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Y'all know I'm no fan of Hot Carl, but I fully commend him for putting Brad in his place and taking the win he deserved. Their antics made for the best finish in a Nationwide race so far this year.

Make no mistake... I like Brad Keselowski, and I like his take-no-prisoners racing style. NASCAR racing rewards a lot of different driving styles and he's certainly been rewarded for his. He's almost certainly going to win the Nationwide championship. If he chooses to be the aggressor all the time though, he has to expect people aren't just going to move aside and let him have his way.

If there's one person involved that's lost my respect in the whole ordeal, it's his dad. I understand he must have been hot as hell with emotion when giving his interview, but there's just no way he can justify Brad hitting Hot Carl out of his way as just good hard racing and then have a beef with Hot Carl for the retaliation.

It would be one thing if it was all about their ongoing feud, but Brad hit Carl on THE SAME LAP.

I couldn't help but think of the interview with Jimmie Johnson after he did the same thing to Kurt Busch just a couple weeks back. The only difference between the two incidents was that Kurt didn't go into the wall, but Jimmie was very open afterwards that he wasn't just trying to move him out of the way. He was trying to wreck him. It just so happened that he managed to win the race in the process.

One hugely positive sentiment came out of this as well. The fact that Brad walked away without a scratch gives further confidence in NASCAR's efforts at vastly improving the safety for all involved. I love that we can watch a race end the way this one did and only be mildly fearful for the driver's safety. Considering that this wasn't even the newer, even safer car, the future seems very bright for hard-nosed wheel-to-wheel racing without the drivers having to put their careers and even their lives on the line for it. It's about the skill rather than the insanity, and this is a great thing for the sport!]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100714-091708
I don't think they were happy that I managed to watch the last episodes after they changed the time slot, so they've gone and changed the dates entirely.

I really like this show... but I can't imagine how they could expect anyone to watch something if they keep shifting it around and never tell anyone what they're doing!

So screw you NBC. You've been showing ads all the way through telling us that we would see this through to its conclusion this summer. If you take it off the air and expect people to buy DVD's to see the end, then I hope you fail miserably not just on this show, but on anything else you try as well.

You can be sure that the next time NBC has a new show that I think looks interesting, I'll think twice and three times before committing to watching it!]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100713-084540 http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100706-155426
Oh... did I give something away?

I also keep looking forward to that idiot/rapist guy getting beat up in new and interesting ways. That's a pretty good subplot in itself!

On an unrelated note... the Dutch just missed what looked like a sure goal! Ouch!!]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100702-140540
I just wrote a little application that sends an html formatted email. The app will only send to one person, so it didn't need to be too extensively tested for email client compatability. I tested it with Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, and Thunderbird. All was well.

I then sent the link to someone else to have a look at, and was told it basically looked like garbage. She re-checked it using Yahoo's online email. Everything was peachy.

I had her forward me the email from Outlook 2007 and looked at the source and found this:

<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">

Now where did that come from? Well I went Googling, and that's when I found out that Microsoft replaced their Internet Explorer based rendering engine with Microsoft Word 2007 for Outlook 2007 and essentially crippled the ability to properly display html formatted emails.

I checked the original email in Outlook 2003, and while not all the formatting was in place, it was a heck of a lot better than what Outlook 2007 produced.

So thanks a lot, Microsoft, for taking a big backwards step and making life difficult for web developers all over the world.

Here's a Microsoft page telling developers how they can try to accomodate their crappy product. I particularly enjoyed the long list of comments at the end of it.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... e.12).aspx]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100702-140306
That has to be the final nail in the coffin that was my entry to the office pool here. That aside though, it's certainly a blessing to the whole "Europe vs. South America" bout I've got going with my wife. After tomorrow, when Germany eliminates Agentina, that should be a lock! I just don't see Uruguay making a miracle run for the cup, no matter how strange this tournament has been!]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100623-112755
I'm sitting here in the Lasik MD waiting room waiting for my wife to go in for surgery. Hopefully it's not pinkeye that I've got, as this doesn't seem like the sort of place to spread it around. I seem to be ok though. I'm watching the World Cup Group C showdown... England vs. USA in separate games and wondering whether either of them will put on a display worthy of getting them into the elimination round. So far it seems the Americans deserve it more, yet the English are winning their game while the USA isn't.

In other news... Marcos Ambrose made an epic mistake on Sunday and basically gave the trophy to Jimmie. I feel terrible for him. I really like the guy, and he deserved the win. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

And finally... Persons Unknown is still good. I guess if you haven't started watching it yet, it's probably too late for you. If you have... then I think the blonde chick should have done more damage to the creepy guy, and at least told everyone else what he'd done. Can't wait for next week!

Are they finally gonna beat the snot out of the hotel guy??? :)
]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100615-085624 Persons Unknown last night, and I'm still intrigued.

There's a few things worth mentioning.

Firstly, the mystery is still compelling enough to leaving me excited about next weeks episode. Without that, what's the point, right?

Secondly, they've made a big deal in the promo spots about the fact that it's a mini-series and that we'll know what's going on by the end of the summer. I can't help but wonder whether they're throwing a bone to us Lost fans who might be concerned that we're about to commit the next 6 years of our lives to another show.

I don't regret the time spent watching Lost. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It did make me happy at the end of the 4th season though when they announced when the end would come so we could all look forward to some sort of conclusion. With this new series, we're being given that up front. Hopefully it's not a scam and they don't let the success (which it will hopefully have) drag it outside the planned plotline.

Finally, I like the fact that they're already answering questions I've been asking. The end of the 2nd episode really amused me. I've wondered more than a few times "why aren't they bashing in the cameras??". Well... finally they knocked one out. The result was most excellent! :)

So... if you haven't watched it, you need to start from the beginning and get up to speed.

And if you're a racing fan but think you hate NASCAR... tune in this weekend for Sonoma's race on Infinion Raceway. NASCAR on the road courses is always great fun!!
]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100610-080722 Persons Unknown.

If you haven't heard of it, now is probably the time to try to download or otherwise find the first episode, as this could well turn into the next Lost.

The premise is a bit of a mix between Lost, where you have a bunch of people stranded in some mysterious place, and a sort of forced Truman Show existance, where they seem to be stuck in this place for someone's entertainment or something.

There's also a bit of the Saw franchise thrown in for good measure.

It seems a bit derivative, but the premier was good enough to leave me looking forward to the next episode. For now, I'm definitely recommending it.

Let's just hope they don't go on a couple month break and then move the timeslot so I miss a few episodes like what happened with V. I guess I'll have to pick that one up again once it comes out on disc.]]> http://www.notweasel.com/index.php?entry=entry100607-133323
I hate to say it, but the comments have been pretty spot-on. It's as if they took the FOX commentators as a template, and then hired their mentally-challenged cousins to fill in for them at a fraction of the cost.

I mean, some people don't like Darrel Waltrip, but I think he does a great job of showing enthusiasm and adding both amusing and interesting commentary. When he talks about things like what drivers are thinking and how they're going about trying to win the race, you get the impression he knows what he's talking about. The man knows a thing or two about winning.

Kyle Petty gives the complete opposite impression. When he talks about what he thinks is going through the driver's minds, I can't help but think "Really... what do you know about what it's like to run up front? What do you know about winning Sprint cup races?" For the most part, he's just sort of annoying. Beyond his family name, I have no idea why anyone lets the man on television at all.

Beyond Kyle seeming generally out of place, I was downright amused at how many times the other commentators just couldn't manage to spit out a sentence. I mean... their job is to talk. If they can't talk fluently, they shouldn't be there, no matter what their history with the sport is!

On the bright side, at least Digger's gone.

Here's hoping the coverage gets better as their stint progresses.

As for the race itself... well... it really wasn't worth watching until the final 20 laps or so. For some reason I remembered Pocono being more entertaining than that in the past. I'm sure next week will be more of the same, with Michigan being one of my least favourite races.

Then it's on to Sonoma, Loudon, and Daytona though! Lots of great fun coming right up!!!]]>