Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
quick tech tip: "http vs https" What gives?
If a web site ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you should look to see if the web address begins with https://. If it doesn't, there's no way you're going to enter sensitive information like a credit card number! Beware
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Welcome Jim Thome
Twins GM explains the Thome acquisition:
Classic Thome Hits his 500 HR:
Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Prince is #Vikings biggest fan, wrote a song about it
It would seem that Prince's love of all things purple and gold extends to his sporting preferences. The Purple One is a big fan of his hometown football team, The Minnesota Vikings. And after watching the team murderize the Dallas Cowboys in a game last week, Prince has been inspired by the team -- and their most superfunkycalifragisexy of team colours -- to write a new fight song as the Vikings go into a conference championship game Sunday.
A clip of the song, "Purple and Gold," was posted on the website for a Minneapolis Fox TV station. Just don't expect anything of "Purple Rain" calibre -- or even "Batdance." Think something more along the lines of a high school pep rally cheer set to Casio keyboard.
As for the rah-rah-ziz-boom-bah lyrics:
the veil of the sky draws open
the roar of the chariots touch down
we r the ones who have now come again
and walk upon water like solid ground
as we approach the throne we won't bow down
this time we won't b denied
raise every voice and let it b known
in the name of the purple and gold
we come in the name of the purple and gold
all of the odds r in r favor
no prediction 2 bold
we r the truth if the truth can b told
long reign the purple and gold
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
In non-Twins News: NY Mets HOF
Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden to join New York Mets Hall of Fame with Frank Cashen, Davey Johnson
Originally Published:Tuesday, January 19th 2010, 4:18 PM
Updated: Tuesday, January 19th 2010, 4:33 PM
Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, who once became Met pariahs because of their struggles with addiction and tours in the Bronx, "came full circle" Tuesday, as Gooden put it. Both men were announced as part of a four-person class headed for the newly-revived Mets Hall of Fame, along with two of the bigwigs of the Mets' last World Series champion in 1986, GM Frank Cashen and manager Davey Johnson.
If anyone ever wonders whether the two former stars should be considered Mets or Yankees, they both answered the question Tuesday. "For me, I was always a Met at heart," Gooden said. He called his inclusion as one of 25 in the Met Hall of Fame "overwhelming."
"For me, it's always been the Mets," added Strawberry. "That's where I started, being drafted No. 1, coming to the big leagues, having all the success in a Met uniform. It's always been home to me.
"I am always grateful for the opportunity to play with the Yankees and I'll never forget that. But the Mets is the place I always believed in, and this is where our dreams always came through, the success we had as a team."
Congrats Minneapolis Lakers! Survive Plane Crash
A half-century ago, the Minneapolis Lakers narrowly averted a disaster when their pilots battled a raging blizzard and frozen instruments to make a desperate impromptu landing in an Iowa cornfield. Today, the tiny town of Carroll, Iowa, is celebrating that effort.
Then Harold Gifford, 86, once again charted his course and set out for little Carroll, Iowa, 50 years since he last visited.
This time, it's his intended destination. This time, he expects to arrive Monday welcomed in splendid sunshine.
"This time, I'm going by car," he said.
Fifty years ago, Gifford copiloted an ancient chartered aircraft carrying home the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team in a storm from a game in St. Louis.
Until that night, that Lakers team considered itself anything but a winner.
Six seasons after legendary big man George Mikan led the franchise to the last of four NBA titles, these Lakers were on their way to a 25-50 regular season.
They also were on their way out of town, bound with young star Elgin Baylor for a franchise move to lovely Los Angeles that very next summer.
That day began like so many others -- with a loss, to the St. Louis Hawks -- and ended with a night unlike any other for 22 people aboard.
Blinded by an electrical failure and a raging blizzard, their chartered plane flew high, frozen and by the stars and the moon for nearly five hours before it made a forced, off-course, fabulous landing into an Iowa cornfield.
Cornfields were apparently very dangerous places back then. Eleven months earlier, musician Buddy Holly had died when his small plane crashed into a cornfield 100 miles to the northeast. The Lakers walked away from their plane unscratched on a night when their unexpected arrival was met by hatchet-carrying firemen and the town's mortician.
"Fifty years later," said Hot Rod Hundley, who lived on that night to broadcast NBA games for more than 40 years, "and I could tell you now where everybody was seated on that plane."
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I like beer, but this is ridiculous, "Malaysian Shrew Survives on Booze"
WIRED NEWS -For the last 55 million years, the pen-tailed shrew has survived on a diet consisting of beer.
How’s that for an evolutionary bender?
The shrew lives in the forest of Malaysia and feeds on the flowers of the bertam palm. Produced year-round and constantly fermenting, its nectar is about 3.8 percent alcohol — roughly equivalent to a Sam Adams light.
"Fine," you say, "except that’s a light beer!" But cut the shrew some slack — it doesn’t eat anything else. Let’s see you subsist on nothing but beer, light or not, and stay sober.
That’s the shrews’ most amazing quality: they don’t get drunk. On any given night, said researchers in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one-third of the shrews have a blood-alcohol level that would leave us under the bar — but there’s no evidence of intoxication.
The findings suggest a highly-developed alcohol degradation mechanism; perhaps the insights will lead to human hangover treatments. And should the pen-tailed shrew ever be threatened by habitat destruction and climate change, the species can be saved by relocation American frat houses.
100 Days, 100 Reasons to visit Target Field. Reasons # 93, 94 Maturation and Recovery
100 Days, 100 Reasons to visit Target Field. Reasons # 94-90 Pitching, Pitching and more Pitching.
My apologies to those that have been following “100 Days, 100 Reasons” I had to take a small break to complete some things around the house. I also needed sometime to further map out this countdown.
Ok, now down to business. Anyone that knows baseball, knows that pitching wins championships. Especially here in Minnesota where two key pitchers, Frank Viola and Jack Morris played major parts in the two championships for the Twins. Today I will focus on the ball club’s 2010 rotation and try to figure out if they are championship ready.
Reason #94 – The Maturation of Scott Baker
Most championship teams rely on their ace to stop losing streaks, win key games, and to bring some leadership to the rotation. Unless the Twins pullout a miraculous trade prior to spring training, the duties of being an ace will fall to Scott Baker.
The 28 year old seems poised to fill the role nicely. He ended the second half of 2009 strong, going 9-1 with a 3.66 ERA. With only a low 90s fastball, Baker relies on a variety of pitches for outs. He has shown great command of his changeup, curveball and slider. When asked about Baker’s stuff manager Ron Gardenhire responded, “Young Scott Baker (is) out there facing a lineup that can just eat you alive. But he had enough deception. He can add and subtract very well.”
Yes, he shows lots of promise, but I just don’t know if he can hang with aces like CC Sabathia, Josh Beckett and Zach Greinke. I believe he is a great number two pitcher but with a stingy Twins front office not willing to acquire an ace, Baker will have to step up huge for the fans at Target Field.
Reason # 93: The Recovery of Kevin Slowey
In 2008, Kevin Slowey won 12 games, had a 3.99 ERA, struck out 123 batters in 160 innings while only walking 23. Pretty damn good for his first full year. The belief around town was that he would contend for “Ace” status in 2009. By late June of last season, he was 7th in the
Fast forward to winter 2010, hopes are high for the young 25 year old. He is expected to have fully recovered from surgery. Rehab has been going flawlessly and he is expected to report to spring training a month earlier to focus on strength training. Slowey is known for his amazing control and an above average strikeout to walk ratio. A rate that have improved since year one and is one of the best in the majors. In 2009, only Joel Pinero and super ace Roy Halliday were better.
Manager, Ron Gardenhire, expects Slowey to have the green light by the start of Spring Training. He will become part of the young but promising Twins staff, possibly as the number 2 or 3 starter. If continues his dominance he could possibly ended up surpassing Scott Baker as the ace. That is why he is my reason # 93 for visiting Target Field.
Check back in later today for reasons #92-90: The rest of the rotation, thanks.
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