Balta1701

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 09:10 AM) which is when OBP can be overrated and SLG% can be underrated. If Jerry Owens could slug even .350 while getting on at a .330 clip, he'd be atleast adequate in the lineup. The problem from there lies in the fact that he plays mediocre to bad defense in CF and his arm is atrocious. Jerry Owens is more likely to slug .330 and have an OBP of .350 than the other way around. And that's still pushing it with the slugging. Frankly though, if Owens is plugged in to the leadoff spot, I really am never going to look at the OPS or Slug categories to tell how good he's doing in that role. The 2 key lines for Owens will be OBP and SB %age. If we want him to be a successful leadoff man, he needs an OBP at about. 350 or higher, and a SB clip pushing up well over 75%. His defense isn't anything stellar in CF, but it's probably still a step or two up from Swisher and certainly a ways above Griffey. With the bat, his minor league numbers suggest he can put up those numbers. He has a good walk rate, can hit for contact, and has some decent ability to take a pitch at the same time, although not above average. What he needs is to be on base, so that he can a.) use his speed and b.) score runs in front of the boppers. Anything less than .350 or so OBP or worse than a 75% clip with the SB's and he's just costing us runs compared to grabbing someone off the scrap heap and putting them in there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 24, 2009 -> 01:06 PM) So in other words its not a "report" because it wasn't published for public consumption. Notice they don't dispute any of the facts IN the report though, right? The actual report is out. Out of the $606 billion in spending included in the bill that they analyzed, $374 billion will be out the door by the end of 2010.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 08:04 AM) I think it is a great plan. The housing industry is the problem with the economy. Anything that would allow a homeowner to cut their payment, if Sen. Ensign's figures are correct, by $400/mo or more, is an instant tax cut without the stigma of a tax cut. The amount of money that would flow into the economy from this would be substantial. Depending on how this is structured though, there's a potential risk there to drag this whole housing collapse out longer, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. A number of different suggestions have come out along these lines, to help more people buy homes, to have the government take up some of the slack in the housing market, etc. I think the reality in that market is that the prices got so far beyond what people could afford with their normal salary that home prices are going to drop to the point that an average person earning an average income in a market is going to be able to afford an average house, and they're not going to stop until they get there, regardless of any programs who have the goal of keeping prices up. It depends on how you structure it whether this would work. And of course...you'd have an awful lot of resistance from the banks. One of the big problems with this whole mess is that these mortgages have been chopped up and sold off a dozen different ways, which has made government refinancing programs very ugly already, because every one who holds a mortgage winds up needing to agree before something is rewritten. Although that is the nice thing about the government...it's pretty good at forcing companies to do things, that doesn't mean they'd like it

QUOTE (KipWellsFan @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 09:13 AM) I think I'm thinking the same thing. One might assume that because Netanyahu is a hawk that he'd be more reluctant to get any kind of peace deal, but things often run counter to expectations. So who knows... Problem is, there's "Hawks" and then there's "Crazy, Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz" hawks. There's hawks who will still realize that bombing everything doesn't work, especially if you start to cut off their supply of guns. And then there's the hawks who think the solution to that problem is to find something else to bomb. Netanyahu has given me every impression that he's in the latter group. But yeah, we'll see.

QUOTE (Heartattack19 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 08:16 AM) My problem is that i already have the boxes, but the signal is weak as hell. I hope that they amplify the signal so i can get a solid picture without it cutting in and out. I know the easy way to fix this is get cable or direct tv, but that is too expensive for the budget right now... When the picture works, it looks great, it is just annoying as hell... This of course gets to the heart of the problem. Neither group of people really wants to spend the money on this. The broadcasters don't necessarily want to spend major amounts of money upgrading their signals right now, and consumers don't necessarily want to go buy additional converter equipment. And even if you get past that, it's likely that some people just won't get the signal after the transition that they got beforehand. Unfortunately, that's why there's a big, bully government out there, to hopefully force people to make decisions they don't want to make if it is actually going to be for the good of the country overall.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 08:29 AM) Another conservative Israeli government? Yeah that would suck. There is an old Vulcan proverb. Only Nixon could go to China.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 08:24 AM) It's pretty hard to get a word edgewise in the Arab political discourse when b****ing about Israel dominates everything. Another (greatly oversimplified) reason the Israel/Palestinian thing has such strategic importance. It's hard to stop the b****ing about Israel when the Israel mess keeps coming back to the forefront, too.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jan 27, 2009 -> 06:57 AM) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrup_of_ipecac Be careful, make sure you NEED this if you use it. It isnt fun. My best friend spent an entire day dry vomiting because he didnt feel like going to school during high school He told me he would rather have gone to school that day, and that is saying a lot

I was just at a talk given by a guy who's one of the National Medal of Science winners from a few years ago. In the late 90's, he also won an award for his work that carries a $1 million prize. His statement on that, to paraphrase: PG: Well, about that $1 million. Half went to taxes, so that part's gone, and the other half, well I lost that half. (Former director of JPL in the audience): How'd you lose the other half? PG: I invested it.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jan 26, 2009 -> 03:43 PM) We will have to wait until Ozzie write his book. That may be the best tell all book in history.

The Vice President's estate is no longer pixelated out on Google earth.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Jan 24, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) The money could be there, but right now it doesn't seem like the Sox project the money to be there. The Sox have yet to be sponsored by anyone who's been bailed out by the government (The New York Mets presented by the U.S. taxpayer! And Manchester United too!).

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jan 24, 2009 -> 01:32 AM) IT took me roundly four clicklys nto get into thi thead! Someone told me tonight that apparently advik( (or aspirin) ius bad for you after you drink and can kill you? I thought it was good becauwse it things your blood faster. Can some clean tis up po favo? Actually the drug you're supposed to avoid mixing with alcohol (shot of Jim) is acetaminophen. Tylenol, specifically. Both Alcohol and acetaminophen are processed by the liver, and they attack that organ in different ways, so they can sort of compound the damage to it. If you need a painkiller, advil or aleve or perhaps aspirin work better. Although, those also serve to enhance the blood vesicle dilation effects of alcohol. So if you already have heart problems, then the mixture can certainly give you some trouble.

Thank you. Really. Just made my night.

Congressman Genius Waxman is trying to push Utility decoupling as part of the stimulus package. If you don't know what this is...it's the thing that California passed a couple decades back that wound up having California's per capita energy consumption stay constant while the rest of the country's per capita electricity consumption doubled.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 10:11 AM) This is why spending is the absolute wrong plan if the economy is in such immediate danger as we keep getting told. Don't miss the line that states that only $26 billion of the $355 in appropraitions would actually be spent in 2009. Things like tax cuts and extended benefits hit peoples pocketbooks immediately. The rest of the appropriations are just pork barrel stuff, and have no business being passed off as a stimulus plan. That goes for both the green energy and the construction plans. The merits of it being needed can be debated, but there is no question this will do nothing for the near term economy in the US. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home Controversial CBO Report On Stimulus Turns Out Not To Exist

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 11:14 AM) No that's not the reason. Certain things are just not meant for public knowledge (I'm in no way advocating torture here btw). If Jack Bauer wants his actions exposed to the public, they should be exposed to the public. After all, the Republican Party has told me that I should believe everything Jack does on his awesome tv show, right?

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 04:53 PM) no sarcasm involved Where is Pakistan's oil field?

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jan 23, 2009 -> 07:09 AM) MER just layed off 6-8 employees on the CBOE yesterday. I fear more are on the way. It appears that last fall, Merrill's CEO and top guys decided that the mortgage market had finally bottomed out and it was time to buy more of those assets. Those purchases of course, have wound up causing this additional bailout money. Clearly, these people deserve a major, major retention bonus. Gotta, gotta retain that kind of talent.

I did that a while back with the top 10's, it was my impression that roughly 1/2 of the top 10 prospects wound up busting.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Steve Perry!

Obama's nominee for Director of National Intelligence refuses to call waterboarding torture.

Merrill Lynch dumped about $4 billion in executive bonuses out on an accelerated schedule at the end of December right before the Bank of America merger became final. The $4 billion was dumped out as they were seeking TARP money to replace Merrill's losses. Including those $4 billion, of course. I want to be a bank.

The FBI raided a defense contractor who has received millions of dollars in earmarks thanks to Senator Murtha. This reminds me a lot of the pace at which the Duke Cunningham investigation moved.