New Greenpeace Ad About Gas Guzzlers

I love this... it's only a matter of time before this sort of thing is reality, I think.

Guns, Germs, and College Football.

This is from one of my favorite Notre Dame Football blogs... it doesn't talk about Notre Dame but it does talk about the absurdity that is College Football in the state of Florida.

I'm waiting for someone wearing red and silver to get shot in the ass here in Columbus next.

I will say nothing more but pass this link along to you... enjoy. And be flabbergasted.

How Well Do You Know Jamie?

Matt showed us this site... now it's time for the big quiz:

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW JAMIE!

Treasure Hunters Need a Real Dose of Americana

BEWARE: HISTORY-BASED RANT AHEAD!

I'm not one for getting too addicted to TV show... one will come along every once in a while that I love but even then, it's not like I have to watch it NOW (Thank you, TiVo). The X-Files and Lost are the two most recent examples (See? Two shows in the past 10 years).

But recently I've been watching NBC's Treasure Hunters and getting into the search for whatever this treasure may be. It's been neat to watch the show weave its way around the country (and, in the last episode, through parts of France and Britain). And it's also fun to watch them solve the puzzles while you sit there and agonize at their not seeing what's right in front of them.

However... I'm getting very disappointed at this group of people because they don't seem to have even the FIRST bit of knowledge about this country's history sometimes!

Example: last episode, the clue they found was a mask of a person, and they were told it was a foreigner who had a lot to offer the continental army under Washington. I was torn for a while as to whether they were referring to the Marquis de Lafayette or Casimir Pulaski, both of whom were Europeans that offered their services to the Father of our Country during the Revolutionary War.

What disturbed the HELL out of me, though, was that no one in the Treasure Hunters group even had a theory about who the person might be, even when they knew their next stop was Paris, France! In fact, on the show's website they had some "behind the scenes" video of the show, and one of the contestants (who is an Air Force officer) explained to the camera that they were looking for the statue of Lafayette, "even though they weren't sure who he was!"

When even the officers who are defending our country don't know our history, what hope is there for the rest of the country? The lack of knowledge about this country's history among the general populace makes me sick.

I'll continue watching the show, because it's fun to see how much SMARTER I am than the folks who are taking part, and because it's neat to see all the puzzles. But at this point, I don't care who wins because they're all losers.

Congratulations Floyd Landis!

My new sports hero, Floyd Landis, took home the maillot jaune in a classic Tour De France that started off on a questionable note but then featured one of the greatest sports performances of all time.

People wondered who was going to replace Lance Armstrong... we may have our answer if the hip surgery goes well.

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Do yourself a favor: Watch Landis

Jim Caple of ESPN is with me... Landis and the Tour are THE biggest thing going on in sports right now, BAR NONE.

Especially with the World Cup over.

The New American in Paris

For those who were amazed at the exploits of Floyd Landis in yesterday's stage of the Tour De France, check this out. The man is simply an animal.

Fitting Fitness Into Your Life

On a message board that I frequent, one of the contributors brought up a very interesting point: the people who talk about wanting to get fit but "not having time for it," or "not being able to fit it into their busy schedule" are going about this all wrong.

Fitness is not just a process of trying to look good and lose weight. It is a process of life improvement. To truly get fit is not just hitting the weights once in a while or going to the gym to stare blindly at the TV screens while trudging on a treadmill, but actually taking steps to make yourself healthy inside and out. It includes lifestyle changes like diet improvements, regular full-body exercise, and goal-setting.

By full-body exercise, I don't just mean making sure you hit all your major muscle groups with weight routines, or doing the Nordic Trak because it hits all your muscle groups at once. I mean getting down and doing some very basic bodyweight exercises - nothing that isolates a muscle group, but rather working your body as a system from top to bottom. And I also mean exercises that hit not only your muscles, but those that massage the organs and increase the flow of oxygen into and out of the body. And most importantly, exercise that makes you wake up and take notice of what your body's real condition is.

People who listen to music or watch TV while exercising are on the wrong track. You don't want to try to distract yourself from your body while exercising, you want to pay MORE attention to it. You should be feeling every single breath that comes into your lungs, and feel every single muscle that expands or contracts as you go through the motions of the routine. If something doesn't feel right, work it till it does. Or go to the doctor to find out why it feels wrong if it's REALLY wrong.

I see infomercials with those silly ab exercisers that isolate your abs so that you don't hurt your neck while doing situps, and think "that's ridiculous. If your neck is sore from doing situps, then your neck is weak and you need to exercise that part of your body too."

But I'm getting off an a bad tangent here. The most important thing of all to keep in mind about exercise is that you shouldn't be trying to fit it into your life. You should be trying to fit the rest of your life around your health. If you aren't healthy, then the rest of your life doesn't mean jack. If I'm not healthy, I'm no good to my family, no good to my employer, no good to my friends.

And most importantly I'm no good to myself.

So the next time you think "I don't have time to exercise," turn that around and think "how can I fit my life around my health?"

Who is More Gangsta? You be the judge!

Parking: A HUGE Non-Issue

Where I work, there's a big furor going on over the fact that people are being asked to park somewhere that isn't convenient for them. And to that I respond: "Huh. Really."

Here's the situation: the area of OSU Medical Center where I work is a good distance from the rest of the Medical Center - so far that there is a shuttle service to get people around between our section of the campus, the main medical campus, and even the other two areas that require it (put it this way: one of the areas' shuttles goes once an hour because it's that far away, up at Polaris for those who know Columbus). So parking is a big deal for some people here.

Our area has free parking - one of the few places on the OSU campus where parking is free (and not just the Medical Center campus - the WHOLE CAMPUS). So people have been getting used to parking here and then taking the shuttle to wherever they work to avoid the parking pass fee.

So in an attempt to combat this dishonesty, the Medical Center brass has decided to increase the areas of our parking garage that are for patients only, as the effort is being made to ensure that patients get most of the parking. And to me, that makes good sense.

But the practical side of this is that the employees all over the Medical Center are up in arms about it, because they're being asked to park somewhere that's inconvenient for them. And at that, I mock them openly.

I take the bus to work every day. And I get dropped off RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BUILDING. Every day. And my bus pass costs about half of what it costs for parking passes, plus I don't have to worry about parking too far away from my office because I don't PARK ANYWHERE. OSU is the easiest employer to service with the COTA bus system as there are more routes toward campus than just about anywhere else in the city.

But to suggest to folks that they take the bus to work, you'd think that someone suggested that they crawl to work with a skateboard strapped to their stomach. They just don't get it!

But let's do the math:
Jamie:

• $40 per month, all the transportation he needs. Total: $480 per year.

Everyone else:

• According to AAA, in 2005 it cost $8,410 per year to own and operate a car. Add the $960 for OSU parking passes (I think it's $80/month). You're looking at around $9370 for operating a car as an OSU employee.

Is that an easy decision for anyone else to make? Yet for some reason, people just have it in their heads that they MUST drive to work. And I'm not going to be so bold as to say that EVERYONE could take the bus... some people don't have that luxury due to other constraints.

But I'm going to say half the employees here could get away with it, and enjoy not having to drive, not having to put up with road raging morons, not have to get frustrated by traffic, not having to shell out money every time someone decides to try to take the easy way and ends up ramming your back end, and most of all not have to lose almost $9000 a year just because you think you have to drive.

I laugh at those of you who choose to drive to work, particularly at OSU. It's really a no brainer.

Tommy Z Will Win Over All

I'm not normally a boxing fan, but I had to post this bad boy!

US Open Cup Redux

I've said before and I'll say again: One of my favorite sporting events in the country is the U.S. Open Cup. Even more than the NCAA basketball tournament, the Open Cup is the ultimate test of sporting dominance in the US. It's comprised of teams from every level of U.S. Soccer from amateur beer-league sides to MLS champions, and they all have to play each other.

For the first year in a long time, though, I'm nervous about our first game. We have to go and play the Mid-Michigan Bucks in Michigan... and this team is still trying to get its head out of its ass offensively. There's no reason that the Bucks should score on us, as we have a good defense. But we have NO forwards of note. Jason Garey and Kei Kamara are both forwards of the US model, which means they run around trying to set up the perfect shot instead of being strong off the ball and being in the right place at the right time. If it goes to PKs, which I think it will, then they have as good a chance against Noah Palmer as we will against whoever their keeper is.

So, yeah. I'm nervous. But perhaps a loss in the Open Cup is exactly what our boys will need to galvanize them to turn things around. Let's put it this way... it can't get too much worse.

Post World-Cup-Final Rehash

Well, this wasn't quite the final I was expecting... I figured it'd be a dive-fest by the Italians. Instead, the ref wasn't having it and the Italians adjusted admirably to the situation. And I had just found this video online, too...



Oh well. I was definitely for the French in this game, as I am not a big fan of defensive soccer. The French were playing an attractive speedy game, and the Italians were holding back. The insertion of Iaquinta and De Rossi made it pretty obvious after a while that they were playing for overtime and PKs. And the late insertion of Del Piero confirmed that for me as they'd definitely want his touch out there for the shootout.

But it was a good, solid hard-fought game, and both sides showed admirably. All in all, I was pleased with the attacking by the French (particularly in the second half) and you can't fault the Italians for their defense under such heavy fire at times. All in all, I'd say the better team won the day.

You can't go on, though, without commenting on the horrible finish by Zidane. It was pretty clear from the replay of the head-butting incident that the Italian player said something to Zidane, and Zidane was provoked to react. But in the World Cup Final, as the captain of your team, you need to show a little more control than that. As it stands, this is what people are going to remember about Zidane, and it's a shame. I like the man and his play, but that action is going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth as I recall his career.

Duct Tape Prom

Stuck At the Prom

I almost wish I was back in high school again so I could do this! Lots of creativity here!

Saddam On the Firing Line

From the Celtic FC List I belong to:

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein is found guilty and sentenced to be shot.

His last request is to name his own firing squad.

He chose Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, and Jamie Carragher from 12 yards....

World Cup Fact and Fiction

SI.com - Writers - Gabriele Marcotti: Debunking the myths about this Cup - Monday July 3, 2006 9:37AM

Wow... this guy is dead on. He has nailed every one of these myths.

And the truth is that CONCACAF does stink. If we were to join CONMEBOL today, we wouldn't see a World Cup berth till 2022. We're that far behind.

Tour De France versus The World Cup

I'm a sucker for international sports - especially the ones you don't get to see too often in America. Obviously soccer falls less and less into that category as time goes on, but the Beautiful Game will always have my attention (even when it's not that beautiful, like the Germany/Italy game yesterday). And as the World Cup is drawing near a close, I'm getting sucked into another event that I've grown to love: the Tour de France.

Now let's start out with that last word: France. I don't share most of my countrymen's dislike of France, as basically all the reasons people give for France being hated are the reasons America is hated - we only think about ourselves, we only act in our own self-interest, etc. To me, that's just hypocritical. Most people don't even know WHY they hate France, they just know that they do because "everyone else does." Well, I have never been one to do something just to keep up with the Joneses, and I'm not going to start now.

To sit back and watch the Tour is, to me, an exercise in loving the purity of sport. Now, to folks who know anything about pro cycling, that's going to sound weird. Pro cycling is, without a doubt, one of the dirtiest sports in the world as far as performance-enhancing substances are concerned. But once you get past all that crap, the actual event itself is simple. Cycle as fast as you can for three weeks and you win. No referee judgment calls, no time outs, no time wasting, etc. Get to the finish line in once piece.

After watching Totti flop around like a displaced smelt for 120 minutes on Tuesday, to watch a bunch of guys just cycle as hard as they could throughout the beautiful European countryside was very refreshing, soothing, and exciting. And getting caught up in all the nuances of the tour - the roles of domestiques, the activity in the peloton, the excitement of the breakaways, and the final mad dash to the finish - was just fun.

And possibly my favorite thing about the Tour is the land they're riding through. Whether they're in France or making their way out of France on one of their jaunts through Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. you get to see small-town Europe at its very best. The pride the Europeans take in their towns is so refreshing. Houses that have stood for hundreds of years are still being used. Narrow streets that were never made to handle automobiles are carefully maneuvered by cyclists as fans of the sport come out to cheer on the competitors and show off the pride they have in their communities. Ruins of old churches, castles, etc. dot the landscape. And the beautiful scenery of Northern France, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Languedoc (among other places) just make me want to visit even more.

Lance may not be there this year, nor are Basso and Ullrich (again, due to a doping scandal), but the Tour is doing just fine without them. There's more of a feeling of a lion sitting in wait as the peloton looks for someone to make a move to be the new big dog. Will it be Floyd Landis? George Hincapie? Tom Boonen? Or will some other upstart come along and start a new legend in this event? Only time will tell. But I'll be watching and enjoying every minute of it that I can.

Negative Soccer Wins Out

I think I've figured out exactly what the Italian soccer style is: wear down the other team with diving and histrionics until they finally have had enough and then hit them hard at the end. It's boring, annoying, and ultimately frustrating.

I absolutely hate watching the Italian team. And to watch them win over a clean playing team like Germany has been in this tournament is almost too much to bear. Watching Totti writhe around and plead with the referee is like claws on a chalkboard, with the chalkboard attached to my head.

But the fact remains that Germany, for all its success so far in this tournament, couldn't put the ball in the net. And if you can't do that, you can't win. The Germans had been playing flowing soccer with lots of great movement, but with the constant diving of the Italians the game kept getting dragged to a halt, and I think that screwed up the German flow.

Well, at least with today's games I will be happy with either team winning. France is playing attractive soccer, Portugal almost always does, and Zidane and Figo are a couple of my favorites. As long as the winner here beats Italy I'll be happy.