From The Chief Editor's Desk...

Ahhhh! Things are looking up a bit, at least in my little corner of the world!

After a labor dispute that resulted in a 99 day lockout, baseball is back. Yep, the American pastime is back. I'm a baseball fan. More specifically, I'm a Kansas City Royals fan. I'm a fan of my hometown team, through thick and thin, good times and bad times. They've certainly had their bad times since winning the World Series in 2015, but I remain a fan, nonetheless.

I've been a Royals fan since their inception in 1969. Even when I lived in the Chicagoland area, I would only go to a baseball game there if the Royals were in town -- when I could afford it and fit it into my schedule. When I couldn't make it to games, listen to the games, or watch the games on TV, I would spend the next day pouring over the box scores of the game to see how my favorite players and the team were doing. Many times, it wasn't necessarily what anyone would call good, but I was still a fan all the same.

One of my earliest and fondest memories was attending a Kansas City A's game at the old (and now gone) Municipal Stadium. I attended that game in 1965 or 1966 with my parents and maternal grandparents. Of course, the Kansas City A's pulled up their tent stakes and moved to Oakland after the 1967 season, paving the way for the 1969 expansion of Major League Baseball, which gave birth to the Kansas City Royals.

As a kid, I would often sit on the porch at my grandparents house, and listen to the baseball games on the radio with my grandfather. So, I was exposed to it all at quite an early age. I wasn't able to play baseball well, but I was still a fan. On most nights today, you will find the Kansas City Royals games playing on my TV. If I'm driving somewhere, you'll find me listening to the games on the radio. But just like with anything, there are things that I find annoying about the play-by-play announcers. And this happens on both the TV and radio. For me, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Let's say there's the start of a pitching duel. The score is 0-0. The announcers, as they break for commercials in between every half inning, will say something along the lines of "and after three innings, there's no score."

ARGH! SCREEEEEECH! (fingernails on a chalkboard)

Yes, there is a score! It's 0-0!

To be honest, I'm willing to meet halfway. I'll accept "after three innings, we remain scoreless." Technically and linguistically, even that is inaccurate, but it sure sounds a whole lot better than "there is no score." And, to give fair credit, the announcers do actually say that ... sometimes. But the "there is no score" utterance remains the most common thing they say.

It's not just our local announcers who are guilty of this, either. I've heard the announcers on games with a national audience say it, too.

We all have little items like this that just grate on our last nerve. This one resurfaced for me, as it usually does, when the new baseball season got underway. I'm sure if you think about it, you also have similar "things" that annoy you, especially when it concerns something you're really interested in.

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This month, we mourn the loss of our long time friend, forum member, Linux user and enthusiast, and all around GREAT guy, Alain Baudrez, a.k.a. Wamukota. To honor him (and to allow those who didn't have the privilege of getting to know him to experience his enthusiasm), we're reprinting some of the articles Alain wrote for the magazine. R.I.P., our dear friend!

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This month's cover is by Meemaw. It commemorates Kite Day, on May 12. Click on the previous link for instructions on how to make your own homemade kite.

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Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health.