Listens

[youtube=http://youtu.be/TcXl6CDqpvY]

More on La Havas later.

Views Part I – Real or Photoshop? I don’t care, it’s cool . . .

At Fantasy Throwdown: Annual Thanksgiving Tourney & IDP Tourney!!!

To our regulars out there, thanks for playing Fantasy Throwdown, including providing feedback and helping build a great community of fantasy football players.To our mailing list members who haven’t checked in for a while, or since last season, come on over. The regular season is past the halfway mark, but we’re going to continue playing Throwdown all the way through the Super Bowl, one week at a time.Here is a snapshot of things going on this month: Turkey Day CompetitionIt is back. Or will be next week, that is. Our favourite (note the “u”) holiday that isn’t even a holiday where Mike lives – U.S. Thanksgiving. Three games on the NFL schedule, which is perfect for a little game we like to call Fantasy Throwdown. It will be similar to last year’s hootenanny. Look for details posted early next week.

IDP TournamentThe reason we don’t spell out acronyms like IDP very often is because we know we attract top fantasy football players who can break down expected tackle distribution numbers when stars Ray Lewis and Sean Lee are sidelined. If you qualify – or maybe it is time to learn – sign up for our next tournament that includes more Vontaze Burfict and less Trindon Holliday. Player vs. Player StatsWondering how your head-to-head record stacks up against Players X, Y and Z? Sure, you could just count the wins and losses in your Game Manager history, but we’ve made it a lot easier. Go to our new stats tool, start typing your username, select and hit submit. Don’t get mad if you find one or two players are bringing your overall win % down. Get even.

Sign Up Now, IDP and Turkey Day

Coming Soon at the RSP Blog

• My next Futures column at Football Outsiders on NC State corner David Amerson
• A commentary on the thorny intersection of racism, politics, and quarterbacking in the NFL
• Down the road . . . 2013 No-Huddle Series: Short takes of prospects under the radar

Views Part II

[youtube=http://youtu.be/kbslWQh-R_U]

You probably saw this terrific bicycle kick on Dead Spin, but here it is if you missed it.

Views Part III

[youtube=http://youtu.be/XVv8qWZ8xzw]

Neodymium is a rare earth mineral. It’s one of strongest of magnets, capable of holding 1000 times its weight. Hybrid cars use neodymium in its engines. Your computers and smart phones use it. Mining it takes enough energy per day to power 50,000 homes and water usage to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Because it’s found embedded near uranium and thorium, the process to extract the neodymium requires safety measures that have been problematic to say the least.

My ignorant, tin-foil hat question of the day is this: If this mineral in small amounts has this type of magnetic capability and our earth rotates and orbits based on magnetic fields then why are we digging it up? I know I have to be missing something about how our planet orbits and how the magnetic fields actually work that doesn’t include this mineral embedded throughout our planet. Otherwise, aren’t we eventually going to screw up the way our planet orbits the sun or how the moon stays in orbit? Considering the demand for the metal is expected to grow by 700 percent in the near future, I’m wondering if this is just another chapter in the book Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Shortsighted History of Humanity.

I feel pretty dumb to ask but my lunch hour is spent reading non-football material, and notice “hour” isn’t plural in this instance.

Football Reads

Football Outsiders Film Room: Colts-Patriots – Andy Benoit’s analysis of Andrew Luck’s drop against two-deep coverage is outstanding.

PFF Analysis Notebook: Richard Sherman – Sam Monson does a great job profiling the Seahawks cornerback and why “Revis Island may be about to become an archipelago, flanked by Sherman Island in a sea from which there is no escape for receivers.”

The New Old School – Chris Brown’s piece on Chip Kelly’s offense at Oregon at Grantland.

FishDuck – Rotoworld’s Josh Norris recommended this site for even more great analysis on this cutting edge Oregon offense.

Manti Te’0, The Example – Eric Stoner’s analysis of the Notre Dame linebacker at Rotoworld.

Non-Football Reads

Why Think by Numbers? While it’s difficult for me to buy the entire argument, which by the way probably feeds into this writer’s argument even more, it’s a well-written article that highlights the lack of balance in which we use the various parts of our brains to come to decisions, especially with politics.

Government Spends More on Corporate Welfare Subsidies than Social Welfare Programs – More fascinating stuff from this  site focused on the concept of “Empiricism” as a political movement.

Top Georgia GOP Lawmakers Host Briefing on Secret Obama Mind-Control Plot – If you’re wondering why I had that tinfoil hat question about neodymium just realize it must have something to do with the water around Athens, Ga. If Paul Broun wasn’t enough (and yes, I voted for Charles Darwin with pride), now we have an Athens-based group saying our president is using CIA-Jedi mind tricks to sway the country. You didn’t have to vote for Obama to realize this just beats all.

Listens

[youtube=http://youtu.be/1Pyt3OYVJOo]

Lianne La Havas: ‘The Golden Girl of British Music’: I heard this singer-songwriter on the drive to work. Elizabeth Blair writes, “the past year has been very good for La Havas, as she was nominated for a Mercury Prize in the U.K. Stevie Wonder also left her a voice mail message singing one of her songs, and Prince invited her to jam with him.”

Robert Cray Band: Tiny Desk Concerts : He had a big hit in the 1980s with his album Strong Persuader. I think he’s a fantastic writer and bluesman.