Dojo Info 7/31/07

1. Angels & Airwaves
   A&A announces their 2nd release, I Empire, due to release in October.
2. Brian ‘Head’ Welch Hits NY Times Bestseller List with Conversion Story
   His book is titled: Save Me From Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story Wow. I’m not one to read non-fiction often but this sounds intriguing.
3. Hip-hop’s roots celebrated in NY
   Back in the day, even Paladin jammed with Afrika Bambaataa and Planet Rock.
4. Where Funny Goes To Die
   Different strokes for different folks but I never really thought Robin Williams was very funny. He’s a ball of liquid energy, but he never really made me laugh.
5. PS3 To Get DVR Functions, Digital Tuner In 2008
   That’d be crazy wicked.

KG to Join Pierce, Allen in Boston

With a KG trade to Boston all but official, The Sports Guy is considering the Celts viable again. And for a guy who hasn’t been “up” on team in the last 15 years, Bill is more than excitable.

3-to-2 says Ainge finds a way to screw it up.

Dojo Info 7/28/07

1. Tiny Dog Saves Baby From Rattlesnake
   I hate yippy dogs but in this case, I’ll make an exception.
2. Asterisk Says It Wants No Part of Barry Bonds Record; Suggests Question Mark “Step Up For Once”
   Haha!
3. Coin dealer flies dime worth $1.9 million to NYC
   1 of only 24 created; 1 of only 9 known to still exist. That’s a rare coin. [via kottke]
4. Harry Potter and the Phantom Delivery
   Looks like kottke has the same gripe I do with Amazon’s on-time delivery lag. Him with Harry Potter and me with Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s. Here’s what I wrote:

   I’ve been an Amazon customer for years and I’ve been extremely pleased. In fact, I have an Amazon VISA. So it’s uncommon for me to complain about your service but this past order was different.

   Several months back I put in a Pre-Order for Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s because I wanted to get it as soon as it came out. That date was July 24th. Thinking Amazon does so much business, I thought you would have inventory before (or at least the same time as) most other stores. Boy was I wrong.

   As it turned out, you didn’t even ship the product on the 25th. Today is the 28th and I still don’t have it. Tomorrow is Sunday so I doubt it will arrive then. That means I’m likely to get the item I pre-ordered roughly 6 days after I could have purchased it if I had walked down the street to Target.

   Needless to say this level of service is extremely poor. Even though up until this experience I really liked shopping with Amazon (check my account) I’ll likely use Amazon less because of this issue.

   I thought you would want to know.

5. Bond tries for the Record
   The sports world is about to implode. What’s with steroid-Barry yanking the record; Vick trying to buy his way outta jail; and Stern allowing the dirty NBA ref to potentially take down the Association. What do you think? Is there any reason why we shouldn’t be outraged?!?

Grand Canyon Skywalk

Vertigo anyone? I believe that this is just one of those things you have to see to believe.

Where Is Jeff Conaway These Days?

Watching this season’s Big Brother, I was trying to figure out who Dick reminded me of. Then it hit me… Bobby from Taxi! Tell me I’m wrong?!?

Donaghy Reffing Suns-Spurs Game 3

There’s nothing like video evidence to throw some gasoline on a wildfire. The NBA better handle this and quickly.

Wii Is So Funny

I love stuff like this. Maybe I should start a blog that has nothing but videos of laughing people?

Dojo Info 7/23/07

1. Progress seen on Internet radio talks
   “Yay!” for the little guy. I still love Pandora.
2. One man out, one league in trouble
   Simmon’s take on the crooked NBA ref and ensuing fallout.
3. Top Sounds-Like Artists
   So you like Bjork? Maybe you’ll like Meg Lee Chin? Great idea!
4. Rock Band Bundle On Amazon – $200
   I think the hardware is a loss leader with the true revenue opportunities to arrive via downloads. Well… that’s what I’d do anyway. But with the XBox 360 experiencing so many problems, it looks like I’ll have to fork out the big bucks for a PS3.
5. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80′s
   In case I haven’t said this before (*giggle*) GH is releasing Rock the 80′s tomorrow. Yippee!

Nintendo Lays the Wood on Sony, Microsoft

Some critics had thought Nintendo’s strategy to ignore processor power in favor of gameplay was misguided. Who’s laughing now? Just check out these numbers for June:

* Nintendo DS – 561,900
* Wii – 381,800
* PlayStation 2 – 270,700
* PSP – 230,100
* Xbox 360 – 198,400
* Game Boy Advance – 109,400
* PLAYSTATION 3 – 98,500

Nintendo is putting the smackdown on the competition with no end in sight.

Dojo Info 7/21/07

1. Every 2007 NCAA Tournament game on DVD!
   For the college basketball junkies among us. (Especially you Gator fans. Bleech.)
2. Video: Free competitor of ‘Guitar Hero’
   No WAY the keyboard is gonna beat the guitar controller of GH.
3. Video: MTV shows its future in virtual worlds, new ‘Rock Band’
   Six months is a long time to wait. 8^(
4. If U.S. team medals, it will be a good Pan Am Games
   What happened to the game that America invented? Apparently, we’ve exported it. C’mon guys!
5. Robot Visits Patients When Doctor Can’t
   The title is misleading… it’s really just teleconferencing. Which I think is a good thing; certainly better than not showing up at all.

Dirty Ref About to Be Taken Down by FBI

I have no idea if the dirty ref is Joey Crawford (pictured above) or not, but it would make me happy if it was. Crawford is the same guy who tossed Tim Duncan for basically breathing.

Whoever the culprit is I hope the FBI nails his hide to the wall. Dirty cops and dirty refs should both get a special cell in the pen. If the Association would be more forthcoming about the way they manage their refs, like Cuban has been recommending for years, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.

Update: Turns out it’s a guy named Tim Donaghy. Drat!

Electric Sports Car Blazingly Quick

0 to 60 in 3 seconds. Oh my! Here’s a write-up on Wired and a cool video on c|net. How about making a less powerful version for under $30k?

Dojo Info 7/16/07

1. New park to stretch from Ga. to Ky.
   Pretty cool idea!
2. Intel and ‘$100 Laptop’ Project Make Peace
   Now there’s a nice corporate giant.
3. Report: Teen Birth Rate Hits Record Low
   While astounding news, I have to say I’m happy. That’s one of our country’s big dilemmas.
4. World’s Tallest Man Gets Hitched
   That poor woman…
5. It’s Root, Root, Root For the Home Team
   “It seems an incestuous, unhealthy relationship that only furthers the perception that Barad Dûr is doing more harm than good.” [via aSoB]

Mickelson Chokes It Big Time

I really don’t want to type more than is necessary.

The picture says it all.

“Ohhhnooooooo…”

You really gotta feel bad for the guy.

[via KSR]

Dojo Info 7/15/07

1. Guitar Hero III First Impressions
   Juicy!
2. Atheists and Agnostics Take Aim at Christians
   It’s been going on for years but these efforts rarely make the news. A few ACLU efforts have been anti-religion as they claim to act on behalf of everyone.
3. First Look: Microsoft Surface
   At first blush, it’s coolness for coolness sake but when you start to see how processes can be improved, it’s really a huge step forward. Of course, all these wireless signals are causing cancer… at least, that’s the rumor.
4. Windows Vista Help
   As expected, there are some new things to learn about Vista. Rule #1, “Buy more RAM.”
5. Sinéad O’Connor’s Theology and ‘Theology’
   “Why you shouldn’t be surprised that her new album is mostly passages from the Old Testament.” Good read. Sounds like a wiser, more mature Sinéad.