MikeL

You are well read, James.

Happy Birfday, Wacee!

This Beard Came Here to Party

Boston's David Ortiz is flirting with a World Series record. He's got 11 hits in 15 at-bats. That .733 batting average eclipses the rest of his team's. Boston players not named Ortiz are hitting .144. The Sox could wrap up the championship Wednesday. St. Louis hopes to extend the Series to a Game 7. Can everyone say MVP?

Sox in six.

Game four was an example of blinking and missing the whole thing. What unlikely thing will happen tonight?

Forget that 109 years of statistics. There are too many stats in baseball as it is. Puppies Predict the World Series

Get used to it, Dave. Are you settled in for the short haul? http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=31172945

Psychology 101 If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the cage, hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes an attempt with same result... all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment...with enthusiasm, because he is now part of the "team". Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by the fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Now, the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, not one of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the banana. Why, you ask? Because in their minds...that is the way it has always been! This is how Congress operates... and this is why, from time to time: ALL of the monkeys need to be REPLACED AT THE SAME TIME.

Here's something that will boost Paya's admiration of US politicians even higher. From the New York Times: Politicians’ Extortion Racket

I believe that would be illegal in some jurisdictions.

Great rant, Brink! I really like it. I really do. Alas, the interenet world is such that when I tried to "Like This", I get the message "There was a problem storing your reputation vote." It seems the internet attaches your name to some things you don't want it to, but sometimes defeats your best efforts to leave your mark. I kicked Facebook out of my life years ago because of its invasive nature. Now it seems Google has become Facebook on steroids. Edit to add: There seems to be delayed action at work; I check back three hours later and my Like This" has been recorded.

I know your "admiration" is proclaimed with tongue in cheek. There is little that is admirable in Washington these days. The problem is "safe seats", the primary result of gerrymandering. Certain politicians, who have no fear of losing the next election, are free to say and do whatever they please. There are entirely too many of these idiots loose in the nation's capital. Their home districts continue to inflict their idiocy on the entire nation and the world. The state of Texas can elect a Republican idiot just as easily as San Francisco can a Democratic one. Gerrymandering should be against the law. Actually, it is illegal, but the safe seat politicians can ignore the law with impunity. While many are quick to place the blame for the shutdown/meltdown on one party or the other, they are both to blame. Politics in America has deserted leadership in favor of winning points over the opposition at all costs.

CNN commentators are all twits, too.

That's Torii Hunter flipping over the wall into the Red Sox bullpen after trying to catch David Ortiz' grand slam homer. Red Sox came from behind (5 - 1) to win 6 - 5. I like the reaction of the bearded Boston cop. Hunter landed on his back, but was OK. Here's the action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jPxNJItbrqY http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9FRvaMpgtvE

Cool!

There are crazies out there who don't want you to have pistols...really scary. It's better that you face a murderer empty-handed.

Happy Birthday, Pavel!

Hi.

Steve, I would be the last person who should give advice in this area. I couldn't resist offering my congratulations to you and Jim. I wish you all the best. Love Princess Bride. Mike

Don't wait long. You will lose your following.

Thanks for sharing the article, Pavel. Government is always in crisis in the US and Linz provided a clear view of why that is. That hasn't always been the case...not when we had a good war to fight. Then everyone pulled together. WWII comes to mind. But, it's been a while since we fought a good war. Certainly war isn't the best answer to democracy's ills. Linz has some interesting suggestions, but American politicians have their vested interests and won't be accommodating change any time soon.

"I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out." ~ Rodney Dangerfield I'm not making light of your subject, Steve. All sports can be dangerous. A bright young NFL quarterback can be taken out for half a season by a questionable hit. A baseball to the side of the head can end a career for a batter or pitcher. Those are risks of the game; not fights. Certainly, football has its scuffles after the whistle. Baseball has its rare rhubarb. Only hockey has out and out fist fights with any regularity. It's a rough game, unnecessarily so. I like hockey. I would like it more without the fights. New rules and good enforcement are all it would take. Ejections work.

It's 3:43 am CDT here and I'm thinking I should go back to bed.

YAY!