Hot shit news of the day

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060217/od_nm/australia_poo1_dc

Got My Exercise Last Night

When I got home from work, it was cold and nippy, and I decided on my walk to the mailbox to wait till Saturday to do the patio. But as soon as I got inside and had to climb over the azaleas to turn on the livingroom heater, my mind was changed. Pumpkin and Domino both making noises by the patio door also helped.

So I donned my Seahawks parka, which is the warmest jacket I have in the downstairs closet, and set to work. It didn't take long - maybe half an hour - thanks to having planned this out in my head.
( It went like this )

That done, I settled into the recliner in the livingroom with a glass of diet cola and the TiVo remote, and caught up on The Daily Show and couple of days of Olympics. I mostly fast-forwarded through that. More on that in a later post.

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( A ripping good time..sort of )

Fast Forwarding The Olympics

Last night I caught up on a couple of days' worth of Olympics on TiVo, and spent far too much of the time in fast forward, and also too much time on "mute". There were three basic reasons I hit the FF:

1. Way too many commercials.
   • Get a clue, NBC - charge more per minute and sell fewer minutes.
2. Boring in-depth biographies of the athletes
   • How about putting those on CNBC, and leave the main channel for the actual sports?
3. Instant replay overload
• When you have TiVo, you don't need replays
• They could fit twice as many competitors in the same time-delayed broadcast without the replays

I also fast-forwarded past events I was not interested in seeing, but I won't hold that against NBC - IMHO the more coverage, the better. This year the men's singles figure skating looked entirely too gay, especially the guy in the gold-on-black matador outfit. And there are only so many times I can watch men ski downhill before they all look alike to me.

The women's luge was pretty exciting, but the camera crew, board operator and director sucked lemons. They were often late changing cameras, and the cameras were often not pointed at the sled until after it was gone. It's a fast sport, but the men's luge coverage, which is a faster course, was excellent. I should also say that I was sorry to see so many women crash during this event, but was happy to see the quick emergency response, and even happier to see they were not badly injured. One woman who crashed -Natalia Yakushenko of the Ukraine - even managed to get back on her sled at 70 mph and finish the heat.

As for being on mute, it's my same complaint as football - the commentators just never shut up. A few words about the athlete and the standings are fine, but I really don't need those guys in my ear non-stop. It's TV, not radio, let the visuals carry the story.

Text of Olympic Birdshot-catcher Gold medalist

As with everything, juicy snippets of the statement by harry Whittington, the guy Cheney shot, are being taken out of context. So as a public service, here's the complete text:

Good Afternoon.

All of you in the media have been very patient in waiting for me to make my appearance here. I hope you understand. I’m sorry I delayed you, but I know your role is to get the news out to the public. I compliment you on what you’ve done. I’ve read and seen many of your reports and I know your job isn’t easy. I regret that I couldn’t have been here earlier so you could see what a lucky person I am.

For many years my family has been friends with the Armstrongs down in Kenedy County. We have visited with them for over 25 years and have had some wonderful trips and visits – pleasant memories that we cherish forever. However, this past weekend encompassed all of us in a cloud of misfortune and sadness that is not easy to explain – especially to those who are not familiar with the great sport of quail hunting.

We all assume certain risks in whatever we do, whatever activities we pursue. And regardless of how experienced, careful and dedicated we are, accidents do and will happen – and that’s what happened last Friday.

I am very grateful and want to thank all the people that remembered me in their prayers and the kindness you have extend to my family that’s been here this week.

My family and I are deeply sorry for all that vice president Cheney has had to go through this past week. We send our love and respect to them as they deal with situations that are much more serious than what we’ve had this week. And we hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves.

I also thank all of you for understanding the best you can that medical attention was very important to someone my age. And you haven’t failed to give my age.

Finally, I want to say there’re simply not adequate words to express my gratitude and appreciation to the very talented physicians, medical staff, nurses, of this great Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital system, here in Corpus Christi and in Kingsville. They’ve given me exceptional treatment, care and compassion for which I’m very grateful. They are truly remarkable servants of God and I’m extremely blessed for all they’ve done.

Thank you.