All good things must eventually come to an end. The Bosox finally defeated my beloved Yankees in a postseason series. I'm clear that this loss was particularly painful, as the Yanks lost four straight. In fact, they were only 3 outs from making their 7th World Series appearance in the last 10 years.
What should Steinbrenner do during the off season ?
Here are my suggestions:
1) Eat Kevin Brown's contract - He was pathetic in the ALCS.
2) Go out and find some quality lefties to strenghthen the starting rotation and the bullpen. Quantrill and Gordon saved their worst performances for the postseason.
3) Develop the farm system again.
4) Begin to understand that the, eventual Hall of Famer, Mariano Rivera has at best two more good seasons left. Start grooming another quality closer. He has earned his pinstripes.
Despite the lack of production in the last four games of the ALCS, the Yankee offense is a Murderous Row. Very potent indeed.
I hate to think that they choked, but I have no other explanation. Certainly, a historic defeat and I'll forced to tune out miserable Sox fans for the next couple of weeks.
You can probably imagine that I've been pre-occupied with Yankee baseball, but I have done my civic duty and reviewed the debates. Actually, I watched the first debate (Miami) in its entirety. You can grab the audio torrents here.
The underlying theme of the first Kerry vs. Bush confrontation was the war on Iraq. Bush repeatedly accused Kerry of waffling on the issues. He accused Kerry of changing his position in support of the war effort. Bush claims that Iraq crisis called for swift and concise action, not unilateral allied support.
Kerry argued that the real enemy was not Iraq, but Osama Bin Laden. The film Fahrenheit 911, explains why Bin Laden is still at large.
Many questions come to mind regarding concise action and unilateral support. What is the appropriate response for an act of agression against America? How long should you wait before this action takes place? I remember when I served aboard the USS Stark, and she was attacked by an Iraqi Mig Fighter. Although we were stunned, and lost 37 shipmates, no swift action was taken against Iraq. During that time period, the US supported Iraq in their fight against Iran. In fact, the US attacked Iranian oil platforms that were alleged to have been responsible for laying mines in the Persian Gulf shipping lanes.
The actions of the US gov't are always based upon the perceived gain. How do we benefit from an occupied Iraq? You be the judge.
Some of you fellow techies may find this fairly interesting.
I came across a pretty interesting article that describes the components of a hybrid technology.
It also includes a very cool flash enabled animation.
Many people take for granted the wealth of information stored on the internet and the freedom it provides. However, technology patents and the threat of litigation threatens to stifle the very innovation that the internet was founded upon.
Prior to the introduction of the World Wide Web, the early internet was a huge collaborative landscape, comprised of researchers. These pioneers took pride in problem solving for the good of humankind. It was certainly a free culture of unbridled information gathering.
Professor Lessig discusses the dangers associated with the changing the internet from a free culture to that of a permission culture. He has released the book in audio. If you've got a BitTorrent client grab the torrent. The book is a collection of case studies and well articulated arguments, relative to the added value of P2P Sharing. In particular, he debunks many of the common RIAA arguments.
As I watched my beloved Bx Bombersdispatch the Twinkies, I realize that the we're probably be in for another fun MLB playoff season. I'll be honest, I spent time flipping between the Presidential debate and Yankees playoff game.
Which do you think was more exciting? Anyway, I know Red Sox nation looms in the distance. It will be great to deny them once again.
Oh yeah, I made a few changes to the layout of the blog. I now have a Category archive and a Most Visited Entries. The latter was no easy task. Much sweat and bytes. For the cost of a virtual brew, I was able to get it done. Special thanks to EJS for sharing the knowledge.
Hopefully, the changes will allow you to find stuff a bit easier :)
There has been much talk about jobs leaving US shores for cheap labor overseas. It appears that corporations are outsourcing business to the incarcerated. Prisoners are now being given the opportunity to run Call Centers. So instead of the help desk being run by someone in Bangledesh, you'll have someone at LA County picking up the call.
This articlediscusses many advantages (ie English Speaking, Job Stability, etc.).
Be aware that very rural towns use the inmate population as a means to boost their census reports. Hence, a town the size of Fishkill, NY would be able to appropriate enough funding to rebuild it roads or something similar.
When I get my hands on the WSJ article that I read that discusses this issue, I'll share it with you.
I have another opportunity to finish graduate school. Some of you may recall that my first attempt was less than favorable. Nonetheless, I have always been very persistent in my endeavors. The previous graduate program was my first experience with the, non-traditional, VHS based and online streaming courseware. Although this model was perhaps best suited for the busy professional, I quickly discovered that this model was not best suited for my approach to learning. I seem to respond better to the more traditional classroom and instructor lecture model. Moreover, I have found that it is always better to have interaction with other students on a regular basis.
My employer also has a vested interest in my success, as students are nominated for participation in the MSPD-UDM. Hence, I will be alotted appropriate time away from the office to successfully complete this program. I am well aware that I'm going to have to severely limit some of my extra-curricula activities. I will keep you posted on my progress, as time elapses. It will be alot of work, but should be fun.
Yes, this is a rant. I've become totally disgusted with people who continue to use these 'so-called' free email accounts (ie Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.).
I say 'so-called' because there is a cost associated with lost mail and the spam and virii that these accounts harvest. I have never used them and strongly discourage others from doing the same.
Generally, these people never take the time to filter or monitor there insanely small inboxes. As a result, if you send them a few lines of text, it will certainly bounce.
Well, there is a solution to this nuisance. I'm not sure if these guys are similar to Google's gmail, in that using their service, obligates the user to become a unsuspecting marketing participant. Nonetheless, it's worth investigating.
Technically Speaking » Hellacious Riders Offer 100GB Email Accounts