We are doomed

Just found out that Facebook is now the most visited web site on the Internet. Now that Google has been knocked off its perch, I think it's safe to assume that mankind is now the stupidest and most ill-informed it has ever been in recorded history. Please note that I said 'ill-informed' vice uninformed. We know more and have more access to information than at any time in human history. It's just that now most of our information is finding out what some loser is wasting his/her time with at any moment. I weep for humanity.

Time Marches On

Since I have some expertise in this area, I am always interested in examples that show how far we have come in the computer age. I just saw a jaw dropping example on the cost of storage.

Cost of 1TB of hard disk storage (bear in mind that there probably wasn't this much storage in the world at the time)

2011: About $60.
1955: $1 trillion

Cost of 4GB of storage:
2011: $10 (USB Drive)
1955: $32 billion

Nicky's New Leathers

Valentino's arrival at Ducati seems to have had an additional effect. Nicky Hayden will wear Dainese leathers this year. Until now, only Rossi and Lorenzo wore the Italian brand. Dani Pedrosa wore them as a rookie, but has worn Alpinestars since then.

Middle School Track Team

Kara has been selected to her Middle School track team. A highly contested tryout saw young Kara rewarded for her hurdling skills. First meet is next Wednesday.

Happy Birthday!

James Austin Clark turns 16 today! My son is 16. Let me repeat that. My son is 16. I am turning into an old bastard before my very eyes.

NFL season begins

The 2010 NFL season just kicked off with a Redskins victory. It took everything the Redskins had as well as a horribly executed game from the Cowboys to secure an opening victory for the Redskins. On the last play of the second half, the Cowboys ran an ill advised play that saw them fumble the ball to a waiting DeAngelo Hall, who ran it in for what turned out to be the game winner.

The game itself came down to the last play when the Cowboys scored the game winning touchdown. But wait. A holding penalty nullifies the play and the Redskins hold on for the win.

Pros
Redskins were rocking the gold pants for the opener.
Redskins defense was much more aggressive. Offense needs to buy the Defense dinner all week.
Jim Haslett's promise for more turnovers turns out to be prescient as the fumble provides the difference in the game.
Sloppy play by the Cowboys costs them the game.
McNabb makes the Philly trade seem a little ridiculous, especially taking into account the fact that Campbell stunk up the joint in Oakland's loss.

Cons
Six points by the offense and no touchdowns shows that Kyle Shanahan's vaunted air attack needs a lot of work.
Barring a stupid penalty, the Cowboys could have won this one. If Orakpo doesn't get held, does he get to Romo? We will never know.
More scoring needed if they want to win more games.

Learning to Drive

Today, I took Austin out for his first driving lesson. This is my second time doing this. Where have the years gone? I am not ready for a second teenage driver, but time marches on. For the record, he did remarkably well and it won't be long before he is tooling down the road.

Community Service

Tracy and I just spent the day painting the Booster Club apparel shack and organizing the interior for the upcoming football season. Someone please tell me how I got roped into this.

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

Happy Birthday Amanda, we miss you.

UNC-Ch Football Program Under Investigation

Today brought news that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Ch) Football Program is under investigation by the NCAA. In an interview today, Butch Davis attempted to quell the rumor that the source of the investigation is because of the Tarheel's tendency to lay down when playing the Wolfpack.

Davis said that "we are not under investigation because we can't beat NC State. That's simply because they are too good. We are under investigation for other reasons that I am not at liberty to disclose at this time."

James Madison University

Yesterday, Kellie completed her first college tour as we went to JMU in Harrisonburg, VA. Kellie was very impressed and is ready to to apply today. More tours to follow and she will have a better scale to which to gauge this visit.

Two Wheel Tuesday - #4

The rumors continue to fly that Rossi is headed to Ducati and Stoner to Honda. During this week's race, the rumors had passed the threshold from ridiculous to accepted. Is this a done deal? Time will tell. Additional rumors this week include the return of Loris Capirossi to Ducati although on the Satellite Pramac team instead of the factory seat.

Carolina wins the CWS!

The Carolina Gamecocks are the big winners in this years College World Series. Congratulations to the USC Gamecocks!

Suck it Chicago!

I have spent the week gleefully reading about the Supreme Court decision that ruled Chicago's handgun ban unconstitutional. Washington D.C. suffered the same fate last year, so this is hardly a surprise. The surprise lies in the court's decision to extend the provisions set forth in the Second Amendment to the States and Municipalities. I think that this is a good thing because it keeps the bleeding hearts in Chicago from denying American citizens rights guaranteed under the Constitution. In the long run, it's much better that Chicago learns a lesson than allowing them to terrorize its law abiding residents by making gun ownership a crime.

All set for the weekend

I am all set and ready to go for the Fourth this weekend. I went Fireworks shopping last weekend and have a great show planned. More in this later. I think that I will try and shoot a few pictures this year. If they turn out, I will post.

Two Wheel Tuesday - #3

This past weekend Assen hosted the Dutch Grand Prix. As a Nicky Hayden fan, I had big hopes for this race as #69 has won here in the past. As far as Nicky was concerned, the race was over at lap one.  He had a poor start from 5th and never recovered. He was in 9th at the first turn and that was that. In the post-race interviews, Nicky said that he was folding the front trying to make up time and went as fast as he could under those conditions. Not a very good showing from Nicky during this race. He needs to step it up a notch. The other side of Team Red's garage fared much better as Stoner put the Ducati on the box for the first time this year. Spies led a MotoGP race for the first time and finished a very respectable fourth, the satellite rider's career best finish. Rossi's bike was parked again and once again, the rising star of Lorenzo shone down upon the land. Jorge is in a league of his own. Pedrosa gave him an early run, but Jorge shrugged the challenge off again and laid waste to the field. This championship is his to lose. Sorry for the abbreviated race report, but this race had little drama and wasn't my favorite contest thus far this year.

The drama was reserved for later in the week, when insiders are confident that Rossi has already signed with Ducati for next year. This dovetails nicely with the associated rumor that Stoner has already left the nest for Honda. The rumor mill around Rossi has been spinning tales for some time now. For example, it's been long rumored that Rossi has a decision to make, take €9M from Yamaha or take €15M from Ducati. It's long been assumed that Lorenzo wants €8M from Yamaha and if he wins the title, he will get it. That's too close for comfort for the prized Italian rider and he might bolt for Ducati. If he does that, stand by for a the Italians to lose their minds in absolute ecstacy. An Italian champion on an Italian bike? It's happened before, but it has been a very long time.

Then again, all this talk may be a carefully orchestrated means to get Rossi in the news while he recuperates. Time will tell.

The Mississippi Chronicles

Through the magic of the Internet, I "spoke" with Amanda this evening about their recent relocation to Mississippi. It seems that they have moved into a neighborhood that has another McCormick family nearby. Same name, that's not something you see everyday.

But wait, there's more.

This family also hails from the fair city of Mobile.

But wait, there's more.

The man's name is Rod McCormick (Rod/Ron).

But wait, there's more.

The new neighbors have a daughter named Molly (Molly/Millie).

But wait, there's more.

The Ron and Amanda variety also has a Molly 'family' member, namely their irascible little Dachshund.

There are strange things afoot in Madison, MS.

Wolfpack Fans Unite!

This morning as I was entering the 7-Eleven to buy gas, I ran into Tim. Tim has a daughter in Kara's grade in the same school and lives in a development across the main road. This is important because Tim is an alumnus of N.C. State. We spoke briefly about Tom O'Brien and his approach to student athletics, the recent hire of Debbie Yow as the AD, and recent trips to the motherland. It really made my day to speak, even if only for a few minutes, to one of the Wolfpack faithful. At least someone in this godforsaken, Carolina loving county has some taste.

Monday Roundup - #3

Since school is out and the summer of 2010 is officially underway, the activity of the Clark kids has slowed somewhat. Kellie continues to go to work at the pool and is finding that the daily duties of a Virginia lifeguard include cleaning up disgusting things that end up on the bathroom floors. Ask her about it. She will be glad to enlighten you. Austin continues to train for Cross Country and the Playstation Olympics. Kara got a job working as a Mommy's helper and just finished her first official (paid) babysitting job. The added funds will enable her to continue to operate as a loan institution for her brother and sister. They like to borrow money from Kara in the hopes that she will forget what they owe her and get a free gift. The only problem with that approach is that Kara NEVER forgets who owes her money and how much.

Two Wheel Tuesday - #2

Over the weekend, MotoGP returned to the historic Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix. Jorge Lorenzo rode away from the pack for an easy win, but the remaining podium positions were hotly contested. Dovizioso and the surprising Ben Spies took second and third respectively.

Going into the race, we were treated to another Ducati first. Nicky Hayden out qualified Casey Stoner for the first time as his teammate, but Casey's race pace was a clear sign that the qualifying positions really wouldn't matter once the flag dropped. That didn't materialize because Stoner had clutch problems on the start and entered turn one in last place. The fact that he finished fifth was easily the most impressive run through the pack we have seen in years. Casey was a bit of a douche about the matter, publicly throwing his team under the bus about the technical problems. This attitude towards the usually tight knit Ducati teams only served to heat up the rumors that Casey is headed to Honda at the end of the season. Clearly Stoner has not warmed up to the new bike. Maybe it's too rigid in in current incarnation. Rumors are also swirling about the paddock that Ducati has already signed Hayden to a ride in 2011. The fact that they have signed one rider and not the other also gave weight to the rumor that Ducati has made a run on Rossi for next year.  Rumor also says that Rossi has been watching Hayden's progress on the Desmo and had given it his seal of approval. This type of conjecture is normal in any racing series, but it's a little early for this kind of thing in MotoGP.

For the second time this season, Hayden beat Stoner to the checkered flag, but the fourth place position was little consolation for Hayden for several reasons. Hayden was beaten to the podium by a satellite rider (Spies) on the last lap and barely beat Stoner who had to pass nearly everyone on the track. The big news was that Spies passed Hayden on the track and took third away from him. Are we seeing the start of an American rivalry? I hope so, moreso because I never put Spies on the podium this year before Hayden, but that's where we are.

Lorenzo was in a different world and made everyone else loo a little silly in the process. Very impressive. Yamaha parked Ross's bike and did not produce a replacement rider. This is probably a nod to the fact that the Rossi faithful would crucify anyone who dared rider the masters bike or they just couldn't find anyone willing to do it.

Colin Edwards must be feeling a little lost as the nominal lead rider was outshone by a rookie. One factor that hasn't seen much airtime is the fact that only two riders (Stoner/Edwards) had ever ridden there before, so that meant Spies was not at a big disadvantage here and he made the best of it.


Current Standings after 5 races:

Position	Rider	Bike	Points
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	115
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Honda	78
3	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	73
4	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	61
5	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	52
6	Randy De Puniet	Honda	46
7	Ben Spies	Yamaha	36
8	Casey Stoner	Ducati	35
9	Marco Melandri	Honda	32
10	Marco Simoncelli	Honda	32