So do kids this young really know more about sex and anatomy now? Have things changed that much? A better question is if a BJ is more normal than a kiss?

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But with Transformers, GI JOE, and various old 90’s cartoons turned-into-movies keep coming out, I really want to see a Thunder Cats movie. Lion-o, Panthera, Mumra, Snarf snarf, maybe leave Snarf out. But WAIT!!! There is one…kinda.

Basically, after hoping for this movie, I kinda hope they don’t make it.
AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE.

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Emperor in Cavaliers, Fight Fearlessly; Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Shanghai, China

by Dennis Thomas

In a today’s economic landscape where being the market leader is what we are told to strive for, a sporting apparel company in China is showing the world an alternate approach to compete with the big boys.  While Adidas, Nike, and Reebok continue to spend hundreds of millions on advertising, China’s Li Ning is proving it can compete at a fraction of the cost with a little planning and by going after 2nd and 3rd tier markets.

Need a logo?  Where better to start then something resembling the unforgettable Nike swoosh.  Worried that rival Reebok signed China’s top marketable athlete, Yao Ming?  Have no fear, sign his teammate and equally visible-on-the-court-with-Yao, Chuck Hayes.  Unable to compete with Adidas’ 80 million dollar bid to sponsor the Beijing Olympics?  Who cares, let the entire world watch founder Li Ning lite the ceremonial torch to start the games for the price of…. nothing.

Former Chinese Olympian Li Ning won 3 gold medals at the 1984 games held in Los Angeles

The story behind the Li Ning shoes and sports wear company is one built on a brilliant long term strategy that really began with the awarding of the 2008 Olympics to Beijing.  Years before the games were held, company founder Li Ning saw a chance for his company to capitalize.  Already one of China’s most decorated former Olympians, Li Ning aimed to increase his company’s visibility on an international level.  Of course when Nike opened its pockets and secured sponsorship to 21 of China’s 28 Olympic squads, most would have thought the rest of the competition would be left out in the cold.  Instead, Li Ning eagerly scooped up the rights to outfit China’s diving, table tennis, shooting, and gymnastics teams.  Still not satisfied, Li Ning aggressively secured sportswear deals with the Spanish men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as becoming the first ever Chinese company to sponsor a team from the US.

Who can forget the amount of free publicity that came with this Li Ning campain?

...or this one?

While the Spanish National teams took alot heat for the ads with Li Ning, Public Affairs Director Frank Zhang dismissed the gestures as insulting, “In fact, the gesture shows that the Spanish team is so humorous, relaxing and cute. They sat around a dragon pattern, which we think showed respect to the Chinese.”  Hows that for spin?  But the damage was done.  Even though its said that any publicity is good publicity, culture shock on the international scene was proving to be a challenge.

Skeptics were further critical when the company introduced a lower end sports brand called Z-Do, which included shoes/apparel/sports accessories that retailed for about half the cost of Li-Ning products at around $13-$40.    But that’s exactly were they would succeed, cost cutting.  Li Ning was already able to bring their full product line to the market at a lower price then giants Nike and Adidas with  lower production costs by working domestically with factories in China.  By adding Z-Do to their portfolio, Li-Ning has continued to grow- fueled by rapid urbanization, the secondary line now accounts for almost half the companies sales.  Why just make Coke when you can also own and sell Sprite, Nestea, Powerade, etc. too, right?

As Nike and Adidas continue to dominate the Chinese sports and apparel markets, Li Ning has fought them back with a taste of their own medicine.  Li Ning’s Visionary Marketing VP, Wu Xianyong, has has pulled their best trick out from their sleeve; teaming up with the NBA.  While the market in China is large for shoes and sportswear, its peanuts compared to the US (2005 numbers show about 3 billion vs 30 billion).  What partnership could better bring the Li Ning brand to the forefront of the global markets?  Li Ning has gone on to sign individual deals with Damon Jones, Jose Calderon, Baron Davis, and even… the Diesel.  Yes, Shaq, the man who once told a news reporter to tell Yao Ming, ‘ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh’ is now on onboard with Li Ning.  So maybe a little controversy isn’t a bad thing after all.  Li Ning is out to prove that causing a stir is a good way to compete when resources are limited.  Just as Adidas claims, ‘Impossible is Nothing’ in its slogan, you gotta love a company like Li Ning who responds with, ‘Anything is Possible’ as theirs.  Who knows, with China’s one child policy now being reviewed, there could be a need for a whole lot more shoes domestically soon.  I have a hunch that one company is already licking their chops.

Can you spot the Shaq-Fu?

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This baseball player was one of our favorites growing up. Being the Bay Area group we are, we’d always hear the sports column of what Ricky did that night. Few stolen bases, lead off home run, or some crazy flip of the bat showing off. Ricky had just a crazy batting stance. If you ever try it, you could almost fall over hitting the ball. Even during the World Series Battle of the Bay, he was a scary dude to play against (majority of us as Giants fans). Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice going into Cooperstown Hall of Fame this year and that’s just a great accomplishment. Congrats.

Now when’s Will the Thrill or Kevin Batman Mitchell gettin in, huh? FYI, Happy Birthday Barry Bonds. Here’s a ball Kevin Mitchell gave us. (Thanks Kel)

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” I believe his win over me was pure luck. He was getting his ass beat” -Lesnar

“The one thing I’ve always said is that technique outweights power,” Mir said. “But you need a lot of technique… Wherever the fight goes, I’m ready”

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So a LOT has happened since the last entry. Off the top of my head Ima do a quick rundown. Let’s see. A whole bunch of movies came out. Terminator Salvation aka T4 or 5 aka Batman yelling at the crew. But Star Trek got our two thumbs WAY up…JJ, you the man. La Lakers won the championships. Hmm Did they have the easiest playoff schedule? Is Kobe liked again now or is he still the selfish guy? Regardless, much congrats! You deserve it Adam Morrison. North Korea made the news over and over. Seriously, lets please get our American girls out Obama.  And lets not scare everyone in Hawaii about what we don’t know. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you will when July 4th gets closer. Can’t forget about all those bankruptcies to corporations. There’s been so many, I can’t even count. Someone should do a doc on the factory worker in China who gets to drive the company Hummer for the week. And lastly, we crowned our Fast and Furious poster contest winner. GREAT JOB CASEY!!! Thanks for always being such a faithful reader. Stay tune for our next contest. And it feels great to be back!!!

WINNER!!!

ROLL SHAM BOE!!!

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1. Extended Battery

Battery life has always been an issue for users on the go.  Thats why the top accessory for the netbook industry is the extended cell battery.  Most to all netbooks come stock with a 3 cell which offer about 2-3 hours of normal use.  Lenovo now offers a 6 cell that offers about 5 of battery life per charge which is much more accomodating to users.  With 9 cells on the horizon, battery life will soon be less of a concern and you never have to bring that embarrassing power cord with you to Starbucks ever again!!

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4. TV Express Card

“AVerTV Hybrid Express represents the latest TV watching experience since it includes a worldwide Analog, DVB-T, and FM radio broadcasting receiver with ExpressCard interface solution”

AVER Media has a TV Card Express Tuner that, in combination with the Express Card slot on newer model netbooks, brings digital television and FM Radio to the screen for a price around $150.

3. SSD Drive

“Why wait for a traditional hard disk drive to spin up?  Intel solid-state drives have no moving parts, resulting in a quiet, cool, highly rugged storage solution.. Higher performance with more durability means you can be truly mobile with confidence”

Intel’s solid state drives offer 3 times the performance and a fifth of the energy consumption as the discs that go spin. Laptop.com did an excellent comparison benchmarking a Lenovo S10 with a stock drive vs. one with an Intel X25-M.  The bad news is these devices aren’t cheap (Intel’s X25-M is still over $400) and installing potentially voids your netbook warranty, but these drives are fast and and easy to install.  Check out the OS start up time on these bad boys:

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Windows on the S10e with an X-25-M SSD

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OS X on the S10 with an X-25 M SSD

2. Touch Screen Kit

FidoHub has introduced this exciting product to the market, a 10.2″ Lenovo Screen Mod, that when installed, can be fully a functioning and completely Solderless touch Screen Kit.  Again, you’re putting the Lenovo warranty at sure risk and ordering a retrofit kit on ebay from overseas, but the end product is pretty cool.  The guys over at Brain Dump have taken the leap and finished the S10 mod themselves.

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Fidohub touch screen kit installed on Lenovo S10

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