UConn James

<==== To the TARDIS!!! We can travel back to 1948 and introduce Mao to the Daleks, YES!!

We knew two former purples would be going to Redemption. Turns out it's arguably their two strongest --- Mike and Dave. Rob seemed particularly interested in sending someone strong who could beat Matt. That's not a ghost he wants to have to face again at an inopportune time. Mike just may be the guy. Come to find that the machinations of Redemption will no doubt be a three-person face-off next week. The first immunity challenge was pretty straightforward. That second one really played into what I've written before. Men tend to be good at handling pain in shorter spurts, women can better handle long, drawn-out pain. Any wonder that the final three hanging by their legs were Andrea, Natalie and Ashley? So now, it's probably going to be a short game of attrition for the remaining purple members Steve, Ralph and Leathermanface. They might buy a little time with an immunity win, but Probst might as well write SHORT on their foreheads. AJ, if you watch mostly to see what kind of crazy **** Phillip is going to say, well, it looks like you got your fill this week. Seriously, this is one crazy cat. But wait. Owing to the preview, that might be a racist statement. Whoops. Seeing his grandfather during meditation, wearing a footlong feather that appeared "out of thin air" in front of him... that's so far from crazy, that it repelled from the curve of the C, and circled back and landed smack dab into the obtuse angle of the Y. Nonetheless, it appears that Phillip, if he plays his cards right, has a very good chance of getting into the top four. Now, the rest of this kind of assumes that Rob keeps his grip on power. Ashley got on the wrong side of Rob by not telling him what Ralph said, when Natalie did. She's probably the first gone among the former yellows. Andrea had the link with Matt --- tho she did vote him off last week --- which represents some danger. I think Grant may go before Phillip simply for his strength in challenges. But, there's always that plan of Phillip's --- I think he may have designs that once the purples are gone, the following week Rob will be most at risk and that's where his secret idol comes in. I really think Phillip's strategy in taking the hamburger may have been that he half expected there to be a hidden idol clue up there, as happened at that reward where he caught Rob and Grant. Like Rob said, Ralph used his last week, so it would seem like there should be another one coming into play. Maybe it's in the new camp and there just isn't a clue? Maybe there won't be a new one until both of the ones from the two-tribes time are used?

More like, eat the other. Dank, I'm sorry, but unless there's 8 teachers for 16 kindergartners, there's going to be damage. Blind faith that everything will be all right is a prescription for a $50,000 disaster. And the article didn't say --- are these are going to be taken home or left in the classroom? And who's held accountable for breakage?

The preview also has Rob saying that he's getting "idol paranoia." I think it may finally be burning a hole in his pocket. The longer he holds onto it secretly in this new camp among all the people who will be voting in the finale, the more it'll bite him in the ass if he makes it that far. It will be seen as an act of selfishness / betrayal (even tho this game is ultimately mostly about those two qualities) that will not be looked at kindly when that knowledge would have affected those players' choices.

Link Also an interesting idea that would $ penalize the player for a rookie holdout. Gotta say that the combined guaranteed salaries for Top-10-pick rookies in the '00s is really surprising when you see it all added up there. Two billion dollars... for a collection of guys that had probably a 50% bust rate.

Actually, that looks more like a metallic puce gradient.

Just a question: Do you have kids? Because there's the theory and the reality of this. Unless the covers are made of diamond-plate.... We got my nephew a Leapster for Christmas. Two weeks later, the screen had a quarter-size spiderweb-pattern crack on it. And that thing is pretty well coated in rubber and a plastic lens cover.

Used properly, they could be a great tool. I question the fundamental wisdom in giving them to 5-6 year-old children, tho. Have you ever seen screen devices used by kids of this age? They will have to replace these at least every two years. I wonder whether for the older student set, using tablets could actually save money. This is especially so for textbooks for out-of-copyright books, or possibly e-textbooks that would theoretically cost less than traditional texts b/c it cuts production/distribution costs. (Then again, the e-paper of the Hartford Courant actually costs more than print, when standard discounts are applied! Explain that one...). So, I'd definitely want to see cost info for both ways. But, there are other e-readers out there that cost far less, for this purpose. Don't think most people are knocking the idea itself, just the cost and feasibility of what will actually happen once electronics get touched by grimy digits. There's a lot of truth in Jeff Foxworthy's old line that with kids, "We just can't have nice things!!" It would be cool if they could buy or get donations of refurbed/repurposed original iPads and save some coin and then not have to worry so much when they get used and abused. You'd be amazed at the tech that just gets thrown away these days when the newest device debuts --- it would be nice if the workable stuff could be donated and put to use in the classrooms.

Tonight's episode is titled "The Buddy System" and there will be a double tribal elimination. And from the previews, it looks like Phillip is again considering gorilla/red-headed-stepchild mode. I don't know how they're going to work that WRT the individual immunity challenge, or how they'll be coordinating the Redemption Island match. It'll also be interesting to find out if they start again with only four people witnessing it.

Per the Bills Facebook page: @Bears, @Broncos, Jaguars, Lions. We're playing the Lions!?!? In preseason?!!!? What?! What??!!! WHAT??!!? Who'd've thought that?!!

Forced to agree.

You know, you can turn that annoying announcement thing off in the options. When that thing goes off and the volume is way up, it can scare the bejeezus out of ya! I had the same thing earlier. Rebooted and then there was no problem.

Because then, congressional committees get involved WRT anti-trust issues.

Mitt Romney announced his Presidential Exploratory Committee this afternoon. Link w/ a short video statement.

If they wanted to get the guys' attention, they probably should have stood up, grabbed the oar and rowed, and/or shouted much louder than they did. As it was, they just sat there and snarked until Vixen went in the drink. I admire the gumption, but shake my head at the sheer stupidity.

Democrats past and present have shown they want no part of non-defense spending cuts. And if they increase taxes in the name of [fill in the blank], they've just shown time and again that they'll spend it on something else. We need good faith. Cut as much as can be reasonably cut to reduce the deficit, then ask for the difference and ensure in the language of the bill that it can only be applied to the deficit / national debt. I don't think people would have nearly as big an issue with this. Nobody wants this looming over our heads and the time to act is before Greece-style crisis hits (which we're not all that far away from). Problem is, that Democrats get their snit in a snizzle over even a few billion in cuts --- $68B was a drop in the ocean. Like a figurative Real Housewife of D.C., they're happy to keep putting their frivolous crap on the country's credit card right up until the moment it's maxed out, and then they'll just try to transfer the balance to another card or raise the credit limit some more. They really don't give a **** about where the money comes from or what has to be done to get their money. All they know is they want the money so they can keep funding their habits. You can fully expect that if and when they get majority control of budgeting again, they'll do the same thing with it as they did with Social Security monies. They'll put it in the general fund kitty and it won't be used where it was intended, and then we'll have an even bigger federal government to support.

That's not at all what the Wonderlic is designed to test. I've read in a few places that Ponder's arm will allow for about a 50-55-60 yard in-the-air throw, whereas there are a number of QBs in the league who can throw from 70-80 yards. I don't know if this will get better as there's more time away from the injury. To me, looking at Gailey's offenses and the dink-and-dunk the NFL has become, I'm a lot less worried about the long ball than his being able to connect on short-and mid-range passes. We had a guy who could deliver am amazing long ball which the team either lived or died by (mostly died). If we could get a young Chad Pennington, even with arm limitations, that would be manna from heaven.

Hmm. I'm finding some evidence for shaving the morning of the first playoff game, and growing it from then. NHL Beard-A-Thon sponsored by Remington Then again, this and its main Facebook page appear to be very corporatized. It does not appear to be very extensive, and there are several disparities b/w Remington's rules and other traditional playoff beard guidelines I've seen. I have always operated under the assumption that the playoffs start after the horn blows at the final game of the regular season for your team. I don't understand how anyone can think differently. For facial hair-challenged individuals, those who absolutely must shave for their employment, or for those "men" who cave to WAF (or GAF), behold, there is the Beardo.

I missed about the first 20 minutes, doing laundry/folding. Didn't see what happened to the cowboys. After two weeks, it's a little hard to remember where everybody was and I got to the teevee a little before they were making sh-- bricks. I don't know why anyone would have done that challenge over moving a bale a hay --- you always avoid challenges that involve feces. Gary was using his bare hands! Kent was reaching new levels of douchbaggery last night. He told Gary they would work together on the 'holy man' challenge and then bailed on him when he was finished with some kind of 'I considered our arrangement over.' And then when trying to take the river, Vixen jumped into the friggin' Ganges --- where they bathe, urinate and **** in the water, and also bathe their dead and cremate them at the waterline. The news out of India is that it is the origin of a so-called superbug that's resistant to all but a couple of antibiotics. Nevermind that Vixen can't swim / has trouble in water. Kent was annoying there, but he was right. As the redheads and this show, you don't get into a form of transport until you know it's ready to go and can take you the whole way. It's been written before, and last night was just more confirmation that Christina's father is a !@#$ing buffoon. Just kept walking in the wrong direction. It really sucks that she was stuck with him. I can see it now: he's 30 minutes late walking her down the aisle because he's arguing with the florist about the hue of the stamens in the lilies. Christina must have the patience of a saint; I don't get impatient easily, but I would just be screaming at him. Re: Gary and Mallory... Really? What did they do? They really seem to be going at it in good humor. I was when Mallory was talking about their multiple fecal-themed challenges last night. I think they're my favorite team. As much as one might pull for the cowboys because they work so efficiently once they're on track, they sometimes have problems getting on that right track for some reason that is readily apparent to most anyone else. After a couple of moments, especially the bag incident that they mishandled badly, the Globetrotters have been playing a good game.

I've always been under the impression that you begin with what you've already got once the regular season ends. Shaving now would surely invite the wrath of the hockey gods. I don't tempt fate.

I'm currently watching the new run of "Doctor Who." It's a little zany, but quite enjoyable.

*cough* *cough* There's so much smoke blowing in that article, it looks like your avatar is there. Looks like someone caught wind that a certain team in the mid-1st likey the Kaepernick and wants to push his value up. Looks like that team is either the Raiders or the Vikings. I'm not getting this, other than hype factor.

The Scum-Sentinel has done some thorough evaluations on QBs. The Colin Kaepernick File Before you start orally pleasuring each other, give that a read & view. Accuracy isn't good from the pocket; did not often look past his first read (good defenses read his eyes like a book) or look off his receiver; little/no pro-style experience; good arm, yet does not have touch on the deep ball. He has great size & athleticism, but that's not nearly enough to succeed. CK needs a lot of work, and even if he develops, it's hard to see him as anything but a 3rd QB in his first contract. If Gailey feels he can work with him, I'll trust that judgment. But at best, he's an early - late third. Any sooner than that is a real reach, especially with other QBs still there.

Time's up. That was Adolph Rupp, legendary basketball coach at Kentucky. Next not-so-famous quote... In light of today's marquee match-up... I will identify it myself b/c it was in a senior-year class I was in. We all --- especially us Red Sox fans. "The Yankee fans in the class will now have to write an extra 30-page paper and they must write it sitting naked on a pile of broken glass." -- John Reynolds, ENGL 271W instructor, the day after the Yankees eliminated the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS

Yep. It's a case of picking your ancestors carefully (ha ha), stimulating your body and mind with exercise (crosswords, sudoku, new learning subjects, etc). Eat fish a couple of times a week and remember those leafy greens! Like I wrote above, my grandfather and many of his side of the family reached into their 90s and 100s, without losing it. I don't think it's a coincidence that kale, chard and other leafy greens were a staple in their diets. My grandfather grew kale in his victory garden (he was a farmer) every year. I do the same in my own victory garden and freezer storage. Several years ago, this was correlated by scientists and is a part of the new food pyramid. They also ate a lot of garlic.