Cup of Coffee

May 15, 2015: Out of My Brain on a Train

66 Comments

With my yearly Who reference out of the way, let me say that I am gushing with pride at Sour Cream, who got one of the biggest ovations last night at the talent show, where she performed (with her two best friends) a song that she wrote. It was adorable, and they even got the studio audience "awwwww."

66 thoughts on “May 15, 2015: Out of My Brain on a Train”

    1. 89 years old and was still performing - pretty amazing. He was great-grandfather to my nephews, though they never saw much of him.

      1. Saw him at JazzFest two years ago and he was quite enjoyable. A criminally high number of people (truthfully, any number higher than zero would apply, but we're taking thousands) chose to watch DMB at the same time rather than King.

    3. I finally got to see BB at the Orpheum just a couple of years ago. Past his prime, sure, but still very good and well worth seeing. His band was smoking hot.

  3. Incompetence sometimes works out. Dr. Chop's interim department head offered her a summer course which is kind of a drag but it pays the bills, but he failed to open the course for registration by accidentally setting the cap to 0 students. D'oh. Compounding this ~10k mistake, Dr. Chop would have traveled with me to Ireland to do research for her book at the National Library while I taught at Ulster University this month. The course was canceled yesterday with no registrants. ><. We made a mad dash to the google machine to search for a ticket, and came up with fare that cost less than my fare for travel in less than a week. Crazy.

    What's that quote, padre?

      1. Wait, I know which one you meant. "The only thing funnier than how things don't work out is how they do." Ring Lardner

  5. Ok so that late game was a little. . . unexpected.

    1. GSW -- Not only were they the best team all year, but all other challengers are either banged up or exposed
    2. CLE -- you can only hope to contain Matthew Dellavedova
    3. HOU -- An almost biblical revival
    4. ATL -- They lead their series
    5. LAC -- Have to close games out. This has the makings of an epic collapse
    6. WAS -- If they win tonight, could get game 7 too, but that seems pretty unlikely
    7. MEM -- Chip and a chair

    What a lay down in Chicago. The Bulls had no life last night. No Love, no Kyrie, LBJ was off. No matter, the Cavs blew them of the floor.

      1. My poll is based on who I think is most likely to win the title. Obviously, I think CLE is going to win the East. I also think whoever wins the West will win the title. I now think that Houston will win their series, but they ain't gonna beat GSW. I thought LAC would have been a slight favorite over GSW and a big favorite over HOU. But, I now think that their season probably ends in the second round.

  6. AMR, I thought I did fairly well this morning given that I had no inkling you had an item to hand off. I was lacking sunglasses and my facial expression probably gave something away, but the transfer from hand to pocket went smoothly.

    1. Also, am I meant to derive any particular meaning from the content of what you gave me?

      1. Just practice. I've held on to that since just days after the last time we crossed paths. It was in my pocket at the castle as well.
        Interesting stuff though, if you care about Prairie Chickens or Pheasants.

        Reflection:
        I think I had to flash the content too loudly.
        I tried to walk to my left, but you were so tight to your right that you had to shift your bag.

        1. The castle certainly didn't lend itself to any good handoff opportunities. You could have tucked it into the peperoncino's diaper bag when no one else was looking, I suppose.

          I was hoping for cryptography. But nest parasitism is cool too.

          1. Seriously my favorite aspect of bird behavior outside of the smarts from Corvids, Psittacines, and others.

            1. Not sure if you're showing off with the scientific naming, or have in mind the betterment of your readers in forcing us to google psittacines ...I shall assume it's both.

              1. "Parrots" is imprecise. "Psittacines" is not.
                I had to check because "Psittacids" didn't look right.

                The reason that the suffixes aren't the same? Different hierarchical levels.
                Psittaciformes is an order of the class Aves (birds).
                Corvidae is a family in the order Passeriformes.
                Any member of Passeriformes is a Passerine.

  7. 1. Wake Up -- Arcade Fire -- Funeral
    2. Like Sonny -- John Coltrane -- Coltrane Jazz
    3. Easily Fooled -- Pavement -- Wowee Zowee
    4. Sheila Take A Bow -- The Smiths -- Louder Than Bombs
    5. Lovenest -- The Wedding Present -- Seamonsters
    6. Promise -- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Howl
    7. Separations -- Diarrhea Planet -- I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
    8. 1,000,000 -- R.E.M. -- R.E.M.
    9. Folsom Prison Blues -- Johnny Cash -- At Folsom Prison
    10. Brick Walls -- Son Volt -- Honky Tonk

    B1. It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career -- Belle & Sebastian -- The Boy With The Arab Strap
    B2. It's Her Factory -- Gang Of Four -- Yellow EP

  8. I hate to provide a link, but the most interesting thing about this Top Jimmy article is that it looks like he just discovered On Base Percentage! and Baseball-research.com

    Mauer has a clear advantage over Hunter in only one area — on-base percentage. Mauer’s ability to hit for a high average and willingness to draw walks gives him an advantage of .404 to .345 in that category. (Hat-tip to vigilant reader John Eide for highlighting the comparison, and to baseball-reference.com for the raw numbers.)

    http://www.startribune.com/souhan-a-tale-of-two-twins-deals-mauer-vs-hunter/303838801/

    3. Pointing out OBP requires a hat tip?

      I go back and forth on whether he is a buffoon or just plays one. I am back in the buffoon camp.

    4. There's no clear indication he'll ever figure out the correlation OBP-->Runs-->Wins.

    1. That was great. I want to share it with friends, but then I realized they'd start bitching about Mauer in response.

      1. I have a couple of close friends/family members that I continue to "engage" with on this topic with the hopes of changing their minds. Beyond that though, I just don't have the time for it anymore.

        1. Yeah. This is all part of my "spend less time on baseball" campaign as mentioned somewhere here in the offseason. I don't engage anymore.

        2. I'm lucky in that my family members who like baseball all appreciate Mauer as the one of the best Twins ever.

        3. I pretty much don't engage on Mauer anymore at all (try not to). And I try not to engage on Souhan, either. But when this column came out, I couldn't help myself.

          Seriously, though, is Souhan the worst sports columnist in the country? Hard to tell. There are some real dumb asses out there, but his ass might be the dumbest.

          1. While driving to work after a hearing this morning in meatville (I was in Spamtown on Tuesday), Top Jimmy's 1500 contract not being extended after last year was referenced by Phil Mackey.

            Sadly , Mackey still claimed they were friends and wouldn't throw him under the bus, but then engaged in a discussion of Pelfrey's swinging strike rate and FIP.

            2. DPWY: in case you weren't already aware, next time you are in Spamtown and need to grab something to eat: George's Pizza on main street. Get the George's Special. If you don't have the time/stomach for a pizza, order the Gondola.

              1. I was only there from 9-9:30. If I find myself there for lunch on the future, I'll definitely visit.

          2. I engaged a 9-year old the other day when discussing poor batting and the kid threw out a "yeah like Mauer".
            I'm not proud.

    1. Wowzers.

      In other WNBA news, Janel McCarville informed the Lynx that she won't be suiting up for them this season; "Agent says [she] needs time off to heal."

  14. Cubs-Pirates is tied 10-10 in the 12th. Ex-Twin Vance Worley is being used as a pinch-hitter by Pittsburgh.

    2. The baseball twitter people are not advancing the "we let Vance Worley get away" narrative this year.

    3. Cubs win when Gregory Polanco slips going after a short fly ball with the bases loaded.

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