UConn James

... except that the doctor is providing a commercial billed service. Same as if you get a bad haircut, if the construction company broke a gas line and blew up your house, you buy a brand of potato chip that tastes like stevestojan or you might post to a consumer forum for help if your used car is a lemon, you're good with not being able to tell your friends and neighbors not to get service or a product from these sources? You're good with chilling free speech? Product disparagement law basically went out the window b/c of Oprah in the beef. And try as they will, I don't believe 'service disparagement' --- ultimately --- will fly in front of the first amendment. That said, don't be the one who has to bring it to the courts by signing something like that --- if your doctor is worth a lick, s/he wouldn't need such (unconstitutional) protection. The moment you think about doing that, it tells me you need to find new a new career path. My dad's side of the family has had GI problems. Doctors have poked, prodded, run blood/urine/MRI/ultrasound/scope/ etc. tests, all to no avail. They haven't the first clue. They took out my brother's appendix in their guessing game --- that wasn't it... now they want his gall bladder. There's a reason why the signs say "Practice." I guess this all goes into there not being enough doctors, nurses, etc. Give them special protection so if they f--- up, it's not common knowledge and they can stay in business and f--- up other people. An order of silence doesn't lead to good things.

Umm... I think you mean, "... is $4 that has to be paid back tomorrow." (Unless you know someone who lends at 0%.)

If you're working and charging by the hour, I would agree. Increase in responsibilities that weren't in the original description should mean an increase in pay. When you agree to a salary, it's a different story. You come in and do whatever they tell you to do. And, as I wrote, this is the NFL where guys get shuffled more times than a deck of 52 at Foxwoods. When they agreed to the new contract when Peters went to RT, it was well understood that he w/could be flipped to LT. I wouldn't be against Peters getting more pay.... As the focus of this thread intends, all of this has been handled by JP and his agent with just slightly more class than a pregnant nun.

As a follow-up to one of my earlier posts, I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to now be saying that the opening scene in this season's premiere (with Faraday appearing at the Dharma construction of the Orchid) will be extrapolated before the season finale. Perhaps as early as this ep. Producers have said that this season is about why they needed to get back to the island. Next season (the last of the show) will focus on what happens when they get back.

Yeah. It was a deal to be a Buffalo Bill. The contract that NFL players sign means they get paid to do whatever they tell you to do. That is or should be the expectation, and especially for OL where it's like musical chairs in the league. If agents/players want to be compensated on a per-task basis of what they do on the field, then they should have put in a clause, or simply sign 1-year deals. They want security with a long-term contract? Well, there's a trade-off that you have to make. Instead, there's an expectation on the players' side that it's 'heads-I-win, tails-you-lose' with such deals. I'm sick of this stuff. And I'm getting sick of Peters, his sh-- attitude, and how he completely dogged it this year, for spite. And now he points to a NFLPA-collusion that got him named to the Pro Bowl --- that happened only b/c the $ tide rising for Peters will raise everybody else's boats. Don't think for a second that this wasn't what primarily (and when you look at his play this past year, singularly) got Peters this empty award.

The timer bit is also recommended here. Also, in the John Rosemond articles I've seen on the subject, for tantrums re: potty training, it's often effective to say "Doctor X said that you have to..." (and in your case, "go to the bathroom as soon as you feel you might need to"). Sometimes when they act out against the parents' authority, they will relent a little less against the words of "the doctor says..." (amazing how people, little ones not the only ones, will sometimes listen to/follow advice of a stranger more than people they know) and it provides you a bit of a cop-out.

Seems like every time you hear about it, the drunk walks away w/o a scratch and an innocent person is seriously hurt or dies. "God protects drunks and fools."

Oh, jeebus! You guys can keep up with the 'We wuz robbed' stuff and pretend that you're college referees on the court instead of some schmoe watching from a lounge chair in SD.... I'm going to bed.

Ppppfffttt! They might have to call the water boys and terry-cloth-mop dudes in to finish this game.

C'mon, dude. Don't be that guy.

Just an exchange of fouls at this point.... Make one, miss one. Jeez. 3OT.

AJ Price is trying to give this !@#$ game away. Dude is ice cold and Calhoun keeps him in. Our inability to make FTs is going to kill us in the tourney, mark my words. Christ... double OT.

Not as impressive as Ko Simpson, who is worth millions --- plural! --- don't you know?

Was probably made a hell of a lot easier by the election result. This entire thing with the Palins has been a train wreck in trailer park. Repubs have become the party of 'Proud To Be Stupid,' who cannot speak in intelligible sentences. They really need someone who can wrest control and bring us back to intelligent discourse.

But, as it works in this world, by this time next year he'll be drinking mojitos with Ken Lay (Oh, sorry. "Jerry Burns") in a tropical East Nowhere country.

Revisiting that Locke ep from last season with the visits from Richard... We know that Richard went to the hospital right after Locke was born (at Locke's urging in the 1954 time flash) and saw that despite the many problems, Locke survived. I originally thought that Richard had done something to help baby Locke, but it's now clear that Richard witnessed that the universe/island wouldn't let Locke die. Forward to LaFleur, in 1973, Sawyer mentions Locke again. This seems to be about the time Mittelos tried to get Locke through the high school science program. In a leadership search, Richard is essentially fishing. Or rather, he knows the identity of his mark, he just doesn't know about the timing.

Didn't mean to direct that at you, Dean. Your post was just a starting point to general musings. 'Graph 2: Point conceded. I kind of tried to get that term to cover it when I shouldn't have, but add in "gentleman" to my thoughts and I stand by what I wrote. And still.... there are times when I think DJ's being such a gentleman detracts from his effectiveness as a coach. He doesn't order tit-for-tats if/when the other side plays dirty (see: Wilfork. If I were HC in those games, Wilfork and/or Brady would have left the field on the John Deere cart wondering if they still had a career. Instead, DJ got bent over the barrel and he liked it.) and as a true measure of how old-school he is, I think the pre-halftime kneeldowns with less than 1 minute left are as much an indication of his stupid notion that this is still a gentleman's-game as it is his ultra-ultra-ultra-conservative coaching style. This is a league when a TD can be (and has been) scored in ~ 5 seconds. It happened to us how many times in the past decade? Anyone remember that Jets game we were feeling so high and mighty with a few seconds to kill before halftime... and then Vinny Testaverde decides to be ungentlemanlike and throws a TD and we were totally screwed from that point on (Tho, I believe we still had the lead at that point, even)? This is no longer a gentleman's game; hasn't been for a while. You win games that actually mean something by being shrewder, sneakier, smarter, quicker to react, and tougher than the other guys. Fer chrissake, we had the biggest OL in football and our blocking schemes emphasize technique and finesse. It's like we're afraid of making the other team sore, bruised, and hurt to the point where they don't want to be on that field anymore. DJ being a gentleman's gentleman and his extension of this in how he schemes and coaches on Sundays plays right in with the failure this franchise has witnessed. You can run rough-shod over us, and DJ is a soft touch.

Just wanted to again give some props to Josh Holloway on this ep. Glad that the producers/writers pulled the Sawyer character out of the "Son of a B word!" rut that he had been in up to this point in S5. Literally, I think there were a couple of eps where a string of those were his only lines. Finally, Sawyer had to be the leader and make decisions. And he did. Kept people from leaving, kept them from giving up hope of Locke/O6 coming back, kept the con going for the 3 years. I'm thinking back to the ep where Hurley conned him into acting as a leader rather than a hoarding a-hole by threatening him with word of the secret banishment vote. Kind of came into fruition here. But, he's also kind of fallen back into the con himself, to an extent.

Bold the First... I see DJ is following his strategy for the offense's 2-minute drill (aka "Kneel and to the locker room, boys!"), throwing out red flags, and replacing fading previous-DJ-regime guys (see: A-Train, Daimon Shelton) with people who can actually play football competitively, and you know, that whole 'scoring points' thingy. 'No hurry, guys' just about sums it up for him. Bold the Second... AVP is gonna suit up this season? Sweet! That's never really been the issue. He can be everyone's best buddy but that doesn't matter on Sundays. When Dude can't manage a game, gilbrides into the play-calling, and his biggest response when the other team is shellacing us is the sound of two skeleton hands clapping, well, that's not enough. But the sh-- of it is, I get the sickening feeling that being "a gentleman" was mostly enough for the only guy whose opinion matters at OBD... (Add in Old-Man Syndrome for the rest of the reason). ... or you're trying to hide a massive pimple. Then again, I don't think people with such necrotic skin get pimples.

Actually, repeat of "Lafleur" from 9-10 pm.

Especially if you're on a team with Charles Haley.

I'm pretty sure the NFLPA (or is it in the CBA?) doesn't allow contracts to be "restructured" for anything more than -10%. Wouldn't be surprised to see us draft a DE 1 or 2 and cut Mr. High Motor in June.

If Hartenger(?) craps the bed as a center in camp or preseason, at this point, we will have no one to plug in there as a viable alternative. This dude has been a back-up that they let go. Remember Tutan Reyes? My mind is far from comforted with him as the best and only option at the most important position on the OL (and possibly, the most important on the whole offense, when you think about it). The Bills scouts (Linda Bogdan, Ralph's daughter is chief OL scout) need to determine who the best C in the draft/for our offense is and then, hell or high water, GET HIM as insurance and actually develop the OL rather than relying on signing BIG-$ guys in UFA. The ghost of Mike Williams just seems to haunt OBD in the worst way. Everything I've seen and read tells me it's Mack. Dude is smart, huge, can handle the 3-4 NT, plays determined and could anchor this line for 10 years. For far too long, we've not drafted OL early when it matters and the Mangolds, etc. have flown by as we draft smurf WRs and DBs. If he's going to go in the late 1st/early 2nd I think we should either trade down from 11 or if we do pick at 11, trade up from the 2nd round b/c he won't last until our 2nd.

That's a violation of copyright law ("right to publicity" iirc) if I ever saw it. Dude should expect a cease-and-desist order right soon. You can't use someone's likeness, especially in a money-generating way, unless you have permission. Sports apparel companies pay big-time for that permission; any Tom, Dick or Harry printing T-shirts and then advertising them in such a manner is breaking the law. EDIT: Anyone who orders one is asking to have their $ tied up for a while or pay for it and never get it after legal action is taken. It's one thing to do that for Obama et al. who are public figures paid from the public till, or such fame or notoriety that they essentially forfeit their right to publicity (tho, they could well argue it in court if they wanted).

For the past several years, I can't wait for DST. Losing the hour starts such a general funk that I can't shake. Tired, lethargic, moody.... A couple of years back when they changed the date from Oct into Nov, this onset again happened with the clock change, which suggests to me that it's not the variable of the temp/climate change of autumn that does it. People around me have noticed the change too. I won't speak for anybody else, but screwing with the clocks messes up my brain's/body's internal functioning. Bush the Younger pushed for lengthening DST from April-Oct, and now it's March - Nov. In my opinion, that may be the best thing he did as president, slightly ahead of adding that huge area of coral reef to the national preserve.