HOFFARTH SUNDAY Q & A: Why fantasy sports can read like an open book

How bad do you want to lose in your fantasy league?

I can get you from the overall first pick to the depths of last place faster than a Mark Sanchez butt fumble.

It was in everyone's best interest that two decades ago I swore off playing in rotisserie-style anything of any kind -- football, baseball, golf, Little League T-ball. I continue to enjoy this cleansing of the soul and maintain a purified outlook at just how messed up a fantasy league can be to the psyche and checkbook.

So, with that, I checkedout a new book by Matthew Berry.

In "Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It" (Riverhead Books, $27.95, 338 pages), I hesitate to say fantasy looks real again.

Before I take that walk of shame again, I needed to track down Berry, who once lived in Sherman Oaks when he did TV sitcom writing but has since moved to Connecticut (perhaps the requirements of a witness protection program):

Q: Fantasy leagues took up too much of my time and energy and I was losing to guys who picked players with as much research as they would in making a $2 bet on a thoroughbred at Santa Anita. Why should I consider ever getting back into it? Can you convince me one way or another?

A: Unless you're anti-fun, and I don't get that sense, why would you not want to do it? You get to have a rooting interest in games you'd normally not care about. And if you're not a sports fan, you have a reason to watch. Now that you're older, you probably would have a little better perspective of all that.

Q: The perspective I have is feeling that sports fantasy leagues are too mercenary. It forces you to invest a rooting interest in a player which could be at the expense of rooting against a team you've already been emotionally tied to for many years. Is there a way to rectify that psychological hurdle?

A: It goes to your fandom. I don't think there's anything wrong with rooting for individual players over your 'real life' team. It really sounds more like you have some guilt issues, to be perfectly honest. So who cares? I get questions a lot, from those especially who are anti-fantasy, who say, 'That makes you root for players instead of teams.' I'm like, 'Who are you to legislate how I enjoy sports?' There are different ways to enjoy everything in life. Whether I'm rooting for the group of players I've selected on a fantasy team or you're rooting for another group of players that a general manager has selected, we're still rooting for groups of players. As long as we're both enjoying sports, who cares how we're doing it?

Q: I guess I've felt I had conflicted rooting interests. And I was spending way too much time away from my family in pursuit of winning.

A: Got it. In that case, maybe pick your teams a little better. If you want to win, it's not necessarily the best strategy to pick your favorite players, but I don't have an issue with that because in the end fantasy is supposed to be fun. That's what this book is supposed to show. It's not a book about how to win your fantasy league and crush your opponents. It's a book that celebrates all the things I love about fantasy sports -- the trash-talking, the punishments for losing, the trophies, the creative ways people have tried to cheat. There's a story from Senator Rick Santorum about how he had to do a fantasy draft on the day he dropped out of the presidential race. What's lost in there is he plays in an American League-only fantasy baseball league. The reason he does it is because he was from Pennsylvania, where he has the Pirates and Phillies as National League teams, and he didn't want to have to root against either of those teams. That was the idea.

Q: That makes sense. In reading the book, I get the sense you've become used to being a 'fantasy shrink,' where people confess to someone like you who'd understand where they were coming from. Is that how you feel?

A: There is the saying that the most interesting conversation in the world is all about your fantasy team. And the most boring conversation in the world is anyone else's fantasy team. Right? It's the new golf story or vacation pictures. No one cares about your team other than you. Except me. That's my job. I like to hear it. I want to hear it. And I'm amazed what people admit to me. I've been playing almost 30 years and there were many stories where I was like, 'Wow, I've never heard that one.' I thought I'd get a lot of stories about guys who drafted while their wives were giving birth, those kinds of things. I was shocked by the majority of the stories I got -- like a league that forced the loser to get a tattoo of Justin Bieber. A guy who continued drafting through a bombing while he was in Afghanistan. A league that forced its loser to dress like a lion while the other owners hunted him down with paintball guns. There's the league where a guy and his wife are owners and the wife passes away, so the husband starts making these trades with the dead wife ...

Q: You've also tapped into stories about a priest, a rabbi or and a minister in a league ... and all hell breaks loose?

A: Sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it's actually three different leagues. Cheating pastors! I couldn't believe that happens, but it has. In a league filled with other pastors at his church.

Q: You can justify fantasy leagues as something that "gives people who normally would not have a reason to interact an excuse to talk ... from the CEO and mailroom guys to your long-lost cousins and everyone in between." What if I wanted to be in a fantasy league and not talk to anyone? Does that defeat the purpose?

A: Not at all. Go to ESPN.com and sign up for an anonymous league. But now I'm sensing some conflict, more guilt, some anti-social behavior. I think you've got more issues to work through here.

Q: Maybe I'm just in the wrong leagues. What other fantasy leagues that you do?

A: I have a fantasy summer movie league with all my buddies who are screen writers and directors. There's about 30 of us; we threw up a website called summermovieleague.com to keep track of it -- anyone can play if they want -- and you just pick 10 movies you think will make the most money for the summer for your own fantasy studio. I do pretty well, but I think this year "The Lone Ranger" is going to keep me from winning the title.

Q: That darn Adam Sandler.

A: I know, and I didn't even pick "Grown Ups 2."

Q: I could have told you to take that one.

A: Maybe this is a league for you then.

Q: As long as I don't have to get a tattoo if I lose.

A: Make sure that's in the bylaws.

More Q and A with Berry on the blog: www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth

Note: Berry will sign books and do a fantasy 'Q and A' at Barnes and Noble at the Grove near Farmer's Market on Fairfax on Monday at 7 p.m.

thomashoffarth@dailynews.com"?@TomHoffarth on Twitter

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_23702189/sunday-q-and-fantasy-sports-can-read-like?source=rss

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Lone Anti-Gay House Democrat Nick Rahall House Joins GOP ?s Federal Marriage Amendment Effort

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Source: www.back2stonewall.com --- Friday, July 19, 2013
Even though John Boehner and his House cronies yesterday announced that they will no longer defend the remaining statutes similar to the Defense of Marriage Act that ban recognition of same-sex couples? marriages. But that is not stopping other anti-gay GOP House members from going forward with their proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would define marriage in the U.S. as ?only the union of a man and a woman.? The amendment introduced by Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas after the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act deeming it unconstitutional has 38 sponsors but none of the senior members of the House GOP leadership team have signed on to co-sponsored the measure. Yesterday though West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall became the first Democrat to sign on to the proposed Federal Marriage Rahall was one of nine house democrats who voted in 2011 to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act. The proposed amendment would read, ? Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.? Rahall is the most senior of five Arab American lawmakers in Congress. It?s so nice to see that the Democrats can keep their house in order. NOT! ? ? ? ...

Source: http://www.back2stonewall.com/2013/07/lone-anti-gay-house-democrat-house-joins-gop-s-federal-marriage-amendment-effort.html

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In zombies, Israelis and Arabs find common enemy

JERUSALEM (AP) ? In one of the central scenes of the summer blockbuster movie "World War Z," Israeli troops funnel Palestinian refugees to safety in Jerusalem behind a massive concrete wall. There, the Arabs and Jews embrace, dance and sing ? shortly before they are all engulfed by bloodthirsty zombies.

Even for such an over-the-top work of science fiction, in which billions of people come back from the dead as horrific zombies to terrorize Earth, one of the most improbable plotlines of the film is that Israelis and Palestinians are fighting on the same side.

Granted, the film assumes that a post-apocalyptic world and a supernatural common enemy are needed to achieve such harmony. But the image of an elusive Mideast peace, coupled with the film's overall positive portrayal of Israel, have not been lost among the region's war-weary moviegoers.

"It's a fantasy, and it seems ridiculous to those who live here, but it is still heartwarming to see Israelis and Palestinians coming together," said Yehuda Stav, a movie critic for the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

At the core of the cinematic coexistence lies a towering barrier Israel is praised for building to keep out zombies and protect inhabitants of the Holy Land ? Jews and Arabs alike. In reality, Israel's separation barrier with the West Bank ? which Israel says is meant to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers ? is much smaller but much more contentious. Palestinians call it a symbol of occupation that steals their land, hinders their movement and damages their crops.

In the film, Israel is praised for its savvy, survival instincts and peaceful intentions. It is credited with predicting the zombie invasion and preparing proper defenses, making it one of only two nations to prevent a lethal outbreak.

The other, North Korea, adopts a more draconian solution: It extracts the teeth of all its citizen to prevent people from biting each other and spreading the deadly zombie virus.

The movie depicts the Israeli military as courageous and resourceful, the Israeli people as inviting and humane. Even Israel's often criticized system of West Bank checkpoints is portrayed as an effective tool to protect both sides.

"If it weren't for the zombies in the background, you'd think this was an engineered campaign of the Defense Ministry to strengthen Israel's status in the world," Israeli movie critic Chen Hadad wrote in City Mouse magazine. The movie opened in Israel last week.

Such a futuristic Israel in "World War Z" has sparked outrage in the real Arab world, where bloggers and moviegoers have slammed the film as a love song to Israel.

"It's free propaganda for Israel at a time when it occupies other people," complained Ramzi Taweel, a 38-year-old Palestinian cartoonist from Ramallah in the West Bank. "It portrays Israel as a moral power that protects human beings. It justifies the wall. ... The Israeli occupation army in the movie is a humane army that protects the world."

In Lebanon, it is showing in theaters, but some of the Israel scenes have been censored or edited out. It also has been widely distributed in the Gulf, where it has received some thumbs down.

"I don't think it was trying to justify Israel's occupation, but it was glorifying the Israelis by emphasizing peace and harmony of the two nations, which is far from the truth," moviegoer Aleena Khan told the Dubai-based Gulf News. "It was a very rose-tinted version of what the relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians actually is."

But even the fictional love fest comes at a cost. Since the zombies are drawn to noise, the raucous Israeli-Palestinian celebrations prove to be their demise. Their joint rendition of a popular Hebrew song of peace wakes the undead from their slumber, and they ultimately catapult over the wall and bite everything in sight.

Such scenes have raised philosophical debates in the blogosphere about whether the movie is actually for or against Israel's real-life separation barrier.

The setting of "World War Z" migrates to Jerusalem after its hero, Gerry Lane, played by Brad Pitt, arrives to figure out how the Israelis have created a safe zone from zombies. There he meets the chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, who cites the experiences of the Holocaust, the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympians in Munich and the surprise war Arabs launched on Israel the following year as lessons that taught the Jewish state to prepare for the unexpected. The spymaster tells Pitt's character that Israel envisioned the threat because officials are encouraged to play devil's advocate, with someone offering a dissenting view if everyone else agrees.

Once pandemonium breaks loose, Pitt manages to escape thanks to a cunning, courageous female soldier, played by Israeli actress Daniella Kertesz, who helps him save the world. Aside from her name, Segen, which is actually Hebrew for the rank of lieutenant, the Israeli depictions are fairly accurate. Though shot in Malta, the scenes appear authentic, as do the street signs, the uniforms and the characters' Hebrew accents.

The rare Hollywood focus on Israel has elicited local pride, with crowds cheering at the sight of the Israeli flag and giggling during Hebrew dialogue.

"It shows that we are strong, we fight to the end and don't give up, but also are willing to help others," Ohad Ben-Aharon, a 19-year-old soldier in the Israeli air force, said after a recent screening in Jerusalem. "It's fictional, but there is also an optimistic message ? that there can be peace."

Another moviegoer was Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman.

His takeaway?

"We hope the Palestinians indeed agree to live in peace with Israel before the zombies invade."

____

Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank; Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.

____

Follow Heller on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zombies-israelis-arabs-common-enemy-152819024.html

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Re: How to install/recover Windows 8 to mSATA drive on Alienware 14?

I got this.

1. Download free Acronis Western Digital edition (look it up, its free with WD external drives but unlike Seagate edition it doesn't check for a drive to be present).

2. Back up the whole, all partitions, 750GB drive to some external drive with enough free space (for me it was about 16GB since laptop was the way it came from Dell and I haven't installed anything but Windows 8 updates)

3. Install mSATA drive

4. Change SATA to AHCI mode in BIOS

5. Restore your back up to the mSATA drive in Windows. Acronis will re-size partitions automatically so going from 750GB to 256GB is ok.

6. Change boot drive in BIOS to mSATA

7. Erase 750GB drive and delete all the partitions on it to have one full 750GB parting on it. I did that in Linux since Windows8 didn't let me delete Dell's recovery and diag partitions.

8. Format 750GB partition.

Done and it works.

Source: http://en.community.dell.com/thread/20414451.aspx

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Know What Happened To Dave Matthews This Week? Take The Fark Weird News Quiz

Fark.com:

Know why Dave Matthews was the news this week?

Take the Fark Weird News Quiz

Read the whole story at Fark.com

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/19/fark-weird-news-quiz_n_3625889.html

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Israel's Netanyahu cautions against seeing big change in Iran

Israeli analysts, however, say that the election of a more moderate president in Iran will force Israel to adjust its public posture on the Islamic Republic.

By Joshua Mitnick,?Correspondent / June 16, 2013

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday. Netanyahu called on Sunday for no let-up in international pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions after the election of a new president widely seen as a moderate.

Uriel Sinai/Reuters

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For years, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad spooked Israelis with talk of wiping the Jewish state off the map. But the victory of Hassan Rohani, known as a moderate, could pose an even bigger challenge for Israel, analysts say.

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The shift from the incendiary Mr. Ahmedinejad to a president who advocates "constructive engagement" with the West over Iran?s nuclear program will require Israel to adjust its public posture toward Iran, say analysts.

Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said?Sunday?that the elections heralded little change and that Iran?s nuclear program is the top threat to world peace, the ascendance of Mr. Rohani could turn the tables in the mind of the international community.???

"Israel has lost an asset in Iran. That asset was Ahmedinejad. With his belligerent talk, he did the work for Israel by creating international consensus against Iran?s nuclear program," says Meir Javedanfar, a lecturer on Iranian politics at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, a college in a Tel Aviv suburb. "Now we have the anti-Ahmedinejad as a president: Someone who is moderate and talks about rapprochement. That means there is a change in Iran and it is probably going require a change in Israel regarding its narrative toward Iran."

The moderate image of the new Iranian president could recast Mr. Netanyahu ? who repeatedly reminds the international community that Israel is ready to use force if necessary against Tehran?s nuclear program ? as the leading proponent of armed conflict, the analyst said.

Speaking to the Israeli cabinet on Sunday morning, Netanyahu said that only heightened pressure and the threat of military action would deter Iran.

"Let us not delude ourselves. The international community must not become caught up in wishful thinking," said Prime Minister Netanyahu, who insisted that the Iranian regime still considers Israel a "Zionist Satan." ?"Fifteen years ago, the election of another president, also considered a moderate by the West, led to no change in these aggressive policies."?

Netanyahu, who brags about rallying the West against Iran, noted?Sunday?that policymaking regarding foreign affairs normally resides with Iran?s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and not the president.

But Israeli analysts noted that Rohani?s experience as a negotiator will likely give him input on strategy regarding ongoing negotiations with the international community on Iran?s nuclear program. The president elect?s approach is liable to lead to an agreement with Iran not to Israel?s liking, wrote Ephraim Kam, an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies.??

Many Israeli critics of the government?s posture have stressed Iran?s internal opposition to the regime since the 2009 protests against the presidential election results. On Sunday, former Israeli Mossad chief told Israel Radio that the vote was the biggest blow to Mr. Khamenei?since becoming the Supreme Leader. Israeli officials should size up the fallout of the election more carefully before dismissing the results, he said.

Whatever the result, Israeli officials are likely to miss the days of the outgoing Iranian president, analysts noted with sarcasm.

"What will we do without the Persian Hitler? What will Bibi draw at the UN?" wrote Yigal Sarna in the daily Yediot Ahronot. "We will have to rewrite the old narrative that contended that the Revolutionary Guard is the all-powerful force leading Iran toward the future and toward the bomb."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ezp65jQPl64/Israel-s-Netanyahu-cautions-against-seeing-big-change-in-Iran

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Obama, Putin face tough talks on Syria

By Guy Faulconbridge

LOUGH ERNE, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will seek the help on Monday of Russia's Vladimir Putin, Syria's most powerful ally, to bring Bashar al-Assad to the negotiating table and end a two-year civil war.

At their first private face-to-face meeting in a year, Obama will try to find common ground with Putin on the sidelines of a G8 summit in Northern Ireland after angering the Kremlin by authorising U.S. military support for the Syrian president's opponents.

During talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London on the eve of the summit, Putin renewed his criticism of the West's position in startling tones, describing Assad's foes as cannibals.

"I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines, in front of the public and cameras," Putin said at a joint news conference with Cameron.

"Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?"

Cameron conceded London and Moscow remained far apart.

Russia does not buy the West's assertion that Assad's forces have used chemical weapons and crossed a red line in doing so, saying U.S. military support for Syrian rebels would only escalate violence.

Washington said on Saturday it would keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles in Jordan at Amman's request, prompting Moscow to bristle at the possibility they could be used to enforce a no-fly zone inside Syria.

Putin's rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Western since he regained the presidency last year but he appeared upbeat in London, stressing several areas of cooperation between Russian and Britain.

At the Lough Erne golf resort in Northern Ireland, Cameron will bring together leaders of the United States, Japan, Canada, Russia, Germany, France and Italy - representing just over half of the $71.7 trillion global economy.

Syria will inevitably dominate the Monday-Tuesday talks but persistent worries about the global economy will also be central to the discussions.

MARKET TURMOIL TO FOCUS MINDS

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders will likely discuss the role of central banks and monetary policy.

They are likely to say they are not content with progress so far in fixing their economies in the wake of the global financial crisis, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters.

Japan's Abe will use the opportunity to explain his cocktail of fiscal and monetary stimulus known as 'Abenomics' to the leaders as investors try to absorb the implications of a signal by the U.S. Federal Reserve that it may start to slow its money-printing.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will not attend. He and his colleagues hold a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bond yields have climbed and share prices have sagged globally since Bernanke shocked investors on May 22 by saying the bank might ?take a step down' in the pace of bond purchases - a blow to a global economy still growing well below trend due to the after effects of the great financial crisis.

"Japan's decisive moves to reflate its economy will support growth in the near term, but it will need to manage the twin challenge of providing near-term stimulus and achieving longer-term sustainability," the draft communique said, although the version circulated by Britain and seen by Reuters was put together before the recent market turmoil.

The leaders of the European Union and United States are likely to announce the start of formal negotiations on a free trade deal that could be worth more than $100 billion a year to each economy.

EU and U.S. negotiators aim to finish their work by the end of next year.

TREASURE ISLAND TAX

Cameron has made tackling tax avoidance - which campaigners say costs about $3 trillion a year - one of the key parts of the formal agenda at the summit.

He has turned up the pressure to clamp down on secretive money flows by pressing Britain's overseas tax havens into a transparency deal and announcing new disclosure rules for British firms.

"It is important we are getting our house in order," Cameron said on Saturday after representatives of overseas tax havens linked to Britain agreed to sign up to an international transparency protocol.

Aid campaigners said Britain's action will count for little if the rest of the G8 does not follow suit.

G8 leaders will probably shy away from adopting a measure aimed at curbing tax avoidance by highlighting when companies channel profits into tax havens, and will include a watered-down alternative, according to the draft communique.

Tackling corporate tax avoidance has become a political goal internationally following public anger about revelations over the past year that companies like Apple and Google had used structures U.S. and European politicians said were contrived to minimise the amount of taxes paid.

But the draft summit text suggested there will be no agreement on a rule that would force companies to publish their profits, revenues and tax payments on a country-by-country basis.

Global tax evasion could be costing more than $3 trillion a year, according to researchers from Tax Justice Network while as much as $32 trillion could be hidden by individuals in tax havens.

(Writing by Maria Golovnina, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-putin-face-tough-talks-syria-g8-summit-230407848.html

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