How can they so blantantly rip off the McDonalds logo? I imagine the Hamburglar is usually all over stuff like this, so it’s amazing that they even tried rolling with it.

And even if the company manages a bunch of McDonalds, I still can’t see how they are using the logo for their office building.

Where are my attorney friends on this one? I’d like to hear your professional IP opinions.

Even if today was a great day for you, this will only make it better. And if you had a rough day, this will surely turn it around.

Without further delay, I offer the antithesis of the Handsome Men’s Club:

What a poor lad.

And you’re welcome.

Let me set the stage of today:

First, I email him this post from Calculated Risk about the vacant condo problem that is plaguing South Florida because he currently rents a condo in a semi-vacant tower, and might eventually buy a place:

From the News-Press: Sole occupant of 32-story Fort Myers condo wants out (ht several)

Victor Vangelakos is the only buyer to take possession of his unit in the 32-story Tower 1 of the Oasis high-rise project in downtown Fort Myers.

Apparently the original plan was to build 5 towers with a total of 1,079 units. That is about 216 units per tower, and all but one unit are vacant in Tower 1. Tower 2 appears to have few lights on too.

And from the WSJ on the 850-unit Everglades project in Miami: BofA Lawyers Rebuked in Cabi Case

Only 109 or about 13% of the Everglades’ 850 units have sold, according to CondoVultures.com. However, as of last month, the developer has rented about 260, or about 30%, of the units, in what it calls a “deferred purchase program.”

That sounds like another 480 vacant units.

Many of these high rise condo towers are part of the “shadow inventory” because the units do not show up on either the new home sales or existing home sales reports (unless they are listed in the MLS). For some areas – like South Florida and Las Vegas – this is a significant part of the inventory.

Very pertinent/relevant information for him, right???

And what do I get in return? Another article about Florida. But with a slightly different lede:

A 37-year-old woman in Florida has been charged with reckless driving after causing an accident because she was distracted as she shaved her pubic hair.

Thanks, Evan.

From the Digital Journal: Female driver shaving genitals causes accident in Florida

And then I happen to see an econ article about this new website today:

That’s right. Now you can subscribe to your underwear Netlfix-style. Apparently you can apply the subscription model to just about everything (except magazines — that’s just stupid). And it’s “girlfriend approved” too! Here are their main selling points:

Replenish Your Supply: Out with the old, in with the new. Manpacks keeps your drawers fresh.

Free Your Mind: Don’t think about it. Receive the basics without thinking about when you need them.

Just Enough: A manpack every third month is just enough to replace all your essentials every couple years.

Get Things Done: Be more efficient and save time/energy by having us restock the basics for you.

Nothing worse than having a dirty manpack… Now that problem is solved.

Packs start at $7. But the pricing seems a little high, though I haven’t really looked into it that deeply. Wernick, this is the kind of stuff that actually makes sense. I would’ve given you some start-up cash for this, not your stupid magazine idea. Maybe we can start up a competing operation and undercut the underwear them?

Though, is it really that hard to go out and buy a new pair of boxers? At least this model doesn’t involve having to return the old ones like you do with Netflix DVDs. That’d just be wrong.

And no, this isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about underwear.

Simplify the Basics: Manpacks.com

I’m usually more of a Jimmy Fallon fan than Kimmel, but this is one of the better late night skits I’ve seen in a while. He pulled quite a lot of people together for one bit. Well done.

Lots of commercials for The Masters, reallllllllly meaningless baseball games, and endless talk of The Bubble can only mean one thing: Spring is almost here. And what better way to help bring Spring in than to have a little Great Wahl March Madness Competition?!

That’s right, I’ve setup a March Madness Bracket Challenge group on ESPN for y’all to join. It’s free. It’s fun. You have no excuses to not sign up. Not only do you get bragging rights, but I’ll even throw in a free Great Wahl mug for the winner!!!

What’s not to love about it? You can sign up now, or after the brackets are set in just over five days. Either way, make sure that you’re all signed up before the first game. Then, in just three short weeks, your morning coffee could be that much better tasting out of a free mug with my blog logo plastered on the side of it.

And if you can’t watch the games on your computer at work, or you don’t call in sick, there is always the new option of watching it on your phone. I’m sure there are features for other phones, but here at The Great Wahl, we only care about the iPhone:

For $10, CBS has an iPhone app that will allow you to watch live streaming tournament games over the cell network. It’s probably a pretty good deal if you’re going to be out and about. You could also have it propped up on your desk as a nice background distraction and just use one of this nifty little iPhone stands to help out.

Hopefully we can get at least a handful of people signed up for the March Madness Mug Challenge. It’ll make it more fun the more people we get. Here are the details:

This message is from The Great Wahl who is challenging you to play Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com.

Get in on the excitement of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament with the web’s most popular bracket game. To get in the game simply complete a bracket by the first tip of the tournament. Points are awarded for each correct pick, with point values increasing as the Tournaments progress. Create or join a private group to compete amongst your friends, family, and co-workers. Or join a public group and compete against ESPN celebrities or like-minded fans from around SportsNation. Come out on top and you could win $10,000. Free to play, sign up now!

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=10164

Group: The Great Wahl
Password: wahl

Invite your friends!

The non-called face mask penalty that ended our season.

If you’ve been reading my blog at all in the last year, you are fairly familiar with the Green Bay Packers’ Offensive Line problems. And our porous line cost us a chance at an overtime playoff victory in Arizona this year. We had a league-leading 51 sacks last year. Fixing it has to be our top off season priority, right? Well, it just got a little more urgent, if that’s even possible.

The NFL Draft is only six weeks away. Free agency just started at the end of the last week. Let’s take a quick look at how the NFC North currently sits as far as our offensive line goes compared to our rivals’ defensive lines.

Minnesota Vikings

Jared Allen
The ‘Williams Wall’
Ray Edwards

Is one of the elite front four groups in the entire league. Torched us last year. So far, unchanged, though Edwards is a Restricted Free Agent right now. That line is going to cause big problems, undoubtedly, again.

Chicago Bears

Just signed Julius Peppers, one of the elite pass rushers in the league, if he tries.

Detroit Lions

Last year, Detroit’s defense was often compared to a high school team. Especially it’s Defensive Line. But that is hardly the case anymore. In the first few days of Free Agency, they signed Kyle Vanden Bosch, probably the best pale DE in the league. Plus they traded for Corey Williams, a very solid DT. And they have the second overall pick in this year’s draft, which means they can either have Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy to add to the line too. That group would be a serious force to be dealt with.

And what have the Packers done in response? Resigned our 34-year old, injury-prone, small (every LT should be at least 6′8″ and 340lbs), often inadequate Left Tackle, Chad Clifton to a three year deal…

If we don’t draft the biggest, strongest, fastest Left Tackle on the board in the 1st round, we are in trouble. Even if it’s not for a starter this year, we have no succession plan at the 2nd most position on the field whatsoever. And then in the 2nd and 3rd round we need to get a Corner Back (to help fortify the secondary that got torched by Kurt Warner — and is getting older w/ Harris and Woodson) and a fast little Running Back (because Ryan Grant is a clown and should not be a starter in the NFL, let alone the only back we use).

Ted Thompson, you’ve been warned already. Don’t screw this up again.

In total, it’s like I’m no longer carrying around an average 7th grade boy on my back (if I’m reading this growth chart correctly).

But the net-90 mark really doesn’t paint the whole picture, because I’ve gained a lot of muscle mass during the last 9 months too, since I started lifting regularly again. It’s hard to tell how much muscle I’ve added vs. fat lost, but here’s a quick glimpse of some of the weight lifting changes I track:

I got over the proverbial weight loss hump, though, by starting P90X at home and abandoning my heavy weight lifting routine at the gym. In the 11 days since I’ve started P90X, I’ve lost 4.2lbs and over 2 inches off my waist.

It’s fairly hardcore, to say this least. But I’ve been modifying the routine a bit. Instead of doing the 100 minute yoga DVD they say to do once a week, I’ve been replacing it with an hour of cardio at the gym instead. Mostly because I don’t want to/have no interest to/can’t bend myself into a pretzel. I went to the gym last night and noticed a significant difference in how much easier the cardio was to complete compared to before P90X, even though I did cardio nearly every day prior anyways. It felt a lot easier, and my heart rate was significantly lower throughout the routine.

But I still have just 13 days until the one-year anniversary of said Fitness Project (March 21st), so I have to make quick work of these next ten pounds in order to successfully complete my One Hundred in One challenge. But I think I’m on track now. I feel like I should win a car or something. Maybe an appearance on Oprah? A spread in Men’s Health? I’ll have to work on that.

On to triple digits.

Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary help services added jobs. Severe winter weather in parts of the country may have affected payroll employment and hours; however, it is not possible to quantify precisely the net impact of the winter storms on these measures.

We’ve got a ways to go just to get back to zero.

From Calculated Risk Blog: Employment Report: 36K Jobs Lost, 9.7% Unemployment Rate

“Richard Dawkins, whom Discover magazine recently called “Darwin’s Rottweiler” for his fierce and effective defense of evolution, now turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. In so doing, he makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just irrational, but potentially deadly.”

I’ve already read the first chapter. It’s quite fascinating. I think it’s going to help me finally put into words what I’ve been thinking for some time.

Once I get done with the whole thing, I’ll let you know how it goes.

On a related note, my brother brought this interesting article to my attention last week: Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ