Before we begin this week’s loser update, let us pause for a moment of silence in honor of the Detroit Lions. So, so close to touching the pinnacle of failure, only to have those aspirations snatched away from them.
With that out of the way, NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Miami
Cleveland
Tennessee
Kansas City
<This space intentionally left blank, in memory of the Lions.>
Carolina
Tampa
St. Louis
The week 3 loser update won’t be available until Tuesday (0-2 Carolina plays Dallas Monday night) but how in the heck do you lose to the hapless Detroit Lions?
And what of Texas Tech? Losing to UT wasn’t so bad (tough game against a tough team), but being defeated in the last seconds by the University of Houston? Is there a Texas Monthly cover curse? Two losses this early in the season do not bode well.
Terrorism isn’t funny. But I do wonder how much of a sense of humor the FBI Counter Terrorism Task Force has.
“Hello, you’ve reached the Sprint PCS voice mail of The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Please place both hands above your head and refrain from any sudden movements.”
By way of Jimbo, David Brancaccio in the Santa Fe Reporter:
The bigger TV you have, the dumber you are. Smart people have TVs, often—but not very big ones.
Oh, yeah, Mister Smarty Smart Guy? What if I have a 56″ TV, but I only use it to watch my collection of classic films on DVD and Blu-Ray from the Criterion Collection? Who’s the dummy now, eh?
(For the record, especially since I’m expecting an influx of folks from Glen’s site; my TV is a 36″ tube TV that my great and good friend Andrew gave me for free. I haven’t even connected the converter box to it yet. I don’t, and won’t, have cable; if I had cable, I’d spend all my time watching it, especially the Things That Go Fast And Explode Channel. And that would interfere with other more worthwhile activities, like school, hacking, drinking seasonal microbrews, and arguing about Proust. I don’t watch Fox News, or any TV news except under very rare circumstances. Most of my TV watching these days is with an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid on the MacBook, or DVDs. I do confess to being a sucker for Cops, watching America’s Most Wanted, and anything on PBS that catches my attention; mostly Nova, and the occassional Frontline, Secrets of the Dead, or American Experience. And I keep football games on as background noise during the season while I work on other projects.)
I’ve known about the MIT OpenCourseware stuff for a while now, and even had that site bookmarked, to go along with my ambitious plans to work through 6.001 on my own.
What I didn’t know until tonight was that you can actually download a whole freaking wheelbarrow full of OpenCourseWare stuff for free through iTunes U. Unfortunately, 6.001 isn’t on that list, but 6.00 and 6.046J are. (And 6.00 is taught using Python! Yes! Two, two, two mints in one!) I find it difficult to articulate why I’m so blown away by this; but yet, I am.
Mike, you might find this interesting, too (though technically it isn’t courseware).
WTF?
That’s just a hair under one billion dollars.
WTFF?
This Statesman story about food-related tattoos is not the dumbest thing I’ve ever read in the Statesman.
It is, however, easily in the Top Ten. Maybe even Top Five.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Miami
Cleveland
Tennessee
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Detroit (19 straight losses now: remember, the record is 26.)
Carolina
Tampa
St. Louis
The Houston Astros have fired Cecil Cooper.
The Astros have lost seven straight and eight of their last 10 games.
With Sunday’s loss they dropped to 70-79 and were eliminated from playoff contention.
After one previous failed attempt, we were finally able to hit Cover 3 last night, and I had a chance to try the Chop House Burger.
Reaction:
Overall, it just wasn’t an impressive experience. I could go back (and, if I did, I’d probably get the Chop House Burger with bacon and cheese, fries, and nothing else) but I’m not excited at the prospect.
The NYT offers up an update in the case of ten 1933 $20 gold pieces confiscated by the U.S. Mint; in brief, the government has been ordered either to give the coins back, or provide proof the coins were stolen.
I’ve been interested in these coins since reading David Tripp’s book Illegal Tender
Tripp’s book makes it very clear (in my opinion) that the government believed all of these coins that made it out of the Mint were stolen property, that the government was allowing the 2002 sale as a one-off deal, and that any future coins that showed up would also be confiscated and destroyed. I find it very difficult to believe that Mr. Langbord and his family were not aware of this, and I have a lot of trouble siding with them.
(As a side note, I haven’t read Alison Frankel’s Double Eagle
“It’s official. Microsoft has no shame. None. They should just stop paying rent on that storage unit where they keep their shame because they, as I said, have none.”
An article I missed yesterday that’s worthy of attention:
This is an aspect of Houston history I was previously unaware of; I’m glad the Chron covered this.