I get the majority of my news from you guys. But I started thinking what it would be like to not have you guys. I’d have to rely upon my home page, which is Yahoo, because that’s where my email is. I dunno about you, but the information gathering involved at Google frightens me, though I have recently pledged to be less paranoid, so…
Anyhow, the thought occurred to me to do a Yahoo-only grill. Since I’ve been fired, I’ve been going to bed about 9 in the morning and sleeping til about 4 in the afternoon, so if I don’t do this in the wee hours, one of you miscreants will likely post a Grill before I get up.
So….let’s see how informed the Yahoos will be, Houyhnhnms be damned!
1. Hey, here’s a good idea. Let’s start reviewing the ethics of fictional characters. You might want to investigate Al Swearengen and Tony Soprano next. Seriously, what the fuck? Are there really that few things happening in the real-life ethical world?
2. Okay, if you’re getting the bulk of your medical information/consultation/diagnosis from Facebook, you’re either a moron or you’re so poor, you can’t afford health care (possibly both). So, if you’re on television, advising people not to get information/consultation/diagnosis from the internet (presumably because you’re the bastion to the masses of information), perhaps a less condescending tone? Stephanopolis invoking Reagan at the end is priceless, too. Dr. Richard Besser can kiss my motherfuckin’ ass.
3. Some baseball, if you can believe it! Which means, according to all LCD Yahoo standards…Moar Yankees news! Even though it is the Yankees, the story is intriguing. Oh, and by the way, apparently CC Sabathia might get his medical advice from Twitter:
When he came out of he game, Sabathia saw a left-handed pitcher coming in from the bullpen. Then he saw a right-handed pitcher on the mound.
“I was like, maybe that guy got hurt,” Sabathia said.
4. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you don’t deliver anonymous steel drums for a random South Side company. Yahoo’s home page has five or six slots for national/international news, then three slots for local news. For whatever reason, my home computer normally thinks I’m in Chicago. The one at work assumed I was in Sarasota. And every so often, randomly, my home computer will switch to North Bay. Anyhow, the extended explanation is only to point out that (surprisingly) the news from Chicago is regularly more exciting than the news from Sarasota. By the way, if you’re on the South Side and looking for grill fixin’s, I strongly recommend these guys. I’d go with “All the Meats You Love to Eat” combo.
5. Um, nine ways to protect your ATM card…let me save you some time. Here’s their nine: Get banking alerts, Go paperless, Don’t make purchases with your debit card, Stick to bank ATMs, Destroy old debit cards, Don’t keep all your money in one place, Beware of phishing scams, Protect your computer, Use a secured network. Let me save you even more time: don’t be a fucking moron with your money.
Who exactly are these “front page feature” things aimed at? I have regularly been intellectually insulted during this exercise/exorcise. It’s even more disheartening to know that someone is paying people to bring us this dreck. I know newspapers have always been written at about a sixth-grade reading level, which actually makes sense. But since the content they cover now matches the reading level and tone…are we doomed, FK?
FKing grill, already.
Monty Poole alert. He smacks down Selugswurth pretty effectively here.
Now that’s good socialism.
Can I have $10? No? Maybe we can compromise then, and you can just give me $9.99.
You know, it’s becoming clear to me why I don’t like Florida. I hate the beach and don’t like seafood.
Coming to Law and Order next season…
News from lots of different sources is best, but if you don’t have the time/patience/interest to set up the RSS feeds or browse manually, the NYT Skimmer is a decent compromise.
Should I ask what RSS feeds are and how to set them up?
Really Succulent Shrimp. You’re not interested in seafood so you probably don’t want to set up an RSS feed.
oh, no. I don’t like shrimp.
Google reader is my god.
It is a way to subscribe to website content.
You pick a tool to receive and organize these subscriptions (there are many free options; like nevermoor, I use Google Reader), then you visit the sites you like and subscribe.
It’s quite useful, as it aggregates your browsing in one place, and automatically sends you new content (if you subscribed to FK, for example, new Grills would appear, like magic!, in your RSS Reader – you would
not have to visit FK to check for themalso have to visit FK every 15 minutes during your day to crack wise).However ongoing maintainance is required, and unless you read a lot of stuff from a lot of different sources on a regular basis, it’s probably not worth your while to set it up.
Edited.
This reminds me that you should fix the comments rss. My Internet experience is not as seamless as it could be.
It’s intentional to keep you coming back.
(Actually, it’s something in one of the plugins that somehow screws it up. What I should really do is update WP to the latest version and see if that does it, but I haven’t had time to do that when FK is low enough traffic for me to not mind taking it down for an hour)
FKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneappFKiPhoneapp
You’re welcome to do it. I set up that iPhone theme that I was told worked ok.
It works quite well. I use it more frequently than my comment rate would indicate.
Also, now seems like an appropriate time and place to mention my guilt for failing to commit the time to explore the auto comment updating thing. It’s still on my list. But my list is ridiculous. I hate being a flake, but I am one. I apologize.
Oh, I’m just being a PITA. As I’ve mentioned before, the current theme works fine, it’s just not optimal. It’s more a bleg if anyone works in app dev.
This is another fine grill you’ve gotten us into, LB. Thanks for not rhyming for the sake of riddling.
Also, where do I pick up my grilled lamb? Sounds delish.
it’s not a good neighborhood, if you like caucasians. But the folks are friendly and there’s nothing to fear on the South Side. You just gotta roll with it.
Um, Pandora just played me “15 Beers” by Johnny Paycheck. Should I be concerned?
Only if “Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen comes next.
So Lost.
I think we answered the whole “why keep smokey on the island” thing, which was neat. And it turns out maybe Widmore is on the side of Angels. What I don’t understand is why smokey (who can fly) can’t get over the tripods but humans can just climb over them via ramp technology.
This sounds like gobledygook to a non Lost watcher.
Lost is especially good for that.
Widmore as Good Guy is interesting, and last night’s ep has me re-reading his Lostapedia page….you can re-cast most his past as the Jacobian true believer to Ben’s Jacobian false-prophet, and most of it fits, but his consistently “evil” methods stand out…sending Keamy and the mercs to wreak havoc, sadistic meanness towards Desmond, various bad things as Others leader. Also, the time-travelling Locke ID’ing the 1954 Others leader Widmore as “one of my people” is interesting.
Those tri-pod deals were the same little shocker things that the Dharma/Others had to protect them from Smokey. Not sure how they work, but when they’re on, they apparently hurt like hell.
Right. And the losties got through them via clever use of a wooden plank.
Bigger potential for trainwreck: Moneyball movie or Freakonomics movie?
Did you honestly read that and come away with the impression that it was going to be a narrative, dramatic interpretation of the latter book? A multi-director multi-segment docu is the perfect approach, and could be really good. Though I fucking loathe Spurlock.
No, I did not honestly think that it was going to be a narrative, dramatic interpretation. But it *is* fun to think about what one would be like.
I would love to see Michael Bay’s Freakonomics.
I can’t wait for the sequel, where Levitt uncovers the dastardly plot to destroy the economy by limiting carbon emissions, and foils it by building a machine to spray sulfur into the upper atmosphere.
I’m hoping for The Fabulous Furry Freakonomics Brothers
I’m working on Freekrautnomics.
The Freakonimickey Kaus Club
wow. flashback.
The Fabulous Furry FreeKraut Brothers: “Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut.”
The sig line I’ve been waiting for, lo these many years.
Slusser thinks Fox and Patterson will make the team, with Powell and Rosales sent down.
That sounds reasonable to me. The only flaw in the plan is backup SS, for which we can recall Rosales as soon as Chavez gets hurt.
Oh, and backup catcher, but who needs one of those anyway?
Slusser’s been saying Fox has been getting a lot of time at C, and that Powell basically said Fox would be the backup C.
Powell out as backup C, Fox in as backup “C”. He caught seven innings last year and last caught regularly as a minor leaguer in 2006. Hopefully Suzuki takes his Kendall pills.
Sounds like that’s the plan. Since the A’s always seem to consciously use the backup C as little as humanly possible anyway, I suppose planning for it in roster design makes sense.
I bet Fox plays 2 games before mid-May as backup C
That day can’t get here soon enough. I agree it’s a reasonable plan, but
.
A bit odd to plan for any player to play every inning, but there’s not all that much that can go wrong with it.
Right, if Pennington gets hurt, slide Ellis over for the rest of the game and recall Rosales immediately. What’s a few innings?
What would be stupid would be for the A’s to let Pennington sit on the 25-man with a “day-to-day” and continue to run Ellis out at short. Not that they’ve shown any proclivity to do that…
Also the problem with Frank Caliendo.
Somewhat related … this seems suspiciously akin to paying someone on that $5 site to +1 you 100 times in two weeks or whatever it was:
If astroturfed conversation is the future of online marketing, there is much obliviousness to mine:
Can we virtually knife any motherfucker that tries that here?
Only with a Wüsthof Grand Prix II 8″ Cook’s Knife.
Damn you, monkey.
Lord Palmerston!
I’d recommend a Shun Classic 8-Inch Chef’s Knife for that – they’re the best!
[ad]
I like my Shuns.
This one’s for nm:
I’m betting that title was Radosh’s doing.
I knew you’d be posting that…
This just doesn’t seem at all sensible to me — from the Chamber’s perspective. I mean, what businesses aside from HC insurers does HCR harm? (And even the HC insurers have been cushioned from the more radical changes that were floated.)
It took away a major tax break for large companies that give their retirees prescription drug benefits. ATT, for example, is claiming that will cost them a billion dollars.
But more generally, the CoC has staked out an anti-regulation position that it will apply even to situations where the majority of their membership should be on the other side. I think Yglesias wrote something about it with respect to financial reforms.
Ah, did not realize the tax load there. Yeah, I seem to recall that same Yglesias item.
Reflexive opposition to all things resembling a tax or a new rule is the simplest, best explanation. Of the small businesspeople I’ve encountered, 100% of them know nothing about the bill but are nevertheless convinced it is going to drive them to ruin.
More broadly speaking, HCR can been viewed as the first nail in the coffin of employer-based insurance. In a world of logic and common sense, the business community would enthusiastically support having this headache removed from their slate of responsibilities. Yet, not so much. Ezra’s hypothesis:
i hope the a’s lose
I’m willing to mute the TV for the entire World Series if it means the A’s are playing in it.
I’m not.
God, I hate that douche.
I’d be willing to listen to radio for the games, TIVO them and then watch afterwards the parts I wanted to see, quickly, maybe muted.
So, this offshore drilling decision — looks to me like all the oilspill risk is being assumed by … coastal red states! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!
That’s one way to do it.
Shocker.
My 11-D chess analysis is that he wanted to make the offer, draw the rebuke, and retract the offer so he can say “I’m even willing to dramatically expand offshore drilling, but Republicans won’t come to the table”
Smart advice. This comment seems like a neat idea.
If you’re a geek, math or science formulas – things like “e^2pi*i=-1” (that is not one that I use) – are also good for easy to remember but hard to crack (mix of numbers, letters, and symbols) passwords.
I also heard a guy talking about this who suggested that acronyms are good. TINSTAAFK anyone?
I would hope not, because it’s wrong (drop the 2).
{snerk}
Well, uh … that just makes it harder to crack.
Anyway, in your field isn’t being off by only a factor of 2 pretty good?
4 girls, 1 cup?
Not any more. We’re in the era of precision cosmology I tell you!
And anyhow it’s an exponent not a factor, so you’re off by pi radians or 180 degrees.
I’ll just work in projective space then.
New bumper sticker idea:
FREE KRAUT: where parallel lines meet
That is a wise comment.
Denard Span is going to be without supper tonight.
Some minor league news.
Among the injuries: James Simmons out with pain in his shoulder. Adrian Cardenas (which, incidentally, assuming one can trust KenKo et al., is pronounced CAR-de-nas) out for a month with a torn thumb ligament.
Among the releases: Juston Street.
Next up, Kuston Street?
Iuston has to come first.
“Kust on Street” was the porno remake of Moneyball.
“Rust on Street” is what happens when he first comes off the DL
iFSU, Berkeley bad-mouths Yoo
asvd
WANT. WANT NOW.
Why?
The operative word is ostensibly — with its clearance, 4wd is pretty useless. And the bigger it gets, the less “Mini” it looks and feels. (Yeah, TWSS.)
She says your operative word is ostensibly? Ouch.
No, that I have virtually no ground clearance.
You only float a little?
Because even if it is bigger than a regular Mini, it’s still a damn sight better looking than most small cars. I’ve longed for a regular Mini for years, but have recently come to the realization that it will be quite difficult to manage down the road when I’m caring for my aging parents (meaning, my 70 year old dad cramming himself into the back when I drive them to doctors visits, etc.) So if I had a usable back seat with the cuteness of the Mini, that is WANT in my book. I don’t give a hoot about 4wd.
Uh, you’re going to try lowering multiple old people into a fairly low-slung car?
There’s some inappropriate joke here, but I can’t come up with it.
iFSU, multiple old people try you?
It’s going to be at least as high as most any car I’d entertain owning, so, yeah, I am. Plus, I assume since they’re considering it their “Mini SUV” it’s bound to ride much higher than the usual Mini.
In any case, I just think it looks like something I’d love.
Then my advice to you as a doctor is to purchase one. Immediately.
But could George Clinton ride higher in it?
more importantly, could he do coke from the passengers seat?
This is a really unappealing analysis. Basically, Tango’s saying CS is like pitcher wins (not entirely in the C’s control) but that we should shut up and like it.
I don’t see why it shouldn’t be possible to quantify a catcher’s ability to control the running game by reputation and incorporate that into the analysis using something like attempted steals (successful or not) per opportunity. Sal?
What mikeA said: need a better baseline, and it’s not clear what that is.
The problem with that (and the basic problem with the whole enterprise) is that the league as a whole is close enough to the break even point on SB/CS, that there is not much value in preventing attempts, ie 0/0 against your team is about the same as 140/200 or whatever the break even point is. Or at least that’s the argument. Using a single break even point from linear weights is extremely problematic.
The big problem with just using the SB/CS numbers is that it has very dubious/no prospective value. Since reputation has a big impact on the number of attempts, better catchers will get worse opportunities for CSs and bad catchers will get lots of good chances for CSs. Given that, it would appear the deviation in catcher SB/CS rates is a combination of 1) (mostly) how good the strategy of the opposing team is/how accurate their assessment of your catcher is; 2) unexpected deviations from the catcher’s true talent; 3) confounding things like hit and runs. Given all that, it seems to me that there is really no good way (at least that I can think of or that has been proposed) to accurately judge the stealing element of catcher defense. Tango/mgl essentially have to bite the bullet and say “A catcher is exactly as valuable as the running strategies other teams use against him.”
A couple thoughts:
Doesn’t the far-wider-than-other-stats divergence in SB ability have to be considered?
Isn’t Tango doing exactly the opposite (If your reputation stifles the running game, that counts against you)? And throwing the b.s. Jim Rice crap on top?
The whole issue of value for SB/CS is perplexing. Tango is most definitely wrong with that analysis, but it’s hard to figure out a good way of accounting for it. It doesn’t make sense to use “no attempts” as the baseline, but it’s not clear what the baseline should be.
One problem is figuring out whether what you want to measure is skill or value – a catcher who could throw out 100% of potential basestealers would (at least eventually) end up having no attempts against him, but a catcher who can throw out 50% might end up having more value because runners are tempted to run anyway.
It is odd to ascribe that value to the catcher, because the value comes from the opposing team using a more or less optimal baserunning strategy, and I don’t think it “causing opposing teams to use a supoptimal strategy” is an identifiable property of catchers.
Isn’t it though? In his first 12 years in the league, Ivan Rodriguez had CS% of between 37% and 60%, so opponents were consistently below the theoretical break even point every year. Attempts did vary a lot, between 39 and 115 per year. I can see only two possible conclusions:
1. Our estimate of the break even point is very, very wrong. E.g. maybe opponents were actually running only in situations where the extra base was more valuable than an out. Or maybe game theoretical aspects (run enough to keep the pitcher in the stretch and keep the 1B covering the bag) made up for the difference. Those kind of things surely do have some effect, but I doubt it is enough in this case. Or
2. As you say, the opposing teams were using suboptimal strategies, and the Ranger allowed fewer runs, and won more games, than they would have if the opponents had simply never run. If you want to account for those wins somewhere, then I don’t see who to credit other than the catcher. I suppose you could debit catchers for any steals allowed beyond break even line, while putting credit for any CS on the other side of the break even line in the “miscellaneous luck” pile but
a) Is it really luck if it’s repeatable year after year? (though the quantity varies quite a bit due to the different number of attempts)
b) (as you point out) that’s still a pretty arbitrary baseline, and one that can move depending on what we happen to think break even is
c) (as you also point out) that would probably significantly understate the real difference between the best and worst catchers
I think maybe a way to do it (which would be nearly impossible to put into practice), would be to assign a run value for the “steal option” whenever there is a runner on 1st or 2nd base, based on the runner and the pitcher, assuming an average catcher. So if you had an neutral adjusted 80% stealer on 1B, you would give that team (.8*run (or win) value of getting to second + .2*run (or win) value of CS). Then add up all the actual results for all situations where a steal is possible.
My understanding (though I could be wrong/haven’t looked into it at all) is that CS rates are not really very repeatable year after year.
That seems to make the most sense to me. Of course, given how rarely runners steal that number is going to be way too high because if players ran more their success rate would go down.
Also, the complicating factor here is that the pitcher plays a HUGE role. It’s one of the few multiple-teammates-involved parts of baseball, and therefore much harder to measure (unless we could put an auto-clock on delivery speed or something)
Dammit, I’m almost starting to like David Frum.
Wait, has anyone seen Frum & LB in the same
roompantsGlenn Beck fan parking lot?That’s pretty good.
If you caught Joe Rut (and mrs gso) on KALX on Saturday and want more:
April 1st at the Starry Plough at 7pm (along with the missus’ main band Loretta Lynch and Yardsale)
April 21st on KPFA at 7pm
April 30th at the Great American Music Hall at 9pm (CD release gig, with Will Franken)
Stolen from gigglingone at **.
Only because I know some of you don’t frequent the DLD any longer and you must not miss this link.
Those are great. I was just looking at these. I particularly thought “Synchronized Peeping Practice” was cute. Not as technical as some of the others, but cute.
How to make “geode” Easter eggs
“One primatologist speculated that the real reason two male orangutans were fellating each other was nutritional.”
sometimes a blowjob with your buddy is just a blowjob with your buddy.
Apparently the FBI has an appointments-only “Evil Minds Research Museum”. Unsurprisingly, clowns are prominently involved:
Toothpicks FTW:
um, wow.
“Teabonics,” misspelled signs from Tea Party events. There are quite a lot of them.
Maybe “socialism” is so unpopular because it is apparently very difficult to spell.
pfft. moran.
Also, is Texas legally part of America?
No. We just let them hang out for their BBQ.
that makes sense. It is good.
Simpsonsnevermoor did it.Ah, so you did. Though it’s probably an old Jack Paar pit.
Snerk.
Anti-clown-propaganda propaganda
Ronald encourages kids to get some healthy and wholesome exercise in the Family Fun Zone.
Ronald is a scary fucking clown.
From this study of the political leanings and voting habits of sports fans, major league baseball watchers skew slightly republican, but minor league slightly democrat.
Only slightly less shocking than Ricky Martin’s gayness, the PGA has the most republican base and the WNBA the most democrat.
Genuinely intriguing, WWE is as democract as NASCAR is republican.
Huh. Wrestling, huh? Well, I do know a contingent of gay guys that watch it…
The baseball thing’s all George Will’s fault.
It would be interesting to see the average income, geographic concentration, racial composition, etc. of each fanbase.
Also, attractiveness, intelligence, and wit.
And height.
{reports to bullying seminar}
Yeah. I don’t think the sport fan part is going to push those demographics.
To sal’s point, that’s all
baseballnon-Yankee, non-Red Sox, non-Slegna fans.I’m not sure I understand you.
Anyway, what I’m saying is that political preference is (often) shorthand for certain combinations of those variables, and I’d be interested to know if and in what way any of the fanbase groupings defy conventional wisdom. I would have guessed, for example, that the demographics for fans of monster trucks, bull riding, and NASCAR would be similar. If that’s not true, then great, another condescending, uninformed assumption debunked. If it is true, then why do the monster truck people skew Democrat?
Right. I’m saying I would suspect the demographics (rather than sports preferences) tell the whole story.
If you want my guess its that more black people like WWE than NASCAR. But that’s just shooting from the hip.
Blanton DL’d, will miss 3-6 weeks.
This is the first time I can remember Blanton being injured.
It’s because I drafted him in both of my fantasy leagues.
You better not have drafted Duke, Sheets, or Braden.
Dukeshire in both also. Sorry.
No Sheets or Braden (or any other A.).
You ******F**K**
I got Sheets in round 21.
So who posted the obscenity that closed the site this morning?
Whoever mentioned Barry Zito’s contract?
Buy a Job Reference.
Can I have 5 superlatives?
A veritable cornucopia of substances will get your through times of no championships better than championships will get you through times of no substances.
So might have gone the sig line of one Bernie Carbo, robbed of fame by Carlton Fisk’s home run (and really by the fact that Boston lost that Series, Nor’Easter hagiographers notwithstanding), as apparently the newly reborn Mr. Carbo has been doing some confessin’!
His preparation ritual prior to his Game Six homer:
Also:
“In 1978, the Red Sox hired a private investigator to see if they couldn’t catch him using drugs. They found him tossing baseballs to fans in the bleachers in exchange for marijuana.”
Addition to the euphemism hierarchy:
New nickname – Burn One Bernie.
New euphemism for non-PED-taking: Carbo-loading
Related: Why do people always say “coked out of his mind” and “drunk off his ass”, but never “coked off his ass” or “drunk out of his mind”?
I say “drunk out of his mind” all the time.
Apparently my impression is exactly the opposite of reality.
I think you need to put them in quotes.
I like Calcaterra’s take:
It’s a good thing he didn’t face Dock Ellis that sunshiney day, or he may not have gotten his no-no.
I’ve just been invited to enter a one-category fantasy league in circumstances that make it difficult to refuse, and that one category is pitchers wins.
The deadline for entries is Saturday, but I’m leaving town for 2 weeks tomorrow and dealing with all types of crazy before leaving, so I’d like to throw this open to the collective wisdom and chutzpah of The Krauthorhood – the first 5 suggestions for which pitchers will win most games this season will be the official Free Kraut entry.
Thank you for playing (TWSS).
Roy Halladay
CC Sabathia
This. Then Vazquez/Felix/Santana
Halladay, CC, Lester, Verlander, Santana. Lackey, Felix, Lincecum next three.
Greedy ;-)
Didn’t understand the rules.
TWSS
There were rules?
Now that mikeA’s gone and ruined it for everyone else anyway, here are the top win predictions from a couple of projection systems:
CHONE: Halladay 16; Sabathia 15; Vazquez 14; Lester, Beckett, Hamels, Lincecum, Shields 13.
ZiPS: Halladay 19; Sabathia, Vazquez, Haren, Verlander 17; Lincecum, Greinke, J Santana, Jurrjens 16.
Vazquez (like Halladay and CC) is durable and is on a team with a good offense and a good bullpen. OTOH, he has never won more than 16 games.
Felix just missed both lists, but won 19 last year.
What if they tire before they’re done?
BOTH Lester and Lackey?!?! BOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Off mikeA’s list I’ll endorse King Felix.
You have no understanding of jinxes.
RELEASE THE KRAUTHORHOOD!
Thanks all for participating.
Based on a loose interpretation of the implied/imputed one-nominee-per-poster rule, we’re going with Halladay, Sabathia, Lester, Hernandez & Vazquez.
nm, didn’t you interview with them your last year of law school?
Nah. Sub-market rates.
Rangers claim Garko off waivers.