Islam must turn other cheek | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Posted on by georgefattell

Islam must turn other cheek | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

Key quote:

If Muslim sensibilities are so tender they can’t ignore the bizarre rants of an insignificant American fanatic then this is a culture with a serious anger management issue, and one the West can’t help with.

There’s no way to head-off every potential slight to Islam. Last time it was Danish cartoons, this time it’s a Pentecostal pew jumper who lays down his snakes to strike a match.

Tomorrow, an atheist in Italy may name his dog Mohammad, or a biker in Australia will have a likeness of the prophet tattooed on his backside.

The only answer is for Islam to grow up. Religion invites antagonism; get used to it.

On the Set: ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ – latimes.com

Posted on by georgefattell

On the Set: ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ – latimes.com.

I am hopeful that Wall St. II  will be a worthy successor to Oliver Stone’s 1980’s classic.  Stone has had an incredible career and assembled a very impressive body of work. I think he has to considered one the best directors of the last 30 years. Is Stone a big liberal? Absolutely. Do some of his films have pronounced leftist slant? Yes. I personally don’t subscribe to Stone’s political views, but I admire most of his film work.

Here is a link to one of my favorite scenes from the original Wall Street:

Gordon Gekko vs Sir Larry Wildman

It is very ironic that Gordon Gekko became a hero for many Wall Street traders (unfortunately, in retrospect, that was a sign of trouble ahead). That was not intention of Stone and Douglas. However, Douglas is such a good actor that he made the Gekko character a very compelling “bad guy”. Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor for this great performance.

Paglia on Gaga

Posted on by georgefattell

Camile Paglia always has interesting insights on our culture and politics. Paglia sets her sights on Stefani Germanotta aka Lady Gaga in this piece for The Sunday Times Lady Gaga and the death of sex, (Hat tip to Drudge for posting this).

Key quote:

Gaga has borrowed so heavily from Madonna (as in her latest video-Alejandro) that it must be asked, at what point does homage become theft? However, the main point is that the young Madonna was on fire. She was indeed the imperious Marlene Dietrich’s true heir. For Gaga, sex is mainly decor and surface; she’s like a laminated piece of ersatz rococo furniture.

Fantasy Football: QB change

Posted on by georgefattell

I dropped Tom Brady and replaced him with San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers. Of course, I was concerned about Brady’s health because of the car accident he was involved in last Thursday. I think highly of both Brady and Rivers as QB’s so the switch was not a difficult decision. Brady appears to be OK, but upon further study I feel more comfortable with Rivers because the Chargers have a very favorable schedule the for the first 6 games of the season. So, I’m sticking with Rivers and hoping that I can maintain him as one of my QB’S at least until the bye week for SD.

Fantasy Football Week 1 update

Posted on by georgefattell

I am fielding two teams on Rotohog this season. One in a league that I put together for the group that I played with last year on the Sporting News site and one in a another league that was open to the public, which invited “Serious Fantasy Fans”. OK, we will see. Being new to the Rotohog site I actually purchased my second team by accident in the process of setting up our league. Unfortunately, I can’t gift that team to someone else, but that is OK. This will provide me with an opportunity to experiment with different rosters in a way I was unable to last year with one team. I have completed selecting players for both teams and they are very different teams. They only have two players and the defense in common at this point.

Should be fun. I can’t wait for Thursday to arrive.

The New iPod Touch

Posted on by georgefattell

Over the weekend I had a chance to watch the Steve Jobs intro of the new iPod Touch last Wednesday in San Francisco on Apple’s site and I’m really impressed by the upgraded version of this iPod. I think Apple hit it out the park again! Jobs noted that the Touch has become the largest selling iPod of all time and went on to describe the improvements to the new model. The Touch now sports the same Apple designed A-4 chip as the iPhone 4, it also now has the Retina Display, which is a 960 x 640 LCD display, as well as front and back video cameras. The Touch can record in HD and enable users to video chat via a feature called Face Time with other Apple devices that are Face Time capable. Right now that means iPhone 4 and the Touch, but in the not too distant future that will probably include all new Mac’s and iPads. That is huge imo.

Interestingly, Jobs at one point in the presentation of the Touch referred to it as an “iPhone without a contract”. I can see the Touch becoming a primary communications device for some people, especially students and others who are more budget conscious (The Touch starts at $229.00). The advancement of VOIP apps , social networking apps and conventional e-mail apps will enable Touch users to communicate quite effectively anytime they in a wifi hot-spot and those have become quite ubiquitous.

Fantasy Football: NFL 2010 Season

Posted on by georgefattell

I’m preparing for my own competition in the NFL this season via my fantasy football team, the Warthogs. I will be playing in a Salary Cap league on the Rotohog site this year.

I played in a similar league last year on The Sporting News site and performed pretty well, finishing in the top 5% of all players on that site and winning the league I was in. The Sporting News discontinued their fantasy sports sites this year, hence the move to Rotohog.

How does our league work? The Rotohog site provides the following explanation:

In Premier Salary Cap Football, you’re the General Manager of your own football team! We give you 50,000,000 RotoHog Dollars to draft 11 players (2 QB, 3 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 Team Def.) who will score points for you based on how they play in real-life football games.

As GM, you use your 50,000,000 RHD salary cap to build the best football team you can afford. While they’re on your team, your players score RotoHog Points towards your season-long total by playing in real-life games. If one of your players is in a bad slump, or if he gets hurt, you can cut him and pick up another player to join your team, provided you can afford him. Manage your team wisely, though – you have a limited amount of moves you can make.

Premier Salary Cap Football also features a dynamic player price market – the only one of its kind. Every Monday at 11:00pm ET during the season, starting on Monday, Sept. 20th, player’s salaries are updated, rising or falling based on the trading activity by YOU, the GMs. Just like the stock market, you can increase your purchasing power by buying low and selling high.

Once the season has started I plan on posting my team roster and my thoughts on players that I think look like good values.

I welcome any suggestions for players. I’m always on the look out for diamonds in the rough.