Mr Info

Here, here... my favorite post, so far, of 2005.

I can't believe the Bills would consider using Bledsoe as a marketing tool this offseason for season ticket sales. If they did, there might be a decline in sales. Marketing's gotta be on Willis and Evans. Tough situation for MM and TD - good team core but do you stick with Drew or give an unproven and untested JP the helm? I am sure the lack of performance by DB in big games and against good defenses is not lost on them. I guess they keep hoping that he'll break out of the funk. I am not going out on a limb by saying this but I think JP and DB will be splitting time with the first team in mini-camp and pre-season though DB will be the "official" starter. I guess we'll see where it goes from there. But, my sources also tell me that JP better become a "student" of the game and not simply believe that his talent will do it for him.

Having worked in research in the pharmaceutical industry, count me in as skeptical about this product. It contains antioxidants, vitamins, herbal ingredients, and other OTC ingredients. I believe some natural remedies are efficacious or, rather, there is a chemical in them which is effective. But using vitamins to prevent colds & flus goes back to some work Linus Pauling had done many years ago but has never been clinically proven. None of the ingredients in this have been clinically demonstrated to prevent influenza. On the other hand it has been demonstrated, in limited studies, that positive or optimistic thinking may provide benefits in battling some afflictions. Perhaps thinking that this medicine will stop your flu causes the body to offer a better defense mechanism. OTOH, your can ingest as many herbal remedies and be as positive thinking that you want and it will never prevent a type 1 diabetic from requiring insulin. But still people buy Enzyte and Enhansulin and snake-oil hair remedies - P.T. Barnum was correct. I would go with the clinically proven remedies. I had seen where flu shots were now available in many states. I would do some more checking around. I received one about a month ago and have had no flu though those around me have had one or two.

It's gotta happen. BTW - got your check today.

Brian, I just received the mail and it has not arrived yet. I am nearly certain that I will be unable to attend the finale. It stinks but that is why I posted this. I want to continue thinking, however remote, that there could be another home game to attend this season.

Perhaps this scenario has been presented. But it is all predicated on the Bills continuing to win. If the Jets lose and the Broncos lose this weekend, the Bills would be #5 seed and the Jets #6. If both the Bills and Jets continue to win their playoff games, I believe that could pit the Jets against the Bills in RWS for the conference championship. Correct? As a season ticket holder, it's fun to consider the possibilities.

I was going to use Belden. I didn't know about Coleman cable. I associate the Coleman name with other products.

Thanks - what do you mean you "lucked out". Shouldn't I also be able to use one of the two coax for HD?

Mostly it pertains to the fact that I can get a single 2x2 (network & QS RG-6) cable using cat5e but I have not seen it for cat6.

I would like to ask you a question. I am building a house and have a data closet where my NID & cable TV will be pulled. Nothing is external to the house, everything is terminated at the data closet. The satellite signal will run to this closet, too. I will have a whole house surge protector and will also protect any external signal (phone, cable, satellite) in the data closet. All my distribution will be from this closet. I was planning on running cat5e for network/phone and quad shielded RG-6 to the designated locations in the house. I was considering cat6 but decided to go with cat5e. I am planning on using 14 gauge for speakers rather than 16 gauge even if some are low end. Based on what you know, should I run an extra cat5e instead of two RG-6s to everywhere I will have a TV monitor? Any other suggestions? Thanks

I would say that the 4 of us (wife and 2 kids) have turned into definites. We may be a few minutes late returning that morning from DeeCee but we will be there. Save some seats.

Bring out the gimp.

We're going to try and make it. We live in Ashland. Sometimes we go to the Mulligans in Mechanicsville because it's closer. The Mulligans there is great because some of the booths have a private TV. However, we will be in DC for an an event Saturday night and do not plan to return until late Sunday morning. If the times work out, all four of us will be there. What's the smoking situation there? We will have our two children (big Bills fans) and I noticed someone else was going to bring their child.

Oh, boy, wished you lived around here. We have a bunch of tile work to get done on our new place. We have a tile contractor through our GC but I'm not sure of his expertise. In any case, are there any of the heated floor products for tile better than the others? I am talking about the pad type of products like WarmlyYours. BTW - I don't know why but when I read your post, I saw 'pipe' instead of 'tile' and I looked quickly to see if it this was a fictitious post by Johnny Wadd.

I'll write it real slow, just for you. Maybe Vic over compensates when he rates the Bills because he grew up around Buffalo and used to write for the local paper and cover the Bills. He does not want to appear a homer on a national service because someone will call him on it. I am not saying that is why he put the Rams ahead in his rating system but maybe it's something he still keeps in the back of his mind. Just a thought I threw out when others were criticizing him. He has tried to be objective about the Bills since he left the News but I would say, if anything, he usually is more pessimistic than optimistic. On the other hand, not too much positive has transpired since he left. That info was relevant to this discussion. BTW, I saw your guest quote and Vic is making easily more than 55k from his various sources.

Vic's a former Buffalo Evening News sports reporter who hails from near Utica, NY. Maybe he's trying not to be a homer. He makes more than many of you think he does.

I want to get an amp for the 5:1 surround speakers I am installing in my house. These are OK speakers, Stealth Acoustics, but far from top of the line. I plan on attaching a couple of other low-end speakers in another room to the amp. I would like to send digital radio, internet audio (e.g., radio), HDTV, DVD/CD, and even an old cassette and turntable (for vinyl parties) through the amp. I am willing to pay reasonably for something but I don't need top-of-the-line equipment. Any suggestions which manufacturer/model to investigate? I had heard there is a seconds location for audiophiles who dump their equipment after a year but I have not had any luck in finding it. Thanks

Saw the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tonight for the first time. We went out of curiosity to see a holiday show (and also due to some recommendations from this board: LewPort71, Fezmid & Campy; to name a few). I counted 8 singers, 7 musicians, and 8 people added to the group from the local symphony. Some traditional Christmas songs (a lot of those were the type where you recognize some of the lyrics but can't remember the title) as well as originals and everything from blues to Beethoven to Led Zep to Latin chants. Outstanding show - and it is a performance. The laser and light show as well as the pyrotechnics were impressive. The real snow fall was cool. They used mini snow machines and due to the low humidity in the Coliseum, most of it evaporated before it landed. It's all well-choreographed but you are not sacrificing style for substance. They compliment each other. I'll being seeing them again some day.

Wrong again - Below are the links - current as of 1:45 pm on 11/19. List - no rebates, shipping, etc. (both vendors have those specials). These are stock systems - non-customized to provide with a fair comparison. Dell Inspiron 9200 $1,569 (256m RAM) HP Compaq Presario R3320 $1,479

One of my wife's friends lives 2 houses away from Marv in Williamsburg. She said she was going to invite us over to meet him. Thanks for the Marv post as a reminder.

You do not mention of the DVD writer. There is still a good difference in price between DVD R and DVD WR devices. We'll ignore the fact that you may have a desktop with a DVD writer or that I may have a 21" monitor to connect to the laptop. My point is that you get more bang for the $. Nothing against Dell - I know lots of people that are happy with them. But they're not the price leader among the big guys as a lot of people believe. Depends which apps you run regarding the processor. However, within the next 1-2 years you'll notice the difference if you plan on using any 64-bit apps. I expect the laptop to be productive for 2-3 years.

Exactly!!

Not that similar - That 9200 configuration/price you are quoting has half the RAM (256), a smaller disk (40 vs 60 M), the DVD was read only, & the Athlon 64 3200, by all specs, is superior to the Intel 4 that is in the 9200. Especially, when considering present and future 64-bit enhancements. The screen is bigger on the 9200 but the DVD writer, not even considering the additional RAM, larger disk, and better processor, is the big difference when comparing value at similar cost. I am willing to bet that the majority of people would pick more RAM, a larger disk, a better processor, and a writeable DVD over having a 17" screen vs. 15.1". That's the difference. More bang for the buck.

Sure, I did the research to prove it. Find me a Dell laptop with 512 M, 60 G drive, a 1394 port, a DVD +R/W, and a processor equivalent to the Athlon 64 3200 for less than $1300. I'll even forget about the parallel port and the superior video. Actually, I don't believe you'll be able to find a new Dell laptop with all of that for less than $1500. And I got free shipping, too.

I did a component comparison between Dell and H-P for laptops and you get more bang for your buck with the latter. This is comparing the off-the-shelf systems. For example, the H-P (or Compaqs) came standard with 512 M memory and 60 G hard drives. Those were upgrades with comparable Dell systems. I got a 15" screen, DVD writer, Video is NVIDIA GeForce 4 440 Go with 64MB DDR, AMD Athlon 64 3200 processor, IEEE 1394 port, and it even included an old-timey parallel port for $1267 (parallel and serial ports are non-standard on current systems). You can't get that much for that price at Dell.