It Can't Be Said Better - XIII

"I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire".

Winston Churchill

Why Edwards? Because compromising to change hasn't worked.

Good Deed

So I did my good deed for today. Jeannie, my sister-in-law called this morning because she found soot tracks in her house this morning and the damper was open. She had commented at Christmas that she was getting a little water in through the chimney. So after she got home from church I took a ladder over and climbed up to inspect the chimney. I found that there was no weather shield on top and someone had used duct tape and a plastic bag to close off the chimney. The duct tape had disintegrated and the bag had fallen down the flue, explaining the plastic hanging out of it. So I used some much heavier plastic and a whole lot of duct tape to rebuild the seal for her. It should last.

Then we went through the house until I found the cat that had fallen through the flue under the guest bed..... I was expecting a feral cat, but this was a rather sweet but terrified (and fat) pet. He/She/It didn't want to come out from under the bed, but never struggled, whined, clawed or bit when I dragged it out. I managed to hold it and comfort it for a bit, but when it got over being stark terrified, I let it go rather than get clawed and out the door it went like a rocket. Headed for home at light speed I should think.... ;o) How a cat that big got through the flue I'll never know.

A Muse Ing

Hmmm. I wonder what's on page 47.

Pwning Rome: Total War - Again

It took about a month real time, but I have conquered all before me, this time with the weakest of the Roman Factions, the Scipii. And there's a hundred years of game time left....

It can't be said better -- XII

Ted Kennedy during the FISA debate today -

"The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retro-active immunity. No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he's willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies."

Ongoing

I finished up another brigade and mounted it as well as a finishing a bunch more rocks and a random 25mm figure that caught my eye out of a box o' lead, but all I accomplished today was prep work for the next two brigades. I have a brigade pack of Union troops in hats that I broke open. The figures appear a bit taller and slender than the figures with kepi's with blanket wraps I've been painting. Also, you have to glue on the backpacks.... So I spent the Seahawk game removing flashing, filing the fill mark off the bases and gluing on backpacks. The regimental package has enough figures for two brigades, and 3 sprues of 9 backpacks each. Since four of the figures are standard bearers, a drummer and an officer, that leaves 7 spare backpacks. So I cut some 1/2 inch square bases and made a couple of piles of backpacks to mark stationary units. There will be more spare backpacks....

I spent the Indianapolis game ransacking the house for the package of labels I had put somewhere for safekeeping so I could relabel all the manila folders in my filing system in the new filing cabinet I bought six months ago to hold my bill files which have been in a heap since we moved into this house. I finally found them and filed the heap.

By then the glue holding the first brigade, the personality figures and the mounted officer to their paint sticks had set. So I primered them and they are ready to paint, but that's as far as I got, 'cause I fired up my Linux laptop to write this post while I watched Sunday Night Football (Eli != Peyton) and couldn't get it to talk to the network, wired or wireless it wouldn't pull an IP address from the DHCP server. Fiddled with it the entire game, then gave up and went back to my main box (which uses my HDTV for a monitor) after the game which also didn't want to connect to my wireless network until I rebooted the router. I'm thinkin' I may have to break down and secure my router, which is lazy man configured.

I've accumulated quite a number of nice rockpiles and some hasty fortifications. I got some stuff to repair my tree collection which has lost a lot of foliage, too. I think I'll dig the camera out soon and put out a terrain display, I like my rocks....

The whole family has been passing a cold around, it seems to have hit Jen the hardest, Kimberlyn bounced back fastest and I can't seem to shake the low grade problem I have....
Guess I'll just have to work in misery 'til it goes away.

It Can't be Said Better - XI

At Firedoglake, discussing the Republican problem in 2006, the train wreck that has been 2007 and what looks to be an even bigger mess in 2008:

"Boehner has undertaken a study, consulting corporate image experts, to “re-brand” the party. But so far, no big ideas have emerged.

Sorry, John. The Great Leader has already re-branded the party 'The Party That Loses Wars and Pretty Much F...messes Everything Up' and it's going to take a generation to undo the damage."

Weekend

I've been pretty remiss about posting of late, but I'll try and get a post up at least once a week....

I completed painting another brigade of infantry (still have to mount it) while watching the football games on Sunday, always fun to watch the Raiders lose, Seahawks won a yawner so I checked in on the Patriots-Steelers game which the Patriots won in a yawner, and Sunday Night Football's Indy-Panthers game was a yawner win for Indy....so painting.

I also finished reading Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South so I am ready to start planning for the Guns of the South scenario for RadCon. Turtledove is next year's Writer Guest of Honor. This begs the question "How do you represent a brigade of ACW infantry toting AK-47's in Hordes of the Things?" I think I will pose the question on the HOTT list. That batch of creative thinkers will surely have 42 answers.....

Kim

Seahawks

The ESPN commentators picked Philadelphia to beat Seattle unanimously this morning. Seahawks special teams allowed a 60 yard runback with 30 seconds left and only a 4 point lead. Bad special teams. Give almost any NFL offense, much less a potent one like the Eagles 30 seconds in the red zone and mostly they will score. But, defense wins championships. Did ESPN forget there is a defense? Seattle 28, Philadelphia 24.

Weather

Winter in the Tri-Cities usually starts after Thanksgiving, and it was in the mid-30's all last week, day or night.... Cloud cover all week with only occasional views of the sun, but I'm waiting for the inversion to break and then it will get cold. ;o)

It's a wetter year, we have had snow three times this week. It snowed a bit the first time last Sunday night and I woke up to this:



It did that again on Thursday, but Saturday we had real snow:



So Jennifer didn't want to drive to Richland for a GWP Christmas Caroling so I agreed to drive her and Kimber over there. Of course, when it was actually time to drive an hour and a half later, it looked like this:

Tough driving.... ;o) It wasn't an accident that all the Indian tribes wintered around here.

Kim

Productive Holiday

Who says watching football is a waste of time?

From Friday before last to today, I painted all but the advancing brigade on the road done the weekend before (including the pile of rocks and the 25mm gun emplacement) mostly while watching football games....

Closeups:

Brigade Charging

Cavalry Brigade

Now I need to get some REVO flags for those bare poles....

Bragging rights - Drew who?

Alex Brink is the ONLY Wazzu quarterback to beat the Huskies THREE times.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is pretty much over as a holiday, but I have much to be thankful for. I had a wonderful meal prepared by my wonderful wife with help from my wonderful daughter. What a wonderful world... ;o)

Jen's sister Jeannie came for Thanksgiving and enjoyed the meal. Jen did some custom tailoring for her and while the sewing was going on, she and Andrew played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and I read the questions.

During the day, before the meal, I installed Ubuntu Linux on this old laptop.... I am using it to create this post. It installed without any problems, setting up all the hardware without having to hunt down drivers (which made for a complicated Windows XP install) and I set up Evolution to run my POP3 E-mail from Verizon. I've had some problems setting it up but now that I solved the thermal issues, it runs like a champ... though a bit slow. It's been rather painless except for install issues caused by it's thermal issues. After I stuck a CoolPad underneath it, it's been flawless.

Thanks to NFL Football

Sturgeon's Law -- 90% of everything is crap. Including watching NFL Football games, so what do you do 90% of the time? I paint. Two new brigades and a pile of rocks....If you zoom in, the pile of rocks and the advancing brigade look really good, but the firing line is a bit out of focus, so here's a pic of the firing line. Next brigade to paint is charging....



Some people think baseball is boring. I think some people are easily bored.... (Dad used to say "How can you be bored if your homework isn't done?!?")

The scariest story I have ever read

Think about just how scary this really is. Have you read 1984? Been following the news in Pakistan?

An ordinary eyewitness story.

Think about how really scary this story is.

Kim

HOTT at Tactical Solutions Gaming

We only had four players for the HOTT tourney. It was, after all, an historical gaming event.... I finished 1 win and 2 losses. The new Badger knights died ingloriously in both battles they fought. The Badger hero won a desperate final assault on the Undead Aerial Hero for my one win.

Somebody on the HOTT list asked for more details on Phil's mounted Elves, so I took some closeups and got some info. The figures are Grenadier, sculpted by ??? Naismith, who has been around sculpting minis for ages.

Below, Elven Heroes, one mounted, one not. There is a dismounted sword waver behind the mounted guy, hence the apparently two bladed sword.

Here are the two stands of Elven Riders.

This is a closeup of the Mounted Elven Hero. You can zoom in quite a ways before the picture pixellates, if you really want to....


The photo of all the mounted elves at the top includes the Elven Stronghold, a custom bit Phil did starting from an aquarium piece. Impressive, no?

MoBadgers, MoPics

Look, look! See, see! This is the completed Badger battle line. The two stands of warband in the back are extras. Bet you wouldn't wanna see that from the other side of the table.... ;o)


These are the new figures, if you zoom in on the photo, the personality revealed is just too much fun. I particularly like the stand of Red birds. They all look like Big Bird, but the one in the middle looks like she's looking over her shoulder in terror at the one farthest left who looks like he's about to take a bite.

Here is a rear view of the Knights, where you can't see that I painted them in trews....

Kim

It can't be said better -- X!

Finally, somebody says it in a venue that it can't be ignored.

Senator (D) Chris Dodd on the floor of Congress.

My favorite paragraph:

"The damage that was done to our country on 9/11 was stunning. It changed the world forever.

But when you start diminishing our rights as a people, you compound that tragedy. You cannot protect America in the long run if you fail to protect our Constitution. It is that simple."

Its Over.

Pack it in, hang up the gloves, cancel the election, it's all over. Chuck Norris has endorsed Mike Huckabee.*

*Remember, Chuck Norris doesn't do pushups, he pushes the earth away.**


**There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.***


***Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris****

****Et Cetera

Depression

Remember all those ACW 10mm figures I painted up? I put them in the truck for show and tell, but all I can figure is I must have left the box on TOP of the truck and they fell off somewhere. They are gone. I can't find them anywhere, including backtracking and checking the gutters.... Four brigades, a gun battery and a general. Gone.

Oh well, it's just the time involved, I have lots more to paint up. But I switched to painting my new Badgers when I got over it.



Two stands of Knights and two stands of Blades.... Beware of MoBadgers. ;o) BTW, the tartans are: Hunting Stewart on the Blades, Royal Stewart on the mounted right and Campbell on the left. Campbell is also known as "Black Watch" and has it's own theme song, "The Campbells are Coming". Bwahahahahahah!


I have been researching the Battle of Stones River for a new ACW scenario for my Eyes Have Seen the Glory rules. War Eagles playtested it last Saturday, and the basics all work pretty well. Need to tweak a few things in the OOB and setup but it should be shipshape for Tactical Simulations Gaming in two weeks.

Kim

UPDATE: I have figured out what my problem on focusing on closeups was. I was putting the camera TOO CLOSE. You know, if you zoom in on the badger cavalry, it's amazing how much they look like Big Bird.... ;o)

K

Weekend

One televised General Conference session and two and half football games later:

I decided to finally finish my Norman DBA army I won for a second place finish at a PHMGS event in Los Angeles and I wanted to get a really full brigade stand for the 10mm ACW army. I'm really very happy with the way the brigade firing line turned out. Here's a sky shot so you can see the layout:
The front rank is firing, the second rank is loading and the rear rank is a standard bearer and an officer. The Norman's are a stand of blades (dismounted retainers with the colored shields), the other stand is spears (shield and spear, no armor). All stands still need to be dressed, but that's for later.

War Eagles should be playtesting the Stones River scenario next Saturday if Gary oks the plan. I'll need to type up the OB and create a cheat sheet next week to be ready. And a trip to the office supply store for labels to put on the stands....

Kim

October is Youth History Month

Barbara Johns

It can't be said better X

"The first reality is that the occupation of Iraq has disintegrated into mere US presence. We no longer have the political, military or economic ability to frame terms of debate, let alone dictate them. The second reality is that Iraq has balkanized, and in fact two of its political divisions are engaged in a low intensity conflict against each other. The third reality is that the current US political leadership is out of touch with both economic and military realities in Iraq, and is going to pour gasoline on the fire for at least another year."

Stirling Newbury, The Agonist, Full Post

Another Pile o' Treasure

What this really proves is that you really MUST go through your stash every once in a while. While going through mine (shrunken considerably by the move to San Diego and back), looking for something else entirely I found, and I must woot!, 8 blister packs of original Off The Wall Armies figures. Four packs are OTW BunRabs. 3 packs are Highland Badgers, including one pack of the Heavy Cavalry Lancers, which with the one figure that Steve Jackson Games had in stock gives me figures for two more stands of riders for the Badgers.... Plus there's a 3 pack of the Heavy Cav Officers I've been using for riders (I must have had a total of 3 packs of that figure).

However, the OTW BunRabs do not look at all like the BunRabs I have, so now I have no idea who made the ones I have painted, but maybe they CAN be found somewhere. I know the OTW BunRabs are long gone.



At the bottom of the picture is one (alas, just one) blister pack of the "Frateri Diversi Romuli Remique" which, if I get the Latin is (I guess, more or less) "The Changeling Brotherhood of Romulus and Remus", three footmen with spear. But at least now I know what to search for. ;o) IIRC, they were a werewolf Roman analogue, the figure looks like it might be intended to be Auxilia, but spear?!?.

Heh. I just had a thought. I could put two lancer figures and an officer each on two stands and call them Knights. More beef for the Badgers!

Kim

It's starting to look like an army....

A dismounted Union Cavalry brigade skirmishing on the right. Two brigades of infantry and a battery form the battle line under a general officer with a provost guard. It's starting to look like an army, though still a very small one.....

Fighting lies (no they are not 'spin') with truth

Enforcement of the EU antitrust ruling will not 'stifle innovation'. It will free it from the death grip of an 800 lb. gorilla who has gotten lazy. It might even motivate the 800 lb gorilla to actually make its stuff work better.

Make no mistake, Microsoft is lying and the lies are all over the place in the media and being accepted and repeated as news. I recommend reading the full article, link is below.

"Despite what Microsoft and its partners would have you believe, monopoly abuse is not good for you. It only benefits the monopolist at the expense of competition, innovation and society at large. Antitrust law was created to address this issue and to protect the interests of society.

If a monopolist tells me that antitrust law harms innovation, I have to clearly state that I am not convinced.

Neither should you be."

George Greve, President, Free Software Foundation, Europe (FSFE)

Full article

Kim

It can't be said better IX

Bradley Whitford

Click on the name.... ;o)

This has toget spread around.

Send this link to everyone you know who appreciates music. If anybody knows or can find out who the lead violin for the Skidmore College Orchestra is, please tell me...

More completions

I finished the Old Glory dismounted Cavalry brigade I started on last June... I took a side trip into Hordes of the Things and piddled a lot at a lot of other things, but finally, here it is:

Still having a little trouble with the autofocus. Took these outdoors in evening light. It looks ok, until you blow it up. I think I need to consult the manual....

Since the infantry and artillery are different manufacturers, here is a comparison photo. Looks like they will fit together just fine.

I have a few more miniatures now, so I'm going to put more figures on the next infantry brigade, I have to paint a couple more and I have an artillery battery in production. I'm going to try to get them done in the next few days....

Kim

It couldn't be said better VIII

The last word on SCO's Chapter 11 comes from Eric S. Raymond, co-founder of the OSI (Open Source Initiative). Raymond, doubtlessly speaking for many Linux users, said, "couldn't happen to a nicer gang of scum-sucking leeches."

Complete wrap up of comments from Open Source luminaries at Steven Vaughn-Nichols. LinuxWatch, EWeek

Sparky, the Aerial Hero

You may remember that Andrew really wanted to field his Dragonfly that he made in day program as an Aerial Hero in the Hordes of the Things games we played at Eighth Day last weekend. We also have Dinosaurs not yet mounted for the rest of the army....

Delusions

The Bush administration keeps pushing the delusion that the occupation of Iraq is comparable to the occupation of Korea... or even more far-fetched, Japan or Germany. A moment of common sense demolishes any such comparison.

"We garrisoned troops in these three countries for half a century, as we did in Saudi Arabia for about a decade. The periods of military government in Japan and Germany were relatively brief. And most importantly we never mounted counter-insurgency operations in any of these countries." Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo (my bold)

The VietNam analogy works much better, both as a picture of a lost counter-insurgency and what will happen in the end. In the end, we will have to withdraw, because no government that we support can survive, because we support it. 57% of Iraqis think it is a good thing to attack US Troops. 93% of our new allies (according to Petraeus), the Sunnis think so.

Kim

Thumb leave for Nerd Without Thumbs

Userfriendly 09/10/07

Next con: TACTICAL SOLUTIONS GAMING

Northwest Historical Miniatures Gaming Society is a sponsor of Tactical Solutions Gaming Con. I expect they will make room for most anything as they are a fledgling con. If anyone is interested in attending or sponsoring an event, there is a contact page here. Another thing you could do to support the con is sprinkle links anywhere you can, 'cause a google search on "tactical solutions" gets you a bunch of arms dealers on page one and no sign of the con. If you notice a link in my labels for a while, that's why....

Kim

Update: Linkiness has The Miniatures Page's announcement and link to the con's page up to the last entry on the first page of google returns for Tactical Solutions. Still no sign of the con page itself. If any of you have a page, stick a link on it, and pass the link around in your e-mail until Google notices....

K.

Eighth Day a Success

Success #1: The event participation was a near break-even (even though a first time event and expensive). If you add in the dozen or so Pre-registrations for RadCon 5, cash flow was positive, though they don't really apply to the event. The video room was mind boggling: Console games with lounge chairs and 12 foot projection screens; a dozen pc's with 24" widescreen monitors and the graphics cards, ram and speed to play whatever, and all the games you could want.... None of the pictures I took show it off, since the room was darkened for a reason, but WOW!. Bryan and Phil said they almost got sucked into watching a game of Madden Football 'cause it looked like a live game....



Success #2: Andrew got interested in gaming with me and was quite successful in being a fun little gamer. I especially enjoyed his inspiration to field his dragonfly, Sparky, which he made himself as a dragon in a battle with Bryan (it required a bit of tolerance from Bryan and some improvisation on fielding an unmounted figure). Then in the big battle HOTT, Andrew spotted Phil's barker marker with the unbroken column and set it up on that and wanted to field him as an aerial hero. A bit of tape and voila! (See BigBattleHOTT, below)


Now I have to build him his own army, built around Sparky.... ;op

Failure #1: Never put the river directly in front of the stronghold when the attacker has an aerial hero. One of you will lose on a straight 6 v 6 combat, but the stronghold surrenders and there is nothing you can do to support it....



Success #3: The big battle HOTT was a boatload of fun and came down to who could get the last kill first. A very near run thing.... Undead and Goblin Hordes vs. Dwarves and Elves. Note Sparky, the Elvish Aerial Hero in front of Andrew (in the orange shirt)... ;o)



Success #4: We had a lot of fun with the horde armies and Bryan worked out a tactic whereby he was able to suck in 2 heros and 2 riders and envelop them with a dozen hordes. They are such crunchy little bits, you figure just stick it in with an overlap and they'll die. And they do, and they fall back past the newly arriving hordes who flank you and get in your rear (and drop in a lurker for grins) and then you die.... It was very scary to watch.

Success #5: Bryan's snowy battlefield for the Dogs of War scenario was admired greatly by all and the game was fun to play. The rules are speedy and reasonably realistic and your palms get all sweaty.




Failure #2: If you jump around the corner, and spray down the Russki commando with your trusty AK-47 .... don't miss. 5 d10 for a 6 or below and I roll 9,9,8,9,9. Game over.

In sum, much fun was had by all....

Kim

It can't be said better -- VII

The Iraq War has always functioned as bloody wishing well. You throw Americans down the hole in exchange for a wish: a fervent wish for a region transformed, and a country re-birthed, and a legacy untarnished. If it doesn't work, do it again. American lives continue to be the cold commerce of foreign policy failures, the spent loose change of patriotism.

Hunter, Daily Kos, 09-06-07

He coulda stopped there, but if you want to read the rest....

Were you telling the truth the first time, second time, this time?

Daily Kos Kagro-X

"The terrorists and the Baathists loyal to the old regime will fail because America and our allies have a strategy, and our strategy is working."
President Bush
November 1, 2003

"Our strategy is working."
Vice President Cheney
September 28, 2004

"That's our strategy. And it is working and it is going to work, for the good of the country."
President Bush
June 24, 2005

"Our strategy is working."
White House's "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq"
November 30, 2005

"This approach is working."
President Bush
December 7, 2005

"It is a concrete example of how our strategy is working."
Frm. White House spokesman Scott McClellan
March 20, 2006

"It took time to understand and adjust to the brutality of the enemy in Iraq. Yet the strategy is working."
President Bush
March 20, 2006

It can't be said better, uhhm VI, maybe?

As you all know, I have been known to rant on this subject. I know a lot about the stupid laws. Here's why I think the laws are stupid....

Uncle Sven says what he lived.

Kim

Close up

Finally got a close up to focus properly. The Badger Hero, bigger than life size!

Badger, badger, badger

The Highland Badger repairs are completed. I still have some more BunRab figures to paint, but I will have to buy some more badgers to fill out the army, since the Badger riding birds have an unfortunate tendency to break off at the ankles. I have enough footless birds to make a couple more stands of riders, but it would take a lot of repair.

Here is a photo of the BunRabs, and Horus investigates the armies.

Feh!

No matter what the manager says, the Mariner's home series with the Angels is THE critical series of the season. Not winning this series means no chance at winning the division. Zip, none, nada. That is what this series always meant.

Not winning the division means the only playoff chance is the wildcard and they are still in the running for that. BUT, it will probably mean playing the BoSox and getting creamed by their pitching in the first round.

Thank you Jeff, they gave you a 5 run lead and you GAVE IT BACK! Take the 8M next year and use it to resign Jose Guillen.... Trade Weaver for anything you can get, if you can get anything. He may be great on a good day, but he's entirely unreliable and doesn't have enough good days. Let somebody else gamble on him.

Kim

Gettin' it done....

The family spent the weekend at Mom's cabin on Lake Coeur d' Alene and I added to the Pile o' Blocks....






I'm still not entirely happy with it. The wall with the paving stones on top makes a seat for tall people, but too tall for short people. I used all the bricks I had with me, so I'll take another one up sometime and put a second brick on the singleton at the top of the steps to make a seat for shorter people.
The other major modification would be to lift the steps, pour concrete, then set the pavers in the concrete so you don't have to keep pouring sand on them. The sand holding the pavers doesn't work on the steps very well, because it just washes away. If you enlarge the photo (just click on it) you can see the top step is uneven and the sand just washes out from between the pavers on the lower steps. Concreting them in will be for next spring though.

The Mariners ended up with a split with the cellar dwelling Rangers after the loss again today (Sunday). That is NOT getting it done. They stay two games back of the Angel's, and are only a game and a half up on the Yankees for the wild card. If they don't win the homestand against the Angels this week, they are no better than tied for the wild card and buried out of the running for the division, since they have an away series with the Yankees coming up, and three games in Oakland and four games in (Not) Los Angeles to close out travel for the season. By that time, three games at home with the Rangers probably won't matter unless they win some away series'.

Kim

Woo Hoo!

The Mariner's shut down Texas' record setting (33 runs in one game) attack, winning last night 9-4. They are one game back of the Angels for the division and two games up on the Yankees in the Wild Card. And the Angels and Yankees are done with each other, so my schadenfreude is back.

And, Voila! The Highland Badger Stronghold

I lost my schadenfreude.

The Mariners jumped all over a pitcher that held them down last week chasing the Twins' Matt Garza in the third with three two-run homers and a solo shot (Ibanez' second home run of the game). So with a win, what happens with the Yankees (a half game back in the Wild Card) and the Angels (2 games in front in the AL West) really matters. And they play each other. Nothing bad can happen. So that game is on ESPN 2, so I tune in. The A's are up at home, 1-3 after two and OK, I love to see the Yankees lose, so I hang around while I fold the laundry. And the Yankees scrape a run in the fourth, then A-Rod lasers his 40th home run for 2 more tallies and that's OK, 'cause nothing bad can happen. If the Yankees win, we stay a 1/2 game in front on the Wild Card and gain a game on the A's to be just one back? Yeah, I'd rather win the division. Then in the bottom of the seventh, the A's just spank the reliever for 3 runs to take the lead and I lost my schadenfreude. Posada hits a two run homer to tie it in the eighth, and I AM CHEERING FOR THE YANKEES! That's just wrong. And I mean by that, it's not just kinda wrong, it is I AM CHEERING FOR THE YANKEES WRONG! And unless the Mariners lose tomorrow, I will still be cheering for the Yankees tomorrow. That is just so wrong! But I can't help it.

Kim

Mariners +17, 69-52

High point for the season on a sweep of the Chicago White Sox. They're still a half game ahead of the Yankees for the Wild Card and made up a game on the (Not In) Los Angeles Angels. Another Mr. Hyde appearance from Jeff Weaver in there.... Back to the Twins on Monday.

Treasure Pile!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words.

E-Bay score. $264 worth of minis for $100, I'm splitting with Phil.


Also making progress on the Badger Stronghold.

Mariners LIVE!

Tuesday night, David Tuttle (may he be as blessed as I) called and said he had a couple of tickets to Wednesday's day game and nobody had been able to use them, did I want them? I called my boss and begged. He gave me the vacation time and we went. They were beautiful seats, front row of the second deck just off the first base line. The Mariner's lost.....

It was an outstanding game for eight innings, a pitcher's duel at 1-1 after 7, and a bobble to let a Twins run score in the eighth. Jarod Washburn pitched a great game. The bobble made it 2-1 after eight, certainly a salvageable situation. But Sean Green gave up a hit, a walk and a sacrifice getting two outs in the top of the ninth, to put men at 2nd and 3rd. They walked Joe Mauer (.305, 5 HR) to get to Torii Hunter (.296, 24 HR), loading the bases. Hunter parked one for 4 RBI. The crowd got up and walked out. It was really quite weird to look back from the ball landing to see the aisles now filled and the seats empty..... I wondered about the intentional walk to Mauer and hindsight is 20-20, but dang! Bad move.

Are they good enough? This one belongs to the manager....

Kim

Na,na,na,na, Hey, hey, hey, goo-ood bye

Lotsa people are writing about Karl Rove's sudden resignation. I like John Edward's official statement (yes, it is OFFICIAL, from the campaign official statements):

"Goodbye. Good riddance."

'nuff said.

Kim

Mariners +16

Minnesota is a dangerous team still. Richie Sexon starts off the game with a two run double and then the team scuffles for a third run off of Johan Santana, last year's Cy Young winner. Minnesota ties the game with a big inning against the relievers but Richie mends his reputation with the home crowd with a walk off home run in the 9th. (Jeff Weaver's got a ways to go yet.) They have to keep winning these games to stay in it, but they are finally hitting good pitching and their pitchers are keeping it close. If they keep it up, they will have an October. But they've gotta keep it up.

Kim

It can't be said better--V

Trickle down economics and middle class Republicans -- "They've waited, patiently, while their pensions and protection were stripped. They stood in position to catch a trickling drab of promised prosperity, as their healthcare premiums were hiked, benefits reduced, or coverage eliminated altogether. Some waited right into their modest, middle-class graves believing to the last breath they would share in the wealth, as CEO wages skyrockected. Nary a month passed when the faithful were assured that one more round of tax giveaways, one last gravy-train load of corporate welfare, and just one, final hundred-billion dollar loan cosigned in absentia by their unborn children, would reap the promised reward. Mega-zillionaires surely laughed at us rubes all the way to the offshore bank even as their contemptous trust-fund brats giggled gleefully through luxury rehab or the sweetheart suspended sentence. Could it be time to try instead a proven percolate up approach instead of the same old trickle-down scam?" Darksyde at Daily Kos

More Photos

Here are some more photos from the Game Day in Tacoma
last weekend. The Goblin Doom Diver
deserves a better photo, but
Wow! the Dwarven Book of Grudges
is really a class miniature presentation.....





The peaceful looking village below has hired seven magnificent(?!) gunfighters to defend them from the depredations of forty bandidos. I won't bore you with details, but much fun was had by all....
Kim

Mariners 63-49

M's sweep the Oriole's with a win over Daniel Cabrera who had a 7-0 record in 9 starts against the Mariners. Meanwhile, the A's are getting the same treatment the M's got from the BoSox so going into the weekend they are a game up in the Wild Card and only 2 1/2 back of Anaheim (which is not in L.A.... or even L.A. County.) Beating up on the sub-.500 Orioles or ditto the White Sox won't prove they're good enough, but at least their keeping the jury out....

Kim

Why do you think they call it Hordes of the Things?