Play Ball! First Spring Training Games Under Way

Just days after the conclusion of the Winter Olympics, a new sport has thrown off the shackles of an extended sabbatical and is prepared to return to fans' consciousness with a vengeance. Around Arizona and Florida today, teams got their first look at real nine inning games against major league opponents, and had the opportunity to not only showcase their star players, but try out some of the younger prospects.

The Oakland A's faced the Chicago Cubs in a mid-day game, and despite falling behind early 5-0, they rallied against one of the team's series of pitchers, scoring seven runs in the fifth inning, including a grand slam by second baseman Mark Ellis, only to eventually fall by a score of 8 to 7. While some might tell you spring training games and scores don't count, to the diehards, every game counts. Now, with the A's winless on the very early season, some are already calling for managerial changes and a lineup shakeup. But... maybe they're just kidding. Right guys?

New Month, New Bookmarks

Every minute I'm not on the Internet looking for new data, I'm falling further behind - or so it seems, and with every new site visited, I find content that it seems the masses have had access to for quite some time, information that I've been lacking and they had kept to themselves. Rather than do the same, I thought I'd display the most recent bookmarks I've taken down and will be following over the coming months, so that you too can be fulfilled.

AdWeek's AdFreak: AdWeek features a blog that summarizes interesting trends in the advertising world with quick two paragraph clips and summaries. Penned by multiple authors, each gets the chance to analyze branding highs and lows, new commercials and campaigns. Somehow, in two paragraphs, AdFreak captures the key elements and stays amusing at the same time.

TechCrunch: Quite possibly the top authority on Web 2.0, TechCrunch profiles and reviews new Web 2.0 products and companies. Many a service has debuted its wares through the site. TechCrunch has already introduced me to some interesting companies I may never have heard of without their quick hits.

GigaOm: Authored by Om Malik, a senior Business 2.0 reporter, GigaOm similarly tracks next generation technology, with a focus on networking and Internet trends and innovation. If you're even a bit curious about the world of VoIP, cable, and DSL, this is one to stow away.

Stereo Types

Apple's big day came and went yesterday, and after all the hype and speculation, they introduced a few anticipated items - the iPod Hi-Fi, effectively an Apple-designed stereo that interoperates with iPod, a souped up Mac Mini with Intel at the core, and oddly enough, a $99 leather case for the iPod, with even fewer options than much cheaper alternatives from third party vendors. Across the blogosphere, and in the analyst and media community came a resounding, "that was it?"

It's amusing to see the transition of the Apple faithful's antics to the mainstream. For those who often frequent AppleInsider or Think Secret, hoping for the latest rumor morsels to spill out of Cupertino, what's actually presented never measures up to expectations, and Apple fans always leave wanting more, and begin speculation anew for new dates to match their hoped releases. It's always been this way, and anybody watching Apple knows that Apple's stock always goes down on the day of announcements - in a cycle best known as "buy on the rumor, sell on the news". Yesterday, of course, was no different.

Examining the iPod Hi-Fi as a potential consumer - and I have to take that role with every announcement, I'm not very impressed. The iPod Hi-Fi is a very clean stereo system for integrating with the iPod, but that's where it begins and ends. As mentioned earlier on this site, I picked up the iHome iH5 for Christmas this last year, and not only does it already do everything Apple's new iPod Hi-Fi does, but it also features an alarm clock and AM/FM radio. If I were really expected to get rid of my home stereo as Steve Jobs suggested yesterday, then where is my solution for listening to A's baseball games on AM radio? Is he anticipating that as I have all my music at my fingertips, I may never need AM/FM again? Is it expected that I will instead resort to streaming radio online - beamed to the iPod Hi-Fi through my Airport Express, or simultaneously run the iPod Hi-Fi with Apple's $49 FM tuner for the iPod? It's not going to happen. I'm not so silly as to demand a cassette deck or CD changer - for iPod covers that, but if I'm expected to toss out my 50-disc CD changer with Dual cassette, clock and AM/FM radio in exchange for the iPod Hi-Fi, there's a lot more left to include.

BBC: Simpsons Trivia Trumps US Govt. Knowledge

Can you name the five main Simpsons characters? (You knew it was Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, right?) Well, the BBC thinks that you probably can't recite the five rights guaranteed you by the first amendment to the US Constitution quite so easily. In fact, if you could recite those five rights, you would be a small minority - numbering one in every thousand.

(And to be honest, I didn't get them all either. I said "right to bear arms" before my wife, a social studies teacher, shot me a withering look from across the room... Right... second amendment, I knew that.)

But civics lessons aside, I think knowledge of the Simpsons may actually have more applicability to today's modern life than does the Constitution's first amendment. We're said to have freedom of the press, but the press is almost exclusively owned by massive conglomerates, and our taxpayer dollars have been known to fund administration pay-outs for positive stories... and our freedom of assembly is threatened when we've learned that there are government employees infiltrating peaceful organizations under the guise of Homeland Security or the Patriot Act.

What the BBC missed is not that we can name the Simpsons' main characters - big deal. It is more impressive if you can remember who shot Mr. Burns (Maggie), who Bart sold his soul to (Milhouse) and for how much ($5.00). Now into the show's 17th season, it is increasingly difficult for even the most ardent Simpsons historians to remember the characters, their plot twists, punch lines, and many capers. Luckily for us, we can study up by using a myriad of online resources and fan sites - or even better, go to the source. With the first seven seasons of the Simpsons on DVD, you can watch every episode commercial-free, and gain insight through included commentary.

It's practically your civic duty.