Digital Impulses

Castro Quits

*Yawn*.

Cuba's official Communist state-run newspaper "Granma" published a letter today via the Internet only purporting to be from the beast himself, Castro wherein he states that "will not vie for nor accept the position of President" in the upcoming elections.

Until his carcass is paraded around in some glass coffin up and down the streets of La Habana, I could not give less of a fuck.

So he quit.  So his brother is now officially the next bastard henchman to continue to oppress the Cuban people.

So, what's new?  Exactly.  Like I said:

"Yawn".

A Vote For Mitt Romney

This evening the wife and I walked over to the Elementary school across the street from our house and voted in the California Primaries.

As we have for the last 20 years, we voted Republican and we cast a vote for Mitt Romney, as we believe he is the better choice over the centrist/liberal John McCain.

PROOF:

We are proud of the choice we made. Go Conservatism in the Spirit of the great Ronald Reagan.

Mitchell Report released: "Steroid use 'Widespread' in MLB"

Senator George Mitchell released his report on the results of his 20-month long investigation into the use of Steroids in Major League Baseball. The 409-page report paints a very bleak picture, stating that that Steroids use in Baseball is widespread, affects every single team and taints players at all positions.

No one was spared, including team presidents, owners, general managers, coaches, managers and trainers among those who *knew* this was taking place and did nothing to bring attention to it.

Mitchell states that he requested interviews with 'almost 500 players' and that of those, only 68 responded to his request.  Among the list of current and former players named in the report are:

• Barry Bonds
• Roger Clemens
• Andy Petite
• Jason Giambi
• Gary Sheffield
• Eric Gagne
• Paul Loduca
• Miguel Tejada
• Mark McGwire
• Sammy Sosa
• Rafael Palmeiro
• Troy Glaus
• Jeremy Giambi
• Gary Matthews Jr.
• Mo Vaughn
• Jose Canseco
• Mike Stanton
• Fernando Vina
• Kevin Brown
• Matt Herges
• Jose Guillen
• Frank Thomas
• John Rocker
• Ismael Valdez

This list I got from just a cursory perusal of the PDF version of the report that I downloaded from the http://www.sportszone.com website.

This is a hugantic, ginormous mess that MLB has on it hands, one that the sport has not seen since the 88-year old, so-called "Chicago Blacksox" scandal of 1919. It's going to take years for the sport to recover from this public relations black eye, if it ever does.

As far as I am concerned, MLB should, tomorrow morning, just wipe the slate clean and consider the past 15 to 20 years as part of the "Steroids Era" in the history of the sport.  Going forward, they should issue a ONE TIME ONLY PARDON to all current and former players who were a part of this era and just move forward.

Players who played during this era and accumulated Hall-Of-Fame worthy numbers should be judged solely on what they did ON THE FIELD (since it is almost impossible to know for sure who was cheating and who wasn't, i.e. if batters hit a lot of homeruns, they were almost certainly facing pitchers that were benefiting from stronger legs and arms as a result of the use of steroids).

In other words, Let Bonds McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Thomas, Griffey, Clemens, Petite and everyone else IN to the Hall if their stats are Hall worthy.  Put this shameful period behind us once and for all and let's have a fresh start.

HOWEVER, going forward, in order to slowly re-gain the trust of the public, MLB should issue an edict that states the following:

• "...Beginning with the 1st pitch of the 2008 Major League Baseball Season, any player testing positive for ANY banned substance is subject to IMMEDIATE EXPULSION from the game and is also subject to having their career statistical record EXPUNGED from the recorded annals of the game, as if they had never exsisted...'

Anything short of this sort of RADICAL, 100%, "Zero-Tolerance" policy and MLB will never remove the cloud of suspicion that is currenty hanging over it's collective body.

A sad, sad day in the history of Baseball.  Too bad.

Evel Knievel, dead at 69

From the AP:

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.

Although he dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, Knievel always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years. In later years he still made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.

I remember having some of his toys in the early 1970's, including getting a a cool-ass motorcycle that had EK as a posable action figure on it for my 7th birthday.  I could take the EK figure and make him stand on his head on the handlebars of his motorcycle.

RIP, Evel.  You thrilled us all.

HD-DVD Key

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Does the MPAA know I exsist?

Alex Rodriguez: Re-writing the record books

With all of the talk and focus on Barry Bond's pursuit of 'The Hammer' Hank Aaron, Alex Rodriguez is currently in the midst of an all-out assault on the record books.

Last night, A-Rod hit two more homers, giving him 14 for the season and 34 RBI's in the Yankees first 18 games.  At his current pace, A-Rod is on target to hit 126 homeruns and get 306 RBI's.  Obviously, he cannot possibly maintain this, but the possibilities of what he might do, just boggle the mind.

To wit: A-Rod is currently leading the Major Leagues with a .400 batting average, 14 home runs and 34 RBIs.  For the record that is TWICE as many homeruns and RBI's as the guy in 2nd place. TWICE. 

A-Rod is making a caricature of major league pitching right now, to the point where it seems like he and the other players are playing a totally different game.

Right now, it's not far-fetched, assuming he stays healthy, to see A-Rod with a realistic chance at Bond's all-time season record for HR's (73) and getting at least 150 RBI's.

We truly are seeing history being written almost on a daily basis. 

You know what?  This guy is the re-incarnation of Babe Ruth in 1919~1920, when Ruth was destroying HR records, at one point hitting 59 homeruns in one season, which was MORE than the TOTAL of any individual TEAM in the American League at the time.

Wow. I am thrilled to be alive at this point, getting to see this guy re-write baseball history. This is indescribably cool.

College Campus Shooting at Virginia Tech

Gunman, 32 Others Killed in Va. Shooting
In sad, shocking events, a crazed young adult went on a rampage in two separate incidents and shot up the campus of Virginia Tech University.

From the AP:

By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo
AP Photo/Eric Brady
AP VIDEO

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, shot up a classroom across campus Monday, killing 32 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. The gunman committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 33.

Students complained that there were no public-address announcements or other warnings on campus after the first burst of gunfire. They said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage - around the time the gunman struck again.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

"We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.

He defended the university's handling of the tragedy, saying: "We can only make decisions based on the information you had on the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it."

Investigators offered no motive for the attack. The gunman's name was not immediately released, and it was not known if he was a student.

The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus. Witnesses reporting students jumping out the windows of a classroom building to escape the gunfire. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive.

The massacre took place at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7:15 a.m. at West Ambler Johnston, a coed dormitory that houses 895 people, and continuing at least two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building about a half-mile away, authorities said.

Two people were killed in a dormitory room, and 31 others were killed in the engineering building, including the gunman, police said.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," Steger said. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."

Steger said the university decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means of notifying members of the university, but with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out. He said that before the e-mail went out, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms to notify them and sent people to knock on doors to spread the word.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum would not say how many weapons the gunman carried. But a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was incomplete, said that the gunman had two pistols and multiple clips of ammunition.

Police said they were still investigating the shooting at the dorm when they got word of gunfire at the classroom building.

Some students bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time.

"What happened today this was ridiculous," student Jason Piatt told CNN. "While they send out that e-mail, 20 more people got killed."

Students and Laura Wedin, a student programs manager at Virginia Tech, said the first notification they got of the shootings came in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m., more than two hours after the first shooting.

The e-mail had few details. It said: "A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating." The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.

Student Maurice Hiller said he went to a 9 a.m. class two buildings away from the engineering building, and no warnings were coming over the outdoor public address system on campus at the time.

Everett Good, junior, said of the lack of warning: "I'm trying to figure that out. Someone's head is definitely going to roll over that."

"We were kept in the dark a lot about exactly what was going on," said Andrew Capers Thompson, a 22-year-old graduate student from Walhalla, S.C.

At least 26 people were being treated at three area hospitals for gunshot wounds and other injuries, authorities said. Their exact conditions were not disclosed, but at least one was sent to a trauma center and six were in surgery, authorities said.

Up until Monday, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself.

The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.

Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage that took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the 28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death by police.

Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, about 160 miles west of Richmond. With more than 25,000 full-time students, it has the state's largest full-time student population. The school is best known for its engineering school and its powerhouse Hokies football team.

The rampage took place on a brisk spring day, with snow flurries swirling around the campus. The campus is centered around the Drill Field, a grassy field where military cadets - who now represent a fraction of the student body - once practiced. The dorm and the classroom building are on opposites sides of the Drill Field.

A gasp could be heard at a campus news conference early in the day when the police chief announced that at least 20 people had been killed. Previously, only one person was thought to have been killed.

A White House spokesman said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia.

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," spokeswoman Dana Perino said

After the shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed, and classes were canceled through Tuesday. The university set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children. It also made counselors available and planned an assembly for Tuesday at the basketball arena.

After the shooting began, students were told to stay inside away from the windows.

Aimee Kanode, a freshman from Martinsville, said the shooting happened on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her room. Kanode's resident assistant knocked on her door about 8 a.m. to notify students to stay put.

Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks by authorities but said they have not determined a link to the shootings.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.Last August, the opening day of classes was canceled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

Wow.  How terrible.  My heart goes out to the families of the victims in this senseless tragedy.

Iran releases 15 British prisioners.

TEHRAN, Iran —  Fifteen British sailors and marines seized by Iranian naval personnel have been pardoned and will be freed, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a press conference Wednesday, but he vowed his country would not tolerate invasions of its borders by any country.

CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and multiple other news agencies all over the Internet are reporting that Iran has released or is about to release the 15 British sailors that they have been holding as prisoners for over two weeks.

"I announce that the great people of Iran and the Islamic Republic, even having legal rights to try these military people, in honor of the prophet's birthday, will be freed as a gift to the people of the United Kingdom," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to reporters, clerics and civil servants at a small hall in Tehran.

Iranian state television said the crew would leave the country Thursday on a plane. However, a State Department official said to FOX News, "We are cautiously optimistic — but it ain't a done deal 'til they're out of Iranian airspace, just like the American hostages [in 1981]."

Comp-USA is closing over HALF of it's stores

In sad news, a breaking story all over the web is the decsion by the owners of the national retail chain of computer stores called 'Comp-USA".

I have been buying stuff at Comp-USA for at least 15 years and have known people who worked there.  The store that I go to in Redondo Beach on Hawthorne Blvd next to the South BAy Galleria, has been there since the early 90's and used to be further up Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance, CA.

Here is Comp-USA's official 'Realignment Strategy' announcement:

 

DALLAS, Feb. 27, 2007 - As part of its plan to realign the organization, CompUSA today announced a comprehensive strategy to improve the company's financial status. The realignment includes a cash infusion, store closures, major expense reductions and a corporate restructuring.

As part of CompUSA's realignment strategy, the company will receive a $440 million cash capital infusion. The financial boost will be designated to improve the company's balance sheet.

"Based on changing conditions in the consumer retail electronics market, the company identified the need to close and sell stores with low performance or non strategic, old store layouts and locations faced with market saturation. The process began last week with the closing of four CompUSA stores and over the next 60-90 days, the company will close a total of 126 stores in the United States to focus on initiatives that enhance its top performing locations," said Roman Ross, chief executive officer, CompUSA.

CompUSA will continue to offer products and services at 1-800-CompUSA and online at compusa.com, providing more than 80,000 items for consumers and small and medium businesses, along with top-notch technical service from CompUSA TechPro.

Today's announcement allows the company to focus its efforts and ensure a strong presence in its 103 stores in 39 states and Puerto Rico.

I , for one, am sad to learn of this, because the store in Redondo Beach is on the list of stores slated for closure and this is the store where I have gone to the Midnight Madness events for the release parties of Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP, and just a few weeks ago, the release of the long-awaited Windows Vista.

The end of an era is upon us, I fear.  *sigh*.

 

Cory Doctorow launches "OverClocked"

Cory Doctorow, the SF writer, co-founder of BoingBoing, blogger, former European Affairs coordinator for the EFF, current Wired Magazine correspondent, Fullbright Chair at USC, 'Net activist and the leading Anti-DRM authority on the planet, launched his latest novel, 'OverClocked: Stories of the Future Present' at The Secret Headquarters comic book shop in Los Angeles this evening.

Aside from being mis-lead for the first time on record by Google Maps and getting there 15 minutes late, I had a wonderful time. 

I was able to purchase two copies of 'OverClocked: Stories of the Future Present' (one for reading and another that I got Cory to sign which I plan to put away in a safe somewhere) and then I mingled and perused the awesome selection of comic books and science fictions tomes that The Secret Headquarters had on display.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped while waiting for Cory to read one of the stories from his new novel:

Around 8:00 P.M. or so, Cory read the 1st short story in 'OverClocked', an 800-word vignette entitled 'Printcrime'' that he put together for Nature Magazine a while back. To get an idea of the cool ambiance at the event last night, click on the following link to watch a small quicktime movie:

All in all, I am glad I took the time to go see Cory launch his book.  To purchase the book, click on one of the following links:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble

Highly Recommended.