There must have been some serious clandestine operations going on at this tire store in Lviv, Ukraine for the Russians to shoot a missile from 1,000 miles away at a cost estimated at $6.5 million for the missile.
Since I am not umpiring this Spring, I have some time to get somethings done around the house. Today I had scheduled to begin working on painting the fence that surrounds my back yard. Unfortunately, Mother Nature threw a monkey wrench into my plan by sending a couple inches of snow our way. I had to double check the calendar to confirm it was April 18. It is one thing to snow in early April, it is another thing to throw 2 inches at us during the third week of April.
I really enjoy reading The Guardian and getting the British perspective on world issues, especially as it relates to the invasion of Ukraine. However, it is clear to me that the British use a different dictionary than we use in the U.S. Take for instance the picture above of the tyre store that was bombed. I am a pretty good speller, which makes reading of The Guardian quite challenging sometimes. But then again, we have ware, where and wear.
I read this in the WSJ today. Sergey Aksenov, the Russian governor of Crimea, said over the weekend that Ukrainian teachers from across the occupied areas of southern Ukraine will be taken to “requalification camps” in the peninsula so that they would follow “Russian standards” in the classroom. This is what happens in authoritarian countries. Unfortunately, it sounds vaguely familiar to what is going on in parts of our country.
Last week the MLB celebrated Jackie Robinson day as it does every April for his breaking the color line in MLB. Every player wears the number 42, which was Robinson’s number. I think it is a wonderful tradition. One of my readers sent me a story that indicates Robinson may have not been the first African American to play in the major leagues. The first may have been Moses Fleetwood “Fleet” Walker, an African-American, who made his major-league debut with Toledo on May 1, 1884, in an American Association game, which at the time was the highest level of professional baseball in the U.S. Prior to making his debut, Walker played baseball at Oberlin College in Ohio and in 1882 at the University of Michigan. Here is a link to a complete history on Walker from the Society of American Baseball Research.
Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence? Get vaccinated and get your booster.
Orchid of the Day: Allysa Nakkin of the San Francisco Giants for being the first women to ever be an on-field coach during a MLB game. She took over the first base coaching duties after the regular first base coach, Antoan Richardson, who was ejected in the third inning.
Onion of the Day: Covid-19. After 25 months of avoiding it, it finally caught me. The Easter bunny left me a positive covid-19 test in my Easter basket yesterday. It is isolation for me for the next 10 days.
Quote of the Day: “We live in a bubble, here in the U.S. and Europe, where we think the very stark moral and geopolitical stakes, and framework of what we’re seeing unfolding, is a universal cause “Actually, most of the governments of the world are not with us.” Barry Pavel, a senior vice president at the Atlantic Council.
Questions of the Day: “What’s the logic here? Are they complete morons?” This question was asked by the opposition politician Ivan Zhdanov who said the bombing in Lviv made no military sense. He said the Kalibr missile fired from thousands of kilometers away cost $6.5m (£5m) and had landed on a tire workshop.”
Video of the Day: Allysa Nakken becoming the first women to be an on-field coach during a MLB game.