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payout of 496 million. Odds are 1:292 million. That means if you had 292 million to invest, you could conceivably make a profit. Of course, if you had to share the winnings, you'd be screwed. Or if fate decided to screw you. I mean, we all know that a coin has a 1:2 chance of being heads, but that doesn't mean you're guaranteed heads if you flip twice...
I think the paycut for Gray is a mistake. It wouldn't surprise me to see Gray leave. $260k for someone who's put 10 guys in the NFL in the past 10 years?
nice
I'd donate enough for them to change Pritchard back to all-male, and then name it "The Penis Palace, Presented by Pritchard"
And then I'd buy the History dept a new building.
All Virginia lottery money now goes directly to the public school system, I believe.
My sister-in-law taught a young lady that had her baby during summer school. So the girl named her daughter ,Ab-Se-dee, spelled Abcde.
My office is pooling our money, so we're looking at 27 mil per person. We drove out to a 711 in a sketchy part of Richmond because those kind of places always seem to get the winner.
I feel stupid just thinking about buying a ticket. You have statistically no chance to win and are literally just throwing your money away.
I like to look at it this way:
Odds of winning the lottery when buying a ticket: Slim.
Odds of winning the lottery when not buying a ticket: None.
As long as the total cost of tickets that I spend in my lifetime is less than whatever jackpot I could have won, I figure I'm good.
If i win I am going to buy CFB's sweet house with the indoor golf game. I would then have a permanent box at all tech games forever.
Unpopular opinion: the cheerleader effect is strong in this video
You should go back to the games from November of the 2011 or 2012 season....that year that Tech lost the first ten coin tosses of the year. I know they were highlighting the odds there.
Most interesting (and on a somewhat sad level) name story I've heard...my wife is a teacher, and one of her students was named Female (pronounced Fe MAH ly). She told my wife that her mom said that the hospital had already named her on the little pink bracelet when they brought her into her room.
Nice reference. Definitely one of my favorite movies.
I don't think my wife would be too happy if I named our son Ghostface. I might be able to get away with Osiris.
As long as the initials are not ODB.
Definitely not Canada...tropical for sure...and NO LOLUVA
fans allowed!!
I think it might be time to let that one go.
Awesome! Futurebirds are great. I saw them at the Camel a couple months ago (very small venue in richmond, I was 2 feet from them) and they killed the new stuff.
And I really miss my radio show. If I knew about half the music then that I do now it could have been even better. I used to think the long-timers were a little curmudgeonly with us students, but I kind of get it now.
The hate is strong with this one
But it is a white elephant. Who the hell is going to buy a house, which cost as much as that one to build, that is next door to the fire station???
I'll probably get a couple randomly generated tickets and one where I pick the numbers. If I win, my life won't really change much since the Navy owns me for about 10 years. I'd take the lump sum and invest all but about 10 mil, which I would use to hire attorneys, set up a shell corporation, purchase some property around Pensacola to rent out, get a small fishing boat, and of course, buy and reopen Trader Jon's.
I love Raekwon McMillan at Ohio State and read of another Raekwon who is a major recruit this year. Kids named after Wu-Tang Clan members is a very good thing.
Now why weren't their things like this when I was deciding which college to attend??! Oh...wait...I forgot...I applied to USCw because of the song girls.
Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but this came out when I was travelling, and then I wanted to wait until I finished my end-of-the-year post for my own blog...but that's taking way longer than expected, so let's just do this now.
Anyways, 2015 was a really, really great year for music. I normally do a top 10, but had to do 15 this year because whittling it down that far was not feasible. I could make a case for any of these to be in my top 5, and I'd go to bat for all of them as been some truly excellent pieces of music. And note, these are my favorite albums, not best. Also, sorry for the length, I tend to get carried away talking about music.....
So from top to bottom in this format:
#) Artist - Album (Genre)
{Quick word(s) about the record}
[link to representative song(s)]
1) Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color (soul-rock, r&b, blues-rock, rock&roll)
A massive step up from the retro-leaning debut. They play with space and timing in their performances in ways that very, very few bands ever manage. As players, they've reached another level (and damn does it show live). Also, Brittany's voice is a powerhouse and these songs are catchy and powerful and occasionally other-worldly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oib0a2_itA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ1w76m0JKo
2) Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free (Americana, folk, country)
Jason Isbell is without a doubt the best songwriter working right now. It's not close, and that's not me exaggerating, it's just a level-headed survey. This is maybe the slightest step down from Southeastern, but that was an all-time classic. This album is more about character sketches than personal narrative, and he can say more in one line than most songwriters in a full song. This is the work of an all-time great in his prime (again, level-headed survey). (Also, listen to "Speed Trap Town" if you feel like crying at work).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIC4KY4Ak6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhk70M1KpDs
3) Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (indie-guitar-rock)
Courtney Barnett delivers big riffs backing excellent, thought-provoking songwriting. That is literally my favorite kind of band. The riffs derive from Nirvana and Pavement and other 90's sources. The writing is a master class in stream-of-consciousness that makes the significant seem minor and the pedantic seem life-changing. But most of all, it shares a perspective and state of mind that is assuredly her's, something most songwriters take a lifetime trying to achieve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-nr1nNC3ds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NVOawOXxSA
4) Dawes - All Our Favorite Bands (folk-rock, Americana, understated guitar solo master class)
Taylor Goldsmith is one of the finest songwriters around. I've been listening to this album for 6 months, and still find myself being floored by lines I didn't notice before. The band is also at it's best here, and are putting on a clinic for melodic, understated guitar solos (think a very, very (, very) concise Jerry Garcia or Mark Knopfler).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNpSpMMfQis
5) Baroness - Purple (heavy-rock, stoner-rock, metal)
I had almost given up on heavy music, but this late 2015 addition has pulled me back in. Simultaneously their heaviest and most melodic record, it also features their proggiest song-structures with some most excellent break downs (the transition at the end of "Kerosene" is an unadulterated Rush-ism). Strong stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBYnFo8tcJI
6) The Districts - A Flourish and a Spoil (indie-guitar-rock)
Another entry into my favorite mode of music (big riffs, heady lyrics), and my favorite new band of 2015. It's catharsis and jams and top-notch two-guitar interplay and emotional wrecking balls and huge choruses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZ-i2hu6GA
7) Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (hip-hop)
If I was judging purely off artistic audaciousness this would be the top spot. Rarely does someone dive so fully and honestly into themselves, social issues, and society at large, and accomplish it so masterfully, with all the beauty and ugliness of life in tact. Fuses classic hip-hop with jazz and funk in new ways. Lacks the songs and narrative that made good kid m.A.A.d city impulsively listenable, but a challenging, important work of art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaB2g_eF6T8
8) Kamasi Washington - The Epic (jazz, jazz-fusion, etc)
I love jazz, but there's not a whole lot of modern players that make me as excited as the old stuff (note, this is more my failing than the scene, so if you want to turn me onto something great, please do) but this album bowled me over. Strong elements of Coltrane circa A Love Supreme and Ole, as well as Hancock's 70's fusion albums, plus whatever else was on Kamasi's mind that day. He had the gall to call his debut album The Epic, and at 3 cds with 3 hours of music delivers. Is it a bit much? Of course. But when the food's this good you don't quibble about portion size. You eat till you're full and spend the rest of the year working on the leftovers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuQdtFb_Z2k
9) Futurebirds - Hotel Parties (alt-country, psychadelic-americana)
Straight outta Athens, GA, Futurebirds take a psychadelic approach to alt-country, but on Hotel Parties trim down the jams to focus on their finest batch of songs to date. Excellent, cutting lyrics about life on the road (that manage to be universal enough to apply to anyone) matched with some spaced out arrangements. Some great tunes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjniTLP4TiM
10) The Trillions - Superposition (garage-rock, power-pop, math-rock, rock&roll)
Among the finest bands in RVA, the Trillions combine garage-rock power with startling precision in their riffs and compositions. Musically complex but balanced by some straight-ahead rock&roll, this is great stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WGb7YYafaA
11) Chris Stapleton - Traveller (americana, country)
He's been blowing up lately after the CMA wins/performance, but this guy's got the songs to prove it. A former Nashville hit-maker turned real-country torch bearer, the man can write some damn fine songs, and put together a hell of a band to play 'em. He's also one of the best singers around, matching an old-school soul croon with a heavy twang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zAThXFOy2c
12) John Moreland - High On Tulsa Heat (folk-blues, americana)
Moreland is a hell of a songwriter, and a master of sad songs. Though as he says it, it's not that they're sad, they just make you feel a lot. I can attest to that. Half of this album is solo acoustic, the other shambling Americana, all backing excellent writing and a voice that cuts straight to the bone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c40ou27eoFs
13) Built to Spill - Untethered Moon (indie-guitar-rock)
Doug Martsch is among my very favorite guitar players and this is him at maybe his best. His voice and lyrics bend towards a cautious catharsis and sense of wide-eyed wonder but the band turns up the volume and shows off his excelent sense of compsitional layering and inventive solos (see: the squawking southern-rock breakdown of "All Our Songs", the Death Star tractor beams of "On The Way", the stomping stoner-rock riffage of "So", and the barely contained strangling chaos of "When I'm Blind").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnq1OrbwHt4
14) Screaming Females - Rose Mountain (punk, hard-rock, indie-guitar-rock)
This should be ranked higher. Screaming Females are the best punk band in the world, and continue their ridiculous run of ridiculously good albums with Rose Mountain. The songs here are catchier, and the guitar crunch is cleaner than ever, but they are still intent on pummelling you with riffs and solos from one of the best guitar players of the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxIdHvFemxg
15) Oddisee - The Good Fight (hip-hop, soul-loops & boom-bap)
Lives and Brooklyn but from the DMV area. Oddisee is a top-notch producer with a flow that's every bit as strong. Lyrically the album is basically a tour-de-force of his perspective on life and what it means to fight for what you want to better yourself and the world. It sounds way more self-important and pretentious when I say it though, so just listen. (TKP SPECIAL! Since a lot of you guys seem to be into intelligent hip-hop LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM RIGHT NOW. HAPPINESS AND JOY AND BEATS AND RHYMES AND LIFE WILL RAIN DOWN ON YOU BECAUSE IT'S A REALLY DAMN GOOD RECORD).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYFNV-qrB1o
First 4 out: Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Natalie Prass, Modest Mouse, Cage the Elephant
Ok, sorry for my total failure at brevity. I'll stop now.
E I E I NOPE