For those who work on bus or maybe have to deal with this at work, I present Pat Williams, defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings, weighing in at 300+ pounds:
Pat Williams – “Yes, I’m playing next week.“
In other news, I’m somewhat surprised how many stars are on my map. Kinda spiffy.
Ok, well, I don’t really have much to say, it’s just been so long that I (almost) feel bad.
I haven’t read Slashdot in a while. I just opened it up a few minutes ago and saw:
Doctor Performs Amputation By Text Message 2008-12-03 18:50
Posted by samzenpus on 2008.12.03 18:50
from the l33t-5ki11z dept.
Medicine
Peace Corps Online writes "Vascular surgeon David Nott performed a life-saving amputation on a boy in DR Congo following instructions sent by text message from a colleague in London. The boy’s left arm had been ripped off and was badly infected and gangrenous; there were just 6in (15cm) of the boy’s arm remaining, much of the surrounding muscle had died and there was little skin to fold over the wound. ‘He had about two or three days to live when I saw him,’ Nott said. Nott, volunteering with the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, knew he needed to perform a forequarter amputation requiring removal of the collar bone and shoulder blade and contacted Professor Meirion Thomas at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, who had performed the operation before. ‘I texted him and he texted back step by step instructions on how to do it,’ Nott said."
Pretty amazing, but that’s not why I posted that. Recently, Slashdot has begun letting users tag stories with relevant words to group similar stories. For instance, some of the tags for this story are "science, medicine, sms," and the one that made me laugh and is the reason for this whole post, "canyouhearmenow."
(Tags have to be one word: "can you hear me now" would be five separate, unrelated tags.)
In other, unrelated news, after the Wild’s 6-5 loss to the Avelanche, Tenna-B (aka Brandon Mileski), the producer of the Common Man program, guaranteed the Common Man that in their next game the Wild would not give up 4 goals. As a matter of fact, he went so far as to say that if the Wild would give up four goals, he would pack up and leave town.
Good thing they won 4-0.
I can’t find the official stat, but Monday – the aforementioned 6-5 loss to the Avs – was the first time in team history that the Wild lost a game when they had scored 5 goals. I think they were around 65-0-1. That’s pretty impressive.
I know this isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but…
In 2005, in response to EA Sports’ exclusive license with the National Football League and ESPN, Take-Two Interactive signed an exclusive third-party licensing contract with Major League Baseball (MLB), MLBPA and MLBAM to produce MLB games. The agreement, which runs from Spring 2006 to 2012, allows for the console manufacturers Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to produce MLB titles for their respective platforms, but bars third party developers such as EA Sports from continuing or developing their own MLB games. As a result, the MVP Baseball series now features college baseball, with MVP 06 NCAA Baseball having been released in late January 2006, and MVP 07: NCAA Baseball in February of 2007.
So for six years there won’t be a PC version of a MLB baseball game. I was wondering what was up with that. First I couldn’t find a version of Triple Play (by EA) since 2002 or something like that. I thought, surely EA has released a baseball game since 2002. Then I found out it was renamed to MVP baseball. So I looked up MVP baseball, and saw the newest version was 2005. Now I see why.
I uninstalled Firefox 3.x and reinstalled Firefox 2.x
Yes, FF3 is quite a bit faster. I noticed that after opening a few tabs in FF2. But there were some things that just drove me nuts about FF3:
A lot of extensions still don’t work in FF3, but that’s ok. Adblock and FlashBlock work.
Also, the Wild resigned Andrew Brunette. Sweet. I still have the video of him scoring the goal in game 7 against the Avs to advance to the next round. I think that was Bruno… anyway… it was Bruno…
The Minnesota Wild signed forward Andrew Brunette to a multi-year contract on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old picked up 19 goals and 59 points in 82 games for the rival Colorado Avalanche last season.
Andrew is a consistent offensive performer and an excellent teammate who helped create the culture of our team," said team general manager Doug Risebrough. "We are better on the ice and in the dressing room with him back. Not often do you get a chance to correct a mistake."
Brunette had been a member of the Wild from 2001-2004, scoring 54 times and adding 110 assists in 245 regular-season games during his first tenure with the franchise.
He scored arguably the biggest playoff goal in team history, in Game 7 of the 2003 Western Conference quarterfinals against the Avalanche, eliminating the powerhouse club on its home ice after rebounding from a 3-1 series deficit. That season, Minnesota advanced to the conference finals, where it bowed to Cup finalist Anaheim.
Following the cancelled 2004-05 season, Brunette signed with the Avs, and enjoyed stellar years while skating on the club’s top line alongside captain Joe Sakic. He posted career-highs with 27 goals, 56 assists and 83 points in 82 games two seasons ago.
In 788 games over 12 seasons with the Capitals, Predators, Thrashers, Wild and Avalanche, Brunette has amassed 191 goals and 549 points. He was a seventh- round pick of Washington back in 1993.
My Euro 2008 recordings are available at http://content.icynemo.us/video/Euro2008.
Not all are full games, and two don’t have audio. User error.
Some notes of interest:
There’s probably more, but I forget easily nowadays. Oh, there are three qualifying matches before the games go to tournament mode (ie, one loss = knocked out.) No team that has won all three qualifier games has won the tournament since France did it in 1984.
According to the Associated Press:
The largest margins of victory in an NBA Finals game: 42 -- Chicago (96) vs. Utah (54), June 7, 1998. 39 -- Boston (131) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (92), June 17, 2008. 35 -- Washington (117) vs. Seattle (82), June 4, 1978. 34 -- Boston (129) vs. St. Louis (95), April 2, 1961. 34 -- Boston (148) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (114), May 27, 1985. 33 -- Boston (129) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (96), April 25, 1965. 33 -- Philadelphia (135) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (102), June 6, 1982. 33 -- Los Angeles Lakers (137) vs. Boston (104), June 3, 1984. 33 -- Chicago (122) vs. Portland (89), June 3, 1992 33 -- Indiana (120) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (87), June 16, 2000.
There’s some crazy games represented there. I think I might remember the 1998 game when the Bulls held the Jazz to 54 points. 54 points! Imagine that! That was 10 years ago. MJ and Pippen, I’m sure. Rodman, too. How about Boston scoring 148 points in 1985? That was just a bit before I was born. Unbelievable.
Oh, yeah, and KG? 20-10, like always. 26 points, 14 rebs. I wonder how the series would have gone if LA had won game one, or two, or both. After all, Phil Jackson is 41-0 when his team win game 1. One of those things we’ll never know.
If you follow my twitters, you know I’ve been watching soccer of late, online, superficially Euro2008. I’ve also been watching some MLS. Here are some world team rankings, by Fifa:
I was watching a Euro2008 first round game between Germany and Austria. I was surprised to find out Austria was ranked 92; they made quite a showing against 5 Germany: a 1-0 loss on a free kick at the start of the second half. On the other hand, 121 Barbados lost 8-0 to 21 USA in a World Cup qualifying game. Makes Austria look pretty good.
So Colorado takes the series 4 games to 2.
Western Conference No. 3 Seed
44-28-10, 1st Northwest
Was it an upset? Not really. I watched some highlights and a little live action. The Wild were totally outplayed every second I watched. I saw a stat that, because of some Wild injuries (Boogard and someone else), three of Minnesota’s D-Men had to play 4, 6 and 7 minutes more than they averaged during the season. That’s a lot of hockey. I am by no means an expert on hockey, but I would say that if an "average" player, at the start of a game (ie, being all rested), could go all out for 5 minutes (and they don’t), I think I could go all out for.. 45 seconds. Maybe. If you ignore the fact that I can’t ice skate. But anyway, I’m not here to educate about hockey. I’ll enjoy the rest of the playoffs… I’ll try to catch some live games online. Even if the Wild got past round one, the Red Wings and Ducks look… untouchable. I remember last year, when the Ducks (ANA) totally destroyed everyone in the playoffs, including the Red Wings (that was a total shock to many if not all), and then the Senators (Sens, or OTA) in the finals. I hope that doesn’t happen again.
Oh, this from Y! Sports:
So now what? That has to be what the Wild is thinking, especially after Thursday’s 3-2 loss at home to Colorado. The Wild dominated play, out-shooting Colorado 40-17.
(Me: Ouch!!!!)
But they lost. Now, down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, the Wild have to go to Colorado and figure out a way to get the puck past Jose Theodore.
"This is it," Wild winger Brian Rolston said. "We feel good about it, we feel proud of our effort tonight. Nobody will be hanging their head here. We’ll be ready Saturday in Colorado."
The Wild can take comfort in the fact that they have won once in Colorado already and that in franchise history the Wild has twice come back from 3-2 deficits to win playoff series.
But then there’s this: Colorado won Games 4 and 5 by a combined 8-3 margin. .
(Me, again: Ouch!!!)
Well, I think that’s all… better luck next time, Wild.
Totally don’t care about the Twins, although I might follow from a distance. No Torii Hunter (top 1 or 2 CF)? No Johann Santana (one of the best pitchers)? Haha. Twins baseball.
And I’m not excited about football season – never really have been. I guess I’m excited about graduation, and the rest of the hockey playoffs.
Hope they’re good.
There’s still nothing better than a short handed goal, Justus, not even a first date. Maybe, just maybe, a glove save, but I’m not positive about that. 
Live it. Love it.
From Yahoo! Sports. Used without permission.
By Ross McKeon, Yahoo! Sports
If Detroit isn’t Hockeytown anymore, then what is?
First off, let’s make this perfectly clear: We’re talking south of the Canadian border. The six most passionate NHL hockey markets include – in no particular order – Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
Hockey is a religion and then some in the Great White North, and there’s nothing wrong with that in our book. We just wish there were more NHL outposts in Canada. If you’ve never taken in a game there, put it on your to-do list. All six markets are different, and a trip to any of them is worth every cent.
But back to the task at hand: Choosing a new destination we can call Hockeytown, USA. Taking into consideration attendance, fan loyalty, a cozy relationship between the team and its region, a city that’s just right for the NHL, and our choice is pretty clear. Saint Paul, Minn., home of the Minnesota Wild, fits the bill.
Buffalo, Long Island, Denver, Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have all had their moments both recently and long ago, but the rejuvenated market in Minnesota gets our vote.
Since opening the doors of the well-appointed Xcel Energy Center (more on that later) in downtown Saint Paul on Sept. 29, 2000, the Wild have attracted 282 consecutive sellouts – that’s every exhibition (21), regular-season (251) and playoff (10) match.
Every single game, through Tuesday night, has sold out for all of their six-plus seasons. Amazing.
Total attendance during that span is 5,214,206 for an average of 18,490 per game in a building that lists capacity at 18,064. The Wild have announced the attendance for their first six regular-season dates this year at 18,568 each.
Minnesota is a great example of getting a second chance and making the most of it.
As recently as 1993, the Minnesota North Stars played in Bloomington, which neighbors Minneapolis of the Twin Cities region bordered by the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers. Part of the 1967 expansion that doubled the league in size from the Original 6 to 12 teams, Minnesota struggled to carve a niche while competing for passionate fans of college, high school and youth hockey in the region.
Just four years after the franchise relocated to Dallas, the league made the wise choice in 1997 to grant St. Paul an expansion franchise that would begin play in 2000. The State of Hockey is once again complete, from youth through the pros.
The lodge-like feel of the Wild’s home rink combines everything that is important to Minnesota hockey. Hockey sweaters of approximately 200 high school teams hang from the interior concourse that rings the building – all of the boys’ programs and about one-third of the girls’.
The aura inside is pure hockey, with appropriate references to the history of the game during pre-game festivities. One never gets tired of the game presentation, which often feels forced or over-the-top at many of the other newer U.S. venues.
Fans know they can often find players from visiting teams making the short walk from the arena to the stately Saint Paul Hotel just across the street. Fourteen of 19 teams that visit the Wild this season plan at least one stay there, including all but one of the 14 opponents in the Western Conference.
Many of the downtown shops, restaurants and bars in St. Paul recognize the Wild with strong support, and two newspapers travel with the team during a time in which print outlets are cutting costs.
St. Paul is the best.
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We’ll take it, thanks!