Whale Wars

I watched Whale Wars on the Animal Planet this weekend. It is the story about a bunch of militant yet peaceful hippies trying to enforce an unenforceable law in international waters. They try to board whaling vessels, from Japan, and show them a letter saying that what they are doing is illegal in Australia. The problem is that they are not in Australia. They are in international waters.

First and foremost, a little something about international law... There is no such thing. If a law is passed, as in this case, in Australia, that law is only enforceable in Australia. It can not be enforced in international waters. The only way you can enforce laws in international waters is with military force, or by getting the offenders to dock in a country where the law was broken and arresting them then. BUT if a "crime" occurs on a boat in international waters it is up to the crew to report it in the country that the boat is registered in, or the crew member's country of origin. If that "crime" is not a "crime" in the country of origin then I very much doubt that you will be prosecuted for anything.

SO, first the hippies start out and find that this boat does not sail in the calm waters of the Caribbean, it sails in the horribly choppy waters of the Antarctic. Everybody gets sea sick.

The next thing made me nearly throw my TV out the window... As one of the crew members was doing some cleaning work on the helicopter, he dented one of the rotor blades with a tool. So one of the blades has a huge chip in the trailing edge.
State side this would have absolutely put the helicopter in the shop. The rotor is the wing of the helicopter and any nick, chip, or deformity in that wing makes the aircraft unsafe for flight. All pilots in their preflight checks make sure that their propellers, or rotors are chip, and deformity free before they start their engine. If something is found the flight is scrubbed. If you fly with that deformity, it creates vibration that can cause changes in your flight characteristics, or even cause your prop/rotor to fly off killing you deader than Dickens.

These idiots decide that they will simply do some minor flight tests to see if the helicopter can fly. The captain agrees. Holy freaking crap. If I am on that boat, I immediately realize that the captain has absolutely no regard for the safety of his ship or the safety of his crew. He is willing to sacrifice your life for the lives of the whales. Awesome.
Even on military ships where calculated risks are taken, they never make a move that would sacrifice safety in such a way.
They do the test flight and despite a little vibration and a weird whistling noise, they think everything is cool and will continue to use the helicopter.
An aircraft is not a car. You can't just pull off to the side of the road if you have problems. Especially in roting wing aircraft if you loose your engine, or if there are any problems you fall out of the sky like a stone. I my opinion, this "pilot" is endangering his aircraft, his life, the lives of his passengers, and the lives of his crew members. No self respecting pilot would do that. And no pilot would have respect for anyone who would do such a thing.

Then the idiots decide that they want to launch one of their rubber boats. They put one of their newest crew members, one who has never launched a boat from a ship in his life, in one of the most critical positions, on the bow line. Then all of the people going on the boat, got in to the boat.
This should have thrown a red flag for somebody, because normally only the coxswain will get in to the launch craft the boat will be put in to the water THEN the rest of the crew will board, but remember these people don't care about the safety of the crew, so off they went. Of course, the boat was put in to the water at a horrible angle because the bow line was not held properly, the boat broke its moorings, and capsized, throwing the whole crew in the freezing Antarctic sea. Luckily everybody was wearing their survival suits, so no one died of exposure, but it was a close call.

Now these geniuses decide to board a Japanese fishing vessel. For some reason they think that these guys will just let them walk on board and hand the captain a letter. The Japanese are under orders to treat the idiots like pirates. Know what that means? The Japanese can detain the idiots and haul their asses back to Japan for trial. The Japanese are also within their rights to fire upon the pirate vessel.
It is a good thing that the Japanese are such pussies, cause if you would have been taking on a Brazilian whaling vessel you would be full of holes before you got within 100 meters of the ship.

So everybody freaks out while the Japanese detain their crew members. The captain stands there with a stupid look on his face while his underlings run around trying to send pictures to the media. Just like a liberal to leave self defence and the defence of others to somebody else.

The show ends there, but there promises to be more misadventures with the hippies later.

UFC 91 Recap

It looked like the UFC of old, and the GROUND was king, armbars, chokes, sweeps, omoplatas, rubber guard, and huge slams. Awesome, awesome awesome. Very good fights!! Kudos to the UFC, they desperately needed it after the recent snoozefests.

Matt Brown vs Ryan Thomas Submission (Armbar) 0:57 rnd 2
My Pick: Matt by KO first round
Matt took a lot of punishment before getting the armbar. Perhaps Ryan learns that slamming out of an armbar is not the best way to defend...

Mark Bocek def Alvin Robinson Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 3:16 rnd 3
My Pick: Alvin by decision
Mark looked very sharp getting a great armbar.


Jeremy Stephens def Rafael dos Anjos KO (Punches) 0:39 rnd 3
My Pick: Rafael by armbar first round
Apparently nobody told Rafael and I that Jeremy has an uppercut that can knock out giants...
Take a look:



Aaron Riley def Jorge Gurgel Decision
My Pick: Riley by decision
I am one of Jorge's biggest fans, but WHY oh WHY must you try to work to the other dude's strength Jorge???? WHY???? Aaron brawls and beats Jorge, cause Jorge needs to realize that his strength is on the ground.

Demian Maia def Nate Quarry Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:13 rnd 1
My Pick: Maia by decision
Maia looked unbeatable. He pulled half guard, swept Nate, got the back and sunk in the choke. Amazing. Get this guy some Muay Thai defence and I think we have a real contender for Anderson Silva to face. I have become a Demian Maia fan, despite what he did to my friend.

Gabriel Gonzaga def Josh Hendricks KO (Punches) 1:01 rnd 1
My Pick: Gabe by KO first round.
Yawn. No surprise, elite heavy handed Brazilian Black Belt who can out kick Cro-Cop beats a nobody from nowhere...

Dustin Hazelett def Tamdan McCrory Submission (Reverse Armbar) 3:59 rnd 1
My Pick: Dustin by Triangle second round
Dustin looks so smooth and sharp he may want to get a new job with Gilette... Or better yet use some of Gilette's fine products to shave that beard...

Kenny Florian def Joe Stevenson Submission (Rear-naked choke) 4:03 rnd 1
My Pick: Kenny by decision
This was a fight of man vs boy. Kenny made Joe look like a little girl.

Brock Lesnar def Randy Couture TKO (Punches) 3:07 rnd 2
My Pick: Randy by Decision
Ok so a WWE guy is now the UFC Heavyweight champion? Awesome. This makes our sport look so real and above board now...
Nog after you rip some appendage off of Mir, could you please PLEASE show ManBearPig what a real fighter is????

I go 6 for 9 in the UFC's best show this year.

UFC 91 Weigh Ins

Man vs Bear
Randy Couture (220) Man vs. Brock Lesnar (265) Bear

Heavyweight
Gabriel Gonzaga (256) vs. Josh Hendricks (238)

Middleweight
Nate Quarry (185) vs. Demian Maia (185)

Welterweights
Dustin Hazelett (170) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170)
Matt Brown (171) vs. Ryan Thomas (170)

Lightweights
Kenny Florian (156) vs. Joe Stevenson (156)
Jorge Gurgel (155) vs. Aaron Riley (156)
Jeremy Stephens (155) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (155)
Alvin Robinson (155) vs. Mark Bocek (155)

UFC 91

Matt Brown Vs. Ryan Thomas
Matt lost by a hair in his last fight in the UFC. He will be out to prove he is still a UFC caliber fighter. Ryan is looking to make a comeback after loosing his first fight in the UFC.
Matt by KO first round

Alvin Robinson Vs. Mark Bocek
Tough fight to call. Both guys are young and both are looking to revenge losses in their last UFC fight. It looks like Alvin has the more complete game and I think that he can eek out the win.
Alvin by decision

Jeremy Stephens Vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Dude from Des Monies against a BJJ world champ. Hummm.
Rafael by armbar first round

Jorge Gurgel Vs. Aaron Riley
Jorge just can't seem to get it done in the UFC. He has been working his Thai Boxing with possible future opponent Kenny Florian in Boston, but it hasn't been his striking that has been the problem, it has been his unwillingness to fight to HIS strengths rather than try to prove that he can beat his guy as THEIR strengths.
Riley by decision

Dustin Hazelett Vs. Tamdan McCrory
Dustin has the slickest subs in the game right now. I don't think that Tamdan can G&P his way out of this one.
Dustin by Triangle second round

Nate Quarry Vs. Demian Maia
I don't think that Nate can keep the fight standing, and I don't think that Demian can sub Nate.
Maia by decision

Gabriel Gonzaga Vs. Josh Hendricks
The UFC gives Gabe a cupcake so that he can make his comeback.
Gabe by KO first round.

Kenny Florian Vs. Joe Stevenson
Should be an interesting ground battle. Joe is very strong, but I don't think that he can finish a guy that Sean Sherk could not stop.
Kenny by decision

Randy Couture Vs. Brock Lesnar
Welcome to 2008's version of man vs bear. Playing the part of Man will be Randy Couture, the part of bear, Brock "I have a penis on my chest" Lesnar. Brock will try to maul Randy. Randy should be savvy enough to avoid getting mauled. When Brock gasses in the second round, Randy should be able to pick his shots and win.
Randy by Decision

My Soft Side

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

Leben Tests Hot

Chris Leben tested positive for steroids after his bout with Michael Bisping. His excuse? A fresh one. It wasn't that he didn't know he was taking them, or his supplements had vitamin "S." His excuse was that he screwed up his cycle and thought that the drugs would be out of his system by fight day.

Awesome. I guess it is illegal only if you get caught.