TKR -2

Really? It's been that long since my last blog?  Seems holidays might do that.

So I'm 2 days away from getting a new knee and I believe I am either the calmest person in the world or just ignorant (shut up Clark).   I was doing great and read a wonderful post about a guy that was back riding his bike after a TKR 2 month ago. Then he said it was the hardest physical thing he had ever gone through in his life.  DID HE REALLY HAVE TO INCLUDE THAT?

So tomorrow we start to rearrange things in the house. Moving nightstands and lights closer, removing throw rugs and so forth.  got a walker from the Senior center, crutches and a cane.

BUT - Daddy - how do you play the game? 

Now what do I do to play the game

Last year about this time I was walking to a Badger Basketball game with my good friend balderdash and he asked about my health.  I said I was doing GREAT!  zero issues.   Then in spring I dedicated this year to really getting my legs strong as my knee was always a concern.  Nothing major, but I had always had a loose knee cap.   8 months later  I'm about to go through "the hardest physical thing he had ever gone through in his life" 

Luckily, I'm only a pound over my max perfect weight range, I do have SOME muscles in my leg, I'm not bow legged or knock kneed and and no OTHER health issues. 

Procedure is 11:45 Thursday and takes about 75 minutes . . .but no rush I say.   One night in the hospital (reminds me of a song "One Night in Paris" by 10CC WOW had not thought of that album for like 40 years).  That song was actually a template for Queens "Bohemian Rhapsody".  The album reached #15 in America and #3 in the UK.

ANYWAY - The knee in question has run out of cortisone but no real pain, just swelling.  I'm doing my PT in Columbus.  Seems Prairie Ridge has a pretty good TKR process using Conformus knees as opposed to the Dixon off the shelf knee in Madison.  Oddly Conformus knees are only used in smaller hospitals as they take more time and are digitally printed . . or something. As opposed to the WalMart  knee I'm getting. 

So the choice is a digital knee from a hospital that does only a few or a Dixon knee that has literally been done a million times by the larger hospitals.   

I've been trying to get into the best condition I can be in . . or at least thinking that way and then . . .  I catch a cold.  "F" ME!  SERIOUSLY?  NOW?   I believe I am on the upside of the cold after last night - BUT - I was just told to come in and we shall see "what anesthesia wants to do".  sigh!

As I type this I see the pecking order of the bird feeder is all about size.  chick-a-dee's then Junco's then sparrows and finches then 3 kinds of woodpeckers then cardinals and a flicker and NOW - 6 crows.   A hawk was hiding in the pine tree for a while.  Birds are FREAKING out  LOL

Interesting.  6 crows but one crow is always in the tree above the other 5 crows.  They take turns.

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Remember - we are NOT going into a new decade tomorrow.  There was no 0 AD, so day 1 or 2020 is not a new decade.  day 1 of 2021 is the new decade if you want to get technical.

NFL - The Packers beat the Lions twice and NEVER EVER lead either game with time on the clock.  Both games were last second field goals.

The biggest upset of the year was the Dolphins beating the Patriots and unlike the Packers the Pats did not rest ANYBODY (insert evil LOL)

Carson Wentz and the eagles - BRAVO.  Wentz threw for 4,000 yards and not one receiver had over 500.  If I did not hate the Eagles so much I would root for them.  So so many injuries that there was a waiting list for the blue tent!  PICK A NUMBER.

Beat up Seattle is being carried by Wilson and beat up Philly being carried by Wentz are playing each other next week.  Eagles are -5.5 favs

Then the Packers where of all the QBs in the league he had the biggest drop off between the 1st and 2nd halves of the year.

Five team have a legitimate chance to get to the Super Bowl.  In order,  Baltimore, Kansas city, San Francisco, New Orleans and Green Bay 24%).  No other team has a greater then 5% chance (and Donald trump has no way to beat Clinton).

That's it - I'm worn out.     

TKR Minus 13 days

I can't believe my TKR - total knee replacement is in 13 days   GULP.   I REALLY wish my knee hurt more.    Last night I bounded up the stairs 2 at a time.  Is that what someone does 2 weeks before a TKR?  How long does cortisone last anyway!

Had my tooth pulled Tuesday - no issues.  I do love nitrous oxide.
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Just for reference IN CASE you are wondering about pain control . . .  the two Rockford cannabis shops are 1 hour and 15 minutes from Columbus and once on the interstate, LITERALLY, 3 turns away.  What I wonder is will they have enough cannabis?   It seems medical cannabis in those two shops (I have heard) is constantly changing as supplies are very small. 

Nothing like Denver where you walk in and have a choice of 30 different strains. In Rockford you have a choice of maybe 6.  Plus it's a little more expensive (from what I have been told).

ANYWAY - sorry for bugging out in the last blog. I received a fascinating email about strat-o-matic and fielding and a BIG word problem I'm still working on in spreadsheets.  Once complete I'll be able to quantify (is that the word?) or compare hitter PLUS his fielding to another "like" player. 

In other words a player like Arcia with bad batting but world class fielding can be compared to a great batter with poor fielding.   A work in progress. 

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City of Columbus has a new fee for NOT shoveling sidewalks.  Starting ON MY BIRTHDAY (Jan 25th) if the City is forced to remove snow from sidewalk abutting your property, you will be charged a fee (what about a ramp that abutt's nobodies property).  That fee is $111.57 PLUS $1 for each linear foot.

I would LOVE to see where the $111.57 comes from. 

Seems good to me - a LITTLE expensive compared to Madison ($50).  I'm sure Hibbard Street residents, who complain about the need to ANY sidewalks will not like it.  They complain about people driving too fast down the street AND they complain about the need for sidewalks.

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The Bucks beat the Lakers last night.  First time in NBA history that two teams with only 4 losses this late in the season have played each other.  Both teams were 23-4. BUCKS WIN BUCKS WIN.

I remember 3 years ago Dan Patrick said if Giannis ever started shooting jumpers it would be unfair to the rest of the league.   Well, he did that last year and now he is hitting 3-pointers at a rate of +40% in December.  He was 5-8 last night.

LeBron is passing the torch in greatness and as  Dan Patrick commented "Giannis will soon be the greatest big man to ever play in the NBA". 

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NFL - linemakers are betting on the Vikings winning  25.75 to 20.25.  YET,  the Vikings have not yet beat a team with a winning record this season.

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If you have not seen the comedy called Loudermilk on the Audience Network, DJ and I LOVE it. 

"Centers on Sam Loudermilk, a recovering alcoholic and substance abuse counselor with a bad attitude. Although he has his drinking under control, Loudermilk discovers that when your life is a mess, getting clean is the easy part." 

https://youtu.be/soHhYqXyUlY






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WELL - after a GREAT year in stocks and the yearly Santa Claus rally continuing, "Wall Street" is looking at a benign but bullish 2020, about what they said last year at this time.  The good thing is this has been the best decade EVER in the stock market, even #IMPOTUS  could not break it.  NO complaints.

Probably some downside early as the Santa Claus rally fizzles. This yearly event is caused by Mutual Fund managers dumping bad stocks so they will not show up on their yearly prospectuses but then repurchased near the end of the year, thus causing the Santa Claus rally.  It's like clockwork.  Always happens  . . normally.

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OH we went to see Knives Out - great movie. Among the MANY stars is Ana de Armas, a Cuban immigrant in real life who was born in Cuba with duel citizenship with Spain.  After staring in TV in Cuba she managed to immigrate to Spain and stared in 2 of their top TV shows.  THEN she decided to move to America and start all over as an unknown.  She is awesome.

https://youtu.be/QiE0jix2WYA



   
Have a great weekend.
 

The year 1 Billion / Slick fielding vs. Heavy hitting

So DJ and I are coming to the end of a marathon Game of Thrones  63 episodes in 3 months and I was feeling the need to get out pf the past and into space for book reading. I still have 7 books to go in the Renegade series but had to change things up.

I was looking around Amazon and saw an interesting time traveling space adventure called Journey to the Year One Billion. WELL - my interest was tweaked.   THEN I read

 This is the PG rated version of this book. All explicit sensual scenes have been removed. If you want the full, complete version . . . . . 

WELL - that really tweaked my interest - I clicked over to the uncensored version

This is the complete, uncensored version of this book, 196,000 words long (but easy reading, and very erotic!). Please don't be deterred by the one star reviews. Some people, after purposefully buying an erotic science fiction novel, get "triggered" when they find erotica in it.

HOLY MOLY - I have never read a book like this.  OH - I have read the Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by Anne Rice so I know all about BDSM but I've never had sensual BDSM AND really good thought provoking science fiction together

From the reviews you either HATE it or really like it.  One review that pretty much mirrors my view

Just when I was getting bored with all the sex, the story takes a new turn. The story doesn't do this once or twice but many times. The author refreshes the story line enough to maintain interest. There are many new (to me) ideas in this story. I loved it! 18% of reviewers rated the book a 1 star. What's up with that? I've read hundreds of science fiction books and find this author's originality top tier. Granted, his style is to let the sex hang out there but what the heck. Too many sexually repressed people out there anyway. I also like the way the author took a galactic view of religious zealots and our petty racial issues. I'm off to Mr. Martin's next sex charged romp through the universe. Tah Tah.

OK - the only reason I mention this is - I've never read a sexually charged Space Science fiction book like this and the final few hundred pages are so lovable and cute  . . .so far. 

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If you have not seen America in Color on the Smithsonian Channel find it. So many cool facts.  Last night we watched Crimes of the Century - from school bombings in the 1920s (school bombings is not a new thing and "gun control"  actually started 50 years ago when 44 people were shot by a sniper in a collage town.  Then the 280 kidnappings in one year with the Lindbergh kidnapping. 

Life now is SO SO violence free compared to 50 years ago. 

The last episode was about Alaska and how the Germans bombed it capturing 10 weathermen.  Just a fantastic series.

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OK - I gotta say it.  Trump had his cult rally last night and told a female House Rep that her husband, who recently passed away, was looking up at her from hell, and then the cult cheered, how freaking disgusting is that.  Then he takes credit for the best decade ever in the stock market.   The guy literally is losing his mind and his cult love him for it.  It really is a cult. 

Have you noticed HE is not being impeached, "WE" are being impeached.  It's a smooth thing he is doing with his cult followers, including them on all his wrong doings.  WE had a perfect call, WE are being impeached, WE have done nothing wrong.  WE did not try to use extortion.

That is what leaders of cults do.

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OOP - I was just reading about OPS for fielding in Strat-o-matic - OMG I love this stuff.  Blog over - attention has moved to this! 

When To Play the Slick Fielder Over the Heavy Hitter,An Analysis of Strat-o-Matic Baseball Fielding Ratings
 
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Have a GREAT Thursday

 

It's like pulling teeth / Richard Jewell / Ice Bowl

Here we go!   17 days to a knew knee.  Tomorrow I have to get a tooth pulled  DAMN IT!  I've had this cracked tooth for like 3 years and the dentists is ALWAYS saying I need to get it pulled . . . .but it never hurts!

WELL - I NOW have to get it pulled before my procedure because of infection issues.  THEN they said FOR LIFE - I need to take antibiotics EVERY TIME I get my teeth cleaned  FOR LIFE! 

So tomorrow morning I take ONE Triazolam and DJ drives me to the dentist!   Getting a tooth pulled is not a big deal at all actually.  Just crank up the laughing gas to 11 and I'm a happy camper.  LAST tooth pulled they gave me TWO Triazolam for some reason.  WELL, I took two and I was freaking loopy!  My eyes were crossing halfway to Madison.

Only one this time - it's suppose to calm me down but I'm pretty calm already.  Just give me the gas.

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Did you know that there is no known complete copy of the entire Ice Bowl?

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I finally got Yahoo to fix "me".  For some reason the only computer I could access my email was my desk top.  iPhone, iPad and lap top all would not take a real password.   Called ATT and they told me to contact Apple, Apple told me to contact Yahoo and an email to Yahoo fixed things a day later.

Oh the Yahoo APP worked but sending a photo through the app you only got a thumbnail and not the real image.   There was no way to get any photos off my amazing iPhone 11 Pro camera. I love the free upgrades!! 

 FIXED

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Richard Jewel was a tremendous flop at the box office making $5 million. WOW!!   I wanted to see the movie.  It got huge ratings from people that went to see it  (96% on Flixter)  and all because Clint Eastwood the directer decided to have a newpaper reporter trade sex for information  which was a total fabrication.

amazing story on how media and FBI turned a real life hero into a villain and ruined his life.

https://youtu.be/W9WjyYKPxHk



I'm still going to see it.  PLUS - I REALLY love this actor.  He was in iTonya (best sound track for any move and a GREAT slick)

Speaking of movies - I have not see the original Jumanji and from what I have heard - it's pretty darn good!  The latest edition was forecast to make $35 million this weekend - it made $60.1 million

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Want to know why 4K smart televisions are so cheap and keep going down in price ?   Because they track what you watch. Manufacturers are making billions tracking what you watch and what ad's you are watching all the way through and years and years after you gave Best Buy your money, they are still getting paid.   Samsung is the biggest "abuser" of what you watch content seller.   Personally?  I don't care. 

It's not Big Brother I'm worried about . . it's Little Brother.

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In 2018 the founder of cryptocurrancy passed away - the PROBLEM is he was the only person who knew how to unlock $145 million in cryptocurrency and 100,000 people have their crypto accounts locked.

NOW there is a lawsuit to exhume the body to MAKE SURE it's really him

MEANWHILE a hard drive was stolen from an unlocked car that had 29,000 un-encrypted payroll info of Facebook employees including the last 4 digits of socials and bank data.  SO SO sad a company with no real issue with security getting their employees data stolen. 

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NUFF     

Acrylic pouring art - WOW! / F&M Bank / Parlay cards

My brother and wife and 2 dogs came down yesterday for a visit and game night and while my brother and I were playing POWER GRID, Stacey and DJ were watching videos about a new art form which Stacy is doing called Acrylic pouring  - AMAZING!!!  So easy and yet so hard

Here is a you tube video of how it's done.  it's not how you think

https://youtu.be/sCjXhO8uDdE

MEANWHILE - Still going through moms stuff and you remember all of her stories I printed a while ago?  WELL, there are 30 (THIRTY) books of writings. all of her daily diary's from when she realized my dad was dying to just before she passed.  WOW!    

VERY VERY good writing and if there are people who lost loved ones and are near suicidal this would he a GREAT read.  It shows how dark it was in her life and SLOWLY things get better. It shows hope.  good days bad days but as things go one more and more good.  

Another thing is the freakishly frank details of her kids and her thoughts, a what she likes about us and dislikes.  Some a little embarrassing at times.   We also found a lot of history.  The deed from the late 1800's of her parents farmland,  a news paper clipping the day after Abe Lincoln was killed.  Lots of history.

Then I took Ralls (brother) to the F&M bank as he is a historical architect and he did not know it was built by Sullivan (a person he has studied). 

And this little thing from my home town 

     
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MEANWHILE - my brother who owned his own very successful architectural firm  retired last month so he could move back north to Wisconsin and he was hired by Manards in Green Bay part time in the plumbing department at a whopping $10 an hour.  They needed extra cash until the Springfield house sells.

YUP - going rate is a non-life sustaining $10 an hour.  And he's gotten 5 more job offers but all are ONLY full time . . also at $10 an hour from Home Depot and so forth.  Seems there are issues with finding workers who want to work at a wage that will not really let them live a full life - - - BUT - it boosts the job numbers. He's WAY WAY over qualified but does get some extra cash.

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STILL can't get my phone to accept any Yahoo Password. I got a new iPhone 11 Pro for basically free as an upgrade from my iPhone 8 . . .a free $55 upgrade.  Nothing Yahoo works so I had to get the Yahoo app as the phone just will not accept a valid password UNLESS it's in the yahoo app.  Irritating. 

Otherwise it's great!  LOVE the cameras.

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A study of 401K participants showed that the plans near the top always had more money invested in them, even when they were switched around. This is sort of like Florida and elections.  The GOP created a rule where Republicans were always on top of that ballot.  Did not have to do with a name but the party was always the first one. 

That was recently changed by a judge that said it was sort of illegal when it came to elections. SURPRISE - the GOP did something illegal and got away with it for a decade.  The party of corruption.  And people wonder why so many are leaving the party?

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Las Vegas is saying so long parlay cards.  HELLO KNOCK KNOCK ANYBODY HOME?  The reason is that they have been cracked.  WELL YEA!!

They just realized it's easy money?  ELWEED and I cracked the code decades ago.   Cards are printed on Tuesday pick them up on Wednesday, wait for REAL lines to change and take advantage of the old lines.  In Madison there were 4 different cards so you could pick and choose the lines.

It was free money every week.  Only once did we have to wait an extra week to get paid as a group of 10 guys each put $10 on a 10 team parlay . . . and it won!  a 10 teamer pays 720-1 so the bars had to come up with a quick $72,000.  They paid the big winners but us little guys had to wait a week.

I find it funny Las Vegas is just realizing the code has been cracked when in September 35 cards won at a 550-1 chance. (not sure what 550-1 would be).

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Since May 2017 there have been 183,000 more jobs in the restaurant industry but wages are just stupid low.  The average cook makes $27,000 a year ($13 an hour) and 31% of restaurants do not offer any health care.  And you wonder why there is a serious lack of cooks? And dare I say a more serious lack of GOOD cooks.

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Have a great weekend

Survivor gets real

WOW - Survivor this year has been  . . . interesting.  About 4 or 5 episodes ago there was a big issue brought up with the female tribe members as a male was basically groping them without their consent.  There was a TENSE tribal council and for the first time EVER we heard a camera man talking to a contestant about feeling safe and so forth.

Then there was a special announcement and one on one meetings with each contestant and in particular Dan who was warned about inappropriate touching (with flash backs of him touching all the woman on camera) .

Then last night after the tribal council the show normally ends . . . yet . . it didn't.  We see Jeff Probts walking into camp which RARELY happens and he did NOT look happy. Somebody says "where's Dan".    Probts says "He won't be coming back to camp, he won't be on the jury. He's gone."    

The screen goes black with the words 
"Dan was removed from the game after a report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve a player."

IT SEEMS Dan was kicked off the show for groping production staff.  What a freaking pig.  He will NOT attend the finale and live reunion show.

So for the first time ever the show will not be broadcast LIVE for security purposes.   It's the first time a person was booted from the show.

NOT SO FUN FACT - there have been 7 contestants that have passed away that were on the show out of the 590 that have been on the show through the years.

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Things are getting real - I had my joint replacement meeting yesterday morning and my pre-op work up. 

Of the 10 people in the meeting I was the only knee replacement as the other 9 were all hip replacements. Seems there are more hip replacements then knee. 

The ortho  was elated I was taking calcium and Vitamin D as your body does not produce OR get enough calcium of Vitamin D (especially in winter).  The one interesting thing was the bandage that goes over the incision.  It stays on for 2 weeks and I'm suppose to take a shower every day and DON'T TOUCH IT.  It's almost impossible to get an infection and , no peaking!  No real need to cover it up in the shower.  new bandage technology

Sleep habits are thrown out the window for a month so there might be some fun Oxy induced posts for a while  LOL  Also a warning that if you go to bed and it hurts more at night you did too much during the day.  In fact the most common problem is people exercising too much thinking more is better.   

I just wish my cortisone would wear off so I remember why I'm doing this.

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I keep hearing The Mad King brag about the best economy ever AND taking credit for it.  NO!

this economy started 11+ years ago.

     And then he brags about how many jobs he is creating - ACTUALLY he is lagging behind what Obama created.

So yea - the economy is doing great . . . but it's not because of the lying king!  And BTW - when I was in one of my favorite classes, Macro Econ one thing the professor said was . . don't worry about the national debt as long as inflation is not a problem.  People complain a lot (mostly liberals unless liberals are in power and then mostly conservatives) but in my lifetime has it ever been a real problem?  No!  and it's not like increasing debt is new. YEA - debt is bad on a personal level but if it is a REAL problem America can just "print" more money (also called raising taxes).  Inflation is what you need to worry about.  (a very simple way to look at things).   

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Health care saves lives.  An accidental experiment happened by the IRS.  Three years ago 3.9 million Americans got a letter saying they did not sign up for ACA and were being fined.  HOWEVER - 600,000 uninsured people did not get the letter because the IRA ran out of funding (money was needed for The Wall).

What was found was in two years the people with ACA had a 12% gain in mortality (living not dead) and that the fines and getting people insured who did not have ACA saved 700 lives. 

MEANWHILE - since Trump was elected about 700,000 extra people a year have gone from being insured to uninsured. 

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Did you know that there are now 200,000 objects circling the earth of which only 20,000 are actually tracked?

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Bridgejumper is over for the year losing it's last game by 1/2 point.  Ended 16-7  ching ching - now I can afford a new knee.   433-277 overall.

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New Zealand has ordered 1,290 square feet of human skin from America to help with the volcano victims.  How big were these people, yea they were Americans but  . . . . .(too soon?)

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Minneapolis had a wind chill of -31 two nights ago. 

Have a great day!

 

MP's Town Tap / Bucky / GOT The Long Night!

Who woke up Bucky.   Here is the 5 game moving pro rated averages average after the last game.

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Watched Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3  The Long Night. The episode that has been building for 8 years. The hour and 20 minute battle scene that never got boring.  Then watched a 40 minute HOW IT'S MADE episode.  Being on the set of Public Enemies for a few weeks I had a clue what goes into each shot but WOW!  This was CRAZY. 

11 weeks to film one episode.  Start at 6:00 in the evening and end at 5:00 in the morning with the temperature near or below 10 degrees the entire 11 weeks.

The issue it seems was that a lot of people thought it was filmed too dark.  I believe the issue is that most TV s are still on factory settings.  We had zero issues with darkness and the battle was at night anyway.

The short 10 minute Making of the Episode    Spoilers

https://youtu.be/ZJ1yC3yESLQ


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Miss Universe - OH OH - Controversy - It seems Miss U.S. Virgin Islands also competed as Miss Utah last January and Miss Virginia last November, Miss Florida in 2017 and Miss Texas in 2011.
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The Irishman saw 13 million people seeing  . . . . part of the movie.  Only 18% saw the entire flick.
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In America there is one security camera for every 4.6 people. In China it's one security camera for every 4.1 people.  The difference is that in China you can get arrested for jay walking in front of a camera or you can get your train and bus pass taken away of you are caught talking to the wrong social class individual.  Facial recognition and your actions are taken a little too seriously.

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In a year or two the number of Americans with college degrees that working in a manufacturing/factory will be more then non-college educated workers.  The latest job numbers LOOK good (still far behind Obama's numbers) but most of the jobs are low pay retail.  Manufacturing lost jobs and wages are still flat.

So while we do have low unemployment all those workers are making close to minimum  wage OR working part time.  STILL - it's a good thing overall.

The strong jobs report and lowering unemployment that started 10 years ago continues.  However - the number of new jobs per month lags behind the 10 year average so don't get TOO excited.

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OH - went to MP's Town Tap in Columbus  last week for a burger and they redid their insides.  Very sporty with a ton of huge screen TVs and painted walls and one of the best bar-burgers I have had in a long long time.  Reminds me of Caribou Burgers in Madison.   BRAVO !! 

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Brewers / TKR / Porch awards and video

To reply to "M" about Chernobyl - YEA - I'm watching this like one episode a month.  When I get just TOO HAPPY I watch another episode.  And it's all about pets for me.  It seem I do not care about humans dying but cruelty to animals gets to me. 

The trans continental railroad would never have been completed if I was in charge as they just worked horses until they died and then tossed them off the cliffs. The movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" was unwatchable because of the horses.

can't wait for episode #3.   LUCKILY I we have The Crown and The Marvelous Ms Maisel this weekend.

WATCH OUT - SHE CAN MOVE IN ANY DIRECTION 

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Our AWARD WINNING PORCH is the featured project of the month and they put a video on You tube

https://youtu.be/puKAXjZVpTk



Then for anybody interested a complete rundown of the entire project - check out this big article.

Michael F Simon Builders

And let's not forget they started the demo at -10 wind chill in a snow storm.

MEANWHILE.

It seems I need to have a tooth extracted BEFORE my January Knee.   Yea - I have a cracked tooth that they have wanted to pull for a few years now but WHY - it never hurts . . .BUT - all of a sudden they found an excuse and I need to have it gone BEFORE I get a new knee.

It seems the bacteria in your mouth is the exact bacteria that can cause a new knee issues.  It can flow through the blood stream and collect in the knee.

ANYTHING ELSE I need to do BEFORE Jan 2?  sigh!

HEY - if anybody wants to see a really good animation of what a total knee replacement actually does without the gore - check this out - SADLY I cannot find it on You tube but only on facebook.  It's pretty cool!

https://www.facebook.com/Sciencefactum/videos/756011951188806/?t=17

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Climate Change forecasting.  Of the 17 major models from 1970s to 1990s that predicted how warm the earth would get with CO2 concentrations, 14 correctly predicted how warm the earth would be at this point in time.  Only one ran hot and two ran cold.  This is amazing as 40 years ago we did not have as good as technology as we do now.

SADLY the GOP still refuses to except real science and would rather depend on the many You tube scientists that debunk Climate Change.

It seems conspiracy theories are popular and most likely embraced by those who are, shall I say, less academically inclined.  While at the same time they vote for government officials that share their misinformed views.  ODDLY those same government officials are the same ones that are anti-education.  Coincidence ? 

BTW - 16 house Republicans are retiring this year. When things look bad they jump off the ship. This does not count all the ones that are looking for new jobs.   In 2018 there were 23 Republicans that "retired".  This is twice as many as Democrats.

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Brewers - a study found that the Brewers are the #1 team that would REALLY be helped by a high price free agent.  For instance - losing Grendal REALLY hurt.  Without Grendal the Brewers have a 14% chance of reaching the playoffs - WITH Grendal that goes up to 32%  - HOWEVER -  The White Sox getting Grendal does not help them at all on reaching the playoffs.

The take away is it seems the Brewers are  the bubble team that is one major player away from really contending.  Other teams are on the bubble but need more then one major player.

If the Brewers signed

Anthony Rendon they go from a 14.7% chance to a 39% chance
Gerrit Cole 35%
Stephen Strasburg  24%
Madison Bumgarner 21%
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Giving to the poor helps EVERYBODY / Packers / Badgers

I read an article about some researchers who wanted to see how much of an impact giving money to poor people had on a community.  They had a group of 65,000 families in very impoverished  areas and gave certain lucky families $1000.

What they found was while reach family REALLY loved the $1000 and bought food and clothing the surrounding area improved dramatically.  The final result was that for every $1 they gave to the poor to spend the economic growth in the area was worth $2.61 with stores getting more income and workers getting raises that amounted to more sales and so forth.  Inflation was negligible.   

I mention this as it seems conservatives really hate helping the poor as they wrongly believe all it does is give money to . . . lazy poor people who waste it.  They never consider what that money does for the surrounding community in economic growth. 

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Now that this weeks NFL games are over here is the current average points above or below the point spread. 

This basically tells you if a team is playing better or worse then what the line-makers (who are really god at what they do) believe a team SHOULD be doing.   For instance  Baltimore is performing WAY better then the experts thought while Miami, even though people think they suck, they suck MORE then we thought. 

 Green Bay?  They are what they think they are. 

** on average Baltimore beats the spread by 11.7 points a game. 

Baltimore Ravens**	11.7
San Francisco 49ers	9.2
New England Patriots	5.0
Buffalo Bills	3.6
Tennessee Titans	3.4
Kansas City Chiefs	2.9
Minnesota Vikings	2.5
Houston Texans	1.5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1.4
Dallas Cowboys	0.9
Pittsburgh Steelers	0.8
Seattle Seahawks	0.8
New Orleans Saints	0.7
Denver Broncos	0.2
Green Bay Packers	0.0
Indianapolis Colts	-0.1
LARams	-0.7
New York Jets	-0.9
Detroit Lions	-1.3
LAChargers	-1.8
Atlanta Falcons	-1.8
Chicago Bears	-2.0
Arizona Cardinals	-2.4
Washington Redskins	-2.6
Cleveland Browns	-2.9
Carolina Panthers	-3.3
Cincinnati Bengals	-3.4
Philadelphia Eagles	-4.1
Oakland Raiders	-4.6
Jacksonville Jaguars	-4.7
New York Giants	-4.9
Miami Dolphins	-5.8

   

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Balderdash commented he thought my numbers for the Badgers were off when it came to turn overs. 

I think the issue is that he was looking at TO's per possession and my totals are TOs per minute.  If a player is never given the ball he will never turn it over.   So for MY stats a ratio between assists and TOs is the only way to see if a player has hands or not.   

Possessions are a great tool to see if the best players are getting the ball.  BUT - Box scores do not have this stat.  

Off topic slightly - The other night when Giannis  Antetokounmpo scored 50 points he became only the second player in NBA history to score 50+ with zero turn overs.

Speaking of the Bucks.  What a quiet 18-3 won loss record.  shhhhhh!  don't tell anybody.  9-2 on the road?  That is crazy good.

MEANWHILE - MY Minnesota Wild NHL team got through their opening 1/4 of their schedule.  They started the year with 13 of their first 19 games on the road.  NOW they are the hottest team in the NHL not losing for 10 games in a row.

Last night they had a rookie Goaltender who let 2 of the first 10 shots go in the net against the high scoring Florida Whoevers.  Then he stopped the next 37 attempts!  WILD WIN.  The goalie ALMOST had an open net goal at the end of the game LOL

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Gotta laugh.  Trump said yesterday he does not watch the Stock Market at all, except the 52 times in the last 30 days he mentioned it.

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I typically don't have nightmares unless it's about missing some high school class but I had one the other night.

I've been watching HBO's Chernobyl which is like watching an 8 hour Schindler's list without the happy ending. What got me was when after 3 days of getting radiated the government FINALLY admitted that MAYBE the 50,000 inhabitants should be evacuated.  They had like 10 minutes to collect what they wanted for a "3 day" stay out of town.     

But what got me was a scene of all the pet dogs running behind the bus's as they left town never to come back.  THAT got me.

Chernobyl reminds me what happens when a government lies to it's citizens and controls what newspapers want to publish. Propaganda news sources like FOX are a clear and present danger to democracy and it seems many (not all) Republicans are gullible to misinformation.

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Invisalign braces seem to be working for DJ.  Me?  still waiting for the cortisone to wear off to remind me why I'm having a knee replacement.  STILL seems interesting that Polymyalgia rheumatica and my knee issues all happened at the same time.  Yet three doctors say they are unrelated. 

ODDLY last April I designated 2019 the year I REALLY take care of my left knee.  I got a new bike, wore braces when golfing,  worked out and BAM - a knee replacement 9 months later. sigh!   

Now I'm forced to eat healthier - BTW - POM is one of the best juices you can drink, most other commercially available juices are really just sugar water.  The best bargain in Costco is POM.

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Stock market continues to rise.  In order to get worried the DOW would have to drop another 1000 points.  This is typical Trump manipulation.   Two hours before he put new tariffs on Brazil and said the deal with China might have to wait until he is elected, SOMEBODY shorted $10 million in the market. 

Of course they don't know who exactly because so many shell corporations and the relaxed laws (put in place by Trump a few years ago ).  What a coincidence.  I can not WAIT for that Mob Boss to go to jail. 

CHEERS

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Packers are exactly even. Manufacturing is in a recession already

I just looked - I have 996,544 total page views since I started this little blog!   

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WELL - The Packers are exactly even when going against the point spread.   0.0 difference between predicted scores vs. real scores.  Meanwhile Bridgejumper ( my NFL sATS system) won another game and is now 16-6  (72.7%) this year and 433-277 ATS (60.99%) in the last 27 years (YIKES) that I have been working this system.

One more week to go.  After next week teams start to look to next year and points spreads get all wonky.

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The economy  sigh!   SURPRISE  Manufacturing is slumping and the amount of orders has not been this poor since April 2009.  Inventories are at a 42 month low.  Weak weak exports as nobody is buying America anymore overseas.  The HOPE was Manufacturing would stabilize, but nooooo.

Manufacturing it seems has already hit a minor recession.   Plus a new round or tariffs on steal started.  We don't want people to buy our stuff?

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If you want to see how America has one of the most corrupt business practices in the world check out NETFLIXs movie the laundromat

https://youtu.be/wuBRcfe4bSo



Based on a true story.  And yup, Delaware does has over 240,000 shell companies registered to avoid paying  taxes.

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According to the USDA, there are nearly 175,000 fewer farms than there were 20 years ago.

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One county in Colorado gained $31,000,000 in revenue from cannabis sales.  In Denver after school programs receive $1.5 Million a year in aid from cannabis.  Michigan is now a legal cannabis State and Illinois will open shops to the public at 6:00 January 1st.

Meanwhile in Wisconsin Cronie Fitzgerald will not even mention medical cannabis against the will of his constituents.  He is getting paid by the drug makers to stop the spread of evil weed so people will continue to be prescribed opiates and he will continue to receive $$ for elections. 

I tell ya - when I had my massive knee issues a month ago before my cortisone shot medical cannabis was awesome for pain.  Seriously.

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Wisconsin is the #10 State where people are moving away.

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OK - in the last 5 days I have had 25 people from 18 countries and 4 states trying to access my email.  I know this as I get  "Your Yahoo verification code is MBGWJWEQ " Five times a day when people run out of guesses on my password.  The latest attempt was from Bangladesh.

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Today I am exactly one month away from my Total Knee Replacement.  GULP!!  I need to my more POM from Costco  The VERY BEST juice to drink hands down and the best deal in Costco.

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I made a post on a Columbus Facebook page praising the Holiday Parade but expressing my concern about kids running in front of and being only 3-4 feet away from HUGE trucks.

WELL - I was accused of CONSTANTLY stirring the pot and being negative by all my haters.  Sometimes this town is so full of small people who only want to spread hate and disharmony . . and then I look at their facebook pages full of American flags and guns.  sigh!

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Continue to watch The Manderlorian (spell fixer wants me to call this The Coriander which would be completely different show).   

One thing that is literally beautiful are the paintings at the end of each show - WOW - STUNNING - images taken from each episode and digitized!!  REALLY a good show and I am NOT a Star Wars groupie.

https://youtu.be/V7yqW64Dx7c



Nuff said - gotta go and put more muscle on my legs!  ONLY A MONTH!!!