Dear Governor Allin,
I would like to thank you for not banning "those darn Jews from Russia" from entering North Dakota in 1895. I know this isn't comparable to the crisis facing Syrian refugees in 2015, but there were some parallels for Jews living in Russia in the late 19th century. I have a great life. I couldn't ask for anything better. I fully understand that my great-grandparents had a very rough life, my grandparents grew up in the midst of the Great Depression and, frankly, struggled to get by, and my parents were at best on the lower-end spectrum of the middle class, but I have a bright future and an abundance of opportunity awaiting me. I owe a lot of my existence to the struggles of my predecessors. Forgive me if this is too much candor, but I think they would agree with this: they would gladly bear the burden of lifelong struggles if it meant that a future generation would live life comfortably.
I like to think that, in 120 years, the great-grandson of a Syrian refugee will reflect on his upbringing and be grateful for all of the opportunities afforded to him. He might look back to one defining moment - the benevolence demonstrated by a strange group of people - and understand that compassion played a direct role in his livelihood. Per the conservative paradigm of human population growth, it is commonly accepted that more traits and skills in the "human talent pool" lead to better solutions for future (un)anticipated problems. Who is to say that this 120-years-from-now refugee will not grow up to cure cancer? Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? Become an expert carpenter? Teach the next generation of scientists? Become an exceptional stay-at-home dad? Explore the final frontier? Improve farming efficiency? Give considerably to philanthropic endeavors? Become a world-class pianist? As Julian Simon contended, our greatest resource is humans. As far as I am aware, a Syrian is every bit as human as this little-known blogger.
Sincerely,
The great-grandson of a Jew living in Russia in 1895.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Thursday, November 20, 2014
I fell down the Reddit comments rabbit hole... and found this.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
The Family League Draft
So this league is a keeper league. You get to keep one player for the cost of where you drafted them last year minus one round (minimum of an 8th rounder for waiver pickups and late picks). I decided to use my 4th round pick to keep Matthew Stafford. Unfortunately, I had the first pick of the fourth round, so I didn't get super good value there, but I did still get him a couple picks later than he's been going according to Yahoo and ESPN's ADP. I could have had C.J. Spiller for pick 60 (ADP is 45) or Jordan Cameron in the 8th (pick 85, ADP somewhere between 53 and 70 depending where you look). Maybe I should have gone for one of the other guys, but I just don't want to deal with Spiller should he face nagging injuries again and I'm not super high on Cameron given he had 7 games with 4 or fewer points and 9 games with 6 or fewer last year, wasn't particularly great in the second half of last season and faces questions surrounding his team's QB situation. I went with the safe(ish) guy.
The league is a standard scoring, standard lineup, snake draft league and I have pick 12 of 12.
Round 1 - Demaryius Thomas - WR - Den
Once again, I'm happy to spend a late first round pick on the WR who is second on my WR board.
Round 2 - Arian Foster - RB - Hou
I thought about going with a second elite WR (A.J., Dez, and Julio were all still available), but knowing that 22 players would be gone before I get to pick again, I decided that I would need to get a solid RB here. After the top 6 RBs are gone, I don't think there is such a thing, but regardless, I decided to gamble on Arian's back and hamstrings.
Round 3 - Andre Johnson - WR - Hou
Going into his 12th season, Andre has probably lost a step or two, but if he could get 1400 yds and 5 TDs in an offense as mediocre as Houston's was last year, I'm ok spending a late 3rd rounder on the guy.
Round 4 - Matthew Stafford - QB - Det
I'm expecting 4500 yds and 30+ TDs. I'm OK with this value given how highly this league tends to value QBs (once again, 3 were gone by the end of the 3rd).
Round 5 - Roddy White - WR - Atl
What can I say? I got him in almost the same spot as in my other league interestingly enough.
Round 6 - Steven Jackson - RB - Atl
What's not to love about a starting RB in the 6th round?
Round 7 - Jeremy Hill - RB - Cin
I think he gets 30-40% of the work in Cincy this year. And if Gio falters or gets hurt, Jeremy Hill could produce quite nicely.
Round 8 - Bernard Pierce - RB - Bal
Just stockpiling RB depth here. I don't think Pierce is amazing by any means, but could have value should something happen to Rice.
Round 9 - Mike Evans - WR - TB
I believe they call this "taking a flier." He's a big dude who can make plays. Shouldn't see too much double coverage with Vincent Jackson lining up on the other side of the field.
Round 10 - Russel Wilson - QB - Sea
I don't necessarily feel like I need a backup QB, but getting last year's #8 fantasy QB (and I don't see any reason for a large regression) this late is just too good of a value to pass up. The couple TEs I had been looking at didn't fall to me either, so it was an easy call to make.
Round 11 - Delanie Walker - TE - Ten
I think I was the last person to draft my TE and a couple had taken backups, so I picked Delanie out of the scrap pile.
Round 12 - Chris Ivory - RB - NYJ
More RB depth. This is sort of pick-your-favorite-medium-upside-backup territory.
Round 13 - KC DST
Since I'll be having the last pick in the draft, I figured I might as well get D and Kicker a hair early again. KC was hot last year. Don't think they'll repeat what they did last year, but there were half a dozen defenses already taken.
Round 14 - Adam Vinatieri - K - Ind
Round 15 - Christine Michael - RB - Sea
(see Ivory, Chris)
My Starting Roster
QB: Stafford
RB1: Foster
RB2: S. Jackson
WR1: D. Thomas
WR2: A. Johnson
Flex: R. White
TE: D. Walker
D/ST: KC
K: Vinatieri
B: J. Hill
B: B. Pierce
B: M. Evans
B: R. Wilson
B: C. Ivory
B: C. Michael
I'm pretty happy with this lineup. If every team owner came up to me and asked "would you like to swap teams" I would answer "sure, why not?" to probably 4 of them. One of which would border on "yes, please." I think I look good to be in the playoff hunt, assuming last years injury bug doesn't come back and bite me again. In hindsight, I perhaps should have just kept Cameron. Considering what was left at TE when the 8th round came around, Cameron would have looked amazing. I probably wouldn't have been able to still get Stafford in the 4th, but my RB situation would probably look a bit better and I'd still have found a good value at QB. Unfortunately, our keeper picks were due right around the time training camps started up and I forgot about the due date and wasn't able to put a ton of research or thought into the decision at the time.
The league is a standard scoring, standard lineup, snake draft league and I have pick 12 of 12.
Round 1 - Demaryius Thomas - WR - Den
Once again, I'm happy to spend a late first round pick on the WR who is second on my WR board.
Round 2 - Arian Foster - RB - Hou
I thought about going with a second elite WR (A.J., Dez, and Julio were all still available), but knowing that 22 players would be gone before I get to pick again, I decided that I would need to get a solid RB here. After the top 6 RBs are gone, I don't think there is such a thing, but regardless, I decided to gamble on Arian's back and hamstrings.
Round 3 - Andre Johnson - WR - Hou
Going into his 12th season, Andre has probably lost a step or two, but if he could get 1400 yds and 5 TDs in an offense as mediocre as Houston's was last year, I'm ok spending a late 3rd rounder on the guy.
Round 4 - Matthew Stafford - QB - Det
I'm expecting 4500 yds and 30+ TDs. I'm OK with this value given how highly this league tends to value QBs (once again, 3 were gone by the end of the 3rd).
Round 5 - Roddy White - WR - Atl
What can I say? I got him in almost the same spot as in my other league interestingly enough.
Round 6 - Steven Jackson - RB - Atl
What's not to love about a starting RB in the 6th round?
Round 7 - Jeremy Hill - RB - Cin
I think he gets 30-40% of the work in Cincy this year. And if Gio falters or gets hurt, Jeremy Hill could produce quite nicely.
Round 8 - Bernard Pierce - RB - Bal
Just stockpiling RB depth here. I don't think Pierce is amazing by any means, but could have value should something happen to Rice.
Round 9 - Mike Evans - WR - TB
I believe they call this "taking a flier." He's a big dude who can make plays. Shouldn't see too much double coverage with Vincent Jackson lining up on the other side of the field.
Round 10 - Russel Wilson - QB - Sea
I don't necessarily feel like I need a backup QB, but getting last year's #8 fantasy QB (and I don't see any reason for a large regression) this late is just too good of a value to pass up. The couple TEs I had been looking at didn't fall to me either, so it was an easy call to make.
Round 11 - Delanie Walker - TE - Ten
I think I was the last person to draft my TE and a couple had taken backups, so I picked Delanie out of the scrap pile.
Round 12 - Chris Ivory - RB - NYJ
More RB depth. This is sort of pick-your-favorite-medium-upside-backup territory.
Round 13 - KC DST
Since I'll be having the last pick in the draft, I figured I might as well get D and Kicker a hair early again. KC was hot last year. Don't think they'll repeat what they did last year, but there were half a dozen defenses already taken.
Round 14 - Adam Vinatieri - K - Ind
Round 15 - Christine Michael - RB - Sea
(see Ivory, Chris)
My Starting Roster
QB: Stafford
RB1: Foster
RB2: S. Jackson
WR1: D. Thomas
WR2: A. Johnson
Flex: R. White
TE: D. Walker
D/ST: KC
K: Vinatieri
B: J. Hill
B: B. Pierce
B: M. Evans
B: R. Wilson
B: C. Ivory
B: C. Michael
I'm pretty happy with this lineup. If every team owner came up to me and asked "would you like to swap teams" I would answer "sure, why not?" to probably 4 of them. One of which would border on "yes, please." I think I look good to be in the playoff hunt, assuming last years injury bug doesn't come back and bite me again. In hindsight, I perhaps should have just kept Cameron. Considering what was left at TE when the 8th round came around, Cameron would have looked amazing. I probably wouldn't have been able to still get Stafford in the 4th, but my RB situation would probably look a bit better and I'd still have found a good value at QB. Unfortunately, our keeper picks were due right around the time training camps started up and I forgot about the due date and wasn't able to put a ton of research or thought into the decision at the time.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
You know what time it is.
It's the beginning of that time of year in which this blog is actually somewhat active. It's fantasy football season. I just had my first draft of the year last night. This draft is for the Gopher League, currently a 10-team league, created by myself and my roommates a few years back and now populated with a few different friends and relatives of original members. Standard scoring, snake draft. I have pick 8. Let's go.
Round 1 - Demaryius Thomas - WR - Den
All the running backs I really like were gone, as was Megatron. So I decided on another athletic receiver in a high-scoring, pass-heavy offense. I figure, of the guys left, this was the guy with first-round caliber potential that was least likely to tank my season.
Round 2 - Jimmy Graham - TE - NO
I wasn't really feeling running back here, since there were still elite options at QB, WR, and TE available. Peyton was gone, but Rodgers and Brees were available (I'm of the opinion that those three qbs are all equally likely to lead the league in fantasy scoring this year). AJ Green and Dez were gone, but Julio Jones was still available. I thought about doubling up at receiver and trying to win by having dominance at the WR position. Now, normally I'm not a believer in drafting a TE super early, but Jimmy has shown he has the potential to score like a top 5-10 WR. I wouldn't consider him in the first, and I probably would have taken AJ or Dez, but Julio is just a little too injury prone for me to pass on Jimmy. We'll see how this whole "have a weekly advantage at the TE position" thing works out.
Round 3 - Reggie Bush - RB - Det
I don't love this pick. I would have much rather had Alfred Morris, who went one pick before mine. But I needed a RB.
Round 4 - Antonio Brown - WR - Pit
I thought about grabbing another "meh" RB, but decided to grab one of my top ten WRs. I'll take that with a 4th rounder.
Round 5 - Rashad Jennings - RB - NYG
Not a sexy pick, but he should get most of the RB work in this offense which likes to run (and will need to run if Eli is Eli). He looked good last year and is looking good in the preseason, so this could turn out to be one of my better value picks this year. Or he could show everyone why he was never the week 1 starter in his first 5 years in the league.
Round 6 - Roddy White - WR - Atl
I think at this point, Roddy White is officially my fantasy football boyfriend. We've been seeing each other every season for a while now. Hopefully he isn't hiding an injury that will hobble him all season again. He's a big receiver with good hands, who until last year, was one of the most consistent receivers in the league. He might be getting a little old, but I think he should do fine as my flex.
Round 7 - Ray Rice - RB - Bal
Go ahead. I'll wait. Make your woman-beater joke. Whatever. This is the part of the draft where I start stockpiling RB depth. He might be worn out. Or he might look a bit like the old Ray Rice and be productive in Gary Kubiak's offense. We'll see.
Round 8 - Darren Sproles - RB - Phi
Once again, I would have much rather had the unsexy back who went one pick earlier. This time it was Steven Jackson I missed out on. Both guys are on the old side of 30. Both have some potential left. Given the question marks around my current starters, I would rather have the definitive starter and goal line back in Jackson, but alas.
Round 9 - Maurice Jones-Drew - RB - Oak
Maybe I should have gone with some up-and-comer who might emerge at this point, rather than another has-been. That said, the options at this point aren't great. Others I could have had were Knowshon Moreno, Deangelo Williams, Khiry Robinson, Carlos Hyde, Lamar Miller, Chris Ivory etc... That said, MJD did do a lot with only three touches against the Packers the other day, so maybe he won't be total shit.
Round 10 - Tony Romo - QB - Dal
Finally got my QB. I'm pretty happy with the value here. He's got some risks, but also has a ton of upside.
Round 11 - Riley Cooper - WR - Phi
More WR depth. Philly needs a big play receiver. Riley was that guy last year at times. DeSean is gone and Maclin is by no means a lock to stay healthy. Give me the guy who yells racial slurs in the club.
Round 12 - Philip Rivers - QB - SD
Tony Romo is one of those QBs worth backing up. It was Rivers or Cutler.
Round 13 - Nick Novak - K - SD
WTF Bockmed? A kicker before the last round? Hear me out. I will be having the third to last pick. Nobody here really stuck out to me. The few sleepers I like were gone. So I figure I could take my kicker and DST a little early to get something a hair better. I grabbed the kicker first because the two guys picking before my next pick already had defenses.
Round 14 - Cardinals D/ST
They're pretty good, I guess.
Round 15 - Malcolm Floyd - WR - SD
My Starting Roster
QB: Romo
RB1: Bush
RB2: Jennings
WR1: D. Thomas
WR2: A. Brown
TE: Graham
Flex: White
D: Cardinals
K: Novak
B: Rice
B: Sproles
B: MJD
B: Cooper
B: Rivers
B: Floyd
If I had these RBs in 2011, I would have won the shit out of this league. I think my QB is fine and my pass-catching corps might be the best in this league. My only worry is at the RB position. I've got decent depth I think, but my starters look a hair shaky and none of my backups look poised to break out and become stars (again). I think one or two teams look better than mine at this point, and 5 or 6 look about the same and a couple I can say really look worse. Should be an interesting year.
Round 1 - Demaryius Thomas - WR - Den
All the running backs I really like were gone, as was Megatron. So I decided on another athletic receiver in a high-scoring, pass-heavy offense. I figure, of the guys left, this was the guy with first-round caliber potential that was least likely to tank my season.
Round 2 - Jimmy Graham - TE - NO
I wasn't really feeling running back here, since there were still elite options at QB, WR, and TE available. Peyton was gone, but Rodgers and Brees were available (I'm of the opinion that those three qbs are all equally likely to lead the league in fantasy scoring this year). AJ Green and Dez were gone, but Julio Jones was still available. I thought about doubling up at receiver and trying to win by having dominance at the WR position. Now, normally I'm not a believer in drafting a TE super early, but Jimmy has shown he has the potential to score like a top 5-10 WR. I wouldn't consider him in the first, and I probably would have taken AJ or Dez, but Julio is just a little too injury prone for me to pass on Jimmy. We'll see how this whole "have a weekly advantage at the TE position" thing works out.
Round 3 - Reggie Bush - RB - Det
I don't love this pick. I would have much rather had Alfred Morris, who went one pick before mine. But I needed a RB.
Round 4 - Antonio Brown - WR - Pit
I thought about grabbing another "meh" RB, but decided to grab one of my top ten WRs. I'll take that with a 4th rounder.
Round 5 - Rashad Jennings - RB - NYG
Not a sexy pick, but he should get most of the RB work in this offense which likes to run (and will need to run if Eli is Eli). He looked good last year and is looking good in the preseason, so this could turn out to be one of my better value picks this year. Or he could show everyone why he was never the week 1 starter in his first 5 years in the league.
Round 6 - Roddy White - WR - Atl
I think at this point, Roddy White is officially my fantasy football boyfriend. We've been seeing each other every season for a while now. Hopefully he isn't hiding an injury that will hobble him all season again. He's a big receiver with good hands, who until last year, was one of the most consistent receivers in the league. He might be getting a little old, but I think he should do fine as my flex.
Round 7 - Ray Rice - RB - Bal
Go ahead. I'll wait. Make your woman-beater joke. Whatever. This is the part of the draft where I start stockpiling RB depth. He might be worn out. Or he might look a bit like the old Ray Rice and be productive in Gary Kubiak's offense. We'll see.
Round 8 - Darren Sproles - RB - Phi
Once again, I would have much rather had the unsexy back who went one pick earlier. This time it was Steven Jackson I missed out on. Both guys are on the old side of 30. Both have some potential left. Given the question marks around my current starters, I would rather have the definitive starter and goal line back in Jackson, but alas.
Round 9 - Maurice Jones-Drew - RB - Oak
Maybe I should have gone with some up-and-comer who might emerge at this point, rather than another has-been. That said, the options at this point aren't great. Others I could have had were Knowshon Moreno, Deangelo Williams, Khiry Robinson, Carlos Hyde, Lamar Miller, Chris Ivory etc... That said, MJD did do a lot with only three touches against the Packers the other day, so maybe he won't be total shit.
Round 10 - Tony Romo - QB - Dal
Finally got my QB. I'm pretty happy with the value here. He's got some risks, but also has a ton of upside.
Round 11 - Riley Cooper - WR - Phi
More WR depth. Philly needs a big play receiver. Riley was that guy last year at times. DeSean is gone and Maclin is by no means a lock to stay healthy. Give me the guy who yells racial slurs in the club.
Round 12 - Philip Rivers - QB - SD
Tony Romo is one of those QBs worth backing up. It was Rivers or Cutler.
Round 13 - Nick Novak - K - SD
WTF Bockmed? A kicker before the last round? Hear me out. I will be having the third to last pick. Nobody here really stuck out to me. The few sleepers I like were gone. So I figure I could take my kicker and DST a little early to get something a hair better. I grabbed the kicker first because the two guys picking before my next pick already had defenses.
Round 14 - Cardinals D/ST
They're pretty good, I guess.
Round 15 - Malcolm Floyd - WR - SD
My Starting Roster
QB: Romo
RB1: Bush
RB2: Jennings
WR1: D. Thomas
WR2: A. Brown
TE: Graham
Flex: White
D: Cardinals
K: Novak
B: Rice
B: Sproles
B: MJD
B: Cooper
B: Rivers
B: Floyd
If I had these RBs in 2011, I would have won the shit out of this league. I think my QB is fine and my pass-catching corps might be the best in this league. My only worry is at the RB position. I've got decent depth I think, but my starters look a hair shaky and none of my backups look poised to break out and become stars (again). I think one or two teams look better than mine at this point, and 5 or 6 look about the same and a couple I can say really look worse. Should be an interesting year.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
It's safe to say that
I get a fair amount of my entertainment from YouTube. I'm not sure what it was, but something compelled me to realize that I have been subscribed to a few channels for 4 or 5 years now. So I thought it would be interesting to go back and watch some of their older videos from when I first subscribed and see how their style, production quality and personality have changed since then. It has been a satisfying adventure so far. Here's one of my favorite oldies.
Monday, July 7, 2014
TI4 Starts Tomorrow.
Get Hyped. For those of you who don't know. The International is an annual Dota 2 tournament put on by the game developer, Valve. 19 of the best teams from Europe, China, SEA, and the Americas have qualified to compete for a $10.5 million prize pool. That's insane. That's more money than was handed out at the Masters golf tourney this year. And there will probably be more people who watch the TI Grand Finals than the Masters, the World Series and many other major sporting events. There'll be about 130 games in the group stage, followed by 2 phases of playoff matches leading up to the best of 5 series on July 21 which will decide which team of 5 will take home $5+ million. No sane person could watch every game. I plan on trolling /r/dota2 to figure out which games were the best, most exciting and watching a replay here or there. If you're reading this, watch a game or two. You'll have no clue what the fuck is going on if you've never played the game before, but if the casters are good, you'll be pulled in anyway. Some day down the line, you'll be able to tell your kids that you were there when esports started to really become mainstream. I don't know. I think that's kind of cool.
If you're actually interested check out:
If you're actually interested check out:
learning to watch Dota 2 as a newcomer and
Monday, May 12, 2014
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