dave submitted a story from deadspin about how great MLB Gameday is, and then how someone got fired for talking about great it was to follow their team instead of doing work.

we’ve been spending a lot of time using MLB Gameday of late, which we think is hands-down the best Gametracker of any on the Web. It almost too much information, in fact; our eyes have to look eight or nine different places before we finally get to the part that updates.

Pittsburgh blogger The Ex-Burger wrote a loving post about MLB Gameday last week, pointing out that he loved that he could use the feature at work. "Fortunately, there’s Gameday, updating me pitch after pitch as I eschew my daily responsibilities and work hard mostly at being aware enough to minimize the window when my boss walks by, and calm enough not to cheer audibly when the Pirates manage to drive in a run or get out of a tough inning. For three hours, I am blissfully distracted, and I literally am paid to follow the team."

Well, you can probably guess what happened next: "Last Thursday, I was fired by Alured Publishing Corporation, where I had spent six months as the company’s Assistant Managing Editor. The company cited my story on this website as the cause, claiming I had used company equipment for my own entertainment, an act punishable by dismissal."

Far be it from us to tell an employer how to run their business; we’re sure time spent on MLB Gameday could be far better used in an endless, pointless, demoralizing meeting somewhere. But we’ll say this: If every place fired their employees for following sports online, well, everyone we know would be unemployed. Including us.

Today, Google put up a logo celebrating the work of artist Joan Miro. The family of Joan Miro was upset by this and made Google take down the image, saying, "There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights."

It's not like Google reproduced or created full-scale art stealing the style...they created a small logo to provide some interest and recognition. These people are morons.

Today Google released Google Calendar (after months of hype and fake screenshots), which is a pretty sweet application from what I can tell with just a bit of playing around. It promises integration with Gmail, even able to grab appointments out of emails and allowing you to add them to your calendar. At the moment it looks like calendar is actually separate from Gmail, but it may become integrated. It's easy to add events, and the "Quick Add" is pretty smart, recognizing my query "lunch with my bro 1pm next wednesday" and sticking it on the correct day. And you can share either your whole calendar or just specific events with people, email invites to events and get the comments back in your calendar, create multiple calendars, have event reminders texted to your cell phone, and more.

Click to enlarge

Google is partnering with Sony Pictures to create a Da Vinci Code Quest game available through the Google Personalized Homepage. Right now it simply reads:

"Beginning on April 17th you will embark on a quest that requires skill, intellect, and perseverance. For 24 days, you will encounter unique challenges. These daily puzzles will pull you deeper into the world of The Da Vinci Code. Answer all 24 puzzles correctly for a chance to win untold riches."

There's a bunch of prizes to be won: "You could win trips for four to New York, Paris, Rome, and London, a colossal Sony Electronics package, and more."

There's a story about how a school meant to book Jon Stewart of The Daily Show for a gala, but accidentally booked Jon Stewart the part-time wrestler instead.

The DaVinci Academy thought it had made a deal with comedian Jon Stewart, star of ``The Daily Show'' and host of this year's Academy Awards, to appear next week. It sent out 500 invitations to businesses and planned for 900 people.

But last week, it learned that it had booked Jon A. Stewart, a former motivational speaker, businessman and part-time professional wrestler from Chicago. School leaders said that earlier in the year they had sent out invitations to a number of celebrities, speakers and authors for the school's annual benefit dinner.

A Stewart had responded, and through months of discussion there was no indication that they had not booked the Stewart they wanted, officials said.

But last week the Standard-Examiner in Ogden called Jon Stewart's publicist in Beverly Hills, and found that the only place Stewart was scheduled to be the night of the gala was on "The Daily Show."

DaVinci leaders were informed of that fact Friday. "It's been a whirlwind ... but the community has really rallied around with support," said Debbie Legge, president of the school's board of directors. "It's not about celebrities. It's about kids and helping them get a good education."

The school is offering refunds to those who had purchased tickets expecting to see the comedian. Some already have received refunds. Legge said she hopes people still will attend the event, but notices will be sent to patrons about the change.

"The Illustrious Jonnie Stewart", pro-wrestler

dave submitted an MSNBC story about the $1,000 mint julep to be sold at the Kentucky Derby.

The sweet cocktail will be made with one of the state’s finest bourbons and served in a gold-plated cup with a silver straw to the first 50 people willing to put down the cash at the May 6 race.

Mint from Morocco, ice from the Arctic Circle and sugar from the South Pacific will put this mint julep in a class of its own, the distillery selling the drink said.

"We thought we would reflect on and complement the international nature of the Kentucky Derby," said Chris Morris, master distiller for Woodford Reserve. The distillery, owned by Louisville-based Brown-Forman Corp., will sell the drink only on race day to raise money for a charity for retired race horses.

dave submitted a ridiculous story about a frustrated judge in a case where a woman owned too many dogs.

Earlier, Janet Lane had pleaded guilty to violating a Herriman ordinance that limits the number of dogs to two. Lane had eight, and as she stood before Judge Henriod for sentencing, she still had seven dogs.

That prompted this outburst from Judge Henriod: "She should have taken a gun and shot the other five before she came back to court."

He then sent her immediately to jail for 180 days. On Tuesday the judge's tone was different. After accepting an affidavit from Lane's attorney that the excess dogs had been transferred to the Humane Society shelter, he suspended the remaining 179 days of Janet Lane's sentence.

Then, he went a step further, apologizing for his comment of the previous day: "I didn't mean that anybody should hurt your dogs or that I was somebody that thinks dogs should be killed. That statement was harsh and it was unfeeling and I wish I hadn't said it that way."

That apology was not enough to deter the Humane Society. Incensed by his comment from the bench the day before, the society's attorney announced he would file a complaint with the Judicial conduct commission. The commission has the responsibility of investigating allegations of judicial misconduct and the power to reprimand or sanction judges.

The bottom line from Tuesday's follow-up hearing is Janet Lane as ordered freed with one year probation and a $350.00 fine. As of Tuesday night, however, Janet Lane was still in the Salt Lake County Jail. Her husband, Keith Lane was told only that the jailers had not received the paperwork from the court. "Something about a bureaucratic foul-up," he said. Janet Lane got to spend a second night in jail, all because she had too many dogs roaming her five acres in Herriman.

Wow, this guy's a real idiot. You're a judge, get a grip! Maybe the story in the newspaper will be enough information for the jailers to finally release the woman. A limit of 2 dogs on a 5-acre lot?!?....Come on!!

dave submitted a story about how a 911 operator got a call from a 6-year-old and believed it to be a prank.

That's what happened when six-year-old Robert Turner called 911 when his mom passed-out. The Detroit boy's mother, 46-year-old Sherrill Turner, died February 20th. Robert says he called the operator to help.

Dispatcher: "Where's the grownups at?" Robert: (unintelligible) Dispatcher: "Huh? Let me speak to her before I send the police over there."

Robert says of the dispatcher on the phone, "I tried to tell them she wouldn't talk! I kept telling them - she wouldn't talk." Confused, traumatized and scared the operator was going to get him in trouble, Robert hung-up the phone and started playing around the house, thinking about his mom and hoping she'd wake up.

When police finally arrived - more than three hours later, they discovered Robert's mother had died. Robert's family plans on filing a lawsuit.

Shouldn't every 911 call be taken seriously regardless of the possibility it's a prank? If someone called in saying there was a killer in their house, would this guy be like, "Yeah, right! He's behind the curtain, look out! Hahaha, a killer...that's priceless. Call me when you have a serious problem."

dave submitted a blog entry with a video of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, re-enacted in RBI Baseball. This is hilarious:

I had heard a couple of weeks back that there was an official Simpsons movie trailer (actually a teaser, since it contains no footage) and decided to check out Apple's trailer page to see what else to look forward to.

There's the Simpsons teaser I just mentioned...funny, but short and with no movie footage.

A movie called "Awesome...I Shot That!" caught my eye both because of the name and also because it is being distributed independently. Turns out it is a Beastie Boys "rockumentary" of sorts. They gave 50 people cameras at a live performance and this film is the result. It's actually called "Awesome; I fuckin shot that!" and the trailer, website, and movie poster appear to have a bit of fun with that. It'll be interesting for sure. Plus you get to listen to a few tracks free on the website.



Jeff Bridges apparently has decided to go from playing characters like Jeffrey Lebowski to playing a gymanastics teacher ("What the hell?!?"). This movie looks terrible.

Then there's 2 trailers I have seen in theaters for movies that look like they're going to be good: Lucky Number Slevin and A Scanner Darkly.