Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
 If you're like me and can't stand the white type on a dark background (I practically go into seziures)

things sweetcell thinks you ought to know:
 
 when putting together a PowerPoint presentation that is meant to be projected, white/light letters on a dark background looks better and is easier to read.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  things sweetcell thinks you ought to know:
 
 when putting together a PowerPoint presentation that is meant to be projected, white/light letters on a dark background looks better and is easier to read.

Only if you can control the lighting in the room.  If you can't, you're destined for disaster.

[vansmack]

Remember when I said:
 
 

Originally posted by vansmack:
   I'll espouse a crazy theory on you like the one where one GM knew Bonds would be indicted. Anaheim knows that Matthews is in trouble in the Mitchell report and will face a long suspension - that's why they signed Hunter.

Well now I feel a little better about that:
 
 Moreno on Mitchell report: 'There's going to be names'
 ESPN.com news services
 
 Updated: November 29, 2007, 12:03 PM ET
 
  It remains to be seen if the players contacted by George Mitchell's investigators are actually named in the report, which is due for release sometime before Christmas.
 
 But Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno raised the bar Wednesday when he said the report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball will include names of players.
 
 "The names of players will come out that people will be mad about," Moreno, quoted by The Los Angeles Times in Thursday's editions, said. "Some of my information is second hand, but I know there's going to be names."
 
 More...

[Brian_Wallace]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, did a marathon chat today for the Jimmy V Foundation

Ugh!  You like Bill Simmons?!?!  He's AWFUL.  The prototype jock-sniffing blogger who's obsessed with TV and video games and has nothing unique or intelligent to say.  He's even worse that Chuck Klosterman.  Both are the sound of one hand clapping and the other hand down their pants.
 
 Plus, could someone explain to me the entire "Jimmy V" cult?  He died of cancer?  So did millions of people.  What's so special about him?  Does he have an inspiring story?  Did he make a real difference?  Alex's Lemonade is a great story.  Jimmy Valvano is saint because he gave some ESPN speech about how you're supposed to "laugh every day, cry every day and think every day?"  Thanks, Mr. Rogers!  
 
 Maybe Klosterman and Simmons never had fathers who could teach them how to throw a football.  They're the sad, pathetic kind of bloggers I was referring to the other day.
 
 I mean just LOOK at those pictures:
 
   <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/ChuckK.JPG/200px-ChuckK.JPG" alt=" - " />
 
   <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Bill_Simmons_by_David_Shankbone.jpg/180px-Bill_Simmons_by_David_Shankbone.jpg" alt=" - " />
 
 Brian

[godsshoeshine]

what if i told you he liked fall out boy

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  things sweetcell thinks you ought to know:
 
 when putting together a PowerPoint presentation that is meant to be projected, white/light letters on a dark background looks better and is easier to read.

Only if you can control the lighting in the room.  If you can't, you're destined for disaster. [/b]

not in my experience with PPT (which is quite a bit).  oh no - are going to have to chalk this one up to "YMMV"?!?

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  not in my experience with PPT (which is quite a bit).  oh no - are going to have to chalk this one up to "YMMV"?!?

Well, it's never happened to me, but I can think of at least three times where I've been in the audience where somebody tried to have the lights turned off to give a powerpoint presentation and the room was too dark for people to take notes, so they tried to turn off only half the lights, which wasn't possible.
 
 So the choice was no notes for your audience, or no one could read what was on the screen.  Once, they ended up doing a B&W version with the lights on, but of course, all the writing on the graphics wasn't visible (the graphics remain in color).

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
  Plus, could someone explain to me the entire "Jimmy V" cult?  He died of cancer?  So did millions of people.  What's so special about him?  Does he have an inspiring story?  Did he make a real difference?  Alex's Lemonade is a great story.  Jimmy Valvano is saint because he gave some ESPN speech about how you're supposed to "laugh every day, cry every day and think every day?"  Thanks, Mr. Rogers!  

i also hate the Jimmy V shit that ESPN shoves down our throats ... i was trying to watch 'cuse get their asses whupped last night by a mediocre A10 team and i'm subjected to call-in interview after call-in interview about Jimmy V ... WHO THE FUCK CARES??
 
 this is the real problem:  the sports culture is full of barely-sentient athletes who lack any sense of irony or skepticism ... they act like hard-asses 95% of the time, then turn into an oprah episode when they decide to show any emotional range ... there is ZERO in-between ground ... any type of emotion is channeled into the schlockiest "chicken soup for the soul" type of hokum with retarded high school children shooting 3-point shots and dying fathers getting liver transplants from ex-teammates
 
 i think the main difference between "sports bloggers" like deadspin and the like is really just a healthy dose of skepticism and a refusal to cave into the emotional crap that the mainstream sports media forces on us

[vansmack]

There's really never going to be much progress in the Islamic World until there can be better understanding of Shar'ia Law and it's inability to adapt to modern basic freedoms:
 
 British Teacher Sentenced to 15 Days in Sudan Prison
 
 Saudi's Sentence Gang Rape Victim to 200 lashes, 6 months in Jail

[vansmack]

ESPN is having a contest for the greatest Sportscenter Commercial of all time.
 
 I'm boycotting the vote because they left out some of the best commercials of all time, even outside of Sportscenter:
 
 Be a Big Buddy
 Can I have the Country of Origin please?
 American Cheese
 That's Weird
 
 
 And my personal favorites:
 
 The New Kid
 The Nogahyde
 Shue for Steiner
 And Y2K

[Mobius]

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
   

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, did a marathon chat today for the Jimmy V Foundation

Plus, could someone explain to me the entire "Jimmy V" cult?  He died of cancer?  So did millions of people.  What's so special about him?  Does he have an inspiring story?  Did he make a real difference?  
 
 Brian [/b]

Perhaps you've noticed that ESPN has a culture.  Chris Berman is the spiritual leader. Sports Center anchors tend to be sarcastic and use catch-phrases. And Dick Vitale is college hoops.  Jim Valvano's legacy - esp. b/c of his closeness w/ Vitale - is part of that culture.  A lot of ESPN's culture is cliche or worse (e.g. Mark May and Lou Holtz), but that's the network's foundation.
 
 Valvano wasn't a saint but is the namesake of a foundation that raises money for cancer research.  This may offend you, but the fact that "millions of people" have died of cancer suggests that research to fight cancer is a valuable thing.

[vansmack]

Damn.  I was a fan.
 
 Emily Sander's, aka Zoey Zane, Body Found

[vansmack]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  I don't remember who it was that posted that brilliant Maher interview with Kasparov, but this is what he was referring to.  
 
 Press release
 
 ODIHR unable to observe Russian Duma elections
 
 Russian Police Detain Kasparov
 By AP/MANSUR MIROVALEV
 
    http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1687284,00.html    

This was the original thread.
 
 And he's your ongoing update.  He was released from prison, but promises chaos as the election gets closer (it's Sunday for those that don't know).
 
 I still maintain that his life is in danger.
 
 But it looks straight out of a movie:
 
   <img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/11/29/world/29kasparov.600.jpg" alt=" - " />
 
 And lastly, I'm going to add this to your sylabus as to why Kasparov and other moderates are so worried about Russia:
 
 The rewriting of history
 
 The Kremlin uses its version of the past to forge a new ideology for the present
 
 For those that aren't going to read that link, there's a new history manual sponsored by Putin's people that teaches that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 is not seen as a watershed from which a new history begins, but as an unfortunate and tragic mistake that hindered Russia's progress, Ghorbachev was the worst ruler in Russia's history, Putin is a quasi-czar, and that Russia did not lose the Cold War, Russia simply ended it.
 
 Now, you might want to read that link.

[walkonby]

hey, van, you still in san fran.?  i watched this fucking awesome doc. last night.  it was called, the wild parrots of telegraph hill.  ever been there?  i never knew san fran. was so beautiful.

[vansmack]

Vansmack and Venerable want you to know that:
 
 (1) The Top 4 are automatically eligible
 
 (2) The Top 14 teams have priority
 
 (3) No more than two teams from each divsion of the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 10, Pac 10 or Big East can qualify
 
 (4) Any non "Big Division" team in the top 12 must be picked (Hawaii is currently down by 21)
 
 (5) Rose Bowl gets first pick if (when) one of their teams is picked
 
 Therefore, Illinois and ASU stand to benefit, while Florida and either Mizzou or Kansas stand to lose out despite being in the top 10 in the BCS.
 
 We assume the C in BCS stands for clusterfuck.  We are therefore, sympathetic to two things:
 
 (1) Conference Championship corollary (or the Mizzou Rule) - if you make the conference championship, you deserve priority over another divison team who didn't make the conference championship if you're in the top 14 [but we can be swayed to top 10 instead fo 14].
 
 (2) The old bowl format with a "Plus One" Game
 
 This is worse than 2001, but not as bad as 2004.