Texsox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 04:28 PM) This is actually not the worst comparison at all. The government, through subsidies and taxes, passes along huge benefits to fossil fuel companies. The government, through copyright law, passes on huge subsidies to the owners of certain copyrights. So when millions of people start driving off without paying, it will be ok?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 04:02 PM) Who gets to decide what an appropriate return on investment is when the retailer is protected from competition by copyright law? If you go buy a car, the profit the car dealer is making is determined by the balance between supply and demand. This is not the case in intellecutal property cases. When an artist and record company makes an investment in an album, how are they suppose to recoup their investment? Who pays them when a song is pirated?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 03:52 PM) Even if she can't do the job anymore (thru no fault of hers)? How would ineffective representation of her district be worthy of respect? Terrorists win when our leaders can be shot from office. If her district was unhappy there are ways for her to be removed from office. There was no movement from her district. It really becomes how much time to recover.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 03:54 PM) The taxpayer who is spending their money on copyright enforcement. Too tough to answer? When an artist and record company puts out a CD how are they suppose to receive a return on their investment? Currently they sell copies of the recording. When people stop paying for the song, how do the investors earn back their money? Who is paying and why? /watching how Balta dodges again.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 01:12 PM) The reply here is ridiculously simple. Is there not enough money being put into entertainment these days to fund sufficient entertainment options? I'd say there's more than enough money going in. And there's so much money going in that a handful of companies are more than content to use a portion of that money to make sure that new competition does not arise. Who is putting in the money for the song that is pirated? Whose money is making that possible?

I only have time for the Sox. I'm happy for the rest of the Chicago major teams, Bears, Bulls, Hawks, and pull for Texas college teams.

What is statement was What it should have been Sandusky may be the worse human on the planet who hasn't killed anyone. And hell, if someone claims he killed Paterno with the scandal, I wouldn;t disagree.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/22/politics/gif....html?hpt=hp_t1 Classy move but I would have respected her hanging onto her office as well.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 02:30 PM) Wow, Sandusky issued a statement regarding JoePa's death. What a f***er. If he is guilty, and I believe he is, he is the biggest idiot on the planet. He should have crawled under a rock and did everything possible to go away. He seems to believe he didn't do anything wrong.

Happy Birthday!!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 12:53 PM) He did the minimum. More is expected. If I reported something to my boss about a guy raping a kid and nothing was being done, if I had JoePa's pull, I'd make sure something was done. There is no doubt Sandusky is the criminal here, but there is zero excuse that Paterno didn't do enough, and he himself acknowledged that. I agree he only did the minimum and more is expected. Let's go one step further, if you or I saw someone raping a kid we would have called the police immediately. We would not have waited until the next day and went to our boss. If someone told you that the previous day that someone you have known and trusted for two decades was (which version do you want to use here) doing something appropriate, you would probably have a hard time believing that they waited to report to you if the situation was rape. He now has to believe one assistant watched a child being raped and didn't call police and the rapist was a trusted friend. Hindsight is 20/20. I do not believe in my heart that when Paterno went to his boss he was trying to cover up the story or wanted children harmed. Only the most inept person would cover something up by getting more people involved, and people with the duty to report. I believe he did not do enough and perhaps trying to live with that hastened his demise. In my limited knowledge of Paterno, I do not see any evidence that he was the kind of person to knowingly allow something this horrific to continue. I do not think he would have had any peace in life, I hope he has that in death.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2012 -> 09:15 PM) Oh my goodnesss. I just watched the Drew Peterson movie on lifetime. I'll assume that some of the overall depiction was exxaggerated. But if this guy was even 75% of what this movie suggests, damn. This dude was/is f***ing ICE. Officially one of my new idols along with the great Peter Griffin. There is one way out, you were watching it with a really hot date. Nope, it is Lifetime, two really hot dates

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 12:27 PM) Yeah, exactly...I walked out of there two different times and I walked out of a Toyota place and had the owner (who is a semi famous Vegas car dealer, not unlike Bob Roooooohhhrrrmmmaaaannn in Chicago) calling me to ask what went wrong. Ended up getting the Audi dealership to give me exactly what I wanted...OEM nav/bluetooth/iPod integration. I have to tell you though...now that everyone has access to the information and pricing for every car in town, and around the country for that matter, they have switched gears to trying to really scam you on the financing now. I had the Toyota guy try to sell me on financing at 9.95 % by picking apart my credit report and telling me some dashes in my credit report meant delinquent payments on my old auto loan. They will try to get you to agree to a bs interest rate even though they are really getting your loan at a much better rate. If I would have had the patience, I would have arranged to get my own financing separately, sold my trade at CarMax or private party, and brought those to the table and just negotiated the price of the car. If you can do that, you can control a lot more variables and preclude them from playing games with you. Or better yet, save your money and just pay cash! Congratulations! To add, along with the finance rate, extended warranties and any other b.s. they can heap on you. My last couple cars have been through private party sales and I paid cash. Buying from friends can be tricky, but I have some very trustworthy friends and it worked out great. My next vehicle will be bought from one of two Scouting buddies and I have complete confidence the truck will be exactly as they describe it. Plus, I've sat around a campfire and listened to them tell about their vehicles before they were thinking of selling.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) Too bad he had to cover up child rape. I thought he reported it to his bosses. I missed where he participated in any sort of a cover up. When it seemed like everything was just being repeated I stopped reading. To answer another poster here . . . If it was my child or relative, I would focus on the person that did it, the eye witnesses, the wife and anyone else who directly witnessed the crimes. I would be sad for the victims who felt they could not come forward and wish they had. Of the people with second hand information, I would be bitter and upset at the University president who had the responsibility to act upon the reports and allegations that his employees offered. I guess after that, if there was any emotion left, I would be upset with all the people from Paterno to ESPN who heard the allegations second hand and didn't push hard enough. And about the only good things that can come of this will be the abuse stopped and others will learn from Paterno's mistake and push harder if they hear something. Maybe when we walk past a couple arguing and it seems like it may get violent, we call the police. Maybe when we see a child who exhibits signs he may have been abused, we call police or child protective services. We see a relative who is too chummy with the kids, maybe we call police. Certainly, if we witness "horseplay" in the showers between an adult and a child, we'll call police. If someone tells us they saw something in the showers, we'll call the police. Ten years from now, that may be Paterno's legacy.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 10:26 AM) The love for this guy disgusts me. Graduated 85% of his players No recruiting violation, no booster violations, an 80 year old man went to his bosses when there was a problem. I'm not disgusted by the love. He made a huge mistake in not calling the police. I don't see him burning in hell right now.

I was at a Scouting event yesterday and may have found an interesting deal. 1990 Suburban 4x4 that had been a ranch vehicle that has been sitting for a couple years since they sold their ranch. Lowish miles, brush guards and HD bumpers. There is some rust but the owner was about to have truck bed liner sprayed on the outside to stop the rust and make it more brush proof. He takes really good care of his stuff so I know it was cared for in an uncaring environment.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/22/us/pennsylva....html?hpt=hp_t1 Forgot a link.

I guess his health issues were serious. Too bad he had to die with a cloud over his name.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 21, 2012 -> 11:40 AM) Tex, I'm going to assume you're trolling here, but I'm going to do the comparison anyway. I want a car. I have x number of dollars to spend on a car. If the Mercedes is higher than that amount but the used car is less, I purchase the used car. I want entertainment. I have x number of dollars to spend on music. If the music I'd like to purchase is priced higher than what I am willing to spend, I can't simply purchase a version of it to do the same job at a lower price. I'm effectively unable to purchase anything. And furthermore, the cost of producing 2 cars is probably similar, even if the price is different. The cost of producing an additional copy of entertainment is virtually zero in a digital world...the cost is the same whether I purchase the product or not. That's the definition of a deadweight loss. To repeat the clause you skipped earlier: What I am asking is this, it appears that some people are saying, the prices are too high for something that should be cheap, so pirating is OK. If it was cheap enough I would buy it, but because it is too expensive, I have to steal it. The problem with copies are free, is it does not address the cost of the first item. If you sell the first one for $10, the rest can't be free. If you sell the first one for $1,000,000 then I agree, the rest could be free. It seems simple enough to me. If it cost $X to produce an album, you need to recoup that investment and make a profit so that the company can grow. You also have to cover the cost of albums that do not make a profit so your company can survive. Using simple numbers, if it cost $100,000 to produce and album and you expect to sell 100,000 copies, you can sell it for $1 plus profit. Now perhaps you could hope to sell 200,000 at $.50. However, you have to be certain there that large of a total available market. Now if technology comes along and now you are only going to sell 75,000 and 25,000 will be copied, you have to raise the price for those 75,000 to recoup your $100,000 and then the 25,000 other people can just pirate a copy. And after all, copies are free and the owner can keep the original. Will skip over the part that the original owner (and to me that means the person who actually paid for the product) is subsidizing all the stolen copies that are out there. So the solution to those 25,000 pirated copies is to lower the price to the 75,000 who are already buying it and hoping that the 25,000 will come back? If you owned a retail store and people were stealing from you, would you really sit there and say, damn, I am losing $X dollars to shrinkage, I better lower my prices or I will go out of business? The simple solution is you stop people from stealing your product. The more complex solution is music becomes advertising driven. Again, you have to stop technology. This time from from striping the ads from the content. You will also have to contend with music being advertiser driven. Imagine no religion, No Taco Bell to. No hell below us, above only United Airlines . . . Someone has to put money into the system. Through history that has been wealthy patrons, advertisers, governments, and consumers. Pick which one you want in your business model, but make no mistake, someone has to put money into the system. If it isn't the consumer, then be willing to accept the music and movies that come out because you will have very little influence.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 21, 2012 -> 12:18 PM) You know what's bothering me the most about this post? It's the part I bolded. First of all, how f***ed up is it that the manager and GM are "having a battle for the affections of the boss"? That sort of thing is complete crap. Their job is to do their job. And in multiple years in a row, it hasn't happened. And it hasn't just been a 1 year nightmare. The guy who got the owner's affection the year beforehand was the manager, he got the soft hitting DH he so wanted, and it wound up being a disaster just as much. I agree as I wrote the original post. However, I wish instead I had said the direction of the team, or something better. But bottom line, their fighting cost this team a lot. The players were the bigger problem, but no doubt in my mind, their antics were a problem.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 16, 2012 -> 09:19 PM) Your statement confuses me. Sorry, I was thinking you are one lucky guy with that college course. I was jokingly saying f*** you as kind of a "you don't need any help, you already helped yourself to a great gig". Kind of like someone asking for help pushing the wheel-barrel full of money he just won. Enjoy.

Like presidents, managers receive too much credit and too much blame. IMNSHO Ozzie lost in a battle with KW for the affections of the boss. The last season here was a nightmare for everyone. Too bad we couldn't of had a nice going away party and have everyone stfu. But, Oz, and his supporters felt the need to defend him. His detractors smelled blood and piled on. Both sides exaggerating, these exaggerations are the fuel that feeds this fire. There hasn't been a comment close to reality in months about Ozzie. And Ozzie is one of the few managers that seems to view entertainment as part of the game. I kind of like him for that. He never was, and I hope he never becomes, and autobot. Spewing cliches or issues no comment. Ozzie is a better than average MLB manager with plenty of players that like him and will play hard for him. No manager is right 80% of the time because human players have to take their decisions and make something happen. Ozzie isn't the greatest WS manager of all time, but certainly not even near the worse. Too bad the season hasn't started or we can switch our attentions to what an idiot the current manager will be. And before someone gets all feisty, y'all know we eventually call every mananger an idiot.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 20, 2012 -> 08:01 PM) Now what I hate is when someone has a holier than thou attitude about morals and then goes and does "immoral" things. This society loves to attack and ridicule people who fail while trying to reach a higher goal, while cheering those who "push the envelope" of indecency. No way you can ridicule someone who isn't trying. But hey, have you done the two women yet? Imagine this line, I f***ing hate your holier than though attitude of doing two women at once and then you fail. Look at that f***er, always talking about how he doesn't care about morality then he f***ing is the most moral person I know. I knew he was just like everyone else. Bonds and Rose get defended, Tebow gets attacked. We are pack animals and want everyone to be just like ourselves. When someone tries to be different, that makes us nervous and anxious. Interesting bit of human behavior.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 20, 2012 -> 07:51 PM) Sex doesn't matter. Relationships don't matter. At least that is what you all told us during the Clinton years. Isn't this the GOP primary? Why drag liberals into y'alls internal battle? But while I am here, and feeling a little pissed in your use of "you all" when it didn't apply to most of the liberals here, I'll play. And you all told us sex matters, a lot. Two consenting adults having sex better have different parts or they, and this nation, are going to hell. You all told us that Clinton wasn't fit to serve in office and started impeachment hearings. You all told us the only relationship that matters, the only one that should be recognized by this country, is between a man and a woman. I'll take the liberal side on this one.

I'm confused by the I'd buy more if it were cheaper comments. Are y'all suggesting pirating is less of a crime because the prices are too high? I'd have a Mercedes G Series in my driveway if the price was cheap enough. I'd have Dish and Direct if the prices were cheaper. I'm not certain what y'all are driving at.