Rule 5 Sunday -- Web hottie hopefuls

Today's Rule 5 posting is a selection of web beauties chasing the American Dream -- fame, fortune, etc.

With the proliferation of the internet, digital cameras, and photoshop, every hometown hottie with a tripod handy is trying to be the next big thing with her own modeling website.

Does it work? Who knows? I figure the only person making money off these gals are the webmasters. Some of them hang in there for quite a while, so perhaps lightning strikes, you know?

*click on the thumbnails for full-sized images

Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.

Hat tips:
Jake Finnegan
The Daley Gator
The Classic Liberal
Say Anything Blog
Proof Positive

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to any who stumble across this blog today.

Despite the doom and gloom that greets us everday in the papers, magazines or on television, we have a great dealt to be thankful for in this country today.

Though there is conflict abroad, we are not, in fact, at war. Those of us with loved ones in the military have hopefully been able to see them return home safely or know that they are still safe and healthy wherever they are serving at this time.

Despite the economic woes we face, you can go into any grocery in this country and find food. Good, healthy edible food and much of it easily affordable to everyone. Those who find themselves in tough times can find help at many places in every city. Food banks, shelters, and charitable organizations are ready and willing to aide anyone in need during the holidays or any time of the year. You need only reach out to them, which is sometimes hard for the suffering proud, but help is there without judgement or pre-condition. That stands in stark contrast to much of the rest of the world.

There are jobs to be had, perhaps not what one hopes for, but unlike the Great Depression of old, there is plenty of work available for those who are willing to work.

Hospitals and free health clinics will take care of you, even if you've not the means to afford it.

Any legal citizen of this country can vote, have a voice in the government. We can protest and demand redress of grievances. On and on, we have rights here that few in the rest of the world can claim. Our system is not perfect, but we have it much better here than anywhere else in the world.

Remember that today, as you sit with your family and friends, or in my case, alone, things could be infinitely worse than they are. It may seem a bit yucky out there, but we have plenty to be thankful for.

So now it's a civil rights issue?

I haven't picked up a copy of the St. Pete Times, oops, sorry, Tampa Bay Times, in a while, but I did today. And I see in the editorial section some of the letter writers are referring to the whiny #Occupy protests as a "civil rights" issue.

Really?!

I would think at some point, black Americans would get a little tired of every bitchy, pissy group of complainers labeling themselves and their grievances as civil rights oriented.

Call me crazy, but demanding that you be treated with respect and dignity like everyone else regardless of the color of your skin or your heritage is not the same as demanding that your student loans be forgiven or you be guaranteed a job after you get out of college!

One letter writer, while trying desperately to legitimize this complaint-fest only proved the point of those who refuse to side with these babies -- they're simply against everything!

Wah, wah -- the world's not fair!

Wah, wah -- some people have more money than others!

Wah, wah -- I took out a student loan and now I don't want to repay it!

Wah, wah -- politicians don't always tell the truth and sometimes serve special interests!

On and on, ad nauseum!

And of course, now that the protests have turned violent (as was inevitable), democrat politicians and their water carriers in the media are furiously backpeddling and memory-holing all their effusive praise for the drug-addled rape festing, underage prostitutioning, property damaging, #occupy losers.

Lost in all this is the screaming hypocrisy of these jerks -- they band together and whine like little bitches and the President complies and issues legislation to forgive their student loans. How is that different from an industry paying lobbyists to gather votes to push through favorable legislation to their industry?

Answer: it isn't.

But because it's what they want, it's okay. But when it's someone they don't like doing it . . . well then it's evil and bad. And these crying babies cannot see this obvious point.

Losers.

Tony Stewart wins 2011 Sprint Cup

Tony Stewart won the Ford 400 today/tonight at Homestead Speedway in Miami to become the 2011 Sprint Cup Champion.

Despite my fears, the race was exactly what it should have been -- a winner-take-all match between Stewart and points leader Carl Edwards. The two drivers were the class of the field all race long, with Edwards leading the most laps.

But as has been the case throughout the Cup Chase, Stewart simply willed himself to victory, this for the fifth time in the Championship series. A late race gamble by his crew chief Darien Grubb, put Stewart on fresher tires and with a fuller gas tank than Edwards, and Tony simply jammed the pedal through the floor and on to victory.

Fighting adversity all day long, from an opening lap hole in the grill, to several botched pit stops, Stewart repeatedly had to fight his way back from the rear of the field. I think they said at one point, Tony had passed over 70 cars getting back to the front time and again.

I cannot express how happy I am that Stewart won this title. He's a racer's racer, and now also a team owner. The first to win a championship in NASCAR since Alan Kulwicki over 20 years ago.

I loved how he threw a shout to A.J. Foyt for Foyt giving his blessing to Tony for bringing back Foyt's old number 14 to NASCAR. Stewart is a throwback to Foyt's no-holds-barred style of racing, and simply a guy who loves to be behind the wheel whenever possible.

I think the better racer won the race and the title tonight. And that's how it should be.

Congratulations Tony!

NASCAR Championship concludes today

Today's Ford 400 at Miami's Homestead Speedway will decide this year's Sprint Cup Champion. Sadly, for me, I'm pretty sure that will be Carl Edwards.

Leading challenger Tony Stewart by three points in the standings, all Edwards has to do it what he's done the last couple of races -- just stay close to Tony all day long. Edwards doesn't have to win the race, in fact, it is perfectly plausible that Tony Stewart could win this race and still lose the Championship to Edwards.

This very situation is what NASCAR was supoosedly trying to stop from happening with their re-vamped scoring for the season and Chase. And yet here we are. And here NASCAR is, celebrating the antithesis of actual competition -- a guy (Stewart) doing everything in his power to actually win will most likely lose to the guy (Edwards) who is only trying to stay close to his rival and not take any chances.

It sickens me. And I suspect a great many other fans as may be evident in the dwindling attendance at the tracks. We'll see. Perhaps fate will give the more deserving driver the title this day. But after five years of watching Jimmie Johnson be feted for doing the same thing Edwards is doing this year, I'm not optimistic.

Red Sox managerial search continues apace . . .

. . . and resembles the Republican presidential nomination search -- that is, an endless video loop of the Keystone Cops falling down a flight of greased up stairs!

I was initially thinking this new GM, Cherington didn't have an original idea in his head, as he and the Cubs, where former GM Theo Epstein is now, have the exact same list of "candidates" and I use the term loosely. But now I'm wondering if Theo has been living off Cherington's ideas all along. Because as soon as the Boston GM slated a follow up meeting with a prospective manager, Theo jumped in and signed the guy.

I sit gobsmacked watching this storied franchise flounder like this. When they let Francona go, why didn't they have someone else already lined up? This isn't the KC Royals we're talking about here after all. And look at the dudes they're bringing in -- bench coaches, hitting coaches, third base coaches, the only guy with actual head coaching credits has a lifetime losing record!

Are you kidding me?!

Oh yeah, and a catcher who's never coached anything. I mean if that's the criteria, why not ask Jason Varitek to coach. At least his resume as a player is better than Alomar's.

I see where someone has finally noticed Bobby Valentine is still announcing on ESPN. Wow, a former head coach, someone who's coached in a big city, coached high profile players, and when still active was considered along with Tony LaRussa as one of the brightest minds in the game.

Btw, who won the Series this year? Oh yeah -- LaRussa and the Cards. Just sayin'

This is a brutal off season for the Sox. They've lost Papelbon and now have to rely on un-reliable Daniel Bard to close. They may lose Ortiz. No one lined up to coach. The local papers are crowing about the realignment and expanded playoffs helping the Rays out for next year. At this rate, they may finish ahead of the Sox and make all that a mute point.

I feel sorry for Winn Dixie

Where I live in Florida, the central portion, when you talk about grocery stores, the conversation begins and ends with Publix.

The Lakeland-based family grocery store chain has grown to mega-monster size in my lifetime. They've outlasted competition from other chains, including biggies like Albertsons and others to remain the go to place for food shopping.

Foolishly going out this week on Wednesday to get my Thanksgiving shopping done (and a week ahead, I thought I was being so clever. Not!), I popped into my local Publix and it looked like something from a zombie apocolypse movie -- shelves cleaned out to the back of anything that even resembled turkey or trimmings. A couple of turkey breasts left that weighed about the same as a cornish hen.

So I decided to run to my local Winn Dixie. It is catty corner to Publix in a nice little shopping center with oak trees in the parking lot and lots of cute quirkly little stores in the attached mall.

Inside, Winn Dixie looked like something out of a grocery store commercial -- fully stocked shelves as far as the eye could see, not an item out of place, in fact, it looked like no one had ever even been in there! And as I shopped, there were more employees than customers in the store. That's never a good sign.

I found a fully stocked freezer case with turkeys all standing upright side-by-side for easy shopping. Sadly, the "breast" brand was some off brand so I've no idea what I've purchased. But I got an 8.75# turkey breast. That's pretty freekin' big for a breast, so it doesn't matter if my son and his wife eat with me or not, I'm gonna have plenty of left overs :-)

But as I'm leaving I can't help but wonder how the place stays open. I may have to shop there more often just out of guilt, I kind of feel bad for the place.

Rule 5 Sunday -- Eve Ellis

Today's Rule 5 posting is Eve Ellis.

In the early days, when the internet was fresh and young, they used to monitor and count things like who and what was downloaded the most.

A relatively benign image of Teri Hatcher wrapped in Superman's cape was, at one time, the most downloaded image in history.

In those days, a young beautiful model burst onto the scene. Eve Ellis became the web's top fetish model, voted number one by fans year after year, at one point earning the moniker of fetish supermodel.

Doing everything from fetish art to catfighting, Eve reigned supreme on the edgier side of the internet. Eventually, she withdrew from the scene, tired of having to be the character she had created.

I met Eve once at a convention and was struck by how delicate she seemed, so at odds with the larger-than-life persona she had created on the web. Hopefully she's living happily in her post-fame life.

*click the thumbnails for full-sized images*

Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.

Hat tips:
Jake Finnegan
The Daley Gator
The Classic Liberal
Say Anything Blog
Proof Positive

Tony Stewart wins at Texas

Tony Stewart won the AAA Texas 500 race today at Ft. Worth. For those counting at home, Stewart has won four of the eight cup races held in the Chase for the Championship.

And he's still 3 points behind non-winner Carl Edwards!

Hey NASCAR . . . WTF?!

NASCAR made a big deal about re-configuring the Chase this year to avoid the leading driver simply tooling around the back of the field protecting his points lead (*cough* Jimmie Johnson *cough*) as has happened in previous years. They said they would put a premium on drivers winning to encourage them to fight hard to the end.

Yeah, how's that workin' out for ya boys? I swear, if toothy Carl wins this Championship by simply staying ahead of Tony the last two races, I'm gonna scream. For the record, this is the most exciting Chase they've had in a number of years, with the Champion probably decided in the last race. Which I'm sure Homestead is just tickled about. But still . . .

Anyway, congrats to Tony for the huge win. And thanks again to my sexy, lucky charm for rooting with me.

---

Hat tip to Dale Jarrett for the comment of the race. When Stewart muscled his way past Edwards on the final restart, Jarrett quipped, "He passed him on purpose."

Gotta love that understated southern wit :-)

More climate change shenanigans

The only thing amazing here is that the media keeps trying to force this phony crisis down the public's throats.

Professor Richard Muller from Berkely (where else?) and a supposed "all-star" team of researchers formed a climate research unit -- Berkeley Earth Surface Temperatures project team or BEST. Yeah, what a coincidence, huh?

Well, with another major climate conference coming up, the prof. rushed out to release his latest findings on global warming, which of course, totally end any skepticism or debate on the topic. According to Muller, he wasn't looking for any sort of publicity. No, he simply wanted to get the information out to the public in the most efficient manner. Uh hmm.

Only problem is that, like Michael Mann and his own faulty graph before him, Muller's own data don't support his conclusions. The graph below shows the difference between what Muller is claiming and what his data actually shows:

One of Muller's collegues, Judith Curry, who is an acclaimed climate scientist in her own right and second co-author on BEST's papers, called Muller out on his false conclusions.

Muller's response was to release a alzheimer's worthy statement about how, yeah, the data doesn't show any increase for 13 years, but it might not be statistically significant . . . or it might be . . . he's not sure.

Wow! Talk about your scientific certainty! He's right, the science is settled -- these guys are hacks!