Dan Gould

Yes, and that makes me curious about the earlier, 1961 Blindfold Test that is mentioned at the end of the intro. Too bad at that point Jim was running around in a coonskin cap instead of collecting DBs.

Open Office does not automatically save to MS Word or Excel formats, but it's very easy to do a "Save As..", and specify "Microsoft Work 97/2000/XP(.doc)" for documents, or "Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls)" for spreadsheets. My kids use Open Office for homework all the time, and have never had any problems with their work being recognized by MS Word/Excel. I have also used it for many business documents, and never had any incompatibilities. The other direction seems to work well too -- Open Office can open documents originally created in MS Office. One caveat: interoperability with MS Office 2007 may present some problems, but it looks like the latest version of Open Office supports it. It hasn't been an issue for me yet, as almost all companies I work with aren't running Office 2007 yet. Networking, printing, scanning, and wireless are all supported in Ubuntu Linux, and work quite well. Download it, burn a CD, and give it a try. You can boot directly from the CD, and although it may run slightly slower, you can get a feel for how it works without actually installing it to the hard drive. Office Office is included on the Ubuntu CD. It's not perfect, but neither is Windoze! Thanks Skid, I'll report to my wife that, as usual, there have been helpful posts from the mighty 'O' community.

Well, its great to see the bats really come alive and not wilt against Shields again. I'd love to see a sweep but Kazmir is so darn tough against us I'd be surprised if it happens. Best bet, fortunately, is for a lot of rain in the area. Maybe we'll get lucky and get Kazmir out of there early with a lengthy rain delay after the first couple of innings, or more likely would be a rain out anyway. Otherwise, they need to make him work since he will surely be on a pretty tight pitch count in his first start of the season.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BBO...EMPLATE=DEFAULT I get your point, Dan. And in some respects you are absolutely right. Here's my problem: How about all that Clemens slept with some woman bullshit...like it really matters relative to the case the government has trumped up against him? The government has nothing to do with the reports about Roger-the-family-man's paramours. The reporting has been done almost exclusively by the New York Daily News, which has been out front and exceptionally accurate in its investigation of the Mitchell Report as it relates to Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. I have no possible clue why you would relate this reporting to any governmental prosecution for perjury. The reporting relates solely to Clemens "reputation" and how much McNamee's statements could have damaged it, should Clemens prevail in his defamation suit. Its all about that, not the government's investigation. Which brings up something else: How can you claim that a case is "trumped up against him"? His PED supplier has turned state's evidence against him. Everything he has told the Feds (and Mitchell, and Congress) has been proven true (He told them he injected Pettitte, Pettitte says that's true. He says he injected Knoblauch, Knoblauch says that's true. He says he injected Debbie Clemens, Debbie Clemens says that's true. He's told the truth about everyone except Roger? That doesn't pass the laugh test, and we haven't even gotten into the testimony of Andy Pettitte. The evidence of perjury is as far from "trumped up" as it gets, and it has nothing to do with Roger's whoring around. I don't know what you've been reading, but the indictment returned by the BALCO grand jury is for perjury and obstruction of justice. There is no tax evasion charge. Yet.

Sez YOU!

Glad to be of service. Perhaps that was karma doing its thing. Anyway, definitely a lucky victory marred by an unlucky injury.

A good argument for getting the MLB package from DTV, which I plan to do as soon as my move is done with. Won't help you. The national blackout rules apply to the Extra Innings package as well as MLB.TV, which is how I am watching (1/2 the price of Extra Innings, and with my new, extra large flat screen monitor, a perfectly good picture): http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/conte...assetId=1100045

Don't worry, Clemens and Bonds have a far greater chance of making the Hall than Gagne, who didn't dominate long enough to ever get consideration, steroids or no steroids. He'll fall off of the ballot in two, maybe three years after his first year of eligibility. Or if he doesn't regain his form and show that he can be dominant in the steroid-testing era, he'll drop off the ballot right off the bat by getting less than 5% of the vote in his first year. Speaking of Clemens and Bonds and the Hall, I saw an interesting segment on PTI. In the aftermath of the whole "who else slept with Roger Clemens?" reporting, they asked to give odds on Clemens making the Hall. Kornheiser said that Clemens is "radioactive" now and that there is a maybe a 20% chance he'll get in, via the Veteran's committee. Wilbon said he was full of shit, there's a 96% chance he goes in on the writer's ballot. And I have to say I was somewhat surprised to see the AP reporting that Rusty Hardin stated he would discuss with Clemens whether or not he should go forward with the suit, saying that "he's getting pummeled" and "in some ways, I think we're on uncharted ground." And McNamee's lawyer isn't exactly being gracious at this news: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BBO...EMPLATE=DEFAULT

I think Mussina vs Hernandez is a day game, which sucks because the Fox nationwide blackout covers all games starting before 7:05 pm. So I'll be able to watch the Sox but not the Yankees. I'm very impressed with Jackson and was glad to see the bats come somewhat alive, especially since they did it with two outs, so everyone had to contribute to keep it going. Buchholz wasn't nearly as dominating as last time either, and I also thought that the ump had a screwed up strike zone that fortunately Clay had an easier time throwing to. But what is so impressive about the kid is the way he can throw his changeup to get swings and misses, the curve ball is cartoon-like, and it all sets up a more than decent fastball that seems to have "late life". The kid is the real deal, looks ten times better than either Yankee youngster. And yes, that was a "nice" win. Not lucky, no imploding closer handed it to them, it was a nice performance all around: Clutch pitching early to work out of self-made jams, timely hitting and good pitching at the end.

OK, so if I understand, any employee using this work station would use different software but that software would be able to open Word docs or Excel pages, and the documents that software produces would be recognized by Word or Excel and other people in the PC world would be able to open them, right? What about network issues? As in, "seeing" the printer, scanner/fax, and (I think) wireless internet?

Gagne was named in the Mitchell report and there was a FedEx receipt for a package sent by Radomski to Dodger Stadium c/o Eric Gagne. Gagne reacted by issuing a typical "non-apology apology". He has not committed perjury. He has not launched a foolish and now disastrous lawsuit to "save" his reputation and destroy the individual who went state's witness on him. If baseball wants to remove him from the record book, that's fine by me, I'd love to see it. But baseball is making no attempt to remove Bonds from the record book, so this is a completely false issue you are raising. Furthermore, let's not pretend that you have no ulterior motive here. You hate Gagne with a passion because he was the premier closer in the majors and did it for the hated Dodgers. You wouldn't give a rat's ass about him if he were Eric Gagne, All-Star steroided-up cannuck closer for the Toronto Blue Jays.

I'm the same way and now I wonder if, had I seen this before I became a Voice Over performer, I would have seen her as going counter-clockwise. I would have certainly described myself as left-brained but engaging your right-brain is very conducive for voice overs, so I wonder if that is why I see her as I do.

How silly can you be? The man in charge of investigating BALCO and now Clemens has nothing to do with the imposition of any asterisk on any baseball record. If you have a problem with Gagne, then petition the Commissioner to do something. Unfortunately that would result in the wiping out of your hero's record, so I suspect you doth protest too much.

Any opinions/reports on Sun Microsystem's Solaris OS? My wife's partner is refusing to pay even $170 for XP Pro for their extra work station, so my wife is now curious about Solaris, since its apparently free. Any advice? In particular (and forgive us if this is a stupid question), does Solaris have its own "Office" suite of products, or will MS Office be easily loaded? Thanks in advance.

All I can say about that is that I hope we are clicking on all cylinders by then so that we don't embarrass ourselves. The D-Backs, by run differential, are at least as dominant as the Sox were last year. That is probably your World Series preview right there. The D-Backs are monsters this year. You got the 1-2 punch of Haren and Webb and their lineup is scary with Upton, Young and Hudson. If they need punch off the bench they can go to their starting pitcher Owens to hit a pitch hit home run like the other day. Its too early to give a title to somebody in May but they have that look about them, I had that same feeling about them that I had in early 05 with the Wt. Sox. Could you imagine if Owens is the DH at Fenway?

The problem is, I don't think its rational to assume that their record now represents any sort of nadir. They'll be hard-pressed not to slide backwards in the coming month, and there's still no word on Posada. Its generally agreed that pitchers who face the same lineup in back to back starts are at a disadvantage, and that was shown recently when Buchholz and Wang had strong starts at Fenway then got clobbered at the stadium five days later. Mussina stunk in both starts while Beckett was strong. I'd bet on Beckett doing the same, and the Red Sox doing better except for the fact that the offense is in a teamwide funk. I just hope the home cooking and fans help them out in this first place showdown weekend. All I can say about that is that I hope we are clicking on all cylinders by then so that we don't embarrass ourselves. The D-Backs, by run differential, are at least as dominant as the Sox were last year.

Wow - Hughes with a strained oblique. Is that an accurate description or is this a "general suckiness" DL stint? Because Colon had his oblique strain April 6th, and now he is targeting a rehab start May 5th. Those obliques are tough to rehab and easy to reinjure, and there's a period of time of no throwing at all. If Hughes really has one, you could be looking at June when he is ready to start a rehab assignment/regain his form. It could be the end of June before Hughes pitches in the Bronx again. And it gets worse for the Yankees: Turns out Hughes has a stress fracture of a rib, out until July. That's what Wakefield had in 2006, he missed two full months, came back because of all the injuries, wasn't fully over it, and stunk up September. This is an injury that can definitely linger. Tigers swept them at Yankee Stadium for the first time in 42 years, and they did it without Verlander on the mound for any game. The slumbering bats don't get it any easier as Seattle comes to town with Bedard set for Friday, King Felix on Saturday, and then Hughes' replacement makes his 2008 debut on Sunday. I doubt that Rasner wll pitch to the sub-1.00 ERA he had at AAA.

I wouldn't call it a "nice" win, I'd call it lucky, stolen, were the beneficiaries of a horrid performance by the closer. Exciting works, too. But it ain't nice. Nice is 8 innings of excellent pitching, a few clutch hits, 3-1, over and done. That's what the Cubs had, until Wood gave it to you on silver platter: 1st pitch, hit batsman second batter, double to left over Soriano's head, any other outfielder on the roster catches it for the first out. unintentional walk strikeout line drive that just clears Fukodome's mitt, then clears the bases. The last hit was the only well-hit ball. Not nice. Lucky.

I agree with Chris about the RIAA tactics and have to wonder if they are doing anything about going after blogs as opposed to people with the file sharing software. You don't need software to follow a link to Rapidshare. Someone posted a link to one of those bloggers, someone who I think in general does things right, in the sense that if someone points out that he has offered a recording that is in print or easily available online, he replaces the link with a link to Amazon. This guy mostly posts links to godawful overproduced 70s drek that I couldn't care less about, but I check his blog regularly because every once in a while he will post something that Fantasy has put out, often an LP that has been reissued as part of a two-fer. To his credit he removes the link pretty quickly when I post a comment, but to my mind, if it takes me two minutes to go to AMG and Amazon and show him that something is available, he is hardly doing any checking at all by himself. But at least he acknowledges the connection between stealing music when legit reissues are available and the likelihood of future reissues. The problem really is his legions of fans who express outrage when they are late to a posting and only find the Amazon link instead of a download link. These jackasses act as if their candy bowl has been snatched away from them. In my opinion, Chuck should threaten to sue the asshole who gave away his label's music, and contact the site that hosts the blog to see what can be done from that angle as well.

Well the New York papers didn't have much detail but the Star-Ledger had one medical source predicting a month for A-Rod, and they also said there were "indications" that Hughes could miss six weeks, then be optioned to AAA. Its definitely not a "general suckiness" DL stint for Hughes, he felt the strain in his previous, rain-shortened start, didn't tell anyone, then felt it in his last inning of Tuesday's game. Girardi said he watched video of the game and spotted Hughes taking a deep breath and then wincing on the bench after he was yanked. One thing you can credit the Yankees with is keeping this under wraps until they were ready to make the announcement. I don't think the Red Sox would have attained such airtight secrecy. On a side note, its interesting to see the NY tab columnists making note of how snippy Girardi is with the media, and how that contrasts poorly with Torre's mastery of the art of dealing with the jackals. Something I predicted would happen, due to his general snippiness with the kitten-like south Florida media. Might get much uglier if the Yankees do go into a bit of tailspin and then Hank starts shooting death-rays out of Tampa. And remarkable string of starting performances since Saturday at Tampa for the Sox: 30 IP over four starts, .90 ERA, 32 strikeouts

Casey is on the DL - Moss came up to replace him, since he's been playing 1B at Pawtucket. As far as I know, Drew and Jacoby have pretty minor injuries (Jacoby probably moreso, I'm not 100% on how bad Drew may be). It seems like they are the kind of injuries where you don't want to disable anyone because they won't need the full 15 days, which puts you right between the two proverbial hard places.

Well, another sparkling performance by a starter - Dice-K went seven innings, allowing no runs and two hits and (I believe) only two walks, and it comes down again to a ninth inning walk-off, even more exciting than last night. Brandon Moss, a rookie playing for Drew, came through with a one out single to center but Jed Lowrie, running for Papi, was gunned down at the plate by Vernon Wells, with a tremendous block of the plate by Barajas. Then Tek came through with another single to center, Wells throw was a little to the 1st base side, and Manny slid in ahead of the tag. The offense is still asleep but they've managed to win two in a row in their last at-bat at Fenway, 1-0 and 2-1. I'll take that - and a return to 1st place, by 1/2 a game.

Wow - Hughes with a strained oblique. Is that an accurate description or is this a "general suckiness" DL stint? Because Colon had his oblique strain April 6th, and now he is targeting a rehab start May 5th. Those obliques are tough to rehab and easy to reinjure, and there's a period of time of no throwing at all. If Hughes really has one, you could be looking at June when he is ready to start a rehab assignment/regain his form. It could be the end of June before Hughes pitches in the Bronx again.

Yeah, and while Yankee fans seem to think that considering what they've dealt with to date (the 20 game stretch with 18 on the road, the injuries) that they are well-positioned right now, just a couple of games out. That's true, cuz it could be worse, but I say, let's see where the Yanks are by the time A-Rod and/or Posada returns. They've had trouble scoring runs and that figures to continue with those two on the shelf, and they look ready to send Hughes and/or Kennedy down to AAA, and even if they deserve it, the options to replace them aren't likely to be a whole lot better (Rasner and/or Igawa). Pettitte gave up a bunch of runs today and assuming that the Tigers hold on to a 6-2 lead late, it will be up to Kennedy to prevent a sweep at home. So the Yanks could find themselves in deeper trouble by the end of May.

Well that's a nice story, though I have to wonder what would have happened if the same thing happened in a Men's baseball game. I kinda doubt anyone from the opposition would have volunteered to carry the opposing player around. I also don't get the rule - iirc, a similar thing happened two or three years ago to the Red Sox. Gabe Kapler was on base when someone hit a home run and Kapler, needing to score but not thinking the ball would go out, tore up his knee rounding the bag. The hitter had to stop behind him while they conferred with the umps, and by rule, a pinch runner came in to complete Kapler's jog home in front of the guy who hit it out.