Bob Woodward fears paper airplanes, coloring books, Disney movies, and apologies

In a back-and-forth e-mail exchange with White House economic adviser Gene Sperling, fiction-posing-as-nonfiction author Bob Woodward told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Sperling had threatened him in the e-mail, saying, "It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, you're going to regret doing something that you believe in."

So, just what did Sperling say in this e-mail? Let me share that bit of information with you. Sperling said:

"I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today. I do understand your problems with a couple of our statements in the fall -- but feel on the other hand that you focus on a few specific trees that gives a very wrong perception of the forest. but perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying that Potus (President of the United States) asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim ... My apologies again for raising my voice on the call with you. Feel bad about that and truly apologize."

If that's not a threat, I don't know what is... It reminds me of this make-believe dialogue I'm going to concoct from the film Forrest Gump:

Forrest Gump: "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Dan. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

Lieutenant Dan: "What? Are you threatening me? Do you wanna go?"

Gump: "I'm just saying I'm sorry."

Dan: "Oh, that's it! I'm calling the cops! You're going down, Gump!"

What makes this joke of a statement by Woodward on CNN even worse is after reading his response to Sperling's e-mail. In response to that oh so threatening e-mail I just shared with you, Woodward responded with the following words:

"Gene: You do not ever have to apologize to me. You get wound up because you are making your points and you believe them. This is all part of a serious discussion. I for one welcome a little heat; there should more given the importance. I also welcome your personal advice."

Given this quote, let's return to the fictional dialogue:

Gump: "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Dan. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

Dan: "Oh, don't worry about it, Forrest. You don't need to apologize. It's all good in the hizzy as the kids say it nowadays. Wanna go get some shrimp?"

::hours later when speaking to a reporter::

Dan: "That no good, angry, sack of (bleep)! Gump threatened me! He threatened to kill me if I didn't accept his apology! Would you believe that? What a... What a... He's something else, I tell you. He should go to jail for what he did! Then he'll really be sorry for trying to say he was sorry!"

In light of this bit of news, rumor now has it that Woodward plans on releasing a new book in the fall, entitled, "Why I Fear Paper Airplanes, Coloring Books, Disney Movies, and Apologies."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/bob-woodward-emails-white-house-threat_n_2781052.html

Boycotting jukeboxes because of TouchTunes

I love music and enjoy hitting the bar(s) over the weekend, so naturally, when the mood strikes me, I've never been coy about playing some songs on the jukebox. This past Thursday, a friend of mine turned 50, so several friends of her's, including myself, all met up to celebrate the occasion. At around 9:30, a friend of mine and I both chipped in $5 to play some songs on the jukebox. Four hours and 231 skips later, we gave up on hearing the songs we had selected, and went home knowing we had just wasted $5. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to me (and many others), and due to that, I'll be boycotting jukeboxes. Why? The scam known as TouchTunes. You see, here's how the plot typically breaks down. A person (or group of people) downloads the TouchTunes app on his/her phone, consumes one too many adult beverages, and due to this, has less care for spending extra money to hear the songs of their choosing right NOW. That's the thing with TouchTun...

A closer look at the Scramble With Friends power-ups

I am unashamed to admit that I'm a nerd. My idea of a good time is playing a word game like Boggle or Scrabble. Thankfully, I (and many others) can play such games via Facebook and/or my (our) cell phone(s). While it seems that cheating has become more commonplace in these games (Words With Friends in particular) than San Diego has had nice weather, I've yet to give in to that craze. One element present with the game Scramble With Friends (Boggle) not present in Words With Friends (Scrabble) are legal boosts called "power-ups," which cost a number of tokens from the 15 available. I've now tried all five power-ups, including the latest one which costs money. So, in case anyone's curious about playing the game or giving these power-ups a gander, here's a rundown of them all: Freeze - I think this is probably my favorite of all the power-ups. With the freeze, time stands still for a matter of seconds, which allows you more time to find words and improve...

Face guarding is legal in college football and the NFL

I just wanted to remind fans and announcers especially, that face guarding is legal in both college football and the NFL. It all comes down to contact. So long as a defender doesn't make contact with an intended receiver, he doesn't have to turn around to play the ball. I can't tell you how many times every week I hear announcers talk about face guarding being a penalty. It's not. I even heard one announcer yesterday state, "If the defender doesn't turn around and play the ball, the ref will call pass interference every time." That's simply not true. Courtesy of referee Bill LeMonnier, he says this with regard to the rule at the college level (answered on 8/12/13): "NCAA rules on pass interference require the face guarding to have contact to be a foul. No contact, no foul by NCAA rules." In the NFL rule book, this is written: "Actions that constitute defensive pass interference include but are not limited to: (a) Contact by a ...

The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

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