93 thoughts on “September 20, 2013: Twists”

  1. I told you a little bit about my uncle Paul, who passed away a couple of months ago. Here's an article about him on the occasion of his being awarded a posthumous degree from Yankton College.

    1. thanks, Padre. There can be too much attention to the issue, but probably not in our lifetimes.

      The Repository tells me that the male suicide rate in the U.S. ranks in the top 20 internationally at around 20 per 100,000. That's thankfully much lower than in the highest-rate countries, but still too high. The female suicide rate is closer to 5.5, which puts the U.S. in the low- to mid-20s internationally.

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        1. I heard an interesting podcast where they interviewed a guy that jumped off a bridge and survived. He talked about how he decided he wanted to live on the way down.

          I am probably getting the facts wrong but I think they talked about it being fairly commmon that people changed their minds in the act.

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        1. Does not need to be spoilers since that's a cold objective fact. The number one effective method that families can do when a loved one is suicidal is to remove guns from the house or if that isn't possible, get gun locks to delay the impulsivity. I can get some for free (plus shipping) if anybody wants them.

          1. While down south for my uncle's funeral (pancreatic cancer), I noticed that his gun cabinet was empty and asked my aunt about it. She told me that a few weeks earlier, my uncle had begged her and his brother to bring him a gun and leave the house so he could be done with it all. That was so unlike him that I had a hard time processing it in my head. Since he could still get out of bed on his own at the time, she had his brother take all the guns out of the house that day and had the hospice care nurse begin large doses of pain medications. Last night we went to the funeral for the mother of Elder Daughter's friend, who died by suicide after suffering from depression for many years. Pain and anguish are powerful, insidious forces.

            1. Anxiety's persistent
              It's an ambitious politician
              It keeps knocking on your door
              Until you come and let it in.

              Craig Finn knows how to write lyrics. As someone prone to depression and anxiety I can attest to its persistence.

  3. The Milkmaid should get a big promotion that takes you to the Twin Cities. Then we can assassinate you all the time! Best of Luck to her.

  4. Twins run differential in 2013, to date: -134, better only than Houston (-204). Last year the Twins ended the season at -131. (In 2011, it was a hideous -185.)

    1. The pitching improved from last year from 5.14 runs/game to 4.74 runs/game. Even with the league average decreasing by a tenth of a run, the ERA+ has improved marginally. The offense though, dropped from 4.33 runs/game to 3.86 runs/game. That's probably not as surprising since Span was traded and Willingham wasn't going to repeat what he did. At least the Twins learned that spring training numbers don't necessarily translate to the regular season.

      1. At least the Twins learned that spring training numbers don’t necessarily translate to the regular season.

        there are obvious examples supporting that statement, but that doesn't mean they've actually learned anything.

      2. A surprisingly large portion of that pitching improvement came from Mr. Swizzlestick, who has allowed about 25 fewer runs in almost the same number of innings.

            1. Maybe a non-tender, too. He's eligible for arbitration and could make about $1.2 million next year. I hope he gets paid a little, you know? But who knows.

        2. last year, Schwingswift had an 8.10 ERA in 23.1 innings as a starter, 4.05 as a reliever in 73.1. This year, all in relief.

  5. i mentioned it in the wee hours of last night's game log, but i wanted to ask to make sure i'm not imagining things: does anyone else get the feeling that atteberry isn't all that well liked by his partners?

    i can see dazzle not being a big fan for GOML reasons and the fact that atteberry will challenge him on dumb assertions like how mauer is at fault for low RBI totals. provus seems a lot more closed off and business like in the booth when he's on with atteberry too. am i just seeing hearing things?

    1. I haven't listened enough in the later parts of this season, but in the past I thought Atteberry and Provus sounded good together. I think mostly Atteberry asks too darn many questions, and doesn't seem focused enough on the game. I can see that irritating the others.

    2. I think Provus is more comfortable with Dazzle, but that might just be because they've worked together a lot more.

      There was a "golden boy Atteberry" comment from Provus last night that was a little uncomfortable, and a few games ago Dazzle was claiming that Atteberry pulled strings to get to go on this road trip (yeah, right), so there's definitely a little tension in the booth.

      1. Huh. Wonder what changes we'll see in the offseason.

        I was never a fan of Atteberry, but I have to give him some credit, as it seems to me he has definitely upped his game.

        1. i've actually been going the other way on him lately. he seems to completely take over the broadcast, and the expressions he uses to describe on-field action are a little too smug/cutesy/frequent/what have you. still, i do appreciate him for bringing a bit more modern dissection of the game.

          2. I'm with hj. I noticed a few days ago that Atteberry had to interject something after every PA that was bordering ranging into the Sutcliffe zone of diarrhea of the mouth. Just shut up every once in awhile.

            1. I think he just tries too hard sometimes. He wants to be a baseball broadcaster, so when he gets the chance he wants too much to make an impression rather than just waiting for the game to come to him.

          2. I don't think I would consider that much of an improvement. I avoid the middle innings of radio broadcasts whenever possible, and Bert's shtick has worn so thin you can see through it. My favorite guest announcer in the TV booth has been TK, but he'll never be a permanent fixture there. If I was picking a fantasy TV broadcast team for the Twins I'd go with Jim Kaat and Bob Uecker.

            1. I should have made clear that this isn't something I would welcome, but something which seems feasible considering the parties involved.

              I've noticed that MLB Network tends to use radio feeds for their highlight voice-overs. I think that says something subtle about where the good broadcasters tend to work. I'd probably try to get some quality radio talent in the TV booth and see how that works.

  6. heard a particularly disturbing report on Q last night about the ginormous backlog of untested rape kits in Detroit (podcast here).

    Here is a link to the Wayne County Rape Kit Initiative.

    Forbidden Zoney:

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    2. Also pretty FZ...

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    3. I'm not the police, nor am I really concerned per se, but I've noticed an uptick in use of the spoiler as a forbidden zone outlet. I'm not saying that these conversations aren't important, but what I'm driving at is we may not all agree on solutions to these problems. Anywho.

      1. fair point, meat.

        I think that the use of the spoiler to confine forbidden zoney commentary (when flagged as such) has worked pretty well, but this is a point worth community discussion. Also, since I am a serial transgressor, I might not be the most objective analyst....

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          1. How much restraint do I have? I'm walking away from a joak about personal responsibility and letting wild animals have guns.

  8. It's (almost) Friday afternoon. Anyone up for some Breaking Bad Speculation?

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    What do you think?

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    2. This has been a topic of much discussion in our household.

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    1. That was funny.

      Still don't get the ponder hate, but whatever I watch the vikings because I like football (and AP, JA and Harrison) and dislike the other NFC North teams plus the Giants, Ravens, and Patriots.

      I'm sad this is where I'm at during this baseball season, but: Go BISON!

      1. That is a sentiment for all seasons, my man. Kind of wish I could be at the GameDay appearance. That will be nuts.

        1. I'm not aware of any major deficiencies by Washington.
          Why your strong preference of Gardy?

          (I haven't followed baseball so closely the last few, so I'm actually curious.)

    2. The entire column is based on the premise that one of the parties is under contract for next year, when that's not the case. Oh, for dumb.

      Here's a counter-proposal:

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    4. Here's another idea... $51,635,075.

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      1. Phil Mackey told me last week that payroll doesn't matter because look at the A's!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!1

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  13. The old lady who lives across the street called me to ask if I could come over and snake out her toilet.

    I guess that officially makes me a member of the neighborhood.

    2. ask if I could come over and snake out her toilet.

      scanning the page, my brain first deciphered that as "asked if i could get a snake out of her toilet." i was a little confused.

  15. Alright, it's done. Just left the clinic after the big V. Things aren't the most comfortable down there right now, but it's not too bad overall.

  16. WatchingTrying to watch (edit: I keep forgetting PIT is blacked out here) the CIN-PIT game with dinner. I was hoping Billy Hamilton would be in the lineup, but alas.

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