Incentive to start using snail mail again...

Can't remember the last time I got excited about postage stamps. But since when was Spiderwoman popular enough to get her own stamp? Where's my Daredevil stamps?

Pull out your 3-D Glasses

One of my big regrets of last year was not getting tickets to U2's Vertigo Tour. Luckily, I'll get to see that tour in psychedelic 3-D!

Probably beats nosebleed seats behind an arena support beam. By the way, Wankmaster, I think I still have your unused ticket from one of those crappy seats when Wild Willie, Fandango, and I went down to see U2 at the Astrodome back in freshman year.

Let's just buy them a Coke...

I know nothing about National Vanguard, but considering the not so subtle message of this ad that's been making the blog rounds, I'm not sure I want to learn. I had no idea that white people felt so oppressed.

Having grown up in West Texas, I think I've become a bit oblivious to the racism around me. That sounds like a really odd statement, I'm sure. The Texas Panhandle isn't exactly the epitome of tolerance in America. Maybe a more accurate way to say this, is that I've become numb to it all. Being the only one of a handful of Asian kids in school, it seemed the only way not to become significantly depressed was to try to blend in as much as possible and build up a tolerance to the occasional odd looks and stares. Luckily, I had good friends who never made race an issue. I still recall a random day when I was out with most of the Gang in Austin hiking out on the Barton Creek Greenbelt. I made some sarcastic remark highlighting my racial difference from the rest of the group, and Scootypuff said something to the effect of, "Wow! I don't think I ever really thought of you as my Asian friend. I just thought of you as my friend."

Having friends like these, it's easy to think that the world is a friendly, tolerant place where we can all get along in perfect harmony. Cue nostalgic Coca-Cola commercial. Nice to know that groups like National Vanguard still exist to remind me that quite a number of people in this country (and all over the world) are extremely ignorant, but are scarily intelligent enough to make commercials like these.

A Man's Best Friend

I don't know if any of you ever used to watch Texas Country Reporter with Bob Phillips back when you all still lived in Texas, but I'd often catch an episode or two on the weekend. I really didn't have much of a choice--remember I was relegated to the basic big three networks, PBS, and a UHF station that eventually became the Fox affiliate. I guess I could have done something else, like read a book, but what fun is that? ;-) I'm not sure if that show is still around (Scootypuff, have you seen it?), but Bob would often have an interesting story to tell.

Funny. I'm suddenly hungry for some Dairy Queen...

Anywho, I came across this video from that show about this amazing dog, Skidboot. I think my old dog Buck was on the opposite end of the IQ scale. Buck wasn't nearly as mellow, either. Sometimes, though, I miss my old Schnauzer probably like this guy will miss Skidboot when he passes away.

Major Coolness Courtesy of NASA

A picture of the aurora borealis from the perspective of the International Space Station:


And if you ever wondered where all those satellites in orbit are, you can actually track them courtesy of J-Track 3D on the NASA website.

I swear all those instant replays were the gods pausing their Playstation game to go get a Coke...

512 yards passing. 512! Graham Harrell threw for more yards than Texas accumulated with the pass and run combined! I knew this was going to be a messy game, but never in my wildest nightmares could I have imagined the Horns would give up those kind of numbers. I'm not even sure I've amassed that many yards playing Tecmo Bowl.

I know the secondary is a bit banged up, but giving up these kind of yards is really pathetic. I'm not sure which was more aggravating--the lack of any pass defense or all the reviewed calls. I almost feel bad for Mike Leach--in a perfect world, the Red Raiders probably deserved to win this one. But I guess this also goes to show that an offense just can't win big games being completely one dimensional. At least the Longhorn defense showed some dominance on the rush by holding Texas Tech to a net zero yards on the ground.

To think that going into this year, the biggest question mark was what the Longhorns would do without Vince Young. I'm just amazed at how Colt McCoy has stepped up to the challenge. Heck, he practically put up VY-type numbers tonight. He pretty much matched the running backs in rushing yards, and still had some amazing numbers in the air passing for 250+ yards and four touchdowns.

But, man, this defensive secondary really looked bad tonight. Next week against Oklahoma State is looking kind of scary...

The ESPN summary:

It was over when... Texas QB Colt McCoy scrambled 33 yards on third down and five, allowing Texas to kneel down twice for the win.

Gameball goes to... McCoy. The redshirt freshman was 21-of-31 for 256 yards and four touchdowns. McCoy also added 68 yards rushing.

Stat of the game... -1. While the Red Raiders did pass for 519 yards, they had practically no running game -- once stopped on a crucial fourth and inches late in the game -- rushing for minus-1 yards.

WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!

Do You Believe In Ghosts?

To continue on the topic of Halloween, I came across this post from The Knight Shift blog with the Top 10 Best Ghost Photographs Ever Taken. Check them out--they're freaky!

And since October means yet another viewing of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, I give you an alternative take on the annual story courtesy of Robot Chicken and YouTube:

Halloween Horror Stories

This is a true Halloween story I heard on NPR this morning, and it cracked me up.

I may have lost all respect for Marvel Comics...

I guess comic book studios need to innovate and pursue various avenues to increase readership, but this one had me scratching my head. In hopes of, I guess, attracting thirtysomething stay-at-home soccer moms into the comic book genre, Marvel Comics has a new tie-in promotion with the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. Marvel superheroes will be visiting the town that this soap takes place just in time to see the introduction of a Guiding Light character that will gain superpowers on the TV show.

I understand the desire to increase feminine readership, but you'd think they would try going after a slightly younger and hip female crowd. But maybe I'm unaware of some huge underground sorority-led Guiding Light cult just waiting for some excuse to read comics.

I can't wait for a Wolverine cameo on future soaps, maybe The Bold and the Beautiful:

Brooke: Logan, I can't believe you're giving up on our relationship.

Wolverine: Well, you should have thought about that before you slept with Rogue!

Brooke: That wasn't my fault! She touched me in ways that only she could. It just sucked the life out of me. I was powerless to resist her.

How can we lose with Ronald McDonald in our rotation?

The picture above is Anthony Reyes, a rookie pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals who threw a brilliant eight innings to win Game 1 of the World Series. With the Ronald McDonald-like knee high socks and the straight bill which he supposedly irons prior to every game, he looked to be the perfect marrionette for my wife's spooky puppeteer skills. And so her powers lived on. We missed the start of the game, but managed to catch up in front of a big screen TV at a local Korean restaurant. Scoreless in the first inning, can you guess what happened as we sat down in the bottom of the second with my wife watching? Scott Rolen. Homerun. The Cards went on to win 7-2 that night.

Alas, Game 2 brought an end to my wife's streak. Perhaps she was too tired that night. Perhaps she was too enthusiastic to win. Perhaps the voodoo cheating magic of Kenny Rogers and "Dirtgate" was too much for her to overcome. Perhaps she was suffering too much from a case of the runs from the kim chee the night before. We watched this one from start to finish. Final score 3-1 for a Detroit Tigers win.

But fear not, my faithful friends. The Puppetmaster would regroup. Again, missing the first couple of innings on our way to a sports bar to watch the game, the Cardinals and the Tigers remained scoreless through three innings. Sitting down with a bottle of Bud and some toasted ravioli in the bottom of the fourth...wait for it...a two run inning for the Redbirds. I could just imagine her fingers pulling the strings. Cardinals win Game 3 in a shutout 5-0.

Tonight, we already had tickets to view what was supposed to be the final week of the Chihuly glass exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. This meant missing most of Game 4. The loss of Puppetmaster's powers were evident with the game tied at 3 a piece in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was about that time that we had finished at the Gardens and had made it back to the car for the ride home. Turning on the radio, we found the Cardinals with the tying run on second. Would her powers work without being able to see what she could control? Of course! So Taguchi scores on a single by Preston Wilson. David Eckstein hits a double in the bottom of the eighth for an RBI and the winning run. Redbirds triumphant 5-4.

Tomorrow is Game 5, and a chance for the Cardinals to win the World Series at home. We look to be a lock with a 3-1 game lead. Of course, they say the last time St. Louis and Detroit met in the World Series back in 1968, the Cards blew an identical lead as the Tigers rallied to win the last three games of the series. But back then, they didn't have the Puppetmaster in their corner. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!

For Your Inner MacGyver

No, this is not an image put together in Photoshop. This big daddy has all 85 tools available in the Swiss Army Knife catalog. Besides the fact that this thing looks to weigh more than a modern day camping backpack, it also only costs a mere $899!!

A Roundhouse Kick Worthy of Scootypuff, Jr.?

Frackin Musical Genius

Ran across this link on "Pop Candy." Everything I tried sounded awesome. The sound was kind of Stereo Lab or Magnetic Fields like.

It is a fun distraction.

Honestly, if Jim Caviezal didn't play Jesus, would anyone care what he thinks?

Pro-life. Pro-choice. The whole debate is a mess, and now it seems the new battleground is reaching into the field of medical research. Missouri will be voting on a state amendment issue to ensure stem cell research can legally continue here. Sounds easy enough, especially when you see that the proposed amendment explicitly states that "no person may clone or attempt to clone a human being." However, opponents argue that the technology the amendment legalizes, somatic cell nuclear transfer, actually is a form of cloning as you could essentially create an embryo by taking DNA from a human cell and transferring it to a human egg.

This has become the central political issue here in Missouri, so much so that the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Jim Talent and his Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill may actually hinge on which side of the stem cell debate voters are on. And since it seems Senate control may be up for grabs this November, both political parties have thrown all sorts of money into this Missouri race. This isn't exactly a predictable partisan ideological difference, though. In fact, prominent Republicans such as former U.S. Senator and U.N. Ambassador John Danforth have been featured on ads in support of the amendment.

As I see it, this becomes the same old butting of heads as the abortion debate, with neither side even considering the other has good intentions. Unfortunately, the more I read about the ongoing discourse, the more I think the pro-life group has it wrong, at least as it applies to this proposal. Inherent in the majority of the criticism to this amendment is a belief that medical researchers are only trying to position themselves to profit from the patents and funding that would come from ongoing stem cell research. Opponents seem to think that the success of actually finding live-saving cures is a long shot at best, and tries to put stem cell researchers into some class of evildoers trying to take advantage of the ignorance of the general public.

Adding to the confusion (and another celebrity ad by Sheryl Crow) is the Michael J. Fox ad in support of Claire McCaskill that's been making headlines in the national press lately. One could argue whether it's appropriate for a non-Missourian to be influencing state politics, but you can't deny he has a debilitating disease that might benefit from advances found using stem cells. But rather than arguing the merits of stem cell research, the most someone like Rush Limbaugh can come up with is to say that Fox was essentially cheating by either coming off his medication or exaggerating his symptoms while taping the ad. And now prominent Missouri athletes and even Jesus himself, Jim Caviezal, have come together to tape an ad in response to the Fox ad who, again, seem to ignore the altruistic goals of stem cell researchers and give the public an impression that proponents of the amendment have more sinister goals in mind and are misleading voters. It's a bit sad that most people will probably vote on this issue based on these competing ads alone without really understanding what's going on.

Maybe this is my own naivety coming into play again. Perhaps scientists are all just a bunch of money grubbing bastards pulling the wool over our eyes and selling us a magical elixir that has no hope of curing anyone. But it seems that the anti-amendment crowd will need to come up with a more intelligent argument than these flippant accusations.

You've gotta love Japanese imports...

From "The Ghost Pitch" by Will Carroll:

The pitch is like a ghost. People claim they have seen it, but like a UFO or the Loch Ness Monster, the evidence is a bit harder to come across. Jerky video from Japan hides in the depths of specialty baseball discussion boards. Breathless tales from scouts and fans discussing this ghost would be laughable...

I came across an article in an Esquire a couple of months back about the gyroball, a new baseball pitch surrounded by mythical speculation as to its existence. I mention this because Daisuke Matsuzaka, ace pitcher of the Seibu Lions in Japan and reportedly the only man in the existence of the world to ever successfully throw this pitch, is set to join Major League Baseball assuming the bidding war between the Yankees and other interested teams doesn't get too out of hand next month.

Seems like some stereotypical Gung Ho kind of story comparing structured Japanese thinking versus improvised American ingenuity. Imagine a couple of Japanese physicists sitting around with their laptops thinking up a new way to throw a ball while a drunk table of baseball players in the States is fooling around with a bottle of pine tar. The Americans came up with the slider and spitballs. Now, the Japanese have the gyroball.

Some of the hoopla reminds me a bit of Hideo "The Tornado" Nomo back in the 90's. It seemed like his unorthodox wind-up baffled everyone when he debuted stateside. Whatever happened to him?

The Big 12, South Park style...

I saw this humorous picture on Burnt Orange Nation awhile back, and thought some of you might enjoy it. Check out the curls on Mike Leach. And why does Mack Brown looked stoned?

It's never good when you see your life flash before your eyes before you've even gotten through the first question...

Two days of testing, and it's finally over. Unfortunately, my brain feels kind of like that egg over there.

I think this was without a doubt the hardest exam I've ever taken in my life (and you all know I've taken a few). I've bombed a test or two in my day, but this may be the first time where I couldn't even recognize reading about half the content in the questions. Well, half may be overstating it a bit, but it gets the point across. Why I would need to know about some obscure genetic malformation that occurs in 1 out of a gazillion people is beyond me.

It costs $1300 for the "pleasure" of taking this exam. You'd think with that kind of money, they could at least spring to put these tests on a computer. Instead, it's back to the old #2 pencil and filling in all those freakin' bubbles. Sh*t. Seeing that I probably failed this go around, perhaps I'll start saving up for next year now. So much for that 50 inch plasma.

Sigh. I think I'm going to go out now and get drunk...

I love stories like this.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 70-year-old British pensioner, trained in martial arts during his military service, dispatched a gang of four would-be muggers in a late-night attack in Germany.

"Looks like he had everything under control," a police spokesman from the German town of Bielefeld said of the incident last Friday.

The man, a native of Birmingham who now lives in Germany, was challenged by three men, demanding money, while a fourth crept up behind him. Recalling his training, the Briton grabbed the first assailant and threw him over his shoulder.

When a second man tried to kick him, the pensioner grabbed his foot and tipped him to the ground. At this point, the three men, thought to be aged between 18 and 25, fled, carrying their injured accomplice with them.

The pensioner, whose name was not immediately available, suffered light abrasions.

Wooden Nickles

Over the years, I have traveled to many college football games. I have taken in at least 10 different venues. Possibly 11 if I really did go to a TCU game with Scooty and Fandango, but I could be dreaming this. I have gotten to experience all of the ranges of emotions - blowout wins, blowout losses, skin of your teeth wins, and skin of your teeth losses. I have also gotten to experience the the opposing fans reactions. Most reactions were not kind ones, and unfortunately some could produce enough adrenaline to make you want to fight the Miami football team. This last weekend proved to be the exact opposite.

I had the opportunity to go watch the Texas vs. Nebraska football game in Nebraska. To let you know how special that is, I need to explain first that the game set the school record for attendance. This is a school full of history and records when it comes to football. I was there for their 280th consecutive sellout. For the non-math minded, this dates back to 1962. Over 40 years of sellouts, and this was the most attended of all time. The second item of importance is that they let me in. The school alots the absolute minimum to visiting schools, and when you consider that something like 80,000 of the 85,000 seats are season ticket holders it makes it hard to find one on the open market. It is a good thing I didn't have to because mine was a gift.

Earlier I said this last weekend proved to be the exact opposite, and this is where the wooden nickels come in. The Nebraska fans were the nicest, most respectful, classiest fans I have ever seen. On Friday night we went to eat in the old warehouse district of Omaha. We settled into a restaurant called Upstream Brewing Company. While my other Texas friend and I (decked out in our burnt orange) enjoyed our micorbrews (the Dundee 90 was awesome) with our Nebraska hosts, the manager of the brewery came up and handed us four wooden nickels. The manager wanted to buy our round of beers to welcome us to the area. Of course he was somewhat playful about it saying that these free beers would help ease the pain of a loss the next day, but there was also a feeling of really being welcomed.

Finally, after the game while standing in the student union waiting for my nose and toes to thaw I had a couple of people approach us and tell us thanks for such a good game. Like I did anything to make it such a good game. ... Well, I guess I can say that I helped by not being an ass and following the classy example of sportmanship that Nebraska fans put forth. It is good to know that sportsmanship still exists.

Oh, and for those of you that don't know, it was a dramatic win by Texas. They won the game with a field goal kicked by a walk on kicker who had never even played in a game with 23 seconds left. An awesome game to be at, and many thanks to Nebraska and its fans.