Albany, NY -- Dave Winfield and a Side of Mashed Potatoes
Quick fun baseball fact from
Dave Winfield's Wikipedia page:
During the 1994 baseball strike, which began on August 12, Winfield was traded to the Cleveland Indians at the trade deadline on August 31 for a "player to be named later." The 1994 season was cancelled two weeks later, so Winfield did not play for the Indians that year and no player was ever named in exchange. To settle the trade, Cleveland and Minnesota executives went to dinner, with the Indians picking up the tab. This makes Winfield the only player in major league history to be traded for a dinner.He proceeded to hit .191 the next season for Cleveland, so I hope dinner wasn't expensive.
Labels: Comedy, Sports
Albany, NY -- Sematech Comes to Albany
From the TU:
Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders revealed Wednesday a major Texas-based consortium for computer chip development known as Sematech has agreed to locate a key part of its operation in Albany, as long as the state comes up with a $300 million incentive package.I think this is a good sign; if everything proceeds as planned, Sematech is the second big-name tech operation (along with AMD) with a significant presence in Austin to bring its business to Albany. Next to Silicon Valley, Austin has been the major hotbed of technology activity in recent years.
Companies like AMD and Sematech moving from "hot spot" to "hot spot" could be a problem though -- they could just be companies following state money, and there's a lot of it involved here -- $300 million.
Of course, it could all be worth it:
Assemblyman Tim Gordon, I-Bethlehem, said he envisions growth throughout the state because 500 companies statewide are tied into Sematech's work. Sematech's arrival would create and retain 4,550 high-tech jobs averaging $81,000 a year, he said.If Gordon is right, those jobs will pay a total of $368,000,000 in salary each year once Sematech's presence is fully ramped up. Assuming that each of those employees ends up paying back 10% of salary into state tax, even not accounting for corporate taxes and other positive results, the state would make its money back in nine years. Seems like a good investment.
Now, will these companies stay here for nine years? In AMD's case, where a cutting-edge chip fab starts making commodity (read: lower-profit) chips after 3-4 years without major retooling investment, AMD could be more or less out of here by 2015 after opening in 2009.
Labels: Albany, Tech Valley
Albany, NY -- A New Clearinghouse for Reagan Porn
Because of the clear liberal bias of people with cameras, right-wingers have sensibly launched
QubeTV.
They haven't caught up to the technology of YouTube yet, so I can't post their videos on my blog (which I'm sure I will over and over and over), but for a shining example or the quality videos you'll find on QubeTV, check out
this one, once again demonstrating conservatives' profound love for the Islamic faith.
Update: Who
QubeTVs? I'm surprised
Ted Stevens isn't in this video... maybe his clip got stuck in the tubes...
(end snark)
Labels: Politics, Republican Party, Vlogging
Albany, NY -- The Bushie Take on "The Aristocrats"
The author of a blog called Driftglass has a new spin on the "dirtiest joke ever." It's genius:
The Republican Party walks into the American People's living rooms, and says, "We're the Family Values Party, and we'd like to represent you."
The American People say, "Sorry, but we're a little leery of Family Values parties. They tend to be scams run by demagogues."
Republican Party says, "But this is really special."
The American People says, "Okay, well what's the act?"
The Republican Party replies, "Well after the worst attack on American soil in history, we hijack the nation's grief and rage to plunge us into a war with entirely the wrong country.
"Then we let the actual terrorist responsible for the attack to sit in a comfy chair on the edge of the stage and laugh and laugh and laugh for the duration of the performance. Read onLabels: Comedy, Politics
