Eric

And you know how AT&T is going to pay for it? Look into the Net Neutrality issue. Sites themselves are going to have to start paying the carriers for people to have access to them, or, at the very least, have usable access to them, especially any site that features multi-media stuff.

Dating back to the early 2000's as SSD were basically sticks of RAM repurposed as a flash drive, I've alway wanted to get one as my boot drive. But the size was always prohibitive. As the size increased, so did the bloatware and OS's. Even so, when the sizes got good enough to handle all that, the cost was extremely prohibitive (the same cost as, or more expensive than, the computer I was going to install it on). Then, about 6 months ago I decided to check in on everything and found a 512 GB SDD from Kingston for around $150. I hemmed and hawed about it for the intervening time until sometime last week, I had had a few too many and found myself on Amazon (a dangerous combination for my pocketbook as anyone who's found themselves in a similar situation can tell you). Anywho, I ended up finally pulling the trigger on the purchase and when I arrived home on Thursday evening, I found a package waiting for me on my doorstep. The first thing I did was to back up my existing HD, which took over night. Excited about the prospect of using the new drive, I got up early on Friday and began to clone the drive using some 3rd Party Software, since the drive didn't come with any itself. I needed to clone the drive instead of simply dragging and dropping the files onto it because it needed to simply replace my existing HD as is. Luckily, I already had a USB/SATA adapter so I was able to plug the drive into the USB port (turns out, this was a crucial piece of hardware to have, and something I highly recommend everyone pick up for a variety of other reasons). So I hooked it up, went into admin tools, assigned it a Drive Letter, then fired up the software package called EaseUS Todo Backup Free (which I found from the LifeHacker website article on cloning without reinstalling). This took about an hour for my 200GB. Then I shut my computer down, replaced the existing drive with the SSD, fired it up, and it just worked. And boy howdy did it "just work". In the time it used to take just for the Windows Boot up screen to come up before, I had already logged in, gone through metro, loaded up my browser and my Outlook and was Sending/Receiving Mail. Yes, that quickly! More importantly than that, I have an external HD attached to my laptop which holds almost 500 GB of Photos (for work) as well as about 200 GB of music (for personal). To say that Photoshop would take it's sweet time opening each day when I began work would be a vast understatement. Not only that, but scrolling through the files would produce 3-5 second hang times every page. With thousands of photos to scroll through sometimes, looking for that needle in a haystack of a generic photo needed, that could cost me anywhere from 15-20 minutes just in the search alone. Now, it's instantanious (since the thumbnails are housed within the Photoshop program on the SSD drive and not the full sized ones on the external). It still takes the same amount of time to pull the full sized ones down. Audio editing is the other thing I tested, since launching the new podcast this last week. If you know anything about editing, sometimes the editing process itself is spent telling the computer to do something, then waiting for that to happen. Well, with the new SSD drive, all of that waiting just disappeared. Processes that were taking 2 minutes or more were suddenly done in less than 5 seconds. Internet connectivity, however, is now the weak link. I can tell how fast or slow the connection is by the time it takes to get anything done on my end, since everything else on my system is running faster than the connection itself. So, the moral of the story? If you are ever frustrated with the amount of time you are spending waiting for things to load on your computer, or the amount of time it takes to boot up, then get yourself an SSD and you will never look back. And for the gamers out there looking to increase the speed with which their games run, this may be the single best improvement you can make to your computer, even more than a Video Card or RAM. Seriously, it impacts the speed of the system that much. Heck, given the choice of an SSD with a lesser CPU vs an up to speed CPU with an HDD, I'll take the SSD option every time. Yes, it's that good.

Angels OMB in the early 2000's prior to MLB sanitizing and homoginizing all the teams boards. It was a small crew back then, but there was definitely an interaction between the members of that board and the FO. Met several people a long time ago at the tailgating parties we would have under the Big A before the games. Got to meet one fan who flew in from Amsterdam to attend the tailgate and the game. Now THAT was some dedication right there. He and I remain good friends to this day. The only question I had was what ever happened to the Brandon on that board? That guy got banned and unbanned more than any other person I've ever seen on any message board before or since.

If that's the case then Mr. Show is going to blow your mind.

For those of you out there in AW.com land that are poker players or like poker, we've just launched a new podcast called "Three Sheets To The River". It's only a half hour podcast that will be released weekly. It's a round-table discussion on the big poker news stories of the week as well as a sit-down one-on-one interview with someone in the Poker Community. AW.com's own resident Poker Superstar Derek is one of the panel as well. If you're interested in taking a listen, head over to PokerTelegraph.com where it's the top Story presently. Also, let us know if you have any feedback, either by contacting us on Twitter @PokerTelegraph or on Facebook at Facebook.com/PokerTelegraph. This week's Topics are California-centric with the merger of Tribal Casinos/Local LA Casinos/Pokerstars taking centerstage, but we also spoke with Marco Valerio who attended the Legislative Hearing in Sacramento regarding online poker in California. Anyway, enjoy!

Looks like an absolute blast! I wish I could be there but that's right in the middle of my key work period of the year. I hope everyone has a great time!

it would be really weird since it's only May.

Chuck, Check your email please.

Wow, Page 3 of a May 1st stats thread and not a single "Small Sample Size" reference? You guys are slipping.

I don't even need to read the report, the article referenced, or the replies in this thread. Never going to happen. Period. I could go into a long descriptive explanation, but I won't bore you with the details. Just don't waste your time on this Story, it's not happening, 100%.

I worked with Craig years ago on a TV show you all probably have heard of. His problem has always been that he's to hip for the room. His humor relies on the idea that his audience has intelligence and can understand mocking of the established protocol. Every once in a while, he explains what he is doing, for those that don't understand, but the vast majority of his schtick makes the assumption that his audience "gets it". He was never destined for the 11:30 time-slot, as he knew the audience would never accept his mockery as becoming the new establishment. Kuddo's to him for figuring out a way to work that anti-establishment into his contract and seeing his opportunity to cash out when the time came. BTW, his interview style included an element that most talk-show hosts and other reporters lack, the ability to listen to the subject and ask follow-up questions. Most "reporters" and "interviewers" that you know only ask pre-approved and pre-determined questions that the subject knows are coming and have prepared answers to, which is why if you watch most of their interviews, you will hear the same questions and the same answers/stories repeatedly. There was a reason why Craig was the last stop on the interview gamut as he went off-script and, by doing so, exposed the real talent from the posers. I have said in the past that I have modeled my interview techniques after both he (Craig Ferguson) and Tim Russert. There's a reason for that. 1. You end up going places that no other reporter is prepared or willing to go. -and- 2. You end up getting past the bullcrap and into genuine "real" conversations. When you're not asking questions that people are pre-programmed with responses to answer, you become a dangerous entity because you expose people for their genuine personalities. When Tim Russert was still running Meet The Press, any potential guest prepared all week for their appearance, knowing that Tim was going to expose them as frauds if they weren't prepared. Now, with the new host, David Gregory, it's a joke, interviewees end up prepping late Saturday afternoon only because they know the questions they're going to get asked. And here's the reality of the situation, when you become the rogue, the one who is the "dangerous" interviewer, you become a challenge of sorts. Not in the confrontational way, but in the way that people seem to want to test them selves in a trial by fire sort of way. They know they may be outmatched because the BS they're spewing might be called out, live, but they want to do it anyway because they think that they can somehow outwit the interviewer. All we are doing is trying to get to the the heart of the matter and separate the wheat from the chaff. And guess what? It usually works. The BS artists usually end up slitting their own throats on their own lies. Craig Ferguson was never going to get the 11:30 slot and he knew it because his tolerance for BS was minimal and he delights in exposing the BS in Pop culture when he can.

I can't eat Taco Bell without a massive digestive reaction. I haven't eaten anything from them in almost 10 years. It really doesn't matter what names they put on it, my lower intestines just do not agree with whatever it is that give it the "Taco Bell Flavor". It seems that there's something in the food, every damned item I've ever gotten there, that gives me the bubbleguts. This is not hyperbole, the last time I ate there I had a meeting shortly thereafter that I had to leave simply because intestines were wrestling so hard that everyone knew it. It was nasty and I've never returned since.

Uno Mas FTW.

Only 2 more in a row to go! Sweep anyone?

Apparently they know EXACTLY what they're gonna do.

The Transfer rule was exposing the problems with having such widespread instant replay, so let's get rid of the Transfer rule instead of focusing on the negative effect instant replay is having on the game.

Dale Earnhardt. Too soon?

First book that you should pick the Yellow Pages, find a local brewmaster and head down to the store to talk to him. Before you go down there, though, put together a list of ales that you enjoy drinking so that he can help you to develop a brew that you will enjoy. The more detailed you are with why you like the ales on the list, the better job he can do in narrowing down what recipe to brew first. Again, I cannot stress enough the need for an electronic thermometer, especially given that many recipe's that call for sparging do so at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time. Oh, and one thing that they NEVER seem to tell you that you should know about when the fermentation is finished and ready to be transfered over to the carboy is to take a taste-test of the wort after the bubbling has subsided to more than a minute between bubbles. If it tastes sweet, then let it go another 24 hours. It should taste like flat beer before transfering to the carboy for clarification.

So far this April, the Angels have been flirting with a .500 record the latest into the season than they have in the past few seasons. If we had polled the board in those seasons what everyone had wished for in April, a .500 April record would top the list. Remember, the season cannot be won in April, but it CAN be lost in that month, a lesson that has been painfully taught over the past few seasons. As long as a team does not drop deep below a .500 record, they should remain within shooting distance of the leaders. As of this moment, the Angels are 1 game below .500, despite the devastating loses the Angels have endured so far this season. While the Angels have lost a few of their key performers (or had others that simply have not seemed to show up yet), they are still flirting with that simplest of goals, the .500. All teams will get hot and cold throughout the season, the key is to at least remain lukewarm until they heat up. .500 is lukewarm. This does not, however, mean that a team that sits at .500 is not without its obvious flaws and doesn't have its share of setbacks. Far from it. In fact, it's usual that a team that sits on a .500 record is suffering from their fair share of those. The key, however, is to recognize those flaws and setbacks and to rectify them as early in the season as possible in order to be able to move forward throughout the rest of the season more improved than they started. Remember, a team doesn't need to be hot in April, they just need to not be cold, and this season, at least so far, the Angels are finally not cold in April. A fact that may be little comfort to those that wish the Angels to be in first place from start to finish during the season, but one in which most successful teams understand. Stay afloat at .500, get on a little hot streak, and viola, suddenly the Angels are contending for the division lead.

Latest batch: It's a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone with a couple adjustments including a lowering of the hop content.

Winner! Lock Thread.

It's like wanting to watch a feel-good, pick me up movie and instead ending up with "Schindler's List".

In Pineda's defense, at least HE'S trying to win.

True story, I swear. Heading into the top of the 9th I began to feel nausea coming on at a rapid pace. I chewed down 4 tums in short order. The relief lasted about a minute and a half, until I realized I had other issues at work and sequestered myself into the only room that could handle this particular situation. I spent the rest of the game nearly doubled over in immense discomfort praying that whatever struggles I was having might be alleviated quickly. Turns out, I had a better 20 minutes than Ernesto Frieri for essentially doing the same thing. I'm better now, but lying on the couch, for those of you concerned about my situation, thank you.