NorthSideSox72

This is the wall - no political posts past this point in this thread. If there are any more posts of that nature after this point, they will be deleted, and other actions may be taken. Drop it.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 20, 2009 -> 06:04 PM) "we're all just global citizens"... my gosh that thinking sucks. Why does that suck? I mean... we are. Among other things.

QUOTE (daggins @ Dec 20, 2009 -> 02:25 PM) While I agree that the offense is the bigger "key", there are still questions to the rotation. Peavy still has adjusting to do, to be sure. There's also the issue of Dank's blisters and, more pressingly, Gavin's hip. blisters and sore hips that were fine within days don't particularly concern me. There are always questions about everything, there are no guarantees. but again, the "key" is the area least predictable, least reliable, most variable in likely outcomes. The OF is king for that purpose here.

Hard to say anything is "the key" to success in 2010, as its really the entire 25. But usually, you pick the area with the most possible/likely variance from a mean. To me, that isn't the starting pitching, which is likely to be very good. The "key" is the performance of the outfielders - Rios (can he get back to at least his career numbers?), Quentin (can he stay healthy for a full season?), and Pierre (can he really put up the .300 avg and .350 OBP he needs to be successful?). How they do, IMO, will be the difference between winning the division and not.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 10:19 PM) OMG no he had a failure! We should stop trading for anything but completely self-contained pitchers! It wasn't even a failure. Its well known that part of what Coop preaches is taking a few ticks of speed, in order to get better consistency in delivery and location. Its part of his philosophy. so any uptick in velocity going elsewhere is simply indicative of a different style.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 03:39 PM) God, the Cubs got raped here. It's completly their fault for being so public about the Bradley fiasco too. Raped? As far as I can tell, they made out on the deal. Now, the original contract is a whole different discussion. But from the current place, this was as good as they could get, and they did manage to put themselves in a better place than they were. Bradley isn't just a guy with a few issues - he's not AJ, or Swisher. He's such a negative pull, such a problem in the clubhouse, that he is truly of negative value to a team. That is, unless they can somehow become the exception to the rule, and have him become a different person than he has been. And that is a long shot. Getting into the deal was stupidity by the Cubs, no doubt. And they never should have publically said he was gone - that was stupid too. But what happened to him with the Cubs, was of his own doing.

This is really the best the Cubs could hope for. They give up the 2-$20 commitment, and pick up essentially a 2-$15 commitment. So their net is to get back $5M, and a bad pitcher. Bradley was not playable for the Cubs, due to his own behavior, so to the Cubs, his presence was worth less than nothing.

Won't work. Wii already does this, so Microsoft is a little late to the game.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 11:47 AM) I can almost guarantee that Guillen will sit Pierre one day and DH Vizquel so he has a leadoff hitter. I'm usually an Ozzie defender, but that would be idiotic. And I highly doubt it happens (barring some weird injuries or a Dye at Shortstop type scenario, for a few innings).

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 11:26 AM) Looks like all the climate talk is falling apart as other nations are showing what I thought all along -- they don't give a crap if it's going to cost money. That's not what is going on in this case, but, certainly money is the key factor. And saying they don't give a crap is not accurate, since most of these countries are indeed doing things, just perhaps not enough.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 02:43 PM) 2,401 of them are you. 134 of them. Which is less than Kap, Balta, YOU, losftan, SS2K5, StrangeSox and bmags. nyeh.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 03:04 PM) someone on here had posted a question a while ago about how many weekly jobless losses would show job growth. Some had said 500,000 others 400,000. Saw this blurb in an article today. But the four-week average dipped to 467,500, the 15th straight decline. By comparison, jobless claims peaked this year at 674,000 in March. The improvement is seen as a sign that job cuts are slowing and that hiring could pick up early next year, boosting the economy. Analysts say initial claims for jobless aid would need to fall to about 425,000 for several weeks to signal the economy is beginning to add jobs. I find that bogus in any case. No number of UE filings tell you if the economy is adding jobs - you can only know that by, you know, seeing how many jobs have been added versus lost. So the 425k number or any other number is a bad correlation to try to rely upon for this purpose, in my view.

2,418 posts in the Health Care Reform thread. Have we ever had a non-catch-all thread that had this many posts in the Buster?

QUOTE (scotty22hotty @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 02:01 PM) Acquire Johnson for DH Trade Quentin for Bradley(+$11M) & Marmol Pierre Beckham Johnson Konerko Bradley Rios AJ Alexei Teahan *sound of screeching tires* huh?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 01:27 PM) If Omar Vizquel serves as a regular DH for this team I'll kill Craig T. Nelson. Even in the most cartoonish portrayals I have seen of Ozzie in here, that would be utterly pointless, since Vizquel's value is in his defense. That is so not going to happen.

I'm just happy more of them are getting trials, of one kind or another. This holding them indefinitely thing is awful on multiple levels.

No one with Ramirez at 2? Listen to what Ozzie and KW are saying - they want Beckham down the order to knock in runs. I'm guessing... Pierre Ramirez Quentin DH*** (If its Jones/power bat platoon, as I am expecting it will be) Konerko Beckham Pierzynski Rios Teahen My best guess at this point, but it depends on that DH slot, which is still not known.

I think KW is still trying to make the big deal, if he can, but you can never guarantee that. Plan B is probably a rental DH as others have suggested - and if it is Thome, for example, I think that's a not-bad lineup. If you platoon Thome and Jones at DH, 2/3 on Thome, the lineup would be something like: Pierre Ramirez Quentin Thome/Jones Konerko Beckham Rios Pierzynski Teahen 3 through 7 may be in some other order. But that is not a bad lineup. Not great either, but, probably league average overall, with the potential to be more than that. That, combined with the pitching the Sox have, makes the Sox the favorite to win the ALC, in my view (barring some other huge moves elsewhere in the division). The key though, regardless of what they do for DH, is Rios getting back to being Rios, and Quentin staying healthy.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 02:18 PM) I'm at a conference, I've been in talks and poster sessions all morning. Anyway...what's interesting here is that for decades it's been really difficult to image the upwellings under places like Hawaii or Yellowstone that we think are there. But as our data quality improves, we're now suddenly able to see it. THere are still people out there who don't think that what we consider to be Mantle Plumes actually exist because its been so hard to image them. But the seismologists and modelers are starting to get there and its really interesting. The Yellowstone plume in particular is really cool, because it happens to come up right next to a subducting plate (the cascadia subduction zone, the Juan De Fuca plate is subducting below Washington and Oregon). And it certainly looks in some images like the Yellowstone plume has literally punched its way through the downngoing plate and given rise to a whole set of volcanic rocks in the western U.S. because of that interaction. I'd also, in the end, be surprised if the Yellowstone plume doesn't extend much farther down than just the 670 km discontinuity, which is I think where these guys are putting it; we just can't image that far yet. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it rooted very close to the core mantle boundary, about 4 times as deep. As I understood it, Hawaii was always a nice illustration of what I think you are getting at. These deep plumes, that bring material and heat up from very low, don't move the same way the crust does - so you get the image of trailing "dots" that is the Hawaiian Islands. The Yellowstone plume also, if I get this right, has a trail of volcanoes left behind, as the crust moved over it. Same with other super-volcanic systems, like Jemez/Taylor, which I know a little more about. And using that trail of dots, you can sort of predict where the next one would be, and further, based on the location of the plume and what not, probably get a vague idea of WHEN they'd go off again. Couldn't you?

Up in the Air does have some similarities with Lost in Translation, as well as a couple other films. But its also a very strong film in its own right, I liked it a lot and highly recommend it. Its not what you might think it is, from the trailers.

QUOTE (Nunnigan @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) Tomorrow will be my first ever court appearance, and its going to be a pain in the ass. Back in November 2008, I was the victim of a hit and run driver. Luckily the guys front plate fell off in the crash, so I was able to turn the guy in when I made my police report. Then two nights ago, I was issued a subpoena because I missed the court date this past October. I didnt think it would have been a big deal to miss the Hn'R driver's trial since what was I going to tell them? "Yeah I was rear ended by a guy who took off, and no I didnt have a good look of the offender." They could have gotten that information from my police report. I guess I should have contacted the court offices requesting that miss the first trial, since I had class that I couldnt skip. Now I have to take off of work because of this BS. That sucks. But, on the other hand, you get the satisfaction of seeing this asshole squirm and get nailed to a wall in court. That has to be worth something.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 10:46 AM) Well of course they could do it, they could put Jermaine Dye at shortstop in a pinch if they had to. Ozzie would not send his only backup catcher out to DH on a regular basis and I think you know that. He does know that, but like him, I think its a fear that is not worth considering. The risk level is insanely low, and the worst case scenario is that the pitcher's slot hits for part of one game, which would be PH'd for later anyway. So you're talking a couple at-bats, maybe, at worst, from a P. That risk is not worth factoring into this decision, IMO.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 09:18 AM) While I think claims like a Prius cost 286k are just ridiculous -- those batteries ARE made of very rare materials. No argument there. Nickel, cadmium, etc., those are all metals that are seeing massive demand increases, and mining them does indeed have an environmental consequence.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 09:09 AM) While I agree with all of this, don't you think the same can be said for liberals that want to make the environmental discussion into a do or die issue? The way some of these people (including people in this thread) speak, it's as if we're all going to die tomorrow if we don't change immediately. It's funny to me that liberals gave the GOP crap for "fear-mongering" us into a war that we didn't truly analyze before we started, but they use the same tactics to get the government to spend billions on actions that may or may not work. At this point even if we all can agree that humans cause AN effect on the environment, we don't know the extent of it. We don't know what will happen. We have "models" and "theories" that are debunked annually (either positively or negatively). The fact of the matter is we don't have any idea what is going to happen, so the environmentalists need to stop leading the charge as if we do. That's not to say we shouldn't do ANYTHING, but as much as people on the one side might be purposefully blind to the issue, so is the other. Agreed on most of this. Yes, of course, liberals have just as much tendency to scream and yell do-or-die on topics, though their styles are sometimes different. Yes, I think we can all agree humans have some effect on the environment, and yes, we cannot know for sure exactly how much. I would not go so far though, as to say we "don't have any idea what is going to happen". There is all sorts of documented scientific evidence pointing to some things being LIKELY. So I'd agree with your statement if you were to say we don't know FOR SURE what is going to happen. I tend to like McCain's thinking on this. Even if we're all wrong, and the human effect is minimal, then what's the worst case of being environmentally responsible? We create new industries and lower pollution? How are those bad things, even on their own?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 08:35 AM) Like I said, note that I will use 3 water bottles for every 1 you save. I will heat my house to 100 degrees day and night. I will waste aerosol sprays, and do everything in my power to undo everything you try to conserve. As for hybrids...LOL. Note there are many stories on this: http://www.caradvice.com.au/39714/hybrid-v...hortage-report/ Way to go...environmentalists! You traded one finite resource (oil) for a BUNCH of even MORE finite resources...a lot of which we have no idea what kind of damage they will even cause in the long run yet. Oh, and Northside...I was only kidding with my rant. It's just that this back and fourth bickering is getting old now...so I had to say it. As for the bolded, I had forgotten the name of the book you were referring to, then found it - the Dust to Dust study. Problem is, a wide variety of scientific studies by various institutions and universities, that were actually peer-reviewed and handled scientifically, completely debunk this claim. I particularly like how this DTD study puts the cost of production of a Prius at $286,000 (LOL). I still think its not an apples-to-apples comparison, but overall, its obvious that the majority of studies conducted in a professional way make it clear that the higher levels of pollution and indirect cost of manufacturing hybrids, is outweighed by the reduction in pollution and gas use during its lifetime.