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Best Part of the Olympics So Far…

Bela Karolyi

This guy is fired up and candid. I love watching Bob Costas throw out a chum of a question and seeing Bela Karolyi attack. I heard today that there are rumors he has been banned from the gymnastics arena in Beijing. I’m not sure if that’s true–it may be that he’s happy sit in the studio with Costas sipping lemonade and cashing fat checks–but if it is true, the viewing public is the real winner.

Outspoken guys with accents and bad tempers always make for great TV.

And who cares how old a competitor is? If the goal is to find out who is best, age shouldn’t matter.

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The End of Pandora? I Hope Not


This article says free online radio, specifically Pandora, may be in trouble.  I really hope this isn’t the case.  I’ve found so much cool new music on Pandora recently, and it’s great to hear old favorites there too.  I would think with the number of people using it they could become make some nice coin.  Even though it’s free for listeners, they have ads and also let you buy music through iTunes and Amazon, which they get commissions for.   According to the article, it’s the heavy web legislation that’s giving them a problem:

Last year, an obscure federal panel ordered a doubling of the per-song performance royalty that Web radio stations pay to performers and record companies.

Traditional radio, by contrast, pays no such fee. Satellite radio pays a fee but at a less onerous rate, at least by some measures.

Let’s hope they’re able to stick it out.  Pandora is the best thing to come along for music on the web since Napster in the late 90s.

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The Peso Down Mexico Way

Earlier this week I posted a John Prine video that’s no longer available on YouTube.  I feel really bad about that…let me make it up to you.

Yep. That’s Steve Earle…before he was fat, or on The Wire, or a heroin addict, or a communist. And that’s Guy Clark who says, “Listen to that song!” at the beginning.

Damn. That’s good.

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It’s a Great Deal For a Month At Least

Amazon is offering a free trial of Amazon Prime, which lets you take advantage of FREE TWO DAY SHIPPING.  This is an awesome deal if you are planning on buying anything this month–especially something big and expensive.

After the free trial, it’s $79 a monthyear, which is still a good deal if you buy a lot of stuff even a few things a year from the big A.  If it’s not something you’d use enough to justify the cost, just make sure you opt out of the program at the end of the month and you are in good shape.  I usually get the Super Saver shipping, which means I have to wait a week to get my stuff…not this month!

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First They Came For The Chemists…

A retired Massachusetts chemist had his home raided (without a warrant of course) and his property stolen by authorities. Why?

Experiments. That’s right. He was doing experiments.

Deeb is not accused of making methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. He’s not accused of aiding terrorists, synthesizing explosives, nor even of making illegal fireworks.

…

Pamela Wilderman, the code enforcement officer for Marlboro, stated, “I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation.”

Wilderman thinks he has crossed a line…somewhere. Sounds like reason enough to me. I’m really scared by precedents like this when they go unchecked. It’s a threat not only to people who like to tinker with science as a hobby, but also to people who homeschool and people who may be developing new products or processes in their spare time.

One day it may be illegal to develop WordPress themes, and there won’t be any chemists to stand up for us.

via Slashdot

**UPDATE**

Reader Greg Compton sent this via Twitter–“inspector is a former theatre major“.

At least Massachusetts residents don’t have to worry about getting their doors kicked in during charades night.

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Burger King Bubble Bath–Rub a Dub

Yeah, it’s gross. But on the other hand, I’m impressed that there’s at least one employee there who has washed his hands.

Burger King is delicious (mmmm….Whopper), but let’s face it, you’re no doubt ingesting some pretty disgusting stuff every time you go in there. The fact that we now know exactly how disgusting it is may add years on to your life.

I move we start a Fast Food Workers Bubble Bath Day. This is a free market way to disgust everyone from eating fast food. Once these establishments are eliminated I won’t be as tempted to partake.

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Baby Poop That Is–The Worst Kind

A few years ago one of my friends was waiting on his wife to get ready for a Christmas party we were both attending and, undoubtedly, enjoying a few cool beverages. He passed the time by putting together a mix CD for me. I never told anybody about all the beautiful love songs he included on it and how touched I was by it, but I’ve played the CD full of badass country songs he also made for me that night for anyone who will listen.

I was just joking about the CD full of love songs.

He put a couple of John Prine songs on the badass country CD. Newscoma posted a video of one of these songs because it makes her happy. Here’s the other one…

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Sure, You Say That Now…

Ron Paul on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

Despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government’s interference in the housing market, the government’s policy of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.

Of course, he said this in 2003.  The guy really is a kook, huh?

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iAm iStupid

That’s what this iPhone application should have been called.

I Am Rich was available for purchase from the phone’s App Store for, get this, $999.99 — the highest amount a developer can charge through the digital retailer, said Armin Heinrich, the program’s developer. Once downloaded, it doesn’t do much — a red icon sits on the iPhone home screen like any other application, with the subtext “I Am Rich.”

Apple has since removed this application from its store, but not before eight people bought it.  I say bully for the developer and his clever application.

I keep waiting for Apple to come up with a clever “A Fool and His Money” commercial.

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BaDoop BaDooping The Olympics

“Badoop Badoop it!”

That’s heard commonly at our house if the television is on. It’s code for using the fast forward feature on the DVR. Ours doesn’t make that sound, but the TiVo does, and it’s more fun to say than “fast forward”.

I can’t wait to badoob badoop the Olympics. Why? Because if I badoop badoop everything but the actual sports, it will only take me 15-20 minutes a day to see everything. That’s because coverage of the Olympics isn’t very sports centric lately. Now it’s all about human interest–13 minute profiles of athletes that highlight the sacrifices they’ve made and the obstacles they’ve overcome.

Note to NBC–Every Olympic athlete has sacrificed and overcome obstacles to get there. That’s one of the things that separates them from the people who are almost Olympic athletes.

The reason we watch sporting events is for their inherent drama. These events have a way of creating drama all on their own. When Jim Nance tries to force it down my throat that this is a dramatic event because someone didn’t skip swim practice on the day their dog was being neutered or overcame their fear of crowds to run the 100m in a large stadium, it just waters it all down.

If you want to do some human profile type stuff during these Olympics, how about doing a story on someone being oppressed and abused by the Chinese government?

But then I guess those stories are a dime a dozen too.