Close, but not quite

Ah, the holidays. That magical time of year when people start emailing me to ask if I created this:

http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swf

For those not link-inclined, it's a very cute animation of Santa and his reindeer singing. The music is the totally awesome cover of White Christmas as performed by The Drifters.

Why do people ask if I made it? Because at the end there's a signature that reads "Joshua Held 2002." Yes, his name is my name too. But, no, I didn't make it. Although I kind of wish I had. I'm a little confused how some random people find my email address, but I guess it can't really be that hard for the people with free time on their hands...

...unlike busy people like me who blog about Christmas animations?

Merry Christmas!

IFAF: You can stop holding your breath...

...the IFAF final between Japan and the US will be aired Thanksgiving Day at 12pm (CDT) on the NFL Network.

In case you need a reminder, this is the world championship of American football. It featured 6 national sides. It happened back in July. The US pretty much waltzed through the group stage, beating Korea and Germany by a combined score of 110-7.

The championship game was a lot closer, so I won't ruin it for you!

Illinois Preview

I'm kind of sneaking this in under the wire, so I'll be brief:

Offensive keys:

• Good mix of run/pass
  
• Bacher - good decisions (get a little more help from his WRs)
• Sutton - do what he does
• Don't get frustrated if J Leman makes 25 tackles.

Defensive keys:

• Keep Juice contained, hit him hard when he runs
• Don't get frustrated if Mendenhall or Benn hurts us
• Don't let them BOTH hurt us

My pick: Northwestern 34, Illinois 28
Bonus pick!: Northwestern (bb) 65, DePaul 60.

Let's go Cats!

Indiana Preview

Well, I've been way off for a couple weeks now. So, it's time to stop trying to actually pick the game, and just have a little fun.

You may or may not remember that our last two games against Indiana have been settled in overtime. Yes, even when the Loosiers were pretty damn bad, we tended to need extra time to finish them. I see no reason why that should not continue in '07, especially because our seasons are often either OT-filled or OT-free.

I'm picking the Cats, in a home upset: Northwestern 37, Indiana 34 (OT)

Let's go Cats!

Speak to Me II: Electric Boogaloo: Redux: Iowa Edition:

I think this Saturday's game against Iowa is our first broadcast on the ESPN/ABC family of networks (ESPN2 tomorrow) since the OSU game. I don't count the Eastern Michigan game on ESPNU, because that can hardly have been considered a "broadcast."

Therefore, we're looking at the second opportunity for a bubble-encased authority to introduce our offensive and defensive starters. After it was shamefully omitted from the OSU game on ABC, let's hope ESPN2 gets it right. Check out my post from September to refresh your mind on the possibilities.

Speak to me from your tiny bubble [Josh Eats Birds]

Also, on the Iowa side, I'm putting all my money on Dallas Clark, TE of the Indianapolis Colts. You might have heard that they have a game on Sunday!

Iowa Preview

Well, my guess proved to be approximately wrong. Alas, 4 1st-quarter turnovers and a bad day of run defense can do that. Not to be deterred, I am picking in favor of NU this weekend. Not because of any statistical comparison or strategic benefit. Not because of an advantage in personnel or coaching aptitude. Rather, it's because I saw Chris Malleo at the barber-shop yesterday, and he told someone that the ApostroCats are gonna win. Works for me!


My Pick: Northwestern 27, Iowa 10

Sorry, little Hawkeyes.

Let's go Cats!

Purdue Preview

I'm taking a time-out from thinking about the firing properties of medium spiny neurons. I know it's hard to believe that I can tear myself away, but I didn't want to miss out on making a pick.

Conventional wisdom suggests that current trends (the two most prolific Big Ten offenses this year) and past performance (we tend to lose at Purdue, except in 2005) point toward a big loss for the Cats tomorrow. Personally, I think this is one of the two hidden-but-important games of the year for NU. The first was the MSU game that started us on this current winning streak.

I think the ApostroCats and the ApostroCoaches know this, and they'll be ready with a couple of guys back from injury (Sutton and Simpson) and some big plays to change the game for us.

My Pick: Northwestern 35, Purdue 31.

Let's go Cats!

EMU Preview

After two thrilling OT wins in the last two weeks, let's all hope and pray that the ApostroCats don't have a let-down at Ford Field on Friday. Detroit is as close to a home game as they will get in this series. NU is not going to Ypsilanti. But I really wanted to type "Ypsilanti."

The Eagles have a pretty balanced offense, and they have been able to score some points lately. Also, they played us pretty close at Dyche last year. I think we'll pull it out, but it's not going to be the kind of blow-out that could get us a little national dap.

Northwestern 31, EMU 13.
NU gets a little ground game going, which means a slightly lower score than the last two weeks.

Minnesota Preview

Hey! I guess my prediction of a shutout didn't quite come true last week? Perhaps I overestimated John Gill's ability to stop all 11 Spartans at once. Ah well, everyone makes mistakes, and obviously I'm quite pleased with the final result.

Looking ahead to Minnesota tomorrow, I think the ApostroCats will have reasonable success on offense (not 48 pts worth), but don't expect that Minnesota has no scoring potential. I'm going with....

Northwestern 30, Minnesota 14.

Let's go Cats!

Michigan State Preview

Is it bad that I get less and less excited about writing these as we keep losing? I guess that's why I'm not a professional sports columnist; I can't write 12 columns per day like Jay Mariotti.

For tomorrow's NU game at Michigan State, I think the Cats will have to look to their most consistent performers to keep on doing what they've been doing. Everyone on all sides will have to pitch in to get the win, and last week they showed that they can do just that for a while.

So, I'm picking two Cats to make major impacts tomorrow: John Gill and Amado Villarreal. Gill is in charge of stopping both of MSU's running backs (Ringer and Caulcrick). Amado is in charge of offense.

My pick: Northwestern 21, MSU 0.

Let's go Cats!

Michigan Preview

In a hurry today, and it's looking bleak for the Cats with Sutton and Smith both out (Smith for the season). Briefly, I think the only way that NU wins is in a defensive show, stopping Hart and getting to Mallett.

If the Cats win, it will be Northwestern 14, Michigan 13.

Let's go Cats!

Speak to me from your tiny bubble

It occurs to me that this Saturday will be NU's first ESPN/ABC game of the season. That means that the Cats' offensive and defensive starters will be introduced by someone either directly or casually associated with Northwestern, sitting in a little video bubble on-screen. Who do you think it's gonna be? Well, I've got the odds and I'm taking all bets.

Pat Fitzgerald 3 to 2
Coach Fitz is the obvious choice since he's already here by the cameras all day. If he's the go-to guy, expect a coach joke about how slow CJ Bacher is.






Mike Greenberg 5 to 1
Greeny is a vocal NU alum, and ESPNer, and I can only assume that CFB is next on his list for commentating domination. But who are we kidding? He'd use this time to lord NU's 2-1 start over Mike Golic's 0-3 Notre Dame.




Mike Wilbon 7 to 1
Wilbon is also part of the nice NU presence on the worldwide leader. I'd like to state a preference for him to be the guy this job. Also, I saw him at the ASU game a couple years ago, which was cool.

Wait. Wilbon's the one on the right? You just shook my world to the core. I've gotta sit down.





Luis Castillo 20 to 1
Luis is probably the most prominent Wildcat in major pro sports right now. I was going to use a picture of the other Luis Castillo, but I was worried that the San Diego lineman might kill me with his mind. He can totally do that, you know.






David Schwimmer 40 to 1
I don't really think it'll be him, but I wanted have some actor. BTW? It's scary how many pictures like this you find when you search for him.






Willie the Wildcat 99 to 1
As much as this might be pretty funny for a few seconds, it would get awkward really fast as the announcers wonder whether they ought to fill in the words that Willie would leave out. ESPN has someone on staff who can recognize bad ideas before they happen, right? Oh yeah, I forgot: "Who's Now?"

Ohio State Preview

So, it's been a painful week in Wildcatland, although I think the mainstream sports media has done us a favour by not highlighting out loss too much. Now it's time for a whole different kind of pain as NU heads to OSU Saturday afternoon.

Anyone know why this game is on ABC here in Chicago? How weird that Michigan-PSU isn't a fully regional game.

And now we've reached the part of the season where I change the way I pick games. Instead of what I predict will happen, this is what the score needs to be for NU to come away with a win: Northwestern 31, Ohio State 28.

Cats win!

Duke Preview

Guess what I'm still not doing? Over-obsessing about the Cats! I'm obsessing just the right amount these days, thank you very much. So, here's what I know about our upcoming game against Duke:

• It's at night. But NOT at 9pm like they said on WNUR. It's at a much saner 7pm.
• Duke sucks. But sometimes they don't
  
• We have some pretty good moments, but sometimes we suck.

So, will the ApostroCats suck for more or less of the game than the blue devils? That's a tough question. I think we'll be OK to win, but probably not to cover the 16.5 points we're giving. Unless Tyrell is 100% healthy; for now I'm assuming that B-Rob will be the main rusher.

I say Northwestern 27, Duke 13.

Nevada Preview

Once again, I haven't really done any research to preview this game. Maybe I'll get on the ball once the Big Te(leve)n season starts. And once I've found a job! Here's what I know, mostly gleaned from the radio and the newspaper:

• Nevada got clobbered by Nebraska, in large part by getting run over like Wal*Mart greeter on the day after Thanksgiving.
• Jim O'Donnell of the Sun-Times has a flare for vocab, using "cornhuskered" (spellchecker suggestion: consecrate) and "upstreaming" in his recap of that game.
• Even with Trevor Rees back, NU probably doesn't have the same O-line as Nebraska, although Sutton is at least as good as Lucky (Nebraska RB).
• The line is NU -10, O/U 50.5. When was the last time we were a 10 point fave? Maybe for EMU last year, I suppose...checking...yes (unless we were highly favored over Illinois).
  

I can't really justify giving 10 points to any team that falls only behind Hawai'i and Boise State in its conference. So I'm going with the push (and the over) in a reversal of last year's score: NU 31, Nevada 21. I would have really like to go with 28-17, but this is too symmetrical to pass up.

Oh, come on Ivan. We aren't THAT good.

There are much better recaps of the ApostroCats' 27-0 win over Northeastern out there. So, I'm not really going to say much. I agree with most people who say that it was not a particularly impressive defensive effort that led to that shutout.

But, there's something about keeping your opponent off the scoreboard when you're supposed to. It lends you credibility among people who don't actually watch your games. Hence? On ESPN.com, Ivan Maisel has us playing in the Insight Bowl against Colorado AND the Motor City Bowl against Miami (OH).

I do think that getting in multiple bowl games in a single season would only help our recruiting, but I'm not sure I can get enough vacation to make it to both Tempe and Detroit this December.

NU 27 - NU 0 - Cats Week 1 Recap - Lake The Posts
2007 Bowl Predictions (Week 1) - ESPN.com

Northeastern Preview

It's almost time for NU football to get going again. The 2007 season starts out at home against the Huskies of Northwesteastern. This is a Josh Eats Birds family grudge match, because my cousin went to that other NU. So you know I'm bringing my A-game to Dyche on Saturday. My cousin may or may not be aware that the game is taking place.

This season, I'll be reducing my posts to a preview and a recap. I'll throw in random other posts too, approximately sometimes.

My half-penny analysis of NU-NU (heh):

• Northwestern's defensive line is outweighed by Northwesteastern's O-line by only 8 lbs on average. Expect them to get backfield pressure throughout the game without much blitzing.
• The ApostroCats front 5 on offense average almost 300 lbs, and outweigh the Huskies three defensive linemen by almost 50 lbs. Northwesteastern will bring blitzes from different locations, but if the Cats can pick those up, Bacher will have time to find open receivers.
• If the Cats get a lead, Sutton will see minimal carries, if he is still nursing a leg.

I'm not seeing a betting line for this game. Maybe they don't have them for FCS games? Anyway, I'm picking without that influence this week.

My pick: Northwestern 30, Northwesteastern 10

2007 Big Ten Predictions

So, last year, I slightly underrated Wisconsin and OSU, slightly overrated NU and vastly overrated Iowa. Let's see if I've learned any lessons (hint: probably not). Here are my predicted final standings and bowl berths for the Big Te(leve)n in 2007.

Big Ten Champs: Wisconsin
Coach of the Year: Bill Lynch (Indiana)
Northwestern? Champs Sports Bowl

             Big Ten  Overall
Wisconsin       7-1     11-1     Rose Bowl
Penn State      7-1     10-2     Capital One Bowl
Michigan        6-2     10-2     Outback Bowl
Ohio State      5-3     9-3      Alamo Bowl
Northwestern    4-4     8-4      Champs Sports Bowl
Indiana         4-4     8-4      Insight Bowl
Iowa            3-5     6-6      Motor City Bowl
Purdue          3-5     5-7
Michigan State  2-6     4-8
Minnesota       1-7     5-7
Illinois        1-7     4-8

IFAF World Cup Championship: USA vs. Japan

Look for Craig Coffin at a gridiron near you. He'll probably be the one selling beer, but he'll also probably be the only one that won a world championship lately. The (former?) SIU kicker made two FGs in an NCAA-style overtime to push team USA to a 23-20 victory in the final of its first American Football World Cup.

The Americans faced their toughest competition, as expected, from the host Japanese. The two-time defending world champions took an 10-7 lead into the locker room (do they have locker rooms at this thing?) at halftime. They also led 17-10 in the 4th, until American running back Kyle Kasperbauer rushed for his second TD of the game with 2:51 remaining on the clock.

After matching FGs in the first OT period, Coffin won it for the US by making his kick in the second overtime.

A location for the 2011 IFAF final has not yet been determined. I say they have it in Indianapolis, and the US can just field whichever of the Colts happen to live in the area during the off-season.

In Demetrius Eaton news, Demetrius Eaton had one tackle.

IFAF World Cup: USA vs. Germany

The US national American Football side played its second (and final) pool match of the 2007 championships, and it beat Germany 33-7. USA had held its opponents scoreless for nearly 6 quarters before the Germans scored on interception return just prior to halftime at Kawasaki Stadium.

Team USA played a game that Americans would be more familiar with, after their 77-0 drubbing of Korea in earlier Pool 2 play. The 33 points came from three TD runs (Childs, Johnson and Blakowski) an interception return and a safety. Neither team had a particularly prolific offense, with USA gaining a total of 254 yards and Germany totaling 148.

In players we care about news: LB and captain, Demetrius Eaton had 2 tackles and 2 assists. The US punter/kicker is named Coffin. Do we think he specializes in "coffin corner" punting? We do.

I just remembered I'm a blogger: IFAF Edition

Guess what I haven't updated in a while? This! Fortunately, I have found a pretty stimulating topic...the IFAF World Championships.

?

The IFAF is the International Federation of American Football. So this the World Cup of American Football we're talking about here. And guess who's looking to clean house? Yup, a group of about 65 undrafted (and still playing?) college players from the good old USA. One of the Team USA captains is former Northwestern LB Demetrius Eaton, which is what brought this event to the forefront of my attention.


So, how are they doing so far? Well, the US is in Pool 2 with Germany and Korea -- Pool 1 consists of host Japan, Sweden and France -- and they just played their first match. The US seemed to be shaking a bit of the rust off, scraping by Korea 77-0.

77-0

Korea had no 1st downs. 1 complete pass. -47 rushing yards (yes that's negative) and -31 total yards. The US scored on two punt returns, one kickoff return, a blocked punt, a fumble return, and an interception return. Demetrius Eaton had 1 tackle (for a loss) and one assist.

The matchup against Germany in pool play and the presumed championship against Japan should provide a little more of a test for the US.

You should be there

I don't think I've pimped TelevisionWithoutPity.com enough on this blog. I know there's a little link on the right, but that hardly articulates how much I love TWoP some days. My main purpose in this particualar post, though, is to completely steal a passage from a recaplet (well, a weecap) of Dancing with the Stars.

If you like musical numbers featuring lots and lots of people, you would like this. My favorite part is at the end, where they bust out tambourines out of nowhere. I think more of life should feature tambourines out of nowhere. It would certainly make life more interesting. Imagine if you're waiting in line at the grocery store and suddenly a big musical number starts up, and all of the shoppers bust out tambourines. And maybe a group of large women in black robes pours out from behind the customer service desk to sing backup. God, that would be awesome.
- From Kim's recaplet of DwtS, season 4, episode 11

I swear I'm stealing this and quoting it to feed my starving family. And also because it made me laugh like crazy after a miserable bus ride to work. So if you don't read TWoP all day, you should, so that they can keep making my life better. And yours.

More of me being a jerk to various entities

After being angry at the White House this morning, it's now time to be angry at Reuters. It's just...you see a sentence that reads, "Three suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up on Tuesday following a police raid on a house in a Casablanca slum..." and you think: Suspected?

They are suspected of being suicide bombers? What tipped you off? The part where they blew themselves up when you tried to capture them? Is that when you started to think, "Hmm, maybe these guys are suicide bombers..."

Yes, I know that if you read the rest of the article, you see that the men are thought to have belonged to a gang that organized and carried out such bombings, and that the members were believed to wear those devices constantly to avoid being captured.

I'm just saying. SUSPECTED???

Four suspected bombers killed in Casablanca [Reuters]

Two unrelated items

First, in the spirit of Tom's post in February, I need to share my iPod's sense of sArcasm. Fortunately, I only had wait outside for a couple minutes today to get on the bus. What song was played from the moment I exited my building, until the moment I boarded the bus? U2's "Beautiful Day." Ha ha. Very funny Dr. Jones*.

This is what my iPod considers "beautiful."

Second, what is up with the White House? They want to appoint a war czar? What, a Secretary of Defense isn't good enough? Or the Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces? Or the Commander-in-&^@%ing-Chief???

This is why I shouldn't read those newsfeeds on the bus, and I should stick to analyzing my iPod's taste in music.

* - No, my iPod is not named Dr. Jones.

How did I not know this?

As if I needed another reason to root for the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League.

They had the inside track for my sports affections, simply by playing in the CoBL. And admit it, you know that being owned by Bon Freakin' Jovi is just plain cool.

But now I find out that Dwayne Missouri is playing for the Soul! Apparently he's been there the whole time, and was actually the first player they selected when they formed an expansion team in 2004. He's been up and down between the AFL and NFL since graduating from Northwestern in 2001.

With large-field, no-wall, outdoor football -- it's hard to visualize, but trust me, it's pretty cool too -- many months away, this is going to make the interim much more exciting!

S-O-U-L! Soul! Soul! Soul!

All-Name Update

Let's take a look at how that all-name team is doing through the first two rounds: 8 lost in the 1st round. 1 lost in the 2nd round. 5 remain alive in the Sweet 16. 1 had his arm ripped off by wolves (or at least, I pretend he did, because it's less gruesome than his actual injury.)

Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes (Gonzaga) - Lost in the 1st round. 1 foul, 0 points in 1 minute.
Solomon Tat (Virginia) - Lost in the 2nd round. 4 points in two games.
Supo Jegede (New Mexico State) - Lost in the 1st round. DNP.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (UCLA) - Sweet 16. 11 points in 60 minutes played.
Idong Ibok (Michigan State) - Lost in the 2nd round. Oh God. Please don't make me think about his arm.

Can Civi (Davidson) - Lost in the 1st round. DNP.
Martin Zeno (Texas Tech) - Lost in 1st round. 21 points in 40 minutes.
Duke Crews (Tennessee) - Sweet 16. 18 points in two games.
Fendi Onobun (Arizona) - Lost in 1st round. 2 points in 1 minute.
Chinemelu "Junior" Elonu (Texas A&M) - Sweet 16. 0 points in 2 minutes.

Churchill Odia (Oregon) - Sweet 16.
Chamberlain Oguchi (Oregon) - Sweet 16.
Ousmane Barro (Marquette) - Lost in 1st round.
Taj Finger (Stanford) - Lost in 1st round.

All-Name Team

It's a March tradition to make fun of young men's names, just because they happen to attend one of the 65 schools competing for the national basketball championship. So let me do it, before I see one elsewhere. I tried not to hit too many names just for being difficult to pronounce, but there are some.

First Team All-Name
G - Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes (Gonzaga)
G - Solomon Tat (Virginia)
F - Supo Jegede (New Mexico State)
F - Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (UCLA)
C - Idong Ibok (Michigan State)

Second Team
G - Can Civi (Davidson)
G - Martin Zeno (Texas Tech)
F - Duke Crews (Tennessee)
F - Fendi Onobun (Arizona)
C - Chinemelu "Junior" Elonu (Texas A&M)

Honorable Mention
G - Churchill Odia (Oregon)
G - Chamberlain Oguchi (Oregon)
F - Ousmane Barro (Marquette)
F - Taj Finger (Stanford)

10 can be as bad as 11

How did I miss that the Wildcats are the 10th seed in the Big Ten tournament and not the 11th seed. I guess we won the tie-breaker over Penn State based on overall record?

If Northwestern can't win the Big Ten Tournament, they will not be playing the in the national post-season, by virtue of a sub-.500 record. If they do win, they will probably have the worst record of any NCAA tournament team (17-17).

But there's an even juicier possibility. What if Minnesota wins the Big Ten tourny? Can you imagine a 13-21 team in the big dance*? We can only hope.

* - Can I say "big dance," or is that like "Super Bowl?"

Live-blogging the DM webcast

Just kidding. But I just tuned in for a minute, and there's Jeremy Piven. Sweet!

Congrats in advance to all the dancers! Consider me impressed in advance with the amounts of money that you will eventually find out you have raised for ECF and CURE.

Also, congrats to Sasser for being so tall that you're the only person I can ever spot on the webcast.

The Black Donnellys: Pilot

Thanks to iTunes, I am watching the first episode of The Black Donnellys. Just FYI, I have never watched The Sopranos, so I don't know whether there are comparisons to be made, and I won't be making them.

First impressions:

• Is it just me, or does Joey Ice Cream's voice not match his face?
• "Hey, that's mine! I stole that!" Heh.
• The fight scene at the wake is kind of awesome too.
• These guys need more distinctive names, because I can't keep Tommy, Sean, Kevin and Jimmy straight.
• I like that, while the language is network-safe, there's some in the scuffles that sounds like cursing, but it's unintelligible. That's classy and it seems realistic
• The last 2-3 minutes? Whoa. Also? Hah!
  

Overall:

• This pilot is super put-together. I've heard it described as "cinematic" and it totally is. We learn the main guys we need to know, and get a feeling for the drama and comedy that will probably run through the series. That's important in a pilot. More, it's also engaging and compelling, which is often missing in a premier episode (especially one that's the usual 44 minutes.)
• I will probably watch this show a couple more times, but they're going to need the humor to keep me involved with this series. The characters are interesting, but if the dramatic situations wear out (like they do on so many dramas), the humor can carry it through rough patches. That's what shows like Lost and Studio 60 have missed out on for me lately.

So, THAT'S what happened

In case Because you were wondering what happened, here's the deal with that Purdue player who got three free throws late in the 2nd half yesterday.

It was not, as I had suspected at the time, a lane violation. Because who violates the lane (and what ref calls it) on the first of two shots? In fact, the defense is required to occupy both of the lowest positions on the lane during a free throw. Since NU apparently didn't do that, on one of the first two attempts, there was a violation and an extra foul shot.

Thus endeth the mystery.

Special thanks to Bad Idea Blue Jeans for breaking this story wide open.

More fun with words

You know I like words. I like using them, and I like making fun of Tom when he uses them.

So, I just learned a new word. The word is shambolic, and it is defined thusly: (British slang) disorderly or chaotic.

I heard it used twice in the last two days. In both cases, it was used to describe sloppy defending by soccer teams. Different games. Different broadcaster (I think).

So, I'll be saying that as much as possible from now on. Don't say you weren't warned.

Two things that I love about soccer

Well, one thing I love about soccer and one thing I love about loving soccer. Got that?

I am watching DC United take on CD Olimpia in Honduras in the first leg of the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. I DVR'd it, so don't spoil the result for me! What I love is that the Hondurans have a couple of songs that they are singing non-stop. Now, that's not unusual for a soccer match. The part that gets me is that they are whistling. Whistling. And it carries through on the crappy FSC broadcast. Awesome.

GOAL! Christian Gomez! CD Olimpia 0:1 DC United in the 30th minute.

What I love about loving soccer is that I didn't have to worry about getting spoiled on this result. ESPN was not running Copa de Campeones scores on the Bottom Line. It's nice to not have to avoid the bottom 15% of the screen. I'm sure only 3 people* at ESPN are aware of this competition.

GOAL! CD Olimpia 1:1 DC United in the 34th. I'm not live-blogging the rest. Or even delay-blogging it. Check the second leg of the aggregate score match next week from DC.

* - Eric Wynalda, Tommy Smith, and whomever Wynalda is talking to.

What's more exciting than census data?

Well, just about everything except for Tom's recent bugaboo. That is to say, the chief and his accoutrements are not exciting. Tom's bloggage is far more worthy of your time than most census data.

So, why am I presenting 6-year-old South African census data? Well, to help answer some of the many questions I get about Amanda's village and to stimulate conversation in general.

These data refer to her electoral ward, which includes Amanda's village and the village next door.

• Population: 15,492
• 41% of the population is between the ages of 0-14.
• 30% of the adult population has had no schooling. 18% have completed Grade 12.
• 3,018 of the 15,492 (19%) are economically active (have jobs or seek jobs). 59% of those are unemployed.
• 80% of the population receives no income. 5% receive $0-54.80/month. 10% receive $54.81-109.60/month.
• 7% of the population suffers from a known disability.
• Less than 1% drive a car.
• There are 3,222 total households. 1/2 of the households have more than 5 people.
• 1/2 of the household have 3 rooms or fewer (total rooms, not total bedrooms).
• Only 30 households have a flush toilet.

Stayed tuned to this channel for your chance to contribute to a photography project that Amanda will be developing for her village's school.

PSA: Daylight-Saving Time 2007

I consider it my solemn obligation to let everyone know what time it is. So, here's an update:

On Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 am, it will be 3:00 am.

Yes, Daylight-saving time starts three weeks earlier this year, and it ends one week later on Sunday, November 4. Make sure your cell phones and PDAs get software updates, so they can maybe do that for you. You're probably still on your own for watches and alarm clocks, unless you have a manservant like I do.

The more you know.

Gadget owners beware: Daylight-saving time has changed [C|Net news via Engadget]
Energy Bill [US Senate]

Robert H. Lurie

Hopefully this gets picked up by Google Image Search, so future generations will know what we mean by the bust of Dr. Lurie.

Lurie with hat.

Next time, don't narrate my demise

Instead of commenting on Tom's bloggage today, how's about I write my own damn post about getting to work in the cold....

An Open Letter to the Woman Who Drove the 147 Bus this Morning

Dear Woman Who Drove the 147 Bus this Morning,

I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here, so first, please accept my thanks for getting me to work today. I got in a little late, but I expected that since I stayed home this morning to make a phone call.

Sadly, my ride on your bus was not as enjoyable as I'd hoped it would be. Please allow me to give you some advice, so that future CTA patrons will be more pleased than I: Don't tell your passengers that you're going to drive the bus off the road and kill everyone.

I know this may be a surprise to you, but I think I speak for all bus-riders when I suggest that we don't like to see our lives flash before us as we ride down Lake Shore Drive. We like to see Marine Drive (if we sit on the right) or kamikaze cyclists (if we sit on the left) flash before us.

Woman Who Drove the 147 Bus this Morning, your driving was actually quite good, considering the snowy conditions. Also, your advice that commuters in a hurry consider transferring to the Red Line at Thorndale was probably well-headed by some clock-punchers. I'm just saying: Next time, don't tell us that you're going to "jack-knife the bus into a tree" and please don't repeat your predictions of a harsh future when we're churning along the LSD.

See you next time the Northwestern bus deserts me,
JoshEatsBirds

A Dream Fulfilled

Not Payton Manning's dream or Tony Dungy's. Although, I guess it probably was for them. And it's not that it was my life-long dream to see the Colts win the Super Bowl.

It was however my dream last Thursday night, when I found myself wandering through an electronics store and all the TVs were proclaiming that Indy tight end Ben "Matt" Utecht had finally won a title. It is likely that this was mostly due to my ongoing confusion between Utecht and backup guard -- and Wildcat -- Matt "Ben" Ulrich.

A more exciting interpretation ignores the Super Bowl angle. Maybe I'm really destined to have an awesome new TV? Stop by some time and find out! If my dream turns out to be prophetic, maybe I can get them to base a Heroes character on me...

You and me and apostrophe

Look. It's not 'Cats. It's Cats.

Cats is short for Wildcats, yes. But it's not a contraction. People don't call me Josh'. And they don't call you T'om'.

If you want to call them them the Wi'cats, that'll be OK. It'll be punishable by 3-5 years in prison and/or a fine of not less than $4,000 and not more than $9,000. But it will be OK grammatically.

Cats. Think about it.

Back and the samer than ever!

I have been back in the US for a couple weeks now, so it's time to get my online presence going again. The first working day (postal workers aside, apparently) of 2007 seems like a good day to start.

Here's a video slide show of pictures from my trip to South Africa.

http://www.divshare.com/download/3652-723

If that doesn't work for you, let me know.