Balta1701

I'll predict that I will take my first celebratory drink when VA is called.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 08:56 AM) King or Stossel? I'd like to add that perhaps my favorite memory of 06's election was seeing Dan Rather as the guest on the Daily Show, poking fun at Dan Rather's folksy, insane CBS sayings...by calmly stating "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?"

John and Stephen.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 4, 2008 -> 08:49 AM) Oh yeah that bullpen was just terrible for them this season. A guy who can eat innings as Vaz can, definitely has some value to them. And he should put up better numbers in the NL and in a pitchers park. Do we know that Citifield is set up as a pitcher's park?

QUOTE (joeynach @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 11:05 PM) Does it matter this guy is gonna get anywhere from 3/36 to 5/60...there is zero chance the Sox go after that. Even after his injury problems this year you're expecting someone to offer him 5/60? As a 31 year old? If someone offers him that they can have him. I'd be interested around the 3/36 area.

Something we totally don't expect.

So, after re-reading this, did anyone else think "Ok, we need to build up Poreda's trade value. Buddy, you want to handle this one?"

Senator Obama held his last pre election campaign rally tonight in Manassas Junction, Virginia. History, campaign strategy, and a sense of history all at once.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 08:33 PM) Let the Mets rumors begin. Please don't trade for Heilman! http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,1769835.story Unlike the last couple years, I'm not sure there's anything I really want from the Mets right now.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 03:47 PM) Nate Silver's latest assessment: I think it's safe to say that a McCain win tomorrow would be the greatest failure in the history of polling. So much so that I don't know if you'd ever want to bother reading a poll again.

I'd assume this does not mean he'd start the season up here. Hell, save the year of arbitration eligibility anyway.

Today's fun bit...the electricity grid. The Electricity grid for the state of California, and as we'll see, the Western U.S., runs through the same passes that the highways and other infrastructure run through. There is a hell of a lot of current running across those lines. Power from the deserts going in to the cities, etc. When you rupture the fault, you set off ten or twenty meters of displacement. Basically every electrical line crossing the fault gets cut. That's when the fun begins. When a power line gets cut, especially a major one, it drives an electrical surge, because the current originally flowing to Southern California no longer has anywhere to go. This is what caused the cascade reaction that knocked out NYC's power a couple years ago. Except, this one is a far larger cutout. It happens in several places almost at once, and so the power feeds back as far as it can find a place to go. In other words, power goes out in Southern California because so many of its lines get cut. But the power surge created feeds back through Vegas, Northern California, Arizona, and basically the entire Western part of the United States. The entire western United States power grid goes off line for multiple hours because of an event in Southern California. Most of the undamaged regions are restored within a day or two, but that alone causes significant turmoil, let alone the earthquake devastation in the area. A fairly interesting feature of the power grid is that it actually responds at a rate greater than seismic waves can travel. The first cuttings of the power lines that start the surge happen in the southern part of the fault, the area that breaks first. The power cascade races ahead of the quake, and actually, reaches most of the developed areas a couple seconds before the initial shaking does (and the first wave, the P wave, is typically fairly small, the big ones come in a few seconds later). In other words...you actually get a warning when the big one happens. If your power goes out first, then a few seconds later you feel the ground shake...hold on, because this one is going to last a while. The power grid itself will take heavy damage from the quake. It is not cheap to rebuild those severed power lines, and there will be a ton of damage throughout the city. Thankfully though, most of the power grid is above ground and is moderately easy to replace. But many businesses weren't ready for the quake. Their computers and data systems shorted out or took heavy damage. Some cause fires when the power does come back on. In many areas, it takes 1-2 months before regular electricity supplies are restored. Businesses lose records, transactions can't happen, the economy of the region is in shambles, and many people are starting over. Some simple planning can help mitigate this. Remember you're in a disaster area. Back up your computer files as needed. Expect that it's going to happen. Spend some money on surge protectors. When the quake hits, before you evacuate your building, flip your circuit breakers off because it will help avoid fires. And try to have some idea of how you'll get by without power for a month or two.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 05:47 PM) Just so you know, there is a large hispanic population, that usually votes Democratic, that is for prop 8. It isn't entirely along political party lines as you might believe. From polling data, I wouldn't say so far there's evidence that they're "For" it. It's almost split for Latino groups.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 04:03 PM) Bears aren't beating the Titans. If they could barely put away Detroit, Tennessee should be licking their chops. This is the NFL. ANYTHING can happen on a given week.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 03:07 PM) I guess we can't go after Brian Roberts then...Glaus' extra base numbers were fantastic last season considering his slow start and suckiness vs the Cubs. Frankly, no I don't really want Roberts, and that's a big part of my reasoning.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 03:00 PM) Rolen is on his last legs. His shoulder is extremely weak now. That would be a terrible trade. A deal of Javy for Glaus would make a lot more sense. No juicers please.

QUOTE (chisox2334 @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:58 PM) i rather have fields play than rolen Ditto. Strongly so.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:46 PM) I'm not arguing that the important stuff shouldn't be released, I'm just wondering why some people (not necessarily here in the Filibuster) think they're entitled to seeing a candidate's full medical history. I just threw herpes out there as an obvious example of a medical condition someone wouldn't want publicized. Well, here's the question...do voters have a right to discriminate based on medical conditions in a way that most employers don't have because of the nature of the government position?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:33 PM) I thought it was pretty standard for candidates running for the executive branch to release their medical records. I think I would reconsider my vote if Obama was diagnosed with lung cancer. It's worth noting that the one he brought up, Herpes, might well be one of those things that wouldn't affect the performance of her job but which she might not want released. That's somewhat reasonable. But on the other hand, there are more than a few things that could affect a person's performance in a high stress job which we don't get the chance to check for.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:31 PM) Why should she have to though? What if she has herpes or something? Should she have to reveal that to everybody? I know it sounds like I'm being facetious but I'm not. A partial release is something they could also have done. Or they could just put them in a room, give people 20 minutes, and say "That's all you get".

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:18 PM) I'll be up until a winner is declared, no question. A winner will almost certainly not be "Declared" until 8:00 PST, because that's when California closes. But it's entirely possible we'll "Know" well before then. If Virginia, Florida, or Ohio, or anything else unexpected (NC, GA, IN) are called for Obama early (That'd be 10 pm CST and 11 EST so they'd have had several hours to do some counting before then), then we'd probably know. For a McCain win, I think we might have to wait until Wednesday, because he'd have to pull off so many miracle comebacks in close states that every absentee ballot would probably have to be counted and very little could be called on the exit polls alone.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:22 PM) Yeah, it's pretty sad, she almost lived to see the whole thing. Although at this point, it hardly matters. How many people get to live to see their grandkids take a convincing poll lead into the day before Election Day? One fewer than get to see them win.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 02:02 PM) What time tomorrow do you think numbers will start rolling in? The first states will probably start being called around 5-6 pm CST, give or take when they close (6 or 7 EST). A lot of them will be wide enough to call on exit polling alone (NY, MA, etc.) The key ones though like VA, PA, OH will take a couple hours because if the margin in the exit polling isn't huge they'll wait to see how the initial returns compare to the exit polling data. If the returns show wider victory margins than the exit polling, that's usually a signal that it's ok to call them. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of those called by 8-9 EST. Especially if recent polling in those 3 has been accurate. Florida, on the other hand, could well be a really late one. Ditto Indiana.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Nov 3, 2008 -> 01:31 PM) I don't see maxiell as an everyday PF... McDyess may well be one of those "Buy me out so I can go back to where I want to play, I'm not playing with you" people.

That was me that played around with it originally. The time consuming part is getting all of the game results into an excel column format, unless there's a new site that's cropped up that will be easier exporting. At some point I'll have time to do so again.