Dojo Info 8/31/06

1. Ethanol Turned Into Food-Grade Alcohol
   C’mon now… is this truly a pressing need?
2. Cons in the virtual gaming world
   Criminals ripped off innocent citizens? MMORPs are just like real life!
3. Will fiber optics replace the lightbulb?
   Only if those prices come down.
4. Graph of American house values from 1890 to the present
   The recent rise is unprecedented and somewhat frightening. [via kottke]
5. China Atheist, U.S. Preacher Clash in Book
   The term “Clash” is a bit misleading. Palau is one of the nicest guys around and I hear that people really love him so I bet it’s very civil, these discussions.

Media Cheating on Couric Photos

Now we’ve got another example of the Media lying to us with pictures—this time with Katie Couric. You’d think that after they’ve been caught many times, they’d quit. But no, they’re a persistent lot.

If you’re as upset with the injustic as I am, you might want to contribute to the Media Research Center.

Rockstar: Supernova – Elimination #8

To be honest, I missed both Ryan’s and Storm’s performances. But lucky me, I was priviledged enough to see Dilana’s awkward “Psycho Killer” song. Boy did it stink. She should have been sent home, but the band chose Ryan instead. If the band ends up with Dilana, you can’t say they haven’t been warned. At this point, I’m voting for Toby who’s really the only guy I can visualize up there.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Tickets for the Supernova Tour are now on sale! Please, no stampedes… please form an orderly line and… hello? Anyone there?

Update (years later): Ryan wrote this awesome song for the theme to Lie To Me

USA Gets Past Germany with ‘D’

Not that I could watch it, me without TiVo and a 6 am airing, but it’s still good to read that our boys got the job done by beating Germany 85-65.

Next up is Greece and if the American win, they’ll meet either Argentina or Spain in the finals. It only takes one slip to fall so let’s hope Coack Kommerical can motivate the troops.

Big Brother 7 – Power of Veto #9

The whirlwind force of truly comprehensive competitive power is Janelle. Let there be no mistake. This girl will stomp your ass then smile holding the trophy. While she might have missed her true calling, in let’s say Tennis or Roller Derby, Janelle has put stiffling fear in the hearts of her competitors. At least those who know better.

So Janelle comes down and Danielle goes up. In what’s become a reocurring theme this year, here’s the formula:

1. Player doesn’t trust Will/Boogie
2. Player talks to Will/Boogie
3. Player believes Will/Boogie is telling the truth
4. Player trusts Will/Boogie
5. Will/Boogie backstabs Player

So the latest bumbling idiot to fall for this is Erika. Sure, Boogie had to put the moves on her to make this work, but it’s working and now Erika will look the fool and will only have herself to blame.

The only thing I’m surprised about is why more victims don’t respond like Howie? With true outrage? Will Erika grin and bear it or will she hold true to her threat to “kick Mike’s ass”? Now that’s something I’d pay to watch.

Rockstar: Supernova – Performances #9

Big show last night; lots of great performances and drama. Let’s get right to it.

Performances

America voted “Lithium” to be sung by Lukas. Cool song that’s getting overplayed, IMO. Lukas had tons of energy bouncing and jerking around the stage. He’s a wonder to watch. But his vocals weren’t up to par so it lacked the total punch he needed to blow away the band.

Magni was given “I Alone” and rocked it hard. Lukas’ best quality is his strangely attractive stage presence, while Magni has a better voice but he lacks confidence it at times, which makes him looks hesitant or unsure. But what about the House Band? They killed on this song.

Just because I love “Clocks” so much shouldn’t affect my being impartial… aw who am I kidding? This was the performance of the night! The song rocked! Ryan rocked! Everything gelled. I especially loved when Ryan scrambed back to the piano to play the reoccuring piano chorus. Stellar!

“Bring Me Back to Life” is a tough song to sing, and for someone who had never sung it before, Storm did a tremendous job of it. But would someone clue Storm in on this little piece of advice, just because you’re a rock singer doesn’t mean you can’t be ladylike. All her leg spreading/straddling antics are a little over the top and make her look like a stripper. And everyone knows that Rock Stars are a rung or two above strippers. C’mon lass… class it up a bit!

I think it’s obvious now that Toby is the front-runner, mate. While this performance lacked the inventiveness of Ryan’s it was still strong as Toby belted out “Rebel Yell” and got the crowd involved, so I’ll give him . But the House Band guitarist gets because he jammed!

All of the disdain that I used to hold for Zayra, I’ve not transferred to Dilana. It’s not like I liked her before, but now I really don’t like her. “Mother Mother” is a sad excuse for a song and couldn’t be more annoying even if you added a strobe light pointing directly at the camara. Of course, Navarro loves her but… “Dilana? I’m sorry, you’re just not right for our band Supernova.”

Bottom Three
Early voting shows: Lukas, Ryan and Storm. I’m guessing that Storm will hit the pavement this week. What say you?

Wager What You Will

Got an email from Greg Godden, a PR Coordinator from Riptown. From the looks of it, I’m guessing they’ve got a partnership with the wagering company Bodog.

Hey 21st Century Paladin,

Jeff Probst was on The Early Show this morning to discuss the controversial new season of Survivor: Cook Islands with co-anchor Harry Smith and in a controversial announcement, CBS confirmed that the next edition of Survivor would see the four competing tribes separated based on their races.

Bodog.com – the authority in celebrity, reality TV and entertainment wagering – has just posted odds on the controversial Survivor series. The wager being offered by Bodog.com is:

Odds On: Which tribe will the winner of CBS’ hit reality TV series, “Survivor: Cook Islands” be from?

The Asian American Tribe 13/7
The Hispanic Tribe 3/1
The African-American Tribe 7/3
The White Tribe 3/2

As of now, the Hispanic tribe is the 1/1 favorite. Interesting stuff. Now, I don’t condone gambling myself, but I’ve used spreads and the like in my Fantasy Football leagues.

Now we can all add another resource as we talk about things like Rockstar: Supernova. According to Bodog, both Ryan and Lukas are 6/5 favorites. In Big Brother, Will and Danielle are 1/1 favorites.

Media Kowtows to Muslim Terrorists

As usual the FRC gets it right concerning the recent release of the two Fox network journalists:

I must take issue with the headline in today’s Washington Times, however. The Capital’s conservative paper shows the freed journalist smiling and labels them: “FREE AND UNHARMED.” You are not unharmed when you are held at gunpoint for nearly two weeks. You are not unharmed when restrained in very painful positions–something called “torture” when Americans were accused of doing it to prisoners. You are not unharmed when you are forced to change your name on worldwide television. And you are certainly not unharmed when you are forced to convert to Islam at the point of a gun. Is this a “religion of peace,” or a “religion of the piece?”

Big Brother 7 – Nomination #9

It’s official. Will is in love… with himself. Makes for interesting TV though. But I still can’t get over how much he looks like Michael Myers.

Like everyone else in the house, Erika has chosen to trust Chilltown. They must have smuggled some drug into the house that makes everyone else lose their freakin’ minds.

Janelle has come to terms that she has to keep winning Veto Competitions to stay in the house. And she’s not afraid. George, on the other hand, is about as laissez faire as he could be. It’s really baffling that so many people have put their trust in Chilltown only to shown the door, then others do it. Will has to be considered the King of Big Brother, because we all know Boogie isn’t the one with the brains.

Comair Crash Kills 49, 1 Survivor

In what’s likely the biggest tragedy in our state’s history, it’s now being reported that the Delta Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky this morning, took off from the wrong runway—the short runway.

Our prayers go out to the families involved.

USA Dominates Australia to Advance

USA Puts Australia Down Under 40-point Rout
Now that’s the kind of win we need. Since we’re into the “important” games, the U.S. team really needed to focus… and they did, to the tune of a run-a-way victory. Because a single loss would likely lose the gold, every game is critical for the favorites and it looks like the team understands it.

Next up is Germany and Dirk Nowitzki, who only won their game by a single point, against Nigeria. This shouldn’t be the game where the wheels fall off the bus, but the players should never forget what happened in 2002. That time out the American’s finished 6th—the worst International performance by an American basketball team ever.

’10k Reasons’ Censors My Entry

So I just posted on the 10,000 Reasons Civilization is Doomed site right? Well, apparently the Vessanello 6 like to censor entries they don’t particularly like because my entry was removed. The screen shot above is was my addition (#2265) that was on the site one minute, erased the next.

You try it. See if they’ll allow your opinion to exist on their site. Screen cap your post immediately, then watch to see if they remove it. If they do, spread the word and see if others are getting their entries denied. I wonder what it was that made them remove my reason?

Update: Let’s see how long this one stays up there. If you mouseover the “Read the most recent reason” link, you can tell by the URL that while 2,377 posts are displaying, there have been 4,894 submitted. That shows the site owners are deleting roughly 51.4% of all entries. I would expect that some where removed due to duplication or vulgarity, but mine was neither. I wonder what their agenda is?

Dojo Info 8/26/06

1. Where there’s Smoke there’s Fire…
   VoodooPC’s official blog, talking about strategy and Dell’s aquisition of Alienware. Very insightful stuff from the man himself. [via Blog Maverick]
2. Iraqi Girl Once Deaf Hears After Surgery
   With all the crap in the news these days, I’m focusing more and more on Happy News.
3. 10,000 Reasons Civilization is Doomed
   Almost a quarter of the way there!
4. Cop Ghost Rides The Whip
   Yet another reason why YouTube-like sites will rule/ruin the world.
5. If All Else Fails… Pray
   Here’s Scoop Jackson talking some sense into those that think Team U.S.A. and continue on like we used to.

Big Brother 7 – Eviction #8

Well, James didn’t go ballistic like we all hoped. Verrrryy disappointing. Anyway, S6 is down to Janelle. If she can win all the challenges here on in, then she has a chance. Did you see how intense Danielle was in the diary room? Goodness.

Denied HoH last time due to faulty equipment, Erika won it this time fair and square. Chances are she puts up George and Janelle. We shall see.

Dojo Info 8/25/06

1. Congressman helps deliver his own son
   Talk about your hands-on Dad.
2. Woman Gives Birth While Stuck in Traffic
   Two in a row?!? Sounds like we need more hospitals.
3. YouTube could be a steal at $1 billion
   Are these people crazy? As of today, YouTube hasn’t made a single dime. Color me baffled.
4. Rubik’s Cube solved in 20.09, One-Handed
   If I didn’t know better I’d say this wasn’t real. Insane! Here’s a guy doing it blind-folded! To think it can even be done blind-folded is unreal. I’m not worthy. You have to watch it!!
5. Crysis E3 Demo
   This game is going to ROCK! Trust me.