Saturday, January 05, 2013

There are a number of things...

that I am pondering on this Saturday morning.

Why is there a World Series of Beer Pong going on in Las Vegas?  Why is it the 8th year of this contest and I've never heard of it before.  I wouldn't want to watch or participate in it, but it fascinates me that this game is so popular that people actually compete in a world's championship.

The word is out that Lance Armstrong is going to admit that he used performance-enhancing substances, in the hope that admission and contrition would lead to the lifting of the lifetime ban against him competing in any sport (triathalons in particular).  Why in the world would admitting he cheated lead to the ban being lifted?

Al Pacino said he chose not to meet record producer Phil Spector in prison before portraying him in a movie for HBO.  Pacino said Spector isn't the same person now that he is portraying.  So he's not Phil Spector anymore?  Can someone explain this to me?  Wait, I get it.  He's saying that Spector is a changed man because of his experiences.  Makes sense but then again, who better than Spector himself to tell Pacino what he was like at the time in his life that Pacino is portraying?  No one.

Is it time to change the titles of the members of the President's cabinet?  Secretary is no longer as sexist or demeaning as it might have been in the mid to late 20th century, but does it really reflect the actual role of the person?  Maybe they could become Director of the So and So Department.  Or Vice-President for So and So.  Or UnderPresident for So and So.  I hear secretary and I think about the beautiful woman with the long legs and short skirts that was my dad's secretary when I was a teen.

A news story about a new television pilot for a series that would star Anna Faris claims that Chuck Lorre will be its "executive director".  That's a position I'm not familiar with.  I'm familiar with directors and executive producers.  Is this a new hybrid?  And since Chuck Lorre is involved, how long before Charlie Sheen starts saying how awful this new show is?

A rapist had his conviction overturned by an appeals court because his victim wasn't married.  According to CA law, under the conditions where he raped her, by pretending to be her boyfriend and having sex with her while she slept, she's not protected if the rape is based solely on his having tricked her.  He will have to be re-tried and found guilty under the provision of the law that makes it rape to have sex with a person who is asleep.  How long before this law gets fixed?

Do people who retweet stupid jokes realize that what they're retweeting is already part of the complete archive of tweets on file at the Library of Congress?  And that their retweet will become part of the archive?  Personally I wouldn't want any descendants I have in some future generation reading that their great-great-grand uncle retweeted "Sometimes I look at people on the subway and wonder how they'd stack up as Tetris blocks".

Did a sandwich artist at Subway really get into an argument with a customer over the store not having any ketchup for the customer to put on his Philly cheesesteak?  Yes.  Should the employee have argued?  No.  Did the customer threaten him?  We don't know.  Should he have been fired?  We don't know.  But the real issue here is who the hell puts ketchup on a Philly cheesesteak??  It's like Louis Lunch, the home of the very first hamburger in the U.S.  They don't even allow ketchup on their premises.

Does Jimmy Kimmel have a "mancrush" on David Letterman, since he's taking potshots at Jay Leno at every opportunity?  I wonder if Kimmel realizes how badly he's going to get trounced ratings-wise when he goes head to head with Leno....

This Date in History:

On this date in 1066, Edward the Confessor dies without an heir.
On this date in 1477, the Battle of Nancy results in the death of Charles the Bold.
On this date in 1757, there is an assassination attempt on France's King Louis XV.  The assassin, Robert-Francois Damiens was the last man executed by France using the method of drawing and quartering.
On this date in 1909, Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
On this date in 1914, The Ford Motor Company announces an eight hour work day.
On this date in 1919, The German Workers' Party is founded.  It would later become the Nazi Party.
On this date in 1925, Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the governor of Wyoming, making her the first female governor in the U.S.
On this date in 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.
On this date in 1940, the FCC demonstrates FM radio for the first time.
On this date in 1944, The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
On this date in 1949, President Harry Truman announces his Fair Deal program.
On this date in 1972, President Richard Nixon orders the development of a Space Shuttle program.
On this date in 1974, the highest temperature ever recorded reliably on Antarctica, 59 degrees Farenheit is recorded.
And on this date, in different years, Jane Wyman, Bradley Cooper, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton were born.