Enoch

My Giants have had an interesting weekend. They started off bidding with lots of other teams for Albert Haynesworth. He ended up in Washington, but the Giants soon found uses for all the dollars they were thinking of sending his way. First they signed Michael Boley, an outside linebacker formerly with the Atlanta Falcons. He should immediately upgrade the team's lack of athleticism at OLB. Next came defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks. An older player who isn't the greatest run defender around, but who is still useful as a part-time pass-rusher. Lastly, and most surprisingly, they signed Chris Canty, a DE formerly with the rival Dallas Cowboys. They'll probably be moving him inside to Tackle (Dallas plays a 3-4 defense; the responsibilities of a 3-4 DE most closely mirror those of a DT in a 4-3, like the Giants run). The odd thing is that a starting DT isn't really one of the Giants' immediate needs-- Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield are both solid players. But both of them will be free agents after the 2009 season, so the Canty acquisition probably makes the most sense as an effort to anticipate their losses and fix them a year early. In the meantime, it leaves the team absolutely stacked at the DT position-- Robbins & Canty will probably start, with Cofield, Bernard, and last year's 3rd DT Jay Alford all competing for rotational duty. And that's in-between the best 1-2-3 lineup of defensive ends in the league: Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, and Mathias Kiwanuka.

For some reason, I never got the option to train any of the Bigtowners. They just kept giving me the whole "thanks for rescuing our friends" talk until I killed all the Mutants coming over the bridge.

R.E.M. -- Wolves, Lower

I finished my game of Torment. I'm not usually much of a 'replayer,' but it had been probably 8 years since I played it, so I had forgotten enough of the little details to make it interesting again. So I want something new to play next. I'm thinking of picking up one of the many well-regarded older titles that I missed/skipped. I'm lazy, so I'm limiting myself to what's available on Steam. Hitman: Blood Money? Bloodlines? (I know this one has some fanboys around here-- I was never into the whole vampirey thing, and was very underwhelmed with everything else Troika did, so I gave it a pass. Is it worth my time and my $20? Does the Steam version work with vista?) The Witcher? (Opinions seem pretty polarized on this one.) I'm not much for actiony gameplay, but I'll suffer through some if the other elements of the game are compelling enough (e.g., I played half of Deus Ex once).

Ah, yes. That iron law of internet publishing-- no matter how crappy the content, if you put it in list format, people will read it.

Nacho Libre???!

2nd (and final, for tonight) cocktail experiment: a Bronx. 2 parts gin, 0.5 parts each of dry and sweet vermouth, 1.5 parts orange juice. This one is fantastic. You still get the high notes of the flavoring of the gin, and, unlike the Palm Beach, where the sweet vermouth stood out and dominated the flavor, the vermouths and the OJ here meld nicely, smoothing everything out with just a little sweetness. Think of it as a Screwdriver for people who are interested in taste and not just looking for a way to make vodka palatable. (Another way to think of it: a "Perfect Martini"-- i.e., a martini with equal parts dry and sweet vermouth-- plus orange juice.) The book I'm going by recommends serving over ice in an Old Fashioned glass, but the drink's wikipedia entry (which I'm not going to link because the profanity filter won't let the word "****tail" through, even in a url) says to use a cocktail glass. I'll have to try the latter version sometime later and see which I like better.

In what is probably a disastrous mistake for a weeknight, I'm doing a little cocktail experimentation, flipping through a recipe book and trying a few that I happen to have the ingredients for. Just made a Palm Beach (equal parts Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Grapefruit Juice). I don't think it's a keeper-- the flavor of the gin is almost entirely washed out, and Vermouth really doesn't seem to go with the other two elements.

Our neighbor has a few cats who wander outdoors. But the only drawback I've seen so far is the recurring muddy pawprints on our car. Along with the squirrels, they give our (indoor only) cat something to stare at out the window all day.

Yeah, I was thinking Left when I typed Right. The V key is just far enough of a stretch for me to miss it (or just get the edge of it) often enough to be annoying. (This might have to do with my keyboard, the way I position my wrist, or my physiology. YMMV.) It stopped bothering me when I made the F key non-functional, because then I could indiscriminately hammer that general area and get the desired effect without the risk of a distracting change in view mode.

Obviously, the only character data from ME1 that will port over to ME2 will be whether your Shepard has the N7 Pantaloons in his/her inventory.

Thank you. That sounds familiiar. I think I might have used VATS once or twice when I first installed the game. I must not have liked it though. FOr some reason. I'd suggest re-binding either it or the "change view mode" key that by default is assigned to "F." I don't know about anybody else, but I had an irritating recurring habit of trying to stretch over and reach the "V" with my right index finger, but falling short and instead hitting the area right between "F" and "V." Having the game back out into 3rd person mode when you expect it to be pausing because a Mirelurk is about to start wailing on you is rather disconcerting. Eventually, I wised up and moved the "view mode" key over to "J."

Benefit of the weak economy and cold weather: Many restaurants around DC have extended their annual restaurant week deals for a second week. Thus, I snuck out of work to meet up with my wife, a cousin of hers who is visiting from out of town, and my brother-in-law (who was showing said cousin around some of the sights) for lunch at Zola. 3-course lunch at one of DC's better restaurants for just over $20 each. I'll be working late to make up the 2 hours I was out of the office, but that fantastic seared tuna (rare, of course) over lemon-garlic spinach, served (oddly enough) with some excellent onion rings was more than worth it.

The 1-8 keys are bindable to any inventory item. But I think Gorgon's complaint is more that the game included no limitations on what you could do in the Pipboy menu while engaged in combat (with the exception of Fast Travel). The game lets you repair items, change from your sun dress into your power armor, and use as many drugs/stims/food as you want while the game is paused. It's actually harder to change weapons because there's an animation involved with stowing one weapon and taking out another.

Anybody else thinking of the first chapter of Catch-22? (At least I think that bit's in the first chapter. Somewhere near the beginning, anyway.)

I feel like I learned a good amount in doing this myself, and the parts I used only cost about $30. For someone who is has only been a homeowner for about 4 months, and whose previous toilet-repair experience is jerry-rigging a replacement flapper chain from a mini-blind pull cord, I think I did OK. (Although Gfted has a point in that there is a decent chance that the connection is leaking because I cracked one of the pieces.) Anyhow, the toilet is functional for the short term. It currently has a paper towel wrapped around the supply line. The dripping-evaporating ratio is enough to keep the towel consistently moist, but not soaked.

I considered something like that, but it doesn't look like the leak is coming from the threaded part. That is, male threaded piece comes down out of the toilet tank. The supply pipe is supposed to butt up against that, with a female-threaded sleeve that fits over the end of said supply pipe and secures it to the toilet via the threaded connection. As far as I can tell, the leak is occurring between this sleeve and the supply pipe, rather than seeping through the threaded connection.

Very frustrating day. I had left work early yesterday with a head cold. It mostly cleared up overnight, but I still decided to be 'out sick' today, so that I could sleep in and get some things done around the place. The main thing I wanted to do was to repair the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. The main seal had been leaking (into the wastewater pipe, not onto the floor) enough that the supply was switching on for 30 seconds every 20 minutes or so. This is not a good arrangement when you sleep 30 feet from this toilet, so we had just shut the supply pipe off and used the toilet downstairs. I had picked up a DIY kit to replace the stuff in the tank (the seals on the current one were disintegrating), and this afternoon I went about removing the old bits and replacing them. There were a few complications (removing lots of excess plumbing putty), but it went fairly smoothly, and the main seal holds fine now. But the supply line doesn't. Apparently, in unhooking and re-attaching the thing a couple of times (it took a little experimentation to figure everything out), I torqued it enough that it just doesn't want to line up straight with the threaded pipe on the bottom of the tank. (I also may have inadvertently shifted the tank forward a quarter-inch or so.) I tighten the piece that locks the supply pipe onto the threaded pipe on the toilet as close as it'll go without breaking, and still get a droplet of water running down the supply pipe onto the floor every 30 seconds or so. At this point, I could go out and get a replacement supply line, which might fix this. (I'm thinking that a braided-plastic flexible line would be a good move, instead of the stainless steel one we currently have.) But my wife's argument from the beginning was that we should just replace the whole damn toilet, and I'm beginning to come around to her view. It's something that has been on our list to do at some point over the next couple years, as the bowl we've got has some unattractive signs of wear (from prior owners-- we just bought this place in November). Also, an upgrade from the standard round bowl to the more luxurious 'elongated' shape would be a plus in preventing inadvertent wang-toilet contact. Once you factor in installation (there's no effin' way that I'm hauling the old one down the stairs myself, and once I have pros in here, they might as well be doing all the work) it isn't going to be particularly cheap, but my frustration level is edging me towards a justification of the expense.

So, it's okay to copy tv shows from the tv, whether they be free to air or cable (even the cable tv channels like Foxtel encourage this) for personal use. But you're not allowed to copy the same show from the internet for your own personal use - unless it's from their own TV website such as a podcast. If a tv channel has a podcast, is it still illegal to download it from a torrent site? Exactly, because the source you're accessing is beyond the control of the people who own the copyright (assuming that they haven't granted a blanket public license to re-distribute). Although the greater liability will attach to the person who is providing the torrent, the end users in that example are violating the law.

Yeah, back in the early '80s, there was a landmark US court case, where hollywood peeps sued Sony, arguing that their Betamax recorders made them an accessory to copyright violation. After lots of litigation, the court ruled in favor of Sony, that recording devices had legitimate uses and were not necessarily intended for piracy (as recording for purely personal use without re-distribution or subsequent sale is an established exception to copyright laws). As Hurl pointed out, the analogy breaks down when you start talking about taking your 'personal use' copy and distributing it to others. The law recognizes this.

Yeah, I think comparing your opponents to NAMBLA is something along the lines of Godwin's Rule X 50. "... you know who else supports giving players more options in romantic subplots?"

New one: Chargers: RB Darren Sproles Wow. Sproles is a nice playmaker and all, but doesn't this make SD a tad over-invested in the RB position? (Also, it shows what the team's management thinks about Tomlinson's injury issues.) Kelv, you're the SD expert around here, what's up with this?

Fair point. So, Franchise tags, then! Pats: QB Matt Cassel (Trade bait!) Giants: RB Brandon Jacobs (Probably smart to avoid a long-term commitment in light of injury risk) Bengals: K Shayne Graham (K/P tag salaries are cheap) Falcons: P Michael Koenen Ravens: LB/DE Terrell Suggs Cardinals: LB Karlos Dansby (2nd year in a row; very expensive) Buccaneers: WR Antonio Bryant (not confirmed yet) Did I miss anyone?

Can you feel the SCOUTING COMBINE EXCITEMENT??!!!! Seriously, though, isn't it a bit early for this thread? Although there has been some actual news (Franchise Tags are flying!) lately, the real stuff to talk about doesn't kick off until the Free Agency period starts up next week.

This is how much is too much.