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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Odds and Ends

And Also: Air America started off with a nice line-up back in the day and only Randy Rhodes (who is kinda annoying if smart) basically (one hour shorter) has the same [weekday] spot. Oh, I mean, after they dispose of Sam Seder for some "Lionel" guy after Friday. Continual political loser, last time to Andrew Cuomo for Attorney General, Mark Green is trying to tell us this is a good thing. As Atrios nicely noted "Morons." Just trying to ruin my mornings, aren't you?


Baseball: "Frigid weekend weather caused frost that damaged crops across the Southeast, raising fears that peach, apple, blueberry, strawberry and wine grape crops were harmed." And, it blocked the Indians/Seattle four game series entirely. This and other problems led some to complain about scheduling, including starting such games in the cold weather open air stadiums at this time of year. But, this is the second week of the season, and something like that (four days of games called by snow) simply never happened before.

IOW, the weather is somewhat atypical, surely something schedulers (who have to deal with the limitations of balancing the needs of all the teams, plus various rules) did not have an obligation to assume. Nor should we blame the players' association or whomever also is involved in limiting the choices that led to these problems. At least, not too much, since this year is not really truly typical. The Indians still have problems ... MLB decided to have their next game in neutral Milkawakue (a dome?), the stand-in for Major League, starring those same Indians.

Anyway, Mets came back vs. the Phillies bullpen and the Yanks finally had a quality start ... from Pavano. First win for him since 2005. The rest seems to have done him good.

TV: King of Queens started its final set of episodes. Though the co-star Leah Remini, a NYC native, hopes for more, it does seem that the ninth season will be its last. Its time -- first off, it is getting loads of money in syndication. Second, Kevin James, the "king," apparently is now getting some film work (so said a CNN piece, not that I'm totally sure it is THAT much).

Most importantly, the quality of the show warrants hanging up the hat, so to speak. This is shown by watching it on syndication, which I had been doing in the last year or so, and noting the lower (and at times tired*) quality of later episodes. Good run ... somewhat hit or miss, but moments of truth, amusement, and a pleasing way to spend a 1/2 hr ... anyway, Remini has the mixture of babe and bitch (she is clearly her father's daughter) that is alone worth watching.

Library: A nearby library provides a useful way for me to check the Internet at lunchtime, the shorter 15-20min. computers especially efficient to keep track of things without lingering. The computers recently include privacy screens, screens placed over the regular screen to help keep others from seeing what you are viewing. The problem is that they cloud the screen and block the edges, causing a few (including I) to want to take them off.

But, this really isn't fair -- if I want to freely cruise the Net, especially on a first floor computer that general patrons might glance at, such screens is a fair balance. The "privacy" is not just mine. And, the balance is not always going to be costfree. Such is life ... of course, I say this after taking it off once and being criticized for doing so (but later, I saw someone being allowed to take it off ... the fact it was a cute woman had nothing to do with it, I'm sure!).

PC Rightists: I responded to a Dahlia Lithwick Slate/Outlook piece discussing the not completely loyal Bushie who took the Fifth when Congress wanted to question her on the prosecutor purge. This allowed me to cite some of my recent comments on religion and public life. I argued that it was fine for religious people, including from fundamentalist leaning universities, to serve in public serve. That is, unless they cannot do their jobs. I was "wary" of some of them (other posts underlined why one might be ... both academically and otherwise), but so be it. Render to Caesar and all that, and you will be fine.

Since I am a "liberal" and such, obviously this could not really be taken at face value. In fact, I only was playing being fair, only allowing religious faiths I agreed with to serve in public life. Likewise, I was "wary" only of religious people, or rather, religious people I didn't agree with. Such a liberal hypocrite! Oh please. This political correctness from the right is so tedious. The article was about religion, so I focused on the point. And, is anyone not "wary" about some religious group? (How about those that promote jihad?) But, if you don't go all out to underline your bona fides -- and they probably won't be believed anyway -- certain sorts will attack you for hypocrisy.

People on the right can be quite touchy ... and they do seem to be, uh, assholes about it sometimes. More so than the left? Many think so. Either way, it does get tedious sometimes.

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* Have I said recently that Gilmore Girls has gone beyond this point, and then some, ruining it for me? There you go. Friends also was on just too long, at least two seasons, coasting on sentiment and regular viewers.