@the-gipper said:

Can't wait. 

And it can blow at any minute since it is so far advanced into late stage. That could be tonight...................................................or it could be in 222019.?

EDIT: But have no fear it will be before the earth gets swallowed by our own red giant when it gets to that stage in 4-5 billion years.

@hoorta said:

NASA'S SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory.  there' a time lapse on sciencealert.com if you're interested. Well we can move out to Jupiter's moon Europa (not Europe Gipper) there's plenty of water there....  and tank in a lot of natural gas from Saturn's moon Titan (there's lakes of it) to stay nice and cozy.... Or just skim off a lot of hydrogen from Jupiter- it does burn pretty well.  

Don't mess with the 'Juice Gip. Betelgeuse is one of the biggest stars we know about. Replace the sun with it, and the Earth would be inside it.  BTW, it's running out of gas, and when it blows up in a supernova it's going to be damn spectacular. So spectacular, even though it's 600 light years away, the Earth will be just outside of the death zone from all the radiation it's going to release. For several weeks, it will easily be brighter than the Moon.... 

Can't wait. 

Worst 3 is a tie - Jackson, Jackson, Jackson and Mangini, Mangini, Mangini

@orion said:

Great pic.  What spacecraft took the picture?  

It's hard to understand the size of the sun.  Our solar system has been referred to as, The Sun And Some Other Debris.   99.8 % of the mass of the solar system is the sun.  It's friggin' BIG.  - And then there's Betelgeuse....which is 700 times bigger.  And there's stars that make Betelgeuse look the size of Mercury in the above pic. 

As far as the sun goes, I'm betting that we don't have 500 million of it's remaining 4 or 5 billion years left before all of our oceans have boiled away and life is extinguished on earth by it's ever increasing output.  In the unlikely event that humanity could survive for a long period of time, we would have to island hop over to Mars for a while...and then probably out to a moon of Jupiter.   

Quarterbacks go to Mars, to buy faster cars.  -  Head Coaches go to Jupiter so they can get stupider.   (jump rope song)

NASA'S SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory.  there' a time lapse on sciencealert.com if you're interested. Well we can move out to Jupiter's moon Europa (not Europe Gipper) there's plenty of water there....  and tank in a lot of natural gas from Saturn's moon Titan (there's lakes of it) to stay nice and cozy.... Or just skim off a lot of hydrogen from Jupiter- it does burn pretty well.  

@the-gipper said:

Betelgeuse.....gets your attention.... eh?

Don't mess with the 'Juice Gip. Betelgeuse is one of the biggest stars we know about. Replace the sun with it, and the Earth would be inside it.  BTW, it's running out of gas, and when it blows up in a supernova it's going to be damn spectacular. So spectacular, even though it's 600 light years away, the Earth will be just outside of the death zone from all the radiation it's going to release. For several weeks, it will easily be brighter than the Moon.... 

@orion said:

Great pic.  What spacecraft took the picture?  

It's hard to understand the size of the sun.  Our solar system has been referred to as, The Sun And Some Other Debris.   99.8 % of the mass of the solar system is the sun.  It's friggin' BIG.  - And then there's Betelgeuse....which is 700 times bigger.  And there's stars that make Betelgeuse look the size of Mercury in the above pic. 

As far as the sun goes, I'm betting that we don't have 500 million of it's remaining 4 or 5 billion years left before all of our oceans have boiled away and life is extinguished on earth by it's ever increasing output.  In the unlikely event that humanity could survive for a long period of time, we would have to island hop over to Mars for a while...and then probably out to a moon of Jupiter.   

Quarterbacks go to Mars, to buy faster cars.  -  Head Coaches go to Jupiter so they can get stupider.   (jump rope song)

Betelgeuse.....gets your attention.... eh?

@hoorta said:

Hah, since you missed it.... Shows how tiny our planets are in relation to the Sun.....  FWIW, Mercury is about 50% bigger than our Moon....   

Great pic.  What spacecraft took the picture?  

It's hard to understand the size of the sun.  Our solar system has been referred to as, The Sun And Some Other Debris.   99.8 % of the mass of the solar system is the sun.  It's friggin' BIG.  - And then there's Betelgeuse....which is 700 times bigger.  And there's stars that make Betelgeuse look the size of Mercury in the above pic. 

As far as the sun goes, I'm betting that we don't have 500 million of it's remaining 4 or 5 billion years left before all of our oceans have boiled away and life is extinguished on earth by it's ever increasing output.  In the unlikely event that humanity could survive for a long period of time, we would have to island hop over to Mars for a while...and then probably out to a moon of Jupiter.   

Quarterbacks go to Mars, to buy faster cars.  -  Head Coaches go to Jupiter so they can get stupider.   (jump rope song)

@orion said:

  Believe it or not, I do know that a planet's retrograde motion in the sky is only 'apparent'...and not actual.

I know that at times,  on this planet, things that were retro were only apparent, not actual.

@hoorta said:

Mercury and the Earth are going  around  the sun in the same  direction

  Believe it or not, I do know that a planet's retrograde motion in the sky is only 'apparent'...and not actual.

More of the Shit Show that has been the Cleveland Browns the last 20 years, except for a few exceptions (Hue/Shurmur)....I put more on the shoulders of the owners and GMs:

Randy Lerner.  Disinterested, incapable, was more interested in being a soccer fag. 

Jimmy Haslam.  Not disinterested....but seeming incapable at hiring the right people.  The exception hopefully being Dorsey...it seems.  

and the other Shite we have had at GM:      Clark,  Kokinis, Butch, Savage, Kokinis, Lombardi, Farmer, Sashi.    Only Heckert, and now Dorsey seemed to have any clue on how to evaluate talent. 

Chris Palmer  Got him at #8.  Yes, did some OK things....not given much to work with.  Still, highly unsuccesful. To quote Curly Howard:  He was a victim of soicumstance.

Butch Davis  I put him at no. 2.   As far as a HC is concerned.   He SHOULD have been a good one.  He got caught up in the  franchise transition where Al Lerner died, and Randy didn't want Carmen Policy around. And with Policy out the door,  Dwight Clark went with him.  So, there was a huge vacuum in the organization which Butch had to...and apparently chose to fill, but was really totally unable.  His hubris caught up to him...wanting to do it all basically: be HC, GM, and essentially team President as well.  Randy Lerner, who took over the ownership control, was a greenhorn with no fucking clue.  So, in my opinion, most of the shit show that came about at the end of Butch's tenure has to be laid at Randy's doorstep.

Terry Robiskie (I)  Goes in at #6.  Almost unfair to judge him, as he was an interim coach....but, with the Williams example, we see that an interim coach can have some success.  This Robo has always been better off being an assistant than a HC.

Romeo Crennell  Goes to the #5 spot.  Should/could probably be higher, given he did coach the team to its last winning season....but it is the fact that he was completely unable to build on that winning season that showed that he was out of his element.  

Eric Mangini    Goes to the #3 slot.   He probably could have been successful here,  but when Mike Holmgren came in, he turned from a winning HC/GM to a fat, lazy, stupid  person who was only interested in collecting checks, not in putting a winning team on the field, and he wanted "his guy", not someone hired by his predecessor. 

Pat Shurmur    In at #9.  This guy is only lucky that the Browns have had Hue as a HC.....because I didn't think things could get much worse around here than it was under him.  But, they did.  And now the NY Giants are finding out about him.    IMO,  at currently 2-8....he has 6 more games in his NFL head coaching career.  He should never have gotten that job, and should never get another, no matter who his uncle was. (which, apparently, is the only reason he got the Browns job)

Rod Chudzinski   Slotted in at #7.  I mean...he was given too short a period of time,  and I think he came in around the era of  Mike Lombardi/Ray Farmer....so, while he was not very good at all.....I don't think he had any chance whatsoever.

Mike Pettine  Gets put in the #4 spot.  He shoulda/coulda been successful....but, he succumbed to the Ray Farmer/Jimmy demand to get Johhny Fucking Football in there...instead of choosing his own QB, which, when he had Hoyer, he did fairly well. 

Hue Jackson   #10....and for this purpose, he is sucking hind tit.  The NFL is 100 years old...and in that entire history...only one HC has a worse record (Bert Bell....who was a team owner and would have had to fire himself).  I mean...how much more suckass can you get than  2d worst coach in 100 years....(worst in like 65-70 years when Bell was coaching)

Gregg Williams (I)  I gotta put him first....he turned things around from the HJ debacle.  Why, really, he isn't our HC now should be a mystery to everyone.  It is to me. How did the Browns FO make such an error in Judgment.

Freddie Kitchens.   at this point, I am going to disqualify him as being incomplete.   While Williams and Robiskie actually have coached fewer games than  Freddie has to date, their tenures are complete, whereas Freddie has time to work on his resume....and hopefully vastly enhance its quality.

@the-gipper said:

Don't count me out!  My son is a Molecular Biologist.  He might clone his old man!!

https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/cloning.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAzanuBRAZEiwA5yf4uquWH6jcvrK9e1IRyESU7uzFQNPu-aRUevnNTQyTVYQqMZsPiyWLuhoCRCwQAvD_BwE&ef_id=CjwKCAiAzanuBRAZEiwA5yf4uquWH6jcvrK9e1IRyESU7uzFQNPu-aRUevnNTQyTVYQqMZsPiyWLuhoCRCwQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3652!3!285361323322!p!!g!!cloning

Hah, since you missed it.... Shows how tiny our planets are in relation to the Sun.....  FWIW, Mercury is about 50% bigger than our Moon....   

@hoorta said:

Ah, OT. Mercury and the Earth are going  around  the sun in the same  direction, but the little  planet  is just moving  faster.  Left to right  looking at the  Sun. Plenty of  on line video  feeds. Only  can happen if Earth and Mercury  are in the right respective places, and only  in November  or May. 

U r funnee, U shud be uh comediun. And I  had to rent a FORD Transit  van  a couple of years ago. And you're not  going to be  around  for the next transit of Mercury  visible  from the  United States in 30 years. 

Don't count me out!  My son is a Molecular Biologist.  He might clone his old man!!

https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/cloning.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAzanuBRAZEiwA5yf4uquWH6jcvrK9e1IRyESU7uzFQNPu-aRUevnNTQyTVYQqMZsPiyWLuhoCRCwQAvD_BwE&ef_id=CjwKCAiAzanuBRAZEiwA5yf4uquWH6jcvrK9e1IRyESU7uzFQNPu-aRUevnNTQyTVYQqMZsPiyWLuhoCRCwQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3652!3!285361323322!p!!g!!cloning

@the-gipper said:

Here are the Browns Head Coaches since 1999.    Rank like your top 3 best, and your worst 3, includes interim (I)

Chris Palmer

Butch Davis

Terry Robiskie (I)

Romeo Crennell

Eric Mangini

Pat Shurmur

Rod Chudzinski

Mike Pettine

Hue Jackson

Gregg Williams (I)

Freddie Kitchens

Worst three: Well this is easy for me. I still say Pat Shurmer is by far and away the worst coach in Browns history by a mile. He single handily ruined our Christmas Eve in Baltimore 2011.

2) Butch Davis got us to the playoffs, but somehow fell in love with Kelly Holcomb over Tim Couch. So he's polarizing to me. Throwing for over 400 yards vs backup secondary players, and losing the game shouldn't get you a starting gig over the guy who got you to the playoffs. 

3) Hue Jackson wasn't very good, but I give him a little break because of the intended tanking operation. I still say we should have beat the Vikings in London to avoid 0-16, but Hue abandoned the run.  

Best three: 1) Chris Palmer- he only coached 32 games, but beat Pittsburgh twice. He understood the rivalry. 

                      2) Butch Davis- see above. Was a good coach, fell victim to Holcomb mania instead of beefing up the offensive line. 

                       3) Greg Williams- cleaned up all the stupid penalties, inserted a proper LT, and damn near got us to the playoffs. 

Chud  Romeo, Mangini, and Pettine were decent coaches. Ownership meddled, GMs screwed up. Thanks Jimmy and Farmer, stupid-a$$ Kyle Shanahan is building a dam good team in Santa Clara.

@orion said:

I did not.  It must have been wicked cool though.  Since Mercury is in retrograde, watching it go backwards across the sun must have been great!  LOL

Ah, OT. Mercury and the Earth are going  around  the sun in the same  direction, but the little  planet  is just moving  faster.  Left to right  looking at the  Sun. Plenty of  on line video  feeds. Only  can happen if Earth and Mercury  are in the right respective places, and only  in November  or May. 

@the-gipper said:

hope you caught the Mercury transit,

I recently traded my Mercury transit in for a Lincoln transit.

U r funnee, U shud be uh comediun. And I  had to rent a FORD Transit  van  a couple of years ago. And you're not  going to be  around  for the next transit of Mercury  visible  from the  United States in 30 years. 

I recently traded my Mercury transit in for a Lincoln transit.

@hoorta said:

hope you caught the Mercury transit

I did not.  It must have been wicked cool though.  Since Mercury is in retrograde, watching it go backwards across the sun must have been great!  LOL

 Williams took a horribly inept system and turned it around in a matter of two weeks and had the team playing winning football. 
Of those three, Williams was the best. 
The rest? hmmmmm..... they sucked. 

#1 Mangini - The guy had heart and discipline. He wasn't perfect but players fought for him and they respected him. I loved the dudes passion.

#2 Gregg W - Again, only an interim head coach, but he had our players disciplined and fighting. They were afraid of him getting mad and he wasn't afraid to call people out. Say it was Freddie or anyone else who caused us to win, but the truth is, even though Gregg is kind of an asshole, he lead that ship when we did the turn around.

#3 Butch D - He wasn't perfect, but we actually had a playable football team under him a couple of years. His defense forced a league leading 33 interceptions, and the team played hard for him. He's my least favorite of the top three, but he at least was smart enough to win football games.

WORST:

#1 Huebatross - The man is a living meme.... From jumping into the lake, to not winning a game, to not taking accountability, to making boneheaded decisions and not having any clock management, there was a MASSIVE number of times he left me puzzled at what he did. Also, Had his buddy write stories and went on a tour on ESPN after we fired him, LOL. The guy is the worst. Don't forget his Mr. Hero commercials either.

#2 Shurmur - Lifeless, boneheaded, and he picked to coach because fatty liked him. Shurmur was in over his head, was boring, and also made dumb decisions. Hue was horrible but at least he had a personality and we can laugh about him now. Shurmur was just horrible in all aspects.

#3 Palmer - Just trash. Way to bring back the football team when I was a little kid only to bring sadness and disappointment. Granted, it's not all his fault (the draft was kinda meh), but my gosh, the Team didn't play for this guy. He didn't have a personality and I wanted him out.

FREDDIE:

Doesn't deserve to be in this category really I feel until the season is over. He's in over his head, he seemed like the kind hillbilly who likes to drink beer and can run an offense, but as a leader of men I just don't see it. He's too soft, he can't get mean, and doesn't know how to hold men accountable. People think he's a pushover. I mean if Callaway did show up late to a game what do you think Bill B from New England would do? Get some damn discipline Freddie.

As of now, his decision making is as boneheaded as Hue's was, and I think it's too hard to call an offense and be head coach at the same time unless you're incredibly gifted. Hue couldn't do it and Freddie can't either. Either Freddie will start winning, or he will lose the fans and the locker room and everyone will check out. I'm going to remain optimistic and say we finish out hella strong though and destroy the Steelers. We just have too many damn weapons.

@orion said:

Rod Chudzinski  ???  Got screwed.  Had no players.  Management  didn't get him any but told him to be patient.  At the end of the year they fired him. (so much for patience)

You would think that it's a pretty low bar for a HC to beat.....but as much as I've been a Freddie supporter because I like an attacking style of offense....he seems to have a head like a rock.  He wants to go for it on 4th down no matter what.  4th and 9 drawer play.  6 tries from inside the two...couldn't learn by the 5th try to kick the FG....nope, insanity tells you to do the same thing again, so he did.

Nice take on all the coaches Orion. I totally agree Chud wasn't given enough time to prove himself- the guy bled Orange & Brown. Then it got compounded having to scrape the bottom of the barrel to hire Pettine. Freddie's play calling has been underwhelming to date. I've mentioned there's aggressive play calling, and then there's stupid aggressive play calling. 

Speaking of things Astronomical, hope you caught the Mercury transit, and it was clear out your way. Next one is more than a decade off, and not visible in the United States. Cloudy in Ohio, but thanks to Space.com- it's always clear somewhere in the world.    

@the-gipper said:

Chris Palmer   Got screwed by a lousy plan B draft.  Had no OL.  Innovative.  Had to come up with the Wild Cat before it became a thing .

Butch Davis  A liar.  A control freak.  Wouldn't listen to scouts telling him to draft Richard Seymore 'cos he HAD TO HAVE Big Money instead.

Terry Robiskie (I)   This is a football.

Romeo Crennell  Terrible HC.  Pretty good D-Coordinator.  

Eric Mangini  Probably our best HC  (doesn't say a whole lot).  If you got a penalty in practice, do a lap.  Bottom of roster guys, if you wanna be 'up', you better have value to the special teams coach, or another guy will be 'up'.  Had a disciplined team and good special teams.  (like everyone else, didn't have a QB)

Pat Shurmur  Called a running play with no RB in the game.  A TE, who claims he never took a handoff in his life, had to play RB and promptly fumbled the handoff.

Rod Chudzinski  ???  Got screwed.  Had no players.  Management  didn't get him any but told him to be patient.  At the end of the year they fired him. (so much for patience)

Mike Pettine  Players called him The Ghost.  He walked around the practice field and said nothing.  Once called for a 60+ yd FG with Devon Hester standing in the end zone.  The kick was fielded by Hester 5 yards deep.....but the brain-dead Atlanta coach called TO to ice the kicker.  So he did it again.  YES, AGAIN.  Hester ALMOST returned it for a TD.

Hue Jackson  The worst full time coach we've ever had.  The list of dumb things he did is far too long to go into.  Let's go with:  1st and goal from the 1...in OT...against Pitssburgh...calls a bubble screen which loses 7 yards.  We go on to lose the game.  Even Freddie's calls are way better than that.

Gregg Williams (I)  Wouldn't let our safety play on the same side of the field as the rest of the defense.  Played him as soccer goalie.

Freddie Kitchens

You would think that it's a pretty low bar for a HC to beat.....but as much as I've been a Freddie supporter because I like an attacking style of offense....he seems to have a head like a rock.  He wants to go for it on 4th down no matter what.  4th and 9 drawer play.  6 tries from inside the two...couldn't learn by the 5th try to kick the FG....nope, insanity tells you to do the same thing again, so he did.

Worst: Hue and Freddie, are on a whole different level of ineptitude. 

Chris Palmer :   .156.

Butch Davis:  .414

Terry Robiskie (I):  .167

Romeo Crennell:   .375

Eric Mangini:  .313

Pat Shurmur:  .281

Rod Chudzinski:  .250

Mike Pettine....313

Hue Jackson:   .088

Gregg Williams (I):  .625

Freddie Kitchens:  .333  as of today.

@the-gipper said:

Here are the Browns Head Coaches since 1999.    Rank like your top 3 best, and your worst 3, includes interim (I)

Chris Palmer

Butch Davis

Terry Robiskie (I)

Romeo Crennell

Eric Mangini

Pat Shurmur

Rod Chudzinski

Mike Pettine

Hue Jackson

Gregg Williams (I)

Freddie Kitchens

I’m not rating Freddie yet...I’ll give a year before I grade him.

Best

Butch, Gregg Williams distant 3rd Pettine  

Worst

Shurmur (WTH were and are the Giants thinking), Hue, TIE Everyone else