EA pulls topless girls from promotion

EA Sports figured that sex sells and decided to use the Sun's Page 3 girls, Becky and Amii to promote their new game, Need For Speed Pro Street. These ads were only released in the UK where it is a bit more acceptable for topless women to be in advertisements.

Since the internet makes everything so accessible, the ad did not stay within the United Kingdom. As word got out about the advertisement for an ESRB "E" rated game, EA began to do damage control and pull the ads from circulation.

After some digging, I was able to find a video of the photo shoot, which is embeded below (NSFW). I also have a picture collage of the photos (NSFW via the ROFLMAO.com) that were in the ad, but I was unable to find individual pictures.

Personally I feel that EA did the right thing in pulling the ad. You usually won't hear me say things like this that involve boobs, but in this case I think it was the right thing to do since it was an "E" rated game. Promoting it like they were was only going to give the game a bad image.


Becky and Amii for Need for Speed - Watch more free videos

Missouri Football Gets Rejected

The day after losing the Big 12 Championship game to Oklahoma, Missouri awaited the BCS Bowl selections to see how they faired. Missouri finished at 6th in the BCS standings, after being number 1. When the BCS Bowl selections were released, Missouri was surprised to find that they were not listed.

It turns out that the Orange bowl committee decided that Kansas would be a better team to have in the bowl. The same Kansas team that Mizzou beat the week earlier and finished higher in the rankings. Kansas finished 8th in the BCS rankings, two spots behind Missouri, yet they got the BCS bowl over Missouri.

The Jayhawks do not deserve the Orange bowl. They lost that bid when they lost to the Tigers. It is a shame that nothing more can be done about this because the Tigers deserve better than this. After being ranked first in the country a week ago, they do not get a bowl game. West Virginia, who lost this week as well as the number 2 ranked team, still has a BCS bowl game even though they lost to an unranked opponent.

Now I will be rooting for Virginia Tech to crush Kansas in the Orange Bowl and do so decisively. Good luck to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl versus Arkansas...you're going to need it. What a crazy year in College Football.

Mizzou loses Big 12 Title Game

As a fan of the Missouri Tigers, I have to tip my hat to the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma Sooners. They played a great game and beat a difficult adversary. I only wish the outcome had been different. The Tigers weren't the best team in the Nation, it just happened upon that rank due to LSU losing last week. Not to say that the Tigers weren't a great team...they were.

Their defense stuck in there until the fourth quarter. The game is sixty minutes long and you can't stop playing a minute too soon, and after the only turnover in the game, Mizzou seemed to lose steam and give up.

I'm so angry I could throw something through my T.V. at the moment, but I hesitate because I know the damage it would cause. Mizzou has not beat Oklahoma in five years and they couldn't stop the trend tonight. What started out as a great defensive game between both teams opened into a great offensive second half by the Sooners.

It seemed that Mizzou lost the agressiveness that they had playing Kansas and decided to play it safe against this tough OU defense. Instead they were predictable and played right into the hands of Oklahoma.

I wish the best to the teams of Missouri and Oklahoma. I won't hold a grudge, yet I will be ready for Missouri to finally crush Oklahoma. I don't like my team being dominated by another (as I'm sure any other fan feels the same way), so I will keep rooting for my Missouri Tigers and hoping that they still are offered a BCS bowl.

Good luck to the Sooners, may you do well in your bowl. To the Tigers, have peace that you did well in your conference and that you will perform to a higher level next year.

Legal Hemp in North Dakota?

First, for the uninitiated, the hemp plant is different than marijuana. Although both are derived from variations of the Cannabis sativa plant, the subspecies indica is the one that is referred to as marijuana. Hemp (Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa) contains no or very little THC, the compound that gives marijuana is psychotropic properties. The plant differences don't stop there; the hemp plant is taller and easily made into a variety of different products, while the marijuana plant is very short and bushy.

North Dakota is the first and only state to allow commercial hemp production in the country. Hemp production is a growing industry all over the world, while the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) does not allow the production of hemp as it deems all Cannabis sativa as marijuana, despite the distinct differences.

Dave Monson and Wayne Hauge are two farmers from North Dakota who decided to make a good business out of selling industrial hemp. They met all the state's criteria for being a hemp producer such as, unannounced inspections of their fields; provide geo-positioning coordinates to their fields; ensure that they use seed that contains less than .3% THC and pass a background check. The DEA does not seem concerned that was is being cultivated is hemp. To them, it is nothing more than marijuana and a violation of United States Federal law.

According to the DEA, Federal law prohibits the cultivation of the Cannabis sativa plant in all its variations, to include hemp. To them, they are enforcing the law as written, even if the laws were misguided. At the moment, a judge has promised the farmers a decision within the month regarding the situation.

To me, the situation is another gaff by the United States government and their attempt to control and protect the innocent. In their infinite wisdom, they decided that marijuana was a dangerous drug and banned it, but in doing so banned the entire plant species Cannabis sativa, not just the subspecies indica. In doing so, they crippled the hemp industry and it died out giving way to plastics, cotton, burlap, and tree pulp. Now it is going to take Congress to change the law to allow production of this very versatile plant.

I won't list all the uses that it can be good for, but the list contains insulation, paper, hair conditioner and food products. The crop is also very good for farmers as a rotational crop to replenish the ground with nutrients. To read more about hemp and its uses, go to Wikipedia.

I don't see how we cannot begin to cultivate this plant in the United States, as it has tremendous uses and properties. It is old thinking and clouded minds that keep this plant from seeing its true potential in the U.S. Already manufactures here are importing hemp and using it in various products. When is our government going to see that we a losing out?