Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Top 5 videos: May 2009

Learn to dance like in Europe

#5: Scooter
#4: Like It
#3: Play In
#2: Lollipop
#1: Babies

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Hooray for Gambling

Existing gambling laws are an attempt to regulate morality, but it seems the morals have fallen with the GDP

Co-CEO of RIM offers to buy Phoenix Coyotes

Jim Balsillie is the co-CEO of Research in Motion (they make Blackberries) and is looking to move the hockey club back to Winnipeg after a decade in AZ.

If this occurs, there will be four clubs in that area (Ottawa, Toronto and Buffalo being the others).

Maybe fans will get free phones to entice them back.

Phoenix Coyotes declare bankruptcy.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Canes stun Devils to win Game 7 of Round 1

After a loss - win pattern for the first six games, the Carolina Hurricanes found a way to break that cycle and defeat the New Jersey Devils.

The Canes defense looked like it had multiple lapses, but Cam Ward played well enough to limit the score to three goals with two minutes remaining in the third.

Ruutu had scored one minute into the game and Whitney had a puck off his skate for Carolina's two goals to that point. 2-3.

With 1:20 remaining, Tim Gleason passed the puck across the ice from his knees to Joni Pitkanen, who found Jussi Jokinen for the backdoor shot. 3-3.

With the teams expecting respite before overtime began, Eric Staal had some ice in the offensive zone and beat hockey's all-time winningest goalie low blocker. The Canes held on for the next 30 seconds and are heading to Boston. 4-3.

Video on YouTube

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

NC State signs another for basketball

This brings the overall recruiting class to 19th in the country, but still no point guards.

GoPack article

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Trains!

High-speed rail may actually happen, but won't be the newest technology used elsewhere.

NY times article

Friday, March 27, 2009

Top 5 videos: March 2009

#5: N&tW1
#4: N&tW2
#3: ShaqD
#2: Poisoned!
#1: Kiwi

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Conserve!

Good news from the Hill.

Now where is the pork for NC land?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Costner and Ferguson will not play NC State Basketball for 09-10 Season

After a disappointing year, without even an NIT berth, NC State is losing two players that started games in the 08-09 season.

Brandon Costner will enter the NBA draft and Trevor Ferguson will focus on completing his degree.

GoPack article

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

NC unemployment rate nears 10%

As reported here

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Don't Wipe!

A new article from Greenpeace lists the toilet paper that should and should not be used.

Strangely, there is no suggestion to move to a bidet or anything more advanced to cut down on paper use.

It seems that the Guardian believes that Americans are the cause of virgin forest clear cutting.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Top 5 videos: February 2009

#5: Enunciate when you ask marketers for McDs Japan for an ad to make you hungry
#4: That's my Jam
#3: Protect your junk
#2: Lazy
#1: Awkward

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Financial companies use cents wisely

"The New York comptroller reported this week that Wall Street firms paid out $18.4 billion... in bonuses to employees, despite receiving multi-billion dollar payouts from the government to save them from collapse in the face of the worst financial crisis in decades."

If you're going out of business, should you use loans to pay extra money to your employees?

Friday, January 23, 2009

Obamarama strains the Internet

It appears that computer literate people were interested in the inauguration on Tuesday.

Atlas reports that in the five years they've been monitoring traffic, this was "one of the single largest one day spikes in Internet traffic".

It's a good thing all those people aren't using Hulu and Fancast all the time.

Choo Choo: China does what the US should

"China will spend $88 billion constructing intercity rail lines." This is a statement made in a recent NY Times article about how China is looking to avoid the global recession. From that $88 billion, $24 billion will be used to create a high-speed route from Beijing to Guangzhou.

In contrast, the US $825 billion economic plan allocates less than 5% to transportation with no assertions of large projects involving high-speed rail.

"China has already built as many miles of high-speed passenger rail lines in the last four years as Europe has in two decades. A new bullet train from Beijing to Tianjin, opened last summer, travels at up to 217 miles an hour; the top speed of Amtrak’s Acela Express trains in the Northeastern United States is 150 m.p.h., and it is only briefly attained."

Perhaps part of the US's "energy independence" can include public transit that citizens would actually use?

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Clean air is good?

Who would have guessed that breathing clean air is good for you? Apparently some researchers had this crazy hypothesis and tested it. Unsurprisingly, they found that "for every decrease of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of particulate pollution in a city, its residents' average life expectancy increased by more than seven months."

ABC article

Perhaps it's time for air quality regulation like the US had at the end of Clinton's term?

Monday, January 19, 2009

Top 5 videos: January 2009

Sports are the theme for Jan.

#5: Strongman
#4: Tetris
#3: Ping Pong
#2: Bball
#1: Hockey Babies

Monday, January 12, 2009

History of the War on Drugs

An interesting read from the Rolling Stones about the War on Drugs and the US politics around it. Obviously a biased piece, but lots of good information.

Friday, January 9, 2009

New ways to ease hunger pangs in the Triangle

It sounds delicious and readily available: Harris Teeter Signature Subs

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Carolina Hurricanes: Halfway through 2008-2009

The Canes have gone from somewhere around .500 through most of the season, up to six games over .500 in the past month.

They're off to their best start in the past three seasons and if they're able to match this pace in the second half of the season, they will end the regular season with 94 points. That amount of points will make the playoffs comfortably some years and not at all in others. We'll see what type of year 2009 is...

Sergei Samsonov has started to score again and there are three lines competing well every night. In the Devils game on 6-Jan (41st game of the regular season), no forward played over 20 minutes.

The defense continues to score at a pace almost twice as much as last year, so hopefully the trades made are proven wise.

Now if we could only convince Fox Sports Carolinas to broadcast more games in HD...

GO CANES!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

"Third hand" smoke also bad

A study has just been released citing the danger of "third hand" smoke to babies and others.

This type of smoke is the toxic residue from people who had previously smoked in a particular area, but are no longer doing so.

Rumors are that new studies are being conducted on people watching smokers on television and just thinking about smoking ("fourth" and "fifth" hand smoke).
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