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Question: If you believed your life to be in danger, would you act in self defense, even if doing so meant harming the attacker? (For those not living in the US, please note the legal policy on this issue.)

My Answer: You bet your behind I do. Someone threatening my health has lost the right to his own. In that case, I guess I'm betting my own behind. In the US, as you may well know, self defense is an accepted right, and affirmative answers in polls similar to this one (but worded much better, no doubt) run into the high 80s.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

According to this story from the Belfast Telegraph, a man who stabbed an intruder/burglar in self defense may be prosecuted for assault. I'm glad to know that, in the United States, self defense is a right (and a law).

Question: What do you think of Real?

My Answer: I don't particularly care for Real. I've always found them to be annoying, and I don't know anyone that uses the store… so I don't really care whether I can play songs on my iPod or not. iTunes is the best player and the best store, but most of my songs remain MP3s or M4As that I've ripped myself from CD.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Today I'm releasing the source code to a simple, goofy little app that we've used internally several times to make decisions when more than two criteria are involved. It's very easy to compare two things and decide which is better, and this process of decision-making is very much like a round-robin tournament wherein each team plays the other one on one. In this process, each criteria "plays against" the others. They're then ranked by the number of wins.

It's open source, but we retain all rights to its use, publication, etc. I'm taking suggestions on what to do with it - it'd be neat to have it rolled into fink or even Mac OS X (it does rely on Foundation after all), but I haven't got a clue how to go about getting those things accomplished. We'll change the licensing and whatnot once we figure all of this out.

At any rate, you can download the source as a .zip archive (six files, one of which is the project and the other of which is the man page) here. Please post comments here, or email me directly.

Update 2008-12-16: I've updated the URL to a current download location.

I took some time today to play the closest thing to "my home track" as I could consider (I've played it five times, instead of the one time I've played other courses), Delray Beach Golf Club. I struck the ball solidly most of the day but had a lame day putting and a lamer day yet with my wedge(s). In the end, I pulled out an 82, which is great considering the fact that I made about four putts.

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Just two weeks left - fourteen days - in the donation drive for the EFF. Donating $50 or more places your blog in PulpFiction's list of default feeds.

The last person to donate was Jeremy Meyers of SDC Blog. Thanks to him and those who have contributed previously.

When donating, please provide all the details, such as the domain name, name of the blog, and so on. We want to list your blog properly!

So, Hal Sutton chose Jay Haas and Stewart Cink. They finished 37th and 17th, respectively, in the PGA Championship.

Stewart Cink I'm not too happy about, but I can't think of anyone I could justify using before him. He's a lowly 52nd in driving distance but 152nd in accuracy. If you want to put pressure on in a match play situation, you have to be able to do a lot of things well, and putting the ball in the fairway is one of those. Stewart is 4th in putts-per-round, but 52nd in greens in regulation. So, if you miss the green a lot and chip close, your putting stats are going to be better. At least he's 9th in scoring average.

Jay Haas played very well this weekend. He finished 37th only due to a last-round 77 and is 50 years old. He can handle the pressure and has several times before. His stats are okay, but his driving statistics are rather worrisome. Not only is he a shorter driver of the ball (he is 50 after all), but he's not as accurate as his distance (167th) should put him: 68th. At least his game is good right now - 5 over at Whistling Straits in four rounds (and even through three) implies that he's got at least some control of his driver.

The value of Jay Haas, though, is perhaps quite immaterial. He's a father figure, a tough competitor, and someone whom the others can rally around. He's steady and has fun playing the game. He'll pump up his teammates and hold his own.

It should be a great Ryder Cup.

I must have really misunderstood the relationship between the United States of America and Puerto Rico. How in the heck can they have their own Olympic team? Aren't they a territory of the United States? Shouldn't they be competing for the US team? Their independence day is July 4, 1776 (gee, that's the same as ours!) and their constitution became effective March 4, 1789 (hey, a pattern!). Their chief of state and head of government is, hey wait a second, George W. Bush, since January 20, 2001? I didn't know he could govern other independent countries on the side! No fair! Maybe that's what he was doing during all that "vacationing."

But seriously, why does Puerto Rico get to compete separately in the Olympics?

For what it's worth, I'm glad the lameass NBA team we now field for the Olympics got their asses handed to them by a team whose entire population could - and does - fit on a small island.

Question: Do you care about the Olympics?

My Answer: Not really. 😛

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: What's your favorite sport?

My Answer: Golf, followed thereafter by hockey and soccer. I don't really consider fishing and hunting to be sports in the same fashion, nor target shooting. They'd follow golf, hockey, and soccer anyway. And probably baseball, bowling, football, and a few others.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Have you ever lived through a natural disaster?

My Answer: No. Since moving to FL we've seen very few hurricanes (and Charley is on the other coast), and where I live in PA sometimes sees huge snowfalls, but that's about it - no hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes really. I'm pretty fortunate.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Just a quick reminder: the donation drive for the EFF has 17 days left. A $50 donation to the EFF provides your personal blog a whole lot of publicity.

The donation drive ends August 30.

Today I played eighteen at the Wellington Golf and Country Club. It was my first day with the 983K, and I was eager to let it flex its muscles. More importantly, I wanted to continue to shore up my game. I've been striking the ball well, but scattering shots left, right, short, long… that needed to stop.

The round summary goes as follows (I won't go into as much detail as the last time)…

I started by push-fading a drive to the right rough on the first (4, 355) hole. I hit a pitching wedge and left myself with a long putt. Three putts later I had a bogey. This block/cut would continue throughout the entire front nine.

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Question: Did you buy OmniWeb 5.0? If not, will you?

My Answer: I did. I upgraded an educational license for $9.95. If I had to pay the $29.95, I don't think that I would have.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: What is one of your more unusual hobbies?

My Answer: I collect golf balls with logos on them. I have about 300 - a tiny, tiny collection - golf balls with logos on them. The logos are of different golf courses, companies, and events. I reject dirty balls and balls that aren't white (like the hideous orange or yellow ones). I trade non-logo golf balls for ones with logos - people aren't usually terribly interested in keeping them - and I find logo balls in hazards, under bushes, and so on. I don't have any duplicates (that I know of). It'd be nifty if I could find some software that would store pictures and information about my collection, but it's mostly "something to do" when I do it.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.