Day 221: When Math Attacks The Sports Page

originally published August 8, 2012 The world of sports statistics can get ugly and math-y. This presents a dilemma for a lot of fans – they love the sports, but hate the math. I’m a football fan. Most of our statistics are pretty easy to follow: a running back’s touchdown count is calculating by adding […]

Day 220: Robot Tuneage

originally published August 7, 2012 Some would claim that music in the 1980s was the ultimate combination of electronic sound and visual spectacle. They might attest that the popularization of music videos, combined with the synthesizer’s mightily shoving of the guitar out of the spotlight is the perfect illustration of this claim. I would disagree. […]

Day 219: A Toast To Dead Trees

originally published August 6, 2012 Growing up, there was a majestic tree in our backyard, the biggest in the neighborhood. It taught me how to climb, and it was featured often as part of the scenery in the simulated Endor-centric lightsaber battles with my friends. But I never named the thing. There are 120 individual […]

Day 218: Spanks A Lot! National Masturbation Day

originally published August 5, 2012 “Don’t knock masturbation, it’s sex with someone I love.” – Alvy Singer, from Annie Hall, 1977. After writing yesterday about powerful, mighty humans who can lift, throw, drag and shove more than any human logically should, today I’m flipping things around and writing about a sport that anyone can (and […]

Day 217: Tough Guys – The World Of Strength Athletics

originally published August 4, 2012 It won’t be long before Olympic television coverage gets around to those sweat-spackled, spandex-sporting muscle beasts in the weightlifting competitions. I admire a sport whose primary terminology includes ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’, yet is not even a little bit dirty. But while most every Olympic sport requires an element […]

Day 216: So Many Menhirs

originally published August 3, 2012 Until Ms. Wiki packed me in her Magic Wayback DeLorean and sent me back into humanity’s pre-history, the word ‘menhir’ was not a part of my vocabulary. Even now – though you won’t see this – I’m observing that the word is not a part of Microsoft Word’s vocabulary either. […]

Day 215: Prop 215

originally published August 2, 2012 To those of you who have been asking if Day 420 is going to feature an article about marijuana, the answer is probably not. Too obvious, and besides, the use of ‘420’ as slang for smoking pot was uncommon in my youth. I will, however, spend today discussing 215. Specifically, […]

Day 214: Flipping Through Drek – Worst TV Part 1

originally published August 1, 2012 Last month I picked on three films from Wikipedia’s list of movies considered to be the worst. Today we’re shifting to the small screen. It may surprise you to know that, in among those quality hours of flipping houses, making over ugly people, and voting top chefs off the island […]

Day 213: What’s Up With Those Chunky DVDs With The Ribbon Inside?

originally published July 31, 2012 Hey, way to underwhelm me, Wikipedia. Can a topic get any more dull than videotape? Masking tape would have given me more to work with – at least with masking tape I could write about that time I tried to mummify a hobo using only masking tape, cooking sherry, and […]

Day 212: When White People Suck – The Blackface Story

originally published July 30, 2012 How thrilled I was to learn that I’d be penning my daily tithe to the Goddess of Obligation on a band I’d never heard of. A band from the 1840’s, a decade not known for producing chart-busting, spear-to-your-ear, rockin’ smash hit songs. In fact, Wikipedia only lists three songs from […]