ICanSleepWhenI'mDead

The OP's article says that the smaller of the two asteroids was about 50-165 feet across, was discovered only a few days before it passed us, and missed the earth by a little over half the lunar distance. Doesn't sound that scary, until you combine it with the information from this article: http://news.yahoo.co...-112749440.html The second article also says that an asteroid one kilometer wide could be a civilization killer. The near miss rock wasn't that big, but it was roughly the same size as the 1908 meteor that "flattened 770 square miles." So we have only found 1% of the near-Earth asteroids that size, and less than 30% of the space rocks that could destroy an entire state, and will have very little advance warning if and when we do find them. Yikes!

No, Fitz, I don't know why they call it an empty backfield even when you're in it. You're the Harvard grad - - you tell me! Maybe if you were a great QB they wouldn't call it that.

Even if estate taxes increase by a huge amount, Ralph comes out ahead financially by keeping the team until his death. For a detailed explanation, see reply #28 in this thread: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/153006-capital-gains-vs-estate-tax-ralph-should-sell-now/page__st__20estate To slightly oversimplify, the federal estate tax is calculated based on Ralph's net worth at the time of his death. Whether he owns an $800 million NFL franchise, or has $800 million in cash in the bank, he will pay estate taxes based on the same $800 million net worth. Regardless of how estate tax rates may change between now and his death, any sale of the team before he dies triggers an ADDITIONAL capital gains tax, leaving him with a net worth of less than $800 million at the time of his death. This assumes that Ralph will not leave the team to his wife, because he said he would not do that in his last public statement about the matter.

The Bills may miss the playoffs again, but this year's Toronto game may actually sell out. To ensure that it does, Brandon may have unleashed a brilliant stealth marketing campaign. Remember the "rally monkey" that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim publicized during their push for the playoffs a while back? It would not surprise me if the "Ikea monkey" found wandering in a Toronto furniture store yesterday winds up on the Bills sideline for the Seattle game, cheering the Bills on to victory. We've tried everything else, maybe a sideline monkey (complete with fur coat and diaper) is what we need. If nothing else, it will divert attention from the team's ongoing on field problems. Who cares if we make the playoffs - - the Buffalo Bills of Toronto have their own team monkey! Let's see the #&!?'n Patriots top that! http://www.huffingto...l#slide=1859358

I agree that there seems to be a growing population of the "entitled," but I also think you underestimate the ability of the American public to come together in times of crisis. I happened to be in Denver on 9/11, and there were long lines of people who went out of their way to give blood because many people thought it would be needed. Turns out that when skyscrapers fall you pretty much survive unharmed or die (making blood donation unnecessary either way), but people didn't know that at the time.

Most pro athletes' sense of entitlement is off the charts. Like Miami has some sort of right to not be embarassed by its inability to stop the same repeated play. You see the same ego in pro athletes' explanations for why they lose - - it's always "we didn't execute" or "we made mental mistakes" or ANYTHING but "they are better athletes than us" or "a better team than us." And it aint just football. Pro baseball players routinely get offended if the other team is winning by a few runs and tries to steal a base, even if the margin is one that wouldn't require a miracle to overcome. I guess we need to hand out more participation trophies in the NFL, just like in Lake Wobegon, where every child is above average.

Not really sure, but as somewhat of an authority on not sleeping, here's my guess: Some of the pictures are probably composite images resulting from several scans. If you look at the largest scale image (the one showing the whole planet), that has to be a composite. It's only night time for roughly half the earth at a time, so if the image shows the entire planet they must have essentially stitched several different images together. As for the Nile, have you ever seen a long exposure image of road traffic at night? That kind of photo shows ribbons of white for oncoming headlights and ribbons of red for receding tail lights. If you did something like that for the Nile, you would get a ribbon of white showing the boundaries of the Nile if there were lots of ships with white lights on them. I have no explanation, though, for why you can see the outline of the Nile in the large scale images, but not the outlines of other navigable rivers, like the Mississippi. That does seem odd.

CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats 38 - - Buffalo Bills 21 http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/CFL-NFL_Hamilton_Tiger-Cats_vs_Buffalo_Bills_1961.htm

http://www.theonion.com/articles/42-million-dead-in-bloodiest-black-friday-weekend,30517/

This site has a draft order that is more predictive of the final outcome, because it bases the opponents' cumulative won-lost % (the tie-breaker) on all 16 games that will be played, not just the 11 opponents played so far: http://www.gbnreport...draftorder.html

So I'm in Costco yesterday and they're selling remote controlled 4 rotor camera-equipped drones for about $295. Guess I'm behind the curve. Googled the brand info when I got home and found this: http://www.engadget....80-feet-on-lte/ Wonder how much noise they make? And as food for thought: http://www.stanfordl...rivacy-catalyst

Dolphin: Know any good restaurants around here? Cabbie: What's your name and what kinda food do you like? Dolphin: Amaya jerk chicken Cabbie: Whaddaya mean are you a jerk chicken? You some kinda freak? Dolphin: Who you callin' a freak? Cue gagging sounds . . . .

Wait . . . . . there's a playoff goose? It must fly south around this time every year.

I have never heard that, but I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night so I may only know enough to be dangerous on this topic - - I tend to agree that it can get complex pretty quickly. Anybody have a link to answer the question about whether charitable giving to a foundation (or non-profit organization?) gets different treatment for gift/estate tax purposes than a gift to your own child?

Isn't there a limit on how much a person can give away each year for the purpose of getting money out of their estate to avoid future estate taxes? For an estate of over $800 million, can you really avoid anything but a small percentage of the future estate tax by gifting? This article is almost 2 years old, but it talks about a $10 million lifetime gift tax exemption, and an entirely separate $13,000/year limit on gifts to any one individual that don't count against the $10 million lifetime limit. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/yourtaxes/13estate.html I haven't looked for any recent changes not described in the article, but it seems like gifting strategy is not likely to be a big factor in Ralph's decision about whether to sell the team before he dies.

BBF, Isn't the same amount of federal estate tax due if Ralph's estate includes (1) a debt-free NFL team valued at $800 million, or (2) $800 million of cash? And isn't that true at either 2012 estate tax rates or presumably higher 2013 estate tax rates? If the answer to both questions is yes, I don't see how Ralph comes out ahead financially by selling the team in 2012 rather than 2013. Look at it this way. If Ralph passes in 2012, the government will let his estate keep say about 65% of whatever his net worth was on the day in 2012 that he died. Let's say that net worth is "X." You are reasonably suggesting that if Ralph passes in 2013, and estate tax rates have gone up by then, the government will let his estate keep less than 65% of X. Let's assume the coming increase in estate tax rates is huge, and the gov't only lets Ralph's estate keep 20% of X if he dies in 2013 or later. How does Ralph ever come out ahead by selling the team before he dies? In my example, if Ralph keeps the team and dies in 2013, his estate keeps 20% of X. OTOH, if Ralph sells the team in either 2012 or 2013 before he dies, his net worth at date of death will be less than X, because the sale triggered a capital gains tax (at whatever rate), that Ralph would not have been required to pay if he kept the team till he died. So if estate tax rates go up, Ralph keeps 20% of X if he keeps the team, but only 20% of [less than X] if he sells before he dies. Am I missing something?

BBF, I won't burden this thread with the details by repeating them all here, but since we seem to share an interest in trying to figure out how a businessman like Ralph would arrange his NFL affairs, you might want to check out reply #s 183 and 186 in this thread: http://forums.twobil...y/page__st__180 In particular, note the links to articles about how NFL owners in Baltimore and Miami transferred partial ownership in their franchises in conjunction with an option to buy the rest in the future. It seems possible to me that Ralph could avoid the requirement to seek current NFL approval of an ownership transfer by granting an investor (whether from Toronto or elsewhere) a right of first refusal. Some people here think that wouldn't work because the NFL might not approve the eventual sale to such an investor after Ralph passed. But it's no different than buying a house contingent upon it passing a future inspection. In both cases, you can structure the deal so that the potential buyer doesn't lose any money (if the house doesn't pass a future inspection or if the NFL doesn't approve the buyer in the future after Ralph passes). Just my 2 rupees.

Why does Stevie get a pass? Really? Dude, he's a wide receiver. What do you expect him to do - - punt? Ya gotta love the interweb.

Not really about cracking the code, but on the subject of WWII and pigeons, betcha didn't know: http://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/second-world-war/project-orcon-pidgeon-guided-missile/897399315001/

That's the spirit!

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/sports-betting2.htm

He shoulda made it alphanumeric so it was tougher to guess - - something like: mygirlfriendandibrokeupbutireallybelievewe'llgetbacktogethersomedaysountilthathappensi'mgoing2keepmyselfpureandnotbanganychicks

"Please send a new messenger pigeon. This one flies down chimneys."

Who shot J.R.?

Think again. Most people don't give much thought to on-line security. If you are in the minority who do, you owe it to yourself to read this article: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/5/ The more I read Wired, the more impressed I am by it. Seems like I often learn interesting, relevant stuff that isn't covered much elsewhere. Anybody else read it?