From Gizmodo: "The $20, 1.5-gallon boxes of beer are designed for the paradoxical beer drinkers who prefer their beer to come from the tap but also don't care if said beer is actually good. They're currently testing boxes of Miller Lite and Coors Lite in a few cities and will expand it to nationwide this football season if all goes well... 1.5 gallons is equal to 16 bottles. So you'll be paying $1.25 per bottle for your shit beer, which is more expensive than buying a 12-pack of bottles."

Sadly, I've been known to partake in cheap beer on occasion, but I don't see why anyone would buy this if it wasn't cheaper than cans or bottles.

Just got this in my email… good lessons:

“When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
(more…)

From ReadWriteWeb: "It's a common fact of life that many work-related conflicts can be solved over a drink... In addition to the obvious bar finding tools like Yelp and Citysearch, below are a couple resources to help you enjoy your off-site work excursions: Happy-Hour.com, Unthirsty, Buy Your Friend A Drink, Mappy Hour, My Open Bar, Coovents, MyOrder"

Wow, the only thing that could make this better is if it was called Ninja Assassin Strippers.

From Fimoculous: "Unboxing the Mad Men Season-Three Press Kit!"

Sometimes at night, I lay in bed and pretend I'm Don Draper. For those uninitiated few, Mad Men is awesome. Season 3 starts August 16 at 10pm and both seasons 1 and 2 can be found on DVD.

Barry sez, "One of the most difficult things you encounter when discussing the bailouts is getting people to understand concepts of enormity that are literally beyond comprehension. 'Trillion' is one of those concepts. This visualization (by Jess Bachman, who does the fabulous Death and Taxes poster), goes along way to making the number more understandable. "

Visualizing One Trillion Dollars (Thanks, Barry!)

From The Escapist: "A Utah resident has achieved what was once thought impossible by playing all four Rock Band instruments at the same time successfully, and he's got video to prove it."

Admit it... you're impressed by this guy.

From BoingBoing: "Animator David O'Reilly (Twitter), whose work I've featured on Boing Boing's original video program many times, has created this lovely music video for a little-known band from Ireland called 'You Too.'"

Good song. Great video.

From Fast Company: "The U.S. imported $113 million worth of tequila in the first quarter of this year... Last year a group of scientists found that by vaporizing tequila and then heating it to nearly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, they could create diamonds."

Why does this matter? Because today (July 24) is National Tequila Day. So take a shot, drink a margarita or eat the worm, we're celebrating!

Bill James was noticeably silent about the steroid controversy in major league baseball until he recently released a 4-page paper on the subject titled, “Cooperstown and the ‘Roids“. As expected, James calmly addresses the issues and logically dismisses the fever that today’s media has bestowed upon this issue. He breaks his argument down to the following points:

1. Steroids help players defy age, something he feels everyone will be doing (albiet with safer drugs/prescriptions) sometime in the future. These future “steroid” users will look back at this and say, “so what.”
2. You can’t deny everyone (Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, etc) tied to steroids entry into the Hall of Fame. Eventually someone will break in, setting a precedent for others to follow.
3. “History is forgiving. Statistics endure.”
4. Ex-players influence Hall ballots and as more and more teammates of alleged steroid users get voted in, they’ll champion their teammates’ credentials
5. “Is it cheating if one violates a rule that nobody is enforcing, and which one may legitimately see as being widely ignored by those within the competition?”

Overall I agree with James’ thoughts here. Over time, this debate will fade and stats will take over. This paper is well worth the read.

On a side note, James talks about Will Clark–one of my favorite players as a kid–and his rivalry with Rafael Palmeiro. He states (assuming Clark did not use PEDs), “I think that Will Clark has a perfect right to feel that he was cheated out of a fair chance to compete for honors in his time… But at the same time, I do not believe that history will look at this issue from the standpoint of Will Clark… What it seems to me that the Will Clark defenders have not come to terms with is the breadth and depth of the PED problem…”, but later adds when referring to point 2, “I only hope that, when all of these players are enshrined, they will extend a hand up to a few players from the Will Clark division of the game.” I can’t agree more!