On the accelerating expansion of the Universe

Jed and I were discussing this awhile back: why does the Universe accelerate? Lots of theories out there, the foremost among which is "dark energy," but where does it come from? What the hell is it? New theory:

http://www.fqxi.org/community/articles/display/134

If this is true...consider my mind blown.

EDIT: In the same vein: http://bmgoau.nfshost.com/milkyway_spitzer_zoom/spitzer.html

Really, really cool.

World Cup Prayers

The Anglican church has released three prayers written especially for the upcoming world cup. I like the last one.

A prayer for all those involved:

Lord of all the nations, who played the cosmos into being, guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup. May all find in this competition a source of celebration, an experience of common humanity and a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others. Amen

A prayer for the host nations:

God of the nations, who has always called his people to be a blessing for the world, bless all who take part in the World Cup. Smile on South Africa in her hosting, on the nations represented in competition and on those who travel to join in the party. Amen

A prayer for those just not interested:

Lord, as all around are gripped with World Cup fever, bless us with understanding, strengthen us with patience and grant us the gift of sympathy if needed. Amen

This guy is bonkers.

Found this randomly on Youtube. Looks to be sort of an excitable English John Madden. My favorite line: "I believe "Beavers" was the word you were looking for..."

Way with words

This guy is the manager of the newly-promoted EPL team Blackpool. He is a very eloquent man.

Amazing Dancing!

I love this song. I adore this video. The dancing is really impressive. Its like a fusion of James Brown, Michael Jackson and some kind of 1920's swing. Plus a little bit of "Dem Franchize Boys" thrown in for flavor. I found it impossible to stop watching. Check it out! Let me know what you think.



PS: World Cup in 19 Days, 6 hours, 43 minutes, 20 Seconds.

Steven Quinn, take notice.

This is the new Nike World Cup commercial. I loved it so much I looked up who the director was. Turns out it was Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. I should have guessed.

Nike's brilliant new commercial!

Ill buy you a beer if...

You are the first to post what these three dates have in common.

:)

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More soccer spam.

Since the 2000 season, the system of awarding points in the MLS is the same as the international standard, three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. In the event of an end-of-season tie in total accumulated points, the win-loss record of head-to-head matchups between the tied teams is used as the first tiebreaker, goal difference as the second, and the total number of goals scored as the third.

Should these measures fail to resolve the tie, the fourth breaker takes the previous methods and applies them only to away games, the fifth does the same for games played at home, the sixth awards the title to the team with the fewest disciplinary points, and, failing that, the seventh and final tiebreaker is a coin toss.

This amazing wall chart has me thinking bracket pool.

Check it

As if we needed any more reasons to beat England on June 12th

Here is one more.

This is one of the more amazing things I've ever seen

http://www.physorg.com/news193034314.html

World Cup! Lets make some decisions!

The bigger question is:
How will we celebrate this upcoming World Cup, which like the grand state festivals of ancient Rome demands the rapt attention of every patriotic citizen to the exclusion of all else? The World Cup stands in an elite group of events which are so momentous in nature and so excessively grand in execution that they can only be held once every four years, for to hold them more frequently would most likely so much disrupt the natural progression of human life on this planet that civilization would surely collapse (indeed, it has been said by many historians that the fall of the great Roman empire was largely brought about by the bankruptcy and unproductivity which was the inevitable result of holding too many festivals), to say nothing of the risk of throwing the planet off its orbit.
In this regard, the World Cup sits at the same august table as the Olympic Games and American presidential elections. Magnificent events, all. But no matter how much they exhilarate us when they are upon us, and no matter how disheartened (if not heartbroken) we feel when they end and the next episode is an impossible FOUR YEARS away, I think we can agree that once every four years is quite frequent enough. Anything more frequent would only cheapen them.
So here we sit in one of those fortunate years which has been blessed with a World Cup. We must celebrate appropriately! I am no mathematician, but by my reckoning I calculate that our celebration of this should be at least 4 times that of any mere annual event. Four times the Superbowl! Four times March Madness! So I come back to my original question. How will we celebrate?

The US plays England at 2PM on Saturday, 12 June. Y'all wanna get together somewhere and watch?

***

This is a link to the official US Soccer website. Apparently they have designated certain bars around the country as "official US Soccer bars." There are two in DC. Are y'all familiar with either?

http://www.ussoccer.com/Community/Official-Bar-Program-2.aspx

Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant
808 7th Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 789-0066
www.fadoirishpub.com/washington

Summers Grill and Sports Bar
1520 N. Courthouse Road
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 528-8278
www.summers-restaurant.com

Jay-Z and Eminem in Concert

"Jay-Z and Eminem are teaming up for two of the most gargantuan shows in hip-hop history. The 'Renegade'-duo will be performing at both New York's Yankee Stadium and Detroit's Comerica Park later this season. Both rappers were present at Comerica Park last night (May 12) for the official announcement during the third inning of the Detroit Tigers vs. New York Yankees game, which the Yankees swept 8-0. "

http://www.theboombox.com/2010/05/13/jay-z-eminem-to-perform-at-yankee-stadium-and-comerica-park/

Eminem's going to open for Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium on September 13. Tickets go on sale June 12th at 10 am.

At soccer, or just in general?

:)

Argentina Coach Diego Maradona Claims Barcelona's Lionel Messi Is Better Than Jesus:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/60/south-america/2010/04/08/1868768/argentina-coach-diego-maradona-claims-barcelonas-lionel-messi-is-

Great article, delightful combination of words.

When we knock out England in the first round, we might do irreparable damage to the British pub industry. A sad fact, but necessary evil in my opinion.

"The future of England’s dwindling pub industry rests with Wayne Rooney’s groin."

On the expansion of the Universe

"It is also possible for a distance to exceed the speed of light times the age of the universe, which means that light from one part of space generated near the beginning of the Universe might still be arriving at distant locations (hence the cosmic microwave background radiation). These details are a frequent source of confusion among amateurs and even professional physicists."

Jed, this is mostly for you, having discussed with me recently the accelerating expansion of the universe. You might find this interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_space

Of music and pigs

It is a rare and joyful thing to have the caliber of confidante and companion that remembers your occasionally eclectic musical tastes, to the artist; and inquires to their presence nearby; and points out, lest truly exquisite events go unnoticed, that such are occurring; and to have the caliber of friend that will follow you into the abyss, unprepared, to embark upon an expedition toward an evening of unfamiliar (but strange, and beautiful) music.

It is also a rare and joyful thing to speak of pigs, and indeed their friends, but to preserve propriety, I will happily allow Amar regale you with the relevant details.

It is marvelous to be home.

Ryan at Steak N Shake.

So cute.
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Ryan in his "We're with AJ" shirt.

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JC, MC?

Rockin the crowd in Orlando. There is video.

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The Fish Camp

This is a picture my mom snapped of the catfish restaurant in Centerville. It is (or was) called "The Fish Camp"

I was present there one day when a certain city-born woman walked in in her heels and designer sunglasses and asked the waitress what they served here. The waitress replied cheerfully.

"Fish!"

The woman didn't seem satisfied with that answer. She inquired further.

"What kind of fish?"

The waitress looked a little taken aback at this point, but she kept her smile and said,

"Well, catfish!"

The woman took off her sunglasses at this point and fixed the poor waitress with a slightly incredulous look.

"Do you serve anything besides catfish?"

The waitress seemed to think very hard for a moment, then brightened visibly and beamed,

"Well, yes ma'am! We also serve fillets!"

The woman seemed encouraged, and asked patiently,

"What kind of filets?"

The waitress was also encouraged. She responded immediately.

"Catfish fillets!"

The woman left. Apparently she was looking for something other than catfish.

Her loss! The Fish Camp is (or was) one of those treasures which you will find from time-to-time is small town America. They had a small lake on the premises, and every morning they would go out and actually catch the fish which they would serve that day. With a fishing pole! It only comes (or came) fried, but as the waitress in my story rightly pointed out, you could order the fish whole or filleted. The breading was light and subtly seasoned. The fish was camp-fire fresh, flaky and amazingly flavorful. It truly is the best fried fish I have ever tasted. True, there is only one thing on the menu, but that one thing it is perfectly and lovingly executed. There are certain advantages to only serving one kind of fish.

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Flooding in Tennessee

In case anyone was worried, my family in Tennessee is all fine. They are stuck in the house on the hill without power, but everyone is high and dry.
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The return of Eminem

If you haven't had the Eminem conversation with me in the last few years, I will summarize my sentiments for you very briefly.

He is amazingly talented.
His first first four albums were amazing.
Ever since the Eminem show, his music has sucked.
(Encore sucked. Relapse was almost impossible to listen to.)
I am angry about that.

That has been the conversation since somewhere around 2002. I still follow his music because I could never give up hope that he would finally get his shit together and start blowing me away again. but every new song was a bigger disappointment than the last. But recently I have started to change my tune a bit. He has an album due June 21st, and he has been releasing a trickle of teasers, guest appearances and, more recently, singles to build some buzz. I have been following these releases very closely, and I have come to the conclusion that Eminem has somehow turned a corner artistically. His recent music has been reminiscent of the technical perfection and delicious savagery of his early music. Here are links to the music he has put out since the last album.

You have all heard this one. Eminem's verse is pretty great, even though it seems a bit out of place stylistically.

Forever

This one is probably my favorite. I love everything about this song. The vocalist on the hook is not Miley Cyrus, even though she sounds like her. This guy B.o.B. is pretty impressive, and Eminem's verse is excellent. Intense, lyrically tight and actually meaningful. Reminded me a little of "Lose Yourself."

Airplanes

This is the most impressive of the group from a technical standpoint. This is a freestyle Eminem put out as a teaser for his upcoming album. The beat is lifted from Drake's single "Over" which Amar and I are lovin' right now. Eminem is reminding Drake that he still has a thing or two to learn. His lyrics are as current and controversial as ever. See if you can pick out the Ben Roethlisberger reference. There is a pretty funny superman joke in there too. It is as clever and irreverent as the Eminem I grew up getting in trouble for listening to. His flow on this track is incredible. Listen to the way the cadence accelerates, morphs, disintegrates and the reassembles itself throughout the track. He is definitely getting his groove back.

Despicable

This last on is an actual single from the upcoming album. He has come a long, long way since the shit-show that was Relapse, a fact which he acknowledges in the second verse of the song. The whole sing is kind of a mea culpa for the bad music he has been putting out. The hook doesn't have much going for it, but the verses are solid enough to make me actually look forward to the album. It is also interesting to note that releasing a serious song like this as the first single off his album is a major departure from his usual pattern. He has always led off with a pop-oriented comedy song, then released the darker songs later on. Well worth a listen!

Not Afraid

He is back! These songs are consistently good, with flashes of the old brilliance. I cant wait for the album. Now if he would just stop trying to sing his own hooks...