King of Pop is Dead

Please take a moment of silence to remember this amazing role-model. Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today at 2:26pm after suffering a heart attack. He was 50 years old. I am surprised he has lasted this long given the amount of chemicals and facial procedures he's gone through. Although, he has "looked" dead for quite some time now. More details inside.


Despite Michael Jackson's insanity, he did give us some freakin' sweet stuff: Thriller, the moonwalk, the white glove, and lots of great music.

Here's the story from [NYDailyNews]

Pop icon Michael Jackson died Thursday after being taken to a Los Angeles hospital in cardiac arrest, officials said. He was 50.

The "Thriller" superstar was unconscious and not breathing when Fire Department paramedics were summoned to Jackson's Bel Air home by a 911 call at 12:26 California time.

They desperately tried to resuscitate the faded King of Pop as a cherry-red ambulance sped him to UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

"You've got to save him!" aides to the star screamed as he was wheeled into the hospital on the stretcher, the Web site TMZ.com reported.

Jackson's mother and his sister LaToya were seen rushing into the hospital, apparently after he had already died.

The cause of death was unknown. The Los Angeles County coroner said an autopsy would be performed Friday.

Apparently Michael's death spawned some rumors that Harrison Ford and Jeff Goldblum died today as well. Totally fake.

Shaq Going to the Cavs

[ESPN] LeBron and Shaq get to hang out. Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic get to slide over to the Suns. The deal is supposed to go down on Thursday. The video is below.

Boy Scout Survival Skills

For all you Boy Scouts out there here is a little survival skill that your camp leader didn't teach you. So, when you are out in the middle of nowhere without a flashlight hop on over to your nearest vending machine and grab yourself a bottle of Mountain Dew. After all, you are in the mountains!





I have yet to try this, but if anyone does before I do, please share your results. Happy camping!

American Ignorance

We've all seen Jaywalking or something like it, where we all get some kicks from the ignorance of common man. Well unfortunately, those people we see on T.V. apparently aren't in the minority.


A study by a researcher from Georgetown tried to find out if people learned anything about government in junior high or high school (my words, not hers). The following is my favorite, as sad as it is, finding:

Only one in seven Americans (15%) can correctly name John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States; 78% don’t know. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) know at least one of the judges on the Fox television show American Idol. In a 2006 survey, less than one in 10 (9%) could identify the Chief Justice.

So, if you want to feel good about how much you know, check out the rest of the findings.

Submit a Video: Win a Man Cave

[via DIY network] My wife watches a lot of HGTV, I mean A LOT of HGTV, which means that I also have the pleasure of watching wayyyyyyy too many renovation shows. Anyhow, they had some commercials on there about the DIY network and MLB network teaming up to give out a free MLB Baseball Man Cave based upon video submissions. You've got until July 24th to submit a video of you basically begging for a man cave on camera and then releasing it to the public, good luck and don't make a fool out of yourself (unless it gets you the win of course). Hit the jump to see the official contest site in a new window.

Go to site...

This Beats the Crap out of My 42" Flat Screen

[via Engadget via YouTube] I felt pretty manly when I upgraded from a 28" to a 42" but this guy has me beat. Someone working for the Jonas Brothers (no less) played his Xbox 360 on the Cowboys Stadium Video Wall, that's 160' x 72' (or 1920" x 864") of LED flat screen awesomeness. Hit the jump to watch the video.

Time Waster: Star Wars in Asciimation

[via Asciimation] For your viewing pleasure, some loser genius produced Star Wars into a text-only silent movie. I didn't have time to watch the whole thing but what I saw was sweet. I don't even want to think how much time went into it. Hit the jump to see the asciimation movie.

Go to site...

Detroit's Best

This is what the man-log is all about. I spend way too much time watching way too many youtube videos and then rewatching them until I find the exact video that highlights the original video that was a little long or... you get the point. I waste time so you don't have to. It took a while but I uncovered 3 really good originals films of Eminem, Biggie, and Tupac freestyling. No music videos or directors but real footage before they were big time. (Eminem's was post fame but is still real freestyle)

You tell me who you think is the best..

Eminem




Biggie



Tupac





Final thoughts.

a) Biggie has by far the best rythm. Even without music, he was just flowing.
b) Tupac is the most raw talent who eventually refined his passion into lyrical genius
c) Eminem has always been mentally disturbed but man he is a genius. His unique style and flow is amazing. I hate the guy but you can't deny his ability to make it happen.

Cheap Stripper Pole

Alex showed us how to get cheap pole dancing lessons. Well, now you can complete your repertoire with a pole that's on sale on Amazon.com. Oh, and here's the best part: its portable.



Thanks to Amazon, you can now step up your entrepreneurial game and take pole dancing on the road. This pole is usually $500, but it can be yours for a measly investment of just $300. If you're a big girl, sorry, it only supports 220 lbs. If you still need lessons, don't worry, it comes with an instructional DVD.

In case you forgot, here's the benefits of pole dancing:

"Pole dance classes are an empowering workout that GRADUALLY INCREASES your strength, flexibility and confidence as you explore your INNER BEAUTY and sensual soul through MEDITATIVE MOVEMENT and exotic dance."

Resurrect Your PC

I've covered how to speed up Windows by uninstalling most of your programs for these better, free apps. Well, if XP/Vista still just doesn't seem to run fast enough, I've got the solution. BUT BE WARNED: if you don't know what a hardware driver is, don't attempt this. Basically we're going to install a fresh version of XP or Vista that can run on ANY computer.


The bottom line is, over time with use, every computer will begin to slow as you mess it up with your crap.

The process I'm going to walk you through involves erasing your hard drive and installing a fresh copy of Windows XP or Vista. This task isn't as daunting as it sounds. I've done this to over 30 computers in the last year.

Here's the good news: Your computer will run faster than the day you took it out of the box.

There's an amazing group called eXPerience that has created modified, super-fast versions of XP and Vista. They are called TinyXP and TinyVista.

WARNINGS:

• You'll need a 2nd computer to read these directions during the install and possibly to download drivers.
• If your computer (especially laptop) is currently running Vista, don't use TinyXP.
  
• Make sure you really do backup all your crap before starting this, or you're going to cry really hard.
• Unplug all flash drives and external drives before proceeding (you don't want to erase these on accident)
• If you're running multiple OS's or partitions you want to keep, don't delete them in Step 2.
• I don't assume any liability if you have half a brain and mess something up

Step 1: Backup Data and Burn Disk

1. Backup anything you don't want deleted: songs, documents, videos, pictures, bookmarks, etc... If you aren't sure where all your files are, you can use WinDirStat. It lets you visually see what file types are where.
2. Download whichever operating system you want through torrents: TinyXP here or TinyVista here.
3. Burn the operating system image to a CD/DVD. ImgBurn can do that.

Step 2: Install Windows

1. Put your freshly burned disk in your CD drive and reboot your computer
2. Your computer will tell you "Press Enter to Boot from CD...". You only have about 5 seconds to press enter. If you don't get this screen, you need to change your settings so your computer boots from the CDROM before the hard drive. To do this, restart your computer and immediately start pressing F2, F10, the delete key, or TAB. This will take you into the BIOS. Look for the option to change the boot order. Save and Exit.
3. TinyXP users will see a red screen. Choose Option 1.
4. Once TinyXP/TinyVista setup loads, you need to delete your hard drive. If you have multiple hard drives on the list you know you're not keeping delete those too. The process is different depending on the version you're using:

TinyXP users: Press "D", then "Enter", then "L" to delete a hard drive/partition. Then on the Raw Unpartitioned hard drive, press "Enter" then format "NTFS (quick)."
TinyVista users: click "Drive Options (advanced)". Then choose "Delete" on all the hard drives. Once the screen shows you one big raw, unpartitioned hard drive, choose "Format". NTFS (quick) will get the job done nicely.

Step 3: Walk away for at least 30 minutes

No I'm not joking, the installation is "unattended". That means it will install everything automatically after a few reboots and will give you a clean desktop.



Step 4: Finish your installation
This next step requires a bit of patience if this is your first time.

1. Open the Start Menu and go to the Control Panel. Click "User Accounts" and add an account with your name.
2. Click the Start Menu and log out. Sign in under your name.
3. Right-click My Computer and choose "Manage". Click "Local Users and Groups". Open "Users" and right-click "Administrator" then choose "Properties". Check the box next to "Account is disabled"

Here are optional changes that I always make:

1. Right-click the desktop and choose "Properties". Under "Themes" tab, change theme to "RoyaleNoir". Under "Desktop" tab click "Customize Desktop..." and put a check next to "My Documents"
2. Right-click the taskbar (big black/blue bar next to start menu that goes across bottom of screen) and choose "Properties". Put a check next to "Lock the taskbar". Under "Start Menu" tab, choose "Classic Start menu" and then "Customize". Scroll down and uncheck "Show Small Icons in Start Menu"
3. Open Start Menu and delete "Microsoft Update" shortcut with a right-click
4. Open My Computer and click Tools > Folder Options. Choose "Show common tasks in folders" then click the "View" tab. Scroll down and put a check box next to "Show Control Panel in My Computer"
5. Once again, while looking at My Computer, click View > Toolbars > Customize... Click "Map Drive" and remove everything below it on the list except "Views". Under "Icon Options" change the dropdown box to "Large icons"
6. Go to interfacelift.com and download a sweet wallpaper

At a minimum, install these programs (found here): Firefox, SumatraPDF, VLC player, ImgBurn, and MS Office.



Install your missing drivers:
Please don't search google for "driver download" or you're going to immediately trash your computer with things like Driver Detective, DriversKit, etc...

1. To find which one's TinyXP/Vista didn't install, right-click My Computer and choose "Device Manager"
2. Anything with a yellow exclamation mark needs attention. Most often these will be modems or video cards
   
3. Go to your computer manufacturer's website and look for a support/driver link (if your computer doesn't have internet access, you'll need to download ethernet/wi-fi drivers on a 2nd computer)
   
4. Search your computer's model number in their driver section (Dell and Gateway computers typically have a service tag # that makes searching a breeze. Use that.)
   
5. Only download drivers for the devices in the "Device Manager" with yellow exclamation marks

That's it! Your computer is ridiculously fast.

MC Hammer Flash Mob

[via YouTube] This may be too soon after Darren's Evolution of Dance posting but I just couldn't pass up posting this MC Hammer flash mob video. Watch the video at least until you see the 60-year-old guy dancing, it isn't to be missed. Hit the jump to see the full video.

This + Natal = Real World Halo

[via Wired via YouTube] A joint team from Georgia Tech/SCAD-Atlanta built this augmented reality zombie shooter game. It uses a 2-d map laid out on a table and a handheld device to shoot zombies in a miniaturized 3-d city block. Hit the jump to see the full video and for an explanation of how this technology could be combined with Natal to give us real-world Halo or COD.



Bear with me on this, it'll definitely be worth it when it clicks in your head. Imagine, playing Halo/COD with a group of friends as you might play paintball.

This 2-d to 3-d tracking and projection software could be integrated into a low-weight virtual reality headset (called a head mounted device, it track your head movements and changes the screen projection in front of your eyes to match your head movements) and Natal to create a low-grade holodeck version of Halo. Imagine an empty building in which your every movement (and the movement of everyone playing) is tracked via Natal. Natal then sends that input to your headset (which is utilizing the 2-d to 3-d tracking software to fine-tune your projected display) which could project either your complete surroundings with virtual elements intermixed (virtual reality) or just a simple overlay onto the real environment (augmented reality) which shows you the virtual elements (like weapon status, health status, location of other players, superimposed design elements) projected on top of the what you're seeing in real life.

You run over to the rocket launcher in the middle of the floor and pick it up (it's a replica of a real rocket launcher made to simulate its reactions and noise when fired - the military uses this technology to train their soldiers) to fire at your friend. You fire it and watch the rocket race across the room (via your headset) and hit your friend dead-center, causing all sorts of blood and guts to spill out (again, via your headset). His health is down and he's out of the game, now you grab the sniper rifle on the table to finish the rest of his team...

Let me know if you see anything wrong with my logic.

House is Demolished on Accident

Beware if the power box on the side of your house mysteriously disappears. A crew may be about to demolish your house. That's exactly what happened to a family in Sandy Springs, Georgia. The company that tore down the house wasn't given an address, map, or even a picture. They opted for the more high-tech way: GPS coordinates.

[WSBTV.com]

The demolition company said it had paperwork.

"I said, ‘Paperwork for what?' and he said, ‘For the house, to demolish the house.' I said, ‘I'm the owner of the house, I haven't given anybody any authority to demolish this house,'" said [the homeowner]....

"I said, ‘What address did you have?' and he said, ‘They sent me some GPS coordinates.' I said, ‘Don't you have an address?' (and) he said, ‘Yes, my GPS coordinates led me right to this address here and this house was described,'" said [the homeowner].

[The homeowner] said he suspects the intended target was actually across the road.

The man who cuts the grass told Byrd about a month ago that the power box was missing and there were holes punched into the walls. They both thought it was vandalism. Now, Byrd believes it was part of the preparation for the demolition.

It appears that from reading the article nobody was living in the house at the time.

I'd make some joke that maybe this was a woman's idea, but I think the blame lies directly on a man.

Evolution of Dance

Any child of the 80s or 90s can greatly appreciate this. I don't know what is more sad, the fact that this guy can actually do all of these moves or that all of us at one time or another, whether on the dance floor or in front of the mirror, have attempted these. Even though Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer are so broke that they reunited this passed year for one concert at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, their dance moves are immortalized!




Just in case you didn't get enough...



Notice that in both videos he is wearing the same cloths, but YouTube indicates that there is a three year gap between the posting of the two videos. He must really like Orange Crush!

Woman Loses Mattress with $1 Million Inside

No, this is not a joke. A woman in Israel had been putting her life's savings in a mattress. I guess she thought this was safer than the bank. Unfortunately, the mattress got thrown out when her daughter surprised her by replacing it with a new one.


[CNN.com]

The daughter, Annat, "woke up early Sunday to get a good deal on a new mattress as a surprise for her mother.

When her mother realized the next day what her daughter had done, she told her that she had been using the mattress to stash away her life savings and had nearly $1 million padding the inside of the worn-out mattress.

Annat ran downstairs, but it was too late. The garbage truck had already taken away the money-stuffed mattress. Annat alerted the two major dump sites in the Israeli city in an effort to locate the bed, but so far she has had no luck.

The publicity has triggered a wave of people also trying to find the mattress and its contents for themselves. Burba has increased security around the dump to keep them out."

I can understand putting maybe a few thousand dollars in a mattress, but one million dollars?! Seriously, who would put their entire life savings inside of a mattress? Well, I guess she is a woman.

A Site Worth Fighting For

The NHL is disregarded. No one cares or even knows that the Stanley Cup Finals is going, let alone that its going into game 7 in Hockey town with the best story line hockey's had for decades. Am I going to try to convert you to hockey? Maybe. Are you going to spend hours on this site? Yep.

Imagine a website devoted only to the art of the enforcer, the art of hockey fighting.... welcome to hockeyfights.com. A site wholly devoted to the best fights in the game. This site ranks the best fights, the best team awards, keeps track of penalty minutes just from fighting, and number of punches landed. Here is one of their favorites.



This is why hockey is awesome. They do the face off, they drop the gloves without even thinking and just go at it! The art of the enforcer. Before you think these guys are just brainless brutes (which they are) understand that they do this for a reason. They beat down the other enforcers to protect their own skill guys (Why do you think Wayne Gretzky was so good? He had 2 of the greatest enforcers in the history of hockey. Most guys only get 1.) At any rate, Hockey is very underrated and I hope this site teaches you a thing or two.

Proof that girls are evil

[Stacken] This image has been passed around for years but it's always worth a revisit every so often. Just a reminder of how everything fits together. Click the link to see the full-sized picture in a new window. Make sure to maximize the window to show the full picture in all of it's glorious detail.

Go to site...

The Ultimate Ego

I used to have a marginal amount of respect for Dan Marino, until I was reading the Wall St. Journal's article about ol' Dan trying to sell his house.



The Wall St. Journal has a real estate section that always has ridiculous houses for sale -- huge, multi-million homes of the rich and famous. Naturally I'm intrigued when I see that Dan Marino's selling his house, I mean, what kind of house can you afford when you're Dan Marino? Apparently Dan's been having a hard time selling his house, so to sweeten the pot he's throwing in some designer furniture and ... a signed football (make sure to view the slideshow for pictures of the house).

It sounds like he tries to play it off like it's no big deal. "Hey, I'll leave a signed football," but you know deep down he hopes that this is the deal breaker for some sorry sucker. Can you imagine someone contemplating throwing down $13.5 million and thinking, "you know, I wasn't going to do it, but Dan's leaving that football, so what the heck, I'm in." Just the fact that you know deep down Dan hopes this internal monologue happens blows my mind. Talk about arrogance.

The World According to Americans

[Demon Baby] Highly offensive and hilarious, this map of the world demonstrates why the world loves to hate Americans. This is definitely the work of a man. Click the link to see the full-sized picture in a new window. Make sure to maximize the window to show the full picture in all of it's glorious detail.

                                                                           Go to site...

Awkward Family Photos.com

I guess with so many people in the world, you should never be surprised about stupid acts. But occasionally, just occasionally something so special comes around that is so amazing, so dumb, and so awkward! Welcome to the world of awkward family photos!


AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com brings you some gut busting pictures.

BAM! How does this one grab you!?!?! Seriously, what is this photographer thinking? My bet is it's the mother's sister who is pissed because the mother didn't help out at the last family thanksgiving dinner.


Our next beauty..................


If my parents did this, I can't tell you mad I would be. This is so disgusting. Parents should only be seen kissing for brief moments in the kitchen on accident, NOT and I repeat NOT passionately kissing in print for all to see forever! This is a king awkward......




Sorry Alex, had to intrude and include this beauty:
-spoon

F My Life

So there is this amazing website that one of my colleagues at school introduced me to - you have to read everything with a grain of salt, however. 90% of the material is good, wholesome coincidental fun - the other 10% might be a bit off-color and occassionally dark grey to black :(. If it is sour on your palate, I apologize.


The website is FMyLife.com - stands for f*** my life - each post begins with a person telling a story about how their life is doomed to failure or how they have the worst luck in the world - they start the post with the word "today" and no matter what, every post ends with FML (f my life) - Anyone can submit a story, and then it can be reviewed and possibly posted on the webiste. Here is my favorite one from today:

Today, my girlfriend of 3 years broke up with me because the love advice that she gets on her cellphone every week says that I'm cheating on her. I've never cheated on her and I was planning to propose next week. FML

Enjoy

The Elusive Bag O'Crap

There's a website out there - called woot.com - it's kind of a one-day one-deal type website - everyday at 10 o'clock Pacific Time, a new item is posted - the item is typically highly discounted from it's typical price (one example was a 20 GB XBOX 360 Refurbished on sale for $129.99) - everything ships for $5 flat and you can purchase 1, 2 or 3 of the current item (3 is max)... This is all good and well, except woot throws in a twist every month or so.

Occassionally, at 10 central time, when the new item appears, instead of being a typical gadget or gizmo, a picture of a brown paper bag with a question mark on it will show up. This is the elusive Bag Of Crap - This random bag of crap (if you can buy one fast enough) costs you $3 + $5 shipping, and comes with a minimum of 3 things - most of the time, it's leftover stuff from previous woot auctions. But other times, you could get lucky - blogs online claim that people have received 50" plasma tv's or Playstation 3's or even better. However, you could also get a used toilet bowl cleaner, a broken slinky and a rubber piece of dog crap. It all just depends.

I've tried multiple times to buy the bag o'crap when it shows up, but typically woot's servers crash because so many people try to buy them at the same time - so far, I have not been successful. Good luck if you choose to try.

Woman Thinks Crunchberry is a Real Berry

[LoweringTheBar.net] After 4 years of deception, a woman recently discovered that Cap'n Crunch's Crunchberries are in fact not a real berry. So she tried to sue on the grounds that she had been defrauded and a breach of warranty had occurred. "The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said 'berries' were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls."


Judge Morrison England, Jr. set her straight:

"The "Crunchberries" depicted on the [box] are round, crunchy, brightly-colored cereal balls, and the [box] clearly states both that the Product contains "sweetened corn & oat cereal" and that the cereal is "enlarged to show texture." Thus, a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the Product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist. . . . So far as this Court has been made aware, there is no such fruit growing in the wild or occurring naturally in any part of the world."

This is my favorite part: LoweringTheBar.net says, "The Plaintiff did not explain why she could not reasonably have figured this out at any point during the four years she alleged she bought Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries."

I picture this woman as single and housing large amounts of cats.

Funny thing is, this is not the first time someone has sued a cereal company. While dismissing the case, Judge England quoted a similar case where a person tried to sue Fruit Loops for their lack of fruit.

Lebron vs Jordan III *fixed*

You've read my thoughts on the subject but I just thought I'd let the professionals chime in. The questions remains: Who is/was better AT THIS stage of his career, LeBron James or Michael Jordan?

We realize we tread on sacred ground here. Nobody has matched Jordan for an entire career, by almost any measure. But it's important to note that the legend of MJ owes as much to his six NBA titles as to his highlight reels, and that he didn't earn one until his seventh season in the league.

Insider Intel: LeBron over MJ

Through six seasons, LeBron James stacks up ahead of Michael Jordan

By Luke Cyphers

ESPN The Magazine

After a pair of Game 7 blowouts, it's pretty clear we all need something to talk about beyond "Wow, the Lakers were taller" and "The Celtics sure looked tired." We're here to help. On this rare NBA off day, we bring you a little conversation starter:

After six seasons, no one wants to get in LeBron's way.

Who is/was better at this stage of his career, LeBron James or Michael Jordan?

We realize we tread on sacred ground here. Nobody has matched Jordan for an entire career, by almost any measure. But it's important to note that the legend of MJ owes as much to his six NBA titles as to his highlight reels, and that he didn't earn one until his seventh season in the league.

So we start at the beginning, with the most-self-serving-yet-most-repeated-on-talk-radio statistical analysis in the history of sports, the Terry Bradshaw Ring Test. By that measure, which states that a superstar's worth is solely defined by how many pro championships he's won, neither LBJ nor MJ was very good through the sixth season of their respective careers. Certainly they're not Kobe Bryant (three titles) or Tim Duncan (two). Hell, they're not even Beno Udrih (two).

After that, things grow murkier, with arguments either way. Check out this comparison of their first six seasons, courtesy of basketball-reference.com:

LEBRON JAMES VS. MICHAEL JORDAN: FIRST SIX SEASONS

A comparison of LeBron James and Michael Jordan across the first six seasons of their careers. These numbers are per 36 minutes.

Player	FG%	3FG%	FT%	ORB	DRB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
James	.471	.328	.738	1.1	5.1	6.2	5.9	1.6	0.8	2.9	1.8	24.4
Jordan	.516	.282	.848	1.7	4.1	5.8	5.5	2.6	1.0	3.0	2.9	30.3

Jordan comes out as a better scorer and defender (at least by the measure of steals), and James a better rebounder, passer and, surprisingly, outside shooter (at least from outside the 3-point line). Going deeper into Basketball Reference's numbers using Dean Oliver's win-shares metric, the argument grows still more complex:

JORDAN VS. JAMES WIN SHARES

A next-level look at the relative value of MJ and LeBron over their first six seasons.

Player Name	OWS	DWS	WS
LeBron James	55.6	27.8	83.4
Michael Jordan	65.4	23.8	89.2

Overall, Jordan has accumulated more win shares, thanks largely to his edge in point production. But it turns out that, despite an early reputation as a naïf learning to play D, James has been a better defensive "winner." A curiosity in all this is one stat sometimes overlooked in Jordan career retrospectives: durability. Through six seasons, MJ played 50 fewer games than LBJ. Almost all of that owed to a foot injury in Jordan's second year, but LBJ's minutes per game are higher for most of his early years:

LEBRON JAMES' FIRST SIX SEASONS: MINUTES

A look at The King's time on the floor across his first six seasons.

Year	Games	Games Started	MPG
2003-04	79	79	39.5
2004-05	80	80	42.4
2005-06	79	79	42.5
2006-07	78	78	40.9
2007-08	75	74	40.4
2008-09	81	81	37.7

MICHAEL JORDAN'S FIRST SIX SEASONS: MINUTES

MJ's time logged during his first six years in the league.

Year	Games	Games Started	MPG
1984-85	82	82	38.3
1985-86	18	7	25.1
1986-87	82	82	40.0
1987-88	81	81	40.2
1988-89	75	74	40.4
1989-90	82	82	39.0

A look back at Sam Smith's "The Jordan Rules" shows that MJ believed he wore down late in seasons and wanted to add strength to his post-up game. So he began seriously lifting weights, for the first time, in his seventh year, 1990-91, coinciding with his first title. Even though James was two years younger than MJ was when each entered the league, he grew up in a more fitness-crazed era, in a football-crazed state, where serious weight workouts were part of a high school athlete's routine. James has accelerated his training as a pro, adding more mass and explosiveness to his already unfair physique.

The Pistons physically punished Jordan early in his career.

And therein may be the final argument for LBJ, at least so far. Michael struck fear into opponents -- a fear of embarrassment. His incredible quickness and agility could land you on the wrong end of a poster, sure. But tougher to take was his ruthless competitiveness, which he used to humiliate opponents (and if the Rodney McCray stories are true, even teammates).

James inspires a different fear, the kind in which a player is scared for his own physical well-being. His combination of speed, bulk and explosiveness hasn't been seen since, well, ever. The Pistons beat up the young Michael Jordan in the playoffs. If you were quick enough to get in front of him, you didn't fear taking a charge. But who, seriously, would stand in the way of James at full tilt on a breakaway dunk?

Six seasons into his career, James inspires a kind of awe that not even early MJ possessed -- that of a man playing a different sport than everybody else, something akin to Lawrence Taylor or Jim Brown on a football field.

Of course, beginning with his seventh season, Jordan built his own aura with his six titles. And that aura is unlikely to be surpassed as a complete body of work. Unless, of course, LeBron wins a ring this year and hauls in five more.

Maybe there is something to that Bradshaw stat.

XBOX Project Natel = Broken Bones

Microsoft thinks they're ready to play in the world of the Wii. They are rolling out contoller-less play on the Xbox. Watch it in action.






Remember when people started going to the hospital and breaking TV's because they would whirl the Wii nunchucks around?




I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more injuries and damaged TV's as people pretend to ride their skateboard around the living room. Here's how easy Microsoft thinks playing Xbox with no controller will be:

James White aka "Flight 75"

I consider myself a pretty big sports fan. I used to think I kept on top of the sports world until I just recently learned who James White is.


I was casually reading the lame University of Cincinnati paper when an article about James White jumped out at me on the back page. The article claimed this guy could do a between the legs dunk form the free throw line. From the free throw line??? Really?? And I've never heard of him?

Thanks to the goodness of YouTube, here is the proof via a Turkish slam dunk contest.



A couple of things stick out to me from the video. If you wanted to see the between the legs dunk only, it's at about 4:50 on the video. I recommend the entire viewing experience for the unintentional comedy.

1. Who are these clowns judging this competition? They look like they grabbed some Turkish grocery store managers and said hey, "Hey, we'll give you 10 lira if you judge this competition. Don't worry, you don't have to know anything about basketball."
2. He makes it look effortless. Dunk after dunk from the free throw line and the guy's not breaking a sweat.
3. Do the fans have any idea what they are seeing? There's about 300 people in the stands and he gets a couple of cheers. Could you imagine if he's throwing these down at NBA all-star weekend? (Note: he signed a contract with the Rockets recently, so maybe we will get to see it).
4. What are those emcees wearing and where did they find those guys? Are they cool in Turkey? Do people like them or are they shunned from society? This all got me thinking that I have no idea what Turkey is like. You should read up, it's interesting.
5. Did you see the trophy he got for winning? Look at the trophy this kid won for little league; if I were in charge of that slam dunk contest, I would be embarrassed.
   

Finally, the acceptance speech is hilarious. What's going through his head? "None of these people know what I'm saying, but I better throw in my team name so I can keep my sweet endorsement deal."

Finally! A Sunscreen For Men

I know that many of you out there have been wondering why we don't have sunscreen just for men. Well, Will Ferrel has got you covered. He now endorses sunscreen from CancerforCollege.com. He's like Paul Newman giving proceeds to charity.

The proceeds go to a scholarship fund for people who have survived cancer. Consumer Reports covered the story, although they didn't actually test the product. They do tell you who usually wears sunscreen the most and who needs it the most: women and teenagers. Hopefully, we men will be less likely to get skin cancer with Will leading the way.

Oh, and in case you need to pick some up, it competitively priced at $11.99 a bottle with $7 for shipping.

All Your Computer Will Ever Need

Attn Microsoft Users: Many of you have computers with a Start Menu that is as messy as Alex's shirt after dinner. Your computer already came with some retarded programs the manufacturer thought you needed, and then you installed everything else under the sun. Bottom line is, you only need a handful of free top-notch programs. I've been computering for quite some time, and I'd like to make some recommendations:

This is probably one of my biggest complaints about people who don't really know much more than how to check their email. They have 5 programs to burn a DVD, 12 others to watch a movie, and 15 different ones to print.

First, visit your 'Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs' (or 'Programs and Features' for you Vista people) to delete all non-essential programs.

For you Mac/Linux users, I believe the only programs that don't have versions for you are ImgBurn and the security section.

My Start Menu is only 12 objects tall. Sound impossible? Nope. Here's all the software you'll ever need:


CD/DVD Burning: ImgBurn
This amazing little program can burn anything you throw at it: music CD's, movies, CD/DVD images, Blu-ray, HD DVD, etc...


PDF Reader: Sumatra PDF
Are you tired of waiting for Adobe Acrobat Reader to start? This program is ridiculously small and you get you on your way. Just make sure to make it your default PDF reader on first run.


Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox
This one's a no brainer. Microsoft Internet Explorer just can't do it like Firefox. Firefox browses faster and allows you to install an Add-on for almost anything (AdBlock Plus and Greasemonkey scripts come to mind.)

Video/Audio Playback: VLC
VLC media player will play literally ANY video or music file you can find. You don't have to install anything extra like codecs, ever. It just plain always works.
ps- you can also play DVD's with this thing.

Torrent Downloads: µTorrent
This install is VERY small. When you download torrents it is the simplest and most straight forward. Everything goes your download folder by default.


Archive File Management: 7-ZIP
If you've ever had a ZIP/RAR/ACE/etc... file that you needed opened, you know the headache. If you use 7-ZIP you'll never worry about Window's lack of support. Multi-file RAR packages, Mac-formatted archives, and even ISO images can all be opened.

Edit Pictures: GIMP
Stop trying to bootleg Adobe Photoshop (Blake). Not only is it a pain to circumvent activation technologies, you don't even know how to use Photoshop! Stick with GIMP. It does everything Photoshop does (and even looks like it) and you'll get less of a headache.

Organize Pictures: Picasa
Some of you may hate this program. But, it does its job well and its hard to beat. So, if you're the type than needs help organizing your thousands of photos that you'll never look at, use Picasa.


Word Processing/Presentation/Spreadsheets: Microsoft Office
*Thanks Nate for reminding me of this essential.
When installing PLEASE choose Custom Install and only check the boxes next to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. This is the only one on the list not free (unless your name is Spoon). If you want free, try OpenOffice.org. It does everything Office does.

Music Collection:
iTunes: iPhone and iPod users should just stick to iTunes even though its a resource hog and installs more than you need. But... you can't beat its features and user friendliness.
Songbird: If you don't care about syncing to Apple devices, they you might want to check out Songbird. Its the Firefox of music organizers. You can install many types of Add-ons.

Security:
I personally don't run any Virus or Spyware protection. But, I don't trust the rest of you, so here's the best protection:
AVG Free: Its free and it works better than Norton or McAfee. If you have one of the latter two, delete them! Who wants to know every day they they need to upgrade/purchase a new version (not to mention how slow they make your computer)?

Spybot Search & Destroy: For all those trojans, key-loggers, pop-ups, homepage hijackers, etc... This thing is tried and true.