Bubba Dogs

Great article following yesterday’s finals at Half Moon Bay, about 25 miles south of San Francisco. It is home to Mavericks, arguably the world’s most dangerous big wave.

Today’s Times - Mavericks Contest ‘08

Mavericks Wipeouts, 2006 contest:

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Time to start giving some thought to the election, especially those who are residents of the 22 states that will be voting on Super Tuesday, February 5th. This is a cool site that poses eleven questions concerning the most fundamental issues concerning voters today. It doesn’t take into account your party affiliation. Give it a shot - it takes five minutes and the results may surprise you. Shout Mike McG:

Who Should I Vote For?

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Shout Josh Q. Ramones…

Bubba Dogs makes it to Central America

Jerry Z, the whitest guy in Latin America, geared up and on the beach in Columbia.

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Two men were arrested on Tuesday after pushing a corpse, seated in an office chair, along the sidewalk to a check-cashing store attempting to cash the dead man’s Social Security check. No surprise that it took place in Hell’s Kitchen in NYC.

Dead Guy Attempts to Cash Check

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Cost of gallon of gas in Iran: $.42

Is there any other justification necessary to develop alternative fuels and rid ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil (which is over 60% of domestic consumption)?

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Dutch feminist and political writer, politician, film maker and critic of Islam, though she herself is Muslim. Her writings, especially her screenplay Submission and her autobiography Infidel, led to death threats from numerous Muslim organizations and individuals which have forced her to live under guard and in relative seclusion. In 2005, she was named one the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

I’ve often wondered, where are the moderate Muslim voices? There were worldwide protests a couple years back when Danish cartoonists had the gall to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Yet, when a Saudi Arabian girl was imprisoned and sentenced to 200 lashes for BEING RAPED, not a peep was heard. Did anyone have the same curiosity?

In this article, Hirsi Ali nails it. Her credibility is unquestioned and, having seen her speak and read some of her work, I can’t  recommend her any higher. Educate yourself and read this article:

Islam’s Silent Moderates

Boy was I wrong about New Hampshire. Hillary gets the sympathy vote and takes the state (by only 3 points, mind you). There’s a lot to be said for the primary marathon. Hey, if you want to be President of the greatest country in the world, you better be exhausted, fatigued, and downright spent. By the way, John McCain, who is going through the same exhaustive process at age 71, also pulled out a victory. The argument could be made that he’s had to work that much harder as his campaign was dead a short 5 months ago. I guess 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war (2 of which were in solitary confinement) will toughen you up just a bit. Probably a bit more difficult to make him shed a tear.

Good article by Gail Collins in today’s Times: Hillary Gets a Free pass

DID YOU KNOW?

When McCain was a P.O.W., he was offered his freedom after 7 months in captivity because of his father’s rank as an Admiral in the U.S. Navy. He refused, however, stating that there were fellow servicemen who had been imprisoned longer and it was they that should be released.

I wonder if Hillary would do such a thing?

This is not going to turn into a political blog, after all, I sell hot dogs. However, I do admire the crap out of Senator McCain. If you would like to hear his POW story, his own website does the best job that I could find. Check it out if you like and ask yourself if Hillary could even wear, I mean hold, his jockstrap…

McCain POW bio (more…)

Here’s my take: Hillary lost by a landslide in Iowa, coming in third to Obama, but she also lost by 5 percentage points among women. Perhaps this news conference (link below) was a ploy to gain sympathy among the undecided women in New Hampshire? I’m sure many of the Navy brass for whom I used to work are feeling pretty good that she could one day be their boss. Make no mistake, folks, this was not a moment of endearment and true human emotion. The Clinton juggernaut is far too polished. The question was staged as was the response. Anyway, it doesn’t work. My prediction is Obama by double digits in NH.
You judge for yourself.

Our Next Commander in Chief?

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Sea Isle City Triathlon

Memorial Day Weekend

Satuday, May 24th

Details:

SIC Triathlon Details and Registration

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Here is Philly City Paper Picks for all kinds of food throughout the city:

Restaurant: Cantina Los Caballitos

Brunch: Honey’s Sit and Eat

Burger: Royal Tavern

BYOB: Lolita

Café: Double Shots (more…)

A cure for symptoms of cold, flu, sinusitis, chronic headaches and even snoring? My wife (that’s not her below) bought a neti pot two years ago and she’s a big fan. I didn’t realize they were all the rage. Chalk another one up for Oprah.

An excerpt from today’s NY Times:

The neti pot made its way into this country in the early 1970s as a yoga meditation device, but even as yoga became mainstream, the neti pot remained on the fringes of alternative culture.

That is, until now. Due to a confluence of influences, the neti pot is having what can only be termed a moment, sold in drugstores, health food stores, even at Wal-Mart and Walgreens.

The practice gained wide exposure last spring when it was introduced on Oprah Winfrey’s show by a frequent guest, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and an author of health books. Dr. Oz explained that bathing the sinus cavities in a warm saline solution can reduce symptoms of allergies, cold, flu and other nasal problems.

He called upon a chronic sinusitis sufferer, identified as Amy from Texas, to demonstrate the neti pot. “Welcome to your nose bidet,” Ms. Winfrey said enthusiastically as the woman inserted the spout of a ceramic pot into one nostril, tilted her head and let a solution of non-iodized salt and water flow up her nose and out the other nostril.

A month later, in a follow-up, Amy spoke by phone on air and reported she’d used a neti pot every day since, with happy results. She had not had a single sinus headache, she said.

A star was born.

The neti pot became a hot topic online, featured in blogs and daily journals, chatted about on message boards, demonstrated in some 60 YouTube videos. It was billed as a cure-all to ward off cold or flu, improve a sense of smell or taste, sharpen vision and even reduce snoring. “Nose bidet” became one of the most popular topics searched on Google.

Full story: Short, Stout, Has a Handle on Colds

Here’s one of those YouTube demos - a bit bizarre, yes, but it works: (more…)

Summer shots…shout Maura M.

This ain’t Sea Isle, though it is supposedly a real picture….Story

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I recently stumbled upon Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly, 2007 “. Most are familiar with the issue, though it may come in handy throughout the year. Listed is everything from best neighborhood mechanic to best dry cleaner. The standards also appear (cheesesteak, pizza, etc…). I’ll link it under Philly to the right as well.

Philly Magazine’s Best of Philly, 2007

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I’m not sure what to make of these predictions, though it is entertaining to prognosticate. I picked this up from Inky Phils beat writer Todd Zolecki’s blog. Bill James is a baseball numbers weenie who crunches stats from the past in order to predict the future. Here’s what he’s looking at for the Phils offense this year:

Last week we looked at the 2008 projections for Phillies pitchers, according to The Bill James Handbook 2008.

Today we look at the 2008 projections for Phillies hitters.

It still looks like this lineup should score plenty of runs, possibly enough to overcome a suspect pitching staff. Most encouraging for Phillies fans is that James predicts a monster season for Ryan Howard. James also likes the progression Carlos Ruiz has made, and expects even better numbers next season.

LINEUP

Jimmy Rollins
2008 projection: .284, 41 2B, 10 3B, 21 HR, 76 RBI, 120 R, 35 SB.

Shane Victorino
2008 projection: .277, 20 2B, 5 3B, 12 HR, 49 RBI, 74 R, 25 SB.

Chase Utley
2008 projection: .307, 45 2B, 4 3B, 26 HR, 109 RBI, 107 R, 10 SB.

Ryan Howard
2008 projection: .303, 31 2B, 1 3B, 53 HR, 144 RBI, 101 R.

Pat Burrell
2008 projection: .256, 29 2B, 1 3B, 31 HR, 104 RBI, 82 R.

Geoff Jenkins
2008 projection: .262, 25 2B, 1 3B, 18 HR, 62 RBI, 54 R.

Greg Dobbs
2008 projection: .279, 17 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 45 RBI, 35 R.

Carlos Ruiz
2008 projection: .282, 33 2B, 3 3B, 12 HR, 69 RBI, 58 R.

BENCH

Eric Bruntlett
2008 projection: .248, 11 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 24 RBI, 31 R, 11 SB.

Chris Coste
2008 projection: .263, 7 2B, 0 3B, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 16 R.

Wes Helms
2008 projection: .270, 17 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 38 RBI, 27 R.

So Taguchi
2008 projection: .274, 16 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 35 RBI, 42 R.

Jayson Werth
2008 projection: .281, 10 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 36 RBI, 35 R.

I’ve been a bit delinquent in uploading some pix folks have fired off wearing the Bubba Dog gear.  Here’s a few:

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Thank God that Eagles season has come to a close. What a soap opera. Was it me or did the off the field b.s. get more media play than the games themselves? Good riddance Eagles 2007.

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Educate yourself this New Year.  Here’s a good article in today’s Times by Jared Diamond, a Pulitzer Prize winning author for his non-fiction book entitled Guns, Germs and Steel and a geography professor at UCLA.  While we all wish for better lives for those in less developed countries, rising consumption levels of those countries (including China) could bring catastrophe. Check it out…. What’s Your Consumption Factor?”

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An article in British paper The Independent.  Here’s a vignette:

Here comes the world’s newest superpower. The rest of the world is gloomily contemplating economic slowdown and even recession. Not in Beijing. China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn (about $38 billion) Olympic Games.

The world’s most populous nation will mark the next 12 months with a coming-of-age party that will confirm its transformation in three decades from one of the poorest countries of the 20th century into the globe’s third-largest economy, its hungriest (and most polluting) consumer and the engine room of economic growth.

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It seems like it’s been 12 years since MTV played videos. Billy Corgan was ahead of his time. Great songwriter: