Tuesday stuff

[yendi]

Was up at UNH yesterday for a project management seminar (which was mostly refresher material, but since it's been years since I've taken a course or looked at PMI materials, it was worth the time). Needless to say, I'm way behind on assorted web browsing stuff. Time to close some tabs and dump some links.

1. Amazon's Deal of the Day is the Hannibal Lecter Collection (Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, the three best of the five movies featuring the character) for $12.49 (58% off). Nice if you somehow don't already own the movies.

2. One of the few posts that captures how Twitter can actually be useful.

3. Tanga has gone into permanent Tangathon mode. Not sure if this is a good thing or not.

4. Neil Gaiman has a new book out as a part of a "sell cheap books to get kids to read" program.

5. O'Reilly's Mac DevCenter on living with default settings. For the most part, I agree. The major tweaks I make are hiding the dock, using a multi-button mouse (essentiallly a hidden default on a Mac), and adding Quicksilver. Beyond that, it's mostly at the application level where things get interesting.

6. Yet another reason to love Ken Jennings. On why the paperback release of Brainiac (today!) won't have any new material: Mostly because it sort of screws the most faithful readers, the ones who actually bought the book in hardcover. I read all of Dave Eggers’ paperback addendum to A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius in a Barnes & Noble armchair, because I wasn’t going to get suckered into buying a second copy just so I could find out what all his friends are up to lately. I also didn’t buy Army of Darkness the second, third, and fourth times it came out on DVD, each time with different “special features.”

7. Speaking of books getting released today, yuki_onna's The Orphan's Tales: In the CIties of Coin and Spice is out! Yay! The first book kicked six kinds of ass and won a Tiptree. This one will kick seven kinds of ass and win even more awards (unless the folks on nominating committees suck). It's easily the books I'm most looking forward to this season.

8. Dear fucking god, no. No. No. No. I will seriously stop watching or even rooting for the Mets if they do this. Really. Not fucking kidding.

9. Because you demanded it: A reality show featuring Coolio. On Oxygen.

10. Finally, remember that today is Free Taco Day!

Comments

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

#8: If the sports writers fall into their usual pattern of reading numbers and ignoring results, we run the possibility that the Most Valuable Player may have no home next season.

Very few teams can afford A-Rod; the Mets are one of them, the Red Sox are another. Red Sox fans chanted "Don't Sign A- Rod!" behind Theo Epstein on national TV; we could not make our views clearer.

Mets fans need a similar rally.

Let's do what we can to stick the Angels or the Dodgers with A-Rod.

[litch.livejournal.com]

5: I like having a roaming profile and being able to pop a session open to a machine I like to use. I find the "use the default" mindset makes the most sense for people who have to use other people's boxes a lot (i.e. desktop support)

[yendi]

I've had some really bad experiences with roaming profiles. I also need to be able to understand how any reported issues might be affected by the OS itself.

[montykins.livejournal.com]

I will seriously stop watching or even rooting for the Mets if they do this. Really. Not fucking kidding.

How come? I mean, A-Rod is the best player in baseball. Is it an objection to the prospect of moving David Wright (which I totally understand) or just an aversion to super-high-priced players?

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

I can't necessarily speak for yendi on this, but from my perspective:

1. When A-Rod went from the Mariners to the Rangers, the Mariners improved and the Rangers headed straight to the basement.
   
2. When A-Rod went from the Rangers to the Yankees, the Rangers improved and the Yankees stopped winning pennants.

I wanted A-Rod to stay with the Yankees for that reason. But the truth is that A-Rod currently commands 1/4 of the Yankees' player-salary budget. If his super-high-pricedness can cripple the Yankees, what chance does any other team have?

He's also a drag on the bench and team morale.

[yendi]

feste_sylvain pretty much gets it right. It's exacerbated by the fact that the Mets, unlike the Yanks, don't have solid player leadership, so are much more likely to be sent into a tailspin by his leadership-free presence. I'd rather see Wright be given the chance to develop as a leader, and also to play his natural position (where, for all his errors, he's also got tremendous potential). Also, the Mets have many other weaknesses that I'd like to see them address. If they resign Castillo, the infield is basically set.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

But with A-Rod and Santana, they might get past the Phillies. ;)

I don't think Theo is crazy enough to sign him. Fans will revolt.

Him being on the market really helps Mike Lowell, though.

Truth be told, I think he's a great player, and had he come here last time, I think we might -- I said might -- love him by now.

[thegreatjohnzo.livejournal.com]

re 8

i wish him on boston, for several reasons.

1) i really like ryan theriot and don't want to see him replaced, even if a-rod would be a giant leap forward offensively.
2) i want the boston fans have to deal with loving something they've hated for the last 7 years, i think their brains would explode.
3) i don't want the red sox to win ever again, as i know too many massholes who i luckily havent seen this week.

when a rod leaves, do you think the AL east will stop being the stranglehold it is now, giving toronto a chance to win it? (i'd like to give baltimore a chance, but who do they have outside of bedard, markakis, and tejada?) or are we now forever doomed to have our AL east winner and AL wild card slot picked out for every season? and with the angels in the west constantly taking that down, what use is there to watch the AL at all?