If you're blaming the price of gas on the rise of a barrel of crude, be careful. The increase in the price of crude has far outpaced the increase in gas prices.
Crude Oil
Gas prices
Crude oil has DOUBLED in one year, while gas prices have only increased around 33%.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday
+ You know you're an avid Lost fan when you see the headline, "Astronauts set to open hatch after space-station docking" on CNN and you wonder how they're going to do it with no handle.
+ Ted Kennedy just had surgery for his brain tumor at Duke Med Center. I wonder if I should pay him a visit and say Hi.
+ Aliens invade Denver. Thanks to Larry King for giving these guys credibility. The reenactment halfway through is pure gold. I never knew aliens looked like cheap, country fair stuffed animals.
+ Ted Kennedy just had surgery for his brain tumor at Duke Med Center. I wonder if I should pay him a visit and say Hi.
+ Aliens invade Denver. Thanks to Larry King for giving these guys credibility. The reenactment halfway through is pure gold. I never knew aliens looked like cheap, country fair stuffed animals.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Soup Can Sunday
1. Listen to this audio illusion. You have to use headphones. It'll make you think you're crazy, too (i.e. hearing things that aren't there).
2. So, the world record in the 100-meter dash was just broken...exciting! Personally, I don't think it should be news anymore. If you beat the world record by .02 seconds, is that really all that newsworthy? Especially when somebody will beat it tomorrow by .01 seconds?
3. This Tuesday is the last two primary contests: Montana and South Dakota. AKA "Going out with a Bang" but more likely "Thank God, it's almost over."
4. Mid-Life Crisis moment of the week. Reportedly, this is also the same guy who threw the infamous pizza two years ago.
2. So, the world record in the 100-meter dash was just broken...exciting! Personally, I don't think it should be news anymore. If you beat the world record by .02 seconds, is that really all that newsworthy? Especially when somebody will beat it tomorrow by .01 seconds?
3. This Tuesday is the last two primary contests: Montana and South Dakota. AKA "Going out with a Bang" but more likely "Thank God, it's almost over."
4. Mid-Life Crisis moment of the week. Reportedly, this is also the same guy who threw the infamous pizza two years ago.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
News Flash: Your program is underachieving
We have two college basketball teams (ACC teams, in fact):
Over the past six years Team A has gone 122-72 (.629), had three 20-win seasons, and made the NCAA tournament three times, winning four games.
During the same six seasons, team B went 122-68 (.642), and also had three 20-win seasons and three trips to the NCAA tournament, winning four games.
Logic says these two programs are probably about the same caliber, and probably found themselves in the same state at the beginning of this 6 year period.
Let's expand the descriptions:
Team A:
2002-2003: 20-10, 6 seed in NCAA tourney, lost in third round
2003-2004: 20-12, 4 seed in NCAA tourney, lost in second round.
2004-2005: 19-13, lost in NIT semifinal
2005-2006: 19-13, got invited to the NIT, apparently forgot to inform the players, because they lost on their home floor to a team that only avid college basketball fans have even heard of.
2006-2007: 25-9, 4 seed in NCAA tournament, lost in second round
2007-2008: 19-15, lost in second round of NIT
Team B:
2002-2003: 25-6, lost in second round of NCAA tournament
2003-2004: 21-10, lost in third round of NCAA tournament
2004-2005: 27-6, lost in second round of NCAA tournament (in one of the greatest games in NCAA tourney history)
2005-2006: 17-17, lost in first round of NIT
2006-2007: 15-16, no postseason
2007-2008: 17-13, no postseason
So while the two teams have taken wildly different paths, the bottom line stats are still the same.
The teams? Team A, Maryland Terrapins, Team B, Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
My point here isn't to pump up the Deacs. In fact, these track records are somewhat uninspiring. It's to illustrate how disappointing the Terps have been.
In case you forgot, Maryland won the National Championship in 2002 after making the Final Four in 2001. They were the first team since the inception of McDonald's All-Americans to win a National Championship without one. Since then, they have been able to recruit some of the best players in the country.
Wake Forest, on the other hand, lost in the second round of the '02 tourney and has only played ONE postseason game in the past three years.
How is it that Maryland, since winning a National Championship has been riding alongside a school that, historically speaking, has been pretty unspectacular? And not only are they underachieving on the court, they're screwing up off it too. For several straight years, they've had the worst Academic Progress Rating in the ACC. The lowlight of this run was the class of 2006, which featured six players, none of which graduated, and played a combined zero games in the NBA. Also included in this run is the borderline embarrassing antics of the students, lowlighted by their "F*** you JJ" on national television a few years ago.
So the million dollar question is: how could a program that got so high be so average?
Over the past six years Team A has gone 122-72 (.629), had three 20-win seasons, and made the NCAA tournament three times, winning four games.
During the same six seasons, team B went 122-68 (.642), and also had three 20-win seasons and three trips to the NCAA tournament, winning four games.
Logic says these two programs are probably about the same caliber, and probably found themselves in the same state at the beginning of this 6 year period.
Let's expand the descriptions:
Team A:
2002-2003: 20-10, 6 seed in NCAA tourney, lost in third round
2003-2004: 20-12, 4 seed in NCAA tourney, lost in second round.
2004-2005: 19-13, lost in NIT semifinal
2005-2006: 19-13, got invited to the NIT, apparently forgot to inform the players, because they lost on their home floor to a team that only avid college basketball fans have even heard of.
2006-2007: 25-9, 4 seed in NCAA tournament, lost in second round
2007-2008: 19-15, lost in second round of NIT
Team B:
2002-2003: 25-6, lost in second round of NCAA tournament
2003-2004: 21-10, lost in third round of NCAA tournament
2004-2005: 27-6, lost in second round of NCAA tournament (in one of the greatest games in NCAA tourney history)
2005-2006: 17-17, lost in first round of NIT
2006-2007: 15-16, no postseason
2007-2008: 17-13, no postseason
So while the two teams have taken wildly different paths, the bottom line stats are still the same.
The teams? Team A, Maryland Terrapins, Team B, Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
My point here isn't to pump up the Deacs. In fact, these track records are somewhat uninspiring. It's to illustrate how disappointing the Terps have been.
In case you forgot, Maryland won the National Championship in 2002 after making the Final Four in 2001. They were the first team since the inception of McDonald's All-Americans to win a National Championship without one. Since then, they have been able to recruit some of the best players in the country.
Wake Forest, on the other hand, lost in the second round of the '02 tourney and has only played ONE postseason game in the past three years.
How is it that Maryland, since winning a National Championship has been riding alongside a school that, historically speaking, has been pretty unspectacular? And not only are they underachieving on the court, they're screwing up off it too. For several straight years, they've had the worst Academic Progress Rating in the ACC. The lowlight of this run was the class of 2006, which featured six players, none of which graduated, and played a combined zero games in the NBA. Also included in this run is the borderline embarrassing antics of the students, lowlighted by their "F*** you JJ" on national television a few years ago.
So the million dollar question is: how could a program that got so high be so average?
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Lacrosse players and their sticks
I've grown up right in the middle of the lacrosse mecca of the world, and I've always followed it with curiosity. It's sort of interesting to watch. Right now, Duke and Hopkins are about to face off in the national semifinal, and I'm kind of looking forward to it. But at the end of the day, let's face it, it's the same as any other goal sport. Soccer, ice hockey, field hockey, and lacrosse are all pretty similar and are interesting if done well.
But that's not what I'm talking about today. I want to talk about lacrosse players. There's only one thing that lacrosse players love more than themselves: their sticks.
If you tuned in early to this wonderful contest, you saw kids prowling the area around the stadium carrying their sticks. The logical assumption here is that they brought their sticks for the same reason people bring footballs to tailgates: it's something to do while waiting for the game to start.
Wrong.
I happened to be in the vicinity of M&T Bank Stadium last year as the semifinals of the NCAA tournament ended. Kids were pouring out of the stadium carrying their sticks. That's right, they actually carried their sticks into the stadium for the game. There are only four conceivable explanations for bringing equipment into a game that you're spectating:
1. You're going to a baseball game, and the thought of catching a searing foul ball with your bare hand doesn't appeal to you.
2. You plan on having someone famous put their signature on said equipment.
3. There is a realistic chance that you will participate in the game that's about to be held.
4. You're a tool.
These kids have totally defied these rules, as they are clearly not headed to a baseball game, there is no such thing as a famous lacrosse player, and none of these kids look old enough to be NCAA eligible. Therefore, they are all tools.
Don't believe me?
Ask any lacrosse player why you should stop playing a good sport like baseball, basketball, or football and pick up lacrosse. Their answer probably won't make any sense. Kind of like this video. But instead of letting that person fill your head with meaningless white upperclass meathead drivel, pay attention to they way they talk. They sound like conspiracy theorists, lashing out at you every time you question them.
Back to their reasoning. They tell you it's the greatest sport on two feet. What? This means aside from polo and crab soccer, it's the greatest game ever. This is clearly not true. Anyway, I guess they were going off the theme of claiming your sport as the greatest game on ______ (i.e. the greatest game on ice = ice hockey, the greatest game on dirt = baseball). However, the greatest game on two feet kind of confusing, so I propose a couple of alternatives:
Greatest game with a bunch of cocky white guys.
Greatest game on grass with sticks with nets on the end.
Greatest game in Suburbia.
I could go on and on about these people, but I'll leave the rest to you.
But that's not what I'm talking about today. I want to talk about lacrosse players. There's only one thing that lacrosse players love more than themselves: their sticks.
If you tuned in early to this wonderful contest, you saw kids prowling the area around the stadium carrying their sticks. The logical assumption here is that they brought their sticks for the same reason people bring footballs to tailgates: it's something to do while waiting for the game to start.
Wrong.
I happened to be in the vicinity of M&T Bank Stadium last year as the semifinals of the NCAA tournament ended. Kids were pouring out of the stadium carrying their sticks. That's right, they actually carried their sticks into the stadium for the game. There are only four conceivable explanations for bringing equipment into a game that you're spectating:
1. You're going to a baseball game, and the thought of catching a searing foul ball with your bare hand doesn't appeal to you.
2. You plan on having someone famous put their signature on said equipment.
3. There is a realistic chance that you will participate in the game that's about to be held.
4. You're a tool.
These kids have totally defied these rules, as they are clearly not headed to a baseball game, there is no such thing as a famous lacrosse player, and none of these kids look old enough to be NCAA eligible. Therefore, they are all tools.
Don't believe me?
Ask any lacrosse player why you should stop playing a good sport like baseball, basketball, or football and pick up lacrosse. Their answer probably won't make any sense. Kind of like this video. But instead of letting that person fill your head with meaningless white upperclass meathead drivel, pay attention to they way they talk. They sound like conspiracy theorists, lashing out at you every time you question them.
Back to their reasoning. They tell you it's the greatest sport on two feet. What? This means aside from polo and crab soccer, it's the greatest game ever. This is clearly not true. Anyway, I guess they were going off the theme of claiming your sport as the greatest game on ______ (i.e. the greatest game on ice = ice hockey, the greatest game on dirt = baseball). However, the greatest game on two feet kind of confusing, so I propose a couple of alternatives:
Greatest game with a bunch of cocky white guys.
Greatest game on grass with sticks with nets on the end.
Greatest game in Suburbia.
I could go on and on about these people, but I'll leave the rest to you.
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