here is what has and what will happen

AS A MATTER OF FACT

Christmas

3Even Steven

1.1

3E Winter Meeting Report

Success!

sorry everybody, i was busy

So I'm not going to write blurbs or whatever. I'm done. Here are the CRISIS games. For the interested observer, Chaz has the favorite in 8 of the 13.


Bowl
Date
Chaz'z Pick vs. Tha Captainz Pick

St. Petersburg Bowl
12/20/11
Marshall vs. FIU

Hawai'i Bowl
12/24/11
Nevada vs. Southern Miss

Military Bowl
12/28/11
Toledo vs. Air Force

Holiday Bowl
12/28/11
California vs. Texas

Pinstripe Bowl
12/30/11
Rutgers vs. Iowa State

Kraft Fights Hunger Bowl
12/31/11
UCLA vs. Illinois

Peach Bowl
12/31/11
Auburn vs. Virginia

Outback Bowl
1/2/12
Michigan St. vs. Georgia

Capital One Bowl
1/2/12
South Carolina vs. Nebraska

Rose Bowl
1/2/12
Oregon vs. Wisconsin

Sugar Bowl
1/3/12
Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

BBVA Compass Bowl
1/7/12
Pittsburgh vs. SMU

BCS National Championship
1/9/12
LSU vs. Alabama

Charles picks some bowls

New Mexico Bowl
12/17/11
Temple (-6.5) vs. Wyoming
I got to see a good pick of Temple on the teevee because of the NBA lock-out. Good start!
My pick: TEMPLE

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
12/17/11
Utah St. (-2.5) vs. THE Ohio University
Utah State has the momentum. They're also better than their record suggests.
My pick: UTAH STATE

New Orleans Bowl
12/17/11
San Diego St. (-4.5) vs. UL-Lafayette
ULL is much closer to home, but isn't there a lot of talk that their coach might be going somewhere else? That's reason enough to pick the favorite.
My pick: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SAN DIEGO STATE

St. Petersburg Bowl
12/20/11
Marshall vs. FIU (-4)
Marshall's coach is actually named Doc Holliday. Plus, I heard a rumor that Mario Cristal Ball is going to get hired at Pitt. Our first upset selection!
My pick: MARSHALL

Poinsettia Bowl
12/21/11
Louisiana Tech vs. TCU (-10.5)
I almost picked an upset here, for the letdown factor etc, but TCU is just way better than La Tech.
My pick: TCU

Las Vegas Bowl
12/22/11
Arizona St. vs. Boise St. (-14)
Arizona State hired a huge dick of a coach, and their players know it, and this has been a terrible season. BSU isn't going to be excited about this, I don't think, but their opponents probably just want this thing to get over. Neither of these teams should be here, for opposite reasons.
My pick: BOISE STATE

Hawai'i Bowl
12/24/11
Nevada vs. Southern Miss (-6)
SEE I MET THIS WOMAN FROM HAWAII/STUCK IT IN HER ASS AND SHE SAID AAIII
My pick: NEVADA

Independence Bowl
12/26/11
Missouri (-5) vs. North Carolina
North Carolina is not very good, and neither is Missouri, but they are on a winning streak. In a couple of years this will be an intraconference game.
My pick: MISSOURA

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl
12/27/11
Purdue (-2.5) vs. Western Michigan
This should be a fun game. Going with the name brand football program. Wait, no, that doesn't work. Going with the better team. No, not that either. WeMU lost to Michigan by 24; Purdue only lost by 22. I pick the Boilermakers by 2.
My pick: PURDUE

Belk Bowl
12/27/11
NC State (-3) vs. Louisville
Here's two pretty uneven teams. I am guessing more than usual.
My pick: LOUISVILLE

Military Bowl
12/28/11
Air Force vs. Toledo (-3)
I would have picked Toledo, because they're actually pretty good and their offense is strong, but then their coached left. But then the offensive coordinator was named coach, so he'll want to do a good job and the offense will want to look good for him. So, yeah.
My pick: TOLEDO

Holiday Bowl
12/28/11
California vs. Texas (-3)
The Holiday Bowl is frequently a destination for teams I feel like should have gone to a bigger bowl game. But then, not always. I don't think I watched much Cal this year, but they appear to have finished strong. I watched Texas a fair bit and was not impressed.
My pick: CALIFORNIA

Champs Sports Bowl
12/29/11
Notre Dame vs. Florida St. (-3)
Catholics vs. Indigenous Peoples, round 2! I think Brian Kelly is a better coach, and I watched the Florida-Florida State game.
My pick: NOTRE DAME

Alamo Bowl
12/29/11
Washington vs. Baylor (-9)
Take a drink every time someone mentions the Heisman and a shot for each mention of Superman, socks, or Superman socks. Also: Washington is not a good football team.
My pick: BAY, LORD OF THE BEARS

Armed Forces Bowl
12/30/11
Tulsa vs. BYU (-3)
If I were a betting man, I would take the over on this game, which I've seen in the mid-50s. I am picking BYU just because they ended the regular season in a stronger fashion.
My pick: BYU

Pinstripe Bowl
12/30/11
Iowa St. vs. Rutgers (-1.5)
Rutgers, I guess, is kind of at home.
My pick: RUTGERS

Music City Bowl
12/30/11
Mississippi St. (-7) vs. Wake Forest
Wake Forest got blown out by Vanderbilt. Mississippi State is at least as good as Vanderbilt. People seem to think that Mississippi State is having a down year, but they've lost to a bunch of ten-win teams and the defending national champ at that team's season peak.
My pick: MISSISSIPPI STATE

Insight Bowl
12/30/11
Oklahoma (-14) vs. Iowa
Oklahoma is way better. If they're unhappy about the lower bowl and don't play well, they win comfortably. If they're angry and play like it, blowout.
My pick: OKLAHOMA

Texas Bowl
12/31/11
Texas A&M (-10) vs. Northwestern
This is a tough pick. Texas A&M is a better team, but their coach got fired and this is not the kind of bowl game they expected at the start of this season. I am going with the team that's more emotionally invested.
My pick: NORTHWESTERN

Sun Bowl
12/31/11
Georgia Tech (-3.5) vs. Utah
Georgia Tech is better, but Utah is well-coached and will have plenty of time to get ready for the option.
My pick: UTAH

Liberty Bowl
12/31/11
Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt (-2.5)
I think Vanderbilt was close to being a pretty good team this year. It was too far apart in the season to mean anything, but Vanderbilt did lose closer to their common opponent Tennessee.
My pick: VANDY

Kraft Fights Hunger Bowl
12/31/11
UCLA vs. Illinois (-2.5)
When people talk about there being too many bowl games, they think they're talking about games like Tulsa-BYU, but they are really talking about games like this. Two bad, headless losers flailing like bad, headless children. They're playing in a stupid bowl game with a dumb name. It is closer to UCLA's campus, and that is how I am picking.
My pick: UCLA

Peach Bowl
12/31/11
Virginia vs. Auburn (-1.5)
When you get right down to it, these aren't very good teams. Both teams got blown out by their rivals, but Auburn's rivals are much better than Virginia's. Losing Mike Dyer hurts, but Auburn has still got quality running backs, and the coaches seem to have forgotten about him anyway.
My pick: AUBURN, BECAUSE HEY, WHY NOT?

Ticket City Bowl
1/2/12
Penn St. vs. Houston (-5.5)
I imagine that Penn State will not give this game their undivided attention. There's a good chance that Houston will be a bit unhappy about missing a BCS bowl, but that will wear off by January. I would be more surprised by a Penn State win than by a Houston blow-out.
My pick: HOUSTON

Outback Bowl
1/2/12
Michigan St. vs. Georgia (-4)
I still am not convinced that Georgia is a very good team. Better than average? Sure. But they haven't beaten what I would call a strong team all season. Their best win is ... maybe Georgia Tech? That just doesn't do a lot for me. Michigan State, on the other hand, has looked good against good teams.
My pick: MICHIGAN STATE

Capital One Bowl
1/2/12
South Carolina (-2.5) vs. Newbraska
This is a pretty interesting game. South Carolina looked very good against Clemson. I think the Capital One Bowl is big enough that they won't feel bad about missing the SEC title game or a better bowl (which is what happened when they played in Birmingham).
My pick: SAKERLINA

Gator Bowl
1/2/12
Florida (-2) vs. Ohio St.
Part of me imagines that Charlie Weis is out of the way, and Florida suddenly has one of the two or three best offenses in America. But probably not, because Florida sucks. A mediocre match-up of mediocre teams.
My pick: AN OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Rose Bowl
1/2/12
Wisconsin vs. Oregon (-6)
This should be fun. Two offenses that are very good in different ways. Wisconsin is strong, but I don't see them keeping up with Oregon, a team with some of the best skill players in the country and who very easily could have been playing for the national title.
My pick: OREGON

Fiesta Bowl
1/2/12
Oklahoma St. (-3.5) vs. Stanford
This should be fun. Two offenses that are very good in different ways. Stanford is strong, but I don't see them keeping up with Oklahoma State, a team with some of the best skill players in the country and who very easily could have been playing for the national title.
My pick: OKLAHOMA STATE

Sugar Bowl
1/3/12
Virginia Tech vs. Michigan (-2.5)
Like Georgia, Virginia Tech has a fancy record but little reason to think that they're very good. Michigan, in contrast, has played (and beaten!) good teams.
My pick: MICHIGAN

Orange Bowl
1/4/12
Clemson (-3.5) vs. West Virginia
The ACC is a lot better than the Big East. I think Dana Holgorsen is a fine coach, better than his opponent, but Clemson is just the stronger team overall.
My pick: CLEMSON

Cotton Bowl
1/6/12
Kansas St. vs. Arkansas (-8)
Bill Snyder is the best coach in America. I still think Arkansas wins, because they're a much better team, but close.
My pick: ARKANSAS

BBVA Compass Bowl
1/7/12
SMU vs. Pittsburgh (-5)
I have heard that Pittsburgh's team is really upset about their coach leaving. Will that come out as an angry team playing hard, or a flat team going through the motions? I think angry. Also, neither of these teams are very good, SMU particularly.
My pick: PITT

GoDaddy.com Bowl
1/8/12
Arkansas St.(-1.5) vs. Northern Illinois
I'm surprised ASU is favored, as Northern Illinois finished with basically the same record in a tougher conference against a tougher schedule. Arkansas State is also going through a coaching change. Arkansas State seems pretty excited about their new coach, but interim coaches often have trouble. Also I am still partial to NIU for upsetting Alabama several years ago.
My pick: NORTHERN ILLINOIS

BCS National Championship
1/9/12
LSU (-1) vs. Alabama
LSU is the better team and won the first match-up at Alabama. Also, even if Alabama wins this game, I would vote LSU number one, because LSU played a tougher schedule and won the game in Tuscaloosa.
My pick: LSU

Taekwondo finger

After looking over my pix...

I'm conceding the 2011 3E Bowl Pick Them.

Congratulations to all who participated.

holy crap, everybody

I left the Tickey City Bowl off that list!

Scale, politics, and historians

Where, when, why, and how did this renunciation happen? When did the American left, such as it is, abandon scale as a worthy topic? As a historical matter, where can we locate the demise of "small is beautiful" liberal politics? Why is the argument for a devolution of power right wing? Why is the dial on American "progressive" politics stuck on the "massive" setting? None of this just happened. It's a development with roots, and with dire effects.

Small Is Horrible

New Mexico jokes

get pumped get pumped

Matchemups. Lines are today's lines from sportsbook.com. Picks on Friday.

New Mexico Bowl
12/17/11
Temple (-6.5) vs. Wyoming

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
12/17/11
Utah St. (-2.5) vs. THE Ohio University

New Orleans Bowl
12/17/11
San Diego St. (-4.5) vs. UL-Lafayette

St. Petersburg Bowl
12/20/11
Marshall vs. FIU (-4)

Poinsettia Bowl
12/21/11
Louisiana Tech vs. TCU (-10.5)

Las Vegas Bowl
12/22/11
Arizona St. vs. Boise St. (-14)

Hawai'i Bowl
12/24/11
Nevada vs. Southern Miss (-6)

Independence Bowl
12/26/11
Missouri (-5) vs. North Carolina

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl
12/27/11
Purdue (-2.5) vs. Western Michigan

Belk Bowl
12/27/11
NC State (-3) vs. Louisville

Military Bowl
12/28/11
Air Force vs. Toledo (-3)

Holiday Bowl
12/28/11
California vs. Texas (-3)

Champs Sports Bowl
12/29/11
Notre Dame vs. Florida St. (-3)

Alamo Bowl
12/29/11
Washington vs. Baylor (-9)

Armed Forces Bowl
12/30/11
Tulsa vs. BYU (-3)

Pinstripe Bowl
12/30/11
Iowa St. vs. Rutgers (-1.5)

Music City Bowl
12/30/11
Mississippi St. (-7) vs. Wake Forest

Insight Bowl
12/30/11
Oklahoma (-14) vs. Iowa

Texas Bowl
12/31/11
Texas A&M (-10) vs. Northwestern

Sun Bowl
12/31/11
Georgia Tech (-3.5) vs. Utah

Liberty Bowl
12/31/11
Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt (-2.5)

Kraft Fights Hunger Bowl
12/31/11
UCLA vs. Illinois (-2.5)

Peach Bowl
12/31/11
Virginia vs. Auburn (-1.5)

Outback Bowl
1/2/12
Michigan St. vs. Georgia (-4)

Capital One Bowl
1/2/12
South Carolina (-2.5) vs. Nebraska

Gator Bowl
1/2/12
Florida (-2) vs. Ohio St.

Rose Bowl
1/2/12
Wisconsin vs. Oregon (-6)

Fiesta Bowl
1/2/12
Oklahoma St. (-3.5) vs. Stanford

Sugar Bowl
1/3/12
Virginia Tech vs. Michigan (-2.5)

Orange Bowl
1/4/12
Clemson (-3.5) vs. West Virginia

Cotton Bowl
1/6/12
Kansas St. vs. Arkansas (-8)

BBVA Compass Bowl
1/7/12
SMU vs. Pittsburgh (-5)

GoDaddy.com Bowl
1/8/12
Arkansas St.(-1.5) vs. Northern Illinois

BCS National Championship
1/9/12
LSU (-1) vs. Alabama

metal monday

Vivaldi Four Seasons Summer Theme Cover

Tebow time

Police militarization

Within moments, and without Guerena firing a shot--or even switching his rifle off of "safety"--he lay dying, his body riddled with 60 bullets. A subsequent investigation revealed that the initial shot that prompted the S.W.A.T. team barrage came from a S.W.A.T. team gun, not Guerena's. Guerena, reports later revealed, had no criminal record, and no narcotics were found at his home.

Sadly, the Guerenas are not alone; in recent years we have witnessed a proliferation in incidents of excessive, military-style force by police S.W.A.T. teams, which often make national headlines due to their sheer brutality. Why has it become routine for police departments to deploy black-garbed, body-armored S.W.A.T. teams for routine domestic police work? The answer to this question requires a closer examination of post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy and the War on Terror.

How the War on Terror Has Militarized the Police

3E approves

3e is totally gay for cam newton

stiff little fingers

I like this guy.

still not seeing it.

fun to make maps, though.

I like this guy

Pareidolia Monday

1. "Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- – "beside", "with", or "alongside"—meaning, in this context, something faulty or wrong (as in paraphasia, disordered speech) and eidōlon – "image"; the diminutive of eidos – "image", "form", "shape". Pareidolia is a type of apophenia."

2. An Introduction to Sine-Wave Speech

almost here, you guys

in a sea of chaos, it's nice to know the sun belt is out there...

keepin it well ordered.

THIS JUST IN

SCHOOLS I'VE APPLIED TO SHOW LITTLE OR NO CORRELATION TO LIGHTNING STRIKE DENSITY.

oh yeah i'm going for it

Georgia (+13.5) vs. Louisiana St.

Bombers

During WWII, statistician Abraham Wald was asked to help the British decide where to add armor to their bombers. After analyzing the records, he recommended adding more armor to the places where there was no damage!

This seems backward at first, but Wald realized his data came from bombers that survived. That is, the British were only able to analyze the bombers that returned to England; those that were shot down over enemy territory were not part of their sample. These bombers’ wounds showed where they could afford to be hit. Said another way, the undamaged areas on the survivors showed where the lost planes must have been hit because the planes hit in those areas did not return from their missions.

Selection bias and bombers

Last pick nerds

Last week, I went 6-2 straight up and 4-4 against the line. That puts me at 69-12 straight up and 42-39 against the line. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line. It all comes down to this final pick.

Georgia (+13.5) vs. LSU

this just in

Wes' family photo Christmas card finally arrived!

Don't bring me down, gruuuuuuuuuuuuuus

It seems like we've played this song on the Blog before. Yet here we are.

So here is an unexpected thing

Stanley Hudson is Leslie David Baker.

Two chart Tuesday

1. Orwell vs. Huxley

2. Media consolidation

"Too bad."

Just that kind of day.

sadly, the happiest i'll be all day is looking at this...

Black Friday

The latest Target ads show a woman (comedian Maria Bamford, whom I will refer to simply as ‘the crazy Target lady’, as I’ve seen her called in some comments on YouTube) ‘gearing up’ for the approaching Black Friday sales. There are several commercials portraying ‘the crazy Target lady’, most often dressed in red and exhibiting physical strength which she’ll no doubt need to trample on other people while running maniacally through the aisles of Target, maybe for an XBOX Kinect™ for her husband, a Fisher Price Imaginext Bigfoot the Monster™ for her son, or maybe Disney Princess and Me Dolls™ for her daughter. These commercials seem ‘cute’ and ‘funny’, but the subtext is clear: We, the consumers, are insane—and that’s what corporate America is counting on.

‘The crazy Target lady’ is insane, and this is how Target and Wal*Mart and every other superstore we’ll shop at this holiday season views us—mindless consumers willing to harm ourselves and others for a chance to save miniscule amounts of money on things we don’t need to survive. Target and Wal*Mart and every other superstore think the American people are insane, so this is how they portray us in their commercials. And this is in no small part due to the fact that their commercials have pumped this idea into our brains for so many years that this is exactly how we behave. We are insane.

‘The Crazy Target Lady’, or Why You Might Get Trampled to Death This Holiday Season…

BLACK FRIDAY MEANS BLACK METAL

AND HERE'S WHERE IT'S GONE. MORE HIPSTERY THAN THE THINGS CHARLES LISTENS TO.

BLACK FRIDAY MEANS BLACK METAL

AND HERE'S WHAT IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT.

BLACK FRIDAY MEANS BLACK METAL

my picks are on time despite the holiday so there

Man, I don't like favorites.

Arkansas (+12) at Louisiana State
Georgia (-6) at Georgia Tech
Tennessee (-7.5) at Kentucky
Alabama (-21) at Auburn
Vanderbilt (-1.5) at Wake Forest
Florida State (-1.5) at Florida
Ole Miss (+17) at Mississippi State
Clemson (+4) at South Carolina

Thanksgiving

It's a 3E tradition.

Week 14 picks kind of early because of Thanksgiving

Last week, I went 3-1 straight up and 2-2 against the line. That puts me at 63-10 straight up and 38-35 against the line. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

Arkansas (+12) at LSU
Georgia (-6) at Georgia Tech
TENNESSEE (-7.5) at Kentucky
Alabama (-21) at Auburn
Vanderbilt (-1.5) at WAKE FOREST
FLORIDA STATE (-1.5) at Florida
Ole Miss (+17) at MISSISSIPPI STATE
Clemson (+4) at SOUTH CAROLINA

Clothes in The Godfather

Every and each year, I take a day to watch The Godfather trilogy back-to-back-to-back. If I manage to do that more than once a year, I feel even better about myself. I've been deeply in love with these films since I first discovered them so many years ago - and every time someone asks me what's my favorite movie (a question that a film critic hears quite often), I never hesitate before answering "The Godfather - all nine hours of it".

[...]

The last time I watched the films, however, I was struck by Kay's clothes.

(Note: the color of her costumes change somewhat dramatically depending of the media: in VHS/DVD, they're mostly orange; in Blu-ray, the red becomes more evident.)

Yes, it would be impossible not to notice her dress when she visits the Corleone compound while looking for Michael (who's hiding in Sicily) - its intense orange/red color basically screams against the grey and the black usually seen on the clothes of her boyfriend's family. And it's pretty clear the idea behind this choice is to stress how distant Kay is from the dark universe of the Corleones.

But if you pay close attention to how Kay's clothes change during the three films you'll realize how brilliant the visual logic of the trilogy is.

Showing a weakness for orage/red tones on her clothing from her very first scene, Kay is always seen wearing costumes dominated by those colors during the sequences in which she's still a single woman.

The Clothes of Kay Corleone

Dam breach

Explosive Breach of Condit Dam

finally

Kentucky (+30.5) at Georgia
Mississippi State (+13) at Arkansas
Louisiana St. (-30) at Ole Miss
Vanderbilt (-1.5) at Tennessee

People name their childern after sardays like this.

for wester

Week 13: we're almost done

Last week, I went 7-0 straight up and 4-3 against the line. That puts me at 60-9 straight up and 36-33 against the line. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line. This might be the worst weekly line-up of SEC games I have ever seen.

Kentucky (+30.5) at GEORGIA
Mississippi State (+13) at ARKANSAS
LSU (-30) at Ole Miss
VANDERBILT (-1.5) at Tennessee

Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina all play lower-division competition this weekend.

I don't think I've remembered to mention it before, but I get these lines from College Football Locks.

Forever Lazy commercial

This commercial is pretty sad, in a "dumbing of America/Idiocracy is coming true/this is for adults?" kind of way. I'm more interested in it as a reflection of cultural norms and, more specifically, gender construction and heteronormativity. Watching not terribly carefully, I see one woman in gray and another in navy blue, plus the magic transition at the end of the commercial. All the rest (notably every woman younger than about forty) wear pink. No man in the commercial wears a pink one. There is a place out there for an American Studies or Gender Studies dissertation, or at least a seminar paper, regarding how gender roles are construed in mass market, direct-order TV advertising.



Also, if I saw someone wearing one of these in public I would assume that person was retarded, not in a pejorative sense but unable to get it together enough to wear anything else.

Ole Miss futility football

Surely this can't be correct ... can it?

As I watched the Rebels lose by twenty points to Louisiana Tech, I began looking for any reason to stick around in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium just before halftime, as I'm not one to leave games early. After quickly scanning the field and then the stands, and realizing that I would have nothing more interesting to do, I casually glanced at the sign somone on our sideline was holding up at the moment to signal what I would presume was a play call to our players. At that moment, we had the ball on offense, and the signaler happened to hold up a sign that read "T.S."

I joked with the people unfortunate enough to still be in the stadium at that moment that I would bet that wideout Tobias Singleton would be getting the ball.

"Ha," I thought. "Wouldn't that be hilarious?"

Then..... he did. On a speed sweep. No big deal, I thought. I just sorta lucked into that one, right? Then.... we watched the playcalling signs for the rest of the game.

somebody's poorly drawn comic Monday

frankly, i've always had a taste for livin.

METAL MONDAY HAS NEVER BEEN SO METAL

ALSO THIS JUST IN

FUCK MILLSAPS

this just in again

Georgia fans are the worst.

Yelping with Cormac

This is fun: Yelping with Cormac.

Forever 21

Union Square - San Francisco, CA

Cormac M. | Author | Lost in the chaparral, NM

Two stars.

The first woman I been with was a gal named Mabel Rae down in Plano. She was the second prettiest woman I ever did see. I was eighteen years of age at the time and she was twenty one. She was a whore down on Gas Street. I suppose that may shock some folks. Layin down with a whore like I did. But I see these young things on the street everday wearing clothes would of made Mabel Rae blush. Dont seem like progress to me.

Ever time I rode through Plano I stopped by Gas Street to see Mabel Rae. Now dont misunderstand me. The nature of our acquaintance changed when I met Alice. These were social calls. Mabel Rae always wore the same dress and the same hair but the rest of her aged. Plano was a tough town and she took her licks like everbody else. Werent nothin glamorous about it.

When she was about 35 years of age she took to drink pretty good. Started just fallin apart. I aint proud to say I stopped callin. I caint tell you what happened to her. I’m not sure anybody knows.

I like to think of Mabel Rae when she was twenty one years of age. I reckon she’ll always be that age to me.

I TOO WENT 5 - 1 LAST WEEK NOW AM 56 - 12

HEY IT'S LIKE A NUDE BEACH NOBODY COVERS LOL

Florida (+3.5) at South Carolina
Kentucky (+13.5) at Vanderbilt
Auburn (+12.5) at Georgia
Tennessee (+14) at Arkansas
Western Kentucky (+41.5) at Louisiana St
La Tech (-2) at Ole Miss
Alabama (-17.5) at Mississippi State

Week 12 corrected score picks

Thanks to tha Cap'n for clearing this up: I had a score of 53-9 straight up and 32-30 against the line going into last week. Then I went 5-1 and 4-2 last week. That brings me up, I think, to 58-10 overall and 36-32 against the spread.

So, with that out of the way, here are the current picks. This week has some more unusual lines: Vandy is a 13.5 point favorite in an SEC game and an SEC team is an underdog to Louisiana Tech. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

Florida (+3.5) at SOUTH CAROLINA
Kentucky (+13.5) at Vanderbilt
Auburn (+12.5) at Georgia
Tennessee (+14) at ARKANSAS
Western Kentucky (+41.5) at Lsu
LA TECH (-2) at Ole Miss
ALABAMA (-17.5) at Mississippi State

Georgia Week: Admittedly adorable but that won't save you

SCENES FROM THE MILLSUCKS TALENT SHOW

Top Comment: Imagine if this was the obstacle course for Legends of the Hidden Temple

Universities

Yet American universities also attract ferocious criticism, much of it from professors and from journalists who know them well, and that’s entirely reasonable too. Every coin has its other side, every virtue its corresponding vice—and practically every university its festering sores. At the most prestigious medical schools, professors publish the work of paid flacks for pharmaceutical companies under their own names. At many state universities and more than a few private ones, head football and basketball coaches earn millions and their assistants hundreds of thousands for running semiprofessional teams. Few of these teams earn much money for the universities that sponsor them, and some brutally exploit their players.

At competitive private colleges and universities, admissions directors reserve places in each class for the children of alumni and potential donors; for athletes, many of whom will make less use of their academic opportunities than their classmates do; and simply for those who can pay. And at universities that boast of their commitment to undergraduate teaching, too many professors gabble through PowerPoint slides twice a week and entrust the face-to-face teaching of actual students to underpaid graduate students and Ph.D.s on short-term contracts, who do their best to impart basic skills in writing and quantitative analysis while earning only a few thousand dollars a course.

It’s not hard to see why colleges and universities resist simple evaluations. There are now almost five thousand universities and colleges—both two-year and four-year—in the US. Millions attend them, including around 40 percent of eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-old Americans and a great many older students. Postsecondary education stretches from the tree-shaded Olympuses of the Ivy-plus private group and the imposing quadrangles of the great public universities to urban community colleges that run twelve hours a day, surrounded only by vast parking lots that are never big enough to accommodate everyone. It’s private and public, mass and elite, ancient and ivy-covered, contemporary and cutting-edge. No generalization could do justice to this vast and varied scene.

Our Universities: Why Are They Failing?

HATE WEEK.

THERE REALLY AREN'T ANY OTHER VIDEOS OF MILLSUCKS.

Georgia Week: Not sure how I feel about the "wa ah ah ah" music

hey i know him

Friday links

1. Tebow Tebow comments

2. Annoying sound

3. Doodle Or Die is so fun

Mike Tyson song

bc a guy died

a guy who isn't in this video. but a guy nonetheless.



UPDATE: BETTER!

SEC PICK THEMS POST

by my haphazard and (DARE I SAY) slapdash calculation I'm at 51 - 11 strait up which is xtrakrzy because that's a different total than Charlos's 54 - 9. It doesn't matter. I'm certainly not trying to figger out my ATS reck.

UPDATE: Since Charles won't count I'm going to assume I missed a win.

52 - 11.

UPDATE: Just noticed that Charles's strait up and ATS records don't total to the same thing. Maybe I AM a mere 51 - 11.

UPDATE: 62 games have been picked. I'm going to be the better man and admit that my original 51 - 11 was correct and that other asshole is cooking the books ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

UPDATE: you've only got 9 losses, bro. EVERYONE, CHARLES IS ONLY 53 - 9.

PICK UMZ

Vanderbilt (+14) at Florida
New Mexico State (+33.5) at Georgia
Ole Miss (-2) at Kentucky
Middle Tennessee State (+20.5) at Tennessee
South Carolina (+5) at ARKANSAS
Louisiana St. (+4.5) at ALABAMA

Week 10 pickums

Last week I went 4-1 straight-up and 3-2 against the line. That puts me at 54-9 and 32-30, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

Unlike some weeks, when it feels like the line would be free money (especially for Alabama games), to me this looks like the toughest week yet. If I were putting real money down, this week I would not bet on any games except Ole Miss. Maybe Arkansas.

Vanderbilt (+14) at Florida
New Mexico State (+33.5) at Georgia
OLE MISS (-2) at Kentucky
Middle Tennessee State (+20.5) at TENNESSEE
South Carolina (+5) at ARKANSAS
LSU (+4.5) at Alabama

Mississippi State is playing an FCS opponent.

acc football presents: this just in

Wealth inequality

In lieu of the rule of law — the equal application of rules to everyone — what we have now is a two-tiered justice system in which the powerful are immunized while the powerless are punished with increasing mercilessness. As a guarantor of outcomes, the law has, by now, been so completely perverted that it is an incomparably potent weapon for entrenching inequality further, controlling the powerless, and ensuring corrupted outcomes.

The tide that was supposed to lift all ships has, in fact, left startling numbers of Americans underwater. In the process, we lost any sense that a common set of rules applies to everyone, and so there is no longer a legitimizing anchor for the vast income and wealth inequalities that plague the nation.

That is what has changed, and a growing recognition of what it means is fueling rising citizen anger and protest. The inequality under which so many suffer is not only vast, but illegitimate, rooted as it is in lawlessness and corruption. Obscuring that fact has long been the linchpin for inducing Americans to accept vast and growing inequalities. That fact is now too glaring to obscure any longer.

Immunity and Impunity in Elite America

more halloween

halloween

apropos

metal monday: baby metal!

top comment: RELEASE THE PEDOBEAR!!!!

I'm the first mammal to wear pants

on time and on a dime!

Arkansas (-10) at Vanderbilt

Georgia (-3) vs. Florida
Ole Miss (+12.5) at Auburn
Mississippi State (-10) at Kentucky
South Carolina (-3.5) at Tennessee

Oi, again with the home dogs!

Week 9 picks on time for once

Last week I went 4-0 straight-up and a gross 1-3 against the line. That puts me at 50-8 and 29-28, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

ARKANSAS (-10) at Vanderbilt
GEORGIA (-3) vs. Florida
Ole Miss (+12.5) at AUBURN
MISSISSIPPI STATE (-10) at Kentucky
South Carolina (-3.5) at Tennessee

Octopus intelligence

Only recently have scientists accorded chimpanzees, so closely related to humans we can share blood transfusions, the dignity of having a mind. But now, increasingly, researchers who study octopuses are convinced that these boneless, alien animals—creatures whose ancestors diverged from the lineage that would lead to ours roughly 500 to 700 million years ago—have developed intelligence, emotions, and individual personalities. Their findings are challenging our understanding of consciousness itself.

I had always longed to meet an octopus. Now was my chance: senior aquarist Scott Dowd arranged an introduction. In a back room, he would open the top of Athena’s tank. If she consented, I could touch her. The heavy lid covering her tank separated our two worlds. One world was mine and yours, the reality of air and land, where we lumber through life governed by a backbone and constrained by jointed limbs and gravity. The other world was hers, the reality of a nearly gelatinous being breathing water and moving weightlessly through it. We think of our world as the “real” one, but Athena’s is realer still: after all, most of the world is ocean, and most animals live there. Regardless of whether they live on land or water, more than 95 percent of all animals are invertebrates, like Athena.

Inside the mind of an octopus

Another fun North Korean dance music video

hawaiian dances are stupid

Arkansas (-15.5) at Ole Miss
Auburn (+21) at Louisiana St.
Army (+11) at Vanderbilt
Tennessee (+29.5) at ALABAMA

Would have liked to have disagreed more, but oh well.

week 8 real late my bad

Last week I went 5-0 straight-up and 3-2 against the line. That puts me at 46-8 and 28-25, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

ARKANSAS (-15.5) at Ole Miss
Auburn (+21) at Lsu
Army (+11) at Vanderbilt
Tennessee (+29.5) at ALABAMA

Kentucky is playing Jax State, which probably is a pick 'em.

Bohemian Shatner

avengers

Everyone around here is getting ready for Klanoween

He sprang to his Chevy, to his team gave a purr,
And away they all flew, all screaming out slurs.
But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of town,
"Best to get all them darkies out here 'fore sundown!"

this just in

I am not generally a Kill Bill fan but this is a great scene

this is where i predict the future

OH MY GOD.

South Carolina (-3) at Mississippi State
Louisiana St (-17) at Tennessee
Alabama (-25.5) at Ole Miss
Georgia (-11) at Vanderbilt
Florida (-2) at Auburn

THASSA LOTTA HOME DOGS.

Week 7 Picks subtitled I am doing worse against the line than I expected I would

Last week I went 4-2 straight-up and 3-3 against the line. That puts me at 41-8 and 25-23, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

SOUTH CAROLINA (-3) at Mississippi State
LSU (-17) at Tennessee
ALABAMA (-25.5) at Ole Miss
Georgia (-11) at Vanderbilt
Florida (-2) at Auburn

efficient resource management

56 06 39

SEC expansion

Here's an idea about what the SEC could do with regards to expansion, since it's apparently a thing now. The SEC should add to what it has by picking up WVU, Louisville, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri, for a total of 18 teams.

So, the football divisions would be the nine schools in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Georgia in one division, Kentucky and all the new pick-ups since 1992 (the five listed above plus South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas A&M) in the other. This means a lot of travel for the new schools, but football and basketball can afford it. The division made up of the older SEC teams would be the football division, the new one a basketball division.

The conference would play nine conference games in football: round-robin schedule against the other eight teams in your division, plus a team in the other division. I would give schools freedom to schedule the inter-division game: Tennessee and Kentucky want to play every year? Sure! Florida wants to rotate three teams? Whatever.

In basketball, I'd subdivide the divisions. Play a home-and-home with your four biggest rivals in the division every year, one game against each team in the rest of the division, and a rotation of six games against teams in the opposite division (for a total 18 conference games). This would have everyone play their biggest rivals twice a season, their other division rivals once a year, and get regular games against the rest of the conference.

All other sports would ignore the divisions, perhaps playing in pods or protected rivalries with rotating games. This would cut down on travel costs and let rivalries in individual sports to flourish.

Such an expansion would protect all the important football rivalries. It would put the SEC on TV sets stretching from Texas and Kansas in the west to Pennsylvania and Florida in the east. It would create unquestionably the strongest athletic conference in the country; for basketball and especially football, you'd have divisions as strong as any other conference.

It would also protect and nourish the weaker halves of the two money sports. Missouri, for example, can build and improve their football program without having to play Florida or LSU every year. Basketball is slightly more evenly divided, but it would help (say) Mississippi State's basketball team to not have to necessarily play Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisville all in one year.

There are some big downsides. The new additions probably won't add as much money, even with the new TV contracts, as they'll take.

More importantly, it will change the football product. The SEC probably will never have another undefeated season. No matter how good (for example) Auburn ever is, they will not win every game against the average LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama team in one season.

The football title game would also be much less important and impressive. You'd have a three or four loss Georgia or Florida beating the pants off a one or two loss Texas A&M or West Virginia every year.

Gang Fight! Gang Fight! The gang is down to fight, yeah

roomba

I've got to admit, my heart just isn't in this.

Mississippi St. (-18.5) at UAB
Kentucky (+21) at South Carolina
Florida (+13.5) at Louisiana St.
Vanderbilt (+29) at ALABAMA
Auburn (+10) at Arkansas
Georgia (-1.5) at TENNESSEE

Not only will Tennessee win, they'll cover.

Some call it Week 6 picks

Last week I went a gross 4-3 straight-up and 3-4 against the line. That puts me at 37-6 and 22-20, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

MISSISSIPPI STATE (-18.5) at UAB
Kentucky (+21) at South Carolina
Florida (+13.5) at LSU
Vanderbilt (+29) at ALABAMA
Auburn (+10) at Arkansas
Georgia (-1.5) at Tennessee

You see, you dont have to live like a refugee

in soviet russia...

Privacy

Say you're a 26-year-old who just got hired as a middle school teacher. You love your new job. Your students are great. But what if they Google you and make it to the third page of results, where there's a link to a sexually explicit column you wrote years ago for a now defunct Web magazine? Awkward. Maybe even a threat to your career. Alas, the erstwhile editor of the site won't remove the piece. And even if he did it would live on -- it's hard to remove anything from the Internet.

Or maybe what vexes someone is photo-tagging. When John Doe attended that gay pride parade while visiting New York City, he never realized his image would be captured in a huge crowd, his Sacramento Kings cap atop his head, or that technology would make it possible to zoom in on his features, or that facial recognition software would tag the photo as him. Now he's back in Fresno freaking out. What if people at the plant where he works figure out that he's closeted? So he takes to the Web. Photoshops himself into all sorts of unlikely places. Tienanmen Square. The gold medal platform at the 1976 Summer Olympics. In the crowd for "The Shot Heard Round the World." All while wearing that same cap. Suddenly the gay pride parade shot is just one more iteration on the photo meme that he or some prankster buddy made.

A Plausible Thought About the Future

I'd better go take a swim and see if I can cool down a little bit

And with a pH-value of 4.5

diiiiiiiicks

Texas A&M (-2.5) at Arkansas
Mississippi State (+7) at GEORGIA
Kentucky (+30.5) at LSU
Buffalo (+28.5) at TENNESSEE
Auburn (+10) at South Carolina
Alabama (-3.5) at Florida
Ole Miss (+3) at FRESNO STATE

piiiiiiiiiiiiiicks

Last week I went 7-0 straight-up and 4-3 against the line. That puts me at 33-3 and 19-16, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

TEXAS A&M (-2.5) at Arkansas
Mississippi State (+7) at Georgia
Kentucky (+30.5) at Lsu
Buffalo (+28.5) at TENNESSEE
Auburn (+10) at South Carolina
ALABAMA (-3.5) at Florida
Ole Miss (+3) at FRESNO STATE

It looks like for the second straight week, I didn't pick any upsets.

yer humble bloggers

Nork party video

video description: "Ain't no party like a Pyongyang party, 'cause a Pyongyang party is ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY"

NFL WEEK 3 FANTASY STIR FRY RESULTS

TERIYAKI 18
SUGAR SNAP PEAS 16
DELUXE 13 (TIE)
SPICY GARLIC 13 (TIE)
GINGER 12
BRANDON JACOBS 7
GINGER 6
HONG KONG 5
THAI 2

may we humbly recommend...

13 - Crabmeat Curry

A Maison D'3E original. It's really good. Best paired with something to get your drink on. Seriously, it's really, really good. Mushrooms, garbanzo beans, medium curry sauce, and if imitation is the most sincere form of flattery then all crabs should be blushing right now. Those Alaska pollock know how to imitate. Anyway, I know everyone else in the world will think this is gross, but it's so, so good. You may be wondering "why didn't tha captain take a picture after it had been plated? certainly would have been more aesthetically pleasing." BECAUSE I ATE IT OUT OF THE SKILLET.

GEORGIA (-10) at Ole Miss Arkansas (+11) at Alabama Florida Atlantic (+31.5) at Auburn La Tech (+19.5) at MISSISSIPPI STATE FLORIDA (-19.5) at Kentuck

Georgia (-10) at Ole Miss
Arkansas (+11) at ALABAMA
Florida Atlantic (+31.5) at Auburn
La Tech (+19.5) at MISSISSIPPI STATE
Florida (-19.5) at Kentucky
Vanderbilt (+15.5) at SOUTH CAROLINA
Louisiana St. (-5.5) at West Virginia

Slightly late picks week 4

Last week I went 6-2 straight-up and 4-4 against the line. That puts me at 26-3 and 15-13, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

GEORGIA (-10) at Ole Miss
Arkansas (+11) at Alabama
Florida Atlantic (+31.5) at Auburn
La Tech (+19.5) at MISSISSIPPI STATE
FLORIDA (-19.5) at Kentucky
Vanderbilt (+15.5) at South Carolina
LSU (-5.5) at West Virginia

Friday illusion

this just in

things could be worse

here is the working acknowledgements section for my dissertation

Props to: Boots, Baby, Simon, Taylor, Zoe, Toonces, Betsy, Banjo, Harper, Jonah, Iggy, Rizzo, Rufus, Madison, Anubis, Dexter, Bennett, Delilah, Wesley, Malcolm, and even Samantha despite her bitchiness. I know it was never personal, girlfriend.

Sucks to the rest of you.

and sadly...

groin-grabbingly sadly, I've had this song in my head.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Really starting to get into this crunkcore stuff too. So tight.



So, seriously, there's a bear drinking a forty.

this song has been stuck in my head

Tuesday links

1. A Note on Maps "No matter which one you prefer, or why, that’s what they both are and do. And it’s not even that these are particularly ideological maps, as opposed to other maps: all maps are broadly ideological in the sense that they pretend to show you what’s empirically there by framing, editing, and re-perspectivizing those empirical “facts” in ways that will both lead to a particular way of seeing the land (that, in this case, implies the political realization of the particular vision at stake)."

2. Sound by Gloumouth1

3. I'm helping

4.

ACC: listening to me, sort of

My recommendation was to pick up Pitt, Louisville, West Virginia, and UConn. They've just picked up Syracuse (presumably for the New York markets) and Pitt. Okay, now you need two more. I would recommend two of UConn, Louisville, and West Virginia. Rutgers is your back-up.

Syracuse hurts the football product. West Virginia would help that, so I would pick them first. UConn, a more natural ACC team, would be my second pick.

HOME UNDERDOGS ALWAYS COVER

Charles, please calculate my terrible, terrible record.

Louisiana State (-3.5) at Mississippi State
Auburn (+3) at Clemson
Ole Miss (-1.5) at Vanderbilt
Tennessee (+9.5) at Florida
Navy (+17) at South Carolina
Louisville (+5.5) at KENTUCKY
North Texas (+45.5) at ALABAMA
Troy (+22.5) at Arkansas


I love picking Kentucky to cover, it would appear.

Week 3 picks by me

Last week I went 8-1 straight-up and 6-2 against the line. That puts me at 20-1 and 11-9, respectively, for the season overall. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

LSU (-3.5) at Mississippi State
AUBURN (+3) at Clemson
Ole Miss (-1.5) at Vanderbilt
Tennessee (+9.5) at Florida
Navy (+17) at South Carolina
Louisville (+5.5) at Kentucky
North Texas (+45.5) at ALABAMA
Troy (+22.5) at ARKANSAS

Georgia is playing a scrub.

Bat Monkey Pig

apparently it is video day

Football in Europe

65,000 players doubtlessly includes many professionals, but I wonder who the first college coach will be to have a special international recruiting budget.

Ray Charles covering "Ring of Fire"

metal monday

The questions run too deep for such a simple man

i'm going to kentucky for my cousin's wedding and will be way

ching the game at the murray plaza lodge. or on the internet. or something. tweet at me brahs. #winechugggggggg

Simpson's Paradox

A common example of Simpson's Paradox involves the batting averages of players in professional baseball. It is possible for one player to hit for a higher batting average than another player during a given year, and to do so again during the next year, but to have a lower batting average when the two years are combined. This phenomenon can occur when there are large differences in the number of at-bats between the years. (The same situation applies to calculating batting averages for the first half of the baseball season, and during the second half, and then combining all of the data for the season's batting average.)

A real-life example is provided by Ken Ross and involves the batting average of two baseball players, Derek Jeter and David Justice, during the baseball years 1995 and 1996:

Simpson's Paradox

here are some WORSE picks

I don't know how I did last week and I don't care. Your god will be the only judge of me.

Central Michigan (+10.5) at KENTUCKY
MSU (-6.5) at Auburn
Cincinnati (+5) at TENNESSEE
Alabama (-10) at Penn State
South Carolina (-3) at Georgia
New Mexico (+36) at ARKANSAS
Uab (+23.5) at FLORIDA
UCONN (+1.5) at Vandy

Charles picking week 2

Last week I went 12-0 straight up and an unfortunate 5-7 against the spread. Once again for this week, bold to win, caps to cover the line.

Central Michigan (+10.5) at Kentucky
MSU (-6.5) at Auburn
Cincinnati (+5) at TENNESSEE
ALABAMA (-10) at Penn State
SOUTH CAROLINA (-3) at Georgia
New Mexico (+36) at ARKANSAS
Uab (+23.5) at FLORIDA
UConn (+1.5) at VANDY

No line on Southern Illinois at Ole Miss or Northwestern State at LSU.

almost certainly the handiwork of you-know-who

Tuesday chart-o-graphs

1. Ancestry

2. Wrestlers

3. Stool

carry on my wayward skank

Cooking with Norm

No one else in the world says segment an orange.

"Räumen."

"Steuerung klar?"
"Ist klar."
"Treibwerk klar?"
"Ist klar."
"Luftlage klar."
"Schlüssel auf SCHIESSEN."
"Schlüssel steht auf SCHIESSEN."
"Durchschalten."
"Luftlage klar."
"1st durchgeschaltet."
"Beluftung klar."
"Zundung klar."
"Vorstufe klar."

...

"Haupstufe."
"Haupstufe ist gegeben."

...

"Stecker 1 und 2 gefallen."

...

The Stotz plugs lie blasted on the ground, tossing in a splash of flame. On gravity feed, the flame is bright yellow. Then the turbine begins to roar. The flame suddenly turns blue. The sound of it grows to full cry.

The Rocket stays a moment longer on the steel table, then slowly, trembling, furiously muscular, it begins to rise.

You Can't Spell EPIC FAIL without EPL: This is what will happen!

Srsly, write this in your journals. This is what the table will look like come mid-may. Now that all the transfer deadline day craziness is over, I've been able to settle down and, in a fury of knowledge, crap out this almost completely shot-in-the-dark prediction. After the top six... it's as clusterfucky as clusterfucks get.

1. Manchester United
2. Manchester City
3. Chelsea
4. Liverpool
5. Arsenal
6. Tottenham Hotspur
7. Stoke City
8. Newcastle United
9. Sunderland
10. Aston Villa
11. Bolton Wanderers
12. Everton
13. Fulham
14. Queens Park Rangers
15. Wolverhampton Wanderers
16. Wigan Athletic
17. West Bromwich Albion
18. Blackburn Rovers
19. Norwich City
20. Swansea City

Tha Captain will be working tirelessly this weekend with comments about all of the teams. I mean, what else will I be doing during an off-weekend for the premier league?

HINT: I WILL BE WATCHING FOOTBALL HOLY GOD WELCOME BACK FOOTBALL

ok real pix

Miss. St. (-30) at Memphis
Kent State (+38) at ALABAMA
Missouri State (+42) at Arkansas
Utah State (+21) at AUBURN
Florida Atlantic (+35) at Florida
Boise St. (-3) vs. Georgia
Oregon (-3) vs. LSU
Brigham Young (-3) at Ole Miss
East Carolina (+20.5) vs. South Carolina
Montana (+28) at Tennessee
Elon (+12.5) at VANDERBILT
KENTUCKY (-18) vs. Western Kentucky

Home underdogs ALWAYS cover. WKU doesn't count because the game is in Nashville or something.

ThaCaptainzPix: Just something to hold you over until Ted's picks.

Following the pattern, bold's a winnah, cap's a coverah!

Miss. St. (-30) at Memphis
Kent State (+38) at Alabama
Missouri State (+42) at Arkansas
Utah State (+21) at Auburn
Florida Atlantic (+35) at Florida
Boise St. (-3) vs. Georgia
Oregon (-3) vs. Louisiana St.
Brigham Young (-3) at Ole Miss
East Carolina (+20.5) vs. South Carolina
Montana (+28) at Tennessee
Elon (+12.5) at Vanderbilt

Dogs be barkin. Got a good feeling about it.

3E Introduces the 2011 3E SEC Pick-Off: Charlie's picks

So this is a thing. I am doing it like this: bold to win, caps to cover the line.

MISSISSIPPI STATE (-30) at Memphis
Kent State (+38) at Alabama
Missouri State (+42) at ARKANSAS
Utah State (+21) at AUBURN
Florida Atlantic (+35) at Florida
BOISE STATE (-3) vs. Georgia
Oregon (-3) vs. LSU
BYU (-3) at Ole Miss
East Carolina (+20.5) vs. SOUTH CAROLINA
Montana (+28) at TENNESSEE
Elon (+12.5) at VANDY

UPDATE!: Forgot KENTUCKY (-18) vs. Western Kentucky

Disney was hardcore

they let little kids watch this?

in response to a comment tha captain made earlier

I thought this was your ringtone

It's a good life

Aunt Amy was out on the front porch, rocking back and forth in the highbacked chair and fanning herself, when Bill Soames rode his bicycle up the road and stopped in front of the house.

Perspiring under the afternoon "sun," Bill lifted the box of groceries out of the big basket over the front wheel of the bike, and came up the front walk.

Little Anthony was sitting on the lawn, playing with a rat. He had caught the rat down in the basement--he had made it think that it smelled cheese, the most rich-smelling and crumbly-delicious cheese a rat had ever thought it smelled, and it had come out of its hole, and now Anthony had hold of it with his mind and was making it do tricks.

When the rat saw Bill Soames coming, it tried to run, but Anthony thought at it, and it turned a flip-flop on the grass, and lay trembling, its eyes gleaming in small black terror.

Bill Soames hurried past Anthony and reached the front steps, mumbling. He always mumbled when he came to the Fremont house, or passed by it, or even thought of it. Everybody did. They thought about silly things, things that didn't mean very much, like two-and-two-is-four-and-twice-is-eight and so on; they tried to jumble up their thoughts to keep them skipping back and forth, so Anthony couldn't read their minds. The mumbling helped. Because if Anthony got anything strong out of your thoughts, he might take a notion to do something about it--like curing your wife's sick headaches or your kid's mumps, or getting your old milk cow back on schedule, or fixing the privy. And while Anthony mightn't actually mean any harm, he couldn't be expected to have much notion of what was the right thing to do in such cases.

That was if he liked you. He might try to help you, in his way. And that could be pretty horrible.

If he didn't like you ... well, that could be worse.

It's a Good Life

Metal Monday Means More Mastadon

I just really wish I hadn't watched this.

UPDATE: that screencap is so great, don't ruin it by watching.

I haven't watched this and I'm probably not going to.

glad it's out there, though.




also this:

..

3E approves

Vodka

Unemployment once again has crept past 9 percent. GDP growth fell below 2 percent this last quarter. Inflation is up. Home values are down. There’s talk of a double-dip recession. According to one market analyst, “We’re on the verge of a great, great depression.” But through it all, there is one constant, a commodity that has not only survived during these harsh economic times, but even thrived.

Vodka.

The next time you visit a bar, see if you can count on one hand the number of vodkas on the shelf. Chances are you’ll need both hands, and possibly feet. The bar at the original Pizzeria Uno in downtown Chicago contains 13 different vodkas: one bottle of Skyy, one bottle of Smirnoff, four flavors of Stolichnaya, five flavors of Absolut, one Ketel One, and one Grey Goose. At the T.G.I. Friday’s in Reagan National Airport outside Washington, two shelves are devoted to 14 varieties of vodka. Meanwhile, Boston’s übertrendy 28 Degrees restaurant boasts an astounding 22 bottles (13 brands, 15 flavors).

According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, there are currently about a thousand different brands of vodka in existence. Keep in mind that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau defines vodka as “neutral spirits [alcohol produced from any material at or above 190 degrees proof] so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.” Which means that a brand must often go to absurd lengths to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack. Consider Crystal Head Vodka, co-created by actor Dan Aykroyd, dispensed from a crystal skull and based on a mystical legend. Nostalgic for the Roaring Twenties? Pour yourself a glass of Tommy Guns Vodka, straight out of a bottle in the shape of a Thompson submachine gun. (Just ignore the fact that few Americans actually drank vodka in the 1920s.) Devotion Vodka contains a protein called casein, which contributes to a better “mouthfeel.” More important, it’s received the endorsement of Jersey Shore’s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino. And of course, there’s the quintuple-distilled Trump Vodka: As its website proclaims, “Finally, a vodka worthy of the Trump name.”

Vodka Nation

Metal Monday

Thursday games

1. Kingdom Rush

2. Torus (a round Tetris it is awesome)

Miami football scandal

Oh man, if you haven't been following this Miami football thing, you should. It is vast and fascinating. It is bigger than all the allegations and proven violations by USC, Ohio State, UConn, Tennessee, Auburn, etc, put together. By one count:

• 66 current and former Miami football players.

• 25 former NFL draft picks, including 13 first-rounders. Among the most high-profile names: Devin Hester, Vince Wilfork, D.J. Williams, Jonathan Vilma, Willis McGahee, Andre Johnson, Frank Gore, Kellen Winslow Jr. and the late Sean Taylor.

• 16 players listed on the current Miami roster, including starting quarterback Jacory Harris and All-ACC linebacker Sean Spence.

• 7 players who now play for other schools, including Florida wide receiver Andre Debose and Kansas State running back Bryce Brown, a one-time Miami commit who was ranked as the No. 1 incoming prospect in the country in 2009.

• 7 former assistant coaches with alleged "knowledge or direct participation" in violating NCAA rules.

• 2 first-round picks, Jon Beason and Vince Wilfork, who signed to an agency Shapiro allegedly co-owned, Axcess Sports & Entertainment.

Players got paid bonuses for getting celebration penalties and hurting opposing players. Kellen Winslow crashed a boat into another boat, and it was paid for. A booster bought the suit Willis McGahee wore to the Heisman ceremony. One player knocked up a stripper, who got an abortion without his knowledge. Also, it was a Ponzi-scheming convicted felon behind it. I don't see how this doesn't get the death penalty, or something identical in all but name, for both the football and basketball teams.