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The Onion versus the Clippers

(author unknown) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:34:46 -0800

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Wow

'Batman' Manu Ginobili has rabies shots after capture

(author unknown) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:19:46 -0800

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This is remarkable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT-F5QznjrA&feature=player_embedded

Manu Ginobili had to get rabies shots after swatting a bat during a game on Saturday.

Schroedinger's Cameraman

Michael Johnston — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:12:57 -0700

From Chicago Public Radio's "This American Life."

(In case you can't see this, the direct link is here.)

Mike
(I can't remember who sent me this, but thanks!)

Send this post to a friend

Featured Comment by Yunfat: "Funny. But James Nachtwey has told of an opposite effect as well:

If there comes a time when I'm the only one who can make a difference, then I'll suspend being a journalist and help people. I have intervened in lynch mobs several times over the years and managed to save people. And there was a time I tried to save a man in Indonesia.
People from a mosque in Jakarta were offended that a Christian church had a bingo parlor next to the mosque. They saw bingo as a form of gambling, which was against their religious beliefs. So they attacked the bingo parlor and began to kill the Christian guards. As I asked people in the street what was going on, one of the guards came running up an alleyway, chased by a mob. I tried to stop the mob from killing the guy. Three times they actually stopped. Once, a man was about to cut the guard's throat. At that point, I got on my hands and knees and begged him not to do it. And he didn't do it. He actually put down his knife and stood the guard up. But then the mob turned on me and became very threatening. People were in my face, pushing me back. While they were pushing me back, they finished the guard off. I thought that if one of them struck me, they'd probably take me out as well. I resumed taking pictures of the guard, and that didn't seem to bother the mob. They allowed me to photograph it. But they wouldn't allow me to stop it.
—James Nachtwey

...although I have to say anyone else who did what he did would probably end up dead. I firmly believe that cameras can lend the appearance of being an impartial arbiter, but I certainly won't be putting myself in front of a murderous mob anytime soon."

Featured Comment by Ctein: "Okay, as one of those really small kids most likely to get picked on in elementary school, I say from experience that blaming this on the camera game is bullsh*t. Kids in elementary schools don't make it a habit to break up fights. They are not budding young Good Samaritans. They're less civilized and less socially conscious than your average adult in such a situation. Which is setting the bar awfully low. The camera game at most provided safe psychological rationalization for them not getting involved, but that's all."

Featured Comment by J Ho: "Being one who grew up during the first generation of 'extreme sports,' I witnessed hundreds of instances where human behavior radically changed once a camera was introduced into a situation—especially when the camera was being wielded by a 'professional' (something I happened to be at the time).

"Once the possibility of someone's heroic/insane/justplainstupid exploits being recorded (not to mention maybe being published in a magazine/video) for others to witness, individual (and group) behavior became far less 'risk-averse' and far more aggressive.

"It was as predictable as the sun rising: 'pro' shows up with some cool cameras and the injuries would commence. In fact, some photographers would refuse to even begin shooting until the skater/bmxer took a big enough chance to make it worth 'wasting' film (Velvia) or video (High-8).

"The term of art was 'dying for the camera.'

"A month or two later the photo/video would be published, and the stunt portrayed would come to be considered 'normal' or a 'baseline' for the next series of actions—ever more risky, ever more 'camera worthy.' Ultimately, we had people jumping out of helicopters hovering above ramps and vaulting 50-foot gaps between ten story buildings; at the time, we thought that kind of stuff was the ultimate, although it seems rather quaint in retrospect."

Newton and Leibniz

(author unknown) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:00:00 -0700

4005

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:01:00 -0700

Words written for my last set of comments this year. More than last time, and one more comment to write…

I’m done.

Life updates to follow…

Dirk Nowitzki Announces He's Taking a Paycut

Fri, 15 May 2009 19:21:44 -0700

Dirk Nowitzki Announces He's Taking a Paycut:

…from $18 million

Officiating

Thu, 14 May 2009 21:01:26 -0700

Not sure how many of my intermittent visitors (though, I don’t think Google Analytics tracks RSS feeds) are (were) watching the Rockets/Lakers game, but Kobe Bryant was just called for a technical foul (I’ll post a video later). There are a couple of things to comment on:

Whichever Van Gundy is calling this game is an idiot. Artest got bumped in the head and ran off the court. Later, when Kobe and Ron-Ron were talking, the video tape clearly showed a cut on Artest’s tongue, which nobody commented on since Van Gundy was too busy flapping his trap about how Artest “overracted” and “sold the foul.”
The officiating in the NBA, and definitely in the playoffs, is terrible. Awful. Atrocious. Pathetic. As an example, on the play we are talking about, Kobe ran right into Artest, and in addition to the head-butt technical, the result of the play was that Artest got called with a foul. I didn’t mis-type that. Kobe got a technical for head-butting Artest, but Artest got a foul called on him for being in Kobe’s way on the same play. There are a number of reasons for sub-standard officiating:
1. The rules are ill-defined.
2. The way David Stern wants the rules to be enforced is sometimes contrary to the way the rules are written.
3. The refs are human (and may be unethical)
4. The refs and David Stern think the refs’ responsibility is to control the game
Anybody who plays the game knows what a foul is what a foul isn’t.

From my perspective and sensibilities, there is an easy solution to the problem of bad officiating: get rid of officals. The “foul/contest + observer”* mechanic of ultimate will take the place of officials. Many people would be skeptical of such a plan, but I must say that I have never played in an ultimate game where the officials had a significant impact on the outcome of the game (mostly because there aren’t any).

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest arguments against removing officials would be players like Kobe who think that every time they are touched, even if they initiate the contact, that it is a foul. I believe that the reason Kobe, and players of his ilk (which is a lot, by the way, I only chose Kobe because we were already talking about him, and he is being particularly whiney tonight) are sensitve to being fouled is because of officials. In fact, if you look at basic basketball strategy, much of it is centered around getting fouled. That seems wrong to me, and if you think about it, it is wrong. The game is about players.

Officials (observers), would still be necessary, of course, especially during the transition. They would be used to reset the shotclock, rule on twos and threes, call three-second and illegal defense violations, etc. Of course, they would also be there to resolve disputes and to intervene if necessary, and the League would review players’ foul/contest behaviours, and issue penalties if needed.

Think about it. Players controlling the game.

* A player calls a foul, the offending player can say ‘contest’ if they feel there wasn’t wrong doing, and the observer settles disputes, should they arrive. A contested foul results in a “do-over” essentially.

CNR

(author unknown) — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:30:31 -0700

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In a continuum of funny comics, this one is notable.

CNR

(author unknown) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:00:00 -0700

Finish

Tue, 12 May 2009 20:05:53 -0700

At 8:50 to play in game 5 of Orlando vs. Boston, Mickael Pietrus cut behind the Celtics defense, leapt in the air, and dunked the ball. This shot put Boston down 77-63 with 8:48 to play. Over the next 4 minutes and 52 seconds, Glen Davis and Stephon Marbuy scored all 16 Boston points (they averaged 10.8 per game combined during the regular season), as compared to 8 from Orlando, and only four from Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu (who averaged 37.4 PPG during the regular season).

And even though Orlando was still up with 3:56 to play, the game was over as Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins, all of whom were not on the floor since 8:48, came into the game, and Orlando mustered three points for the remainder of the game, all on free throws intentionally given.

It may have been one of the most stunning and masterfully-coached sequences I’ve ever witnessed. Boston knows how to finish, Orlando doesn’t (hint: give the ball to Dwight Howard).

Make sure you stick with it until the bitter end… the part...

Sun, 10 May 2009 12:46:42 -0700

Make sure you stick with it until the bitter end… the part with Mike Tyson (actually Mike Tyson).

Continuation

Sat, 09 May 2009 15:54:12 -0700

I am watching Dallas/Denver, game 3, and Josh Howard just got a technical foul for hitting a ball into the stands after the play was over. I suppose that it goes down as a “delay of game” type penalty, and it isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a player penalized for it. The theory, I think, of throwing a shot like that back— after the play is over— is an assertion of toughness: any time you come in here, we’re planning on turning you away. The Celtics won a championship last year with that sort of mentality, and I think it is a winning one.

I have a huge problem with penalizing a player for it. The way I see it, the offensive player continuing after the whistle has blown is the one delaying the game, though I have definitely never seen a player penalized for it. In fact, right after he got a penalty for it, Chauncy Billups shot the technical free throw, ran up to get the ball, grabbed it out of the net, and put it back in the basket. Delay of Game, Technical Foul? Not a chance.

We like to call that a double standard.

Royals Watch: Update #5

Sat, 09 May 2009 08:06:44 -0700

8-2 over the last 10 games. 18-12 overall. #3 in ESPN’s RPI. 4th-best start in franchise history.

Here are the Top 5 in Run Differential to date:

(+51) LA Dodgers (I suppose that will change over the next 49 games, or so…)
(+43) Toronto Blue Jays
(+31) St. Louis Cardinals
(+30) Boston Red Sox
(+29) Kansas City Royals

Coincidentally, the best five records in baseball belong to the five teams listed above.

Climate lobbying group ignored its own science advisors

(author unknown) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:10:09 -0700

The Fetish Of Centrism

(author unknown) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:17:12 -0700

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ck pointed me to this guy's blog, and it has been great reading.

He doesn't come out and say it, but I think Jonathan Chait's piece on the Democratic congress, really puts the lie to this idea that what we need right now is group of Senators assembled to prevent the Democratic Party from tilting to the left. My beef isn't with people who aren't as liberal as me--it's with people who call themselves moderates because it polls well, or to cover for their fundraising efforts. As Evan Bayh admitted, these dudes have no stated platform. They're just yelling "Centrism!" into a crowded room.

So what do they want? Who really knows. But here's Chait on Mr. Moderate Ben Nelson:

The most emblematic objection has come from Nelson, who is balking at Obama's plan to save money on college loans. You might suppose that a fiscal conservative like Nelson would agree with Obama's plan to save $4 billion on a social program. But he does not, for reasons that provide a useful window into the rot afflicting the congressional Democratic Party.
For many years, the federal government supported college education by guaranteeing bank loans to students. If a student defaulted on his loan, Washington would simply pay back the difference. In 1993, Clinton undertook to reform the program by cutting out the middlemen and simply having the federal government issue the loans directly. Clinton hoped to save money for the government and plow some of those savings into lower interest rates for students. Of course, private lenders who benefitted from the no-risk profit stream balked and forced a compromise whereby both kinds of loans--guaranteed private loans, and direct loans from the government--would exist side by side.
Recent years have shown beyond a doubt that the direct lending program works better. Every independent analysis--by the Congressional Budget Office, by the Office of Management and Budget under each of the last three presidents, and by the New America Foundation--has found that direct lending is cheaper. The guaranteed-loan program managed to cling to life through its congressional patrons and through simple graft. In 2007, a major student-loan scandal emerged when it turned out that private lenders paid off college administrators to drop out of the direct lending program and steer students to them.
Obama thus proposes to save the taxpayers more than $4 billion per year by ending the guaranteed loans. This is as straightforward a case as you can find of a fight between special interests and the public good. Nelson opposes it because one of the lenders that benefits from federal overpayments is based in Lincoln, Nebraska.

There's so much more. Read the piece.

Mississippi makes red-light cameras illegal

(author unknown) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:14:58 -0700

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Now this is interesting...

They may be advertised as speeding deterrents to city councils and safety tools to worried parents, but according to another school of thought, red-light cameras are all about making money. It's not clear whether the systems are always pitched as profit generators from day one or if the city government, confronted with a sudden jump in ticket revenue, makes its own decision to shorten yellow lights. The correlations, however, are there. There's weak evidence that the red-light cameras reduce accidents at certain intersections (though the severity of those accidents may actually rise), but there's no doubt that they provide a major source of revenue at a time when cities are hurting for funds.

Click here to read the rest of this article

Why Is A.I.G. Using Our Money To Sue The Government For $306 Million? [Lawsuits]

(author unknown) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:33:09 -0700

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More AIG gaffs.

A.I.G. is suing the government to recover over $300 million in tax breaks that the insurance company says were improperly denied. What sort of tax breaks? The sort otherwise known as illegal Cayman...

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1000 Times

(author unknown) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:59:41 -0700

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53 times better than last Friday's

Correlation

(author unknown) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:15:41 -0800

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Amazing

Sledding Discussion

(author unknown) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:11:56 -0800

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That's amazing

Here's one man's poignant Amazon review of ... [Self Help]

(author unknown) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:33:10 -0800

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Amazingly, I couldn't see this coming.

Here's one man's poignant Amazon review of how "The Secret" changed his life. We take back any skepticism we had about it.

Sikh Signs For Package, UPS Driver Enters His Name As "TERRORIST" [Racism]

(author unknown) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:35:04 -0800

A UPS driver entered a Sikh man's name as TERRORIST on its online package-tracking database. The man's family discovered the epithet when they searched for a package UPS failed to deliver. UPS is...

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Use a Prius as an Emergency Generator [Clever Uses]

(author unknown) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:18:07 -0800

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Factor the cost of a generator into the cost of a new Prius. I'd also plan on gas being closer to $4.50 than $1.50.

If you happen to be the owner of a Toyota Prius, or any other battery-packed hybrid car, you can use it as a surprisingly effective emergency generator. After a storm knocked out power in his...

A Sustainable Auto Industry

(author unknown) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:47:11 -0800

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From my boy, seeligd

Dartmouth economist Matthew Slaughter:

On Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama asked, "What does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look like?"
Well, it looks a lot like the automotive industry run by "foreign" car companies that insource jobs into the U.S. In 2006 these foreign auto makers (multinational auto or auto-parts companies that are headquartered outside of the U.S.) employed 402,800 Americans. The average annual compensation for these employees was $63,538.
At the head of the line of sustainable auto companies stands Toyota. In its 2008 fiscal year, it earned a remarkable $17.1 billion world-wide and assembled 1.66 million motor vehicles in North America. Toyota has production facilities in seven states and R&D facilities in three others. Honda, another sustainable auto company, operates in five states and earned $6 billion in net income in 2008. In contrast, General Motors lost $38.7 billion last year....
Will fewer companies look to insource into America if the federal government is willing to bail out their domestic competitors?
The answer is an obvious yes. Ironically, proponents of a bailout say saving Detroit is necessary to protect the U.S. manufacturing base. But too many such bailouts could erode the number of manufacturers willing to invest here.

'Stunned' Curry not part of Knicks' regular rotation

(author unknown) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:48:05 -0700

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The headline should be, "Worst player in basketball stunned he isn't part of one of the worst team's regular rotation." He's so bad, that fantasy basketballers have an "Eddy Curry Line" that highlights poor performers. Eddy Curry is usually at the top of that list.

New Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said he doesn't plan to play Eddy Curry in the team's season opener Wednesday against the Miami Heat.

Scrabble

(author unknown) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:12:38 -0700

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Actually, this is more common than one would think...

10 Things That Are Going Right For Consumers [Optimism]

(author unknown) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:21:31 -0700

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The Consumerist is optimistic.

Kiplinger's is more optimistic than we are, so they had the cheerful idea to put together a list of 10 things that are going right for consumers — despite the financial apocalypse. Hooray!...