Dan Gould

Looks like an interesting one tomorrow morning at 10, too. Something about a plane with an air speed and altitude instruments failure. Talk about flying blind!

I'm lucky I've got NFL and College football to get me into February, then its only two or three weeks til pitchers and catchers report! The problem is that its still six weeks til the games start. I do seem to get more things done though - both personal and professional - during the offseason.

The problem is that a charge-back takes money out of Paypal's coffers. Unless they know the reason why you did the chargeback, they can't go after the seller, and by their own policies, they aren't supposed to investigate or mediate the dispute after sixty days. BTW, and you've probably realized this, the seller probably already sold the item, and since he couldn't send to you what he doesn't have, simply used excuses to "run out the clock".

Did he? He did to me. He informed me that due to my posts, I was on some list of his moderators and they (not him) would follow me around on the internet to see if I was speaking badly of Steve. I think they have banned some people in the past for dissing Steve on other sites. And what did you do? Given that type of Gestapo tactic, I would A) Forward the threatening email via PM to every member of the Hoffman forum, to make sure everyone knows how they treat people who criticize the Saint. B) I think I'd start a blog about Hoffman and his Gestapo tactics, and make sure my site stayed near the top of search engines.

The episode with the Greek plane full of unconscious people is on this afternoon at 4 pm.

Nick does good work throughout the year in his Sunday "Baseball Notes" column.

Well she is much easier on the eyes than the Money Store Guy:

That's your hero? A man who assaults women and anyone else who pisses him off? And who has the chutzpah to sue his victims for five million dollars for "a violation of his First Amendment rights, and alleged defamation, libel, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and an abuse of process." You've got one fucked up definition of "hero" pal. Not only is this guy a world class asshole but it sounds to me like he's swindled the taxpayers of New York for "disability" pay while being perfectly capable of assault and intimidation. A thousand

You're just pissed because it has permanently postponed that "inevitable" Marxist revolution.

One year in the dorm, my roommate was someone who could carry on a conversation while completely asleep. Fortunately, he was somewhat suggestible and if I said "OK, time to sleep now, Jerry" he'd say "OK" and shut up. And in the morning he'd have absolutely no memory of it at all.

I'd like to see this study replicated in the US before we absolve payday loan places from being the scum-sucking turds that they are with what I guess is somewhere around 90% of their customers. Because I will bet that well over 50 out of every 100 payday loan customers are not better off after falling into their clutches. Unfortunately, there is no way to replicate this study because no one ever gets turned down, so there can't be a "control group" to compare outcomes. If you've got a payroll check, you get a cash advance - at unconscionable interest rates/fees. Really the bottom line is that these companies could cut their rates significantly, still make money, and continue to provide what is a valuable service to working poor/low credit folks. But the proof that they gouge their customers lie in their advertising: no one ever says that their costs are lowest - they only say how EASY it is to get cash. I'm not sure who the bigger scum bag industry is - payday loans, or the rent-to-own people. At least at the end of a rent-to-loan deal, you do own that sectional sofa (only you've paid $4000 for a $800 couch). And Jim, pretense isn't so twentieth century - layaway is.

You did understand that Alexander was referring to a jaded expectation of winning, not literally changing allegiance, right? Because I don't see why you would find that "ridiculous". Do you think that the team won't continue to win with some regularity? Every fan base has its subset of assholes, what makes it ridiculous to think that our assholes haved started acting like Yankee fans?

Well I can say for one that anyone reading my posts when the Sox were down 3-1 to the Indians, 2004 did nothing to change my expectation of heartbreak. Unfortunately, I think that there are now a lot of bandwagon fans who know nothing of the history of the team and because of that, they take winning for granted. Its unfortunate but I don't prefer the alternative - no bandwagon fans and no championships.

aloc's always been a pepsi person anyway.

Its worse than that, when Boras was asked for a face-to-face with his client, he reportedly told them that to get that, they need to put a 350 million dollar offer on the table! :blink: And the offer they wanted to propose as a basis for negotiation was something like 5 years for 150 on top of the the three years/90+ he had on the Texas deal. Was Boras actually asking for 350 in excess of what the Yankees already owed? It already looks like A-Rod is regretting the decision since the Yanks look solid on the "don't let the door hit you in the ass" stand. After suckering one idiot for the original 10 year/252 million dollar contract, I believe its likely that Boras won't find another sucker this time. Ultimately I think A-Rod will settle for something under 30 mil/year (maybe even an average value of "only" 25 mil/year) and six to perhaps 8 years length. Forget the 30-35 a year and ten or twelve years. It would really be funny though if A-Rod gets Manny money, 20-22, and six or eight years. He'll have a longer contract but at a lower salary, all because his agent told him to opt out of the largest contract in history. It only convinces me that the Sox need to wrap up Lowell as soon as possible, because Boras will hold A-Rod out til Christmas and Lowell will be long gone by then.

In St. Louis? I think you're thinking of Vintage Vinyl. Was in U-City when I went to Washington University.

I'm justly famous among family and friends for nocturnal activities. It started in junior high school when I woke up, believed it was time to get ready for school, took a shower and dressed only to find that my Mother was in the family room watching Carson. Of course, in that case I was awake, so I guess it doesn't apply to this thread. But believe me, I could write a book about things I've done in my sleep. There's a reason why my wife now retires to the guest bedroom.

Oh, and one piece of good news out of Boston: Pitching coach John Farrell has taken himself out of the running for the Pirates managerial position and any others that pop up, because he feels that he should reward the Red Sox faith in giving him the position a year ago by not skipping out immediately when his star is burning bright. Considering what a tremendous job he did, his work ethic, the fact that he was instrumental in Okajima developing the killer "oka-doke" changeup (he told him to give it a little scroogie turn at the end) and how well regarded he is throughout the game, this is great news for the Sox.

While it didn't get a lot of play in the media (only one columnist for the NY Post wrote about it) apparently there was an early sample of the prickly side Joe Girardi can show toward the media during his introductory press conference. Let me quote Post columnist Joel Sherman: Oh, I think there will be good fun to be had with the first extended Yankee losing streak with Girardi in the manager's chair. You can read the original column here.

I presumed that the Tigers were ready to set Todd Jones loose and make Zumaya the closer but this ends that plan. A really tough break for the Tigers and considering how they played without Zumaya last year, a gift to the Tribe and maybe the Twins too.

Man, that's just a win-win proposition!!! Indeed, its the gift that keeps on giving!

Over here cocaine is far less expensive that jazz box sets, and this is a pretty bad thing. When I was at college I lived one month, rent, food and everything included with 500,000 lire, the price of two grams of cocaine at those days. Today one gram of cocaine costs more or less the same of some pizzas and some pints for four buddies. If you have a 18 y/o son like me, this is pretty worrying. Needless to say that, as Keith Richards pointed out in a recent interview, the quality is falled down since then. No. Like the comedian said (can't remember which one), the main effect of cocaine is to make you want more cocaine. I thought that was Robin Williams, except the line was "Cocaine is nature's way of telling you you make too much money." Apparently that is no longer true if Porcy is to be believed.

Speak for yourself. There are many people here who believe that the rule that "politics is to be discussed in a forum which people opt into should be followed in all cases.

No politics, please, and anyway, they were by the Shia majority.

What, you thought it should be Hansen? A breakthrough season with an ERA barely over 2 with a BAA under .200 will make other GMs sit up and take notice, not to mention that he's 25 and cost controlled for at least three years, probably 4.