Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Logan]

I was at 812 when I applied for my apartment 3 years ago. I knew my score was good but figured you needed some larger ticket items like mortgage debt to be in that range.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Logan

I was at 812 when I applied for my apartment 3 years ago. I knew my score was good but figured you needed some larger ticket items like mortgage debt to be in that range.

I was up around there before our mortgage with student loan debt and a car loan, not that those aren't "larger ticket".

SI

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by chadritt

About how long before you noticed a change? Im not looking at buying a place any time soon but maybe in the next 2 or 3 years.

Edit: I have an A rating in everything except Age of credit history and Total Accounts

OMG - me too!

Those are both like...D's on mine.

I dunno...to be honest the last time I really checked it was years and years ago before I got my car I think?

Lemme see if there's some sort of chart on there I can pull up that shows how it evolved over time and I'll shoot you a PM later tonight.

[cartman]

bbor, is that you?

I Ate Taco Bell's Entire New Dollar Menu in One Sitting, and Here's What I Learned | Adweek

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by cartman

bbor, is that you?

I Ate Taco Bell's Entire New Dollar Menu in One Sitting, and Here's What I Learned | Adweek

[CU Tiger]

Where is everyone pulling their score?

I check my cedit report every year but I dont know the last time Ive seen a score and Im curious...

[chadritt]

I used creditkarma. I needed it FAST because the apartment I was moving to said they had a problem when they ran it, aforementioned lack of history, and I wanted to see for myself.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Where is everyone pulling their score?

I check my cedit report every year but I dont know the last time Ive seen a score and Im curious...

My bank sends them monthly and my credit card offers them free on request. In both cases it's really just a number, not a full report.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yeah - creditkarma is good shit.

Free - they sell ads on the website in order to pay for it (and they have some affiliated stuff they probably get cuts of if you click-thru), but it's a solid free service.

[Barkeep49]

Someone at our opening faculty meeting said that they write about sports on the Internet, but under a pen name. A thought flashed through my head how awesome it would be if it was someone from FOFC. Then the odds of that being true kicked in and my good feelings dissipated as quickly as they came.

[sterlingice]

I used MyFico but now my CapOne does an Experian pull (or maybe it's TU)

SI

[ColtCrazy]

So I'm a bit nervous because I've been asked to the the "voice" of the HS football team and do the PA announcing. Been reading about prep online and there's a definite split between being energetic and being straight laced.

Although, watching NFL network's Pitt-Phily game right now and surely I can sound more alive than whoever is doing the call of this game.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Someone at our opening faculty meeting said that they write about sports on the Internet, but under a pen name. A thought flashed through my head how awesome it would be if it was someone from FOFC. Then the odds of that being true kicked in and my good feelings dissipated as quickly as they came.

I actually did some articles for Bleacher Report until I got sick of Bleacher Report in general.
I have a feeling a lot of people around here would make excellent sports writers.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

So I'm a bit nervous because I've been asked to the the "voice" of the HS football team and do the PA announcing. Been reading about prep online and there's a definite split between being energetic and being straight laced.

Relax. Once you get past people looking up & yelling at you when you make a mistake (and you will, eventually, trust me) it's easy peazy

Just find a rhythm & style that suits you AND suits the school/area, then try to stay inside those two lines.

Also, limit your coffee & other fluid intake beforehand and at halftime. Bathroom breaks can be tough to find. You'd be surprised how many people realize they have an announcement that desperately needs to be made rightthissecond as soon as the half ends & you head toward the door to go potty.

[stevew]

Starting to get annoyed by the random short snippet clips that stations are throwing in during the middle of the commercial breaks. This is a new thing, right? Stations can charge more for the subsequent commercial, right?

[chadritt]

I dont know for sure that they can charge more, though i would assume so, but the theory is definitely that people will stop their DVRs to watch that scene and will therefore see the ads right before and right after.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

Starting to get annoyed by the random short snippet clips that stations are throwing in during the middle of the commercial breaks. This is a new thing, right? Stations can charge more for the subsequent commercial, right?

tbh I don't watch enough to know exactly what you're referring to, I'm guessing it must be something like a tiny scene from a show stuck in between two halves of a 3-4 min spot break?

If so, there's a chance it might be a network (i.e. national) break & they could theoretically charge more for the spots but at the station level there's probably no benefit at all.

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

tbh I don't watch enough to know exactly what you're referring to, I'm guessing it must be something like a tiny scene from a show stuck in between two halves of a 3-4 min spot break?

If so, there's a chance it might be a network (i.e. national) break & they could theoretically charge more for the spots but at the station level there's probably no benefit at all.

TV Editor here: Its definitely something planned for a national level. We basically build a 30 second scene that comes in between two of the later acts.

[chadritt]

Dola: The scene is not a new act, its a completely unrelated scene which does not flow directly from the previous scene or into the next one. Its basically a random extra fun thing. I think its also only for reality shows as well.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Hmm ... that almost sounds like it's coverable (i.e. can be used to insert a local spot on top of it, giving the local station/local cable system more available inventory within a program)

edit to add: could also be trying to acclimate viewers to more of this sort of thing
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/bu...ory-going.html

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

Although, watching NFL network's Pitt-Phily game right now and surely I can sound more alive than whoever is doing the call of this game.

Amen. It sounded like one of those deals where they lost communication with the booth at the game and had to have the inexperienced studio guy fill in.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by chadritt

Dola: The scene is not a new act, its a completely unrelated scene which does not flow directly from the previous scene or into the next one. Its basically a random extra fun thing. I think its also only for reality shows as well.

Happened like 3 times in the Rectify finale last night so it threw me for a loop. Had previously only seen it in stuff like bar rescue


Basically I would say it would essentially come back from break like normal, roll 15 or seconds of footage, and then would say "upcoming on rectify..."

[chadritt]

Ive never seen it on a scripted show. It feels like that would be incredibly weird since it cant just be a small random funny scene like on a reality show

[lungs]

Originally Posted by lungs

A friend and neighbor of mine was shot and killed last night (accidentally) by his own brother on a bear hunting trip in Canada. Same area that I posted bear videoes a month ago.

Remington 700 strikes again

[CU Tiger]

Lungs,
Sorry to hear about your friend.
But...the article you linked is 4 years old.
Remington announced 6 months ago that they were recalling some 7 million rifles sold between 96 and '14...though to be fair I think the issue extends much farther back

[CU Tiger]

http://xmprecall.remington.com/

[cartman]

Ol' Ma Nature isn't being very forgiving this time of year. Just got done doing some work in the garage, and I'm wiped out. Already 90 degrees at 10:45am, and even though we are in the middle of a drought, the humidity is 60%.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Relax. Once you get past people looking up & yelling at you when you make a mistake (and you will, eventually, trust me) it's easy peazy

Just find a rhythm & style that suits you AND suits the school/area, then try to stay inside those two lines.

Also, limit your coffee & other fluid intake beforehand and at halftime. Bathroom breaks can be tough to find. You'd be surprised how many people realize they have an announcement that desperately needs to be made rightthissecond as soon as the half ends & you head toward the door to go potty.

Thanks for the advice. It was an interesting night. Huge storm sprang up an hour before the game. Fried one of the speakers and the scoreboard operation (both under a tent on the media platform) So I was down to one speaker and it had horrible feedback. You could only hear it on my side of the field between the 20s. I let that get to me early, but I felt like the 2nd half I got more comfortable with making the calls and got a good rhythm going. And yeah, no restroom break for the duration of the game. It was fun and it helped the home team won.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

Thanks for the advice. It was an interesting night. Huge storm sprang up an hour before the game. Fried one of the speakers and the scoreboard operation (both under a tent on the media platform) So I was down to one speaker and it had horrible feedback. You could only hear it on my side of the field between the 20s. I let that get to me early, but I felt like the 2nd half I got more comfortable with making the calls and got a good rhythm going. And yeah, no restroom break for the duration of the game. It was fun and it helped the home team won.

FWIW, that sort of major problem would have messed with about 90% of people, even the most experienced. Sucks to have it happen on your debut but honestly, crap like that will happen to everybody periodically at some point so at least now you've gotten the first experience with it out of the way.

It's been years since I've done straight p.a., it's a totally different gig than radio/tv/internet pbp but it's an important part of a good stadium experience & good p.a. guys often end up being local icons. You're on your way

[MizzouCowboy]

98 degrees here and getting hotter by the hour and we're having power outages every 10 minutes. That's rough but I can deal with it. What I can't handle is losing a 4 match win streak in Football Manager. I should call and let them know that I lost some of the best football my Bury Shakers have ever played!

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by MizzouCowboy

98 degrees here and getting hotter by the hour and we're having power outages every 10 minutes. That's rough but I can deal with it. What I can't handle is losing a 4 match win streak in Football Manager. I should call and let them know that I lost some of the best football my Bury Shakers have ever played!

save after EVERY game!

[Coffee Warlord]

Pro tip. When your neighbors are Ukrainian, don't drink with them during Ukrainian Independence Day.

Yeow.

[NobodyHere]

You didn't try playing Risk in front of them did you?

[JonInMiddleGA]

If everybody I had to deal with was as squared away as the young man that took my fast food order tonite my life would be a whole lot better.

2nd time in 3 days that I've run across an exceptional teenager that could have been a role model for a lot of adults in the "how to deal with the public" category. On the one hand it's discouraging how rarely it happens, on the other hand it's enormously encouraging when you see it out of the blue like that.

The one common thread between the two young men? I happen to know both are high school athletes (one a D1 football prospect, the other a fairly average b'ball player)

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Pro tip. When your neighbors are Ukrainian, don't drink with them during Ukrainian Independence Day.

Yeow.

SI

[cartman]

Finally, a weekend sized pack of beer.

Austin Beerworks unveils massive 99-pack of beer - Austin Business Journal

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by cartman

Finally, a weekend sized pack of beer.

Austin Beerworks unveils massive 99-pack of beer - Austin Business Journal

Have to wonder about distribution laws and such.

I'm not as much up on it, but a few years ago I traveled to Alabama as a group of 6 guys for a guys weekend. One in the group was a 22 year old just college grad younger brother of a friend.

As soon as we crossed into Bama college boy proclaims..."First exit you HAVE to stop so I can actually buy a RACK"...
Bumfuzzled but ready for a piss we hit the exit ramp and he walks in and comes out with a 30 pack of Natty Lite.

He proceeds to inform us that in NC (he was an NCSU grad if it matters) that it is illegal to sell more than 25 cans in a single package but Bama is one of the few states that doesnt have such archaic laws and instead sells "racks" instead of cases. No clue if he is right or not and never even googled it (tbh never thought of it again until right now) but 30 packs were everywhere in Bama that weekend and never seen them here.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

He proceeds to inform us that in NC (he was an NCSU grad if it matters) that it is illegal to sell more than 25 cans in a single package but Bama is one of the few states that doesnt have such archaic laws and instead sells "racks" instead of cases. No clue if he is right or not and never even googled it (tbh never thought of it again until right now) but 30 packs were everywhere in Bama that weekend and never seen them here.

A quick google suggests that max packaging varies quite a bit state to state.

[Arles]

Interesting story just posted. I'm not sure how most charities stack up in this area, but 27% going to ALS funding seems pretty low:
ICE BUCKET FRAUD: ALS FOUNDATION ADMITS THAT 73% OF DONATIONS ARE NOT USED FOR ALS RESEARCH

Over 73% of all donations raised are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations. Less than 27% is actually used for the purpose we donated for.

According to the ECFA, a charitable watchdog, 27% of donations actually making it to the cause they are donated to is unacceptable. In fact, the ECFA won't deem a non-profit as a reliable charity unless at least 80% of donations make it to their intended projects.

Here's the breakdown of the ALS Foundation's Financials:

[DaddyTorgo]

That's a shitty amount, yeah.

edit: I think "Patient & Community services" should be counted in the positives column too though. So that puts you up to 46%.

double edit:

Charity Navigator: http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...6#.VADj4fnWNWt

[cartman]

That was before their massive influx of cash. It will be interesting to see what those percentages look like next year.

edit: or the next two years, since they are already halfway through their current fiscal year

[molson]

Why doesn't "public and professional education" or "patient and community services" count towards the intended cause of the charity? I guess "research" has been the buzzword around the ice bucket challenge, but I don't know if that's just unofficial word of mouth or if whoever started this thing managed to get all donations earmarked specifically for that purpose.

But definitely, the whole reference to this charity being bogus because only 27% go to the "cause" is incorrect, because those other things are definitely a part of that organization's charitable mission. They're not "overhead" and "executive salaries", etc.

[cartman]

Dola,

That site also misrepresents the ALS Foundation as a purely research organization. From the ALS Foundation's webpage:

About Us - The ALS Association

As the preeminent ALS organization, The Association leads the way in research, care services, public education, and public policy — giving help and hope to those facing the disease.

So I'd say that they are spending the money on what they say they are going to spend it on.

[molson]

Well, and that whole website making this claim is...interesting.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by molson

Well, and that whole website making this claim is...interesting.

Apparently so.

Charity Navigator (which is basically the gold-star for rating charities IIRC) gives it 4 out of 4 stars

Charity Navigator Rating - The ALS Association



http://qz.com/257753/why-nobody-shou...s-on-research/

Originally Posted by article

Critics say this is far too small a proportion, and some are quoting Christian charity watchdog ECFA’s standard of efficiency which states 80% of funds should go to the cause that any nonprofit advocates.

But while ASLA’s breakdown says that less than 30% goes to research, the association’s mission statement is broader:
“The mission of The ALS Association is to lead the fight to treat and cure ALS through global research and nationwide advocacy, while also empowering people with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and their families to live fuller lives by providing them with compassionate care and support.”
It’s arguably fair, then, to add the 32% that goes to “public and professional education” and the 19% to “patient and community services” to the tally of funds spent in pursuit of the association’s mission. That adds up to 79%.

In fact, according to charity evaluator Charity Navigator, ALSA’s overall rating is 90.73/100, with a financial score of 87.24/100.

[cartman]

I bet Arles still isn't going to pour water over his head.

[Arles]

Public and professional education = lobbying. It's not like they are going out and paying for kids' educations with the disease. Best case, you can add the 19% "patient and community services" to the 27% research, but you are still under 50%.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Arles

Public and professional education = lobbying. It's not like they are going out and paying for kids' educations with the disease. Best case, you can add the 19% "patient and community services" to the 27% research, but you are still under 50%.

Instead of looking at the "Christian" website that likely has some agenda (be it with regard to ALS, or - and this is probably more likely, be it with regard to creating a weighting system that makes certain charities (pro-choice, etc) that they disagree with the message of look bad), why not look at the gold-standard in Charity Navigator Arles?

Is it because you're only interested in the outcome being what you want it to be, rather than going with the widely-accepted standard?

You're probably one of those people who "un-skewed" polls back during the last election I'm guessing.

[molson]

If public education and public policy are literally mentioned in their mission statement, why shouldn't those things count as money they spend on their mission?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Arles

Public and professional education = lobbying..

Originally Posted by Their website

As the preeminent ALS organization, The Association leads the way in research, care services, public education, and public policy — giving help and hope to those facing the disease.

It is part of their mission, so it isn't 'fraud' as your link claims.