We'll Tell You Whether That Was A Ball Or Strike Right After This Message From "LensCrafters"...

From the AP:

Baseball umpires and management signed an agreement Wednesday that will allow the sport to start using instant replay to help determine calls on the field.

Major League Baseball still hasn't determined when the use of replays will start. Installation of equipment has been going on at ballparks, and officials have said they hoped to start using replay in August.

Replays will be limited to boundary calls, such as determining whether fly balls were fair or foul, or whether they went over fences.

The exact same calls that umpires are supposed to make...

"To Be Awake Is To Be Alive."

Thoreau; Walden:

The art of spending a day! If it is possible that we may be addressed, it behooves us to be attentive. If by watching all day and all night, I may detect some trace of the Ineffable, then will it not be worth the while to watch? Watch and pray without ceasing? .

I am convinced that men are not well employed—that this is not the way to spend a day. If by patience, if by watching I can secure one new ray of light, can feel myself elevated for an instant upon Pisgah, the world which was dead prose to me become living and divine, shall I not watch ever—shall I not be a watchman henceforth? If by watching a whole year on the city's walls I may obtain a communication from heaven, shall I not do well to shut up my shop and turn a watchman? Can a youth, a man, do more wisely than to go where his life is to be found? As if I had suffered that to be rumor which may be verified. We are surrounded by a rich and fertile mystery. May we not probe it, pry into it, employ ourselves about it—a little? To devote your life to the discovery of the divinity in Nature or to the eating of oysters: would they not be attended with very different results? . . .

To watch for, describe, all the divine features which I detect in Nature.

My profession is to be always on the alert to find God in nature—to know his lurking places.

South Bay Homegirls.

From the AP:

BEIJING -- Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have won their second consecutive gold medal in beach volleyball, playing through a steady rain to beat Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China 21-18, 21-18. Walsh and May-Treanor, who did not lose a single set in Beijing, extended their winning streak to 108 matches in a row.

Beers at the Poop Deck, ladies...

"Nothing Happens Unless First We Dream."

Carl Sandburg wrote that.

My Sean Hannity-in-the crosswalk fantasy in six beautiful words.

Hannity couldn't quote him, of course, because Sandburg wasn't published by a fly-by-night, right-wing imprint, plus Hannity is too f****** stupid to quote real writers.

I'd even drive a Hummer for one night if I could run that m***********'s ass into Ann Coulter's bulging Adam's apple and leave 'em both bloodied and competing for that last gasping breath. 

Then I'd hope nobody won.

Gold Medal!

     Michael Phelps is awesome, but I kinda like Paraguayan Olympic javelin thrower Leryn Franco...

     Let's just say: "10".

Immoral Authority.

"Make Peace With Man And War With Your Sins."

     This post's title is a Russian proverb.

     A year ago, I was living and working in Russia for the summer. I loved my time there, and will always have a strong affinity for the Russian people.

     I don't pretend to know much about Russian geopolitics, but I hope this current chill wind doesn't turn bitterly cold...

For What It's Worth.

From Politico:

Count Ralph Nader as unimpressed by the crop of supposed finalists to be Barack Obama’s running mate. “I don’t think he’s that dumb,” said Nader, commenting on widespread speculation that Obama’s choices are down to Sens. Joe Biden or Evan Bayh, or Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. The smart pick, according to Nader, is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nader phoned into Politico on Tuesday afternoon to offer his prediction that a surprise nod to Clinton is actually what Obama has in store — never mind the talk of mistrust between the Clintons and Obama. “He just has to swallow hard and do what JFK did” in picking rival Lyndon Johnson in 1960, said the liberal activist and maverick presidential candidate.

Nader said he does not see how Biden, Bayh or Kaine would help Obama politically, and believes the speculation about them is a "smokescreen." If it’s a traditional white male politician Obama is after, Nader offered, the better pick would be former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, who brings national security heft and could put his home state in play. It might be tempting for the Obama partisans to brush off Nader’s freelance forecasting, but dismissing him as a crank is a risk. Many Democrats believe he siphoned votes and cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000. As for his own reading of the vice presidential tarot cards, Nader admitted, “I may have egg on my face in a few days.”

If he's right, FOX News could always fire Dick Morris...

I Loves Me Some FOX News Journalistic Values!

From 23/6.

What Happens In Minneapolis Shouldn't Stay In Minneapolis...

     It ain't Vegas, so it's well worth talking about...

     I'm a dedicated New York Times reader, but I missed this; it's singer/songwriter Bernie King at Lee's Liquor Lounge in Minneapolis--a fine hang--and this screenshot appeared via e-mail.

     Apparitions seem cyber-centric these days. 

     You like a rockin' little record?   

     Click the "KING" link along the right side of the blog and let your spine unwind...    

For Obama, Time To Go Number Two.

But who?

Biography.