i can see me geek'n out a little and adding this poster to my collection. definitely.

Recently, ESPN collected data on the percentage of concession stands at each of North America's major professional sports' venues that were tagged hit with "critical" health violations.

However, it isn't fair to rate these stadiums and arenas simply by their overall percentage of concession stand violations, as health departments in different states and cities clearly monitor sporting venues with differing levels of scrutiny. (For example, ESPN uncovered that every major sports venue in Florida had at least a 67 percent overall rate of critical violations. Whereas, miraculously, three of the four ballparks in the city of Chicago had absolutely no critical violations!)

So, we've taken ESPN's data and formed our own list of the five grossest stadiums in North America. We've computed these rankings based on a nominally scientific formula that includes how a venue compares to the others in its area, plus ESPN's anecdotal reporting of specific, unappetizing violations seen at that particular stadium.

1. Verizon Center (Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals)
D.C.'s Verizon Center is another venue where 100 percent of food vendors garnered critical health violations. Ten of its stands were cited for preparing food amidst rodent droppings. The fact that only 25 percent of of vendors in Nationals Park, the other downtown sports venue in our nation's capital, received critical health violations makes the Verizon Center's (im)perfect score that much more unpalatable. In fact, one could call it "a national disgrace."

holy... shit... dude, i'm never eating there again.

Yesterday Oliver Stone was the center of attention because of an interview with The Sunday Times of London in which he said that Jews run the media and that people should stop blindly labeling Hitler and Stalin as evil. In fact he’s making a new documentary that he hopes will help people, "walk in Stalin's shoes and Hitler's shoes to understand their point of view".

In other words, hindsight is 20/20, so don't get all PC just because Stalin killed 20 million of his own people between 1936 and 1938. Did Hitler execute 14 million Jews, Gypsy's, gay people, handicapped people and Russian POW's for no reason, or did they provoke him by being unpure? We can play the blame game all day. If all you focus on is the time in 1933 when Stalin had 6000 of his own people rounded up and dumped on a remote island with no food or shelter, and then they started killing and eating each other because life isn't like "Lost" and that's what people do when there's no fucking food or shelter, well then of course Stalin is gonna seem like a bad leader. But do a few isolated incidents make someone a bad person? Who are we to judge? That's all Stone was trying to say.

saw a clip about this earlier and i was like "whoa... seriously? wtf?" — oliver stone is pretty far left, and sounds like a crazy bastard when he opens his mouth and says shit like this... the crazy thing is, there's plenty of people in hollywood that subscribe to this nonsense. ugh.

It may not exactly be a huge surprise at this point, but GM has finally revealed that the official base price for its Chevrolet Volt will be $41,000 (including a $720 destination charge).

That price is before the $7,500 federal tax credit, however, which will bring your eventual end cost down to a slightly more reasonable $33,500. Those looking to get on the road for even less up-front can also opt for a three-year lease, which will run you $350 a month after a $2,500 down payment. As Autoblog notes, you'll also have an option to purchase the car at the end of the lease, so GM won't be repeating its infamous EV1 scenario. Still too much for you? Then you might just want to wait a bit -- GM says it will also be offering the Volt with less features and a lower price point "within a year or two."

daaaaaaamn... $41k base price for this Volt i've been hearing about for the last couple years now? geeeeeesh, that's a bit higher than i figured it would've been... it's too damn expensive to "go green", man.

hell, if i was dropping that much for my car, i'd just buy a nice BMW.

It's not as if we haven't heard the rumors building over the last few months, but Apple's long-standing iMac line is seeing its first real update since the Fall of last year on this fine morning.

As predicted, the refreshed family now contains Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processor options, not to mention discrete ATI Radeon HD GPU options, IPS panels, an SD slot that understands the complexities of SDXC and an SSD option on the 27-inch machine. For whatever reason, Apple's not throwing in its new Magic Trackpad with any iMac; instead, it'll be a $69 accessory. One swank addition to this line, however, is the ability to order your new all-in-one with both an HDD and an SSD on the 27-inch model. Of course, it'll cost you dearly (a 1TB HDD plus a 256GB SSD is a $750 CTO option, while the 2TB HDD in that combo makes it a $900 option), but at least there's room inside for DIY adds.

i'm kind of digging the new gigantic trackpad, or at least the idea of it, but i'd have to play around with one to see if it's even worth it... i'd hate to add another thing to my already busy work desk... also dig how you can get some SSD to speed things up in your iMac now -- that's pretty slick... still hate the price though, and i figure the prices will start to drop on that shit in another year or two. hopefully.

the part at the end with the hammock and projector is pretty badass.

In Hong Kong, because of the space, apartments are small and expensive. Gary Chang, an architect, decided to design a 344 sq. ft. apartment to be able to change into 24 different designs, all by just sliding panels and walls. He calls this the "Domestic Transformer.

(hat tip: jeff)

SAN DIEGO — Any doubts about Thor, the upcoming movie based on the Norse god comic book character, got seriously hammered Saturday when Marvel Studios showed off a ballsy new trailer at Comic-Con International.

The filmmakers set the movie in two distinctively different worlds. In the desert of the American Southwest, a banished Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) is taken for a crazy homeless guy. In his homeland, the golden realm of Asgard, the thunder god tangles with his dysfunctional royal family.

In both settings, the bulked-up Hemsworth reads like the real deal: a hero on a journey. Whether he's brawling or swinging his mighty hammer Mjolnir, the action looks convincing. And while a leaked image of The Destroyer failed to impress, rest assured that the appearance of the enchanted suit of armor at the end of the trailer makes for a blazing big-screen moment.

The trailer, shown in 3-D at Comic-Con, blows away any fears aroused by an early publicity still of Thor's Asgardian family. Director Kenneth Branagh, best known for his cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare's work, has captured on film an Asgard of sweeping scale. As with Avatar, stills from the movie look a little on the cheesy side, but the lush moving images prove impressive.

this movie looks to be shaping up to be something really cool... i'm hoping it'll be something like the first Iron Man, which was simply awesome... can't wait to see this when it finally comes out in theaters, man.

speaking of movies, i finally got around to watching The Wolfman, which i thought was merely okay... kind of disappointed to be honest.... also saw Inception last night and damn, what a great movie -- heard so much about the movie i secretly figured i'd walk out being a little "bleh" about it... not the case at all, and ditto for the storyline... didn't find it too hard to follow or anything, though it feels like one of those movies you want to watch a couple times just to catch anything you might've missed along the way — christopher nolan is right up there with peter jackson, i think.

p.s. Megan Fox to play Catwoman in Batman 3?

don't blame her for kicking the shit out of Jar-Jar either.

which just makes me think of Boba Fett — the badass that died from being hit with a stick from a blind guy hanging upside down, having his jetpack fire off, and hitting the side of a floating boat.

didn't realize she was 18, which means she's legal... a little disturbing? dunno, maybe it's just me... *ahem*

update: ahhh, they updated the post... guess these logos aren't a go, but i still kind of like 'em.