Quotulatiousness

November 15, 2010

Vikings’ playoff hopes all but gone

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 08:16

Yesterday’s game against the Chicago Bears was a must-win . . . and they put in a terrible performance:

BRETT FAVRE: The battered quarterback had a depleted receiving corps to which he threw for a paltry 170 yards, with three interceptions and a fumble — giving Favre an eye-popping 21 turnovers this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Allowed dashing returner Devin Hester to break tackles and wreak havoc on the coverage units, producing returns of 68 and 42 yards. After converting nine consecutive field goals, Ryan Longwell missed for the first time this season, clanking a 39-yard attempt off the left upright in the second quarter that would have given Minnesota a six-point lead.

RUN DEFENSE: The once-vaunted unit that went 36 games without yielding 100 yards rushing has allowed four teams to crack the century mark, including Chicago, which ran up 130 yards on the ground.

Not appearing in this game were Sidney Rice and Bernard Berrian. Injured during the game was Percy Harvin, meaning the top three receivers were off the field during the last portion of the game.

Next week’s game against the Green Bay Packers may not matter, even if the Vikings can manage to win . . . they’ll need to win all of their remaining games to even hope for a wildcard spot.

New on A&E: Psychics with Serious Mental Illnesses Hunting Hitler’s Ghost While Driving A Big Truck with Their Freakish Family

Filed under: Media, Randomness, Science — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 00:32

Another link from Chris Myrick: Bad move, A&E.

The A&E Channel has a new show coming up: Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal. Sounds awful already, doesn’t it? But it’s worse than you think: they’re looking for disturbed kids who think they’ve got magic powers, and then they’re flying in “professional psychics” to coach them in dealing with their awesome powers, i.e., indulge their delusions, get off on feeling superior to unhappy kids, and collect a paycheck for psychic child abuse.

They’re putting kids in the hands of a creepy skeevo like Chip Coffey, all for your entertainment.

This is quite possibly the most loathsome thing I’ve ever seen on TV, and my cable gives me access to the Trinity Broadcast Network, so that’s saying a lot.

Skepchicks are mobilizing the skeptic hordes. Call or write to A&E and let them know that their schlock has reached a new and despicable low.

Russian “sleeper” agents apparently betrayed by “middle management”

Filed under: Military, Politics, Russia, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 00:03

If you remember the foofaraw about the ten Russian sleeper agents who were in the news earlier this year, Strategy Page says they were actually unmasked long before it became public knowledge:

According to Russian officials, the ten Russian spies arrested in the United States last June were betrayed by a Russian espionage official (identified only as “colonel Shcherbakov”) in the SVR (Russian CIA). The U.S. claimed they had been watching the ten sleepers for several years, which may indicate that Shcherbakov has revealed a lot more if he was on the American payroll all that time. Shcherbakov was in charge of the SVR sleeper cell operation. The Russians use military ranks in the police and intelligence services, and colonels are middle-management. There is political pressure to on the head of SVR to resign, indicating that the damage was greater than anyone wants to admit.

Last July, after Shcherbakov was safely in the U.S., American and Russian officials conducted a spy swap in Vienna, Austria. This was the largest such swap since the Cold War. Russia pardoned and freed four Russians, including two former intel officers who had revealed the identities of numerous Russian agents in the West. These two are believed to have more information and insights of value. The U.S. released the ten Russians who had, for the last decade, been trying to pass themselves off as Americans, and operate as “illegals” (spies without diplomatic cover and protection). As part of the deal, the ten Russians had to admit their guilt. The FBI said that they caught on to this bunch early on, and have been watching them for years, trying to obtain more information on how Russian espionage operate in the United States. The FBI finally arrested these ten when it became apparent that the Russians had detected that they were being watched. Or because colonel Shcherbakov believed his SVR bosses were on to him, or because the colonel believed it was time to retire to that secret condo in the United States. Russian government officials are indicating that SVR assassins have been sent to kill Shcherbakov.

Some have speculated that these agents were actually just a cover for “real” sleeper agents who were doing actual espionage work — it’s as viable an explanation as the SVR deliberately placing ineffective agents.

November 14, 2010

Life replicates art, kinda

Filed under: Books, Cancon, Education, Liberty, Media, Politics — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 12:02

As one of the comments on this article in The Cord points out, it’s highly ironic that “at a speech about a book detailing how the police did nothing to uphold the laws of the land the university did exactly the same thing.”

What was scheduled as a speech by Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford turned sour tonight as protesters opposing the journalist’s new book Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us took over the stage.

Three protesters locked themselves together at the centre of the stage where Blatchford was meant to speak at the University of Waterloo’s (UW) Humanities Theatre in Hagey Hall, with another individual acting as their “negotiator”. A fifth, Tallula Marigold, acted as the group’s media representative.

“We don’t want people who are really, really racist teaching [the people we love],” said Marigold of Blatchford. “And we don’t want that person to have a public forum because it makes it dangerous for others in the public forum.”

If nothing else, the passion of the protesters has persuaded me that I must buy and read Blatchford’s latest book . . .

Well, give them partial credit for their answer . . .

Filed under: Liberty, Media, Technology — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 11:33

Another article where the headline really carries the whole story:

WSJ Warnings About Privacy-Invading Cookies Carry Privacy-Invading Cookies
Can you move this one to the ‘Irony’ section?

The Wall Street Journal posted a story yesterday about the Obama administration’s plan to add a privacy watching task force to evaluate rules on cookies, metacookies, flash cookies and all the other online threats to consumer privacy.

[. . .]

Of the threatening, deletion-resistant Flash cookies they revealed on in my browser, tracking my trip over to the NYT to read more: two from the Wall Street Journal.

QotD: The lost election

Filed under: Government, Humour, Politics, Quotations, USA — Nicholas @ 11:19

I think we lost the election on November 2. Every race was won by a politician. True, we elected some angry nuts. These are preferable to common politicians. Their anger provokes honesty, and their mental illness prevents honesty from being obscured by charm. [. . .] We also elected some amateur politicians. However, politics is like vivisection — disturbing as a career, alarming as a hobby. And we may have elected a few reluctant politicians. But not reluctant enough.

We will win an election when all the seats in the House and Senate and the chair behind the desk in the Oval Office and the whole bench of the Supreme Court are filled with people who wish they weren’t there.

In a free country government is a dull and onerous responsibility. It is a parent-teacher conference. The teacher is a pompous twit. Our child is a lazy pain in the ass. We undertake this social obligation with weary reluctance. And we only do it at all because the teacher (political authority) deserves cold stares, hard questions, and maybe firing, and the pupil (that portion of society which, alas, needs governing) deserves to be grounded without TV and have its Internet access screened and its allowance docked.

America’s elected and appointed officials ought to be longing to return to their personal lives and private interests. They should feel burdened by their powers, irked with their responsibilities, and embarrassed at their prominence in the public eye. When they say they want to spend more time with their families, they should mean it.

P.J. O’Rourke, “I Think We Lost the Election: How about politics without politicians?”, Weekly Standard, 2010-11-13

Wandering minds or wandered researchers?

Filed under: Health, Randomness — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:02

I can’t improve at all on Chris Myrick’s comment on this article:

Harvard psychologists have determined that we are happiest when: having sex, exercising, in intense conversations with friends, listening to music or playing. Aside from their use of an iPhone app to determine this, (http://www.trackyourhappiness.org/), I’m missing the news value.

However, I see potential for a follow-up study where researchers can determine whether receiving phone messages during sex, sport or engaging conversation puts a damper on someone’s mood.

November 13, 2010

QotD: Drinker’s lesson

Filed under: Humour, Quotations, Wine — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 14:00

In “real life”, Amis was a no-nonsense drinker with little inclination to waste a good barman’s time with fussy instructions. However, there was an exception which I think I can diagnose in restrospect, and it is related to his strong admiration for the novels of Ian Fleming. What is James Bond really doing when he specifies the kind of martini he wants and how he wants it? He is telling the barman (or bartender if you must) that he knows what he is talking about and is not to be messed around. I learned the same lesson when I was a restaurant and bar critic for the City Paper in Washington, D.C. Having long been annoyed by people who called knowingly for, say, “a Dewar’s and water” instead of a scotch and water, I decided to ask a trusted barman what I got if I didn’t specify a brand or label. The answer was a confidential jerk of the thumb in the direction of a villainous-looking tartan-shaded jar under the bar. The situation was even grimmer with gin and vodka and became abysmal with “white wine”, a thing I still can’t bear to hear being ordered. If you don’t state a clear preference, then your drink is like a bad game of poker or a hasty drug transaction: It is whatever the dealer says it is. Please do try to bear this in mind.

Christopher Hitchens, “The Muse of Booze”, Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis, 2008

Sidney Rice to play tomorrow against Chicago Bears

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:38

According to Bleacher Report, Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice will play in tomorrow’s game against Chicago:

Sidney declined hip surgery this offseason, despite several doctors strongly recommending he undergo the procedure. As it turns out, this was a foolish decision on Rice’s part.

Had he undergone the surgery in April, Rice would have been fully healthy when Week 1 rolled around against the New Orleans Saints.

With that said, the past cannot be changed, but it’s a wonder as to how much better the Vikings would be if they had Favre’s favorite target on the field.

Had Rice been playing on a weekly basis, Minnesota would’ve never made the acquisition to bring Randy Moss back to the team who drafted him in 1998.

Minnesota also would still have their third-round-pick in 2011.

While I can’t blame him for not wanting to undergo a surgical procedure if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, the decision certainly had deep repercussions for his team. It’s not Rice’s fault that all this happened — there’s no guarantee that the team’s record would have been any better if he’d been on the field from the start — but it’s indisputable that him not being available had a domino effect.

Update, 14 November: No, the Vikings didn’t place Rice on their active roster, so he won’t play in today’s game.

Train movies, and movies with trains

Filed under: Media, Railways, Randomness — Tags: — Nicholas @ 12:17

Donald Liebenson at Armchair Commentary has a large (but probably not complete) list of films about or featuring trains:

“Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance,” Paul Simon sings, “Everybody thinks it’s true.” There’s nothing truer. Nothing pierces the heart like a lonesome train whistle. Nothing holds the promise of mystery, romance, and adventure like a train bound for somewhere. That thundering locomotive in the kick-ass trailer for Unstoppable looks like it’s bound for trouble. While waiting to see if Denzel Washington and Chris Pine can avert disasters in their path, let’s take a scenic journey aboard some of the most memorable movies in which trains played scene-stealing roles. (The Polar Express is not on this list. Those dead-eyed children give me the creeps).

H/T to Jeff Shultz for the link.

Fly Lutheran Airlines, you betcha!

Filed under: Humour, Religion — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 11:59

H/T to Jason Ciastko and John McCluskey for the link.

Some music just doesn’t belong in commercials

Filed under: Media — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 11:44

By way of @muskrat_john (John Kovalic), who wrote “Love the Pogues. Love my Subaru Forrester. Saw Forrester commercial use Pogues song. Surprisingly, I died a little inside.”:

November 12, 2010

Former TSA agent says “Shut Up And Get In The Scanner”

Filed under: Bureaucracy, Liberty — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 16:57

A former TSA scanner talks about the uproar about the full body scanners:

As a former TSA Federal Security Officer aka “screener” I have seen some incredible stuff come through the airport. I have worked in every position over the 5 years I was there. I have screened you, your carry on luggage, your checked luggage and even cargo you may have sent someplace. I have seen tons and trust me a naked image of you is not a problem.

When I worked in the checkpoint and screened passengers and their carry-on luggage, not only could I see what you had in your carry-on bag, I could see you. I could connect the image on the screen with the passenger. If that didn’t humiliate you then this tiny little naked image shouldn’t either. The TSA officer who is looking at the image will never see you and you won’t see them. But that vibrator in your carry-on luggage that looks like it would satisfy an elephant, yeah I see that and I see you standing right in front of me. But sure be offended by the naked x-ray image a person in another room is seeing, don’t worry about the vibrator at all or the other weird and crazy crap in your bag.

[. . .]

The Invasive Pat Down [. . .] is bullshit. It is a terror tactic by TSA to get you to walk through the more thorough body scanner. I can’t defend TSA on this one. I have talked to the TSA officers and it is no more effective than the old pat down procedure. They tested it out with trainers and each other. It is purely a terror tactic by TSA. Shame on TSA and anyone who has to get one should write a complaint in afterward. You still have to get it though if you want to get on the plane. Throwing a fit will not get you out of it.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’ve pretty much given up on flying except for distances that are impractical for driving. I sure haven’t missed the “joys” of airport security for the last few years.

The Two Scotts both like Minnesota over Chicago

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:04

After suddenly liking the Vikings’ chances last week, they both like their chances this week:

Feschuk: Okay, sports media, we get it: The Minnesota players don’t like Brad Childress. I believe we now have approximately 7,000 anonymous sources confirming this fact. Tell Morley Safer to climb on out of the Vikings’ locker-room laundry hamper with his Whisper 2000 — he’s been scooped. Let’s now move forward and focus on more salient issues such as whether Jay Cutler will prioritize his interceptions to members of the Vikings secondary based on height or alphabetical order. Pick: Minnesota.

Reid: I feel certain the Vikes will go on a wild winning streak now that it means Childress keeps his job. This reflects the “Get What I Don’t Want” principle that condemns the U.S. economy and every woman I’ve ever dated. Jay Cutler threw no interceptions against Buffalo last week. That means he’s got twice the quota to fill this week. These statistics don’t just look after themselves, you know. Pick: Minnesota.

Another G20 meeting, another blow against free speech

Filed under: Cancon, Law, Liberty — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:45

If you followed the progress of the last G20 meeting in Toronto, you’ll recall the street theatre it gave rise to. The politicians meeting behind barricades, barbed wire, and thousands of police and soldiers weren’t the story — the story was the protest. In turns, it was peaceful, randomly vandalistic, and then violently suppressed. I was generally against the whole thing, both the G20 itself and the protests that were generated by its presence.

Christopher Hume has been attending the Canadian Civil Liberties Association public meetings about the events of that weekend:

In anticipation of the violence that has become de rigueur at such gatherings, South Korea has mobilized 50,000 police officers and put its armed forces on the highest security alert.

Sound familiar? It should. We did exactly the same thing — and in the process revealed ourselves to be oafs. And not just oafs, but nasty oafs.

Just how nasty is being documented by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. It’s holding public meetings this week in Toronto and Montreal to hear from victims of police violence at the G20. Their stories were at once riveting and tedious. Riveting because the pain is so obviously real; tedious because they’re all the same.

The fact is that G20 summits have no place in the city. The gatherings, which come with full imperial trappings, are a contemporary version of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. That was the legendary meeting in 1520 between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. As the name implies, it was a diplomatic extravaganza where fountains flowed with wine, where palaces were constructed — and where nothing was accomplished.

[. . .]

A city is its infrastructure. That infrastructure is what we inhabit, and what enables us to inhabit the city. But because of security concerns, G20 organizers and their uniformed henchmen feel they must shut down that infrastructure, and with it, the city.

The tales of police callousness and brutality being heard at the CCLA are a disturbing reminder of the lengths to which the state will go to ensure its safety even at the cost of ours. It’s like the old line from the Vietnam War about having to destroy a village in order to save it. In this case, Torontonians, and by extension all Canadians, had their right to security suspended so as not to compromise the participants’ security — or, more to the point perhaps, not to inconvenience these terribly important people.

Earlier posts on the G20 idiocy here.

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