Both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll, and the AP sportswriters' poll have LSU at number 4, yet because of the "computer averages" used in their determination, the BCS still has them at number 7. At least the Tigers have finally vaulted past Georgia, something they should have done after the Bulldogs barely scraped by a second-tier team like UAB. LSU, by contrast, had no trouble with their second-tier-team gimme game of the year. Both Georgia and LSU have had their troubles with those pesky Gators, though, haven't they?

I dare anyone to show me how Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Miami have tougher schedules than LSU. (This is one of the things the BCS computers use to determine rankings.) The toughest teams these three face each year is each other! Miami owns the Big East, and VT and FSU own the ACC. Next year, all three can happily beat up on everyone else and one another in the ACC. Again, by contrast, SEC teams have to beat up on one another week after week, with the occasional gimme game. For Miami, practically every game, week after week, is a gimme game, and I was happy to watch VT stuff them in to the ground. Granted, LSU has traditionally had a problem winning the "big one," or blowing their chances at getting to the "big one." With a #4 ranking, and the rest of their games all televised (not always a variable that plays to the Tigers' favor), the strength and resolve of Nick Saban's team will be tested like never before since he assumed the head coach's mantle.

GEAUX TIGERS!

Yes, once again this is where I ask the question: why is Miami in contention for the national championship? Why is Miami ranked #2 in the country by the BCS? I mean, what a wimpy schedule this school has. It would be pretty easy for most Division I NCAA teams to romp to a 7-0 record to this point in the season with this schedule. Let's break down the Hurricanes' twelve games: 1. Louisiana Tech: a gimme game, and every big school has one or two of these. Heck, LSU is playing LaTech next week for homecoming. 2. Florida: a serious contender early in the season, and a game Miami struggled in, only winning by five points. A sure sign to yours truly that mighty Miami might not be ranked so highly if they played SEC- or Big 12-caliber teams each week, instead of those in the not-so Big East. 3. East Carolina: raise your hand if you've heard of East Carolina before. Yeah, Miami crushed them by 35. 4. Boston College: not really a championship contender in any year, they lost to the Hurricanes 33-14. 5. West Virginia: shockingly, Miami had trouble here as well, winning by only two points. West Virginia seems to be the shocker team of the year, knocking off national contender Virginia Tech last week. 6. Florida State: at least Miami plays both of the other Florida schools each year, and both of those have traditionally strong programs. But really, how hard is it to get your team up for two or three big games a year? 7. Temple: yes, that's right, Temple is in the Big East. Now do you see why the BCS thinks Miami is deserving of #2 and a shot at the national title? 8. Virginia Tech: that game is today next week, and will be Miami's big test pretty much for the rest of the season. Go VT. Miami then faces Tennessee, which has disappointed this year, Syracuse, Rutgers, and Pittsburgh. None of the latter three are, or have been, serious contenders, and Miami will likely roll right over them, as they do every single year. It appears Vanderbilt will be leaving the SEC after this season. Let's bring in Miami, where they can face Tennessee every year, as well as powerhouses like Georgia, Auburn, Arkansas, and yes, since Nick Saban became the head coach, LSU. When Miami is consistently beating the likes of these teams, year after year after year, then I would certainly agree they deserve a national title shot. Or slot them in to the Big 12 or Big 10, where they can go up against Oklahoma more frequently than the BCS national title bowl game, and play traditionally strong teams like Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Michigan, Ohio State, and more. When Miami is in a conference where going undefeated really means something, then their contention for the national championship will really mean something. Until then, it is just a pathetic attempt to get two undefeateds in to a bowl game for the attention ratings of the football-watching nation. Better yet, let's dump the flawed, computer-generated BCS ranking system, and establish a playoff system based on the various bowl games. Every other major collegiate sport has a playoff system to determine a national champion. Why can't football? Seems pretty easy: take your conference champions, plus a smattering of independents that have a minimum of two losses for that year, and mix it up. Spread the bowl games out over four weeks, instead of trying to pack them all in to two, and voila! A football playoff system for college athletics. Too bad no one in the NCAA is listening.

The now-running theatrical trailer for The Matrix Revolutions is available online. QuickTime format only, as it should be.

I figured since so many people out there like to poke fun at George W.'s verbal blunders, turnabout was fair play:

"My vision is to make the most diverse state on earth, and we have people from every planet on the earth in this state." --Gray Davis, California governor, at a press conference; quoted in Time magazine, Vol. 162, No. 13, September 29, 2003, p. 15

If you've been watching The Bourne Identity on Encore, or have the DVD, and you want to know the song that plays in the alternate ending, it's "In the Sun" by Joseph Arthur, from his album Come To Where I'm From. Thanks to a poster on the Amazon page for the movie's soundtrack. I really like this song; it's almost a lullaby in some respects, and I found myself singing it to the little one night before last: I picture you in the sun wondering what went wrong
And falling down on your knees asking for sympathy
And being caught in between all you wish for and all you seen
And trying to find anything you can feel that you can believe in May God's love be with you
Always
May God's love be with you I know I would apologize if I could see your eyes
Cause when you showed me myself I became someone else
But I was caught in between all you wish for and all you need
I picture you fast asleep
A nightmare comes
You can't keep awake May God's love be with you
Always
May God's love be with you Cause if I find
If I find my own way
How much will I find
If I find
If I find my own way
How much will I find
You I don't know anymore what it's for
I'm not even sure if there is anyone who is in the sun
Will you help me to understand
Cause I been caught in between all I wish for and all I need
Maybe you're not even sure what it's for
Any more than me May God's love be with you
Always
May God's love be with you

SuperToad has redesigned the Pond, giving up his home-baked PHP model for a site generated by PostNuke. At least this way, his PHP knowledge doesn't go to waste. Now if I could just talk him in to another font for his logo... ;-)

LSU is ranked #13 in the nation after stomping UL-Monroe 49-7 in their gimme-game season opener in Baton Rouge. So now TBS is carrying college games on Saturday nights, and they kick off their coverage with LSU taking on Arizona in the desert the night of the 6th. This is good and bad for the Tigers; good that LSU is playing at night, bad that it's on national television. I suppose in this case it's a wash, and hopefully the Tigers can take down Arizona in Tuscon. Geaux Tigers!

iStockphoto saves the day for Eric. Though I haven't had much use for it lately, I have been a registered member since late last year and think it's a wonderful service. I have even thought about contributing photos myself, though I don't believe a majority of mine are at a high enough resolution to warrant inclusion. (via Michael)

Speaking of Dan, he has hooked up with one of my favorite cartoonists, and all-around nice guy (have met him twice now!), Michael Jantze, creator of The Norm, to produce the Jantze font. The font is the handwriting Michael uses in The Norm comics.

Not only is it a great font, but Dan & Michael have decreed that all royalties earned from this font's sales will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which "provides financial grants to researchers working to improve our odds against the disease, individuals stricken with cancer, and survivors of the disease that are advocates for survivorship issues in their communities."

Dan notes what we can expect from The Man in Black later this year. Very cool!

My gorgeous bride pointed me to this story about a series of two- to three-minute cartoon shorts that the Cartoon Network will be doing in the Star Wars universe. Star Wars: Clone Wars is set to debut on 9 November. For those of you who may be a mite confused, think Animatrix for the Star Wars set.

In the ongoing smackdown of animated feature films, Pixar's Finding Nemo has moved past distributor Disney's The Lion King as the top-grossing animated film of all time.

The spunky G-rated underwater adventure reeled in $4.39 million over the weekend, bringing its total North American take to $313.1 million, surpassing The Lion King's $312.9 million in domestic ticket sales generated when that film was released in 1994.

[...]

Swimming into theaters May 30, the computer-animated fish flick netted $70 million its opening weekend, the best ever debut for a 'toon. Nemo's been packing 'em in like sardines and drowning rivals ever since. I was shocked, and delighted, to see how packed the theater was when we finally got around to seeing Nemo just two weeks ago. Now the fun will begin: this was supposed to be the last picture by Pixar Disney was going to distribute, at least as far as Pixar is concerned. The contract called for five films, and Pixar has delivered: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. Disney, however, contends that sequels don't count in the deal, and the two companies could find their way in to court to resolve the matter. Disney must be quaking in their boots; since The Lion King, they haven't released any animated film worth squat that they produced themselves. If Pixar jumps ship to, say, oh, Dreamworks, Disney's biggest competitor in animated films, they're sunk. Eh, forget all that. I just realized that Pixar's next flick, The Incredibles, is going to be released by Disney. So they must have resolved that whole contract thing after all, in Disney's favor. Or the two companies signed a new one...

This is the first of Greg Rucka's Atticus Kodiak novels I've read, even though it's the fifth in the series, but Critical Space had me hooked and reeled in. Saturday night, maybe a dozen pages were read. Sunday, however, Sunday was a different story. I zoomed through over 450 pages; the story is just that good. Finished it off this morning, and went to my local Barnes & Noble to pick up the first in the series, Keeper. Started reading that during lunch, and can't wait to get home tonight after baby CPR class. (Though I promise, sweetheart, that I won't be up as late as last night!) Definitely a Retrophisch Recommends Read™!

I love you, Kel.

Today marks the 8th anniversary of Lee's 25th birthday. He's being a bit of a curmudgeon about it, so be sure to stop by his blog and comment your birthday wishes to him. :) Happy birthday, bro.

FranX points me to Jayson Stark's latest Useless Baseball Information, a baseball statistician's treasure trove of interesting tidbits. I'm not really a huge baseball fan, nor a statistician, but according to my wife I'm the King of Useless Information, so it helps that I can add some things to my repertoire.

Programmers like to be efficient, which is a good thing. If programmers are efficient with their code, there is less work for them and less overhead on the systems running the code. Unfortunately, there is a case of being too efficient with your coding, as the Australian armed forces learned. (Thanks, Jason.)

1. The Titanic is big, but it doesn't have hyperdrive.
2. Yoda could've used the Force to lift Titanic out of the water.
3. Leia is a princess, a senator, a freedom fighter, and Jedi material. Rose is just marriage bait.
4. Ewoks throw better parties than either first class or steerage.
5. When flying towards the Titanic, Wedge couldn't say, "Look at the size of that thing!" and really mean it.
6. It would be much scarier to get chased around the boat by a raving madman with a lightsaber as opposed to a handgun.
7. Titanic is egalitarian by portraying poor people as sympathetic characters. Star Wars is egalitarian by promoting bug-eyed amphibians to Admiral.
8. Said bug-eyed amphibious Admiral does not lose his ship.
9. We know Cal is the bad guy because he sneers at the poor and treats his fiancee like property. We know Darth Vader is the bad guy 'cause he strangles people & blows up planets for fun.
10. Yeah, Leo can dance, but can he fly an X-wing?
11. Rose braves icy water to rescue her man. Leia braves Jabba the Hutt.
12. There are always enough escape pods in Star Wars.
13. Do you know what the Empire does to self-proclaimed "kings of the world?"
14. If Luke were handcuffed to a pipe below decks in a sinking ship, he would use the Force to get the key.
15. Nothing has the same sting as "I'd rather kiss a Wookie."
16. Han is frozen in carbonite and turned into a wall ornament. Leo simply freezes.
17. Han Solo would've steered clear of that stinkin' iceberg!
18. We knew the boat was gonna sink. But who could've anticipated, "Luke...I am your father"?
19. Stormtroopers blast big holes in stupid minor characters; everyone in Titanic was a minor character.
20. When Star Wars was proclaimed coolest movie of all time by half of planet earth, George Lucas did not make a fool of himself at the Oscars.
21. Titanic morals:

• gamble
• cheat on your fiancé
• pose nude for pictures
• premarital sex is OK if you're infatuated
• let undesirables drown

1. Star Wars morals:

• fight evil
• do good
• respect all life even if it's ugly and slithers
• rescue the princess
• save the planet

Yes, an oldie, but a goodie, back from when James Cameron's history lesson run amok displaced Star Wars as the highest-grossing movie of all time...

So I've spent part of last night and this morning, off and on, installing Fink, FinkCommander, and X11. Why? Why, to play XGalaga, of course, the open source clone of my favorite childhood video game. Geez, you didn't think I was going to go through all that trouble to do work or anything, did you? ;-)

So how far would you go to promote your own personal brand? Some people nab custom license plates to slap on their vehicles in their respective states. Thanks to the Acme License Maker, now you too can experiment with self-branding for your personal transport. (Please bear in mind that I do not know the rules for number of characters allowed in the states shown.) For instance, I could get:

Michael might prefer: Or maybe he'd like: Jason could go with: Brad and Mena could promote their new venture with: I know Lee has a custom Macintosh Florida plate, but would he slap on DTPBYLEE, provided Florida allowed all of those characters? Just some fun food for thought...

It's been a good couple of weeks for friends of the 'phisch. Steve landed a programming job with DirecTV's billing company in Charlotte, NC, and Richard is now a sysadmin with Standard & Poor's in Boston. Congrats, amigos! I hope you both have long, happy, healthy, and wealthy careers with your new employers!

The LSU baseball team is swept for only the second time in all of its College World Series appearances, and their season is over. The Tigers dropped their losers' bracket game to South Carolina yesterday, 11-10. LSU came back from a 6-0 deficit in the 1st inning to take the lead. But Coach Smoke Laval left reliever Jason Determann in an inning too long, and it cost the Tigers severely. The Tigers had a two-run lead going in to the bottom of the 8th, when the Gamecocks blew through a tired Determann's pitching to take a one-run lead they held on to through the top of the ninth for the win. The Tigers had a great run: they finish the season 45-22-1, and this loss is only their first in seven tries against an SEC foe in the CWS. They were the regular season SEC Champions, and runner-up in the SEC Tournament.

So this weekend my bride and I took some big baby steps. Furniture was purchased. Items were registered. And strollers were test-driven through the aisles of the local Babies R Us. I knew having a kid was going to be a lot of fun...

So sayeth the n3rdling. (And CBS.) I have to agree; the only thing I write in cursive any more is my signature. My handwritten print is much better, and cleaner. So much so that someone is supposed to make a font for me, at some point in his copious spare time. Even then, like Jon, I'd much rather type it than write it. Jon brought up a good point in our discussion about it: if you type it--which nowadays means in to a computer--you can index it, search it, publish it; the possibilities are endless. This is probably why my feeble attempts at journaling have all ended in failure. Printing is just too slow, cursive is too messy. I may fill up a couple dozen pages in a journal, then it tapers off to nothing. I guess what I need is a decent journaling app, where I can print out the individual entries to put in to a binder or some other hard copy product.

So, at Dan's urging, I took Mind Media's Brain Persuasion Test. My results:

Your Brain Usage Profile

Auditory: 60% Visual: 40% Left: 50% Right: 50%

Chris, your hemispheric dominance is equally divided between left and right brain, while you show a moderate preference for auditory versus visual learning, signs of a balanced and flexible person.

Your balance gives you the enviable capacity to be verbal and literate while retaining a certain "flair" and individuality. You are logical and compliant but only to a degree. You are organized without being compulsive, goal-directed without being driven, and a "thinking" individual without being excessively so.

The one problem you might have is that your learning might not be as efficient as you would like. At times you will work from the specific to the general, while at other times you'll work from the general to the specific. Sometimes you will be logical in your approach while at other times random. Since you cannot always control the choice, you may experience frustrations not normally felt by persons with a more defined and directed learning style.

You may also minimally experience conflicts associated with auditory processing. You will be systematic and sequential in your processing of information, you will most often focus on a single dimension of the problem or material, and you will be more reflective, i.e., "taking the data in" as opposed to "devouring" it.

Overall, you should feel content with your life and yourself. You are, perhaps, a little too critical of yourself--and of others--while maintaining an "openness" which is redeeming. Indecisiveness is a problem and your creativity is not in keeping with your potential. Being a pragmatist, you downplay this aspect of yourself and focus on the more immediate, the more obvious and the more functional. Gee, who would have thought I was balanced? :) This does explain a lot about me, however. How I seem to be at war with myself at times, creativity versus technical interests. How I can do ultra-basic stuff in Photoshop or OS X's Terminal, but haven't become more of a power user in either, despite my intentions to do so. Thank goodness I use an OS that allows me to consistently work both sides of my brain. Feel free to take the test yourself and leave your results in the comments.