June 5, 2023

Your most memorable meal.

What was it, where was it, when was it, and why is it memorable?

For me: dinner at Le Gavroche in London in 1990, featuring the incomparable souffle suissesse. The House's signature dish. Memorable because of that and everything else, that sort of dining experience is amazing for a poor boy like me. Well, it was also memorable for lightening my purse by about 200 quid, three-star restaurants aren't cheap. But I knew that going in. It was a deliberate extravagance never to be repeated

-- Mal

June 4, 2023

It's that time of year again...

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Try not to cry.

-- Mal

May 20, 2023

"Watching" old baseball games...

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

May 1, 2023

Weird practices of WW2

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

April 25, 2023

Anybody have any experience with PadSplit or similar?

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

December 24, 2022

Merry Christmas, Darling.

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

December 23, 2022

The Immaculate Reception: Raiders game film.

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:

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-- Mal

October 11, 2022

My god, that bullpen sucked.

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

October 6, 2022

Every Mom in 1964:

"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