UConn James

I was a little unsure about his reasoning for the initial 'I can't work with you Gale. <Was it because I put the setting at 8.5? blah blah blah...> I can't explain it. I just can't work with you.' I had partly pegged it to Walter's ultimate control freak nature (see: the "Fly" episode), his pride at being the best and wanting the credit for his product, and in his interest of silencing Jesse by putting him to work. I hadn't connected that dot at that point. Then again, I watched most of these marathon-like from midnights-4 a.m. so the contemplation time wasn't really there.

I would add that the analysis lines of "Full Measures," vis. "Gale's final definition as collateral damage" and "someone who is merely in the way" is something that is at least debatable. SPOILER ALERT: In his discussion with Gus, it was highly intimated that Gale needed to learn every detail of the "cooking recipe" as soon as possible so that Gus could have Walter and Jesse killed. Gale played along --- 'I could do it in, say, four cooks..... Two? Oh, OK. One cook.' Right there, he went from "collateral damage" who made a perfect cup of coffee and recited Whitman, to an active player in a double murder plot. That part cemented my thought that Walter wanted Gale out originally, not b/c he was so head-over-heels or cared about Jesse, or to keep Jesse from potentially giving up "Heisenberg" to the police/DEA if/when he got caught cooking and selling his own product, as Badger did. No, Walter's vision was a little longer- (or is it shorter-?) term than that. Once Gale knew the recipe, the $3M man wouldn't be needed anymore. It's like the story of an old press operator my father knew. This guy was the only one in the plant who knew exactly how it ran. When he was a young kid first starting out, an old guy who was about to retire showed him everything and told him never to show or tell this to anyone else. So when our guy got to retirement, two weeks out, he did the same thing with another young kid starting out, whom he got along with. Being the only one who knows a formula is valuable. Gale may have been something of a shrinking violet when it came to personally-doled violence, but he was definitely a conspirator, under threat of force from Gus or not.

The 'Television Without Pity' forums are very good as well. I haven't spent any time there since "The West Wing" ended, but it looks like the same format and level of contributors.

Another.

As the article mentions, Whaley is stepping back from the pro personnel side and being more of an overseer there. Someone else in the FO will be handling the day-to-day stuff of that. I don't mean to make a thing of it, but why is it a surprise?

Maybe Gailey would find a use for a TE if he had one that were worth a warm bucket of spit. It might do our OTs good to have a big body helping them with a chip block or two, and make the DEs/LBs have to think about not letting the TE get past them into the seam, and to give Fitz another safety valve. There looks to be several prime TEs available in UFA whenever a new CBA comes out. I just hate it when a staff almost completely writes off an entire position. For example, Donahoe did this with kickers --- a position where a guy with a good leg can actually put points on the board, especially in late-season weather games --- until Lindell settled in. It wasn't until Graham and another dude actually lost us games that they decided to get serious. Why do the Bills always have to wait until after they get burned to do things other teams do routinely? By the by, it's nice to hear that the uni event will be "soon" so we can just get that over with. I really don't see the logic there WRT rookie jersey sales. The Bills Store can't be moving m/any of those, can they? This is one of the prime times of the year and people won't buy when they know it's going to change.

There is a bit of comedic value to grown man in his underwear, tho.... At least it's not as often (or as grotesque) as Dennis Franz in NYPD Blue. The versions I saw were edited, so I do send a thank you shoutout to whoever had the diligence to blot out BC's ass. There's also a side that comes out as the series progresses of Walter just not caring anymore. Pinning it all on the lung cancer would probably miss the mark, b/c his anger has built up for a long time, with no vent --- from apparently being axed at the company he/his work helped found (I really hope they get more into that in flashbacks) that led him to have to switch from chemistry practice to theory/teaching uninterested teens and from having a son with a disability who has had to endure the stigma of being different. The 'not caring anymore' led Walt to, as you write, overcompensate and finally burst on the guy in the clothing store, overcompensate and not only cook meth, but to prove to himself (and some others) that he is a brilliant chemist, overcompensate and have his whole family man role just crumble. It's going to be something to see if this whole S3 finale stuff with the 11-year-old changes him as much as I think it has/will. As for the actor who plays Walter Jr./Flynn, he has a mild case of CP and has had to work on accentuating it for this character. I think it's awesome that in a teevee world where relatively few people have been portrayed with mental & physical handicaps --- and them being defined by the handicap --- that Walter Jr. is a pretty normal kid, notwithstanding.

A nuclear family member is a relief (Saturday) carrier and has said that in the several years they've done this, he's picked up one can of peas. That's it.

Then again, embarrassment implies a sense of shame....

tgreg, how can you say that the players assume all the financial risk? If the league were to fold, the players could walk away. The owners would be left with empty stadiums, practice facilities, vending contracts, facilities staff, unused uniform stock, and buttloads of litigation. The owners provide everything. The players just show up. The players assume almost no financial risk, other than missing out on their salaries.

Per the preview, it looks like there's going to be a lot of stuff going down this week as they're now in the nitty-gritty. Andrea had been a no-brainer, given her questionable loyalty with her link with Matt (although she was the deciding vote in sending him to RI the second time), and no strong mini-alliance / "buddy system." Remember going into this week that Rob's list now probably has Ashley at the top (or perhaps, finally, Phillip) with her not telling him about Ralph's & Steve's offer. As ever, it's all going to depend on who wins the individual immunity. Also, is this the last week for Rob to use his hidden idol, or is it next week?

You know, some people might say that Rob had an unfair advantage going in. I did, to a degree (the all-stars also had huge targets on their backs, as Russell found out). But after seeing Rob win the challenge like he did last week... wow, he wants this bad. Back when I ran track, stadium steps at the old UConn football field on-campus were known as suicides. They just kill everything in your legs --- quads, hamstrings, shins (I had shin-splint issues previously), calves, hips. I thought Grant, as a former NFLer, would've done better on that, to be honest. But yeah, Rob pushed himself hard on that, to the point of collapse. Probst was really concerned there; and almost missed catching a swaying Rob while he was looking off-camera for a second.

I don't think I would have survived the hot waxing. when Justin said he was going to punch the woman in the face if they did any more... but he was probably serious. That was a really sucky challenge. To be fair, there's a lot of that happening inside the season as well, not just the finale. If you're playing, the best option would be to first ask how long someone's been a cabbie in the town rather than the standard "do you know where X is?" They will almost never pass up a fare and tell you that they don't know exactly where X is. That dude screwed over Gary & Mallory... they fired out the drinks, then went from first to last because of one (*^*&amp;%^&#036;^#cabbie. How do they not have GPS?!! Jen and Keysha(?) had a very good race, never won a leg but never finished very far behind in the pack. And the great thing about this show is the attitudes are completely different from other reality contest shows. Maybe it's the travel that produces this... maybe it's easier to be bitter if you've just been stuck on some island or a mini-mansion waiting to be given a rose. There is real euphoria in travel, it breaks down barriers. It would be easy for Gary & Mal to be bitter about it, but they didn't give up. She was still like a buttercup out there (AJ, I think this is what you meant when you said that once you get to see Jaime vs. Christina or Mallory, the exterior matters but little) and they appreciated the experience to travel around the world with each other (for free!). Nor were the Globetrotters too down about being just a couple of minutes behind. They were all cheering for each other in the closing shot. Hard to find attitudes like that in other games.

... and blame women for getting sexually assaulted because they wanted the PR.

Normally, selling pieces of the old field to fans might be a nice gesture and even be a little income to the county to offset what they spend on RWS. (I'm assuming the county owns the old turf --- they paid for it). However, in this case with a decade of failure on that turf, I just don't think it'd be pulling in a lot of buyers.

Maybe you ought to try prunes.

Well, I don't know about "love," but it's one that has an important message that a lot of people just don't get. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM

Same here. It was entirely unintelligible. They cut off the graphics at the 3rd turn --- this is usual --- which made it all the worse.

Have to show some appreciation for that national anthem. For a long time I've wanted to hear someone (with the voice to handle it) put the emphasis on those words, "... that our flag was STILL THEREEE!!! O, say..." and that girl hit it. As usual from female singers these days, the rest was a Whitney Houston/Elmer-Fudd-sitting-on-a-blender vocalizations, but, given that, it wasn't bad. Was that Brandi? On edit: It was Jordin Sparks.

3 hours of buildup for 2 minutes of real action.

If Bin Laden had been taken alive and held, do you have any idea how many Westerners would be kidnapped and threatened with beheading? Also, remaining Al Qaeda leadership today officially acknowledged that BL was killed in the raid.

Per the verbal description, the left side of his skull was blown off. As I wrote above, everyone would see it, whether they want to or not; there's no stopping its distribution once it's released. We don't need this photo in the national consciousness.

"Greater openness" does not mean that anything 50% or more of the public wants to see is released. The photo would become ubiquitous. Everyone would see it eventually. Whether it's published in papers, used in avatars, hung on dartboards, etc. Everyone would see it. The second it's out there, the toothpaste would be out of the tube and its use would be uncontrolled.

It doesn't happen often, but I agree with Obama's reasoning. Like Marv Levy's old phrase to "Act like you've been there before [and you'll get there again]" after reaching the endzone, there's no need, as O put it, to "spike the football." Releasing a gruesome death photo is too much like what the people we're fighting do. Just another example of people these days feeling they have a right to know everything about everybody.... It's not going to help me or anyone else sleep any better --- quite the contrary.

Yes. That was pertaining to the plastics scope, as Pete was mentioning....