Guard Dog

Wow, a lot of Yankees ended up on this list. Well, here is one more with #5 Joe DiMaggio. Not only is he the holder of one of baseballs great unbroken record (54 game hitting streak), he was also banging Marylin Monroe back when that was still a good thing.

Sign on a church in San Diego:

Very classy!

Too little cover from gunmen. A house is seldom a good choice for a "last stand". If they were after me I'd booby trap the house. Probably a chemical fuse on an interior door to a potassium nitrate device in a closet on the main wall. That way it will take the whole house down. Meanwhile I'd grab my rifle and a bug out bag and head for the back country. If you actually had to worry about that kind of thing that's the way I'd go.

That sucks Calax. It's terrible to lose a friend. Hopefully you'll get some good news on the job though.

So I was looking at realtor.com last night. I'm not interested or in a position to buy any real estate but I have a fascination with seeing what's out there. but I did come across something interesting. Apparently the mining company in Campbell County Wyoming is divesting a lot of it's real estate along the Belle Forche river. In some parts it selling as low as $200 an acre for a 100 acre tract. The problem is it's completely unimproved. No paved road access, no power or utility of any kind. And no certainty it will ever have it. In other words it's perfect. Looking at the satellite photos that whole area is high plains desert but with river access and unobstructed sky there is the means to create electricity if on a limited basis. I'm imagining a small house, completely DC powered that runs on batteries at night and a charging system during the day powered by solar and a river driven turbine. I need this like a hole in the head but I'm just so intrigued by the notion of a completely self sustaining property. I've got two solar panels (combined about 15 sq meters) and during the winter my electric bill is less than $40. A larger array in an arid climate with even less atmospheric loss would produce even more. Next time i can't sleep I really should play PoE rather than surf the web. It's going to get me in trouble.

The more I see of the behavior of my fellow citizens the more I want to stay on my isolated compound in the woods.

Six days to kill. One week from today we'll be watching real games. To mark that number is Stanisław Franciszek Musiał, who (considering attitudes of Americans in the '20s) went by the name Stanley Frank Musial. He has a career batting average of .331 which is amazing in any era. He was a 24X All Star, 3X WS Champion, 7X NL batting champion and 3X MVP. But for a two year stint in the Navy during WWII he played his entire professional life for the St Louis Cardinals. His number is retired and there is a very cool statue of him at the stadium.

You did those Agiel? That is amazing!

I finally got to see Rouge One last night. I really enjoyed it. The Tarkin & Leia CGI was a little creepy. It's clear that technology in not "there" yet. But it tied in very nicely. But the thing that impressed me the most, for a story about a civil war/ rebellion, the original 3 never felt like a civil war was going on. Kind like Skyrim actually but there were mods to fix that. Rouge One fixed that for Star Wars and they really made the Empire seem like a formidable adversary and a real threat. Empire Strikes Back did that a little but Rouge One nailed it.

Did you guys see Florida's buzzer beater 3 in OT to beat Wisconson? Amazing!

This is an easy one. Mickey Mantle, IMO the greatest of a team that has fielded the greatest players. You all know him. He was a larger-than-life figure in his day. He was an all star in every season he played (that he wasn't injured) except his rookie year. 3x MVP, integral to seven World Championship Yankees teams. He was a triple crown winner and 4x led the Majors in home runs. He was a big part of the 1961 home run race that saw Maris break the record. But what most folks don't know is it almost didn't happen. In his rookie year, 1951, Mantle was invited to Spring Training with the Yankees after just two minor league seasons. He impressed them so much they signed him to a $7500 contract (equivalent to around $200k today) and gave him uniform number 6. That was no accident. Ruth was 3, Gehrig 4, DiMaggio 5, Mantle 6... the next big thing. But Mantle was never a man who dealt well with pressure and he descended into a slump so deep he was sent down to the Yankees AAA team in Kansas City. He called his father and told him he didn't think he could play anymore. His father's reply was "Then you can come back to Oklahoma and work in the mines for the rest of your life". That was what he needed to hear. Mantle was back with the Yankees the following year wearing #7 and the rest is history. 7 days to go!

You hit the nail on the head here. In my job I have had the opportunity to work with some highly educated individuals. Advanced degrees are common and even go so far as to form an absurd "pecking order" where the assertions of a PhD are taken at face value even when demonstrably incorrect. A phrase I coined a while back describes someone whose "education has exceeded their intelligence".

I think the butcher should sell that cow to science... Cow: You will not intimidate us, we will not change the way we live Butcher: Holy crap! A talking cow!

Not the same thing. If I went nuts and went down to Memphis and shot a bunch of innocent people does Shelby County got to war with Tipton County because that's where I live? If I cross the river and do it does Arkansas invade Tennessee?

Eight days left with the closest thing baseball has to royalty. Cal Ripken Jr. And one of my all time favorites Andre Dawson. His heydays were with the Cubs and Expos but I only ever say him play for the Marlins so:

Tonight I'm sitting on my porch, enjoying the cool evening air and an adult beverage and listening to the Grizzlies/ Spurs game on the radio.

It's been a long time since I took a Statics class but I do remember something about the relationship of the angle of supports to the bend radius of the arch to reduce torsional stress. It probably won't look exactly like the concept.

How cool it this concept? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-4339282/The-incredible-U-shaped-New-York-skyscraper-unveiled.html

Ok 9 days to go with Roger Maris. He was the man who broke Babe Ruth's HR record and found no joy in doing it. If you've never seen the movie 61 you should definitely give it a look. This picture is Maris hitting his 61st on October 1 1961 (according to the Dallas Morning news away)

LOL, I thought the same thing after the game. It's nice the US won but I really don't care. I'm just glad none of my teams' players got hurt and now we can play games that matter.

Dallas Green passed away. He was a real baseball lifer: http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/dallas-green-who-managed-both-yankees-and-mets-dead-at-82/ar-BByBK0k?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

This is funny. Fan ar Astros camp wearing a Nolan Ryan jersey is sitting right next to the real Nolan Ryan... and doesn't realize it: http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/fan-wearing-nolan-ryan-jersey-has-no-idea-hes-two-feet-from-nolan-ryan/ar-BByB8I0?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

I almost went with another of my all-time favorites here, Andre Dawson. But he only wore #10 for two seasons with the Expos. So we're going back to the glory days of the game with #10 Robert "Lefty" Grove. One of the beauties of this game is the stars of old could probably still compete with the stars of today. You can't say that in any other sport. Jim Thorpe was probably the greatest athlete of his day but could not make an NFL roster right now. But if Babe Ruth line up for the Yankees in Tampa today he could still hit. "Lefty" Grove was the greatest left handed pitcher of his day (not the most creative nickname though). Grove had a career record of 300-111. The first pitcher to ever win 300 he is still tied for third all time in career wins behind Tom Glavine and Randy Johnson. He won the World Series twice with the Philadelphia Athletics and was a 6X All Star, 9X ERA leader and 7x SO leader. 10 days to go with #10 Robert Grove