Technorati squidded me…
Author: Greg
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George Bush Crashes Bike At G8 Summit
US President George W. Bush, out for a spin on his bicycle at the Group of Eight summit venue, collided with a policeman and had to be treated for scratches on his hands and arms. That’s the leader of the free world at an important meeting there folks… While I’m here, In May 2004 Bush tumbled from his bike during a ride on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, scraping his chin, upper lip, both knees, his right hand and his nose. Bush previously fell off a Segway while visiting his parents in Kennebunkport, Maine, in June 2003 and suffered scrapes to his face when he fainted and fell after choking on a pretzel at the White House in January 2002. Again, that’s the leader of the free world folks…
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Lil’ Kim Sent Down For a Year
Rap star Lil’ Kim, convicted of perjury and conspiracy in March, has been sentenced to a year in jail for lying to a grand jury to protect friends. “I testified falsely to the grand jury and during the trial. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do. Now I know it was wrong.” No shit Kim, no shit…
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False Breasts Betray Exam Cheats
A Russian youth wearing a drag outfit which gave him improbably large breasts has been caught trying to sit an entrance exam for a female friend. Moscow University security guards first thought the applicant had an oversized bust because “she” was trying to take crib sheets into the exam.
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I ♥ Atlanta
It recently occurred to me, like as in today, that I now no longer view myself as an outsider/foreigner/country bumpkin when it comes to living in the Metro Atlanta area… It might be because of my recent move closer to the ATL but now it’s like, in my mind, I’m no longer heading into Atlanta, I’m simply heading downtown.
It only took 18 months to get my mind around that, though that said, I never really went into Atlanta much. Today I went to Turner Field (3rd time in as many days, it’s becoming a bit of a habit) to exchange tickets Robyn has for later games and as silly as it may sound, I was able to guide myself there completely unassisted… In fact I’m pretty sure I could guide myself around the Atlanta area unassisted now, downtown and midtown especially, Robyn has said on many occasions that my knowledge of Atlanta is much, much better than her’s, and she had a 20 year head start on me… A good sign is I’m no longer getting hassled by guys on the street asking if I need directions, usually with a charge added on at the end. A prime example of this was a few weeks ago when I got off MARTA at Peachtree Center and started walking towards the north end of Centennial Olympic Park, one such guy offered advice that I should get back on MARTA and go to the Dome/Philips Arena/CNN Center stop and head that way, but thats a round about way to go what is literally a 3 minute walk from Peachtree Center, I often wonder how many tourists fall for this…
Many say Atlanta isn’t a walking city like, say, Boston, New York or Portland (going on experience here) but it really is if you just put your mind to it, it may have a lacking public transport system, but everything is easily within reach of a train or bus if you know where you’re going.
You just gotta know where to start… For me it’s the Sandy Springs MARTA stop. Everything is within striking range from there. I can get just about anywhere I want in under an hour, admitedly walking does take a lot out of me in these humid summer days of 90°+ but it sure beats sitting in traffic for hours on end…
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Rain Delay
Another day, another game at the ol’ ballpark… This time though it was another free ticket affair which ended up with us getting paid $12 to see 5 innings worth of play.
As usual, Robyn notified me of the free tickets she gets from work occasionally at the last possible moment, so by the time she gets home, we eat dinner, get ready and get to the ballpark, we’ve usually missed the first couple of innings, infact we arrived just as Greg Maddux got a standing ovation when he came up to bat (an ovation some news sources are denying even happened) in the 3rd. But we have 4 tickets and there was only two of us, so as we walk towards the plaza a guy comes up to us and offers to buy a couple of tickets, seeing as the game had begun and, as he said, “it’s in the 4th inning” he wanted $10 for the pair, so Robyn said $12 and the deal was done, $12 of pure profit which bought our snacks on the inside…
So anyways, it was a good game from what we saw, unfortunately the heavens opened up during the 7th inning stretch and we called it a night, call me a fairweather fan if you want, but I’ve sat through a 3 hour rain delay before and stayed til the end, walking out the ball park at 1:30am (that’s commitment folks!), where was I? Oh, yes, it was a good game with the Braves leading the Cubs 5-1 before the rain, they went on to finish the game after a 2 hour delay with the scores remaining the same. After the game the night before, we ended up not taking a single picture from this game, which in it’s self is kinda strange…
Though it’s slightly worth noting that in the 12 games I’ve been to at Turner Field in little over 14 months, I finally, finally got my hand on a foul ball hit into the stands… and promptly lost it 0.1 of a second later amidst the scramble that followed, oh well.
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London Will Host the 2012 Olympic Games
London will host the 2012 Olympic Games. It will be the first time the Olympics has been held in Britain since 1948.
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Out in the Boonies
As an addition to my last post, here is the prime example of how bizarre things can be when you’re out in the boonies, courtesy of The Eatonton Messenger.
Who cares about life, death, taxes and general misery in the world when a couple of kids open a lemonade stand? What makes it even better is it is (was) top story on their website too…
It put a little smile on my face, that’s for sure…
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Independence Day
It’s that time of year, that time when American celebrate their independence from Britain by setting off several tons of dynamite…
We spent part of the weekend down at Robyn’s parent lakehouse in Miledgeville on the shores of Lake Sinclair where we watched dvd’s, swam in the water, roasted marshmallows on an open fire and set off several tons of dynamite (including an awesome depth charge). Very relaxing all in all…
We left mid morning on Monday and made our way back to Atlanta for the Braves games against the Chicago Cubs that night…
It was a prety good game with the Braves winning 4-0 off the back of two Adam LaRoche homers and Kyle Davies pitching, but the best part was the crowd… It was a full house in Turner Field and there was a large group of Cubs fans so it made for a really enjoyable time and after the game there was a fireworks display, no doubt serveral, several tons of dynamite was set off during this one that lit up the Atlanta skyline all set to “patriotic” music like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” (go figure) as well as “rousing” songs like Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” The capacity crowd lapped this up while hollering at important moments displayed on screen.
Now I can take all the fake psuedo-patriotism with a pinch of salt, especially here in the south but there is a few things I will not do (but did do yesterday to prevent a lynching mainly)… I usually don’t stand for the national anthem or when they sing “America the Beautiful” in the 7th inning, call me disrespectful if you wish, it’s just my beliefs and it’s not my national anthem… and IF I do stand (to prevent said lynching) I also make a point not to remove my cap (if I’m wearing one), again, call me disrespectful if you wish, it’s just my beliefs and it’s not my flag… I only did it yesterday as it was July 4th as it could be considered something of a big deal. I don’t really have a point to this, I guess I’m just trying to say that it’s fine if you want to be patriotic to your own flag and country, just don’t be expecting me to be…
As a special treat, there are a few panoramas with high resolution alternate versions…
Firstly here is a view from the cheap seats high above home plate (hi-res alternate), then a view from the cheapest of cheap seats in right field (hi-res alternate), and finally a view from our seats.
EDIT (4:52pm): Damn, forgot my running tally of win-loss record, cause I know everyone cares about that and it’s strictly for the sake of record keeping… My overall record is now 8-3 (.727) (or *8-4 (.666)) -
The Famous Crosswalk Button Hack
The famous crosswalk button hack. The most popular hack, which works on most models, is the “Instant Walk.” Three short clicks, followed by two long, one short, two long, and three short; turn any crosswalk signal from “don’t walk” to “walk” with a matching change in the traffic signals. [via]
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MechaJon!!!
The strength of a rhino, the bravery of a lion, the brain of a hamster?? It’s MechaJon!!!! But why does he have a scottish accent?
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8 Steps to Fame, Fortune and the iTunes Music Store…
8 simple steps to creating a podcast. Fame, fortune and the iTunes Music Store won’t be far behind…
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War of the Worlds
About 5pm we were sitting around doing nothing in particular when Robyn’s friend and co-worker, Charles, asked us if we wanted to go see the new movie “War of the Worlds” at the local cinema, well Robyn had been feeling not so well during the day but decided to go see it anyways…
The movie was very “whelming”… It wasn’t overwheling and it wasn’t underwhelming, it was right in the middle, and can basically be broken down into 3 acts, the first 15 minutes sets the stage, the middle 1 hour and 40 minutes is a little bit adventurous and a little bit boring and the final 5 minutes is the finale, and I ain’t even kidding… There is next to no build up, save for a little monolouge and the introduction of Tom Cruise’s character, who, we’re told, isn’t exactly an ideal role model for an action movie. As Michael Hanscom put it, there is no heart to this movie, none at all. You’re just thrown in and expected to pick up the pieces you’re given.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that it’s a bad film, it could be enjoyable for some, it’s just not an enthralling movie, it tends to lose it’s self from time to time, most noteably when Tim Robbins character is introduced, and the resolution, which is pretty well known if you know anything about the books, radio play or other film adaptations, is just so sudden that even though the end credits are rolling and the lights are up, you’re waiting for something more to appear. I can safely say it’s possibly the worst ending I’ve seen in a long, long time… Even if it is true to the original story…
It’s probably best viewed as a rental later on down the road…
Robyn, meanwhile, dislikes “suspence” movies (which this had in spades, as well as it’s fair share of gruesome scenes) and is most likely deeply traumatised by the whole ordeal. I’m not sure if that is a recommendation or whatever, I’ll let you draw you’re own conclusions.
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Sony Set to Lose Billions on PS3
Merrill Lynch Japan predicts Sony will lose more than $1 billion on hardware during its next-gen console’s first year on the market, a sum it may not be able to recoup. Apparently it will sell for $399, but cost $494 to make, so they’ll lose just under $100 per unit, ouch!
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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Get Married
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner (aka Bennifer Mark II) are married and she’s pregnant. This is important news people!!!
