Texsox

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 10:23 AM) 'Tis the truth but with the way the pitching has been lately, it certainly wont hurt to have your best defense out there and Anderson might just be the best defensive cf in the AL. Looking over the season and looking forward, this could be the September slump, only sooner. A couple banged up players needing rest or rehab, summer doldrums, a division rival getting hot. It's easy to believe the Twins cool back down and we get a surge and bump from a couple veterans returning and life is good in Soxdom once again. I don't think that is pie in the sky or blind optimism. Just the realities of watching many baseball seasons unfold.

While and improvement, it isn't like we're trotting an All-Star replacement out there. If that was the case, the decision would have been easier.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 08:20 AM) Wait a minute, so this person is blaming the "hate filled right wingers" for the shootings? Or am I not reading that right? Nevermind. I was reading it wrong. But, I think the premise here is a lot over the top. Yep, over the top. There is a valid point in there. I cannot think of a vice or hatred that cannot be fueled in modern day America. And that fuel is out on display and readily available, without any restrictions. Such is life in an open society.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 08:38 AM) Exactly the point I was trying to make. There is NO WAY that a person in their own party would be saying that they want Stevens seat right now. Yet the question has to be asked and denied. I do have some thoughts about him losing his positions while enjoying the presumption of innocence guaranteed by our Constitution. Have we finally all but abandoned that legal ideal in favor of media reports and rush to judgments?

I agree. Plus if we want to truly get rid of crappy teachers, and there are some, but not as many as some may think, who will do that if we cut back on administrators? Someone has to be reviewing the teacher enough to offer a fair evaluation. We keep demanding more and more accountability from teachers, but accountable to whom and how? That usually means additional supervisors. Once again, we have to be careful what we wish for. And test scores suck as a barometer. My bestest friend teaches third grade. I have subbed for her and have helped grade papers the past three years. The difference in the overall talent between those classes was easily seen. Was she a better teacher with the high achieving group and worse with the low achieving? I seriously doubt it. It also fuels all the workshops and classroom time devoted to "how to take this test". I wish I had a better example, but some of the "skills" are along the lines of "if you see the word compare in the question, eliminate answers with exact, more, and less, and look for like or almost". It is a soft science in evaluating teachers, but we have demanded some objective evidence, and are paying the price for it.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 11:14 PM) You still have to show that he more likely that not was drinking. With the more recent allegation that he admitted to police that he had a couple of drinks he would be screwed. Otherwise just saying he smelled of alcohol would almost certainly not be enough to show he more likely than not was drinking. Cases are decided all the time on the testimony of witnesses and cops make excellent witnesses. A jury or judge would have to decide if, based on the testimony, he was drinking. Cop and other witnesses on one side and other witnesses and Smith on the other. The cop gets on the stand and describes what he saw, heard, and smelled, and I can easily see a conviction. Remember it was zero tolerance. They don't have to prove he was drunk, just that he had a sip.

QUOTE (thedoctor @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 02:59 PM) all i can say is i thought there'd be more than that for a $25K bond to be issued. if they suspected smith of drinking (i don't doubt he was) why not pinch him for public intox or obstruction of justice or something? Violating the terms of probation is pretty serious stuff.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 08:15 AM) I heard hes not a fan of Chinese food. Plus an hour later he would be hungry again.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 08:52 AM) LMAO. I love these f***ing polls that show up every year about this time. If you love them so much, why didn't you start it?

Texas basketball is pretty damn competitive.

^^^^^

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 08:36 AM) Margins are near zero in that field at most levels. You have to get into the high end before you really have a profit margin. I understand that, but generally the volumes are high. Looking at their square footage and overhead, if all they were trying to make is a couple hundred dollars a day, they weren't going to make it anyways. As a contributing factor, I'd imagine that the minimum wage increase was nearly zero. The loss in revenues, increased fuel costs which precipitated rising food costs, were much bigger factors. I order from Ben E Keith and Sisco, two large restaurant wholesalers, and all the add ons for fuel charges and reductions in the discounts I was getting, added up to a decent hit. I'm not saying the increase came at the wrong time for them. Plus, those that claim more money in the hands of consumers is good for the economy could argue this will help everyone.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 07:26 PM) The Hills Gossip Girl X-files Murphy Brown Extreme Makeover Home Edition If you know those are overrated, we know who holds the remote in your household Get back that remote

Merging in a moment

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 30, 2008 -> 08:24 AM) I just can't see how banks continue to give business loans to restaraunts in general. I was driving yesterday and it seemed like every strip mall had at least 2 food places in it. The article is right, eating out is one of the first things that stops when your income drops. Business entertainment, expense account lunches, travelers, workers, etc. They may drop down a notch or two in where they go, but many will weather the storm. But I agree, why anyone would decide to go into the restaurant business, or loan money to someone to do that is crazy. BTW would you like to be partners in my new Texas BBQ joint I want to open in Woodfield?

I was in before they tossed out the first pitch and disagreed with all the "toss in the hat, Cleveland and Detroit are too tough to beat, sell anyone with value" sentiment. Nowe that the team has proven they can compete for the long haul, and August 1 seems like the long haul, I'm more in then before.

So the economy lost hundreds of minimum wage jobs? I have no doubt it sucked, but how many employees in that restaurant worked for minimum wage? Severs? I doubt it. Manager, Assistant, Host, cooks, etc. all should be making more than minimum wage. So lprobably just the bus boys and kitchen help? Let's say they have 20 of them through out the day. If a couple hundred buck a day increase was the difference between staying in business and not, they were in very poor shape to begin with and probably were not going to make it.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 07:57 PM) If you are going to add more money, you also need to make it easier to fire crappy teachers, get rid of tenure and find a way to cut down on the size of the administration and their pay/pensions as well. Especially here in Illinois, the Superintendents pensions are crazy. Based on an average of their 4 highest years pay, most districts give the ones they like huge raises the last 2 or 3 years they work, then when they retire, the pension is picked up by the State, which means by everybody, not just those wealthy taxpayers in Winnetka. The poor taxpayer in Ford Heights (if there actually IS a taxpayer in Ford Heights) is also contributing to the big guy's pension. The schools I have been close to did not seem to have too many administrators, although I imagine that could be an issue in some districts. Especially those poor ones that have to employ cops to assure safety for the students and teachers. With the teacher shortage that plagues most districts, firing crappy ones would be a dream to get to, but it would probably be more helpful to make the job attractive enough to hire better ones.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:28 PM) But that charter school slready spends thousands LESS than the regular schools do, and kicks thier asses in all areas. more for less, so it isn't just money. Tex, the charter school there spends $7500 per student. By comparison, the public schools spent $13,330 per pupil, in 2005! http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm727.cfm Are you saying their program would be worse if they had more money to spend? What it proves is a small group of ourstanding people can do wonders. Scaling that nationwide is all but impossible. If you has a choice of working for $50,000 in Winnetka or $25,000 in Roundout, where would you work? Would you rather your kids have 3 year old Social Studies books, or ten year old? Which kids will learn computers better, those with cast off Windows 98 machines, 1 per classroom, or a bank of new Vista machines 1 per 5 students? I agree, money isn't everything, but nationwide, if half the schools start with $13,300 and the other half start with $7,500, which group will do better? I believe the group with the resources. Another factor in DC is making the students feel like someone cares, in this case, it could be that they were part of a special program. The Hawthorne Effect for psychology afficionados.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 02:28 PM) Tex, money isn't the issue. If it was, how could the charter schools in DC with excellent success so far (which the Dems want to stop funding), be doing so with 30% less per student than the DC school system? All the problems that conservatives complain about how government can't run things efficently are shown in public school systems. They are an entrenched boondoggle and are not run well. Keep throwing monmey at it, and you get no results. Sure, money is important, but you have to change the educational heirachy, union dominace and parental involvement. A very tall order. As for funding, I am all for some sort of statewide funding, as basing school money purely on property taxes doesn't seem fair. But if I am still paying the huge amount I am now, and my son's schools start losing things left and right, I am gonna be pissed. Money is the issue. When the difference between what school districts spend can be as much as 10X the amount per student, it has to make a difference. When schools are too poor to regularly buy new text books or have computers, there is a difference. When some school districts can spend more money on weight rooms for their football team then others can for their libraries, there is a difference. Just walk through a poor school and walk through a rich school and imagine how you would bridge the difference. Imagine what that DC CHarter school could do with another $1,000 per student.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 10:55 AM) What Boras client even interest you? Aside from Mark Teixiera who's going to get an absurd amount of money I don't see any players that I particularly like. Doesn't matter. A team that doesn't want to even talk with Boras is not even going to look over his list to see if there is a good fit.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 01:19 PM) When is the last time a team set itself up for a long term championship-level run by giving a lot of money to a Scott Boras managed player? I believe Atlanta also did nicely with Maddux. The Tiggers seem ok with a couple of Boras clients as well.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 11:36 AM) Do you seriously believe people are cheering against Konerko? That the fans on here don't want him to regain his form? Or could it be that he's been so bad for so long this season that they're sick of watching it and think getting him off the field will do nothing but help the team? You can only hope for him to turn it around for so long, cheer him on despite the fact that he's been garbage, keep sending him out there in hopes that he'll just come out of it. It's almost August, eventually something is going to have to be done because he's giving this team nothing at the plate and just as little in the field. I'm sure most everyone hopes that he turns it around but you can only watch that shoulder shrug so many times. Yes, I think some people here would rather be right than have things turn out for the team. I see it in the Crede-Fields debates and the pitcher debates.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:31 PM) Don't quite comprehend, but House is easily one of the best shows on tv. I fugured Ships got into the supply closet, again. I want to be a gay man so I'd magically have better fashion sense

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 01:56 PM) Man, when they hit in the middle of a network, these computers are really, really fast at getting the hard data together. 10 years ago this stuff wouldn't have been available until days to weeks after an event. The joys of the internets. Turns out it's something we'd call a dip-slip event, not quite a strike slip signal and not quite a thrust signal, but somewhere in-between. Kind of makes sense based on the area it's happening, hit on a fault that likely didn't break the surface, but also hits in an area where there's sort of a directional change in the mountain range, so there's some shear force on the rocks as well. In something like 5-10% of quakes, there will be an aftershock larger than the initial large event, so folks at least should be moderately cautious over the next day or two. Does anyone here speak geologist? BTW we call a dip-slip event when SS bans a troll in 5 minutes or less.