The Time 100

Interesting issue of Time this week: the 100 people who shape our world. Most of the articles are written about the influential 100 are written by equally as interesting folks.

David Spade on Howard Stern
Brian Williams on Stephen Cobert
Mario Batali on Rachael Ray
Dan Jansen on Joey Cheek
Charles Barkley on Steve Nash
Condi on Oprah
Luke Wilson on Reese Witherspoon
Jesse Helms on Bono
Aaron Neville on Wynton Marsalis
Wonkette on Drudge
Al Franken on Arianna Huffington
John Henry on Bill James
Ralph Nader on John McCain
Sandra Day O'Connor on John Roberts
Will Shortz on Wayne Gould
last but not least...
Tom Cruise on J.J. Abrams

DRM, DMCA, Oh my...

Kinda scary CNet article talking about DRM. Congress looks to be proposing a new law that will EXPAND the reach of the DMCA. The DMCA currently reaches pretty far in terms of giving the federal authorities a leg to stand on if they want to prosecute copyright infringers. Now this new law will take the jail time from 5 to 10 years if one is convicted. The new law expands the crimes as well ...

Instead of merely targeting distribution, the new language says nobody may "make, import, export, obtain control of, or possess" such anticircumvention tools if they may be redistributed to someone else.

We'll keep an eye on this....

Moving on..

All this nonsense about the Keith remark...yea it was dumb; yes his apology was dumb. Let's move on everyone. That means you ESPN, Deadspin, and Seinfeld referencers.

Mets Notes

Interesting story in Newsday today; it seems earlier in the spring, the Marlins offerred the Mets a trade for Dontrelle Willis. The Mets laughed it off - however, it wasn't Lastings Milledge they were after. Instead, the Marlins wanted to see if the Mets would part with future-MVP David Wright in exchange for the young lefty. Omar, thank god, decided against this trade. Jeffrey Loria, owner of the dismantled Marlins, said on April 15th that the two remaining Marlin stars, Dontrelle and star outfielder Miguel Cabrera would not be dealt. Let's talk at the trade deadline.

Speaking of Milledge, an article in the Daily News today quotes former Met 3B Howard Johnson, now a hitting coach in AAA Norfolk as saying that Milledge would be up in Queens sometime this year. I saw him in Port St. Lucie in March, and the kid is the real deal. Going into Saturday's game, Milledge is hitting a healthy .396. Nice.

A couple of the SportsNet NY commercials aired during the game today. I particularly took note of the one which took a little dig at the good ole YES network. A guy was caught by his girlfriend...talking to another girl about the Yankees. He goes on to explain that this town is big enough for two teams, and hence, two girls. SNY seems to be touting the fact that it is going to be man enough to carry Yankees highlights, but it remains to be seen if Yankee fans will ever watch. Ehhh, let them watch their Yankeeography.

And finally ... BBTN was talking it, even Gary Cohen was talking about, ever since last week's game when "Bring Back Benson!" was the chant, Jorge Julio has turned it on. In his last 4 outings, Julio has gone 5 innings, giving up no hits, striking out ten and only walking one. Seems that Victor Zambrano is the only goat in town, well other than Kaz Matsui when he's not hitting inside-the-parkers.

Monday night ... 10:15 at San Fran -- Glavine vs. Cain.

WFAN 20-20 Sports....

The flash .... (the past 24 hrs in sports with a NY bias)


Mets lose Friday night out in SD in 14 innings. The old man couldn't do it two nights in a row.

Bron-Bron gets a triple-double (32, 11, 11) in his first playoff game.

Devils over the Rangers, 6-1, at the old Brendan Byrne Arena. Elias has 6 points and Jagr gets hurt. Not the way the Rangers wanted this series to start.

Barry Bonds hits 709*.

Brewers hit 5 homers in one inning; win 11-0. Bill Hall, Damian Miller, Brady Clark, J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder each went yard in the 4th.
Pedro's throwing a gem, as of the 7th in SD tonight.

And according to Howie Rose, on this day in Mets history, Tom Terrific strikes out 19, including the last 10 in a row and the Mets win 2-1. Thanks, Retrosheet.org.

Happy Earth Day....

Yes, my Google Calendar told me that it was Earth Day today; thanks Larry and Sergei.

Is hydrogen the answer? I'm not sure why the President is still touting hydrogen cars as the next generation of automobile and the answer that will solve our little oil problem. Right now I know of about one hydrogen car and no one has it. Why does he not see the IMMEDIATE viabilty of gas-electric hybrids? Obviously, I wouldn't call Mr. Bush enviornment-friendly, but how he can be so myopic baffles me. Clearly, there will be no proliferation of hydrogen cars in the next 2 and a half years that he is in office. He can sit there and tell us that is the future, but under this administration, we will never see any! Crafty, Bush, crafty.

Oh, and there was this little article published just 16 days ago...HYDROGEN CARS ARE YEARS AWAY.

Take Care of Yourself

Coming across this article, I thought to myself....no, not again. Why, Alberto, why?

AG Gonzales proposed to Congress a plan that would require websites featuring adult content, blah, blah, and "close-ups of fully clothed genital regions" (that's my favorite). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the policy of most Republicans was less government interefence in everyday life - smaller government. Why does the administration continue to have to play everyone's dad? Why are they continually looking over my shoulder? Why can parents not manage their own children? Why is the President responsible for making sure my kids don't see -- the horror -- a naked person. Sex! Close-ups of fully clothed genital regions! Why? Why does the government have to pass legistation to the job that parents have been charged to do themselves? Why can we not take care of ourselves?

Quick Personal Notes

It's kind of lame when I get excited because the gas station close to home is still at $2.99. Sucks to own an SUV these days.

Other than that, today was a big day -- done with graduate school. Thesis presentation went well (2nd place in Most Outstanding Presentation, thank you very much).

Okay, no more sappy personal details; this damn thing is supposed to be anonymous.

Gas Man

The price of gas is absolutely absurd these days. Almost hitting three bucks in these parts and then Drudge posts this:

and I suddenly don't feel so bad. But it sucks to have an SUV these days. $50/pop.

Meet the Mets

The Mets bench has been exposed as pretty damn weak if you ask this fan. However, in the lineup tonight, Beltran and Floyd returned, at least to start. Anderson Hernandez was put on the DL and Kaz Matsui was activated. Interestingly enough, Kaz had an inside the parker tonight. The man has hit homers in his last three first games of the season. Odd. But we NYers still aren't fans of his.

Down 2-1, in the 7th.

Beisbol

Final week of school this week. Kid's just a little excited.

Mets are back on track. 9-2. Best start ever. Love it. Big test vs. the Bravos coming up. Only on SNY. If only I got it. Fuck you, Comcast.

A Couple of Random Things

Tough Mets game this afternoon on a beautiful day at William A. Shea Stadium. The fact that it was the largest Saturday crowd ever was a little surpirsing, 55,831 to be exact. The boys had no offense and despite the undeniable fact that defense and pitching win world championships, a few runs does not hurt. The AP story on ESPN has a quote saying that Mets fans were chanting "Bring Back Benson" after reliever Jorge Julio began to give up runs like it was the new black. I believe the chants started with yours truly. Anna, we miss you, sort of.

Interesting article in today's Times describing the Nebraska law recently passed that opponents are calling state-sponsored segregation. The plan calls for the separation of students in Omaha into three distinct school districts, composed basically by race. While we're not sure where Brown would fit into this seemingly illegal plan, but interestingly enough this plan was brought about by Nebraska's only Black State Senator. Keep an eye on this...

The media writer for SI proceeds to give Jim Nantz a reach-around extolling his coverage of a Tradition Unlike Any Other last weekend. Fear not, he doesn't stop there but continues to applaud, what, in my opinion was just standard coverage of the NCAA tourney.

It boils down to $144,573 per diem for 12 years as ExxonMobil's CEO. Yea, that's $686 million for working in the "God Pod" for the company that basically runs the free world. Tough life.

Boys of Summer

So after a few nights of drinking instead of doing homework or blogging, we're back.

Back page of the Post today, Carlos Beltran with batting gloves that have no tops on the fingers. Bottom of the fingers .. covered, tops and the top of his hand ... exposed. Just a little odd. [NYP, inset]

Jeffrey Maier, yes, that Jeff Maier, Tony Torasco, broke the career hits record at Wesleyan. For some reason, the Gray Lady decided to run with this. Yes, Jeff Maier and his NESCAC record made the FRONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES. Since when does a D-III record make the front page of the Times?! New York loves this kid. Damn Yankees. Maybe the Times should have made a drive up Route 9 to Trinity and found fellow c/o 2005 alum Jeff Natale. Natale, now a hot prospect in the Red Sox organization, is still way ahead of Maier for career hits.

One of the Google guys is getting engaged? Kanye dropped a piece of advice on the billionaire, "We want prenup. It's just something that you need to have."

Tom Cruise tells GQ that he and "Kate" have spectacular sex. Good thing only gay men read GQ, otherwise most of America would have just thrown up in its mouth.

As Time Goes By...

Since we last blogged:
News:
Immigration Protests everywere
Tom Delay resigns
Gas costs a gazillion dollars. $2.76/gal in these parts. That's $50 for a tank in this blogger's ride.
France repealed its weird student labor law
Katie moved to CBS

Sports:
NCAA Tourney --- Florida, George Mason, Oh my.
Duke Lacrosse....ongoing
BASEBALL SEASON
Mets 5-1 as of right now.

Gossip:
Page Six!!!
Page Six!!!
Everyone's afraid of Gawker-Stalker, esp. Clooney
Gweneth and Chris have Moses.
Sean Federline falls on his head.
Tom Cruise is still insane, Oprah is still rich and too powerful and too influential.
Basic Instinct 2 flops.


More tomorrow.