Jake

Milton Friedman has long advocated a UBI and his implementation alleviates many of the concerns had here while also saving the government money. http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_income-tax.html The above link explains it pretty well. The NIT/UBI replaces a good deal of the welfare spending; the main thing you need to keep is healthcare provisions, since they'll spend their entire income on that otherwise. Basically, the government covers the gap between your income and a minimum threshold of income. In the example given in the article, if that number is $10,000, you get $5,000 if you earn nothing. It covers 50% of the gap. So if you start to earn $2,000/year, now you get $4,000 in NIT. If you earn $5,000, you earn $2,500 in NIT. This gives you incentive to earn more (of course, most proponents suggest a much higher income threshold, but the math is easier here). There is no "welfare trap" or "poverty trap" because there is no moment where you suddenly earn too much to benefit from the program. Being progressive is meant to preserve a financial incentive to work at every stage of the game. While there is a great deal of talk about bureaucracy here, libertarians like this for the very reason of bureaucracy -- if you all you're doing is sending out money, the bureaucratic costs are minimal. From an economist standpoint, there is no more efficient benefit than money, as well.

Our team would be appreciably better if Freese was the everyday 3B. I don't know that the trade price would be worth that gain, but he's a nice player.

I can't recommend Nexus 7 enough. I believe this year's release is discounted to $199 on Amazon right now. Great hardware, great software

Sometimes I forget how good Grant Hill was. In 1996-97, he averaged 21.4 points (on .496 shooting), 9 boards, 7.3 assists on a playoff team. That's a good ass season

Remember when Shaq shattered that backboard and pulled the entire hoop down? I feel like that's going to happen on one of Derrick's pull-up jumpers

Well, I suppose part of the question is how you want to use it. For me, I wouldn't really consider the Kindles due to the limitations of their software. If you're just reading and streaming video, basic things, maybe the screen size is going to matter more.

Well, I suppose part of the question is how you want to use it. For me, I wouldn't really consider the Kindles due to the limitations of their software. If you're just reading and streaming video, basic things, maybe the screen size is going to matter more.

I don't like to pass judgment from the outside on these things. Beyond the "did it really happen" question, there are a million different issues of context that could change my mind on how I feel about it. I'll see it as perhaps the explanation we got a discount on a really promising player

We definitely got the great end of that deal (Avisail Garcia or Jose Iglesias? Yeah, easy choice) and it seemed like Avi filled a long-running need for them, which is a corner OF. They needed one last year, they need one now, and they'll need two when Torii is gone.

Anyone want to advise me on how to get my info off of this MacBook? I'm selling it and the info on Apple's website hasn't been helpful.

I like that it's a subscription service, because I otherwise would try to get way too much out of each blade

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Nov 21, 2013 -> 09:33 AM) Could see a three way change of scenery trade where Kemp and a spect go to the Brewers, Braun goes to team X, and pitching goes to the Dodgers. Actually, this makes some real sense.

I have ADD. It is difficult for me to pay close attention for sustained periods, even when it is to my detriment. When I used a "real" razor, let me assure you it was to my detriment

The Iglesias-Kinsler tandem will be a yearly struggle to combine for a .650 OPS

It makes some sense for both parties. The Tigers have like 13 first basemen on their roster, so now you get to play Miggy there. You get a 2B, which surely they were looking for. The Tigers have Profar waiting, so you can say they actually improved their 2B position in this deal, especially from a cost standpoint. They haven't had anything exciting in the 1B/DH spot since Tex left so now they have that without an insane amount of extra cost. I think the Tigers lose here, though. If you look at FG, you could quite easily argue that Kinsler is no longer any better than Infante. This precludes them from keeping Peralta and they aren't going to add elsewhere to replace Fielder. It may, I guess, make it easier to re-sign Cabrera?

Balta and I think that the more help you offer these people, the less likely they have to be permanently institutionalized and the less likely they harm other people. Our current system reflects so much contempt for the mentally ill that we're only willing to fund it to an extent that it offers them a bed so we can get rid of them. Balta and I want to see a system that can allow for rehabilitation and the granting of as much freedom as possible

How do we know if he can continue to hit while (presumably) off the juice?

Someone needs to repackage all this bulls*** into non-10,000 word form. From what I have seen and read, I don't really give a s*** what they do to A-Rod and what they do to do it. It is clear to me that the MLB is having to take certain measures just to combat the measures A-Rod will take to save his own ass. Fighting a little fire with fire. People do need to know that no, there isn't an amount of money you can make and thus pay away witnesses and whatever else.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/very-final-...na-fall-league/ FG rates Mitchell third-best bat in AFL with their SCOUT+ stat which takes his production and regresses it into expected production to account for sample size.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 03:07 PM) You can make the case, but I don't know if it's "equally strong." Tired or not, he has bad control and his secondary offerings are below average pitches. I personally think he should dump the screwball altogether -- it's got such a soft, predictable break and he doesn't seem to be able to keep it down in the zone with any level of consistency. http://brooksbaseball.net/outcome.php?play...13&s_type=2 He quit using his screwball when he went to the bullpen because he needed more time in warmups to find his release point. He just throws an odd one here and there now. Maybe, with an offseason of being relatively certain that he gets the rotation spot he deserves, he will be able to implement his screwgie. What is amazing is that he almost never used a changeup before that and turned it into a useable pitch on the fly a year after pulling a screwball out of his ass and making that into a good pitch. His ability to learn pitches as well as use his fastball to get outs has been astounding.

I'd suggest you look at ASUS Transformer tablets. They are all solid tablets and have dockable keyboards with trackpads that serve a variety of functions. I have a TF300, which would qualify as a bit outdated at this point, but I love the thing and have used it as a surrogate computer on many occasion as well as using it for more tablet-y functions (in my case, I use it to read through PDF documents a lot). Mine has 9 hours of running battery life which cranks up to around 14-16 if it is in the dock, which extends the battery. The dock has a USB port (no idea if it would have compatibility w/ a disc reader), expandable storage, and some other fun stuff. I should mention that in practice, the battery lasts me 3-4 days in practice since it hibernates throughout most of the day when I'm not using it. Their line has gotten even better since then. The TF700 is a more spec'd out version with a little more premium build quality: http://www.asus.com/us/Tablets_Mobile/ASUS...rmer_Pad_TF700T TF701 is a beastly update to the TF700, with an unfathomably good display and the first (to my knowledge) tablet to have a dedicated graphics card. Would be awesome for watching movies and such. http://www.asus.com/us/Tablets_Mobile/ASUS...mer_Pad_TF701T/ There is also the VivoTab series, which will look somewhat similar but run the different Windows Mobile OS's/Windows 8. If you have specific software needs, this might be more applicable.

I would be pretty surprised if we got Wong back for Alexei at this point. Freese wouldn't shock me -- though I'm not sure if that's a great return. Freese + ...Piscotty?

If I had enough up front to pay on a yearly basis, something like 60 bucks a year, and the XB1 lasts 8 years like XB360, I'm paying 480 bucks to use basic streaming functions over the life of the thing. I'm buying it more than twice. I'm not going to re-up right away for several reasons, but when it comes time to buy it is definitely something I'm going to have to consider.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 08:28 AM) The 2006 White Sox struck out 1,056 times, which was the 5th most strikeouts by a team in the league. The 2013 White Sox struck out 1,207 times, which was the 8th most strikeouts by a team in the league. The White Sox are making better contact now than they did in 2006 relative to the league. That's what you have to look at. You can't say "the 2005 White Sox team ERA was 3.61, which really isn't that much better than the 2013 White Sox, who put up a 4.00 ERA" because the talent level has shifted from the offensive side of the ball to pitching and defense. The 2012 White Sox scored 748 runs, which was 4th best in the AL. The 2005 White Sox scored 741 runs, which was 9th best; thus, the 2012 White Sox offense was far better than the 2005 White Sox offense. This is another reason why wRC+ is such a great stat. It takes this into account. My favorite example was reading it before realizing that it adjusts for year... Juan Gonzalez had a pretty great career while it lasted. I was looking over it on FanGraphs. In 1997, in just 133 games, Juan Gon mashed 42 bombs with 131 RBI to go with his .296 average and .335 OBP. This earned him a 127 wRC+ -- which is pretty damn great, don't get me wrong -- but doesn't feel nearly high enough for those counting numbers. So now, in 2013, let's looking at Marlon Byrd. He batted .291 with a .336 OBP (I wanted someone who didn't walk a ton, like Juan Gon). He struck out quite a bit more than Juan Gon, 25% vs. 17% for Juan. Byrd hit 24 homers with 88 RBI. Nice little season, 147 games so a bit more than Juan.. Sure as hell isn't as good as 42 HR/131 RBI. Byrd's wRC+ in 2013? 136. That's not just better, but notably better. This is why it is so important to adjust for the year when we talk about statistics. This isn't a huge gap in time we're talking about, either, but the league can shift pretty quickly as we see with the 2005/2012 Sox example.

As the article says though, they're trying to appeal to more than just average video game console users. I think they're smart to do that and early reviews suggest the multimedia capabilities, cable integration, things like that have immense potential. Like you said, I would only want online features of games occasionally. Some of the games I would play I wouldn't need to play online - I like playing franchise modes of sports games, so I don't need to pay to have fun doing that. I really find it insulting that I shell out for different streaming services yet have to pay again just to watch it on my XBOX. It isn't stressing their servers for me to stream Netflix, it stresses mine. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 07:28 AM) I can't read this, Olivia is touching her boobs I'm distracted I have the same problem when Brian posts Brian's been killing me lately, hot damn