Six Blind Mice

I know that fans of the St. Louis Cardinals will disagree with me, so they can stop reading now if they choose... And no, I am not a disgruntled, sore loser Rangers fan. But as a true fan of baseball, I must say, the Rangers didn't lose the World Series.
First, the Cardinals needed a lot of help to even be in the Fall Classic. Help from the Phillies, who quit playing after clinching home-field advantage. Help from the Braves, who collapsed in epic fashion. And help from the schedule makers, who gave the Cards the hapless Astros on the season's last weekend. So, I may be bitter that my Phillies lost in the first round. But hats off to St. Louis - they were the better team in that series. And, I developed a true admiration & respect for Albert Pujols in the series against the Brewers. They beat Milwaukee, to arrive in the World Series, with home-field advantage. Not something they earned, mind you, but a gift handed to them by the American League losing the All-Star game. In any other sport, home field is determined by winning percentage.
That brings us to the greatest gift of all from the baseball Gods - blind & incompetent umpires.

The Cardinals needed this gift, and partook of it in grand fashion! If Tim McCarver, a mediocre announcer at best, can see that someone is out from 200 feet away, you'd think that the umpires on the field (chosen as the best in their profession to call the game) would be able to see that as well. Not to mention the highly inconsistent calls on balls & strikes. There can't be a different strike zone for each team! Calling a ball on the first pitch, instead of a strike, changes the game completely. A third strike pitch & runner caught stealing for an inning ending double play ends up as ball four, and 2 men on base. Simply put, the Cardinals were handed this World Series on a silver platter!

And it's not just the World Series that has me aggravated. Remember last year, when Armando Gallaraga of the Detroit Tigers had a perfect game through 8 2/3 innings, made the 3rd out at 1st base, only to have the umpire call the runner safe?
Point being, forget about all the talk about destroying the integrity of the game. It is past time for the National past-it's-time to institute instant replay, and at least have some sort of accountability for home plate umpires.

Until that happens, Jimmy Dugan may be heard yelling at Evelyn Gardner, "There's no integrity in baseball!"

Google Announces Plans To Kill Millions Of Pets!

Just months after being promised that SuperPoke Pets would continue, Google released the following today:

We wanted to give you all advance notice that in the coming months, a number of Slide’s products and applications will be retired. This includes Slide’s products such as Slideshow and SuperPoke! Pets, as well as more recent products such as Photovine, Video Inbox and Pool Party. We created products with the goal of providing a fun way for people to connect, communicate and share. While we are incredibly grateful to our users and for all of the wonderful feedback over the years, many of these products are no longer as active or haven’t caught on as we originally hoped.

Most importantly, we wanted to take this opportunity to reassure you that we’re committed to helping our users preserve their data as easily as possible. We recognize that many of you have stored valuable content with us and want to assure you that, wherever possible, you will have ample time to download that information or transfer it to another service.

For example, on Slide.com, we will enable users to either download their photos or export them to a Picasa account. We are working to release this export feature over the coming weeks and, once added, users will have several months to take advantage of transferring their photos.

The Answer

When I woke up this morning, I asked myself, "What is life about?" I found the answer in my room...the fan said, "Be cool." The roof said, "Aim high." The window said, "See the world!" The clock said, "Every minute is precious." The mirror said, "Reflect before you act." The calendar said, "Be up to date." The door said, "Push hard for your goals." The floor said, "Kneel down and pray"

Justice For Caylee?

Before I start this post, and get everyone riled up, let me state that I am not saying Casey Anthony is innocent. However, all of the posts I am seeing on Facebook about Justice for Caylee, are proving to me the ignorance of many. Ms. Anthony received a NOT GUILTY verdict on July 5th. I'm sorry that so many people are upset, but I have my feelings on this subject too, and here are a few of the thoughts I shared:

So sad, that one day after celebrating America's birthday, and the freedoms we have, including our constitutional right to be INNOCENT until proven guilty, that you would say that America failed today. The defense didn't need to prove Casey innocent. That wasn't their job. If it had been you in that courtroom, unjustly accused - who would you prefer your fate left up to - Nancy Grace & the court of public opinion, or a jury of your peers??? Yes, Casey is a liar, slut, and terrible Mom. But no evidence at all of her being a murderer. If indeed she did kill her daughter, one day she will meet her maker, and pay the penalty. Still, remember, "judge not, lest you be judged..."

The jury did the best they could with the evidence that was presented to them!!!!! Good Job Jury!!!! The scales of justice were tipped today in her favor!!!! It is our system !!! and to all of you screaming and crying no justice, just remember this, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.... have not heard anything like this when someone gets convicted then proven NOT GUILTY 15 to 20 years later because the state needed a perp and they were available,­,,jeeesh ...go back to your lives and get over it!!!! So sorry for that little child...bu­t people...s­cream louder for the children being killed everyday under the guise of God and needless war!!!!

Justice was served in America. You cannot convict a person without evidence and there was no evidence. Chloroform? Really, did they ever prove who supposedly searched for it? Plus where is the other supposed evidence that ties in the search with actual use of chloroform on the kid. It is just like the people running around stating that the body was found with duct tape over the nose and mouth, when in fact that was a theory posed by the prosecutio­n based upon finding three pieces near the body, and they even stated that. The court of public opinion at its finest, where all rumors become fact, and any real facts, if they don't support your feelings, are discounted­. Evidence is not what Nancy Dis-Grace provided viewers with her character assassinat­ion of Casey Anthony. Nancy thought she could use her MUSCLE MEDIA to THROW a TRIAL! IT DIDN'T WORK! It only works that way in PLACES like RUSSIA and CHINA where they do not believe in a DEMOCRACY!­!! Americans won with this verdict and yet many are upset that the CASEY wasn't STONED TO DEATH like what would happened to her in SAUDI ARABIA! If NANCY doesn't like our SYSTEM OF JUSTICE, let her move to one of those other countries mentioned earlier! Nancy continues to ASASSINATE CASEY'S CHARACTER with no EVIDENCE!!­! I can only IMAGINE the JUSTICE NANCY DIS-GRACE exhibits in her COURTROOM. I think every judgement she has made needs to be reviewed for bias against AMERICAN JUSTICE!!! We DON'T NEED her kind of JUSTICE here!!! I am grateful to the founding fathers for putting the trial by jury system in our Constituti­on, and not leaving it to the supposed fair minded people to determine how to do it. The feigned outrage shown on these boards, proves that Mob mentality can still rule the day in this Country, if allowed the chance.

Safe Haven

After reading the first 3 "Twilight Saga" books in less than 2 weeks, I decided I needed a break from vampires & werewolves for awhile, and picked up the latest from Nicholas Sparks.
I always anxiously await his new books, and "Save Haven" did not disappoint! All I can say to those who haven't read it yet is - you must, and you'll be glad you did!

Team Edward

I may have been the last person alive who hadn't read any of the "Twilight" books, or seen any of the movies. Actually, I still haven't seen any of the movies, but I finally decided to take a break from my usual murder mystery reading to see what all the fuss was about...
I had no idea if I would make it through the first book, but as I write tonight I am close to finishing "Eclipse", the 3rd book in the series. Will the movies be worth the wait as well?

San Antonio