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I just saw quite possibly the stupidest “news story” I’ve seen on the news in a while. It was regarding American Idol and how some of these people may not even realize they suck so bad (my words) because they are literally tone deaf. Apparently there is a real medical condition where some people can’t tell the difference between good and bad singing, some brain condition I don’t recall the name of. They said it only affects 3% or so of people, and get ready for this… there is no cure! EVERYBODY PANIC!!

That got me to thinking, would it really be so bad to not be able to tell the difference between someone that can and can’t sing? Apparently all the American Idol people that think they can sing when they really can’t think they sound better than past Idol winners. If I thought everyone sounded like an amazing singer, I might actually be able to tolerate karaoke nights at the bar, damn my infernal non-tone-deaf ears!

The news report goes on to compare the incurable tone deaf disease to the likes of color blindness. That’s a ridiculous statement for a couple reasons. How is having a disease that makes you think everyone is an accomplished singer bad?  Well, unless you are a record label exec or something, and personally I think a few of those may exist…

Second, color blindness is much worse. For starters you can’t fly a plane if you are color blind, and that sucks way more than thinking the drunk girl singing karaoke is actually good. There are definitely times I’d like to be able to say “I loved your rendition of ‘Loveshack’” and actually mean it.

I was downtown Chicago today and stopped by Millennium Park with my camera and took some pictures… Later when I flipped through some of the pictures I took I noticed these two. (Click to see the full sized image!)

Somehow these people managed to show up in several pictures I took while wandering around the park. From the looks of the photo they were really going at it, seems like the kinda thing I would have noticed…

This is great…

HILTON ISLAND, S.C., Jan. 22 (UPI) — A man was charged with public disorderly conduct in Hilton Island, S.C. after being observed “in a physical confrontation with shrubs” by a deputy.

The Beaufort County Detention Center’s online log said the 23-year-old man, whose name was not released, smelled of alcohol and was taken to the detention center to await prosecution, the Hilton Head Island Packet reported.

The deputy that took the man in said he was responding to a complaint the man had attempted to get into someone else’s car. When the deputy arrived on the scene the man allegedly had moved on to beating the vegetation.

The police report said the man ran across the street to get in one last kick on a bush before talking to police.

http://www.newsdaily.com/Quirks/UPI-1-20070122-17501800-bc-us-shrubwarrior.xml

I’m not an American Idol fan, but I generally try to half pay attention to the first few episodes where they get “Joe Blow” on there that can’t sing worth a crap but thinks he or she can.  Usually it’s good for a few laughs…  The other night though I actually felt bad for the judges with the moron that admitted to being tone-deaf and a terrible singer but wanted them to teach her to sing to be some kind of great success story.  What an idiot, I found myself hoping Simon would have had the security people Taser her for being such an idiot, I even got sick of listening to her pitch.

Speaking of TV, anyone else see the CareerBuilder.com ads for the commercial they are going to run during the Super Bowl this year?  I thought it was somewhat odd to have an ad for an ad, but I guess Super Bowl commercials are their own show too.  (I know I know, it was still a spot for CareerBuilder.com as well…)  It will be hard to top the monkeys so it better be good.  Anyone know if there’s a “Puppy Bowl” again this year on Animal Planet, or did they finally give up on that idea?

Looks like the Bulls are just about done with the game and are going to beat Dallas, which is pretty surprising, the Bulls haven’t been too good lately, and Dallas has.  Could be interesting to see what happens, if anything, with some of these trade rumors flying around regarding the Bulls.

The title about says it all… Look, here’s a YouTube video.

Part of me thinks that guy filming this was a little too into it.

I looked into it some more, and they aren’t really USB drives, just something you plug in and it humps your computer… hmm… LOOK! A picture!

Getting to watch the Bears destroy the Saints on Sunday has made my week so far.  It was a pretty entertaining game and I’m hoping the Super Bowl will be too…  I think one of the best parts of the win has been listening to all the “experts” on TV or the radio squirm and come up with all the reasons the Bears should have lost.

Something else that bugs me is almost immediately there were articles on Sports Illustrated or ESPN about how Rex Grossman is the worst quarterback to be in the Super Bowl in… …however many years it is.  My question is who cares?  The Bears don’t need to rely on a superstar QB (especially when your defense can force four turnovers in a game) so having one that is just decent will suffice for now.  Some people ripped Grossman for the 140-whatever yards he threw for, but didn’t mention his back had nearly 200 yards running.  Oh well, I still like Rex and hope he does well in the Super Bowl.

State of the Union address is on in a few, this should make it a little more interesting: http://www.drinkinggame.us/ looks like it could be fun, but doesn’t come even compare to the Spelling Bee drinking game or the 24 drinking game.

I find this amusing.

I was watching Sports Center earlier and I figured it was a mistake but nothing else was on. I’m so sick of Saints love I’ll just be glad when the game is over. Apparently, according to ESPN’s web poll, 69% of the U.S. expects the Saints to beat the Bears. Somehow a team that is 10-6 is now infinitely better than the 13-3 Bears.

I’ll agree the Saints have a good offense, but the Bears still have a pretty damn good defense, even if it hasn’t been as sharp lately as it had been earlier in the year. However I recall some stats showing the Saints play better on the turf than real grass, and the real grass in Chicago was beginning to look a little rough last week. Any of the snow that’s being predicted (anywhere from two to five inches) should have an adverse impact on the running game as well after the field gets a little sloppier.

Let’s not forget too the Bears offense, while it isn’t perfect it’s not bad either; and with the secondary of the Saints I’d expect to see a few of the Rex-tastic bombs he’s become known for. Overall the Bears still should rely on the run more than the pass to try to manage the clock better and keep Rex calm.

If Devin Hester can hold on to the ball during returns, I think the Bears will be in much better shape. Sure the Saints have Bush returning, but the Bears special teams should be able to contain him.

In any event the game will probably be high scoring, I’m guessing in the 60-70 point range (total). Final score 38-27, Bears.

Now that my prediction is out of the way a little rant is in order so here it goes.

I hope the Saints lose, not only because I’m a Bears fan, but because I’m sick of hearing the “feel good Saints” story. This past week has been painful enough hearing that garbage day after day, the game will add to it too, the last thing I need is to hear about it until (and possibly beyond) the Super Bowl. ESPN is already running the stories about all the Saints fans that came to Chicago for the game, some even paying $1,000+ for some sort of game package that doesn’t include tickets.

First of all, someone that pays $1,000 or more for some kind of “game package” that doesn’t include tickets is a moron. Go to a bar or go to a friend’s house, that can be had for the low low price of FREE (plus drinks/food, but still way less than the $1,000 package).

Second, I would tend to think these Saints fans that made it to Chicago for the game aren’t the people that were really hurricane victims, at least in the way they will be portrayed.

All I know is I’ll have a fun day of listening to Joe Buck rip into Rex, praise the Saints, and talk about “Bears Weather”. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Joe will (again) ask which is longer, the ½ inch cleat or the 5/8 inch cleat…

OK, so it is nearly two in the morning, I think I’ve got the blog software working in an acceptable manner, for now, so it’s time for a “real” post.

So back in mid-November I was out of town for a few days and when I got back I had found out that the server my web site had been on before was hacked and one of those PayPal phishing sites was setup on it. Lucky me the solution was to simply wipe all the content, restoring my site to its initial state. I had no back up so I get to start over, that will be a lesson I suppose (one I will probably resume ignoring all too soon again). I tried to re-populate my blog with some content from another blog I had, but it is all sports related…

Anyway, I’ve got no time to write up my own software and re-design my own site again so for now a canned solution (WordPress + a theme I liked) will have to work. I’ve also been thinking about converting over to a .Net web host if I get the motivation/time to do so, so I didn’t see the need to invest a lot of time in this. Let me know if you have a recommended .Net web host.

Sooner or later, probably sooner while I’m on my blog tangent, I will try put a few files back up here, such as the Yahoo movie time script and the .Net color console thing.

Tonight I got to watch the “Dead and Deader” SciFi movie that was new in December. I had wanted to watch it for a while but for one reason or another hadn’t or didn’t have the time. Well I got the time tonight and was pretty disappointed. I usually enjoy a zombie movie regardless of how bad it is, but this one was kinda dumb. But I guess that is what I should expect out of a SciFi movie.

So one last thing before I post on the Bears before tomorrow, I find this cat image fairly amusing. I’ve seen a number of the other “cat” images like this but am always up for more, let me know if you’ve got any links to them!