Steff

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 04:21 PM) Two things factor into that. One, it's getting ready to be winter. Two, yes, the rates are going up, but the month before was the largest EVER construction starts. So it's all relative. The market's still strong. It's not on fire like it was just a few months ago, but it's still strong. We have record household moves scheduled for the month of December. Up over 13% from last year interstate and 9% intrastate. Last month was the largest ever...?? "The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of new homes and apartments fell by 5.6 percent last month, the biggest decline in seven months. Applications for new building permits, a good sign of future activity, fell by 6.7 percent, the biggest decline in six years." Maybe August was ...?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 04:06 PM) Well that doesnt really make sense. Not everyone was showing spring training games I know most teams werent. And for us we dont get televised hockey games so what would that have to do with them not showing it on TV? Didnt they say we showed the most ever spring training games on TV last year? I'm pretty sure it was a deal with Comcast, and since there's been no word of that changing I would guess they will televise about the same # of games again this spring.

When the judge polled the jury the first jurors response to the judge asking if that was her verdict.. "Oh yes.." Loud and clear And the effing bastard shook his head as if he agreed.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 04:14 PM) 2.01 million annual units is still a DAMN strong housing market. However.. "... reflected a 3.7 percent drop in single-family building and an even bigger 11.7 percent decline in multifamily construction. By region, construction starts were down 10.8 percent in the West, 10.5 percent in the Midwest, 7.5 percent in the Northeast and 0.5 percent in the South. That's a strong decline.

Calif. Workers Share Mega Millions Jackpot Thursday, November 17, 2005 ANAHEIM, Calif. — A secretary and six laboratory workers at Kaiser Permanente held the winning ticket for the $315 million Mega Millions jackpot — but they still came into work, a company spokeswoman said. The jackpot was the third-richest prize won with a single ticket in the history of lotteries in the United States. The winners, who each chipped in $3 for the ticket, came into work Wednesday at the medical center in Garden Grove anyway, said Kaiser spokeswoman Barbara Shipnuck. "They bought the entire staff lunch to celebrate," Shipnuck said. "For now, they all prefer to stay anonymous." The ticket was bought at Rainbow Water, Juice, Flower & Gift, not far from Disneyland, where the owners will receive $1 million. Owners Guadalupe and Jose Cordova, both 53, were considering selling the store a couple of years ago but changed their minds, said their daughter, Raquel Cordova. "My mom's like, 'No, no, someday I'll hit it big and I'll be able to retire,'" Raquel Cordova said. The couple, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico as teenagers, decided to take Wednesday off and let their kids work. "Mom's gonna take a long vacation ... she's here seven days a week, even on Sundays," Raquel Cordova said. Last month in Oregon, a family claimed the largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history won by a single ticket, $340 million. The numbers were drawn Oct. 19 in the other big multistate lottery, Powerball. Until then, the richest undivided lottery jackpot in U.S. history was the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot won by a West Virginia man on Christmas Day 2002. In addition to California, Mega Millions is played in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Perhaps it's just that most have already refi'd. Building is slowing down.. Housing Construction Declines in October MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 42 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Housing construction and new building permits were down sharply in October, providing fresh evidence that rising mortgage rates are beginning to cool the five-year housing boom. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of new homes and apartments fell by 5.6 percent last month, the biggest decline in seven months. Applications for new building permits, a good sign of future activity, fell by 6.7 percent, the biggest decline in six years. Analysts said these weaker-than-expected figures, combined with evidence homes are staying on the market longer, indicate the hot real estate market is cooling off. "We are likely to see a steady downward trend in housing activity over the next few months all tied to rising mortgage rates," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., forecasting firm. The fear is that home values have soared to such high levels that a slowing in demand could cause those prices to drop sharply, raising risks to recent purchasers who could end up with mortgage burdens that are higher than the falling values of their homes. Behravesh doesn't see that happening, saying higher mortgage rates "should serve to cool the market down without precipitating any kind of nasty scenario." The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that 69 cities around the country saw double-digit price gains during the July-September quarter, compared with the same period a year ago, led by a 55.2 percent surge in the Phoenix area and a 44.8 percent jump in home prices in Fort Myers, Fla. Nationally, median prices for existing homes were up 14.7 percent in the third quarter compared with a year ago. Analysts said as sales slow, double-digit price increases are likely to be a thing of the past as the Federal Reserve keeps pushing interest rates higher to combat inflation pressures. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year mortgage rose to 6.37 percent this week, the highest level in more than two years and well above this year's low of 5.53 percent set in June. In addition to the big drop in construction starts in October, the National Association of Home Builders said a new survey showed builder optimism fell in November by the largest amount since right after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. David Seiders, chief economist for the home builders, said he believes sales of both new and existing homes, while still setting records for a fifth consecutive year in 2005, will be down by around 5 percent next year, representing "an orderly simmering down process." But he cautioned that there were risks that the drop-off in activity could be more severe. He said one of the biggest risks is if housing purchased by speculators starts being dumped on the market, causing a glut that will sharply depress prices. In other economic news, the Federal Reserve reported that industrial output posted a solid rebound of 0.9 percent last month, reflecting the end of a strike at aircraft maker Boeing and the resumption of factory activity along the ravaged Gulf Coast. In September, industrial production had fallen by 1.5 percent, the biggest drop in more than two decades. In another sign that the economy is recovering from the hurricanes, the Labor Department said storm-related job losses edged down last week to 19,000, far below the high of 108,000 hurricane-related layoffs recorded the third week of September. Over the past 11 weeks, the number of jobs lost because of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma totaled 561,400. Overall jobless claims fell by 25,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 303,000, the lowest level since mid-April. The October decline in housing , which pushed the total to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.01 million units, reflected a 3.7 percent drop in single-family building and an even bigger 11.7 percent decline in multifamily construction. By region, construction starts were down 10.8 percent in the West, 10.5 percent in the Midwest, 7.5 percent in the Northeast and 0.5 percent in the South.

There are minor league parks better then Fenway. Many.. The Jake is one of the best parks in all of baseball.

MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer 3 minutes ago CHICAGO - Former media tycoon Conrad Black and three other executives were charged in a federal fraud indictment Thursday involving the $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers and the abuse of corporate perquisites at newspaper publishing company Hollinger International Inc. Black, 61, Hollinger International's ousted chairman, was accused in the 11-count indictment of cheating the company's U.S. and Canadian shareholders as well as Canadian taxing authorities. Black and the others were accused of fraudulently diverting more than $32 million from the company through a complex series of transactions. Former Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler pleaded guilty to similar charges involving the $32 million in September. But the indictment also outlines fresh allegations, including what federal prosecutors described as the fraudulent diversion of an additional $51.8 million in 2000 from Hollinger International's sale of assets to CanWestGlobal Communications Corp. Prosecutors said that Black and others criminally charged had arranged to funnel payments to themselves that were disguised as "non-competition" fees. The indictment also charged that Black and one of his co-defendants fraudulently misused corporate perquisites, including a company jet for a vacation by Black and his wife in the South Pacific, two Park Avenue apartments and company money for a lavish birthday party for Mrs. Black. According to prosecutors, when Black was asked to reimburse the company for the 10-day vacation to Bora Bora in French Polynesia, he replied: "No such outcome is possible." Black, who renounced his Canadian citizenship and is now a member of the British House of Lords, also charged the company $42,000 for his wife's birthday party five years ago at the La Grenouille restaurant in New York, prosecutors allege. They say Black agreed to pick up the rest of the tab, about $20,000. Also charged in the indictment were John A. "Jack" Boultbee, 62, a Toronto-area accountant; Peter Y. Atkinson, 58, a Canadian attorney and former executive vice president of Hollinger International; and attorney Mark S. Kipnis, 58, of Northbrook, a Chicago suburb. Also named as a defendant was Ravelston Corp., a Canadian company that Black used to gain control of Hollinger International. Chicago-based Hollinger International publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, community newspapers in the Chicago area and a few small publications in Canada. It sold the Jerusalem Post and The Daily Telegraph of London in 2004. Arrest warrants were issued for Black, Boultbee and Atkinson, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald's office said. Prosecutors said they would allow the defendants to appear voluntarily in U.S. District Court in Chicago. But if they fail to do so, the government will seek to have them extradited, prosecutors said. All of the defendants were charged with various counts of mail fraud and wire fraud. The indictment seeks criminal forfeiture of at least $80 million from the four men as well as more than $8.5 million seized in October after the sale of Black's Park Avenue apartments and a home in Florida. Black still has homes in Toronto and London, according to prosecutors. Kipnis was indicted in August and reindicted Thursday. He is free on bond pending a fresh arraignment date. Fitzgerald said in a statement issued by his office that "officers and directors of publicly traded companies who steer shareholders' money into their pockets should not lie to the board of directors to get permission to do so." He said insiders "whose job it was to safeguard the shareholders made it their job to steal and conceal."

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 03:25 PM) Ok, ok... Anyone else want me to remove it? BTW, "Fantasy Master" was Heads' idea. I didn't ask you to remove it.. I just wanted to go on record as saying it's gross. Ick.

No wonder you're called the fantasy master.. :rolly Seriously.. that's gross.

'Your life can be altered in a split second' Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY Thu Nov 17, 8:02 AM ET If Angie Gratzl could make kids understand one thing about the dangers of underage drinking, it's that bad things can happen to you. She knows, because they happened to her son. Some 15 months ago, during move-in time last year at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, her son Jason, then 18, drank too much at a house party and fell from a second-floor balcony, where a friend told police he had gone to vomit. He suffered serious head injuries. After being rushed to the emergency room, he spent about a year in hospitals and rehab centers, returning to his mom's home in Burlington, Wis., in September. There, he is undergoing continued therapy. Jason Gratzl had planned to major in engineering. Today, his mom hopes he will someday be able to attend some type of school or get a job. He remembers nothing of the incident that changed his life. Angie Gratzl isn't sure what she could have done differently. "They say you need to sit down and talk. I did, I sat down and talked and talked," she says. But, "students, including my own children, have told me that the 'speech' only works when children want to absorb what is presented to them." At some point, she started writing about her experience. The result was later distributed at Jason's high school and posted on a UW website (pace.uhs.wisc.edu/gratzl .php). Her message: "Make Jason's mistake serve as a reminder to you that anything can happen on any given day." She doubts most students will give her story a second thought. "But if it impacts just one," she says, "that's what is important."

LMAO.. this is hysterical. I know he's just doing to for publicity.. but his music is good and I don't think he needs this to jump start his career. But alas.. funny. "Laguna" Star to Wed Kimberly Stewart By Sarah Hall 9 minutes ago Perhaps inspired by the marriage-minded moves made by her good friends Paris and Nicky Hilton, Kimberly Stewart has gone ahead and taken the engagement plunge. Stewart, the 26-year-old daughter of rocker Rod Stewart, has announced that she is betrothed to Laguna Beach star Talan Torriero, 19, whom she has been dating for anywhere from one week to two months, according to varying published reports. (E! Online's own Party Girl, Lara Morgenson, who has encountered the pair out and about on her rounds, pegs the budding romance at about two weeks old.) The twosome announced their plans to wed Wednesday night at an XBox 360 party held at a private home in Beverly Hills, where Stewart proudly showed off her sizable diamond engagement ring to the Hilton sisters, who were also in attendance. "It's almost too big," Stewart gushed to Us Weekly. "It's beautiful." The duo's commitment to each other was possibly reinforced by the not so near-death experience they shared last week when Hilton's beau, Stavros Niarchos, crashed the Bentley in which the foursome were riding. The hard-partying crew walked away from the car crash unscathed and uncited, even though the non-driving (and still underage) Torriero was caught on camera by TMZ.com remarking, "I'm the only sober one." Torriero attained celebrity heights--at least with the MTV set--last year, when he was chosen to be a central figure on Laguna Beach as a high school junior. Though his reign on the show officially came to an end with the conclusion of Laguna's second season on Monday, the SoCal native is determined not to let his 15 minutes peter out too quickly. "I'm doing an album, which is very exciting," Torriero told MTV News in September. "I can't tell you what label I'm with, but it's a really big label push." Beyond his musical aspirations, Torriero said he may also try his hand at the acting game. "I've been acting since I was young," he told MTV News. "Now I get to take what I'm doing and what skills I have and use it to my advantage." As for Stewart's professional life, rumors that she was replacing Nicole Richie as Hilton's Simple Life sidekick never came to fruition, despite Hilton's reported campaign for her to do so. In the meantime, the gangly blonde has been working as a model and hitting the party and shopping circuits. The engagement is the first for Torriero and the second for Stewart, who was previously engaged to musician Cisco Adler. No wedding date has been set.

Fleiss Plans Makeover for Nevada Brothel Thu Nov 17, 7:13 AM ET LAS VEGAS - Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss says she's bound for a brothel in the southern Nevada desert that she wants to help remake into a resort featuring male prostitutes serving female customers. "I am moving to Crystal," Fleiss said Wednesday of a desert crossroads 20 miles north of Pahrump and about 80 miles outside Las Vegas. It features two bordellos and little else. "I am opening up a stud farm," Fleiss declared from her Hollywood home overlooking the Sunset Strip. "I am going to have the sexiest men on earth. Women are going to love it." Joe Richards, who owns the Cherry Patch Ranch and Mabel's Ranch in Crystal, said he sent a "courtesy" letter Tuesday to inform the Nye County Commission that Fleiss will work for him. "She's going to be madam hostess of Cherry Patch Ranch," Richards told The Associated Press by telephone. He called her an employee rather than a partner. There's one possible problem, though. County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said that because Fleiss is a convicted felon, she could be banned from the county's legal sex trade. DeMeo sits with the five county commissioners on a six-member brothel licensing board. Fleiss, 39, was released from a California prison in 1999 after serving 21 months for money laundering, tax evasion and attempted pandering. Fleiss was convicted in 1995 of running a prostitution ring in which models-turned-prostitutes were flown around the world to meet wealthy actors and clients who paid as much as $10,000 for a single meeting. DeMeo said he'd heard several reports in his three years as sheriff about Fleiss' plans, including a failed proposal by an Australian firm that hired Fleiss in 2003 to promote a 50-room brothel-hotel. "This is different," Fleiss insisted Wednesday, describing movers packing her belongings and her plan to arrive in Nevada later this week. "I'm moving." Nye County is among 10 rural Nevada counties in which prostitution is legal under county and state oversight. Prostitution is illegal in Clark County surrounding Las Vegas, and Washoe County around Reno.

Oh thank God.. Guilty on ALL counts!!!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll...E&template=ovr2 Link to watch live coverage.

Verdict is in..

Found 1 of them DES MOINES, Iowa - A convicted murderer who escaped this week from an Iowa prison was captured Thursday in Illinois after he was found sleeping in a car, authorities said. A second fugitive remained at large. Martin Moon, 34, was caught in Chester, Ill., near the Menard State Penitentiary in southern Illinois, Gov. Tom Vilsack said. Prison officials noticed a car parked near the prison and notified local police, who captured Moon after a brief chase. A search for the other escapee, 27-year-old Robert Joseph Legendre, is now nationwide, investigators said. Moon and Legendre broke out of the prison in Fort Madison on Monday night. Authorities said they used a homemade grappling hook to scale an unguarded section of the prison's limestone walls and somehow got around a wire that is supposed to activate an alarm when touched. Police in Randolph County, Ill., said Moon was found sleeping in a car near Chester, about 50 miles southeast of St. Louis. When an officer stopped to run on a check on the car's license plates, Moon drove off. After a short chase, Moon jumped out of the car and ran into the woods, where he was caught, police said. Moon crashed the car into a tree, Vilsack said. Moon was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000 for shooting his roommate, Kevin Dickson, during a drug deal in 1999. Legendre had been transferred from a prison in Nevada, where he was convicted of attempted murder in the beating of a cabbie. An investigation of the escape has begun, Vilsack said. "When the job is not done, people are going to be held accountable and responsible," Vilsack said. "There were a series of mistakes that were made." Moon must appear in court in Illinois and faces extradition to Iowa. A previous version of this story stated one of two convicted murderers who escaped this week from an Iowa prison was captured Thursday. Prison escapee Robert Joseph Legendre, 27, was not convicted of murder. He was convicted of first degree kidnapping, attempted murder and a charge called use of deadly weapons enhanced. He remains at large. Martin Moon, 34, was caught in Chester, Ill. Moon was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000 for shooting his roommate, Kevin Dickson, during a drug deal in 1999.

QUOTE(Chisoxrd5 @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 11:57 AM) Ok in all seriousness, give me a few days...I'll think of some ideas. Buying for my dad is equally as difficult from what it sounds like so I'll do some research. Thanks G..

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 12:31 PM) "WHAT???...I CAN'T HEAR YOU AT ALL....I'M AT THE HOUSE!!!!....YOU SHOULD COME TO THE HOUSE TOO MAN!!!!....ALRIGHT MAN PEACE OUT" And then... Knock, knock, knock... "Who is it.." "Security....."

You are weird.

http://xmradio.com/programming/channel_page.jsp?ch=175 XM is also replaying the games.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 11:45 AM) http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43307 Man, if I wasn't avoiding so much work of my own I totally would have made you look it up yourself. . . Pffttt... it's in French.. I never even would have looked at that thread. Thank you...

QUOTE(Soxy @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 11:43 AM) Did you seen the thread about the wine? (Soxy makes "drinky-drinky" gesture and noise.) Eh.. no. Gimme linky please.

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 11:41 AM) *raises hand* oooh ooh me me!!! Sit down Korshack.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 11:39 AM) Duh, we don't have money for upkeep now that you have quit having people banned... Give it time... I'm sure someone will piss me off soon.