Go Togo!

There's a spare bullet here Alan. Did you want us to put up a topic? Maybe you had to dash out the door before filling it in, a case of 'chattus interuptus'.
Alan, the American economy, specifically New York state's restaurant and beer trade is glad you have spent so many weekends down here. You and your wallet are welcome here anytime. Bet you miss a good time at the bluegrass thing.

I was still in the moment there, Gary. That bullet was the typographic personification of your anticipation.

Don't think we don't appreciate the work you put in for us, Alan. We do. I jump out of bed every Friday morning in anticipation.

Nothing but bloody stumps.

You're too good to us.

Alan, you do realize that Cory has a valid point against your beloved NPR? Ticketmaster lost in court about deep-linking, so why should NPR be able to ban it? Because a Canadian barrister has an issue with a Canadian SciFi author? Please ...

Heh.
Kyoto.
The plan with goals that nobody can achieve.

What do you want? Energy rationing? Only having electricity to your home between 4pm and 10am during winter and less during summer?

Nuclear baby. That's the ticket. At least 'til we get the whole idea of a space elevator worked out(who cares about efficiency of a solar panel when it can be sever sq miles in size?).

Or we'll adapt. You know, like being able to grow wheat in parts of Canada that are typically covered in perma-frost.

Or die. Aren't biological feedback systems ruthlessly cool?

And I hate Jim Rome. The man's a tool.

Still. I'm not that big on non-American rules football. It's just not in my cultural tradition, and likely won't be until we've got iconic athletes from the sport Stateside. Let's face it. It's somewhat Eurocentric. All the best leagues are in Europe. THe US has never wanted to just mirror Europe(no, not because it's become contemprorarily evil. We just don't wanna. We like being oddball most of the time.), and so we don't and won't support non-American rules football to the same degree as everyone else has. We violently broke off from our colonial masters past instead of watching a slow errossion of colonial control like much of the rest of the world. So what.

But Jim Rome's a tool.

Cory's point appears to be tha NPR cannot define what is done with NPR's works to avoid decontextualizing of its work. That is not the deep-linking issue in itself. Deep-linking is a very mid-1990s concern as a practice but the Web 2.0 mashy misuse of works is more complex than the Ticketmaster case as there is an implication of authority from the works cited by the taker...which is kind of the opposite as the Shetland case which was sort of about one media outlet passing off the work of others as its own.

Not so sure anymore ry is my long lost twin. I think ry had a couple extra espressos this morning, and seems a bit more like portland's long lost twin ( I am NOT calling them raving lunatics and didn't even suggest that they are).

So is ry saying that Ben Franklin and George Washington fought for NASCAR and the right not to be judged against others in sporting events? That is a little nutty.

I don't see how you get NASCAR, Al. We don't have the baggage that leads to adoration of football the way you do. We built our sports identity absent of, largely, EUropean influence. It doesn't come down to GW or BF fighting for NASCAR because they didn't fight for any sports---they fought for independence and freedom from influence, and the proclomation of the Western Hemisphere being a codification of it.

It just comes down to the fact that we are culturaly different than a lot of you all.

Are you saying that continued European influence on most of the world up until the 1960's hasn't played a role in the love of football, rugby, and cricket globally? If you do I think you're lying.
We have our own mythos about sport. Basketball is the innercity game. Football(American rules) is the game for the manliest of men. Baseball is the national sport. Almost all of our greatest sportsmen really fall into these three categories. Where is there room for soccer(football) in the consciousness then Al? Hmmmm?

And where's this 'right to be judged against others in sport' thing coming from? Doesn't the US go to the Olympics? Don't we partake in World Championships in just about everything from Archery to Hockey to Ice Skating to Rythmic Dance to Water Polo? We just don't embrace football. We line up against everyone else in lots of things, and win and lose at them.

We should change our sports culture why? To reflect the rest of you. That's nutty too. Why don't you change to be like us(because you like being you, and we like being us). We enjoy being the nutballs. Otherwise we'd stop being the nutball of the world.

I kinda get the anger. Rome and his acolytes in the US just dis' soccer. I'm saying that football may be great, but we don't want to take part. It's not our thing and likely never will. Just like hockey is a great sport but I don't hate on Angola for not embracing it. I can live with football being something the rest of the world is gaga over. Just like I can live with S. America loving the band Menudu and not want to take part. Oh well. They'll get along just fine without us.

It's okay gr ;). Even my real brother disavows me from time to time.

I see. I was not expecting that you meant what in fact you meant by non-American Rule football. I thought that was a CFL reference and I was lost thereafter...so I made stuff up.<p>The most interesting description above is the NFL being the manliest of men one as I have never got that from the game. All the padding, all the sitting down, all the criminality in a large section of the player group as well as those funny but glossy pants strike me as unmanly.

Of all the games it is the weirdest but, to be very fair, that is the same of all the football games which came from the 1850s decisions to define something better than the local rules when trains started to make intercity contests possible. Somewhere in the lost "articles" area of this website that no one but me ever reads is an attempt to categorize team sports and create linkages. It never went anywhere.

well, ry, you probably had a couple of those late Friday afternoon cocktails we all love so much, and came off the caffeine high, 'cause there is plenty of sense in your observations. I have to add a bit to what you say, about national sports. There are places in the northeast, like most of New England and a lot of northern New York, where hockey is close to the most favorite sport. Places like Michigan and most of the upper midwest likes it a lot too.
It is hard to understand why soccer isn't a more popular spectater sport here. So many girls and boys play it, maybe more than baseball. So people know the game. I love soccer, in theory, because it is an aerobic sport that really anybody can try to play. In practice, I find it very dull to watch. Not much scoring, and unlike hockey, you're not supposed to knock people down and fight. One thing Americans have to adjust to is the remarkable baseball talent from all over the globe, especially little poor countries like the Dominican Republic. You gotta love the way those people get into baseball.

Apropos of nothing, I'm in Vegas. What a dump.

If the internet were worth anything, your mere posting of that would trigger an audio file of Elvis singing "Viva Las Vegas!!!" It certainly went off in my mind.

Apropos of nothing, I'm in Vegas. What a dump.

Then, aren't you a couple weeks too late, David?

It's a lot cooler in the movies - I still haven't made it to some of the new A-list places (Wynn's, Mandalay Bay), and I'm still waiting to get to great restaurants. Hoover Dam was cool, but very very very hot! Weird observation about Americans -- they seem less free than one would imagine, in that they're obsessed with regulation. There's laws and bylaws and rules posted everywhere, covering all manner of trivia. Maybe the locals don't notice it, or maybe we have the same and I don't notice it?

I'm hearing VLV in my mind right now (clips). Shades of _Snatch_?

When I was in Holland in 1986, I drove into Germany with work and was struck about how there were laws and bylaws and rules posted everywhere, covering all manner of trivia but it was all in Gothic script. It was creepy.

Re: Trillium. WTF? The new logo is hideous and classless.

But it has three little swoop people iconically living out their aspirations to the fullest in Ontario!

As I always say, if you want to understand Germans, understand <i>das is nicht in ordnung</i>. Most English-speaking people visiting Germany for the first time laugh at the <i>Fahrt</i> signs.

Full Disclosure: I was chatting with a lovely 20-something Deustche chick from Dusseldorf at the pool today.

Logo Inspiration?

<img src="http://www.stephenyoull.com/images/Sketches/Medium/Sketch9.jpg" width="50%" height="50%">
<br/>
<img src="http://twoday.net/static/rip/images/sandworm.jpg">

Are those people o nthe logo worm riders or being sucked in?

You know today is way warmer than it was yesterday and I had chicken for dinner...I have accepted that this is my fault.

I also note that, on average, June is warmer than January but this year June has been pretty damn cold, except for my chicken induced warming today, and it is clearly our fault.

I'm told that cherry picking data is scientifically a bit doubtful; but that is obviously Bush's fault as it screws Gore again.

There are those who think that before we embark on a systematic program to dismantle the West's economy we might require something more than the projections of a flawed algorithm and data which the lead researcher refuses to disclose; but that's our fault too.

And regular readers of my blog (and the New York Times) will know that even if every signatory to Kyoto met their promised emission targets (and once you get past the flock of flying pigs have a snowball fight in Hell) the Chinese contribution to the production of CO2 will be five times the anticipated reduction in such emisions due to Kyoto. Happily that is the Chinese's fault and has nothing at all to do with us.

I don't know about you, gr, but I think every here needs a cocktail. I've got a bottle of bourbon and some mint in the garden, howzabout a round of juleps?

I could live in a place that had a Great Worm logo.

Bless the Maker and His water, Bless His coming and His going, May His passage cleanse the world, May he keep the world for His people.

cm, as usual you are the voice of reason and good sense. I gotta bag of nacho chips and some salsa.

I've got an avocado, so will whip up some guacamole.

Jay proves again that libertarianism is a movement based on "it's not my problem" and that our only choices are dismantling the economy or un-science. No wonder I turn to cheesemakers for the news now.

Well cm, like we were sayin'. It's a hot one here, I think a chilly swimming hole would go well with drinks and chips. Just made some potato salad to go with it...
coming soon, the Gen x at 40 beach party.
(REALITY: I did just make potato salad, but I am working all day and also running the kilns which means two things: 1) staying home, not going to the beach, to watch them and 2) the house will go from roasting hot to July-in-Tijuana hot.

<i>the Gen x at 40 beach party</i>

Complete with Flea in Speedo.

I still haven't had a great food experience, despite trying very hard -- my random dropins anywhere in California have been better (and cheaper) that Vegas. On the plus side, I'm up almost $490 on $16 of betting today and about $700 overall on $150 for the week.

cm, I wonder if it would be better if Flea, and the rest of us, left the Speedos at home.
DJ-do you have a strategy, as in, only bet this much, and save some of the winnings?
Health note: I had an upset stomach yesterday afternoon, really tricky, but went to and evening bar-b-q (veggie burgers!) anyway. That first bottle of Guinness stout settled everything down and so I pigged out happily and slept like a baby. Guinness: its good for you!

I have a daily limit ($80) and I don't cash in my winnings -- I just give them to my wife. So my downside is limited to 5x$80 and since I've covered that already it's all upside. As mentioned above, I always cash out if I double my money anywhere as statistically speaking the only realistic chance of winning is in the short run; in the long run the house always takes your money.

I saw David Copperfield last night. Three good tricks with a lot of annoying patter. I got free tickets so it was worth the price :-).

"Places like Michigan and most of the upper midwest likes it a lot too. " Yup. My mother's a good backwoods Wisconsin girl. That's what got me interested in hockey even though I grew up in sunny SoCalifornia where the only ice is either in the freezer or at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood.

"The most interesting description above is the NFL being the manliest of men one as I have never got that from the game." That may be because you haven't followed its hisotry. Didn't used to be all padded up. A leather hat. No forward passing. Go beat the snot out of each other. It's also the blue collar sport---which implies uber-manliness.

Or seen kids playing sand lot down here? We play mean down here. Two of my childhood best friends teamed up to tackle me in such a way that gave me a concussion(one snared my foot, the other came in high.). Sand lot is for men. Which is why I don't play much anymore.

"One thing Americans have to adjust to is the remarkable baseball talent from all over the globe, especially little poor countries like the Dominican Republic." Heh. I used to watch Japanese baseball because I thought it more 'authentic' than the homerball played here in the US. Ichiro is the future, not Vlad Geurrero(even if he is a former Expo).

I still say go nuclear, shift to all electric passenger cars(diesel we can leave for frieght or those who live in the boonies and won't have reliable enough electricity to make it workable), dump natural gas(unless you live in the boonies and need your own stash because of problems with heavy snow or no service), forget about hydrogen(see the boys at JPL about ecological damage from that pathway) and wait for a big technical revolution to come(solar from space). If we shift that way the Indians and Chinese will too when the tech becomes cheap enough.

Kyoto was just a silly piece of legislation. If global warming is a global problem why only punish the developed countries and a total pass on the developing countries(instead of, you know, incentives to skip the dirty polluting tech and adopt instead of cleaner, more expensive, tech)? Silly marxism. Must punish the overclass! Who cares about workable solutions! Punish the overclass!
Jay's right about the hockeystick though. Al. A nice Canadian mathmatician is all over that one. It's an algorithem that gives the same shape with data sets that should give a null(if that's not 'massaging the data' then the term doesn't mean a thing.). And lets not forget that for the Vikings to have enough grain to be the marauders they were the world had to be warmer than it is now.

Let's be smart. We're not sure what's going on(though there's religions on both sides of the issue who are.). So let's do something smart even if the payoff isn't for 300 years(nuclear power!). Safe. Sorry. Better. Than.

I like that info about US football, ry. I would like to see the Watertown Red and Black this fall, the longest standing continuing team semi-pro/pro in the country I think.

football isn't perfect, and I have a broken nose and a serious concussion in my past from playing, BUT it has some cool aspects. The US had teams all over like Watertown, and somehow the Green Bay Packers, a city of about 70 thousand people, with a stadium of about 72 thousand, survived and went big time. I love that profit sharing ensures that Buffalo and Kansas City can support great teams, a lesson baseball should learn.
As for baseball, I would love a more international major league. Maybe in 10-20 years Havana, Mexico City, Tokyo and Seoul will have teams?
DJ-you took the whole family to Vegas? I should read up at your blog. I wonder if a person from Canada might like Vegas better in .....February? Just a thought.

I don't post trip information on my blog till I get back. Just one of these paranoia type things.

I don't mind the heat, though it's doing nasty things to my skin. I'm just not impressed by the whole experience. For example, yesterday morning I was one of three people in a room that holds 150 or so -- the Sports area. They have maybe 30 TV sets, one of which is showing the F1 race in Montreal. 30 minutes through, they turn it off and put on a baseball game that's showing on 5 others TVs (there's still only three of us there). "No one bets on F1, therefore we're not showing it". They eventually put it back on but said they reserve the right to change the channel at any time.

Blech.

DJ--I guess anyone reading the usual unhinged comments from Flea, cm, ry, me and the rest would be a bit cautious. None of us is going to Vegas this week though. Really!

Ijust think you crowd should put on some loose clothing and DANCE damnit!

Maybe then the world will stop heating up.

No, I mean I don't post on my main blog about vacations because I don't want to put up a sign saying "house is empty".

More Vegas advice: don't gamble at the bar, where they give out comp drinks. Not because you lose your judgement but because the machines don't seem to pay out the same way others do.

Coolgirl has been missing! Yay! Post early and often, coolgirl.

dj-noooo, really?

I'm like that too about advertising whether the house is empty. And if I forget, my wife reminds me.

We have attack cats and are in a secutiry building for another x weeks. After that I may institute such rules even if all my neighbours are going to be cops and military.

From beer blog I can see you got an amazing view Alan. How can you give that up? You can look out the window and see clear to my house.

Who says that is <i>my</i> view?