Sour Cream wants a "Stuffy" for Christmas. This is the first time we've ever had to Google something one of the girls asked for.
173 thoughts on “December 3, 2013: Stuffy”
How much stuff can you stuff in your Stuffie until your Stuffie's stuffed enough stuff!?
Just making sure you got the spelling correct.
I know that one! It's one of the things they advertise on Qubo!
Well, look at that. The Milkmaid Googled it and told me about it, so I still don't even know what it looks like, let alone that it used this spelling (though it makes sense...easier to copyright, I assume?).
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new Twins player autographed baseball card acquisition Joe Mauer (woo-hoo!)
I've picked up some of the big ones lately due to this.
awesome
Agreed.
Two things, follow-ups from the last two days' Cups of Coffee:
1. Fixed the dryer. Had a moment of panic upon replacing the thermal fuse when it still wasn't heating. Silly me, I forgot to turn the gas back on.
2. I've had "Man or a Muppet" now stuck in my head for 24 hours.
Yay on #1. It's always gratifying to avoid the costs of a repairman or the appliance store, as the case may be.
I got that when the washing machine recirculation wasn't flowing like it should. Tipped the sucker on its side, pulled out the y-valve and found out that my wife tends to lose track of her hair pins.
Next up: replace the serpentine belt on my car, which the internet has told me is actually much easier than it looks.
Our first washer once somehow got a baby sock into the water pump. I still can't fathom how it got through those little holes, but it did.
That was another triumph and all it took was taking it apart and putting it back together, no parts, no gas.
I had that happen, too!
Except the sock wedged in there tight enough it managed to break the coupler between the pump and motor. The replacement was about $10, if I remember right.
Yep. I think I've now sent my wife there more than I've been there myself.
Big fan of Dey's. Love the folks who work there.
I am a customer myself.
$17 including tax, but not the gas to get over to Dey's.
I could have gotten it cheaper online if I would have been willing to wait to get the part of another day or two, but as I wasn't certain that it was the only problem, I wanted to know right away if I'd need a repair. Sending my wife to a laundromat with four kids did not sound like a very good option.
Anthony Pierzynski to the Red Sox.
Bummer, I wanted him to be a Twin again, just to watch how fast certain people change their opinion of the man.
We refer to our dog Harriet as the Harri Monster, so we often ask her if she's a monster or a dog.
sweet. The Sawks can go on collecting all of teh Internet's hatred!
also, I can't recall, but have we remarked on McHissypants going to the Yankmees? AL East is cornering the market on feisty catchers.
I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer. I was given cash for Christmas this year and ordered to buy something I want. I have decided to comply with this request.
My want is a turntable. The problem is that I know nothing. I checked Amazon and prices go up to 1800. That is out of my price range and, I am hoping, unnecessary.
I have a decent stereo but not super nice. It is higher end for Best Buy but not Magnolia level.
What should I look for in a turntable? What price range should I target? What questions am I forgetting to ask?
What questions am I forgetting to ask?
Just one: Are there any old people or hipsters on this site?
Sorry, couldn't help it.
I'm old enough to remember the days of turntables, but back then I was so broke that I couldn't have afforded one.
No need to ask a question if you already know the answer.
Spring for Magnolia. At my store we have just two of them, and they both constantly get returned. Down the road in Arrowhead, they have choices that don't seem to have that problem.
There's a Marantz turntable that usually retails for $1500 that's just awesome, but you can get near that quality from a NAD turntable for $599, or better if you shop around, maybe.
If you don't want to spend that much, I'll think on the next level of things.
That is the range I was thinking. Is that too good for the stereo I have? By that, I mean will I be able to tell the difference between a 200 dollar turntable and a 600 dollar one or would it require me to upgrade the receiver? (Which is not an option.)
Uh oh. I'm kind of an audio nut.
There are a couple ways you can go here. One is to save some money and get a "vintage" (70s/80s) Pioneer/Technics/Thonrens/Yamaha table on Craigslist. I do actually think this is the best bang for the buck. Problem is that someone new to the game will definitely not be comfortable picking one of these out. I've been there.
So for new options, I'd look to one of the following:
I have the Denon table with an Ortofon Blue cartridge and I'm quite happy with it. My next upgrade would have to be $1500+ to see I difference, I think. (Not saying I’ll ever do that!) The latter table with default cartridge sometimes dips down to $270-290 on Amazon. I’m linking to Needle Doctor because Minnesota. (And they do provide pretty great service, answering all my stupid questions.)
I don’t think these would be too good for your current stereo. The problem is if you fall in love with listening, actually listening, to music, which records tend to force on you, then you will get the bug to upgrade all of your components. I recommend speakers as your next target. 🙂
Another thing to consider is if you need a phono stage. Does your BBY equipment have a phono input? If not, the Denon provides a built-in phono stage. I don’t think the Pro-Ject does. If you need a separate phono stage, I’d go for this one. I don’t own it, but I’d like to hear it. I have this TCC. It is an improvement on the built-in in the Denon.
I have more to say, but I’ll stop for now. Also, lots of research to be had on audiokarma.org.
and here it is, bhjess!
Holy cow, that's quite the response!
My recommendation was going to be the REGA RP1. I had a good friend buy one a few years back and he loves it. I'd like to buy one eventually but I have my dad's old amp which needs a cleaning to work better and until I have that working there's no point in having a good turntable. Someday, though.
Looks like you can't go wrong with that, either. Nice!
As you can see, almost with all of these tables it seems the recommendation is to upgrade your cartridge right out of the gate. Probably something worth budgeting for.
I agree with bjhess on the economy of buying used audio equipment, provided you know how to pick out a piece in good working order. I picked up a vintage Technics turntable for about $60 (a small overpay) about five years ago and have been very satisfied. I've used it infrequently since we moved into the new house, mostly because I need to get a pair of smaller speakers for my office and everything else is out in the living room. When I was running the turntable off my late 1990s Pioneer receiver I used this phono pream and was pleased with how it worked. Now I have the turntable paired with a vintage Sansui G-5500 receiver ($100 score at an antique mall), and the sound is quite nice. If I were looking to upgrade next, I'd try to find a better turntable (a Dual, maybe?), but the Technics is a pretty decent place to start. (There's that upgrade bug bjhess mentioned!)
If you'd like to go vintage, you could always check out a record store. Vinyl's hot, and it's possible one of the clerks is looking to sell a deck, or knows someone who is, or can direct you to a reputable store selling vintage equipment. (Or, perhaps the store also sells turntables, like mine does here in Madison.)
I got my Dad's old turntable. It's a Technics and I really like it. I need much better speakers for it someday, though.
Awesome. Thanks.
After I make that decision, I will have to decide what twenty records I want to buy. I decided that that is my limit.
It's good to have a limit--having a limit makes the difference between collecting and hoarding. I recently decided that I should cap my digital audio collection at 64 GB and I'm in the process of whittling it down. So far I haven't had to make any real hard decisions. Is there any criteria you are thinking of for what would make an album more worth owning on record as opposed to CD/mp3/etc?
That's an interesting discussion all by itself right there. I wouldn't mind seeing a "Desert Island" playlist music post.
I agree
Re: Desert Island - early in band career albums seem to be more appealing to me, when they are first cutting their teeth, creating the brand, not as much polish but defining.
When it comes to digital music, I am definitely a hoarder.
For the records, I just want to have the 20 albums I would choose to have on a deserted island. I am mainly a rock fan so it will be things like Abbey Road, Let It Bleed, Born to Run, etc.
I work pretty close to Down in the Valley so maybe I'll get hooked on used records too but my thinking right now is to stick close to that 20.
I also have a rule that there can be no greatest hits, compilations, etc.
That's pretty good as a rule of thumb. I make exceptions for compilations if I feel that I'd never want to buy a non-compilation album from that artist. Abbey Road and Let It Bleed were in my dad's LP collection, I'd have trouble arguing against them.
I'm fine with compilations when it comes to songs released in the pre-album era, or thematic collections of recordings that are particularly old or rare. But that's about it.
Compiled non-album singles...
(Thinking Greensleeves reggae here, although that's not something I have on vinyl or even CD.)
Makes sense, Legend is pretty uninspiring.
On the other hand... Smash Hits.
Neil Young "Decade" excepted.'course I also have (most?) of the source albums on cd or tape.
I considered that. I think I will just go with Harvest and possibly Live from Massey Hall.
I think that's an awesome goal, even if you ultimately don't hold to it. I'm holding back on a recommendation because I don't want to presume to tell you what to put in your Desert Island Twenty. (Seriously, this needs to be a post. If nobody else wants to write it, I will, because I'd love to hear what others' DI20 include.)
Digital hoarder here, too. I've been avoiding going through my digital audio collection (and my digital photo collection).
You wanna write it for Friday's Friday Music Day?
I don't think I'll have time to do so. Not sure what's on my island 20.
Yeah, I can do that. Thanks for offering.
You've got privileges and all, right?
I'm not gonna wake up on Friday to no Friday Music Day, am I?
I should have enough privileges to post, or had them at one point in the past.
My initial wish list is 42 albums. A few haven't been reissued so they will be eliminated based on price unless I can luck into them.
I'd be interested in seeing others' lists, too. It might change my list by opening my eyes to oversights.
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
hahahahaha.
ha.
heh.
Ah, so I finally decided to limit myself to one new (like new in box) album per month. Although that's actually more than I had been buying prior, so I guess it's not much of a limit.
Used records are so damn enticing, though. I probably have 50-100 records that I really will not listen to after the first spin. Things that I'd never buy in CD form, but figured I'd give 'em a try in record form. Now that I'm here, I can appreciate ratcheting back from that hoarding mentality.
This is actually why I implemented the one-new-record-per-month rule, because I'm finding if I listened to an album on Rdio for a while and really liked it, and if I've done my research as to the quality of the record pressing, I'm much more happy with that $20 new record than a bunch of ho-hum $3 records. And so hopefully my rule to buy things actually turns out to save me from becoming a hoarder.
(If you do get into buying used records, though, we have to have a discussion about record cleaning. I can go way, way down…)
Yeah, some of that.
But there were those gems picked up on a whim that keep me searching for more like that, hoping to get the big hit again.
For me it's like looking for Agates in gravel, or rare birds in the woods.
That one sporadic success will drive months of fruitless searches while tuning out family members.
Must be like that for gamblers, too.
Gambling crossed with a completist/hoarder collector mentality.
For me it's like looking for Agates in gravel, or rare birds in the woods.
That one sporadic success will drive months of fruitless searches while tuning out family members.
Exactly this. Mrs. Hayes doesn't care much about the vinyl, provided it doesn't take over the house or cause cheques to bounce. But finding that gem of a jazz record (or classical vinyl for a steal) can be mighty satisfying.
I had planned on coming back around tonight to run through a few other choices, but wow, it turns out we have audiophiles. Good stuff, hess. Fully baked.
it turns out we have audiophiles
What don't we have?
I posted a long reply. It's not appearing. Let's see if it appears soon!
It got stuck in moderation. I approved it and it should be appearing any second.
approval seems to take a while sometimes. I did the same.
It's a two step process. First it needs to be marked as non-spam, which you did, and then it needs to be approved, which Mags did.
Boom. Teamwork.
Thank you!
Also, thanks for indirectly reminding me that I have a vinyl EP that needs selling.
Funny, I just was gifted a record player with amp and speakers from a co-workers attic. I have no idea what it is yet, post to follow tomorrow.
My daughter has reached the age where she is beginning to have crises of self-confidence. She's a terrific student and just a sweet little girl. But, of course, she feels that no one likes her. I am trying to explain that this is something pretty much everyone goes through, but I remember that when you are six years old, that's not a compelling argument.
The Milklings haven't had much of that, but Skim had some terrors when we moved ("What if I don't make any friends?"). I similarly was able to make very few compelling arguments. I knew her personality would make it very easy for her to come home from her first week of school feeling like she'd been there forever, but as she saw these kids at gatherings beforehand, she obsessed over whether they'd like her.
If you find the magic words, let me know. I suspect we'll move again before they graduate.
I have no advice to give. I just wanted to commiserate. Parenting a 5 year old girl is much more psychology based than I had thought it would be. And I am told that it gets worse.
We had a very emotional morning involving snow boots and apparently not letting her talk. She gets very specific ideas about the way things should be but then cannot express them before devolving into tears. I am certain that this is pretty normal but it is also pretty damn annoying.
And I am told that it gets worse.
As a parent of a 16-year old girl, I can attest that the Emotional Rollercoaster is a ride that never seems to end.
"not letting [him] talk" is one of Aquinas' biggest issues (he's 4). He needs to get his thoughts out, and any interrupting devastates him.
Yes! If you think about it, learning how to hold onto a thought and save it until there is a pause where you can start talking is probably super tricky. It just doesn't need to result in a puddle of tears EVERY DAMN TIME. I just tell myself that I'm helping her figure it all out and these will be handy life skills. Or I get really mad and I yell. It's sort of a crapshoot sometimes.
It seems to come up frequently when he's about to be punished for something. He absolutely needs to explain himself before he hears the punishment. He'll go to his room, or apologize to his sister, or whatever else, but only after he tells me the way the world is through his eyes. I usually don't want to listen because I'm too busy cleaning up broken glass or comforting Aristotle, or whatever else.
I can affirm that the puddle of tears result is not an isolated occurrence. Our 3.5 year old is a complete joy until anything happens that she doesn't like, at which point the waterworks start. Unlike our toddler, they seem to be genuine, too, which is all the more annoying.
Unlike our toddler, they seem to be genuine
Dangit man, I was drinking something when I read this! Now I gotta clean my monitor.
Also, genders? We've got b/g, so the g-toddler... yeah, manipulative.
All three of our kids are girls. Our toddler is absolutely adorable, and knows it. Previously, she was also very well behaved unless she was tired (though every so often she'd just feel contrary - you could pretty much see her decide whether she was going to do what you wanted). Now, as she's approaching two, we're getting more tantrums and fake tears. She's a good girl, though.
Mine (2.25 years) is either a joy or a tears and drama manufacturing beast. She'll cry at the drop of a hat, sometimes real tears, sometimes whimpering/whining that evolves into real tears, and sometimes just outright fraudulent non-tears whining. I still haven't exactly figured out which one is coming from whatever the cause is (insult, injury, etc.).
I just tell myself that I'm helping her figure it all out and these will be handy life skills. Or I get really mad and I yell.
This is my world to a "T".
I feel your pain. But mine is 5.5 and in kindergarten and really needs to be able to get hold of herself work through some of these sorts of situations. I wonder what it is like at school.
It didn't help that her brother woke her up more than an hour early this morning. He just transitioned to the Big Boy Bed annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd turns out he's a walker. And this morning he wandered into her room and her bed at 5.
This weekend he came in our room at 1 and asked me if was the middle of the night or the morning and could he watch a show on the big ipad downstairs (the TV).
It's pretty different on Saturday and Sunday morning, it's just that most of our exposure with her, Monday-Friday, is when she's just woken up: ill-tempered like her old man, or exhausted and hungry from a full day of 'school' [daycare]: cross like her old lady.
They tell us that she's pretty good at school. My mother (MA in Early Childhood Ed) tells us that it means she's reserving her melt-downs for the place she feels most comfortable & confident in a supportive and loving response (or something like that). I don't know if that's true, but if so, I sometimes wish she'd learn to be more "comfortable" in expressing herself at school.
reserving her melt-downs for the place she feels most comfortable & confident in
Both my girls do this a lot, and the boy, well, every now and then.
We just had conferences with GRZ' preschool teacher and were somewhat surprised to find that she never melts down at school. As Can of Corn said above, there is a difference between home and elsewhere, and her teacher said it was a good sign that she was understanding the difference between private and public environments, even though it's incredibly frustrating.
We had the same. I was really nervous, going into it, about Aquinas' social interaction with other kids, or whether he played by himself a lot. He never tells us about playing with other kids, etc. The teacher brushed aside our concerns very quickly, because he apparently gets along with everyone, all the time. He also doesn't shut up though. That was kind of comforting to hear. I don't know where I'm going with this, I just felt compelled to share. I wonder where my kid gets it?
We were in Omaha this weekend with some cousins and watched in amazement at five or six ipads appeared to keep all the youngsters (the oldest just turned six) busy.
We've managed to avoid this so far (G is not yet 2, so there's still time). He likes Blue's Clues and Baby Einstein videos, but he hasn't really gotten into the interactive smartphone/iPad stuff to this point.
Mostly the kid loves to sing, read books, and build towers.
We avoid the iPad/smartphone stuff with ours. TV... they probably watch too much, but we limit that too.
We drove from SoCal to the Twin Cities one spring when Junior was 16 months old. That roadtrip was when we bought our first portable DVD player. Saved our sanity. Thank you, Elmo.
We count it all (ipad, tv) as screen time. It's pretty much limited to Saturday and Sunday mornings becuase yeah, they would be on those things forever if we let them. I just think it's funny that he thinks the tv is a giant ipad. Kids.
screen time was a constant battle with The Boy until he got to high school and we pretty much gave up. He was getting straight-As and was involved in sports, so .... Also, film studies major.
with the Girl, screen time was never a problem until she hit her tweens and got her first laptop. Now she's on the thing All. The. Time. Again, however, straight-As and sports, so, we've surrendered.
My parents controlled TV pretty strictly (they had a removable cord installed and kept it hidden) and STILL I spent quite a bit of time lazing away in front of the TV. Someday we won't be able to control it like we do, but hopefully this will have given them a good foundation for learning how to entertain themselves.
Our TV broke at one point, and my parents didn't bother to get a new one for more than a year. It's probably one of the reasons I still read so much.
I'm not gonna lie, we let the trinket play with the iPad at times and have gotten her a Leap Pad for Christmas. We mostly use it for watching Sesame Street on Netflix (currently on the 8th viewing of "The Bubblefest" in 5 days!) to get her to lay down for naps. But, I doubt I'll be very good about keeping her off of that stuff going forward because my parents weren't particularly good about keeping me off of video games/tv when I was growing up.
When we watch something, etc., we try to be there with the kids, so that at least it's not just screen time. Of course, out results are often half-baiked.
We got GRZ a Nabi Jr for her birthday, which we also use to play music for bedtime. We were kind of divided on it at first, but it's turned out to be a pretty good purchase. We do keep an eye on her use, but we've also noticed some definite improvement in some skill based on the games that she plays.
I was at a concert recently and sat next to a couple with a fifteen-month-old. She knows how to use an ipad better than I do.
This weekend he came in our room at 1 and asked me if was the middle of the night or the morning and could he watch a show on the big ipad downstairs (the TV).
Time to get a clock. We taught Runner daughter to look for a "7" at the front of the time, and then she'd know it was time to get up. Or an alarm if that's too advanced.
My kid had no interest in following his alarm. He'd come into our room to tell us it hadn't gone off yet.
Then you haven't taught him the awesome flawlessness of technology yet!
What is amazing to me is that she's a completely different person at school. Anywhere other than at school, she's got a take-charge personality and is very outgoing. At school, though, we are repeatedly told how shy she is. When she plays with kids her own age outside of school, she seems to be just fine. At school, though, she's been having difficulty fitting in, I think.
That's not the totality of the facts, but what I think is happening is that she's finding out that at school, she can't get everyone to do what she wants. This is kind of a new thing for her and she's having trouble dealing with that emotionally. My thinking is that she needs to get a little taste of that at home; she rules the roost too much.
My daughter is a lot like me. I remember how difficult it was for me to try and fit in at that age. My home dynamic was a lot different than hers; I had siblings and my mother is much, much different in demeanor and world view than my wife. My mother was very hard and cold; she didn't provide much comfort to me on these types of issues at all. I think my wife is inclined to accommodate Miss SBG too much; so much so that Miss SBG just clings to her at all times like a security blanket. This clinging hasn't always been part of my daughter's behavior, she's usually been so self-assured and independent. Now, though, she can hardly stand to be away from her. My suspicion is that this school stuff is really bothering her.
I'd like to see her move past it; I suppose she will eventually. Progress is not linear, I know that. So, I'll have patience and let her try and work through all this for a while, using my wife as a crutch. At some point, I suspect I'm going to have to get her to swim a little, though.
My 10yo boy and 7yo girl have no shortage of confidence, to the point that I think they must get that from their mom, as I wasn't/ain't the most confident person in the room. I worry about my 5yo, however, who just started K. But her conference could not have been better and my wife and I have a lot of, ahem, confidence in her teacher this year. So, so far so good, but I understand your concern. That's not a happy place for your little girl to be. And there's not a lot a dad can do to help.
My 2yo's primary interest is interprative dance, so I'm not really worried about that one at all.
Looks like I've got some good stuff to read later. Bit too deep for me at this point in my night.
Have you tried talking to her teacher? I know a lot of teachers don't know what is going on behind the scenes and will make sure a kid is included if they don't feel like they are.
My wife talked to her teacher and she sent a very long e-mail discussing our daughter. It was very positive about her and reassuring.
The Nats traded three minor parts to get Doug Fister yesterday. I was amused by this:
"He is a strike thrower, for one thing. He competes," the scout said. "I think he will do a better job than Haren did for the club. He is not a hard thrower, but the thing is, he will give innings."
Any chance this isn't a Twins scout? The same scout referred to Steve Lombardozzi as a "utility-type player."
Every time I read comments from a scout, I picture him sitting at the table with Billy Beane. And about to get a verbal smackdown.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3GZwo0vGc
(bit of language here)
Everything said, the Nationals appear to have made the best deal of the offseason so far.
I haven't looked at what the Nationals gave up at all, but I probably underrate Fister. He never had much hype when he was with the Mariners, and on crappy teams pretty much anyone worth anything seems to get really hyped, so I never thought much of him and always expected him to regress to complete failure. His minor league stats are decent, suggestive of maybe a league average pitcher, but he's been pretty awesome pretty consistently.
I don't look at pitch type stats a ton, but looking at his pitch type distribution, it seems like exactly what you'd hope for a guy who doesn't throw that hard, but can also throw strikes. He appears to have two different fastballs (each thrown 20-30% of the time), a slider or cutter (about 10-15% of the time), a curveball (20% of the time), and a change-up (15% of the time.) The speed differentials seem pretty solid, too. Fastball around 88-89, slider/cutter around 85, change at 80, and curve around 75.
And almost exactly like you'd expect for a guy with a lot of good/decent pitches to throw, he's really consistent as the other team goes through the order:
.675 OPS - 1st time through the order
.703 OPS - 2nd time through
.686 OPS - 3rd time through
It really seems like there's a lot more to Fister's game than just competing, throwing strikes, and eating innings. Personally, while I love seeing someone with an extremely dominant pitch, it can be even more fun watching a starter who can really mix it up.
except for not getting blown up in the first inning, he sounds a lot like Bradke. Or am I just making that up?
First-inning splits
290/340/435 Fister, 2013 (but OOPS for 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 were 712, 709, and 701, respectively)
285/324/508 Radke, career (OOPS for 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 were 773, 743, 729, respectively)
fwiw.
Year
Average OPS
1995
.771
1999
.786
2006
.776
2013
.725
1999 chosen because it was Radke's best season per rWAR. If you subtract 50 points from each split, that puts Radke respectively: a little worse, a little better, much better.
If you're talking about style, Bradke relied a lot more on his fastball--throwing it over 60% of the time in the years that fangraphs has data. Seems like he was more of a fastball/change pitcher with a curve and slider each used 5-10% of the time as a way to keep you honest.
World Cup pots are announced for the draw this Friday. I swear to whatever is holy that if the US is in Ghana's group I will flip my shit.
Pot 1
Pot 2
Pot 3
Pot 4
Brazil
Chile
Japan
Netherlands
Argentina
Ecuador
Iran
Italy
Colombia
Côte d'Ivoire
Korea Republic
England
Uruguay
Ghana
Australia
Portugal
Spain
Algeria
USA
Greece
Germany
Nigeria
Mexico
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belgium
Cameroon
Costa Rica
Croatia
Switzerland
Honduras
Russia
France
One of the teams in pot 4 will be drawn into pot 2 eventually, but they have to make sure not to get more than two UEFA teams into a group. And putting one into pot 2 too early could lead to 3 teams from Europe in one pot.
So there's another chance for:
England Algeria Spain Yanks?
I'm definitely sick of playing Ghana. If Nate Silver's rankings are to be taken seriously, the best case group would put the US with Switzerland, Algeria, and Croatia.
Croatia has had pretty poor form lately, but man for man they are better than the US. Greece, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and England would be better pulls for me than Croatia.
I rate Algeria and Cameroon pretty equally. Two of the weakest teams in the tournament.
Switzerland, Cameroon, USA, Greece would be a dream group.
Brazil, Ghana, USA, Netherlands would be a nightmare group.
I'm hazy on how they use the pots--if you draw Brazil, does that mean you'd get a CAF team from Pot 2, or would it be possible to have 2 CONMEBOL teams in one group? Because as scary as Brazil, Ghana, USA, Netherlands would be, it would probably be better than Brazil, Chile, USA, Netherlands, especially considering that the tournament is in South America.
You are correct, only UEFA can have 2 teams in one group.
Fifa divides the qualifying teams into four pots. One pot contains the eight highest ranked teams, the next teams from Africa and South America, the third teams from Europe and the fourth teams from the rest of the world. These pots are then drawn into eight groups of four teams. As hosts, Brazil are not in the draw, but are alloted the first slot in Group A. Then each group is made up of four teams, one from each pot. Finally, no group is allowed to contain more than two teams from Europe or more than one team from any other continent. (This could happen if, for instance, Argentina were drawn from the top-seeds pot against Chile from the South American pot.)
Anyone here had a camera shoved down their throat before? Is it super fun? I've been having some weird issues lately with food getting stuck (below the windpipe) and am have an upper endoscopy today to see what's going on and hopefully fix it.
I haven't eaten since dinner last night and am almost to the everyone-starting-to-look-like-steaks stage.
Haven't had a camera shoved that direction before. I would hope it was better than the other way, but who knows.
Best of luck with getting the problem diagnosed & my hopes for a simple course of treatment.
I had that done. The docs sprayed this novocaine type deal (cant remember the name) in my throat to dull the gag reflex. Otherwise, I found the ordeal weird, yet fascinating because I could see the monitor.
Thanks. Yeah, I really want to see. I've always kind of wished I could see what the dentist is up to too. Sounds like I may have some sort of heavier sedation though because the info they gave me said not to make any important personal or financial decisions in the next 24 hours. Oh, just realized I make important financial decision for a living.
The follow up to my post was going to say something about the drugs. The drugs take the edge off. Ask for photos (no kidding, I have wallet size of both directions. Good luck.
the mrs has had it done a couple of times (on suspicion of Barret's Esophagus). She was semi-sedated both times.
I have to imagine such a procedure would require sedation or something for myself, as I have horrible claustrophobia, and being stuck in one spot while someone shoves something down my throat would probably send my anxiety levels skyrocketing. I have problems in the dentist's chair sometimes.
being stuck in one spot tends to send my sleepiness skyrockting
Yes. No.
Unbeknownst to me they straight up knocked me out. So super easy and I feel GREAT YOU GUYS.
Now seems like a good time to ask you for a donation to the WGOM Fund....
The former decision means that Grant [redacted] Balfour is available. Johnson (age-30) got $6.5 million this season and is arb-eligible now and eligible for free agency after 2014.
On Kazmir:
The Kazmir fastball has been more fiction than fact the last few years. He'd lost about 10 mph on it during his low times with the Angels, so much so that he spent most of 2011 pitching in an independent league with a grim 3-6 record and 5.34 ERA. He rediscovered his velocity after signing a minor league deal with Cleveland in 2012 and pitching for the Indians this year, going 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA.
He is not all the way back, but with his fastball now an easy 93 mph that occasionally reaches 95 mph, his strikeouts are up and his walks are down.
He averaged just 2.7 walks and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings with the Indians. In the second half, his strikeouts jumped to 10.3 per nine innings while his walks decreased to 2.1.
Is Balfour a free agent? If so, I see his decision tree like this:
1) Find a team where I can be the Closer.
2) Failing #1, stick with the A's as a set-up guy, slotting into Closer if/when Johnson gets hurt.
3) Failing #1 and #2, look to be a set-up guy for another team.
Since the Twins have Glen "Closer" Perkins, I'd guess that Minnesota's not high on Balfour's list.
I don't think he'll be back with the A's. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle are set as the setup guys; young, cheap, flamethrowers.
More twitching; less dancing.
This is pretty gross.
Somehow ii is going to claim it was his doing.
That sucking sound for every visit to Comerica or Tiggers visit to Target Field is coming from your televisionradionewspaper local sports mediots.
Just have a lead going into the 9th inning every time against the Tigers. No need to face Nathan ever. Problem solved.
Or trail by more than three runs!!11111!!!!
Problem solvedtransfered.
ftfy
I meant the ii treatment...
Helicarriers!!!!!
Navy wants to buy floating bases for when allies won’t welcome U.S. troops on their turf | http://t.co/TFxZcrrTAg
While this sounds expensive, I generally approve of things that generally decrease our reliance on oppressive regimes or unreliable "allies" for strategic basing.
You people are focused on the wrong thing. HELICARRIERS!!!!!111ONE11111!!! and commanders with eye patches!
"That's no moon..."
ok, is it just me or is this nuts? US Postal Service mistakenly uses a photo of a sculpture that copies the Statue of Liberty for a postage stamp, and the artist of this work is suing for copyright infringement?
If the US Postal Service reasonably thought that the picture was of the original statue (whose image is in the public domain, I guess), how in the world does the copy rise to the standard required for copyrightable "derivative work"?
It's a good thing we have at least three IP attorneys who visit occasionally to splain things to us.
I was just wondering when the last time was we saw Moss.
Copyright Law sucks. But, I've said that before.
Shouldn't Getty Images be the one that should have acquired the rights? They're the ones that had the image in the first place.
Because money.
Man oh man. Waiting for the money when people realize that Shepard Fairey was copying my painting of an AP photo.
from the banned joak department:
Cubs shoo-ins to win AL pennant RT @CarrieMuskat#Cubs name Eric Hinske as 1st base coach
Rubio is on pace to be the worst shooter in the modern history of the NBA. Since the inception of the league, 61 total players have logged at least 5,000 career minutes and finished with a field goal mark of 38 percent or worse. Fifty-nine of those guys began their careers in 1965 or earlier; the other two are Eddie Griffin and Daequan Cook, who did not make it far beyond the 5,000-minute threshold.
I have to believe he's practicing like there's no tomorrow, but man, it's really, really hard to watch him shoot.
I don't have a good sense for how difficult it is for a player to improve his FG%. It doesn't seem unreasonable to compare Rubio to Kidd (unless it is unreasonable). Kidd shot about 38-38.5% over his first 3,700 minutes in the NBA. Rubio's shot 36%. Kidd's TS% was about 47%, Ricky's TS% is about 48%. Kidd ended his career at 40.0% FG% and 50.7% TS%. So, I guess I would ask:
1) If Kidd could be effective with a 40% FG%, just how much worse would having a 36% FG% be? Or even a 38% FG%?
2) Is Kidd's improvement typical of players maturing in the NBA, or is it too much to expect from Ricky?
for his career, Rubio has averaged 10.3 FGA/36 minutes. At 36 pct, that's 3.71 makes; at 40 pct, that's 4.12 makes. Over 82 games, that's about 33-34 additional field goals (assuming 36 min/g, which is slightly higher than his career average so far).
The Wolves have already lost 5 games this season by 4 points or fewer. So, even without thinking about the dynamic effects, if Rubio were to have improved to just 40 pct from the field, that could easily translate into a couple of extra wins this season.
Now consider that in his prime, Kidd averaged 12-15 FGA/36 minutes (but closer to 10 FGA/36 early in his career). If Rubio were averaging 12 FGA/36 at 40 pct instead of 10.3 FGA/36 at 36 pct, were now talking about an extra 1.1 made FG per 36 minutes. That could easily mean an extra 3-5 wins.
I guess I'm not asking so much about the "linear" effect here--it's more the "non-linear" "he's off the charts" factor that I'm wondering about. If he was a 39% FG% shooter, he wouldn't fit the sub-38% group and even though his FG% would be bad, it wouldn't be as noteworthy. Is he so low on the curve that there are significant knock-on effects which go beyond the more obvious 33-34 FG/year? Or is this "if only a team could prepare for him in the playoffs" criticism just hot air?
Obviously improving his FG% would be good--but that's also true if you're shooting 45% from the field.
Right, distinguishing the dynamic effects of going from 36 pct to 37, 38, 39 pct is hard.
I'd like to say that having Kevin Martin and Kevin Love as deep threats and having Peksmash as a rim threat should really be opening the lane up for someone with as great a handle as Rubio.
On your second point, I think that "typical" isn't typical. There are different types of point guards.
Rubio in style is pretty similar to Kidd: not a ton of layups and free throws like a Kevin Johnson; quite a few 3pt attempts (where he's actually been acceptable; 32.4 pct for his career). He seems highly unlikely to develop a post-up game, given his frame, so he's got to either get more layup attempts and FTA, or significantly improve his spot-up jump shooting. Or, preferably, both.
Honestly, Rubio's layups are part of the problem. He shoots them with the wrong hand, often with a strange finger-roll or wrist flip, and doesn't use the backboard very well. Just cleaning that up would help immensely.
If you make a baseball analogy and switch from percentage to average, a 40-point difference in a shooting average would be similar to a 40-point difference in on-base average, wouldn't it? That is generally quite significant. If Kidd was at, say, .320 OBA for his career, then Rubio would be at .280 or .300. I think .300 would be acceptable if he's exceptional in other areas. In baseball, it would be fine because you can bat him ninth if he's an excellent defender. In basketball, you would be fine with it if he's an excellent defender or rebounder and you don't have to give him the ball at all other than for a layup. Rubio's excellence is in ball distribution, which means he has to have the ball, so that isn't quite so clear. I would look at the team's shooting percentage as a whole when he's on the floor. Does the team in general get better looks while he's on the floor to offset his poor shooting?
.320 was the AL league on-base percentage in 2013, calculated over 92,757 PA. Individual rates vary around that league rate.
.453 was the NBA fg pct in 2012-13, calculated over 208,329 fga (not that the Ns matter in either case; these are exact statistics). Individual rates vary around that league rate.
.320 FG average in the NBA is terrible; .320 OBA in the AL is average. I'm quite confident of that.
Well whatever. Kidd at .300 and then Rubio at .280 then.
yep. I f he shows any improvement in his offensive game this team could be upper echelon
ig you are a Wolves fan, I highly suggest you read that link because Zach Lowe has diagrams to go along with the Rubio notes.
How much stuff can you stuff in your Stuffie until your Stuffie's stuffed enough stuff!?
Just making sure you got the spelling correct.
I know that one! It's one of the things they advertise on Qubo!
Well, look at that. The Milkmaid Googled it and told me about it, so I still don't even know what it looks like, let alone that it used this spelling (though it makes sense...easier to copyright, I assume?).
.
.
new Twins player autographed baseball card acquisition
Joe Mauer (woo-hoo!)
I've picked up some of the big ones lately due to this.
awesome
Agreed.
Two things, follow-ups from the last two days' Cups of Coffee:
1. Fixed the dryer. Had a moment of panic upon replacing the thermal fuse when it still wasn't heating. Silly me, I forgot to turn the gas back on.
2. I've had "Man or a Muppet" now stuck in my head for 24 hours.
Yay on #1. It's always gratifying to avoid the costs of a repairman or the appliance store, as the case may be.
I got that when the washing machine recirculation wasn't flowing like it should. Tipped the sucker on its side, pulled out the y-valve and found out that my wife tends to lose track of her hair pins.
Next up: replace the serpentine belt on my car, which the internet has told me is actually much easier than it looks.
Our first washer once somehow got a baby sock into the water pump. I still can't fathom how it got through those little holes, but it did.
That was another triumph and all it took was taking it apart and putting it back together, no parts, no gas.
I had that happen, too!
Except the sock wedged in there tight enough it managed to break the coupler between the pump and motor. The replacement was about $10, if I remember right.
I'm a regular customer of Dey's Distributing.
Yep. I think I've now sent my wife there more than I've been there myself.
Big fan of Dey's. Love the folks who work there.
I am a customer myself.
$17 including tax, but not the gas to get over to Dey's.
I could have gotten it cheaper online if I would have been willing to wait to get the part of another day or two, but as I wasn't certain that it was the only problem, I wanted to know right away if I'd need a repair. Sending my wife to a laundromat with four kids did not sound like a very good option.
Anthony Pierzynski to the Red Sox.
Bummer, I wanted him to be a Twin again, just to watch how fast certain people change their opinion of the man.
sweet. The Sawks can go on collecting all of teh Internet's hatred!
also, I can't recall, but have we remarked on McHissypants going to the Yankmees? AL East is cornering the market on feisty catchers.
I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer. I was given cash for Christmas this year and ordered to buy something I want. I have decided to comply with this request.
My want is a turntable. The problem is that I know nothing. I checked Amazon and prices go up to 1800. That is out of my price range and, I am hoping, unnecessary.
I have a decent stereo but not super nice. It is higher end for Best Buy but not Magnolia level.
What should I look for in a turntable? What price range should I target? What questions am I forgetting to ask?
What questions am I forgetting to ask?
Just one: Are there any old people or hipsters on this site?
Sorry, couldn't help it.
I'm old enough to remember the days of turntables, but back then I was so broke that I couldn't have afforded one.
No need to ask a question if you already know the answer.
Spring for Magnolia. At my store we have just two of them, and they both constantly get returned. Down the road in Arrowhead, they have choices that don't seem to have that problem.
There's a Marantz turntable that usually retails for $1500 that's just awesome, but you can get near that quality from a NAD turntable for $599, or better if you shop around, maybe.
If you don't want to spend that much, I'll think on the next level of things.
That is the range I was thinking. Is that too good for the stereo I have? By that, I mean will I be able to tell the difference between a 200 dollar turntable and a 600 dollar one or would it require me to upgrade the receiver? (Which is not an option.)
Uh oh. I'm kind of an audio nut.
There are a couple ways you can go here. One is to save some money and get a "vintage" (70s/80s) Pioneer/Technics/Thonrens/Yamaha table on Craigslist. I do actually think this is the best bang for the buck. Problem is that someone new to the game will definitely not be comfortable picking one of these out. I've been there.
So for new options, I'd look to one of the following:
* Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (Wirecutter review)
* Denon DP-300F (or with the same cartridge as the Pro-Ject)
* Also consider the Music Hall USB-1, though the reviews are not encouraging.
I have the Denon table with an Ortofon Blue cartridge and I'm quite happy with it. My next upgrade would have to be $1500+ to see I difference, I think. (Not saying I’ll ever do that!) The latter table with default cartridge sometimes dips down to $270-290 on Amazon. I’m linking to Needle Doctor because Minnesota. (And they do provide pretty great service, answering all my stupid questions.)
I don’t think these would be too good for your current stereo. The problem is if you fall in love with listening, actually listening, to music, which records tend to force on you, then you will get the bug to upgrade all of your components. I recommend speakers as your next target. 🙂
Another thing to consider is if you need a phono stage. Does your BBY equipment have a phono input? If not, the Denon provides a built-in phono stage. I don’t think the Pro-Ject does. If you need a separate phono stage, I’d go for this one. I don’t own it, but I’d like to hear it. I have this TCC. It is an improvement on the built-in in the Denon.
I have more to say, but I’ll stop for now. Also, lots of research to be had on audiokarma.org.
and here it is, bhjess!
Holy cow, that's quite the response!
My recommendation was going to be the REGA RP1. I had a good friend buy one a few years back and he loves it. I'd like to buy one eventually but I have my dad's old amp which needs a cleaning to work better and until I have that working there's no point in having a good turntable. Someday, though.
Looks like you can't go wrong with that, either. Nice!
As you can see, almost with all of these tables it seems the recommendation is to upgrade your cartridge right out of the gate. Probably something worth budgeting for.
I agree with bjhess on the economy of buying used audio equipment, provided you know how to pick out a piece in good working order. I picked up a vintage Technics turntable for about $60 (a small overpay) about five years ago and have been very satisfied. I've used it infrequently since we moved into the new house, mostly because I need to get a pair of smaller speakers for my office and everything else is out in the living room. When I was running the turntable off my late 1990s Pioneer receiver I used this phono pream and was pleased with how it worked. Now I have the turntable paired with a vintage Sansui G-5500 receiver ($100 score at an antique mall), and the sound is quite nice. If I were looking to upgrade next, I'd try to find a better turntable (a Dual, maybe?), but the Technics is a pretty decent place to start. (There's that upgrade bug bjhess mentioned!)
If you'd like to go vintage, you could always check out a record store. Vinyl's hot, and it's possible one of the clerks is looking to sell a deck, or knows someone who is, or can direct you to a reputable store selling vintage equipment. (Or, perhaps the store also sells turntables, like mine does here in Madison.)
I got my Dad's old turntable. It's a Technics and I really like it. I need much better speakers for it someday, though.
Awesome. Thanks.
After I make that decision, I will have to decide what twenty records I want to buy. I decided that that is my limit.
It's good to have a limit--having a limit makes the difference between collecting and hoarding. I recently decided that I should cap my digital audio collection at 64 GB and I'm in the process of whittling it down. So far I haven't had to make any real hard decisions. Is there any criteria you are thinking of for what would make an album more worth owning on record as opposed to CD/mp3/etc?
That's an interesting discussion all by itself right there. I wouldn't mind seeing a "Desert Island" playlist music post.
I agree
Re: Desert Island - early in band career albums seem to be more appealing to me, when they are first cutting their teeth, creating the brand, not as much polish but defining.
When it comes to digital music, I am definitely a hoarder.
For the records, I just want to have the 20 albums I would choose to have on a deserted island. I am mainly a rock fan so it will be things like Abbey Road, Let It Bleed, Born to Run, etc.
I work pretty close to Down in the Valley so maybe I'll get hooked on used records too but my thinking right now is to stick close to that 20.
I also have a rule that there can be no greatest hits, compilations, etc.
That's pretty good as a rule of thumb. I make exceptions for compilations if I feel that I'd never want to buy a non-compilation album from that artist. Abbey Road and Let It Bleed were in my dad's LP collection, I'd have trouble arguing against them.
I'm fine with compilations when it comes to songs released in the pre-album era, or thematic collections of recordings that are particularly old or rare. But that's about it.
Compiled non-album singles...
(Thinking Greensleeves reggae here, although that's not something I have on vinyl or even CD.)
Makes sense, Legend is pretty uninspiring.
On the other hand... Smash Hits.
Neil Young "Decade" excepted.'course I also have (most?) of the source albums on cd or tape.
I considered that. I think I will just go with Harvest and possibly Live from Massey Hall.
I think that's an awesome goal, even if you ultimately don't hold to it. I'm holding back on a recommendation because I don't want to presume to tell you what to put in your Desert Island Twenty. (Seriously, this needs to be a post. If nobody else wants to write it, I will, because I'd love to hear what others' DI20 include.)
Digital hoarder here, too. I've been avoiding going through my digital audio collection (and my digital photo collection).
You wanna write it for Friday's Friday Music Day?
I don't think I'll have time to do so. Not sure what's on my island 20.
Yeah, I can do that. Thanks for offering.
You've got privileges and all, right?
I'm not gonna wake up on Friday to no Friday Music Day, am I?
I should have enough privileges to post, or had them at one point in the past.
My initial wish list is 42 albums. A few haven't been reissued so they will be eliminated based on price unless I can luck into them.
I'd be interested in seeing others' lists, too. It might change my list by opening my eyes to oversights.
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
hahahahaha.
ha.
heh.
Ah, so I finally decided to limit myself to one new (like new in box) album per month. Although that's actually more than I had been buying prior, so I guess it's not much of a limit.
Used records are so damn enticing, though. I probably have 50-100 records that I really will not listen to after the first spin. Things that I'd never buy in CD form, but figured I'd give 'em a try in record form. Now that I'm here, I can appreciate ratcheting back from that hoarding mentality.
This is actually why I implemented the one-new-record-per-month rule, because I'm finding if I listened to an album on Rdio for a while and really liked it, and if I've done my research as to the quality of the record pressing, I'm much more happy with that $20 new record than a bunch of ho-hum $3 records. And so hopefully my rule to buy things actually turns out to save me from becoming a hoarder.
(If you do get into buying used records, though, we have to have a discussion about record cleaning. I can go way, way down…)
Yeah, some of that.
But there were those gems picked up on a whim that keep me searching for more like that, hoping to get the big hit again.
For me it's like looking for Agates in gravel, or rare birds in the woods.
That one sporadic success will drive months of fruitless searches while tuning out family members.
Must be like that for gamblers, too.
Gambling crossed with a completist/
hoardercollector mentality.Just one example of what you're talking about:
50¢ random pickup at a thrift store.
Is that the Gem or the chaff?
Italians doing Brazilian music? It's pretty sweet.
Exactly this. Mrs. Hayes doesn't care much about the vinyl, provided it doesn't take over the house or cause cheques to bounce. But finding that gem of a jazz record (or classical vinyl for a steal) can be mighty satisfying.
I had planned on coming back around tonight to run through a few other choices, but wow, it turns out we have audiophiles. Good stuff, hess. Fully baked.
it turns out we have audiophiles
What don't we have?
I posted a long reply. It's not appearing. Let's see if it appears soon!
It got stuck in moderation. I approved it and it should be appearing any second.
approval seems to take a while sometimes. I did the same.
It's a two step process. First it needs to be marked as non-spam, which you did, and then it needs to be approved, which Mags did.
Boom. Teamwork.
Thank you!
Also, thanks for indirectly reminding me that I have a vinyl EP that needs selling.
Funny, I just was gifted a record player with amp and speakers from a co-workers attic. I have no idea what it is yet, post to follow tomorrow.
My daughter has reached the age where she is beginning to have crises of self-confidence. She's a terrific student and just a sweet little girl. But, of course, she feels that no one likes her. I am trying to explain that this is something pretty much everyone goes through, but I remember that when you are six years old, that's not a compelling argument.
The Milklings haven't had much of that, but Skim had some terrors when we moved ("What if I don't make any friends?"). I similarly was able to make very few compelling arguments. I knew her personality would make it very easy for her to come home from her first week of school feeling like she'd been there forever, but as she saw these kids at gatherings beforehand, she obsessed over whether they'd like her.
If you find the magic words, let me know. I suspect we'll move again before they graduate.
I have no advice to give. I just wanted to commiserate. Parenting a 5 year old girl is much more psychology based than I had thought it would be. And I am told that it gets worse.
We had a very emotional morning involving snow boots and apparently not letting her talk. She gets very specific ideas about the way things should be but then cannot express them before devolving into tears. I am certain that this is pretty normal but it is also pretty damn annoying.
As a parent of a 16-year old girl, I can attest that the Emotional Rollercoaster is a ride that never seems to end.
"not letting [him] talk" is one of Aquinas' biggest issues (he's 4). He needs to get his thoughts out, and any interrupting devastates him.
Yes! If you think about it, learning how to hold onto a thought and save it until there is a pause where you can start talking is probably super tricky. It just doesn't need to result in a puddle of tears EVERY DAMN TIME. I just tell myself that I'm helping her figure it all out and these will be handy life skills. Or I get really mad and I yell. It's sort of a crapshoot sometimes.
It seems to come up frequently when he's about to be punished for something. He absolutely needs to explain himself before he hears the punishment. He'll go to his room, or apologize to his sister, or whatever else, but only after he tells me the way the world is through his eyes. I usually don't want to listen because I'm too busy cleaning up broken glass or comforting Aristotle, or whatever else.
I can affirm that the puddle of tears result is not an isolated occurrence. Our 3.5 year old is a complete joy until anything happens that she doesn't like, at which point the waterworks start. Unlike our toddler, they seem to be genuine, too, which is all the more annoying.
Dangit man, I was drinking something when I read this! Now I gotta clean my monitor.
Also, genders? We've got b/g, so the g-toddler... yeah, manipulative.
All three of our kids are girls. Our toddler is absolutely adorable, and knows it. Previously, she was also very well behaved unless she was tired (though every so often she'd just feel contrary - you could pretty much see her decide whether she was going to do what you wanted). Now, as she's approaching two, we're getting more tantrums and fake tears. She's a good girl, though.
Mine (2.25 years) is either a joy or a tears and drama manufacturing beast. She'll cry at the drop of a hat, sometimes real tears, sometimes whimpering/whining that evolves into real tears, and sometimes just outright fraudulent non-tears whining. I still haven't exactly figured out which one is coming from whatever the cause is (insult, injury, etc.).
This is my world to a "T".
I feel your pain. But mine is 5.5 and in kindergarten and really needs to be able to get hold of herself work through some of these sorts of situations. I wonder what it is like at school.
It didn't help that her brother woke her up more than an hour early this morning. He just transitioned to the Big Boy Bed annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd turns out he's a walker. And this morning he wandered into her room and her bed at 5.
This weekend he came in our room at 1 and asked me if was the middle of the night or the morning and could he watch a show on the big ipad downstairs (the TV).
It's pretty different on Saturday and Sunday morning, it's just that most of our exposure with her, Monday-Friday, is when she's just woken up: ill-tempered like her old man, or exhausted and hungry from a full day of 'school' [daycare]: cross like her old lady.
They tell us that she's pretty good at school. My mother (MA in Early Childhood Ed) tells us that it means she's reserving her melt-downs for the place she feels most comfortable & confident in a supportive and loving response (or something like that). I don't know if that's true, but if so, I sometimes wish she'd learn to be more "comfortable" in expressing herself at school.
Both my girls do this a lot, and the boy, well, every now and then.
We just had conferences with GRZ' preschool teacher and were somewhat surprised to find that she never melts down at school. As Can of Corn said above, there is a difference between home and elsewhere, and her teacher said it was a good sign that she was understanding the difference between private and public environments, even though it's incredibly frustrating.
We had the same. I was really nervous, going into it, about Aquinas' social interaction with other kids, or whether he played by himself a lot. He never tells us about playing with other kids, etc. The teacher brushed aside our concerns very quickly, because he apparently gets along with everyone, all the time. He also doesn't shut up though. That was kind of comforting to hear. I don't know where I'm going with this, I just felt compelled to share. I wonder where my kid gets it?
We were in Omaha this weekend with some cousins and watched in amazement at five or six ipads appeared to keep all the youngsters (the oldest just turned six) busy.
We've managed to avoid this so far (G is not yet 2, so there's still time). He likes Blue's Clues and Baby Einstein videos, but he hasn't really gotten into the interactive smartphone/iPad stuff to this point.
Mostly the kid loves to sing, read books, and build towers.
We avoid the iPad/smartphone stuff with ours. TV... they probably watch too much, but we limit that too.
We drove from SoCal to the Twin Cities one spring when Junior was 16 months old. That roadtrip was when we bought our first portable DVD player. Saved our sanity. Thank you, Elmo.
We count it all (ipad, tv) as screen time. It's pretty much limited to Saturday and Sunday mornings becuase yeah, they would be on those things forever if we let them. I just think it's funny that he thinks the tv is a giant ipad. Kids.
screen time was a constant battle with The Boy until he got to high school and we pretty much gave up. He was getting straight-As and was involved in sports, so .... Also, film studies major.
with the Girl, screen time was never a problem until she hit her tweens and got her first laptop. Now she's on the thing All. The. Time. Again, however, straight-As and sports, so, we've surrendered.
My parents controlled TV pretty strictly (they had a removable cord installed and kept it hidden) and STILL I spent quite a bit of time lazing away in front of the TV. Someday we won't be able to control it like we do, but hopefully this will have given them a good foundation for learning how to entertain themselves.
Our TV broke at one point, and my parents didn't bother to get a new one for more than a year. It's probably one of the reasons I still read so much.
I'm not gonna lie, we let the trinket play with the iPad at times and have gotten her a Leap Pad for Christmas. We mostly use it for watching Sesame Street on Netflix (currently on the 8th viewing of "The Bubblefest" in 5 days!) to get her to lay down for naps. But, I doubt I'll be very good about keeping her off of that stuff going forward because my parents weren't particularly good about keeping me off of video games/tv when I was growing up.
When we watch something, etc., we try to be there with the kids, so that at least it's not just screen time. Of course, out results are often half-baiked.
We got GRZ a Nabi Jr for her birthday, which we also use to play music for bedtime. We were kind of divided on it at first, but it's turned out to be a pretty good purchase. We do keep an eye on her use, but we've also noticed some definite improvement in some skill based on the games that she plays.
I was at a concert recently and sat next to a couple with a fifteen-month-old. She knows how to use an ipad better than I do.
This weekend he came in our room at 1 and asked me if was the middle of the night or the morning and could he watch a show on the big ipad downstairs (the TV).
Time to get a clock. We taught Runner daughter to look for a "7" at the front of the time, and then she'd know it was time to get up. Or an alarm if that's too advanced.
My kid had no interest in following his alarm. He'd come into our room to tell us it hadn't gone off yet.
Then you haven't taught him the awesome flawlessness of technology yet!
What is amazing to me is that she's a completely different person at school. Anywhere other than at school, she's got a take-charge personality and is very outgoing. At school, though, we are repeatedly told how shy she is. When she plays with kids her own age outside of school, she seems to be just fine. At school, though, she's been having difficulty fitting in, I think.
That's not the totality of the facts, but what I think is happening is that she's finding out that at school, she can't get everyone to do what she wants. This is kind of a new thing for her and she's having trouble dealing with that emotionally. My thinking is that she needs to get a little taste of that at home; she rules the roost too much.
My daughter is a lot like me. I remember how difficult it was for me to try and fit in at that age. My home dynamic was a lot different than hers; I had siblings and my mother is much, much different in demeanor and world view than my wife. My mother was very hard and cold; she didn't provide much comfort to me on these types of issues at all. I think my wife is inclined to accommodate Miss SBG too much; so much so that Miss SBG just clings to her at all times like a security blanket. This clinging hasn't always been part of my daughter's behavior, she's usually been so self-assured and independent. Now, though, she can hardly stand to be away from her. My suspicion is that this school stuff is really bothering her.
I'd like to see her move past it; I suppose she will eventually. Progress is not linear, I know that. So, I'll have patience and let her try and work through all this for a while, using my wife as a crutch. At some point, I suspect I'm going to have to get her to swim a little, though.
My 10yo boy and 7yo girl have no shortage of confidence, to the point that I think they must get that from their mom, as I wasn't/ain't the most confident person in the room. I worry about my 5yo, however, who just started K. But her conference could not have been better and my wife and I have a lot of, ahem, confidence in her teacher this year. So, so far so good, but I understand your concern. That's not a happy place for your little girl to be. And there's not a lot a dad can do to help.
My 2yo's primary interest is interprative dance, so I'm not really worried about that one at all.
Looks like I've got some good stuff to read later. Bit too deep for me at this point in my night.
Have you tried talking to her teacher? I know a lot of teachers don't know what is going on behind the scenes and will make sure a kid is included if they don't feel like they are.
My wife talked to her teacher and she sent a very long e-mail discussing our daughter. It was very positive about her and reassuring.
The Nats traded three minor parts to get Doug Fister yesterday. I was amused by this:
Any chance this isn't a Twins scout? The same scout referred to Steve Lombardozzi as a "utility-type player."
Every time I read comments from a scout, I picture him sitting at the table with Billy Beane. And about to get a verbal smackdown.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF3GZwo0vGc
(bit of language here)
Everything said, the Nationals appear to have made the best deal of the offseason so far.
I haven't looked at what the Nationals gave up at all, but I probably underrate Fister. He never had much hype when he was with the Mariners, and on crappy teams pretty much anyone worth anything seems to get really hyped, so I never thought much of him and always expected him to regress to complete failure. His minor league stats are decent, suggestive of maybe a league average pitcher, but he's been pretty awesome pretty consistently.
I don't look at pitch type stats a ton, but looking at his pitch type distribution, it seems like exactly what you'd hope for a guy who doesn't throw that hard, but can also throw strikes. He appears to have two different fastballs (each thrown 20-30% of the time), a slider or cutter (about 10-15% of the time), a curveball (20% of the time), and a change-up (15% of the time.) The speed differentials seem pretty solid, too. Fastball around 88-89, slider/cutter around 85, change at 80, and curve around 75.
And almost exactly like you'd expect for a guy with a lot of good/decent pitches to throw, he's really consistent as the other team goes through the order:
.675 OPS - 1st time through the order
.703 OPS - 2nd time through
.686 OPS - 3rd time through
It really seems like there's a lot more to Fister's game than just competing, throwing strikes, and eating innings. Personally, while I love seeing someone with an extremely dominant pitch, it can be even more fun watching a starter who can really mix it up.
except for not getting blown up in the first inning, he sounds a lot like Bradke. Or am I just making that up?
First-inning splits
290/340/435 Fister, 2013 (but OOPS for 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 were 712, 709, and 701, respectively)
285/324/508 Radke, career (OOPS for 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 were 773, 743, 729, respectively)
fwiw.
1999 chosen because it was Radke's best season per rWAR. If you subtract 50 points from each split, that puts Radke respectively: a little worse, a little better, much better.
If you're talking about style, Bradke relied a lot more on his fastball--throwing it over 60% of the time in the years that fangraphs has data. Seems like he was more of a fastball/change pitcher with a curve and slider each used 5-10% of the time as a way to keep you honest.
World Cup pots are announced for the draw this Friday. I swear to whatever is holy that if the US is in Ghana's group I will flip my shit.
One of the teams in pot 4 will be drawn into pot 2 eventually, but they have to make sure not to get more than two UEFA teams into a group. And putting one into pot 2 too early could lead to 3 teams from Europe in one pot.
So there's another chance for:
England
Algeria
Spain
Yanks?
I'm definitely sick of playing Ghana. If Nate Silver's rankings are to be taken seriously, the best case group would put the US with Switzerland, Algeria, and Croatia.
Croatia has had pretty poor form lately, but man for man they are better than the US. Greece, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and England would be better pulls for me than Croatia.
I rate Algeria and Cameroon pretty equally. Two of the weakest teams in the tournament.
Switzerland, Cameroon, USA, Greece would be a dream group.
Brazil, Ghana, USA, Netherlands would be a nightmare group.
I'm hazy on how they use the pots--if you draw Brazil, does that mean you'd get a CAF team from Pot 2, or would it be possible to have 2 CONMEBOL teams in one group? Because as scary as Brazil, Ghana, USA, Netherlands would be, it would probably be better than Brazil, Chile, USA, Netherlands, especially considering that the tournament is in South America.
You are correct, only UEFA can have 2 teams in one group.
From The Guardian's draw generator:
Anyone here had a camera shoved down their throat before? Is it super fun? I've been having some weird issues lately with food getting stuck (below the windpipe) and am have an upper endoscopy today to see what's going on and hopefully fix it.
I haven't eaten since dinner last night and am almost to the everyone-starting-to-look-like-steaks stage.
Haven't had a camera shoved that direction before. I would hope it was better than the other way, but who knows.
Best of luck with getting the problem diagnosed & my hopes for a simple course of treatment.
I had that done. The docs sprayed this novocaine type deal (cant remember the name) in my throat to dull the gag reflex. Otherwise, I found the ordeal weird, yet fascinating because I could see the monitor.
Thanks. Yeah, I really want to see. I've always kind of wished I could see what the dentist is up to too. Sounds like I may have some sort of heavier sedation though because the info they gave me said not to make any important personal or financial decisions in the next 24 hours. Oh, just realized I make important financial decision for a living.
The follow up to my post was going to say something about the drugs. The drugs take the edge off. Ask for photos (no kidding, I have wallet size of both directions. Good luck.
the mrs has had it done a couple of times (on suspicion of Barret's Esophagus). She was semi-sedated both times.
I have to imagine such a procedure would require sedation or something for myself, as I have horrible claustrophobia, and being stuck in one spot while someone shoves something down my throat would probably send my anxiety levels skyrocketing. I have problems in the dentist's chair sometimes.
being stuck in one spot tends to send my sleepiness skyrockting
Yes. No.
Unbeknownst to me they straight up knocked me out. So super easy and I feel GREAT YOU GUYS.
Now seems like a good time to ask you for a donation to the WGOM Fund....
Tigers to sign Joe Nathan. Lovely.
somewhat apropos, the A's have acquired Jim Johnson to close and signed Scott Kazmir (age-30 season coming; 2 years, $22 million).
The former decision means that Grant [redacted] Balfour is available. Johnson (age-30) got $6.5 million this season and is arb-eligible now and eligible for free agency after 2014.
On Kazmir:
Is Balfour a free agent? If so, I see his decision tree like this:
1) Find a team where I can be the Closer.
2) Failing #1, stick with the A's as a set-up guy, slotting into Closer if/when Johnson gets hurt.
3) Failing #1 and #2, look to be a set-up guy for another team.
Since the Twins have Glen "Closer" Perkins, I'd guess that Minnesota's not high on Balfour's list.
I don't think he'll be back with the A's. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle are set as the setup guys; young, cheap, flamethrowers.
More twitching; less dancing.
This is pretty gross.
Somehow ii is going to claim it was his doing.
That sucking sound for every visit to Comerica or Tiggers visit to Target Field is coming from your
televisionradionewspaperlocal sports mediots.Just have a lead going into the 9th inning every time against the Tigers. No need to face Nathan ever. Problem solved.
Or trail by more than three runs!!11111!!!!
Problem
solvedtransfered.ftfy
I meant the ii treatment...
Helicarriers!!!!!
While this sounds expensive, I generally approve of things that generally decrease our reliance on oppressive regimes or unreliable "allies" for strategic basing.
Pretty sure I've spent time on a "ship that serves as a floating base". Way to reinvent the wheel USN.
You people are focused on the wrong thing. HELICARRIERS!!!!!111ONE11111!!! and commanders with eye patches!
"That's no moon..."
ok, is it just me or is this nuts? US Postal Service mistakenly uses a photo of a sculpture that copies the Statue of Liberty for a postage stamp, and the artist of this work is suing for copyright infringement?
If the US Postal Service reasonably thought that the picture was of the original statue (whose image is in the public domain, I guess), how in the world does the copy rise to the standard required for copyrightable "derivative work"?
It's a good thing we have at least three IP attorneys who visit occasionally to splain things to us.
I was just wondering when the last time was we saw Moss.
Copyright Law sucks. But, I've said that before.
Shouldn't Getty Images be the one that should have acquired the rights? They're the ones that had the image in the first place.
Because money.
Man oh man. Waiting for the money when people realize that Shepard Fairey was copying my painting of an AP photo.
from the banned joak department:
So, the Twins are going to bring back Kubel to take over for Ullger? Kubel'd!!!11!!!
Jason Kubel (and his career 61% stolen base success rate) as a first base coach would be hilarious.
I love Ricky, I do, but this is unsettling:
I have to believe he's practicing like there's no tomorrow, but man, it's really, really hard to watch him shoot.
I don't have a good sense for how difficult it is for a player to improve his FG%. It doesn't seem unreasonable to compare Rubio to Kidd (unless it is unreasonable). Kidd shot about 38-38.5% over his first 3,700 minutes in the NBA. Rubio's shot 36%. Kidd's TS% was about 47%, Ricky's TS% is about 48%. Kidd ended his career at 40.0% FG% and 50.7% TS%. So, I guess I would ask:
1) If Kidd could be effective with a 40% FG%, just how much worse would having a 36% FG% be? Or even a 38% FG%?
2) Is Kidd's improvement typical of players maturing in the NBA, or is it too much to expect from Ricky?
for his career, Rubio has averaged 10.3 FGA/36 minutes. At 36 pct, that's 3.71 makes; at 40 pct, that's 4.12 makes. Over 82 games, that's about 33-34 additional field goals (assuming 36 min/g, which is slightly higher than his career average so far).
The Wolves have already lost 5 games this season by 4 points or fewer. So, even without thinking about the dynamic effects, if Rubio were to have improved to just 40 pct from the field, that could easily translate into a couple of extra wins this season.
Now consider that in his prime, Kidd averaged 12-15 FGA/36 minutes (but closer to 10 FGA/36 early in his career). If Rubio were averaging 12 FGA/36 at 40 pct instead of 10.3 FGA/36 at 36 pct, were now talking about an extra 1.1 made FG per 36 minutes. That could easily mean an extra 3-5 wins.
I guess I'm not asking so much about the "linear" effect here--it's more the "non-linear" "he's off the charts" factor that I'm wondering about. If he was a 39% FG% shooter, he wouldn't fit the sub-38% group and even though his FG% would be bad, it wouldn't be as noteworthy. Is he so low on the curve that there are significant knock-on effects which go beyond the more obvious 33-34 FG/year? Or is this "if only a team could prepare for him in the playoffs" criticism just hot air?
Obviously improving his FG% would be good--but that's also true if you're shooting 45% from the field.
Right, distinguishing the dynamic effects of going from 36 pct to 37, 38, 39 pct is hard.
I'd like to say that having Kevin Martin and Kevin Love as deep threats and having Peksmash as a rim threat should really be opening the lane up for someone with as great a handle as Rubio.
On your second point, I think that "typical" isn't typical. There are different types of point guards.
Rubio in style is pretty similar to Kidd: not a ton of layups and free throws like a Kevin Johnson; quite a few 3pt attempts (where he's actually been acceptable; 32.4 pct for his career). He seems highly unlikely to develop a post-up game, given his frame, so he's got to either get more layup attempts and FTA, or significantly improve his spot-up jump shooting. Or, preferably, both.
Honestly, Rubio's layups are part of the problem. He shoots them with the wrong hand, often with a strange finger-roll or wrist flip, and doesn't use the backboard very well. Just cleaning that up would help immensely.
If you make a baseball analogy and switch from percentage to average, a 40-point difference in a shooting average would be similar to a 40-point difference in on-base average, wouldn't it? That is generally quite significant. If Kidd was at, say, .320 OBA for his career, then Rubio would be at .280 or .300. I think .300 would be acceptable if he's exceptional in other areas. In baseball, it would be fine because you can bat him ninth if he's an excellent defender. In basketball, you would be fine with it if he's an excellent defender or rebounder and you don't have to give him the ball at all other than for a layup. Rubio's excellence is in ball distribution, which means he has to have the ball, so that isn't quite so clear. I would look at the team's shooting percentage as a whole when he's on the floor. Does the team in general get better looks while he's on the floor to offset his poor shooting?
.320 was the AL league on-base percentage in 2013, calculated over 92,757 PA. Individual rates vary around that league rate.
.453 was the NBA fg pct in 2012-13, calculated over 208,329 fga (not that the Ns matter in either case; these are exact statistics). Individual rates vary around that league rate.
.320 FG average in the NBA is terrible; .320 OBA in the AL is average. I'm quite confident of that.
Well whatever. Kidd at .300 and then Rubio at .280 then.
yep. I f he shows any improvement in his offensive game this team could be upper echelon
ig you are a Wolves fan, I highly suggest you read that link because Zach Lowe has diagrams to go along with the Rubio notes.
RIP diorama artist Fred Scherer.
Nolasco is going with No. 47. Previously used by Liriano, Koskie and Morris among many others. Signing Morris as a free agent turned out pretty well.
I'm hoping this development has some vague influence on Morris' HoF chances.
from the twitter machine, I see that the Yankees are signing Jacoby Ellsbury to a 7 year deal, bigger than Carl Crawford's 7/$142.
are the Yankees giving up on Brett Gardner?
At least he didn't have a Caveman beard to shave before flipping to the darkside