That said, the sport has its scary moments.  The point of this little post is to acknowledge two men who through incredible toughness embody the American spirit on the playing field.  The courage they demonstrated on the field lets the rest of us know that we can overcome anything.  No crisis, virus or pirate has a chance if either of these men have anything to say about it.

The first of those men is umpire Kerwin Danley.  Last year, due to what I am assuming was a mix up between Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny and catcher Russell Martin, Danley took a 94 mph fastball off his mask.  Despite his terrifying experience, Danley was soon out of the hospital and back to calling balls and strikes.  Last week, Danley was knocked unconcious by a broken bat.  I wish him the best and hope he is soon standing behind the plate again.

My next shout out goes to Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks for his unbelievable display of toughness.  After taking a mid-ninties Edinson Volquez fastball to the face on a bunt attempt, Weeks stood up and took his base.

Your courage is admirable guys.

In case you were wondering, I took these images with a Nikon D40.  For those who are interested, here are a few more slightly less confusing images that I took in Russia.

Like this and want more?  Check out the $3325 T-Shirt.

If you, like me, have a hard time even wrapping your head around the thought process involved in some of these decisions, read this to get a better understanding of extreme wealth.

The thing is though, a 50 million dollar jet isn’t even that expensive or excessive in the grand scheme of things. I try to be positive and imagine that Citi was “cutting back in our best interests,” because you see, there are far more ridiculous and expensive things that the ultra wealthy/giant multinationals can buy.

The Boeing Business Jet or “BBJ” is a 737 that has been fitted with larger fuel tanks for an intercontinental range and decked out for personal use. I am not going to even bother telling you how insanely nice it is inside. Just watch this clip and see for yourself. The really mind boggling thing about this super sized private jet is that Boeing will sell you an even bigger one if you want. How about a private 787, 777 or 747? Airbus also has orders for private versions of its gargantuan A380. With the 747 and the A380, we are talking about jets that cost hundreds of millions. The only question I ask is how much the fighter jet escort is going to cost?

Another standard item for the ultra rich is the yacht, and a great example of big and ostentatious is the Dubai.

The biggest yacht in the world up until December of 08, this monster is owned by the Sheik of Dubai. It’s big, expensive (sorry I don’t have an exact number but I know it is in the hundreds of millions), and in my opinion, it isn’t half as cool as the Phoenix 1000 luxury submarine which at only $78 million dollars is probably less expensive as well.

I guess the next time I see a $3325 t-shirt, I will try and keep an open mind.

One of my favorite things about America is the “American Dream.”  The idea that anybody can start a company, run for president or become rich and famous is great.  As far as I am concerned, if you start the next Google or Microsoft, you can spend your money however you want.  While it will always be difficult to justify such insane purchases (especially so in a recession and doubly so when taxpayer dollars are involved) we can at least take comfort knowing that such spending creates jobs.  Somebody needs to put together the planes, submarines and boats.  I’ll be trying my best to keep that in mind while I turn down the heat, make myself some Ramen and try to start the next Google.

Like this and want more?  Check out The $3325 T-Shirt.

Priced at an entirely reasonable $2695 ($630 extra if you want it in black) the shirt almost manages to be funny.  What is definitely funny is the banner at the top of the screen which reads “Inauguration Weekend Sale! $4.40 OFF ALL SHIRTS!”

The mere existence of this thing is a sad reminder that there are still people out there that might be crazy or stupid enough to buy this stuff.  Personally though I think I’ll pass and wait to see the inevitable photo shopped images of this shirt on Warren Buffet or Bill Gates.

Ford Fiesta

On sale in Europe and coming to America in 2009, the value packed Fiesta has great styling, fuel economy, and a high quality interior.  Watch this slightly rediculous yet extremely entertaining clip from Top Gear to see what I mean.

Chevy Malibu

The new Malibu is a huge step forward as it makes GM competitive in the midsize sedan market against the excellent Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.  The Malibu is offered with four cylinder, six cylinder and hybrid powertrains.  The whole car just has a much higher quality feel than previous generation Malibus.

Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac CTS, Dodge Challenger

I’m grouping these three together because they are all featured in yet another great clip from Top Gear (found below).  While these cars may not be the most fuel efficient vehicles on the road, they are all well built and competitive in their class.  The Challenger is frankly the only Chrysler product (aside from the Viper) that I would ever want to own.  The Corvette, from the base model to the sinister 640 horsepower Zr1, offers the most performance per dollar of any car that is on sale today while managing to get midsize sedan fuel economy on the highway.  The Cadillac CTS is competitive with the best luxury sport sedans that BMW, Lexus and Mercedes have to offer.

Want to see more American cars that are worth buying?  Check these out.

2010 Ford Mustang (Upgraded Interior, Much Higher Quality)

Saturn Astra

Ford Fusion

Pontiac G8

Chevy Cruze (coming in 2010)

Chevy Camaro

Yet as scary as things are, and there is no doubt that things are scary, I am still feeling pretty good about life right now.  While it is easy to worry about all the things that could go wrong, anything but optimism is impossible when I look at all of good things going on around me.  Let me explain.

The Internet Revolution is Still in its Infancy

When the Internet exploded in the mid-nineties, global communication was changed forever.  Although the Internet is a part of our every day lives and its wow factor has worn off, the simple fact of the matter is that only 21.9% of the global population is online.  As powerful as the Internet has been in revolutionizing the speed of communication and technical innovation, we must remember that only a fraction of its potential has been explored.  As the global percentage of web users grows, functionality continues to develop, and ever faster infrastructure is installed, the way people communicate and work together will continue to change.  I believe we will see things in our lifetimes that 15 years ago would have been considered impossible.  Also, the communication revolution is only a single benefit that we have derived from high speed computing.  Breakthroughs in genetics, medical engineering, material science, and particle physics will help us live longer and better lives by fostering a better understanding of the world around us.

Bad Economies Don’t Last Forever

History has shown us that even the most terrible recessions are only temporary.  The Great Depression and the horrific stagflation of the 1970’s were bad but today we speak of them in the past tense.  Even in the worst case scenario, we are going to get through this.  Economic growth is a powerful thing.  Take China for example.  In the past few decades they have turned an inefficient state controlled economy into one of the world’s newest economic powers.  The current recession is a simple market correction from unsustainable to sustainable economic activity.  It should also be looked at as a tremendous opportunity because now more than ever, innovation and hard work will be rewarded.

Life is Short, So Enjoy It

As I began to wrap up my obligations and prepare to head home for the holidays, all of the world’s problems suddenly seemed a lot less serious.  It is family and friends that make life worth living and above all else we should enjoy those things while they last.  If anything, the highly unstable nature of our global society should be inspiration enough to take some time to relax and be with the people we care about because nothing lasts forever.  Conflict and terror may be out of our immediate control but we can never forget that we control our own futures.  Who wants to join me in making the best of it?

I first discovered this amazing feature a few months ago while I was working part time in the audio visual department at my University.  All of the computers in our graphic design labs were Intel powered iMacs (just like the one above that I found on Wikimedia Commons, except in english) so we had tons of remotes lying around.  When I was adjusting the volume on the iMac I was using, I realized that I had just muted iTunes on a coworkers laptop.

Realizing that the huge portion of the student body that used Apple computers was now at my mercy, my inner six year old went nuts.  I snuck through computer labs to toy with unsuspecting students, dimming screens and blasting whatever terrible music I could find in the media menu.  Although I am the first to admit this behavior was childish, I don’t really care.  Trust me when I say this was even funnier than you think it is.

One of my favorite tactics was to camp out in the large common area in our student center where at any given time, there were atleast five students using their MacBooks.  When you have multiple Macs making the volume up/down noise in unision every 10 seconds, people start freaking out.  People are quick to assume something has gone terribly wrong and almost nobody has the feature turned off.

Anyway, I guess the point of all this is to admit that for me, this trick finally got old.  So all you guys that I harassed, yeah, it was me.  Sorry.  I also want to open this up to anybody that might own an Apple Remote.  Trust me, the possibilities are endless.  Also, if you are constantly in Mac heavy environments and want to purchase one of these things, they are 20 bucks in the Apple Store.  Maybe you can find them cheaper elsewhere but if you think of it as an investment in entertainment, it’s totally worth it.