Round Up

Live from the Motor City: Deadspin, Uncle Grambo --- have you heard that Jerome Bettis is from Detroit?!

ESPN will be broadcasting the World Baseball Classic. I'm curious to see the influence that this will have on Spring Training games - esp. since I'll be going to a couple down in St. Lucie. Here's hoping for a DR vs. USA final, with the Dominican coming out on top. That'll show Purple Lips. [NY Post]

After hours, Google reported earnings and needless to say $469 mil wasn't enough. EPS missed by about 20 cents and stocks tumbled. Down about 12 percent, thats nearly $20 billion folks. $600/share, I think not. Keep an eye on that tomorrow at 9:30, will people buy back? [Reuters]

Police in London talked to Kate Moss regarding that infamous tape. No arrests made. Damn that would have been funny. [This is London]

Oh Page Six

Page Six asks which CNBC star (in their words: "blustery baffoon") got caught with a hottie personal assistant .... all I will say is Boo Ya! [Page Six]

Maybe it's becuase you're NINE that you can't get into the Motorola house at Sundance. Go back to the fourth grade. [Page Six]

Oprah Rules the World

Quick reaction to Oprah's tongue lashing of James Frey on Thursday's program, which I was unable to have the pleasure of actually watching, but read enough accounts of to pretty much recite a transcript by heart. The most famous flip-flopper this side of John Kerry claimed she was "duped," was "embarrassed by all of this," and that Frey "conned us all." Despite this whole ordeal being the biggest non-story ever, Oprah comes off as the biggest self-righteous person on the planet. Is she every wrong? Ever?! She, in fact, has conned all of America into believing whichever book she is reading is the best ever, and must be read by her loyal (anywhere from 6-9 million per diem) audience. Lest we not forget her incident in Paris this summer where Hermes wouldn't allow her into the store AFTER THEY CLOSED. God fucking forbid. The James Frey incident proved nothing except for the fact that she rarely admits she is wrong, see that Larry King episode with Frey, and in the rare chance she is, she has to make a spectacle of it, by having an entire epsisode air about it. She apoligized to her readers, Frey apoligized to anyone who was willing to listen, and still I dont care. FYI, Oprah's ratings didn't spike after early reports of her show (aired live in Harpo's hometown of Chicago) were published describing the events of the morning. Nor did Frey's book move anywhere from Amazon.com's best selling list's Top 5.

America's Weekend Magazine?

Apparently, Time's ugly stepsister, LIFE, reincarnated as a weekend magazine after everyone decided they would rather look at stalker-azzi photos of Brangelina and Brit-Brit and K-Fed than landscapes. LIFE has Heather Graham on its cover this week, touting her new show, Emily's Reasons Why Not. Problem is however, that Felicity Shagwell's show was cancelled after one show due abysmal ratings and the lack of general interest in a role where she doesn't show her fantastic Rollergirl boobs. [LIFE]

War Stories....

An LA Times columnist has taken the unpopular position of saying he can no longer support the troops in Iraq. Claiming that it's BS to say you're against the war, but supporting the troops, he makes an interesting point. Will our blind support lead to GWB (no, not the bridge) keeping the troops in the Middle East longer? And a soldier's choice to blindly follow orders, even against one's moral beliefs is another though-provoking idea. Is this 1984? Big Brother has been doing a lot of watching lately....[LA Times]

In Brief...

Trump is suing the Times and one of its reports for $5 Billion (BILLION) for slandering him in a book about his real net worth. He says his real net worth is near $2.7 Bil, trying to jump up on next year's Forbes List?


Wanna take in the same letures that Stanford students are listening to without the 40 grand tuition? No problem. iTunes to the rescue.


From the hindsight is 20/20 Department: West Virginia is now passing laws to increase safety in mines. Well better late than never, I guess.


Norm, whose column is apparently his first name, is dishing the gossip from Vegas. Apparently, they're making an "Ocean's Thirteen," and in related news, Sinatra is turing in his grave. Anyway, they want to film at the Wynn.
And more interestingly, Paris and Stavros on the rocks? Sources heard Hilton screaming on her cell phone at the 2nd of her Greek shipping heir boyfriends. One of the issues may involve her partner in night vision video, Rick Solomon.

As Someone Once Yelled to Me at Yankee Stadium, "Piazza's a Fag"

Former Mets catcher/future hall of famer Mike Piazza contacted the Yanks to see if they wanted him. No go from the Evil Empire across the TriBoro.

!Breaking:: ESPN reported on the 6PM SportsCenter that the Phillies may be interested in Mike as a complement to Mike Lieberthal and when Ryan Howard needs days off, which is when any left-handed pitcher is throwing that day. Piazza is originally from the Philly area, but I can assure you that if he makes the trip down the Jersey Turnpike, he won't be well-received on a return to Shea. Go to the Angels, Mike; I don't want to see you anymore.

Following Up....

Last week we reported that a UCLA alumni group was proposing to pay a hundy to kids to record lectures from alleged left-wing profs. Now that this story has blown in up in the face of the Bruin Alumni Association, they are recinding their offer. Get back to those work-study jobs, kiddies. [NYT]

The Power of L. Ron Hubbard's Legacy

Rumor has it that the reason a sex scene disappeared from a new Katie Holmes film showing at Sundance might be none other than weirdest-father-to-be-this-side-of-Bahrain, Tom Cruise. Could it be that he asked the producers of the film to remove it in taste to his pregnant fiance? Eh, if you wanted to see Katie's boobs pre-Thetan-Seven, just get The Gift. [LA Times, via HuffPo]

News Round-up

Crackberry-users beware, you may be switching to Treos soon. The Supreme Court preliminarily denied certiorari on the patent case involving RIM and holding company NTP. As such, RIM's stock sunk another 4 percent today. Let's hope, for everyone's sake, the Supremes come to their technological senses, or RIM just pays out a quick bil to settle things. Of course, the government's employees get to keep their 'Berrys no matter what happens.

NBC unveiled their new March lineup and also announced that two series will be ending at the end of this season - the West Wing and Will and Grace. Over the past few years I have watched the West Wing religiously back to the Rob Lowe days. Now that former Chief of Staff turned Dem. veep candidate portrayer, John Spencer, died an untimely death in December, the series has to make up its final 10 or so episodes without a major player. Should be interesting.


iTunes usage grew an astounding 241% in the last year, in the same vein, it has been found that 14% of "active" internet users use iTunes "regularly." Pretty amazing when you think that say up until 5 years ago, everyone and their mother was using Napster to illegally share music. I'd say Steve Jobs found a winner with iPod/iTunes.

From the Wide World of Sports

Paul Tagliabue was profiled in this week's Sports Illustrated and he said a not-so-nice comment about Major League Baseball....

He described America’s pastime as “about as exciting as standing in line at the supermarket. Baseball doesn't test anything but your ability to withstand boredom."

Bud Selig, the ball is in your court (glove?).

Kobe dropped 81 last night. Ho-hum.

As a follow-up, Lebron's mom was not only drunk but also she resisted arrest and kicked out the back window of the police cruiser(?!).

Blast from the Past

Anyone find it interesting that both Dharma and Greg are back on television, albeit on different shows. And could I see more ads for Jenna Elfman's new show? I think not. Thomas Gibson is actually pretty decent on Criminal Minds the few times that I have seen it.

Last Week's Stories I Missed.

Ray Nagin says that the city of New Orleans should be rebuilt as a chocolate city. Perhaps he meant dark and white chocolate.
No, I didn't think so either.


The Weather Channel is "allegedly" trying to attract a different type of viewer. Yes, by using hotter, younger weather girls forecasters, they will attract more nerdy weather geeks. Which may or may not include me.


Google's motto, "Don't be evil," is exactly what the most recongizable brand of 2005 is telling the government as the feds seek to make an anti-porn law. They want to see how many of us you are looking at porn and what kind it is. The naughtier the better for our right-wing freaks in government.

Facebook Musings

Now that Facebook has entered the lexicon in the same breath as myspace and friendster, it seems that the mainstream media has taken to publishing stories about it. A Columbia University journalist recently published a story about a NY Times reporter who used the Facebook to identify students in a group called "Adderall, You're Breaking My Heart," which was used to discuss the drug's use on college campuses. Penn State's administration used pictures on the Facebook to identify kids who stormed the field and tore down the goalposts during one football game this fall. So that raises the issue of what is private and what should the public have access to. I personally don't think the school or the government should be able to access anyone's facebook page even to find kids who were underage drinking, smoking pot, or running on to football fields. There must exist a difference between sites that exist for a specific community (e.g. Facebook for a specific school) and public sites with no password protection.

And then there is the story of the students who planned a "beer bash" and publicized it on the facebook. The campus safety took notice and crashed the party only to find ....

40 students and a table of cake and cookies, all decorated with the word ''beer.'' ''We even set up a cake-pong table,'' a twist on the beer-pong drinking game, he says. ''The look on the faces of the cops was priceless.'' As the coup de grace, he posted photographs of the party on Facebook, including a portrait of one nonplussed officer.

Le. Bron. James.

Just an '04 Escalade? You would think that Lebron would get mom a new ride every year. Then again, it seems like she won't be able to drive the one she has now.

Poor Anna ...

It is being reported that the Mets have traded Kris Benson to Baltimore for reliever Jorge Juilio and a prospect. So, unfortunately, Anna must go too.

From down under

The other Williams sister, Serena, was bounced out at the Aussie Open last night. The question remains, does any warm-blooded american male care? You would rather this girl lost...to Serena. I think not.

Break Out Your Walking Shoes, NYer's

Just 5+ years later, New Yorkers are demanding another recount. The TWU has rejected the MTA's contract that was initially agreed upon after a three-day strike which shut down the transit system in NY before Christmas. The full TWU vote was held today and by a margin of 7 votes, the contract was denied. Now no one really knows what this means, and another strike is not in the works yet, but it certainly is possible. And NYers didn't hate Local 100 enough before this....yikes. [WABC]

So College...

From the desk of Anderson Cooper:

CNN is reporting a study that claims that 75 percent of college students lack the ability to complete "real-life, complex tasks." I'm not quite sure who the Pew Charitable Trust is, but this is quite the claim, but in all honestly, who cares - these are tasks like understanding credit card offers. Who does that? You just sign up and watch your credit disappear and accumulate your David Spade-airline miles. [CNN]

And then there is the faculty. Always accused of being left-wing, radical cooks, now groups of conservative students who are sick of having their voices stifled on liberal campuses (campi just sounds cooler) are fighting back. UCLA's Bruin Alumni Association formed a list of the "Dirty Thirty" (Personally I think they should be focusing on Thirsty Thursday). This is a group of so-called "extreme liberals" on the campus where the Wizard of Westwood once held court. They are even going as far as offering $100 to a student who records a lecture of one of the suspected professors. That's one way to get kids to go to class (fire up those iPods front-rowers). Natch, UCLA's chancellor freaked out and is calling everyone in the press he knows saying the alumni group's actions are reprehensible. [CNN]

Google Dips Below 400

Waaaaah! Larry Page and Sergey Brin lost 4-5 million bucks today. I feel terrible for them.

Lazy Sunday

My initial reaction to the post-Narnia SNL with Miss Scarlett Johansson, just eh. Nothing notable, but a solid performance by my favorite young Hollywood starlet. A 6.

From the who really cares department, Eminem re-marries the infamous Kim of his pre-"8 Mile" days. But more importantly, grandma doesn't approve. And we all know how important grandmas are to Blacks, yes to me, MM the Third is black. And why didn't he listen to Kanye? We want pre-nups!

Tom Cruise telling me not to take anti-depressants, now Jim Carrey telling me not to drink caffeine. What's next Lindsay telling me to lay off the white stuff....?

Must be El Nino....

I'm sorry Seattle, you are officially never seeing the sun again. Can we get some stats on street umbrella sales, Seinfeld style?

That, or you could be in Alaska with an active volcano...

Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Chuck Norris

You have seen the random list of Chuck Norris facts everywhere from collegehumor to your inbox to your friends' away messages (and frankly, if you haven't where the hell have you been?). Page Six is reporting that the Man himself has finally responded to the published facts on his offical website. Without further delay, here it is. The best part is not attempt to market his books, both fiction and non-fiction (what a versitile writer "Law and Order" is), but instead the fact that he needed to point out that he wasn't taking these things seriously. Oh thanks, Chuck, we really thought you were. Amazingly, all week the news outlets had been publishing stories on this phenomenon like it wasn't a huge joke. Good for the kid who plans to make a ton of money off people's idiocy. Am I the only one not taking crazy pills?!

Celeb Round-up

Maddux and Zahara beware, you are now going to be referred to as "the adopted kids" - I'm sorry. Yes, Brangelina has managed to make hot love to produce a child, who will, most notably, be the most beautiful child ever.

Our friend Lindsay is back in the news, as if she ever left, with a denial of her Vanity Fair article's (see previous item) claim of bulemia. Ho-hum. But then she wanted to read it anyway...see above...

But then, she and Kate Moss decide it would be a great idea to go to Scores and start to pole dance. Page Six is reporting that she and Moss were drunk, making frequent trips to the ladies' room (skiing?), and all over each other on stage. Said the Page Six source:

They were swinging on the pole with their arms around each other's waists, kissing each other, caressing each other, just acting like strippers. The crowd was cheering them on the whole time. They didn't take off any clothes, but it was very hot."

Damn you perverted dads...

Via Deadspin, the Detroit Pistons cheerleaders team calendar has apparently pissed off a few uptight, prudish Michigan moms, namely The American Decency Organization. Well after you ask why these cheerleaders were doing a nude calendar - oh wait?! they were in bikinis - something you can see at any beach, pool, or backyard? As crazy as the slipery slope they claim is- prostitution is the next step, natch - what about the slipery slope the royal we is heading down taking away my right to look at a girl whose goodies are covered in just three small triangles of singly-lined nylon? While this movement has little momentum, and frankly no merit, just add them to the list of right-wing wackjobs trying to take away your rights to ogle hot broads.

In a lighter cheerleader note, please observe the cheerleader in this photo. Celebrating a USC score, of course, but no. Look closely and you see that Texas is the team scoring on this play in the 2006 Rose Bowl. I think that our blonde brainiac is none other than Natalie, who describes herself as "authentic." Also note that her mom and sister were USC Song Girls (PLEASE don't call them cheerleaders), so we can't help but deduce that she was just a legacy admit to the most famous cheering corps this side of Big D. [Via DeadSpin]

Tech Roundup

Connecticut has decided to forego plans for electronic voting machines; at least for this year…A group headed jointly by a Yale computer science professor and a Trinity computer science professor who I had while an undergrad was working with the state trying to ensure the soundness of the technology and any companies who were producing the equipment. Apparently none were good enough so enjoy pulling that lever again, residents of the Nutmeg State. [WTNH]


Flash memory looks to be creeping into the next generation of hard drives. In a move that canextend the battery life of portable devices such as laptops as well as iPods and cameras, flash memory will be installed in many new electronic devices in order to store music, photos and more. Additionally, it may be act as a buffer in larger hard drives to allow more programs to be stored in a faster memory than the traditional platter-based hard disks. This move should speed up performance, but also allow hard disks to only increase in price for the same capactity as little as $10 in the beginning; prices would most certainly fall as the technology gets more widely adopted. [CNET, NYT]


The annual list of the best companies to work for in America according to Fortune Magazine was released today with SFO-based bio-tech firm Genentech taking the top spot. The rankings are based on an evaluation of the company's policies as well as its own employees' opinions with the latter having a 2 to 1 weight. Other top-10s include Wegmans Supermarket chain, SC Johnson, Smuckers, Valero Engergy, and oddly enough, the Container Store. Want to make the most cash? Head to Russell Investment Group of Tacoma, Washington where the most common position, a regional sales director takes home an average of $574K. Solid. Besides Rochester-based Wegmans, the other NY companies were the standard financial services companies you would expect, AmEx, Goldman, E&Y, and PwC. In Connecticut, head to another grocery store, Stew Leonards or Griffin Hospital in Derby. And in NJ, where a HS classmate of mine works in IT, try publishing company John Wiley & Sons in Hoboken. [Fortune Mag]

The Revolution

So it was Howard's First Day ... I haven't listened yet, but the show did push past 5 commercial free hours...


Eli, I hope you did not read the NY tabs today ...


Instead of laying that $50 in Vegas at the beginning of the season on your team to win it all, why not spend it on Super Bowl tix options. What you ask? Buy options on your team making it to the big game and then you can purchase the tickets at face value, instead of the thousands it would cost at StubHub, a broker or scalper. But only those fans whose options mature correctly are eligible for tkts. Interesting idea, but what makes it even more interesting is the fact that you can buy and sell the options during the season just as if they were stocks, making money in the process. The company, Ticket Reserve, makes money by taking a 7-10% cut of every transaction, which, naturally, adds up to a pretty good business model for them. [Wired]

David Pouge of the Times discusses how he headed a panel discussing the iPod at CES. Among the executives was Dave Goldberg from Yahoo who claims that MusicMatch is more widely than iTunes? The only reason that is possible is because MusicMatch comes preinstalled on all new Dell PCs. There is no way more people are using MusicMatch than iTunes since everyone with an iPod has to use iTunes to sync up their device. Apple has about a 61% market share of portable MP3 players, the numbers just don’t add up Yahoo! [NYT]

News Roundup

A warning to you: flush your mice, don't set them ablaze.

I guess all those iTunes giftcards got used this week, but to download "Laffy Taffy" 175K times ... seriously, wtf?

Evidently Utah and gay cowboys don't mix. But seriously, it was a good movie.

The Lohan is no longer "asthmatic" and not pregnant, with no thanks to you, Page Six. But she did try the Bolivian Marching Powder and her middle finger for dessert.


NFL Divisional Weekend - Line Predictions: (Home team in caps.)

SEAHAWKS 5.5 Redskins
BEARS 3.5 Panthers
BRONCOS 2.5 Patriots
COLTS 6.5 Steelers

And Vince Young, welcome to the NFL. It may be an interesting battle between he and Leinart for the QB role in post-Katrina NOLA. Would the residents of New Orleans want a black QB to rally behind? Is he even better then Leinart?! Mel Kiper, where are you?

Compilation of Ruminations: Part II

So maybe my prediction of "more tomorrow" was a little aggressive. Now sitting down after watching the 1st of half of the Giants game, some quick items.

Hartford has made two appearances in the Times in the last week or so. Get them before they go to Times Select land and read all about the Rising Star. [NYT, NYT]

There has been so much buzz on the blogosphere as well as the mainstream media about the NSA-spying-on-Americans ordeal in the last week or so and I wanted to take a minute to comment. First of all, the FISA Court was established for a reason. The fact that exists but has turned down more Bush warrants than the previous administrations combined says a little something about the kind of people this president is looking to spy on. Then when the whole system is circumvented in order to sidestep the process in the interest of national security, there exists a fatal flaw. Should this entire coverup have been revealed sooner? I think so. And it was only released last week becuase the Times did not want to be scooped by its own reporter whose book was released this past week. The Times Obsbudsman wrote in last week's NYT Mag that it was unfortunate and frankly, not even slick the way the Times finally broke the story. I couldn't help but agree.
And there was the absolutely ridiculous story of the NSA's website having persistant cookies on it. Was there a bigger non-story in the last week? Absolutely not. Every website that you got to will have cookies on it these days. It doesn't matter if it's ESPN or Amazon or CNN or your favorite naughyt picture site. You have been cookied. Who cares? Most often, the cookies are used for advertising rates and tracking unique hits. Who cares....

Compilation of Ruminations: Part I

A smattering of a few topics that don't warrant a complete post:
I told you that Chronic (What?) 'cles of Narnia was exploding on the web. [NY Times - TimesSelect]

In ''Lazy Sunday,'' a music video that had its debut on the Dec. 17 broadcast of ''SNL,'' two cast members, Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg, adopt the brash personas of head-bopping, hand-waving rappers. But as they make their way around Manhattan's West Village, they rhyme with conviction about subjects that are anything but hard-core: they boast about eating cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery, searching for travel directions on MapQuest and achieving their ultimate goal of attending a matinee of the fantasy movie ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.''

It is their obliviousness to their total lack of menace -- or maybe the ostentatious way they pay for convenience-store candy with $10 bills -- that makes the video so funny, but it is the Internet that has made it a hit. Since it was originally broadcast on NBC, ''Lazy Sunday'' has been downloaded more than 1.2 million times from the video-sharing Web site YouTube.com; it has cracked the upper echelons of the video charts at NBC.com and the iTunes Music Store; and it has even inspired a line of T-shirts, available at Teetastic.com.

A tad belated, but interesting none the less, the New Oxford American Dictionary named 'podcasting' as its 2005 Word of the Year. While I was able to run with this and use it in a meeting at the office (yes, my job really does involve researching podcasts and their underlying technologies), I think it has a bit more significance. With the general public's understanding, or more specifically, its lack thereof of the way the technology works, it is important for more people to be exposed to the concepts. If the technology will be accepted en masse many people should be aware of it and understand how it works. [CIO Today]

More tomorrow......