Just a RANT about Anti-Smoking Commercials

You know what really makes me SICK?

Several DECADES ago, our government put their foot down, and decided to no longer allow cigarette advertisements on TV. None whatsoever.

So now that it's 2016, why in the hell do I have to watch commercials showing a guy explaining how much it sucks to live his life when he has a hole in his throat? I won't watch, but I also mute the TV, because the last thing anyone wants to hear is a guy having to hold a machine against his larynx to be able to talk, and I don't want to hear it. And it's not only him. This company has launched several anti-smoking advertisements recently, with a few different "victims". Some of them have recently died, and they are sure to let us know that.


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Not only that, but now we also have to see tons of new anti-smoking commercials, such as these.

I'm a smoker, and I have been since I was about 21. Most of the past 23 years I enjoyed smoking a few cigarettes a day. Some of those days I smoke wayy tooo much. People enjoy smoking. Cigarettes.. Pipes.. Cigars.. Marijuana.... But I stray from the point.

I used to pay $3.25 for a pack of smokes back in the 90's. These days a pack is at least $6. Sometimes they're $7.50.

You're not allowed to advertise cigarette sales. Please stop advertising only the worst possible scenarios that result from smoking!

Hustled in New Orleans

I'm sure there are other places in the world where this type of thing takes place, but after my recent return visit to New Orleans, I am now convinced that I may have been to two of the worst. I was there once in 1998, but it was only for a day, and I don't recall feeling the way

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I felt this time during that visit. I do, however recall feeling this way in Jamaica in 2007, when a Caribbean cruise we took stopped there as one of the three stops.

The locals ruin it for the tourists! For Jamaica the number one way the country makes money is probably due to tourism, but instead of making the people who visit feel comfortable, I wouldn't be surprised if there are many people who've visited Jamaica who feel the way I do. I remember being asked if I wanted to "smoke some of da good stuff, mon" within about 2 minutes of getting off the ship! I remember not even really feeling safe walking the streets. There were men standing around in the streets armed with AK-47s. Like holy crap, there's a guy with an AK-47! Oh wait, that's a cop. Wait a minute.. why do they have to have cops standing around in the streets armed with AK-47s? I remember feeling really uncomfortable being consistently pulled here and lured there by locals, who simply wanted to try to sell me some of their products: art, clothing, food, and other keepsakes.

The thing about Jamaica, though, is these people are trying to make an honest living selling stuff to tourists - they are just a little too aggressive in their manor of going about it.

Then there's New Orleans. In 48 hours in New Orleans I was approached probably 25-30 times for one reason or another. And not just in the French Quarter.

"Hey sir, can I bum a smoke?"

"I bet I can tell you where you got your shoes!"

"If you tell me your first name, I'll bet I can spell your last name."

One guy asked me about the Longhorns (I was wearing a Texas Longhorns t-shirt), and proceeded to make conversation for a good 5-minutes before he, too, asked to bum a smoke.

A guy in a devil costume hustled us for a dollar to take a picture with him, and another guy in a party patrol costume (I actually thought he was a cop before looking closely) hustled us for $10 for a "free" baseball cap. I wear a lot of caps, and loved the thought of a free cap, so this was cool at first. Then he handed my wife a pink cap, and asked in so many words to "show some love" for a couple of caps. He wanted $15 for both, so we handed the pink one back, and gave him $10 for mine. Hustled again!

The people who work at the bars in the French Quarter literally try to get in your way as you're walking by, and lead you into their establishment. They all have the best drink deals, the biggest, cheapest beers, and are the only ones who make their Hurricanes from scratch.

Several times it was just a homeless person asking for a couple bucks for a burger. "I have no job, and am starving.. will you buy me a burger & fries?" Some of them probably are homeless, jobless, and hungry, but I doubt they all are. Most of them are grifters.

In 48 hours, we witnessed two drug deals. One of the groups of guys actually had the nerve to ask us if we were looking to buy some weed as we were on a voodoo/ cemetery tour. They then proceeded to go make a deal with some dude a few minutes later less than 50 feet from us. The other one took place in a restaurant - with a female officer waiting in line to buy food!

The difference between Jamaica and New Orleans is that most of these people in New Orleans - outside of the very talented street performers - aren't trying to make an honest living with their product or service. They're hustlers looking to take advantage of nice, normal tourists.. like me.

New Orleans, if you want people to come visit your city, you might try cracking down on this type of thing. I don't know.. you could call it Felony Tourist Harassment, or something.

Fantasy Football Player Rankings Rant

All these major sites, who host hundreds of thousands fantasy leagues (ESPN, NFL, Yahoo, CBS...), should definitely have an application on their site that allows the owner to UPLOAD an Excel (or Works) spreadsheet, which converts into your player rankings. No, not every person who plays
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fantasy football is gonna spend the time to create his or her own spreadsheet (player list), but I guarantee for as many who do, there are probably the same amount who have one that someone else created for them.

Nevertheless, most people who play, and want to win, rank their players at the particular site prior to their draft, right? And it is those people - who have spent their time preparing - who deserve to save a few hours of their time by not having to drag & drop (or click up & down) 150+ players into a particular order.

Why is this not already a thing? We go apply for jobs, and sites instantly read our resumes, and not only show you the resume, but they take certain fields of information, and place that information where it is needed into their application!

C'mon... this is 2013 already!

Attn: ESPN.com Fantasy Football, NFL.com Fantasy Football, Yahoo Fantasy Football, and CBS Sportsline Fantasy Football

/Rant

Dunking

Image Source: NBA, and here

Dear NBA,

Do away with the dunk contest.

If you insist on having a dunk contest, then may I suggest the following:
(1) Bring some superstars to the table.
(2) No props.
(3) One person.
(4) One basketball.
(5) One chance.

OK maybe a second try, but after that.. THAT'S IT! You get a zero.

Thank you.

Allow me to remind you of this, as I end this rant.

Wanna Go See Rush? Rolling Stones, Perhaps?

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I was considering going to see one of my favorite bands, RUSH (for the 7th time), and so I went to the online ticket place, which is almost always Ticketmaster. The Nov. 30th show is not only nearly sold-out, but the only tickets remaining are the ones that are always last-remaining: opposite side of the arena. Those tickets are over $90.00 !!! There were even a few over on the side (they're gone now).. way on the side, like literally side-stage, for $114! Stub-hub has some floor seats for $249-$800. What??

Here's the point. And this point is why I'm writing right now. It's no secret that the older bands, who have been around a while, can pull in some high ticket prices. But I'm frankly disappointed in Rush for entering into this category now. The last time I saw them was only about 3 years ago, and we paid about $30 for lawn seats at the Verizon Wireless Theater in Selma - for their 30th Anniversary tour.

Now, check THIS out:

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a Yahoo Music article by Chris Willman

The last time the Rolling Stones toured, there wasn't quite as much of a panic over tickets. But then, that previous trek involved 147 shows.

This year's tour? Four gigs.

No wonder there's an international mania to get into the group's arena shows in London Nov. 25 and 29 and New Jersey on Dec. 13 and 15. Tickets for the two Newark gigs haven't yet gone on sale. But it's already "As Tears Go By" time for the millions of fans who tried and failed to get the 30,000 or so tickets that went up for grabs Friday for the two O2 Arena shows in Britannia.

Just remember, though, hope is never lost… if you're Donald Trump. Because there's always the secondary market, where scalpers are already asking record sums. It's been reported that the Getmein.com website has tickets listed for up to $21,120, although it's hard to imagine any seat that is not actually on Mick Jagger's lap going for a penny over 20K.

These exaggerated fees won't go to the Stones themselves. Face values for the London tickets ranged from about $152 to $601 in American dollars. Fox News suggested in a headline that these were "the most overpriced gig(s) ever." But given that a huge percentage of the tickets will be scalped for several times their initial value, it's clear that overpricing is in the eye of the reseller, and as far as scalpers are concerned, 600 bucks is bargain pricing.

Mysteriously, tickets for the Newark shows are already being auctioned on eBay, even though a limited presale doesn't begin till Saturday and the general on-sale date isn't until Oct. 26. Six seats (or non-seats, actually) in the pit for the Dec. 15 show are being offered for a "buy it now" total of $49,999. Someone else is offering pairs of floor seats for $33,999 and $29,999 ("or best offer").

Do these scalpers already have those tickets somehow in hand to sell, or are they just optimistic about their many employees being able to break through the Ticketmaster firewall when ducats do go up for grabs? Possibly only the New Jersey attorney general knows for sure. (Source)

Click here to read the rest of the article..

I personally wouldn't go to a Stones show if you paid me, but that's just me, and my musical tastes. But something is seriously wrong when these guys have to charge SO much for a freaking ticket to see them! I remember when you could go to a concert AND buy a t-shirt for under $40! Those were the days.

/rant

So, with that in mind... here is RUSH, live in Columbus, OH, Sep. 20, 2012:

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Fantasy Players Need More Options when Ranking Players!

The image is tiny on purpose. (It's not my point for you to look at it.)

The sooner that fantasy football sites allow its owners to upload a .txt file (or .wpd, or similar) of their player rankings list -- the better. The only option is to drag and drop each of about 150-200 players in your own order, and if you use a personal list that you've spent a lot of time compiling, it's worse than if you are lazy and want to use whatever list there is available to you! It really sucks to spend two hours ranking players at Yahoo, which is otherwise a

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VERY good free site for fantasy football. Even the site I pay $150 for my 14-year league has no better option.

Online fantasy football has been around now for how many years? 14? 15? Why can't they figure out this part? With all the other improvements each host site makes every year, I keep waiting for this one, but it never happens, and I'm challenging them NOW.

Huge sigh!!

And end rant.

Not True!

Via

"1400 feet per second"   is a velocity.. a speed. Velocity = Distance ÷ Time

This means Time = Distance ÷ Velocity.

So.. the image should read: "The response time of a .357 is the distance from your target divided by 1400." At 14 feet, this would be 1/100 of a second. At 140 feet, one-tenth of a second. At 1400 feet, or a little over a quarter mile, it would take 1 second.

Get it right people!!

/rant

C'Mon Man

Was it bothering anyone else that the Monday Night Football announcers for the San Diego/Kansas City game kept pronouncing Ryan Succop's name as "Ryan Suck-Up"??

I mean get with the program everyone.. How do you pronounce the name Philip (or Phillip)?

It's " `Fill - ǝp" That's an upside down 'e' and it's called a "schwa". It denotes a neutral pronunciation sound, which is present in thousands of English words, as a part of the NON-STRESSED syllable of 2-syllable words.

Same thing with syrup.

You don't say "Sear Up"... nor do you say "Phil Up." The accents are on the 1st syllables. `Sear-ǝp AND `Phil-ǝp

`Suck-ǝp

Everyone try it now..


Thank you. /End rant

Nancy Nograce

"Whether people like it or not, the truth is the truth" -- Nancy Grace

Yeah.. Take some of your own medicine, woman! The trial is over. The prosecutors did not present nearly enough clear evidence to prove that "Tot mom" killed her daughter. You've gotta live with it. Move on.. Find another story to fascinate you, and ride its coattails to your journalistic heart's content. Leave this one alone.

By the way, take Jane Velez-Mitchell with you!

/rant

NCAA Tourney Field Cut In Half

Why didn't the NCAA tournament committee attach all four play-in games to all four #1 seeds? Instead two of them are two 12-seeds (winner plays a 5-seed), and two 11-seeds (winner plays a 6-seed).

So they apparently sort-of rank all 68 teams. Then they sort-of put them all into regions based upon location. This process is apparently allowed to alter a team's seed by 1 or 2 - just to get them in the right region of 4 regions. A great example is Texas probably should've been a 3-seed, if not a 2 even, but were given a 4-seed to alleviate a ton of traveling. WTF?

Okay okay. I can swallow that, I guess, but why is it necessary? I mean UTSA had to travel all the way to Dayton, Ohio to play Alabama State in their play-in game. Is that because if they win (which they did) they'd be right there to play none other than Ohio State basically at home? I laugh at this.

Virginia Commonwealth U. had to travel to Dayton to play (gulp) USC for their play-in game, in which the winner would go to Chicago to play Georgetown. That makes a ton of sense! Props to VCU though for proving all the "experts" wrong. They were one of two teams who Jay Bilas and others said should absolutely not even be dancing. Alabama Birmingham and Clemson also had to go all the way to Dayton to play for the right to play West Virginia back in Tampa. Ehh.. North Carolina Asheville & Arkansas Little Rock did the same for a chance to play Pittsburgh - in Washington D.C.

If it's gonna be a priority WHERE teams play, then make it as such. Otherwise, rank the teams, give the bottom 8 teams 4 games to play all four #1 seeds, and let's get on with it.

Oh.. and one last thing: I agree that the Big East is a great basketball conference. OK I agree. But 11 teams? That's ridiculous. You're rewarding teams who are in the bottom half of their conference - for (what?) playing teams in their own conference. Stupid. But hey I loved Marquette going in. But giving them an 11 seed to play a 6-seeded Xavier? Sorry - The Atlantic 10 might deserve 3 teams, but that conference isn't worthy of the respect to have its champion play such a low big east team, let alone a team who didn't win its conference tournament.

So many things wrong. But hey - at least Texas won. Onto Anaheim to play Arizona for the right to play Duke. Wait a minute - Duke should be going to Newark.

NBA Dunk Contest Rant

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Is anyone else getting tired of these dunk contest participants having multiple tries to complete borderline asinine dunks? Get rid of the 2:00 clock. Give them 1 chance. You don't make it - too bad! OK maybe give them two tries.

What peeves me about this year's, which is almost over as we speak, is not only did several contestants take the whole two minutes, but McGee actually received a 50 for the two-basket dunk on about his 6th try!

And the props are getting ridiculous. Take a look at the highlights, and watch DeMar DeRozan's second dunk of the first-round dunk a few minutes ago. I think it scored a 50, and it was worth every point. Simple, sweet, complex, first try...

And Blake Griffin's in-game throw-down dunk from above the rim was better than all these in this contest.

UPDATE: I found a highlight video, and have posted it below. DeMar DeRozan's 2nd dunk, which received a 50, begins at 1:19. Notice he never touches the ball with his left hand at all.


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Math Rant

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OK it's time for another one of my mini math rants! So most of you have probably seen this somewhere already this year (personally I've seen it/heard it several times now, which is the reason for this post):

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates - 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11.

NOW go figure this out: Take the last 2 digits of the year you were born plus the age you will be this year and it will equal to 111.

Yeah - and last year it totaled 110. And the year before it totaled 109... and so on. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you take the current year (2011) and subtract from it the year you were born (1971, in my case), that viola! What do you get? YOUR AGE! Duh! It's the same freakin' thing!

/that's all.