Balta1701

A while back I was trying to make a map of an area on a PC with fairly poor coverage in the images we had. Google Earth actually had better quality satellite images than the program we had, and actually made some landmarks, like trees or shady areas stand out. It was darn useful in mapping that area.

Hmm, interesting catch that I didn't see earlier this week. During a Senate hearing Wednesday, the head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division gave an estimate for how much it would cost simply to deport all 12 to 15 million illegal immigrants currently in the country (not counting any of the costs of finding them, only the costs due to the deportation process). Her answer was $94 billion. That includes only detention costs, travel costs, and personnel fees associated with those parts of the trip.

QUOTE(infohawk @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 09:21 AM) I may be alone, but I thought the most interesting part of the article was this: I didn't realize this trade discussion had already begun prior to the end of the 2005 season. It appears Gregor is hinting that, knowing KW, he's already trying to line things up now that will be consumated later and not just identifying potential targets. It would probably be insane for him not to be on the phones right now. The 20 GM's not going to the playoffs don't just take this month off because they're not allowed to make a deal...you're lining up what you might be able to do now so that you can decide things like "Who's option do I pick up" during the 10 days or so after the series you have to make those decisions.

Huh?

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 08:38 AM) http://www.cultureandmediainstitute.org/ar...0913180857.aspx What does this turd object to? Considering how many details are left out of said article, including Olbermann's entire actual argument, I'll just link to the actual video they're trying to Bash Olbermann with, and let people decide on their own whether or not the points in that article are valid.

Bill Simmons chimes in

An interesting, and pessimistic response to the injury via SI

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 01:20 PM) If they had any scientific validity, I might as well. But these have no reliability, no validity. And giving the people the stats is nice on the surface, and we could require everyone to take statistics in High School so they could analyze the statistics. But that ain't going to happen. What we have is a bunch of people giving their opinion. Did everyone in the population have an equal chance of being polled? That's step one. I doubt it in this case. If nothing else, remember, we're dealing with a nation where somewhere between 15 and 20% of the population has become refugees...over 10% of which has already fled the country. I can't imagine a way to get an actual randomized sample when those are the sorts of issues you have to overcome.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 02:01 PM) Edwards only needs about 2 seconds to cover his range of material... 1. Look at my hair. LOOK AT MY HAIR! 2. Smile pretty for the camera. 3. "We can no longer have 2 Americas" while gesticulating with one hand. Am I missing anything? Here are some excerpts from his actual prepared remarks:

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 01:51 PM) try eating the berry flavored Lucky Charms Dude...when it winds up involving actual blood, that's a bad thing.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 01:30 PM) I know Rex hasn't started a ton of games for the Bears but he's been here for a few years already. As your avatar implies...in some cases there is no substitute for the real thing. There is no substitute for having to hang in the pocket as Shaun Phillips bears down on you. You simply can't learn how to take that on the sidelines. Which is why this is the key season for Rex...the biggest progress for most QB's happens after about the first full season, which Rex has now had.

If they could get this in place, it would leave MLB 1 step short of what I'd consider my ideal testing system; blood and urine tests, including all known steroids and HGH...but you still need to arrange for some sort of sample storage to allow for testing in the future as new designer steroids are uncovered.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 12:58 PM) Let them assimilate on their own time. Which, we might add, according to study after study, occurs in a huge majority of immigrant families within usually the first generation.

One can find http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/microfracture.htmlat this page a comparison of the stat lines of players who have had some sort of microfracture surgery before and after their surgery. Certainly interesting data...in virtually no cases do their numbers look better after the surgery than before, but then again, there's other things playing into that, like adding a year to a player's age, spending some time struggling to come back like Amare, etc.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 12:36 PM) I think polls are useful, when you have all the information. One thing I agree with, in terms of the point SS2K5 was making, is that you can pull numbers out of polls to try to shift the appearance of the results. Here is a novel idea - when a poll comes out, just state the facts. Give people the actual, statistical results. Instead, we get a few hard numbers from the poll, surrounded by "expert analysis" that is usually nothing more than fluff and dumbing down of the results. And on top of that...there's still the other issue...that even in what we'd consider a large sample, like 2000 people, Iraq has to be unbelievably difficult to poll accurately...because you don't want your pollsters to wind up dead. It has to be unbelievably difficult to get an unbiased sample, and even 2000 people might not be enough For an example...the first Lancet study of casualties in Iraq, talked to 988 households, and thus sampled 7868 people. The 2nd Lancet study, which produced the most recent 655,000 casualties due to the war estimate, was over 2x as large.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 12:20 PM) Well since its relatively non-invasive, is quick, and is said to have a full recovery time of 4 months, makes me believe its a small surgery. Its a case to case basis, but in the terms of knee surgeries for athletes, its a much shorter recovery time. If the recovery time is said to be 4 months, why is the team saying the recovery time is 6-12 months? Here's some details on the procedure... He's in a brace for 8 weeks, and is not allowed to even begin running/jumping for 4 to 6 months.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 12:10 PM) Injury prone? You mean like the broken wrist that he not only played through, but elevated him game with? Hes 20 years old and will have a small knee surgery. He will be back easily. While he may be back easily, this is not a small knee surgery.

QUOTE(striker62704 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 11:56 AM) I still think Arod is a possibility. Reinsdorf suprised everyone with Belle. They extended Guillen so you know they are going to be agressive. Here are payroll projections. http://www.southsidesox.com/special/White-Sox-Payroll-Info You knock off Garland then that saves you $10mil in 2008. That takes that projected payroll down to $83mil. Add ARod at $30/per and that brings you back up to $113. Plug some holes for another $8mil and you are at $121. In 2008 you are down to $66, $96 with A-rod. From a business perspective, they are coming off a terrible season. A PR move like adding ARod would keep butts in the seats, if not increase them. Not spending money will only hurt them with lost revenue. So they have to spend money to make it. I will admit I like the concept, but I think your numbers have some holes in them. For example, that $93 million doesn't count either option for Crede or Uribe, each of which will probably be about $5 million, and ARod can only play 1 of the 2 spots between 2nd base and the line there. And there's another $5 million or more taken up by the minor players or young guys who will fill out the roster, who simply aren't added by that page. I think if you want to talk about that name...you have to find a way to move both Garland and Contreras.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 11:40 AM) Yes of course that's right, but I'd feel more confident in the folks who run things, if they could make the correct evaluations in the first place. I don't think my profile page gets much traffic, but it could be noted that I listed Richar as my favorite prospect. I have no ax to grind against the young man, and truly wish he'd done better with his opportunity. With this, I respectfully bow out of this thread, and will look for others to perhaps get into more trouble. I still find the whole situation a tad humorous. On Richar...I understand why you'd be disappointed in the barely-over-.200 average he's sporting, but he was my AAP, and when he was called up, the single answer I gave to anyone who asked what he'd do was "he's going to struggle at first". No matter how many AB's he's had in the minors, at every single level he's stopped at, the best word to describe him would be "Raw". He just hadn't played much of the game at all at any level, and he was behind the curve for his age at every level. But he's proven at each level that he's been able to learn and adapt to the game, and I'm at least hoping that's what we'll see from him in the big leagues. He was almost guaranteed to struggle at first...we just hope he gets over it. He is hitting .250 in September after being below .200 in August.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 11:29 AM) Then what does it say if, and I know it's an "if", we turn around and sign Iguchi in the off season? Then that means we decided that Richar was not the best way to win a world series next year either. And that we'll be darn happy we could sign him again without losing any draft picks.

OUCH. Great...now imagine the team Portland's going to field when they get another top draft pick next year.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 11:20 AM) I understand it quite well, but still disagree. I disagree about a lot of "whole situations" in life. I'm sorry if I found it humorous that it looks like Iguchi just might be a much better bet to have at 2b than Richar. If our goal was winning the world series this year, yes, you'd be correct. By the time July rolled around, that was no longer a reasonable goal.

And meanwhile...negotiations on a compromise for a key oil law which is constantly cited as an important benchmark that must be met by the Iraqi government appears to have collapsed.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 11:14 AM) I seem to remember definitely being in the minority and taking my lumps when I suggested that one lousy Class A pitcher was not enough for him. You must also know, if you read my posts, that I'm sometimes a little sarcastic. Too lazy to reach for the green. or teal, or whatever it is. You can save the fifty bucks, but if we ever meet you can pop for a nice Italian beef and my favorite brew. Saying that getting anything for Iguchi given his contract situation was a good thing is not equal to saying Iguchi was a bum. The White Sox saved $1 million and got something for him before he walked, and got Richar a chance to get 2 months of his big league struggles, which were inevitable for him, out of the way. He doesn't have to have been a bum for us to think that was a good deal.

That image was from Mr. Bush's visit to Iraq last week. The guy shaking Bush's hand is now dead.