Ugliest NFL Unis
3martini lists the 10 Ugliest Uniforms in the NFL with some entertaining commentary (found via Eric at Off Wing).
If you’re looking for a multi-sport uniform review, check out Paul Lukas’ Uniforms, the year in review on espn.com’s page 2.
Day Moving Too Fast
Just when you thought you could be imagining things, Wired is reporting that a NASA scientist says the devastating Dec. 26 earthquake off Sumatra may have caused the planet to spin 3 millionths of a second faster and wobble about an inch on its axis. Ok, so it’s not an excuse for not getting something done, but it’s an interesting fact nonetheless. The article also notes that scientists don’t think such tiny shifts will have long-term effects, but planetary scientists must add a “leap second” to the end of the year, something that has not been done in many years.
Doing Your Research
There seem to be too many articles nowadays about a journalist who didn’t check the sources for a piece and ran it without any fact-checking, only to find out later that it’s completely, or partially false. There is a discussion going on in the forums at hockeyfights.com about Gordie Howe. Most who really know about the game know a lot of the stuff about him and fighting is myth. He was a tough player, no doubt, but he was very dirty, and that helped opponents stay away from him more than his fighting skills. Someone was disagreeing and posted about stories from his grandfather and that Howe fought a ton in the minors for the Omaha Knights (and well, putting guys in the hospital). So another poster, who goes by “Deadman”, found the phone number of Gary Anderson, who wrote a well-respected book about that minor league team, and called him up and spoke to him about Howe and his fighting frequency to clear up the situation (Howe didn’t fight that much down there either according to Anderson, in case you’re interested). Absolutely great research - and just for a thread on a message board - why can’t journalists be so thorough?
Halting the March
During the Rose Bowl halftime the Michigan Marching Band was performing. ABC gave them some coverage but insisted on changing the camera angle every few seconds. There’s absolutely no reason to do this. I’m barely interested in a marching band and if I was annoyed that I couldn’t see the synchronized marching and what shapes and such they’re making, I can only imagine how pissed off those who care about this kind of stuff feel. I’m sure that the dozen or so kids that go their close-ups are happy, and that there are some giddy friends and family out there, but overzealous direction and some wannabe MTV angles really took the steam out of the show.
Remembering Einstein’s “Smart Streak”
From The Economist: Miraculous visions - A century after Einstein’s miracle year, most people still do not understand exactly what it was he did. Here, we attempt to elucidate.
A good piece about Albert Einstein, his place among the recent science timeline and what/how he was thinking.
NBA Rejects EA’s Bid for Exclusivity
IGN wrote about the NBA rejecting EA’s bid for exclusivity, plus more dealings behind the scenes in the sports game arena.
However, unlike EA’s dominant Madden franchise, their NBA Live games doesn’t have the same sort of market share and there are multiple basketball games that compete with it and most likely would have been a moneyloser for the NBA.
After the NFL deal one non-EA publisher was able to extend their MLB deal to at least three more games, quieting rumors that EA was trying to get an exclusive deal with the MLB as well.
Toshiba Satellite Review: First Thoughts
First thoughts: I received my Toshiba Satellite today. I ordered the massive P30 with most options upped. Huge, beautiful screen. The machine itself is a bit larger than I expected, but it’s not quite as heavy as I thought, quieter than I thought and I haven’t had it on long enough to let you know how hot it gets.
New machines are great. They always feel empty, but are fast and waiting to be filled and used. A nice, fresh start, or so I thought…
When I ordered it I called up by phone instead of ordering online for one major reason: I don’t want anything pre-installed on it. So I asked, “can nothing be installed on this machine?” “Nothing?”, the rep replied. “Just the operating system [XP Pro], that’s all I want. Can this be done?”
“I’m not sure, I’ll mark down the request.” Ok, no guarantees here, and I still expected some factory stuff, but not nearly as much as I received.
I understand that they probably have a series of pre-loaded images to slap onto a machine when someone orders it - but I know I’m not the only one who wants “nothing” - why can’t they just have one barebones image ready to use? I don’t care how many sponsors you have, this machine is still too much money to have my desktop pre-loaded with “special offers”.
I spent some time removing a good deal of crap from the machine in hopes that some of my pre-bloated registry can be cleaned up and it can load a bit faster (after I get rid of that annoying “Start Navigation” click-sound).
I then flipped on the wireless connection (has a neat little on/off switch on the side). I searched for my wireless network. 23 wireless networks found, most insecure. Fun stuff, but I logged onto my own and went straight to Internet Explorer for a Windows Update.
Windows Update found five critical updates I needed. Not bad, but from the time I ordered this to when I received it they all didn’t come out. Toshiba should either update their image or update these machines before they send them out. It’s irresponsible nowadays to send out a computer that’s not updated.
So now I use IE to download FireFox. Get a little more secure here.
Out of sheer curiousity I go download SpyBot - Search & Destroy. I update the definitions right away and do a scan.
Besides a cookie or two, it finds 5 reg entries for the DSO Exploit. Nice. I guess that’s another nice pre-loaded special offer for me.
So this got me thinking - what else is on here? Time to head over to Trend Micro for a free virus scan. So you might be thinking - with all those pre-installed programs, one has to be a virus scan, right? Yup, it’s got an evaluation of Norton, which I don’t feel like starting right now. Luckily Trend Micro says it’s virus-free.
So now I’ll continue cleaning this machine. Shame I have to clean a brand new machine that I just paid a good amount for.
A few other thoughts about it:
- I wish they did have a picture of it relative to something else on the website. It’s a big, big machine. I probably would have gotten it anyway, as this is will mainly be used at home, but I wouldn’t have been so shocked when I first saw it.
- The touchpad buttons aren’t responding all too well. Maybe they just need to be broken in, but I’d hate to have to send this thing back. I’ll give it a few days to see how it goes.
- While it’s big, it certainly uses all that room, this thing has almost everything built-in. I guess this would be more of a “desktop replacement” than a laptop. Maybe more like “a desktop that’s easy to move”.
- The sound is very nice on it.
Time to continue setup…
Edit: Yes, I realize formatting is an option, and still one I’m thinking about.
Update: Too much wasted time. Formatting.
No more BitTorrent Links on SuprNova.org
In a follow-up to: MPAA Wants BitTorrent Sites Shut Down, I point you towards The Register, which is carrying a story about SuprNova.org ending, at least in the way we know it now.
Update: the Unofficial SuprNova.org Closure FAQ
Trillian 3.0 Released
Trillian 3.0, a multi-service instant messaging client (works with AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, etc…), has been released today. It’s made by Cerulean Studios and is Windows-only.
It appears they’ve already released an updated build after making 3.0 final. They fixed many bugs during beta testing, but things slip, so no biggie. Still, if you don’t want to possibly upgrade soon after installing/upgrading now, you may want to wait a week or so, as I’d most likely suggest with any piece of software that was just released. I plan on installing it on my laptop “fresh” in a few days, looking forward to it. I’ve been a fan of ver 2, and some of the plugins available for it.
If you’re looking for some in-depth nerdy feedback on it, here’s the Trillian 3.0 Released Slashdot thread .
Have Fun With That Yap
CNNSI is carrying an AP story about an interview Pedro Martinez did with the Boston Herald. To sum up what they’ve titled “Burning Bridges”, Martinez criticizes Red Sox management, specifically calls General Manager Theo Epstein “arrogant”, says he’s better than Curt Schilling and he said he’d like the Mets to sign Jason Varitek and move Mike Piazza somewhere else.
Here’s the Boston Herald article: Pedro pitches his side—Ace explains move to NY Mets
This is going to be fun because if/when the Mets are a losing team again Pedro is going to start to run his mouth, and he won’t be treated any nicer in Queens than he is in the Bronx.
One has to wonder: where’s all the “he won’t be the same in the National League” junk we heard when Clemens went to the Astros? I realize, of course, Martinez has pitched in the NL before, but he’s been plunking more batters for the Red Sox. Since 1998, when Martinez went Boston, only two players have hit more batters. Tim Wakefield and Kerry Wood have each hit 78 batters, 1 more than Martinez (Clemens has 36 in the same time frame if you’re curious). But one thing Wakefield and Wood, and even Clemens, have in common - they all have more walks and wild pitches than Martinez. That and you just watch him throughout the year and it’s not hard to tell - he hits more batters on purpose. Now, I’m not judging that as a good or a bad thing. Some think you should never, ever purposely hit a guy; others call it old school depending on the situation. You can say Martinez throws at someone at the appropriate time - but that’s not the point here - it’s simply that Clemens, having less than half of hit batters as Martinez since Martinez as been in the AL, was given heat that he wouldn’t pitch the same way in the NL - where is that for Martinez? IMO, Clemens didn’t change his approach at all, and I don’t think Martinez will either, I’m just pointing out one of the differences in media reactions about each pitcher changing leagues.