Only two three teams down 3-0 have ever managed to force even a Game Six — the 1998 Braves and 1999 Mets, each of whom forced a sixth game in the NLCS — and now the 2004 Red Sox, who have forced a sixth game in the ALCS.
Don’t know about you but NewMexiKen is finding this baseball stuff kind of exciting.
Martha Stewart writes from prison.
The camp is fine; it is pretty much what I anticipated. The best news — everyone is nice — both the officials and my fellow inmates. I have adjusted and am very busy. The camp is like an old-fashioned college campus — without the freedom, of course.
Link via BartCop
“PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER”
CNN scrolling banner via Altercation
NewMexiKen ran across these two books about flying.
More than ever, air travel is a focus of curiosity, intrigue and anxiety. This year, some half a billion passengers will ride aboard the ten largest US airlines alone. Fair to say each one has a question, a doubt, and a lingering fear in the back of his or her mind. We take to the air routinely, yet few of us understand the how and why of jetting from New York to London in six hours. Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of Salon.com’s popular air travel column, unravels the secrets and tells you all there is to know about the strange and fascinating world of commercial flight.
* Insights into safety, security, and the nuts and bolts of how planes fly
* Straight talk on turbulence, air traffic control, windshear and accidents
* The history, color and controversy of the world’s airlines
* The awe and oddity of being a pilot
* The poetry and drama of airplanes, airports, and travelling abroad
Patrick speaks eloquently to our fears and curiosities, incorporating anecdotes, memoir, and a life’s passion for flight. He tackles your toughest concerns, debunks conspiracies and urban myths, and in a rarely heard voice dares to return a dash of romance and glamour to air travel.
Talk about a fresh perspective! Perched 35,000 feet in the air, Window Seat decodes the sights to be seen on any flight across North America. Broken down by region, this unusual guide features 70 aerial photographs; a fold-out map of North America showing major flight paths; profiles of each region covering its landforms, waterways, and cities; tips on spotting major sights, such as the Northern Lights, the Grand Canyon, and Disney World; tips on spotting not-so-major sights such as prisons, mines, and Interstates; and straightforward, friendly text on cloud shapes, weather patterns, the continent’s history, and more. A terrific book for kids, frequent flyers, and armchair travelers alike, Window Seat is packed with curious facts and colorful illustration, proving that flying doesn’t have to be a snooze. When it’s possible to “read” the landscape from above, a whole world unfolds at your feet.
Both reviews from Amazon.com.
Also from The Atlantic Online, November 2004, Primary Sources:
Driving while talking on a cell phone can be more dangerous than driving drunk. A recent study ran a driving simulation comparing the response time of drivers conducting cell-phone conversations and drivers who were legally intoxicated (they drank “a mixture of orange juice and vodka”—in more technical language, a screwdriver). Although the intoxicated drivers tended to follow other cars more closely and brake more violently, the drivers conversing on cell phones exhibited a greater delay in their response to events on the road, and were more likely to be involved in a collision. (Interestingly, it made no difference whether the cell-phone drivers were using handheld or hands-free equipment.) The intoxicated drivers actually drove more slowly, and had a better braking response, than the study’s control group (participants who were neither drunk nor talking on a cell phone). But before you toss away your phone and reach for another shot of tequila, it’s worth noting that the screwdriver-drinking participants had a blood-alcohol level of only .08—drunk, but not that drunk.
“A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver,” D. Strayer, F. Drews, and D. Crouch, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies
From The Atlantic Online, November 2004, Primary Sources:
If you feel that the opposite sex isn’t giving you the attention you so richly deserve, maybe you should consider making a change—a name change, that is. According to a preliminary study by an MIT cognitive scientist, the vowel sounds in people’s names may have an impact on how others judge their attractiveness. Specifically, when the men in the study were assigned names with a stressed front vowel (a vowel sound spoken at the front of the mouth), they were rated as more attractive than when they were assigned names with a stressed back vowel. (In other words, good news for Dave, Craig, Ben, Jake, Rick, Steve, Matt; bad news for Lou, Paul, Luke, Tom, Charles, George, John.) In women the effect was reversed, and a stressed back vowel (Laura, Julie, Robin, Susan, Holly) boosted sex appeal, whereas a stressed front vowel (Melanie, Jamie, Jill, Tracy, Ann, Liz, Amy) had the opposite effect—to the author’s disappointment, no doubt.
“What’s in a Name? The Effect of Sound Symbolism on Perception of Facial Attractiveness,” Amy Perfors, MIT
If you stayed with the Yankees-Red Sox game until the walk-off home run by David Ortiz in the 12th, you must feel like NewMexiKen that Fox Sports showed us every single friggin’ freezing fan in the crowd. What’s with so many crowd shots? Can’t we just stick with ball players spitting like in the past?
… of Chuck Berry. Roll over Beethoven, Chuck’s 78.
… of Keith Jackson. Whoa, Nellie, he’s 76.
… of Peter Boyle. Raymond’s father is 69.
… of Pam Dawber. Mork’s Mindy is 53.
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