His Wednesday Was Better Than My Wednesday

How would you like to be 21 years old and a minor league baseball player? Let's add the fact that you are called up yesterday to the big leagues by your boss, the Florida Marlins. You don't start the game but sit on the bench. You are happy to be there. Then you are called into the game as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded (the Marlins are far, far behind so its not the perfect fantasy). That's what happened to Jeremy Hermida. Anyway, you guessed it, in his first major league at bat he hits a grand slam. That hasn't happened since 1898.

While The Poor Struggle In New Orleans . . .

.... it's good to know that Houston Rockets basketball player Yao Ming signed a $75 million contract extension today. Our society is so screwed up.

"Don't Buy Gas If You Don't Need It" - Pres. Bush

When I first saw that quote today, my initial reaction was (1) uh, thanks, I was going to buy a little extra just for fun and (2) I think I know what the guy means (don't use gas unless it is a necessity) but figured it was just another inartful Bushism that he is known for. Then I checked the official White House site and learned it was part of a prepared text. Edit: The first comment (inside) is proof that spam can even reach a blog. Sheeesh.

Race and Class

There is a great article in Slate that discusses the phenomenon of how the New Orleans crisis seems to have victims that are 99% black yet no TV broadcaster will so much as mention the subject. He writes: "Race remains largely untouchable for TV because broadcasters sense that they can't make an error without destroying careers. That's a true pity. If the subject were a little less taboo, one of last night's anchors could have asked a reporter, 'Can you explain to our viewers, who by now have surely noticed, why 99 percent of the New Orleans evacuees we're seeing are African-American? I suppose our viewers have noticed, too, that the provocative looting footage we're airing and re-airing seems to depict mostly African-Americans.'"

Missing

Fats Domino, 77, is missing in New Orleans.

He Has Some Good Tips If They Have to Pursue a Car In An Oval

At the Texas Motor Speedway yesterday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. assisted the Roanoke Police Department in training for high speed chases.

Speaking of Gas Prices . . .

any feedback on the average price of gas around Wise County on this the first day of September?

A One Day "Gas Out" In Response to the High Gas Prices

If I get another email asking me (and presumably millions of others) to "Participatie in 1-day boycott of gasoline" in September so oil companies will "choke on their stockpiles and bring down the price of gasoline", I might go crazy.

A Real Life "Escape From New York"

Are there "good" looters and "bad" looters?

Time Waste

Link. (Drag and drop for fun)

What Is This?

Photo.

Tombstone Building

If I could only engrave my own tombstone. Oh, wait, I can.

Random Thought About God

As I watched the Hurricane Katrina devastation (and thought about those girls who just happened to be named "Katrina"), I had these thoughts about God: (1) God created and caused the disaster to occur (but why?), (2) God watches the world and intervenes when he wants to but chose not to stop Katrina, (3) God has no control over the world and simply watches Katrina do her stuff, or (4) There is no ...[An alternative that has been censored in the Bible Belt]

I Didn't Know That . . .

. . . White people "find" while minorities "loot".

Thousands Dead?

AP - New Orleans - The mayor said Wednesday that Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans — an estimate that, if accurate, would make the storm by far the nation's deadliest hurricane in more than a century. "We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands." And it looks like New Orleans is completely under water. Today, people are being told to "abandon" the city.

Like Sands Through An Hourglass

Debbie Gibson is 35 years old today.

Get Ready

A caller on WBAP's Mark Davis show this morning said he had just left Abilene and gas prices were $3.09 a gallon. With the hurricane coming through, I think we are about to get hit hard.

To The Astrodome

At least 25,000 of Hurricane Katrina's refugees, a majority of them at the New Orleans Superdome, will travel in a bus convoy to Houston starting Wednesday and will be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome. (Source)