Another error-filled loss

The Red Sox lost last night, getting beat by the Mariners 10-6. They lost simply because they commited three errors in the fifth inning which gave the Mariners the momentum they needed to score 5 runs on the fifth.

The Red Sox never overcame that deficit and it was like the wind went out of them after that.

Todays game started at 4:10 and Bello had the start. His pitching is not bad but it's also not the 5^th inning which is when he usually collapses.

It is currently the 2^nd inning and the score is 1-0 in favor of the Red Sox.

Oh, and as of the start of this game, the Red Sox were two games behind the Royals the wildcard and the Royals were beating the White Sox 10-3 in the eighth. If the Royals win, the Red Sox need to win just to remain two games out of the wildcard.

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The Federal Reserve Bank directors issued a statement today saying they anticipate keeping interest rates in the 5¼ - 5½ range but may cut rates in September.

This news resulted in the DJIA climbing and then falling like it was a roller coaster at Cedar Point.

I don't understand why the market reacts to the Fed saying something as meaningless as, "We're gonna keep interest rates where they are but maybe, just maybe, don't hold us to it, there is a possibility we might think about lowering the rate in a month."

The Fed has no idea what it's going to do in a month. Hell, they don't know what they are going to do tomorrow. They make decisions based on the whims of the economy and they measure that economy using antiquated tools and benchmarks.

Personally, I think they should just shut up and make changes based on a sound fiscal policy without any fanfare or announcements.

Then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about so who the hell am I to say what's best.

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Remember the other day when I said, "It's only a matter of time before Israel launches an attack on Iran"?

Well, guess what...

It's only a matter of time before this shit blows up and goes badly for all concerned. I just hope we (the U.S.) stay the hell out of it.

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I'm going to watch the rest of this ball game.

Here are some links:

• Well, I guess you don't want to get bit by one.



• Looks like someone has discovered Ozempic.



• I want to go to this and yell, "Squirrel!" as soon as they all sit nicely.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: 10:03 a.m. A truck was left in the middle of an intersection with a dog in the driver’s seat..



• What about a 2-second kiss?



• We sure got a lot of judges in this country who like to control what people do.



• Gotta be honest with you, I don't think "lip stain" sounds very attractive.



• I always wanted a nice Harley. Maybe I'll offer him $100 for it.



• Normally I would never say this about anyone who gets scammed but this woman is an idiot.

Nice win

The Red Sox pretty much ran over the Mariners last night, beating them 14-7.

It would have been 14-3 but the bullpen gave up 4 runs over 2⅔ innings.

I'm looking forward to tonights game because Paxton has the start. The man was very good for the Red Sox last season and he was doing pretty well with the Dodgers during the first half of this season. Hopefully he's still "Big Maple" and capable of sending batters back to the dugout with their heads down.

First pitch is at 7:10.

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I don't have much else to prattle on about so here are some links:

• They are going to end up banning knives.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "1:25 p.m. A cow was at large."



• Never live anywhere that has a combined sewer/runoff system.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Day.

And another crappy loss

The Yankees took two games of the three-game series from the Red Sox then they beat them last night 8-2.

They ended at least 4 innings with runners on second or third. They just couldn't get a hit to move those guys along.

I do have to admit to liking the new guy, Danny Jansen. The guy plays hard and isn't afraid to steal a base or two.

Tonight they start a three-game series against the Mariners. First pitch is at 7:10 and Pivetta has the start.

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I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories.

I don't believe there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll, I believe that man landed on the moon and I am positive that Biden won the 2020 election but if someone were to suggest that maybe the Secret Service were involved in a plot to allow a former president of the United States to be assassinated, I might lend some credance to that postulation.

Either that or the Secret Service is staffed by incompetent morons.

Here is what I know:

• The kid, Crooks, was able to get a scoped rifle on to the roof of a building that was about 170 yards from where Trump was standing.


• He was able to manuever himself and that rifle to a slightly elevated position that afforded not only a good prone shooters position but a fantastic bench rest for his rifle. It was the perfect sniper location.


• He was able to get off 8 rounds, one of which came within a an inch of Trump's tiny little brain.

At a distance of 170 yards, I can easily hit a half gallon plastic milk jug which is smaller than a human head. It's not that hard to do.

Since me, an old man who has lost the ability to remain motionless, can hit a 4 inch wide milk jug at 170 yards, it's a pretty good bet there are a lot of other people who can do it as well. Why was no one stationed on that roof prior to the start of the event? As a matter of fact, why was no one on any of the roof tops in the general area?

Seems pretty convenient that those rooftops were vacant. All they had to do was station local law enforcement on each rooftop within 300 yards of the venue. Just one cop on each roof would have prevented anyone from climbing up to an elevated shooting position. Simple as that.

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Back to the Red Sox...

They traded Nick Yorke, an infielder who was their #1 pick a few years ago, to the Pirates for a pitcher named Quinn Priester.

Not sure about Priester but I do know that Yorke got the better end of the deal. He was going to be trapped in Worcester for years because the Red Sox have a lot of very good infielders.

As I may have mentioned before, I hope Breslow has a plan...

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Here are some links:

• There's something a little odd about weed being seized in a town named Weed.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.



• Sixteen year old boys have been asking this question since Olga Korbut won the gold.



• China: It's not like where we live.



• Seems there may have been better ways to handle this.



• Mom of the Year.

Crappy loss last night

The Red Sox had a 8-7 lead in the ninth inning and they blew it. The Yankees tied the game 8-8 in the ninth and then blew it up in the tenth, winning the game 11-8.

That bullpen is not in good shape and it looks like they are trying to improve it. I'm just not sure how much help they are getting.

They picked up a pitcher named Yohan Ramírez. I'm not sure what he brings because too be honest with you, he is not what I would call "an ace". He's been DFA'd three times just this season. The Orioles DFA'd him in early May, the Mets DFA'd him in late May and the Dodgers DFA'd him three days ago.

And speaking of DFA'd players, in order to make room on the roster for the new guys, the Red Sox have DFA'd catcher Reese McGuire and pitcher Chase Anderson.

I hope Breslow has a plan...

Anyways, first pitch is at 7:10 and Houcke has the start. A win would give them the series and put them back into the wildcard.

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Once again, Canada and California are burning and we are enjoying the smoke.

The weather dweebs keep harping on air quality from the wildfire smoke that is drifting across the northeast.

Personally, I don't smell or see anything. Last year, I could not only see the haze, I could smell the burned wood.

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In 11 days, the Patriots will welcome the Panthers into Gillette Stadium for their first pre-season game of the 2024/25 season and you can rest assured that I will be watching it.

Not only are the Red Sox off that evening, the Patriots game is being carried on the CW network so I have access to it.

I'm looking forward to see what this latest iteration of the Patriots are capable of doing. More importantly, I'm interested in seing if they are capable of playing like a team.

And for the record, the NHL season starts in October so we've got a while before I start spewing about Bruins games.

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Not much in the way of links today:

• I don't care for gymnastics and I haven't really been watching the Olympics but man, this young lady is a hell of an athlete and I hope she wins it all.



• Killer Otter would be a super name for a 1970s rock band.



• If they were to put this on television, I would watch it.



• Now I know why my youngest went to college in New Hampshire...

Excellent win last night

The Red Sox took game one, beating the New York Aaron Judges 9-7.

Bello did okay, facing 21 batters over 5 innings. His first inning was his best when he struck out Verdugo, induced a ground out by Soto, walked Judge and then induced another ground out by Wells.

Tonight Crawford will have the start. First pitch is at 7:10 and the game is on FOX.

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I have to fire up the grill.

You can check these out:

• Do you know what this means? It means no one in Los Angeles could gamble for a whole day.



• It's only a matter of time before Israel launches an attack on Iran.



• Isn't this the thing from the movie Cocoon?



• I did not know that the elderly are inmates.



• Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the laser-guided spitball.



• Some people have vivid imaginations and way too much free time.

Big Maple is back

As I said last Tuesday, the Red Sox should take a chance and bring him back

Well, they apparently listened to me because the Red Sox have reacquired James Paxton.

He isn't on the roster yet and I have no idea where he is going to fit in when they get around to adding him but he is a strong starting pitcher who can also be an inning-eating long reliever.

Either way, I'm happy.

As for the evening, Bello has the start and that makes me nervous. Hopefully he is on his game and can keep the Yankee bats quiet.

First pitch is at 7:10.

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I'm gonna eat some pizza and watch some baseball.

You can click on these links if you want:

• I don't understand why anyone would steal these things.



• The Ohio Supreme Court is made up of idiots.



• This sounds very uncomfortable.



• Somebody in Los Angeles really likes salad.



• I'm sure they're a loving couple.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "2:04 p.m. A woman asked to speak to the officer who was like a 'good looking Jeff Foxworthy'."

Awful

A score of 20-7 is the kind of score I would expect from a football game, not a baseball game. They were awful and I can't seem to get over the fact that Red Sox pitchers gave up 21 hits to one of the worst teams in the NL.

The only team worse than the Rockies is the Marlins.

Enough said about that.

No baseball tonight while the Red Sox travel home to Boston.

Tomorrow they will start a three-game series against the Yankees. First pitch is at 7:10 and Bello will have the start.

I'm hoping they start a winning streak...

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Again, the news is filled with politics, wars and murders and I'm pretty sick of politics, wars and murders.

Here are some links:

• Whales: Don't mess with them.



• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.



• Northampton - The San Francisco of the north east.



• I'm betting he'll be so high that he'll try to smoke it.



• I have a feeling this is going to end poorly.



• Speaking of ending poorly.

Wow.

As I type this, the Rockies are beating the Red Sox. And by beating, I mean they are kicking the crap out of them.

I turned it off in the seventh inning when the Rockies had a 20-3 lead over the Red Sox.

I just checked the score and this is what I saw:

On the upside, the Red Sox and Alex Cora have agreed on a three year contract extension.

Now if they can only go out and find some pitching, they might make the playoffs.

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Apparently there was a massive sell-off of tech stocks because Elon Musk is an idiot and Tesla is losing money...

Don't get me wrong, the market is still up so far this year.

I would just like it to continue going up.

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Right now I'm watching the Mets beat up on the Yankees.

I was hoping the Worcester Red Sox would be on NESN but no such luck.

Here are some links:

• Psycho Vlad is still tossing people out of windows.



• I gotta be honest with you, I might have voted for Mark Kelly.



• Key reader comment on this story: "Spirit Halloween sells those every year."



• QAnon is the dumbest thing I ever heard of. The second dumbest thing I ever heard of is the Sovereign Citizen.



• Oh Canada.

They lost...

Houcke did okay. Not great, but okay. He faced 30 batters over six innings, walked three, struck out two and gave up 4 earned runs.

When he left the game, it was tied 4-4. Unfortunately, the bullpen couldn't hold it together and the Rockies walked off the Red Sox in the twelfth, winning the game 8-9.

This is what the Red Sox do - they slump after the All Star break.

They need to stop this losing streak and they need to stop it tonight.

Criswell has the start tonight and hopefully he can go more than six innings because the bullpen is shot.

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There is a lot of news. Most of it is about politics. That means I have no desire to read any of it.

Here are some links:

• Allowing 12 year olds to buy mace is probably the dumbest idea I've ever heard.



• I have no idea why the Dodgers did this but the Red Sox should take a chance and bring back Big Maple.



• ♬ Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Weiner! ♬



• Man, this just ain't Boeing's year.



• Or you could just unplug it.

Lunch with the boys

The Bills & Jim met me at a 99s where we spent at least 2 hours eating chain restaurant food and solving all of the worlds problems.

Unfortunately, none of us have the means to put our solutions into action so the world will just have to continue to bumble along on its own.

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Speaking of the worlds problems, the Red Sox got swept by the Dodgers and are now a full game out of the wild card race.

I wish I had a solution for their problems but I don't. They need someone who can give them at least four solid innings in relief and they also need someone who can close for them. Jansen is a good closer but he can't pitch every night.

Unfortunately, ownership has made it clear they will not provide any additional funding for salaries so Breslow needs to get creative. The problem is, he might just get creative with some prospects who they will regret trading away.

Tonight they are in Colorado to start a three-game series against the Rockies. Houck will start and I'm really hoping the thin air at Coors Field (elevation 5,200 feet) doesn't cause too many problems for him. The man was born & raised in St. Louis (elevation 400 feet) so his lungs are not used to a decrease in the number of available oxygen molecules

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I'm going to make some food and then I'm going to try to watch a few innings of baseball.

Enjoy these links:

• I'm betting it got a little stinky after a few hours...



• Key line in this story: "...there are multiple thieves, and they have four legs and are adorable."



• You've got to be pretty desperate to steal a toilet.



• People from Hollywood are really messed up.



• There isn't enough money on the planet to get me to do this.



• Did she not see the giant black & white sign? You know, the sign that reads,
  BEWARE
  HORSES MAY KICK
  OR BITE

Busy day.

It took 11 innings but the Dodgers beat the Red Sox last night, beating them 6-7.

That loss, a Royals win, pushed the Red Sox out of the wild card. That means they really need to win tonight. If they can win, they will be tied with the Royals.

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We spent our day doing touristy stuff by wandering around Old Sturbridge Village.

I love history so that make OSV my kind of place. And since it wasn't 100° outside, we didn't die of heat stroke.

After that was an early dinner and then home to discover...

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...that Goofy Joe decided to call it quits.

He dropped out of the race today and threw his support (and endorsement) over to his VP Kamala Harris.

I'm pretty sure Harris doesn't stand any better chance than Biden did but at least she doesn't sound like she's having a stroke every time she opens her mouth.

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Enjoy these links:

• I can't help but wonder if alcohol may have been involved.



• In this case, alcohol was involved.



• Key phrase from this story: "Microsoft is recommending customers reboot their systems as many as 15 times."



• I'm going with "drunk farmers".

They lost...

I managed to watch two innings of baseball last night and I was pretty impressed with Pivetta. He was pitching really well and my hopes were high that when I woke up this morning, I would see a win.

I was disappointed...

They held a 1-0 lead until the 8^th inning when the Dodgers managed to get runners on second and third with one out. That was when Cora opted to walk the next batter and load the bases in the hopes of getting a double play and ending the inning.

Unfortunately the fates were against Cora and his plan when the next batter, Freeman, hit a grand slam, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Dodgers.

As for this evening, I'm concerned.

Bello has the start and in all honesty, I'm not comfortable. You never know what he's going to give you. There have been games where he was lights out and there have been games where no matter what he threw, the batters would hit it.

I'm hoping tonight is a lights-out kind of night.

The first pitch is at 7:00 and I will try to watch the entire game.

⧫
For the record, if Biden drops out and the democrats put Harris on the ballot, I still won't vote for them.

They continually amaze me at their inability to find someone, anyone, who people want to vote for...

⧫
There is not much else going on in my world that I feel compelled to bore you with.

How about we just get to the links:

• When it comes to retaliation, Israel does not mess around. I will not be surprised if they attack Iran soon.



• Handling Salmon Under Suspicious Circumstances would be a super name for a 1970s book written by Jimmy Breslin.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• How, exactly, does she acquire this substance?



• Finally they have a day that I understand.

There is late baseball

Too late for me...

Guess I'll figure out what happened tomorrow morning.

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I hear you say, "Hey Steve! What is CrowdStrike?"

Well my friends, CrowdStrike is a information security firm that provides protection against cyber attacks. It is used by a large number of companies and government entitites.

Basically, CrowdStrike programs are used to protect digital assets and to provide analysis of ongoing internet threats. They protect companies and governments from attack.

"That's nice but what did they do to cause a lot of companies and government entities to come to a screeching halt today?"

In the old days, when computers were young and frivolous, us programmer types used to write programs that worked all by themselves. Every once in a while, some bright person would write a program that did something that the rest of the programs really liked to do and that program would get turned into a system program that could be called by other programs. But in general, we wrote what amounted to fall-through code. The program started at the top and ended at the bottom.

Now-a-days, everything is called by everything else. Programmers write a small piece of code that basically calls a bunch of other snippets of code to do what the programmers want done. This modular approach to programming is called Object Oriented Programing and it is all the rage because if I'm the programmer of a snippet of code that reads a database and I figure out a better way to read that database, all I have to do is update my snippet and every other program automatically benefits from the upgrade.

The problems happen when some arrogant programer says to himself, "This code is perfect and I tested it on my computer. That means it's okay" and they push their new code out to the world.

In the case of CrowdStrike, my best guess is that the testing done on the snippet of code named CSagent.sys was only done on one, maybe two computers. When the snippet was rolled out, it ended up on all kinds of computers running different versions of the Windows operating systems and different applications. Turns out that CAagent.sys did not work and play well with others and all those computers suddenly refused to work anymore.

And they refused to work in the most spectacular fashion - they BSOD on boot. This what is known as the "Blue Screen Of Death" and since it happened at bootup, there was no way to easily fix the problem.

The bottom line in all of this is if you wanted to do some banking this morning, or you were at an airport to catch plane, or maybe you just wanted to check the weather, you probably couldn't because all of the computers that make those things work suddenly stopped working.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "...there's suspicion among Thai internet users that he planned to eat it."



• Well, you gotta give him credit for being persistent.



• This, along with porn, is why Al Gore invented the internet.



• Key line in this story: "...the First Amendment applies to all organizations..."



• They got a day for everything.



• Only in Florida.

Bummer

If there was one guy that I would always watch on television or in movies, it was Bob Newhart.

His character, the reluctant Major Major Major, in Catch-22 was stellar. His character, the tobacco company minion, Merwin, in Cold Turkey made me laugh. And his television show, Newhart, introduced us to Larry, Daryl and Daryl.

He was Don Rickles best friend, he was funny as hell and he was a decent human being.

⧫
I was going to watch Banana Ball Baseball this evening but I discovered that the History Channel was running a Codes and Conspiracies marathon so I decided to watch that instead.

While I enjoy the history of brothels, you can enjoy these links:

• I'm pretty sure I would have left a bad review.



• Why do I feel like he's lying?



• Costco: In case you have ever wanted to eat 25 year old potato pot pie.



• How is it that I never heard of this guy.



• Researchers: Contributing to the betterment of our society or a complete waste of perfectly good oxygen?

Duran is the MVP

I watched most of the All Star game last night because I wanted to see how the two Red Sox players did.

Houck came in to start the third inning and he gave up three runs when Ohtani hit a home run. If you look at it as a real baseball game, that would be bad but since the game doesn't count for anything, it wasn't bad. As a matter of fact, it was good because on Friday, the Red Sox are back to playing games that count and their first opponent will be Othani and the Dodgers.

No sense giving your opponent a preview of your good stuff...

Later on, Duran came in to replace Judge in center field. When he got up to bat, he launched a two run homer that gave the AL a 5-3 lead over the NL.

The game ended with the AL winning 5-3 and Duran being named the MVP of the game.

⧫
I would like it to rain so I don't have to water my lawn.

We've had a little rain but for the most part, the heavy stuff has slid north of us. That means my underloved lawn is turning brown from a over abundance of sun and a lack of water.

If it doesn't rain this evening, I'll be watering it tonight.

The problem is that I can pretty much guarantee you that if I water it at 7:30 / 8:00 tonight, by 10:00 it will be raining so hard that we'll all be thinking the idiot that built the replica of Noah's ark is a freakin' genius

⧫
I got some mail from the state today asking me if I wanted to vote by mail.

Now normally I would simply throw something like that away but I opened it saw something that gave me pause...

I circled the offending line in red and if you read that line, you will see it's highly likely that someone could take that request, put their address on it and request my ballot be sent to them. Then they could vote as me while still going to the polls and voting as themselves.

I'm not sure I want to vote. I'm still thinking about things but I am sure that I don't want anyone else voting for me.

Into the shredder it went. And if you are the recipient of one of these things, don't just toss it. Either fill it out and vote by mail or shred it.

⧫
The All Guy Fieri channel appears to be runnings a Guys Grocery Games marathon.

Here are some links you can visit while I watch a bunch of wanna-be tv personalities try to cook a meal using items they found only in aisles 1, 3 and 7:

• Sure seems like climate change is to blame for everything.



• New York: Florida of the North.



• Only in Florida.



• I'm telling you, you need to pay attention to the elderly.



• Must have been after a high-speed chase.

No more cape league baseball for me

The announcers for the Cape League game spent the entire game telling me all about their lives and all the people they met while climbing the work ladder in the exciting world of sports journalism.

I turned the game off in the fifth inning because I couldn't listen to the blather any longer.

I turned on the Home Run Derby and within 10 minutes, I turned it off. Like I said yesterday, it's boring as hell.

In other words, it was not a good night for baseball.

Saturday can't come soon enough...

⧫
Speaking of baseball, some woman named Ingrid Andress, who I've never heard of, was chosen to sing the National Anthem at last night's Home Run Derby. Apparently she sang so poorly that she blew up the internet.

All of the social media types were ranting and raving about how bad she sounded.

Well, she released this statement today:

Good luck to you young lady. The first step in getting help is asking for help.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Good thing they ramped up security or else someone might have gotten a shot off...



• Of course he's innocent. Doesn't everyone keep $480,000 stuffed in jacket pockets in their closet?



• The Olympics are in 10 days and there my very well be no swimming or boating events.



• Hugging Bandits would be a good name for a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.



• Ain't nothin' lower than a Dorito Muncher.



• Canada: Land of Excitement.

Cape League Baseball.

This evening at 7:00, NESN will be carrying a game between the Harwich Mariners and the Bourne Braves.

That means I will get my baseball fix.

Oh, and the Home Run Derby is on tonight but I probably won't be watching that. I find it boring as hell.

⧫
Day two of our second or third heat wave.

What I find amazing is that it is July 15th and we are not experiencing a drought of any magnitude.

Sure, there are some spots that are considered "abnormally dry" but no indication of drought conditions.

On the other hand, my lawn still looks like shit...

⧫
Donald "Does my ear look funny?" Trump has announced that he has selected an Ohio Senator named James David Vance as his running mate.

Vance is an interesting creature in that he is one of those Trump defenders who constantly claims the attack on the US Capital on January 6, 2021 was nothing more than some peaceful protestors.

Oh, and at some point in the past, Vance had jumped firmly onto the "Never Trump" bandwagon.

Before Vance was for Trump, Vance was against Trump...

⧫
Here are some links:

• I don't understand art. I really don't understand Australian art.



• I'm gonna live forever.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "9:08 a.m. A yellow labrador got its head stuck in a bucket."



• Australia: What doesn;t try to kill ya, just wants to play rugby with you.



• I just discovered that there is an entire website dedicated to all things potato.



• Man, they got world records for everything!

Two wins

The Red Sox won yesterdays game, beating the Royals 5-0.

They won again this afternoon, beating the Royals 5-4.

They are now 4½ games out of first place in the ALEast. They are also only one game behind the Twins and two games ahead of the Royals in the AL wildcard.

This begins the All Star break where all the teams get a four day break from playing baseball.

On Friday, the Red Sox will be heading to California where they will start a three-game series against the Dodgers. Fortunately, only one of those games will be on to late for me. The Friday game starts at 10:10 but Saturday and Sunday games will both be on around 7:10 or 7:15.

⧫
I'm probably a bad person but this is funny and I feel I have no choice but to pass it on.

⧫
Speaking of the Trump shooting, the shooter was some 20 year old kid who for some reason decided that Trump and anyone else who happened to be in his line of fire needed to die.

I'm not too sure what his political leanings are because while he was a registered republican, he also made donations to some democratic/liberal organizations.

I'm sure there will be more and more news stories with misleading/inaccurate/politically-biased information and I will probably try to read all of them. Maybe someone will write something that explains why some kid needed to blow a piece of Trump's ear off and murder a volunteer fireman from Sarver, PA.

In the meantime, allow me to show you what Trump had to say about things:

For a guy who has spent the last few years constantly accusing Biden of persecuting him, that was pretty tame.

⧫
Stay cool my friends.

Enjoy these links:

• Keep the sheep away from the weed.



• Starting next year, tourists in New York City are going to be smellier than usual.



• Proof that some guys will do anything for sex.



• Oh Canada.



• Based on his behavior, I don't blame her for not wanting to sit with him.

They lost last night

The Royals beat the Red Sox 6-1 last night and effectively tied them in the wildcard.

Todays game is going much better. It is currently the 7^th inning and the Red Sox are up 5-0.

⧫
Yes, it was hot again today. My electric meter is spinning like a top but I am not sweating my ass off.

Then again, I'm fat so maybe I sweating a little of my ass off wouldn't be such a bad thing.

⧫
I'm gonna watch the rest of this game.

Here are some links:

• A lot of people made fun of him but he was a decent human being with a very positive attitude.. Too be honest with you, we could use more people like him in this world.



• Philadelphia: Land of Excitement.



• There is nothing worse than a group of activist lawyers.



• Nobody likes going to the dentist.

He bumbled

Goofy Joe arrived at his scheduled 6:30 press conference sometime around 8:00pm. I'm assuming he went to a Golden Corral for the early bird special and senior citizen discount.

Prior to his scheduled 6:30pm press conference, he was at an event where he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as "President Putin".

Once he started talking, it quickly became apparent that he had trouble maintaining his train of thought. At one point, he called Harris "Vice President Trump".

Fortunately, I found this on the internet to make me smile:

I have only one thing to say and I want to say it to the leadership of the democrat party:

Are you kidding me? This is the best you can do? This guy is your version of the best and the brightest?

You are either idiots or you are so lost in your own limited belief system that you aren't able to look outside of yourself and see what is going on in the real world.

If you can't find a someone who can defeat a guy who is a convicted felon, an admitted woman-molester, a probable pedophile and a self-professed dictator, you obviously aren't looking very hard.

Get your heads out of your collective asses.

It truly sucks that our choices this November will be Fondler Trump or Bumbles Biden...

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The Red Sox beat the Athletics 7-0 last night and took the series. Houck had a great night on the mound, going six innings and giving up zero runs.

But that's not important.

What is important is that my youngest was at the game.

He thought he was a jinx to the Red Sox because it seems like they lose everytime he is at Fenway to watch them.

Well, he got to see them win a game from the comfort of his own uncomfortable bleacher seat last night.

Tonights first pitch against the Royals is at 7:10 and it looks like the Red Sox starter will be Criswell. Funny thing is Criswell just got called up from Worcester and the last time I saw him pitch was July 6 in Worcester. He got the win then and I'm hoping he gets the win tonight

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Time to flip some burgers and then watch some baseball.

Here are some links:

• I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, "Yay! Cheap beer at 4:00 in the afternoon!" but on the other hand, "Yay! Drunks on the road at 6:00 in the evening!"



• Wacky Rudy is about to lose a lot of money.



• Key phrase in this story: "I shit in the Seine on 23 June!"



• Oh Canada.



• "My friend said it was okay for me to do this!"



• Employee of the Month.

Yes, I'll be watching

I can honestly say that I have not watched a presidential news conference since Nixon resigned but today at 6:30, I will be watching Goofy Joe as he bumbles his way through a press conference.

He is going to try and show us little folk that he is a big strong man, perfectly capable of running the most complex organization on the planet and I want to see how he is going to do that.

I will not be surprised if he has a mini-stroke in the middle of it. All it's going to take is some smart-ass reporter to ask him an unplanned question. And for the record, yes, I think all of the reporters that are invited to participate are required to submit their questions beforehand so Biden's staff has time to coach him on the answers.

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Nick Pivetta did not have a good night last night. He didn't have a terrible night, but it wasn't a good night. He faced 28 batters, striking out 10 over 6⅔ innings but he also gave up 4 earned runs.

And that was enough for the Red Sox to lose 5-2.

Tonight Houck gets the start. I'm hoping he is on top of his game. They need this win tonight to maintain their wildcard lead over the Royals because starting tomorrow, they kick off a three-game series against the Royals.

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Yes, it was hot today. No, I did not go outside and do anything.

Here are some links:

• Olive Oil has left us.



• Key incredibly stupid statement in this story: "if a person were to live on the moon for 274 years..."



• That's a lot of Lego sets...



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "11:22 a.m. A Bigfork resident lost a cow."



• First they told me I could grow my own weed and now it looks like I can distill my own booze.



• Australia: Where they apparently have flying turtles.

Let's try again

Apparently something I posted in todays update is considered "sensitive".

I have removed the caption I put in for the picture of Trump. Let's see if that was the "sensitive" item...

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Not as hot as yesterday but it was certainly more muggy.

The folks across the street from us are having their house sided and after watching those guys work for the last few days, I can honestly say that I am glad I chose a career that involved sitting in an air conditioned office...

I can't imagine what it must be like to climb ladders and swing hammers in this kind of heat & humidity.

On the other hand, I found this and thought it was funny.

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The Red Sox won last night, beating the Athletics 12-9. The Yankees lost and the Orioles lost. This means the Red Sox are now only 3½ games behind the Yankees and 6½ behind the Orioles.

It also means the Red Sox are now 2 games ahead of the Royals and only 1½ behind the Twins in the wild card.

The Red Sox and Athletics are at it again this evening with first pitch at 7:10. Pivetta has the start.

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One other baseball thing:

While I was checking the standings, I noticed this:

So far this season, the Mets have won 45 games and they have lost 45 games.

Over their last 10 games, they have won 5 and lost 5.

Over those 90 games this season, they have scroed 433 runs and they have been scored against 433 times.

If you ever wanted an OCD collection of statistics, there it is.

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I said something bad about this picture. It involved Trump doing something that contained the initials "b" and "j" to the invisible man...

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Time to clean out the fridge and enjoy all the leftovers we've accumulated this week.

While I watch baseball, you can enjoy these:

• It's a clear case of crossbow violence.



• Call me when it's National Gin and Tonic Day.



• I've always thought that celebrities should focus on entertaining us and keep their closed-minded opinions to themselves.



• More proof that our society is filled with nutcases.



• Helen Denmark seems like a fun person.



• China: It's not like where we live.

Guess what? It was hot again today

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Yes, it was hot today

I personally think there should be a monument in Washington DC to commemorate the life of Willis Haviland Carrier.

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No baseball for the Red Sox last night but tonight they take on the Athletics.

Bello has the start tonight and I'm really, really hoping he still has it together. His last start was on July 3^rd and he got the win, making it through 6⅔ innings.

Oh, and it looks like three members of the Red Sox will be playing in the All Star game. Tanner Houck, Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran were all chosen by their peers to attend the festivities.

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This picture has no meaning to any of you.

I'm putting it here so I can look it up if I ever remember I need to buy some new batteries for my digital calipers.

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My lawn has been mowed and aerated. Now I'm going to go pick up some pizza.

Once the pizza has been consumed, I'm going to watch the Red Sox.

Enjoy these links

• Yea, I'm pretty sure smoking weed in your office is a bad decision.



• I guess Yankee fans need something to get excited about.



• Bent Longnosed Gar would be a good name for a small high school garage band.



• If you live in Texas and you use Spectrum as your internet provider, you are not reading this.



• Best criminal name of the month: Matthew Pancake.

More hot and sticky

The weather dweebs have once again told us that it's summer in New England and that means it's hot and humid.

In six months, they'll be reminding us that it's winter in New England and they'll be issuing those "It's gonna snow!" warnings.

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The Red Sox beat the Yankees 3-0 last night, taking two of the three games in this series.

Crawford threw a hell of a game. He faced 23 batters over seven innings, striking out four while walking zero. He gave up four hits and zero runs.

While Crawford was doing his thing, Devers and Rafaela did theirs. Devers hit two home runs and Rafaela hit one home run.

Meanwhile, the clowns from ESPN (the game was not on NESN) kept saying things like, "Judge is up next so the Yankees have a chance!" or "Soto is up next so the Yankees have a chance!" or "The Yankees pitchers are doing great so the Yankees have a chance!"

They are the biggest group of "Yankee homers" and no one can stand listening to them blather on about the Yankees. I would rather listen to YES network coverage of a game than listen to the ESPN clowns. Unlike the ESPN clowns, the YES guys don't perform oral sex on Judge during the broadcast.

They are off today while they head back to Boston. Tomorrow they start a three game series against the Athletics.

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In todays episode of "I Get The Best SPAM!", we have a scammer that is building a botnet and want's me to particiapte...

In the above screen capture of an email from "FED3X", you will see that I hovered over one of the links and it revealed itself to be a .JAR file. I expanded the hover box so you can read it better.

A .JAR file is a java repository that contains executable java code. That code could be anything but it's more than likely a small, simple bit of code that downloads a much more complex bit of code that gives control of my computer to what is known as a botnet. That is a network of compromised computers that can be used to do the bidding of whoever controls them. Maybe they will be turned into bitcoin miners, maybe they will become spam generators, maybe they will be used to overwhelm and shut down some government or corporate computer system.

Who knows what they will do but whatever it is, they won't be doing it with my machine.

Do yourself, and everyone else, a favor and look carefully at every email you receive. Do not click on links, including the "unsubscribe" link. Under no circumstance should you ever reply to those emails.

Do what I do: Mark them as spam/junk and go about your day without a care in the world.

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I'm going to find some bad television to entertain me this evening.

While I do that, you can visit these links:

• And this, my friends, is the perfect example of a Darwin Award winner.



• Why does shit like this always happen in China.



• In case you were wondering, yes, our society is filled with crazy people.



• You would think the name of the place, "Death Valley", would be enough of a warning...



• Key phrase in this story: "Passed out, pistachio nuts everywhere..."

Not a busy day

Yesterday, I spent most of my day on the Mass Pike and then in Worcester.

The time spent on the pike was sitting in a multi-mile long traffic jam prior to the I-84 interchange and the time spent in Worcester was sitting on a plastic seat, sweating my balls off, watching the Worcester Red Sox defeat the Syracuse Mets 4-0.

We had nice seats right behind home plate and I'm pretty sure we were close enough that when the umpire blew a call, he heard me say, "What the hell is wrong with this guy."

At one point, Dalbec got hit in the left hand by a pitch. We all saw the ball hit his left hand. He reacted immediately to the ball hitting his left hand but the umpire said, "Nope, it hit the bat. That's a foul ball."

Umpires have a difficult job and I understand they occasionally make mistakes but that hit-by-pitch was not a mistake. It was negligence.

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Speaking of baseball, the Red Sox got their ass handed to them by the Yankees yesterday afternoon, losing 14-4. I didn't find out about it until last night because the traffic jam I sat in was located right in the WEEI dead spot on the pike. I couldn't pick up any of the WEEI broadcasts so I missed most of the game.

From what I can see, Winckowski made it through 3⅔ innings before he came out of the game and the bullpen kinda fell apart.

So the series is now tied at one game apiece. That means the winner of tonight's game wins the series.

Crawford gets the start and hopefully he brings his "A" game.

Despite yesterday's loss, they remain in the third wild card slot with a 1½ game lead over the Royals. A win by the Red Sox and loss by the Royals will increase their lead to 2½ games.

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Adam Schiff is a moron.

If poles showed Harris with a commanding lead over Trump, the democrats would throw Biden under the bus without so much as a thought. Those people would eat their young if they thought it would help.

One of my sisters said she wants a third option on the ballot. She wants to vote for "Try Again"...

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Time to make some dinner and then watch some Red Sox.

Enjoy these links:

• I have never been to Newtown Township, PA.



• This sounds like a terrible idea.



• Toilet Seat Head would be a great name for a DC Comics villian.



• You just gotta love The Daily Star.



• Oh Canada.



• I've been to Des Moines and there is no way they are a 3.64. They are a solid 3.51.

Another busy day

They won.

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Maybe there will be something for you to look at tomorrow.