So, last week, I emailed TMQ a far fetched conspiracy theory about Belichick and the Pats. I did it thinking in the off chance that Belichick retires after this season, TMQ would recall the message. I wrote:
"I have a theory about why no one has disclosed what was on the Patriots secret tapes and why Bill Belichick is running up the score. Here me out:
"The evidence of cheating was so serious and longstanding that the NFL did not want to reveal the extent of it and alienate its fans. If Goodell had forced Belichick to resign immediately, fans would have suspected something was up. So perhaps Goodell and Bilichick have reached an agreement that Belichick will "retire" at the end of the season if the NFL does not reveal the extent of his past cheating. Goodell holds this over Belichick's head, but really it's a win-win. Now, faced with limited time, Belichick feels compelled to run up the score and drive margins of victory to historic levels so that he will be remembered as one of the best in history."
Seems like a pretty straight forward email about the Patriots, right? Well, TMQ referenced my email in this way:
"On Beli-Cheat, Dave Decker in Houston asks a question posed by many readers: Why hasn't a single one of the other 31 NFL owners [actually, 30, plus the shareholders of the Packers] said a thing about the league's mysterious late-night destruction of the Belichick files? Could it be, he wonders, that in the files there was evidence of teams other than the Patriots cheating -- maybe many other teams -- so the rest of the clubs decided to lie low, hoping the press would forget about this? If so, it does seem to be working."
Huh? I was just trying to extend the Jordan gambling/retiring theory to Belichick in a ridiculously speculative way. -decker
That IPod chick has a concert on MSN Music's In Concert series. Obviously, I think it's worth the 50 minutes. This was recorded during her latest tour. On a side note, is there a more dead crowd than an "indie" crowd that's not being ironic? -jm
And really, who could blame them. This might be NSFW, but only if your work is some horrible place that doesn't want you to look at Maria Sharapova's crotch. -jm
Giliani ad about prostate cancer just straight up wrong. He cites completely inaccurate prostate cancer survival stats to justify US health care vs. the UK's. I guess I could see how this might happen, but the most ridiculous and telling part is the end:
Asked if Mr. Giuliani would continue to repeat the statistic, and if the advertisement would continue to run, Ms. Comella responded by e-mail: “Yes. We will.”
For those of you who will be in Pittsburgh this weekend for the wedding, here are the plans for nightlife. Please spread the word and feel free to invite whoever...
The Friday night get together will start at Doc's in Shadyside (map) and probably move across the street to the Shady Grove around Midnight. I would shoot to be at Doc's around 8:30 to 9pm... we should have an area set aside for our use on the second floor, although we may just have to stake a claim to our own spot (which won't be too difficult). The rehearsal dinner attendees will be coming to Doc's directly from the dinner, so we will meet you there.
After the reception on Saturday, buses will be stopping at hotels to drop off any weaklings and then immediately continuing on to Bar Louie in Station Square (map).
As for Sunday, if you are sticking around to watch the 1pm games, we have the second floor of The Buckhead Saloon in Station Square (map) reserved. Parking is available in Station Square and please try to show up between 12:30 - 1.
Jon Stewart paying writers' salaries during strike. For two weeks, anyway. This apparently includes the writers for The Report. Take this with a grain of salt as it's only verified by an "inside source". -hendrix
EconTalk podcast with Arnold King, who has a new book on the subject. They discuss some of the ideas that I mentioned in the 2nd paragraph of this post. They also mention this point briefly about how employer provided health insurance lowers your salary. They don't think our system is all bad though, as it encourages rapid innovation, albeit at a high cost. They discuss how health insurance is the opposite of most other types of insurance: most insurance involves low premiums covering rare, but expensive events. I was going to continue sharing notes from the discussion, but most of it is really good and thoughtful, so I suggest listening if you want to be more knowlegeable about health care.
One reason I dislike podcasts is that you cannot skim them easily, but there is a guide to the podcast highlights down the page if you don't want to spend the full hour. -decker
About 17 percent plunked down between a penny and $4, far below the $12 and $15 retail price of a CD. The next largest group (12 percent) was willing to pay between $8 and $12--the cost of most albums at Apple's iTunes is $9.99. They were followed by the 6 percent who paid between $4.01 and $8 and 4 percent coughed up between $12 and $20.
The survey uses a combined score of health indicators and policy questions to rank all 50 states. Obesity rates, tobacco and alcohol use, and high school graduation rates are accounted for, as are state laws and regulations promoting better health. The survey measures access to health services and also environmental issues like pollution, infectious disease rates, and crime.
Vagina education from the Tyra Banks. If this is what is on TV while I'm at work, that househusband thing isn't looking so promising. From barstoolsports. -jm
From ryan: Karen asked if I could pass this on because she was into the helicopters voting. This is a much smaller version of that. But she got into a radio contest to have a chance to sing with this guy. She sang yesteday for them, but I missed it. I hoped they would have some sort of playback ability on the site but that doesn't seem to be the case. Anyway, voting runs until noon tomorrow so any help you offer would be appreciated. She is the last name on the bottom.
Luhrman planned to ship the post-1982 "worthless" pennies, which are 95 percent zinc, to areas of the country with penny shortages. He estimated he could save the government $5.25 million in the first 90 days of his operation by shuttling his surplus to markets with shortages, instead of having the mint stamp new ones.
He was also planning to melt pre-1982 pennies to sell the copper. But then the government banned the melting of pennies. -decker
From Rollins: Does anybody here have any awesome ideas for Christmas gifts? For some reason this year I am drawing a complete blank for numerous people.
And a debate about organ markets between Julio Elias and Al Roth. Al Roth gives a google talk about market design (including the market for kidneys about 30 minutes into it) here.
Al Roth used the public's repugnance to the sale of kidneys as a constraint on his proposal. This idea is countered here. The idea of repugnance reminds me of my view of social conservatives.
Thought this was interesting from last week's Economist:
Republicans and Democrats both think Iraq is very important but have very different ideas about our past and future there. The most disturbing thing on here (to me) is how many Republicans and Democrats think creationism should be taught in schools. Although I guess it merely confirms my belief that over half of American voters are morons. -decker
Where Mexicans go...Companies fall Wed Nov 14 2007
From Danny - So after my wonderful intern stint at Knowledge Strategies (KStrat to all you on the inside), I thought it would be funny to see what has happened at Atari after I was working there as an intern there.
Joe adds: For anyone wondering why I get phone calls twice a year at 6pm on Friday nights with random strangers telling me where they're from, their major, and their favorite sexual position, move the timeline to September 22, 1999 and watch A Daily Show Tale of Survival: Parts 1 and 2. -jm
Nice little opinion piece in the Times about gas taxes. Thanks to Rollins for this one.
I do favor a gasoline tax phased in over 12 months. But let’s get one thing straight: My opponent and I are both for a tax. I just prefer that my taxes go to the U.S. Treasury, and he’s ready to see his go to the Russian, Venezuelan, Saudi and Iranian treasuries. His tax finances people who hate us. Mine would offset some of our payroll taxes, pay down our deficit, strengthen our dollar, stimulate energy efficiency and shore up Social Security. It’s called win-win-win-win-win for America.
The image Miolla tried to post showed up with the message, "If You See This Image... It's Because Some Dickhead Tried to Steal Bandwidth from irserious.com." I assume it was supposed to be an image, but it's from the same man who posted this, so I can't really tell...
...this is the real reason we need to adopt higher efficiency standards. Some industry experts are predicting that oil production will plateau around 2012. Of course, there have always been predictions of doom and gloom about oil supplies, but this one involves production capabilities rather than the total amount of oil left in the Earth. It's also a bad sign when some in OPEC subscribe to the theory:
Even some officials from member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has long insisted on its ability to supply the world with fuel for decades hence, are breaking ranks and forecasting limits.
Of course, worries about oil shortages drive up its price, so maybe it's in OPEC's interest to predict shortages. But, if true, we can probably expect World War III to break out over oil sometime around 2012. -decker
Hey, Doc, what's this growth on my arm? Tue Nov 20 2007
From ab: Seems like this is the direction they should have been headed in the first place. It eliminates the complications of rejections, plus you won't smell like somebody else.
The Last Great Mystery in the Age of the InternetsWed Nov 21 2007
The one brother's request I would give was to find out the origin of the Beastie Boys sample involving a "mashed potatoes." All of you failed me. However, up until now, even the internet has failed me. As recently as April, I was listening to some obscure 60's African American comedy to no avail (I didn't get it). Behold, the origin revealed. You can bring your black books to me. I'll sign them now. -jm
...gotten a recent surge of spam that hasn't been filtered by gmail? Like a lot of ebay stuff? Gmail's filter is still better than hotmail's, but a lots been getting through the last few days... -decker
Thompson and Huckabee are unintelligent, Giuliani's a strong leader, and no one (according to the majority) is honest, competent, reliable, moral, or uses good judgment. Sounds about right.
Also, I've been wondering how many Americans vote because they want a candidate to lose. In other words, I assume a partiularly polarizing candidate actually increases the voting participation of the other party. On page 8 of the poll details, it shows that Hilary would command 45% to Giuliani's 42% in a presidential election, but we have no idea how likely the poll participants are to vote. The last page, you'll see that the Republican primary voters gave Hilary the lowest score in almost every category, and that she received the highest participation among Republican voters. The Democrats view of Giuliani isn't nearly as harsh.
I couldn't figure out how to log out of economist.com, so I don't know if the pdf was available or not. If the link doesn't work, try this. -decker
From polega: College-student-cum-porn-star disappears. I knew I should have gone to a state school. And yes, Bean, I wrote that like that just for you...and I think it's even valid english.
Best quote from TFA: "Sander's brother, Jacob Sander, confirmed that the nude woman pictured on the site is his sister."
I got 600 dollars in the bank, motherf*cker! Fri Nov 30 2007
Brian E emailed this video:
Here's his site. He even has a "2 Girls 1 Cup" song. I tried watch a few of the skits, and they weren't great. Seems like he's doing a Will Farrell/Michael Ian Black impression. -decker
From Jay Park: 
