Category Archives: Words

Video game banning?

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“Some of the Grimm’s fairy tales are quite grim. Are you going to ban them too?” the Justice asked. Justice Sonia Sotomayor later added the example of violent rap music to the list of media that are currently protected by the First Amendment.

Morazzini argued that the level of violence in videogames was particularly high compared to other media.

Scalia retorted, “That same argument could have been made when movies first came out. They could have said, oh, we’ve had violence in Grimm’s fairy tales, but we’ve never had it live on the screen. I mean, every time there’s a new technology, you can make that argument.”

– Oliver Chiang, Forbes.

This is an interesting topic but one I’m not really qualified to weigh in on, since they didn’t start putting age recommendations on video games until after I was over 18 and since I haven’t purchased a video game in at least five years. I don’t even know how they currently restrict children from purchasing violent video games, and to be honest, I can’t really figure it out from the Internet. Is it a store-by-store thing? Are there no restrictions at all, like with music with the old “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” label on it?

In any case, I’d generally say the onus should be on parents and guardians to police what video games their kids are playing and to make sure everyone involved understands that video games are not real and video-game actions should not be reenacted in real life.

I only bring it up here because of a comment from Julie in South Carolina on a post I made a couple of months ago, in which I said I didn’t have any moral or ethical issue with hunting but didn’t think I could ever actually bring myself to shoot an animal. She wrote:

While one would not expect to change your mind about hunting, you probably don’t think twice about playing a video game that involves killing people.

And here’s the thing: She’s absolutely right. I don’t think twice about playing a video game that involves killing people, because I recognize that it’s a video game, and killing a little video-game person is very different from killing a majestic buck in the forest.

In fact, I played a good hour’s worth of Grand Theft Auto this weekend, and I didn’t even bother playing the missions or whatever; I just plugged in the cheat code for all the weapons then blew up as much stuff as I could, over and over again. At no point did I confuse the virtual world with the real one. And when I left to go home, I felt no temptation to stop a passing motorist, kick his ass, shoot him, and take his car.

Just like American Psycho didn’t make me want to become a serial killer and Reservoir Dogs didn’t make me want to torture someone while listening to Stealers Wheel.

Of course I’m a grown-ass man now so I’m hardly the person these bans would target.

No one told me it was National Sandwich Day

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There’s nothing so wonderful as a good sandwich; today, Nov. 3, we celebrate the classic lunchtime companion with National Sandwich Day.

The sandwich day is held on John Montagu’s birthday because he is believed to have created the new menu item. As the fourth Earl of Sandwich, Montagu’s name was given to his creation, which reportedly came about when he was too busy to eat a regular meal during a gambling bender back in the 18th century.

– Shaun Courtney, Georgetown Patch.

Well, shame on all y’all for not telling me it was National Sandwich Day. I’ve been trying to eat healthy this week after a positively disgusting display of eating over the weekend in D.C., and I actually had a salad for lunch like a sucker.

Salad should not count as lunch. I just finished it not ten minutes ago, and I’m already hungry. But I’m not going to eat any more lunch because the damn thing cost ten bucks.

Sandwich is lunch. And today is National Sandwich Day, and I didn’t even have a sandwich for lunch, like I almost always do.

But you know what? Whatever. Every day is National some-food Day, and how the hell am I supposed to keep up? Did you know that yesterday was National Deviled Egg Day? No joke. Swing and a miss. You didn’t even seize the opportunity to eat a delicious deviled egg.

Calling Nov. 3 National Sandwich Day — thrusting the sandwich into the same category as the deviled egg — diminishes the universal appeal of sandwiches. Listen to me: Every f@#$ing day is National Sandwich Day. Every day.

There’s at least a reasonable excuse to make this National Sandwich Day — unlike with the nachos. John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, would have been 292 years old today if he had only discovered the Hoagie of Youth.

But you know what else? The 4th Earl of Sandwich didn’t even invent the sandwich. Not only were people eating sandwiches literally thousands of years before John Montagu was even born, but the Wikipedia suggests he might have learned about sandwiches from his brother-in-law. It also says Montagu had a reputation for being incompetent and corrupt, which doesn’t sound like the type of person who’d be responsible for the true invention of the sandwich.

So in conclusion, I will probably eat a sandwich today, but not because it’s National Sandwich Day. Don’t tell me what to do, calendar.

A White Castle Hall of Famer

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I will never be President; I will never be a football player. But I am a White Castle Hall of Famer.

– Victor Gradowski, White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame inductee

OK, there’s really so much here. First off, who knew White Castle even had a Hall of Fame? Apparently the ceremonies will be at White Castle’s home office in Columbus, Ohio — the fast-food equivalent of Mecca — and there are 67 White Castle enthusiasts enshrined in the Cravers Hall of Fame.

Second, why the hell isn’t my dad in the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame? The Daily News article says Gradowski earned the honor for eating five cheeseburgers a week for four years. That’s what, a thousand White Castle cheeseburgers?

My dad has been eating White Castle for like 50 years; I’d venture to guess he has at least quadrupled Gradowski’s total. Dude has an iron stomach. Next year I’m nominating Don Berg for the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame.

I certainly get The Crave sometimes, and when White Castle was my nearest fast-food place in Brooklyn I went there with some frequency, but I’d hardly say I qualify for the Hall of Fame. Taco Bell, though, is a different story. Does Taco Bell have a Hall of Fame?

More Matt Garza stuff

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Duda alone would not get a deal done as it would take at least one more player – probably someone with even better prospect status, as Duda himself failed to rank in Kevin Goldstein’s top 11 list this past winter. For that reason, the Mets may have little to no interest in Garza as it is, but their depth makes them an interesting candidate for a trade. Even if nothing comes from it.

– The Process Report

Wait, really? A deal for Matt Garza centered around Lucas Duda? Do it. Do it.

Look: I like Duda as much as anyone; it really seems like something clicked for him this year and he blossomed into a legit power-hitting prospect. But he’ll be 25 on Opening Day, he has only one year of Minor League excellence on his resume, and he’s not much of a defender.

Garza is 27, under team control through arbitration through 2013, and has pitched well and stayed healthy in baseball’s toughest division since 2008.

I imagine it would take a good deal more than Duda to net Garza in a trade. But the Process Report is a sabermetrically inclined Rays blog, not a bunch of delusional Mets fans proposing senseless deals on talk radio. And their main point here is a good one — the Mets have a lot of young depth at the corners and need pitching, the Rays have pitching to trade and need someone to replace Carlos Pena.

Since Garza would likely help the Mets both in 2011 and down the road, dealing for him would not represent the type of imprudent spending I advised against here. If the cost in prospects is reasonable, acquiring Garza would mean taking advantage of a rare opportunity to grab a reliable and cost-controlled starting pitcher, albeit one with a disgusting chin beard.

Floyd Landis fires another salvo in battle for title of ‘World’s Most Detestable Athlete’

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Floyd Landis’ team manager says it is “ridiculous” to think the American cyclist will face trial in France for hacking into a doping laboratory’s computers.

Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, is riding for the Orca Velo Merino team in the six-day Tour of Southland in New Zealand.

Team manager Wayne Hudson on Wednesday dismissed as “old news” reports that Landis and coach Arnie Baker might be tried in France for hacking the computer system of the Chatenay-Malabry lab, saying the American cyclist was “not losing any sleep” over it.

– Associated Press

Y’all know I don’t like to idly speculate, but guess what? Floyd Landis put someone up to hacking into the blood lab’s computers and stealing documents. I can practically guarantee it, because Floyd Landis is one of the sports world’s foremost liars.

If you were never forced to edit endless cycling stories for your last job, you might not know that Landis won the Tour de France in 2006 before blood tests revealed unnaturally high levels of testosterone. Landis first claimed it was because he was out drinking the night before the test, then tried to argue that he’s just more masculine than most men and so produces twice as much testosterone.

Landis reportedly told cycling legend Greg Lemond about his doping regimen, in a series of conversations in which Lemond told Landis that he had been sexually abused as a child.

When Lemond was called to testify against Landis, Landis’ business manager called Lemond from a listed number pretending to be his abusive uncle and threatened to tell the world about “how we used to hide your weenie.”

The thing is, I could hardly care less about international cycling and I’m not one for sanctimony over doping, but Landis would seem a whole lot more sympathetic if he just came out and said, “yup, I did it. Just like every other person who has cycled competitively in the last 15 years.”

Because if you were never forced to follow cycling for your last job, you might not know that professional cyclists enhance their performance to lengths that would make Jose Canseco blush, and that doping in the sport is so pervasive that it’s more or less impossible to succeed without doing so.

Cross Adam Dunn off your wishlists

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The Mets have hired former Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi as Special Assistant to the General Manager.

Ricciardi, if you’ll recall, once ripped Adam Dunn on talk radio, claiming that he “doesn’t really like baseball that much.” Then he said he called Dunn and apologized, but Dunn denied ever speaking to Ricciardi. Ricciardi maintained that the person on the other end of the phone said he was Adam Dunn and said, “That’s quite a prank to pull.” All this is available on Ricciardi’s Wikipedia page.

On the upside, he put together a decent young core of pitching talent in Toronto that didn’t really take hold until after he was fired at the end of the 2009 season.

Ricciardi played infield in the Mets’ system for two seasons in the early 1980s. He told reporters he had a standing offer from Theo Epstein to join the Red Sox front office, but decided to join the Mets when Sandy Alderson got the job. He said he hopes to bring the Mets to where the Red Sox are (in the organizational sense, not moving them to Boston). He stressed the importance of building a farm system through the draft and international scouting.

He said he’s excited to work for a team with the resources that the Mets have.

Manhattan mini golf

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Hudson River Park’s newest pier — opening Friday and stretching 1,000 feet into the river — adds a West Coast flair to the Big Apple with competition-ready beach volleyball courts, skate park and kids’ climbing walls.

“It’s like a small part of Redondo Beach here in New York,” Connie Fishman, president of the Hudson River Park Trust, said of the newly rebuilt Pier 25.

Like Redondo Beach, with an ocean pier and a national reputation for beach volleyball, Pier 25 was designed for the active, outdoors set with futuristic kids’ playgrounds and climbing walls, miniature golf, basketball and volleyball.

– Tom Topousis, New York Post.

I suppose the climbing walls and volleyball courts are cool if you’re into that stuff, but I excerpt this Post piece here because of the mini-golf mention.

I am something of a mini-golf enthusiast, and though I no longer live in the city, I’m happy to hear Manhattanites will have access to miniature golf without having to leave the borough.

A little Internet research tells me there had previously been a mini-golf course on Pier 25, but since I never knew about it, as far as I’m concerned it never existed. Also, apparently there are nine holes at South Street Seaport.

This article makes the course at Governor’s Island sound pretty appealing, and though I didn’t get to play it while there for the Vendys, it did appear inviting. It just would have seemed strange, I think, for a lone man, stuffed to the point of delirium, to stroll up for a round of solo mini golf.

And I didn’t notice any moving obstacles anyway. Apparently there are some at the New York Hall of Science — I didn’t even know there was a mini-golf course there — but that’s only a nine-hole affair. Way too many area mini-golf courses are the terrain-based type, which I guess do a better job of simulating actual golf, but don’t feature big spinning wheels that knock your ball off the course or clowns that spit it back at you, Happy Gilmore style.

As far as I know, you pretty much have to go to Lake George to find a course with a bunch of moving, spinning things, and that’s terrible. Not that going to Lake George is terrible, because funnel cake and everything, but it’s just a long way to go to find decent moving-obstacle-based mini-golf. Get on it, local business.

Giants win World Series behind awesome pitching, offense of hilarious retreads

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And apparently this means — you guessed it: Moneyball has been debunked!

Brian Sabean has singlehandedly shown that shrewd business principles are no longer the way to run a baseball team, or, really, anything.

F@#! it, it’s time for the Mets to go all in on Cliff Lee. Eight years, 160 mil. Because hey, the Giants gave Barry Zito a terrible contract, and now they’re World Champions! Moneyball is dead! Long live JuanUribeBall!

Tim Lincecum is ridiculously awesome, by the way. Look at this World Champion:

Sandwich of the Week

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This is last week’s sandwich of the week, which I meant to publish Saturday. I failed on that, but here’s a sandwich:

The sandwich: Honey-Maple Turkey, bacon, muenster and cole slaw on a “wedge,” from Pop’s Deli in Hawthorne, N.Y.

The construction: All of those things I just mentioned, piled onto a hero roll, which for some reason they call a “wedge” in Westchester (and some parts of Jersey).

I should note now that I think there’s a difference in the bread styles used for long sandwiches between the delis I grew up with on Long Island and those I now enjoy in Westchester. This could be a small sample size thing, but I’m pretty sure the standard “hero” on Long Island comes on bread that’s a bit flakier and more airy than the Westchester “wedge” bread, which is dense and chewy.

I’m obviously partial to the one I’m more familiar with (more on this to follow), but both are good. And I’m open to the possibility that, in each area, I’m only eating bread from one specific wholesale bakery that supplies bread to all the local delis (for Long Island, I know this to be true).

Is this the difference between Italian and French bread? Hmm… come to think of it, is there a difference between Italian bread and French bread?

Important background information: I think all discussions of effective branding should start with Boar’s Head. Bad lunchmeat can be downright disgusting, but I know when I order Boar’s Head products I can expect a certain quality. And yeah, I recognize that Boar’s Head probably isn’t the best lunchmeat available. But it’s consistently good, and I’d rather not take my chances with an unknown quantity, given the risk.

For that reason, I often order specific Boar’s Head products like Honey-Maple Turkey at delis, since it assures that they’re not going to try to slice up some off-brand turkey that will turn out gross.

This particular sandwich was the product of endless sandwich tinkering from  my years behind the deli counter, and it’s good enough that I think it should be given a name and standardized like the Reuben once was. Preferably, it should be named after me.

What it looks like:


How it tastes: Very good, of course. I came to this sandwich, I think, after determining that the sweetness of the Honey-Maple Turkey goes well with bacon (like just about everything else). Pop’s does a good job with bacon — always well-done and crispy — and the turkey was sliced nice and thin, maximizing surface area and thus flavor.

If you appreciate cole slaw even a little bit — I know it’s a divisive salad — I strongly recommend you try it on a sandwich. It adds the moisture you might hope for from mayonnaise or mustard, but it’s obviously way tastier than mayo plus adds an additional crunchy element on top of the bacon.

Muenster cheese you know about, presumably. I don’t remember why I initially put muenster on this sandwich, but it plays. There are a lot of flavors here, and I think a stronger cheese like a cheddar might conflict with the cole slaw, or something. The muenster here is just about complementing the rest of the sandwich, and also making sure the sandwich has cheese on it.

Like I said, both forms of the long-sandwich bread are very good, but I find the Westchester variety fills me up a lot faster than the Long Island type. I think it’s a density thing, but I’m also willing to consider that this sandwich was probably 14″ long and filled with bacon. Could be a simple size thing, too. In either case, this sandwich beat me. Too long, couldn’t finish, to paraphrase the Internet.

The other issue is I’ve now had this sandwich so many times that I’m probably almost biased against it. It’s a bit routine now, even though it’s still really good.

What it’s worth: Cost me about $7.50, I believe, which is a pretty great deal. This really should have been two meals, and I should have known better than to start the second half of the sandwich. I didn’t know better, but that’s on me.

How it rates: 80 out of 100. I can’t find many baseball players from Westchester and this sandwich is a lot better than Dan Pasqua, so I’m just going to go ahead and go with a Long Island guy that’s probably better than an 80: The Frank Viola of Sandwiches. I have no idea why.

Cold turkey

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Because adenosine, in part, serves to regulate blood pressure by causing vasodilation, the increased effects of adenosine due to caffeine withdrawal cause the blood vessels of the head to dilate, leading to an excess of blood in the head and causing a headache and nausea. This means caffeine has vasoconstriction properties.[94] Reduced catecholamine activity may cause feelings of fatigue and drowsiness. A reduction in serotonin levels when caffeine use is stopped can cause anxiety, irritability, inability to concentrate, and diminished motivation to initiate or to complete daily tasks; in extreme cases it may cause mild depression. Together, these effects have come to be known as a “crash”.[95]

Withdrawal symptoms — possibly including headache, irritability, an inability to concentrate, drowsiness, insomnia and pain in the stomach, upper body, and joints[96] — may appear within 12 to 24 hours after discontinuation of caffeine intake, peak at roughly 48 hours, and usually last from one to five days, representing the time required for the number of adenosine receptors in the brain to revert to “normal” levels, uninfluenced by caffeine consumption.

– The Wikipedia, “Caffeine.”

If you ever doubt caffeine’s potency, try quitting it cold turkey. When I pulled into a rest stop off the Jersey Turnpike to clean out my car yesterday and realized I had already drank about 48 ounces of coffee and a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew, I realized I should probably go off caffeine for a while. Now I have a brutal headache, and I’m quite irritable. Who wants to fight me?