Pretty funny tale of the quest for tickets for last Friday’s Warriors game, by the Chron’s Peter Hartlaub. I won’t spoil the punchline, except to say D’Oh!
Per the Trib, Reddick’s wrist is still hurting and the words “wrist surgery” have entered the discussion of possibilities.
Per the Sluss-less-beat, Coco looking strong for a Wednesday return, Chris Young less so.
More trouble for Scott Haggerty. He should have run for mayor of the parking lot instead.
Oh, also, it’s about 80% likely that I’ll have an extra ticket for tonight’s game, free to any Fker who meets me in the usual parking lot spot and greets me with the phrase “Why don’t you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?”.
1) my friend X (pronounced chris, as in X-mas, whom some of youm have met at the parking lot) has a pretty frustrating, even to hear, tale about getting free tickets to a 49rs game and trying to get there on public transpo on a sunday *without* looking up the route first (classic X. also classic X, no cell phone), with such salient quotes as “is this bus going to the game?” “yes, this bus is going to the game,” and “wait. why are we stopping pac bell???” and that’s just how the story begins because he did get to candlestick by the 4th (quarter) but not without waiting at bus stops out of operation, having to eschew other pac bell busses, and etc…
So you tell this story because he still hasn’t returned home from Candlestick after the game.
as i wrote that story i remembered how last year i bought game 162, play-in, and post-seasons with him… and how for game 162 he had the tix in hand travelling by bart from north oak with “just one small errand” he had to do while i waited for 1.5 hours at the parking lot not being able to reach him by cell, and praying, just praying, this wasn’t going to be one of those famous X-ups of his. he got there 20 minutes before game. turned out his errand included going by the school he substitutes at to sing something… and getting pulled in for a class or two. love my man X. love ‘im. just, his sense of timing sometimes…
*sign.
I liked it better with sing ;)
Me too. I was like, apparently singing is a small errand… how… sweet of him.
i know… but there are sweet stories, and there are true ones.
I remember you talking about this in the lot before Game 162, pacing and fretting about how your man X did this kind of thing all the time.
One of the things I miss from my Grateful Dead days is the quest for tickets. I’d guess I had tickets in advance for maybe 25% of the shows I went to; in most cases, I’d spend my first 30 minutes to two hours standing on offramps with finger raised, making eye contact with drivers, sniffing out extra tickets available for cost (never feed the scalpers). Just loved the dynamic, and I succeeded almost always, including many tough ticket situations. In 50 or 60 shows I only ever got shut out once.
Anyone planning on going to tomorrow’s day game?
So I guess that’s a no.
Just saw this – yes we’re going.
Cool, maybe I’ll try to upgrade to somewhere near you.
Sounds good. Text me if your upgrade attempt gets halted.
Well, this is fun:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/this-is-the-most-epic-brand-meltdown-on-facebook-ever
Have any of you painted your baseball/softball bats?
Why on earth would you do that?
To make them individual. I’m toying around with my old bats, sprays, sand paper, Silhouette cutter and a pimpmybat.com domain. I think there could be some market for that, even in Europe.
another note from last nights game, Josh Donaldson’s bat had a green label and words. (a max bat). I had never noticed anything other than black or white. and given the kerfuffle over the pink labels on the max bats last week, i wondered if other teams use team specific colors (colours to you) on their bats.
One of my old aluminium (aluminum to you) bats is definitely turning green and gold.
there was that red rangers’ bat last night.
yes, that one too. But I liked your explanation of it being on the spectrum.
MLB rule 1.10 (d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee.
wiki overrule: Once the basic bat has been turned, it has the manufacturer’s name, the serial number, and often the signature of the player endorsing it branded into it opposite the wood’s best side. Honus Wagner was the first player to endorse and sign a bat. Next, most bats are given a rounded head, but some 30% of players prefer a “cup-balanced” head, in which a cup-shaped recess is made in the head; this lightens the bat and moves its center of gravity toward the handle. Finally, the bat is stained in one of several standard colors, including natural, red, black, and two-tone blue and white.
red?
Redwood.
seems like bad wood for a bat
I’m just noting that there are natural woods that are red. Which means there are natural wood stains that are red.
kaká and ronaldinho not on the list for confederations? :O reminds me of another big team about 4 years ago that couldn’t seem to figure out the right combination… i wish them exactly as much luck.
and… time to engrave a strange new word that you won’t hear the end… caxirola. (it’s OK to delete vuvuzela from memory banks now.)
it’s the official noisemarker of the 2014 world cup and it’s already controversial. but it celebrates brazilian tradition and it’s so simpática! there’s no way it could be used for anything less than appreciative!!! (1:20) and, packed with steel ball bearings, it can’t possibly be modified to greater problems!! (0:46)
Dumb Washington proposal of the day. I don’t see lowering the BAC limit from .08 to .05 as preventing many deaths; rather, it would backfire by encouraging people to disregard a stupid law.
Stupid in what sense, that BAC alone may not be the best way to measure impairment?
In the sense that the current level (0.08) already outlaws the peak of that distribution.
I see it starting to go up at .07 which suggests that’s the point where it really starts to impair. That being said, it’s not enough of an increase to be particularly gungho about lowering it. What we really need to do is significantly increase the penalties for the current level.
I can get behind this.
I’m not well versed on DUI penalties, but my impression is that they are pretty severe already.
They’re actually remarkably weak. Suspension of your license for a year and a fine for the most part. But people willing to drive drunk are likely willing to drive on a suspended license and there’s a very high repeat offender rate. I’d suggest this is okay for a first time offense. After that I’d say a permanent ban on driving and if you even sit in a driver’s seat of a car or on a motorcycle and you can automatically get 5 years in prison. In other words, first one’s “free”, second one you’re going to pay big time. I *would* give judges some leeway on that so the prison time would be at their discretion. (Mostly because I know someone who got a DUI while not even driving so there has to be some flexibility in the system). I’d also suggest similar measures for driving using a cell phone (non-hands free). As severe as that may sound, more often than not, it’s not the violator who gets hurt or killed when these people drive.
You and Ed disagree about jail time for the first offense.
once you start getting tickes for driving on a suspended you are asking for Jail time.
I have had people get 4 months for that. Plus the fines start at $1400
link
Roughly 3500 for 13 years isn’t anywhere near harsh enough. Compare that to the cost of a life, a leg, the ability to move, etc.
You figure the first one leads to more uninsured drivers, too?
Not necessarily.
cool. thanks. I never looked into the SR 22 Costs, just guessed.
Good luck getting $4000 as an attorney on that. that is way too high, if there were a trial it might get to that much.
fines and fees
ah, reading fail, yes that is about right.
in MA and CA, yes.
1st in CA is jail time (work release likely) depending on jurisdiction 3-30 days, $2200 fine, suspended license that you can convert to restricted* after 30 days, so long as you sign up for SR-22 Insurance, enroll in a Drinking and driving education program and pay a fee to reinstate you license.
Before a lawyer it will likely run you about $5,000
Good thing lawyers are free!
I seriously doubt most people actually serve (much) time. And 3 to 30 days is nothing. And 5k for that? Nowhere near enough.
depends on what you mean serve. most places make you do work release instead of jail time (jails are expensive). most places give you half time credit, but they do whatever time is given them
Which just tells me it’s not nearly as severe as it sounds. It’s no small thing, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s light.
I see that pile up at .45+ and wonder how high the tail of the distribution goes.
That graphic at least suggests there’s no appreciable difference in the fatal accident rates between .01 and .05, and only marginally up to .07. That data (at least as presented that way) does not seem to support any change.
The problem is that the histogram seems to be showing just absolute counts, not rates. If there are 10 times as many drivers with BAC between 0.01 and 0.03 than between 0.05 and 0.08, then my conclusion would be that people with BAC from 0.05 to 0.08 are *much* more dangerous.
Right. Ideally we would want to know both pieces of information in order to make a sensible policy choice.
Though the 2nd number is hard to get!
yep. They are only pulling over and testing the BAC of drivers who are driving recklessly or erratically, so that’s going to give you a pretty biased sample.
Don’t they test everyone at a DUI check point? I actually don’t know, more curious. If they do, then you could gain a statistical measure with a margin of error.
That would be a way better method. I don’t know exactly how those checkpoints work, or how prevalent they are.
That’s why my takeaway is that I should stay away from driving until by BAC is exactly .43
Yup – there were about 33K fatal accidents in 2010 and the that graph shows less than half of that. If you plotted the 0.00 bar it would dwarf the rest!
And I suspect it is far more likely that more people drive with BAC in the <.05 range, people that went to a bbq and had two beers over a couple of hours but has some alcohol in their system but feel good enough to drive home.
The best evidence I can find is that (at night) there are about 3 to 3.5 times as many drivers on the road with some alcohol but BAC less than .05 than the number of drivers between .05 and .08. Full 2007 study (PDF); take the results with as many grains of salt as you think you need. The key table:
Not convinced about the backfiring part, but for the most part I agree.
I’d be willing to consider a lower standard if they went to a two-tier system, in which .05-.10 got treated something like going 10 miles over the speed limit, punished by a moderate fine and points on your record.
Maybe so, but this is still a graph that has to do with fatal crashes.
Yes?
And it shows that not very many lives would be saved by much stricter standards.
When it comes to drunk drivers, I don’t really care if it’s more strict on them.
I’m not very familiar with BAC. What’s the error bar on the measurement? Could a stone-cold sober person show up as 0.03 every once in a while? Also, where do you end up on that scale if, taking myself as an example, you are a 160 lb adult male and you just had a beer with dinner?
Obviously there’s a big gray area to it, and there are different factors such as your own example.
this should be a question for me. I always forget then have to re learn.
I don’t think its likely to be .03 without the aid of some form of alcohol.
there are many different machinces and testing methods. Also you may be rising or falling at the time of your breath test depending on when you last dsrink was in relation to your test.
Bottom line, I will likely roll the dice on a trial at .09 if I think I can get a rising defense and within the margin of error.
I will have a trail on a .08. All others asre case specific.
As a 160lb male, you’d get drunk faster than a 300lb male, drink-to-drink. If you haven’t had any alcohol (including meds), then it won’t show up in your blood. If it does, then they need to fix their measurement device. But these things get tested fairly frequently (or are supposed to) because when they fail, it basically means any test taken by that device gets called into question in court for everyone in the past.
I’m just wondering about the measurement error. *Every* device has some margin of error. It probably varies depending on the type of blood alcohol test (i.e. breath test vs blood test), but if the error is tiny (like 1e-4 or less) then I guess it really doesn’t matter.
But those people aren’t “drunk,” at least by any current understanding of that term.
If you want to advocate for a 0.0 BAC standard, i.e. no amount of alcohol consumed within 5-6 hours before driving, ever, you could advocate that. That’s the DUI standard used for teens I believe. But I’m not sure there’s any evidence a zero tolerance standard would save many lives, and there would certainly be some economic cost. Contrary to empty phrases often spouted in such debates like “no cost is too great to prevent even one fatality,” in fact every policy decision has cost-benefit factors which rationalists should insist be weighed.
I don’t mean zero tolerance, but I also don’t think the significance of the .05 range is negligible. I realize it’s impossible to prevent all drunk driving deaths no matter the policy, but what gets me the most are the repeat DUI offenders. Maybe that’s another argument.
Things like tiredness and mental lapses are more serious than a .05 or less BAC. So zero tolerance is just overkill. There are much more serious threats out there. Probably true of up to .08-.1. But that’s where there’s a bigger gray area.
it is used for teens with less strict penalties. (fines etc)
Remember that CA has strict laws as far as the US goes. the rural states outlaw .08 and higher for the highway funds, but the penalties are not as burdensome.
this is one of my biggest beefs with the criminal justice system. I wish drug related offences were considered infractions as well. Certain sales included.
I could get behind that. Less so with sales (at least in a literal term since that gets used too loosely).
I’d prefer a three-tier. .06 – .08 the moderate fine and points. .09-.1 something similar to now and anything over .1 a much more extreme punishment.
there are stiffer penalties as you climb the BAC ladder
Stiffer penalties or simply a more willingness of the court to hold you to the max?
higher mandatory jail time
although if this means more trains and buses, I am all for it
Yeah, following up on the comment I just left in reply to dmoas — I think that current penalties for DUI are probably harsh enough already and it would be more productive to try to provide alternative methods for people to get home once they have had a few.
I would certainly be all for more and better public transportation
my understanding is that considerably more dui’s in LA because alternatives are expensive and inconvient
West Hollywood is introducing a “party shuttle” for weekend nights, which I gather is going to be one hot mess on wheels.
I would like to know how someone with a .45 BAC would be concious enough to be involved in a fatal crash
The alcohol deamon is tougher than you think
johnny hits the sauce?!?!?!
An Irish fiddler of my acquaintance can keep playing well past the point where he can walk or talk.
But can he walk or talk?
Rarely passed midnight, but he can play till daybreak.
Sounds like he kept up with it, even if he couldn’t pass it.
Heavy regular drinkers build up a pretty incredbile tolerance level. Nurse U says that at the hospital they frequently give serioud drunks alcohol in their IVs, to stave off delerium tremens, which themselves can have serious medical consequences.
Think about this. It’s .45 BAC at the time they take the measurement. Now factor in the likelihood the time probably past between the event and their last drink.
Although at .45 it’s probably not that long between getting into the car and crashing.
One would hope.
We were having a house party a couple of years ago. My best friend had bought a breath tester. My other good buddy-who is the Drinker in our group- was testing it and ble a .4. He then spent the next 20-30 minutes trying to beat that record and was upset when he couldnt. We finally had to tell him it must be an upper limit on the model to get him to stop. (And yes he didnt drive.)
1) the price should have been the tip off (pun not intended)
OTOH, someone says they want to sell me a ticket to a game in progress, Pass, is the answer
1988 WS, Game 4. My dad and I walked around the parking lot around gametime trying to find a ticket – ended up getting a $50 ticket (2nd deck, halfway down left field line IIRC) at face value. My dad sent me in with the ticket and kept on searching. Turned out it was a lost ticket and the ticketholder came around right before first pitch and kicked me out. Spent the entire game roaming around the concourse watching the game until security booted me from one section, then finding a new spot. Turned out OK, but not the most pleasant way to watch a game, especially given the result.
So, yeah, price is definitely a tip off. But at least I got to go to the game.
Did the unread comments widget just flip out for anyone else? It is suddenly showing lots of unread comments for the past ~10 posts but when I click to those posts, I’m actually all caught up.
I saw the same thing.
I think it just fixed itself.
Just saw it again, briefly.
Yup – and then it went away again. Maybe nm is tinkering over lunch.
Wasn’t me. No idea what would do that, maybe the host was tinkering with the server time.
Alas poor Wigan – FA Cup and relegation in the same season.
HOLY SHIT.
Thanks, and go As.
See, if the majority of soccer were as exciting as that it would actually be worth watching. Only way that happens is to cut the field in half. But holy shit, how do you miss TWICE like that? Hell, how do you SAVE IT twice like that?
A) Think about how boring the majority of baseball is?
B) The PK was horrible. Keeper guessed correctly, but it was hit poorly. Once the initial save was made the shooter had no choice but to try and hit it first time again like he did, but the keeper was close enough to smother it.
Thanks, and go As.
A) Nowhere near as much as soccer. Lots more action sequence and scoring/scoring opportunities while not being overly abundant. And I’d compare it more to hockey which while having similar passing sequences, because of the speed of moving the puck across the field makes for more opportunities even in a scoreless game. Basically indoor soccer with the field halved, goals smaller, and the walls in play is where it gets really exciting.
B) True. Though, had he taken a moment, simply controlled the ball, the goalie was on the ground and there was only so much he could do from there. He rushed it. Still, an amazing play and sequence all around.
if he had taken a moment to control the ball, the keeper would have had an additional moment to react.
Thanks, and go As.
It’s the threat of scoring. In hockey it is constant, in baseball it is regular. In soccer there are large swaths of time where no scoring could possibly take place. For me that’s the difference in the level of interest the sport can sustain.
Yup. Me too. However constant scoring (basketball) turns me off. It’s the sense that the defense sucks so much that it’s more offense against offense instead of team against team.
broken?
test.
can’t seem to post a link.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/live
was it that the text i put with it was illegal?
it happened again. couldn’t post. php error. it was just text.
the error message.
Never seen that one before. Anyone else?
I think the problem is he’s using Safari.
but i’ve been back on safari since last year and that’s the first time anything like that’s happened anywhere i’ve used it.
Never seen that.
Heh, one of the leading cyclists is named Boy Van Poppel.
What’s the mattim with Barreh??!!??
I could easily hear Krukow making all kinds of excuses for Z after this start.
I could, but I won’t.
First they wrapped bacon around hotdogs. And they were good. And now they’ve created bacon hotdogs???
And so the baconizing continues
Almost bought one of those in GG Park the other day. Any report on deliciousness?
No idea. Just saw them online.
Four out of six of my friends aren’t coming to my graduation party after saying the would. One gave me the excuse of cleaning a friend’s house. Great. Thanks. FKers.
Something you’d be doing once vs. something they can do any fucking day. Nice friend.
http://www.kpho.com/story/22249466/woman-allegedly-stabs-boyfriend-after-he-farts-in-her-face
justified
youd go with jury nulification on that one?
self defense
i said that before i read the articl
It’s not like she killed him or anything. She simply re-directed an invasive methane leak from entering her lungs.
The slideshow of crazy crimes is also, well, nuts.
Florida.
At this point, I don’t even have to check the website to know that it’s Florida.
fucking rosales
can we undo that double play and skip rosales
Drink 20 shots, find yourself at the ER with a post-it label.
I, for one, like the idea of banning the entire panhellenic system outright. Of course, I’ve felt this way for over 30 years.
You hear that Resop? Don’t know what that is? It’s Sacramento calling you.
It’s the faint, haunting sound of the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train!
He can get on with Taylor.
I’ve never bought any Abercrombie & Fitch and never will, but this is great:
http://www.upworthy.com/how-does-the-worst-human-being-of-retail-sleep-at-night-after-he-sees-this-he-wont?g=3
hee
I’ve seen some complaints that this is marginalizing the homeless just to troll A&F. I can’t say that’s the case or that the point is more about shaming A&F than helping the homeless in some way, but isn’t it at least a good thing someone’s giving them clothes?
Why can’t it be both?
Yeah – this goes back to the “we volunteer so we can get laid argument,” but seriously, this country needs a collective chill pill about philanthropy for the sake of philanthropy, because such a thing rarely, if ever, exists.
“What do you do with your spare time?”
“Oh, I volunteer.”
“DO ME NOW.”
did you know some of these so-called volunteers don’t even get paid??
It pretty much is, I’d say.
Wish I’d thought of this. (In reality, we got slightly bigger garbage bins until Spawn2 is potty trained. We’ll go back to smaller when she is.)
40% adult diapers seems extremely high.
Depends – if they are coming from one or two nursing homes, it could skew the results.
You said “Depends.”
Heh.
Luv(s)
Huggies (and kisses).
Fair point. 2 weeks worth of a nursing home’s diapers would be quite the treat to find in your recycling.
Can’t stop laughing at this.
That was great. This is pretty good, too:
I laughed.
isn’t that kinda the book? slide early to avoid the easy DP?
Not when the throw is horribly wild which he could see given how far the infielder had to run to get it.
Coco’s back tonight, Chris Young probably on Friday, but…
That would make Milone Saturday’s starter, so we should see Miggy. Huzzah!
Steamer says Josh Donaldson is better than it thought he was.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-reality-of-josh-donaldson/
To be fair, the first-quarter-of-2013-Donaldson is better than anyone thought he was, probably himself included.
the first quarter of 2012 was just the opposite.
yup