UConn James

Damn! I can't figure out whether Gus killed that guy because he touched the lab equipment or if it was merely a shock-and-awe moment designed to scare the sh-- out of everyone there, including Mike (as hard as it would be to shock Mike...) in a 'You may very well be next and you're not going to see it coming' kind of way. Probably a little from column A, and a lot from column B. Nevertheless that was an awesome use of silence for ~5 minutes +. And again, the cinematography and artistry of the camerawork with this series is second to none. Another episode title --- "Box Cutter" --- where it means next to nothing going in. But after the episode, it could be three years later and just mentioning it, you know exactly what that episode was about and/or what happened. I love that. Skyler is now waist-deep in all this and she's still worried about appearances and thinks she's above it all. True to form, she puts on a show to get other people to do the dirty work. And the huge robe she was wearing, fluttering around like she's royalty.... I just don't like her character. Did Saul hire the mouth-breather and sweep his office for bugs b/c of Gale's murder, or something else? As they said in some preview material, Saul is the kind of guy who's just going to disappear some day. (On edit: just to be clear this is not spoiler material, they were just talking generally... that he is that type of guy). Whether it's nefarious or hopping a plane to a non-extraditing country, people will show up to his office and he'll just be gone like a fart in the wind. I hope that doesn't happen anytime soon, as he's one of the few sources of comedy (as a true sleazeball, mind you) in an otherwise dark show. Here in the lulls of summer, it's awesome to have something to look forward to on teevee.

What saved it for Japan was the take-down of Alex Morgan on what was going to be a dead breakaway and a sure goal. A red card and a free kick at that moment was cold comfort. That's one of the things about soccer that really frustrates me. The penalty doesn't nearly fit the crime there. After an obvious take-down foul, they legislate a 75% scoring chance into a 15% one. WTF is that?!? An arbitrary distance really shouldn't matter there.

... with a nice set-up from Alex Morgan and her hot pink sports bra.

Alex Morgan ... and her hot pink sports bra!!!

Wow, this is a teevee Sunday.... Women's World Cup final (U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!) PBS's Masterpiece: Mystery series Zen starring "Pillars of the Earth"'s Rufus Sewell Breaking Bad Good thing that load of sand to finish re-leveling the sidewalk hasn't come yet!

Harry Potter 7(b) --- I've never read the books... just watched the films, so a certain part of this film had me a little . Wow. What a way to send it out! This was a top notch production from the first to the last. So many stars put a turn into this, and several got their beginnings. Nice to see it come full circle and with an immensely positive ending. After LOST ended last year with Jack Shephard dying with Vincent at his side ... but simultaneously all of the characters re-uniting past death and being re-absorbed/? together into the Source/Heart of the Island/Light that's inside each person/?. I'm almost expecting the worst and the best from any series I put time into. After about a night of reflection on LOST, I was absolutely OK with how it ended. It totally fit that series, and totally fit the self-sacrificial nature of Jack's character that had been shown all along. Likewise, the ending to HP was so fitting to where it's taken us. No doubt that kids are going to be watching (and, hopefully, reading) this series a hundred years from now and still marveling at the world J.K. Rowling created and that the movies brought to life. Thanks, Harry, Hermione and Ron --- it was a hell of a Nimbus 2000 ride.

Well, I guess you can try to put a lot of crap in front of any outlets. And then as the guy says in "The Hunt for Red October"... "make like a hole in the water." Don't bring it up, and if s/he does say something, say you hired someone at Home Depot, you don't remember their name, and they told you they pulled the permits. Are you in an area that is very tightly wound about this stuff? We finished our basement DIY a couple years ago bit by bit, no permits, and the town just did a revaluation and they said nary a word. For inspectors, you're in the boat of they're either nosy parkers or they're just there to do that specific item and could give a whit about anything else. And in my experience, unless someone's REALLY anal, they don't have schematics on each home's panel wiring, because that would be overkill and REALLY not worth the time spent on it, for any fines they might collect for unpermitted work. First, though, I'd call the pool company and find out from them if a final inspection was done and if they say yes, whether they have paperwork on it to back that up. Not that city/town inspectors have ever f----- up paperwork!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfTrLcXE5sw

I remember hearing about this story quite some time ago. The dates on that have been changed so as to recycle a Web 2.0 viral story.

Players' secret lockout insurance could have sparked talks This is probably the second or third article I've actually read on the NFL lockout. It just hasn't interested me up to this point, and probably won't whenever they do agree on a deal. I don't really want to listen to the legal bull---- being hashed. But this caught my eye in light of one of the pro-union peoples' arguments against the owners... that last year they purchased an insurance policy to cover there being a lockout in 2011. De Smith did the same damn thing at about the same damn time. So it was 'dirty tricks' when the owners did it with public acknowledgement. But the players get a pass... because "That's different!" Just shows once again how there is no one to root for in this stuff.

I'll just say that when Mitt Romney became Mass. governor, he wanted to fire the head of the MTA who oversaw the Big Dig for this and other reasons. Contemporary NYT article This is only part of the reason that I'm voting for Romney in the Republican primary. He has a knack for entering situations that are FUBAR, identifying what's wrong, deciding what needs to be done to remedy it, and then get out of the way. I was impressed with how he handled the 2005 "hundred year" flooding that saw a major dam collapse near a sizable city. In trying to fix the Big Dig and change the culture of the DOT/MTA, he got stalled at every turn by the supermajority Democrats, who were overjoyed to play politics and maintain a non-accountable system even after a woman was crushed in a panel collapse. (Moreover, Amorello was a former Republican state senator, which made me even more impressed with Romney. He doesn't put up with failure, no matter the politics.) The legislature controls the turnpike authority and Amarello was like a cockroach who could survive a nuclear blast. In no way shape or form did they want to give Romney a "win" on this, so they stonewalled him at every avenue in trying to get rid of this dude and fix the MTA. Romney took it to the court system, where he was denied. He tried to demote Amarello (ostensibly to hire someone else as the director) which was met with a 'Nope.' He tried to shame the legislature in the media, which didn't work because they're shameless. He tried seven ways to Sunday, and nothing worked. He was constitutionally unable to do anything about an incompetent department head, and the Democrat legislature refused to do anything about the incompetence until after a woman was pulverized. Amarello finally resigned a couple of months after the collapse. Panels checks and repairs were made and iirc the Big Dig firm was held liable. Romney was given a small measure of control via the DOT and hired a guy who streamlined repairs and instituted a "Fix it First" policy. When Deval Patrick (D) was elected governor, he magically was able to toss Romney's guy and get his own man to head the MTA. (He also magically recovered the ability to appoint an interim U.S. Senator after Ted Kennedy died... an authority the legislature had taken away the minute Romney had been elected.) Doesn't surprise me a bit that this culture is back (if it ever left among the lower tiers of management and DOT workers). Mass Democrats: POLITICS over public safety.

Per the Bills Facebook page (picture included), Jim Kelly completed the first touchdown pass on the new turf this morning.

I see that they love to play catch and release, and that Justice is blind, deaf and dumb in Canada, too. And, unfortunately, that's often what happens when you have a phone dialed to 911 during a gun & knife fight. Because when every second counts, police are just a few (or, here in NE CT... 20) minutes away.

I entered your link on The Google and it brought me to a picture that I know for a fact was posted on 9 July... seeing as I linked to it in this thread on that date. That is the old turf. One hundred percent positive. I can't say it any plainer. Watch the video link in my above post. As of today, they have only laid out a portion of the midfield from ~ 10 yard line to the 50, and the owner of A-Turf said they would be cutting in for the Bills logo (and it will be 30 percent larger than the previous one at midfield) later this week. Who's ?

Some video with the turf company's owner from BB.com.

Chandler, that's a photo of the deconstruction e.g. ripping the old one out. As quoted above, Russ Brandon confirmed blue end zones. They've just started laying out the midfield with the new turf. It's been three days since they started, and it's costing ~$180K. We'll see if this is going to be one of the rare occurrences where the Project Triangle ("Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick two.") is wrong.

Ron Paul announces retirement from Congress

I labeled mine the 'God Protects Drunks and Fools (And Many People Make It On Both Counts)' file.

There are some photos of the new turf being unrolled on the same Facebook link as above. Looks like a brighter green.

Idiot Nearly Falls From the Stands Chasing a Ball at the Home Run Derby Wow. Just... wow. As I wrote upthread, while there needs to be ballpark improvements wrt rails in areas where fans congregate en masse and there's pushing and lunging, this is exactly the kind of guy that can't be protected by them. When you make a better ballpark, nature will just make a better idiot.

Well, I'll be jiggered. This is per the Bills' official Facebook page:

http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-us-afghanistan-karztre76b0ze-20110712,0,98778.story

Per the Albany T-U stub article on the front page, the new turf is going in. Not sure how much I trust that. With its ~3 column inches (unattributed), this is exactly the kind of hack job that would include demolition under the description of "the new turf is going in." mrags, it's been said all along that the old turf will be donated by Erie County. The stub said that Chris Collins will be revealing the recipient later today. Given the to-do, I highly doubt it will be the Bills.... Perhaps they'll be keeping some unnecessary scrap pieces, so your source might not be entirely wrong. That said, I wish they would just get rid of it all, so as not to infect the new stuff with 'Decade of Fail.'

I haven't gone off on some tangential Social Security argument. I've highlighted the copyright legality of it. You can all piss and moan that the NFL retails these for $300. OK. But where you lose me is when you think you're entitled to break copyright law a few times a year just b/c you may spend money on the Bills in other forms. That's like saying it's OK to help someone rob two houses a year as long as you don't torture, rape, or murder anyone. This is black and white. You're either following the law or you're not. You either buy through someone from China who you know ***** all over copyright and trademark laws... or you buy one here through NFL licensed dealers... or don't buy one. There's no weasel room to say "I give enough $ to the NFL/Bills already, so what I'm doing is perfectly legal." B/c the NFL and the Bills hold trademarks on their designs. They contract with companies to make their wares, and then contract with other companies to sell those wares. Trademarks are a special kind of patent, identifying a brand... like Ziploc bags own the trademark for the name Ziploc. No one else can use that name or, say, exactly copy Ziploc's 'Red and Blue when it's open. Purple when it's sealed' design. These Chinese firms are appropriating these registered trademarks and mass producing counterfeit jerseys. It's not OK for you because you do not hold a trademark on the designs/logos. As a customer of these companies, you're in the same boat as people who illegally download music, movies, etc. You may not think much of it, but as I wrote, make no mistake --- you are breaking the law. Exactly none of that changes the fact that breaking trademark and copyright law is illegal.