Man, But I Do Love a Knuckleball

A five-foot, hundred fifteen pound 16-year-old pitcher has become the first woman drafted to play professional baseball in Japan with men. Eri Yoshida's secret? A wicked, side-arm knuckleball.

More pitchers should throw a knuckleball. It keeps catchers on their toes, it goes wherever it wants to, and when it fails to flail, it gets hit and hit hard. It's the perfect recipe for a fantastic baseball game.

I want Yoshida to pitch for the Mets. I really do. Someone get on the horn with Omar Minaya.

Dude, We Can Totally Go to Iceland!

When I make this whole financial crisis about me (because, after all, what is a blog if not a vehicle for narcissism), I see some silver linings.

The missus and I rent, we have debt, and we have no savings or retirement plans or anything. We do have good jobs with relative job security. Based on bshort's explanation of the economy in the comments below, this puts us in a pretty decent position with regard to this here recession.

Well, there's even better news. Some of you may remember that the missus and I went to Sweden last year. When we were exploring places to go, Iceland was actually pretty near the top of the list, but with the weak-ass dollar and the strong-ass kroner in Iceland, we just couldn't freakin' afford it.

But now Iceland's broke! The Icelandic kroner is tanking, the government has taken control of all the banks, and the Lutheran leaders of this Lutheran nation are calling for a return to traditional values (which I suspect means something a little different in Iceland than it does here).

Bring on the hot springs and long summer days and Ring Road and reindeer meat! Hell, I'm even (culturally if not religiously) Lutheran, so bring on the Lutherans!

Yeah, So I Watched the Debate

I have one little question. Both of these fellas want Georgia to be in NATO. (I'm assuming they meant the country, not the state within the U.S.) If Georgia had been in NATO a couple months ago, wouldn't we be at war with Russia right now?

I'm still voting for "that one."

Bruce LeeRoy vs. Chow Yun Fatchmo!

Once upon a time, in South Africa, Chinese immigrants were known as Chinese immigrants. Then, with the establishment of apartheid in the 1940s, the Afrikaner government classified the Chinese as "colored." In the 1970s, Taiwan established economic ties to South Africa, and Taiwanese immigrants were "honorary whites."

Because no one could tell the difference between the Taiwanese and the Chinese, things got a little easier for the Chinese in South Africa. They still had no rights, mind you, but they also had the honor of sharing the white facilities with a bunch of racist, cracker-ass bitches. Lucky, lucky Chinese.

So when apartheid ended in the 1990s, the Chinese were lumped together with whitey and therefore denied the benefits available to other "colored" groups.

Well, no longer. On Wednesday, Chinese South Africans were reclassified as "black."

Maybe this explains why there are suddenly so many Chinese Soul Food restaurants cropping up in New York City.

(Thanks to my esteemed Chinese-American Art Director at work for the link and the ensuing smartass IM conversation. Bruce LeeRoy was all him.)