Give me money, or NO FREE ENERGY FOR YOU!

This guy's blog entry speaks for itself. I don't know what's more ridiculous--the guy extorting people by threatening to get their Adsense accounts locked, or the idea of a free energy machine. For those of you that don't know, a free energy machine is a machine that produces more energy than is input. A nice idea, sure, and definitely something that would shock the scientific community, if such a machine was possible. James Randi's website documents quite a few examples of these free energy machines. All I have to say is, I've never been threatened in an email with "special robots." Will the inventor take $1000 in Iranian currency? According to XE.com, that would be worth about $0.11 USD :D

By the way, someone on AnandTech says that this guy really does make tons of money a month on Adsense. I guess I won't be expecting an email from the scammer any time soon.

- The David Carr era in Houston is likely over. I don't consider Schaub that much of an upgrade over Carr, though; what the Texans really need is an upgrade on the offensive line. I firmly believe that Carr's disappointing career, to date, is a direct result of the sieve-like offensive line that was paid to protect him. On the bright side, maybe Carr will be able to resuscitate his career elsewhere. It doesn't hurt that he's leaving the Texans. I don't expect Carr to get a starting role to start next year, but I can see a team like the Vikings signing him to a deal to back up Tarvaris Jackson.

- Adam "Pacman" Jones might be suspended for the entire 2007 season for his off-field antics. The only thing that surprises me about this decision is the fact that the Titans aren't the ones punishing Pacman. Ten off-field incidents in two years? Does the total have to hit twelve for the Titans to react? The Titans were a great story last year; the play of Vince Young (thanks Texans!) and the wonderful coaching job of Jeff Fisher makes them one of the sleeper teams next year, even if they play in the same division as the Colts and Jaguars. As good a player as Pacman is, no team needs a distraction like him. If the NFL does suspend Pacman for the year, I would expect the NFL Players' Union to respond immediately and try to overturn the suspension. On what grounds, who knows; maybe they'll argue that Pacman didn't actually kill anyone...

- Michael Jordan gets unfair advantages over other teams, says many league executives. I completely agree with the majority opinion of the article; how is it NOT an unfair advantage that MJ gets to be around these high school basketball players? He gets intimate contact with these players, far more than any other league executive could imagine, and he can do so without penalty! Compare this to Danny Ainge, says the authors of the piece, who got fined $30,000 for sitting next to Kevin Durant's mom. I know the NBA is in between a rock and a hard place; they can't allow one GM to have a decided advantage over others. However, how much backlash would the league suffer if they tried to levy a heavy punishment on the league's most popular player, past or present? Also, one can't ignore the positives of basketball camps on young players: further development of basketball skills, teamwork, and mentoring from camp alumni. When MJ became minority owner of the Bobcats, I'm sure the NBA envisioned all the publicity that would come with his return to the league. Like the little shove MJ gave Bryon Russell--Game 6, 1998 NBA Finals--it appears, so far, at least, that the NBA is turning a blind eye on the entire situation.

- Here are my quick Sweet 16 picks: Kansas over S. Illinois, Pitt over UCLA (consider this an anti-UCLA jinx!), Memphis over Texas A&M (despite the essential home court advantage), Ohio State over Tennessee, Florida over Butler, Oregon over UNLV, Georgetown over Vandy, and UNC over USC in the game of the Sweet 16. If I get a chance, I'll give a more thorough analysis of each Thursday game before the games start.

Ah, it's good to talk about college basketball again! Until then, happy blogging!