An interesting thing happened to me yesterday at church. As mass was ending I noticed a woman I did not recognize checking out the Indulgence calendars on the back table so I went over, introduced myself and explained what they were. It turned out she had come from Seattle visiting family, I introduced my wife and the three of us proceeded to the Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast downstairs in the church hall and found ourselves in conversation as we ate.
As we spoke (Dawife and her really hit if off) we found she was originally from Massachusetts but was thinking of moving back as the next was now empty and she had family both in the area & near Boston so she was scouting out various cities and towns and proceeded to ask about the Fitchburg / Leominster area. Her first question spoke volumes:
Is it safe for a woman to go to a supermarket at 8 PM in this city.
Now Fitchburg isn’t what it was when I was a teen and there are parts that are a lot rougher thanks to drugs and gangs but I was able to say “yes” without hesitation, but the implication of the question that really hit me.
When a woman’s first question when inquiring about a potential move concerns personal safety that suggests where they currently are isn’t safe.
Seattle was once of the great cities in our nation, but over the last few years it has let itself become ruled by the mob to the point where the first question from a professional woman looking for a new place to live is “Will I be safe to go grocery shopping?”
That we should reach this point in an American city in my lifetime is disgraceful and that I feel more shame over it as an American then those who actually run Seattle three thousand miles away do is the greatest indictment of their actions and inactions that I can think of.
If you don’t want such people, we’ll gladly take them.
Posted: September 12, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized
I’ve never liked 9/11 ceremonies. It always seemed that it was celebrating the enemies victory. My thought was we should crush and destroy them first and then when they are finished remember the day, particularly those who died in PA fighting back.
I accidently ended up at a 9/11 prayer service on Friday where the church that I go to Friday Morning Mass had their school kids file in for a service as a group of us were praying a Rosary. We were allowed to stay but frankly I wish I didn’t. 9/11 was painted as more a natural disaster done by people for no rational reason instead of the deliberate attack that it was and furthermore while they remembered those who died not a word for the soldiers who fought for us to prevent its repeating. It’s as if they were grooming these kids to be victims. I expect this from a public school but not a Catholic one.
One thing I mentioned in the last paragraph needs to be repeated and emphasized. For all the critiques of Afghanistan and Iraq the primary goal of both of those conflicts (at least in my mind) was to prevent another such attack here. Instead of launching attacks against civilian targets in the US for two decades terrorists concentrated on fighting the best Army the world has ever seen and for the most part dying in the attempt to beat them. Say what you will abut the various decision made but that primary goal was maintained for twenty years.
Like many others I would like to hear a clarification of the remarks of President Bush concerning domestic extremists specifying exactly who he means. Given he was using the same language as the MSM I’m not surprised a lot of people are angry at him, but unlike others I don’t regret my votes for him at all. He was the right man at the right time and as per the goals I outlined above left both Afghanistan & Iraq in a condition where they were in no position to repeat or support such an attack. It took Obama to give away the victory in Iraq and now Biden is dong the same in Afghanistan. Poor remarks not withstanding if Bush had still been in charge neither of these things would have happened.
Posted: September 11, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized
I came home from work after midnight Friday at 12:35 AM to see the Biden Administration vaccine mandate story (I see no news or net during my work hours, I highly recommend this btw) and immediately thought: The goal here is to generate a violent reaction or even an assassination attempt in order to improve the Democrat party’s poll numbers in general and Joe Biden’s poll numbers in particular. I suspect if we don’t take the bait (and we shouldn’t) you’ll see a false flag of some type.
During my 2nd break at work I’ve been reading Albert Bushnell Hart’s Essentials in American History and I literally just got to the chapter of Fort Sumter. Hart talks about the cultural differences and believes of the two sides going into the Civil War and I couldn’t help but be stuck at the parallels to today. I submit and suggest that the efforts to purge the military of conservatives by this administration has been in anticipation of using them to enforce actions against Americans. I know how that sounds but a lot of things we might have thought unbelievable just ten months ago have proved to be under the Biden Administration to be possible.
The real giveaway in the mandate to companies & to Federal Workers is the exemption of the Postal Service from said mandates. If this was a public health crisis you would not exempt a group of people who have daily contact which the American public to a greater degree than any other group.
Of course the day Kamala Harris declared to the world that she would not take any “Trump Vaccine” was the final nail in the coffin of a non-politized national health policy. On the day when we face a disease that kills like Smallpox or Ebola the price of this will be paid.
Something I think is worth stressing. I think it’s fairly well established that at least in the short term the various Vaccines (or as I would more accurately call them “COVID SHOTS” as they are more like flu shots than actual vaccines) are safe and effective. If they were not given that there are about 100 million or more Americans who have taken them we would be seeing millions of people with bad side effects instead of thousands.
That being said it’s also well established that:
The survival rates of COVID are extremely high
The vast majority of COVID patients who are not in high risk groups will not die from this virus
The vaccine does not confer an immunity from either getting or spreading COVID
Furthermore we do not know the long term affects of said vaccine and that if you’ve already had COVID and fought it off your own immune system will already have the antibodies to keep it away, in fact the whole point of any vaccine is to produce antibodies that your system is not.
Given these facts it is perfectly reasonable for people to choose to get the vaccine if they are
In an at risk or high risk group
Feel safer getting the vaccine
decide the cost benefit ratio favors getting the vaccine
And it is perfectly reasonable for people to choose not to get the vaccine if
They are not in a high risk group
Are more vulnerable to the known side effects
Decide the cost benefit ratio favors not getting the vaccine
Want to wait a few more years as the knowledge of and thus the Science will improve
The very fact we even have any type of shot available is a triumph that is worth celebrating and if the powers that be hadn’t turn COVID in general and this Vaccine in particular into a political football people would be making would be making good choices based on these considerations and celebrated for it.
Finally Is it safe to say that we have now established that while there will in fact be a day when Tom Brady is unable to perform at the level of an elite quarterback in the NFL that barring injury said day will not come this season.
Here is the current state of the online and table top baseball leagues I run and ore are in. All current leagues are 162 game seasons with one 3 game series scheduled per week If you click on a team link you can see their stats, injuries, leaders etc.
Since our last update more teams have been taken in online leagues the face to face league is deep into the playoffs and a new online draft league is forming
Postseason Key
Z Clinched home field throughout playoffs
Y Clinched Division Title
X Clinched Wild Card home
W Clinched Wild Card away
V Clinched Playoff spot
League one All Futility League (all teams lost 96 + games) 2nd Season. Scheduled series time Thursday Mornings. This league is nearly finished.
Pitching: Wins Hernandez Sea, 22, ERA Diamond Min 2.91, IP John Chi 274 2/3, K’s Hernandez Sea 239, Avg against Krausse KCA .208 WHIP Krause KCA 1.07 HR/9 Hyde Wash 0.27 Saves Yan TB 31
The SD Jones memorial .500 teams league is a league (all teams were no better than 2 games over .500 or no worse than 2 games under) Initial season . Games are scheduled for Tuesdays. AM
Avg Carew Min .344, OBP Trout LAA .436, SLUG Trout LAA .637, Runs Cabrera Det 116, Hits Carew Min 188, 2B Cabrera Det 45, 3B Durham ChW, 16, SB Carew Min 49 BB Trout LAA 100 HR Howard Wash(A) 41, RBI Cabrera Det 125
Pitching
Wins Verlander Det 20, ERA Clemens Bos 2.39, IP Vernalder Det 256 2/3, K’s Blyleven Min 240, Avg against Cahill Oak .205, WHIP Darwin Bos 0.99, HR/9 Bibby Cle 0.35, Saves Valverde Det Russell Bos 27
Pitching Wins Scherzer Wash 19, ERA Scherzer Wash 2.33, IP Scherzer Wash 262 2/3, K’s Scherzer Wash 309, Avg Against Scherzer Wash .207, WHIP Scherzer Wash 0.96, HR/9 Reed StL 0.34, Saves Face Pitt 32
3rd League All time any time Great Teams League (3rd season) Games scheduled Friday evenings. Two teams have been picked up since the last posting (oddly not the Orioles)
Avg Kendrick Wash .369, OBP Morgan Cin .464, Slug Galarraga Atl .627, Runs Morgan Cin 91, Hits Kendrick Wash 146, 2B Kendrick Wash 34, 3B McGee StL 14, SB Morgan Cin 54, BB Morgan Cin 82, HR Campanella Bkyn, Aaron Mil 27, RBI Aaron Mil 89
Pitching Wins Nolan Cin 15, ERA Tudor StL 1.80, IP Tudor StL 174 2/3, K’s Johnson Arizona 226, Avg against Tudor StL .181, WHIP Tudor StL 0.82 HR/9 Buhl Mil 0.28, Saves Chapman Cubs16 27
There will be a new Draft league starting in October beginning in the 1969 season. Each player will select a franchise and one player to protect and the rest of the players will go in the draft.
Out of a max of 24 teams available here are the teams selected with the player they choose to protect all others go into the draft. All unlisted franchises are still available franchise with a * are teams that have been picked but the confirmation email has not yet been received
Players may join up until Sept 30th or until we reach 24 teams The draft is scheduled for the 1st week of October and will last one week. Teams will draft until they have 35 players or until we run out of players to draft.
At the end of the season each team will be able to protect 4-12 players based on their finish plus new rookies (IE Bowa Phi Blyleven Minn) who don’t count toward that total, all others go into the draft, draft order for the 1970 season will be based on the finish.
This league will play twice a week 5-6 games
UPDATE: This list has been updated for several teams now taken since the post went up
Team Selected
Player withheld from Draft
Oakland A’s
Not announced
Chicago White Sox
LHSP Tommy John
Baltimore Orioles
1B Boog Powell
Atlanta Braves
OF Hank Aaron
Cincinnati Reds
C Johnny Bench
Los Angeles Dodgers
RHSP Don Sutton
Montreal Expos
Not Announced
New York Mets
RHSP Tom Seaver
Pittsburgh Pirates
OF Roberto Clemente
St Louis Cardinals
RHSP Bob Gibson
San Francisco Giants
OF Bobby Bonds
New York Yankees
SP Fritz Peterson
Cleveland Indians
LHSP Sam McDowell
Washington Senators
SS Ed Brinkman
Minnesota Twins
2B Rod Carew
If you are interested in this or any other league contact me in comments.
The face to face league in Fitchburg MA has finished its regular season here are the final standings
Lynn Division
W
L
PCT
GB
WCGB
Tampa Bay Rays
41
19
.683
—-
n/a
San Francisco Giants
35
25
.583
3 1/2
Bye
St. Louis Cardinals
32
28
.533
7
Home
Colorado Rockies
24
36
.400
14 1/2
ELIM
Dan Division
W
L
PCT
GB
WCGB
New York Yankees
39
21
.650
—-
n/a
Washington Nationals
28
33
.459
11 1/2
Away
Seattle Mariners
27
34
.442
12
ELIM
San Diego Padres
17
43
.283
21
ELIM
Nationals and Mariners played a 61th game to break a tie for the final wild card spot
Here are the playoff results to date:
Wild Card Playin at St Louis
St. Louis Cardinals 8 Washington Nationals 5
Playoffs round one: best of five
Tampa Bay Rays defeat St. Louis Cardinals 3 games to 1
New York Yankees defeat defending WP champ San Francisco Giants games to one
World Series Best of seven
9/11 NYY at TB
On 9/25 at 1:30 PM at Zeda’s Pizza in Fitchburg MA our face to face draft league which first began playing in 1987 in Fitchburg Massachusetts will have it’s meeting to finalize the plans for our next season (2020) We currently have 8 teams in two divisions and would like to expand to at least nine or possibly 10. Anyone interested in joining is welcome to show up. Issues to be decided
Dues (currently $35 a season)
Number of games (currently 60 but may shrink to let us catch back up with MLB)
Number of weeks per month. (currently playing every other week, considering adding one extra week or more)
Date for draft (and / or expansion draft) and date to begin season.