It looks like David Hasselhoff was kicked out of Wimbledon for being a belligerent stinking drunk:

First, the 53-year-old actor had a blazing row outside Centre Court. Guards would not let him in because he did not have a valid ticket. Then he was banned from press and players’ bars as he tried to get another drink. Hasselhoff, who has fought a long battle with booze, yelled at staff: “You should let me in. Do you know who I am? I’m The Hoff.” Hasselhoff then downed beer after beer and was later seen staggering... Security chiefs ordered Hoff out. One guard said: “He was steaming drunk.”

Yes... "The Hoff".. he must be hooked on a feeling or something... hooga hooga chakka....

More laughs and info at TheSuperficial.

UPDATE: The Hoff keeps getting into more drunken hijinks. I've been saying it for years, The Hoff is the Anti-Christ.

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Tags: wimbledon, tennis, david, haselhoff, knight rider, thehoff, antichrist, celebrity

With the recent shakeups at SETI@home, and apparent reduction of probability for useful science coming out of that project, I've reallocated some of my BOINC resources towards another project. BOINC or Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing allows you to use your spare computer cycles for different scientific projects using the same core application platform; making it easier to contribute to multiple projects and allowing you to move resource allocation from one to another.


80% of my Distributed Computing resources are now allocated towards Rosetta@home. This project from the University of Washington uses your computer power through the BOINC system to help determine 3-dimensional shapes of proteins. Determining such shapes through protein folding with the "lowest energy state" is the scientific "Holy Grail" of Biomedical science. The University of Washington's focus is to design new proteins that will help fight HIV, Malaria, Anthrax, Cancer, and Alzheimer's (more info here). This research can be applicable to a multitude of other diseases once the protein simulations are effective and proven in clinical trials. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributes to this project as part of their anti-Malaria contribution. Unlike SETI@home though, Rosetta's code is not opensource and has not been released to the wild. As such, there are no optimized workers like Crunch3r's Seti workers for SSE-SSE3. In addition, the way it calculates points is also different. According to Dr David Baker regarding the difference between this project and the older Folding@home project at Stanford: "The Rosetta@home project goals are very different from those of Folding@home. The goal of Folding@home, I believe, is to determine how long proteins take to fold, given the sequence of the protein and knowledge of its three dimensional structure. The goal of Rosetta@home is to predict the three dimensional structure from the amino acid sequence."

20% will still be allocated towards SETI@home (I still want to find E.T., or at least some long lost Alien Civilization's last message). Either project can act as each other's backup for CPU cycles if the other project's servers are down. All the points I earn will still be part of Team MacNN under BOINC, Seti, & Rosetta stats.

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Tags: rosetta, rosetta@home, seti, seti@home, distributed computing, team Macnn, S@H, boinc

The South Park episode titled "Trapped in the Closet" which depicts Tom Cruise as being gay and generally lampooning the "religion" of Scientology throughout the show, is up for an Emmy this year! This episode is also the reason that Isaac Hayes (Chef), also a devout Scientologist, quit the show. "Trapped in the Closet" was one of my FAVORITE episodes of South Park, with the Mormon episode running a close second. Tom Cruise is said to have blocked a repeat of this episode by having his "people" call Comedy Central. More info here.

Praise Xenu!



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Tags: xenu, scientology, southpark, tom cruise, isaac hayes, chef, mormon

Some choice quotes from Senator Ted Stevens, R- Alaska as he tried (and succeeded in) shooting down Net Neutrality (a proposed bill addition that would prevent Telecom providers from throttling or blocking content on the 'net, i.e, blocking p2p software, or preventing google video from working if they had a deal with youtube or their own video service unless they get payed [again]).

He's also the leading proponent for the Broadcast Flag which will require all recording and playback equipment to be retrofitted with a chip that will prevent any content marked as "Protected" by the major Studios and Content Providers from being recorded (Macrovision on Steroids) and essentially leaving DVRs, Tivos, the VCR, and most other time shifting devices "dead in the water".

Regarding the Internet:
"They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.
It's a series of tubes"

Complaining about slow email:
"I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially."

Talking about video over the 'net:
"There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.

But this service is now going to go through the internet* and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.

Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?

I don't have to have the type of speed their introducing, but the people who are streaming through 10-12 movies at a time or a WHOLE BOOK AT A TIME, for consumers use, those are not you and me, they're not the consumers, those are providers."

The full impact of this nonsense can't be fully appreciated until you hear the audio, available as an MP3 at the end of the linked article on Wired.

I'm so glad I don't live in Alaska... then again I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of our Senators (Republican and Democrat alike) are as clueless as Stevens. He sounds like he just got over those "new fangled" horseless buggies and a little something called "lectricity" or some such mumbo-jumbo.

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Tags: senator, ted stevens, republican, democrat, alaska, net neutrality, broadcast flag, government

The new Doctor Who companion was revealed today on the BBC. As Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) leaves the cast during the 28th Season Finale (2nd Series per BBC new nomenclature), the Doctor will have a new companion Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) for the 29th Season (3rd Series). She won't be introduced during this season's Christmas episode, but will instead jump into the companion-seat at the start of the next season (filming begins in Cardiff this summer). Freema also played a bit part in the 28th Season (2nd Series) as Adeola who was struck down by the Cybermen. It's unknown if the two characters played by Freema are at all related.

Billie Piper's character Rose, who has built up quite a following in the "Who" community is rumored to die in the current season Finale. The 28th Season (2nd Series) is currently airing in the UK and will most likely air in the US on the SciFi channel later this year.

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Tags: Doctor Who, Rose Tyler, Billie Piper, Martha Jones, Freema Agyeman, BBC, SciFi, companion

We saw Superman Returns in its six story tall 3D version yesterday at the IMAX theater in Palisades Center Mall, West Nyack, NY. It was definitely worth it to see the movie in full IMAX 3D glory. The lines actually started up an hour before the mall even fully opened and long before IMAX personnel showed up. I bet that was one of only a handful of times that IMAX in Palisades had such a deluge of customers. Of course only 20 minutes of the movie was actually in 3D so we had numerous instances of putting on and removing the glasses whenever the appropriate icon appeared on screen. Whether this is a limitation of the current technology, lack of time to convert the entire movie to 3D format, or just a way to give the viewers eyes/brains a rest (the 3D action got dizzying at times) is anyone's guess. I do suggest that if you have a 3D capable IMAX theater near you that is showing Superman Returns and you planned to see the movie anyway, you should definitely make it a point to go catch it in this format.

As for the movie itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a big fan of the first 2 Donner films and was among those that bemoaned what became of the series with Superman III and IV. I don't know what it is about superhero films and their propensity to "jump the shark" after the first sequel. Batman, Superman, Blade, and X-men have all fallen trap to this curse. Spider-Man's 3rd incarnation is coming soon and from what the trailer shows, it may or may not join the others. But recently superhero movie series have been saved by talented "reboots." Batman Begins and Superman Returns both successfully resurrect the carcasses left by previous campy scripts. Unlike Batman Begins which is a true "reboot" in every sense of the word, Superman Returns actually is a sequel to Superman I and Superman II retaining the good movies in the series while relegating Superman III with Richard Pryor and Superman IV: The Search for Peace (gag) to the dustbin (where many would agree, they really belong). The latest movie in the series includes dozens of references to the first two films, some rehashes of the old in-movie jokes, and many hints at events that occurred previously. It does all this without losing itself in an endless repetitive loop by adding fresh plot-lines and exciting action sequences that add to the story rather than exist for action sake. The visuals during these action sequences are so well done with the mix of CGI and Real now that you can't tell which is which anymore. Many bemoan the fact that Bryan Singer left the X-men series to do this film, and X-men 3: The Last Stand was the unfortunate result of that; but, I for one am glad he decided to do Superman Returns. He definitely went above and beyond to make this one of the best Superhero movies of all time while retaining the essence of Donner's Superman I and II.



Brandon Routh is a capable, though a bit more broodish, successor to the big red and yellow S. He not only apes Christopher Reeve's incarnation of Superman to a T, but adds a bit more gravitas to the role with a deeper sense of loss and emotive vulnerability than Reeve. Though he doesn't look like Reeve IMHO, his every intonation and movement, every nuance and vocal utterance is uncannily like Christopher Reeve in both the Superman and Clark Kent guise, almost as if donning the cape made Routh posessed by the spirit of Reeve. The rest of the cast excels as well. Kate Bosworth is a passable Lois Lane, though I always thought anyone would be better in the role than friggin Margot "Wacko" Kidder. James Marsden continues his modus operandi for playing a second fiddle love interest he established in X-men as Cyclops, here as Lois' new beau Richard White. But the best actor in the movie is definitely Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Not only does he capably fill Gene Hackman's shoes as Luthor, he convincingly ups the ante by showing Luthor's more callous and ruthless traits.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, go see it. Better yet, see it at an IMAX 3D theater. Even if you hate the other Superman films or other superhero films, it's probably going to still be a fun ride.

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Tags: Superman, Returns, Brandon Routh, superhero, xmen, Bryan Singer, imax3d