My Over-Thought/Over-Reaching Metaphor of America

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


I'll post the YouTube clip, you can think about a possible metaphor, and scroll down to see if it's similar to mine. The clip is worksafe and is a tv commercial from 2007 you've probably seen before.




I think this clip sums up what's wrong with America.

There are plenty great things about our country, but I think this neatly sums up the bad stuff. It hits upon: vapid celebrity glamorization, talentless people becoming celebrities, consumer culture, the acceptability of ignorance, sex selling, using all of the aforementioned to sell a product that encourages sloth, and in the clip she is dressed as her Daisy Duke character- which is a from a warrantless movie-ization of a television classic that highlights what is rotten in the state of Hollywood.

While Ms. Simpson gained initial (semi) stardom from a music career, she become a mega-watt celebrity from a reality show. What about her on the show made her famous? Her marked stupidity and large boobies. She parlayed these two (well, three, I guess) into a career that was long on commercialism and short on talent. Because she is pretty yet untalented, her team of handlers found projects for her- largely products that already existed for her to do again, worse than the originals, and sell to American consumers. She re-did a Goldie Hawn movie, the Dukes of Hazard, and the only song of hers I can recall is her remake of Berlin's Take My Breath Away, which no one felt needed to be redone. Had she been more talented, she could have written her own songs or been signed to original movies. She wasn't, so didn't.

I'm not trying to put her down personally, I don't blame her for accepting what people offered to her. The reason this clip is a metaphor is because of her system of handlers who perpetuated such crass commercialism.

What resulted from her unoriginality? DirectTV said, "Wow, people will respect her as an authority figure regarding their selection of cable providers. Sure, we could have a respected intellectual cite polling data that shows the popularity of our product, or even hard evidence of our product's superiority, but would people listen to them? Sex sells beer, clothing, beauty products, grooming accessories, eye glasses, I bet it can sell cable television too! But we'll have to parlay her stupidity into something useful. Maybe we'll have her recite some technical mumbo jumbo that consumers don't understand, and instead of educating the consumer, we'll imply that their understanding is unimportant, no, glamorous! Yeah, that's it! Our message will be- let other people think for you, especially a famously unintelligent woman with big boobies!"

And maybe it worked. I have no idea how successful, or not, this advertising campaign was for DirectTv.

Two years later Ms. Simpson is now known primarily as a pop culture puppet whose career is currently in a tailspin. But there is good news- Hollywood is still cranking out prefab movies, the test scores of American students continue to hit all-time lows relative to other countries, and new celebrity puppets are popping up all the time.









That's how I roll.

Thanks for Coming out, Wolf Blitzer.

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

Wolf Blitzer- the least trusted name on Jeopardy.

While watching Conan the other night I saw them show Andy Richter's Celebrity Jeopardy rehearsal. It was Andy, Dana Delaney and Wolf Blitzer. In the rehearsal (shown below) Andy beat the pants off the other two, which didn't shock me- the funniest person in the room is often the overall smartest. What did surprise me is what a wooden moron Wolf Blitzer is. I used to think that he was relatively quiet on his show out of respect for his guests and deferring to them as often as he could. Now I think he just has nothing to say. He finished Double Jeopardy in BOTH the rehearsal and the actual Jeopardy episode's with a negative dollar amount.

The show is basically The Andy Richter show, with an occasionally outlandishly wrong Blitzer answer. At times I thought, "Jeez Andy, shut up and let someone else talk." before realizing it wasn't a conversation but a competition.

To quote G.W. Bush, "Wolfie, You're doing a heck of a job."


The Rehearsal


The Actual Episode Part 1


Part 2



Wolfie, keep effin' that chicken.











That's how I roll.

Part 2 of the Grant Achatz 8-Piece Column for Atlantic

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


I liked the first installment better, but I figured I'd post the second one anyway.

Here it is.






That's how I roll.

Ernie Anastos, I Didn't Realize Anchors are Allowed to say That

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

This video contains the F-Word, so it's probably not worksafe. Being that it contains a vulgarity, I promise to be offended once I stop laughing. I wish the punchline weren't written atop the YouTube window, because it would be hilarious if you didn't know it was coming.

Great Work, Ernie Anastos






That's how I roll.

About That Little Girl That Threw Back the Foul Ball

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

I'm sure most people have seen the clip by now about the little girl at the Phillies game. Whenever I saw it replayed on television the presenters would say something like, "Can you believe it??" or, "Get this....now watch what she does with it...." as if we should be surprised.

Whenever you hand a child a ball what do you encourage them to do with it? Hold it? Put it in their pocket for later? No, you teach them to throw it. Then when the child throws it, you tell them that they did a good job as to encourage them to throw it again next time they have a ball.

Being that the father in the clip seemed to be a Phillies fan, and if he brought his daughter to a game, he probably hopes she will be a baseball fan as well. That being said, I'd imagine she had been handed a ball before and encouraged to throw it, FAR more times than she had been handed a ball and instructed to hold onto it. In fact, she'd probably never been allowed to hold onto a ball in public for that very reason.

I don't blame the father for handing her the ball- when you catch a foul ball, you handed it to the nearest kid, whether you know them or not. But I am not surprised that the little girl threw it, she thought that's what she was supposed to do with it.

As always, big ups to BF Skinner and Carl Rogers.







That's how I roll.

Eliot Spitzer Talking About the AIG Bailout and Goldman Sachs

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

He may have a randy wang, but he's about the only guy who can make a Wall Street Executive squirm under oath.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

That's how I roll.

Extending a Helping, Chimp Hand

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Click here to see Anjana's first appearance on Where Awesome Happens from 10/13/08






That's how I roll.

More Rationale for why Chicago Cannot Afford the Olympics

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter



I got a tweet from the Chicago Reader today linking to this article. It basically says that the city of Chicago is broke, Mayor Daley's approval rating is 35%. That article also links to this article, which has an attention-grabbing first paragraph to illustrate how broke the city is:

Earlier this month, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley released the latest round of alarming budget numbers, this time projecting a $300 million shortfall over the coming year. The deficit led City Hall to send out 1,500 pink slips to Chicago city workers, cuts which the Chicago Federation of Labor is still working to avert. In response to the news, Crain’s columnist Greg Hinz noted that the layoffs — if finalized — would only fill “about 10% of [the] hole in the city budget.” He went on to ask: “So, where’s the city going to get that kind of cash?”

That article is very informative, but the required reading for that article, which is also linked in that Chicago Reader article by Ben Joravsky, can be found here. It explains how the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) works. It's a rather shadowy and relatively unknown tax policy of Mayor Daley's, but is arguably his most insidious. I copied the most basic, short answer of what they are and pasted it below.

OK, one more time—let's review how this sucker works. When the City Council approves a TIF—always with Mayor Daley's blessing—it freezes the amount of property tax dollars the schools, the parks, the county, and other taxing bodies get from that district for 23 years. If the schools were getting $100 from a TIF district when it was created, that's roughly all they'll get until the TIF expires. Any extra tax money, generated by rising assessments or new development, goes into the TIF fund, which Mayor Daley is free to use largely as he wants.

Think about this. If the schools, parks, and county can only get $100 from a TIF district, what do they do when their expenses go up to $200? They have to raise their levies—the amounts they each get from the property tax pie—to compensate for the money diverted to the TIFs. When they do that, property taxes go up. No matter what the city tells you, TIFs are tax hikes, plain and simple—the more you create, the higher taxes go.

It might not be so bad if we only had three or four TIFs. But there are 156—and the city is proposing new ones every month. The existing TIFs divert at least $400 million a year in property taxes. At their current rate of growth, in a few years they'll be diverting more than $500 million a year.

You may be reading all of this and thinking, "Ok, is it really evil that your mayor has your tax dollars at his disposal?" The surprising answer is "yes". As mentioned above, Mayor Daley gets to do whatever he wants with this revenue. These are what finances a lot of his grandiose, heavily-reported-on expenditures. So while government employees are furloughed, and teachers are laid off, TIF funds paid for the new park on the South Side where Mayor Daley is seen cutting the ribbon, proclaiming his championdom of the impoverished, and kissing the babies.

So when he is the guy saying, "Look, just give Chicago the Olympics, and I'll find a responsible way to pay for it, that places minimal burden on the taxpayers. Would I lie to you?", it's difficult to believe.







That's how I roll.

More Synthetic Track Uncertainty

(that was just the first horse pic I randomly found in my pics folder. I'm pretty sure that isn't a synthetic grass surface that Ouija Board is on)

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


I didn't find anything about this article to be conclusive, but I'll pass it along anyway. It's a Chicago Tribune article about the synthetic surface at Arlington. The 2009 season has seen fewer equine breakdowns but has had two jockeys left paralyzed after falling from their horses. The article speculates about whether or not a synthetic surface is any less safe for jockeys to land on after falling off their mount.

The article can be found here.


One paragraph I found to contain some concrete info was:

Data released in 2008 from 2,235 injury reports showed virtually no difference in the fatality rates for horses racing on synthetic surfaces compared with conventional dirt. The information was presented at a safety summit at Keeneland.








That's how I roll.

Where Awesome Happens Fashion Column

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


I'm trying out a new column where I dispense fashion advice. Today's piece of advice is never look like this or this:


























That's all for today.









That's how I roll.

When Will MTV Change its Name to DTV- Drunk Television?

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


When MTV decided to not show much "M" on their TV channel they opted Real World-ize their network. What that really means is that their channel was centered upon showing drunk people.

Kanye West's drunken antics highlight MTV's formula perfectly- just shock the audience, the rest of the stuff is just filler.

Every year before the Video Music Awards and MTV Movie awards, MTV runs an hour long commercial for their upcoming show and disguise as something titled, "The 20 Most Shocking VMA Moments". Instead of celebrating artistic achievement in music, they choose to celebrate that one time that a guy from Rage Against the Machine climbed up on the set, acted desctructively and was arrested. That is what MTV wants you to remember about that night. Instead of whetting your appetite for an upcoming awards show by asking the potential viewer- will your favorite artist win an award, or will an artist give us a legendary performance, they show us that hour-long drivel in hopes we will ask ourself, "Will someone actually pee or poop on stage this year? I guess I'll have to tune in and see!"

As a kid I remember asking my dad what being drunk actually was, and what drunk people did differently than non-drunk people. I didn't know what "drunk" looked like. Thanks to The Real World and MTV, kids all over the country know exactly what it looks like

The Real World is based more on alcohol than it is reality, for years the formula of the show has been: Put good looking people with drinking problems and explosive personalities together, add alcohol. Lots of alcohol. What results is raw human emotion: fighting, crying and sex. Where MTV tries to pass that product off as allowing us to view this distilled humanity, all they're really doing is profiting from the drunk guy at a party. It is little surprise that recruits for these shows at bars, of all places. Funny how that works out.

What do people remember about the Real World? Not people who stopped being polite and started being real. Not young men and women growing as people as the result of living among people from different backgrounds- like MTV would have you believe. You remember the drunken fights, threesomes, arrests and hospital trips- none of which would have occurred without alcohol.

MTV's formula has worked. I wouldn't be talking about them now if Kanye had not had his outburst on Sunday. And he wouldn't have had that outburst if he were sober. While MTV got its shocking moment for the 2009 VMAs, and generated plenty of buzz, its means for getting said buzz is sad and tired.

I read a heartening article about how VH1 plans to scale back their reality show formula after a contestent on Megan Wants a Millionaire murdered his girlfriend then killed himself. Their formula was to take the crazy rejects from dating shows like I Love New York, Rock of Love, and Flavor of Love and create a reality show that highlights their alcohol-fueled crazy behavior. After the murder and subsequent suicide from one of their "stars" VH1 is re-thinking their formula.

When experts are trying to figure out why binge drinking on college campuses is at an all-time high, I hope they consider MTV's formula. An 18-year old college freshman has never known a world that didn't glamorize drunken behavior on television. Maybe one day if they party hard enough and hone their skills as being the drunken loose cannon they can be among the national elite of their craft and appear on the Real World. Or the Hills.

I would be willing to bet that MTV spends more time showing drunk people than they do music videos- that's certainly true during Primetime. Why not just come clean and change their name to DTV?












That's how I roll.

I liked this Article

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

I got saw this when from my ChicagoReader Twitter feed.

It's by Chicago chef/restauranteur Grant Achatz. And no offense, but there is a very good chance he is a better chef than you are. His Chicago restaurant, Alinea, was voted the best restaurant in America last year by the James Beard Foundation. In this article, the first of an eight part series, he talks abou the importance of wine and food pairings.

His first installment is about when he first discovered the two can be paired symbiotically, and he realized it wasn't just BS. I thought the article was cool because he was once skeptical of the concept of pairings being so important, even though he is as accomplished as chef can be.

Anyway, here is the article.








That's how I roll.

Chris Collinsworth's Courtship Musings

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter



I'm afraid that if I preview this too much the video itself will lose a lot of its zing. I'm just gonna recommend watching the entire thing.




I think it was 50 Cent that said, "If you watch the way I move you'd mistake me for a playa pimp....". I think the same can be said of Collinsworth after seeing his moves at the 1:08 mark.








That's how I roll.

Can I re-Tweet a Blog Post?

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter






By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com



An estimated 53,715 students are expected to be doing the Cry and Wap into Columbus, Ohio's Olentangy River after the humiliating defeat Monday night's Fiesta Bowl. The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning effective once the Cry and Wap residue finds its way into the Olentangy, causing levels to rise drastically.

January is, once again, Cry and Wap time in Columbus, Ohio, thinking about what could have been for the Buckeyes football team.


Have you met my friend Hugh? Hugh Miliation?

Why? Because Polekat $lim made fun of me when the Cubs lost. Great work Polekat and great work Ohio State.








That's how I roll.

My New Footer

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter



You'll see it at the bottom. Let me know what you think.












That's how I roll.

You Just Don't get it, do you Breeder's Cup? New Rachel Alexandra v. Zenyatta Possible Development

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


Too little, too late. You are broke and offering money you don't have when this could have been avoided just as easily as it was created. Throwing more money at multi-millionaire to race his arguably-overworked horse over a disadvantageous surface is pipe dream.

The Breeders' Cup executives are bad at their jobs.







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Oh God Yes

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter




that's how I roll






I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Stay on the Lookout for This Kinda Stuff Today. 9/11

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


I wonder if someone will combine capitalizing on Michael Jackson's death with 9/11 today. That would be very American. 9/11.



9/11.








I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Bears are Scary

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


Rawr.








I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Horse Racing Yoda is on my Side Regarding Rachel v. Zenyatta and the Breeder's Cup Being Morons

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


It's nice to see when someone intelligent agrees with someone you believe. This was plagiaraized from the DailyRacingForm.com

Female showdown a fitting scenario

By Andrew Beyer

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After her electrifying photo-finish victory in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, Rachel Alexandra should be entitled to rest on her laurels. The filly has campaigned steadily since February, racing at seven different tracks and winning all eight of her starts. With three triumphs over males, she has virtually locked up the Horse of the Year title. Owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen would be happy to give her a breather until she resumes racing in 2010.

Rachel Alexandra, however, still has one piece of unfinished business: a confrontation with Zenyatta, the champion 5-year-old mare who has never been beaten in 12 career starts and has unleashed explosive last-to-first rallies in most of them. Almost everyone in the sport wants to see a race between two of the greatest female Thoroughbreds of all time. The New York Racing Association would like to host the showdown on Oct. 3. But a Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta race will probably never happen. Partisans of each horse blame the other's camp for being unsporting, but the real blame belongs to the Breeders' Cup organization.

The Breeders' Cup chose Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., and its synthetic track as the site for its event in 2008 and 2009, and last year's results produced an inescapable conclusion: Synthetic tracks are very different from dirt. The horses who won over Santa Anita's Pro-Ride surface were either proven synthetic-track runners (such as Zenyatta) or turf specialists. Top horses with good form only on dirt didn't win. The highest-profile loser was Curlin. Jackson had been hesitant to run over synthetics, and his views on the subject hardened after the defeat. So when Jackson bought Rachel Alexandra in the spring and watched her develop into a superstar, he adamantly declared he would not race her on "plastic," his derisive word for synthetic surfaces. The Breeders' Cup would not be on her agenda.

For Zenyatta, by contrast, back-to-back Breeders' Cups in her home state were a blessing. The mare can run on dirt or synthetics - she scored a smashing Grade 1 stakes win over Oaklawn Park's dirt in April 2008. But since then she has not ventured from California, where she won the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic last year, except for a planned start at Churchill Downs that was spoiled by an off track. With the Cup back at Santa Anita, trainer John Shirreffs and owner Jerry Moss decided to stay at home for all of 2009 and aim for the Breeders' Cup again - either the Ladies' Classic or against males in the Classic. As for a meeting with Rachel Alexandra, Moss said in a recent teleconference, "The Breeders' Cup was created for this kind of a circumstance. That's the spot where champions are made."

A Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta race at Santa Anita, however, would not necessarily be a meaningful test. A victory by Zenyatta might prove only that she is a synthetic-track specialist and Rachel isn't. The New York Racing Association sought to have this showdown in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 3. Betfair, the parent company of the TVG racing network, offered to add $400,000 to the purse, making it a $1 million race if Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta both show up. The Zenyatta camp evinced some interest, but Shirreffs was concerned about sending his mare into NYRA's mandatory prerace detention barn, and he is reluctant to change his long-planned all-California racing schedule for her. Yet Zenyatta could never find better circumstances for a race on dirt against Rachel Alexandra.

Of all the dirt tracks in America, none is more conducive to Zenyatta's come-from-behind style than Belmont Park, with its sweeping turns and long stretch. Zenyatta has conclusively proved her ability to run on dirt - her performance at Oaklawn was one of the best of her career - so Belmont would be the fairest possible site for the confrontation.

Zenyatta is a fresh horse, after running only three times against soft opposition this season, while Rachel Alexandra has been through a grind, running eight times in the last seven months. After earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure in the Haskell Stakes of 116, she recorded a 109 at Saratoga on Saturday. Her form may be on the downgrade, while Zenyatta could very well be pointing toward a peak effort. Advantage: Zenyatta.

Rachel Alexandra is the horse with the most to lose. She could go to the sidelines tomorrow with the Horse of the Year award locked up. The only way she could lose the title is to lose to Zenyatta. Although Jackson recognizes that Rachel Alexandra is ready for a rest, he said, "If Zenyatta were to come to the Beldame, that would direct us to that."

Jackson has been the consummate sportsman in his management of Rachel Alexandra, picking tough spots such as the Woodward so that the filly can show how good she is. And it would be extraordinarily sporting for him to risk Horse of the Year honors in the Beldame. Meanwhile, Moss and Shirreffs have so far avoided any serious challenges this season for their mare. They have avoided racing against males. They have acted as if their main goal is not to lose and not to jeopardize the mare's perfect record. If that was their aim, they could have retired her last season. But if they are in this game because they like the excitement of the sport, how could they resist a showdown with Rachel Alexandra?

(c) 2009, The Washington Post

see also:

Let's see if Zenyatta "Forfeits" This Race- my Prosaic Tryptich About Rachel Alexandra V. Zenyatta

My Socratic Homage to the Breeder's Cup re: Rachel v. Zenyatta


My Proof that the Breeder's Cup has lost its mind







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Today's Melodious ode to Chivalry-Based Romance

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

Until I remembered this song existed, I totally forgot it existed.

I will add that it is not safe for work, but not because of the potentially offensive title and subsequent lyrical content. It's NSFW because I think talk of intimacy and pure romance is taboo at the workplace since people think you're either bragging, lying or just trying to induce jealousy and none of those are good ideas for intra-office politics. Plus, referring to someone as suffering from a psychological ailment, like being crazy, is considered to be in poor taste.

Lookout Cannon in D, the duel is afoot......













I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Big ups to Natty Light

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

The beer of my alma mater (every college has a favorite cheap beer) is now doing television commercials. They know how to market to me still. This commercial is like every other stereotypical beer advert except for one sorta subtle and genius addition. It has the usual suspects- beer, pizza, an everyday "dude" stoner type with, who we are lead to believe is his girlfriend who is clearly way too hot for him. But notice what this gentleman scholar is watching on TV to top off his awesome. Naturday.







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Isn't Voting Against the Public Option Just as Bad as Being on a Death Panel?

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

If Congress shoots down the public option for health care, how are they any better than a "Death Panel"?

I mean, I'm ok with facing a death panel as long as I know I'm gonna live- so I'm cool with whoever votes for the public option. But aren't all the votes against health care the ones who are going to kill grandma, and not the other way around?



Psychologist BF Skinner's Operant Conditioning essentially tells us that there are 3 ways to modify someone's behavior. Punishment, Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement.
Let's say I want to modify your behavior so that you will do 5 jumping jacks. I ask you politely and you decline. Now I have to get creative. According to Operant Conditioning I could employ:

Punishment- I will kick your shins if you do not do 5 jumping jacks.
Positive Reinforcement- Do 5 jumping jacks and I'll give you $50.

but Negative Reinforcement is often misunderstood. Colloquially people confuse it with punishment- when you yell at your dog you'll hear someone say, "yeah, give him a little negative reinforcement, they'll get the hint." When in fact, what you're doing is punishing your dog. Negative reinforcement could maybe more accurately be called, "Inverse Reinforcement"- it is the removal of something unpleasant. So if I wanted you to do 5 jumping jacks using negative reinforcement I'd place you in a room full of screaming people and tell you that after you do 5 jumping jacks, I will send all the screaming people out of the room.

As you know from personal history all three can be effective. Those 3 methods would probably each elicit 5 jumping jacks out of me, anyway. You also know that Positive Reinforcement and Punishment, while working toward the same end, are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Although sometimes punishment is much easier or more practical to use than a reinforcement model, a lot of times either method is equally plausible. Essentially, one is nice way to get what you want, and the other is a mean way to get what you want.

What does this have to do with health care? You may have to follow me on this one for a second...

Some people like myself are asking our politicians to vote for a public/single payer option. Their approving it would essentially be akin to negative reinforcement- That is to say, they will promise to take away something negative- maybe the fear of losing medical benefits if I am laid off, or not being able to afford health insurance, or being denied health insurance due to a pre-existing condition. Maybe that would modify my future behavior to vote for that politician in the next election or something.

We also know that Negative Reinforcement and Positive Reinforcement are pretty similar- one presents something favorable, the other removes something unfavorable. Those are both pretty good things.

But if a politician votes against the public/single payer option, they would thereby be preventing Negative Reinforcement from occurring, essentially saying, "Ya know what? We could treat your un-wealthy, dying grandmother's cancer, but we're not gonna." They have the power to remove an unfavorable situation- but opt not to. So that would be opposite of negative reinforcement, right? Didn't we agree that that's akin to punishment? Like maybe that politician punishing us for putting them in office, for instance? Or maybe it modifies our behavior enough to not want to vote for them, or anyone they endorse in the future.

If a Congressman, or member of the Big Six or the Senate Finance Committee, votes against the public/single payer option, they're voting against offering health care to every single sick, or even dying person who lacks it. So if you vote against treating a disease, aren't you necessarily voting for the disease?

That's why I said that those voting against health care really are the death panel. It isn't that they are in favor of killing grandma, it's just that they won't step and help her when she needs help to stay alive.

While I'm on the topic of analogies- isn't that a bit like the Bystander Law? Like if you see a victim of a hit and run lying on the ground fighting to stay alive and you simply do nothing, you get arrested for that.

If an old lady got hit by a car and I said, "Help, help, Max Baucus, there's been a terrible accident and this old lady could die if she doesn't get help!", and Max looked at her, said, "I'm not gonna waste my cell phone minutes calling 911, plus, I just dont care if that old bag of wind dies" and then he pulls out his iPhone and starts filming her, he'd get arrested. But if I said, "Help, help, Max Baucus please, PLEASE vote for the single payer option! There's been a horrible thing that happened to my great-aunt and she has cancer. No provider will offer her care now that the cancer is so fully developed. She will surely die from it if she doesn't get help!" he can reply the same way he did with the automobile accident scenario, and what will his punishment be? A huge check from a big insurance company, followed probably by a week in December at the CEO's lodge in Vail.








I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Rachel Alexandra got a 109 Beyer in the Woodward- and other Post-Woodward Rachel Alexandra Notes

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


According to a few different articles on the DRF.com, Rachel came out of the Woodward in good shape and is healthy. However, she is unlikely to race again in 2009, and the plan is still to have her back to racing in 2010. For her Woodward effort she was awarded a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 109. If that figure stands it would be her third highest career Beyer behind her 116 in the Haskell, and her 111 in the Mother Goose. So her five most recent Beyers look like this, in chronological order:

109- Woodward
116- Haskell
111- Mother Goose
108- Preakness
108- Kentucky Oaks




See Also: Some Context for Rachel Alexandra's 116 BSF in the Haskell





I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Quotation of the Day

aBy: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


From Brian Urlacher during a Q&A with the Chicago Tribune.


Q: You got a pair of LeBron James' gym shoes during a Cavs playoff game this year, didn't you?

"First time I met him. My financial guy knows him. We had seats on the floor. LeBron's a big guy, just unbelievable to watch in person. He's just a man. He gave me the shoes he wore in the game. I actually smelled them and they didn't stink. ''




That's keepin' it real.






I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

European Version of Ohh Maaa Gaaa, Ohhhh Maaa Gaaaa: Sea the Stars

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


This Gentleman is nothing to eff with. He's an absolute monster and if he runs in the Breeder's Cup and the sight of him makes some other horses pee a little, I completely understand. Oh. And since the Classic will be run over synthetic/experimental surfaces AGAIN this year, the grass-loving euros will have a leg up on the Americans. Have fun with all that, west coasters who still run on that garbage. Let me be the first to say- my deepest sympathy. And the VERY VERY first to say, "Oh Breeder's Cup- you decided to go with a traditional dirt surface in 2010. Congratulations on your return you intelligence- we've been awaiting your return. How was your departure? It is nice to have you back."

I digressed. You'll see Sea The Stars in the yellow down the stretch. This is the definition of "Digging in". He is a bolshy, bolshy, bugger. D'ya know wha I mean? Totely, mate. Totely. All of England is arse over tit with him, and they may be right to think that this year's American crop of older horses has more holes innit than a barmaid's knickers' d'ya know wha I mean? Innit mate? Totely. He's probably all, "Sod off you tosspots in the colonies!" and we're all like, "I have no idea what you just said."

The point is, he's a great racehorse and I have proof.



I call if him and Rachel Alexandra have a kid, I get their firstborn.






I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Great Article (Because it Vindicates me)

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

I'm ok with Point/Whole flaws in logic as long as they benefit me. And this one does.

This article asserts that Facebook is bad for friendships.

I don't have a Facebook account.

Now please allow me to gloat in a 4-part series.






















I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Beware of Unoriginal Dork NCCA Football Talking Heads and Their Awesome Slang

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter


Much like the previously mentioned, unfortunate early-baseball season phenomenon known as extraploitation, (also noted here), college football season has it's regrettable nomenclature as well.

The slang I am referring to is used most often during blowouts, and is therefore more likely to occur early on in the season. It's is the verb, "hang" in place of "score". As in, "Last time Ohio State played in the Rose Bowl, USC hung 45 on them". I appreciate originality and I was ok with it at first, but now it's just too much. It's one thing if it's one guys catch phrase, but I get the impression that every single 55-year old white dude who says it feels like he's the sexiest, most street-cred laden dude ever. It's the College Football Talking Head verbal equivalent of the white-man's-overbite in tandem with the shoulder bob. It's just time to stop. If you use it, and you shouldn't, just don't think you're hip.

The worst instantiation of this dope slang is the elusive and horrific, "...hung half a hundred on them" in reference to a team scoring 50 points.

While I'm griping, I also really hate when an intereception is referred to as "a pick". It's fine to say, "that pass was picked off" but not, "Eli just threw a pick", "He's got 17 touchdown passes and only 1 pick so far.", "...that pass was just picked!". I've always hated that laziness passed off as slang but it's not the worst.....

The worst? "The Pick 6". I will admit that it is a creative name for it, but I will also admit that it sucks out loud. I hate it for the similar reasons to hating the "hang half a hundred on" slang- every guy that says it thinks he's Captain Slang and is saying it for the first time and waiting to bathed with praise. Just take the time and say he ran it back. It's a horse racing term, let it stay that way. I'd even meet you halfway and be ok with "Pick AND six". I'd also be ok with it being one guy's catchphrase, but it shouldn't be the new phrase for an interception returned for a TD, and I am fearing it is.

I'm trying to set a record for youngest curmedgeon and/or youngest grumpy old man. I'd say I'm off to a good start.







I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.

Sometimes Life is Pretty Awesome

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com, AndyDisco on Twitter

a friend just brought this to my intention and I'm all blogged-out after my Rachel post. But rest assured I will have more to say about this little number in a little while.








I'm T.R. Slyder, and that's how you Tangueray.