UConn James

I'll just say that when Mitt Romney became Mass. governor, he wanted to fire the head of the MTA who oversaw the Big Dig for this and other reasons. Contemporary NYT article This is only part of the reason that I'm voting for Romney in the Republican primary. He has a knack for entering situations that are FUBAR, identifying what's wrong, deciding what needs to be done to remedy it, and then get out of the way. I was impressed with how he handled the 2005 "hundred year" flooding that saw a major dam collapse near a sizable city. In trying to fix the Big Dig and change the culture of the DOT/MTA, he got stalled at every turn by the supermajority Democrats, who were overjoyed to play politics and maintain a non-accountable system even after a woman was crushed in a panel collapse. (Moreover, Amorello was a former Republican state senator, which made me even more impressed with Romney. He doesn't put up with failure, no matter the politics.) The legislature controls the turnpike authority and Amarello was like a cockroach who could survive a nuclear blast. In no way shape or form did they want to give Romney a "win" on this, so they stonewalled him at every avenue in trying to get rid of this dude and fix the MTA. Romney took it to the court system, where he was denied. He tried to demote Amarello (ostensibly to hire someone else as the director) which was met with a 'Nope.' He tried to shame the legislature in the media, which didn't work because they're shameless. He tried seven ways to Sunday, and nothing worked. He was constitutionally unable to do anything about an incompetent department head, and the Democrat legislature refused to do anything about the incompetence until after a woman was pulverized. Amarello finally resigned a couple of months after the collapse. Panels checks and repairs were made and iirc the Big Dig firm was held liable. Romney was given a small measure of control via the DOT and hired a guy who streamlined repairs and instituted a "Fix it First" policy. When Deval Patrick (D) was elected governor, he magically was able to toss Romney's guy and get his own man to head the MTA. (He also magically recovered the ability to appoint an interim U.S. Senator after Ted Kennedy died... an authority the legislature had taken away the minute Romney had been elected.) Doesn't surprise me a bit that this culture is back (if it ever left among the lower tiers of management and DOT workers). Mass Democrats: POLITICS over public safety.

Per the Bills Facebook page (picture included), Jim Kelly completed the first touchdown pass on the new turf this morning.

I see that they love to play catch and release, and that Justice is blind, deaf and dumb in Canada, too. And, unfortunately, that's often what happens when you have a phone dialed to 911 during a gun & knife fight. Because when every second counts, police are just a few (or, here in NE CT... 20) minutes away.

I entered your link on The Google and it brought me to a picture that I know for a fact was posted on 9 July... seeing as I linked to it in this thread on that date. That is the old turf. One hundred percent positive. I can't say it any plainer. Watch the video link in my above post. As of today, they have only laid out a portion of the midfield from ~ 10 yard line to the 50, and the owner of A-Turf said they would be cutting in for the Bills logo (and it will be 30 percent larger than the previous one at midfield) later this week. Who's ?

Some video with the turf company's owner from BB.com.

Chandler, that's a photo of the deconstruction e.g. ripping the old one out. As quoted above, Russ Brandon confirmed blue end zones. They've just started laying out the midfield with the new turf. It's been three days since they started, and it's costing ~$180K. We'll see if this is going to be one of the rare occurrences where the Project Triangle ("Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick two.") is wrong.

Ron Paul announces retirement from Congress

I labeled mine the 'God Protects Drunks and Fools (And Many People Make It On Both Counts)' file.

There are some photos of the new turf being unrolled on the same Facebook link as above. Looks like a brighter green.

Idiot Nearly Falls From the Stands Chasing a Ball at the Home Run Derby Wow. Just... wow. As I wrote upthread, while there needs to be ballpark improvements wrt rails in areas where fans congregate en masse and there's pushing and lunging, this is exactly the kind of guy that can't be protected by them. When you make a better ballpark, nature will just make a better idiot.

Well, I'll be jiggered. This is per the Bills' official Facebook page:

http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-us-afghanistan-karztre76b0ze-20110712,0,98778.story

Per the Albany T-U stub article on the front page, the new turf is going in. Not sure how much I trust that. With its ~3 column inches (unattributed), this is exactly the kind of hack job that would include demolition under the description of "the new turf is going in." mrags, it's been said all along that the old turf will be donated by Erie County. The stub said that Chris Collins will be revealing the recipient later today. Given the to-do, I highly doubt it will be the Bills.... Perhaps they'll be keeping some unnecessary scrap pieces, so your source might not be entirely wrong. That said, I wish they would just get rid of it all, so as not to infect the new stuff with 'Decade of Fail.'

I haven't gone off on some tangential Social Security argument. I've highlighted the copyright legality of it. You can all piss and moan that the NFL retails these for $300. OK. But where you lose me is when you think you're entitled to break copyright law a few times a year just b/c you may spend money on the Bills in other forms. That's like saying it's OK to help someone rob two houses a year as long as you don't torture, rape, or murder anyone. This is black and white. You're either following the law or you're not. You either buy through someone from China who you know ***** all over copyright and trademark laws... or you buy one here through NFL licensed dealers... or don't buy one. There's no weasel room to say "I give enough $ to the NFL/Bills already, so what I'm doing is perfectly legal." B/c the NFL and the Bills hold trademarks on their designs. They contract with companies to make their wares, and then contract with other companies to sell those wares. Trademarks are a special kind of patent, identifying a brand... like Ziploc bags own the trademark for the name Ziploc. No one else can use that name or, say, exactly copy Ziploc's 'Red and Blue when it's open. Purple when it's sealed' design. These Chinese firms are appropriating these registered trademarks and mass producing counterfeit jerseys. It's not OK for you because you do not hold a trademark on the designs/logos. As a customer of these companies, you're in the same boat as people who illegally download music, movies, etc. You may not think much of it, but as I wrote, make no mistake --- you are breaking the law. Exactly none of that changes the fact that breaking trademark and copyright law is illegal.

That's because after they're still reeling from the effects of Obamacare, they're scared shitless about what the Current Occupant will create a national mandate for next.

USA, bitches!

Discussing why it happens is one thing. There's more than that happening here, including --- in two threads --- which sellers to use, a link to the website, what their rating is, pricing, payment methods, etc. If that's not a facilitation, I don't know what is. You'd be absolutely wrong with your assumption that the damage isn't very much. Those links are busts of just two purveyors, who possessed product whose authentic equivalent is over half a million $. The argument that it's high-priced and people just wouldn't buy them at all otherwise is specious. The same can be said of movies and pirated DVDs. So what? They should just allow people to undersell them with imitations? If it's too much, then don't buy it. If enough don't buy it, prices come down. The NFL controls its product jealously where it can, as any company would. That announcement that you hear during games --- 'This broadcast and descriptions of this game are official property of the NFL and may not be reproduced or rebroadcast without express permission of the NFL.' That's not there for show. If you don't stay in the NFL's good graces for a myriad of issues, they can bring the hurt. IIRC, there was recently a newspaper in DC that was barred from covering the Redskins. Do they do this often? No. But it's possible. Hosting threads on where to purchase knock-offs, which sellers to shop, etc. probably isn't looked upon kindly.

These companies are committing copyright infringement. And by leaving these types of threads up, TBD is facilitating copyright infringement. If TBD wants to continue a friendly working relationship with the Bills and the NFL, it would probably be in the interest of SDS/mods to close these threads. Look, you guys who do this know where to get this stuff. If that's what you're bound to do, then we can't really stop you from doing that. The NFL and their lawyers have to take that up through the Chinese government to crack down and enforce international copyrights (doubtless they've tried; they're probably losing tens of millions a year). But make no mistake that you're buying wares from someone who's breaking the law. They're not even leaving the NFL/team logos off so as to make a claim that it's a generic jersey --- they're making money off of the NFL's trademarks.

Michelle Bachmann signed a pledge vowing do what she can to stamp out "all forms of pornography." Not to mention that the same pledge waxes nostalgically of black family values during slavery. :o The rest is somewhat smaller potatoes... against gay marriage and gays in the military, states that being gay is a choice, rejects Sharia Islam, supports fecundity among evangelicals (actually using the words "robust childbearing" [cringe]). Allright. Middle America would've been OK with nonsupport of gay marriage. But taking away our God-given right to access (consenting-adult) porn??!!?? [James raises his May 2006 issue of Playboy featuring Alison Waite] "FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!!!" Can people just stop discussing this nation's period of slavery as being any kind of benefit to the slaves? Please? To say nothing that broaching the entire topic of slavery is touching a third rail... the specific argument made in this pact kind of breaks down given that slave families were quite often forcibly separated by owners. And with such, Michelle Bachmann just sounded her campaign's death knell. Probably not in Iowa, but.... None of the other candidates will sign (Pawlenty's said they are "reviewing" the pledge).

As I wrote, why is there a ~6-foot gap with a 20-foot drop to concrete right there along the outfield wall? Why is there just a waist-high rail? In a spot where fans gather not infrequently to shag a home run, with much bumping, twisting, near-mosh-pitting? There's certainly every chance for someone to get non-maliciously pushed in a fracas and lose their balance with the same result. I understand that at a certain point, fans are responsible for their own behavior, and take risks at their own peril. Architects can make plans for rails that go shoulder-high but if fans climb on them, what's the use? And at that point, then I'd agree that those fans were wholly responsible for their injury. But this wasn't that. Places need to be designed with forethought of what's going to happen there. A waist-high rail simply isn't enough, and the gap there should've had something (a net, even, wouldn't prevented this) at the top.

So, they're refusing to eat, and the next thing that enters your mind is the subject of innocence? Does your inner monologue go a little like: "Since they're refusing to eat, they might be innocent. Wait, no! Since they're refusing to eat, they must be innocent!" ??? Try emoting less.

Isn't it nice when one can be charged from the spirit of what a crime could have been... but wasn't?

Plus the fact that as we speak, the turf at RWS is being ripped up. I'm not sure if they'd be able to host everybody in the Fieldhouse Blue Cross-Blue Shield Fieldhouse and the smallish outdoor facility. There'd be no real way to facilitate fan attendance for this situation, either. But with such little time for preparation it may not be a bad idea to have them closed to the public. Without minicamps, they still haven't installed the offense, there's been no playbook to study from, rookies will be even further behind than they usually are, etc. Everybody's gotta save time where they can. As above, the turf is currently being ripped up in RWS.

As the negotiations stand with a deal that seems to be coming together, this ruling may have more meaning to the NBA lockout than it does for the NFL.

I could understand for the old AstroTurf with what happened on it.... But what's the best / most special thing that happened on this stuff? It's probably more marketable for souvenirs labeled as the turf that was under a Tim McGraw concert. Personally, I want to forget the last ten years ever happened.