mothershipconnection

When I came home at 6:15, I had a message from Nintendo about it. Maybe they just didn't send it out very early.

Helton would simply be a huge salary dump, as he's owed a ridiculous amount, so a 3-way deal wouldn't work with Jenkins. It would need to involve another player who's overpaid quite a bit or the Rockies eating more salary than they're gonna eat.

Wicker Man Don't watch this movie alone, because you need someone to help you make fun of it. Terrible performances all around. I've never seen the original, but I want to see it now, so that I can hate this version even more I haven't seen the original either, but I thought the movie was at least mediocre, considering it starred Nicholas Cage who I don't care for. Of course, the original stars Count Dooku, so it has to be better.

Maybe there should be a "religion and politics for the thick skinned" board. There was, as was mentioned, a site just for politics created by Toby. It pretty much flopped because nobody but me and maybe 6 other people went over there. People don't click through to other forums, a lesson repeating itself with the "football threads/please post at lambeauleap" issue. Wasn't there a seperate political discussion page a while back or something like that? Yeah, but it always got stupid and ugly. Several of us would have a great, very intelligent (or at least civil) discussion before it would be interrupted by either "You deamocrates R a bunch of idiots and are just sooooo stoopid. All hail the great presudint BUSH!!!!!!!" or "Nuh-uh, Jesus is just a big skam NEways. Why don't U republikuns go back to lynching minoroties!!!! ".

Do you qualify for the pension if you never make it on a 40 man roster? If it's a major league deal, he has to be added to the 40-man immediately.

My friend bought Sim City and loves it - said it just like the SNES version (as all VC games are), bit I don't know how that compares to PC.

Sorry I didn't get in on the donations (I worked). Is there, or will there be a way to pay without paypal (ie direct from my credit card)? Paypal and I are sworn enemies ever since The Great Reverse Osmosis Membrane Disaster of 2005.

What game or games (outside the Virtual Console) is everyone most looking forward to right about now? I'm looking forward to Mario, Metroid, any bowling game, a good fishing game (not Rapala), a good boxing game, and any star wars games.

If we get that kind of production out of Hart, I will hold a press conference to proclaim him the messiah.

The only reports of bad Wii's were those sold at launch. A few of them seized up after the initial update, and some that were supposed to be demo models were shipped and sold accidentally. Since then, reports hardware problems have actually been surprisingly low.

My friend bought Bomberman 93 for the virtual console and really digs it (he had only played the original before. On a related note, has anyone else been really disappointed with the virtual console releases thus far? It's probably my only complaint with the Wii. The started alright, with Golden Ax, Sim City, Bonks, etc, but then there was crap until X-mas day, and has been crap since. The only game I've gotten is Castlevania IV. I want Mario 2, Punch Out, Metroid, Ocarina of Time, and actual classic games, not Soccer on NES. Did the new Zelda burn everyone out or maybe there's not as much time to play after the holidays? I've played the tar out of Madden 07. The kicking took awhile, but now I think it's the best football game I've ever played. My friend and I created the Beloit Bandits primarily out of our drinking buddies, and we're on season 2. My only beef is that it's often really hard to throw to the receiver assigned to the "up" direction.

The Descent Finally got around to this one, as the ladyfriend hates horror movies, but I talked her into this one, and she liked it even more than I did. Really well-done and keeps your attention from throughout. Idiocracy Maybe I like it so much because I have the same theory, maybe it's just that I think Luke Wilson is great. Either way, this wasn't incredible, but it was very good and had some very funny moments.

Has anyone played much of Elebits, Excite Truck, or Rayman yet, or planning to get Warioware right away this week? I want to wait a while before buying more games but it'll be a while before anything gets to $30 or below I guess. To the contrary, m'friend. Circuit City this week has Rayman or Red Steel for $29.99 each - Best Buy or someone else will do price match. I've played Rayman and it's quite good, but probably something best enjoyed with a group that may get tiresome if you play alone - it's just a huge collection of 1-3 minute mini-games. Also, Rampage is priced at $29.99 regularly, but there's a reason for that, as it reportedly is a giant piece of crap.

I would either multiply something by number of SB attempts, or better yet use percentage of on-base occurrences that were paired with a SB attempt. So you'd have OBP, SB%, and %(on base+attempt). This would show their propensity to "cause a disruption" by stealing or attempting. So you could have OBP+[sB%(%on base with SB attempt)] Then, attach a weight to the OBP and SB components and you'd have something with at least maybe a little utility. Otherwise, SB% is useless as Damian Miller could be 1/1 and have a better % than Henderson.

So help me Jebus, if Dickey throws one pitch in a Brewers uniform I will track Doug Melvin down and give him the most unreal wedgie the world has ever seem

Jeff D'Amico Kevin Barker Don August - dude was awesome as a rookie.

I want to see Cordero offered to Boston. I believe Cordero is a really good closer and a frickin blast to watch pitch, but he isnt as great as he looked here in his brief stint in Milwaukee. His FIP indicates that he was quite lucky at MP but almost equally unlucky in Texas. His past performances are far less fluky. Coco putting up a 1.69 ERA again is not really likely, but look at the numbers - in one of baseball's better hitter's parks in TX, Cordero actually had a better WHIP since 2002 than he did at Miller Park.

I think its still possible for both Jenkins and Mench to return. However that would create a major roster issue, assuming Melvin and Co continue to look at Bill Hall as an OF. Yeah, all this "Hall to corner OF" business is as frustrating as it is wasteful. You obviously do not play Hall's bat less than everyday. Thus, unless he is CF, you have Hart, Mench, and Jenkins sharing one corner OF position. I'd just as soon trade both Mench and Jenkins and go with Hart if we're wasting Hall on the other corner OF spot.

I'd hate to be one of the grocery checkers having to carry out that policy. Customers must surely comment/gripe/make bad jokes about it constantly. I have a friend who worked in a chain restaurant where they literally had to card everyone who ordered a drink. She said she had carded people who were obviously in their 70's and could not sell them a drink because they didn't have ID. There was no bending the rule, and usually the manager would have to come out and look like a moron telling them it's company policy to never trust your eyes, even when the person has no hair left, false cow bone teeth, and a walker they bought over 21 years ago. I'm totally fine with "we card anyone who could be under 30" policies. But seriously - carding the elderly? It just seems like stupid overkill and foolish business to me - old people hold grudges. 3.) Gym Class -- Speaking of my school system -- our gym class is about as useless as it gets. My kids come home with tests for "the rules of floor hockey" -- I appreciate the need to teach kids about team sports -- however, I think it more important for kids to learn about food and the way their body processes it. I suspect that a lot of kids (and adults) are fat, because they are ignorant to how to manage their bodies. I'm currently working in what is easily the most obese district I have worked in. Parents are lazy and often meth-addicted. Seriously, these parents won't even sign documents sent home with their kids because they never open their backpacks, they also don't take the time to make sure their kids are bathed or have clean clothes. Gym class is also a problem. Policies like the No Child Left Behind Act scare districts into eliminating non-academic time like recess and gym class in order to spend more time teaching to the tests. In my girlfriend's homeland she had to be able to do backflips in her PE class, yes, backflips - imagine seeing that in America. She also works in schools now and is really disturbed by how little physical activity American children get in school. Much of this is set up before they get there, however, as many kindergarteners are already rolly little piles of goo who are too lazy to play at recess and start breathing heavily and sweating when they have to walk quickly in the hallway and would rather act out scenes from cartoons than run at recess.

It's hard to say what's "best", because all have their own value and flaws and kinda depend on the viewer. In my case, I think fall smack dab in the middle of the common serious fan and the stat-head. Of the most common stats, the ones that I personally like the most are Hitters OPS/OXS Runs Created OPS+ OBP SLG Pitchers FIP DIPS Park-adjusted ERA+ ERA WHIP Defense I put little stock in defensive metrics.

So Koskie is good and cheap but has no trade value? I'd bet he has some value now, but nowhere near what he'll have when he can physically demonstrate that he's able to play at his usual level again.

Right now, this is a crappy trade. We have hopes of contending in the next two years and that almost certainly won't happen without Sheets (aside from incredible progression by at least one of Cappy/Bush/Yo). Hughes is completely unproven, and his absolute ceiling may be somewhere around what Sheets is right now. Also, we have Weeks, and if he's ever going to realize his potential, Cano is superfluous. HOWEVER, if it's next winter and we had a crappy 2007, one of our starters will miss most of 2008 with TJ surgery and Weeks has flamed out, this is a great trade. This is a trade you make when you have almost nothing to play for in the present and can only hope for a better future.

If by online you mean things you can play in your web browser, you can only use the remote. Virtual console games, the ones you can pay to download, will use both classic and gamecube controllers. When you go to download the game, there's an icon that indicates which controllers are compatible, and GC controllers are compatible with pretty much everything.

Suppan's big paycheck may mean that Jenkins can now be had cheaply, because you have to imagine the payroll is stretched to near the max. If anyone is shopped even more than before, I'd put my bet on Jenks.

Childhood obesity. In my opinion, child protective services should get involved whenever you have a 200 pound 5th grader, because it's likely neglect/abuse. If it isn't OK for a 10 year-old to smoke, it shouldn't be OK for you to feed him until his risk of heart disease is higher than a smoker's. I see so many kids in schools that just make me sick. Seriously, these kids come to school with a big bag of chips for snack, and then 2 big slices of pizza with a Dr. Pepper for lunch. You're mistreating your kids when you do this, whether you realize it or not. It really isn't much different than the kid with the untreated infections whose parents nearly get him taken away for neglect. True, many people are genetically fat, but those aren't the cases that bug me. However, it's funny how in recent times, half of the country is "genetically predisposed to being overweight". How so? Your grandparents were just a little overweight and you're 4 bills. People who throw hissy-fits at the cashier when a price is perceived to be wrong. It's not the cashier's fault, you know. If you point it out, they can call for pricing assistance. Also, all of these stores have those little electronic readers everywhere, so if you're concerned about a certain item, you can verify it while shopping. This makes me mad in both directions. 1) I can't stand people arguing over 8 cents. Think about the rate per hour you're making by arguing. If it takes ten minutes to get your 50 cents back, you just made $3 an hour. 2) I hate how stores can't get prices right in an age of automation and sophisticated computers. Seriously, it says "$24.99" all around the product but the registers still ring it up as $29.99. I guess I just distrust retailers enough to think that these may not really be mistakes, but attempts to make money by assuming people won't notice or won't care enough to dispute it.