The Nashville Predators rarely found the back of the net during the first two months of the season. It’s been a much different story in December.

The Predators look to extend their winning streak to five on Tuesday when they face a Vancouver Canucks team trying to get back on track on its season-long, eight-game homestand.

After averaging 2.1 goals during a 6-6-1 October and 2.5 goals while going 9-4-0 in November, Nashville (22-11-3) is scoring 4.3 goals per game this month.

“Early in the year, we tried to play way too perimeter, a little too cute,” coach Barry Trotz said after the Predators improved to 7-1-2 in December with Saturday’s 5-3 victory at Calgary. “We got back to very basic hockey. Now it’s throw some pucks on the net and go to the hard areas and you get rewarded. That’s what most teams do in our league now.”

Most teams in the league, though, haven’t scored 23 goals in its last four games.

Martin Erat, who leads the Predators with 12 goals and 24 points, has provided a huge spike in production this month after totaling four goals and five assists in October and November.

Erat has eight goals and seven assists this month, including his second career hat trick and an assist in a 4-2 win over the visiting Canucks on Dec. 8. Erat also had a goal and an assist in the Predators’ last game in Vancouver – a 5-3 victory Jan. 28.

Patric Hornqvist, who scored his first goal in 12 games on Dec. 8 against Vancouver, was named the NHL’s third star Monday after scoring a league-high seven points last week (four goals, three assists).

He had six goals and five assists in his first 31 games this season.

While the Predators are looking to get at least one point in their eighth straight road game (6-0-1), the Canucks (20-16-0) are trying to rebound from Sunday’s 3-1 loss to St. Louis.

After defeating Southeast Division-leading Washington 3-2 on Friday, Vancouver scored it fewest goals in nine games at GM Place as defenseman Shane O’Brien scored his first goal since Nov. 8, 2007. The Canucks had averaged 3.2 goals in the first five games of their homestand.

“It’s frustrating that we get a big win the other night and we can’t back it up with another great game,” Roberto Luongo said after making 23 saves. “We could talk about it until we’re blue in the face in the locker room before the game, but talking about it and going out on the ice and executing are two different things.”

Luongo has a 3.54 goals-against average in losing his last two starts against Nashville.

Dan Ellis, who is 3-0-0 with a 2.40 GAA in his last three starts, is 0-4-0 with a 4.24 GAA in his last four appearances against Vancouver.

If Pekka Rinne gets the start in net, he will try to win his third straight start versus the Canucks. Rinne made 34 saves in the Dec. 8 win as Nashville snapped a four-game slide at home to Vancouver.

After getting his nine-game point streak snapped Sunday, Canucks leading scorer Henrik Sedin will go for his first goal in 15 games against Nashville. Sedin, though, has nine assists during this stretch.

Ibra won’t play friendliesCanucks add Babych, Hanlon to coaching staff

Say it with me everyone: CONFIDENCE. That’s all what’s needed when Spurs kick off today at Blackburn.

Quality is something our boys are naturally blessed with. Unfortunately, without belief in their own and each other’s skills and abilities, they will be caught on the back foot. God knows what could come out of that, especially against the lesser opponents. Stoke and Wolves for example. The two “lesser opponents” which came to the Lane, scored one goal each and left us scratching our heads.

Blackburn have scored the majority of their points at home so they won’t just roll over for us while we play pretty footy. They’ve had 5 clean sheets where we have had only 3. Their home performances have not been as bad in comparison to their away form where they have conceded 23 out of a total 30 goals. What does this mean? Scoring on their ground will be difficult.

On a positive note, they have conceded a total of 30 goals this season, which is something I’m sure Harry will be bringing to gun-slinging Defoe’s attention with the assurance that this lot CAN be scored on. Currently, Spurs are the 3rd highest scoring team in the Premier League (thanks to everyone chipping in and having a go) and that should count for something. Right?

If the boys maintain the same level of confidence displayed against Man City, then there should not be anything to worry about. The goals will flow. Lennon will assault. The Croatians will orchestrate. Dawson will captain.

COYS!

SAN FRANCISCO ?The National Association of Insurance Commissioners Property & Casualty Committee chairman said the panel will begin exploring how to gather data on insurers’ use of credit information to determine premiums.

The committee would like to collect information and develop a report on the controversial credit scoring issue by the third quarter of 2010, according to Illinois Insurance Director and Committee Chair Michael McRaith.

During a committee meeting at the NAIC Winter National Meeting held here, Mr. McRaith said he plans to schedule a public conference call in January, during which regulators will discuss how to approach developing a set of questions designed to procure information from individual insurers on how they use consumers? credit information.

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan, recalling a question he asked in March when the Property & Casualty Committee and Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs Committee first sought permission to hold a joint hearing on credit-based insurance scores, asked, ?What would be our endgame [in further examining the credit issue]? What are we trying to get at??

Director McRaith responded that the purpose of the information and report will be to discern the rhetoric from the facts in order to provide accurate information to those who need it.

Credit scoring has been attacked by opponents as failing to account for major impacts such as large medical expenses and unfairly impacting low income and minority consumers. Insurers respond that it is a proven underwriting technique that rewards persons who are good risks.

Mr. McRaith said if there is going to be ?significant change? in the states on credit-based insurance scores, it will likely be through laws passed by state legislatures.

?My view is the service we should provide is information,? Director McRaith said. He added that regulators cannot attempt to resolve the social or policy questions surrounding the credit issue, ?but we can inform those who have that responsibility with some objective, factual data about the impact on consumers.?

One area the committee wants to understand better is the range of impact of insurance scores on consumers. South Carolina Insurance Director Scott Richardson said his department did a data call in his state asking how insurers used credit information. Director Richardson said he was ?stunned? at the impact credit had on rates.

For homeowners insurance, Director Richardson said credit accounted for savings in a range of 7.6 percent to 51 percent per policy for consumers that benefited from their insurance score and a surcharge of 1 percent to 86 percent for consumers who were adversely affected.

For auto insurance, Director Richardson noted, consumers benefited up to 36 percent per policy, and were adversely impacted by a range of 12 percent to 99 percent.

He stressed that he did not know how many people were in the extreme ranges, but indicated that is information regulators should seek to collect.

Commissioner Sullivan, while offering support for the collection of data, wondered where it ends, and whether the committee will start examining other areas beyond credit. ?This could be endless,? he said.

In fact, Director Richardson pointed out that regulators may want to get a handle on what factors insurers use to determine rates beyond credit. He said the technical aspects of underwriting have gotten to a point ?where we need to talk about what is fair.?

And in September, Director McRaith indicated he would like to take a look at marital status as a rating factor.

For now, though, Director McRaith said the goal is to ?identify questions that we want answers to, and not with the intent of attacking or antagonizing an industry or any one company.?

A second component, he said, would be to explore regulating advisory companies that develop credit-based insurance scores. To do that, Directory McRaith said, the NAIC would have to develop a model law for states that don?t have the authority to regulate these companies.

Dave Snyder, American Insurance Association vice president and associate general counsel, said the issue of credit has been reviewed and re-reviewed and has been shown to be compliant with the law and beneficial to the market and a large majority of consumers.

© Copyright 2009 National Underwriter Property & Casualty. A Summit Business Media publication. All Rights Reserved.

Groups oppose property/casualty prudential supervisionnsurers’ Pricing Practices Targeted By Senate Health Committee

Many of my fellow Illini fans (you know who you are) have recently been voicing their displeasure with the defense (or lack there of).

This should come as no surprise asshats. I, along with everyone who covers the Illini, told you this was an offense-first team. Surprise!…?…!?

But here’s the deal: This is a good thing. Trust me.

As much fun as it was to watch Illinois play games in which both teams scored sub-50 points last year and as much of a pain as it is to have this version of Illini basketball struggle to score points at times, an offensively dominant team will bring you a championship.

Because everyone can score in the NBA, defense often separates the good from the bad. But in college, some teams (such as last year’s Illini) are scoring starved. Thus the advantage is with a squad that can just put up big numbers on a consistent basis.

To prove my point, let’s do a little comparison shopping. Here are the stats for the 08-09 Illini and 09-10 Illini through the first nine games…

The 2008-2009 Illini

Illinois 66, Eastern Washington 50
Illinois 72, Texas A&M-CC 53
Illinois 69, Vanderbilt 63
Illinois 78, Jackson State 64
Illinois 69, Kent State 63
Illinois 48, Tulsa 44
Illinois 74, Clemson 76
Illinois 76, Georgia 42
Illinois 68, Hawaii 58

Record: 8-1
Points scored: 620
Points allowed: 513
Average points scored: 69
Average points allowed: 57

The 2009-2010 Illini

Illinois 96, SIUE 69
Illinois 80, Northern Illinois 61
Illinois 94, Providence 48
Illinois 78, Wofford 64
Illinois 58, Utah 60
Illinois 68, Bradley 72
Illinois 76, Clemson 74
Illinois 84, Boise State 77
Illinois 79, Vanderbilt 68

Record: 7-2
Points scored: 713
Points allowed: 593
Average points scored: 79
Average points allowed: 66

There’s some interesting stuff there, but here’s the most compelling numbers…

08-09 Average margin of victory: +12
09-10 Average margin of victory: +13

So even though last year’s team had a better defense and better record through the same number of games, the Scroing Illini are still beating opponents by a similar margin. The newest version of the Fighthing Webers aren’t worse than last year’s team. But I think we can all agree they have more potential.

Yeah, there are going to be games when everyone is cold and the Illini can’t find the basket to save their lives, but this team is relying on a lot of young players to generate points. Give them some time bros. Your patience will pay off. Trust me…

04-05 Illini average margin of victory: +16

If you’ve been paying attention this year, you probably know that in 2009 it’s not about quality it’s quantity.  Bands are no longer satisfied to put out an album and maybe a single or an ep and then call it a year.  This year it has been all about inundating you with as many releases as they could fit onto the calendar.  It seemed like every time I turned around Thee Oh Sees were putting out another 7 inch,  or Robert Pollard had a new record.  Pollard is the king of proliferation. The guy is not human.   I’m sure he must know he puts out more records than people can consume, his publishing company is called Need More Songs.  He’s like the Scott Skiles of indie rock.  He may not look like a player, but they guy can rack up the points.

Pollard has been going like this for years, but this year he had some competition.  John Dyer and Dan Melchior both gave a valiant effort to put out more songs and wrest the title from Bob, but in the end both of them didn’t even come close.  Only if they could have combined their efforts they could have won, but only by a little. Yes, Ty Segall, The Fresh and Onlys, Dan Melchior and Thee Oh Sees all had more physical releases than pollard, but none of them came close to him in song total.

This is, of course is very unscientific, and probably does not include all the stuff all these guys have put out, but it’s close.  I feel pretty safe writing this at this point in the year.  What I mean, is I don’t think any of them have anything else slated to come out before the end of the year.  Although, today I did find out that both the Fresh & Onlys and Ty Segall have records coming out before Christmas (both included in the tally). So who knows, tomorrow Dan Melchior could announce a triple album with 40 songs on it.  For the time being this is how it stands: with 23 days left in the match, Pollard is so far ahead nobody will ever catch him. I wish I had some kind of trophy to give the guy.

For those of you keeping score at home, live albums don’t count,  songs on compilations albums count as a half release, while a split EP or 7 inch counts as full release.  The detailed scoring follows.

Robert Pollard
Albums
The Crawling Distance (GBV Inc) – 10 tracks
Elephant Jokes (GBV Inc) – 22 tracks
Tug Of War At The Faithful Center (Happy Jack Rock) – 19 tracks
Circus Devils – Gringo (Happy Jack Rock) – 16 tracks
Boston Spaceships – The Planets Are Blasted (GBV Inc) – 14 tracks
Boston Spaceships – Zero to 99 (GBV Inc) – 16 tracks
Cosmos – Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks (Happy Jack Rock) – 14 tracks

Thee Oh Sees
Albums
Help (In The Red) – 12 tracks
Zork’s Tape Bruise (Kill Shaman Records) – 31 tracks
Dog Poison (Captured Tracks) – 10 tracks
Singles
Tidal Wave (Woodsist) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Jay Reatard (Shattered) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Ty Segall Split (Castle-Face) – 1 track
In the Shadow of the Giant (Sub Pop) – 3 tracks
Blood In Your Ear (Rock Is Hell) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Paul Cary (Stankhouse) – 2 tracks
Compilations
The World’s Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 – 1 track

Dan Melchior
Albums
Thankyou Very Much 2LP (SS) – 16 tracks
Obscured by Fuzz (Topplers) – 14 tracks
Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue – o clouds unfold – 2LP (Hook or Crook) – 23 tracks
Singles
Mr Oblivion (Columbus Discount) – 2 tracks
The Post Office Line (Columbus Discount) 2 tracks
Split 45 w/ Fresh & Onlys (Volar) – 2 tracks
It’s a terrible shame (Dull Knife) – 2 tracks
Dim Are the Lights (Convulsive)  – 2 tracks
Compilations
Skulls Without Borders (Siltbreez) -1 track

Ty Segall
Albums
Horn the Unicorn (HBSP-2X) – 19 tracks
Lemons (Goner) – 12 tracks
Reverse Shark Attack w/Mikal Cronin (Kill Shaman) – 10 tracks

EPs
Split w/ Black Time (Telephone Explosion) – 7 tracks

Singles
Cents (Goner) – 3 tracks
Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin – Pop Song (Goodbye Boozy Records) – 3 tracks
Split w Thee Oh Sees (Castle-Face) – 1 track
Universal Momma (True Panther) – 2 tracks
Ty Segall – My Sunshine (Trouble In Mind) – 3 tracks

The Fresh & Onlys
Albums
Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist)  – 12 tracks
The Fresh & Onlys (Castle Face) – 14 tracks

Singles
I’ll Tell You Everything & I Saw You Seeing Me (Dirty Knobby) – 3 tracks
The Fresh & Onlys (Chuffed) – 4 traks
Laughter is Contagious (Trouble In Mind) – 2 tracks
Split w/Dan Melchior (Volar) – 2 tracks
Second One to Know/Hated or Loved (Woodsist) – 2 tracks

Cassettes
Bomb Wombs (Fuck It Tapes) – 10 tracks

Kurt Vile
Albums
God Is Saying This To You (Mexican Summer) – 12 tracks
Childish Prodigy (Matador) – 9 tracks

EPs
The Hunchback EP (Richie) – 6 tracks

Singles
Fall Demons (Skulltones) – 5 tracks
He’s All Right (Matador) – 3 tracks

Compilations
Meet the Philly Elite (K-RAA-K) – 1 track

The Intelligence
Fake Surfers (In the Red) – 12 tracks
Crepuscule with Pacman  (Born Bad) – 12 tracks

Singles
Reading and Writing About Partying (Raw Deluxe Records) – 2 tracks
Split w/ Crash Normal (Compost Modern Art) – 1 track
Split w/ Unnatural Helpers (Dirty Knobby) – 3 tracks

Compilations
The World’s Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 – 1 track

Blank Dogs
Albums
Under the Under 2LP (In the Red) – 20 tracks

EPs
Seconds (Captured Tracks) – 4 tracks

Singles
In Here (Down In the Ground) – 2 tracks
Slow Room / Anywhere (Captured Tracks) – 2 tracks
Waiting (In the Red) – 2 tracks

Compilations
The World’s Lousy With Ideas Volume 8 – 1 track

Ganglians
Albums
Ganglians (Woodsist) – 8 tracks
Monster Head Room (Weird Forest) – 11 tracks

Singles
Split w/ Eat Skull (Dulcitone) – 1 track
Blood On the Sand (Capured Tracks) – 2 tracks

A little bit on life …

Hello, comrades.

It’s been quite a while since I posted and I apologize if anyone’s been checking up on the site.

Life has been dandy lately. I’m still trying to recover from the loss of ALL data on my laptop. After talking to the IT expert at work, he thinks my hard drive exploded (figuratively, of course). This really came at a bad time because finals are in less than two weeks. I guess this should be an incentive to study harder!

I finally took my first, full practice LSAT. I’ve been trying to study in “busy” areas so I can learn how to take tests without letting anything distract me. This would come in handy if the proctor had a terrible, persistent cough on testing day. After studying in “busy” areas, a cough shouldn’t distract me from doing the best on the test (hey, that rhymed! I love it when that happens).

Anyway, I didn’t get the score I wanted on the test. Despite this, I think it’s a good thing. I say that because it means I can only improve from here. Thank goodness I started studying early.

I’ve been looking more into specific “traits” of specific law schools. I found a renewed sense of hope when I looked at The University of Akron Law School (based in Akron, Ohio). Most law schools accept students on a rolling admission basis starting in November. However, Akron starts admissions in March. This is wonderful news.

Many of the schools I’m looking into offer dual/joint degree programs. I might end up getting a JD and Master’s degree in Public Administration or Political Science. Then again, this all depends on where I end up.

Publicity has started for The KlezMormons

Next week, The KlezMormons will be performing on home turf in the Wilkinson Center at BYU. It will be an informal event with food, dancing, and music (of course).  We will also be having a reporter from the Mormon Times. It’s probably a good idea to have some “bases” in the publicity realm before having an article done about us, so I unleashed The KlezMormons on Twitter (follow us at twitter.com/klezmormons) and Facebook (click here for the link). Similarly, we can also be contacted through e-mail at klezmormons@gmail.com. We’re still eager to perform at any place we can get.

Experienced Junior hockey fans recognize the strategy.

Successful junior hockey teams across the country have been using it for a while now.

Why? Because it works!!!

In leagues where players regularly come and go, entering the league at age 16 or 17 and graduating at 20 one of the keys to building a successful franchise and winning team is to maximize your assets.

How do you they do that?

They do that by setting up their team to take a run for the championship in a certain year.  Some call it a 3 year plan, sometimes it becomes a 4 or 5 year plan.

Here is how it works:

Step 1: Teams will choose the year they want to compete for the championship.

Step 2: They will try to acquire players that will mature in that year.

Step 3: If they are in the lower half of the standings before the trading deadline, they will trade away some of their star players to teams in the upper half of the standings in order to acquire top quality rookies that will mature in the year that they will make a run for it.

Step 4: In a year or two when they are competing for the championship they will add top players from the teams in the lower part of the standings in exchange for their future stars.

This is the strategy that we witnessed Jason Brooks and the Guelph Storm use when they traded away Thomas McCollum last year.

Veteran Dan Mohle now a Cyclone

And that is the strategy Guelph Hurricanes GM Matt Mullin used when he traded two of their top players in Forwards Ken Rolph (1989 birth year) and leading scorer Dan Mohle (also 1989 birth year) to the Listowel Cyclones for two rookie Forwards Blair Goss (1992 birth year), Jake Weidner (also 1992 birth year) and Future considerations.

According to Mullin, “Not only did we give Ken and Dan a chance to compete for the Sutherland Cup, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add 2 quality kids that will set us up nicely for the next couple of years.”

Blair Goss played the last 2 years with the Fergus Devils (Jr. C), scoring 76 pts. in 79 games, but is a big power forward 6′0″ 205 lbs. He was Listowel’s first star, scoring 2 goals in his last game.

According to the Listowel Cyclones website, “Blair Goss lead the Cyclones scoring attack with two solid strikes and did his best to help his team win with timely scoring and an energetic effort. The Fergus native is just getting his game back on track after suffering a broken ankle in summer lacrosse action.”

Jake Weidner (6′2″ 175) played AAA Midget in Grey-Bruce and is described as an excellent face-off guy and penalty kill expert.

Here was the description of how he played in his last game as a Cyclone, “Rookie forward Jake Weidner who put in another solid game on the PK and in the face – off circle. Make no mistake hockey fans; this young forward will be a dandy player in this league for seasons to come.”

And the best part is that instead of watching two senior players graduate in the next few months, we will be able to watch these two players develop over the next few seasons.

 Now that is what I call maximizing your assets.

*Note: You can see the new players Thursday night (Dec. 3rd) when the Hurricanes host the league leading Brantford Golden Eagles at the Sleeman Centre. Game time 7:45 pm.

You won’t have to wait too long to see Dan Mohle and Ken Rolph as the Listowel Cyclones play the Hurricanes in a home and home series. Friday night in Listowel and Saturday Dec. 5th in Guelph. Game time at the Sleeman Centre is 7:30 pm and remember Saturday night is “Kids Get in Free Night”, where 4 kids can get in free with every paid Adult admission.

Wow – So I will admit I predicted a Guzman ko. Instead we learned he’s a shot fighter, and I wish his corner would’ve stopped the carnage.

Funeka is a surprising little fighter who will prove a challenge for any lightweight.

The official decision was a JOKE. I had it scored 116-112, which may be a little generous. I could see giving Guzman 3 rounds.

How about you?

I recently finished scoring a short film by Josiah Signor – Homecoming. I attempted to illustrate the emotions of this intimate and moving film with the simple instrumentation of clarinet, viola, cello, piano, harp, and percussion.

Así está previsto en la Ley que estableció el sistema de puntos.

Al cumplirse un año de su puesta en funcionamiento, la ley prevee que todos los puntajes vuelvan a cero, lo cual luego se repetirá cada dos años.

Ver explicación del Sistema de Evaluación y texto de la ley

Noticia en Diario Clarín

It’s been a busy few weeks. I am trying to get disciplined with this whole blog thing. So regardless of how spent I feel tonight, I thought I should get some words down to expose what’s been goin on.

I have been dealing with all creative fronts for the last few weeks. In the commercial scoring scene I have gone after a few commercials. They are not unlike cattle calls where a production house sends out a spot to various composers and you’ve got about a day to throw something at it. I used to snub my nose at spec work but now have adopted a new perspective. Even though you are essentially working for nothing there is a good upside. I feel that by trying scoring on some new picture I will just be further developing my composing chops. Also commercials are like small films but packed into 30 seconds. It’s amazing how much creative time you can put into 30 seconds of music. And if I do not get the gig I simply have another track to add to my library, which I hope to eventually sell online. And if I am lucky and do get the gig then I get paid! Which is what it’s about right. That’s when the business part connects to the music part and you feel like a pro! So my shots at a Walmart and Tim Horten’s commercial did not pan out. Even though with my rather biased opinion I thought my tracks were quite excellent. I will try and figure out how to post the tracks and expose them to critical audiences globally. Here is my shot at the Tim Horten Spot. It is kind of hard to get it without the visuals. Tim Horten Spot – Yohands I wanted African overtones in the score. In the final moment I have the theme played with piano and get a little more aggressive with the rhythm to reflect the new land in which they have arrived. I find it interesting to see what one can do in a short time. For me time constraints can be a good thing to put on the creative flow otherwise you can mess around with it forever!

In the meantime I am still working on a series titled Pitchin In” which is a cooking show. And today I began work on a series titled “Princess”. No it’s not a Walt Disney movie but rather a series about young women who spend beyond their means. THe producer Jennifer Horvath thinks “Pussy Cat Dolls” is a good musical influence for the show. So I listened to “when I grow up” to get inspired. I think instead I got visually stimulated vs musically stimulated. I am sending in the first draft tonight but I will also post it here. Princess Title Draft 1

On the voice over scene I have been auditions to a site titled www.voice123.com.  I think this could prove to be very cool. Set up a USB mic in the studio (audio -techinica 2020) and seem to be getting a good sound. Who knows, maybe one day this will become more lucrative then scoring!

Also finally starting to get some performing gigs. The recession really did take a monster bite out of that scene. Looking forward to playing again, especially as a trio. Have been practicing every morning to keep the chops up. But nothing is better than a live gig.

So that is a wrap for today.

I am eating my second round of apple pie. I woke up this morning and did not think |I would be eating apple pie today, let alone on two different occasions. Not sure if I mentioned this before but part of my diverse income stream comes from voice overs. My good friend Elly Ray got me into doing voice overs. Many people have said that I should do voice overs but until this year I never really got it together to make it happen. Elly helped me out with a demo and I am very fortunate to be represented by Edna Talent Management.

Calculated Power Rankings, Unit Strength, Strength of Schedule, and Estimated Final Record following week 10 of the NFL season. I use an engineering method of iteratively solving for best fit to the data (scores) to create the ranks and related applications that corrects for opponents played.

 Everything is based on correcting the scoring offense and defense of each team for opponents, by calculating the expected scoring against an average opponent, instead of averaging the points scored against the actual opponents played. This allows all teams are evaluated on a level plane. Power is defined as scoring offense minus scoring defense, the list sorted by the net difference.

I run a full season calculation, and a most recent 4 weeks calculation and blend them (4:1) to acknowledge change and teams that are hot/cold.

Power Rank:

New England retains its hold on the top spot, meaning a NE upset prediction is coming for next week in a battle of 1 vs. 2. New Orleans rises past Indy, getting back to #2, slightly behind the Pats. A NO win this week likely will propel them back to #1, a position they held much of the season. Minnesota is finally playing like a top 5 team on the scoreboard, and finally rises up to #4.

Two huge changes this week. Pit takes a big fall out of the top 10. There are two comfortable data points for them, one in the middle of the top 10, one around 16. They have waivered between both all season, almost as if they are two different teams. Incidentally it strongly corresponds to Troy and his health status. San Diego makes a strong upward jump following their blowout of the Broncos. It likely will correct down a bit, but they have been on the move upward for several weeks, similar to last season.

Overall the field is compressing, most of the positive change (via the change indicator) is near the bottom, most of the negative change is near the top. Seems that the top and bottom are correcting, the top isn’t as great as they seemed, and the bottom isn’t as horrible as they seemed. A lot of the leagues bad teams seem to be on the verge of making some real improvement. Tennessee however remains absolutely on fire.

Net = Projected net scoring agaisnt an average opponent (PPG)
Off = Projected offensive scoring against an average defense (PPG)
O Rk = Rank of offense
Def = Projected scoring by an average offense against the defense (PPG)
D Rk = Rank of defense
Chg = Difference between data run of most recent 4 weeks and full season (hot/cold) (PPG)
C Rk = Rank of change.

Strength of Schedule:

Instead of using points, or quality opponents, etc, the method that I chose to rank the strength of schedule is the average power rank of opponent played. The current power rank is used and each week the full season recalculated.

Seas = Average power rank of all opponents all season
Prev = Average power rank of teams played thus far
P Rk = Ranked difficulty of past schedule
Fut = Average power rank of teams yet to be played
F Rk = Ranked difficulty of future schedule.

Estimated Final Record:

I use the power rank, current record, and future opponents to estimate the final record for the team. The net scoring against an average opponent for one team is subtracted from another to determine who is favored and by how many points.

If a team is favored by 14+ points, I assumed that they win 100% of the time.
If a team is favored between 7 and 14 points, I assumed that they win 80% of the time.
If a teams is favored between 0 and 7 points, I assumed that they win 60% of the time.
If a team is not favored between 0 and 7 points, I assumed that they win 40% of the time.
If a team is not favored between 7 and 14 points, I assumed that they win 20% of the time.

Overall the division leaders remain stable. In the NFC however, Philly has moved into a tie with Dallas in the NFCE. In the NFC wildcard race, the Packers are currently projected to take one WC, and the one that loses the NFCE tiebreaker gets the other. The Giants and Falcons are in WC catchup one game back, SF and Chicago are virtually eliminated. In the AFC the Ravens, Steelers, and Dolphins are the current WC favorites, with the Broncos, Texans, and Jaguars a game back in the chase. The Jets are on the edge of elimination.

Power Ranking Performance:

Week 1 record – 14-2
Week 2 record – 11-5
Week 3 record – 12-4
Week 4 record – 11-3
Week 5 record – 7-7
Week 6 record – 9-5
Week 7 record – 9-4
Week 8 record – 7-6
Week 9 record – 8-5
Week 10 record – 8-7
Week 11 record – 12-4
Total – 108-52
Missed Last Week – KC-Pit, Atl-NYG, Cin-Oak, Ten-Hou

Overall a pretty good week. Missed on the two big upsets. Predicted 2 underdog wins, got one correct (Mia-Car).

Enjoy

The Britt Golfing For Dollars Gambling System

Hey folks, this system was actually developed and designed to improve the quality of your golf game. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Pro, Semi-Pro, Novice or Beginner player, this system will improve your game both mentally and financially.

This system can be adapted to different skill levels as well. If you’re playing with a player with a different handicap, you can collect on the lower pay scale or middle pay scale. The novice or beginner player can collect on the highest pay scale. The Pay Scales can also be increased by simply adding zeros. Instead of each hole being worth a $1.oo, you can make them worth $10.00, $100.00 or even $1,000.00 dollars. It all depends on your groups’ family budget.

The Following Pay Scale is used for 2 in a Group Outing or Semi-Pro/Pro.

Basic Rules (2 in a Group)

$18.00 in Hole Money. Each Hole is worth a $1.00. If you tie, it carries over to the next hole. If you tie on hole #18, then the winner of hole #17 Wins the money for both holes. $2.00..If you tied the 17th hole as well, then the winner of hole #16 Wins the money for all 3 holes. $3.00..etc

Bonus Money (Loser PAYS to the eventual winner of that hole)

If you shoot an EAGLE you get $8.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot a BIRDIE you get $4.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot PAR you get $2.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot BOGEY you get $1.00 in Bonus Money.

Penalty Money PAID to the eventual winner of that hole.

If you shoot a TRIPLE BOGEY you also LOSE $2.00
If you shoot a SCORE of TEN or QUIT the HOLE you also LOSE $5.00

The Following Pay Scale is used for 3 in a Group Outing or a Novice/Semi-Pro

Basic Rules (3 in a Group)

$9.00 in Hole Money. Each Hole is worth $.50. If you tie, it carries over to the next hole. If you tie on hole #18, then the winner of hole #17 Wins the money for both holes. $1.00..If you tied the 17th hole as well, then the winner of hole #16 Wins the money for all 3 holes. $1.50..etc

Bonus Money (Losers PAY to the eventual winner of that hole)

If you shoot an EAGLE you get $4.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot a BIRDIE you get $2.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot PAR you get $1.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot BOGEY you get $.50 in Bonus Money.

Penalty Money PAID to the eventual winner of that hole.

If you shoot a TRIPLE BOGEY you also LOSE $1.00.
If you shoot a SCORE of TEN or QUIT the HOLE you also LOSE $2.50

The Following Pay Scale is used for 4 in a Group Outing or Novice and Beginners.

Basic Rules (4 in a Group)

$4.50 in Hole Money. Each Hole is worth $.25. If you tie, it carries over to the next hole. If you tie on hole #18, then the winner of hole #17 Wins the money for both holes. $.50..If you tied the 17th hole as well, then the winner of hole #16 Wins the money for all 3 holes. $.75..etc

Bonus Money (Losers PAY to the eventual winner of that hole)

If you shoot an EAGLE you get $2.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot a BIRDIE you get $1.00 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot PAR you get $.50 in Bonus Money minus your opponent(s)’ Bonus Money.
If you shoot BOGEY you get $.25 in Bonus Money.

Penalty Money PAID to the eventual winner of that hole.

If you shoot a TRIPLE BOGEY you also LOSE $.50.
If you shoot a SCORE of TEN or QUIT the HOLE you also LOSE $1.25

This system was designed to instill the phrase, “Never Quit”..In this case, you can control how much you lose, especially if you are shooting for DOUBLE BOGEY. If you miss the hole, you not only lose hole money, but penalty money as well. Every shot in this system means something. Afterall you’re not out there to hear birds chirp, unless it’s a golf ball whirling inside the hole for a BIRDIE!

The system was also designed for aggressive play. Go for that EAGLE or BIRDIE for Bonus Money. I hope this system improves your game through concentration and your determination and discipline of not losing money playing golf, by playing lousy golf..Happy Golfing!

P.S. I will have Sample Rounds of Golf, Using this System in the Coming Days Soon!

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Computers are expensive.

Can't live without it

But in order to run lots of tracks and plug ins, you need one with serious processing and RAM capabilities. If you’re running Logic, that has to be the mac pro (above). It’s the only way to go. It costs $3,000 though. Three grr!

All the music I’ve made up to this point has been on my Macbook, which was lovingly given to me as a starter computer for pursing music on the computer, and this little workhorse has earned its keep.

Macbook

This computer is about 2 and 1/2 years old, which may seem young. But this isn’t an apples to apples comparison. Even a brand new macbook isn’t equipped to handle heavy audio production. Dual Core processing with 2GB of RAM just isn’t enough if you want to go deeper. I have scraped by with workarounds and eschewing heavily sample laden stuff until now, but if I want to start doing a little bit of scoring, then I’m going to have to take the plunge. It should be a glorious, liberating plunge. But I don’t want to go in the hole for $4,000, so I have to find the money somehow. And I’m moving into uncertain circumstances in San Diego in the near future. $4,000, I thought you said $3,000? Well I need a better sample library as well, and probably a UAD card also.

People that I talk to doing what I do scratch their heads in amazement over the fact that I’m doing all of my work on an old Macbook. It’s been great. but I may have to pull the trigger very soon on something mightier. Especially if a promising lead with an old friend with great industry connections pans out…