[Shrek] Go get 'em Joe!

There is nothing worse to a writer than to see your work stolen by someone else.

Now I'm not talking about someone "borrowing" your words and then giving you credit, because there isn't much cooler than that. I'm talking about people just out and out stealing your words and then claiming they are their own. It's happened to me on the hockey and sports blogs I contribute to, and I've had message board posts "stolen" and added to newspaper/blog stories without credit being given.

Each time it's happened I've gone after the people responsible to get the credit I felt I deserved. The vast majority of time it just takes one e-mail and all is resolved, but occasionally it takes what would seem to be more effort than it's worth. But I do it anyway.

Now I don't know who "Joe" is, other than he's the writer that owns a site called Backyard-Hockey.com. It's a nice little site with lots of good stories that he obviously takes a lot of time preparing, and I read it whenever there's a new post.

So I was pretty disgusted when there was a post on backyard-hockey saying the Manchester Union Leader plagiarized one of backyard-hockey's stories. Now it did turn out that one e-mail set everything mostly straight, but it still amazes me that someone could be dumb enough to take content from a niche site and think that anyone interested in reading the information wouldn't recognize the information as coming from a blog dedicated to that topic. It also amazes me they offered no apology.

So, on behalf of the Union Leader, allow me to apologize to Joe...I'm sorry there are lazy writers that try to steal the content and hard work of others, and I'm sorry that what was once a proud newspaper but is now a shell of its former self couldn't say the words "we apologize" to you.

[Shrek] Unladylike Behavior?

For those that don't know, the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team beat the US 2-0 to win the gold medal. After the arena was empty of fans the ladies returned to the ice to celebrate their victory...












From Yahoo, about the "incident"...

The celebration raised eyebrows at the IOC, which said it would look into the matter. Informed of the antics by The Associated Press, Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said it was "not what we want to see."

"I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values," he said. "If they celebrate in the changing room, that's one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened."

(Marie-Philip) Poulin, who scored both goals, doesn't turn 19 — legal drinking age in British Columbia — until next month. The drinking age in Alberta, where the Canadian team trains, is 18. Photos showed Poulin on the ice with a beer in her hand.

"We understand that they were asked to go back onto the playing field after the stadium had emptied to take a photo," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "We understand that some people may have felt that their behavior was over-exuberant."

Steve Keough, a spokesman for the Canadian Olympic Committee, said the COC had not provided the alcohol nor initiated the party.

"In terms of the actual celebration, it's not exactly something uncommon in Canada," he said.

While the committee does not condone irresponsibility, Keough said, "I think Canadians understand it's quite an emotional moment for our team. It was not our intention to go against any IOC protocols."

Not even uncommon at these Olympics. After Jon Montgomery won a gold medal for Canada in skeleton, he walked through the streets of Whistler guzzling from a pitcher of beer that he gripped with two hands.

The International Olympic Committee is the single most corrupt organization on the planet, and they have the audacity to give athletes trouble because they celebrated in a virtually empty building something they have spent their entire lives to accomplish?

The IOC really needs to STFU here, and so do the mental midget worrying about Marie-Philip Poulin drinking underage. I don't condone teenagers drinking alcohol on a regular basis, but there are a few times where I don't have an big issue with it. Winning an Olympic gold medal is certainly on the list of times where it's OK.

[Shrek] You're kidding, right?

A portion of a story about First Night Worcester 2010 making some changes for this year's event...

First Night Worcester 2010 has canceled its annual fireworks display, citing a decrease in donations and the lack of a sponsor.

The earlier fireworks show for kids is being replaced by a giant Bubble Wrap carpet on the stairs of the Worcester Auditorium, where kids can stamp on the Bubble Wrap and “pop” their own fireworks.

Bubble wrap? Really?

REALLY?

Morons.

The whole story from the T&G

[Shrek] Am I wrong here?

Imagine you have tickets for a concert that you've paid decent money for, and when you arrive at the venue you're told that there is a very slight chance the building could burn down because a nearby building is on fire. But because the chance is so slight they've totally discounted the possibility and they've blocked all the fire exits with more seats so they could sell more tickets. Right now you're thinking that could never happen...

...but that's almost exactly what the Worcester Tornadoes did Friday night.

With a severe thunderstorm warning and (ironically enough) a tornado watch covering our area, the Worcester Tornadoes opened their unprotected ballpark as scheduled for fans with tickets to the BBQ tent. Yep, that's right folks; with the National Weather Service issuing those watches and warning, the Tornadoes decided to allow fans to enter their unprotected ballpark and sit under a tent.

And here's some important information--the Tornadoes have no viable evacuation plan for their ballpark. Their evacuation plan is to have fans at the ballpark exit through the main gate and enter the parking garage next to the ballpark. A parking garage, I might add, that sits higher than the ballpark it serves, and certainly doesn't qualify as a "safe structure" if severe weather were to strike.

Oh, the best part? The BBQ tent is the furthest away from the garage that you can get and still be in the ballpark. And because it's at field level, you'd have to climb to the top of the seating section before you could even make your way out of the ballpark.

Because of the watches/warnings, and knowing the Tornadoes have no ability to protect fans at the ballpark, Fiona and I didn't go to the game. The Tornadoes, after allowing fans into the ballpark, waited out the rain and started the game at 8:45pm, meaning according to their policy I'm not entitled to a refund.

Right now the person who ran the event for us has an e-mail in to the Tornadoes asking for one anyway. If the Tornadoes have any business sense, they'll be writing us a check. If they don't, this could turn into a PR nightmare for them.

[Shrek] I Couldn't Care Less

Lots of people totally mangle the English language when they speak. Part of it is laziness, part of is regional dialect, and I'm sure there's a small amount of wanting to sound more educated/intelligent than they really are. When I hear someone butchering the language I usually just smile inside and don't correct the person. I couldn't care less how someone speaks, only that they can clearly communicate what they are trying to say.

What I could care less about is writers, especially professionals, that can't spend just a few precious seconds making sure they're using their idioms correctly. If you're going to spend time putting thought to words, how about trying to express yourself in a manner that makes at least a little sense.

Do you see what I did there, or could you care less?

[Shrek] One Toke Over The Line

Apparently the world is about to come to an end. Yep, it seems that something so grotesque has happened that civilization as we know it is about to cease to exist, to be replaced by lawlessness and anarchy.

Michael Phelps got caught smoking weed.

OH NO, WHAT WILL WE EVER DO!?!?!?!?!

I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go about my life like it never happened. I personally don't care he was smoking weed. He's a 23 year old that has won 14 Olympic gold medals, is an 18 time World Champion, and has broken world records 32 times and is currently the holder of seven world records.

Sounds like a damn troublemaker to me.

I understand the argument "pot is illegal", but let's be honest here; marijuana is only illegal because the government can't figure out a way to tax it. Tobacco is legal because it can't easily be grown in vast quantities at home, and is easily taxed at distribution points. The same is true with alcohol, tough to make large quantities in, and is also easily taxed at manufacturers.

Marijuana, on the other hand, is easily grown in just about any environment which makes collecting taxes on it near impossible. In fact, nearly half of all states have laws that tax the sale of pot, and have used those laws to charge folks caught with large amounts of weed with tax evasion. If they could find a way to actually collect that tax, trust me, it would be legal.

I'm also laughing at the folks that say Phelps should be charged. There is a sheriff in South Carolina, who I won't name but will refer to as "Attention Whore", that is saying he "would file charges against Phelps if he determines the swimmer smoked marijuana in (his) county."

Based on a picture? Really? How many prosecutions happen in that county based on pictures on Myspace, Facebook, et al? There are lots of pictures of under-aged drinking on those type of sites, so there must be someone from Richland County--where the Phelps picture was allegedly taken--going through them trying to find evidence of other crimes they can prosecute, right?

Ladies and Gentleman, your tax dollars in action.

I'm also not very happy with folks that claim this will somehow hurt children because Phelps is supposed to be a role model for them. Supposed to be a role model? Here's an idea, why don't you parent your kids correctly and you be their role model? Talk to your kids about what you believe is right or wrong, and don't rely on some athlete or celebrity to fill a gap in your child's life that you should be filling.

Of course, if you actually took some responsibility over your children you'd have no one to blame if they turned out to be an axe murderer, child molester, or worse, a pot smoking Olympic champion.

[Shrek] Step Away From The Computer

As if it shouldn't have occurred to me before, I have come to the conclusion that the internet is full of stupid people. It matters not if they are actually that way or just chose to act like they have no brain, the end result is pretty much the same. Stupidity.

So I have devised a "true/false" test that everyone should have to pass before they are allowed to use the internet. Failure to pass the test would result in you being banned from using the internet until such time as you have gained enough intelligence to use and communicate with others on it.

Statement #1: I believe everything I read is true. If you answered "true" to this, you fail the test before going any further. The internet is chock full of stuff that isn't even remotely close to being true. So if you are so feeble minded to think that just because it's in print it must be true, I suggest you stick to coloring books.

Statement #2: Big companies will send me lots of free stuff for sending chain letters to everyone on my contact list. If you answered "true" to this, please remove me from your contact list. There is absolutely no chance that any company will send you anything for forwarding e-mails to your friends. This also goes for those e-mails that ask you to add your name to the list in protest of something and them forward to your friends. How exactly do you think that "protest" e-mail will get to the people you want to complain to?

Statement #3: I feel the need to respond to any forum post that even remotely disagrees with my point of view. If you answered "true" to this, you may be too far gone to be worth further testing. And going one step further, if you can't identify a moron by what s/he posts on a message board then you're no better than that idiot you're replying to.

Statement #4: I can tell just by looking who I can give my personal information to over the internet. If you answered "true" to this, you should save everyone the time and trouble and just take a cash advance on all you credit cards, empty your savings accounts, and give the money to the first stranger you see on the street. You should mortgage your house while you're at it too, no sense in not going all the way.

Statement #5: I reply to every spam e-mail so they won't send me more. If you answered "true" to this, you really are stupid. By replying you just confirmed someone is reading their e-mail, resulting in you getting more spam. Oh, you mean there's an "unsubscribe" link you clicked on? Congratulations, you just guaranteed you'll be "subscribed" to even more mailing lists.

Statement #6: I download everything that is sent to me in my e-mail or I love to add all those free screensavers to my computer. If you answered "true" to either of these, just throw your computer away right now. It going to become a paperweight soon and there's no reason to wait any longer before tossing it away.

OK, so to find out of you passed, add up all the "true" answers you have.

If you answered "true" even once, you fail.