UConn James

OK, I'm going to cowboy up and admit it. I am one of those people. What of it? I've written in previous threads comparing the Bills franchise to a dilapidated house in the neighborhood with Old Man Wilson living in a once-glorious Victorian that now has peeling paint, rusted gates, and a stove with only one working burner. I'll relate another here. There was an old farmer in this area of CT who, time out of mind would let his corn wither in the field until it was dry as dust. He would literally cut it in November. He would let his cut hay sit out in the rain. He wouldn't clean his barns well, so it stank and his cows had **** all over them. Well, evidently, his farm has totally new management this year. The cows are clean, the air smells much better, the hay was baled in fine fashion, the corn was chopped when it still had nutritive value. Same tools, same everything else. But 180-degree difference in results. Not saying that I would enjoy the sadness Ralph's death would bring upon those who are closely connected to him. And I'm not saying that I'd piss on RW's grave. It's just that the utter waste of precious resources --- of what could be, but isn't, b/c of one man and one mindset --- is also lamentable. I wish that Ralph will finally realize that he just doesn't have it anymore, if he ever did, and step aside. Whatever is going to happen with this franchise, I wish it would just happen. The limbo / purgatory sucks. And I say this as much for myself as for people who care so much about the team that they actually have heart attacks on game Sundays.

Well, Simon, you're perpetually picking your nose here on TBD. That's how the flu gets in, you know.

I'm not a fan of any other football team (and, hell, I'm not much of a fan of the Bills right now) but I am following a couple of storylines with some interest. Among them: Brett Favre looking to deliver some comeuppance. Some people don't like his retirement drama, but I don't really give a ****. Lots of guys have wavered on when to hang 'em up, only they didn't/don't have E$PN/media in their crotch 24/7. Favre is also able to make fun of the situation himself (the Samsung commercial was amusing). New Orleans Saints. I think a lot of people in the country have quietly pulled for them since Katrina.

Column A and Column B. Just about everything a good owner does, Ralph doesn't do. Sad to say, but the situation will not improve until he goes.

I think he may be most pissed that he couldn't have his HOF ring ceremony b/c his handlers / propagandists didn't want footage of him being booed by almost the whole stadium. They'll probably be doing it tomorrow at the called 9 a.m. presser in the confines of the media room. And they'll probably blame the weather or something.

I don't see that happening, but then again, stupider things have happened. At such a point, the ire would get turned full-on to Ralph... and I would suspect that season-ticket sales would slump miserably. And if unicorns started galloping down the clouds and farting rainbows, we'd have world peace.

Great topic, Lori. There's a lot of different conditions along the spectrum of fandom. There are those who will "drink the Kool-Aid" no matter what a team does or how badly it's performing. Some still watch/attend, but hate what they see --- think Randy Quaid's character in "Major League" (Wild Thing I think I looooo-athe you!!"). Some fans still love their team but can't stand to watch. Some are actively rooting for losses to make even a blind, cheap-o owner finally see that something substantive must be done --- this is a kind of "for the greater good" situation. I guess I fall into this last category. As I wrote in a previous topic, to me there is a metaphor to this in medicine. Say, in surgery, some further pain must be inflicted in order for the problem to be removed and proper healing to start. The common string among these is that they still want their team to win. Some fans take their view in the microcosm / short term of one game. Others who are "rooting against" the team are looking at the macrocosm and seeing what kind of situation it will take to precipitate the kind of changes needed, and desiring that --- if it takes several losses to get the ship's compass off of a "Winning is hard. I need more DBs!" heading and pointed toward the Super Bowl, so be it. Right now, the Bills need someone like Bill Ford, Jr. to speak out and say something's rotten. There's no one in that position, really, in the Bills organization or the Wilson family. I think the closest person to that would be Jim Kelly himself, and he's rightly stepping carefully on these issues (in public at least) to avoid stepping on any toes. Let's hope he has a talk with Ralph in private and urges a more coherent FO strategy and coach decision.

At this point, I'm in line with the original poster. I think the comparison is like losing = chemotherapy. It's not fun. You're not smiling. It's just something that needs to happen for the cancer (in the Bills' case, the cancer is DJ and a stupid FO hierarchy) to go away. I want it to take as little time (losses) as possible to get things moving in the right direction again. I wish Ralph wouldn't have waited for the cancer to get this freaking bad. He just doesn't have it in him to run a franchise successfully... and IMO, Ralph himself is a cancer to this team. Whatever's going to happen with the Bills, I hope it happens soon. And sadly, that means I'm hoping for RW to either die (I really don't mean to sound totally heartless here, but there you have it) or realize that the time has come to step aside.

All I know is, if I'm installing a power switch panel and the main switch to connect to power from the street is broken, you replace that first. Until then, you have no idea what's working in the panel. It's really sad to see the complete disarray this organization is in at the top levels.

To go with pink day in the NFL, DJ should be given a pink slip after this total !@#$ing abomination.

Seriously, you're trusting the site in question because of some words on the site in question? Yep, those Nigerian 419ers are legit. Ask them, they'll tell you. Any real LIVESTRONG site wouldn't have writers so stupid as to make a claim that Lance had no health insurance AND got letters rejecting claims from said insurers. That's fallacious on its face.

Just an observation.... but if he didn't have health insurance, why would he get "letter after letter from the insurance company" that they wouldn't pay? Why would an insurance company send denial letters to someone who isn't a client? Lance Armstrong's foundation is LIVESTRONG. Not Livestrongaction. To my knowledge, Lance has not injected himself or his organization into the political debate about insurance. He and the organization has always stayed politically benign, focusing intently on the science/medicine/inspiration side. This reeks of yet another email forwarding campaign with mis-appropriated statements to further their own divergent cause or, more likely, it's a spammer gathering email addresses. It's bad enough that this stuff has a life on the email forward circuit. Shouldn't be posting this fraud here.

Bingo. As an entertainment business that has to sell a narrative to its customers, while other teams are crafting intricate novels, Ralph, Russ et al. continually churn out lame children's fiction. I can see it now: "Hey everybody, we've got a new coach, 25 defensive backs, and blue urinal cakes!!"

Had exactly that thought as I was watching as well. Was kind of like that thing where a couple of Nickelback songs were played side by side.... I understand its use in the narrative, and there are only so many ways to introduce a show, but I saw that as quite a rip-off of the intro of the "Lost" pilot. Thanks for clearing that up, tgreg. Admittedly, I didn't look up anything on FF so I wasn't sure.

Even in the military, where there's the general idea that they have a sense of camaraderie that goes past money or risk (e.g. 'No man left behind'), it comes down to the almighty dollar. They do not hesitate to chew you up and spit you out, and then blame paperwork, 'the system' or some other vaguery. Frankly, if they had any sense of decency, they'd just say, "Even though the military caused your problem, we're not going to pay for it." Agent Orange. Gulf War Syndrome. Lyme Disease that just happened to have its origin a bit across the water from Plum Island. Admit to it? It'd cost too much on the margin. Hence why we have campaigns of silence and people acting like they don't know what's going on. And if they do admit to it, it's only after enough time has passed (and enough affected people have died) to reduce the cost to 'acceptable' levels. This SOP is by no means exclusive to the military.

Who did it, why they did it, and what may be most interesting --- how they did it. Seriously, how do you send 6 billion peoples' consciousnesses 6 months into the future for 2:17? One of my thoughts vis-a-vis whether this show is in any way connected to the "Lost" series is that this could be some working of Dharma. E.g. the extracurricular YouTube videos that explain the Valenzetti equation and needing to eliminate precisely 30 percent of humanity... in order to save humanity. The events in "Flash Forward" would seem to be something toward that.

[James raises his hand] I thought it was a pretty solid pilot as far as they go. Notice the Oceanic Airlines billboard during the stakeout? Have 'they' said that there is definitely no tie-in of this show with "Lost"? Could just be some cross-promotion / an in-joke.

Kinda the same boat here. We're over-the-air only. Last year, did an antenna upgrade for the conversion. On the cusp of three markets, so we get PBSs from Providence, Hartford/New London and two from the flagship PBS in Boston. At least in the northeast, PBS really seemed to embrace the digital conversion and HD content a lot sooner and better than many other stations/networks, and that on shoestring budgets.

As was the acting. Nigel Hawthorne, especially.

This is just something you have to come to terms with as a Bills fan. As long as Ralph signs the checks, the nickel will pinched 'til the buffalo sh--s. A somewhat good point (tho, injuries can happen any play to anybody). Right on about Stupar --- I wanna see what he can do in real games. Glad for him that he's got his shot now, despite the circumstances. Nelson, in two games, looked like the best TE we've had since Reimersma; let's hope he's not out for too long with the shoulder. I would tend to agree. But I would add that it's a good job so far considering what he's been given / has to work with. It's still going to be a while until we know how good a (defacto) GM Brandon is. My views on Jauron's extension are what they are, tho, and you have to think Brandon had say in that decision both at the time we were 5-1 (against several crappy teams) and in keeping on a coach who can't win big games after the epic fail of the 2-8 collapse. Also, in bending over to Dick's manlove of DBs and seriously over-drafting in the secondary (And what's it gotten us? After all the investment there, the Bills are 31st in passing defense. They're 31st!), thereby neglecting upgrades/depth at other need positions. Then again, Ralph loves to stick his fingers in the pie when history has shown that it's better off leaving things to people who really know what they're doing. Brandon has dealt with several issues (e.g. Peters) in the right way for the franchise.

That would also depend on the size of the box. Criminy! "Three-ways"... "two-ways"... "boxes".... Re-arranging the outlets would do the trick. I believe I've seen that configuration at the box stores as well. Depends on how much slack there is in the wiring. Sometimes it's just not do-able with wiring nuts (there I go again... ) etc. Our house wiring is 12-gauge which was over-and-above code (uncle who did layout and installed it in the '70s was a master electrician) and moving it around when I replaced a couple of bath fans and their switches was like playing Operation with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Most houses have 14 which is easier to move. JB, have you seen those newer style oscillating cutting tools? Seem to be hyper-accurate even when cutting metal. Been meaning to check it out at the store myself. Lots of tight fits where that can be useful, and you don't have to worry about taking fingers off like with regular saws.

"Yes, (Prime) Minister" was a gem as well. Too bad a local PBS station stopped airing it in favor of some not-so-good Brit-coms like "Keeping Up Appearances." Also, props to the BBC-PBS relationship wrt "Masterpiece." The adaptation of Dickens' "Little Dorrit" won 7 Emmys, including best miniseries and cinematography.

I once had the little square chewing gum pieces in one that was ~15 years old. Rock hard. The food in those things have enough salt and are designed for a fairly long shelf life. Might be a little nasty in consistency, but if cooked, should be safe. I don't think you quite need to call hazmat or the bomb squad. The prof just said to throw it out. My guess would be with other kitchen waste. I'm sure it won't be the first bulging can they've ever seen. (Insert Pam Anderson joke here).

As Trent shows improvement this season (and his individual performance so far has been very good), I would expect him to re-sign long-term either sometime during this season or in the off-season. Getting a new contract worked out is in both parties' interests. TE has already had a concussion scare, so there's some motivation there to get some security rather than the possibility (knock on Wood) of a bad injury making him a 3-year starting QB who's made ~ $1M total. Bills have the upper hand in this no matter how you look at it. It would be smart business for both sides to get this done.

Just as a precaution, Pooj, and for everybody in general... Per a NUSC/food safety class, if you have a can that's swollen, throw it out. I wouldn't even open it. That's just screaming botulism.