jejjala.com

new coke

These are being torn down by the Dems as the first (symbolic) step in ending the Bush era “No Child Left Behind” education policies:

“It’s like the new Coke. This is a rebranding effort,” said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.

The second step should be to find new metaphors. The first new Coke didn’t turn out so hot.

(link)

in the news

Baltimore is #1! If only they had the Eiffel Tower…

the price of a cell phone in pg county is

$3.65.

April 2009, Baltimore City:

May 2009, College Park-Prince George’s County:

holy shit the swine flu pandemic alert is now 5 oh my god

Run, people!

‘basketball is over’

I followed the NBA religiously from right before when David Stern forced Michael Jordan to retire the first time due to his gambling addiction in 1993 until about when Magic Johnson retired for the third and final time after attempting a failed comeback with the 2001 Vancouver Grizzlies under an assumed name. (Admittedly, my knowledge of the history of the game is culled from disreputable tabloids.)

Throughout it all and until yesterday, one of the constants was Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo, the 42-year-old, 7′2″ center from Georgetown. To a basketball fan he was the complete package. He was largely unassuming on the court, except for his unapologetic finger-wagging that simultaneously amused and enraged his opponents. He donated large sums from his personal fortune to fund hospital construction in the Congo. And perhaps most endearing, he had a unique syntactical command of the English language. (See “Who wants to sex Mutombo?” for further reading.)

“For [Mutombo], basketball is over.”

I cry.

bonus post

I think I might be the only one who doesn’t really care about AIG’s recent bonus payouts using federal bailout money.

$165,000,000 (bonus money) / $170,000,000,000 (bailout money) = 0.097%

So the media are raising a shitstorm and Obama is calling shenanigans on late night TV over where less than 0.1% of the bailout funds is being directed. Where was this level of nickel and dime government accountability the last couple years? And where is it for the other >99.9% too?

Congress at least tacitly approved of what they now call “excessive” bonus payouts for the executive leadership of these financial firms before the market went bust. In a legimate bull market, I don’t have a philosophical problem with paying these folks handsome sums in bonus money for producing billions of dollars of revenue. I got a 4.5% bonus last year; a 0.1% bonus sounds reasonable to me. I do have a philosophical problem with the precedent of levying a 90% income tax on anyone.

I’m not saying that they deserve this money. I just think that a disproportionate amount of alarm is being sounded. Financial executives and big banks can be snakes—this is an epiphany? Let’s move on.

jonas brothers = the new hotness

Before two weeks ago, I had never heard of the Jonas Brothers. And then suddenly, everytime I switched on the TV, there was a JB reference, mention, snide comment, etc. So I finally looked them up on Wikipedia.

Here is what I learned in convenient bullet format:

• They are a Disney-created boy band.
• They are brothers.
• They have been nominated for a Grammy.
• Um, then the first paragraph of the article ended and I lost interest.

Anyway their 3D concert movie made $12.5M this past weekend in box office receipts and was second in the US behind Madea Goes to Jail. Here are the first sentences in the IMDb user comments for all reviews that are not 10/10. (The average is 1.4/10).

“There is no real way to explain how awful this movie was.”

“I have not watched this at all.”

“Let me begin by saying that whoever kills the Jonas Brothers should get a Nobel Peace Prize.”

“In honest truth, whether this was for getting paychecks or just putting on a pretty outfit for the girls to see, Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience was a film that should of never made it past movie critics.”

“This movie is incredibly phallic.”

I kinda want to see it now…

slumdog bump

I half-jokingly (but half-seriously) suggested to a friend earlier today that Indians will experience a post-Oscars bump, thanks to Slumdog Millionaire.

First up, Louisiana governor and national GOP darling Bobby Jindal. This is not what I had in mind. I was thinking more like maybe this guy will become wildly popular.

Oh, and I still haven’t seen the movie.

gary williams, natural disasters

So the Terps finally won again last night, after dropping the last two games by 41 points at Duke and blowing a 13-point second half lead to BC at home.

With all the talk of Gary’s job being in jeopardy due to his perceived lack of proper recruiting the last few years, I found the Baltimore Sun’s “Related topic galleries” section especially amusing:

Historically, Maryland rarely attracts top prospects, especially from Baltimore. Gary reached a couple Final Fours by maximizing the talent of less regarded players with good coaching. His job security is now in doubt, because his current roster just isn’t very good, and sports talking head and school booster types’ memories only reach as far back as the previous game.

canada geese + jet engines

Gross.

Engine manufacturers, including CFM International, which produced the engines on the Airbus A320 jet that crashed on Thursday, test the engines both physically and through computer simulation.

In the physical tests, the engines are revved to full power inside a test facility, and then ingest birds of various sizes one at a time. They also ingest multiple birds in tests meant to simulate what happens when they hit a flock, said Matthew Perra, a spokesman for the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney.

(link)