Month: October 2005

In case you hadn’t noticed, the NHL is back. It wouldn’t be surprising if you didn’t notice, as one of the few TV networks that used to carry games early in the season, ESPN, decided not to renew its contract. If you want to catch any games on TV, you’ll have to tune in to OLN (Outdoor Life Network), a station affiliated with the cable provider Comcast. Additionally, Comcast is apparently streaming selected NHL games over broadband Internet connections, but I haven’t tried that out for myself.

Although I am happy to be able to play Fantasy Hockey again, the beginning of the season seems very anticlimactic to me because of this lack of coverage. It remains to be seen whether the NHL will be able to mend its image after missing an entire season…

For those of you that are into hockey (Fantasy or otherwise), I think that CBS’ online hockey coverage is far better than that of the NHL and includes very cool interfaces to track games in progress, as well as many other features. Additionally, Kafenatid is now back online with real-time Fantasy score tracking and schedule breakdowns.

If you haven’t already heard about this, check out the amazing (and somewhat disturbing) story about a 13-foot Burmese python that burst while swallowing a six-foot alligator whole.

CNN reports on a “smart” beer mat “created by Matthias Hahnen and Robert Doerr from Saarland University in Saarbruecken, southwest Germany [that] can sense when a glass is nearly empty, sending an alert to a central computer behind the bar so waiters know there are thirsty customers.” Now that’s useful technology… 😉

The page Funny and Strange Baseball Cards is chock full of fun stuff. For some reason I’m still partial to the Bill Ripken card above… 🙂

Although scientists still debate whether the 10th planet should be classified as a planet, they have all but confirmed that the object has a moon. One of the discoverers, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, “labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena’s faithful traveling sidekick.” I can’t think of anything to say that isn’t offensive… 😉

“On November 25th, 1981, George W. Bush became the loving father of twins. Unfortunately, Laura gave birth to triplets.” Take a look at the video Flora Bush: The Child Left Behind (embedded QuickTime video; slightly NSFW) to hear the sordid tale of the third Bush “Twin” that W didn’t want the world to find out about… 😉

The BBC reports that the Danish Air Force paid reparations to “Olovi Nikkanoff, one of Denmark’s professional Santa Clauses,” after low-flying fighter jets caused one of his reindeer to die of shock. “After the air force’s decision [Nikkanoff] declared himself happy with the payout and said he was looking forward to this year’s festive season with a new animal on his team.”

The Borowitz Report reports that “Embattled Republicans [Tom Delay and Bill Frist] Seek Legal Protection as Gay Married Couple”:

Holding hands on the steps of the Capitol, Sen. Frist and Rep. DeLay denied that there were any ulterior motives for their stunning decision to wed.

“Let our critics say what they want,” Rep. DeLay said. “Bill and I have never been more in love.”

But before reporters could question the two smitten lawmakers, Sen. Frist added, “And as a gay married couple, we expect to be protected from harassment by the government, including prosecution for conspiracy and investigation of insider stock sales.”

Rep. DeLay, seemingly fighting back tears, concurred: “We refuse to be attacked by those who won’t accept our love.”

I can’t type any of this without laughing… 🙂