I'd noticed that some of the sentences in the Jay-Z article I linked earlier were wack, but you have to see them all collected by Slate to see how crazy the article is. Also, the article is written by Lisa Taddeo who wrote the crazy made up story of Heath Ledger's last day. I missed that.
See also, Zach Barron.

Esquire says Jay-Z's realy talent lies in his ability to authentically relate to whomever needs relating to.

This coexisting as two things at once — luxury yet cheap, exclusive yet accessible, edgy yet mainstream — is Jay-Z in a nutshell: the gangster from the hood and the CEO in the boardroom. It is how Jay-Z has transformed himself from just another rapper with a gat to a celebrity-mogul-angel who hums advice into the loving ears of sitting governors and presidents...A big part of being authentic is being open and large enough to keep your tailbone at the dinner table and your eyes on the television in the next room, unapologetic and charming in your duality. 'Yes, I'm watching the game, but God I love your lamb!'

In this article about the Red Sox' recent moves, Alex Speier touches on their trade of Casey Kotchman for Mariners' utility man Bill Hall. It's been said this offseason that the Sox are especially concerned about the luxury tax and are doing everything in their power to remain under the $170 million salary threshold. This threshold is determined based on the average annual value of a contract, Bill hall's 4 years at $24 million for instance would be a cost of $6 million against the luxury tax threshold. However, since his contract was structured differently, and since the Brewers were paying the Mariners almost the full amount of the contract, Bill Hall's expiring contract is actually worth around -$1.5 million against the threshold.

Expiring contracts have a significant trade value in the NBA, but I've never heard of any baseball trades being made for this reason. Bill Simmons goes so far as to suffix Expiring Contract onto the end of any player in the last year of a contract, so at the very least, we should refer to Bill Hall as Bill Hall's Expiring Contract for this season, right?

Hall is in the last guaranteed year of a four-year, $24 million deal that will pay him $8.4 million next season. The Mariners, according to a major-league source, will pay $7.5-8 million of his salary — essentially sending the Sox the same money that was given to Seattle by the Brewers when the M’s acquired Hall last summer.

Hall’s contract is evaluated for luxury tax purposes as being worth $6 million in 2010, based on its AAV. But the full amount of the cash transfer — call it $7.5 million — will be deducted from the Sox’ payroll as determined for luxury tax purposes. That being the case, Hall will actually reduce the Sox’ payroll in calculating the competitive balance tax by roughly $1.5 million dollars. Overall, then, the Sox were able to sign Beltre and add Hall and a player to be named at a cost (for CBT purposes) of roughly $2 million in 2010.

Via Dave.

The latest update to Facebook's iPhone app offers push updates, which is nice. Also, the ability to sync your iPhone contacts with your Facebook contacts, which sounds nice, but ruh roh, what's this? "Please make sure your friends are comfortable with any use you make of their information." To tell you the truth, I probably wouldn't have minded sending the info to FB, but this warning is so sketchy as to be alarming. FB is now saying that you're not responsible for your privacy, your friends are. How does that make any sense? I wonder if this is an example of FB's last few privacy moves. Overreach inappropriately and then walk it back if there's an uproar. What do you think?

I love trick football plays. Always have.


Via DK.

The article's not online anymore, but Fimoculous captured the quotation that Google and Microsoft are paying a $0.03 CPM for Tweets. That's more than I would have paid...

Adam Bertocci rewrote The Big Lebowski in the style of Shakespeare and the result is the amazing Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. As someone who has spent a lot of time on efforts of debatable value, I admire this greatly.
Remember this line?

WALTER
Be I wrong?
THE KNAVE
No, sir, thy speech is straight and true. But yet thou speakest not, for thou hast not spoken but brayed, in the manner of an ass.

By the way, The Big Lebowski will be making another appearance on Unlikely Words in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned.

The Avon Barksdale Story- Legends Of The Unwired...won Best Docudrama at this year’s NY International Independent Film & Video Festival...In The Avon Barksdale Story, the real Nathan Avon “Bodie” Barksdale tells all to actor Wood Harris, who played his on screen character in HBO’s critically acclaimed series The Wire.

Via Nah Right

++++

"Brownsville officials are hoping a unanimously passed ban on plastic grocery bags will make the city the first in Texas to rid the landscape of the so-called “urban tumbleweeds.”"

If you remember this summer, one of the crazies leading the charge against this year's Census was Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. However, in the last couple months she's taken a backseat in the anti-Census after realizing that Minnesota is one of the states at risk of losing a seat in Congress after population shifts are calculated. And which Minnesota seat would be cut? Apparently, Bachmann's:

The really fun fact, as I've learned from Minnesota experts, is that Bachmann's district would likely be the first to go if the state lost a seat. The other seats are all fairly regular-shaped, logical districts built around identifiable regions of the state (Minneapolis, St. Paul, the Iron Range, and so on). Bachmann's district is made of what's left over after such a process, twisting and turning from a small strip of the Wisconsin border and curving deep into the middle of the state. As such, the obvious course of action if the state loses a seat is to split her district up among its neighbors.