"well, after diligent market research our studies showed ...

For me, it started with a copy of the Mind's Eye production of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings [In 1979 the US National Public Radio broadcast a radio dramatization of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It was produced by The Mind's Eye and has since been made available by several different companies.]
No visual but the entire thing is[so far] on youtube starting here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTledKaqoJ4&feature=PlayList&p=F1F2BBD4A7FB758B&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

I caught the series when it first came out near the end, during the last battle at the Gates of Morder.
I was disappointed when I realized what I had missed, so when it was released sometime after in it's entirety along with the Hobbit on tape I was ecstatic. I picked it up and listened to it several times. Let's say about ten times in the first year or two. Now with the Hobbit, at six tapes,and the other three books of the series at four tapes each, for a total of 18 tapes that's not a lot of play throughs when you think about it. Especially when compared to how often a music tape got played, and those probably harder what with rewinds and fast forwards. So when after about two years I noticed some wear on the tapes. Distortions, getting stuck etc.
Sadly by that time it was no longer available at your local book store so I had to research the production company (no small feat in the 1980's without an Internet to "Google" it)
I found the company and wrote them explaining my concern of the quality. They agreed that given how often it was played and in the conditions that so few play throughs should not have caused distress on the three or four tapes in the set that were in question, and they agreed to replace the entire set with no cost. I sent back my original copy and in a few weeks received the replacements. In my first play through I started noticing a few discrepancies. Being the geek I was (OK still am) I had pretty much memorized the entire set. Lines had been edited out. Sure they were not important ones but they were good ones. If memory serves one glaring loss was the humorous classic (no it won't be verbatim)

Sam: "Stop sneaking about Gollum"

Gollum "Sneaking!? SNEAKING?"

Frodo waking up "Good morning Gollum, what are you doing?"

Gollum in a huff "Sneakin'!"

It lost something. There are probably at least seven or eight incidences were whole lines were lifted out.

Being the dork I was, I called to complain. In time I was forwarded to a spokes person (this was before the advent of the modern customer servi-useless call center)
Who hit me with this bullshit line that would come to plague me in later years:

"well, after diligent market research our studies showed that the product was improved by these changes."

Improved? how in the fuck do you improve something by taking away from it? That was when my full disdain for that Borg like entity known as "corporate" began. And as it spawned the spin doctors (no not the band) and Customer servi-useless centers more and more money saving scams were foisted upon us in order to improve products.
The next to fall was Weavers Hot Wings. Now as a Hot Wing purist I know frozen wings are not the best, but these were pretty damned good. The best part for me was the added packet of hot sauce that came in every box. For me food isn't hot until my nose runs, my eyes water and my forehead sweats.
So this little packet of orange fire was crucial to my frozen hot wing experience, then one day I opened my box of wings and dumped it out..no packet of hot sauce. OK well mistakes happen so I took it back to the store got a new one and again..no hot sauce... a third time at a different store...no sauce...What the Fuck?
So I got the 800 number off the box as well as the address sent off a fiery letter and called customer servi-useless.

"Hey! I have gotten three boxes of your hot wings and the packet of hot sauce was missing"

you know what the reply was right?

"well, after diligent market research our studies showed that the product was improved by these changes."

arghhhh!

"sorry about any inconvenience. so here let us send you a free coupon for a replacement pack of Hot Wings."

Now I buy bottles of hot sauce and also pilfer those packets of hot sauce they have at Chinese restaurants, but they are not as good as the original sauce Weavers had.

Now while not a loss but still an annoyance is MacDonald's (hey they do have decent coffee) new policy to save me time and effort by adding cream and sugar to my coffee for me. Dunkin Donuts also has this irritating policy.
NO! Don't add my cream and sugar for me, you can't, you never get it right. It's an Art. Like Sirhan Sirhan's brainwashing conspiracy, I use the coffee lady's "trigger" phrase "lots of cream, lots of sugar."

(also said by Pulp Fiction's Mr Wolf.)

They still never add enough...so another call, another letter...

you know what's coming right?

"well, after diligent market research our studies showed that the product was improved by these changes."

I guess that Madison Avenue truly believes in the old adage "Less is more"
or they are more likely money hungry whores who realize the full statement is
"Less quantity at same price is more money for us"

This blog was to be a lot longer but...."after diligent market research our studies showed that the product was improved by these changes."

The Cult of $cientology ?? The Power of Anonymous

Those who know me and read my face book postings will see that I've changed my profile photo to "I Support Anonymous"

One person commented the famous Fight Club "First two rules" ideology.
I replied supporting isn't indicative of joining or showing active interest in joining.
I also noted that in fact, other then peaceful protest and education of the misuses of law and tax regulations as well as SS/ Gestapo like tactics used by David Miscavages merry little band, there are no "rules' in anonymous.

They are are a gathering of like minded individuals who want to stop what they see as a great mis-justice.

Just do a web search on Ronnie's made up religion (Hell he even has been RECORDED saying as much) as well as looking up Anonymous. There are a wealth of videos on youtube. Watch. learn educate yourself.

But I'd look no further then their favorite media puppet Tommy Cruise. There is a series of videos produced by the cult that says much....

and here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2_rZIgrQI

Does that look like a sane person?

Tommy is so brainwashed.

Yes it gets hard, because we value so much the freedoms ensured by the Constitution, especially with free speech, and religion. But also separation of church and state.
Ronnie's little social and banking experiment enjoys a tax exemption status unlike any other American based religion.
It's damn right scary

I'm not here to argue the validity of religion, but the flagrant abuse of that freedom.
Be a theist, be an atheist, an agnostic, be an ignostic hell believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. But LET US NOT fall prey to dangerous individuals and collectives who hide in the Constitution, because it may be soon that Tom's funny little rant sounds less humorous and starts to sound more like this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGhdX1SI3KY

They are Anonymous
They are legion
They do not forgive
They do not forget
Expect them

Huulk verses....( extracted from a conversation on Hulk v Spider-Man

yes the short answer is Hulk. But as you are doing a report on the topic, I figured you'd rather have opinions that support the thesis.
I would say that your best "answer" will have to be multi-layered, answering the noted expectations of various scenarios, or the less intelligent simple discourse, chiseled down to a simplistic "blow for blow"
Also is a win to the death of either combatant? This falls outside marvels commercial reasoning, because eventually a killed character can be regenerated and does that negate the win?
This simple idea, I fear, would lend less credibility to your argument and you may find that as you address each scenario you may come with multiple valid deductions as in.. pound for pound, out smarted, draw, run away and how does each count? We established fights that end in escapes, reverting to Banner or draws become invalid to the point.
So..
Hulk v Galactis: Galactis would simply consume him, Lose
v Silver Surfer would blast him with the power cosmic, Lose
v Spidy would out maneuver but eventually run ( draw [invalid]) or tire again invalid
v Superman short term Supes may win or draw, long term Supes tires Hulk wins
Dr. Strange magic could provide many outcomes, so a mixed response, that I won't get into...but banished to another dimension? probably a draw by our logic. so invalid
v Wolverine. draw due to his rapid healing (Wolv was torn in half by Hulk so that was a "win" but he revived and healed so was it a win? And it's been shown Adamantium can cut Hulk, given speed and time Wolverine may in time mortally wound Hulk, possible decapitation so lose
v Ghost Rider again magic, does it count? His penance stare would possibly incapacitate Hulk, most likely to a reversion so invalid.
v Phoenix/ dark Phoenix... Suffocation via telepathy? revert invalid Stop his heart? lose
Sue Storm: suffocation via force field to death? again probably revert invalid
v Magnito assuming aside from gamma enhancement Hulk maintains iron in his blood or any metallic manipulation (his control is at the atomic level) so small amounts of metals could be inserted to cause death Lose
Kitty Pride (Shadow Kat) Phase Hulk inside a solid? death... lose

I could go on... it is up to you how you wish to proceed but these make interesting points worth exploring.

Define your criteria for a win, or a what type of face off you are exploring

Gods am I this much of a geek to give it this much consideration?

Dog gone

well, for those following Tom Hayes blog he's now got teh dog he was thinking of getting ( http://oancitizen.blogspot.com/2010/05/were-thinking-of-getting-dog.html )
from us. I hope it is a good fit though he seems as thrilled about getting him as I was.
Not that we gave his family a defective dog (neurotic maybe but who isn't these days?)
We inherited the wee beast from my mother-in-law when she passed last November/December.
KC is a small tan and was a very very fat poodle . Though I hear that small breeds of poodles are not technically a poodle but a separate breed. He was fat because my M-I-L
over fed him and fed him people food. Hell she'd get a whole chicken roasted at Giant then give him half..HALF.
That dog didn't walk, hell it didn't even waddle it rolled.
Any way we took over care and feeding and I wasn't happy. For me a dog isn't a dog unless it weighs 30lbs or more ( I made allowances for the mutt terriers my kids got) but if I can put a tooth pick in it and feed it to a real dog like a rottie, then it ain't a dog.
Any way, the two terriers (sisters) were brutal to it. We tried to keep them from killing the poor thing, but as much as I didn't like it, he didn't deserve that bullying.
So hopefully Tom, Megan and their daughter will give KC a new home and he'll be happier.
Because if they reurn him, I'm cleaning out teh wok and trying a new General Tso recipe I found.

so blogging, does anyone care?

I have no idea how my limited attention span will fare with this so it will be interesting to see who thinks my musings worth effort.
I'm creeping up on 50 and since i don't have a Hummer, Corvette or Harley (at least no Harley yet) what will I do to cope with my mid life crisis? For now ramble on here and see if my musings stir any deep thoughts from my psyche and draw up any dark un-namable creatures spawned in those dark cyclopeon depths that will writhe, scream and shrivel in the sunlight, most likely exploding from the drastic changes in pressure.
It's a dark and bizarre place in my mind so I have no idea what will come tumbling out. Some horde of Lovecraftian horrors or just tedious musings of a middle aged man trying to hold on to his virility.
That is if I even have the motivation to keep up with this.