Roberta Daru Diary

Warp Tour 2007

06/29: Pomona, CA @ Pomona Fairgrounds

06/30: Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park

07/01: Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline

07/03: Vancouver, BC @ Thunderbird Stadium at UBC

07/05: Calgary, AB @ Race City Motorsport Park

07/06: Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah State Fairgrounds

07/11: Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion

07/12: Las Cruces, NM @ NMSU Practice Field

07/13: San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless

07/15: Houston, TX @ Reliant Center

07/18: Atlanta, GA @ HiFi Buys Amphitheater

07/19: Jacksonville, FL @ Equestrian Center

07/20: St. Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Park

07/21: Miami, FL @ Bayfront Park

07/22: Orlando, FL @ Tinker Field

07/23: Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless

07/24: Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless

07/25: Washington, DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

07/26: Scranton, PA @ Montage Mountain

07/27: Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park & Street

07/28: Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank

07/29: Minneapolis, MN @ Metrodome

07/31: Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheater

08/01: Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center

08/02: Cleveland, OH @ Tower City Amphitheater

08/03: Philadelphia, PA @ Tweeter Center

08/04: New York, NY @ Nassau Coliseum

08/05: Englishtown, NJ @ Raceway Park

08/07: Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless
08/08: Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavillion

08/09: Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center

08/10: Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lakes Fields

08/12: Montreal, QC @ Pac Jean-Drapeau

08/14: St. Louis, MO @ UMB Bank Pavilion

08/15: Kansas City, KS @ Verizon Wireless

08/17: Boise, ID @ Idaho Center

08/18: Seattle, WA @ The Gorge

08/19: Portland, OR @ Columbia Meadows

08/22: Fresno, CA @ Selland Arena

08/23: Sacramento, CA @ Sleep Train

08/24: San Diego, CA @ Coors

Bad Religion - Heroes & Martyrs

I was kind of surprise to find out that Bad Religion's 14th studio album, New Maps of Hell, is being released in a few weeks (July 10th), and crazy, they are on the Warped Tour.

Bad Religion came from Woodland Hills, California, and started in 1980
in high school. They were already well established in the punk
community when I first heard of them in seventh grade. I had a skater
friend (I think his name was Chris), who knew I was just starting to
get into “alternative” music, so he gave me Generator (1992).

So I went home and put this in my CD player and this was probably the
best thing I've ever heard! I thought Greg Graffin, with his mouthful
of politcal lyrics, was a genius! So, I came back to school the next
day, and I eagerly told Chris how much I loved it. This was his
response:

Yeah, they totally sold out. I don't like them anymore, you can have the rest of my Bad Religion tapes.

And that's how I became a Bad Religion fan.

I have never thought they sold out, even after they left Epitaph Records
for a major record label, Atlanta. As long as the band remain true to
their fans (like not trying to sue them, cough, Metallica, cough),
their music, and lifestyle, then how can they possibly “sell out”?
Undeniably, Bad Religion, at that time, was the biggest punk band in
the universe.
Anyroad, by the time the band released their second Atlanta album, Stranger Than Fiction
(1994), Brett “Mr Brett” Gurewitz had left the band. I don't know if
there was some sort of disagreement, but I can probably think of one
reason: Epitaph had a huge mega hit with the Offspring. Their song
“Come Out to Play” still plays in dance clubs to this day! I know
because I just heard it a few weeks ago (not that I go to dance clubs!)

Bad Religion - Atomic Garden

Somehow Gurewitz and Graffin kissed and made up with their reunion album The Process Of Belief (2002) (released by Epitaph).

“Heroes & Martyrs”, the lead single off New Maps of Hell
is a very, very short song, true to the two-minute punk songs! There's
something comforting in knowing that their sound have not changed in
the past 27 years. I love it.

Bonus: You can download Heroes & Martyrs on Epitaph's website as well as watch a high-quality (640×480) DIVX video of
Atomic Garden (video from Generator).

RELEASES

Bad Religion EP (1981)

How Could Hell Be Any Worse? (1982)

Into the Unknown (1983)

Back To The Known EP (1981)

Suffer (1988)

No Control (1989)

Against the Grain (1990)

Generator (1992)

Recipe for Hate (1993)

Stranger Than Fiction (1994)

The Gray Race (1996)

No Substance (1998)

The New America (2000)

The Process of Belief (2002)

The Empire Strikes First (2004)

New Maps of Hell (2007)

COMPILATIONS/VIDEOS

80-85 (1994)

All Ages (1995)

Tested (1997)

Punk Rock Songs (2002)

The Riot (VHS) (1996)

Along The Way (DVD) (1995)

Punk Rock Songs (DVD) (2002)

Live At The Palladium (DVD) (2006)

If you're looking for Singles, Promos, and Bootlegs, go www.thebrpage.net

Related Entry: Bandit - Generator

vu

www.badreligion.com

www.epitaph.com/artists/artist/5

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I’m about to conclude that it’s practically impossible to have an open, candid, rational conversation about cessationism and invite charismatics to participate without finding yourself at the bottom of an angry dogpile of “Spirit-filled” critics, no matter how charitably you try to approach the subject.

Several weeks ago, I brought up the issue of false messages from God (which, as I pointed out, is a serious problem among charismatics and non-charismatics alike). This wasn’t a post or an issue that targeted charismatics in particular, but a number of exasperated charismatics nevertheless showed up instantly in the comments thread. Some came with chips on their shoulders, daring me to knock them off. Unless I first made a biblical case for cessationism, they insisted, I had no business bringing up the modern-prophecy issue at all.

But I declined to discuss or debate cessationism at the time. (OK, I made one comment in reply to those who were insisting the issue needed to be settled by dueling proof-texts. Still, for the most part, I steered clear of any “debate” on the issue.) Cessationism wasn’t the issue I was aiming at when I brought up failed prophecy, and I didn’t see any sense in following the discussion trail down the most rancorous path, away from the point I wanted to make, which (you remember) was only about the dismal track-record of people these days who claim God has given them private messages.

I tried more than once to clarify all of that. In one place, for example, I wrote,
I would like to reiterate something I said earlier: When I brought up this subject of prophetic-utterances-gone-bad in the first place, I wasn’t trying to pick a fight with my charismatic readers. I originally had no intention of even getting into the issue of cessationism. I think I have much more in common with my “Reformed non-cessationist” brethren than I have with liberal cessationists. And oddly enough, the main targets I was originally planning to take on were non-charismatics like Henry Blackaby and the Gothardites.
It’s not that cessationism isn’t a serious issue, and worthy of discussion. It’s just that I wasn’t looking for a debate with people who were angry with me already just on the basis of something they expected me to say.

Meanwhile, a “debate” about cessationism supposedly broke out elsewhere in the blogosphere. Note: 1) I did not participate, and 2) I didn’t ever actually see any credible evidence that a serious “debate” ever really took place. I saw quite a few posts about the debate, but I was never able to locate any actual debate.

Anyway, commenters kept demanding that I give a full argument for cessationism before dealing with the subject of errant prophecies, so I finally said I would tackle the issue of cessationism soon after the first of the new year.

Note again: Virtually all my entries on this subject have included an appeal for discussion without rancor. And—please don’t forget—it wasn’t I who asked for the discussion about cessationism in the first place.

But when I brought the topic up again (as promised) and merely said that I planned to try to respond to some of the questions and challenges that had already been raised, that unleashed a flood of outrage and ill humor from certain charismatic neighborhoods in the blogosphere.

For one thing, I apparently had the bad taste to bring the subject up within 24 hours after Dan Edelen “joked” about jumping back into the debate. Dan therefore wrote a long, fractured, frustrated lament about the “black hole” of the Christian blogosphere, targeting me in particular and accusing me of boasting that I would “prove ONCE AND FOR ALL that the gifts have ceased”—a claim I have nowhere made, or even insinuated.

Nonetheless, Dan went on to call me out publicly with a fairly ironic plea to “stop one-upping each other so we can prove who’s right and who’s wrong.”

Now, I invite you to reread the offending post, follow the original thread, and notice that to date I still have not even posted a single argument against cessationism, unkind or otherwise. I merely stated that I would begin to respond to questions that had been raised—in some cases by the very same folks now taking me to task for ostensibly picking a fight.

By the way, Dan’s plea was quickly echoed in similarly histrionic tones across the blogosphere, mostly by other non-cessationists who (having taunted me with questions and challenges) now apparently want to see the cessation of any and all debate over this particular issue. And, predictably, there were also some who couldn’t resist using Dan’s post as a club with which to beat “Reformed Theology.”

Notice, however: while it’s true that some nasty remarks were made in the comments thread after my post last Wednesday, virtually all the surliness and sarcasm came from the charismatic side of the aisle, not from “Reformed” commenters. I did not answer any of those comments, nor did I see any cessationist, Reformed or otherwise, respond in kind.

So all the hand-wringing about the Christian blogosphere’s “black hole” is badly misplaced, and somewhat hypocritical, if you ask me. Seriously, the mere fact that Christians frequently disagree on certain points of doctrine, does not constitute a “black hole.” Those who refuse to listen to a rational argument before attempting to shout down the opposition are frankly as much a part of the problem as those who want to argue about everything.

It’s more like a sucking chest wound than a black hole, I fear. Hopefully, you get the point.

That’s a long explanation of why I have stalled this discussion for the past week, and yet I still wish to pursue it. Can we try again? Can we discuss this issue seriously, without rancor and without all the histrionics?

PS: For those who have asked for a definition of cessationism and continuationism, see the post here.

New readers wanting to catch up on the previous discussion may likewise start with that same post, which is a summary of things heretofore blogged on this issue.

Precious Time With Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar is scheduled to play the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls this St. Patrick’s Day, so, on a whim, I shot off a message to the e-mail address on her website and was surprised when Ms. Fire and Ice herself phoned from California a few weeks later. Resting at home for the first half of March, she spent 15 minutes answering the same sorts of questions everyone probably asks her. I didn’t have the guts to ask whether or not love is still a battlefield.

Q: The tour doesn’t kick off until mid-March, so what’s a pre-tour day like for Pat Benatar? And what types of venues will you be playing this time around?

A: I still have a 12 year old in school and she’s doing a play right now, so that’s what I’m doing every day. I’m working on an autobiography and that is going to take up much of this year. Neil is very busy with film scoring, as he always is, and then we’ll be working on material for a new record. We usually do festivals and outdoor gigs during the summertime, so we’re performing in March to work on the format for those summer shows. I need to do this in front of people.

Q: What is the format going to be? And is it going to be different from past summer shows?

A: We are going to be doing an acoustic record of acoustic versions of the hit songs as well as some new songs. We have a segment in our two hour show where we do acoustic versions of some things, but it’s short. So we’re going to be extending that this time around.

Q: What is touring like for you these days? Much different than when you first started out?

A: Touring is great. It’s really easy. It’s so much more relaxed and simple when you don’t have to do the big show and the record company isn’t breathing down your throat and all those kinds of things. We’ve been independent for years and it’s really easy and much more fun this way.

Q: It looks like you’re going to be touring largely in the states and you’ve been touring for so long, so is there a favorite place that you’ve played in the past that sticks out? Or somewhere you’re looking forward to going back to again?

A: It depends. It’s really hard to choose cities because after playing for 30 years, if you just throw a dart at the map, there’s going to be some great city somewhere — with some really fun memory or experience. I couldn’t pick just one place, but in general, the last 12 years has been superior to the first part of playing — even though we were playing much larger venues and things like that before. It’s just so much more manageable now and there’s not a lot of baggage, so I can just go out there and play and everybody knows exactly what I’m doing and we’ve been doing it for a while. It’s kind of like playing for all of your friends.

Q: You mentioned 30 years of touring and it seems like there’s a lot of commendations coming out now. Did I read somewhere that you will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame this year?

A: I never know how these things actually come about. I’m there a lot because we tour every summer and I’m always going back to New York, back home to do things. I think it just comes down to what I call the “Last Man Standing.” If you stick around long enough, stuff like that just happens.

Q: Come on now, you won Grammy awards early on and topped the charts. You’ve won American Music awards and have been ranked highly in lists by “Rolling Stone” and “Billboard” so it’s got to be more than that.

A: Yeah, there has always been that stuff and I’m so grateful. I’ve had a really wonderful life doing this and I never would have suspected that I’d still be doing it at this age.

Q: Is there one award or a certain distinction that stands out? Or a certain memory from early on?

A: Awards are really great. They are fun to win, but those usually aren’t the things that have happened to stick with me. I remember one of my early experiences was in Madison Square Garden. Having grown up in New York, I went to Madison Square Garden for so many different events with my family. I remember the very first time that we played in Madison Square Garden and I was inside of the building when it was empty. I was on stage and I was standing in this place that I had come to so many times as a child and never realized how large it was. It was just so incredibly huge when it was empty. It was thrilling. As a matter of fact, it was so exciting to be there with the guys sweeping the floors and everything that when the show actually happened, it was anti-climactic for me.

Q: You were talking before about how the shows are more manageable and how you feel like you’re playing to your friends. Having been touring for so long, are you seeing a different sort of audience now than before? Or are you seeing many of the same people who have come out to see you over the years?

A: It’s very diverse because it has been such a long time. We have people who were 16 when I began, so they are in their 40s now and then you have that group of 20 to 28 year olds who are nostalgic and like everything from the 1980s. Then you have these really young people who are 12 to 15 years old who have either been turned on to it by their parents or they’ve gone to a film where the songs are in it and they want to know more about it so they come to the show. It’s pretty diverse in that way, which is a lot of fun for us.

Q: I noticed that about the movies. You still have music in new films, in everything from “13 Going On 30″ to “Talladega Nights.”

A: Yeah. Talladega Nights is my favorite. People ask all the time if songs can be in certain things and sometimes its in insignificant spots that they want music to be in the background, but then you have times where it’s blaring in everyone’s face — like in Talladega Nights, which was hilarious. I love those guys and it was great to have that song in there.

Q: What can people expect from this Pat Benatar show at the Seneca Niagara Casino? Will it strictly be the hits?

A: We do that. We incorporate a lot of those because people really want to hear them, but the people who have been coming for so long, they like to hear other material. They want to hear new things we’re working on and new arrangements of things because they’ve been coming forever. So we play the 12 that need to be in there, what I call “The Holy 12.” And then we do different versions of some of the really popular songs and they seem to really enjoy that. We’re rehearsing some of them now for the acoustic record, so we will play those.
The 12 are the ones that everyone loves and we love them, so we’ve got to play them. Sometimes people love songs that we don’t love and we play them anyway. But there is a list of songs that everybody likes, including us. “Heartbreaker” is on there. That one especially stands out. I think I can play that until I’m dead. It’s just fun to sing, like “Invincible” and “Hell Is For Children.”

Rilo Kiley checks out darker territory on their new album, Under the Blacklight.

Los Angeles-based quintet, Rilo Kiley, has played twang-inflected indie rock and puzzled tongues with its curiously catchy name since 1998. Some band members claim the name has no meaning, while others say it was derived from dream sequences. An article in Performer magazine from 2001 reports the name honors two exiled, gay, high school football players, Ben Rilo and Stephen Kiley, who committed suicide in 1909 on the railroad tracks just outside their Midwest town.

Someone ought to make a movie about that!

Hollywood happens to provide the backdrop for Rilo Kiley’s fourth full-length album, Under the Blacklight, to be released by Warner Bros. records on August 21. Their first effort since the acclaimed More Adventurous in 2004, the 11 tracks present a musical departure that explores the seedier side of L.A. life with “the blood of Fleetwood Mac, early Heart and The Rolling Stones’ 1978 dancefloor masterpiece ‘Miss You’ pumping through its veins,” according to the band.

This week, Rilo Kiley unveiled the video for Under the Blacklight’s lead single, “The Moneymaker.” Here, stripped-down funk supplies a soundtrack for an itty bitty thump of a glimpse into the porn industry. Just don’t let the scantily clad women with frightened expressions at the outset trick you into thinking this is an American Apparel advertisement.

Get a peek inside “The Moneymaker” after the jump!The long, 12-minute version of “The Moneymaker” video, which you can catch here, features a deluge of interviews with porn stars before the music even begins after the nine minute mark. Personalities appearing in this extended foreplay include Tommy Gunn, Faye Runaway, King James, and Starlet, who says she likes to film girl-on-girl action because “the pace is good.” Actors talk about what brought them to the business, how they approach same-sex scenarios, and what it’s like to explain their careers to significant others. Not surprisingly, most of them reveal they are single.

As for the music of “The Moneymaker,” the strutting tune finds front woman Jenny Lewis, a former child actor, in an unbearably sultry performance. Still, the body of the song sounds spare, even naked like a porn star, in comparison to more robust funk and soul originals of the 1970s. Perhaps the next single, “Breakin’ Up,” will offer more satisfaction. Rilo Kiley bills that one as a deceptively catchy and upbeat kiss off to a discarded lover.

Until then, this shorter version of “The Moneymaker” video is also available:

In my last entry on new powershell API samples, I mentioned providing some tips and tricks for automated reporting from your WSUS server in conjunction with Excel. 
This will help walk you through creating a trending report for various interesting aspects of your deployment, and displaying it graphically in Excel.  There will be some “solution left as an exercise for the reader” aspects, but I’ll point you in the right direction through the pitfalls that I found tricky.  See the attachment to this post for a sample chart.

First, a quick reminder on the location of the script repository for our PowerShell API samples: ttp://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/sus/server/default.mspx?mfr=true.  We don’t intend these to necessarily be wonderful examples of the best use of PowerShell, but more of a handy way to introduce you to the API and give a headstart on creating your own solutions.
One of the most common requests we’ve had is around reporting information only for approved updates.  That lead to a sample for server status for just approved updates: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/sus/server/susvms02.mspx
As you’ll see in the sample output, it has a simple one line CSV style output which is perfect for importing into your favorite tools.  It also includes both the server name and date, so you can easily order or filter the results. 
Naturally you’ll need to start by installing PowerShell, and saving the script to a .ps1 file.  I recommend starting this sample running on your server - you can modify the sample to connect to a remote server via a console only install, but I’d suggest limiting the number of moving pieces until you get it all working end-to-end once.  Make sure you can run the .ps1 file from the command line.  You may need to modify your script execution environment options.  (That’s one of those exercises for the reader.)
Next, create a scheduled task to run your script every night and append the output to a file.   Below is a sample command line in the Scheduled Tasks.  Make sure to try the command line from a cmd prompt to make sure you have your paths and access right - it’s annoying to wait a couple of days for the scheduled task to run and discover you botched the command line.

%windir%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -command C:\WsusScript\ServerStatusForApprovedUpdates.ps1 >> C:\ReportingData\ServerStatusForApprovedUpdates.csv
Now wait a couple of days, and you should start getting some nice output.  Here’s some sample data to give you a headstart:

WSUSSAMPLE,3/15/2007,3713,952,1540,1032,14,0,42,28
WSUSSAMPLE,3/17/2007,8611,900,2660,814,112,0,279,118
WSUSSAMPLE,3/18/2007,8744,900,6665,813,112,0,307,119
WSUSSAMPLE,3/19/2007,8895,900,4026,833,117,0,311,117
WSUSSAMPLE,3/20/2007,9684,900,6740,958,146,0,330,136
WSUSSAMPLE,3/21/2007,10132,891,6641,2471,168,0,398,159
WSUSSAMPLE,3/22/2007,10454,891,7249,2378,172,0,444,161
WSUSSAMPLE,3/23/2007,10729,891,7531,2404,184,0,445,176
Once you’ve got that in a .CSV file, start Office Excel 2007.  Sorry if you’re on an older version - that’s the version I’m working on.  I suspect you can get all of this done on an older version, but I haven’t gone back to verify.
Look across the menu options across the top, and choose the Data tab.  The third option of “Get External Data” is “From Text.”  This will give you a browser where you point to the .csv file you’re writing via the scheduled task.  Excel should recognize the file and set the right defaults for almost everything.  The fancy bits come after you click finish.  You’ll want to do 2 things before finishing.

Excel asks where you want to insert the data - choose a spot down about 20 rows, so you can leave spot for a graph at the top.
Click Properties.  Here you uncheck “Prompt for file name on refresh”, check “Refresh data when opening the file”, and “Overwrite existing cells with new data, clear unused cells.” 
Now, every time you open the Excel file you’ll get the very latest data from your automatically generated file.
Next, go to the “Insert” tab, and add a line graph with markers (not stacked).  Move the graph over into the empty space you reserved, and then choose the Design tab menu option for Select Data.  Select the area where your data is coming in.  You’ll also want to give names to the Legend Entries based on the columns of the imported data, and remove any columns you’re not interested in.  You may also want to create two separate graphs - one for computers, and one for updates - because you’re likely to have significantly different total numbers of computers and updates and would want the data clearly separated and scaled appropriately.
Voila!  Save the spreadsheet, and open it again in a couple of days.  Post here if I’ve missed a step, to brag if you’ve gotten your own solution working, or have any nifty ideas for enhancing this for others.

Ahoy Matey! Did ye hear the story about Blackboard the Pirate?

Well shiver my timbers, there has certainly been a lot of chatter tis past week about the supposed patents of Blackboard the Pirate and the resultin lawsuit against Desire2Learn. Tis not somethin for those that are lily-livered that be for sure! Give me some grog! It be time perhaps ter get loaded ter the gunwales. Arrrr!!!! I have heard nothin on tis from my mates here in the US but instead email keeps comin in from the UK on tis topic for some reason. Perhaps it be due ter the fact that many there are many usin WebCT in the UK and are fearful of Blackboard the Pirate since they have heard tis reputation as a swashbuckler. Not sure. Yo-ho-ho!!!

Tis mornin I got an email from me hearty friend, Rick Bennett, at the University of New South Wales in Australia about the recent Blackboard the Pirate lawsuit against Desire2Learn and the announcement of the patents that Blackboard the Pirate received. Arrrr! Rick has helped design Omnium which will soon be open source. He notes that “Omnium is not a Learnin Management System but a software that forms online communities and networks (some of which are used in education.” Omnium is used ter teach art and design at the University of New South Wales and around the planet; see http://www.omnium.edu.au/project/ .

Their web site says: “Omnium is an ongoing research study investigating how the internet can be used to help creativeindividuals interact and work collaboratively from any location worldwide. Founded in 1998, Omnium has linked over 5000 creative students, educators, professionals,theorists and writers from over 40 countries worldwide throughits online projects, courses and communities. ” I have a new research team at Indiana University conductin research on Omnium; especially in the areas of creativity, collaborative teamin, and online mentorin from internationally reknown designers. I highly recommend ye check it out! Perhaps in a couple of years, some of ye will be usin it instead of Blackboard the Pirate…let’s hope!!!! Arrrr!!!!Anyway, on ter the Blackboard the Pirate debate.My reply ter Rick was as follows: Yes, I have been gettin more email on tis from the British Commonwealth than anywhere else–Paul Bacsich (Middlesex University), Andy Syson (Univ of Coventry), Gilly Salmon (Leicester), and now ye (Rick Bennett at the Univ of New South Wales). Tis no one in the US, Canada, or other parts of the world upset right now? Since the mission of the School of Education at IU tis ter experiment with new and emergin technologies, I have used Blackboard the Pirate for a year and WebCT for a year and FirstClass for a year and Oncourse for a year and the Virtual University for a year and COW for many years and most recently Sakai for a year. COW (Conferencin on the Web) was the best of the lot; and it twas built by an undergraduate students, Eric Klavins, when at San Fran State and he gave it away free ter anyone who wanted ter use it (ye can read more about that here: http://cow.itd.umich.edu/).And the list of tools I have used for online learnin goes on: Nicenet, VAXNotes, SiteScape Forum, e-Board, e-groups, WebCrossin, FirstClass. In fact, SiteScape and FirstClass were at the top of the list for me. Ok, here tis be the Blackboard the Pirate announcement from Blackboard the Pirate people:http://www.blackboard.com/company/press/release.aspx?id=887622 Here be the August 2, 2006 announcement from the Chronicle of Higher Education about tis bloody mess: http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=csKWgSjQCx43zm2fmtKdJjKwSFxbdxfF It tis interestin that articles in the Chronicle can now be found in a Google search. Me hearty friend, Rick Bennett said: “The Bb patent was filed in 2000, and a gathering of many, many examples of ‘prior art’ has begun within a large and global e-learning community now collaborating to form a list of all examples of online learning systems prior to then - these go back to 1960!

So if you haven't been paying attention to the land of dry heat, there is some good baseball being played there. While locking up Eric Byrnes to a 3 year extension this week, the D-Backs have also been winning some games. Last night's 1-0. An odd score in this era of tremendous offense.

After last night's game, Brandon Webb, the reigning Cy Young, now has a 33 inning scoreless streak. Nineteen-year-old Justin Upton tripled for the third time in five games to drive in Eric Byrnes for the only run Webb needed.

José Valverde has saved 35 games so far this season, while sporting a svelte 0.99 WHIP. Others in the bullpen have been equally outstanding. Tony Pena has a 2.04 ERA in 66 innings. Brandon Lyon in 2.85 in 53 innings.

Since Randy Johnson's back has locked up like a rusty wrench the D-Backs have scrambled for starting pitching, even picking up Byung-Hyun Kim from the scrap heap. If they can string together a good run of quality starts, send it to their great bullpen, they may be able to own the west.

College Football Weekly V10.0By Bama Bob Waldrop

Somebody wake me when last week mercifully ends.

Games of the WeekFlorida vs. Georgia – Aesthetically, this certainly wasn’t a thing of beauty, unless you’re a Gator fan, but it was a tight game with huge SEC East and national implications. Give UF coach Urban Meyer credit for making adjustments to his offense during the bye week to give QB Chris Leak some added protection. A semblance of a running game helped as well as DeShawn Wynn had his first 100+ yard game since week 2 against Louisiana Tech, totaling 109 yards on 19 carries. Leak’s numbers certainly weren’t spectacular as he only threw for 108 yards, but he managed the game well and avoided the huge mistakes. Georgia is probably out of the national championship picture with the loss but is still in the driver’s seat in the SEC East, a seat made more comfortable if QB D.J. Shockley can return in time for the showdown with Auburn in two weeks. A win in that one would all but clinch the division for the ‘Dawgs as their last SEC game is at home with woeful Kentucky. Florida still needs another Georgia loss plus wins over Vanderbilt and South Carolina to win the SEC East.
UCLA at Stanford – Talk about living on the edge, that should be the Bruins’ motto as they pulled off yet another come from behind, overtime win, this time at Stanford. Trailing 24-3 with just over 7 minutes remaining, the Bruins scored three unanswered touchdowns to send yet another conference game to overtime. After surrendering a field goal on Stanford’s possession, they remained unbeaten when Brandon Breazell hauled in Drew Olsen’s 23-yard touchdown pass on theirs. The win leaves UCLA a precarious 8-0 with another road game looming, this time at Arizona, a team coming off its first conference win last week against Oregon State.
Idaho at New Mexico State – This one may be a reach but it deserves mention because of the stones showed by Idaho coach Nick Holt. These two WAC doormats (NMSU is 0-8, Idaho 2-6) fought to a 30-30 tie at the end of regulation and each committed a turnover on their first OT possession. In the second OT, NMSU scored first – a touchdown – and kicked the extra point. After the Vandals matched the TD on their possession, Holt went for broke and attempted a two-point conversion, which turned out to be successful and spoiled the Aggies’ homecoming.

Teams of the WeekSouth Carolina – It appears as though the Ol’ Ballcoach still has some of the old magic up his sleeve – or at least a Phil Fulmer cupie doll hidden in his jacket. Darth Visor led his Gamecocks into Knoxville for an SEC East tilt with a struggling Tennessee team and left with South Carolina’s first ever win at Neyland Stadium. Gamecock QB Blake Mitchell was efficient connecting on 22 of 36 passes for 242 yards and two scores while Rick Clausen and Erik Ainge – the the Vols’ two headed mess of a QB combination – were a combined 14 of 31 for 99 yards and an interception. Spurrier is in great position to have South Carolina in its first bowl game in four years as they need only one more win from games remaining with Arkansas, Florida and Clemson to become bowl eligible.
Iowa State – The Cyclones likely saved their bowl season hopes, fattening up on what has shockingly become absolutely the Big 12’s worst defense, in a 42-14 spanking of Dennis Franchione’s Texas A&M Aggies in College Station. Iowa State QB Bret Meyer had a career day, throwing for 371 yards and four scores – all to WR Todd Blythe – while leading a balanced Cyclone attack that racked up 549 total yards on A&M’s used-to-be-famous Wrecking Crew. The Cyclones were an amazing 11 of 18 on 3rd down conversions. Iowa State can secure their 5th bowl game in six years with one win in their remaining three games against Kansas State, Colorado and Kansas. And who knows, as sorry as the Big 12 North is, if they can win out, they just could win the division and have the honor of being humiliated by Texas.
Notre Dame – Sure the Irish had an off week, but they did take care of some business by locking up Charlie Weis for the next 10 years and, in the process, make him the highest paid coach in college football. Many will argue, with some merit, that this was another over reaction by the Irish, the polar opposite of their quick trigger last year on former coach Tyrone Willingham. And while that may be true – only time will tell just how good Weis is over the long haul – they have avoided what were certain to be distractions at the end of this unexpectedly successful season when all of the NFL rumors would start swirling around the program. By all accounts, Weis certainly seems to be a great fit at Notre Dame so at least give the Irish credit for being proactive this time.

Players of the WeekVince Young, QB, Texas – I said a couple of weeks ago that if I had a Heisman vote it would go to Young and he’s done since but to solidify that statement. This week, it was at the expense of Oklahoma State – a team that would likely be ranked in the top 10 if they could only play first halves against the Longhorns. Last year, Texas spotted the Cowboys a 35-7 lead only to score 42 unanswered points. This year, it was a 28-9 Cowboy lead that Young helped overcome by leading the ‘Horns on a 38-0 run to end the game. (By the way, for those keeping score – and I know some of you are – that’s 80-0 by my math to end the last two games against Okie State). Young was once again spectacular, totaling over 500 of Texas’ 609 offensive yards and scoring four touchdowns, including putting a defender in the popcorn machine with a pump fake on his 80-yard dash to start the comeback on the first drive of the second half. NOBODY is playing better or with more confidence right now.
Brian Calhoun, RB, Wisconsin – Calhoun busted the century mark for the 7th time in 9 games as he carried the rock 35 times for 197 yards and 5 TDs in the Badgers’ rout of Illinois. Calhoun’s transfer from Colorado has been a huge boost for a Wisconsin team that many thought would struggle after losing so many starters from last year’s squad. For the season, Calhoun is averaging 4.8 yards per carry on over 250 rushes. This week will likely be his toughest test to date however as Wisconsin travels to Penn State for a showdown that could leave the winner alone atop the Big 10.
Todd Blythe, WR, Iowa State – Blythe looked like a white Terrell Owens Saturday, torching Texas A&M’s secondary for 214 yards and four TDs on only eight catches - a nifty 26.8 yards per catch average. To say this was a career day for the Cyclone sophomore would be an understatement. In the seven games prior to this one, Blythe had yet to top 100 yards and had found the end zone only once, that being in the season opener against 1-AA Illinois State.
Ricky Santos, QB, New Hampshire – So maybe it is an obscure entry, but 1-AA players deserve some love occasionally. Santos threw for 248 yards and 4 TDs – all without a pick – as the Wildcats went on the road to Amherst to win a huge Atlantic 10 game over UMass. For the season, Santos is over 70% with a stellar 25/7 touchdown to interception ratio. The win propelled UNH into a first place tie with UMass in the A10 North as well as lifted them to the #2 spot in Division 1-AA. Of course, rankings don’t matter very much at 1-AA (or any other division for that matter) because they actually determine their champion on the field. What a novel concept.

Turds of the WeekMissouri – Lest anybody question why Missouri coach Gary Pinkel has been a regular on this year’s Death Watch, we offer last week’s game against Kansas as Exhibit A. A week after dominating Nebraska, the Tigers could manage only a measly field goal against the Jayhawks. Tiger QB Brad Smith followed up his record setting performance of a week ago (over 230 yards rushing AND passing) with a scintillating 38 yards on the ground. He also missed on 23 of 37 pass attempts and, obviously, had no scores. This was Mizzou’s 3rd consecutive loss to the Jayhawks, a fact that can’t sit well with the ever dwindling number of Tiger faithful.
Tennessee – No team in America has been a bigger disappointment this year than the 3-4 Volunteers who started the season ranked as high as #3 in some polls. Granted the schedule has been extremely tough (at LSU, at Alabama, at Florida, home to Georgia and South Carolina) but Vol head pumpkin Phil Fulmer embraced his team’s lofty rankings saying this may be the most talented group he’s had in his 13 seasons as head coach. There is talent but the offense has been a mess from the start and UT has killed themselves with costly fumbles against Alabama and South Carolina – turnovers that likely cost them both games. The schedule is no easier this week as they head to South Bend and a loss would leave them needing a sweep of their final three games against Kentucky, Memphis and Vanderbilt to become bowl eligible.
Matt Moore, QB, Oregon State – Admittedly, I don’t know much about the Oregon State QB situation – and, really, why would I – but I’m guessing there isn’t much depth behind the UCLA transfer. How else could you explain being allowed to play every snap in a game in which you throw six interceptions in a loss to PAC 10 doormat Arizona. For the season Moore has a terrible 10/18 touchdown to interception ratio and has thrown a minimum of two interceptions in each of the Beavers’ five conference games.
Chris Fowler, GameDay host – I’m a huge fan of the GameDay show and crew as they’ve done for college football what Dick Vitale has done for college hoops, but Fowler needs to be a little more in touch with reality and learn to take criticism better. Responding to Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville’s comments about the BCS title game participants already being determined because “that’s what ESPN wants

The new season of “The Mind of Mencia” starts March 22, 2006 on Comedy Central.
The show, which began airing July 2005, is a mix of stand-up, sketch comedy, and street comedy. It was a surprise hit for Comedy Central (not to his fans, or course!) which renewed the series almost immediately.

A DVD from the first season has been released as well.