AirBnB Rental of a Pirate Ship on the Mississippi River

If I ever find myself with a conference or other event in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area of Minnesota, I may well partake of staying in a pirate ship. Yarrrrr!

Mariano Rivera Sets Saves Record: Arrrrrrrr!

Ahoy, Mateys!

Yankee relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, t' best Major League reliever ever, recorded career save number 602, which puts him ahead o' Trevor Hoffman for #1 on t' all-time list. And that doesn't even include his postseason excellence.

And in case you're wonderin' why I be writin' this way, it's because today I be celebratin' one o' t' most important holidays o' t' year.

Avast, ye Scurvy Dogs!

Update (9/20/11): Apparently, the Pirate Party did very well in the Berlin elections on Sunday. Arrrrrr! (Tip of the cap to Karen Daniels.)

Yar! (Oops)

I totally forgot that today be an important holiday! I'm not aye what I should do starboard now. Maybe I can find a substitute day t' celebrate properly once I'm aft home. There be more likely t' be pirates in Oxford than in Durham (North Carolina) anyway. I remembered last week that International Talk Like a Pirate Day was comin' up, but for some reason it totally escaped me as t' actual day drew nigh. And then I completely forgot. Maybe it's that I'm extremely perturbed these days because t' Dodgers continue t' suck this year? Can I use that as me excuse.

In conclusion, yar!!

Shana Tova, Maties!

This year, we are experiencing a confluence of International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Rosh Hashanah. I care more about the former, whereas my family cares far more about the latter (and many of them are not only heathens but likely haven't even heard of International Talk Like a Pirate Day). I do, however, like the idea of a holiday mashup. I want to hear a pirate blowing a shofar, damnit! Ahoy!

This year, we be experiencin' a confluence o' International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Rosh Hashanah. I care more about t' former, whereas me family cares far more about t' latter (and many o' them be not only heathens but likely haven't even heard o' International Talk Like a Pirate Day). I do, however, like t' idea o' a holiday mashup. I want t' hear a pirate blowin' a shofar, damnit! Ahoy!

Yarrrrrrrr!

$150,000 per song?

Um, isn't $150,000 per song just a little bit steep a price for music piracy?

(Tip of the cap to Christopher Voyce.)

The number of pirates seems to have gone up.

I keep seeing all these recent news reports about pirates, and I can't help thinking that maybe global warming isn't as serious a problem as I previously thought. Maybe it's just me...

Thoughts on temporary `Nay Parking` signs

I be walkin' along San Pasqual an' noticed th' temporary `Nay Parking` signs that ben thar fer a while, an' me recently-acquired knowledge on th' topic compelled me t' eyeball them in more detail an' notice a wee things (which included some PS12in' t' find loopholes).

First, at least one or two o' th' signs be set t' expire on "Septembree 31" rather than Septembree 30th. While this t'ain't a loophole, th' mistake amused me. (I be more amused when I thought that all o' them had th' error, but that turned ou' t' be mistaken.)

Second, some o' th' signs only go until 4pm on a gi'en tide rather than 5pm. Th' swabbies who put th' signs thar really ortin' t' ben more careful about that, but that`s a pretty minor loophole.

Third, one o' th' signs be attached t' a tree, which I found ou' be actually illegal on Mondee while talkin' t' th' appropriate civic folks. (That had been what I be plannin' t' do. After returnin' homeport an' noticin' that thar weren`t poles on which t' post th' signs, Lemmin' an' I sailed' o'er t' OSH t' buy some stakes. We tried t' find a local "Magic Box," but we be unable t' do so an' I thus had t' settle fer some ghetto stakes.) Accordin' t' th' swabbies at Pasadena parkin' enforcement, th' `Nay Parking` signs be nay enforceable when they be put on a tree. (I doubt that`s how 't would work in practice, but technically....)

Fourth, I also found ou' on Mondee that each temporary `Nay Parking` sign in Pasadena be good fer nay more than twenty feet o' space. I saw today on San Pasqual that thar be a gap that be much more than twenty feet long. Strictly speakin', a couple o' cars could fit in th' part in which 'tis technically legal t' park (tho, again, I doubt that`s how things would work in practice).

After countin' inaccuracies, 't dawned on me that I nerehad t' present any verification o' needin' t' reserve th' spots in order t' get things t' happen. This made me imagine a scenario (mind ye, nay a specific algorithm fer doin' this) in which a relatively wee squadron o' swabbies could cause major portions o' a city t' be severely disrupted by ary th' same time removin' a large number o' parkin' spaces from normal use. (I assume --- an' hope! --- that in practice th' city would naice a large spike in requests fer temporary `Nay Parking` signs an' prevent this sort o' skullduggery.)

I then moved on t' more important considerations. Namely, be thar some way t' exploit these rules fer an interestin' prank? Th' only things that came t' mind be either simply th' convenience o' usin' th' parkin' spot (in which case 't wouldna be a central part o' th' prank itself) or stuff that wouldna be funny at all but would rather be really nasty an' obnoxious t' th' city`s residents an' business (obviously nay a cool thin' t' do). Does ere be havin' any ideas o' how this could be used fer a prank without bein' obnoxious? I couldna think o' one, tho I moved on t' other topics after a wee while.

Oh, an' in case any o' ye doubt th' veracity o' me OCD afflication, let this blog post put them t' rest.

(Thanks t' this url.)

Baseball Update

After today`s debacle, 't seems that th' Dodgers be intent on breakin' me heart yet again.

Th' Rockies swept us in a double header, puttin' us 4.5 games behind San Diego fer th' wild card an' 5.5 games behind NL West division-leadin' Arizona. Both th' Padres an' Phillies won (again!), an' all three divisions in th' National League be still up fer grabs. Th' Mets lead o'er th' Phillies be now only 1.5 games, th' Diamondafts be 1 game ahead o' San Diego, an' th' Cubs an' Brewers be tied fer th' NL Central lead. We only be havin' 11 games an' we be now in dire straits. (Sometimes ye`re th' windshield an' sometimes ye`re th' bug.)

Meanwhile, things be much more settled in th' American League. Th' Angels be havin' a giant lead o'er th' Mariners, an' th' Indians be havin' a large lead o'er th' Tigers. Th' Red Sox lead o'er th' thrice-blasted Yankees be reduced t' jus' 2.5 games (damnit!) an' th' Yankees be ahead in th' wild card race by 4.5 games o'er Detroit.

Thar be some interestin' teams that will make th' playoffs, but unfortunately th' Yankees will very likely be one o' them an' th' Dodgers won`t be. At least th' Giants be in last...


Update (9/19/07, 10:30 pm): Th' Dodgers lost t' th' Rockies again tonight. Fer th' second game in a row, our vaunted (an' deservedly so, recent failures notwithstanding) bullpen mainstays blew a lead. Th' Rockies be havin' now leaped ahead o' his in th' standings, leavin' th' Dodgers in 4th place in th' National League West an' a full 5.5 games behind th' wild card-leadin' Padres. (Th' Padres beat th' Seafarin' heartys again tonight! Th' Seafarin' heartys canna e'en win on International Talk Like a Seafarin' hearty tide! What kind o' bullsh'tis that!?!) Thar be only ten games port in th' season, so th' Dodgers be pretty screwed at this point. We had a shot, but th' Padres an' Phillies be havin' played really well an' we completely choked. Also today, th' Yankees won an' th' Red Sox lost, so th' Sox be now only ahead o' th' Yankees by 1.5 games. If th' Yankees win th' AL East, this choke (in terms o' th' size o' th' lead that will ben lost) will end up bein' one o' th' historically monumental ones... In that game, Andy Pettitte earned his 200th career victory.

Update 2 (9/19/07, 10:30 pm): I reckoned that I wrote this post on Septembree 19th, so I changed th' "language" I used in order t' properly celebrate today`s holiday.