I found this via Mrs. Moon via
Steve Dudek:

I just love these silly things.  In real life, I am EROTIC SMURF. 
Here, I am RADIOACTIVE SMURF!

Heh.  I can live with that.

Technorati Tags: Humor

The Congressional bonehead award goes to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) who, on a visit to JPL, asked if Mars Pathfinder had taken an image of the flag planted there in 1969 by Neil Armstrong! Quipped Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) to the Washington Times: "We just don’t teach enough science." Worse, Jackson Lee, who represents Houston, is a member of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee.

Do I have to explain to anyone what the problem with that statement is?

Technorati Tags: Idiot of the day

Here is the headline that caught my eye today:

Within days of their title win over Illinois, the Tar Heels had four players declare early for the NBA draft and lost their top seven scorers - a remarkable postseason purge that could test Williams like few seasons have before.

Roy Williams is as good a coach as they come.  It doesn’t matter.  He’s screwed.  The Tarheels next year will look awful at times.  Just plain bad at times.  And probably pretty good by the end of the year.   Not too much for Tarheel fans to get excited about.

But wait, even though I’m a Kentucky Wildcat at heart, I’m not too excited either:

Junior swingman Kelenna Azubuike, Kentucky’s leading scorer this past season, said he has signed with an agent and will forego his final season of eligibility.

And:

So it’s possible (Randolph) Morris could be taken late in the first round? Terrific. Let’s make this clear: If Morris is not a lottery pick in whatever draft he enters, he’ll have failed monumentally.

Florida’s luck isn’t any better:

Florida’s top two scorers might be turning pro.

Guards Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh declared for the NBA draft Wednesday, but kept their options open for returning to the Gators for another season.

The juniors said they won’t hire agents. Underclassmen who don’t sign with agents can withdraw from the draft by June 21 and stay in school.

All of those players are listed as iffy due to the new NBA draft rule of drafting kids only 19 or older.  This has caused a mass exodus of high schoolers straight to the NBA.  My guess, none of those high schoolers will amount to a whole lot.  Most will have to wait it out until their skills are developed to the point of competing with the pros. And, the college players exiting will have training on them as well.  The end result of this exodus of talent from college and potential college ball is depriving college fans the opportunity to enjoy college ball at its best.  Although it’s been a recurring problem for many years, this is the worst I’ve ever seen.  North Carolina, Florida, and Kentucky would have had the talent and experience to be playing for the NCAA championship.  Now, it’s not going to happen.  Florida wasn’t any deeper than it’s two leaders.  Roy Williams can’t train young talent fast enough to compete at the end of this year.  Kentucky has Rajon Rondo, and that’s about it.  None of those players that left will have any real impact on the draft.  They might even get beat out by high schoolers.  That’s guaranteed in the case of Morris and Azubuike.  If they had waited one more year and won a championship, they would have been top 20 drafts and making much, much, more than they will be now.  Azubuike had other issues, I can somewhat understand his situation.  Morris I don’t get at all.  He said he was going pro as soon as possible, and he is.  But, I can’t believe anyone couldn’t convince this guy to stay one more year and up his worth.  He would have been a force in the NCAA’s this year.  He wouldn’t have had to compete with all the high schoolers next year.  And, his drawing value would have been probably four to five times what it is now.  Given Tubby Smith’s ability to keep players in the past, I almost think Tubby is ready to see him go.  If that’s the case, given Tubby’s patience, I don’t see Morris surviving more than a few years in the pros and then disappearing with the thousands of other teenage phenoms of the past.  It’s obvious these kids can’t make logical decisions for themselves.  It’s obvious young kids’ careers have been ruined by a hasty jump to the pros.  It’s obvious to me some things need to happen in basketball ASAP:

1. Raise the bar for entry to 21 or completed college.
2. Allow college players to retain an agent regardless of whether they go pro or not.  An agent’s in it for themselves.  If they think they can multiply the value of their client by waiting, they’ll tell their client.
3. Give college players a stipend to play.  Covering their tuition is fine and good, but in the case of Azubuike, he has to help with his family.  These kids bring millions of dollars to their respective colleges, they should be allowed to keep some of it.  Make it the same for all players to make it fair.  But, pay them to play.  That’s their ultimate goal anyway.

I’m not looking forward to this basketball season as much as I usually do.  I’m not looking forward to seeing North Carolina suck.  I enjoy beating them when they at their best.  The Kentucky-Florida rivalry has been excellent for the last decade, it won’t mean anything this year.  Kentucky will still most likely win the SEC, but mainly because so many of the other teams have been decimated by the same problem.  Duke will run away with the ACC, again, since most of their opponents have been hit with the exodus as well.  This year, the champion won’t be the best of the best, they’ll just be the least bad.  That’s not a whole lot to look forward to.

Technorati Tags: Opinions, Sports

E! Entertainment Television said Wednesday it will stop airing new episodes of "The Howard Stern Show." The last episode will be seen July 8.

The televised version of Stern’s radio show has been a staple on E! since 1994, shown weeknights at 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. and then again in the middle of the night.

Stern won’t immediately disappear. E! said it would be airing reruns of the show — more than 2,000 were filmed over the years — for the foreseeable future.

To me, 2,000 is the problem here.  The first 500 or so were funny as hell.  After that I think Howard ran out of visual ideas.  Voice is funnier on radio than tv, and it’s a lot easier.  On tv you have to add visual to the mix and all he could basically come up with were freaks and lesbians.  After about 100 episodes of that, I tired of Stern and haven’t watched him since.  Losing him on E! for me is a non-event.  And that’s a shame.

Technorati Tags: Television

In 1960, Victor Mature starred in the movie Hannibal.  I’ve seen this.  Once, I think.  If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it features Hannibal mercilessly driving his soldiers through the glacier covered Alps.  Some of his soldiers, and even elephants, slip on the ice and plummet to their deaths thousands of feet below.  It’s a really bad movie about reputedly one of the greatest military minds of all time.  Hannibal gave the Romans absolute hell.  He defeated the Romans in Italy before eventually exhausting his resources.  But, the climax to the Hannibal legacy was his march through the ice and wind driven snow of the Alps and Pyrenees.

Now, it seems, that may not have been the case.

""At the time of the Roman Empire, for example, the glacier tongue was about 300 meters higher than today," says Joerin. Indeed, Hannibal probably never saw a single big chunk of ice when he was crossing the Alps with his army."

Out of curiosity, I checked weather.com for the current conditions in Zurich.  It’s sunny and 84 degrees (F).

So, rather than falling off ice covered cliffs, it’s more likely Hannibal was trampling daisies on his way to fight the Romans.  Doesn’t make for quite as spectacular movie viewing IMO.

Now, come to find out, Vin Diesel is remaking Hannibal, the motion picture.  I just wonder which vision of Hannibal crossing the Alps he’s going to use?

Technorati Tags: Movies, Mythbusters

I found this list of the most shoplifted items very interesting:

Maybe if Trojan was shoplifted a lot more, EPT and Similac would be a lot less?

Thanks once again to Volokh for the heads up.

Moon

Technorati Tags: Hmmmmm

I made this twice in the last two weeks.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

2 pounds beef skirt steaks (or brisket cut in thin strips)

2/3 cup Kikkoman Soy Sauce

¼ cup lime juice

10 flour tortillas

Butter or margarine, softened

Pico de Gallo (below)

Dairy sour cream (optional, only if you like California style Mexican food)

Cut steaks crosswise into 4 to 5-inch lengths. Split the thicker pieces in half to 1/8 to ¼- inch thickness. Place pieces in large shallow pan. Combine soy sauce and lime juice; pour over meat, turning pieces over to coat well. Marinate 15 minutes; turn pieces over once. Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in aluminum foil. Grill meat about 4 inches from hot mesquite or regular charcoal 3 minutes for medium-rare or to desired degree of doneness. Heat tortillas on grill or in 325 F oven until warm. To assemble tortilla: Spread tortilla with butter and wrap around desired amount of grilled meat, Pico de Gallo and sour cream. Or serve meat, salsa and tortillas separately.

Pico de Gallo

Cut 1 medium avocado in half; discard seed and peel (no kidding!). Dice avocado, 1 medium tomato and 1 whole jalapeno pepper. Place in bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup minced red onion, 1 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro, 2 Tbsp. Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce and 4-1/2 teaspoons lime juice. Cover and let stand at room temperature 2 hours before serving.

Note:  Left over Pico de Gallo makes a great base for a spicy salad.

Submitted by Storm Warning. 

Note from Moon, I eat Fajitas at least twice a week.  None of them sound as good as this!

Technorati Tags: Food

FOUR men were arrested after Hollywood star Tom Cruise was drenched with water at the London premiere of his new film, War of the Worlds.

The four were working on a new Channel 4 comedy program and may now be charged with assaulting the A-list actor.

He reacted angrily to the prank, repeatedly calling the man who soaked him a "jerk".

Cruise was on a walkabout talking to some of the 5000 fans who had packed into Leicester Square for the star-studded premiere of War of the Worlds and he was accompanied by his new fiance, actress Katie Holmes.

As he answered questions from journalists a bogus reporter, wearing a white and green t-shirt, stuck out a joke microphone and used it to squirt water into Cruise’s face.

The star struggled to maintain his composure and rounded on the man, saying: "Why would you do that … why would you do that … why would you do that?"

As the prankster offered a barely audible excuse, Cruise said: "Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?"

After an uncomfortable silence the joker went to walk away but Cruise said: "Don’t run away."

He told his assailant: "That’s incredibly rude. I’m here giving you an interview and you do that … it’s incredibly rude."

Cruise then said forcibly: "You’re a jerk … jerk … you’re a jerk."

It was water.  Now, some people might suggest that if Tom has such difficulties taking a joke like that, he might be in need of something to stabilize his emotions.  An anti-depressant would do him good.  Those vitamins just don’t seem to be doing the trick.  I mean, read Tom’s script again, he loses it completely.

Note to Katie, hide the water guns.

Better note Katie, RUN AWAY!

Technorati Tags: Jerk of the Day

My big issue today was trying to get the printer people I lease our multi-function printers from to understand that the fact that their printer they just delivered will not print under any circumstances is giving me grief. Their excuse is that they didn’t get the initial impression that I even wanted the printer I ordered to actually print stuff.

Ohhhh-kaayyyyy

Technorati Tags: Idiot of the day

As far as I know, this is about as nude a Britney as you’re going to find.  And from what I’ve heard, it will be for at least a year for sure.  Actually, this post is about something more important than seeing Britney’s boobs.

According to a computer software maker, Spears tops the list of famous people whose names are used in mass e-mail messages to entice readers to download damaging viruses.

A typical scenario would involve a spam e-mail that either contains the virus program as an attachment or includes a link to a Web site that can infect the reader’s computer with a Trojan-type virus.

Panda Software, which published the rankings, notes that creators of these viruses often use attractive female celebrities such as Spears, Jennifer Lopez or Paris Hilton or globally known figures such as Bill Gates, who took second place in the rankings. Phony news events surrounding such polarizing individuals as Osama Bin Laden can also lure a reader to click on the virus link.

In other words, Pavlov’s dog lures computer users to their unsuspecting death.  The game is too easy.

For what it’s worth, here’s some e-mail headlines featuring Britney alone that are guaranteed to compromise your computer every single time:

• Britney sex xxx.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears and Eminem porn.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears blowjob.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears c*mshot.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears f**k.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears full album.mp3.exe
• Britney Spears porn.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears Sexy archive.doc.exe
• Britney Spears Song text archive.doc.exe
• Britney Spears.jpg.exe
• Britney Spears.mp3.exe

And that’s just the Netsky.p bug.  There are tons more.  The clue here is “.exe”.  Documents, pictures, music files, video files, spreadsheets, and, screensavers never need the “.exe” extension.  If you think you’re about to see Britney having sex with Eminem, and that file has an .exe extension, you’re the one getting screwed.  Put your brain back in control, stop the transfer, and move on.  Pavlov’s dog runs wild on the internet.

Technorati Tags: britney-spears, Pavlov's Dog, porn, screensaver, The Internet, virus