Nate Silver on Fox's morning show

Nate Silver, of fivethirtyeight.com fame, went on Fox News' morning show, and he had an... interesting experience discussing Barack Obama's falling poll numbers.

He concluded his post, "I've never met people more terrified of what might happen if they actually tried to engage in a rational discussion."

NFL lays down harsh guidelines on Twitter use

Wow.

From the Associated Press:

The NFL said Monday it will allow players to use social media networks this season, but not during games. Players, coaches and football operations personnel can use Twitter, Facebook and other social media up to 90 minutes before kickoff, and after the game following traditional media interviews.

During games, no updates will be permitted by the individual himself or anyone representing him on his personal Twitter, Facebook or any other social media account, the league said.

The use of social media by NFL game officials and officiating department personnel will be prohibited at all times. The league, which has always barred play-by-play descriptions of games in progress, also extended that ban to social media platforms.

The NFL's player who gets the most publicity for using Twitter, Chad Ochocinco, tweeted:

@ProFootballTalk what's the new policy that I am hearing about, need the ins and outs so I can get my tweet team together?

Charlie Villanueva, an NBA player then with the Milwaukee Bucks but who signed with the Detroit Pistons earlier this summer, sent a tweet at halftime of a game against the Boston Celtics this March.

Villanueva wrote:

In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.

The NFL rules seem to be overkill.

Some teams themselves, the AP report notes, have laid down their own Twitter restrictions. And setting the restrictions on Twitter to an hour and a half before the game seems like something that the teams themselves would want to do. But not necessarily the NFL.

And as for the officials, if they want to join a social media network... too bad. It is completely prohibited.

AdAge looks into the future of ESPN -- including holograms

A pretty cool look into what we can expect from the sports media behemoth in the near future from Ad Age. And that includes holograms:

New hologram technology coming to ESPN in the spring, based on Electronic Arts' "Virtual Playbook," will enable anchors to be digitally inserted into shots from remote locations. The idea thrilled Chris Berman and Bob Ley, the two anchors with the longest tenure at the company.

"This is just an example of the cutting-edge technology that will save us so much money on airfare for the World Cup," said Mr. Ley, referencing ESPN's forthcoming coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which will be broadcast from South Africa. Mr. Ley first appeared via green screen from a separate conference room down the hall, only to appear seamlessly on the screen seated between Mr. Berman and Chuck Pagano, ESPN's exec VP-technology.

Mr. Ley looked remarkably more realistic than Will.i.am did during his appearance on CNN last fall, which was precisely the goal. "We looked at that and we said, 'How can we do it better?'" Mr. Pagano said. "How can we extend our internal studio to the outside world?" Although the convenience seems inherent, you can expect many jokes like the one Mr. Berman made in response to Mr. Ley: "You look like Kazoo on 'The Flintstones,' sitting on my shoulder."

The whole piece is interesting, so go take a look.

IKEA changes font, font-obsessed fans fume

I have to say... I don't care that much.

But when IKEA changed from a font that they've always used to Verdana, Time writes, some people were pissed off.

"Ikea, stop the Verdana madness!" pleaded Tokyo's Oliver Reichenstein on Twitter. "Words can't describe my disgust," spat Ben Cristensen of Melbourne. "Horrific," lamented Christian Hughes in Dublin. The online forum Typophile closed its first post on the subject with the words, "It's a sad day." On Aug. 26, Romanian design consultant Marius Ursache started an online petition to get Ikea to change its mind. That night, Verdana was already a trending topic on Twitter, drawing more tweets than even Ted Kennedy.

Cliff Lee isn't superstitious

Most baseball players, especially pitchers, are very superstitious. If they have a no-hitter going, no one acknowledges it. In fact, the pitcher will sit alone in the dugout because no one wants to talk to him and say something to jinx the no-hitter.

But new Philadelphia Phillie Cliff Lee, who was traded from the Cleveland Indians? Well, he doesn't care about that kind of stuff. His manager, Charlie Manuel, told Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) of Lee, "A lot of guys might have put pressure on themselves coming over here, but it doesn't faze him at all. His first game with us, he had a no-hitter going through five innings at San Francisco. Well, you know the superstition about not talking about a no-hitter, but he comes in the dugout after that fifth inning and says, 'Hey, I've got a no-hitter going.'"

Pretty cool.

A Jerry Lee Lewis song without piano?

Jerry Lee Lewis is as inextricably tied to the piano as Elton John or Billy Joel. But in his latest single, the 73-year old rock icon has a song that is completely devoid of piano.

There's just something wrong about that.

The New Yorker writes:

In a post on YourItList.com, [Cal] Morgan points out that “Lewis has rarely sung without the piano beneath his fingers; it is hard to imagine him without it, any more than we can imagine B.B. King’s voice without Lucille’s tart counterpoint.” But the new song’s lyrics challenge the listener to think twice about who Lewis really is—“If you think I’m a voodoo doll, that’s what I am”—and, as Morgan points out, the rocker’s motives are anyone’s guess.

It just seems weird.

He also sounds a lot like a poor man's Johnny Cash, perhaps because the song is written by Kris Kristofferson.

The Onion AV Club's least favorite movie cliches

I have to say, I agree with... well, just about all of these, especially this one:

Jason Heller

There are two clichés in particular that really irk me—probably because they’re both staples of one of my favorite genres, science fiction. First is the monolithic, evil corporation that always seems to come complete with a malevolent CEO, a cadre of sadistic scientists, and an army of faceless storm troopers. The most recent example I can think of is the fictional entity Multi-National United from District 9; granted, there is plenty of evil perpetrated by military-industrial contractors, but the world is just way more complex than that. But even worse, cartoonishly evil corporations make for lousy drama: It’s pretty much the same as the mustache-twirling villain, no ambiguity or complexity. Another sci-fi cliché that gets on my nerves is the plastic, antiseptic vision of the future in the vein of Gattaca or A.I.—which, besides being played-out and hard to swallow, seems to stem from some antiquated, Boomer-era paranoia about suburban conformity rather than any plausible prognostication of tomorrow. Human systems and societies are fluid and messy, not the homogenous lumps that writers and directors often sculpt—and even when their creations’ dark underbellies are inevitably revealed, the overall shape is usually far too simple.

The New York Mets as a slasher film

The New York Mets have had an incredible number of people hurt on their team this year. Of the 25 Mets on the opening day roster, just 11 are still playing.

So Baseball Prospectus wonders (subscription required) takes a short look back at the season full of injuries as if it is a slasher-film.

And they wonder who is next

Inconveniently, none of these 11 men are named 'Tina,' so we don't have any easy picks as far as who's going to be next to fall. We know that for the final survivor, it won't be any of the ones who have been drinking a lot, or those having fun, loveless pre-marital sex, or those having fun, lusty extra-marital sex, or those having sex of any stripe with their wives, because let's face it, sex is death in such matters. But here again, we can also probably take it for granted, given the immutable laws of slasher movies, that the real good-time charlies are already toast. I know, that probably means the guys left aren't exactly the original fun bunch, but I don't think anyone's figuring the remaining Mets to be a bundle of joy. Let's face, it, we're almost seven months in since the start of spring training, and anyone left on this fun ride must be feeling like the guys left in the final third of Dan Simmons' interminable Terror, wondering whether they get to eat one another before the polar monster TBNL chomps them to bits.

The anti-Twitter

Woofer, which looks like Twitter but is incredibly different, has a unique premise. Instead of requiring users to stay below 140 characters, it forces users to use at least 1,400 characters.

CNET looked at the website:

When you look at the site's three principles of woofing, you begin to believe that Woofer truly will be the salvation of the language: "1. Be eloquent. 2. Use adverbs. 3. DEA (don't ever abbreviate)," the site says.

Floyd Mayweather doesn't lack confidence

He did an ESPN chat yesterday, and here is one exchange:

russell (snellville,ga)

does it bother you that a lot of people seem to think you are no longer the best, even though you have not lost a fight?


Floyd Mayweather (5:09 PM)

Nobody who is a true boxing fan doens't believe that I'm the best. How can I not be the best when I've never lost? When there are so many people on the mythical best list have lost? If I was the No. 1 on the list when I left and the guy who is lost, how can I not be the best when I come back? That doesn't even make sense. My record speaks for itself.

He fights against Mexican boxing legend Juan Manuel Márquez on September 19 of this year.