Twin boys engaged in passionate conversation

No, it's not Steve and I from back in the day......but I can sure relate to it. Enjoy....

More tsunami footage.....

A fresh reminder of the power of the tsunami.......wow........

The first rule of Fight Clip is......

......there is no Fight Clip.

Oh, wait: I guess there is......

Busted by a Bracket Buster

So KU is shot down by Virginia Commonwealth in the Elite Eight.........the same team that needed a foul call and two free throws with less than a second left to defeat Wichita State last month in Bracket Busters.

I was at that game, which WSU essentially lost in the first half by falling into a deep hole (much like the Jayhawks). However, Wichita State actually came back to take the lead late in that game and had a chance to go up two possessions --- and committed a costly turnover.

Still, better defensive play on VCU's final possession would have given the Shockers a victory. That would almost certainly have kept the Rams out of the NCAA tournament, yet they have taken their opportunity and made the most of it.

Ironically, the Shockers are still playing as well --- advancing all the way to the semifinals of the NIT in New York. They'll have to play very well to win it all, but they have stepped up their performances a notch or two in the NIT.

So it's not impossible....

No matter what the temperature........

.........as far as I'm concerned, spring arrives with the words "Play ball!"

Which means spring arrives Friday, with the opening of baseball season. Only a fool would think my beloved Cleveland Indians will compete for anything beyond avoiding the basement in the A.L. Central this season, but I still love baseball. The Tribe has a number of young players who are showing signs of blossoming, but it'll be a year or two before they contend for the division title.

I expect the Royals to surge past them next year if all of KC's young talent emerges as anticipated. It could flip the division upside down.

My picks for the World Series? Philadelphia and Boston, with the Red Sox taking it all. I hope I'm wrong, though.

Rooting against KU is un-American

Mind you, folks who graduated from Kansas State would disagree.....but this column is still a good read. I'm not the hardcore Jayhawk fan my twin brother is (I tease him about that, because he never went to KU), but I do root hard for them come NCAA tourney time. About the only time I root against them is when they play Wichita State (ironically, in their lone NCAA tournament clash, the Shockers won the Battle of New Orleans).

Here's hoping the Jayhawks win another national title in about a week.

A silent prairie sentinel

Often when I head out to the farm, I never turn on the music. I let the mind wander, sorting, sifting, pondering, reflecting....

Sometimes I let the eyes wander --- though not too far, since I'm driving. But I try to stay alert to my surroundings, just to see what may catch my eye.

On this night, before the darkness had fully settled, I noticed an old-fashioned wooden grain bin. A tall rectangle with a crow's nest on top. I knew that's where the pulley for the grain hoist was housed. The bin hadn't been used for perhaps a half-century or more. It was nearly engulfed in trees between a pair of farm fields, almost shrouded from view even in daylight.

It seemed forlorn, a rusted relic awaiting the day it finally collapses or meets the wrecking ball.

But there was a time when that wooden beast was the cutting edge in grain storage, and represented a step forward for the family that installed it. I wondered how many sunsets it has seen, how many bumper crops, how many hail storms that ravaged the fields it surveyed - and farmers' finances along the way. I wondered how many generations of children played and worked around it, what dreams blossomed in its shadows, what hopes died.

I wondered how many families it helped feed, how many lives it touched, this agrarian architectural artifact.

The answers, I'm sure, are only in the wind. 

A tribute to an Auschwitz survivor

I came across this story about a man who survived Auschwitz during World War II, and his story was so compeling I just had to share it. Give it a look, and you'll see a vivid refection of courage, toughness, perseverance, and many other virtues.

A ground-level view of the tsunami hitting Sendai Airport

The water arrives so rapidly........and relentlessly.....

This makes me wonder if....

........earthquake-prone areas of the U.S. need to take a hard look at their building codes.

Video of the earthquake and tsunami hitting Japan

This defies the imagination.......but it's all too real.

A poignant, powerful new song

This young man gets it....and he expresses it in song.......

For those of you who are tired of all those TV station promos.......

...........you'll get a chuckle out of this.......

In like a lamb.........

March came in like a lamb on Tuesday. Warm, sunny, delightful.

Does this mean it'll go out like a lion? It seems to me March always goes out like a lion, if only because my birthday is at the end of the month and the weather almost universally sucks on our birthday. As far as I'm concerned, the old adage should actually be, March: In like a lion, out like a lion.

Oh, by the way, I did say "our." I'm a twin (for readers who may not know). No, we're not identical. And, no, we're not that much alike.

Check back at the end of the month for the answer to my question.

The paper shredder

This video has gone viral on the web. I'll let you discover why.....and if you don't at least crack a smile, something's seriously wrong with you.