Where is my hat - I need something to throw

Congrats to the Boston Red Sox on their World Series victory. I'm sure that the Boston fans will conduct themselves with the decorum and class that they are known for.

Adding to the blogroll...

After a summer of apparently watching soccer, Voros McCracken has come back with a new blog. Voros is a baseball sabermatrician who has worked with the Boston Red Sox, and the creator of DIPS (Defense Independent Pitching Statistics). (I'll link to the studies once I find copies out here on the interweb. EDIT: Your first link, a summary of the theory and why it works by David Gassko.)

It's a must read for anybody interested in baseball.

Survivor: China Episode 5 Thoughts

It's a good thing that I did not live blog this episode. Otherwise, the report would have looked something like this:

8:24 pm - Peih-Gee suggests throwing the next two challenges. Jamie agrees?!?! Do these idiots know that throwing challenges just ends up in karmic retribution?
...
8:34 pm - You know, if I were to sink so low as to throw a challenge, I would make god damn sure that I wasn't fucking laughing while doing it.

8:35 pm - SHUT UP YOU FUCKHEADS! YOU'RE THROWING THE CHALLENGE AND ARE OBVIOUSLY SMARTER THAN THE REST OF YOUR TRIBE! WE GET IT!

...

8:42 pm - WHY THE FUCK CAN'T THESE TWO MENTAL MIDGETS SHUT UP? AND ARE THE GUYS SO STUPID THAT THEY CAN'T SEE THAT THE GIRLS TOTALLY THREW THE CHALLENGE?

...

8:52 pm - Did Peih-Gee just admit that she and Jamie just threw the challenge after Jeff mentioned it? HOW FUCKING ARROGANT AND STUPID!

...

8:55 pm - Well, at least James stayed. Maybe he can just will his tribe into winning

Now that I've calmed down a bit (but only a bit), let me just say: Peih-Gee, meet Shii Ann. Shii Ann arranged a loss for her tribe, and then assumed a merge was coming when in fact it was not. Of course, Peih-Gee hasn't completely screwed herself yet. But her assumptions that there is going to be a merge at 10, that her tribe is going to form a cohesive unit after being split for 9 days, and that nobody has formed a separate alliance that she doese not know about, are pretty strong, and golly gee I hope they stay true. Lord knows that Mark Burnett and Jeff Probst would hate for the fates to step in and bring a merge at, say, 9 people left.

In Flying Dragon news, Jean Robert continues to be misunderstood. He is told once again that he is bossing people around, and Sherea even suggested that he asked her to help with the cooking because she's a woman. The key to that accusation is that Sherea told her new tribe that she was good at cooking and could be considered the cook. Looks like it's time to officially change my winner's prediction to Todd.

That's about it for now, but if things continue as they seem, expect more swearing about throwing challenges.

Live Blogging Survivor: China Episode 4

Welcome to the live blog! I have missed a couple of episode recaps, but rest assured that won't happen again.

So, a couple of quick thoughts:

Week 2 - I was going to start counting how often they showed Ashley's cleavage, but that stopped within the first 15 minutes when it became obvious she was getting voted out. Running up against the "leader" who is actually doing stuff, while being sickly in the past is a bad idea. Also, Leslie is a dumb ass. She gets told about the hidden immunity idol, and she shares the clue with somebody else.

Week 3 - Speaking of dumb ass, Leslie gets voted out because she spilled the beans on her tribe to the other tribe. What was funny to watch was Todd struggle with trying to get rid of Jean-Robert, while honoring his alliance's wishes. Todd needs to watch out, because he is thinking way too far ahead in the game. Trying to get rid of individual immunity threats at the third tribal council is a recipe for your own elimination. General rule: at the fifth tribal council, you can look at your individual threats.

8:10 pm - Oops. Somebody got the rice at Fighting Tiger wet, and it's pretty moldy.

8:11 pm - Um, Sherea and Dave are going to kill each other. And Dave makes claims that are not accurate. Frosti is there to tell Dave how to lead, which is shocking.

8:13 pm - Everybody's going to Tribal Council? Oh, it's for a challenge. For food.

8:15 pm - Jamie likes fireworks. (At least, that's how that look looked to me.)

8:16 pm - Spices and learning to fish? Not bad.

8:18 pm - Looks close after one fireball. (General premise of the challenge: each team have to use giant chopsticks to carry a flaming fireball to a chute and roll the fireball down a chute. The fireball will set off fireworks. Oh, and the chopsticks get larger after each fireball.)

8:19 pm - Shockingly, Flying Dragon wins. And they choose Dave, which could mean that he is going to get the Leslie treatment.

8:23 pm - Dave feels as though he is on vacation, probably because he is being lazy for once. And he's only thinking for himself? Way to isolate yourself buddy.

8:25 pm - Apparenlty, you don't want to go on vacation with Dave, as he acts like an idiot.

8:26 pm - Criminy, Todd might be the luckiest son of a gun ever. The next clue as well? If he doesn't get this idol, he will soon rank as one of the worst Survivors ever.

8:28 pm - Hey, Fighting Tiger is happy with no Dave. And Sherea is killing my "lose Dave" prediction by lying down when they need her to help.

8:29 pm - Hey, back to Flying Dragon, and Dave is acting crazy again because the fishermen are here! Fish, peppers, eggs, oil and other vegetables.

8:30 pm - Um, Jean Robert knows Mandarin. Holy crap that was the most useful coincidence ever. (Though, wouldn't you bring him for communication purposes when learning how to fish?)

8:31 pm - Much like I need a monkey butler, I also need fishing birds.

8:33 pm - Aaaaand Jean Robert gets into conflict with his alliance mate James. (The ironic part is that Jean Robert was probably in the right.)

8:34 pm - Denise: "A lunch lady is not an expert on food."

8:37 pm - Immunity Challenge time. Each team enters through a bamboo tunnel thing, which looks cool. And Dave greets his team without too much reciprocation.

8:38 pm - Awesome challenge - dress in "traditional" Chinese armor, throw stuff and block with bamboo. Flying Dragon has to sit out a guy, so they go with Jean Robert.

8:40 pm - Um, Peih Gee and Courtney are not meant for this.

8:41 pm - One thing that I haven't mentioned is that the producers have been adding odd things to the cinematography, adding in cut scenes on things that are not needed. (Like in this challenge where they add in a closeup of the hammer thing flying through the air.) I can't tell if this a parody or what.

8:43 pm - going into the last challenge, it is 2-1 Flying Dragon. Then Jmaie comes through with the clutch double hit, while Eric, um, chokes. Seriously, why are you underhanding the hammer thing when you need to hit stuff much higher? Then Amanda comes through with a double hit of her own, and Flying Dragon crushes Fighting Tiger yet again.

8:47 pm - Hmm, who will go today. Dave, who is back barking orders to people, or Sherea who is lazy. Dave is feeling precarious, so Dave isn't going.

8:48 pm - And as I say that, Dave is pleading his case. And now they are targetting Sherea.

8:50 pm - Aw crap. Sherea is trying to plead her case, but she is complaining and basically showing herself to be out for herself. Bye Sherea.

8:51 pm - We could live without Dave, but Dave is a leader and yes man Eric is kissing his ass.

8:53 pm - Aaaaand Sherea cements her departure. Sherea: "I'm stepping it up at camp" Jeff: "From what to what?"

8:53 pm - Peih Gee doesn't give an answer to whether to make camp life good, or to sacrifice a bit for challenges. Then Sherea can't shut up and argues with Peih Gee for a bit. HOW STUPID ARE YOU TO DO THIS WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE ON THIN ICE?!?!

8:55 pm - Ummm, fuck me. Dave gets the boot (with somebody voting for "Crazy Dave"). Well, I guess that shows how much I know about this game.

8:56 pm - Jeff gives his lecture. As the remaining members leave, I notice that Peih Gee is still wearing a glittering top.

Next week: It looks like we are going to get our romance for the season with Eric and Jamie. Wait, did Eric just say that he's a virgin?

Also, twist time~! Tribal switch maybe?

I need some help

After watching Tony Romo's "Aw shucks, sure I sucked in the game and we had to fluke out a win against a team that is going to win 4 games all years, but gosh darn it, aren't I pretty?" interview, who is a Bills fan to hate more: Tom Brady or Tony Romo?

(Okay, it's Brady. But I threw up in my mouth multiple times during that freaking interview.)

Random aside: The Bills are two last second field goals away from being 3-2. For this team that is absolutely ridiculous.

I can't understand why people hate our politcal discourse

Pierre Poilievre just called Scott Brison a turkey during a discussion between the two and Judy Wasylycia-Leis on Question Period today.

Brison was giving a rather long response to a question about Denis Corderre going to Afganistan on his own against the wishes of the government. Craig Oliver was attempting to get Poilievre into the discussion to respond, but Brison was still talking. Once Brison was done, Poilievre joked that he could start because he couldn't hear the "turkey" any more.

I mean, Brison did go overboard, but everybody knew that. Why bother calling him a turkey? It's a lame joke that nobody is going to laugh at, and is only going to get people pissed off. But such is life in our Canadian federal politics, and it will be until we have a majority in power once again.