A New Niece

Ok, so Stephanie beat me to the post. Here is a picture of my brother and his new baby girl Erin Gayle, born in Windsor on the 28th of December.

She's very cute and very content.

Congratulations Neil and Terri.

You got a very cute sister Cole and Rachel.

I have to admit, there are some mornings when the first question I ask myself is "what day is it"? I suppose it has something to do with the business and busyness of the season. When everything is directed to a few events, it's almost impossible to think of the day. I mean I know it's morning and when the alarm goes off, I know the time.

It's just the day of the week I have a few problems with.

Perhaps it does stop me from waking up screaming.

Time Person of the Year is....You



As is the case, Time Magazine has named the Person of the Year, and if you have grabbed the magazine, or read it at your local bookstore/magazine rack, you've seen the shiny square on the front cover that acts as a mirror. The reason for the reflection is simple, Time has decided that the Person of the Year is us. That is any one who has made any sort of content on the Internet. It's all about Web 2.0. It's social networking, its blogs, wikis, podcasts, vidcasts. It's people making media and culture through the tools that make up the Internet. It's somebody using Audacity to record their own podcast, speaking into a simple or expensive microphone and saving the sound file as an MP3 to later upload to a website. It's that person talking about any subject they want to talk about, knowing there's someone who will share their interest. Instead of a microphone, it could be a webcam or a digital video camera and suddenly its a vidcast. Whatever it's people making culture.

It's a YouTube video of someone's interesting music video or something rather bizarre. It could be cats doing rather interesting and cute tricks, or people doing weird tricks. It's technology and culture together.

Now there are some who complain about this choice. The recent episode of Twit (number 80), has John C. Dvorak complaining about the choice. He felt it was cheesy and wondered why they went for a construct rather then a newsmaker. Other complaints given is that the Net is still a Western phenomenum, since much of the world barely has the electricity or food, let alone the Internet Connection to become involved with Web 1.0 let alone 2.0. However the Net is growing, China and India are opening up big to the Internet. Likely the day will come when Chinese will be the language of the Net.

Some have suggested the better choice should have been the people who brought YouTube to the world, certainlhy after being bought out by Google for a billion and change. Had Time done that, the issue would have been sold-out, since the two would have bought ever single issue of the magazine, I mean you can do that with a billion dollars.

On one hand, it is good to see the grassroots media is being recognized, on the other, it may be too soon to discuss where the Social Networking will take us. Like anything else, there is good and there is bad.

Still it's being making culture, and that's always a good thing

The Vonage advantage: Move early, quickly

This article in this Saturday's Globe and Mail caught my attention. It has to do with the growth of Vonage and the challenge it faces now that Ottawa has brought in deregulation to the local phone market. It's something the big telecom companies have been wanting for some time. The question is will it mean small and new starts like Vonage will have a chance? After all what can a company that employes 150 people do against a massive entity like Bell Canada.

Actually they can do a lot for they have one thing going for them, they aren't Bell Canada. Forget the cute commercials of beavers and cell phones, most people can't stand Bell. Just try it, ask the first 100 people you meet their opinion of Bell Canada and I will suggest to you the overwhelming response will be negative. Bell has been a monopoly for far too long to actually learn to care about the consumer. One result of deregulation will not mean the end of competition but the flowering of competition. Companies like Vonage, like Rogers Phone will have the ability to get in on that which has always been the private domain of large telecos such as Bell.

I would say the one area that Vonage must move towards quickly is the simplification of the installation. Make it easy, or provide technical assistance to install Vonage and people will flock to it. Most of us don't simply want to mess with wires and things like that, if it is far simple to stay where you are, that's what we will do. However, if Vonage moves aggressively in this area, people will gladly sign up.

As I said most people want to get rid of Bell. We're just waiting for the excuse.

Ubuntu Sticker on my Laptop



So I placed the Ubuntu sticker on the outside of my laptop, just below the Creative Commonists sticker. I have been impressed with all I have been able to do without having windows on my machine. I solved the problem with the mp3's, I had downloaded the wrong easy ubuntu program. Once I installed the right one, everything is good.

I'm continuing my experiments with looking at the KDE flavour of Ubuntu. It's quite good and I can go from one to the other without any problems.

So Bill G isn't impressed. All I can say is Linus Torvalds is The Man.

Good Bye Windows
Hello Ubuntu

Well I did it. I took my Dell Inspiron 1000 computer and removed Windows XP to install Ubuntu. I had wondered about the wireless access, but I did some reading and from what was indicated in the documents that going wireless with Ubuntu is not that difficult.

So today, I placed in a Ubuntu CD into the drive and got the computer to boot. I then moved the mouse over to the "install" icon and clicked. Well, after the usual time, it was installed and I rebooted. There it was, the Ubuntu screen and I typed in my name and my password. It happened, my computer is now a Ubuntu computer.

The next step was to determine if I could go wireless. I read some documents and felt that it was something I could do without too many problems. So I stuck in the wireless card and unplugged the ethernet cable. The result is this, I am typing this on my laptop using and there is no wires plugged into the computer, with the exception of the power cord. I am wireless and it is great.

I also wanted to see if other hardware could work and I plugged in my digital camera, it was found and I downloaded some photographs.

I still have to tweak a few things, I'm having problems playing mp3's. CD's are good but DVD's still need some work. I may have to find a few drivers for it.

Still I realize I got some work and with the help of documentation and the community I should do well.

Here's the picture of my wallpaper:


I'm looking forward to working with Ubuntu on my laptop.


Penguins Rule

A Week of Ubuntu

It's been about a week, perhaps almost two since I installed Ubuntu on the older computer. I have enjoyed trying it out and learning about the various programs which are accessible through Linux. I've also been reading a number of articles that pertain to the OS and have learned even a few more things. The one thing I have learned is that there is a wealth of programs available for free. In fact by simply clicking on the "Add/Remove" program one has a great number of programs in all sorts of fields to install on the computer. From games, to media programs, it is all there. I was trying out the cd ripping program and it worked well. The one complaint I have was the slow speed, I wonder if there's a way to change the setting to take advantage of the capabilities of the CD-ROM drive. As well, I have watched a few DVD's through the machine, when installing Dapper Drake, all the hardware was found.



What I have noticed is Ubuntu certainly generates a fair deal of positive opinion, one of the blogs I read gave 5 Reasons Ubuntu will Rule the World!. It's a follow up article of a previous one he did entitled: Ubuntu projected to outgrow Vista and more. Now that I don't know about, after all how can a free community based operating system compete with a multi-billion dollar operation with a marketing budget to match; then again when the man behind Ubuntu, Mark Shuttleworth is a billionaire himself, or close to it, he just might have the pockets deep enough to have his own marketing strategy. As well, the fact it is community based and quite straight forward may help.

If I can mention the first article about the five reasons, there is probably a sixth and that is security. All I have read state that Linux is secure from viruses. Another article entitled: ive-things-to-know-when-you-switch-to-linux
makes the point that:

#
nti-viruses made redundant

Because GNU/Linux is very secure, running an anti-virus is not necessary either (unless you deal with Windows files under an emulator, or pass them on to Windows users). Be careful when you go root, and keep your system up-to-date with the automatic security updates: you’ll stay safe

. I mean if that point alone doesn't sell a person on making the switch I don't know what will. We all have our AVS, our malware protector, our anti-spam software, everything we need to think we are safe and yet...

So what is next? Well, I would like to try installing ubuntu on my laptop. Before that I plan to read about LInux and wireless access, since that would be important to know. If that goes well, it's farewell Windows on one more machine.

I'll keep everyone informed.

I've been thinking about trying some Linux on some of the home computers. In fact I've downloaded a number of linux distros and burned a number of live cd's to try them out.

I've also ordered and received a number of Ubuntu discs to try on the computers.

On the whole I've been impressed with Linux and have been dying to find a computer and turn it into a linux machine.

Finally the opportunity has arisen. Katrina when she went off to university inherited the family computer, a 1 gig machine which has served the family well. However she had a few problems with it and asked if I could do something about it. I tried to re-install windows, but I didn't have the right disc. So I told her I'd take it home and work on it. So, I had a computer, and a few Ubuntu discs. I couldn't resist and so I installed the Ubuntu 5.10 version. It turned out to work very well on the machine. I was able to surf the Internet, write a few documents and generally play around with the various software programs.

Then a few days ago I decided to install one of the later programs, 6.06, also called Dapper Drake. Let me say installation was a snap. By simply following the steps and answering a few questions, I was able to format the hard drive and install. It took approximately 30 minutes to do the full installation. Since then I've installed other software and it has been a snap. I will admit it is different from Windows but I'm making my way around it. At first one of the challenges was playing MP3 files. Since Ubuntu is open sources the developers kept strictly to all open source software and files, and mp3 is apparently now a propriatary software. However the problem was solved by downloading EasyUbuntu. This program claims:"EasyUbuntu is an easy to use (duh!) script that gives the Ubuntu user the most commonly requested apps, codecs, and tweaks that are not found in the base distribution - all with a few clicks of your mouse." It truly is that easy.

I don't know if she will want to use Ubuntu or go back to Windows XP, that is her decision, but for right now, I'm using Ubuntu.

Give it a try, you just might like Linux.

Judge Orders RIAA to justify its piracy charges

You know, it's been awhile since I've written anything about the RIAA or the CRIA. Our favourite groups must be getting ready for the Christmas season so they are not suing dead people or those who have no computers.

This caught my eye and it makes some very interesting reading.

To sum it up, one of the people who were sued challenged the RIAA and their calculations for damage. The RIAA claims each and every download is worth $750.00 and so they use that to calcuate how much they are suing each person. You got a hundred songs, congratulations, it will cost you $7,500.00. Which for the average student is a lot of cash.

So one of the people decided to challenge the calculations. The basis of the argument is the fact thatonly costs $0.99 to purchase a song. Therefore the argument goes, why are they coming up with such an outlandish figure.

What makes this even more interesting is the judge demanding the plaintiffs to justify their numbers.

You can read some of the court documents here. The judge is agreeing with the defendant and she can amend her defense to include this. In other words, if the RIAA sues you they can only sue you $0.99 a song. So instead of 7500 it might be only $100.00.

If the RIAA can only get $0.99 a song, then it may not be worth their effort.

Let's see how this rides out.

Wearin' My Toque

A couple of weeks ago I decided to call up CJAM and make a donation. I was their annual pledge drive and since I enjoy campus radio I thought it would be a good thing to do.

With my gift I was given a choice of prizes and after a few moments I thought the beset thing to get would be a toque. I figured it was going to get cold soon and a new toque would be perfect.

Today it arrived in the mail, so I decided I should model it for all to see.

It's fleece and quite comfortable. As you can see, the logo is on the front and if this isn't enough, it came with a button. Yes an official CJAM button.

I am now ready for winter.

While looking up material for Remembrance Day, I found this song by Bryan Adams:

"Remembrance Day"

For our king and our country and the promise of glory
We came from Kingston and Brighton to fight on the front line

Just lads from the farms and boys from the cities
Not meant to be soldiers we lay in the trenches

We'd face the fighting with a smile - or so we said
If only we had known what danger lay ahead

The sky turned to grey as we went into battle
On the fields of Europe young men were fallin'

I'll be back for you someday - it won't be long
If I can just hold on 'til this bloody war is over

The guns will be silent on Remembrance Day
There'll be no more fighting on Remembrance Day

By October of 18 Cambrai had fallen
Soon the war would be over and we'd be returnin'

Don't forget me while I'm gone far away
Well it won't be long 'till I'm back there in your arms again

One day soon - I don't know when
You know we'll all be free and the bells of peace will ring again

The time will come for you and me
We'll be goin' home when this bloody war is ended

The guns will be silent on Remembrance Day
We'll all say a prayer on Remembrance Day

On Remembrance Day - say a little prayer
On Remembrance Day

Well the guns will be silent
There'll be no more fighting
Oh we'll lay down our weapons
On Remembrance Day

We need to remember those who served and died on foreign fields, who wore "Canada" on their shoulder.

Let's remember those who still serve Canada in equally dangerous places, wearing their uniforms with pride.

I debated what to call this blog because I've got a couple of themes.

What got me thinking about the election was an interesting radio program on CJAM. The radio documentary was called a A Public Eye on the Christian Right. It examined the religious right as it pertains to the American political landscape. In particular it centred on a meeting that was called the Values Voters Summit which was sponsored by the Family Research Council, which is the political arm of Focus on the Family. But more on that later.

Alright, it's time to express my bias. I am an evangelical Christian. By rights I should be a supporter of the Religious Right but I'm not. Yes I did vote Conservative up here, but that's because I thought it was time for the Liberal Party of Canada to be tossed out, plus our Member of Parliament is a good guy. Look, I joined the Green Party of Canada, doesn't that mean I'm trying to cleanse my soul. I believe the Religious Right is both dangerous and heretical. They twist scripture to suit their agenda, no surprise there, and they seem to have forgotten the purpose of the Church. They agenda is also fueled more by hate then by Love.

There, I said it. Now about Focus on the Family; it appears that Dr. James Dobson it a bit miffed at the Republican Party. He thinks they failed the religious constituents and were defeated because of it. The GOP forgot they are the party of family values and morality, just like Mark Foley et al.

Here's the thing, the Republicans were never about family values, morality and all that, because their agenda is one of securing victory and remaining in power. The stereotypical Republican is opposed to Christianity because the party is one of privilege and wealth. Social justice means discrimination against anyone who is not like them. They proclaimed themselves a party of family values because they knew it would resonate among people who truly believe in family values. If you disagree with my assessment ask yourself this, why is it the party which has controlled both the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary over the past 18 of 26 years, has done nothing to end abortion, which they keep claiming to oppose, or why have they not strengthen the institution of marriage. They haven't because if they did they would lose their red button issue. They know all they had to do was use the words gay or abortion and the Religious Right would march step their constituents to the ballot box. They would scare people into believing if the Republicans did not win, it would lead to Sodom in the States.

Now read what Dobson had to say: "The unfortunate thing is that Republican leaders still don't appear to get it. Sen. Arlen Spector, R-Pa, said on Wednesday that the election results represented a 'seismic earthquake' and that his party must become 'a lot more progressive and a lot less ideological.' Dick Armey emerged from four years in the wilderness to blame conservative Christians for Tuesday's defeat. They were, he said, 'too involved' with the party. He can't be serious! Someone should tell him that without the support of that specific constituency, John Kerry would be President and the Republicans would have fallen into a black hole in '04."

No Jimmy, you don't get it. This administration has nothing to do with morality and everything to do with preservation of power. The election was stolen by the Bushies and you have been willing dupes in the charade. Wake up Jimmy, the enemy isn't the Democrats it's the Republicans. You were used and used like a cheap hooker, which by the way, many Republicans are very familiar with.

While I'm at it:

Stephanie had this on her blog.
Kimberly at this on her blog.
Now it's my turn.

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?

You will sink in a mire. You like to think you're normal, but deep down you really just want to strip off your clothes and roll around in chicken fat.
Take this quiz!








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Stephanie should enjoy this blog:

I was reading Digg.com and someone has posted a digg about a free open source planetarium
. The program is called Stellarium and it's quite amazing. It offers a view of over 100,000 stars and you can coordinate it to your local area. There are groundscapes that you can change and a lot of different ways to look at the starry night.

Here are some screenshots from the program.













It's enjoyable and available for a number of platforms.

Give it a try.

Halloween Night

So I've been by the door, handing out the candy to the ghost, goblins, pirates and other assorted trick or treaters making their round. I think we had more this year then last year. Then again it's a nice night with a clear sky and a half moon in the sky. In other words a perfect night for the gathering of goodies.

While waiting I had my laptop fired up and waited. During the wait, I watched an episode of Torchwood, the spin off from Doctor Who. More on that for a different time. Also I decided to listen to the local University Radio Station CJAM, it is the local access radio station that serves the university population and the communities of Windsor and Detroit. With children at various post secondary centres of education I decided to listen to the various college stations and other alternative radio stations. It's the annual pledge drive for CJAM and so if anyone wants to send them a few dollars, the information is on the website.

I thought about other alternative stations I listened to for example when we lived in Vancouver, I used to listen to Co-Op Radio. It was a great station, they had every Wednesday night, for example a show dedicated to science fiction. This was all sorts of sci-fi, fantasy and other forms of speculative fiction- it was great. There was also a lot of various programming that was not featured in any other media outlet. That was not the only station, I also listened to CiTR, which was UBC's radio station. They were also involved with Discorder Magazine, which had a fantastic number of articles. The great thing about Vancouver was it's alternative press, plus the great free outdoor recreation magazine. Plus the computer magazines, especially the computer magazines. You could get a eclectic mix of reading just grabbing all the free magazines that were available around Commercial Drive. Hey I just checked, Magpie Magazine Gallery is still in operation, now that was a fun store. Lots of great magazines and a good place to check out the alternative works. Of course another fascinating bookstore is People's Coop Bookstore.

Quite a blog, from handing out candy to college radio stations to alternative literature in Vancouver. By the way, Coop Radio is also having a pledge drive, so there you go, two radio stations that can use your support.

Peace

Thank You Tigers

Okay, it's over. The Tigers lost in 5. Their pitching staff made five errors and the Cardinals scored 8 unearned runs. The Tigers batted a huge .108.

Now, that's the bad news. Indeed there will be enough discussion over those numbers for the next few weeks. All those nay sayers will show how this proved the Tigers did not deserve to be in the World Series and other such nonsense.

Yes, they were 19-31 over the last 50 and they blew 3 games at home against the KC Royals. There, it's all been said, for all those clowns at ESPN who are still crabbing about the lack of a New York based team in the World Series, it has been duly noted. Now consider this:

1) The Tigers improved 24 games over last year.
2) The humbled the much vaulted New York Yankees in four games, even though after game one everyone was saying what frauds the Tigers were.
3) They swept the Oakland A's.
4) They led the majors in pitching throughout the year.
5) They have a lot of young players who will only get better
Can you imagine what this series will do for; Bonderman, Verlander, Zumaya, Rodney, Granderson, Munroe and all the others. How about Inge and the few who remember the 119 loss season. This will be a team that will want nothing more then to repeat. Remember 2 years ago the Cardinals were swept by the RedSoxs.

Oh yes, congratulations Cardinals, you played hard and in the end deserved this win.

One more thing, pitchers and catchers report on February 15, 2007, and you want to believe there will be a lot of fielding practice for the pitchers that week.

In a Couple of Hours



In a Couple of Hours we will either be cheering on the Tigers as they go to Game Six back in the friendly confines of Comerica Park, or congratulating the Cardinals on their championship.

It's baseball, any thing can happen.

It ain't over, 'til its over

It ain't over 'til the Fat Lady Sings.

You Gotta Believe.

Why does orange juice taste so bad after brushing your teeth? :: ABC Gold & Tweed Coasts

This is an interesting answer to a question that does pass through out mind but we never think about finding the answer.

The Weekend in Sports

The weekend started with a football game at University of Windsor stadium. The Lancers were hosting the 2005 Vanier Cup champion Laurier Golden Hawks. We plucked our $8.00 dollars a ticket down to sit in the gold section of the stadium and waited for the game to start. There was a good contingent from WLU, in fact there was quite a number of them in our section.

The game was won by Windsor 39-29, and while Windsor jumped out to an early first half lead it became very interesting in the third and fourth quarter. However the defence for Windsor stiffened up and forced four turnovers (2 fumbles and 2 interceptions) to ensure the lead stayed with Windsor. It was both an exciting game and a great day for football, especially when the sun came out in the second half.

The result will be Windsor will host a semi-final game this Saturday. Their opponent will be the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. If I have one concern its this, Windsor has got to play a full game and not just 3 out of the four quarters. Western is their nemisis and this is a chance for the Lancers to stomp all over this rival. Still you have to believe.

Now the rest of the weekend, Saturday was to witness a rare Tiger loss. It was upsetting but then again, one has to realize this is the World Series and these two are the best teams in baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals are a great team and must not be forgotten. Now what TigerNation should do is find that idiot reporter with USAToday who said the Tigers win in three and slap him silly.

Then Sunday, Kenny Rogers pitched a gem of the game and the Tigers tied up the series. Now right now, much is being made of the alledged "substance" on the hand of the Gambler. The question is why didn't LaRussa come out and challenge the umpires to check him out. There's a couple of reasons and here are some given, 1) he didn't see it, like someone didn't phone the dugout from St. Louis and tell him all about it; 2) he has so much respect for Jim Leyland, he didn't want to confront the best pitcher in the playoffs or 3) he has this in his back pocket for game 6.

Consider this, you see something and you confront Rogers, if the umpires decide it was intentional and Rogers is tossed out. The potential is that Tigers lose game two and now the Cardinals return home for three games with the potential to win at home.
Did Rogers have something? Who knows, was it pine tar, or chew? By the way, Rogers worst inning was the first, so perhaps the Cardinals should demand Kenny have the substance on his hand for game 6.

Whatever, it doesn't matter. The Tigers are tied and it's still good.

Mag's Home Run



This is never going to get old. This video is from YouTube and shows not only the home run, but the reaction of the crowd. What a magic night. Magglio Ordonez's walk on home run in the bottom of the nineth with two men on base put the Tigers into the World Serious and took the bad taste of that 119 loss season out of everybody's mouth.

The Tigers are going to the WORLD SERIES. Oh I just said that didn't I. Who cares say it again and again and again.

Bankers for poor win peace Nobel - CNN.com

This is exciting news. Bangladeshi microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the area of microcredit and microbanking. If you're not familiar with the concept, microcredit is a small loan that is provided to poor families in third world countries so that the recipient of the loan can start a small business and allow them the chance to bring themselves up from poverty.

The loans are used by the person to buy some chickens or a cow, or as the article points out a mobile phone. The idea of the latter is that the person becomes a small telephone company and charges people to make phone calls. The loans tend to be small and for a short period of time, such as a year.

What is amazing is that it is working, people are buying chickens, selling the eggs and then buying more chicken and then hiring people to collect and market the eggs. Eventually not only does the family benefit but friends and neighbours benefit from a fresh supply of food and the opportunity to work. Others have purchased sewing machines and material and become a clothes manufacturer. I recall watching a video in which this was shown, the woman made childrens clothing and sold it to others. She made a good living and was able to start quite a nice business.

One of the concepts of the loan is that the loans are usually given to women, the idea is to allow them financial freedom and to become independent. Probably another reason is that since the woman watches the children she will be more interested in the long term viability of the business and the family, the husband would take the money and buy beer.

By the way, the return on investment is amazing with almost all the loans repaid in time and in full.

It's a success story that will have a tremendous impact on poverty levels in the third and fourth world.

And Thomas Carlyle called economics the Dismal Science.

MLB - Detroit Tigers/Oakland Athletics Box Score Wednesday October 11, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports

Phew!

Now this was a wild game. The Tigers pulled out a win in a game that featured a lot of home runs (3 by Oakland, 2 by the Tigers) and strikeouts ( 13 by the Tigers, 7 by Oakland). I guess you could say that batters were either walking slowly back to the dugout or trotting slowly around the base paths. With the possible exception of Milton Bradley who sprinted from third to home on his home run. He was pumped and excited.

You would think a game that was 8-5, it meant the Tigers had an easy time, but the bottom of the 9th was the classic, bases loaded and two out. Fortunately for the Tigers, Frank Thomas flied out to center to end the potential rally.

What is amazing is the Tigers find a new player to come to the fore and be the Man. In this game it was Alexis Gomez who hit a home run and drove in four of the eight Tiger runs.

Still it was nerve wracking at the very end, Todd Jones made it interesting. So now on to Detroit for three games. What will happen, can we use the "S" word? Have to wait for Friday night.

Let's Go Tigers

Buck O'Neil Was Voice for Negro Leagues - washingtonpost.com

I would be remiss if I didn't stop and say something about the passing of Buck O'Neil. As you can read in the article Buck O'Neil was a player in the Negro League who became a voice of the time when people were barred from playing baseball because of the colour of their skin.

He was featured in the Ken Burn's brilliant miniseries Baseball.
If you ever heard him speak, or listen to an interview he was always a great gentleman and a man who harboured no hatred. His telltale remark of 'uh huh', spoke of his folkiness and his humour. You can listen to him here.

Sadly he didn't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is what he said: "God's been good to me. They didn't think Buck was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. That's the way they thought about it and that's the way it is, so we're going to live with that. Now, if I'm a Hall of Famer for you, that's all right with me. Just keep loving old Buck. Don't weep for Buck. No, man, be happy, be thankful. "

Good night Buck and Good bye.

ESPN.com - MLB - Box Score - Yankees at Tigers
Bring On Oakland

Now the real series starts.

The Tigers finished off the Yankees. The team that was supposed to be 'just a minor annoyance' finished the GREATEST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND in relatively easy fashion. If we all thought Friday's game was one-sided this was worse. The Yankees were hitless in five innings and didn't even get a run until the 7th. The vaulted Yankee line-up was anemic at best.

If you are interested here are some numbers:

Yankees BA .246
Tigers BA .309

Yankees ERA 5.5
Tigers ERA 3.5

In the end it wasn't even close.

Now it starts for real on Tuesday. Game One in Oakland on Tuesday. Can the Tigers prevail, I suppose the question should be asked, which team has the most confidence? Plus, why not the Tigers. They just eliminated the Evil Empire.

You have to believe.

6-0

Consider this:

Kenny Rogers 7.2 5 0 0 2 8

Translation: Kenny Rogers schooled the vaulted Yankee batting order. He went almost 8 innings and let not one Yankee cross home plate. In fact he caused a whole lot of them to walk back to the dugout talking to themselves. The Gambler made them look very bad and that's something because this is supposed to be the "Greatest Team Ever". In fact the Tigers aren't supposed to be even in the same league as the Yankees. After all the Tigers are a fraud, they had a horrible last 50 games, they lost three in a row to the Royals. Yes the Tigers should simply give up now and allow the Yankees to face the A's because the Yankees were supposed to sweep the Tigers. The pity is, the Yankees are the frauds and the Tigers are, after tonight the real deal.

Now it's not over. The Yankees are still the best team in the history of the world after all. They are so good, they actually won tonight. Yes they won every place but, on the scoreboard.

Think it over, the fraudulent Tigers shutout the greatest team in human history.

It is a beautiful thing.

Major League Baseball : News : Major League Baseball News

The kids are all right.

Yes the kids are alright. The Tigers managed to pull out a win in the unfriendly confines of Yankee Stadium to tie the series 1-1. You don't need me to tell you that, I mean if you are a Tiger fan you know that already.

This was a good win but believe it or not, not a surprise. After the first game, which saw Derek Jeter go 5-5, you just felt the Tigers could play even with the Yankees.

This game was delayed from Wednesday and it obviously helped the Tigers more then the Yankees. The kids were able to rest and obviously remind themselves that they are fighting for the forces of good against the Evil Empire. And we know good always triumphs over evil.

There is a couple of concerns, namely Pudge's lack of offensives prowess so far this series, hopefully that will change. Then again, you have A-Rod for the Yankees not doing anything. Ahh yes, another stellar playoff year for the guy who's quickly becoming the most hated player in pinstripes, and that's from the Yankee faithful.

Two games in Comerica. You gotta believe.

Playoff-bound Tigers keep the party going back home - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

The Sun is shining a little brighter today isn't it? Yes as you can see from the headlines, the Tigers clinched a play-off berth for the first time in a very long time.

This does not mean its all over and now we wait for the post season, no there are still a few goals to reach, the first being to take the AL Central and second, to get to the World Series.

The Tigers have been first since May 20th, or some time like that and it would be a shame to lose first to the hated Minnisota Twins.

Its amazing how strong the Central is, here is Detroit with one of the best records in Baseball, fighting to retain first place. To compare the Yankees, which is a percentage point behind Detroit in the overall standings, won their division last week. Still it is good and I hope the guys enjoy this day off, because its not over yet.

By the way, congratulations also go to the Toledo Mud Hens for winning the International League Championship and to the West Michigan Whitecaps. They won the Midwest League Championship. Both teams are part of the Tigers organization so with winners being produced in the minors the promise for more championships coming to Comerica Park seems a reality into the future.

By the way, Tigers magic number is 6.

MLB - Standings - Yahoo! Sports

It has been a challenging time for all of us Tiger Fans hasn't it. Our beloved team has been in a bit of a slump over the last month and there's been days in which reading the Sports section has been traumatic, but...

But, they are still in first, they are still in the drivers' seat and there are 10 games left. It's starting to get safe to say that things are getting better for the Tigers, after all they have won the last two series, beating Baltimore and then beating Chicago so there is hope. Of course and this has to be par for the course, right on their heels is the Minnisota Twins. These guys have been the Tigers' nemesis for more years then I care to recall, but they are still looking up at the Tigers and I have to believe the Twinkies can't keep their streak going for long. Oh by the way, thanks Boston for turtling on the Twins, yeah you handed the AL East to the hated Yankees but couldn't you have put up a bit of a fight.

Still, ten games to go, that's all and the AL Central championship will belong to the Tigers.

You gotta believe.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport

What's your Favourite Colour?
Blue and Gold







I had opportunity to watch Windsor hand Toronto a beating, this past Saturday. It was my first visit to the new stadium and may I say it was a pleasant experience. With the exception of a bit of rain it was a good way to spend three hours. The final score was 61-17. Windsor scored often and often.

I know most people would rather go over to watch Michigan play in the Big House, but to me Canadian University Football is more then good enough. Plus the tickets are reasonable and the sight lines are fine.

I'll probably get to a few more games over the season, especially the game with Laurier.

Sunflowers

One of the joys of gardening is to watch as the sunflower plants begin to grow. This year is no exception. I have right now three growing in the garden, one with a large flower and two with medium flowers. I think the large may have been a seed from last year that was in the ground. It is amazing how tall they grow and still manage to stay upright. From the way bees are flying around I suspect there will be a lot of seeds.

I was asked recently what I do with the seeds and my answer is this, I leave them for the birds and squirrels. After all it is there food.

Katrina Now lives in Waterloo

Ten days ago we successfully moved Kimberly to Algonquin College. She's now been attending classes for over a week now, and I believe it's going to go very well with her. She's fortunate to have family near which will help with the transistion.

So yesterday it was daughter Katrina's turn to make the move to a new school. She is attending Wildred Laurier University in the city ofWaterloo Ontario. In honour of the Laurier Golden Hawks I used the colour purple in the title. That is the name of the sports team and purple is the colour. She is taking Classical Studies and English. She is also not living in Residence but is enjoying student housing near the University. It is a clean apartment although a bit small. It was quite interesting to get her furniture up the tiny staircase.

As an aside, while travelling to Ottawa this past weekend, we saw a lot of cars with parents and older teen children moving up the highway. They all had belongs in the back of the car, I suspect it was more university bound students off to apartments and residence. We should have counted.

Also while moving Katrina in, a number of U-Haul's and other rental vans were spotted along the road. It must be the crazy time of year for such communities.

Her classes don't start until next week, so she will be able to adjust to the new life.

She will be missed.

Love Dad

Flame On!

It seems my daughter Stephanie took umbrage to my comments on the recent decision by the IAU to remove Pluto from the list of planets that make up our solar system. She accused me of not researching the facts before going off on a rant.


Here's the deal. Yes I know that astronomers have been debated the status of Pluto for years. I also know that the nineth planet was found as a result of some very dedicated work by Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet in 1930. You can read about it by following the link. I also know that the symbol of Pluto the "P" and "L" also stand for the initials of Percival Lowell who was one of the first searchers of "Planet X". It was he who predicted Pluto would be discovered in the approximate area that it was found.

So what is next. May I suggest you visit my Cafe Press store and order either the tshirt or buttons. The message of them is this "My Solar System includes Pluto". Wear the button andHer t proudly, especially around those 'let's toss Pluto out' bunch.

By the way, I know I've mentioned this CD and artist before, but I have to mention her again, Neko Case. I'm listening to it right now through iTunes and it still sounds great. The CD is Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Her genre is alt-country and worth the listen. One song that's getting a lot of play is "Hold On, Hold On". The lyrics are as follows:

The most tender place in my heart is for strangers
I know it's unkind but my own blood is much too dangerous
Hangin' round the ceiling half the time
Hangin' round the ceiling half the time

Compared to some I've been around
But I really tried so hard
That echo chorus lied to me with its
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"

In the end I was the mean girl
Or somebody's in-between girl
Now it's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love

I leave the party at three a.m.
Alone, thank God
With a valium from the bride
It's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love
And that's as real as true love

That echo chorus lied to me with its
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"

That echo chorus lied to me with its
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"


Video

Love you Steph

Pluto is SO a PLANET

Every so often an issue comes around that does galvanize people into action. Recent just such an issue entered both the Internet and the Blogverse. Let me say I am not talking about Iran or Iraq but rather the recent insult that has been labelled upon the Planet Pluto. Recently at the XXVI or 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union voted to declassify Pluto as a planet and declare it a mini-planet. The actual state is a dwarf planet.

As you can see by this photo


This group of three deserve our scorn, as does the entire body that makes up the IAU. It's one of those issues that demands a response from concerned citizens throughout the cosmos. After all what gives them the right to decide what is a planet or what isn't. We have to draw a line in the sand and stop this madness. You see, if they can declassify planets, what next? Will they now decide what is a galaxy or a star? There is honestly no stopping these people, once they feel they can make such decisions their lust for power will know no bounds. Hey Andromeda! you better watch out, they may have you in their gunsites soon.

The question is, how can we stop them?

Let me suggest a few things:

1) Sign the Petition


2) Write to the Executive of the IAU and express your dissatisfaction and request an immediate re-instatement of Pluto as one of the nine Planets that make up one of the best darn Solar Systems in the Cosmos. Remind them their duty is to discover the wonders of the cosmos and not decide the fate of planets.

3) Buy a TShirt, Mug, Button or Bumper Sticker and let the world know how you feel.

Pluto is counting on all of us. Let's not let him down.

2006 Hugo Award Winners

I'm getting caught up on all the blogging I missed. Just came across this posting from the Science Fiction convention. The Hugo Winners were announced and winning the dramatic presentations were; the movie Serenity for best long presentation and Dr.Who. For the latter the awards were for the first season programs The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. The reason for the both is that it was a two part story. It was a great story and worthy of such accoldates. Good on the judges to recognize quality.

While travelling along the Yellowhead Highway west of Edmonton, you pass a sign proclaining the place of East of Edson. You may wonder what makes this special. It's this, if you are a fan of Captain Tractor you are familiar with their album East of Edson. You can see the sign and as a fan of the band, I had to stop and take the picture.

It was a magic moment of Canadian Culture.

Kimberly's First Day


This past weekend, Jo-Anne, Kimberly and I drove up to Ottawa, another 1800 km on the van for those of you who are keeping track, to move Kimberly to her new school and address. As you can read in her blog she is going to school at Algonquin College in Ottawa. There she is taking courses on museum management. I'm sure she will correct me on her blog and give the course the proper name. It sounds fascinating.

On the Friday we moved her in. Her dorm room consists of three rooms, a sleeping and living room for each person, she shares the room with another person. The room has a bed, desk, telephone and TV with cable. The room also has internet connection. Then there is a common room that has a kitchenette with microwave, sink and fridge. There is also a bathroom with shower.

She stayed with her Aunt and Uncle on Friday. Then Saturday it was shopping day, for all she might need to get the week started. We first went to Ikea to buy some furniture. She purchased a book case, bedside table, throw rug for the bathroom and a small basket. She still needs to get a power bar and an extention cord. It was then over to Best Buy to purchase a printer, a usb cable and a DVD player.

Greg, her uncle and I were dropped off at the dorm to put together the ikea products and get her set up. We managed to build the table and bookshelf and now she was ready to move in. After buying some cutlery and groceries this room was now her home. She then spent the night in her new digs.

This being Monday, she started her classes, hopefully she'll blog about it.

Kim, I want to let you know I am very proud of you. This is a great step forward and you are starting a wonderful new chapter in you life.


You take care and see you this weekend.


Love Dad

The Trip West

Well, we finished an 8000 kilometre round trip to Edmonton to visit Stephanie. It was good to see her and our friends Ian and Glenda McKenzie.

It was a good trip and an interesting one. On the way out, going through the States, we saw "The Home on the Range". And yes we did break into a few verses of the famous song. I mean what else could we do?

The trip through Montana was amazing, this is a state in which they allow you to go 115 kph on glorified dirt roads, and by that I mean, rolling roads with pavement. What was interesting was the number of signs warning people from taking Crystal Meth, must be a problem. We stayed one night in Lewiston Montana. It was a very scenic trip.

You know, it's getting late and I'm taking Kimberly to Algonquin College tomorrow and it will be an early morning. I'll give a full report on the trip later.

EO Newsroom: New Images - Ash Cloud from Mount Ubinas, Peru

This is a fascinating photograph of an ash cloud from a volcano.

What's amazing is the detail of the cloud and the volcano.

worth a look

MLB - Detroit Tigers/Chicago White Sox Recap Sunday August 13, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports

Okay, the Tigers are in a slump. yes I acknowledge it. Yes they have lost five in a row, for the first team this season and yes, they were swept by their AL Central opponents the Chicago White Sox.

Let's put this in perspective; they are still in first, they still have the best record in baseball and there is over a month left. This is not the time to panic. It was bound to happen, that's the nature of baseball.

There is still plenty of time to recover and prove that the season has not been a fluke.

Their next opponent is the Boston Red Sox, another team going through an August funk, let's hope Bosox's problems continue.

The Tigers at 112

Right now the Tigers are 76-36, 40 games above .500 and staying strong. If you consider the last ten games, it looked like the sheen may have been off the Tigers. To give a quick review of the 10, it started with a loss in Minnesota. Sure the Tigers won two out of three, but the loss was the result of an 8th inning brain cramp by the infield; two errors and a balk by the pitcher. To be honest I feared this series with the Twins since historically the Twins have had the Tigers number. I read an interesting fact which proves this, the Twins, at the start of the year were 32-20 at Comerica.

Then it was off to Tampa for a four game set. Knowing how the DevilRays are a struggling team this, like every year, one would have thought, sweep. Yet the series started with a loss, leaving the Tigers with a rare two game losing streak. This was followed by two wins and then a loss. So instead of a series victory, this was a series split. This was the end of a ten game road trip which saw the Tigers win 6 games.

The last weekend was a home series with another AL Central opponent, the Cleveland Indians. The Tigers met them at a great time, the Indians are definately in a slide and could realistically say hopes for a playoff are long and probably not going to happen. Their hopes took a bad break when the Tigers swept them. The series was not without excitement, the Tigers won the first two in exciting fashion, especially the second game in which they won in the 9th. So here's the logic of baseball, a team will lose a game (Sunday at Minnesota) they should have won and win a game they should have lost. Then again Yogi Berra said it best: "The two words that describe baseball are 'anything can happen'". Sunday was a pitching duel that was won by the Tigers through a combination of 'small ball' and an error. Still good teams make their own luck.

This leaves game 112, against the hated Twins. Again the Twins brought to the mound their ace rookie pitcher Francisco Liriano, who was 12-2 ERA of 1.96. This may have looked like a potential loss, but the Tigers took care of him. His boxscore- ip4, HITS-10, RUNS-4, ER-4. He took the loss and his ERA went to 2.19. By the way, his ERA against the Tigers is 4.94.

The Tigers went 7-3 over the last 10 games. They are now 10 games up on the White Soxs.

I'm not sure if it's time to start this but Detroit's magic number is 42. Which also happens to be the ultimate answer to life, the Universe and everything.

1984 vs 2006

GP W L Pct GB Home Away


Detroit 96 65 31 .677 - 32-16 33-15

Chicago WSox 95 58 37 .611 6.5 33-15 25-22

Minnesota 95 55 40 .579 9.5 37-11 18-29

Cleveland 95 42 53 .442 22.5 23-24 19-29

Kansas City 96 34 62 .354 31.0 21-23 13-39



Much of the talk regarding the beloved Tigers has to do with comparisons. Comparing this team with the great 1984 World Champions. I heard on the radio yesterday that at 95 games the '84 Tigers were 66-29. As compared with the 64-31 2006 team. While the '84 team was great I think this year's team may be their equal.

Consider this, while we all know in 1984, the Tigers were 35-5 after 40 games, the best record for 40 for all time. This year the Tigers were 27-13 after 40, good but not as good. However, here is where it gets interesting. If the above statistics are true and as we know statistics never lie, especially when they concern baseball, the '84 Tigers were 31-24 for the next 55 games. This year the Tigers have gone 37-18. If you want further comparisons, the next 55, the '84 Tigers were playing at a .563 clip, while this year's Tigers are playing at a .672 clip. This means among other things, the Tigers have been playing at a consistent pace over the season so far, while the 1984 Tigers had an incredible start and then coasted through the season. In 1984 it was .875 for the first 40, in 2006 it was .675.

This is not to take anything away from the 1984 Tigers, they were a team for the ages and had some great players, but let's also enjoy the 2006 Tigers. Will they win the World Series, that's still too far in the future to consider. However they are a consistent team that is beginning to take every challenge and prove their mettle. To give an example, when they lost 7-1 on Tuesday, there was some concern being expressed by Tigerfan. But what does the team do? Wednesday, come from behind win. Thursday a pitching duel and another win.

I remember watching the '84 Tigers, they were great. I truly believe 2006 will be a great year and perhaps even better because this is a team that is removing the bad taste of a lot of bad seasons from the mouth of us fans.

Go get 'em Tigers!

A fan's comment on Doomsday



Thank you Rose Tyler

This blog will contain spoilers. Quite a number of them.

The final episode of this season of Dr. Who was entitled "Doomsday". In it we have the Earth being invaded by its two greatest enemies, and the two enemies of the Doctor, the Daleks and the Cybermen. A breach between two universes takes place and at first Earth is totally unaware, thinking it to be a good thing, thank you Torchwood. However it is a bad thing and the Earth is in mortal danger. It is only the work of the Doctor, Mickey, Rose, Pete Tyler and Jackie Tyler to save both worlds. They do, however Rose is transported to the other Earth, where she must stay.

This episode marks the final appearance of Rose Tyler as a companion of the Doctor. She ends having saved both planets. What else do we expect from a companion of the Doctor?

I want to say thank you to Billie Piper for her role in the revival of Doctor Who. She was a tremendous companion, one who broke the mould and set the path for other companions to follow. No longer would the companion be simply the straight person or being the classic damsel in distress. Rose was the Doctor's equal in many ways. She took charge and revealed a strength that was truly amazing. Billie Piper made this character come alive and for that we are thankful.

One other thing about Rose, only Rose could elicit an emotional response from the Doctor. She was amazing.

So thank you Billie, thank you for making Rose come alive and for being a part of the two finest seasons in the long history of Doctor Who.
One more thing, 170 days until the Christmas Doctor Who Special, which will be entitled The Runaway Bride.

My Time in Jail



A couple of weeks ago I was apprehended and incarcerated for crimes against people. I was working in my office when a member of some local constabulary, Wonder Woman and some guy with a camera stormed in and put the cuffs on me. I was dragged off, with two others to face the court system on what must be considered trumped up charges. In one respect, I was fortunately since all the charges; hiding Mad Magazine in the Old Testament, listening to AM800 and wasting my youth with Rock and Roll, and riding my bike were dropped but I was found guilty of not wearing my cap. The bail was set for $1150 and I was tossed in the jail.

Now before you begin to wonder, this was all part of the local Crime Stoppers Bail or Jail program. It was a fundraiser for Crime Stoppers. The idea was I was tossed in, given a cell phone and a phone book and would call as many people as possible in order to raise the money. I called family, friends and anyone else I could think of. The response was shock, laughter and demands for dinner as payback. It was quite an experience and ultimately a lot of fun.

MLB.com : 2006 All-Star Online Ballot

If you haven't, vote for your favourite Tiger today. In fact today is the last day you can vote for the members of the 2006 All-Star team. So click the link and vote for your favourite Tiger, in fact vote for any player that is a member of the Detroit Tiger team. The push is for Pudge to be the starting catcher.

Just vote.

Friday Afternoon Thoughts

Just a few thoughts about the week that was:

Tigers are still in first place, although only by half a game. Talk about exciting, not only are the Tigers in first but the division has a very nice power struggle going on. In any other division, the Tigers would be ahead by 10 games or, just a rough estimate, but when you're in the same division as the defending World Series Champions, Chicago White Sox, you had better bring your best to the park every night.

A couple of weeks ago I filled out one of those comment cards from the local Starbucks. Today I got a letter and a gift card for five dollars. Yes that will buy one drink, but hey its still a gift. So let that be a lesson to you, fill out the comment cards, you just never know. By the way, the Banana Coconut Frappuccino® Blended Coffee is definately worth it, as well as the Banana Creme. Go order yours today.

According to the iTunes Music store rating, Paris Hilton's new song "Stars are Blind" is at %2 on their top tunes list. We are still living in the age of Irony aren't we. You can if you're really interested watch the video that goes along with this dreck but let me save you the bother, it isn't worth the bandwidth. You know how we were told to eat out dinner because people in Africa are starving, well, don't download, don't play this song because people in Africa don't have the bandwidth, it's simply a waste of time. The song, the video is boring, it is vapid, it lasts 4 minutes and it will be the longest 4 minutes of your life. To the people who bought it off iTunes, what you had 4megs of space on your iPod you JUST had to fill. If you were that desperate to fill the time let me make some better suggestions, the white noise off the TV, the sound of a busy signal. In other words ANYTHING would be better.

Like I said this is the age of Irony and perhaps people are downloading it just to find people and say "you gotta listen to Paris Hilton, it is so ridiculous". I mean seriouly there are people who would actually enjoy it???

Look if you want to download music, check out Neko Case. Her newest CD is entitled Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Neko is a true talent, her voice and her writing abilities are the highlight of this CD. Download some of the songs, each one of them is worth the 99 cents it will cost you. Just get her songs and thank me later.

It seems we have a rabbit warren in the backyard. Yesterday I got a phone call from home saying there were some creatures in a nest on the ground. A quick call to "Wings" a local animal rescue place revealed these were baby bunnies. So, we have a nursery. The mother has been spotted yesterday and today feeding them, so things seem to be going well. Reading this article gives some interesting feedback.

Right now, we have to keep the cats away from the nest, that means either they will be inside, or someone has to watch them.

Some people may not like rabbits, but they are a part of life and have the right to exist.

I'll keep you posted.

Save the Internet

If Christopher Eccleston is the best one season Doctor of all time, then Season Two of the revised series is going to rate as one of the BEST seasons of all time. Skip that, it is. I just watched "The Satan Pit" and it is brilliant!!!!

I'm not adding any spoilers but let me say, it will have you on the edge of your seat.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, —and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee Jr


Jo-Anne got her wish and flew in a single prop airplane yesterday. I hung out as a passenger to the whole thing. It was quite an experience and she did take the controls for the flight from Essex to Amherstburg. As you can see from the photos, it was quite the trip.

What is the World Doing?

This is interesting. You can type in what you're doing and add yourself to the list. You can also see what everyone else is doing as well.

Today I finally got to work on my little vegetable garden. The month of May was too busy, but today I got out the rake, shovel and started turning the soil again and adding some compost. if you are interested, the compost of choice is Sheep compost.

In my garden I have planted tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, swiss chard, cat nip, peppermint and pumpkins. Those are plants, I've also planted seeds for; sunflowers, carrots and zucchini.

Got the watering out and I'm hoping it will be a good season.


Peace

Bloggin' the Tigers

Okay, this is a blog about the Detroit Tigers, the team with Best Record in Baseball. Yes they had a bit of a slump, losing four games in a row and all that, but here's my take on all this. It was bound to happen. No team is going to win 162 games, or keep at a .700 pace, it's just not going to happen. But a detractor may say, they couldn't the Yankees/ Well, as a matter of fact, they did win 1 out of 4 against the Yankees. What was the problem, well, could be that it was just their time to put togather some bad games, or they remembered they were playing the Yankees and they thought about it. You have to understand that baseball is best played when you don't think, I believe that's a quote from Bull Durham or words to that effect.

Well, the Tigers won last night, a come from behind win in the bottom of the ninth, doesn't that sound good. Hey, the Tigers stay at a .500 clip the rest of the season, they will be 17 games above .500, or 99-63.

Go get 'em Tigers.