Bits and Pieces

Sunday is the Super Bowl. America's greatest secular holiday. Since I don't care about the game or who wins, I'll be taking it in at the local sports pub. I'm thinking epic blow-out ... like that 49ers-Bengals game or the Cowboys-Bills. So, here's the guess (with apologies to Bears fans):

Colts 37
Bears 14

Strangely, I'm rooting for the Bears, but my gut feeling is that it will be all downhill for Peyton Manning, and the Bears defense isn't all it's cracked up to be. If the Bears win, good for them. They'll prove me and some skeptics wrong about the inadequacies of the NFC, but I'm thinking that it ain't gonna happen.
By the way, my numbers in the office block pool are Colts-0, Bears-7, so root for the quarter scores so I can afford those Blue Man Group tickets.
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I can't believe that there isn't something better to run cars on than gasoline. Pam put up a YouTube video preview of Who Killed the Electric Car over on her blog. I'm wondering the same thing every time I look up and see that giant ball of gas spewing energy to us [the Sun]. Can it be that it was put there by accident, and that we can use it for something other than a source of skin cancer? Methinks not.

Of all the ideas John Kerry had during his presidential run in 2004, my favorite was his "Apollo Program" for energy. Put our best and brightest on the job, give them the financial resources and develop something that is both viable and affordable. It ain't the hardest problem in the world, folks. And, I'm sick of the old argument on how "the big oil companies won't let it happen". I'll counter that with, "you can't fight city hall" and we'll see who wins.
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Speaking of YouTube. The short-sighted folks at Viacom have ordered the YouTube guys to take their videos off the server. So, no more Comedy Central and such. It strikes me as odd that all this new technology is being embraced by consumers at a much more rapid rate than business embraces it. Blogs get people in trouble, Music sharing is a problem, Napster got shut down, MySpace is a big issue... the list goes on.
All of it stems from consumer acceptance and business rejecting it. I think the Viacom people should realize that any publicity is good, and if the videos on YouTube get people to tune in, who gives a crap if they're copyrighted? The copyright should go the way of the dinosaur if this Internet deal is going to amount to anything. Get the courts out of our lives, and let us have the entertainment. Christ, if they aren't going to give us anything else, at least let us have our bread and circus.

I noticed a little while ago that all the Three Stooges shorts had been removed. Figures. Just when I was starting to enjoy them. Bastards.
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Speaking of football... MIAMI (AFP) - National Football League officials announced that the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants will play in a game October 28 in London, the first regular season gridiron matchup played outside North America.

Off the top of your head, can you think of anything that major professional sports has done in the last 10 years that has benefitted regular fans? Nope. Me neither, and this is another one. One of these two teams will lose a home game. While that might save ticket holders some money, I'd bet a paycheck that whomever it is would rather pay and see a game than to have it shipped across the pond to people who probably don't care. Here's a novel idea: Do something for the people who are making it possible for you to earn millions of dollars. Is that so hard?

And while you're at it, make a Goddammed electric car.

Bastards.