PolarBlog V1.6.1 (Wild Turkey) has been released. This release fixes a number of bugs as well as implements a variety of smaller changes.
Enhancements
I'm a week behind the game, but what the heck…
Well, it was six months ago that I discussed Hunter S. Thompson blowing his brains out. And last Saturday night he got his final wish…to have his ashes blasted out of a cannon. And here you'll find some good pictures of his spectacular departure.
I try to get out and go for a brisk 20 minute walk at lunchtime most days if it's not raining and my workload allows it. So one day last week I'm walking down Main Street here in Buffalo and started thinking about all of the cigarette butts that I seen in the sidewalk cracks. Just the week before I heard a report about how Buffalo is one of the cleanest cities in the country, which I have to agree it is. But then I'm looking at the literally hundreds (thousands?) of cigarette butts stuck in those cracks. What the hell is it with smokers that they can't seem to act responsibly and not just chuck their butts on the ground anywhere they please? Yeah, I know…you smoke and you don't do that. I know it's not all of you, but it's clearly a good number of your breathren.
And it's not just the sidewalks. I've seen many a smoke go flying out a car window, sometimes bouncing off my car. Gee, thanks for the consideration asshole. My favorite are those who drop them out the window while sitting at a stop light. I've often been very tempted to get out of my car and go over, pick it up, drop it back into their car and let them know that "Excuse me, you seemed to have dropped this." But alas, I've never followed through. Chicken after all I guess.
So if you're a smoker and participate in this behavior, please leave me a comment below. What gives you the right to just drop your trash wherever you please?
Last week on the local sports talk radio they were discussing whether poker is a sport or not. And they arrived at the conclusion that it is indeed a sport because after all, it's shown on ESPN. What? Are you out of your mind? Although ESPN is nearly all sports, this clearly illustrates a return to their roots as the "Entertainment and Sports Network". Welcome to the entertainment folks…although personally I don't see it.
A long time ago I railed against golf and bowling not being sports. Basically, for most people they are recreational activities. But theycan be consider to be a sport at the appropriate competition level. The litmus test of course is "if you can drink beer while you're doing it, it's not a sport".
So, now let's look at poker…you can drink while playing poker, so it's not a sport, right? Alright, you can also play poker, not drink, take it very seriously and make some outrageous money at it! No doubt about that, but sitting around a table making staring at a handful of cards and chucking chips is not a sport. There's almost no physical exertion. It might be an intense mental battle and prove challenging, but that makes it no more that a friendly(?) competition. But it's not a physical activity that is required for it to be a sport. With the serious money that can be made playing poker these days you might stand a better chance of arguing that it's a legitimate livelihood!
So I guess my litmus test now needs to be modified too: "If there's no physical activity and you can drink beer while you're doing it, it's not a sport."
I don't know Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, PA, but after reading this, I'm pretty sure he's a jackass. I'm all for competition, and a T-ball coach should be teaching it as well as the basics of (yawn) baseball. But what's the lesson here? That's it's okay to whack out a disabled kid if it's going to prevent you from winning? Nice life lesson Mark. Like I said: Jackass!