Intellectual Poison

For reasons that won't make any sense without a lengthy explanation that I don't have time to get into now, I've been using a mirror to watch television while at my desk in the office.

If you want to make your brain work harder than it normally does, try to read baseball stats in a mirror. Its damned hard at first but gets slightly easier with a little practice. Kind of like riding a unicycle. Only its a tv.

Labels: brain game, mirror

Momentarty - the tart of the moment, inspired by Eliot Spitzer's call girl and Mindy McCready.

Labels: nwotd

It isn't quite official but it might as well be. My position in the school district will cease to exist on July 1st and my employment in the district along with it.

Which is to say, hit the bricks, punk.

While there are aspects of my employment that I am going to miss, I'm already seeing a bit of a silver lining (stupid optimistic streak!) in that a return to the private sector means more money, merit (not limp seniority rules) raises, bonuses and alot less chair-fillers (the losers who get into a bureaucracy and then do almost nothing but occupy their chair).

I would have stayed if I could have. Despite growing misgivings about the state of education in California and my personal issues with the office manager at one of my schools (who pulled another total asshole move today that had pissed me off before my meeting with HR but doesn't matter in the least to me now that I know its not my fight). I would have stayed despite making about two-thirds of my pay at my last job. I would have stayed despite the communications chasm within and without my department.

But that choice has been taken away from me and now I need to pick myself back up and get another damned job. One upside is that, by taking the bull by the horns and setting up the meeting with HR, I know alot earlier than I would have and can start working my employment cycle earlier.

The severe downside is that there are an awful lot of people who are also out of work and looking.

Its time to start thinking about what kind of job I would like to have next, the kind of people I want to work with (not apathetic bureaucrats) and I can look forward to making substantially more money again. All of which are good things but the process is a drain, financially and emotionally and I was looking forward to not having to do it again for some time. But that's no longer up to me.

Time to sharpen up my resume, dust off my LinkedIn profile and start working my business contacts to get some movement going. Know anyone who needs an exceptionally creative visionary PR/marketing guy who can also fix computers, plan conferences, shepherd CEOs and basically kick ass at any job he's given? Drop me a line.

Next step?
What industry do I want to work in?

Oh yeah, maybe I'll take a drive up to take a big steaming shit on the sidewalk in front of the Governor's office.

Labels: layoff, unemployment

As anyone with younger children knows, Disney loves its cute white jailbait stars like nobody's business. And they have no problems vamping them up and out and making a 16 year old girl look like she's 25. Quite the opposite, the tarting starts earlier with each generation.

The music videos they show on Disney between shows are indistinguishable from MTV videos with vixens catting around in trampy clothes and looking all hot and bothered. Except the "vixens" in these videos are 15 and 16 years old and thinking how hot they look segues directly into icky feelings of perviness.

Why am I writing about any of this? Because of today's news that Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana aka Disney's Money Train is deeply sorrowful about her photo expose in the new Vanity Fair where she poses topless though wrapped in a sheet.

And what's the result of her public admission of being sorry about it? How about being the #3 and #4 most searched terms on the internet today (just behind The Rocket's latest revelation of bedding a 15 year old country singer). That is, her photos have already been looked at millions and millions of times, her exposure has been exponentially increased and her name recognition sales power has also gone up with it. Boo-friggin'-hoo indeed.

The photos aren't racy, they aren't explicit and they aren't even close to porn. But they do show an awful lot of skin of a jailbait star treading the line between pop queen and wank fodder for dirty old men. And maybe for young men too.

Do I really think she's sorry about the photos? Hell no.
Do I really think she's trying to increase her exposure? Hell yes.
Do I think Disney should be ashamed of pimping underage teens? Um yeah.
Do I think Vanessa Hudgens pics are way better? Hell yeah. Not that I've seen them, of course.

I don't know where I'm going with this but that I kind of hate Disney for pushing these underage girls out like eye candy and exploiting their sexuality for monetary gain while pretending to be wholesome purveyors of innocent children's entertainment.

Oh yeah, I'm also thoroughly sick of hearing anything about Miley Cyrus and/or Hannah Montana. Almost as sick of Amy Winehouse stories and Paris Hilton's poor me crap.

Labels: Disney, exploitation, jailbait, Miley Cyrus, pimp, underage

Report: Clemens had relationship with Mindy McCready which started when she was 15 years old. But his attorney swears it wasn't sexual. Oh no, of course not.

Which is to say, Roger Clemens is an even bigger asshole scumbag than anyone knew. And that's saying alot given his outrageous defense of the steroid allegations against him and lying to Congress.

One really important thing to keep in mind when providing testimony to Congressional committees is that lying to them can (and should) mean jail time.

I expect additional charges will be brought against if these new allegations are true. That and I expect more and more of his friends to abandon him since these charges are not about cheating at baseball but banging a 15 year old country singer for half her life.

Nice work, Rocket. I hope your life continues to disintegrate around you. Methinks your loud protestations of your innocence and the misrememberation by all those around will be your ultimate downfall.

Hall of Fame? Hell, you're going to be lucky to keep your filthy ass out prison.

Labels: adultery, baseball, cheat, Roger Clemens

Random play is a wanderful thing (yes, I meant that and will post the new word shortly). Random music will pop and up I will instantly be transported back in time to another place in my life.

Such as Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf that's playing right now. I can close my eyes and be instantly back in Lisa Colt's room hanging out with her and having her explain to me all of the sexual nuancery in the music.

I also recall it was a turn-on watching and listening to her mimic the moans in the song (there are seven if I recall). Lisa was the adopted daughter of my mom's boyfriend at the time. She was a few years older than I was but we got along well, I found out later why she got along with me so well when we, umm, had a little fun together one night.

Anyway, I'm sure my mom will love reading that bit. But this little traipse down memory lane serves to remind me that I need to start adding to my music again. I haven't gotten any new music in a little while now, not that I'm complaining as I've got a pretty decent sized collection to begin with and, let's face it, Led Zep, The Doors and The Police aren't recording any new music anyway. But that doesn't mean there isn't any good new music, I just haven't had the time to go hunting.

Labels: memory lane, music, time machine

For every girl who is tired of acting weak when she is strong, there is a boy tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable. For every boy who is burdened with the constant expectation of knowing everything, there is a girl tired of people not trusting her intelligence. For every girl who is tired of being called over-sensitive, there is a boy who fears to be gentle, to weep. For every boy for whom competition is the only way to prove his masculinity, there is a girl who is called unfeminine when she competes. For every girl who throws out her E-Z-Bake oven, there is a boy wishes to find one. For every boy struggling not to let advertising dictate his desires, there is a girl facing the ad industry's attacks on her self esteem. For every girl who takes a step toward her liberation, there is a boy who finds the way to freedom a little easier.

Labels: gender, identity

I created a MyMiniCity, the aforementioned Sulgradistan and the city (not really a city since there are currently only two people living there) needs your help. Each unique click adds to the population of the city.

Your click can create some digital life. Click now but don't bother clicking often.

And if you have a city or you create one then leave a comment and I'll click on yours.

I have yet to figure out if there's anything else to the site or just click-throughs translating to population growth. It doesn't appear that I can make my citizens riot or freak out or anything yet.

Labels: click, myminicity

Never underestimate how atrocious a two year old can be. They have absolutely no conscience.

I happened to be flipping channels last night and came across this rather bizarre program listing. I don't know about you but I've not wondered about the relative hype-itude of colon cleansing for some time now.

Labels: colon, hype

Today's new word is inspired by recent delightful interactions with one of my schools' office managers who has asked me to install software on her computer that she's already been specifically forbidden to have installed.

Sinstallation - a "sinful" installation, i.e. putting software on a computer when they are not supposed to have it. Sinstallation leads to my boss coming down on me very, very hard as it exposes the school to piracy lawsuits and exposes the network to an unqualified and unwanted user.

And no, she did not get the software sinstalled, I checked with my supervisor who informed me of the history.

The office manager and I are currently embroiled in a low-level passive/aggressive war. She wants me to go above and beyond for her school regardless of the fact that I have contractual obligations to work for my other schools when my schedule has me there. She's also a wicked control freak who hates that I'm not under her thumb.

Labels: nwotd

The Oakland A's bring back Frank Thomas after the Blue Jays discarded him like an empty pack of peanuts.

Frank Thomas is a Hall of Fame player. He's also a Hall of Fame guy with an awful lot of wisdom to impart to younger players.

I'm excited he's coming back to Oakland even if its just to run out his career with a little dignity and some class.

We're glad to have you, Frank!

I love my Tivo, it gives me power over the idiot box. But they seem to think I've got a 2 second memory because they refuse to accept that I have read and understood the message about the need to connect to the server. I have, at last count, deleted the exact same message eight infuriating times this morning and it just keeps coming back.

What insane rationale could lead them to think I need so many reminders or that I really do NOT want to delete the message when I have deleted it eight times already? That is just asinine.

By the time I ended up leaving for work, I'd "deleted" the same ridiculous message more then 14 times. Which is about 13 times too many.

By the way, ever since replacing/upgrading the main hard drive we have tons of suggested viewing, more space to record shows we want than ever before and the interface is back to being somewhat zippy (the dying hard drive made everything slow, slow, slow).

There's still too much Oprah and Dr. Phil but at least they are more buried among my shows so it doesn't bother me so much. Not anywhere near as much as the messages that cannot be deleted though.

Labels: stupid GUI, tivo, undeletable

If you are a fan of hockey then you are already well aware of what a fantastic Game Seven was played in San Jose by the Calgary Flames and the Sharks. The game was played hard by both sides, with alot of hits, some cheap shots and some blatant assaults. But that's hockey and that's alright by me.

When the assaults get called for the fouls that they are. But the officials were really bad, missing clear fouls committed directly in front of them. If it were up to me, that officiating crew would be demoted right out of the playoffs.

But anyway, the hockey game itself was fast, furious and explosive. And historic in Jeremy Roenick's record-tying 4 points via two goals and two assists.

And the Sharks won, of course, that's what really made it a great game. Unless you're a Flames fan.

Labels: hockey, Sharks

The iPhone video threat: Can networks keep up?

The iPhone now accounts for my mobile web traffic than any other device in the US and it is #2 globally. And a huge proportion of users are using their unlimited (suuuh-weet!) data plans to spend hours and hours downloading and viewing YouTube videos.

I am not one of them as I probably go to YouTube less than twice a week and usually the only time I do go is to demonstrate how freakin' awesome the iPhone is. Yes, I did watch alot of YouTube this weekend but that's because of UFC 83 and my deep and overpowering need to see Matt Serra get the snot beaten out of him by GSP.

The article details some pretty amazing stats. More than 9 billion videos were served up in 2007 and YouTube alone consumed as much bandwidth as the entire internet did in 2000. Think about that for just a second and then pick your jaw up off the floor.

The issue isn't stopping YouTube, its making YouTube less of a bandwidth sink and suck. YouTube should look into incorporating BitTorrent technology to spread the bandwidth suck down. Or companies (and school districts) will continue to just block the site altogether which sucks because there's some superb content to be found.

Labels: bandwidth, iphone, youtube

Check out NASA's top-10 views of Earth and enjoy the beauty of our planet with all us stupid humans mucking all to hell.

I think my favorite of the bunch is #9 the Nukuoro Atoll in Micronesia but most of them are pretty awesome. I really like the Green Aura image too.

Dodgers fall past Giants into last place

With a payroll of $118,536,038 compared to the Giants' relatively middle of the road $76,904,500, the Dodgers are living down to their expectations quite nicely.

The more they flail and fail, the happier I get. The same goes for the Yankees.

Oh, and Easy, the Red Sox are fourth in the league payroll this year, more than $70 million less than the Yankees. But then, no team aside from the Yankees is breaking $150 million and the Yankees are spending nearly $210 million on their roster this season.

That is a ridiculous inequity and there is absolutely no reason they should be allowed to spend so damned much and pretty much destroy any concept of an even playing field.

I'll suggest it again because it tickles me, I want salary-weighted scoring (that is, the Yankees would have to score 10 runs for every run the Marlins put up with their meager $21 million payroll). Sure it would rip the bottom out of the contract negotiating market but it would also force teams like the Yankees to actually create and develop a team rather than just buy All-Stars.

My favorite art and satire blog has come home, Gallery of the Absurd: Say Goodbye to Circus Hour. Readers may recall several of my posts lamenting the collaboration of 14 and Candy on Circus Hour because of the drastic change in signal to noise.

And, no offense to Candy, but it had gotten to be too much. Not just for me but for many of 14's fans.

As of today, 14 has come home to the Gallery of the Absurd and I could not be happier. If you are looking for quality painting with a satirical celebrity bend to them (14's repeated skewering of Paris, Lilo and Teh Brit should have won her a freakin' Pulitzer alone!) then head on over and immerse yourself in the joy that is 14 and her genius in acrylics and oils.

We had a cold and windy (some might even say blustery) weekend but we also had a good portion of my family visiting from New England. And anytime I get to see my family is a good time. Even more so when Grady and Sully get some family time with their cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents.

Add in a trip to a windy beach with four little boys, a stop at a playground on the way out and then a totally kickass sushi dinner and you've got the makings for a pretty excellent, if short, visit.

I do wish we lived closer to my side of the family because I really do enjoy their company, they are interesting people with interesting lives and, of course, I love them. But its just that 15 month long New England winter I COULD hack, I just choose not to. I like my two wheeled toys far too much to stare at them for most of the year.

And now its back to work, back to trying to suss out whether I'm on the shortlist to get pink slipped (i.e. notified about my contract not getting renewed for next school year) and back to helping keep the technology of the educational system running as smoothly as it can given the obstacles put in our way by the Governator and Shrubya.

Labels: family, weekend, work

Today also has finally seen the shutting up of the little mouth that could in Matt Serra fighting Georges St. Pierre. Matt Serra has been on my MMA radar for a little while now. He's a loud mouthed New Yorker guy who's got just the right amount of nasal in his voice to make it impervious to doors, walls or miles. One of those voices that you can't shut up once it starts up.

Suffice it to say that I look forward to his fights solely in the hopes of watching him get his ass kicked.

And he got his ass kicked tonight. So I'm an even happier camper.

Some of the fighters I know on the undercard had good nights too. Rich Franklin got back to his winning ways and it appears the only fighter who has his number is Anderson Silva, the reigning champ who's dismantled Franklin twice. Nate Quarry won his fight against Kalib Starnes, who, according to reports, did almost nothing but back up the entire fight. If he fights in the UFC again I will be absolutely shocked as Dana White, the UFC president, HATES a lame fight. Mac Danzig won his first fight since winning The Ultimate Fighter 6, I like the guy and enjoy his fighting style. And Ed Herman lost, that always brings a smile to my face too.

But the big smile is all about Matt Serra not only not vindicating his lucky first match victory over GSP but getting beat down pretty good in the process of losing his belt and any hope of ever being considered one of the best fighters in the world (GSP is ranked #2 in the world on the Yahoo MMA rankings). With some luck, Serra will go home to New Yawk where only the eastern seaboard will have to listen to his annoyance yapping.

[Update: Thanks to the wonders of the interwebs, I've now seen three of the fights from tonight including the main event. Basically, GSP dismantled then beat then kneed then celebrated. Serra looked feisty once or twice but the entire match was dominated by GSP. He is an outstanding fighter who shouldn't have lost to Serra in the first place. If there's a third rematch, I expect GSP will kick his ass all over the octagon again. The Rich Franklin/Lutter fight was pretty good for the most part, when Lutter gassed out he became pretty easy prey for Franklin to tee off on. And the Bisping/McCarthy fight was nice to watch too. Bisping's a good fighter with a big mouth. The only other time I saw McCarthy fight it was one of the three worst fights I've ever seen in MMA mostly because of his love taps to the abdomen style of fighting.

Good fights, good action. Maybe I'll check out a few more tomorrow. Supposed to be a good knockout or two in the mix.]

Labels: Georges St. Pierre, GSP, Matt Serra, mma, sports

Anyday that sees the Yankees getting shut out by anyone counts as a good day in my book. But when its my "lowly" Orioles doing the shutting out then its like an extra layer of icing on the cake. Add in a shut out by the Giants' Tim Lincecum (and relievers) over the Cards, the A's edging out a win, Boston getting a win and the Dodgers losing.

All in all a good day for my particular baseball allegiances. I'm sure Easy might be thinking otherwise since his Cards were on the other end of that shutout.

Labels: baseball, Cardinals, Dodgers Suck, F the Yankees, Orioles, SF Giants, Yankees

The volume of unlicensed downloads shows that the public's appetite is higher than ever - showing more money is being left on the table than ever before by a music business that fails to make money from following where the market takes it.

I told them I would if they didn't stop, they didn't stop so now I'm doing it.

Vocus PR has decided to ignore my repeated requests for removal from their mailing lists and continue to send me totally un-targeted press releases for products and companies I wouldn't do business with even if I could.

I've now taken to contacting the clients directly from the press releases to tell them what an annoying and bad PR agency they have hired. I'm sure there are some lines I'm crossing but I really do not care anymore. If Vocus PR wants me to stop informing their clients of their piss-poor public relations practices then they should honor my request to be removed from their stupid database.

Since they have not and, apparently, refuse to then I am forced to make good on my promise.

Bad PR sticks around much longer than any good PR. And Vocus Public Relations is the bottom feeder worst scenario PR agency that you do NOT want representing your company.

Why would they add me to their lists when I'm not an editor, reviewer or analyst? To fluff up their end of month numbers for the packet of info they send to their clients. Its a standard practice in PR to make your efforts look better than they are by adding contacts, touches (outreach via phone or email to specific editors) and coverage.

If they'd honor removal requests then we wouldn't be having a problem. But they ignore them and keep sending garbage releases to me. So I'm going to jab them with a pointy stick and see how they like it.

[Update: Not a PR agency, a PR services company. They still need to honor opt-outs and not continue to sell my email address as a legitimate contact for their customers. But thanks for the heads-up, Conner.]

Labels: bad PR, public relations, publicity

** Warning, NSFW but really funny **
You get little lead-in except the title: Girl In Trouble (Brother Caught Everything on Cam), which pretty much says it all. It made me laugh out loud, it made my wife laugh out loud and it might make you laugh out loud too. In the butt.

Can I say that I'm glad I have boys but I'm sure they'll be they're on special brand of hell when they hit their teens. In the butt.

Labels: in the butt, raising children

The most eye-opening and cringe-worthy thing I've seen coming out of the removal of people from the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints child bride cult is that the women have a hair styling book from the early 50's as their sole guide.

Oh and they have an absolute lock on frumpy dresses that leave almost everything to the imagination. Teh Hawt they are not.

And yeah, I am taking pretty easy and cheap shots. But perhaps that's because I haven't seen many pics of the "husbands" who are really pedophiles. The whole thing is just sad and pathetic really. Aside from the whole banging little girls thing, the cult wasn't doing anything really wrong but the sex with kids is, just a little bit, frowned upon by society.

Labels: bad hair, cult

Aliza Shvarts decided to use her womb as a canvas for her senior art project, artificially inseminating herself, taking abortion drugs and then videotaping the miscarriages and saving the blood. Yeah, pretty disgusting and shocking though she insists she didn't do it for shock value but to stimulate conversation.

Here's my conversation for you, Aliza.

"I'm really, really, really glad you weren't my roommate this year because repeated miscarriages and storing blood and everything else you did for this 'project' borders on the freakish and grotesque. As for any discussion about abortion, your project hasn't changed my thoughts in anyway, abortion should be legal, it should be a choice arrived at by the potential parents, it should not be a community decision, it should not be a rallying point for pro-life jackasses who feel empowered to try and dictate what other people do or do not do with their bodies. And yes, I get the irony in that last sentence because I am condemning what you did with your own body. No wait, that's not true. I don't care what you did with your own body, I care that you want other people to examine it as art when, I feel, its just a tawdry attempt to shock for exposure. Which has worked."

Was that what you were hoping for, Aliza? Is your middle name Susan because then your initials would be ASS which would be mildly ironic since you seem so focused on the not-ass portion of your parts.

Truthfully though, reading about how the exhibit will be presented, it makes me want to go and puke.

The full article is available here.

[Update: Its performance art, not nasty, nasty amoral real miscarriage art. Thanks, anonymous, for the tip to the update on the story.]

Labels: art, lame, performance art

Unless you've been completely unaware of what's been going on in the California educational system you're already well aware that there are layoffs taking place all over the state due to the 10% budget cut proposed by Governor Meathead.

Well, it appears that I may not have escaped the layoff sniper's scope. I may also not get tagged and retrenched but there's a reasonably good chance that any layoffs in my department will kick me to the curb as one of the newer recruits.

Nevermind that we're understaffed as it is, it certainly doesn't mean squat to anyone else.

Anyway, we've got another departmental staff meeting tomorrow and I'm sure there will be some discussion of potentialities and how they may affect the grunts like me.

Labels: budget, layoffs, work

Yanks unearth Sox jersey at new stadium that had been buried in the concrete foundation by a Red Sox Nation construction worker.

I'm sorry but this is fucking hilarious. And that the Yankees are considering a lawsuit against the guy. I'm sure he'll have lots of fan support from Beantown if it comes to it.

Besides, the Yankees are their own curse. As long as a Steinbrenner is at the helm, they will continue to poison the game of baseball with their pay-for pennants.

Labels: baseball, curse, F the Yankees

Apparently I'm not as edgy as I thought I once was. I accidentally clicked a link to check out my blog from work and, unlike previous attempts when the filter blocked me, my site loaded up lickety-split.

So I have either not been swearing as much as usual or the district has decided that I'm fairly innocuous. Either way, its nice to be able to see my site directly and not through Google's "cache lens."

Labels: blogging

Just as I was leaving one of my schools yesterday, a parent parked her over-sized SUV in the lot. Nothing unusual, parents treat the staff and teacher parking lot as their own space. Its annoying but I'm pretty used to it by now.

In fact, the parking situation at all of my schools is almost an afterthought and wasn't terribly well thought out and the problem is exacerbated by thoughtless and/or self-absorbed parents.

Anyway, the parent and her son were headed on to campus when I muttered under my breath about what a great parking job she'd done. And it was noteworthy. She had parked in a handicapped space without a placard and was obviously not handicapped (at least not physically) but she'd done such a bad job of parking that she was halfway blocking the wheelchair access ramp. The same ramp I was about to use to get out of the lot and off campus.

She overheard me, apologized and came back to move her car. I didn't really care to wait and just rode off the curb leaving her to think of me as some kind of asshole. Which I am but that's not the point.

The point is she failed before she'd even turned off her car.
1. The parking lot is for teachers and school faculty. Not parents, not dropoffs, not losers in their Fast & Furious toy cars. Teachers and faculty and there aren't enough spaces for us as it is.
2. Parking in a handicapped space is a pretty clear sign that you're a complete asshole. Presuming you're not handicapped, of course. She wasn't yet still felt empowered to park where she had no right.
3. She parked so far over the line as to block the access way for any real handicapped people who might actually come to the campus (and have to park on the other side of the lot because this parent decided to take the handicapped space).

That's three quick and easy strikes she could have easily avoided by just removing her head from her ass before parking in the staff lot. The problem is that there's no way to effectively enforce the rules about not using the staff parking. Which means that the parents abuse the hell out of the system because there's no real way to stop them. Nor would they listen in the first place anyway. Which is where the kids get it from too, I'm sure.

The mentality of the parent's is galling sometimes. Especially when I hear from a teacher about a kid that's been a discipline issue since Kindergarten and the father decides that its his third grade teacher that is the problem. Um yeah, dude, actually YOU are the problem for not being a more active and participating parent.

Labels: children, education, mentality, parking

Unertia - the non-movement one finds in trying to get small changes cleared in a bureaucracy.

Labels: nwotd

I've had my iPhone for a little more than a week now and absolutely love it to death. It isn't perfect but it is pretty damned sweet all the way around.

But I am also starting to feel a little penned in by the restrictions placed on the phone by Apple. There are quite a good number of apps that could enhance or extend my iPhone and allow me to do more, better and faster.

So the question is whether I want to jailbreak my phone or not. The most compelling reason I've come across so far is called Snapture and it gives the camera some features that it sorely lacks.

I think I'll end up jailbreaking my iPhone sooner rather than later.

Oh, and on the not-perfect tip, there are a few niggling annoyances with the iPhone that were easily avoidable and kind of short sighted and stupid. The lack of an SD or mini (or even Micro) SD slot is extremely limiting and, I believe, was done solely to drive 16 gig model sales. And that annoys me.

The sunk-in ear bud plug is really stupid and annoying. They recessed the plug so that only certain skinny plugs will work which means I can't just plug my iPhone into my stereo, I need an adapter. Stupid and annoying.

And the lack of the ability to cut and paste text is killing me. So far as I've been able to tell there is no simple way of moving text from one app to another on the iPhone. And that is very, very trying. I'm expecting a jailbroken phone will have some options of adding a cut and paste functionality but I don't understand why Apple didn't think to include it in the phone to begin with.

Labels: iphone

New drug policy lets cheats off the hook like, oh I don't know, Roger Clemens.

I get that there is no way to go back and verify who was cheating and who wasn't. But to broadbrush the Mitchell Report and just say anyone noted in it gets a "Get Out of Jail Free" card smacks of sweeping it under the rug.

I mean, now that Bud Selig has gotten Barry Bonds out of baseball, he seems to have lost his bloodlust for steroid abusers.

Is the game cleaner now than it was five years ago? Undoubtedly.
Are there still cheaters playing?
Also undoubtedly.
Should cheaters get a free pass?
Nope. Not in my book. You cheat, you earn millions of dollars for cheating and then you get a free pass? Sorry but fuck you and the needle you made your millions on.

This decision to let the named cheaters wriggle off the hook is Selig's attempt to sweep all of this into the past and lay it all on a few very high profile players when the reality is that PED use in baseball has been rampant and it took place on his watch. Bud Selig is as much to blame for the steroid era as the players who had to do drugs to stay at the top of their game.

Labels: Barry Bonds, baseball, PEDs, Roger Clemens, steroids

In dealing with school kids everyday the exact same problems come up again and again and again. Usually one after the other, the exact same problem. And it doesn't matter in the least that I just explained the solution to the kid before them because they weren't paying attention.

And it gets exasperating. More so when they keep asking me to take them to the games.

Almost to the point I feel like recording a short explanation and just hitting replay everytime they ask me the same question.

But they will probably just ignore the recording and ask me again anyway.

If someone could come up with a way to make kids actually pay attention and listen, they'd become instant gajillionaires!

Labels: children