100% TOTAL BULLSHIT

New top 25 poll just released:



Duke 14, Maryland "28"? WTF???

The two teams have identical 22-7 overall records. The two teams have identical 8-6 conference records. Yes, Duke has a slightly higher RPI ranking (Duke's 9 to Maryland's 14), but that should be at least equaled out by the fact that Maryland topped Duke by 12 points in their only head-to-head meeting so far, two weeks ago in College Park.

So perhaps you want to compare non-conference profiles? Duke has three impressive wins, beating Air Force on a neutral court and Indiana and Georgetown at home. Maryland only has two, but they're almost as impressive based on location -- a road win over Illinois and a neutral court win over Michigan State. Their lone non-conference losses are a wash, Maryland losing to Notre Dame on a neutral court and Duke losing to Marquette on a neutral court. Duke just beat St. John's in New York by 17... but Maryland beat them in New York by 32 back in November.

Bottom line: Duke being ranked 14 spots above a Maryland team that's about as even as numbers and results can get is a steaming hot load of crap. But as with all things Duke, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. If nothing else, this diss should at least serve to get our boys fired up for the game at Cameron on Wednesday night.


UPDATE - The new AP poll at least has Maryland ranked, unlike the ESPN/USA Today poll above, but they still have us an unforgivable 10 slots behind Duke. That's way too wide a gap to slip past any real college basketball fan's bullshit detector.

Guess who got inked this weekend...


Picture was taken just after the bandage was removed, so there's a little blood in the moon. My almost-30 crisis is now over, and I am ready to begin the next phase of my life.

Three new awesome mountains in western Pennsylvania

I was recently floating around in Google Earth when I remembered something that I had noticed shortly after the program was released in 2005. So I "flew" over to downtown Pittsburgh, "tilted down," looked north, and it was still there -- a mysterious mountain on the horizon where no mountain should be. As usual, you can click on any of these pictures for a bigger image:



I then headed north to check it out. As I approached the Allegheny County / Butler County line about 20 miles north of downtown, two smaller spires a bit further north and west also appeared along the horizon.



I went in for a closer look at the largest "mountain" which I called Mystery Mound 1. It rises almost straight up to an altitude of 3622 feet, towering about 2500 feet over the mostly flat surrounding landscape. It also appears to have a golf course, complete with sand traps, pasted vertically to its side. I'm pretty sure I never saw THAT sort of golf course during the 21 years I lived in Pittsburgh!



At that point, I decided to turn off Google Earth's 3D terrain-rendering feature to get a better idea of what I was really looking at. It turned out to be an artificial lake in the middle of golf course in southwestern Butler County, not far from Mars, PA. Mystery Mounds 2a and 2b also turned out to be small bodies of water between the towns of Fox Run and Callery.





So I guess even after two years, the supremely cool Google Earth still has some glitches to be ironed out. I know very little about the programming that goes into this sort of thing, so I'm left wondering why these small bodies of water would cause a terrain-rendering problem that has persisted for a couple years. Anyhow, in case you want to check it out for yourself, you can click on the images above to get a better look at the actual coordinates or take a look at the zoomed out image below showing the location of the Mystery Mounds in relation to Pittsburgh.

no love for Juan Dixon

Screen-cap from this afternoon -- thought this was a bit harsh:


[click image for enlargement]

stupid Presidential primary season

I'm not exactly a big fan of David Broder, but he was right on with his editorial in today's Washington Post.

Yet another fanboy posting from the guy that just ripped Marshall for being a fanboy   [24 spoiler warning]

Are folks still watching 24? I do still like it, but it's getting a little too outlandish, crazy, and repetitive for me at this point. Former President Logan shows up at the end of the most recent episode... WTF??? It's starting to seem like they are just throwing a bunch of shit into a Random Plot Twist Generator (I'll coin that as the "RPTG") and turning whatever comes out into their next episode.

Additionally, how many Presidencies are there going to be on this show? By my count, we're possibly heading for a sixth now depending on if the latest conspiracy succeeds:

Palmer --> the guy that was killed or permanently incapacitated when Air Force 1 got shot down a few years back --> Logan --> Logan's VP that presumably stepped in after Logan was busted at the end of last season --> Palmer's brother this season --> and now, the new VP played by Powers Boothe if the bad guys manage to take down Palmer #2

And have you noticed that the CTU desk jockeys are actually the most endangered characters on the show dating back to the beginning of last season? Edgar was killed by poison gas inside CTU. The character played by Sean Astin was beaten up, robbed, and then later killed by the gas at CTU. Chloe was nearly kidnapped. Michelle Dessler was blown up. And this season, we've already seen one internal CTU employee kidnapped and tortured with a drill and another shot in the arm.

Throw in the killings of other significant field agents and recurring characters like the first President Palmer, Curtis, Jack's brother, and Tony Almeida and you've basically killed enough real characters that "surprise death" as a cool plot device has been mostly ruined in the last year and half. Short of Jack himself dying, it's getting pretty hard to be surprised by the show now.

And don't even get me started on how torture is a part of every other episode... and how it always seems to work out well for the torturers.

Anyway, I still like 24, but my faith is wavering. Beyond what I said above, there are more problems right now: Bringing back not one, but two bad guys from last season?? Nuclear weapons as the big terrorist plot... again?? This Entertainment Weekly article summarizes a lot of the problems I had with Monday night's episode as well as this season in general.

a few good videos I've come across recently

what was really going through the minds of Boston city officials a couple weeks back during the Aqua Teen Hunger Force freakout

the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment of Disney's Fantasia synched up with Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" (part 1) and "Children of the Grave" and "Hand of Doom" (part 2) -- via BoingBoing

the "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" segment of Stanley Kubrick's 2001 synched up with Pink Floyd's "Echoes" (part 1 / part 2 / part 3) -- there's also a single 24 minute version up on Google video, but I'm not sure whether it's as good as watching on Youtube's full screen mode

PENGUINS!!!

Only an hour until they play New Jersey with a chance to pull themselves within striking distance for the division lead. With that in mind, I decided to put up a few good Penguins videos and memories here, just for the hell of it. So after making fun of Marshall for being a Rush superfan earlier today, I guess I'm opening myself up to similar superfan ridicule here.

First of all, let's start with a couple Mario highlight reels. These generally speak for themselves. The first was put together by KDKA-TV during the Pens' second Stanley Cup run in 1992 (for the Pittsburghers among you, check out how young John Steigerwald looks!), so it obviously excludes the later Mario years. The second video is more recent and manages to show mostly different goals:





Next is a real classic. February 2, 1994. Pittsburgh at Detroit. Perhaps you're thinking Lemieux and Jagr vs. Yzerman and Federov?   Nope. Think more along the lines of "heavyweight battle royale."

I remember the anticipation for this game. It was all about Marty McSorley's first visit as a Penguin to Detroit, home of Bob Probert. I remember our whole high school crew getting pumped up for this like it was Ali vs. Frazier. We just KNEW these two goons were ready for an epic brawl. And they did not disappoint. They went out there and put on a hockey fighting spectacle for the ages.



Finally, I'll throw in one more memory without a video link. In January 1996, during winter break of my freshman year at Maryland, Joe and I caught a Penguins/Bruins game in Pittsburgh when they staged what was possibly the most remarkable comeback in team history. Down 6-4 with under a minute left, they rallied for two goals to force overtime -- Jagr scoring the tying goal with only 18 seconds left. Then after the Bruins were given a power play to start the extra five minutes, Mario (who also scored the first goal of the game) went out, stole a pass near center ice, and scored a shorthanded overtime goal on a breakaway to win it. Definitely one of my all-time favorite Mario moments.

Here's the boxscore and story from that night. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I really saw the goal. We were sitting right behind the net he scored on, but Mario was in such peak form at the time that I remember just assuming it was a goal as soon as he stole the pass near center ice and took off towards us. I might have already been celebrating and high-fiving the guy behind me when he actually scored. Man, what an awesome game.


2/17/07 UPDATE - The Penguins won 5-4 in New Jersey last night to run their streak to 13-0-2. They are only five points behind the Devils now and have an extra game in hand. I hope this magic carpet ride never ends.


2/19/07 UPDATE - The Penguins won 3-2 at home yesterday to run their streak to 14-0-2! They've got another game this afternoon on the road (their third in four days), so it would not shock me to see the streak end today. Fingers crossed for this one.

Super-fanboy caught in the act, 14 years later???
    a potentially unique ball-busting opportunity

This clip from an edition of some old email-based Rush fan digest called The National Midnight Star was discovered and pointed out to me by Aaron yesterday:


[click image to enlarge, note that the text in brackets is a comment from the list moderator]

Now there's nothing wrong with Rush, per se. Neil Peart was definitely an awesome drummer and the other two guys were quite competent on bass and guitar. The part I'm laughing about here is that our favorite fanboy was subscribed to something called The National Midnight Star. Not to mention that he referred to a member of the band by first name only and seemed distraught by the possibility of the band not touring for a while.

I expect that he will respond to this in one of two ways. The tough guy response ("Eff all of you, Rush rulz!") or the lame response (something like "Hey guys, I was just playing an April Fool's joke on the REAL Rush fanboys."). I will poo-poo the latter right now. First, it was a day early for April Fool's, plus the would-be joke really would not have been very funny, and most importantly, it was posted to a private digest which you would probably have to be a member of in order to post content.

Of course, I will admit that I have been guilty of some serious fanboy behavior and associated dorkiness of my own on a variety of fronts. I'm sure you can look me up and find some ridiculous Grateful Dead-related message from 14 years ago. But my point here is that we're talking about RUSH. And beyond most other bands, there's just something inherently funny about that.

So Marshall, please tell us all about your favorite version of Tom Sawyer.

More Middle East

When I think about Bush/Cheney and their outlook on international affairs and war, these are two of the first things that come to mind at the moment:




[scroll ahead to 1:10 elapsed or 1:22 remaining if you're in a hurry]

Some disjointed, possibly slightly interesting thoughts from Sam regarding pizza, Microsoft, and Iran

- After an awesome Saturday night at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Mary and I walked over to Dupont Circle and went to Alberto's for a couple slices of delicious pizza. I asked one of the guys there about when they would be opening their new Woodley Park location (which would be able to deliver to us in Cleveland Park). I was told they were forced to cancel their plans to expand there. Something about the Woodley Park neighborhood association not wanting them.

What a load of crap! My favorite pizza place in DC wants to move in just down the road and the neighborhood tells them to get lost! The only reason I can think of is that Alberto's wanted to operate the store until 4am on weekends like they do at Dupont and the Woodley neighborhood folks balked at that.



- Microsoft has been running a flawed ad for Vista in the DC Metro recently. The ad features a silhouette of the Washington Mall from some magical vantage point where you can see the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln, and the Jefferson from ground level, all at the same time, and grouped close together.

If you know DC well and think about it for moment, it becomes obvious while looking at the ad that such a view of the Mall does not exist. It made no sense -- much like having a New York ad featuring the World Trade Center and Empire State Building side-by-side in the pre-9/11 days would seem lame. So I was happy to see that Microsoft is now running a modified version of the ad without the Jefferson, which was the primary culprit in making the image unrealistic.



- This upcoming war with Iran is going to RAWK!   It should be at least three times as awesome as Iraq. Though it probably won't be quite as awesome as when we invade Mexico in 2008.

But seriously, the mere thought of being militarily involved in both Iraq and Iran (not to mention the festering problem that is Afghanistan) makes me sick. Much like I was thinking in 2002-03 during the pre-Iraq days, my thought process is basically "Even if you're foolish enough to believe every word of what the Bush Administration claims Iran is doing in Iraq... so what? It STILL isn't a valid argument for military action in Iran."

Talking Points Memo recently had a great post about this.

Friday morning laughs

I hate to recommend links to right wing websites, but they definitely got a good shot in here on Jimmy Carter.

And now for a little dose of some smart left-leaning humor to cleanse the palette.

And let's throw in an awesome mashup of 24 and Aqua Teen Hunger Force that makes fun of last week's Boston freakout. The first minute or so is the funniest part. (via BoingBoing)


And last, a shout-out for the Penguins. They haven't lost a game in regulation in a month, going 10-0-2 during the streak. Now two-thirds of the way through the season, they've moved up to 4th place of 15 Eastern conference teams after finishing dead last a year ago. And Sidney Crosby leads the league in scoring by a healthy margin. Not too shabby so far.

A slightly less mundane trip on the Metro

On my way home from the first night of the Banff Mountain Film Festival Tuesday night, I was surprised by a strange sight while waiting for a red line train. A darkened train slowly rolled into the station. One of the cars had a bunch of carts and heavily armed men. It was the money train!

In nine years of living in or around DC (plus three more as a frequent visitor while away for law school), I had never seen it or even heard of it. Looking back, I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise since they need to empty the farecard machines somehow, but one additional thing helped to catch me off guard. It was very cold outside that night, so the gruff looking, rifle-brandishing Metro police were wearing gloves, big wool caps, etc. which made them look like bank robbers. It was quite a scene for someone like me who had never given a thought to the existence of a money train in DC.

and

I've got a new position at the law firm: Office Light-Turn-er-Off-er

I've noticed that most of the lawyers in the building I work in feel the need to constantly illuminate unused conference rooms, empty offices, and vacant work rooms. I'm pretty sure this is what goes on in the minds of folks here: "Going home for the evening... why bother turning off the lights in the office... or the fan... or my computer monitor? I'll only have to turn them all on again in 12 hours!"

So I've taken it upon myself to be the guy that flips all the light switches. This means that pretty much every time I get up to use the bathroom, take a break, or grab food, I manage to turn off at least one light. There is so much blatant power waste going on in this building alone that I actually feel like I'm helping reduce coal burning at power plants in the region.

Tuesday HaHa... well, sort of

I guess you could say this is 50% hilarious (the Jonah Goldberg looking like an asshole part) and 50% tremendously sad (the war part).

Republicans filibuster anti-escalation resolution in the Senate today

I was pretty pissed off and wanted to vent to a large audience. You know... more than the seven people who might see something here at Ironcity.

So I emailed my thoughts to Josh Marshall. He turned around and posted them on the Talking Points Memo front page which I thought was pretty neat considering it's one of the most read and well-respected blogs on the internet.

An overload of good fortune

As Sidney Crosby charges ahead towards another 100 point season -- he currently leads the NHL with 82 points through 47 games which puts him on pace for a 137 point season -- I decided it would be fun to look back and add up all the Penguins' 100 point scorers over the years. I found out that it has been done 27 times by 12 Penguins in 38 seasons from 1968-2006. Most remarkably, the feat was accomplished 24 times by 9 Penguins during a 17 year run from 1985-2001.

Here's the complete list:

Larouche - 1976
Pronovost - 1976
Lemieux - 1985, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 96, 97
Brown - 1989
Coffey - 1989, 90
Recchi - 1991
Cullen - 1991*
Stevens - 1992, 93
Tocchet - 1993
Francis - 1993, 96
Jagr - 1996, 98, 99, 01**
Crosby - 2006

* 94 points through 65 games when traded to Hartford, finished the season with 110 points
** also just missed 100 points on four other occasions (finished each season with 94 to 99 points)

Perhaps you don't know hockey that well and are thinking, "So what?"   If so, consider the following. The Washington Capitals have been in the league since 1974 and have seen a total of three 100 point seasons from their players. San Jose, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Minnesota, Florida, Columbus, Atlanta, and NEW JERSEY (a team that's been in the league for 32 seasons and has actually won three Stanley Cup titles) all have never had a 100 point scorer. So the Penguins having 27 is pretty incredible.

Way to go, Boston!

So I guess in addition to being the home of the Red Sox, the Boston Tea Party, and Cheers, Boston can now lay claim to being the first and only American city to be shut down by Lite-Brites:




AWESOME ACTION UPDATE -- "press conference" video from outside the courthouse of the two guys arrested for placing the light boards around Boston (via BoingBoing)


UPDATE #2 -- I realized this morning that this whole episode kind of reminds me of the hilarious Pittsburgh "sniper" incident of a year ago. However, in Pittsburgh's defense, I would also point out that that incident actually involved someone being observed with a weapon of sorts.

some Thursday funnies

Cracked.com's Superbowl "coverage"
(and here's their spoof page from last year's game)

Star Wars vs. Star Trek:


Great Robot Chicken segment sent to me by Joe -- super villains stuck in traffic:


Not really funny at all, actually. A guy takes a picture of himself every day for over six years: