Happy Halloween

Once you get over about 10 or 12 years old this holiday loses its appeal. Thus it hasn't been a favorite of mine for a very long time. In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, however, we need a fun diversion. Let's hope that the kids throughout the northeast are able to trick or treat safety tonight.

Storm of the Century?

Sandy lived up to her billing and absolutely hammered the New Jersey coast and NYC. She also caused widespread damage throughout the entire northeast. Millions are without power and many won't get it back for at least a week. Property damage could reach $20 Billion. Hurricane Irene was a bit of a dud last year, but Sandy was the real deal.

Giants Win!

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series last night beating Detroit 4-3 in 10 innings and sweeping the series. This is an amazing story as the Giants were down 3-1 in their series with St. Louis and then won 7 games in a row. It shows what a "real" team can do when it believes in itself. Unfortunately their victory wasn't even mentioned on any of the news casts this morning because everyone is so concerned about hurricane Sandy, but I doubt the Giants care. They're the champs and that's all that matters.

Sandy

All eyes are now on hurricane Sandy (aka Frankenstorm) as she works her way north. The big question is when she will turn west and hit land. There are huge ramifications as the northeast is the most densely populated area of the country and the home to over a 100 million people. Personally I hope that it hits as far south as possible, so that the Cape will get spared, but I doubt Mother Nature cares what I think. All we can do is get prepared for anything.

US Economy

The US economy grew 2% during the third quarter. That's not exactly a booming economy, but it did beat forecasts. It was fueled by consumer spending, defense outlays, and home building.

World Series

The World Series started with the San Francisco Giants winning the first game over the Detroit Tigers. I'm not the baseball fan that I once was, but I'm interested to see who wins for political reasons. There is a very strong correlation between which league wins and which party wins. When the victor is from the National League, the Democratic candidate usually wins the presidency. I wonder if President Obama is rooting for the Giants. (He's really a Chicago Cubs fan.) We'll see what happens this time.

DWTS Week 5

No eliminations this week, so there wasn't an results show. Since it's basically worthless, that was good news. There was also the performance by Shawn and Derek. Their team dance was fantastic and the rumba outstanding. Kirstie meanwhile continued her poor dancing. She's just too old and fat and needs to go.

Final Debate

President Obama and Governor Romney went at it again last night in Florida. This time is was Romney who seemed passive. The focus was supposed to be foreign affairs and he repeatedly said that he agreed with the President, although he's been very critical on the campaign trail. I'm not sure if that means Obama won the debate, but he did have the best line when he mentioned "bayonets and horses".

Curling

I started a curling class yesterday at the Cape Cod Curling Club in Falmouth. There were about 24 students. The sport is like shuffleboard on ice, but there are lots of subtleties that make it difficult. To say nothing of trying not to fall on the ice. I did fairly well. At least I didn't fall and I'm looking forward to our next class.

Head of the Charles

The Head of the Charles Regatta, the world's largest rowing event, starts today and runs through tomorrow. The banks and the bridges will be packed with spectators and even the weather looks pretty good this year. If you're in the Boston area, you should stop by. This is a really big deal.

Boy Scouts

The Boy Scouts yesterday were forced by the courts to release their "perversion list". It contained the names of all the scout leaders who had sexually abused the young scouts under their leadership. There were over 1200 cases! This is the same organization that won't allow gay boys to join. Being a pedophile is okay, but gay is not? Give me a break. "Scout's Honor" obviously doesn't mean a thing.

Bad Day for Lance

Lance had a really bad day on Wednesday. The U.S. Anti-Doping  Agency(USADA) had already banned Armstrong from the sport for life and ordered that his Tour de France titles be stripped. Now he's resigned as the chairman of Livestrong in an attempt to minimize the damage, and minutes later Nike, Anheuser-Busch, and Trek bicycles all dumped their sponsorship. He's done.

Good Night on TV

Two things happened on TV last night that made me happy. First of all Bristol Palin was eliminated from DWTS. She stinks and should have been sent home before, but now she's gone and that's good. Of more importance President Obama actually showed up for the second debate last night. He was engaged and aggressive. He let Romeny get away with everything during the first debate, but not last night.

Brooklyn is Back

The first professional game in Brooklyn, since 1957 when the Dodgers left for LA, was won by the Nets last night. It was only a preseason game, but obviously it meant much more than that to the fans. Now they have a sparkling new $1 Billion arena and a team that they can call their own. Of course it's also good for the team that has been playing in Newark for the past two years waiting for the building to be completed. I think that their rivalry with the Knicks just went up a notch.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala is the 14 year old girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban because she spoke out for educating girls. They even threated to shoot her again if she ever got out of the hospital. Well that may be a little tougher for them now because she's been moved from Pakistan to the UK for treatment. First let's hope she makes a full recovery, and second that they find those responsible and punish them to the full extent of the law. Best of all would be if the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan now realize that the Taliban are a bunch of murderous thugs.

Missing Girl in Colorado

Awful news in the search for the 10 year girl, Jessica Ridgeway. The body that they found 10 miles from her house was identified to be her. Now the case becomes a murder investigation. Let's hope that they find the scum bag soon. Why anybody would kill a little fifth grader is beyond me. Her parents must be devastated and all the parents in the area worried that this monster is still on the loose.

Rich get Richer

That statement was never more true. JPMorgan Chase, the country's biggest bank by assets, just reported a record quarterly profit, and Wells Fargo, the most valuable US bank and largest mortgage lender, said its third-quarter profits increased 22 percent. Of course none of this helps the middle class. There is no "trickle down effect". That was disproved over 20 years ago. The rich keep the money. I guess there is always room for another yacht

Vice Presidential Debate

Normally tonight's debate would receive very little attention outside the hard core politicos, but after Romney's drubbing of Obama and his big bounce in the polls, it has become far more important. If Ryan beats Biden just as bad, the Democrats could be in trouble next month. I think that one thing you can count on is that Joe will not be as passive as the President.

DWTS Week 3

This was an exciting week in this All Star season. The couples all danced "iconic" dances from past seasons and the celebrity got artistic control. Some were amazingly good. I was surprised. It was also a double elimination week and Drew and Helio said goodbye. Personally I would have dumped Bristol and Kirstie, but I know from past seasons that they both have a large fan base.

Bathroom Shower

It's been a long wait, but the tile is finally going up on my shower stall in the master bathroom. With limited availability of both the plumber and the tiler, the project has been going at a snail's pace. Today however we reached a milestone. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez was reelected for a third term as the president of Venezuela last night. At last report he received 54% of the vote, so it was his tightest race so far, but still a comfortable margin. He is a socialist and considered to be the champion of the poor. Plus he loves to take verbal shots at the US. Thus he isn't very popular in many corners, but he does provide cheap oil for the home heating assistance program around here, so he's not all bad.

Another Bad Call

Yesterday it was Major League Baseball's turn. Here's what happened: The Braves were trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and men on first and second when the batter hit a pop-up into shallow left field. Cardinals shortstop raced back to make the catch, but he suddenly ducked out of the way. The ball dropped untouched for an apparent single that loaded the bases. Except that at the last second the leftfield umpire signaled for the infield fly rule, which meant the batter was automatically out, taking the tying run off base and erasing one of the Braves' five remaining outs. Of course there is no way to know if the call really cost them the game, but this was a big game. The winner went to the playoffs and the loser went home. The umpires should have done a better job.

Bobby Valentine

The Boston Red Sox fired their manager, Bobby Valentine, after only one season. The team was awful this year, but outside of some spoiled players, it was clear that it wasn't his fault. They just didn't play very well. They also didn't seem to care much. Thus in another case of the inmates running the asylum, he was made the scape goat. I can't say that I ever thought that he was that good a manager, but I still think he got screwed.

Presidential Debate

President Obama and Governor Romney had their first debate last night. Since Romney's campaign has had a rough couple of weeks, it was considered to be a make or break moment for him. According to all reports, it was the former and he won big. He was in command the entire time and Obama was too passive. How much this changes people's minds we'll see in the next set of polls. It does seem like we have a real race on our hands now.

Agricultural News

Two stories that you might have missed.

The world's heaviest onion at 18 lb. 1 oz. was presented at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show in the UK on Sept. 14.

Chicago's O'Hare airport announced that it planned to use goats and sheep to consume heavy brush on part of the property.

War in Afghanistan Milestone

More bad news in this never ending war. The death toll for US military personnel hit 2,000 over the weekend. This war is not ending well. The government that we set up is one of the most corrupt in the world and now the Afghans that we are training to take over the country's security are turning their guns on our troops. What a mess.

US Ryder Cup Team Chokes

Headed into the final day, the US team had a large lead and was playing at home. It would take a total collapse on their part to lose, but that's what they did. Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, and Tiger Woods were all awful. Ironically the US team normally plays its best in the singles matches, but they couldn't even do that this year. They were worse than the Boston Red Sox.