MLB Spelling Challenges (All-Star Fan Fest)

Because It Is Never Too Late To Be Cautious

-- Blomkvist opened her robe and put a hand on her breast, caressing it cautiously.


from The Girl Who Played With Fire

Not Burying the Lede

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2010/06/hey_could_you_get_a_littl.php

So many possible Patsy Cline songs

Persian, Dilorom told me, had only one word for crying, whereas Old Uzbek had one hundred. Old Uzbek had words for wanting to cry and not being able to, for being caused to sob by something, for loudly crying like thunder in the clouds, for crying in gasps, for weeping inwardly or secretly, for crying ceaselessly in a high voice, for crying while uttering the sound hay hay. Old Uzbek had special verbs for being unable to sleep, for speaking while feeding animals, for being a hypocrite, for gazing imploringly into a lover's face, for dispersing a crowd. . . . What did you know about Uzbekistan once you learned that Old Uzbek had a hundred different words for crying? I wasn't sure, but it didn't seem to bide well for my summer vacation.

from "The Possessed" by Elif Batuman.

Baseball recap

Rick Monday reporting on the evening's games (I may have the teams wrong):

"Cleveland was shut out by the Yankees 9-2."

"The As could only muster one run in losing 10-8."

Overheard at College Baseball playoff game

Some guys are discussing the World Cup about to begin in South Africa:

Guy #1:   My ex is in Africa.

Guy #2:   Who's your ex?

Guy #3:    Some white girl.

Overheard in a Secretarial Bay

"You know what, I don't conjugate."

Getting It Right

From The Department of Corrections

In our Saturday post about the California Democratic Party’s ad attacking Meg Whitman but masquerading as an “issues ad,” we described the abrupt ending to our conversation with CDP Chairman John Burton. Through his spokesman, Burton on Monday complained that he had been misquoted. Burton says he didn’t say “Fuck you.” His actual words were, “Go fuck yourself.” Calbuzz regrets the error.



http://www.calbuzz.com/2010/05/7819/

Remington Shadow

Favorite Baseball Story in Awhile

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/05/lastings-milledge-got-deked-by-fireworks.html.php

Can't say I've ever seen this one before. In the fourth inning of last night's Pirates-Cubs game, Lastings Milledge launched a ball towards left field. The fireworks fired! The music played! Lastings began to circle the bases and . . . got tagged out between second and third. Wha?

Seems that the ball merely bounced off the wall. You can watch it here. Obviously whoever is in charge of the music and pyrotechnics jumped the gun a little. After the game Milledge admitted that he was watching the sky and not the umpires' signal, saying "I never thought that it didn't go out because the music was playing and the fireworks."

By Craig Calcaterra

Text message on the phone of the woman in front of me

Thank you for being sweet. I'm glad I don't make your ears itchy.

In the hall

Woman of perhaps thirty, to a man of maybe 60, who she obviously has never met:

Woman: You are really good at that.

Man: Oh, thanks.

Woman: I could hear you through the wall. You sounded just like a cartoon.

Man: I'll take that as a compliment.

Prudential wisdom

-- And if it were true also that she had fought a duel with one husband, that also ought to be a reason why a gentleman should object to become her second husband.

"The Way We Live Now" -- Trollope

Giving Cover

Awesome site of awesomely bad sci-fi covers. Sci-fi.

http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/

(from Andrew Sullivan)

Late Breaking News From the 2010 Pulitizer Prize jury

Special citation:

Hank Williams for his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.

Truth in Advertising

A Southern California pastor has been charged with bigamy after one wife learned about his new marriage on the internet. He is the pastor of the Church of the Great I Am in Bellflower, California.