Evan Brown’s Links of Interest

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Link: Fox News

Link: Forbes

The Boston Red Sox are champions once again, having defeated the Colorado Rockies in four straight games. Already, the word dynasty is being tossed around in reference to the Red Sox in the early part twenty-first century.

It looks like the days of the supposed “curse” are over.

Link: ESPN

This has got to be the dumbest thing I have seen a Presidential candidate do in quite a while. Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado has challenged fellow Republican nomination-seeker Mitt Romney to a bet: since the Colorado Rockies (Tancredo’s team) are playing the Boston Red Sox (Romney’s team) in the World Series, Tancredo has proposed that whichever candidate’s team loses the Series, that person should drop out of the Presidential race.

I don’t think I need to point out how idiotic it is to wager one’s political future on the outcome of a sporting event. I also shouldn’t have to mention how much this could damage Congressman Tancredo’s credibility. I mean, if the man is willing to bet his entire Presidential campaign on whether or not the Rockies play well in the Fall Classic, how seriously should we as voters be considering him for the most powerful job in the world? My opinion: not very.

To make matters worse, the Red Sox have had a terrific year (96–66 during the season). It probably isn’t very wise to bet against them during the World Series. Tancredo must really be looking for a reason to get out of the race.

To his credit, Mitt Romney has exhibited the class and common sense to decline Tancredo’s ridiculous challenge. On behalf on the former Massachusetts governor, a campaign spokesman announced that Romney “is running to win.” That may seem like an obvious statement regarding someone who is campaigning to become the President of the United States, but in light of Tancredo’s actions, perhaps it needed to be said.

Link: Fox News

This is an old piece, but it is still quite relevant — especially for me, since I am cutting back on the time I devote to blogging.

The article lists several good reasons to blog less; I found points number 4, 6, 9, and 10 to be particularly noteworthy.

Link: Marketing Profs Daily Fix

Link: National Review Online

I was saddened to hear that — in addition to Joey Bishop’s passing — veteran screen actress Deborah Kerr has also died. Kerr was a big movie star in the ’50s and ’60s and was nominated for six Academy Awards (although the only one she ever received was an honorary one in 1994).

Deborah Kerr starred in two films that are on my list of favorite movies: The King and I and From Here to Eternity. My wife also counts An Affair to Remember as one of her favorites.

Kerr, who had suffered from Parkinson’s disease, passed away on Tuesday in Suffolk, England. She was eighty-six years old.

Link: E! Online

There are some extremists within Pakistan who are very unhappy with Benazir Bhutto’s return to the Muslim country; members of both al-Qaeda and the Taliban pledged to launch suicide attacks against the former Pakistani premier upon her return from eight years in exile. Despite the threat, Bhutto returned to Pakistan, and a homecoming parade was held in her honor in the city of Karachi. Tragically, the festivities were interrupted by a suicide bomber who managed to kill at least 133 people and injure four hundred more. It was the deadliest suicide attack in Pakistan’s history.

Bhutto, who was twice elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan and twice deposed from the same office, called the incident “an attack on democracy and … an attack on the very unity and integrity of Pakistan.” She vowed to fight the terrorists, saying, “If it means sacrificing our lives, then we are prepared to risk our lives, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants.”

Link: Agence France-Presse

A great comedian passed away on Wednesday. Joey Bishop was probably most well known as a member of the infamous Rat Pack along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Peter Lawford. But Bishop was also a very talented standup comic and late-night talk show host.

He had been in poor health for quite a while before his death Wednesday night at his home in Newport Beach, California. Bishop was eighty-nine year old.

Link: LA Times

Ubuntu 7.10, the latest version of the extremely popular Linux distribution, is available starting today. You can get “Gutsy Gibbon” by either downloading a copy or requesting a CD to arrive via snail mail. Users of version 7.04 (“Feisty Fawn”) also have the option of upgrading from within the OS.

Link: Lifehacker

In an interview yesterday promoting her new book, Lynne Cheney made the comment that her husband is a distant cousin of Presidential contender Barack Obama (the Second Lady said eighth cousins, but they may actually be ninth cousins, once removed). Mrs. Cheney discovered the connection between the Vice President and the Illinois senator while conducting genealogical research for her memoir about growing up in Wyoming.

Disparate politicians having common ancestors really shouldn’t be surprising. We already know that Senator Obama is also an eleventh cousin of President Bush, and Bush and his 2004 Presidential rival John Kerry are sixteenth cousins, thrice removed. In fact, every person on earth is related in some way to everyone else because we are all descendants from the first man. But that doesn’t stop the media from printing items about the family ties of politically-dissimiliar people as if they were shocking revelations.

Link: Associated Press

I used to visit the website HowStuffWorks on a semi-regular basis to learn about the inner workings of various pieces of technology. It is a fun and educational site, but one thing that always bothered me about it is the large amount of advertising which is displayed on each page (although a quick visit to the website reveals the advertisements are not as in-your-face as they used to be). I really can’t complain too much since HowStuffWorks is such an excellent resource and costs nothing to use. Maybe now that Discovery Communications has acquired the site for the huge sum of 250 million dollars, it will receive a much-deserved renovation.

Link: TechCrunch