GINORMOUS.ORG

Lepolt coded up a new plugin for Wordpress which lets you integrate Picasa Web albums with your blog.  It’s not too bad–I’ll add it and have a longer review later, but in the mean time you can download it here.

Kevin: This has to be my most favorite Facebook group name of all time: “IF 10 MILLION JOIN MARC ZOMBERG WILL BRING BACK THE OLD FACEBOOK!”
John: lol
Kevin: Don’t laugh too much, your sister joined it.
John: haha
Kevin: Further down my news feed: “Christopher Welch joined the group The Founder of Facebook is MARK ZUCKERBERG, you dumb shits. ”
My siblings: 1. Your siblings: 0

From GreenBiz.com:

“Marker’s Mark has turned on a new treatment system at its Loretto, Ky., distillery, turning waste into energy for the facility.

The anaerobic digestion facility installed by waste management provider Ecovation will process stillage - the water, grain and yeast waste leftover from making bourbon - and produce a methane and carbon dioxide biogas for use in the distillery’s boilers.”

Is he back yet?

If it’s Friday, it’s Peggy Noonan:  A Life’s Lesson

“In a way, the world is a great liar. It shows you it worships and admires money, but at the end of the day it doesn’t. It says it adores fame and celebrity, but it doesn’t, not really. The world admires, and wants to hold on to, and not lose, goodness. It admires virtue. At the end it gives its greatest tributes to generosity, honesty, courage, mercy, talents well used, talents that, brought into the world, make it better. That’s what it really admires. That’s what we talk about in eulogies, because that’s what’s important. We don’t say, ‘The thing about Joe was he was rich.’ We say, if we can, ‘The thing about Joe was he took care of people.’”

8 Days to Opening Day…

Joe Morgan was the staring 2B for the Big Red Machine.  He won the MVP in ‘75 and ‘76.  He was an All Star in every season he played for the Reds (’72-’79).  He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1990.

9 Days to Opening Day…

Joe Oliver was the starting catch for the Reds’ 1990 wire-to-wire World Series champion team.  He played with the Reds for 8 of his 13 major league seasons.  He will always be most remembered for his hit which hugged the third base line to win Game 2 of the ‘90 series.

10 Days to Opening Day…

George Lee “Sparky” Anderson was the Reds’ manager from ‘70-’78.  During his tenure as the Reds’ skipper Sparky’s teams won over 100 games three times and over 90 games another 4 times.  The Reds only had one sub-.500 season with Anderson at the helm.  Anderson managed the Big Red Machine to its two World Series titles and two other NL pennants in ‘70 and ‘72.  His total wins (1331) are third all time for managers.  He’s also the only manager to have ever won World Series titles in both the American and National leagues.
In 2000, Sparky was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame and his number 10 was retired by the Reds in 2005.

11 Days to Opening Day…

Barry Larkin, another Cincinnati native, was the successor to Concepcion at SS for the Reds. He played from ‘86 to ‘04 making 12 All-Star teams, 9 Silver Sluggers, 3 Gold Gloves and he won the ‘95 MVP. He was also the first 30-30 short stop in team history. Larkin was underrated throughout most of his career. He didn’t get much publicity early in his career because of the incredibly overrated Ozzie Smith and was overshadowed later in his career by offensive shortstops such as Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. I’ve always felt Larkin’s well-rounded game served as a de facto transition from the old guard of Smith and Ripken Jr. to the new breed of Jeter, Rodriguez, and Garciaparra. Larkin will be inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame later this season and (hopefully) Cooperstown in 2010.

12 Days to Opening Day…

Dusty Baker played in the Majors from ‘68-’86 with Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland. He managed the Giants from ‘93-’02 and the Cubs from ‘03-’06 winning the NL Manager of the Year in ‘93, ‘97, and ‘00. As a manager he’s won just under 1200 games.

The Reds hired Dusty in October of 2007 to replace interim-manager Pete Mackanin (over my protestations). Baker’s critics say that he prefers veterans over more deserving young players and that his (mis)management contributed to the arm problems of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior with the Cubs. The Reds have Minor League Player of the Year Jay Bruce, another top 10 prospect Joey Votto, plus young stud pitchers Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto, and Edinson Volquez. It remains to be seen if Baker will be able to repeat the success he had in San Francisco and Chicago, but at least he’s not another Dave Miley or Jerry Narron.