5 terrible shows

so, i saw on msn a story about 5 new shows that need to end. i'll agree with 4 of 5.

the one, kid nation. now, their assessment of kid nation isn't bad or incorrect, but for me the show is worth watching.

"But what attempted to be an innovative, kids-teach-adults-a-lesson type of deal just turned into a bunch of whiny, screaming kids running through a huge, contrived mess and “conflicts,” such as introducing religious prayers into their town meetings, that clearly came at the urging of producers."

yeah, that's the show alright. and, kid nation is on the lower end of reality shows. but it's still decent. and it's better than 2.5 men or adam's favorite, 'til death.

week 8 nfl picks

i'm behind on my interneting this week because the ol' laptop's in the shoppe. so, here i go with some week 8 nfl picks.

weekend games

away team	spread	home team	my pick
indi	-6.5	carolina	indi
cleveland	-3	st.louis	st.louis
ny giants	-10	miami	ny giants
philly	-1	minnesota	minnesota
pittsburg	-3.5	cinci	pitt
detroit	+5	chicago	chicago
oakland	+7	tennessee	oakland
buffalo	+3	ny jets	buffalo
jacksonville	+4.5	tampa bay	tampa bay
houston	+10	san diego	san diego
new orleans	-2.5	san francisco	new orleans
washington	+16	new england	new england

monday night

greeen bay

+3

denver

green bay

btw, the ny giants/miami game is stupidly being played in london. also, the houston/san diego game is up in the air due to so.cal fires. i think it may be played at some high school in arizona. or maybe a college. whatever.

also, lines may have changed from what i heard when i did this.

eat some toothpaste for dinner

scathing commentary to follow



toothpastefordinner.com



sometimes i feel this way. btw, nov 3 is just around the corner


toothpastefordinner.com

computer, lack thereof

looks like hard drive is donezo. posting now limited for a few days. keep checking back because you love me. and i love you, too.

fire 1 galaxy 0

dang. it all worked out. final game of mls regular season. everything fell into place. galaxy win, they're in the playoffs. the fire were in the same position. decent match, and both teams had a lot of good chances. and, the galaxy keeper came up huge over and over. until the last 30 seconds. in stoppage time, chicago had a breakaway and their player was able to loop it over the charging keeper. goal.

game over.
season over.

dang.

but we still have 4 more years of beckham to build on.
thanks for keeping it interesting down the stretch fellas.

rowling outs dumbledore

in the words of my good friend woody, "who...cares?"

really. a fictional character was always gay in the author's mind. and that's it. he was never gay in the books. so, those of you out there that might take offense, don't. those of you that might want to congratulate her for authoring a strong gay character, don't. because she didn't. she always imagined that the character was gay, but never actually wrote about it. hey, maybe next week she'll tell us how she always imagined that the big hairy guy was really a woman, post op of course.

it doesn't change the character at all because the character in a story is based on what we're told or what we can infer from details in the story. if anyone says they can tell that dumbledore was gay from the story, they're lying. because the author says she didn't do anything more than imagine that he was.

and really, i don't care. i'm just posting about it because i saw it on every news site i looked at today. as if it were actually news.

week 7 nfl picks

i don't know what my record is in picking games lately because i haven't been keeping track. i'm pretty sure it's not good. nothing is quite working out in the nfl the way i think it should. but, my fantasy team is doing well.


Weekend Games

away team	spread	home heam	my pick
new england	-17.5	miami	new england
tampa bay	+2	detroit	detroit
san fran	+9	ny giants	new york giants
arizona	+9	washington	washington
atlanta	+8	new orleans	atlanta
baltimore	-3	buffalo	buffalo
tennessee	-1	houston	houston
kansas City	+3	oakland	kansas city
ny jets	+6	cincinatti	ny jets
st. louis	+8	seattle	seattle
chicago	+5	philadelphia	chicago
minnesota	+9.5	dallas	minnesota
pittsburg	-3.5	denver	pittsburg

monday night

indianapolis	-3	jacksonville	indianapolis

posting may be sporadic

the next few days may be quiet around here. my computer has been acting up, and when i ran my disc utility program, it said the hard drive was failing. so, i'm currently sitting @ the apple store, waiting to have tech support to check me out.

in other news, i hear apple is putting out their next o.s. next week. so, now might be time...

UPDATE - yep, the hard drive is failing. but, i seem to have been able to back everything up (i hope). so, it's a matter of time before computer no worky. but, it's only about $150 for a new hard drive. which is a lot less than a new laptop.

maybe portland isn't so hip

so, numerous artsy types from fresno have fled, errr, relocated to portland. i wish them all the best in their endeavors.

but, the grass isn't always greener. you see, the portland pd thinks a camera may be a weapon (2nd link has video). and, if you videotape the police illegally searching your neighbor's property, they may tase you. that's right, if you videotape the police on private property, you may be: a.) shot with bean bag gun; b.) tasered; c.) charged with disorderly conduct; and d.) criminal trespass. trespass? according to the story, it seems like he was a friend's property (which more or less implies permission doesn't it?). it was the police there without permission.

that's not fun. or hip.



*cross posted @ f.f.

genocide bill fading away

and the cowardly lions back down (again). dems seem to be skulking away from their plan to officially recognize the armenian genocide.

good thing that the democratic revolution is in full swing. accomplishing much.

third party aps for iphone!

alrighty then. apple has announced (or bowed to pressure, look at it however you want) and will soon be allowing 3rd party software to be installed on the iphone. sweet. i can't wait until someone creates minesweeper or solitaire. shoot, forget that, i can watch movies on this thing. someone figure out how to get halo on it.

honestly, this can be a very good thing. and, it shows that apple hasn't suffered a complete disconnect with all of the forward thinking innovators that have helped support apple all along. let's hope that people make good programs. and that i can get firefox and ditch stupid safari.

now, if they just open it up to other networks. i imagine that'll come in 2 years when the first round of contracts expire.

darth vader, soul man

check out darth vader demonstrating his hidden talent. and no, it's not grabbing cigarettes from his hand a la silent bob.



thanks be to neatorama

deaf people should stay out of texas

and so should the rest of us. the most recent reason texas gives us to stay away - a deaf man was assaulted by a cashier because he didn't talk to the clerk when making a purchase. (video of the story)

the clerk thought he was being rude by not talking to him.

week 6 nfl picks (repost)

Weekend Games

Away Team	Spread	Home Team	My Pick
Cincinatti	-2	Kansas City	Cincinatti
Philadelphia	-3	NY Jets	Philadelphia
St. Louis	+10	Baltimore	St. Louis
Houston	+7	Jacksonville	Houston
Miami	+5	Cleveland	Cleveland
Washington	+3	Green Bay	Green Bay
Tennessee	+3	Tampa Bay	Tennessee
Minnesota	+6	Chicago	Chicago
Carolina	-3.5	Arizona	Arizona
Oakland	+10.5	San Diego	Oakland
New England	-4.5	Dallas	New England
New Orleans	+6.5	Seattle	Seattle

Monday Night

NY Giants

- 3.5

Atlanta

NY Giants

thanks to adam for the graph coding.

Immigration drugs deportees

sounds unbelievable, but it may be true. several deportees are suing immigration & customs enforcement (ice), with the accusation that were drugged against their wills while they were in custody.

at least two of them were given haldol, which apparently is some really bad stuff. it's an anti-psychotic.

it's hard to even say that it's just an allegation, because it's in their medical records. i guess that's honorable, we drug you up, but write it down.

"The information the committee has received from ICE regarding the forced drugging of immigration detainees is extremely troubling, particularly since it appears ICE may have violated its own detention standards," Lieberman spokeswoman Leslie Phillips told CNN in an e-mail.

ya think, joe?

mindforum chinatown walking tour

what are you doing this saturday morning? anyone want to go for a walk?



i'm thinking about going. one of the pluses is that you might get to see the tunnels that run under chinatown in fresno. cool. it's being put on by creative fresno, something i've been a member of in the past, and probably need should renew my membership.

MindForum: Chinatown
Chinatown Revitalization Office
1433 Kern Street
Saturday, October 13th
10:30am Networking
11:00am Walking tour

space is limited to 40 people, and they're asking for a minimum donation of $5 that goes to chinatown revitalization.

if i go, i think i'm hitting up april meat #2 (formerly chris meat market) for lunch.

philadelphia teen arrest

i am not trying to downplay the recent shooting in ohio by posting this story. or, the potential danger posed by the kid in philadelphia that said he wanted to do some similar. but...

the guns in the picture aren't real. every "news" outlet is showing pictures of the "arsenal" the teen possessed. only 1 was a real gun. the rest are either pellet guns or airsoft guns. he also had some knives, and some home made grenades. so, 1 gun (a legally owned 9mm rifle) & home made grenades, that's real deal. a table full of toys, not.



and when you say "armed," people generally think that they're actively carrying it. the kid wasn't strolling around with the toys, real gun, or grenades. they were in his bedroom.

again, i'm not downplaying the potential danger, but i'm just asking for a little truth in reporting by both the police and the news, and a little less exaggeration.

week 6 nfl picks

that's right, here i go again on my own, going down the only road...
wait, no, i mean, here are my picks for this week's slate of nfl games.


away team...........spread...............home....................my pick
cinci.....................-2......................kansas city..............cinci
philly..................-3........................ny jets....................philly
st. louis..............+10......................baltimore...............st.louis
houston...............+7........................jacksonville...........houston
miami.................+5........................cleveland..............cleveland
washington..........+3......................green bay..............green bay
tennesee..............+3.......................tampa bay.............tennessee
minnesota.............+6.....................chicago.................chicago
carolina..............-3.5......................arizona................arizona
oakland...............+10.5...................san diego.............oakland
new england...........-4.5..................dallas...................new england
new orleans...........+6.5..................seattle..................seattle

monday night
ny giants.............-3.5...................atlanta..................ny giants

radiohead in rainbows

so, i'm listening to the new radiohead album, in rainbows, right now. i'm about half way through, and it's good. it's very good.


you should get it.*

btw, yes, i did order the box set deal. it'll ship to me in the beginning of december. but, that package deal includes the download version. and a hard copy version. and a bonus disc. and the album on vinyl. and some other stuff. and a puppy.




*if you like radiohead. if you don't, get it, and give 'em a try. you may like it.

lock up your valuables

where do you keep your important possessions?

do you a safe? file cabinet? safety deposit box?

how about a shed?

what's that, you keep your valuables in a shed? that's brilliant. how often do you go to the shed? oh, not very often. not since last june. hmmm, you may want to check on that.


yes, that's right, some guy kept $5k of gold coins, over a dozen vehicle pink slips, and a $15k cashier's check in a metal shed in visalia. the items disappeared between last june and monday. so, sometime in the last 4 months. that will help nail down when it happened. the guy (gaylord lucas) that reported the theft is from temecula, which is nowhere near visalia. only about 6 hours away.

hey gaylord, maybe next time you want to put that stuff in a safety deposit box.

marion jones

a couple of friends (jay and mike) have asked me my thoughts on the whole marion jones situation. i'm guessing it's because they know i'm a field & track guy, and because i've blogged about this sort of stuff (track, steriods) before.

so here i go:
first, i'm not all that surprised. her baby's daddy, sprinter tim montgomery was banned and had his records stripped due to steroids and his links to balco. her previous husband, shot putter c.j. hunter missed out on the olympics due to some peculiar circumstances and accusations of steroids. after their divorce, he pointed the finger @ her and montgomery for steroids as well.

second, i think that it's semi-honorable that she's returned her gold medals and titles. as far as i can tell, she was never caught, but has admitted to her cheating. not many who are in the position of being accused (bonds, hunter, lance armstrong, etc) but not found guilty have done this. others that have tested positive, but maintain their innocence (floyd landis, rafiel palmero). and there's some others out their, like jason giambi who have admitted to "something" and say they are sorry, but not for what. so, for jones to just admit and confirm suspicion and turn over her results is a step in the right direction.

third, it sucks for everyone else involved. some of her medals were for relays. that means that other people will have to give back what they worked hard for, the honor that they devoted their lives to. this also stinks because i would venture that the alternates for these u.s. relay teams would have been strong enough to win the gold as well (this is an unproven feeling of mine). still others were robbed of the joy of victory, and even though they now will be declared a winner and get the medal, it's not the same. marion's cheating robbed all these people of an important piece of their lives.

finally, i hate it that it puts another black eye on sports. track and field has worked hard to help people feel that the sport is as clean as it could be. they work tirelessly to eliminate cheating. but, the cheaters keep working hard, too, to get their competitive edge. i want people to know that what they're seeing is real. it's worth watching. this will just add more doubt.

y'all done up and done it

nappy roots had a song with that refrain. i enjoyed it a few years back.

it came to me today as i was looking though my hits on sitemeter. it seems i'd received a hit from a different source (other than week 5 nfl picks, jay z's sister, evangeline lilly nude, and whatever else i get through searches.) well, this one wasn't from a search, it was from a link. a link from a little place called the fresnan. to which i say, "ah nah hell nah, y'all done up and done it."

the fresnan is a blog devoted to fresno and all it's goodness. or, as they say, "a blog drunk off fresno's goodness." sounds good to me. i appreciate the link. in fact, i'll return the favor.

and, i'll recommend to my small cadre of readers that they also check out the fresnan. or dorktown. you can also find them on fresno famous. i think wiffle (one of the contributers) is the blogger with the most entries on famous. which is pretty impressive since he doesn't work for famous.


(as i put them over in the link side bar, it made me realize i need to reorder that, organize it in a better sort.)

matriculate

stupid football announcers. in consecutive days i have heard announcers talk about a quarterback matriculating the ball down the field. i think in both cases they've used it in the present tense, to matriculate. both times i've thought, "i don't think that word means what they think it does."

here's a few definitions

from answers.com
tr. & intr.v., -lat·ed, -lat·ing, -lates.

To admit or be admitted into a group, especially a college or university.
n. (-lĭt, -lāt')

One who is admitted as a student to a college or university.

from merriam webster:
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -lat·ed; -lat·ing
Etymology: Medieval Latin matriculatus, past participle of matriculare, from Late Latin matricula public roll, diminutive of matric-, matrix list, from Latin, breeding female
transitive verb : to enroll as a member of a body and especially of a college or university
intransitive verb : to become matriculated

from wikipedia
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matrix. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings. The most common meaning, however, refers to the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by acquiring the meeting prerequisities.

the first hope for this incorrect usage would be this bit o' trivia found on wiki (where trivia is discouraged)
During Super Bowl IV, Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram famously pressed his American football team to "matriculate the ball down the field, boys". It is not certain if this was intentional word play on Stram's part.


and finally, the urban dictionary gives that trivia bit, although as a slightly different quote than wiki, as well as a few other user submitted definitions that echo the misuse of the word.

galaxy win again

the galaxy are still rolling. they won again today, this time 2-1. three wins in a row. still a good amount of work to do. 6 points behind the last playoff spot with 3 games to go. but, 2 of those games are against the worst two teams in the league. and the team they're currently behind in the playoff race in the season finale. how cool would that be, to play the final game of the season riding a 5 game win streak, everything on the line?

puts a little shine on a weekend where the rams kept losing (0-5). and it looks like my fantasy team will fall to 3-2 after starting out 3-0. argh.

but at least the rockies and diamondbacks advance. and, the red sox, too, i guess. sadly, the yankees still have a little life in them.

Fresno Fair Review

so, we went to the fair friday night. good times we had by many.

we arrived and saw the animals. i think we normally hit the fair during the second week so it seems like there are more animals.

after washing our hands, we decided to eat a bit. i think 4/5s of our group had a corndog. but, we didn't all buy them from the same stand. and, some of the corndogs purchased @ the same stand were cold. but mine was nice and piping hot. i only bought a small corndog because i knew i would be eating much more fair food.

brian went over to the bbq joint and bought himself a turkey leg. if you remember, i had one last year. it was enjoyable. but brian's looked like it had been left on the smoker far too long. and, it was all dried out (he said). me, after the corndog, i hit up the bbq joint for a pulled pork sandwich. very good.

after eating, we strolled down to the art exhibit. i was pretty disappointed. there were a handful of good pieces, but overall it seemed pretty weak. i've definitely seen better art hops. we were curious to also see what furniture had been entered. let's just say that adam's work would easily leave the submitted pieces in the dust. not even close competition.

after viewing the art show, we knew we had 30 minutes until the pig races. we walked back to that side of the fairgrounds, and figured we would hit the student art show because it was right next store and we had time. so glad we did. honestly, i was much more impressed with the student art. and, we saw an amazing table done by a junior high student. maybe that student can teach the adults about wood work.

and then it was off to the pig races. there were 3 races (2 semis and a final). i'm only posting the video of the final, but if you want to see them all, along with a warm up watch more of my youtube vids.



after i failed to pick any of the winners, we headed off to the midway. i was so glad that the swing ride was open (last year it wasn't). i love the swings. i'm always a bit terrified that i'm going to somehow die on this ride. but, the feeling of floating through the air is worth it. here's 3 minutes of our flight.



if you're watching closely, at the very start of the video you can see adam cross himself. calling out to God before riding the swing, eh?

mike and kasey didn't want to ride the swings, so after we all went over and did the ferris wheel. here's two clips of it.





so to review:
animals - all right. could use a few more. check out the pygmy goats.
food - some good. make sure you get a hot corndog, and meat that hasn't been on the grill too long.
adult art show - meh.
student art show - very good
rides - good. at least the two i rode were fun.

rademacher - post art hop show

gots nothing to do tonight @ 10? sleep is not an option. come on over to tokyo garden.

you will enjoy:
the sleepover disaster
rademacher
(i won't vouch for the other bands on the bill because i've not heard them, but mike from rademacher says they're good.)



and maybe your friends, will learn to be friends all over again.

fresno fair 2007

it's that time of year again. it's colder in the evenings, the days are getting shorter, and the big fresno fair has begun.

it looks like a group trip will happen friday evening, if you want to come along.

@ the fair, i'm tentatively planning to:
eat a corn dog
see the pig races
begrudgingly look at other animals
see the art show
ride the flying swing ride!


don't know if we'll see a repeat of this

week 5 nfl picks

for some reason or another, i'm getting way more hits than i did in previous years for nfl picks. i'm not sure why either. but last year, i tried to compare my picks with bill simmons, the sports guy. it got old for me, so i didn't even think about it this year.

but, like i said, people are searching for picks, and then coming to the blog. and, like i said, i haven't made any picks, or even talked about nfl picks this season. so, they're hitting up picks from last season. funny stuff.

but what the heck, why not make a pick or two for week 5? versus the spread, of course.
home team.....spread....away................my pick
new orleans.......+3........carolina.........new orleans
kansas city.........-2........jacksonville.....kansas city
washington.......+3.5......detroit...........washington
ny giants..........+3.5......ny jets.............giants
tennessee............-9........atlanta...........tennessee
houston............-5.5......miami.................houston
pittsburg..........-6.5......seattle...............seattle
new england....-16.......cleveland...........new england
st. louis.............+3........arizona............arizona
indi..................-10.......tampa bay...........indi
denver.............-3........san diego..........denver
baltimore.........-3........san francisco......baltimore
green bay.........-3........chicago............green bay
buffalo.............-10.......dallas................dallas

shock doctrine

got 6 or so minutes? check out this video, based on naomi klein's ideas, a summation of shock doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism. the video is put together by alfonso cuaron, who did y tu mama tambien and children of men. he also did great expectations w/apple's mom.

never count your team out

so, i remember during the fuego's season, i watched them blow a match and it looked like they had also slipped out of playoff contention. a few matches later, everything had been righted, and the fuego rolled all the way to the pdl finals.

in similar fashion, i'd pretty much given up on the galaxy's chances of making the playoffs. i harbored slim hopes that they could repeat their feat of last year and hit stride late and sneak into the playoffs. but, realistically, i figured we were dead in the water. especially after we continued to lose after i'd already given up.

but last night, the galaxy moved closer to realizing the dream. they have quietly snuck back into contention. they beat columbus, and are now only 4 points behind the final playoff spot. and all this without that beckham fellow. who, by the way, is healing nicely. initial thoughts would be that he could be back for the oct. 13 but i haven't heard any official news on that front. but, there are 4 games left. we'll see if becks makes it back, and if the galaxy can sneak in the playoffs. one problem, 3 of the 4 games are against the top teams in the league. here's to hoping that they'll be resting their guys for the playoffs and field soft teams against the galaxy.

radiohead skips record industry

radiohead, who is currently not on a label, is going to try something different with the release of their next album on october 10th.

you get to choose how much you pay. from 0-?, you make the call. the album will only be available for the first few weeks by download and will be able to be played on all digital players.

this is pretty interesting to me. sales of music is allegedly slumping. but, people download, legally mind you, more and more music each day. yes, there still are people out there illegally downloading music. but i would venture that people still buy more music than they get for free.

radiohead knows you want their music, and are making it available to you. i'm not sure how much i'll pay. i really like radiohead. i wish i was in a band that people would compare to radiohead. but, the offer of something for free...may be too much to pass up initially. especially if i do this, "The band will also offer a special edition boxed set for 40 pounds ($82) which will be available later and will include two vinyl albums, a CD version of the new album and a second CD with additional new songs, artwork and photographs of the band." i know, $80 is a lot of $, but you're getting so much. and i like vinyl. so, if i order that, i'm cool getting the digital version for free initially.

federline is more fit

yep, kevin federline has been deemed more fit than another adult to do something. that something is being considered responsible for another person. amazing. a back up dancer that seems to impregnate women left and right, who's only discernible talents are gyrating and impregnating, is more qualified to raise children than you. sucks to be britney spears.

woody austin is all wet

how funny is this?