So, um, Tulsa… this year’s Boise State… yeah, not so much. Oklahoma 62, Tulsa 21.

Star Out on Bail, Faces Disorderly Conduct Rap:  But Was It Art?

:)

From The MIT Tech (emphases added):

Star A. Simpson ’10, wearing a circuit board that lit up and was connected to a battery, was arrested at gunpoint at Logan International Airport this morning and was charged with disorderly conduct and possession of a hoax device. Simpson was released on $750 bail earlier today; her pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29, 2007 at 9 a.m. in East Boston District Court.

Simpson (a former Tech photographer) was wearing the device, which included green light-emitting diodes arranged in the shape of a star, during yesterday’s MIT Career Fair. Her defense attorney said she was at the airport to pick up her boyfriend who arrived at Logan this morning.

Simpson approached an information booth in Logan’s Terminal C wearing the light-up device, Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Wayne Margolis said during Simpson’s arraignment today. Margolis also said that Simpson had been wearing the art for at least a few days.

(Well I don’t wanna Say anything but I think I’d Detect that something doesn’t quite pass the Smell test, right there / ~ the GuestCSI :)

She “said it was a piece of art,” Margolis said, and “refused to answer any more questions.” Jake Wark, spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, said that Simpson only described the LED lights after she was “repeatedly questioned by the MassPort employee.” Simpson then “roamed briefly around the terminal,” Wark said. Margolis said this caused several Logan employees to flee the building…

…Simpson had five to six ounces of Play-Doh in her hands, State Police Maj. Scott Pare said in a press conference this morning. The Play-Doh could have been mistaken for plastic explosives.

(More after the blast break :)

(more…)

Perennial Big 12 doormat Baylor pays a visit to perennial Division I-A doormat Buffalo tomorrow at 6:00 PM. The game will be broadcast via streaming Internet audio here and streaming video here.

Do the Bulls stand a chance? Vegas thinks so: Baylor is favored by just three points. Three points! Without looking it up, I feel pretty damn confident in saying that that’s the closest UB has ever come to being favored against a BCS-conference team. And no wonder: the Associated Press says Buffalo is “playing arguably its best football in eight years.” In the last two weeks, they’ve crushed Temple 42-7, and then kept Penn State close for most of the first half (and scored three garbage-time touchdowns to achieve a respectable-for-Buffalo losing margin of 45-24). Plus, tomorrow’s game is the Bulls’ home opener, and the stadium is expected to be a “sea of blue.”

The delusional dedicated fans on ubfan.com are predicting scores like 38-24 and 42-17… in UB’s favor. They’re veritably giddy with excitement about the possibility of a “statement” win for the Buffalo program. Yeah, yeah — it’s Baylor. But there’s no question it would be the biggest win in UB’s Division I-A history, if they could pull it off.

GO BULLS!!!

Tropical Depression Ten is coming ashore near Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Earlier this afternoon, it made the transition from subtropical to tropical, but it did not, and now almost certainly will not, strengthen into Tropical Storm Jerry. So forget “proto-Jerry” — that will be some other storm, some other time.

David strikes first, after Goliath throws an interception! Tulsa 7, Oklahoma 0. Go Golden Hurricane!

UPDATE: And now a rockin’ three-and-out defensive stop! Yes! Tulsa gets the ball in Oklahoma territory after a punt from inside the end zone! w00t!

UPDATE 2: They’re pulling out the Boise State-ish trick plays early. Not to mention their timeouts (they’ve used all three, and there’s still 6:50 to go in the first quarter). I predict a second-half flameout. But that doesn’t mean I won’t totally get all excited now. 4th and 1 from the Sooner 28. Go for it!

UPDATE 3: Dammit. Stuffed ‘em.

UPDATE 4: Er, or perhaps a second-quarter flamout… or late first-quarter. Suddenly, Oklahoma is looking unstoppable, and Tulsa is looking lost. 7-7 with 3:20 to go in the quarter. D’oh.

UPDATE 5: Yup. This one isn’t going to be close. 14-7.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think this is the best idea.

So I’ll link to iLounge’s article on the subject customers ask is Apple going rotten and encourage people to continue to call Apple out for being @$$#*([$ in all four categories listed.

Are you a Tibetan lama?  Want to re-incarnate?  Better make sure you have all your permits in order!

In a move to tighten its grip on Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, the Chinese government is attempting to crack down on allowing the traditional searches for reincarnated lamas within Tibet, at least without an official OK from Beijing.  This move seems to be specifically aimed at the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in India since the Chinese occupied Tibet nearly half a century ago.  The Dalai Lama has stated that, should he die while the Chinese still occupy his country, he will be reincarnated outside of Tibet, setting up a possible schism between the Lama in exile and a Chinese-approved Lama from within the country.

Subtropical Depression Ten has formed in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. It could become "Jerry" as it moves westward toward — gulp — New Orleans.  But it’s very unlikely to become anything serious.  In Eric Berger’s words, "this low-pressure system is running out of time to turn into anything
more than a minimal tropical storm as it moves toward New Orleans. It
seems unlikely to cause significant damage." However, Berger also opines:

The bottom line is that tropical systems are incredibly unpredictable.
Any system in the Gulf is a threat to lots of people because we simply
don’t know, for sure, where the bad weather will go, nor how bad it
will get. It’s possible, although unlikely, that this depression could
pull an Humberto and strike New Orleans as a Category 1 hurricane
tomorrow. Probably not, but we just don’t have the knowledge to
forecast these things with certainty even a day in advance.

For his part, Alan Sullivan is distinctly unimpressed:

You ever heard of [a subtropical depression] before? In the past these systems were (with
some hestitation) given names when and if they got as strong as
tropical storms. This one is a joke. … This is lame, lame, lame. What is happening at NHC? It has become an instrument of alarmism.

The official NHC discussion straightforwardly admits calling this storm a Subtropical Depression "probably strains the definition a bit," given the relative dearth of convection. But they’re designating it anyway "because of the potential for additional development right along the coastline." In other words, for fear of Humberto Part Deux.

Anyway, "lame" or not, Tropical Storm Warnings are up from Apalachicola, Florida west to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, including New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. But there’s no need to "get the hell out" this time, unless perhaps to "get the hell out…to a convenience store and buy yourself an umbrella." Though even that may not really be necessary, according to Dr. Jeff Masters: "with the storm expected to move inland by Saturday afternoon, it does
not appear [S.T.D. 10] has time to generate the kind of tropical rains that
would make it a serious flood threat."

The Thrilling 31 is one team down after Miami’s blowout of Texas A&M last night. And it’ll be down to 29 by the end of tonight. But who will be the victim of the weekend’s first battle of unbeatens: Oklahoma or Tulsa?

The obvious answer is Tulsa, the "David" in this David vs. Goliath matchup, a whopping 23-point underdog at home. But "obvious answers" have been wrong before. (See, e.g., Ohio State vs. Florida.) And Stewart Mandel says Tulsa "is quickly becoming one of the scariest
mid-majors in the country — a possible Boise State in the making."

Boise State: now there’s a team Oklahoma may have heard of once or twice before. Anyway, Mandel thinks it’s "entirely possible" the Golden Hurricane could pull the stunner. Others are unconvinced:

 #4 Oklahoma at Tulsa: One sports writer [presumably referring to Mandel -ed.]
actually tried to make this out to be a potential surprise (but not
quite a trap) for OU. That’s BS: OU is going to pummel the Golden
Hurricanes. From what I hear, these games end up like Sooner home games
anyway (since tickets are cheaper and its close to Norman).

Tulsa is one of just three remaining undefeated non-BCS teams in the country, and neither Air Force nor Hawaii has as good an opportunity for a "statement" win as the one the Golden Hurricane could get tonight. (Air Force could get the nation’s attention, sorta, with a win at Notre Dame in November, but beating a sub-.500 Irish team isn’t exactly the same thing as beating Oklahoma. Same goes for Hawaii against Washington.)

So, can Tulsa do what TCU, this year’s pre-season mid-major darling, failed to do against Texas two weeks ago, and raise itself up into the nation’s consciousness (and BCS-bowl contention) by beating a Big 12 power with national championship ambitions?

Surely the Sooners will be ready for the challenge. After last year’s Fiesta Bowl, they ought to know not to take mid-majors with chips on their shoulders lightly. I’ll be rooting for Tulsa, but somehow I doubt "this year’s Boise State" will climb to glory on the backs of the very same team as last year’s Boise State. That would just be too perfect for this Sooner-scorning Trojan fan.

I bet Tulsa beats the spread, though. They scored 55 points on BYU last week (and allowed 47), so I predict a shootout. Unfortunately, Oklahoma’s got the bigger guns. My prediction: Oklahoma 52, Tulsa 35. (Because clearly my predictions are worth paying attention to. My "Notre Dame 6, Michigan 5" last week was spot on. Heh.)

As an aside, kudos to Oklahoma for scheduling this game. I constantly complain about teams from college football’s upper echelon packing their schedule with non-conference patsies, so it’s refreshing to see a "name" team like Oklahoma actually willing not only to play a decent mid-major like Tulsa, but to play them on the road. Same goes for Texas, which hosted TCU and visited Central Florida in consecutive weeks, both legit programs that almost pulled off upsets. (Though admittedly, I might be giving Texas too much credit, since Central Florida probably didn’t seem so "legit" back when Mack Brown & co. scheduled that game.) If more teams would do what the Sooners and Longhorns have done this season, college football would be much fairer to the "little guy." And I say that despite generally loathing both UT and OU. But y’know, credit where credit is due, and all that rot. Mandel has more on this point.

Oh, and about the weekend’s other unbeaten vs. unbeaten matchup: good news for South Carolina. LSU’s new mascot, a Siberian tiger named Mike VI, won’t be in attendance.  So if the Gamecocks are going to get mauled Saturday night, it won’t be by a jungle cat; it’ll be by the LSU defensive line. Which, come to think of it, is probably a more frightening prospect anyway, so nevermind.

Boi From Troy asks: Should USC disown O.J. Simpson?

Someone just found my blog after searching for “Romulan Woman Having sex.” (Scroll down; this post is #10 on the list.)

Heh.