A long, hot weekend. Temperatures in the 90s (mid-30s C), with high humidity. I got up early Saturday morning and mowed the lawn. Glad I did, since it was only in the mid-80s at that point. Friday and Saturday evenings were spent watching the Saints, and Sunday I stayed home in the air conditioning and caught up on sleep.
- The Saints are first half champs after a win on Saturday night. I stayed home from the game on Sunday, figuring it was going to be awfully hot out there (it was) and that they might not be playing their sharpest after a night of celebrating (they played pretty poorly). It was nice taking a day off. It was also interesting watching the game on TV, where I learned that
Reggie Jackson and John Sahlberg have thrown out at least one Saint in every series in which they have umpired the Saints. No other umpiring crew has thrown out a Saint this year.
Sunday, George Tsamis, the Saints’ Manager, got tossed by Reggie Jackson for a comment about a called third strike on Chad Ehrnsberger (it looked like a ball on TV), and then a couple innings later, Jackson tossed Kevin Sullivan, the Dogs’ catcher. I thought Sahlberg had some pretty questionable calls on Friday, too. Jon Moynihan, who was behind the plate Saturday seemed to have the best (though still not good) command of the plate, and was the only one of the crew not involved in some drama over the weekend. Now I understand that Northern League umpires are at that level for a reason, but when a single umpiring crew has so many problems with a team, maybe it’s time for the League to look into their behavior. - In the Minnesota state legislature, the Road to deal was long and bumpy, and includes a 75 cents per pack on cigarettes and increased property taxes from a governor who promised
no new taxes
. There was a time when Tim Pawlenty’s name was being bandied about as a possible 2008 presidential candidate. I’m pretty sure that’s dead now. But they’re talking about how to avoid similar budget problems in the future. How about if they don’t get a budget done, which is the one responsibility they really have, they all get canned? [press-patch] - After the bombings in London last week, Congress is now facing Urgent calls to secure mass transit. I think this is wrong-headed. What we’ll end up with is something like central London had during the peak of the IRA activity, where there won’t be a single trash-can available (because it might hide a bomb) anywhere, so there will be piles of trash laying about on the sidewalks, and places you just can’t go. Remember that London has zillions of cameras monitoring just about everything, and it didn’t slow down the bombers there. What may be more effective is the attitude of people in the UK. I’ve seen at least one article reporting people who said
We’ve seen much worse from the IRA or the Germans
and just went about their business (or more colorfully:do piss off you bloody camel-shagger, you’re making me late for the pub
) Colby Cosh has more comments on the London bombings. [strib] - One of the things that made the Countdown to shuttle launch, scheduled for this Wednesday, possible was a patch for the shuttle developed by Alliant Techsystems in Edina. Cool. [strib]
- Spiegel has an Interview with African Economics Expert who says For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid! Has someone pointed this out to Bob Geldof? [war on guns]