M Brian Ladner's Sportswriter Profile

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M Brian Ladner

Joined about 1 year ago

31 articles written
820 comments posted
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M Brian's Fans (34)

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M Brian's Bio

I caught "NASCAR fever" after seeing my first live race in Vegas back in 2003. I am a fan of the incomparable Brothers Busch. Kurt was the hometown boy when I first picked a favorite, but it was his quote about his little brother being the best driver in the family that piqued my interest in Kyle. From the beginning, "Rowdy" may not have always won, he may not have always said or done "the right thing," and he will most likely never be voted "Most Popular Driver," but he has never let me down.

Since I've begun as a "syndicated writer" here at B/R, I've had articles or blurbs from them appear on websites including: jayski.com, cbssports.com, the Wall Street Journal (Digital Edition), Google News, Yahoo Buzz, ask.com, New York Daily News, National Public Radio Topics (topics.npr.org), sporttopix.com, NASCAR News Only, NASCAR Chatline, Motorsport Maniacs, Infield Parking, The Racing Daily, 164mph, and a whole host of others... Of course, many are sites that scrape stories from other sites, but that's still a lot more than I expected...

Within the past few months I have taken up go-kart racing. I am a member of four different kart tracks in the Inland Empire—two electric indoor karting places and two gas-powered karting tracks. I enjoy gas-powered karting the most and spend between two and ten hours a week practicing and/or running mini grand-prix and ironman races. I have a trophy and a medal from my home track—Fast Lap of California—and both have interesting stories behind how I came to receive them...

As for my life outside of racing, I have been programming for over 30 years and building, working on, teaching about, and surfing the net since 1990. I used it extensively for my research in grad school. I team-taught the first ever "Introduction to Computers" class at UCSD that focused primarily on the internet, where our motto was: "You don't have to know any programming to get in, and if you know any after the course is over, it's not our fault."

I have an M.S. and the only ever C. Phil. Degree granted by the UCSD Cognitive Science Department. The C. Phil. degree is no longer official - they sent a letter saying they didn't officially offer the degree, but not until after they had sent the diploma, so it's mine. I studied neural networks and computational neuroscience/theoretical neurobiology for my Master's and Ph.D. theses. I also have a B.A. from UCLA in History (History of Science Emphasis).

I have worked as the founder and head (WebOverlord) of the Web Systems IT Group at EarthLink Networks (1995-1997), technical lead and senior programmer for USWeb/CKS (1997-1999), founder and system administrator for Redgorilla.com (1999-2000), and technical director/consultant for Virtual Interactive (1997-2008). Within the past couple of years I have been a Part-time Guide for Mahalo.com, a search engine Quality Rater for Google, and system admin/architect consultant-on-call for Square-Enix and for SCB Distributors.

M Brian's Recent Articles

Kyle Busch Barely Misses Texas "Hat Trick"

Published 5 days ago
195 reads 9 comments

Déjà Vu All Over Again As Kyle Busch Wins Nationwide Race In Texas

Published 6 days ago
92 reads 8 comments

Kyle Busch Begins Another Attempt At First Weekend Trifecta At TMS

Published 7 days ago
82 reads 4 comments

Behind the Scenes with NASCAR's Weekend Workhorses

Published 17 days ago
167 reads 6 comments

See 27 more of M Brian's articles »

M Brian Writes About

M Brian Ladner commented on NASCAR and Chevy Giving New Opportunities To Fans
M Brian Ladner responded to a comment on Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Mark Martin: As the Wheel Turns in Texas
M Brian Ladner responded to a comment on Sam Hornish Has "My Head Down a Little Bit" After Wrecking Johnson
M Brian Ladner responded to a comment on Sam Hornish Has "My Head Down a Little Bit" After Wrecking Johnson
M Brian Ladner commented on Kyle Busch Barely Misses Texas "Hat Trick"
Kara Martin responded to a comment on The Bluest Eyes In Texas (Motor Speedway) Are Haunting Me Tonight
Mary Jo Buchanan responded to a comment on Heavy Hearts and Heroes Are Real Story at Texas Motor Speedway

The Short List What M Brian thinks about sport's most pressing questions

Favorite Athletes

Kyle "Rowdy" Busch, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Ichiro Suzuki
Favorite Sports Teams

Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motor Sports, UCLA Bruins, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco 49ers
All Time Sports Moment

Craven Edges Busch by 0.002 seconds at Darlington (2003)
Most Memorable Game Attended

UAW Daimler-Chrysler 400 (LVMS, 2003)
Most Unbreakable Sports Record

Most NASCAR Cup Wins - 200 (Richard Petty)
Ruth or Mays?

Ruth - The Tony Stewart of Baseball
Unitas or Montana?

Montana
Jordan or Russell?

Jordan
Gretzky or Orr?

Gretzky
Pele or Maradona?

Pele
Federer or Sampras?

Borg or Connors
Tiger or Nicklaus?

Tiger - The Kyle Busch of Golf
Petty or Earnhardt?

Yarborough
Schumacher or Senna?

Hamilton
Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, or Big East?

Pac 10

Bulletin Board (160) Post a note »

by al
about 20 hours ago

thank you..
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/289905-juan-pablo-montoya-are-the-words-sorry-juan-getting-old
by Kelsie
5 days ago

No offense taken! It's hard to add/subtract commas when it's not your own words, because they can definitely change the tone the writer was trying to provoke. Glad it helped you think through everything though! :)
by M Brian
5 days ago

no, that's not my sister, significant other, or even anyone i know in my profile picture; it's just another fan with great taste in drivers, hats, jackets, etc. that i ran into recently...
by Kevin
6 days ago

Hey I was just talking about in your quotations... nothing on you. By the way I love your articles. They read really well even for non-nascar fans like myself!
by al
12 days ago

thank you folks!!!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/282577-jimmie-johnson-was-he-unintentionally-protected-by-the-no-bump-rule?just_published=1
by al
12 days ago

thank you folks!!!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/282577-jimmie-johnson-was-he-unintentionally-protected-by-the-no-bump-rule?just_published=1
by Sal
13 days ago

After four months and three days of being a member of B/R, I just posted my 100th article.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/282206-dale-earnhardt-jr-is-back-at-the-house-that-he-and-his-dad-built
by Clark
15 days ago

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/281159-nascar-chase-top-five-driversthat-could-trick-at-talladega

Am I crazy?
by Kelly
18 days ago

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/279454-dave-rogers-named-as-kyle-buschs-new-crew-chief-starting-in-two-weeks

Kyle's getting a new CC
by al
19 days ago

Thank you
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/278623-juan-pablo-montoya-was-the-racer-his-fans-like-always-attacking?just_published=1
by al
20 days ago

Thank you...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/278336-bob-griese-stupidity-reigns-in-abcs-broadcast-booth
by Stefan
24 days ago

Hey, Brain. I just wanted to thank you for the fan-add. I appreciate it.
by Stefan
28 days ago

No problem, M Brian. I see your logic about the use of italics.

As for the rule about placing punctuation marks ourside or inside the quotation, I must say it's kind of a contradicting issue for me.

Apart from being taught to place them outside the quotes(if the quoted material is not a full sentence), I read a book which also states that is the right way to do it. But it also points out that this is one of the many diferences between the American use of English and British use of English. So, I guess the American ways are replacing the British ones when it comes to language.

The book that influenced me to make such changes is called "Improve your punctuation" and is written by Graham King and it's part of Collins series about English grammar.

Anyway, you are right about the B/R rules: They state that punctuation should be placed insde the quotation, so you were right to revert it.

Sorry for the inconvenience, Brian.
by al
about 1 month ago

thank you
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/267625-nascar-johnson-and-martin-are-within-tolerances-after-kansas
by Kelly
about 1 month ago

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/267017-will-teresa-earnhardt-win-the-sprint-cup-series-championship-by-default

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M Brian Ladner

M Brian's Fans (34)

M Brian's Lineup

Favorite Tags

Favorite Writers

M Brian's Bio

M Brian's Recent Articles

Kyle Busch Barely Misses Texas "Hat Trick"

Déjà Vu All Over Again As Kyle Busch Wins Nationwide Race In Texas

Kyle Busch Begins Another Attempt At First Weekend Trifecta At TMS

Behind the Scenes with NASCAR's Weekend Workhorses

M Brian Writes About

The Short List What M Brian thinks about sport's most pressing questions

Bulletin Board (160) Post a note »

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