Star Wars Symphony, pt 1

So, we are currently at intermission d the show has already been well worth the price of admission. They started with the THX into followed by the 20th Century Fox Fanfare. Then came the moment I had come for, when the lights flashed and the first notes of the Star Wars theme rang out. It was was like being hit with a physical wave of emotion as so many moments had been shared with these films.

After this , they moved on to Duel of the Fates and then compositions for Young Anakin, Podracing, Droids, Anakin and Admidala's love, and Anakin's transition to the darkside. The first half was concluded with The Emperial Death March

Between songs, Athony Daniels takes the stage to introduce the next one. There have been many great moments already and I am looking forward to the second half.

USA 50% chance to advance to Round of 16 in World Cup

Going Through First Seed Second Seed
Slovenia 83% 59% 24%
USA 50% 13% 37%
England 39% 28% 11%
Algeria 28% 0% 28%


Depending on which side you are on, you will probably dispute the title of this blog, however, it is only calculated based on the possibilities.

I am a fan of the USA soccer team and hope they somehow find a way to go all the way, but this had no affect on the percentages as they are what the numbers show.

So, basically, what I did was take the 9 possible results from the third rotation of Group C and then determine if there were any scenarios in which goal differential, goals scored, or drawn straws could determine final positions in the group. In those situations, I would determine of each possible sub-scenario how many times out of the total sub-scenarios for that scenario that each position could be achieved.

These result totals are listed below and are a breakdown of the data. After this is the actual scenarios themselves


Scenerio 1 Scenerio 2 Scenerio 3 Scenerio 4 Scenerio 5
Scenerio 6 Scenerio 7 Scenerio 8 Scenerio 9
Chance of 9 % Chance % Going Through
USA 50%
1st Place 0.50 0.00 0.67 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
1.17 13%
2nd Place 0.50 1.00 0.33 0.00 1.00
0.50 0.00 0.00 0.00
3.33 37%
3rd Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00
0.50 0.50 0.00 0.00
2.00 22%
4th Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.00
2.5 28%
England 39%
1st Place 0.50 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00
2.5 28%
2nd Place 0.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.50 0.00 0.00 0.00
1 11%
3rd Place 0.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.33
0.50 0.50 0.00 1.00
4.33 48%
4th Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.67
0.00 0.50 0.00 0.00
1.17 13%
Slovenia 83%
1st Place 0.00 1.00 0.33 0.00 1.00
1.00 1.00 0.00 1.00
5.33 59%
2nd Place 0.00 0.00 0.67 1.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 0.50 0.00
2.17 24%
3rd Place 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 0.50 0.00
1.5 17%
4th Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0 0%
Algeria 28%
1st Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0 0%
2nd Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.00 1.00 0.50 1.00
2.5 28%
3rd Place 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.67
0.00 0.00 0.50 0.00
1.17 13%
4th Place 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.33
1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5.33 59%

I. US Win and England Win.
a. USA wins with a better goal difference than England's win:
1: USA
2: England
3: Slovenia
4. Algeria
b. USA wins with the same goal difference as England and the drawn straw is
in USA's favor:
1: USA
2: England
3: Slovenia
4. Algeria

c. USA wins with the same goal difference as England and the drawn straw is
in England's favor:
1: England
2: USA
3: Slovenia
4. Algeria

d. USA wins with a worse goal difference than England's win:
1: England
2: USA
3: Slovenia
4. Algeria
II. USA win and Slovenia win:
1. Slovenia
2. USA
3. England
4. Algeria
III. USA win and England/Slovenia draw:
a. USA's goal difference is better than 1:
1: USA
2: Slovenia
3: England
4. Algeria
b. USA's goal difference is 1 and the drawn straw is in USA's favor:
1: USA
2: Slovenia
3: England
4. Algeria
c. USA's goal difference is 1 and the drawn straw is in Slovenia's favor:
1: Slovenia
2: USA
3: England
4. Algeria
IV. USA/Algeria draw and England wins:
1: England
2: Slovenia
3: USA
4. Algeria
V. USA/Algeria draw and Slovenia wins:
a. England looses by more than 1 goal:
1: Slovenia
2: USA
3: Algeria
4. England
b. England looses by 1 goal and wins theoretical drawn straw:
1: Slovenia
2: USA
3: England
4. Algeria
c. England looses by 1 goal and Algeria win theoretical drawn straw:
1: Slovenia
2: USA
3: Algeria
4. England
VI. USA/Algeria draw and England/Slovenia draw:
a. USA's goals scored in final game is no less than one fewer than England's
goals scored in final match.
1: Slovenia
2: USA
3: England
4. Algeria
b. USA's goals scored in the final game is two fewer than England's and USA
wins drawn straw:
1: Slovenia
2: USA
3: England
4. Algeria
c. USA's goals scored in the final game is two fewer than England's and
England wins drawn straw.
1: Slovenia
2: England
3: USA
4. Algeria
d. USA's goals scored in the final game are more than two fewer than
England's:
1: Slovenia
2: England
3: USA
4. Algeria
VII. Algeria win and England Slovenia win:
a. USA goal differential is better in the final game than England's:
1: Slovenia
2: Algeria
3: USA
4. England
b. USA goal differential is the same as England in final game and
theoretical straw is in USA's favor:
1: Slovenia
2: Algeria
3: USA
4. England
c. USA's goal differential is the same as England in the final game and
theoretical straw is in England's favor:
1: Slovenia
2: Algeria
3: England
4. USA
d. USA's goal differential is worse than England in final game.
1: Slovenia
2: Algeria
3: England
4. USA
VIII. Algeria win and England win:
a. The goal difference in the two games is greater than 2:
1: England
2: Algeria
3: Slovenia
4. USA
b. The goal difference in the two games is 2:
1: England
2: Slovenia
3: Algeria
4. USA
IX. Algeria win and England/Slovenia draw:
1: Slovenia
2: Algeria
3: England
4. USA

Finally, here are the tie breaker criteria for the group stages:


World Cup Group Stage Tiebreakers
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.

Buffy dusting the sparkle-vamp

Stupid Water

You Play to Win the Game

Comet Akimbo

Culinary Quest #4: Comet Café’s Akimbo Burger

After looking up the Diner's, Drivin-in's, and Dives locations in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, I decided that I had to try out this crazy burger called the Akimbo Burger at the Comet Cafe on the East side of Milwaukee.

I had mentioned to a friend at work one day that I was going to try to go after work and he decided to come with me. So, immediately after work, I made the short drive over to that part of town and parked. I ended up finding that the place was only a few blocks from the guy's house.

When we entered the Comet Cafe, it had a laid back dim lighting thing going for it. We sat in a corner window booth and took a look over the menu. After a little deliberation, he decided to go with the open faced meatloaf sandwich, which was the next thing I wanted to try there and I went off menu for a little burger that I saw on the show called the Akimbo burger.

The waitress took our orders and put them in. When she came back for refills, so verified with me that it was $17 and wanted to make sure that I still wanted it. I did, so we chatted while waiting for the food to come out.

His meal looked pretty darn good and then my massive plate came.

The Akimbo burger is as follows from the bottom up. You start with a grilled cheese sandwich, followed by lettuce and tomato. After this, you get the burger patty, and cheese, and a fried egg. Next you have some BBQ sauce, bacon, onions, mushrooms, and jalepenos. Then there is a chipotle mayo, two giant onion rings and another grilled cheese sandwich. Then on top you have two cherry tomatoes and a pickle.

I thought about trying to smoosh the shit out of it to make it bitable, but this obviously wouldn't work, so I started from the top and began to work my way down. So, a couple of tomatoes and a pickle later I was into the actual sandwich. I ate the first grilled cheese, which was pretty crunchy and then took down the onion rings which were covered in BBQ sauce. At this point, I was finally getting to the burger. I cut through into large bites of BBQ, mayo, mushroom, onions, bacon, egg, cheese, and meat. This part of the burger was actually really good.

However, at this point I couldn't go any further. I had taken down the fries and didn't really want to try to push myself to finish it. I still had the lettuce, tomato, and bottom grilled cheese left to go.

It was a fun thing to try and tasted pretty darn good. I think this was a great little adventure, so I'm glad I did it. Next time, I will be trying the open faced meat loaf.

Spicing Up a Run to the Border

Culinary Quest #3: Taco Bell's Cheese Rollup, Crunchy Potato Soft Taco, Crunchwrap Supreme, and Beefy 5-Layer Burrito with Mild, Hot, and Fire Sauce

First off, let me start off by saying that I am a long time fan of Taco Bell. It obviously isn't the best food out there, but it is cheap, there is allot of it, and it is great for certain cravings. Growing up, I didn't get a whole lot of it and the rare times that I did would tend to be times when money and time was short, so a handful of soft tacos were the go to.

However, in college I started trying different things on the menu and started eating their a little more frequently. Now, I live about 6 blocks away from one, so it has become something that I eat every couple of weeks. However, until recently I would stay away from spicy food like the plague, so I had never tried any of their sauces. I enjoyed the food enough as it was, so I had felt no need.

However, after a night of drinking the night before, Taco Bell sounded like the perfect place for a late lunch. Also, as I have began to branch out into the spicy a bit, I decided that I would finally try their sauce packets as well.

So, in the order today were the following: Cheese Rollup, Crunchy Potato Soft Taco, Crunchwrap Supreme, and Beefy 5-Layer Burrito. I have tried all of these before except for the Potato Soft Taco.

I like to start off with the cheese rollup as I tend to wait until I am really hungry on the weekend before eating, so I can pull this bad boy out in the car and get a quick hit of warm, melted cheese on a tortilla. These are great starters and at only 79 cents, you can even get two if you need an extra shot of gooey cheese.

Once I got home, the next thing out of the bag was the crunchy potato soft taco. This didn't have a whole lot of flavor, so out came the sauce. I started off with the mild and decided to work up from there just in case they were really hot. So, a squirt later, I was a convert to Taco Bell sauce. The mild sauce didn't have any heat to it, but it was very tasty. I started really squirting it on at this point and finished a pack halfway through the taco. Next came the Hot sauce. This one added a low grade of heat, but kept the nice flavor going. The taco would not have been nearly as good without them. These are only 79 cents, so for a cheap meal with the sauce, they aren't a terrible idea, however, there are better options.

Next up was the crunchwrap supreme. This was one of my favorite items at Taco Bell for a few months, but then the stores started skimping on the ingredients inside and with the toast it would be dry and chewy. This one was no exception, but next up to combat this was the Fire sauce. I was a little worried here going with their hottest sauce, but I needn't have worried. The heat bumped up a little bit, but it still wasn't very bad, however, the flavor of it definitely took a turn for the worse. So, I tried a few bites with it and then went back to the mild and hot sauces. This still didn't save the crunchwrap, but did make it better. However, for the price, it is not currently worth it.

The final piece of the meal was the beefy five layer burrito. The first time I had this, it almost turned me off of it. However, the ones that I have had since have been much better and now, adding the mild and hot sauce gives it that extra little hit of flavor. At under 1 dollar, this is a great value and a new staple of my Taco Bell orders.

So, time for a quick little breakdown:

Cheese Rollups - Quick, cheap hit of gooey cheese

Crunchy Potato Soft Taco -Cheap option made better by the sauce

Crunchwrap Supreme - Not so supreme, too expensive for what it is

Beffy 5-Layer Burrito - Good addition the menu, new staple item, also improved by the sauce

Mild Sauce - good flavor, no heat

Hot Sauce - good flavor, light heat

Fire Sacue - decent flavor, medium heat

So, overall, Taco Bell really did the trick. It gave me plenty of food for a good price and also gave me the cheese and grease that my stomach wanted. The sauce really picked up the flavor of the meal as well. I can say that I am now a convert to the Taco Bell mild and hot sauces, however, they can keep the Fire sauce.

I'm sure I'll be back again soon and can try some new items and some oldies, but goodies with my new Taco Bell friend, the sauce.