Fenway all about 'the history and the tradition' (ESPN)

Fenway Park is magical. There's no ballpark, stadium or arena quite like it. Squeezed into the Fenway section of Boston, it's old, cramped and irritable, but there's no better place, no more intimate setting, for a baseball game.

January 2007 is almost half over...time to post something!

The Ideological Animal (Psychology Today)

We think our political stance is the product of reason, but we're easily manipulated and surprisingly malleable. Our essential political self is more a stew of childhood temperament, education, and fear of death. Call it the 9/11 effect...

[A study] found that conservatives have a greater desire to reach a decision quickly and stick to it, and are higher on conscientiousness, which includes neatness, orderliness, duty, and rule-following. Liberals are higher on openness, which includes intellectual curiosity, excitement-seeking, novelty, creativity for its own sake, and a craving for stimulation like travel, color, art, music, and literature.

Last year was the first year of my annual soundtrack project. Here's this year's CD:

1. Pixies: "Where Is My Mind?"
2. People Under The Stairs: "The Dig"
3. Gnarls Barkley: "Crazy"
4. Devo: "Turn Around"
5. They Might Be Giants: "I Should Be Allowed To Think"
6. Belle & Sebastian: "White Collar Boy"
7. The Dubliners: "Irish Rover"
8. Simple Minds: "The American"
9. The Smiths: "What Difference Does It Make?"
10. Man...or Astro-man?: "Lo batt"
11. The Ventures: "Pedal Pusher"
12. The Romantics: "When I Look in Your Eyes"
13. The Alias Brothers: "Seven"
14. Dangerdoom: "Old School"
15. Beck: "Hell Yes"
16. Bad Brains: "Big Takeover"
17. Goodbye Harry: "They"
18. Bad Religion: "American Jesus"
19. Green Day: "Scattered"
20. NOFX: "It’s My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite"
21. Samiam: "Sunshine"
22. Smashing Pumpkins: "Bodies"
23. Rush: "Tom Sawyer"
24. The Bad Plus: "And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation"

Who knew charts and diagrams could be so fun? Visit indexed for more...

Slate has a story about former Major League pitcher Don Carman answering his fan mail a decade-and-a-half late because he recently found a box of letters that were misplaced when he moved.

One thing that makes postgame interviews with baseball players useless are the cliche responses they give...which is why I found this part of the article funny:

After enduring years worth of questions from benighted sports writers ("How'd it feel out there today, Don?"), Carman compiled a list of 37 suitably vapid answers that could be applied to almost any query. These included: "Baseball's a funny game"; "I just want to help the club any way I can"; "I didn't have my good stuff, but I battled 'em"; and, a personal favorite, "We have a different hero every day." Carman posted the list above his locker with a note that told writers, "You saw the game ... take what you need."

Of course, what was a joke to Don Carman are legitimate answers for most players today. You can read his entire list of answers here.

I can watch this again and again and again...

If anybody has been trying to call us and are constantly getting a busy signal, it's because our phone service is not waterproof: almost every time it rains or snows our phone goes out. (Because there were heavy rains on Thanksgiving, we've had no phone service since then.) A Verizon tech then comes out after a few days, "fixes" things (or the wires dry out by themselves), and we wait until the next rainstorm to knock it out again.

So if you ever get a busy signal trying to reach us, it's because Verizon has yet to waterproof our line. Or something. So drop us an email or call our cell phone instead.

1. "Amelia, can you please smile so we can take a photo for the Christmas card?"
2. "Look...if you smile so we can get a picture, you can have a mint."
3. Smiles come fast and furious for 5 full minutes.
4. Amelia celebrates receiving mint with "the yummy dance."

New video at Jeremy's website: "What's So Funny? 2 (a remake of Amelia's "What's So Funny?).

If you like circa-1995 BMX freestyle riding, I uploaded a bit of my video to YouTube: