StrangeSox

So, anyway, back to the actual topic, does anyone have recommendations on a decent self-propelled mower?

Some how I completely blanked on my neighbor's heavily landscaped yard: That was last summer, when a lot of the landscaping was still struggling to recover from the drought we had the year before. But this cost him something like $30k to do. That's a lot of lawn mowers and gas.

Panasonic announced last year that they were done making plasmas, which only leaves Samsung and maybe one or two others making them. I picked up a 51" Samsung Plasma last fall and am really happy with it. The picture quality for the price ($500) blows away and LED even 2-3x the cost. If screen glare isn't a concern, plasma's still the way to go for the best picture quality.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 04:32 PM) What's the alternative? Bare earth or concrete? No thanks. Non-grass lawns and other landscaping. You can use all sorts of plants like clovers, thyme, low-growing flowers, etc. The idea of a watered, fertilized and manicured grass lawn didn't really take off until the 50's. QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 04:47 PM) Well that I can understand. But in the midwest, not sure what your alternative is. And if you let it go it looks like crap which drops your property value and the value of the homes around you. Yeah, not wanting to be the neighborhood weirdo is the reason we haven't done this yet. But if it's well-done its way less maintenance and looks nicer, at least imo. My backyard is getting more and more filled with clover, which I'm 100% fine with. Stays as low or lower than grass, gives nice flowers a few times a year and attracts bees and other insects. Better than a lawn which is actually a pretty barren landscape. clover also naturally pulls nitrogen back into the soil, so you don't have to spread fertilizer everywhere. edit: lots of older homes, like say the cathedral district in Joliet or the older parts of Urbana, will have fully landscaped front yards like this instead of grass:

I agree that grass lawns are probably one of the stupidest things we do as a society.

Small two-stroke engines are particularly bad polluters (no real emissions controls or requirements). They're also loud and smelly. Plus it sucks when you go to cut the grass and realize you need to run to the gas station first.

I need a new mower this year and I've been tempted by the cordless ones. Glad to hear some first-hand feedback confirming what I worried about.

That is really disappointing.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 10:26 AM) Ah. Well that's still not any different from scholastic scholarships right? Aren't those applied on an annual basis, probably to ensure that you're still in school/making the grades? No idea but some sort of academic 4-year contract would represent a substantial shift from the current landscape. Honestly I think that's a deal college athletes take 100% of the time, and those that would leave early anyway can just pay whatever breach of contract damages there are.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 10:24 AM) Don't see a reply to this, but this happened for the NFL, Maurice Clarett tried to get into the draft after 3 years at OSU once he was tossed out of school, the case made it to the Supreme Court but the Court sided with the NFL. Clarett was challenging the three year rule of the NFL. He wasn't three years out of high school by that point. edit: I mean, players declare after three years for the NFL or one year for the NBA all the time. Imagine that Derrick Rose had signed one of these 4-year contracts. Then, after one season at Memphis so that he meets the NBA's one-year-out-of-HS rule, he drops out and enters the draft. What are the consequences for him? Maybe a few thousand in damages? What would those damages even be? He wouldn't be fulfilling his end of the contract (playing basketball and attending school) and the school would be let out of their obligations (providing tuition, room and board). The school would be left having to argue the economic value their student-athletes bring to the university but also continue arguing why they aren't employees.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) Football players are. I'm not sure about all of the other sports. I'm pretty sure men's basketball players are guaranteed 4 years. The NCAA didn't even allow multi-year scholarships to be offered until a year or two ago.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) The job opportunities of all 18 year olds are restricted, other than the super geniuses who finish college by that age. They're not arbitrarily restricted solely by age, though. Microsoft might require as BS-CS for an entry level position, but they don't require you to be 1 or 3 years out of high school like the NBA and NFL do. Those requirements aren't about any specific sort of experience, education, training or performance. I doubt that if Microsoft had a similar requirement, it'd stand up legally under age discrimination.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 10:08 AM) Right, but look at it from the perspective of the university defending themselves in court. I don't see how it'd undercut any of the arguments that the NW players made. NW is known for their rigorous standards anyway. And now they've got to deal with litigation any time one of their players leaves before four years? What if they can finish a degree in three years? What if it would take them five or six? Besides, one of the things that players are pushing for are guaranteed scholarships--this could be a huge benefit to the players rather than anything all that positive for the schools. Could a player decide to just stop playing sports? What if they're injured? What if they want to transfer?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) Nothing from the school's perspective, and I agree with you that enforcement would be an issue, but let's say there's a monetary penalty that they have to pay back a portion of their scholarship or school bills. Again, from the universities point of view, that's a breach of their agreement and the expectations they have for their "student-athlete." Having to repay even $100,000 worth of tuition when you just signed a 7- or 8-figure contract isn't exactly much of a disincentive.

Ok, so what happens when someone breaks their contract and is drafted into the NBA (NFL) after only 1 (3) years of college?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) I don't see why the NBA couldn't just change the amount of post-high school years you need to 4. Right now the players union has no leader and is completely rudderless. The NBA could basically do whatever they want for the next CBA unless something changes. They could, but again, why? How would this benefit the NBA? To me, that would just reinforce that it's much more like an employment contract than being about a student who happens to participate in amateur athletics.

Exactly. It'd be like having to repay your employer for tuition benefits if you leave soon after finishing your degree. At least in engineering, you can generally negotiate with your new employer to pay that as a signing bonus. Now compare that to someone signing a seven plus figure contract in the nba-pretty easy to pay liquidated damages for breach of contract. Plus that would seem to explicitly make them more like employees.

inning/score update? I think gameday is still way behind nevermind, seems ok now, Viceido looking at strikes down the middle in the top of the 8th

gameday's frozen on Alexie getting a seven pitch walk to lead off the sixth, what the hell is actually going on?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 09:55 AM) Anybody have a project manager certification? Looking into this and was wondering where the best starting point might be in terms of books... Are you talking PMP through PMI?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 04:04 PM) Why? I was surprised at how many people wanted to take a busted (but repairable) hot tub. I wasn't expecting that sort of response. Someone came and picked it up yesterday afternoon, about 24 hours after I posted it. I had 40 or so other emails from people saying they were interested.

way to pick him up Gillaspie!

One of the things the NW players are fighting for are guaranteed scholarships.

I don't see how they could possibly enforce that without some sort of collusion with the NBA, which I have to imagine the NBAPA would fight.

They're also having huge issues with the World Cup IIRC