Cripes

Or else what?

1989, after buying my Mac Plus and splurging on 1,200 baud modem. I joined Compuserve, but it was expensive as hell. My monthly bill could run $70-$100 based on the time I spent pulling down Bills articles from the AP every Sunday. That same year I joined AOL, and some other Internet service I can't recall at the moment (It was run by Sears, of all things)... But by 1991, I was going broke and sold my computer to my brother. I managed to get along fine without the Net until about 96 when we got access at work.

When the frakkin' Cylons come to get us, we'll be thanking Bush.

So Al Qaeda will be training jihadists from maddrassas, and then sending them directly to the new Bin Laden Institute of Advanced Sciences and Technology?

Three questions: If JP can't play in bad weather, what's he doing in Western New York? What's the excuse for how Losman nearly got Willis crippled last week with another awful screen pass in the Detroit dome? Somebody turn on a fan? And if you were at the Jets game, did you run off to take a leak after that three-yard loss screen play? You may have missed how JP had no problem completing the 10-yard pass to Parrish to set up 4th and 3. (Apparently, the bad weather kicked in again to muff up his short-armed, two-yard carpet-burner on the final play).

Help me out here - who are his arch-blood rivals?!! Xzibit? Anticon? Gospel Gangtaz? I'm playing those guys in the dead pool.

Maybe it's the line's fault. Maybe it's the coaching. Maybe it's receivers who don't run the routes correctly, or fell down. Maybe it's just a coincidence, and maybe it's a small sample. But JP Losman has had the following decisive opportunities to win or tie games late in his short career, and he's come up short every time -- and he doesn't have a Neil Rackers to blame for it like Leinert: 2005: New Orleans: Down 13-7, a JP drive stalls just past mid-field late in third quarter on downs. Saints go on to kick two field goals to cinch win. (Sealed by JP’s fumble with 1 minute left). Atlanta: JP’s final two drives to tie the game: one ends in four downs (he failed on a sneak), and the other he fumbles with 1:48 left dropping back to pass. Carolina: JP throws interception in final drive (13-9 loss). 2006: New England: Albeit from a bad offensive pass interference call, JP can’t lead the team into Ryan Lindell’s generous field goal range after getting the ball in New England territory. New York: After getting onside kick, can’t even adequately throw a screen pass to McGahee and the drive dies quickly without even sniffing a chance at the end zone. Detroit: JP has a hole to climb out of at the Buffalo 3 after Ko Simpson's interception, but he overcomes that only to later take a bad sack and force the Bills to punt with four minutes left. Ballgame. People say he's young, he's still learning, has talent and shows promise. But doesn't an 0-for-6 mark in games where he had the chance to win late indicate that he's clearly missing something (presence, confidence, whatever) and is NOT progressing? Yeah, the team's a mess and is rebuilding, but I also think people doubting JP Losman have more than good reason to do so at this point.

The ONLY thing wrong with "The Departed" was I had to keep all the teeth and brain matter from landing in my popcorn.

Much of the speculation remains Peterson will be gone. Since this wasn't a joint injury, they don't think it's going to hurt his draft stock at all. Is a Heisman worth risking $15 million? He'll probably be glad to go, as well. He doesn't need to be reminded for a third year in a row he picked the wrong horse coming out of school.

Yeah, like Oct. 30, 1929, was a relatively good day for the Dow Jones Index compared to Oct. 29.

It's Like This

Also the IT folks at WGR...can't get to the site today. Guess they can't fuggin' figure out there'll be some extra Web traffic after a game.

Troy was a bystander in Super Bowl XXVIII compared to Emmitt Smith and James Washington.

I like the point made earlier than we're learning more of the darker side of our protaganists. The most notable line last night had to be the female "Other" confronting Sun on the boat. We're not the enemy, she says, but if you shoot me, we will be. Then, BLAM! What if the writers are heading us in a direction where by season's end, they end up building our sympathies for the Others?

I saw the news this morning that Mark David Chapman was again denied parole for killing Lennon, and he won't get another chance to get out of Attica until 2008 (if ever). But in reading about it, I learned that there's a movie planned next year called "Chapter 27" with Jared Leto and Lindsey Lohan. I guess the title refers to the fact that Catcher in the Rye had only 26 chapters. One bizarro factoid of the movie is that Leto apparently gained 67 pounds for the role. Wikipedia description My feelings: I don't like it. I've never liked all these cheap documentaries and books explaining Chapman's mental breakdown and behavior. To me, it's a tragedy that doesn't need explanation, interpretation or worse, tawdry re-enactment. The fact that Yoko Ono agreed to be consulted on the project is to her discredit, in my book ("Oh goody, more Double Fantasy sales!").

First off, it was the popular bands who were hurt by illegal downloading, and its unknown bands who were helped by illegal filesharing -- you could argue that Napster was the one who sprung Radiohead because of all the buzz that came when one of their albums leaked out early. Secondly, illegal filesharing of music has been all but stamped out. The RIAA lawsuits and the death of every major P2P network - Napster, Kazaa, Gnutella, Grokster and recently eDonkey -- have cut off the supply to free files for all but the most dedicated, Bit-Torrent savvy tech monkeys. If you look for file sharing statistics, you'll see that most illegal piracy these days involves movies (probably over 60 percent of the traffic) and the AVERAGE file size transfer is one gigabyte. The Internet is actually saving music today (as TowerRecords bites the dust) and giving bands a new way to promote themselves and earn a living -- unless you're an idiot band who'd unpopular music style is as dated of their perception of the Napster problem.

ESPN Classic had a very good retrospective on the tragedy a few years ago. Expect to to see it replayed before the movie's out.

People should also read James Bradley's "Flyboys," about the Navy and Marine pilots who were captured and slaughtered by the Japanese on Chichi Jima (which was a key hub for Japan's radio transmissions to its fleet). This was the place where George H.W. Bush came within minutes of being captured as a POW -- and therefore a dead man.

I usually hate slasher films, but yeah, Saw's been a particularly devious series. Imagine having to remove a friend's eyeball for his own good.

Where would you have ended Goodfellas? Before Tommy's ceremony? Heresy.

Make 'em do a jiggly time warp jump, and SciFi's on board.

Hey Ralph - Come feel my pain.

New Inspector General report Looks like a good lead for the folks at Websense.

I'm really curious as to the Stephen King book. Ben says to Juliette, "I guess I'm not invited" to the next book club sitting. I'd understand Ben's reaction if it was "Animal Farm," so any rabid King fans out there who might be able to speculate what book he'd be averse to? I was wondering if it was "The Stand" (an apocalyptic tale of survivors after a mass plague) or perhaps Misery, where the unwitting victim prompted his fan's sadism by threatening her fantasy universe?

Don't remember when, but there was an episode involving the attempted shooting of Kathie Lee Gifford. The South Park cop tells the would-be assassin that a good vantage point for viewing her speech would be from the nearby school book depository.