I'm going to go out on a limb and say the first time I crowd surf is after a brownie or two and I sing Release.
By the way, Ace got a makeover:
By the way, Ace got a makeover:
Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...
Only two books made the NY Times Top Ten and the Ecomonist Top Books of 2008, so I will be reading those this holiday season:
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.
By Jane Mayer.
Doubleday; 400 pages; $27.50 and £22.85
A comprehensive and compelling examination of how a handful of officials, working in extreme secrecy, even from their colleagues, prosecuted the war on terror, undermining America?s civil liberties.
And:
The World Is What It Is: The Authorised Biography of V.S. Naipaul.
By Patrick French.
Knopf; 576 pages; $30. Picador; £20
An elegant and insightful study of the Trinidad-born Nobel laureate who made his name as a novelist and chronicler of India and the Islamic world. A singular example of how good authorised biographies can, and should, be.
There were many more crossovers from the NY Times Notable 100 and the Economist's list for those interested.
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.
By Jane Mayer.
Doubleday; 400 pages; $27.50 and £22.85
A comprehensive and compelling examination of how a handful of officials, working in extreme secrecy, even from their colleagues, prosecuted the war on terror, undermining America?s civil liberties.
And:
The World Is What It Is: The Authorised Biography of V.S. Naipaul.
By Patrick French.
Knopf; 576 pages; $30. Picador; £20
An elegant and insightful study of the Trinidad-born Nobel laureate who made his name as a novelist and chronicler of India and the Islamic world. A singular example of how good authorised biographies can, and should, be.
There were many more crossovers from the NY Times Notable 100 and the Economist's list for those interested.
I'm feeling really badly about the Angels chances to re-sign Teixiera. If Boston's offer is identical to Anaheim's, then he will head East. I don't think the Orioles have the revenue to do the 8-year deal, even if he's willing to sign for less to head back home.
If I were Anaheim, I'd start working a Peavy-Adrian Gonzalez package deal from the AAA team in San Diego.
If I were Anaheim, I'd start working a Peavy-Adrian Gonzalez package deal from the AAA team in San Diego.
Why are baseball players so goddamn greedy? I'm making up these numbers, but is there really that big of a difference between the 140 million the O's would pay him and the 160 million the Sox would pay him? When you're talking that kind of money, it's like Monopoly money anyway.
That being said, who wouldn't prefer playing for the BoSox (or the Angels) over Baltimore?
That being said, who wouldn't prefer playing for the BoSox (or the Angels) over Baltimore?
vansmack wrote:
I'm feeling really badly about the Angels chances to re-sign Teixiera. If Boston's offer is identical to Anaheim's, then he will head East. I don't think the Orioles have the revenue to do the 8-year deal, even if he's willing to sign for less to head back home.
If I were Anaheim, I'd start working a Peavy-Adrian Gonzalez package deal from the AAA team in San Diego.
Charlie wrote:
is there really that big of a difference between the 140 million the O's would pay him and the 160 million the Sox would pay him?
You're actually not making up those numbers. The difference is 7 years vs 8 years at $20m per year (avg). But there is a lot of pressure from the Unions to take both the longest and the biggest deal you can get so it trickles down to everybody else. Combine that with agents that get a percentage of the contract, and there's a lot of pressure on the players to sign the biggest deal possible.
While I agree that numbers are ridiculous, it's not only the fault of the players.
what is that in £/week
godsshoeshine wrote:
what is that in £/week
£250,000 a week, assuming they pay over 52 weeks and not just during the season.
vansmack wrote:Charlie wrote:
is there really that big of a difference between the 140 million the O's would pay him and the 160 million the Sox would pay him?
You're actually not making up those numbers. The difference is 7 years vs 8 years at $20m per year (avg). But there is a lot of pressure from the Unions to take both the longest and the biggest deal you can get so it trickles down to everybody else. Combine that with agents that get a percentage of the contract, and there's a lot of pressure on the players to sign the biggest deal possible.
While I agree that numbers are ridiculous, it's not only the fault of the players.
for example, the union wouldn't let arod re-negotiate a lower salary to play for the red sox. . .instead, the yankees were able to take on the salary, and arod was traded to the yankees.
vansmack wrote:so hes roughly worth a world cup winning keepergodsshoeshine wrote:
what is that in £/week
£250,000 a week, assuming they pay over 52 weeks and not just during the season.
godsshoeshine wrote:so hes roughly worth a world cup winning keeper
No. C Ronaldo only makes £120,000 a week.
oh you know im makin fun
vansmack wrote:
Last week Microsoft asked me to start working on Windows 7 for them, which I started to do this weekend. It's a little ironic, because it means I'll be basically skipping Vista in my home setup all together, but I'm willing to do that.
I must say, I'm super impressed so far. I agree with most of the benchmarks that I've seen. Originally this author did Win7 vs Vista, but was prodded to add XP SP3 later.
It's not even the final product, but if this is any indication, MS is finally headed in the right direction with their OS.
Windows 7 is working a lot faster than even XP on my netbook, although I did have to VLite the install as the regualr installation of Win7 takes up 10GB and I wasn't willing to give up that much space with my smaller SSD.
The newest version of Last.Fm scrobbler (version 1.5.2.38918) finally displays files streamed from my Home Server via iTunes, so after a 3 month hiatus, it's good to be back on last.fm.
vansmack wrote:
The newest version of Last.Fm scrobbler (version 1.5.2.38918) finally displays files streamed from my Home Server via iTunes, so after a 3 month hiatus, it's good to be back on last.fm.
Except that CBS bought them out, are laying off about 25% of their London staff and as of today, they are trashing up their pages with gigantic ads. Won't be long now that Last.FM will be the corporate suckage that MySpace has become. Enjoy it while you can.
Jaguar wrote:
Except that CBS bought them out, are laying off about 25% of their London staff and as of today, they are trashing up their pages with gigantic ads. Won't be long now that Last.FM will be the corporate suckage that MySpace has become. Enjoy it while you can.
If ads keep the service free, I'm totally fine with it. If I had to pay for the service, then I'd probably stop using it. The job losses suck though, but I suspect that's happening everywhere.
French Competition Council: Orange-iPhone Deal Breaches Rules
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- France's competition authority Wednesday temporarily barred an exclusive distribution deal between the country's dominant telecommunications group France Telecom SA (FTE.FR) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) over the blockbuster iPhone mobile phone.
The watchdog said the exclusive rights to iPhone held by France Telecom's Orange mobile telephony unit "by nature introduces a new factor of rigidity in a sector that already lacks competition."
It said any operator can now sell the iPhone.
France Telecom wasn't immediately available to comment.
The measures are in force while the council probes more deeply in to the case.
The original complaint against the Orange-Apple pact was filed by French telecoms operator Bouygues Telecoms, a unit of French diversified construction group Bouygues SA (12050.FR).
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- France's competition authority Wednesday temporarily barred an exclusive distribution deal between the country's dominant telecommunications group France Telecom SA (FTE.FR) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) over the blockbuster iPhone mobile phone.
The watchdog said the exclusive rights to iPhone held by France Telecom's Orange mobile telephony unit "by nature introduces a new factor of rigidity in a sector that already lacks competition."
It said any operator can now sell the iPhone.
France Telecom wasn't immediately available to comment.
The measures are in force while the council probes more deeply in to the case.
The original complaint against the Orange-Apple pact was filed by French telecoms operator Bouygues Telecoms, a unit of French diversified construction group Bouygues SA (12050.FR).
france vs apple? its a fight within the smackie rogues gallery
godsshoeshine wrote:
france vs apple? its a fight within the smackie rogues gallery
Haha, yes, an odd fight in my lexicon. I'm rooting for the consumer and hoping that it spreads competition throughout the land.
Alright experts. Now that Boston has effectively said they won't be going to a 10 year deal after getting burned by Manny - if you're Anaheim, do you go 10 years and lock Teixiera up or do you take your chances that he'll pick you in the 8-year sweepstakes?
I had it on pretty good authority last night that the Red Sox knew exactly what they were doing when they announced that they were out of the Teixiera negotiations because the bidding was too high. They wanted to get a message loud and clear to Boras that he was bluffing, but that was the only way to make certain his client would hear it too.
He'll be a holding a Red Sox uniform by the end of the weekend - that's my prediction.
He'll be a holding a Red Sox uniform by the end of the weekend - that's my prediction.