Whimsy: October 2007 Archives
Lifehacker: Sleep: Reboot Your Brain with a Caffeine Nap
Drink a cup of coffee before you take a short nap? Really. (Via American Digest.)
Head Injury Theater: Stupid Monsters someone was paid to make = the best job ever.
A review of the dorkiest monsters in the dorky world of D&D: Squarks, armadillephants, flumphs, and duckbunnies, carnivorous floors, walls, ceilings, and luggage, and the dreaded Gelatinous Cube! With a classical bonus -- Pliny the Elder's fire-pooping Bonnacon! (Via Ace of Spades HQ.)
Tulsa World: Mike Strain: Why I have OU ranked lower than the rest of America
The World's sports editor (an OU grad himself) explains why he put the Sooners ninth in his vote in this week's AP top 25, three slots lower than the consensus, and explains some of his other picks. "The Sooners have a win over one ranked team - Texas. But OU's other wins don't look very impressive, especially with Miami's loss this week to North Carolina and Tulsa's loss to UTEP. OU's only true road game (trip to Tulsa was more like a neutral site) the Sooners lost to Colorado and were outplayed in that one." Makes sense to me. If only the folks in the newsroom and on the editorial page were as transparent about their judgment calls.
The Pioneer Woman Cooks!: Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich
Glorified grilled cheese: Cheddar, provolone, rye bread, a Dijon mustard and mayonnaise sauce, red onion, green chiles, tomato, and butter for grilling. (Via Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, Best Overall Blog in the 2007 Okie Blog Awards.)
Minor League Ballparks: Ballpark Burnout
This is a cool website (photos and descriptions of 200 minor league ballparks) with a sad ending:
"It's official: I'm retiring. Here's the ugly truth -- going to ballgames simply isn't as much fun as it was 10 or 15 years ago. LED video displays, never-ending sound effects, constantly-changing corporate stadium names, blaring music, commercials between innings, and spiraling prices have all conspired to send me running for the exits (and even the exits probably have corporate sponsors now). Besides, most of the interesting old parks are either gone or sit unused, replaced by the color-by-numbers uniformity of new ballparks. It's true, I've seen professional baseball at over 200 ballparks in all 48 continental states, and that's enough. Why?
"Because a trip to the ballpark these days is something like a cross between going to a shopping mall and becoming trapped in a baseball-themed pinball machine.
"That's why I'm packing it in. It's been a fun decade and a half -- I've met a lot of great people and seen a lot of cool things. But still, enough is enough. "
