Aggie87

Did he offer to carry any bulky musical instruments or anything for you?

Again, steroids will not aid the batter here, either. The "fix" comes from the seeing and the physics of motion....muscle mass does neither. He's talking about video technology, not steroids and their clear benefit to HR hitters.

Aggie87 is happy that Aloc is pleasantly surprised. (why do people in general talk in the third person about themselves?)

The Post Office has what are called "Forever" stamps now, that you can purchase for 41 cents apiece, according to their website. This means that these particular stamps will be good forever, regardless of any future price increases. Quote from the website: I think these would be the ones to buy from here on out, and not any of the stamps actually marked "41 cents", if they're good forever. I don't know if these are only available for a limited time, or will always be available for purchase.

I think most software comes pre-loaded these days when you buy a new PC. You don't get the individual discs anymore.

Also, he apologized for saying it, not thinking it. It's clear in how he worded the apology.

Without checking -- it's either Kareem or Karl Malone. I'm embarrassed that I don't remember. Guy Wiseguy! I hope my point was still taken though, that the general population wouldn't know that. If I had to guess, I would have said Wilt Chamberlain or Jordan.

I agree Barry's a good ball player, but I also think the home run record is more than a statistic. It's a BIG deal. I think it carries more weight than just about any other sports record. Can you tell me who the current world record holder in the 100m dash is? Or who holds the record for most points in a career in basketball? Or who's caught the most TD passes in the NFL in their career? If anyone knows these off the top of their head, I'd be impressed. But I think just about everyone in the country knows Hank Aaron holds the U.S. record for home runs. PS - The world record is held by Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants - 868 homers.

Well there you go. I think that will solve all your problems, Tom!

Maybe Orlando would want Shaq and Little Penny back...

I PM'd ya with some info on that.

Anybody recognize these guys?

I don't have the pay-version of Zone Alarm, but I do run the free version on my computer - it works great, and seems to be a good firewall. Sorry that doesn't help much, but maybe you could run the free version on the computer with Vista?

A couple of years ago I moved into a larger apartment, in the same apartment complex (unfortunately on the other side of the complex). In some ways it turned out to be more difficult than moving across town, as there wasn't any using a truck or movers. Everything was carried from place to the other. I hired a couple of guys to move the big, heavy furniture - I guess technically these guys were movers -and then moved all of the small stuff myself. I think I'd rather have moved to another location altogether - might have been easier to load a truck up and drive stuff, than carry it 100-200 yards.

I guess you're easy to create then

Hopefully not this edition of Phil:

Is that scientist-speak for big bazongas?

I was playing around with this S.P. Character Generator and came up with how I think I'd look: Anyone else wanna give it a try? edit - that's a German beer of course. edit2 - had to remove the chain - it made me look too metrosexual, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Nice setlist, though for my tastes I'd like to see a bit more diversity on there, not just the most recent stuff. But I'm not in the band, so I guess I don't get a say. Too bad about "Even Less", that's a GREAT track (too bad about all of the glitches!). Just listened to the full length version on "Recordings" last night. Sounds like you had a great view of the show as well. Did John Wesley play with the band again? He is a great contributor to their live sound, as well as being an all around nice guy. I have talked to him a couple of different times after PT shows and once when he opened for Marillion as well, years ago. What or who is "3" from your postcript? Do you mean the song ".3" from In Absentia?

Curt Schilling's talking out. Schilling says Bonds cheated on wife, taxes, baseball BOSTON (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds never has admitted to using steroids. Apparently, Curt Schilling believes he has. The outspoken pitcher of the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday took some verbal shots at Bonds, who needs 12 homers to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record. Bonds has been at the center of baseball's ongoing steroids controversy, but never has admitted to knowingly taking steroids. Schilling must have thought otherwise during an interview with WEEI on Tuesday. "He [bonds] admitted he used steroids. There's no gray area," Schilling said on WEEI. "He [bonds] admitted cheating on his wife, cheating on taxes and cheating on the game." On Dec. 4, 2003, Bonds was one of several athletes forced to testify as part of the BALCO case, which centered around the San Francisco-area lab, its founder Victor Conte, and Greg Anderson -- Bonds' personal trainer and longtime friend. Anderson was indicted for illegal distribution of steroids. Bonds told the grand jury that he believed Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, a substance that turned out to contain steroids. A book released in 2006 by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, Game of Shadows alleges Bonds engaged in persistent doping, taking four different kinds of steroids as well as insulin and human growth hormone during 2001 alone, when he hit 73 homers to break Mark McGwire's single-season record. The accusations have clouded Bonds' pursuit of Aaron's record of 755 homers. Aaron has said he will not be in attendance when Bonds attempts to break the record. "Hank Aaron not being there, the commissioner [bud Selig] not knowing where he's going to be, it's sad," Schilling told WEEI. "I don't care if he's black, green, purple or yellow or whatever. It's just unfortunate there's good people and bad people." A seven-time National League MVP, Bonds has 10 homers this season, raising his career total to 744. Bonds, 43, reportedly failed an amphetamines test last season, and the New York Daily News reported that Bonds attributed the positive test results to a substance he took from the locker of teammate Mark Sweeney. Bonds later absolved Sweeney of any involvement but never commented on whether or not he took amphetamines.

I shouldn't even have to say this, but golf is a completely different game than baseball. Hitting a golfball is simply not equivalent to hitting a baseball, no matter how much you like to believe it is, goodspeak. There is substantial mass and density in the head of a golf club, and merely swinging it is going to create force against a non-moving ball. Hitting a golf ball is more equivalent to playing t-ball than playing baseball. My son is playing t-ball this year again (the kids range from 4-6 years old), and every kid on our team has hit the ball successfully. The kids who are older, larger, and clearly stronger hit the ball further, consistently. In baseball, the ball is flying towards the batter at 80-100 mph. A weak hitter isn't going to hit that out of the infield, assuming he/she has the vision and eye-hand coordination required to make contact in the first place. A strong hitter with good vision and coordination is going to smack the ball, and a strong hitter with great muscle mass is going to hit the ball with even greater force. The power with which the bat hits the ball is directly related to the speed AND force the batter commands.

Bonds not on the Baseball Top 50 MVP list

Nobody's confusing anything. Power is an ingredient to hitting home runs, as is vision and hand-eye coordination. Strength DOES contribute to power, and affects how far a ball will go. If strength (of which additional strength can be attained through use of steroids) had nothing to do with bat speed/hitting distance, there wouldn't be a single baseball player using steroids. Obviously that's not the case. And those body builders you comically mention may have adequate strength, but may not have the other ingredients to being a great batter, or a great ball player overall. Nobody has ever said in this discussion that strength/muscle mass is the only contributing factor to hitting homeruns - that seems to be only floating around inside of your head.

Little support for Bonds WASHINGTON (AP) -- Only about four in 10 baseball fans are rooting for Barry Bonds to break the career home run record and most think he knowingly took steroids, according to a poll showing stark racial divisions in how the San Francisco Giants' slugger is viewed. Still, most fans think Bonds should end up in the Hall of Fame. He has 10 homers this season and 744 lifetime -- 11 shy of Hank Aaron's record, one of the most revered in sports. In the poll by ABC News and ESPN, 37 percent said they are rooting for Bonds to break Aaron's record, while 52 percent said they hope he falls short and 11 percent had no opinion. Twenty-eight percent of whites and 75 percent of blacks said they were hoping Bonds succeeds. Nearly three quarters said they think Bonds knowingly took the performance-enhancing drugs, which he has long denied. Just more than a third of blacks -- and three-fourths of whites -- shared that view. Of those who think he used steroids, two-thirds said that makes him a cheater -- even though major league baseball was not testing for the drugs at the time. There was no racial breakdown for that question. Nearly six in 10 said Bonds should be elected to the Hall of Fame, including majorities of both races. About as many said they believe he has been treated fairly, including a third of blacks and six in 10 whites. Of those who think his treatment has been unfair, more blacks and whites say it is because of his alleged steroid use than because of his race. The ABC-ESPN poll involved telephone interviews with 799 adult baseball fans from March 29 to April 22. Its margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Those surveyed included 203 blacks, for whom the margin of sampling error was 7 percentage points.