Turkey tries to take over IDAHO

People are up in arms about a recent development involving the state Idaho and a foreign country. Apparently a Turkey company is literally trying to own Idaho. Uh-oh.

BOISE – An ag group in Turkey has applied to the Turkish Patent Institute to trademark the word “IDAHO” for its agricultural, plant and animal products – and the Idaho Potato Commission doesn’t take too kindly to that idea.

Neither did the Senate Agriculture Committee, which this morning not only introduced a resolution proposed by the Potato Commission, but put it on a fast track to the full Senate, which is scheduled to suspend its rules and take up the measure this morning.

“If that office grants them that authority to use IDAHO as their trademark, they can both sell and market products both in Turkey and internationally using the Idaho name,” said Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, Senate Ag chairman. “I guess we take exception to that. This is not intended to poke our finger into Turkey’s eye, but they need to understand that we treasure the Idaho name.” If others can use it on their products, he said, “We lose the ability to regulate the quality of Idaho’s products.”

Uh oh, you mean that "Idaho Potato" might not actually be from Idaho but rather Turkey? The horror. Because that's exactly what I am thinking when I am chowing down on french fries.

Americans Believe God Has Decided Outcome in Sports

Heading into the Super Bowl we've been getting plenty of heapings of god from former charged-with-murder man Ray Lewis. Naturally he's now also been tied to performance enhancing drugs which he calls a "trick of the devil" or something like that. I would hope that most American sports fans can waddle through all the god talk by athletes that live a lifestyle that is anything but Christian.

But since sports is essentially entertainment for the masses... it doesn't mean their fans are considerably bright either. Over a quarter of American sports fans believe that god has helped decide the outcome of a sporting event, meaning god apparently loves steroid users?

Perhaps the most shocking is that 27 percent of those polled—more than a quarter—believe that "God plays a role in determining which team wins a sporting event." Watch a game with three of your buddies. Odds are that one of you wholeheartedly believes that God has a vested interest in the outcome of the game, and will influence it to get His way. This could really throw off Vegas's lines. ... There's variation across respondents. Minority Christians and white Evangelicals, as well as Southerners, are the most likely to believe God cares about sporting events and athletes; the religiously unaffiliated, and people from the West and the Northeast, are the least likely to agree.

(sigh) At least we're part of the godless masses up here in the Northwest. If you think for a second that the supreme creator of this universe - that's so large that light is just now getting to Earth from 14.5 billion light years across the galaxy - cares about a little football game, you're delusional.

Another part of the survey said that 53 percent believed that god rewarded athletes that had good faith. I'm curious to find out if these are the same good faith athletes that get caught with prostitutes a week before the Super Bowl.

(Or maybe the true Christian athletes don't go out to clubs, get drunk, get a baby mama, get shot, get into drugs, get into trouble with the team and then the league. A natural cause and effect?)

I'm pretty sure God is doing a facepalm right about now, or just every time Ray Lewis speaks.

Epic Photo of Greatness: San Francisco

It may be the winter months, but that doesn't really apply in California. Here's a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco in the background. 

Taco Bell pulled an ad that mocked vegetables

Taco Bell has dropped the gloves for their latest ad, going all in to make fun of vegetables. Considering they've probably added to the country's obesity problem by leaps and bounds, it seems rather counter-productive to be making fun of healthy food.

But then again, Taco Bell does continue to come up menu items that cause instant heart attacks.

The attack on vegetables, however, has drawn some criticism and the fast food chain has pulled their ad. 

NEW YORK -- Taco Bell is pulling a TV ad after receiving complaints that it discouraged people from eating vegetables.

The ad by the fast-food chain was touting its variety 12-pack of tacos, with a voiceover saying that bringing a vegetable tray to a party is "like punting on fourth and one." It said that people secretly hate guests who bring vegetables to parties.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a health advocacy group, this weekend urged people to tweet their complaints about the ad and the chain quickly made the decision to pull it.

But just wait until next week when they release the World's Largest Burrito or something like that.

Epic Video: In Russia, tank drive you!

A lot of Russians have dashboard cams in their car because apparently their police are corrupt and their insurance companies are shady. It's good for us in the ol' US, however, because now we get these crazy YouTube clips of what life is like in the former USSR. For example, a tank rolling across the highway...

 

Still a better experience than driving in Spokane...

Tom Brady's house has a moat, so you can feel bad about yourself right now

Tom Brady probably is worth 100s of millions of dollars if you consider how much he's paid, combined with endorsements and throw in perhaps a smart investment here or there.

So you'd expect this kind of thing right? His $20 million California home has a moat. Yeah that's right, A MOAT.

Among the many features in its 22,000 square feet are a resort-style pool, massive play area for children and a common medieval fortification system.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to re-examine my life where I live in a one-bedroom house with a lean-to attached to it for the washer and dryer...

Leaked Seattle Sounders 2013 kits

The MLS season is just about here and the MLS still hasn't released the new designs for many of the teams. However, today a photo was leaked that perhaps shows the Seattle Sounders FC 2013 kits.

What do you think of the Sounders 2013 kits?

I think these are HUGE step up from the stupid bra strap kits of the last two seasons. But I like the solid green kits. I think the green and black should be switched on this design. Thoughts? Leave a comment!

Miami-Dade County is paying billions for their new ballpark

People complain about government spending, right? How half of the country is on food stamps and sucking the other half down because they refuse to work, right? Costs need to be cut! Local governments need to stop giving these handouts that only help lazy people!

Then you read a story like this and realize that the needy might be the cause of the problem, it might be the rich people. Public financed stadiums are the biggest farce in all of sports. We pay billionaires to build these palaces designed to charge us more money so we can go watch our favorite baseball team play. The public doesn't get the money back, it goes back to the rich owners. Owners that worth billions of dollars themselves.

Now Miami is on the hook for BILLIONS of dollars for their new ballpark. That's right, they are going to have to pay back billions of dollars so people can go to a privately owned ballteam's game. Good lord.

FROM DEADSPIN:

The county chipped in $500 million for the construction of Marlins Park. The county did not have $500 million, but construction needed to start and be paid for immediately. So Miami-Dade borrowed the money by selling bonds on Wall Street, a loan which won't come due for decades.

When it does, it's going to hurt. The Miami Herald does the math on just one set of those bonds, which raised $91 million. Payments begin in 2026, and quickly skyrocket. By 2048, when the last payment is due, the total reaches $1.18 billion.
....

this $1.2 billion is only on one set of bonds. The total payments for all of the $500 million borrowed by the county will eventually come in at a whopping $2.4 billion. Not only did Jeffrey Loria get taxpayers to buy him a stadium, but they bought him the most expensive stadium ever built.

One thing I noticed is that they'll be paying in 2048. Anybody think that the stadium will still be around by that time? The owner will probably be clamoring for a new state-of-the-art ballpark that actual pickpockets fans as they walk through the concourse far before the date.

Now since it was voted that the county had to build the stadium, they had to find the money somewhere because they just didn't have that kind of cash laying around. Apparently we're more concerned about our cool new stadiums then the local government actually serving some public good.

(If you want to waste money, buy this Marlins hat.)

New Orleans Pelicans logo

 The New Orleans Hornets have been rumored to be changing their name to the Pelicans for a while now. Today their new logo was unveiled.

Here's the video that leaked. It's actually pretty interesting.

Here are the official logos from the Pelicans new site. And if you're a fan you can buy some gear there too.

Personally I think the logo is pretty cool. I don't really care for the colors but I guess they have meaning to the city.
Blue, gold and red are the colors of the city flag of New Orleans. But I don't think they are a very great combo. We'll have to see what they uniforms look like.

Dung Beetles Use Milky Way to Navigate

Shocker in the Animal Kingdom. The lowly dung beetle is actually an astronomer. Scientists were at first puzzled as to how these beetles would move their dung balls in straight lines - even on moonless nights - and seemingly knew where to go. After extensive research, they found out that the beetles were using the Milky Way.

To test the star theory, the team set up a small, enclosed table on the game reserve, placed beetles in them, and observed how the insects reacted to different sky conditions. The team confirmed that even on clear, moonless nights, the beetles could still navigate their balls in a straight line. 

 To show that the beetles were focusing on the Milky Way, the team moved the table into the Johannesburg Planetarium, and found that the beetles could orient equally well under a full starlit sky as when only the Milky Way was present.

So if we lose the Milky Way... the dung beetles are pretty much screwed.

(To learn more about Dung Beetles... here's a book.)

Epic Photo: Montreal this morning at -36 degrees

Ever wonder why Canadians are so pale? I think this pretty much explains it. STAY INDOORS!

Shawn Kemp thinks Sonics fans are better than Kings fans

Naturally, Kemp was on Seattle Radio when he said that, but hey! The man is one of the greatest NBA Jam players ever so how can you question him? Kemp feels bad that the people of Sacramento are losing their NBA team, but thinks that the Sonics have better fans. So go eff yourself Kings fans.

I think we should have sympathy for some of the Sacramento Kings fans, because they have some good fans in that area. We just have bigger and better fans in this northwest area.

Kemp also made a valid point that the Sacramento situation just reeks of the Seattle situation just a few years ago. That doesn't bode well for Kings fans. He does have a ton of respect (as I think most people do) for Sac. mayor Kevin Johnson.

As we saw the Sonics go through this a few years ago, lose their team, and the fans were hurting. … You'll probably see the same thing in Sacramento. He's not trying to have that on his record, so he's going to try to do everything possible to get a deal done and try to change some things. But I just think it's a little bit too late.

There are some serious ethical questions for Sonics fans at the thought of stealing another city's team, but in this current climate of the NBA - is this the only way? Maybe.

(To buy some Kings gear before its gone, click here.)