Dojo Info 3/2/10

March 2nd, 2010 by Paladin
  1. New ‘Harry Potter’ theme park casts its spell
    As no-brainer as putting cartoons on kid’s under garments.
  2. Web designer sells Detroit lot for $1 per sq. inch
    Uh… I knew Web Designers were a little bit different, but this guy full-on bonkers. Watch the video on LoveLand.
  3. College students heading for Haiti
    Great stuff! How can the rest of the world not see America as leading the way in charitable deed?
  4. Honda, Subaru named best all-around vehicles
    Honda I would have guessed but Subaru? Fuji Heavy Industries?!?
  5. Best of the Decade #7: The Passion of the Christ
    It’s refreshing to see someone who’s able to focus on the target despite the noise of the periphery.

NCAA Madness: Don’t Change the Tourny or We’ll Be on You Like Goverment on a Dollar Bill

February 24th, 2010 by Paladin

Thought I had posted this before, but even if I did, it’s worthy of a double-post. Here some of the reasons why the NCAA should NOT change the field to 84 or 96 or any huge random number.

  1. The current setup is widely considered the best post season in all of sports. Forking with it runs the risk of screwing that up.
  2. Any decision where $$$ is the primary motive should be beyond suspect.
  3. Adding more teams now, takes us further down the path of adding more teams later, which taken to its inevitable conclusion will kill the whole thing. NCAA is to common sense, what Bud Light is to real beer.
  4. While adding more games may be fun for (some) fans, it increases the likelihood that the best team(s) in the country will have one bad game and we’ll end up with the winner being the best team of March, rather than the best team of the year.
  5. Adding more less qualified teams makes it more like the NBA, which, for people who’ve been following the NBA for years believe it’s become worse, not better.
  6. While I agree that people shouldn’t do things solely for tradition, maintaining a strong tradition does have some value. Kentucky fans know the value of a strong tradition.
  7. No matter what the number of at-large participants, there will always be some that feel slighted. Any argument that tries to say there will be less of those is incorrect, unless of course, all the teams are entered which, in all seriousness, is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
  8. The post season is a reward to teams that have superior regular seasons. Adding more teams to the tourney makes the regular season less important. The farther you go, the less important it becomes (see NBA).

Updated 3/8 for @greggdoyelcbs
Per Greg’s article (nothing draws page views like controversy!), here’s his primary reasons FOR expanding the field, with my comments beneath.

Greg: But it’ll water down the regular season and conference tournaments!
Most every agrees that this is truth. You found a single example, George Mason, that supports this view but if it were worthwhile, wouldn’t we have like a dozen? A gross? A buh-zillion?!?

Greg: But what about the student-athletes? Think of the extra time they’ll miss from school!
Not a big point for either side of the issues, most assuredly not the NCAA as they push for morerevenuemorerevenuemorerevenue.

Greg: The tournament is three weeks as it is. Last thing I want is for it to grow to four weeks.
Who says this? I haven’t read a single article using this point. Talk about your straw man. It’s not that growing something that people like even larger is automatically a bad idea but keep in mind that the newly added games won’t be ones anyone will car about. Murray State vs. Louisiana Tech?!? *yawn* And I’m a huge college basketball fan.

Greg: But the No. 1 seeds will get a first-round bye. That’s not fair.
Right, so why expand it? More byes=bad, plus who doesn’t love symmetry? I say we go back to 64. Moving to 65 was a mistake.

Greg: But 96 teams? I don’t want to see those crappy teams in the tournament!
Out of the new additions to the tourney, a few will win a game (maybe two) but most will be less memorable than a recent Steve Martin movie. Why add the also rans? They had their chance to solidify their tourney position down the final 2-3 weeks of the season (yeah, the season that had meaning) so if they didn’t get done then, why subsidize them like a new Obama dis-incentive plan.

Greg: But I’m against expanding the tournament to 96 teams. I just am.
If this is their primary reason, it says more about the person and their lack of communication skills than it does the merits of keeping the best post season in all of sports as the King of the Hill.

DJ Steve Porter Gets NBA Gig?

February 22nd, 2010 by Paladin

Not sure if this is djsteveporter but his stuff is so great. Love it!

Under the Lights: Kentucky Basketball

February 17th, 2010 by Paladin

In case you missed the behind-the-scenes look at Kentucky Basketball, WildcatWorld.com has put these up on YouTube for us. Fine right chaps, if I must say so.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Dojo Info 2/16/10

February 16th, 2010 by Paladin
  1. Obama Adviser Says the Pope is ‘Hurting People in the Name of Jesus’
    Harry Knox must have a massive set of stones. Wow.
  2. Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable
    “The love of money is the root of many kinds of evil.”
  3. Ford’s Fusion pulls ahead of the hybrid pack
    Uh oh! So what will all those Prius worshipers do now?
  4. How Christian Were the Founders?
    Well I guess that depends. Do you you want to believe the documents from that period? Or those written (revisionist) recently? Care to wager where the New York Times comes out on this?
  5. Billy Gillispie is ready to resume his career
    Gillispie wasn’t a good fit at Kentucky but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good basketball coach. The question becomes can he remove the harmful influences of his personal life and get back to the business of basketball.

Beach Vacation Needed: Apply Inside

February 6th, 2010 by Paladin

Raise your hand if you married up? You know who you are. See me over here? I have my hand up and I’m proud to admit it.

My lovely wife and I have been married for 17 years (yeah, I’m old, shut up) and we’ve just had one vacation apart from the kids in that time. Well, that ends today. By the time you read this, we’ll be jetting South for an unnamed island in the Caribbean. Little hint, it looks *just* like this photo.

So for the next 7 days I’ll be out of pocket. Unless I get abducted, held for ransom, escape and send out an cry for help via this blog, you won’t be hearing from me. Via con dios!

Taxes Disguised

February 5th, 2010 by Paladin

My wife and I are taking a trip tomorrow. Just one more example of how greedy our government is, check out these ratios for 2 tickets:

Actual Air Fare – $719.96
Taxes & Fees – $264.60
Ratio – 36.75%

How ridiculous is that? Now, we are leaving the country so maybe it’s the greed of our politicians combined with the greed of this foreign country’s politicians?

Nutricious Food Simply, Fast

February 1st, 2010 by Paladin

Do you get tired of picking out what to eat? Does it seem like the same things over and over? Would you rather just have them stick an I.V. in you and be done with it?

Never fear! Our brightest minds are at work on this very problem. The wunderkind at MIT have created Cornucopia. The bad news is that this project is just getting underway and I won’t be able to buy on at Bed, Bath & Beyond this weekend.

Ref Bias: Winning Team Gets More Calls Against Them

January 30th, 2010 by Paladin

Just finished watching Kentucky beat Vandy today. What sticks in my mind was how bad the referees were; on both sides! But remember:

Refs favor the home team, the academics say. They’re big on “make-up” calls. They make more calls against teams in the lead, and the discrepancy grows if the game is on national TV.

This comes from an AP story about an article published in the The Journal of Sports Sciences. Bottom line? Refs are simply human too and, at least subliminally, pull for whoever is losing.

More interesting stuff in the article.

Should the iPad Be Your 2nd Computer?

January 28th, 2010 by Paladin

My wife is constantly on Facebook and does send some emails. Maybe this would be great for her? (Note of honesty: That just be me trying to justify a purchase… I certainly won’t deny it.)

Dojo Info 1/27/10

January 27th, 2010 by Paladin
  1. UK 7-year-old raises tens of thousands for Haiti
    Only thing cooler than this would be if the 7-year-old was a student at UK.
  2. Dutch adoption plane airlifts 106 Haitian kids
    I’m sure there are other countries doing the same thing. Awesome!
  3. CBS Faces Pro-Abortion Pressure to Scrap Pro-Life Ad Featuring Tim Tebow
    If you want to present a differing opinion, buy an ad. This is America after all. But hey, NBC censored free speech last year, what’s to stop CBS from doing it this year?
  4. Rock Band 3 in the works
    No real “news” as everyone already knows they’re working on what comes next but I’m anxious for a new release. Not sure that Project Natal would work for this, would it?
  5. Obama Jinxes No. 1 Kentucky
    I’m sure our kids didn’t need to get their big heads any larger but what can you do when the President calls. Not a good game for Kentucky.

Flash Animation Gone Wild

January 27th, 2010 by Paladin

Terrific stuff! Go watch it now!

Sherlock Holmes a Jolly Good Time

January 26th, 2010 by Paladin

I don’t see many movies, which is a good thing and a bad thing. I like movies so I wish I could see more, but at least the ones I do see have the most potential to be worthwhile.

I thought Sherlock Holmes was terrific. And because of that, I’ve now lost faith in the Net collective MetaCritic as a reliable measure. Maybe it’s not the site’s fault as much as the self-important slew of “critics” who blew it up. From their comments, it seems they have more against Guy Ritchie than the movie itself, but whatever, I don’t care. I thought it was great fun, with a just a few complaints. 9 out of 10

Spreading UK Love in Iraq

January 21st, 2010 by Paladin

Just saw this over on Kentucky Sports Radio.

The above picture is of a long-time KSR reader David Kaelin, who has been in Iraq and Afghanistan for some time and presented a Patrick Patterson jersey to two members of the Iraqi Government last week.

How cool is that?

Obama Wants to Own You

January 21st, 2010 by Paladin

Scary, scary stuff here. Obamacare is socialistic medicine… no question about it.

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