There is, or was, a site where one could watch a graphic play-by-play of a past baseball game based on the box score. The screen was similar to one of the text-driven simulation games: a generic ballpark with the names of the players in their positions, and then a textual description of the result of each at-bat, with runners set on base when appropriate and the official scoring of the play in a box under the field. The site drew on the box scores of thousands of games dating back at least as far as the 1950's, maybe more.

I can't remember the URL of the archive, which I lost in my last computer meltdown, so in desperation I'm, asking if anybody here knows WTF I'm talking about. Mr Google has been of no help.

-- Mal

Reading the War Diary of USS Maury (DD-401) of WW2, and came upon the following entry: "Carter, Fred (n), 618-28-78, AS(V6), USNR, was injured in line of duty..."
For those who don't know, the " (n) " appended to Fred Carter's name was the Navy's way of indicating in official documents that the man was a "Negro." This has always puzzled me.
I mean, why? Why was it necessary to know that the man who (in this case) broke his leg was a "Negro?" Didn't he bleed the same as his mates? I've never understood why some idiot in BuPers thought it was necessary, in the segregated Navy, to mention a fellow's race in all official documents. Nobody was going to read the bloody things anyway, except weird people like me who find such documents endlessly interesting.
I'd just say that, if any evidence were needed that racial prejudice is irrational, this quaint practice does exactly that.

-- Mal

I'm looking to rent a cheap room in the Jacksonville area while a house is being built, and Pad Split was recommended as a good alternative to find such. I'm a little leery that they require my SSN to register, though. Does anyone know anything about them, or similar organizations for finding rooms to let?

-- Mal

This is video from the 1978 special dubbed with the vocals from the original 1970 single. Not sure which I prefer, but of course anything that Karen sings is all right with me!

-- Mal

This footage had been "lost" for many years until it showed up in Peyton Manning's hands. Love to know the story about how that happened, but in any event, this is conclusive evidence that Franco Harris cleanly caught the ball (it wasn't even close to hitting the ground), and pretty solid circumstantial evidence that it did, in fact, bounce off Jack Tatum.

For those who haven't seen it:

&t=1s

-- Mal

I don't follow baseball anymore, but the waiting room in the doctor's office had the NL game on, and I got to see the beginning of the Phillies almost throwing away a 7-1 lead. Ah, the memories! It seems like some things never change.

-- Mal

"You can't have Beatle boots, they'll ruin your feet!"

Also every Mom in 1964:
"Oh, look at the lovely 4-inch stiletto heel shoes!"

-- Mal

I find Beau's struggle to maintain calm restraint in this video even more telling than the ones in which he appears openly a little irritated. Clearly, he'd like to start screaming and breaking things.

But that line about Mar-a-Largo is priceless.



-- Mal

My latest earworm is Herman's Hermits, "No Milk Today," but with a twist. There's a five-note phrase in the song which is identical to one in Chicago's "Saturday in the Park," and whenever my brain starts singing the first, it switches to the second when it reaches that point.

Not the first time this has happened (there are, after all, only so many notes to go around), but now I can't think of one without thinking of the other.

-- Mal