94 thoughts on “June 21, 2011: Air Mattress”

  1. Twins didn't even play yesterday, yet still gained on everyone in the division. They're just that good.

    1. I'm going to make a New Guy like prediction here: The Minnesota Twins will be at .500 by the All Star break. And then, lucky for them, they have 12 games at home against division rivals immediately after. So, who starts game one of the ALDS?

  2. I just saw the updated "Avatars of WGOM" banner, and it looks really nice.
    I am a little bummed I got bumped for StatFreak, though.

    1. You were bumped?! Did I not save after moving you into the thing? Okay, lemme look at this...

      Edit: Ah, I see what I did. Long, boring story. Anyway, you're back in (SF102, we hardly knew ye).

      1. You know, I'm starting to think you may not like me, spooky. Also, it turns out I really like to complain if I can do it (semi)anonymously.

          1. 'tis true. I talked to her on the phone the other day. She's really not moving to Arizona.

    2. It's been trying desperately for years. Maybe it will have finally stopped bothering me about it.

      1. I would think it would first be begging you to get a profile picture.

        Meanwhile, how long will it take Facebook before it gets on spooky's case for calling a computer instead of an app?

    1. He is the kind of guy that would make you say you'd move to the Twin Cities to watch him play every night.

        1. Pfft. I can pay double that for one seat at twenty Sabres games. Wait, nevermind.

    1. Hammocks? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Hammocks! hungry joe, there's four places. There's the Hammock Hut, that's on third. There's Hammocks-R-Us, that's on third too. You got Put-Your-Butt-There. That's on third. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot... Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; it's the hammock complex? On third?

      2. I always thought that was a particularly inefficient arrangement.

        I could see a hammock shop making it as something a bit bigger than a kiosk in a mall, but having them all in one complex requires a trip just for hammocks. Plus, with that many competitors in close proximity, there will heavy price competition. I predict that within two years, at most one of the hammock merchants is still in business, and if one is, it will have moved to a multiple-product retail area.

        1. Yeah, but when Scorpio took the East Coast it opened a much wider hammock market.

    2. I haven't slept well in over a month, but that's probably due to working on the house, possibly moving, not knowing what the hell I'm going to be doing next year, etc. I think a hammock is in order.

      1. i've never been lucky enough to own a hammock. this is something i'd like to remedy.

          1. I loved my dad's hammock back in the day when he had it up. At the new house there's no place for one. I seriously measured the back deck at my apt when I moved in to see if I could manage, but I don't think I could.

        2. I have a little portable blue fabric one that I used a lot when I was in college. The hammock and the climbing rope I used to set it up fit into a 2" diameter by 4" high bag, and I'd take that out into the huge woods and find a couple of trees that were about the right distance, set it up, and relax.

          Come to think of it, I need to get that thing back out.

            1. It looks like that hammock comes with rope already, unless you anticipate needing more. Also, depending on your size and the size of your lady, it might be worth it to find one with a little higher weight limit so that you can enjoy it together.

              Overall, though, that likes a lot like what I used and it's really nice.

              1. The rope is part just in case the rope provided isn't enough, and part bump my order up to free shipping. Plus, you never know when a bit of rope might come in handy.

            2. Tangentially related, I seem to remember you mentioning Vibram FiveFingers shoes in the past. Do you have a pair? If so, how do you like them? The wife and I are getting into running and need new shoes anyway, and they get really good reviews overall, but it's always nice to get feedback from someone you "know".

              1. I love my FiveFingers. I'm wearing them right now, actually. They take a little getting used to - you'll have to walk more on your toes/balls of your feet than you're probably used to. Other than that, they're great. My ankles feel stronger and my knees don't hurt nearly as much as when I wear my Chucks.

                1. Have been training/running in the five fingers and like it. What MagU said was true - takes some getting used to. Different set of muscles for the run.

                  I did a 5K in Hartford with them and improved by 3 minutes over my previous run.

            3. I had one of those travel hammocks back in the day, and it was pretty nice, but I prefer a nice rope hammock with spreaders on the ends. The travel hammock sort of wraps around you and is a bit confining. It always made me feel like Shelob's breakfast.

              1. Dad's old hammock was rope with a wood spreader. But I know what wouldn't fit on my deck at all. Plus with this one, I should be able to take it to rugby matches and the like.

  6. I saw some highlights from the Brewers-Rays tilt last night. Bob Davidson needs to do more White Sox games.

  7. We all have heard about the terrible flooding on the Missouri-Mississippi River system this spring. But, there's a major flood about to happen on the Souris River that runs through Minot ND. 4000 buildings are expected to be flooded.

    The Souris River is set to overtop levees in Minot, displacing about a quarter of the North Dakota city's population for a second time this spring and promising to swamp thousands of structures under the worst flooding in four decades.

    "We could have a really catastrophic type of event here," Mayor Curt Zimbelman said during a late Monday news conference, calling it "a sad day for Minot." The Minot Daily News reported that his comments were met by stunned silence.

    The river that loops down from Canada through north central North Dakota is bloated by heavy spring snowmelt and rain on both sides of the border. The flooding in Minot, where about 41,000 people live, is now expected to dwarf the historic flood of 1969, when the river reached 1,554.5 feet above sea level. The river is expected to hit nearly 1,563 feet this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

    I hate to be pedantic at a time like this, but if the river is going to be 8.5 feet above the 1969 flood, this flooding will be a lot worse than "the worst flooding in four decades." In any event, North Dakota's fourth largest city is about to be devastated.

    1. Holy cow. My aunt & uncle just moved from Minot back to Moorhead late last summer. This is no good at all.

    3. To be fair to the author, the quoted blurb goes on to elaborate that the flooding "is now expected to dwarf the historic flood of 1969" which is a lot more extreme statement than "the worst flooding in four decades." A catastrophic situation regardless.

      Not sure if this has been the case for the Souris River basin, but this year the Columbia River basin didn't see much snowpack until somewhat late in the season, and has seen cool temperatures throughout May and early June, which I think has led to higher discharge rates for the same volume of water when the snow started melting, which makes it difficult for the ACE to keep on top of flood control.

    4. The Weather Channel last night was saying that the Missouri River is going to be above flood stage until September. That's just nuts.

      1. The snow pack in the Rockies is just starting to melt. I guess it's humongous, which is what is going to fuel this all summer long.

    1. The cartoon associated with the link is the best part, for sure.

      2. “Pabst won its Blue Ribbon in the Trentwood County Fair TASTE OFF in 1923, narrowly beating aluminum foil and a pint of urine.”

        agreed.

        1. Oh, c'mon, when PBR is on sale for 4 bucks a 6er (tall boys) and it's 108˚ outside you'd drink it, too. I'm not a fanboy of the stuff, but when it's cheaper than my summer stand by highlife I'll drink it. My kingdom for a primo.

          1. I wanted my wife to get some primo for the baby shower this past weekend, but she couldn't find it and got Leinie's O instead. I was a bit bummed. (especially because I'm almost certain its there somewhere, she just didn't know what the case looked like.)

            1. We had Grain Belt Premiums for my daughter's graduation party. $17.00 a case.

            1. Oh, I totally forgot to tell you, the last weekend I was in 'burque my friend Evan showed up at my place with a sixer of Genny Punders. I about died.

                1. speaking of gut rot, how was the sesame pork roast, meat? Carnivores Citizens want to know.

                  1. We're making pizza out of the left-overs tonight. Spicy thai goat cheese + sesame pork = happy camper.

                    1. that sounds really, really good. But you need to write up a The Nation Has An Appetite food log, dude.

          3. I'm not a fanboy of the stuff, but when it's cheaper than my summer stand by highlife I'll drink it. My kingdom for a primo.

            just to clarify, i was agreeing with FT"hm"LT that the cartoon was amusing, and i was quoting the last square as an example of what amused me. i am by no means above a pabst, and indeed purchase it (more often these days as funds for beer are being directed elsewhere) when it's lower than the highlife. as is typical around these parts though, it tends to be a bit more than highlife or old style. chicago must be more hipster friendly than tejas.

            1. Oh, my tone was meant to be more "shucks" than "finger pointing".I'll just chalk that one up to the failure of language blogging.

    1. Yeah, those are just ridiculous.

      I don't know how Atlanta could see it's chances of making the playoffs drop by 30% in any one week unless there were 14 days left in the season at the end of it.

      I'm guessing that they're presenting some sort of leveraged playoff probability. Like how much of the probability that could be determined to this point is determined.

      Baseball Prospectus has the Twins with a 5.9% probability of making the playoffs, a 3.7% increase from last week.

      1. Whatever their particular method, it seems likely that they are overconfident in each team's year-to-date performance as an indication of its performance over the remainder of the season. Also, and I'm not sure if BP takes this into account either, there is probably some autocorrelation in the time series of wins and losses, which makes winning streaks and losing streaks somewhat more likely than they would be if you were flipping a coin, and would probably increase the odds for some of the long-shots.

    2. I wish I could get those odds right now.

      221 Chicago White Sox +200
      222 Cleveland Indians +300
      223 Detroit Tigers -150
      224 Kansas City Royals +5000
      225 Minnesota Twins +800

      1. For comparison:

        CWS +200/+11,211
        CLE +300/+695
        DET -150/-122
        KCR +5,000/+[/infty]
        MIN +800/+16,766

        1. I'm not a gambler, but I'd certainly wager a few jellybeans on the Twins if I could receive that sort of action.

          1. I'd be more inclined to do something like that if I could make 100-200 unrelated wagers that I felt similarly confident in.

  10. I found a Instructor in the Social Sciences position at the university in Saipan. Might apply to that. My first college roommate lives in Saipan now, and he says it's pretty awesome.

    1. what's that going to do for your career path, Magoo? I'm not trying to be a downer -- I actually don't have a clear opinion on that question vis-a-vis your odds of subsequently getting into a good Ph.D. program, if that is still a goal.

      I have a friend who taught in Turkey for a couple of years after getting his Ph.D. Usually, going that far off the Reservation is a killer, but he's now tenured at a Tier I school.

    1. I was still holding onto a tiny thread of hope that Papa Glen would bring him back to the Timberwolves...

    1. Nevermind, we were beaten to it.

      The pitcher is Billy Pierce, and this picture was taken on 8/23/57. The White Sox defeated the Red Sox 4-1 behind Pierce’s CG 4-hitter.
      It’s amazing what you can find with 30 seconds of research with Baseball Reference

      1. Darn. It didn't look that hard to find since all of the scores were posted and three games had completed. I would have found it quicker if I figured out that St. Louis scored two runs instead of eight.

    1. Must have been confusing to figure out the players with everyone wearing the same number.

    2. Who in the world bid $500 on Scott Diamond? I assume AMR will be buying the Chuck James jersey. If I had a decent amount of discretionary income, I'd probably bid on the Gibson one.

      2. Ooh! There's a Nieto one, too.
        If it's still at $80 tomorrow afternoon, I might have to go after that James.

  15. Valencia back in the lineup tonight. Mauer catching Pavano. If that goes well, we might not see Butera for much longer. Hughes at first batting seventh, Nishi batting eighth.

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