tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102637202024-03-13T17:52:53.026-04:00Straight FlushingSince Early 2005Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.comBlogger656125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-76081064845031320682011-12-05T19:42:00.001-05:002011-12-05T22:06:09.544-05:00Jose Reyes leaving: Sad, but not a travestyEven dormant Mets blogs need to get in on this Jose Reyes action. For my part, I am sorry to see him go. He was homegrown, is really good at a scarce position, still on the right side of 30, and a fun guy to watch. I think from the Marlins standpoint, $106 million over six years is actually a decent bit of business. The Mets are far crappier for having lost him, obviously.<br />
<br />
But disappointing though the fact of Reyes leaving may be, I don't see how people can be furious with Alderson. Sure, the division rival aspect makes it marginally worse, but winning an open bidding war for a hugely expensive star is not always and everywhere a blessing for a franchise, even if that franchise isn't effectively owned by the Madoff victims' trust, which of course the Mets are.<br />
<br />
Another big consideration has to be "Is this player going to be in the core of the next contending Mets team?" For me that's a negative. The boys acquitted themselves well last season, but Santana is probably done as an elite pitcher, the guy right behind him in the rotation is R.A. Dickey, Beltran is gone, and Bay has by now put in a huge amount of really terrible work. Even assuming very good years from Reyes and Wright next year, you've still only got a decent team, not necessarily a winning team and certainly not a plausible rival to the Phillies.<br />
<br />
If I had my druthers, the Mets would be flush with cash, and talent under contract that's just entering its prime. But they're not. At all. So I say Sandy was right to let nature take its course on the Jose Reyes Era (2005-2011). Plus, will there be any more festive sight in baseball than Jose in that new Marlins uniform?Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-79037901909313396302009-12-11T16:30:00.002-05:002009-12-11T16:34:14.532-05:00Sure, he cost $130m, but he's really, really goodGerman study <a href="http://goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/12/11/1680966/real-madrids-cristiano-ronaldo-the-fastest-in-football">reaches</a> not entirely shocking conclusion:<br /><br /><i>The study indicates that, in his boots, Cristiano Ronaldo is the fastest elite player in the world, reaching an average speed of 33.6 kilometres per hour (20.88 mph), a quality he uses to full effect by blowing past defenders.</i>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-9793907750957514372009-11-19T15:49:00.001-05:002009-11-19T15:51:56.704-05:00Another edition of short answers to stupid questions<a href="http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2009/11/mets_roundtable_discussion_par_3.html">"Should Daniel Murphy start at first base in 2010?"</a><br /><br />No.<div><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">SAtSQ concept pioneered by <a href="http://www.eschatonblog.com/">Atrios</a></span></div>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-24534384444915654662009-09-11T16:50:00.002-04:002009-09-11T16:59:25.726-04:00David Einhorn on the rating agenciesI love this guy:<div><br /></div><br /><object id="cnbcplayer" height="380" width="400" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" ><br /><param name="type" value="application/x-shockwave-flash"/><br /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><br /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><br /><param name="quality" value="best"/><br /><param name="scale" value="noscale" /><br /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><br /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"/><br /><param name="salign" value="lt"/><br /><param name="movie" value="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1245722885/code/cnbcplayershare"/><br /><embed name="cnbcplayer" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" height="380" width="400" quality="best" wmode="transparent" scale="noscale" salign="lt" src="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1245722885/code/cnbcplayershare" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/></embed><br /></object><br /><br /><a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2009/09/einhorn_on_the.html">via</a>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-25750671550231928062009-09-03T13:22:00.002-04:002009-09-03T13:25:02.732-04:00No wingnut grievance is too small or ridiculous for the Obama White House<a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/department-of-education-edits-out-help-the-president-from-classroom-materials-on-upcoming-speech.php">Shoot me in the face</a>:<br /><br /><i>The Department of Education has now changed their supplementary materials on President Obama's upcoming address to schoolchildren on the importance of education -- eliminating a phrase that some conservatives, such as the Florida GOP, happened to have been bashing as evidence of socialist indoctrination in our schools.</i>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-79911854609637036112009-08-26T09:44:00.003-04:002009-08-26T09:56:48.409-04:00Breaking: Man paid by oil companies says no rush on alternative fuelsI'll take <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/opinion/25lynch.html?pagewanted=1&em">incredibly unpersuasive and irresponsible op-eds</a> for $1,000 please, Alex.<br /><br />I wish the New York Times elaborated a bit on "energy consultant" as this Michael Lynch guy's title. He's not an MIT professor whom policy-makers consult on energy matters, he's a professional consultant to energy companies.<br /><br />I'm not a hardcore "peak oil" guy, and I was hoping to be reassured by this flack's arguments against it, but they're laughably thin. Basically, technological wizardry is going to come up with a way to cost-effectively access the unconventional oil plays that producers have had to resort to, so $30 a barrel oil will be back to stay soon. Not buying it.<br /><br />The last graf makes abundantly clear what this guy's motives are, too. Rather than focusing on his theoretical point (i.e. Peak oil is bunk), he tells us the country can't afford any more alternative energy "schemes," what with the recession and all:<br /><br /><i>This is not to say that we shouldn’t keep looking for other cost-effective, low-pollution energy sources — why not broaden our options? But we can’t let the false threat of disappearing oil lead the government to throw money away on harebrained renewable energy schemes or impose unnecessary and expensive conservation measures on a public already struggling through tough economic times.</i><div><br /></div><div>Oh he's an "energy consultant," all right. The API pays good money for credentialed academics to write stuff like this. </div>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-91230282053282521862009-07-22T13:58:00.001-04:002009-07-22T13:58:48.630-04:00Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lIfmsNRMz6k&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lIfmsNRMz6k&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-89481537032447024732009-06-15T13:17:00.006-04:002009-06-15T13:32:27.179-04:00Run, Michele, RunMichele Bachmann is <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/bachmann-not-ruling-out-bid-for-governor.php">not ruling out</a> a run for governor of Minnesota. I sure hope she does it, and then runs for president. The more profile the better, I say. <div><br /></div><div>As unpopular as he was/is, Dick Cheney had I thought an uncanny ability to make totally crazy ideas seem like just what all commonsense, God-fearing Americans believed. But with Bachmann the alien at the controls is way visible. There might as well be antennae coming up from the back of her head.</div><div><br /></div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_pN2IPAw6E&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_pN2IPAw6E&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-2251872706005172242009-06-13T14:56:00.005-04:002009-06-13T15:00:50.167-04:00Jerry Manuel knows the dealFrom <a href="http://twitter.com/NYPost_Mets/statuses/2156444211">Bart Hubbuch</a>: <div><br /></div><div><i>When asked if he would stress fundamentals in spring training next year, Jerry Manuel laughed and said: "If I'm still here ..." #Mets</i></div><div><br /></div><div>I don't think Manuel is much of a manager, so I'm not exactly rooting for him to keep his job, but he's pretty appealing personally.</div>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-14031946474557068352009-06-12T14:31:00.001-04:002009-06-12T14:32:46.898-04:00Stop hitting Wright 5thSpeaking of Manuel, I completely agree with <a href="http://www.amazinavenue.com/2009/6/11/906770/jerry-manuel-has-no-clue">JamesK</a>:<div><br /></div><div><i>Wright leads the league in on-base percentage and is batting in a lineup spot that will end up with ~50 fewer plate appearances than the 2 spot over the course of a season. I don't want to hear nonsense about how Wright has better numbers in the 5 spot, or how he changes his approach when batting in other places in the order. Bat him 3rd, 2nd, or heck even 1st. Just not 5th.</i></div>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-54436467955053706472009-06-12T14:08:00.004-04:002009-06-12T14:21:17.294-04:00Bobby V is huuge in ChibaFormer Mets manager Bobby Valentine, whom I always liked, is downright <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-japan-valentine-petition&prov=ap&type=lgns">beloved</a> by fans of the Chiba Lotte Marines, the Japanese team he's managed for years (with a championship in 2005). They got 100,000 signatures on a petition to the team to retain his services, which requires about 15,000 more people than <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/creigh-deeds-wins-virginia-gubernatorial-primary-stomping-mcauliffe-and-moran.php?ref=fpblg">voted</a> for Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial primary.<div><br /><i>Fans in the right field seats at Chiba Marine Stadium wear T-shirts saying “Bobby 2010” and wave huge signs with slogans like “No Bobby, No Marines,” and “Always Behind Bobby.”</i><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>I wish I had that kind of appreciation for Jerry Manuel. </div>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-83710243564367422772009-06-12T12:29:00.003-04:002009-06-12T14:23:50.405-04:00Kruggers"[W]hatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12krugman.html?em">Read the whole thing.</a>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-47374073890046488922009-06-10T12:24:00.005-04:002009-06-10T13:03:32.265-04:00Ed Whitacre is the new chairman of GM?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/edwhitacre.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 324px;" src="http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/edwhitacre.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Pretty shocked by the news that Ed Whitacre is being allowed to run GM. And it's not because he said he doesn't "know anything about cars," which is the hook of HuffPo's 108pt (I mean enough already) headline. Whitacre is right that at the highest levels executive competence doesn't require any detailed knowledge of the actual product or service a given company sells.<br /><br />But Ed Whitacre is also the guy who helped the Bush administration do their illegal spying and then, when he was called before Congress to answer questions about said cooperation, basically told Congress to go fuck itself. I can't find the video, unfortunately. It's really chilling. One of the most memorable moments of the Bush era, for me. The CEO of a huge telco, before Congress, acting like nothing was going to come of this "massive illegal wiretapping" business. And of course he was proven right.<br /><br />In lieu of video, here's the <a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/548742/privacy_flap_engulfs_attbellsouth_hearing/index.html">Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> A Senate hearing Thursday intended to explore the consumer impact of a proposed AT&T-BellSouth merger instead turned into a contentious face-off over phone privacy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) asked AT&T Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre whether his company had turned over phone records to any law enforcement agency. The question stemmed from his concerns about a report last month in the newspaper USA Today involving the National Security Agency's use of phone records.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The privacy of our customers is utmost [in importance] and we follow the law," Whitacre replied.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The senator repeatedly asked for a fuller explanation, but Whitacre only said again and again that "we follow the law."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Specter, appearing increasingly impatient, said, "I think that answer is contemptuous of this committee."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Suggesting more hearings would follow, he told Whitacre, "you and I will talk about this further."</span><br /><br />Ooooooh, scary. And now this tan golem of unaccountable corporate power is the chairman of GM, which is largely government-owned. Perfect. And let this be a lesson to those who would cross Arlen Specter!Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-9266516478120831532009-06-08T17:25:00.002-04:002009-06-08T17:29:53.400-04:00Get 'im<a href="http://men.style.com/gq/blogs/gqeditors/2009/06/barney-frank-qa.html">Barney Frank</a> on the transparent hackery of Arlen Specter, converted Democrat:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">But as an elected official, I have to say I don't think he did our profession any good. First of all, to announce that it was done purely so he could survive. Secondly, his performance since then has been very disappointing. In particular, what troubled me was when he was quoted as saying, "Well..." In terms of no Jewish Republicans, the answer should have been, Who cares? That's not a relevant issue. But then, when he said, Oh, but I'm confident the courts in Minnesota will do justice to Norm Coleman, and then said, Oh, I forgot which side I'm on!--forget about forgetting which side he's on. What that says is, his view of what the law should be depends on what party he's in. This notion that your view of what's an appropriate legal decision depends on your party is shocking for a guy who's supposed to be this great lawyer.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/frank-it-would-be-reasonable-for-dems-to-challenge-specter.php">via</a>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-10907389341984168252009-06-08T10:47:00.004-04:002009-06-08T11:12:03.985-04:00Worst headline of the day<a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AvDNzUah1fuUckqZ7aTt8Ks5nYcB?slug=ap-favre-surgery&prov=ap&type=lgns" title="Brett Favre recently had arthroscopic surgery on his ailing right shoulder, ESPN reported Sunday night, another indication the three-time NFL MVP is considering coming out of retirement. ESPN, citing two anonymous sources, reported that Favre had surgery last month to repair the torn biceps tendon that bothered him late last season with the New York Jets.">"Surgery has Favre closer to unretiring?"</a><br /><br />If Brett Favre really makes another comeback, the doctor who performed that surgery should go down next to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Mudd#Booth_connection">Samuel Mudd</a> as one of history's least responsible MDs. I don't know what he could have been thinking, but he surely isn't a sports fan because every sports fan on the planet is sick to death of Brett Favre comeback and Brett Favre comeback speculation stories. Everyone wants him to go away.<br /><br />He's done. It's over. NFL teams need to not make inquiries about him. If baseball teams can let Barry Bonds stay retired, even though he'd probably be one of the AL's better designated hitters the moment he signed, then football teams can damn well stop poking Brett Favre's surgically enhanced corpse.Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-14948030128841982102009-06-08T10:38:00.002-04:002009-06-08T10:41:44.779-04:00Snarlin' Arlen gets transactionalArlen Specter to Pennsylvania unions: <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/specter-to-labor-youll-like-how-i-vote-on-efca--labor-skeptical.php">"I swear to God I was just kidding about being a Republican."</a>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-4160406552133226832009-06-07T11:55:00.004-04:002009-06-07T12:14:45.541-04:00Tom Glavine not happy about getting cutSo old Tom Glavine, after getting his 43 year-old bag of bones in good enough condition to pitch pretty effectively in his rehab starts, was unceremoniously released by the Atlanta Braves, the same team that employed him for the vast majority of his Hall of Fame career. With a young Tommy (Hanson) ready to join the big league rotation, there was no room for the old Tommy.<br /><br />Rob Neyer <a href="http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-3-35/Does-Glavine-have-legit-beef-.html">doesn't blame</a> Glavine for being upset at the release. Neither do I, since it seems there's nothing he could have done to avoid it, yet the Braves strung him along. But I also agree with Neyer that he probably doesn't have a leg to stand on, legally.<br /><br />One thing I'd add: The Braves should have absolutely seen a grievance/lawsuit coming. Tom Glavine is the wrong guy to pull any kind of shenanigans with, having been heavily involved with the player's union for as long as I can remember. So it's not implausible that the labor/management struggle is what's really driving him here rather than an extra $1 million in career earnings.<br /><br />... or maybe he's not thrilled with the Braves official story (i.e. that he's throwing batting practice), and convinced himself that it was financial considerations alone that made them go with the newer models.Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-59600633084092414492009-06-06T17:09:00.002-04:002009-06-06T17:10:38.955-04:00That doesn't sound goodThe Onion is <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/dave-matthews-band,28585/">not impressed</a> with the new Dave Matthews Band album:<br /><br /><i style="font-style: italic;">Big Whiskey</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> is arguably the band’s heaviest record to date; regrettably, DMB’s approximation of “heavy” translates to more electric guitar where there were once acoustic doodles, and an unhinged Matthews hollering “I want to believe in Jesus!” over generic guitar-and-drums squall.</span><i style="font-style: italic;"> </i>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-71141467204942992322009-06-06T13:38:00.005-04:002009-06-06T14:17:36.045-04:00They're both right!<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2009/06/beltran-embarrassed-by-sweep.html">Carlos Beltran:</a> "The reality of this is coming here to Pittsburgh and getting swept, me, I feel embarrassed."<br /><br />Pittsburgh Pirate <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/06/06/2009-06-06_buc_rips_no_class_beltran_for_being_embarrased_by_sweep.html">Adam LaRoche</a> on Beltran's comment: "I think it shows zero class and zero professionalism."<br /><br />Personally I don't have a problem with Beltran saying what he said. I like an athlete who's not afraid to provide some real talk, and the Pirates are by any fair-minded assessment a very bad team that a prospective world champion <span style="font-style: italic;">should</span> be embarrassed to get swept by.<br /><br />But it remains very insulting to say as much, and you can't expect the Pirates to appreciate it. And note how LaRoche shrewdly declines to refute Beltran's premise (i.e. that the Pirates suck), and instead makes it a character issue. "Class" is a very big term in sports media. It's the central, catch-all term for all personal, non playing-related virtues: kindness, generosity, not committing sexual assault, etc.<br /><br />So that's what LaRoche had to hit back with, and hit back he did. Good for him. And it's a shot that will probably get more traction for the fact that Beltran-bashing is surprisingly en vogue these days. <a href="http://straightflushing.blogspot.com/2009/05/steve-phillips-doesnt-know-what-hes.html">Idiots</a> like Steve Phillips were already arguing that Beltran is woefully short on intangibles. They might not have thought to take the Pirates comment as "clubhouse cancer" fodder but thanks to LaRoche they probably will now.Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-35459650318163658792009-06-03T13:22:00.006-04:002009-06-03T13:28:39.224-04:00"Tribal justice"Back when Pat Buchanan was using his endowed chair on MSNBC to attack the Bush administration on Iraq, it was tempting to forget that he's <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/buchanan-sotomayor-practices-tribal-justice.php">super-duper racist</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.irc-online.org/images/irc/505.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 301px;" src="http://www.irc-online.org/images/irc/505.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-64501529174544409832009-06-03T12:53:00.006-04:002009-06-03T13:37:20.055-04:00It's almost like he knows what he's doing<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23253.html">Politico</a> on Obama's nomination of Republican Jack McHugh for Army secretary:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yet [besides McHugh being a good pick on the merits] it’s also hard to find a choice better calibrated to meet the Obama administration’s political imperatives. All at once, Obama has selected a nominee who burnishes his bipartisan credentials, opened up a seat prime for Democratic pickup and drained the GOP reservoir of one of the few remaining Northeastern moderates.</span><br /><br />McHugh is pictured between his fellow Vichy Republicans, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and future ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. I just hope the opposition will have actually been coopted to some great effect <span style="font-style: italic;">in terms of legislative achievements</span>, and not just to make the '12 election a Bloomberg '09-style formality.<br /><br /><a href="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/department-of-analogies-3.php">h/t</a>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-76337471131980491492009-06-01T17:35:00.006-04:002009-06-01T17:54:56.361-04:00There's no crying in activist investingI've been a big Bill Ackman fan over the years. Made a lot of great calls. Put on a great show on Charlie Rose. So I'm trying to figure out some way to find it okay that at the Target annual meeting, after getting pulverized in his proxy fight with the board, he actually <a href="http://dealbreaker.com/2009/06/bill-ackman-on-why-he-teared-u.php"><span style="font-style: italic;">cried a little bit</span></a>. But I can't. I don't care how much value his strategy would have unlocked, it's disappointing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span><br />Ohmigawd I hadn't even gotten to the part where he responds to Joe Nocera (who reported the tearing-up) with a letter running <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://executivesuite.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/bill-ackman-bites-back/">5,000 words</a>! Bill, come back to us!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update 2:</span><br />Words 13-18 out of 5,000 are "I also have a thick skin..."Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-30912436355581949562009-06-01T15:04:00.003-04:002009-06-01T15:16:40.435-04:00Found a problem with BingMicrosoft has a new search app called <a href="http://www.bing.com/">Bing</a> which is getting <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/01/apparently-bing-is-something-of-a-hit/">good reviews</a>. But I found a pretty glaring flaw about two minutes into fiddling around with it:<br /><br />In video search results, when you mouse-over a video thumbnail, it starts to play, with a mute/unmute toggle. If you turn the audio off and mouse-over some other thumbnail that looks more interesting, and decide it is, when you try to unmute that video you're turning on the audio from <span style="font-style: italic;">both</span> of the videos that are playing. Who wants to hear multiple videos at the same time?Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-78436814859858878222009-06-01T01:17:00.001-04:002009-06-01T01:17:46.911-04:00Phoenix - "Lisztomania"<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4BJDNw7o6so&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4BJDNw7o6so&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10263720.post-42667243931583100142009-05-31T22:26:00.003-04:002009-05-31T22:55:28.121-04:00In fairness to these particular cro-magnons...Watertiger finds a comment from the <a href="http://www.dependablerenegade.com/dependable_renegade/2009/05/culture-of-life-.html">"cro-magnons at Red State"</a> with the headline <a href="http://www.redstate.com/mr_ed/2009/05/31/breaking-kansas-abortionist-shot-killed-at-church/#comment-145">"Killing Tiller was the ethical thing to do"</a>. The argument is exactly what one would expect: abortion = murder, therefore his death will prevent more murders.<br /><br />Now Watertiger probably threw up in her mouth when she (I'm pretty sure it's a she) read this great conservative thinker compare Tiller's assassin to Rosa Parks, but that <span style="font-style: italic;">really is</span> a logical analogy within the "pro-life" worldview. I would rather the implications of that worldview be out in the open for everyone to be revolted by than hidden behind milquetoast hand-wringing Ross Douthat bullshit.Brian Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652827640480365357noreply@blogger.com0