FIFA World Cup

OK, I know you probably don't pay attention to soccer. I was the same way until I actually played the game (FIFA 09 for the xbox 360 to be exact). But out of respect for the most popular sport in the world, I was to inform you, the uninterested american, about the 2010 FIFA world cup. To begin at the top, the FIFA World Cup will be taking place in South Africa one June 11, 2010 till July 11, 2010. There will be a total of 32 teams competeing for the title. Just as a quick history lesson, Italy won last world cup tourny in 2006 and Brazil has won nine times since the World Cup tourny was created (most times won of course). I Digress, the 32 teams that qualify aren't simply put into a bracket type of tournament. The 32 teams will be randomly put into 8 groups of 4. Each team will play each Country in their group once. After each team plays each other in their group, the top two teams will be put in a bracket of 16 (A win means that team recieves 3 points, if two teams tie, they each get 1 point, and obviously if a country looses, no points are awarded. So if a country wins 2 times and ties once, that country will have a total of seven points.) The bracket of the sixteen teams aren't randomized though. The winner of one group will play the runner up of another group. For example, the winner of group A will play the runner up of group B. If two teams tie while in the sixteen bracket stage, there will be a penalty shoot out. A penalty shoot out is basically the best out of seven. It's kind of difficult to explain, so I'll move on. As of today, 23 teams have qualified so far (United States being one of them). The favorites to win the tournament are Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, and Germany. The United States, though, is ranked eleventh in the world so I have high hopes for them. I know I threw a lot at you, but I hope when summer comes around, you'll know what is going on in terms of the FIFA World Cup.

Mixed Martial Arts

As a person who doesn't do karate or any type of fighting, I am surprised that I am a big MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fan. Every month, there is one saturday where me and my friends go out and watch the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) pay per view. My favorite place to go to watch is buffalo wild wings only because they have so many TV's that one can watch the fights from. But what I find sort of weird is that how I got into MMA because three years ago, I couldn't have cared less about the UFC or any other type of mixed martial arts fights. What really sparked my interest was when a man named Kimbo Slice started posting his fights on the internet. Since I usually look at break.com a lot, I remember seeing this huge, steroid induced person fighting this other person and I was actually entertained by it. I always wanted Kimbo to loose because I like to root for the under dog, but I also wanted him to loose because of the people who he would fight. Kimbo would always fight some random fat person off the street, beat him up, and then think of himself as a great fighter. So after a year of fighting street thugs, Kimbo did his first fight in actual MMA event against a mid 40 year old boxer named Ray Mercer. I was stoked to see this fight because I thought Kimbo would get his but kicked because there was no way that he could beat a boxer at his own game. Kimbo actually did win, but it was only because he got Ray Mercer in a standard issued Guillotine choke hold that Ray Mercer probably never seen before because in Boxing, you don't use choke holds. After that, Kimbo beat another 40 year old washed up fighter then he faced a person named Seth Petrozelli. I thought Kimbo was going to win because Seth was only 225 punds and he was 250 punds, but Seth did a quick jab to the face and Kimbo went down for the count. To be fair though, Kimbo is very humble and isn't a bad person, I just wanted the underdog to win for a change. But thanks to Kimbo, I actually watch MMA (mostly UFC) as a past time. If you want to get into MMA, I would reccomend watching the UFC and trying to research what happened in the past so you aren't confused as to who is good, bad, or just plain evil.

Motorcycle Saftey

As the riding season for motorcycles come to a close, I would like to talk about what I think a lot of riders sometimes ignore; which is of course motorcycle saftey. When a person first learns how to ride a motorcycle, he or she is more attuned to what is going on around them; just like when a teen first learns to drive. Sure, a beginner may make some mistakes like forgetting to shift down to first gear when he or she stops or taking a turn too wide (can be very dangerous but most riders will learn quickly on how to turn sharper). Not only is a beginner more aware, but he or she is also more likely to wear a helmet and proper clothing everytime they ride. But as the years pass, that rider is most likely not to wear any protective gear, most noteably a helmet. I tend to see it more with the cruisers, but I don't know anything for fact. But anyways, I see people on motorcycles without helmets and I can't think about how much pain he or she would be in if anything goes wrong and they happen to slide along the cement or hit an object. If he or she survives an event like that, more than likely serious injury including brain damage or severe road rash to the face. I can empathize with people about how inconvient a helmet is, but the level of risk is really high if one doesn't wear a helment. I can testify to this because I have got into an accident myself. Three days after I got my brand new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, I was coming home from work at around 9:00 PM. I was in a hurry to make a green light because the mall stop lights dont recognize motorcycles, and as I was going around 40 out the outer streets of the parking lot, a car pulls out infront me (he didn't stop at the stop sign) and I lock up the brakes and laid my bike down and I slid across the pavement. I immediately got up, ran towards my motorcycle to see the damage, and then got angry about what happened. I wasn't angry at the driver because I knew I was going too fast and he knew that he should have stopped. The driver, though, stopped, helped me pick up my motorcycle and then gave me a ride home. Once I arrived at my house, my dad took me to the hospital, some nurses cleaned up my road rash, and then went home that same night. I had some pretty bad roadrash my both my front lower legs, my left hand (the palm and backside), my right elbow, and also tore the tip of my left middle finger up as well. I was out of school for three days but that was it. Anyways, the helmet I had basically saved my face and I am thankful that I was wearing it. I got a new bike now and it is a ZX-6R and it is in candy blue (basically the same bike I crashed but in a different color). So the moral of the story is that wearing a helmet may be a nuisance but noone ever plans to crash and you dont know when you need it before it's too late.

Here's what my motorcycle looks like:

Libertarian... what?

Even heard about the word Libertarian? Well, probably not. Most people have no clue on what a libertarian is, so as a result of not having anything else to talk about, I'm going to inform you, the reader, on what a Libertarian is. I assuming that you heard of republicans and democrats, so try to think of a Libertarian as a hybrid. In general, a Libertarian strongly supports economic freedom while also supporting liberal points of view on social issues; such as gay marriage, legalize drugs, abortions, etc. Even though that sounds good on paper, both parties are pissed off when they hear about how a libertarian votes. A libertarian won't support welfare programs, public healthcare, raising taxes, etc. Classical republican right? Not exactly. A libetarian also is in favor of removing the ban on drugs, getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan, legalizing gay marriage and polygamy, etc. So if you really want an idea of what a Libertarian supports is personal freedom. People should do whatever he or she desires as long as it doesn't impede on someone else's life. People often confuse the difference between an anarchist and a libertarian because libertarians seem to want no government. But the truth is, libertarians do want some government. Libertarians only want governement to enusre our saftey if we get invaded from another country and protect us (police) from bad people within our country. But libertarians do believe in some pollution laws because there is no incentive to be clean. So what party do you affliate with? On what issues do you disagree about Libertarians? As a side note, I hope I didn't bore you with my choice of topic because I know most people have no interest in politics.

A Modest Proposal

Ok, I know what I am about to say may sound dumb and downright awful but trust me, it will all make sense by the end of the blog. As a person who generally likes the environment, I do try to seek out solutions to common problems. I like to think about the whole situation and not come to conclusions too quickly. A major environmental problem of today is endangered species. I want all species to exist and I think it's awful, lets say, that tigers could one day extinct. But what should be the solution? Tigers have been on the protected species list for awhile now but it doesn't seem that tigers are making a rapid comeback (In fact the tiger population is still declining). I used to think that more police and military should be use to stop poachers, but that is nearly impossible considering other countries are involved; and I don't think more police would help anyways because it would cost too much money and it's not that easy patrolling the whole habitat of poachers. Since countries already banned the sale of tiger products and other endangered animal products (which really hasn't worked because the tiger population is decreasing), why can't we do the opposite and farm endangered animals? If people were to farm an animal like a tiger, that farmer would want to breed tigers and protect them from outsiders. Farming buffalo is what saved the buffalo population. During the westward expansion, the Americans slaughtered the buffalo to nearly extinction. But today, there is nearly a half of million buffalo that roam the United States today. By farming any animal, it gives people a reason to keep that animal alive. I know that most people don't want Tigers killed at all, but in some cultures, their bones can help dull their physical pain. Asking those people to change their culture I don't think is going to work and it has proven ineffective by the rapid decline inspite of tiger products being illegal. Please tell me what you think about the issue and whether you disagree or agree, I would love to hear all of your opinions.