A Mets pitcher, specifically, who named one of his bats … Orcrist.

Then the NYT apparently managed to screw up the origin of the name, but they apologized, so all good.

Peru, Illinois, to be exact.

Tips to those accosted by the police: 1) Don’t say you flew from California to Illinois in order to go … snowboarding. 2) I seriously am wondering about this part: Why’d they consent to the search of the plane? Based on what I’ve learned about the Fourth Amendment this semester, I don’t know that the police would have been able to stop them from leaving in the plane until they got a warrant, but hey, I haven’t taken my criminal procedure exam yet, so anything’s possible.

Update: On an exam it’d better take me less than three hours to realize the answer, but I expect the police could indeed stop them from leaving in the plane on a destruction-of-evidence or Carroll-closed container exigency, if they had probable cause enough for a warrant but no time to get one. I might have called their bluff, though, and refused consent–they may not have had probable cause. Ah well, fun hypothetical on a day when I’m supposed to be studying property, not criminal procedure.

The little bee is a nice touch.

Damn. Ballsy. So to speak.

Watch it now. That is all.

Via Hot Air.

You’ve peeved Ray Stevens now.

The man’s 70 years old and made this, and while I don’t know that he necessarily came out of retirement to do so ([to me it seems that way, but that might be just because] I haven’t followed him in a while, though when I was little, “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” was the funniest thing I had ever heard), I say … you go, Ray. I particularly like the embrace of the “yokel” image to make the point that the ones Obama et. al. would like to write off as “yokels” are quite capable of “yokeling” him et. al. right out of office. Seriously–I know a lot of people of my parents’ age who look a lot like the Ray playing the plunger, except they play real guitars–extremely well. His point is real and well made.

Next best line: “You might want to start looking for another line of work. How about the medical profession? Yeah, they’re going to need everybody they can get who will put up with the red tape and the pay cut.”

H/t See-Dubya.

“The president also wanted to do something, I think, unusual today,” National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said during a web chat after Obama’s speech. “Not only was this a very quick accounting, not only did the president accept responsibility for it, but the president also wanted to do this as transparently as possible.”

H/t Hot Air headlines.

Him, throwing a small fit over a seemingly minor issue.

Me: “I think you must be tired.”

Him, wailing: “You always say I’m tired and I never am.”

Me: “When you throw a fit like this over things that aren’t a big deal, I think it must be because you’re tired.”

Him: “Well, I’m not.”

Me: “Then I guess you must need some cuddles and some kisses!” (Suiting action to the word.)

Him: “No, I don’t need anything except my way.”

Interviewing Rod Blagojevich and using words unfamiliar to him, such as “accountable.” Apparently it kind of pissed him off.

Blagojevich became so riled by the questioning, Hunt jokingly asked for “a sidebar.”

“You went to law school, I didn’t,” she says. “I’m only a nurse, but I might inject you with something just to get you to quiet down.”

If we can’t have any more movies like Return to Me, at least we can hope she’s going to keep interviewing bigger and bigger politicians in the same way.

Via Hot Air headlines.

I have a voice in this too, you know. You are not Darth Vader–you can’t say “I’m altering the deal” with total impunity. You know what I’m talking about. Don’t pretend innocence. I can’t stand it in a guy and I won’t tolerate it in my state, either. We had a deal. Don’t act like your total control over the weather gives you the right to alter the provisions at any time.

Listen up: The deal was that you will provide me with warm, sometimes hot, dry summers that, while increasingly bad for my skin, are terrific for my hair. Not muggy, wet summers, either warm or cool. Consistent humidity, great for my skin and lousy for my hair, I could have in any of my more homelike states back east. You want to make it that much easier for me to depart for one of them? Keep this up.

Oh, you want to make nice now? Don’t want me taking my diversity-enhancing Republican self out of your left-wing-infested evergreen woods? You can start by NOT raining when my friend’s son is getting married outdoors tonight. From there, we’ll see.

That sly dog.

Little bitty **SPOILER** for last night’s episode of Chuck below. (more…)

Rules for Methodist hymnody.

IV. Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.

Ever wondered about the difference between Methodists and Wesleyans, given that both follow the teachings of John “Songs of Satan” Wesley? So have I. Apparently the Wesleyans broke from the Methodists over slavery.