I think it's because I forgot it was a game night and didn't watch.
118 thoughts on “November 28, 2012: Losing Streak Over”
Has anyone been following the Little Falls murders? It sounds like it is straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.
I got a text from my a friend (let's call him A) a few weeks ago asking about a person's right to shoot an intruder to their home. I told him to look up the Castle Doctrine because I didn't feel like explaining all the nuances. Looks like he's now going to get a full education on the topic unfortunately.
The reason he texted me is that we have another friend from high school (let's call him B) who pretty much at all times is carrying a concealed weapon. A and B were deer hunting that weekend up north and somehow got into the discussion. B said he would shoot any and all intruders into his home because "I have a wife and three kids." A responded by pointing out that he (in various drunken stupors in the past), had accidentally broken into a couple of homes thinking it was a friend's house only to be in the wrong place (and he has been arrested and dealt with the legal ramifications of his drunken actions). B's response was "you're lucky it wasn't my house, or you would be dead."
I really hope B is following the news (even if he's highly offended about the state of the law) just to see that he could theoretically be charged with murder when push comes to shove if he gets a little trigger-happy.
there was also a recent story about the guy who shot and killed an "intruder", who turned out to be his live-in girlfriend.
Defending your castle is one thing. Being a moron who shoots first and asks questions later is another.
Wow. Every response I've typed out automatically ends up kicking the forbidden zone square in the nuts.
"The forbidden zone" is what I call my nuts!
Then let me have my chuck taylor back.
No.
[I]n various drunken stupors in the past), had accidentally broken into a couple of homes thinking it was a friend's house only to be in the wrong place (and he has been arrested and dealt with the legal ramifications of his drunken actions).
My brother did this exact thing last year. The homeowner felt he had to defend himself, but only went so far as forcing my drunk & confused brother back out the front door. He lost a job opportunity and is still dealing with the legal ramifications, but he's not dead and has stopped drinking alcohol. We're all really thankful for that, and in retrospect, that the homeowner wasn't armed.
Agreed. I probably shouldn't be, but I've been surprised that this case has even been considered controversial. It is just full of what my old crim law prof would call "bad facts" for the defense.
"bad facts".
Well put.
You mean executing a guy that you already shot isn't self defense?
and a woman.
For example.
But she laughed. She was clearly heading right for him.
Right. Because people who have been shot usually laugh, as opposed to making other involuntary sounds that never ever sound like laughter.
People want to pin their political beliefs on this thing - whatever, it's what people do. But that, the waiting a day, etc. - this guy just isn't right.
Agree. This is an unusual case, and treating it as pro or con for any particular belief is likely unwise.
Well stated, both of you.
I think we've done a pretty good job of tiptoeing on the line here.
The guy used to work for the US state department. He has traveled the world. He has been described as really smart. CIA?
The comment section of the news story I read makes me fear my country.
I've had a problem with a persistent trespasser. Our lot lies between a residential street and the Coon Rapids Dam Bike Trail. (I know that freealonzo has biked on it.)
When we first moved in, just about everyone and their grandmother used the yard as public access to the trail. Teenagers parked on the street in front of our house and walked straight back to go fishing in the river. The layout of the yard also requires them to walk within 5 feet of bottom of our deck stairs. (Or, if they go around the other side, within ten feet of the backdoor to our garage.)
My wife homeschools our school-aged children and also lets them run around the yard as recess or all day during the summer. Having strangers regularly walk through our yard, and close to our structure has troubled her greatly. We’re not interested in fencing the whole yard.
Last year, we placed a pair of lawn chairs along the one mowed path from our house to the trail (there’s garden and prairie grasses the rest of the way). This and expressing to a few repeaters that it was private property curtailed about 70% of the trespassers.
This summer, we added a small decorative fence with a gate across the one mowed path from our house to the trail, which seemed to stop almost all of the remaining trespassers. But once it was cold enough that my kids weren’t going outside every day, EAR noticed that the gate was being opened, and left open. Almost every night. I tightened the latch and it still happened. We’d wake up early and try to watch from windows, but we never caught the culprit. I once waited in the yard from 6am to 7am and no one came.
EAR bought “POSTED: No Trespassing” signs and I punched holes in them and tied ropes through them so that they’d drape over the spikes on the gate and require anyone unlatching the gate to lift them up. The next morning, the gate was open and the signs were on the ground. EAR called the police. Then Thanksgiving weekend happened and the gate wasn’t disturbed. Yesterday morning it was open and the sign was moved to the side on the gate.
Yesterday afternoon, EAR spent more than $200 on an infrared “Trail Cam” so we can document what the heck’s going on. Nothing happened last night. Just don’t let this bastard see it and steal it.
Point being:
I’m not going to resort to violence, and I haven’t read any of the details about the case, but right now my starting point is going to be sympathetic to the homeowner.
My dad has one of those infrared trail cams, trained on a spot where he leaves food scraps for the local fox. He gets a lot of entertainment out of catching shots of foxes, deer, etc. (the folks live Up North)
Gophers go 3-1 against Duke, Memphis, Stanford and Florida State, all away from Williams Arena and in six days. Very impressive. Of course, Tubby's teams have been impressive in November before. The Big Ten looks to be killer this year. Indiana dismantled No. 14 North Carolina last night and Michigan beat No. 18 NC State. Ohio State plays Duke tonight.
Maybe Reusse should have accepted the bribe not to give out the award this year?
Country Jer waz robbed.
Luckily for Reusse, Country Jer wasn't home and armed at the time.
IU kicking ass is almost enough to get me watching college sports.
I didn't know they were ranked #1 until last night. ND is good at football, IU is good at basketball, and everyone has mustaches. It's the 80s again!
Fulham-Chelsea on this afternoon in midweek action - 2:45 Eastern/1:45 Central.
Argh...that's no good for me. I guess I'll just have to remember the Wolves game tonight.
Jesus. Another 0-0 draw. This was a team that was scoring 2-3 goals a game 6 weeks ago. Thankfully this November of suck is done, does turning the calendar over bring a better effort?
November of suck? Like giving away free points the way Everton did recently (today, notwithstanding?)?
I was not aware of it until yesterday but there is already a 15-mile stretch of UP track (near Peoria?) that is now rated for a triple digit max speed for passenger service. Looks like there is actually progress on an Amtrak Chicago/StL high-speed upgrade. Nothing like Europe or Japan, but certainly like East Coast's Acela service.
People wonder why US can't have (ultra) high speed passenger trains like Japan and Europe has, but they don't realize the scale differences: urban centers in those locations are much closer together. When high speed rail infrastructure costs $XX million/mile to build, longer distances are prohibitive.
We just need 1.5 billion more people!
That just might do the trick!
You are singing to my choir, Rhu Ru. unfortunately, I largely have to put my choir on "mute" at work.
also worth mentioning is that your peeps (RRs, rather than the gubmint) owns the right-of-way and track in most cases. It is hard to run fast(er) passenger service when the number one priority usage of the track is slower-moving freight (not an indictment of the RRs, btw, just a statement o' fact).
WRONG! Freight RR's must give precedence to passenger trains. It's not easily done on busy routes, though. Even though the main usage of the track is freight, that doesn't make it the priority usage.
True, class 1 RR's would prefer not to share their track, but they have to. The Railroad Passenger Service Act of 1970 grants Amtrak priority access to freight railroads' rights-of-ways.
WRONG! Freight RR's must give precedence to passenger trains. It's not easily done on busy routes, though.
I stand technically corrected. But I can tell you that my conversations with industry and policy folks strongly indicate that the RRs are, umm, unenthusiastic, about working with passenger services in many cases.
LIke I said, class 1 RR's would prefer not to share their track. There's no questioning that.
I remember when I lived in LA in the 80's, they were looking into high speed rail there. I thought "cool! High speed trains from LA - SF!" Nope, the first route they would have built was LA - Las Vegas. Of course.
I feel like we are so far behind on the infrastructure that it's mostly pipedream. But a regional high-speed rail system based around a Chicago hub would be awesome. Most of those trips would be comparable to European train travel.
yeah, I think regional can happen, and it'll be like Acela and maybe 150mph max speeds -- nowhere near the bullet train speeds, but still doable.
Everyone is super excited about high-speed rail from chicago to milwaukee....
Cubs fans?
wasn't there something about high-speed rail from chicago to minneapolis? i wonder what ever became of that...
yeah, that's part of the mix, too
[forbidden zone]
Seven seconds or less! 77 points in a game where the Lakers got to the line 43 times. L.O.L.
between the Jets and the Lakers, ESPN show put its efforts hypercovering some awful teams
Dwight Howard 3 of 12. When I was 13 my free throw percentage was better than that.
Howard is shooting .595 from the field and .478 from the line. That's Shaqtastic. Since 2006-07, Howard is shooting .592 from the field and .576 from the line.
Maybe he should request a defender stand in front of him on free throws?
Kobe with 40 points on 12-28 shooting and 10 TOs. Very efficient.
And 10 rebounds. A triple-double!
also heard recently on NPR: the average age of the Rolling Stones is higher than the average age of the Supreme Court justices.
[keanureeves.jpg]
Brian Jones is still 27.
Hey Bossman, what's your preferred email?
gmail! stickandballguy
Will you ever use the SBG facebook account again?
I'd like to unfriend b/c every time i type And, it wants to tag you.
doubtful. go ahead and unfriend.
Don't take it personally.
Rather than save this for movie day - since I don't have that kind of patience - let me say that Moonrise Kingdom was fan-freaking-tastic. It'll take a few more viewings for me to know if it competes with The Royal Tenenbaums for my favorite Wes Anderson film, but that's incredibly high praise because Tenenbaums is one of my favorite 25 movies (if not higher... haven't thought about it for a while... maybe I will on movie day!).
Died Tragically Rescuing His Family From The Wreckage Of A Destroyed Sinking Battleship
Love it.
I got to see a movie sunday! Skyfall with the Boy.
I won't review, per se (there were explosions a plenty; Bardem was a very good villain; the Dame was on her game, like always; the crowd cheered when the classic auto was revealed; a good time was had by all).
But I will weigh in on the theme song. I very much wanted to like it, but it fell short for me. Where would you rate it in the Bond song pantheon?
There are some pretty good ones on the list. "Live and Let Die" is probably my favorite, but "From Russia, With Love," "Diamonds are Forever," and "You Only Live Twice" are up there.
Bond songs all fial because of vocals. My faves though are "Live and Let Die" and "Living Daylights"
yeah, what you said. I like my soundtracks vocal-free
The list you linked to seems to have it at a pretty good spot. I thought 'Skyfall' fit well with the credits sequence, though I'm not sure how much I like it as a standalone song.
I liked it well enough. It screams "Bond song" to me, so it meets the biggest criteria.
"Goldfinger" is my favorite.
"The World Is Not Enough" isn't great as a Bond song, but I like it as a stand alone.
Former Twins Rondell White and Jeff Cirillo are on the HOF Ballot!
If writers plan this out right and everyone votes for ten, they could theoretically admit thirteen this year.
Or zero and next year the ballot's even more bloated.
Bonds, Clemens, Piazza, Bagwell, Lofton, Edgar, Trammell, Larry Walker, McGuire
Plus there's Jack Morris, Lee Smith, and Tim Raines, who got more than 65% of the needed vote last year.
This will be a fun ballot. If the BBWAA punts most of them to next year, the ballot is going to get incredibly crowded.
Poll time!
Todd Walker too!
Weekly masochism report: I listened to Gleeman and the Geek's latest podcast in its entirety this AM. Last week, I stopped after ten minutes, but hey, I was in the car for four hours today.
I listen for Aaron's baseball analysis. That is the only reason I listen. John's analysis, I can do without as I have stated before. But, I think that John can perform a useful service and that is to reel Aaron in when he goes into the creepy descriptions of himself. I like to hear what Aaron says on the Twins, but good God in heaven, I do NOT want to hear that if he worked in a position of power, he would be subjected to a series of sexual harassment suits. Aaron, you are smart enough to hook on somewhere bigger than where you are now. However, making such proclamations in a public forum will not help you. John, I don't care about all the non-baseball crap you prattle on about (seriously, this podcast could be about half the length that it is), and honestly, your baseball takes seem silly when compared to Aaron's, but please, please, do not let Aaron say things that could damage whatever long-term career prospects he might have.
I've considered unfollowing him on twitter recently. At least for the offseason. The baseball-to-not-baseball ratio is getting past my tipping point. I also haven't listened to the podcast in a month or so. I guess for the same reasons.
I don't follow his Facebook links anymore; using TinyURL just masked that they're links to G&tG, and I'm one of those people who foolishly thought "presses" weren't used in the production of podcasts.
I cant listen to podcasts. I tried, but boredom set in about 5 minutes in.
But everyone has got one these days, I suppose I got to get used to it.
No, you don't. I can't handle podcasts, and don't see them taking the place of music on my stereo or iPod anytime soon.
The podcasts we did here make up the majority of the podcasts I have ever listened to.
What nibbish said. I'm hardly a Luddite and I have never listened to a podcast in my life. If somebody wants me to hear their prattle they can call me on the phone. /goml
Just try a four hour drive through rural Minnesota every week and you might gravitate toward a podcast or two.
Thankfully on my drive from Fargo to Winnipeg and back I can get the CBC for most of the trip.
You could be right, but I'd probably gravitate more towards audio books. I've nothing against podcasts per se, I think narrowcasting technology is cool stuff, I just never dabbled in it myself and never ran across a podcast I found compelling enough for an investment of my time. But I also find my interest in the internet at large waning these days (the WGOM and a few news sites excepted). It's become more overcommercialized than Christmas; I find that to be a real shame, and quite often a large annoyance that I'm not willing to endure.
I have a couple that I listen to that you might like. /forbiddenzone
Hit me up at yahoo, twayn77. If we're talking Thom or Norman or the like you might be right.
Right. Yesterday afternoon while working, I did listen to that NPR podcast about the Sioux Uprising Dakota Conflict.
That brings my total of listened-to podcasts at work to be 2 (One G&tG), plus maybe 15 random minutes of G&tG episodes before I realized I'd rather listen to music.
However, I consider that NPR bit more a downloaded radio show.
I've downloaded a few other radio-show podcasts for particular in-studio musician sets, but that's about it.
Can't imagine subscribing to one.
The Orioles are the Minnesota Twins East
Star Tribune Sports @StribSports
RT @Orioles: The Orioles have acquired INF Danny Valencia from the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations. #Twins
So the Mariners officially released Chone Figgins today. He's been bad, but I don't know, so have most of the Twins' infielders. He'd at least have a shot at starting here. I wouldn't be opposed to giving him the league minimum and hoping for the best.
I don't know, he has been pretty bad. Comparing his three-year average to the averages of the 2012 Twins:
Split
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
OPS+
as C
.304
.375
.426
.802
125
as 1B
.257
.337
.414
.751
110
as 2B
.245
.296
.308
.604
70
as 3B
.253
.312
.423
.735
104
as SS
.226
.277
.303
.580
63
as LF
.259
.338
.494
.832
131
as CF
.267
.325
.357
.682
92
as RF
.281
.328
.373
.701
97
as DH
.253
.336
.427
.763
113
Figgins
.227
.302
.283
.585
68
He narrowly beats out the shortstops, but he hasn't played there since 2006 and only 150 innings in his MLB career. Second base is a possibility, but again, not since 2010 and he wasn't that good then.
That's a three-year average?! Naw, man. Don't pay him anything.
Alright that's much worse than I realized.
He'd probably be an All-Star in Japan 😉
Nishi:
.215/.267/.236/.503 in the Majors,
.304/.379/.443/.823 in Japan,
.260/.318/.327/.645 in AAA
Anyone else buying a lottery ticket?
There's always stories about the lottery winners who go bankrupt, etc. Just once I'd like to hear a story about a lottery winner who actually does the mature investment/charitable giving that they said they'd do before they became lottery winners.
I bought 2 tickets
winning the jackpot would be great and all, but I can settle for winning a cool million clams.
I'm going to buy two. If I win I'd honestly do my best to do good with the money. I'd quit my job and finish school (just so I had more time for it), and I'd probably buy something stupid. But mostly I'd do good.
Oh and I'd move to Vancouver. That's important.
I'll probably buy a few on the way home tonight. I actually would not want to win the jackpot. While I like to think I'd do good things with it, I'm afraid of becoming a self-indulgent asshole if I had that kind of sudden wealth. I'd rather win just enough to pay off the mortgage and retire comfortably in ten or fifteen years.
My dad had an idea that I love... take the money, set aside a big chunk in order to throw an annual party. Then, pay off people's debts, but with the agreement that they use that new-found freedom from debt to help other people pay off their debts. Then, everyone who is debt free from this arrangement comes to the party every year.
If your dad wins the jackpot tonight, I'd appreciate an introduction...
Noted.
Rest assured that I would take a big chunk of it and put it in some safe investments and live off the interest.
dido.
My dad, brother, and I have an arrangement: any lottery tickets we buy are owned jointly and equally by the three of us. Of course, the old man is the only one who ever buys a ticket -- and he buys only one, and only when the jackpot exceeds some ridiculous threshold. Ah, the joys of actually working through expected value calculations!
I saw a story about lottery winners, and many of them lived out the good intentions they planned. They just don't make the news because they aren't interesting like the disasters are.
If I won a ton of money now, I doubt it would change me at all. If I'd won a ton of money up to about age 26, I'd be long dead by now.
People who are terrible at managing money before winning the lottery are likely to still be terrible at managing money after winning. Give a man a fish...
I'd love to think that I'd be smart and responsible with the money, but I'm sure there have been plenty of winners with good intentions.
That said, I'm buying a couple lottery tickets tonight for the first time in years.
You were supposed to say "some I would spend on whisky and fast women. The rest I would spend foolishly."
Awesome.
Ricky Rubio has been cleared to participate in practice for TWolves— Jon Krawczynski (@APkrawczynski) November 28, 2012
I hope some of the moisture makes it to Minnesota, especially in the form of snow. The Christmas decoration around town look really sad without a blanket of snow around them.
what do you mean "heading for"??
actually, we are between storms right now. We got dumped on all morning. Flood watches in effect, as the Valley is supposed to get 4-5 inches, while the Sierras are forecast to get much more (with rain only below about 6,000 feet).
oh man, I didnt know that. I do know that Oregon/Washington had been getting flooding rains.
Could Derek Williams see time on the court tonight? uggg
Jim Petersen @JimPeteHoops
AK out tonight--back spasms ...and we have no idea who is starting in his place. Who would you start?
Has anyone been following the Little Falls murders? It sounds like it is straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.
I got a text from my a friend (let's call him A) a few weeks ago asking about a person's right to shoot an intruder to their home. I told him to look up the Castle Doctrine because I didn't feel like explaining all the nuances. Looks like he's now going to get a full education on the topic unfortunately.
The reason he texted me is that we have another friend from high school (let's call him B) who pretty much at all times is carrying a concealed weapon. A and B were deer hunting that weekend up north and somehow got into the discussion. B said he would shoot any and all intruders into his home because "I have a wife and three kids." A responded by pointing out that he (in various drunken stupors in the past), had accidentally broken into a couple of homes thinking it was a friend's house only to be in the wrong place (and he has been arrested and dealt with the legal ramifications of his drunken actions). B's response was "you're lucky it wasn't my house, or you would be dead."
I really hope B is following the news (even if he's highly offended about the state of the law) just to see that he could theoretically be charged with murder when push comes to shove if he gets a little trigger-happy.
there was also a recent story about the guy who shot and killed an "intruder", who turned out to be his live-in girlfriend.
Defending your castle is one thing. Being a moron who shoots first and asks questions later is another.
Wow. Every response I've typed out automatically ends up kicking the forbidden zone square in the nuts.
"The forbidden zone" is what I call my nuts!
Then let me have my chuck taylor back.
No.
My brother did this exact thing last year. The homeowner felt he had to defend himself, but only went so far as forcing my drunk & confused brother back out the front door. He lost a job opportunity and is still dealing with the legal ramifications, but he's not dead and has stopped drinking alcohol. We're all really thankful for that, and in retrospect, that the homeowner wasn't armed.
Agreed. I probably shouldn't be, but I've been surprised that this case has even been considered controversial. It is just full of what my old crim law prof would call "bad facts" for the defense.
"bad facts".
Well put.
You mean executing a guy that you already shot isn't self defense?
and a woman.
For example.
But she laughed. She was clearly heading right for him.
Right. Because people who have been shot usually laugh, as opposed to making other involuntary sounds that never ever sound like laughter.
People want to pin their political beliefs on this thing - whatever, it's what people do. But that, the waiting a day, etc. - this guy just isn't right.
Agree. This is an unusual case, and treating it as pro or con for any particular belief is likely unwise.
Well stated, both of you.
I think we've done a pretty good job of tiptoeing on the line here.
The guy used to work for the US state department. He has traveled the world. He has been described as really smart. CIA?
The comment section of the news story I read makes me fear my country.
I've had a problem with a persistent trespasser. Our lot lies between a residential street and the Coon Rapids Dam Bike Trail. (I know that freealonzo has biked on it.)
When we first moved in, just about everyone and their grandmother used the yard as public access to the trail. Teenagers parked on the street in front of our house and walked straight back to go fishing in the river. The layout of the yard also requires them to walk within 5 feet of bottom of our deck stairs. (Or, if they go around the other side, within ten feet of the backdoor to our garage.)
My wife homeschools our school-aged children and also lets them run around the yard as recess or all day during the summer. Having strangers regularly walk through our yard, and close to our structure has troubled her greatly. We’re not interested in fencing the whole yard.
Last year, we placed a pair of lawn chairs along the one mowed path from our house to the trail (there’s garden and prairie grasses the rest of the way). This and expressing to a few repeaters that it was private property curtailed about 70% of the trespassers.
This summer, we added a small decorative fence with a gate across the one mowed path from our house to the trail, which seemed to stop almost all of the remaining trespassers. But once it was cold enough that my kids weren’t going outside every day, EAR noticed that the gate was being opened, and left open. Almost every night. I tightened the latch and it still happened. We’d wake up early and try to watch from windows, but we never caught the culprit. I once waited in the yard from 6am to 7am and no one came.
EAR bought “POSTED: No Trespassing” signs and I punched holes in them and tied ropes through them so that they’d drape over the spikes on the gate and require anyone unlatching the gate to lift them up. The next morning, the gate was open and the signs were on the ground. EAR called the police. Then Thanksgiving weekend happened and the gate wasn’t disturbed. Yesterday morning it was open and the sign was moved to the side on the gate.
Yesterday afternoon, EAR spent more than $200 on an infrared “Trail Cam” so we can document what the heck’s going on. Nothing happened last night. Just don’t let this bastard see it and steal it.
Point being:
I’m not going to resort to violence, and I haven’t read any of the details about the case, but right now my starting point is going to be sympathetic to the homeowner.
My dad has one of those infrared trail cams, trained on a spot where he leaves food scraps for the local fox. He gets a lot of entertainment out of catching shots of foxes, deer, etc. (the folks live Up North)
Gophers go 3-1 against Duke, Memphis, Stanford and Florida State, all away from Williams Arena and in six days. Very impressive. Of course, Tubby's teams have been impressive in November before. The Big Ten looks to be killer this year. Indiana dismantled No. 14 North Carolina last night and Michigan beat No. 18 NC State. Ohio State plays Duke tonight.
Maybe Reusse should have accepted the bribe not to give out the award this year?
Country Jer waz robbed.
Luckily for Reusse, Country Jer wasn't home and armed at the time.
IU kicking ass is almost enough to get me watching college sports.
I didn't know they were ranked #1 until last night. ND is good at football, IU is good at basketball, and everyone has mustaches. It's the 80s again!
Do I get to be 22 years old again?
Is it Thursday?
Let me IsItThursday that for you...
Fulham-Chelsea on this afternoon in midweek action - 2:45 Eastern/1:45 Central.
Argh...that's no good for me. I guess I'll just have to remember the Wolves game tonight.
Jesus. Another 0-0 draw. This was a team that was scoring 2-3 goals a game 6 weeks ago. Thankfully this November of suck is done, does turning the calendar over bring a better effort?
November of suck? Like giving away free points the way Everton did recently (today, notwithstanding?)?
I was not aware of it until yesterday but there is already a 15-mile stretch of UP track (near Peoria?) that is now rated for a triple digit max speed for passenger service. Looks like there is actually progress on an Amtrak Chicago/StL high-speed upgrade. Nothing like Europe or Japan, but certainly like East Coast's Acela service.
People wonder why US can't have (ultra) high speed passenger trains like Japan and Europe has, but they don't realize the scale differences: urban centers in those locations are much closer together. When high speed rail infrastructure costs $XX million/mile to build, longer distances are prohibitive.
We just need 1.5 billion more people!
That just might do the trick!
You are singing to my choir, Rhu Ru. unfortunately, I largely have to put my choir on "mute" at work.
also worth mentioning is that your peeps (RRs, rather than the gubmint) owns the right-of-way and track in most cases. It is hard to run fast(er) passenger service when the number one priority usage of the track is slower-moving freight (not an indictment of the RRs, btw, just a statement o' fact).
WRONG! Freight RR's must give precedence to passenger trains. It's not easily done on busy routes, though. Even though the main usage of the track is freight, that doesn't make it the priority usage.
True, class 1 RR's would prefer not to share their track, but they have to. The Railroad Passenger Service Act of 1970 grants Amtrak priority access to freight railroads' rights-of-ways.
I stand technically corrected. But I can tell you that my conversations with industry and policy folks strongly indicate that the RRs are, umm, unenthusiastic, about working with passenger services in many cases.
LIke I said, class 1 RR's would prefer not to share their track. There's no questioning that.
I remember when I lived in LA in the 80's, they were looking into high speed rail there. I thought "cool! High speed trains from LA - SF!" Nope, the first route they would have built was LA - Las Vegas. Of course.
I feel like we are so far behind on the infrastructure that it's mostly pipedream. But a regional high-speed rail system based around a Chicago hub would be awesome. Most of those trips would be comparable to European train travel.
yeah, I think regional can happen, and it'll be like Acela and maybe 150mph max speeds -- nowhere near the bullet train speeds, but still doable.
Everyone is super excited about high-speed rail from chicago to milwaukee....
Cubs fans?
wasn't there something about high-speed rail from chicago to minneapolis? i wonder what ever became of that...
yeah, that's part of the mix, too
[forbidden zone]
Seven seconds or less! 77 points in a game where the Lakers got to the line 43 times. L.O.L.
between the Jets and the Lakers, ESPN show put its efforts hypercovering some awful teams
Dwight Howard 3 of 12. When I was 13 my free throw percentage was better than that.
Howard is shooting .595 from the field and .478 from the line. That's Shaqtastic. Since 2006-07, Howard is shooting .592 from the field and .576 from the line.
Maybe he should request a defender stand in front of him on free throws?
Kobe with 40 points on 12-28 shooting and 10 TOs. Very efficient.
And 10 rebounds. A triple-double!
also heard recently on NPR: the average age of the Rolling Stones is higher than the average age of the Supreme Court justices.
[keanureeves.jpg]
Brian Jones is still 27.
Hey Bossman, what's your preferred email?
gmail! stickandballguy
Will you ever use the SBG facebook account again?
I'd like to unfriend b/c every time i type And, it wants to tag you.
doubtful. go ahead and unfriend.
Don't take it personally.
Rather than save this for movie day - since I don't have that kind of patience - let me say that Moonrise Kingdom was fan-freaking-tastic. It'll take a few more viewings for me to know if it competes with The Royal Tenenbaums for my favorite Wes Anderson film, but that's incredibly high praise because Tenenbaums is one of my favorite 25 movies (if not higher... haven't thought about it for a while... maybe I will on movie day!).
Love it.
I got to see a movie sunday! Skyfall with the Boy.
I won't review, per se (there were explosions a plenty; Bardem was a very good villain; the Dame was on her game, like always; the crowd cheered when the classic auto was revealed; a good time was had by all).
But I will weigh in on the theme song. I very much wanted to like it, but it fell short for me. Where would you rate it in the Bond song pantheon?
There are some pretty good ones on the list. "Live and Let Die" is probably my favorite, but "From Russia, With Love," "Diamonds are Forever," and "You Only Live Twice" are up there.
Bond songs all fial because of vocals. My faves though are "Live and Let Die" and "Living Daylights"
You mean "because they have vocals", right?
so, the iconic Bond surf-guitar riff is acceptable?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ebAssCr990
oh HELLS YES that's acceptable!
yeah, what you said. I like my soundtracks vocal-free
The list you linked to seems to have it at a pretty good spot. I thought 'Skyfall' fit well with the credits sequence, though I'm not sure how much I like it as a standalone song.
I liked it well enough. It screams "Bond song" to me, so it meets the biggest criteria.
"Goldfinger" is my favorite.
"The World Is Not Enough" isn't great as a Bond song, but I like it as a stand alone.
Former Twins Rondell White and Jeff Cirillo are on the HOF Ballot!
If writers plan this out right and everyone votes for ten, they could theoretically admit thirteen this year.
Or zero and next year the ballot's even more bloated.
Bonds, Clemens, Piazza, Bagwell, Lofton, Edgar, Trammell, Larry Walker, McGuire
Plus there's Jack Morris, Lee Smith, and Tim Raines, who got more than 65% of the needed vote last year.
This will be a fun ballot. If the BBWAA punts most of them to next year, the ballot is going to get incredibly crowded.
Poll time!
Todd Walker too!
Weekly masochism report: I listened to Gleeman and the Geek's latest podcast in its entirety this AM. Last week, I stopped after ten minutes, but hey, I was in the car for four hours today.
I listen for Aaron's baseball analysis. That is the only reason I listen. John's analysis, I can do without as I have stated before. But, I think that John can perform a useful service and that is to reel Aaron in when he goes into the creepy descriptions of himself. I like to hear what Aaron says on the Twins, but good God in heaven, I do NOT want to hear that if he worked in a position of power, he would be subjected to a series of sexual harassment suits. Aaron, you are smart enough to hook on somewhere bigger than where you are now. However, making such proclamations in a public forum will not help you. John, I don't care about all the non-baseball crap you prattle on about (seriously, this podcast could be about half the length that it is), and honestly, your baseball takes seem silly when compared to Aaron's, but please, please, do not let Aaron say things that could damage whatever long-term career prospects he might have.
I've considered unfollowing him on twitter recently. At least for the offseason. The baseball-to-not-baseball ratio is getting past my tipping point. I also haven't listened to the podcast in a month or so. I guess for the same reasons.
I don't follow his Facebook links anymore; using TinyURL just masked that they're links to G&tG, and I'm one of those people who foolishly thought "presses" weren't used in the production of podcasts.
I cant listen to podcasts. I tried, but boredom set in about 5 minutes in.
But everyone has got one these days, I suppose I got to get used to it.
No, you don't. I can't handle podcasts, and don't see them taking the place of music on my stereo or iPod anytime soon.
The podcasts we did here make up the majority of the podcasts I have ever listened to.
What nibbish said. I'm hardly a Luddite and I have never listened to a podcast in my life. If somebody wants me to hear their prattle they can call me on the phone. /goml
Just try a four hour drive through rural Minnesota every week and you might gravitate toward a podcast or two.
Thankfully on my drive from Fargo to Winnipeg and back I can get the CBC for most of the trip.
You could be right, but I'd probably gravitate more towards audio books. I've nothing against podcasts per se, I think narrowcasting technology is cool stuff, I just never dabbled in it myself and never ran across a podcast I found compelling enough for an investment of my time. But I also find my interest in the internet at large waning these days (the WGOM and a few news sites excepted). It's become more overcommercialized than Christmas; I find that to be a real shame, and quite often a large annoyance that I'm not willing to endure.
I have a couple that I listen to that you might like. /forbiddenzone
Hit me up at yahoo, twayn77. If we're talking Thom or Norman or the like you might be right.
Right. Yesterday afternoon while working, I did listen to that NPR podcast about the
Sioux UprisingDakota Conflict.That brings my total of listened-to podcasts at work to be 2 (One G&tG), plus maybe 15 random minutes of G&tG episodes before I realized I'd rather listen to music.
However, I consider that NPR bit more a downloaded radio show.
I've downloaded a few other radio-show podcasts for particular in-studio musician sets, but that's about it.
Can't imagine subscribing to one.
The Orioles are the Minnesota Twins East
So the Mariners officially released Chone Figgins today. He's been bad, but I don't know, so have most of the Twins' infielders. He'd at least have a shot at starting here. I wouldn't be opposed to giving him the league minimum and hoping for the best.
I don't know, he has been pretty bad. Comparing his three-year average to the averages of the 2012 Twins:
He narrowly beats out the shortstops, but he hasn't played there since 2006 and only 150 innings in his MLB career. Second base is a possibility, but again, not since 2010 and he wasn't that good then.
That's a three-year average?! Naw, man. Don't pay him anything.
Alright that's much worse than I realized.
He'd probably be an All-Star in Japan 😉
Nishi:
.215/.267/.236/.503 in the Majors,
.304/.379/.443/.823 in Japan,
.260/.318/.327/.645 in AAA
Anyone else buying a lottery ticket?
There's always stories about the lottery winners who go bankrupt, etc. Just once I'd like to hear a story about a lottery winner who actually does the mature investment/charitable giving that they said they'd do before they became lottery winners.
I bought 2 tickets
winning the jackpot would be great and all, but I can settle for winning a cool million clams.
I'm going to buy two. If I win I'd honestly do my best to do good with the money. I'd quit my job and finish school (just so I had more time for it), and I'd probably buy something stupid. But mostly I'd do good.
Oh and I'd move to Vancouver. That's important.
I'll probably buy a few on the way home tonight. I actually would not want to win the jackpot. While I like to think I'd do good things with it, I'm afraid of becoming a self-indulgent asshole if I had that kind of sudden wealth. I'd rather win just enough to pay off the mortgage and retire comfortably in ten or fifteen years.
My dad had an idea that I love... take the money, set aside a big chunk in order to throw an annual party. Then, pay off people's debts, but with the agreement that they use that new-found freedom from debt to help other people pay off their debts. Then, everyone who is debt free from this arrangement comes to the party every year.
If your dad wins the jackpot tonight, I'd appreciate an introduction...
Noted.
Rest assured that I would take a big chunk of it and put it in some safe investments and live off the interest.
dido.
My dad, brother, and I have an arrangement: any lottery tickets we buy are owned jointly and equally by the three of us. Of course, the old man is the only one who ever buys a ticket -- and he buys only one, and only when the jackpot exceeds some ridiculous threshold. Ah, the joys of actually working through expected value calculations!
I saw a story about lottery winners, and many of them lived out the good intentions they planned. They just don't make the news because they aren't interesting like the disasters are.
If I won a ton of money now, I doubt it would change me at all. If I'd won a ton of money up to about age 26, I'd be long dead by now.
People who are terrible at managing money before winning the lottery are likely to still be terrible at managing money after winning. Give a man a fish...
I'd love to think that I'd be smart and responsible with the money, but I'm sure there have been plenty of winners with good intentions.
That said, I'm buying a couple lottery tickets tonight for the first time in years.
You were supposed to say "some I would spend on whisky and fast women. The rest I would spend foolishly."
Awesome.
will he do any wrestling?
there is a giant storm heading for the west coast
I hope some of the moisture makes it to Minnesota, especially in the form of snow. The Christmas decoration around town look really sad without a blanket of snow around them.
what do you mean "heading for"??
actually, we are between storms right now. We got dumped on all morning. Flood watches in effect, as the Valley is supposed to get 4-5 inches, while the Sierras are forecast to get much more (with rain only below about 6,000 feet).
oh man, I didnt know that. I do know that Oregon/Washington had been getting flooding rains.
Could Derek Williams see time on the court tonight? uggg