Check out this amazing story on ESPN.com about a college softball game that will be remembered for a long time because of the athletes, not the athletics...

Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school's career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human spirit far more than individual athletic achievement.

That's what it's all about.

At 4:37 AM local time last night, a 5.2 earthquake struck near West Salem, Illinois, which is approximately 150 miles away from Springfield.

According to local news reports (and my coworkers), the quake rattled houses and knocked items off shelves and bookcases, but there were no local damage or injuries.

Of course, I slept through it all.

So far, I've survived the Godless Tornadoes of '06 and the Great Quake of '08...

I think Springfield is due for a hurricane in 2010. Or maybe locusts.

More quake coverage...

5.2 earthquake one of the strongest to hit Illinois (State Journal Register)
Earthquake measuring 5.2 rattles St. Louis region (St. Louis Post Dispatch)
Earthquake rattles Chicago area, Midwest (Chicago Tribune)
Earthquake rattles Indiana this morning (Indianapolis Star)
Little damage in Louisville from quake (Louisville Courier-Journal)
April 18, 2008 Midwest Earthquake (Wikipedia)

UPDATE 10:20 AM... We just felt a strong aftershock, which has been reported as magnitude 4.6. I work on the sixth floor of a building that was constructed sometime in the 1930s (I think), and our building shook noticeably for five or six seconds.

Hmm, why is it that I have the sudden urge to take the rest of the day off?

Visit the free Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial and leave a tribute, story, or photograph about any of the 58,256 veterans killed or missing in the Vietnam War...

Humbling.

Jewel Staite and a number of other actors are auctioning off dinner dates on eBay to fund cancer treatments for a fellow actor named Babz Chula (which explains the sign Jewel is holding in the photo above)...

The winning bidder will receive a free dinner with Paul McGillian and Jewel Staite at a pre-selected restaurant in Vancouver, BC at a mutually agreeable date to be determined by both parties in between May 1, 2008 and December 1, 2009.

As any red-blooded sci-fi geek is aware, Jewel played the role of the adorable Kaylee in the Firefly TV series and the follow-up movie Serenity. She is currently appearing in Stargate Atlantis on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The auction runs through April 12th and is currently at $1,500 (Canadian). Other dinner dates include David Duchovny and Chris Carter from the X-Files, as well as other actors that you might (or might not) recognize.

So, anyone have a couple grand and a ticket to Vancouver to spare?

Ways To Tell That Your Pet Cat Hasn't Adjusted to Daylight Savings Yet:

• When you get up he stares blearily at you like, "WTF, dude?!? It's too early to get up now." Then he sleeps an extra hour while you get ready for work.
  
• He sleeps 20 hours a day. (Wait, scratch that... That's normal for a cat. )
  
• Instead of waiting for you after work at the foot of the door (literally, I usually have to push him aside to get in), he looks embarrassed while running in from the other room to greet you.

(Confession... I was going to do a "Top 5" but couldn't think of two more. )

That word is: clbuttic.

Found this today on The Daily WTF (i.e. "Worse Than Failure" - a site for geeks to post "strange but true" programming stories)...

The Clbuttic Mistake

Browsing through a web archive of some old computer club conversations, I ran across this sentence:

"Apple made the clbuttic mistake of forcing out their visionary - I mean, look at what NeXT has been up to!"

Hmm. "clbuttic".

Google "clbuttic" - thousands of hits!

There's someone who call his car 'clbuttic'.

There are "Clbuttic Steam Engine" message boards.

Webster's dictionary - no help.

Hmm. What can this be?

HINT: People who make buttumptions about their regex scripts, will be embarbutted when they repeat this mbuttive mistake.

Took me a while to figure out just what "clbuttic" means, but I finally did.

Read more for the answer...

Star Wars according to a 3 year old...

The word "precious" comes to mind. I think she did a better job than I could've.

(via ExtraLife)

Netvibes has earned a place on the list of tabs auto-loaded every time I open my browser. With Netvibes, I can satisfy my craving for daily info by organizing the sites I read regularly (currently a few more than fifty) into tabbed pages of RSS subscription feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a standard way for Websites to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, or podcasts. An RSS reader like the one in Netvibes can display the content published on any number of sites without having to actually browse to each and every site. Even if I get lazy, uh busy and manage to fall a few days behind, RSS makes it easy to wade through what would otherwise be information overload.

If you're not already reading this blog entry in Netvibes, I recommend you try it and see for yourself.

Cracked.com has a hilarious list of the 50 Reasons Lord of the Rings Sucks (referring to the movies).

A few selected favorites...

• Speaking of Orcs... The Orcs were obviously stolen from PC game maker Blizzard and its Warcraft series. Too bad Blizzard is apparently too scared to sue New Line over it.
• Homage or theft? The "happy village of little people" idea was stolen from Willow.
• Homage or theft II? The wise old wizard character was stolen from Harry Potter.
• What's that smell? As bad as the Lucasfilm internet leaks were with the last Star Wars trilogy, the filmmakers of Lord of the Rings allowed the paperback novelizations onto shelves years in advance. As if we needed any less of a reason to go see it.

However funny the list itself is, that's not really the point of this post. What's really interesting is the number of people who were moved to leave a comment ripping the article as if it were a serious criticism of the movies.

Now I'm sure that more than a few of the comments are from trolls just trying to stir things up, but I'm also sure that some moron well intentioned (but sarcastically challenged) individual somewhere feels that they struck a blow against the evil forces of sloppy journalism.

Things like this make me question whether there's any intelligent life on this planet.

Champions Online is the superhero MMO that Cryptic Studios is doing instead of Marvel Universe Online.

And based on everything I've read so far, I couldn't be happier. Highlights include...

• Hi-Octane Excitement: No more boring auto attacks and lengthy recharge times. Champions Online combat is instantaneous — and electrifying!


• Total customization: Choose from hundreds of different costume pieces, colors and body types to create your character's one-of-a-kind costume and look.


• Keep your enemies close: Every hero must have an archenemy. Design your character's supreme adversary, choosing a name, powers and costume for a superpowered foe to bedevil your hero throughout his or her career.


• Endless exploration: The battle against evil rages across the world into outer space and alternate dimensions.


• Make your mark: The story of Champions Online is constantly changing, continually evolving. Villains are defeated. Heroes rise and fall. Cities transform. Your actions may decide the future!

The trailer doesn't show a whole lot so far, but I am kinda digging the pseudo-cell shading effect...


Marvel who?