Tim LineCyYoung

That's what we're calling our outstanding rookie pitcher these days. On an admittedly bad Giants team, Lincecum is now 17-3, leads the major league in strikeouts (237) and leads the National League in ERA (2.54). With two of the three legs of the pitching Triple Crown he has to be a leading candidate for the NL Cy Young Award.

But last night may have been the crowning moment. Timmy threw a complete game shutout, striking out 12 while allowing only four hits. After 137 pitches, his final pitch was a fast ball in the mid-90s that had the Padres' Edgar Gonzalez frozen as the umpire called the final out. How good was Lincecum last night? Our bullpen was never even called on to start warming up until there were two outs in the ninth. Timmy gave up two singles at that point, but then got the final out. Wow. Giants win 7-0.

Lincecum announced that among his other goals for the off season, he's hoping to start shaving. There's a reason we call him Timmy (See icon).

The Giants, predicted by pretty much everyone to have a long-term lease in NL West cellar and lose 100 games this season, are currently 3rd in the West and 10 back of the division leading Dodgers.

GO GIANTS!!!

CY YOUNG FOR TIMMY!!!

More on why Sarah Palin doesn't belong in Juneau, let alone Washington.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

This is Heavy Metal Sunday, calling anyone... Mayday, Mayday...

Anyone else remember those old commercials for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups? "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter?" Well, today we have the equivalent effect for me. Traveller and Heavy Metal.

Around 2003 the venerable Traveller Mailing List started discussing an album from a metal band called The Lord Weird Slough Feg that was, as far as anyone could tell, a rock opera based on our favorite addiction game. Before anyone could actually order the CD, the whole thing got embroiled in a copyright argument and vanished.

But happily, sanity overrode the lawyers, an agreement was worked out, and the album was re-released. I got it off iTunes, and of the 12 tracks only one got a three-star rating from me. Everything else is four and five stars. It's not just the subject matter, the album is incredibly tight and well performed. I played parts of it for kshandra and she liked it. Slough Feg is normally a Speed/Celtic Metal band, so this is a bit of a departure for them, but damn it is good!

The plot involves a pirate running from the Imperial Navy. He gets caught in a battle between Imperial and Zhodani forces, his ship is badly damaged, and he crash lands on a world were a Professor has a mad scheme to create a hybrid of Vargr and Human using DNA-altering spores. This is so a game I'd want to play in. You also have to love an album that uses the word "nucleotides" correctly in the lyrics.

This might be the only Traveller-related product ever to use the Querion subsector for anything. :)

So, enjoy The Lord Weird Slough Feg playing High Passage/Low Passage

Watch on YouTube

Bonus Review!

This morning I downloaded Metallica's new album Death Magnetic. Wow. Forget St. Anger (please) this is how Metallica is supposed to sound. Every single track got a four star rating from me. No radio-ready hits like Enter Sandman here, but if you remember the great days of Ride The Lightning or ...And Justice For All you will love this album. Whereas St Anger sounded like they'd used tin cans for drums, here Lars Ulrich thunders; and where before guitarist Kirk Hammett was missing in action, here the riffs are fiery, speedy and awesome, pushed up to the front of the mix.

The songs are epic, all but one flying past seven-minute mark, while the ominous heartbeat that kick-starts That Was Just Your Life slides into a pumped-up, testosterone-fueled slab of classic Metallica, James Hetfield's V-twin voice rumbling like he's the ringmaster at the end of the world. Patched in the epic thrash and speed, there are the trademark moments of crystal beauty.

Despite being the subject of much eye-rolling and snide comments, The Unforgiven III is a solid track that will demand lighters at the show.

Four very solid stars. Buy this album.

Everybody's talking at me...

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Oh, my... no wonder I'm not getting much done today.

San Francisco 49ers: 33
Seattle Seahawks: 30 (OT)

We looked really bad in the first half, but came on strong in the second.

San Francisco Giants: 8
San Diego Padres: 6 (10 innings)

The Pods used nine pitchers in this game.

One thing we have accomplished is ordering tickets for Metallica at Oracle Arena in December.