Be sure to tune to Blast’s Sci-Tech Heretic blog for Mark Baard’s “10 New England Esotericists to Watch in 2010″

Here’s an example:

1. Marc Abrahams. Few can match the wit, charm and energy of this singular Cambridge, Mass. personality. Abrahams is the publisher of the uproarious Annals of Improbable Research, and organizer of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes awards ceremony, which honors  "research that makes people laugh and then think." He also writes a weekly column about wacky science (think bras that double as gas masks, and astrology charts for bacteria), for the UK Guardian.

John Guilfoil is not happy about the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis.

Read his rant on PRrag.com.

Our heralded PSA Blog makes the case against Sarah Palin. Check it out.

Here’s a snippet:

Late last week, John McCain picked his running mate, the relatively unknown Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska. Aesthetically, for McCain, it was a great pick. The grumpy, ugly, old man picked a smiling, attractive, young woman as his potential Vice President. The excitement over the first woman Republican VP nominee in history also probably blunted Obama’s poll bounce after his rousing convention speech on Thursday.

But while McCain’s pick got relatively good press over the weekend (and made him some money: The campaign has raised over $10 mil since Friday), it’s about to explode in his face, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if she is off the ticket for good by the end of September. I had to make this a bulleted list because it is extremely long and probably will need to be updated almost hourly because right now, there is an army of progressive bloggers vetting her much more thoroughly than the McCain campaign ever did.

I’m not a big fan of over the top introductions. The whole sit in a circle and act like you couldn’t be more excited to tell everyone your NAME and your MAJOR and your FAVORITE COLOR thing has always been my worse nightmare. So I’m gonna skip the big welcome and just say this…

Nothing makes me happier than sports, sports coverage and Sundays in the fall. I grew up in a family who talked sports, played sports and understood sports. I followed their lead. So welcome- officially and with no silly games- to my blog, Girl in the Huddle (GITH.)

It is here where you will get to read my rants, raves, complaints, applauds and everything in between. The boys in red, blue and silver are the loves of my life. Since ’93 when Bledsoe was drafted and I was in the second grade, I have been the ultimate fan. The Sox come in a close second followed by the Bruins. Growing up in Vermont I played ice hockey for many years and one time I took on shot on Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas at a UVM event. The Celtics have a spot in my heart too, I suppose, but it’s only a small green dot on a otherwise blue and red organ.

So here I am. Comments are welcome and are only better for furthering the discussion. I’m never wrong, as my family and friends would be happy to tell everyone, but I love a good debate. Plus, it’s way better to debate on a nice forum like this than at a bar where I can’t clearly articulate my thoughts. Trust me, my thoughts are way better in writing.

Welcome to GITH!

P.S. I love Drew Bledsoe. Always have, always will.

Kellen Rice, one of the Blast’s writers and a regular contributor to Blast’s PSA: Politics, Sports, Anything Blog recently picked up and read the entire Twilight series.

She did not like it. No, ma’am, not one bit.

“Thankfully, the ‘Twilight’ series is over. Not as great is the fact that millions of girls are reading this sexist tripe without a care in the world, obsessing over the "perfect" Edward Cullen and the "hot" Jacob Black, pretending to be Bella Swan and ignoring the unhealthiness of the relationship just as successfully as the character does. What happened that two hundred years after feminist hero Elizabeth Bennet is put down on the page, we get one of the most awful excuses for a female literary hero that I’ve ever seen?”

Take a read: PSA Blog.

Don’t miss our Politics, Sports, Anything Blog today for a little bit of political humor in “If High School Presentations Were Graded Like Presidential Politics.”

Editor’s note: I’m running this story because our sports duo of Micah and Perry is from Philly, and sometimes they need to be taken down a peg. — John

From our Posterboy sports blog:

If you have ever been down to Strip District and walked into Wholey’s, you know that the owner definitely doesn’t give a shit. Don’t get me wrong, you get the best and freshest seafood, (which is saying something for the city of Pittsburgh because it’s not exactly near the ocean) but they hack it up and dish it out right in front of your face. And now the owner of Wholey’s will be refusing to sell any octopi to Red Wing fans for fear of them throwing it on the ice at the Mellon Arena. From the countless songs to beer specials for shitting on Sienna Miller, Pittsburghers think a little bit differently than other sports fans and Mr. Wholey is just one more example. Here are a few reasons why Pittsburgh is better than some other sports towns:

Philadelphia: Pittsburghers only boo guys named Kordell Stewart.

Boston: Pittsburghers aren’t self-loathing and don’t want to slit their wrists after every loss.

New York: Pittsburgh news outlets do not report anything bad about the athletes, and lead broadcasts with player vacations to their homeland.

Dallas: Pittsburgh teams have a little respect for the game rather than bringing in guys like T.O. and Pac Man. Also, three more words, No Jerry Jones.

Oakland: Do not dress up like the Legion of Doom or have an owner that resembles a character from a movie based on a Roald Dahl book.

Baltimore: Pittsburgh has a hockey team, a quarterback and a football team that isn’t purple.

Cleveland: Pittsburgh has won a title in the past 50 years, and doesn’t lose franchises.

Everyone else: Jesus is on Pittsburgh’s side.

Don’t miss Micah Warren’s commentary on Barack Obama on our Off the Record blog!

From the post: “First of all, I’m white. And I just do not get all the fuss at all. I’m hearing all of these people calling in and writing about minorities get free passes and this and that. I judge racial comments by this: were they indicative of real racial prejudice, or the product of poor word choice?”

Check it out!

Blast’s Posterboy Sports Blog has a great commentary on an Australian 9-year-old girl who was kicked out of her tennis club for grunting too loudly while competing.

For the whole story, see our Made Hand Poker blog with Mark Scalia.

The day didn’t start well for Ivey. Entering the final table as the chip leader with a little over 4 million in chips, he lost almost half of his stack on the very first hand of the evening. Action was folded to Ivey, who was the small blind, and he raised 240,000 and Woody Moore pushed all in for 1.5 million. Ivey thought for approximately five minutes before calling with A-9. Unfortunately for Ivey, Moore had A-Q and doubled up.

For the full story, check out our Off the Record Sports Blog!

Patriots have informed wide receiver Donte Stallworth that they will not be picking up his $6 million option bonus due on February 25th, or his $2 million roster bonus due on the 29th.

For the whole article, see our Off the Record blog with sports editor Micah Warren!

Yes, it could happen. Remember the Super Bowl of the 2001 season? The underdog Patriots came in with no shot against The Greatest Show on Turf. They were lucky to be there and had no chance against the offensive superpower that was the St. Louis Rams. Well, whether they cheated or not, they won (and by the way, cheating only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Wait…do I have that right?). [...]

Don’t miss Trevor Timm and company’s “Best of 2007” by the PSA Blog.

Here’s a quick excerpt:

Best Film I Won’t See:

Sicko — The thing is, I’ve heard enough John Edwards speeches that it’s kind of moot.

Enjoy!

Blast’s Posterboy Sports Blog has the R-rated trailer of Will Ferrell’s new sports comedy movie “Semi-Pro.”

The movie also stars Woody Harrelson and Andr© Benjamin and comes out on leap day, February 29.

Check it out!

From our Made Hand Poker blog by Mark Scalia.

As the $10,000 WSOP Main Event is well underway, many big name stars remain.

Jamie Gold was eliminated Monday, and as we entered Day 3, Gus Hansen was on top with over $600,000 in chips. Six former champions remained,

Chris Ferguson, one of the former champions, busted early in the day leaving five.

At the end of Day 3, the money bubble has burst and 337 players remain in contention for poker’s greatest prize. Atop the leader board is a familiar face to the online world, Italian sensation Dario Minieri with 2,398,000 in chips. Dario plays in the highest games on Pokerstars and recently purchased an Aston Martin using his Pokerstars Frequent Player Points…

Remarkably, five former champions made it through the day and are still left in the field: Huck Seed (544,000), Robert Varkonyi (424,00), Scotty Nguyen (321,000), Carlos Mortensen (284,000), and Berry Johnston (203,000).

Actor Tobey Maguire has survived the money bubble and is still in the hunt with 131,000 in chips, and numerous pros are also still left including Gus Hansen (currently 11th), Lee Watkinson, Chad Brown, Jason Lester, Daniel Alaei, Humberto Brenes and Mimi Tran among others.

Daniel Negreanu started out big in the tourney, winning pot after pot with his aggressive play, but he fell hard and busted late Wednesday.

With so many pros and former champions left, this Main Event is looking like a good one.

Television coverage of the smaller events started this week on ESPN. Tune in at 8 p.m.

From our Made Hand Poker blog by Mark Scalia:

Phil Hellmuth Jr. won his record-breaking 11th World Series of Poker bracelet June 11, winning Event #15, a $1,500 No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament.

With the win he broke the three-way tie of 10 WSOP bracelets between himself, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson.

Along with the bracelet Hellmuth took home $637,254.

Also, in a shocking move, PokerStars landed one of the most marketable and talented poker players in the world, Daniel Negreanu.

Negreanu, who recently left Full Contact Poker, now joins a team that includes four former WSOP Main Event Champions.

PokerStars is already currently the largest online poker room with tens of thousands of players at any given moment.