Yours truly has never smoked crack. For that matter, to my knowledge, I've never been in the same room with someone who was participating -- so I don't even know what it smells like. Most people who know me would likely agree I'm dumb enough already. I don't need to cook what few functional brain cells I still have remaining. Not so, the Mayor of Toronto -- one Rob Ford. He finally admitted to smoking crack, which was quite a startling revelation, the damning video evidence notwithstanding. But at least he offered up a good reason. This only happened because he was in another of his drunken stupors. So Toronto natives can rest a bit easier now, knowing their fearless leader had things under control all along. Whew. That was a close one.
Why is it that football is the only game where the on-field referee will turn on his microphone and announce to the audience in attendance, and those watching on TV, what has just occurred on such things as penalties, rules involved, and plays being reviewed? The refs in basketball and hockey don't do that, nor do the umps in baseball. We're left trying to decipher a bunch of hand signals and jaws flapping up and down. And c'mon -- it's no big secret that oftentimes these folks indeed have microphones on them. We've seen proof of it. Months, sometimes years after the fact, some TV station will air the audio of an on-ice/court/field conversation. It's all recorded. But when it's "live", we're not allowed to hear it. That doesn't seem right.
In an Adidas commercial, Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose says they can take away the money, and take away the lifestyle, but in the end basketball will always remain. Apparently, he's inferring he would play just for his love of the game. Well, OK then. Hey Derrick, tear up your multi-bazillion dollar contract and resign with the Bulls for the league minimum, which you will donate to worthy charities. Until then -- shut up and enjoy your free fancy tennis shoes. Who do you think you're kidding?
Clicked over to CNN for a second and heard an interesting conversation on the pros and cons of nuclear power. One of the main concerns is how we dispose of the highly radioactive nuclear waste. Evidently we put it in barrels and bury it deep within super-thick concrete bunkers, hoping they never spring a leak. Some "expert" said this stuff takes 35,000 years, or roughly 7 times as long as recorded human history on our planet to decompose. That's a very long time.
But there was a better way. Remember all those since moth-balled reusable space shuttles like Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavor? They had a giant cargo bay that opened up with a huge robotic arm to take things out of it and put them in space. Like the Hubbell telescope, and probably a few thousand spy satellites. All that needed to be done was load the spent nuclear fuel into those cargo bays, have the robot pluck it out -- and give it a gentle nudge towards the sun, which is a huge nuclear fireball itself. Gravity and physics would take care of the rest and our nuclear waste problem would have been solved.
Back to sports. During telecasts of various games, I wonder if the folks in Japan and South Korea are bombarded with GM, Ford, and Chrysler car commercials like Americans are with Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai ads? Somehow I seriously doubt that, and I don't like it one bit.
OK, I feel better now having got those rants off my chest. And speaking of crack, I think I left the slider open a bit and haven't seen my yorkies in a while. Better go check. I'm pretty sure they're not capable of building a nuclear power plant in the backyard, but they know what to do with their waste.
And they do their jobs for the minimum salary too while going barefoot. Can you hear me now, Derrick?
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