Jamie Moyer has signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies.  The deal includes an invitation to Spring Training.  I’m assuming that the invitation includes an opportunity to try out for the team, and not just a meet-and-greet with Tulo and a tour of downtown Scottsdale. I tracked down some people for their thoughts.  [...]

As millions of students have already realized, Wikipedia is down today (January 18, 2012).  Did Wikipedia forget to pay their electric bill? Nope, nothing like that.  Wikipedia and other big (and small) sites are participating in a blackout to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).  When the calendar flips to Thursday, Wikipedia will once again [...]

A lot of people are yammering about the BCS SEC National Conference Championship game, while others are talking about this weekend’s Tebowl.  Naturally, I’m focused on baseball. The voting for the 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame has been announced.  Here are my thoughts on the voting: Hall of Famers Barry Larkin was elected in his third year of eligibility, [...]

I’ve had an interest in writing since my elemenetary school days.  This is how my life as a writer has evolved throughout the years. The Early Years I was selected to attend a Young Writer’s Conference in sixth grade.  The conference was geared to 4th through 6th grades, and since I wasn’t selected in 4th [...]

Joran Van der Sloot is expected to plead guilty to charges of murder today.  He faces as much as 30 years in prison for the death of Stephany Flores. This means that Van der Sloot, still just 24, will be released before he turns 55.  Depending on the leniency of the judge, perhaps long before then.  This [...]

It was an interesting night in my home state of Iowa last night.  In the Republican caucus, Mitt Romney eked out an eight vote win over Rick Santorum.  The order of finish was: Romney Santorum Paul Gingrich Perry Bachmann Huntsman Cain I correctly predicted the 1-6 order of finish yesterday on another site of mine, Donkey [...]

  Marilyn vos Savant has the highest reported IQ in the world and writes a weekly column where she answers questions from the great unwashed. Often time, the questions are simple enough that a person with average intelligence could answer them. Sometimes, though, she does bobble one and give an obviously wrong answer. (I guess [...]

A lot of sites are highlighting the top news stories of 2011.  It’s pretty easy to do them in hindsight – how about a look forward at the top news stories of 2012. Here are my three news stories to follow in 2012. The presidential election Hundreds of millions (or even billions) of dollars will [...]

 This is a re-run from last year.  This is the third in a series of dark holiday tales.  You might also want to read What’s in the Chili (Halloween) and Friends for Thanksgiving.  This story has adult themes and is not suitable for young readers. Chris leaned against the side of Santa’s workshop and exhaled [...]

2011 has been a very good year.  Hyrax Publications (the parent company of The Soap Boxers) turned a profit, as did the Soap Boxers division.  Not a large profit (the hourly rate would be absurdly low), but definitely black ink instead of red.  The number of visitors also hit an all-time high.  What lies ahead [...]