Unan1mous: Show 1

Social experiments in primetime. What a concept! I feel like I’m back in Psychology 101 except instead of sitting in blue plastic chairs staring at a unmotivated professor droning on about page 87 in “the text” I get to recline on my sofa, cold beverage in hand and watch it unfold live on my television. Now that’s higher education!

In case you missed it, the premise of UNAN1MOUS is to lock 9 strangers in an underground bunker, no windows, no clocks and no information from the outside world then keep them there until they unanimously agree to give all the prize money to one person. This thing is ripe for conflict.

Tarah is one of the “cute” girls. Cute being subjective I suppose. Anyway, with only a half hour to get to know these people, Tarah didn’t get much airtime. So far, all I know is she designs handbags and somehow was detained, not once, but twice for carrying live ammo. Where did they grab this one?

Vanessa is the soccer mom and for that reason alone, I like her better than most of the people on the show. But to be fair, I have no idea if she’s a good mom or what. She could drunk on the sofa with her kids locked in the cellar, for all I know.

Adam is a professional card player so he should have a leg up on the competition. Problem is, he’s a bit swarmy. That’s not helping.

Jonathan, the real estate salesperson, threw out the first salvo by claiming to have, of all things, testicular cancer. It worked for Lance Armstrong, right? Turns out he doesn’t, but they don’t know that. This show is going to rock!

In the first few hours, Jamie is already losing it. No way she lasts. Only problem is that if anyone leaves the bunker, the prize money, currently at $1,500,000 gets cut in half. So everyone wants everyone else to stay. Don’t worry Jamie, I’m sure time will pass quickly… not.

Steve seems like a decent guy, as truck drivers go. Got the most votes the first time around too. We’ll have to wait and see if he’ll be able to improve his perception but so far, he’s the front runner.

Now Richard used to be in a mental hospital, so I hope they keep him around. Does Fox have those guys in white suits behind a secret door just waiting for Richard to snap? It’s certainly not helping that Richard is currently without a full-time job. This could go badly and quick.

Even though homosexual groups claim their population is around 10%, the facts show it to be more like 2%. That doesn’t stop every reality TV show ever made from including at least one in their casting. Jameson, more than any that have come before was openly antagonistic when Kelly the minister started rattling off all the sins from the Bible. There was one stretch when they had to *bleep* every other word coming out of his mouth. 3-to-2 odds says Jameson throws something at Kelly sometime in the next week.

Fox did their homework when they found Kelly. There can’t be too many outspoken female ministers who’ve also falsely filed for bankruptcy. Nice piece of dirt that. So let’s get this straight, the Christian person is the show’s biggest hypocrite? Perfect. Personally, I’d like Kelly booted before she can further damage the perception of one of the world’s biggest religions.

Next show: Wedneday, March 29 @ 9:30 EST.

Dig If You Will the Picture

I was dying yesterday listening to Jim Rome recount the tale of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince who rented a $12m dollar house from Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer. That’s the most normal part of this whole story.

It seems that Prince decided that for his new album promotion, he’d do a little redecorating. It wasn’t his house, but he’s royalty, right? Now Boozer is suing. You can read the whole bizarre tale here. Rome kept throwing in references to Prince songs. Hilarious!

Dojo Info 3/23/06

1. Race to blast tourists into space is on
   What used to cost $20M/ride is looking to be a more affordable $100-$200k. Nice.
2. Video: A dashboard that is really a PC
   Man oh man is this cool. But they better beta test the hell out of it or we’ll see our traffic accident numbers skyrocket!
3. Is Whole Foods Wholesome? The dark secrets of the organic-food movement.
   There seems to be misleading messages coming from stores that sell organic as the eco-conscious decision.
4. Missing children cases from storms resolved
   “The largest child-recovery effort in U.S. history is complete after more than six months, with 5,192 children missing after hurricanes Katrina and Rita reunited with family members.”
5. Gamers Getting PWND
   Be careful what you wish for.

Bracket Templates: Teams 2 to 26

In an effort to further expand the perception that I’m a complete geek, I built the handy, dandy Paladin’s Bracket Templates (v1.0) spreadsheet. All you have to do is enter the team names, from 2 teams to 26 teams, add a snazy title and you’re good to go!

No more wondering who gets the byes and who should play the tougher team. It’s easy to those brackets for 8, 16 or 24 teams. What about a 7 team bracket? Or the unlucky 13? Ever seen a 25 team bracket before? Neither had I until I did my homework.

Now, the 21st Century Paladin is providing this free of charge, with no guarantees, so if you think your team’s draw sucks… don’t come crying to me. ;^)

Update: Per a request from a loyal reader I’ve added Bracket support for a 32-team tourney. And “Yes!” it’s all one bracket, not two 16-team brackets joined into one. Have at it!

Paladin’s Bracket Templates^TM v2.0

UK Win/Loss Since 1931 Chart

There’s a portion of (small but vocal) Kentucky fans that think the program would be better off without Tubby Smith. Their position is that while Tubby’s winning percentage has been great, the University hasn’t been to Final Four since his first season as coach. My position is that you can’t completely discount his record, even though I believe this past season is certainly his worst yet.

I’m not sure this chart helps either side of the argument, but it was fun to do. What is your opinion?

DP Starting Coverage of Rahman Case

Now the word is getting out. Did the blogsphere push the DP on this?

Update: Now Germany and Italy say they’ll move on this, if necessary. What say you America?

Family Research Council Speaks Out in Rahman Case

As usual, Tony Perkin’s is spot on. Here’s what he put in today’s Washington Update:

“Freedom of worship is an important element of any democracy and these are issues as Afghan democracy matures that they are going to have to deal with increasingly,” says State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. This is all he offers in response to a threatened judicial murder. Abdul Rahman is being tried for apostasy in American-liberated Afghanistan. Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) so far has been silent. Hooper is usually quick to decry any anti-Muslim slight. By not speaking out against this outrageous action, CAIR is dealing with the issue. The judge in Rahman’s case soothingly assures us that all will be forgiven if he renounces his Christianity because “Islam is a religion of tolerance.” Really? Today, I sent letters to President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), the respective foreign affairs committee chairmen. Religious freedom is not just “an important element” of democracy; it is its cornerstone. Religious persecution leads inevitably to political tyranny. Five hundred years of history confirm this. Americans have not given their lives so that Christians can be executed.

I’m with you Tony. Has our world already spun out of control?

Barret Update: Good News!

Who is that strange man with Mommy?	I just love those cafe pictures above the couch.
You’re getting my good side, right?	Does this outfit make me look fat?

Mrs. Paladin just got back from the cardiologist visit and we have good news! They did an ultrasound on Little Bear and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) is now considered “small” where it was “moderate” before. This is great news as the VSD is more worrisome than his ASD.

The doctor was very upbeat saying things like he didn’t expect it to be this much reduced, or something to that extent. Tough to tell from second-hand testimony. ;^) But all in all, we consider this very good news and likelihood of surgery has just been decreased. Now, if we can only get Bear to poop less than 12 times a day, go without crying for more than 15 minutes and sleep longer than 3 hours at a stretch. Hey, prayer works, why not ask, right?

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. They are cherished!

What ‘Separation of Church and State’ REALLY Means

It seems we all must do our part to fight the rewriting of history. The words “separation”, “church”, or “state” do not appear in the first amendment of our Constitution, though many will lead you to believe they do. Look it up for yourself.

Here is where the concept did come from:

I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. 1

You can find a more thorough reading on the topic by scholar and author David Barton.

The primary point that we all should understand is that the government was designed by the Founding Fathers to not promote any single religion over or above any other religion. Each citizen is supposed to have the freedom to choose whatever legitimate religion they desire. (Much of that idea is currently under attack by groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State as they seek to denegrate Christianity while giving other religions a pass.)

You see, the wisdom behind this position ensures that America doesn’t become a country of religious intolerance or worse, much much worse, a country of religious persecution. Which brings us to Afghanistan today. As I noted in yesterday’s Dojo Info, Abdul Rahman is being put on trial by his country for choosing to believe a religion other than the state-mandated one, Islam. The penalty for Abdul would be death. And the sting of all stings is that it was his own family that turned him in. What does that remind you of?

It seems the blood of our soldiers who’ve died to help liberate Afghanistan from the oppressive regime of the Taliban is being tainted, demeaned by a government who wants to kill it’s own citizens for merely believing something other than what they want them to believe.

Can you see how lucky we are to live in a country where freedom is cherished? At least, for now.

I’m not sure what can be done to save Abdul’s life, but we can ask our President to do something. Then we can spread the word about how Islam is not a religion of peace, like so many want us to believe. Any religion that teaches that it’s right to kill people for merely believing something different, is a religion we should all be speaking out against.

1. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed. (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 510, January 1, 1802.

Dojo Info 3/21/06

1. Censure Feingold!
   “As a concerned citizen, I am expressing my disappointment and outrage at the actions of Senator Russ Feingold and his formal call for censure of President Bush. Such actions during a time of war are unfounded and irresponsible, and as such put our troops and our nation further at risk. I urge the Senate to reject Sen. Feingold’s call for censure. Also, I am calling on Senate leadership to formally censure Sen. Feingold for his actions. It is fully within the authority of the Senate to censure its own as a formal statement of disapproval of a Senator’s actions.”
2. A Moore’s law for razor blades?
   I can’t believe people spend more money for these crazy things. First thing I thought of was this piece from The Onion. [note: harsh language]
3. Silent Struggle: A New Theory of Pregnancy
   Are people truly so bored as to make up crap like this?
4. snakesonaplane
   Getting your music to the masses has a new highway.
5. A Christian on Trial
   The sad part is that this isn’t a rarity.

The God Factor

Human beings are so incredibly diverse. Not only in our genetic makeup but mixing in our life experiences futher increase our uniqueness. How we see God (or choose not to see) is as varied as the design of a snowflake. So maybe it’s like the Indian proverb about an elephant?

Several blind men were asked to describer the elephant before them.

The first man felt only the elephant’s trunk. So he described it as long and cylindrical, with the ability to pick things up.
The second man felt only the ears. He described the elephant as being a flat, floppy animal.
The third man felt only the midsection of the elephant’s body. He described the elephant as a large, round sturdy animal.
The fourth felt just a leg of the elephant. So he described the elephant as a thick cylinder that bends in the middle.
The fifth man who felt only the tail described it as long and thin, narrowing to a point at the end.

None of us have seen all of God. We each have whatever knowledge we have based on our searching and His revelation. And even though we know we won’t get the whole picture until the next life, we should never tire of the seeking. It’s in this vein that reading Cathleen Falsani’s book can help us see more that we currently have glimpsed.

Dojo Info 3/20/06

1. Hot peppers fight cancer?
   Fabulastic news!!
2. Google Mars
   Now, how are they making money on this?!?
3. Pregnant teen waitress gets $1,000 tip
   There should be more stories like these. No wait! There’s this! I love Happy News.
4. Let the games begin at GDC
   Sounds like it’s more of the same. “When are the new consoles coming out?” “How can we broaden our market?” Blah, blah, blah. How about brainstorming on the best way to make innovative new games? Someone should tell them about my Lifelike Adventure Manifesto.
5. Why We’re All Jesus’ Children
   “Go back a few millenniums, and we’ve all got the same ancestors.” Interesting idea. I have no idea if science supports it though.

Kentucky Falls to Top Seed UConn

They didn’t get the link text right, but UConn did win. UConn beat UK 87-83 in a game that the Wildcats were down 13 points with 13 minutes to go. Poor rebounding down the stretch was the difference in my opinion. Now thoughts of Kentucky fans everywhere do what they do each year about this time… who are our recruits for next year?

Kentucky Gets Past Streaky UAB

Sure, it’s only one game, but the way this season has gone, you never really know what could happen with the Wildcats. So after #8 seed Kentucky pulled out a 69-64 win over #9 seed UAB, I breathed a major sigh of relief.

UAB touches a sore spot. Two years ago to be exact. Kentucky was a #1 seed who looked past this bunch of badgering streaks of lightning and received the result—a foul-tasting loss. Yesterday’s win does’t erase that year’s loss but it certainly does help.

The hero of the night was junior Bobby Perry who had a career night scoring 25 points including 10-of-10 from the free throw line. ESPN even named him Player of the day:

Kentucky’s Bobby Perry, who exploded for a career-high 25 points and was the only Wildcat in double figures in a 69-65 win over UAB. UK plays UConn on Sunday.

Perry has been coming on lately. But if Kentucky thinks Perry will be able to save then tomorrow against #1 seed Connecticut, they better think again. It’ll take career games from multiple players to beat a UConn team that’ll be riled up after a narrow win against Albany.

Dojo Info 3/17/06

1. This is what a Honda sounds like.
   Innovative as usual!
2. Your secret PIN may not be so secret
   Any 4-digit PIN is going to be very easy to crack, given enough time.
3. FCC slaps record fine for Without a Trace
   Without a Trace aired a graphic depiction of “teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.” Citizens responded in outrage for this to be on primetime. The FCC is acting responsibly. In the quest for higher and higher ratings, some networks (in this case CBS) are allowing their shows to cross the line.
4. Leading ‘Game Winning Shot’ Players
   Carmelo is tops. Kobe is down the list. Guess it’s not clothes that make the man, but how many highlights he gets on SportsCenter.
5. UNAN1MOUS
   I’m a reality-TV addict and this one looks to be right up my ally.