Game On

The Heat are gonna come out with energy. Young Wade said so himself to reporters when asked how they would take “advantage of the fact that the Celtics are coming off a game 48 hours ago and are battling with injuries.”

I expected Wade to mention Bosh’s injury, but instead just mentioned that they need to capitalize off their extra rest.

Most analysts are predicting the Heat to win in 5 or 6. It’ll come down to Ray Allen and Paul Pierce’s health. If they are healthy, I could see the Celts pushing it to 7, but losing Bradley probably means the end of the road for the C’s.

Rondo and Garnett need to play at an All-NBA level throughout the series, but I just don’t see it happening. This is why it is going to ultimately come down to Ray and Paul; they need to contribute offensively and limit Wade and Bron defensively. With limited leg strength attributed to both, the task will be next to impossible.

Expect the Heat to win a fairly easy game tonight. 102-88 Heat.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Before the start of Sunday’s 96th Indianapolis 500, Dario Franchitti stood under an umbrella held by his wife — actress Ashley Judd — to shield himself from the scorching sun. He then leaned against the left-front tire to steal a moment of solitude amid a crowd of 350,000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Judd’s last words to her husband were, “I’ll see you in Victory Lane.”

Franchitti kept his date with his wife, driving into the history books with his third career Indianapolis 500 victory. He is just the seventh driver to complete that feat, and he did so in one of the most competitive Indy 500s in history.

There were 17 cars on the lead lap with a record 35 lead changes between 10 different drivers. The race was contested in 91-degree heat, which fell one degree shy of the all-time record (92 degrees) set in 1937.

As the laps dwindled, it appeared to be a two-man race between Franchitti and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. The two traded the lead several times over the final six laps before Japan’s Takuma Sato passed Dixon for second place. Sato went for the lead on the final lap, attempting to dive beneath Franchitti during the first turn, but his move didn’t work. He lost control on the apron and crashed into the outside wall in Turn 1….

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Memorial Day may mark the unofficial start to summer, but investors won’t be getting any rest and relaxation during the coming week.

Following a three-day weekend (U.S. markets are closed Monday for Memorial Day), uncertainty will continue to swirl over Europe, with the threat of Greece leaving the eurozone still looming.

Worries over Greece’s future and the broader region’s debt problems have already triggered deep losses in U.S. stocks and international markets this month. The S&P 500 (SPX) and Dow (INDU) are down almost 6% in May, and headed for their worst monthly losses since November 2011. In fact, the Dow has only been up four days so far this month. The only other time the Dow had a month with just four advancing days was September 1903.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq (COMP) has tumbled almost 7% and is on track for its worst monthly performance in two years.

U.S. markets will continue to be driven by the situation in Europe, especially in the weeks leading up to Greece’s June 17 elections, said Tom Schrader, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus. Until that date, investors will keep close tabs on polling results and comments from European leaders.

If Greece ends up with a coalition government led by the leftist Syriza party, which is currently leading the polls, chances are good that Greece will be forced to exit the eurozone.

Read more here: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/25/investing/stocks-lookahead/

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Regular unleaded dropped to a national average of $3.71 per gallon this week, 23 cents below an April high of $3.94, according to the federal government.

But will less pain at the pump undercut GOP attacks against President Obama? The answer is unclear.

Earlier this year, there was rampant speculation that national gas prices could top $5 or even $6 per gallon. Republicans seized on the issue, sensing new political vulnerability for the president.

Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/25/politics/gas-price-politics/index.html?section=cnn_latest

It seems as though this is a common occurrence.

When the Senate switched to Democratic hands in 2001 hearings into high prices were held. The cost began to drop. Prices jumped again when Republicans re-took control of the Senate in 2002.

 

Gasoline was at a record $2.00 in May of 2004 and people were outraged. Before the election the price dipped down to $1.70 as folks heaved a huge sigh of relief and cast a vote for Republican George Bush. By March 2005 gas zoomed to around $2.20 a gallon. Mission accomplished.

 

In July of 2008 US avg gas price was over $4.15, that’s still the record. By November, election time, it had fallen to $1.72 a gallon. What a drop! What a coincidence. It wasn’t enough to get the Republican elected but by May of 2009 gas was $2.44 and steadily trending upward.

 

It just shows how messed up the economy is and how artificial gas prices are. As Obama has often stated, he wants gas prices to go up to $5 or $6, but with polls closing, expect to see gas continue to get cheaper.

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS – 25th May 2012 – Today @pod2g and the @ChronicDevTeam announced the highly anticipated release of Absinthe 2.0 at #HITB2012AMS held at the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam.

Known as the “iOS Jailbreak Dream Team”, @p0sixninja, @pod2g, @planetbeing, @pimskeks released the untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 on the final day of the week-long conference. Echoing Steve Jobs’ trademark WWDC encore of ‘… and one more thing’, the team announced the release of Absinthe 2.0 during the closing minutes of their 2 hours talk at the conference.

Absinthe 2.0 will affect the majority of Apple devices running iOS 5.1.1 including iPad 1,1 – 2,1 – 2,2 – 2,3 – 3,1 – 3,2 – 3,3, the iPhone 2,1 – 3,1 – 3,3 – 4,1 and iPod 3,1 – 4,1. The jailbreak does not support the third generation Apple TV and support for iPad 2,4 will be added at a later date.

The team announced that the new Absinthe 2.0 will be available immediately for download from the official ChronicDevTeam website: http://greenpois0n.com

The release announcement came after recent rife speculation spreading through online social networks  on the actual release date and scope of Absinthe 2.0. The jailbreak community’s interest was first piqued when the team announced they were scheduled to appear at HITBSecConf2012 – Amsterdam to deliver not one but two talks covering both the Corona (A4) and Absinthe (A5) jailbreaks for Apple devices. On the 20th of May, a tweet from team member @pod2g stating the release of Absinthe 2.0 was ‘in a matter of days’ led to further speculation that the final release would be made at HITBSecConf which ran from 21 – 25 May.

“We want to take this opportunity to thank Hack in the Box for giving us the chance to all get together for the first time, especially in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, it has been a great delight for us to announce our next release at this event. Thank you to all our supporters and keep jailbreaking!!”

Read more here: http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2012ams/ios-jailbreak-dream-team-releases-absinthe-2-0-ios-5-1-1-jailbreak/

This initially went way over the head of The Esposito. If You are like Me, then this may serve as useful supplemental information:

iOS Jailbreaking is the process of removing the limitations imposed by Apple on devices running the iOS operating system through the use of custom kernels — such devices include the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and 2nd generation Apple TV. Jailbreaking allows iOS users to gain root access to the operating system, allowing them to download additional applications, extensions, and themes that are unavailable through the official Apple App Store. Jailbreaking is a form of privilege escalation, and the term has been applied to privilege escalation on other computer systems as well. The name refers to breaking the device out of its “jail”,^[1] which is a technical term used in Unix-style systems, for example in the term “FreeBSD jail“. A jailbroken iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS can still use the App Store, iTunes, and other normal functions, such as making telephone calls.

Unlike rooting an Android device, jailbreaking is necessary if the user intends to run software not authorized by Apple. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, jailbreaking iPhones is legal in the United States, although Apple has announced that the practice “can violate the warranty”.^[2]

A WWE event in Brazil came to a screeching halt Thursday evening … when local law enforcement stopped a live match and threatened to arrest Chris Jericho for desecrating the Brazilian flag.

It all went down during a match between Jericho and C.M. Punk — who was proudly waving the flag in the ring. Jericho took the flag away, crumpled it up and kicked the flag out of the ring … and that’s when police stepped in and put a stop to the event.

We’re told Jericho was informed that desecrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil … punishable by incarceration.

Cops gave Jericho an option — apologize to the arena … or go to jail. Chris chose the former …  grabbing the mic and telling the crowd he immediately regretted his actions. Cops allowed the event to continue.

Sources connected to the WWE tell TMZ … the flag stunt was NOT planned or approved by WWE officials.

The WWE has just released an official statement saying, “Chris Jericho has been suspended indefinitely  due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE event in Sao Paulo on May 24. The WWE has apologized to the citizens and the government of Brazil for this incident.”

A WWE event in Brazil came to a screeching halt Thursday evening … when local law enforcement stopped a live match and threatened to arrest Chris Jericho for desecrating the Brazilian flag.

It all went down during a match between Jericho and C.M. Punk — who was proudly waving the flag in the ring. Jericho took the flag away, crumpled it up and kicked the flag out of the ring … and that’s when police stepped in and put a stop to the event.

We’re told Jericho was informed that desecrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil … punishable by incarceration.

Cops gave Jericho an option — apologize to the arena … or go to jail. Chris chose the former …  grabbing the mic and telling the crowd he immediately regretted his actions. Cops allowed the event to continue.

Sources connected to the WWE tell TMZ … the flag stunt was NOT planned or approved by WWE officials.

The WWE has just released an official statement saying, “Chris Jericho has been suspended indefinitely  due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE event in Sao Paulo on May 24. The WWE has apologized to the citizens and the government of Brazil for this incident.”

The Esposito thinks that this may be some sort of work because Jericho was rumored to be leaving anyway to tour with Fozzy. The story behind the reasoning for this incident remains unclear, leaving it up to the smarks to speculate.

Read full article and watch the video here: http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/24/chris-jericho-wwe-suspended-desecrating-brazilian-flag/

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SpaceX Itself

SPACE –  The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule approached the International Space Station for a historic docking Friday after sailing through a practice rendezvous the day before.

The unmanned SpaceX Dragon was on track most of the morning to deliver a half-ton of supplies and become the first commercial vessel to visit the space station. But as the capsule drew within 100 feet, flight controllers commanded it to retreat.

The capsule backed off to 230 feet as the SpaceX company worked to resolve a problem with the on-board tracking sensors. Stray reflections from the Japanese part of the space station were interfering with the Dragon’s laser-based sensors, officials said. SpaceX mission controllers quickly fixed the trouble and resumed the docking operation.

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Some argue that “Nothing” exists, either in reality as the void in which matter travels or in definition as “not anything”. These are both falsehoods.

Parmenides, in the 5th Century BC, argued that “nothing” cannot exist by the following line of reasoning. To speak of a thing, one has to speak of a thing that exists. Since we can speak of a thing in the past, it must still exist (in some sense) now and from this concludes that there is no such thing as change. As a corollary, there can be no such things as coming-into-being, passing-out-of-being or not-being.

“Grammatically, the word “nothing” is an indefinite pronoun, which means that it refers to something. “Nothing” is a concept, and since concepts are things, the concept of “nothing” itself is a thing.”

“In physics, the word nothing is not used in any technical sense. A region of space is called a vacuum if it does not contain any matter, though it can contain physical fields. In fact, it is practically impossible to construct a region of space that contains no matter or fields, since gravity cannot be blocked and all objects at a non-zero temperature radiate electromagnetically. However, even if such a region existed, it could still not be referred to as “nothing”, since it has properties and a measurable existence as part of the quantum-mechanical vacuum. Where there is supposedly empty space there are constant quantum fluctuations with particles continually popping into and out of existence. It had long been theorized that space is distinct from a void of nothingness in that space consists of some kind of aether, with luminiferous aether serving as the transmission medium for propagating light waves.”

I think if “nothing” can be defined by the existence of “something” then its definition serves to explain that it is merely an abstract idea that opposes what actually exists in reality. In fact, “existence” itself contradicts the concept of “nothing”; if “existence” is true, then there must be some sort of property to the thing that is in existence. For instance, if you say that “nothing” exists, merely as the definition of “not anything”, then I could just as easily say that that is not “nothing”, because it is the definition of “not anything”. Even if the whole universe was “Nothing”, then it would be “something”, because “Nothing” would be the same as “Everything”.

Maybe this is just linguistic hopscotch, but I truly believe that “Nothingness” is a paradox that cannot exist in Nature.

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You are still a bust.

“This is the honest truth: I could absolutely care less on yards per game,” Smith said. “I think that’s a totally overblown stat. Because if you’re losing games in the second half, guess what? You’re like the Carolina Panthers and you’re going no-huddle the entire second half and, yeah, Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games, that’s great. You’re not winning, though.”

Alex. You went 13-3 last year, and you are still 2 games under .500 for your career. Last year was the only year in your career that you have thrown for over 3,000 yards. Shouldn’t you have, by your own logic, thrown for more yards than you did all the years your team stunk then? How come you couldn’t do what Cam did?

If you were so good, wouldn’t the Niners have rushed to re-sign you, rather than wine and dine Peyton Manning in a desperate attempt to upgrade? Let’s face it, your stats looked better than you actually were because Harbaugh knew how to manage you and hide your flaws. You are not a top flight quarterback and are likely to regress.

Even if you actually were a top flight quarterback that wasn’t likely to regress, what gives you the right to start talking about other quarterbacks? You had a career year (13-3) that saw you throw for 3,144 yards, a personal record.

It was Cam Newton’s rookie season and he threw for 4,051 yards.

Perhaps Smith is taking on the braggadocious nature of his head coach, but The Esposito thinks that this may make Smith and the Niners a bit more of a target next season by fans, media and perhaps opposing teams who resent the criticism of Newton.

2011 Alex Smith vs. Cam Newton

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Reblogged from halfblog.net:

For fellow bloggers and others interested in starting a new blog, halfblog.net has posted a screenshot of their earnings and some of their stats to help assist your WordAds venture. They have a much more popular blog than The Esposito, and it hasn't earned much. Yikes.