mtutiger

Everything's going to plan, Putin's a strategic genius, etc. etc.

If Zillow is to be believed, my home (purchased six years ago) has doubled over my purchase price. About 40% of which is accounted for in the past year. Some of that is supply chain, but a lot of is simple supply and demand.... too many people looking, not enough houses being built or listed.

Truckers can sometime take odd routes when there's incentive to. For instance, my understanding is that, despite being slower, US 20 running along the Indiana Toll Road and the Ohio Turnpike does get a decent amount of truck usage from truckers who do not want to pay the exorbanent rates for multi-axle vehicles assigned to those roads. Particularly in Indiana, which (iirc) has had higher rates per mile than the Illinois Tollway and Ohio Turnpike since they leased the toll road out to a private foreign company to administer.

Not sure that this has been addressed in this discussion, but the fact that Michigan allows a gross vehicle weight of up to 164,000 lbs (in excess of every other state iirc) is a huge incentive for trucking companies to avail themselves of Michigan's roadways. And it stands to reason that it would encourage trucking versus rail in terms of shipping goods across the state (along with geography - as you suggest, Michigan isn't centrally located in terms of rail versus states like Ohio or Indiana, who fall squarely between Chicago and the East Coast). The caveat on truck weights is that axle load requirements (which are used in calculating ESALs, which are the measurement used in designing asphalt/concrete pavements) are somewhat lower in Michigan compared to most states, which means that while the gross consist weight is higher, how the load is distributed across each chassis does result in lower point loads at axle locations. But still, while axle load requirements may be a little lower, that will still be counteracted if trucks pass over a roadway more frequently than in other states. I don't have any data in front of me, but have a civil engineering background and some experience with pavement design. Policies on things like weights allowed on each axle (along with the type of pavement used, thicknesses, subgrade preparation/drainage, weather factors, etc.) can make a big difference on the service life of any pavement system.

To be fair, my experience with Illinois roads is that they aren't much better... at least outside of the ones that ISTHA owns (that, of course, you have to pay for the luxury of driving on)

He must have saw what Gerard Depardieu is being threatened with for daring to question the Putin line (Or he's just a terrible human being)

No doubt, tough first month.... .500 would be a win with this stretch.

It'll be interesting to see who they send down when Wily comes back... gotta be Hutchison right?

I will say that the bullpen isn't getting enough credit for the weekend - for the most part, they held up better than expected. Kept them in the games on Friday/Saturday

What I will say for Tork is that his approach at the plate is still pretty good, even if he's struggling.... you can see it in the walks.

And we also need to keep perspective - that's a really good baseball team that they faced this weekend. And as discouraging as it is, considering that the Sox are in the division, I don't know that anyone expects this Tigers team to be on par with the White Sox this season or to seriously push them for the division this year. Overall, I don't know that my view of this team (I had them at 82 wins) changed much on the basis of this one series. From a roster perspective, they are better than they were last year overall but are still a work in progress. And really, as Scottwood suggests, they go as far as their starting pitching will allow. We didn't see great performances in the first series, but it's a long season and I suspect that there will be more good than bad.

Or else what?

Need to see how Round 2 voting shakes out. Melanchon going out and telling his supporters that Le Pen shouldn't get a single vote from his supporters in Round 2 is a big deal tho.... he kinda dragged his heels last time.

But... he gained a lot of muscle in the offseason 🤣

Currently listening to the Brewers game... who are trying to avoid being swept by the Cubs. Braves are looking likely to drop 2/3 against the fire sale Reds. Today's game was bad, the offense in particular concerns me, but gotta keep perspective for sure

From the looks of it, there's a lot of future SeaWolves in that WMI lineup lol

Not that it matters because of how lackluster everyone not named Victor Reyes has looked offensively, but trying to get an additional inning out of Elvin was a mistake by AJ imo

Tork needs a day off

Seriously. I'm open to the idea that they may not be as good as advertised, but I'm not making that judgment after three games.

Just to add, Dylan Smith (3rd round pick) did 3IP, 1H, 1R, 0BB, 4K for WMI Not too shabby

Good on Boris for doing that!

I may be in the minority, but I don't know that the Baez play was as bad as the Detroit media is making it seem...

Amen. Go get em tmrw