Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The difference in cultures

- Sure this is amusing. But what I found interesting is that Whitey Bulger needs to sleep with the lights on because of bad dreams.

- Fruit salad of their lives.

- I still say Tom Brady should file a $200 million hostile workplace suit against Roger Goodell.

- Cool - How We Play Hockey in America

- Great headline

- Are China and Russia on a collision course?

- Awesome! The Setup Wizard (Daily Accounts of a Muggle I.T Guy Working at Hogwarts)

Top 5 - Movies Based in Massachusetts

1. JAWS
2. Good Will Hunting
3. The Departed
4. The Thomas Crown Affair (w/ Steve McQueen)
5. The Verdict

Just missing the cut were The Paper Chase, The Boondock Saints, The Perfect Storm, The Brinks Job and The Last Hurrah. I gave no consideration whatsoever to Love Story. It will be interesting to see if Black Mass (the Whitey Bulger biopic) makes the list.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

As we embark on the new NFL season - consider that Alex Smith of the Chiefs is now a higher paid NFL QB than Tom Brady. Yeah - I know... Laniakea - we are so very, very small... If I were to have a one-man acoustic band that only played U2 cover songs - I'd name the band Mono... Is it interesting or ironic that some bars chill shots of Fireball?... Very cool. I hate being a pincushion... I wonder if the characters of Mayor McCheese and the Hamburglar were loosely based on Billy and Whitey Bulger...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

David Ortiz has a career 431 HR. You have to believe that he'd like to play long enough to get to 500. That should take 3 seasons but what if Boston only wants him for two? Would Ortiz seek his 500th HR elsewhere?... Good advice - 8 poker resolutions for the new year... I liked Zima - especially Orange Zima. There I said it! I can confess this because I am comfortable in my manliness... I agree that Michael Shannon's reading of the epic sorority letter was one of the best things of 2013... I hope you had a great Christmas knowing that Abe Vigoda is still alive... 10 historical figures you might not have thought had tattoos... This year saw the capture of Whitey Bulger. Could 2014 be the year the Hambuglar is finally brought to justice?... The 10 best hockey fights of 2013... Nothing like smoking a good cigar then going to watch an AHL hockey game... Santa painted into great works of art...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Chad Finn mentioned yesterday that Jarrod Saltalamacchia has a higher slugging percentage than Giancarlo Stanton this season. I had to look that up to double check. While it may have been true so far this season it is certainly not close for their careers. Stanton now sits at .439 and .533 for his career while Salty's numbers are .447 and .423 respectively (not that anyone outside of baseball geeks care about this)...  Excellent point! If the NCAA lets Johnny Manziel slide then Dez Bryant should sue the NCAA for everything they have in the bank!... I know this is post Shark week but I wonder if remoras were called "cuddle fish" instead - would that change the way you look at their relationship to sharks? Would it change the way you look at cuddling in bed?...  25 things that turned 25 this year... 29 years ago Ronald Reagan joked about outlawing the Soviet Union. Today the Russian President just thinks his US counterpart is the joke... Howie Carr on the conviction of Whitey Bulger (audio)... The blacksmith who makes the weapons for Hollywood. It must eat him up a little that he doesn't work on Game of Thrones...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Badger's animated Star Trek script from Breaking Bad

- Good summary of the Whitey Bulger verdict. Time was Whitey was huge news. Now he's a mostly forgotten old evil man.

- Speaking of the Whitey verdict - funny screen cap from MSNBC announcing the verdict

- But it is the insect excrement from God!

- Very cool tiger photo

- Isolated drum loop from Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks. If I had a radio show I would use this as my intro music.

- Interesting look at comic book continuity and especially as it refers to Neil Gaiman's Sandman

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If the sources who leaked the stories about the Red Sox drinking in the clubhouse and dugout were given whistle-blower status by the Federal Government or were protected somehow by the FBI - would the Boston Globe then reveal who they are? That's what they did with the woman who turned in Whitey Bulger... Toby Ziegler's best rants from The West Wing... Joe Biden continues to warn of rapes and murders if the Jobs Bill isn't passed. Based on recent news - does he mean these rapes and murders will come from the Occupy protesters?.... Cool International Space Station flyover video... Teddy Roosevelt was not keen on those who worked to convert others to their religions. He didn't like it because first the proselytizer would have to destroy the person's existing beliefs to get them to accept the new beliefs. I had never thought of it that way... Sin City meets Disney... Teddy Roosevelt's boiled his own personal religious convictions to doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. Not a bad creed if you think about it... Sports by Brooks has a good point - the NCAA went kicking and screaming into Title IX - fighting it every step of the way. Now they try to use Title IX as the reason for not paying players. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Part of me wonders if Derek Jeter is timing his return not so much so that he'll get his 3,000th hit at home but instead timing his return so he can start in the All-Star game... Was this an actual NY Times headline? "Whitey Bulger captured by FBI - Women and Children Hardest Hit"... This is an example of why the save is such a poor stat. I recently read that since ESPN started tracking save opportunities in 2002, the league leader in save opportunities has also been the league leader in saves. How would you think of home runs if the guy with the most at bats led the league in HR every year?... Quote of the Day from Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr Bean): "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."... OK - the Phillies beat the Red Sox 2 games to 1 in the recent series but just a reminder, "Whomever designed that park in Philadelphia was an idiot." Peter Gammons June 2005... Thing that still disappoints me most about Osama bin Laden's death is I haven't seen a photoshop of him wearing a Yankees cap (yet!)

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- People are lining up in Santa Monica to rent Whitey Bulger's old pad. I have to admit that I'd think it pretty cool to live in the digs too.

- The lede paragraph is the bomb! As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could explode!

- New York Times sells part of Red Sox stake for $117 million. This tells you two thing - John Henry and Company know how to run a business and the New York Times is cash starved because they do not.

- I got a kick out of these.

- Donald Rumsfeld explains the dangers in making the wrong cuts in Defense spending - and as is his way instead of just complaining about things Rumsfeld makes some common sense suggestions on how to handle the problem. One thing he didn't mention was ending our relationship with NATO. I'd be curious to know his feelings on that.

- Harpo Marx Telegram to John F. Kennedy July 14, 1960

- DARPA's first crowdsourced military vehicle.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Nick Charles, the original anchor of CNN's Sports Tonight, has passed away. Back in the day Sports Tonight and ESPN's SportsCenter were neck and neck. Nick Charles and Fred Hickman were much better than whatever anchors ESPN put out there. What killed Sports Tonight in the end was SportsCenter going to an hour-long format. CNN just couldn't or wouldn't compete with that. I always liked Nick Charles because I think he took his name from The Thin Man... I admit it - I'm a complete sucker for the movie You've Got Mail. Really can't explain it... Very cool. 1964 letter from Campbell Soup Product Manager to Andy Warhol... "Are you afraid the DJ will play some Blue Grass?" I don't know what it means but I kept hearing that phrase in my sleep last night... Do you think the release of the movie Zookeeper was timed to line up with annual Furry Convention? I think so... Another painting I'd like to own... Charlie Sheen was caught with briefcase of cocaine and nothing happens but if an inner city kid is caught with a single rock of crack he goes to jail. That in a nutshell is the problem with our drug laws in this country... Cthulhu doesn't play dice with the universe. (Is that how the quote goes?)... OK the FBI got Whitey Bulger but remember - the Hamburgler is still at large! Robble robble!... Pat Tillman Foundation names a new president... Sad to hear about the passing of an American original - Peter Falk. I don't think you've ever heard anyone say anything about gentleman and funny guy Peter Falk.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I was disappointed by the lack of players from the Patriot League being represented in the NBA Draft last night. That disappointment is tempered by the fact that Holy Cross had same number of players chosen as Michigan State... I really want to own this painting... If you are bitten by Abe Vigoda - do you become a zombie?... A double rainbow! What does it mean? Obama's war on Libya! What does it mean?... One thing the real draft proves is that those mock NBA drafts are ALWAYS a waste of time (just like those mock NFL Drafts)... More art that I'd like to own... Interesting tidbit - giraffes and humans have the same number of vertebrae... Prohibited means "not allowed" but you never hear anyone say "hibited" for things that are allowed. I'm not sure if hibited is even a word. I'll be very gruntled if it is... "Britney Spears" is an anagram for “Presbyterians”... The FBI gets Whitey Bulger and the military gets Osama bin Laden meanwhile Iran still hasn't gotten Salman Rushdie. USA! USA! USA!... Why is it OK to say "I bring you tidings of comfort and joy" around Christmas but rest of the year people will look at you funny if you say it... The tea dumped in the historic Boston Tea Party had a modern value of about $847,000. That's a little less than what Milwaukee Brewers paid 40-yr old Jim Edmonds last year... This is why I love Penn and Teller so much

Whitey Bulger - Santa Monica



Whitey Bulger getting caught in Santa Monica made me think of the above song by Everclear. The lyrics actually seem to fit the situation.