Tiny Cars Are Huge in Japan
Burgoyne in Bermuda near his own tiny car.

Labels: weekend

Hello.

BREAKING: First Openly Gay Racehorse To Compete Sunday

Labels: weekend

"But you know what? I'm done with it. I'm going back to gentlemen's hosiery. You know where you are with an honest pair of socks."

- Joe Blumfield

Labels: quotes, weekend

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace (WSJ)
The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

I'm going to quote Peter Kreeft in response to the email I received (thanks by the way):

"Finally, the prescription: What shall we do? How shall we fight the good fight? What are our marching orders as we prepare for Armageddon, or Marathon, or Waterloo?

Four answers come to mind, four practical principles, four prescriptions.

First, be counter-cultural. Like the Bible. Like the early Church. Like Augustine's City of God. Like Jesus. "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds." Be a nut, a fanatic, a weirdo. Was it ever said of the early Christians that they were "cool", or "with it"? Or, to use exact adult equivalents, that they were "appropriate" or "acceptable"? No, here's what the world said: "These that have turned the world upside down have come here" (Acts 17:6). Let's turn the world upside down, for it's standing on its head."

Labels: weekend

Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in Thy sight.

- Luke 10:21

Another great image of Burgoyne with Nana and Pop Pop.

Labels: weekend

The first autumn frost. I'm in transit the next couple of days so posting will be light.

Labels: weekend

I tagged this on Flickr with "SARS, Tennis Ball, Orange, Dutch".

Labels: weekend

No vacation this weekend/week but I'm off to see The Wall performed by The Australian Pink Floyd Show. It turns out that several of my colleagues are going to be there. There may be some hope for Generation Y yet!

The show was great and they performed from 7:30-10:-30. The amphitheater was full (7,500+) and the traffic to get into the New England Dodge Music Center was brutal. We thought the show would end after Outside The Wall but they came back on stage and did 5 more songs. Here's a list of the other songs they performed:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond
The Great Gig In The Sky
Wish You Were Here
One Of These Days
Brain Damage/Eclipse

The back-up signers were great (awesome on The Great Gig In The Sky) as was the artist who played Pink. The animation and effects (lighting and lasers) were good. I liked the kangaroo substitution on top of the hammer. The guitar solos in Comfortably Numb were great and it made my friend a little teary (I'm not sure he was joking). They cheated a little with the build on One Of These Days but it was late in the performance.

My original pre-show post had lyrics from Hey You but What Shall We Do Now? better fits my mood.

What shall we use to fill the empty spaces
Where waves of hunger roar?
Shall we set out across the sea of faces
In search of more and more applause?
Shall we buy a new guitar?
Shall we drive a more powerful car?
Shall we work straight through the night?
Shall we get into fights?
Leave the lights on?
Drop bombs?
Do tours of the east?
Contract diseases?
Bury bones?
Break up homes?
Send flowers by phone?
Take to drink?
Go to shrinks?
Give up meat?
Rarely sleep?
Keep people as pets?
Train dogs?
Race rats?
Fill the attic with cash?
Bury treasure?
Store up leisure?
But never relax at all
With our backs to the wall.

We stopped at a Denny's on the drive home from Hartford. This would have been a smart idea if half the audience and half of Connecticut hadn't decided to do the same thing. What a rowdy freak show.

My friend and I both missed the real Pink Floyd in our more formidable years. I missed them in Germany by two weeks but settled for this photograph which I took from a train. It's no small consolation prize since I had it blown up and framed and it's been hanging on some wall in my home or office ever since.


All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
All in all you were all just bricks in the wall.

Labels: weekend

Hey kids, long week? How about escaping to Bermuda with a Dark & Stormy? And it's NOT a Dark & Stormy without Gosling's.

It's a nice crispy autumn day here in New England but too many photographs and artifacts‡ of Bermuda have agitated my listlessness (I'm going a little nautical here). I think I need to go on holiday. I just googled that phrase and found this site. It's time to troll Orbitz or Travelocity.

I may just have to settle for a Rum Swizzle (for right now).

8 oz Gosling's® Black Seal rum
6 dashes Angostura® bitters
juice of 2 lemons
crushed ice
5 oz pineapple juice
5 oz orange juice
2 oz grenadine syrup

Stir or shake vigorously until a frothing head appears. Strain into sour glasses. Garnish with a slice of orange or a Maraschino Cherry.

More Bermuda...
Here's another photograph from the Limestone Roof archives. I took this one on Front Street during the labour day parade.

‡I purchased the envelope commemorating the first flight between Bermuda and New York via Imperial Airways several years ago on eBay. Here is a little information on the flying boat named Cavalier. Those few long-time Limestone Roof readers will notice a peculiar date in the description. This second photograph shouldn't be viewed by those averse to the sea.

How about two tiny quotes? This one is from Gimlette (who else) and complements the travel theme of this post.

"As we clambered upwards through felled trees and falling Australians."

"Since then, the travel literature has reeled with confusion. Of all the bewildered accounts, my favourite is that of Earl of Dartmouth in 1752. Finding himself in genteel company, he was horrified to discover that he had to kiss all the ladies present, from the matronly to the outright grotesque. 'It was,' he wrote, 'sad, clammy work.'"

I've been reading Panther Soup in small bursts but should finish it soon.

Labels: bermuda, weekend

I am very pleased that the Connecticut Catholic Conference published this statement after the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling on same-sex "marriage". The courts continue to thwart the will of the majority by legislating from the bench.

"The Catholic Bishops of Connecticut and the Connecticut Catholic Conference are extremely disappointed in this close 4-3 decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court which imposes the recognition of same-sex marriage upon the people of Connecticut. This decision is in direct conflict with the position of our state legislature and courts of other states and is a terribly regrettable exercise in judicial activism.

Four people have not just extended a supposed civil right to a particular class of individuals, but have chosen to redefine the institution of marriage. The Connecticut Supreme Court has taken upon itself to make a determination that other courts throughout our nation have felt should be made through the political process."

Update

Yes on Question One.

Connecticut, unlike California, has no direct initiative and referendum process. But in a unique feature of the Connecticut process, voters are asked every 20 years whether or not they wish to convene a constitutional convention, which would then have the authority to propose constitutional amendments to voters.

By an accident, or an act of God, the Connecticut court decision imposing same-sex marriagecame down less than three weeks before the once-in-twenty-years chance Connecticut voters have to call for a constitutional convention—this Nov. 4.

Question One asks: “Shall there be a Constitutional Convention to amend or revise the Constitution of the state"?

Labels: weekend

This Op-Ed by Thomas Sowell reminds me of this equally complementary quote by Abraham Lincoln:

"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

Sowell's Op-Ed received a title change in the Connecticut Post from, "Do Facts Matter" to "Don't believe everyone else; this is all the fault of liberals".

Either way, Sowell provides a strong and factual indictment of the high-ranking Democrats (including Obama) involved in the housing crisis as well as the complicity of the media to investigate.

Fact Number One: It was liberal Democrats, led by Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who for years— including the present year— denied that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taking big risks that could lead to a financial crisis.

It was Senator Dodd, Congressman Frank and other liberal Democrats who for years refused requests from the Bush administration to set up an agency to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was liberal Democrats, again led by Dodd and Frank, who for years pushed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans, which are at the heart of today's financial crisis.

Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, five years ago.

The root causes of this crisis are being ignored by the media and obscured a cult of personality (Seattle hosts an Obama Youth Parade). Obama and his slippery cohorts have been the beneficiaries. As Sowell writes

The current financial bailout crisis has propelled Barack Obama back into a substantial lead over John McCain— which is astonishing in view of which man and which party has had the most to do with bringing on this crisis.

It raises the question: Do facts matter? Or is Obama's rhetoric and the media's spin enough to make facts irrelevant?

But the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America.

Labels: end times, left-wing media, liberals, obama, weekend

Someone has finally written an Op-Ed in a major newspaper about Hollywood propaganda/agitprop. I don't usually cover politics on the weekend but this fits nicely since it would have been a great weekend to partake in some escapism.

5 Myths About Those Tinseltown Liberals

Hollywood used to be called the Dream Factory, but nowadays it seems to be grinding out as much propaganda as anything else.

For the past 30 years or so, Hollywood storytelling has been guided by a liberal mythos in which, for example, blacklisting communist screenwriters during the '50s was somehow morally worse than fellow-traveling with the Stalinist murderers of tens of millions ("Trumbo"); Che Guevara was a dashing, romantic liberator instead of a charismatic killer ("The Motorcycle Diaries"); and the worldwide violence currently being waged by Islamo-fascists is either a figment of our bigoted imaginations or the product of our evil deeds ("V for Vendetta").

Limestone Commentary
I think Hollywood will throttle back the propaganda after the left chooses Barack Hussein Obama in November but the damage has already been done. They may begin producing less pugnacious content but the subtleties will never ebb and it will still feature and be produced by the same echo chamber. More importantly, every dollar in the wallet of Stephen Spielberg, George Clooney or Julia Roberts is an extra dollar that will find its way to the DNC (or other radical lefty causes).

Labels: hollywood, weekend

I wanted to listen to the England versus Kazakhstan WC Qualifier on BBC Radio 5 but was thwarted by some tart with a pleasant sounding voice prattling on about 'unauthorized rights'. I will settle for the US versus Cuba WC Qualifier from Washington DC later this evening.

How about a quote?

"For a long time I lay there, thinking about the grass. Right then, there didn't seem anything else to think about - excerpt perhaps the only other commodity the plains had in abundance which, of course, was solitude." - John Gimlette

Limestone Library - Dwell Magazine

The roads—and the routes and the paths, the trails and the rights-of-way—take us away and they bring us home. They make us who we are and they make the places where we live.

Perpetual Motion: Vol. 1
Perpetual Motion: Vol. 2
Perpetual Motion: Vol. 3
Perpetual Motion: Vol. 4

Unrelated
Does the History Channel offer any programming about history and shouldn't programs like Monsterquest and UFO Hunters be on the Sci-Fi channel? I think Shockwave should be on Spike TV.

Labels: quotes, soccer, weekend

A great article on Shea Stadium with dozens of links.

Labels: baseball, bermuda, weekend

Today was the last regular season game at Shea Stadium. It ended ignominiously for the New York Metropolitans with a 4-2 loss to the Florida Marlins. The Mets only needed a win on the last day of the regular season to keep their playoff hopes alive (just like last season).

The rest of my 2008 MLB wrap-up...

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are in the playoffs for the first time since 1982! I feel bad for Ned Yost and the Braves should make sure he finds his way back to Atlanta as an eventual successor to Bobby Cox.

Chipper Jones wins the NL batting title and wants to retire a Brave.

The Yankees failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Yawn.

Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run against the Orioles on May 31st, 2008.

Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds became the sixth player to reach 600 career home runs on June 9, 2008.

K-Rod sets single-season saves record with No. 58

Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants ended the season with a MLB-best 265 strikeouts.

Cliff Lee became the Indians' first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974. He finishes 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA.

Notable Trades

C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, Jason Bay, and Ken Griffey Jr.

Labels: baseball, weekend

Sit back. Relax, and enjoy these and other airlines' safety videos.

I flew Virgin Atlantic to the UK and thought their safety video was ace.

Continuing my trip around the world...

Here I am sporting a cheeky international floppy hat as I head to the airport for my flight on Fisher Price Airlines.

What’s being loaded into this plane?

Labels: airlines, weekend

(1) This is the best description of the financial situation I've read anywhere. It's brief, simple and apolitical (no spin).

(2) This post is a little more technical but also provides some good information.

(3) Something about the year 1939...

2719 HYPERION takes a look at the original Illuminations at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

(4) And in print...

"By 1939, she [France] had the oldest population in Europe, and was almost running on empty. Poverty was followed by waves of xenophobia and lassitude. There was still a huge army but it lacked the old ideals of the republic, and the civil service was demoralised, resentful and powerless."

- John Gimlette

Labels: economics, weekend

Sigh. Wanderlust...

(1) The wonderful world of Miroslav Sasek.

(2) 2719 HYPERION reviews Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends by Jeff Kurtti.

(3) A colourful journal for colourful travels - the iconic stickers mark that one great restaurant, shop, or hotel so you'll never forget.

Labels: disney, weekend

I have a quote, a couple of links and one photo from the archives before I sign-off. As for deconstructing this post, it's above my pay-grade.

This is a picture of some graffiti I took near an underpass. Lovely.

Some links...

Microsoft's New Spot From Crispin Is an Ad About Nothing (So Far)

The Real Google Agenda

"First, a little background. Google sits at the confluence of two historic Silicon Valley philosophical streams. One, which comes from Sergey Brinn and Larry Page, the two founders, reaches back all of the way to the early days of computing and continues forward through the world of gamers, hackers, Apple, and the Web 2.0 generation. It is essentially Utopian in its belief that technology – especially the Web – will bring about a better world (hence, Google’s ‘Do No Evil’ motto). It also has absolutist (some would even say totalitarian) tendencies, in that it also believes that the empiricism of science and technology supersedes messy human institutions. It is proudly amoral, which is why it can celebrate hackers – or for that matter, Steve Jobs – as heroes, as long as they remain innovators."

A quote...

Britain controls today the destinies of some 350,000,000 alien people, unable as yet to govern themselves, and easy victims to rapine and injustice, unless a strong arm guides them. She is giving them a rule that has its faults, no doubt, but such, I would make bold to affirm, as no conquering state ever before gave to a dependent people.
- Professor George M. Wrong, 1909

Labels: end times, microsoft, weekend

Me, Burgoyne and Pervy Sage after a rain storm at Lake Compounce. I need a proper nickname.

Labels: weekend

(1) That was Polski!

(2) Chronic** body odor ruins lives. Listen to NPH.

(3) I'm a man and a pretty smart shopper.

(4) Give me something BIG...with a lot of beef!

**I edited the typo.

Labels: weekend

I took Burgoyne to see Mary Poppins at Broadway's magnificent New Amsterdam Theatre and it was incredible! Our seats were amazing. We sat in the seventh row, orchestra center (I know a guy who knows a guy). Burgoyne loved the show and his normally BIG eyes were swollen like Flapjack's (not those kind). The sets were incredible and the amount of wizardry they use (pyrotechnics and optical illusions ) is balanced brilliantly.

I read the SHOWBILL® program cover to cover because it was full of information about the original score by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers were Disney stalwarts who wrote "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for the Carousel of Progress.

My favorite act was "Feed the Birds".

All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can't see it,
You know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares

Though her words are simple and few
Listen, listen, she's calling to you
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag"

I also liked "Brimstone and Treacle".

The SHOWBILL® program also included an article on P.L. Travers who wrote the original book. She was a unique woman and Disney recognized, just like he did with Mary Blair, how the product of her imagination and creativity could benefit the studio.

Some funny notes...

This was on the last page of the SHOWBILL® program.

Concert Etiquette
Writer Paul Volpe takes a satirical look at audience conduct

I shall spare you the lengthy rant about the obvious blight of ringing cell phones or the agony of later arrivals stepping on our toes or that awkward moment when you find your orchestra seats being warmed by sheepish looking third balcony hopefuls. That said, let's review the more obscure yet heinous crimes that might send us fleeing back to our home surround-sound and plasma-screen systems, and far from live performances that require us to be part of a civilized communal experience.

Fanny packs are never acceptable "Performing Arts" accoutrement, save it for the mall.

Never leave a performance before intermission, unless you are injured and bleeding profusely. While you may be "bloody bored," those around you are not.

Labels: disney, weekend

Haircuts. We also do...haircuts

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is such a bizarre show. It's a macabre affair a couple of notches below Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Captain K'nuckles and Flapjack live inside a whale named Bubbie. In Knot Funny (Episode 9) Flapjack is practicing for the knot festival by using Bubbie's entrails as rope/string. Burgoyne introduced me to the show.

Speaking of General Burgoyne...

I'm looking at him now all wrapped up in a Wall•E fleece blanket and these lyrics just wafted into my head.

Now I told you my reasons for the whole revival
Now I'm going outside to have an ice cold beer in the shade
Oh, I'm going to listen to my 45's
Ain't it wonderful to be alive
When the rock 'n' roll plays, yeah
When the memory stays, yeah
I'm keeping the faith

I quote this song every every summer.

Part 2
Burgoyne spent the day brooding because his MapleStory character got a bad haircut. The bad dew occurred after he completed a quest and was given a coupon for a free hairstyle. He wasn't given a choice of hairstyles and ended up with the Rock Lee special.

I spent the afternoon trying to find a remedy for this hairy disaster. I eventually found some product to remediate the situation. I also learned during my research that this tragedy has cut others.

In order to sweep up the clippings of this hair-themed weekend post I conclude with some more lines from the song I quoted earlier...

We wore matador boots
Only Flagg Brothers had them with the Cuban heel
Iridescent socks with the same color shirt
And a tight pair of chinos
Oh, I put on my shark skin jacket
You know the kind with the velvet collar
And ditty-bop shades, oh yeah
I took a fresh pack of Luckies and a mint called Sen-Sen
My old man's Trojans and his Old Spice after shave
Oh, I combed my hair in a pompadour
Like the rest of the Romeos wore a permanent wave, yeah
We were keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, keeping the faith

Labels: weekend

I went to Belmont today with Dad, Burgoyne and Pervy Sage. None of us had any BIG winners but Burgoyne did get on the board early with a $2 bet on a horse named Golden Weekend. The season at Belmont ends tomorrow before the horses (and many of the track employees) head to Saratoga.

I love the infrastructure in and around New York. The LIRR operates a spur line with a terminus at Belmont. I tried to find a photograph on Flickr but only found this. Next time I will remember to bring my camera.

On the way home Dad pointed to the property where the Freedomland U.S.A. amusement park used to be. The park opened in 1960 but filed for bankruptcy just a couple of years later. The park is connected to Walt Disney. According to Wikipedia:

Freedomland was conceived by Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood (1922-1992), a young Texan, who had previously worked in the planning, construction and management of Disneyland. Hired by Walt Disney in 1953, Wood was the person who selected the orange grove site in Anaheim, California where Disneyland was eventually built.

Wood became very close to Disney during the next two years, but eventually the two men had a falling out. Reasons for this are unclear, but three theories exist: Wood was embezzling money from the park; Wood was taking too much public credit for Disneyland or Wood betrayed Disney by planning his own amusement parks, effectively stealing Disney's original concept.

By January 1956, Wood had been fired from Disneyland. To this day, The Walt Disney Company refuses to acknowledge any role played by him in the creation of the Magic Kingdom.

I remember Wood's name from the Gabler book and checked it this evening to see if there was anything specific about Freedomland. Sure enough on page 539 there is an asterisk with the following note:

This was not the last confrontation between Walt and C.V. Wood. Not long after leaving, Wood began luring away Disneyland employees for a new amusement park project called Magic Mountain in Golden, Colorado. When that failed to materialize, Wood, calling himself the "Designer-Builder of Disneyland," resurfaced at the head of another amusement park venture, this one in New York called Freedomland. Walt, furious at the presumptuousness, decided to sue him.

Labels: disney, weekend

I took Burgoyne to the beach this afternoon and after he found a bouncy ball in the surf he told me it was a rare drop. The word rare drop is part of his lexicon in large part because of World of Warcraft.

He doesn't play WOW. He plays MapleStory which is the PG version of World of Warcraft. MapleStory is a "FREE" MMORPG. I put free in quotations because one of the ways you can outfit your character with exotic items is to purchase NEXON Cash. You purchase NEXON Cash at CVS and TARGET and 1 USD is equal to 1,000 NEXON Cash. You add the NEXON Cash to your account and shop for items from virtual merchants. Burgoyne paid $25 USD for 25,000 NEXON Cash which he used to purchase items that he will never actually take physical possession of.

The in-game currency is called MESOS and those are earned, quite painfully in my opinion, by running around the island whacking snails and tree stumps. Thankfully you don't whack the tree stumps Charles Bronson style with a sock full of coins.

Speaking of tree stumps (er, logs)...

This is one of Burgoyne's favorite YouTube videos. In Naruto the humble log is usually involved in substitution jutsu...I just didn't realize how many videos it would inspire! Here is the original log song from Ren and Stimpy.

I just don't understand Charlie the Unicorn so I won't even try to write about it. His other favorite videos are those inspired by HALO. Freaking hackers! I like this HALO video which draws it's inspiration from a bee.

Labels: weekend

Here are some links to photographs from our adventures in downtown Fairfield.

(1) A stack of chairs at the Firehouse Deli
(2) Planes, trains and taxis
(3) Take notice!
(4) PLAN B boarder
(5) Around the world in eighty days
(6) "Attention at Fairfield. The 8:45 AM train to Grand Central is running approximately 15 minutes late."

Labels: weekend

In case you haven't noticed I'm on my summer posting schedule. Today I'm off on a short road trip with General Burgoyne and Pervy Sage to watch Twellman take the pitch for the first time since May 11.

We're also going to see WALL•E on Sunday and so far the reviews have been stellar. The story is post-apocalyptic (maybe even dystopic) and includes a bevy of robots with a forlorn WALL•E as the main character.

Labels: robots, soccer, weekend

Once upon a time, before soccer captured my imagination, baseball was king. I have an attic and basement full of cards, magazines, pennants, autographed bats and baseballs, and other assorted memorabilia. My three favorite baseball treasures include a 1954 Topps Henry Aaron rookie card, a bat signed and used by Dale Murphy in 1987 and a pennant from the Glens Falls Tigers.

I went to a Glens Falls Tigers game with my family on a road trip to Cooperstown, NY. At the time I was searching for a new team (mostly to spite my dad) and for some reason had settled on liking a very bad Atlanta Braves team. My interest started with their lanky right-fielder Dale Murphy but was reinforced by their accessibility on TBS.

At Glens Falls I was an unsuspecting witness to baseball history and the very beginning of an historic run by the Atlanta Braves. I had no idea that a pitcher on the Glens Falls roster would soon be on his way to Atlanta and part of the best trio of pitchers in the modern era (John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine).

But in the summer(s) of 1987/1988 I couldn't imagine a Braves team without Dale Murphy. Sadly, Murphy was traded to the Phillies before the Braves went on that run. I suppose there's a lesson in all this waxing because while I was thinking about the present - Dale Murphy roaming right field in a Braves uniform - some smart baseball men were acquiring talent like John Smoltz from the Glens Falls Tigers with an eye on the future.

While my enthusiasm for baseball has waned my affinity for Smoltz (and the Atlanta Braves) remains. The Braves are inextricably linked to a very innocent and idyllic part of my adolescence and that's why this latest injury stings so deeply...It [his injury] is a grim reminder that time is the great violator™ and that if we hold on to the past too tightly we may end up with an attic or basement full of musty memorabilia.

There's more to the story though...My dad never begrudged my adoption of the Atlanta Braves. He took me to Atlanta to see Dale Murphy at the old Fulton Country Stadium. He also bought me that autographed bat. My dad was encouraging me to explore the space and many years later he would even abet my separation from baseball by trudging to a U.S. versus Scotland soccer match.

Only certainty for Smoltz: Hall of Fame
It's 514 miles from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Richmond. John Smoltz dragged out the trip to 14 hours in 1987. He was in no hurry. He was trying to sort things out, not easy for a 20-year-old who had just been traded by his hometown team, the Detroit Tigers, to the Atlanta Braves. And for a grumpy old pitcher twice his age. John's mind was in a tornadic whirl...

Related
Smoltz says he will attempt a comeback
Maddux on the mound a joy to watch

Labels: baseball, weekend

Politics
(1) It looks like I need to replace the Hillary banners (but with what???).

Football
(2) The US MNT earns a good result against Argentina (U.S. rises to the occasion against Argentina).

(3) Euro2008™ matches in the group of death start today at high noon. Group C includes current WC champions Italy, former WC champions France, Romania, and the Netherlands.

(4) C is for...Le Corbusier - Switzerland produces a hugely disproportionate number of the world's top architects, notably the man who last century invented tall, gray, depressing, high-rise, concrete buildings. "A house is a machine for living," the Swiss maestro said. One with lifts that smell of piss, it turns out. - A-Z of Austria & Switzerland: Everything you need to know about the hosts and their football. And plenty that you don't..., FourFourTwo Complete Guide To EURO 2008

Disney
(5) I'm reading The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David Price and will post a review as soon as I'm finished. Jeff Pepper from 2719 Hyperion has read and posted a review of the book here.

(6) Lost at Disney World? Go on Google Earth: Disney called its entry the largest corporate initiative on Google Earth (c/o Hinata)

Labels: weekend

Meatwad Leaves Grill That Drew Wide Criticism - NYTimes.com

Labels: weekend

My money is on the hooligans.

Culture Clash: Soccer Fans, Art Elite Butt Heads
Annual Dealers' Fair In Basel Is Overrun By Euro-Cup Followers

Here's the money quote:
"They are also turning over their "hooligan database" to Basel authorities to help keep potential troublemakers away from the matches, according to Pascale Vögeli, a Euro 2008 spokeswoman."

A hooligan database? Really?

Related
Soccer, as Wall Street sees it (via Soccer Orb)

Labels: soccer, weekend

I'm not sure why the US Soccer Federation didn't name Sven-Goran Eriksson manager after Bruce was sacked. Now it looks like Sven may end up in our backyard.

Eriksson 'poised for Mexico job'

Only three national teams will qualify from the North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF) zone. A fourth team will qualify if they win a play-off with the fifth-place finisher in the CONMEBOL zone (South America)†.

I watched Canada play Brazil today in an international friendly in Seattle on Telemundo. Brazil struggled mightily against Canada but eventually prevailed 3-2.

Canada has a good team and Brazil was lucky that the Canadians squandered three easy (very easy) goal scoring opportunities. Julian de Guzman hit a wicked right-foot shot from just outside the penalty area in the 56th minute today to equalize. He's the type of player with the kind of experience that's going to give the US fits.

Bradley better start expecting more from him team or they could miss the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It will be a huge set-back if our national team fails to qualify.

Mexico has struggled against the US but their fortunes could change with Sven-Goran Eriksson prowling the sidelines. In the 2007 Gold Cup™ the US narrowly defeated Canada 2-1 in a match with some "dubiously friendly" calls. CONCACAF also includes other good programs from countries like Costa Rica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Panama. Bradley's boys better get the lead out.

Labels: soccer, weekend

Kheli Dube scored in the 89th minute and the New England Revolution defeated the 1st place Columbus Crew. The victory earns New England three-points and a share of 1st in the Eastern Standings. This is an impressive road win for the Revs.

Official Report
Dube, Revs steal share of MLS lead
Goal off PK rebound in 89th minute leaves Revs tied with Crew
By Kyle McCarthy / MLSnet.com Staff

Labels: soccer, weekend

Bobby Cox receives a contract extension one day after the Braves complete a four game sweep of the New York Metropolitans.

Something about Bobby Cox is just very managerial. Every time I see him, I am overcome with the urge to put on a cup, put something in my mouth and just spit the afternoon away. (This is why I only watch the Braves in the comfort of my own home.)

Source

Man Crush Update: Smoltz to begin rehab assignment

Refreshes the palate and the loins.

**UPDATE**
Francoeur's walk-off homer saves Braves; Big Unit strikes out 10

Labels: baseball, weekend

Limestone Roof turns 5 on August 21, 2008. I just signed-off on the marketing plan and while I'm prohibited from revealing specifics I can report that there will be; 23% more robots, 175% more Playmobil®, 15% more Disney, 3% more airlines/airports, 19% more Redcoats, and 11 2/3% more soccer.

This image is from the long overdue (and still unpublished) Limestone Roof FAQ. The FAQ is on a short-list of projects to be completed before August. I also have an army of bloody backs that I still need to photograph. The good news is that my intern should be here in early June and just in time for WALL•E (the robot extravaganza of the year).

Labels: disney, weekend

"This shit life...we must chuck some things. We must chuck them...in this shit life. There's always looking after."

- Michael Caine as Robert Spritzel

I didn't complete very much original work this weekend. I took some new Playmobil photographs that I will post right before the international friendly between England and the U.S. on May 28. I went to church today at 10:30 and afterwards walked around an unusually quiet downtown area.

I saw Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day last night and it was very good. The movie is set in London in 1939 during the Great Depression and on the eve of World War II. The movie begins with the song Brother, Can You Spare a Dime and includes other popular Swing Era songs. I won't write (or post) a review. If you're interested in a synopsis visit IMDB.

While I wasn't necessary lost in the plot, I was interested in how the director caught the mood of London on the eve of World War II (and during the Great Depression). I always seem to stumble onto this theme. At first with George Orwell and later on with David Gelernter and Thomas Merton. For whatever reason, I find the year 1939 like my Mom finds the number 13.

These days, as I hover between a purposeful and constructive anamnesis and being borne back ceaselessly into the past, reminders that the world is full of significance (full of signs) help me live in the present moment.

"You have to live life forward, but you can only understand it backward."

- Søren Kierkegaard

Labels: weekend

My interests come and go in fits but generally remain the same. My BLOG has NO goals and NO objectives. It has NO mission statement. It's not a moneymaker, cash cow, or burgeoning hot-bed of radical ideas. I simply BLOG because I like it and have NO ambitions beyond that. The content is purposely eclectic and decidedly irrelevant.

(1) Dirty. Disgusting. Dastardly.

(2) Well what's going on here? Engine trouble?

(3) Can I change the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) color to something other than blue?

(4) Six creative bookshelves. I may have more luck finding an appropriately themed bookshelf for my collection of Disney books.

(5) Diageo brews Guinness overhaul. Did you know: They also produce Warsteiner under license.

(6) Hillary videos here (STRONG CONTENT WARNING) and here. Some context here.

(7) The British ID a wolf in sheep's clothing.

(8) Some potent stuff from Red State about a fawning, Obama-obsessed media. Newsweek deserves bonus points for using the word hippies.

Labels: weekend

Kudos to MLS Commissioner Don Garber for defending the unique aspect of soccer fandom and to David Beckham for showing up the day before a match in Salt Lake City to tour RSL's new stadium. It was Pele-esque of Beckham to do this and I genuinely hope his commitment to growing football here in the U.S. continues. Did I mention that he's also playing good football right now?

**Do you think Beckham willl travel to London with Landon Donovan for the England versus United States friendly on May 28?

Labels: soccer, weekend

Former U.S. Coach Gordon Bradley Passes Away at 74
CHICAGO (April 30, 2008) - Gordon Bradley, a former coach of the U.S. National Team and one of the most significant voices in the American soccer community for over a quarter of a century, passed away yesterday in Virginia at the age of 74. Bradley, a native of England, had been afflicted by Alzheimer's disease.

Bradley's involvement in American soccer ranged from careers as a player, coach and team administrator. His most famous position was as head coach of the high flying New York Cosmos in the 1970s, and he later coached the Washington Diplomats of the NASL.

A former miner from Sunderland, England, Bradley emigrated to the United States where he played in the early days of the NASL. After the league folded, Bradley continued...

Other Pioneers
Gordon outlived two other icons of American soccer- Steve Ross and Lamar Hunt. All were visionaries and labored to bring the World's Sport to the United States.

Labels: soccer, weekend

I'm still handicapping but here are the entries (see below). This is the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. The official site (with odds) is here. Analysis and coverage via ESPN can be found here. I will "invest" my pesos at the now defunct Bridgeport Dog Track.



Limestone Picks**


**Limestone Roof will not be responsible if you bet your mortgage payment on this trifecta and lose.

Labels: weekend

(1) Talk Like Frank Sinatra via The Art of Manliness.

(2) Surplus air hostess uniforms for a ring-a-ding? I sure hope so.

(2A) Something a little more classy for a real barn burner.

(3) Walt Disney Company: Where men are men and mice are scared.

(4) A mantuary for your Giant Boy Detective serials. (HAT TIP: ACE)

(5) Using a rock to liberate fellow passengers from the necessity of suffering liberal propaganda. You had me at hello.

Labels: weekend

I'm kicking off the weekend with a throw-in.

WARNING: The ad contains some mature content.

Ready for Euro 2008?
I lost interest when England failed to qualify and vowed not to watch or blog about the finals (sigh). But I'm a little desperate for quality soccer and since ESPN and ABC are broadcasting every match I feel obligated to watch.

The tournament will start on June 8 with the opening match between co-host Switzerland and the Czech Republic. This is a national team (not club) competition and sixteen teams will vie to be named Europe's best. The teams have been split into four groups and will play in stadia in Austria/Switzerland. The tournament is played every 4 years and was last won by Greece.

Useful Links
UEFA
UEFA Euro 2008 (official site)
ESPNsoccernet
UEFA Euro 2008 Championships

Other Soccer Events/Dates
In addition to playing England this May in London, the US MNT will host† Argentina in East Rutherford (Giants Stadium) on June 8 @ 7:30 PM. These friendlies (Poland, England, Spain and Argentina) are in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup (qualifying matches).

†Host is a misnomer since MOST of the fans in that 80,000+ stadium will be supporting Argentina.

The MLS (Major League Soccer) All-Star game will be played on July 24 at BMO Field in Toronto against West Ham United from the EPL (English Premier League). I watched Toronto FC play the New York Red Bulls on MLS Primetime Thursday (ESPN2) and was very impressed with BMO Field. The home team played to a 1 - 1 draw in front of 20,000 fans!

The Red Bulls are going to play in a soccer-only facility in 2009 and it will be a boost for the league/sport/team. There's something a little amateurish (and desperate/dire/pathetic) about watching the Red Bulls play on the turf at Giants Stadium over dimly faded football (NFL) markers. It also doesn't help that the seating capacity at Giants Stadium is 80,000+ and the Red Bulls only draw 10-15,000.

Love 'em or hate 'em?

I hope I appreciate GOOGLE this much when they're providing intelligence to the re-education committee and shock troops that are rounding up conservatives (please, may I bring my copy of Fear and Trembling to camp). A keyword search "wigan fc" yields the following results (see above). The sponsored link is old news but the match score in real time is very cool. It's such a simple idea.

Labels: soccer, weekend

Where's Sven?
The last time England played the U.S. MNT in an international friendly Sven-Goran Eriksson was their manager. The U.S. was led by Bruce Arena, who now manages the Red Bulls (no word on whether or not his pants are still involved in the sport). His MLS club is at the bottom of the Eastern Standings.

Meanwhile, Sven is managing Manchester City in the English Premier League. His club is 15-10-11 and in 9th overall (9 of 20).

The U.S. MNT will play England at Wembley on Wednesday, May 28th. They last met on the same date in 2005 in Chicago, IL before a crowd of 47,637. The U.S. lost 2-1.

I went to the match with my brother and it was equaled only by the NFC Championship between the New York Football Giants and the Minnesota Vikings. There's a photograph of Sven I took in this set on Flickr.

The English will play Trinidad and Tobago a couple of days later at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. This match is notable for Bermuda who will play the Caribbean titans in their campaign to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

***UPDATE 1***
I just learned that Bruce Arena is NO longer with the Red Bulls. He (and his pants) will miss the opening of Red Bull Park which is scheduled for 2009.

***UPDATE 2***

Ball: City's players united behind Eriksson

Manchester City's players are uniting behind manager Sven-Goran Eriksson to try to quell uncertainty over the Swede's future.

Eriksson met City's Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra twice over the weekend but speculation over his position refuses to die down.

City's 3-2 home defeat by relegation strugglers Fulham on Saturday did nothing to help Eriksson's cause, especially as Thaksin was at the game.

Labels: england, soccer, weekend

From Balaguet there cometh an Emir;
His form is noble, his eyes are bold and clear,
When on his horse he's mounted in career
He bears him bravely armed in his battle-gear,
And for his courage he's famous far and near;
Were he but Christian, right knightly he'd appear.
Before Marsile he cries for all to hear:
"To Roncevaux", saith he, "my course I'll steer;
If I find Roland, then death shall be his weird,
And Oliver's, and all of the Twelve Peers!
The French shall die the death in shame and tears.
King Charlemayne, the dotard old and blear,
Will soon be sick of waging warfare here!
Spain shall be ours in peace this many a year!"
The King Marsile pours thanks into his ears.

Labels: england, playmobil, toys, weekend

Microsoft is going to stop offering XP. According to this article sales of XP will end June 30, 2008. There is an online petition calling for an extension.

Related
Why Microsoft Won't Extend Windows XP's Lifespan
It's crashing and it won't boot up.
20 Reasons why Vista Sucks!
My Vista Experience, Part One

The money quote:

Due to all the issues above, there are numerous reports of people being forced to buy a Vista system, then after getting it into their hands proceed to wipe the OS off the hard drive and install XP instead. Microsoft should be ashamed and taken to task for releasing such a half-baked product into the marketplace...

Labels: microsoft, weekend

i am a little church (no great cathedral)

i am a little church (no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying) children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope, and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church (far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish) at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring, i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

ee cummings

Labels: weekend

Weekend Politics

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

- Barack Obama at a San Francisco fund-raiser

He's trying to spin the comments. He can't because he really believes it.

Obama believes (really believes) that people of faith are being retarded by their religion. It smacks of hypocrisy and requires a kind of herculean doublethink. Obama is asking voters to reject their faith and communities so we can be remade/reborn into a new man and re-invested in a new community of faith.

So people, ya know they vote about guns or they take comfort from their faith, and their family, and their community...

Obama is going to spend the rest of his campaign suppressing these innate San Francisco values, hoping voters don't realize that there's no place in this new religion for their own volition.

Related
Obama To Rural Pennsylvanians: Vote For Me, You Corncob-Smokin', Banjo-Strokin' Chicken-Chokin' Cousin-Pokin' Inbred Hillbilly Racist Morons

Obama Tries Damage Control; Epic Fail

Great Day 2 Run-Down on Obama's Redneck Rampage Speech

Redneck Rampage Round-Up Redux

Labels: democrats, weekend

Let's do this!
This is a mini-tribute to Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Coupland.

See the breakfast of tomorrow (smokey* cheese sauce) today.

It's an actual word, although dictionary.com says it should be capitalized.

Here's what some other blogger says about the real combos. I found this post while I was searching for a Warhol-like painting of 1 solitary combo.

Labels: end times, weekend

"I am Bender, please insert girder."

Here is another card in my limited-edition robot trading card series™. Bender is my favorite robot. In the pantheon of robotdom only R2D2 comes close (and a distant second at that).

Bender isn't great because he smokes cigars and uses foul language. It's not his womanizing, drunkenness, thievery, or lying that makes him great either. Bender is great because his indifference and selfishness are rendered benign by his feelings for Fry (and everyone else at Planet Express).

I would love some nominees for the most useless/worst robots category. I'm quite certain Roboz from Riptide would make the list. I think H.E.L.P.eR from the Venture Brothers deserves a nomination.

Here is a list of "favorite robots" I found on the Internets®. I am happy to report that the blogger/writer/author included Small Wonder in the montage.

She's fantastic. Made of plastic. Micro chips here and there.

Before I forget...

Here's a link to the smartest toy robot in the world.

Labels: robots, toys, weekend

Tag Sales, Flea Markets and eBay, Part III
A photograph of the square people from the Playskool® Play Friend National Park set. I first wrote about it here I'm still taking photographs of the other pieces in the set. The "car" the square people sit in rivals the smart fortwo.

Hope Springs Eternal
The Washington Nationals are hosting my beloved Atlanta Braves tonight at 8:00 ET (approximately 1 hour from now). It is the first domestic game of the MLB season and the inaugural game at Nationals Park. President Bush is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the Nats.

The Limestone Roof Director of Print gave me this article [My Fair Leather Friend] from the Wall Street Journal. It's worth reading and afterwards you'll want to scramble around your basement, attic or garage to find your old mitt.

One other baseball topic before the season starts. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays changed their name to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Navy blue and light blue have replaced green and black as the primary colors. The club's new logo, as well as the home and road uniforms for next season, feature the word "Rays" in navy blue lettering with a light blue shadow...

Labels: baseball, toys, weekend

Saturday Gay
Captain Ed at Hot Air provides the best summary. I thought my machine caught a virus last night when I was searching for images for my post on the most attractive cartoon characters.

Labels: global warming, weekend