Aaron Clarey: Defending Capitalism Lecture

Random Graph/Picture/Stuff Day

Thank you Google.

 

Jet Slalom, perhaps the greatest waste of time ever.

Worst. Content. Ever.

From the Notebook

-Last Thursday I attended the Rifftrax Live event in St. Cloud. It was Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (The final MST3K crew) doing a life riffing of “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and it included a short on airline travel and a couple of sci-fi related songs. It was a lot of fun; I haven’t laughed so hard since I saw “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.” If you haven’t yet, I’d also recommend following those guys on Twitter.

-Read the entire “Strategic Human Resources Management” by Armstrong (obviously as part of a class). All I can say is, I’m not an HR kind of guy.

-After a long time of avoiding Twitter, I’m now a strong proponent of this as a tool for writers. One, getting your point across in 140 characters or less is hard and requires good writing (which suprised me) and two, it’s actually helping me get back into producing some actual content (though it’s still just a trickle). I’ve integrated Twitter, Delicious, Facebook and this blog together so everything basically appears everywhere, giving my work maximum exposure. This not the only reason I like Twitter. I just like Twitter.

–

-”According to http://www.friendshipstats.com I have 292 friends, 172 more than average. 79% are male, 21% are female. 61 are single, 126 are dating or married. If I contracted a deadly variant of flu, I would likely infect 11 people, 1 of whom would d…ie. When I share something on Facebook, it is typically viewed by 22 people. If I died today, an estimated 446 people would try to attend my funeral. Based on my Facebook profile, I have a 91% probability of getting married. I am likely to earn US$3.6 million and have 2.3 children over my lifetime. Calculate your own stats at http://www.friendshipstats.com.”

I thought this was funny. I don’t even know 440 people, how could so many go to my funeral? And how about that 79/21 male to female ratio? Not sure how that translates into a 90%+ probability of getting married.

-I don’t buy a lot of books anymore. Since I graduated from college I really can’t afford it. But, I and my family owned so many books I’ve been able to burn through a huge portion of the family library, about 200 books. Now though, I’m running short on books that I want to read. Kindle time? (I have hundreds of PDF book files on my computer, so getting one the newer/better Kindle versions would save me money in the longrun.) I’m just asking for advice from any Kindle owners.

Random Graph/Picture/Stuff Day

It was so popular (in a google search sense) that I’m bringing it back:

Random Graph Day

I collect a lot of graphs off of the Internet. Normally I want to post these pictures up with some text (i.e. a blog post) but don’t always get the time. So, here are a bunch of graphs to look at:

Nothing better than violating copyright laws (uh, done for educational purposes and fair use, of course).

Who’s out in 2010?

Looking at the Twins 40-man roster, I see a bunch of players the Twins should/will/have to drop for next year:

Bobby Keppel
RA Dickey
Mike Redmond
Joe Crede
Orlando Cabrera
Matt Macri
Nick Punto
Matt Tolbert
Brian Buscher
Jason Pridie

Of these, Nick Punto is the one player I’d wager money on being here next year. In fact, I’d also wager that Punto will be the least valuable player in the majors next year (based on VORP/Win Shares).

Nick Punto–2010…A winner?

Knowing this:

Would you think this:

Was worth investing in?

If I had to predict Nick Punto’s 2010 OPS, it would be between .500 and .600. I would put it closer to .500. That’s terrible.

Nick Punto is on the downslope of his career, and with an expected dropoff coming soon, he should be dropped at the end of the year.

(*first graph is just an BA vs Career length age curve, the second is a graph of Nick Punto’s career OPS by year with two trendlines: a rolling average and best-fit curve.)

From the Notebook

-Hey, I’m on Twitter! I’ve also added the WP Twitter widget to the sidebar so those of you who still read blogs the old fashioned way (as I do) can now go to just one place to stalk me in my boring life. So far I’m actually seeing the appeal and usefulness of the app, something I didn’t expect.

-Read “Writing in a Convertible with the Top Down” by Killien & Bender. This book is a well circulated guide for writers. Not sure why. It’s writing is somewhere between saccharine and maudlin, with a touch of florid girlishness. In a word, terrible. I like reading books on writing. It’s a good habit for writers to continue to learn the trade. But wow, who thought this book was worth publishing? Written as letters between two writers (one a poet, the other a teacher/novelist), it was difficult to really appreciate anything about this book.

Conversations and Frustrations

Anonymous: I’m a conservative, but not a Republican.

Me: So you’re basically worthless.

Anonymous: No I’m not, I keep Republicans honest.

Me: No, you just make it so Republicans are “punished” by Democratic victories, which really just punishes everybody.

Anonymous: Without guys like me, the GOP can just be a liberal as it wants.

Me: Are you an idiot? Without conservatives, the GOP becomes more moderate and weaker.

Anonymous:I’m important damnit.

Me: You’re self-absorbed. Your “views” matter only once every 730.5 days. Otherwise nobody cares what you think.

Anonymous: But you do, or else you wouldn’t be talking to me.

Me: You’re the one who called me. Loser.

Abe the Lawyer

From LINCOLN’S YARNS AND STORIES by Alexander Kelly (via dailylit.com)

A PECULIAR LAWYER.

Lincoln was once associate counsel for a defendant in a murder case. He listened to the testimony given by witness after witness against his client, until his honest heart could stand it no longer; then, turning to his associate, he said: “The man is guilty; you defend him–I can’t,” and when his associate secured a verdict of acquittal, Lincoln refused to share the fee to the extent of one cent.

Lincoln would never advise clients to enter into unwise or unjust lawsuits, always preferring to refuse a retainer rather than be a party to a case which did not commend itself to his sense of justice.

A question, should all lawyers hold themselves up to Lincoln’s moral standard?