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ESPN.com: Woods’ influence crossing generations

“Tiger’s China trip changed my daughter’s life,” said Feng Delin, 54, Cindy’s father. “Lots of kids from her generation took the path of golf all because Tiger came to China and introduced the game to the Chinese people.”

Interesting article about Tiger’s influence on one particular girl in China who’s now a golf prodigy in the United States.  How many people have the ability to inspire like Tiger Woods?

UPDATE: Another Tiger Woods in China article
ESPN.com: Woods’ appeal hasn’t fully hit China

Nike, one of Tiger’s biggest partners elsewhere, largely limits the use of his image to in-store promotions, whereas Kobe Bryant, another high-profile Nike athlete, is nearly ubiquitous in China, with China-specific campaigns.

“This will definitely change,” Paull said. “Golf is going through the fastest change of any sport in China right now. There were more golf courses completed in the last three years than the previous thirty years.

The Journey is the Reward Banner Pictures

I recently added a script that allows me to rotate the banner pictures on my blog.  Here’s a little information about each picture.

Lake Manapouri, New Zealand

Champs-Élysées, walking towards the Arc de Triomphe, Paris

From the Age.com.au: President’s half-brother makes novel debut

MAYBE it is the easy smile. Or perhaps the eyes, at once self-assured and searching. When Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo walks into the room, the similarities with President Barack Obama, with whom he shares a father, are quite unmistakeable if hard to pinpoint.

You can definitely see the family resemblance.

NYTimes.com: Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless

The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.

Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.
….
The Iraqis, however, believe passionately in them. “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,” said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives.

This is insanity.  I’m definitely in the wrong business.  Thinking of crap to sell to the Iraqis is what I should be doing.

I saw this in London in September.  It’s the “fab four” on an iconic red bus driving around London playing Beatles music for the release of the Beatles Rock Band video game.  I wish that  advertising and marketing was always this creative and fun.

Found this YouTube video when writing the post Star Wars World Series Intro Music.  I love how they deaden the strings of the piano to get a pizzicato like sound. (The music starts at 31 seconds)

I was listening to game one of the World Series as I was driving home and caught the player introductions.  The game was played at Yankee Stadium and the Philadelphia Phillies were introduced with Star Wars’ “The Imperial March” and the Yankees with the heroic “The Throne Room/End Titles“. 

The Yankees are at home and they want to be the heroes, but if there’s one team that is the epitome of evil empire, it’s got to be the NY Yankees.  The Yankees have played in 40 of the 105 World Series, winning 26 times. 

The Phillies should play Star Wars music when the series moves to Philly, but play “Parade of the Ewoks” when they introduce the Yankees.  That would be pretty funny.

As I was looking for musical examples for this post, I came across this two piano arrangement of Star Wars themes.  Impressive.  Most impressive.

I feel like having a kid just so I can dress him/her in this.

Star Trek Uniform Onesies from ThinkGeek.com

From NYTimes.com: Cancers Can Vanish Without Treatment, but How?

Cancer cells and precancerous cells are so common that nearly everyone by middle age or old age is riddled with them, said Thea Tlsty, a professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco. That was discovered in autopsy studies of people who died of other causes, with no idea that they had cancer cells or precancerous cells. They did not have large tumors or symptoms of cancer. “The really interesting question,” Dr. Tlsty said, “is not so much why do we get cancer as why don’t we get cancer?”