George Mason News Quotes:

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The Daily Show:

Jon Stewart: Welcome back, before we go, as always lets check in with Steven Colbert at the Colbert Report. Steven my friend...

Steven Colbert: Jon, how about George Mason U. Number 11 seed going to the final four. Amazing Snow White story.

Jon Stewart: I think you mean, uh, Cinderella story.

Steven Colbert: Nope, Snow White. The way they've played its as if they've been befriended by seven basketball dwarves. Shootey, Passey, Reboundey, etc, you fill in the rest. UConn looked into the magic mirror and was told the fairest one of all, was not them. Yes Jon, they may have huffed and puffed but UConn could not blow George Mason's house down.

Jon Stewart: Now, now thats the three little pigs...

Steven Colbert: (laughing) Three Jon? A basketball team has 5 players. Thats why they're called a pride.

Jon Stewart: (pauses and doesn't know what to say) We...We'll see you in a second Steven.

Steven Colbert: George Mason what big ears you have!

Jon Stewart: Alright, thats our show...


CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer Gregg Doyle:
Which means: George Mason's going to win. Not because George Mason can handle Florida's frontcourt -- George Mason can't. And not because George Mason's guards are that much better than Florida's -- they aren't. It says here that George Mason will win for one very simple reason: Because I'm not picking George Mason to lose again. Not in this tournament. If George Mason beats Florida -- after George Mason beats Florida -- I'll be picking the Patriots to beat LSU. Or UCLA. Or the 1940 Chicago freaking Bears.

Nobody performs or executes like George Mason. You listening, Florida? You got that, LSU and UCLA? George Mason has gone from something fluky to something fun to something ferocious.

Today now that George Mason has beaten UConn to get into the Final Four, people are going to write about David and Goliath.
What if George Mason is Goliath?

George Mason University Patriots Stun UConn, Advance to Final Four!!

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WASHINGTON — George Mason is no longer the cute little underdog. The Patriots, by golly, are going to the Final Four. The suburban commuter school from Fairfax, Va., beat top-seeded Connecticut 86-84 in overtime Sunday in the Washington Regional final, ending the stranglehold that big-time programs have enjoyed for 27 years in college basketball's biggest showcase.


They lacked in size, athleticism and history relative to their opponent, but the 11th-seeded Patriots made up for it with tenacity.

Buoyed by a partisan crowd and playing some 20 miles from their campus, George Mason rallied after trailing by 12 late in the first half and nine early in the second. They hit six straight 3-pointers in the second half, shot 5-for-6 in overtime and outrebounded UConn 37-34 even though the Huskies have three starters taller than any of the Patriots' frontcourt players.

Click here to watch video of the JC during the game.

George Mason 63 - Wichita State 55 - ELITE 8 HERE WE COME!

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Feeling right at home, George Mason used a shutdown defense to take nearly all the suspense out of its mid-major matchup with Wichita State University, downing the Shockers, 63-55, Friday night. Now the Patriots will face the top-seeded University of Connecticut on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Verizon Center.

Now the 11th-seeded Patriots are one victory from taking their magical run all the way to the Final Four.

Read rest of the article.

Click here to watch a meshup of all the videos I captured tonight at the JC during the game.

Wired Article: Will Wright (Spore/SimCity) discusses the affects of computer games on kids. MUST READ!!!

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A lot of what this article says contradicts what others say about bad effects of computer games:

Dream Machines

Now an entire generation has grown up with a different set of games than any before it - and it plays these games in different ways. Just watch a kid with a new videogame. The last thing they do is read the manual. Instead, they pick up the controller and start mashing buttons to see what happens. This isn’t a random process; it’s the essence of the scientific method. Through trial and error, players build a model of the underlying game based on empirical evidence collected through play. As the players refine this model, they begin to master the game world. It’s a rapid cycle of hypothesis, experiment, and analysis. And it’s a fundamentally different take on problem-solving than the linear, read-the-manual-first approach of their parents.

In an era of structured education and standardized testing, this generational difference might not yet be evident. But the gamers’ mindset - the fact that they are learning in a totally new way - means they’ll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact videogames will have on our culture.

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Games cultivate - and exploit - possibility space better than any other medium. In linear storytelling, we can only imagine the possibility space that surrounds the narrative: What if Luke had joined the Dark Side? What if Neo isn’t the One? In interactive media, we can explore it.

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It turns out that we don’t use computers to enhance our math skills - we use them to expand our people skills.


Read the article in its entirety here.

Suck on that Jack Thompson.

History Lesson of the Day: Origins of “Pinko Commie” Phrase

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The word 'pinko' first became popular during the Cold War to designate those who supported the Soviet Union. The word was predominantly used in the United States, where opposition to Communism grew strong among the population, especially during the era of the McCarthy hearings. One of the most famous uses of the word is a quote attributed to Richard Nixon, talking in 1950 about Helen Gahagan Douglas: "She's pink down to her underwear!", referring to the fact that at the time, pink was the main color of women's undergarments.

The word 'pinko' likely has its origins in the relations between the colors pink and red. Since pink is a lighter shade of red, the color most associated with communism, pink could be thought of as a "lighter form of communism" practiced by mere supporters of Marxism or socialism as opposed to card-carrying communists.

Thank Wikipedia.

Monopoly Spoof: The Patriot Act game

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The board game that brings the thrill of trampling the Constitution right into your home... newly updated for 2006 to include NSA wiretaps and renewal of provisions!

PATRIOT ACT: The Home Version, is a game inspired by the historic abuse of governmental powers of the same name. Many of the hypothetical situations in the game are based on real-life events. Either as a game to be played or as a statement to be read, Patriot Act: The Home Version educates the user to the current erosion of our civil rights by the government while claiming to be protecting our freedoms. John Ashcroft may no longer be Attorney General, but his legacy lives on in the anti-freedom legislation that this game is a tribute to.

Click here to find out how to play.