According to this report, Gonzaga’s Mark Few was never a serious candidate for the Indiana head coaching position, contrary to earlier reports. (Hat tip: Nick.)

“Can I get ResLifed for walking across the grass?”

Heh. Only at Notre Dame, on the first nice day of spring.

P.S. Speaking of which…

More photos after the jump.

(more…)

“This is one of those boring detours in the class. Well, it’s all boring; this is really boring.” –Prof. Bellia

P.S. Quote of the day #2, attributed to George Mason: “Sovereign immunity is more important than basketball.”

Spring has sprung!

Christian Science Monitor journalist Jill Carroll, who had been held captive for three months in Iraq, has been freed. Developing story here.

Website changes have taken a back seat to March Madness in recent weeks, but I wanted to get the ball rolling again (er, so to speak) with a question for y’all…

A number of people in recent days have reported problems with my new WordPress commenting system. Specifically, people keep saying that it has mysteriously swallowed portions of certain comments. I also know of at least two people who have been unable to comment at all while using AOL’s browser. So, I’m just wondering… how many people have experienced these, or other, commenting problems? How often? What are the problems? When they occurred, were you commenting via the pop-up window from the homepage, or via the comment entry form on the permalink page? I’d like to get a sense for how well this comment thingy is working for everyone, and what needs to be fixed/improved.

Also, supposing I can figure out a way to make the pop-up comment window resizable on all browsers, if you had a choice between that and a direct link to the comment area on the permalink page, which would you prefer? Now, same question, except suppose I’m not able to figure out a way to make the pop-up comment window resizable on all browsers. What then?

This story strikes me as extremely odd, but I’m sure some of y’all will have something to say about it. So, have at it. More here.

Besides, having a post with the title “Britney Spears nude” is sure to bring in some additional web traffic. :) Just to make for more unique search possibilities, perhaps I should mention Jenna Jameson, too. (Link SFW — it actually goes to a fairly interesting, Arizona-related news story. Background info here and here. The first background link includes the following quote from Jameson: “There is never anything tawdry or seedy about anything I do.” Heh.)

There, that oughta produce some serious search engine hits. :)

UPDATE: Follow-up post here.

Another severe cyclone, right on the borderline of Category 4 and Category 5, is bearing down on Australia, this time on the northwest coast, home to lots of big oil and mining operations. This one’s name is Glenda — the bad witch, I’m afraid. The Storm Track has more, including a track map and satellite images — and the good news that cooler water offshore is likely to prevent the city of Learmonth from experiencing a truly catastrophic hit. “The city is likely to experience a strong cyclone landfall, but not the devestating impacts of a category 5 cyclone.”

Melanie? Where are you? We need an update from our resident Aussie! :)

Again, WTF?

Casey reviews “Why We Fight.” My favorite line: “By the end of the film, the viewer is now dealing with the ‘thinktank-congressional-military-industrial complex’ which is conspiring to subvert democracy and fight perpetual war, apparently through the use of hyphens.” Heh.

Okay, is anybody else watching the McDonald’s All-American basketball game on ESPN (yeah, I’m desperate)… and if so, are you bothered, like I am, by the GIANT FREAKING MCDONALD’S LOGO in the middle of the court, which, aside from being so excessive as to be laughable, also completely obscures the half-court line for about 70% of the court?? Granted, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to call a backcourt violation in the McDonald’s All-American game (hell, they don’t even call those with 1.9 seconds left in NCAA regional final games… not that I’m bitter), but this seems to be a trend. I noticed the same thing with the (not quite as) giant Missouri Valley Conference logo at the Savvis Center in St. Louis (see here). How are the players or referees supposed to know where the backcourt begins, if there’s no half-court line?

Breaking news: “ESPN has learned that George Mitchell, former U.S. Senate majority leader from Maine, will be hired by Major League Baseball to head an investigation into past steroid use by major-league players, most prominently Barry Bonds.”

“It was the first time such an action was taken against a cat in Fairfield.” Heh.

SpaceWeather.com has some spectacular photos of today’s total solar eclipse: one shows the Moon’s shadow as seen from space, and a pair of before-and-after picturesM show how dark Goreme, Turkey got during totality. More pics here.

P.S. Meanwhile, the latest AP article by reporter Kwasi Kpodo has removed the blatantly incorrect statement “the corona’s light can burn eyes,” but it is still misleading:

“Imagine if your hair was to stand up from static electricity, that’s kind of what the corona looks like all around the sun,” Young said. But directly looking at the sun can damage the eyes without proper protection.

Yes, directly looking at the sun can damage the eyes — except during totality, which is the ONLY time that one can see “what the corona looks like.” So even though the sentence about eye damage is independently correct, placing it immediately after that quote about the corona makes it essentially wrong. The AP is still, despite my e-mail more than 24 hours ago pointing out their error, materially contributing to the counterfactual “popular beliefâ€? mentioned in this Wikipedia article. One would think they’d be averse to passing off urban legends as “news,” but apparently they don’t care.

Tonight, for the first time since the day after Selection Sunday, there is no college basketball! None! No NCAA men’s or women’s action, no NIT, not even any WNIT!

Tomorrow is the NIT title game, Friday is the WNIT title game (Kansas State vs. Marquette; thrilling, I know), and Saturday the “real” tournaments get started up again. But tonight? Nada! Oh, the humanity! What am I supposed to do with myself? :)