you think *you* had a bad day?

Remember that "You Had a Bad Day" song they'd play for each contestant as they got voted off American Idol last season? Well, someone should play it for Taiwanese zoo worker, Chang Po-yu today. From the Associated Press:

Crocodile chomps off zoo worker's arm

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A zoo worker had his forearm reattached Thursday after his colleagues recovered the severed limb from the mouth of a 440-pound Nile crocodile, an official said.

The crocodile severed Chang Po-yu's forearm on Wednesday at the Shaoshan Zoo in the southern city of Kaohsiung when the veterinarian tried to retrieve a tranquilizer dart from the reptile's hide, zoo officials said.

The Liberty Times newspaper said Chang failed to notice the crocodile was not fully anesthetized when he stuck his arm through an iron rail to medicate it.

If the story wasn't bad enough, check out the photos:





* Thanks to Mark for digging up the story!

fare thee well, arron

UCLA shooting guard, Arron Afflalo, has declared himself for the NBA Draft yet again, and this time there's no going back. There's two things I've always wondered about Arron:

1) Why is his first name spelled with two R's instead of two A's?
2) Why does his last name have that extraneous L in it?

Really, wouldn't it have been easier for everyone involved if he was just Aaron Affalo? Would it have killed him to make those changes to make our lives a little easier? I think not.

In any case, since I broke down the strengths and weaknesses for Jordan Farmar last year, I figure might as well do the same for Arron, so here goes:

Strengths

• He's a willing defender - Arron works really hard to shut down any player he's matched up against. He takes every one on one matchup to heart, and despite limited lateral quickness, almost always manages to stay in front of his man. He won't necessarily generate a ton of steals, like speedy teammate Darren Collison, but his man will find it difficult to get a clean shot off when Afflalo clamps down.
  
• He can hit the open three - Afflalo has a quick release with nice form on his shot. He's adept at coming off screens while still being in position to drain the outside J.
  
• He is a great finisher - Despite his limited jumping ability, Afflalo has a knack for getting the ball in the rim on breaks, no matter what the defender tries to do to stop him.
  
• He's a solid guy - Always a team player, always says the right thing to the media, always wants to win. Really, just a stand-up kid.

Weaknesses

• He's not the most athletic kid in the world - Arron lacks the explosive jumping ability you usually see in NBA 2-guards these days. He is more of a jumpshooter than a rim rocker. He might have trouble getting his own shot in the NBA unless he comes off a ton of screens.
  
• He has a tendency to crumble under pressure - In the biggest games of his career versus Florida, Afflalo was all but invisible. In a few key games this season, such as losses to Cal in the Pac-10 Tournament and NCAA Tourney games against Indiana and Pittsburgh, Afflalo struggled mightly to make shots. The worse things got, the more he pressed, which only compounded the poor shooting.
  
• He needs some Pro-Activ solution - Look the kid can't help that he's got major acne all over his face, but at some point, the boy has to become a man. Follow P Diddy and Jessica Simpsons example, and use your signing bonus to buy some Pro-Activ, won't you?

All things considered, the very best case scenario I see for Afflalo in the NBA is a career like Bruce Bowen or Raja Bell. Glue guys who are known for their fierce D, but can also hit the open three when called upon.

The question is this -- would you use a first round pick in the hope that he can turn into Raja Bell? At best? I'm worried many NBA teams will say no, and drop Afflalo into the second round, where his contract would not be guaranteed. If this happens, I'm not sure Arron will look back on his decision to leave as a wise one. I hope however, that things work out.

Good luck Arron! See you in the NBA.

pool tricks are for kids

It's late and all that's on television at this hour is some sort of this best trick pool competition on ESPN. This one guy just set up two rows of dominos protecting the pockets on opposite ends of the table, and the setup is as follows -- the cue ball has to jump over the first wall of dominos, bounce on the middle of the table, clear the second wall of dominos, and drop another ball into the corner pocker on the other side.

The commentator follows up this setup by saying "it's not as easy as it sounds, because he has to make that ball in on the other end." Then he reiterates his comment another 2 times repeating the caveat that "it's really not as easy as it sounds." Um, in what world does that trick sound so easy that it needs a caveat? I think one thing is clear... I really need to go to bed.

I couldn't find the trick in question, so instead I found this video for you to enjoy. The tricks are pretty amazing and the dude performing the tricks is sufficiently goofy looking, but what's with the choice of Hoobastank as the background music? Is that what gets pool players pumped up? Again, I really just need to go to bed.

ford is run by the devil

Just read an article on CNNmoney.com that talks about how Ford's CEO, Alan Mulally, got $28 million dollars as a pat on the back for running Ford into a $12.7 billion (yes, billion with a "b") deficit for 2006.

The article notes the following:

His base salary was $666,667, which works out to annual pay of about $2 million. He also received restricted stock grants, which the company valued at $920,404, as well as 3 million stock options valued at $7.8 million. The stock options are not yet exercisable, and they have an exercise price of $8.28, or about 4 percent above current prices.

Hold up... a base salary of $666,667? That's probably rounded up from $666,666.66666666666666666. Hello, Ford? Repeating 666's? Is this not the first sign that you've hired the devil? And you're suprised you lost $12.7 billion because why?

hillary is nothing if not consistent

Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006:



Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2007:

alanis' humps

Alanis Morissette has recorded an uber-dramatic version of the Black Eyed Peas classic, My Humps. The parody video takes a barrel of digs at Fergie and the Peas, so that's always a plus. Check it out -- it's not often you get to see Alanis' humps, and her lovely lady lumps as well.

congratulations to discover card!

...for creating what is sure to be the least requested credit card ever:

red pandas suck

News story from Sydney, Australia:

Twelve week old male Red Panda cubs, Jishnu, left, and Tenzin, go on show to the public at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, March 28, 2007.

Red pandas... that sounds pretty interesting. Then I saw a couple pictures of them:




Um, that's just a red raccoon, man. If that's a red panda, give me a real panda any day:



Oh yeah, that's the stuff... give me one more, baby:



That's how real pandas roll. Yeah, what's up red panda? You think you're so damn cute? You got served, yo.

starbury isn't all that bad, i guess

I had heard a while back about New York Knicks guard, Stephon Marbury (or as he refers to himself, "Starbury"), endorsing a line of sneakers that cost only $14.98 a pair, but I never thought much about it at the time. Earlier today, it was reported that Marbury has enlisted Ben Wallace to join the effort to bring affordable footwear to the market.

"Kids don't really understand what it takes to go out and buy a pair of $300 pair of shoes," Wallace said at a news conference on Tuesday. "We don't understand the pressure we put on our parents when we're growing up. This is one of the things where I think the parents will appreciate it a lot more than the kids right now because it eliminates so much stress from the parents. All parents want to see their kids have nice things."

Launched a year ago, the Starbury line is expanding from 50 products to 200 — nearly all available for $14.98 or less at Steve & Barry's University Sportswear. It includes a joggers shoe, skater shoe, casual shoe, gym shoe, woven shirts, jackets, jeans, T-shirts, shorts, hats and other accessories.

At a time when youngsters feel pressure to wear expensive brands of shoes and clothing and are even being killed for what's on their feet, Marbury and Wallace are trying to provide an alternative.

I was never a big Stephon Marbury fan, but applaud this cause. These shoes are no worse in quality than shoes sold for 7, 8, 9 or even over 10 times the price by Nike, Adidas, and Puma. There have always been cheap sneaker alternatives (like the infamous Payless Shoe Source, ProWings brand), but none with the cache of two NBA hoop stars standing behind the product (which could save today's kids from the "cheapskate!" taunts that plagued me during my elementary school years -- hey, I'm Chinese... that's how we roll).

In any case, the shoes actually look pretty nifty. You can reserve your own pair here. I recommend the patriotic red, white and blues. If nothing else, you can hang them up on your flagpole if you end up not liking them.

VT alums are apparently highly caffeinated

If you guys have been watching the NCAA Tournament at all the past couple weeks, surely you've come across the following commercial. It features a Virginia Tech alumnus who has a ritual for VT games involving Coca-Cola.

The basic jist is that he always has to hold a can of Coke in his hands for the duration of the game. There's also some superstition about needing to crack open a new can before taking the final sip of the old can. So far, this seems reasonable enough.

Then the guy mentions that once the can is empty, he uses it to build out the VT logo, and the camera pans down to about 20 Coke cans lined up on a coffee table. Are you telling me that this guy drinks 20-25 cans of Coke during a single game? How is this possible? Shouldn't he be dead at this point?

Don't get me wrong, anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big fan of Coca-Cola. But even for me, after about three Cokes, all that acidity starts to get a little disgusting. I can't even imagine what it would feel like after the 25th Coke. Ick.

Here's the commercial, in case you wanted to see the magic for yourself: