• A Day Without Guns ... - New York Times
  If lawmakers had any sense of shame, they would undo these lethal threats to their constituents.
  (tags: politics)

• Sea Bass alla Fiorentina
  Dinner tomorrow.
  (tags: cooking)

• Clickable Bliss — Billable
  Neat looking invoicing app.
  (tags: business technology)

A few months ago, the NHL announced a deal with YouTube to bring game highlights and other video packages to the online video superstore. As an out-of-market Red Wings fan who still hasn't ponied up for the package, this sounded like a great idea.

Well, a few weeks after the NHL started posting these videos I'm here to call it an unmitigated failure. Sure, I can get Red Wings highlights. Here's the clip for the most recent game, a Wings loss against our hated rival, the Colorado Avalanche.

There are two major problems.

1) The clips go up too late.

This game happened on Saturday night. The highlights weren't posted until midday Monday. The clips absolutely have to go up no later than the morning after. I wake up and say to myself "Hey, how did the Wings do last night?" If the video's not online, I'm not coming back.

ESPN can cut up a highlight package in minutes. I know there are a bunch of games on any given day, but I gotta figure the NHL can get these packages up a few hours after the game.

2) The highlights are terrible.

Watch that Wings-'Lanche video. It's terrible. There's no voice-over telling you what's going on, just the game announcers in mid-call. Think about an ESPN highlight package. They always use nice graphics to tell you if someone reaches a milestone or to give you key stats. Not here.

Unless the NHL improves these packages, there's really no point to their YouTube venture.

The good news is that there is an alternative. I've been talking about ESPN highlights a lot in this piece - for good reasons. They're the gold standard when it comes to this sort of thing.

ESPN has their own online vide initiative called ESPN360. It's terrific. The video fidelity is a step up from YouTube. The packages are ESPN productions, so you know they'll be high quality. You can watch a sample highlight package here. You can even get a Red Wings specific RSS feed.

I don't know if they post clips in a timely fashion. They haven't yet posted a clip for this weekend's Avalanche game. So that criticism still stands. All tolled, however, ESPN's offering is far superior to the NHL-YouTube version.

At the end of the day, though, I'm still rooting for YouTube. The downside to ESPN360 is that it only works with certain ISPs. Much like with their cable channels, ESPN gouges the networks to allow their users access. That just seems kind of unseemly to me. Not to mention unreliable. The NHL-YouTube version is much more open and, of course, totally free to anyone with an internet connection.

Second, I have to think that if the NHL ever got really serious about putting together stunning video packages, they'd put out a lot more and a lot better content than ESPN ever would. I love ESPN's hockey coverage, but it's tough to deny the sport is more of an afterthought to the network.

Hockey is all the NHL ever does. If they really started trying, I'm sure they could beat the pants off ESPN.

• 'Grammar Girl' a quick and dirty success - CNN.com
  Cool podcast on grammer. Note that she sides with me on the question of how to turn singular words that end with S into possessives (one S, not two). I fought with my principal in 3rd grade about this.
  (tags: writing technology)

• ESPN.com - NHL - Burnside: Hasek burying those 'perceptions' in Detroit
  Signing the Dominator has been a steal for the Wings.
  (tags: Detroit RedWings Sports hockey)
• Druid: How to Kill a... - WoWWiki
  How Druids can kill anyone in WOW PVP. Joe and I are halfway to the greatest armor in Warcraft history.
  (tags: Warcraft gaming)

• Mike Judge's Idiocracy reviewed. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine
  Idiocracy and Children of Men compared. Two great movies. One arty. One farty. Kinda brilliant connections
  (tags: Movies)

• YouTube - My box in a box
  Crude, but clever parody of Dick in a Box. Note the subtle shift from copping Color Me Badd to copping "When I Think About You, I Touch Myself."
  (tags: funny video)

• Recipes : Fajitas : Food Network
  Dinner tonight!
  (tags: cooking)
• Jack Bauer is a Huge Democrat
  Who knew? Jack Bauer both kicks and votes serious donkey!
  (tags: TV politics funny)

So, the new Apple iPhone is ridiculously cool. I want one badly and am not OK with waiting til June for FCC approval.

One thing I thought was cool about today's presentation of the device were some comments made by musical guest John Mayer during his performance. I'm paraphrasing here, but Mayer was thanking Steve Jobs and Apple for "making life more fun," a spot-on observation. Then he said something that really struck me: "It's like the complete opposite of terrorism."

It was a clumsy joke by a guy who's not a comedian, but I thought it was really cool. At it's core, he's just about right. People making cool stuff or doing good things to make the world more fun, more fair, and more plentiful really are doing the against violence and hatred of all forms.

So, short form: Steve Jobs, more anti-terrorism that George Bush.

Long form: Seek out fun, fairness, and plenty in your own life's work. It's an important antidote to the scary stuff going on in our world.

• Chelios pays big thank you to Yzerman
  Yzerman has his number retired Tuesday night.
  (tags: Sports RedWings hockey Detroit)