What we know about saving the bees

From the New York Times' Room For Debate blog.

Thanks to the terrific gene sleuthing of May Berenbaum and others, it looks like the pieces of the colony collapse disorder puzzle are starting to fit together. And we can stop arguing about who was right: The virus camp, the fungus camp, the pesticide camp, the varroa mite camp, or the nutrition camp. It turns out everybody was right. (Well, everybody except the cell-phone and microwave-tower camps.)

Go read what experts have to say about the mysterious collapse of honeybee colonies.

The craziest sports story of the year gets crazier

This story makes the Rick Pitino story look like nothing.

First, some background.

NBA player Dirk Nowitzki was engaged to a woman, Cristal Taylor, who turned out to have a bit of a rap sheet.

The team sources said Nowitzki's own suspicion led him to question Cristal Taylor's past while allowing her to stay in his house. Her arrest on two warrants, stemming from a probation violation and a theft charge, occurred as the Mavericks flew back from Denver.

It turns out this isn't the first professional athlete that Taylor was involved with. She had also "targeted" former NFL quarterback Tony Banks.

When their brief relationship fizzled, Banks said, Taylor began making harassing phone calls to him, his agent and even his St. Louis Rams head coach, Dick Vermeil.

Alarmed that Taylor was "trying to run my name through the mud," Banks notified team security, which learned Taylor had a criminal history and had used multiple identities.

Then Taylor said that she was pregnant with Nowitzki's baby.

And today's news?

Turns out that Taylor isn't pregnant according to medical records from the prison where Taylor is currently being held.

Crazy story.

Declaring sports fan free agency

I heard about this from another crappy (as usual) column from Rick Reilly.

Bloomberg sports columnist Scott Soshnick declared his sports free agency two years ago. What does that mean?

Here's the how-to guide:

Send the same memo to every team in the four major U.S. sports leagues: The NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and NHL. In it, declare your free agency as a fan. Tell them you're theirs for the taking. Offer a lifetime of allegiance. Offer your heart. Your soul.

I did just that.

Only nine teams responded. Read the Soshnick column to see which team went above-and-beyond to win his undying sports loyalty.

The way they did it was pretty damned cool.

Redskins don't know how to treat their fans

Via @jeremyjojola:

The Washington Post shows that the Redskins aren't exactly the masters of public relations.

Last year, Hill's real estate sales were hit hard by the housing market crash, and she told the team that she could no longer afford her $5,300-a-year contract for two loge seats behind the end zone. Hill said she asked the Redskins to waive her contract for a year or two.

The sales office declined.

On Oct. 8, the Redskins sued Hill in Prince George's County Circuit Court for backing out of a 10-year ticket-renewal agreement after the first year. The team sought payment for every season through 2017, plus interest, attorneys' fees and court costs.

Hill couldn't afford a lawyer. She did not fight the lawsuit or even respond to it because, she said, she believes that the Bible says that it is morally wrong not to pay your debts. The team won a default judgment of $66,364.

Bankruptcy by Redskins.

Making Roger Federer look even more robotic

From the New York Times, a video of his footwork and how it helps him be so damned good at tennis.

It features some CGI versions of Federer.

Things I've learned today

1) Everyone uses GMail and when GMail goes down, they go to Twitter to complain.

2) Muhammad Ali had Irish ancestors.

About Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted of killing his children

The New Yorker always has excellent articles. And this article about Cameron Todd Willingham is no exception. The nearly 16,000 word article lays out the facts of the case.

I can't excerpt a certain piece and make it representative of the article, but it is definitely worth reading.

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.