Balta1701

When do we start thinking about Pujols taking a shot at 62?

Ok, I no longer want to trade Contreras for him.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:47 AM) If you go over budget you should be forced out, because it means you cannot do your job. In an economic downturn like this one, going over budget is exactly what governments are supposed to do.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:31 AM) How many times have these papers been cited in subsequent publications? That's a good indication of whether or not they're worth a damn. The Vezier paper has been cited 12 times. 3 are work by the same author citing his previous hypothesis. 1 is by some civil engineers trying to write a climate paper (seriously; bizarre). 2 appear to just be summary papers that wind up saying its worth testing his hypothesis (being done). 4 cite some of his geology. 2 are standard proposals for ways to deal with climate change. The 2 petroleum geologists have been cited 7 times. 3 are by the same author(s). 2 are rebuttals. Then there's some other random stuff about free speech from the journal "Society". Here's a blog by the author of one of those rebuttals, if you're itnerested.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:40 AM) My big issue/problem with this is that the government is shoving things like this climate bill through without knowing one way or the other. As it stands, they're guessing, based on politically charged science. The fact that debate still exists is what I have a problem with -- meanwhile we're taking drastic steps that may or may do absolutely nothing, and at what cost to the country, to the people, and to business? That's my issue with this. I know I tend to come of as bullheaded when it comes to things like this, but politics really annoys me...I try to be objective, but when I see things like this happening, I have a problem with it. I've always been a devils advocate of sorts. If the bill was really that solid, then Obama and his administration shouldn't have had to make phone calls and convince people to vote for it -- well written bills based on fact should need no push to get it signed...it should just happen. Quite simply, you're wrong. The science is politically charged...because the natural conclusions of that science are going to cost a lot of very powerful people a lot of money. Basically that is the only reason there is "Debate" on this. The science about whether greenhouse gas emissions are driving a warming trend that will be bad for man is in, and has been for years. The Scientific community really has moved on to looking at things like mitigation and what the impacts of the changing climate on parts of the earth will be (did you know that melting ice caps will cause a decrease in volcanism at the mid-oceanic ridges?) And really, you're also wrong on how the government works. People are allowed to have legitimate disagreements on the best way to make policy going forwards, and people are going to disagree on bills. Were the Bush Tax cuts bad because Bush had to whip hard to get them through, and then did so in reconciliation where the Dems couldn't filibuster? Was the Patriot Act good because it was 99-1 in favor of it?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:31 AM) Then provide them. Lets try to discuss the science as best we can (because none of us here are experts in this field, as far as I know). Let's drop the pejoratives and polemics and demagoguery and discuss what actual objections you have to the mainstream interpretation. I'm only months away from the degree, come on, give me some credit

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:11 AM) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scien..._global_warming Plenty of references cited -- I know, though, you'll just ignore them all. After going through the list of citations to that list...there are exactly 2 papers that have appeared in scientific journals on there - the rest are press accounts. And frankly, both of them are pretty much garbage. One is by Jan Vezier, who has a weird theory which is getting funded to the tune of tens of millions of dollars (yeah, clearly all the funding out there goes to support the consensus) that Cosmic Ray abundances somehow affect the climate. He gave a talk here a couple years ago...it was terrible. The worst part of it was, he put up a graph saying "That's the temperature record I'm fitting", and the actual group of climatologists and geologists in the audience had no idea where it came from. After some checking, it turned out that it was a climate record for about 1/3 of the earth, and he was using it because it showed a cooling trend where no other proxy shows a cooling trend; he was basically trying to make his data look better without actually doing anything. It was quite literally cheating. The other paper does a terrifically simplified version of the physics behind the interaction of CO2 with the atmosphere. It's just really bad, there are a hundred ways to do it better. Of course, part of that may be because the authors are petroleum geologists, but I"ll leave that to you to decide.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:05 AM) I can say the same. There are papers on both sides right now. It's still not prooven fact. I can keep repeating this if you didn't yet understand it. I can't cite any, so i'll just say my point louder and louder!

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 10:02 AM) Also, the melting glaciers will cool down the north atlantic, stopping the giant ocean "conveyor belt" that brings warmer waters up to Europe/ England. That's actually a dramatic simplification that works well for movies. The reality is far more complex. The Wally Broecker "Conveyor Belt" paper gets cited everywhere because its a great image but it's an oversimplification of how oceanic current trends actually work. The connection between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, for example, is somewhat tenuous. At the Last Glacial Maximum, Europe was a lot colder and the Gulf Stream was about 10% weaker. Those 2 are directly linked through the salinity of water in the north atlantic, which is affected strongly by the amount of runoff/melting of snow happening in the north. First point is; it didn't shut down, and a "Shutdown" is just not going to happen because there are interactions between the winds and the gulf stream as well. What can happen though is that you can weaken the intensity of those currents or you can change their direction and produce very large shifts. That's what happens with rising CO2.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 09:59 AM) The world goes through warming and cooling periods, over and over again, it did it before man was here, and it will do it after man is here, too. That doesn't mean that man can't do the exact same things that trigger warming trends and get the exact same results. Warming and cooling trends on the earth are not some big mystery that happen because the turtle that carries the earth on its back decides to move. There are specific triggers and feedbacks that drive those changes, and we have a good understanding of what they are.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 10:54 PM) Balta, I got a question for you.... why has California's healthcare system worked so brilliantly? and why would doing it on an even larger scale make it work? ? California doesn't have a state-wide or public health insurance option. There have been proposals but nothing has ever passed. California's on the same system as anywhere else, except California also keeps stabbing the eyes out of its budget .

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 09:49 PM) If global warming was such reality, why'd they slyly change it from global warming to climate change? The answer is because the more they studied it the more they realized it was a load of crap. But climate change...that cannot be wrong. Ever. Why? Because, the climate has changed forever...and will continue to change forever. Oh, and I have a great answer to this. Global warming isn't actually as accurate of a word to describe what is happening as climate change (Hell, Anthropogenic (human-caused) Climate change is even more accurate). Why? Because not all of the globe gets warmer with increasing CO2 emissions. 80% of the world gets warmer, the poles warm up extremely, but there are zones that certainly get colder. Europe is a prime example - if you warm the north atlantic you weaken the gulf stream, less energy is brought north, and Northern Europe on the whole cools off somewhat. It's also worth noting that the temperature is not the only thing that changes; the general weather patterns also change. Some areas that are already hot simply dry out more (The Western U.S.) Some areas get hit with more intense storms. Some areas wind up with more snow. Etc.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 09:47 AM) The Tulsa Beacon? Seriously? Who is then citing World Net Daily? And its a petition that amounts to printing a form online, signing it, and sending it in. No research necessary. Actually, most people actively involved in research are somewhat careful about the wording of anything they affix their name to willingly. Those Inhofe style lists like the one WND is talking about there isn't a petition they actually signed - it's based on quote mining. Any time someone said anything that could be construed (even by taking 1/3 of a full sentence) as opposing any conclusion regarding climate change, Inhofe's folks grabbed their name. And then they never take people off once someone tells the actual person "Hey, what the Hell are you doing on this list?"

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 27, 2009 -> 09:40 AM) You can find silly "Dissent from Darwin" lists, too. They're meaningless. I love the Discovery Institute's "We don't believe in evolution and we're scientists!" list. We have a list of people who support evolution longer than their list by a factor of 10. The difference? Ours consists solely of people named "Steve". It's pretty much the same way in climate science. We have more people named Steve who think it's a problem than they have people.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 08:50 PM) I agree 100%. I would even bet he is ahead of where he was last year at this time. ON June 26th of last year he was hitting .296, .747 OPS. After 263 at bats he was hitting .308, .794 OPS, 8 HR. June 26th of this year, 261 at bats, .261 BA, .702 OPS. 9 HR. He does have more walks already this season than he had all last year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 07:49 PM) If Flowers is our starting catcher, we should do our best to find a lefty hitting back-up catcher. Lucy is terrible..he makes Corky Miller look like a good hitter. I'll bet AJ Pierzynski will be available in 2 years.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 08:37 PM) Not sure how funny it is. There are people out there that can't afford health insurance, so what do we do? We make energy more expensive, so it costs them more to get to and from work, it costs their employers more for heating, air-conditioning, etc., the list goes on -- how does that help any of this current economic situation? Nothing like tackling one problem at a time and making sure it's solved before we move onto the next world changing issue as if it were just another page in a 2$ magazine. Except of course...that doesn't happen. Ignoring the CBO summary doesn't make it go away.

Birmingham takes a 5-4 lead on a triple by Gartrell and an RBI ground ball single by Colina.

Kanny loses 4-3 in 12.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 07:03 PM) I'd give anything for us to have Granderson. I love that guy. Hopefully we have a version or two of him on the way.

Now this is a review.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 07:11 PM) This is absurd. The house yet again passes another insane bill. I really don't care how you feel about Global Warming, but honestly, how can anyone be in favor of this particular bill? It's the largest tax increase in American history, the debate about Global Warming is far from a settled one, no one read the bill and it was about 1300+ pages, no one really understands the bill, and right now in this bill, the only people who seem to gain are politicians and select businesses. Okay, you want to do something about Global Warming, fine. But how about we first prove Global Warming is a real threat, and come up with a much more logical and well thought out bill? This is sickening. Hopefully the Senate has more sense than the house, but I doubt it... The country that I love is really going down the s***ter.

Daniel Black, the guy from Purdue we just promoted after 8 at bats is 2/4 tonight for Kanny.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 09:30 AM) So, Dan Remenowsky, after putting up some ridiculous peripherals as Kanny's closer and looked ready for promotion, has not pitched in a week. And he has apparently lost his closing job during that time to Tyson Corley. Anyone have any news on what might be going on there? So far 2 scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th tonight in a tie game for Remenowsky.

Yankees lose Xavier Nady for the season.