skullaria wrote:
Dear Customer,

You submitted the following rating request to SonicWALL CFS Support:
Rate memestreams.net as "31.Web Communications" at 2007-05-26 00:25:00.393

The request has been reviewed and rated as:
"31.Web Communications" at 2007-05-28 03:14:05.533

You should see this rating change reflected within 1 to 3 business days.

Thank you for your request,
SonicWALL CFS Support

It doesn't say anything about removing MemeStreams for the Hacking/Proxy Avoidance Category. Does anyone on MemeStreams have a Sonicwall?

SonicWall MAY have listened...

An 11-year-old Alabama boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog his father says weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.

This is the kind of crazy ass shit that roams around the backwoods of Alabama. This is a poster for 2nd amendment rights!

Boy Bags Wild Hog Bigger Than 'Hogzilla'

Craig Leipold
Nashville Predators
501 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37203

May 24, 2007

Dear Predators' Season Ticket Holders:

June 25, 2007 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the awarding of the NHL franchise to Nashville that became your Nashville Predators. It's been an incredible 10-year journey for me. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate your strong emotional and financial support of the Nashville Predators. You are a big part of the team's on-ice success. On behalf of the entire franchise, I thank you.

Ten years ago, I couldn't call myself a hockey expert. Today, my family and I are as passionate and competitive about the game as the most hardcore fans.

When the franchise began, I said we would run it as a business in order to be successful. We developed a game plan both on and off the ice. We became an integral part of the community, especially downtown Nashville. We made sure we had some fun. And, we indicated that making a huge profit was not a top priority – but we certainly didn't make plans to lose a significant amount either.

As part of those plans we developed a loyal fan base – every team should be fortunate enough to have a Cell Block 303 and the loudest arena in the league. We built a team that the community could be proud of on and off the ice. We grew our hockey skills exactly as general manager David Poile outlined, using the draft as a foundation and then supplementing at the appropriate times with trades and free agents. We gave back to the community – well over $2 million in grants and in-kind donations through the Nashville Predators Foundation. We created an entertaining in-arena atmosphere for every game night. And, we did it all while keeping our ticket prices near the bottom of the league.

Unfortunately, the success on the ice has not translated to success for me as business owner.

Here are just a few facts as to why:

The Nashville Predators tallied up 216 points in the last two seasons, fifth most in the NHL, yet because of below-average attendance, the team will still have a real cash loss of $27 million during that time. Additionally, that loss is despite receiving the most money in the league from revenue sharing. Over the last five years, the team has lost over $60 million.
We've invested heavily in sales and marketing efforts, spending over $50 million in 10 years, most of that with locally-based businesses.
Our average regular season attendance this past season was 13,589, up from the year before, but still 2,000 below the NHL average. A low turnout, combined with a low ticket price results in a poor financial situation.
The new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement with revenue sharing is not a cure-all. Each local market must still support its local team. In addition, this attendance does not qualify us for our full revenue sharing allocation under the... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Being crazy is hard, but it's worth the effort. Especially if you're a cop, paramedic, or social worker who may someday need to deal with a person having a psychotic episode. At those times, empathy can be crucial.

That's where Virtual Hallucinations comes in. The training device, created by Janssen L.P., is a rig with earphones and goggles that plunges the wearer into the mind of a serious schizophrenic. The system offers two interactive scenarios. In one, you're riding a bus in which other riders appear and disappear, birds of prey claw at the windows, and voices hiss, "He's taking you back to the FBI!" The other features a trip to the drugstore, where the pharmacist seems to be handing you poison instead of pills, and hostile customers stare at you in disgust.

I can't wait till this comes out for the Wii!

Virtual Hallucinating Device Drives Police Insane for a Day

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Craig Leipold has reached an agreement with BlackBerry owner Jim Balsillie to sell the team as soon as paperwork can be completed.

Leipold met with the NHL Board of Governors at 2 p.m. Wednesday in New York, and then told his staff of the developments.

Leipold told the Predators' front office personnel that the team will remain in Nashville for at least the next season, but made no promised for the future."

Well it looks as if the Predators might be on thin ice. I had fun going to games this year. But I bet the "leaf" that will now own the Predators will be looking to make a switch at the end of 2008-9 season if ticket sales go soft.

The Predators have an opt-out clause in their 30-year lease with the City of Nashville (the owners of the teams’ arena) if the team isn’t happy with their attendance. If the Predators exercise their out-clause they would be free to move to another city at the end of the 2008-09 season

The Predators out-clause is directly linked towards total ticket sales, not number of tickets sold based on building capacity. The club's lease works like this:

• If attendance slips below 14,000 a game this season, the Predators can signal an interest in exercising their Gaylord Entertainment Center escape clause two months after this hockey season ends.

• Average attendance would have to fall below 14,000 a game again in the 2007-08 season for the team to actually leave by October 2008.

And here’s the kicker – the clause is based on paid attendance and according to what Leipold told The Tennessean, the Predators actual paid attendance is actually just over 13,000 per game (the team gives away 1,500 tickets per game).

The Nashville Predators have been sold (Predators on thin ice?)

HD-DVD or BlueRay?

There is no solution in Iraq. There is no good candidate in the running. The blind excesses of single party rule are probably now checked. Perhaps its time to stop bothering with politics and focus instead on other things. More innocent things. Problems to which there are solutions.

The Bush administration is developing plans to "internationalise" the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall US responsibility for Iraq's future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches.

The move comes amid rising concern in Washington that President George Bush's controversial Baghdad security surge, led by the US commander, General David Petraeus, is not working and that Iran is winning the clandestine battle for control of Iraq.

This is an interesting report. The problem I see here is that they are called peace keepers and not peace makers, and when misapplied they will not work. The problem remains Iran.

Bush may turn to UN in search for Iraq solution

For the second time in a week, southeast winds brought smoke from the wildfires near the Georgia-Florida line as far north as Atlanta early Tuesday.A smoky haze _ along with the smell of burning wood _ hung over the area, causing slowdowns on crowded interstates and roads leading into Atlanta as motorists drove through the heavy cloud of smoke during morning rush hour.

I walked outside this morning and the air was unusually hazy and it smelled funny. It seemed like smoke, but it was everywhere... Turns out, it WAS smoke, from a fire about 250 miles away!

It WAS smoke in Atlanta this morning

A U.S. House of Representatives committee has decided to send a bill to the floor that would require all touch-screen voting systems to produce a paper receipt for each ballot cast.

This is potentially of interest...

Congress to vote on paper trail for e-voting systems