Tuesday, February 25, 2020

The Transgenderfication of Columbus

Clark - I agree - Vinyl is awesome to listen too.  You get much more music on vinyl then any CD or "CD quality" streaming (which isn't).  Not that I will ever go back to vinyl because I remember why I switch to CD but you literally get more music on analog.

But sadly for a year or so the amount of new vinyl will be a little lacking until manufacturing can rebuild.

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DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE MARKET - we were due for a 10-15% pull back - it's healthy but scary.

I didn't do it 1. 

I got to the party late in facebook and missed the fun. Typically I seem to start arguments (I prefer the term "aggressive debate" where you do not listen to the opposition) but not this time.  Plus!  I have Marcus blocked so I missed 70 post of insults and name calling.   All over a book that some parents want banned from Columbus.

10,000 Dresses will turn your child in to a transgender - the Transgenderfication of America

10,000 Dresses is a 2010 Stonewall Honor Book in Children and Young Adult Literature, a 2009 American Library Association Rainbow Book (OMG the word "rainbow" is never good)  and was a finalist in the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards.

I miss out on the arguments about turning children into transgenderized monsters.

And I did not even mention the new  Uday Dam controversy.

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I bought some Kombucha - I'm afraid.

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I didn't do it 2 

Our Strat-o-matic Free Agent draft was humming along and I was pretty happy and then some members of the league (NOT ME . . . for the most part) had issues with a member . . . who also happened to be the IT guy that took care of most things.  He was kicked out of the league last night!   

It had been brewing for a while.  He was addicted to trading.  He made 109 trades last year. He had 30 trades with one team which included Josh Hader going back and forth without really ever being used.   He was trading draft picks he had already traded and it SEEMED like another team was his minor league team.

Many of the 24 managers were getting a VERY irritated and IT SEEMS things came to a head last night and the Commissioner booted him. 

So we are in limbo for a few days looking for 1 or 2 new managers.  MEANWHILE while we wait for this clusterf*ck to fix itself. . . . .

I had $140 to play with this year out of a total of $250 a manager can have for Free Agents.

Round One Verlander ($58), Three years - The most expensive FA ever in our league.
Round Two  Cole Hamels for ($57) for 2 years. ranked as my 8th best starting pitchers in the draft.  He fills in my starting staff.  BAM!   feelin' good (no real bullpen yet  hmmmm)

Hamels is a risk for the 2nd year but I can absorb it. I HOPE he gets 150 innings in 2020.  It's amazing the lack of starting pitchers that had 140 or more innings.   In our league I counted 57 starting pitchers were needed and there are only 23 (including pitchers with ERAs over 5) in the draft with 140 or more innings

Round Three - I was one pick away when things went FUBR.  I'm going to take Keven Pillar ($20) a slick fielding CF/OF for San Francisco the worst ballpark in MLB for hitters and he is not that great against right handed pitchers but is SUPER vs. lefties and SUPER DUPER vs. LHP when not in SF and in Cincinnati a batters paradise.

With Trout and Yelich both only playing about 130 games that left me with 60 games to fill and both of those two are not great vs. LHP - THUS.  Pillar fills in perfectly.

NEXT year I lose Adrian Beltre (who retired), Freddy Galvis, Ian Kinsler, Brian McCann and Mike Leake which will free up $156.  I lose Yelich the year after that (a very inexpensive $30)

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We have had DIRECT TV come out a few times in the last week to fix a pixel issue.  Got a new dish (last one as 13 years old) and it helped but yesterday the guy switched out the 1 gig plugs for 5 gig plugs.  Seemed to have worked - HOWEVER - the guy was a little irratating

First he complained about having to talk to Indians on the phone, then he heard someone singing America the Beautiful giving food to homeless and complained about people disrespecting the National Anthem  (???) and then he complained about all he Kobe Bryant SH*T on TV. 

LOVELY GUY.

But he got the job done so . . . . .
   
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DON'T BELIEVE all this hype about Bernie not being electable. In fact I believe he is the MOST electable even though he is not my first choice (I don't have a first choice).

How have the moderates for the DNC done lately Michael Dukakis 1988, Al Gore 2000, John Kerry  2004, and Hillary Clinton 2016,  John McCain 2008,  Mitt Romney in 2012.

In fact the candidates that win elections are NOT moderate at all.  Nobody thought crazy Reagan would win.  Obama?  no chance, Clinton? NOPE - not a chance.  Trump?  no chance in hell.

Polls in the swing states all have Bernie beating Trump.  The closest is Wisconsin but the latest 3 out of 4 polls have Bernie winning.   Michigan and Pennsylvania, both more forward thinking states then Wisconsin are all for Bernie now.

So - all of this Bernie can't win because he is not a moderate is just wrong.  He can with because he is NOT a moderate.

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Illinois brought in $10 million in tax revenue from cannabis in January and you can not really buy flower in ILL - they are basically out of it after the 3rd week . 

In the news this morning cannabis use among seniors increased 75% in the last 4 years.  Also a huge increase in high income, collage educated humans.

A study suggested that "through its favorable anti-oxidant and sodium channel inhibitory effects, CBD may protect against high-glucose induced arrhythmia and cytotoxicity."

 Another study found "moderate evidence to support cannabinoids in treating chronic, non-cancer pain at 2 weeks" and that "similar results were observed at later time points, but the confidence in effect is low."

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Thursday, February 20, 2020

79,941,376 gallons on water / Living in the Past / No more albums

 As many know I report the daily snow and rainfall for Columbus along with Columbus Waste Management to NOAA.  And now I find how DAAAAA!  I have been measuring water content of snowfalls the hard way.  stupid stupid stupid.

I would take my special rain and snow gauge and take a core sample and let it melt to see how much water content was in the snow. WELL - if I would have thought about it for more then a minute there is a MUCH easier way -  weigh the dang thing.  2 grams of water is 1/100 of an inch.

So yesterday I took a core sample from Kestrel Ridge, weighed it and then let it melt to see how accurate - YUP!  12 inches on the ground and 2.2 inches of liquid.  Let that sink in a bit. 2.2 inches of water EVERYWHERE!

If Columbus is 4.59 square miles that means, right now, there are 79,941,376 gallons of water on top of the earth waiting to melt inside the city limits!  Seventy-nine million gallons!

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The debate.  Well it was a slug fest of fun!

One thing struck me - in 2016 the GOP had a ton of candidates and one guy who was getting all the attention was a far far right lunatic zealot with a cult-like following and he won because he had a base that just LOVED him.

Now we have the DNC with a ton of candidates and one guy on the far far left who has a cult-like following promising a revolution . . . . . . . is history repeating itself?

I'm not a big fan of Bernie as he will break everybody's heart that believe he will actually accomplish all his mighty promises.  BUT - anybody is better the the criminal we have in office now.

If it's Bernie I'm all for Bernie.     

Bloomberg?  Well, it was his first debate in 10 years. It was like spring training for him and everybody else is in mid season form.  I actually like the guy even though he has not only a closet but an entire garage of skeletons.  I would LOVE to see him in a debate with the Barking Carnival Clown.

I've tried to visualize every candidate debating the Impeached Criminal. For ME! Only Warren and Bloomberg can hold their own against the bloated gas bag in my view.

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Brewers will be freakishly interesting this year.  I think every player on the team can play  . . .pretty much anywhere.  I THINK Council can put an all left handed line-up on the field if he wanted too!

And I read last night that Woodward was mentioned as a possible Cy Young candidate. 

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I was cleaning my room and found an old folder of my poker days from about 14 years ago during the golden age of internet poker . . .  before the GOP decided to "ban" it.  This was when I was living in Madison and preparing to move to Columbus.

The problem was the down payment for this house was all in an off shore bank account on the Isle of Man and our government froze all transactions to save us from ourselves.  It got dicey to say the least - particularly when we sold our house because of a coin flip - so weird. 

ANYWAY - this was a spread sheet I had from the first year of playing small stakes ($4) online poker.  Although I was playing 4 tables at once so . . . .


So sad this stopped after 3 years.  In year two I starter writing for FullTilt Poker magazine and I was getting all sorts of freebies for mentioning  . . stuff . . and then it all came to a halt.

I counted 31 poker sites that I had accounts with. It's kind of funny looking at my old passwords - I must have been watching a lot of StarGate.

The REAL sad part was when I became a "partner" in one site 3 weeks before the GOP put a stop to all poker sites for Americans and never heard from those guys again. 

The only site that cheated people by going broke was Absolute Poker and I got out before I lost anything. That place had the BEST bonus. 

Put any amount of $$ into your account.  After one month they would double it IF you played 10 hands of poker.  I put $100 in.  Played a good number of hands and BAM - I got an extra $100.

The next month I put in $300 - a month later BAM!  Another $300.  I hated the site so did not play there much and cashed out.   

OK - it was just a notebook that brought back some happy poker days. 

Fulltilt Poker Magazine - not bad for a guy with dyslexia  

Enough reminiscing.  OH - I did get my money out - it just took an extra 6 months. 

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SAD- good bye Victories Secret!

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Hope you don't own an apartment on 200 Amsterdam Avenue New York City.  It's a 52 story high rise apartment ALMOST complete but -  the building permit has been revoked and the developers have been ordered to remove the top 20 stories because air rights may have been obtained inappropriately (also called bribes) 

At least it't the TOP 20 floors, not the bottom 20.

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Do you own albums? They outsold CDs for the first time in decades last year - HOWEVER - there is a problem.  The factory that makes 80% of all worldwide blank disc's (aluminum discs with a thin coating of lacquer. Those blanks get grooves etched into them, and then are used at pressing plants to make all the vinyl records) . . burned down.

Only one other company in the world makes them . . . in Japan . . .  and then there are tariffs. So don't expect any new albums in the near future.

Carry on 

      

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

I think I need a total toe replacement / WHO were Trump pardons?

So the over/under for Houston Astros being HBP in MLB this year is 83.5.  The average is 60.  This is after we find out Houston has been cheating for years NOT including hacking the St. Louis Cards data base.

This happened 3 or 4 years ago when a former Cardinal IT guy got a job with the Astros and still had all the passwords. 

Houston is the New England of baseball it seems.  Also discovered was Clayton Kershaw had the worst issues with said cheating as it seems he was victimized with the best results (for Houston).

First Spring Training game is Saturday!!

In local virtual news with my Free Agent Draft commencing on Sunday in strat-o-matic I SHOULD get Verlander as the #1 pick with be Rendon.

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I think I need a total toe replacement (TTR).  I was taking Gus for a walk yesterday and turning a corner my right foot slipped on ice which caused my left foot to slam into the ground.  I stubbed ALL my toes as I was wearing moccasins. 

This morning I look and my toe next the the GREAT toe is black and blue.   Hurts like hell. I've never seen a toe this color before. 

On the knee front - The last 4 days its like there is absolutely nothing wrong at all. I even sprinted across the road which felt great.  I was a sprinter in high school track.  I covered that 10 yards in less then 2 seconds.  Feels GREAT.  My excel graph on knee pain looks dumb.

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Meanwhile in Colorado in the cannabis scene.   After 2 years of only 2.5% growth in 2017 and 2018 last year cannabis sales jumped 13%.

Colorado is putting the $302,000,000 they made in taxes into new school construction, law enforcement, public health, drug education and public safety.

The reason behind the jump is more and more people are not afraid of the stigma of smoking flower and with flower being SO CHEAP taxes dropped ($200 an ounce compared to Illinois $552).   The public was purchasing edibles, beverages, vapes and concentrates which are sneaky ways to get high (for most people, I seem to be immune, just like caffeine in coffee, does absolutely nothing for me) but are now smoking more flower.

Now people are purchasing more flower along with edibles, beverages, vapes and concentrates.  Another study has cannabis taking a huge set of profits from big pharm.

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So I have a new Pandora station called Delain and I "discovered" a new rock band I had never heard of . . . . .then I see it's over 10 years old and brokeup years ago.  Old school rock

Lunatica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xshkfEG8yT4



The lead missed being part of the Woman of Symphonic Metal


and of course the Queen on Symphonic Metal  Floor Jenson


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The average broadband in South Korea is $29.90, France $38.10,  Germany $35.21,  America? $66.17. SADLY in Wisconsin only one company has access to a town.  Monopolies are rampant. remember Charter gave a LOT of money to the Walkers cronie campaign and then months later - BAM - if Charter is in your town no other broadband can enter

Who did the Impeached President Pardon?

Rod Blagojevich  - tried to literally sell Obamas Senate seat
Michael Milken - insider trading 10 years - fined $600,000,000
Bernard Kerik - tax fraud and 8 other felony's
Eddie DeBartolo Jr - felony when he bribed $400,000 to get a riverboat license
David Safavivan - former General Services Administration Chief of Staff and was convicted as part of the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal
Ariel Friedler - accused by the Department of Justice of hacking two competitors’ computer systems to “improve his company’s software development and sales strategy.”
Paul Pogue - accused of underpaying his taxes for three years by 10%
Angela Stanton - sentenced to six months home confinement for her part in a stolen vehicle ring>
Tynice Nichole Hall - sentenced to 18 years behind bars for allowing her apartment to be used to distribute drugs.
Crystal Munoz - 12 years after being convicted for being part of a marijuana smuggling ring
Judith Negron - minority owner of a health care company that was part of a scheme to defraud the government.
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I worked in the book industry for a while and it was then I found out "BEST SELLER LISTS" are 100% marketing.  Ever wonder how a book can be a BEST SELLER before it's even on the market?  it's 100% marketing by the book industry.

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Here comes the coronavirus recession and the fed have nothing in their tool box to defend against it.  It was all used up for the tax cut for the rich.  Can't cut taxes any more to spur the market (when it needs it).  As worlds 2nd biggest market has come to a stand still.

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I don't think Bernie can win.  It's him against all the rest of the moderate Democrats. His base is not growing and notice that all the people that had not chosen who to vote for only a few percent went to Bernie.    He's up now but I don't think he will stand the test of time.

I bet it will be Bloomberg.

HOWEVER - VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO!

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While I'm at it.  The two runner up Queens of Symphonic Rock, Sharon den Adel and Tarja team up at Hellfest - I love this rockin song.  Why does Europe had all the GREAT and HUGE rock fests

Can you believe that a few years ago Within Temptation played at The Majestic - AND I MISSED THEM.

 https://youtu.be/8vsKQTfxf80




NUFF
    

Monday, February 17, 2020

Sunday Part Dos!

FIRST  - thanks for the responses on last weeks post.  The response was outstanding and surprising.

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WELL LA DE DAAA    - Sunday Part dos!   this is GREAT!    it's like another Sunday.

No work, snow all day so no need to go out, no mail, and the Daytona 500 this afternoon.   Being retired is worth the suffering for all those years!  (insert evil laugh).

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The GREAT news is because of record breaking rain all the fires are contained or out completely in Australia.

More GREAT news - the next few weeks Wisconsin should be above normal temps (except for a 2 day fling this week) which means we SHOULD have made it through a very easy winter.  KNOCK ON WOOD!

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RANDOM THINGS

Elwood was over Saturday and he insisted I take this photo of The Man Cave . . . he was having a moment.

       

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I've played a bunch of games with my pre season Strat-o-matic team and WOW - It's going to be a crazy year.  I have Cincinnati as my home ball park and I already hit a CRAZY amount of home runs.

BUT - I give up a lot also so . . . . it will be a crazy year.

Remember a few years ago when Will Farrell went to every spring training game in one day?  Played every position,   here is his 1 day strat-o-matic card.


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We were virtual golfing on The Golf Club19 Saturday. A new course (one of 200,000) that we were playing.   I can totally see ME hitting that tree on the right in real life.


and if you are looking for my newest project - Check out Channel 380!!


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MAN have times changed.  First I see BDSM books for sale at Target and then at Barnes and Noble their magazine rack had 9 (NINE) cannabis magazines.  What is the world coming too.  And I won't even mention the Super Bowl halftime show and all the skin.


MEANWHILE - A study "using the roll out of recreational dispensaries in Colorado in 2014" estimated that "the change in retailers' market share of antacid medications using a difference-in-differences design. Antacid market share decreases after a dispensary enters a county by 0.85 percentage points."

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Looking at the polls after New Hampshire - Bernie has really dropped to tie Bloomberg now.  Now it's Bernie / Biden and the surging Bloomberg for the nomination but Biden is in a free fall.

 Latest NATIONAL polls on who can beat The impeached President

Bloomberg over The impeached President  6%
Sanders over The impeached President   4.3%
Buttigieg over The impeached President 1%
Klobuchar over The impeached President 2.6%
Biden  over The impeached President   5.6%
Warren over The impeached President   2.2%

MEANWHILE - in slightly backwards Wisconsin

Sanders over The impeached President   2.0%
The impeached President over  Buttigeig 0.5%
Biden  over The impeached President   5.6%
The impeached President over Warren 1%

Carry on - VOTE TUESDAY for anybody BUT Kelly who was appointed by our old cronie Walker

Thursday, February 13, 2020

A post for my conservative friends (if I have any left)

I had a good day writing it seems.  Like a guy with Alzheimer's coming out for a day and then going back the next day.

First I wrote a lite piece comparing Pink Floyd to Nightwish which has gotten 155 "likes" on facebook.

Then in the afternoon I watched an episode of Black sails - a REALLY good Pirate series once you get past the first 3 episodes which are horrible.  There was a conversation about attacking a fort which got me thinking but you know me - no inner dialog so it was just sort of a word cloud in my brain.

I went upstairs and wrote something in one take.  Took 5 minutes and with a few spelling errors and fixing "teh" back to "the" like 20 times I posted it on facebook since  . . well . . .what else would I do with it.

The response was surprising with 14 "Shares" that I know of but I can't see who shared the shared after 2 deep.
A post for my conservative friends

A personal note to my conservative friends (if I have any left). I know I get people angry at my constant . . anger at our President and you believe it is only another libtard spewing wrath at conservative ideals.
This is far far from the truth. While I did not like Bush and Bush and so forth I did not complain loudly and constantly because the Republicans were in charge and that is how the world works. It swings back and forth.
But this is different and I pray for just a few minutes you can see the world from my vantage point.

What I fear most is our government no longer believes truth, integrity and honor are important. Our court system is being compromised out of pure hatred for anything liberal. Criminals are being pardoned out of spite. Our President is dividing the nation out of pure hatred and he smiles at it.
You think I and liberals hate conservatives yet we do not. I understand them and I might dislike some (not all) of their ideals but it’s only the ideals, not the person. What I hate is our President pitting liberals and conservatives against each other, dividing us, making each side believe we hate each other. WE DO NOT.
Look deep at what our President has done, how many brave military leaders have resigned in protest, how many lifelong diplomats who have kept our world and the Unites States safe for decades because they know how the world works, how many have resigned or been fired out of pure spite to be replaced by friends and buddies who literally know nothing about world politics.
How many hundreds of hard working office managers have been replaced by political appointees just to get things done behind the scenes that might not be illegal but certainly NOT legal.
YES – the economy is doing great for many but at the cost of truth, honor and integrity? Is it really worth the rise of hatred towards your neighbors? Name calling? Belittling the handicap? Bragging about groping woman? Is it really worth it? Is that what you want the rest of the world to believe America stands for?
Don’t be afraid of Bernie or Pete or Amy. They are politicians and will tell you want you want to hear but in reality, it takes a LOT to change anything . . legally, without Executive Orders. I’m not saying vote for them but don’t vote for our President just because he claims he is thinking about any long term plans. He’s shooting from the hip.
When I look for a President I look for someone who brings decency, has a moral code and respects the Presidency, how will he or she  make ALL Americans proud to be American again.
This is not about policy but the man or woman who exemplifies what Americans are 
This one does not.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Bernie is in trouble / Survivor / Nightwish

watch out - Bobcat sightings near Columbus - Thanks Clark

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Everybody knows I'm a big Survivor fan.  I've sent in my app a few times but no takers yet.  My strategy has always been to be the "fire" starter meaning I get people arguing and stand back to watch what happens.

I have been accused of this online and probably here also.  Not a conversation starter but more of an argument starter - HEY - I know me!  LOL

ANYWAY - If you have never watched Survivor and just don't understand the draw (because you have never watched it for more then one episode) THIS is the season to just try it.

It's the Super Bowl of Survivor after 40 seasons.  20 winners that have all won $1 million already and the only person to ever win twice.   All know the game and how THEY won.  How does it work you ask?
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20 past winners are put into two teams and stranded on an island.  They build a shelter and boil water like camping on steroids .   Then there is a team competition to win a prize like flint to build a fire, or blankets or fishing equipment.

Then a day later another team competition but this time the losing team has to kick off one of their own team members and this is where it gets interesting.  It's been called the greatest social experiment ever.  Kick off an irritating person that is strong?

There are some truly interesting cast members and for Survivor fans it will be amazing to see these  winners again and if you have never watched it will be AMAZING since you don't know their backgrounds.  I wish I could experience it both ways.

Rod and Amber
This year Rob (season 4,8,20,22) and Amber (season 2 and season 8) are both competing.

Amber beat Rob in season 8 and Rob proposed at the final tribal council.  They are married and have 4 girls.

Parvati who I believe is the most sensual woman who is totally in tune with her own skin and a brilliant and super cunning villain is in the game,
Parvati
 






Sandra ( seasons 7, 20 and 34) the only person to ever with twice.

Nick Wilson (season 37) who grew up in a trailer and his family would give blood to buy milk.  Amazing guy.

All 20 are masterminds at "game theory" ( now a real course you can take at many Universities because of Survivor).

CBS 7:00. The show that changed television on May 31 2000.  The winner gets $2 million - the most for any non-scripted TV show. 

 Who is in the cast of season 40  Winners At War! 

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FIRST - I will vote for ANY candidate that is the nominee.  I think there are so many undecideds because all are good choices to beat a corrupt impeached President.  But I believe Bernie is in trouble.

The reason I say this is because he got only 28% in a very white New Hampshire votes where he had 60% last election.  The more moderate candidates Klobuchar and Mayor Pete were right behind him and if you add both those totals up they beat Bernie easily.  Add the surging moderate Bloomberg to the scrum and it gets difficult.

OH - notice the impeached woman groper was taunting Bloomberg last night for his horrible performance . . . . . ummm . . . . he was not running you moron.       

ANYWAY - as long as us liberals don't eat our own like last election I think there is a good chance to delete everything the impeached President has done. Wipe his old white supremacist fat ass off the books and send him to jail.

I'm literally undecided.  There are a couple candidates I won't vote for UNLESS they are the nominee.  Biden is off my list.   So PLEASE - if I sound like I'm against anyone

I WILL VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO.   

Fun fact.  If Bernie OR Warren win the nomination their Republican governor will choose who in the Senate takes their place.  If Amy Klobuchar wins a Democratic Governor will choose who replaces her.  The Senate is as important as President and there is a solid chance blue can take the senate.   Just put that in the back of your mind.

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My first official action in Strat-o-matic happened today.  Every 3 years I can change ball parks and today I switched from pitcher San Diego to Breese Stevens . . oops I meant Cincinnati.  The crazy thing is a team in my division switched to Colorado.  Going to be a LOT of runs scored.  HOWEVER Middlesex the winner the last 2 years has Miami so my 4 team division now has the top two hitter parks and the top 2 pitcher parks.

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The Las Vegas of Asia has been shut down do to the Cronovirus. Wynn Macao is losing 2.6 million a day in wages they have to pay out.  Speaking of Cronovirus - it seems to not effect children very much.  Old people are the target it seems.

AND SPEAKING OF OLD PEOPLE - I was at the used DVD game store in Madison yesterday.  I purchased a PS4 game and was talking to a friendly young dude next to me about the lack of concert videos at the store and he commented " Hell, I'm surprised you are playing PS4 games".  I asked WHY? and he said "you are ancient"   WHAT???   LOL

We all had a laugh and I commented to the 30 year old.  I said my brain still thinks it's 30, no really, that part never seems to change. I then mentioned I was a symphonic metal fan which many people in the States know little about.

3 days ago Nightwish dropped their new video Noise. It's been listened to over 2 million times IN THREE DAYS.

If you want to hear what Europeans listen too for rock check it out! it ain't like rock in America.  The first group to ever be allowed to film in the Natural History Museum in London

https://youtu.be/LczGSoibRe8     





Watch out for snore later today - totals are ramping up a little.

Cheers

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Brewers, gummies, HGTV, #VacumnCleanerChallange

There is a show on HGTV that is looking for a small town to do some renovations /clean up and some Columbus fans created a application movie and sent it in.   Pretty sweet! 

Final HGTV version from Columbus Wisconsin on Vimeo.

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Baseball Prospectus - SPOILER ALERT

Part of an article about the Milwaukee Brewers is showing how Brewer fans are not like other MLB fans.  Not many ball parks have tailgating for baseball games but in a day where everybody complains about the length of baseball games, in Milwaukee "they" spend 3 hours before the game playing catch (and drinking).   

Also talked about is that even when the Brewers had losing seasons 11 years in a rod attendance did not really change that much.  Brewers fans just love baseball win or lose. 

Speaking of the Brewers schedule - they will fly 28,818 miles this year, one of the least in MLB




and then there is Seattle   50,988   OUCH



Seems to be better to be a fly over city as opposed to on a coast.

We went to a Colodaro Rockie game on a Friday night - I swear I did not see one drunk person UNLIKE Miller Park on a Friday night.

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OMG  We did the #VacumnCleanerChallange this morning - so AMAZING - NASA was right!  it stands on it's own!! 


BTW - the #BroomChallange?  hoax. You can do this any and every day. The bristles act like a tripod.  It's not a thing.   

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Only two democratic candidates in Wisconsin have gained in the polls since December 1st. Sanders  is up 1% and Bloomberg is up 12%.  Seems all the votes for anybody is going towards Bloomberg.

We shall see what happens when real states start to have primaries, not just white states.  But it's all about momentum.  So many undecideds waiting to pick who can beat the impeached President who wants to cut $800 billion out of Medicaid and Medicare to go to the border wall.

I have never seen a pathological liar unite a party like this.  #1 goal - no matter who, is to get the mentally unstable child king and his cronies out of office. 

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remember Popeyes Chicken and that sandwich that people lined up for hours to buy?   Same Store sales rose 38% last quarter. An obscene and unheard of number in the grand scheme of things.

America is now at the lowest number of household occupants IN HISTORY!   2.52 people per house.   Germany is the lowest at 1.99 per house.   And people wonder why there are so many help wanted ad's? 

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SADLY - I took the THC gummie test a few weeks ago.  nothing :-(    Just like caffeine which does nothing for me at all it seems gummies are the same.  I tried the recommended amount - nothing.  then doubled it - nothing. I did get sleepy! but that is really not what I was hoping for.  I've tried syrup - notta,  drinks - nothing and now gummies!  ZIP!    Waste of money for me.
Carry on
  


Monday, February 10, 2020

XFL zzzz / Leroy's Meats / good-bye Medicare / The Moonbeam 3

Question for Clark who hears podcasts in his head :-) Do you hear YOU?  I have music in my head almost 24/7 and can play back things I have heard . . . but nothing with ME in it. I cannot hear my own voice.  I find it amazing that people can really have conversations with themselves? 

The only time I can hear my own voice is while typing. 

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WHEW - now that I got THAT out of my system, yea yea the impeached President did give the Medal of Freedom to a White Supremacists but he can do that and really - Medal of Freedom is basically a meaningless participation award so no big deal. 

I worry more about the 800 million proposed to vanish from Medicare and another 2 billion to go into the Border Wall but really who needs Medicare  and medicaid right?  Old people will die soon anyway. They can't vote when they are dead.

Lt. Col. Vindman was wrong.  You CAN be fired for telling the truth in America.
Making America great?  ummm no



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MEANWHILE - we had 6.3 inches of snow last night which broke a record for February 9th and OF COURSE today was the day we were getting a new dish for DIRECT TV as ours is 14 years old and "99" is out so it needs some TLC. . . .somehow on the snowy roof.

YUP - brand new dish antenna.   Had to put up with a service dude who seemed to hate non-Americans but that is the lay of the land now.  Hate anybody not white.

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Prairie Ridge Health care has a new toy - The Moonbeam 3 UV disinfection system.  I saw this a few years ago on a Sunday morning show and thought it was brilliant.  PRH is the first hospital in the area (that I know of) that has these.

They take the unit into a room and blast it with ultraviolet light. Kills everything.  Bravo!

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Lee Trask for school board

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Of course this weekend Strat-o-matic dropped this years software - wow - I might hit a lot of HRs this year with my #3 and #4 hitters combining for 89 homeruns and surrounded by 5 hitters with 25+ HRs.  We shall not talk about pitching.  ALTHOUGH I will have Patrick Corbin (3.25 ERA) and I SHOULD get Justin Verlandar  and his 2.58 ERA.  The team that has the free agent pick before me is in chaos and needed 5 positions AND has zero pitching.

I ended in last place last year with 87 wins.  Won't be last this year.

Last year having 2 super stars and 2 EXCELLENT hitters and 4 black holes REALLY hurt my lineup.  It's better to have 8 average players then the above. 

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We have coyote tracks in the snow.  Has to be what ate the bunny last week.

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Voyager 2 is back online!  even with a 34 hour lag to communicate with the craft they have restored contact.  Speaking of a lag. Its a running joke on Avenue 5 - the funniest space comedy on air.

https://youtu.be/uuuSXNBzyVI



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There is a new football league on TV - the XFL with new and different rules with 1,2 and 3 point conversions, no kick offs but a scrum to get the ball.  Might have to check it out but probably won't

Meanwhile - a National talking sports head said the NBA is ruled by the Bucks and the Clippers for the next 3 years!

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Went to Fox lake and Leroy's Meats - WOW - what an amazing little store.  I think we spent $70.  BEST hamburger since Sentry.  Some fantastic fajita chicken and beef.  Summer sausage with chedder cheese,  REALLY good pizza  (one tiny for toaster ovens which worked out GREAT), Just a diamond in the rough up there. 


Thursday, February 6, 2020

Baseball / Toaster Ovens / Mitt

So I'm of course gearing up for baseball season and reading Bill James Handbook and noticed that Ryan Braun is on the fringe of Hall of Fame  . . .if not for the PEDs.   I love this book but MAN the player projections are in the tiniest font that is printable.

I've been comparing Bill James projections to Baseball Prospectus projections in a non scientific way using only MY team. So far Prospectus is doing better.

One thing I learned from last year is that it is better to have 8 average players then 5 REALLY good and 3 really bad players.  You would think with Yelich AND Trout there would be so many runs scored it's crazy - NOPE - the black hole at the bottom of the lineup was . . . a black hole of no runs.

Reading James one thing he mentioned is that good players on bad teams to better.  For instance.  Henry Mancini . . NO - Trey Mancini on Baltimore.  Average to good players get more playing time on bad teams.  I drafted Mancini 2 years ago to take Freddie Freemans place this year (lost to free agency) and Trey had a .899 OPS this year.

I was moaning about  last years draft where I could not find enough ABs for catchers - I had to draft 5 just to get 700 plate appearances.  The draft was FUBR for me but I did get a good number of great picks in low rounds.   Danny Santana in round 19 became a full time 1B with a .857 OPS, Greg Garcia round 20 excellent Utl Inf against right handed pitchers, IIidemaro Vargas round 18 (wow three good picks in a row) is great vs. lefties at 2B.

Swing and a miss on the high expensive rounds but not to bad for the bottom feeders.

I have the 2nd pick for Free agents and while last year there was a 20% raise in salaries will be more this year.  I'll have a choice of Verlander who will be the most expensive player ever in our league.  OR Kershaw . . the 2nd most expensive. 

OH there are some GREAT players out there but I NEED pitching.

BTW - Baseball Prospectus has Travis Shaw as one of the top 10 hitters to have a much better year

They also predict that Bryce Harper will have a poor year along with worst fielding 2B in the league Keston Hiura

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Toaster ovens

Our toaster could no longer burn toast so we went to buy a toaster. They are like $15-$20. WELL - looking we saw toaster ovens for like $35.  WHY NOT.

WOW - WHO KNEW (everybody probably).  They are amazing.  We had baked chicken breasts last night.  Bake potatoes tonight.  Toast and bagels in the morning.  Who knew they were A TINY OVEN! LOL  it takes 5 minutes to heat to 450. They do everything a real oven does but in less time.  You can make cookies and muffins and it does not warm up the entire house.

I am floored.

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members of Cult45 move on - this will only upset you more.   

Thank you Mitt Romney - at least there is one non-spineless GOP Senator in the group. What a total embarrassment for the so called "Republican" Party which is now the brainwashed  Cult45 jellyfish.

How can anybody listen to the outright lies the impeached "President" spewed the other night - I GOT A BRIDGE YOU CAN BUY!

"I've also made an ironclad pledge to American families: We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions,"

FREAKING BULL SHIT LIE.  yet the gullible will believe him.

The Trump administration backed a lawsuit claiming that the Affordable Care Act's protections for pre-existing conditions are illegal. 

"If we had not reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration, the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success,"       

More lies!  98% of economists say the "current period of economic growth began during the Obama administration. Some say Trump's tax cuts might have boosted it, but the economy was not on the decline when Trump took office."

throwing gas on a fire does not mean you created fire.

"And I was pleased to announce last year that for the first time in 51 years, the cost of prescription drugs actually went down," Trump said.

Bull shit lie - Prescription drugs prices have never been higher and are rising.  How can people believe this shit mouth.

and my comments about the dirt bag homophobic racist neanderthal piece of scum Rush?  I stand by my comments.   remember what he said

“There is no conclusive proof that nicotine’s addictive... And the same thing with cigarettes causing emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease.”

Rush on Michael J Fox having parkinsons disease:
"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."


Rush on LGBT:
“When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult; it’s an invitation.”
Of course Rush listeners all agree.  He is the Tokyo Rose of the old white male population who spread propaganda do divide America.  He should be put in jail as a clear and present danger to America but he will have a wonderful place in hell instead  . . . .  along with the sniveling cowards in the so called "Republican" now Cult45 Senate.

I didn't like Bush or other REAL Republicans but it was fine. It was their turn.  But they were not  dividers of America.  I feel sorry for members of Cult45 as they have been mislead with propaganda. 
Nuff said - Thanks Mitt for being the only honest real Republican.

Sorry - it pisses me off.
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Tuesday, February 4, 2020

The death of the Caucus ? Andy Reid / Rush - not the band

 WOW - DJ and I had so much great TV to watch last night,  Picard, Curb Your Enthusiasm and the fantastic Avenue 5 (The Office in space)  so what did we have on?  The Iowa Caucus's . .for FOUR HOURS!

It was actually fascinating and looked like fun - totally undemocratic process where pretty much only white people and collage students were involved.  Iowa, one of the whitest States in America and where most of the minorities work 2nd and 3rd shift cannot be involved in the "democratic" process.

Well - the totally inept DNC (compared to the totally corrupt  GOP) decided testing was not needed.  So THE APP they were suppose to use was totally incomprehensible to the normal humans that were suppose to use it.  The programmers found it easy but it seems the people in the field could not download it MONDAY MORNING and when they did they could not figure it out.

No worries - there was a back up . . . but who knew all 1500 Caucasus's would try to call at once which brought down the phone lines.

What a bunch of buffoons!

One thing was clear though.  The #1 reason people were there was not Health Care or the Environment, the number reason was To Defeat Trump the Impeached. They kept asking people at every caucus and that was #1.  Get corruption out of the White House.

That is why Trump will lose.  Liberals are 100% united THIS TIME and have one and only one big reason to vote.  Beat trump . . . . unless the young crowd who are ALL for Bernie lose and they take their toys and decide to not vote again in protest like last time.  No participation ribbon for you.

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Rush as advanced lung cancer! 

My dad died of lung cancer 35 years ago Wednesday. You don't beat lung cancer.  You endure and then die a long and slow death finally drowning on your own phlegm.  I'm sure Rush will have all sorts of medical aid and I hope when he is laying in bed for a year trying desperately to breath he can reflect on how he was against poor people having health care, only the rich deserved it.

I listened to Rush maybe 10 times for 5 minutes (the radio was on the Brewer station) before I was so pissed at his lies, fake news, homophobic and racist views on the world I would be pissed for hours.

Rush is a clear and present danger to America.

If Trump the impeached had lung cancer I would feel sad for him. He is just an ignorant little bitch boy in his racist ways, but Rush?  Rush is smart and went out of his way to spread fake news, spread homophobia and promote racism.

I will not shed one tear when he is gone.  Good riddance.

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More people watched The Halftime show then they watched the actual game!  And it looks like the show is being ranked as one of the best. 

In fact the Super Bowl had good ratings.  Last year was the lowest ratings in like 5 years.  This year the trend started back up again.

Congrats to Andy Reid.  Check this out. This is little Andy Reid at a Punt Pass and Kick competition when he was 13 years old.   NO REALLY IT IS.   He won.  Not fake news.



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80% of ebooks are sold on Amazon and they track how fast you read. 

Since people started steaming music and artist started being paid by the number of complete songs people listen to the average length of a song is 20 seconds shorter now.    The same thing with books.

 If Amazon tracks WHEN you read a book and how fast will books become shorter so they can sell more?

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DANG - my phone kept dinging - it was a TEXT from Legal Eagle a cannabis dispensary in Colorado with their daily deal on cannabis.  Buy 1/2 ounce of Blue Dream for $150 and get another half ounce for $50

Compared to Illinois . . well . . you can't because Illinois does not have any cannabis for recreational users. One place in Springfield you can buy 1/8 of an ounce for $69 . . plus 25% tax if you get there at the right time before it's sold out  What a deal.

There are 8 grow houses in ILL and they cannot keep up.  One is starting a 1 million foot expansion.

Bernie the Old said "If elected, on day one, I will make cannabis legal in all 50 states  through Executive Order".  yea what could POSSIBLY go wrong there LOL  Dream on Bernie

I like Bernie - I will have a very hard time voting for him but I gotta say - I'm still undecided.  Vote Blue No Matter Who and all that.

Biden - sigh - I tossed his hat OUT of the ring last night with his speech that sounded more like a Dewey vs. Truman campaign speech.  Seriously - you can only say "folks" 25 times in a speech before it becomes old.   He officially got check off my list on people to not vote for . . . unless I have too.

At the moment Trump the impeached is way behind almost everybody in the key states to most of the blue candidates.  In Wisconsin Biden and Bernie both beat trump, Warren is 1% behind trump and Buttigieg is 2% behind.

I believe blue can defeat Trump the impeached. Should not be a problem and the Senate is a distinct possibility (that you GOP).  The GOP is defending 25 seats and the DNC are defending 12.  All the DNC need to do is pick up 3 or 4 gerrymandered seats and they have the momentum. 

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Nuff said for today.

Monday, February 3, 2020

Shakira and J Lowe - seemed to have a mix reaction / inner dialog / knee / The Stick

I was going to lead off with the results of my new knee doctor visit but then I decided the "inner dialog" discovery where people can have conversations with themselves . . in their brain (I can't) or Jimmy the Stick year 25?? but then  . . . .  the half time show happened.

Truth in advertising . . .I own two Shakira CDs AND listen to them so . . . . . .

Yesterday I was watching the Audience Network as they had a REALLY REALLY good INX concert and then I saw there was a Shakira concert. I had never seen her in a real concert so of course I tuned it.

YIKES - I instantly was looking MORE forward to the halftime show.   Well she did not disappoint me long along with J Lowe.  GREAT music, great dancing and DJ loved it as I did and many others.

HOWEVER one comment on my thread was . . . .

 Are you kidding me...worst show ever...pornographic, strip club venue with thong costumes, pole dancing, pelvic thrusts, writhing on the floor, butt slapping, tasteless trash...all in prime time with children watching! Even children involved in sacrificial costumes...this was an atrocity. Shame on them! Call me a prude, but our morality is in jeopardy. There is so much that could have been done...but wasn't!

Sacrificial costumes?

Admittedly I felt there would be some people that were annoyed and probably the conservatives  Christians that voted for Trump.  America is one of the most sexually repressed countries in the world you know.  We elected a leader that brags about groping MANY woman . . . because he can, but the same people hate a little butt grinding?

and trust me - Shakira was conservative in the halftime show.  Only in America would people have issues with this halftime show.

OH - the impeached President with the largest brain ever congratulated the Kansas City Kansas Chiefs last night.  Of course he did.

a joke


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LOOK BEHIND YOU!!


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Then that whole dialog thing.   There was an article about people having an "inner dialog".  They have complete conversations with themselves.  They can hear their own voice in their brains.  It SEEMS many people have this.  I do not.

In fact it seems many people with dyslexia do not have this.  A friend said her husband and one of their kids cannot hear their own voice in their brain . . and both have a little dyslexia.  I battle dyslexia and I can hear my voice but only 3 or 4 words before it fades into boredom.

The ONLY time I can hear my voice in my brain is when I type.  I would bet $1000 that Trump has no inner dialog, thus, his tweets.   Thus my writing a blog.  Maybe those words NEED to get out because there is no way for the brain (no matter how small) to process the thoughts as they cannot be internalized.   Just thinking out loud (the only way I know how).  OH - I have ideas and thoughts but they don't form words anywhere.   Curious.

Do you have inner dialog?
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Went to Prairie Ridge for my knee appointment Friday morning and WOW - what a difference between UW. I got more information in an hour and a half then all my meetings total at the UW.

The PA looked at my x-ray and said Oh my Gosh that knee is in BAD shape. And I asked WHY am I not in any real pain.  Only minor discomfort and a tiny bit of swelling (but no long long walks).  He looked at what kind of cortisone injection I had and said (unlike all the other non-committal  doctors)  that that type of cortisone wore off within a few weeks . . . . . well?? 

It's probably the prednisone that I am being weened off of 1 mg at a time.

So the plan now is to have a CT scan the end of May for maybe a fall TKR . . UNLESS . . I need it sooner because of pain and so forth.  OH - I'll need a TKR but if I can hold off for the golf summer I'll go for it.  It's all about timing.

All I can say is I was impressed with the amount of information.

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OH YEA - "M"   "Darmok and Jalad"    I JUST went to Amazon to see when a book I ordered last night would get here.  Guess what I saw - Darmok and Jalad T-SHIRTS!!!    WHAT???  

And yea - I ordered 2020 Baseball Prospectus . . .it's on back order  WHAT?  Did they only print of 50?  It's a major thing!!!

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JIMMY THE STICK YEAR 25.


The original Jimmy has been missing since we finished the basement. I swear he is in the garage  . . somewhere.  But as Gus the Weather Dog commented yesterday on his facebook page (now with 402 followers).  Who ya gonna believe, a rodent?  a stick?  or a talking dog on the internet.  Knock Knock Anyone home?   Talking Dog wins.

He saw his shadow which ACTUALLY has a tiny bit of science behind it.  Clouds mean moisture which is a spring condition.  Sun means dry air which is a winter thing.  THUS - if there are clouds it's a good sign that the air mass is not a winter air mass . . . we had clouds for 11 straight days.  Bad luck for the sun on THIS ONE DAY.

But we should have a slightly cooler spring with above average participation.  SO far - "knock on wood" we have had an easy winter with nothing in the next 2 weeks that have anything different.

In fact the next 2 weeks look REALLY average.  Highs 27-30  an inch snow fall every 4 or 5 days.

Nuff for today