A win and a loss

The Red Sox have problems winning at home but they seem to be able to win on the road. Although they did almost blow it...

Last night, they had a 4-0 lead going into the eighth inning. The Tigers scored 3 in the eighth but that meant the Red Sox were up 4-3 in the ninth. All Jansen had to do was hold on.

Turns out he couldn't do that and the Tigers scored one run, pushing the game into extra innings.

The Red Sox sealed the deal when they scored 3 runs in the tenth and Martin was able to hold the Tigers to only one run. That gave the Red Sox a 7-5 win.

As for today's game, they lost 2-1. They just couldn't hit the ball and they committed an error that resulted in the Tigers scoring those two runs.

Tomorrow's game is at 1:40 and no pitcher has been announced.

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Today was a day filled with errands so there wasn't a lot of time for internetting.

The links I dug up are here:

• Attention Alanis Morissette: This is ironic.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: 12:51 p.m. A standard poodle being walked around town was definitely in need of a trim.



• This is going to hurt a lot of people.



• Hey! The Mooch is back!



• Attention scientists: Please stop.

They lost

The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays last night, pushing them back to 3½ games out of the wildcard.

It wasn't pitching and it wasn't errors that killed them. They lost because they couldn't hit the ball.

They are in Detroit to play the Tigers this evening. First pitch is at 6:40 and Houck has the start.

Hopefully getting Devers back in the lineup and playing somewhere other than Fenway will help them win.

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Been a while since I checked the stats on this blog of mine. Here the last 30 days:

Looks like Microsoft Windows and the Chrome browser are still the big winners.

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Time for me to eat some dinner and watch some baseball.

Here are some links:

• I'm pretty sure that Elon Musk might have lost his mind.



• Looks like "G Herbo" is going to jail.



• Here's a shock: Trump and his cult are not willing to accept the results of an election that hasn't even happened yet.



• We don't pay cops enough.

Very nice win last night

Bello proved that he has it in him to be the ace of the Red Sox starting pitching staff.

Last night Bello faced 26 batters over eight innings, walking one and striking out nine. He gave up two hits and zero runs.

That, my friends, is a hell of an outing.

Tonight's game starts at 7:10 and Crawford has the start.

Oh, and by the way, both the Royals and the Twins lost last night and the Red Sox are now only 3 games out of the wildcard.

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I've tried to saty out of it but it's time once again for me to step into the political bullshit that is going on around us...

Donald "I'm a super genius!" Trump lost me when I heard him call John McCain a "loser" for being shot down and captured during the Vietnam war.

He really pissed me off when he started to refer to soldiers/sailors/marines who died in battle as "suckers".

And if you need any further information about why I will never respect, support or even speak nice about Donald Trump, how about his blatant desecration of this nations most hallowed ground.

Basically, Trump doesn't give a shit about the men and women that answer this nations call. Furthermore, he doesn't give a shit about cops or firemen either. As far a Trump is concerned, anyone that risks their life in service to others is beneath him.

That guy is a scumbag.

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Here are today's links:

• I guess we know who the starting quarterback will be.



• Nope.



• Key line in this story: "...the woman accidentally disengaged the gear..."



• If you have been looking for a place where you can view old, fat, naked guys staring at paintings, here you go.



• I've worked with several people that I would do this to.

The lawn is mowed

I managed to mow my lawn this morning and after that, I finally got around to seeding my backyard.

I scalped it and dragged the rake over it, again, and then bagged up all the debris. Once I was happy that all the shmutz was gone, I filled my aerator/seeder with all the grass seed I had and managed to not only seed the entire backyard, I also spread some on the front and side yard.

Now we water and wait.

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The Red Sox beat the Blue Jays last night and that makes me glad.

The Braves beat the Twin last night and that makes me happy.

With the Red Sox win and the Twins loss, the Red Sox have pulled back to within 4 games of the wildcard.

Don't get me wrong, I know it's not great but it's better than 5½ games...

To misquote Jerry Reed from Smokey and The Bandit: They got a long way to go and a short time to get there.

Looks like Bello has the start for tonights game. First pitch is at 7:10. I hope he brought his 'A' game because they need more than a one-game winning streak to close that gap.

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Here are today's links:

• Key line in this story: "The Trump campaign declined to make that footage immediately available."
  (Does anyone else notice that they never seem to get around to producing the "proof" they always claim they have.)



• There is nothing in this story that I disagree with.



• Here's another story about rich people doing things we can't do because we aren't rich.



• Zappe is no longer a member of the New England Patriots and I'm pleased to announce that he has signed with another team.



• Key line in this story: "...which turned out to be fake."



• If these allegations turn out to be true, I'm gonna be pissed.



• Hawaii: They are weirder than I thought.



• I'm pretty sure I saw Giant Monkey Frog Hallucinogens open for Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention back in the 70s.

Yesterday was a long day

We went to the Red Sox 2:00 makeup game which means we left the house around 10:30, got to my sons place around 12:30, caught a 1:20 train to Landsdown and were in our seats by 1:45. The first pitch was at 2:00.

It was fun to watch the game but it was not fun watching them lose.

We had a nice dinner and then headed for home.

We got home around 8:30 and I watched the Red Sox lose their second game of the day.

Man, they really need to start winning at home.

Tonights game starts at 7:10 and Criswell has the start.

In other news, the Red Sox have finally DFA Joely Rodriguez. They've also selected Rich "Dick Mountain" Hill's contract so he's back up with the big team. I'm kinda hoping to see him come out of the bullpen in relief this evening.

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Looks like Jack "I'm Special!" Smith has modified his charges against Donald "I did nothing wrong!" Trump that brings it into line with the Supreme Court's recent ruling that the President is immune from prosecution when acting in his official capacity.

I just want to know what the Supreme Court ruling really means.

Can Biden order the arrest and incarceration of Trump under the Patriot Act? Can Biden order the military to assasinate Trump because he is a threat to the union?

It's going to be an interesting next couple of months...

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Here are some links:

• Israel rescued a hostage today. He's a muslim.



• Well, this sounds disgusting.



• Only in Florida.



• Hey, if they say it was an "accident", then it must have been an accident...



• Key line in this video: "Do you rest in a restroom?"

No post today

I went to Boston to watch Danny Jansen play for both teams during a single game.

This is what it looked like when he stepped up to the plate in the second inning:

They lost but they made history and it didn't rain, so all-in-all, it was a good day.

They got swept.

The Red Sox lost yesterday and again today. With those two losses, they are now 4½ games out of the wildcard.

They are losing at home and I find that upsetting.

Tomorrow they will play a historic game. It is a game against the Blue Jays that they started on June 26^th before the skies opened and it poured buckets. They got one inning in and then the game was called.

When the game was called, the batter at the plate was the Blue Jays catcher, Danny Jansen.

On July 27^th the Blue Jays traded Danny Jansen to the Red Sox.

When that suspended game starts back up tomorrow at 2:00, the Red Sox catcher will be Danny Jansen.

That means for the first time in MLB history, one player will play for both teams in a single game.

They might not make the playoffs but they'll have that bit of history going for them.

Then again, maybe not...

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The Patriots will take on the Commanders this evening at 8:00.

I'm not entirely sure who the Patriots quarterback will be but I suspect they will start Brissett.

Whether Brissett will be the starter on September 8^th is anyone's guess. Both Zappe and Maye are making their case to be the starter and Mayo might just give it to one of them.

Then again, the more I think about it, it would probably be a good thing for Zappe if they cut him. He could then sign with a team that will play him instead of sitting him on the sidelines.

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Here are some links:

• More proof that some people are idiots.



• As it should.



• I'm beginning to think they are just making this shit up.



• So in other words, it drives like a little old lady.



• Damn, I missed it.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Week.

Bad loss last night

They got their ass kicked last night, losing 12-2 to the Diamondbacks.

Today isn't going much better. It is currently the middle of the 7^th inning and they are down 4-0.

They really need to start winning at home.

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I spent my day continuing my work on the damned VPN machine for the vet clinic.

I thought I had it yesterday but when I fired it up, it failed miserably.

Turns out the vpn software likes to run under a 64bit OS and I had loaded a 32bit OS.

So now it is built and good to go. All I need to do is plug the machine in, make sure it always gets the same network address, add the route to the router and test it out.

Fingers are crossed that everything works as well there as it does here at my house.

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Time to make some dinner and then find something to entertain myself. Maybe there is some golf on or something.

While I do that, you can see if these links entertain you:

• One of these days, they will figure out that their strategy doesn't seem to be working.



• Turns out Whitworth, Lancs is in England.



• I'm not convinced that this is a good idea.



• I don't know what a fireworm is but I'll stay away from them.

Today was the day

Today was the day that Jerome "Help! I'm talking and I can't shut up!" Powell gave his little speech to a gathering of central bank leaders and, amazingly enough, the stock market did not drop. As a matter of fact, the DJIA closed up which I believe might be a one of the signs of the biblical apocalypse...

Basically, Powell said that it was time to cut interest rates.

Also, the Canadian government was able to convince the rail workers that it would be in their best interest to end their strike and go back to work while the rail companies & the unions arbitrated a new contract. That means goods and materials are once again flowing across our border.

I realize that you're probably asking what the Canadian rail lines have to do with American stock values but trust me, it does. Canada and the US are huge trade partners with each other. As a matter of fact, a lot of "American" cars come from Canada.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you think that Chevy "I only buy American-made cars!" Silverado was made in Detroit?

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Both the Twins and the Royals won yesterday which means the Red Sox started today three and a half games out of the wildcard.

They start their series against the Diamondbacks this evening and Bello has the start.

As is always the case, I'm hoping he is on his game. He has a history of occasionally showing up and pitching like me. Trust me, I can't pitch.

Hell, I don't think I could even reach home plate anymore without bouncing it at least once. My baseball days are far behind me.

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Enjoy these few links:

• A sausage roll costs about $5.00. That means they gave this guy $200 worth of sausage rolls for devoting his whole working life to their company...



• This could very well be the only way to deal with some kids.



• Penis-Shaped Estate would be a good name for a bad 1970s lounge band.



• Oh Canada.
  (Good for Canada)



• Another reason to not fly commercial.

No baseball tonight

The Red Sox are back in Boston after winning their series against Astros. Tomorrow they start a three-game series against the Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks have a pretty good record so I suspect this will be a difficult series for the Red Sox

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Yesterday I dragged my rake around the backyard while I scalped the crab grass with my lawn tractor.

Because the crab grass was so thick, I couldn't bag it. Instead I just cut it without the bagger installed and blew the clippings into a long row.

Once I had the clippings in a nice long row, I raked it into piles and hauled it out with a wheelbarrow.

Did I mention that I had to do this twice because the grass was so thick and heavy that I couldn't cut it down to nothing in just one pass.

Once I had made my two passes and raked up all the grass, I dragged the raked around a third time and bagged whatever was dredged up.

So now my back yard looks like this:

Sometime in the next few days, I will fill my aerator/seeder with some decent grass seed, seed the backyard and then commence watering it every day. The hope is that by next spring, grass will be growing and my fertilizer guy can apply whatever magic stuff he applies to kill the crab grass and weeds.

Actually, the hope is that since I no longer have dogs back there, I will one day have an actual yard in the back of my house.

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Pat, Willie and myself picked a great day to go play golf today.

It was about 74° and mostly sunny with a light breeze. In other words, it was the perfect day to wander around a field hitting balls with funny sticks and laughing at each other.

We don't keep score in the traditional sense. I have a method that we use. You get one point for a bogey, two points for par and three points for a birdie.

So far, none of us has ever scored higher than a 5.

I'm thinking of awarding one point for finishing nine holes with the same ball you started with and one point for making it through all nine holes without having to take a leak.
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Here are today's links:

• I dislike Starbucks more than ever.



• Key twit in this story: "And no, you cannot come help 'clean up'."



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, just wants to have a slumber party with ya.



• Unnecessary Digital Rectum Exams would be a great name for a 1990s German punk/techno band.



• Yet another reason I live in New England.



• Personally, I think you can never have too many monkeys.

Two nice wins

The Red Sox beat the Astros 6-5 last night.

The Red Sox beat the Astros 4-1 this afternoon.

As I type this, they are currently three games behind both the Royals and the Twins. Both of those teams will be playing their respective games this evening.

I'm hoping that tomorrow morning I will wake to discover that they both lost. If both of them lose, the Red Sox would move half a game closer to the wildcard slot.

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If there is one thing Trump is good at, it's negotiating to get what he wants.

Trump offered Kennedy a position with his administration and Kennedy is now going to drop out and endorse Trump. The expectation is that now all those people will join the Trump cult.

What Kennedy seems to be ignoring is that Trump is not what most of us would call an honest or ethical person.

Kennedy could very well end up as the official White House pool boy...

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Time to rebuild the vet clinic's vpn machine.

A new microsSD card has arrived and the vet delivered it to me this afternoon.

I've loaded an os on it and now I'm going down to my little computer lab, put the card into the Pi and configure it to be a vpn.

This is good because there is no baseball this evening and this will keep me entertained.

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Here are some links:

• Someone has figured out how to track shipments from Apple.



• I've decided that most peoeple from New York are loud-mouthed, arrogant pricks.



• Psycho Vlad is pissed.



• This just keeps getting better and better.



• Loose Kangaroo and the Late Drivers would be a fantastic name for a 1960's Australian rock-a-billy band.



• Key line in this story: "For me, the vulture vomit theory is the only one that feels possible."

Bad loss

The Red Sox were up 4-3 when I went to bed during the seventh inning. I was hoping to wake up this morning to find that the bullpen held the Astros off and the Red Sox would have a win.

Boy, was I disappointed...

They lost 5-4 and what is worse, the Royals won which means the Red Sox are now 4½ games behind the Royals and the Twins in the wildcard.

They should be closing the gap, not widening it...

Pivetta has the start tonight and the first pitch is at 8:10.

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Once again, not a lot going on that I feel the need to spew about.

Russia is still conducting a "special military" operation in Ukraine.

Ukraine is still conducting a "suck on this Putin" operation in Russia.

Rich people are still doing things that get them killed and I personally don't think of it as a tragedy.

The democrats are treating Kamala "Hey, I like polyester!" Harris like 15 year old girls treat Taylor Swift.

College kids with little or no knowledge of reality are protesting everything they are being told to protest by people they don't know on social media.

One of these days something will happen that will merit my attention.

Until then, here are some links:

• Of the two dingbats on this ticket, the VP is the smarter one.



• Going into space is hard.



• There was a time when Boeing was considered a fantastic company and no one worried about flying on their aircraft. Now they, and their products, are falling apart and I personally would prefer to fly on an Airbus.



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



• When did we start arresting people for throwing food?



• Snails Eating Mail would be a fantastic name for a 1980s English punk band.

I don't like 8:00pm starts

I suspect that I will not see the entire game tonight simply because the first pitch is at 8:10.

If they go 3 hours, that means my normal bed time will probably happen around the 7^th inning.

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So at 9:30 last Saturday night, some idiot turned his headlights off and went tooling down Boston Rd at a high rate of speed. Predictably, some poor girl who did not see the idiot with his headlights off, pulled out of one of the numerous businesses on that road and the idiot clipped her car.

This minor accident would have ended right there if the idiot wasn't traveling at a high rate of speed. Instead, the idiot veered off the road, hit a fire hydrant and then went airborne.

He ended up like this:

He also ended up in the hospital as well as on the national news.

Idiot...

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Time to flip some burgers and then to see what mischief I can get into before settling in to watch baseball.

Enjoy these links:

• I'm pretty sure no one inside the convention hall is going to hear or see them.



• I wish him all the best but I'm glad he's not in Foxboro.



• I picture Psycho Vlad throwing temper tantrums when these news stories come out.



• Dodging Poo would be a great name for a game at a 1940's hillbilly county fair.



• "Scientist" is a new way of saying 15 year old boy.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, just wants to go swimming with you.

They split the series

When the Red Sox started their four-game series against the Orioles, my hopes were that they wouldn't get swept.

I'm pleased to say they did not get swept. I'm even more pleased to say that they split the series with the Orioles.

Last night they won 5-1 and this afternoon they lost 4-2. That meant they won two of the four games.

They are currrently on their way to Houston where tomorrow they will start a three-game series against the Astros.

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I'm avoiding all the political news so there isn't much to talk about.

Here are some links:

• This would be bad for the Red Sox.



• This is starting to sound like the theme song to Gilligans Island:
  Five passengers set sail that day
  For a three hour tour,
  A three hour tour...



• Get ready for the market to crash.



• Andrine Shufran and the Tarantula Mating Season would be a great name for a 1970's lounge band.



• Totally made-up, drug-induced name in this story: "Tracy Badmoccasin."



• Mummified Dog’s Willy would be a pretty good name for a 1960's horror movie starring Bella Lugosi, Bud Abbot and Lou Costello.

Nice win

Despite not having a starting pitcher and using the bullpen over all nine innings, the Red Sox managed to beat the Orioles 12-10 last night.

The one downside to the night was the game lasted for 3½ hours and didn't end until 10:45.

I don't like staying up until 10:45...

This evenings game is at 7:05 and Bello has the start. With the series tida 1-1, a win tonight would be good.

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My town had it's annual hazardous waste collection day today so I was able to get rid of my collection of used motor oil, some 30 year old Thompson's Water Seal and about twenty cans of 15 year old spray paint my kids had accumulated over the years.

It's nice to get rid of that stuff without doing what we used to do back in the 60s and 70s which was dig a hole and pour it in the ground.

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I went to the vet clinic this afternoon and set up their vpn server.

Well, I tried to set it up but failed miserably.

I saw something I've never seen before - a melted microSD card.

Apparently the card failed and the card reader got so hot, it basically burned the end off the card and visibly warped it.

I brought the Pi home and put an old card I had in it to make sure the problem it wasn't caused because the machine was bad. The machine booted up nicely and did not overheat at all so that tells me the problem was the card.

So now it's simply a matter of buying a new microSD card and reloading the software.

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I've been watching the Worcester Red Sox game (they won) and now I'm going to watch the Boston Red Sox game (I hope they win). Hopefully today's game doesn't go until 10:30 because I'm tired.

Here are today's links:

• looks like Tommy Flanagan is admitting he's a liar.



• I bet this was not pleasant to see.



• I'm pretty sure that is not a butt.



• I've been looking forward to seeing what he can do.



• And I'm saying it's not okay.



• Only in Florida.

Two losses

Let's start with the Red Sox.

My hopes were not high that they would beat the Orioles last night so I wasn't overly disappointed when they lost 5-1.

What I did not expect were the atrocious calls made by the home plate umpire.

I thought for sure that Pivetta was going to get tossed out of the game at one point because he was obviously pretty pissed off at some of the calls.

They are back at it again this evening with one of the bullpen guys, Bernardino, getting the start. First pitch is at 7:05.

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The second loss was the Eagles beating the Patriots 14-13.

It really looked like they were going to win the game. There was about two minutes left to play in the game and Zappe was moving them downfield at a pretty good clip.

At the Patriots 46 yard line, Zappe dropped into a shotgun formation and the center made the worst snap of his career. The ball squirted across the ground, past Zappe and as he turn to fall on it, one of the Eagles players managed to get there first and recovered the ball.

All the Eagles had to do was take a knee and let the clock run out to win the game.

It's preseason and if you are going to screw up a snap, now is the time to do it but NBC kept showing the center sitting on the bench afterwards and it looked like he was about to cry.

Next up for them is the final preseason game on Sunday, the 25^th when they will go to Washington to play the Commanders

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And speaking of preseason, we are now less that 40 days away from the Rangers @ Bruins first preseason game scheduled for September 22^nd

I will be in sports overload in September...

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Here are today's links:

• In yet another blow to Psycho Vlad's fragile ego, Ukrainians are leaving reviews of restaurants in area of Russia that the Ukranians have captured.



• And anyone that goes there on vacation is either incredibly stupid or suffering from a severe brain injury.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "11:18 a.m. There was a moose jam blocking traffic in Glacier National park."



• Oops.



• Here's a little interweb info just in case you wanted to know how a bat pees.



• We, as a society, have taken hurt feelings a bit too far.

Things did not go well...

Houck faced 29 batters over 6⅔ innings. He walked 2, struck out 3 and gave up 2 earned runs. When he left the game, the Red Sox were up 4-2.

Then the bullpen took over...

At first things looked great. The Red Sox were up 7-4 after eight inings and I was feeling pretty good about things.

Then Winckowski gave up a three run homer to tie the game and send it to extras. I was suddenly feeling less good about things...

In the tenth, the Rangers scored two and the Red Sox were unable to match them. They lost the game 9-7.

And for the record, my son and his wife made it to their seats in time to see the bottom of the first inning.

Tonight they are in Baltimore to start a four-game series against the Orioles. Pivetta has the start and I'm kind of hoping they win this first game.

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I finally managed to get my VPN back up and running so I can now connect to my network from anywhere.

Now I just need to get the vet clinic back up and running. Once I do that, the docs will no longer have to sit in their office until all hours of the night doing their paperwork. They will once again be able to log into the clinic network from their home.

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The Patriots and Eagles are going at it on NBC so I'm going to try and sneak a little football viewing in to my evening.

Here are a few links:

• This is absolutely, without question, the dumbest idea I've heard this week.



• If this happened in my neighborhood, I'd stop it pretty quick. I'd be out there with a tire iron and a baseball bat...



• He can still only play one at a time.



• No. No they don't.



• If you are looking for a gift for the guy in your life, look no further.



• I have a camera in my pocket that is capable of taking a crystal-clear picture of a small plane traveling at 150 mph at a distance of 3,000 feet but no one can sem to get a picture of the loch ness monster..

Another win.

Crawford threw a pretty good game. He tossed 67 pitches to 20 batters over 5⅓ innings, which is not a lot of pitches but not a little either.

The Rangers had 0 runs through those five innings but when Crawford came out to start the 6^th, he lost it and gave up four runs.

Actually, Crawford didn't really give up all four runs. Cora took him out after he had given up one run and loaded the bases but any runs resulting from those base runners are assigned to be Crawford in the game stats.

Booser came in walked in two runs before Cora pulled him. A new guy, Sims, came in and while he did allow the last of Crawfords four runs to cross the plate, he also managed to get the outs needed to end the inning.

The bullpen was able to finish off the next three innings without giving up any runs and the game ended with the Red Sox beating the Rangers 9-4.

Oh, and the Twins beat the crap out of the Royals 13-3 which means the Red Sox are now only one game out of the wildcard.

Houck is the starter for tonight's game.  First pitch is at 6:10.

Hopefully my youngest and his wife make it to Fenway before then so they are in their seats when the game starts.

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Here are some links:

• If you happen to have any Malaysian candy, you might want to throw it away.



• I give another week or two before he starts claiming the election is being stolen from him.



• Get ready for internet outages and beautiful auroras.



• Key line in this story: "Crocodile Hunter meets Florida Man."



• Key line in this story: "Got a blocked nose? No worries. Soon, you’ll have another option to breathe through."

They won!

It took them 10 innings but they beat the Rangers 5-4 last night.

Tonight's game features Crawford as the starter and hopes are high that he puts the Red Sox up before the 5^th inning.

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We golfed today so I was not really around to download news.

That's why this is a short post.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "It's not about the top, it's about oppression..."



• This is why I don't have Tesla stock.



• Attention friends that drive Fords: 2004 through 2014 are bad. Very bad...



• Another reason I try to stay out of Boston.

Time to start winning.

The Red Sox really need to break this losing streak they are currently dealing with. Particularly when they are at home.

The Rangers are a sub-500 team with some good pitching. Fortunately, DeGrom is on the DL and Eovaldi pitched yesterday so those two guys are not a problem.

Bello has the start for the Red Sox tonight and if he is on his game, he should be able to keep the Ranger batters off the bases.

First pitch is at 7:10 and I suspect I will be mumbling vulgarities at my tv sometime before 9:30.

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If there is one thing that Donald "I know more about courts than any human being on Earth!" Trump is very, very good at, it's suing people.

I wonder if all criminals can sue law enforcement for searching their house for evidence of a crime?

By the way, the key paragraph in that story is:

"All they had to do was ask," the Truth Social post said. The filing does not mention the multiple requests from the National Archives and the Justice Department for Trump to return the records. The DOJ had also issued a subpoena for the return of such documents in May of 2022, and an attorney for Trump signed a declaration stating they had all been returned that June. The search warrant was executed after investigators got information that they had been misled.

This is why people don't like him. Well, this and a lot of other things but mostly this - his arrogant belief that laws don't apply to him, only to us little people.

Then again, it's also true that we, as a society, have way too many laws, rules and regulations. We stopped being a free people the day they said you could be arrested for not wearing a seatbelt.

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I'm gonna watch some baseball.

Here are some links:

• Seems like the Secret Service is working hard to give themselves a bad name.



• This is escalating rapidly.



• LA is rocking and rolling.



• Three guys I hang out with at Tommy's place took their wives on a dream vacation to Athens Greece.



• Presenting the winner of the Mug Shot of the Year award.



• He tripped over a beaver?

They got swept

The Astros beat the Red Sox 5-4 yesterday afternoon.

The Astros beat the Red Sox 10-2 this afternoon.

That means the Red Sox got swept and they are now 3 games out of the wildcard.

Their record at home is 27-31 and their record away is 34-24

They need to figure out why they can't win when they are playing at home. They should win more than half their games at home and they aren't doing that.

Tomorrow they start a three-game series against the Rangers and first pitch is at 7:10.

If they want to continue to have a chance of getting into the playoffs, they need to sweep the Rangers.

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The Olympics ended today and I didn't watch any of the closing ceremonies. I could care less about the opening and closing ceremonies. As a matter of fact, I'm not all that excited about most of the summer Olympics sporting events.

In two years, my favorite Olympics will kick off and I will watch most of that.

Most of my favorite sports are played during the winter Olympics. Sports like downhill skiing, snowboard-cross, ski jumping, biathlon, bobsled, luge, speed skating and the greatest of all winter sports, curling.

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Yesterday, a ATR-72-500 turboprop aircraft with 61 people on board, being operated by a Brazilian company known as VoePass, plummeted from the sky with almost no warning.

A look at the flight graph shows the plane was traveling at 300mph at 17,000 feet and within a few seconds, it decelerated to 30mph and fell to the ground.

In the above graphic, the green line represents altitude and the yellow line represents forward speed.

There is no official cause so everything I'm about to say is an educated guess. I say educated because I looked up the weather for that particular region and there were numerous reports of icing between 15,000 and 20,000 feet.

Ice forms on an aircraft just like it does on your car in the winter. All it takes is some water in the atmosphere and a drop in temperature. The big difference between ice on a car and ice on a plane is that the car is already on the ground. When ice forms on the outside of the plane, it changes the weight, the lift and the drag. If it coats the propellers, it can also change the thrust.

I believe that this aircraft entered a region where ice formed rapidly. That ice added thousand of pounds to the plane. The coating on the wings decreased the lift and the coating on the fuselage increased the drag. If it coated the blades of the propellers, it would decrease the thrust those propellers created.

Basically, that plane froze, went into a flat spin and dropped like a stone. And the people on board knew what was happening to them because it didn't spin fast enough to induce unconsciousness.

It might turn out to be some catastrophic mechanical or structural failure but there is video of the plane falling and it sounds like the engines are running and it looks like the flying parts (wings, elevators and rudder) of the aircraft are intact.

And for the record, I'm pretty sure no U.S. carrier flies the ATR. I believe the turboprop of choice is the Bombardier Dash 8 or the Bombardier Q200. Those two aircraft have much better flight characteristics and a far better safety record than the ATR.

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Here are some links:

• I'd bet that is probably the mildest thing he says about her.



• Here comes Ernesto!



• Those do not look like monkeys to me.



• If you are stupid enough to think this is a good idea, you need to be locked up in a place where they can make sure you don't reproduce.



• I'm betting that was a sticky, shitty mess.



• Key line in this story: "...the suspect and an unidentified accomplice recorded themselves blowing up the toilet, and posting it on Snapchat.

The bullpen collapsed

Houck pitched a pretty good game but the batters couldn't get it done. Despite taking an early lead, they ended up losing 8-4 to the Astros.

They remain 1½ games out of the wildcard because the Royals lost as well.

If they can get on a winning streak of three or four games, they stand a good chance to getting back into the wildcard.

First pitch of today's game was at 4:10 and Winckowski is listed as the starter. I don't have any further information on the game simply because I typed this up at 1:00 in the afternoon and I don't really feel like changing it.

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Hurricane Debby was kind of a bust in my neck of the woods. It rained all night, pretty hard at times, but there were no reports of damage or power outages.

It's always nice when storms don't make our lives miserable.

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In golf, Lydia Ko from New Zealand won the gold which is no surprise to me. What is a surprise is that Nelly Korda finished tied for 22^nd.

Yesterday I said to Pat that the 15^th hole was killing everyone and today was no exception when Korda shot a 7 on a hole that is designed to be a par 4.

And speaking of Olympics, the US took the gold in women's soccer, beating Brazil 1-0. It was a good game to watch because man, those women were beating the shit out of each other.

There was so much pushing, punching, tripping and body-slamming that it was starting to look like a WWE wrestling match.

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This is Sage.

She sits on that shelf and stares at me while I watch sports. She wants me to do something for her but since she doesn't speak english and I don't speak cat, I have no idea what it is.

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Enjoy these links:

• Apparently we don't exist. Which, when you think about it, might go a long way in explaining the imaginary world most politicians live in...



• Guess what!?! We're going to have three whole days with no new laws telling us what we can and cannot do!



• Key line in this story: "...she hopes Trump is just blustering."
  Trust me, he's not blustering, he's bragging.



• I plan on being dead before this happens.



• Turns out that not only did the Panthers lose to the Patriots, things didn't go so well on their trip home.

The Patriots played pretty well

When a new coach and two new quarterbacks join a team, it usually means things don't always go well but last night the Patriots under Mayo played some pretty damned good football.

The passes looked good and I was pleasantly surprised by the running game.

Yes, they have some things to work out but my hopes are high for a decent season.

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Hay! Guess who's under a tornado watch!

We lost power two nights ago at midnight but we didn't know it until 5:30 in the morning when we woke up. I fired up the generator and ran it for an hour before the power came back on.

If the same thing happens again tonight, I'm not going to complain. What I will complain about is if we have another one of those multi-day outages. I only have about 8 gallons of gasoline which will last me about two days if I use it wisely.

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Donald "Help, I'm talking and I can't shut up!" Trump posted a message on his truth thingee that basically said criminals were all for for Kamala "Snort" Harris.

It took less than an hour for someone to turn that accusation into a plus for the Harris campaign.

I gotta admit, this might just become an interesting presidential election...

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The Red Sox are taking on the Astros and it looks like Houck will be the starter.

Hopefully he has a better outing than he did against the Rangers last Saturday.

I'm also hoping they can keep on avoiding making errors. When they make errors, they lose.

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Enjoy these links:

• Key line in this story: "Colin was concerned about the turtles in his local canal..."



• Well, this doesn't sound good.



• Oh Canada.



• Key line in this story: "...festivalgoers are taking sneaking candy into the theater to a whole new level."



• I'm pretty sure there is a better way to express your displeasure.



• I always knew it was good for me.

Tough loss

Crawford did not have a good night and the Red Sox lost 8-4. He faced 20 batters over only 3⅔ innings, giving up 6 earned runs, striking out three and walking four.

That, my friends, is not a good night.

They are now 1½ games out of the wildcard.

They are off today while they head home. Tomorrow they start a three-game series against the Astros. First pitch is at 7:10 and so far, no starting pitcher has been announced.

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Yesterday I said I wanted Steve Martin to play Walz in any comedy skit on television.

Looks like Lorne Michaels might be reading my blog...

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I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have no idea what it is that makes the stock market tick...

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The Patriots are playing their first pre-season game tonight, taking on the Panthers in Foxboro.

Enjoy these links:

• Looks like Ukraine has gone on the offensive. I'm betting Psycho Vlad is not happy about this and someone is going to fall out of a very high window in a few days...



• Only in Florida.



• I'd be pissed off if it were me.



• These people obviously never met my dog.



• Please, for the love of God, stop writing articles about eating crickets.



• If I remember correctly, this is the second or third burrito assault in the last year.

Another good win

Once again I managed to stay awake through all nine innings and I got to watch the Red Sox beat the Royals 6-5 last night.

This means two things:
1) They have taken two of the three games in this series
2) They are now half a game out of the wildcard.

Crawford is the starter for tonight's game. First pitch is at 8:10 and I'm going to make every effort to watch all nine innings but I'm not sure I'll make it.

This staying up till 11:30 is for much younger people...

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I've decided that the new guy, Walz, should be played by Steve Martin in any television skit involving politics.

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Here are some links:

• A local athlete just became a gold medal winner.



• I'm thinking the word "employee" may no longer be correct.



• Key phrase in this story: "I want meat..."



• Proof that Hellmans makes the best mayo.



• Nantucket Seagull would be a great name for a 1860's wild west gunslinger.

Excellent win

The Red Sox beat the Royals 9-5 last night and that moved them to within 1½ games of the third wildcard slot.

Paxton faced 23 batters over six innings. He gave up two runs, walked one and struck out four.

The most important part of that game is that despite the fact it started at 8:10, I managed to stay awake until the last out.

Bello has the start tonight and once again, the first pitch is at 8:10.

I probably won't make it through all nine innings tonight.

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Harris has finally gotten around to picking someone to run as her VP.

His name is Walz and I've never heard of him.

The lack of knowledge on my part is meaningless because there are a lot of people I've never heard of. Maybe he's a decent guy, maybe he's nutcase. Either way, I'm sure we'll figure him out eventually.

What I do know is that Donald "Better than Lincoln. Better than Washington" Trump appears to be a bit upset about the way things are going...

I'm thinking he's a little more high-strung than usual.

Wonder why that is...

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Here are some links:

• Man, they got world records for everything.



• For some reason, I'm skeptical.



• I can honestly say that, No, I have never wanted to see their underwear.



• Could be worse. Could be a shark.



• Picknelly is selling his dads bus.



• "Debbie Blows Miami would have been a great name for a 1980s porno movie.

Back to four in the race

When I checked the MLB standings this morning, I found that we once again have four teams occupying the three wildcard slots.

This is because the Orioles and the New York Aaron Judges have the same record so apparently they occupy the same space.

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The other day, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Jerome Powell, announced that they were keeping interest rates where they are.

When he made that announcment, I said, "Personally, I think they should just shut up and make changes based on a sound fiscal policy without any fanfare or announcements."

I said that because every time the Fed comes out and says stupid stuff, the market reacts poorly.

Well, guess what happened today...

Good job there Jerry. You just killed the financial stability of millions of people.

Just kidding. Don't panic everybody. All the markets are still up about 2½% for the year.

It's not a great return but it is still growth. Hopefully this is the only big dip, we see the market stabliize and, as is often the case in most fairy tales, we all live happily ever after.

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I am not looking forward to this upcoming election. I can guarantee you that I will not be happy no matter who gets elected.

What I can guarantee you is that I will not miss the constant stream of bullshit being foisted on us by the media.

In no particular order, here is a list of things I don't care about:

1. Who will Harris pick as her VP?
2. What stupid thing did Vance say last night?
3. What nasty thing did Trump say last night?
4. What arrogant thing did Harris say last night?
5. Will Jimmy Carter live long enough to vote for Harris?
6. Which celebrity/athlete/politician has endorsed which candidate?
7. Which union has endorsed which candidate?
8. Which poll is saying that Harris/Trump as a 1% lead over Trump/Harris?

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Tonight's baseball game starts at 8:10 and you can rest assured that I will make every effort to stay awake to watch as much of it as possible.

Here are some links:

• Things are not going well for NASA.



• Some people look at this and panic. I look at it and say, "I'm gonna have ocean front property pretty soon!"



• In my opinion, Demi Moore should mind her own damned business.



• Only in Florida.



• Since it has a GPS tracker on it, they should put it on google maps so we can track it.



• Japan, It's not like where we live.

They lost last night but they won this afternoon

Last night the Red Sox lost to the Rangers 7-4. Houck fell apart in the 4^th and again in the 6^th, giving up 6 earned runs. I blame myself because I wasn't home to watch the game.

This afternoon went a bit better with Pivetta getting the start. Not only was I home, I was able to watch the game!

Things didn't look great when the Rangers took Pivetta deep in the first & second innings and took a 2-0 lead but he managed to get it together. Those first 2 runs were all the Rangers scored for the remainder of the game.

The batters faced old friend Nasty Nate Eovaldi but they managed to get it together and earned 5 runs before he was replaced by the bullpen.

In the end, the Red Sox won the gamed 7-2 and took the series.

They are still out of the wildcard by 2½ games which means their next series is very important. I'm also pleased to anounce that the wildcard standings are back to normal.

Tomorrow, they start their next three game series against the Royals. If they can win that series, they might just get themselves a little closer to that third wildcard slot.

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Every time NBC shows this guy's name on the screen,

all I can think about is that old Bugs Bunny cartoon where he faced off against a guy named The Crusher.

And for the record, he won a gold medal in the shot put.

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Here are some links:

• They have interesting and news-worthy entertainment in Dallas.



• He still seems to be more sane than Trump.



• It's only a matter of time before they ban these things.



• This is about eight and a half pounds more than I want...



• I'm betting a little duct tape would have prevented that.

Excellent win

The Red Sox beat the Rangers 11-6 last night.

Crawford had a meh kind of night, facing 23 batters over 5⅓ innings. During the 5⅓ innings, he gave up five earned runs, four of which were home runs, walked one and struck out five.

Fortunately, the Red Sox batters were turning themselves into runners and they managed to step on home plate more times than the Rangers did.

Houck has the start tonight and first pitch is at 7:05.

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Remember the other day when I said, "I just hope we (the U.S.) stay the hell out of it."

Well, looks like they didn't listen to me.

I really hope this doesn't turn into a shit show with the American military facing off against various middle-eastern dictators with funny hats because the last time that stuff happened, things got out of hand and we got to deal with this.

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Kind of a busy day today so this ends my spewage.

Here are a few links:

• First it was water on Mars. Then it was life on Venus. Now it's diamonds on Mercury. No wonder all the billionaires are building rockets to go into space.



• Key phrase in this story: "It was just the perfect fit."



• This is why you never let animals hold on to your valuables.



• Only in New York City.