unclevlad

So just go to work writing copy for Copper Fit.

I really, really do. Wait, what do you MEAN it's pushing 7????? The sun's still shining in the west window, over the door.........!!!! Argh. Made a scheduling mistake...got a dental appointment for tomorrow morning, not realizing it was the day after the time change. UGH.

It will be interesting to see how much Trump's position will alienate people, because from what I've seen, support for Russia's only been on the very fringe.

Hey, the name makes sense. UMBC is just off the Bay; a well respected dog breed is the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. But, yeah...that was a shocker. Just given that everyone's been pretty erratic, I'd say there's more of a chance another will lose...but we're talking maybe 50 to 1 instead of 200 to 1, per team. Wait...take that back. Baylor's still hurt. Norfolk State should only be a long shot, not sweepstakes odds. Yeah...early futures, they're only +1300. Georgia State is +3500 against Gonzaga. No lines on the other 2 because those are the play-ins. A 2 seed losing? I'm going with 50% chance. I can't watch the NIT. Not super crazy about tournaments like that, being played at team sites...not fair. Worse...for the first round in particular, too many teams checked out when they didn't make the dance, and just go through the motions. And at times, it's *really* obvious.

So the brackets are being released as I type this. The local team (NMSU)...co-champs during the season, they said, and won their tournament...got a 12 seed. Quite good for a 1 bid league. And *the* seed for upset purposes...12's beat 5's with amazing frequency, 33%. By comparison, 13's beat 4's only 21% of the time, and 11's beat 6's only 37% of the time. The 12's are frequently underseeded, it looks like. In the 2nd round, the 12's are 9-3 against 13's...but also 13-29, 31% versus the 4 seed. Now there's some tweaks to this. The NCAA restructured things a few years ago. There's 4 play-in games; it's a 68 team tourney. What they did is the lowest 4 automatic bids, and the lowest 4 at-large bids, play. The at-larges...2 of em are "11 seeds" and 2 are "12 seeds." That *generally* means they're the weakest teams from the big multi-bid "power" conferences...and IMO frequently overvalued. Well, fun fun fun. Reveal's over. No, I'm NOT gonna watch everyone pick over every matchup, every seed, every undeserved entry, every snub...even if it'll dominate discussion tonight.

Yep. It's legal. Article 1, Section 8, gives the power to Congress. It hasn't been used by general agreement since, IIRC, the War of 1812. For obvious international relations complications. Yeah, I got reminded of these because an author invoked them, to allow an action that would've been otherwise impossible. And I remember going "OMG" when I read it...because it's a major step. Executing a letter of marque is itself arguably a casus bellum; the issuing government is trying to shield itself, but that shield's ethically flimsy. This might pass. If Russia chooses to ignore international law with regard to patents, one can make the case that this is a proper form of response. If Russia starts nationalizing? STRONG grounds. Whether Biden will sign any? Can't say. Any particular letter should have narrow scope.

Russia's been restoring Cold War bases because Putin has decided it was a Good Time for Russia, and he's determined to return to it, or so it would appear. Only this time around, he'll be completely isolated economically, and the Russian internal economy is still, I believe, inept. OK, so he'll clearly on track now to expropriate everything of any major value established by Europe or the US, but the flip side is no one will invest in Russia for the next decade, at least. If Russia won't honor patents, then even after export bans are relaxed, there'll be critical/advanced tech bans for a similar period. Side effect: Russia will try to steal tech. It'll be a good time to be in counterespionage. Secondary...I wouldn't be surprised if the Doomsday Clock gets advanced, albeit not perhaps before the next regular review this summer. This is a very dangerous time; the West might be mostly fighting an economic war, but it *is* a form of war, and can only be destabiliizing.

Shifts: I *detest* the push to eliminate shifts. Hitters can't avoid pulling the ball? Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Learn. Stop glorifying bad hitting. Pitch clock: again, they're pros. Like the hitter...the goal isn't to figure out anything. THAT takes 10 seconds. The rest of the time is to get the batter to second-guess. But me? I think it screws up the pitcher. A smooth, even, well-paced rhythm always seems to pay better than herky-jerky, slow pitching. The pitcher gets no rhythm doing that. Pitchers will adjust. Batters will adjust. They'll whine and bitch for several years, but they'll adjust. Pro basketball went to the shot clock in 1954. I have to question any memories you might claim of the transition. Logan: IIRC, if the pitch clock runs out, it's called a ball, IIRC. Balk would only matter when a runner's on base (and I believe there is no pitch clock there).

I haven't seen a live game in 50 years, so...no. And I'm glad. I'm completely losing any tolerance for most slow play cases; tennis has several players that stretch the serve clock. (Altho the serve clock has some procedural points that need to be worked out better.) Someone standing at the service line bouncing the ball a dozen times drives me up the wall. The whole point of it, far too often IMO, is trying to rattle the opponent. The practical result is to aggravate the audience.

New details: 1. Doubleheaders will be 9 innings, not 7. 2. Standard rules...no runner on 2nd...in extra innings. So we'll have the damned, BORING!!! marathons that kills bullpens. There's NO doubt in my mind that the standings will mean nothing before...I wanna say the 4th of July holiday, or thereabouts. Opening day is set for April 7th, that's 4 weeks, so there'll be no time for preseason. Pitchers will be treated with kid gloves by pretty much *everyone*...especially given the extra innings and doubleheaders...and neither pitchers nor hitters are going to be sharp for quite some time. Also, 12 team playoff. That's high but not horrible, from the standpoint of regular-season valuation. Too few teams, it's too sensitive; too many, it's too diluted. The general consensus I've seen is the sweet spot is about 1/3 of the teams, with anything from about 25% to about 40% being OK. This is 40%. A concern here: the executive committee voted 8-0 to *reject*. The player reps voted 26-4 to *accept*. That suggests it'll be ratified to me...but also that there are serious unsatisfactory conditions, so we may well be right back here in 2027.

Kris Bryant was held in the minors for a couple months before he was called up, until a particular deadline was passed. That deadline impacted his years of service credit; after it passed, he didn't get credit. Years of service dictate when a player can become a free agent, so by sitting the player out for a few months, the club gets an additional year of control. Bryant was an early, *glaring* example but it's gone on a fair bit, as I understand it.

Elements in the agreement right now, from ESPN: Other elements of the deal include: • A 45-day window for MLB to implement rules changes -- among them a pitch clock, ban on shifts and larger bases in the 2023 season • The National League adopting the designated hitter • A draft lottery implemented with the intent of discouraging tanking • Draft-pick inducements to discourage service-time manipulation • Limiting the number of times a player can be optioned to the minor leagues in one season The DH was gonna happen. Yeah, I get the purists dislike it, but not doing it has nasty ramifications on bullpen use. Plus, the existing situation was IMO *clearly* the WORST case, with one league doing it, and the other not. If they do the pitch clock, I want to see a batter clock as well. Jeter was one of the worst...step out after EVERY pitch, fiddle with gloves, fiddle with guards, step back in, get reset. NO. Yeah, OK, if the batter fouls one off his leg/foot, give him a moment, but otherwise, stay in the freaking box and ready to hit!!!!!! Also: not sure what the rule is when there's runners on base. In the past, it's been tossed out the window altogether, but that's something I'd want changed. Sounds like the players did get some movement on the competitive balance and service time points, and those were big.

Plus, I can't see the NHL returning to a market in which it didn't do well. Trying to establish a new fanbase when the locals already have strong ties to existing franchises is a Bad Move. The Clippers took forever to get anywhere; AFAIK the Chargers are bombing in LA as well.

WHOA!!!!! Surprise, surprise, surprise!!! MLB.com is reporting an agreement has been reached, pending ratification. https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-to-cba NO details, tho. Which is a concern. A comment last time was that Tony Clark gave away too much last time, so if there isn't enough movement on things, it's possible to me that it *won't* be ratified by the players. I'm less worried about the owners agreeing, but it'd be foolish to say that's a foregone conclusion. One point that was mentioned: they'll schedule doubleheaders for the cancelled games, it'll be a full 162 game season.

Sure, but some chance is better than no chance. Trade's just going across ESPN Bottom Line right now...just got back from shopping. Only a 3rd round pick, and Commanders are picking up ALL of Wentz' salary? Yeah, I'd rather take my chances even in a "weak" QB draft. IMO, this is a massively one-sided trade, in Indy's favor. Heinicke was the lowest rated starting QB in the league, it looks like...altho it's always an open question how much of that is not having a supporting cast. Wentz was middle of the pack. So it's an upgrade, most likely, in some senses. The problem is that Wentz makes too many boneheaded plays that lose games. A friend of mine used to say, everything's junk. There's good junk, there's bad junk, and there's flaky junk. The worst is flaky junk. Wentz' play is flaky junk.

This just in: Colts trade Wentz. To Washington. The "definition" of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Washington is repeating their QB pattern: overpaid and underachieving.

Yep. Visible light was left behind several years ago...but so were excimer lasers, at least for the high-end chips. Excimer lasers operate around 150-200 nm; that's an order of magnitude too coarse. The tech for modern chips uses extreme UV (EUV) lasers, at about 13 nm. These are complex as all heck, HUGE, and use a LOT!!! of power. For the geeks: https://www.laserfocusworld.com/blogs/article/14039015/how-does-the-laser-technology-in-euv-lithography-work Modern chip fabrication is insane. Article mentions the price tag of one of these systems: $120M.

Trading Wilson simply recognizes the team's in 100% rebuild mode, and he's too costly a piece. Releasing Wager is along those lines as well, and even more: maybe he's got a good year or two left, but linebacker is a wear and tear position. The decline can be pretty fast. I've long preferred releasing or trading those very expensive players who are likely approaching the end of their careers...especially given the contracts such players have. The downside for Seahawks fans...they're tied with the Jags at 100-1 to win the Super Bowl. (Worse: Texans, Jets, and Lions are 150-1. But that's it.) That suggests something around 5-6 wins.

Holy moly.... I didn't hear about this until just a bit ago. Saturday, at a La Liga (top Mexican soccer league) match, a brawl broke out between fans of the home team and visiting team. A MAJOR brawl. As in 26 injured, 3 critically. That's officially; some claim there were people killed, and the government's statements may well be...less than honest. The league came out with the punishments. From the Sporting News: Youch. The league didn't pull their punches. The major target is the club management, which feels correct.

ESPN Bottom Line showed the draft picks: 1, 2, and 5 this year; 1 and 2 next year. So they really have to hope Wilson's the answer because it's unlikely they'll get significant improvement from the draft. Which also means no rookie contracts to help balance out Wilson's contract.

Denver has to be believing that, yeah, all they needed was a very good QB. We shall see. One thing I haven't seen yet: what the years are for those picks. Might need to get the trade finalized before we get that. Still, that cost was high. This could also represent Elway's Last Chance. If Wilson can't do it, then...can Elway survive? And I see Rodgers got what he wanted with his passive-aggressive shakedown of the Packers. THERE'S the team in win-now mode, much more than Denver. I simply don't think they'll be able to maintain a viable team around The Big Crybaby long term, not when he represents such a massive percentage of their cap space.

Yeah, but there's also a strong potential racism or corruption element there. IMO the trial judge was completely off base. The burden of proof was on Hertz; their failure to produce the paperwork isn't proof. The defendant's possession of signed records, and proof of payment, *has* to constitute reasonable doubt. And as a secondary point, why did the DA file the case with that much conflicting evidence? I'm NOT someone looking to play the racism card; I rather intensely dislike doing so, as a rule. That said, I can't see a third explanation: corruption or racism. I think Hertz is going to lose, and lose HARD. The consequences they've triggered are inherently extremely damaging...a felony arrest on its own is a HUGE deal, even if it never goes to trial. The fact that they refuse to adjust their data when the facts change, is a massive strike against them, IMO. It will be interesting to see if even the bankruptcy filing saves them from liability; I believe this is the type of behavior that doesn't get absolved with the bankruptcy. We shall see about that; that's getting into the weeds of bankruptcy law. Might well need a bankruptcy specialist for something like this. And the per-case damages seem like they might get *rather* substantial. Loss of income. Attorney fees. Pain and suffering. Punitive damages due to Hertz' reckless disregard? Hope so.

A passing thought here about how this Hertz debacle could be avoided.... I'm thinking that it's more likely to happen when you don't execute the check-in...for example, you return the car when the office is closed, or perhaps if the rental company advertises a "drop off the keys and go." OK, yeah, sometimes the office will be closed, and especially traveling, maybe you're running closer on time than you'd like. (VERY bad memories of one particular effort to return a car...allllllll my fault but hey, that just makes it worse.) If you have a completed check-in form, then that ends it. (It also says, keep that paperwork.) If not? There's some risk that the rental people will mess it up...or, you did something inadvertently wrong, and the check-in maybe doesn't happen. That check-in form is the assurance that the rental's closed. Until it's positively closed, there's ways to mess up. You'd think it wouldn't happen, right? Well, it's a little different, but a few months ago, I was checking out through a self-checking line at the local market. As it turns out...the person before me failed to follow the checkout procedures...there's a last confirmation after the card's been read/phone's been used. The person failed to do it, and bailed. So......HIS transaction was still open. I didn't note it...just scanned my stuff. Didn't note it throughout the checkout. HE got charged for what I picked up. Note that I have no idea who it was, and the shopper was long gone by the time I got done, so reimbursement was simply not on the table. As I say, a little different, but similar enough to feel something like this triggered the Hertz system in these cases. That's an explanation, I might add...not an excuse. It shouldn't have happened.

Because that guy is a rampant anti-vaxer and proponent of "alternative treatments." His appointment was only last month, and one must suspect it was *because* of those views that he was nominated and approved. It's Florida, and we know the politicians are morons. The appointment was the problem, in that it put such a quack into a position where he seemingly is An Authority on the subject. Thus, he'll become another "verification" for anti-vax BS, when all he is, is another echo chamber. Damn, man, you got me started.........didn't need that today...

Absolutely. There's a rule: Thou Shalt Not Bet On NFL Games. End of statement. It doesn't matter who else does it, he broke the rule. It has nothing to do with the acceptability of betting, and everything to do with the perception of potential cheating or using insider information...competitive balance. It doesn't matter what the bets were, either. It's being reported he wasn't using insider knowledge, such as from coaches...at least per se. BUT he was privy to a great deal of inside information, much of which was current when he placed those bets. He gets no sympathy from me. I don't like the connections between all the leagues and the various gambling sites, but the reality is: gambling exists. People love it. Fox Sports, CBS Sports Network, and ESPN all carry betting shows daily. Acting like that doesn't exist is sticking your head into the sand. IMO: any player who can't realize the critical nature of even *potential* impropriety, given the strong interest, is a fool, and deserves what he got. I think the 1 year was because Ridley was inactive at the time, and had no contact with the coaches, so it should only be a matter of appearances. In other NFL news, yes indeed, Crybaby Rodgers looks to be getting exactly what he's wanted. He's taken his sweet time, so now the Packers apparently are coming out with a "market changing" deal.