Twitter’s Dick Move

Some of you may have heard of this reporter over across the pond who writes for The Independent, a British paper. He dared to write a negative piece about NBC and how they tape delay programs for air on prime time.

You may have also heard that Twitter took the unusual and, in this bloggers opinion, unnecessary action of suspending the account of the reporter in question, Guy Adams.

Reminds me of the friend I lost a few months ago. I unfriended her on Facebook, so her sister in law turns around and unfriends me, no explanation asked to why I did what I did, boom, over, finito, buh-bye. And that’s why I’ll never go back to this friend ever again. Keep the battle between respective parties. Don’t have third parties interfere on your behalf.

Just makes NBC and Twitter look like they are in kahoots, and makes both media outlets look bad.

Put ‘Em Up!

I’ve found myself watching a lot of the Olympic boxing so far.

You don’t see a lot of prizefighting on TV these days, or cable TV for that matter outside of HBO or Showtime. But the networks of NBC have done a good job capturing the boxing tournament over London way.

I enjoy watching it, although the computerized system they use rewards true boxers, not guys who can get in close quarters and slug their way through a fight. Because if you fight on the inside, you better have the power to knock your opponent out, and in a three round fight, a fighter doesn’t have the time for all the power shots to pay dividends.

It’s like watching college or amateur baseball. A hitter who makes contact with the ball with the barrel of the bat is going to see the hit ball go farther faster than you see in Major League Baseball.  It’s baseball, not just baseball we’re used to.  Ditto the formula for Olympic boxing.

Sunday Morning In Wally World

It was that time of the month.  The time when one month ends, and another one begins. For me, that means a trip to Wal-Mart to put some money into a debit card to pay the upcoming Virgin Mobile bill for the Blackberry I got a year ago as a birthday present.

So it was off to the Walmart Supercenter off of Highway 19 in Pinellas Park, just north of Gandy-slash-Park Boulevard.  A few years ago, this Walmart was one of the busiest in the country, and believe me, it is a reputation well earned. Even at 10:30 on a Sunday, people are all over the place, praying to the God of everyday low prices.

A lot can be said for what Walmart is doing to the economy, both good and bad. I don’t consider myself qualified to comment. You see, back in 1999 and 2000, I worked for Walmart in the southeast part of Charlotte, North Carolina on a maintenance crew.  Essentially, a janitor. I did want to work, but I never considered being a janitor to be a strong suit.

The $50,000 Giveaway

 

The date was January 1, 1987.  A talk show host here in the Tampa Bay area named Bob “The Mad Dog” Lassiter took the mic at 7pm that night and offered $50,000 to every caller who called radio station WPLP.  Hilarity ensues.

Of course it was all a gag, but it made for an entertaining night of talk radio.

Let The Games Begin

What I’m about to say might be corny, but heck, why not say it on this night where the US is watching what happened over in the UK a few hours ago.

Very few things in life bring the world together.

The Super Bowl?  It brings America together.  More like brings the major cities in America together whose teams play for it.

The World Cup?  No, not quite.  Brings the major nations of the world together.

The Winter Olympics?  Well, if you have a winter climate.

The Summer Olympics?  Bingo.

Those few events that bring the world together have to be savored, have to be enjoyed.

Tonight is one of those nights, and I feel blessed to be drinking these scenes in just on TV.

Good Luck To London

Good luck with these Olympics, London…

So today marks the start of the 2012 Olympics over in London.  The 11th summer games in my lifetime.  I was a little too young to remember the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the Olympics no one really wants to remember.

I was very lucky to be living in the Atlanta area when the 1996 Olympics.  But they too had a rather dark moment for their games.

So to the people of London I say this.  Enjoy these moments, as they come very rarely.  Don’t let the fear and hysteria some like to create distract you from these next two weeks.  These are your games.  These are the moments you will remember all your life.  Enjoy, and don’t be afraid.

Laundry Day

Step One: put load one in the washer, add detergent.

Step Two: set Blackberry timer to 50 minutes so you don’t forget what you’re doing.

Step Three: when timer hits all zeroes, take load one from washer, put it into the dryer

Step Four: set timer to 75 minutes, and set the Blackberry timer to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Step Five: when timer hits all zeroes, check dryness of load one.  If satisfied with dryness, take load one out and put away.

Step Six: if unsatisfied with dryness, repeat step four for just 30 minutes.

Step Seven: When done, go to load two, repeat step one and all steps afterward.

Please Don’t Pass The Jelly

I went to high school in the 1980’s, and back then, I was told a very funny story by my health teacher who was teaching us all about sex and how to avoid pregnancy having sex.

She was teaching us about the contraceptive devices women use, and when she got to the diaphragm (as opposed to the diaphragm we all have) she told us about this visit to her gynecologist.

The gynecologist had another patient who…we’ll just say she wasn’t all that bright.  She told the gyno that she’d been having problems with her diaphragm.

The gynecologist asked what kind of spermicidal jelly she had been using.

The not-so-bright lady responded: grape jelly.

I kid you not.  A true story.

 

Sally’s Last Ride

Sally Ride, first US astronaut in space, 1951-2012.

I was shocked to learn yesterday afternoon about the death of Sally Ride.

I didn’t know she was sick, nor did I know that for the last half of her life she had a female partner.  Kind of a double whammy.

June 18th, 1983.  A day I remember well.  The launch of the seventh space shuttle mission would seem like a mundane thing.  But there was an incredible hype to the mission because of one Sally Kristin Ride.  The St. Petersburg Times ran Sunday articles on Ride and what the effects of a female astronauts might be on the men.  What a bunch of hogwash.  The Russian space program had done it before twice previously.  It was only a matter of time before it did happen, and on this early Saturday morning, Challenger lifted skyward, and history was made.

What goes forgotten by most is that not only was Sally the first female astronaut, she was also the first two-time female astronaut.  A lot of people forget she had another trip into space, once again on board the shuttle Challenger on October 5, 1984.

Plugging The BOP

Nothing of import to say today, so let me plug my two other blogs, with plans to unveil a fourth blog soon.  But that will just appear in the upper right of the page when it’s ready.  Shhh…it’s a secret mission I’m on.

The Wide World Of Simulated Sports is a blog about sports simulations, whether they’re table games or computer games.  I’m currently running the 1979 NFL Season on Action PC Football when time permits me to.

The Big Brother Diaries…no, it’s not a conspiracy fueled suite.  It’s about the TV show Big Brother here in the United States, mostly.  I did do a recent blog about the UK version of the show.  Much to say about the Willie Hantz ejection, and why do the producers put in these crazy people to begin.  I also do flashbacks and trivia of the other seasons when there’s a lull.

Enjoy your Monday, because it is one-seventh of your week.

A Punishment Like No Other

Joe Paterno’s statue was taken down from outside the Penn State football stadium today.  A short year ago, something like this was inconceivable.  A week ago, it seemed inevitable.

It’s also the sign that the NCAA is about to swoop in and issue severe sanctions and punishments against the school.  Look at what happened to Southern Methodist University in 1987, and I think you’ll see something worse than that when the punishments are levied tomorrow morning in light of the child sex abuse scandal at PSU that began being revealed in the media the previous fall.

The fact that the NCAA steps in now tells me that the 2012 PSU football season will likely be cancelled at the very least, and the Nittany Lions won’t field a football team for a few years afterwards.  Other athletic teams will also be effected, but remember, this is just my speculation.  I can also see Penn State kicked out of the Big Ten conference, which would leave it with eleven teams.  Yes, college sports does seem to have problems with math.

I don’t think it’s very fair to punish the athletes of Penn State who knew nothing about the scandal, or didn’t even play football for the school.  Those kids must be protected, just as the rape victims of Jerry Sandusky should have been protected.  Let these kids go to other schools so they can continue their athletic careers and/or their vocations.  Two wrongs never make one right.

A Day Without TV, Minus Seven Minutes

So when I saw the Aurora movie shooting unfold on CNN, I decided to do something.

I found the details of those killed in that movie theater a bit unsettling.  The facts were likely to fluctuate for a bit.  The media would get a few things wrong and have to apologize for it down the road.

So I turned off my TV.

Nearly made the whole day without watching TV, getting the info on the Internet and my Blackberry. At 11:48pm I saw that the Tampa Bay Rays-Seattle Mariners game was in the bottom of the 14th inning and still going, so I turned it on just in time to see the Rays get a run to win the game.  That lasted all of seven minutes.

Then, I turned the TV off again.