Controlled Chaos

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 26, 2005 -> 01:22 PM) Why would you even bother with a contest? If Goldmember gets involved it's all over, he'll just make something ridiculously cool and make everyone else look stupid. I think I'm jealous. Possible, but this also has to look good when you print it out...Some things online, such as sigs, look cool with shadings and stuff, but may not look as good on paper. Consider it a challenge. Something very simple can look better printed then something more complex. Either way...I hope a bunch of people here do it...I know they're some good artists.

This has to be due to the red bull crowd.

Anybody reading this like I am?? Fukuoka Fuk-u-oka

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 26, 2005 -> 09:52 AM) I took this picture on New Year's Eve. Any Caption Ideas? You think this is bad...you should have seen my date last year!!

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Jan 26, 2005 -> 09:40 AM) I really like Mr. Eye's great big eye. And I think National Complement Day is a really awesome observance, destined to one day replace 'bring your neighbor's kid's dog to work day' in the great pantheon of observances to note with annoyed indifference. FlasoxxJim made me laugh once. uhhh Thanks.

QUOTE(mreye @ Jan 26, 2005 -> 09:04 AM) I thought that was the coroner's job. I actually thought that a doctor had to pronounce someone dead. I mean I know paramedics can arrivce and be like the dude is dead...but I still thought they transported the person to a hospital and a doctor had to officially pronounced it. Shows how much I know.

Can somebody make a cool Sox graphic. I'd like to print it up and hang it in my office. Most people here are Cub fans so I love to rub it in their face. Maybe something letter size and landscape with some of the new players and the Sox logo. I know you guys are usually making sigs and stuff...but I think a picture people can print would be cool. How about a contest????

QUOTE(mreye @ Jan 26, 2005 -> 08:26 AM) I admire Tex's ability to fool people into nominating him as "Conservative Poster". I admire mreye's conservative posts he brings a lot to the discussion.

So I was at my first ever bar mitzvah this past weekend and let me just say, and I hope this isn't really offending anyone, that Jewish people flat out can't dance. At least the ones at this thing. On the whole dance floor there wasn't one person that had any kind of rhythm. I mean they move their feet and arms which has some semblance of a dance move but they do it to the beat of their own drummer. Even slow dancing, they do it all to the wrong beat...and it's hard to screw up slow dancing. I have never seen so many bad dancers in my life....Parents and kids alike. Then they got to the Jewish dancing and it all made sense. Jewish dancing consists of all holding hands and running in a circle then moving in and out or forming a big conga line or just grabbing a partners hands face to face and just spinning around like as fast as you can. I guess I can't fault the bad dancers cause..how do you ever learn rhythm if thats how you dance. It looked like something you do as little kids trying to get dizzy. Speaking of...I can't understand how there weren't people yacking all over....we just got finished with lunch!! All and all it was kinda fun and they certainly were having fun which is all that matters...but now I know when Black people came up with white people can't dance...they were talking about the jews.

Thought this article from Friday's Sun Times was relevant here. Neighborhood bridges city and suburbs January 21, 2005 BY LARRY FINLEY Real Estate Reporter After a stay in the suburbs and a few North Side neighborhoods, Bridgeport proved to be just what the young couple wanted -- "a suburb in the city." Bridgeport now has the large, modern homes they were looking for, plus a real neighborly feel, explained Peggy Walsh, who lives there with her husband, Joe, a Chicago school teacher, and their two daughters. "It's like living in a suburb in the city," she said. "It is very friendly. You know the people. I've met some of the people through my kids. They are the same ages and can play with each other." The couple and their girls, Maggie, 4, and Kate, 2, have a 4-bedroom brick home in Bridgeport Village, the Near Southwest Side development that covers about 40 new city blocks along the South Branch of the Chicago River, near 3300 S. Racine. "I lived in Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park, Old Town and River North," she said. "Then we moved to the suburbs for a year and didn't like it. That's when we moved into the city and it was perfect." Walsh commutes to work at a major public relations firm downtown, either by car or on the CTA Orange Line, she said. On her trips, she is pleased to see the number of new homes in the area being built and rehabilitated. "The proximity to the Loop is very, very convenient and there is not a lot of congestion," she said. "I moved from the North Side. I was accustomed to the traffic and never finding a parking place." She does her major grocery shopping in the South Loop, which is between downtown and her home neighborhood. Hopefully all the new construction will encourage more commercial and retail development, she said. Ald. James Balcer (11th) said that help is on the way. Plans are in the works to bring in more retailers as part of the city's Halsted Street redevelopment plan, he said. "More high-end commercial development, including restaurants, shopping and mixed-in residential will be developed along Halsted," he explained. Since Bridgeport Village began two years ago, about 10 other residential developments have started in the area, including more single-family homes, town houses and condominiums. The number of young couples and families from popular North Side neighborhoods moving into the new, upscale development has been significant, according to Thomas A. Snitzer, president of Snitzer Homes. "About 45 percent are from the North Side, meaning Lincoln Park, DePaul, Lake View and River North," Snitzer said. "About 25 percent are coming from the South Loop and West Loop area." The remainder of the first 100-plus buyers there have been from the immediate neighborhood, out-of-town or the suburbs, he said. Most of them are young families or couples who want to start families, Snitzer said. The first residents to move there were looking for housing that seemed a good value and was convenient to the Loop, he said. "Now, people are moving here because of the community that's developed," Snitzer said. "We have had several local block properties and there are tons of kids, kids who can go out at night. It's safe. You get to know your neighbors." People are looking for larger, single-family homes there, he said, some with optional third floors, double lots and elevators. Home prices start at about $875,000 for a three-story, 5-bedroom model, with more than 5,700 square feet and a finished basement. The largest homes are priced at more than $1 million, have more than 6,000 square feet of space and are on 32- or 38-foot lots. "We are almost sold out and will announce plans for more homes in the spring," he said. The sales office is at Racine Avenue and 33rd Street, (773) 254-9200. The Bridgeport Station Lofts, at 35th and Morgan, is bringing new-construction lofts to a neighborhood that has been heavily single-family, explained Paul Marks, co-developer with Paul Dincin in Tandem Developers LLC. "Our buyers are the sons and daughters of Bridgeport people who have a connection to the neighborhood," Marks said. "They are familiar with the neighborhood and have found an opportunity to buy something that has been unobtainable or extremely expensive until now." Many of the residents there are buying their first home, he said. Many work for the police or fire department or the city schools, Marks said. The same combination was attracted to their earlier Bridgeport building, the Union Lofts, at 939 W. 35th St. The Bridgeport Station Lofts all have balconies and include 1-bedroom plans at $186,900; 1-bedroom, plus den, for $209,000, and 2-bedrooms for $264,900. The 66-unit building is brick and limestone and has both indoor and outdoor parking. The four-story includes a lobby with a video security system. Another major single-family development, Bridgeport Landing, is awaiting approval from the city for 3-1/2-acres near the river, at 2500 S. Senour. The 42 homes, by C.A. Development, will include 29 two-story plans and 13 three-level homes. Prices are expected to start from about the mid-$300,000s to the $400,000s, according to Paul Bertsche, company vice president. The traditional-style homes will have 3 to 7 bedrooms, 3 or 3-1/2 baths and 2,450 to 3,200 square feet. They include basements, 2-car garages and decks. Lot sizes will range from about 271/2 by 100 feet to 34 by 113 feet. The homes, Bertsche said, should appeal to "working-class families, including policemen, fire fighters and school teachers." The development is within about 100 yards of the South Branch of the Chicago River. Plans call for the reconstruction of Mary Street, at 1100 West, which was vacated about 30 years ago, Bertsche said. The information number for Bridgeport Landing is (773) 777-8910. Bridgeport's popularity has attracted suburban developer James McNaughton Builders, of Hinsdale, to the city for his first Chicago project. (630) 655-0559. He has introduced the McKinley Park Manor, 15 single-family homes and 20 town houses on Pershing Road, between Ashland and Damen. "We are very pleased and optimistic so far," McNaughton said. "People have been coming in from the neighborhood. They want to upgrade and stay in the area." The 3-bedroom, single-family houses start at about $450,000 and include 2-1/2 baths and 2-car garages. They average 2,200 square feet. A third floor can be added to increase the space to 3,000 square feet for about $530,000. The first floors are handicapped accessible. Standards include: granite counter tops, air conditioning, red oak or tile flooring, carpeting, appliances and unfinished basements. The 2,000-square-foot town houses are all three levels, with 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths and 2-car garages. The ground floor also has a recreation room and laundry. The second floor has a kitchen, family room, great room, study and balcony. The bedrooms and 2 baths are on the top floor. Prices start at $310,000.

Could someone who has the info handy put together all Kenny's moves. who we lost? what we gained? I give him an A this offseason...but would like to see everything collectively. I think he spent wisely and has the team going in the direction Ozzie wanted.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 21, 2005 -> 11:40 AM) You may wish to give sex a try before the domestic violence thing . . .

Well I'm not a big religous guy or anything....but to ban this ad is just dumb. To be honest, it probably got the ad a ton more publicity then it would have by just being a page in some magazine.

Jesus is everywhere -- except pages of Rolling Stone January 21, 2005 BY CATHLEEN FALSANI RELIGION WRITER Jann Wenner and his minions at Rolling Stone magazine can print -- or not print -- whatever their little hearts desire. Therein lies the beauty and the blessing of a free press. But while the powers that be at Mr. Wenner's venerable rock 'n' roll pop culture publication were well within their rights (legal or otherwise) when they refused to run a half-page advertisement for a new translation of the Bible, they also were thoroughly shortsighted. The offending advertisement was a high-concept number from Zondervan, the Christian publishing behemoth in Grand Rapids, Mich., that has a new translation of the Bible coming out next month called Today's New International Version, or the TNIV. It's a 21st-century tuneup of its 1978 New International Version, which is the best-selling English translation of the Bible in the world. At one end of the horizontal ad is the photo of a somber young man who looks a lot like Olympic gymnasts Paul and/or Morgan Hamm with longer hair and a 2-day-old beard. At the other end of the ad, in the corner, is part of the cover of a Bible. And in the middle of the ad is a slogan that reads: "Today it makes sense more than ever." Ad yanked Without the text and the Bible, it could be an ad urging readers to get tested for AIDS or to not let friends drive drunk. Below the benign slogan, there is a paragraph of smaller text that talks about navigating a world of "almost endless media noise and political spin" in search of the "real truth," and suggests that the Bible, particularly the TNIV version, is a reliable source. It doesn't mention God. Or Jesus. Or the church. All told, it's pretty slick for a Bible advertisement. Zondervan bought the space for the ad last July. It was supposed to run next month, but after Rolling Stone execs saw the ad copy last week, they yanked it. The Bible publisher picked Rolling Stone as a target audience for its advert because its research showed the TNIV was most popular among adults age 18 to 34. While the publisher wouldn't normally advertise in a magazine that is filled with full-page ads for cars, electronic gadgets, clothes, video games, cigarettes and, well, "personal lubricant," as one giant purple ad put it, it was trying to reach a new audience. "If we were going to effectively reach this age group, we couldn't do it through our traditional advertising," Doug Lockhart, senior vice president of marketing at Zondervan, was telling me the other day. In other words, placing a Bible ad in Christianity Today would be preaching to the choir. Just doesn't fit? A spokeswoman for Rolling Stone told me they wouldn't comment on the Bible brouhaha, but she stayed on the phone long enough to say that a USA Today article quoting Kent Brownridge, general manager of Wenner Media, which owns Rolling Stone, was accurate. "It doesn't quite feel right in the magazine," Brownridge told USA Today. "We are not in the business of publishing advertising for religious messages." This from a magazine that famously and for years published notices for the Universal Life Church's mail-order ordination in its classified ads. A colleague of mine who has had a subscription to Rolling Stone since 1974 says he understands how the magazine's execs might have thought an ad -- however stylized -- for a Bible would be "jarring" for their readers. That may be so, but isn't rock 'n' roll supposed to be shocking? Zondervan probably has risked alienating some of its own bread-and-butter customers by advertising in Rolling Stone, as well as in the Onion and on MTV's Web site. (Both have accepted and are running the TNIV Bible ads.) Lockhart says when the magazine rejected the ad last week, he, too, was told that it just didn't fit "with the rest of the advertising." But when Zondervan execs pushed for more of an explanation, they were told that Rolling Stone "didn't accept ads for religious items." They asked for the magazine's no-religious-advertising-only policy in writing. And they're still waiting. Maybe if the religious message is appropriately sarcastic or kitschy, it doesn't count. This would explain the presence of a small ad for T-shirts emblazoned with a cartoon Jesus -- crown of thorns, arms outstretched -- and the words "Put down the drugs and come get a hug" on page 71 of Rolling Stone's Jan. 26 issue. Perhaps Rolling Stone honchos were worried that an ad for a Bible would somehow blow the cool. Sadly, that ship has already sailed, having been launched (if it hadn't been years earlier, as many argue) when "American Idol" star Clay Aiken graced its cover on July 10, 2003. Even Pat Boone is cooler than that crooning neo-Opie. In the struggle to stay hip, relevant and edgy, a half-page ad for a Bible may be the least of Rolling Stone's worries. Who are the readers? I can't help but wonder if rejecting the Zondervan ad was a commentary on who Rolling Stone execs believe their readers to be. Might they think reading the Bible and reading Rolling Stone are mutually exclusive activities? They'd be wrong. A recent survey by Harris Interactive Poll (funded by Zondervan) found that 59 percent of adults age 18 to 34 said the Bible was "relevant to their lives." At last count, Rolling Stone had about 16 million readers (if you count pass alongs; about 1.3 million if you only count subscribers), according to Martin Walker, a magazine industry consultant in New York. The median age of a Rolling Stone reader is 28.5. Surely some of them might read the Bible or want to, and not just to be ironic. Blender magazine, one of Rolling Stone's younger competitors, seems to think so. According to Lockhart, a Blender rep phoned Zondervan earlier this week and offered to run the ad in its pages. No word on whether Mr. Aiken will ever be a Blender cover boy, but the magazine did rank his song "Invisible" No. 11 on its "50 Worst Songs of All Time" list.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jan 21, 2005 -> 09:09 AM) UPDATE per CNN: Megan's truck was found at a hospital in Arizona, but she has not been found yet. A black male was seen getting out of the truck at the hospital where he checked himself in for a gun shot wound. Officials are talking to him right now. I hope they dont patch him up until he gives them all the informatin they need. He can bleed to death if he doesn't.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jan 21, 2005 -> 09:07 AM) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145053,00.html Teen's Abduction Caught on Tape; $10,000 Reward for Info Friday, January 21, 2005 TYLER, Texas — A clerk abducted from a Wal-Mart (search) Supercenter was sought Friday by East Texas law officers who said a surveillance videotape showed a man lurking around the entrance before the victim was attacked as she tried to drive away from the store's parking lot. Megan Leann Holden (search), 19, of Henderson was reported missing Thursday morning when she did not return home from her shift. The FBI (search) has joined the investigation, police said. They said a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to her location or to her abductor. Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said the tape shows a man wearing a long, dark coat and cap and carrying a duffel bag loitering around the front entrance to the store. "The surveillance tape then shows Megan getting into her truck and the suspect running up behind her and either hitting her or pushing her," he said. "Then the vehicle drives off." Martin, the Police Department's public information officer, said an East Texas Medical Center helicopter crew was searching the area for the 2002 pickup and officers were are also driving around the area. "We are actively pursuing leads and have teams out looking for her and the truck," he said. Man that's scary!! I don't know if it's like the premeditation of it all or what...but it's chilling. When they catch that guyhe needs to be spend the rest of his life in a cell. That kidna of s*** makes my blood boil...that poor girl....I hope this turns out ok.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 11:51 PM) I have got to work on your screen name. It's getting lost there. How many new guys have we welcomed only to have them stop posting? Maybe it has something to do with a donkey crawling out of bea arthurs ass in winodj's sig. Either way...welcome Spod=Ratings!!! Pull up a chair or slam someone with it...your choice!!

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 21, 2005 -> 08:31 AM) Um, just a little history lesson... Al Capone died in 1947. Minnie Minoso made his ML debut in August of 1949. BWAHAHAHA nice catch SS2k5!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE(winodj @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 04:29 PM) God that Tony Blankley column bothers me. People do see that he's calling for an American journalist to be put to death because he pointed out that the Pentagon is circumventing the CIA to avoid Congressional oversight. You do see that, right? It doesn't bother me at all. However, if one American soldier performing his duty in Iran is caught or killed due to Hersch's need to spew conjecture...THEN I would have a problem.

80's Fisk, Lusinski, Cruz 90's Robin, One Dog, McDowell, Foulke(00's) 00's Buehrle, Konerko, Rowand

Espionage by any other name Tony Blankley January 19, 2005 This week in the New Yorker magazine, Seymour Hersh wrote the following words: "The Administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran ... Much of the focus is on accumulation of intelligence and targeting information on Iranian nuclear, chemical and missile sites. ... (The) American commando task force has been set up in South Asia and is now working closely with a group of Pakistani scientists and technicians who had dealt with Iranian counterparts ... The American task force ... .has been penetrating eastern Iran from Afghanistan in a hunt for underground installations ... The task force members, or their locally recruited agents, secreted remote detection devices ... " Title 18 United States Code section 794, subsection (b.) prohibits anyone "in time of war, with intent that the same shall be communicated to the enemy [from publishing] any information with respect to the movement, numbers, or disposition of any of the Armed Forces ... of the United States ... or supposed plans or conduct of any ... military operations ... or any other information relating to the public defense, which might be useful to the enemy ... [this crime is punishable] by death or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life." Subsection (a) of that statute prohibits anyone "with ... reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates ... to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly, any information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life." I am not an expert on these federal code sections, but a common sense reading of their language would suggest, at the least, that federal prosecutors should review the information disclosed by Mr. Hersh to determine whether or not his conduct falls within the proscribed conduct of the statute. In the fairly recent past, at least one journalist writing for Jane's Publications has been successfully prosecuted under the statute, freedom of speech and the press not being a defense to espionage. Remember, in the famous Pentagon Papers case, the issue was prior restraint. Could the government stop a newspaper from publishing government secrets relating not to current operations but to prior planning? The answer then was no. But in the current matter of Seymour Hersh and the New Yorker, they have been free to publish the article. The question is whether or not any legal consequences attach to that decision. I was shocked when I read Mr. Hersh's article. Note the tenses he uses to describe American military action: "The American commando task force ... is now working," "has been conducting secret reconnaissance." In other words, Mr. Hersh is revealing to all the world, including the Iranian government, that our commandos are currently behind enemy lines in Iran on a dangerous and vital military assignment. Moreover, he helps the enemy by writing that our commandos have been "penetrating eastern Iran from Afghanistan." That considerably reduces the areas the Iranian military and counter-intelligence forces have to search and monitor to try to catch our brave commandos. Furthermore, Mr. Hersh informs the world that our commandos are working with certain Pakistani scientists who had previously worked with Iranian scientists. Such information might further assist the Iranian security forces in their investigations. After all, there can't be that many Iranian nuclear scientists who worked with the few Pakistani nuclear scientists in the past. Mr. Hersh has virtually given Iranian intelligence the names (if not the addresses) of the Pakistani scientists who are working with our forces from their jumping off places in Pakistan. Finally, Mr. Hersh helpfully writes that our commandos have been working with local Iranian agents to plant detection devices around known or suspected nuclear plants. This gives the enemy insights into our commandos' specific method of operation and alerts Iranian Intelligence to be looking for local Iranians as well as Americans. Not a bad day's work for yet another patriotic American journalist. Almost as appalling as the potentially lethal effect (if not, necessarily, the intent) of the Hersh article, is the quietude that greeted the damaging implications of the article's publication. Whether or not the article meets the technical legal requirements for violation of the Espionage Act, I have seen no articles or public comments expressing concern at the revelation of such vital military secrets of an ongoing secret military operation. Keep in mind, the Pentagon has not denied the story, it has merely said that some of the facts are inaccurate. That is a classic Washington non-denial denial. And this is not just any military operation. The purpose of this operation is to protect the world from a possible nuclear attack once the fanatical Iranian Islamist regime gets its hands on a nuclear bomb. They already have missiles capable of reaching London, Paris, Berlin and Tel Aviv. They are already the world's leading terrorist-supporting state. And our military's effort to prepare to deal with this extraordinary danger is exposed to the world -- while the operation is ongoing. But not a peep of concern can be heard. Apparently, this is considered just journalistic business as usual. The Washington political class is suffering from a bad case of creeping normalcy. We are getting ever more used to ever more egregious government leaks of military secrets. What's the big deal? Maybe I am an alarmist. Or maybe we are sleep walking toward the abyss.

I originally thought you meant US style such as this... Police in Radnor,Pa., Interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jan 18, 2005 -> 03:24 PM) I did like this one a lot. It was a shame what happened to him.. especially since he was someone that was doing everything in his power to go against the stereotype of the neighborhood. One of my favorites was the one of the woman who made her home into a shelter for battered women and abused kids. And the one with the family who's parents were both deaf and their one son is autistic and the older son was going to have to forgo college to take care of them. That one brought on the tears. I was saying to my wife this week....remember when this show first came on....it was just about them remodeling a house and doing cool stuff....Now they get ya all teary eyed every week. It's an emotional roller coaster.....