I defy you to explain

As I walked to my office one of my friends looked at me funny. ``You look different,'' he said. ``Did you change something?'' I haven't changed my basic look since about 1989, when I got my beard.

``There's just something about you; are you sure you didn't change something?''

I did have one of the stranger feelings, namely, that I was somehow wearing two pairs of pants; but I knew that wasn't so. That's nevertheless not something I was doing different, and I didn't feel like describing neurotic feelings about my pants with him, not at 9 am. He accepted my assurance I hadn't done anything.

``Oh, well, OK then. But there is something that looks different.''

Later, I realized I should have asked if I looked better or worse.

Trivia: Among the local rules adopted 13 May 1858 by the Massachusetts Association of Base Ball Players were that the bases were to be wooden stakes reaching four feet above ground, and that games were to continue until a team scored 100 ``tallies''. At least one match was recorded to last 80 innings. Source: The Jersey Game, James M DiClerico and Barry J Pavelec.

Currently Reading: History of the Second World War, Basil H Liddell-Hart.