The Last Ephor

News/Talk 750 WSB's Chris Krok takes on a taser Why do people do these things?

The Sunlight Foundation has caught Hastert in his hand the cookie jar. Hastert, of course, isn't happy. In fact, he's sent his lawyers after them. Here is the response from, and to, Speaker Hastert's Attorney . Read the whole thing. I hope they stay on him. I think Sunlight is my new favorite group.

SawStop . A lifesaver. My dad needs one of these. He nearly cut his finger off the day before my wedding.

What the hell is wrong with Japanese people?

Mystery Pollster has a fascinating article about Military Social Conservatives . Some very surprising results. The one about gun control initially surprised me but these guys probably think that the average person needs much more instruction and plus, they've seen accidents first hand. At least, that's my guess. Read the whole thing.

54:53 Great save by Keller 54:53 - 75:03 More acting by Ghana. 75:24 Finally one goes our way. The ref overlooks a trip by Olsen. He's going off on a stretcher!? Are you insane!? He deserves a card for that shit. New rule: you go off on a stretcher, you cannot come back in for a minimum of 10 minutes. 78:27 Again with the drama. Anything to run down the clock. (yes I know there is injury time but this is designed to kill US momentum) 80:14 Flagrant, flagrant foul by Mehnsa (sp?) We need a goal right now. 81:00 Horrible Donovan, horrible. He hit the friggin reporters. Italy up 2-0. You can't say they didn't do their part. 82:15 "Landon Donovan has not been a factor in this game" -Balboa Excatly. 85:00 Time is running out. We can't even put the ball on net. Pingpong the actor strikes again. 89:00 Italy wins. 91:00 Shot! Blocked! 93:44 Announcers putting the final nails in the US coffin. 94:25 Another blown opporutnity. Send to Convey and it goes out...

OK, rather than a zillion one liner posts (what else is new) I'm going to combine the updates Update: Italy Scores! Go Italy! 27:43 Ghana's goalkeeper is looking for an Emmy for best actor. 28:11 AAAGH! Pingpong scares the crap out of the US team by shooting just wide of the net. Watch those corners Kasey! 30:42 Reyna's absence is noticable. The US team has backed off and Ghana is pressing their advantage. 32:10 Foul for Ghana that Balboa says shouldn't be a card. I'm not so sure. 36:10 Donovan shoots wide. A missed opportunity. 38:38 Beautiful cross by Lewis but nobody there to put it away. Argh! 40:00 Reyna out. Oh boy. 41:14 More acting by Ghana. Cheap bastards. 42:52 GOAL USA! 46:00 BULLSHIT!!!!!! Worst officiating ever! I have no doubt that these refs have it in for the US. So pissed off. Halftime and the crowd roars it's disapproval. Rightly so.

OK, rather than a zillion one liner posts (what else is new) I'm going to combine the updates Update: Italy Scores! Go Italy! 27:43 Ghana's goalkeeper is looking for an Emmy for best actor. 28:11 AAAGH! Pingpong scares the crap out of the US team by shooting just wide of the net. Watch those corners Kasey! 30:42 Reyna's absence is noticable. The US team has backed off and Ghana is pressing their advantage. 32:10 Foul for Ghana that Balboa says shouldn't be a card. I'm not so sure. 36:10 Donovan shoots wide. A missed opportunity. 38:38 Beautiful cross by Lewis but nobody there to put it away. Argh! 40:00 Reyna out. Oh boy. 41:14 More acting by Ghana. Cheap bastards. 42:52 GOAL USA! 46:00 BULLSHIT!!!!!! Worst officiating ever! I have no doubt that these refs have it in for the US. So pissed off. Halftime and the crowd roars it's disapproval. Rightly so.

Update: Disaster. A goal and Claudio Reyna injured. If he can't get back in the game, we're in deep trouble.

Update: Referees seem to have it in for the US. They're passing on fouls that are far rougher than the ones that garnered a yellow card for Eddie Lewis

Update: US off to a strong start. They're pressing hard on offense and playing to win. Update 2: Yellow card for Ghana. Very early for a card. Looks like another game with tight officiating.

WOW! Huge crowd of US supporters. The roar that went up when the US national anthem started was tremendous. Thousands singing as loud as they can. Makes me proud that they have so many supporting them.

WOW! Huge crowd of US supporters. The roar that went up when the US national anthem started was tremendous. Thousands singing as loud as they can. Makes me proud that they have so many supporting them.

GO USA!!! Ok, this is it. Do or die time. The US needs to win big over Ghana today and the two yellow cards against Italy may come back to haunt us. Let's hope not. I'll be liveblogging updates.

Maillardet's Automaton . Fascinating. I'd love to know more about how this works. Imagine what might have been if others had followed on in his footsteps. So much is lost from generation to generation because such geniuses work in isolation. Now with the interweb each isolated genius can share his work and his knowledge and push us further forward.

Now, this is a view . Not bad.

De la Where: Another installment of vote Republican . *Sigh* I like De La Where's blog. They're good guys and respectful of commenters (unlike some people who shall remain nameless). However, they don't understand basic economics. Artificial influence on market mechanisms distort those markets and create more problems than they solve. As this report notes, increasing minimum wage laws increases unemployment. That is not what is intended. The idea is to give poor people more money in their pocket so they can get a leg up. However, these laws actually create more poor people by employing fewer of them. Similarly, any forced wage increases are immediately by a rise in attentant prices. It's a form of inflation and it's counterproductive. If you're going to make it $7.25 that's an annual salary of $15,704. Can you raise a family on that? Not really. How much do you have to make to support a family? Let's assume that we can support ourselves o...

New Border Chief: Walls Are Not the Answer . Heavens no! We don't want to secure the borders or anything. Let's change this man's job and see if the result changes. "New Bank President: Vault not the answer". You can't prevent money from being stolen at the teller's window so why bother with a vault? They'll just break into that too. Would you invest in that bank? Let them hold your money?

Southern San Andreas fault waiting to explode . Fearmongering. I've been hearing about "The Big One" since I was child and I'm sure it's been happening since well before then. A serious quake of 8 or more would be very very costly and deadly. To think of it gives me a knot in my stomach. I know the day is coming, I just hope it's a very long way off. I have no doubt that George W. Bush will be blamed for any damage and/or problems after such a disaster.

Cox & Forkum: Valor Blind . Precisely. Sad but true.