A Plethora of Palabras

Wow. This will be a busy post. I have a lot to say.

First, this YouTube Video has me highly stressed. I've got a very low opinions of all politicians, but is this little clip (verified, thanks) a racist rant from Hillary Clinton? It's her but is what she saying racist? Interesting thing to wonder about. I have to wonder why you'd repeatedly point out why you're white thus drawing attention to the fact your opponent is black. I hereby officially throw my hat in the Obama ring -- my first public statement of support for any candidate (none of whom I am overly thrilled with). This hat contingent upon whatever fool he picks as VP.

Second, the evil empire, AKA Microsoft, has come public about COFEE. Yeah, the same company that sells many of you guys your operating system software and recommends and installs all sorts of security updates has given an all-access pass to your local law-enforcement agency. No joke. This is just absurd. And if there's such a simple back-door to get around your operating system protections, how long for the terrorists to figure it out? The USB thumb drive contains 150 Microsoft programmed special commands to allow the user to decrypt passwords, recover all of the computer's data stores, and read a complete log of the computer's Internet activities. It works on-site with any Windows-loaded computer, including PDAs. That means not only your desktop but your mobile device too. I'm glad I'm not using their programs -- the question is why are you?

3. Jesus Made Me Puke is the title of a Rolling Stone article. David Higgins gets credit on this. While I subscribe to Rolling Stone, I hadn't yet read this issue. Why should you read it? You want to know what evangelicals do behind closed doors? Actually, you probably don't want to know. But you should. You might just lose a little sleep at night after reading this.

4. Tina Turner is coming out of retirement. She'll be here November 2nd and I'm excited. I've put in for the ticket lottery and hope to score some. The tickets go on sale Monday. Oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. I wish the International Tina Turner Fan Club was still around and giving us the good seats. Damn. I love Tina. See my review of her final Florida concert here.

5. Cal Rugby once again dominates the Rugby universe.The California Golden Bears blasted out to a 40-0 half-time lead and never looked back against Brigham Young University, taking the 2008 national collegiate championship, 59-7, this past Saturday at Stanford’s Steuber Rugby Stadium. It was the fifth straight title for the Bears and 24th in the history of the Cal rugby program making them the most dominating team in any Division One college sport.

6. I've got Neil Diamond tickets for 10-26-08, which I am also excited about. Nobody cares but me, but, yes, I love Neil Diamond and am greatly looking forward to his concert. I am going with the Mann family.

7. Last, but not least, a brief review of a quirky book called "The Somnambulist" by Jonathan Barnes. This books is unusual. Very much so. I rather enjoyed it. It's set in London -- the Victorian one. It's got humour of the driest sort, often black at that. It's got adventure. If the title frightens you, this book isn't for you. It's got lots of big $50 words, all used properly and without any effort by the author. It's quite the entertaining piece, and if you're in need of something different, this book is for you. I mostly recommend this to readers who would enjoy light fantasy and light science-fiction. Others will not appreciate its charms.

8. Don't forget to read Little Brother. I'm serious. Read this book.

VideoGate: Belichick's Cheating Ruins NFL Credibility

I'll skip the discussion of the travails of the actual incident in questions. It's pretty much blatant and obvious. I'm going to move right on to my opinions of the NFL's response. I think it's a total sham. What a freaking crock of excrement.

First and foremost Belichick, doesn't have even have to pay his fine because the Patriots are doing it for him.

Secondly, Belichick earns $4.2 million per year so even if he HAD to pay it, it's about 12% of his salary. In that regard, it's pretty minor. Sure, nobody wants to lose 12% of their salary, but I'd see many people giving up 12% for my Vince Lombardi trophy. This fine is insulting to the fans and the other teams.

Thirdly, Belichick has been accused of this in the past and has been warned in the past. He went and did it anyway. That's a pre-meditated offence and deserves the harshest punishment for him and his team. I don't believe for one second that the team wasn't aware of his actions. I think it's fantastic they got busted. I hope it serves as a distraction to their entire team. (I feel bad for their fans and ex-players because now their entire legacy under Belichick is now tarnished and in question.)

Fourth, the annual revenue of the New England Patriots is $250,000,000 (on an estimated worth of $1.1 billion dollars) -- yes about $250 million dollars per year. So a $250,000 fine is 0.1% of their annual revenue. Yes ZERO POINT ONE PERCENT of annual revenue is the amount of their fine. That's probably a day at the concession stands at best, or maybe the take for parking. It's a disgrace.

Fifth, The draft picks are a minor detail. They should be, at minimum, barred from the playoffs for a year or three and possibly have their last title stripped from them too. Belichick should be suspended for a year or two and not be allowed to coach or attend any games. The league needs to make a huge statement that it will not tolerate this sort of behaviour. This is far worse than what has been done by the players and it creates a double standard.

I'd cheat every game if I were disposed to be a cheater. What the NFL has done is create a situation where it pays to cheat. It's absurdly disgraceful. They need to do something FAR more severe but they won't. For $250k per game, or a few million dollars a year, you can cheat at every single game. Even the team with the lowest revenue rakes in over $167,000,000 per year and is worth 3/4 of a billion dollars.

I think cheating destroys the integrity, honesty, and character of a sport. It's inexcusable and must be discouraged in a meaningful way.

(Belicheck -- to catch the people who can't spell it right)

Panthershockey.net gets a sponsor!

Well, I've taken the plunge and accepted paid advertising. I never thought I'd actually do it. However, as my combined sites' Technorati authority ratings have climbed, offers have increased. I won't even CONSIDER porn ads, though those offers were SUBSTANTIAL and into the four figures. My Technorati authority rating broke 5 not that long ago -- and now it's up to six!

I finally got a sponsorship offer that I didn't find offensive, was related to what I talk about, and covered my annual ISP hosting bill. The fact that I have a lot of sports pages, often talk about sports, and quite frankly, like sports made this one of interest. So, I am pleased to announce, as my first sponsor and Première sponsor, Barry's Tickets. If you like this site, please click on the link or banner ad and check them out. Sure, they do non-sports stuff, but that's not what made them attractive to me as a sponsor:

Here's the little blurb we wrote about them for their sponsor tag-line: Barry's Tickets -- our site sponsor -- is your one-stop source for tickets to the hottest events nationwide. We offer premium seating and sold-out tickets as well. As a privately owned ticket broker, Barry’s Tickets has seats for all sports and entertainment events buying and selling tickets at the best prices available. Visit them and help support our site!

I hope they get some business -- to be clear I get no commission from sales. They paid me a flat fee, and I agreed to give them a one year exposure until 8-31-08. So far they've been extremely professional. You will see their ads around my sites as follows:

1. Darsys.com/panth (www.pathershockey.net) left-side navigation bar on EVERY SINGLE page in the site exclusive to them
2. Darsys.com index page left-side navigation bar exclusive to them
   
3. Darsys.net index page left-side navigation bar exclusive to them
4. Darsys.com index page TOP OF LIST banner ad (like the one above)
5. Darsys.net index page TOP OF LIST banner ad (like the one above)

So, share the love and click on the Sponsor's Link from here, or better yet from my website. If you buy and they ask where you came from, mention DARSYS.COM, DARSYS.NET, and/or PANTHERSHOCKEY.NET.

The entire cost of the darsys.com domain was paid for by this and left me a two cent profit. If I get another sponsor, I can probably get darsys.net paid off too. Send me an offer -- the more zeros the better :)

Randomness Part Trois

Let's see where to begin.

1. Today, at work, I upgraded from Outlook Express to Outlook. I can't say I'm happy. There are so many little things with Outlook that bug me. The two biggest issues being the address book (Contacts) aren't working properly and I can't figure it out, nor can any of the so-called 'experts' I know. The other is you can't highlight an e-mail in a certain colour using "rules".

2. I cooked dinner. It was very sub-par. This is why I never try anything new. Sweet Corn Cakes sounded good, in theory. In practice, not so good. I ate it all anyway just to spite myself.

3. I got a haircut on the way home from work. Yay.

4. I installed Google Analytics on my site, so we'll see tomorrow how it works (or if it works depending how my installation skills were).

5. The term "emo" has been getting lots of hits on my blog all of a sudden, but mostly it's still the damned Led Zeppelin and Crazy Frog posts that bring visitors here. On the plus side, my hit count is over 95,000 now -- that's a lot of views. On the minus side, most of them look at one or two posts and leave. And worse, none of them click my advertising. I have yet to see a check from Google Adsense. It's okay, though, 'cause I like Google anyway.

6. One of my Chinese vendors sent me the most cool and useful gifts. I don't normally get gifts from my vendors, but happily this was a special occasion I suppose. I got a book in "Practical Chinese Conversations: 100 Putonghua Situations" which comes with CDs and everything. I had mentioned that I was going to try and learn some Chinese phrases, and now I can. The only disadvantage is the don't explain their pronunciation guide, so you've got to listen to the CDs. I can pronounce xièxie, but can't even fathom how to say wènhòu.

7. I told off one of my vendors (Friday) and have yet to hear back. Usually you want to keep a customer, but I guess they don't.

8. I recently added some chick to my MySpace page 'cause she asked, but she's got lots of bulletins, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep her around. I hate people who burn through bulletins.

9. I have one ticket (for anyone who wants to go and sit with me) to the 12-23, 27, and 29 Panther Games. And also the 12-25 Evening Dolphins vs Jets game. E-mail me if interested. No charge. Being my date is punishment enough :)

10. My feet are cold. Actually I've been cold all day and coughing a bunch. I wonder if my cold is coming back.

11. Hello to Erin who is recovering from her hoof knee work. Here's to hoping she feels better.

12. I have discovered I prefer cheaper toilet paper to Charmin. I could tell you why but it's a bit gross.

Happy New Year -- Bye Bye Barry

Hello Loyal Reader[1]:

First, and foremost, I'd like to wish everyone who reads this blog a very Happy New Year. I'm posting this a day late because I was too tired yesterday to deal with a blog entry.

I am recovering from California's horrible loss to Texas Tech. At least we did it in the Holiday Bowl[2] where nobody really watched it instead of in the Rose Bowl where we'd have been mercilessly trashed by the press.

I also wish to send out condolences to the victims of the Tsunami because it's a huge tragedy. Help survivors and their families by making monetary donations to these organizations:

• American Red Cross International Response Fund
• AmeriCares South Asia Earthquake Relief Fund
• Direct Relief International International Assistance Fund
• Médecins Sans Frontières International Tsunami Emergency Appeal
• Oxfam Asian Earthquake & Tsunami Fund
• Sarvodaya Relief Fund for Tsunami Tragedy
• Save the Children Asia Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund
• UNICEF South Asia Tsunami Relief Efforts

Be sure and mark your donation to be used towards Tsunami relief efforts

Lastly, today marks the end of an era. Dave Barry's last weekly column was printed. He'll be missed by me and many of my friends who read his columns and often had liquid coming out of our noses in laughter. I know he says he might write a column if a cow explodes in a boat toilet, so I would encourage someone to do just that. He says he might come back, but I doubt it. He will continue to write books (yay) and the occasional column on topics that interest him.

Well that's it for this blog entry. I've got lots of big news coming in the next few weeks so you should check back soon.

Cheers,
Eric


[1] I assume I've got one. If there's more than one of you, add an "S" to the end. Somehow I doubt that's a reality.
[2] I will leave my rant about the f***ing BCS out of this post. Know that the BCS is almost as popular among Cal fans as several international terrorists.

Anal Psoriasis

Did I mention that FireFox rocks? You NEED to make it your browser of choice. I am falling in love with it. That is today's big news as far as I'm concerned. Oh, and the Sox won. I hate baseball but am glad they beat the curse. I am tired of the damned UF Zook/Spurrier drama.

I am irritated with AOL because they have a dictionary module so you can check spelling BUT it has only one dictionary (US English). I think that's dumb as not all their members prefer to communicate in English (the majority probably do) but how on EARTH is English the only language I can spell check in? I mean, if you're going to have a dictionary feature, for God's sake include US English, Proper (UK/Canada) English, French, and Spanish.

Ah well. There, I've bored you all to tears.

PS: I ate corned beef hash for dinner. And J. Carney is selling blogshares in my blog. Don't ask. Please. I'm sure he'll post a comment in reply to this one day.

-- E

Another Day At The Races

Yesterday, I went to Estero, Florida to watch two ECHL teams play (Florida Everblades v Texas Wildcatters). I got my minor league hockey fix, had fun, and spent most of the day driving back and forth from Miami to Estero. I was for the Wildcatters and, happily, they won. Yay.

Today, I watched football all day. Not productive, but as a guy, sometimes it's just what you do. I gave away my Dolphins tickets and watched on TV instead. They won and they are no longer winless. But that doesn't mean they don't suck. I then watched the Jets v New England (in HDTV) which was an interesting game and I had very mixed feelings about it, to be honest. I despise New York sports teams (the Jets the most of all, followed by the Rangers, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Mets, and so forth) with a passion. But I also don't like the fact the Pats are on a 21 game winning streak. Ah well. Mixed feelings and sports.

Cal won yesterday and that pleases me to no end. I am hoping Cal makes it to the Rose Bowl. Roll on you Bears.... If you have to ask, the University of California Golden Bears. I am a fan of course, what with me being in the alumni association and all -- proving they'll let ANYONE in :) In fact the whole top ten AP list won yesterday. The BCS still sucks so don't get me started. UF lost which is good. Hah.

I ate dinner at Boston Market tonight. I thought about changing the visual part of the blog and decided it was too much work. Then I thought about adding "Ad Sense" to my website (Google Ads) but they wanted a street address and I don't give that out to anyone. Instead I added links to the few blogs I actually read. In doing so, I found Rob had actually put me in his blog and claimed I validated his existence. I got a huge kick out of it. One day, maybe, he'll let me buy him a drink.

See? And you thought my blog was always going to have controversial or entertaining stuff. Today we've settled for the absolutely mundane.

-- Eric
(And yes the RSS feed is working properly now for interested parties)

Hockey Playing Future Presidents

In the current "The Hockey News" there is a full page article on John Kerry. As it turns out he's a true hockey fan and was a player for some years. He still ice skates recreationally. Yet another reason to save America and not vote for Shrub.

Kerry played a charity game earlier this year with some retired ex-NHLers. It's an interesting article and contains no political statements whatsoever. Politics, as always, don't belong in sports. Sports, for better or worse, continue to be full of politics.

-- Eric

PS: Please remember that November 2, 2004 has been designated as National Celibacy Day:

No Bush, No Dick.

Scum Sucking Bastards (NHL Lockout)

Here's a subject near and dear to my heart. This is an OPINION piece dammit.

The NHL Lockout. First, let's start with the fact that the owners are low-life scum, the players' union is low-life scum. The commissioner is scum and the NHLPA boss is scum. So what we have is a pond (frozen) full of scum. Second, we have the fact the one side is SLIGHTLY less scummier than the other. Sadly, it's the owners. I hate to side with them because I have a natural distaste for owners of sports teams in all leagues (Huizenga, Waronker, Davis, Cohen, etc).

We are experiencing CLASH OF THE EGOS here. Bettman v Goodenow. It's a simple thing to solve. Lock 'em in a room with any fan from any city -- no food, water, restroom. Some common sense from the fans, and a few kicks to their collective testicles and it'll all be over.

A soft-cap PLUS a luxury tax PLUS a "Larry Bird" rule all tied to gate receipts adjusted by inflation index. All figured to be computed in one currency US$ or C$ is irrelevant based on the Int'l Bank exchange rate average over the 90 days prior to the start of the season. To compensate the players move UFA back from 31 to 27. Hard Rookie cap removing signing bonuses (but allow performance bonuses).

-- E