Riddle Me This, Jishman

After a law suit by a newspaper in Harrisburg, PA, Penn State was forced to make Joe Paterno’s salary public. We already know what Nick Saban makes at Alabama (~$4 million/year) and that other coaches make more than $2 million. So what does a major university pay for a coach that is the second winningest coach in D-1 (BCS), has won them 2 national title, and paid for an expansion of the library?

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“Breaking their silence after a four-day round of talks conducted under a strict media blackout…”

Um…really? Media blackout??! This is pretty much all I’ve heard about for the last month!

“The Writers Guild of America launched its work stoppage on November 5 after months of rancorous on-and-off negotiations with the studios collapsed, triggering the worst labor crisis to hit Hollywood in nearly 20 years.”

Yup, and with good reason, the union rejected the most recent offer:

the union said the studios had offered a single, fixed payment of less than $250 for a year’s reuse of an hourlong TV program when streamed over the Internet, which the WGA said compared with “over $20,000 payable for a network rerun.”

The union also faulted the studios’ offer for failing to establish a payment scheme for original content created especially for the Internet, and for refusing to go beyond management’s initial proposal to pay the same rates for digital downloads as for DVDs.

Now, I know I said before that the studios had more leverage, which I still think they do, but this is just getting ridiculous.

1.) Unlocking the Benefits of Garlic - I’ve known this for years. I mean, I’m glad someone finally wrote an article on it, but still…

2.) A fairly well balanced piece on the WGA-stinking bastard production company strike - from the Huffington Blog

3.) Interesting, so it turns out Comcast WAS blocking my porn downloading

4.) And now for something completely different, it turns out this is a problem. “The winner of a $1 million lottery scratch ticket may not be so lucky after all: He’s a convicted bank robber who isn’t supposed to gamble.” Oops.

I like the NFL. I think my position on this has been abundantly clear. I like that I can watch games for free on Sundays. I like that the NFL and those networks have allowed that to happen. I thought I would mind more that I can’t watch it on network television on Monday nights, but admittedly there have really only been a few games that have been interesting this season. I was pissed about having to pay more for the NFL network a few months back, my loyal readers remember, but looking back on it, I don’t really care that much any more. Is it because I am already paying what I believe to be too much that I am not that upset that I have to pay a bit more for the NFL network? Possibly. But what pisses me off is when I see articles like this one.

Dear Mr. Bergman,

Please explain to me how the NFL is to blame for this? Are you blaming the NFL that their games once a week are on ESPN? There are a grand total of 6 games on the NFL network, please explain to me how the NFL is to blame for this? Who knew this game would be a good one or even important back in the winter when this season began? When the NFL started the network three years ago, who knew that the networks would move this, NBATV and other such channels, but not Versus, FoxSports, et al. to a sports tier? And more importantly, you don’t hear NBA fans (all five of them) complaining? Why are the cable companies absolved of all fault here? Since when are they “right” and the NFL for trying to make money - and by the way, isn’t that what companies and I include cable in this one do? I hate it too, but both parties are wrong or right - who cares - and if you have a real problem with it, complain that even ONE game a week is on cable because you pay marginally more ONCE YOU HAVE CABLE for the sports tier, and much more just to get access at all!

If you have a real problem, shut up and stop paying for cable entirely, because there are more channels you don’t watch than those you do. I promise you that.

Sincerely,
Jishman

I hate people sometimes.

PS the writers strike is still on.

When Jishman and his beautiful bride take the plunge and get married, they will need to work on their first dance. I hope this tasteful dance might inspire the Jishman to take some Lessons: YOU MUST HAVE SOUND/speakers for this video!!

THE FIRST DANCE! (click here to see video)

Thoughts? Jish?

From time to time, the school I work at runs out of white paper in the xerox room and we resort to xeroxing everything on colored paper until the shipment of white arrives. I was passing out Algebra 1 review sheets today and it just so happened that half of them were on pink paper and half were on green. I told them they were the same worksheet, but on two different colored papers. And oh yeah, the pink ones smell like strawberries. Wouldn’t you know, a whole bunch of kids with pink ones sniffed their worksheets and thought they did smell like strawberries! The rest of them rolled their eyes and informed the naive children in the room that I was kidding. Which of course, led to a little fight about whether I was kidding or not. Which of course, I let go on for 30 sec for my own amusement before I told them that yes, I was joking and no, the paper was not scented.

This one comes from our Weymouth brother, D-Dawg. You have to respect his ability to laugh at himself and how bad Notre Dame is.

Once in a while I think marketing people are worthwhile. This is one of them. (brought to us by our Woodley Park stringer normally on the front lines of AU Hockey, Liz “the Thug” McHates-You)

This morning, after being shot - believed to be during a home invasion and robbery - in his home in Florida, Washington Redskins’ fourth year safety Sean Taylor has died. He lost a significant amount of blood at the scene after having an artery in his leg nicked.

Taylor, this season, had 5 interceptions and 1 forced fumble. With the addition of LaRon Landry, Taylor, along with others (Troy Polamalu, for example), changed the way that safeties could be used all over the field. Sacks and plays behind the line of scrimmage were something of a regular occurrence for Taylor, but it was the big hits that he was most known for. His penchant for big hits reminded people of Steve Atwater and Bennie Blades from one short generation ago.

He leaves behind a girlfriend and his one year old daughter. It is unknown at this time, who the assailants were.

For those of us who care about TV, here’s how many new episodes are left of some of our favorite programs.

On the other hand, Jishflix never closes…

This is brought to us, yet again, by our roving reporter on the Monsey beat, Avi McHates-You. I mean, let’s be honest, what else would you respond? I know that’s what I’d be tempted to respond.

My favorite line: Has he finally realized that Warner Music Group needs iTunes more than iTunes needs Warner Music Group?

Now I know I’ve been railing against the music and television industry alot recently - and frankly, we know there’s a lot of material there - but I still think that this is the right move. The industry is moving more rapidly digital - with Amazon and Walmart joining Apple in the download industry. Do they think Amazon and Walmart - of all companies - are going to want higher prices?!?

Oh well. No accounting for intelligence.

On facebook, there is a new group: NFL Coaches Against Jishman

Yup, founding members include:
William Q. Belichick
Herman Q. Edwards

More news at 11…

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Casa Jishman!