“I think this was a turnaround year. It doesn’t happen overnight,” midseason acquisition Petr Sykora said. “You have to work at it year after year. Look at the New Jersey Devils. They’ve been together 10 years. I think this was a successful season because guys got the feeling of winning.”

They have? Quite an interesting remark from a former member of that very team.

Let’s run down the Devils’ lineup.

• Tommy Albelin: 1988
• Martin Brodeur: 1992
• Sergei Brylin: 1994
• Scott Clemsen: 2001
• Patrik Elias: 1995
• Brian Gionta: 2001
• Scott Gomez: 1999
• David Hale: 2003
• Cam Jansen: 2005
• Ken Klee: 2005
• Victor Kozlov: 2003
• Darren Langdon: 2004 (Has not played a game in a Devils jersey)
• Jamie Langenbrunner: 2001
• Brad Lukowich: 2006
• John Madden: 1999
• Grant Marshall: 2003
• Paul Martin: 2003
• Richard Matvichuk: 2006
• Jay Pandolfo: 1996
• Zach Parise: 2004
• Brian Rafalski: 1999
• Erik Rasmussen: 1999
• Colin White: 1999
• Jason Wiemer: 2006

I would say the assertion that the team has been together 10 years is not only wrong, it’s so wrong as to be ludicrous.

Honestly, Petr. You were part of those teams, and you should know better, especially considering he wasn’t even with the team for 10 years.

The Rangers had a great season that came to a disappointing end and got bounced on their collective asses right out of the playoffs. Let’s not try to rationalize the Devils as some team that’s been together forever. Most of those people (meaning the ones handing you your heads) weren’t even there more than 6 or 7.

Technorati Tags: rangers, devils, playoffs, hockey, nhl

It amazes me how hypocritical the anti-Bush zealots are. On one hand, protests around the country this week castigated the administration for the war in Iraq.

On the other hand, more protestors in DC castigated the administration for not sending troops to Darfur.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people joined celebrities and lawmakers at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

“Not on our watch!” the crowd chanted as a parade of speakers lined up for their turn on a stage on the National Mall, the Capitol serving as a backdrop.

“The personal motivation for a lot of us is the Holocaust,” said Boston-based Rabbi Or Rose of Jewish Seminarians for Justice. “Given our history and experience, we feel an obligation to stand up and speak out.”

In an interview, refugee Hassan Cober said he was forced to leave his family and flee Sudan four years ago after many were killed and raped. He urged the United States and the United Nations to act quickly, saying he had no idea where his family was or if they were OK.

“We need deeds, not words,” said Cober, now of Portland, Maine. “They need to come to Darfur today, not tomorrow, because what is going on is a disaster.”

I guess those imperialist tools of oppression we know as soldiers are only good when they’re doing the bidding of the left (in Darfur or Somalia) or protecting our obvious national interests in the midst of civil wars (Yugoslavia anyone?). Acting in Iraq was unilateral. However, the criticism for not acting in Haiti and Darfur is that we aren’t acting unilaterally. Ironically enough, the criticism is coming from mostly the same people: anti-Bush zealots.

If only the Bush-haters could make up their mind.

Technorati Tags: bush, anti-bush, darfur, iraq, somalia, sudan, bosnia, kosovo, serbia

Neil Young has made his entire anti-war screed available online.

Who cares?

I mean, aside from the Vacuous Hole?

Technorati Tags: xeni, xeni jardin, neil young, vacuous hole

Rachel was walking around outside with her stroller and a doll. I asked her if that was her baby and she said yes. So I asked her what her name was and she said, "Baby."

Good enough for me!

Being a long-time Firefox user, it was hard for me to even muster the desire to grab the latest beta of IE 7 from Microsoft.com but having read some of the buzz on Betanews, I decided to give it a whirl. To say I’m glad I did is an understatement.

The install was quick and painless, and all was running after a reboot. I double clicked the newly-redesigned E logo and figured on waiting a few seconds for it to start up. Much to my surprise, it started almost instantaneously. I started going to various websites and they sprung to life at speeds I have never comprehended before. IE 7 was noticeably fast.

The interface is okay. Kind of weird and quirky, but I have a feeling it’s similar to what we’re going to get in the next major release of Microsoft Office. It’s not the slickest ever, but it’s functional if you’re a web browsing maven and don’t like clutter.

All told, I would’ve happily left IE 7 installed and actually started using it, but there were a fair share of bugs going on. All of them were relatively minor (for example, the user agent string has changed for IE so pages kept telling me I needed IE 6 or later to view them) except for the horrific rendering of some pages (and believe me when I say horrific, that’s what I mean). I’m guessing this is due to MS updating the rendering engine to be more standards compliant, but sites still seeing an IE user agent string and rendering it for the older browsers. I’m sure the MS team will come up with something to straighten that out before the release date.

While IE 7 wasn’t complete or “perfect” enough for me to leave on my system, I have to say it’s an outstanding start for a much-maligned browser. As it stands now, I won’t be switching any time soon. In the future, however, I may consider it if IE 7 is released with some bugs squashed.

It really is that good, and more importantly it really is that fast.

Technorati Tags: ie 7, microsoft, firefox

Our country is populated by morons. After the head, moron in chief, President Bush, told the country that deporting 11 million illegals was impractical (something he wouldn’t even attempt; funny how that works), we find that millions of illegals are planning on leaving work tomorrow to demand that they be rewarded for their crime by being made citizens.

Isn’t that special?

I can put up with that because in the end, this is a one-off thing in response to the fact that people are waking up to the fact that there are lotsa people who don’t belong in this country.

What I can’t tolerate, however is this:

Tomorrow, busboy Juan Mendoza will not be there for his busy lunch shift at the midtown bistro where he works. And his wife won’t clean the offices of her Manhattan clients.

Instead, the couple from Mexico will march from Chinatown to Union Square, where they plan to take part in an immigrant-rights rally and demand legalization for themselves and the 11 million other undocumented immigrants in this country.

“To take the day off, I will lose $70, $80,” said Mendoza, 37, who got approval for the day off from his boss. “But we are going to be gaining a lot more if we all come out and protest.”

They got permission from their boss? That means that their boss is knowingly employing illegal immigrants. There’s more in this story.

Many employers, large and small, have made contingency plans. Meat-producing giant Tyson Foods announced it will shut down nine factories nationwide tomorrow because workers plan to attend demonstrations.

Locally, small outfits like El Gran Pan de Queso, a Colombian restaurant in Corona, Queens, will close for the day, said Nyddia Lugo-Spahr, spokeswoman for the New York Statewide Coalition of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Why would they need to close? Are they hiring illegal aliens also?

The government is missing a major opportunity, here. All we hear about is how these folks live in shadows and hide from the government and it’s nearly impossible to find them all. Well… Here’s one way. Show up at the rallies and start arresting people. Show up at the businesses these people work at and fine the hell out of the people who make their illegal lives in this country possible.

That’s how you start. If they’re going to come out of the woodwork and expose themselves, take advantage and start arresting people.

I know. Won’t happen.

Instead, we’ll get another lecture from the idiot about how it’s impractical to find and arrest illegal immigrants.

I’m all for a worker program, a streamlined immigration process, and a reward system for those who take part in those programs to help them become actual citizens even faster.

I’m not for illegal immigration for any reason and I’m certainly not for an idiot President who has basically given his blessing to these folks by telling them that since we can’t round all of them up, we’ll just let them be.

That’s simply ridiculous.

Technorati Tags: immigration

Some picture sharing before dinner.

Don’t know what they are but they’re really pretty.

Cousin Alan who I’ve been known to take a cheapshot or two at on my blog. Alan’s a big Howard Stern fan. In tribute to him, I wore my Opie and Anthony hat and shirt to the get together earlier today.

Some of us played. Others worked. David mowed.

Flowers sure do look nice this time of year.

Yeah yeah yeah. We’ve all seen the picture. Dennis Hastert gets into an SUV to go back to work after a get together about the environment. Of course we’ve all seen it because the media played it over and over again as proof that Republicans are really out of touch with the environment.

Blah blah blah.

What you have not heard one peep about is the Democrats who weren’t any better. About Chuck Schumer who got in a Chrysler LHS (21 mpg in the city?) and Barbara Boxer who got into her Hyundai Elantra (27 mpg in the city) to drive to their office across the street

Anyone care to explain the difference in reporting? I’m all ears.

Technorati Tags: environment, liberal bias, media bias

Caterpillar, the number one construction equipment manufacturer in the world, at Ground Zero. It’s kinda cool, actually, that the same company who made the machine that turned Rachel Corrie into a pancake for protecting a terrorist’s family is rebuilding a building destroyed by a terrorist.

The irony is palpable.

Technorati Tags: ground zero, caterpillar

I have so had it with the NYPD. Seriously. This city is safer than any other big city in the country, and for that we owe the NYPD a great amount of gratitude, but I am absolutely tired of them shitting on people’s rights. Apparently, somewhere down the line, cyclists and photographers have become their number one targets; something that bothers me immensely considering I’m both.

What a joke. We gathered in Union Square, smaller this time than the ride in March. Kind of weird for a warmer spring day. Where is everyone? There was a double wide tall bike made at Cooper Union’s design program…come on, I mean if you can ride that thing at Manhattan Critical Mass, we all should be able to come out and ride. About 150 of broke out and rode down Broadway. The cops began their usual pursuit with scooters and right away began pulling people over who ran red lights with two scooters per ticket. So the ride began to stop at every red light, thus breaking down the ride into little small groups. It seemed as if you didn’t have scooters on you, the ride could just proceed forward. The ride broke up into two major groups, one was snaking around Astor Place and the other, about 100 was cruising up 6th and then 8th Ave. Our timid group of 30-50 riders wound up at Washington Square Park and then we made a break for 6th Ave, while the other group was cutting East around the 40’s…we were on our own. Weird stuff happened on 6th Ave. A lone cop car pulled over a rider and was trying to put their bike in his trunk. Cops on foot gave a summons to a rider for not being over to the right enough? Huh? One brave fixie made a sprint through a red light and was chased by 2 scooter cops as we stopped at the light and cheered. He made a turn onto oncoming traffic at 13th St. and appeared to get away, we cheered. Then we got up there and made a closer look, he had been caught. He got stopped by plowing into a Mercedes and cracking the windshield. He only got a summons. Sure it was a thrill to see someone make a break for it, but what’s the point? I later found out. At 10th Ave and 23rd Street a mob of scooter cops cut off the ride and jumped off their scooters…the light was Green. They began yelling things like, you’d better have ID. One pig tried to grab me and I turned around and got away. I never should have got so close to them, it was sloppy. But why were we being stopped…the light was Green and we were obeying traffic laws? Oh I get it now…it doesn’t matter what you do…or what a State or Federal judge says…the NYPD doesn’t give a fuck. There orders are to harass the ride, give as many tickets as possible and make people scared

State judges have already granted the authority for people to join the Critical Mass rides in New York City without a “parade” permit. Every NYPD lawsuit otherwise has been thrown out. Why is the damned NYPD still harassing the ride? Once the riders stopped running lights, they had no right to pursue the riders the way they did. It seems like they show up at rides just to stir stuff up, then arrest people when they freak out.

I’ve really had it and I wish just once someone would put the stupid power-abusing NYPD in its place.

Technorati Tags: nypd, cycling, activism, critical mass

Well, that sure was easy. The Devils polished off the completely overplayed Rangers in convincing fashion at Madison Square Garden today, 4-2.

There really isn’t much more to say. The Devils have won 15 straight games (they ended the regular season with an 11 game winning streak) and are clearly the hottest team in the NHL right now. The only concern is that since the Rangers never really presented any kind of challenge in this series, they may be a bit rusty come next round.

Only time will tell. Hopefully they can keep this improbable streak together and keep whipping teams like Gunther Gebel Williams whipped tigers for Ringling Brothers.

Technorati Tags: devils, nhl, playoffs, rangers

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Iran has defied a U.N. Security Council call for a freeze on enriching uranium and its lack of cooperation with nuclear inspectors was a “matter of concern.”

President Bush said “the world is united and concerned” about what he called Iran’s “desire to have not only a nuclear weapon but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon.”

The eight-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, said that after more than three years of an IAEA investigation, “the existing gaps in knowledge continue to be a matter of concern.”

“Any progress in that regard requires full transparency and active cooperation by Iran,” said the report, written by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

The finding set the stage for a showdown in the U.N. Security Council, which is expected to meet next week and start a process that could result in punitive measures against the Islamic republic.

But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no Security Council resolution could make Iran give up its nuclear program.

“The Iranian nation won’t give a damn about such useless resolutions,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of people Friday in Khorramdareh in northwestern Iran before the IAEA report was issued.

“Today, they want to force us to give up our way through threats and sanctions but those who resort to language of coercion should know that nuclear energy is a national demand and by the grace of God, today Iran is a nuclear country,” state-run television quoted him as saying.

I can’t wait to see how the UN handles this one. I’m sure they have a plan and won’t let this just sit around and fester. I reckon in 14 years, something will be done.

Oh, and don’t forget the 70+ resolutions.

Technorati Tags: iran, nuclear, iaea

From Consumerist, we have this gem:

Today I went into a Starbucks with some friends, one of us purchased a coffee and sat down. A minute later a very large Starbucks employee walks over and says “I’m sorry but you have to purchase something if you wish to sit on the chairs”…Erm , what the hell is that about? We replied saying we had indeed purchased something, we had bought a coffee, and pointed at it showing the employee. “I’m sorry” she replied “but all of you have to purchase something”…What is this? Shall i sit on the fucking floor?! Is this what you wish me to do?! I’m not great on customers rights but you provide a fucking chair, I’m allowed to park my fucking arse on it!

I call Bravo Sierra on Mikey. I’ve been to enough Starbucks and had to leave enough times to know that they have no such policy. In fact, they could care less whether you just sit in a chair and stare out the window for three or four hours, which leads me to believe one of two things:

1. Mike wasn’t exactly behaving in Starbucks and they asked him to buy something or leave because he was making a nuissance of himself.

2. It never actually happened and he’s looking for attention.

I tend to believe #2 is the likely scenario. I mean, look at the way ole whitey dresses.

Technorati Tags: kid, starbucks, mike

Peter Luger is known the country over as one of the best steaks you can get anywhere. I didn’t even know they surved burgers, but apparently they do and they must not get a lot of orders for them seeing as they don’t do a very good job:

My girlfriend and I both ordered our burgers with American cheese and cooked medium-rare. They arrived ten minutes later with a slice of raw onion and a side of fries. I was immediately excited by the sesame-seed bun—crispy on the outside but fluffy and soft in the middle, my ideal burger delivery device. The raw onions aren’t something I’d typically put on a burger, but I imagined myself as a famished working-class Brooklynite visiting Peter Luger in the late-nineteenth century and knew my fictional self wouldn’t throw aside a ring of raw onion.

Finally, it was time to taste the burger. Thus far, my dream of the perfect burger was in line with reality. Then, I took a bite. First contact was delicious. The meat had a strong flavor and a smooth texture despite the coarse grind. I took a few more bites and approached the center. Uh oh. The middle of my burger was bright red and nowhere near the pink I was hoping to see. In the dead center it was nearly raw.

Okay, as someone who orders their burger medium well all the time, that is just frigging GROSS. Yech. I’ll stick to the butter-grilled goodness that is Peter Luger’s steaks and steer clear of the burger.

Now pardon me while I find a bucket.

Technorati Tags: peter luger, hamburger

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I promised David I would stop taking his picture if he made a "no photos please" pose. He did. I renegged