Journal

Cardinal red. True blue. One field. A melding of our city’s most enduring collegiate sports, a masterpiece of our city’s most enduring colors, spread across a canvas for 90,000 to cheer and embrace and admire.

From the Wired Science article:

“We’re not trying to claim there is no merit to the field, but we think that the frequency of cancer stem cells will be much higher,” said Sean Morrison, director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and coauthor of the study in Nature Thursday. “And there will be some cancers like melanoma where lots of cells will be tumorigenic and it won’t be possible to treat those cancers by treating a small subset of cells.”

There’s something satisfyingly self-referential about watching talented musicians try to play their own music in Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Especially when they’re worse than you.

My two favorites are the Anthrax and Rush videos.

Mitt Romney, Detroit native, on how the government should respond to the Big 3’s request for a federal bailout:

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

“Kevin was a big part of our success,” said senior guard Josh Shipp. “He was that guy who could get you 10 rebounds per game, and we don’t have that this year. Everyone has to take it upon themselves to get in there and get a lot more rebounds.”

Love averaged 17.5 points and 10.4 rebounds and was named Pac-10 Player of the Year. He left for the NBA after one season in Westwood.

The incoming freshman class, dubbed the “fab five,” was ranked the best in the country, and possibly the best since the Wooden era. I’m looking forward to seeing Jrue Holiday and J’Mison Morgan play tomorrow at Madison Square Garden against Michigan.

I just got Stuff White People Like from the library, but I wouldn’t ever pay for any of these works. Also, doesn’t The Onion fit into this category?

I was looking forward to the upcoming Rhino deluxe edition remasters of New Order, but apparently they are plagued by mastering problems. Wait until 2009 to pick these up.

Where are the keys? What did I go into the kitchen for? Should I be worrying about my — you know, that thing, memory? Or is this just what happens to everyone with age?

Limited edition (250 copies) box of DJ Shadow’s early work:

Several hours of Shadow’s formative work is included in this limited set. Recorded between 1989 and 1992 in bedrooms, dorm rooms and friend’s attics, Shadow’s passion and sweat is evident in every mind-bending minute of breakbeat madness. Remixes, mega-mixes, original tracks…all made for the sheer love of music.

Spreading some 63 Factory favorites across four discs in rough chronological order, A Factory Box Set indeed includes a healthy sampling of Joy Division and New Order, as well as representative offerings from New Order offshoots Electronic, Revenge, and the Other Two. But the set also finds room for other post-punk heavyweights and lesser-knowns (Cabaret Voltaire, A Certain Ratio, Section 25, the Wake, Quando Quango), Madchester staples (Happy Mondays, Northside), and even a few folks who would go on to bigger things (OMD, James). There through it all is perhaps the imprint’s one true constant, the Durutti Column, who gets a track on each of the four discs.

I think it’d be cooler if they repressed the New Order albums on vinyl, but this box set sounds decent.

Great New Yorker feature on Dogfish breweries and American microbreweries. I want to try the Palo Santo Marron mentioned in the piece.

Not only is it a astronomical amount of money, it’s a complicated cocktail of budgeted dollars, actual spending, guarantees, loans, swaps and other market mechanisms by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other offices of government taken over roughly the last year, based on government data and new releases.

UCLA plays Michigan this Thursday, 9 ET on ESPN2.

Confirming past reports that say pollution kills thousands of people, a Cal State Fullerton study released yesterday concludes that annually, the state economy loses $28 billion due to 3,000 premature deaths in the South Coast (Los Angeles region) and San Joaquin basins.

I always knew the air in the LA area is gross, but this is shocking.

Beautiful wallpaper of the bike path near my parents’ house.

After you’ve been called racist by some students, can you sue to get your reputation back?

I grew up in Placentia, which borders Yorba Linda. Yorba Linda has been hard hit during the recent fires, and it’s a little surreal to see on the news.

Paul Rudd did a great job on SNL and I cracked up watching this skit. The SNL digital short featuring him and Andy Samberg was also pretty funny.

My personal favorite:

Little Richard, “Good Golly Miss Molly”
I’m doing it with Miss Molly, and she’s totally into it.

More great stuff from Diplo:

1. Blaqstarr feat. Jhi-Ali - Stuntastic (prod by Diplo)
2. Jackie Chain feat. Jhi Ali - Rollin’ (Diplo Remix)
3. PRGz - Woodgrain (Emynd Remix)
4. B.O.S.S. feat. G-Side - Real Good
5. B.O.S.S. feat. X.O. - Naturalz Pt. 2
6. Big P.O.P.E. feat Wale - Don’t Go (Diplo Remix)
7. Dawgy Baggz feat. Money Addict & B. Dewitt- Travelin
8. Untamed feat Dawgy Baggz - Shotz
9. PRGz - Bama Gettin’ Money (Diplo Remix)
10. Mata feat Mali Boi, M.P. & Big P.O.P.E. - Streetz
11. Jhi-Ali feat Cooley Da Dude & Big P.O.P.E. - Alabama
12. X.O - Grind Baby
13. PRGz - Soul Glo (The Knocks Remix)
14. X.O feat Mali Boi & CeeCee - 100
15. Money Addict feat Pluck - Hood Celebrity (Diplo Remix)
16. Money Addict - Life, Money & Drugs (Diplo Remix)