That’s the Saints Magic Number after last night. Winnipeg lost in extra innings. It’s possible that the Saints will clinch their playoff spot yet today, but it’ll take some help from the Explorers this evening, and it’ll mean that the Saints will have to play well in a day game today. Neither seems especially likely, but winning a single game in Winnipeg will do it at this point. Playoff games will probably begin on Friday the 10th, and there will be tickets available.
In other news, the allergies continue. I’m hoping this is the worst week of the summer (it is so far), and soon they’ll slack off, but I’m expecting that I’ll have a head full of snot until the snow flies. Also, I should note that Claritin can make you drowsy if you exceed the recommended dosage. That’s probably not good for you.
- Crown Hydro’s Hydroelectric power plant idea resurfaces in Minneapolis. They’re still working on getting all the pieces put together to put another hydro plant on the downtown side of St. Anthony Falls, but it doesn’t look very likely to me. There’s already power being generated from the upper falls, and an additional plant is either going to rob water from the existing one, or take water away from the falls. I was for the idea when it was part of an interpretive exhibit in either the park or the history museum, but if they’re doing it just to generate power and not educate the public at the same time, I think that’s better left to the existing plant that’s being run by Xcel. [strib]
- In election news, a City Pages effort to sign up young voters may be illegal, since they’re offering a free trip in exchange for a promise to vote. The good news is that it’s being looked into by the Secretary of State, who is working with the City Pages to make sure they’re legal. [strib]
- Meanwhile, in If He Manages To Work In “I Have To Warn You Sully, This Is My Weak Arm”, Finish The Bottle, Evan gives his take on the Governator’s speech at the RNC. Lileks has Medicine Square Godden. He likes Arnie. Meanwhile, Ron Paul wants A Texas Platform for the GOP. That’s a party I could vote for. [endwar lileks and 101-280]
- I’ve talked about it before, but here’s another article: Consumers Trade in Home Phones for Mobile and Web. My big problem here is that my IP comes in on the same wires as the phone, so I need to figure out an alternative solution for the ’net connectivity before I can drop the phone entirely. And Philip Greenspun’s experiment in IP telephony says that maybe it’s not quite ready for prime-time. If you can’t use your VoIP phone to call in to tech support or other 800 numbers, how can you give up your other phone lines? [scripting and slashdot]
- Is it time to redesign the website here? Probably one of these days. It was time over at AMG, and their attempt prompted an essay on When Newer is Not Better. Dunno. The new design seems okay to me in Safari, since it at least doesn’t freeze my browser, unlike some other sites I’ve stumbled into recently. [holy schmoly]
- Joey’s got commentary on On Troutgirl’s Getting Fired for Blogging [Updated]. It don’t seem right to me, and I’m thinking pretty hard about giving the boot to friendster (it’s not as if I go there very often anyhow), and orkut hasn’t impressed me either. Both are slow and unwieldy and neither has produced so much as an opportunity for a beer. Add in this commentary on the Craig’s List personals and I’m pretty underwhelmed. [accordionguy]