Little League

Bobby plays Little League baseball and he loves it. He's in the minor leagues and the coaches do the pitching. It's interesting to watch how it's played compared to the Major Leagues. First off, the base runners routinely go on any fair ball, as the chances of the defense making a play are remote. Most outs are strikeouts. But once in awhile the defense makes a play. A grounder to second and a throw to first that beats the batter leads to a big cheer from the watching parents - because the second baseman had to field the ball, make a good throw to first and the first baseman had to catch it - all pretty dodgy things. And I should add that the second baseman had to decide to try to field the ball, had to decide to try to throw it and where, and the first baseman had to decide to try to catch the throw. You can't depend on these decisions either.

Fly balls almost always drop surrounded by players watching it hit the ground. But once in awhile a catch is made. Today I saw an unassisted triple play: Nobody out, runners at first and second, the batter hits a high fly ball to the shortstop. The base runners are almost to the next base when the shortstop catches the ball, steps on second (everyone is yelling at him to do that) and then tags the runner from first who hasn't caught on that he ought to go back. Fun.

Man used ukulele to beat wife

Now that's just sad.

Harry Washington

There's a remarkable article in the New Yorker about slaves during the American revolution. George Washington owned hundreds of slaves, and one of them, Harry Washington, escaped to fight with the British. When the war ended, he fled with them across the Atlantic. At the time, Britain was in the process of abolishing slavery. Perhaps this was more of a motivation for wealthy slaveowners like Washington and Jefferson to revolt, rather than the tax on tea.

Giant Rock

This AP article brings back memories. When I was a student at Caltech, we drove far out in the desert to Giant Rock, where UFO maven George Van Tassel lived. I don't remember who my traveling companions were, but they might have included John Forbes, Dale Paynter or Phil Drake.

Van Tassel had a little coffee shop out there and when he heard he had visitors from Caltech, he rushed over to talk to us. Of course, he soon found out we were mere students and not professors. He was pleasant enough and not obviously loopy other than his eccentric theories. He tried to convince us of his point of view, but we were rather dogmatic on matters of science.

This would have been in the late 1960s. We only got to see the Integratron and the room under the rock from the outside. He had a very basic airport there, for small planes and UFOs. People were riding dirt bikes and stirring up dust. I can't say I fancied staying in the room under the (tippy looking) Giant Rock. I'd never get to sleep there and it wouldn't be aliens keeping me awake either.