Quick Links for May 15th

Sexy Friday is here, and I'm feeling a little Quick Linky today Quick Links!

RIP Wayman Tisdale 1964-2009

Some days just start off shitty. Today is one of those days. Former King, successful jazz musician, 3-time All-American with Oklahoma, bad motherfucker, one of my favorite NBA players, and all-around good great guy Wayman Tisdale lost his battle with cancer this morning at the age of 44. Tis discovered he had cancer 2 years ago when a cyst was found under his right knee after he broke his leg. They ended up having to amputate (!) that leg in August but the cancer returned and we're less one awesome dude.

I'm not sure what more I can add to this but Sactown Royalty's Tom Ziller said it best. Fuck you cancer. Fuck you.

Technology is awesome (via Digg)

Want to go see an IMAX movie on a big fucking screen? Well, make sure to double check whether or not the alleged IMAX movie theater you're planning to go to has one. Someone has complied a Google Map of which theaters have the actual huge IMAX screens and which ones just have slightly better digital quality. And if you missed yesterday's post, Stockton has a LIEMAX.

Congratulations UOP class of 2009. You're officially fucked, just like the rest of us (NSFW Porky's clip at the end)

UOP's graduation is this weekend and I was planning on offering advice to the outgoing seniors entering the real world, but Drew Magary beat me to it on Deadspin. My favorite (and the most accurate) passage:

"Guess what, fuckos? Party's over. You're out of college now, and your parents are now too poor to nurse you through grad school. No more fantasy life for you. No more ice luges. No more intellectual discourse. No more ripe teenage pussy. That's all over now. YOU ARE FUCKED. Your days will now consist of searching for a job in a marketplace where no available job of any sort fucking exists. Your commencement speaker will probably tell you your class "faces enormous challenges," or some bullshit euphemism like that. This is a lie. A challenge is something you can overcome. You, on the other hand, are completely, unavoidably fucked. You're not going to cure cancer. You're not going to stop wars. You're not going to save the planet. If you're lucky, you may stumble upon a $2 coupon for Honey Nut Cheerios one day. That will be about it."

So yeah, congrats. You wasted 4 years of your life on a worthless degree class of 2009. No, our educational system isn't broken at all, why do you ask?

Hopefully you still remember how to bullshit from all those papers you had to write, that's the only skill you use in the real world. And don't bother applying for that bartender job on craigslist to make ends meet. That Asian kid who always ruined the curve in your statistics class just took it. He was really good at bullshitting.

Noone was really fooled by Tony Amato's grandstanding...until Fitzy came along

Fitz took a break from his latest attempt to relate to the common man to praise Tony Amato for fixing what was mostly a clerical error and for pushing more students towards earning almost completely useless degrees. Naturally he ignores simple things, like the fact that Tony Amato wasn't even around for the 2007 Record story that they blew up and then dramatically ripped in half.

Of course the other question Fitzy doesn't even bother to ask is should we be pushing these kids towards college. Is that putting too much pressure on their parents to afford it? Hell, do they even need college? Yeah, yeah, kids are our future, whatever. But there are some kids who just aren't built for that shit. And frankly, I don't want the kid who decided he'd rather hang out with his friends in Oakland than go to school studying to be a doctor. That kid better not be our future. Unless his future is being a janitor.

But on top of all of that, don't we need to fix our increasingly expensive and increasingly useless educational system first before we start shipping kids off to places that don't properly teach them how to bullshit? Why Fitzy, who just last week was predicting a watershed change in the American way of life, doesn't question whether or not this system even works is beyond me. He's too busy praising a guy who just said "Hey, let's enforce the dropout guidelines." Presumably while crying.

Ole!

The Stockton School Board once again pitches a winner.  Because, of course, when it comes to school boards and children's education, what matters is a $650 a month car and racism.  

My obvious question is why?  What makes the school board so enticing that the director of the Stockton Boys and Girls club was on the board?  And gave him enough motivation to pay for a re-count?

I think the major story here is how everyone is in it for themselves, instead of making the best choices for a school.  Oh wait, schools are meant for education?  I was unaware of that.

This education battle has got to stop.  Amato, Bill Ross, Dan Castillo, Sal Ramirez, Jose Morales, Colleen Boardman, Beverly Fitch McCarthy and Gloria Allen, please do listen.  Racist or not, muck raking or not, constant in-fighting or not, I think race is the least of the issues.  I think the biggest issue is that the school board and Super are rapists.  

Yes, I just said you all have decided to take the well being and education of the local children and destroy their hopes and dreams Deliverance  style.    

Especially now, Mexican, white, black, asian, Punjabi, there are bigger issues to take into account.  If special election budget issues don't get passed, there is a possibility you will have to lay off more teachers, more janitors and more support staff.  Of course, as people lose their jobs, its nice for them to know that the Super is still driving an $80k car.  Because while everyone is tightening belts, Stockton overall has no clue how to do it.  

You pull the race card when you have nothing to stand on.  If you represent the districts you stand for, you will realize Stockton is one of the most diverse cities around.  If you want it, Stockton's got it.  And even though Don Blount believes that Stockton is littered with KKK activists, its not.  

What should be on school board agenda:  improve education for students, pay teachers, offer and create programs that enhance students education.

What is on the school boards agenda:  $650 a month SUV, racism, and an incompetent board president.  

Look, when you don't do your job, the public has a tendency to let you know. Yes, even Stocktonians managed to realize the last board was full of shit and got rid of people, so using this as a chance to jump up and further whatever the hell you are doing might not work too well.

Look rapists, put the kids first.  As your sitting there, making a decision, sit there and think, how does this benefit the kids?  If you cant think of how, then drop it and move on.