Archive for July, 2012

London 2012 Olympics – Opening Ceremony & More!

The world watched last night as the city of London, England, welcomed everybody with an elaborate opening ceremony for the official start of the 2012 Olympic games.

Technically, the women’s soccer teams began playing two days prior to the opening ceremony.  As we know, with the massive tournament bracket and the high number of teams, it takes like forever for sports like soccer to be played at the Olympics.  But that’s a different issue.

Right now the spirit of the Olympics rests in London, half a world away from the site of 2008′s summer games in Beijing, China.  In 2016, the summer games jump south of the hemisphere to be hosted in Rio de Janeiro, South America’s first time hosting the event.

There was much fanfare and a high production level for London’s opening ceremony.  It had its good moments (like the Industrial Revolution), the bad moments (the lame music segment from the 1970s to today), and its weird moment with that video clip featuring James Bond (played by current James Bond actor, Daniel Craig) and Queen Elizabeth II.

The Industrial Revolution segment of the opening ceremony was just plain cool.  From the people representing the workers to those representing the company owners and overseers to the raising of the smokestacks, that was one really cool segment of the show.  Since it’s so hard to find a taped copy of the opening ceremony, here’s a great video clip showing the rehearsal of the Industrial Revolution, complete with the music loud and clear:

London 2012 Olympics – opening ceremony – Industrial Revolution (rehearsal)

As far as the segment of the opening ceremony celebrating England’s fame in music, that part started out fine with the famous “British Invasion” music from the 1960s, but it became really lame when it hit the 1970s, 80s and beyond.  Now if Iron Maiden was playing instead of that rap music then things would have been a little bit better.  Actually, it would have been a LOT better.  Eddie would have been more lively on camera than those later shots of what appeared to be a bored Queen Elizabeth II. Read more…

Toleration and Free Speech . . . As Long As You Are FOR Certain Topics

The current social uproar over Chick-fil-A’s recent funding of Christian, anti-gay organizations is quite a spectacle.

And it’s a major hypocrisy.

It’s quite ironic many of those people who preach toleration, kindness and acceptance of others are the ones screaming the loudest at Chick-fil-A’s recent anti-gay actions.  Based on what I’ve seen on Facebook and other message forums, we’re not talking about mere screaming, but pure rage and hatred against the fast food company and those who stand and share similar beliefs.  Take Rosanne Barr’s recent (and very hateful) comments against Chick-fil-A.  She’s only wishing CANCER of all things on people who eat there.  Hell, even the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, heavily recommended that Chick-fil-A not try to open any restaurants in their city of “pride”.

That’s right.  A city’s mayor boasting of its so-called “pride” refuses to accept a major fast food franchise because the company is sticking with its core values, and those values happen to be against same-sex marriage.  Instead of recognizing Chick-fil-A’s obviously different values and still accepting them for who they are, welcoming the top-quality fast food chain to their city, the mayor is basically telling the company to stay home.  They don’t want them BECAUSE of their beliefs.  So much for being tolerable of others.

What’s next?  Attacking Chick-fil-A locations at night and smashing their glass windows?

Let me get this straight.

A Christian-based company is being criticised because the CEO has the guts to stand up for his religious beliefs.  What “society” is saying is that the private company should instead be protested, ridiculed and FORCED to accept opposite values, no matter how much the leader and founder may be against it.  That’s “toleration” for you.  Accept OUR beliefs or we’ll protest and harass YOU until A) you accept us, or B) you’re out of business.

Read more…

Harsher School Bus Enforcement To Help Protect ‘The Children’

If you’re going to be driving the streets of Cobb County, Georgia, when the school buses are on the prowl, be extra careful when the buses are loading and unloading their precious cargo of darling little children.  The “eye” on the side of the bus may be unfairly recording the actions of your vehicle!

Thanks to the Cobb County school board, a private company, American Traffic Solutions, has been authorized to issue hefty $300 citations for drivers caught illegally passing school buses when the buses are stopped while loading or unloading children.  The monitoring will be handled via external cameras mounted on the side of select school buses in high risk and high traffic areas.

Normally, I don’t have a problem when police pull over and issue traffic tickets for law breakers.  Those people who run red lights, fail to yield, cannot maintain their lane, and generally drive like a jackass deserve to be given a citation.  But that’s as long as the police themselves are doing the monitoring and policing of bad drivers, and not some third party company watching via photos or video clips.

I’m not sure what bothers me more about the deal with a private company issuing tickets:  the fact that the ticketing process has a MAJOR FLAW, or that this was done merely for “. . . the safety of the children“?

THE FLAW

A flaw you say?  Really?

When you illegally pass the school bus at a bus stop, the bus driver presses a button and the camera catches a picture of your vehicle and the license plate.  How does the company (in this case American Traffic Solutions) identify and ticket the DRIVER?

Answer – It can’t.  The DRIVER of the car does NOT receive the ticket.  The traffic ticket is mailed to the OWNER of the car.  It is therefore the responsibility of the vehicle’s OWNER to pay the citation ($300 in this case), whether that person committed the crime or not. Read more…

Giving the ‘Death Penalty’ to Penn State’s Football Program

The shocking sexual abuse trial of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has rocked not only the world of college football, but also the nation as a whole.

Sandusky has been found guilty of 45 counts of child molestation, many of them taking place on or near Penn State University.    He met all of his young male victims through The Second Mile, a program he founded to help troubled youths.  Sandusky is currently in prison awaiting his sentencing.  It’s safe to say that Jerry Sandusky will live the rest of his pitiful excuse for a life in a state prison, never again setting foot in the outside world as a free man.

As far as Sandusky, it’s case closed.  He’s been convicted and it’s up to the state of Pennsylvania to handle his sentencing and punishment.

Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno served over Sandusky for thirty-one seasons from 1969 to 1999.  Paterno had known about Sandusky’s sexual attacks against young boys.  Paterno, more interested in protecting his image along with the images of the university and its football program, chose to look the other way.  Joe Paterno informed his superiors of Sandusky’s actions, but he failed to pursue any legal action against Sandusky or seek help for his victims.  Thanks to today’s society of worshipping athletes and athletic programs, those cries for help fell upon deaf ears.

Joe Paterno was fired as Penn State University head football coach on November 9, 2011.  Many students and football fans in Happy Valley, PA rioted when the news was announced.  Later, Penn State players were crying that they missed the presence of their idolized head coach. Read more…

Looking Like An Idiot When Using A Tablet Computer

Tablet computers are slowly becoming more and more mainstream as the technology improves and the overall prices drop.

Similar to the rise of smartphones and all of their advances over the past ten years, tablets many one day replace laptops.  I’m still not sold on getting a tablet yet, but I do recognize their potential and the handiness of using one.

That handiness, however, brings us to the subject matter of this article.

No, I’m not here to make fun of the retards who sit in coffee shops, trying to look sophisticated on their laptops and tablets when all they’re really doing is playing around on Facebook and Twitter, or just reading an e-book.  That cliché was exposed a while ago.

This article is about people using the camera feature on their tablet computer while on vacation.

I understand that the camera feature is handy for video chatting software such as Skype.  No problems there.  But when people choose to lug around their tablets through theme parks and other vacation destinations, and then use said tablet product as their camera for taking pictures, those people look like complete fools.

Last week my parents came home from their trip to the central Florida theme parks.  I asked them to keep an eye out for those idiots using tablets to take their vacation pictures.  Take a look a several scenes of those people in action.

—– Read more…

Driving Cars Through Vertical Loops

The other night at 2012′s summer X Games, Hot Wheels set a new world record by having two cars driving along a track with each of them completing a massive, six-story vertical loop.  The track ended with a victory jump through the air for both cars.

Check out the historic (and quite badass) car stunt:

A British car television show called Fifth Gear also explored the fascination of having a car being driven through a vertical loop.  A segment of one of the episodes had a stunt driver drive a small Toyota sedan through a forty-foot vertical loop.

After watching both segments, I noticed that the vertical loops are more roundish than elliptical.  I wonder how many G’s the drivers were experiencing at the entry and exit of the loops.

Looking back at the history of roller coasters, it was quickly discovered that circular vertical loops were extremely strenuous on the passengers, causing many of them to black out and go unconscious from the sudden, extreme G force.  This problem also caused many injuries and earned some of the early roller coaster designs a negative reputation.  It was later discovered that elliptical loops with shallower transition points in and out of the vertical loop put less strain on the passengers and ride vehicles, resulting for a much more enjoyable riding experience.

Most roller coaster documentaries discuss the history, evolution and physics behind the famous maneuvers and inversions that we love today.

Read more…