Last night would have been exciting if I didn't have to get up this morning. (Thank goodness for the AeroPress I keep at the office.) Apparently at least one tornado touched down in the city, and there are power lines and trees down all over the place. On the bus ride in I noted several lovely old trees in city parks were toppled or had their trunks snapped. We escaped mostly unscathed, though I haven't checked the garden yet.
Everything okay down by you, cheaptoy?
I saw a lot of pictures tweeted/facebooked by people in Madison. You guys definitely got it much worse than I did. It kept the kids up, so I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I didn't see any damage this morning.
Glad to hear it (well, except for the no sleep because kids awake part).
Better to hear that y'all in Madison are ok from how much more severe it sounded up there.
Thanks. From the reports I'm seeing, it looks like Platteville really took the brunt of it.
Was that the same system that moved through Mankato around 6 p.m. yesterday? We were at the mall with the kids, and had to move to one of the designated shelters for about half an hour, right as we were about to leave.
I ended up missing almost all of the soccer game because of it (instead of just the first half, as planned). But that's OK. Literally less than a minute after we got back, Ghana scored. Then we had an Emergency Alert for a while, that blacked out the game, and when it came back it was literally right as whatshisname was kicking from the corner. So to that point, I'd watched right around a minute of the game and had seen most of the exciting stuff. That was fun.
Wonder if it's the same system that dropped hail on Omaha. You get any of that, Rows?
Most likely it was the same storm as the one that hit Mankato yesterday. When I was watching the local news after the sirens went off they said something about the storm having absolutely drenched Spamtown earlier.
No hail or anything here in Omerha, but a small town northwest of us was leveled by twin tornadoes.
Twin tornadoes.
No matter how many times I see photos of the destruction caused by tornadoes, I'm always amazed (and dismayed) by their power.
Standing outside and watching one develop (more than a mile away, across the fields of SW MN) is one of my more vivid memories. They're stunning, terrifying beasts.
seeing a grain bin with the top blow off, yet with the peak of grain showing over the top, or an intact house moved ½ foot off its foundations continues to amaze me.
Yikes, I have a crew in Columbus. They mentioned the tornado chaser equipment going by...I didn't realize it was because of actual nearby tornados.
Most of my sister's town is without l power and will be until at least 9pm.
We had some flickering late evening, but that was it. Walking home with an umbrella under power lines while watching flashes of lightning was exciting.
Equally exciting: walking home without an umbrella and wondering whether I'd make it home before the downpour began.
Don't leave us in suspense!
She finally met AMR!
Prove it.
I've only seen her once since then.
Ha! I wasn't sure you recognized me. You seemed very absorbed in whatever you were looking at that morning.
wet all over southern Minny
South Dakota and Iowa got nailed, too. I got stuck at work last night because there was water flooding over every road on my route. Most of the water levels in the ditches and fields have already dropped considerably, but the Big Sioux and Rock rivers haven't crested yet- gonna be a lot of water hitting Sioux City today/tonight.
My part of South Dakota has not been hit, at least not yet. In fact, we've had just about the right amount of rain this spring. There are other parts that are suffering, though, including my old parish in North Sioux City.
A pastor with a sense of humor, say it isn't so!
Oops, this should be in response to the next thread about Steppin' out.
Hey Jeff A, I'm probably going to hell for thinking of this, but your Facebook posts on Steppin' out with the Paster make me chuckle as the term "stepping out" has another meaning different than what I think you are trying to get across.
It has a double meaning, of course. I assume people are taking it as humor, which of course is what it is.
You use puns and wordplay so often I would've been shocked if that hadn't been intentional.
Now that it's been a few days, what do people think of the change to the number of featured posts and their layout?
It still feels a little cluttered to me, but that's not a strong opinion. I do like the extra row of 'em, if not the extra column.
Looks nice on my iPad. One gripe: trying to log in on the main page means scrolling a loooooong way down on the mobile layout. I don't know if it's just trapped at the bottom because of the way the layout's mobile template is set up, but it's an annoyance. Most of the time I just load a post and scroll down until I find "Log in to comment."
In the header menu (just under the banner), there's an icon that looks like a speech bubble next to the search icon. If you press that, it'll kick you down to the recent comments, and the log in isn't too far from there. At least that's what I do.
I like it! I like being able to access the different posts without having to scroll down until I find what I'm looking for.
I like it, but then it's mostly my posts that benefit, so I don't exactly have an unbiased opinion.
I like that Jeff's post get more prominence. I rarely scrolled down to look at them and now the new set-up reminds me to check them out.
What Beau said.
hard to find past Co'Cs, it seems. Yesterday's wasn't on the front page when I first looked this morning.
I think that could have been because it was still up at the top (this CoC wasn't posted until 8:39am CT).
At the very least, you can click on a category (noted above the specific post's title) and get a run down of the recent posts. That will work for CoCs, Jeff A's daily posts, etc.
Yeah, that's what I do.
I like it. I'm less likely to miss things, I think.
I caught up on a week's worth of Game Recaps this morning.
I like it quite a bit.
Big-Ass Bear Shows Up At Baseball Game, Is Unimpressed
Bears Are too Cool for school.
FTFFJA
Long day and last night here. There's so much to get in order, as we inch closer to possibly being in Minnesota by a couple of months from now. At least the horror of finding affordable mailers for the Fall, Caesar prints has come to an end.
I wish I'd typed it last night, but Movie Day will have to wait one more day, I guess.
Three years ago my wife and I changed everything when we were around $28,000 in debt on several credit cards. Next month, the second-to-last card goes away and we're left with one card with a balance of about $4700. I cannot wait to live without the burden of paying for things I've had for years.
We've been so responsible for so long now that the credit card companies have started mailing us again! We won't be getting back on that horse anytime soon, but they want us to, which is a victory in itself.
Congrats, Milkman. Getting out from under all that takes a good bit of diligence. I'm hoping to pay off the last of my culinary school debt this summer in a lump sum. It'll feel good not to have it hanging over my head anymore.
I'll second the congrats. Though our credit card debt has exited the five-figure range, it was up there so I can really appreciate the effort it takes to move the needle steadily downward. Good on you two.
As for the student loans ... well, they tell me that's good debt.
Dave Ramsey?
We weren't in so big a hole, but we could have been had we kept going the way we were.
Paid off student debt first and downgraded our car. The only things we've bought on debt were the new house and ...? (I think there was something else. It was paid off within two months.)
We were given the Dave Ramsey thing years ago (just before our decision) as a gift, but never opened it. I wonder if our attack on debt was similar to his teachings.
No professional was going to help me, more than likely. I'm too stubborn. I have to do things on my own.
We didn't follow him exactly, but his thinking has strongly influenced ours.
A lot of his speeches are recontextualizing things that let you see how bad debt decisions get made. I have a vivid memory with cars.
It's also shown up in different ways. If one applies his concept to housework, one might get something similar to Flylady, which my wife had picked up on a year or two later.
Let me add my congratulations. That's a tough hole to get out of. I admire you for doing it.
The only debt Mrs. A and I have is student loan debt from seminary, which we'll be paying for a while yet. We're making steady progress, though.
CH, what motivated the mixed Zimmy references today? Not that I disapprove.
Tornadoes plus the gubernatorial race.
Hey, techno brain trust!
For some reason, I have been having to hit the "mail letter to editor" button twice on my droid (using Chrome) to get it to send. This is relatively new behavior -last week or so. First time takes me out of the edit box but doesn't seem to initiate the send.
Test test. Yep.
I'm going to blame Chrome. My guess is the first tap de-focuses the input and the second tap actually sends the letter.
Yup. For dumb.
I haven't seen it on other sites yet...because, uh, I don't cheat on the wgom.
Hey, techno brain trust! This is a few months old, but I just learned of it last week. My apologies if it has been covered but I'm curious about your opinion on the, uhm, development.
I guess this could get a bit forbidden zone, but I don't know if it has to.
If I'm not mistaken, they've started to walk that back a little due to the backlash [citation needed]
lash and backlash.
Perkins rips Pinto's pitch framing abilities. I am curious what motivated this. I wonder if there were some private disagreements and Perkins is trying to reinforce Pinto needing work at catcher.
What is the likelihood that Fryer is worse at hitting than Pinto is at catching right now?
Now, granted, Suzuski's -12.2 was in a lot more pitches caught. But still. Veteran leadership, I guess.
Not impressed with Perkins going public with that. I'm not denying the truth of what he said, but I don't see what's gained by saying it. That sounds like the sort of thing that should stay in the clubhouse.
I heard the interview live and the write-up doesn't quite capture the tone with which Glen made the comments. He didn't sound at all annoyed or miffed with Pinto; more matter-of-fact responses to inquiries about where the kid is at and what he needs to work on. One of the things I admire about Perk is how accessible and honest he seems to be with fans and the media. Perhaps not helpful to be so blunt in this case, but if we're hoping Pinto can do this job at the MLB level, then why, as one of the pitchers relying on him, lie or obfuscate an opinion regarding reasons for sending him down?
Yeah, that was pretty harsh. It might make Pinto work harder on his defense, but it's sure not going to help build a sense of trust and camaraderie between two guys who I'd like to see work well together.
The daughter of a college friend is a gold medalist.
So is my little sister. Good read, doc.
cc to actuaries in the Nation: I'm looking for clarity on the concept of "actuarially sound" rates in the health insurance market. Any pointers beyond this document??
You rang?
Maybe you should focus on health-care actuaries.
You rang?
Reading through the doc.
From the conclusion of that doc: "assumed to be understood to mean reasonable and consistent with generally accepted actuarial principles and practices".
I would have defined it as reflecting assumptions appropriate to the population being priced and with expected* losses** such that profit should be expected* to be equal to the base assumptions.
A rate so high that it would trigger a death spiral would not be actuarially sound.
A rate so low that it would be expected to have net losses*** would not be actuarially sound.
Rates that fit pricing statutes and regulations may not be actuarially sound if rate differentials for age/gender/tobacco/underwriting/pre-existing conditions are not allowed outside of a limited band.****
Does that make any sense?
I could perhaps better answer if I understood what your confusion is exactly, or better learn the purpose of the definition.
*in the mathematical sense: average
** that is, medical claims
***that is, more claims and expenses than premium (expenses, in general, should be budgetable and are not part of the primary risk calculations, but do need to be included in grossing-up of claim cost into rates).
****Others could argue that the actuarial soundness would just have to reflect and work around those statutory and regulatory restrictions. After all, first guy, would you argue that racial categories that have long been illegal would be necessary for actual soundness? No, first guy might say, those were just somewhat reasonable and simply determined proxies for other categories. So, second guy asks, racial rating is only a bad idea because it's not actually sound? Hey, says first guy, if we're to keep going on in this way, we should spoiler it as "Forbidden-ish."
Yohan Pino to take Deduno's spot in the rotation. A little surprised it wasn't May, but the Twins probably want him to bring down his walks even more. Pino is somewhat of a journeyman and is already 30 years old, but it's a little surprising he hasn't been given a shot before this. Career K/9 rate of 8.1. BB/9 rate of 2.4. HR/9 rate of 0.9. His AAA numbers are a little worse but not significantly (7.8, 2.5, 1.0). Career ERA of 3.74. AAA, 4.30. This season in 61 IP, ERA 1.92, 61 Ks, 16 BBs, 7 HRs. Made 7 relief appearances before moving into rotation and making 7 starts. Righthander from Venezuela.
That K:BB ratio projects to what in the majors? Something like 6:3?
Oliver projections on Fangraphs says 6.1:2.4. The ratio would be better than Gibson on both ends. K rate is better than Correia as well and walk rate better than Deduno's and Nolasco's.
He will be the first Yohan in the majors. Must be a Venezuelan thing since Johan is the only Johan to appear in the majors as well, unless you count Ervin Santana, who changed his named from Johan.
Germanic names seemed to be a small naming trend (for boys at least) in Venezuela 25-35 years ago. I don't remember the other examples. Maybe they never made it to the majors.
But it's nothing like the Cuban trend of original Y- names (Yunieski, Yuneski, Yonder, Yunel, Yasiel, Yasmani, Yoslan, Yoenis, ....)
He was in Cleveland* for a little while thanks to acquiring Pavano. He only rejoined the Twins this year. Not that I can explain the other teams not giving him a chance.
* Cleveland for two years and then Toronto and then Cincinnati.
Spose to post Father Know's Best on Thursday this week, but haven't really been tracking on that series, and am not a father. Any suggestions?
you could do a "Dreams From My Father" style autobiographical essay! Hardships growing up in the mean streets of [where'd you grow up?].
Hmm - or cut/paste from Ulysses. Because plagiarism.
I was hoping for a 10,000-word essay analyzing the role of fathers in the complete works of Joyce, Dostoyevsky, and Faulkner. Or else you could check out the category archive. Anything goes, really.
Homer, Tennyson, or Joyce?
"Faith of My Fathers" about growing up as a military brat before being shot down over [which country imprisoned you?] and your time as a P.O.W.
RUS-KOR: Kiss your sister.
Also, what a rip to NKOR that SKOR gets to be KOR.
Scotty Baker with a nice, 12-pitch inning in mop-up duty for Texas vs Oaktown tonight. Came in with a man on 2nd and nobody out.
Lots of fastballs, all at 89, 90 or (one at) 91 on the gun. Not sure he can hump it up there any faster out of the stretch anymore.