T.D.

My Michigan State Spartans beat Notre Dame (talk about teams that suck* ). Glass half full: record now 4-0. Glass half empty (more realistic): likely the worst 4-0 team in the land, and regular pummelings will commence as the conference section of the schedule unfolds. * Did Tyrone Willingham (MSU grad) get hosed by ND, or what? Is the Charlie Weis honeymoon still on?

Perhaps "vig"=vigorish was the problem...

Exactly, way out. Especially considering that it was said to be ovarian cancer.

As mentioned above, Paypal is great for buyers, as it lets them use credit cards, opening up the chargeback (disputing charges) method if mdse isn't received. Note: Paypal's "Buyer Protection" (or whatever it's called) reads like complete bullshit (IMO), so chargeback appears to be the way to go. As a seller, I find Paypal's vig a PITA, but it's worth eating because it allows buyers to use credit cards, thus enlarging the universe of buyers. Of course, I only sell CDs; sellers of big-ticket items may object more.

From what I've heard, CNBC is in some trouble, with viewership down sharply from the halcyon Internet bubble days of the late '90s. Personally, I find that CNBC's programming has gone sharply downhill, and I consider it unwatchable. Bloomberg's a far better source of business news. I recall Neil Cavuto from his CNBC days. He seems like a moron. One day in 1994, he was interviewing bond market newsletter author John Liscio, who's somewhat of a character. Liscio used the word "Malthusian", and Cavuto, apparently having no idea what the word meant, was completely confounded. The interview briefly ground to a halt. That said, there's no effin' way I'll ever watch Fox Business Channel, even for laughs...

I actually got both snail- and e-mail on this today (no doubt stemming from last summers "Blow-Out"). Agreed. not a great deal, but I believe there's free shipping on orders above $50. I'm too lazy to calculate numbers, but this free shipping, coupled with the absence of sales tax (I live in NY State, so J&R charges me sales tax), seems to make the "deal" fairly competitive with J&R on orders just over $50.

Does OJ still have enough money to hire pricey lawyers like Shapiro?

Nick Danger, Third Eye Fearless Fosdick

Hybrid SACD is only worth paying up for if you own (or intend to buy) a SACD player. It has layers which can be read by SACD and regular CD players. I only have regular CD players, so never pay up here. I'm not sure what "Enhanced" means for jazz CDs. In classical CDs, "Enhanced" generally refers to CDs including extra material (scores, composer interview videos and the like) that can be viewed on your computer.* [Added]* Same meaning. It's explained on the Amazon site ("Enhanced" is clickable). In fact, if you read the Amazon listing, the enhanced CD contains extra photo images and musician interviews.

Carrie Snodgress Fred Snodgrass Fred "Bonehead" Merkle

Mark Pavelich Jim Craig Herb Brooks

I dunno why you guys are taking this s**t so seriously. I mean, the "article" is bunk. It's an El Pollo Loco Inc. press release, that the company's press agent, via payola, strip club visits, sucking of d**k or whatever, managed to get onto the AP newswire. It's like bitching at a TV commercial. I'd be more inclined to bitch about the AP's "journalistic standards"...

Well, of course this isn't journalism: A company managed to get one of its press releases dressed up and reported as a "story". This is extremely far from rare (check out newspaper entertainment and style sections for myriad examples), but I'm slightly surprised to see it happening on the Associated Press newswire.

Just got Silver's Serenade. Not the most exotic choice, and I already have at least 10 Horace-led CDs, but this had fallen through the cracks. Very good: I rank it in the upper echelon of Silver recordings (granted, I'm partial to the Mitchell-Cook front line).

Lon Chaney Lon Armstrong Lon Nol

Eddie Gaedel Bill Veeck Jon Rauch

This whole thing has been magnified by the extreme animosity that prevails between the Pats and NYJ. It's become a really toxic rivalry over the years, especially off the field, which is a little weird...

Didn't Kirk's Work just recently get reissued as a "Prestige RVG"? That really makes me scratch my head about the coupling in question. I wonder whether the Jaki Byard Experience tracks have been remastered, though it's probably not possible to salvage the horrid Richard Alderson-engineered masters.

Saffron Burrows Taye Diggs Harold Miner

Alfred Jarry Al Jarreau Keith Jarrett

If the 87% feedback rating was one negative item out of 8 transactions, I'd sell to you, figuring it was a fluke. But any larger samples with that percentage: 2 out of 16, 3 out of 24,...,13 out of 100,... and I wouldn't.

Fu Manchu Laurence Harvey (film link) Angela Lansbury

Eric "Sleepy" Floyd Fred Brown John Thompson

Next week's Michigan-Notre Dame clash isn't exactly shaping up to be a barnburner... Best you can say is that somebody will have to win. Michigan doesn't seem like the type of program that would fire a coach mid-season. A post-season Carr "retirement" is more likely.

So much for the theory that Michigan would bounce back this week...down 39-7 to Oregon approaching the end of the 3d quarter.