Quincy

While some of that is happening, I think with many folks here you do the math with the following factors: life expectancy with good hearing, amount of time for listening, square footage of storage space available, and current inventory of cds. If you own several thousand CDs (heck, even just 1000) and you're over 40, there's a chunk of music that may never get played again. Might as well start culling the collection (to free up space & cash to buy more! )

Oh, they absolutely outperform actively managed funds, but not the market. An S&P 500 index fund, for instance, is going to earn you a return slightly below that of the S&P 500; ie it will do worse than the expected return of a stock picker selecting from the S&P 500. The expense ratio on Vanguard S&P 500 fund is 0.18%, or 18 dollars on a 10,000 investment. I'm pretty sure TIAA-CREF offers one that low, and I think a few others do too. "The market" doesn't have to pay taxes or commissions, so while it's good to know how the various bogies perform it's sort of silly to gripe about index funds underperforming the target since they don't have the advantage of working in this tax & commission-free fantasyland. Finally, I don't think you can say that the S&P 500 index fund will under perform the expected return of a stock picker picking S&P 500 stocks. There are enough funds & "experts" out there whose performance suggests otherwise. Sure, there are a few exceptions, but in general things tend to regress to the mean. And if the picker is buying & selling frequently, the odds are even less if one considers the real world consequences. I say this as someone who choses to invest about 85% of my money in individual stocks and the rest in low expense funds. I'm a happy hypocrite.

To a great character. Cheers!

The inconsistency began when Antawn Jamison went down. He's back but now Butler is hurting. Those guys are both very very good, so it hurts the team when one is down, especailly considering how the team could use some upgrades at other positions. As you alluded to in the sentence I snipped, it's a team game. When all 3 of the main guys are healthy and on the floor, the Wizards can be dangerous. Not unlike the Lakers. During the time they were struggling Walton and/or Odom were out. It should hardly be shocking, but 1 superstar can't win a game all by himself.

Thank you, as this is what computer calendars are for. Seriously. I have a CD and a separate DVD calendar set for stuff like this. Thanks for the info, and I'm sure future threads here will remind as the details are known.

I'll say. He's perfect on the right side of the screen!

You might want to check out the original Infernal Affairs (Mou gaan dou.) The ending isn't as "western," and there are some other differences too. And since you'll recognize what's going on you can be sloppier about reading the subtitles.

No more thirtysomething. 2 score!

Played by Philip Baker Hall, who also turns up in an episode of Curb. Based on his library cop character it might not surprise you Hall can play a great Richard M. Nixon. He stars in what's more or less a one man play directed by Robert Altman called Secret Honor. It's Nixon with a bottle of Chivas Regal and a loaded pistol, swearing at the paintings on the walls and railing against his enemies. Hall is terrific and Criterion finally got it out on DVD a year or so ago.

Good it works! I think I saw about that many too. All but 1 game involved either the Ducks or the Buckeyes. I picked Louisville over Stanford because Cardinals (plural) outnumber Cardinal singular.

Hmm, tried it on a different browser and it did for me. I'm going away for an hour or so. If the above link is not working, try http://sports.yahoo.com/ Then choose "Tournament Pick 'Em '07" near the top. Join an existing group or private group, forgot how they phrase it. Enter the # and password from my earlier post. I'll check back in when I get back and see how things are working.

The more the merrier! Yahoo organissimo tournament Group ID# 156928 Password - greaze They've added some improvements this year. You can click the blue "i" and brief team bios along with some stats are provided. The java applet will keep track of games as they're happening. As the tournament progresses it will also give you "what if" feedback. Yup Jim R., I think you'll enjoy the tournament more when you get caught up in how your picks are doing. Make all your picks before tomorrow.

The scoring would be different, but wouldn't it be easier to do this through Yahoo Fantasy Sports? Everybody could see how they're progressing vs. the field as it happens, and you'd be saved a lot of work. Slate actually had an article yesterday on the extinction of the office pool guy, thanks to online brackets.

They will send the next queue item. I've had a backordered title take 3 months, so each time they sent the "runner-up." So make sure your #2 is good enough to be your #1, and update accordingly.

The crib be too big. Article link, text below MANSION TOO BIG FOR TIGER TIGER Woods is tearing down his £25million mansion - so he can build a SMALLER one in its place. The golfer astonished planners by wanting to replace his current home with a house half its size. He plans to bulldoze the property - previously owned by a tyre company tycoon - and revamp the 12-acre seafront site. The house and two guest homes, totalling 23,000 sq ft, will be demolished. Architects designed a single 13,000 sq ft home to replace it - but the demanding star sent them back to the drawing board to come up with an even smaller one. Tiger and wife Elin are expecting their first baby in the summer and plan to use the house, in Florida's exclusive Jupiter Island, as their main residence. Tiger has said that if Elin gives birth around the time of The Open in July, he will not play in this year's event. Neighbour Joe Farish said: "It looks like he's finally going to get some use for his money."

That's Tom Scholz (the things that stick in the brain... ). The guy with the giant afro was/is the drummer Sib Hashian. The afro is a "was."

Schilling is impressed. He says so in his blog.

I haven't checked this out yet, but thought it might be of interest to some of ya. It's a good one! Ends up being just a wee bit over 80 minutes, so if you're going to burn (as opposed to just keeping it on an iPod or big ole harddrive) you may want to add 70+ minutes of other music to disc 2 or (gasp) do some editing.

Might help to see "Montage" from Team America. It's why I bought the dvd (well, that and to own some puppet porn. ) "Montage" on youtube.com Even Rocky had a montage!

You young LA guys! He was before my time too. Well, so were Russell and a bunch of other greats from that era, but Russell & West tend to overshadow anyone who they didn't play with. From the Hall of Fame site: Hal Greer, a six-foot-two guard who possessed great athleticism and a sweet shooting touch, and was deadly on the fast break, was one of the NBA's most durable and productive performers. When he retired in 1973, Greer had logged 1,122 games, most in league history. Greer's assault on the NBA's record books was considerable: He ranked among the top 10 all-time in points scored (21,586), field goals attempted (18,811), field goals made (8,504), minutes played (39,788) and personal fouls (3,825). In a 15-year career, Greer averaged 19.2 points per game eight seasons of 20 ppg or more and recorded 4,540 career assists. As a collegian at Marshall University, Greer became the first black to play for a major college team in West Virginia. He developed an accurate one-hand jump shot, and set Marshall's career record for field goal percentage (.545). Greer was named All-Conference in 1957 and 1958, and All-America in 1958. After an outstanding college career (1,377 points, 19.4 ppg), Greer was selected in the second round by the Syracuse Nationals. In 15 seasons with Syracuse and the Philadelphia 76ers, Greer adjusted nicely to the pro game by relying on his two strengths: speed and natural athletic ability. Greer could single-handedly dominate games. He played in 10 NBA All-Star Games, and won the 1968 MVP Award after scoring 21 points, including a record 19 in one quarter. Greer joined Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Billy Cunningham to lead the 76ers to the NBA championship in 1967, ending Boston's string of eight consecutive titles. Greer's number 15 jersey was retired by the 76ers. He was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary Team in 1996. Stats Also...one rumor of why Pippen wants to play again is due to owing back taxes and bad investments.

Pippen continued his style of play of boards-assists-steals & points without Jordon though. Were it not for that horrific meltdown by the Blazers in the conference finals vs. the Lakers he would have made to a finals without Jordan too. Of course Jordan never made it to a finals without Pip. Who knows, without Pip Jordan may have had to settle for being another Dominique. Worthy was great in high school, college, and the pros. Top 50...well, yeah, he might not make in 2007 (in part due to his relatively short career), but the vote was announced in '96. He sure had one whale of a Game 7 in '88 (36 points, 16 boards, 10 assists.) Not a bad time to get your first triple-double! It's tough to judge how much player A helps B and vice versa, but I think Magic's assist totals benefited greatly from having James (& obviously Kareem) around. Worthy had the athleticism to finish off those Showtime fast-breaks in style.

Several years ago in the spring they were all over downtown Eugene for almost a week. They were working the big leaf maple tree flowers (though we're starting to lose them, there are still streets with huge 70-100 year old trees.) They really brightened up the place while they were here! Most of the time if I see them it's in the Cascades or the Hells Canyon area in NE Oregon. Here in the Willamette Valley there are some birds that migrate east/west (and vice versa) from the mountains to the coast (namely certain warblers) rather than do the usual north/south. I think for whatever reason that year the tanager's angled through Eugene on their way to the mountains. Yes Late, Steller's Jays can get pretty brave when it comes to looking for orange food not found in nature. One of my favorite camp robbers is Clark's Nutcracker. At almost a foot long they're pretty impressive birds, and you don't want to leave things out unattended even for a couple of minutes as they'll take advantage. At least they can't work zippers like ravens! We're a few blocks away from the other butte (Skinner's.) Back when I was still a smoker I was sitting on the front porch around sunset. Out of the ferns and onto the sidewalk a lone California quail slowly stepped out with it's head boppin'. I must have gasped or made some sort of noise I wouldn't have normally made when in "wildlife viewing mode," as the tufted guy looked over at me and took off so fast it practically made the Looney Tunes zzzzzzzzzoooooooommmmmm sound.

But when I watch racing on tv I'm told of the advantages of drafting. I'll go faster and save fuel if I tailgate! I hate tailgaters too, and I sometimes wonder if the populartiy of NASCAR has led to an increase in the practice. Truth be told I'm more afraid of the damn cell phone drivers who weave like drunks. And like 7/4 I don't own a gun because while I might not shoot tailgaters, I'd be blowing holes in parked cars when their alarms go off outside my place.

Casual birder or maybe just cheap, meaning I have 1/2 a dozen bird books but inexpensive binoculars. Outside right now are some juncos, a lone song sparrow, and the one of the resident scrub jays. The berries on the backyard holly tree attracted about 4 dozen robins for a feast last week. It's always a toss up between robins or cedar waxwings as to who gets them. It's quite the logistical operation and it almost seems like they must have an air traffic controller. They take off from 3 different maple trees that form a triangle around the holly tree. The holly has capacity for perhaps 20 birds, so as a bird flies in from each maple another leaves the holly to return to a maple. Arrivals & departures might be 3 per minute from each tree. The sidewalk and cars are berry stained after their feast day. Perhaps once a month a flock of bushtits whip through with a few chickadees, which is always a comical delight, especially as some hang upside down on the bamboo in the back. Someone once brought a bushtit nest that had fallen out of a tree to a wildlife center I used to work at and I tell ya, I would get rid of my mattress if I could hire a few dozen bushtits to weave me a nest instead. Very intricate weaving with a soft bedding of moss & lichens. For 6 years we had a scrub jay around the house that had the tip of its beak broken off, thus giving us the rare chance to get to know an individual bird with certainty. Corvids (crows, jays, ravens & magpies) are very intelligent creatures, and if you spend any time in your yard around them it's very likely they have "a file" on you. This bird used to dive down behind me when I mowed the back yard, as the manual mower kicked up bugs and the shorter grass made it easier for it to forage. It would also drop by within a few feet of us if we were sitting around in the backyard (we didn't feed the birds either.) It and its mate would also torture a neighbor's cat by landing briefly on its back, or get within a few feet in front of the cat and screech at it. If the cat wasn't outside sometimes the birds would go to the neighbor's back porch and screech for the cat to come outside. The cat was an old tom so this game only went on for a couple of years in the late summer once the birds were done with parenting. The current pair are also used to us, and don't air bomb us when they're raising their young or if we happen to get near their fledglings when they are on the ground. Many people can't stand the racket jays make, but obviously I'm rather fond of their ways.

Terrific news!