One of these things is not like the other

Dear basketball gods….

I’m sooooooooooooooooooo sorry I doubted the NY Liberty’s ability to end the Shock’s WNBA season early, jeeze that was some comeback and some crazy luck with circus shots… please let everything go back to normal and I promise to not taunt D.Wade with a miniature wheelchair and a Barbie with a knee brace…. in person.

kthanx…

What makes you think we’re going to talk about politics on here, Matt? Its not like there was any news related to politics happening today. You were wrong, Matt!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHW-0LDQ0IE

I can has flamewar?

I vaguely remember Salley talking alot of talk (big surprise) before his contract was up. Saying stuff like “I’d be a 20-10 guy if I played on any other team.” Looking back it was alot of hype, at the time it was plausible… and you know how GMs like to project guys ability then give them guaranteed contracts based on those projections. Well Miami bought into Salley’s line hook, line, and sinker… and it looks like Nike did as well.

Of course… no politics here. “None!” I say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVeUEABXDfg

Hilarious. Amazing how the mood changed so damn quickly. Without dear old Saddam, the inmates were in control.
These wars (inc Afghanistan) were not waged with the right intentions.
Bush was wrong and I hope that the American people punish him and his party for it. McCain might be a stand up guy with nothing but good intentions, but unfortunately dear old George W has really pissed a lot of people off. Its just a bad time to be a Republican.

Or that’s my opinion :)

I like how Iran has become this big issue for the US, especially considering we have basically put Iran in the driver’s seat in the Middle East by bungling in Iraq. “Bomb, bomb, bomb / bomb, bomb Iran”

I guess we love to create dictatorships and rogue nations so we can get all belligerent and try to fight ’em later:
The Taliban
Saddam
now Iran.

And I hope Stuckey has a great season!

What astounds me about Obamites is that they actually believe changing the “President” will somehow change the actions of our Govt. As if the art of “governing” itself wasn’t a tens of thousands of year old system of control whereby those wealthier than us (the masses, read YOU sucker) are elected to positions of leadership which then allows them to steal from us indescriminately (sp?)…..this is government and you people are in for a HUGE Jimmy Carter style shock when Obama turns out to be absolutely the exact same deal as the last two Dem govts (Clinton, Carter)…

As for those of you who support McCain, I just think you’re funny as hell for thinking REAL rich people would ever let you in. You’re like an illegal immigrant maid/gardener talking about “our house” when really… you just clean it.

Also, dear RichRod… I might be willing to forgive ND if you just win this one… might. Seriously though please keep it close kay?

the greatest running back to play the game>>

Heh Matt you are showing your age.

I will now show mine.

Jim Brown was the greatest running back of all time and Gale Sayers was 2nd. The guy in the commercial wouldn’t even rank in the top 10.

Salley is a TV personality of a very popular show so he ranks.

What scares me is that I agree with his 1-2…

the fact that Barry isn’t 3rd though discredits him completely…

Not to inject race into “Mike’s” horrific statement but:

Barry Sanders would’ve run over the pathetic white linebackers and defensive backs just as much as Brown did back in the day.

Brown isn’t running away from early to mid 90s linebackers and dbs like Barry did.

I’m sorry, Barry is the greatest RB of all time.

Obama = Michael Curry
McCain = Flip Saunders

[Sorry DBBers, couldn’t resist. Just a joke. Apologies to McCain supporters who might be offended, but I couldn’t find a more apt coach to put in for him (Don Nelson, maybe?).]

PG4L

- Couple of things.

1). Cynicism sucks. Yes, your observation that the leadership class in this country is relatively entrenched and generally seems to corrupt those that are drafted from the ranks of the masses into the halls of power is correct. That being said, if your point is that it doesn’t matter who we choose or even if we participate, I say balls. Cynicism and apathy are necessary for the continuation of the system that you seem to lament. Anyways, our system may suck, but it’s better than all the rest and it depends on people participating.

2). Finally your point that Obama’s admin will be exactly the same as Carter and Clinton seems to be something of a non sequitur. Obama may turn out to be great, horrible or more likely, something in between but I don’t think it’s possible for his administration to be similar to both Carter’s and Clinton’s given that Clinton presided over prosperity and was center left and Carter was viewed as more of a doctrinaire liberal and lost his reelection bid due to his inability to solve the gas/hostage crises.

Colin, they both spoke out one side of their mouths and cared little for the people they proposed to be representing… though really being fair so has every other president.

Also, you need to look up cynicism, apathy and hell while you’re at it “straw man argument”… To quote a famous spanish drunkard “I do not think zis word means what you think it means”…

My favorite part was all the talk about nuclear energy and how it will make us energy independent. When was the last time any of you filled up your gas tank with nuclear? Yeah, me neither.

97% of the $700 billion we send to the “countries that don’t like us” is for transportation fuel, not electricity. I’ve read the old man’s energy policy a few times, and I’m still waiting for him to explain how he’s going to solve this FUEL crisis.

(oh, and you better bring more than “drill”. you can drill all you want, but tell me what you’re going to do to bring down gas prices in the 7 years it takes for the drilling to produce a single drop of oil)

/end rant. as a fervent energy nerd, I just don’t like having my intelligence insulted.

@PG4L:
you might enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJv_wf91W8

sometimes, listening to chomsky can be like watching paint dry, but his points are interesting if you can muscle through it.

Signs of life from Big Blue?

Inconceivable!

PG4L Re: Cynicism

The Oxford English Dictionary suggests as the usual modern definition: showing “a disposition to disbelieve in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions” and a tendency "to express this by sneers and sarcasms

I think it is fair to say that almost all of your posts betray cynicism. Apathy, not so much. I do think, however, that they go hand in hand. A world view that starts with everyone’s a douche easily turns into fuck it, it doesn’t matter.

And, I really don’t think I made a straw man argument at all. I don’t think that it was unreasonable to conclude from your post that you were ridiculing supporters of both tickets and generally minimizing serious, substantive differences between both our current candidates and the last two democratic presidents. It seemed like you were saying that it didn’t matter and that our system is broken beyond repair. Perhaps it’s unfair to make these types of inferences from a two paragraph comment.

Anyways, if you feel like I misrepresented your argument I’d love to hear what you actually were trying to say and have a conversation about that rather than have you question my intelligence.

Politics are talked about way to often on here for a sight related to the pistons.

Congrats,

To all those Wolverines for getting their first real big win today under coach Rodriguez.

Enjoy it while it last.

Does anyone know why WNBA teams have a FG% that is about 7 points (50% vs. 43^ for the best teams, similar splits at the bottom) lower than the NBA on average? I’m trying to figure out if it’s physical strength (which would hurt shooting from distance and fending off a defender) or just that fewer women play basketball in general so the skill level isn’t quite what it is yet in the NBA. The ’49-50 NBA champion MPLS Lakers only shot 37% from the field so I figure it must have more to do with skill and style than gender differences in strength, which is the same for defense and accounted for in the distance of the 3pt shot and size of the ball in the WNBA.

It would be interesting to know where those shots are coming from 3xJoe.

My guess is a game with more long range shooting, less dunking and no (or rarely) 7ft tall players. I would also assume that with more low percentage shots being taken, the FG% reflects it.

Or that’s my completely uneducated guess :)

“The Oxford English Dictionary suggests as the usual modern definition: showing "a disposition to disbelieve in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions" and a tendency "to express this by sneers and sarcasms”

- You know absolutely NOTHING about my interactions with other people, my hopes, goals, wishes or future plans. You have no idea whatsoever how I react to random strangers in the street. Your sample size is completely inadequate. Additionally that’s an “understood modern meaning”, which in English means that people have simply twisted the word to mean whatever they want it to mean at the time. I have ZERO respect for people who use words like “cynicism”… why didn’t you just ask “Who’s got a case of the Mondays?”… it would have been just as accurate.

“I think it is fair to say that almost all of your posts betray cynicism.”

-Again, you don’t even understand the WORD so how can you possibly say my posts BETRAY what is clearly a highly emotional state? You weren’t there when I was writing them and you ascribe a value YOU DO NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND to my writing when it’s not present? Not one English teaching in 100 would say ANYTHING I posted is cynical.. know why? Because they speak English. You merely mimic it.

“Apathy, not so much. I do think, however, that they go hand in hand. A world view that starts with everyone’s a douche easily turns into fuck it, it doesn’t matter”

- So not only have you decided that I’m cynical (incorrectly) but NOW you’re saying that OBVIOUSLY that leads to apathy because it’s easy to go from one to another so therefore I must have? Are you even fucking sane? This argument is so childish I won’t even touch it but you SHOULD be embarassed you wrote it sucker.

“And, I really don’t think I made a straw man argument at all. I don’t think that it was unreasonable to conclude from your post that you were ridiculing supporters of both tickets and generally minimizing serious, substantive differences between both our current candidates and the last two democratic presidents. It seemed like you were saying that it didn’t matter and that our system is broken beyond repair. Perhaps it’s unfair to make these types of inferences from a two paragraph comment.”

- If you looked up the term Straw Man Argument you would come up with a definition that looks something as follows:

A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position.1 To “set up a straw man,” one describes a position that superficially resembles an opponent’s actual view, yet is easier to refute, then attributes that position to the opponent. For example, someone might deliberately overstate the opponent’s position.1 While a straw man argument may work as a rhetorical technique—and succeed in persuading people—it carries little or no real evidential weight, since the opponent’s actual argument has not been refuted.2

Now please go re-read your argument and make a note of how many times you said: “your posts betray”, “cynicism”, “I don’t think it was unreasonable to conclude”, “it seemed”…

You wouldn’t make a credible witness is traffic court with that language… out HERE? It just makes you look like a fool. You absolutely WHERE using a straw man argument to make me look bad and it backfired. You lose.

“I don’t think that it was unreasonable to conclude from your post that you were ridiculing supporters of both tickets and generally minimizing serious, substantive differences between both our current candidates and the last two democratic presidents.”

- There are no differences between either party or even given politicians within a party. The system is rigged so that the only options on the ballot are “one of them” which means “people who represent the wealthy and not the common man”. Clinton was a thief who sold our country to China. Carter was a thief who sold our country to energy companies. I could go into what kind of thieves the last 20 presidents were but really that’s besides the point. I’m honestly sorry you are too stupid to see that. Ridicule IS doing SOMETHING, it IS expressing an opinion and I DO ABSOLUTELY do it expecting change… which throws your whole cynicism and apathy theory right out the window.

“it seemed like you were saying that it didn’t matter and that our system is broken beyond repair.”

- There you go using the word SEEMED again. The current electorial system IS broke… to say that doesn’t matter is bordering on disrespectful to the ideas and values that make up what America is on PAPER rather than what our leaders have carved it up and made it. It absolutely DOES matter that people know the electorial process is a sham. It absolutely DOES matter that people know the college of voters is a REALLY stupid idea and is currently allowing our ENTIRE electorial process to be hijacked by a few rural regions FULL of nut cases at the expense of MILLIONS of voters who live in urban areas and therefore their votes essentially do not count. It absolutely DOES matter that people WAKE THE FUCK UP and realize what’s happening here or rather HAS ALREADY HAPPENED… Wherever the FUCK did you get the idea this doesn’t matter or that I think it doesn’t matter? Absolutely NOTHING about this system will change until Americans at large DEMAND change and follow the instructions laid out for us in various historical documents about what to do when a man or a group of men (and yes I mean you Condi) would subvert our constitution and make himself/themselves King.

“Anyways, if you feel like I misrepresented your argument I’d love to hear what you actually were trying to say and have a conversation about that rather than have you question my intelligence.”

- So you misrepresent what I say, set me up for a straw man argument, call my fucking CYNICAL and APATHETIC and NOW I somehow owe you an explaination of what I was saying because I insulted your intelligence?

You’re some piece of work.

Done with this guy.

Now on to way way way more relevant discussion:

Dear Blue fans who are not myself…

I know what’s coming. I know you’re all about to turn on me and yell “SEE! SEE! He’s not a fraud”… and you might be right. I won’t lie that I was AMAZED at how awesome our defense looked in the 4th quarter when their guys were OBVIOUSLY tiring out and it seemed like going to overtime would only favor our fit/dangerous defense…

But… and this is a key but…

Let’s save the celebrating for a day when we DON’T turn the ball over multiple times in the first half and spot the other team a 19 point lead…

I’m not saying I’m not happy, I am… I’m just saying this is a “stay of execution”… not a “pardon” as far as me and RichRod are concerned.

Oh btw, before anyone mentions it… yeah I can’t spell. Whatever.

I know why the shooting percentages are lower in the WNBA as compared to the NBA…

Women can’t make layups and men can

PG4L,

WOW. That was over the top. You spent most of your post personally attacking me. You can’t even acknowledge that any part of my argument had even a shred of validity.

I’ll show you what that would look like. You’re absolutely right that I wasn’t with you and I don’t know who you really are. You could be a man for all I know. I could be completely wrong about you. That is why I used variations of the word “seem” so much. It conveys an uncertainty, that I have an impression of your viewpoint, but that I am willing to be convinced otherwise. A straw man argument involves distorting your position to an extreme and presenting it as fact. That wasn’t my intention and I don’t think I did that. Frankly, I think we could have had an interesting dialogue about the state of governance in this country as I don’t entirely disagree with your sentiments. I just disagree with the generalizations and hyperbole. You chose to rant and attack me personally instead.

Also, I think it is fair to say that you are not apathetic. You, just demonstrated that with your multi-paragraph rant. I don’t think it was necessary to call me stupid or question my sanity to prove that point however.

And what is up with your obsession with the word cynic? We’re not in ancient Greece anymore and unless you are someone who “rejects all conventions, whether of religion, manners, housing, dress, or decency, advocating the pursuit of virtue in a simple and unmaterialistic lifestyle,” I have no idea what you are talking about. You’re posts have been the definition of cynical, in that they view politicians as dishonest thieves motivated by self-interest. When you adamantly, in the face of reason and evidence, refuse to cede even an inch to your opponent and launch into ad hominem attacks you rapidly lose credibility.

OK, I’m bored, so I’ll chime in: I teach English and Linguistics on the college level, and I’d say Colin’s use of the word cynicism is a reasonable one.

PG4L: Much respect for your basketball knowledge and analysis. But if I may use a basketball term (as I understand it), perhaps you should “shoot within your range” on this blog and stick to bball.

In general watching folks on here that I have high regard for in terms of their bball IQ and common loyalty and love for the Pistons start to get so bored in the off season that they try to take authorative positions on things they have no training in and high moral (judgmental) stands(on anything really) is well…a little like watching Barack Obama try to dance or John McCain try to scratch his head—it’s embarrasing.

Let’s play to our strengths as Piston’s fans and play nice in the sandbox y’all. I PROMISE, the season is almost here! :)

So much for my attempt to calm the DBB waters by starting a discussion of WNBA FG% as it relates to historic shooting trends in the NBA. Damn you George Mikan!

Boney – I think you are partly right. Women don’t dunk layups is more like it.

Re: Michigan over Wisconsin:

The second half is merely a glimpse of what this program is going to turn into. I fully expect to watch a replay of the first half several more times this season. What’s encouraging was how it got turned around, how the coaches got the guys motivated, how they pressed all the right buttons, and of course how the kids responded on the field. That was some gutsy performance in the second half.

Yesterday was a big step in the right direction. I do expect some smaller backwards steps before we continue moving forward.

Colin – “You had me at hello”

Other Matt – I am still not convinced but I’m willing to conceed the defense looked every bit like what I was promised a Mike Barwiss (sp?) trained unit would look like. I liked…

I DIDN’T like spotting them 19 points obviously. Still I have to admit that second half was special.

pg4l,

How sincere….

F*ck it, we were only (almost) debating the fundamental nature of our society. Go Blue!

OK, here’s my point: I have a right to come to this blog and not be assaulted by disrespectful rants and opinions of angry folks that are talking about things that have not one thing to do with basketball, sports, pistons etc. Jokes, metaphors involving politics etc—yeah, I’m not saying no one can go off topic. But when the majority of the posts become someone’s emotional attack on someone else that I could care less about, you need to tell them to take that trash over and wait on hold at the Rush Lembaugh show or something. In other words, even if the person is a well respected poster, THAT is what the moderator needs to delete. I tried to make this point in a gentle and humorous way and MY post was not put up. WTF?

I don’t know if PistonsGirl4Life is another way of saying Mrs. Matt Watson or if (God forbid) SHE is the guest moderator, but whoever is screening these posts got it wrong. Stop your cronyism and let everyone have an equal voice about what they want to see here, or moderate the irrelevant posts—OF EVEN YOUR FRIENDS—off of this blog.

Dissapointed DBB fan – Moderating blog comments takes time. Since popular blogs are generally decent quality writing given away for free I’ve found it’s not all that productive to ask for extra features from the blog author, who spends his/her own time and money to host the blog, to make the comment section a more friendly place. That’s the job of regular readers.

I’ve been on both sides of blog comment wars at times. People have found me to be an off topic blowhard and I’v found other people to be offensive jerks. In both cases it’s usually best just to chill and let things blow over. People in a conflict will understandably want to get in the last word and can (at least temporarily) always do so in a blog comment thread.

As a reader it sucks to plow through comments that you don’t want to read but that’s life on the internets. Matt said in the post that he’s going to be away for the weekend. We should all just take his advice.

“Be nice, and a have a good one.”

Colin, exactly… We may not be able to agree on representative democracy and the value there of but we can BOTH agree that yesterday’s win was truly bitchin… and well THAT my friend is what makes America great.

Dissapointed DBB…… wha? I really can’t respond to (or understand) most of what you said… however I can say with absolute certainty that I don’t even know Matt Watson. Whatever else you’ve accused me of is what it is, but I do not know Matt Watson.

Fwiw, I didn’t start the political discussion here at all, and frankly I don’t discuss politics because my viewpoint doesn’t fit into one of two easy to identify catagories. I picked a fight because I was encouraged to… when it became clear that fight was too intense, I quoted Jerry McGuire…

Seriously guy, you trippin…

Well,

That spiraled out of control quickly. I’ll admit that I’ve been working twelve hour shifts over the past three days and I was bored and tried to start a debate.

That being said, I think, during the doldrums of the offseason, it is perfectly acceptable to debate politics, pop culture, whatever. What sucks are page long rants back and forth that devolve into a personal argument between two people that have never met. That kills the mood.

So, I will be taking a page out of McCain’s book and putting Community first. That’s right, I’m suspending any future participation in political debates on DBB. It kills me, since I’m pretty much equally obsessed with politics as I am with the Pistons. Anyways, 40 something days of keeping my mouth shut won’t kill me.

Cheers.

OT: Only six full days now until our first preseason game— against Miami. Anyone else pumped, PUMPED to see Amir matching up against Beasley? I don’t know if the game will be televised, but I can’t wait to see the box score and read about the game.

Just shy of a week!

@"Dissapointed DBB fan"

At the end of the day, we all bleed red, white and blue here. That’s Pistons red, white and blue— the jersey colors that all of us here salute. As Matt mentioned in this post, this was to act as an open thread of sorts, and political discussion was tough to avoid. Hell, I’m likely the most guilty by egging everyone on at the beginning of the comments.

But look— I’m dead sure that if Colin and PG4L bumped into eachother at a Pistons game, they’d be sharing beers and cheers, not thoughts on politics. Tis the season to get a little heated about politics. Tis the off-season of basketball.

Disappointed DBB fan,

Get real with the user name you use when you comment. You along with the many that choose to use “Anonymous” are the real problems with commenting on a board like this.

Own your comment, all the rest of us do. Be man, put your name to it and take ownership of it.

To the rest of you douchebags,

MikePayne and PG4L are pre-2007 people here, much like I am. Please stop trying to tell us how to comment when you’ve likely been reading our discussions for the last 2 years or more.

If you don’t like it, keep it to yourself and go back to just reading.

Plain and simple… if you want to flame me, put a name to your words and not just some random “holier than thou” type of name like “Disappointed DBB fan”…

Two things…

GO SHOCK! Wow, that was dominating. Just like always these girls are MONIE$ with their back to the wall. 64-55 and a 4th quarter that will make the girls from NY think tonight, that’s for sure. Now can they do it again? Lets go Shock.

Second thing. I don’t care who’s been where longer, I just think people need to realize it’s the internets… who the f cares if someone thinks you’re an idiot when you will NEVER meet that someone? Seriously you can feel free to skip any of my posts in the future guys… it’s really easy, i label ALL the horrible things I say “PistonsGirl4Life”… just skip those ones.

hahaha

@MP – “I’m still waiting for him to explain how he’s going to solve this FUEL crisis”
I’ll start by saying i’m not picking a fight, just explaining how things look from my point of view. I really don’t want this to get ugly llike some of the debates here…

Fuel prices are a matter of supply and demand. You decrease the demand and prices go down. To that effect the average US citizen can learn a thing or two from the rest of the world.
How much do you pay for gas? My wife’s unleaded fuel costs here in israel ~2$ per liter (approx. 8$ per gallon). I don’t know how much you pay for your fuel (and i guess it varies between states)but i would be so bold as to bet that it’s less. In Europe, gas prices are more or less like in Israel.
Again using the same example, my wife’s car does 15 kilometers per liter (and my scooter 27 per liter). I don’t feel like doing the math so either do it yourself or switch to the metric system :). My guess, once again, is that you (not MP’s but the reader’s) car doesn’t do quite as well.
I have yet (age 31) to buy a car for myself and actually purchased my first scooter at age 25. I’m betting you got yours earlier, maybe 8-9 years earlier. I buy what i have to to get by. It’s not fun but it gets the job done.
Since fuel is expensive, we don’t like to trash our environment, we don’t have a lot of money to spend on cars (that only applies to israel. in europe they cost less and they have more money) and most of us don’t need big, expensive SUVs we just don’t buy them.

So to conclude, if the average american sells his SUV and buys what he really needs, looks at the fuel consomption data as part of evaluating what car to buy, uses the bus/train/bicycle more often and in general uses less fuel than prices will go down without the president of the US having to step in. All it takes is just for everybody to do a little by himself and a big change can happen.

Again, i’m not looking for a fight. i just described how i live so you can see what having less wealth as a country does to its citizens with myself as an example.

@MP – I cut myself and I cant seem to find any blue or white blood. Mind you my vision is blurry so I cant be sure.

This is a basketball blog site?
I must be taking crazy pills!

If I could make one political comment…
I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Sorry, its been a long day.

So, back to the video, or at least the discussion of running backs. Jim Brown is number 1. This should be the least arguable number 1 ranking of any football player relative to position. Brown is just head and shoulders above everyone else. It is not fair to play hypothetical games and say he wouldn’t have done as well in a different era. The best way is to compare how successful the player was at the time. Anyhow, I think Barry’s number 3, behind Jim Brown and Walter Payton.

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/acker_080929.html
Acker has been signed but I wonder if its a guaranteed deal or not. But I’m surprised thats for sure.

Ben Gordon is going to sign the QO. Refusing to take the initial deal and coming up with fake Europe offers really worked out for him.

Uh…I missed most of this debate. But I’ve just got to say how annoying it is that anyone who wants proof from Obama that he is who he says he is gets labeled a cynic. Gee, so I’m not impressed that your ethics reform in Chicago got unanimous approval, I’m a cynic? Because you ran your primary on “change” and picked a guy who’s been in the senate since 1973, brags about having written the Patriot Act, and thought we should divide Iraq into three sections, I’m the cynic? Because I don’t see change as running on John Kerry’s platform with John Edwards rhetoric and Hillary Clinton tactics, I’m a cynic? I started out an Obama fan, but he’s proved himself to be such typical politician that I’m done with him. I could give a crap less about a political debate and this’ll be my first and last political rant on DBB.

Although if the Tigers beat the Sox today, that may provide some more rant fuel.

excuse the long post, errbody. skip it if you want to avoid political content…

@Ohad:
“I’ll start by saying i’m not picking a fight” No sweat, my friend, you made good points without stepping on any toes. Its interesting to see the issue from your perspective, and I agree with your general line of thinking— that a little conservation can go a long way.

Its unfortunate that even in the face of a renewed sense of fuel conservation in the US, market growth in China will neutralize this effort. Fuel consumption in China is on pace to eclipse even our own, and as a result of the increased demand our price at the pump will continue its lofty climb. Conservation is paramount, but a greater solution is needed.

Gasoline has a stranglehold over the US economy because it does not have a market competitor. Injecting competition into the market can drive gasoline back under $3.00/gallon— and this cheap, clean competitor can best $2.00/gallon itself within 10 years. The competitor is alcohol fuel— a market-ready, technically developing fuel made from a wide variety of sources. Some examples are corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol (celluline), liquid-coal methanol (synfuel), and finally algae-based biofuel.

There were about 6.5 Billion gallons of ethanol produced last year, most of which was blended in with our gasoline fuel supply (saving us all between $.16 and $.40 per gallon depending on region). Here in Iowa, a 10% ethanol blend is available that runs clean in my car and costs $3.31/gallon. Ahh, the perks of living in Corn Country. The problem with higher-level ethanol fuels, like E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) is that your car needs to be flex-fuel capable to run it. Obama has called for a mandate that all new cars produced in the US be flex-fuel capable, able to run on any blend of gasoline and alcohol fuels.

E85 costs $2.50 around the corner from my house. For $350, I can mod my car to run on E85. For the Big Three in Detroit (who, by the way, lead the world in flex-fuel vehicle production), doing so would be even cheaper, less than $75 per new car produced. So our existing fleet can be run on alcohol fuels OR gasoline for a few hundred bucks a pop. All new cars can be flex fuel capable for a handful of dollars, thus making the manufacturers eligible for federal green car tax credits.

Point being, for a tiny, tax-credited investment in Detroit and by consumers, the fuel crisis can be solved. Brazil did it, they are the world’s first sustainable biofuel economy and are energy independent as a result.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

“The Brazilian ethanol program provided nearly one million jobs in 2007, and cut 1975–2002 oil imports by a cumulative undiscounted total of US$50 billion”

/sorry for the long post, this is probably the only thing I am more passionate about than my Pistons…

OK, so encouraging political flaming as I headed out the door for the weekend may not have been the best idea I ever had. That said, so long as what happens in an open thread stays in an open thread and doesn’t pollute the rest of the site, I’m not all that concerned.

Also, a note on comment moderation: I do very, very little of it. First-time commenters automatically have their first comments put into a queue until I can publish it. If I’m away from a computer for days at a time, they won’t get published for days at a time — that’s just how things work.

Comments also get put into a queue if they contain more than a couple of links — that’s to filter comment spam, which, as anyone who’s ever maintained a blog can tell you, is just as bad or worse than email spam. (Every now and then a real comment gets mixed up in the spam filter, and if you think that’s the case, drop me an email and I’ll look for it.)

But all in all, I don’t censor opinions around here. This is DBB’s fourth season, and in that entire time I can count on one hand the number of trolls I’ve blacklisted from DBB (not including random fans from playoff opponents who hit-and-run with profanity-laced comments about how “Detroit sux!!!”).

If you disagree with something I wrote, by all means tell me why. If you’re frustrated by the tone of off-topic comments, politely say so and try to steer the discussion back to basketball (because chances are you’re not alone). Either way, I encourage everyone to participate and share their opinions — this site wouldn’t exist without interaction from readers.

Also, ohad’s comment piqued my curiosity — according to google, “27 kilometers per liter” = 63.5 miles per gallon. And 15 kilometers per liter = 35.2mpg. Impressive!

Did I mention that I like slam-dunk shots? :D

pg4l,

 “I just think people need to realize it’s the internets… who the f cares if someone thinks you’re an idiot when you will NEVER meet that someone?”

I assume that means that you think it would be wrong to call someone an idiot to there face. What makes you think it’s acceptable to do it online? I agree that we should all lighten up to a certain degree about off-topic posts and such, but I don’t think it’s asking all that much for people to treat each other with a modicum of respect as they debate.

*their face

Colin, when you say you are going to let it go. You have to let it go. Frankly you were being an idiot but we’ve sorta gone past the phase where either of us is supposed to care about it…

Seriously I’M the one with the wounded vagina yo…

You know what, since you CLEARLY don’t get it, I’ve actually decided to explain the problem I have with your posts towards me, it’s really simple:

Cynicism is a belief in human nature. I don’t have BELIEFS. It’s pretty obvious the situation we are in is EVIDENCE that things have gone to rat shit. You want to call me negative fine, you want to call me an anarchist, fine, you want to call me CRAZY, fine…

But LEARN THE FUCKING LANGUAGE O-KAY?

I can ABSOLUTELY say a US Senator will probably not be any different than any previous presidents and it has NOTHING to do with cynicism… the guy voted for all this the same as EVERYONE ELSE WE’VE BEEN ASKED TO CHOSE DID.

DO NOT call me a cynic when its YOUR PIE IN THE SKY WORLDVIEW thats wrong…

I’ve been talking this coming mess up for 7 YEARS…

We’re WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY past “OMFG Nina’s just a worry wort!”

For the second and last time. Fucking done with this guy.

This entire site is full of whiny catholic school girls..

No really.

You musta really loved the Ron Paul phase, eh?

I said I wouldn’t discuss politics and I plan to stick to that. My point is regarding the personal attacks that you repeatedly use. I have no further interest in debating the meaning of cynicism or any of that.

I think it makes one look silly when they call someone they disagree with an idiot. You proved my point by getting angry and delving back into the cynicism/governance debate. I’m not interested in that. It makes it clear that you can’t have a debate on the merits when you become unhinged like that. What i was interested in is why you think it is smart/ok to personally attack those you disagree with. Lot’s of people on here, including myself, can step over the line occasionally. What I see from you is consistent vitriol and contempt for those who disagree with you. That is not something I’m willing to let go.

“That is not something I’m willing to let go.”

But I am. Welcome to my “don’t read that guy’s posts list”. This should rectify any future problems…

You win or something.

Shinons, I’m dicey on Paul namely because I’m confused as to how someone as honest as he professes to be can be involved in the current political system… He’s either a pure abberation (sp?) in the development of man as a political animal……. or he’s completely full of crap…

Anyone who talks about changing the democratic system in America without addressing the fact that we are no longer a proper representative democracy really can’t be trusted to be honest….

I was just kidding about Paul. I figure if you’re disillusioned on politics, you’re probably going to roll your eyes when you hear some weasely politician talking about how they’re going to dismantle the IRS – although having a troop of supporters who spend their free time spamming message boards lends a TON of credibility to any campaign… The whole Barack Obamite, “Ron Paul Revolution”, and any other political fad reminds me a lot of that Family Guy episode where Peter started the Church of the Fonze…only with more self-righteousness. And at least the Fonze is cool. Politicians are uncool.

@PG4L:
“This entire site is full of whiny catholic school girls..”

That’d be kinda hot.

I declare Mike Payne the winner of this thread.

@Shinons:
“I could give a crap less about a political debate and this’ll be my first and last political rant on DBB.”

I was really hoping you were serious about that being your last political rant on DBB, but it wasn’t. What gives?

The first was was serious/annoyed ranting. I try not to do that often, especially about politics. But unserious/joking? I don’t see anything wrong with that…

I guess I’m just a flip flopper.

Don’t say “Flip”, I don’t think I can handle the memories….

:)

In the future, I propose that when you want to politely ask posters to return to the topic of basketball use the Garrett method of expressing your enjoyment of “slam dunk shots.”

I don’t know why but that cracks me up.

Flip Flopper = Tugging nervously on ones collar whilst falling to the floor with arms flailing due to severe defense deficiency.