Who has a nice set up for video conferences? My home one is lacking (though the guitars hanging on the wall in the background aren't bad), but my work one is very nice. I have a fancy painting over one shoulder and a shmancy clock over the other.
18 thoughts on “March 18, 2025: Unfuzzy”
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Solar eclipse from the Moon.
My background includes the bookcase over my left shoulder; don't know how many times I had to show that the binders there held Twins baseball cards.
I use a digital video background because I just have a bare wall and another desk behind me and that desk is usually covered with papers and mail and device cables and other miscellaneous items.
I'm still bumming about that Wolves game last night. Toppin killed us in that OT, he ended the night with 34 points shooting 63% from the field but drained 7 of his 10 three-point attempts, and 4 of those were in the overtime.
The Wolves played hard after halftime. If they'd played hard on the first half, they would have won.
DDV had two wide open threes that would have sealed it.
Toppin was ridiculous
My home office background features a growing “icon wall” of black & white photos printed on glass*, my Sansui 5500 stereo receiver & turntable, a number of folded US flags, a portrait of Pops in his turnout gear, and one third of a Husky heavy duty tool chest.
* Rules for the icon wall: the subject must be a deceased American, not primarily known as a politician or a professional athlete, and underappreciated for the size/scope/precedence of their contribution to the public good. Currently I have a dozen photos; the next addition will be three more, but I haven’t decided on two of them yet.
My in-office and home office setup includes a slide to cover the camera on my laptop because screw that.
My day started poorly and hasn’t improved. I went ahead and did the first pass of my taxes…. Instead of owing 4K this year we owe 5k. I’ve tried every way to encourage the good doctor to increase her withholding but I choose to remain married….
Wow, I'm old.
https://twitter.com/lollapalooza/status/1902012577435033709
Korn is certainly an interesting addition to that line up.
Today's video entry, The Marias, are on the top line of that lineup.
That certainly is a collection of words.
I'm here to poll WGOM on youth softball rule sets. Currently the 8u league where my daughter's friends play has me pulling my hair out with their rules.
The first issue is modified coach pitch. They let the girls pitch until there are 3 balls and then the coach takes over. In theory, this is a good system. In practice, even the best pitchers last year could barely throw strikes and so you would get three non-competitive pitches where everyone just stands around, and then finally the coach comes in. It's already not a very fast-paced sport, but this just grinds everything to a halt, and with the kids throwing so many balls, it's not like they were getting good reps in.
The second issue is letting the kids steal bases. Zero catchers in their league can throw the ball from behind the dish to second base on the fly. Zero. So second base is completely, 100% free. And as mentioned above, the first three pitches are almost always a ball, so after the first pitch, the runner is on second base. Forget the players actually throwing the ball to second base for a force out, there was practically no point at which that was an actual option. Then third base, the catcher could throw that far, but getting an accurate throw and a tag never actually happened. So after two pitches, it was a 2-0 count with a runner on third.
I am pretty sure that this is all because they are aligned with the capital-L Little League, and these are probably the rules that get used in regional/national tournaments, but I am here to say that so few of these players are playing on regional and national tournaments that it is totally detrimental to the kids' fun and their development to run the league this way.
So, what say you? Am I just an old man on my lawn, hopelessly yelling for the kids to stop trampling it? Or will you vote for me to take over the league and change the rules?
There is no stealing in softball, especially 8u! Those are advanced skills to learn later anyway.
Yes, those sound like Little League® Baseball Inc.’s rules. As with many things, homogenization seems to happen via the national level in part because of regulatory infrastructure. I’m reviewing the rule book now to prepare for assistant coaching the Poissonnière’s baseball team.
My understanding is that the coach pinch-pitching rule is intended to balance pitcher & batter development. Our league has coaches “pinch-pitch” only in full counts, the idea being to encourage kids putting the ball in play so the batter and fielders all get to practice fundamentals.
The stealing rule has me thinking I’ll be sending kids a lot. I was once a young g catcher and had a better arm than most, but you’re right about a lot of throws bouncing out there to whomever has arrived to cover.
Aristotle's softball experience matched this - only they didn't ever bring in the coaches to pitch. Almost no one swung the bat ever, so all plays were either strikeouts looking or walks.
Also, they were able to steal 1st on a dropped ball, and since catchers couldn't catch, almost every strike 3 also ended up in a steal of first.
Also also, they were able to steal home. Very very rarely was anyone ever out at home on a steal, so basically it went "strikeout, but steal of first so no out. Steal of 2nd. Steal of 3rd. Steal of home."
5 run max per inning, and they played "up to 6 innings" but each inning took so long so they never got past 4. Games were regularly 20 - 19, with no more than about 3 balls in play all game.
Aristotle doesn't play softball anymore. Heidegger is reaching that level this year. Sigh.
There's a reason so many kids quit at that age. The leagues refuse to think they are the reason.
My gosh, that sounds miserable! My first year of softball was the summer after 3rd grade, and coaches pitched the whole time and there was no stealing. We consistently got through all 6 innings of our games.