UConn James

Maybe TE isn't a focal point for Chan because he's never had one worth a bucket of warm spit.

I liked the Wannstache hiring, but I'm reminded of the old Sherlock Holmes line, "I can't make bricks without clay, Watson." We are more than two positions away from greatness. Not the least of which is depth. I have yet to see anything that fills me with optimism. All I've got is another regime who believes in bringing their bands back together/trying to re-create the past and a glut of talent at a different skill position (WR) than Jauron had serious man-love for (DB). They did get Dareus in the draft, but I'm not going to pretend that he's the answer to all our problems on D. As long as Ralph and Co. is content to run the Bills like we're the Kansas City Royals of the NFL and just hope that we get lucky bounces of the oblong ball rather than win based on overwhelming talent where it matters most (front seven, OL/blocking)... we're not going anywhere.

For me, the show has always been more about Jon Cryer's straight-man than Charlie. His "I am a troll" bit on Conan during all the to-do this spring was friggin' . Other people would have acted differently given all that was said then and the job uncertainty the situation created. Cryer handled it with a lot of class.

Ahhh, the daydreams of August --- the time of year when hope springs eternal in WNY!!! And then they have to go start playing the actual games.

In the recent spate of human population projections, articles say that by 2050, the world population will be ~7 billion and by 2100, it'll be ~10 billion, with 95 percent of that growth being in Africa. Who the !@#$ are they trying to kid? Many African governments are starving their populations, either to give it to their military/elite or as a result of policies like Mugabe violently taking white farmers' land and giving it to blacks who don't have the first clue how to farm. We'd better not be sending them food aid and relief supplies. They made their beds, they need to sleep in them.

I hear that several posters here are pimps, but that's probably a completely different test.

Agreed on the "housekeeping" term for this week. The title usually gives a lot of overarching description / what was most important in that episode. As such, last week was titled "38 Snub" and while it was the type of handgun Walt bought, it also summed up what happened to each of the main characters featured --- they were snubbed re: something they wanted.

So, if I call the State Police and they use my driveway, I get to charge for parking?

I'm well aware of all that. As I was saying, tho, that few-minute flashback does little to show a progression of why Walt is the way he is... how he changed from the guy who got his geek on and had fun with his work and excitedly buying a house with a Jr.-pregnant-Skylar to where he is now. We aren't shown the spark (or was it an extinguishing?) that created this very mechanistic mindset --- we're mostly just supposed to infer that it happened somewhere. As I wrote, I'm OK with that(!) but I was simply refuting the opinion that BB has more character richness/roundness than LOST. It doesn't, because there are huge gaps in their stories.

Mmmm... I wouldn't exactly use the word "eloquent" when describing the characterization on BB. Four seasons in and I'm still trying to figure out the motivations behind the personalities of many of these characters. There's so much stuff we haven't seen, not the least of which is Walt. Why the hell did he turn down a golden health plan when he had cancer? What was the back-story there? Why is there such a high degree of hubris and obsessive-compulsiveness? I understand that it is his personality, but we've got very little on how it it got that way. And, perhaps most of all... why does Walt wear tightie whities?!? Four seasons into LOST, there wasn't nearly this much of a vacuum of information on the basics of characters. It was the island and its past / meta-physical properties that was the biggest mystery. And LOST had so many main characters (and many mid-major ones) to deal with, whereas in BB there's a core of what... six? In a NYT article, Gilligan said that he's intending to wrap up BB with the fifth season. So, there doesn't seem to be a lot of time for further fleshing out. I think that song "If You Don't Know Me By Now..." kind of sums up where we are / where I am with BB. And don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly OK with it if Gilligan doesn't want to get into too much back-story. It's a series that concentrates on the characters 'as is, and moving forward' much more than how they got there. Characterized more than LOST? You're entitled to your opinion. But I'm sorry, it's not even close. ---- "Open House" Another episode of mostly set-up material that should have pay-off later this season. ajzepp, I can now understand how it was when you binged on the first five seasons in a couple of months, and then got to the last season of LOST. Wow, these weeks are just eking along. Painfully slow.

Any crime committed with a handgun --- even shooting yourself in the leg / discharging a firearm in a public place --- is a federal mandatory minimum of 5 years. He also did not have a NY carry permit (he did have an expired Florida permit). He pleaded to 2nd-degree possession and reckless endangerment. Dropped/nollied/pled down --- you say pota(y)to, I say pota(h)to. If the laws on the books were actually enforced, maybe we wouldn't have politicians making hay by pushing for more gun laws that only affect law-abiders.

Well, to be completely fair, no one had a full off-season. Two years off/in the clink for being a ing idiot might have let his body recover a bit. Similar circumstances didn't seem to affect Michael Vick last year. (Just to note: A fan of either of these guys, I'm not. If justice had been served, rather than legal maneuvering and chickensh-- DAs who dropped charges in exchange for plea bargains, they would both still be in jail.)

That set is pretty good. at the Texas one. Doctor shrugs and nods in agreement before continuing to wrap.

For all those clammoring for Andrew Luck at #1 next year, just remember that Brohm would likely have been the #1 pick if he had declared for the draft as a junior. And now, three years on, he's probably out of the NFL for good.

And now, with shorter rookie contracts --- 4 years to become an UFA --- we can watch said draftees walk (or run) away faster than ever once their time in Stalag Ralph Wilson Stadium is up.

So? That democracy. The Tea Party candidates in the House were elected to cut spending and reduce the deficit as a number one priority. They were elected to try to get America to realize that it's got a fiscal version of a cocaine problem, and to put the country on cold turkey. In negotiations like this, it's the two most stubborn cliques in D.C. that it boils down to. Boehner tried to broker a deal before Obama and the Dems changed the terms at the 11th hour. The House Republicans passed a bill that would have averted default today and Democrats rejected it. Boehner passed what he could. Apparently Obama/Dems never heard the phrase "Beggars can't be choosers." If a deal fails to get done, the stink is now on Democrat hands. Just sick to hear how much Dems are bitching and moaning about $1T in spending cuts, when per an upthread link, this country is going to have to come up with $20T in cuts/revenues in the next decade just to stay afloat. If they refuse to cut $1T-2T, how the hell are we going to make real, necessary cuts an order of magnitude bigger? Dems want this $2T credit card to have one last coke party, graft, and crony cash-grab before the ship goes down.

Did California just take a big step toward political sanity? : California's gerrymandered political districts have been a primary cause of the state's partisan gridlock, experts say. New, nonpartisan redistricting maps released Friday could help.

It should. But it probably won't. Too many people have too much to lose if air's not taxed.

IIRC, Chan initiated the use of Kordell Stewart in the Slash role while he was OC in Pitt.

The one thing about Captain America was that it was heavily British in the casting. And as much as it paralleled American involvement in WWII WRT commercialism about war bonds and USO-type stuff, wasn't that covered sufficiently in "Flags of Our Fathers"? Wasn't a big problem, and it served a common plot purpose, but.... That was Hayley Atwell, who's been in several PBS Masterpiece films as well as a pretty good turn in "Pillars of the Earth." Agreed on "Barney's Version." (It's Paul Giamatti, BTW.)

Especially with the increased amount of player movement that the new CBA is going to create (free agency after 4 seasons), I don't know why anyone would buy a player-specific jersey these days. Either get a retired player that you were a fan of, or go with your own name and favorite number.

I'm surprised how that got made considering the plight of the Will Smith/Salma Hayek dud "Wild, Wild West." Then again, never discount Hollywood's penchant to keep stuffing genre-fusion plots into the cannon, firing, and seeing what they hit.

BREAKING: Rep. Wu resigning following sex allegations So, the deal is that This guy has been an odd bird all along. I remember that Tigger costume from another lesser scandal awhile back. But yet, he STILL has more decency than Andrew Weiner showed, by knowing when to slink back into the darkness. This is the **** that happens in Yellow Dog districts. As long as the right letter comes after that name, s/he's your wo/man. !@#$ing lemmings.

Police officers in Norway carry no weapon

Well, there've been plenty of deaths via a combination of "soft"/Rx/OTC drugs. Why in the hell are people so intent on loading themselves up with this crap?