In my version of Thunderdome, six page ideas go in, and one page idea comes out. Let's see how y'all do prioritizing the following six possible pages we could build/improve:

1) Reviewer's Ratings Page. Right now it only shows 5-star movies. When you look at your Friends, you see all their ratings. What if you saw all a reviewer's ratings, along with being able to look at a variety of slices through them (again, as with Friends): their 5-star, 4-star, etc. movies, the movies you have in common, and so on)

2/3) Split the Reviews & Lists page into two pages -- one dedicated to Reviews and one for Top 10 Lists. This would make it far more logical when you select a Top 10 List and land on page - you'd see what you select opened up, presented clearly, instead of hunting for them. Space would be used better on both pages to separate these.

4) Outward Profile page. You've got an inward facing profile page where you can change your avatar and nickname. What if we put back the "personal statements" and then create an OUTWARD facing profile page -- the page that summarizes each Friend or reviewer, with key highlights and movie tastes, and so on.

5) Members Similar to You. One page full of similar members -- like that block of 4 on the community home page, but expanded.

6) Top 10 Lists page. Again, like the little block on the community home page, but with lots of these -- new ones, popular ones, etc.

(Let's tweak the stakes a bit, and say for the sake of argument that we'll only be able to do 3 of them, and that each page would take two weeks of effort.)

Finally, don't just think of superusers - like yourselves -- but what is good for other people, maybe who don't use the site as deeply or fluently as you do. Making the existing site easier is valued highly.

Can ya'll come to a consensus and convince each other of a single #1 option?

Stylized 3D illustration about the different faces of a supplier towards his customer.

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I really like that RSS video... and in a moment of utter madness i just decided to insert it into the Netflix website. Stuck it into the FAQ on RSS. Why not?! (To give you a little glimpse of working at Netflix, this kind of behavior is rather encouraged). It was your feedback about the video that convinced me to see what would happen. I didn't even know we could insert videos into some of those FAQs...

http://www.netflix.com/FAQ?faqtrkid=1&p_search_text=rss

So it got me thinking: are there other little videos that could be made that would help newbies understand elements of the Netflix service? What do you think needs explanation? I thought i'd put this out there: go ahead and make some of your own helpful short videos (put them on YouTube), and if they are good, i'll put 'em in some FAQs. (If they're not -- i'm certain everyone of your blog-reading pals will make sure you know it.)

Certain names have an unintentional yet very real comedic bent for me. I don't mean the usual Annette Curtain 'amusing' name. I mean those names that are perfectly normal and have been in accepted use for hundreds of years or more, yet tickle the funny bone. Assumpta, for example. Or Mildred.Topping the list for male names is Hamish. In fact, I find it hard to conceive of a name more

A comment was posted tonight that requested "a way to contact you without having to comment on unrelated blog entries ..." and this came almost concurrently as I received a regular email to my personal email account from another blog reader. Now I don't go to great lengths to keep myself hidden, but i am serious that part of the work of the blog is to have these communications in the blog, transparently. So i'm not going to respond to direct emails - but i do want to leave a space on this blog that is an "Open Question Forum."

Idea: Number your questions/comments so I can reply by number (too many anons). Let's see if that works. FYI: if you've asked in other postings and i haven't replied there, there is a good chance i won't here either (although maybe i can tell you why).

So if none of the blog postings for the past 3 months seem to cover the topic you want to ask about, try it here. If your questions are about things I can address, Community-related things--there's a good chance i'll be able to handle it.

This essay will appear on Beckett.com on Thursday, August 30th


Watching Roger Clemens pitch in the Red Sox/Yankees game tonight gets me thinking. Do you remember the Senior Professional Baseball Association from the early Nineties? It was a league down in Florida comprised of a few teams of ex-major leaguers and other assorted amateurs. According to Wikipedia, the SPBA was only around for two seasons (1989 and 1990), but some big names took part in the action, including Vida Blue, Ferguson Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Dave Kingman and Ron LeFlore, to name a few.

The reason I bring this up is simple: there needs to be a national Senior League. Not just in baseball. It looks like basketball could use one too, because the last time I looked, Charles Oakley was still talking to his mirror about how good he is and Reggie Miller decided he couldn’t handle the grind of the NBA. But what about the NBAGL (Geriatric League)? It could be part of the players’ League pension plan: if you retire and feel the need to get out and play against someone other than your children, you can play a forty-game season in warm-weather cities like Tucson, Austin, Fort Lauderdale, Richmond, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Omaha and Cincinnati. This would give guys like Oakley, Miller, Tony Massenburg, PJ Brown, Allan Houston, Scottie Pippen and Gary Payton a chance to dominate again.

I mean, who doesn’t flip through old cards of former stars and wonder how they’d compare against today’s stars? It’s a pipe dream, one collectors and fans happily engage in to keep the debate alive—not something that ex-players should buy into. The ‘retirement’ blueprints of players like Roger Clemens and Michael Jordan should be anomalies, not the norm. I say this as a collector who has purchased items celebrating the retirement of stars like Jordan and others, only to feel duped when they make their triumphant—and sometimes not so triumphant—return.

As when a player first breaks into the league, his retirement is a big deal. It’s a turning point for collectors as well. Take Ted Williams. His 1958 Topps card is the last one of him as an ‘active’ player. Sure, he played well into 1960, but that one from 1958 was his last regular season card. (There is a reason for this, as he signed a contract with Fleer for cards after 1958, which allowed for 1959’s hero-worship Ted Williams set, and seemed to be the reason why Fleer produced their Baseball Greats sets in 1960 and 1961.) His Fleer cards, and subsequent cards of him as the Senators/Rangers manager in the late 1960s/early 1970s, pale in comparison to his Topps cards in terms of value (and rightfully so). But what if he had decided to come back as a player in 1962 and stick around for a few years? Would his cards be worth as much from that period as from the Fifties? I’d answer ‘no’: cards from the later period would not be worth as much as the earlier ones. The only ones that would even compare in price would be his first card after coming back and his new last card as a player.

I’m pretty sure Oakley, Pippen and Houston aren’t thinking about basketball cards and other merchandise that their sudden re-emergences on the national radar would spark, but it would be interesting. I think the scenario I outlined in the Ted Williams example would be true for those considering a return.

But what is it that makes players think we want them to come out of retirement? Is it some kind of Baby Boomer backlash that I’m not keyed into? And what if Charles Oakley’s sideline trash talking is for real and he can still perform at the NBA level? What other now-round mounds want to shag rebounds? (And while we’re talking about old timers, how old is Greg Oden, anyway? The photo of him in this month’s Beckett Basketball makes him look at least thirty-five. It’s those glasses and the beard. If only he’d stayed in college—I bet he can buy beer without a fake ID. Forget McLovin: McOden’s the one who’s superbad.)

But seriously, I can only think of two players who I’d root for to make a return (even today): Jim Brown and Sandy Koufax. Luckily, those two guys were smart enough to hang ’em up when they were still at the tops of their games.

Well here's a turn up for the books. It looks like the Baiji, a dolphin famed in legend as the "Goddess of the Yangtze", is not as dead as it was supposed to be. Here's the China Daily.com with the news - 'Extinct' dolphin spotted in Yangtze River.

A resident of east China's Anhui Province spotted a "big white animal" in the river on August 19, and filmed it with a digital camera, said Dr. Wang Kexiong, of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The animal in the footage was confirmed by the institute to be a white-flag dolphin, known in Chinese as "baiji", Wang said.

"We are very glad to see baiji still exist in the world," Wang said.

Zeng Yujiang, the man who spotted the dolphin, told Xinhua, "I never saw such a big thing in the water before, so I filmed it. It was about 1,000 meters away and jumped out of water for several times."

If we can find the video footage, we will of course post it as soon as possible - and if any kind readers see it, do let us know.

Stylized 3D illustration for an article about contract negotiations.

More eyetertainment at Sevensheaven.nl

I'm thinking about putting together a little movie night for me and a few friends next week- i was hoping once a week, but it will probably end up once a month (family obligations being what they are)... so i found myself at Evite, thinking about setting this up. I landed here:



http://www.evite.com/pages/invitations/movie-tv-night.jsp

So I wondered: do you guys often watch movies with friends? Do you formally have movie nights, or movie clubs of some kind? And if you do - what can Netflix do to support, or facilitate this activity in some way?

As promised, here is the checklist for the eTopps set, The Cards That Never Were. Note: This is a preliminary checklist; some subjects may have changed.

1. Ted Williams, Red Sox, 1952 Topps
2. Ryne Sandberg, Phillies, 1982 Topps Traded
3. Stan Musial, Cardinals, 1954 Topps
4. Joe DiMaggio, Yankees, 1952 Topps
5. Whitey Ford, Yankees, 1952 Topps
6. Steve Carlton, Cardinals, 1966 Topps
7. Don Mattingly, Yankees, 1983 Topps Traded
8. Nolan Ryan, Mets, 1967 Topps
9. Wade Boggs, Red Sox, 1982 Topps Traded
10. Roger Clemens, Red Sox, 1984 Topps Traded
11. David Ortiz, Twins, 1997 Topps
12. Randy Johnson, Expos, 1988 Topps Traded
13. Greg Maddux, Cubs, 1986 Topps Traded
14. David Wright, Mets, 2004 Topps Rookie and Traded
15. Ryan Howard, Phillies, 2004 Topps Rookie and Traded
16. Johan Santana, Twins, 2000 Topps Rookie and Traded
17. Alex Rodriguez, Mariners, 1994 Topps Rookie and Traded

Conservationists are celebrating a small victory this week after Iceland announced that it will not issue further commercial whaling quotas after existing permits expire on August 31st. Citing poor market demand, particularly from Japan, government officials see no reason to allow more whaling until "market conditions improve".

Iceland created an international uproar last October by announcing a return to commercial whale hunting. Annual quotas were issued totaling 30 minke whales and 9 endangered fin whales. To date, seven of each have been killed with the resulting whale meat relegated to cold storage, as hunters have been unable to find buyers domestically or in Japan. Chief among buyer concerns is the high levels of toxins in North Atlantic whale meat.

Not surprisingly, this outcome was predicted by conservationists at the outset, and Arni Finnsson from the Iceland Nature Conservation Association is looking like Nostradamus himself thanks to his comments made in October of 2006.

"There is no market for this meat in Iceland, there is no possibility to export it to Japan; the government appears to have listened to fishermen who are blaming whales for eating all the fish. This decision is giving the finger to the international community."

Icelandic whalers continue to insist on the need for continued hunts in order to build up markets. And despite this victory against commercial whaling, Iceland continues to hunt whales under the guise of "scientific research", the meat from which is also ending up unused in Icelandic storage facilities.

Last week I brought up that Topps dropped the ball on not including David Beckham in its Allen & Ginter Worlds Champions subset. Since then, card bloggers at Cardboard Junkie and Stale Gum have been going nuts with their own lists of individuals (and more than a few things) that they would like to see in A&G 2008.

Tonight I officially join the fray. May I present to you Sir Gary Sobers (he of the six sixes), cricketer extraordinaire.

In other news, you may have noticed that on the Boggs 'Card That Never Were' scan in an earlier post, he's listed as pitcher. It's also a mid-career photo. It turns out that this is not the officially released version of the card. It looks like it's an eTopps variation, albeit in scan form (if such a thing exists).

Also, I know a lot of you would like to know the full checklist of the Cards That Never Were set. I'll post what I know of it tomorrow.

The next important component to roll out, probably in mid-September, is the concept of "Favorites." When you see a reviewer you like - maybe they are similar to you, or maybe you just like the reviews they've written, or whatever - you can add them to your list of Favorites. These "Faves" will be placed on your Friends page (which - by the way-- will henceforth be called your Friends & Faves), and there you can hang onto them for future perusal.

When one of your favorites writes a review or rates a movie, it shows up on the Community Home Page sort of like a Friend does. Their new review is featured, their latest ratings show up in an Activity block. You can remove them any time you want. But most importantly, they are not notified, invited, or otherwise bothered to be part of this. If you review movies, someone can save you to their Favorites list. They become your fan, of sorts. They cannot see your Queue; they cannot see your Rental History; they cannot send you notes. It's just like now, but you don't have to stumble across them, you can hang onto them.

If you are a reviewer, and you're pretty good, you might start noticing you have these fans. You can't see much about them (nickname and sim%) unless they are reviewers, too. But you'll know that you have some. (Dare I say: your influence will go up!)

The Favorites concept provides a way to connect that is sort of less intense than Friends. It's more 'one-directional'. You might just use it with your lazy friends who don't really contribute much to you, but to whom you end up giving lots of ideas. They could just add you to their Favorites list, and keep up with your reviews or ratings, but you don't have to interact.

There are more subtleties to this that I'll describe shortly, but i wanted to give ya'll a sneak peek at the concept. You disliked Influence so much i simply can't wait to hear how you feel about this. No, seriously, this will be a good way to personalize your Netflix experience -- where you select the people who you want to give you movie ideas and commentary... from Roger Ebert to your best friend to that guy from Ohio who really is similar to you to some magazine that is posting movie reviews on Netflix consistently and is always good to check out when they are available...

So I have one question for ya'll, and i've asked it before but i'm asking again (and adding a poll to the side to see some numbers). What is the best language for the button? In a sense you are "subscribing" to someone's reviews - but that sounds like you have to sign up, or pay, and neither are the case. It is kind of a "bookmark" but it isn't really, not in the classic web sense, and could be confusing (is it? this is a strong contender here). You are adding them to your Favorites list, so something involving that ("Save to Faves"? "+Favorites"? or -- as someone suggested on this blog a month or so ago, they are a "Reviewer You Love" -- I'd love your feedback on these (or other) options. In the end, i will actually test which has the best usability, but i wonder how y'all do against the data. Don't forget to vote in the poll (as well as comment). Thank you.

ParrotScience.com has a very nice "enhanced" Kakapo Podcast with a pretty comprehensive history of the Kakapo. It features Stephen Fry reading Douglas Adam's description of the Kakapo from Last Chance To See, sort of a sneak-peek of next year's TV series narration. It also features Paul Jansen of the Kakapo Recovery Programme in New Zealand.

This is a great episode for those with displays on their iPod or watching it on the computer. ***Plenty of photos and live web links embedded as you go along! If you want more information, click on the photo when listening***

"What are you looking at? You wanted HARD news from now on again, didn't you?

Stylized 3D illustration about the convenience of the internet.

More imagery at Sevensheaven.nl

Audio

Chuck Higgins - Pachucko hop - Ace
Elmore James - Canton Mississippi Breakdown - Ace
Frank Frost & Sam Carr - Better take it slow - SPV
North Mississippi All Stars - Mean 'ol wind died down - Cooking Vinyl
Kelly Joe Phelps session
Black diamond Heavies - Poor brown sugar - Alive
Jimmy Reed - High and lonesome - SPV
Percy Mayfield - Louisiana - SPV
Guitar Slim - The story of my life - SPV
Big Joe Williams - Sugar mama - Fat Possum
Teddy Williams - Shaggy hound - Fat Possum
Leon Pinson - Motherless child - Fat Possum
Buddy Moss - Cold Rainy day - Fat Possum
Catfish Keith - A true friend is hard to find - Fish Tail records
Garfield Akers Cottonfield blues - Saga Blues
Alvin Hart Session
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated - Built for Comfort - Castle
Dion - You better watch yourself - SPV
Professor Longhair - She ain't got no hair - SPV
Fred Mc Dowell - I'm in jail again - Trikont
Spiritualaires - I'm on my way to heaven anyhow - CaseQuarter
St.Louis Jimmy - Going down slow - SPV Blue
Little Axe MD track 2 - Ride

You know what's bothering me? That thing at the top that says "Millions of Members Helping You." It's true, but it's lousy. Somebody nail this for me, please. What is this page and how do you sum it up in a short line.

UPDATE: Get your suggestions in soon -- and next week i'll post a poll over to the right with some of the best from your comments.

The new features are now online for everyone. Here's what my Community Home page looks like:
If you don't have anyone connect to you with Friends, you don't get these top couple blocks: On the top left is a review just posted by a Friend, and the Friends activity is next to it on the right (now with RATINGS!). The Top 10 Lists block is cleaned up a bit, but just cosmetically, and there is the familiar Latest Member Reviews. Should be pretty self-explanatory, but Tuesday's post about this release sums up the new features. Slowly getting better?

I'll post next week about where all this is starting to lead. Tonight, i'm going to the theater to watch the new Bourne flick. Later.

My Beckett.com post yesterday was all about my big fat love of 1986 Topps Traded, and how I think it's one of the most significant sets from the all-important 1986 to 1989 period in baseball cards. I also made the claim that out of the stellar 1986/87 rookie class, only three individuals would make the Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds, Andres Galarraga and Jim Leyland. To use a popular turn of phrase, one reader questioned the forthrightedness of my intentions (in other words: was I for real).

Reader Jeff writes,

Do you really see Galarraga as a HOF'er or was that said with tongue firmly in cheek? I just don't see it, he was a great story, especially with his personal triumphs, but our local star (also represented in the 86 TT set), Scott Bailes, has as much of a shot at Cooperstown (that was definitely said with tongue in cheek).

Yes, Jeff, I really do see Galarraga in the Hall of Fame. Here's why. We all know that personality plays into the BBWAA's choices almost as much as ability, awards and stats (otherwise a sourpuss like Jim Rice would already be enshrined), and Galarraga's resurrection from cancer, not once but twice is about as feel-good as a story can get. Besides overcoming remarkable medical battles and being a fan favorite, he hit for power, he hit for average and he was excellent in the field. People think that if a guy doesn't collect 3,000 hits, or doesn't hit 500 home runs or isn't a bona fide superstar over his career, then he isn't Cooperstown material. That's garbage. Also, players who peaked in the Nineties will inevitably be put under the steroids microscope when they come up for immortality. And for the most part, as with the first stipulation, it's irrelevant. Galarraga will run into both problems, as will his tenure with the Colorado Rockies. People will say the thin air inflated his numbers, but look at his pre-Rockies years on the Expos, playing in the cavernous Olympic Stadium: He crushed the ball out of there, too.

I don't think he'll make it right away, or even after a few years. I think he's more of a Veteran's Committee election type player. If you look at his page on Baseball Reference, scroll down to where the database compares him with other players. Cepeda and Stargell both make the list (as does Rice). His is an interesting case, one that I think will land him in the Hall. Andres Galarraga's stats on Baseball Reference


I'd like to enlist other readers on the following question. It's one I don't have an answer to (mostly because I remember really disliking Topps' design for 1990, so I didn't collect very many).

I was wondering if you know any info about the 1990 Topps Frank Thomas error card without the name on front... Like for instance was it found to be ONLY in factory sets, rack packs, wax packs, vending boxes, or whatever? I have a couple of unopened boxes of wax packs, and was wondering if there's a chance it might be in one of them. Also, in "researching" this, I read in the 2002 Beckett Almanac (that 1500+ page annual book with basically everything in it) that there were a few of the George Bush president cards accidentally put into some packs. Again, there's no information on the sources of those cards besides "a few collectors did receive these cards when opening packs." So at least they weren't a "factory-set only" kind of mistake, or only found in vending boxes... -Aaron, via email

As always, please leave comments on this post or email me your thoughts.

The leaders of 6 western states and 2 Canadian provinces have set formal targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases.

Dubbed the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) , California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, British Columbia and Manitoba have agreed to reduce the region's emission to 15% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Though the figure above represents an overall goal, individual states will vary according the policies they have already established. Arizona and New Mexico are promising reductions over their 2000 emissions, while Washington and California used 1990 as a base year, promising 15 percent reductions. Oregon used 1990 as a base year and promised a 10 percent cut by 2020, as did BC.

The key point in the announcement is the agreement to establish a carbon market and cap-and-trade system over within the next year - a key peice of the puzzle that is needed before any region of North America can make substantial progress on climate change.

Here's a good rebuttal for anyone still running into the C02 - They Call It Pollution, We Call It Life crowd.

A favorite argument of global warming deniers is that the carbon dioxide is harmless because it's "just plant food". It turns out that like any other "food", too much will only cause harm.

Both Grist and Environmental Defense are covering new research showing that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will mean less food value (i.e. decreased nitrogen and protein) in our fruits and vegetables. Think you'll get around that by boosting your meat diet? Once more, think again. Lower food value in plants, means less protein for grazing cows and pigs and therefore less meat produced by each animal. Add to this the exploding demand for meat from developing countries like China and you will need to tell me where we're meant to get all of these food calories from.

Maybe the new denier jingle can be "C02 - They Call It Pollution, We Call It A Cure for Obesity".

...call for Desperate Measures.

Sadly, with my long commute each day for the new job and limited time at home in the evenings, blogging just isn't doable for me right now. So it is with great fondness that I wish you all goodbye for now.

I hope to get "Waisted" resurrected for New Year's. I hope you'll remember to check back then--I'll try to get word around when I'm able to get it going again.

Best of luck to you all on your low-carb journeys!

In the meantime, if any of you need to reach me, you can always email me at:
suzannej3523@gmail.com.

Bye for now!

So Upper Deck decided Topps wasn't worth the hassle. If you're Topps, what does that mean? And what is your next step? Do you immediately sell to Eisner and Tornante? Or do you count your lucky stars that McWilliam and Upper Deck got sick of your 'I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I' stalling, regroup with what you've got, and say the hell with Eisner? We'll find out next Thursday, August 30th, when Topps shareholders vote.

I have no doubt in my mind that a baseball card market with Topps in the picture as an independent company is a good thing for collectors. But if you're Major League Baseball and the Player's Association, should you consider bringing Donruss (or a newcomer) into the mix? Presumably this won't be the last we'll see of Upper Deck trying its hand at baseball card imperialism. And if you're Topps, what does this mean for your products? Even if Topps does an about-face and rejects Eisner's bid, is now the time when you look at your product lineup and fine-tune? And if not now, when?

Many happy returns to Stephen Fry today. I'm very much looking forward to his future adventures with Mark Carwardine on the TV series of Last Chance To See. Enjoy your trips Stephen!

And if you live in the USA, please head over to StephenFry.com and sign the "QI In America Petition". I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of QI on DVD from Amazon.co.uk, and if we can't get the show broadcast UNEDITED in the USA, at least let's get some more DVDs out please!

France24.com has a news update on the status of the Amazonian Manatee. The article covers the work being done by Brazilian conservationists who are looking to reintroduce Manatees into the wild. The National Amazon Research Institute have 36 manatees in captivity, all of them captured as babies after being discarded by hunters. Their ultimate plan will be to release as many as half of them back into the wild in the coming years.

In February 2008 scientists at the National Amazon Research Institute (INPA) plan to take the two manatees (Trichechus inungis) and drop them into the Rio Cuieiras, a tributary of the Rio Negro, where researchers hope they will seek out females and begin repopulating the area.
[...]
Despite being protected, the manatee population of the vast Amazon has steadily fallen with habitat loss, slow reproduction -- females give birth only once every two years and to only one offspring -- and due to hunting by people who eat the huge, sluggish fresh-water mammal.

It's because of you. Seriously. From his first posting, he's acknowledging other cool CEO bloggers (Schwartz, Cuban, Andreessen), but i promise you. It's not because of them. It's because of you.

Of course he reads our blog, and your comments. And I can't imagine he wasn't a little inspired by all the fun we were having. I dunno. You'll have to ask him. Anyway, effective tonight (it seems) Reed has decided to start his own blog. I would have thought he would have, i dunno, checked in with me for some tips? S'pose not. Anyway, we'll have to see what he's going to do... this should be interesting.

http://reedhastings.blogspot.com/

I figure he's going to leave the product development, website, community stuff to us here, which is fine by me. He'll do that CEO stuff that he likes. I think it's relevant that his isn't a "netflix" blog. It's his. Personal. Anyway, you folks have been totally great here, and i hope you'll check out his blog too and give him some feedback. Spread the word.

(But let's see if we can get him to change that photo!)

The Sixth Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture will take place at the Royal Geographic Society in London, on Wednesday 12th March 2008.

The lecture will be presented by psychologist Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. His subject will be "The Stuff of Thought, Language as a Window into Human Nature". As always, proceeds will go to Save The Rhino.

You have to buy special city council bin-bags from the supermarket in New Zealand. The refuse managers will only collect certified council bin-bags: other bags get left behind, and if they are there past a certain time of day, may result in a fine for littering. You can leave recycling out too, sorted into glass/plastic and paper, and it has to be bagged up, though you can use any old bag for

The 11th Hour, the new environmental documentary by Leonardo DiCaprio, is now open in New York and LA and is going national tomorrow. The studio itself describes the film as

a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. "The 11th Hour" documents the cumulative impact of these actions upon the planet's life systems and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.

More importantly, The 11th Hour is one of the few efforts that place us in our true context. The Earth has survived countless calamities and will ultimately survive the damage we cause. What is far less certain is our own future, as "our consumerism, our mistaken emphasis on economic growth over quality of life, (and) our growing disconnect with the sources of our food and most other things in our lives" increasingly puts our survival as a species in danger. The film drives this point home, while the likes of Stephen Hawking, David Suzuki, Ray Anderson, and Paul Hawken deliver the solutions we have within our grasp.

Early reviews have been solid. Grab the densest knucklehead you know and drag them along to watch. Previews below. You'll need Flash 9 to view.

Opposition parties are ramping up talk of bringing down the minority government after the Conservatives opportunistically posted their comprehensive climate change plan online while political attention was distracted by the ongoing North American leaders summit.

Both the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois are taking exception to the plan which fails to outline a path to meet Canada's greenhouse gas reduction targets agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol. It also flies in the face of a private members bill passed by opposition parties that legally requires Canada to honour it's Kyoto commitments.

(NDP leader) Mr. Layton suggests the lack of action on climate change would force his party to vote against the Conservatives.

The Liberals did not return phone calls yesterday to say whether they would be willing to prop up the government after the lack of action on Mr. Rodriguez's law.

But Bloc Québécois MP Bernard Bigras, who is his party's environment critic, is making threats similar to those of Mr. Layton. The government is taking a "political risk" by ignoring the law, Mr. Bigras said. The plan released this week "is not acceptable, it does not constitute a response as required by the law that was voted upon by Parliament," he said.

At this stage, critics may be right in saying that it's simply too late for Canada to meet its Kyoto commitments. However, what's equally true is that the Conservative alternative is an industry friendly piece of toilet paper that falls far short of what Canada can and should do. The final blow will fall to the Liberals. Although a minority government, the Conservatives need the support of just one of the opposition parties to survive a confidence vote.

In the aftermath of a lengthy leadership race and a mediocre standing in the polls, the Liberals have looked reticent at pushing for an election. But if the NDP and the Bloc stand in opposition to the Conservatives the Liberals will face a real dilemma - show no leadership or credibility by siding with the Conservatives and their farcical environment plan, or face an election they are not equipped to win.

Here's some advice. The Liberals will not gain power again as long as they show zero backbone in the face of Conservative policies. They'd be better served by establishing, then holding true to, some principles rather than playing politics around them. If they do that, the votes will follow. Fail at that, and they will lose either way.

Here's some much more positive news from the DR Congo. The BBC is reporting that conservationists in DR Congo are celebrating the birth of a new baby mountain gorilla, discovered by rangers doing a routine checkup on the Munyaga family. After the recent atrocities in which nine Mountain Gorillas were found killed, execution style, this is joyous news indeed.

The rangers who made the discovery said the baby gorilla, a male, was born on Tuesday.

His mother, Balali, is the only female in the Munyaga family. The other members are made up of three silverbacks (dominant males) and a blackback.

"Every birth is important, but given the fact that we lost 1% of the world's population in July alone this latest birth is even more significant," said Robert Muir from the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

If you head over to The Gorilla Protection blog you'll find a report on the discovery and photos of the little boy gorilla with his mother Bilali.

Trying to play catchup in the evenings these days, and came across an interesting piece from Scientific American about food addiction.

It's not an addiction, you say? Then just don't stand between me and a pint of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla when I have a craving going on. And ignore the blissful look on my face when the craving is satisfied.

So, anyway, this scientist who specializes in addictive behaviors has been able to use magnetic resonance imaging to compare responses in dopamine (pleasure-seeking) receptors between compulsive eaters and drug addicts. Bingo. Same image, different "drug."

It doesn't really change anything, except to provide perhaps some reassurance to dieters that, yes, it really is harder than just "saying no."

Stylized 3D illustration about the view upon the same subject by two different persons.

More eyefruit at Sevensheaven.nl

Late yesterday Upper Deck withdrew its offer to takeover Topps. The words 'forthright' and 'intentions' were mentioned a lot as reasons for Upper Deck to say the hell with it; sounds like Mean Gene could've been a helpful mediator between the two companies' pre-match bravado.

Read all about it here.

The cool people at Toytastic.nl (English version of the Dutch text is included) are giving away a Seamour Sheep toy and three Marty Mole toys! All you have to do is create some nice fan art regarding Seamour Sheep and/or Marty Mole and send it to me (photos are allowed too) !

Your submissions should be in by the 20th of September 2007, so don't wait too long!

Let's say that you were assigned the job of putting together a baseball card time capsule, to be opened way in the future, presumably a time when it's normal for baseball cards to talk (not just Topps' Talkin' Baseball, which I'm still looking for, by the way). If you were to put together a list of those cards that are most essential to the hobby, that best represent achievements in the baseball card (after WWII), which cards would you choose?

I've put together a list (it's relatively short) of 59 non-rookie cards (from 1948 to 1989), 97 rookies (1948 to present), and 24 sets (1948 to 1989). I've asked Chris Harris of Stale Gum to provide a list from 1990 to the present. Here's what we came up with (in no particular order):

The Essentials (Post War)

Rookies
1. 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson (r)
2. 1960 Topps Carl Yastzremski (r)
3. 1978 Topps Eddie Murray (r)
4. 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson (r)
5. 1982 Topps Cal Ripken (r)
6. 1979 Topps Ozzie Smith (r)
7. 1972 Topps Carlton Fisk/Cecil Cooper (r)
8. 1975 Topps Fred Lynn (r)
9. 1978 Topps Paul Molitor/Alan Trammell (r)
10. 1952 Topps Ed Mathews (r)
11. 1954 Topps Ernie Banks (r)
12. 1954 Topps Henry Aaron (r)
13. 1954 Topps Al Kaline (r)
14. 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax (r)
15. 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente (r)
16. 1984 Fleer Update Roger Clemens (r)
17. 1984 Fleer Update Kirby Puckett (r)
18. 1975 Topps George Brett (r)
19. 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan/Jerry Koosman (r)
20. 1968 Topps Johnny Bench (r)
21. 1967 Topps Tom Seaver (r)
22. 1965 Topps Steve Carlton (r)
23. 1963 Topps Pete Rose (r)
24. 1962 Topps Lou Brock (r)
25. 1960 Topps Willie McCovey (r)
26. 1957 Topps Frank Robinson (r)
27. 1957 Topps Brooks Robinson (r)
28. 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle (r)
29. 1951 Bowman Willie Mays (r)
30. 1948 Bowman Stan Musial (r)
31. 1949 Bowman Satchel Paige (r)
32. 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr. (r)
33. 1967 Topps Rod Carew (r)
34. 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn (r)
35. 1983 Topps Wade Boggs (r)
36. 1983 Topps Ryne Sandberg (r)
37. 1984 Topps Traded Dwight Gooden (r)
38. 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly (r)
39. 1985 Topps Roger Clemens (r)
40. 1985 Topps Mark McGwire (r)
41. 1987 Fleer Will Clark (r)
42. 1987 Fleer Barry Bonds (r)
43. 1987 Topps Bo Jackson (r)
44. 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco (r)
45. 1985 Topps Kirby Puckett (r)
46. 1985 Topps Dwight Gooden (r)
47. 1989 Fleer Ken Griffey, Jr. (r)
48. 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken (r)
49. 1987 Donruss Greg Maddux (r)
50. 1966 Topps Jim Palmer (r)
51. 1963 Topps Willie Stargell (r)
52. 1970 Topps Thurman Munson (r)
53. 1959 Topps Bob Gibson (r)
54. 1972 Topps JR Richard (r)
55. 1991 Upper Deck Pedro Martinez (r)
56. 1994 SP Alex Rodriguez (r)
57. 1992 Bowman Mike Piazza (r)
58. 1975 Topps Robin Yount (r)
59. 1974 Topps Dave Winfield (r)
60. 1976 Topps Dennis Eckersley (r)
61. 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt (r)
62. 2001 Topps Ichiro (r)
63. 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas (r)
64. 1991 Stadium Club Jeff Bagwell (r)
65. 1992 Bowman Manny Ramirez (r)
66. 1993 SP Derek Jeter (r)
67. 1992 Topps Traded Nomar Garciaparra (r)
68. 1995 Bowman Vladimir Guerrero (r)
69. 1991 Bowman Chipper Jones (r)
70. 1965 Topps Jim Hunter (r)
71. 1965 Topps Joe Morgan (r)
72. 1970 Topps Vida Blue (r)
73. 1975 Topps Jim Rice (r)
74. 1975 Topps Gary Carter (r)
75. 1977 Topps Dale Murphy (r)
76. 1981 Topps Fernando Valenzuela (r)
77. 1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera (r)
78. 1990 Leaf Sammy Sosa (r)
79. 1965 Topps Tony Perez (r)
80. 1949 Leaf Jackie Robinson (r)
81. 1948 Bowman Yogi Berra (r)
82. 1948 Bowman Bob Feller (r)
83. 1948 Bowman Warren Spahn (r)
84. 1948 Bowman Phil Rizzuto (r)
85. 1951 Bowman Whitey Ford (r)
86. 1949 Bowman Roy Campanella (r)
87. 1955 Topps Harmon Killebrew (r)
88. 1961 Topps Juan Marichal (r)
89. 1955 Topps Harry Agganis (r)
90. 1962 Topps Gaylord Perry (r)
91. 1964 Topps Phil Niekro (r)
92. 1988 Fleer Tom Glavine (r)
93. 1988 Fleer Edgar Martinez (r)
94. 1988 Score Update Craig Biggio (r)
95. 1988 Score Update Roberto Alomar (r)
96. 2002 Bowman David Wright (r)
97. 2001 Bowman Albert Pujols (r)

Individual Cards (1948 – 1989)
1. 1952 Topps Andy Pafko
2. 1954 Topps Ted Williams (#1)
3. 1954 Topps Ted Williams (#250)
4. 1959 Topps Symbol of Courage (Roy Campanella)
5. 1957 Topps Ted Williams
6. 1958 Topps Stan Musial All-Star
7. 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle
8. 1953 Topps Jackie Robinson
9. 1952 Topps Willie Mays
10. 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle
11. 1967 Topps Carl Yastzremski
12. 1975 Topps Joe Morgan
13. 1972 Topps Joe Morgan Traded
14. 1965 Topps Yogi Berra
15. 1951 Bowman Yogi Berra
16. 1951 Bowman Ted Williams
17. 1953 Topps Ed Mathews
18. 1988 Topps Wade Boggs
19. 1967 Topps Whitey Ford
20. 1954 Topps Warren Spahn
21. 1969 Topps Aurelio Rodriguez
22. 1971 Topps Thurman Munson
23. 1969 Topps Maury Wills
24. 1982 Topps Traded Ozzie Smith
25. 1981 Topps Traded Dave Winfield
26. 1984 Topps Traded Pete Rose
27. 1976 Topps Traded Oscar Gamble
28. 1976 Topps Bazooka Champion Kurt Bevacqua
29. 1977 Topps Big League Brothers (George & Ken Brett)
30. 1963 Topps Pride of the NL (Mays & Musial)
31. 1961 Topps Sandy Koufax
32. 1962 Topps Roger Maris
33. 1974 Topps Hank Aaron
34. 1970 Topps “Mets Whoop It Up”
35. 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente
36. 1973 Topps Roberto Clemente
37. 1978 Topps Jim Rice
38. 1985 Topps Pete Rose
39. 1987 Fleer “Dr. K Meets Super K” (Clemens & Gooden)
40. 1988 Topps “A’s Leaders” (Canseco & McGwire)
41. 1964 Topps NL Home Run Leaders (Aaron/Cepeda/Mays/McCovey)
42. 1963 Topps Brooks Robinson
43. 1963 Topps Casey Stengel
44. 1963 Topps NL Home Run Leaders (Aaron/Banks/Cepeda/Mays/F. Robinson)
45. 1962 Topps “Maris Blasts 61st”
46. 1962 Topps “The Switch Hitter Connects”
47. 1962 Topps Babe Ruth Story “Greatest Sports Hero”
48. 1962 Topps “Manager’s Dream” (Mantle & Mays)
49. 1954 Topps O’Brien Brothers
50. 1961 Topps “Brother Battery” (Larry & Norm Sherry)
51. 1961 Topps “Gehrig Benched After 2,130 Games”
52. 1958 Topps Don Mossi
53. 1957 Topps “Yankees Power Hitters” (Berra & Mantle)
54. 1955 Topps Dusty Rhodes
55. 1977 Topps Reggie Jackson
56. 1975 Topps Carlton Fisk
57. 1970 Topps Seattle Pilots Team
58. 1954 Bowman Ted Williams
59. 1964 Topps Ken Hubbs In Memoriam


Sets
1. 1952 Topps
2. 1953 Topps
3. 1954 Topps
4. 1986 Topps Traded
5. 1959 Topps
6. 1965 Topps
7. 1963 Topps
8. 1972 Topps
9. 1975 Topps / Mini
10. 1984 Donruss
11. 1957 Topps
12. 1955 Topps
13. 1975 SSPC
14. 1986 Sportflics
15. 1949 Leaf
16. Complete run of Donruss Diamond Kings (1982 – 1989)
17. 1987 Topps
18. 1989 Upper Deck
19. 1978 Topps
20. 1971 Topps
21. 1951 Bowman
22. 1955 Bowman
23. 1963 Fleer
24. 1951 Topps Blue & Red


Chris Harris' List (1990 to present)

1. 90 Upper Deck Reggie Jackson Baseball Heroes AU
2. 90 Score Bo Jackson "Black and White"
3. 90 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF
4. 91 Donruss Elite (set)
5. 91 Stadium Club (set)
6. 91 Upper Deck Michael Jordan
7. 92 Bowman (set)
8. 92 Fleer Rookie Sensations Frank Thomas
9. 92 Score The Franchise Mantle/Musial/Yastremzki AU
10. 92 Topps Gold Brien Taylor AU
11. 93 Finest Refractors (set)
12. 94 Leaf Limited Phenoms A-Rod
13. 94 Score Rookie/Traded Call-Up A-Rod
14. 94 SP Holoview FX (set)
15. 94 Upper Deck Michael Jordan
16. 94 Upper Deck Griffey/Mantle AU
17. 96 Leaf Signature (set)
18. 96 Select Certified Mirror Gold (set)
19. 96 SPx (set)
20. 97 Flair Showcase Legacy Masterpiece Ken Griffey, Jr.
21. 97 New Pinnacle Press Plates
22. 97 Upper Deck Game Jersey Ken Griffey, Jr. GU
23. 98 Upper Deck Retro Legedary Cuts Babe Ruth AU
24. 99 Upper Deck A Piece of Hostory Babe Ruth GU
25. 99 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Buy-Back Ken Griffey, Jr. AU
26. 00 Fleer Tradition (set)
27. 00 Greats of the Game Autographs (set) AU
28. 00 Greats of the Game Yankee Clippings Mickey Mantle GU
29. 01 Donruss (set) -- If only for pure suckiness.
30. 01 SP Legendary Cuts (set) AU
31. 01 Sweet Spot Signatures Babe Ruth AU
32. 01 Topps Heritage (set)
33. 01 Ultimate Collection (set)
34. 02 Topps 206 Honus Wagner GU
35. 04 Diamond Kings (set)
36. 04 Donruss Fans of the Game James Gandolfini AU
37. 04 Leaf Certified Satchel Paige GU
38. 04 Topps American Treasures (set) AU
39. 06 Topps Allen & Ginter Danica Patrick AU
40. 07 Topps Derek Jeter
41. 07 Topps Allen & Ginter Ken Jennings
42. 07 Topps Allen & Ginter George Washington DNA

Please leave a comment on this post if you think we've left anything out.

Boy, am I out of it!

So here I am, in a new town, with a new job. I'm living in a friend's guest room thanks to her generosity, along with my two "varmints" Shane and Tanker, commuting about 50 miles each way to work in yet another new town. My mom has been packed off to stay with her Alzheimer's-riddled sister in yet another third town.

Can you say "in flux?"

I've always heard, and I believe it's true, that to stick with a weight-loss program you have to find a plan and stick to it.

So the fact that I am currently planless and a bit out of control (of everything) doesn't bode well. It's only my second day on the new job. Things WILL settle down.

Anyway, sorry for the long absence. Moving is a bitch! Wish I could say it was over, but half my stuff's in storage and the other half is in my house in New Orleans. So whenever the house sells (pleeeeeeeze sell, little house) then there will be the "real" move to do.

Oh well, this too shall pass. Hope to be blogging regularly again now on this site.

Following the recent news that Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine would be visiting the Ganges River Dolphin for their Last Chance To See TV series, it's about time we posted some information on this creature, also known as the "Susu". Image by Brian Smith.

The Wikipedia article is very good and tells us that Ganges River Dolphin and its close relative the Indus River Dolphin are essentially identical in appearance, even though they have totally distinct ranges and have not interbred for thousands of years.

The Ganges subspecies can be found in the Ganges River as well as the Brahmaputra, Meghna, Karnaphuli and Sangu river systems of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Relatively high population densities have been observed near the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in India and in the Sangu River in southern Bangladesh. Very few individuals (perhaps 20) are present in Nepal in the Karnali River. The total population is unknown, but certainly numbers in the hundreds and there are perhaps as many as a few thousand.

The ARKive website has a lovely (if short) video of the Susu in action. Their full Ganges River Dolphin page is here.

The IUCN Red List of Endangered Species lists the Ganges and Indus River Dolphins as "Endangered".

And finally (for now), novelist Harold Bergsma recently posted a very nice article on Desicritics.org called River Dolphins and Baoli - The Passing of an Era. Harold writes...

How many of these rare, wonderful creatures are left? I poured over the literature and sadly have to report that only four to six hundred of these blind river dolphins exist in the Indus and that their numbers are diminishing rapidly because of a number of factors. Over fishing, dam construction, navigation projects, pollution, habitat destruction and increasing food needs of a fast growing human population have all but made this animal extinct.
[...]
In the Ganges this creature is called the Susu. If you are interested you can go online and watch a video of a Susu leaping out of the water and hear its whistle-like call. It is wonderful to see. Only about six hundred of them still exist in an area of heavy human population which uses their fat, you guessed it, for catching catfish. In the Brahmaputra River, scientists estimate that three to four hundred of the Hihu remain. In Nepal, in isolated sections of rivers a few may still exist.

Thanks for the article Harold, it was a very nice read. You can read more of Harold's work and find out about his award winning books at HaroldBergsma.com.

I'm completely intrigued by the iPhone, even though it will be almost five years before I'll be able to buy one. That said, I've considered providing cellphone wallpapers, but thought their screens wouldn't do a baseball card justice. Enter the iPhone. The screen is almost a perfect 1-to-1 ratio for a baseball card. So here's the first one of what I'm calling 'iPhone Cards'.

Just click to download.

It's that time again... the time when we've fixed a few things, added a few things, cleaned up a little bit of the mess we create during construction ... sometime around this weekend you'll see the next few Community improvements. They include a bunch of small Friends and Reviewers items:

1) We're pretty much done moving items from the Friends home page to the Community Home page -- the quiz is here, the activity block, and finally, the notices that appear at the top of your Friends page when you get a note or a new friend invitation -- these will be here now. Consequently, we're cropping off these old elements from the top of the Friends page - simplifying it some - and moving those elements up a click level (back to where they were). (As a bit of a tease, i will tell you that clearing them off the Friends page leaves us room for the next stuff we're about to add...)

2) We've added one kind of notice: when a friend writes a movie review, it will also get a card at the top of the Community Home page, much like notes have been.

3) We fixed a couple of little bugs in the Friends activity box (like most of this weeks' changes, this will mean nothing to non-Friends users), but the ratings are now in there, and soon we'll clean up the way the TV series are presented.

4) The "read more" link on movie reviews in the Latest Reviews slider now takes you to the full review on the reviewers own page - and not leave you hunting around the movie display page wondering where it is.

5) We cleaned the creation dates off of the Top 10 Lists - they weren't really useful, and now there is more room for longer titles.

6) Oh, and we slid your "helpful/unhelpful" count back into your own Reviews & Lists page so it's easier to see which of your reviews are well-received...

7) IF YOU HATE, AND I MEAN HATE THE MEMBERS LATEST REVIEWS feed - here is a super top secret back door work-around for you: add the words "NOSCROLL" after the ? in the URL, such that it looks like this:

http://www.netflix.com/Community?NOSCROLL

And the Community Home page will display without it. It's not easy, perhaps, but it may suit the technically savvy folks among you.

These are the bits improved this week (the parts you can see), all slowly moving us toward where we are heading-- a place that will be much much clearer not this Friday, but in a few more weeks. Until then, i hope some of these little things help. Sure they're entirely apple polish, but there is method in the madness. I'll lay out what the big picture is sometime in early September. Until then, enjoy...

But barely....

I'm still living out of a suitcase and can barely remember my name. But I AM back. I noticed Blogger is about to have a scheduled outage, so I'll be back this evening. Stay tuned...

The Times of India has more news on Fred The Dodo's potential for yielding DNA from his bones.

Late last year, biologists looking for cave cockroaches accidentally discovered a dodo skeleton in the highlands of Mauritius.

Nicknamed 'Fred' after one of its discoverers, the skeleton's bones were badly decomposed and fragile, but there is still a good chance of extracting some dodo DNA because of the stable temperature and dry to slightly humid environment (keys to DNA preservation) of the cave. (Scientists think Fred ended up in the bottom of the cave because he sought shelter from a violent cyclone but fell down in a deep hole and could not climb out.)

Stylized 3D illustration about the management that is more and more needed with outsourcing.

Does anyone use and rely on the Friends Preferences page? You can change the name of your friend there, if for some reason their netflix account name doesn't suit you; you can delete Friends there, but you could delete them from anywhere if that was the best reason for keeping this (like in the slider, or on their profile page....) Clearly it would be better if all the Netflix prefs were together somewhere, and this probably isn't the ideal spot... Maybe we should retire it and move some of these functions somewhere smarter. So I wonder: Is this a useful page? Can someone defend it eloquently?

These are some of the finished illustrations for the book with poems, writen by children. Have a look at the sketches I posted last week. Enjoy! (more goods on Flickr)

The other day, on a whim, I made a purchase from the Tempt-Me stand at the checkout in the supermarket. I bought a Mars bar. I cannot remember the last time I ate a chocolate bar (I eat plenty of other crap, but an individual full-size chocolate bar? It's probably been a year at least). When I got home, I felt stupid, for I had been sucked in by that marketing strategy which seeks to cajole

When I add something to the site — like the Latest Reviews block or the Members Top 10 Lists, I am looking to see how many of our subscribers use it, and come back to use it again. For whom does this feature add value? My goal is to add lots of value for as many people as i can. A new feature doesn’t have to appeal to everyone, of course. We have a lot of subscribers, after all, and you all have a very wide range of needs and preferences. Some things we do might be useful to everyone (say, improving the way the Queue works) and some only impact a subset of users (for instance, changing the way you see your Friends). We do both kinds of features, and are always looking to balance the efforts creating each of them.

When I look at features on the Netflix site (and in the Community area in particular) I have two buckets that everything falls into: moving the needle and polishing the apple.

What I want is to move the needle: I want to make a change or add a feature that materially improves our site. Maybe it makes it so much easier to manage your queue or find exceptionally good movies that it totally changes the way you use and enjoy Netflix. That would be good. That would be “moving the needle.”

Often times I’m just polishing the apple: it’s good to make this thing better, easier, clearer, whatever – but it really isn’t going to change how many people use it or enjoy it – at least not in a meaningful way.

The drag and drop queue – that was a needle mover. It makes the queue much easier to work for every one of our subscribers. Good feature. Adding the Friends Activity headlines to the Community Home page? Well, it was a good thing to do, but it was only for Friends users, and quite possibly was only a bit of apple polish. Removing the dates from the Top 10 Lists block? (releasing next week) Definitely apple polish. I wouldn’t have done it at all except it only took about 10 seconds and it was driving a few of us crazy. We call this “opportunistic” improvement. You’re fixing something anyway and it is easy to do. So make the thing better even if it doesn’t move any needles.

There is a general sense that you have to do a little bit of polish or in time the site just isn’t that good, it isn’t easy to use or it slowly irritates y’all to the point of distraction. Search is an example. It works. But it could be so much better. Most of us are sure this is a needle mover. I think the entire Community effort – comprised of many many little interlocking features – could be a needle mover. I am trying to discover if that is the case.

The problem often comes when me and my teams’ natural desire is to polish apples – make the things we have much smoother or better (think the sliding of the Latest Reviews or the adding of movies to Top 10 Lists), but then realize that the small bits of work to improve these things adds up and the big new features that are certainly more likely to move some needles are getting postponed.

Anyway, it’s a balance. Like a stock portfolio. Some high risk stuff, some slow growth but low risk stuff, a few wildcards… but all adding up to a strong healthy portfolio that weathers short fluctuations and delivers good results in the long haul.

The features I want, and that you guys often suggest, are almost always good things to do and would results in genuine improvement of the site. The question I ask – and you can ask yourself if you want – is will it make a difference, and if so – how much? For whom? I could change the font on all the tabs and it would certainly make the site nicer looking and perhaps even easier to read – but would it change our business? (Maybe that’s too extreme an example). Perhaps better: let’s make it easy to sort the movie reviews on all the movie pages – by helpful ratings, by similarity percentage to you, by recency, etc. Seems like a no-brainer. It certainly would be great. It’s already on my list of things to do. But let’s step back for a moment. Will it help more people find better movies? If you don’t read movie reviews (and many people don’t, actually), will it get you to try it? Most people ask for these options, but rarely use them. If we provide the ability to sort in a dozen ways, how many people will use the feature? Simplicity would say: discover the most useful of all the ways to sort these things, and make that the default – because that’s what most people will see. Then add the sorting later, opportunistically. And what are the thresholds? If I told you only 1% of our users would sort, would you make this a top priority? How about 10%? What would it take – 20%? 50% (Complicate this with the effort: what if it took a day to build, or a month? How would that affect your decision?) The question is rhetorical, but the issue is very real. It’s not a bad feature. In fact it is a brilliant and obvious feature. But should it be the first thing I build? Or is there something else that is also brilliant but that will be “game changing” – a needle mover! Because if you were given a choice, you’d probably tell me to do that.

I’m reminded of a bit of business advice I got when I was raising money to start a company back in 1993. It went something like this: “Just because something is a truly great idea does not necessarily mean it will make a good business. And just because something would be a terrific business does not necessarily mean it is a good investment.” You guys offer us ideas – often great ideas. Our job is to decide if they are worthy investments. There is often no question they are good ideas.

That’s why I really absorb all of your suggestions, and that’s also why you don’t see all of them getting implemented right away. It is without question the hardest part of this job.

Here's that clip of Bull Pillman I told you about.

Audio

Chuck Turner - Trying to conquer I - Basic Replay
Courtney Melody - Black liberation - Basic Replay
Lee Perry - Disco devil revisited 2007 - On U
LVX Collective - Days like these - Green Tea
The Bug feat Killa P & Flow Dan - Skeng - Hyperdub
Matty G - 50,000 watts - Argon
Jamie Woon - Wayfaring stranger (Burial rmix) - Resist
Babylon System - Loaded - Argon
Darkstar feat. Neleswa - Dead 2 me - 2010 Records
Robbie B and Jazzy J - Rock the GoGo! - Schooly D
DJ Todd 1 - That's the way I cut - Cut Up! Cir
Culture & I Roy - I'm not ashamed / Not ashamed dub - Shanachie
Sam Amidon - Falsehearted chicken - Birdwar
Tunng - Bricks - Full Time Hobby
Derwyddon Dr Gonzo - KO - Ciwdod
The Spectre of Johnny R - Yo! Became Yay! - Pornchurch
Blue States - Allies - Memphis Industries mi090
Codes in the Clouds - Fractures - Erased Tapes
Tenor Saw - Victory train - Victory
Winston Flames - Armagideon - Soul Jazz Records
Deb Players - You never know what got version - DEB Music
Aggrovators/King Tubby - No woman no cry - Attack

Something happened to me earlier this week that I’ll not likely soon forget. I ended up in the emergency room and since then I’ve stayed in my apartment: warm, soothing, welcoming apartment, it has felt like a haven and a prison for me this week. I’ve been operating at half-speed (talking, walking, thinking), keeping me out of work and on the couch and in bed for the week. Today I started feeling a little more normal and went out to see if the subway still freaked me out (it did).

On my way back to the apartment, I started to think about my comfort zone: where I live, what I eat, how I spend my free time and money, how I live my life. My apartment has betrayed me this week, I eat a lot of junk food, I watch TV, movies, I read and I write about baseball cards, and I don’t really spend money on myself, except for groceries and paying bills. When I spend money on baseball cards, I don’t ever spend very much. In fact, one of the reasons I buy low-grade cards is because I’m a bit of a cheapskate. I don’t like spending a lot of money, period. Especially on cards. The most I ever spent on cards was at Brimfield Flea Market about ten years ago. My dad and I spent just over $200 for a lot of 48 1955 & 1956 Topps, including 3 Al Rosens, 2 Newhousers, a Vic Power, 2 Jackie Jensens and a Ted Williams.

So today I thought I’d test the comfort zone a little and go for a larger purchase at my local card shop. I ended up buying a box of 2007 Allen & Ginter baseball. This purchase goes against everything I stand for: expensive premium cards, high price point, useless inserts whose very existence I’ve made fun of on this blog before. While not a $500 box of three cards, I would characterize A&G as ‘risk-taker’ cards. High-roller cards. I’d rather buy ten boxes of early Nineties crap than one box of A&G. Speaking of the early Nineties, I should probably continue the Early Nineties Countdown one of these days…

I ended up paying $105 for the box. That’s $4.38 a pack. $0.55 a card. Just one look at the checklist and I can already imagine the perfect pack will consist of Willy Taveras, Brad Ausmus, Gil Meche, Brandon Inge, Sweet Loretta, Kevin Mench, Chris Burke and Milton Bradley. Or maybe a flag of Kenya. I thought the purpose of creating a set like this was to weed out the commons. I know, Meche signed for a ton of cash this off-season, but he’s still a common, right?

Needless to say, I have rather low expectations for this box. Maybe that’s just the post-purchase guilt spreading itself on real thick…

Let’s start out with the box loader. I got a ‘National Pride Cabinet Card.’ After checking out the checklist, I’m gunning for anyone except the Koreans and the Canadians… Goddamn, useless lousy Canadians! And there’s a big picture of Niagara Falls in the center of the card! What, Topps didn’t want to use a photo of a polar bear attacking a school bus in Victoria?

Alright, staying positive…here’s the first pack.

Matt Cain, Barry Bonds, Chris Capuano (mini A&G back), Dick Perez Jose Reyes Sketch Card, Mohandas Gandhi, Josh Barfield, Gil Meche!, Michael Cuddyer

Gotta love getting Gil Meche in the first pack. Also, after a quick scan of the checklist, I thought it said ‘Mohandas Giambi’. Apparently that is not true. Finally, I hope Josh Barfield’s teammates call him ‘Barf’, and that after he hits a home run at home, the Jumbotron at Jacobs Field plays the scene from Spaceballs! where Lone Starr and Barf (the esteemed Bill Pullman and the late John Candy) celebrate with ‘Gimme paw!’ One last thing—try to find a video of the Museum of the Moving Image Salute to Will Smith, where the announcer introduces Bill Pullman as ‘Bull Pillman’. It’s hilarious.

Second Pack
Brian Roberts, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera, Flag of Austria (mini), Dick Perez Raul Ibanez, Aaron Harang, Mike Cameron, Kelly Johnson

Well, I got a Flag of the World (Austria). And a special insert card of Raul Ibanez (sigh). At least Aaron Harang looks like a zombie… You know what would spice these cards up? Real cigarettes in every pack. Or chewing tobacco. Or even better—why hasn’t anyone thought of this?—a little packet of Big League Chew.


Third Pack
Raul Ibanez, Michael Young, Jermaine Dye (mini), Dick Perez Freddy Sanchez, Jeremy Bonderman, Chipper Jones, Dontrelle Willis, Stanley Glenn

Another fuckin’ card of Raul Ibanez. Please, God, let that be the last one I get. Also, I propose we start calling Chipper Jones ‘Larry’. That’s his real name, not ‘Chipper.’ Besides, he’s looking old and fat, which is something I thought would never happen; his body fits Larry Jones more than it does Chipper Jones.


Fourth Pack
Manny Ramirez, Eric Chavez, Joe Borowski, Scott Kazmir (mini), Dick Perez Daisuke Matsuzaka, Miguel Tejada, Bob Wickman, Chris Duffy

Incredible, I got three look-alikes in this pack. Miguel Tejada looks like Charles Bronson, Bob Wickman looks like President Taft, and Joe Borowski looks like what I’ve always imagined the boxer looked like from Hemingway’s The Killers. I have to admit it: whatever Photoshop technique the Topps designers used on this set, the colors really pop.

Fifth Pack
Garrett Atkins, Ken Jennings, Elijah Dukes (mini), Dick Perez Ryan Zimmerman, Rickie Weeks, Willy Taveras!, Bobby Abreu, Kei Igawa

I honestly don’t know what’s better: a special card of Elijah Dukes, the batshit crazy Devil Rays rookie, or a card of Ken Jennings from Jeopardy!. By the way, in MLB: The Show 2006, Rickie Weeks is a bona fide superstar. Also, Barry Bonds is called ‘Reggie Stocker’ (probably because they couldn’t get licensing).


Sixth Pack
Tony La Russa, Lyle Overbay, Juan Rivera (mini A&G back), Dick Perez Carlos Lee, Chad Tracy, Gary Sheffield, Sean Casey, Brian Fuentes

You know how after you buy a lot of packs of a certain set, you begin to recognize collating patterns? And then, after getting pack after pack of the same players, you suddenly get a pack of commons that proves to be the linchpin to the rest of the set? This pack feels like it’s A&G’s linchpin.


Seventh Pack
Chris Stewart, Jorge Posada, Carlos Lee, David Ross (mini), Dick Perez Prince Fielder, Shea Hillenbrand, Brad Lidge, Wes Helms

Or maybe this pack is the linchpin…


Eighth Pack
Jeff Kent, Francisco Cordero (mini), Dick Perez Alfonso Soriano, Alfonso Soriano, P.T. Barnum, Joe Mauer, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Shawn Green

Pretty good pack. I can’t say that I really like the Dick Perez inserts. They’re too much like his Diamond Kings he did for Donruss. I guess they work with the illustrated look and feel of this set, but DK’s are what made Donruss sets so great. Topps had their subsets, Fleer had the inevitable error card and hot rookies and Donruss had the Diamond King. Also, I’m surprised at how much I like the idea of P.T. Barnum having his own card.

Did I ever tell you about the time I visited the Tufts University Special Collections Archive and got to handle the last remaining piece of Barnum’s Jumbo the Elephant? I didn’t? Well, maybe another time then… (but it’s true, Barnum had Jumbo—one of his greatest moneymakers—stuffed and then shipped to Europe for a tour. During a storm en route, part of her tail fell off. Later, after the Barnum Taxidermy Museum at Tufts in Medford, Mass. burned down, the smidgen of tail was all that was left. Barnum was a fascinating man, especially because he was deeply religious and he took joy in finding new and ingenious ways of ripping people off.

After a third of the box, I haven’t gotten any doubles yet. I’ve also gotten a handful of Dick Perez cards, a number of mini cards and a few special cards, including P.T. Barnum. I also struck out with the box loader, receiving a crappy card of Famous Base-Ball Playing Canadians. Here’s how I did with the rest of the box:

2 relics: Miguel Cabrera (bat), Rich Harden (jersey)
14 Dick Perez sketch cards: all different
11 special cards: all different, including Fyodor ‘The Butler Did It’ Dostoevsky
1 A-Rod Home Run Bullshit Waste of Space
1 mini Flag of Taiwan
2 mini cards with black borders: Rafael Furcal and Brad Ausmus (!)
3 mini special cards: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mario Andretti, Jamie Fisher
3 mini rookie cards: Carlos Gomes, Gustavo Molina, Hunter Pence
10 other mini cards: all different, including Ryan Howard no number
and no doubles

I also got some short-printed cards:
Bob Geren
Placido Polanco
Hunter Pence
Justin Verlander
Ken Jennings
Michael Young
Josh Bard
Grady Sizemore
Barry Bonds
Rocco Baldelli
Francisco Cordero

Impressions: Good color, nice design, mini cards pleasing addition to each pack. I’m surprised I like this set. I thought I’d hate it. Some things I don’t understand:

-Why so many Dick Perez cards? They’re really just Diamond Kings. Why not put them in the base set?
-Why include the lousy A-Rod mirror set? Topps really blew it with this one.
-I don’t understand the black bordered parallel set. It’s too intrusive on the face of the card.
-Why bother with relics at all? Everybody knows most of them are not worth more than $5 after they’re removed from the pack. I say, don’t make the promise of two a box. Then only make ten or twenty different ones and include them less frequently.
-Topps has now had two years of Allen & Ginter Champions of the World subset, and yet they have yet to make a card of Gary Sobers. There are more cricket fans in the world than there are citizens of the United States, so what, pray tell, is the deal with not including him?

I probably won’t collect this set. I got all the players that I like: Ichiro, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Justin Verlander, Hanley Ramirez, Kenji Johjima, Prince Fielder, Placido ‘Domingo’ Polanco. The only guy I didn’t get that I might buy separately is Magglio Ordonez.

I guess going outside of the comfort zone wasn’t so bad. I have to admit, I’m intrigued by the level of thought that Topps has put into this set, what with the number of parallels and short prints and other stuff they’ve got going on within the confines of the Allen & Ginter cigar box. I like the minis, the flags are okay, and I like most of the special cards.

I’d like to do the next checklist of special cards for A&G 2008, precisely because I think Topps dropped the ball in not including David Beckham in this set, but also because Ernest Hemingway, Keith Richards and the Lusitania need their own cards. Maybe I could do a set called ‘Famous Men and their Thrilling Demises’…

The BBC News site reports today that a female mountain gorilla and its baby from the 12-strong group that were attacked last month are dead. This brings the recent death toll up to nine.

Rangers patrolling the area of the Virunga National Park where four of the great apes were killed discovered the remains of the female, called Macibiri.

Conservation group WildlifeDirect said it would continue searching the area to locate the body of the infant, Ntaribi.

There's a lot more information, photographs, video, and a progress report from the UNESCO inquiry at the Gorilla Protection blog.

Here's InTheNews.co.uk with some (not altogether new) news on the dietary supplements being given to the 86 Kakapos in order to help them breed more often.

Hindering the kakapo's return to its previous numbers is its unusual eating habits. The bird breeds every two to six years when fruit is in bloom on pink pine and rimu trees, which they feed their young on.

During the rest of the time the kakapo's diet consists of grasses, leaves and herbs which lack the nutrients it needs to be able to breed.
[...]
A total of 67 eggs were laid in 2002, the first year in which the new diet was trialled.

That's an interesting follow-up to Tuesday's Kakapo post which mentioned the Kakapo's perceived diet in 1862. Here's another snippet from "Handbook to the Birds of Australia".

The cause of the deformity was supposed to be the want of proper food, and too close confinement. They were fed chiefly on soaked bread, oatmeal, and water and boiled potatoes. When let loose in a garden they would eat lettuces, cabbages, and grass, and would taste almost every green leaf that they came across. One, which I brought within six hundred miles of England (when it was accidentally killed), whilst at Sydney, ate eagerly of the leaves of a Banknia and several species of Eucalyptus, as well as grass, appearing to prefer them all to its usual diet of bread and water. It was also very fond of nuts and almonds, and during the latter part of the homeward voyage lived almost entirely on Brazilian ground-nuts.