Moonage Webdream

Looking at things that probably don’t need to be looked at

Archive for November, 2004

Nov-30-04

Project Runway

posted by Moonage

Heidi Klum is hosting her own reality TV show, but that doesn’t mean she’s a big fan of the genre. The supermodel prefers to call "Project Runway" — a contest among 12 aspiring fashion designers that premieres Wednesday on Bravo — a documentary.

"We’re going to show the public what it’s like to be a designer. I think people will be interested to see what it’s really like, how talented designers are. What we’re looking for is who is talented, not who is the funniest, not who is good-looking," Klum told The Associated Press recently.

Klum, 31, has watched "America’s Next Top Model" a few times because that show’s creator and host, Tyra Banks, is a friend, and she’s also caught Donald Trump’s "The Apprentice" once or twice.

This is one of those mindless, meaningless "news" items all internet media outlets feel compelled to throw at us to fill blank spaces on their web pages.  So, naturally, I had to see it.  The nothingness of the article was compelling enough, but, I had to ask myself, "How did I get here?".  It didn’t take me long to figure it out, this is why:

I was hoping and praying it would be another Tara Reidesque boob shot, but it wasn’t.  I was disappointed for sure, but not completely, there’s a lot of flesh in that pic, and she is one beautiful babe for sure.

Then, I started pondering why I went there so fast when I could have been reading about Dick Ebersole’s tragedy or the man who was killed by an exploding lava lamp.  It didn’t take long to figure out, Pavlov’s dog rules all other urges.  I responded to the natural stimulus ( an attractive female ), by nature of an unnatural stimulus ( computer image ), to elicit a response by the unrelated stimulus ( fantasy of scoring with an image ).  21st century Pavlov.  Show me a pic of a beautiful babe, I come running.

So therefore, all articles I report on here that rely solely on basic instinctive natural stimulus and nothing else, will be in the "Pavlov’s dog" category.  And, showing any interest in Heidi Klum’s fashion reality show is a perfect example for this category.  I mean, what is "real" about the fashion world?

Need I say more?

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Nov-29-04

Trashing Dead People

posted by Moonage

CBS is spotlighting a book that claims Princess Diana had an abortion in 1994

Jerk #1 is the person who wrote the book.  Princess Diana is dead.  This book serves absolutely no purpose for society other than trashing a deceased person.  That’s low folks. Very, very low.

Jerk #2 is CBS for giving Jerk #1 free publicity for something that doesn’t merit any publicity.

Jerk ad infinitum are whoever buys this piece of trash.

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Nov-29-04

Outsourcing Dead Presidents

posted by Moonage

Folks, this is funny as hell!  You HAVE to read it!

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Nov-28-04

Be Like Jim

posted by Moonage

Command Sgt. Maj. James R. Jordan asked to stay in the Army for a year beyond his mandatory retirement date so he could complete a deployment to Iraq with the 35th Signal Brigade. ”We are currently at war,” Jordan said. ”We are doing things, and it requires leaders to do certain things. That’s what I am, a leader.” Like his younger brother, retired basketball star Michael Jordan, James Jordan loves his job, believes in helping his team, expects maximum effort from those around him, and will leave on his own terms. The sergeant major stands 5-foot-7. His brother is about 6-foot-6. At Fort Bragg, the older brother has kept a low profile and avoided calling attention to his family connection. Command Sgt. Maj. Jordan and about 500 soldiers of the brigade are scheduled to depart today for a year in Iraq. Under normal conditions, the 47-year-old Jordan, who entered basic training in June 1975 and had three assignments in Korea, would start winding down his Army career in the spring as he approached the 30-year mark. His colonel promised to support whatever decision he made, but Jordan had no intention of getting on an airplane April 29, flying home and leaving his brigade. ”That’s not the way you want to end a 30-year career,” Jordan said. ”People ask, ‘Why?”’ said Col. Bryan Ellis, the brigade commander. ”The answer is, he is completely selfless. We all want to see it go well.”

OK, I’m sure you’re thinking this is going to be another one of those hokey diatribes about how great Jim is because he’s staying in the military.

Wrong.

The heroes here are most obviously Jim and Michael’s parents.  Michael Jordan has always been one of the classiest professional players of all time.  Obviously that was no fluke, as his elder sibling apparently displays the same type of dedication to what he does as Michael did.  Although Mike has been held on a pedestal for a long, long time, his parents are the role models here.  A lot of people in the African-American community need to look at what Jim and Mike’s parents have done so right.  For that matter, people in all communities need to look.  I am quite impressed with what those two have accomplished, Jim and Mike that is.  If all parents gave their children the tools Jim and Mike have, the entire world would be a much better place.

For that, my first Heroes salute goes to Deloris and James Jordan.

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Nov-28-04

Bengals Browns Game

posted by Moonage

I was all settled in for a long nap, with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns matched up for what promised to be perfect napping background noise ( read, silence ).  The Bengals are breaking in a second year rookie starter, and it’s shown.  The Browns have basically been offensively inept for a number of reasons, primarily because they bet the bank on Kelly Holcomb and let Tim Couch go.  It hasn’t worked too well.  Final tally I expected to be something like 18-17.  I slept some, but was constantly awakened because each team kept scoring.  It was non-stop.  I’m quite certain fans were falling down from exhaustion as rapidly as players were.  Final tally?  Bengals 58, Browns 48.  The second highest scoring game in NFL history.  Basically neither defense showed up to play today.  There were over 1,000 yards gained, and several players set career highs.  I was ok with it all because I got to take a one hour nap, and still see the last fifteen minutes of the game.

A couple of side notes.  CBS cut away from the total onslaught of Bengals/Browns highlights to show an update of the Miami/San Francisco game.  I couldn’t help noticing how surreal it felt watching Miami and San Francisco fight it out desperately for the #1 draft pick.  I remember the days easily when Miami and San Francisco were the two teams most feared in football.  Miami of course holding the distinction of being the only perfect season in football, and San Francisco winning the most Super Bowls.  The sadness of it all forced me to comment, half awake, to my wife.  She promptly replied with "Is there something on your shoe?".  I wasn’t wearing shoes, she was asleep.  I realized the meaninglessness of my thought provoking conversation with someone totally asleep, and retuned to my nap.

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Nov-28-04

Sportsmanship vs Fans’ Rights, Pt 2

posted by Moonage

Having dissed Tubby Smith for emptying his bench very early in a cakewalk against Georgia State, I am immediately presented with this:

Cincinnati players look on from the sideline as Louisville’s Montrell Jones romps 72 yards with a punt return for a touchdown during the second half of Louisville’s 70-7 win Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004.

That was totally unnecessary.  42-0 at halftime.  Put in the scrubs, the fans have had enough celebrating by halftime.

Of course, I’m sure the Cardinals fans will toss this at me:

The Bearcats taunted the Cardinals by dancing on their midfield logo before the game.

Oh well, c’est la vie.  In high school they have a mercy rule.  Don’t want it for college as the tickets are too expensive.  But, 70-7 isn’t much fun to watch after halftime either.  Guess I’ll just blame it on Cincinnati for having such a  crappy football team.

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Nov-27-04

Wingwomen

posted by Moonage
Nov-26-04

Sportsmanship vs Fans’ Rights

posted by Moonage

I was watching the UK-Georgia State game tonight on tv.  My family is a UK season ticketholder, but my sister went to this game.  The game got off to decent enough start, at half time the score was 38-23 Kentucky.  However, Kentucky scored 22 of the next 25 points to take a 60-26 lead.  That’s a blowout folks.  Kentucky was slamming shot after shot, hitting threes, stealing the ball, blocking shots, and basically putting on a show of how exactly to play the game of basketball.  The home crowd was going nuts over this display.  At the 13:00 minute or so marker, Coach Smith emptied the bench.  Georgia State promptly went on a tear of their own for a while.  He put the starters back in for enough time to cushion the final margin, and emptied the bench again.  Excellent sportsmanship on his part.  He has always been a gentleman first and coach second.  However, the UK crowd was basically treated to one-half of a game of basketball.  Sure, the subs played, but there’s a BIG difference in watching the sheer perfection of the starting seven or so versus watching the scrubs and walk-ons.  As much as we pay for these tickets, that always disappoints me during a game.  Sure, I’m glad we win, but I could watch that sitting at home and using that money to host a feast for a lot of people and have basically the same effect.  Coaches get criticized ala Steve Spurrier for running up scores, but none of the Florida football fans were the ones doing it.  They were getting 100% of the product they paid for.  Considering all the benefits these college kids get for playing a game, getting their butts whipped because they are an inferior team is nothing that should be all that devestating to them.  I know in the real world, when one team gets the other down, they pour it on.  I know Smith has other motives such as bringing the subs up to par through experience, but, after paying four digits for season tickets, I want all my money’s worth.  Work the subs in with some of the starters when the score gets lopsided.  These wholesale bench emptyings are no fun to watch and I feel cheated moreso than the guys on the other team suffering a butt whuppin during their free college experience that I had to pay for on my own.

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Nov-25-04

Kentucky Weather

posted by Moonage

Yesterday it was almost 70.  Today we have this:

If you don’t like the weather here, just wait a few minutes.

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Nov-23-04

Google Sued by Porn Company

posted by Moonage

I don’t know exactly where to put this story, so it’s here by default:

A Web site that sells photos of naked women is suing Google Inc. , alleging that the online search engine leader is destroying its business by distributing links and passwords that provide free glimpses of the nude models.

Beverly Hills-based Perfect 10 Inc. is seeking unspecified damages from Mountain View-based Google for alleged copyright infringement.

Google spokesman Steve Langdon declined to comment Monday, saying the company hadn’t seen the suit yet.

The civil complaint, filed late last week in Los Angeles federal court, revolves around some of the graphic imagery found through Google’s search engine.

Perfect 10 says Google is providing unauthorized access to thousands of its copyrighted pictures. The company charges a monthly membership fee of $25.50 for its Web site.

Google displays the images from rogue Web sites operated in foreign countries, according to Perfect 10’s lawsuit. The search engine also provides links to password hacking sites that provide ways to gain illegal access to Perfect 10’s Web site, the suit alleges.

IMO, this is almost a frivolous lawsuit.  However, almost in law means it has some merit.  In this case, not much, but some.  Legally, I don’t understand Perfect 10’s main point.  Google doesn’t "show" anything.  It just provides links based on keywords.  I would guess that will be the main point of Google’s defense.  They may as well sue Microsoft for using their browser to show the copyrighted content.  They may as well sue all internet providers for allowing people to use their connections to show the copyrighted material.  And of course, we can assume MSN and Yahoo violate Perfect 10’s copyrights as well.  So how did they decide to pick on Google?  And, of course, the bottom line question is, have they sued the people displaying their content as well? If Google loses, it could put a chill on internet search capabilities. But, they’re not going to.  What will happen is Google will win, easily,  and content providers will have an even harder time dealing with illegal content on the internet as courts will have a precedent to go by.  Dumb move Perfect 10, really dumb.

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