Super Bowl XL: Criminal Intent

The List: Most thankless jobs

# 5: Everyone likes to blame the zebras, but the NFL has brought a level of scrutiny to the refs that's almost ridiculous. Most knowledgeable football folks agree that the refs do a very good job, making the right calls most of the time. But they make mistakes. And when they do, they get it from players, coaches, broadcasters, the fans, and then, on Monday morning, from the league.

All this for a part-time job performed under the scrutiny of TV cameras from every angle, a job that (unlike baseball, for example) requires studying an ever-changing rulebook that makes the federal tax code look as simple as a "Curious George" board book

DawgBones expresses my feelings

Super Bowl XL is in the books and it was anything, but one for the ages. In fact what happened Sunday night in Detroit, Michigan bordered on criminal. The best team did not win, cheating their fans after 30 years of waiting. The team that did win, their fans now get to hear how their team was given a victory it did not deserve. So you see both teams were victimized and so too were their fans. What should not be lost in the crimes of the evening are the perpetrators of said crime, the officials.

We are not going to look at just one or two instances where the zebras made a mistake, we are going to look at all of them. Ironically and sadly every one of them went against the team that should have won the game, the Seattle Seahawks.

The rest of the story here, there and everywhere

How Government works...

I shy away from talking about politics here on this blog; mainly because I'm too mellow to engage in smack talk (unless it's fantasy football) and I'm not that good of a typist to keep up. However, I think I understand thanks to this particular treatise offering instruction on how governments work:

DEMOCRATIC
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
Barbara Streisand sings for you.

REPUBLICANISM
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

and the rest here - Thanks to Blogs4God and image by Peter Kuper

100 years of music via the London Underground

Could we chart the branches and connections of 100 years of music using the London Underground map? Dorian Lynskey explains how a box of coloured crayons and lot of swearing helped. (PDF Download available)

SIMPLY BRILLIANT - other samples include:



The Byrds Family Tree



Pete Frame's Complete Rock Family Trees

All you need to know about the Super Bowl...

CBS News has a Interactive Super Sunday resource: All you need to know about the Super Bowl: history, matchups, photos, trivia and the new commercials.

By the Numbers: ABC's Super Bowl XL Coverage

From Gizmodo - By the Numbers: ABC's Super Bowl XL Coverage

1,000,000,000 worldwide television audience

130,000,000 US viewers

70,000 fans at Ford Field in Detroit

720p HD standard of the broadcast

500 monitors in control trucks

400 crew people for production, technical, administrative and support

180 frames per second of Sony's new experimental super slo-mo camera

100x optical zoom of the longest Canon lens to be used

90 inputs on the video switcher

90 miles of cable for cameras and microphones

60 microphones, including 12 on-field parabolic mics

54 cameras used by FOX at last year's Super Bowl, but not all were HD as they are this year

40 digital video instant replay units

36 TV cameras

36 seasons of ABC NFL coverage, of which this is the last season and last game

29 mobile vehicles

25 degrees, forecast temperature outside the domed stadium at kickoff, a concern of ABC technicians

20 "hard" cameras (stationary as opposed to hand-held)

10 television production trucks (not including the infamous horse trailer)

10 commercials bought by the game's biggest advertiser, Anheuser-Busch

7 handheld cameras

6 robotic cameras

6 super slo-mo cameras

5 million dollars per minute to buy a commercial

4 announcers: Al Michaels, John Madden, Michelle Tafoya and Suzy Kolber

3 60-second advertisements (the rest are :30), bought by General Motors, Burger King and ESPN

2 operators for SkyCam: one cameraman, one "pilot"

1 director, Drew Esocoff, his second Super Bowl as a director

The Business of the Super Bowl

From Forbes: (Everything you want to know about the big business of the Super Bowl)

On Sunday, Feb. 5, the Seattle Seahawks will face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. Advertisers expect some 90 million people--television's biggest audience--to tune in and are charging accordingly: up to $2.5 million for a 30-second spot. But money affects the game in more ways then just advertising. Since we started tracking the value of NFL franchises in 1998, the most valuable franchise has always won the game--including the upset years of 2002 and 2003. If this holds true this year, expect Seattle to come away victorious--the Seahawks are worth slightly more ($3 million) than the Steelers.

Must See Woo TV

Ever since I got the great deal from DirectTV on a Tivo DVR (FREE after rebate), the shows have been piling up -

What's on at the Woo household?



My Name is Earl
Alias
The Office
Everybody Hates Chris
The Simpsons
Divine Design
Invasion
Survivor
Lost
Surface
24
Desperate Housewives
That 70's Show

TVSquad (Day 71 Blog of the Day) can give you all the lowdown on these shows...

I've tried Firefly, but prefer the Firefly restaurant instead since I appreciate good food more so than science fiction. And Lost is the only show I haven't seen yet, though I have all the episodes.

Believe it or not, I'm actually getting into American Idol. Previously, I always view the show as a dream buster, with Simon busting the dreams and hopes of young kids (regardless of the talent) just to do so. Sort of putting down people to elevate one's poor self image.

New wireless toys

While in Las Vegas during Consumer Electronics Show last month, I parlayed $5.00 worth of quarters to try to win a Dodge Viper at one of the casinos - I milked the quarter slots for 20 minutes... and didn't win anything but multiple credits.

However Christmas keeps coming - I came back and received an email from NetGear informing me that I was the lucky winner of a NetGear Wireless Home Makeover having registered at the NetGear booth trying to win a cap while watching jugglers twirl swords, knives and bowling pins talking about the latest in Wireless technology.

One of the items received today is a RangeMax Wireless Router:



"...your whole house becomes a "hot spot." NETGEAR's exclusive RangeMax technology gives you the longest range of any wireless device on the market today - up to 10 times the wireless coverage of 802.11g. So you'll have a sizzling-fast, consistent connection in every room of your house … and beyond."

I haven't gone down to the backyard to test the 50,000 sq foot range yet with my laptop- (it's raining)... and last time I tried it, the dogs kept jumping up on the picnic table.

This router has SEVEN built in antennas and my G5Mac, laptop and PC are rendering internet pages instantly - absolutely incredible. And dragging songs so I can drop them into my iTunes over from the PC to the Mac via the network is pretty zippy - 154 songs at 671.mb in 4 minutes! Sure beats burning cds!

My tech friend tells me that I have an authentic WiFi hotspot; I just need to serve coffee and muffins. Unfortunately, I don't have a inkling of how to allow people to hang out all day here at my house in the context of a home based business. Sorry... But if I ever start a blogging small group / get together, I should have enough bandwidth to accomodate everybody.

Another item that I won was a Wireless Digital Music Player:



"Liberate Your Digital Music and Listen Anywhere at Home" (just what I needed...)

"Finally, you can enjoy your digital music files and unlimited, worldwide Internet radio, together with your friends and family, in any room of your home. NETGEAR's Wireless Digital Music Player connects your existing home stereo to your home computer network so you can listen to your MP3 and Windows Media format digital music files - with the great sound quality of your stereo speakers - wherever you like to relax and entertain. You can also listen to thousands of streaming Internet radio stations for music, sports and news from around the world."

Plus I got a Wireless Game Network adaptor for an XBox or PlayStation I case I have waaay too much free time on my hands (can't go there yet) and a Storage system where I can add 2 hard drives to back up all my data.

I got almost everything I need to be a 21st century never-leave-the-house caveman... my butt is getting sore - must leave the house (I've got cabin fever).

Here's a Link TO WIN a Home Digital Makeover as well - Good Luck!

Thanks NetGear - Not EVERYTHING stays in Vegas!

Best Lil' Lego Band in Nashville

In case you missed it, here are some photos from the Best Lil' Lego Band in Nashville practicing on their new stage set at Kerry Woo's Kitchen Table Sound Studios in West Nashville.





The invited media guests had a great time...



(and one dude from the local newspaper had too much free beer and had to be carted off).



The band enjoyed the rousing applause as they did masterful renditions of Suzanne Vega's "Gypsy" and a mix of Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wide Side" and Vega's "Tom's Diner". Other favorites included versions of "Little Wing" and "Our Love Is Loud".



The new stage design uses an 32 x 32 interchangable stage along with a backdrop where cd covers can be changed out quickly. The green platform simply lifts out with the aid of two big hands and a new stage can be dropped in to accomodate a band configuration with various risers for the horn section and keyboard effects or a grand piano.



The new set stage designed by WoosterDawg Stage & Lighting allows for pixel lighting in the backdrop; this configuration is primarily for stadium use.

Here's a sneak back stage shot of some of the band members as well.





More to come.. perhaps a contest to name the Best Lil' Lego Band in Nashville with a permanent name before they go out and tour later this year. Currently the band, managed by Kerry Woo on WonderDawg Records has chosen the non record label route and use only eCommerce sales outlets.

Day 89 of visiting 100 blogs in 100 days...

What's been called the "Woodstock for Corporate America" comes to Detroit City this Sunday - We football fans call it the Super Bowl!

So today's blog of the day is shared equally with two FANatic blogs:

Steelers Fanatics

vs.

12 Seahawks Street

For so offbeat observations:

A gathering of the interesting and sublime - 40 Stops To Super Bowl XL

and of course the ads:

Super Bowl Ads