Researchers In Japan Attempt to Resurrect The Mammoth in Five Years

Play the tune while reading this.

But who's effed up idea is this? Courtesy of YahooNews.

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time.

The researchers will try to revive the species by obtaining tissue this summer from the carcass of a mammoth preserved in a Russian research laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

"Preparations to realise this goal have been made," Akira Iritani, leader of the team and a professor emeritus of Kyoto University, told the mass-circulation daily.

Under the plan, the nuclei of mammoth cells will be inserted into an elephant's egg cell from which the nuclei have been removed, to create an embryo containing mammoth genes, the report said.

The embryo will then be inserted into an elephant's uterus in the hope that the animal will eventually give birth to a baby mammoth.

The elephant is the closest modern relative of the mammoth, a huge woolly mammal believed to have died out with the last Ice Age.

Who thinks this is a good idea? Seriously?

That's why I added the Jurassic Park theme. Because this reminded me of the movie (and the brilliant book by Michael Crichton, better than the movie in my humble opinion.)

I'm just going to assume that these scientists didn't see what happened at the end of the movie.

If You're Happy And You Know It Write A Blog!!

I'm having what some may consider a super dee duper awesome day.

Did I get a promotion? Nope!

Did the Heat win? They didn't play, Bosh is hurt, and LeBron is still iffy for Tuesdays' game which I'll be covering for Bleacher Report and they're on a three game losing streak.

Did the Jets lose? No they won, convincingly.

Did I win money gambling? Nope, I only bet a buck on the Seahawks so that the Bears could advance since everytime I pick against the Bears they win.

So why am I happy? I'm sure you can figure it all out. Maybe it was just a great day. How do you celebrate a great day?

Happy Music!

I said, HAPPY MF'ING MUSIC!

Let's get this party started with some selections that helped me write the book, which has a new title.

Not exactly a "happy song" but it does have a nice vibe to it. One of my favorite songs of my teenage years. Sugar Ray's "Someday"

You HAVE to be happy when listening to this one. BTW, this song was on heavy rotation while I was writing. The positivity that radiates through Mangione's "Feels So Good" will get your mind right to write or create something great!

If you're down, this song will cheer you RIGHT UP! Thank you Chase Bank, you gave me another potential title to a book, what book I don't know, but a book.

True story: I just learned today that Matthew Wilder, who performed this version of the song, was white. And I'm the guy that knew at six years old that George Michael was gay when everyone thought he was in the words of Ben Affleck in Jersey Girl a "Stone Cold Pimp." So I'm usually good at identifying races and sexual orientations. Plus, he looks like Mario before he eats the first mushroom. I don't know if that made the song better or worse in my opinion.

"Some call me crazy, and they wonder why...I'm such a baby yeah the Dolphins make me cry!"

But this song doesn't. I don't care what you say, but I liked Hootie and The Blowfish.

Were Huey Lewis And The News the Hootie And The Blowfish of the 80's, or vice versa? Here we have two groups that releases some great pop-rock songs that are much maligned by many, yet somehow both sold five million plus albums. Why are they much maligned?

Oh and about Back To The Future...I have to write something about this trilogy sometime right? I will.

When all else fails...just play this song!

Exploitation of Children Is Sick: Talking To You Kathie Lee Gifford!

Watch this video, then read my comments on said video.

Since I was a small child, I've always been taught that doing the right thing isn't something worth being praised for, the reward for it should come from knowing that you did the right thing.

Zach Hirsch was a popular high school senior. He's what you could consider your model All-American Boy. He's almost your stereotypical popular jock, has tons of friends, and by all accounts from this video seems like a great guy.

Then one day at school, Zach saw Graham, an autistic high school freshman sitting all alone at a table in the cafeteria, so he decided to go up to him and talk to him.

This leads to a wonderful friendship between the two and had a major impact in Graham's life, as he's now more social.

If the story ended there it would've been great. Zach did the right thing, good on him.

Then Zach's mother just HAD to write to Kathie Lee Gifford, who's segment "Everybody Has A Story" is a weekly segment on the Kathie Lee and Hoda show, which is really just a low-rent Today Show extension that tries (and fails) to compete with Kathie Lee's former show, Live With Regis and Kelly. (Kathie Lee and Hoda average a one share, while Regis averages a 2.8 share. Also ahead of Kathie Lee and Hoda: Oprah, Judge Judy, Jerry, Maury, Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, Steve Wilkos, Entertainment Tonight, and reruns of Seinfeld, Family Guy, Two and a Half Men, The Office, and Criminal Minds.)

This segment appears to be popular because they do it every week, I'll break it down for you. The show brings out an extraordinary story, they talk to the principles involved (in this case, Zach, Graham, and their mothers) then Broadway actress and singer Kate Baldwin sings a song written by Kathie Lee about the subject, then Kathie Lee asks if they enjoyed the song she wrote for them.

Now listen to the song again and ask yourself this: if you were in the situation that Graham was in, would you want a song written by some middle-aged woman who knows nothing about your situation but feels the need to write a song about it to be sung on National Television?

I wouldn't because sans the Autisim, I knew what it was like to be in his position in middle school. It sucks, it stinks, and did I mention that it sucks? No one wants to be the outcast, especially at this boy's age.

But it just HAD to be exploited by Kathie Lee, who at 15 probably would've been the first person to not only ignore the poor kid, but maybe even make fun of him. (Don't you get the sense that 15-year-old Kathie Lee Gifford would've patronized him if she went to the same school and pretended to like him then after word got around school that the two were an "item" she'd tear the poor kid down and call him a loser in front of the whole class?)

The entire interview Kathie Lee straight out patronizes him, then listen to the interview after the song. You'll notice that Zach gets really uncomfortable, and Graham is crying. Of course in her pompousness, Kathie Lee thinks its because the song "moved him" but thankfully Graham is one smart kid and says it was because the song was "sad."

Was there an apology there? Did she follow that up with "well why was it sad to you?" even though the answer to that is painfully obvious to anyone with a brain? (Which of course is all of you my loyal readers, thank you for reading this again!)

No, just another patronizing, "Oh well maybe we'll jazz it up a bit" followed by laughter from everyone save for Graham (if you're wondering about Zach, even though he said he enjoyed the song, I think he was just being polite, I'm sure you could tell that he did not enjoy being there one bit.)

After all that I noticed that this is nothing more than a promotional video for Kathie Lee. She mainly talks about herself, its a way to get a song that she wrote performed on National Network Television by someone with a good voice (only good, not great), and the most disgusting thing about it is its EXPLOITIVE! Its almost as bad as using a sweatshop with under-aged workers to manufacture clothes with your name on it sold at Wal-Mart! (Anyone remember that controversy with Kathie Lee back in the 90's?)

Now ironically I found this video because of a rant against it by Howard Stern, who's practically Kathie Lee's mortal enemy and has been for more than 15 years apparently. His rant was probably better than mines but points out the same things I am.

Now if you actually enjoyed this segment, then God help you. It was manipulative trash and you know it.

And if you watched it live and enjoyed it, you should've been watching Maury instead. But because you didn't, you probably missed this:

Now this I don't mind exploiting. I'm sorry but if you feel the need to go on National Television to find out who the father of your child is, then you're really seeking attention.

Some Thoughts on the Tragic Shooting of Az Rep. Gabrielle Giffords And How Those Scumbags In Washington and In The Media are Politicizing It.

The news from Tuscon was tragic.

As if we needed more reminders of how crazy this world really is, on Saturday Afternoon we got a big reminder when 22-year old psychopath Jared Lee Loughner attempted to assasinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a public meeting she held with her constituents at a strip mall in Tuscon.

Not only was Giffords shot in the head (and is still in critical condition as of this post) but he also was able to kill US District Court in Arizona's Chief Justice John Roll; Gabriel Zimmerman, who was a staffer of Giffords; three elderly victims (including Dorwan Stoddard, a 76-year-old man who was shot in the head while covering his wife during the shooting) and a nine-year old girl. Fourteen others were wounded.

Loughner was a disturbed young man, which is why I went out of my way to call him a "22-year-old psychopath" instead of just saying he was 22-years old. There's no other way around it, he was mentally disturbed. I'm sorry but anyone who's willing to just shoot into a group of people and has had a history of mental issues prior to that (and serious ones at that, he was even kicked out of Pima Community College due to his disruptive behavior) is someone who's mentally disturbed. No need to sugar coat it, it is what it is.

But of course, we can't just say that someone is completely fucked in the head and leave it at that, we have to say that something "triggered" his behavior. Thank God for the media, namely the New York Times. For if it wasn't for them, we'd just think he's nuts, but apparently, he's nuts because he's a Republican!

Sure, let's ignore the facts, like for one his favorite book is The Communist Manifesto. Yes, because nothing says right-winger like Communist Manifesto.

(And yes, I know not all Commies are loons, but remember I'm Cuban, so by law I'm required to think that Communists and Socialists are the scum of the earth.)

Instead, let's blame Sarah Palin for this. Look, I can't stand her either. I have a lot of not so nice things to say about the "Maverick" however I even know that the "crosshairs" over the districts that she put up were figurative. This guy, someone who claims to be upset that people are not literate, apparently didn't realize that. Nor did the press, who seems to be making it out to seem like this is the Republicans fault.

Can't we just say that this guy is a loon? It really just begins and ends there. It sells newspapers (they still exist in case you forgot) and brings up the ratings on the cable news channels, but by attaching this with politics when it was simply the case of a nutjob going apeshit, it only divides this great nation further away.

Jared Lee Loughner (figures his middle name is Lee by the way) should just be found insane and locked away, no need to ask what "triggered" his attack, because somewhere down the line, something would've.

R.I.P. to all of the victims of this heinous attack, and may Rep. Giffords fight through this and have a safe and speedy recovery.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do...(A Look At How A Thomas Galicia Article Gets Written.)

This post might make me look even more concieted than I already am while at the same time probably upsetting someone here or there. Whatever, I'm still posting it.

I figured this would be a fun time to let all of you in on how I wrote my latest article "Miami Dolphins: The Current and Honest Feeling of a Life Long Miami Dolphins Fan," while at the same time promoting my not yet published book.

First off, I decided to make this a break-up article, I'm sure you saw that right off the bat.

Why? Well my beautiful and super-intelligent sister Loren once described her love of the Miami Heat (the only professional team she cares about in the only sport she cares about) like this: "Its like a relationship, and if its going bad and I'm being mistreated and they're not doing their job, than I'm out of there."

Of course, the Miami Heat are the opposite of that but that was what she had said during their tumultuous start earlier this season.

As for the Dolphins, not the same. I'm glad she a. doesn't like football and b. isn't a Miami Dolphins fan, because she would've kicked them to the curb years ago.

Of course, I'm not "breaking up" with the Dolphins because of the losing, but because of the many things both on and off the field that they continue to fail at.

See the Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins are like The Hilton and Motel 6.

But that's another article for another day, sorry to get all off topic.

Since this was a "break-up" article, I actually used inspiration from my book (coming to a bookstore near you at some point in time), where the main female character, Annette, breaks up with the main male character, Tommy.

Well to call Annette a MAIN female character is a stretch, she doesn't have much dialogue in the book, in fact most of the book is about Tommy getting over Annette, sorry I'm talking in tangents again.

Anyways, some of the dialogue in the article is lifted straight of Annette's dialogue in the book, therefore some of it was a simple copy+paste job.

The rest was stuff I added (the relationship in the book and reason for its demise was different from this one) was stuff that was important to why I decided to "break up" with the Miami Dolphins.

Then I added videos from the good times of Dan Marino, and the bad times of Ted Ginn and his family, rehashed bad memories from 2002 when the Dolphins were the most talented team in the AFC but were led by a complete dunce, rehashed the good times as well, and just simply explained that, Miami, it was over!

Of course at the end I admit that it wasn't, I don't know if that takes some of the bite out of the article or if it proves to the readers that that's just my feelings at the time, but either way, this was an article I've been thinking of while the entire Sparano/Harbaugh soap opera that again embarrassed the Miami Dolphins played out.

So now that you've read the article (you did read the article first, right? If you didn't, now would be a good time to do it!) and you've seen how I wrote it, I hope you enjoyed it.

And Let's Go Heat! (and Dolphins.)