Winter is Coming

Lot's of cannabis news yesterday.  First Chuck Schumar announced a big deal in New York State as they licensed Canopy Growth (that company I said you should invest in) to be the main hemp grower in the State.  ZOOOMMM   Canopy Growth rocketed up 11% yesterday. 

Then the Governor of Illinois, in his inauguration addressed, promised to make Illinois a recreational cannabis state ASAP creating 24,000 jobs and $300,000,000 a year that would go for schools, infrastructure and protection.

Meanwhile the backwards GOP in Wisconsin refuse to look into Medical cannabis.

Ron Johnson voted AGAINST
Allowing Cannabis Businesses To Use Banks
Allowing VA Doctors To Recommend Medical Cannabis
Ending Cannabis Prohibition At Federal Level

***********************

I made a trade in my Strat-o-matic league and now have one of the best fielding 2B in the majors with Ian Kinsler.  SADLY - he hits against left handed pitching almost like a pitcher.

Well not really.  But it seems like it. 

So I was looking at line ups and was wondering how many plate appearances each of the 9 spots in the batting order get.  The idea of a perfect order is rather old school.   Old school thinking was  have a fast guy leading off and the 2nd guy left handed to stay away from double plays, the BEST hitter 3rd and the power hitter forth   yada yada yada . . . old school.

With the help if science technology  we now know that you want the best hitters to get the most at bats.  Period.  I really does not matter that much who is around each batter. Well, simulations show that a PERFECT batting order will net you maybe 2 or 3 runs a year.  The one thing that DOES matter is you don't want righties and lefties all bunched together.

SO it seems every spot in the order gets 14% more plate appearances then the one after it.

Leadoff will get about 764 plate appearances and the #2 hitter will get 740 and so forth.

Kinsler has an OPS of .460  against left handed pitching which is HORRIBLE.  Yet compared to a  second baseman like Shaw on the Brewers he would save almost 50 hits  a year going through his area.

That's a LOT.

************************* 
  
The World Cup will be in Qatar . . . .count me out.  If you get a license to buy beer in Qatar there is ONE store and a case of Heinie's is $92. 

*****

Hoodie SZN hit the top spot in Billboard Album sales last week by selling a whopping 823 albums. 

*****

Why would an innocent person need to hire 17 lawyers.  I think Kelly Crombie is living in the wrong town, you need to move to Washington. 

**********

Nexus. 

many moons ago I read Batman The Dark Night Returns 

I literally can remember exactly where I was in 1986 when I read it and I remember getting chills and saying OMG - they can't do that in a comic.   It was so . . . ADULT. 

I started to look into "comic" books more seriously.  In Madison there was Capitol Comics who created a character called Nexus and since I worked next to a comic book shop on The Wash in Madison I could browse titles.

Nexus was JUST starting to be color and he was sort of like The Punisher, a killer of mass murderers around the galaxy.

ANYWAY - I started to reread some of the old ones and ordered back issues because it is so much better then a lot (not all) of rehashed computer generated art coming out today.  These were hand painted by Steve Rude.  Sadly - they went to Hollywood when a Nexus movie was being talked about but never happened. 

SO, here is the thing.  DJ and I have so many "like" experiences in our lives, like a Kennedy/Lincoln thing going on. 

For instance.  we both grew up next to slaughter houses and railroads (I LOVE hearing teh trains at night in Columbus).  Her dad was rescued by the same PBY my dad flew to rescue survivors.   I'm 7 years older then DJ who is 7 years younger then her brother.  I'm 7 years younger then my brother and my dad was 7 years older then my mom and so on. 

There is a list of maybe 30 "like" things and now a new odd one I found out last night.  DJ's x-husband also liked Nexus and collected them . . well . . .he collects ALL comics . . to the tune of 3 storage lockers actually.  I'm guessing over $100,000+ in collectibles on a conservative side . . .if there is a market.  All in MINT condition.

So DJ married a comic book geek, and then without knowing it married ANOTHER one (but only a small hobbiest . . not a collector).  OH I do have the first appearance of The Punisher   

       *********************

There was a woman on Facebook complaining about the high taxes in Columbus and she compared Columbus taxes to what she paid in Germantown . . . COME ON . . . comparing a town of 20,000 with an AVERAGE home price of $250,000 to Columbus and our 5000 population and average home price of $150,000?  Really?

She said well, when she moved there the town was 8000 and now it's 20,000. Really? is that what you want when you move to a small town?  to make it BIG?   NOT ME! 

I am all for slow, steady, sustained, smart growth.  Not like Sun Prairie.  Ever try to drive through Sun Prairie at rush hour?   People want that?  I don't. 

**************

Weather - I still say the talking heads on TV are not reporting just how cold it will be this weekend.

I'm looking at 17 on Saturday and a high of 12 on Sunday.   1-3 inches Friday night to Saturday morning as yet another big storm Zooms past south of Wisconsin.   LOOK OUT in a couple weeks.  Looks like a large C C C COLD air mass is heading our way for the last week of January. Could be brutal with no snow on the ground.  Hide your water pipes. 

Winter is Coming