Doug's Weblog

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Wed, 30 May 2012 19:14:28 -0400

RIP Doc

Wed, 30 May 2012 19:14:13 -0400

RIP Doc

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Wed, 30 May 2012 19:13:43 -0400

Doc Watson and David Grisman - Shady Grove

Tue, 29 May 2012 21:45:51 -0400

Doc Watson and David Grisman - Shady Grove

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Tue, 29 May 2012 18:19:45 -0400

At Last, It's Over: Cubs Blast Out Of Losing Streak With 11-7 Win - Bleed Cubbie Blue

Tue, 29 May 2012 10:11:03 -0400

At Last, It's Over: Cubs Blast Out Of Losing Streak With 11-7 Win - Bleed Cubbie Blue:

David Banks - Getty ImagesMore photos »

Starlin Castro of the Chicago Cubs hits a two-run homer against the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.

themuseumofrobynhitchcock: The Ballad of Old 604

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:39:18 -0400

themuseumofrobynhitchcock:

The Ballad of Old 604

Carole’s 60th Birthday Celebration, a set on Flickr.

Mon, 28 May 2012 07:44:09 -0400

Carole’s 60th Birthday Celebration, a set on Flickr.

What Is Ya Ka May? is an inspiring and soul-grooving video...

Sun, 27 May 2012 08:56:04 -0400

What Is Ya Ka May? is an inspiring and soul-grooving video about the multi-cultural influences on the contemporary New Orleans music scene. You’ll see some familiar faces in this mini-doc by Galactic…

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Sat, 26 May 2012 19:42:34 -0400

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Sat, 26 May 2012 19:41:33 -0400

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Sat, 26 May 2012 19:41:09 -0400

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Sat, 26 May 2012 19:40:53 -0400

Mick Mulvaney is the dumbest debater in Congress, study says | Palmetto Public Record

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:15:19 -0400

Mick Mulvaney is the dumbest debater in Congress, study says | Palmetto Public Record:

The average eighth-grader speaks more eloquently than U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, according to a new study which found that the South Carolina Republican has the lowest reading level out of any member of Congress.

The Sunlight Foundation analyzed the Congressional Record using the Flesch-Kincaid test, which measures word and sentence length to determine a speaker’s reading level. The study found that Congress has dropped a full grade level from seven years ago, with the most conservative congressmen averaging at the lowest grade level.

Mulvaney clocked in at a reading level of 7.95 — just below the national average, and a good deal lower than the congressional average of 10.6.

All of the “bottom 10″ congressional speakers are Republicans, though Mulvaney is the only South Carolina name on the list. Eight of the “top 10″ speakers are also Republicans, going all the way up to California Rep. Daniel Lungren’s reading level of 16.01.

The Sunlight Foundation notes that “what some might interpret as a dumbing down of Congress, others will see as more effective communications” with an American public which also seems to be dumbing down its speech. Either way, it’s clear Rep. Mulvaney has a lot of summer reading to do.

Photo

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:40:54 -0400

Tony Campana hurtles a tag at 3rd. Pretty awesome stuff.

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:09:36 -0400

Tony Campana hurtles a tag at 3rd. Pretty awesome stuff.

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken (with Emmylou Harris & Bonnie...

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:24:35 -0400

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken (with Emmylou Harris & Bonnie Raitt) Live 1977. HQ Video

Liberty Bridge on Flickr.

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:56:47 -0400

Liberty Bridge on Flickr.

Cubs Post Second Six-Game Losing Streak Of 2012 - Bleed Cubbie Blue

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:36:03 -0400

Cubs Post Second Six-Game Losing Streak Of 2012 - Bleed Cubbie Blue:

The temperatures were warm Sunday afternoon; the humidity high in advance of thunderstorms which are forecast to blow through the area Sunday night, and the wind howling straight out to center field around 20 miles per hour.

This, therefore, was one of those days when hitters even without a lot of power should have been thinking “home run.” Who knew? Maybe even Tony Campana could have gotten a ball up in the jetstream for an outside-the-park homer.

Someone forgot to tell the Cubs about all of this, because all they could put up against Jake Peavy and threeWhite Sox relievers were four singles and a double, widely scattered through nine innings. Oh, and five walks (one by Campana, the only time he reached base), just the eighth time in 41 games so far this season that Cubs hitters had drawn that many free passes. All of that resulted in zero runs.

Meanwhile, Gordon Beckham, Adam Dunn and Tyler Flowers all took advantage of the wind by smashing home runs. Beckham’s and Flowers’ hit Waveland Avenue, the one by Flowers bouncing off the building at the northwest corner of Waveland & Kenmore into a scrum that included BCB’s ballhawk. It wound up in the hands of one of the junior ballhawks. That was about the most entertainment any Cubs fan could come up with as the White Sox shut out the Cubs 6-0, sweeping the series and sending the Cubs to their sixth straight loss.

The Cubs/White Sox interleague series was tied 35-35 in 2009. Since then, the White Sox have won 13 of 17; the Cubs have not won the season series since 2007. The White Sox actually have the best record of any team in baseball in interleague play since 2008, so it’s not just the Cubs they are beating up on. Small consolation, I know.

What more can you say? Paul Maholm wasn’t awful today, but the three home runs, all solo, gave the White Sox more runs than they needed. Dunn’s home run, incidentally, came after he had been 3-for-28 lifetime against Maholm with 12 strikeouts coming into today. The dinger tied Dunn with Albert Pujols for the most home runs by an active visting player at Wrigley Field (27).

Another run scored off Maholm in the seventh inning, driven in by Jake Peavy on a force play, before Dale Sveum mercifully got him out of there. A sacrifice fly got the fifth run charged to Maholm, and then Rafael Dolis gave up the final run in a mopup outing in the ninth inning.

I found myself wondering why Casey Coleman, who pitched an inning Saturday night, was in the game again Sunday, considering that Randy Wells, who was recalled from Iowa to replace the retired Kerry Wood on the roster, had last pitched at Iowa on May 15. Why wouldn’t you go with Wells in that situation? I realize Sveum doesn’t have a lot to work with in the current bullpen, but that choice seemed strange.

Today’s crowd was larger than I expected — 38,374 announced — and there were, in my estimate, very few no-shows. However, there seemed to be at least 500 empty seats in the bleachers, about 10% of the total, likely due to the high prices for bleachers for this game. I’ve talked a lot about how the Cubs pricing 13 games this high is going to drive down sales for some of these dates; today was one of them.

Don’t know what else to say. The Cubs looked as listless as they’ve looked all season on Sunday afternoon. Now they head to Houston to play a team that was also expected to be awful this year. Thrills await, I’m sure.

Hidden pint-glass QR code is only visible when filled with Guinness - Boing Boing

Sun, 20 May 2012 11:01:49 -0400

Hidden pint-glass QR code is only visible when filled with Guinness - Boing Boing:

A clever bit of advertising gimmickry from Guinness: these pint glasses bear QR codes than can’t be read when the glass is empty, nor when it is filled with amber-colored beers. But when filled with black, murky Guinness, the revealed QR code can finally be scanned: “it tweets about your pint, updates your facebook status, checks you in via 4 square, downloads coupons and promotions, invites your friends to join, and even launches exclusive Guiness content.”

Yeah, so the last part is a bit of a nightmare.