So if you haven't heard enough about multiply, then look it up (no links necessary). I'm over there as are a bunch of others from the journal crowd here at slashdot. the main features that I like: invite only "groups" and it can aggregate journals from blogger, Livejournal, and others. So far it looks robust enough and doesn't seem to be annoying, except the emails for every message you have (couldn't they batch that? or just provide an on-site in-box?).

no more double posting. All I have to do is post in LJ, and multiply gets it (unless I include a special <-- multiply --> tag.

Check LJ under this same user name or hit up multiply. Not everything on LJ will be on multiply because I have real space friend on LJ and we talk there too. I'm probably not going to be around here much. have fun ya'll.

jason

So I'm looking at slashdot and suddenly I see a link for this "FireHose" thing which I thought was a subscriber feature. What the heck is it and how did it suddenly show up? Is this a new feature pushed out from subscribers to the unwashed masses? Or did someone send me a subscription with out me noticing it?

Any ideas?

By the way, this will likely be another "Journal Friday" where Jason posts a lot of catch up journals, as well as fixing hte number problems from the Volcano SO2 emission story the other day.

jason

EDIT: entire article content yanked due to some math flaws and CO2 vs SO2 number problems. I'm going to recalculate and repost when I can find the corrected data. Sorry for the confusion and stay tuned

Thanks to this journal regarding this bit of reporting by NBC regarding soldiers opinions on the "We support you but not the mission" fad with the some of the anti-war crowd.

I suppose those individuals taking this stance haven't ever been in a situation where people revile you while professing to support you. Police work is one of those professions. No one wants to see an Officer. They hate Officers. Unless their sorry ass is in trouble or got ripped off, etc. Then they can't say enough about Law Enforcement. Too slow. Out chasing speeders instead of catching the "real criminals" (who are also speeders you dip-sticks). Never around when you need them. Paid too much to do too little.

Tell you what. I'll put a set of clothes on you that makes you look like the KKK, and then I'll put you in LA. Now go do your job of (anything really: how about side walk vender) with out getting your ass shot. Now you get paid just $20 / hr but you have good medical benefits. Is it worth it?

Ok. Now put on some camo, go to Iraq, and try to get to century old enemies to quit blowing the hell out of each other. Now have dozens of "important" senators and reps deride what you do while supposedly paying lip service to you. You cannot separate the person from the job when the job is soo closely linked to the very survival of the person. The job becomes the person, for better or worse.

jason

Amusing and interesting all in one! Go read the article at the source but if you don't want to give Wired any page hits (or are lazy), I'll quote it below. The gist is that a magician, a practicer of slight of hand not the paranormal, got fed up with psychics and their tricks and ploys bilking the unsuspecting public so he offered up a cash prize to anyone that can prove their claim of supernatural abilities.

The result? The crazies come out of the shadows. Guys that think they can teleport things randomly. Guys that claim to be able to transmit their thoughts to a receiving party. You guessed it. Good 'ol fashioned crazy folk. But that wasn't his target. He wants to take on the big money mediums that talk to the dead, bend spoons, etc. The pot got bigger, topping 1 million bigger, thanks to an anonymous donor.

He has a staff of people just to deal with the crazy people trying to get the money, or trying to be reaffirmed that their diagnosable disorder is real and not just them being nuts (one lady claimed to not be human because of the secret service...... wtf?).

Favorite lines from the article...

• If you're an undiscovered psychic, soothsayer, dowser or medium, time may be running out for you to put your supernatural powers to the test and claim a million dollar prize. But you already knew that, didn't you?
• A Nevada man legally named "The Prophet Yahweh" planned to seize the prize for charity by summoning two spaceships to a Las Vegas park last year, but negotiations broke down when he announced he was bringing several armed guards to the demonstration
• the foundation has to deal with the thorny dilemma of where to draw the line between upholding its commitment, and potentially exploiting or feeding someone's mental illness
• Using resources freed up by dropping unknown and mentally ill applicants, Randi hopes to make things uncomfortable for his real prey: the high-profile psychics who make their living off a credulous public, and who so far won't touch the Million Dollar Challenge with a 10-foot dowsing rod.

Do I believe in such things? Surprisingly the answer is a resounding.... maybe. Ancient Egypt's priests turned their own staffs into snakes (too bad they were eaten by Moses' staff-turned-snake) and I believe there are demons on earth. I have no problem believing that these same demons would love to trick a person into serving them / Satan just so the person could have a nifty trick to do for friends, etc. Do I think any of these are from angels / God? No. Why? Because God has all of creation as witness to his powers and he needs a cheap parlor trick like he needs another person shouting "God hates fags."

By Kevin Poulsen| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Jan, 12, 2007

If you're an undiscovered psychic, soothsayer, dowser or medium, time may be running out for you to put your supernatural powers to the test and claim a million dollar prize.

But you already knew that, didn't you?

Ten years after stage magician and avowed skeptic James Randi first offered a seven-figure payday to anyone capable of demonstrating paranormal phenomenon under scientific scrutiny, the 79-year-old clear-eyed curmudgeon is revising the rules of his nonprofit foundation's Million Dollar Challenge to better target high-profile charlatans, and spend less time on unknown psychics, who too often turn out to be delusional instead of deceptive.

"We can't waste the hundreds of hours that we spend every year on the nutcases out there -- people who say they can fly by flapping their arms," says Randi. "We have three file drawers jam-packed with those collections.... There are over 300 claims that we have handled in detail."

A skeptic since his teen years, Randi launched his challenge in 1964, after growing outraged with fake mediums and fortunetellers using simple conjurers' tricks to prey on the public. A challenge was an efficient alternative to trying to prove a negative: Instead of traveling the world investigating and debunking miracle workers one-by-one, an unclaimed cash prize stands as a fact on the ground -- an immovable obstacle around which anyone purporting supernatural powers must eventually navigate.

The challenge started small. Randi initially offered $1,000 of his own money to anyone who could read a mind or bend a spoon under controlled conditions. He later upped the ante to $10,000, but still didn't get a lot of takers. "There wasn't much interest in $10,000, and frankly I couldn't afford more than that," he says.

Then in 1996, an unnamed donor contributed a million dollars to the cause. Today the James Randi Education Foundation has an office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a small staff to keep pace with a steady stream of applicants, all supported by member contributions, grants and the interest off the million bucks, which remains unclaimed.

Currently, claiming the money takes a few steps: An initiate first has to submit a notarized application, agree with the foundation on a test protocol, then pass a preliminary test administered by independent local investigators. Should the would-be psychic pass the first test, under the agreed-upon rules, all that remains is to repeat his or her success in front of Randi -- then, poof, a psychic millionaire is born.

In 10 years, though, nobody's passed the preliminary exam. The most recent one was administered in Stockholm in October, when Swedish medium Carina Landin tried to identify the gender of the authors of 20 diaries by touching the covers. She got 12 right; 16 was the agreed-upon threshold for success. (The foundation plans to re-administer Landin's test following revelations that several of the diaries were older than stipulated in the protocol.)

Before that, the last preliminary test was in July 2005, when a Hawaiian psychic named Achau Nguyen traveled to Los Angeles to demonstrate he could mentally transmit his thoughts to a friend in another room. Under the watchful eyes of paranormal investigators, a video camera and a small audience, Nguyen selected 20 index cards from a deck of 30 and focused on the words written on each of them in turn -- while one floor below his "receiver" wrote down the wrong word, 20 out of 20 times.

These tests, however unsuccessful, represent the cream of the crop for the Million Dollar Challenge -- polite, sincere applicants able to agree to a reasonable testing protocol. The vast majority of the people applying for the money don't get that far.

A Nevada man legally named "The Prophet Yahweh" planned to seize the prize for charity by summoning two spaceships to a Las Vegas park last year, but negotiations broke down when he announced he was bringing several armed guards to the demonstration in case any "negative personalities" showed up. An inventor who claimed to have built a device that could sense the psychic distress of an egg about to be dropped into a pot of boiling water recently abandoned his application when the foundation suggested the egg be threatened by a hammer instead, in case the invention was really just detecting steam.

"One a week gets as far as a protocol negotiation, and then drops off," says Jeff Wagg, who administers the challenge.

Those are the easy ones. In some of the applications, perhaps most of them, the foundation has to deal with the thorny dilemma of where to draw the line between upholding its commitment, and potentially exploiting or feeding someone's mental illness. The demarcation is inherently tricky, since the entire theatre of paranormal testing is located in the realm of extra-rational belief.

A San Francisco woman, for example, was determined to prove that she wasn't human. She had trouble articulating why she believed that, but somehow the Secret Service was involved. In a more recent application, a New York state man claimed that he could summon the appearance of small objects while walking down a road. "The results are plain to see and obviously appear by themselves, in various random arrangements," he wrote the foundation. "I will these phenomenon into being, and/or they happen because of my physical presence alone, therefore I claim to have these powers."

What a psychiatrist might interpret as a warning sign for schizophrenia, the James Randi Educational Foundation is obliged to take seriously. After all, who's to say that random objects teleporting into existence is any more unlikely than Uri Geller telekinetically bending a spoon? But at some point, the process becomes distasteful.

"If we get them to go to a challenge and they lose, we're exposing someone who had serious mental illness," says Wagg. "That doesn't do us any good, and it doesn't do them any good. It doesn't prove anything."

Culling these applications from the process is a major goal of the revamped rules, which take effect April 1st.

Starting then, the challenge will be closed to undiscovered psychic talent; to submit an application, the aspirant will have to demonstrate a "media profile" -- television reports, newspaper articles or a reference in a book that chronicles his or her extraordinary abilities.

"We're not going to deal with unknown people who have silly claims," says Wagg. "Let's say, somebody claims they can walk on water. We'll say, prove it to somebody else first. Get on the local news. Then bring it to us."

The applicant has to back up those press clippings with validation from the hallowed halls of academia. "They have to get some academic to endorse their claims," says Randi. "And that academic is not the local chiropractor or some such thing." The academic also has to stand behind the endorsement when contacted by the skeptics.

With the new criteria in place, the foundation will, at its option, dispense with the preliminary test and move right to the money game.

Using resources freed up by dropping unknown and mentally ill applicants, Randi hopes to make things uncomfortable for his real prey: the high-profile psychics who make their living off a credulous public, and who so far won't touch the Million Dollar Challenge with a 10-foot dowsing rod.

Randi says he'll start actively investigating professional mind-readers and mediums for proof of criminal fraud, or opportunities for civil lawsuits. Like Elliot Ness stalking Al Capone, he's not above busting a psychic for tangential infractions like tax code violations or an SEC matter.

At the same time, the foundation will choose six to eight high-profile targets each year, meticulously outline their claims, and then call them out one-by-one.

"We're going to pick people every year and hammer on them," says Wagg. "We're going to send certified mail, we're going to do advertising. We're going to pick a few people and say, we are actively challenging you. We may advertise in The New York Times. This will make the challenge a better tool, to be what it is supposed to be."

The foundation will launch this public-shaming initiative with a list of four targets, including self-proclaimed medium John Edward, and daytime talk show darling Sylvia Browne, who claims she can tell the future and see angels.

Browne is one of the United States' best known psychics, a best-selling author who frequently appears on Montel Williams and CNN's Larry King Live. In a 2001 appearance on Larry King, goaded by Randi, she seemed to agree to take the Million Dollar Challenge. She later backed away in an open letter to Randi on her website.

"As the saying goes, my self worth is completely unrelated to your opinion of me, and I've worked far too hard for far too many years, and have far too much left to do, to jump through hoops in the hope of proving something you've staked your reputations on mocking," she wrote. "I have no interest in your $1 million or any intention of pursuing it."

That's a disappointment, because if Browne's claims were ever to stand up to a scientific test in an adversarial process, it would be an unprecedented event in modern history, potentially changing our scientific understanding of the universe. Instead, you can buy a psychic phone call with her for $700.

Unlike Browne, Edward has never flip-flopped on the Randi test. He won't do it. In an appearance on CNN Headline News last October, he dismissed the notion with a quip. "Would I allow myself to be tested by somebody's whose got an adjective as a first name?" he said -- a reference to Randi's stage name, "The Amazing Randi."

CNN host Glenn Beck didn't press Edward for a serious answer. Instead he asked Edward about the time he contacted his mother beyond the grave -- "What was that like?" -- then opened the phones to callers looking for psychic advice. Edward specializes in passing messages between bereaved family members and their deceased loved ones; he told the first caller that someone in his family has cancer.

Edward didn't respond to an e-mail query for this story; Browne didn't return a phone call, and neither responded to several minutes of intense concentration. The other two psychics in Randi's fantastic four are Israeli spoon-bender Uri Geller and James Van Praagh, co-executive producer of CBS' Ghost Whisperer.

The media's lightweight treatment of professional psychics is a deadly serious matter to Randi. "People like Sylvia Browne have a very high profile, and she's always going to be on Montel Williams and she's going to be on Larry King," he says. "And they know what's going on, they're smart people. They know what's going on and they don't care."

Riled by clips like Edward's Headline News appearance, Randi's made media skepticism the theme of the 5th annual The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, a four-day skepticism conference kicking off Jan. 18 at the Riviera, where the full details of the revamped Million Dollar Challenge will be revealed to 800 attendees without the gift of prophecy.

Spotted this letter to the editor thanks to this post by ncc74656.

To the editor:

        So, the Democrats promise "A New Direction For America."

        The stock market is at a new all-time high. America's 401(k) plans are back in positive territory. A new direction from there means, what?

        Unemployment is at 25-year lows. A new direction from there means, what?

        Oil prices are plummeting. A new direction from there means, what?

        Taxes are at 20-year lows. A new direction from there means, what?

        Federal tax revenues are at all-time highs. A new direction from there means, what?

        The federal budget deficit is down almost 50 percent, just as predicted over last year. A new direction from there means, what?

        Home valuations are up 200 percent over the past 3.5 years. A new direction from there means, what?

        Inflation is in check, hovering at 20-year lows. A new direction from there means, what?

        Not a single terrorist attack has taken place on U.S. soil since 9/11. A new direction from there means, what?

        Osama bin Laden is living under a rock in a dark cave, having not surfaced in years, if he's alive at all, while 95 percent of al-Qaida's top dogs are either dead or in custody, cooperating with U.S. intelligence. A new direction from there means, what?

        Several major terrorist attacks have already been thwarted by U.S. and British officials, including the recent planned attack involving 10 jumbo jets being exploded in mid-air over major U.S. cities in order to celebrate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A new direction from there means, what?

        Just as President Bush told us on a number of occasions, Iraq was to be made "ground zero" for the war on terrorism -- and just as President Bush said they would, terrorist cells from all over the region are arriving from the shadows of their hiding places and flooding into Iraq in order to get their faces blown off by U.S. Marines rather than boarding planes and heading to the United States to wage war on us here. A new direction from there means, what?

        Now let me see, do I have this right? I can expect: The economy to go south; illegals to go north; taxes to go up; employment to go down; terrorism to come in; tax breaks to go out; Social Security to go away; and health care to go the same way gas prices have gone.

        But what the heck. I can gain comfort by knowing that Nancy P., Hillary C., John K., Edward K., Howard D., Harry R. and Obama have worked hard to create a comprehensive National Security Plan, Health Care Plan, Immigration Reform Plan, Gay Rights Plan, Same-Sex Marriage Plan, Abortion-On-Demand Plan, Tolerance of Everyone and Everything Plan, How to Return all Troops to the United States in the Next Six Months Plan, A Get Tough Plan adapted from the French Plan by the same name, and a How Everyone Can Become as Wealthy as We Are Plan.

        I forgot the No More Katrina Storm Plan.

        Now I know why I feel good after the elections. I am going to be able to sleep so much better at night knowing these dedicated politicians are thinking of me and my welfare.

        Mark Wilson
        HENDERSON

Now that I got your attention with a header you thought would lead you to a discussion on hot steamy lesbian sex.... sorry to disappoint you. But while you are all excited, might I draw your attention to this journal which found a nifty article.
Updated Link. Sorry Ces. I forgot the link back!

Ron Paul, a long time Republican Texas congressman is running for President again, this time as a Republican. If you read that last sentence closely you will the inherent question... What did he run as last time if it wasn't as a Republican?

Libertarian. Thats what. He describes himself as a life long Libertarian running as a Republican and is "routinely ranked either first or second in the House of Representatives by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government."

I'll let you read the rest of the article. Lets just say that any other candidate would have to match a lot of Paul's voting records to get my vote away from Ron Paul. Yes I know he has two first names and some news prick will coyly bring that up as if it matters.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul files for GOP presidential bid
JOE STINEBAKER
Associated Press
HOUSTON - Ron Paul, the iconoclastic nine-term congressman from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward launching a second presidential bid in 2008, this time as a Republican.

Paul filed incorporation papers in Texas on Thursday to create a presidential exploratory committee that allows him and his supporters to collect money on behalf of his bid. This will be Paul's second try for the White House; he was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988.

Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul's exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul's Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he's a long shot.

"There's no question that it's an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog," Snyder said. "But we think it's well worth doing and we'll let the voters decide."

Paul, of Lake Jackson, acknowledges that the national GOP has never fully embraced him despite his nine terms in office under its banner. He gets little money from the GOP's large traditional donors, but benefits from individual conservative and Libertarian donors outside Texas. He bills himself as "The Taxpayers' Best Friend," and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House of Representatives by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.

He describes himself as a lifelong Libertarian running as a Republican.

Paul was not available for comment Thursday, Snyder said.

But he said the campaign will test its ability to attract financial and political support before deciding whether to launch a full-fledged campaign. Snyder said Paul is not running just to make a point or to try to ensure that his issues are addressed, but to win.

Paul is expected to formally announce his bid in the next week or two, Snyder said.

Snyder said Paul and his supporters are not intimidated by the presence of nationally known and better-financed candidates such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona or former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

"This is going to be a grassroots American campaign," he said. "For us, it's either going to happen at the grassroots level or it's not."

Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the U.S. Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes that appear at odds with his constituents and other Republicans. He was the only Republican congressman to vote against Department of Defense appropriations for fiscal year 2007.

The vote against the defense appropriations bill, he said, was because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, which he said was "not necessary for our actual security."

So I spent some time looking up the error codes with my wife shouting out the numbers and me searching nintendo.com for answers. Most of hte problems seemed to be DNS and connection related so I tried a few solutions all at once. I enabled port forwarding for the Wii on 4 specific ports that the web site mentioned and i stuck the wii in a DMZ. Hopefully it is secure enough to take the exposure.

That seemed to fix the problem os now I have a wii online! I forgot to bring my console ID to work so I'll have to remember to post it when I'm at home.

Now I just need to get the stupid news channel to work. nothing seems to respond there. i try to connect, it says it needs to look or an update. it checks, and there are no new updates. so i guess wii news is not ready yet.

I'm still addicted to wii tennis and have the added elbow pain to prove it. i am finally getting the hang of the power server, but rarely need it to beat the computer. I hit pro and am actually aroudn level 1890 give or take and can usually beat the computer miis (playing at level 2000 or so) in straight sets. computers are predictable, but i'm also friggin good now. :-) I usually play as both characters on my team so i can do some killer combos. hard server from back, returns i taken by front player who shoots it back to opponent rear to the far left, that player returns to my front who quickly shoots a cross court past their front player to hte far side for the score.

Advantage Front.

jason

jason

I just ran across an interesting piece of mail that caught my eye. The link is to a new documentary called "Mine Your Own Business" and relates how Greenpeace and otehr environmental activists are preventing poor nations from receiving foreign industrial investment in the form of new mines. This trailer does riff on the Inconvenient Truth (hard not to) bit so you shouldn't have much of a question as to where they are coming from.

It isn't taht I hate the environment. Heck see my previous rant on recycling. I want to take care of the earth because I have to breath and drink from here too. But the wackos that are militant about it or that force other nations to remain in poverty for their own agenda is what ticks me off.

Check out their blog as well, though the content is mostly press releases and that sort of thing.

Jason

I rediscovered my love of tennis this week. Fist off, I played tennis a lot when I lived in Florida. Secondly, I grew up watching the rise and recent retirement of Andre Agassi.

Andre had a rough start to his professional career, being rebellious in dress and temperament. For young Andre, Image is everything and he teamed up with Canon to promote their Rebel camera line using that same slogan. I remember those commercials from the 90s especially because I was already a fan of his. But he turned things around, matured started grabbing attention with his winning record. Agassi is regarded as one of the best players of all time by almost all sources and is the only player to have won the top tournament (called a Grand Slam Title) on all possible playing surfaces clay, grass, and court - like being #1 in the world at playing beach volleyball, court volleyball, mud volleyball, and oiled down bikini volleyball.... no one can possibly expect to be the best at all of them :-).

Now that wii have established that Andre Agassi is the best tennis player the world has ever seen or will ever see (not up for debate)...... when will wii get an Agassi game for the Wii? If you haven't played Wii Sports tennis using player vs player then you are missing out on some great fun. Now Wii Sports is limited. It is designed to showcase the abilities of the new controller and it does it well. Each of the games, Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Bowling, Boxing is simple, but fun and usually has some way to compete against another player, the most direct and personal is Boxing.

Nothing quite gets a personal and exciting as boxing a mii that looks like your co-worker, or even better your boss. Even if you lose, those fast jabs will be memorable. Tennis is the next most exciting of the sports package because 4 players can play. For sheer fun, Tennis takes the prize, though the split screen complicates the presentation and occasionally means that shots are actually hit off screen because the camera movement didn't predict fast enough.

Bowling and golf provide 4 player action..... but not the excitement and fast paced competition. And then baseball falls last on my list, not because I don't like it, but because it is only 2 player, is kind of slow and the game play is extremely simplified.

So given these fun games and the innovative controller, I believe the Wii has some HUGE sports game potential. My boss is already raving about Madden NFL 07 and Super Swing Golf and how great the game play is on both using the wiimote and nun chuck. I expect to see a rash of knockoff sports games in the next year as developers play wii sports and then marketing / management decides to try and get a quick buck by making some cheap franchise games.

But even cheap franchise games will be fun if designed properly. I'll specifically think of tennis. Wii Sports Tennis awoke something in me that yearns for wicked top spin. When was the last tennis game released? How often does a tennis game by anyone get released? go hit up your favorite game review site and you will see that each console & PC get one tennis game every 3 years or so. Virtua seems to be the leader but that is because they like the release grind and pump out lots of them for each platform. Mario Tennis gets good marks because it is fun to play (a common theme with almost all Nintendo games) I'll probably pick this up used. The next offering is Top Spin, but that is a PC only game so you need 4 computers to get together and play with friends.

So what I want is a full featured tennis game for the Wii. I want to control player movement, shot types (slice, back spin, top spin, etc) and I want to play with 3 other players. I hear there is a Tennis Masters to be released for the Wii. You can bet I'll be paying attention to reviews once we know anything about this game.

Aside from bad tennis elbow developed after only about 8 hours of Wii tennis play (in just 5 days!), I'm loving Wii Sports Tennis. I just hit pro yesterday, but I still can't get the hang of how to reliably serve the power serve. Anyone have some hints?

jason

This entry brought to you by a friend I know in real space who is also a HUGE sports fan (evidence his in person sporting event attendance). Addition of all links are my edits and my comments are in brackets "[" "]".

Okay, so for those who do not know I was at the Fiesta Bowl last night!

Unless you were spending last night in a cave (or just don't care about football) you have probably heard about the ending of the game. This game was the most outstanding, most impressive, most gut-wrenching sporting event I have ever seen live. In my comment, I am not forgetting attending Final Fours in 1998 and 2002, Rose Bowl in 2003, Wimbledon 1995 [3 way battle Agassi vs Becker vs Sampras who won.... amazing tournament] and 1997 World Cup in 1994, NBA Finals Game 5 in 1999, NHL Playoff Games in San Jose, #2 Oklahoma vs. #1 Nebraska in 2000, etc. I have had the privilege of seeing some pretty sweet games, but that was in fact the best game I have ever seen.

Possibly the most amazing thing that has happened in all of sports since the Music City Miracle in 2000 when the Titans beat the Bills on a last second lateral in an NFL Playoff Game (I was not there), and this Fiesta Bowl may have been better than that. It may be the 2nd greatest game ending in all of sports history (probably nothing will ever top the 1982 Cal vs Stanford 7 laterals).

Did I beat this horse to death? Is everyone understanding how amazing this thing was? I was in Phoenix at the game, but I heard that borderline riots were breaking out in Boise at the end of the game. So what happened you ask? Check out espn.com or something to watch it if you can, but here is the basic story:

Boise State led from the beginning because of two Oklahoma turnovers. 14-0 BSU.

OU comes back to score a TD on a long drive. 14-7 BSU.

BSU dominates the 2nd and 3rd quarters. 28-10 BSU.

BSU muffs a punt late in the 3rd quarter, the game swings to OU. OU starts rolling. 28-20 BSU.

OU leads impressive drive and scores TD after three controversial penalties. OU then gets another penalty but converts two-point conversion. 28-28.

BSU throws interception on 1st play of drive for OU TD. 35-28 OU.

With 1:02, BSU gets ball. OU defense is tough but on 4th and 18, BSU runs hook and ladder play to perfection to score from 50-yd line right before time expires. 35-35.

In 1st OT, OU scores TD on 1st play. 42-35 OU.

On BSU OT possession, BSU scores TD on 4th and 2 with a half-back pass. 42-41 OU.

Instead of kicking extra point to tie, BSU scores 2-pt conversion on a statue of liberty play reminiscent of 1930s.

I think most of the fans in attendance had to change clothes after the game due to sweat . . . or something else.

What made it so emotional for me is that though I was raised by a DIE-HARD sprts fan dad from Oklahoma, I currently live in Boise. Not just a little bit ironic. I came to the game in my customized OU jersey with "Martin" on the back. I had no choice but to root for Oklahoma. It is a huge part of my family heritage and I have always rooted for OU. Let me put it this way, we only used to visit my grandmother in Oklahoma City when OU had a home game that weekend.

But I have been living in Idaho for the past 2.5 years and have grown to love the place. I have a bunch of friends who go to or went to Boise State and have become a fan the past few seasons. This was fine with my dad because OU and BSU are in different conferences and conceivably they wouldn't play each other. That was a good theory.

At the game I honestly didn't know what to do. I was there to root for Oklahoma and I did, but I couldn't turn against Boise State. I couldn't believe it but I found myself rooting for Boise State. They needed the win so much more than Oklahoma. When OU intercepted the ball at the end of the fourth quarter to seemingly put the game away for OU, all the OU fans went crazy, but I just stood in shock. It made me feel a little bit sick. When BSU came back at the end, I was pumped! Great game! It was a very interesting experience.

What is the Fiesta Bowl?

The Fiesta Bowl is one of the five main college "bowl" games played around the country at the end of the regular season. NCAA Division 1 football does not have a playoff system, which in and of itself sets college football apart from any other sport on any level, and most people actually dislike bowl games because they are an excuse to not have a playoff. That said, many of the bowl games are very exciting and are always the last game of the year for each team, so energy is high.

Fortunately for me, the problem is not a controller impaled in my TV set or broken glasses, windows, etc.

No my problem is far ore annoying. I have a nice 802.11b/g network with no encryption (MAC address filtering only) and the MAC for the wii is entered. The Wii can get and check for system updates (already got two of them) but it will not setup WiiConnect24 no matter what I do. Any attempts to access the Weather, News, or Shop illicit an error code (can't remember it right now) and a message to agree to the User Agreements for WiiConnect24. Any time I try to go to the Wii Settings menu and select the "User Agreements" it tries to connect (which we already established that it works for updates but not for anything else). The connection attempt fails with an error code.

Anyone Wii1337 users out there with suggestions or solutions?

jason

I didn't get to go, but my church rolled out the massive projector screen and we set up sofas and chairs in the sanctunasium (sanctuary-gymnasium) and watched the Fiesta bowl on a 20 ft tall screen.

Amazing game. The Big Boys of the Press are calling it "Instant Classic" "Dramatic and Defining Victory" "All Time Thriller"

If you missed it, hit up the usual sites for the stats or replays and a nice editorial. No recap would be complete with out comments from blogs regarding references to male genitals or some google video.

Three trick plays kept Boise in the game and gave them the win. Read above for the run down. Hook & Lateral for the TD, QB Sub for the TD in OT, and the Statue Of Liberty for the 2 point conversion.

Now lets talk BCS And bribes. Boise is 13-0 and Peterson is undefeated in his first year as a head coach (a commentator pointed out at the post game press conference that this hasn't happened since late 1800). It isn't a matter of when, but Who. Who will come knocking on Peterson's door looking to swipe our head coach? Will the big name schools see the plays as gimmicks and the game a fluke or will they see a coach trusting his players and players executing as practiced? Will Peterson stay? Will Boise have to up the pay to keep him?

Now for the BCS. The BCS is practically a curse word for those of us belonging to teams not in the BCS club. Almost 1 of 3 questions at the post game press meeting hit on the "should you play Ohio" or "are you a Gators fan now", "do you print up BCS champion shirts if Ohio loses?" to even "do you want a playoff" which of course everyone except the BCS wants. Why? Because Boise state is in the Western Athletic Conference which is not part of the BCS. The BCS controls who plays in its bowl games (and who gets the big money payouts). Boise got a "wild card"

If you switch from a series of lucrative bowl games to a playoff, then the bowl games are reduced in importance and schedules are harder to predict. Just look at march madness for how basketball deals with a play off. But at least with a playoff you know based on wins vs losses who is on top, instead of voting and polls.

What caused many Boise fans to cheer were comments by the announcers on national TV in support of a playoff series and how Boise got its national respect with their playing after just the first quarter. That is what Boise was playing for and received.

Go Broncos.

jason

So I'm getting a Wii. Not directly, and not through the secondary speculative gaming market (aka eBay). a co-worker and his wife waited all night at a Best Buy a few weeks ago and bought two. One they sold to our boss who began each day with the phrase "Gotta get a Wii. Find me a Wii" until he got his Wii.

The other Wii was kept in the packaging, unopened until he decided what to do with it. Resale on eBay wasn't fetching much of a profit. $100 or so after you take out the eBay commission. So I offered to buy the Wii from him. Unfortunately for me, I'm broke. I earn just enough to pay the mortgage, food, bills, and health insurance premiums. And I just bought $3500 worth of a new floor (to replace all the carpet that has been ripped out due to my allergies). So I offered to buy the Wii on installments, just enough so he earns $5 which covers the interest he would have earned on the money had it been in his savings account.

Today, after the MPC Bowl game, which I am attending with TItle Sponsor MPC tent tickets (woooo free hot chocolate, coffee, beer, and food!). My employer is a customer of Micron PC so apparently we also get their tickets to tent city so I'm not complaining.

And after the bowl game, I'll be picking up my Wii from my coworker then heading over to another friends house to play with his Wii. Now we will be able to play head to head tennis because we will have two controllers. Fun fun fun. I am giddy. I got my Cube about 2 years after it came out. The Wii will be my first ever console launch purchase. I"ll be part of the few, the proud, the nerdy, the Wii Mii crowd. And I'm loving it.

I'll eventually create a Mii on my system (already have it on my friends) and probably will post it. Here. Have fun, you Wiiless masses (except you TL, and the other elite group).

Jason

From Various Sources

FoxNews

or

CNN