gehringer_2

Roundworm! this probably happens a LOT more than anyone dreams. The temptation to toss a lab sample into your luggage instead of doing reams of paper work can be pretty strong - seems to be a particular issue for the Chinese - either because they aren't used to the level of formal control at home or because they can be under so much pressure to succeed by the people at home - or maybe both.

The Mets are reaching irresistible force vs immovable object level between Cohen's ambition and the team liabilities. I'm not going to guess which gives first or when but at some point down the road that franchise is going to be a real mess.

I'm not going to get too excited. They have certainly become a fun team but they are still too unbalanced, the lack of shooting is still likely going to be their downfall against teams that can play better interior defense.

I think it's part of a larger social dynamic. I guess the metaphor might be that it's easy to never have to restrain a dog when all you have is golden retriever puppies, when you have room full of dobermans it becomes a different story. A lot of our idealized thinking about liberty, freedom, and sanctions at the institutional political and legal level was developed in a society where social and religious constraints on behavior were very powerful. IOW, it's easy to over idealize how committed you are to things like free speech and action legally in a society where no-one will ever say the most destructive things anyway because of other levels of deep social constraint. As we find ourselves in a society where behavior has fewer and fewer sources of control outside formal institutional rule/legal structures, we are finding out that those don't work so well all by themselves.

it says this on the NHL.com site:

NBA already caps contract length (5yrs). Once agreed to, collective bargaining agreements are exempt from a lot of those legal niceties, plus you still have the infamous baseball AT exemption still in play. I guess by definition I'm talking about something that comes out of a new CBA since I'm assuming without a new CBA no-one is playing.

Come to think of it, I bought a car from LaFontaine in Dexter once, but that was long time ago. No issues but it was a much a smaller operation then than now - new bldg/new site since.

What should be easier to QC than the actual length of measuring device? Of course just because he hooked up the the ends uniformly doesn't mean he checked that the inside/outside slide at the end wasn't stuck or binding on some, I've seen that often enough on cheap tapes. That could be 3/32" One would assume he would check that, but it's the internet so who knows?

One would think that just the decade+ terms on the Yamamoto, Ohtani and Soto deals have to have the majority of the owners ready to dig in and force a major change in things - particularly some hard limit on lengths. So does that mean if you are Skubal you should take what you can get today from the Tigers with a 2 or 3 yr opt out to give you safe haven to the other side of the chaos? I guess it depends on which side you thinks ultimately 'wins' the stoppage.

The huge turnout make comparisons to any recent history tricky. Mamdani got more votes (1036K) than any mayor since 1965, but Coumo also got more votes (854K) than any *winner* since Guliani. Looks like this was the largest turnout since 1969! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_mayoral_elections

well if Trump has changed his mind there will be a deal in a day or two. The thing he has to work out is pretty much what you note above - he has to work out the best talking points for declaring victory while caving in.

Re:Mamdani: the key for any mayor (or an exec for that matter) is whether he appoints based on competence or politics. For instance, if he looks at the Mayoralty primarily to bootstrap people from DSA into prominence, he will likely fail. If he's hard headed about putting good people into civic management, he will likely succeed. It's no different than the way Trump consistently fails on policy - he has surrounded himself with a confederacy of dunces. Even if he were playing with a full deck, there is no way all the clowns around him can execute.

I hope they called it the Walz Act.

well one possibility is that there is something that would show up a a trade physical that both he and team, but no-one else, knows about right now.

well, tasteless at the least, but that's par for the course.

well clearly, that's a pretty bad thing to do, but still, at some point you have to ask how much protection a consumer needs? How do you not know? Or do they just con people, or are there people who sign on the dotted line before they sit in the car they are going to buy? I guess maybe.....The world is getting to be too weird.

Stephens should know, he's had a lot of them.

now he just has to perform.

the thing about gerrymandering is that it can be a double edged sword if the electorate starts to move. You maximize your seats by concentrating the other sides voters as much as possible, but also by contructing districts which you think you can win narrowly but consistently. If a major shift does occur, your losses are going to be greater.

If the dems start winning races, that will be a big part of the why. The MAGA voter that finally gets burned out on the whole Trump circus is going to become a non-voter.

dropped my subscription to the DetNews - were they selling cars that were "only" technically over the new limit (I think it used to be a 30 mile allowance for pre-sale handling) or more seriously selling demos etc., with the odometers rolled?

everything is negotiable in the form of what's in/with the CR that comes to the floor.

Very interesting.

And I bet the Pistons are doing the offensive side in the paint more on penetration (Cade/Ausar) than post play. I sort of had doubts Cade would ever be a slasher but its a moot point because he's become a fricking road grader, Ausar is supplying the slash.

the unknowns that remains are around how much all the physics metrics get to the last, hardest part of hitting as a player levels up to the top tiers, and that is the tougher decision making. i.e., Your ability to barrel up more balls better than the next guy against AA pitching isn't necessarily 100% indicative of your ability to see and react to spin at MLB command and velo levels. Recognizing better disguised pitches and decreased processing time are parts that remain as hurdles that are harder to project from lower level data. That - and of course injuries, are residual uncertainties even with the tech. To me the irony is that the better metrics do tell you almost everything about a pitcher today - those more subtle vision/processing issues don't apply to their art, but the injury risk with pitchers is so high today that the increased certainty about their stuff still leaves huge overall uncertainty there as well. 🤷‍♂️