R.I.P. Harry, Voice of the Phillies and the summers of my childhood.

I've been waiting for the right video to post about this, and since Jayson Stark, who is now a baseball commentator for ESPN wrote about sports and baseball in Philly for many years I think this one, narrated by Jason is the right one:



... from a description of yesterday's game:

After Victorino homered in the third, he crossed himself and then pointed up to the booth at Nationals Park where Kalas was supposed to be working.

The day was full of tributes to a man who will be dearly missed.

UPDATE:
From a story on Phillies.com about tributes to Harry:

...But to properly honor Kalas throughout the remainder of the 2009 season, players, coaches and manager Charlie Manuel will wear "HK" patches on their uniforms. The black circular patch will be located on the front of the jersey near the heart.

It seems a fitting tribute for a man who Phillies fans loved for 39 years.

Will your job be outsourced to Dr. Roboto?

Yahoo News reported yesterday that scientists have created robot scientists, capable of reasoning about scientific data and drawing conclusions, planning subsequent experiments, etc.

At Aberystwyth University in Wales, Ross King and colleagues have created a robot called Adam that can not only carry out experiments on yeast metabolism but also reason about the results and plan the next experiment.

It is the world's first example of a machine that has made an independent scientific discovery -- in this case, new facts about the genetic make-up of baker's yeast.

"On its own it can think of hypotheses and then do the experiments, and we've checked that it's got the results correct," King said in an interview.

Watchout! It's only a matter of time until they advance so that the robot scientists are made of liquid metal and can shift into any shape or form they like, then we're all doomed!!!

TPM TV's Thursday in 100 Seconds

This is a fun bit of editing wonderment, put together by the folks over at Talkingpointsmemo.com. This is a regular feature of their site, but yesterday's antics up on Capitol Hill made for an entertaining barrage of rhetoric... so enjoy! I have now watched the Stephen Colbert clip you'll see late in this video a handful of times, and I continue to be amazed by Meredith Viera conceding that she, like Stephen has "twatted."

A Shatterproof Wooden Baseball Bat?

The resiliency of popular maple bats was a hot topic in the major leagues last year as several people were grievously injured by shattered pieces of the nontraditional wood. In an article on the recovery of a Pittsburgh Pirates coach who was injured by a broken bat, an ESPN article linked to the interesting story of a guy in New Jersey who quit his consulting job to start a company that makes "shatterproof" bats out of wedges of wood using glue and pressure. The bats won't be appearing in MLB games anytime soon but as somebody who always liked the feel of wood a bit better than that of an aluminum bat, I was really intrigued by the idea.

Photo Galleries

I like pictures. I like them quite a bit, actually, so I enjoy the way the web has become a fun place to view strange collections of photos. Huffington Post often collects little slideshows to accompany the main news stories of the day, or even to illustrate something smaller... say, Michelle Obama's hugs. Yup, that's right. Today I found a gallery of photos of the first lady hugging people on HuffPo. Wow. I really don't quite know what more to say about this 'cept, um... wow.

Now, don't get me wrong, it looks like Michelle gives out a good hug, and who doesn't like a good hug, after all? But... well... bah, what do I know. I looked at it, and now you can too.

So, aside from hug slideshows, what else is fun out there this Friday? How about Sesame Street explaining the Bernie Madoff Scandal?



Have a good day, don't get ripped off out there, and hug someone you love this Friday, the 13th!

Doom Bunker!

Stephen Colbert takes some inspiration from Glenn Beck... and goes nuts. I laughed really hard at this though, so enjoy.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Doom Bunker - Jack Jacobs and Stephen Moore

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
Joke of the Day

Rob Riggle Says... Drive Safe!

I honestly am not so sure what to say about these PSAs... other than that they are strange enough that I thought I would post a couple. This first one stars Rob Riggle, formerly of the Daily Show...



...and the other stars a lady who I know appears regularly on Best Week Ever.

Music to warm your snow-bound heart

Witness the musical stylings of your friends @ the Office.

What the... Duck???

My mom forwarded this video today, and I think it's the proper antidote to our March NE snowstorm:



Enjoy!

Response to the Response to the Response

I just caught this on Huffington Post and couldn't help sharing it with you all for various reasons:

1. to test and see if there is still a "you all"
2. because I haven't been posting enough recently
3. because it's pretty funny (although it's no fake trailer for a Disney movie about Sarah Palin... damn, I still love that... gotta go back and watch... "You pucked with the wrong Ice President!"
4. Kenneth the page is involved... and 30 Rock is such a funny funny amazing show that brings sunshine into my life
5. Latest excuse to create a numbered list

Rez Abbasi: a case study in the weirdness of Amazon reviews

I've become a considerable fan of Rez Abassi, a talented young guitarist who has studied classical, jazz and Indian music. My introduction was his work on Rudresh Mahanthappa's absorbing Kinsmen album, but I thought I wouldn't mind checking out the work Abassi has done as a bandleader. So, as is typical, I began looking on Amazon to see what there was. I read two reviews of Bazaar that talked about Abassi as a master of the "surf guitar" and was a little taken aback. I don't really hear any surf in his music (whatever that sounds like!). What made me chuckle though, is an additional review, by none other than the master himself, that puts everything in perspective.

"Thanks guys for your nice comments.

Just to set the record straight, I am NOT influenced by "surf music". The liner notes say I grew up in Southern California near the beach and did BTW, surf. Influences here are jazz, classical and Indian music.
All the best."

The funny thing is that the other reviewers really seem to know their stuff. I wonder if they intended it as a joke. Anyway, I got a kick out of it and thought I would share.

Heading Home, a baseball legacy comes full circle...

Ken Griffey Jr. is headed back to Seattle, and I, for one, really can't see anything wrong or sad or problematic about this idea. I read two articles on ESPN.com this morning about the Mariner's signing of Junior, and while they took markedly different views on the matter (pro and con), I side with those who say this is a good move for Seattle. I think that it is actually a good move for baseball in general. One thing that struck me as a kid who grew up in Philadelphia, watching Mike Schmidt play his whole Hall of Fame career (complete with its ups and downs) in one town, and also watching Cal Ripken do the same down in Baltimore just a few hours away that a star baseball player having a strong relationship to a town has become a truly rare thing these days.

This offseason we saw John Smoltz, who played almost two decades for Atlanta sign with the Red Sox, and I think we've all grown weary of the ARod tales about mounting pressures playing on different stages, for bigger contracts in new cities. Meanwhile, Griffey is one who has bounced aroud as well, taking advantage of his early success to land a huge deal that was supposed to simulatneously bring the kid home to Ohio and restore the strength of the Cincinatti Red's franchise. Anyone who was paying attention knows that story didn't end quite as it was predicted, and in a reasonable move, Junior spent the end of last season in Chicago trying to help the White Sox eek out another trip to the playoffs.

Now, after may years, the kid returns home to Seattle, where his story began back in the my childhood years. While writers and fans alike can quibble about whether this is a smart move, a marketing ploy, a healthy thing for the team, etc. it strikes me that this just seems like such a feel-good choice. The Mariners are not paying Griffey a ton, and they aren't taking the biggest risk ever. If it works, I beleive it might just be seen as a brilliant choice, and for a franchise with a real need to develop young talent, I really can't imagine a better influence to have around the clubhouse. Sure, he isn't a kid anymore, and there is a reasonable chance he'll get injured again this year. Even if he doesn't he may ride the pine more than he or some nostalgic fans might like, but if there is anything that has consistently been true about Ken Griffey Jr. over all the seasons, struggles and glories of his career thus far, it is this: the kid truly embodies the joy of the game. If I were a General Manager looking to concoct a formula for building strength for the future, I can imagine few ingredients I would prize more than bringing joy and passion into my clubhouse.