As a grizzled internets veteran from the AOL days (hell, also the BBS Wars), "Cyber Monday" always sounds weird to me.
75 thoughts on “November 27, 2017: A/S/L?”
You are 35 years, 11 months, and 9 days old - that's exactly 13,128 days!
That's exactly as old as Sultan Murad V was the day he was deposed after 93 days on the throne
half of my life ago the film Armageddon was released. That depresses me for some reason.
that movie depressed a lot of people. the soundtrack was the best part of it.
I guess I'm a sucker for rank jingoism, but I rather liked it.
well, the part that was rank was the science
Suspension of disbelief does have its limits.
On Saturday I found out a colleague of mine died last Tuesday from bacterial pneumonia & complications from Type 1 diabetes. Because he was a kind, thoughtful, whip-smart guy, he had many friends all over our institution. I admired him; he was the sort of person you look forward to spending a career around, even at a distance. He was only 26.
Nobody has any business dying at 26. May his memory be a blessing.
Thanks, Doc. My professional community going to be feeling his absence for a long time. His memory will be a strong influence on how we approach our work.
Very sad news.
Sorry to hear about your colleague.
As you may know (at least in part), I have a brother, niece, nephew, and cousin with Type I diabetes. They are all managing, but this is serious business. I have donated to the JDRF in the past, but I should do that again. Great strides have been made to help people deal with the disease, but it remains a very dangerous disease that shortens lives, obviously.
Colin’s obituary cited that very organization as a fitting place for memorial donations.
My limited understanding is that people with diabetes (either type) are at significantly greater risk of mortality with pneumonia, which I suppose explains diabetes being cited as a complication in Colin’s death. I am not comforted by this knowledge.
My father lost a leg to diabetes years before he died of heart disease, and zoomx and I have a fraternity brother losing appendages from it right now (his is complicated by kidney failure). Not fun to watch, horrible to have to go through.
"Cyber Monday" always sounds weird to me.
Yeah, me too. Monday was always the worst day for cyber. Bunch of weirdos.
I always think of Cybermen, which are ridiculous. So this day is shrouded in ridiculous.
I think Cyborg Monday would be more ridiculous, though.
And then I see TMBG has called it Cyborg Monday on its Facebook feed. Perfect
Cyber Monday needs this banner
Time Inc being bought out by Meredith Corp., owner of Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle and other wholesome and boring midwestern-sensible publications. Time owns Sports Illustrated, People, Entertainment Weekly and others.
Koch Brothers have made a big investment to help make it happen. But the political angle is likely the wrong one. More interesting is the business angle. Time has been bleeding revenue. This is a $2.8 billion all-cash deal, including $650 million from Koch's.
$650 million? Pocket change. The Koch brothers are worth $82 billion.
The political angle is absolutely the correct one. They bought a national publication, albeit a declining one, that they can use to influence public opinion. Watch the president change his tune on Time magazine as he begins to get more favorable coverage. If they break even on this deal or lose a little money, well worth it to them.
Given Time’s history with people like Henry Luce & Whittaker Chambers, I suppose this is fitting.
They announced their willingness to spend $900 million on the 2016 election. (Did they? I don't know. And to be fair not all of that $900MM was their money.) I wouldn't be at all surprised if they looked at Time Magazine financing as an investment in their political agenda and not a business in the classic sense.
Not out of the realm of possibility, to be sure. And when you consider that Time inc. includes a lot more titles than Time alone, if that is their purpose, I guess they didn't have to spend a lot to get that particular platform.
But Meredith has been trying to make this deal for years. And the Koch's are not getting board seats or editorial control. The business angle seems much more likely.
If When.
Am I the only one who thinks Ajit Pai looks a bit like DPWY?
Did the Justice League CGI guys edit a mustache off his face? Those teeth can't be real.
He's just really happy about the new "Senior VP of Something" position Comcast is already paying him for.
I like it when the Wild and Wolves manage to stagger their schedules. Got games everyday until 12/5 with no overlap.
Seems like this year is way better than last year when it comes to the staggered schedule.
The NBA spreading their schedule out an extra two weeks probably helps a lot.
I no longer like this.
Yup
LeBron James is on the Wentz Wagon. Next stop, NDSU Bison. Come on, LBJ! Also, ouch for Cleveland fans, since the Browns traded out to enable the Eagles to take Wentz.
It's kind of funny that the old-school people are giving Morris the same treatment that the new-school people gave Blyleven to get him into the Hall.
It's too bad there isn't some formal acknowledgement that could be bestowed on amazing baseball feats that would allow us to acknowledge things like '91 Game 7 without needing to put the player in the HOF to do so. I'm not such a small Hall guy, but Morris just falls too short on any reasonable account to be in the Hall without really expanding it or making it super arbitrary. Sure it is somewhat arbitrary, the voters have generally done a pretty good job at selecting the truly elite.
Morris was named World Series MVP, which would be an acknowledgement of his performance in that series and specifically in that game. How much more do we have to acknowledge it?
I think ubes’ /sarcasm was implied.
ah yes. I should have recognized that.
Apparently we have to keep talking about it every year HOF elections come around. I agree that for the most part, his WS MVP should be enough, but as a general concept, I think it could be interesting to have a Hall-of-Moments. I'm sure there are such exhibits at the Hall, but they aren't tracked quite the same as HOF players are tracked. A Hall-of-Moments could be an interesting way to acknowledge some of the performances--even during the regular season or not the WS--by players who had incredible moments but maybe lost a bunch of their career to injury (the latter was not the case with Morris, obviously.)
It would also be another way to kill time in the offseason, which is the primary purpose of HOF arguments anyway.
And somehow Jeter gets into that wing as well.
Are you counting his half-hearted attempted catch of Luis Gonzalez's Series-winning hit in 2001? I mean, that was a big moment, and he was there.
I'm going with my new Avatar as his greatest moment.
Pitch this to a publisher, Ubes.
if the committee votes in Morris but continues to ignore his far superior teammates Whitaker and Trammell (who may have helped kept his ERAs south of 5) then...I'll just continue to complain veteran's committees as I always have.
I’m not quite sure where the wine is between small & big HoF is, but I suspect I occupy the middle ground. About the only good outcome that I can think of for Morris’ election is that he might be able to advocate for Trammell’s and (especially) Whitaker’s overdue inclusion with greater authority. That said, it would (as Jaffe points out) simultaneously be a pretty significant injustice to contemporaries like Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, Dave Steib, Doc Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Chuck Finely, and Kevin Appier (the last two are my additions).
Then there are implications for follow-on elections. If Morris is a HoFer because of Game Seven and an ability to soak up a lot of innings over a long period, then shouldn’t Johan Santana be a HoFer for being brilliant enough that he produced 90% of Morris’ career value in a third of the time?
I think what you're saying is that Jim Hoey should be a hall of famer.
If anyone gave votes to Jim Hoey, you could definitely pinpoint where the wine is.
It would be difficult to vote for someone not eligible for the Hall, but I applaud the humor and the not-so-subtle jab at the Twins' previous administration.
That makes me curious--is it difficult to vote for someone not eligible? It seems like I remember people writing Pete Rose's name in. What do the ballots look like? Is it fill in a box next to the candidate, or is it a series of blanks where you write the names of the people you want to vote for, or what?
Good point. It might be easy to vote for someone ineligible but that won't make them any more eligible.
My general position on Hall size is that--with the exception of underrepresented positions like 3B and maybe catcher, I haven't checked the numbers lately--players who get elected should raise the bar, so the bar for admission should be roughly the average HOFer. This is a bit of a small-Hall philosophy, and it does bias a bit against future players versus past players, but to the extent that the HOF is relevant, I think keeping it a bit more exclusive keeps it more relevant.
I am not sure if Morris' inclusion would change the thought process for many voters going forward. I think he'd likely be viewed as a special case, and while you could then maybe advocate for more "special case" HOFers, I think the special cases would be more story-driven (black-ink-type arguments) and less stats-driven (the underrated JAWS/WAR guys).
Pepper, careful of rogue spies.
!!!!!!
I do hope you observed that I found claret tights that are a nearly perfect match with my jacket.
I'm imagining this is a photograph of him taking the above photograph. Obviously there's someone else involved.
Look at the way his socks match almost perfectly the wing bars on the bird he's looking at!
Nice Handoff BTW.
Message looks complicated.
Thanks, I was pretty pleased with my technique.
The message is less complicated than it appears. I made it hastily on the bus one morning after being inspired by a new addition to the banners.
Ex-Twins news: Juan Centeno was claimed off waivers from Houston by the Texas Rangers.
Mmmm, turkey and wild rice soup made from Thanksgiving turkey stock.
Got hit with a random BLOOD and URINE test for performance enhancers today. Y'all came to the wrong house. This is wild, free roaming, 100 percent grass fed, antibiotic & hormone free over here. I ain't mad though, I want a clean sport
Can you imagine how good he'd be if he expanded his diet beyond just grass? Can he even digest that?
I'm looking at gifting The Athletic to someone for Christmas. It is currently available at a large discount, but that discount isn't available for gift subscriptions. For the already-subscribers here, how painless would it be to change the e-mail address come gift time?
Looks like it's about 3 clicks to change the name and email address. So, super easy.
I don't really understand why they price their gift subscriptions so much higher than the regular ones.
My guess is it has to do with the auto-renewal feature of the charge. From what I saw, the gifts didn't auto-renew.
Thanks though! Now I have one of my big Christmas gifts done!
You are 35 years, 11 months, and 9 days old - that's exactly 13,128 days!
That's exactly as old as Sultan Murad V was the day he was deposed after 93 days on the throne
half of my life ago the film Armageddon was released. That depresses me for some reason.
that movie depressed a lot of people. the soundtrack was the best part of it.
I guess I'm a sucker for rank jingoism, but I rather liked it.
well, the part that was rank was the science
Suspension of disbelief does have its limits.
On Saturday I found out a colleague of mine died last Tuesday from bacterial pneumonia & complications from Type 1 diabetes. Because he was a kind, thoughtful, whip-smart guy, he had many friends all over our institution. I admired him; he was the sort of person you look forward to spending a career around, even at a distance. He was only 26.
Nobody has any business dying at 26. May his memory be a blessing.
Thanks, Doc. My professional community going to be feeling his absence for a long time. His memory will be a strong influence on how we approach our work.
Very sad news.
Sorry to hear about your colleague.
As you may know (at least in part), I have a brother, niece, nephew, and cousin with Type I diabetes. They are all managing, but this is serious business. I have donated to the JDRF in the past, but I should do that again. Great strides have been made to help people deal with the disease, but it remains a very dangerous disease that shortens lives, obviously.
Colin’s obituary cited that very organization as a fitting place for memorial donations.
My limited understanding is that people with diabetes (either type) are at significantly greater risk of mortality with pneumonia, which I suppose explains diabetes being cited as a complication in Colin’s death. I am not comforted by this knowledge.
My father lost a leg to diabetes years before he died of heart disease, and zoomx and I have a fraternity brother losing appendages from it right now (his is complicated by kidney failure). Not fun to watch, horrible to have to go through.
"Cyber Monday" always sounds weird to me.
Yeah, me too. Monday was always the worst day for cyber. Bunch of weirdos.
I always think of Cybermen, which are ridiculous. So this day is shrouded in ridiculous.
I think Cyborg Monday would be more ridiculous, though.
And then I see TMBG has called it Cyborg Monday on its Facebook feed. Perfect
Cyber Monday needs this banner
Time Inc being bought out by Meredith Corp., owner of Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle and other wholesome and boring midwestern-sensible publications. Time owns Sports Illustrated, People, Entertainment Weekly and others.
Koch Brothers have made a big investment to help make it happen. But the political angle is likely the wrong one. More interesting is the business angle. Time has been bleeding revenue. This is a $2.8 billion all-cash deal, including $650 million from Koch's.
$650 million? Pocket change. The Koch brothers are worth $82 billion.
Given Time’s history with people like Henry Luce & Whittaker Chambers, I suppose this is fitting.
I see Time, Inc. currently owns MySpace (which was once owned by NewsCorp).
IfWhen.Am I the only one who thinks Ajit Pai looks a bit like DPWY?
heh.
Did the Justice League CGI guys edit a mustache off his face? Those teeth can't be real.
He's just really happy about the new "Senior VP of Something" position Comcast is already paying him for.
I like it when the Wild and Wolves manage to stagger their schedules. Got games everyday until 12/5 with no overlap.
Seems like this year is way better than last year when it comes to the staggered schedule.
The NBA spreading their schedule out an extra two weeks probably helps a lot.
I no longer like this.
Yup
LeBron James is on the Wentz Wagon. Next stop, NDSU Bison. Come on, LBJ! Also, ouch for Cleveland fans, since the Browns traded out to enable the Eagles to take Wentz.
In the event that you have not exhausted your interest in Jack Morris’ HoF situation, Jay Jaffe took a(nother) very thorough look at Morris’ career.
It's kind of funny that the old-school people are giving Morris the same treatment that the new-school people gave Blyleven to get him into the Hall.
It's too bad there isn't some formal acknowledgement that could be bestowed on amazing baseball feats that would allow us to acknowledge things like '91 Game 7 without needing to put the player in the HOF to do so. I'm not such a small Hall guy, but Morris just falls too short on any reasonable account to be in the Hall without really expanding it or making it super arbitrary. Sure it is somewhat arbitrary, the voters have generally done a pretty good job at selecting the truly elite.
Morris was named World Series MVP, which would be an acknowledgement of his performance in that series and specifically in that game. How much more do we have to acknowledge it?
I think ubes’ /sarcasm was implied.
ah yes. I should have recognized that.
Apparently we have to keep talking about it every year HOF elections come around. I agree that for the most part, his WS MVP should be enough, but as a general concept, I think it could be interesting to have a Hall-of-Moments. I'm sure there are such exhibits at the Hall, but they aren't tracked quite the same as HOF players are tracked. A Hall-of-Moments could be an interesting way to acknowledge some of the performances--even during the regular season or not the WS--by players who had incredible moments but maybe lost a bunch of their career to injury (the latter was not the case with Morris, obviously.)
It would also be another way to kill time in the offseason, which is the primary purpose of HOF arguments anyway.
And somehow Jeter gets into that wing as well.
Are you counting his half-hearted attempted catch of Luis Gonzalez's Series-winning hit in 2001? I mean, that was a big moment, and he was there.
I'm going with my new Avatar as his greatest moment.
Pitch this to a publisher, Ubes.
if the committee votes in Morris but continues to ignore his far superior teammates Whitaker and Trammell (who may have helped kept his ERAs south of 5) then...I'll just continue to complain veteran's committees as I always have.
I’m not quite sure where the wine is between small & big HoF is, but I suspect I occupy the middle ground. About the only good outcome that I can think of for Morris’ election is that he might be able to advocate for Trammell’s and (especially) Whitaker’s overdue inclusion with greater authority. That said, it would (as Jaffe points out) simultaneously be a pretty significant injustice to contemporaries like Bret Saberhagen, David Cone, Dave Steib, Doc Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Chuck Finely, and Kevin Appier (the last two are my additions).
Then there are implications for follow-on elections. If Morris is a HoFer because of Game Seven and an ability to soak up a lot of innings over a long period, then shouldn’t Johan Santana be a HoFer for being brilliant enough that he produced 90% of Morris’ career value in a third of the time?
I think what you're saying is that Jim Hoey should be a hall of famer.
If anyone gave votes to Jim Hoey, you could definitely pinpoint where the wine is.
It would be difficult to vote for someone not eligible for the Hall, but I applaud the humor and the not-so-subtle jab at the Twins' previous administration.
That makes me curious--is it difficult to vote for someone not eligible? It seems like I remember people writing Pete Rose's name in. What do the ballots look like? Is it fill in a box next to the candidate, or is it a series of blanks where you write the names of the people you want to vote for, or what?
Good point. It might be easy to vote for someone ineligible but that won't make them any more eligible.
My general position on Hall size is that--with the exception of underrepresented positions like 3B and maybe catcher, I haven't checked the numbers lately--players who get elected should raise the bar, so the bar for admission should be roughly the average HOFer. This is a bit of a small-Hall philosophy, and it does bias a bit against future players versus past players, but to the extent that the HOF is relevant, I think keeping it a bit more exclusive keeps it more relevant.
I am not sure if Morris' inclusion would change the thought process for many voters going forward. I think he'd likely be viewed as a special case, and while you could then maybe advocate for more "special case" HOFers, I think the special cases would be more story-driven (black-ink-type arguments) and less stats-driven (the underrated JAWS/WAR guys).
Pepper, careful of rogue spies.
!!!!!!
I do hope you observed that I found claret tights that are a nearly perfect match with my jacket.
I hadn't.
FYI: I've been taking a different route to the office after I saw this seasonally late Clay-colored Sparrow across the street from Whole Foods.
And here I thought you were suddenly taking up vexillology.
Anyway rogue spies are all around, though they don't all have zoom lenses.
I'm imagining this is a photograph of him taking the above photograph. Obviously there's someone else involved.
Look at the way his socks match almost perfectly the wing bars on the bird he's looking at!
Nice Handoff BTW.
Message looks complicated.
Thanks, I was pretty pleased with my technique.
The message is less complicated than it appears. I made it hastily on the bus one morning after being inspired by a new addition to the banners.
Ex-Twins news: Juan Centeno was claimed off waivers from Houston by the Texas Rangers.
Mmmm, turkey and wild rice soup made from Thanksgiving turkey stock.
Can you imagine how good he'd be if he expanded his diet beyond just grass? Can he even digest that?
I'm looking at gifting The Athletic to someone for Christmas. It is currently available at a large discount, but that discount isn't available for gift subscriptions. For the already-subscribers here, how painless would it be to change the e-mail address come gift time?
Looks like it's about 3 clicks to change the name and email address. So, super easy.
I don't really understand why they price their gift subscriptions so much higher than the regular ones.
My guess is it has to do with the auto-renewal feature of the charge. From what I saw, the gifts didn't auto-renew.
Thanks though! Now I have one of my big Christmas gifts done!