All of that mishegass you & Meyerson have with Fecesbook is why I've never had anything to do with it! I truly hate that disgusting, really weird, self hating schande Zuckerberg!
As for the I Pass sticker thing, is the sticker also good for the rest of the EZ Pass system? Why fix what wasn't broken?
And that was again, a bad group of Quips this week.
The sticker is good for the EZ Pass system. The sticker has both I-Pass and EZ Pass logos on it. (Just got one yesterday).
And while I am not as agitated about Facebook as GSC, I almost entirely gave it up about 18 months ago, and my life has been a lot sweeter as a result. I do miss some of the baby pictures, though.
We have a sticker, mounted as directed. We drove to the east coast in August, and the tollbooths at 2 of the 3 toll plazas in West Virginia could not read the sticker. We just slowed down as usual at the first toll, fortunately at a manned booth, and did not get the “paid” signal. The toll collector told us they had problems with the stickers.
"Remember, the stakes here are comparatively low. No matter how this election turns out, Mayor Johnson will still control at least 11 of the 21 seats on the newly expanded school board."
I think the stakes are a bit higher because, once someone becomes an incumbent, they tend to win future elections. So the 10 members who are selected this time will be at an advantage to be re-elected when the whole board is at stake.
We have two cars and one iPass transponder. We just keep the iPass in the car which we use the most for highway driving. If you have a transponder account, you can register the license plates of your other cars and, if they go through a toll without the transponder, they automatically match it to the account.
They now charge a small fee if you do this too many times in a month, but if you don't drive one car that often on the highway, it works fine.
That's great until the battery in the transponder dies, as there is no way to recharge or replace it. I had to go with the sticker for that very reason (even though my transponder was supposed to last until next June).
My transponder has an expiration date of May 2022, and continues to operate just fine. Go figure. But I also plan to just keep using it until it croaks.
I really don't understand the Byzantine rules about the I-Pass. In days of old, If we are driving together and you didn't have change for the toll, you might as me to lend you some coin. How is that different from my bringing my I-Pass along on our road trip?
and what if my car is in the shop and i have a loaner? am I really supposed to get another transponder?
At my dealership, the loaners come with transponders—their treat. I assume this ends up getting incorporated into the overall fees they charge, but their cost can’t be much more than for the complimentary coffee machine in their waiting room. (Coffee’s not bad, either!)
You can just add license plates to your toll account. Then, when the cars go through without a transponder, they get matched to your account. I've done this with rental cars and relatives from out of state.
If the NFL (at EZ's suggestion) goes to a 4th point for long field goals, shouldn't they also go to 2 points for chip shots after some lilly livered coach won't try for a first down with 4th and inches on the 3 yard line?
Of the two quips I thought were at least mildly amusing this week, one is polling first and the other ninth. Can’t believe more people didn’t find the Temu sushi quip funny.
You're right. Being of that demographic, while I know what sushi is, I don't know what Temu Sushi is. And Google doesn't either. When I looked it up, it says: "There isn't much info about Temu sushi right now, but here are some types of sushi." So, please explain to this geezerette. Thank you.
Temu is a Chinese online company (think Amazon) which features many VERY low cost items - but a significant percentage of them turn out to be of poor quality (apparently). The youngs - who are looking for a deal - buy through Temu at their peril.
The quote from Wikipedia regarding home team identification notes "citation needed." I think that's because there is no citation - somebody just made it up. So let me make one up. I think the home team appears to the left or bottom of a scoring box because that's the way we say it: "New York Mets at Chicago Cubs." Mets appears first, followed by Cubs.
Regarding limiting comments to paid subscribers (an idea I subscribe to), I note that at least by word count, 7 or 8 readers produce about 90% of the commentary. Assuming that these folks (us folks) are not a large fraction of the paid subscriber population, shouldn’t EZ be encouraging comment from a broader swath of his paid subscribers? Limiting comments to, say, 500 words might help too.
Good lord, no. This is a Statistic of the Second Type. Statistics of the First Type are calculated. Statistics of the Second Type are made up. But that doesn't mean they aren't true.
Re: the football discussion. I have an idea for when two teams are tied and go into overtime. They should just alternate the after touchdown 2-point play. Each team gets a shot and they go back and forth until one team makes it and one team doesn’t. It would be very exciting and overtime would not last very long, so easy on the players.
It would be quicker if both teams used the same end of the field (coin toss?), so the officials weren’t running back and forth the whole length of the field after every play. Of course, if there’s a round of commercials between each play… …
Eric, I found your discussion on field goal kicking very interesting. However, I think you missed one important factor, the rise of domed stadiums.
It would be interesting to compare accuracy in domed stadiums versus open stadiums.
Then also compare accuracy in open stadiums with no wind, rain or snow versus when there were significant wind, snow and rain conditions.
Temperature conditions, I know they try to keep the ball warm. But if the temp is below zero and the opposing team calls timeout to ice the kicker (and the ball?) is that significant for accuracy?
Last, the holders and long snappers…have they gotten better in helping the kicker as well?
Shout out to Kmet, kickers need a holder and long snapper to complete the kick. Santos doesn’t get three without a competent long snapper.
the Yahoo article Zorn links to addresses this. Loosely paraphrasing, for a long time, kicking was an afterthought and a kicker might not have a dedicated Long snapper. They had other duties to focus on.
If you take away the “calendar month” part of the question, the best 30 days of sports runs from mid-March to mid-April: NCAA tourney, NBA games that matter, opening day for MLB and NHL (where every fan starts with fresh hope), and the Masters golf tournament. Maybe some NASCAR thing in there too but not my jam. Throw in the anticipation of warm weather soon and there you have it!
NHL in mid-March to mid-April is when teams are trying to position themselves for the playoffs, the season starts in October. That makes mid-March to Mid-April an even better month for sports (soccer is also in the mix), but lack of NFL is a downside.
Oops! Thanks for correcting that! My typing fingers left my brain— NBA and NHL are on similar schedules so yes, that does makes the time even better. As for the NFL, the games are over, but the league recently has been masterful at providing grist for the mill all year: April is draft-prep season.
WOW, I forgot about Sonia Dada--this song is stunning. What a shame they didn't hit it big like they deserved! Gonna start playing them on Apple Music--which I have because after my kids glomming onto my Netflix, Hulu and HBO, my daughter created an Apple family, added me, and now I can glom off her Apple Music. I thought I was getting by just fine with music I owned, but it's pretty great actually. BTW, this Apple family thing is great--everyone in our Apple family can also, for instance, watch the movies I've bought, etc.
Same! Loved the song; so happy to hear it again. Really surprised to read it was a hit in Australia but barely registered here given that I am not, and never have been a great follower of good music yet I remember it well and loved their sound so assumed it was a big hit.
Peter, I was thinking the same thing. I listened yesterday to an Emmy Lou Harris-Roy Orbison song ("That Lovin' You Feeling Again") and thinking it would be a great suggestion for Song of the Week. But it's from 1980. All of the songs I think of are very much pre-2000.
There was a song that I was going to nominate about a month ago that seemed very relevant in light of the ongoing issue of xenophobia and vilification of immigrants, but didn’t because it was recorded 20 years before the cut off date. So I’ll do it now.
My nomination for Tune of the Week is “Witch Hunt” by Rush from their 1980 album Moving Pictures (great triple entendre album cover). It’s a great layered rock song with lyrics that are a masterwork of allegory. The sounds of a vigilante mob scene precede the opening chords, propelling from there into the song’s two verses: the first seems to describe a scene from Salem, circa 1692. The second one blows the song open and lays plain what the lyrics are really about. Listen, think, and enjoy! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hp2IsN6tdM
I had an idea a few years ago to award the team kicking off three points (like a regular field goal) for getting it through the uprights, with the caveat that the receiving team would get to start at the 40-yard line (similar to kicking off out of bounds). Even with the new kickoff rules, I think this would still be an interesting idea (especially since a touchback in the "landing zone," i.e. not in the endzone, means getting the ball at the 20-yard line instead of the 30).
The only reason I could think of for tying toll transponders to specific cars is fraud prevention. As with all electronics, I assume that it is possible to clone a transponder or sticker. I have never actually heard of such a thing happening. But there have been the usual phishing scams using emails about unpaid tolls.
The other reason that I have heard discussed is to allow speed 'management'. The system can compute the average speed of a vehicle between toll locations. This allows for information about usage but would also allow ticketing.
I resisted using the i-pass, as an obvious way for the government to track my movements, until I got tired of the delay in paying tolls at a booth or coin bin. My wife and I also did frequent road trips and it was really convenient for all of the eastern toll agencies. Especially tunnels and bridges. So, as with many things, we give up our privacy for convenience or small monetary savings. I still haven't linked or registered my Ventra card.
I believe when they passed the legislation for the I-Pass system, language was added to keep the state from using the transponder data for speeding tickets. That doesn't mean they couldn't just change the law now that adoption is nearly universal (and it surprises me they haven't, to be honest). If there's one thing Illinois lawmakers love it's finding new revenue sources.
All of that mishegass you & Meyerson have with Fecesbook is why I've never had anything to do with it! I truly hate that disgusting, really weird, self hating schande Zuckerberg!
As for the I Pass sticker thing, is the sticker also good for the rest of the EZ Pass system? Why fix what wasn't broken?
And that was again, a bad group of Quips this week.
The sticker is good for the EZ Pass system. The sticker has both I-Pass and EZ Pass logos on it. (Just got one yesterday).
And while I am not as agitated about Facebook as GSC, I almost entirely gave it up about 18 months ago, and my life has been a lot sweeter as a result. I do miss some of the baby pictures, though.
We have a sticker, mounted as directed. We drove to the east coast in August, and the tollbooths at 2 of the 3 toll plazas in West Virginia could not read the sticker. We just slowed down as usual at the first toll, fortunately at a manned booth, and did not get the “paid” signal. The toll collector told us they had problems with the stickers.
"Remember, the stakes here are comparatively low. No matter how this election turns out, Mayor Johnson will still control at least 11 of the 21 seats on the newly expanded school board."
I think the stakes are a bit higher because, once someone becomes an incumbent, they tend to win future elections. So the 10 members who are selected this time will be at an advantage to be re-elected when the whole board is at stake.
We have two cars and one iPass transponder. We just keep the iPass in the car which we use the most for highway driving. If you have a transponder account, you can register the license plates of your other cars and, if they go through a toll without the transponder, they automatically match it to the account.
They now charge a small fee if you do this too many times in a month, but if you don't drive one car that often on the highway, it works fine.
That's great until the battery in the transponder dies, as there is no way to recharge or replace it. I had to go with the sticker for that very reason (even though my transponder was supposed to last until next June).
My transponder has an expiration date of May 2022, and continues to operate just fine. Go figure. But I also plan to just keep using it until it croaks.
I really don't understand the Byzantine rules about the I-Pass. In days of old, If we are driving together and you didn't have change for the toll, you might as me to lend you some coin. How is that different from my bringing my I-Pass along on our road trip?
and what if my car is in the shop and i have a loaner? am I really supposed to get another transponder?
At my dealership, the loaners come with transponders—their treat. I assume this ends up getting incorporated into the overall fees they charge, but their cost can’t be much more than for the complimentary coffee machine in their waiting room. (Coffee’s not bad, either!)
You can just add license plates to your toll account. Then, when the cars go through without a transponder, they get matched to your account. I've done this with rental cars and relatives from out of state.
You just need to remember to delete loaner license plates afterwards, so you’re not paying for the next guy’s tolls.
When you are setting up a new vehicle on your account, they actually have an option to add an end date for rental or temporary vehicles.
If the NFL (at EZ's suggestion) goes to a 4th point for long field goals, shouldn't they also go to 2 points for chip shots after some lilly livered coach won't try for a first down with 4th and inches on the 3 yard line?
Of the two quips I thought were at least mildly amusing this week, one is polling first and the other ninth. Can’t believe more people didn’t find the Temu sushi quip funny.
Perhaps the demographic of Eric's readership are unfamiliar with Temu? (You and I chose the same QoTW entries; and, like you, I only selected 2.)
You're right. Being of that demographic, while I know what sushi is, I don't know what Temu Sushi is. And Google doesn't either. When I looked it up, it says: "There isn't much info about Temu sushi right now, but here are some types of sushi." So, please explain to this geezerette. Thank you.
Temu is a Chinese online company (think Amazon) which features many VERY low cost items - but a significant percentage of them turn out to be of poor quality (apparently). The youngs - who are looking for a deal - buy through Temu at their peril.
i selected only 3 from Thu's issue of the PS. this was certainly on the low end of PS Quip votes for me.
but my # of selections by week has been broad & varied - high standard deviation, if i recall the term correctly.
The quote from Wikipedia regarding home team identification notes "citation needed." I think that's because there is no citation - somebody just made it up. So let me make one up. I think the home team appears to the left or bottom of a scoring box because that's the way we say it: "New York Mets at Chicago Cubs." Mets appears first, followed by Cubs.
Regarding limiting comments to paid subscribers (an idea I subscribe to), I note that at least by word count, 7 or 8 readers produce about 90% of the commentary. Assuming that these folks (us folks) are not a large fraction of the paid subscriber population, shouldn’t EZ be encouraging comment from a broader swath of his paid subscribers? Limiting comments to, say, 500 words might help too.
The comments are the best part!
I find that the comments chew up a lot of time. So, I assume that non-commenters have other things to do.
Did you actually download all of the comments in the PS and count words by commenter? If so, then that's pretty cool.
Good lord, no. This is a Statistic of the Second Type. Statistics of the First Type are calculated. Statistics of the Second Type are made up. But that doesn't mean they aren't true.
Re: the football discussion. I have an idea for when two teams are tied and go into overtime. They should just alternate the after touchdown 2-point play. Each team gets a shot and they go back and forth until one team makes it and one team doesn’t. It would be very exciting and overtime would not last very long, so easy on the players.
It would be quicker if both teams used the same end of the field (coin toss?), so the officials weren’t running back and forth the whole length of the field after every play. Of course, if there’s a round of commercials between each play… …
That's what they do after 2 OTs in college
Eric, I found your discussion on field goal kicking very interesting. However, I think you missed one important factor, the rise of domed stadiums.
It would be interesting to compare accuracy in domed stadiums versus open stadiums.
Then also compare accuracy in open stadiums with no wind, rain or snow versus when there were significant wind, snow and rain conditions.
Temperature conditions, I know they try to keep the ball warm. But if the temp is below zero and the opposing team calls timeout to ice the kicker (and the ball?) is that significant for accuracy?
Last, the holders and long snappers…have they gotten better in helping the kicker as well?
Shout out to Kmet, kickers need a holder and long snapper to complete the kick. Santos doesn’t get three without a competent long snapper.
the Yahoo article Zorn links to addresses this. Loosely paraphrasing, for a long time, kicking was an afterthought and a kicker might not have a dedicated Long snapper. They had other duties to focus on.
I think that they should ban any field goal from past the 50 yard line.
Years ago I asked my wife if she heard the score for the White Sox game.She said they won 6 to 7.
If you take away the “calendar month” part of the question, the best 30 days of sports runs from mid-March to mid-April: NCAA tourney, NBA games that matter, opening day for MLB and NHL (where every fan starts with fresh hope), and the Masters golf tournament. Maybe some NASCAR thing in there too but not my jam. Throw in the anticipation of warm weather soon and there you have it!
NHL in mid-March to mid-April is when teams are trying to position themselves for the playoffs, the season starts in October. That makes mid-March to Mid-April an even better month for sports (soccer is also in the mix), but lack of NFL is a downside.
Oops! Thanks for correcting that! My typing fingers left my brain— NBA and NHL are on similar schedules so yes, that does makes the time even better. As for the NFL, the games are over, but the league recently has been masterful at providing grist for the mill all year: April is draft-prep season.
WOW, I forgot about Sonia Dada--this song is stunning. What a shame they didn't hit it big like they deserved! Gonna start playing them on Apple Music--which I have because after my kids glomming onto my Netflix, Hulu and HBO, my daughter created an Apple family, added me, and now I can glom off her Apple Music. I thought I was getting by just fine with music I owned, but it's pretty great actually. BTW, this Apple family thing is great--everyone in our Apple family can also, for instance, watch the movies I've bought, etc.
Same! Loved the song; so happy to hear it again. Really surprised to read it was a hit in Australia but barely registered here given that I am not, and never have been a great follower of good music yet I remember it well and loved their sound so assumed it was a big hit.
Eric, you keep asking for music year 2000 and after and then breaking the rule by finding tunes prior to 2000.
Okay by me, but why have the rule? Better yet, ask for post 2000 music for one section and then anything prior to 2000 in another.
I am old school (1960s) going backwards. Right now I am so far back I am listening to songs/ music written in medieval times. Very interesting.
Also I listen to a lot of Bollywood stuff and current Japanese girl groups- Band Maid for example.
Why not have a pre-2000 music section?
Peter, I was thinking the same thing. I listened yesterday to an Emmy Lou Harris-Roy Orbison song ("That Lovin' You Feeling Again") and thinking it would be a great suggestion for Song of the Week. But it's from 1980. All of the songs I think of are very much pre-2000.
I agree, that is an excellent suggestion!
There was a song that I was going to nominate about a month ago that seemed very relevant in light of the ongoing issue of xenophobia and vilification of immigrants, but didn’t because it was recorded 20 years before the cut off date. So I’ll do it now.
My nomination for Tune of the Week is “Witch Hunt” by Rush from their 1980 album Moving Pictures (great triple entendre album cover). It’s a great layered rock song with lyrics that are a masterwork of allegory. The sounds of a vigilante mob scene precede the opening chords, propelling from there into the song’s two verses: the first seems to describe a scene from Salem, circa 1692. The second one blows the song open and lays plain what the lyrics are really about. Listen, think, and enjoy! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hp2IsN6tdM
I had an idea a few years ago to award the team kicking off three points (like a regular field goal) for getting it through the uprights, with the caveat that the receiving team would get to start at the 40-yard line (similar to kicking off out of bounds). Even with the new kickoff rules, I think this would still be an interesting idea (especially since a touchback in the "landing zone," i.e. not in the endzone, means getting the ball at the 20-yard line instead of the 30).
The only reason I could think of for tying toll transponders to specific cars is fraud prevention. As with all electronics, I assume that it is possible to clone a transponder or sticker. I have never actually heard of such a thing happening. But there have been the usual phishing scams using emails about unpaid tolls.
The other reason that I have heard discussed is to allow speed 'management'. The system can compute the average speed of a vehicle between toll locations. This allows for information about usage but would also allow ticketing.
I resisted using the i-pass, as an obvious way for the government to track my movements, until I got tired of the delay in paying tolls at a booth or coin bin. My wife and I also did frequent road trips and it was really convenient for all of the eastern toll agencies. Especially tunnels and bridges. So, as with many things, we give up our privacy for convenience or small monetary savings. I still haven't linked or registered my Ventra card.
I believe when they passed the legislation for the I-Pass system, language was added to keep the state from using the transponder data for speeding tickets. That doesn't mean they couldn't just change the law now that adoption is nearly universal (and it surprises me they haven't, to be honest). If there's one thing Illinois lawmakers love it's finding new revenue sources.