UConn James

I'll bet $200 that the Mavericks win the championship....

More evidence that no matter the sport, you can't (always) buy a championship. Bosh, Wade and LeBron James couldn't win against German dude, an ancient Kidd and a bunch of nobodies (at least to someone who doesn't watch the NBA but for ~ 10 minutes of the Finals).

Speaking of stuckyincincy, he hasn't posted in a long time.... Anyone know him IRL and if he's OK?

I'm pondering what to do for a transition/lame-duck avatar before the official ceremony.

Tom, you've officially reclaimed the title. Swearing in is at noon tomorrow, where your possessions will be moved into the residence while you deliver your re-inaugural address and you'll be given a new set of launch codes.

"Officer Down" is a de facto request for mutual aid from any fellow officer nearby. It's just understood among anyone who's ever worn a badge. There isn't time to run this up the chain of command. The academics just can't appreciate that. Their mindset is theory. An officer's mindset is what's happening in reality in front of him/her.

The concept of "mutual aid" seems to be lost on you and, evidently, on Rice U. Judging by the size of their "department" there is no doubt (let me emphasize here... no doubt) that Rice relies on the city of Houston for police back-up, lock-up and legal proceedings for crimes committed on their campus. I hope and am confident that HPD is above it, but it wouldn't be out of the realm that there's going to be tensions and repercussions in the "town-gown" relationship over this. It was a totally ****head move.

Link - Bills MMQB Club wrap-up This was discussed in that thread from last month. As I wrote at the time, it would certainly help our OTs to have some quality blocking help from a TE. As it stands right now, it's wishful thinking (and going against what was shown on the field in the past couple of seasons) that the current crop of TEs can consistently provide that help. So, there is a reason why some posters say those things --- Nix darn well confirmed it.

Good luck to you today, Lew!

These new rules leave a lot of room for referees' judgment calls. And that's a really ****ty thing to be depending on, based on their handling of the judgment call situations they already have. Way too much power in the hands of the zebras. I missed several games last year and wasn't bothered in the least, which even 5 years ago was unthinkable. Right now my continued interest in the NFL is questionable, and that's not even factoring in anything about the lockout b/c I haven't really followed any of it. The game has become far too litigious --- on the field such that any sense of fun has been sucked out of it.

Actually, that was in last week's episode, when the TARDIS couldn't translate the name of... well, I don't want to spoil anything. And I had to look up how to spell Gallifreyan.

Yeah, "Doctor Who" has only been around for... sixty years. OK. Avatar and sig are changed to reflect this momentous occasion regarding my role on this board.

The inventor of the Western toilet was named John Crapper. It took off from there, as verbiage is bound to do, but over the centuries, it's remained a mostly benign term, on the level of "darn." Why the Puritan-level prudishness? Sorry, Tom. By far, you still wear the mantle, so go ahead and re-nestle it. It should fit right back into the grooves it's worn around your neck.

Yeah, there's a universal translator in every TARDIS. It telepathically converts every language (well, except Gallifreyan).

"[sNIFFFF] Are these made of hickory or did Jose loan these to the horse guard again?? [sNIFFFFFF]"

Link

And as a corollary, I think Federer is kind of tired. As they put up the graphic after his wife Mirka gave birth last year, the last father to win any major, iirc was Rod Laver. Granted that tennis is a younger man's game and that by default any man old enough to be having kids has lost a step... but it also plays into new responsibilities, new priorities and such. I have to chime in that I am a huge Wimbledon fan, to go on top of being a majors fan. Those are special fortnights. I haven't been disappointed by a Wimbledon final in a while. That one with Roddick a couple of years ago (the year after the epic Nadal-Federer one) went five sets, he wasn't broken until the final game/set/match, and he gave his all. I don't know what match anybody else was watching. That was a great one, maybe only to the one the year before.

I'm going to be looking into getting rid of the landline phone from AT&T with the number we've had since time out of mind. But, as I understand (and I have a cousin who's done it), you can keep the number and transfer it to a cell phone. That way you don't lose connection to people who only have that number. Just go first through whichever company you're switching to. Phone companies are keen on winding down their landline services due to the decline in popularity and the cost of upkeep of the lines. So, I think we're going to switch to DSL w/o phoneline (and double the connection speed; they just recently have this service in our area) and switch the phone number to a $10/mo. tack-on for an existing Verizon family plan --- and with all this, it'll ~ be the same or less costwise. It's just going to be a little tricky trying to coordinate it.... You know, my mum's side of the family had a dairy farm in WNY with a party line. My grandparents both died in the last few years (at 96 and 88) and so it goes like that Yeats poem that "things fall apart, the center cannot hold." My uncle, who kept on the farm, actually lost the old # when he converted to a cell phone. My sh--head of a cousin (nephew to said uncle) said he'd save it, and then for whatever reason, didn't. They still received calls from relations in Holland all those years, but now with the loss of the number they're out of touch.

Nadal, at the end of his run, is probably going to be the best ever. Agreed on the Federer points. For those of us who are antenna-only, ESPN3.com is awesome. This year, I only caught one match in the two weeks online, but it's awesome that it's there. Same deal as the NHL, tennis is SO much better in HDTV. You know, besides Nadal picking at the rear end of his shorts....

And they both make loads of money on a legacy by tantalizing fans and perpetually re-releasing incremental-improvement (based on the physical medium delivered to the masses, and saying nothing of the writing/acting in the prequels) versions of their products. In the case of SW: VHS, VHS with 1997 edits, VHS with 2004 edits. Only then after 10 years of DVD profligacy and he'd drained the VHS market fully did Lucas release DVDs. And then came out in original versions, 1997 edits versions, 2004 extended edits versions, Blu-rays will finally be released this fall, then 3-D Blu-ray will be released whenever those sales drop off.

It is legal in Oregon, Washington state, and Montana per a recent ruling by the state supreme court.

As an irrevocable reproduction control measure, tho....

If anyone's seen Frontline's "The Suicide Tourist," that's the kind of grace and some measure of dignity in which one should be allowed to leave this world. Gov't allows better treatment for our dogs through veterinarians than people through doctors when it's clear that things are going rapidly downhill. There are awesome things possible now, where the body can be manipulated and they can rob Peter to pay Paul. But medicalized longevity only makes The End harder and more drawn-out once you hit the wall with a terminal condition and there's little or nothing more they can do for you. I don't know enough about Kevorkian specifically to make much comment, but he forced a conversation in this country that we all need to consider, and either way, not judge other people based on what they believe is right. Link

Why are you intent on making a generality applicable to someone in particular?

Condolences, mead. SILENTLY A FLOWER BLOOMS In silence it falls away; Yet here now, at this moment, at this place, the whole of the flower, the whole of the world is blooming. This is the talk of the flower, the truth of the blossom. The glory of eternal life is shining here. - Abbot Zenkei Shibayama Roshi