Bacon Today

Are you like me? Do you find yourself wondering what the latest bacon news is? Well wonder no more! Bacon Today brings you the latest sizzling headlines from the world over. For example, where else would you learn that in their catering contract, Metallica made sure that the following phrase appeared no less than 3 times in all caps despite the fact that they have at least 6 strict vegetarians on the crew:

“BACON VERY IMPORTANT THAT BACON BE AVAILABLE AT EVERY MEAL AND DURING DAY”

Rock on Metallica! Where would the metal community be without succulent bacon? And where would James Bond be? For it seems that Daniel Craig's physique was built one bacon strip at a time. If it hadn't been for bacon sammiches, there would have been no Quantum of Solace.

I've only discovered this site today, but it has already changed my life. And so I wish you all a Happy Thanksbacon. What started out as a dream - taking John Madden's mad scientist concoction - the turducken - and wrapping the whole shebang in bacon - has become a reality. Eat your fill of one of these and I will keep you in my prayers that you will not have a heart attack before Christmas.

The Wonderful World of MMA

For those of you who didn't think that Mixed Martial Arts was homoerotic enough, I ask you to reconsider. If the sight of 2 sweaty, mostly naked men rolling on the ground with their arms wrapped around each other wasn't enough to convince you who the target audience is, I think the new sponsor might change your mind. Yes, the fighters are now sporting condom ads on their asses.

I don't have much interest in watching fights anyway. Sure they are very talented and highly trained tacticians, but seeing guys beat each other up just seems a little barbaric to me. As if that wasn't enough, the increasing influence of wrestling and ju jitsu make for some incredibly boring fights. Grappling is just not a spectator sport, and as much of a turn on cauliflower ears might be for some, it kind of creeps me out a little. The condom ass ads really don't help build any interest for me. I have a hard time believing that they couldn't find a better place. The front of the shorts comes to mind. Perhaps there's a reason I don't have a job in marketing....

Adding Insult To Injury

Note: If you are in the hospital, being treated for a spinal injury and unable to move, do not let your crazy jealous wife near your phone. In this cautionary tale, Esmerelda Rodriguez found another woman's phone number in her husbands phone, and while unable to defend himself, she proceeded to repeatedly punch him in the balls followed by a round of hitting him in the face with a belt.

The story doesn't mention it, but I do question the events which led to this man's spinal injury and subsequent hospital visit. I suspect foul play may have been involved.

So, should I ever find a woman crazy enough to marry me, then find a second woman willing to give me her phone number, and finally become hospitalized, I sincerely hope that somebody reading this will come to my aid and guard me.

Valkyrie

The History Channel likes to take advantage of movie releases by putting out shows with the same subject matter. I typically enjoy these shows and was happy to come home from work today to find the true story of the upcoming film Valkyrie. Despite the increasingly crazy Tom Cruise playing the lead and being supported by Bill Nighy, who I have previously derided, I'm still pretty interested in the movie based on the subject matter. Bryan Singer seems to be a pretty solid director though, so I'm pretty confident that this will turn out well.

Thanks to Monday Night Football, I haven't watched the History Channel special yet, so I'm going to have to enjoy it later. Based on past experience, I have high hopes for this as well and am a big advocate of familiarizing yourself with the true account before seeing the Hollywood version. It is no doubt very well done, so be sure to check it out. I have no doubt that it will be airing several more times before the release of the film. Also, be sure to watch this featurette on the upcoming film. It's a large file and may take a few minutes to load so be patient.

Change

Admittedly, there is a long way to go, but thus far, President Obama has fulfilled his campaign promise to bring change to Washington (I think that was his only campaign promise) by filling his cabinet with career politicians and insiders. No, I am not a political expert by any means, but I think I would have gone a different direction. I still contend that what he meant by the promise of change is that that is what my 401k will be reduced to by the end of his administration.

This is probably a smart move, actually, buffering his inexperience with people who know what they are doing. It just bothers me that the entire crux of his campaign was b.s. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I don't know that there is a politician in this day and age who doesn't lie his ass off. Maybe I'm an idealist, but I keep hoping that eventually someone will be different. All indications, however, are that I won't see that for at least 4 more years. Where is honest Abe when we need him most? I think I might vote for an honest candidate even if I didn't agree with his politics, just because he was honest.

Chinese Democracy

I was pretty skeptical of the new Guns N Roses album that has been in the works for seemingly a decade now. I figured that a drugged up Axl Rose and a band of nobodies that I have no idea where he found wouldn't amount to much, and after hearing their first single was pretty underwhelmed. I have recently begun hearing their second single - Better - on the radio recently and it's, well, better. It's not Paradise City, but it's not bad. Good enough, anyway, that I'm now interested in hearing more of the album. It starts out a little slowly and takes it's time building, but about 2:30 it kicks into gear and starts to rock. So give it a listen, and if you don't end up with a smile on your face I offer a money back guarantee. Also please ignore the amateur video.

Gas Prices

The one bit of good economic news right now is that analysts expect gas prices to drop below $1.75 a gallon over the winter, the lowest price since 2005. Finally the dark cloud has a silver lining.

Scott's Stock Tip

In what will be a new feature here, I am providing a stock tip of the day. There won't be one every day, but occasionally I'll add one. And I'm kicking off this new feature with a can't miss stock - CRD/A. Crawford & Company has a very good P/E ration, is very undervalued right now and way off the 52 week high (although what isn't?), and recently announced great 3rd quarter earnings. Double what they were a year ago. I don't understand why there is a class a stock and a class b stock (CRD/B), but the fundamentals are the same and the A stock is cheaper so it will have a higher percentage change.

In other random news, don't miss out on today's Woot off. I recently picked up a $139 blu-ray disc player from Woot and am hoping to find a cheap HD DVD player to have as a backup in case something happens to my current one. What I really want is an LG BH-200 blu-ray/HD DVD combo player, but they are too expensive new, and the ones I've been bidding on at ebay keep getting bid up higher than I want to pay as well. It seems a little unlikely that I'll find one on woot though.

Also, I've been planning to write a review of the new Futurama movie, Bender's Game for over a week now. One of these days I'll actually get around to it. All I will say for now is it's better than the previous 2 movies.

Hard Times

Well, the Dow has finally dropped below 8,000. I never thought I'd see it down that low again. Add to that the news that 70% of the Washington Mutual employees are going to get laid off and it's a recipe for bad times. Even though many people around here think that this area is immune to the hardships that are hitting most of the country, I think a lot of them are going to be changing their tune in the coming months. I'm not sure how many employees WaMu has in the area, but I feel pretty safe in assuming that 70% is going to be at least 5,000 people. That's a big dent in the local economy. And a lousy Christmas present to a lot of affected families (or is it effected? Damn it, ever since I read the definitions of the two I can't keep them straight anymore). If you're a WaMu employee, I hope your job is safe.

Anyway, long story short, things are going to get worse before they get better and we are in for trouble around here. I've been having trouble finding a decent job as is and a bunch more unemployed people in the area isn't going to help any. Especially since I expect Safeco to lay off a lot of people in early 2009 too. I've received some offers for low paying jobs that aren't something I want to do, but so far that's it. It's only going to get worse I'm afraid. And I just spent about half an hour on Monster so I forgot where I was going with this other than buckle up and I hope you all aren't hit too hard.

The M's Have A New Manager

Welcome Don Wakamatsu. The Mariners haven't made an official announcement yet, but an inside source leaked the news that the former Oakland A's third base coach got the job. I plugged Wakamatsu into babel fish to find out what it means, and apparently it means Wakamatsu, although I don't think it works if I don't enter Kanji. After spending too much time searching the internet for another translater, I've given up and don't think one exists. And since I can't type in Kanji or Katakana on my keyboard and wouldn't have a clue what I was typing if I did, I guess I'm out of luck. And so I'm going to assume that Wakamatsu means playoffs. That's where I expect him to take us. And the sooner the better. Good luck Don, at least you don't have Richie Sexson and his huge salary to deal with this year.