Minor Way to Improve Viewing of Baseball Playoffs

With the exception of the Yankees' early exit, I have been enjoying the baseball playoffs. However, let me air one minor complaint... The little diamond icon near the score, indicating how many runners are on base, is a gray color while the runner color is yellow, making for little to no contrast. More briefly, I can't distinguish between the colors and tell if anyone's on base. The suggestion would be that they change the runner color to one that is more noticeable, or at a minimum to anything other than yellow. Minor Way to Improve Viewing of Baseball Playoffs

Carnival Center for the Performing Arts - Blackballed!

Even though I enjoy live performances, I have no interest in patronizing the years-late, over $100 million overcost Carnival Center for Performing Arts in downtown Miami. In no particular order, and some of which are based on second-hand reports... * Sponsor. The cruise line corporate name is a turn-off. I have minimal desire to go on a cruise and am suspicious of these companies' environmental practices. * Traffic. Performances last season caused massive, impenetrable traffic congestion on Biscayne Boulevard. It would not surprise me one bit if there was no consideration paid to traffic issues in the planning of this venue. * That Old Boondoggle Feeling. I had a Lonely Planet Florida tour book from 1998, which stated that the Center was set to open in the early 2000s. Over $100 million in cost overruns later, It didn't open until 2007. I heard that parts of the interior were not completed such that multiple people tripped and fell in the concert hall. Finally, the Center's director just received a massive annual pay raise, from $230,000 to $326,255 - - absolutely appalling! * Parking. The official Center parking is valet only, which caused extensive and over-lengthy (up to an hour) waits for one's car after a show. Otherwise, expect to pay $15-20 to park in a nearby lot. * Non-revitalization. Surrounding the opening of the Center was talk of a budding "performing arts district", akin to an "if you build it they will come" aspiration. I know that it recently opened, but I have seen virtually no sign of any new restaurants, bars, cafes or the like in the immediate/walking distance vicinity of the Center (note that I live about 10 blocks north of there and drive on Biscayne every day). Nevertheless, the architecture is cool, and eventually there may be a performance for which I am willing to overcome my above-described skepticism. I have never been offered complimentary tickets either, which could quickly change my mind.

Current Events: Dubai Port Company Deal is Disgraceful

So the government is going to contract out operations at six U.S. ports to a state-owned company based in the United Arab Emirates? Are they out of their f***in' mind?!? ---------------------------------- According to our own government's information (the CIA World Factbook), the UAE came into existence in the early 1970s and consists of seven member emirates. Given its Persian Gulf locale, it is also a "strategic location along southern approaches to Strait of Hormuz, a vital transit point for world crude oil". The president and vice president of the UAE are elected by the Federal Supreme Council (composed of rulers of the seven emirates) for five-year terms. In terms of a legislature, members of the unicameral, 40-seat Federal National Council members are appointed by the rulers of the constituent emirates for two-year terms. --------------------------------- Without rehashing the excellent talking points in the link above and the analysis in the article below, let me raise one additional point, particularly the fact that Dubai Ports World is a state-owned company. Despite a good stretch of relative stability for the UAE, an emirate in the Middle East is not exactly the most stable government. -------------If there is future uncertainty as the current ruler's successor or, even worse, an Islamist government comes to power, a neighboring country invades or the UAE in its present form fragments, what would happen to the DPW's records, business operations and relations with the U.S.? What might an Islamist government do with records, documents and information about six major U.S. ports? What would happen to port operations in the U.S. in the aftermath of such a change in the region? Did anyone who (and, indeed, we still don't really know who) approved this deal give a moment's consideration to the above issues? For more information on the Dubai Port Deal Debacle, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/politics/22cnd-port.html?ei=5094&en=f2d930432589b60f&hp=&ex=1140670800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all

Gossip & Current Events: Mineta Majorly Miffed at Britney Baby Pics!

The photos of Britney fleeing the paparazzi with little Sean Preston on her lap have apparently attracted the attention of a government figure no less important than the Secretary of Transportation!

Gossip & the Law: Restraining Order May Wreck Paris' Partying Pursuits!

Since the guy who took out the restraining order against the Aristocratic Airhead attends a lot of the same social events as her, and since she must stay a certain distance away from him, depending as to its terms the order may genuinely put a crimp in her social life.