Post 130

Good morning... I hope everyone is having an interesting morning.

Well today's been an interesting morning already and it's only 8:45a.

We had an earthquake here in Indiana (Like you haven't seen pictures of the devastation!)

Yep... a massive 4.2 earthquake centered 5 miles outside of Greentown, Indiana (about 50 NNE of Indianapolis) struck at 7:55am. I was sitting at my desk... felt one big jolt and maybe a little more shaking. I think a lot of it was deadened by the fact that I'm in the server room so we're on a raised floor.

Once I felt it first thing I to do was confirm it.  "Was that an earthquake???" My co-worker asks.  Hmmm, where's the best place to find that out... oh yeah, TWITTER! so I hope on twitter and sure enough, everyone is saying independently "Did you guys feel an earthquake?"  So yep, that confirmed that... next checked US Geological Survey website... nothing reported yet, but Twitter is reporting it was felt as far away as Dayton, but most of the people who are talking about it are near Indianapolis... Finally the USGS posts their earthquake data:

Ok then...

Funniest thing by far though is the media.  Good god, people relax!  "4.2 earthquakes rattles Indiana. Complete coverage on WOWO. Did you feel it?  Tweet us!"

Ok... For the record, anyone who has information about the earthquake will tell one of 4 stories.

1. I slept through it...

2. I was asleep and it woke me up.

3. I felt it too!

4. I was driving or something else and didn't feel it. Damn.

That's it.  There's no drama here.  No need for "Continuing Coverage" of the great Indiana earthquake. 

ETA: OOoo... UPDATE:  They've downgraded it to a 3.8 earthquake. 

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Of course since this is Indiana we can't go without a story like this:

In Lafayette, IN, a home owner decided to make a snow-sculpture....

Yeah the reason you can't see anything is because the new blurred out the picture of the giant snow dick.  Neighbors were not amused.  So what do you do?  Call the police! Yes neighbors called the police, who came out and laughed and drove away.  When the neighbors complained that the police didn't do anything, the department's PR guy admitted the officer handled it poorly and said the homeowner could be violating state obscenity laws, a Class A misdemeanor for constructing an obscene sculpture or other structure.

The snow dicks have been taken down. Since they took them down, they'll face no charges. Crisis averted.

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So in sports the great Brett Favre sexual harassment story is over.

Ok, let's do a reset.  Brett Favre "retires" from the Green Bay Packers in 2007... then unretires in the spring... only to find the Packers don't want him anymore.  So he signs with the New York Jets for the 2008 season.  He has a ho-hum season... supposedly was injured but never reported it (an NFL rule violation for the Jets, they were fined $125,000).

During the season, Favre got a little frisky with a NY Jets employee, Game Day Host Jenn Sterger.  Supposedly he sent her suggestive voicemails, texts and allegedly pictures of his penis.  Presumably the suggestions went no where.  Favre "retires" again after the 2008 season only to unretire again for the 2009 and 2010 seasons to play with the Minnesota Vikings.

Earlier this fall the rumours that Favre did a little sexting with Miss Sterger arises and the NFL starts investigating.  They haul Favre in for questioning and he supposedly admits to leaving some suggestive voicemails but denies the pictures.

Well finally the NFL has had its say.  They fined Favre $50,000 for failing to cooperate with the investigation but they cannot determine if he actually sent obscene pictures to her or not so they can't find him in violation of the NFL's conduct policy.

Sterger had be threatening to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Favre and the Jets but had to do so by Tuesday or else the statute of limitations for sexual harassment (2 years since the last act) would have passed. She didn't file.  Why not?  You can draw your own conclusions...

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Finally our old pal Christine O'Donnell is back in the news... 

After getting her ass handed to her in the Delaware Senate race (she lost 56.6% to 40%) it appears as though the FBI is investigating her campaign for illegal campaign expenditures... 

She's lashing out, saying its just disgruntled campaign workers with a vendetta against her...

Hmmm... you mean... like... a... WITCHHUNT?????

Ok... This is probably my last post of 2010... so... see you all next year!

--
JP

Post 129

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas... mine was... pretty normal.

here's some of the things I got...

A TARDIS 4 port USB hub from ThinkGeek

When you plug in a USB device it, the light on top flashes and it makes the sound of the TARDIS engines... w00t!

I got a t-shirt... Another Dr Who thing... 

It's a joke from Doctor Who... Captain Jack mocks The Doctor by saying "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?"

I also got a power inverter for my car so I can plug in things to my cigarette lighter... a tent fan... American Freak Show by Willie Geist... and some other things...

-----

So on to news of... whatever I want to talk about...

Big new in the NFL... Apparently the NFL doesn't like to play football in the snow.  Big snow storm hit the East Coast this weekend which caused the NFL to postpone its Sunday night game between Minnesota and Philadelphia to tonight.  

Now why in the hell would they do this???  Actually it's pretty simple.  They claim it's because it was too dangerous for the fans to get to the stadium, after all the Pennsylvania was under a state of emergency.  But really let's not kid anyone here.  This was a PR move.

See 20 years ago if this had happened, I'm sure they would have played the game.  What's different now from then?  Media.  Now we have 24 hour cable channels, Twitter, blogs and all other sorts of media to spread and keep a story alive.  Seems counterintuitive then that they'd postpone the game right?

Well what if something DID happen?  Say a tour bus en route to the stadium runs off the road, crashes and kills 16 fans.  20 years ago it would have been huge news on the local Philadelphia channel, maybe a mention on the national news but then no one would remember it and we'd all move on.  Today... before the news crews would be able to make it onto the scene of the accident you'd have Twitter all abuzz about it, blogs would immediately be written and then the news crews would get there and have nothing to say except... Why are we having a football game when there's a state of emergency and the government is advising everyone to stay home?  And that would continue... on and on and on and on... because that's what the current media state is like now.  

Is the NFL more concerned about fan safety now than they were 20 years ago?  Nope.

----

Dear Sarah Palin:

First you delete the tweet about how Muslims should "refudiate" the mosque near Ground Zero... If you delete the tweet it doesn't mean it you never said it.

Next you claim that you made up the word "refudiate" like "Shakespeare" did... Uhhh... right.  

Now you're claiming it was just a typo?  You meant to hit the P but instead hit the F key?

Uhhh... Let's take a look at your standard qwerty keyboard...

Note where the F key is... and where the P key is... now if you had typed "reludiate" or "reoudiate" I could understand that it's a "typo"... But typing a key that's normally typed with the other hand... that takes some effort.  Even if we think she did it on her Blackberry (or whatever phone)...

The F and P keys are still WAY apart from each other...

Oh by the way... A week before she sent out the tweet she was on Hannity using the same "non-word" refudiate... 

----

This is a nice exchange between Dustin Hoffman and Owen Wilson in an interview promoting "Little Fockers"... They're talking about one of the cardinal rules of dating, never sleep with someone on the first date... 

Hoffman: Yes we did [sleep together on the first date]. This was going to be her first movie star, her first older man, her first ex - someone who had broken up with their wife - and the first date and she did all four. And then she said I ruined it by calling the next day. That probably went against every romantic advice because she told me later that her grandmother always said, 'If you give away the milk, you have to buy the cow,' or something. What is that?... They won't buy the cow!

Wilson: That's not true, is it? [Laughs] In fact, it's more likely if you love the milk, you're going to buy the cow.

Hoffman: Before your question I want Owen to expand on that. It's not true?

Wilson: If you have a great glass of cold milk that's really refreshing, you'd be even more inclined not to let that cow go.

Hoffman: Right - and you try to find some chocolate chip cookies.

Sex isn't complete until you've had the chocolate chip cookies... 

And with that note, I'll bid you adieu. 

--
JP

Post 128

I know I know... two posts in 1 day???? What the hell?

Well I made a trip down to the downtown library and found some secrets in the PostSecret books so I had to share...

First up...

"I have a room without a closet now.  I'm so glad I don't have to check it anymore."

This was attached to the secret that says "This year I overcame my fear of sleeping with the closet open. I'm 22."

"I lied to my best friend about being beat, abused and raped because I wanted the attention.  I also kissed her, I don't have feelings for her either.  I'M SORRY... really."

 I also found a couple of old secrets that I've already documented.

I did find a library hold slip for BRA 6697 dated 9/7/10.  I wonder who that was... I left them a note with a secret on the back.

Post 127

Greetings netizens...

It's a slow week at my job so I thought I'd blog some more...

First up... President Obama is set to sign the repeal of DADT into law today... yay.

Also it looks like he's got enough votes to ratify the New START treaty.  START is the most recent Strategic Arms (ie nuclear weapons) Reduction Treaty with Russia.  They passed the cloture motion with 67 votes, which is also the number of votes needed to ratify the treaty.

But the big news in politics was the 2010 Census.  Article I, Sec 2 of the Constitution states that the manner in which the US House of Representatives is divided up is by population and...

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States (1787) , and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.

So every 10 years we have to count everyone in the country.  The number of Representatives is fixed at 435.  Each state gets at least 1 Representative and the remaining 385 are divided up among the states based on population.  The more people you have, the more Representatives you'll have.  So every 10 years we have to adjust the number of Representatives a state has as their population has increased or declined in relation to the rest of the nation. For example, in the 2010 Census we saw the US has a modest increase of 9.7% over the 2000 Census, from 281,421,906 to 308,745,538. The State of New York however only saw a 2.1% increase while the State of Texas saw 20.6% increase.  Consequently New York's Congressional delegation lost 2 seats (29 to 27) while Texas's delegation gained 4 (from 32 to 36). 10 states lost seates (NY (-2), OH (-2), MI, IL, PA, MO, IA, NJ, MA and LA) while 8 states gained seats (TX (+4), FL (+2), GA, WA, AZ, SC, NV and UT). Clearly a shift from the Midwest and Northeast to the South and Southwest.

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Ok this is somewhat sports related and somewhat just OMGWTFBBQ?!?!

Rex Ryan is the head coach of the NY Jets.  He's loud, boisterous, full of himself and his team, media whore and all around pretty obnoxious guy (in my opinion).

That being said the last headline I would have imagined seeing was this:

Yes!!!! So here's the story... Rex and Michelle have been married for 23 years and he's constantly going on about how beautiful she is... well here's the happy couple:

 

You know, not too bad looking I'll admit.  A few years ago on YouTube a user by the name of "ihaveprettyfeet" started posting some videos of an unseen guy fawning over how gorgeous her feet are.  She was a huge hit with the foot fetish crowd, so much so that she eventually ended up violating the terms of service for YouTube and was banned.  But her videos lived on as they were reposted by other people... Even as recently as March of this year people were wondering what happened to her... 

Well of course, since this is the internet, you know eventually a foot fetish football fan (nice alliteration!) would come across the video... put two and two together and...

Now sure sure, I know, it may not be Michelle Ryan, but holy shit it looks JUST like her.  AND the voice of the cameraman apparently sounds like Rex.  AND a profile for "ihaveprettyfeet" on a foot fetish website lists her hometown as Ellicott City, MD... which is where the Ryans lived when the videos were supposedly made.  AND Michelle Ryan was born in August 1963, making her the same age as "ihaveprettyfeet" as well as they both are listed as Virgos.  Wow.  

Still all circumstantial evidence... but what does Rex and the Jets have to say about it all? If there was nothing to it, all made up... well that's something I'd think the lawyers would start hammering on, right? "These stories are outrageous and we demand... blah blah blah... " Right? 

Nope.

"This is a personal matter and Rex will have no comment."

Exsqueezeme?  Oh, Rex... 

----

Congratulations goes out to Don's Guns and Gallery here in Indianapolis for making #3 on the FBI's list of gun dealers with the most weapons tied to crime.  Don doesn't care about making money, he just loves to sell guns! (His quote, not mine!)

This is not really an indictment of Don's Guns, but more of the lax laws of Indiana.  Don just happens to be one of the biggest dealers in the biggest city.

----

OK that's about all I have to say... have a nice Wednesday!

--
JP

Post 126

Happy Christmas week everyone!

Today I'm going to start off with a rant and a history lesson.  It's directed toward those morons who are wanking about people Xing Christ out of Christmas when you call it Xmas.  Uhhh... yeah... Sherman, let's hop in the WayBack Machine and travel back the 312AD.

The Emperor Constantine is believed to be the first to use this symbol for Christ... 

 

It's called the Chi Rho for the two Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (P).  Why use Chi Rho for a symbol for Christ?  Because in Greek his name is Χριστός.  Notice those first two letters?

For almost 1700 years people have used the Chi Rho as a symbol for Christ... even today you see it everywhere... The Basilica of St John in Rome... the YMCA in Cincinnati... A 4th century altar in Algeria... St Ignatius Church in San Francisco... The Lindisfarne Gospels (7th Century English Bible)... and even the church I was married in...

People... it's a SYMBOL FOR CHRIST... 

---

Ok... that's done with... Tonight for the first time in 456 years something will occur.  

A total eclipse of the moon occurring on the Winter Solstice.  The eclipse begins at 1:33am EST and will be full at 2:41am EST.  It will continue full until 3:53am EST and be completely over at 5:01am EST.  The eclipse will be visible over all of North America and partially visible over Western Europe...

Now I know I just went on a big rant with a nice history lesson about Christianity (or Xianity... yes Xian isn't an insult either)... but I'm not really Christian... I was raised Episcopalian (Catholic Lite!) but I've long since left the church.  That doesn't mean I'm not spiritual... and the significance of the eclipse and the solstice coinciding is not lost on me.  

I'm taking this as an omen that 2011 will be a better year.  It has to be... doesn't it?

----

Football time... First up... Colts won... 34-24.  If they win their next two games they've won the AFC South.  Someone exchanged our pathetic running game for a passable one as Donald Brown rushed for 129 yards.  Likewise our running defense also appeared out of nowhere and stopped the 2nd best in the league rushing attack holding them to only 67 yards.  The game was close until the final moments when Jacksonville's kicker (who won their earlier game against the Colts with a 59yd FG) made what may be the WORST onside kick ever.  According to the rules a kick must go 10 yards before a player from the kicking team can touch the ball and recover it.  Scobee's kick only went 6 yards before Tyjuan Hagler picked it up... and then ran 41 yards to the endzone for what will probably be his only kick off return.

In sad news, outstanding WR Austin Collie suffered his 3rd concussion of the season.  Prior to the concussion he had 8 catches for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first game back since his last concussion against New England on November 21st.  His first concussion occurred November 7th against Philadelphia and Collie laid on the field unconscious for a few minutes before being strapped to a backboard and carted off the field.  I would be shocked (and rather appalled) if Collie is back this season.... I wouldn't be shocked in the slightest if he never returned to the game.  As a side note, Collie and his wife Brenda welcomed their first child, last week.  Somethings are bigger than football and I think this is something Collie knows.

Secondly...Fuck you, Michael Vick.  I had a 12-1 season in Fantasy Football... wrapped up the #1 seed in the playoffs like 3 weeks before the season ended. And your fucking 59+ point game (24pts more than projected) cost me my season.  DAMN YOU.  (Great game BTW, if I had a vote for league MVP I'd split it between you and Brady.)

Finally... speaking of the Eagles... Matt Dodge you're an idiot.  Your team just blew a 21pt lead and now you have to punt the ball with 14 seconds left in regulation with the score tied 31-31.  Just punt the ball out of bounds, the Eagles will get the ball at their 20 or so and run out the rest of the clock and you'll go to overti-- What the hell are you doing kicking it to the best return guy in the league??? And of course DeSean Jackson returns the kick for a touchdown with no time left on the clock, Eagles win 38-31.

----

Finally... Don't Ask/Don't Tell was repealed by Congress.  On Wednesday the House passed the measure 250-175 and on Saturday the Senate passed it 65-31.  The measure will now go to President Obama to sign.  After he signs it, the will be 60 days before it becomes effective after which the Department of Defense will begin the process of allowing homosexuals to serve openly.  Experts say it may be a whole year before the process is complete.

--
JP

Post 125 - revised

Hello everyone... Hope everyone is getting their Christmas shopping done... only... 7 more days left?

Ok off we go with the banalities...

In the category of "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"* - The ability of smart phones is increasing all the time... the latest I've seen is an app for the iPhone/iPod Touch called "Word Lens". Using the device's built in video camera, the app will instantly translate signs from Spanish to English and English to Spanish... Watch!

How fucking cool is that???

-------

 Tomorrow the Senate is expected to vote on repealing Don't Ask/Don't Tell.  Reports are they have sufficient votes to overcome a filibuster.**  Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown recently announced his support for the repeal which, assuming all the Democrats vote for it, except WV's Joe Manchin (Seriously? WTF?), and the already announced Republicans actually vote for it, will give them 61 votes... yay!

-------

If you're a Colts fan... the new MUST FOLLOW twitter feed is of Colts owner Jim Irsay.  Wow... it's chock full of... I have no idea what.  So far as I know he's the only NFL owner on Twitter... First let's start with the background of his page... It's an overhead shot of him standing on the 50yd line of Lucas Oil Stadium surrounded by his guitar collection wearing a Colts blue and white tuxedo, complete with top hat, walking stick and blue shoes.  Ok that there should give you an idea of what kind of guy Jim Irsay is.  Now on to his feed... Mostly it's him completely and arbitrarily babbling... Song lyrics, his travels and other completely meaningless drivel.  But he does tweet two things that are cool... First is he's usually the first to report the Colts injury status... even before the official team report... I'm sure Bill Polian appreciates that... The second is contests where he gives away cash***(actual cash like a FedEx envelope with 30 $10 bills in it) and tickets to the game...

Speaking of the Colts... Jim Irsay is right... Sunday is a must-win for the Colts and they'd better be on it or they'll miss the playoffs for the first time since 2001.  They already lost their NFL record streak of consecutive 12 win seasons (7 straight, next highest is 4)... let's not break the streak of 10 win seasons and playoff seasons (both currently 8 straight seasons).

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Dear LTC Terrance Lakin,

I understand you don't like President Obama.  That's ok.  That's your right as a US Citizen.  However you took an oath when you pinned bars on your shoulders.  That oath states:

"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."

You took an oath to uphold the Constitution and part of the Constitution states that the President of the United States is your boss.  So bitch and moan about it all you want, but he was legally elected and therefor you don't have the right to refuse a deployment order because of some bullshit story about the President being born in Kenya.  Enjoy your 6 months at Ft Leavenworth military prison and dismissal from the Army.... Oooo looks like you only served 17 years so you don't get a pension.  Tough shit, dumbass.

-----

And finally... proof of Rule 34... It took the adult video game industry about a month to turn Microsoft's XBox Kinect into a tool for porn.

* - Arthur C Clarke's 3rd Law - His 3 laws of Prediction are:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; when he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

** - In the Senate, 3/5 majority (60 votes) is required to invoke cloture and halt debate allowing for an up or down vote.  Only a simple majority (51) is needed to actually pass the measure.  There are no limits on debate in the Senate so until someone invokes cloture they can't vote on the measure.  The endless debate is called a "filibuster" and is actually rarely used but frequently threatened.  So virtually no measure can be passed without a 3/5 majority.

*** Apparently the significance of September 3 has to do with The Temptations "Papa Was A Rolling Stone".   "It was the 3rd of September/That day I'll always remember/'cause that was the day/that my daddy died"

--
JP

Mobile Post 16

Hello everyone...

So the Colts won last night... yay...

I was worried in the morning because I hadn't set my lineup for my fantasy team... so I rushed to the site, started Kenny Britt on the chance he played and did well and went to check my opponent's lineup... uhhh... where is it?  Where's my matchup??? Oh... It's the playoffs and I have a first round bye... *sigh*

Anyway the Colts jumped out to a 21-0 lead... let the Titans score a few times... scored a few field goals and then the Titans scored a meaningless TD on the last play.  Colts win 30-28.

Bigger news was the records set by Peyton... Peyton threw for 300+ yards for the 63rd time, tying Dan Marino for the all-time lead... Brett Favre has 62 but who knows if he'll ever play again (or at least will play more than 3 plays).  The other record Peyton broke was his own... Number of 4000yd passing seasons... Peyton already held the record... 2nd place in the list is Brett Favre and Dan Marino with 6.  After last night Peyton has thrown for 4000 yards in 11 seasons of his 13 seasons in the NFL.

---

Kumari Fulbright is having a bad time.  She went from being on top of the world competing in the Miss Arizona pageant (http://tinyurl.com/2dzt39y) and being a calendar pinup girl (http://tinyurl.com/3yu3jsn)... to this - http://tinyurl.com/36vmyby.

She pled guilty to kidnapping and torture of her ex-boyfriend and will spend the next 2 years in prison.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.

---

The amendment to the Defense spending bill to repeal Don't Ask/Don't Tell failed to get the 60 votes required to end debate and bring it to a vote... it only got 57.  Senators Manchin (D-WV), Murkowski (R-AK) and Collins (R-ME) said they supported repealing DADT, but not as an amendment to the Defense spending bill.  Leiberman said he would introduce it as a stand-alone bill as soon as next Thursday.  *sigh*

---

At Columbia University in NYC, Professor David Epstein is on administrative leave after being arrested for having a 3 year consensual sexual relationship with a 24yr old woman.  Why was he arrested?  Epstein was arrested and charged with 3rd degree incest because the 24 yr old woman is his daughter.  SQUICK!!!!!!

---

Yesterday someone sent in a secret to Frank at PostSecret.  It said: "I work at Starbucks. I judge pregnant mothers and decaffeinate their drinks, even though they ask for caffeinated." http://tinyurl.com/2eota3p Uhhh... hate to break it to you there but in your attempt to be all holier than thou you're missing a critical point... According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 200mg of caffeine, about a 12oz cup of coffee, doesn't significantly increase the risk of miscarriages and/or premature birth.  So give her her damn cup of coffee and stop being so fucking judgmental.

---

ok... that's all for today... Have a nice weekend!


--
JP

Mobile Post 15

Good morning...

Well the first CyberWar is heating up...  First came the release of secret government cables from WikiLeaks.  People got rather pissed off about that and forced WikiLeaks off the net only to have it resurface someplace else... Since they couldn't force it offline they decided to go after its funding.  MasterCard and Visa stopped accepting payments for WikiLeaks... and in retaliation hackers orchestrated Denial of Service* attacks on MasterCard and Visa.  The head of WikiLeaks was charged with sex crimes in Sweden which supporters say are politically-motivated trumped up charges.  He was arrested in London and is awaiting (and fighting) extradition to Sweden.  Meanwhile WikiLeaks supporters have launched DoS attacks on the Swedish Prosecutors offices... What will happen next?

----

Bob Lamey has been the "Voice of the Colts" since the Colts arrived in Indianapolis in 1984.  Will he be next year is now the pressing question.  See Bob insulted probably the only person in the Colts organization with enough power to get rid of him.... Peyton Manning.

Bob made a comment on a hot mic during the Colts post-game show that defenses have "figured Peyton out" and that he should be benched in favor of Curtis Painter and the Colts should draft Manning's replacement in the 2011 Draft. 

Wow... Bob, you're a moron.  First off... Curtis Painter?  Really?!?! C'mon you were the freakin' announcer for the games Painter pathetically attempted to play.

Secondly... despite the fact that Manning threw 11 interceptions in 3 games... He also almost won two of those games almost single-handedly by bringing the team back and scoring 35pts in the 4th quarters.  Do you really think Curtis Painter (?!?!) could have done that?  Do you think ANYONE but 2 or 3 other QBs in the league could have done that?

Finally, the Colts have a lot more pressing needs for the 2011 Draft than QB.  Hello?  Offensive Line?  Are you even playing this year?

----

The Giving Pledge was started by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet.  The idea is to get the wealthiest people in America to pledge to give at least 50% of their wealth back to charity... because I mean when you've got $50,000,000,000... how much of that can you actually spend?  So far they've secured pledges from 57 of the wealthiest Americans to donate their money... Bill and Melinda Gates (#2 richest in the world), Warren Buffet (#3), Larry Ellison (#6), Michael Bloomberg (#23), Paul Allen (#37), Ronald Perelman (#52), Carl Icahn (#59),  George Kaiser (#64) and Jim Simmons (#80) are just the ones in the top 100 wealthiest in the world. Warren Buffet has even gone so far as to pledge to give away 99% of his wealth. Recently Facebook founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz joined the group...

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Getting back to football... 120 years ago on the parade field of the US Military Academy at West Point the Cadets of Army met up with the Midshipmen from US Naval Academy on the football field, Navy won the game 24-0.  The 110th Army-Navy game will be played this Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field before a packed house. 

In 1893 Midshipman Joseph Reeves wore the first helmet in football because Navy doctors had warned him another kick to the head might cause instant insanity or death.  The rivalry was so intense an Army general and Navy admiral almost dueled over it.  The Secretary of War would ban the game until 1899 when it was moved to a neutral field.  It's played almost every year since.

In 1901 President Teddy Roosevelt became the first President to watch the game, going down onto the sidelines so he could get a closer look.  30,000 spectators watched with him.

In 1926 the two teams traveled to Chicago to dedicate Soldier Field.  Navy was undefeated and Army had lost only once to Notre Dame.  The game ended tied 21-21 and Navy was named the national champion.

In 1944 upon hearing that #2 ranked Army defeated #1 ranked Navy, General Douglas MacArthur, fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific, telegraphed "We have stopped the war to celebrate your magnificent success."

In 1963, President Kennedy was scheduled to do the coinflip at the start of the game.  After he was assassinated the schools canceled the game.  But the Kennedy family asked them to continue and a week later Navy defeated Army 21-15.  Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance presented the coin Kennedy was to use to Navy team captain Tom Lynch.

A year later in 1964, retired Dwight Eisenhower, USMA class of 1913, was asked to send a telegram to the Army team to inspire them to victory.  Eisenhower wrote, "You will always have what you give today. The more you give the more you will keep!"  Army won the game 11-8.

I have mixed feelings about the game... I grew up watching it every year with the mantra of Beat Army since my dad was a career Navy guy.  But then I joined the Army and now proudly root for the Cadets to Beat Navy.  Really all I want is a good game.  Most of the time this is the last game of the players' careers**.  They won't go on to the NFL.  They have a commitment to the US Army, US Navy or US Marine Corps***. 

In 1890 only one player on the Army team had an previous football experience, Dennis Michie.  Michie would die a few years later fighting in the Spanish-American War... today Army's football stadium is named for him.  And that's the harsh reality of this game.  The First Class cadets and midshipmen (we call them seniors) are going to war.  On their uniforms you'll see patches of the various units they'll be assigned to once they graduate and receive their commission as officers in the US Army, US Navy or US Marine Corps.  On Saturday they'll be fighting each other... a few months they'll all be brothers-in-arms defending the country.  How many will give the ultimate sacrifice like Dennis Michie did?  God willing, no one will.  Unfortunately we know that won't be true. 

--
JP

*Denial of Service or DoS attacks are when hackers set up a system to constantly bombard a website with requests overloading the server and causing it be unusable.

** This year for the first time all three service academies will be playing in bowl games.  Navy will play Dec 23 in the Poinsettia Bowl, Air Force on Dec 27 in the Independence Bowl and Army Dec 30 in the Armed Forces Bowl.

*** The US Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy.  The Marine Corps uses the Navy as its source of commissioned officers as well as most service support functions like medical/legal/etc.  My ex-brother-in-law was a Corpsman in the Navy assigned to a Marine Corps unit. 

Mobile Post 14

Good morning... my morning sucks but mostly because A> I'm at work rather than lying in my warm bed with a beautiful naked woman (who would undoubtedly NOT be Mrs Ryan because Mrs Ryan would never sleep naked in the winter... too freakin' cold!) and B> my sinuses feel like someone is sticking an icepick in my head... yay for no sick days because I'm not a real employee but just a contractor...

So Molly over at The Snyder 5 (http://tinyurl.com/2a72pzb) talked how we spend all year teaching out kids one thing, then completely do a 180 at Christmastime... It's not cool to go sit on a creepy old man's lap.  Sneaking into someone's house... BIG nono.  Harry Potter and Voldemort really are just made up and magic isn't real...

But yeah at Christmas...

"Hey buddy, go sit on that guy's knee and tell him all your deepest desires!"

"Of course, Santa comes in the middle of the night... let's leave him something to eat!"

"How does Santa reach EVERY house 1 one night?  Magic of course!"

Personally I think that last one is going to be the one that ruins it for my youngest.  He's 7 now and very into Harry Potter... Currently reading book 3.  Of course he knows magic isn't real... but he believes in Santa's magic... How's that going to work?  Hmmmm....

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Glee was last night... I'm totally not ashamed to admit I love Glee.  Last night's "A Very Glee Christmas" was a perfect mashup of Christmas stories... From Sue sabotaging the faculty's Secret Santa exchange (help me out someone, didn't some TV do that before?) to the club's misguided Gift of the Magi attempt to the SPECTACULAR version of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (Becky was great as Max).

Some highlights... The Club singing "Island of Misfit Toys" (favorite part... Artie as the Train with Square Wheels), Kurt and Blaine singing "Baby It's Cold Outside", Rachel and Finn singing "Last Christmas" (I've always liked that song) and the club singing "Welcome Christmas" causing Sue the Grinch's heart to grow 3 sizes.  "Welcome Christmas" was a nice surprise as it wasn't on the Glee Christmas album.

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So yesterday I got into a twitter battle (a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle?) with a... well I won't say she's a TeaParty-er but yeah... she tweeted "I respectfully disagree, Mr. President. This country was not founded on compromise. It was founded on clear, unwavering principles." http://tinyurl.com/2agn4os  Obviously she knows nothing about the founding of the country... Compromise IS at the core of the foundation of the country.  In 1774 when the Continental Congress first met some patriots wanted to separate, they compromised and sent a strongly worded letter to King George.  In 1775 when the 2nd Continental Congress met again some wanted independence.  They compromised and delegates tried to reconcile with England.  After war started in earnest they still compromised and decided not to declare independence until they agreed unanimously.

In drafting the Constitution there were 3 great compromises... First was the "Great Compromise" which divided power among the small states (getting equal representation in the Senate) and the big states (getting proportional representation in the House)... next came the Three Fifths Compromise... now as compromises go it wasn't a particularly good one.  Part of the debate about proportional representation was who actually counted as population.  The Southern states wanted slaves to count (so they'd get more representation) and the Northern states didn't... as a result they compromised and counted slaves as 3/5 of a person.  Finally was the Massachusetts Compromise... Massachusetts was adamant that rights be protected in the Constitution and those supporting the Constitution wanted it to be ratified as is.  The Compromise was the Bill of Rights.  The Constitution would be adopted but a series of 12 Amendments would be proposed (10 of which would become the Bill of Rights... an 11th would become the 27th Amendment in 1992) and ratified.

In trying to maintain the balance between the Northern States and the Southern States there were also 3 great compromises... First was the Compromise of 1790 which allowed for the assumption of state debts incurred during the Revolution in exchange for moving the federal capital to a federal district donated by Southern states.  Second was the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which allowed for the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state but prohibited slavery from future territories north of Missouri's southern border.  Finally was the Compromise of 1850 which allowed for the admission of California as a free state, abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia, organized territories of New Mexico and Utah, introduce the Fugitive Slave Law requiring all US citizens to assist in the return of fugitive slaves and Texas gave up a lot of its western lands in exchange for assumption of debt.

"Not founded on compromise..." what a fucking joke.

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Played trivia at the pub last night and won... yay!  It's one of the things I'm truly good at.  I've played 5 times (with a team of course) and won 3 times and finished 2nd twice.

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In San Francisco, Santa was fired from the local Macy's.  Seems he was great (and completely appropriate) with the kids... but when an occasional adult would come visit him and they said they were good he'd reply "Gee that's too bad..." if asked why Santa was so jolly he'd tell the adults it's "because I know where all the naughty boys and girls live..."  Well those are great jokes but apparently some woman with a stick up her ass complained about it... Seriously have a fucking sense of humour.

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Ok... I'm going to go... have fun everyone!


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JP

Mobile Post 13

Good morning...

Thought I'd start early today...

This is an old story... well kinda.  It's happened enough times that it's moving into the absurd.  We all have sent misrouted texts before.  It happens.  But it seems like it happens a lot more to people trying to send a text to buy/sell drugs.  Courtney Swank is the deputy prosecutor in Martinsville, Indiana.  She received texts that said "Roxy twenties fifteen" and "Hey buddy just wonderin if you needed any fortys."  Hmmm... now to you and me, the law abiding people we are, those may sound kinda jibberish.  Well they're actually nicknames for oxycondone and other drugs he's trying to sell.  Apparently Courtney wasn't interested in buying them.  Instead she probably got one of the easiest convictions of her prosecutorial career.

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Tammy Banovac is a 52 yr old woman confined to a wheelchair. Apparently a few weeks ago she had a negative experience during one of the TSA patdowns and she was determined not to let that happen again... So what did she do?  She showed up at the Oklahoma City Will Rogers World airport and went through the security line in only her bra and panties (and little white dog on her lap).  Do a search of YouTube and you'll see what I'm talking about (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zFi18ioqYk).  Is she just trying to attract attention?  Who knows.  We do know that Tammy Banovac was also known as Tammy Brewer and posed for Playboy back '97 in a feature about "dental girls".  Apparently Banovac was a dentist who had her license revoked after a boy died after receiving anesthesia.  Anyway, I'm sure it's possible that she's not there just trying to get attention but what is most disturbing is the look on her face.  Seriously I'm seen animatronics at Disney that looked more lifelike than her.  And the kicker is that when she went through security she tested positive for nitrates (a key component for fertilizer bombs like the one McVey used).  They detained her for about an hour, searching her and asking questions causing her to miss her flight.  The next day she came back, again in her underwear, and passed through security without problems.

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Apparently Barbie has caught the attention of the FBI. {Cue dramatic music} 

Along with the likes of Jimmy Hoffa, Don Gotti and DB Cooper, Ms Barbie now may have an FBI file.  Seems Mattel put out a new version of the doll, Barbie Video Girl (http://www.barbie.com/videogirl/), that includes digital video camera built into her chest.  The FBI is worried that pedophiles will use the Barbie Video Girl to secretly video girls. 

I don't know about you, but when I first saw the doll I thought, what the ever loving fuck is that?  Honestly it reminded me of the Six Million Dollar Man doll, I mean ACTION FIGURE, that I had as a kid that had the "bionic" eye (http://tinyurl.com/25j3apj) you would look through with a hole in the back of his head... Just plain creepy.

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Going back to DADT, apparently some are predicting a mass exodus (ha!) of chaplains from the military if DADT is repealed.

Ok... couple of things... First off, yes military religious personnel are important.  But seriously how many chaplains would leave compared to how many actual mission critical soldiers have been dismissed for being gay?  Which is more important? Since DADT was instituted in 1993, 64 Arab linguists had been kicked out of the military for being gay... Uhhh... aren't Arab translators kinda important?  Especially considering we're fighting a war in a country that speaks Arabic?  Over 13,000 servicemen have been kicked out of military for being gay since DADT was started.  How many of those were mission critical positions?  I'll take the risk of losing a couple of chaplains.

Second... A military chaplain has a critical mission.  To care for the spiritual needs of the servicemen in wartime.  If a chaplain is going to abandon the people who need him in one of the greatest times of need... GOOD RIDDANCE.

Third... There are 200 different agencies that endorse chaplains... by that we mean organizations that certify/ordain/whatever the religious person and say "yes this person is a priest/rabbi/imam/whatever".  The Pentagon polled 77 of them and none of them said they would withdraw their endorsements if DADT was repealed.  Of the 145 chaplains who were part of the Pentagon study, 3 said they would leave.

You know... it's just not that big of a deal.

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Finally Christmas is the time of peace on earth and goodwill towards men... except in Hayden Idaho where Mark DeclinedToGiveLastName decided to build a snowman in the shape of a KKK member, complete with the snowman holding a noose (http://tinyurl.com/2e2v8xq).  Apparently Mark DeclinedToGiveLastName is a white supremacist who likes to also fly his Aryan Nation and SS flags during the summer and gave out bullets at Halloween (he claims they were just bullet casings!).  Oh and did I mention that Mark DeclinedToGiveLastName lives just 100 yards from Hayden Meadows Elementary School?

Joy to the World!  (or at least the approx 35% of the world that is Caucasian... Probably less because you know you got those Jews too...)

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Have a nice weekend everyone!

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JP

Mobile Post 12

Good afternoon...

We've got some things to talk about so let's get started...

First off... World Cup announced their host countries for 2018 and 2022... And they are... Russia and Qatar.  Yeah... I'll let you collectively go "WTF" with me.  Russia... ok I guess I can understand that... but Qatar?  Seriously?  This country is slightly larger than the island of Jamaica... And it's hot there... no it's REALLY FUCKING HOT there.  Like average high temps from May through September are over 100F (38C).  Oh and they've only got 1/4 of the stadiums they need.  They've got to build 9 stadiums still.  Let's just stop pretending this is about sports and hosting a huge event and call it what it is... Qatar bought the World Cup.  Congratulations FIFA, you're officially a whore.

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Ok... Let's talk music.  The Grammy nominees were announced and there were two things I liked about them.  First, The Most Annoying Singer On The Planet, Ke$ha, received ZERO nominations.  Thank. god.

Second... My favorite show, Glee got nominated twice... Once for Best Soundtrack (understandable) for Glee Volume 1... but the 2nd nomination is for Best Pop Performance by a Group for "Don't Stop Believing (Regionals Version)".  Holy fucking shit how cool is that???

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The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding hearings on Don't Ask/Don't Tell.  The SecDef and Chairman of the JCS along with the authors of a study about how repealing DADT would effect the Armed Forces are testifying.  The study essentially said... Nothing bad will happen... they'll get over it.

Of course Sen John McCain is being a major douchebag. 

First he says the problem with the study is they were figuring out what would happen if it was repealed rather than should it be repealed.  ok whatever.

Then he says the study is flawed because it only asked 30% of the military.  30 fucking percent.  Uhhh... John?  You're an idiot.  30% is a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE sample size.  Really take some fucking statistics classes.  As your sample size increases, it doesn't make the margin of error any different.  If we assume the pool of people we're surveying is 1,000,000 people, then in order to obtain a margin of error +/- 3% you only need to survey a little over 1,000 people.  That's .1%.  To obtain a sample size of +/- 1% you need to sample 9,500.  In this case, a sample size of 30% (300,000) would only yield a margin of error of +/- 0.5%.  Or as Sen Leiberman pointed out to McCain... lawmakers "base a lot of our decisions" on studies with much smaller sample sizes than the one used in the DADT survey.

McCain also said Admiral Mullens' opinion (that DADT should be repealed) isn't that important because the Chairman of the JCS doesn't actually command troops... To which Mullens responded, "I have commanded three ships, a carrier battle group and two fleets. And I was most recently a service chair myself. For more than 40 years I have made decisions that affected and even risked the lives of young men and women."  Uh John... PWN'D!

Finally McCain is peeved that the enlisted men didn't get to "vote" on this.  Uhhh... yeah... see John, I know you haven't been in the military for a while but last time I checked the military wasn't a democracy.  It's a dictatorship with President Barack Obama as the Commander in Chief.  The leaders say "Do it" and the followers say "Yes sir!"... there's no voting here.

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In college football... presumed Heisman front-runner Cam Newton was declared in violation of NCAA rules and declared ineligible on Monday after it was determined his father whored him out to Mississippi State (at a minimum) for a few hundred thousand dollars.  And Auburn immediately filed an request that he be reinstated and POOF, on Wednesday he was.

Of course the NCAA never mentioned on Monday that he was ruled ineligible but did send out a nice press release on Wednesday that he was eligible.  Yeah, NCAA you look stupid.

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OK that's enough for today... I'll talk to you all later... feel free to comment... (please???)

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JP