Texsox

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 07:15 PM) Great little blurb from Jerry Crasnick a few years back. Balta, as a scientist you know there could be other factors as well that were not looked into. An anomaly with the bat or ball. Wind gusts, etc. Not to defend Bonds, but I can be very suspicious of anecdotal research presented as fact.

Over the past 10 years I've used every major brand and found stuff I loved and hated with each one. So find one that you think you will like. My son just went over to the dark side and bought a Mac. I'm not enthralled with the keyboard, but it seems like a solid machine. Currently I have a Dell desktop repalcement E1705. Giant laptop display. If I had to do it over again, I would have saved a few dollars on the laptop and gone with a smaller display and bought a 17" LCD display and went with a dual display set up. The smaller screen would be nice when sitting at Moon Beans sipping coffee and checking my email.

Tina Turner - Private Dancer Well the men come in these places And the men are all the same You dont look at their faces And you dont ask their names You dont think of them as human You dont think of them at all You keep your mind on the money Keeping your eyes on the wall Chorus Im your private dancer A dancer for money Ill do what you want me to do Im your private dancer A dancer money Any old music will do I wanna make a million dollars I wanna live out by the sea Have a husband and some children Yeah I guess I want a family All the men come in these places And the men are all the same You dont look at their faces And you dont ask their names Repeat chorus twice Deutschmarks or dollars American express will nicely thank you Let me loosen up your collar Tell me do you wanna see me do the shimmy again Repeat chorus

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 05:38 PM) Faith in the slow but steady step-wise process fo scientific inquiry, sure, but no need for faith in the knowledge that there is some goal-oriented grand plan of Grand Planner. The "but what are the chances. . . " arguments often used (I'm not saying you are here) to suggest a need for a plan or a Planner is a logical fallacy. If we use a conservative estimate of 10^22 stars in the universe and allow that most of those stars have planet sassociated with them, then the number of times the universe has had to get the in the "exact right proportions, under the exact right conditions" is staggeringly large. Our planet is at least one of the pinpoints in the universe where the right conditions and elemental components converged and it seems so miraculous as to require a Planner. But the universe has had billions upon billions upon billions of chances to roll the dice and mix and match variables and that kind of replication obviates the need for divine explanations. Not saying there is or isn't a divine planner, that's a much differnt argument that isn't worth debating here. What I am pointing out is many people believe there is scientific proof of the beginning of life, and there isn't. There is a theory, but at this point in time, it can not be proven. So it takes faith to believe either in a random series of events coming together to create this great diversity of life, or faith to believe in a bigger than us planner. The choice is simple for most people. But either side you believe in, it is a matter of faith, not scientific fact.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 04:17 PM) No, they believe creationism isn't part of the scientific method. Yes it takes faith to believe in somthing as complex as the creation of life, but it sure helps your cause when you have factual, scientific evidence to support your beliefs. For science to accept a fact, I believe, it has to be repeatable. So far we haven't created life. Imagine that primordial soup and all the variety of life that emerged. Amazing. You don't think it takes faith to believe that all that stuff could somehow be placed together in the exact right proportions, under the exact right conditions, for life to begin? There has to be a beginning of time. Matter was created somehow. Why? How? Since no one alive was there, it takes faith to believe in whatever you believe.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 06:27 PM) Why does anyone who is under 50 still write checks? The float. I can't recall the last time I wrote a check.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 04:30 PM) Which part of Texas are you in? I don't think Illinois offers this. Am I mistaken? I am in the Rio Grande Valley, about 60 miles from the Gulf and 20 miles from Mexico. I'm not certain if Illinois does or doesn't. We have dozens of retail energy providers who basically have to buy it from the lines and wires guys and resell. We're at about .15/kwh today.

We haven't had one of these in a while. I recently converted to liquid.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 03:30 PM) That's just not true. I've heard many a great band thanks to college radio and college programming. Though I never listen anymore, it is due to my living way out of range for many stations. Ok, you would be happier, but you really want to be the program director of your own personal station. You would still be ahead of the guys who do it for a living Nice discusion, btw

As I was making my electric choice, I selected a plan that guaranteed that 100% of my electricity would be generated from wind. I'm paying a slight premium, but I feel it is the correct choice for me. Walk the talk and all that.

My cousin Jeff is the founder of Hairbangers Ball, so I know cover bands I have no problem with guys who want to make a few bucks playing in a band. It's all about the entertainment for me. Not every musician can write music and not every writer can sing. Although it is cool when they happily coexist. I know when I turn on the radio, especially in a small market, I entered the WalMart of music. But that's cool. I don't have hours to waste to find that 10 minutes I'll really enjoy. Sell me the happy crap, I'll keep buying. And in the end, we'll both get what we want out of music. And nothing changes if the radio station starts playing obscure stuff. They are still showing the hubris to decide what I will like. No matter who does the programming for you, you will be unhappy. You want control of what you listen to. You will happily invest the time and resources to find those great tunes that I will miss. I'll spend that same time hiking down some sweaty trail and find a vista that touches my soul and keeps me human. And when we finally get together, over a few beers, I'll show you pictures of places you wouldn't otherwise see and you'll play some great rock I would have missed, and life is good

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) Good summary of where the evolutionary tree stands after this here. Thank you for the link. That is a well written and illustrated piece.

Very interesting. I am going to have to see it. One thing I have to point out is how we hate the business end of living. We love the cheap goods but hate to see them manufactured. Always have. No matter the method. We dislike animal processing, but eat the beef. etc.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 11:18 AM) I don't think Bonds would've come close to Aaron without the juice. And that's a legitimate point of view, and I believe others would say he would have, but in a couple more years. It would also seem that he has traded more seasons with a gradual fade for fewer, higher achieving season. The end seems to come quickly for steroid users. We'll never know for certain.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:03 AM) Has this Big Frank commercial been posted? Big Frank I'm just seeing it for the first time. It's awesome. That's been up for a while. The haters think it condones child abuse

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 01:04 AM) It's an incredible accomplishment, steroids or not. Isn't that the point? Without steroids, he's still chasing the record, we'll never know if it would have been an incredible accomplishment. There is no doubt that Bonds is an incredibly gifted baseball player. On his own, he easily would have been a top 5 home run hitter, with a chance of becoming number one. Sadly, we'll never know. We do know, at least most people believe, that Frank's total is legit. Raffy's is not. How do we compare those numbers? Is any comparison fair? That's what makes this so sad and difficult for many baseball fans. For the most part fans accept the "dead ball era" and those sort of anomalies in the history of the game, this doesn't compute the same way. While every baseball fan should have been cheering this accomplishment, some question if it even is an accomplishment.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 9, 2007 -> 08:23 AM) I'm saying that in the eyes of the companies. I believe that most of the world would eat up stuff by these bands if given the opportunity to hear them. But the industries chose to make the stuff safe instead of giving people the rebellion of Rock. Look at what has happened to Punk. For crying out loud you can get "Punk" bands on Kids Bop!!! First time I saw Avril Levine told me all I needed to know with "Punk Fashion", as she stood there in her video with the sleeves on her arms. You know, a t-shirt but with a long sleeve shirts sleeves cut off and being worn by themselves? Oh you know, the type of thing Johnny Thunders used to wear to cover the track marks. Gosh, ya know, I hope I'm not coming across as one of those internet psychos who obsess about meaningless crap. I don't sit here and stew about this stuff all day. And as soon as the world eats the stuff those bands are playing, they are viewed as sell outs, and the real psychos go out searching for the next big thing. Which I am cool with. It just isn't my hobby. Last Friday at Jackies in South Padre Island I had a blast listening to a power trio with a lead singer as old as I am playing cover after cover of classic rock hits. It was almost impossible to stump them with any top 40 rock song from the 60s and 70s. What they didn't know cold, they faked well enough That to me is the spirit of rock and roll. No pretense, no rules, just play what your having fun with. Could I find stuff I like better if I spent hours researching? Of course. Is it an investment I choose to make? No. Time is our most precious resource and we each have priorities in how we spend that time. The two hours I spent looking for a waistbelt that would better fit a friend of mine would be like nails on a chalkboard to you, but I was so wrapped up in what innovations have come out in the past couple years, I couldn't stop. Silly, I know. I believe people get too wrapped up in the labels. That Kids Bop stuff isn't Punk, we know that. So why worry about it? Pat Boone did a heavy metal album, it wasn't but it's so crappy, it's good. I don't believe anyone can have better "taste" in anything. Film, art, music, food, plastics. They can have additional expertise and understanding in a field, but your taste in music is just that, your taste. You are much better travelled musically than I, but if we both enjoy a few hours of listening to "our music" we have both achieved what we are after. I spend a lot of time researching outdoor gear to find what will work for me. I also enjoy finding a bargain. My "taste" isn't better than yours if you find a backpack you like. Does that make sense?

yet they almost universally agree that creation is wrong. It takes a lot of faith to beilieve in any theory on how this all got started.

I'm no memorabilia expert, but I'm guessing $500,000 will make a nice opening bid.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 8, 2007 -> 11:01 AM) I don't know if this is a comment on Bonds, Selig, the game itself, or what...but here's my thoughts. Last night, during the Colbert Report, I tuned in to ESPN2 during a commercial break and saw Bonds up to bat. I decided I'd rather not see it if anything happened. I literally turned the TV away from the Giants game during the at bat where he broke the record. I grew up a fan of baseball. Loved it when ESPN used to show the replays of the old black & white home run derby's from the 60's. Knew the record books quite well. Saw the clip of Aaron more times than I can count. And yet, I had absolutely no urge to either watch the greatest record in the sport be broken or to hear anything about it afterwards. I hate this. All of it. This should be something I would enjoy. Love. Etc. F***ing cheaters and their enablers. Could watch as well.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 8, 2007 -> 06:21 PM) I'm a journalism major. I'm going into history with a teaching certification with a secondary cert in PolS/govt Heads, are news outlets now looking for jhournalism majors? Back when I wanted to be in Journalism the advice was learn something so you could cover it well. Economics, Politics, Biology, anything. Then work your ass off on any newspaper that would take you honing your writing craft.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 8, 2007 -> 02:58 PM) because a band like (for instance) Riverboat Gamblers or Kansas City f**gots are too much for the delicate public to handle. I guess I'm too delicate . . .

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 08:53 AM) Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the Pop acts that the people actually do like. I just think that most of Pop becomes Pop due to pure laziness on the publics part. People don't want to actually search out music that they might like. The industry then hands the people a very generic and bland form of another band. I think what offends me the most though is when I open up a CD by some major act and I look at the writing credits. Pretty much every single song is written by somebody else. I'm not saying than the artist, I'm talking each song has a different writer, and none of the people actually PLAY on the album. My wife though, she loves Pop and radio stuff. She is exactly the person I am talking about. She doesn't want to go to the trouble of finding something else out there. She turns on her radio, and away she goes. She lets the programers pick who she likes. She's happy with that. Me? I don't like the drumming in Pop, nor the lack of cool guitar fills, nor the missing adlibs or vocal bits. She used to think I was ripping on HER when I would have bad things to say about the radio/MTV. I told her I didn't really care what she liked. What made me mad was seeing so many bands being created by labels now. They've always been there, but it seems more prevelant now (at the time, not so much nowdays). But I told her in all reality, as long as she loved MUSIC, that's really all I cared about. As for a voice the public likes, I always respected Barry Manilow, even when it was cool to hate him. I also never understood attacking people like Rob Thomas. He plays Pop because he has said he grew up listening to Pop, it's what he loves. If you love Pop, then that is cool. I have a problem with people who dumb stuff down. Weird analogy ahead, but I think it works. You mention taking the time to find music you like. There are so many areas in our lives to devote our resources. If I can find music I like with almost no investment of time, that works for me. If you have to dig deeper, that's cool too. And I really understand the thrill of the hunt and the exclusive feel of finding your own stuff. Way back in the dark ages of the late 70's and early 80's I was a fairly decent cross country runner. The only racing flats and spikes I would wear could only be imported from England. They simply were not available here. Why the masses would line up for Nike and Adidas or possibly Etonic was a joke to me when clearly the best stuff was over there. Give me an opening and I could tell you ever feature of that hand sewn vamp and lighter weight uppers. You would look at me like I was nuts and drop by the mall, try on some shoes, and run off, happy as a lark. I'd stand there lamenting you don't know what you are missing. I laugh at the elitist snobs that as soon as a band has a following that can't fit into mini-van, they are branded as sell outs and they go off to search out another band. I also love them for it because they often times bring back some cool stuff. Possibly not new to y'all, but Kings of Convenience was like that for me a few years ago.

I found it to be a sad moment for baseball. Barry, Mark, and Sammy were used by baseball to bring back the fans. Players, coaches, and owners knew these guys, and many more, were abusing their bodies, and spitting on the image of baseball, but it was selling tickets. Barry's *record* is still amazing, but will always be tainted. As noted earlier Bonds can make a good team great, a fitting metaphor for the drugs he was taking. He went from great to the all time home run record by cheating. For memorable baseball moments in my lifetime, I'd prefer September 6, 1995. Another legend's "record that would never be broken" fell, but by someone who kids could look up to and could look himself in the mirror without shame.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 10:11 PM) I have no idea why I clicked on this topic. Misty water colored memories?