52 Reasons

In case you're interested, Stephanie (my wife) and her friend Karyn completed a project last year for the Arizona Commission of the Arts. The final project, I just learned, has its own website. I think it is very cool. Check it out:
"52 Reasons" deck of cards

Dethroned

San Antonio brought it. The Pistons gave it there all, coming back from 0-2 and 2-3 in the series, but the Spurs were just a little bit better.

Game 7 tonight, bring it

Quote from Sheed:

They had their Cristal ready, but hey, we gonna pop it Thursday!

I fell asleep before the conclusion of the game. John Hollinger seems to think it came down to turnovers, or the lack thereof. Link

Detroit Free Press: City in decay is a lesson for others

While getting my Pistons fix this morning, I came across this article on Highland Park, MI, which is not to be confused with the ultra-wealthy, northshore Jewish suburb of Chicago, IL that goes by the same name. The Detroit variant is one of the most economically depressed areas in the U.S. What makes it particularly sad (to me, at least) is that when you drive around HP you see the remnants of what it used to be, i.e., ornate, majestic buidlings boarded up, beautiful homes in decay, etc. The following excerpt vivedly capture this phenomenon:

After years of departures of businesses big and small, Highland Park appears to be collapsing on itself in many neighborhoods. Fred Durhal, the city's former director of economic development, said there are more than 700 abandoned or damaged buildings in Highland Park, which is only 2.9 square miles in size, with a population of about 16,000.

'There is an unbelievable amount of degradation,' Durhal said.

At the abandoned police headquarters in the middle of town, bricks and cement are falling to the ground on a regular basis. Across the street, the fire department headquarters is condemned. The library is boarded up.

Standing on Blackwell's porch, you can see several abandoned homes. The lot next door is empty; the abandoned house that used to be there caught fire three years ago, and flames slightly damaged the west side of Blackwell's home.

Link

AFI List of Top 100 Quotes From U.S. Films

My favorites:

"You talking to me?" Taxi Driver

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." Cool Hand Luke

"Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

"Say `hello' to my little friend!" Scareface

Striker: "Surely you can't be serious." Rumack: "I am serious ... and don't call me Shirley." Airplane

"I feel the need - the need for speed!" Top Gun

Link

Smoking the pot

Some guy finds a nice correlation between pot smoking and Kerry voting. You need to scroll down to the "Saturday June 18" entry and below that there are two maps.

The more I learn about the election results (e.g., see this post), the more I'm heartened to be a Democrat.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

Steve Jobs gives the commencement address at Stanford U. 'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says.

Did Horry diss us?

You decide.

Florida vacation

The Burnsteins spent a week in Seista Keys, FL. A nice time was had by all. Some random pictures of our trip, in no particular order...

Gimme the pump, Gibby

Kirk Gibson epitomizes the Detroit Tigers. Its ironic that his most memorable moment as a ballplayer is with the Dodgers. The LA Times takes a stroll down memory lane in this interview with Gibby about that moment: the game-winning homer in the 1988 World Series opener against the Oakland Athletics, the greatest moment in Los Angeles Dodger history.

'When I got out and heard the crowd, I programmed myself to say, 'I won't hurt,' ' he says.

But Kirk Gibson will not relive the fist pump.

He can't explain it. He will not repeat it. He never has. He never will.

'All the time guys are saying, 'Gimme the pump, Gibby,' but I can't do it,' he says. 'You gotta feel it. You can't be phony about it.'

As he limped between first and second base on that cool night long ago, the thrust of Gibson's right arm mirrored the thump of a city's heart.

He felt it. We felt it. It was so quick, so stunning, it captured our breaths and challenged our faith.

Amen to that. Some nice memories, and a nice read too. Link

Creationism: God's gift to the ignorant

As the Religious Right tries to ban the teaching of evolution in Kansas, Richard Dawkins speaks up for scientific logic...

Link

"Acting white" and its price

I am TBTB (to busy to blog), but I want to point you to an article by Roland Fryer published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics this month. Marginal Revoluation, an economics blog, has a nice summary of the paper's tantelizing conclusions.