The Yellow Stripe

TV Meme - Day 3 and Conclusion.

In discussing credit sequences, I would be remiss if I didn't also bring up the closing credits to TWiB (This Week in Baseball) featuring the fanfare tune "Gathering Crowds" which played over a montage of highlights closing on a tracking shot of the spin of a curveball in slow motion.

On to my - dare I say it - final answers:

( Questions 21-30 )

Meme gacked from liz_marcs: In an upcoming interview with Katie Couric to be aired this week, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade.



Given my home state, and the current credit crisis, I felt I would go with this noteworthy case from the John Marshall Court:



The State Legislature of Maryland imposed a tax that the Bank of the United States to issue its notes on special stamped paper. The legislature also stated that the BUS needed to pay the state $15,000 annually or go out of business. James McCulloch, a cashier at a branch of the bank, refused to pay the tax and a suit was filed. The State of Maryland argued that "the Constitution is silent on the subject of banks." It was Maryland's contention that because the Constitution did not specifically state that the Federal Government was authorized to charter a bank, the Bank of the United States was unconstitutional.

Although the Constitution didn't specifically give Congress the power to establish a bank, it did delegate the ability to tax and spend, and a bank was a proper and suitable instrument to assist the operations of the government in the collection and disbursement of the revenue. Because federal laws hold supreme over state laws, Maryland didn't have the power to interfere with the bank's operation by taxing it.

The most memorable phrase in was Marshall's comment that "the power to tax involves the power to destroy". The Court ruled that a State could not levy taxes against Federal Government Agencies because this would run counter to the principle of federal supremacy which originated in the text of the Constitution.

Because I am fat with Football Bar Food Specials, and continue to be not motivated enough to post actual original content:



Fandoms: Get wacky. Most American night-time TV programs from 1982-Present. Should I now know enough about the show to comment I will randomly select from an alternate show I believe to be somehow spiritually similar...

Fun side effect of working right down the street from a Major League Baseball Stadium. When the pope comes to town to give, everybody takes off to avoid the crazy traffic and crowds.

Tagged by midnightsjane, List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.

1. I love sleeping in on workdays. I pretty much never get to. I generally have to wake up by 0530, so days like today are just very very sweet.


2. I am addicted to the 'BrickBreaker' (basically it's Breakout/Arkanoid) game on my BlackBerry. The more simple a game is, generally, the more I've gotten into it.


3. I can't remember the last time I've read a novel.


4. But I read the newspaper (Washington Post) from cover to cover every day. And sometimes, I also read other newspapers too. Plus, daily industry clips, though that doesn't really count.


5. I've developed a remarkable preference for step-in shoes. Especially now that I have to wear the orthotics, I just get really annoyed with having to lace up my shoes. And I want to be able to get those puppies on and off at a moment's notice.


6. I have 1928 Coke Rewards Points. I've got 10 twelve-packs of cans in my house, none of which I paid for.


7. Have made a personal pledge to stop eating the candy/cookies peeople set out at the office. Am not doing well on that personal pledge.

Stolen from everywhere but I want to play this time.

1) Comment with one of my fandoms or a character or two from that fandom.
2) I'll answer with one or two of my unpopular opinions about that fandom or character.

OR! You can also comment with fandoms I'm not into, and I'll tell you why I'm not a fan.

Current fandoms/shows I'm watching: College Basketball (Mens & Womens), Dexter, Chuck, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother - I watch A LOT of television and could comment on a lot more...

Was asked to submit answers to Seven Interesting Things About Me Meme. I note that "interesting" is subjective - thus, 7 Things About Me...

1. I've become increasingly fixated on handsfreeness. Somehow, the idea of actually holding the telephone while talking, really annoys me. It's too bad I keep breaking my headsets. Seriously - I got a bunch of those cellphone wire headseats for like $5 each, and I've destroyed almost all of them. Crushed in an armrest. Dropped an earpiece in the gearshift.


2. As above, I am not a delicate individual. As a boy, I was the proverbial bull in a china shop. Most everything I own is damaged in at least some minor way.


3. I love socks. Scratch that. I like socks. (I'm not a Boreanaz-esque sock freak.) I pretty much never go barefoot, except in the shower. I keep pairs of socks that I use solely for sleeping in. These are not special "sleeper socks" or anything. I've just blocked them off.


4. I am strangely slow to adopt new technologies - and yet when I do - behave like a five year old, as if this is something actually new. For example, I just got my CrackBerry - after almost a year of resistance - and am oddly animated by it right now.


5. I am remarkably solicitous of authority figures. This makes for me being a fantastic cog in service sector employment. The Navy Officers generally expect people to do what they say, but my Civilian customers are almost always pleasantly surprised by my attitude when they dump the crap they don't want to have to do onto me. That said, I am not a fun person to have to take assignments from for similar reasons. I often forget that being completely unfazed by scutwork is not a common trait.


6. As with Scutwork above. I spent an hour fiddling with the above icon at the pixel level. For no real reason.


7. For some reason, right now I want to see someone write one of two cracked out "Five Things" crossover series. One in which Buffy Summers goes out on bad date after bad date with a series of "coming of age idiot-man-child" protagonists like JD from Scrubs and Ted of How I met your Mother. The other cracked-out crossover concept involves Faith seducing random people to infiltrate their organizations as part of one secret plot after another - maybe, like, John Casey of Chuck, Barney on HIMYM or the Sheinhardt Wig Corporation. Really, there can't be enough cracked out crossovers on TV. It's probably a good thing I don't have a series of my own. I would destroy TV with camp. And then have Profit orchestrate the demise of everyone Dexter doesn't kill...