Monday, January 2, 2012 at 8:38PM Wow, day 2... picture 2. I might actually be able to pull this off.
Today's photo is "Portable?"
Trooper JE-519 is not so sure that his definition of portable is the same as Apple's.
Lego, POTD, Project 365, Star Wars, iPod Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 7:52PM Gonna try something new this year. It's called Project 365. The way it works is your supposed to take a picture every single day of the year and post it. It supposed to encourage a person to take photos and, hopefully, improve their photography skills.
Improve? Yeah, we'll see about that.
So, I started a new photo library called, ta-da, Project 365. I'd appreciate some feedback on what you see.
Today's photo is called "Puzzled". Check it out.
"When the Trooper known as JE-519 signed up to join the Imperial Navy, he wanted to be part of the counter-intelligence division solving puzzles. This is not what he had in mind."
Lego, POTD, Project 365, Star Wars Monday, November 28, 2011 at 8:27AM Wow, I knew it had been a long time since I wrote something, but I didn’t realize it’s been over a month. I guess I haven’t had nothing to vent about lately… Except the Yankees not winning the World Series.* Well, contrary to popular belief, the Yankees do not win (or buy as some are apt to say. I’m looking at you Ken) the World Series every year. Let me lay down some knowledge on you.
Looking from the beginning of Y2K (haven’t heard that term in a while) we’ve had 12 World Series. The stats breakdown like this:
So, that means that in the last 12 years, any baseball fan has had a 50% chance of seeing their team in the World Series. Out of those 15 teams, less than 40% appeared more than once. To top it off, only 20% or World Series participants won more than one championship.
Let’s compare…
NFL
So, the football fans had the same chance of seeing their team in the Super Bowl as baseball fans did, 50%. Of those 16 teams, 31% went more than once and 13% won more than one championship.
NBA
Basketball fans only had a 36% chance of seeing their team in the championship game.** From there, 63% of those are repeat teams and 18% won multiple championships. I feel sorry for Western Conference fans. The Lakers, Spurs and Mavs have totally dominated that side of the NBA. But then again, those three teams probably have 90% of Western Conference fans anyway.
NHL
Hockey fans also have a 50% chance of seeing their team in the Stanley Cup. On par with MLB and NFL, 33% were multiple participants with 13% being multiple winners.
Tell you what, let’s put it on a table to make it easier to read…
| League | #
of teams in league |
# of Champ
participants |
% |
Participants
w/ multiple appearance |
% |
Participants
w/ multiple champs |
% |
MLB |
30 |
15 |
50% |
6 |
40% |
3 |
20% |
NFL |
32 |
16 |
50% |
5 |
31% |
2 |
13% |
NBA |
30 |
11 |
36% |
7 |
63% |
2 |
18% |
NHL |
30 |
15 |
50% |
5 |
33% |
2 |
13% |
So what does all this prove? Honestly, I totally forgot the whole point of this. I just started looking at numbers and… oh yeah! I remember now.
So, what does all this prove? This proves is that, unless you are a NBA fan, your team has 1 in 2 chance of making it to the respective leagues championship game. Once there, they have a pretty good chance of winning it all, 60% or higher. Also, unless you are a NBA fan, if your team made it to the finals, they have a 34% +/- chance of going back to the championship game within a few years. And, if it wasn’t for the Cardinals, multiple championship winners would be the same in all sports except, you guessed it, basketball.***
Money doesn’t buy championships as many Yankee haters would have you believe. I believe there is parity in all major sports except the NBA. Yeah, I know the Yankees have more Championships than any other professional sports team, but that’s only because they’ve been around for over 100 years. Let’s take a look at basketball. There have been 62 championship games, in which more than half have been dominated by two teams, the Lakers and Celtics. Heck, the Celtics went on a run from 1957 to 1969 in which they won 11 of 13 and an amazing 8-in-a-row win streak. Not even the Yankees could manage that.
Yeah, I just convinced myself (again) that baseball is the greatest of all professional sports. Baseball is a true team sport where strategy is involved, it takes the entire team to win (unlike football where a QB, RB, WRs and half decent offensive line are all you need), one person can’t carry a team (What are the Bulls of the 90s without Jordan?), and the rules are easy to understand (blue line, red line… I’ll never understand hockey).
Show me one person that can name every single person on a 45 man (ok, maybe just half) football roster, and I can show half a dozen that can name everyone on a 25 man for multiple years. How about rattling off basketball stats? Maybe give me a dozen hockey players that are household name? Yeah, not happening to often is it?
I’m not hating on other sports. I enjoy watching football, basketball and hockey. All exciting games, but I’ll always be a baseball nut.
I miss baseball…
Spring training can’t get here soon enough…
Late,
JV
_____
*Yeah, you might say they didn’t even make it to the World Series and I say Semantics. The fact is, 29 other teams didn’t win the World Series. So there.
** Couldn’t the NBA think tank come up with something more than just NBA Championship Game? MLB has the World Series, NFL has the Super Bowl, and NHL has the Stanly Cup. NBA Championship Game is so… blah. Just saying.
*** True, the Cards won just as many as the Yankees and the BoSox (2) but who else am I going to blame? There is no way I’m laying any blame on the Yankees and if I start to blame the BoSox then I’ll be accused of being a biased Yankee fan with no respect for the BoSox. Fact is that the Cards have a higher World Series winning percentage (75%) than the Yankees (50%) since 2000.
Dodger Dogs... Baseballs got 'em! 'Nuff Said!
baseball Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 7:58AM And this is what it all boils down to. Yeah, 161 games were played but none of that mattered. In the greatest finish since The Play (UC-Stanford ’82), The Catch (49ers-Cowboys ’82), The Collapse (Yankees-Red Sox ’04)… Actually, scratch that last one. Nobody needs to be talking about that. So, 161 games played and there are still 4 teams playing for 2 spots. In all honesty, I was hoping the Ray and Sox would both win. A 1-game playoff is always exciting (1978 anyone?) and it would have allowed the Red Sox at redemption. Yeah, redemption since almost every 2011 MLB Prediction at the beginning of the season had the Red Sox winning the Division. So, not only do they not win the Division, they can’t even muster enough to force a 1-game playoff and at least nab the Wild Card.
I watched the games. I was on the edge of my seat for the last few innings of both games. Yes, I was cheering for the Rays and the Sox. My wife thought I had lost my mind. When my family reads this, they will probably think I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have, but the excitement was overwhelming. And since we were in public, I couldn’t yell and cheer out loud. Talk about frustrating. I’m glad I had my Twitter account to vent with.
Watching the game, I wonder. Did the Yankees throw the game in the end? Did they give the Rays the opportunity to mount the comeback? Yeah, it sounds crazy but walk with me for a minute on this.
1) Attitude – Fact, the Yankees clinched. Since there were no types of season records in play, this was a “meaningless” game. When in a situation like, most people automatically change their attitude and take things down a few notches.
2) Starters – The game started with only 5 regular starters in the initial lineup. By the end of the 7th, 4 of those had been replaced.
3) Relief – Girardi had already stated that he wouldn’t be using any relievers in the finale. So, everyone knows that, no matter what, Mo won’t be in the game. That’s sure to give opposing batter a boost in confidence.
4) Exhaustion – Let’s face it, 162 games is a lot of games. When you don’t clinch until 10 days before the end of the season, you are going to be tired. Then you still gotta play at 100% to clinch the Division. Yeah, very tiring.
5) Opposition – Finally, you have to decide who would you want rather face in the ALDS. Red Sox or Rays? Yeah, I’d rather face the Rays because the Red Sox were really dialed in on the Yankees this season.
There you go. Evidence, flimsy but evidence all the same, that the Yankees could have thrown the game. But no matter, in the end it was one of the most exciting finishes to the season that I’ve seen in a long time. I enjoyed watching each and every deciding game.
Congratulations Rays. See you next season Sox.
Big Papi - "See you in the playoffs." Manny - "No you won't."
(Associated Press)
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 8:53PM "American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history...People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society...Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tomorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control...In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten...Why are films cut up and butchered?..Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself."
When I first read the words above I thought to myself, "Boy, I'd like to put that guy in the same room with Uncle George." Those are some pretty powerful words, words uttered by someone passionate of American films. A someone who would accuse Uncle George of defilement, heresy, sacrilege and a whole slew of other words. It would be awesome to see Uncle George taken on by...Uncle George? What?!?!
Yeah, believe it or not, those words (the complete text is available at savestarwars.com with an abridged version down below, also courtesy of savestarwars.com) were uttered by George Lucas at the Congressional hearings on March 3rd, 1988. I am utterly amazed by the hypocrisy of it all.
At this point, I am now on the fence about purchasing the upcoming BluRay set. I'm thinking I might be able to find the extras somewhere else. Besides, with the upconverting of my BluRay player, the DVDs are pretty darn good looking. I find myself asking myself, "Do I really want to give Uncle George more of my money? Seeing as none of the color corrections have been done, do I really want to see a pink lightsaber? But, most importantly, do I want to see/hear Vader, the baddest bad guy ever to grace the silver screen, go out like a wimp at the end of Return of the Jedi?"
Yeah, I think everyone knows the answer to that.
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"My name is George Lucas. I am a writer, director, and producer of motion pictures and Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., a multi-faceted entertainment corporation.
I am not here today as a writer-director, or as a producer, or as the chairman of a corporation. I've come as a citizen of what I believe to be a great society that is in need of a moral anchor to help define and protect its intellectual and cultural heritage. It is not being protected.
The destruction of our film heritage, which is the focus of concern today, is only the tip of the iceberg. American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors, or filmmakers from having their lifework distorted, and their reputation ruined. If something is not done now to clearly state the moral rights of artists, current and future technologies will alter, mutilate, and destroy for future generations the subtle human truths and highest human feeling that talented individuals within our society have created.
A copyright is held in trust by its owner until it ultimately reverts to public domain. American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history.
People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society. The preservation of our cultural heritage may not seem to be as politically sensitive an issue as "when life begins" or "when it should be appropriately terminated," but it is important because it goes to the heart of what sets mankind apart. Creative expression is at the core of our humanness. Art is a distinctly human endeavor. We must have respect for it if we are to have any respect for the human race.
These current defacements are just the beginning. Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match. It will soon be possible to create a new "original" negative with whatever changes or alterations the copyright holder of the moment desires. The copyright holders, so far, have not been completely diligent in preserving the original negatives of films they control. In order to reconstruct old negatives, many archivists have had to go to Eastern bloc countries where American films have been better preserved.
In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be "replaced" by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.
There is nothing to stop American films, records, books, and paintings from being sold to a foreign entity or egotistical gangsters and having them change our cultural heritage to suit their personal taste.
I accuse the companies and groups, who say that American law is sufficient, of misleading the Congress and the People for their own economic self-interest.
I accuse the corporations, who oppose the moral rights of the artist, of being dishonest and insensitive to American cultural heritage and of being interested only in their quarterly bottom line, and not in the long-term interest of the Nation.
The public's interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests. And the proof of that is that even a copyright law only permits the creators and their estate a limited amount of time to enjoy the economic fruits of that work.
There are those who say American law is sufficient. That's an outrage! It's not sufficient! If it were sufficient, why would I be here? Why would John Houston have been so studiously ignored when he protested the colorization of "The Maltese Falcon?" Why are films cut up and butchered?
Attention should be paid to this question of our soul, and not simply to accounting procedures. Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself.
I hope you have the courage to lead America in acknowledging the importance of American art to the human race, and accord the proper protection for the creators of that art--as it is accorded them in much of the rest of the world communities."
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In 2027, the anniversary of Star Wars, George Lucas proudly announces a new collaboration between Lucasfilm and Guvernator productions. The Ultra, Special, Limited, "Get to tha choppa" Edition of Episode I
Star Wars 
