Archive for July, 2008

Hello, all. I am traveling to Morocco, Tunisia, and Sicily next month. I have an acquaintance, Ahmed, who lives in Tunis, with whom I have been corresponding regarding my itinerary. He is going to show us around the city, drive us to our next city, and arrange for “cultural events.” I would like to bring him a gift from the U.S. for his generosity. He is intently interested in politics and international diplomacy.

I am trying to think of a gift that would be very American. Ideas?

So this is basically the scariest thing i’ve ever seen relating to copyright laws and their abuse.

Happy Monday!

http://www.bestofartists.com/creative-sculpture/2008/7/7/you-could-lose-your-rights.html

What if the corporate design process was used to design the stop sign?

Tom Petty, Prince and others play “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Prince’s guitar is doing something other than gentle weeping. He is a bad ass. Can any identify the others?

Gonzo, the new Hunter S. Thompson doc is out in Larryville today.  In honor of him and of alupa, I submit the following:

Thompson’s 9/11 response.

I can always look at the older pictures of hunter and imagine a crazy-old dude, younger pictures of him always kind of freak me out.

Of “I want my MON-EY” fame? The little girl cursing at Will Ferrell?

Well here’s the second installment, “Good Cop, Baby Cop.”

T-Lo and I use google reader (a RSS feed manager) to sort through our various online readings. It has a fairly new function where you can “share” an article. We’ve started sharing, and it’s fun. Even if you don’t use google reader regularly, it might be entertaining for you to check out once in a while. Most of you will see our shared items when you open it up since you have gmail accounts. If for some reason you are gmailing and it doesn’t show, lemme know.

This guy has it figured out. Great numbers, insightful commentary–great, great name.  Dude is smart.

This is a former baseball stats guy who has moved to politics. And by baseball stats, I mean Baseball Prospectus, the guys who with the help of Lawrence’s own Bill James and Billy Beane (and by help I mean it was all James idea and Beane was the first to implement it.) have completely changed the way people think about baseball, at least those of us who think about baseball.

fivethirtyeight.com

I thought this was an interesting example of the further weakening US economy.

Deadspin reports that many NBA players are returning to Europe. It has long been assumed that the best talent will continue to come to the US based on the NBA being the premiere league in the world. Of course, economics could change that.

Europe has always been a viable option for marginal NBA players, many college stars have had great careers there, and the locals can play some serious ball.  Could this economic downturn be some sort of tipping point which allows some European leagues to close the gap?

Also, high school senior Brandon Jennings, a consensus top five senior in the 2008 class will being playing in Rome next year. There was a new rule put in place by the NBA last year that dictates a player must wait one year after his class graduates before he can enter the NBA draft. Hear we see the market doing what it does. Instead of playing at the University of Arizona, kid heads to Rome. Maybe he can buy some fat glasses and lose them at the bottom of the Lake of the Ozarks.

For fun, check this out.

Dr. Horrible