147 thoughts on “January 17, 2012: Viewers Like You”

    1. Adding several every leap year would make more sense, or every few leap years. Always add it on leap day.

            1. 11.4 was last season. (Apparently I was too quick on the trigger on this comment for WP's taste.)

            1. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

              (I mentioned to Sean in person that I pronounce it something between "fit-lit" and "fut-lut." The schwa is what I need here, but I don't know how to type a schwa and it's not important enough to find out)

    1. We got down to the mid-20s last night for an extended period (most of the night). I fear for my oranges.

      1. We're having 25˚ nights with 78˚ days on the west side which is a bit of a shock to my system.

      1. My co-workers in Seattle are all working from home to avoid the driving conditions. People in Fargo brag about our ability to handle tough driving conditions, but driving in Seattle is just a little different than driving in Fargo.

        1. Today in Seattle itself is actually not a problem. No precip to speak of and the temp is around 34-35. Not bad. Tomorrow's forecast keeps getting downgraded (now Cliff Mass is saying 2-5 inches tomorrow), but really anything over a couple of inches means I'm going to stay home. If Seattle had as much equipment to move snow as Fargo does, then it'd be a different story.

          The other problem here is that it's extremely rare to have snow when it's not near freezing, which usually means there is ice under the snow.

          Also, can we get a WGOM consensus on what black ice is? Growing up, I always thought of black ice as ice which formed from auto exhaust when it got so cold that the exhaust could freeze straight to the road. Such ice would at times actually be black (or at least dark colored) not because the road beneath it was dark, but from misc. crap in the exhaust. Around here people talk a lot about black ice, but really they are just referring to transparent ice on dark road surfaces.

            1. I'm with Mags on the definition- black ice is non-white ice, so drivers can't see it on the road. Same as what Boss' link describes it as.

              1. It just seems to make so much more sense to me that white ice would be called white ice and clear ice would just be ice, or at least clear ice and not black ice, when the ice itself is not at all black.

            2. I didn't find that definitive because it includes both definitions of the term and I feel grumpy about clear ice being referred to as black ice. If it is really that widespread a convention, I guess I'll accept it, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

              1. the "black" in "black ice", as stated in the Repository piece, is really all about the blacktop underneath.

                I once did a 360 across the highway into the opposite ditch, with my parents in the car, returning from visiting the grandparents in Nebraska. That was my introduction to black ice. I was 16 and a half. I still remember my dad going fetal in the passenger seat next to me as we spun around, seemingly in slow motion.

                Cheapest and most powerful lesson on respecting the road I ever got.

                1. Right, which is why I support the term blacktop. The blacktop is black. The ice is clear. Even invisible ice would be a better term. I know I'm losing this argument, but I hate the sloppiness in terminology here. Isn't clear ice scarier than black ice?

                  1. Yes. Black ice has impurities in it plus can be seen and thus avoided. Invisible ice is the scary stuff. After ice-nine that is.

  5. Since my wife turned to the book of faces for inquiries, I'll throw it here...

    Anyone have suggestions on girl names? We've got 23 days (at most) to pick one.
    First three kids are named: Cora, Henry and Alice. Our last name looks like Boesch but starts with an "R" and is pronounced "Resh".
    Middle name will probably be long and honor family. (I'm thinking "Bernadine", which would honor three of her great-grandmothers: Berneatta Bernelda, Bernice, and Geraldine.)

    I'd prefer to avoid the same first initial as the other three (because I abbreviate them C, H, and A everywhere).
    We'd also prefer the name to be a less-frequently used name among the current cohort.

    I've got some names my wife doesn't like: Edith, Gertrude
    She's got some I don't like: Stella

    Thanks for any advice.

    1. Grace is a favorite of mine, but I fear about how it sounds with your surname. Rose or Roisin is my other favorite, but again the surname.

      1. Grace is all over the place these days. I like Patricia. Virginia is a cool name, although one I would never use because the lady across the street from my mother has it and that would be like slapping mom in the face.

        1. Thanks guys. My notes:

          Rose: Definitely doesn't work with my last name, unless she quickly makes a friend named "Snow Wyeth".

          Roisin: If I don't know how to pronounce it, I'm not going to pick it. Also, we're basically 0% Celtic, so I'd feel as comfortable with one of those names as I would with a Latin or Slavic name.

          Grace: has been in the top 20 names since 2000.

          Virginia: my aunt Ginny's full name.

          Patricia: Hmmm. I dig the nickname Patsy. I'll see what my wife thinks. She has a cousin Patrick, but her side seems less concerned about using a name someone else in the family has already used.

          Also, SBG, I really like your daughter's name. I've been pushing that but getting no traction with my wife.

          1. Roisin - ROW-sheen - Rose in Gaelic. I really like it, but the pronunciation thing probably prevents me from using (if I ever have a daughter that is)

    2. (Posted to the wrong place)

      Some names Moss likes:

      Greta/Margretta or Gretchen
      Sophia
      Eleanor
      Evelyn
      Ingrid
      Julia
      Josephine
      Madeline
      Laura/Laurel

      Or you could find a "P" name and then it's "PBR". Patricia, Penelope...

      1. Thanks Moss.
        Comments on your list:

        Variations on Margaret are in the list.
        Josephine is Alice's middle name.
        Laura rhymes with Cora, and Laurel and Eleanor (which nicks to Nora), are too close for me as well.
        To be honest, the rest of your list doesn't create strong feelings in me either way. If my wife loved one, I could go along with it, but I don't think I'll fight for one. (My wife will hate Ingrid though.)

    4. My wife and I were really close to going with Beatrice Irene for ours, but have pretty much decided on Odelia Grace, due to family considerations. I've always been a fan of Madeline (we sarcastically named out GPS Madeline Amelia Pennington, though, so we probably won't ever use it for our kids...)

      2. I've brought up Beatrice and Irene. Wife likes neither, although she thought having a "Bea" would be cute.
        Odelia seems too... ornate with the three two-syllable kids we have. I don't know what my wife would think, as she's vetoed Delia, I'll run it past her tomorrow.

    5. Check your book of faces; I sent you the list my wife and I were working from for ours. Just don't tell her I gave it to you!

    7. i don't have any great suggestions, but i felt that it'd be much easier to name a girl, or at least come up with more suggestions. i don't know what the word is, but it seems to me that one can get a little more "creative" with girls' names. when we were trying to come up with Pete's name, we kept coming up with girl names that we liked, but could hardly find any boys' name that made it past the first impression.

      1. My wife and I had a ton of boy names picked and ready before GRZ was born and of course, we haven't had to use them. Girls name have been more of a struggle for us, but we're doing okay in that department now, at least for one more kid.

      2. I feel like it's trickier with three kids already. If #4 is the last here, and her name doesn't fit, she might appear to be an appendix.
        I'm coming across names that I would have liked, but aren't the siblings of C, H, and A.

        Like Juniper. Can be June or Juni. Saint's name (although a man). Can be hippie.
        Could've been C's sister, but not with H & A's names in there. Might give it another push anyways.

        I've got a lot of boys names I'd like to use, but right now it's easy because my wife and I don't have to argue over them seriously. She's strongly against Oscar (which was my first pick for H), or Otto, or some of the others I have barely considered because we're looking for a girl's name.

    8. I have a Cora!

      (I also have an Ava and Emma, but those names are pretty used at this point.)

      My wife loved Molly. I have a friend that went with Gertrude/Gertie. I have nothing more to add. 🙂

      1. Amelia's a great name. Moss left it off because of the "A" conflict, but it's a great one.

        Molly's a good one too.

        Moss foolishly left off Moss' absolute favorite girl's name: Rebecca

    11. No specific suggestions, but I do suggest that it be short, easy to spell, and easy to pronounce. It will save her a lot of time later.

      1. I have to laugh a bit at that since my first name is hard to spell (a common name with an uncommon spelling) and my last name is either hard to pronounce or hard to spend depending on whether you have to write it when you hear it or read it off a piece of paper. It's a hassle, but it's good for your character. At least that's what I tell myself. 🙂

        1. i've gone through the exact same thing. first name is uncommon spelling of common name (same with the middle name), and the last name, though easy enough to pronounce, has about 3 spelling pitfalls that everyone usually hits at least one of. i agree that it's a character building experience, so naturally i did the exact same thing to the boy. probably a little worse than mine, actually.

        2. Sour Cream's name is rare to the point that it barely exists, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

          Skim's name is common, but not necessarily among white folks (Latinos have no difficulty pronouncing it). I wouldn't trade hers for anything, either. She knows people misspell her name, but doesn't care.

      2. My daughter's name is routinely mispronounced. That's an "s" not a "z", people! I never saw that coming, but I guess that the Z sound is more common, at least in Europe. My own brother repeatedly mispronounces her name. Sigh.

        1. my first and last names are short, easy to spell and easy to pronounce. So, of course, my family name is regularly mispronounced and my given name is frequently misspelled (or I don't know how to take a compliment).

          1. There's nothing worse than people who mispronounce my first name. For some reason, they give the "w" a "b" sound.

              1. I use that nickname on my friends named William occasionally. Makes as much sense as Bill does.

        2. Stick, just be grateful they don't start calling her "Weezie" or some other nickname you might despise.

          Good night, for the first 15 years of Moss' life, people called me "Seen."

          1. I don't get why people do that. Thankfully, it was rare for me.

            What amuses me is that people from some Asian countries* can't pronounce the beginning sound and instead opt for "Saan". I totally missed it the first time I heard it. I realized I'm dependent on that sound to recognize my name being said.

            * I don't know which. Korea maybe?

      3. Well, with our last name and the way it's pronounced, she'll get used to correcting people no matter what her first name is.
        I don't think we'll be using any alternate spellings though.

      1. I don't have a Scandanavian penchant, but that one's great, and I just wrote it down.
        I don't think it sounds particularly Scand.
        My favorite Swedish singer is Marit Bergman, so EAR may just think I'm trying to name baby after her.

              1. It was more the name than the character for her.

                Although I'll say the character got a little screwed...

                Spoiler SelectShow

      2. Every time I see that name I think of the song "Swoon Units" by the Digable Planets.
        I don't want to say, "What's happenin' Butterfly, what's happenin'?" every time I see the girl.

    1. Heh, that sucks. Mine wasn't nearly as bad. I left the house at about 6:15 and got to Middleton by about 7:10, so we were only delayed about 10 minutes, and that was due to getting behind a plow on both the Interstate and the Beltline. Those roads were in pretty good shape. Now, my co-worker said he was fortunate to travel down University at 10 mph, but that was bit later in the morning. Thursday evening, on the other hand, whoo boy. took me 1.5 hours to get from Middleton to McFarland. Side roads were completely untouched by the plows despite a slow, steady snow fall.

      I thought the new/old mayor was supposed to improve this sort of thing? Its like we've regressed back to Schumacher's first couple of years in charge.

      1. She said it was just ridiculous on Thursday, which I couldn't believe because, like you said, they'd had a slow, steady fall afternoon to plow well in advance of the evening commute.

        1. My wife had to drive in that day because I couldn't take her home before curling, but I reassured her in the morning that the roads should be find due to the slow snowfall. Man did I look like a jerk later on. Fortunately, she was able to leave early because of the snow, so she didn't have to deal with anything too horrible.

      1. Generally, although I'll try to drive it later today and again tomorrow just so that it's getting started and warmed up occasionally. The real challenge will be Thursday, I think. I haven't tested it's starting abilities in really cold weather yet.

      1. I never thought I'd be the kind of guy who puts a comic strip on his syllabus, but I'm sorely tempted to include "You've taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system." this semester.

    2. i love calvin and hobbes so freaking much. i've got the complete collection, and i've gone through it several times. what i love about C&H is every time i go through it, i notice a different angle that's always been there that i missed beforehand. i first read it as it was coming out because it was silly and the drawings were funny. then, is i started to get more interested in science i noticed a lot of the anthropological and archaeological jokes. then, picked up on more of the political discourse and social commentary (like consumerism, environmental issues, instant gratification, etc). then i noticed how much it said about childhood. the last time i went through it, and i'd never thought much of it before, but i noticed how much the strip has to say about parenthood as well.

      a close pair of friends had a baby boy last january that they named calvin. i wasn't planning on naming Pete "calvin", but i was a little upset that i wouldn't be able to at least consider it.

      what an amazing strip.

      1. If it is possible for great art to be created for the funny pages, much of C&H is great art.

  8. oof (twitter)

    jonmorosi Jon Morosi
    Disastrous news for the #Tigers: Victor Martinez sustains torn ACL in left knee, likely lost for the 2012 season.

  9. Caldwell out in Indy. Will Peyton return? He's due $28 million in March. I say that the Colts will cut him.

    1. Wow. What is the story on Caldwell? It's his fault that one of the best QBs ever to play the game misses the season? Or that there was no Plan B ready in case he did?

      1. He seemed totally overmatched as a head coach, with or without Manning on board. That's covered up with Peyton basically running the entire offense himself.

        Signing Peyton to that enormous contract without a clean bill of health was incredibly, incredibly stupid.

        1. Overmatched? Really?

          In 2009, his first year as head coach, they were 14-2 and lost the Super Bowl. Last year, they were 10-6, finishing 4th in the NFL in scoring and offensive yards, despite having no running game (Joseph Addai missed half the season with injuries). This season, well, they started Kerry Collins three times. That tells you how bad things were at QB. They dropped to 28th in scoring and 30th in yards. Addai played only 12 games and Dallas Clark played only 11.

          Going from Peyton Manning to inexperienced Painter or Orlovsky, or ancient Collins, would make even the best coach look overmatched, I think.

          New GM Ryan Grigson is only 39. This looks like a housecleaning. Manning got hurt, the team has gotten old. Looks to me like the window of opportunity has closed and it is time to rebuild from the ground up.

          1. I was never impressed with Caldwell. I don't think he had much to work with this year, but from my vantage point he didn't seem to do anything to motivate the team, either. I think the scorched earth rebuild is the main reason for letting him go, however.

          2. This seems like one of those situations where maybe the owners didn't really love Caldwell in the first place and the 2-14 season is an easy excuse to clean house and start fresh.

          3. I guess what I'm saying is that you or I probably could've "coached" the Manning-led Colts to double digit victories. Manning's presence made him look a hell of a lot better than he was. Manning's absence probably made him look a bit worse than his actual talent level, but I don't think he had much at all to do with their success.

            1. Yea, it is really hard to tell what his value-added has been. But he was Tony Dungy's QB coach their last year in Tampa, and "Assistant Head Coach/QBs" for seven seasons prior to Dungy's retirement. I'd like to think that Dungy is a pretty astute judge of character and ability.

              Here is an interesting take on Caldwell from the 2009-10 season.

  10. Perkins and Liriano sign 1-year deals to avoid arbitration. Casilla and Twins file for arbitration but are pretty close in filings, so they most likely will avoid it.

  12. Here was an interesting article about podcasting that features quotes from Gleeman about his podcasting experience. I've been kicking a WGOM Radio reboot around in my head for awhile. I was thinking more of a round-table type thing rather than just the one-man show that SBG used to put out. Would people be up for being participants?

    1. Radio takes up almost no bandwidth, so it could be done live via wgom.org. If the service chosen doesn't already have a live option.

        1. He only did a few installments, too, so it ended fairly quickly. I always kind of liked the idea, though, and I'd be interested in participating if I'm able to bring anything worthwhile to the table.

    3. Just did a test with Audacity and a call to the Skype test call. Worked fine. Gotta tune the levels, but I should be able to record a conference call.

    4. This sounds like an absolute hoot, Mags. I would love to participate. I'd been pondering something similar for a while, but didn't think there'd be enough interest.

      You know, if Citizens were interested, this would be an interesting way of updating BKAC and reviving Pepper!.

  13. I completely spaced the EEE for today. My bad. A quick and dirty LTE with some updates

    Scores

    Villa 1 - 1 Everton
    Fulham 1 - 3 Blackburn Rovers (Ed: Ugghhhh)
    Chelsea 1 - 0 Sunderland
    Spurs 1 - 1 Wolves
    Spurs 2 - 0 Everton (Wednesday)

    Prediction Contest

    Place Player Points
    1 Homer Dome 20
    2 Freealonzo 17
    3 The Dread Pirate 13
    4 DK 13
    5 Buffalo 12
    6 MagUidhir 12
    7 Daneeka's Ghost 11
    8 Spookymilk 10
    9 AMR 7
    10 davidwatts 4

  14. On the Grill At the Pub.

    ManchVegas delivers with the Strange Brew tavern. Nice selection of New England micro-brews, plus delish fish tacos.

    From their beer menu: You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Frank Zappa

    1. I approve of fish tacos. The beer list is ... acceptable. I did not know Redhook ESB had a brewery in New Hampshire.

      1. Red Hook isn't a frilly or standout brand, but man, their beer tour is a little too generous. I left the thing pretty loaded, as did most everyone else.

    1. tonight is the first time I am watching this show (I saw a billion ads for it, so I decided to give it a look). It hope the pace kind of picks up

          2. Spoiler SelectShow
              1. Spoiler SelectShow

Comments are closed.