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.