As soon as I saw the story about giant jellyfish sinking a Japanese trawler posted on MetaFilter, I sent the link to my friend Ryan via instant messenger. (Ryan, I know, is fascinated by tales from the Japanese fishing industry.) He said, “[the] story would’ve been perfect if the jellyfish had actually eaten the crew,” which I thought was sort of insensitive. But whatever. I said that I, for one, welcome our new jellyfish overlords.

And that’s when Ryan really surprised me. His response was,

I’ll start to worry when they crawl up off the beach to eat me. until then, I’ll file them under ‘minor threat as long as you don’t end up on a jellyfish fishing trawler’.

So I have to assume that Ryan’s computer looks like this:

I mean, really? That’s just absurd, isn’t it? Who keeps their files organized with that much specificity? How would you ever find anything if your directories looked like his? The dude is simply nuts.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: directories, files, fish, fishing, Friends, Japan, Ryan Tober, Tober

1. Superman
2. Batman
3. Green Lantern
4. Green Arrow
5. The Flash

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: comic books, fridayfive, lists, superheroes

• If you thought you wouldn’t be able to make it one more day without seeing Christopher Walken performing Lady Gaga’s song “Poker Face”, I have some good news for you.
• I am completely addicted to Zynga’s Word Scramble2 iPhone game.
• Bank Notes is a collection of bank robbery notes. “Don’t put any exploding dye in the bag,” seems to be a popular theme.
• Here’s one for the 4:20 crowd: The Random Weed Name Generator is a free public service, providing the cannabis community with more than 45,000 unique hemp handles.
• The fact that it is, y’know, home to the Yankees is surprisingly not listed as one of the many, many reasons why the new Yankee Stadium sucks.
• The Bleacher Report has compiled a fascinating list of the Top 10 Reality Show Concepts for College Cheerleaders. They also have a (much less sexy) list of the 50 Greatest College Football Stadiums in the Country, but since Florida Field is ranked only second it’s safe to say that it’s blasphemous.
• Everyone is ready to hang Brandon Spikes for his alleged “eye-gouging” of a Georgia player in the middle of a pile-up. Why aren’t more people up in arms about this blatant cheap shot Nick Williams laid on Tebow? Please.
• SmartFootball has an excellent article concerning the biomechanics of a quarterback’s throwing motion.
• Chris has written a great tutorial / explanation regarding how to effectively use sprites in web development.
• Thesis, the best WordPress Theme, upgraded to version 1.6 last week. If you’re not using Thesis to manage your WordPress blog, you’re living in the dark ages.
• There is no letter O in the middle of the word recurring. It is not reoccurring. It’s recurring. Get it straight, people. See also: “How to pronounce the word height.”

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dailydavid

1. Candy Corn
2. Reeses’ Miniatures
3. Nestlé Crunch
4. Apples
5. Nerds

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: candy, food, fridayfive, Halloween, holidays, lists, snacks

1. Remington Steele
2. Magnum P.I.
3. Patrick Jane
4. Lennie Briscoe
5. Inspector Gadget

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: detectives, fridayfive, lists, television

As I get older I find it increasingly difficult to explain my love of football. You’d think that the opposite would be true, that I would find it easier to tell people how wonderful it is as I understand the game more. But that is simply not the case.

I follow Stewart Mandel on Twitter because he frequently writes about college football for Sports Illustrated. Today he posted a link to an article on ESPN, an excerpt from a new book by Chuck Klosterman titled Eating the Dinosaur. Klosterman’s article includes all sorts of fascinating (to me) notes about formations and play-calling, about the philosophy and the history of the game.

Continue reading On Football ...

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, football, sports, Sports Illustrated, television

The excellent local blog CurbedLA had an entry recently on artist Mark Bennett’s blueprints of fictional places. He has created very detailed floor-plans of famous pretend places, like the homes of George and Jane Jetson, Rob and Laura Petrie, and June and Ward Cleaver. (There’s a book, too!) I thought these were terrific so I posted a link to MetaFilter.

The community there posted several links to shops that sell real-world goods for made-up companies and places. Last Exit to Nowhere is a site where you can get a Nakatomi Corporation (Die Hard) or Wally World (Vacation) t-shirt. (They also sell an Amity Police hat that I simply must have.) And Found Item Clothing sells clothes that people wear in movies; You can get the I *heart* Toxic Waste t-shirt that Knight wears in Real Genius, for example, or a Cobra Kai All Valley Champ ‘84 shirt from Karate Kid.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: art, blueprints, design, fiction, media, shopping, t-shirts, television

1. Kamchatka
2. Western Australia
3. Brazil
4. Eastern United States
5. India

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fridayfive, games, lists

Arkansas is too good to be a trap game this year. In the games against Auburn, Texas A&M and Georgia, Arkansas scored in 11 of 12 quarters. They scored 10 points or more in 6 of those 11 quarters.

Urban Meyer received so many prank calls from LSU fans that he ditched his cell phone last week. (Also, I freaking love that Meyer frequently refers to his favorite players as “cool cats”.)

Breaking news: Florida Gators do not watch SpongeBob SquarePants.

The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party will have fewer places to buy alcohol outdoors this year.

There’s a chance WR Carl Moore’s back injury will sideline him for the remainder of the season.

Stay Thirsty, my Gators, for Tim Tebow is the Most Interesting Man in the World. (But is he the greatest college football player of all time? That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he is better than your team’s best player.) #15 is also on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Again.

“We’re a drama-filled team,” Tebow said. “Hopefully the drama will be done.”

There were 16 former University of Florida football players that saw action in week five of the NFL season, with 11 former Gators earning starting positions.

The Orlando Sentinel has a slick infographic displaying The Complete History of Florida Gators Football.

Continue reading GatorNotes ...

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: college football, Gators, University of Florida

It looks like my old team has finally updated its website. Florida Crew now a ton of great information, including hundreds of photographs, a Twitter account, and a Facebook page for alumni. They even have an online shop now. It’s great to see that the team is still going strong after more than 25 years. It’s been over a decade since I’ve been to the boathouse; I wonder what it looks like now …

Continue reading Florida Crew ...

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crew, Florida Crew, rowing, shopping, University of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A gift of more than 2 million butterfly and moth specimens to the University of Florida contains hundreds and possibly more than 1,000 new unnamed species, and will help researchers better understand biodiversity and environmental changes.

The gift to the Florida Museum of Natural History from Dr. William and Nadine McGuire of Wayzata, Minn., is valued at more than $41 million, and also includes funding for curation of the Lepidoptera collection, ongoing taxonomic and biodiversity related research, training of scientists and publication of books and relevant papers. The gift brings the number of specimens in UF’s collection to more than 9 million, one of the world’s largest.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bugs, science, University of Florida

The Gators (5-0, 3-0) have their first quality win under their belt after going to Baton Rouge and taking care of No. 4-ranked LSU 13-3 in the toughest of environments. Urban Meyer took the route he did in the Florida-Tennessee game by not taking any chances and letting the defense win the thing.

Viewers expecting Tim Tebow to come back and lead the Gators to 40 points may have been unimpressed by Florida’s performance Saturday. Yet despite leading by just one score for much of the second half, the outcome never seemed in doubt. Tebow showed no signs of the concussion that sent him to the hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. He finished with 134 passing yards and 36 rushing yards with one touchdown and one INT, but his eight-play, 80-yard drive for the game-winning score will stick out in voters’ minds.

Several LSU players congratulated Tebow after the game. Some LSU players even waited for Tebow to finish some postgame interviews in order to shake his hand and hug him.

“He’s unbelievable,” LSU linebacker Jacob Cutrera said. “You have to keep your eye on him every play.” Tim Tebow doesn’t get to display NFL skills on a regular basis but there’s something to be said about four years of success and stats. (A senior and third-year starter, Tebow has not missed a start since the first game of his sophomore season (32 games).)

The Gators (5-0, 3-0) have won 15 in a row dating back to last season, the nation’s longest winning streak.

Continue reading Florida at LSU Post-Game ...

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: college football, Gators, LSU, SEC, sports, University of Florida

1. any time on Monday
2. any time on Friday
3. 1 o’clock in the afternoon
4. 10 o’clock in the morning
5. any time after 3 o’clock in the afternoon

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: business, fridayfive, lists, work

They probably would have sold a lot more of these if they’d had them twenty years ago. I can’t remember the last time I slept in a sleeping bag, and I certainly don’t see it happening any time soon. I would have thought this was awesome when I was 11, though.

“This high-quality sleeping bag looks just like a Tauntaun, complete with saddle, internal intestines … Use the plush lightsaber zipper pull … to illustrate how Han Solo saved Luke Skywalker from certain death in the freezing climate of Hoth by slitting open the belly of a dead Tauntaun and placing Luke inside the stinking (but warm) carcass.”

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Han Solo, Star Wars, toys

1. When he’s complaining to Marion about his injuries on the boat
2. When he runs away from the giant boulder at the beginning of Raiders
3. When the pirate points to him swimming towards the submarine
4. When he’s just about to cut the rope bridge
5. When he’s fighting the Nazis on the truck with the Ark
6. Bonus: When he’s fighting the bald Nazi at the airplane

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fridayfive, Indiana Jones, lists, movies

Breaking News: The Wisconsin Tourism Federation (WTF) decided to change its name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin.

• Gisele who?
• So you think you can jump rope?
• Maxim’s list of 100 Twitter Accounts Every Guy Should Follow isn’t completely terrible.
• From the “I Could Have Told You That Department”: Flirting is good for your health.
• Tufts University: You may not engage in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room.
• The woman who inspired the classic Beatles song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds has died at the age of 46.
• Usain Bolt vs. ESPN employees, 100m (Spoiler? Bolt wins.)
• Dirpy is a website that allows you to convert YouTube videos to mp3.
• Wikipedia has a list of unrecovered black boxes.
• Who knew vacuum cleaners could make such lovely art?
• Snooth is a social networking site for wine lovers.
• Funny: How To Send Email
• I find it hard to believe that Sunset Blvd “hasn’t been repaved since LA County replaced the dirt road with concrete in the ’30s,” but I find it even harder to believe that we’re going to spend $7M to improve it. It’s just about the only road in Los Angeles that isn’t littered with potholes. I love cruising on Sunset right now, while almost any other road in the city is in deplorable condition.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dailydavid

• Former Notre Dame head coach and current ESPN college football analyst Bob Davie was a guest on Mike & Mike in the Morning today talking about the Kentucky game. It was the first time I heard any talking head discussing the absurd ’should Tebow have been benched prior to the injury’ debate who had actually watched the entire game. Davie was ESPN’s color commentator in Kentucky, and he said exactly what I have been thinking, which is that if you were following the momentum of the game, you wouldn’t have thought it questionable to leave the star quarterback on the field. Kentucky hadn’t allowed a second quarter score and Florida was trying to work on wide receiver play and tuning the offense. (And let’s not forget 1994’s “Choke at Doak”, when a very good Florida team allowed a mediocre Florida State team to score 28 unanswered fourth quarter points and turn what should have been a tremendous victory into a humiliating tie.)
  Davie also said something which I think nobody else has mentioned but which is hugely important when discussing whether #15 is going to return for the LSU game on October 10th: Please remember that Urban Meyer has no input in the matter. The head coach can tell him not to play, but under no circumstances does Meyer’s desire to have him play influence whether the tsunami of doctors monitoring this case clears him.
• A better question is, “Should Tebow play at LSU?” Consider this: “No voter in the coaches poll or the Harris poll will deny a one-loss Florida team a berth to the national title game if the Gators’ only loss was at LSU … at night … without Tebow … and with a back-up quarterback making his first career start.”
• Dr. Jonathan Lifshitz, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky’s Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, recently published a study describing “The Fencing Response,” an involuntary arm movement brought on by impact to the brain that causes a concussion.
• Offensive Coordinator Steve Addazio blames himself for Tebow’s injury.
• Alabama is Powerful, Florida is Scary, and Kentucky is a Basketball School.
• Behind some of the most recognizable professional mascots’ plush suits and painted mesh, there lies a Gator.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: college football, Gators, mascots, sports, University of Florida

1. E.P.C.O.T.
2. Walt Disney World
3. Disney’s MGM Studios
4. Universal Studios – Hollywood
5. Disneyland

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Disney, fridayfive, lists, theme parks, travel, vacation

Robert Benmosche, new CEO of AIG — which continues to hold $182 billion of the taxpayers’ money, and seems in no hurry to return any — will be paid about $7 million per year. That means typical people, who earn a median $50,000 a year, are being taxed so yet another plutocrat can own an estate. Benmosche also is “eligible” for a $3 million annual bonus, meaning even after all the flap about AIG bonuses, average people are still being taxed for AIG bonuses. And he received 200,000 AIG stock options with a strike price of $20. Right now, AIG shares are selling for $40, meaning the options have a current value of about $4 million. Thus Benmosche could take home $14 million for his first year of running AIG. This money comes from pockets of taxpayers struggling to pay their rent. It doesn’t surprise me that a plutocrat would be shameless about reaching into the pockets of the working class. It does surprise me that Barack Obama would OK this, and that the mainstream media would give up on AIG outrage. Have we simply accepted at this point that it’s OK for Wall Street leadership to steal from taxpayers?

from this week’s TMQ

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crime, finance, government, insurance

The Gators found themselves in a typical, physical SEC battle against a well-prepared Tennessee team. Meyer said all week he thought the game would be a “fourth-quarter dogfight.”

Florida fans wanted blood. They got sweat. And nearly tears.

If the Vols (1-2, 0-1 SEC) had a serviceable quarterback, they might have defeated the most-hyped team in recent memory.

For Tebow and the Gators, it was a struggle all day, with the yards hard to come by.

“We played the No. 1 team in the country, by far the best offense … a team where every time they touch the ball you hold your breath. And I thought our plan was great, and thought it was executed great. But, at the end of the day, Superman’s back there with the ball,” Kiffin said. “You’ve got to find a way to tackle him, and I don’t know how you invent that.”

“I kept saying (over the headset), ‘He’s bound to get tired, he’s bound to get tired, he’s bound to get tired,’ but he never did,” Kiffin said. “I don’t think he’s human.”

Florida All-American linebacker Brandon Spikes missed most of the second half of Saturday’s game against Tennessee because of tendinitis in his Achilles tendon. Receiver Deonte Thompson (hamstring) missed the game, running back Jeff Demps played with a 101-degree fever, and tight end Aaron Hernandez and defensive end Jermaine Cunningham had to be isolated this week because of flu-like symptoms.

Through intense crowd noise, Crompton [threw] into double coverage and [was] intercepted by safety Ahmad Black.

“It wasn’t how we envisioned or hoped,” said Tebow, whose streak of games with a TD pass ended at 30.

Florida’s postgame celebration was about as conservative as its game plan. There was no trash talk and no one trying to rub it in. The Gators were clearly disappointed with their performance, even though they had reason to celebrate.

“We needed the victory, and we got it. Our boys are to be commended for getting the job done. Gator Nation thanks you, fellas.”

Tim Tebow joined former Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel and Alabama’s Jay Barker as the only quarterbacks to go undefeated against Tennessee in a four-game span.

Update: “INT and goal-line fumble aside (the former took a great play by the best defensive player in college football; the latter was just plain stupid), Tim Tebow played well.” — Dan Shanoff

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: college football, Gators, sports, Tennessee, University of Florida

1. To Have and Have Not
2. For Whom the Bell Tolls
3. The Old Man and the Sea
4. The Sun Also Rises
5. Across the River and Into the Trees

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, Hemingway, lists

Last night I went to see The Killers at the Hollywood Bowl. My father-in-law got us amazing seats, right in the center on the lower level. I had to go to dinner with a client at work, so I missed the opening act, The Psychedelic Furs. But, just like when I saw Green Day a few years ago, I got to my seat just as The Killers started. They opened with Human, from Day & Age, and then played just about all their hits.

Towards the end of the show, Brandon sang a few bars from the Elvis hit Fools Rush In before launching into Read My Mind, which was way cool. After the encore break Jimmy Kimmel ran onto the stage and grabbed the microphone to interrupt the band, mocking Kanye West, to say that The Psychedelic Furs was a great opening act. Then the Furs came on stage and both bands performed a sick rendition of Pretty in Pink. They closed with a massive performance of When You Were Young, complete with fireworks and confetti cannons that showered the audience.

It was seriously one of the best concerts I’ve seen since moving to LA.

Continue reading The Killers at the Hollywood Bowl (with Set List) ...

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: concert, Hollywood, Killers, Los Angeles, music

Update: Want to know more about the Florida / Tennessee rivalry? Read Hate Week, by EDSBS

• If you’re a college football fan you really should take a look at this sweet list of iPhone apps for the pigskin crowd.
• On Saturday in the Swamp, Tim Tebow has a chance to join UF’s Danny Wuerffel and Alabama’s Jay Barker as the only SEC quarterbacks to go undefeated against Tennessee in a four-year span.
• Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the Southeastern Conference player of the week for his performance against Troy, said Saturday’s rivalry game with Tennessee will be “ridiculous.” And it looks like some of the folks in Rocky Top agree.
• Lane has done this to himself. It’s time for hate week to get rolling.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: college football, football, Gators, sports, University of Florida

• You must watch Mad Men: Boston.
• And it’s painful to watch, but some of the “creative” artists at my company mashed-up a French golfing tutorial video by someone else named David Gagné to mock me.
• Holy gullible women, Batman! Nine young ladies thought they were on a reality TV show, but were really being kidnapped, held against their will in a Turkish sex prison, and photographed. WTF?
• I can attest that the only valid measurement of code quality is the number of WTFs per minute you exclaim when reading someone else’s programming.
• Are there many things scarier or more disturbing than tongue-eating parasites? I didn’t think so. (via mefi, of course)
• Carrie Fisher apologizes well.
• Need some motivation? Check out the Badass of the Week.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dailydavid

• Is Florida Field the loudest stadium in college football? I’d say yes. It’s actually louder than that. Think of the loudest noise you have ever heard. Now imagine that loudness, but just a little bit louder. Also, you’re screaming. And it’s very, very, very hot. And sweaty. Swampy, even. And the guy next to you is really, really drunk. Did I mention how hot is is? You can’t even hear me, and I’m standing right next to you. And we’re winning.
• HeismanPundit has a great rant about offensive schemes in the NFL which includes several quotes from — of course — Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier.
• #15 and his eye-black messages are big hits on Google.
• Since the SEC realignment in ‘91, Florida is the only team in the league which has been to a bowl game each year and the only one which has never had a losing SEC record during that stretch.
• Chris Rainey, on Riley Cooper, “I’m going to tell y’all like this, man, that’s the fastest white dude I’ve ever seen in my life. He is super fast. Oh my god.”
• It was pretty cool that Jevon Kearse introduced himself as a graduate of “The Gator Nation” at the beginning of the first NFL game of the year, Thursday night’s Tennessee @ Pittsburgh game.

© David Vincent Gagne, 2009. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: college football, Gators, sports, University of Florida