p.m. records, Commodore Vic-20's, Pope John XXIII, beanie babies, candy corn, Yoda, Guinness, Andre the Giant, Double-Wing Offense, cladistics, game shows, oak trees, gun violence, coffee growing practices, Waterworld, The Beatles, Sid and Marty Krofft, virginity pledges, Unification Church,

ads

I still have k*** and another b*sk*tb*ll ad. I'd rather have the c-science ads.

cool game last night. I especially liked the part at the end where they flashed the score showing the L*kers with 88 and Dee-troit with 68 AND Al Michaels read it. Then had to correct himself when they came back from commercial. Since most of the commentary seemed to be about how noone could believe the Pistons were doing what they were doing (or more to the point, how could LA be losing?) it seemed like even the guys making the graphics were in disbelief.

new computer soon

So I think I'm gonna get a Dell Latitude 600D, unless there is someone out there that thinks that's a really stupid idea.

Simey gave me the nod so far.

New Ads on my Blogger Page

They are both for Creat**n Science, though!!!! What the Fuck! My only theory is that there are no companies dealing with Evolution or any other real science willing to pay to advertise on Google, but that creat**n science companies will pay to advertise their "theory." That is an interesting fact in and of itself. When have you ever seen a scientific field advertise for itself?!? Imagine seeing a big Quantum Mechanics billboard at PacBell: "Quantum Mechanics! Believe It!" The fact that creat**n science advertises itself is enough proof alone that it is complete garbage.

Pistons

That was an awesome game last night. If only Rasheed would stop picking up stupid fouls in the first quarter.

oh yeah

PIIIIIIIIIIIISTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOONSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

what a ass kicking.

need to get these two in Detroit though. I don't want to go back to the damn Staples Center.

thanks

for the computer help. Knew I could count on you guys.

Computer

I think you should take it to the Tang Center ASAP.

a little help

I just dropped my computer. If you've seen me in the MudBowl games you know this is an odd occurrence. Anyway, now I got this huge fuckin crack running across my screen that is slightly bleeding. Looks kinda bad. Am I fucked? Help.

Other problem is that when I dropped it this little hatch cover on the side popped out where I think the battery is housed. I put the hatch cover back on but whenever I unplug the damn computer it dies out like a light bulb that just fizzled. Doesn't sound good does it?

Better back up my files pronto.

A's game

was fun last night-- 25 runs scored, Byrnes started a rally by stealing, with like a 4-5 run lead (last game of an interleague series, so you're not likely to see much baseball-code vengeance for that type of stuff), and the beer didn't stop flowing until 10:15 due to the endless innings. Also, 8 K's so the dude gave my wife like 8 vouchers for free 2-liter pepsi products on the way out. I think I shall be "doing the Dew" this week. Oh yeah, and first place.

Rico suave

One fucking smart dog

Nomah

Dan Shaughnessy writes, "His (Nomar's) agent is telling people he wants to play second base for the Yankees next year." Is that true? What the fuck?

Keep your chin up, Spider Cock

You know we're just kidding you.

Oh the harshness

you guys keep using sarcasm on me. Ouch.

My point is this: Oriental just means "eastern," and Occidental western. though often -used- to mean "Asian," that's not the broadest meaning, which would encompass Siberians, Ay-rabs, and Iranian Persians (see the East in Middle East). Maybe that's one reason the term is out-of-favor.

Though there are certainly obvious lines you could draw to bisect the earth geographically, culturally, things aren't that easy. I kind of conflated the two with my ill-placed sentence about the hemispheres-- my bad. To put it in terms that Parcells might understand, a Jap ain't the same as an Ay-rab, and "oriental" is a term that encompasses both. By framing my thoughts as a question, y'all got to hammer me by 'answering' it with the obvious conventions. But, conventions are dumb sometimes. Like the fact that my race is "white"-- that's a dumb convention. As is the term "oriental."

Oriental

I believe that Oriental is, in the English language, meant to be an adjective referring to pretty much anything, other than a Person, that is from Asia. i.e. an Oriental rug, or an Oriental vase. A Person from Asia is, obviously, Asian.

As much as I am an "occidental"

I suppose native Japanese are "oriental." Where exactly is the line between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres anyway? It's just a rather meaningless, antiquated term for a non-natural group. Like the race "white."

Nice upping of the ante with c----f---er. I can only think of one ruder term for persons of middle-eastern origin, and I'm not going to use it, since I don't want to pull a Parcells here and cross an invisible, though well-known, line.

Jumbo changed the Title

I really don't want to see those KB ads anymore, dude.

who changed my post title?

jumbro?

Or ads about salamanders?

Why don't we get any ads about Dinosaurs or Evolution?

Tell that to Parcells

Next you're gonna be saying japs ain't orientals.

parcells

probably doesn't know that. if you said they were Persian he probably would think you were talking about cats.

did the k**e br***t ads

happen after I posted my last message? Or was it from earlier talk about the finals. Or did someone mention rape? Or buying diamond rings after cheating on your wife? hmmmmmm whatever it was I certainly just exacerbated the issue, huh? Great.

Well from here on out I will refer to him as the pointy faced bastard.

Can we somehow change the Ko. Bry. ads?

I don't want to see those anymore. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox. Rasheed Wallace. Pistons. Boston Red Sox.

If he read this blog

he'd call you an Ay-rab sympathizer.

Parcells

Doesn't surprise me a bit. Just look at the guy. Admittedly he is a football genius. But that in no way should lead us to believe that he has normal smarts or is aware of anything else in the world. I would also bet that he thinks the best way to protect the US against terrorists is to kill all Arabs and that Bush and Cheney are great leaders. I just wish that when these types of things happen (e.g. John Rocker, Carl Everett, and on and on) the media would make the point of their stories "Jocks That We Worship Are Also Quite Stupid About A Lot Of Other Things", not "Parcells Apologized For Unintentional Offensive Statements".

The media should come out and say what everybody knows: most superstar athletes are not that smart. And I am in NO WAY saying that to degrade jocks or lampoon jocks...cause I know there are always exceptions, and I play sports, too, blah, blah... What I mean is that these superstar jocks have been jocks their entire lives and that is ALL THAT THEY DO. It's not like they love baseball or football but also are in graduate school studying linear algebra or econometrics. Most of them probably majored in Communications or Physical Education, if they graduated from college at all. The media should just say it like it is: "Bill Parcells is a brilliant football coach, but Damn is he an Idiot, too."

Parcells and the rules of Political Correctness

saw some of this on ESPN last night. Hilarious how insulated from the rest of the world football coaches must be, or at least Parcells. Doesn't he know that throwing in a little "no disrespect" does not allow one, in this PC world, to use race-based terms, at all, ever. And "Orientals" ??? nice, dude. He said, "The Orientals."

He later apologized, of course, since his team has a PR department.
I hope by posting this I can get an ad for WWII memorabilia or maybe just an Urban Outfitters ad to replace that Kobe shit.

cut from AP...
_______
The Dallas Cowboys coach called surprise plays used in practice "Jap plays," referring to Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

"You've got to keep an eye on those two, because they're going to try to get the upper hand," Parcells said about quarterbacks coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. "Mike wants the defense to do well, and Sean, he's going to have a few ... no disrespect for the Orientals, but what we call Jap plays. OK. Surprise things."

After a murmur in the room of reporters, which included a Japanese journalist, Parcells repeated, "No disrespect to anyone."

Parcells later released a statement,______cut here, nobody cares about the apology______

I died

a death of a thousand men last night. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkk.
47 seconds, a six point lead, and poof, everything changed, a phantom as Shaq goes to the hoop makes an offensive rebound turn into a three point play, and then, a drive to the hole by Billups comes up clankers and then Kobe gets a good pick to force Prince to switch off Kobe. And then of course Kobe drains a fucking ridic three. Man a matter of inches and seconds changes everything (no penis joke here please). 1-1. We would've been thrilled with 1 if you asked the fans before the series started, but now with them on the fuckin ropes we shoulda had 2 and looking to close it out at home. Incredible. The good news is that the memory for these sorts of things is longer for the fans then the players. They seem to bounce back better than you'd think. Detroit lost that 3OT heartbreaker to the Nets and then went into their house and soundly beat them. Please win, please win. My dissertation rides on this, if I can't think about anything but that shot I can't write.

New Post

This is a picture from the Boston Globe's Red Sox Fans picture site, where fans send in pics of themselves at other stadiums.

lameass M

Some Quebecois probably designed it and the english speaking canadians just went along with it because they didn't want to get into it with him (secede already!!).

the symbol is an M

M for Montreal

I think

it's a script M, with a little script "e" in the serif on the left-hand side of the m. "M"ontreal "e"xpos, eh?

But, now that you mention it, turn that hat sideways and it could be two sex-ed diagrams showing side views of rampant male organs. With balls.

I have always wondered

what the heck is that symbol on the Montreal cap.

The Expos

LB

Larry Brown put together a great game plan.

No way to stop Diesel, but slow down Kobe's trips to the rim and then shutdown the rest of the punks on that team.

When Ben Wallace was asked if the Pistons were nervous he responded "well my first shot was a 15-footer that only went 13 feet, but after that we calmed down". Funny stuff.

Everyone hear all the talk about that fan behind Phil Jackson. The one with the cleavage that seemed to always be just above or to the side of Phil's head. It was great how in the second quarter she moved one seat over to avoid the awkward boob shots.

A disappointed LA sports writer wrote "the Laker girls showed more energy and teamwork than the Lakers did".

I love it. Now, please God help us win game 2. Please.

YESSSS!!!

man got away with one. We didn't even shoot that well. Chauncey pulled up big today while Rip got taken out of the game by Kobe. Shaq is unstoppable, but the rest of the team stunk it up.

Blogger Quirks

Do y'all read the ads at the top of Blogger? They change based on what we post... i'm assuming because I'm being offered a click-thru to...

Kobe Bryant Autographed Basketball!

awesome. Computers may try to be smart, but they are still dumber than us, thank Christ.

When are they gonna try to sell us Argentinian beer and Joe Frazier Autographed Boxing Gloves? Now that would be impressive.

SIMEY posts

You're right Zeros, a SIMEY "RTA is well-informed" may be more flattering than "RTA = GENIUS" from others, due to the rarity of his posts.

To address his two complaints. 1) "cappin on his posts"? C'mon, everybody gets hammered here. Zeros positively asks for/revels in it, I post enough dumb stuff to preclude any future political career. So, sorry, that complaint is invalid. Cappin' is part of the fun, don't take your ball and go home.

re: SIMEY list repost-- I didn't answer 'cause I already had my list up, but I can comment:

major oversights include--
I Love Lucy. A bit dated, but what other humor from the '50's holds up at all? Very little, really, and I still laugh at Lucy episodes.

Sanford and Son. When I was little we didn't have a color TV and my sister asked if Lamont was adopted, because Redd Foxx looked white to her on our TV. Also, that show is really funny. I think in some folks' memory it is overshadowed by other "black shows" from the 70's (Good Times, What's Happening?) but Redd Foxx was funnier, even when toned down for TV, than Jimmie Walker and Fred Berry combined.

Taxi. Rev. Jim, Louie, Lotka, and all... kinda dated but awesome ensemble show. Just think how many of those actors went on to *large* Hollywood careers.

my criticisms: Blackadder? C'mon, aren't there are like, 6 episodes of that shit? That's also why Ren-n-Stimpy could never make the list-- it may be genius, but it was not sustained genius. Bugs Bunny is awesome, but the Looney Tunes/merrie melodies are short films, originally shown as lead-ins before features, not a sitcom.

SIMEY

I wish SIMEY would post more often. Each time I see that SIMEY has posted, I feel like the message board's value has been re-affirmed. It is equivalent to:

1) Pele voluntarily choosing to watch an MLS game.
2) Ebert and Roper reviewing one of your movies on their TV show.
3) Seeing Motoo Kimura or Ronald Fisher in the audience when you give a talk at a conference.
4) etc.

Simey republished

top 10 sitcoms
Simey's top 10 sitcoms and best character from each:
10)Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam.
9)Get Smart, would u believe ... agent 99? she was hot.
8)the Young Ones, Vyvian or that guest bald guy.
7)Cheers, Coach.
6)Andy Griffith Show, Barney.
5)Blackadder, blackadder.
4)Barney Miller, Fish.
3)All in the family, Archie.
2)Honeymooners, Norton.
1)Seinfeld, Cosmo Kramer.

speaking of killing the board

Simey just came by my office to taunt the Pistons. Bastard.

I asked him why he doesn't post anymore and he said everyone is always cappin on his posts and no one responded to his top ten best sitcoms.

So maybe people could show him a little more respect and comment on his top ten sitcoms post.

Quilmes Puts the Board to Sleep

With the Career Stats Question. No Posts for 5+ Hours.

career totals

Does anyone have the career FFL win-loss records, regular season and playoffs?

That would be cool to see.

What about

Torture Chamber?

sallies

boy I don't know. It would be quite out of character for the 'mander team to have the same name 2 years in a row. while I think hellbenders instills the appropriate amount of amphibian-inspired shock and awe, I haven't made a final committment to that name. snot-otters is mildly appealing.

That's the Draft Order,

right?
Awesome.

who are the candidates?

For sures:
1. RTA
2. Parham
3. Jumbos
4. Simey
5. SS
6. Sallies
7. Forgot Journey's team name
8. GM
9. Quilmes

Who else?
10. Mob playing?
11. ???
12. ???

Question of the Day

Is SIMEY going to take KURT WARNER in the EFFL draft this fall? He may get some time with the Giants, although I doubt he will be put up "Greatest Show on Turf" numbers.

Parhamtastic

You're a GENIUS.

It's pretty bad

that the KBA's name is posted all over the internet. Not just in the "it may deter future victims from speaking up" sort of way, but also because there are psychos who will look for her and possibly attempt to do her harm. The Eagle County DA has already received numerous threats, most from the same guy though.

SIMEY has INTERNET SKILLS

SIMEY is only one to find picture of Kobe's Accuser without the eyes blacked out.

RTA = genius

"too hot for public transportation"

that is awesome. laughing hard up here in ocean environment.

The Complainant

I "image googled" "Kobe Bryant's Accuser" and found a bunch of dead links plus redundant pics of 2 similar-looking-but-obviously-different young blondes. Obviously, at least one of the pictured ain't the real deal. Others had bar-eye mutation or got some variation of the Ms. Jackson's Tittie Treatment. Possibly both faces I saw were not really her. My guess, assuming they at least look LIKE the real woman, based on this is she's young, blonde, cute, but not "hot" in the "too hot for public transportation" type-category.

Am I a bad person for checking it out? I couldn't bring myself to watch Americans get murdered by kidnappers, but, I looked for that info. I also just saw Kill Bill 1 and found the violence kinda overwhelming.

More Science

article with Quilmes' older brother mentioned:

here

Scientific discovery

Large breasts and narrow waists indicate high reproductive potential in women


Grazyna Jasienska A1, Anna Ziomkiewicz A1, Peter T. Ellison A2, Susan F. Lipson A2, Inger Thune A3 A4

A1 Department of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Jagiellonian University, Grzegorzecka 20, 31-531 Kraków, Poland
A2 Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
A3 Department of Epidemiology, University of Tromso, N-9037 Tromso, Norway
A4 Ulleval University Hospital, 0407 Oslo, Norway


Abstract:


Physical characteristics, such as breast size and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), function as important features used by human males to assess female attractiveness. Males supposedly pay attention to these features because they serve as cues to fecundity and health. Here, we document that women with higher breast-to-underbreast ratio (large breasts) and women with relatively low WHR (narrow waists) have higher fecundity as assessed by precise measurements of daily levels of 17-β-oestradiol (E2) and progesterone. Furthermore, women who are characterized by both narrow waists and large breasts have 26% higher mean E2 and 37% higher mean mid-cycle E2 levels than women from three groups with other combinations of body-shape variables, i.e. low WHR with small breasts and high WHR with either large or small breasts. Such gains in hormone levels among the preferred mates may lead to a substantial rise in the probability of conception, thus providing a significant fitness benefit.

I'm pretty sure

there are pictures of her floating around the 'net, if that humor was informed by a bit of morbid/perverse curiosity. I believe it was printed on a tabloid cover as well. Don't know where it is though.

A difficult situation

And I think he did something wrong, but I think the dude will not be convicted of rape. OJ was not convicted, and the evidence showed quite clearly he did an arguably more-heinous crime, with 2 victims, and his superstar factor was arguably lower than Kobe's is right now.

Bryant's lawyers are good-- for example, the complaining party can no longer be called "the victim" in the courtroom, because that assumes that a crime has taken place, and by extension whether a "victim" has been created at all, which is the issue. It makes logical sense, but it seems like a big legal and semantic victory for the defense. I have heard of no similar legal coups for the prosecution, while Bryant's folks are chipping away at the prosecution's biggest advantages, eg the rape-shield law requirements.

I think the star-factor and the very-weird factors I've heard about in the media (someone else's semen in the rape kit? wtf?) will lead the jury to think that there's reasonable doubt. And the judge seems at least somewhat sympathetic to defense motions (see above) that will allow evidence that may throw the accuser's credibility into doubt.

Artest

this is a tangent to the Kobe thing, but I hope I have a point. I was looking at the NBA web page to see the voting for the Defensive Player of the Year and I ran across the video of the press conference where Artest is there with Carlisle, Bird, and the GM for the Pacers.

Artest sounds like a little kid and a very slow one at that. My reason for bringing this up is not to bag on this guy, but sometimes I watch these guys on TV and see them do these amazing things on the court and see them with their shoe deals and all their celebrity and they grow into these amazing people. In reality many of them are damn good at basketball or another sport but don't have a lot going on otherwise. And especially nowadays, many of them, like Artest and probably Kobe were young and immature when they joined the league and gained their fame. I guess it might be analagous to what happens with many child tv and movie stars. They have a lot of growing up to do with the added pressures and temptations of fame and celebrity. And I think this is different from in the NBA of the past when first of all these pro athletes weren't as big of stars and second of all they weren't quite so young. I think those two changes lead to some tough situations.

So first I believe that Kobe is innocent until proven guilty. And although he wouldn't have to rape a girl to get laid, he may have been young, stupid, and caught up in his own celebrity. I hope that's not the case though, for her and his sake.

Artest's interview is at:
http://www.nba.com/history/awards/20032004.html
It's long so fast forward to Artest talking.

Kobe

What's everybody's take on the Kobe situation? Do you think he is guilty, or do you think he is just being accused of something due to regret on the woman's part?

I personally have no idea. Since we have no idea what went on in that room, I'm kind of wary of taking a side either way, but I'm curious what you all think. Although, now that I think about it, after reading what I wrote above "he is just being accused of something due to regret on the woman's part" I think I sound pretty stupid. What person, man or woman, would volunteer themselves for the media scrutiny and the trial and all that if nothing really did happen that was "wrong". I don't know. Hard to say.

Fragility factor?

It looks to a mostly-objective observer (don't care too much for either team) that the Lakers have a serious advantage based on scoring ability.

My question is, do the Lakers have an age/fragility factor, and can the Pistons take advantage of it via toughness/meanness/willingness to play d? I know LA were affected by injury during the regular season. Does that all just go away when championships are on the line? If so, maybe that shows championship-quality mettle.

I am rooting against L.A. because of the Goliath factor... there's something untoward about plucking multiple Hall of Fame type guys desperate for a ring off the free-agent rolls. Mostly, I hope it is very competitive and I get to see a lot of lazy play punished, a-la-Prince's block on Miller.

It's David vs. Goliath

but that's how the Pistons, a workman like team, like to play. They will have a gutsy performance and I expect them to steal one in LA. LA, to me, should win this thing easily with the talent they have, but they don't seem to have the heart. Detroit will steal one and take it back to the Motor City for some possible heroics. But once we wake the sleeping giant it will get interesting. What all the media is forgetting is that the Pacers had the 2nd best D in the playoffs and third best in the season. The Lakers don't. Most of the games will be low scoring 80's and 90's, with one blowout for the Lakers. Chauncey will have a better series than this last one and Rip will continue his roll. Kobe will play him better than Artest though. Larry Brown will have something up his sleeve with Shaq. Maybe get Mehmet Okur outside with some threes or 19footers, but Shaq will still do his job on the Pistons. Malone will beat on Rasheed but I expect Rasheed to win the war. The real X factor for the Pistons will be Prince. If that guy can pop in a few points in addition to his D, I think the Pistons have a better chance than most think.

I predict the Pistons in 6 or 7.

PIstons

That's awesome that the Pistons won the East. I really hope they can beat LA. I don't think that LA is unbeatable: they needed a prayer from Derek Fisher to avoid being down 3-1 to San Antonio, right? It might depend on whether or not Rip Hamilton keeps scoring.

YESSSSS!!!!

Pistons win in 6. Made my sports year.

Now, where's Genetically Modified for the Pistons Lakers rematch.

This one looks a little tougher than the first time, but I think we'll be surprised.

Funny shit

Click here.

haiku?

Parham's last posting,
despite syllable count, was
haiku in spirit