NorthSideSox72

By the way, 15k times 300M (population of the country) is $4.5T. That is far more than the entire annual national budget. Tax rates would have to skyrocket to far higher rates than we have ever seen to cover it. Far, far better to make the minimum wage more livable, make sure you continue welfare and UE programs, and SDI/disability. And do more for health care, which is underway. Basically most of these things are already done, though minimum wage should be improved and PPACA needs work.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Nov 21, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) 15K X 3 billion Where does the 3 billion number come from?

Not taking a side on this particular argument, but about these discussions of 15k being enough to live on... 1. Definitely does not work nationally. 2. All the budgeting people are doing are assuming nothing goes wrong, ever. And no life insurance or home insurance or the like. Number 2 is key to understanding something - those are the people that, when someting DOES go wrong (which at some point it will), they have no safety net, and immediately become a cost and drag on government monies. So some degree of safety net is going to have some positive effect in negating that. Thus, PPACA. A very imperfect solution. But, providing some basic health insurance for cheap does in fact help mitigate one significant chunk of those disaster scenarios for individuals and families. It will certainly have some positive effect in that regard, though I'd say it is nearly impossible to say how much.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 21, 2013 -> 12:15 PM) So seriously, regarding his entire year including the AFL...WTF? Beware small sample size. Still though, very encouraging. The tools have always been there. If he starts 2014 in AAA for a few months and hits like he did in the AFL, he could very quickly rocket up prospect boards. That said, for me, he still needs to have that increased contact rate and average trend in AAA for those few months before I consider him more than a fringe guy.

I'd be all in favor of a multi-year, stepped phase-in of minimum wage increases to be similar to those 1960's levels, then tie annual increases to a standard market basket measure. I guess that is too easy. And I think that is a heck of a lot better solution then "providing" a minimum income, which I am wholly against.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 21, 2013 -> 11:29 AM) You have to deal in absolutes or you'll run into major inconsistencies with what you want. Say whatever you want about me (yes Im an asshole in person too) but I know for a fact Im consistent. That matters, you call it intellectual simplicity but I think it takes a lot of fortitude to use the "screw em all" approach. No, what it takes is a combination of intellectual laziness (not lack of intellect - important difference), and simple callousness. There is nothing related to fortitude or courage. It is the easy path. You may also call it the RIGHT path, but it doesn't any special courage any more than saying "free income and health care for all!" (which I also disagree with). As for dealing in absolutes, trying to find more subtle solutions does not in any way cause inconsistencies in what you want. It causes imperfect solutions - but it doesn't change what I want at all. And I prefer an imperfect solution to simply sweeping everyone off the table.

QUOTE (WSFan @ Nov 21, 2013 -> 11:08 AM) Floethe is a very interesting pickup! He is a groundball machine and has shown, when he throws strikes 3 average major league pitches. He also doesn't give up the longball very often. I can see him as a very good pick-up, nothing to lose! Alot to gain. Welcome to the board!

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but... I actually agree with the core point of what Duke is saying. I despise the way he is saying it, but, the idea that people are able to intentionally choose a life that requires extra government support does bother me. In Reddy's case, he chooses to make some money to live on freelancing and go after an acting career - which is 100% fine of course - but he's being given taxpayer dollars for that privilege. It shouldn't work that way. Here though is where Duke's philosophy hits the brick wall of reality. How do you determine a Reddy vs a poor family who don't have the skills/tools/education to make any more than that? He knows there is no easy way to do so. Therefore he chooses the path of intellectual simplicity - since we can't tell who is who, screw 'em all. For me, I would much rather provide a program that helps a lot of people who truly need it... and then attempt to make small steps as we go on to try to weed out some of the abusers. And for that matter, Reddy isn't much of an abuser, relatively speaking. I am aware this means I will pay more, because some people will get my money that should not. But I can live with that and sleep at night. I can't do that taking Duke's approach. I find his approach to the problem to be immoral and sad. But as I said, I fully understand his frustration with certain individual cases. One other note to Duke: there is really no need for you to insult people while making these points. Please stop that.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 21, 2013 -> 10:16 AM) Anyone want to advise me on how to get my info off of this MacBook? I'm selling it and the info on Apple's website hasn't been helpful. After you copied everything off? I know with a windows machine, what I did was break out the old OS disk, and reinstall the operating system. Doing so rebuilds the partition, and wipes everything out.

People continue to ignore that the farm system HAS been run differently in the past few years, for the better. More draft money, more international money, fewer prospects traded, better scouting, rebuilding the LatAm operations are all in evidence. However, as Eminor3rd said, you have to have patience. These types of changes take years to really take hold and start producing results. The farm system is already a lot better now than it was a few years ago, and will likely be a lot better than that in a few years.

Sanchez started last season in AAA at age 20, and he was the youngest player in his entire league on Opening Day. That after going up three levels the year before. Anything beyond completely embarrassing himself was a win. He's still a T10 prospect in this organization, and he needs every day AB's somewhere in 2014. I do wonder why Mike McDade is taking up a 40 man slot. I'd honestly rather have protected Wilkins, or even Dan Black, as opposed to a re-tread like McDade.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 04:52 PM) http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/very-final-...na-fall-league/ FG rates Mitchell third-best bat in AFL with their SCOUT+ stat which takes his production and regresses it into expected production to account for sample size. I saw some Trackman data from the AFL, and he had a couple of the hardest hit balls recorded in the league for the season (based on exit velocity). Also had a couple long home runs.

The Elmore move seems... odd. There is really only one area of position players the Sox org has some signifncant talent depth, you've got one too many infielders on the MLB team already, plus Leury Garcia, Marcus Semien and Carlos Sanchez. And guys like Anderson and Johnson in the lower minors. But we are claiming Elmore? Just as word that we were after Johnson for pitching depth indicates something, I keep thinking this also indicates something, like we are also likely to trade an infielder or two. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 02:42 PM) You could probably put them in cloud storage, but then you'd have to buy a tablet with a data plan to get them "on the go." QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) You can, easily, but it's time consuming. And yes, after you have it done, they are simply mp4 movies set to whatever quality you ripped them as. You can use Handbreak and VLC to rip/decrypt dvd's and blurays. Thanks. When I say "on the go", all I'd really need is to download a couple movies at a time from the PC/server to the tablet/iPad/thingy at home, so that it is on the mobile device with me. Not exactly streaming, more just file copying.

OK, doing some math... I could easily fit my full collection of movies on a 2TB drive, maybe even 1TB but probably a little higher. So having a base computer, I can get everything I have on there plus my movies. Question is... will they be playable, or copy protected in some way? And, can I stream them to a tablet or the like FROM there?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 01:13 PM) I think the physical media drive is going to be a nonstarter in the tablet arena. Even if you hook up a portable drive via a USB connection, I bet that'd kill your battery life. What's the hesitation to going to digital? Just the fact that you already have the DVD's? Primarily, yes. I have probably between 100 and 200 movies on various DVD's and BluRays. First hesitation is, can I even get them digitized onto a drive, in such a way they will actually play and not have a protection issue (some discs have this I think)? Second issue is, movies are huge files, and I'd only be able to put maybe one on a tablet type device, I think.

Alright, I figure I'll throw this out there to see what people think. I'm looking for any ideas... My current laptop is around 5 years old, and the hamsters are getting tired. Need to start looking at a new machine. But, I am seriously considering doing something different and more distributed. My ideal solution looks something like this: +Base Computer, resides in office, used for working from home or any long-term computing tasks. Want it to hold everything we have. Windows machine, Office, the usual stuff. +Mobile/tablet/iPad like device to use everywhere else. One with the ability to do the following: --Something around the size of a standard iPad --Attach a keyboard (this is key, I can't type for long periods of time on something like a small screen) --Play movies not just by streaming, but from an actual disc (either connecting to seperate drive, or built in drive) --Able to run full Office suite, Quicken, and the usual windows stuff (browser, etc) --Wi-Fi of course, but no need for cellular --Ability to easily sync certain things like iTunes libraries and specific documents/folders to/from the main computer So... what are my options here? That last point, and the ability to play movies that are not streamed, are probably the biggest issues. Anyone know of a solution for all the above? I'm picturing an old school PC for the office with a couple monitors, which I use like a network (but also as a PC itself), and the mobile device connects with it as needed, both locally and at a distance. Am I looking for the impossible?

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 08:38 AM) His snark and outlook is similar to mine which is part of the appeal. I also like Keith Law which might explain things. Jason Parks is great too. To each their own. I read Keith Law and Jason Parks too. Both have a sense of humor, though Law's is much more caustic. Larry just isn't particularly funny to me - just snarky and annoying. I still read his stuff though, because he sometimes provides good insight.

If the Sox were indeed on Johnson, that takes me from... Sox probably trading pitching... to Sox DEFINITELY trading pitching.

Carlos Sanchez is indeed eligible. The rules are about when you sign, at what age, and when the Rule V draft occurs. If a player is signed at 18 or younger, they get to "skip" 4 Rule V drafts, and are eligible in the 5th. For Sanchez, he signed in 2009 at 17. There were Rule V drafts he "skipped" in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Now in 2013 he is eligible. For players signed at 19 or older, it is "skip" 3 and eligible on the 4th. Also remember, people are focused on the major league portion here - where a player would have to be taken (paid for) and kept on the 25 man roster for the full season at the major league level. There are also AAA and AA phases, where players are occasionally taken - but teams can protect their guys on "reserve lists" for AAA and AA, which have about 35 guys on each. Guys like Sanchez, Thompson, Jacobs, heck even Wilkins or Black types, will be on those reserve lists. So they can be taken in the major league portion, but not the minor league phases.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 06:13 PM) larry is legitimate. Out of all the White Sox forums/sites/blogs, I'd put him at the top as far as minor league/prospect assessments. If by "legitimate" you mean he is very knowledgeable, I agree. He's also got writing talent at a level rare in the Sox media sphere. What I was getting at is, he's got a piss-poor attitude, and it makes reading his pieces unnecessarily painful. Also, I'd disagree he's "at the top", as I think the combined knowledge of FS's writers is much stronger. But I'm obviously and admitedly biased on that part, haha.

If you can't come away with a multi-year player (at least 3 years) who is likely to be average or better at catcher... I'd rather give Phegley a shot than trade for someone else's Phegley. The middle ground is a tough call, someone like Jaso may work, for the right deal. But if the trade and FA markets are too expensive, for 2014, I don't mind letting Flegley continue their thing. And I think Phegley, with more reps, may even show he can be a starter - that would be a big win, and something worth exploring.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) Guy can hit 93 with sink and has decent breaking stuff. I pay attention to any arms the Sox bring in. Odds are good it's nothing, but they can change a slot or add a pitch and suddenly they look good. Most likely, he ends up as organizational depth. This. Also, he was moved up pretty quickly, might have been overwhelmed. Probably just org depth, so when I say "interesting", I don't mean like he's T25 or something. He's got a decent pedigree, some stuff to work with, and he's still young.

Floethe could be interesting. Jones didn't play in 2013, was part time in 2012 and had pretty lousy results in A-.

I forgot about Carlos Sanchez - he I would worry about maybe getting picked up, though still not a strong likelihood. But he is too important to leave unprotected. I'd definitely add him to the 40, possibly Thompson and Jacobs too. Drop Mike McDade. The 40 man is 36 right now, my moves would make it 36 to 38. Drop Heath and it is 35/37.