I Always Thought So

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The Cliffs of Dover, England

(Another spectacular view of Beachy Head, from a previous post)


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Cliffs of Dover Wikipedia page..

Mandatory Music:

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover (live)

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Dream Theater Instagram Photo Contest Entry (OC)

This is a composite image I submitted to Dream Theater's #DramaticEvents photo contest.. My ticket superimposed over my view from my seat. They were very strict on camera usage & picture taking at this venue. I only took about 7 pictures with my phone, so I didn't have a lot to work with.

Click on the image not only to enlarge it   (because it's tough to see in the small version), but to go give me a "LIKE"! ...I appreciated more than you know!!

Iron Maiden - Powerslave

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Powerslave Title Track, from 1984

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1984 was such an incredible year in the world of rock music...

Are You Kidding Me?

Yahoo fantasy football

So yeah, this week I lost by 0.06 & 0.12 in two separate leagues. I guess that's your argument for fractional points, since I probably would've won with non-fractional points. Still.. what is this, like 1 yard?

The Beauty of Appenzell, Switzerland

Source: Peter Boehi, with permission / Via - (NSFW)                                             Click to enlarge!

Wiki..

Google Maps..

More images..

A Great Job

Via / Source unknown

And I'd be a willing customer. Isn't that what makes a good economy? Easy jobs.. lots of customers..

Fantasy Football is Ever-Changing

...and I'm about to pull my hair out.

Every year it gets further and further away from the way it was back when I began playing.. in about 1996. Back then you could comfortably draft a decent QB, two studly backs, and two good receivers, and could count on them to produce week-in and week-out. Of course there are gonna be bad weeks here and there. And of course once in a while (maybe a half-dozen times a season back then), someone you'd never heard of would go nuts because he got the chance to do so.

Miami's Reggie Bush had a monster game today (Source - Rhona Wise/AP)


Let me show you something.

If you had fielded this line-up this week:
QB - A.Dalton CIN
RB - A.Brown NYG
RB - J.Battle SD
WR - D.Amendola StL
WR - D.Avery IND
FLEX - L.Miller RB MIA
TE - B.Myers OAK
K - J.Tucker BAL
D/ST - SEAHAWKS
(comma)

...using a normal PPR scoring system, you would've beat the guy who fielded this team this week:
QB - A.Rodgers GB
RB - D.McFadden OAK
RB - C.Johnson TEN
WR - A.Johnson HOU
WR - L.Fitzgerald ARZ
FLEX - B.Marshall CHI
TE - A.Hernandez NE
K - D.Bailey DAL
D/ST - PATRIOTS

...by a score of 181-41.

Yeah you know Andy Dalton, and you've heard of Amendola, and Jackie Battle, but what about the other guys? Does anyone even use Tucker this season? Anyone outside the state of Washington brave enough to use the Seahawks this week? Isn't it time to declare that CJ2k, or whatever he's called, is no longer a stud? How many of you started Reggie Bush this week?

Did anyone other than me look at an available Patriots defense on the waiver wire, and start drooling upon realization that they're hosting an Arizona Cardinals team with their back-up QB? Granted Skelton's not a superstar, but Kolb is still the "back-up". This is also a team that has had trouble running the ball for what, 6 years now (including their Super Bowl team)? And no one wins at New England, right?

Did anyone else, like I did, see "Patriots win by 15+" -vs.- "any other result" on ESPN's Streak For The Cash today, and still think it's a lock, even given the 15 points?

Did anyone else, like I did, have Antonio Gates on their roster, and no back-up? I mean the guy's almost always on the injury report, and how many games has he missed in his career, 2 maybe?

I'll not even mention Vick's SEVEN turnovers in 2 games. OK maybe I just did.

I know how to make fantasy football better, but most traditional FFL-ers aren't gonna like it. The way most leagues have evolved is adding more owners. Hell, I saw some 20- to 24-owner leagues when signing up this season. That's all fine and good if you want one or two studs, and you have that many good friends. I still prefer 10 teams, or 12. Each owner has several studs, and the NFL team depth stays pretty even.

I say starting rosters need to expand - again. A lot of leagues now start 2 QBs. I still am not a proponent of this. Why? Because there are still only 32 starting QBs. What has continued to change in this league each year without fail is the amount of players who are being used at RB and WR. And yes, even TE now too.

I remember when we started 1-2-2-1-1-1.. 8 roster slots. Then a few years later someone noticed that teams' 3rd WRs were having good games, and a 3rd WR was added. Then to help even-out their scoring, or to counter drafting urges, there was a FLEX put in so that 5th RB or WR could be just that.. either.

Perhaps it's time to graduate to 1QB - 3RB - 3WR - 1TE - 1K - 1D? Maybe even two TEs, but starting that 6th RB/WR each week might be fun!

Dream Theater - Octavarium (LIVE in Seoul, 2006)

Source

A few interesting little factoids: The first track of the album Octavarium starts in the key of F-major, and the following seven tracks each ascend one key, ending with the eighth track (the 24:00-long title track "Octavarium") back in the key of F-major -- hence the name of the album & song.

There were also sound effects placed between songs to connect them: for example, "The Root of All Evil", written in F, and the following track, "The Answer Lies Within", written in G, were connected by a sound effect in the key of F#.

Lastly, Octavarium begins "The Root of All Evil" with the final note of the band's previous album, Train of Thought with "In the Name of God". Train of Thought started "As I Am" with the last note from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with the title track, which in turn started with the noise that ended Scenes from a Memory at the end of "Finally Free". Portnoy was inspired to do this thanks to the Van Halen album Women and Children First; the outro of the album's final song ended with a new riff being played which faded out. Portnoy recalled that he expected Van Halen's next album to start with that ending riff, but was disappointed when it did not. He later realized he had "dug a hole where we're expected to do it every time". He solved this problem on Octavarium, where the final track ends with the beginning of the first one. This made the album a cycle in itself, allowing the band to have a clean start with their next album. (Source)