Friday, October 31, 2008

Mike Singletary Unleashes the 13th Man

Knock knock
Who's there?
Mike Singletary's buttocks.
Huh?

I guess new 49ers coach Mike Singletary never saw the movie Meatballs.

His post-game news conference is already the stuff of legend. Rivaled only by Jim Mora's "playoffs" tirade and Dennis Green's "they are who we thought they were" meltdown.




Here's the thing, this was Singletary's first day as a head coach. I always thought day one was about getting to know your co-workers, orientation, filling out HR forms and whatnot. But it turns Singletary wanted to make an even bigger splash on the first day at the helm. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

When his team hit the Candlestick Park locker room at halftime trailing the Seahawks 20-3, Singletary called everyone to attention, dropped his pants and pointed to his rear end, to fully illustrate what the coach thought of his players' performance.

As far as motivation goes, it doesn't seem like this one worked too well. The 49ers lost 34-13.

Needless to say, everyone is hoping that the 49ers will cover the spread this week.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dreams

From the good people at Despair.com comes today's demotivator. Their store has some great posters, calendars and apparel. It's good when you are looking for a gift for the cynic on your list. They also let you make your own demotivator prints. Nightline actually did a feature on them a few months ago which was pretty interesting. It's really a boom time now for those in the demotivation business. I guess it shows that all of those old motivational posters really just didn't work so well. Oh well, until things turn around, I guess I'll just hang in there baby.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wanna spice up your commute? Try Parkour

What's the most efficient way to get around an urban area without a car? If you said Segway, it turns out you're wrong. (On a side note: if you participate in a Segway polo league, you should be sterilized)

If you believe the French...and who really can these days..It's Parkour.
What's Parkour you ask? Why, it's a recreational pursuit in which participants traverse urban structures by running, jumping, vaulting, rolling, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about efficiency, but I don't see how vaulting and/or rolling over urban structures can make your trip more efficient. It's pretty cool, though, and you've probably seen Parkour in several commercials and movies.




Since every thing seems to be fair game for jumping off of or vaulting over, if you want to keep Parkour out of your neighborhood I would reccomend greasing up your car and building immediately.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Kim Bain Kicks Bass

While much has been written in the past few months about the first woman to almost win the democratic nomination for president and the first woman to tank a presidential election for the republicans, I have to give props to Kim Bain, the first woman to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic. It's the first time a woman will fish the Classic in its 38-year history.


I know this might come as a surprise, but I know nothing about fishing. I never understood those bumper stickers that said "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work," and I don't think the fish would agree with those sentiments. But I think Bain's accomplishment trancends Bass fishing and is historic. It took women like Annika Sorenstam and Danica Patrick to break their respective sports out of relative obscurity and generate mainstream excitement, so here's hoping that Bain can secure some lucrative endorsements.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Today's Person of the Day: Leo the Dog

More from Australia....I guess the news is just more interesting since they have other things going on besides an election. The Herald Sun of Melbourne first reported the story of Leo the terrier who risked his life to protect several kittens that had been left behind by their mother in a burning house. Here's to you Leo.


Friday, October 24, 2008

Larry David on the election


Great perspective on the election from Larry David in Wednesday's Huffington Post.


Thursday, October 23, 2008

Jolly good bird



From the animals you wouldn't expect to eat other animals department comes the newest threat to birds everywhere...spiders.

This comes from Australia, where the food chain is pretty much a free for all...so I think the bird probably had it coming.

Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at the Austrailian Reptile Park calls this "unusual."

Way to shine with the sound bite Joel.

One of Great Britain's fine papers wrote a complete story about this picture, but seriously, what more needs to be said?

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Where are all the Hobos?







I've always been fond of the word Hobo.


Growing up in New York City we didn't have Hobos, but an ecclectic mix of Panhandlers, Transients and Bums, who I guess all fell under the umbrella demographic of "the homeless." These weren't the freewheelin', rail-ridin', all-my-blongingins-tied-up-at-the-end-of-a-stick wayward wandering types one would associate with the word. They were more likely to wash your car window as you entered the city - like there is some sort of windshield cleanliness standard expected of new visitors - hit you up for money or scream obscenities at you. I never saw anyone actually using a pan to panhandle, but that's for another posting. I don't think those guys who just held the sign which overtly asked for booze were ever assigned their own sub-group within "the homeless," since cleverness seemed to be viewed more as a liabilitiy than an asset.


I guess I've always wondered what constituted a real Hobo. So I did a little digging and I found that there is actually an entire culture of Hobos according to this resource for all things Hobo.



To the neo-phyte, imagine a way of life where you are not bound by time schedules, home owner bill, job expectations, the IRS, you can live where you want, sleep where you want, travel wherever you want as long as its' in the continental US and Canada. Never pay a travel fare unless you want to, never pay rent, electric, gas, water, or cable bills, never pay taxes, and see places in the US and Canada others only see in the movies, or in a magazine. Sound like the lifestyle of Bill Gates, or Donald Trump?, well hundreds of folks live that kind of life every day, in fact that kind of life/culture has been going on since just after Americas' Civil War. A lifestyle/culture so sweet, so addictive, so seductive, so intoxicating, that those of us who retire after 20, 30, even 40 years of are never really free of it.



Addictive, seductive and intoxicating? Who knew that riding the rails was better than Vodka and Vicodin? (Mix the two together with a spash of Mr. Pibb - I call it a "V for Vendetta.")

There is actually a Hobo convention each year in Britt, Iowa. I guess that's where their town slogan - Britt, Iowa - The Sturgis of the Downtrodden - comes from. Ironically, the convention is organized by the Britt Chamber of Commerce. Commerce....Hobos....leave it to those sharp Iowans to make that connection. I'll be going next year and I've already promised 30 people a ride from the train station.