Miscellaneous rambling, and bragging about my kids.

She is in a coma and is unresponsative.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/17/flamingo.stuck.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us#

First of all, when you see the headline "Jack Hannah, Flamingo Trapped In Airport Turnstile" don't you immediately expect (nay, hope) to see video? 🙂

Second, you have to love this line from the article, which sounds like the start of its own "Guy walks into a bar" joke:  "Hannah was returning from a zoo fundraiser with a mongoose, a small leopard, and a flamingo."

Sounds like that joke from Breakfast Club ("A naked blond walks into a bar, with a poodle under one arm, and a two foot salami under the other. She lays the poodle on the table. Bartender says, "I suppose you won't be needing a drink." The naked lady says…")

PS – Since I've been asked, there is technically no known answer to the joke. The actor has said that he was making it up as he went. The original scene was supposed to have him tell a joke where the punchline was "Forgot my pencil" (the line he says as he walks back into the library after crashing through the ceiling), but no one could think of a joke with that punchline.

There are sites dedicated to coming up with a punchline for the joke, though. My favorite is this one:

Naked lady says, "Why do you say that?"

Bartender says, "I was talking to the poodle."

http://notorc.blogspot.com/2007/09/anatomy-of-humor-5-guy-walks-into-bar.html

Many many variations on the old start to a joke.  Many are stupid and forced, which disappointed me, although I did learn a couple of new ones.

They left out my favorite, though.

A mushroom walks into a bar and orders a drink.  Bartender says, "Get out of here, we don't serve mushrooms."

Mushroom says, "Aw come on, I'm a fungi!"

A friend's wife laughed at that joke, literally, for years.  She'd call up and leave messages on the answering machine with it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/digital_memories

Story from Yahoo News about crazy people who try to document every millisecond of their child's life by taking thousands of digital photos, never deleting one, buying new memory cards as needed (apparently that guy doesn't believe in backing up or printing), and generally documenting every time your child cries (put down the camera, pick up the baby), makes a mess (if there's not a website dedicated to baby poop yet, I'd be surprised), and basically missing the point that in your rush to save the memories, you are putting yourself behind the camera and…wait for it….out of the picture.

I guarantee that all of them have one child.  Could somebody please run the followup story in 5-10 years when these people have a second child and they have to eventually have this conversation:

"Daddy, how come there's an entire bookcase of albums of pictures of Billy, but for me all you have is that one you keep in your wallet?"

Whether the rule is a good one or not is not the question. It's a matter of being able to ever play a team again and say "We played fair" and expect to be believed. They have a definition of what the rule is (whether it is an arbitrary definition or not, that's what it is), something about our cameraman being on the Jets sidelines or something? Clear enough that Bellichick knew it, and broke it.

Once upon a time, when I was down in Baltimore, I crossed paths with someone in a bar and Boston was brought up. "Celtics," he said, "Greatest basketball dynasty of all time."

I was on a plane once, in New York, during a Red Sox / Yankees series. Guy sitting in the same row as me, a New Yorker, told me, "You know, I think there should be a rule that whenever that guy you've got, Pedro Martinez, whenever he's pitching, the other team should just be able to say you know what, you win. We're taking the night off."

As of right now, when people speak of the Patriots, it will be to say "Aren't they the ones that got caught cheating?"

That's what pissed me off. Bellichick is bringing us wins, absolutely, but as of right now he also brought an insane amount of bad press. We're not even getting into the whole sleeping with another man's wife thing, either. I'd prefer to have a football team I'm proud to watch on a Sunday night, and be able to go into work on Monday saying "Good game", rather than justify that "No, I don't think they cheated this time, but I honestly can't say."

Oh come on. How could they ever consider watching the other team cheating? This has nothing to do with integrity. This was a stupid rule that was unenforceable. Every team is watching the other teams signals and there shouldn't be a rule against it. How can you reliably detect and prevent watching or recording the other team?

I can't stand cheaters. I can't I can't. He was cheating and he knew it. "My interpretation of the rule" my foot. That makes him a smug cheater. If you know where the rules are, and you risk stepping over them, you are basically saying "I don't have faith in my team to win within the boundaries of the game." Nice coach.

Here's my problem – now every game we've ever won, every game we ever will win, somebody will be able to say "Yes, but you're cheaters." And they'll be right. Just because we got caught once (twice, even!) what are we gonna say, "Oh,yeah,we promise, we weren't cheating this time?" You've lost all integrity. You'll never be able to look an opponent in the eye and say that you played a fair game, and expect to be believed. That includes our SuperBowl wins.

"They all do it," you'll say. "Why do coaches cover their lips when they give calls?" Maybe that's true. Maybe every team does what they can to get an advantage. But as of right now, all those other teams are working within the rules, and you can't prove otherwise. Belichick was so arrogant about his chances that he flaunted the rule multiple times.

Personally I'd fire the guy. Demonstrate to the league and to all the fans that you don't do cheaters. Get back some integrity. The only problem with that plan is that some other team, one of the ones right now who is screaming "He's a cheater!" would be right there in line to say "He needs a job? Call him!"

There's a complete cloud over this weekend's game now. I wonder if it will last all season? It's a shame.

Oh come on, you guys should at least both mention that you work for Mobicious! 🙂 Astro-turfing is never cool, and you always get caught. Of course you think it's awesome if you work in the marketing department :).

I tried it and it is awesome

Chris Benoit's diary shows just how seriously depressed he was, ever since the death of his friend Eddie Guerrero. He even says things like "I'll see you soon", suggesting that he was considering suicide previous to the night where he took his own life and those of his family.

It also appears as evidence for his growing dementia, as he comments about starting to forget things. His rapidly increasing paranoia was seen and commented on by many people. The example shown includes how he would never take the same route to the airport twice for fear he was being followed.

As with so much other evidence it does not justify or excuse what he did. But for those of us that cannot accept that he was a monster, it makes things a little easier to come to terms with. I'm going to keep reporting news like this whenever I find it.