Fans? We're supposed to care about the FANS?

Teresa asks: What the Hell Is Wrong with the NFL?

...if they can't show entire games - I'm going to stop watching. I can get highlights off ESPN - there's no point in wasting my time getting interested in a game that I won't get to see to the end.

I was dialing around on the radio, and heard the Cleveland sports station– which does NOT carry the games– start its post-game-reaction call-in show,  thinking the game had finished.  Reversed final call = unexpected overtime = fiasco all around, but only to be expected.

Elsewhere:  Officials decide Dawson kick tied game before overtime victory

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Just 'kitten' around

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First-class bleatage today

Lileks is on fire! (in a good way...) Whaddaya call a Sour Baby Boomer? (No, I won't leak the answer, go read it.)

And if you're still here (why?), he's also taking on Garrison Keillor:

(GK:)  Back then, when newspapers were printed on paper, or what we now call "treeware," they were full of heinous stuff, a cold-blooded killer and his girlfriend Carol cruised through Nebraska murdering innocent people and you just knew he'd fry for it and he did, but long afterward you saw him lurking in the shadows behind the gas station, smoking a Lucky.

(JL:)  Back then, newspapers were not only printed on paper, they had editors who would say, “You need a period after ‘stuff.’”

All this plus a candidate for the clipfile. Just go read it, already.

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Mostly about Fail

Gizmodo pans NBC Direct.
C.G. Hill revisits Amazon Unbox.

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More ripping off buyers via DRM

This time it's Major League Baseball:

Allan Wood (a baseball megafan who has written a book about Babe Ruth) purchased over $280 worth of digital downloads of baseball games from Major League Baseball, who have just turned off their DRM server, leaving him with no way to watch his videos. MLB's position is that since these videos were "one time sales," and that means that Wood and everyone else who gave money to MLB is out of luck -- they'll never be able to watch their videos again. -- boingboing

In the comments, an interesting revelation:

That's funny, MLB's own FAQ [link in original - o.g.] on the subject says the license will exist forever:

7. Do I have to obtain a license every time I want to watch the downloaded video?

No. When you first try to play the video, a license will be distributed to you and stored by the player. Unless manually deleted, the license will exist forever and will be used when you try to watch the downloaded video on that machine. If you watch the video on a different machine, another license will be required.

Via: Consumerist, who flag it "Punishing the Ones Who Don't Steal."

Previously: Welcome to the brave new world of "unproperty"

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It's called post traumatic-stress syndrome

While spending hours in The Hottest Attic In The Universe, Johnny Virgil discovered the reason we've forgotten 70's style.


Via Matt via Tam

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Here, Piggy, Piggy, Piggy!

The Club For Growth's 2007 Senate RePORK Card is out:

Only three senators received a perfect score of 100% (and were present for a majority of the votes): Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Richard Burr (R-NC).

The only senator receiving a 0% was Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) who voted against all 10 anti-pork amendments he was present for.

The average Republican score was 59%; the average Democratic score was 12%.

The best scoring Democrat was Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) with an impressive 80%, tying with or scoring better than thirty-nine Republican senators.

Of the presidential candidates, John McCain scored the best (100%), but only managed to vote on two of the 15 measures tracked.

The complete scorecard is here. I've also linked it in the Useful Stuff section of the sidebar.
The Club released a scorecard for the House back in August. It's here.

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"If something doesn’t work I just do it again, and it does."

Lileks on the joys of beta software masquerading as finished product:

Apparently the main problem with the game is that people expect to play it on a computer different than the one the developers used... Apparently people are expected to download patches before they even play the game, which is a bit like releasing an album that does not contain the Middle C note, or a novel missing the vowel “E.” You can add them later! Or you can move along to something that actually works.

I am curious whether the company actually played the game before they released it.

Silly man!

BTW, I looked for the new book, but my neighborhood Barnes & Noble doesn't have it yet.  (I'll give 'em another week, then order it online.)  They did have Regrettable Food, though.

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Twin Cities bridge collapse: Design flaw?

I missed this, it's from mid-October:

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether 91-degree heat caused expansion that put too much pressure on the corroded gusset plates that held the I-35W span together.

Ten weeks into their probe of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, National Transportation Safety Board investigators have intensified their inspection of a long-corroded gusset plate that was located in the section of the bridge that fell first.

In addition, authorities are analyzing what role the 91-degree heat on Aug. 1 might have played in increasing stress on the already-weakened L-11 gusset plate, which connected four steel beams located near the bridge's south end.

In 1993, a state inspector found that the half-inch gusset plate had lost nearly half of its thickness in some spots due to corrosion along an 18-inch line, but no repairs were ordered, according to Minnesota Department of Transportation records.
...
...two of the three damaged gusset plates that appear to be of primary interest to the NTSB are half an inch thick. The thickness of gusset plates used in the bridge varied between half an inch and 1 inch. That could be an important issue, because a consulting firm hired by the state has said that some half-inch gusset plates may not have been strong enough to hold the bridge up.-- Star-Tribune, October 17, 2007

(More details in the original article.)

Now there's this:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said that investigators have a "working theory" of why the I-35W bridge collapsed: a poorly designed gusset plate and excessive weight on the bridge that day.
...
Peters' comments Thursday mirrored statements she made in August, a week after the collapse...

but...

NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. "We're also looking at the maintenance and repair history. We're looking at the de-icing fluids -- any role they may have played. We basically haven't ruled anything out yet."

So: It appears they know the point of failure, the question now is the reason.

The Star-Tribune's bridge coverage homepage is here.
November 1 story via buzz.mn.

Previously:

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About that "potential" inflation

Howard:

Among the corporations warning of lower profits due exclusively to commodity inflation include: P&G, Kraft Foods (already raised cheese prices 7% this year), the costs of almost all public transportation are about to be raised more than at any time in history, costs of all major construction projects to soar as a result of high diesel fuel costs, business travel costs soar too.

Big Picture:

Gee, who woulda thought that cutting rates yet again would spark another round of dollar weakness AND commodity inflation?

Stagflationary Mark:

The new I-Bond rate was released today. The (real) rate dropped from 1.3% to 1.2% (it is set every six months). I once again ask, if we are so prosperous right now then how come we're not seeing it ...?
Real yields seem to have peaked, again.
The Great Depression saw real yields go up as people hoarded dollars as prices fell. The 1970s saw real yields go down as people hoarded goods as prices rose.

The price for regular gas at the station down the block jumped 15¢– that's 5%– yesterday.

Earlier: Economic malaise and shooting yourself in the foot

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