Breaking Bad caricatures

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From artist Anthony Geoffroy, with more here

25 Little Known Facts About Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all the readers of the B Long Blog! Enjoy your days!

 

2013 NFL Picks Week 13

The bye weeks are over, so from here until Week 17 there will be 16 games each week. Time for me to get some wins since Week 12 I finished 7-6-1 -thanks to a tie between Minnesota and Green Bay- and dropped my overall % by 1. I won't count that as a loss, but in the end it won't really have much if any effect on the season average. But speaking of counting losses...

How Houston failed to score a TD against Jacksonville is beyond me, but regardless they lost. Bad pick on my part picking the NY Jets over Baltimore, but it was a toss-up for me. St. Louis surprised everyone again, and doubled up Chicago 42-21. Another big surprise was the back and forth shootout between San Diego and Kansas City; unfortunately for me, Kansas City lost in the final minute. Tampa Bay continues to surprise and play well as they beat Detroit on the road. Finally, Denver blew a huge lead and wound up on the losing end of a 31-24 game with New England. 2-2 in my upset picks.

Like I said above, 16 games this week including THREE on Thanksgiving. Let's get to the picks:

Thanksgiving Day, Thursday 12:30/4:30/8:30pm
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
Oakland Raiders at Dallas Cowboys
Pittsburgh Steelers* at Baltimore Ravens
Sunday, 1pm
Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles
Miami Dolphins* at New York Jets
Chicago Bears* at Minnesota Vikings
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers
Sunday, 4pm
Atlanta Falcons at Buffalo Bills
St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers
New England Patriots at Houston Texans
Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Chargers
Sunday, 8:30pm
New York Giants at Washington Redskins
Monday, 8:30pm
New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks

*Upset picks as of 8:15pm Wednesday 11/27

Previous Results
Week 1: 11-5
Week 2: 11-5
Week 3: 7-9
Week 4: 8-7
Week 5: 8-6
Week 6: 9-6
Week 7: 8-7
Week 8: 9-4
Week 9: 7-6
Week 10: 6-8
Week 11: 9-6
Week 12: 7-6-1
Season: 100-75-1 (56%)

Ron Burgundy to host SportsCenter December 5th

Will Ferrell Ron Burgundy is set to host the 6pm edition of ESPN's SportsCenter on December 5th. I can only hope it will be largely improvised, and have no doubt it will be hilarious.

From The Wrap:

Will Ferrell will guest-host the 6 p.m. “SportsCenter” in his famous “Anchorman” character on Thursday, Dec. 5, a person with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

The person said that the details have not been finalized, but it is unlikely that Ferrell will break from his Ron Burgundy character.

Somebody is making "Bob's Burgers" burgers of the day!

If you haven't seen the cartoon Bob's Burgers yet, do yourself a favor and watch it, if only for the "Burger of the Day" running gag. Every episode features a burger of the day for Bob's restaurant, and it is always a cheesy pun (is there any other kind?). Some of my favorites include "if looks could KALE", "Mediterr-ain't misbehaving", "don't get CREME FRAICHE with me", and Bob's favorite "new BACON-ings - comes with bacon". Someone brilliantly decided to actually make these burgers, and has listed recipes for 12 burgers along with pictures. The next one on the horizon will be the "Child Molester - comes with candy!". My only complaint is the lack of good buns (seriously). Check out a few of them below!

"Don't you FOUR CHEDDAR bout me"

"Foot FETA-ish"

"I've created a MUENSTER"

More at The Bob's Burgers Experiment, via Neatorama.

Eagles vs. Redskins II: Behind the Numbers 2013

Holy crap, the Eagles won a home game! They did so in dominating fashion (at least for the first 3 quarters, more on that later) by winning 24-16 over the Washington Redskins. Over the last 3 games, the Eagles have recorded 3 wins and the stats have also revealed some interesting trends. Does it matter? The Birds are in first place in the NFC East, but we'll take a gander anyway (bonus graph included!):

Like I mentioned above, fairly even numbers for the third week in a row. Despite winning the game, the Eagles ran 15 fewer plays, gained 25 less yards (including 65 on the ground), had 1 less first down, converted less third downs, and committed more penalties for more yards. However, once again, Philly made the most of their plays and on average gained a whole yard more per play. They also forced an RG3 fumble that led to 3 points, and sealed the game with an interception in the end zone. While they could do better in the penalty department, they managed to play a turnover free game, which usually leads to wins as it did here. Even the score ended up being close, with the Eagles only winning by 8 over the Redskins. In the end, the Eagles had control of this game for 3 quarters, and got a huge division win while essentially putting an end to the Redskin's playoff hopes.

Every character on Sesame Street has a mental disorder

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Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston read the 'Breaking Bad' finale script

2013 NFL Picks Week 12

Week 11 turned out to be decent for me, finishing 9-6 with relatively few surprises. It was certainly an improvement from Week 10's sub .500 effort, as I increased my overall season average to 57%.  Let's break the week down:

Detroit lost on the road to Pittsburgh, but I wasn't shocked by that result as Pittsburgh has come on strong as of late (if only I applied the same logic to NYG). San Diego lost to Miami which was sort of surprising, but with both teams being very inconsistent it was basically a toss up. Houston lost a toss-up to Oakland at home. The Jets were blown out against Buffalo, thus continuing their trend of alternating W/L. Like I mentioned before, Green Bay lost a toss up to the Giants who have now won 4 in a row after starting 0-6. Though I honestly wasn't shocked, the biggest surprise was probably New England losing to Carolina, albeit with some controversy. 1-3 in upset picks.

The Eagles have a bye Week 12, so I can't pick their game wrong! Onto the rest of the NFL:

Thursday, 8:25pm
New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, 1pm
Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans
New York Jets* at Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers at Miami Dolphins
Chicago Bears* at St. Louis Rams
San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions
Pittsburgh Steelers* at Cleveland Browns
Sunday, 4pm
Indianapolis Colts at Arizona Cardinals
Tennessee Titans at Oakland Raiders
Dallas Cowboys* at New York Giants
Sunday, 8:30pm
Denver Broncos at New England Patriots
Monday, 8:30pm
San Francisco 49ers at Washington Redskins

*upset picks as of 11:45am Thursday 11/21

Previous Results
Week 1: 11-5
Week 2: 11-5
Week 3: 7-9
Week 4: 8-7
Week 5: 8-6
Week 6: 9-6
Week 7: 8-7
Week 8: 9-4
Week 9: 7-6
Week 10: 6-8
Week 11: 9-6
Season: 93-69 (57%)

The math behind 'Where's Waldo'?

Write up soon, but click here to see if math can be used to find Waldo from Martin Handford's classic Where's Waldo books!

Monty Python is reuniting!

From Vulture:

The surviving members of Monty Python will reunite for a stage show, Terry Jones tells the BBC. The ensemble has a press conference scheduled for Thursday, when they'll make an official announcement about the exact nature of the reunion, but Jones says, "We're getting together and putting on a show — it's real." John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Jones, and Michael Palin have appeared together only rarely since Graham Chapman's death in 1989, most notably on a panel at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 1998, but they have not officially performed new material together since the '80s. They have, however, always looked on the bright side of life.

A Song of Ass and Fire

NEW YORK, November 18, 2013 - Hordes of souless shoppers approach the mall in anticipation of the Black Friday sales in an all-new episode of "South Park" titled "A Song of Ass and Fire," premiering Wednesday, November 20 at10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.

The console wars are heating up in South Park. Princess Kenny's betrayal has left Cartman out for revenge. The kids prepare for an epic battle where one faction's favorite gaming device will come out on top. Will Stan and Kyle's friendship survive Black Friday?

(SPS)

I think this guy is confused

He's got an Eagles sticker, a Cowboys sticker, and I think the middle one may be a reference to Victor Cruz of the New York Giants. Although his loyalties may be mixed, we can safely say he doesn't care about the Redskins*.

*name subject to change.

Bourbon Family Tree

More at GQ

New Wes Anderson short: Castello Cavalcanti

2013 NFL Picks Week 11

I sincerely hope nobody took my advice on picks last week, as I failed miserably and finished 6-8. It was only my second week finishing below .500 (Week 3 was the other) but it did drop my season average by 1.5% down to 56.5%. Let's see where I messed up:

It was the second week in a row that I failed to correctly pick the Thursday night game, as Washington blew a lead against Minnesota. Baltimore AND Cincinnati are both becoming hard to pick, as they both seem to underachieve when least expected, but then play well the next week. In this case Baltimore had the better game, which was unfortunate for me. St. Louis shocked Indianapolis, destroying them by 30. I'm sorry, but nobody picked that to happen. Jacksonville and Tampa Bay both got their first wins on the season in close games against Tennessee and Miami; I picked both to lose again as I'm sure many did. I was happy to incorrectly pick the Eagles, as they easily took care of Green Bay without Aaron Rodgers. San Francisco failed to score a TD against Carolina, and lost a 1 point game. Houston lost a toss-up with Arizona to round up the week (also my only upset pick of the week).

I really need a good Week 11, so we'll see what's in store:

Thursday, 8:25pm
Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans
Sunday, 1pm
Detroit Lions at Pittsburgh Steelers
Washington Redskins at Philadelphia Eagles
San Diego Chargers at Miami Dolphins
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans
Arizona Cardinals at Jacksonville Jaguars
Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers*
Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens at Chicago Bears
New York Jets* at Buffalo Bills
Sunday, 4pm
Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks
San Francisco 49ers at New Orleans Saints
Green Bay Packers* at New York Giants
Sunday, 8:30pm
Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
Monday, 8:30pm
New England Patriots* at Carolina Panthers

*upset picks as of 11:30am Thursday 11/14

Previous Results
Week 1: 11-5
Week 2: 11-5
Week 3: 7-9
Week 4: 8-7
Week 5: 8-6
Week 6: 9-6
Week 7: 8-7
Week 8: 9-4
Week 9: 7-6
Week 10: 6-8
Season: 84-63 (56.5%)

If there was a '30 for 30' documentary on 'Space Jam'

Eagles vs. Packers: Behind the Numbers 2013

Another away game for the Eagles, and another dominating win! The Birds have proven they can win on the road, as they now have a 4-1 record away from the Linc. Despite heading to Lambeau Field, Philadelphia took care of an Aaron Rodgers-less Packers fairly easily, winning 27-13. The game was essentially over before the 3rd quarter for the second week in a row, and the numbers were closer than the score would indicate just like the week before. Let's take a look:

Well, this looks familiar doesn't it? Last week's results looked pretty similar, albeit with a few differences. Despite coming out on top in score (27-13), the Eagles ran fewer plays than the Packers, threw for about 75 less yards, had less first downs, and converted a lower percentage of third downs. The Eagles running fewer plays than their opponents has become a trend this season, but it is usually coupled with a better average gain (7.2 vs 5.3 here) and more total yards. In this game, the Eagles ran for over 100 more yards, since they gave up on the passing game once they built up a lead (also why the Packers out-passed the Eagles). The Birds continue to play fairly clean games, as they only committed 5 penalties and had once turnover (to 2 for Green Bay).

The Eagles need to sign Ed Reed

Like, now.

He was just released by the Houston Texans today, and the Eagles are in need of a safety after Earl Wolff went down with an injury in last week's win at Green Bay. Ed Reed is experienced, and absolutely reminds me of Brian Dawkins in not only his playing style, but his leadership. He may not be playing great this year and was released because of negative comments, but his presence certainly won't hurt the suddenly improved defense. The Birds may have signed someone else today (Jack of all trades Brad Smith) but they need to find the funds to secure Ed Reed. He would no doubt be welcomed with open arms. Pull the trigger, Howie Roseman!

And I'm not the only one that agrees.....

Black Friday

NEW YORK, November 11, 2013 – Anticipation for the biggest shopping day of the year is building in an all-new episode of "South Park" titled "Black Friday," premiering Wednesday, November 13 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. The dark days of winter are coming and that can only mean one thing: the fight to be the first in the mall on Black Friday has begun. The boys prepare to battle the crowds the day after Thanksgiving to get the best deal on the new gaming systems.

Meanwhile Randy gets a job working as a mall security guard to help control the insane number of people lining up to take advantage of the official first day of holiday shopping.

(SPS)

I won!

Can't say I never won anything before:

The new 'Star Wars' has a release date!

Granted, it's not until December 18, 2015 but still, it's something to look forward too! Right?

The best time to drink coffee may not be when you think...

According to Steven Miller (not the Space Cowboy) it's not in the morning when you wake up! And the answer involves science: chronopharmacology -the study of the interaction of biological rhythms and drug action- to be exact.

Without getting too science-y, the best time to drink coffee (or a caffeinated beverage) is between 9:30 and 11:30am (based on waking up around 8:00am). Why? Here's where the science comes in: cortisol! Our bodies naturally produce this hormone throughout the day, and levels peak between 8 and 9:00am, right when most of us are waking up or starting our days. Cortisol follows our body's circadian rhythm, which most of you should know relates to sleep/wake cycles. It makes sense that our bodies would be most awake in the morning, and it's no surprise that cortisol promotes alertness.

Basically, drinking coffee during peak levels isn't helping, since it's effect on alertness is not needed (hence the jitters some people experience). It makes too much sense to have that coffee later in the morning, after your natural alertness has subsided a bit. Who couldn't use an extra boost before lunch?

More, including what a "zeitgeber" is, at Co.Design

2013 NFL Picks Week 10

Back to mediocracy! Finished Week 9 at 7-6, thanks in large part due to several big upsets. Stayed at 58%, so can't complain too much. Made a nice recovery after the Thursday and 1pm Sunday games though, when I went 3-4. Now on to those upsets;

Things didn't start off well Thursday night, as Cincinnati played nothing like they had the previous few weeks and wound up losing in OT to Miami. Then somehow the Saints lost to the Jets, a result I still can't believe. Washington pulled it out against San Diego, another team that underperformed based on previous weeks. Last for the upsets: Chicago over Green Bay, thanks to an Aaron Rodgers injury in the first quarter.

Aside from the upsets, I lost a toss-ups between the Rams and Titans, and Baltimore and Cleveland. 1-1 in upset picks last week, so let's move on:

Thursday, 8:25pm
Washington Redskins at Minnesota Vikings
Sunday, 1pm
Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills at Pittsburgh Steelers
Oakland Raiders at New York Giants
St. Louis Rams at Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans
Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, 4pm
Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers
Houston Texans* at Arizona Cardinals
Sunday, 8:30pm
Dallas Cowboys at New Orleans Saints
Monday, 8:30pm
Miami Dolphins at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

*upset pick as of 1:30pm Thursday 11/7

Previous Results
Week 1: 11-5
Week 2: 11-5
Week 3: 7-9
Week 4: 8-7
Week 5: 8-6
Week 6: 9-6
Week 7: 8-7
Week 8: 9-4
Week 9: 7-6
Season: 78-55 (58%)

Eagles vs. Raiders: Behind the Numbers 2013

I'm at a loss for words after this game, but for a different, better reason than last week. The Philadelphia Eagles destroyed (not dominated - more on that later) the Oakland Raiders on their home turf, 49-20. And it wasn't even as close as the 29 point margin, either. Nick Foles clearly bounced back in a big way, throwing for over 400 yards and an NFL record-tying 7 touchdown performance. Peyton who? Nah, he's not on that level, but Eagles fans have to be at least somewhat excited to have him start at QB for the foreseeable future (with Michael Vick's status being unknown). Before we look at the numbers, keep in mind that a blowout in score may not be a blowout in stats:

Like I said, just because the Eagles dominated the scoreboard doesn't mean they dominated the game. I'll talk more about garbage time, which clearly played a part in the seemingly even (or even skewed towards the Raiders) statistics between Oakland and Philadelphia. However, let's look at them as is for now.

Aside from the massive difference in score, the first thing that stands out is the discrepancy between offensive plays, and average gain. "Holy shit" is the phrase that comes to mind: The Raiders ran a whopping 92 plays, a ridiculous 35 more than the Eagles, but Philadelphia gained an excellent 9.5 yards per gain to a very good 6.1 by Oakland. Despite outscoring their opponent by 29, the Eagles gained less net yards, somehow less rushing yards, and less first downs. Basically, they capitalized much better than Oakland on the chances they had, while also fairing better on third downs (40% to 33%), committing less penalties for less yards, and managing 2 takeaways. Enough numbers, let's get to the commentary...

Ginger Cow

NEW YORK, November 4, 2013 - Cartman's latest prank has brought about the necessary spiritual conditions for world peace in an all-new episode of "South Park" titled "Ginger Cow," premiering Wednesday, November 6 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.

Religious leaders descend upon South Park to witness a Biblical prophecy that has been fulfilled. Cartman and Kyle are the only two at odds as the world embarks upon a thousand years of peace and harmony.

(SPS)

Eagles vs. Giants II: Behind the Numbers 2013

Sorry this is late! Exams suck!

I'm running out of things to say about these losses already: it's only been 5 but the last 2 had very obvious reasons. For the second consecutive week the "potent" Eagles offense has failed to score a touchdown, and have only managed a measly field goal overall. Oh, and that "awful" defense hasn't allowed more than 20 points in any of the last 3 games. I won't be saying much about this week, since we all know exactly what happened. Numbers don't lie, right?

In this case, the numbers absolutely don't lie! I could pretty much copy everything from last week's game vs. the Cowboys for this game against the Giants, just substituting "Nick Foles" with "Matt Barkley". The offense stunk, and the defense only allowed 15 points without a touchdown. Now on to the (lack of) numbers...

Building off of last week's performance, the Eagles posted new season lows in net yards, average gain, passing yards, rushing yards, and first downs. Amazingly they only lost the game by 8, thanks to a defensive touchdown; that's only 3 offensive points the last 2 weeks and only 10 total. More later, but give the defense credit for keeping Eli Manning in check for most of the game, and forcing a turnover and 11 penalties from the Giants. Total first downs were almost even, and NY only gained an extra yard per attempt; third down is really where this game was won (42% to only 25% for the Birds).

The Truth Behind Calorie Labels

Was Forrest Gump's cross country run possible?

Lauren Hansen of The Week investigated just that, and asked a panel of experts to see if Forrest Gump could actually achieve his epic cross country (multiple times, mind you) run from Forrest Gump. Turns out he did a lot right, but also did some wrong. Find out more here!

P.S. Tom Hanks is amazing, so I'm fully convinced he actually did that run. Can't argue that.

South Park: The Stick of Truth delayed (again) until March 4th

Ugh!

Matt and Trey can churn out an episode within a week, but this game is taking forever! Take it with a grain of salt, but The Stick of Truth is now supposed to come out March 4, 2013. Stay tuned...