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Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on December 17, 2012

Submitted by phoenix on 12/24/12 1:43pm

Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745

Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on December 17, 2012

Ambient office = .073 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .112 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain = .114 microsieverts per hour

Oatmeal raisin cookie from Costco = .091 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .136 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .118 microsieverts per hour

Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on December 16, 2012

Submitted by phoenix on 12/24/12 1:39pm

Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745

Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on December 16, 2012

Ambient office = .143 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .065 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain = .081 microsieverts per hour

Banana from grocery store = .091 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .114 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .098 microsieverts per hour

Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on December 15, 2012

Submitted by phoenix on 12/24/12 1:36pm

Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745

Geiger Counter Readings in Seattle, WA on December 15, 2012

Ambient office = .087 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .097 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain = .071 microsieverts per hour

Romaine lettuce from grocery store = .113 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .091 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .077 microsieverts per hour

Nulcear Weapons 26 - Iran

Submitted by phoenix on 12/24/12 12:55pm

Iran is an ancient country known for most of its history as Persia. It has existed in one form or another for thousands of years. The original Zoroastrian religion was replaced by Islam when Iran was conquered in 651 AD. The Iranians are predominantly members of the Shiite branch of Islam.

Iran occupies a strategic location in the Middle of Asia bordering Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey and other countries as well as the Persian Gulf. It over six hundred thousand square miles in size and has a population of seventy five million. With huge reserves of oil and natural gas, it is a main supplier of fossil fuels to Europe and Asia.

Anger over loss of territory to Western powers and granting of concessions to foreign countries spurred the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1906 to over throw the Shah and create a parliament. The ruling Qatar dynasty was overthrown by Reza Khan in 1925. He then instituted a number of reforms to modernize Iran. In 1941, the United States and Britain made him abdicate the throne in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi because Khan had close ties with Germany. In 1951 after that assignation of Prime Minister Ali Razmara, Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected Prime Minister by a Parliamentary vote which was ratified by Shah Pahlavi. Mosaddegh was enormously popular after he nationalized the Iranian oil industry and oil reserves. This angered the British who instituted an Iranian oil embargo. The British involved the U.S. in a plot to remove Mosaddegh. In 1953, he was arrested and removed from office. The U.S. began cooperating with Iran in the development of nuclear reactors for power generation as part of the Atoms for Peace program.

Following the coup that removed Mosaddegh, the Shah gathered more and more power to himself. A powerful cleric named Ruholla Khomeini became a vocal critic of the Shah. He was arrested, imprisoned and eventually exiled. Eventually living in France, Khomeini kept in touch with revolutionary forces in Iran through audio tapes of his sermons and personal representatives. The Iranian people rose up against the Shah in 1978 and forced him to flee in 1979. Khomeini returned from exile to head the theocratic revolutionary government that came to rule Iran. U.S. and Iranian relations soured during 1979 and in November of the year, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was seized and the staff taken prisoner by a group of students. Fifty two of the embassy personnel were held for 444 days and released after the election of Ronald Reagan to the U. S. Presidency in 1980. U.S. assistance in nuclear research and development in Iran ended with the taking of the hostages. Khomeini disbanded a secret nuclear weapons research program because he objected to nuclear weapons on religious grounds.

Taking advantage of the disarray in the Iranian military, Saddam Hussein in Iraq attacked Iran. A horrible war raged for eight years during which time there were many casualties on both sides. Iraq was encouraged and assisted by the United States. Because of the bad relations between the U.S and Iran, the U.S. felt that the war between Iraq and Iran would seriously weaken Iran and prevent it from being a strong regional power hostile to the U.S. The war ended in 1988. After the death of Khomeini, nuclear weapons research was expanded in Iran. Iran’s first nuclear power plant was completed with assistance from the Russians in 2011. Iran has uranium mines and is known to have three uranium enrichment plants. Iran has said that it will continue to build reactors for power and develop more uranium mines.

The International community is very worried that Iran is working on the creation of nuclear weapons. They have the technology and a number of facilities have been built underground to protect them from possible bombing. They also have a robust missile program that would allow them to send warheads to Europe, Asia, Russia, Africa and all of the Middle East. Iran claims that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons but refuses to all full inspection of all of its nuclear research facilities. Estimates of when Iran might have a working nuclear bomb vary from months to years.

The leaders of Iran have made some very hostile and provocative statements towards Israel. Some Israeli leaders have responded by advocating attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities with the assistance of the United States. The situation is very fluid and there are fears that Israel may decide to strike Iran without any outside help.

Arak IR-40 nuclear reactor in Iran - Nanking2012:

Iranian Reactor.PNG

2012 Spectometer "Plate Skills" Leaderboard (Indicator of OBP)

Submitted by Spectator on 12/24/12 9:19am

402px-Ichiro_Suzuki_at_bat.jpg

Plate skills measured by "Hitter's +/-" summary stat

Update: I have been working on re-scaling the summary stats to make them more intuitive, so I have now added the re-scaled "Hitter's +/-" index, for which what would have been +1.5 is now 100. The new number is in parentheses. The rankings do not change, since the number is calculated the same way (you just multiply by 10 and add 85).

If you've been following along, we came up with two "summary stats" that take into account all of a hitter's "plate outcomes" in an effort to find indicators of the two key elements that we evaluate: Production (indicator of SLG) and Plate Skills (indicator of OBP). Obviously, OBP + SLG results in OPS, which is a very good (and increasingly universal) summary indicator of MLB value.

So, these final two hitter's leaderboards of the year are the most important ones.

***

Once again, a recap of the ground rules:

Ages 26 and over are considered "post-prospect" (for hitters), and are not counted (sorry Luis Rodriguez for plate skills and Joseph Dunigan for slugging).
A season needs at least 100 plate appearances to count. Seasons between 50 and 99 PAs I will look at, and might note, but they won't go on the leaderboard.
Seasons that are entirely in foreign leagues don't count. Mixed seasons with some foreign and some domestic stats I will count (but note with a caveat). Good news for Gaby Guerrero fans (of which I am one).
The normal age-arc I use is Rookie/Short Season: 19 ... Low-A: 20 ... High-A: 21 ... AA: 22 ... AAA: 23. A guy who is younger than age-arc is noted in green. One year older than normal age-arc is not noted, but two years or more older earns an "age caveat" and is noted in blue.
Ages are from baseball-reference.com "age season" (age as of midnight on June 30 of the season).

***

Stat: "Hitter's +/-"

Formula: Proprietary-ish (but discussed here)

Interpretive rule of thumb: The stat measures a hitter's ability to "win plate appearances" by getting on base. A "zero" means the hitter does not "win plate appearances" more than a hypothetical "average" hitter facing an "average" pitcher. To give a hitter credit for "Plate Skills," I usually look for a +1.5 or higher. Edit: As re-scaled, the hitter who does not, on average, "win plate appearances" gets an 85, and a hitter must reach the +1.5 to get the 100. This is intended to give an idea of hitters likely to have adequate Plate Skills to survive in the majors.

***

All hitters:

Rich Poythress (24): +7.6 (161)
Mike Zunino (21): +6.6 (151)
Daniel Paolini (22): +4.1 (126)
Marcus Littlewood (20): +3.8 (123)
Dario Pizzano (21): +3.6 (121)
Ji-Man Choi (21): +3.6 (121)
Brad Miller (22): +3.3 (118)
Jabari Henry (21): +3.2 (117)
Chris Taylor (21): +3.2 (117)
Gabriel Guerrero (18): +3.1 (116) (includes foreign stats)
Joe DeCarlo (18): +3.1 (116)
Jamodrick McGruder (20): +3.0 (115)
Gabrial Franca (18): +2.7 (112)
Dennis Raben (24): +2.4 (109)
Isaiah Yates (17): +2.4 (109)

***

Below age-arc hitters (Prodigies):

Gabriel Guerrero (18): +3.1 (116) (includes foreign stats)
Joe DeCarlo (18): +3.1 (116)
Gabrial Franca (18): +2.7 (112)
Isaiah Yates (17): +2.4 (109)
Timothy Lopes (18): +1.9 (104)

***

Glove-position hitters:

Mike Zunino -- C (21): +6.6 (151)
Marcus Littlewood -- C (20): +3.8 (123)
Brad Miller -- SS (22): +3.3 (118)
Jabari Henry -- CF (21): +3.2 (117)
Chris Taylor -- SS (21): +3.2 (117)

***

Top 15 with above age-arc hitters (the "almost-too-old guys") excluded:

Mike Zunino (21): +6.6 (151)
Marcus Littlewood (20): +3.8 (123)
Ji-Man Choi (21): +3.6 (121)
Brad Miller (22): +3.3 (118)
Chris Taylor (21): +3.2 (117)
Gabriel Guerrero (18): +3.1 (116) (includes foreign stats)
Joe DeCarlo (18): +3.1 (116)
Jamodrick McGruder (20): +3.0 (115)
Gabrial Franca (18): +2.7 (112)
Isaiah Yates (17): +2.4 (109)
Johermyn Chavez (23): +2.4 (109)
Timothy Lopes (18): +1.9 (104)
Filipe Burin (20): +1.7 (102)
Jack Marder (22): +1.5 (100)
Christian Carmichel (20): +1.2 (97)

***

Notes:

Is it any wonder why the Teen Titans get so much love in this space? What a group to leap right into pro ball with those kind of plate skills numbers! Compare to: Martin Peguero (-2.5); Phillips Castillo (-4.2); Guillermo Pimentel (-5.8); and, at almost the very bottom, Kristian Brito (-9.1).
Rich Poythress decided to stop being a slugger and re-make himself as plate-skills super-genius ... and he did! He's trying to "Youkilis" his way into the majors, but he can't play third and there's not exactly a lot of room at the 1b/DH area on the big club. Everyone else has given up on him, but I still find him interesting.
You know we love our man Ji-Man, the Koren Olerud, but Brad Miller put up comparable numbers and played shortstop every single day. How about Ole playing short?
You have to draw a ton of walks and hit a lot of home runs to get a strong Plate Skills score while striking out 27% of the time, but that's exactly what Marcus Littlewood did.

***

Merry Christmans and Joyous Holidays to all. We'll be back after Christmas with the "Production" leaderboards (indicator of SLG), the official categorization of hitters for 2012, the complete pitching leaderboards, and then we'll launch the 2013 Spec 66 (and 66 may not be enough this year).