Wednesday blog . .what? OH sorry wrong calandar - MONDAY blog

I've been fielding questions about the new cell phone tower that might go up in Kiwanis Park in Columbus. Mostly about the aesthetics of the tower and how it's not one of those girder towers but more of a very tall light pole.  People like the fact that Columbus and Kiwanis Park would reap the benefits of the $$ we would be getting.

In other news - I have made it a life goal to ask every restaurant I go into to make sure someone knows the Heimlich maneuver (invented in 1974) after my near death experience.   I decided this when I returned to the place that brought this to my attention and asked the manager if anyone knew this procedure - she was not sure but said it had happened to her once and as she was walking to the bathroom the obstruction became dislodged.

I have had CPR training and DO NOT GO TO THE BATHROOM. That is where people go to die.

So - I jumped onto that horse again and ate there. Then on to home brew club where we registered 3 gold medals in 3 separate competitions last month.  We lost at the Fond du Lac beer fest where oddly all the Fond du lac brewers meddled.  However - since we brought our mega traveling 8 tap kegorator to the brew fest and there there was a problem.

They left everything outside overnight and once they got it into the facility . . it was literally frozen. 40 gallons of beer and not a drop could we drunk.  WELL! - we now have a traveling Sun Prairie Worthog hair dryer.

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I spoke of Stra-o-matic - this is a photo of the 1981 All-Star game which was canceled because of a strike.  In it's place and broadcast on many radio stations was a re-creation of the game using Strat-o-matic.  It was played on location .

Then as I was reading my book the author  mentioned SOM

What you don't see is he was not a geek . . YET!!!

What I learned yesterday was that the SAFE percentage on Sac Flies with 2 out was 90% in the majors. WAY WAY too high.  The actual percentage should be more in the 35% range.  Once again, 3rd base coaches are so afraid of looking bad they do not take chances and create less runs.

OH Rickie Weeks. Remember when he was a Brewer and refused to play the Outfield? WITH GOOD REASON.  He played OF in Seattle past year and literally (no really LITERALLY) he is the worst person I have ever seen play the OF.   If he played 162 games in the outfield he would have 22 errors on the very very VERY few balls he would even get too.

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France has trained 4 Golden Eagles to attack drones.  I loath drones with all my heart.  Invasion of privacy and all that.

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Like to ski?  Mammoth Mountain CA has a 350 inch base.  That is a little over 29 feet!

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has requested $3.1 billion a year for breaking up families that have lived in the US for decades.  A YEAR!

A 2015 report by the the Office of Management and Budget said that all the regulations that were put in place by Obama for the EPA cost $35 BILLION.  But saved taxpayers between $160 billion to $788 billion.  Those are now gone as the Republicans could not care less about the environment.

Actually it sounds like the plan is get rid of the EPA and use that money to bolster the military and build a wall.

OH - In Congress there is H.R. 899 running through the votes that will eliminate the Department of Education

SECTION 1. TERMINATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.  

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And finally.  Republican will lie about anything.

When asked about Trump golfing they said he is only golfing a "few holes".  when in fact he was golfing an 18 hole round.  WHY would they lie about something so trivial.  Good Lord

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The Oscars - WOW.  Didn't see THAT ending coming!!  What a cliff hanger!

And is Kevin O’Connell the new Susan Lucci?  I guess not.  After 20 years and 20 nominations he finally won an Oscar for Hackshaw Ridge.

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I just read about that guy ion the movie in "Killing the Rising Sun".  The book also had a little in the USS Indianapolis.

OH - DO NOT RENT OR PURCHASE "USS Indianapolis Men of Courage"  Horrible horrible movie.  Really cheaply made and a ton of wrong things.  Not one Survivor likes it and so many people just turn it off.  A travesty.

Instead watch or rent USS Indianapolis The Legacy Project

Based on the largest collection of original source material available on the subject, The Legacy Project is a complete re-telling of the story of the USS Indianapolis, 

https://youtu.be/l9kxOu3E9pw


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Side note - I have to go into "work" today.  Seems there is a new boss who just realized I have not come into work for 4 months and I need to complete some security course.  I mentioned that perhaps I'm not really needed anymore??  since  . . well . . . 4 months and all that.

Perhaps I'll take a box in and get rid of all my pens and pencils and so forth.

A blog with no name.

For I was hungry and you said "drug test those who would ask for food." I was thirsty and you said "oil for us is more important than water for them. Build the pipeline." I was a stranger and you said "he could be a terrorist don't let him in." I was sick and you said "take away her health insurance."

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FINE - I'll blog.  I've gotten a few emails asking me if I'm OK or am I depressed and I received an email from England wondering if Columbus is still on the map.

Yes, No and Yes, at the moment.

I attended the final James Street Reconstruction meeting for the over 70 age group last night.  It wasn't like the MG&E investor meeting where I brought the average age down by 10 years but it did seem like it was a "crowd" that was 30 years over the average age of a Columbodian.

 Construction starts in about 10 days on the upper (but seems like lower) end of James Street.  From River Road to the stop lights. (Columbus will have 4 (FOUR) sets of stop lights when it's all finish).

Check out this detour map for phase one.

Pretty awful. But this is the official detour for highway.  This is so what happened during the filming of Public Enemies (huge road repairs for Columbus) will not happen THIS time. 

HOWEVER - the shocking part will be the major tree cutting on the lower (but seems like upper) part of James Street.  Seems the trees need to all be cut down before a date in April to spare a certain bat starts to look for a home.   I'll have to ask our bat expert at home brew club tonight (Sun Prairie Worthogs).  She has flown all over the world studying bats.

Then sometime in early July the 2nd phase will start from the downtown stoplights to the Kwik Trip intersected. (stop light to stop light).  The 3rd phase will be from Kwik Trip 151 where another set of stoplights (not sure why we need another set) and then to the new stop lights on the other side.   

BUT back on topic - I'm actually, WONDERFUL - this is a fantastic time of year if you are into sports and virtual sports or gambling sports (well, not so much for gambling sports it seems).

OH OH - before I lose many of anybody reading this who are not "into" sports.  Here is a shot of the 100 year old Pavilion in Fireman's Park (yes it really is FireMAN'S Park).

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Back to sports and how excited I am.

First of all I received my Strat-o-matic (SOM) cards which are like Fantasy baseball where you actually play the games.  After 162 games each player, on average, does what he did in real life from the correct amount  home runs to the correct amout of ground balls to 3rd base that move the runner up one base. Everything is taken into account. . except because of weather and ballpark dimensions and random luck it's not "exact".  If I had Chris Carter who lead the NL in Homeruns in Milwaukee (the easiest place in the majors to hit a home run - greater the Colorado) a move him to San Francisco he would not hit 40+ HRs.  Get my point?

I started playing in my first SOM league in 1968.  The game is on the Hall of Fame and 90% of sports announcers have played the game.  In fact before SOM nobody really knew there was a difference between lefties and righties, pitching match ups, and walks were something frowned upon. Because of SOM statisticians started to look at baseball in a different light.

SOM was the very first table top baseball simulation that actually used a pitcher. Every other game only had batter cards.

Just so people have some sort of clue here is Freddie Freemans super advanced card and how it's played.

3 dice, 1 red, 2 white
roll dice - add the white
RED 2 WHITE 7
look at Freeman's card
Column two on the right side because Peralta throws RIGHT
Result Strikeout (against a lefty it's a gb C and runners advance (C)

If it was a RED 5 and WHITE 7 it would be a strikeout (unless the pitcher was tired, the DOT, and it would be a single ** meaning runners advance 2 bases.

And you can figure out the rest - movin' on

BUT - baseball and real life intertwine. 

I'm reading a book called "Ahead Of The Curve" by Brian Kenny who so far has really bashed most baseball writers and the institution of baseball. WHY? Because the people who put teams on the field AND write about baseball are stupid . . . BUT . . coming around. It's only taken 40+ years.

For instance "people can maintain an unshakable faith in any proposition, however absurd, when they are sustained by a community of like-minded believers."  Does that sound like anything that is happening in America right now?  Humans are a herding animal, very social. Many of our beliefs are based on what the herd believes and it's uncomfortable to believe differently. We are very resistant to change.

But he is talking about baseball and how so many major league baseball clubs resist in looking at the science behind the game.  TOO MANY NUMBERS they complain.  "We know what we are doing, it's worked for over 100 years".  Major League baseball players have a "look". Have you ever noticed that MOST major league managers all sort of look the same? All the same size-ish and every one played major League baseball (not like other sports).

Money Ball - WIDELY panned my 90% of major league clubs as a stupid movie and Brad Pitt actually received hundreds of hate mails saying how he is helping ruin the game.  Very good baseball movie about Billy Beane who took the Oakland As' tiny bankroll and produced a champion by using science. If you like baseball, watch that movie.

Science shown that the way the game is played is wrong. - Things like bunting - there is no reason to EVER bunt in baseball unless you are a pitcher - EVER!.  Science tells us this - yet, you see bunting every game.  Moving a guy up one base is FAR FAR less important then losing that out.  A study of 150,000 baseball games tells us

Man on 1st, no outs chance of scoring a run is 44.1%
Man on 2nd, one out chance of scoring is 41.8%

YET - you see bunting every game. You even saw it in the World Series which totally failed.

Other sports are also having issues with numbers.

In the NFL - punting is a negative expectation strategy.  There were two college teams this year that never punted.  An economics professor at UCal Berkeley did a study.

There are 3 times when you should go for it instead of punting

1. Inside your opponent's territory on 4th down and 7 or less  
2. Inside your opponent's 33 on 4th and 10 or less
3. 4th and 4 or less, ANYWHERE on the field

Your 11 yard line, 4th and 4?  Go for it.  Yea - your opponent will score if you fail . . . and your opponent will ALSO score if you punt. But punting you are guaranteed to NOT score at all.

Yea - that is a tough one but , , , he did the math and some schools tried it and it works.

And now you see why I have not been blogging - this stuff has been consuming my brain and is freakishly boring to non-baseball people . . . how about golf.

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Along with IRL (In Real Life) golfing I have been on a number of virtual golf tours starting with Links 30 years ago, then Tiger Woods Golf by EA Sports but nothing compares to the TGCtours .com tour where I absolutely suck.  No really.  But that is why it is so popular.

There are actually 9 tours. You start off in Q-School which is like a boot camp of 6 rounds in hideous conditions and real tough courses.  Then you are given a tour card. Each tour has about 200 golfers. There are cut lines and you can get demoted and so forth.

NOTE - I think I'm trying to escape into a "happy place" and not think about politics (which REALLY is fascinating but would be more fun if I knew the ending).

ANYWAY - I just wanted to show this clip of a hole in my 1st tour event.  Now this looks all good but about 5 holes later I took a 10 (TEN) as the wind REALLY kicked up on this highlands course, yea, we will not speak of that.



So that is my story at the moment. I won't way 10 days next time since I was invited to a Facebook closed group of bloggers around the world so I guess I need to blog more.  Seems there can be blogging burnout (especially after 8 years).

SO - until next time

The Golf Club

There is nothing I can say about the Republican Party who believe that Putin is just as good  and kindhearted as Obama and Bush and they also believe the media is covering up hundreds of terrorists attacks (Bowling Green?).

He is getting himself impeached without my help.  I see the republicans sent their spokes woman, Kelly Anne to CNN for their State of the Union program but CNN said - "no, we want someone with a shred of credibility".  EVIL MEDIA!!!  WE DON'T NEED CREDIBILITY.

I can just sit back and watch the train wreak in slow motion, day by day.  As many have said - we ALL lost in this election. One side just don't know it yet.

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I took this back yard shot a few days ago.  Cardinals are hard to shoot, very skittish. Blue Jays are tough too.

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In case you are wondering the Las Vegas odds of the Pats coming back from 25 down was 1600 to 1. From what I heard "Las Vagas" took a bath on the Super Bowl with the OVER bets.  EVERYBODY was picking the OVER and once the game went into overtime, the OVER was a done deal.

Smallest viewership of the SB in 4 years.  Lady Gaga was outstanding and there were 117.5 million viewers watching her. Slightly less then the 117.7 million that tuned in for the Overtime.

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If any of you play video golf games you know that Tiger Woods Golf is no longer being made. EA Sports went to Rory Mcilroy PGA Tour but they put very little into it.  HOWEVER - there is a new system called The Golf Club that is OUTSTANDING.  Especially if you are a real golfer.

I got this simulation because you can create courses.  In fact 100% of the thousands of courses are all user created and they are fantastic.  From real courses to whatever is in your minds eye.  The ball dynamics are spot on and the actual golfing is very realistic.  Unlike the arcade-ish EA Sports you have to actually think on this simulation.

Everybody has the same rules. You can't "buy" better clubs or other arcadey things.  

If you create a course you can upload it to all platforms, PC, Xbox, PS4 and whatever else.

While EA Sports graphics are amazing the game play is more like an arcade.  The Golf Club  does not have the A+ graphics, more like a B+ which is the ONLY beef people have.

https://youtu.be/eAq8kugMT20



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This artist blew DJ and I  away the other night. It was a drop what you are doing and listen moment. She is a French woman who grew up in the Congo

https://youtu.be/nIbEqKGxPLI



Look her up on YouTube.

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Weather - after today 3 days of sun. Over cast and warm on Saturday in the mid 40s and some sort of random precipitation Sunday with temps in the upper 40s  and higher then average temps after that.  So far so good.  Nothing big on the horizon.

That's it - just checking it.

Many Thousands attend Jimmy the Stick XXII

In what some are calling the biggest ceremony in the history of America and with some estimates estimating into the nigh many thousands Jimmy the Stick Year 22 went without a hitch.

Luckily officials were able to find Jimmy hiding under a teal 200g Big Kahuna flying disc.  For any longtime readers you might notice Jimmy showing a little age. After all he was found, abandoned, on the ground 22 years ago.  He was stuck in a trunk on a vacation to Las Vegas and almost held by airman from the Natl Guard after 911.  I will have to write a book about the many adventures from kidnapping to being buried by a blizzard for weeks.

Many thousands look on at Jimmy

Anyway Jimmy saw his or her shadow (I don't want to insult any gender) so we get 6 more weeks of winter.  If Jimmy had not seen his shadow we would have only had 6 more weeks of winter.  

AS for the next 10 days - 2 days of sun, snow showers Saturday, messiness Tuesday and basically up and down winter like temps - nothing important to worry about.   

 It was February 4th 1841 when the first written words about the groundhog were written.

" Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."

James Morris - Morgonstown PA.  

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This is the plane the above airman flew - they were about to go on a mission looking for a grave over Nebraska. You can't really see it but I was told the camera under the nose could see my camera from 20,000 feet . . at night.  I was also told not to go near it  LOL. 

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8.8 million people in 39 states signed up for Obamacare last year.  100,000 more then the previous year. 

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Apple is being sued for $19 BILLION for not paying taxes in Ireland . . or something about illegal tax benefits.  They should move to the US where it's easier now to commit fraud. 

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Clinton could have won the popular vote by 5 million and still lost.  Maybe the Republicans will change that? 

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Speaking of baseball (Pitchers and catchers report on the 15th?).  The St. Louis Cardinals were fined $2 million and their top two draft picks for hacking into the Houston Astro database.  I have to ask . . why Houston? 

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Get THIS totally stupid new law on the Trump books.  For every new regulation, two old ones have to be scrubbed.  Seriously.  Is that anal and useless or what! Good Lord. 

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Gregg Phillips - Trumps voter fraud expert.  Is registered in three states and owes America over $100,000 in uncollected taxes.  Republicans see no problem with this.

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