gehringer_2

6 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

I get that. Maybe we shouldn't be electing representatives who do not receive 50.1 percent of the total vote. And maybe that's where ranked choice voting comes in, and possibly move to multi member districts.

That said the whole system needs to be reformed. Expand the House, add states like Puerto Rico and DC if you want. I really don't know. 

expanding the House would be a good step toward getting actual democratic balance back. And an anti-gerrymander rule that says re-districting must drive toward minimum boundary length. It's a simple rule and would cut down on maybe 80% of the abuse. The bigger problem  is the Senate. I think a good system would be to have a 100 member Senate reapportioned by population but all the Senators in each state continue to be elected at large state wide and each state guaranteed only one. Or maintain two per state minimum but raise the total to 200. That would still be unbalanced but less than now. Of course to get there requires major Constitutional surgery, expanding the House does not.

23 minutes ago, Shelton said:

Yes, that is what I was saying was nice. Over the course of the year for 20 bucks per month you would get all three teams. Seems like you won’t be able to manage that now that the tigers will likely be offered directly for that same rate.
 

If they can manage to provide the wings and pistons in the winter months for a total of 20 dollars, then whatever April overlap occurs won’t be all that noticeable. But I bet both wings and pistons packages, however they are provided, will cost more than 20 total when you combine them. 

any announcement from the Pistons on what they are doing?

15 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

maybe ranked choice is the way out,

but the GOP pours huge money into Jill Stein and others every POTUS election, hoping to peel of 1-2% here or there; that is money well spent by them on their useful idiots 

this is a good point. Third parties here do get coopted for the purposes of the other main parties too often.

5 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

 

Snoop was a UM Dad at one point.

11 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

At times I wish there were more than two parties in the US. I'm not sure given our DNA whether it would work, but would go a longer (than now) way to stop the Party Purity B-S we're seeing now. 

But that would go along with things like ranked voting and multi member districts. 

third parties have their primary value in parliamentary systems where they can be the swing votes to form a majority coalition if no party wins a majority. We don't have one of those. One party is going to win the presidency on its own in almost every possible election scenario. Doesn't leave national 3rd parties much potential leverage. In the US third parties can have a working presence in local Govs where seats on city councils can have swing leverage. We had a functioning third party locally in A^2 through a few election cycles in the 70's. Collapsed when they tried to go state wide. Democratic Socialists of America are alive and well in NYC.

1 hour ago, Screwball said:

Pot is not addictive, period

Yeah.  I think people are guilty of a lot of sloppy semantics. Human beings can and do become habituated to any behavior. Those issues can and are addressed successfully by people all the time. The dividing line between that and addiction may sometimes be somewhat hazy, but it exists.

53 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

I think CTE/Brain dAmage is kinda like Climate Change these days... Most people acknowledge that it exists, but there's big questions with many different views about how big of a deal it is, how much the NFL is responsible, and what we should do about it.

I don't think there's any question that the NFL knew about the brain damage dangers earlier and covered it up. I don't know how much they are or aren't trying to cover up information these days, but at the very least I think more people, including players, are aware of it.

I also don't know how much what the NFL (and NCAA) are doing to try to minimize or prevent damage actually does prevent damage, or if it's just window dressing. At least they're trying I guess?

At the very least I think players are going in more aware of the dangers here, which is a positive step.

The big change is that higher awareness has led to getting guys off the field when they are concussed and keeping them off till they are symptom free.  The clinical question is how much difference does that actually make to whether continued high impact activity still causes long term damage. Maybe a lot, maybe not much. The assumption is that it does,  I don't think the epidemiology exists to adequately resolve that question yet.

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

There will never not be political parties. There will always be a move to organize and fund, if for no other reason than to centralize the donor class into a cohesive unit to achieve their governmental aims. There must anlso be a basis for caucuses to form, and membership in a party-like structure is the easiest and cleanest way to form those.

Unless the alternative view you’re describing implies that political parties will devolve into a corporatized trust structure? That, I could see, at least in some dystopian short-term. But the idea that politicians could all be solitary free agents flitting back and forth between caucuses seems fancifully naive.

I agree some structure seems to be an organic necessity, but the idea that structure will continue to be based on the free association of a significant proportion of the ordinary citizenry certainly does seem to be in danger of extinction. If you look at PAC money - which already dwarfs party funding power,  you can guess where the future is going.

1 hour ago, Shinzaki said:

Been watching wings hilights from the 90's and 2000's to get my hockey fix.

 

That Federov kid could really skate...as could Klima.  Shame Klima had...issues,,,that forced him out of town

you almost wonder if the game isn't played so fast on average now that you see less bursts of all out speed because players don't have enough left in the tank by half-way through a shift, or they worry more they'll end up out of gas when the play reverses before they can get off.

18 minutes ago, IdahoBert said:

That is a sobering and not particularly edifying projection. 

The CF projection for Javy is interesting. I think the probability he get 35PA out there is almost zero - I think he is either going to get put out there for an extended run or not at all, so I guess I take I'd that number as the average of a dumbbell distribution.

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

I was skeptical.  But it appears they already have these in China.

Your unwanted gold may be recycled into cash at a gold ATM

 

so the downside could be the typical American vandalism imperative to try to sabotage the device by feeding it some material deliberately compounded to screw it up.

3 minutes ago, Shelton said:

I will never understand the idea that a ball in play is required to qualify as action. Who doesn’t love the art of pitching?

Thank-you Jimmy P from where ever you are.

10 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't see football as having a lot of action though

If each team sends 40 players to the plate in a game, 80 PA, maybe 20 are K's so 60 balls in play, most of which are completely routine outs where only one or two players even have to move. There are a lot  pitches thrown, but nothing happens on most pitches.

A football game may have >120 plays from scrimmage, plus a dozen kick offs in which 22 players are all going every which way in an incredibly complex scripted dance.  Most plays involve some one running for their life, or leaping in the air, and then someone getting brutally tackled. I can understand people not finding the action appealing, but to me the visual input level from the field much higher than baseball. But agree that dead time is an increasing problem in football. The game takes too long to play the hour and there are too many commercial breaks that are too long - IOW -the same problem that baseball moved to address recently. The only thing that keeps me watching football anymore is that I can DVR a game and watch it in half an hour without missing a single play.

2 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

In about 5 years all sports will be behind a pay wall.  They are potentially locking out a whole generation of younger fans who will decide they'd rather not spend X-amount to watch sports when they can do other stuff with their time and money.  And almost anyone under 50 does not have cable or direct TV or anything like that.  

Baseball really needs to reevaluate their model for the future because it's a sport where mainly older people watch.  I know of very few young people that will watch a baseball game.  Not saying there aren't younger fans, but baseball isn't like football, hockey or even basketball.  There is a lot of standing around and doing nothing during a baseball game. 

 

I've said this before, (but not recently so I'll repeat myself 😉) a baseball game does generate a certain amount of situational dramatic tension, but as you note, on a baseball diamond people are mostly standing around, so it's basically not particularly visually interesting to watch for the action in the way football or hockey or even tennis is. Which is why it's my contention that its popularity as a spectator sport has always been tied to the fact that playing baseball at some level has been a common experience for a larger part of the population than any other sport. Golf is similar in this regard but even more so. Do you know any non-golfer that watches golf tournaments on TV? Compare mentally to how many football fans ever played any football.

In the past, growing up *everybody* played some baseball. That makes it the sport where the most fans have the highest degree of vicarious identification with what the players on the field are doing. Thus if the popularity of baseball falls as the older fans die off, it will be because fewer people in the population left played the game in their youth (or still play it as softball). And to the degree greed reduces relatively free media access, the rate at which its popularity may fall can only increase.

40 minutes ago, oblong said:

I’ll eat fish and salmon but it doesn’t bring me joy and is never a top choice.  It’s usually for a “light night” when we have to be good. I do like shellfish though. I would eat that every day. 

I think the biggest thing is that fish does not keep, and Americans are used to meat meaning beef, which you can leave thawed in a fridge for a week and still be perfectly fine. Once a piece of frozen fish thaws you literally have minutes to start cooking it if you want to preserve its quality. And then you have the insane practice of American grocers that receive their fish frozen (as virtually all fish is shipped frozen) and then thaw it out to sell it to buyers that take it home and freeze it again. By the second thaw you might as well toss it as it probably already stinks.

2 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Hand to the face to start it all.

 

Ok - didn't pick that up - I thought maybe there was a head butt by one of them.

44 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Duren will get a game.  Stew could get 3, his repeat offender status will hurt him.  

I couldn't see what Duren did, I only saw him back out of the confrontation. Stu definitely in trouble though.

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

Seafood is the worst.  I'm a picky eater and there are a lot of things I don't eat, but most of them are either not healthy or they can be replaced by something else which is just as healthy, so it doesn't matter.  I eat reasonably healthy, but seafood is the one big healthy food group I am lacking.  I can't even stand the smell.  I know somebody is going to suggest a seafood that isn't too bad, but I still won't eat it.   

I'll give people a lot leeway on seafood because it's hard to buy right and harder to cook right. You normally can't get much of anything that's edible from any chain grocer like a Kroger.

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

$240 for the standalone FDS app 

I don't think you get in the door for less than $100/month at DirectTV, certainly not on a plan that you can add Fanduel to, so call it $106/mo minimum. The question is how much value do we get out of the rest of what is on DirectTV, and to me that answer is precious little. The SO would not be in complete agreement there however.......

2 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

Season, I believe.

it's currently $72/yr to get Fanduel added to DirectTV. ($6/mo)

I hope the Canadians tell him to pound sand. The bridge is will still be there long after Trump assumes room temperature.

2 hours ago, Screwball said:

Mine all run on battery. They record (my choice how long) only when tripped (l can set the sensitivity as well). So when triggered my motion, they kick on for a particular amount of time (like 8 seconds to 30). They work in day or night as they are night vision.

All can be powered by a solar panel but I only use one that way - the one on the garage. This one I can also turn to look any direction if I want. The rest are static. It has a setting to go back to "home" after I move it to see something else. I have not touched it in over a year and it's usually at full power, which you can see from the app on the phone or computer. Other than the last 3 weeks in the winter from hell.

The others are placed where I just take it inside and charge the battery when needed. Depending on how much activity, the time between charges varies. The one I have pointing at the street in front of the house, and my sidewalk, gets the most exposure, so I have to charge it maybe once a month in the summer. Only takes a couple of hours. They have a built in battery that slips off the camera so easy to do.

I love them and have come to feel uncomfortable when one is not working because I'm charging it. They also send a notification to the phone when something triggers it so you know. I live in town and was shocked to see all the animals that go through here. From cats, to rabbits, chipmunks, skunks, possum, raccoons, and even deer. 

For real fun, put one close to the ground somewhere and sit out a dish with food. Entertainment is off the charts. I caught a cat and a racoon who were not in agreement about who's food it was. Or three deer walking through the back yard. Fun stuff.

Also caught a guy one night looking in a vehicle. You can have it trigger an alarm but I don't set it. I can hear the notification on my phone.

I designed and made my own mount for the one on the garage, and the other ones I used some 3D printed mounts so the wind doesn't blow them, instead of screws. Works great. I probably have around 500 bucks in everything. Worth every penny, even though we don't have much crime here in Cornhole.

thanks for the heads up.

I have a hip roof all the way around and I'm thinking about a couple of cameras under the soffits, but one of the best spots would only be reachable by ladder so it's either something with a really good battery life or get a cat6 out there through the attic and use POE, but I've been to lazy to get 'er done.

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

It cuts both ways though...

of course there is an alternate view that both parties are walking dead, that 'political party' as a basic paradigm is dying and is not revivable exactly because the very people you need to be in them (the sane middle) won't go near them anymore. While I keep seeing this talked about, my question is what does it look like in practice? OK - so for starters you run ranked choice primaries and every candidate is a free agent, but how does a legislature function? Firstly, how to have stable leadership to manage an agenda if every leadership vote is an ad hoc exercise among a couple of hundred free agents? Sound like a recipe for getting even less done than the broken legislative processes we have now.

1 hour ago, theroundsquare said:

first of its kind . . . new platform . . . same options that have been recently available

color me confused

yeah - "I'm here now to tell you that anything you actually need to know you'll find out later."

Buried under other SuperSunday news, Elon with a 'nevermind' about getting SpaceX to Mars. Well maybe in 20 yrs.