UFC 104

Posted on by georgefattell

Predictions: I think Lyoto Machida will defeat in Shogun Rua in the Light Heavyweight fight. Rua appears to be good condition again and poses a threat to Machida, but I have go with Machida in this fight because he is undefeated and has the skills to deal with anything Rua will throw at him imo. Right now I think there is only one fighter in the UFC that Machida would be an underdog to and that fighter is Anderson Silva.

In the Heavyweight bout I predict Ben Rothwell will defeat Cain Velasquez. This is a tough call because I have not seen Rothwell fight at all and I have only seen Velasquez once, in his fight against Kongo. I’m basing my pick on what I saw in that fight. Velasquez displayed his great wrestling ability against Kongo and that is what carried him to victory in that fight, but he also showed that he vulnerable to big fighters that punch hard. Kongo dropped Velasquez a couple times but could not capitalize on due to his lack wrestling ability. Once the fight went to the ground Velasquez was able to recover and gain the upper hand. Rothwell has extensive MMA experience and appears to be a much better all around fighter than Kongo and at 6′ 5″, 260 lbs he has a significant size advantage over Velasquez, who is 6’1″, 240 lbs. So, even though Rothwell is the underdog I think he can take Cain Velasquez.

I think both fights will be very competitive and hard fought. I expect both to end by KO or TKO.

NFL 2009 – Week V

Posted on by georgefattell

Can’t wait to see how my newly revamped Fantasy Football team performs tomorrow. All my players, with one exception, play in early games so I will find out soon. I reluctantly traded Eli Manning, but I considered him too much of a risk for the game against Oakland. If he plays he could have a big game, but based on the media reports it sounds like a toss up. Not too worried though because I replaced him with a very solid QB who should have a good game on Sunday. I’ll post my line-up, with some comments, after the games start (Gotta maintain operational security) .

UPDATE Post game comments:

My team was good, but not great, this week. That’s OK though, I wanted some production from everyone and most of my guys racked up at least decent point totals. Here is my team this week:

QB’s: Flacco & Roethlisberger. RB’S: Ray Rice & Brandon Jacobs. WR’s: Hines Ward, Steve Smith, Patrick Crayton. TE: Brent Celek. K: David Akers and Defense: NY Giants.

I’ve got one RB playing tonight and he has a big game I should have a respectable point total for this week. I’m especially pleased with the Giant D. They piled up 6 sacks and nearly shutout Oakland.

My favorite Liberals

Posted on by georgefattell

I think I’m going to add a section to my Links column call Favorite Liberals or maybe Liberals Worth Reading. It won’t be a long list, but I think there are a few prominent liberals who are sensible (or at least thought provoking) at times, who write well and whose views are worth consideration from time to time. For starters I will include Robert Reeeeeeeichaaa (as Rush pronounces his name, Cornel West and Camille Pagilia. Gotta think hard about who else might be might be suitable for this small group. Keith Olbermann will not make the cut.

America’s Smartest Cities – From First to Worst – The Daily Beast

Posted on by georgefattell

America’s Smartest Cities – From First to Worst – The Daily Beast

Posted using ShareThis

Here was the Top Ten:

1. Raleigh-Durham

2. San Francisco-Oakland

3. Boston

4. Minneapolis-St. Paul

5. Denver

6. Hartford-New Haven

7. Seattle(tie) & Washington DC

9. Portland (OR)

10. Baltimore

NYC was #13, San Diego #20, Los Angeles #27 and Vegas was next to last at #54.

Air Show 2009 at MCAS Miramar

Posted on by georgefattell

100_1861

I visited Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Saturday to catch the annual Air Show and it did not disappoint. The weather was great this year and there was an impressive collection of aircraft on display, although I did note that there were no B-1’s on the tarmac this year. I guess all the B-1’s are being put to use right now and that is fine. Better that they are Afghanistan or Iraq or some other place where they can help our troops. Of course, the Navy Blue Angels were there and they provided great entertainment with their spectacular formation flying and stunts.

I took quite a few pictures at the show this year, but I really could not capture many good shots of planes in flight with my point and shoot Kodak. It is a great little camera for static objects, but it is not well suited for taking pictures of high performance aircraft on the go. Still, I Iike many of the pictures I did get. There is no substitute for being there, but I think my pictures do illustrate the wide variety of aircraft at the show and the large scale of the event.

Honda CR-Z

Posted on by georgefattell

The new Honda CR-Z
The new Honda CR-Z

Honda recently rolled out the latest version of their new CR-Z hybrid coupe a few days ago at the Tokyo Auto Show. I saw a concept version of this vehicle at the LA Auto Show last year and was very impressed by it. This design is very similar, but clearly more refined. The production version, due to be released in Japan next February, should be very close to the car pictured above. I’ve read that the CR-Z should be priced in the $19,000 to $25,000 range. That is a little further upscale than the Honda CR-X, which inspired this car, but think the CR-Z is a fitting successor to bold little hatchback that Honda introduced back in 1983. If this car delivers high milage and drives like a true sports car this thing will be a big hit imo.

The CR-Z may indeed redefine Honda as at least an equal to Toyota in the auto world in terms of hybrid innovation and leadership. The much hyped Honda Insight has failed to that, but the striking little coupe might.

Update

Various web sites report that the CR-Z will have 1.5-liter engine that should produce 140 hp. Given the light weight of this vehicle that might should give it enough power to at least make it fun. The CR-Z is not going to win any drag races with a Corvette or a Ferrari, but it should be able to compete with the Scion tC, Mini Cooper and other sporty cars in the 17k to 25k range.

There are also reports that Honda will introduce a hybrid version of the Fit, also using a 1.5-liter engine. I think that car would be very popular, but it would probably steal sales from the Insight. That’s OK though. The Fit is superior platform. Once the Hybrid Fit is up and running I think Honda should discontinue the Insight or redesign it, make it larger and move it further upscale to complete with midsize hybrids.

NFL 2009 – Week III

Posted on by georgefattell

My FF team performed very well this week. I just took a look at the scores of the other teams in my league and it looks like I will come in 1st or 2nd this week and maintain my overall #1 position (our league has 10 teams). The weak link in my team this week was Matt Ryan, who had a subpar game up at NE. To make matters worse I sold Ben Rothlisberger to get Ryan and Big Ben posted very good numbers, even though the Steelers lost a close game to Bengals. It is clear to me that the Steelers miss Troy Palamalu a lot. I used the Steeler defense for the first two weeks but switched to the Raven D for Week III. I won’t consider buying the Steeler D again until Troy is healthy and back on the field.

A high tech “Green” addition to Little Italy

Posted on by georgefattell
This new mixed use building in SD's Little Italy is called the Q.
This new mixed use building in San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood is called the Q.

I was riding my bike through Little Italy and other neighborhoods in downtown San Diego this afternoon and came across the nearly completed Q building. This building makes use of a variety of new technologies, including solar power, to make it a “Green” building which meets or exceeds LEED standards. I’ve watched as work on this building progressed during the course of the last year and wondered how it would ultimately turn out. I’m not sure everyone in that neighborhood likes this building because it is so large and the contemporary design represents a distinct departure from some of the old buildings that line India Street. But I like the way the building stands out. It is daring and, yes, it is relatively tall, but at 7 stories it doesn’t overpower the surrounding structures in my opinion. It is only a few blocks from the bay and I’m sure the upper floors provide great views of centre city and the bay.

NFL 2009 – Week II

Posted on by georgefattell

Happy to see that the Colts just beat the Fins in the closing minutes and covered too! That leaves me with a 9 win 7 loss record vs the spread in week 2, after getting off to a rocky start of 7 and 9 in week 1.

I always find games in the first three or four especially tough to call because you just don’t know how well new players and/or coaches are going to mix with their teams. The Jets are a good example. I have been pleasantly surprised at how good the rookie QB Sanchez is and how tough their D is under Rex Ryan. I thought it was mistake for the Jets to talk trash before the game against NE, but they are backing up the talk so far.