The Inane Asylum

from realtechnews.com

Yahoo to Launch Blog Ad Network

Long-awaited competitor to Google AdSense to launch tomorrow. “Yahoo is planning to launch on Wednesday an ad network for small Web publishers intended to strengthen its hand against rival Google, a source familiar with the plan told CNET News.com. The service will undoubtedly turn up the heat in Yahoo and Google’s ongoing rivalry to dominate Web search. It will also help Yahoo’s push to expand its advertising reach to small and medium-size publishers.

“Laying the groundwork in this area earlier this year, Yahoo released Y!Q, code that analyzes the text of a Web page and shows search results based on its content. Publishers can add the code to their Web pages to automatically generate a list of related links. Tapping small publishers offers a promising growth path, given Google’s earlier efforts in this niche.

“In June 2003, Google expanded its ad services for large publishers, dubbed AdSense, adding a self-serve, automated product specifically aimed at small sites. As opposed to search-related ads, which are triggered by keywords entered into its search engine query bar, AdSense ads are targeted to the content of a page and its meaning. For example, a news story about a soccer match might display a sponsored link for soccer gear.

The Bad Astronomy Blog has a posting about Bush's latest idiotic remarks:

Bush league science

The Bad Astronomy Blog wrote today about a concerted effort that is being made to Google Bomb "Intelligent Design" to the NCSE web page about it.

In a move reminiscent of the Hot 97 tsunami song fiasco, he San Francisco Giants' flagship radio station fired talk-show host Larry Krueger and two station officials Tuesday night.

If you haven't heard the story, Larry Krueger made racial remarks toward the club and manager Felipe Alou, stating that San Francisco has too many "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly", and Alou's "mind has turned to Cream of Wheat."

Alou resigned from his regular radio show with the station, but stated that he did not wish for Krueger to be fired saying he does not wish any man lose his job.

Tony Salvadore, KNBR's vice president and general manager originally said Krueger would not be fired, and most of the hosts and callers to KNBR in recent days supported Krueger, saying some of his remarks were made in the heat of excitement.

But it seems Salvadore changed his mind after Alou's recent interview with ESPN in which he roundly criticized KNBR and Krueger. Salvadore announced the firings of Krueger, program manager Bob Agnew and KNBR Morning Show producer Tony Rhein, six days after the remarks were made.

This time, Todd Lynn can't blame jsmooth!

In an attempt to squash rumors, MLB and the union issued a rare joint statement:

"Reports of large numbers of positive tests currently unreported are totally false. Reports of big-name players having the reporting of their test results delayed are totally false. All drug-testing results are processed in precisely the same manner, and without regard to the identity of any player or to the volume of positives at any given time. These media reports and rumors are totally, and completely inaccurate, and do not deserve further comment."

Uh...yeah right. Is that why Rafael Palmeiro tested positive back in March, but his results were only announced last week, while others players' results were released right away? Seems pretty convenient that Palmeiro's results were kept a secret until he hit number 3,000.

Double Duty is one of the more interesting characters in both American and baseball history. His loss will be felt.

From espn.com:

"Double Duty" Radcliffe dies at 103

CHICAGO -- Former Negro Leagues star Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, believed to be the oldest living professional baseball player, died Thursday. He was 103.

Radcliffe, given his singular nickname by sports writer Damon Runyon after catching Satchel Paige in the first game of a doubleheader in the 1932 Negro League World Series and pitching a shutout in the second game, died from complications after a long bout with cancer, the Chicago White Sox said.

Radcliffe was frequently in the crowd at U.S. Cellular Field and occasionally visited the White Sox clubhouse. He made it a tradition in recent years to throw out the first ball on his July 7 birthday.

Two weeks ago, he was scheduled to travel to Alabama for a ceremony at 95-year-old Rickwood Field, where he played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the mid-1940s, but fell ill and was hospitalized in Chicago.

"Double Duty shared such a love for baseball and a passion for life," White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. "We all loved to see him at the ballpark, listen to his stories and share in his laughter. He leaves such a great legacy after experiencing so much history and change during his long life. He will be missed by all of us with the White Sox."

In May, Radcliffe was among 14 Negro Leagues players honored in a pregame ceremony at RFK Stadium before the Cubs played Washington. Sitting in a golf cart behind the plate, Radcliffe made the ceremonial first pitch by handing the ball to Nationals coach Don Buford.

Radcliffe noted that the game had changed since he retired in the 1950s.

"It ain't like it used to be. There used to be some good pitchers. There aren't ballplayers like there used to be. It's a shame," he said.

A six-time All-Star -- fittingly, three times as a pitcher and three times as a catcher -- Radcliffe outlived his contemporaries in the Negro Leagues and players from his era in the majors. Strict records on the minor leagues from those days are not kept, but there are no players known to have been older than Radcliffe.

As he approached his 100th birthday, Radcliffe was living in a retirement center about a half-mile from Comiskey Park. His apartment was filled with bats, gloves, plaques and posters, and his easy chair sat next to a window facing a sandlot.

Radcliffe was raised in Mobile, Ala., and went on to play for more than 15 teams in the Negro Leagues from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. His brother, Alex, also played in the league.

Radcliffe roomed with Jackie Robinson with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, two years before Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in the majors, and also managed in the Negro Leagues.

At age 96, Radcliffe returned to the field, throwing one pitch for the Schaumburg Flyers in an independent Northern League game.

Vicente Fox wins my award for quote of the year...

from yahoo.com:

Farrakhan: Fox Was Right on Blacks, Jobs

MILWAUKEE - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Mexican President Vicente Fox was right to say that Mexican immigrants take jobs "that not even blacks want."

Although Fox was sharply criticized for his remarks by some black leaders, Farrakhan said Sunday that blacks do not want to go to farms and pick fruit because they already "picked enough cotton."

"Why are you so foolishly sensitive when somebody is telling you the truth?" he asked the crowd at Mercy Memorial Baptist Church. He said blacks and Latinos should form an alliance to correct differences and animosity between the two communities.

Civil rights leaders including Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have called on Fox to apologize for the remark. Fox has said he was commenting on the contributions that Mexicans make to the United States, and did not mean any offense.

Farrakhan, who spearheaded the 1995 Million Man March that drew hundreds of thousands of people to Washington, D.C., was in Milwaukee to promote the Millions More Movement, which has scheduled a rally Oct. 15 on the National Mall.

The march is billed as a more inclusive successor to the Million Man March. This time, organizers have encouraged women and gays to attend.

I almost began to like Stephen A Smith before 10 seconds ago.

I was listening to his new show on 1050am ESPN Radio in NYC, and when he came back from commercial, he played the beat from Mobb Deep, Shook Ones part II. But then he said, "that's the beat from 8-mile...Eminem in the house...but we're not talking about Detroit today, we're talking about New York."

Now I have to kill him if I ever meet him.

You may have already read about the Chinese on-line gamer who committed murder because someone stole his virtual sword. I never posted about this article because I had nothing else to say except, "wow". Well, I just read a related article which made me laugh pretty hard.

A man in Japan was arrested on suspicion of carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software bots to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. He then turned around and auctioned these items off on-line.

I love this quote from newscientist.com:

Several players had their characters beaten and robbed of valuable virtual objects, which could have included the Earring of Wisdom or the Shield of Nightmare.

OK, I haven't done a Star Wars posting in a while. I was trying to stay away from them, but this one is beyond words.

Charles Ross, a Canadian actor, has a show called One Man Star Wars Trilogy, which is currently playing at Lamb's Theatre in NYC. You have to see this to believe it.

You can see a part of his show on his website.

Two years ago, Snoop began coaching his son's team in the Orange County Junior All-American Football Conference, and it seems he is doing it in true Snoop fashion. Players review game video from inside a school buss equipped with DVD players, TV screens, and an expensive sound system.

Last year, his Rowland Raiders went undefeated and won the league championship. They also won the Snooperbowl, which takes place the day before the Super Bowl, and took home custom-made trophies donated by Tiffany & Co.

This year, Snoop is taking things even further by creating his own league in Southern California. In an efforts to attract more players, he lowered the league fees to just the cost of cleats and pads and loosened residency requirements.

The best part of this is, it is rumored that a movie is in the works, documenting his efforts. The title of the movie is "Coach Snoop".

"It's so easy for a kid to join a gang, to do drugs," Snoop said. "We should make it that easy to be involved in football and academics."

For those of you not aware of the forgotten, or suppressed, black astronaut program, you should watch the video at negrospaceprogram.com.

Last weeks issue of Sports Illustrated had a section called "Cold Cuts" which told the story of some pretty harsh cuts professional teams have made. Here are some of my favorites:

Last week cornerback Ray Mickens, the second-longest-serving member of the Jets, with nine years of service, urged the team to offer a deal to free agent Ty Law. They took his advice, signing Law. And to free up that roster space? Well, they released Mickens - and gave Law his number 24.

August 2005 Alison Mahay, the wife of Rangers reliever Ron Mahay, was courteous enough to induce labor so she could give birth to the couple's third child on an off day. Three days later the team designated the proud papa for assignment.

February 2003 Wesley Walls, an original Carolina Panther who had played in a team-record five Pro Bowls, celebrated his 37th birthday on the 26th. His gift from the team: a pink slip. The tight end was cut after seven seasons.

April 2000 After finishing treatment for multiple myeloma and receiving medical clearance to return to the bench for the conference finals, Flyers coach Roger Neilson was told by G.M. Bobby Clarke that his services were no longer required. "The Neilson situation - Roger got cancer - that wasn't our fault," said Clarke. "We didn't tell him to go and get cancer."

Being an avid Halo 2 player on Live, and a big fan of the first Halo game, I have to post about this. It's been known for a while now that Microsoft has been shopping around for a studio to make a Halo film, but now it's official. Universal and Twentieth Century Fox have agreed to a deal with Microsoft.

They will pay Microsoft $5 million plus a percentage of the ticket sales with the total price being capped at 10% of domestic box office receipts. The movie is being aimed for release sometime in the summer of 2007 and will be based on the Halo and Halo 2 video games.

I personally think they should start from the prequel to Halo, The Fall of Reach, and include some of the action packed scenes from First Strike, which takes place between Halo and Halo 2. I think including The Fall of Reach would make for a much better movie since you would get to see how Master Chief came to be and just how destructive a force the Covenant Army is.

Another funny note about this, Microsoft had delivered the script to several studios using messengers wearing costumes and laser guns. I get a kick out of picturing those poor bastards.

If you haven't already heard, NASA is preparing to send its New Horizons probe to Pluto. The New Horizons probe will be launched in January 2006 to explore Pluto and the Kuiper belt and is expected that the probe will return to earth in approximately 50 thousand years.

In the mean time, you can send your name to pluto. Why? Because it's inane and you must be bored if you're reading this.

And if you're really bored, you can read up on Pluto and the relatively recent debate about whether Pluto should even be a planet or not at space.com. And keep in mind that was writen before 2003 UB₃₁₃, which is even larger, was discovered in the Kuiper Belt.

I wonder what this is going to do to the Bling industry...

from physicsweb.org:

Diamonds are not forever

Physicists in Germany have created a material that is harder than diamond. Natalia Dubrovinskaia and colleagues at the University of Bayreuth made the new material by subjecting carbon-60 molecules to immense pressures. The new form of carbon, which is known as aggregated diamond nanorods, is expected to have many industrial applications (App. Phys. Lett. 87 083106).

The hardness of a material is measured by its isothermal bulk modulus. Aggregated diamond nanorods have a modulus of 491 gigapascals (GPa), compared with 442 GPa for conventional diamond. Dubrovinskaia and two of her co-workers - Leonid Dubrovinky and Falko Langenhorst - have patented the process used to make the new material.

Diamond derives its hardness from the fact that each carbon atom is connected to four other atoms by strong covalent bonds. The new material is different in that it is made of tiny interlocking diamond rods. Each rod is a crystal that has a diameter of between 5 and 20 nanometres and a length of about 1 micron.

This story I read in newscientist.com reminds me of my Computer Science 210 professor. Upon discovering an error in our text book, the 119 year old professor said, "Never listen to text books." He then proceeded to show us the correct way for the next 45 minutes. When he got to the end he said, "oh shit, this isn't right. Another lesson learned here is never listen to professors."

Most scientific papers are probably wrong

Most published scientific research papers are wrong, according to a new analysis. Assuming that the new paper is itself correct, problems with experimental and statistical methods mean that there is less than a 50% chance that the results of any randomly chosen scientific paper are true.