If there's anything more disturbing than the Orioles Santa figurine I keep seeing advertised in the local paper, it's this line of “inspirational sports statues” being hawked at CatholicShopper.com. It's good to know that, as the site says, they've asked manufacturers for versions where “the children are not caucasian”.

Somehow, as a Catholic (though I admit I'm something of a protesting one). I don't appreciate my religious denomination being identified as an online shopping demographic. And I don't particularly associate Catholicism with Jesus helping with batting practice. Somehow, I think He'd have other lessons in mind as a higher priority. And after he dealt with some of those, maybe he could handle some other baseball-related problems first–like preventing a baseball player's strike, or ending the embargo on Cuba so we can move the Expos to Havana where they belong.

From the New York Times Science Times:

“In a sense, the jellyfish is like the pigeon in today's cities, able to flourish in environments distorted by humans while other species cannot survive at all. Distinctly unlike the pigeon, however, jellyfish release millions of microscopic harpoons when touched, shooting tiny hypodermic needles into a victim's skin.”