World’s Shortest Fairy Tale?

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl “Will you marry me?” The girl said, “NO!” And the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and went fishing and hunting and played golf a lot and drank beer and scotch and had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet seat up and farted whenever he wanted.

The end

Fantasy Hockey Draft Picklist 2010-2011

For hockey pool fans who come to their fantasy drafts prepared, ’tis the season for pre-draft homework.

 

Who would you take if you get the #1 pick? Who will be your #3 defenseman? Who’s the top available goalie?

Since every pool has its own scoring system and guessing the future is impossible, we can’t give a perfect picklist. But, that won’t stop Sneezl from trying anyway…

2010-2011 Fantasy Hockey Top 10 Picks: Forwards

  1. Alex Ovechkin
  2. Sidney Crosby
  3. Joe Thornton
  4. Steven Stamkos
  5. Henrik Sedin
  6. Daniel Sedin
  7. Nicklas Backstrom
  8. Martin St. Louis
  9. Evgeni Malkin
  10. Dany Heatley

People will sit around and debate the order of this list more than any other, but Ovechkin has to be near the top of nearly everyone’s list. Rather than debate it here, just be happy if you get any 3 of these guys on your team.

Fantasy Draft Top 10 Defensemen

  1. Mike Green
  2. Dan Boyle
  3. Drew Doughty
  4. Sergei Gonchar
  5. Tomas Kaberle
  6. Chris Pronger
  7. Duncan Keith
  8. Mark Streit
  9. Zdeno Chara
  10. Dion Phaneuf

With the offensive powerhouse in Washington, Mike Green again should go #1 among D-men.

2010-11 Hockey Pool Top 10 Goalies

  1. Roberto Luongo
  2. Ryan Miller
  3. Jimmy Howard
  4. Marty Turco
  5. Mikka Kiprusoff
  6. Cam Ward
  7. Marc-Andre Fleury
  8. Martin Brodeur
  9. Ilya Bryzgalov
  10. Jonas Hiller

Goaltending skill is not the right question when picking a fantasy draft goalie – its all about the # of games they’re going to play and how many games the team will win. Not many goalies regularly play over 65 games, and not all of them are on teams that win 65% of their games.

2010-2011 Fantasy Hockey Top 10 Picks: Enforcers

  1. Colton Orr
  2. Ian Laperriere
  3. Zenon Konopka
  4. Matt Carkner
  5. Jared Boll
  6. George Parros
  7. Cam Janssen
  8. Zack Stortini
  9. Dan Carcillo
  10. Steve Downie

As a dark horse to win this category, Zack Stortini of Edmonton will have the most work to do protecting 3 rookies at once. He may not be the biggest heavyweight, but he’ll have to drop the gloves every night if no-one else on the Oilers does.

2010-2011 NHL Rookies Top 10

  1. Jordan Eberle
  2. Taylor Hall
  3. Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson
  4. P.K. Subban
  5. Tyler Seguin
  6. Nazem Kadri
  7. Brayden Schenn
  8. Tyler Ennis
  9. John Carlson
  10. Mikael Backlund

Aside from being highly talented, the reason 3 Oilers top this list is that they’ll all be getting powerplay opportunity and top-6 forward minutes. The only real question is, “which will finish 1-2-3?”

John Carlson could score 50 points if Washington’s goalies play well enough that they can gamble on his untested defensive abilities.

 

 

M-Audio BX8a vs Yamaha HS80m

I just spent the afternoon comparing a pair of BX8a’s versus HS80m’s and the conclusion was simple: I now own a pair of Yamahas.

This is as unpaid as a review gets, by the way 🙁

Simply put, the Yamahas are better.

The boxes are roughly equal in the bass end in terms of frequency response and woofer flappage (there’s some on both if you push them right). But since the Yamahas have a variable low cut filter switch, they win in the low end.

Its in the higher mids and high end that the Yamahas really showed their superiority. Comparing the two sets side by side with a Korg SV-1, it sounded like the M-Audio’s were playing through a thick cloth or as though my ears were full of wax. By contrast, the Yamahas were clear, revealing all kinds of detail that was completely invisible on the BX8a’s.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I tried out a lot of other monitors in the price range and the BX8a’s were still preferable to many others (like smaller Yamahas, Dynaudio, Behringer, Yorkville, KRK).  But comparing 8″ boxes side by side, the price difference for me completely disappeared once I heard them both in action.

If you’re considering getting a pair of BX8a’s, I’d recommend that you spend some time comparing these side by side too. Monitor selection on a budget is more art than science, but I’d say that you owe it to yourself to compare 8″ apples to apples before taking the cheaper BX8a’s home.

M-Audio BX8a Pros:

  • Price
  • Decent sound

Yamaha HS80m Pros:

Balance

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found Him resting on the seventh day.

He inquired, “Where have you been?”

God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, “Look, Michael. Look what I’ve made.”

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put life on it… I’m going to call it Earth. It’s going to be a place to test Balance.”

“Balance?” inquired Michael, “I’m still confused.”

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. “For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things.”

God continued pointing to different countries. “This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”

The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said, “What’s that one?”

“That’s the Province of Alberta, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and beaches. The people from the Alberta are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things.”

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, “But what about Balance, God? You said there would be Balance.”

God smiled, “There’s Calgary…Wait till you see the hockey team I put there.”

Airline Mechanics

Just in case you need a laugh:

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high
school diploma to fix one; a reassurance to those of us who fly
routinely in our jobs.

After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a ‘gripe
sheet,’ which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The
mechanics corrects the problems, document their repairs on the form,
and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are
some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked
with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance
engineers.


By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.
P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
*
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
*
P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.
*
P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.
*
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200-feet-per-minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
*
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
*
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
*
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what friction locks are for.
*
P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF is always inoperative in OFF mode.
*
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.
*
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
*
P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.
*
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
*
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
*
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget
pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from the midget.

Horse Race

A Kentucky horse breeder had a filly that won every race in which she was entered. But as she got older she became very temperamental. He soon found that when he raced her in the evening, she would win handily, but when she raced during the day she would come in dead last. He consulted the top veterinarians and horse psychologists to no avail. He finally had to give up because it had become a real night mare.

10 O’Clock Around the World

USA: “It’s ten o’clock. Do you know where your children are?”

Italy: “It’s ten o’clock. Do you know where your husband is?”

France: “It’s ten o’clock. Do you know where your wife is?”

Poland: “It’s ten o’clock. Do you know what time it is?”

Only in Arizona

… can you find laws like these:

  • You may not have more than two dildos in a house.
  • Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony. This goes back in the days of the Wild West.
  • There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.
  • When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person posseses.
  • Hunting camels is prohibited.
  • Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.
  • It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.

Glendale

Cars may not be driven in reverse.

Globe

Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American.

Hayden

If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, you will be fined.

Maricopa County

No more than six girls may live in any house.

Mesa

It is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a Class 12 liqueur license.

Mohave County

A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.

Nogales

An ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders.

Prescott

No one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county court house.

Tucson

Women may not wear pants. 🙂

Tombstone

It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling.