NBA Playoff Preview: Dallas v. San Antonio, Game 2

This is a tough game to call. I don’t love either of these teams. The Mavs have a funky 8-man rotation where their starting shooting guard plays about 15 minutes a game and two of their three subs are PG-sized (though Terry is essentially a 2). Erick Dampier isn’t a great interior presence, but he had a good Game 1 and he should be able to get stuff done against Matt Bonner, Kurt Thomas or Drew Gooden. The Dirk-Tim Duncan matchup is interesting because Duncan has lost a lot of lateral quickness, but that’s negated from the fact that Dirk doesn’t go to the hoop as much anymore.

Just like the Celtics, I can’t see the Spurs losing the first two at home. I think the Mavericks will win the series, but the Spurs should bounce back here with the win. I think Parker has a big game, Mason hits a couple shots, and Udoka plays some lockdown perimeter D on whoever he lines up with in his 15-20 minutes. This series goes to Dallas split, where Dallas has a good chance to take a 3-1 lead.

NBA Playoffs Preview: Bulls v. Celtics, Game 2

So after the most surprising Game 1 result (sorry Dallas and Philly), Boston and Chicago meet for a second time tonight. Who’s picking an upset?

Not I. A few reasons why:
1) The Celtics aren’t going to lose a second straight game at home. They barely lost the first one.
2) Ray Allen will not shoot 1-12 from the field (or 0-6 from 3). Especially since Ben Gordon will be guarding him a decent amount of the time.
3) As great as Derrick Rose will be, and I’m not sure we even know where his ceiling is yet, he’s not at the point where he’s a dominant player game in and game out. If the Celtics can find ways to use their help  D successfully, I see no reason they can’t at least limit Rose to the point where they win the game.

Prediction: Celtics 83, Bulls 81. Series goes to Chicago all square.

Celine Dion: Too Graceful for Hockey?

Apparently Ms. Dion thinks not (and apologies if you’ve already seen this story, I can’t believe I missed it).

Canadian pop star Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and Quebec cable giant Quebecor Media have emerged as potential bidders for the Montreal Canadiens, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

I never realized Celine was a hockey fan, but she is Canadian, so it’s probably not a stretch. She would certainly be the most elegant person at the annual owner’s meetings.

After a long break…

I’m back.

So everyone’s favorite surprise MLB team of last year, the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, have opened an MLB academy in Brazil. Here‘s their reasoning:

Convinced that this nation of 190 million people is loaded with untapped baseball talent, the Rays are looking to break into the land of soccer by becoming the first Major League Baseball team to sponsor an academy in Brazil.

The Rays will invest $6.5 million in the next five years in the academy, which will train future players and promote the game locally. Up to 4,000 young people will have a chance to learn the sport at a free after-school program.

I have to say I love this move. I’m impressed with the Rays’ willingness to pay a substantial amount of money in the short-term for a possible long-term payoff. It says to me that the team is looking to build for the future, through a method whose payoff may not come for 10 to 15 years. But if there’s any talent coming out of Brazil, you better believe that the Rays will get the first shot at it. And if they can come up with one useful major league player, it should cover their investment. And if Brazil ever becomes a baseball power to rival the Dominican Republic or Venezuela (or heck, even Panama), the Rays will have made more inroads than any other club. From all the reports over the year of young Dominican or Venezuelan hotshots turning down larger bonuses to sign with clubs they feel more comfortable with, this is more meaningful than I think we give it credit for. Well played Tampa Bay, well played.

As Much As I Love Aretha

This guy gets her pretty good.

4.5 Hours for Grocery Shopping

Sound crazy? Not if you live in rural Alaska.

My husband and I then started on putting on our winter gear. Long johns, sweatshirts, down snow pants, double layer coat, cap, neck warmer, goggles and heavy duty gloves. We let my sister-in-law know which way we were going to travel and then we went out and checked the snow machine over. Then we hooked up the sled my husband made out of plywood and 2” x 6”s and started up to Emmonak. We left Nunam Iqua at 1:30 p.m. We decided that the short cut trail was safe to travel on and going through the short cut would save us about 2 miles of traveling. The temperature was at 25 degrees when we left with a wind coming from the North. So with the wind-chill the temperature was about 15 degrees Farenheit. We had gotten several inches of new snow and there was a lot of powder on the trail and lots of snow drifts. After we had traveled about 8 miles on the short cut trail we came to the Yukon River.

My husband was driving and I was riding behind him. Usually, we would take two snow machines as it is safer to travel that way, in case one breaks down but with the high cost of fuel we couldn’t afford the gas to take both our snow machines. When we got on the Yukon my husband had to keep a close eye out for overflow. Overflow is water and holes in the ice. It is caused by the tides, when the tide comes in the ice rises and cracks and water seeps through the cracks and sometimes even makes dangerous holes that a snow machine could break through.

The groceries were packed into 3 boxes plus the box of diapers. We took this out and put it in our sled and wrapped it with a tarp and tied it down so it wouldn’t slide around. We then went to the Emmonak Corporation Store Deli and shared a plate of fried shrimp and French fries and a can of pop totaling about $16.00. We left the Corporation Store and went to the Tank farm to get gas before we headed home. We bought 6 gallons of gas which cost us $43.50 but we were relieved because we had been hearing the rumors that Emmonak’s gas might jump to $9-$11 a gallon so we were happy we only had to pay $7.25 a gallon. We also bought a quart of oil for the snow machine and that cost us $10.85 with tax. We called my sister-in-law and checked on CC and told her that we were on our way home. It was 4:15 p.m. We left Emmonak and headed towards Nunam Iqua. It was starting to get a little stormy and snowing some and I was very happy that we had our GPS with us in case the storm got any worse. The storm did get worse and white out conditions were setting in we would have lost the trail if we hadn’t had our GPS with us showing us where to go. We had had the GPS tracking our route to Emmonak on the way up so it enabled us to follow our same trail back to Nunam Iqua and avoid any overflow.

When we left the Yukon and started on the short cut trail we stopped to stretch our legs and warm up a bit since the wind shifted a little and was coming from the east. My husband knew that there was a River Otter house close by and he walked over towards it. He found it all right because he fell through the snow as he stepped on its tunnel and ended up waist deep in snow. I laughed as he crawled out and then he asked me to come over and look. At first I hesitated thinking I don’t want to end up falling into its tunnel but then I followed his steps and walked over to look at it. The tunnel was huge and it was really neat to look at. The River otters here can reach up to 6 feet long and this ones tunnel was impressive.

Just read the whole post. It’s unbelievable. I have a lot of respect for people who manage to make it through these conditions. I have a hard enough time going anywhere during a snowstorm, let alone 25 miles off-road to get groceries…

THE INTERNET IS A STRANGE AND MYSTICAL PLACE

Or something like that. At least in 1981…

I love old predictions about the internet, or seeing what internet news was like before it became my life.

Monsieur Chirac, je suis désolé

And who knew dogs could be clincally depressed?

Former French president Jacques Chirac was rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own ‘clinically depressed’ pet dog.

The 76-year-old statesman was savaged by his white Maltese dog – which suffers from frenzied fits and is being treated with anti-depressants.

The animal, named Sumo, had become increasingly violent over the past years and was prone to making ‘vicious, unprovoked attacks’, Chirac’s wife Bernadette said.

Yikes.

There Are Some Real Crazies Out There

This guy is one of them:

GOODLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. —  A 40-year-old Lapeer County man beat his girlfriend with a cell phone, bound her with duct tape and held her captive for about nine hours because of text messages from a friend, authorities said.

…

The sheriff’s department said the woman told investigators that her boyfriend bound and beat her with the phone and his fists after reading text messages Sunday afternoon at the home they share in Goodland Township. The 39-year-old woman escaped late Sunday to the police department in nearby Imlay City, about 45 miles north of Detroit.

Top 10 Urban Legends of 2008

I love stuff like this:

6. Jamie Lee Curtis Is a Hermaphrodite
“Dear Guide,” begins one of several inquiries I’ve received on this subject, “I’ve heard from a few places that Jamie Lee Curtis is genetically male. I know it is genetically possible for something like this to happen — Ms. Curtis is the only famous person I’ve ever heard linked to this ‘problem.’ One of my best friends is convinced it’s impossible.” Not impossible, necessarily, but highly unlikely.

The Jamie Lee Curtis one is definitely my favorite, if only because Barack Obama is a Muslim and “Bill Gates is sharing his fortune” aren’t as off the wall.

Amazon to the Rescue

I wish I had seen this before the Holidays began. Amazon.com now has “Frustration-Free Packaging,” which I think is a fantastic idea. From the FAQ:

What’s the difference between Frustration-Free Packaging and traditional packaging?

The Frustration-Free Package (on the left) is recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It’s designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging (on the right). Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without an additional shipping box.

Amazon’s FAQ also mentions “wrap rage,” and links to this wikipedia article. I love when corporations have a sense of humor. Bravo Amazon.

The Brick Testament

The Bible in Lego format.

Kottke discusses other unusual Bibles

My favorite:

The Message Remix 2.0 is a version for young people written in “today’s language”. Here’s the first few verses of Genesis:

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth — all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

The Price is Exactly Right

This is amazing:

Of course Drew Carey doesn’t seem to care at all. Initially I thought his choice as host was inspired, now…I’m not so sure.

But as someone who used to watch the Price is Right (especially on sick days), I am actually shocked this happened.

If You Named Your Kid Hitler Don’t Be Mad When People Won’t Make His Cake

At least Adolf Hitler Campbell has an original name?

The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child’s full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance. Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah, are upset not only with the decision made by the Greenwich ShopRite, but with an outpouring of angry Internet postings in response to a local newspaper article over the weekend on their flare-up over frosting.

…

The Campbells’ other two children also have unusual names: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell turns 2 in a few months and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell will be 1 in April.

Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because “no one else in the world would have that name.” He sounded surprised by all the controversy the dispute had generated.

I’m not sure if these parents are just idiots or actually racist. My gut initially said the former, but giving your other kid the middle name Aryan Nation suggests the latter. Either way, couldn’t you have just asked for a “Happy Birthday Adolf” cake? Why did you need to include his middle name? I never had my middle name on a cake.

Hot Rod Meets Tricky Dick

Why am I not surprised by this:

I believe it was Charles Barkley who said, “I’m no role model.”

It’s the same advice Richard M. Nixon should’ve given an impressionable Rod Blagojevich when the two met briefly outside Nixon’s New York home in 1980. Nixon, of course, had already been shamed and destroyed by the Watergate scandal, yet the young Blagojevich insisted he and his traveling buddy, who snapped the above photo (it briefly appeared in a WTTW profile about Blagojevich after he was elected), wait vigilantly for the former president.

In 1980, most twentysomething men probably pined to bump into one of the Beatles or maybe Bo Derek; Blago wanted the autograph of our nation’s most notorious politician. Knowing this is like being handed the lost first chapter of The Blagojevich Saga after reading three-quarters of the way through: You’re already up to your eyeballs in drama, but everything that transpired thus far now rings truer— The taped conversations! The threats during taped conversations! The swearing during taped conversations!

Now all we need is Blago to come out and say, “I am not a crook,” and we’re all set.

You Named Your Kid WHAT??

No, really? Who does this?

The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child’s full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance. Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah, are upset not only with the decision made by the Greenwich ShopRite, but with an outpouring of angry Internet postings in response to a local newspaper article over the weekend on their flare-up over frosting.

…

The Campbells’ other two children also have unusual names: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell turns 2 in a few months and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell will be 1 in April.

Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because “no one else in the world would have that name.” He sounded surprised by all the controversy the dispute had generated.

My first reaction is that these parents are just idiots, not racists. Although including Aryan Nation as your kid’s middle name would suggest otherwise. Don’t get any ideas folks.

Hot Rod Meets Tricky Dick

Of course Rod Blagojevich had to track down President Nixon to get a picture:

I believe it was Charles Barkley who said, “I’m no role model.”

It’s the same advice Richard M. Nixon should’ve given an impressionable Rod Blagojevich when the two met briefly outside Nixon’s New York home in 1980. Nixon, of course, had already been shamed and destroyed by the Watergate scandal, yet the young Blagojevich insisted he and his traveling buddy, who snapped the above photo (it briefly appeared in a WTTW profile about Blagojevich after he was elected), wait vigilantly for the former president.

In 1980, most twentysomething men probably pined to bump into one of the Beatles or maybe Bo Derek; Blago wanted the autograph of our nation’s most notorious politician. Knowing this is like being handed the lost first chapter of The Blagojevich Saga after reading three-quarters of the way through: You’re already up to your eyeballs in drama, but everything that transpired thus far now rings truer— The taped conversations! The threats during taped conversations! The swearing during taped conversations!

All that’s missing now is for Blago to announce “I am not a crook.”

David Paterson is NOT Happy

Newsday:

Gov. David Paterson’s office lashed out at an impersonation of him on the final 2008 episode of “Saturday Night Live” that made him into a blind, bumbling, whack job with a drug problem that may (or may not) be classified as “a former one.” Paterson’s spokesman, Errol Cockfield, released this statement late Sunday: “The governor engages in humor all the time, and he can certainly take a joke. However, this particular Saturday’ Night Live’ skit unfortunately chose to ridicule people with physical disabilities and imply that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities. The governor is sure that Saturday’ Night Live,’ with all of its talent, can find a way to be funny without being offensive. Knowing the governor, he might even have some suggestions himself.”

And here’s the video:

more about “David Paterson is NOT Happy“, posted with vodpod

Don’t Mess With the Big Fella

Hanover Meets Urban Dictionary?

Self-Call

Online Auctions Gone Wrong

There is something severely, severely wrong with this website.

From an article about the site:

I was fascinated to discover the auction hybrid site swoopo.com (previously known as telebid.com). It’s a strange combination of eBay, woot, and slot machine. Here’s how it works:

• You purchase bids in pre-packaged blocks of at least 30. Each bid costs you 75 cents, with no volume discount.
• Each bid raises the purchase price by 15 cents and increases the auction time by 15 seconds.
• Once the auction ends, you pay the final price.

I just watched an 8GB Apple iPod Touch sell on swoopo for $187.65. The final price means a total of 1,251 bids were placed for this item, costing bidders a grand total of $938.25.

So that $229 item ultimately sold for $1,125.90.

And here’s the kicker:

In short, swoopo is about as close to pure, distilled evil in a business plan as I’ve ever seen. They get paid for everything up front, and as they drop ship everything there’s no inventory or overhead to worry about. It is almost brilliantly evil, in a sort of evil genius way. You can’t stop people from endowment effect fueled bidding when they have the individual chance, however small it may be, to win a $2,000 television for $80 — while collectively sending the house $10,000 or more.

My admiration stops short of sites that prey on the weak and the uneducated — and of business plans that are almost certainly illegal, at least here in the US.

“Abuse of a Corpse”

From Time’s Top 10 Oddball News Stories of 2008:

In the course of talking to police about an unrelated burglary, a Texas teen revealed that he and two friends had robbed a grave, used a garden tool to break off the skull of its occupant, made the skull into a bong and smoked marijuana out of it. Police didn’t believe the story at first, but when they arrived at the home of one the fingered friends to ask about incident, the friend “regurgitated in his plate of food,” according to the Houston Chronicle — which clued cops in that they may have been on the right track. The skull belonged to an 11-year-old boy who had died in 1921. The teen who first confessed was sentenced to eight months in county jail for “abuse of a corpse.”

Elephants Live Longer in the Wild

A new study shows that elephants in captivity live less than half as long as those out in the wild.

Why you may ask?

There are a few “smoking guns” in elephant welfare. For starters, zoo elephants have a far smaller range so they get less exercise. Zoo food is different to that in the wild, and is much easier to come by, which could contribute to making zoo elephants obese, a known threat to the captive population.

And there are social factors which could be putting a considerable amount of stress on captive elephants.

In the wild, families of elephants stay together forever and are led by a matriarch. In zoos, females are moved on average every seven years. Mason’s study showed that Asian elephants were more likely to die after an inter-zoo transfer, an effect that lasted up to four years.

Mike Huckabee and Jon Stewart: Showdown on Comedy Central

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Daily Show host Jon Stewart debate gay marriage:

more about “Mike Huckabee Pt. 2 | The Daily Show …“, posted with vodpod

The Theater is Getting Too Real

Oh. My. God.

Try this for an Agatha Christie plotline: performing on stage inside Vienna’s Burgtheater, one of Europe’s oldest and grandest, an actor takes a knife to his throat in his character’s desperate attempt at suicide. As audience applause fills the opulent theater, blood pours from the actor’s neck. But something’s not right. Buckling and staggering his way off stage, the actor collapses to the floor. That’s because the knife, and the harm that it’s done, are both tragically real.

Thankfully the actor, Daniel Hoevels, survived the prop snafu.