Kamis, 21 April 2011
Jumat, 08 April 2011
Label: Actress in the World
Rabu, 06 April 2011
So what does it all mean for this budget proposal I've been blogging about furiously today? Paul Ryan deserves enormous credit for coming up with a plan that is a step in the right direction and appears to have at least majority support among House Republicans. This is a serious proposal and Ryan's critics have no offered no alternatives for dealing with the country's fiscal problems. Many of those critics prefer to pretend that these fiscal problems don't exist or are merely part of a conspiracy to cut taxes for the rich, despite a two-decade bipartisan consensus that some kind of entitlement reform is needed.
That said, we have to appreciate that what Ryan is trying to do is very difficult. Comprehensive agendas can be attacked comprehensively. It is difficult, as Newt Gingrich learned, to change the country's political direction from Capitol Hill. Republicans do not control either the Senate or the White House. President Obama is not likely to ever sign a budget that repeals his health care bill, transforms Medicare and Medicaid, and contains spending cuts of this magnitude. That means Democrats have something to run against and Republicans will have no real-world evidence to contradict their Chicken Little scenarios.
Selasa, 05 April 2011
Label: babymarkt, deals direct, ebs, moto usate, tupperware.de
It’s the NCAA Tournament national championship game as the Butler Bulldogs from the Horizon League faces the Connecticut Huskies from the Big East conference in a college basketball game on Monday night.
Tip off from Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas is scheduled for 9PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by CBS.
The betting odds opened up in the NCAA Tournament national championship with the Connecticut Huskies favored by –4 points with an over under of 129 points.
Label: butler, butler university, college basketball, ncaa, uconn
Jesse Ventura was on "Good Morning America" today, promoting his new book (and, presumably, leather fringed jackets).
When George Stephanopoulous got tired of hearing Ventura's 9/11 inside-job theories, he asked if Ventura would consider a presidential run in 2012.
Ventura wouldn't. But he'd love to run with the man he dedicated his new book to -- Ron Paul -- on one condition:
Paul has to run as an independent, not a Republican (click to 3:30 if you don't feel like sitting through Ventura's conspiracy theories and a clip of him guest-starring on a soap opera -- but why wouldn't you?
Label: newsday, ron paul, times colonist, wsbtv
Label: Air Safety, Air Travel, Airframe, Cabin, Grounded, Hole, Southwest Airlines, Torn, Travel News
Katie Couric is leaving her anchor post at "CBS Evening News" less than five years after becoming the first woman to solely helm a network TV evening newscast.
A network executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Couric has not officially announced her plans, reported the move to The Associated Press on Sunday night. The 54-year-old anchor is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012 and several companies are vying for her services.
Couric's move from NBC's "Today" show was big news in 2006, and she began in the anchor chair with a flourish that September. She tried to incorporate her strengths as an interviewer into a standard evening news format and millions of people who normally didn't watch the news at night checked it out. But they drifted away and the evening newscast reverted to a more traditional broadcast.
After those first few weeks, the "CBS Evening News" settled into third place in the ratings and is well behind leader Brian Williams at NBC's "Nightly News" and second-place Diane Sawyer at ABC's "World News."
Naina Dhaliwal Indian sexy Bikini Model at the sea Beach in Bikini
0 komentar Diposting oleh asoy di 00.32Minggu, 03 April 2011
This speech was made before a Council of Confederated Chiefs after they had heard from a white missionary who had arrived and begun to preach to the Natives. I had never heard this speech before, I ran across it in the library today. There is a whole wealth of information about Red Jacket on-line. Wikipedia is always a good place to start, so here's a link to that, followed by the full text of the speech itself. It is majestic.
Label: red jacket firearms, toda y news, usanews, usaupdates
You are searching for a Savannah cat breeder? Search no more. There in one that is head and shoulders above all others and that includes all cat breeders. I am not getting a commission for saying this, by the way.
You should contact this cat breeder and go from that starting point. I will guarantee that it is the best way of proceeding if you are looking to buy a Savannah cat from a breeder in the United States. And the USA is the home of the Savannah cat.
I am talking about A1 Savannahs. They are the premier Savannah cat breeder, worldwide. They do business with royalty in far flung places (e.g. Morocco) and they deal with "ordinary" people in the US......
UConn's youth (and Kemba Walker, of course) beat Kentucky's youth, despite a freshman mistake by Jeremy Lamb late. And it's DeAndre Liggins, a junior, who will be the Wildcats' sickest player tonight.
A Shabazz Napier turnover gave Kentucky a chance to take the lead with 16 seconds left, but the Wildcats were only able to get a deep DeAndre Liggins three on the ensuing possession. Liggins missed, Napier came up with the rebound, and the Husky freshman hit his free throws to ice UConn's third NCAA Tournament final appearance.
In those last two trips to the last men's college basketball game of the season, Jim Calhoun is 2-0.
Walker was his typically brilliant self throughout the game, accumulating 18 points, six rebounds, and seven assists while steadying the Huskies and helping UConn beat back a resurgent Kentucky in the second half.
And now, the most electric player from March Madness will get a chance to win the NCAA Tournament in April.
More 2011 March Madness resources: SB Nation's Kentucky blog A Sea of Blue has tons more on the Wildcats' NCAA Tournament success, while The UConn Blog has coverage of the Huskies and Kemba Walker ... visit our NCAA Tournament hub for up-to-date news and information ... grab an updated printable NCAA 2011 Tournament bracket ... check out the the full NCAA Tournament schedule.
Label: butler, Final Four, kentucky basketball, ncaa basketball, vcu
There are three games left in the college basketball season (who knows if one of those CBI knockoffs is still going -- if only there were some way to figure that out. Oh well.), and two of them are tonight. Here they are, with my rooting interests in bold.
GAME THE FIRST: (8) Butler vs. (11) VCU -- If only there were a way both teams could win this game. I'm throwing my support behind VCU for three reasons: I love how the Rams rock the gold and black, Shaka Smart is one heckuva name, and watching Butler in a Final Four game is going to give me sad flashbacks to last year.
GAME THE SECOND: (4) Kentucky vs. (3) Connecticut -- If only there were a way both teams could lose this game. I can't see myself rooting for either team in this game; I do not give a rat's patoot who wins. I've got nothing positive to say here, so I might as well keep my mouth shut.
Sabtu, 02 April 2011
The heads of the nation’s top companies got the biggest raises in recent memory last year after taking a hiatus during the recession.
At a time most employees can barely remember their last substantial raise, median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 as the executives’ compensation started working its way back to prerecession levels, a USA TODAY analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International found. Workers in private industry, meanwhile, saw their compensation grow just 2.1% in the 12 months ended December 2010, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Two years of scaling back amid tough economic times proved temporary as three-quarters of CEOs got raises in 2010 — and, in many cases, the increases were substantial.
Southwest flight makes emergency landing, 'hole' found on top of jet
0 komentar Diposting oleh asoy di 10.37In the Sacramento Bee writes "Southwest Airlines flight 812 took quickly to 11,000 feet after the incident and landed later in the day Naval Air Station International Airport / in 04:07 (07:07 ET), FAA spokesman Ian Gregor Books in an email. "
South West issued a statement after a short time by 09:30 ET, saying:
Southwest Airlines Flight 812, scheduled to leave 03:25 from Phoenix to Sacramento today returned to Yuma, Arizona due to loss of cabin pressure. For a safe landing in the day, the crew discovered a hole in the top of the aircraft. There are reports of injuries to consumers. Take one of the hosts, but a minor injury at birth.
According to Sacramento KCRA TV "The plane fell 16,000 feet in a minute, according to tracking site called flightaware.com flight.
There were 118 people aboard the plane, which was taken by Phoenix on his way to Sacramento. The plane was a Boeing 737-700, according to flightaware.com.
Gregor said the FAA and the Associated Press that he is not known why ease the pressure on T-Sat 10
As for the "hole" described some of the passengers who saw the report of the various sources of information about the incident.
"You can see through that day," the newspaper quoted a passenger as specified within Reyes said by telephone at KCRA.
"This is at the top of the aircraft, right above where you can store your luggage," added Reyes AFP in a telephone interview said. The team was not quite split, but you can see perfectly. "
AFP writes, "Reese said there was no real panic" among the passengers, the pilot emerged from the cockpit after praise after the emergency landing. "
CBS described the scene at the Kings 13 - another passenger on flights - ". Cindy" known only as
"They just took drink orders when I heard a loud and oxygen masks came and we started a good quick to say that we want to make an emergency landing," CBS 13 quotes a woman said. "There was a (sic) in the trunk about three feet long, you can isolate the wiring and see. You can see tears in the length of the roof .."
"FAA inspector on its way to investigate" reports CNN on its Web site.
He said that in a south-west of its release that it "will work with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), investigating this possibility."
Lindsay Lohan is easing back into the glamorous life of a Hollywood actress. Though she is more well known these days for rehab and court trials, the starlet did her industry duties and attended The Source Code premiere on Thursday night.
She donned a rocker-chick black and white mini dress with black tights and some funky jewelry at the Manhattan event.
Per usual, she's being bombarded with drinking and drug rumors, especially after she took a spill outside of an NYC bar this week. She tweeted after rumors started buzzing about her alcohol relapse: "Is it not allowed to slip and fall? I'm always a klutz....
Kim Kardashian Tries to Pull April Fools Prank on Nicole Richie
0 komentar Diposting oleh asoy di 04.50Nice try, Kim! The reality starlet tried to hack her pal Nicole Richie's Twitter account this morning (with a little help from Nicole's hubby Joel Madden), but the April Fool's plan sorta flopped.
Kim Kardashian (Pacific Coast News)
Kim and Joel managed to get onto Nicole's page and wrote things like: "I heart @KimKardashian 's boobs" and "Damn. @joelmadden is lookin' fine. but before long she caught on and fired back.
"SO FUNNY @JoelMadden & @KimKardashian! But I am a mature, classy, & sophisticated adult, & I don't have time for your "foolish" games!" the real Nicole tweeted.
Kim was simply trying to get back at Nicole for getting her good last year, so she's not prepared to admit defeat just yet. The day is young! Ms. K tweeted: "Nicole got me better last year, my April Fools to her sucked....its ok. We still have all day "
So, how did Nicole emerge victorious last year? Well, she got Kim's Twitter password from Khloe Kardashian and wrote, as Kim, that she was going to bed because of a bad case of diarrhea! And added things like "“Oh what am I doing? Just staring at a picture of Nicole Richie’s tig ol’ bitties!” She even changed Kim's profile pic!
Kim wrote about the experience on her blog last year: “There I was thinking I had made it to the end of April Fool’s day without getting seriously pranked and then I start seeing really bizarre replies on my Twitter on my Blackberry. Khloe gave my Twitter password to Nicole and she totally took over my Twitter.”
Maybe the day is appropriate. Our lefty starter gives up a jimmy-jack in the second inning. He lasts 4 2/3 innings of lackluster ball and leaves with the Rangers down 4-0. Jon Lester is on. Jon Lester is June 6, 2009 on. 9 innings, 11Ks. Red Sox win 8-1 after the bullpen janitor gets blitzed in the 6th. Uh oh. Now allow me to direct you to your calendar and point out the following: April Fool's!
Truly there is only one thing to celebrate today and it isn't prank calling your grandma or seeing what lame "invention" Google came up with; it's our Opening Day. We're signing up for another year that will test our mettle as often as it rewards our reverence. That's where it's at. That's baseball's sweet spot and is one that only baseball can offer. Today, we will celebrate willingly devoting ourselves to this game for another year, each and every day. It's possible the above scenario could play out, but regardless of the outcome, around Three O'Clock this afternoon, we're bulletproof again because baseball is back.
Fools? Maybe. Maybe it is foolish to find obligation in a sport. We've heard this winter about bad traffic & heat, manipulation & misleadings, differing management styles, and shambles. There have been tweaked groins, cold bats from big names, uncooperative shoulders and vanishing release points. We've worried about the closer, the closer starting, the 8th inning guy if the closer starts, the possible 8th inning guys now that the once-thought 8th inning guy was named a starter, and 3, 4, & 5 guys. But none of the fretting matters today because there's baseball to be played, American League Champion worthy baseball, and it's not going to stop for hand-wringing. Nor should it. If ever an Opening Day was worthy of our allegiance, it is today's. Not just because of 2010's successes. Not only because of 2011's promise. But because, out of the shadows of unprecedented success, the sun shines down upon this team waiting to thrill anew. We have 162 games to be fools for loving this game once again. This time, perhaps, they'll finish the job and fool 'em all.
Label: boston red sox, covers, major league baseball, mlb, vegasinsider
Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, that’s what. Both players saw their stock as baseball players rise to meteoric levels.
In 2010, Tulowitzki won his first Gold Glove award. Baseball Info Solutions gave him its Fielding Bible Award. He didn’t captivate the world just with his glove. He garnered much of his attention from his Ruthian September, in which he hit 15 home runs and had 40 RBI. Only Babe Ruth himself had a better singular month than Tulo.
The beautiful thing about him is that he is just 26 years old, and he plays a stellar shortstop. Health permitting, he should be considered the best overall shortstop in baseball. If you look at his 10-year $157.75 million contract, one should think that the Rockies got an incredible bargain on such a magnificently gifted athlete. He always will face doubters who question his ability to stay healthy, but he will never face doubters of his talents and abilities. His signing gives the Rocks a name they can build their franchise around. Denver isn’t a huge edifice of baseball, but the foresight and fortitude to find the cash to lock down a superstar of Tulowitzki’s caliber should be applauded, especially in a market dominated by the Northeast.
Don’t fall asleep on Gonzalez. Just recently George Karl of the Denver Nuggets, of all places, compared the “smoothness” of CarGo to that of the great Roberto Clemente. Where Karl errs in that comparison is that Gonzalez hit 34 home runs in 2010. Clemente’s career high for a single season was 29. Another possible difference is in that oh-so-lovely stolen base department. Gonzalez stole 26 bases in 2010; Clemente never swiped more than 12 in a single season. The batting average compares nicely. Gonzalez hit .336 last year, and Clemente was a career .317 hitter................
Label: colorado rockies
All the opinions expressed here are purely based on my experience. I would imagine most people would have similar experiences in the same geography – but regardless, my views here are based on my personal experience and experimentation. Regardless, the opinions expressed here are purely mine.
Just recently, I took the Acela Express from Metropark NJ to Washington Union Station. I know I have written about this topic more than once but I wanted to provide an update – because I see an abiding interest in my wireless specific posts and also because since I did this route after a while, I saw some service improvements that should be articulated for readers trying to figure out the best voice and data service across the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
As people who have followed this blog would know, I use both a Sprint and ATT phone service. I also have a Sprint broadband card constantly tethered to my laptop – one of the joys of having a life of being constantly on the road.
Data Coverage:
I cant compare the Sprint Broadband service to ATT Broadband service – just because I dont have an ATT wireless card – but courtesy of Good Messaging, I use data services pretty extensively on my ATT Treo 750.
So, I logged onto the Sprint broadband network the moment I got on the train at Metropark station NJ. I found the high speed EVDO network no problems. As we chugged along towards Philadelphia, I remember there used to be these holes at random places where EVDO would get bumped down to the slower Rx1TT – especially around Philadelphia station. All those holes seem to be now gone. There was constant EVDO service between Metropark and right after we left Philadelphia. Earlier, in the tunnel after the Philly station, the connection would get broken. This time around, while I wasn’t on EVDO – I was connected on Rx1TT. Never got disconnected. Got bumped up to EVDO again right after the tunnels and didnt get bumped down or disconnected till we reached close to Baltimore. There I did get disconnected – but only after I chose not to connect on roaming – this must be a firmware update on my card – I never got that earlier. And then after a 3-4 miles, I was back on EVDO all the way to the Union Station.
Verdict: I have consistently maintained that Sprint today offers the best high speed data network in the United States (to be significantly enhanced in the next couple of years courtesy Wimax) – and the network, atleast in the much-traveled New York-Washington corridor has definitely gotten much better. I got a lot of work done, sent out 3 meg powerpoints and downloaded a bunch of email. Breeze. You cant get better data service from any provider including Verizon Wireless.
About ATT Wireless (or ATT Mobility, as it is now called), the data network was fair. Didn’t even come close to Sprint – as a matter of fact, the whole route was scattered with coverage holes (I’ll come to that later) – but when we were in coverage, the data did download as expected. Of course, ATT data speeds dont even compare to Sprint – its EDGE network is closer to Rx1TT and doesnt stand a snuff to Sprint EVDO. While ATT is still deploying its HSDPA network (with theoretical speeds matching Sprint’s EDGE) but it is theoretical. I experimented with a HSDPA capable device (HTC 7500) and the speeds, while faster than EDGE, is visibly slower than EVDO. And I hear EVDO Rev 2 is noticeably faster.
But most compellingly, ATT Wireless does not have coverage even closely comparable to Sprint. And I talk about this based on my experiences traveling in California, Kansas, Washington, Boston, New York and all over New Jersey.
Verdict: ATT Wireless is spotty, slow and adequate at best. I would not recommend ATT Wireless for your mobile broadband needs, be it PC card based or high speed phone based services. There are significant coverage holes in the geography I covered – and since this is one of the most traveled corridors in the United States, it does not portend well to overall ATT coverage.
Voice Coverage:
I sort of expected the results I got, admittedly using random talk times on each of my phones. I was constantly on calls for about an hour and I swapped phones just to test out the coverage I got from each of the providers.
I know I would be going against the grain of established perception about the quality of networks especially given ATT’s claims of the “Fewest Dropped Calls” – but Sprint was far superior. In my prior experience with Verizon wireless, I would say that Sprint still wasn’t as good – but it was much improved and I hardly had any problems at all during my entire trip save those two very areas – the tunnels after the Philly station and when we were nearing Baltimore. Sprint offers free roaming for USD 5 per month – if I had that option enabled, I would have no coverage gaps – because where Sprint did not have signal – it had roaming. Important to mention here that one of the shortcomings of Sprint’s network is that the transition from in-network to roaming isnt seamless. The call always drops. Theoretically, if you have roaming enabled, it should not – but it does.
ATT Wireless had sporadic holes. I had atleast two dropped calls when the signal showed two bars. Especially around Southern New Jersey (where Sprint has pretty strong coverage), I went out of coverage with ATT atleast thrice. I wasnt using the phone at that time so I cant comment about how long they lasted -but based on the out of coverage beeps on my headset – lasted for about 30 seconds each on a fast moving Acela Express.
Verdict: Sprint was much superior to ATT again. Though it would be fair to point that Verizon Wireless has the best voice coverage – this based on my experience around 3 months ago.
Postscript: I get a lot of response when I write these posts – about how I am biased this way or that. I am not. I just believe a lot of public perception is based on the concerted and effective advertising – and sometimes the ground realities and user experiences are vastly different. I just recently signed on as an ATT subscriber , primarily because I wanted a GSM service provider and a phone I could carry overseas. I am writing this because my experiences are so utterly different from what the commercials promised and consequently, what I expected.
Label: at t, at t wireless, att, att uverse
The Red Sox announced the passing of longtime executive Lou Gorman, who built Boston's 1986 American League Championship team. Our condolences to Gorman's family and friends. Here are this afternoon's links...
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette challenges Pirates leaders to change the perception that the team is focused on profit, destined never to compete.
Cork Gaines of Rays Index shows that the Rays' payroll dropped 41.7% from last year, all the way down to $41.9MM. The Rays committed $12.6MM to Wade Davis yesterday, an especially substantial investment for a team on such a limited budget.
White Sox director of international scouting Jerry Krause is stepping down to join the Diamondbacks, according Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. The former Chicago Bulls GM will assist Arizana executive Jerry DiPoto.
Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports says the Dodgers can overcome surrounding distractions to become a playoff team in 2011. In fact, he predicts an NL West title for the Dodgers.
Label: baltimore orioles, mets, mlb, philadelphia phillies, phillies
The term "Human Rights abuse" tends to invoke images of authoritarian regimes that rob their citizens of their right to free expression and torture. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- which was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and holds the world record as the most translated document on earth -- protects citizens against such abuses.
The document also protects people's "economic rights." These include the right to adequate housing, freedom from hunger and access to essential medical care. Eleanor Roosevelt and the other framers included these rights because they knew that the concept of free expression requires healthy minds and bodies to carry ideas and that hunger and homelessness are their own forms of physical and physiological torture.....
At last, we've made it! Even though the weather forecast is iffy, even though spring training games for the Cubs were shaky, you've got to be excited for Opening Day. Here's today's lineup:
Fukudome RF, Castro SS, Byrd CF, Ramirez 3B, Pena 1B, Soto C, Soriano LF, Barney 2B, Dempster P
I like this -- moving Geo up. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Soto hitting fifth against LHP this year.
Pirates lineup:
Tabata LF, Walker 2B, McCutchen CF, Overbay 1B, Alvarez 3B, Doumit C, Jones RF, Cedeno SS, Correia P
As I have done on occasion in the past, I exchanged five questions with our SB Nation Pirates blogger Charlie Wilmoth. My answers to his questions are in this Bucs Dugout post. Here are my questions and Charlie's responses:
Q. The Pirates were 10-5 against the Cubs last year, including five wins at Wrigley -- when they only won 17 all year on the road. How did they do this and can they do it again?
A. I don't know. It's strange. The Pirates even won three games against the Cubs in May with either Brian Burres or Charlie Morton on the hill, back when Morton was in the midst of a cataclysmic breakdown. I have no explanation for that.
Q. Of Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen, who has the biggest upside and who will be the biggest star, and why?
A. I'll go with McCutchen. There's every possible indication that in the next few seasons, he'll make the leap from being a very good player to a big star. He has a broad base of hitting skills, he's very athletic, he never gets hurt, he's already a good hitter, and he's entering his third year in the league. That doesn't mean he'll actually do it, and he's good enough already that it might be hard for him to improve vastly in a single season, but his upside is enormous.
Alvarez has enough power to bring light to a small village, and he a great draft pedigree. But strikeouts are always on the verge of eating him alive, and he goes through stretches where he looks clueless and flails at breaking balls down and away. I think he did a nice job adjusting down the stretch last year, though, and he put up big numbers in September, so there's hope for a breakout this year. Walker had a solid rookie season last year while learning a new position on the fly, but I'd put him significantly behind McCutchen and Alvarez.
Q. Who's going to come out of nowhere to be an impact player for the Pirates this year?
As a Pirates fan, I enthusiastically embrace the premise of the question (that there will, in fact, be an out-of-nowhere impact player this year), but I'm not sure who it will be. James McDonald was brilliant after being acquired in the Octavio Dotel trade last summer, and his season might have looked even better if departed manager John Russell had done a better job removing him from games when he got into trouble. There's always hope for Charlie Morton, who has excellent stuff and has pitched well this Spring using a sinker that former pitching coach Joe Kerrigan had him stop throwing last season. Rudy Owens is another starting pitcher to watch - he'll start the season in Class AAA, but he has the polish to pitch pretty well as soon as he arrives in the bigs. In the bullpen, Chris Resop could emerge as one of the Pirates' better relievers.
Q. What can the Pirates do to return to contention? Are they on the right path?
A. A few years ago, when Dave Littlefield was running the Pirates into the ground, it seemed like all the fans complained that the deck was stacked against the Pirates financially - as if giving Dave Littlefield a $100 million payroll to work with would have been anything other than setting money on fire. Now the Pirates are actually run reasonably well, spending tons of money on amateur talent and avoiding complicated contracts at the big-league level, and it seems like many of the fans have swung in the opposite direction, complaining about the management and ownership at every possible opportunity.
Dave Littlefield aside, the deck is stacked against the Bucs. Some of their financial records were leaked last year, and what they revealed is that while the Pirates aren't losing money, they aren't making much of it, either. It's going to be really hard for them to even have an average major-league payroll for more than a year or two at a time. With some caveats, I would say that the Pirates are on the best path they can be on right now given their financial situation and the talent that exists in the organization. Will that be enough to make them a contender? Maybe. Maybe not.
Q. What's it like rooting for a team that's had as many bad years as the Pirates have in a row? Does it get depressing? Do you see any hope for the future?
A. I'll resist the temptation to note the irony of a Cubs fan asking me this, because whatever problems the Cubs have, they're nothing compared to those of the Pirates. Yeah, it's tough. In the early part of the 2000s, I tried to force myself to become a fan of a new team - the A's, the Red Sox, anybody. That didn't work, so I started a blog. By the time the Littlefield years got really absurd, I had built up a small readership, and if I hadn't had those couple hundred readers a day, I probably would have quit, because there are only so many ways to say, "The Pirates played like a Little League team today," or to ask the eternal question of whether Dave Littlefield is evil or merely stupid. Yeah, you can use humor and sarcasm, but that stuff gets old really fast when the team you love is circling the bowl.
Now the Pirates do still play like a Little League team sometimes, but at least I don't have to ask the evil/stupid question about the Bucs' management, and there's actually a lot of interesting stuff going on down in the minors where there was practically none even a few years ago. That's the sort of thing that sustains me right now. It isn't much, but it's enough.
As any Yankees fan can tell you, the problem with sky-high expectations is that they leave you with only two possible outcomes: satisfaction or disappointment. If, like me, you feel that a large element of a baseball fan’s joy is the game’s potential to surprise and delight--to give you more than you might reasonably hope for--the idea of "World Series or bust" might not seem all that appealing. Our surprise and delight came on that December night when the rumors gave way to fact that Cliff Lee once again was a Phillie; but as soon as he signed, the story of the 2011 season transformed into "World Series or bust."
Now, my belief is that any predictions made when it’s consistently 40-50 degrees but with warmer weather presumably on the way, about which two ballclubs will be left standing when the thermometer returns to that range on a downward trajectory, are an affront to the baseball gods—whom we’re trying to appease, after all. So I’m not going there. But it feels a bit safer, and probably more interesting anyway, to speculate on which teams might play into October. And maybe the exercise counters that expectations problem; it wasn’t so long ago that most of us would have been beyond thrilled with one division championship, so the idea that we’d shrug the Phillies’ fifth straight NL East title like we’re entitled to it doesn't, and shouldn't, sit very well.
Label: boston red sox, cubs, mets, padres, red sox
Google Plays With Helvetica, Comic Sans For April Fools' 2011 Gag
0 komentar Diposting oleh asoy di 00.12Google is getting funny with fonts in honor of April Fools' day.
The search engine has pulled out a slew of pranks, from launching Gmail Motion to posting notice of its need for an "autocompleter".
It's also playing fast and loose with fonts in a gag that's sure to please typography buffs: Google "Helvetica," and you'll see a page of search results that appear entirely in Comic Sans. Search for "Comic Sans," and the results are all in Comic Sans.
Note that Googling "Wingdings" or "Courier" doesn't produce the same results.
Check out screenshots of the prank below, then see more of Google's jokes here, along with the April Fools' gags from Hulu, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Label: aprilfool, comic sans, comic sans ms, courier new, garamond, tahoma