Monthly Archives: July 2002

Barra on baseball

Posted on July 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Great article on the issues at stake in the baseball labor dispute by Allen Barra of Salon. Continue reading →

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McLane fallout

Posted on July 18, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Not too surprisingly, the Astros players don’t give much credence to owner Drayton McLane’s fiscal sob story from yesterday: “You can throw the names of all these fancy accounting firms around all you want,” said Gregg Zaun, the backup catcher … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Same old song and dance

Posted on July 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Astros owner Drayton McLane makes his annual statement of poverty to the ever-credulous Chron. He claims he’s lost $105 million since he bought the team in 1993, and that he projects a cash loss of $5 million this year. In … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | Comments Off on Same old song and dance

Matthewyglesias.com

Posted on July 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations to Matthew Yglesias for his new domain and new blog look. Update those blog rolls, folks. I’ll take this opportunity to announce that I’m not far behind. I’ve settled on a hosting company (Dreamhost), and as of today I’m … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Same stuff, different state

Posted on July 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Tony Adragna outlines what the candidates for Maryland Governor plan on doing about that state’s looming deficit. Here’s Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s position: Top-to-bottom management and budget review. I will direct a review of the structure and budget of every state … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | Comments Off on Same stuff, different state

The right to privacy

Posted on July 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Kyle Still has an excellent post on why exactly there is a constitutional right to privacy, even if the document itself never says the word “privacy”. Kyle’s been bugged by the permalink problem, so scroll down to the July 15 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Blog etiquette

Posted on July 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

As long as I’m blogging about blog etiquette, may I recommend TTLB’s post on drawing attention to one’s blog. As Maarten Schenk says in the comments, I’ve sent some emails to individual bloggers when I’ve responded to something they’ve written, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Blog etiquette

It’s my party

Posted on July 17, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a kerfuffle over at Brad DeLong‘s weblog concerning some rules he’s decided to enforce in his comments. Basically, Brad has said that he expects commenters to be polite, and if they’re not he’d do something about them. For some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | Comments Off on It’s my party

Words and actions

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I see that the IRA has issued an apology for the deaths of “noncombatants” in the last 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland. You can read the text of the apology here. Not everyone is happy with this, of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Around the world | Comments Off on Words and actions

Blogspot countdown commences

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Thanks to everyone for the web hosting feedback. I’ve commenced research, and hope to take action soon. Count your days, Blogspot. I’ve got your permalink problems right here… Continue reading →

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Kirk raises money and gets noticed

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Meanwhile, Ron Kirk is holding his own in the money department against John Cornyn. He’s also starting to get noticed by the national press. Took them long enough. Continue reading →

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Would you have preferred “crackpot”?

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The soon-to-be-eponymously-domained Matthew Yglesias points to this week’s PunditWatch, which contains the following bits: I want to reassure our audience, they could be forgiven for not being sure who Larry Klayman is, because when he was filing an avalanche against … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 3 Comments

One way to get the economy going

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Tony Sanchez has outspent Governor Goodhair by a 5-1 margin so far in the gubernatorial race. Sanchez has shelled out over $31 million, compared to $6 million for Perry, of whch nearly $28 million is his own money. Both candidates … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | Comments Off on One way to get the economy going

Grumpy Hour is still permissible

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to be grist for someone’s mill, I just know it: BRUSSELS killjoys want to wipe the smiles off drinkers’ faces by BANNING pub happy hours. Euro MPs will vote next month on outlawing the practice of cutting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The air up there

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Get the Straight Dope on why baseballs travel farther at Coors Field than they do elsewhere. Continue reading →

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Last word on competitive balance

Posted on July 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Jeff Cooper responds to my most recent post on this topic. Go check it out. One clarification: In his original comparison of baseball versus football playoffs, Jeff had only included the top NFL wild cards. I missed that distinction, which … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Back to basics

Posted on July 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Buffy the Vampire Slayer got off track in season 6. So says Leslie Moonves, channelling Joss Whedon. Expect more of the show’s humor from early seasons next year. By the way, did anyone else catch Robin Williams’ live HBO show … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Hot dogs and proven veterans

Posted on July 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Kevin links to this report that shows that the Astros’ concession prices are among the highest in baseball. That’s a legitimate gripe, but I think Kevin goes off base here: Granted, nobody has to pay [high concession prices], and I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | Comments Off on Hot dogs and proven veterans

Spam news

Posted on July 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Spam news An interesting article on the proliferation of blocklists, which are used to filter out spam by ISPs. Blocklist admins have gotten more aggressive in their filtering, which has led to an increase in false positives: Magdalena Donea, a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on Spam news

Wanted: Web host

Posted on July 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

OK, this time I mean it. I’ve had it with Blogger archive problems and Blogspot unreliability. I’m ready to get my own domain and move this thing onto its own server so I can run Movable Type. I would very … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 2 Comments

Happy birthday, Kerrville Folk Festival

Posted on July 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The Kerrville Folk Festival is 30 years old and still going strong. It’s amazing that they can draw so many people out to where the Hill Country meets West Texas in the middle of the summer for three weeks of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Happy birthday, Kerrville Folk Festival

Houston’s bid for the Olympics

Posted on July 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Houston does well in bid for Olympics, at least according to this Chron article. Sounds like the number of facilities we already have in place helped to impress the USOC. Best news in the article: “We talked at length about … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Houston’s bid for the Olympics

Would you believe…

Posted on July 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

A new poll shows that a majority of Texans favor a publicly funded national health-care plan. Fifty-two percent favored such a plan, while 43 percent opposed it. Nationally, only 40% like this idea. One person who ought to be worried … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Would you believe…

This is the life

Posted on July 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

An entrepreneur has made a splash on Lake Travis by opening a floating barbecue restaurant that delivers: Pink-bikini-clad Nicole Taylor is on a delivery mission for Tug’s Bar B Que. Before she makes it back to the mothership, she’ll drop … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on This is the life

What Clear Channel has wrought on Houston radio

Posted on July 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

What Clear Channel has wrought on Houston radio A nice overview in today’s Chron about how corporate radio has mostly eliminated local on-air talent. New station owners with a bottom-line philosophy have canceled public-affairs programming, dismantled news departments and replaced … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 164 Comments

Fly the locked-and-loaded skies

Posted on July 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Fly the locked-and-loaded skies I’m somewhat of an agnostic on the issue of allowing airline pilots to carry guns as a deterrent to hijacking. I don’t oppose the idea, since it’s rather hard to make the case that the events … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on Fly the locked-and-loaded skies

Coulter gets scammed

Posted on July 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Coulter gets scammed Atrios, who just recorded his 50,000th hit, points to this hilarious interview of Ann Coulter by topnotch Coulter-mocker Scoobie Davis. Basically, Davis used a legit media contact to help set up a telephone interview with Coulter on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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More on Kerry-McCain 2004

Posted on July 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

A lot of people have commented on this earlier post which speculated about a John Kerry-John McCain Democratic ticket for President in 2004. People, this is the political equivalent of pretending to be the general manager of your favorite sports … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 1 Comment

Another view

Posted on July 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Another view David Pinto, who was for many years the lead researcher for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, (and who, alas, has been struck by the Blogger permalink bug) has some words on the competitive balance issue. Check it out. Continue reading →

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More competitive balance and salary cap stuff

Posted on July 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Jeff Cooper has published his promised response to my most recent post about competitive balance in baseball. Jeff focuses on the period since 1995, when baseball signed its last Collective Bargaining Agreement, and came to the conclusion that baseball does … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 1 Comment

How is wimpy downstream American beer like making love in a canoe?

Posted on July 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

My blog and Real Life buddy Mike Tremoulet is back in the States after an extended gig in London. He’s got some pictures from his deportation party here. I just have one thing to say about this: You’re in England! … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Beelzebud speaks

Posted on July 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Beelzebud speaks Larry wants to know what I think about this story that two MLB teams might not be able to meet payroll. Well, first and foremost is that I never believe a word that Beelzebud Selig says. Here’s a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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And the Democratic ticket for 2004 is…

Posted on July 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

And the Democratic ticket for 2004 is… Fellow member of the Houston Heights area Axis of Left-Leaning Bloggers Rob Humenik tantalizes us all with a hand-typed excerpt from the latest issue of Men’s Journal: The partnership [between Massachusettes Senator John … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Going to the dogs

Posted on July 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Liven up your next staff meeting by bringing your dog to the office. It’s good for you, according to a British psychologist. Well, it depends on the dog: [N]ot all canines are suitable for the dog-eat-dog world of business. Animals … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | Comments Off on Going to the dogs