Thursday, March 31, 2011

Muhammad Ali Tribute

YouTube - Muhammad Ali Tribute (GP):



""

Crooked Creek of #Fuquay is Groupon's Deal of the Day

Crooked Creek Deal of the Day | Groupon Raleigh / Durham

Fuquay-Varina's Crooked Creek
Golfers, it's just $22 for 18 with cart with this deal.

The c-i-e Radio Hour

I don't blame you for being skeptical about Black Kids.

I haven't done a "these've been rocking my iPod" post lately, so let me catch you up ...

Now the Black Kids aren't really my thing, but this song, it's had it's time in the sun and been done and you may be over it (three years or so behind the curve, that's me), but I just heard it the other day and despite the lyrics, the synths, the twee-ness, and now the video, I still can't stop myself ♫ He's got two left feet and he bites my moves ♫ ...



So after that I need something with some phat bombastic beats and that means the Bay area's E-40 pumpin "Lightweight Jammin," which is anything but ...



I almost want to go a cut deeper from the new Dropkick Murphy's album for this next track, but there's no denying the fun of hearing Springsteen rasp along with the boys on another old-timey number they've brought up to date like they did with "Tessie" ...



I wanted to use one of the concert videos from the show at Boston's House of Blues back on March 18th, but the quality of 'em all was so spotty I went with the clean sound, but it was kind of fun to see the song from four of five different cameras on the floor in the crowd. Would've loved to been at the show. Of course, that's what I say about every Dropkick Murphy's show.

Here's another one that I'm not sure I'm going to like if I hear the lyrics too many times, but for now it gets me moving and that's enough ...



Hepcat is one of the bands that never really took off, but has cut several strong albums in that West Coast ska/rocksteady style. Plus, I'm guessing somone will be seeing these guys for the first time and recognize Alex Désert from either Swingers or even his time on the short-lived The Flash series.



This last one is that brilliant bastard Jon Langford who can do wrong. I'm going with a live version here because the sound is decent enough, the camera's steady, and I'm not sure there's a clean/official version on YouTube to be had anways ...



A'ight, let's get out of here, as Alex might say, "this place is dead anyways." (I'm going to have re-watch Swingers again the way it keeps creeping into my posts today.)

Mosaic (and other dynamic templates)

cryptonaut-in-exile in mosaic

Preview of the mosaic view applied to this blog.


Blogger's got a snazzy jazzy new set of dynamic templates you can use to view public blogs, like this one, by simply adding "/view" to the end of the url. Or, for Chrome users, there's an extension.

12-Year-Old Genius Expands Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Thinks He Can Prove It Wrong

12-Year-Old Genius Expands Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Thinks He Can Prove It Wrong - TIME NewsFeed


Barnett's parents knew that there was something different with their son when he didn't speak until the age of two. He was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, so they thought he might have problems in school. Instead, they were astounded when he started solving 5,000 piece puzzles by the age of 3. The 12-year-old taught himself calculus, algebra and geometry in two weeks, and can solve up to 200 numbers of Pi. He left high school at the ripe old age of eight and has been attending college-level advanced astrophysics classes ever since.

Denny's to double down on bacon

Watch Denny's Baconalia Commercials - Video Interlude - Eater National


It's called 'the sacred festival of bacon,' 'a cripsy feast of epic proportions,' and 'a celebration of baconian delights.'
Well, I do love bacon. But this may be the tipping point where the foodies, seeing baconophilia go mainstream, put on their thick-rimmed glasses and, as arbiters of cool, turn their collective noses up. If that didn't already happen like three years ago. 

Also, does Denny's really think most people are going to grok the Bacchanalia reference?



Settle down, Voltaire, they may just surprise you.

RTP-area morning commute hampered by rain, pigs (Yes, pigs.)

Morning commute hampered by rain, pigs :: WRAL.com



Morrisville, N.C. — Any slowdowns caused by the gloomy weather Wednesday morning were compounded when five pigs fell out of a truck and got loose on Interstate 40 in Durham County.
Poor little guys. "The pigs had minor injuries, including road rash and sore legs, that are consistent with falling from a vehicle," the Animal Control Officer reported. I'll bet they did.

Ironically, or not, the the next thing I'm going to post is likely to be some craziness about Denny's riding the bacon trend a little too hard.

Update: 911 audio via "There's pigs all over the highway!"

Finally, an answer to the burning question of the day: Will the new #Fuquay Krispy Kreme have a HOT sign?

Fuquay-Varina Independent - Some like ‘em HOT:


Yes, the store will have a HOT sign. And yes, the doughnuts will be cooked in Raleigh at the company’s original area store on Person Street.

How can both be true?

The basic cooking will be done at the mother store, but the doughnuts will not be glazed there. They will be shipped to the Fuquay-Varina store where they will be run through a special oven to be reheated and glazed. So a customer can order and receive hot glazed doughnuts in a matter of minutes. Other Krispy Kreme stores in the area operate the same way.
Also, first 50 customers will win some free donuts. So, remember, show up dark and early Tuesday morning to queue up for those first customer giveaways. Only, don't show up earlier than me. Take your time. In fact, why don't wait until the 11am ribbon cutting ceremony?

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Census Count of Deployed Soldiers Cost N. Carolina a Congress Seat

Deployed Soldiers Cost N. Carolina a Congress Seat - But they will return to North Carolina, guv's rep points out


During last year's Census, more than 40,000 troops were deployed from North Carolina's military bases—but because only 12,200 of them listed North Carolina as their home state, the state lost out on a congressional seat. That's because, though the Census usually counts the troops' current base as home, that changes when troops are deployed.

Congratulations India! Survive semi-final clash with Pakistan to advance to World Cup Finals.

Cricket Live Score, World Cup 2011 Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2011 Scorecard


49.3 Khan to Misbah-ul-Haq, no run, short, pulled and straight to midwicket. The crowd are excited now, they know India are through
Sri Lanka awaits.

Elderly self-styled Vietnamese 'Robin Hood' faces three years in jail, hate crime charges for Chinatown theft spree

Pick-pocketing 'Robin Hood' faces three years in jail, hate crime charges for Chinatown theft spree


A lawyer for Vasko said she is a diagnosed kleptomaniac with serious mental health problems, including lingering post-traumatic stress from the war in Vietnam.
A headline that grabs your eye, looking like it might be a tale of adventure and intrigue, which pretty quickly reveals itself as another sad tale of mental illness.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Word on the tweet: #Fuquay-Varina, March 29, 2011

Time for another survey of how Fuquay is faring in the Twitterverse.


@KeithOlbermann For that matter, in NC we have Climax, High Point, Blowing Rock, Moorehead City, Horneytown, and Fuquay Varina... #snickerSun Mar 27 23:28:20 via web


Well played, sir.
--------------------

Just saw 2 peacocks walking n2 an intersection in Fuquay-Varina. There's no telling what in the world might happen 2day. #weirdesttweetyetThu Mar 24 12:01:05 via Twitter for iPhone


I have not seen that yet but now will be vigilant.
--------------------

I got tossed out of the Fuquay Varina DMV.Thu Mar 17 18:09:07 via Twitter for Android


I feel like there must be more to this story. I was going to say something like, "hope it all worked out and welcome to Fuquay," then I saw the tweet dissing Pedro Martinez. Nothing but the #ColdShoulder now. Talk trash about Pedro?! No wonder they bounced you out of there! ~grumble, grumble~
--------------------

@TheBiggIdea I'm on it. What rhymes with Fuquay-Varina, NC? @TheBoshaTue Mar 08 04:29:41 via Seesmic Web


Not sure how blackbird will put this in, so I'll give the context: another twitterer had said if the city you live in isn't the subject of a famous song, you should probably be trying to get out of there.  Peter, if you record a song about Fuquay, make sure you link it on twitter!

"Fuquay-Varina, it's not near the ocean /
So it ain't got a marina ..."

I'm sure I can riff off more like that, just let me know what you need.
--------------------

Fuquay is "GOD'S" country. AmenWed Mar 02 15:01:07 via Twitter for Android


I'd like to borrow a page from @celeboratory ...
--------------------

If I used foursquare it would tell you that I'm at Aviator Bar in Fuquay-Varina. It's my favorite.Mon Feb 28 03:17:34 via txt


And if I used Foursquare, you'd be seeing a lot of check-ins by me at the new Aviator BBQ across the street from the Aviator. So good.
--------------------

Fuquay is where i reside, since im here theres no need to hideWed Feb 23 02:15:38 via Twitter for Android


Look at that, I think we may have a song about the F-V before long.
--------------------

A'ight, Tweeps. That's enough for now.  ♫ But, keep tweetin' Fuquay, it's the American way / You know what I mean-a, on the streets of Varina? ♫

Huskies trample Duke on way to Final Four

Duke Blue Devils vs. Connecticut Huskies - Box Score - March 29, 2011 - ESPN


Have to admit I'm glad one of our teams got to go through Duke to get to the Final Four this year. (So much for the Goodall goodwill, I suppose. Sorry, Blue Devils.)

#Fuquay-Varina's Craig Mitchell returns to his team after brain surgery

After brain surgery, Fuquay-Varina's Mitchell makes his pitch - High school - NewsObserver.com:


Fuquay's Craig Mitchell (Image by Takaaki Iwabu for the N&O)


BENSON -- Craig Mitchell knew something wasn't right when the only way he could field a fly ball was to wait for the ball to hit the ground.

He knew something was wrong when he got dizzy every time he tried to scoop up a ground ball.
I was relieved to find this story today of courage and baseball in my town. The other developing story today is about a woman's body found this morning, apparently a victim of "foul play."

Inside Job (2010) - Flickchart (How foxes run a chicken coop.)

Inside Job (2010) - Flickchart

A calm, measured dissection of the greedy [expletive deleted]s running the banks and, to an unhealthy degree, our government. I didn't study business when I was an undergrad, so the part of the movie about how business schools (particularly the elite schools) are failing us was one of the more illuminating. Sometimes, I feel like a crank pointing out that it would be comical if it weren't so criminal, what complete failures Boards of Directors are at fulfilling their mission, so it was reaffirming to hear it discussed in the context of executive compensation in this film.

While ranking the movie, saw this tweet fly by:


Fred Mishkin on Bloomberg tv now. Maybe they will play this clip from "Inside Job" http://bit.ly/fVzcQzMon Mar 28 16:06:15 via TweetDeck


Well played, Mr. Saluzzi. After being so thoroughly discredited, I can't help but wonder what reputable news organization would seek Mishkin's analysis?

Duke receives 50 years of Goodall's chimp research

Duke receives 50 years of Goodall's chimp research - Education - NewsObserver.com

Dr. Goodall speaking at Duke (Image via N&O)

Goodall's 50 years of uninterrupted chimpanzee behavior research is making its new home with Duke University. The collection that Goodall started in 1960 is being curated and digitized by Duke researchers.
As our women's basketball teams prepare to face off for a trip to the Final Four, I'd normally be cracking wise about Duke and its shortcomings, but can only praise them this morning. They're digitizing and archiving the work of one of my personal heroes.

We all learn about Galileo and Darwin, school as youngsters, or come to know about them and their work in popular culture, but the first scientist to really capture my interest and set me off on trying to learn more about her work and methods was Dr. Jane Goodall. I'm not sure if I was fascinated by chimps first, or came to be while reading about Dr. Goodall's work in Gombe in those old National Geographics, but my fascination with science, the scientific method, and even the my interest in epistemology and the philosophy of morality can largely be traced back to an appreciation of her extraordinary work. If those last two seem like a stretch, it's because they're just other ways of asking how do we know what we know and what do we with the knowledge we've gained. I like to think that when I want to learn about something, kind of like how in cartoons little angels and devils sit on the characters' shoulders and whisper in their ears, I've got a little Mr. Spock and a little Dr. Goodall that whisper in mine.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Raleigh nontheists come ‘Out of the Closet’ in myth-dispelling FFRF billboard campaign

Raleigh nontheists come ‘Out of the Closet’ in myth-dispelling FFRF billboard campaign - Freedom From Religion Foundation - FFRF.org:






A dozen beautiful billboards will be blanketing Raleigh, N.C., in the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s first foray to the South with its myth-dispelling “Out of the Closet” campaign, organized in conjunction with its chapter, the Triangle Freethought Society.
Excellent.

I won't try to tell my wife's story, but she found herself trying to explain to an acquaintance we are not Christians but that doesn't mean we're devil worshipers. She was met with stunned bewilderment and a barrage of questions that started, "But ... I mean, how ... I don't ... wow, really? But ..." accompanied by rapid blinking and open-mouthed head-shaking.

I'm sure some will find these offensive, but being open and encouraging discussion, without mocking or being hostile one way or the other, will go a long way towards putting an end to the negative stereotypes believers hold of atheists.

The cynic in me thinks the countdown 'til the first one is vandalized should start with a low number. Of hours.

Via Friendly Atheist 

Twin Peaks Co-Creator to Bring Agatha Christie's Miss Marple to the Big Screen

Disney to Bring Agatha Christie's Miss Marple to the Big Screen - The Hollywood Reporter


Agatha Christie (Image via HR)


After months of negotiations, the studio has closed a deal to capture the movie rights to the character, who first appeared in 1927.
Mark Frost has been tapped to pen the screenplay.
Notice the difference between HR's headline and my title. Shift in emphasis. But ... uh-oh ... Frost also wrote, or had a hand in, the Fantastic Four movies? So, it's Disney and Frost became a hack? Odds of this having any kind of interesting edge seem to be dwindling.

Cricket diplomacy

India, Pakistan in talks ahead of 'cricket diplomacy' summit - CNN.com:

Given the ferocity of rivalry, that diplomacy can
coincide with cricket is remarkable. (Chaudhry and Pillai via CNN)

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- Home secretaries of India and Pakistan were meeting in New Delhi Monday as prime ministers of the two countries prepared to watch a World Cup cricket match between the South Asian rivals together this week as part of efforts to rebuild ties broken off by the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Related: English perspective on the India-Pakistan rivalry. | An example of commentary from India.

Real-life Snakes On A Plane scenario avoided

BBC News - Snakes on the plane: Jakarta police foil smuggling bid:

The hand of Samuel L. Jackson? (Image via BBC)

The two were about to enter the departure area at Jakarta airport when X-rays showed their bags were filled with sedated pythons, officials say.

South African baboon sentenced to death for larceny and assault. (Don't feed the animals.)

BBC News - Cape Town's 'mugger' baboon Fred to be put down

Fred the baboon. In your car, eating your lunch. (Image via BBC)

'This baboon's aggression levels had recently escalated to the point where the safety of tourists, motorists and other travellers along the road past Smitswinkel Bay was being threatened,' it added.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Local folkies encourage you to check the box on your tax return.



Pete Leary and some friends singing about using your one chance to direct your tax dollars ...

New Archeology Find Buries Theory on First Americans

New Archeology Find Buries Theory on First Americans, Re-Opening a Gaping Mystery | 80beats | Discover Magazine:


Pre-Clovis tools found in Texas


The find is important because it is over 2,000 years older than the so-called Clovis culture, which had previously thought to be the first human culture in North America. As Texas A&M University anthropologist Michael Waters says, “This is almost like a baseball bat to the side of the head of the archaeological community to wake up and say, ‘hey, there are pre-Clovis people here, that we have to stop quibbling and we need to develop a new model for peopling of the Americas’.”
New evidence requires a new hypothesis -- exciting stuff.

Warren Buffett hits at ‘negligent’ US executive pay

FT.com / Companies / Financial Services - Buffett hits at ‘negligent’ US executive pay


Image via Business Insider


Speaking at the end of a four-day visit to India, Mr Buffett said the financial incentive structures for executives at top companies, particularly in financial services, needed to be overhauled in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Meanwhile ...


RT @RonCharles: Naturally, since it's bankrupt, closing stores & firing staff, @Borders is handing out $8.3M in bonuses to its executive ...Sat Mar 26 12:46:21 via YoruFukurou


The problem (one of the problems, I should say) is that Boards of Directors are so weakly regulated -- Sarbanes-Oxley is a joke -- that this type of plundering is entirely legal. Nobody can, or will be, held accountable for it.

Losing Our Way (Bob Herbert signs off at the New York Times)

Losing Our Way - NYTimes.com:




So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.
Via:

he spoke truth to power with rentless unfliching deceny and courage...i revere his moral clarity passion and guts...Sat Mar 26 06:35:52 via TweetDeck
 

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Calhoun's comments after advancing to 2011 Final Four

ASAP Sports Transcripts - Basketball - 2011 - NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: ANAHEIM - March 26 - Jim Calhoun - Jeremy Lamb - Alex Oriakhi - Kemba Walker:


Calhoun and his Huskies. (Image via NESN)


... this unique group of young guys have just given me a thrill beyond compare, Emeka Okafor is in our locker room right now and his team was a powerful, older team and experience and had rolled through, we had one tough game against Duke, but won a national championship and that was special and the first one was obviously very special.
But this is -- our march in the past nine games I haven't experienced anything like this ...
I still can't quite wrap my mind around this team.

Partly it's because I just couldn't watch them as much as I'd have liked this season, so I don't know them as well as past teams. I think the other part of it is, apart from Kemba and Lamb, they don't seem offensively gifted, nor do they have what you'd call a menacing defense (no Okafor back there just waiting to swat the shot away), yet I suspect it is their defense -- the timely steals, the blocks you didn't see coming, and just toughness -- that gives them the edge.

Kemba is a legitimate star and Wooden Award contender, so it's probably not fair to call them 'sneaky good,' but I can't be alone among long-time fans who just did not see this coming, even after their amazing run through the Big East tournament. The fact that only four people in the CT-based pool I'm in picked the Huskies to win confirms this. Even though I didn't pick them to win it all, it sure looks like they've got as good a chance as any of the remaining teams. I've never cheered harder against myself in a pool; I'm in (a three way tie for) first place going into tomorrow's games, but hoping to finish out of the money.

Dear Dick Allen, Connecticut's Poet Laureate ...

CCT: Connecticut Poet Laureate:


Dick Allen, CT Poet Laureate


Dick Allen, one of America's leading poets, is preeminent among poets who encourage new sensibilities in poetry and who have brought to contemporary poetry a large array of subjects other than the 'self' and styles other than confessional free verse.
Now would be a great time to start working on, if you haven't already, a Walt Whitman-esque ode (in your Expansive style) to Kemba Walker.

You did fine by Elvis.
... You were


what our parents tried to chase away,
moonshine, warble, A-bomb, drive-in sex,
so raw and aw shucks innocent at once
girls never knew which Elvis would come next,
the bedroom eyes,
or country boy up to his country tricks.
The subject's entirely different, but that's the effort I'm looking for. Don't bother going back to the anagram well though, it's dry.

Kemba, deserving of an ode

Thomas Jefferson's Cut-and-Paste Bible (He could've just extracted the one sentence from Micah 6:8 and called it a day.)

Thomas Jefferson's Cut-and-Paste Bible - WSJ.com:


Jefferson via WSJ


After completing this second micro-testament, Jefferson claimed in a letter to a friend that it demonstrated his bona fides as a Christian. 'It is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.'
And here, TPers, is one of your Christian Founding Fathers, just as you like him.

Between this and the Pedro portrait, I'm thinking it's about time to take the family to D.C. for the kids first trip to the Smithsonian. 

Kindle it up: Jesus Swept

Kindle rocks for Jesus Swept | BlueNC:




If you've been around here for awhile, you know I'm a fan of experimentation. In my view, it's the only way to know what works. Which is why my publisher agreed to launch an ebook experiment to see if my novel could gain some traction in Kindle sales. It's happening.
I just got mine. 99¢ people!

Eleventh Blogiversary: Looking Backward (and Ahead)

It's been (roughly) eleven years since that fateful spring day when, from a humble Brooklyn apartment, a couple of good friends and I launched Triptych Cryptic: The Heretic Monkey of Weblogs. We started on my Geocities account, though we'd moved elsewhere long before Yahoo shut that down. We were joined over the years by a few other friends, carrying on until we finally called it quits last year. I started cryptonaut-in-exile before TC ended, but didn't consolidate my TC posts (many of them anyways) from the archives into this site until TC was gone. I'm not quite sure where to peg my blogiversary because I may have mislabeled my second post as my first in the export/import process. I'm pretty sure on TC we listed March 26, 2000 as our start date, so even though the first post wasn't mine, I'm still thinking of that as the blogiversary worth noting.

Anyways, I've been doing this one way or another at least 11, if not 12, years. (Had a blog pre-Triptych Cryptic as well, but that's lost in the mists of time.) While I miss the camaraderie of ol' TC, I have to say I'm kind of proud of this solo effort. Sure, I make typos when I'm too eager to hit 'Publish,' and I've bored and irritated a few people, but it wouldn't be reflective of my personality otherwise, right?

I'm forty now, almost certainly more than half way to my grave so it could just as easily be said I'm dying as much as living -- not to be morbid, I'm going somewhere with this -- and it doesn't look like I'm ever going start, never mind finish, the novels I was sure as a youth I had ready to burst forth from my overheated imagination. This blog then looks like it will serve as my written legacy. I don't particularly care if I have a tombstone or a marker somewhere after I shuffle off this mortal coil. However, upon reflection, I would kind of like a holographic video recording, à la Tasha Yar's but, should technology not deliver, I'm hoping this blog will be something my progeny will be able to access for a glimpse into my thoughts and interests. (Sorry about the language, future little ones, if you're out there, I was occasionally foul-mouthed.)

As a kid, I loved going through my grandparents' old stuff. I wanted to see pictures of them when they were young, and learn about what was going on in the world that had an effect on them. Even as a kid, I was fascinated by the idea that who we are is shaped by our environment and by our genetic inheritance. I could see in the old, black and white photos of my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles as kids themselves, how they looked so similar to how my brother and I looked at the same age. My paternal grandfather's very posture in one picture from his WWII days in the Navy looked like it could have been of my dad or any of my uncles. If they looked like me, walked like me, talked like me, how much did they think like me? So much of that is gone now, dispersed or destroyed. Even my memories, sadly, get jumbled or buried so deep I'm not sure they're there. If my kids are like me, I think they'll be curious about the interconnectedness of things, of people, and I hope to leave them something more than a few scraps of evidence to satisfy that curiosity.

There's the possibility, of course, that this blog will be as inaccessible to them as recordings on reel-to-reel tape are to me now. I don't know how people will interact with the internet five years from now, never mind 50. Maybe I should think about doing an annual blog-to-print just in case ... since all my books will (hopefully!) end up with Blake and Amelia eventually, that might be the best way to hedge against a rapid technology shift.

So, Google, stay in business, don't make me move this stuff around again. I'm counting on you to be like Levi Strauss and Macy's, at least, if not Keiunkan.

Of injuries and sportsmanship.

Central Washington offers the ultimate act of sportsmanship - College Sports - ESPN:


Image via SeattlePI.com


Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school's career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human spirit far more than individual athletic achievement.
Great story. Compare and contrast to the Nykesha Sales controversy, I mean, if you're so inclined.



Via Primate Keeper, who found it on some religious website but got me to watch it by pointing out it's an ESPN story.


Pitchfork to host exclusive live stream of LCD Soundsystem's final show (Save the date: 4/2/2011)

Pitchfork: Pitchfork to Stream LCD Soundsystem's Final Show Live From Madison Square Garden: "This will be a one-time-only broadcast. It will not be replayed."

Friday, March 25, 2011

#FF @clarkekant (Theology 101)


Trying to explain God to little kids is hard. I said think of him as a lot like Santa, only he doesn't bring you presents and he's not real.Fri Mar 25 23:48:38 via Twitter for iPhone

"Young lady, there are no monsters in the Oval Office."

BBC - Doctor Who - The Prequel to Episode 1

#FF @hodgman (Wherein a twitfave plugs local faves, Megafaun.)


Everybody: seriously, MEGAFAUNFri Mar 25 00:53:04 via Twitter for iPhone

"You know my work. Walk with me."

Watch Aaron Sorkin's Cameo on 30 Rock -- Vulture

Walking and talking, Sorkin-style.

BB gun-toting bicyclists terrorize church after-school program (What is it with NC kids and pellet guns?!)

BB gun-toting bicyclists terrorize church after-school program :: WRAL.com:
RALEIGH, N.C. — Members of a Raleigh church said Friday that students in their after-school program have been shot at twice this week by teens on bicycles armed with pellet guns.

The Carolina legacy (I hope someone in Storrs has already started preparing the UCONN version.)

The Carolina legacy: A visual history of 100 years of Tar Heel basketball | Reesenews:


Detail from a much larger image


Here’s a look back at the first hundred years of Tar Heel history— a visual celebration of North Carolina’s best coaches, players and the records they set.
I only blog this because I need UNC to win it all to have a chance at winning one of the pools I'm in this year. Now, I really want UCONN to win it all, and I'd like to see an infographic that gives the Huskies (men's and women's programs) similar treatment.

Plus, it's a sly, understated way of rubbing it in that this year's Carolina squad is doing better than Duke.

Pedro honored at the Smithsonian

Peter Gammons: Pedro Martinez a portrait of wisdom, goodwill | MLB.com: News:


Pedro (via MLB.com via AP)


'I want children in the Dominican to have the educational opportunities that people in the United States are afforded, so someday college teams from the Dominican Republic can play against the great colleges and universities in the United States. In the end, education means opportunity.'
He is the best pitcher anyone of my generation ever saw, and we saw Roger Clemens*, Randy Johnson, and Greg Maddux, too, so that's saying something. I don't mean to downplay the long, brilliant careers of those other guys -- in terms of their Hall of Fame credentials you'd probably have to put all three of them in ahead of Pedro, if you were just looking at the back of baseball cards. All I'm saying is what we saw those two magical seasons, 1999 and 2000, from Pedro was unparalleled mastery. I was born too late to see Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson, but I have Pedro Martinez and I did not get short-changed.

* Had Clemens not turned out be steroid-addled cheater, his claim would've been indisputable. 
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