Giannis Antetokounmpo / Floaty McFloatface / Black Insomnia

Truth is what the party in power says it is!

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This whole coal thing Trump passed is really not THAT big of deal  . . . unless the GOP is in power for more then a few years which is a long shot. (I give Trump 2 years Max) 

You can't build a coal mine in 2 or 3 years and do you think any billionaire will sink money into something that will probably be canceled (or re instituted) in a few years?  Plus he is trying to save jobs that have already been lost to automation.  

The problem with the coal industry is not environmental issues. It's that other energy is cheaper. We don't NEED coal.  PLUS - if the con-man child is going to expand fracking,  coal becomes even less needed.  So once again Trump is talking out of both sides of his mouth.   His Executive Order really has very very little practical effect.  Especially since his orders are canceling something that does not take effect until 2022 anyway.  So . . . ."the war on coal" was not going to really start for 6 more years.  Nothing he does will being more jobs for the coal industry.   It's all fluff as usual.

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Coffee?  On this gray day are you still trying to wake up?  Starbucks coffee has the most caffeine of all street coffee.  That is why they are so popular.  It's a drug and Starbucks knows it.  You go there - get a jolt, feel good, the day turns brighter and you thank Starbucks and go back for more.

It's the same reason some places give you a piece of candy as you leave.  A little jolt of sugar increases your happiness and your brain says "that is a good place to go to, I will go back".

WELL - a new coffee arrives from South Africa today and it's called Black Insomnia Coffee.  Available on Amazon Prime.  A typical Starbucks coffee contains 5 to 6 grams of caffeine per pound.   Black Insomnia Coffee contains 17.5 grams.  They say that they had to actually cut back the amount of caffeine to keep customers ALIVE as it borders on narcotic.

YUM!!!

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We watched Allied - I would give it a solid "B". Very entertaining.

https://youtu.be/Jlp94-C31cY

   

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I had an opportunity to go to Opening Day Monday but NOOOOOO!  City Council meets Monday.  sigh!  Elections and so forth.

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The Brewers look very interesting.  Did you know that they had 40 more stolen bases then the next fasted team in the Majors last year AND . . .they were sealing at a 76% success rate which is MUCH better then the 67% you need to to have it be a positive expectation play.  League average is 69%

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there was a study between two almost identical baseball games played 30 years apart.  Both games ended 11-2, had 27 baserunners, 270ish pitches, about 75 batters. Yet the game played in 2014 took 35 minutes longer.  The reason?  The time between pitches.

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Survivor Game: Changers is FANTASTIC this year.

The reason people do not "get" shows like Survivor is that don't watch it from the beginning, they don't see the personalities develop. My Texas relatives watched the season premier of Survivor after not liking it before.  NOW they have been sucked in because they see the strategy. They LOVE it.   A true All-Star match up.

But,  there was a reality game show going on in the Scottish wilderness last year. They dropped 23 contestants into the wilderness to spend a year on their own.  10 contestants made it the entire year . . .here is the kicker.  The show was canceled after 4 episodes.   LOL   SUCK!!!

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The Isle of Wright (where all those mammoth rock concerts are held and on my bucket list) is having a naming contest for a giant floating bridge to the mainland.  Winning so far? “Floaty McFloatface.”

YUP!

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At least the Senate is acting like adults with this Trump Russian cover up.  I've always felt that The House are a bunch of children and wannabe politicians but when you get the The Senate things get a little more "adult".  

It's freakishly obvious Trump is/was laundering money for the Russians. Why buy a $50,000,000 house, sell it to a Russian oligarch for $100,000,000 who never sets foot in it and then 3 months later he bulldozes the house without ever stepping foot in it.  Seems fishy to me.

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Fox news says the American Economy is tanking . . yet this morning the 4th quarter GDP numbers came out and the economy BEFORE President con man came into office grew at a MUCH faster pace then anticipated.

Consumer Spending was WAY up and Corporate profits were up 9%. There are not enough workers for jobs across the US.

The 4th quarter GDP is the last statistics for Obama's economy.  With a growth of 2.1%, most in 4 years Trump will have a hard time with his 4% promise because there are not enough workers for 4%.
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The Milwaukee Bucks are the hottest team in the NBA winning 13 of their last 16 of which they were 7-2 on the road which is unheard of.  4-5 would have been a successful road trip. Giannis Antetokounmpo has gone from being a 19 year old amazing talent to a bonafide Star to a soon to be bonafide Super Star perhaps next year .  He has literally gotten better in every category every year (no really, I just looked at his stats and every year in every cat he has improved and he is only 22)

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OK - no more coffee - gotta go and find a place to take my lawn mower AGAIN!!!

Rod Out  

Once every 2 Decades / ARRIVAL

Now that I got my HELP blog out of the way a real one.

I'm labeling my accident as a once every 2 decades traumatic event. The last time I was in such pain was after my hernia operation a decade ago but I had MUCH better drugs after that one. codeine?  phhht !!   that was like candy compared to my hernia operation drugs?  Only thing is I still can't cough, clear my throat for blow my nose because of a pulled muscle.

Anyway I'm doing much better and am now at 85% capacity for healthiness.  Timing is critical as I will be golfing in the Smokey Mountains in 2 weeks, the land of water falls and golf courses I guess.

I've only driven through the Smokies, never really stopped (just driving through) but we have an opportunity to stay there for a week so . . . vacation #1 of 2 coming up this year.  The other will be in Winter Park Colorado.

I'll bring my camera for both.

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Yesterday we were at the 100 year birthday party for the Columbus Pavilion.

This was early and people were still arriving.  The place looked great.  New bathrooms and so many people were excited and I heard one person say she had tears in their eyes as wheel chairs could finally see the pavilion for the first time in decades (or EVER) with the new elevator.

An impressionistic image of the gala event.

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Couple weeks ago we had relatives up from the Dallas area.  They were amazed at basements.  They had never seen a house with a basement before and snow was a marvel.

Last night got a text and a photo of some hail they received in the Dallas area (McKinney area actually) .

 OUCH.

In 1360 during the Hundred Years War there was a storm on April 13th that killed 1000 solders. They said solders and horses were killed trying to fell the storm.

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Other quirky news

It's been found that if you wait until a child is 6 instead of 5 for them to enter kindergarten they found that a child will learn more faster.  20% of kids enter at age 6. This sort of backs up the findings that pre-school does absolutely nothing for faster development.

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Watched ARRIVAL last night and my heart was pounding in the first 5 minutes! VERY well done first encounter / time travel-ish movie!

I love  love loved this movie!!!

https://youtu.be/tFMo3UJ4B4g



I will watch this again for sure.

If you have seen the movie - this 8 minute youtube explains things - if you have not seen the movie - this is a spoliler.

ARRIVAL (2016) Ending Explained 

Configuring Super Hal in Strat-O-matic

FOR SOM players.  I'll have an actual blog after this HELP blog.

This is for people who are new to SOM Windows and explains how "I" programmed my Super Hal in SOM.  It's easy once you know the concepts and will be totally meaningless to all non-SOM players.

TEAM / UPDATE COMPUTER MANAGER

First fill in the right side with your 5 starting pitchers.  If you don't do this Super Hal will default to these.    

Then fill out your actual starting pitcher schedule for at least the first block which ends on the last day of the month.  

 Explore the rest of the drop down menus in "Category"  but the  BIG thing is bullpen management which is handled my Super Hal so click the Super Hal button and you will see something like this. Mine is filled in with my logic.

ORDER / ID

I have 11 different settings  A thru K.  You can see "ID" on the far left and on the far right in the BULLPEN LOGIC square and I'll look at each one of these situations

What you want to do is define roles for each of your pitchers in your bullpen and create an order so when a pitcher gets tired Super Hal will look at the situation and put in the pitcher you want.

My roles are

• Closer: Inning: 9+; Leading by 1-3 runs
• Setup: Inning: 7-8; Leading by 1-3 runs
• LH Specialist: Inning: 7+; Leading or trailing by 1-3 runs or tied; LH batters
• RH Specialist: Inning: 7+; Leading or trailing by 1-3 runs or tied; RH batters
• Tied & 9th+: Inning: 9+; Tied
• Tied & Late: Inning: 7-8; Tied
• Behind & Late: Inning: 7+; Trailing by 1-4 runs
• Middle Man: Inning: 1-6; Leading or trailing by 1-4 runs or tied
• Mopup: Any inning; Leading or trailing by 7+ runs
• Closer vs. L: Inning: 8+; Leading by 1-3 runs; LH batters
• Closer vs. R: Inning: 8+; Leading by 1-3 runs; RH batters
• 
  

 IN THAT ORDER!!!  Hal looks at the first situation and goes down the list looking for a match.

So in the example.

Click on "A" on the left side.
Fill in the box next to ORDER with something that tells you what you want to do

"Closer Inning 9+  lead 1-3 runs

Then click on the TOP (first) line in the BULLPEN LOGIC box.  All zeros at the moment.

This is the "programming "part,
SCORE you want your Closer to come in leading by 1 to 3 runs
OUTS 9th inning on.

HAL does not see innings but only sees OUTS

OUTS INNING 
---- ------------- 
0- 2 1st Inning 
3- 5 2nd Inning 
6- 8 3rd Inning 
9-11 4th Inning 
12-14 5th Inning 
15-17 6th Inning 
18-20 7th Inning 
21-23 8th Inning 
24-26 9th Inning 
27-99 Extra Innings 

So if you want 9th inning on you want 23 (I have 24 mistake) to 99 (all)

BatType tells what kind of batter you want the pitcher to face in his first batter.  This is tricky because HAL is doing a LOT more in the background (looking at who is up next and deciding who is more dangerous and so forth) .  If you don't care - make sure all are checked.

Make sure the "ORDER ID" is correct (this does not automatically change)

NOW - on the left side grab each pitcher and move him up and down in the order you wish.  Make sure you are covered so make sure all your bullpen is in a order for each logic.  Don't asume the top guy will always get the nod (he could be tired).

Then move to the next situation. For me it was SET-UP innings 7 and 8.

Click on "B" in ORDER and click on the next line down in BULLPEN Logic and make a BULLPEN order for your next situation.

That is the most important thing you can do with your Computer Manager for your "away" games (the games you DON'T play - remember, in our league you manually PLAY the away games while your opponents play the HOME games - it's backward but this way you can play all the other parks and decreases home field advantage.

Once you have done as much as you want and saved - go to TEAM/EXPORT Computer Manager and export it to save it so it does nto get blown away when you RESTORE another .lzp.

Back / SOM / Trump

I've only missed  a couple of Council meetings in the 3 years on Council and so I was feeling a little guilty when I called in Tuesday saying I could not attend.  I suppose I could have attended if they would not have minded me pacing back and forth behind everybody.  Standing is easy, sitting for longer then 15 minutes was going to be an issue.   But then I see that I was only one of possibly four  Council Members that would be absent.

Yesterday, day 6 of my back ordeal I'm better.  I went to a chiropractor as I was up to feeling only horrible. I did not want to go when every freaking twitch was making me moan in pain.  

Chiropractor's are like witch doctors that really work.  Everyone has some sort of new gimmick and this guy has one had the best gimmick yet.  After he cracked my lower back (as they always do) he said it was time for some muscle stim.  Not knowing what that was I followed (slowly) into a new room and took off my shirt.  The guy stuck four pads on my side/back and turned on the juice.  He said "tell me when I should stop" (Don't ever ask me that when it involves CO2 (laughing gas)).

I felt a tingling and said more.  Got up to a point just below getting a shock and he left me there for 12 minutes.  OMG - it was so wonderful. I've never had this sensation before. It literally felt like my entire back had become fluid. I could feel odd pressure rubbing up and down but in reality there was zero movement. It was WONDERFUL!  An invisible electric message.

I'm better today (and even better Thursday morning).  I can almost blow my nose and clear my throat without passing out with pain.  I did cough . . . . . and almost passed out. It's like coughing with a hernia. AAAAAGH!

Today (Thursday) I go again to get adjusted. I think it really works.  

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I'm glad there was no council Tuesday because there was a closed session thing that sounded REALLY interesting for Columbus. Big news if it comes to fruition.  

We shall see.

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I found out that someone who reads this also plays Strat-o-matic.  YEA BABY!!  I posted on a SOM forum how I injured myself trying to get a pick in. iPhone in one hand and my team cards in the other.  Both were saved at the expense of my back (and elbows). 

My draft is basically over. I have my last 3 guys to fill out my 40 man roster.  My biggest problem is getting a pitching rotation. I have JUST enough Starts for my pitching staff but it involves 7 Starting pitchers AND I need to fill in who starts in 162 game. Seem easy but I can't have 7 starters on my 25 man roster all at the same time as I need a ton of bullpen innings. I THINK I have the best bullpen and its REALLY deep so I'm using a quick hook on all my starters.   

1. Gravemen  ERA 4.11 Starts 34
2. Fulmer ERA 3.06 Starts 29
3. Nove ERA 4.07 Starts 29
4. Peralta ERA 4.86 Starts 25
5. Anderson ERA 3.54 Starts 21
6. Andriese ERA 4.37 Starts 21
7. Richard ERA 3.33 Starts 10

Peralta/Richard = one full time Starter if combined

The team I took over won 60 games last year.  Worst pitching of all 24 teams with a 4.99 ERA. Not this year. 

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I honestly believe that Ivanka Trump has moved closer to Donald because she can control him a LITTLE. I also believe she was asked to be nearer because many people in public office in Washington believe (rightly) he is irrational.  

Either he refuses to believe the FBI and National Security which is a BIG issue OR, worse, he is no longer living in the same world that everybody else is living in which is a BIG problem. 

Either way I do not trust this con-man (he truly is a con-man) at all.   His approval rating is at an all time low at 37% and the reason is that his base is disappearing.  Approval ratings from white older males (his base) is evaporating.  43% of men approve (down from 49%)  and only 44% of white voters (down from another 49%).

60% believe Trump is dishonest compared to 55% 3 weeks ago and 57% believe Trump does not care about Americans (which is proven with Trumpcare).

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China finally shipped my new lens.  A 10mm Macro able to get real close on a grain of salt (if I wanted too).  Ordered it 2 months ago.

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A trip to the ER

I left you last Thursday? Friday? when I was feeling poorly.  Well, it got way WAY worse. Friday I was feeling about the same but there was improvement.  I go through this once a year with "back tweaking" and figured I knew how to deal with it.  Take it easy, ice and Ibu.

Saturday morning at 2:17 I attempted to roll over on my side and was halfway there when I literally heard and felt a TWANG and I was paralyzed with blinding pain.  I could not roll back, I could not roll forward and I think there was some guy yelling at me "YOU GOTTA GET OFF THE BEACH SOLDER OR YOU WILL DIE".  So I rolled back on my back with a girly like scream and felt I was laying on a knife.

"Hey sweetie, I got a bed I can't get out of" is not a good pick-up line  . . . EVER.

This was seriously the most intense pain that lasted for over a few minutes I have ever felt.  In the late morning a trip to urgent care in Columbus was determined the best course of action and I was told what I expected I would hear.  

They could take X-rays to see if I had a broken rib or go with the pulled back muscle scenario. Same thing, nothing you can do but minimize the pain.  SO, here comes the muscle relaxers and codeine and  . . . . stool softeners to go along with the codeine.  The DR said that the combo muscle relaxers and codeine taken together would lead to sleepyness and perhaps some goofyness (his words). 

If you have ever had a hernia operation this is the equivalent pain.  I dare not cough, I can't blow my nose and I won't even go into the bathroom issues. NO twisting or bending over.  I'm like a human sloth. Maybe I'm morphing into a super hero.

 Sloth-man able to do things amazingly slow.

ANYWAY - Today I'm actually better. I'm up to my previous worst day of pain so that is an improvement.  

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There was an "Economic Development in Africa" summit at the University of Southern California this weekend. They have had it for a number of decades with great things happening. This year ZERO African delegates attended because every visa request was denied.  100 out of 100  The GOP hates all non-Americans. We don't want your kind in our AMERICA.

The yearly summit goal is to encourage businesses to invest in Africa and to support initiative to provide clean energy, tackle the impacts of climate change and reduce poverty.  DENIED!!  Screw other countries AMERICA FIRST was in full force.

Truth is 40% are normally denied, this year 100%. No Africans wanted here. Anyone of those educators could be terrorists you know.  And why should we help ANYBODY but ourselves. Screw the world.

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Badgers had one of their best 2 point shooting games and their defense held the 4th biggest offense to one of their weakest games of the year. Scientifically the Badgers have a 21% chance of makign the final 4 now.

OK - just an update. Nuff said.

Broken back broken wheel axle

In some circles that meaningless foul with 0.6 seconds left was a very big deal.  The Wisconsin points spread was -6.5. Badgers were leading my 6 at the time of the foul!

*****

I attended a retirement party for a good friend yesterday and oddly being one of two other retired people at the luncheon it seemed I was the only one who had a schedule to keep.  I had to pick up my buddy Elwood to get his new glasses.

I also had a SOM draft but I assumed my auto draft would take charge.  FAIL.

I get to my car and see I have a TIME VIOLATION and did not get my 5th round pick in.  So I get to his place at the Full House Intersection (51 and 151) on The Wash.  I leap out of my car and sprint with vigor to his apartment.  At the last moment as I'm sprinting (I also had to pee) I see water/ice and my right foot puts on the breaks.  The problems started when that right foot hit the ice.

The next thing I know is I'm flat on my back.

As we all do the first thing I think about is making sure nobody saw me fall. However, for the first time in my life that thought takes a back seat  as I experience a rapid and violent bought of intense electric pain.

I don't give a rats ass who saw me fall as I lay there not moving trying to assess the damage.  WOW! that was a big one.  I roll over, stand up a little unstable and get to his apartment, ring the bell and lean against the building.

Moving an hour forward once I get home and crawl out of my car I can tell I hit both elbows on the ground first as the pointy ends are like daggers.  My back will heal as it feels like someone took a baseball bat hit me HARD. Ice and Ibu for the weekend . . .maybe a beer.

I now walk like a 100 year old.  No disc golf for me this weekend it seems.

I was in a State sponsored Cohort sleep study of State Employees.  I WAS in year 21 of the study. Every year I would get a few hundred questions to answer and they would give me $20. One question always on the study was "How many times have you fallen this year".

I asked why that question and what if my fall was not my fault.  Did not matter who's fault they said. The more times you fall the more you need to work on your muscles and balance. The older you get the more you fall.    Well, I was averaging 1 fall a year, almost always because if ice.  But since retiring and working out 3 times a week I had not really taken a spill for a long long while.  Until yesterday.  I'm normally a very good faller (I wanted to be a stunt man when I grew up).

The study was canceled by Walker as we don't need to learn about sleep.  Too much science stuff I guess.  I wish I could see my answers for the last 20 years.    

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Speaking of retirement - when you retire your income tax withholdings get totally screwed up. remember that. Everything changes.

I went most of my life getting a small amount back but since I retired I pay every year.  The first year I owed like $2000.  Then I got it to $1200 and then $600.  Now it's only $300 as Social Security it seems takes nothing out so I have to adjust for that.

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39% of all colleges in the US has seen applications from international students drop.

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My old car (250,000 miles) went to Wise Guys (me and my car are feeling bad).  The muffler is a $50 fix and what I thought was a wheel that needed bearings was actually a broken wheel axle.

As I was driving back to Columbus yesterday with my bad back the car started shaking and I was forced to pull over. Once stopped I spent 5 minutes getting out of the car so I could literally kick the tires to see if that would fall off. Then drove slowly to Wiseguys.  Just found out broken wheel axle.

I have no idea how it broke.  Not as expensive as I thought it would be. "The average cost of repairing a broken axle is anywhere from $75 to $150 per axle and can increase to $150 to $300 per axle if the work is done by a professional mechanic".

Wait, what?  I can do this myself? Do they come with step by step instructions.  Will I need to use my back in anyway?  Maybe DJ could do it while I read the instructions to her?  Will she need a Phillips head screwdriver and pliers?  

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This is what they need to do with Trumpcare and the failed budget - erase it.   I took this shot last year at the National Sculpture Museum in DC while I was being a lobbiest for Water & Light (not at their expense, WPPI footed the bill.  I did not go this year as being in DC would just make me angry all the time

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Trumps popularity continues to plunge as the people that voted for him are seeing his promises were just a con job,  Trumpcare is going nowhere and will cost his supporters more in the long run.  His wall will never be build as one estimate has it at one trillion dollars CONSERVATIVELY.

The military will get a boost at the cost of getting rid of NPR, the Endowment for the Arts.

In most communities the Fed give money to utilities for home energy aid that help pay low income housing if they cannot pay their bills. I know Columbus helps a good number of families each month.

The new Trump budget does away with this help. So either those families will go cold in the winter (which I THINK is against the law) or the other citizens in the community will have to pay for their heat.  I have not gottin an update from W&L but am thinking out loud.

Fed money for after school and summer programs for public schools will be cut. Also cut backs in financing for international peacekeeping missions, humanitarian assistance, cultural exchanges, refugee assistance and third world development, but who cares about the rest of the world and world peace right?  It's all about ME!! America first ME first! Who cares if I hurt others in the process right?

Another promise being ignored is helping the inner cities with $3 billion the Community Development Block Grant program that helps provide affordable housing going bye bye.  Sadly it was working very well on helping the poor in inner cities. In fact inner cities are at an alltime low in poverty (Chicago does not count as that is a different problem)  But the poor do not spend money to help the economy so screw the poor.

The Trump, Ryan budgets will kill more Americans per year than all Muslim extremist attacks combined.

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Baseball and Boaty McBoatface

A funny thing happened to Bade Ruth when he was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the 1918s era.  Back then the way to score runs was hitting low line drives to create errors.  Swinging for a fence, which was sometimes just a rope was an easy out.  Catching fly balls was easy compared to grounders with basically leather work gloves.

But since Babe was a pitcher nobody cared how he swung a bat . . . he was a pitcher, he was obviously clueless.  So when he went to plate and swung away big deal on how he had no idea how to bat.

Oddly he led the league in home runs in 1918 as a pitcher.  By 1920, when he converted into a fielder it was too late to correct his obviously flawed swing. Because baseball is ripe with the "NEVER CHANGE" attitude, for 7 years Ruth, all by himself, out homered every other major league CLUB.

This is a problem in major league baseball right now (and forever). No one likes to change.  Look at defensive positioning that we are seeing in baseball.  Old timers HATE it. It's not how the game is suppose to be played they say.  The thing is that there are no rules on where you are suppose to play in the field.  The only reason we play in a certain spot is because it's always been that way.

Now every batter has a new defensive adjustment.  Even Strat-o-matic has defensive positioning. Take away a persons power and he gets on base more often.  There is a trade off.

Another thing that is losing it's gold rating .  The batting average.  A totally meaningless stat in baseball. I remember waiting for the Sunday paper so I could stare at batting averages the entire day. Can anybody name the batting champions from last year (without Googeling)  Remember Wade Boggs?  Constantly hitting in the .350s but nobody ever talks about him constantly getting on base in the .460s which is unheard of now.  An OBP of over .400 not once but 11 times.

Baseball used to believe a walk was an accident, not an offensive weapon. A walk really IS as good as a hit.

MLB has been tossing out ideas to see if any of them stick for speeding up the game.  I don't know why they are worried.  Record attendance, record TV revenue and the only major sport that is actually growing in popularity.  Yet MLB tossed out "how about after the 13th inning in an extra inning ball game, have a home run derby to decide". YEA - make it more like soccer! zzzzzzzzz

The problem (if there is a problem) is the amount of strikeouts.  A strikeout takes a lot longer then pitchers then letting a guy hit the ball.  Yovani Gallardo struck out a lot but could only pitch 6 innings and his games were always a long affair.  Batters don't mind striking out if they get a good swing.

The last few years has seem many more k's and many more homeruns as the young pitchers all throw upper 90s and the young hitters all go for HRs.   Of course almost all pitchers get Tommy John surgery now. One team (San Diego) only has a few pitchers that did NOT have Tommy John surgery.  
A slap hitter like Aoki are a dying breed even though he is a VERY run producer.  His kind of swing is frowned upon in MLB and would be "corrected" before he made it to the Bigs. Again, old time thinking, stay in the norm, don't do anything weird that the good ol' boys don't understand.

sigh!  I'm in a baseball mood as I'm in a middle of a draft.  I'm also finishing up an article on Bob Poser and his pitching against Lou Gehrig in 1935.

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For anybody the cares. The GBO - those guys the GOP say are ALWAYS inaccurate and are saying the GBO is trying to discredit Trumpcare?  Well, they did pretty darn good with Obamacare.  If you are over 50 expect your insurance to go up with Trumpcare.

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Boaty McBoatface is alive!!!  A submarine heading to Antarctica was as been named Boaty McBoarface.

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SO it seems that ZERO (0) humans have had sex in space.  REALLY?  I find that hard to believe.

Speaking of sex.  A company called "Standard Innovation" is being sued by a woman who purchased a sex toy and found out the app she uses (We Connect) to  . . . "do things" was collecting data such as how often, what settings, times and so forth from her phone.  Seems she uses her phone to control the instrument that  . . . will remain nameless.

IS NOTHING SACRED?

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A poll of Republicans believe that Christians face more discrimination then gay and lesbians. I have a bridge you can buy also . . .unless Trump has sold you one already.

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Last year at this time I was a lobbiest for Water and Light and took a trip to DC.  I don't think I have posted this shot so here is the Metro in Washington DC.

Let the complaining begin!!

OH - our roads SUCK, why can't we have smooth roads, what are my taxes paying for. Why does our infrastructure SUCK in Columbus. Why are my property taxes so high.

Why are we cutting down all the trees for a new road and brand new infrastructure, nobody told me we would have to make things worse before they got better, can't we leave the 100 year old water pipes in the ground? They seem good NOW!  This road construction came out of the blue, nobody told me about this THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MEETINGS!!   We have a newspaper?  Seriously? Nobody told me.  BIKE LANES? why do I have to pay for bike lanes, no one rides bikes in Columbus, the roads are too bumpy.  Where are all the squirrels going to live if we cut down all the trees!!!  

If I don't get a newspaper and I don't listen to the radio and I don't talk to people how am I suppose to know what is going on in this city. What is wrong with city government here can't they inform people what is going on?  Why is the water tower blue and not red! We don't have any cell phone coverage from US Cellular we need more towers . . . but not anywhere where we can see them.  US Cellular guy said "US Cellular puts towers where most others don't" YEA - I GUESS SO!    

Why can't I drive my snowmobile over peoples yards, it's WINTER for God Sake I should be able to go where ever I want - Its WISCONSIN.  

If I park where it says "no parking" why am I getting tickets all of a sudden when I was not getting them before.  

Are the Water and Light smart meters really selling my personal information to the Russians?   

And that was just last week!  

Trust me - the street, once finished will look different but great!  No over head lines, smooth thick cement with dark colored crosswalks outlined in white.  New trees if homeowners want them, bike lanes, sidewalks, new better and ornate lighting leading to downtown where there will be new better ornate lights with trees shading the new road. 

 Confidence is high!  

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Yea - check this out!!  2nd place.  I'M NUMBER TWO I'M NUMBER TWO

What you don't see is that this is after I got demoted down a class from the previous week. Now I can try to get an exemption to play in the higher class tour and hope I can stick around.  The GolfClub is a great video game for PS4, Xbox and PC.  

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY World Wide Web.   28 years old today! 

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On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the addition of 235,000 jobs to the U.S. economy and an unemployment rate that dropped slightly to 4.7 percent in February. But  these numbers shouldn’t be attributed to Trump’s economic policies. Obama's economy is still here for at least another 6 months, and REALLY - Presidents have very very little control over any economy in the short run (meaning 4 to 6 years). They can only slightly influence the long long run.

What the job latest numbers show is that America is in a long slow steady job growth which was started 7 and a half years ago.  Nothing special.  77 straight months of adding jobs and an improving job market.

Trump took over a strong economy as opposed to Obama's fast-moving disaster 8 years ago.

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Looks like it might snow.  The good news is I do not see anything massive cold blobs up dare in the North.  Normal March weather fighting to get warmed but winter still has it's hooks in us for a few more weeks.

Rod 

Wind, cell phone towers and Snuggies

We have had relatives from Texas here the last week and I have not had a chance to get any photos of James Street.  Maybe today.  Not sure if they will cut down more trees today with winds gusting to 40 to 45.  Might be risky.  Luckily they got here Saturday to see what snow looks like and the snow squall yesterday was exciting . . . for them.

Yesterday the forecast was 50/50. 50 degrees and 50 mph winds. Today only 40/40.  Maybe tomorrow 30/30.

Wind is a weird thing.  Most people overestimate the strength.  In a survey a 10mph wind will feel more like 15 to 20 by most people.

This morning between five and six we had 7 gusts to 42 mph but the real wind question is Tuesday and this one fooled me.

I assumed, when I was awoken up in the dark with HUGE wind that the gusts were in the 50 area but the really the BIG gusts were between 7 and 8 in the morning.

Weird.

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Cell tower radiation. 

With a new cell tower about to be constructed in Kiwanis Park there has been a lot of angst with people putting anti-cell tower flyers in doors and I have received a good number of phone calls about radiation.

I looked into the radiation controversy and wanted to calm people in my district who were on the fence and were only hearing one side. I wanted to address this in council last night but was not allowed to speak about it so I'll post it here.
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There have been numerous  studies all over the world and especially in England which has had towers longer then the US which have found there is no link between a mother’s exposure to the RF towers during pregnancy and the risk of early childhood cancer.

In the U.S. three expert agencies that classify cancer-causing exposures, the International Agency for Research on Cancer , the National Toxicology Program and the US Environmental Protection Agency (while we still have it - there is a bill going through Congress that will eliminate the EPA) They do not classify cell phone towers as having any cancer-causing potential.

Their official response is:

“Radio frequency emissions from antennas used for cellular and PCS transmissions result in exposure levels, on the ground,  that are typically thousands of times below safety limits. These safety limits were adopted by the FCC based on the recommendations of expert organizations and endorsed by agencies of the Federal Government which is responsible for citizen’s health and safety. There is no reason to believe that such towers could constitute a potential health hazard to nearby residents or students.”

Studies have looked for signs of DNA and cell damage in blood cells as a possible indicator of cancer-causing potential. They found that the damage was no worse in people who lived near a cell phone tower as compared with those didn’t live near them.  The amount of exposure from living near a cell phone tower is many times lower than the exposure from actually using a cell phone.

Every official study states that the amount of radiation, at ground level, is 1/100th the amount of actually using a cell phone.

And remember, this is a small tower where ANY radiation emitted is sporadic, as when someone is making a phone call. It’s not pumping out radiation 24/7.

SO - you can believe our government is trying to cover up or you can believe they are telling the truth.  Your choice.

On a slightly different subject about the tower.

In 2013 the Wisconsin Government passed a bill that basically said if your neighbor wants to put a 400 foot cell phone tower in his yard, he can and you can do nothing about it.  There is not a thing city government can do. We have no absolutely no jurisdiction over placement of cell phone towers besides setbacks and so forth. They can place it next to high density apartment complexes, hospitals, schools, anywhere where someone wants to make some money.

Wisconsin Is Open For Business. Who need those pesky regulations.

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Speaking of Trumpcare.  I like how that one part says that all CEOs of insurance companies that make over $500,000 a year get a HUGE tax break. Seems fair to me.

The bill is dead in the water and will never see the light of day anyway but it shows the corruption. 66 pages and 7 of those pages are all about lottery winners can not get medicare.   Basically the bill is GREAT for young healthy high income people and poor for  low income people that have health issues.

If you are over 50 insurance companies could charge you anything they want as part of Obamacare that restricted charging older Americans was erased. Federal subsidies for the poor will be cut, but wealthy people probably will pay less. Seems fair to me!!

But the bill will die because the far right hates it. Back to the drawing board.

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But, what about the Snuggie you ask?

Well, it seems the tariff for blankets from overseas is 8.5% but for "pullover apparel" it's 14.5%. Here come the lawyers!  I did not ask our city attorney where he stands on this one.

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Wilmar International, a company in Singapore has been buying a LOT of US sugar recently, a LOT.  Like 6 million tons.  No one knows why.

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Good-bye trees

Good-bye trees!

Sadly this could be the last winter shot of the trees of James Street as the "cleaning and grubbing" (not a political statement on our President)  stage of the James Street Reconstruction begins shortly.

Seems there is a bat that likes to nest in those trees and since the trees need to go ANYWAY they have to be cut early before the bats wake up and find a place to nest in the summer. All trees will be replaced with smaller trees.

For a power point of the project go here - there will be no test at the end.

POWER POINT

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We started our free agent draft in SOM and there was a small hiccup.  Since this is an international league a guy in Italy was sleeping.  sigh!   I missed out on Jean Segura (amazing 2nd basemen - you might have heard of him) and missed out on Ian Kinsler (another great 2B) so I was forced to take Jason Kipnis.  I REALLY needed a good fielding 2B.

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4.5 inches of snow was the final amount and we have record highs coming to a Sunday near you.

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The speech?

Gotta say - well done Mr. Trump. Totally meaningless with zero content but at least he proved he can repeat someones else's words for an hour, but that was really about it. No substance to his words.  He could have been replaced with ANY Republican who would have said pretty much the exact words he said. Nothing new.

The question is - can he repeat that performance over and over and over again for the next 4 years?

One thing is for sure - Obama Care will be here a long long time as they are completely lost on how to fix and or repeal it (remember, they have been working on this for 6 years already).  The big thing is that they want to make healthcare available.  Well, that means if you have enough money it is available to you.  GREAT!

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And then there is Jeff Sessions!  sigh!

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The Minnesota Vikings Stadium is a bloodbath for birds and it was known a LONG LONG time ago - even during the design stage.  In the last 11 seeks 60 dead and 14 stunned birds have been found laying at it's base and an estimated 300+ have been killed so far as they fly into the glass.

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A temperature of 63.5 degrees was measured in Antarctica. This is the warmest reading ever recorded  in Antarctica.

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Then there is Chip and Joanna Gaines (Fixer Upper) who's children don't have a clue what their parents do. They do not own a TV.  WELL seems half of the show is fake. That part where they look at 3 different homes and then choose one?  FAKE!  The purchasers have to already own a house before Chip and Joanna will work on it so that first part is all staged.

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According to IMDB the last 3 seasons of Survivor have been their best. Not bad after 32 seasons.

Starting next week on Wednesday some of the games best players will match up including the only person to ever win the game twice. Still one of the best and truest non-scripted shows on TV.  ALMOST as good as Big Brother which is basically Survivor inside with more strategy.

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I finished season two of Narco on Netflix.  I loved that show as it was a docudrama about capturing and killing Columbia drug lord Pablo Escobar in Columbia. Fascinating. Who knew all this was goign down in the 70s.  The guy killed over 400 police officers over his rein.  His net worth in 1990 was over $55 BILLION in today's money.

Also finally finished Boardwalk Empire.

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Papa Johns (a HUGE Trump supporter) is testing a $2.99 fee for getting bumped to teh top of the list for delivery on their pizza.

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Denmark has a 4.3% unemployment rate (they use the same analytics as America) and companies are having a very hard time finding workers.