Balta1701

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 12:51 PM) I see the point. So is the worry BP is paying too little or too much and perhaps too soon before the damages can be fully understood? Has BP sued yet to block the government doing this? Sounds much like condemnation of land (something the government has been doing for almost 220 years). Don't like the condemnation, go to court and seek redress. Since Kap's not around, I can reply to this one...the government already has the ability to levee something on the order of an instant $10-$20 billion bill on BP for the royalties/taxes from the oil extracted from the ground and the $4300/barrel fine for dumping it into the water. If BP went hard to court on avoiding paying out settlements to the lives of those people on the Gulf, or went to court against the Obama admin for blackmail, there's nothing stopping the government from issuing those fines right now and telling BP to start challenging them too. The government wins and BP is pretty close to belly up. On top of that, the government has every right to be vindictive and decide to stop issuing future contracts for drilling in the Gulf to BP, and since they're so heavily invested there, that's about the same result. It's only "Blackmail" if you can threaten the company you're blackmailing with something worse.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 10:46 AM) What are the prep times on apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, cherries? 10 seconds to wash them? There are plenty of vegetables that take less than 15 minutes to make. As individual "boiled vegetable X", sure. As far as putting together a whole meal, for most people, it's 10 minutes for 1, 10 minutes for another, 10 minutes for another, then 20-30 minutes of cleanup/running the dishwasher/emptying the dishwasher.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 10:33 AM) Is there someway members can see the warn level? Like in their profile page or something? Im not worried at all mainly because I havent been able to post much lately, but very curious as to how this whole thing works. No, only moderators can, and we just use it as a guide to allow us to see who has been a habitual offender. It's a tool for convenient record keeping/rapid responses if a person goes off the deep end. If you get suspended a lot, then you're going to have a warn level, it's really that simple. You're fine.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 10:24 AM) you guys are also missing the point that in both cases the government has helped the consumer make a simple choice of taking the cheapest route to a meal. I think the reality is we've got a combination of problems. Are there people who just go to McDonalds for their kids every night out of laziness? I'm sure there are. Would those people change their habits if you eliminated the corn subsidies and suddenly fast food and soda prices went upwards by 50% relative to fresh fruits? Some might, but a lot probably wouldn't. Are there people who are in 2 income, middle class families who simply don't have time to prepare a meal for their kids and who use those things as a fill-in? I'm sure there are from personal experience. If you raised the price on processed foods by 75%, would that make it that they suddenly have the time and ability to prepare a full meal? My guess is no, and I think that's a very, very common issue in this country.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 10:25 AM) Exactly. I do have sources though, although you don't really need them to know all of that about Wade. The con man that is Dwyane Wade is kind of an open book down there, but people choose to ignore it because he's a great player, as well as the fact he covers for himself well by attaching to some positive stuff done in the community down there. You can see it all in how Lebron wants to go join Wade's South Beach party. Does anyone even realize that the Miami arena isn't in the South Beach area? It's downtown.

Apple has scheduled a Friday Morning press conference. There's some talk of a general iPhone recall over the antennae issues. Somehow I doubt it goes that far, but It's probably a safe bet that they won't spend the whole time telling their customers to stop putting their hand over that part of the phone.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 09:53 AM) Anyone have thoughts of bringing in Shaq? On the one hand I think a guy like that playing 10-15 min a game would be good. But nearly every team he's been on has become pretty disfunctional. I dunno if the Bulls want to mess with what they've got going, which seems to be a bunch of guys that get along. Well, the obvious retort is that Cleveland was better last year with him off the court than on it. He's a big slow lumbering guy who can occasionally rebound and score. The 2 potential benefits of having him are...having Dwight Howard have to go against him in the playoffs and having him against the Size depleted Heat. The downside though is that any time he's in there, he slows you down and clogs up the lane. On the team the Bulls fielded from 06-08, where everything was on the perimeter and based on ball movement, this old Shaq might still have been useful because no one was going into the lane and thus it wouldn't hurt us to clog it. But now, with Boozer there as a scorer, with Noah there as an athletic defender/rebounder, with Gibson as a lesser version of Noah, and most importantly, with our key player being a slasher who ought to be pushing into the lane as often as he can...I think it hurts us m ore than it helps.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 09:40 AM) And that's exactly my point - spending an extra 10 minutes a day on proper food choices/preperation versus rearranging your whole commute to and from work. One is a pretty simple alteration to your morning and shopping routine, the other is ranges from impossible (in non-metro areas) to completely impractical. 10 minutes a day does not make a meal from most fresh items. Even Rachel Ray needs 3 times that amount.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 08:23 PM) Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. That's it. And blackmail works when you have cash and threaten to take every dime of it away in another manner. I shouldn't be shocked that neither of you understand the real issues here, because you know, our country sucks and should just be ObamaLand ™. I'd rather say something more personal attackish in response, but I'd like to instead say that the level of condescension in these "I know everything and you don't" posts just staggers me.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 09:31 AM) Implied volatility, in this case implied by the periodic snapshots. In other words, decreasing vega, if you trace a line of peaks and a line of valleys on that GDP growth line, you will see that the two lines are approaching each other to intersect at some point in the future. Now of course, they won't ACTUALLY intersect, and the function is probably better represented by two functions approaching a common limit. But its interesting to see the gap tightening, with remarkable consistency, over time. I thought that was what you meant but I wasn't sure. Is it possible that a simple answer to the question of "Why has volatility decreased over time" is that the size of the system in total is larger, such that a $1 trillion shock in 1929 is vastly larger than a $1 trillion shock today?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 09:30 AM) Having parents buy fruits and vegetables instead of Big Mac's is a little different than telling people to stop using their cars and start walking/using public transit (though those that can should be expected to I agree). Really, no it isn't. Taking fruits and vegetables yourself and using them to prepare a meal takes a lot of time and effort. Going to McDonalds is a convenience. Taking public transit anywhere except NYC (to first order) takes a lot of effort, compared to walking outside and getting in your car.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:57 PM) Lowering taxes RAISED (and always does...) the amount of money coming into treasury. Deficits, however, is because every dollar that was brought in left in about 1992. It's just too damn hard for people to accept the fact that cutting entitlements and putting that money back into the private sector would actually bring us back around. Why is that so bad? Oh, capitalism is EVIIIIIL. I forgot about that. Take all of it and redistribute it. This data/post has been making the rounds this week. I'm sure it isn't credible since it's at a blog, but for those willing to read it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 09:11 AM) That GDP growth line is fascinating, in a way that isn't even your main point. It appears to have a declining Vega over that period, reaching near zero in the present. That's kind of weird. Vega?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 08:22 AM) Exactly. He makes contact too. He has just 4 strikeouts in his first 40 major league at bats. That's a good sign. I also think there is something with Cuban players and looking to swing away when they have a good pitch. Alexei is the same way, but his pitch recognition isn't exactly stellar I think Alexei's "Pitch recognition" is probably actually quite good, otherwise he wouldn't be able to turn around the fastball like he can. I think his problem is that he sees breaking balls but he's just not good at slowing his body down to time them.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:49 PM) Mark Buehrle is at the ESPYs Did he get "Play of the year" or is that for next year? Did his perfect game get on there?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 02:28 AM) ...sources? If the stuff about his private life/kids hasn't strongly suggested "This isn't a good guy" to you, and the way the Lebron shenanigoats went down hasn't added on to that, then I'm not sure what it'll take to convince you.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 11:37 PM) Also, the Bulls made an offer to Raja Bell (2 years, "in excess of 8 mil) but he ultimately chose Utah for 3/10. Smart move by him and silly offer by the Bulls...the only years from that deal that he'd expect to get paid are years 1 and 3. You've got to tack on the 3rd year if you want to make a legitimate offer.

QUOTE (gosox41 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:56 PM) Is he ready for the majors? Bob We really won't know that until September. But if this team is in the playoff hunt...the question changes from "Is he ready for the majors" to "is he better than Threets and Williams". Since Williams looked like he belonged in single A ball...it's plausible that Sale could be an upgrade even if the answer to your question is no.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 06:43 PM) What the ****. Can't even make your cover nice, can you LeBron? I'm sure there's a lot more details there, but Simmons is reading in ad papers that the total amount of ad sales was about $6 million, and that's where the early reports were as well. There's obviously some expenses for all the private jets and prop kids, whatever, but that can't possibly cover $3.5 million.

Hmph, Bill Simmons was talking about this on his podcast today. The LeBacle show on ESPN supposedly raised about $6 million in ad sales. $2.5 million was given to charity. Wonder where the other $3.5 million went.

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:22 PM) Wedding rings are a red flag for me ..but a lot of women see them as a challenge! This can only be explained by the fact that ..well ...women are scallywags!! And that's the nicest way I can say it! LOL ..Chase DOES NOT wear a ring, even though he'd like to! So, since I could never get a date before I met my current wife, and wearing a ring hasn't seemingly changed a bloody thing, I'm going to conclude that I'm one ugly SOB.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 03:21 PM) I think this can be filed under EpicFail: RIAA Spent $64 Million On Threats Netting Just $1.4 Million The whole point of those suits was not to recoup the funds. It was to scare people into not filesharing.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 06:03 PM)

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 05:55 PM) I'm going to assume you were able to read my invisi-text?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 05:56 PM) This kind of thing rarely happens. I think he started hitting for more power starting in Boston last year. Not completely sure on whether or not the power will last, but every single projection system alive has Escobar outperforming Gonzalez in the second half, it just seems to make sense that way. He might be catching a case of Raul Ibanez, who knows. But if he continues to hit like this, the Braves got a good deal, even if they let go of a guy who was a top 5 SS in baseball just one year ago. From what we seem to be hearing whispered about Escobar behind the scenes, even if all they're doing is replacing a slumping guy with a guy on fire, I think the Braves will be happy.