UConn James

Pretty much what Bill Cosby said earlier this year. For which he got raked over the coals by fellow blacks. Sometimes the truth hurts.

I'd love to sit here and talk about the brain and nervous system that directs our actions toward advantegious work and the broader world of science and philosophy... but I'm not going to. Have to split firewood so I can stay warm this winter and make cash money for food and electricity. Have a wonderful day.

Yaknow, I should've remembered that after Peter Karmanos (A BIG :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: to him) uprooted the Whalers to Raleigh to average 6,000 fans in a converted warehouse.... Whoops. And we in Connecticut don't think of you as rednecks, just "lesser NCAA basketball competition." Just another area of this grand country.

That's all I was tryin' to say, man. Chiming in that police have been on the wrong side of necessary force over the years was, I guess, over the line for a subject like alleged police brutality. Not saying that this woman was a saint. I'm certainly not anti-police; I just think they should do their jobs right. What if this person was diabetic or there was some other reason? Police are held to a higher standard than retribution, like dragging a 68-y.o. woman across the ground, if that is what happened. I'm sure the courts will settle it out. A great scene from "due South":

Because Emeka and Diana have mad basketball skills! The physical skills they inherited from their forebears --- like Diana's amazing peripheral vision on no-look passes that's probably about 10 percent better than even an above average person. Emeka's amazingly long arms and hand-eye co-ordination for shot-blocking. This combined with the experiences in training, diet, etc. If you're meaning that it was somehow predetermined for UConn to win? Well, it was a confluence of all kinds of different factors. Hard determinism doesn't advocate that results of everything were necessarily written in stone at the Big Bang. It takes hard work to get things done. The world is what we make of it, using what resources we have.

Actually, you can. Very few things, especially one like sexual activity levels, have changed appreciably throughout human history. Just that 'Leave It To Beaver' and the like didn't air the dirty little secret of the human race. Just that more people talk openly about it now.

You mean like the computers that go through all different permutations to solve problems like grids, string through DNA sequences, etc? Everything is comprised of the interaction b/w atoms/molecules and probabilities in the microcosm that come to pass as the world we experience in the macrocosm. We mistake free will for things that have been imprinted on us by our biology and experiences; Hard Determinism rears its ugly head.... And no, the body human is most definitely not the most complex of "design;" it's a collection of advantageous features for survival. Is the horse, chimpanzee, wolf, blue whale, etc., somehow less complex than our own bodies? You have a very high opinion of homo sapiens.

I'm not saying that kicking someone in the chest gets a free pass. The courts might sort it out. And no I wasn't there, but neither were 290 million other people in this country. Police officers need to be acting more responsible and level-headed than the people they're arresting. I guess getting tripped up and falling to the ground is resisting arrest when you're a Muslim in a Wal-Mart in S.C. And I guess that's good enough reason to drag her on the ground to the cruiser.... Injuries like those aren't exactly the norm. But I'm sure the police spokesman and IA will say everything was all right. Ask them, they'll tell you.

We're not a collection of molecules? I'm a carbon-based life form. What are you? When I look up at the stars I think that very thing, I'm surprisingly comfortable with it. My molecules --- hydrogens, oxygens, nitrogens, etc. --- will all get recycled back to the earth when I go.

Everything scientists have discovered supporting evolution, everything that's still out there waiting to be discovered, and people still point to their 2,000-y.o. book with an oral creation myth. Science deals with observable information. If Creationism is what you want, teach it on Sundays or enroll your kids in your local madrasa... err... Christian school. Don't use my tax dollars to further your religious cause. Man, I'm glad I live in a state where the people are actually somewhat sane.

Je m'excuse. <ducks> (Grandparents were French-Canadian.) phd1, if this woman was kicking at the officer (there's no link), that's mitigation but not nearly enough to warrant breaking an elderly woman's shoulder. Police are well trained in how to detain / control people in these types of situations (I have two cops in my immediate family, one in AF Security Forces), and it's dubious that this 68-y.o. woman presented some grave threat, unless she was using a weapon, and there's not much of an excuse.

Mmm. Normal people also told blacks for hundreds of years they were 3/5 of a human being, that they were stupid, they needed to be slaves b/c their masters took care of them, that they couldn't vote, that they couldn't marry or have sex with white people.... blah blah blah.

There have been cases. The gov of Illinois (and IIRC he was, and still is, a pro-death-penalty Republican) stayed all executions pending review b/c of this. Link And if you think that these are the only ones, maybe you just don't want to accept what has been done in the name of "the people." The quasi-judicial hangings from the magnolia trees of the South weren't all that long ago, relatively. If you think the justice system is fine and dandy, just hope that you never get railroaded. It does happen, even now.

So the measurable standard of acceptable govt behavior is a Middle-East Islamic theocracy? When do we start beheading women for showing 1/16 sq. in. of skin at their ankles? Analogy: Say you're searching your neighbor's kid's room for a toy that your son said he stole. And you, by accident, break the kid's nose while tossing things around. You don't find the toy; in fact, it was under your son's bed the whole time. And you don't, at the very least, apologize.

Just like every dollar spent on prenatal care saves six dollars of treatment after things go horribly wrong. I can barely contain myself when the so-called pro-life advocates apparently care so much about what happens nine months before the birth. But they can't be bothered with advocating BASIC prenatal check-ups. Then after the birth, it's every baby for itself. Wait, wait, I know what's coming.... 'But the federal budget is $2.5 Trillion!!!!!' Why practice what you preach when doing so costs money? And yeah, that guy was a real piece of work.

Relatives in the CT Judicial Marshals, who are basically paid to sit there and watch trials, have said as much. The line is thin b/w being a trustworthy citizen and being demonized and thrown into prison for something you didn't do. Granted, many of the people there are sneering scumbags and they pray for them to do something so "street justice" can be administered (they haven't). Especially for a rich kid who bilked a lot of people out of about half a mil, and got off w/ 1 year, out in 6 mos b/c daddy could afford slick lawyers. But all it takes for the rest of us is a bogus charge and not being wealthy enough to get a good defense, and the only thing you get is advice to cop a plea. Justice? Ha.

Yup. I'd be pretty damn worried if the military didn't have those types of contingency 'If X does this, we do this' plans. Doesn't mean it will happen, just a bunch of different scenarios for the sitting president to pick from after getting advice from his JC (On Edit: these initials do not stand for Jesus Christ). Maybe I'll just stay mum as to whether this admin had any of these in Gulf II.... Kim Jong-Il, however, will undoubtedly spin this to his people that the US was GOING to nuke them in '98 but that he somehow averted this catastrophy. They therefore must give their further allegience to him and continue to fund his paranoid military build-up, including his own somewhat-limited nuclear capability, while his people starve. That piece on "60 Minutes" last year was just chilling as to what they're indoctrinating the youth with. We can only hope that his govt implodes of its own weight soon b/c whatever we're doing isn't working.

From the Courant's Sunday commentary page... Staunchly adhere to all the principles you want, but they don't make the number of abortions go down. I agree with the others who've said that while abortion isn't something I personally would endorse. I'm not going to tell other people what to do with their bodies. They must live with the decisions they make. It's also questionable whether Roe would be overturned even if Bush gets an anti-choice judge on the high court. After being the law for 30+ years, it's a little late in the day to be saying Oh, now you can't do this. The Latin phrase translates to Let the law stand.

If you're mentioning the safety as the best play, I think you have to give your due props to Moorman. It was his punt to the 1-yard line (if you saw the slo-mo replay, it was a beauty; actually hit the hash at the one!) was the foundation for that play happen. The D took advantage of the opportunity, in fine style.

What if it's like the rabbit in Monty Python & the Holy Grail? RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!

As of 5 p.m., they're predicting Kerry 311, Bush 213. Link Go to your salt shaker and take a swig, tho.

Wow, he took a whole minute to verify a person's identity, find their names in a big book, and cross them off? Just like they do in my town? He was doing it in an orderly manner? The nerve of some people! When they handed out exams in the big lecture halls you could wait until they got to you or you could leave. It's a cost-benefit decision you make. I think it is kind of simplistic to assume that A-M and M-Z will divise the line into two.... Names are usually proportionally skewed toward the start of the alphabet. But maybe you've got a lot of Smiths and Washingtons down there....

Interesting read, and the part about gerrymandering so we have the most conservatives and most liberals and few centrists, I think is correct. We need to compromise rather than tell each other to go eff ourselves. As far as the media, I don't think there's some kind of liberal conspiracy. On the editorial pages and some of the Sunday morning talking heads (and Pat Robertson...), there are leanings, but you know what? That's the op-ed page. Ergo, it's not "news." That's like reading the Sunday Funnies and thinking you're going to find String Theory discussion. And it comes from both sides. What we do have is information gaps b/c media is constrained by space/time limitations. Reporting that 10 soldiers died in Iraq today is not a liberal news story. If you think Nightline is biased b/c it listed the names of all the soldiers killed in combat, maybe you need to re-evaluate where the problem lies. People who object to that just don't like the facts or don't want them aired b/c it's not "good for their cause." We don't cry foul when they read the names of 9/11 victims or at the Vietnam Memorial.... The media reports facts and other people's (often gov't types) opinions on the issues. That's what the quote marks mean. You take it for what it's worth. Economists take it as a given that people are rational beings and consumers and make their own choices based on their best interests. In this, information is the limiting agent b/c it is costly, time-consuming, etc. Even then, just watching "liberal" media doesn't guarantee anything if you have ANY idea how hard it is to change people's opinions about even the smallest of things; it's the same reason why subliminal advertising doesn't work except to reinforce things you already believe (like some supermarkets actually do use "Don't steal" or "Be honest" in b/w the elevator music). But it makes for a nice cop-out to say that the media has directly created the split.

The parameters of the prediction are about the last Redskins home game before the election. The game vs. the Bills was in Buffalo. As I'm sure is the case w/ the Colts game. Snopes is pretty good w/ their facts. Way to get defensive for something intented as a quirky factoid....

You should see him on PPP.... It's a difficult situation. You don't really want to put a starter in a situation like we lost Burris on in Indy all those years ago. He was NEVER the same after it. So I understand the point about not wanting Clements out there as a tackling target. Case in point, AP was reporting that Reed went out w/ a knee injury after a PR two minutes in. Putting McGee on punts would put a backup in (if Vincent were playing) who has shown a LOT on the KR. But it isn't an exact corollary b/c of blocking schemes, etc. Is it right, is it wrong, who knows, but the coaches haven't put him in the spot so you have to accept that they know something we don't. Then again, this is the braintrust that is sticking w/ Drew....