Degrees of Anger

On twitter, people getting angry at someone (rob neyer) for defending someone (bill james) who defended someone (joe paterno) who defended someone. How far can this go?

Well, Of Course

I won't lie, I also thought about the movie when I heard the news:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/team-america-world-police-surges-twitter-topic-kim-jong-il-death-article-1.993855

The Importance of Language

This quote came from a clip in a CNN news report this afternoon:

"...needless lives are lost..."

The woman who said the above was talking about the dangers of cell phone usage while driving.

She may have a point, but she meant to say "lives are needlessly lost."

What she actually said has a host of unfortunate implications.

Update: The speaker was Deborah Hersman, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

MythBusters Cannonball

(Disclaimer: Yes, I'm sure the hosts are not solely responsible for safety measures.)


Of course the second team were the ones responsible for this mishap!
 
Not sure why, but this figures:

"Savage and Hyneman were not present at the Alameda County bomb ordnance range - which the show has used for years and is nearly 1,000 yards west of the Shetty home - when the cannon fired at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

"They said the three other stars of the show -- Tory Belleci, Kari Byron and Grant Imahara -- had been 'calibrating' a homemade cannon, firing a ball made of either steel or cast iron into water barrels and a brick wall to make sure it had the same power as a historical cannon."

http://www.chron.com/news/article/MythBusters-hosts-Sorry-about-that-cannonball-2376113.php

At least Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are taking full responsibility for this. Good on them.

Worst Disclaimer Ever

I keep seeing a version this commercial during baseball games. (It's got the same script, but it's a different speaker.) Stick around for the part between 0:19 and 0:25; I think it's worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwSXO13Agk

Classic Post #1

As you can tell, I have been very inconsistent in my writing in 2011. To help alleviate this, I will begin occasionally publishing a past post of mine, from a different blog, in this spot. We'll see how this works.


Let's dig in, shall we?

A Christmas Post

"Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." - Luke 2:10-11

"Ho ho ho, Merry Fishmas" - Mr. Burns ("The Simpsons" Season 12)

It seems doubtful that the writer of that episode of The Simpsons (Rob LaZebnik, it turns out) was thinking much of symbolism when he concluded the episode with Mr. Burns as Santa Claus on a float throwing fish entrails on the crowd of a parade while shouting "Merry Fishmas." Fish just happens to mostly rhyme with the first syllable in Christmas; Mr. Burns is evil; that was probably, and perhaps hopefully, the extent of the joke.
Yet let's pretend it went beyond that. Most people are aware of the fish as a Christian symbol. Of course, in the episode they were gutted fish, being used in a parade by a bad rich man. The joke couldn't possibly be a statement on how materialism has "gutted" Christmas of its meaning, could it?

No, I don't think so either. Now, please disassociate Luke's Gospel from The Simpsons as quickly as possible.

And Merry Christmas everyone.

Yum, Yum

The other day, a lobster truck set up shop at lunchtime on Massachusetts Ave about 3 blocks east of Union Station. Within 15 minutes, the line was enormous, more a mass than a line. It went around the corner of the sidewalk, and was probably about two blocks long. It stayed that way for hours. It was like ravioli night at college, except I didn't want any.

And to think, all those people waiting for something that you could have as much as you wanted 200 years ago, provided you were in jail for not paying your debts.

Cops

No, I wasn't filming on location with the men and women of law enforcement, but the other day I saw a police officer leaving a Starbucks and get into his cruiser and drive off. So? Well, he was parked in a fire lane. And he had been there awhile; I did not see him park, and I was in the area for about 15 minutes. It reminded me of a cop who, a few months ago, I witnessed run not one but two red lights.

Isolated events like this are pretty meaningless, obviously. But they amuse me nonetheless.