Thursday, May 24, 2007

Hollowed Be Thy Name...

I'm so giddy about the Sonics getting the second pick in the draft I can't even say something clever about it... All I want to do is watch this video and think about the next Decade+ of Sonics basketball (Be it in Seattle, Oklahoma City or even if luck permits Los Vegas!)

Atheletes Behaving Badly #1

So Elijah Dukes threatened his wife in this story on ESPN.com. Here is an excerpt:

Tampa Bay rookie Elijah Dukes was held out of the lineup Wednesday night against Seattle following a published report that his estranged wife sought a restraining order after being threatened by the 22-year-old outfielder.

The St. Petersburg Times reported NiShea Gilbert filed for court protection after receiving a threatening message on her cell phone on May 2, as well as a text message that included a picture of a handgun.

That's a great use of mobile technology Elijah... Really cool... I don't think your soon to be a bit richer ex-wife was impressed. The Rae Carruth story should pop to mind for most sports fans and Dukes really should be trying to avoid being mentioned in the same breath. (Too late. I did it.... but he made me do it.)

Gilbert played a voice mail allegedly from Dukes for the newspaper. "Hey, dawg. It's on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain't even bulls-------. Your kids too, dawg. It don't even matter to me who is in the car with you. N-----, all I know is, n-----, when I see your m-----f------- a-- riding, dawg, it's on. As a matter of fact, I'm coming to your m-----f------ house."

Nice use of "dawg" here. Dukes gets major style points. (Blogger's Note: How do you categorize usage of "Dawg" as compared to "Dog"? ) Did you forget that they are your kids too? It's good to know that the allegations are not bothering Dukes too much. When asked about it, Dukes had this to say:

"I'm just going to play ball, that's it... I've got to go. I've got a video game to finish."

Brilliant... I'm beginning to wonder about his maturity level...

Here is more background on Dukes from this St. Petersberg Times story by Gary Shelton. When you read this it's hard to fathom that's he's only 22... Here are some excerpts in case you are lazy like me.

In 2003, Gilbert accused Dukes of throwing a remote control at her. In April 2004, she accused him of harassing phone calls. Later that year, she said he hit her with a soda can, threw a glass candy bowl and ripped a phone cord out of the wall when she tried to call 911. In August 2006, deputies arrested Gilbert, accusing her of scratching her husband's back during an argument. The charge was dropped in September.

Four women have gone to court seeking child support from Dukes. In all four cases, the court found Dukes was the father, meaning he has at least five children by four women. Two of those women were pregnant at the same time, giving birth in 2003 within eight days of each other.

At this rate he'll have Shawn Kemp beat by a mile in the race to father more children by more different women. He's about halfway there unless my figures on Kemp are out of date.

The Devil Rays really should cut ties with him. But they shouldn't just drop him as Rob Neyer suggests. Although it makes a statement dropping the supremely talented yet obviously troubled Dukes, there is always someone willing to pay for great talent even if it is damaged goods.

I'm just angry that he has sullied all the great 'Dukes' that came before him like this guy. Spelling differences be damned.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Slideshare Has Made Me An Offer I Can't Refuse: Knowledge

There is a very cool website called slideshare. It's your basic online sharing community but the main wares are Power Point Presentations!! Awesome right?! I thought so too until I remembered I look at these all day at work. Upon closer inspection many of the presentations are quite good and Slideshare recently decided to have a contest to decide which were the best. I've included my favorites here.

This is a stylization of a slideshow originally created by Karl Fisch, examining globalization and America’s future in the 21st century. It is designed to stand alone, without having to be presented in person. Enjoy!




Blogger's Note #1: Did you know that that in the year 2036 extrapolation on most of these subjects will become so difficult that researchers will be resigned to quantify things as just "very, very, very large"

Blogger's Note #2: I find slides 60 - 62 very disconcerting... I mean, you know what happens once we reach that point? Imagine phalanxes of governators roaming the earth. This stuff is straight out of the Terminator Series... (just 1 and 2 though. 3 was crap...)

On to my other favorite:


A compilation of 25 basic styles of blogging including tips on how often to use each and potential to create buzz and blog traffic by using each.




Blogger's Note #3: I think they forgot the "Chicken Running Around With His Head Cut Off Blogger". For an example of this go here.

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

Here is a little story from a little while back some of you might not have noticed. Looks legit but I have been around for a while and it always seems like they are making breakthroughs in the field of cancer prevention. So take this with whatever grain of salt you find. I just hope somebody rich finds this post and decides to give a lot of money to the researchers working on this project. Hope is priceless.

Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice

By: David McRaney

Posted: 1/23/07

EDITORS NOTE:

Since the original publication of this article we have been inundated with responses from the public at all walks of life. It is important to note that research is ongoing with DCA, and not everyone is convinced it will turn out to be a miracle drug. There have been many therapies that were promising in vitro and in animal models that did not work for one reason or another in humans. To provide false hope is not our intention. There is a lot of information on DCA available on the web, and this column is but one opinion on the topic. We hope you will do your own research into the situation. So, we have added links to resources at the end of this column. If you are arriving here form a linking website like Fark, then those links will not appear because they tend to grab only the text. For those visitors, here is a link to the original research: www.depmed.ualberta.ca/dca

END NOTE

Scientists may have cured cancer last week.

Yep.

So, why haven't the media picked up on it?

Here's the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.

Doesn't this sound like the kind of news you see on the front page of every paper?

The drug also has no patent, which means it could be produced for bargain basement prices in comparison to what drug companies research and develop.

Scientists tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body where it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but left healthy cells alone. Rats plump with tumors shrank when they were fed water supplemented with DCA.

Again, this seems like it should be at the top of the nightly news, right?

Cancer cells don't use the little power stations found in most human cells - the mitochondria. Instead, they use glycolysis, which is less effective and more wasteful.

Doctors have long believed the reason for this is because the mitochondria were damaged somehow. But, it turns out the mitochondria were just dormant, and DCA starts them back up again.

The side effect of this is it also reactivates a process called apoptosis. You see, mitochondria contain an all-too-important self-destruct button that can't be pressed in cancer cells. Without it, tumors grow larger as cells refuse to be extinguished. Fully functioning mitochondria, thanks to DCA, can once again die.

With glycolysis turned off, the body produces less lactic acid, so the bad tissue around cancer cells doesn't break down and seed new tumors.

Here's the big catch. Pharmaceutical companies probably won't invest in research into DCA because they won't profit from it. It's easy to make, unpatented and could be added to drinking water. Imagine, Gatorade with cancer control.

So, the groundwork will have to be done at universities and independently funded laboratories. But, how are they supposed to drum up support if the media aren't even talking about it?

All I can do is write this and hope Google News picks it up. In the meantime, tell everyone you know and do your own research.

PLEASE READ THE EDITOR'S NOTE AT THE TOP OF THIS COLUMN, AND PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINKS TO OTHER DCA RESOURCES LISTED DIRECTLY UNDER THIS COLUMN.

This is a column of opinion written by Printz Executive Editor David McRaney. Comments can be sent to printz@usm.edu


© Copyright 2007 Student Printz

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

This isn't war, people... It's baseball

This is an article in it's entirety from baseballamerica.com.

It caught my eye for one thing because one of the main players in the story shares a name with one of my good friends here.

The other thing that caught my eye was not an errant throw but the fact that the manager for the offending player condones this. Sure if you stray from the on-deck circle you are somewhat fairgame but this is what can happen...

Molina settles with Christensen

By Jim Callis
February 5, 2002

Anthony Molina reached an out-of-court settlement with Cubs pitching prospect Ben Christensen, who beaned him while warming up before a 1999 college game, on Tuesday, according to Christensen's agent, Steve Canter.

Canter said both sides agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential.

Molina was a junior second baseman and the leadoff hitter for Evansville in an April 23, 1999 game at Wichita State. Christensen was the junior ace of the Shockers. When Molina ventured out of the on-deck circle and within 20 feet of home plate, Christensen fired a warmup pitch at him. The ball struck Molina above his left eye, breaking bones and permanently damaging his vision. At the time, Wichita State pitching coach Brent Kemnitz was quoted as saying that he taught his pitchers to brush back hitters in that situation.

Though Molina returned for his senior season in 2000, he batted just .266 and any chance he had for a professional career effectively had ended. He played two games in the independent Frontier League in 2000, going 1-for-3 with two strikeouts. He now works as a rental agent for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Henderson, Ky.

Canter characterized the incident as an accident and said that Christensen had no intention of hurting Molina.

"No one felt worse about Anthony Molina's injury than Ben Christensen," Canter said. "Ben was inconsolable for hours after the accident. If Ben were a bad guy, he wouldn't have been so upset. Ben is a bright, articulate, warm individual.

"Now he can focus on getting ready for the season and helping the Cubs. At the same time, he hopes Anthony can move on with his life and be successful too."

Molina's attorney, Rand Wonio, couldn't be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Per the terms of the settlement, Molina withdrew a suit in Kansas state court that charged Christensen with battery and sought punitive damages for committing an intentional act. That case was to have gone to court Tuesday in Wichita.

Christensen also was removed from a pending federal suit in Kansas City, Kan., that has been stuck in appeals. Molina also sued Christensen for battery and continues to sue Kemnitz and Wichita State head coach Gene Stephenson for negligence in that case.

Christensen, who was suspended for the remainder of the 1999 college season, was drafted 26th overall that June by the Cubs and signed for $1,062,500. He reached Double-A within a year after turning pro, but was hampered by shoulder tendinitis in 2000 and required shoulder surgery to repair some fraying and tighten the capsule last year. Canter said that Christensen threw off a mound last week in Arizona and said he was 100 percent.


Update: Ben Christensen never made the majors. He ended up moving to Beijing and living happily ever after.

Wow. This is Xtreme...

... not so much.



I think the narrator is on heroin or something. Has anything so "xtreme" ever sounded so mundane??

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

While I Was Away...

So I'm returning from a very relaxing vacation. I went to the MIDI festival for a couple of the days. That was fun. The best part was people watching. Who knew that kids wear their hair like this in China too?! OK I did already...

I have also been playing with my Sony Ericsson K610i, which is super cool (Love the 2.0 mega pixel camera). One of these days I'm going to figure out how to blog with it. I'm going to be more connected than a... than those little circular peices that you play connect four with! Ha! Thought I wouldn't be able to think of anything, huh? Showed you.