Some guy in Georgia shot and killed a 1,000 lb. feral pig. Do you know how much lechon asado that is? |
Bill Clinton was the star of the first night of the convention. On Monday night he did what Clinton always does. Electrify the crowd with his charisma, en point commentary, and down-to-earth anecdotes. In his inspiring and articulate speech he criticized the Bush Administration’s actions and did not go into personal attacks on George W. Bush. If you didn’t see it, you should read a transcript of his speech–it was excellent. On Tuesday night, the night belonged to Barack Obama. Obama is a State Senator from Illinois who will soon become a U.S. Senator. He was running against Jack Ryan for the Senate, but Ryan dropped out of the race last month. His speech was awesome! He drew from his personal experience to explain that he is the son of a Kenyan immigrant who came to “a magical place” called America to study. Here he met his mother, a young lady from Kansas. He drew upon his diverse heritage to explain that his story, the story of “a skinny kid with a funny name,” is just a part of the larger American Story and that, in no other country on earth, is his story even possible. As an immigrant from Puerto Rico, his speech struck a chord with me. He was charismatic, articulate, intelligent, and delivered a flawless speech. I found myself thinking that this man had the charisma to become the first Black President. Please take the time to read a transcript and see a video of his speech, you won’t be dissapointed. Barack Obama is the man to watch in the Democratic party in the next two decades. I wish him the best of luck. |
At the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, Lucasfilm announced the title of Episode III as “Revenge of the Sith.” George Lucas did not attend the event for the announcement and instead sent one of his lackeys, Steve Sansweet, Chief of Fan Relations, in his place. I guess George don’t like the Con. Anyway, in addition to the film title, the audience got a chance to see a concept drawing of the Wookie tree civilization that will be used in the film. Stay tuned. |
After the dot-com bust there was a mass exodus of people leaving the Bay Area, many of them from the city and county of San Francisco. This caused a shortage of apartments to turn into a surplus of apartments, and with the laws of supply and demand the rents dropped dramatically even though real estate prices remained flat and then increased dramatically in the last two years. Bay Area home prices, including San Francisco, at are a two decade high. San Francisco county’s median home price in June was $695,000! A new article shows that rents are slowly creeping back up, with the average one-bedroom in San Francisco renting at $1,786 per month in the last quarter. This is bad news for renters, but good news for property owners. With rents going back up perhaps rents will be able to cover the stratospheric mortgages in this area sometime soon. This may allow some home owners to rent their homes and purchase additional property. Well, one can hope anyway. |
Lance won his 6th straight TdF. That is not a surprise. Ricky Williams retired from the NFL and totally screwed the Miami Dolphins. Says he wants to travel and explore. Whatever. Once he runs out of cash for weed, he’ll throw those spikes back on. All I can really say is, “HA HA HA!!!” I hate the Dolphins. The Cardinals beat the Giants adding another win to a magnificent season. If the Cards win the World Series, I’m going to cry tears of happiness. Argentina choked and handed the Copa America championship to Brazil. Albeit, Brazil is the best soccer team on the planet, but letting them draw even in injury time then frittering away penalty kicks is a sure sign of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Shaquille O’Neal took out an ad in the LA Times giving props to all his fans on the West Side. Once again Shaq’s overwhelming charisma inundates innocent people. I still believe trading him was a mistake. Vlade != Shaq. Sorry, Fabe. |
I sat down and watched a little live TV last night. This is something I haven’t done for a long time, especially after getting Tivo, but that’s another story. Since I wasn’t fast forwading the TV commercials, I came across this ad for Levitra which featured a good looking woman, possibly in her mid-thirties, starting off with “Can I tell you a secret? My man takes Levitra.” She goes on to say that it gives him the “quality response he needs.” So I assume quality response means a quality hard on. Okay. It all sounds fine and dandy until the voice over at the end reads off a whole bunch of crap, finishing with “In the rare case that an erection lasts more than four hours, seek immediate medical attention.” Yeah, that’ll make you take notice–I almost fell out of my chair laughing. So, it’s obvious that they are trying to market hard-on pills for recreational use now. I wonder how long it will take for the “four hour hard-on” to become a part of American pop culture. It’s only a matter of time. |
 Remember when this guy was nearly 10 minutes back after Stage 9 of the Tour de France. Well, Lance Armstrong won Stage 17 of the TdF, his third straight stage victory and fourth of the Tour. He is now over 4 minutes clear of his closest competitor. Needless to say, he will win his 6th straight Tour de France barring catastrophe or divine intervention. What does it say about your athletic prowess when God has to step in to give other competitors a chance? |
In this leg of the race, teams made their way from Buenos Aires to San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina, a 1000 mile journey. Charla & Mirna left early and thought that they had an alliance with Brandon & Nicole. Almost immediately, Brandon & Nicole get their car stuck in some mud. Charla & Mirna, as good allies, wait for Brandon & Nicole to get loose of the mud before continuing on to the airport. Sadly though, Charla & Mirna make a wrong turn further down the road and Brandon & Nicole ditch them and continue to the airport. That’s just wrong! And this is the team that wears Christianity like a badge, straight-up Republican-style. Later, when Charla & Mirna finally arrive at the airport, they totally lie and say that “they waited for them.” The teams re-establish their alliance to buy tickets. Their alliance is supposedly so strong, that they defend it against questions from Marshall & Lance, which really pisses Marshall off. Marshall was so pissed that he vows revenge against Mirna. Big drama. Incredibly, almost immediately as the ticket counters open, Brandon & Nicole ask the team in front of them to buy their tickets, dissolving their alliance with Charla & Mirna once again. Yeah, you heard right! Brandon & Nicole manage to screw the dwarf team not once, but twice, in only a matter of hours. That’s not very Christian-like. Man, I am going to be pissed if they win this thing. Brandon & Nicole thought they were slick for ditching their alliance with Charla & Mirna once again, but they end up getting on the 9:40AM (second) flight, while Charla & Mirna get on the earlier 9:10AM (first) flight. It serves them right, the bastards! Sadly, Jim & Marsha fail to get on the third flight at 10:30AM sealing their fate on this leg of the race. |
This year’s incoming freshmen at Duke University will be receiving 20gb iPods to use as study tools. Apple will be shipping 1,650 iPods to Durham which will be handed out to incoming students free of charge. Of course, it costs around $40K a year to attend Duke, so a $300 mp3 player shouldn’t break the bank. In case you were wondering, 1,650 iPods is close to $500,000 in gear. I hope Apple cuts Duke a little price break for the bulk order. |
Shaquille O’Neal took out a full page ad in Tuesday’s Miami Herald. The text:
– Shaquille O’Neal I haven’t seen this type of fan support for the Heat ever! Now Diesel is spreading some love. Needless to say, I will be purchasing a new Shaq jersey this weekend. I always looked good in black. |
This is a hilarious parody of the song “This Land” based on the current election’s politics. I almost hurt myself as I fell to the floor laughing. Big ups to Benson Tran for sending me the link. |
To you, a robot is just a robot. But you haven’t worked with them. You don’t know them. They’re a cleaner, better breed than we are. This film uses Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics: 1. A robot must not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Apart from the Three Laws, the film is a total departure from the collection of short stories that make up Asimov’s I, Robot. In short, this is not a film adaptation of the book, it is just loosely based on some of the stories, a couple of ideas from “Reason” and “Liar!” For example, Dr. Susan Calvin, the “robopsychologist,” is a beautiful young scientist and not a 70-year-old woman, which is a welcome change. The film revolves around the life of Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, a robot-hating detective that investigates a mysterious death of a top robot scientist and his nightmarish discoveries about what’s going on at the company. The company is named U.S. Robotics, which is a bit nostalgic for me. I remember when a company named U.S. Robotics made the best modems in the world, but I guess I am aging myself. |
Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat for guard Caron Butler, forwards Lamar Odom and Brian Grant and a future draft pick. Shaq was more than a dominating force on the court, he was the Lakers’ best entertainer and biggest ambassador (pun intended). He will be missed by all Laker fans. Luckily, Kobe Bryant announced that he intends to resign with the Lakers for a seven-year, $136.4 million contract. This is all well and good, but the possible starting lineup for next year is Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton, Caron Butler, Lamar Odom and Brian Grant. This is not dynasty material. The most consistent player other than Kobe is Karl Malone, who will most likely come off the bench. Adding insult to injury, the only Laker over 6′10″ will be rookie Marcus Douthit. All Laker fans need to get ready to feel some pain, the beatdown is coming. |
In the second leg of the race, teams made their way from Punta Ballena, Uruguay to Buenos Aires, Argentina via ferry. This was a pretty short leg by Amazing Race standards, since it did not include a plane ride. The first team to leave the pit stop was Alison & Donny and they were bickering from the start–a sign of things to come. Before getting on the ferry, teams had to make their way to a foam-filled disco in the capital city of Montevideo, Uruguay. Most teams made their way to the disco without incident, except for Charla & Mirna, who were lost getting there! Their inability to find the disco almost made them lose the 4:30AM ferry to Argentina, but they made it on the boat. Once in Argentina, the teams had to make their way to a route marker located at Evita Peron’s grave. Most teams made it there without incident, but a couple of teams went to the wrong cemetery first. But the dumbest move came from Jim & Marsha, who decided to get change from dollars to the local currency because another team, Linda & Karen, told them that the taxis wouldn’t take dollars. I don’t know if this is true, but that’s a pretty ruthless tactic! It’s their own fault for listening to the bullshit though. The route marker at the grave site was a Detour, Perros or Tango. Teams had to choose to walk eight dogs through town checkpoints or identify tango dancers at a theater. Alison & Donny just broke down here. They yelled throughout the Perros challenge, insulting each other to the point of inaction. They couldn’t find the first checkpoint even though they had a map! Eventually, they turned back to do the Tango challenge. It was clear that Alison & Donny truly hated each other here, they were doomed. |
I just ordered an upgrade for my DirecTivo unit that will boost my recording capacity from 35 hours to 150+ hours from PTVUpgrade.com. Additionally, I will be able to access my Tivo from the Internet to change my settings, you know for last minute recordings, and download recorded shows onto my computer for burning to DVDs. Lastly, a cache card will allow for quicker updates to Season Pass listings, since the unit will read from RAM instead of the hard drive. Kickass! |
Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, the four-hour mini-series that will pick up the Farscape storyline where the series left off, will air on Sunday, October 17th. |
A smuggler boarding a plane to Lima, Peru from Bogota, Colombia was caught with $47,500 in cash wrapped in plastic bags inside his stomach. Damn, even in rolls of hundreds that’s gotta be huge! Airport police said they X-rayed the suspect because he was acting nervous while preparing to board. That’s crazy! |
As seen on Memepool, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warns, “Many farm workers have died after entering manure pits.” Apparently the gases from the manure pit can be “oxygen-deficient, toxic and/or explosive” and can cause suffocation. Such a tough way to go, passing out and then drowning in shit. |
A South African centenarian, Philip Rabinowitz, broke the 100m record for centenarians with a time of 30.86 seconds. The previous record of 36.19 seconds was previously held by Austrian Erwin Jaskulski. After watching Maurice Greene qualify in the 100m with a time of 10.06 seconds earlier today at the Olympic trials, it’s crazy to think that a 100-year-old can run a third as fast! Amazing! |
California Education Secretary, Richard “Dick” Riordan, told a little girl that her name, Isis, meant “stupid, dirty girl.” The incident took place last Thursday at the Santa Barbara Central Library, where Riordan stopped in to promote a summer reading program. After reading a picture book to preschoolers and young elementary school pupils, he chatted with some of them as video cameras rolled to capture the event. According to the published reports, the exchange went something like this: Little Girl: “Do you know my name means egyptian goddess?” Yeah, that’s fucking nifty! Riordan apparently thought that the girl was asking him what her name meant and replied in (un)kind. Riordan must have come out of the library bathroom after chewing on some delicious crack! Everyone is up in arms and calling for his resignation. Because even after several big crack hits, that shit still isn’t funny. Didn’t his handler tell him not to be an asshole before he went on the photo op!? You know, “Uh, Mr. Riordan, you really shouldn’t fuck with the kids this time, there’s cameras around.” What a dumbass! |