Monday, March 30, 2009

A Difference

The following pairs of items are different things:
  • Apple, Orange
  • Public Servants, Politicians
I don't need to illustrate the first difference, but the second can be demonstrated by successive tweets I received from DUQ:
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a politician and not a public servant as mayor of the city. Perhaps it is time to reconsider.

Also, DUQ has good tweets, you might consider them.

Amusing

These two stories appeared right next to one another on CNN this morning (3rd and 4th from the bottom):
  • Six die in California shooting
  • Guy rows solo 2,950 miles, is exhausted
All I can say is that my expectations of CNN have gotten so low that I was frankly a bit surprised the order wasn't reversed.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Frustrated


The picture above is from Busman's Holiday. I'm not as anti-Luke as most of the blogging community, but to claim that the Ravenstahl/Onorato plan is good enough is just silly. I give Luke NO credit for it, it barely does anything except allow him to say "I pushed for campaign finance reform."

How Far can Pedro Alvarez Hit the Ball?


Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates #1 pick in last July's draft has had an exciting spring. Reaching base in half of his appearances and clubbing three homeruns. What's really exciting is just how far he can hit the ball though, we're talking Stargel far here. Rumor has it that he hit batting practice OVER the pond outside field 1 at Pirate City. I was curious, so I grabbed a google shot of Pirate City and another one from PNC Park. I made a line that represented a homerun right down the line, over the pond. I then made a hash mark at first base (click the picture to blow it up, look close). Copied the line, pasted it on to PNC Park and resized it so the hash mark touches first base. By this (admittedly crude) estimation I have him knocking the ball not just in to the Allegheny, but in to the DEEP waters, over the kayakers for sure.

Originally Posted for The Pittsburgh Mens Blogging Society

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Won't You Be My Neighbor

Watch the clip, Wear a Sweater.



Of note is the fact that I'll be looking ridiculous wearing my sweater around in 70 degree weather in charlotte. Do you think I could pull off sweater and shorts? I mean if I'm going to go ridiculous, I might as well do it right.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Mike Madison on CNN

That's the word. He mentions it here and here.

Anderson Cooper tonight. Apparently a flattering story about how Pittsburgh stands out among rust belt cities.

Strawberry on her way

It's unfortunate, but another great blog is gone from the burghosphere.

I Luv Luke is dead.

The archives haven't been removed, if you're new to the burghosphere (which a refreshing number of people appear to be) you may want to read through and enjoy a few chuckles.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

WHAT?

Police kill driver after chaotic South Side chase

Police shot and killed an unidentified 32-year-old man after a chaotic chase on Pittsburgh's South Side early this morning.

A city of Pittsburgh police office and a state trooper working together in the same unmarked vehicle on a DUI roving patrol chased an SUV for several blocks until it crashed once, officers fired shots at the driverd, and the driver fled in the vehicle until he crashed into a pole at 22nd and Sarah streets.

The driver, whose vehicle had an Ohio license plate, was pronounced dead at 2:07 a.m. at UMPC Mercy. His name hasn't been released pending notification of family.

A news release from city police said the incident began when officers sitting in traffic at 13th and East Carson streets saw the SUV on 13th Street aproaching the intersection driving in the wrong lane with no headlights on. When the SUV got to Carson, the release said, it lurched several times and nearly hit the police vehicle.

Officers activated their emergency lights, causing the SUV driver to put his vehicle in reverse and drive backwards at a high rate of speed . Police chased the SUV until it crashed into a parked vehicle at Wharton and 22nd streets.

The news release said uniformed officers approached the vehicle and ordered the driver to show his hands, but the driver instead put his vehicle in reverse and struck the unmarked police vehicle. Officers fired several shots into the vehicle but the driver backed up and pulled away again as officers fired additional shots.

The SUV crashed again into a pole at Sarah and 22nd Street.

Diane Richard, a city police spokeswoman, said the city police officer involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, normal procedure following an incident when a police officer fires a gun.

Ms. Richard said the cause of death will be determined by the Allegheny County medcal examiner later today.

Holy crap, that's 2 blocks from my house! Why do we even let people with Ohio License Plates in to the city?

Our Advice Is, Put Away Your Electronic Devices



This caught my eye at CNN.  From a regular traveler, I appreciate the creativity that SWA and a handful of flight attendants from other airlines have started to show.  It does bring a smile to my face when it's done right and help brighten up a noisy, poorly lit, poorly temperature controlled, germ infested 2 foot by 4 foot world that is often quite miserable. 


However, the most important thing is to GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS.   As they pointed out here, this guy actually appears to cover all the important stuff, but I have been on flights where the flight attendants tried to liven things up but ended up failing to get to the key points.  I made him try again.  If my flight ever lands in the Hudson everyone else on board better know to secure their own oxygen mask before attending to others.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Broker Bouncing.... A game of "Put Another Way..."

I'm not going to say this outloud because I don't want to jinx it, but I was in grade school the first time we hit 7000.

Put Another Way...

Mayor Bloomberg actually kicked off the pothole revolution last week, by fixing the one on the corner of Wall and Broad.

Put Another Way...

The cash shredder has morphed, it looks like a stock exchange now.

Put Another Way...

Can Irrational Exuberence happen in 1 week incriments?

Put Another Way...


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

There's a "Buzz" around Pirate Training Camp

From Today's P-G:
"Dude, there's a buzz here."
"I don't know. There just is, I'm telling you. It's a positive buzz."
"To be totally honest, this is the most fun I've ever had in a spring training,"
"
I've never felt it like this ... this atmosphere."
"
Guys have been getting at it, they've been focused"
"you're seeing the pitchers really focus on what Joe tells them because they're seeing it click."
"We're building on the energy, passion that the staff brings,"
"We're winning because we're doing things the right way,"

I know Dejan (the Pirate Reporter at the P-G) has to write something, but do people actually read this and go, "This year will be different!"?

A quick Google Search led to this article about the 2001 Bucs

"[The New Stadium] can provide much-needed energy for this team"
"people yelling for you, it can go a long way"
"The whole atmosphere's going to be awesome"
"There should be a much more positive attitude on this team."
"Everybody else has done their part in getting this stadium built, now we've got to do our part."

They of course did not do their part and lost over 100 games that year. I'm just saying, don't write me a puff piece. Tell me how one of the prospects is doing in his first taste of big-league (even if it's spring training) play. Tell me how the injured guys are doing. Print me the box score. Don't tell me who smiled.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tweet

I'm on Twitter now. As I have less and less time to do real blog postings (though I still intend to drop them in from time to time), I thought I would integrate Twitter. It will give me a chance to keep a voice out there, using my phone.

Don't have twitter? That's ok, my latest tweets will be posted on the right side of this screen (assuming you're reading on my blog, and not an RSS reader)

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Just Crazy Enough to Work?


Here's my thought this morning, the Pirates should sign Manny Ramierez to a 3 year 55 million dollar deal.

Stop laughing, get control of yourself.

The Dodgers don't want to sign him for more then two. Which has the price range high (even for the best slugger in baseball). Rumor is that they're close to a 43 million dollar two year deal. The Pirates (or any other team) could probably step in with 55 million over 3 years and get him. A three year contract would likely have an unusual structure, say 10 million the first year 20 the second and 25 in the third.

Ok, the numbers have you not laughing anymore and now you're just confused why the buccos would do such a thing. Here's my thinking, you shouldn't have to be a big market team to rent a player. I would have every intention of trading Ramierez in July to a contender. You see, no one wants to sign Manny now, but in July some almost-a-contender team with too much money will start to get desperate looking for that fabled "missing piece" (think Marian Hossa last year for the Pens). If all went really well I'd see it working out like this:

We hire manny on the 10, 20, 25 contract I outlined before. Ticket sales in Pittsburgh spike. We end up just over .500 heading in to the July trading deadline. That should be good enough to convince our trading partners that we just might be crazy enough to keep Ramierez. Consequently, teams sweeten up their deals. We trade Ramierez to LA or Boston or Philly or Somebody for a few mid-level prospects and manage not to fall under .500 the rest of the way. We end up paying Ramierez about 7 million to be with us for a little more then half a season. Most of that money will be recouped in ticket and jersey sales (especially if the last few weaks of the season people are coming out to see us hit .500), the rest can be justified by the new prospects.

I know it's unconventional, but hey, we're not going to win the series with a 50 million dollar payroll unless we think outside the box.