- TWWPS
Your backup folder MIGHT be visible to the public
- It didn’t make sense to me, either
- Imma hafta filk “The Ballad of El Bencho“
- The return of Goodman’s The Power Rankings!
- The C word: DeMause, ML/v0. I still say Tootsie’s BRC doesn’t announce anything until after the new CBA.
- Everyone’s linking to Drum’s WI/labor article. It’s good.
- There is very little in Washington that can’t be explained by an episode of the original Star Trek
- Interesting piece on Tootsie’s role in the krazee debt situation of many franchises (also: Maury Brown’s place bookmarked now)
Administrative note: this is gonna hafta be my last Grill for a while. Getting insanely busy at work. Hope y’all can step up a bit here …
1: Never fear. That’s a database tool that I don’t use in that capacity anyway.
TWNMS
Hunh. Turns out that girlfriend-of-Ross’s-ex-wife-from-Friends-lookin’-sfgate-bloggin’-trustfund-mom-whom-sal-always-links-to is FB friends with a couple of my friends from college …
always? like, twice.
nm bait:
MMMMMMMMM
Hot sauce
Whew! No Gershman (yet).
Repost?
Army used PsyOps on senators
Thanks, and go As.
Camp Eggers? I bet the PowerPoints from the guys at Camp Foster Wallace had way too many footnotes and were 1,000 slides long.
Seems needlessly stupid on the Army’s part, since the mission (scope the Senators’ background and issues and tailor the General’s approach to them accordingly) is pretty basic stuff. Why illegally use psyops troops when a garden variety PR consultant could deliver the same thing, probably better?
I don’t know what you mean. I support our troops 1000%
I am going to invent a new stat called ΨOPS
Nerd
You know you laughed.
I tried grilling on Monday. I thought it sucked, but I guess it was just so super awesome that no one else wanted to follow it on Tuesday or Wednesday!
I was very appreciative of that.
It was super super awesome.
I’ve been dealing with medication issues.
TWHS
Mine are always downers.
T.W.H.S.
There’s a hole in Bloomie’s arm where all the money goes.
Hmm, don’t like the sound of that. Should we be concerned?
Little bit. Yeah.
I’ll get back in there coach, but garage living and idle hands are not good for me.
Prescription for Bloomie:
Job/volunteer
Meetings in Berkeley area
Back on Zoloft or something similar
Exercise and diet
Any and all help/suggestions accepted. I should probably get the heck out of this garage, too…
This is nothing earth shattering, but was exactly what I needed to read when I read it.
We’re pulling for you.
<3
Jesus. You’re mainlining scrip?
If there’s sea-level snow tomorrow AM I’m skipping work and pulling the kids out of school for the day. I bet the hill by the Brazil Room in Tilden Park, for instance, would be a lot of fun in the snow.
Top Chef: sorry, but I miss Angelo. And I really like what ______ (eliminated last night) said about the person he/she was during his/her first Top Chef season as compared to the person he/she is now.
Didn’t miss Angelo one way or the other, but you are 100% right on the eliminated’s parting commentary. Very nice to hear.
I wanted to check Colocchio’s blog to get his thoughts on last night’s QF brouhaha. His post isn’t up yet, but this tidbit about last week was interesting:
Also, his thoughts on last week’s quickfire were fun:
Agreed. Mostly because (unlike a lot of people who claim to have matured) he really is a lot more likable this season than last time around, though he still has his edge.
Also agreed on Angelo.
Also also, Carla seems to still have her knack for being only second-worst. When are the rest of you FKers going to concede that she’s the weak link in this bunch and has been for a while? (About equivalent to Fabio I guess: can do well (but still inconsistent) with a challenge in her wheelhouse, but lacks the overall skills of the more accomplished chefs.)
Dude, they’ve eliminated my stone-cold lock to win the whole damn thing two weeks in a row. I’m done with prognosticating TC.
Nope, still disagree. Unlike Mike, who I can’t really remember ever winning anything, Carla has won many challenges or been on the top of the heap. Plus I love her because she has the balls to occasionally cook vegetarian. Tiffany seems to be flailing and I can’t stand Isabella anyway–he is such a tool.
Antonia seems to be a lot better than she used to be, though. I wad trying to remember last night what she did that got her eliminated the first time through.
I also thought Angelo’s comments about how he had made like 40 straight original recipes in a row. He did look completely burned out. Was there a break at all between his season and All-Stars?
Yes, Antonia is coming on much stronger than earlier in the season. I googled it and it seems she cooked pork belly improperly when she got kicked off.
I’m sure there was some sort of break, but I bet it’s a whirlwind when you finish the season–much more publicity and more opportunities.
4) I would like to see Archer make a push to the top. Underrated show.
Haven’t watched Archer yet. Also I’ve not watched Chicago Code, though I have a vague interest in it b/c Luke from Friday Night Lights is one of the young cops, I think. However, I agree with the comments, if Goodman has Chicago Code and not Southland on the list, it seems funky. I miss Friday Night Lights already and if they cancel Human Target I will be sad panda.
FNL was awesome. Probably the best marriage dynamics ever on TV.
Dude, Archer is fucking hilarious. And wrong.
I dunno. I watch it, but it suffers from Family-Guy-itis (some really funny one liners, lots of misses, no plot)
That may be true in the long run, and Archer’s shelf-life is questionable, but back to Family Guy–the first three seasons of Family Guy were great.
I never liked it as much as others did, because the latter two points detracted too much from the first (for me).
Yeah, Archer is kind of one-note, but that one note is really fucking funny.
Also worth noting: while I probably wouldn’t make it #1, Justified has gotten a lot better since the first couple of episodes.
On the other hand, two other shows that Goodman keeps touting, Parenthood and Lights Out, had premieres that were so painfully bad that there was no way I was ever going to watch another episode.
I keep meaning to go back to Justified.
I got a lot of those though.
Shit, I never watched 6 Feet Under.
I can lend you the entire 6-season DVD set of 6 Feet Under (the joys of having family in the business). The first season especially is well worth it.
You have relatives in tv, or in undertaking?
TV/film (casting) & theater (dramaturgy). Most recently “Law & Order” and “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” respectively.
There should be professional discounts though. As a card-carrying cosmologist I should be able to get any Carl Sagan show 50% off.
OBAMA DRAMATURGES AMERICA: GET ANY CARL SAGAN SHOW 50% OFF
Uh-oh. Next thing you know, Yglesias will be going after the cosmologist licensing cartel.
Nurse Upgrade likes Parenthood, so I watch it slightly in the background while paying bills or Angry Birds. It’s stabilized at an “alright by the standards of TV drama which means pretty bad but not excruciating” level. But it could just as well be set in Topeka as in Berkeley, for all the local landmarks one sees.
Parenthood has gotten a lot better as it moves away from being a gilmore girls sequel. It’s pretty legitimately good now.
6. That’s the most depressing fucking thing I’ve ever read all in one place.
Oh, you want depressing?
How about how the British government released the Lockerbie bomber in order to make money off of oil deals with Libya.
Or the life of an African playboy dictator.
Or (in the non-oil-kleptocrat department) advanced dementia in a former NFL player.
Or, all together in one image:
And to be clear, for the first of those it was so that a multinational oil company could make money, not even the UK per se. There is something profoundly depressing about seeing national governments championing “their” multinationals with such patriotic pride.
What on earth makes you think I’m going to click on any of those links?
Awesome
Incomplete without depiction of Judas:
Christ, what an asshole
LOL
Charlie Sheen is not impressed by Thomas Jefferson.
Dude, I am literally probably insane. But I ain’t got NOTHING on Charlie. Charlie’s….wow. The train wreck stops to watch Charlie.
Lenny Dykstra is impressed by Charlie Sheen
Cat with opposable thumb? Cat with opposable thumb.
soon they will learn to wield weapons. We’re in trouble as a species.
Raccoons don’t have their own opposable thumbs, so the little bastards try to steal human thumbs…
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say what you want about thumb-sucking raccoons, Poppy, but at least it’s an ethos.
sal/ptbnl bait
asvd
During bar trivia at The Asgard across the street from MIT, whenever the hostess announced the category was science, the patrons would respond with a Dolby-esque “Science!”
Decent A’s summary by Dierkes. Not much to disagree with there.
That was actually one of the best offseason summaries about the A’s that I’ve read. Most of the other summaries focused too much on the quantity of moves being made, instead of the quality. When considering quality, it seems to me that clearly the Rangers had the best offseason of any AL West team.
And of course, anyone who cites this
instead of the lazy “no one wants to come to Oakland” excuse automatically goes into my book as someone who knows what they’re talking about.
I also think his comments about the bullpen spending were right on. Seems to me that Beane simply had a bucket of cash left over, and spent it on the best of what was still available on the FA market. Nothing strategic about it (except for a corporatist must-spend-this-year’s-budget-or-next-year’s-will-be-reduced sorta thing).
Except that they did offer the best contracts to two of the three players he lists: Iwakuma and Berkman. They chose not to come to Oakland based on reasons other than the park, but by all reports the A’s offered them more than anyone else (of course, no one else could offer Iwakuma anything).
Iwakuma’s existing contract plus what he might expect to get as a free agent in a year is certainly better than what the A’s offered him.
And Berkman thinks he’s not a DH.
But the point is well taken.
The A’s offered 2/16 to Berkman right? It wouldn’t make sense for the 35 year old Berkman to sign away his age 36 season for the same annual sum if he still thinks he can get a 2-3 year deal for a pricier sum after this season. Even if he did do well in Oakland the next two years, he would still not be as well positioned to get that multi year contract (being one year older) as he would if he just took a one year, reestablish-value deal.
The only way the Oakland deal looks the best to Berkman is if he’s resigned to the fact that one year deals are his only options from now to the end of his career. That doesn’t make sense for a 35 year old borderline HOFer who’s just one year removed from a .900 OPS season.
And of course, the A’s offer to Iwakuma was well below what he’s expected to get a year from now.
Regarding Berkman, I’m not sure I agree with your logic (or Berkman’s if your logic is correct). Age 36 Berkman is not going to get a huge deal. He only needs to look at all the DH type hitters who are missing out on lucrative contracts these days. Bonds, Thomas, and Sheffield all had to retire when they still looked like they had some talent. Manny, Damon, Matsui all have had some trouble finding a job. Dye retired. I find it quite possible, Berkman didn’t want to play in Oakland and/or only wanted to play the field. He had talked of retirement last year.
Iwakuma was just bad timing on the A’s part. He’s much better served waiting a year, and he knows it. The A’s couldn’t offer enough to justify the cost for them.
Using the examples you gave me…
-Sheffield signed a 3/39 deal at age 35 with the Yankees.
-Thomas signed a 2/18 deal with a 10 million option for a third year at age 39.
-Bonds…eh. I don’t think we should even talk about him since he’s had all the…issues surrounding him (plus, he’s so much better than the class of players we’re talking about) but in any case, he signed a 5/90 deal at age 37.
-Manny signed a 2/45 contract at age 37
-Another similar case, Raul Ibanez signed a 3/39 contract at age 37.
-Damon isn’t the same caliber of hitter (150 points career OPS difference between him and Berkman).
-Dye had a putrid ’09 (below replacement level).
I’ll give you Matsui. But since he’s the only example that’s failed to get a pricey multi-year contract coming off a productive season age 35 or later, is it any wonder that Berkman thinks that, with a healthy year and a return to previous levels of production, reestablishing his value for one year can lead to another more lucrative multi-year deal?
Save Ibanez, those deals were all made before the market has collapsed for DHs, which has only been the last 2-3 years. And I guess I could add Burrell, Cust, and Branyan if I lower the talent level. I just don’t see the market being better for Berkman next year.
I dunno, the economy is better than it was the last 2-3 years. And expected to improve further.
OBAMA URGES NATS: SIGN WERTH
There’s no reason to expect Berkman (or any player) to be worth more at age 36 than age 35. Yes, there’s a chance he’ll bounce back. That’s already incorporated into his current value.
I’m sure the A’s would have preferred to have Berkman at 1/$8M than at 2/$16M.
FP equivalent of Blez hiring Neyer
Good thing the Nats signed Weurth. 0.0% would have been embarrassing.
I think they’ve got the ALW about right.
Yankees seem WAY high to me. Though I guess when you think about it, Sawx rotation may be as shaky as the Yanks’.
Everyone in the East is too high, except for Toronto.
Presumably the Cardinals number was before they lost Wainwright for the season.
You’d think. Neyer was saying they went from 51% to 38% (but still first place)
Actually it’s after.
I’d be interested in seeing the specific impacts of Crawford (to Slegna/to Yanks) and Beltre (to Slegna/to us).
Given how low they score, though, I think the Slegna would have had to have signed both to have had any reasonable chance at all. (Still doesn’t excuse/explain the Wells trade, though.)
I think if the M’s indeed win less than 70 and the Angels win around 75, then the ALW division winner will definitely win with 90+.
The AL wild card %s are pretty good too – if you’re not in the east, forget it.
The AL West had its day.
From 1:
This is a great Fermi problem.
Sounds like the basis for a strong XKCD
I sometimes think about such things, but I don’t always find it hard when I do.
Is that a Fermi problem?