Balta1701

QUOTE(Soxy @ Apr 17, 2007 -> 10:50 AM) But it's not true. I think it actually is true that he wasn't a U.S. Citizen. He was, according to press reports, born in South Korea. He had been in the U.S. since he was 9, a period of 14 years, and had appropriate permanent resident status, but he was not a U.S. citizen.

The NBA has suspended referee Joey Crawford indefinitely after his confrontation last weekend with Tim Duncan. He is at least gone for the playoffs, possibly longer.

Since some of the discussion has focused on whether the administrators should have shut down the campus after the initial shooting, I think it's worth pointing out this article from last August. An escaped convict was believed to be in the area of Va. Tech, and the campus was shut down and students told to stay in their rooms on the first day of class.

Oh for crying out loud. So, I'm deliberately not linking to their website, but that was posted on it.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Apr 17, 2007 -> 09:49 AM) How could this situation of an unhindered shooter killing at will be any worse than it was? Honestly, I don't see how armed resistance could make the situation yesterday worse. Well, there's always the issue of how much you're willing to risk to prevent the worst case scenario. I'll give you an example. There's a remote chance an asteroid could strike the earth this year. It's not exactly likely, but it's not zero. What is the appropriate response? Should we immediately begin digging gigantic caves and keeping a million people locked up in there every year for the rest of time because the chance isn't zero? You can only do so much to prevent an event like this. You can't confine everyone to their homes for the rest of time, you can't shut down every school or city in the country, and so on. Would arming people have helped? Possibly. But it's also possible that allowing people to carry in an environment like a school, especialy where people are untrained and things like alcohol could be involved, you'll wind up with more casualties due to the people carrying in the first place. And I'm not talking about just the event yesterday...if a lot of people were carrying and it wound up gradually piling up 30 bodies over the course of a year or two, it would get much less attention, but the casualties would still be there. There are probably some places where it would not be a terrible idea to allow people to carry concealed weapons. I think a college campus though, especially a large one, would be a terrible place for that.

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Apr 17, 2007 -> 06:32 AM) Anyways, I think Iraq has been a disaster but I think Bush will be remembered for having to deal with several enormous tragedies: 9/11, Katrina and Iraq. More than most recent presidents had to deal with. And it's worth noting the fact that, while it is debateable as to how much for each of them, the administration shares at least some of the blame for each of those (And yes, some passes on to the Clinton admin as well, so give me a little slack here). The failure to adequately do anything to make use of the months before 9/11, the failure to go after Bin Laden afterwards, the abject failure of the federal response after Katrina, and especially on Iraq.

Here's the ABC version: It sounds like if he had a green card, and the law was fully followed, he would have only needed something like a bank statement to show he was a resident of the state, in addition to his green card, to purchase the guns legally. Or he could just have gone to a gun show.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Apr 17, 2007 -> 05:10 AM) During my freshman orientation, I remember I said I wanted to see IU make a bowl game and a final four during my four years here. Obviously that hasn't happened yet; however, I have a feeling my senior year could be a fun one. Back in 2002...the mob literally ripped up a tree and carried it about a half mile across campus. And we're not talking a small tree. People took branches as souvenirs. Watch out for folks climbing the light posts on Kirkwood.

One of the most enjoyable Sox games I can remember going to was a Cubs/Sox series when Sosa was in the middle of a 12 strikeout-in-a-row sequence. We had people making up new signs with every strikeout. If I were there, I'd boo like Crazy.

If Brandon finds that groove we've seen him get into before...they'll realize what they've got.

Kick some ranger tail big Jon. No no wait! Not Rongey! Don't hurt Rongey! The other guys out there!

Dude, you having an AK-47 is not going to stop a government armed with tanks, F-16's, and A-bombs. It's also worth noting a couple things about the Brits. While yes, the long-term trend of a rise in violence has not seemingly been affected, yet anyways, by the gun ban...they're starting off from a MUCH lower level of violence. From Wikipedia: In other words, it's going to be really hard to compare one side of the pond to the other here, IMO. They're starting off from a place where their largest city sees a factor of 4 fewer gun crimes per capita.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 03:24 PM) There's a difference between keeping the same life style and not changing daily activities and being apprehensive with a horrible feeling in your gut and the worst "What if?" scenario you could ever imagine. I'm going to eat dinner in the same place tonight, go to sleep tonight, lock the door like I always do, wake up, go to class, come back, go to parties, go to events, etc, etc. It doesn't change the fact that there is a natural, instinctual worry that lingers just because of that what if. I think that is the correct way to handle these things. At some level...yes, virtually anything is possible. But you can only spend so much effort on preventing the worst case scenario. There are 26000 students at Virginia Tech alone, millions across the country. Indiana, where I was an UG, had about 40k, with probably 50-100 buildings. It's quite literally in a city, as are many. I'm in a city of 600,000 right now. It's virtually impossible to stop something like this from actually happening. You can't put a metal detector on every potential entrance of every single building in the world. You can take reasonable measures, like ID-keycards at doors especially at night and having phones and some security available, but the odds of someone actually doing this are ungodly low, and it's just not worth giving up your entire life because you're afraid of it.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 08:12 PM) Molina and BA are the only guys born in the 80s. Of course, they both play once a week. John Danks 04/15/1985 David Aardsma 12/27/1981 Bobby Jenks 03/14/1981 (Dude, Bobby was born on Pi day!) Andrew Sisco 01/13/1983 Gustavo Molina 02/24/1982 Brian N. Anderson 03/11/1982 There are also 3 1979-ers and 2 1978-ers.

QUOTE(Balance @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 01:49 PM) This is something I've noticed, too. I wish I knew the answer. It has to be something in the coaching and workout plans. It just has to be, because there's no other commonality. We can't blame it on the innings the starters get...because we've seen velocity drops in the bullpen as well. Cooper may be an exceptional mechanical coach, but maybe it's possible he treats these guys with too many kid gloves in ST?

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 11:56 AM) All I'm saying is that Thome hasn't delivered in the last inning of games since he's been here. I think that's why some people have considered him to not be clutch. If you saw what I said, you would know I said he's the least of our worries right now. I'm not sure it was the 9th inning (I think it was the 8th in fact) but there was the ball he destroyed in Pittsburgh last year to tie the game late. Anywho...not everyone on a team needs to hit .500 after the 8th inning for that team to be successful. It'd be nice to get some hits before the 7th out of the rest of the guys. The way we've been pitching, a few hits early and we don't even need the clutch hits.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 09:38 AM) The military was, literally, told to expect that (read Cobra II or Fiasco). We not only started a really stupid war, we executed it incredibly poorly. And beyond that, the people who spoke up and said that we should at least prepare for worse-scenarios than the rosiest ones either were told to be quiet or lost their jobs before the war started.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 11:41 AM) With two handguns reportedly, correct? Whatever the press is saying now, it's just going to be speculation. On any subject. Who the killer was, what he was armed with, what his recent past was, etc.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 11:34 AM) Nothing, but I just cant fathom killing someone over bullying, breaking up with a girl, getting a bad grade. those are such simple things that as a human and a man, you should be able to deal with. I think it's way too early to jump to conclusions in a matter like this. Just look at Columbine...right afterwards, everyone tried to blame things like Marilyn Manson or the NRA, and it turns out that upon further examination, one of the 2 kids involved was quite literally a psychopathic killer. Eventually there will be an investigation, and there will always be more to it than just some bad event. The bad event may have set the person off...but no one goes and decides to start shooting people because they were bullied or because they didn't like a professor.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 11:27 AM) I agree. I wonder if he has anything left in the tank at this early stage of the game? (Isn't it silly to even have to phrase this like this???) It all depends on the war, honestly. He could be the greatest candidate in history, but tying yourself to a plan that directly results in America losing a war would win out.

Jesus Christ Sadness for the families and the students @ that institution...

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 07:48 PM) Or because he wanted to make a point. A point that would resonate with someone who thinks Sheryl Crow's opinion has any particular importance. Well, probably true, but I would say that in 1966, if people were asked about the last big accomplishment by America, almost no one would have said the space program, despite the fact that they were less than 1000 days from the greatest triumph of that program. Until something big comes out of a gigantic project, it's hard to project what it could do. Having a bunch of letters on a computer doesn't necessarily mean much to most people. But very soon, it could.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 03:52 PM) definately, those are huge scientific advances in which a lot of the research was done in the United States. The reason why Maher didn't immediately come up with that one, IMO, is that the work still isn't finished. We've got the first step; recording the sequence. Now we're on to, if I understand things correctly, trying to figure out how all of those codes fit in with the protein sequences that give rise to life. We have barely begun to scratch the surface of what that knowledge can do.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 05:06 PM) OK, I'm curious... why was McCarthy so good at the end of 2005? What was he doing differently then from what he is doing now? Or has the league just adjusted to him? He was keeping his changeup and curve ball down. I haven't watched him yet this season, but there are 2 things that killed him with us; when he wasn't throwing his changeup or when he wasn't keeping things buried in the dirt. He has a 2 seam fastball that is a decent pitch, and a 93 mph fastball or so, but that 4 seamer is pretty darn straight. His curve ball though was a nice big overhand pitch, and his changeup when he kept it down was devastating. But if he wasn't throwing his changeup for strikes, hitters could just sit on the fastball or the curve and drive it, and if he wasn't keeping the changeup or curve down, they were basically meatballs. He needs to keep the ball down. End of story.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 09:19 AM) You seemed to think that the improvement in pitching was due to Ozzie yelling at them. Personally, I'm not willing to rule it out. It's Ozzie's job to get these guys to focus on their jobs, shut out all other things, and act like they have some actual balls. For most of Spring Training, it seemed like they didn't do that. Then Ozzie started screaming, and suddenly things changed. Correlation doesn't equal causation, but it sure as Hell didn't hurt. Now we just need Ozzie to start taking a few bats to some of our hitters.