Homina homina homina

Remember when I was Homer-drooling over the car that looked like a plane?

Well, that's cool if you're on a budget. (And 300 mpg for under $30K would pay for itself very quickly.) But for those who can afford to spend money like they're getting a bailout, there's the official Real McCoy - the Terrafugia Transition.

The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Once it has arrived at a suitable take-off spot - an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land - it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered.

MUA-hahahahahaha! Screw you bastids stuck on the Turnpike.

The company website also says that the cargo hold is long enough to accomodate golf clubs and the like, which means that I can fly to my next tournament with my sticks and gear in the hold - and if something really bad happens, I deploy the FULL VEHICLE PARACHUTE, sweet mercy me.

Its cruising speed in the air is 115 mph, it has a range of 460 miles, and it can carry 450lb. It requires a 1,700-foot (one-third of a mile) runway to take off and can fit in a standard garage.

In fifteen years we're all gonna be flying a Swordfish II, and I for one couldn't be more jazzed if you spiked my LSD with Red Bull.

PS - there really was a Swordfish, a torpedo plane that helped sink the Bismarck.  And, this being the Internet, there's a rule that says that if it exists, there is also Lego of it.  Here they are - the real Swordfish and the Swordfish II, both built by featured on the amazing Brothers Brick.  This post has so many awesome things in it, Chuck Norris may be moved to leave a comment.

New promotion at Tropicana Field

First five hundred fans get to no-hit the Rays.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Edwin Jackson was so wild early there was no reason to think he would even finish the game, forget throw the fourth no-hitter of the season.
...
Jackson (5-6) walked eight, all but one in the first three innings, but the Rays still were no-hit for the third time since last July, including Dallas Braden 's perfect game at Oakland on May 9.

Two things... first, Jackson threw 149 pitches to finish the game.  It's the most recorded in any no-hitter (they didn't bother counting stuff like this back when; I'd lay even money on one of the old-school guys topping this number, though b-r.com's numbers go back a ways.

That in itself is not a big deal... but there's a game to be won.  I therefore wasn't so sure about this logic:

" All's well that ends well. We stopped counting at about 115,'' Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch said. " You do want to make smart decisions. You do have a chance at history and you don't want to take it away from him."

You don't, but it's 1-0 and your guy walked seven in the first three innings.  Hinch was warming up guys all night but didn't bring them in.  To Jackson's credit, he was never in such desperate trouble again, but Hinch has to be ready to call his guy in before that first hit if he has to.
 
Sentiment worked the same way for Dwight Gooden in 1996.  He was done as a front-line starter when he tossed his no-hitter for the Yankees; if I remember right it was the only shutout he had after leaving the Mets.  He threw a lot of pitches in that game, but not terribly out of line from other starts he made that season (game log here).  But you'll notice that a lot of those starts, those pitches didn't get him far.  He made, by my count, ten different starts in which he topped 100 pitches but didn't get through more than six innings - including one outing of 4 2/3 that took him 132 pitches.  It was foolhardy, to say the least, for Joe Torre to leave him in with a slender 2-0 lead.  Just the other night a fresh, young, good pitcher, Jon Papelbon, came in to close a game and threw all of eight pitches: two each to four batters.
 
Homer, single, sac bunt, homer, ballgame.
 
You can't give away wins through sentiment, even the sentiment of a New York hero coming back to his city and symbolically fulfilling, for one day, the destiny he squandered as a youth.  Nor should you heedlessly risk wins through the sentiment of... having pitched for the Rays two teams ago.
 
The other thing is small and petty and I wasn't even alive, but the AP account is calling 2010 "The Year of the Pitcher."  Hogwash.  The Year of the Pitcher is 1968; not to be a jerk about it, but Carl Yazstremski was the only guy who hit .300 in the AL that season.  How many games do you think a guy would win if he finished the year with 13 shutouts and a 1.12 ERA?  Bob Gibson won 22 and somehow lost 9.  He'd go 31-1 with numbers like that nowadays.  (Except in Kansas City.  He'd go 4-9, bust out GM Dayton Moore's windows with fastballs, and force a trade, then win the Cy Young for a half-season of work like Sutcliffe did with the Cubs in '84.)

They could always try the Jersey option

UPDATE - oh, it gets better...  it turns out that huge voting irregularities may be responsible for Greene's victory.  Do read the whole thing.

original post, 6/11/10 - Via Ace of Spades, an interesting snippet from the Washington Post about the recent Democratic primary for the US Senate in South Carolina.

Seems that a fellow named Alvin Greene came from nowhere to take his party's nomination, despite not campaigning a lick and barely affording the filing fee.  Lots of speculation that he's a GOP plant.  (If that were the case, why not actually campaign him and stuff?  How did they possibly expect that filing alone was going to get jack-sprat done?)

Anyway, the WaPo quotes the head of the national Democratic Senate Campaign Committee on the situation... one Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

You know, if Greene winds up quitting for his alleged shenanigans, then South Carolina could always do what New Jersey did when it was their Senate race - cram a new guy into the general election well past the lawful filing deadline.  I wonder if Menendez could advise them in any way about anything like that?

Naaaaaaaah.

Portrait of the umpire as a sad man

How many pitchers mounds can Alex Rodriguez cut across?  Shortly after a tiff with A-Rod about ballplayer etiquette, The A's Dallas Braden shut down the Rays on May 9.  Then Philadelphia's Roy Halladay punked the Marlins on Mother's Day.  (This completed a Phillies Family Holiday perfecto, as Philly's Jim Bunning set down 27 straight Mets on Father's Day in 1964.  Take note - Grandparent's Day is September 12 this year.)

Last night we nearly had a third A-Rod Crossing, with Detroit's Armando Galarraga setting down 26 consecutive Cleveland Indians.  And then... well, you can see it for yourself.  (Maybe the problem is that the Indians aren't from Florida.  A fictional owner tried to move them there, but both she and Galarraga were thwarted with two out in the ninth.)

I saw this in a very loud sports bar.  From the look of it, I thought that Galarraga may have bobbled the ball as he caught it - you see that it's much more visible than normal on a play like that.  It was later that I saw, and read, that umpire Jim Joyce thought the runner had beaten the throw.

God bless Jim Joyce.  He was convinced that he was right, so he made the call, no matter how tough it would be.  That is not easy.  Those calls are always so close.  Had this been a routine fourth-inning grounder in a game where the Indians had already gotten a hit, nobody would remember it five minutes later.  Now the guy may unfairly go down in history with the rest of the world's refs who've completely blown it, and on a play that's always tricky to get right, that can honestly be missed.

From that link above there's a gallery of infamous blown calls.  You'll notice as you scroll through that Joyce has been helpfully included.  Some of the others in the list are far worse, though.  For example, the "fifth down" touchdown for the University of Colorado was far worse because it was easily preventable.  Not even included on the list is the bizarre incident from last season's playoffs, when two Yankees wound up stuck at third - neither of them actually standing on the bag! - but Tim McClelland ruled one safe after he was tagged.*

* McClelland is on the list elsewhere, though - the Pine Tar Game.  He was the home plate ump that ruled George Brett out on Billy Martin's appeal, leading to one of the more memorable sports meltdowns ever... and leading to the bizarre four-out conclusion much later in the year.

But really, McClelland at least had a base to stand on in the Pine Tar Game.  And he was dealing with the wily Billy Martin, who never missed a trick, who would invent tricks if there were none to miss at the moment; in a situation where there was no specific rule or precedent.  The more recent one - how do you not know that a stationary runner is not in fact standing on the base?  Joyce had to watch the runner, the pitcher, the ball, and do it all at full-speed with the call deciding whether or not the pitcher had just completed a perfect game.  To me that's far less culpable.

(And not for nothing: one of these calls shouldn't be on that list at all.  Brett Hull's goal was good.  He's allowed to be there with possession of the puck, even if the puck itself is not in the crease when it's shot.)

What do you all think?  Should the Commissioner's Office overturn the call and give Galarraga the perfect game?

UPDATE - today Jim Joyce is working behind the plate at the Tigers game.  Detroit sent Galarraga out to hand in their lineup card before the first pitch, and while Joyce sobbed, the Detroit crowd gave them a standing ovation.  Goosebumps.  That's true class and grace.  Appropriate label has been added below.

Thirty years ago

What if 7:11 was closed?



Favorite part of the pic is John Tonelli going crazy over on the right.

HISTORY WILL BE MADE.

Dear A-Rod, All is forgiven

If this is what happens to guys after Alex Rodriguez cuts across the pitching mound, nobody is going to whine about the "unwritten rules of baseball" and "respect for the game" any more.

Dallas Braden definitely owns the mound now.

Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history on Sunday, shutting down the majors' hottest team and leading the Oakland Athletics to a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
...
"Pretty cool," Braden said. "I don't know what to think about it just yet. There's definitely a select group. I'd like to have a career more than today."

Of the 17 who have thrown perfect games since 1900, Braden is one of the least accomplished, though he's got a shot at a decent career.  Unless things go very wrong for him, however, he will stay ahead of Charlie Robertson, who shut down Ty Cobb's Tigers in April of 1922, in just his fifth major-league pitching appearance.  The Tigers thought that he was doctoring the ball; he finished his career with some awful overall numbers, so they may have had a point, but '22 was clearly the best year he had as a pitcher.

Another fun fact - Braden's Mother's Day perfecto bookends with Jim Bunning of the Phillies, who retired all 27 New York Mets on Father's Day, 1964.  Less-than-fun fact - in the second game Rick Wise only gave up three hits himself, and both Met runs were unearned thanks to four Phillie errors.

Fifty-six years ago

3:59.4.

It wasn't a record for very long, but the number will stand forever.

One great thing about the playoffs

The first night, all four lower seeds won on the road.  Brilliant.  Love love love the Stanley Cup playoffs.  And of course, as things progress you get the mighty Playoff Beard, invented by the mighty Islanders teams of the late seventies and early eighties.

This recent example is a paragon of the Playoff Beard - Mike Commodore during the 2006 playoffs:

The flowing red 'fro puts it over the top.  Well played, Mike Commodore.  It's too bad the league wouldn't let you play helmetless just for the occasion.

Well done indeed

No... beyond well-done.  Spectacular stuff from Doc Zero:

The right to protect yourself, and your family, from injury and death is an essential part of your dignity as a free man or woman. Without the First Amendment, you are a slave. Without the Second, you are a child.

The Western nations which have abandoned this essential understanding of an individual’s right to self-defense have become rotting orphanages filled with dependent children.

As the cool kids like to say: read the whole thing.  Brilliant.

I am loving this blog so hard right now

If you're a fan of a hard-luck sports franchise, you get completely crazy (see: all New York sports teams) or develop a darned good sense of humor.  Lately, the Isles fans are going the wrong way... witness this spectacular nitwittery in the (400+ and counting) comments, most of them ready to toss GM Garth Snow under the Zamboni for getting a low second-round pick for Andy Sutton.

Dudes... the guy is turning 36 next year, makes $3 million, and will probably leave as a free agent after the year.  Did you expect that Sid Crosby was coming back the other way?  I hate that so many of my fellow fans have decided to turn into typical "Louie from the Bronx" WFAN caller types.  Get down off the ledge, guys, woncha?

As an antidote I hang out over at Down Goes Brown.  The draft advertisement post alone is worth your repeated clickage.  ("Customers who viewed this item also viewed: Pylon, Turnstile, Wasted Money..."  HAHAHAHAHAHA)

And BTW, Isles Point Blank is also on the Pantheon, and Chris Botta, who is Lord of the IPB, is very very good.  No beef with him (even if he does spike my comments on occasion!).  It's my fellow combox jockeys who need to get back on their meds.

update and BWAHAHAHAHA - from Greg Wyshynski (Puck Daddy), the Milbury Trade Scale.  Never has mental scarring from epic failure been this amusing!

Marco!

Rubio!

For the first time, Quinnipiac finds the former state House Speaker Marco Rubio leading the formerly very popular — and still well-known — Gov. Charlie Crist by a margin of 47% to 44%.

As per Drew at AoS HQ.  Oh, wait, there's more?

The survey is also chock full of bad news for Democrats. President Obama is seen unfavorably in the Sunshine State these days by 49% of the people, versus 45% who still see a positive leader.

And in the Senate horse race, Rubio now tops Rep. Kendrick Meek 44% to 35%.

If Obama actually stumps for Meek, he may not even carry his own district.

Happy Veteran's Day

A remembrance from Ralph Kiner, one of many professional ballplayers who served in WWII.

Every one of us has a parent or grandparent who served sometime, and I know many of you readers have served yourselves. I am fortunate enough to still have my great uncle on my father's side to thank in person for what he did to save the world back then. But to all who served, and especially those who gave all, please accept the humble and heartfelt thanks of this dumb, fat, and happy civilian blogger.

(updated - thanks to Joe Posnanski for this related image. Gorgeous on many levels. Now I have it in my screen saver rotation as well.)

Memey, memey, nice and dreamy

It's an iPod shuffly sort of thing, probably gone round before, but why not. I like rediscovering things, especially when it means cheap, easy content.

The rules, as described by SarahK:

1. Put your iTunes, iPod, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN, NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag whoever you want including me.
5. Have fun - you will be surprised at how it works sometimes.

Background: the ol’ Pod has 4150 songs on it, and many of them are quite odd, since it holds all of my show soundtracks (and a CD compilation of TV themes). Luckily I haven’t put all my Christmas music on it yet. As for tags... hey, go for it if you like it.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
“What Is and What Should Never Be,” Led Zeppelin. Heheheheh.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
“All I Need,” the Temptations. Two for two, iPod.

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
“Tuesday Afternoon,” the Moody Blues. OK, this is getting eerie. Bonus - the track from "Days of Future Passed" includes "Evening (Time to Get Away)." Sing it, iPod.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
“As Long as I’m Singing,” Brian Setzer Orchestra. The word processor wants to call him Brian Seltzer. Poor guy. (Be advised - I have a poor singing voice, but I know of know song called As Long as I'm Writing.)

WHAT’S YOUR MOTTO
“The Simpsons End Credits.” Did I mention the odd stuff on the ol’ Pod?

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
“Some Things You Never Get Used To,” the Supremes. Hahahahahahaha...

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
“Black Dog,” Led Zeppelin. Whoa, this meme went sideways pretty quickly.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
“Boom Boom,” the Yardbirds. I don’t know what this means. 50’s singer Freddy Cannon? Former boxer Ray Mancini? Artillery barrages? Maybe it’s shooting at the walls of heartache. No, that’s Bang Bang (that awful sound). Stop confoozalin’ me, iPod.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR FIRST KISS?
“Promises, Promises” by Naked Eyes. Oh, ouch. Moral - never mock the iPod; it hits back hard. Probably a design feature.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
“Night Court.” Wha?

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
“Still Alive and Well,” Rick Derringer. Interesting. I’d have picked differently for myself, but that’s kind of the whole point of this exercise, isn’t it? Besides killing time and finally putting up a post.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
“Hot Fun in the Summertime,” Sly and the Family Stone. LOVE this song.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE/LOVE?
“Velveteen,” Yoko Kanno/Ilaria Graziano. Ladybug and I first bonded by discovering that we both enjoyed Kanno’s music.

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
“Luck Will Turn Someday,” L/R soundtrack. We didn’t – and it’s hardly a dance number, though it’s a good song. If any of the songs we DID dance to had turned up, I think I would have burned my iPod as a witch.

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
“You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” Blood Sweat & Tears. Holy cow, my iPod made me tear up.

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
“Advice,” the Pillows. Ah… Sadly, I am full of help for others.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
“Pulling Mussels,” Squeeze. Hahahahaha! That would be pretty bad for a goalie.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
“Bad Case of Loving You,” Robert Palmer. Sorry, all… the secret’s out! I love my wife. (Gasp!)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
“Weather with You,” Crowded House.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
“Route 101,” Herb Alpert. Hm. This is on the Traveling Cosmic Yurt soundtrack (coming soon!) so, again, I think my iPod may be a witch. Build a church out of her!

BONUS TRACK: “Five-Eighths,” again from the L/R soundtrack. It’s the instrumental version, so there’s no heavily-accented English. Very pretty song. I know practically none of the words.

Don't you know the Dewey Decimal System??!?

Both Nina and Kate P, super literary types, have determined where in the library they would be located, based solely on name. (As compared to Kate P being, y'know, an actual human librarian by profession, and thus being located at the circulation desk or something.)

Sounded like something to try. My result was:

328 - the legislative process

Class: 300 Social Sciences

Contains: Books on politics, economics, education and the law.

What it says about you: You are good at understanding people and finding the systems that work for them. You like having established reasoning behind your decisions. You consider it very important for your friends to always have your back.

Quite interesting. A decent read on my personality, I think, and probably closer on the subject matter than I like to let on. I don't necessarily enjoy politics and stuff, but I do like reasoning through my decisions, trying to understand people, and it's important for friends to have each other's backs.

The website also lets you "cheat" by putting in your birthday and "favorite 3-digit number." I know very few people who just happen to have a favorite three-digit number. Anyway, based on birthday I'm some Eastern European reference material; based on the number of a former apartment I used to live in, I'm in this section...

231 God

Class: 200 Religion

Contains: The Bible and other religious texts, books about the general philosophy and theory of religion

What it says about you: You don't mind thinking about the unknown or other very big ideas. You will never feel like your work is finished. The 200-series is dominated by Christian topics, so you may feel like you're constantly surrounded by Christians.

Despite having a school librarian wife, I had no idea that my former apartment would wind up being in the God section of the virtual library. The part about being surrounded by Christians is certainly true, since we were all from the same college prayer group.

PS - the source of the quote in the post. Yeah, so that's a "made of awesome" tag, right there.

At 5:54 am, local time...

And I'll call down thunder and speak the same
As my voice fills the sky with flame
Might and glory gonna be my name
And they'll light my way
--- The Grateful Dead, "Estimated Prophet"

Nobody left word at the front desk, but they decided to help us out. At 5:54 am we were shocked awake by two extraordinary thunderclaps. I'm a heavy sleeper but there was no way to avoid these things - they weren't just booms, they were straight from a Norse Epic. They deserved Jack Kirby captions across the sky - "K-K-RRRR-AAA-CK-ARRROOOMMM" or something. They were like portents, one immediately following the other, both unbelieveably crisp and clear, perfectly enunciated strikes. The accompanying lightning had to be in full Blu-Ray HD to do them justice.

They seemed to pierce literal holes in the sky: as they faded, we heard rain softly start to fall, perfectly rising in volume to replace the sound of its heralds. I've never heard anything like it before, and unless I live to hear the angels' trumpets on the last day, I don't know if I will again. It was an amazing moment, and I'm glad I was there.

Speaking of Philly activism

Here's good news.

WASHINGTON — Mumia Abu-Jamal has lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.
The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up Abu-Jamal's claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

Minor quibble - since the conviction was upheld, I'd amend "killing" to "murder" in the opening sentence. Other than that, it's cheesesteaks all around. (Mr. B and I had already planned a run in May, but this makes it a command appearance. Anyone in the area who wants in is welcome.)

(h/t to the Ace of Spades headline sidebar - or is that sideline bar, or...?)

Ain't no montage short enough - AI results

Interesting night ahead: 36,000,000 votes, Ruben sings, Smokey duets with Joss Stone – and Megan was so egregious on “For Once in My Life” that Stevie Wonder himself has decided to take up his own cause. THIS is American Idol.

Medley time first. Allison, Lil, and Megan sing “You Keep Me Hanging On.” The producers have a terrific sense of humor: they give Megan the line “Why don’t you get out of my life, and let me make a new start?” Your lips to America’s ears, sunshine. At least she looks like a normal person tonight. There are two other songs, but it’s impossible to care. The choreography and solo spots are snore-causing, and this is from someone who loves the Motown.

Ford Spot – “Pocketful of Sunshine” – let me guess, they’re gonna drive right off into the picture. Didn’t see THAT coming at all! It’s supercalifordspecificexipobviousis.

Ruben is newly married, and geeks out pointing to the ring on camera. He really is a big teddy bear. The singing was quite fine. Hope the results live up to it.

Adam’s first to stand – after the least suspenseful pause of the show’s history, he’s safe and sits. Matt is safe OH SNAP he’s bottom three. I had it all written up the other way. Complete gobsmack, and Matt looks miffed. Kris with a K then gets his chain yanked by Ryan, but is safe.

Up together, Lil and Mike. Lil gets another chance; Mike takes his well-earned spot on the Stools of Shame next to Matt, who is steaming over this. He will have a good while to steam some more while we get through the entertaining portion of the program: Smokey Robinson and Joss Stone. Joss is buttah, friends; that’s a star right there. Hey presto, Smokey still got it. He sounds barely changed from his heyday. Really terrific duet, very well done.

OK, time to look for our final cut. *cough MEGAN cough* Allison is justly safe. Anoop still looks bored and serious, but he gets to sit back down. Super Saiyen is safe. It’s down to Scott and Megan. Both were among my four contenders but I picked Lil, thus saving her. (The Jinx is powering back up after a bit of a rest.) Aw nertz, it’s Scott. Stinkers. I feared this would happen. Megan looks astounded. If Matt is out, I predict the judges will use the save. (I wish that along with a save, the judges had a strikeout, the ability to banish one contestant.) Randy praises Scott. Matt looks like someone kicked his puppy. (I am loving how annoyed he is with sitting on Reject Row.) Ryan decides it’s cruel to keep Scott in suspense so they send him back to safety. Matt and Mike will continue to squirm.

Wonder time. It’s a medley of his own songs: My Cherie Amour, Superstition, Overjoyed, and something newer yet fairly good… All About the Love? Don’t know the title. He’s doing all right (a little shaky on Overjoyed – his songs are even hard for HIM to sing!) –

UNTIL he decided to yelp “I love you Barack Obama!” for no discernible reason.

I daresay that is the Christian attitude and it does him some credit, but dude, for reals – can’t this be apolitical? Can’t anything be free of it? I don’t care if you love him, or Palin, or Rush, or Franken, or the Lord President of Gallifrey. KEEP IT OUT OF THE SONG. Or wear a button or something, if you must. And…. Uhm…. Are the backup singers actually SINGING “Barack Obama” at the end??? Do I have that right? “Ba-rack O-ba-ma…” or it could be “All a-bout the love, a-bout the love.” I dearly hope it’s the latter. I’ve gone back three times and I hate to say it, but it certainly sounds like Barack’s name is in the lyrics. This is preposterous. I hope I’m wrong. Can’t we go half a day without this pferdkaese?

Matt is still ticked off for being down in the low-rent district, but justice finally prevails. Ricky Bobby is out. He now has to sing himself back in with “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” It’s time to take Smokey’s advice – this is your last chance with your woman television show. “I have to sing after Stevie?” Heheheheh. I really like this guy. He’s much better during the sing-off, but he still has to bail on a not-all-that-high note. He is also doing an odd funky-dance, which is endearing like the rest but not professional grade. 2½ tops, my brother, and at least you go out on a high.

Simon is saying “no” on the panel – over and over, in fact, because it looks like the ladies are trying to pull a save out of Paula’s kooshy skirt. “It was good enough!” Kara is heard to wail. (It wasn’t.) Ryan – “We’ve got another show after this...” Hahahahaha, even he’s trying to cut off Kara’s rambling. It’s too late, the DVR has stopped.

But HAH, remember, I have married the Ladybug, whose awesome is well-documented. She’s got Kara’s number, and has also recorded the following program (Hell’s Kitchen, as it happens). We miss about 30 seconds but we do hear that Mike is confirmed out. “I don’t feel like anything I’ve done is in vain,” he says on the clip. “You can’t go wrong by getting better at who you are.” Very sweet, and very wise. He also gets to tour, so you know, good on you, Mike Sarver. Class act, indeed.

Research is my friend

Ricki found a blog about Tiny Houses (called - get this - tinyhouseblog.com). While noodling about this blog I found... well, as background, I should tell you to go to Tracey's and read all about our blog retreat/commune in the Traveling Cosmic Yurt.

THEN you should come back here and click this link. (And don't forget the update link.)

They could ship us a real, factual Traveling Cosmic Yurt to specs. For $40,000 we'd have it all - the "aircraft-grade" skylight; all the pre-fab walls, roof, doors, and windows; even an installation guide! (Hopefully, not in badly-translated English.) Of course we'd have to build it ourselves... but come on, that's a breeze! One snappy montage later, we'd be set for life:



The Internet is sometimes such a lovely place, I could cry.

(Also found - the Spite House! Fabulous.)

Your Super Bowl kind-of recap

(Or, you could just view the short and excellent version from Kurt Snibbe...)

The Hive SB Hoedown is always great fun. Friends, endless food products, and the non-drinking Drinking Card Game, handing out points based on the events of the game. (The cards are copyrighted and everything; my Ladybug knows a bunch of very inventive folks.) This year we have some wildcards - new location, the Official Puppy, and the Arizona Cardinals.

Opening question - why coldn't Pittsburgh have worn their black uniforms anyway? The Scarlet and the Black on the same field... it would have been an interesting look. I think more of these games should be color vs. color when possible.

Real pre-game conversation: Bob Costas yields to Mike Holmgren, who yields to Tony Dungy. "Is this the studio crew of people who should be coaching NFL teams?" a buddy asks. Then they cut to Matt Millen. "Never mind."

(edit - forgot Matt Lauer with President Obama. Yeesh. Do you think Lauer's the one who brought those roses on the table? "Signed, a Secret Admirer.")

In whatever uniform, Pttisburgh looks really good to start out. And they should have gone for it on fourth down from the one-foot line. Even if they don't get in, what are the Cards going to do? They're not running against that front seven.

Cards give it back, the Steelers shove their way into the endzone, 10-0. It could get ugly, but the Cards shake off the rust and get within 10-7.

First Steelers punt of the day... and soon, a big turnover. This is ridiculous. The Steelers could be winning this by a LOT more, but they may wind up down at the half. (Incidentally, one of my SB boxes is Steelers 0, Cards 4, so if they do score here, at least I'm winning a little something something.) As a long-term plan, the Cardinals' strategy - play listlessly, dodge bullet after bullet, ignore their best player, win - is kind of terrible.

WHOA - INT

WHOA

There isn't a font large enough to describe how loudly everyone is yelling. The Official Puppy, who has handled everything very well so far, is trying to hide under the coffee table. Harrison's INT return may be the greatest Super Bowl play I've ever seen - right up there with last year's Helmet Catch, Don Beebe stripping Leon Lett, and Jeff Hostetler somehow not fumbling when Bruce Smith tackled him by his right wrist in his own end zone. (Huge underrated play, btw - that should have been a fumble and TD, and a 17-3 lead instead of just 12-3.)

Incredible runback, incredible blocking the whole way.

They're reviewing the play. I think it should stand. "After further review, that was completely awesome - touchdown!" Well, he doesn't say it that way, but that should absolutely be in the rule book. The score counts. Twelve people are handing in "defensive TD" and other high-scoring, rare cards for the NDDCG. And amazingly, I also have the Steelers 7 - Cards 7 box, so I win a little something something anyway. So, yeah - best Super Bowl play I've ever seen.

Now it's Broooooce - but first, some weird 3-d promos. None of us have the glasses. I'm grateful that they've improved the process so the picture looks reasonably normal without the glasses, though we can all tell which shots are specifically to make the audience duck when things fly off the screen at them. The Pixar movie "Up" looks like a lot of fun.

OK, now it's Broooooce. Maybe I'm an idiot, but he really doesn't sound all that good. He's stopping to take a breath in the middle of every line he sings. I understand that this song is from the 70's and he's almost old enough to pitch for the Mets, but really.

Yikes. He just slid across the stage and crotch-first into a camera. Thank GOD they're not broadcasting in 3-d right now.

OK, so snippets of 10th Avenue Freeze Out, Born to Run, the new whatever Dream thing, and Glory Days. No surprises at all. He's also sounding a bit better as the show goes on, maybe he's warming up. It must be fun to be able to take a breath by letting your audience sing the choruses for you.

The fake ref thing was incredibly dumb. I'm actually disappointed it isn't really that English guy who streaks at big sporting events. (I suppose he's already used up his ref's disguise from the Oakland/Tampa SB.) But no sliding into the camera, sir, wherever you are. Thank you.

Quick talk with the Spider, who is five miles from the host stadium as we speak. I tell him about the Holmgren/Dungy/Millen thing. Spider's reply - "Well, Matt's probably thinking 'I should have hired Dungy when I had the chance.'" Maybe neither of them would have been sitting there.

Second half, and James Harrison is apparently still tired from his INT/TD return - Arizona starts to run effectively. No points, however, and it's 20-7 into the fourth. That's when the Cardinals finally wake up: and not surprisingly, it coincides with finally working the ball to their absolute best player, Larry Fitzgerald. Touchdown, 20-14. (Gee, those four extra points from the first drive would look good right about now, huh?)

Terrible idea to punt, I think. Even on fourth and twenty - it's the Super Bowl, you're on the 36 yard line! Even a FG try with Rackers is some sort of idea, to cut the lead to three... a punt will probably wind up in the end zone, and if Pittsburgh adds points the Cards are sunk.

Or, you could down the punt at the one, get a call in the end zone when otherwise it would have been a huge first down for Pittsburgh, and get two points and a free kick. 20-16. Just to update, the Cards strategy NOW is:

play listlessly
dodge bullet after bullet
ignore their best player
commit endless penalties
dodge more bullets
win two big replay challenges
finally start playing offense with ten minutes left
make an odd decision that miraculously pays off
win

And it may work! These guys are really the luckiest team in football right now - a good team, no doubt, and their defense is bringing it after getting smooshed in the first half - but how are they even in position to win this thing? If Pittsburgh gives it up they've got nobody to blame but themselves. Have they even tried to get Parker and the running game going? Or am I just bitter that they didn't hold onto the 0-4 score and I now have no shot at the final, double-sized payoff in the box pool?

Oh, and the Official Puppy just dropped a deuce on the rug in front of a dozen people, so yeah, we're really having a good time. The Steelers are doing the same thing in front of a fully-packed Raymond James Stadium and a billion TV viewers, so it fits.

Fitzgerald takes it to the house... 23-20 Cards. Great play call and great design.

The Steelers have about 2:20 to work with. They start feeding Santonio Holmes, who had come up with the big catch on the safety play. A defender falls down and he takes it to the seven yard line with 50 seconds left. Timeout. They've got the field goal option in their back pocket if they need it... you know, just in case they can't get into the end zone yet again.

Nope. Holmes pulls a toe drag worthy of Najinsky himself, and it's 27-23 Steelers. Incredible catch. In the AFC championship Holmes had a play where the ball popped loose after a long catch, and the Ravens successfully argued that it was an incomplete pass instead of first and goal on the one - this time he snagged the ball and tucked it away as he came down, and held on for dear life. (Although during his celebration he tossed it away - huh??!?!? I would have slept, showered, dressed, and driven my car with that thing tucked under my arm. There's no way I put that football down.)

And yes, they review it. This makes four reviewed calls - three of them on Pittsburgh scores, one on a "fumble" that became an incomplete pass. (It was a good overturned call. Warner hadn't a prayer of completing it but he was clearly tossing it, however feebly.) This comes up when it happens again on the last-gasp power drive, when Warner gets smacked at the very last second and it's called a fumble - and NOT reviewed. Maybe they had to give back the gear after using it so often before? It should have been looked at. It looked like an either/or call to me. The defender hit Warner's hand and the ball, rather than wrapping up his ribs, so his arm wasn't free to move forward in the same fashion. It looked like the ball was on its way out when his arm went forward, so even though the ball popped out in that direction, it could be called a fumble.

I know that Arizonans will be annoyed that it wasn't looked at, and they will feel robbed. Eh.

Verdict - excellent Super Bowl, excellent party. See all y'all next year.

You know the old saying...

When in doubt, link Iowahawk.

"The tawny kitten writhes before the white snake." - Mulleti

The journey of five hundred miles begins when you wake up, and you know who you wanna be, and you wanna be the man who wakes up next to her.