Seeding

UConn Draws No. 1 Seed In The West -- Courant.com - Louisville and Pitt are also #1 seeds. Amazing. But, I think the committee got it right. I've been lowballing my expectations for the Huskies but I'm starting to waver and think this really could be another great year for them. It's not that I think they're looking better -- still not as good as the 1999 and 2004 teams -- but nobody else looks like they're head and shoulders above everyone else either. I think Memphis and UConn could've gone 1-2 without it being that big of a deal. I haven't looked at the full bracket yet, so I could be looking to revise this post shortly, but I suddenly see a future beyond the Sweet Sixteen for this year's edition.

We Have a Blank Spot in Our Vision

McKinsey: What Matters: Time to end the multigenerational Ponzi scheme by Kim Stanley Robinson:

"Does the word postcapitalism look odd to you? It should, because you hardly ever see it. We have a blank spot in our vision of the future. Perhaps we think that history has somehow gone away. In fact, history is with us now more than ever, because we are at a crux in the human story. Choosing not to study a successor system to capitalism is an example of another kind of denial, an ostrich failure on the part of the field of economics and of business schools, I think, but it’s really all of us together, a social aporia or fear. We have persistently ignored and devalued the future—as if our actions are not creating that future for our children, as if things never change. But everything evolves. With a catastrophe bearing down on us, we need to evolve at nearly revolutionary speed. So some study of what could improve and replace our society’s current structure and systems is in order. If we don’t take such steps, the consequences will be intolerable. On the other hand, successfully dealing with this situation could lead to a sustainable civilization that would be truly exciting in its human potential."

I'm Interested

Red Sox Not Interested In Pedro: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com
I miss Pedro.

the Last Hustler

The Last Hustler

Over his long and, more importantly, profitable career, John "Fast Jack" Farrell has lived by two rules: Get the money and get out alive.

The first has always been a cinch, easy as breathing for a knock-around kid from Manchester [CT] who became, arguably, the best card and dice hustler on two continents.

And he's still around. That proves he hasn't missed yet on the second rule, even if there have been close moments.

He's been chased by a mob of bat-swinging highway workers. He has been gouged, slashed, stripped, beaten, drugged, dumped in the snow and shot at. He once was warned, as he prepared to beat a mob dice game in Queens, that a "leak" — a slip of his crooked dice — could leave him hanging from a hook in a meat locker. He walked away four hours later, buzzed on adrenaline and thousands of dollars ahead.

There's a movie in the works.

Top 6 Most Played Songs on My iPod

1. "Save it for Later," English Beat (28)
2. "Beat Surrender," the Jam (27) - My kids love this song. I'm afraid the "bullshit is bullshit, it just goes by different names" line is going to be a problem soon.
   
3. "Someday I Suppose," the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones (27)
4. "Come on Eileen," Dexy's Midnight Runners (26)
   
5. "I Confess," English Beat (25)
6. "Last Nite," the Strokes (23)

Not exactly a 2008 list since some of these songs have been on the 'pod since I got it a couple years ago.