UConn James

Having this region lose the Hartford Whalers back in the late '90s really sucked. The owner was just hellbent on moving to the South, and many believe that Gary Bettman was no less a part in it. In a ticket drive, they got up to over 15K that last year in Hartford as a sign of good faith that people would come out to save the franchise. Instead, they moved to a barn in North Carolina and drew less than 5K (and many of those were complimentary tickets) the first several seasons. So, I can commiserate with Thrashers fans. But I also commiserate with Winnipeg fans who had their team ripped out from under them too. And, with Winnipeg being a town that supports hockey with a fervor Atlanta will never come close to, I have to say that I'm happy for W-Jets fans. Maybe, just maybe, (especially with a guy here who's pumping money into the Hartford AHL team and putting on an NHL-affiliated hockey-fest back in February at an outdoor stadium) there's some hope at resurrecting the Whale.

I've gotta go with the first, "Sorcerer's Stone" that introduced everything. "The Empire Strikes Back" is everyone's favorite. I don't care what they say. Also, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was the best Indiana Jones. And to consider it was done in '81.... Oh, and it's not a franchise as such, but David Tennant is the best of the 11 regenerated Doctors on "Doctor Who."

Just to clarify a couple of things... there isn't just one strain of Lyme disease or similar afflictions. There are over 300 strains, from hardly any effects to debilitation and death. There's a SERIOUSLY bad strain that centers around the Westover Air Reserve base in Chicopee, Massachusetts, where probably a couple dozen people in a close relative's unit have been infected. It attacks the CNS and everything goes to hell. Especially if you're in the woods or the leaves, use sprays (there are actually some natural lemon ones that work better than DEET and the heavy chemical ones), check yourself over, and give your dog a thorough petting for bumps. Lyme vaccine at the vet is useful for only a few strains. And I'm uncertain that length of time it's been on you increases the possibility of infection. Lyme is bacterial. I guess it makes sense, but it's cold comfort to say 'It's only been there for a day...' when we still know so relatively little about it all. And the medical community and the government haven't helped, because they know full well where this came from (Plum Island) and how much they'd be in the **** both from a compensation and public outrage standpoint if they admit this while they can't treat it. Like Agent Orange, they might come clean one day if/when there's only a statistically acceptable number of patients alive.

I don't know anyone who is nearing or of age who's actually planning on retiring here. That's an entirely untenable prospect. CT's a beautiful place (well, here in the more rural part) and it's the land of all my sins, but it's getting harder and harder to justify living here. If our home hadn't been bought so cheaply and paid off in the '70s, there'd be no way we could afford it. Even at that, it's difficult. This town does next to nothing for services and yet they get very creative with their taxes. We live on a lake and now have a "view tax." A !@#$ing tax because we have a nice view. Holy ****! And it's tyranny of the majority here. I shouldn't have to move just because these !@#$s vote to spend and spend and spend.

Call me what you will, but there's a part of me that thinks O would absolutely love to see this happen just so he could get his fingers on that. To the tune of being willing to sacrifice a second term. Here in CT, the governor, after raising taxes on "the rich" and actually increasing the budget by $1.5B over two years --- this is after we've been $3.5B in the red and high-interest borrowing to meet payments --- got some good news that tax receipts had gone over expectations by $400M so far this year. What do you think he did with it? Spent it like it's going outta of style. I used to pick among candidates that I thought were best, among the parties (I once even voted for a local-ticket Board of Educ. Greenie who appeared not to have his head up his ass). Nevermore will I vote for a Democrat. !@#$ing NEVER. You hear it so often it's almost cliche. But it's true. It's just tax and spend with them and they don't give a ****.

No, Tom has a copyright on the more artful "!@#$ing idiot ."

They don't care about that. They are content to conduct a slow war of attrition. Because the Israelis can't win that.

Wow. That was addictive. "Single Father." Just puttin' it out there for anyone looking for something. It's just 4 hour-long eps. Along with "Doctor Who" and a GREAT turn as Hamlet, Tennant has really become one of my favorite actors.

As Satre said so eloquently, "Hell is other people."

Well, I don't have a spouse, but... I was told that I should try "Single Father" (a U.K. series starring David Tennant). I finally got around to watching the first episode. Pretty good, actually.

If it didn't come when the father was bleeding with an arrow stuck in his torso, I somehow doubt they will. Trying to imagine a repatriation into the home after the legal stuff is sorted out.... How do you interact with a near-adult child who has made a conscious decision that could easily have killed you, and then refused to call for help? Do you try to arrange for bail? Provide for a lawyer? Do you accept her back into your home?

Another is "Petit family killings in Bristol, Connecticut." I understand that SWAT has a purpose. But these situations can get really bad, really quick when there's mutual misunderstanding. AT THE VERY LEAST, they need to be 100% sure they have the right target. Even if they had gotten the correct house, to be using it for relatively low-level crap like that....

Well, in that case... I take your morals, throw them to ground, pile-drive them, spit on them, shame them by saying 'How dare you!', have my dog drop a deuce on them and then take Gallager's big hammer and embed it into the very fibers so you'll never get it out. So. There's your demorals right there.

It's not sad, Buftex. It's blood-boiling. What have we let this country's governments become?

1) The Arena League has tons of scoring. Really doesn't make it more entertaining. In fact, iirc, they went out of business a couple of years ago. That and a lot of yardage in the NFL is determined by flags, not actual plays. It's just cheapened the game, IMO. 2) Yep, but it's going to be a defense that will be giving up big plays every drive by either penalties or having to pussyfoot / play on their heels more.

And what can be gotten online. Look, cable/sat are cartels. Many of the cable channels would do very well in a la carte and others would have to find their niche or put on better programming. That's capitalism for ya. Nevertheless, as tech advances and internet speeds increase, there will likely be more pressure for networks to offer individual online subscription services at reasonable prices (look what Netflix offers for $8/mo.), either through their own sites or through existing services like Hulu, etc. As older generations are replaced, the traditional means aren't being adopted. It's been true of newspapers, the land line vs. cell phones, and it'll be true for television. There was data out there in Fall 2010 that cable customers has dropped noticeably. And even if it is the 'Recession That Isn't, According to ____' that may be causing/contributing to it, a lot of people no doubt will be finding they can get by w/o the $100/mo. teevee bill. FT.com

The league has bent over backwards in the past 10 years giving a very distinct advantage to offenses and offensive skill players. Which is one of the reasons why I haven't been overly enthusiastic about Nix making such an investment on the defense. There's only so much they can do without getting penalized up the yin-yang for touching a QB, breathing on a WR, and now, where exactly they put their hands on tackles and who exactly they can hit on INT/KO/Punt returns. They're facing a stacked deck. Should've done more to upgrade our O to keep pace. At this pace, the NFL is going to essentially be flag football inside of 15 years.

We went antenna-only ~15 years ago after being tired of getting **** in return for --- at the time --- $40/mo. for cable. I hooked up our antenna, got a pre-amplifier and eked it out for a while. That is so much different than what's available today. Much like Fezmid is a DirecTV advocate, I am a huge advocate for cutting the cable. In many areas of the country, the digital switch improved reception remarkably for the major networks. Not that it's been without its hiccups, but generally, it's been great. It's really not very difficult or extremely costly (and it's a one-off purchase, if your house doesn't have an existing one in place) to put up an antenna. Start with www.tvfool.com and by interpreting the results, you get an idea of what type you would need. You're in VA iirc, and it's very possible that a small set top antenna might be enough. It gets more sophisticated from there, but it's not a bad idea to start small and work up. On the cusp of three markets, I get ~38 channels (some of which are redundant of course), many of them PBS which is the bulk of our viewing. If you have any questions re: antenna stuff, I've installed several, and I'm here. As technology has come around, things have come and gone. Netflix is an awesome supplement. For sports, there are certain sites that can deliver what you're seeking, with degrees of legality. If you're a straight-arrow, ESPN3.com actually has a nice selection of sports --- e.g. some MLB games, NBA, lots of college sports, tennis (French Open currently), they had World Cup streams, etc. Many ISPs provide access to that site for users. It would really be awesome if customers could have an ala carte option for cable. They've talked about it forever in Congress, and you can guess what that's accomplished.... Real progress, in that regard, will come from people like you/us who decide to stick up their middle finger at cable/sat. Losing customers and having to change their business model is the only thing that will force change. I would gladly pay for several channels just to have the ease of access, but they don't do that. Well, !@#$ them. I'm not going to be held hostage. There is evidence from viewing numbers and such that subscriber losses are not insignificant.

According to the article, tomorrow is Judgment Day, not the actual End of the World. That'll take another 5 months. Is there any word on whether we'll remember the people who have been instantly zapped up to heaven, or is it going to be like when someone goes through the Time Rift on "Dr. Who," such that that person never existed, and every trace of them, even memories, are gone? Or is it going to come and go, and the believers will assume that they're not going to heaven, and then just off themselves? Because I'm in favor of that one. Wait a minute.... Who am I?

An interview with John Yoo, author of The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11 The War Powers Act is paper that makes some in Congress feel like they have some measure of control over the Commander-in-Chief's use of the military, short of de-funding it. The short story is, they don't.

NYT: Rapture Prophecy Tests Families Split on Belief On the other hand, tomorrow might be just the excuse you need to get rid of somebody. You can be all like, "Damn, I didn't know s/he was that religious!" Let's not pretend for a second, though, that these people won't latch on to some other date and keep the merry-go-round going. Really sad to see the main family profiled in this story. No savings, let their house go unrepaired.... What was the big problem with involuntary commitment? It kept these !@#$ people off the streets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0 Contest's over.

Mitt Romney's Health Care Advantage? : "RomneyCare" shouldn't be a liability in 2012. It should be an asset. Here's why. Much-needed clarification on how Romney's input averted a fiscal disaster for small businesses in Mass., and the HUGE differences b/w the Mass. situation vs. the nation's. 1. Mass. had a low % of uninsured, high incomes, and has the infrastructure to handle it. 2. Instead of taxing small businesses, as the MA legislature was intent on, Romney's plan put the onus on people to make better choices and use primary/preventative care rather than ERs. 3. Costs have not skyrocketed (and some reasons for the 1% increase are due to the Patrick admin). 4. Romney wiped out a $3B budget shortfall --- and created a $600M surplus --- before health care was broached. 5. Romney does not advocate one-size-fits-all strategy. He says that each state should do, or not do, what makes the most sense for that state. There's no reason this should off-put Republicans who actually look at the facts, rather than spew about anything that touches the subject of health care.

Well, any Sabres picks'/prospects' rights remain with the team, with which they signed their contract. They are "designated for assignment" to the AHL affiliate. If this happens, I would think it's just a matter of changing the assignment location. I don't know the arrangement they have WRT coaches. I'd imagine that there are players Portland signs on their own to fill out their roster, so the entire team probably will not be transferred. So basically, it all matters who owns each contract.

Wikipedia entry I understand how it happened... but I don't understand how the hell it happened. It just seems stupid that the Amerks weren't the Sabres farm team --- they were mutually beneficial entities for the franchises. Being so close to each other, fans could watch players develop in Roch. and then play in B-lo. It's a nice thing to be a hope skip and a jump away in case of an emergency call-up. Have to assume this will save on transportation costs (these days, that's lots) and more able to bulk-order things both clubs will be using. Here's hoping that a natural partnership will resume. Really liking the direction Pegula is taking the franchise.