NYRA swings (and misses) again

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Del Mar's summer concert series lineup includes:
The B-52's
Steel Pulse
Sammy Hagar
Pinback
Weezer

Meanwhile, NYRA's attempt to copy their West Coast competitor's successful initiative of bringing new blood (and the right kind of new blood) to the sport consists of a single concert by...
Zendaya
(some sort of tween-pop Disney personality)

Keep up the good work, NYRA!

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150th? Shoot: I've got the 100th!

From the family archives. The Saratoga Race Track (or more correctly: race course) Centennial Parade of 1963. Enjoy...


UPDATE:

A Reader offered up this link, which is another snippet form the same parade.

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Cops, bars and cop bars

Another night, another fight in Dango's involving the Spa City's finest.

I don't know the specifics of this altercation --  all I need to know is that a) it's not the first involving the Boys in Blue; and;  b) it's not the first that occurred in this particular bro-bar/meathead-hangout on the site of the former Madam Jumel's on Caroline Street.

What's weird is how police officers tend to spend ALL their time together -- whether it's on the job or off. You always hear of "cop bars" where they hang as a unit. They drink together, go to the gym together, vacation together, marry each others' sisters and there are even whole towns (many in gun-friendly Idaho) that are retirement enclaves for thousands of them at a time.

I would bet that psychiatrist could have a field day exploring all this.

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Innovation: Interrupted

College debt : is it a problem on the economic horizon?

Here is an essay that thinks not.

But the thinking here is that the framing of this argument as it being a form of debt does not meeting the traditional qualifier of an overvalued asset is missing the bigger point: that a huge financial debt load on a young person entering the work force stifles innovation --  and thereby stifles economic growth.

How? This person is far less likely to take the risk of starting a new enterprise when a fat monthly check needs to be mailed to the bank. Instead, it's a more logical path to go "work for the man", get that steady income flow and save the aggravation.

Not good; especially when considering that this is the demographic of people most likely to do so in the past.

Whoops! So it IS Affordable After All?

At least a certain contributor to a certain magazine is published as thinking so ( see link below) ...

Running the $'s can be mind-numbing, so I don't know the validity of this author's argument of "guess what? It IS affordable after all!"

But you an take this to the bank: the premiums in the red states WILL be relatively higher than what has been see in the first 3 states to publish. So don't be surprised. The con's will rig it that way to inflame their soldiers.

FORBES OP/ED:

"Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates"

 

 

IRS vs Tea Party

So the IRS supposedly targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny, hmmm?  Two points:

1. If an organization has as one of its founding planks its desire to "stop paying taxes", isn't this kind of a tip-off? Not to mention; a good place to start looking?

2. Then again, it could be viewed as the ultimate example of government waste.  After all, how many Teabaggers have you met making enough money that would make them taxable?

So Ya Wanna Get on the Guest List?

The POV of a Rock & Roll Show Promoter:

My floating you a Guest Pass to tonight's show should be considered a longshot, unless you qualify under at least one of the following tests:

1. You are my Current Employee

2. Your are my Current Business Partner

3. You are my Direct Family Member (as in REAL direct)

4. You are someone with whom I Slept With within the past X amount of time (with X being subject to my discretion) and with whom I am still on good terms (see above about the 'my discretion' part)

5. You are someone with Whom I Am About to Sleep With, and of which this courtesy will move you into the Item #4 camp

If you meet one of those 5 qualifiers, you are then subject to passing BOTH of these remaining tests:

1. You must have actually Spoken to Me within the past two (2) weeks on a totally unrelated matter.

2. You are Dead Broke and would not be able to attend this show otherwise.

If you are still eligible after this exercise, feel free to leave a message on my Voice Mail.

Just call me at the brand new number I just got today!!!!.

(Courtesy Of: Jim Barnett.. thx JB)

WTF Dave?

It doesn't matter where you stand on the 'gun' issue, but I think this question should be in play for all observers:

- What exactly does Albany County DA David Soares have to do with the gun show at the Saratoga Springs City Center?  You'd think it was McArthur setting foot on the Phillipines.

Did I miss a memo about the city seceding-to or being annexed-by Albany? Maybe I'd better get back on the AM coffee wagon.

The Junk Era

We live in what future historians might call the Junk Era. Junk food. Junk Media. Junk housing. Junk goods. Junk news. Junk music. Junk religion. Junk TV. All of it with a goal of appealing to the lowest desires of the largest swath of consumers.

This plague has entered the intellectual arena. We now have Junk Science, junk logic, junk reason and junk politics. On the latter, this results in a system whereby the issues of the day are reduced to slogans, taglines, phony data being published as truth and policy arguments supported by leaps of faith in reasoning.

The current rage on gun control provides easy examples. Take the following beauty, making the rounds as a means of rallying the pro-gun minions:

The problem here, of course, is that this  'A Compared to B' is invalid --  if the concern is validity in the research methodology.  Assuming for the sake of argument here that that quoted fig on death-by-hammer is accurate, the process of then comparing it to a SINGLE MODEL of firearm (the AK-47, in this instance) defies logic and avoids the basic challenge of the topic; i.e., what is the relative occurrence of deaths by guns (or its subset of assault rifles)?

The valid comparison, naturally would be to compare it to a single model of hammers, like the Stanley Model 47 Claw Hammer. But, that wouldn't support the case, would it?

So, where we should be able to engage an easy solution as a means of reducing a  readily defined problem, we get junk as the supporting arguments. Yes: it is thrown at us from all sides of the issue at hand.

No wonder we can't get anything accomplished.