Monday, June 29, 2009

Poignant Father's Day Note From Garron

Mary and I met my parents in Brenham over the recent Father's Day weekend. After touring the ice cream Mecca (Blue Bell plant) we headed out to Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site (a trip every Texan should take).

At the end of our visit we had a few minutes to walk around the Star of The Republic Museum. Part of the museum has exhibits setup especially for children. Since this was Father's Day weekend the museum staff had placed a notebook out for the children to write in. Each page of the notebook had three fields that included a place for the child's name and the statement "My father is a hero because". The children were then given a space to write their own comment.

While thumbing through the pages Mary and my mother came across the page shown below. The first and last entry are the types of things you would expect to read on Father's Day, but the middle one was heart breaking. Click on the picture below to blow up the picture so you can read what Garron had to say.


Fall Down, Go Boom

Very interesting photos of a building that fell in Shanghai. It fell like a book that was upright, and then on its side.
Click on the image below to see the entire gallery.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

You Call That a Strike?!

In the seventh inning of a recent game between the Red Sox and the Braves, Atlanta’s Peter Moylan fired a two-strike fastball to Kevin Youkilis. Although the home plate umpire called it a ball, Braves fans could’ve been forgiven for thinking the pitch nipped the outside corner. Viewers in Boston, however, knew the ump made the right call.

This difference of opinion wasn’t the result of home-team favoritism. Rather, it stemmed from differences in the local television broadcasts. The Red Sox telecast on NESN is one of only three in Major League Baseball that places its main camera directly behind the pitcher in straightaway center field. The other 27 clubs, including the Braves, put the camera off-center, about 10 to 15 degrees toward left field. That offset angle means the vast majority of baseball fans get a skewed sense of the pitcher-hitter confrontation, the matchup at the very heart of baseball. For fans of the Braves and most other teams, judging balls and strikes is a matter of guesswork.
Read The Full Slate Article Here

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing