Another Sad Day

Thank Yog-Sototh It's Friday!

"I specialize in reality warping and time manipulation. I also love tailgating."

Déjà Dumb

There was another horrific school shooting yesterday, this time on a college campus in Oregon. I'm not sure how long the story will remain at the top of the news cycle, as the shooter appeared to be targeting Christians. That sort of thing doesn't fit into the progressive Grand Narrative about mass shootings, so it will be interesting to see if the story disappears quickly.

In the meantime, of course, we are being subjected to the usual deluge of tiresome partisan commentary, with absolutely no one having anything new or interesting to say. That's because there isn't anything new or interesting to be said about such horrors. They have no social significance beyond themselves, and the progressive left really ought to stop pouncing like ghouls in an attempt to advance their political agenda while the bodies are still warm.

President Shameless, of course, wasted no time getting on television to assure us that horrific crimes like this one could be prevented if only we would pass what he called "sufficient common sense gun safety laws."

When it comes to specifics, of course, the President and everyone else making similar noises about Doing Something™ are curiously reluctant to offer any suggestions beyond the laws we already have. Obama's dissembling on the issue is something to behold, really...

"We need more gun laws because...uh...because...uh...wait, was that a squirrel?"

In the category of virtue signaling, there are all the usual suspects arguing that we should get rid of all the guns, "just like Australia did." Of course, Australia did no such thing, but in any event the two countries' legal and social situations are entirely different, and any attempts by the government here to ban and confiscate weapons are doomed from the outset...

Here's a radical suggestion: Maybe we should just...do nothing. Might be worth a try.

Things That Make Me Happy: October Baseball Edition

So my beloved Kansas City Royals are 1-0 in October, which is definitely an improvement over September. They defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-4 last night at U.S. Cellular Field, beating long-time nemesis John Danks in the process. (It was their first-ever victory against Danks in Chicago, and just their third in his 22 career starts against them.)

Reserve outfielder Jonny Gomes contributed three RBIs, and 3B Mike Moustakas continued his recent hot streak with two hits and two RBIs. Starter Kris Medlen rebounded from his last start (a disaster) with a solid six innings of work, giving up just four hits and a single earned run. Kris improved his record to 6-2, 4.01 ERA, and improved his chances of getting some work as a starter in the post-season.

"I just want a chance to contribute in the playoffs."

Having won the series with the White Sox two games to one, the Royals head to Minneapolis to begin a three-game series with the Twins at Target Field to conclude the regular season. Thanks to the Blue Jays losing last night, Toronto and Kansas City are tied for the home-field advantage in the playoffs. The Blue Jays hold the tie-breaker, but the Royals definitely have something to play for these last three games.

Chris Young (11-6, 3.15 ERA), who is back with the team following a trip home after his father's death last Saturday, will start for the Royals tonight. Minnesota will send former Royal Ervin Santana (7-4, 4.10) to the mound. Ervin comes into the game on a hot streak (4-0, 1.75 in September). The Royals will be trying to win three games in a row for the first time since August 27-29.

Seasonal Changeover

One of the rituals of the change of seasons around my place is changing the wallpaper on my Motorola Moto X smartphone and my Google Nexus 7 tablet.

For instance, I switched to this wallpaper just after the first official day of summer. It is what is called a "live" wallpaper, meaning there is movement of some sort. In this case, it's the waves lapping on the sandy beach. Very cool.

Summer doesn't last forever, of course, so...

...I took a bit of time yesterday to install the Autumn screensaver, which features beautiful leaves falling in my choice of settings, like the park bench pictured here...

"Do you think you spend too much time fussing with your gadgets?"

There is some possibility of that being true, yes...

Until Next Time...

Twenty years ago today, the English rock band Oasis released (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the album that rocketed them to enormous commercial success (among other accomplishments, the record received 14 Platinum certifications). At the time, I was beginning my second month back in the classroom after a hiatus of a few years. Among other things, being around adolescents all day every day for the first time in years meant I had to start paying attention to pop music again. And with this album Oasis suddenly became the biggest thing in pop/rock music for awhile.

As often happens, success like that is hard to duplicate, and Oasis didn't. Oddly enough,
I was never as big a fan during their peak as many people were, but I also continued to enjoy their records after they dropped off the radar commercially. I still have several iTunes playlists with Oasis music in them.

Today's send-off is the official music video (usual music video disclaimers apply) for "Some Might Say," my favorite song from the album. It was the band's first No. 1 hit on the UK charts, but didn't chart in the U.S. (the big U.S. hit from this album was "Wonderwall," which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 here, and spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart). Enjoy...