I don't have much to say up here, but the last OT is down on the page and rather full, and let's face it, sort of locked. I'm also not going to datestamp this, as by our recent OT history this may be up for a while.

In my general anti-tradition fashion, I'm going to do the OT my way, with TOPICS below in the first few comments, to keep things sort of contained until more people start topics.

As always, feel free to do whatever you want in this space, within the established guidelines of LL.

As it's a new week, I guess we should start off on a fresh foot. I'll start with a word-eating story and questions on top, and some topics below. Standard OT rules apply.

So we've had discussions of awkward phone messages, but here's the situation I found myself in today - I have a text on my phone from a number I don't know, but obviously the person knows me and saw me at a store I was at over the weekend.

Anyone else have that problem, and how did you handle it? Do I embrace my tactless self and ask who it is, or attempt to carry on a conversation and try and discern clues? If it's someone I wouldn't mind becoming social with again, how do I answer the FB/Contacts delete question without sounding like an ass?

Also on my awkward list - I just got a wedding invitation for family that I'm largely estranged from. I don't particularly want to see any of these people in the future, but I do think it would be fun to show up for the weekend like I'm worth a million bucks - rent a Cadillac, stay at the Hilton, borrow a $4K watch, buy a $1000 suit (which I could use either way), etc. 

Do I ignore it, try to make amends, decline for a real or fake reason, or make the most of the weekend to rub it in their faces?

As one of the resident IT guys of LL, I always try to help out the OT dwellers with their computer issues. Lately, it seems, one of the prevailing topics has been people losing data, or not knowing good ways to back up their own computers. So, this serves as a How-To for the safe ways to keep your computer backed up. 

This is meant to be more generalized for the average user. I won't be delving into RAID, for instance. If you have questions regarding anything more advanced than what I've covered here, feel free to ask in the comments.

So you've decided to back up your data. What does that even mean? There are a myriad ways to back up your data, and all of them involve copying it to a different place from where you normally access it. 

However, some places are safer than others. From Least Safe to Most Safe, here are the main options:

• On to your own machine - This involves copying to a different folder on the same machine, don't recommend. This wont protect you from any data loss.
  
• On to another device in your home - This could be anything from plug-in flash drive to an external hard drive to the desktop machine in the den. This will protect you from data loss on the machine, but not in the case of a whole-house calamity.
• Onto a device out of your home - This could be anything from a hard disk that you leave at your parents house to cloud backup. This is what we will be focusing on, as it protects you in case of a calamity such as a fire.

Now that we've discussed getting data out of your house and somewhere else, here are some options for doing so:

This is a tried and true method for many people. This involves using a backup method to copy data to an external hard disk or flash drive, and moving that disk physically to another location such as work or a family member's house.

Upsides - You know what you're backing up. You can pick and choose what files you want where, and can version things to your own plan. You can keep them in a spot you know in a place you know and trust.

Downsides - Despite being all knowing and all seeing, sometimes you will miss things. These things could be as simple as your bookmarks in a folder you didn't know existed, or a file that you thought you drug over but didn't. It is also difficult to keep track of versions, or know what to get rid of when. Anyone could plug in that hard drive and see your [insert uncomfortable subject here]

Tips for using this method - Get on a routine. Use two hard drives, and swap them every time you visit, bi-weekly at most. This will cover machine failures in the short term and house failures in the long term. Don't keep the hard disk with you when you aren't moving it to storage. Get a backup software that knows what to store and for how long (they're free, really).

This is obviously my preferred method, but if you don't trust some faceless company, there are ways around saving your personal data to "the cloud", as they call it. I'll go over both. 

This is the part that is probably going to sound like a commercial, but it's more of a "satisfied customer testimonial". I use Crashplan. I use it in both its paid for cloud method and also for its free "friend" system that allows you to back up to (or in my case, back up for) friends, and keep your/their data safe in the meantime. 

With my friends I like to use the term backup buddies for how I set them up. It sounds cheesy, but given to non-computer savvy people they usually love it, and you can also use it sarcastically with your friends. 

I won't go too heavily into their sales pitch, but the main reason I use them for backing up my friends is that I can show them exactly what I see when they back up to me:

That's it. That folder is originally about 2GB of random PDFs and pictures (and who knows what else) from a friend of mine. Now it's encrypted into files I don't have access to. (not that I really care what he has in there anyways)

All that it takes is to go to crashplan.com, get the software for the type of computer you have, and install. They'll ask you to sign up for an account, and give your computer a "friend" number. All you need to do is do the same on the other end (I usually do this for friends, but their savvy may vary), and swap numbers. 

There are two settings that you need to figure out using Crashplan - what folders you are backing up, and where you are backing up those folders to. The first is under the backup tab, down near the bottom. For numerous reason I recommend leaving it at its default at the least, and adding folders where you know you save data. The second is where you are going to store your backup buddies data. It defaults to a place deep in your main drive, but this can be changed easily if you have a second disk with more space or an external drive that you leave plugged in all of the time. 

There are a couple of caveats. If both you and your backup buddies have laptops and no desktops, it can be difficult to schedule backups together. Both computers have to be on and connected to the internet for this to really work. If there are intermittent connections, it will cause problems. Therefore I recommend that if you use the backup buddies system, you both have desktop PCs or laptops that you leave on 24/7. That being said, I have had friends that I made backup buddies agree to leave their computers on overnight every Tuesday and Friday to allow backups to run twice weekly.

The other, easier option is to back up your data using their servers. Obviously, this costs money, though not much for the peace of mind it will give you. If you only have a laptop, or alternatively don't have any friends or family, this may be the option for you. 

I will be around off and on all day today to answer any questions about this, any other backup solution, or anything computers in general. 

As always, this is also an OT, and all OT rules apply. 

Here it is again, another CYOOT. I rather liked last week's formula, so let's give that another go.

Same rules apply. Start looking down, where shortly after posting, I'll have created a few comments marked "Topic:". These will serve as the discussion leads for the day. Don't like any of mine? Make your own!

Although I'd like to see other people follow my convention, deep down I know that only I and maybe two other people will actually follow it, because nobody reads up here once they realize there are no questions, and all this is really just to fill space and give a fresh thread for people to post on.

In past OTs, we've usually had a top down format, where the poster would suggest some conversation starters and there would be the main brace of answers in the top level of threads. 

We've talked about changing formats before, and I have to say I like the idea, so I'll give it the old college try.

This is a CYOO, so BYOT(opic). Keep an eye out on the threads below, where I'll post a few comments with topics, and we'll see how it goes. Find a topic you like, or if you don't like any of the ones currently up, post your own.

Given the size of the last OT, it's probably time for a new one. Eventually we'll run out of questions, but not yet. Here's some random ones that I hope you'll all find amusing or at least answerable as they are largely secondary.

1) What do you have in your pockets/purse/fanny pack right now? 
2) What's your favorite item in your fridge at this moment?
3) Favorite gift you've received from someone you barely know?
4) If there was one thing you could change about yourself instantly, what would it be?
5) If you had to make a resume, what would you put as your biggest accomplishment?
6) If you were bragging to friends, what would you say is your biggest accomplishment?
7) What's for lunch?

One of the benefits of a horrible Mariners team is that everyone flocks to the OTs. This is also a bad thing, in that someone has to keep churning out the diaries to keep the machine running. So here's some prompts, based on a couple observations from my deliberately boring life. 

The new guy at my work has a small USB symbol tattoo on his upper arm.

via www.maximumpc.com

This obviously gives him his geek credentials, and may or may not be an initiation into some secret society of people that worship external storage. Still, much cooler in my eyes than the "Shore Special" (tribal armband) that my boss has. 

Anyways, here's some prompts!

1) Do you have any tattoos? If so where and what? If not, any reasons (or lack thereof)?
2) What's your style? Do you associate yourself by a brand, type of clothing, or class of people when you dress?
3) What things can you find on your person at all times, regardless of situation?
4) Do you have something that you own for sentimental reasons that nobody would think has value?

The past year has been a whirlwind of change for me. New house, new job responsibilities, new meaning to each day as it unfolds. As an avowed hater of change, this has made for many trying moments as I acclimate myself to not thinking about the fun in the near term as much as I think about my future. 

A corollary to this has been that I haven't had time for the things I've obsessed on in the past, at least without having to knowingly sacrifice things that I deem to be important now. I've "grown up" as my dad would put it.

Now, some questions:

1) What were your goals at 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago (pick one or two as appropriate)?
2) How many of those did you accomplish? What notable ones didn't you finish?
3) What was the point where you realized that the unfinished goals weren't feasible?

As a lighter subject, I'm not a big fan of excessive patriotism (although it has its place, see Olympics/WC), but I've come to absolutely love the Fourth of July, and almost exclusively for fireworks and the taking pictures of said fireworks.

I've gone to two shows so far this year, and have three lined up for the weekend. Always along is my camera, and although I never get around to processing for at least a couple of weeks after the fact just the act of taking the pictures is something that I look forward to.

Some more questions:

4) What's your favorite firework?
5) Do you go out of your way to see a fireworks show?
6) If you're not a fireworks fan, what's your favorite holiday weekend activity?

And we're off! WHHHHOOOOOOOOOOSHHH!

It's new OTD time again, folks. In lieu of the usual OT fare of video games, books, making fun of celebrities and yuppies, etc. I've decided to go with a different theme for my occasional contribution to this wonderful site - home improvement.

This is a topic that has been the bane of my existence for the past month and a half, as I bought quite the clunker and am determined to make it livable on a budget. I won't go LLFB and detail every change I've made so far, but here are a couple things that I've done, and a longer list of neat stuff I'm looking to do.

Done -
* New kitchen cabinets
* Bedroom tear out, replacing wiring (drywall going up soon!)

Neat stuff that I may want to build/do in the future -
Catwalk on the ceiling - I don't even like the cat, but I think this would be awesome, especially the carpeted pole in the front room (maybe have the carpet removable so it can serve double duty without the rug burns)
Spray foam insulation - I can't do it now because of time constraints, but this is something I will be coming back to in the near term. It's the wave of the future, and it's not a flying car this time. R-Value of 21 for a 2x4 framed wall with built-in leak sealing and vapor barrier? Yes, please.

Normal projects in the pipeline -
Make a real front door
Built-in office desks and shelving
Tear down and rebuild shed
Replace deck/patio

Links to sites that I read about housing/remodeling/design -
http://diydiva.net/
http://www.inhabitat.com/
http://www.doityourself.com/

So, now comes the sharing portion of  the show. What things have you done to make your place more livable? Good ideas that maybe you don't see everywhere? Any questions about work you want to do? I know I have quite a bit of experience in roofing, siding, electrical, insulation and tree work. I'm sure there are other people here that know about other things as well.

As always, normal OTD rules apply - talk about whatever within the rules.

After visiting the Metrodome/Minneapolis and Miller Park/Milwaukee -

Metrodome - I've been there once and am going to miss it. The walk down to the seats is steep even on the lower level, and it's loud and echoey, but still one of the funner parks I've been in. Decent food, nothing special but good selection and quality. New park note - The area Target Field is in is windy as fuck. I would plan on not going to MIN for any trips until the nicest part of summer, or at least bring all your football gear. I put the o/u on snow-outs at 5 for the 2010 season.

Minneapolis - BUSES, TONS OF BUSES. I loved it. Low key, lots of hamster trails in the sky, nothing is outside (except see above). Good food, nice views, great city to walk around in. I heartily recommend the 8th St (Pub?), the Mac and Cheese was some of the best I've ever eaten, and I don't even like cheese.

Miller Park - Fuck you, Selig. I didn't think I could hate you any worse, but now I have to think of new, more painful ways to describe my hopes of your untimely death. 1. Milwaukee is a gem of a city, but you can't tell because the stadium is 10 miles out of the city center. 2. There is one bus that goes to the stadium, and it only runs every 20 mins on one small route that goes along one street. I had heard that you were putting it out so far to get the parking revenues, but for fuck's sake run more than one bus and one route. 3. The pleb's parking lot is about a mile and a half walk from the stadium, if you get there early. With no cover. Oh, and you walk into the ass end of the stadium. 4. Why the hell do the seats face the center fielder? Do you have some sort of agreement with the local chiropractor's association? There is no excuse, it is a baseball first stadium, fucking put the seats facing the correct direction.

On a lighter note, the stadium itself on the inside was nice, but not even in my top five. It had no notable food aside from every single stand having the same sausages and hot dogs. Oh, and for a state that prides itself on cheese, they use the same shitty cheese sauce in their nachos and fries as your local 7-11.

Milwaukee - Markets and festivals and little shops and cafes in corners. It's like a little slice of Toronto without the passport. I spent about 3 hours just walking the river and lake. If you can go there, do it. I'm going back next year if I can.

Here's my scorecard:

SEA OAK LAA TEX | MIN CHW DET CLE KC | TOR BOS NYY1 NYY2 BAL TB = 9/15

COL SF LAD ARI SD | MIL CHC PIT CIN STL HOU | NYM1 NYM2 PHI WAS ATL FLA = 6/17

Anyone else have any new stadiums they've visited? Any thoughts, good or bad?

As always, OT rules apply. Talk about whatever, minus the obvious.

I think it's about time for another one of these bad boys. Some topics for possible discussion:

• Post-Its are the most useful invention ever
  
• Gold chains on men - purely douchey or just a sign of ignorance?
• The origins of the apparently LL-exclusive phrase "Boned" (sorry Taylor)
• Where the fuck did the tags go? Update - There they are. WTF, SBN? You have to run the autotag to use them?
  
• Uses for dollar bills besides currency
• Voicemail should go the way of the dinosaur (Fuck you, Carl Everett)
  
• Good names for a cat (don't worry, I've covered the Chinese food names already abender20)
• As always, anything else your heart desires (and is in LL guidelines)

So we all saw that story about the umpire that called the RJ game for Dave Valle. Deadspin has a great write-up here.

Some background info (from SI):

So dominant was Johnson that before a game in 1993, the home plate umpire told Mariners catcher Dave Valle, "They don't even need you with Randy pitching."

"What are you talking about?" replied Valle, who would not name the ump.

"He's so good they don't need you. Let me call the pitches tonight."

"I let him call every pitch." recalls Valle, to whom the umpire whispered pitches under his breath.

An overpowering Johnson went the distance in a Mariners victory.

That put the list of potential umps at (Per Deadspin):

Jim McKean, vs. Boston, April 21 (Johnson's line: 4 hits, 0 ER, 8 strikeouts)
Tim Welke, vs. Cleveland, April 26 (7 hits, 3 ER, 7 strikeouts)
Dale Scott, at Oakland, May 16 (1 hit, 0 ER, 14 strikeouts)
Ken Kaiser, at Toronto, Aug. 20 (3 hits, 1 ER, 11 strikeouts)
Joe Brinkman, vs. Milwaukee, Sept. 5 (5 hits, 2 ER, 13 strikeouts)
Ed Hickox, vs. Texas, Sept. 21 (3 hits, 0 ER, 11 strikeouts)
Drew Coble, at Minnesota, Oct. 1 (9 hits, 2 ER, 7 strikeouts)

Today Valle was on the MLB channel on XM, and Kevin Kennedy got him to open up a little. Dave proclaimed that the umpire had called for about two innings, then they went on to a 4-1, 3 Hit, CG victory.

That means that we can now positively claim (as much as going by one man's statements can) that it was Ken Kaiser that called that game. I wonder if anyone will ask him for a comment?

Over this week, I added numbers 11, 12 and 13 (out of now 32) to my list of ballparks visited. Figured I'd share a few pictures and make an OT at the same time.

All the pictures (and more from the trip, should you be interested) are hosted on Flickr.

Progressive Field/Cleveland -

I didn't spend much time in Cleveland, but had a nice lunch at one of the restaurants in the area.

Comerica Park/Detroit -

Detroit was supposed to be another afternoon trip without much exploring, but I found the building above, and spent a good couple hours trying to find a way inside. I think it was a hospital before it was condemned, but no matter what it was it was fun to explore. Oh, yeah, there's my car for scale.

PNC Park/Pittsburgh -

Pitt was a lot of fun to walk around, even in the rain. The park is nice, easily the nicest of the three, and in the top five of the parks I've visited.

Summary & Discussion Topics

I've always been interested if anyone else on LL has done this sort of trip, and if so, how far are you?

This summer is going to be MIN/MIL, and maybe Chicago if I have the time. If anyone has been to any of these, is the Metrodome as bad/the same/better as other stadium based ballparks like McAfee and Skydome?

Whatever else anyone wants to talk about.

I figured today was a good day for a linky post, a little earlier than usual.

This is a poll for all those converted by LL to better beer drinkers. Remember these slogans from your cheaper days? (Note: That whole site is awesome, and I could easily link half the content) (Second Note: Can anyone beat 3:34 in the 50 Capitals Challenge?)

I've changed signs around before, but this is a masterpiece.

via media2.kxan.com

In fucked up news, some guy tried to cut the implants out of an ex-girlfriend. People are messed up.

In book news, I'm halfway through reading Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do, and I have to say it is excellent. He stays a little general for someone like myself that's read traffic and urban planning books before, but it's a great book to get someone hooked on the subject.

Not to start up this debate again, but according to traffic engineers, all you early mergers are doing it wrong (PDF). If there's traffic and a backup, late merging makes for more capacity and quicker traffic flow (because there's no queue jumpers disrupting the line, and everyone knows what to expect at the merge point).

I won't link to it because you can't find an article about it without politics, but the digital TV switchover is still on for Feb 17th. Does anyone out there still have a TV that's not hooked up to cable or satellite? If so, do you have one of the boxes or a digital TV? Neilsen says 10% of people won't have any access to TV after the switch, but I'm skeptical of that number.

With the coming of spring (actually the accumulation of too much shit), I've been bit by the cleaning bug. After 500$ made on Craigslist, and half a closet and a good chunk of the garage now clear to fill with more junk, I've turned my attention to the numerous bookshelves in my apartment with an eye on clearing them out to give myself a chance to use my Amazon gift cards to the fullest.

What does this mean for LL? An old-fashioned book discussion, of course. I'm going to use this opportunity to tell you about some of my most read items, list a few books I'm looking forward to reading, and I invite all of you to do the same.

Books I've read repeatedly, and urge you to as well:
1421-The Year China Discovered America
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Capitalism 3.0
Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776
I won't bore you with my many Fantasy/SciFi recommendations.

Books I'm looking forward to reading:
1434 (Followup to 1421)
Wikinomics
The Wisdom of Crowds
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

And finally, a couple interesting links I've found on our sister sites:
How the 40 Man Roster Works (From BCB)
Interesting NYTimes story on Risk Management (Orig Posted on BTB)

This heapin' helpin' of OT is served family style, so remember to use your serving utensils and don't double dip.

I know we have had the worst Christmas movie ever discussion before, and I'm not looking to open it back up, but the other night I saw the absolute worst animated hour of television in any genre. Apparently the heirs of Charles Schultz are content raping the corspe of his legacy by releasing movies after his death that make it look like he went senile in his old age.

Pre-empting Kevin's lack of BOTD postings, I'm throwing down the gauntlet:

This would be the mythical bacon cake, a cornbread cake with bacon bits, maple-based frosting, and of course the garnish on top. Beat that, faux-angryman.

Anyone else get "the talk" at work over the past few days? Not the birds and the bees of course, but the "Times are tough and you should feel indebted that we let you keep your jobs" talk. I got that Monday and it looks like an earthquake ran through my office. Many are scared for their jobs, but I for one am looking forward to my future career in the world of dirt farming with the rest of the plebs. Beats my nice cushy IT job and LL every morning before everyone shows up, right?

There looks to be a shortage of topics, since we appear to have burned through our weekly allotment of topics in yesterday's OTDOD.

We have to conserve topics for the rest of this week, so today's topics will be all about me and my trip. Any departure will get a stern (read: no) reprimand, which will be roundly ignored as you continue to talk about whatever the hell you want.

Topics for today include:

• What is there to do in a rural Mississippi casino besides gamble, drink, and selling electronics to hicks?
• Interesting things to do when you're on a plane for over 12 hours in the next week and a half.
  
• What is there to do in LV (for little to no money) besides strip clubs, gambling, drinking, and selling electronics to rich snobs?
• Does anyone want any pictures of anything in either of these places? Keep in mind, they have to be in running distance of the strip.
• Is there an app for BB that will let me participate in LL comment threads? Opera mobile crashes at the long-ass cookie that SBN tries to give you, the BB browser is more than useless, and neither let me log in.

For your viewing pleasure, today's OTDOD will be broadcast in glistening technicolor.

• I don't think we've had quite enough Rock Band Two discussion, so let's hear it. What's your favorite song? Insturment? How do you get it to download songs in the background like I've heard about?
• I'd like to open the floor to questions. There has been pretty good business for this in the past couple days, so why not make it official? Got any problems or questions about your computer, cooking, or just about anything? Let LL solve it*.
• I can't get to youtube videos here at work, so you'll just have to hum Ramblin' Rod's birthday theme (update: smile contest theme - thanks pdb) to yourself instead.
• iku iku is "I'm coming" in Japanese. Discuss.

Continue reading this post »

Hello future draft picks and getting rid of the chaff. Raul Ibanez, WFB, and Cairo are all filed. Let's hope they go on to prosperous(that's not the word) happy(that's not it either) who the fuck cares careers somewhere else.

Excerpt from MLB.com story:

Raul Ibanez, one of the Mariners' most reliable run producers during the past four seasons, filed for free agency Thursday.

Longtime Mariners utility player Willie Bloomquist and veteran infielder Miguel Cairo were also among the 65 Major League players that filed on the first day of the filing window, which lasts until Nov. 13.

I think this might be the best news since we didn't hire a retread GM. Now let's see him not bring any of the three back in. It doesn't look so good from that standpoint:

When new general manager Jack Zduriencik was asked during his introductory press conference if he wanted to bring Ibanez back next season, the GM said he needed to talk to other baseball operations people in the organization before making a decision.

C'mon Zoidberg, time to bring in some new talent.

Today's offtop, now with less tags than the last.

Possible topics of discussion could or could not include:

• We're outsourcing our plethora of school shootings to Finland. What's the conversion rate to euros?
• I saw 50 Cent in the whitest part of a rich white suburb in NJ today, looking for a place to shoot a movie. Discuss possible implications on sell-outness, and the likelihood for a Method Man-like movie about golf and country clubs. Show your work.
  
• It's the last week of Mariner baseball. Does this make you happy or sad? Are there any memories of this year you'd like to share with the class?
• I still hate Carl Everett. He didn't even show up at the game I went to just to heckle him.
• Which is better, Ghostbusting or Ghostriding?
• Is LEGO batman really necessary?
• How is BrianL's wrist injury going to effect his posting stats? Feel free to speculate on your LL fantasy team's chances w/o him at top form. I for one predict an uptick in his House% after the Dr visit.

Continue reading this post »

In a move that made ESPN board members everywhere stand up and do a little dance, it appears that Tom Brady is hurt. This means all of you looking for sports news on ESPN (hah) can bugger off and watch a continuous loop of the latest reel of either Brady hobbling out of a doctor's office or Farve's "amazing" 6 point "blowout" of the "resurgent" Dolphins (who might win 3 more games this year).

In real news -

• Russia looks to ban South Park. Now we know what one of the themes of the next new show will be. Thanks for spoiling the surprise, Ruskis.
• In a move that scares the crap out of idiots that barely understand the news everywhere, the CERN supercollidor is ramping up its' atom smashing abilities.
• The US's newest export - diet crazes and fitness stupidity. I guess that makes sense after all the McDonalds and Burger Kings we sent over.
  
• Watch out, AK. You might be next. Not that you have any use for condoms anyways.
  
• Nashivillians, be very proud. You have the best men's restrooms in the US.

Your LL Mad Lib of the Day -

In your best Joe Morgan impression:

I just don't understand why the {Team1} would drop {Player1}. He's been a(n) {adj}  {noun} to his team, and {verb} an astonishing {stat not made by basement dwellers}. When I played, {noun} like {Player1} were {verb}. However, I do like {Team2}'s pickup of {Player2}. He’s a(n) {adj} that will {verb} the {Team2} into the {noun}.

Today will be a crazy day at work, but I said I would make today's post, so here it is. I'm boring and reliable in a way that only Matthew and Brian could imagine.

Today's main topic:
How the fuck in 5 angles in glistening pure HD can you botch an instant replay home run call that obviously bounced 8-10 feet left of the foul pole? Hank Steinbrenner must be very happy with his investment.

In other news:

• An elephant makes a heartwarmingly Josh-Hamiltonian style journey. Surely someone will sign him in time for the 09 Home Run Derby.
• Lair, liar, pants on fire. More importantly, how is that news?
  
• Holy shit I hate geese. Every time I see one I am tempted to run it over repeatedly.
• The gecko in my cube is still loose. It appears to like the fruit flies that have taken to the crushed raisins I have stashed in the bare corner of the cube. No word on whether it'll save me money on anything.
• Those who have ever gone to the deep south will appreciate the brand new Waffle House museum opening in Atlanta, GA.
  Alternate discussion topic - how you can get enough breakfast "food" to feed a family of 6 for under 10$.
• Can anyone say 1TB Tivo HD (with 2 cablecard slots)? I know what I want for Christmas.

Have at it, people.

OK, let's give this a shot. If it turns out badly, it's NOLA's fault.

Topics for today could include:

• Why American Football should never be talked about.
• The soon to be upcoming 2012 London Olympics.
• Starting a garden of acceptable ML relievers in your backyard.
• Why art using XRays is awesome, (or not you snobs).
• Why tags and over tagging bugs the inner OCD in me.
• How best to get even with Netflix after finding out they don't offer The Outer Limits past Season 1 *or* Cannibal - The Musical.

Continue reading this post »

Like most people here, after finding LL & USSM and spending a couple days learning about another view of the team I hadn't seen before, I kept coming back. It's no wonder why. We have here some of the most forward thinking baseball ideas, coupled with some of the more interesting people I've met online. The "Frat House" vs "Classroom" aspect of the M's blagoweb really holds true.

Yesterday, we saw an outsider come in, as happens often, and make some assumptions and use numbers that aren't exactly accurate. This made me realize how much I don't know, and gave me an opportunity to go back into the archives and bone up on all the things I've skimmed over in the past.  This is that list, sorted by category.

If anyone has anything to add to this list, or has a problem with classification, please leave that in comments, and I'll update as requested.

Note - All links open in a new window.

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I recently posted directions to viewing MLBTV on VLC in an (almost) empty gamethread. Today I saw a couple people asking about it while perusing past threads, so I figured I'd post it in a more conspicuous place.

via i241.photobucket.com

I can attest that it does work (that's my desktop pictured), although path I took was a little different (and more roundabout) from the ones on the thread below. I did follow the directions below for my laptop, and it comes to the same conclusion.

1 - You'll need Firefox (non-version specific), VLC, and you need to uninstall any Silverlight/Autobahn plugins, and especially Mosaic (uses Silverlight). I used the latest build of FF (3.0 full release).

2 - It's much easier to just have VLC installed before you install the add-on. I'm sure most people that read this already do, but it allows you just run the setup wizard directly from the install.

3 - Most likely, you will have to restart after all these steps complete. VLC doesn't like using the WMP8 codecs you install in step 11, and restarting forces the issue.

4 - You may have to play around with the add-on settings to get this to work correctly, depending on any prior configurations. On my GFs machine, it was follow-the-directions easy, on my LT it involved some random tweaks.

The simplest way to use this is to go to the link from the media guide as opposed to the main page. The main page MLBTV links take you to the 400k stream, and who wants that?

When the page loads up, it will then start VLC,and play your game in the VLC window. At this point, you can close the window behind, in the same way you would through WMP.

You can then repeat this step for as many games as you can fit down your pipe. 10@800k was easy for my oversubscribed business-class FIOS, and people should be able to fit 6@800k on an average cable line.

Two notes for full-screen secondary video output people (such as myself):

1 - Most video cards will use the video stream you first open as the full-screen clone, with no way to change it. On older video cards, you will need to close all video streams to reset the fullscreen stream. On newer cards (DX9.?, not sure exactly where the cutoff is), it will substitute the next one opened chronologically. This means plan out what streams you want to watch fullscreen ahead of time, and be prepared to start from scratch if a game you want to watch on your second screen comes on after you've already put up all your screens.

2 - If you're watching on a large (32" or above) TV, and have a decently fast computer, you will find much better quality by turning on deinterlacing and post-processing. Neither of these options make much of a difference when viewing on your PC, however.

Directions found on MLB.TV Forums here.

If anyone shows interest in it, I'll also get around to writing up how to record the streams through VLC. (Not so much a hint: Just get a Mac, and you can save the streams directly from the MLBTV window to .qt with the flip4mac wmv plugin.)

Feel free to leave any questions in the comments, and I'll answer when I get back to work from lunch.

This 75 word limit makes my "Story in Pictures" a "Story in Pictures + 75 Words". Not nearly as cool, if you ask me.

"Fact":
Washburn, who is married with three children, grew up in Webster, Wisconsin and still lives there to this day. In 2002 he celebrated the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by allegedly hooking up with a 16-year old girl who worked at the concession stand at Angel Stadium. Washburn was investigated by local authorities in Orange County for this incident, which his wife did not enjoy. Television station KABC reported that the 16-year-old girl, whose vagina Washburn had invaded, called police from an Orange County hospital room on September 11, 2002 and made the allegation. The Orange County District Attorney's office declined to press charges, saying that it would be hard to make the case as it seemed that the girls' family had received a large influx of cash of late and made it clear they would be traveling and not available for a trial.

-Wikipedia , Jarrod Washburn entry dated 5/21/08

I know there is probably something about this somewhere in the archives, but I can't find it/there was never one for LAAAA.

My GF and I are coming from NJ, to LA and San Fran, to get LA out of the way for our ballpark tour, and visit SF.

Our itinerary:
SAT - Flight in
SUN - Ms @ LAAAA, ?????
MON - ?????
TUE - LAA park tour, ?????
WED - LAD park tour, AZ @ LAD
--------------------->Drive to Oak/SF
THUR - MIN @ OAK, ?????
FRI - SF park tour, CIN @ SF
SAT - Alcatraz, ?????
SUN - Flight out

I'm looking to fill in the ?????s. Any suggestions from the Cali people? Also, Erika is looking to get a good picture of the HOLLYWOOD and a nice sunset picture.

PS - We have two tickets for the A's, that she bought for the Wed we are going to LAD. I am willing to give them up for less than cost. Row 5, Sec 108, Aisle.
 They cost us 85 total, but I'll take whatever I can get.

Just a few observations I would like to share with you all, and a couple suggestions on what I think would make this site even better, while they are still listening.

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But I saw today that Arthur Rhodes has signed up for free agency. Are we going after him again, or just letting him go? Do we even want him? I'd say, sure, but making sure he's healthy, and with a big *.

In other news, this is one of the ads playing in the Taco Hell threads:

                                                                                                                           

I know that this is a very hostile forum for asking for such things, but now is the time to start stuffing.

Ichiro is a mere 20,000 from not starting, and being replaced by Manny Ramierez, of all assholes. You know those RSN dickheads are going to be stuffing for him, we have to strike and strike now.

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