What’s in a Name?

Posted on February 4, 2014 by wellsdc

I’m throwing in for the Change the Mascot cause, because it is the right thing to do. It’s not about political correctness, or team history, or anything else people have thrown out as excuses. It’s about not being an asshole. It’s basically the absolute bare minimum our society can do.

Luckily, this video presents a far greater argument than I ever could (h/t PZ Myers):

Another thing: In 1997, Abe Pollin made the decision to change the name of Washington’s NBA team almost unilaterally, and the city survived, so don’t give us any crap about history or tradition, please. Pollin himself explained:

Believe me when I say it was not an easy decision [to change the team’s name]. I won a World Championship under the name Bullets. However, too often during the mid to late ‘90s, I would hear the word “bullets” associated with guns and violence instead of my basketball team. While the name was longstanding, I finally reached a point that I was simply tired of the association between the two. Then, my good friend, Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated in Israel. That was the final straw. It was time to change names. With regard to the name “Wizards,” we held a three-tiered contest to determine a new name. The name “Wizards” was selected by the fans and has adorned our uniforms since that time.

Football and Me: A Story of Indifference

Posted on February 2, 2014 by wellsdc

By vectorbelly.com

When I was in college, a guy in my dorm wrote a column in the school newspaper’s sports page (which is, remarkably, available online) describing Texas football as a religion:

Growing up here, I have come to the conclusion that football is the official state religion of Texas.

Many Southern Baptists might disagree with me on this point, but I have yet to see a church that holds 60,000 followers or that has carpet which rivals the colorful plushness of Astro-Turf.

Football is as ingrained in our culture as the sacred word “y’all.” To a native Texan, a football stadium is a cathedral to which he must diligently make a pilgrimage on weekends.

Football is a faith with three holy days a week. The fall season means high school games on Friday nights, college games on Saturday afternoons, and professional games on Sundays.

I always thought that was a great observation, but if football really is a religion in Texas, then it is another way that I am an atheist.

Today being Super Bowl Sunday & all, it seemed like a good day to mention it. Or not. Whatever.

I’ve tried to like football. I really, really tried. I’ll watch a game and enjoy it now and then, but that’s not what I mean. Despite my descent from a long and proud line of Texas Longhorns, and despite more than 14 years of living within a few miles of Darrell K. Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium itself, I have never truly bled burnt orange. I might have watched the ‘Horns win the National Championship in 2006, but I was a fair-weather fan to my very core.

By Eric R from Scranton, PA, USA (2006 Rose Bowl Celebration) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This was pretty f-ing epic, though.

It’s not just the Longhorns, either. I cared a bit about the Rice Owls in college, but students paid for tickets with their tuition and the student section never filled up, so why the hell not? Everyone who was there at the time remembers October 16, 1994, the moment when everyone was united, if only for one day, in passionate Rice Owls fandom.

I never much cared about the Cowboys, and I was neither happy nor sad when the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee. I cared some about my high school team (Go Mules!), but at least there I actually knew some of them.

At some point, I finally accepted that I just don’t care about football, and social conventions be damned, I can’t force myself to be more interested. YMMV. Continue reading →

Panem et Circenses, American-Style

Posted on January 24, 2014 by wellsdc

By WolfgangRieger [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Over the past day or two, I have rather cynically shook my head at people taking to Facebook, Twitter, etc. to decry the proles’ shallow fixation on the latest Justin Bieber news—something about eggs and drag racing—to the apparent exclusion of more important concerns.

I generally figure that people’s preference for bread and circuses is a persistent feature of society, and has been since we first started having societies—and with them, issues of societal importance for people to ignore. Then I saw this headline, and decided it’s worth being at least a bit annoyed: “Watch a congresswoman discussing the NSA get interrupted for ‘breaking news’ on Justin Bieber’s arrest.”

The extremely cynical and conspiracy-minded among us might think that this was a deliberate distraction, orchestrated by the network or even by a government that only pretends to be just marginally competent. I, on the other hand, am thinking this was more likely to have been a combination of unfortunate timing and a hasty programming decision.

Would they have interrupted a report on, say, one of the Kardashians to report on Bieber? Who the hell knows? The fact is that Bieber seems more like news than the NSA to whomever runs these shows, and that’s more likely to be because they think more people will tune in for Bieber. In that sense, I guess I join those who bemoan the hoi polloi’s fixation on seemingly trivial entertainment news (more on the idea of triviality below.) Continue reading →

Gen X Is Getting Old

Posted on January 19, 2014 by wellsdc

The other day, I read that the Super Bowl’s organizers booked the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the halftime show in order to appeal to an older audience. This is one of those “Gosh, I feel old” moments.

I really do hope Gen X doesn’t get as insufferable as the Boomers about getting old, and besides, getting old should not be viewed as somehow inherently bad. Some of the most awesome people in entertainment (where youth might as we be actual currency, like Bitcoin) aren’t exactly spring chickens (cough, Maggie Smith).

Of course, then you see some proof that an icon of your youth has marched through time at the same rate as you, and you can’t help but feel the weight of a few years. I’m talking, of course, about the baby on the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind (h/t Maredith): Continue reading →

You Will Never Be as Awesome as Christopher Lee

Posted on January 12, 2014 by wellsdc

Nowadays, most people know Christopher Lee as Saruman the White or Count Dooku. He was awesome as Saruman, but since I generally prefer to pretend that the Star Wars prequel trilogy never happened, I shall withhold opinion on Count Dooku. He’s also one-third of the triumvirate of what I call the awesome old horror actors, the others being Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. (He’s also the only one of the three to live to see the new millennium.)

As this infographic shows, Christopher Lee’s badassery runs deep (h/t Marc): Continue reading →

Building Evergreen Terrace

Posted on January 9, 2014 by wellsdc

Someone built the Simpsons house out of over 2,500 LEGO pieces (h/t Kevin). You can have one of your very own for only $200!

Via legosaurus.com

This is an impressive feat, no doubt, but let us never forget that a life-sized, true-color Simpsons house once existed in Las Vegas.

Via gizmodo.com

Alas, the life-sized Simpsons house is no more, but its legend lives on.

New Year’s Boogaloo, I Mean, Resolution (UPDATED)

Posted on January 1, 2014 by wellsdc

My wife and I decided to spend New Year’s Eve watching ~~crappy~~ distinctive movies. She suggested we watch the classic 1984 film Breakin’, but we couldn’t find it on any streaming service (plus, I distrust any and all torrenting services ever since I thought I was downloading a Simpsons episode but actually got…..nope, still don’t wanna talk about it.) I was able to find Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo on Netflix Instant, but was too tired, and still recovering from a cold—I suggested we watch it on New Year’s Day instead.

Here’s the catch, of course: my assumption was that just because a movie is available for streaming today it’ll still be available tomorrow, and sometimes there’s no reason to assume that. It was removed from Netflix Instant today.

We were still able to watch it by signing up for a free Amazon Prime trial, but I think the lesson is clear here: Never hesitate should an opportunity present itself. It’s not much of a New Year’s resolution, but resolutions are stupid anyway.

UPDATE (01/01/2014): After about an hour of techno-wrangling, we were able to watch the original Breakin’ via YouTube streamed to the TV.

Photo credit: Via boxofficeprophets.com.

Famous Fictional ENFP’s

Posted on December 27, 2013 by wellsdc

I don’t put much stock in the Myers-Briggs personality test—I rate them somewhere above palm readers, but below tarot cards. I do occasionally find it intriguing to see what anonymous researchers summarize about me. Someone has compiled a list of fictional characters based on their Myers-Briggs type, using a methodology they describe as “the best guesses of lots of fans” (h/t Michelle).

For those unfamiliar with the test, you can read about it Continue reading →

Historical Illiteracy

Posted on December 21, 2013 by wellsdc

The brouhaha over that Duck Dynasty guy losing one public forum to spew ignorance has really brought out the wacky (h/t BooMan):

Embattled “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson has been suspended from his show by A&E for his remarks about gays and African-Americans, and now some high-profile conservatives are rallying to his side and defending him. On Friday, GOP congressional candidate Ian Bayne went all in, comparing Robertson to civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

“In December 1955, Rosa Parks took a stand against an unjust societal persecution of black people, and in December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians,” Bayne said in an email to supporters.

“What Parks did was courageous,” he added. “What Mr. Robertson did was courageous too.”

This is so beyond the realm of the merely stupid that it makes me sad. Continue reading →

This Is Why We Need Health Care Reform