It's just about here... The bar exam starts Tuesday morning, and I'm of mixed mind about that... On one hand, I really wouldn't mind one more week to keep looking things over; I definitely feel as if I could have done more to prepare... On the other hand, I've crammed a lot of stuff into my head and I'm not sure how much more will fit... Just getting it over with will probably be nice...

Will I pass? I don't know... My goal for the multistate is to be a little above average, and I think that's a fairly realistic objective... But then sometimes I look at essay questions and completely miss the issue that the examiners are looking for... If I have to write an essay about tortious interference with business relations, I'm in bad shape...

Essentially, I think whether or not I pass will boil down to one factor: luck

Now that may seem a bit silly, given all the work I've put into having some type of skill, the level of which would seem to be the primary indicator of whether or not I'd pass... But there are so many little factors that I have just about no control over: will the questions be about things I've studied? Will I be able to sleep the night before the test? How much of an impact will the physical toll of taking the bar exam have? Between the inevitable hand cramps and back pain from sitting so long, I'm coming prepared with some ibuprofen...

I'll also be wearing my dry-fit shirt in case of excessively hot testing conditions... Between the clothes and the drugs and the excessively early start time, I'll feel like I'm at an ultimate tournament! I just hope I don't have to cheer the bar examiners when I'm done...

Anyway, I'll post after the exam to let everyone know how it went... If you don't want to wait for that to find out, you could also join me downtown at Bossa Nova at 7:00 Wednesday evening... I'll have had an hour or three to digest the gory details of the bar exam experience by that point, and perhaps I'll even be lucid! Hooray!

Ken Jennings annihilated the competition on Jeopardy again tonight, setting a new single show record of $75,000... He had actually broken the record before Final Jeopardy, temporarily having a total of $53,000 before he (*gasp*) missed a question to drop back under the record of $52,000...

We've reached the end of the current season for Jeopardy, so we won't know just how long Ken's run will last until September (October? November? 2060?)... My guess is that nobody else is going to beat him, but rather that he'll beat himself... With a higher record to live up to (and break?), I'm guessing he'll be more aggressive in Final Jeopardy, eventually getting one wrong when he makes a big bet... Of course, this is premised in part on him ceasing to care about winning in the sense that he's not worried about beating the competition... The only guy he'll be competing with eventually will be himself...

So everyone knows the "Contra Code"... and anyone who's played Contra has used the code to beat the game... but is it possible to beat Contra without using the code? Why yes it is, and now I have done it... I am the King of Contra!

The Hammer Blog recently referenced this site, which breaks down, cross-references, describes and gives examples ofvarious forms of electronic music (house, trance, techno, breakbeat,jungle, hardcore, downtempo)... I never knew the difference between any of 'em... OK, I still don't, but that's mostly because some of the descriptions are hilarious (see: speedcore, nu skool breaks) and I'm not paying attention to the details... well, that and I'm supposed to be studying something else... go check it out!

After posting the UPA rules of ro-sham-bo yesterday, it seems appropriate that this was brought to my attention this morning... and I'm pretty sure I don't remember seeing pen missile in the UPA rules... (hat tip to Nicole Adam for the pointer)

Weird things I've experienced in the last day or two...  

• Giant Eagle is currently having a buy one get one free sale... buy one half pound of prosciutto from the deli, get one cantaloupe free... huh?
  
• Turning on my Nintendo while the television is tuned into channel 96 (local weather radar) results in my television displaying static while feeding audio from two local radio stations simultaneously... Amusingly, those two stations are WORD, a local religious channel and WRRK, a classic rock station... bring on the Judas Priest!

I just now discovered that the UPA (Ultimate Players' Association) actually has official rules (and presumably official spelling) for Ro-Sham-Bo... who knew? And who knew some of the details of the rules ("throwing" on "shoot" #3, non-participants not being allowed to watch?)

The unanswered question is when UPA rules have jurisdiction... I mean, if you're ro-shamming for a flip, that's obviously covered... but what if you're playing for something else? Presumably the captains' clause would take effect and you'd be able to use whatever rules you want, I suspect...

With the bar exam looming, posting will be very sporadic at best over the next two weeks... but there'll be plenty to write about when time allows, so don't forget about OMB completely!

Last week, one great streak came to an end while another one was extended... Eric Gagne's streak of consecutive saves was ended when a grounder ricocheted off the first baseman's glove and into shallow right field, allowing the tying run to score... I'm no great fan of "closers," since even bad ones will save 80% of the games they're brought in to, but I've gotta say that it was a fairly remarkable streak - on par with DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, IMO...

Perhaps even more remarkable, however, is the streak that Ken Jennings is running with on Jeopardy! In case you're not familiar, Jennings now has a 27 episode winning streak with winnings totalling nearly a million dollars. He doesn't just squeak by either - he obliterates his competition, averaging over $35,000 per show. Friday, he missed a question in double jeopardy to cut his lead down to $4,000... then he went on a run and swept the next two entire categories and ended up tying the one-day record of $52,000... Quite simply, the man is a machine... Not only does he help himself by racking up lots of dollars by answering everything right, but he puts a lot of pressure on his competitors... If they want to score, they need to buzz in before he does (hard enough) and then be able to answer correctly... Given that they get so few opportunities, it seemed as if they were more likely to just start guessing, which puts them in the red pretty fast... His streak won't last forever, but it's pretty impressive and will be hard to match...

In light of DanNation's vacationing, I'm taking the liberty of posting the Friday MSNBC news quiz here this week... I managed a 6 again this week, although I would have had a 9 if I stuck with my first instinct on the ones I missed... I'll keep that in mind when I'm taking the multistate portion of the bar exam (which I posted about earlier this week, only to have Blogger lose the post... grrr!) Take quiz, post results...

Why are foul poles yellow? Seriously... I want to know...

In the ninth inning of today's Cardinals-Reds game, Ken Griffey hit a drive down the right field line. As the ball cleared the fence near the foul pole, the umpires immediately called it foul... and they were right... But Joe Morgan insisted that the ball was fair and should have been called a home run, because he lost sight of the ball as it crossed the plane of the foul pole.

Morgan's arguments rarely make sense, but this one had some shred of truth to it: if you're watching a replay from a home plate or first base side camera, you would see the ball disappear behind the foul pole as it crossed the plane. However, when the baseball is white and the foul pole is yellow, it can be difficult to surmise if the ball has passed behind or in front of the pole, since the colors are so similar... A darker colored foul pole - black, blue, dark green or purple - would seem to make this determination much easier both for television viewers and hopefully umpires as well... It's an idea that flies in the face of tradition, but at the same time is so obvious that it makes plenty of sense for at least one team to change the color... unless there's a compelling baseball interest in keeping foul poles yellow... (and yes, I am reviewing Constitutional Law today...)

I'll be making my radio debut tonight on WYEP from midnight 'til 4 AM eastern time... My buddy Frank hosts the show, and I'll be in there "co-hosting" with him... Take a listen for yourself on WYEP's Internet broadcast...

again, you heard it here first...

Ivan Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, Frank Thomas, Ken Harvey, Alfonso Soriano, Juan Uribe, Derek Jeter, Carlos Guillen, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, Hank Blalock, Melvin Mora, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Vladimir Guerrero, Gary Sheffield, Vernon Wells, Carl Crawford, Curt Schilling, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, CC Sabathia, Javier Vazquez, Mariano Rivera, Francisco Cordero, Joe Nathan, Eddie Guardado, Francisco Rodriguez, Keith Foulke

There gonna be some bellyaching here as Torre picks seven Yanks... some notable snubs: Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Michael Young, Jose Valentin, Jermaine Dye, Jose Guillen, Jose Cruz, and a bunch of Red Sox: David Ortiz, Pedro and Nomar... Given, Nomar shouldn't make it this year anyway... nor should Ichiro or Bret Boone, but I wouldn't be surprised if any of 'em made it on name alone...

Also, Kansas City doesn't really have an All-Star since they dealt Beltran (who doesn't make either squad as a result of the league swap)... Tampa Bay's best candidate seems to be Cruz, but my money's on Crawford to actually make the team...

Oh, and don't be surprised if Hideki Matsui is at the top of the list for injury replacements...

Remember, you heard it here first...

Mike Piazza, Johnny Estrada, Albert Pujols, Jim Thome, Todd Helton, Jeff Kent, Jose Vidro, Adam Everett, Jack Wilson, Scott Rolen, Mike Lowell, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey, Bobby Abreu, JD Drew, Lance Berkman, Miguel Cabrera, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Ben Sheets, Jason Schmidt, Tom Glavine, Brad Penny, Carl Pavano, Armando Benitez, Eric Gagne, Danny Graves, Danny Kolb, and Trevor Hoffman

Actually, I'd be a bit surprised if two Brewers were picked, but both Sheets and Kolb are deserving candidates... As always, look for the manager to load up on guys from his own team... I've put five of Jack McKeon's Marlins on the squad, although they are all reasonable candidates... Perhaps there will be one fewer pitcher and one more infielder, but the NL middle infielders are pretty weak this year... the 31st man? Probably Adrian Beltre... maybe a third catcher (Paul LoDuca? Michael Barrett?)