A while back, I confessed that I have never cooked fish. It's partly because of the cost, and partly because I never picked up the skill. (And I am picky about seafood.) But last weekend Safeway had a sale on frozen salmon fillets, five bucks for two, so I figured what the heck.
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In chess, after the round is over you'll see a couple of great players sitting in the skittles room analyzing their game. There will be several dozen lesser players (such as Dr. D) standing around "rubbernecking" the action. The "kibitzer" is the Class C player who is making suggestions. 90% of the time the "kibitzer" has no idea of how his kibitzing is being received...
10% of the time the kibitzer is a strong player, and when this is the case, now you've got a fascinating three-way dynamic between the two masters, seated, and the "editor" who is serving as a kind of reality check on the argument.
Thus kibitzeth our compadre Thirteen, who rubbernecks the SSI action and generally produces several dozen Eyes Slideways when he tosses in a "What happens on Ng6?" This time he kibitzeth,
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Thirteen: Of all my management peeves, the biggest one: DON'T HOLD YOUR CLOSER IN THE BULLPEN JUST BECAUSE IT'S A TIE GAME. Can't even remember how many games the Mariners have gotten walked off on these last two years because one of the scrubs was out there instead of the team's best relief pitcher... and leaving in Capps, the guy with platoon issues, against LHB masher Moss? Not the best idea I've ever heard.
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We'd assumed that Thirteen was a grad student; earlier he corrected us that he's a high schooler. Maybe he's 13 years old. This is precisely the whiz kid that we fear the most. But the point is, it could very well be that Thirteen is too young to remember that Bill James' splash into Boston (2003-04) began with an attempt to change the "Closer" culture there.
On paper, it is perfectly obvious -- to saberdweebs like Thirteen and Dr. D, and also to any garden-variety birdbrained beat writer* -- that teams are giving away a HUGE advantage by reserving "Closers" for "save situations." In one of his books, James calculated an 800% advantage for a team willing to use its "closer" in tie games OR WHEN BEHIND BY ONE RUN. He finished, acidly, "As baseball percentages go, 800% is a big advantage."
For a lot of people, parsley is just a garnish. That weird little frilly green thing you leave behind on your plate at the restaurant. Others know parsley as a dull and boring dried spice which seems to have no Earthly use.
This is a real shame, because not only is parsley delicious, it is also ridiculously good for you. This vibrant green herb will not only improve your meals, it will also improve your health!
I love to talk about how scared I am of going to the dentist. Really! Because every time I speak out about it, several people come forward to confess that they are scared of the dentist, too.
Being phobic about the dentist is nothing to be ashamed of. And believe me, you are in very good company.
Grab a Redbox movie this weekend for free or half-price with this list of codes.
Buy one Yankee candle and get one FREE with this coupon.
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Oh yeah. What did Ron Shandler say about Kendrys, going into 2013?
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A delightful interpretation from our point of view as M's fans. This is exactly where Shandler's familiarity with patterns is most useful: he is analyzing in terms of 3- and 4-year arcs he has seen, and throws Morales into the pattern of "a player who takes a long, slow, steady path back up from an injury." This seems reasonable.
If Morales has a strong August/September, Forecaster 2014 will peg 2009 as Morales' true level of performance.
During the latest quadrennial Boy Scouts Jamboree, Scouts who are obese were denied the chance to take part. Any Scout who had a BMI over 40 could not take part due to the physically demanding nature of the camp. There is no mentioning of Scouts who were underweight, who had low blood pressure, or who had other non-weight bearing conditions being banned or not.
Kate Middleton has gone into labor, and the royal baby is on its way. So many questions waiting to be answered... is it a boy or a girl? What will the name be? (Top bookies are laying the best odds on Alexandra for a girl or George if it's a boy.) Will it have a tail? I'm just kidding. Obviously we wish the newest ruler of the British Empire the best of luck and health.
McDonald's recently partnered with Visa to bring basic budgeting education to McDonald's workers. Because obviously if your workers are complaining about not earning enough money, it's not that you should pay them - no, it's because they need to learn how to use that money responsibly.
It's cherry season in North America, which means that stores are chock full of delicious cherries, and many of you have a cherry tree in the yard which is dropping fruit like crazy. (Not me, though - the birds eat all my cherries before I can get to them. Sad!) Because of the way cherry trees produce their fruit, cherries tend to hit the market in one big, short-lived flood, so you want to take advantage of them while they are here.
