NorthSideSox72

Even though it appears now that Damon is likely to stay a Yankee (or else Girardi will look really bad), it appears the Yanks still like Crede. Anyone care to speculate as to who else on the Yankees KW might want to target?

Sun Times says the Sox are still after Cabrera.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 09:46 PM) clearly not

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 05:54 AM) And Thomas, Ventura, Alex Fernandez, the young pitchers like Britt Burns, Rich Gossage, Terry Forster, and position players like Ray Durham, there was always someone ready. There were more, but the point is, we have nothing resembling this any more Burns? Gossage? We're going back to the 70's now? There wasn't "always" someone ready. I was old enough to follow the team a couple decades ago or more, and believe me, there have been plenty of stretches when the team was bad and there was next to no help from the minors.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 05:40 PM) In case you didn't catch it, and this has to play into this race somehow, Kerik was indicted today. Dude. Did you see the post right before yours?

Am I the only person here who owns a calendar?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 05:31 PM) In terms of supplying the world's current energy needs, there is actually well more than enough sunlight hitting the earth at any given time, and in fact more than enough sunlight bouncing back out to satisfy every scrap of energy we want, and probably 2-3 orders of magnitude worth of room for growth in consumption before we start genuinely running out of sunlight. There are people out there trying to develop systems using solar that could literally power the earth on the space that the deserts in Nevada take up. The issue is always how to get that sunlight and turn it into a form of energy that we can make use of, and that's a materials question or a monetary question or an engineering question. The energy to power this race is out there, from the sun and from the winds and other renewables...we just have to figure out how to convert it. And the conversion rates of panels get better as time goes on. Its better now than it was. And I'd bet it will be better in 5 years than it is now.

QUOTE(Cleats67 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 05:28 PM) Sox should sign Luis Catillo for 2B and leadoff. Would come relatively cheap. Richar is not guaranteed the job, so sign Castillo. Plays havoc on the basebaths, gets on a lot, and plays a decent second base. Suprised no one is talking about him. Hm. I have to admit, I hadn't considered him. He does seem to make sense for what the team is looking for, and would probably be affordable. I wonder why he hasn't been mentioned.

Fair or not, this won't help Giuliani. Kerik has been indicted on federal charges.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 05:23 PM) No one, and I mean no one, knows more about the Yellowstone volcano than the man they cited there. No one. Trust me. Oh I trust you. Just thought it was worth pointing out. I thought it was interesting he said there was no "imminent" threat.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) From Rotoworld via the Boston Globe: So this does something interesting. If a team negotiates with a free agent, and asks in negotiations, are you one of the 11... and they say no, but they actually are... their contract could probably be voided. You cannot enter into a contract on false pretenses and expect it to stand up legally. So that free agent could be suspended, and, without a paycheck. ETA: Of course, if they say yes, they aren't gonna get much. So really, for those 11... they are screwed.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:39 PM) What can I say? I'm a walking Dilbert cartoon. Actually, its sounded like your previous company was a Dilbert cartoon. Did you have a pointy-haired boss?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:16 PM) Ooops. Just don't say "Indo-Chino" in any meetings, unless you want to be the subject of a Dilbert cartoon.

Funny stuff in the Buster... QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:24 PM) Sino-Chino relations have been bad for a long, long time. QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) Sino-Chino? Chinese relationship to casual pants?

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) Sino-Chino? Chinese relationship to casual pants? I didn't even catch that at first. I think he means Indo-Sino.

No idea where to put this, so here we go. The Yellowstone Caldera has been inflating at the fastest rate recorded since they began measuring in 1923 - about 3 inches a year - for the past 3 years. Some geologist from UU says no imminent threat is apparent. But the timing cycle, if it can be relied upon, does seem to indicate that we are coming up on a slot. This could be nothing of course. Hard to tell, it seems. There is your mildly alarming thought for the day.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:24 PM) Sino-Chino relations have been bad for a long, long time. yes, and they are currently rivals in the whole BRIC sphere of expanding economies.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:21 PM) People who bring infant children and babies to the rated R movie at 11pm on a Friday night. If you cannot get a sitter, then maybe the movies isnt the best destination. I have seen 3 women bring babies/infants into the theater on weekend nights. The infant brought their blanket, and started to scream at the top of their lungs around 20 minutes into the movie. Mom of course staired at the kid, and didnt want to move. Security had to come and tell her that its time to calm the child down outside of the movie. Thank you. That is one of my biggest ones. Rude people in theatres, in general, but particularly these idiots who bring small children to adult movies. If I had the capital, I had a business idea to solve that. Open a nice theatre, one that had a very small bar at the entrance. I mean like one bartender, and no stools. This allows you to restrict the entry age to 21, regardless of parents around or not, if you want to. This eliminates the kids and the high schoolers. But the bar only allows time to get like 1 drink, so the theatre doesn't turn into the Brew & View (which is fun in its own right, but different). In the theatres, have an usher who actually stays IN the theatre, and deals with loud people immediately. In exchange for the extra staff, you charge another 1 or 2 dollars per ticket. I would GLADLY pay it, for a theatre you knew would be reasonably quiet.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:17 PM) Russia is an interesting place, I spent a lot of time in high school and college reading about it. The biggest reason they won't be a big player, besides the historical political hostilness and instability in general, is they don't have the population numbers needed to be that kind of a place. They don't have enough people to take care of themselves, let alone work for the rest of the world. Unless they throw open the doors to immigration, I don't see them happening. Actually, while they don't have nearly the numbers that, say, India and China have... Russia does have a quickly growing, educated middle class, specifically in the larger cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. Some outsourcing in technology is already going there. Speaking of India and China... Some companies in India who sell their outsource services are getting so much work, and are so hard-pressed for cheap labor, that they are double-outsourcing to China. And, interestingly enough, there have been some problems there because apparently Chinese workers sometimes refuse to work for an Indian firm. There is apparently some history there, probably over issues like Tibet and Burma.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:14 PM) I'll take Kosuke Fukudome in one of the top 2 spots. Did we ever learn more about his injury issue, though?

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:08 PM) Well, picking up a guy that has a .350 OBP shouldn't be that damn hard. Luke Scott shouldn't cost much. If the Nats sign a CF Church should be available. Mark Loretta is old as rock but should be good for a .350 OBP (although not much else). Same with Iguchi. Putting Owens and Hunter at one and two would be an OBP disaster. While Owens is not my first choice by any means, I wouldn't call him an OBP disaster either. I don't think .350 is out of his reach. .330-.340 is probably more realistic, though.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 02:41 PM) I don't see very many solar panels. I'm sure there people are using them and they work, but to make a big dent there needs to be massive amounts of people using them. Giving some more incentives could rapidly increase the number of people generating energy with solar power. So what else should we spend those tax dollars on? Energy independence and decreases in harmful emissions are important IMO, would be well worth the money. Absolutely right. Use is still low, and incentives are a good idea. But what is low? I don't have the articles in front of me, but the increase in use of solar panels for homes is quite large as a percentage. Its just that its starting from almost nothing.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 02:29 PM) BTW, just so I can say you heard it here first... When places like S and SE Asia start getting to expensive for labor, you will start to see a push into Africa, probably with in the next two decades. Its the last bastion of underutilized, cheap labor on the planet. In my last job, as you know, I managed some staff in India. Programmers. I'm quite familiar with this topic. What you are discussing is already underway. Labor costs in India in technology, medicine and other areas is skyrocketing. They are so well trained and educated, and realize that they are good at what they do, and the demand for their labor is so high... salaries are going up like you wouldn't believe. And as salary pressures on those fields continue to keep wage growth neutral stateside, the cost gap of outsourcing diminishes. Plus, as companies emerge from the herd mentality-induced fog of "outsource! outsource! outsource!" and realize the performance cost differential, they suddenly see that outsourcing doesn't work so well in all areas all the time. This forces one of two paths - bring the labor back home, or, outsource to the next sphere of influence. (and both things are happening, BTW) Africa is one possibility. China, smartly, has been investing a ton into Africa already, so the US is already at a disadvantage. But there is another emerging market for cheap, educated labor - Russia. That is already being tapped by American interests. And outsourcing, unlike manufacturing, has much lower total risk profile. So here we go again. Manufacturing is slightly different of course, but the same forces apply to some degree.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 02:17 PM) Thats a good option. Solar panels are still fairly expensive, but if they were made a tax deduction that could help things along. Hopefully solar panels could be shown to be an economically sound investment and environmentally responsible. Even without the tax break, they work pretty well now. I get a magazine devoted to, essentially, living more environmentally friendly. I can't tell you how many articles in there talk about people who just put a handful of solar panels on their roof, and that was enough for them to be off the grid 80%+ of the time. And in places where they do a net-plus energy system (where the extra energy your panels generate can go back into the grid for a credit), people can easily break even in some climates. Now, your home, climate, tree cover, how many cells, types of cells, power use levels, size of home, etc. will all dictate variable results. But the point is, even at current levels of technology, solar panels can be very effective. The only open issue is, are the prices of the cells down far enough, and electricity prices high enough, to create a reasonable payback period for the cost. I haven't done the math on that one yet (I live in a condo), but when I buy a house, you can bet your ass I will be looking into it.

By the way, not to be missed here... I actually read Prince of Tides, it was required reading for me in high school for some class or another. I know exactly what scenes these people are referring to as obscene. ***WARNING _ SPOLIERS FROM BOOK*** The scenes in question are about a brutal attack, where a house is broken into, people are assaulted, and a young boy is sodomozied. The young boy is a main character, the main character really, in the book. But that's just it - the scene is not meant to be some glorification. Its about how bad that was. Similar to this, for example, I would rather have my 12-year-old kid watch Saving Private Ryan than some Schwartzenegger bullet fest. Why? They are both violent, but one puts violence in its proper context. The other glorifies it. I just wish parents would try to be a little more intelligent, and see past the surface of things. Kind of like the idiots from the Christian Brothers who banned their parishoners from reading the Potter books because they encouraged sorcery. YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT. The device is not important - its meaning is important. Oh, and, one other thing... an ELECTIVE, COLLEGE course???? And they want a book banned? Come on.