February 2, 2013 in Business, Design, Games, Life, transportation
Tagged bridge, Humor, hump, life, photography, road sign, weird news
No doubt — John Irving wrote it better.
In A Prayer for Owen Meany, a woman gets hit by a baseball, dies, and her son and the boy who hit the killer ball remain best friends throughout their lives.
When it happens in real life, folks are a bit more litigious.
A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face by a baseball is suing the 11-year old catcher who hit her for medical costs and negligence. Her husband is filing a separate suit for the loss of “services, society and consortium” of his wife.
The total damages? Close to $500,000.
The catcher’s family, who says they can’t afford the jury trial the woman has demanded, thinks Little League Baseball should help defray court costs since the accident took place during a sanctioned warm-up.
I think they should call Irving. Maybe he can do a rewrite and give this story some heart.
Posted in Books, Children, Commentary, Family, Games, Humor, Life, Relationships, Sports, Summer, Writing
Tagged A Prayer for Owen Meany, baseball, baseball catcher, baseball in the head, best friends, books, children, commentary, court trial, family, Humor, John Irving, lawsuit, life, litigious, Little League, medical costs, negligence, New Jersey, news, Sports, summer, writing
Over the weekend, students at MIT hacked the Green Building on campus and made it play Tetris.
It’s not the first time a college building’s lights have been hijacked. Students at Brown University and Delft University in the Netherlands pulled off similar stunts years earlier.
But it’s still pretty darn fun.
And I think New York City should consider itself challenged — not the colleges per se, but all the wonderfully tall buildings that occupy downtown and bring in millions of tourists each year.
Sure, we have dancing snowflakes on the side of the Sax Fifth Avenue Building each Christmas, but I’m talking bigger. Taller. Faster.
I’m looking at you, Empire State Building.
We know you can vary the lights at the very tip-top to reflect the seasons. How about using the lights on the side of the building to create the biggest video game in the world?
If you don’t do it, I’ll bet there’s a hacker out there who will.
Game on.
Posted in College, Commentary, Design, Education, Entertainment, Games, Humor, Internet, Life, News, Technology, Travel
Tagged biggest video game in the world, Brown University, building lights hijacked, college, commentary, computer hacker, dancing snowflakes on side of building, Delft University, design, education, Empire State Building, entertainment, game on, games, Humor, Internet, life, Manhattan, MIT, MIT campus, Netherlands, New York City, Sax Fifth Avenue, technology, tetris, Travel
So I’ve been thinking a lot about the number 8.
It’s taken on a near mystical quality this week — for an obvious reason — for Kentucky Wildcat fans.
But as digits go, it was already pretty cool.
Turn it on its side, and you’ve got an infinity symbol. It’s the figure in figure skating. And a few figure eight turns of a rope and you’ll got yourself a decent cinch.
But this week, it’s a magic number for me. And I want to share that feeling with the world.
So, here you go.
The Magic Eight Ball
Go ahead — ask it anything.
You can thank me later.
Posted in Basketball, Commentary, Design, Games, Humor, Life, Sports, Toys
Tagged cinch, commentary, digits, eightfold, figure skating, games, Humor, infinity, Kentucky Wildcats, life, magic eight ball, mystical quality, numbers, rope figure eights, Sports, the number eight, toys
Like roller coasters? Hiking, too?
Then you’ll love Duisburg, Germany.
Magic Mountain is an elevated walking path designed by German artists Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth. Rising up to 147 feet above the ground, this serious climb mimics a roller coaster…and provides some amazing views for hikers.
And walking in a loop-to-loop? Pretty cool.
Leave it to my German cousins to come up with a way to make roller coasters healthy. What’s next? Subways that are powered by footpower? Buses that we pedal?
WALKING???
Whackadoodle.
Posted in Design, Exercise, Games, Humor, Life, transportation, Travel, Walking
Tagged artists, bus, commentary, design, Duisburg Germany, exercise, Germany, Health, Heike Mutter, hiking, Humor, life, loop-to-loop, Magic Mountain, roller coasters, subway, transportation, Travel, Ulrich Genth, walking, walking path
Can’t help it. I’m super psyched that Kentucky is the #1 Seed in the NCAA tourney.
And did you know that the state of Kentucky has three other teams in the big dance? Murray State University. Western Kentucky University. And the University of Louisville.
(I’m just faking it for that last one.)
Whatever the tournament may bring, March Madness begins Wednesday…and the pride of the Bluegrass is behind the Cats!
Posted in Basketball, Games, Humor, Life, March Madness, Sports
Tagged #1 Seed, basketball, Humor, Kentucky, life, March Madness, Murray State University, NCAA basketball tournament, pride of the bluegrass, proud as a peacock, South bracket, Sports, UK Wildcats, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University
On this Presidents’ Day holiday, I find myself pondering a question of suitable gravity:
Why have I never played paintball?
It seems to be the activity of choice for couples in many romantic comedies.
I went to see This Means War, starring Reese Witherspoon, last night. One of the two CIA agents vying for her affections took her to play paintball. Of course she misfired a round and got him in his manly parts.
Oh, the sting of high comedy.
Matthew McConaughey also took Sarah Jessica Parker to play paintball in Failure to Launch. Lucky for Matthew, she hit one of his friends in the foot. And Heath Ledger took Julia Stiles paintballin’ way back in the day in the teen flick Ten Things I Hate About You.
No misfires there…except my admitting I saw it.
I can kind of see the appeal; target practice is fun. But those paintballs look like they really hurt on contact. And most people seem to be incredibly bad shots.
Hey — I just figured out why I don’t play paintball.
Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Games, Humor, Life, Movies, Relationships, Sports
Tagged bad shot, celebrities, CIA agents, comedy, commentary, crouch, entertainment, Failure to Launch movie, games, Heath Ledger, Humor, Julia Stiles, life, Matthew McConaughey, Movies, paintball, paintball misfire, paintballin', paintballs, President's Day, Reese Witherspoon, Relationships, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sports, Ten Things I Hate About You movie, This Means War movie
Quick — wanna look busy?
THINK BIG.
Play the World’s Biggest Pac-Man game right on your computer!
It’s going on now online, and is being played by people around the world.
The mazes are interconnected and go on and on and on. You can start wherever you want and play as long and as far as your skill will take you. You can also play alone or challenge competitors online, and check your stats against…
THE WORLD
There now. Doesn’t that sound like a whole lot more fun than work??
Posted in Business, Commentary, Entertainment, Games, Humor, Internet, Life, Television
Tagged Business, commentary, computer games, eating dots, entertainment, games, Humor, Internet, life, maze, online, Pac-Man, Pac-Man dots, stats, sure beats work, technology, TGIF, World's Biggest Pac-Man game
NBA? We don’t need no stinkin’ NBA.
The UK Wildcats and KU Jayhawks are playing in the Garden!
The Champions Classic tips off at Madison Square Garden tonight, bringing the best of college basketball — the only basketball that counts IMHO — to the Big Apple.
(Don’t ask if I was able to get a ticket. I wasn’t; I’m bitter.)
The tourney begins with Duke (hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhcckk-ptooo) taking on Michigan State. Who cares? It’s the opener. Whatever. Take your seats, folks; nothing to see here.
The big game is between my alma mater (and pre-season #2-ranked) University of Kentucky Wildcats and #12-ranked KU.
Suffice it to say the two teams have a history. Both have beat each other soundly on their home courts. (You don’t forget that kinda thing.) I lived in Kansas City when UK won NCAA Championships in 1996 and 1998 and was the runner-up in 1997.
I don’t think my friends have forgotten that, either.
In fact, I have a little wager with my friend Dan on tonight’s game. Not for money, mind you; we don’t bet cash on our teams. But believe you me — after the game has been decided, you’ll all be able to tell what we did wager.
May the best team win!
Posted in Basketball, Commentary, Entertainment, Friends, Games, History, Humor, Life, March Madness, Sports
Tagged alma mater, basketball, Champions Classic, college basketball, commentary, Duke, entertainment, friends, history, Humor, KU Jayhawks, life, Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, may the best team win, Michigan State, NBA, NCAA Championship, NCAA runnerup, New York City, pre-season rankings, Sports, University of Kentucky Wildcats, wager
Underwhelmed
Do you play your numbers? Does anyone?
I drink a lot of bottled beverages, and I find these secret codes to be less than compelling.
I’m not even sure I know how to play. Do I visit a website? And what do I win? Is it worth the micron of effort that it will take?
Maybe if the code itself were more entertaining. This mis-mash of numbers and letters is random, no doubt, but enthralling? Exciting? Filled with possibilities?
I’m know I’m not bubbling over…except perhaps with carbonation.
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Posted in Commentary, Food, Foods, Games, Humor, Life
Tagged boredom, bubbles, carbonation, drinks, food, games, Humor, life, numbers, prizes, soda, soda cap, soft drinks, website