Everything posted by boilerhorn
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Beer 2025: Merry Christmas Everyone, Including the Haters and Losers
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Welcome to Costco .....
The executive membership is REALLY paying off. The “clusterfuckedness” of Costco massively improves. First, there are none of the assholes who pay no fucking attention to their surroundings. Second, there are none of those folks who have free-range kids. Third, it’s just damned near empty. Fourth, every person who works there seems to love it. It’s like they get to deal with the Costco members who are not raging assholes for the first hour of their day. Lots of profanity to say that the exec membership is worth it. IIRC, they’ll refund the membership cost delta if your benefits do not exceed the cost cost delta. Walked past the Costco peasants at 9:50am one morning and was out of the place by 10:05. Glorious.
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Dallas Cowboys 2025 season thread: 8-9 and divine. The world according to Jerry
Per the Googles, as I was curious: Raiders received: 2019 first-round pick (No. 24 overall, used to draft Josh Jacobs) 2019 sixth-round pick (No. 179 overall, used to draft Isaiah Johnson) 2020 first-round pick (No. 19 overall, used to draft Henry Ruggs) 2020 third-round pick (No. 81 overall, used to draft Lynn Bowden Jr.) Bears received: Khalil Mack 2020 second-round pick (No. 43 overall, used to draft Cole Kmet) Conditional 2020 fifth-round pick (used to draft Arlington Hambright) EDIT - Bears signed him to a 6-yr $141mm extension. Edit 2: 3 years later, Bears traded him to the Chargers for a 2023 second (Jaquan Brisker - S Penn St) and 2023 sixth. The Bears later traded that 6th for 2 2022 7th round picks: Elijah Hicks (S - Cal) and Trenton Gill (P- Penn State). Brisker and Hicks remain on the Bears. Chargers took on the remainder of his contract.
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How to hunt/trap a porcupine?
I’m guessing the neighbors would call the cops. Sprayed parts of property line with ammonia + water - high ammonia concentration. Armadillo just outside the fence line scurried away. My dog that was unscathed has 3 armadillo kills in our back yard in the past 6 years. Glad we did not increase that count.
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How to hunt/trap a porcupine?
Necro-bump. Just happened to one of my dogs and my daughter's dog in our back yard. Crap. Any solutions for ridding our yard of this creature?
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Texas Recruiting Notes 2026: Boulevard of Broken Bagmen
Temple of Doom and Gremlins were definitely catalysts for the PG13 rating, but folks often leave 16 Candles out of the discussion. I decided to watch the film with my oldest when he turned 16 (a while back) and totally forgot about the shower nudity at the very beginning. Not to mention specific sexual references throughout. In my "research" I found that the MPAA first rated in R and John Hughes lobbied for a PG rating.
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Tortilla Tossers Terrify Timid Travelers...(offseason fodder)
Missed this. You can likely tell from my posting history and handle that there’s an interest in Purdue. Getting kicked out of Memphis for stealing is akin to…. Well…. Probably something I should not type. Let’s hope Odom has him on a PIP.
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Bill Self signs lifetime contract with KU
Self got a couple of stents installed today, extending the lifetime contract a little longer. Yeah, gallows humor, but FYI... https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/45818430/kansas-bill-self-hospitalized-expected-make-full-recovery
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George Kooymans of Golden Earring
Rush is one of those bands that dudes and (largely) musicians really appreciate. If you wanna go to a show with ladies and/or to meet ladies, Rush ain't it.
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Ozzy has passed.
Stuff like the above and this are what really added to Ozzy's legend.
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RIP Chuck Mangione
Erskine played in Steps Ahead, before Steve Smith (of Journey fame) joined in ~1987. Both are fantastic drummers. Steps Ahead was founded largely by Michael Brecker (tenor sax) and Mike Manieri (vibraphones). They created some fantastic music in the mid-80s to mid-90s. When in NYC (a family member lives there) I always seek out a Steve Smith show. After one of Smith's shows, I see a guy I think I recognize. I ask if his name is Mike Manieri. He says, "yes." I said that I recognized him from the "Live in Tokyo 1987" show (it was 2022?) video. He laughed and we talked for a bit. Down to earth talented guy. Was teaching at NYU and gigging on the side. EDIT - looks like it was from 1986. Mike was the first guy I ever saw play w/ 4 mallets. Freaking amazing.
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Ozzy has passed.
At the time, I was largely an alternative, punk, and (ironically?) US hard rock fan. When “Paranoid” came on MTV, all of us stopped and watched. Ozzy was transcendent.
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Whatcha reading?
Finished this one. It was well researched and well written, and it supports his recurring and overarching world view. IMO, it was a little pedantic, with many, many examples. Upon reflection, he's an academic, so it helps his theories to have many examples. I did enjoy his historical accounts of information networks from the stone age to the present. Stories -> books w/ interpreters -> books when folks can read -> etc. He did highlight many of the obvious downsides of AI information networks. Recommend.
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RIP Chuck Mangione
Csb The RRISD sax “technique teacher” when I was in MS and HS was friends with Denis DiBlasio, the bari sax player for Maynard Ferguson. I, too, was a bari sax player. DiBlasio was in town and agreed to play in with our HS jazz band. Denis had an idea that we’d do a cross handed thing where we were both playing both saxes. I did not pick it up the first time and he concluded “screw it, we’ll do something else.” Anyhow, we played Coconut Champagne - I did the first solo - he played a 2nd solo for about 5 minutes. He was sensational. I was a high schooler who was afraid to fuck up in front of a famous person. Wish I had cared a little less about that at that time. Another time, Maynard played at Westlake high school and we all got to meet him. He’s more impressive in person that on his records. /csb Another trivia nugget - Gregg Bissonnette was the drummer for Maynard at that time. After, he was drummer for David Lee Roth, Joe Satriani, Andy Summers, Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, among many others. https://youtu.be/hGQWCR6jFZ4?si=HWAGsJ7jymc6Jgc-
- Ozzy has passed.
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Surly kids who can't get into UT
At a previous job, I worked with a very large group of engineers in the Portland area. I met VERY few (if any) from University of Oregon. Most who went to engineering school in Oregon were from Oregon State University. Fwiw.
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Trump calls for former Guardians and Commanders names.
SIAP - merge this thread w/ another if necessary. Because, of course he does. https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/45783141/trump-calls-commanders-guardians-reverse-name-changes
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Youth Minister's (and other pervs) Thread of Shame
That’s far too cynical - and likely incorrect. 42% is the number of people - on each side - who will vote either (R) or (D) just because of the (R) or (D) on the ticket. No one pays attention to the news any more.
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Horrible way to die new stories
According to this article , the man (61 years old - already mentioned) was wearing a 20-lb chain he used for weight training. That makes the entire story a bit more plausible. It’s not like he was wearing a cheap-ass 2 karat gold choker. If it is me, I am (1) not wearing one of those chains in public and (2) damn sure not wearing it into a hospital or any type of medical facility or any other random place of business. Really shitty all around - he died, he struggled, his wife saw him die, MRI dude did not hit the emergency switch, etc. Pretty fucking horrible all around.
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The WNBA is BACK!!!!!
The NFL has existed for over 100 years. The NBA has been around for 75 years. As recently as the early-to-mid 1980s, some NFL players had offseason jobs to supplement their pay. Today, the average NFL player makes $3.2mm. In 1985 it was $160k. Players claimed it was 28% of revenue; owners claimed it was 44%. Regardless, they NFL was making a profit. Right now, the WNBA is 27 years old and (allegedly) loses $40mm on $200mm in revenue (2023). Revenue is clearly rising, as it was $102mm in 2019. In 2019, they were paid around 17% of league revenue and now around 10%. When costs are 120% of revenue, it is difficult to justify giving everyone a raise, but (as already noted before) we really do not know how the WNBA manages its P&L. NBA's CBA has players at 49%-51% of BRI (Basketball Related Income). WNBA should strive for that. The real problem is how is "income" calculated? Is it gross? Is it net? If net, they get nothing. The WNBAPA will need a really capable negotiator and financier on their side for the next few rounds of CBA negotiations. And clarity in how they report and manage P&L.
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The WNBA is BACK!!!!!
I am picking nits, but Golden State and Toronto paid $50mm in 2023 and Portland paid $75mm in 2024. The latest 3 were $250mm, so it is around $925mm. Agree, though, the influx should offset the dilution. To date, the business has been a financial loser, so a 3x increase in franchise fees, YoY seems high. People far more in-tune and aware are putting money into it right now. So, what do I know?
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The WNBA is BACK!!!!!
IIRC, the NBA owned and controlled the franchises 100%. Over time, the WNBA franchises owned 40% and the NBA owned the remaining 60%. As of 2022, an investment group seeded $75mm into expansion/solvency/whatever and was granted 16%. The WNBA franchises owned 42% and the NBA owns 42%. That puts the valuation at around $470mm. Future expansion dilutes the 42% owned by WNBA franchises. Good question @Kermit - is it a real loss or a "loss" that is purposeful and has long-term strategic advantages? For franchisees and the NBA, a paper loss might be exactly what they want for this investment. I had forgotten about the details. Let's use the $200mm number and assume $0 additional costs and the present -$40mm run rate - the WNBA will be running at +160mm annually. 42% to NBA, 16% to investors, 42% to WNBA league means the WNBA league gets around $67mm to split among its teams. They could easily double or triple the salary cap and stay in the black. As I implied earlier, the "losses" might be transferred from the NBA/WNBA/investors to the media companies. They are the ones who have to monetize to the tune of $200mm+ per year now. WNBA has 11 years, though, on the new plan. Expansion will limit how much they can pay players, as the expansion dilutes the WNBA share of overall league ownership and, hence, whatever "dividends" will come from league income. PS - In 2022, the WNBA raised $75 million from a group of strategic investors including Nike, Michael Dell, Linda Henry, Dee Haslam, Condoleezza Rice, Micky Arison and Laurene Powell Jobs. Some, such as Ted Leonsis (Washington Mystics), Joe Tsai (New York Liberty) and Herb Simon (Indiana Fever), tripled down on the league by investing as part of the raise, owning WNBA teams and owning a stake in the league through their NBA team ownership.
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Deion Sanders "Coach Prime" Now At Colorado
Let's not let the truth get in the way of a good hit piece.
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The WNBA is BACK!!!!!
It will put the WNBA in the black, but that could be short-lived if the TV demand is not sustained. If demand is not sustained or grown, they are just moving the losses from WNBA ownership/NBA over to the broadcasting companies. Unless someone wants it as a loss leader to sell toilet paper and cheap electronics (Amazon)...
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The WNBA is BACK!!!!!
It's like the player's association asked a PR firm for the 5 best and 5 worst slogan options for WNBA player promotion - and the player's association mixed up the lists. Group requests of "pay me what I am worth" have typically failed, largely because they are tone deaf. They are getting paid between $80k-$250k per year for 40 games and playoffs - in a presently money-losing business. Most (all?) finished 4 years of college; I would think at least one of them would have taken an economics or finance course. That said, there is a very "with us or against us" mindset in the WNBA. Economics be damned. Details of the WNBA finances are difficult to find, either because it was not interesting before last year or they are so bad, the NBA does not want to share how much it is funding. Some reports say 2024 revenue was $200mm, with a loss around $40mm. The entire salary pool for WNBA players is presently near $19.5mm (13 teams * 1.5mm per team - cap is lower, but some go over cap). That's about 1/12 of the overall costs using the revenue/loss numbers. For reference, NBA players earn around $5B on NBA revenue of $11B - overall profit of $3B. For the new CBA - here are some ideas... Players: Baseline revenue of $200mm. As revenue increases, so does our income. Up to 10%, end of season bonuses for each player commensurate with delta between baseline and revenue. Above 10%, salary cap, min salary, max salary increases. Above 25% ($250mm revenue), renegotiation of CBA is triggered). Owners: Revenue increases imply demand is increasing. We need more games. Salary cap increases will motivate game expansion. 2-4 more games per season (scheduling problems may occur). Perhaps the reasons are obvious (like the finances really are a mess), but player's association should dive deep into the finances. They may be willing to give up some of the "frills" that contribute to the $240mm expense - and to help the league become solvent. Maybe not