NorthSideSox72

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 10:42 AM) Try playing it in winamp. Downloaded, installed, tried to play, same problem - audio, no video. I'd email it, but its way too big (23 MB).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 10:29 AM) I wonder if other teams see him that way. Maybe we can trade him for something of value. I am starting to think more and more, that might be a strong possibility. His youth, speed, better than expected performance and cheap price mean he might actually fetch something of value, or maybe can be the give-back position cover if the team trades for a CF.

So gas prices are going to suck. CNN FN had a guy on from Alaron (Chicago-based derivatives firm) and their energy department. Gas will go about a quarter higher this year. And they are projecting gas hitting $4 a gallon in 2008, and $5 a gallon in 2009. Interesting to note: its that $4 a gallon mark where many hybrid vehicles start to be cost effective within the first couple years (as opposed to 4 or 5 years down the road, at $2.50/gallon gas). And light hybrids are already there. I am really starting to think about picking one up next year.

OK, so, this A/V software stuff is apparently smarter than I am. I have an AVI file, and when I play it in Windows Media Player, I get sound, but no picture. If I play it in Quicktime, I get neither. I have downloaded and installed the latest version of both. I tried to play the file via the computer's DVD software, but like WMP, it was just audio. I did some Googling and what not, and there are 87098237502983750843 different codecs out there, some of which may or may not solve this problem, and none of which I trust to be clean. There are also DVD decoders (it seems that AVI format is the same as MPEG-2, aka DVD format) available, but they all cost money, which seems stupid since I have so many media players as it is. Anyone know anything that could help me here?

So the latest Gallup poll about the major parties generally (not specific candidates or politicians) has a few interesting bits in it. Dems continue to be seen in a much more positive light than the GOP. But here is a new twist - the Dems have now overtaken the GOP in terms of which party is seen as better at protecting the nation from terrorism. Link here. On a related note, the upcoming Senate seat situation looks pretty grim for the GOP. Two thirds of the seats up for election are already held by the GOP, and looking at the close contests, the Republicans have only one race (Louisiana) where they are considered even close. Meanwhile, there are a handful of GOP seats that are being heavily contested.

Whoa - did I type "not" made in America? I meant ARE made in America. Sorry. No idea why I typed it that way.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 08:36 AM) Can we all argee that Jerry Owens is the new Scott Podsednik? (well minus the injuries) Owens is already better than Pods in every aspect of the game other than doubles/gap hitting. Except cheaper, younger and less prone to injury.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 10:30 PM) Just out of curiosity, what happens to Owens's numbers when you only include his numbers since his most recent callup (and thus exclude his terrible numbers during his first callup?) As I noted in the last graf of my very, very long post (sorry), his number since his July callup is .466. That compares most closely with Richar (.471), and of course its 40+ points better than Erstad and 50+ better than Pods (for OF comparison's sake). I personally think that we're seeing pretty darn good seasons from 3 rookies this year - Fields, Richar and Owens. In a lousy year, that is something to smile at. Just for fun, I ran Chris Young's number for this year, his first full season (he played 30 games in 2006). Assuming the same speed factor as Owens (1.4), he is at .568, which is far higher than everyone on the Sox other than Thome. Very, very impressive for a rookie.

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 11:46 PM) Great stuff, Northside. I mentioned this before, and I think it's what you're looking for. In the Bill James Handbook, he lists the raw numbers for taking extra bases on hits. League Average #s for 2006: A) 1st to 3rd on a single- 28% B) Scoring from 2nd on a single- 60% C) Scoring from 1st on a double- 42% ex. Pods: A) 6/21 29% B) 11/22 50% C) 4/7 57% Konerko 1/26 4% 9/29 31% 1/6 17% Yeah, I used numbers from a site that were very close to those, to determine the SUCCESS part of that equation.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 09:22 AM) ^^^^ I gotta be honest, I said I would never buy a Toyota. But for the price AND RELIABILITY (parts don't mysteriously break down at 75,001 of a 75,000 mile warranty), I got a Camry. It is a good car. And since Camrys are not made here in the U.S., employing American workers, I think the whole "buy American, protect America" thing has lost some of its footing.

Interesting topic, good forum for your class. I actually got into some heated debates about this in college, in the daily paper even. Went back and forth with a columnist. I personally don't think it should be celebrated as a holiday, for three very simple reasons: 1. Columbus was not the first, by any stretch of the imagination, to land in America. The Vikings were on the continent in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Irish may have even landed shortly after, and now there is strong evidence the Chinese were here too. Oh, and, Columbus wasn't even the first Spaniard (well, I know, he was Italian, sent by Spain), let alone European, to land - Corte Real landed in Nova Scotia in 1481. And none of that even deals with the fact that there were natives in the Americas for at least 15,000 years, and now they are saying maybe longer than that. Columbus was simply another chapter in history. 2. Columbus himself was, of course, no great guy. They used the locals, then killed them. Not someone worth making into a hero. 3. What Columbus symbolizes - the subjugation of the natives in the Americas, particularly by the Spaniards - is something that is very much worth studying, but not so much worth celebrating. When you look at the history of not only the Americas, but the U.S., one of the great, defining themes was the annihilation of native cultures. It was at the same time a horrible genocide, and yet, something that had to happen in order for the greatest nation the world has seen to become what it did. I therefore applaud your efforts to explore this part of history, because to understand it is to understand America.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 08:12 AM) I'd love to see SS phased out. There is no way it happens, so there is no real point in even dreaming about it. Its on my list of government programs I could do without. Also it would basically take a collapse of the US government before SS wouldn't get paid out. It isn't really much of a risk in reality. So its a choice. We can leave the 97k cap and have SS make up a ridiculously large chunk of our spending, or we can lift the cap (making the tax less regressive) and not have SS be as much of a handicap later. Seems like a pretty clear choice to me.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 25, 2007 -> 07:59 AM) How many less cars are they selling? The irony is that GM is going to look like the evil corporation here, but this is a by-product of people not buying American cars anymore. If people are going to buy Japanese cars, then expect American car companies to layoff employees. With the costs of legacy employees and their current employees, they aren't going to be able to compete with the Japanese on price or quality. They are too busy putting $1500 a car into health care that could be going into R&D. GM is too busy trying to decide how to fund $51 billion in unfunded future pension costs... a cost Toyota even with their record profits, doesn't face. If we aren't going to buy American, don't be surprised when American companies cut costs, IE workers. Let's be clear - people might "buy American" if American car companies made cars that were at least as good as their Japanese counterparts. Unfortunately, they do not.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 06:08 PM) Slugging-wise no kidding. But he can maybe get near the other two. Also Jerry has surprised me with his defense in CF. I never thought he would be able to play that position at all. He is actually pretty good out there, but does still need work. I want to see what his arm is like next year - and know if this "injury" thing is really what is most effecting it, because he is pretty weak right now (almost as weak as Pods).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 06:04 PM) Meanwhile, Duncan Hunter (R-CA) thinks an appropriate response is for Columbia to lose all of its federal funding. Then he has no idea what the education system is supposed to be. I suppose he prefers indoctrination to open discourse.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 05:56 PM) <!--quoteo(post=1509018:date=Sep 24, 2007 -> 03:53 PM:name=NorthSideSox72)-->QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 03:53 PM) <!--quotec-->That's great, but, whomever wrote the article seems to have missed a key piece - what were his responses? From a mere blog, which I'm sure will get me yelled at by someone: *applause*

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 06:00 PM) 13th! Oh yeah, my bad. Not sure where I got 7th.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 05:21 PM) We have GOT to figure out what factory the Braves are getting their SS prospects from. That's ridiculous. well, we did get lucky with Miranda in the 7th round. He should, I'd think, make the top prospect list for the SAL.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 05:16 PM) Columbia's President tore into the Iranian President during his introduction. That's great, but, whomever wrote the article seems to have missed a key piece - what were his responses?

Has Flash even posted in this thread yet? You out there, Mr. Icon?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 04:53 PM) Are you sure Konerko isn't a .01 on the speed factor? Nice adjustment! But it doesn't really alter the #'s all that much - which I'm sort of surprised at. Well, as I mentioned, I made some adjustments to the speed issue - some would help speedier players (XBOH), others would hurt (value of SB slightly less than hit). I think both those adjustments are valid, though they happen to offset pretty well for many players. I'm pretty happy with it either way, but I think the newer one is more accurate. Toby Hall is not good.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) I don't see ANY leader of the United States being allowed to go into a Madrassa in the Middle East and speaking about "freedoms and opportunity". Therefore, you don't have a valid comparison. I think you missed his point. I took his post to mean that its maybe hypocritical to be mad about Ahmednutjob talking here, when Bush goes and hangs with the Saudis who are in some ways just as bad as Iran's government.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 02:21 PM) He was in Kanny last year after a mediocre year the previous season in rookie ball. Weird, doesn't show up where I thought it would. Thanks for pointing that out. In his case, I'd agee he doesn't belong on any such list.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 02:09 PM) Eh, I hate the social security program. All it is, is a large scale pyramid program. As less people work, and more people retire, it is going to suck out more and more money, for benefits most of us will never see. And just for clarification sake, the government isn't borrowing SS dollars at anypoint. They are borrowing against SS dollars. There is a difference. Oh if you want to phase it out completely, I might support that. But meanwhile, for people currently in the program, you still have an obligation. And I think that the 97k cap being released would go a long way towards meeting that. Your clarification makes a differentiation that, to me, doesn't exist. They are taking money out that would be theoretically paid back in later, either way, and that to me is a huge risk I would not be willing to take.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 24, 2007 -> 02:04 PM) I know things can change between now and the first few primaries, but she is troucing the rest of the field and has a huge amount of money, along with big time name recognition. Plus I get the feeling she isn't going to have a YEEAH moment... Things looked like this in 2004 too - still plenty of time till January. Plus look at the polls in the key early Primaries - Iowa is a dead heat between the three big names, and NH is pretty close too. I still think that Clinton's high negatives mean that the party will try to give other candidates every possible edge, because I think Hillary is the least electable at the general level.