Dork Alert! time, B.Y.O.T.B. in Colorado Springs and arrogance from the King

- Dork Alert! Dork Alert! March 25 is always a big day for a certain segment of dorks in our society and I think we all know which segment of dorks I am referring to: J.R.R. Tolkien fans. Sure, the success of the “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy has moved Tolkien and his followers up the dork hierarchy a bit, but make no mistake about it, they’re still dorks. For the past eight years, Tolkien’s fans have gathered on March 25 for meetings at local libraries, schools, universities and the like to celebrate the reclusive late author’s works. The date - March 25 - is significant because it is on March 25 that Sauron, the evil overlord, is overthrown in Tolkien's "Return of the King." As with so many celebrations and occasions, this one was borne out of jealousy. The nerds who comprise the Tolkien Society, a group dedicated to the author, were asked why there was no day of celebration for Tolkien to along the lines of the one for James Joyce. That led to the birth of Tolkien Reading Day was born. Each year, the dorks pick out a different them and different Tolkien story to focus on. This year’s focus is on "Tolkien's Seafarers" and the nerds who gathered did so to talk about that classic tale. As if gathering to trade thoughts on a J.R.R. Tolkien story wasn’t nerdy enough, fans were encouraged to amplify their dork-dom by coming to meetings in costume. So you have rooms full of pale, pasty nerds who have never kissed someone of the opposite sex and are venturing outside of their basement for the first time in months, exposing themselves to the harshness of sunlight and doing so in service of their favorite author. At the meetings, they read aloud some of their favorite sections for about ten minutes or less and participate in "musical interludes." Oh, and because the nerds who consider themselves true Tolkien fans resent the intrusion of the outside world into their freaky little corner of the galaxy in the form of mainstream movies, participants in Tolkien day have also made it a point of using this day to bring the focus back to “Tolkien basics.” Hopefully none of you reading this were anywhere near a Tolkien Reading Day event (unless doing so ironically and to mock those attending), because this is a nerd-free space…………

- How bizarre is it to see authorities seize materials being illegally transported across the border from the United States into Mexico and not the other way around? For whatever reason, Mexico has all but cornered the market on illegal border crossings and smuggling. And yes, a Mexican man was involved in the story I am about to talk about, but he was looking to smuggle things out of the United States and not into the country. The unidentified Mexican man was looking to drive the 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer across the bridge that links Brownsville with Matamoros, Tamaulipas state, but he was stopped for a secondary inspection. When federal agents searched his vehicle, they found 2,880 rounds of ammunition found inside. What? Maybe he was just going to the shooting range……for the next month. Or perhaps he was going out hunting for wild game…..with 13 armor-piercing rounds and five assault-rifle magazines. Okay, I admit that this looks a bit fishy, but who among us hasn’t gone out for a drive across national borders packing armor-piercing ammo and assault rifles inside 18 plastic bags stashed in the back of our ride? Lighten up, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. You all act like this guy was committing a crime or something. For once, someone was crossing the border into a country they belong in, they weren’t attempting to sneak illegal narcotics across with them and they weren’t trafficking in human beings either. If only all border crossings were this way…………

- There will never be a dearth of losers and scumbags looking to prey on the dumb ones among us via Internet scams. Web sites and online service providers are continually doing their best to protect users from these scams, but it’s a daily battle and the rules and battlefields are always changing. Google has fired the latest shot in the battle against online scams, adding a new security measure to Gmail that can help alert you to hackers potentially hijacking your e-mail account and using it for shady purposes. Google already had a feature in place to allow you to track your logins from various IP addresses, but Gmail will now seek to resolve the IP address to a specific geographic location. If logins happen from drastically disparate locations within a short period of time, major red banner will be displayed in Gmail's Web interface. Users can then examine the details of the login attempts to either verify them as accurate or to classify them as a hacking attempt. You will then be prompted with a link to change your password on the spot. The new measures aren’t meant to replace standard security practices, but they add an extra layer of security and if a user is paying attention and accessing their account with any regularity, they will have a very clear notice waiting on them any time someone tries to hack their account. Oh, and it’s still a bad idea to respond to emails from alleged Nigerian princes who need your $5,000 to gain access to a vast fortune that they are soon to come into. Other than that and this new Google alert, you’re on your own………

- It is now B.Y.O.T.B. at all parks in the city of Colorado Springs. No, not bring your own tub of beer. Bring your own trash bag, as in the city has removed trash cans and thus trash bags in order to save money. Additionally, you shouldn’t plan on catching a bus to that same park on evenings or weekends because the city has cut out bus service during those times as well. Lastly, once you get to the park, don’t expect it to be well-lit. City work crews are in the process of removing one-third of the city’s streetlights to save money on electricity and light bulbs. Colorado Springs is staring down the barrel of a $28.5 million budget gap and the city council is painting its efforts as forward-thinking measures that will reinvent Colorado Springs. "You can cry about the fiscal situation ... or you can take it as an opportunity to change, reinvent yourself and innovate and that's what were going to do in Colorado Springs," City Councilman Sean Paige said. Ordinarily a city or town would just hike taxes to prevent such cuts, but in Colorado, there is a taxpayers' bill of rights that prevents state and city governments from raising taxes unless such a measure is approved by the voters. "We put it on the ballot last fall, and they said 'no,' " said Paige. "They declined to write the city a blank check, and they said, 'City, tighten your belts. We're tightening ours. You need to do the same.' We're going to respect that." Fair enough. You can't fault people for not wanting to write what their own city council deems a “blank check” when so many people are living paycheck to paycheck. Colorado Springs is a city known for its unique approach to funding projects, as the city's garbage collection, zoo and philharmonic are all privately funded. Oh, and the city is also auctioning off its police helicopters online. Time will prove out whether citizens will accept and adjust to these budget cuts, but I have a feeling Colorado Springs residents will be just fine…………

- Know what I’ve been missing from my life lately? Some trademark LeBron James arrogance, that’s what. The man who would be a global icon and the first athlete billionaire just hasn’t been showing off his legendary pomposity of late and I’ve missed it. Thankfully, someone asked the King a question as his team was preparing for a Friday night contest in San Antonio and LBJ had a chance to show off his infinitely high opinion of himself. "If I really wanted to," James said, "if I really wanted to be the scoring [champion] every single year -- every single year -- I could really do it. But it doesn't matter." Oh, I see. You could be the scoring champ if you wanted to, but you are too unselfish to make that a priority, okay. I’m not knocking James’ skills and he is undoubtedly the best player in the Association right now, but that doesn’t mean he could automatically be the scoring champ every year if he so chose. Sure, he’s on pace to claim his second scoring title after topping the league in 2007-08, but he is not alone at the top of the NBA scoring mountain. He has company in the form of a freaky, long-armed scoring machine named Kevin Durant. Durant, who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder, is about one-tenth of a point per game behind James and while he is not the all-around player that James is right now, Durant-ula’s scoring skills are amazing. He is a better shooter than James from 3-point range (35.7 percent to 34.4 percent) and a full 12 percent higher from the free-throw line. Durant is an inch taller and has a well-polished offensive game. In other words, he is every bit the scorer James is right now and the stat bear it out. I’m sure that he too could up his scoring, just like James, if he make a point of it at the expense of his team. I do commend James for all he does to help the Cavaliers win and they are far and away the best team in the NBA right now. Hard to argue with much about LeBron’s game, but this arrogant proclamation is one such thing. "It's not important to me at all. I mean right now our team is in a position to try to clinch (homecourt) throughout the whole playoffs," James said. "That's what position we're in right now. If we can do that, that will be more important than a scoring title. I mean, individual accolades take care of [themselves]." True is true, but just don’t tell me that you are so much better of a scorer than Durant is because we all know that isn’t true and isn’t likely to be any time soon………