Just watched the last few innings of the Cubs/Cardinals game and enjoyed the ending: Cards win on a ninth inning two-out game-ending grand slam, by Gary Bennett no less (ex-Brewer/back-up catcher).

Albert Pujols impressed me with his non-slugging skills, more than I had seen before; he led off the ninth by slapping a single to right, then taking off for second on the first pitch, sliding in safely on the ground ball out (by Rolen). Next batter hits one toward short, Ramirez coming to his left cuts it off, in front of Pujols so he does what you're supposed to do, checks up, can get back to second, when he sees that he can beat anybody in the infield (and the ball) to third base so he scoots down there; the throw to first winds up being late to get Encarnacion. 1st and third, one out, they wind up walking Belliard on four or five pitches to load 'em up. Slap hitter at the plate, they don't try anything (like the squeeze play) and he hits a one-hopper to short that results in Pujols being forced at the plate, ending his mission-quest but the next guy (Bennett) just pounds one and it's over. Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson used to play like that, the last guys you wanted to face leading off an inning; it's a fun, exiting, effective brand of baseball that we don't get to see enough of. I think Pujols is my favorite player right now.

I can hardly believe this. Oops, sorry, didn't mean to start a war. Mark it up to experience, I guess.


Nasrallah sorry for scale of war
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war.
"Had we known that the kidnapping of the soldiers would have led to this, we would definitely not have done it," he said in an interview on Lebanese TV.

He added that neither side was "heading towards a second round" of fighting.

More than 1,000 Lebanese died in the 34-day conflict which left much of southern Lebanon in ruins.

The Israeli offensive began after two Israeli soldiers were seized during a cross border raid by Hezbollah militants on 12 July.

Annan visit

"We did not think that there was a 1% chance that the kidnapping would lead to a war of this scale and magnitude," Sheikh Nasrallah said.

"Now you ask me if this was 11 July and there was a 1% chance that the kidnapping would lead to a war like the one that has taken place, would you go ahead with the kidnapping?

"I would say no, definitely not, for humanitarian, moral, social, security, military and political reasons.

"Neither I, Hezbollah, prisoners in Israeli jails and nor the families of the prisoners would accept it."
Sheikh Nasrallah was speaking on the eve of a visit to Beirut by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss the expanded UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in southern Lebanon.

A force of 15,000 soldiers, 7,000 of them from European Union states, will be deployed to maintain the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The UN hopes to have some of the troops on the ground within a week, although the foreign minister of Finland - which currently holds the EU presidency - has said it will be two to three months before the whole force is deployed.

The force will be led by France until February, at which time Italy will take command.

Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Mr Annan said the plan would only work if the enlarged UN force, called Unifil 2, was "strong, credible and robust".

Mr Annan said the force offered the possibility of a "durable ceasefire and long-term solution" to the Middle East crisis.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5291420.stm

Published: 2006/08/27 18:28:14 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Climate blamed for early springs
A Europe-wide study has provided "conclusive proof" that climate change is responsible for spring arriving earlier each year, researchers say.
Scientists from 17 nations examined 125,000 studies involving 561 species.

The season was beginning on average six to eight days earlier than it did 30 years ago, researchers said.

In regions such as Spain, which saw the greatest increases in temperatures, the season began up to two weeks earlier.

The findings were based on what was described as the world's largest study of changes in recurring natural events, such as when plants flowered.
The team of researchers also found that the onset of autumn has been delayed by an average of three days over the same period.

Feeling the heat

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, provided conclusive proof that changes to the continent's climate were affecting the timing of the seasons, the scientists said.

One of the paper's lead authors, Tim Sparks from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), said the findings did not go as far as pointing the finger of blame at human-induced climate change.

"We can't tell that from our study but experts have already shown that there is a discernable human influence on the current climate warming."

But Dr Sparks said it did show that there was a direct link between rising temperatures and changes to plant and animal behaviour.

"We need to look at change over very large areas and we need to examine as many species groups as possible because there has been some mild criticism that people have cherry-picked the results they presented.

If you have species that are dependent on each other changing at different rates, that could just break down the food web
Dr Tim Sparks, report's author

"We have gone for the most complete coverage possible that we could in Europe to try and see if there was still this effect," he said.

"It is very conclusive that there is."

The team examined 125,000 observational series of 542 plants and 19 animal species in 21 European countries from 1971 to 2000.

The results showed that 78% of all leafing, flowering and fruiting records were happening earlier in the year, while only 3% were significantly delayed.

Dr Sparks said horse chestnut trees, which grow all over the continent, were particularly good indicators.

"It is a good example because it is easy to identify, and it has distinctive phases of leafing, flowering and producing conkers."

He hoped the findings would now focus attention on the potential consequences of changes to the behaviour of plants and animals.

"If you have species that are dependent on each other changing at different rates, that could just break down the food web.

"For example, caterpillars feed on oak trees, and birds feed on the caterpillars. Unless these species remain synchronised, there could be problems for any one or more of those elements of the food web."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/5279390.stm

Published: 2006/08/25 04:17:13 GMT

© BBC MMVI

It's just a couple days, right? This is a good thing, right? No one likes winter.

Here are some more candidates for the Unquenchable Human Spirit award (or something):

EU tunnel crossing ends in farce
By Artyom Liss
BBC News, Moscow

Two Egyptian men are awaiting trial in Russia after several attempts to burrow their way under various European borders using nothing but shoehorns.
The men - both believed to be in their 20s - started in Belarus and dug a tunnel under the border with Poland.

But once in Poland, they lost their way, ending up where they started - in front of barbed wire.

Thinking they were now looking across the German border, the pair did the trick again.

But instead of getting to Germany, they ended up back in Belarus.

Minutes later, the two men were arrested by Belarussian border guards and later sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Belarus is separated from the European Union by kilometres of barbed wire, guard towers, automated sirens and powerful search lights.

Prosecutors say the would-be migrants did not go for the easy option of using a spade - apparently, they thought buying one in a shop would immediately give the game away.

The two Egyptian men travelled to Belarus from neighbouring Russia where they arrived on tourist visas a few months ago.

Second attempt

But even the prison term did not stop the pair.

When Belorussian authorities released the men and put them on a train back to Moscow, the officials were hoping that the Egyptians would never return.

But the two men got off the train hundreds of miles away from the Russian capital and decided to have another go.

This time, they chose the border between Russia and Ukraine as their starting point.

But the men clearly ran out of luck. Russian border guards arrested the Egyptians long before they got anywhere near Ukraine.

"I know it all sounds like a really bad joke," Evgeny Petrov from the Bryansk regional prosecutor's office told the BBC.

"But we've checked the story time and again, and it seems to be true! I must say, this is the weirdest way of illegally crossing the border I've ever come across," Mr Petrov said.

The migrants are now in pre-trial detention in Russia, expecting a legal hearing.

If convicted, they will have to pay a fine, and will then be extradited back to Egypt.

This time, police officers will probably escort them all the way to the departure gates of Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/5279316.stm

Published: 2006/08/23 18:00:32 GMT

© BBC MMVI

I guess they were just doing this for fun?

For some reason I can't help but admire these guys, at least a little.


Chillies aid Sumatra jail break
Eighteen Indonesian prisoners broke out of jail using an unusual weapon - the chilli pepper.
Prisoners at Pematang Siantar jail in Sumatra mixed hot chillies with water in plastic bottles to spray at guards.

The fiery liquid temporarily blinded the guards, allowing prisoners to grab their keys and make the break for freedom.

Sixteen of the inmates had now been recaptured, a police official said, but two were still on the run.

The men were meant to be on their way to breakfast but instead stormed the prison gate, Detective Den Martin told the Associated Press news agency.

They were spraying the chilli water and shouting "attack, attack", he said.

A prison warder, Harianaja, told the Jakarta Post newspaper that the guards could not fight back because they were outnumbered.

"This is the first time chilli has been used to get out of this penitentiary," the daily quoted him as saying.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5274924.stm

Published: 2006/08/22 14:09:50 GMT

© BBC MMVI