Thursday, March 31, 2005

Feuds

Yankees / Red Sox meets NY Post / NY Times

Consider this FOX Sports article, "NY Times in middle of Sox-Yankees Feud."

The NY Times ran an editorial criticizing the Yankees, who want to build a new Yankee Stadium and have asked for public funding. The article goes on to say that as pointed out in the NY Post, a paper that loves to belittle the NY Times, the Times does not cite the fact that they are part owners of the Red Sox, who would be hurt by a new stadium due to increased revenue for the Yankees.

Of course, the article is posted on FOX Sports, who is also owned by the same company as the NY Post (News Corp), and no, the article does not cite any possible conflict of interest.

Ted Koppel Leaving ABC

Not usually the type of thing reported on this blog, however I think ABC should consider very strongly an opportunity to put on a fake news show along the lines of The Daily Show in this timeslot.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Performance Enhancement

Ha! The punter got steroids. As if NFL players needed another reason to hate the punters and kickers (see: Mike Vanderjagt stupid comments).

This is no major surprise, as even though other sports have more stringent steroid testing programs than MLB, people test positive, which means steroids are still in use.

Also, much has been made of Mark McGwire's unwillingness to "discuss the past" with regards to the House hearings on steroids. Should we really believe the other players? Consider some of their histories:

Jose Canseco - just a shady (greasy?) fellow

Curt Schilling - backed off his 2002 statement to SI that he couldn't pat teammates on the backside because that's where they injected themselves.

Rafael Palmiero - has history of using "performance enhancing drugs" (Viagra)

Sammy Sosa - has history of cheating (corked bat)

In most respects, I don't care. I'm going to three or four games in April and I plan on following the season like it's any other. But I do feel a little bad for the honest guy who might get squeezed off a team because the other players are cheating. I'm also annoyed by all the people who are surprised by the cheating, think baseball is the only sport that has this problem, or want to revoke records, etc. Once the games start, hopefully the steroids talk will stop.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Mr. T Chia Head - Day 85


Nearly three months after starting the Mr. T Chia Head feature, it was an utter failure. Not much grew because I think the Chia plant is too fickle. I stopped caring for it about a month in. Maybe later on, when it warms up, I will try to do this again.

Day 1

Day 6

Day 9

Fantasy Baseball Team

I recently completed my fantasy baseball draft. I've been in one league for five prior seasons and finished fairly well. Hopefully I can continue my little lucky streak. We play 5 x 5 (AVG, HR, RBI, R, SB and ERA, W, S, K, WHIP).

Here's the result of my draft:

C - Paul Lo Duca (Florida)
1B - Phil Nevin (San Diego)
2B - Jorge Cantu (Tampa Bay)
SS - Miguel Tejada (Baltimore)
3B - Troy Glaus (Arizona)
OF - JD Drew (Los Angeles)
OF - Johnny Damon (Boston)
OF - Carlos Lee (Milwaukee)
OF - Jose Guillen (Washington)
OF - Matt Lawton (Pittsburgh)
CI - Ben Broussard (Cleveland)
MI - Derek Jeter (NY Yankees)
DH - Erubiel Durazo (Oakland)

SP - Carlos Zambrano (Chicago Cubs)
SP - Mike Mussina (NY Yankees)
SP - Odalis Perez (LA Dodgers)
SP - Kris Benson (NY Mets)
SP - Tom Glavine (NY Mets)
SP - Horatio Ramirez (Atlanta)
RP - Tom Gordon (NY Yankees)
RP - Joe Nathan (Minnesota)
RP - Chad Cordero (Washington)

Bench - Rafael Palmiero (Baltimore)
Bench - Bobby Madritsch (Seattle)
Bench - Greg Aquino (Arizona)

My analysis:
It's a fairly balanced team, where everyone is capable of at least 15 HR's on offense and the starters should all gain 10+ wins.

On the down side, a lot of catchers were available after the draft, and while Lo Duca's decent, he's not a big power guy, and some catchers on the wire are of equal quality to him. My first transaction was to get rid of Aaron Miles, the Colorado 2B, and pick up Jorge Cantu, the hotshot 2B of Tampa. Miles was projected in something I read to steal 30+ bases, but last year he was inconsistant in Colorado and only stole 12. I don't know where they got that prediction from. Cantu is popular enough and a bit of a risk.

Injuries could be a huge problem for this squad. JD Drew, Troy Glaus, Erubiel Durazo and Horatio Ramirez are all guys who worry me in that sense. I don't know how effective it will be to have a middle reliever like Gordon, but he will get low ERA / WHIP numbers that could help the team a little bit.

I've been basing much of my information on fantasy "experts." What makes a person a fantasy sports expert? Near as I can tell, it's amassing a ton of information from various sources. Here's how I envision the resume of a fantasy sports guru.

----
Fantasy Sports Awards & Distinctions

Old Home Baseball League 2000-2003
10 teams, First Place '01, '03
Who's Your Daddy Basketball 2001-2003
8 teams, First Place '01, Second Place '02-'03
I Got Game Hockey 2003
8 teams, Most Improved Team (2nd Half)
Joe's Football League 2004
8 teams, Second Place, playoffs
ESPN Fantasy Games AL Only Baseball League 2004
6 teams, Third Place
----

You will be hearing a lot about my fantasy team as the season progresses.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Petty


The Kitchen Fresh Blog is #1 when I vanity searched "Kitchen Fresh Blog." This is only a recent development. Yahoo! has already fallen in line. Now it's just time for MSN Search to get its act together.

You Done With That?

One week ago...

I was at a fast-food Chinese restaurant with a friend, sitting by the entrance and nearing the end of our meal. While leaning back in my chair and having a discussion with my friend about the tech industry, a man wandered into the restaurant. He solicited me, my friend, and some of the other patrons at the restaurant for money. Then he went up to the counter and mentioned something I couldn't hear. On his way back out, he stopped by our table again.

To set the scene more clearly, there was still a miscellaneous bit of vegetables or sprouts remaining on my plate. The amount left could probably fit in your hand, it was no more than one or two bites. My fork, which I had used instead of chopsticks to scoop off some of the remaining rice, was in the center of the plate.

The man leaned over, picked up the plate and said, "What you got here?"

Then in a blur, he took the fork and shoveled the food into his mouth. He walked out.

I was so surprised, I can't remember if he looked like he enjoyed it or even wiped his mouth.

What a surprised. I was frozen in shock, and no other emotion came to mind. Not anger, that he hadn't asked me permission. Not fear, that the kind of person who would just take your leftover food and shovel it down could be prone to do anything else. Not pity, despite the fact that he probably has eaten out of the trash before. Instead, total shock, that something I did not even expect to be possible just happened.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

And Now For Something Different...

Schiavo this, Schiavo that, here's a post with a different tone.

Check out Robot Chicken, part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Programming. It's on Sunday nights, 11:30pm (EST).

Here are links to some clips:


http://www.adultswim.com/clips/robotchicken/ep01/

http://www.adultswim.com/clips/robotchicken/ep02/

http://www.adultswim.com/clips/robotchicken/ep05/

http://www.adultswim.com/clips/robotchicken/ep06/

http://www.adultswim.com/clips/robotchicken/ep08/

http://www.adultswim.com/clips/robotchicken/ep10/

It has not gone unnoticed by the creative staff of the blog that two of the last five posts have involved a chicken, and that the title of this blog is a pun relating to a failed marketing campaign by a chicken restaurant.

My Only Terri Schiavo-Related Post: My Cheap Attempt to Capitalize on a Tragic Story

I am breaking a promise I made to myself for the cheapest reason possible - to get more hits to this blog.

The promise: That I would refrain from commenting at all about the Terri Schiavo throughout the duration of the case. In general, I was hoping to reduce the amount of politics on the blog, in favor for lighter fare and amusing personal anecdotes.

The change of heart: A friend of mine suggested that discussing recent events would help to increase the profile of this blog, which while not perfect, I believe to be mildly amusing.

So now what? I see that Terri Schiavo isn't even on the NY Times front page any more. Am I too late? Is it not a current story any more? A check of CNN.com says it sure is! Here I am to reap the web hits benefits!!

Four things I found fairly amusing amidst all the hoopla and sadness surrounding this case:

1) That her husband is planning on having her cremated, against the wishes of her parents, who would prefer that she have a burial. He really hates them, doesn't he? These people really hate each other, don't they? I guess it's been a lot of years of pain and anger. There's probably a good lesson that could be learned from this.

2) Not only that the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigades exist, but that they had "representatives" at the hospice where Terri Schiavo is being kept.

3) That someone who was "right to life" offered a bounty on key figures in the case. In fact, it's generally odd that supporters of the Schindlers had been attempting to feed Terri, while doctors said she was unable to swallow (hence, why she required a feeding tube). Not a good idea to give solid food or liquids to a person who can't swallow.

4) Is it just me, or are they only "renegade judges" when they rule against Republicans? Maybe they're "renegade" when they rule against anyone, but I've been trying to web search for a liberal blog that comments that "renegade judges" got President Bush elected in 2000 and I've come up empty so far. Please post a link to such a site if you find one.

Back to the relatively apolitical regular programming...

Monkey See, Monkey Do?

I routinely root for the University of Kentucky in college basketball.

Why, would I, raised in New York, be rooting for Kentucky? Do I have a relative who went there? Do I like a particular player or coach from there? No, on both coutns. It's actually quite simple. While I've never been much of a college basketball fan, but this interesting history was pointed out to me recently:

YearNCAA Basketball ChampWorld Series Champ
1948KentuckyCleveland
1949KentuckyYankees
1951KentuckyYankees
1958KentuckyYankees
1978KentuckyYankees
1996KentuckyYankees
1998KentuckyYankees

Now, just because Kentucky won't win the Championship this year, it doesn't mean the Yankees are doomed, but it's a nice little synergy I root for every year.

By the way, Mets fans, you can root for Louisville, since their only previous national championship was in 1986.

That would provide some weird, same-state synergy thing that my brain couldn't handle.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Scandals Named with "-gate"

Why are scandals named with "-gate" by the media?

I know the first such scandal was probably Watergate, but that makes sense since the location of the scandal was at the Watergate Hotel. But then what was the next "-gate" scandal?

Other people have complained about this according to my google search, but I would like to know what the first post-Watergate "-gate" scandal was.

Here's hoping Bill Gates will get into a scandal (Gates-gate), the US Open has a scandal (OpenGate) and that a guy named Joe Golden / woman named Jane Golden gets into a scandal (GoldenGate).

I'm so clever!

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Subservient Chicken

This is so strange...

Here's a list of commands you can try. My two favorites are "die" and "Taco Bell."

Monday, March 21, 2005

Mountain Dew


What flavor is Mountain Dew anyway? Green sugar?

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Short Sentences

Recently, I was told that I wrote very short sentences for something. I find this funny since I believe that I write lots of run-on sentences. This probably shows that I've compensated for my run-on tendencies by now writing shorter sentences. Either that, or I just like to cut down on the fluff.

Sam Waterston's Hair


You may recognize Sam Waterston from Law and Order, but recently I saw him on a TD Waterhouse commercial and something bugged me about the way he looked. As pictured, his hair is parted to the opposite side in the commercial, and it looks like a mirror image. I find it a bit disorienting, and it makes me not like the commercial.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Forecast Fox



Weather forecasts stink
But this firefox plug-in
Is cool to try out

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Still Laughing Alone

A day after a funny face from the President made me laugh, please see another facial expression that made me laugh. The culprit was Bud Selig, on the front page of www.nytimes.com


Doug Mills/The New York Times

Caption reads: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was in the hearing room as members of congress chastised him and his sport.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

I'm the Only One Laughing


Something about the President's face in this AP Photo, seen on CNN.com (headline: Bush Reports Progress in Social Security Debate) is funny to me. I suspect it is not funny to anyone else.

Google X

Google Labs did a homage to the Macintosh OS X with their Google X design that features a bar similar to Mac OS X's dock bar.

Of course, I have a feeling most people wished they had spent their time working on "Google XXX" - the adult services search.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

23-24-25

I just noticed that the return of Tino Martinez to the Yankees means they enter this year with their last three regular first basemen on the team. The three players being Jason Giambi, Tino Martinez and hitting coach Don Mattingly. Their uniform numbers also happen to fall in sequence.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Twin Study

Jose Canseco recently admitted to using steroids, but not much has been said about his twin brother, Ozzie. Since they are twins, and Ozzie has presumably not used steroids, they might be a nice little example of a twin study for steroid use. After all, if they have the same genetic make up and Ozzie is bad at baseball and Jose was pretty good, we can attribute the differences in performance to environmental and other factors. This will allow us to best understand whether or not steroids can help you hit the ball.

I'm hoping to make this my last steroids-related post for a while. I'm amused by all the google context based ads that think this is a steroids blog.

Marv Albert

I predicted it, Marv Albert is going to the YES network to do Nets games. Let's get those Marv "You're watching YES!" promos going!

Gross. Gross. Gross.

I just completed half my sandwich before realizing that I hadn't washed my hands after holding the bar while riding the subway.

Another Post about Steroids

In regards to his subpeona to testify in front of Congress about steroids, Curt Schilling says , "I'm still real confused as to why I was put in this group and why there are others players that aren't in this group."

Does he have short term memory? Curt Schilling likes to talk a lot, and he in fact told Sports Illustrated (as a part of the Ken Caminiti story), "I'll pat guys on the a--, and they'll look at me and go, 'Don't hit me there, man. It hurts.' That's because that's where they shoot the steroid needles."

Friday, March 11, 2005

The Gates - Third in a Series



The Gates is old news
I still have many photos
This was the best one

Part 1


Part 2

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Why Not Bonds?

Ray Ratto on ESPN.com asks why Congress didn't subpoena Barry Bonds in their steroid investigation. He suggests that the reason Bonds was not included in the group (comprised of Canseco, McGwire, Sosa, Schilling, Giambi) is that Bonds wouldn't offer much. That doesn't seem to be a good reason not to ask! Also, why wasn't Sheffield asked to the hearing as well?

Monday, March 07, 2005

Locker Room Dynamics

The NY Times had an interesting graphic where they show the locations of players' lockers in the Yankees locker room. I like to see things like this, as it offers a chance to see the everyday happenings in a normally restricted-access place.

See Buster Olney's book, The Last Night of the Yankee Dyansty if you are like me and enjoy little anecdotes like this.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

The Gates - Second in a Series


This was taken from the north side of the Great Lawn. To give you a better sense of my day, I was listening to The Ultimate Who, and I had a "dirty water dog" about halfway through the afternoon.

No Matter How Hard You Try, You Can't Stop Us Now

This morning I was very tired, but when I put Rage Against the Machine on my iPod during my workout it sure woke me up! A friend told me that I listen to a lot of angry music. To that friend, here are my top songs played on iTunes, all-time:

1 - Fortune Faded - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2 - The Reason - Hoobastank
3 - Someday - Nickelback
4 (tie) - Clocks - Coldplay
4 (tie) - Hey Ya! - Outkast
6 (tie) - Sad - Pearl Jam
6 (tie) - Africa - Toto
8 - In the End - Linkin Park
9 (tie) - Black - Pearl Jam
9 (tie) - Jeremy - Pearl Jam
9 (tie) - Yeah! - Usher

Back In The Browser Business




Look who's back in the browser game!

It's the new Netscape 8.0 browser. It's based on Firefox and functions pretty similarly. This post is being composed with Netscape.

It hasn't supplanted Firefox as my primary browser. Here are some good and bad features of the new browser.

Good:
The multibar. Shown here, it contains weather updates, rss headline feeds, and is essentially 5 toolbars in one space. There actually may not be enough useful features to fill in five different toolbars.

It uses Firefox to render, but can also show pages in IE. Just right click and say, "view as if IE."

Sidebar is back with a little more force. The Firefox sidebar is much more vanilla.

Automatically includes "Tab preferences" which is an extension in Firefox.

"Clear My Tracks" button, allows you to clear any of the various privacy-type sections (cookies, history, location bar, cache, all of them) from the main window, and also allows clearing of these folders upon browser exit.

Neutral:
The new look. It looks sleek but it's actually sort of hard to use because I'm so used to finding things in different places. After a little while I can get used to it, but still disorienting right now.

Bad:
Still a little buggy. For example, I tried to set up the RSS feed for the KFB and it does not work.

It does not accept a number of Firefox extensions, including one of my personal favorites, Adblock.

It is based on Firefox 1.0 which recently was revealed to have a security flaw!

Windows PC Only.

Summary:
This is not a bad browser, and certainly better than the original "Mozilla" browser, the basis of Netscape 7. Minimalists will still prefer Firefox, but Netscape has a few bells and whistles and a little bling Firefox does not. Security freaks ought to stick with Firefox, since the updates are a bit more regular. I wonder if Netscape has the sort of brand recognition anymore that could make this product a true competitor again.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Phantom Cell Phone Vibe

Do you get the phantom cell phone vibe? Every so often, when my phone is in vibe mode, I think it is ringing, but upon inspection, it is not. Yet I swear I felt the vibrations. Maybe I'm just hoping someone will call...

MSNBC - MS = ?

Microsoft might pull out of its MSNBC partnership with NBC. This doesn't seem like a surprising move. I'm not sure about you, fair reader, but I had completely forgotten that Microsoft even had a stake in MSNBC. I wonder if the network will change names.

The Gates - First in a Series


The Gates was this big public art project in Central Park. It was estimated to cost $21 million, and was completely privately funded by its creators, Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Side note, an extention of my theory of never trusting anyone with two first names is to never trust anyone with just one name.

Anyways, I'll let you be the judge of whether it was successful or not. The New York Times ran an article about it almost every day, it seemed. Many people went to Central Park to see it, locals and tourists alike. There hasn't been a public art exhibition of its size in Central Park before (and one might wonder if ever again in the near future). But seriously, it's just a bunch of doorways.

If anything, it was worth it for me to visit the Park and snap a few shots which will be shared here. I went on 2/27/05, a nice winter day, and the last day of The Gates. Either something like this won't be done for a while in NYC because people are afraid of seeming like they're imitating this piece, or there will be some annual event like this to milk this sort of publicity. Who knows what will happen. Please enjoy my photos.

Joe, Please Stop It

Joe Torre suggests that since "The Curse" is over, there isn't anything to the Red Sox - Yankees rivalry. Mr. Torre, with all due respect, may I please point out that they beat you last year, preventing you from advancing to the World Series, and the year before, you did the same to them. In most sports, that's enough to start a rivalry. This rivalry may have been different since it was "started" when one of the best players was sold from one team to the other, but I suspect recent events bring out even more emotion.

I know Torre is trying to take pressure off his team by trying to make the Sox - Yankees games seem less important, but give us a break! With the steroids suspicions preventing any celebration of Bonds' assault on Aaron's record, Red Sox vs Yankees is all Major League Baseball has got going for it. The emphasis on these games will be bigger than ever.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Game Show Network

For some strange reason, whenever I can't find something to watch on TV (particularly during the daytimes or late nights), I find myself tuning into the the Game Show Network, with reruns of such hits as Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Celebrity Jeopardy, Press Your Luck, Extreme Dodgeball, The Newlywed Game and Love Connection.

I can't explain why watching people get hit by red rubber balls, or report on bad dates in the 80's is my preferred form of entertainment, but it's strangely addicting.

I hope it's just a phase.