Dan Gould

Its been a while since this was adopted but every major league contract includes a clause in which things like criminal acts, being unable to play due to negligence and (I'm not sure on this one) acts of moral turpitude are explicit grounds for voiding a contract, or making it non-guaranteed, which is the crux of what the Mets want to do. I guess the Union agreed to the language because they always have the option of filing a grievance and have a pretty good track record on grievances. And since the union regards guaranteed contracts as the capstone of their contractual rights (in contrast to football), they will go to the mat to make sure this doesn't stand. And previous efforts by teams (against Sidney Ponson for example) failed miserably. Totally agree that the Mets screwed the pooch on how they approached the issue. He should have gone on the restricted list right off the bat and for an indefinite period, as the Cubs did with Zambrano. Then they might have found out about the injury and taken action then before his "suspension" had ended.

Keep dreaming Timmy. The only difference between Bonds and Clemens is that Bonds either made a deal with him to keep his mouth shut, or the man is secretly in love with Barroid and just can't bring himself to put him in prison, while Clemens couldn't stand the fact that some peon had squealed and went after said peon with a vengeance. The former is a much smarter play.

You won't get downloads from Mosaic, I'm sure, but themed discs/box sets seems like a reasonable approach. There's going to be a boatload of Goodman, we know that. They ought to do that as a single Mosaic set. Then maybe a tenor set with Hawkins and Herschel and others? Maybe there's enough Christian alone (it sounds like there is more than a little) to do a single CD? But given the quantity there is too much here to do some sort of haphazard combination and make people buy Goodman to get the stuff of even greater interest.

More uploaded today, this time from the 1969 festival - July 3 shows. Freddie Hubbard is finally available on a short two-song set with Junior Cook and Harold Mabern; George Benson with Harold Ousley and some organist I've never heard of; Anita O'Day with unknown trio accompaniment; And for you outcats, 11 minutes of Sunny Murray with Dave Burrell and Carlos Ward among others.

Speaking of which, http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/iteam/2010/08/balco-founder-conte-issues-sta.html#ixzz0x8z9iQUy This guy sticks his head into every steroid story, the writers don't even have to bother to ask his opinion. Another possibility: Now Pettitte is stuck with having to testify, in public, under oath in a criminal case. He didn't even want to testify before Congress. Does he stand up to Roger and try to talk some sense into him to accept a plea bargain? Same question about Mrs. Clemens. She was there when McNamee injected her with HGH. She knows the truth. If she were forced to testify, will she stick with the lies or will the proverbial shit hit the marital fan?

You're a smart man to go with this, Timmy. Otherwise you might have to walkback your inane claim that the Bonds case is all about race and the Feds never go after a white ballplayer. Meanwhile, back in the land of reality: The Daily News - whose reporting has yet to be shown to be inaccurate in any way, from BALCO to Bonds to McGuire to Clemens - reports that one source describes the evidence amassed as "overwhelming". Unfortunately it will take but one stupid or biased juror to save Clemens but on the other hand the jury pool in D.C. isn't as likely to look contain that type of person than it is in Texas. And its interesting to note the many charges that are related to Licodain and B-12 injections. Clemens brought those issues in himself, and the Committee interviewed training staff and team doctors in Toronto and NY and they all said to a certainty that what Clemens described never happened. It could be real interesting if Clemens is found not-guilty on the steroid charges because they muddy the DNA-waters (or get it excluded by chain-of-custody claims) but is found guilty on the rest. Satisfying? I might be disappointed but as long as I see a perp walk, orange jump-suit and for him to be damned for all eternity, I'll be happy.

I've never heard that James but I do know that Boston is substantially further east than Florida, and that's not even taking into account that you are on the gulf side. When I visit my parents in CT in December its darker noticeably earlier than in south Florida.

Hmm, well the thing is, that we're worried about not earning a profit on each record. I'll grant you that we're not doing well as it is - our records arent selling. The real problem is shipping. We take $9 for shipping outside of the EU. In reality our shipping expenses are much higher. For a gatefold record we might pay as much as $27 (sometimes more) for the actual shipping. After we have been paid the 9 bucks in shipping, there's still $18 to be paid for shipping out the record. Ebay takes 9% of the salesprice and usually about $1.5 for various listing fees. Our fear is, that if we try selling a rare and valuable record, like you suggest, there's a risk that we'd end up with a deficit. If we sold a record for $30, ebay would take 1.5 for listing and 2,7 as their 9 percent cut, paypal would then take 2 for the transfer and we'd pay 18 dollars for shipping, leaving a slim profit of $5.8 - which is near to nothing and clearly not worth the time it took looking into the records value, listening through it to estimate it's grade, listing, packaging and shipping. Our fear is, that if we listed without a starting price we feel gives us a garantee that we wont lose money, we might end up with a significant deficit if we tried listing a batch of records that didnt make good bids. We have many records - not just the ultra-rare - that we want to sell. We need to make at least 30 bucks on each for it to be worth it. Raising our shipping fee's will probably scare potential bidders more than high starting prices, dont you think? I've been thinking about auction time? We've tried 10 day auctions in the past with bad results. Do you think that 5 day auctions are more successfull. I fear that people who decide to watch an auction lose interest and stop paying attention , when the auction ends such a long time later. Perhaps if we put up records for 5-day spans, we might get more bids? Do you agree we this analysis? We've had several records on auction that quickly gathered 6-7 watchers, but when the last 8-9 days passed, we ended up with zero bids. I've been thinking about opening an ebay-store, but I dont think it's worth it. As far as I can see, ebay listing wont be much cheaper and if we make "Buy it Now" listing, Ebay will take 15 instead of 9 percent if we sell. Am I right? There isn't much that can be done about your shipping costs, but there is no reason to take a loss on it. State the costs up front to ship outside of the EU. You can even include a couple of dollars for the nice new LP mailers you plan to use. As long as shipping costs are fair and the LPs are worthwhile, my guess is that people will bid. Its possible you lose some US or Japan buyers because of the shipping charge but if the LP is desirable enough I think that can be overcome. I strongly recommend you post a couple of LPs with the correct shipping charge, $9.95 opening bid, no reserve, and see what happens. (Maybe you should wait til September to do this though if Ebay is that slow right now) As to 10-day auctions, its been discussed here before. A number of people feel that ten days is too long and that 7 day auctions are best. Its also said that you should schedule auctions to end on weekends when more people can bid. But outside of the U.S., how do you determine the right time? If you think your buyers are going to be American, figure out the time to start the auction so it ends at a time when most of the States is awake, like 9 PM on the east coast. As to the Ebay Store, I only mentioned that because there are other ebay stores that list records for collector's prices, or prices that would only be reached via a competitive auction. I don't know if they ever sell, but there are ebay stores that take that approach. Good luck.

Another example of "made in America" being best?

Very high starting bids (which is really anything above $20) get fewer bids. If you are worried about selling LPs "too cheaply" either set a reserve price and starting bid under $10 or, as suggested, run auctions in September or later when ebay "action" picks up. The reality is that for whatever psychological reason, low opening bids/no reserve get the most action, and almost always, if the LPs are in excellent shape, photographed well, and most importantly, rare, the bidding will reach a level that you'll be satisfied. If you don't believe it, I suggest taking one or two of your LPs and running a test. Be willing to let one go "cheap" if it doesn't attract more than one bidder, but set the parameters very low with no reserve. But at the opening bids that I saw when you first posted this thread, my thought was "you might as well just set up a store, Rare Jazz, and set these prices as "buy-it-now" options".

Does Clay Buchholz, despite playing for a non-playoff team, belong in the Cy Young discussion? Usually there has to be an incredible performance to get someone like Grienke noticed, so it will probably be tough to get many votes when Price has similarly impressive stats and Sabathia will be up there in wins. But Buchholz is now 14-5 with a league leading 2.36 ERA. There have been seven team shutouts by the Red Sox. Buchholz started 5 of them, including last night's. Really shows how far he's come. Next should be a deal like Lester's that will lock him up and hopefully give team control over one or two of his free agency years. Lester and Buchholz at the top of the rotation is an exciting prospect, especially when they are young and under team control for years to come. This is what Theo has been working toward. And as an aside, if you didn't know, Lester was around as a top prospect so long, he was headed to Texas for A-Rod in 2003. Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make.

Pretty sure ear-pod design preceded the I-Pod. And did no one find a similar effect after cars became rolling boom boxes @ 300 db?

Reason #522 Why the Red Sox Won't Make The Playoffs: Dustin Pedroia returned to the lineup today, 53 days after breaking his left foot. Not 28 or 42 days, 11 days beyond the predicted time missed.

Glad I kept a burn when I sold it! Bee Hive really put out some nice dates while it existed.

Its an incredible find and hopefully these recordings will indeed see a commercial release someday (at 70 years out from the most recent recordings, I can't see how copyright even comes into it but what do I know?) But jeez, I could have done a better job on click removal.

I don't have a clue what you mean by mortgage cancellation or mortgage D.I. Most of the business is homeowner's insurance. We get referrals from mortgage broker businesses (the reason I found out about the job opening was that my wife has been sending them business since December when she started with her current employer, and now those deals will become mine - about 15 a month), title companies (I am working on another referral from my wife and hoping to get some business from the lady's title company when we're finished) and real estate offices, and referrals from existing clients. We also offer auto (but not much since we write with Progressive and if you have internet access you'll get a quote 10% less just by going online), commercial, professional liability, workman's comp. We are not a State Farm office or anything of the sort and we are not restricted in who we write with, certainly not where it pertains to homeowner's policies. Since I am the first hire they've made that they actually think will work out, I've ended up taking what I learn and writing SOPs (standard operating procedures), so we're putting into place a training process for future hires. What I am hearing from the boss and witnessing firsthand is that there is precious little selling involved, but I am sure there will be much more to learn when we move more strongly out of homeowners. Thanks for the advice.

Thought I'd let the good O-folks know that I have rejoined the "commuting (and cashing a check every two weeks)" crowd - and that it looks like an outstanding opportunity. I've joined a small (I'm the first hire) but rapidly growing insurance agency in Fort Lauderdale. I get a minimal hourly wage for the first few months while I learn on the job and work toward a Customer Service Representative license. I know its going to be tough on the hourly wage, and tough during the first couple of years as I grow my "book" but I am very excited because of a variety factors: The owners have already expressed how happy they are with my ability to learn, ask intelligent questions, etc. They already have big plans for me such as placing CSRs under me once I get my full Agent license, and they are planning to turn the office over to me when they are ready to expand in about a year. So, I'd be seeing overrides on those policies, and they also want to move into other areas than just homeowners/casualty. The office has more referrals than it can handle, and with me on board, one partner wants to move into admin/processing which means more of her renewals and referrals will fall to me. So while I am expected to bring in business myself, I can see that I will have lots of leads handed to me. They have a great approach to writing policies: They strip the policy down to get the lowest cost for the customer. No padding policies for a higher commission. Convince the prospect that you have their best interests at heart, and they will stick with you and tell their friends about the agency too. And the proof of that is that we have the low quote 90% of the time, we have a 95% renewal rate, and we are swimming in referrals. And last but not least, if you have a mortgage, you have to have insurance. And if you don't have a mortgage but live in Florida, you're an idiot if you don't have insurance. Its truly a recession-proof business (look at how they've grown the business in two of the worst economic years in many a decade). If I stick with it and make it through the first year, I think I've finally made a good financial move for now and the future. So - bringing me to the sub-head of my topic, any Florida members who are interested in seeing whether or not we can save them some money on their homeowner's policy, feel free to send a PM and I'll be happy to discuss your situation with you. Of course, there's no cost or obligation. Oh, and I forgot the last, best thing: A 45 minute commute each way means much more time listening to music in the car.

Up, for anyone who missed it the first time, six years ago, or for any new folks who'd like to add their own favorite practical jokes.

You've finally taken your hard-on for "West Coast Jazz" to far. :rolleyes:

Don't forget three at Boston in October to end things, when hopefully Tampa will be right on their ass and we will play spoiler, sending you to a 5-game playoff with no homefield advantage against Cliff Lee and the Rangers. In the meantime, more in a series: Reason #515 why the Red Sox will not make the playoffs. Eleven times they have had at least a three run lead and lost the game - tops in the majors. Even with all of the injuries, if Papelbon was still a man, how tight would the race be if that weren't the case, and they had won maybe 7 of those 11? They're in first place, that's how tight it would be. Reason #516 why the Red Sox will not make the playoffs. Jacoby Ellsbury sucked when he got off the DL, but immediately after he started to show signs of hitting again, he broke the same ribs in a collision at first base with the Texas pitcher.

Hope things have been working out for you, Mike - and that you really enjoy your birthday! :party:

All I know is that they recorded some great songs - I'd say along with CCR my favorite "hit makers" of the era, Non-Beatles Division.

What Ken said. If its limited to two, Bird and Benny Carter.

Did no one watch the whole video? The last vocal chorus demonstrates conclusively that Morrison was singing live. And I like the whole performance, the strings definitely work, and I like the visual of the white guys in suits with the lone black guy in mod garb blowing the sax solo, visually and musically distinct from the background band.

Thanks Dan for pointing me to some details. Durium Thanks Hans but there is one more edit to make. In the sentence after your identification of Frank Evans as host of the show, you need to remove "Gary" from the prior identification and replace it with "Frank". Also, come to think of it, I am not sure if its fair to say this was a "US Network" program. Pretty sure it was limited to the L.A. market and I suspect it was partially supported by the jazz station that Evans worked at. But I am sure it wouldn't make sense to promote an LA radio station if the show was nationwide. Oh, and you really should mention that the Frankly Jazz tunes are on the Uptown Dupree Bolton reissue Fireball.