I am wondering how George Hill will be worth $57 million to the Kings. He's played less than 50 games in 2 of the last 3 seasons. Is a veteran presence, specifically his veteran presence on this young, non-contending team, really worth $57 million? They're in no position to hire free agents at this point, so it seems Hill would strictly be there to provide stability while the young guys grow.
approxinfinity
17303 posts
Better? Worse? Thoughts?
Exploring the use of subcategories, thought I'd try out one for former Jayhawks here.
@mayjay I hear you, and I grant that this is either brave or foolish or maybe both. There are other options if it gets hopelessly contentious. We could make the topic private and have a separate group that is invited, for instance, but I'd at least like to try to have a few threads with the guard rails in place and try our damnedest to be kind, friendly, academic and selective in our topics and approach, and then see where we fall. Eyes wide open.
Switzerland is listed as #1. In reading about the Swiss government, several things stood out.
1. they are a direct democracy, the people can propose and vote directly on amendments to the constitution
2. The executive branch is held by a counsel of 7.
3. The judiciary branch is elected by the federal assembly
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Switzerland ↗
Switzerland is a democratic federal republic. The federal legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly, the National Council and the Council of States. The Federal Council holds the executive power and is composed by seven power-sharing Federal Councillors elected by the Federal Assembly. The judiciary branch is represented by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, whose judges are elected by the Federal Assembly.
Switzerland has a tradition of direct democracy. For any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory (mandatory referendum); for any change in a law, a referendum can be requested (optional referendum). In addition, the people may present a constitutional popular initiative to introduce amendments to the federal constitution. The people also assumes a role similar to the constitutional court, which does not exist, and thus acts as the guardian of the rule of law.
I looked at US News report on world's best countries (and if this seems an inaccurate source in any capacity please call it out) and looked at their most recent list of "Best Countries". I thought we could talk about what these countries have going for them that might put them on this list and what can we learn from each?
@globaljaybird I get where you are coming from and appreciate your honesty and forthrightedness. My memory is a bit hazy about it, did we handle the dark / light side rift with separate categories? I can't recall, and I'm not sure of the capacity of the ignore feature back then either. It is possible that with separate ignorable categories it might have worked better. But also, the nature of that was a bit different because we were deliberately dividing optimists from realists and encouraging both viewpoints with no rails guiding etiquette, whereas here we are providing guidelines for behavior (collaboration and openmindedness) and focus specifically on discovery. Could it not work well? Sure. But I very much welcome analyzing the state of this Union, not by practicing rhetoric, which we are all capable of and which we know leads to gridlock, by taking a more academic approach.
@wrwlumpy Rock Chalk my friend. Though I believe it would be fascinating to hear more of your thoughts on politics, I respect the decision to ignore, and it makes perfect sense. RIP Jerry Litton.
I'm using Propublica data for a side project at the moment. Their most prominent api data is their congressional data, which used by a few big data heavy news sites (like Five Thirty Eight).
This post is about how you would go about getting an API key and querying a public api.
First, hit https://www.propublica.org/datastore/apis ↗
Choose the API you want access to, then fill out the request a key section (see on the right here).
!0_1500147317624_Screenshot 2017-07-15 15.34.29.png ↗
In order to get access to their free apis, you need to request a key. They got back to me fairly quickly, and the structure of their REST apis is nice and clean.
To make the calls, first figure out which endpoint you want to hit. For the congressional api, here's a list of endpoints:
https://projects.propublica.org/api-docs/congress-api/endpoints/ ↗
To be able to make the call in a browser and get the data back in a nice clean format, I use a free chrome extension called Postman; you can download it here:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/postman/fhbjgbiflinjbdggehcddcbncdddomop?hl=en ↗
I open it up with the apps icon in chrome, then paste the url that I want, for instance, lets say you wanted to see the cosponsors on bill B001260 (you'd know the number from a different query)
https://api.propublica.org/congress/v1/members/B001260/bills/cosponsored.json ↗
And then tap on headers add the key they issued me there by putting this is the key box: X-API-Key and this your api key issued by them int hte value box.
Voila (screenshot below). Nice clean JSON object, easily readable.. No spin, just the exact data you queried for!
!0_1500147117959_Screenshot 2017-07-15 15.29.32.png ↗
Though not political, I found this interesting:
https://www.cms.gov/openpayments/ ↗
Last year, drug and device companies paid out $8.18 billion to doctors for things like travel, research, gifts, speaking fees, and meals.
You can check your doctor specifically here ( all you really need is a last name and state): https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ ↗
@wrwlumpy thanks for posting that. So happy for Frank!
This post is for you @wrwlumpy. I'd be thrilled if you'd join us in this category, but I definitely get and respect your aversion to discussing politics, and hope that this gives a wide enough berth to be able to steer clear for those who do not wish to participate.
I have read and agree to the rules stated above and the spirit of this category, and hereby do solemnly swear to treat my peers with respect and discuss the issues on their merits in an effort to further our collective knowledge and ideas about politics and world affairs.
For those not interested in attempting to forge a new path to civil discourse in an effort to mend our fractured American politics, there is a way to ignore a category entirely.
Simply go to the category, in this case /category/18, click on watching (all categories are watched by default) and changed it to ignoring.
Thereafter, you will not be notified that a new post has been added to that category, and it will not show up in your recent posts list. You can always turn it back on by going back to it and watching again.
The following is taken almost verbatim from @jaybate-1-0 's post here, which was an excellent suggestion as to rules for this category:
CATEGORY RULES
The point of this discourse is to “discover” and “learn” about issues, rather than to argue to be right, and so engage in to marginalizing and smearing others. In participating here, we simply agree to ban all the techniques of thread cracking and smearing and trying to be the one that is right. In fact, WE AGREE TO ELIMINATE THE VERY POSSIBILITY OF DECLARING ONE POV IS RIGHT. Hopefully, this completely eliminate 99% of contentiousness from the git-go. These kinds of discussions never get anywhere and are a waste of everyone’s time. If I have learned anything from this web site it is that I never change anyone else’s mind, and neither does anyone else. Each persons changes his own mind here when he/she is good and ready to change it. And they do so when they have participated in gathering information and processing it on their own. Individuals change their own minds. Thus it is fruitless and naive to waste time “winning” arguments. The object of discourse is to come away with more knowledge than what one started with. This new knowledge can include: facts, logics, hypotheses and assumptions about the topic being discussed. Anytime someone enters the realm of “I’m right because,…”, or asserts class prejudices like “All liberals are…(fill in the blank),” or “All Republicans are…(fill in the blank),” then participants simply respond with “That’s the I’m Right fallacy,” and continue introducing and discussion the meaning and utility of new facts, new logics, hypotheses, and assumptions.
This way we actually come away from discussions knowing more and more, rather than being bored and assaulted and disrespected by dolts endlessly engaging in the vanity of trying to show everyone else they don’t know what they are talking about. Everyone knows something worth knowing, or else the only point to communicating is pulling the wool over their eyes with propaganda and the current 25-30 techniques for thread cracking and site destabilization and smearing to try to proselytize for one stupid agenda, or another.
(Thank you @jaybate-1-0).
@jaybate-1-0 :100: . I have been thinking about starting a political version of this board, but I keep coming back to the fact that we know each other, have history here, and it would be nice to keep it a one stop shop for fruitful discussion with a small group of friends. I'm excited at that possibility. I might also look at a bigger picture site, but I think your idea makes perfect sense and jives with what I was hoping for as well. Looking into it now.
I was looking at the pew research stats re: state of news media here ↗
Did you know that cable news viewership was up 55% for CNN / FOX / MSNBC in 2016? See here ↗. I guess it is to be assumed that it will always go up being an election year, but it seems that there is an increased hunger for political news that is finding its way to a pantry full of junk food journalism.
Thats a combined $600 million increase in profit for CNN / FOX / MSNBC year over year.
2015: $2,071,300,000
2016:$2,670,400,000
I will throw this out there. If there is a group of people with a spectrum of political opinions that runs the gamut capable of engaging in amiable productive discourse about the topic, this group is it. There are many indications in our society that our unwillingness to discuss our differences is in fact the greatest of problems we face. I believe in you all as individuals and as a group to be able to bridge the divide with people of dissenting opinions and find common ground, not only by blissfully losing ourselves in the passions we share (rock chalk) but also in forging new middle ground in areas where there is none. That ability to find a new and better way together is something this country desperately needs to embrace.
@mayjay hold on. He said put the rivalry to bed, not to rest. I believe that means he thinks we should get in bed with them, i.e. renew the rivalry.
@jaybate-1-0 lolol I'm so glad you've now got your head wrapped around this grad transfer thing thrice over! Brilliant.
@jayballer54 lol. He was impressive. Under sky high expectations and intense scrutiny from the haters he delivered. I am just disappointed the Yankees can already say "A Rod who?" There were supposed to be dark ages....
Wow! #BIFM
@brooksmd ha. Yeah it felt really weird adding the names of Gary Carter and Andre Dawson on the commemorative ring at Nationals Park. Yes, we were once the Expos.. but the Expos had their own swag, the cool logo and colors and Canadian thing going on, and we were just this redundantly named national league team. Always an Expo / Cub. Plus, Washington lost teams that became the Twins and the Rangers. I think we just wanted a fresh start but here were these baseball greats whose legacy should not be lost because their team left town. Of course I'm sure the Mets and Cubs would gladly own their respective legacies.
Several kids list themselves as CGs as well. I didn't realize they were doing that now.
That was amazing. God I hate the Yankees. They drafted him in 2013. I was worried it was the compensation pick #33 for the Nats signing Rafael Soriano but looks like it was the compensation pick for the Indians signing Nick Swisher #32. Why oh why did everyone let the Yankees reload their farm system when they were down?
Yeah me neither. Too bad. Judge probably has at least 20 lb of muscle on him.
Pretty impressed by Bellinger with his stature hanging with these giants.
Yeah these guys are monsters. They make Moose look small.
This Sano kid looks good. I haven't even seen a Twins highlight let alone a game.
@brooksmd me too. My kids thought I was crazy when I said Bour might need a couple more.
Come on Bour. Knock out Judge.
Ok now that looks like Moose is out I'll root for Giancarlo Stanton, hometown hero.
Alright come on Moose.. getting in a groove. Started off upper cutting now the line drives working.
I'm wishing anyone but Judge... but i dunno.. :) Cody Bellinger has been pretty incredible, I'll go with Bellinger
Bellinger => 257 career AB 25 HR = 1 HR / 10.28 AB
Judge => 385 career AB 34 HR = 1 HR / 11.32 AB
But I'm hoping Moose. He's locked in, and these rookies may just wilt under the bright lights
Aaaaand we're back. good as new... I'll have to do this in October again, but now that I know how it's no big deal.
Sorry for the busted cert part of today, and little bit of downtime. Let me know if there are any issues.
@Crimsonorblue22 no nothing like that. I reached out to nodebb guy, and hopefully he can point me in the right direction. Very worst option would just be to turn ssl back off. Shouldn't have to do that. It should be autorenewing. Don't worry about it other than if you see something wierd that is why.
I've gotten a notice that our ssl cert will expire tomorrow but running into issues renewing it. Apologies in advance if I can't resolve this and we have cert issues tomorrow. Hopefully at the worst it means some images don't load and the insecure message comes up in browser until it is resolved.
Chriss had 9 fouls and Papagiannis had 8. Lol.
Frank proving he can run the offense, making everyone better with him. Have a feeling guys are going to like playing with him and that's going to carry water.
@mayjay isn't that how one achieves Nirvana?
I'll check it out regardless.
Here's a nice Einstein quote:
Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny are fueled by perennially rejuvenated illusions.
It was suggested to me to check out WSJ and Christian Science Monitor if I want decent reporting with a conservative lean. Thank you for that suggestion, I read neither at present and will be checking them out.
@JayHawkFanToo you completely sidestepped the question. Did the old switcheroo, business as usual. I didn't ask about CNN. I'm well aware of the Trump administration's ongoing crusade to invalidate the American press corps, and I don't get news from CNN regardless. If you want to question the factual accuracy of NPR or BBC, well, that might affect my world view a bit more.
I'm checking sources, something I should have done before blankedly rejecting Breitbart in the past, and you want to chastise me for that?
I, of course, have heard a lot of opinions to the contrary. But I'd like to pose the question here. Is Breitbart legit?
When I read quotes like this, from conservatives apparently held in high regard, who were on the Breitbart staff, it makes me seriously question the credibility of the site:
Breitbart's chairman, Steve Bannon, has turned the site "into Trump's personal Pravda," editor at large Ben Shapiro, who is based in Los Angeles, said in a statement on his resignation. "Andrew built his life and his career on one mission: fight the bullies. In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew's mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump." Bannon couldn't be reached for comment.
The Andrew he is referring to is Andrew Breitbart, the site's founder, who was a close friend of Arriana Huffington, and helped to create an early version of Huffington Post, then had a conservative epiphany and went on to start his own conservative site.
"Some of us have been fighting behind the scenes against the party-line Trump propaganda for some time, but without any success, unfortunately," one reporter, Jordan Schachtel, said in a statement after resigning Monday. "Breitbart News is no longer a journalistic enterprise, but instead, in my opinion, something resembling an unaffiliated media Super PAC for the Trump campaign."
@mayjay JuJu is all grown up. Seems like a well adjusted guy with a family and an appreciation of his environment living in various places in Europe. Glad for him. Thanks for sharing this that.
@Crimsonorblue22 man... My allergies are kicking in. :joy: good work big guy! Making the world a better place.
@brooksmd wow. I'm going to be pulling for him in the HR derby. Show the young guys how it's done!
@BeddieKU23 awful news. so he can play in the Summer league and get picked up on a guaranteed contract by another team right?
Stoneface Mase is now number fifteen... Presumably because Willie Cauley Stein is 00. Frank signs things simply as FM0. Enjoy it while you got it Willie. Frank Mason is FM0 like Isaiah Thomas is IT4.
I wonder, had Skal Labissiere not been 3, if it would have been FM3.
What's with these big guys taking little numbers? You guys are supposed to be 55 and sh--. You know, the XXXXL jerseys with the real estate for the sasquatch sized numbers. Give it up.
@jayballer54 @Bosthawk That video is a beautiful thing.
A couple thoughts. @KirkIsMyHinrich posted offensive stats on Josh earlier month over month that made me reminisce, but I think his defense improved as well. While he jumped some passing lanes in non con, it felt like he got locked in in that department later in conference play. He didn't overcommit unless he had it, and he had it more.
Watched Fultz and Ball videos afterwards. Still think there is no comparison. Sure those guys might have been able to dominate in their respective leagues (I use that word loosely with Fultz, on a 9-22 team), but the athleticism is just a different level.
Other thought, I hope Vick has been working on his ball handling and has put on some off season muscle. If he can fill the Jackson / Frank void and take the ball to the hole, it would be a beautiful thing.