Parity Violation

The Astros won again today making it nine in a row. The Cardinals are down 8-0 in the 3rd inning. Repeat, 8-0. It looks like they’re going to lose their 8th game of the last nine. If the Padres hadn’t been dumb enough to pitch to Pujols last night in the 8th inning, the Cardinals would be looking at nine straight losses and second place. As it stands, unless they have a monumental comeback, they’ll be down to a 1/2 game lead with four games left.

Simply unbelievable. I’m not sure I even believe it. So skeptical was I, that this might be the first year ever that the Astros play in the NLDS and I don’t go, because apparently the darn thing has already sold out.

Do you believe yet?

• Update 9-1! The Padres have the bases loaded with one out.

Well, MLB.com pulled their podcasts from the iTunes directory and Seeking Alpha went to suggest that somehow this might mean iTunes is losing their best content.

Where to begin. It’s full of weird statements. Take this:

Since iTunes debuted its podcast directory more than a year ago, the company has offered no information about the popularity of podcasts other than it’s odd ranking charts based on subscriptions over the past 24 hours. Apple gives podcasters no idea how popular their shows are. And podcasters looking for visibility in the directory, like MLB, have little idea how to influence display.

Well, the podcast directory doesn’t host any content. It just provides links to the RSS feeds that others host. So, MLB.com knows exactly how many people are downloading their podcasts, and my guess is their server logs can tell them the referrer or the agent and they know how many people download it with iTunes too.

Bowman says says MLB.com, itself delivering something like 30,000 podcasts a day, wants to be THE source for its programming. All the better to keep a larger share of revenues, from fees or advertising.

Um, again – there’s no revenue sharing with being listed on the podcast directory. It’s just a way to find podcasts that people host on their own sites and servers. Podcasts are free. An mlb.com podcast subscribed to via iTunes is downloaded from mlb.com just the way it is if you got to mlb.com “itself.”

Now, as far as other iTunes content goes, yes obviously Apple gets some of the money when they sell a TV show or what have you – but selling content on iTunes doesn’t stop a network from selling it anywhere else, and frankly all the non-iTunes means don’t play on iPods nor do they work with Macs. Why invest in a complex content delivery system that works poorly (can you say Amazon Unbox) rather than just go with someone who knows what they’re doing.

But, the author seems to have no idea how podcasts work nor how the iTunes podcast directory works. Nor, for that matter, does MLB.com really know what they’re doing either. I can still subscribe to free MLB.com podcasts in iTunes, it just takes one extra step now. I don’t know what they think they’re accomplishing by making their podcasts harder to find.

A historic collapse in the making! That’s what the buzz is on the St. Louis Cardinals as their gigantic NL Central lead has been whittled to 1 1/2 games. The Astros have won 7 straight, and the Cardinals have lost 7 straight. Early today, when that 7 was a 6, a St. Louis newspaper man was already comparing the Cardinals to the 1964 Phillies. That is not a comparison a Cardinals fan would want.

Meanwhile, the Astros fear no reprisal. Despite being virtually dead, 8 1/2 games out or worse, they went and swept the Cardinals, and have started their road trip 2-0. They’re playing their best baseball of the season.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have major bullpen issues. Case in point – Chris Carpenter stayed in tonight’s game in the 7th even as he was laboring and well over 100 pitches. But, there’s no safer bet in the Cards’ bullpen, so he stayed out there, giving up a go-ahead double which would hold up as the Padres won.

This could be a historic collapse, as the Baseball Tonight guys kept saying. A big difference between this year and 1964 is that there were no 24 hour sports news networks back then, nor general media frenzy. My guess is this spectre of collapse is weighing a bit heavy around the Cardinals.

Of course, it could just as easily turn out like 2001. The red-hot Cards just wouldn’t lose, while the Astros were stinking it up, losing horribly to the Giants and Barry Bonds 73-home-run season. But, the Astros righted the ship, took 2 out 3 in St. Louis the last series, and won the Central.

The Cards could flounder for 2 more days, and the recoup and still win the division. But, it’s great to see the Astros making it interesting and fighting the good fight.

However, for next year, could the Astros please win 100+ games and clinch the division on like September 15 or so? These down-to-the-wire finishes might be fun, but I like the idea of a stress free September where the Astros cruise to the playoffs. I haven’t had won since 1998.

Former President Bill Clinton let it fly in an interview on Fox News Sunday. He was asked why he didn’t do more on Al Qaeda and launched into a vigorous defense of his anti-terrorism campaign. There are many options to choses from to watch the interview.

Clinton also mentions Richard Clarke’s book, Against All Enemies, several times, and I have to say – it is well worth a read or two. It’s now out in paperback. Clarke traces the routes of this new terrorist threat back through the 1980s.

Republican Governor Robert L. Ehrlich wants to use paper ballots for the November election after problems in the primary there. Yet, Democrats in charge of the Maryland Senate and the House want to “fix” the current Diebold-based system.

Has the world gone topsy-turvy? Electronic voting without a paper trail is completely foolish. There is no way to conduct meaningful recounts and no way to insure the integrity of the vote. All citizens of Maryland should embrace a return to paper ballots.

Ah, David Pogue has catalogued a beautiful collection of gloomy predictions from Apple’s darkest hour, 1996. Most predict that Apple will either be sold, and that its days of influencing the computer and tech industry are long since past.

To be sure, the iPod has turned the company’s fortunes around in a way no one really predicted. (Reading 2001 commentary on the iPod’s introduction is also amusing.)

The moral of the story? Don’t believe anything anyone says about the future of the technology industry. You never know what could happen.

You may remember my bitter disappointment concerning last year’s Ultimate Houston guide. Since the readers voted in online polls to determine the best Houston had to offer, we were stuck with suburban cookie cutter establishments that could just as soon exist in Dallas.

Thankfully, this year the Chronicle instituted a simple reform that I think has worked out. There is still an online poll to determine the ultimate whatever, but this year the Chronicle has a list of five real Houston nominees, with a space for a write-in. So, if you’re determined to vote for Pizza Hut as Houston’s best pizza, go right ahead. However, the presence of genuine Houston establishments as nominees has led to reasonable victors in various categories. At least, places that are unique to Houston.

• Ultimate Mexican Restaurant – Ninfa’s (Spanish Flower was 2nd; the top write in was Pico’s)
• Ultimate Pizza Place – Star Pizza, with Fuzzy’s second, and the top write-in New York Pizzeria.
• Ultimate Gourmet Grocery Store – Central Market in a landslide.

There are other categories, which you can check out yourself. FYI, Beck’s Prime is the ultimate burger, ending the travesty of Fuddrucker’s winning last year. Though, it was the top write-in. Houstonians sure love that chain.

I’m a little surprised the Angelika didn’t make a blip on the ultimate movie theatre list. Poor Angelika. I still like it.

Anyhow, check out the new list, vote if you want, and know that perhaps my letter last year to the editor inspired the reforms. :)

Dallas was the most dangerous large city in 2005. Houston was dangerous itself though, compared to the other 10 largest cities in the country, only Phoenix and San Antonio lie between Houston and Dallas.

Personally, I’d rather see some report that predicts which city is danger-free in 2006 or 2007. I mean, what if I already went to Dallas in 2005? It’s too late for this report to make any difference to me. Some sort of prediction based on a trend would be better.

I really wrote this post just as an excuse to write the headline. It’s stolen for a Letterman bit back in his NBC days when they were explaining why the “world’s most dangerous band” was dangerous.

It’s deeply depressing to see Kinky Friedman stickers, or to see giant Kinky groups on Facebook. It’s not clear to me exactly what draws people to someone like Kinky Friedman; presumably it’s a general dissatisfaction with politics as usual. However, the problem with Texas government isn’t politicians, it’s the stranglehold the Republican Party has on government. And the only way to crack that is to elect Chris Bell, the Democrat, as governor.

Friedman’s only real impact on the election is to dilute the anti-incumbent vote and increase the chances that Perry is re-elected. I assure you the Perry campaign is delighted that Friedman is running.

The reality is we are in a two-party system. Neither Bell nor Perry’s party bases are going to abandon them. Similarly, Friedman’s candidacy is based on a “Why not me?” philosophy. This is not a strategy for government. This is not a rationale for a candidate. I take government very seriously, and I want a Governor who does the same.

The last governor of Texas with no political experience? George W. Bush. No thank you. The last two celebrity governors? Arnold and Jesse Ventura – both, I think, distinct failures.

The fundamental problem with Kinky, is that he simply can not win more votes than Perry. His supporters are naive to believe that they can crack the two party system. The effect will be like that of Nader, to deny the progressive candidate victory and install a Republican … again.

Some might compare Kinky to Ventura, and say yes an independent can win. The difference is that Ventura benefited from public-financing of the election and of same day voter registration which does not exist here in Texas.

Please, tell any and all voters in Texas that if they want change and if they want to get rid of Rick Perry to vote for and support Chris Bell – a Democrat with real ideas. If the Kinky people don’t wise up, they’re going to re-elect Perry.

It’s hip of late to act as if the iPod, with its 75% market share, is on the ropes. Here’s another delicious piece of FUD from the UK.

The article appears to be about how most iPod users don’t buy that many tracks from the iTunes store. So, the so called “lock in” to the iPod isn’t that strong after all. Personally, I think the iPod is successful because, oh I don’t know, it’s the best music player on the market? And iTunes is the best jukebox software. It’s not that complicated an equation.

But then the also goes on about how Apple hasn’t made a “true” video player (I doubt many people use iPods to play video) or an iPod-phone (I’ve never seen anyone go running listening to music on their phone, have you?), and how “countless rival” players that lack restrictions like the iPod. Um, all other rival players have lock-in to the lame Windows Media DRM based stores. They can’t play tracks from iTunes, nor do the songs work on the iPod. That to me sounds equally restricted. In fact, apart from the Zune, few if any players can even play non-DRM AACs files, which is what iTunes imports in by default.

But, I thought the whole point was most music comes from ripped CDs, and so the lock-in is mythical. Yet, somehow, the lock-in endangers the iPod, as does having not having features that no one uses. It’s a FUD-o-rama.