I was just down the hall working out my new set of bulging muscles, and the communist news network (CNN) was on in the corner. (I swear I didn’t put it on, it was on when I came in and thought it might be interesting to listen to what kind of propoganda is being spewed lately.) So anyway I heard this segment on whether or not the war in Iraq should be called a civil war. They said that

“many experts say that designating this a civil war will undermine U.S. support even more, which might explain why so many Democrats are jumping on the bandwagon.”

I was kind of surprised to hear CNN so explicitly stating that democrats would like to undermine the support for the United States and I thought I must have heard wrong. However I got back to my office and a few minutes later this post showed up on NewsBusters concerning the exact piece that I had just watched. Very interesting. Kudos to NewsBusters for picking up on this so quickly and getting it out there. NewsBusters is like medicine for that sick feeling you get when you are exposed to too much of that deadly radiation which is the mainstream media.

I enjoyed reading the profiles and checking out some of the early comic strips. Maybe you will too. Meet snoopy and his friends here.

I have joined lots of different sites like hover, myspace, blogger, but I never really got into them because for one thing they did not integrate with my blog, and I didn’t feel like having two blogs. I also wasn’t too into trying to find people I knew amoung a million coded names, so it didn’t really work as a social networking thing either. So basically the accounts are rotting. I am always up for giving new things a shot though, and so when I saw that facebook had opened up to everyone I decided to create an account to see what the deal was.

Three things have sold me on it. One is that when I created my account the first thing that it did was scan my contacts folders in my email addresses and tell me everyone in my contact folders who had a facebook account. I was pretty surprised to see how many people I knew who were on facebook, though I shouldn’t have been since its now associated with everyone school.

The second thing that sold me on facebook was how they automatically import all of my posts to thebradlands whenever I write anything here. It was very simple to set up, and its all done automatically so that facebook acts as an alternate interface to my blog. Rather then being a substitute for thebradlands its sort of an extension.

Thirdly facebook is clean and orderly, with people using their real names and not a lot of strangers wanting to be your friend so that they can increase their chances of winning an iPod or whatever. It allows you to have fun and stay connected with the people you know, while not pulling you into a lot of stuff you aren’t interested in.

Thank you facebook for welcoming me to your wonderful new world. I feel truly integrated into modern society now that I have embraced social networking and made it my own. Please excuse me. I’m going to cry.

Last Friday was a slow day for us since we weren’t interested in shopping and we were pretty beat from a long Thanksgiving. We hung around the house for a while, and then around 4 we decided to get outside because it was a beautiful day, so we headed over to Alamance Battleground.

First we went a this big old house that was owned by the Holt family and is now a museum. The museum is mostly just a memorial of the 19th century way of life, and all of the rooms are furnished with originals from the house. It was pretty neat to walk around and talk to the guy who was giving us a tour, but he was getting ready to close up so we couldn’t stay very long.

We then headed down the street a little ways to Alamance Battleground, which was the site of the first battle of the revolution, May 16th, 1771. About 2000 regulators, lead by James Hunter, lost the battle to a few less British soldiers. However even though they lost, they sent an important message to the British government that they were willing to fight to attain their essential rights. It would take 5 more years before America formally declared independence, but the stage for that declaration was set through many battles such as the one which occurred here.

We really enjoyed walking around the area of the battle. There was a map and a plaque that told in detail what happened in the battle, and there were flags in the field to indicate where the American and where the British lines were. It was sobering to stand where the Americans stood and look across at where the British were and imagine being lined up, facing barrels and men who sought to kill you. It really makes you admire the men who valued their freedom so much that they were willing to take that stand and risk their lives.

There were also a couple of monuments, marking the site of the battle and honoring James Hunter. We enjoyed walking around, watching the sunset and throwing the football a little bit.

Did you ever play Asteroids, the game where you are in a little spaceship and you have to fly around and shoot asteroids?  Well this game is called asteroids revenge, and this time you are the asteroids, smashing lots of little spaceships that are flying around trying to kill you.  They also have lots of other fun little games that are great for kicking back.

So it looks like today is my day to talk about baseball. Here is a great article on Tom Holliday, the new assistant head coach for NC State. The amazing thing is that Holliday would rather be the assistant head coach at NC State then be the head coach of any other school, because I am sure any other school would take him in a second if he showed an interest in managing their team. Not only has he been to Omaha 14 times and won the college world series twice, but he is leaving a pitching coach position at Texas in which he won the Championship in 2005 and came in second in 2004. He also won the 2005 National College Pitching Coach of the Year award.

As the article talks about, Holliday’s biggest strength is his ability to recruit. NC State needs that since they are sending players to pro ball at a record pace(eight players drafted this past season), and it will be exciting to see who he brings in. State’s first game is February 9th so I only have a little more then two months to wait!

This is a great article in the globe that pretty much wraps up the Red Sox present negotiations to trade Manny, sign Drew, and sign Matsuzaka. Although I have never been a JD Drew fan, I understand what the Sox are trying to do and I am ok with it, so long as Drew produces. I think his personality is just as quirky as Manny’s, but we wont be any worse off and at least Drew will be wanting to play for us. I am excited at the thought of Manny being traded for a lot of players who can fill holes in the bullpen and infield, and think that would be totally worth it if we can get a good deal. Finally, I hope they sign Matsuzaka I dont care how much they have to pay him. He will be great.

Here is what I am hoping for:

OF: Drew, Coco, Pina
DH: Ortiz
1B: Youk
2B: Free agent fill in (maybe Loretta or Cora)
SS: Pedroia
3B: Lowell
C: Tek
Util: Hinske and Cora
SP: Schilling, Becket, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Peavy(we get for Manny)
Closer: Papelbon
RP: the usual posse headed by Lester, Hanson, Delcarmon, Timlin, plus one or two guys we get for Manny

If the Red Sox were to put that team on the field I would be very happy, especially if Loretta were back at 2B. I would definately be excited to see Peavy at the back of our rotation. Even though he had a rough year last year and might have troubles starting in the AL, he would be the best fifth starter in the league. If we didn’t trade for Peavy but picked up a closer instead then Papelbon could be moved to the rotation and we would still have five strong starters. The only question mark in my mind is with Mirabelli gone, who catches for Wake every fifth game. Maybe they will have to call up Aaron Bates who is tearing it up in the minors. My one plea to the Red Sox: please don’t get Julio Lugo! He is a wife beater and his only attraction is that there aren’t many other options.

As you can tell I am looking forward to winter meetings next week and am getting psyched for baseball to start up again in just 3 short months. Go Red Sox!

Research has found that the healthiest posture for sitting is to recline at 135 degress rather then sit up straight at 90 degrees. I have known for years that reclining is the most comfortable way to sit. Now I can argue that it is also the most healthy.

Well the football season this year was a sorry thing to see. After beating FSU and BC we didn’t win another game all year, and in the end Amato was sacked. Unfortunately not much is expected in basketball this year either. This is Lowes first year coaching, and since he didn’t get to recruit since he was in the NBA, and since syndeks recruits bailed, and since our big guys went to the NBA, and since Brackman is just playing baseball, our team is basically left with absolutely no depth and not the greatest starting five. They are ranked last in the ACC and most likely rightly so. Its a building year.

However last night NC State won over Michigan in their first big test of the season. Despite losing Angin Atsur to injury (our team captain and strongest starter) the guys pulled out a big win, and did it in a fashionable manor. No last minute come from behinds or lucky shots. After being down 16-4 to start the game the wolfpack went on a 31-12 run to end the first half. Then opened the second half with a 19-6 run that put them solidly in a lead which they wouldn’t give up for the rest of the game.

Basically how they won was they used a zone defense that forced Michigan to take three pointers, something they are bad at. Against Duke this defense never would have worked, but against Michigan it was perfect and allowed the Wolfpack to pull off the upset. This is exciting because it is a demonstration of Sydney Lowe’s ability to coach. He saw what needed to be done, did it, and the results were perfect. Another great thing to see is the penetration by the State offense. It was always so agrivating watching Syndek constantly running the ball inside only to pass it out again, and try for a three. Lowe has his guys constantly dirving for the basket and finishing every play. Every shot taken is a high percentage shot. I would have loved to have seen some of the guys we have had in years past, like grundy and hodge, plugged into this new offense.

What does the future hold? Hopefully this is not the high point of the season. Hopefully we can pull off some ACC upsets and make it to the ACC tourney. This team may not be the most tallented but they are 5-0 and they are demonstrating that they are willing to out work and out hustle their oponents. A lot of times a team is good because of the talent it has. I am hoping this team will become better and better as the guys learn how to play better basketball. If they can stay healthy then maybe basketball season will be something of a redemption from that season which just ended.

Carolina Adventures is an outdoor recreation facility in Chapel Hill that seems to be quite a valueble resource. I was down playing disc golf at their beautiful 18 hole course Saturday morning, and saw a portion of the ropes course. They also have an outdoor climbing wall, two indoor climbing walls, and they organize backpacking and kayaking trips. I am not sure how much is closed to non UNC students, and I am finding out about how I can try out the ropes course. As I find out more information about the place I will post it here.