April 2011

M's Scream By Red Sox In AL Standings, Continue 139-Game Win Streak

PROPS TO JACK CUST who got a 95 mph fastball from Bobby Jenks, let it travel deep into the strike zone, and turned on it with sudden-ness. He socked it hard and far, off the Green Monster. The blow decided the ballgame.

It was a super-compact swing. Inside out, 95 off the hands. He squared it so cleanly you'd have thought he was an LPGA golfer.

An encouraging sign.

Mike Schmidt had 6 homers in 42 games the year he quit midseason, and over-the-hill players get some nice hits here and there, so let's not declare that one AB matters and that the previous 100 AB's don't matter.

The GOP's presidential candidate is even more open after Barbour's departure

Since Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour bowed out of the 2012 Republican primary race earlier this week, the GOP’s scramble to find a competitor against President Barack Obama has become that much more heated—and that much more wide-open. Familiar GOP names like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and Ron Paul may return to battle in 2012, but new names like Indiana governor Mitch Daniels and United States’ ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, may become more familiar as fall of 2012 looms.

Mariners Crawl Out of the Coffin

SLOPS TO Mr. CUST - Wedge sat him down again, this time against a mediocre RHP. Wedgewas rewarded by 12 hits from 8 different hitters, notably the DH, Adam Kennedy.

The M's got down 2-0 early .... and then ripped off 7 consecutive runs. The scoreboard progressed like this:

I felt like I was watching the Big Red Machine with Don Gullett on the mound :- )

RELEASE JACK CUST RIGHT NOW.

The Death of SETI

I had been hearing rumblings in this direction for a while now, but it's finally official: SETI is being shut down.

It's funny how the news of SETI's death is being bemoaned by the same people who are still a little outraged that Pluto is no longer a planet. People like me, who allow their sentimentality to cloud their view of astrophysics. And why shouldn't we? The only reasons to pursue astronomy and astrophysics are sentimental. We aren't going to get there any time soon. It's all just an excuse to satisfy our curiosity.

I saw an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson where he talked about how he was always being accosted by irate Pluto-lovers on the street. (Even though he had as much to do with that as a weatherman does the weather. Still, though, people yell at weathermen all the time in public, so there you go. Shoot the messenger.) I imagine now he will be getting yelled at for this, too.

PacSun: 10% Off Coupon Code

Also, FREE shipping through April 30th!

For a limited time, PacSun is offering 10% Off when you use Coupon Code EDHANCE11 during check out. They are also offering FREE standard shipping on every order placed through April 30th.

DON'T FORGET: You might also be able to get 7% cash back on your PacSun.com purchase by shopping through MrRebates when placing your order. If you are not already a member of MrRebates it is free to join (you will actually get $5 just for signing up). You can get money back on all of your purchases you place online when using the service. Just make sure to click from MrRebates to the store you want to shop at (there is a list and a search on the site) and watch that cash build up.

Pictures and Feelings: How Journalists Slant the Abortion Issue

Inaccurate imagery accompanies many abortion news stories

We know by now that the anti-choice movement is fond of exaggerating the personhood of fetuses. It's not But even supposedly neutral media seems to like to depict pregnancy as a binary condition. Either you're not pregnant--through chastity and virginity, of course--or you're in your third trimester with a big ol' belly. I know that technically you're either pregnant or you're not, but there's a big biological difference between the first and third trimesters--a difference most of the media chooses to ignore in how they illustrate their abortion stories.

Kansas to Strip Planned Parenthood of Funding

Politicians in Kansas must take a page from Fox News and Friends and believe that women can easily get a pap smear and a breast exam from their local Walgreens clinic (which, by the way, still charges a fairly expensive price for a basic check-up if you don’t have insurance; I speak from experience.) Even though the near-closing of Congress over funding Planned Parenthood—an organization that primarily provides family planning, health, and cancer screening services for women all across the country—was narrowly avoided, Kansas is trying to finish what Senator Kyl so vehemently (and erroneously, at least when it came to his poor “I wasn’t being factual” http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/08/j

iPhone / iTouch / iPad: FREE Games & National Park Apps

For a limited time the iTunes Store is offering a few FREE games and, in celebration of National Park Week - some great National Park apps. These games and applications can be downloaded directly from your device or through iTunes. If you are on your device right now - just click the links and the iTunes store will open to the item you are interested in. These FREE Games and Apps include:

Games:

Tic-Tac-Lock - With Tic-Tac-Lock, you can hide your secret photos, videos, documents and music in tic-tac-toe game on iPads, iPhones and iPods.

Bug Heroes - From the creators of N.Y.Zombies comes an all new blend of action, adventure, castle defense, and role playing elements! Master up to nine legendary Bug Heroes, including a sword wielding Spider assassin, an armored Beetle warrior, a machine gun toting Ant engineer, and more!

National Parks (FREE FOR NATIONAL PARK WEEK (April 16-24) - Regularly $9.99):

Chimani Yosemite National Park

Chimani Grand Canyon National Park

Chimani Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Chimani Cape Cod National Seashore

Chimani Acadia National Park

Amazon: Plants Vs Zombies (Nintendo DS) - $12.99

FREE shipping on orders of $25 or more or with Prime.

While supplies last, Amazon is offering Plants Vs Zombies (Nintendo DS) for only $12.99 with FREE shipping.

Features:

Play five original game modes
Take on a friend in 2-player Versus mode
Zap even more zombies in new DS-exclusive mini-games
Make your own zombie with the Zombatar
Unlimited replayable action

DC Residents “Second Class Citizens”

While many of us rejoiced that the government didn’t shut down last Friday (or, if you were in my house, you were outrageously yelling that we should fire “all of those a**holes!”), the “compromise” came at a hefty cost for District of Columbia residents as well as the entire pro-choice movement. Because of this deal, tax revenue collected from the DC area can no longer be used to fund abortions.

8 Alternatives to College

As the price of a college education continues to soar well above the price of a home and car combined, I find myself joining the “not everyone needs college” boat. In fact, where I have “Get 50 people to go to college” on my Living to Do List, I’ve marked out the words with whiteout. Now it reads, “Get 50 people to follow their dreams.” And dreams don’t necessarily mean college.

Incorporate Your Uterus

Do you ever think about how big businesses often have more rights—and definitely more representatives and favors being filled—than, say, individual people? It’s highly ironic that so many businesses can pollute the environment, sell us things that kill us, bypass taxes, fire people on a whim, revoke pensions, and so many other acts—while a woman’s uterus is under constant surveillance and regulation battles within the U.S. government! Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Palin’s Paycheck Bigger Than Her “Cause”

Remember when Bristol Palin was doing all of that abstinence education work to help promote the Candie’s Foundation and their cause to stop teen sex forever as a logical plan to prevent teen pregnancy? For the record, abstinence education is an important part of a comprehensive sex ed program, and pro-choice voters are generally in favor of such programs as long as they are included along with safe sex education. Teens are humans and need to know what they are up against as much as anyone else—and as such, their choices should also be respected, as they are their own decisions.

Take Action: Stop the Global Gag Rule

Bad news, Pro Choice Voters: the Global Gag Rule has come up for discussion yet again! Okay, when Obama severed the head of this deal like a champion riding a unicorn back in ’09, didn’t you think it was over for good? Yeah, me too, but apparently we were wrong. Politicians who don’t give a damn about women’s health are at it again, seeking to not only reinstate the Global Gag Rule but to also A. ban funding for the United Nations Population Fund and B. cut contraception funding in general.

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