Friday stir-fry

▪ ▪ Hey, Detroit! Want to keep the glow from the All-Star Game going? Go to Gridskipper and cast a vote for Detroit, which is up for... um, World's Least Sexy City (not hott). Er, never mind. (Thanks to Gawker for the link.)

▪ ▪ Speaking of keeping that All-Star glow, when Detroit is still luminous from the All-Star Game and the area is excited about baseball again, it's not a good idea for a team - I'm talking to you, Detroit Tigers, you know who you are - to lose 12-9 to the Kansas City Royals. The Royals, by the way, have the second-worst record in Major League Baseball. My tooth enamel is wearing away.

▪ ▪ One more All-Star Game note, once again from Salon's King Kaufman: Did you catch that moment in the 3rd inning where FOX cameras "noticed" a banner with the letters "HHRYA" on it, painted in an Asian-type of style? Joe Buck and Tim McCarver then pretended to wonder what that banner was all about. Gee, that couldn't be an ad, could it? Apparently, FOX thinks we're all #@$%ing idiots. (Here's more from The Register.)

▪ ▪ Why I wish I was smarter: Some people don't just buy electronics like computers, cell phones, and digital video recorders. They buy these things and then tinker with them to make them better. (Read all about it in the Washington Post.) People are out there turning Roombas into security robots. Meanwhile, I'm happy because I finally bought a phone that has Caller ID.

▪ ▪ I noticed tickets were going on sale Saturday for a Nine Inch Nails show at Joe Louis Arena in October. Does anyone actually listen to Nine Inch Nails anymore? "Back in the day," (Jesus, did I really just type that?) my friends and I blasted Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral as loud as anyone. (And I was always amused by watching sorority girls scream out, "I wanna #@$% you like an animal!" at NIN shows.) That seems like a completely different person now.

(By the way, if you buy tickets through the link I provided, shouldn't Ticketmaster give me a cut? It's not like they haven't sucked hundreds of dollars in "service fees" out of me over the years...)

▪ ▪ So I had lunch at Taco Bell yesterday. (I know, I know. It wasn't my choice. Really.) My lunch companion (whom I may or may not be related to) tried the new Crunchwrap Supreme, which is really just another combination of the same terrible-for-you wrap, shell, meat, cheese, and sour cream that Taco Bell offers. But no matter how they try to dress up something new, aren't the old stand-bys, the simple things like tacos and burritos, still the best thing on their menu?