33 Million Dollar Hippie Ship Docked in San Francisco

Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior, the floating, green-hued hub for environmental activism, pulled into Pier 15 Friday and will remain through Nov. 19, open for free public tours, art shows, films, panel discussions and live music.

Up to 900 people a day are expected to visit the boat, made famous by a 1985 incident off the coast of New Zealand when the French bombed - and sank - its predecessor, the first Rainbow Warrior, during a nuclear weapons protest.

The new Rainbow Warrior (actually, the third overall) is a $33 million, custom-built sailboat outfitted with a helipad, and unique A-frame masts that give the boat stability and allow it to derive 90 percent of its power from the wind. It's designed to accommodate up to 32 crew members as they circle the globe blocking oil tankers, protesting deforestation and taking up other environmental crusades.

The job is not without its hazards. Its sister ship, the Arctic Sunrise, saw its crew of about 30 arrested in September by the Russian Coast Guard and imprisoned in Murmansk, awaiting trial for piracy after the crew attempted to string a protest banner across a Russian oil rig. They face 15 years in jail if convicted.

Joel Stewart, captain of the Rainbow Warrior, is not fazed.

"The real risk isn't getting arrested, it's climate change," he said Sunday. "No amount of military superiority or terrorism is going to get us out of this one. ... The risk is definitely worth it."

While in San Francisco, Greenpeace staff are protesting a Stockton palm-oil refinery that imports large volumes of palm oil from deforested Indonesian rain forest.

Next it's off to San Diego, then Central and South America.

"People used to think of the Rainbow Warrior as a hippie ship," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Kat Clark. "But now we're scientists, activists, professionals. ... And the need is greater than ever."

Oh, this sounds like field trip all over it. There are probably soon real cooks aboard this sailboat. The best part about them protesting is that they are doing it aboard a $33 million dollar boat.
The thought logic to protest.. I can respect, but a Russian oil tanker? Do you not remember the Somalia's that took the Russian ship a few years ago... yeah, those Somalia's are dead. The Russians wasted no time in killing them.
I figure if I go in my Halloween best... I will fit right in. Space Squirrel reporting live from Pier #15.

What Zlatan did today

The 3rd Goal is Art

Jacoby Ellsbury will be in the NYC(gulp)..... Mets

Jacoby Ellsbury's stock is rising faster than twitter's prospective IPO. Ellsbury is single handedly keeping the Red Sox from getting embarrassed by the Tigers in the ALCS. Ellsbury will be a free agent this fall and I find it hard to believe he will not land in New York.

First instincts would be the Yankees. There outfield consist of the ageless Ichiro (due to be 40 by 2014 season), Granderson (32 year old free agent) coming off injury, and the speedster Brett Gardner (same age as Ellsbury 30) at a cheap rate. The Yankees performed much better than expected with what they had this season. They will need to make a splash with the exiting of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. Ellsbury would be the perfect fit in centerfield and give the Yankees much needed speed at the top and bottom of the lineup.

The Mets are notorious for overpaying for players. Outside of the joke  reality that there two highest outfielders to start the 2013 season were Bobby Bonilla and Jason Bay (neither played for the Mets in 2013). Lets look at some of the Mets stellar signings:

Pedro Martinez (Age 33-36) from 2005-2008 4years/50million
- Translated to 34Ws.. Fast math....1.47million per win



Carlos Beltran (Aged 28-34) from 2005-2011 7years/100million
- 149HRs for 100mil....

The Mets payroll is wide open next year. They have David Wright for 20Mil, Johan Santana for Team Option of 25Mil (Hard not to chuckle at that), Jonathan Niese for 5Mil, and an option for Aaron Harang for 2Mil. Everyone else has arbitration and/or rookie contracts. The Mets will outbid the Red Sox and possibly the Yankees for Jacoby Ellsbury.

Save the "Oh, Ellsbury is a SAWK for life." spchel. He has won the series in 2007. Win or lose this year, he does not need it. He is 30 years old who is about to be paid. What does the market demand? If Josh Hamilton can get 5years/125Mil from the Angels last year, you figure Ellsbury can demand similar or slightly less. Ellsbury is a career .297 hitter who has averaged 50SB per 162 games played. Having only played 2 full seasons of the past 4 years, the Red Sox will give him a 4-5 year deal in the neighborhood of 90Mil if I had to guess. The Mets and Yankees will top it.(Seattle will make a play and lose... as always in baseball and basketball.. Sorry Seattle). He will get 7 years for something north of 125Mil. The Sox had the emergence of Daniel Nava this year and Jackie Bradley is anxiously awaiting to take center field at Fenway.  They do not need him THAT badly. Pedro better help Jacoby find a surfboard. I hear the surf is ripping in the Long Island Sound come November. See you Boston.. It's been Real.

Banksy- An Artist all about the Art

Banksy is a street artist who is notorious for no one knowing his true identity. He has taken NYC area by storm doing random pieces all over the city for the month of October. His most interesting move may have been yesterday. On Sunday October 13th, he had an older gentlemen sit for hours selling his pieces of art for a nominal fee (relative) of $60. It took him 3 hours before he sold anything. 

The greatest thing is he values his privacy and 2013 cannot handle it. Anytime his art is done, there is a witch hunt to try to find the man. Let the man do his art and appreciate him for that. As someone once told me about someone "famous", "They eat, breathe, and shit the same way you do."

What I learned from Wikipedia today

Things can seem to be bleak in the U.S of A. Politicians proving why they are useless and detached from to the majority of American citizens. Left versus right, they are all to blame. Government workers are out of work and clogging up unemployment lines. It could be worse? How so? Well you could be an 18 year girl from Swaziland. King Mswati the third, chose his 15th wife in September in an annual ritual where bare chested women dance in front of him before he decides his next liphovela. A liphovela is a prospective fiance for the King. She is not a full fledge finance or wife till King Mswati puts one past the goalie. In a country with the highest AIDs percent in the world, you do not need to look too far to see where the country gets its pension for  unprotected sex. From a leader that wears the finest tablecloth from Papa Gino's Pizzeria, it is easy to see what former president he is emulating.

Launch him to the Moon

I have watched too much sports in my life and I have never gotten teary eyed over any situation. I found myself in a weird situation last night. As I watched the clip of Mariano Rivera being removed from the mound for the last time at Yankee stadium.. it hit me. Not only was I watching probably the most dominate player of his generation, but one of the classiest professional athletes in our lifetime. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I was touched by the moment of Mariano getting removed from the game by Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter. Mariano did something on the mound that I have never seen him do... he lost his composure. He sobbed in Pettitte's shoulder for a few minutes and shared tears with his manager Joe Girardi at the top of the dugout.

I will try not to bore you with too many stats, but a few to chew on. His postseason numbers look like this.
8-1 0.70 ERA  11 EARNED RUNS 0.759 WHIP in over 140 innings pitched. Mariano was born the same year (1969) the U.S. landed on the moon. 12 astronauts have walked on the moon since 1969. Mariano has allowed 11 men to walk home safely on his watch in the postseason. Really the only stat you need to remember when you are arguing with some young buck 30 years from now who the greatest closer of all time was and he did it with one pitch.... that F'ing Cutter. Hurry up and get to the Moon, MO.

Best Two Weeks of the Year

Admittedly a baseball homer, but how can these last two weeks not excite the casual fan. In the American League there are 6 teams vying for 2 playoff spots. The Orioles, The Yankees, The Royals, The Indians, and The Rangers are all within 3.5 games of each other. Most teams have 12 games or less left to play. After 5 1/2 months of grinding baseball it comes down to playing the best two weeks of baseball. This makes people people in Kansas City and Cleveland have something to care about. Even with this new format, people in these cities are not coming to the games. There was 10,786 announced gate at a Rangers/Rays game on Tuesday. There was 60,870 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers New Orleans Saints football game this past Sunday. I know football is king in this country, but come on Tampa Bay! You have a team that could win the World Series. The Buccaneers lost to the East Rutherford Jets in Week 1.

I had the privilege of attending the Atlanta Braves Washington Nationals day game yesterday. The Nationals have been playing fantastic baseball and have a real outside chance to make the playoffs in the National League if the Cincinnati Reds collapse. The announced gate was 25,066.. they were lucky if they had 8,000 people. To be fair, people were probably still spooked from the Navy Yard shooting the day prior. There was 82,743 at the Washington Redskins home opener. I sat 5 rows back and I think Bryce Harper was trying to use me as the cut off man in the 9th. It was a fantastic game with the Braves coming back from 3-0 to score 5 runs in the last three innings to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th.
The Braves sent out their lights out closer Craig Kimbrel to finish the game. Kimbrel had not blown a save since early May. The Nationals willed there way to a win with walks and ground balls  to a 6-5 win. I am pulling for the Nationals, but I do not think this city is equipped for playoff baseball. Any city where the majority of people are wearing jackets to a game that I get a sunburn at do not deserve Autumn baseball.

American League
AMERICAN	W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	RS	RA	DIFF	STRK	L10
Texas	82	68	.547	-	39-35	43-33	667	599	+68	Won 1	2-8
Tampa Bay	82	68	.547	-	46-29	36-39	640	601	+39	Lost 1	5-5
Cleveland	82	69	.543	.5	45-30	37-39	686	631	+55	Won 1	6-4
Baltimore	80	70	.533	2	42-33	38-37	699	652	+47	Won 2	5-5
NY Yankees	79	72	.523	3.5	44-31	35-41	619	636	-17	Lost 4	4-6
Kansas City	79	72	.523	3.5	41-36	38-36	610	570	+40	Lost 1	6-4
LA Angels	73	78	.483	9.5	35-40	38-38	692	688	+4	Lost 1	6-4
Toronto	69	81	.460	13	37-39	32-42	663	708	-45	Won 1	5-5
Seattle	66	85	.437	16.5	33-42	33-43	578	710	-132	Lost 3	2-8
Minnesota	64	86	.427	18	31-43	33-43	577	710	-133	Lost 2	3-7
Chicago Sox	60	91	.397	22.5	35-40	25-51	559	665	-106	Won 2	4-6
Houston	51	100	.338	31.5	24-53	27-47	591	793	-202	Lost 4	4-6
National League
NATIONAL	W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	RS	RA	DIFF	STRK	L10
Pittsburgh	87	64	.576	-	48-28	39-36	582	541	+41	Lost 2	6-4
Cincinnati	86	66	.566	-	48-26	38-40	662	549	+113	Won 2	6-4
Washington	81	70	.536	4.5	44-32	37-38	620	594	+26	Won 3	9-1
Arizona	76	74	.507	9	43-33	33-41	632	632	0	Lost 1	5-5
Philadelphia	71	80	.470	14.5	43-34	28-46	581	698	-117	Won 2	7-3
San Diego	70	80	.467	15	41-33	29-47	574	659	-85	Won 3	7-3
San Francisco	70	81	.464	15.5	38-38	32-43	593	647	-54	Won 4	7-3
Colorado	69	83	.454	17	42-32	27-51	660	696	-36	Lost 1	3-7
NY Mets	67	83	.447	18	31-44	36-39	582	648	-66	Lost 1	4-6
Milwaukee	67	83	.447	18	35-41	32-42	593	652	-59	Won 3	7-3
Chicago Cubs	63	88	.417	22.5	29-46	34-42	578	637	-59	Lost 4	3-7
Miami	55	96	.364	30.5	31-44	24-52	485	618	-133	Lost 4	2-8

Glossary