Last Rick's Resort

Day 26: And steak for dessert

2012-01-28T11:57:00.000-05:00

We were blessed to have good friends in from out of town last night so we all went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I must have eaten my weight in peanuts just to keep the desires of the cinnamon-buttered rolls at bay. Anyway, dinner was an 11 oz. steak with mushrooms and green beans and I had not even received the steak when one of the managers came to the table to inform me that my steak was underweight and they would not only bring my original steak but an extra 6 oz steak later to (more than) make up the difference.

Best month ever

2012-01-26T21:00:00.000-05:00

In a few hours (or at the latest, by tomorrow morning), I'll pass the 500-visitor mark for the month of January. Thanks to everyone that has stopped by this month, making it the all-time best month for the site. I know 500's a far cry from the traffic seen at the other site I write for -- The Sports Rockers saw 17k visitors this month -- but this site is more "me". Sports are certainly fun to write and blog about, but here I write about the things that really move me: my series on "Alice in the Cities", coffee, science, BBQ and lately the "A Year Without Carbs" series. A lot of those posts have brought me joy. Hope you've enjoyed them in some small way too.

Day 24: Temptation comes with icing

2012-01-25T22:21:00.000-05:00

This was the sight that greeted me today at work. Actually, to be honest, I knew they were there long before I saw them. It was kind of like one of those cartoon, ribbony swirls of odor had drifted around the corner from the break room into the hallway, demanding I go check it out.

I'll end the suspense quick: I didn't eat one. But it was tempting. And a bit coincidental.

Day 22: Growth hormone

2012-01-23T17:41:00.002-05:00

I pondered in yesterday's AYWC entry: what could explain how a low-carb diet (in the absence of exercise) would hold weight steady yet convert nine pounds of fat to lean in three weeks? Within minutes of submitting my post, I came across a good possibility in Protein Power (see the sidebar for link).

Day 21: The fat-to-lean conversion continues

2012-01-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

All the things I said seven days ago... just multiply them by three and re-read them for today. Well, that's not totally true -- I did lose a fraction of a pound since January 1st. But the rest remains the same.

Day Fourteen: Hmm, that's a lot of meat.

2012-01-15T08:52:00.000-05:00

A curious thing happened on the way to weigh-in today: no change in overall weight since Day One. The two pounds that had gone off last weekend had come back this weekend. I think at this point, if I were a normal dieter trying to do low-carb, I'd think "Well, this has been a bust" and just start eating cookies. I mean, what's the point of doing a macro-nutrient restrictive diet if it isn't changing you? But since I've been taking a lot of measurements (ever the scientist), I know something is really going on here.

Day Nine: Who needs sleep? Me.

2012-01-10T20:40:00.001-05:00

The past few nights I have had a little trouble going to sleep. Typically a few pages of reading in a technical book is enough to knock me out but lately that hasn't worked. A quick check with a ketostick two nights ago showed that not only was I in ketosis but I was in the "large" range.

Day Seven: Time to face the music (aka The Tape Measure)

2012-01-08T22:11:00.001-05:00

A short update tonight on my week one weigh-in.

Since I've gone on no-carb or low carb restriction before, I expected some weight loss after one week and I did see some here. Typically this might be four or five pounds in the first week but I know now that this is mostly water being released by the body for various reasons we can talk about in another post. However, this week I only lost two pounds and, since I know I was fairly good (I did go into ketosis this morning), I wonder if this is due to the large amount of protein I ate prohibiting any lean mass lost.

We can check this using the formulas and charts provided by Protein Power (see the reading list in the side bar). I'm down to 229 pounds and given my waist, wrist and hips measurements, I can see that of the two pounds lost this week only 0.4 came from lean mass. So the larger portion of the drop in pounds came from fat. A nice showing but we've got a long way to go. Maybe tomorrow I'll ponder: why have I not wanted to run yet? Hmmm.

Day Six: Don't Bury the Lede (Updated)

2012-01-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

I've been reading through Protein Power (Eades and Eades) as I work through this year's self-experiment. After defining how much protein and carbs you will be allowed to consume daily, they discuss how one will slowly increase the intake of carbohydrates as one moves from the very restrictive menus early in the diet to the more relaxed maintenance portion.

Read more »

Day Four: Is that me?

2012-01-05T17:56:00.000-05:00

I found myself smelling my breath a lot today. And I kept wondering is that the ketosis breath starting or is it all the pepperoni I've been eating?

Day Three: A trip to the buffet

2012-01-04T20:48:00.003-05:00

At some point I knew I would end up going out to eat for dinner. Time constraints, working late, lack of forethought, pick a reason. Eventually I wind up with not enough time to cook a meal and get everything else done that I need to do before bedtime.

I'll admit it too: I'm a sucker for a good buffet. Okay, I'm a sucker for any buffet. Usually it's bad Chinese food but tonight it was Ryan's. I don't know why I like buffets so much; maybe because I used to go to them with my dear grandparents or maybe because I like all the choices. Or maybe I don't like being bothered with waiters.

Read more »

Day Two: The Sad State of Breakfast Out

2012-01-03T19:55:00.000-05:00

One of the more interesting presents I received for Christmas this year was a new Starbucks travel mug (the one with the numbers seen above) which came with a month-long deal: free brewed coffee during all of January. This morning I took my new mug into the Starbucks near my office to see if they were participating. While waiting in line, at this point about four hours after having eaten breakfast, I stared longingly into the bakery case next to the cash register. But for a customer sticking to a low-carb lifestyle for the year, there's little to be had.

Read more »

Day One: All things through bacon

2012-01-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

If I'm going to spend a year eating as few carbohydrates as possible, there's only one food that can carry me to the finish line: bacon.

2012-01-02T10:28:00.000-05:00

The Fat Trap: An article from the NY Times about creeping weight gain after low-calorie dieting ends.

I talked about this a little yesterday in regards to low-carb dieting; I'm certain had I not altered my diet somewhat, had I gone back to what I was eating before, the 15 pounds I had lost would have come back. Seems our bodies become altered after the weight loss? Interesting.

A Year Without Carbs

2012-01-01T11:30:00.002-05:00

I love to run. I have been a pretty steady runner for the past twenty years, having started when I was in high school. I took to it easily and can recall one day early on in my running "career" where I ran up and down the dirt road we lived on. For hours it seemed I ran to the main road and back to the house and back again, until my mom yelled at me from the front door to come inside. I had been at it for at least two hours. I went back later and measured the distance with the odometer of my car and found I had run nearly a half-marathon that day.

Craig James Has Plenty of Company

2011-12-03T20:24:00.001-05:00

Cross posted at The Sports Rocker.

Earlier this week, fans of Boise State and general Craig James-bashers made a stink about his AP ballot wherein he ranked 10-1 Boise State at 24th, seven spots lower than the next worse voter. The result of this (other than adding more fuel to the anti-Craig James fire) was to place BSU at 9th in the AP rankings.

What's the big deal, right? My guess, money, like always. Had James placed BSU at the same rank (17th) as the next nearest voter, it would have moved BSU up to 6th in the AP and in turn would have likely jumped BSU (currently #6) over the other BCS wildcard team Houston (#5). Which means a better bowl and more money. Same ol' story.

Critics asked the AP to disregard James's ballot or to challenge it; the AP naturally declined. Good for them. Because James is far from alone in bad voting.

Carolina-Clemson 2011

2011-11-27T10:52:00.001-05:00

34-13, that is all.

All I want for Christmas

2011-11-05T10:08:00.001-04:00

Just a few days ago, Anchor Brewing company released this year's seasonal Christmas Ale. Along with red cups at Starbucks, there are a few microbrew seasonals that really mean "the holidays" have arrived for me: Lump of Coal, Sierra Nevada Celebration and more than any of those, Anchor Christmas.

Is Cam Newton a Pro-Bowler?

2011-10-26T19:42:00.002-04:00

Crossposted at The Sports Rocker.

We're nearing the halfway point of the NFL season and early speculation about how well rookie Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton would adapt to the professional ranks has turned to ... does Cam Newton have a chance of making the Pro Bowl?

On that preseason Gamecocks ranking

2011-08-10T18:08:00.001-04:00

Andy Staples at Sports Illustrated just released his preseason top 25 for college football: the Gamecocks will start the season at #8. That's right where fellow blogger The Sports Rocker put the Gamecocks and a little bit ahead of where the USA Today preseason coaches poll put them (#12).

All of this is to say the Gamecocks start with some pretty high expectations. In fact, not only is this just the sixth time USC will begin in the preseason top 25, it's the highest ranking in school history by a few slots (the previous record was 14th waaaay back in 1959).

On the sanctity of sports records

2011-08-10T01:43:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, until yesterday I had not checked out the new endeavor from Bill Simmons, Grantland. I had seen it mentioned multiple times online (usually featured on ESPN) but I had never clicked through. So, maybe it was a bit unfortunate that my first venture onto the site would be to read this by contributor Shane Ryan:

Dan Uggla is now one game away from the year's longest hitting streak. His lone hit Monday night, an infield single, extended the streak to 29 games and helped the Atlanta Braves beat the Florida Marlins, 8-5. Experts predict that the nation has about eight to 10 more games before we need to start seriously worrying about how horrible it would be for Dan Uggla to break Joe DiMaggio's record. (emphasis mine)

The Science of Gummy Bears

2011-08-08T13:00:00.003-04:00

Gummy Bears were created in Germany about 100 years ago by the company Haribo, a portmanteau of the words Hans Riegel Bonn (the developer and the location of the company). To this day, when I see a package of Haribo gummy bears on the shelf, I'm reminded of a German Culture class years ago in college where we learned the history and process behind these bears, culminating in the famous ad jingle (that I still sing today): Haribo, macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene eben so!

Back in the saddle

2011-08-05T00:44:00.004-04:00

As should be obvious by now, I decided last month to begin blogging again in earnest. I had taken a hiatus over the past year or so as I began searched for a faculty position: primarily, out of concern that something I wrote here would be used (however unfairly) against me for future employment but also that it would take away or distract me from other writing responsibilities.

Shop talk

2011-08-03T15:12:00.003-04:00

I got in the office earlier than usual yesterday, having been out Monday taking the family to the local zoo. Workers were still in our office finishing up the installation of a new A/C system, work which had begun last week and was now in its final dusty stages: the end result being we can actually control the temperature in the room now (as opposed to it being set by the rest of building or by luck or the thermostat gnomes).

In that hour in the office by myself with only the A/C installers, I was struck mostly by their conversation. They wondered about the meaning to the lyrics at the end of The Beatles' Across the Universe*, one practiced some short Spanish phrases he planned to try out on the waitress at lunch (don't ask), they told off-color jokes, they picked on the new guy, one chewed some sort of dip. The boss told everyone less this, more working and then disappeared for yet another smoke break. And on and on until the work was done. And I was reminded that this is how a good portion of the world works, not in silence, head-phones on, staring at a computer screen but actually interacting with each other, joking, laughing, cutting-up. Which is to say, the exact opposite of university research offices.

Blown Calls

2011-07-27T10:27:00.004-04:00

About sixteen innings into last night controversial game between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates, Travis Haney (of the Charleston Post and Courier) was asked what is it about a 16+ inning game that compels us to watch, no matter how late it is. He responded that we just have to, there's something in our DNA. I agree; I think that when the game starts going long, we tune in, certain we will see something historic. Maybe it will be the longest game ever, or a walk-off grand slam single, perhaps the third baseman will have to come in to pitch. But I think all of us could be forgiven for not guessing the ending to last night's game: Possibly The Worst Call Ever.

End of an era or My Life Near Books

2011-07-22T17:35:00.001-04:00

My first "real" job (if we don't count bagging groceries) was a gift from my grandmother. She was the manager at the Waldenbooks in Dutch Square, had been working at book stores for years and had enough pull to get me a seasonal position at a Waldenbooks across town in Irmo one Thanksgiving. I can look back now, over twenty years, and see in that job the events that would shape the person I've become today.

So, I was struck by the recent news of the liquidation of all Borders locations, including the remaining 100 or 150 Waldenbooks sites. I think most of us can see that it marks the end of an era: the disappearance of physical buildings filled with books, especially those located inside of malls (another dying business), the loss of employees specialized in knowing a wide range of authors and topics and both old and new releases. All of that is going away, for whatever reason, and with it, it seems, a piece of my youth.

Alice in the Cities: Charlottesville, VA

2011-07-20T23:19:00.006-04:00

In previous posts, I have attempted to chronicle the cities and towns of the southeastern United States that Wim Wenders and actor Rüdiger Vogler (and possibly one crewman) passed through in the opening minutes of the 1974 German road movie, Alice in the Cities. I find, now thirty months after my first post on the topic, I am constantly returning to this project. I don't know why, maybe it's just my need to see a project to its completion. Maybe it's the rare meeting of two of my loves: Germany and South Carolina. Either way, it came to my attention today that one city in the itinerary I thought had been well documented was in fact incorrect. That discovery continues after the jump.

(Coffee) Grounds for Dissent in Columbia, SC

2011-07-12T16:02:00.005-04:00

In the late 1960s, a significant percentage of the country was rebelling against Vietnam. A laundry list of anti-war organizations were formed, singers railed against the war in verse, authors penned novels against U.S. involvement and college campuses were swamped in civil disobedience. Another outlet for protest was sweeping the nation: GI coffeehouses, a magnet for anti-military GIs, a place to have a cup of coffee and mingle with civilians over games of chess, music and dissent. One might expect this movement to develop in San Francisco or Berkley in the heart of the New Left but it began in the fall of 1967 in Columbia, SC, near Fort Jackson.

Is the man-cession really over?

2011-07-11T17:47:00.001-04:00

Michael Barone, whose work I usually agree with, writes today in the National Review Online that the "man-cession is over". I've touched on the "man-cession" before a little in a previous blog, the idea that the recession in 2007 or 2008 hit men disproportionally (mostly due the nature of the jobs which were affected by the collapsing economy). Now, according to Barone, we've seen the end of this disparity.

MLB : How much does a win "cost"?

2009-07-13T19:04:00.014-04:00

Manny Acta, coach of the Washington Nationals, was fired early today. The Nationals are currently last in the National League East and have the dubious honor of sporting the worst record in baseball: nearly 10 games back of the next worst team and on pace for a pathetic 50 wins or less. Not good, to say the least.

From the article,

"We feel that the team has underachieved," [General Manager Mike] Rizzo said. "We feel we have a better ballclub than we've shown on the field."

Easy to say in the heat of the moment, when you're looking for a scapegoat or a reason for having dumped Acta. But, is it true? Has the team underachieved?

Unemployment and the real culprit

2009-05-13T09:40:00.018-04:00

Since the spring of last year, the unemployment rate has risen from less than 5% to 9+%; millions of Americans out of work -- 13.7 million to be exact -- is obviously dire news. So, when last month's numbers showed a drop in layoffs, one might be inclined to think the economy was beginning to turn around. But, the problem is, we're looking at the wrong data.

The trouble with computer models

2009-02-04T11:39:00.016-05:00

From a story today in the L.A. Times:

"We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California." And, [Chu] added, "I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going".

Strong words indeed: the collapse of agriculture in California, the downfall of cities, water shortages in the Midwest and so forth. Perhaps we really should look at alternative energy sources if all of this is going to happen. And the proof for this collapse? Computer models.

Alice in the Cities: Possible Itinerary

2009-01-09T08:18:00.009-05:00

[This is a continuation of the Alice in the Cities series, part one is here.]
UPDATE: Since the google map link goes to a dynamic map, it has been updated and does not necessarily coincide with the text of this post any longer.

In a previous post, I listed (in film chronology) the spots which Wim Wenders filmed along the east coast of the U.S. (or at a minimum, my best guess). We can also look at this pictorially by creating a Google Map of the trip. This is below the fold.

View Larger Map

By plugging in all the spots pictured in the film (some more positively ID'd than others), we can see a clear pattern. Wenders and Vogler (who played Philip Winters) more than likely landed in New York. They began to drive the east coast, maybe with only Robby Mueller as crew, looking for "American" places to film. They were essentially filming without a script. From DVD Times,

Freeing himself also from any strict script, Alice in the Cities then grew along with the relationships between its characters, largely improvised and scripted as they journey through the movie.

There's also evidence of this in the film itself. At one point, Winters is staying in Manhattan with a friend as he waits for the flight back to Germany/Amsterdam. He tries to explain the trip he has just taken to the woman:

Soon as you leave New York everything looks the same. . . All I could imagine was things going on and on. Sometimes on the road I was sure I would turn back next morning. But still I went on and on and listened to that sickening radio.

Winters is probably channeling what Vogler felt as he rode in the car every day with Wenders, listening to the "blasted" radio, staying in less-than-stellar motels, thinking to himself each morning: Maybe he'll [Wenders] want to turn back today.

Returning to the itinerary. Viewing it above as such does lend credence to the possibility of Everetts, NC being the home of Chester's Grocery. It would have been along the route of a person driving HWY 17 from Surf City, NC to the Richmond (VA) area. At a minimum, it suggests that Chester's is probably along the coast like the other spots, since there's no reason to believe at this point that Wenders deviated much from this road. It would make a natural North-South path along the coast and would provide cheaper restaurants and motels for the two to visit.

One drawback to plotting the trip on a map, though, is that it contradicts the above quote from the film: "Soon as you leave New York everything looks the same." At some point, the trip more than likely took them through Washington, D.C. The trip probably went through Philadelphia. To say that these places look no different than Low Country, South Carolina is absolutely absurd. But these spots are absent from the film because they negate the message that Wenders was trying to convey with the opening sequence of Alice in the Cities: that Winters could not write because he was changed by the homogeneity of America outside of NY.

My discussion on this topic (homogeneity of the U.S., part 3) to follow as soon as possible.

Alice in the Cities: Unknown locations

2009-01-08T18:38:00.011-05:00

[This is a supplemental to the Alice in the Cities series, part one is here.]

Two locations in the opening segment of the film are difficult to place geographically: the diner and the gas station. The former, the diner, suffers from lack of signs (you are never shown the name of the restaurant you're inside); the latter is difficult due to the fact small-town gas stations from the 1970s (most likely locally owned) rarely make the internet.

First, the diner. After getting a drink at the counter, Winters looks out the open front of the diner to see one building on the right with garage doors and a building on the left with "EPUBLIC SHOE CORP" (sic).

One possible location, (h/t Emily), is Far Rockaway, NY where the Republic Shoe Corporation was founded in 1957. Certainly the building in the movie could have been moved by now but it might make sense that this shot is in NY or NJ near where the company was founded. Suggestions will be appreciated.

The second difficult location is the gas station. Winters stops for gas and then walks out the road (heavily trafficked behind him) to take a picture of the store front.

We're shown the picture that Winters takes (above) with his car at the pumps and a boy he talked with to the right: Whatchu takin' pictures for? The owner won't like it. One possible longshot is Everetts, NC which is referenced in this book, Hugh Smithwick's Descendants. Everetts sits right on HWY 17 in eastern NC and would be on the way from Surf City, NC to the Richmond, VA area for someone travelling the backroads or HWY 17. Again, suggestions are welcome.

A Google map of the itinerary has been added now, follow the link here.

Alice in the Cities: U.S. Connection (Part 2)

2009-01-08T16:12:00.030-05:00

[This is a continuation of the Alice in the Cities series, part one is here.]

In this part, I will show screen captures from the 1973 German film Alice in the Cities (Wenders). The movie opens with 20 minutes of "on-the-road-in-the-U.S." footage of which roughly the first 7 minutes are most relevant to us. Wenders, like his lead character Philip Winters, is essentially driving through the U.S., taking footage of what he sees out the window of the car.

The scenes happen in the following order in the film -- note, this is not necessarily (and probably not likely) the order in which the scenes were shot.

1. Opening scene is of a plane in the sky pulling down to a road sign near the beach and a jut of rocks into the ocean.

The sign says "67th St.", the preceding "B" meaning "beach" (the shot of the ocean backing this up). My guess is this is near Rockaway in Queens. Later in the movie, Philip sells his car in the shadow of Shea Stadium not too far away from this likely site. A link to Google maps can be accessed here. Also, Google has linked a photo someone took on these rocks of the waves crashing in.

2. Driving through a small town, Winters stops the car to take a picture, then turns to the right. Seemingly in the same town, there is a close up of a water tower labeled "Surf City".

"Surf City" is a real place: Surf City, NC. Searching for "Ward Realty" delivers the site Ward Realty Corporation, in business since 1951 on Topsail Drive in "downtown" Surf City.

3. View through the front window of a motel named "The Driftwood", then another motel named "Roxanne" in front of which Winters turns the car to the right to pull up next to the ocean.

These two motels are still in business today on the strip in Myrtle Beach, SC. The Driftwood started 75 years ago and can be found at 1600 N. Ocean Blvd; it sits right next door (1604 N. Ocean Blvd) to the Roxanne. 35 years ago, Wim Wenders pulled up between these two motels and took a picture (above right) that set me off on this project. A kid growing up in South Carolina needs no sign to tell him he's looking at Myrtle Beach.

4. A scene in a diner, location unknown.

5. Driving down a road, presumably in the Low Country. There are moss covered trees and then a sign for HWY 41.

My best guess is that this is the Low Country, SC, outside of Charleston -- mostly due to the moss-covered trees and plantation-style homes in this part of the film. There's a point along HWY 17, near Mt Pleasant, where HWY 41 comes to join HWY 17 (above left reads "JCT") which would have been the major road of travel in those parts 35 years ago.

6. A scene at a gas station, Chester's Grocery & Gas, location unknown although probably on a main thoroughfare since large trucks are using the road.

7. Driving through the next town, Winters reads the call letters from a sign near a building, "Channel 6 W-T-V-R", he says.

This is a very easy find -- WTVR Channel 6 in Richmond, VA.

8. It is now night time, Winters passes under a sign on the interstate for Emmet St. and then (after a cut in filming) spies a motel called the Skyway Motel.

A Google search for "Emmet St." (above left) brings up about 10 possibilities only two of which are remotely close to the east coast: Daytona, FL and Essex, NJ. Searching for "Skyway Motel" (above right) shows there's one near Jersey City, NJ about 4-5 miles from Emmet St., Essex, NJ. Both are right off HWY1 and I-95 so this could very likely be its location.

A supplemental section is next, containing two locations I could not place (at this time).

Alice in the Cities: Introduction (Part 1)

2009-01-08T10:04:00.009-05:00

I have not blogged in a while, I know, thanks for returning. I've been hesitant to blog as I apply for jobs but I also want to get this post in before I forget too much.]

A quick background is required: One of the foreign films that I was lucky to see as a student in college was the 1973 Wim Wenders' road movie, Alice in den Staedten (Alice in the Cities). It was part of a 300-level German class, including other gems such as Das Boot, Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) and Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run). Wenders is a well-known German filmmaker, with over 40 years of films and plenty of awards. In 1973, he began a series of road movies -- Alice in the Cities, The Wrong Move, and Kings of the Road. The first installment (Alice) centers around a photojournalist/writer Philip Winters (played by Rüdiger Vogler) who has a serious case of writer's block. He has been commissioned to write an article about America and, in preparation for that piece, drives around the U.S. taking Polaroid pictures. He is distraught, however, when the pictures develop -- they never seem to show the real images he was looking at. In the end, he can not finish the writing in the States so he sells his car to afford a ticket back to Germany (after a detour in Amsterdam because of an airline worker strike) where he promises his friend he will finish the article.

When I sat down in front of YouTube on Monday to watch this film, I had no idea that I would discover that the places and pictures Wenders cataloged in the opening section of the film would be so close to home -- South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, etc. In part 2, I'll attempt to prove what I feel are known spots along the east coast, specifically in the Southeast, by comparing screen captures to information readily available to us now online. In part 3, I'll discuss what current literature says about this Wenders piece and how it may differ for those of us who grew up in the Southeast.

Part 2 is posted here.

A quick primer on Subprime

2008-09-26T10:32:00.006-04:00

This has to be my favorite introduction/primer to the current economic crisis. For one, because it's essentially non-partisan and secondly, because it's so funny. Link comes after the fold and contains some expletives so consider this your warning.

Early voting nearly here

2008-09-24T08:32:00.003-04:00

For the campaign season that seems to have gone on forever, the end is nearly here. Early voting has begun in some states and we're still six weeks out. Those of us in NC have a few days waiting left: in general, we can start on Oct 16th. Guidelines and information can be found here.

Whenever I do cast my ballot (and I'm nearly certain it will be early), I will be ecstatic. Not because of the historical moment I'll be participating in: the first election of a minority if either party wins -- I could less about this pointless narrative that partisans want to thrust upon us. No, I'll be happy because of the sweet relief and the sound of silence.

How a hurricane changed the MLB season

2008-09-24T08:20:00.003-04:00

From August 1st to September 11th, the Houston Astros weren't just good, they dominated MLB by posting a 30-10 record. Over the two weeks leading up to September 11th, they lost only one game (a close one on the road in Colorado), going 14-1. They were screaming up the standings in the NL Central, blowing away the competition. Then Hurricane Ike came, and it blew away any chance the Astros had.

On September 13th in the pre-dawn, the atmospheric wave that left Sudan nearly a month earlier slammed into the Texas shoreline as the strong Category 2 hurricane known as Ike. It devastated Galveston, whose residents are only now returning. Ike continued through Texas, across Houston, up into the rest of the U.S., to dissipate a few days later. In its wake, homes, businesses and lives were destroyed.

In Houston, the red-hot Astros were forced to find a new home for their upcoming baseball games. After playing (and winning) on Thursday the 11th at home against the Pirates, they hit the road, driving to Wisconsin. The first two games (Friday and Saturday) of a series against the Cubs were postponed. On September 14th, they stepped on their "home" turf of Milwaukee Miller Park, having not played in three days, three days mostly spent moving an organization countless miles north. Zambrano and the Cubs promptly no-hit the Astros, the first neutral site no-hitter ever.

It would only be the beginning. The Astros dropped their first five games post-Ike and all told went 2-7 since September 14th. The day they hit the road for a series of home games in Wisconsin they were 3 games out of the Wild Card in the NL and, having gone 14-1, were probably the best bet in the league to win the spot. Two weeks later, they sit 4 1/2 games back with no room for error: another loss or a win by the Mets and the post-season is out.

What happened? Owner Drayton Mclane stated that it wasn't the change of venue, but the idea of leaving behind homes and loved ones. Rather than focus on the Cubs, they were worried about the devastation happening at home. The outcry was so loud, MLB took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle explaining to Astros fans that there was really no other option. You can read it for yourself at the link, but the thrust of the arugment is that there was no other option: they wanted a domed stadium that was available (no conflict of schedule) and they wanted to keep in somewhere from Texas east. The result: Milwaukee. Of course, with millions of Cubs fans next door, it was bound to cause controversy. And in the end, it probably was the reason the Astros collapsed, the timing and the change of venue.

Houston played their first home game in weeks last night. Fittingly, they lost to the Reds. Surely, they've given up a little bit, soured by the whole experience from Ike to Milwaukee. Could MLB have held onto those games until a later point in the season? If they could delay one game until September 29th (after the regular season), why not a double header? Why not make an exception for the Astros and wait until the end of the season to see if those game would have even been necessary to decide the standings. Instead, MLB made its decision to send the Astros packing and the rest is history. And we the fans are left to wonder what if.

Kyoto Protocol redux

2008-09-21T23:39:00.007-04:00

When President Bush announced in 2005 that he could not in good faith sign the Kyoto Protocol, he was quoted as saying, "Kyoto would have wrecked our economy." Australia, the UK, Canada, India and others signed on however (there are approximately 180 total signatures) and even some American cities disregarded Bush's lead. Hindsight is an amazing thing -- five years on, some European countries are reconsidering their stance on the treaty.

I outlined in my previous Kyoto entry some of the main reasons the U.S. has declined to adopt the treaty's regulations. From that post, the number one reason not to follow the protocol:

The Kyoto Protocol is a thinly-veiled attack on industrialized nations. For the US to move away from oil-based economy to alternatives by 2012 would require about $400 billion in economic losses plus millions of lost jobs, in the meantime, we would be discarding technology (power plants, gas-guzzling cars) that still had life left in it. Some estimates show the cost of the KP would be $716 billion, with the US covering approximately 2/3rd of the cost. (see Requiem for Kyoto: An Economic Analysis of the Kyoto Protocol by William D. Nordhaus and Joseph G. Boyer) Or seen from another country's point of view, since Japan is one of the most efficient, least polluting, highly industrialized nations in the world, their involvement in the protocol would be to simply purchase Carbon Credits, once again moving money from developed to undeveloped countries.

While the U.S. declined to suffer the economic losses necessary to make the large-scale transition required under the treaty, the European Union bought into the "greening". Now, in an economic crisis, that move doesn't look so smart. From the Yahoo story linked above:

The cost to industry is estimated at some 44 billion euros per year between 2013 and 2020, with a tonne (1.1 US tons) of C02 costing 30 euros.

Business leaders have denounced the policy as a "tax", threatening to take their investments elsewhere and move their more polluting activities out of Europe.

Faced with the threat of job losses, governments are feeling the pressure.

The article continues by noting that some governments are thinking of abandoning the project, calling it "garbage". Said Renato Brunetta, Italy's minister for innovation and a trained economist, "If it happens, it would kill the economic upturn." Wow, eerily similar to what President Bush said years ago.

We should take this as a lesson. Not so much that maybe sometimes Bush is right, but that handcuffing industry in an attempt to combat global warming is pointless. It seemingly leads to two options: 1) industry refusing to comply with the guidelines, by continuing the emissions as they just pay the fines or 2) industry takes its business elsewhere, as is looking more and more likely in Europe. Maybe a different approach is needed altogether.

Notes from Saturday

2008-09-20T17:49:00.016-04:00

Just a few things that caught my eye (or ear) this Saturday in the world of sports.

After surprising East Carolina at home, NC State's victory earned them the front page photo at ESPN.com.

Not only is this headline pathetic (what does 'Pirate Whip' actually mean?), it's not even the original headline: "Howl Yeah", clearly a play on the NCSU mascot, The Wolfpack. Certainly someone must have pointed out a couple minutes after the original headline was posted that an insinuation of cursing is essentially the same as cursing itself.

Announcer during one of the afternoon football games: "Yeah, his arm is deadly accurate." Meaning, he kills wide receivers if they dare to catch one of his throws.

With a win (or White Sox/Yankess loss), the Tampa Bay Rays clinch a spot in the postseason. In a season that saw them 1) break 70 wins for the first time and naturally 2) have a winning season for the first time, it's almost impossible to believe they're on their way to 3) their first post season. I dare not dream any higher.

For bonus points, name the only team in the AL East -- obviously prior to this season -- that ever finished behind Tampa (last place in 9 of its first 10 seasons of existence).

Time to part ways with your ball coach, Tennessee? That Florida game was not only embarrassing, but also too much the norm these past few seasons under Coach Fulmer. Underperform much?

What was South Carolina doing in a nail-biter against Wofford one week after giving top-three Georgia fits? Ridiculous, Gamecocks.

Talk like a Pirate Day spinoffs

2008-09-19T11:41:00.003-04:00

In honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day (every year on September 19th), I present this: Talk Like A Pirate Day pickup lines. I won't steal their thunder, but I will make the obvious point. Just like Dave Letterman's Top Ten, number two is usually the best one.

Alright, North Carolina, you win

2008-09-18T10:49:00.012-04:00

When I first moved to The Tar Heel State a decade ago, one of the first shocks was the lack of mustard-based barbecue. You could look all over for it, it was nowhere to be found. Eleven years later, the situation has changed little -- there exist a few restaurants in the Triangle which cater to us misfits who prefer to add something to our pork other than ketchup or tomato. Typically, an SC-expat is forced to search the shelves at the local Harris Teeter (in the dusty parts where no self-respecting Tar Heel would look) to find that accidental bottle of Sticky Fingers mustard sauce. Or barring that, you're forced to truck in, Smokey-and-the-Bandit-style, bottles of smuggled Shealy's across the line of demarcation where mustard ends and lesser condiments begin.

Still, slow-roasting chicken in the crock pot only to (later that night) slather it in Shealy's is no substitute for a pig-pickin' and one can go to Red, Hot and Blue only so many times on a student's budget. Instead, the stranger in a strange land is forced to adapt and that meant, if I couldn't at least love it, I had to learn to live with NC-style barbecue.

Time will show I couldn't change NC -- it changed me. Today at work, leftovers from the latest luncheon were delivered to the conference room for the masses to devour: barbeque from Cooper's, potatoes, slaw, fried chicken, and hushpuppies. I'm not one to typically add the patented "fourth meal" to the day, but for barbecue I'll make the exception.

And I realize after all these years stuck here in NC -- because, let's be honest, I'm not exactly knocking down doors to find local jobs -- that I've come to actual enjoy the NC-style barbecue that gets served by the caterers and the local restaurants here in Raleigh: pulled/shredded, heavy on the vinegar, a good touch of pepper flakes. It works for me, not totally making me forget mustard-based, but it's not intended to -- it serves as a stopgap until I can get the good stuff.

With that admission, I don't feel much like lingering so I leave you with some Gaffigan.

Just like that, Seinfeld's out

2008-09-18T10:49:00.004-04:00

It seems like the ad campaign just began but the news is already coming in: Microsoft is dropping Seinfeld.

From the article:

The awkward reality: The ads only reminded us how out of touch with consumers Microsoft is — and that Bill Gates's company has millions of dollars to waste on hiring a has-been funnyman to keep him company.

This makes no sense. If the point of your ad campaign is to try and reconnect to the public and restore the image of this super company, then giving up after (what?) two commercials sends what message? That, yeah, we're out of touch and we give up easy. The company that's asking you the consumer to trust them with your computer needs will fold after all of two weeks of less-than-stellar PR response.

And on a personal note: I disagree with the "has-been" part. Seinfeld is still funny, period.

On the Logan Act and its elusiveness

2008-09-17T08:12:00.011-04:00

As known by most readers at The Resort, one of my personal favorite presidents was John Adams, who spent only one term as the second president of the United States of America from 1797-1801. But in that relatively short period of time, a significant amount of legislation was passed and a war that wasn't quite a war was resolved. Among that legislation were the Naturalization Act, Alien Act and Sedition Act, and the Alien Enemies Act (the only one of these four still active) which allows the U.S. government to deport resident aliens if the U.S. is at war with their home countries. Forgotten however in the historical focus on these "Alien and Sedition Acts" (as they're collectively known) is the Logan Act, enacted in 1799.

Named for a Pennsylvanian state legislator, Dr. George Logan (a former physician), the Logan Act forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign countries -- typically, these duties fall to the Secretary of State or the President himself. Logan raised the ire of President Adams by traveling to France during the Quasi-War, identifying himself as a citizen of the U.S. and negotiating a peace settlement with diplomat Talleyrand. According to John Adams (by David McCullough), Adams became upset when Logan suggested that America send a new diplomat to France to which Adams (being President and all) said,

"But I'll do no such thing. I'll send whom I please."
"And whomever you do please to send will be received," Logan assured him.

Adams took offense (despite the obvious success of Logan's trip to France), Secretary of State Pickering (whose toes Logan probably stepped on) said that the U.S. should curb the influence of individuals acting between the U.S. and France and the Logan Act was passed with ease.

The irony in the Logan Act's origin arise from the fact that modern day references to it and its application present the Logan Act as a way to punish individuals of the U.S. who have been negotiating for the worse, not the better. Logan clearly had the U.S.'s best interest at heart -- he was trying to end the Quasi-War which Pickering and Secretary of War McHenry felt was unavoidable. Of course, these days when the Logan Act shows up in the news, the individual under suspect of violation is purported to not have had the U.S.'s interest at heart.

***

Contrary to public mythology that states there have been no prosecutions of this law during its 200 years on the books, it was actually invoked in 1984. From Armillary Observations:

...which references a companion case, United States v. Munoz. The opinion in [US v] Silverman clearly lays out the Munoz facts: Carlos Angel Munoz was charged, inter alia, under 18 U.S.C. § 953 — that’s right, the Logan Act — the maximum penalty for which was three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both. The charge was that Munoz had engaged in “private correspondence with [the Cuban] government with intent to influence that government’s dispute with the United States.”

Munoz contested the charges, was convicted, and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

So the precedent is there for a modern-day conviction. Federal prosecutors looking to make a name for themselves (cough cough, Kenneth Starr, cough) could use US v. Munoz (or Silverman) as the basis for seeking an indictment against Speaker Pelosi for her trip to Syria or Senator Obama for his recent trip to Iraq where he called for a troop withdrawal publicly but allegedly told the Iraqis something different.

As we now know, Pelosi was not indicted because she was on "a fact-finding mission" -- the same terminology Senator Obama employed this summer as he departed for the Middle East. That's the trouble with application of the Logan Act, it's the haziest of all lines. Is the individual only gathering information from the foreign country and its diplomats? Is the U.S. individual making requests of that country? If so, is there suitable proof and is it worth pursuing? This list of questions and the difficulty in answering them makes indicting under the Logan Act almost impossible and certainly time- and cost-prohibitive.

***

But there is another reason to take seriously allegations of violation of the Logan Act -- specifically, violations committed by members of the U.S. Congress or Senate. As detailed in the 150 pages of debate that encompassed passage of the bill in 1799, Representative Parker of Massachusetts explained, "the people of the United States have given to the executive department the power to negotiate with foreign governments, and to carry on all foreign relations[.]" Hence, negotiations of peace or requests to withdraw troops made by U.S. senators and congressmen not only walks the fine line of the Logan Act, it most certainly crosses the separation of power between the three branches of government as laid out in the Constitution. Put another way, even if asking Iraq to delay announcement of troop withdrawal isn't against the law via the Logan Act, it takes power from the executive branch and gives it to the legislative -- a clear violation of the Constitution for which Senator Obama works.

That said, should any of the individuals be prosecuted? Of course not. Although their intentions may have been less than grand, I don't feel they meant any harm to the United States -- they were simply looking for political capital. Counting the politician who aren't looking out for themselves first would take one hand with many fingers left over. Still, the fact remains, the Logan Act gets a lot of press because members of our government tend to gamble close to crossing it. Perhaps it would take a prosecution to remind legislators of their place: in their seat, crafting laws, voting on bills, not traveling around the world talking to foreign countries, good or evil. Let the executive branch do its job.

How a lie begins

2008-09-12T08:19:00.003-04:00

I got a call this morning pre-coffee. Which should be reason enough to not answer the phone but I did anyway. The person on the other end said, ABC was running an interview with Sarah Palin tonight and they said she thinks global warming is man-made. Hmm, I respond. "But I thought you said one thing you liked about her was that she thought global warming wasn't man-made?" This is how a lie begins.

I don't blame my friend for this -- how can you know when you're an unknowing participant in passing along a lie? The trouble with today's news cycle is that it takes so much work to sift through the barrage of information (it's literally everywhere) and divine what's good and what's a falsification. Maybe you're busy, the kids are screaming or you're driving into work, only half listening to the radio and you don't have a computer nearby to check out the source of the information because no source is exempt. Left and Right, all sources have an agenda to push because they are interested in only one thing: generating money or traffic (or the combination thereof).

The average response to the news is to accept it, hey, it's Dan Rather, why would he lie?. Wrong, that doesn't work any longer. The response to hearing something these days, even from a supposed unbiased source such as NPR, should be to question it. Look for alternate sources, alternate opinions. Or even best, look for a transcript, just to remove one more editor's fingerprints from the mix. That ABC interview where Palin supposedly said to Charlie Gibson global-warming was man-made? (emphasis mine)

PALIN: I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change. Here in Alaska, the only arctic state in our union, of course, we see the effects of climate change more so than any other area with ice pack melting. Regardless, though, of the reason for climate change, whether it's entirely, wholly caused by man's activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet -- the warming and the cooling trends -- regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it and we have to make sure that we're doing all we can to cut down on pollution.

GIBSON: But it's a critical point as to whether or not this is man-made. He says it is. You have said in the past it's not.

PALIN: The debate on that even, really has evolved into, OK, here's where we are now: scientists do show us that there are changes in climate. Things are getting warmer. Now what do we do about it. And John McCain and I are gonna be working on what we do about it.

GIBSON: Yes, but isn't it critical as to whether or not it's man-made, because what you do about it depends on whether its man-made.

PALIN: That is why I'm attributing some of man's activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now.

GIBSON: But I, color me a cynic, but I hear a little bit of change in your policy there. When you say, yes, now you're beginning to say it is man-made. It sounds to me like you're adapting your position to Sen. McCain's.

PALIN: I think you are a cynic because show me where I have ever said that there's absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any affect, or no affect, on climate change.

This interview essentially follows this path: Palin says regardless of the source of global warming, we have to reduce pollution; Gibson points out that Palin has disagreed with McCain in the past about man-made or not; Palin says we'll have to work together; Gibson pushes again, don't we have to know the source? to which Palin eventually says, look Gibson, at no point have I ever said there's either proof that man has affected or had no affect on global warming. (That should be easy enough to check -- has she ever said there is proof either way?)

Far from saying that global warming is man-made, she's saying we have no proof of whether it's man-made or not. I actually disagree with her but that's not the point here. The point is, I received a call from a reader who said, I'm assuming because they heard it on NPR, that Sarah Palin buys into man-made global warming. From the transcript above, it's clear she doesn't think that -- she's actually copping out and riding the fence on the issue which for the record is one disagreement I have with McCain's policies: even if we don't know that global warming is man-made, he'd like to handcuff businesses. It would appear, from the interview above that they both (him and Palin) believe this -- the debate about who caused global warming (he thinks man did, she says man didn't) is immaterial, they both want to "fight pollution".

The problem with this kind of interview that Sarah Palin subjected herself to is that her words, however innocently stated, will go through many hands and agendas on the way to your ears. Her stance on any issue will be spliced, edited, backed with accompanying music, teased with commercial promos, hidden behind overlying graphics, bombarded from below by contradicting chyrons, introduced by anchors with bias and network channels with axes to grind. Her words never stood a chance. Think about that the next time you hear something on the radio or watch an interview on television, just how many layers of spin the story has been put through and how many nefarious hands have soiled it before it reaches you the consumer. Remember, the people you talk to later about what you heard will probably be just as uninterested in tracking down the truth, so get the story right the first time.

On the anniversary of everything

2008-09-11T10:48:00.005-04:00

I first remembered it was the anniversary when I began to write a check this morning. Right there in the date line: 9/11/08.

It's been seven years since Americans on a Tuesday in November were roused out of their daily chores or class or work, came together in circles around TVs in homes and offices and certainly stood staring at the video unfolding in front of them, seemingly unable to comprehend what they were witnessing.

9-11 became my second "where were you when" moment in my life -- my first being the Challenger explosion in 1986 which we, as a class, witnessed on television, having pulled a TV from the library into our classroom to experience the momentous exploration of the first teacher in space. (Obviously that day became more momentous for other reasons.)

However coincidentally, 9-11 came to me during class as well. This probably strikes few of those that know me as strange: I've spent the better part of these 33 years in class. But, the salient point being, I remember where I was "when I first heard" about the planes. I can't remember the day before or the day after. But that day is forever etched in my memory like a sort of bookmark. I will forever recall looking up from the computer screen I was sitting behind in the lab on the first floor of our engineering building, the scenes on CNN.com completely alien to me, turning to those in the lab beside me who had also just come from Thermodynamics class, and asking, "Anyone else go to CNN yet?"

Why? Why do we remember sitting in a classroom staring at a TV as the Challenger split in two, the room we sat in when planes flew into the buildings in NY, the exact table in Fuddruckers we were sitting at when we stared in amazement at the footage of the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrating on re-entry?

The answer, of course, is because memory is not just about remembering or storing events and places and people from our past. It's also about storing relevant events and people. In the way your brain "forgets" what you had for supper on Monday because that information is hardly important, it "stores" what you wore on your first date with your wife, the feeling upon arrival of your first child into the world and, in some strange way, where you were when the Twin Towers collapsed or JFK was shot. Research shows that this is because our memory of the past shapes how we deal with the future. Our ability to solve a problem next year may be rooted in what we store from today.

This explains activities such as remembering phone numbers and lock combinations: we'll need them for future reference. Remembering your mom's birthday but not your cousin's: more likely to give your mom a gift or a call. But does this tell us anything about why we remember where we were and how we felt when we heard the Challenger had exploded? Or why I remember that 9-11 was a Tuesday around 9 in the morning. What about these accidents and assassinations are we trying to store and for what use will they come in handy in the future?

Return of the Wonderlic

2008-09-10T20:34:00.010-04:00

Nearly three years ago, I blogged about the negative press that Vince Young's Wonderlic Personnel Test score was receiving. At the time, I said that the low score should not be seen as a judge of his future NFL possibility (he had just won the National Championship after all). Well, it looks like maybe I was wrong.

A brief recap from the earlier piece:

The average score is about 21 for those tested, with about a 25 for QBs (this equates to roughly an IQ of 100). Some QBs in the past have scored well into the 30s: Brian Griese (39), Bledsoe (37), Elway (30), Young (33), Aikman (29). But there were notable QBs below 25: Favre (22) and Marino (16). So, Young's 6 or 16 might be alarming, but if Marino is any indication, a 16's not the end of the world.

Young's WPT score was up-for-debate but at best it was a 16, the same as Dan Marino (who failed to win an NFL championship), and at worst it was a 6. Which may be the score one would get if they chose "C" every time.

In 2006, the low score was written off; Young was taken third (ahead of Leinart) and was soon starting for the Titans. Young's recent emotional troubles have been well-documented by ESPN but as a sidebar, the article has been accompanied by a chart of QB passer ratings since 2006.

For all QBs in the past two-plus seasons who have attempted at least 500 passes, Vince Young ranks the lowest with a QB passer rating of 68.3 -- lower than into-the-fire Alex Smith, lower than the much-maligned Rex Grossman, lower even than Joey Harrington. A description of the QB passer-rating can be found here, but we can do a little math on Young's number to get a sense of just how bad it is.

Working backwards, a score of 68.3 corresponds to a four-component score of essentially 4 (which also almost ensures that no single component is above 2.375). Since the four QB passer-rating components add up to 4, this equates to roughly 1 apiece. Thus, all components being equal, his stats look like: 50% completion rate, 7 yards per attempt, 1 TD every 20 attempts, 1 INT every 18 attempts. Looking at his career stats on ESPN, his TD rate is actually worse (1 per 35 attempts) but that's off-set by his rushing TDs. By comparison, the 2007 stats of an unremarkable QB (J. Kitna): 63% completion, almost 8 yds per attempt, 1 TD per 30 attempts, 1 INT per 28 attempts. The point being, it's not just in QB passer rating where Young is deficient but in almost every important QB statistical catergory, Vince Young -- NCAA champion, top-three pick -- pales far in comparison even to Kitna!

So, to be honest, maybe Tennessee Titan fans had a right to boo last week when the Titans hosted Jacksonville. Two years after the fact, the first-round pick used on Texas Longhorn Vince Young is beginning to look more bust than boom. Does that tell us something, however retroactively, about the application of the Wonderlic Test? At the time, the score of 16 (or 6) was laughed off; now, it looks nearly prescient. Is it perhaps just as good (or better) a judge of QB talent compared to a professional scout?

One scare at a time

2008-09-08T00:39:00.006-04:00

I have nothing against clowns. Don't like them or dislike them. Still I know some of my readers love a good clown story. And when you think of clowns, I know you instantly think of church, right?

Most churches have Men's Club or a monthly coffee house. Whatever it takes to get The Good Word out. The Real Life Community Church in Pennsylvania has a clown troupe. And last month, Sad Clown and Happy Clown and all the other unnamed clowns silently began an outreach program in their community. I say, "silently", because they perform acts of kindness throughout the city using nary a word.

One example of this outreach was a "pray and wash", a church-sponsored event where passers-by were treated to a free car wash while the clown troupe entertained. No fee, no donations, just good ol' fashioned clown car wash.

I'll be honest, it has to be the most ingenuous church outreach program I've ever heard of. I wish them luck.

BONUS: The photo at the above link: priceless.

Seinfeld-Microsoft ad

2008-09-06T16:45:00.006-04:00

I previously posted that Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft would be hooking up to put out a series of ads to help with the Microsoft image problem. The first Seinfeld-Microsoft collaboration has now hit the tubes. Vid after the fold.

EXIT QUESTION: Funny or not?

Enemy No. 1

2008-09-06T11:30:00.009-04:00

The conventions are over and the candidates are hitting the road. First stop for the Republicans? Wisconsin, where the candidates gave a speech in front of an "eatery". Still, just another boring stump speech until a protest started in the crowd.

In a small town outside of Milwaukee, McCain and Palin had just wrapped up their talk and the media was heading back to the bus. Then the trouble started.

Hundreds of angry people taunted reporters and TV crews, chanting "Be fair!" and pointing fingers at a pack of journalists as they booed loudly.

"Stop lying! You are all liars! Tell the truth!" one woman yelled from the front of the pack.

The crowd was not menacing or threatening, but was clearly angry.

"You're telling lies! Stop the lies!" one man yelled.

Clearly, the angry crowd was upset with what they perceive is "liberal" bias from the media about newly-anointed VP candidate Sarah Palin. I'm not sure if there is an exact date that conservative-leaning voters became fed up with the media. Certainly, Rathergate was the beginning of the end, if not the nail in the coffin. And current speculation about Palin and her family (fair or unfair) seem to be finishing off whatever remaining faith the Right had in the media.

Still, the hatred for the media is not the property of the Right alone. As a registered ~~well~~uber-informed independent voter, I frequent political sites along all points of the spectrum, from the Right-leaning Hotair.com to libertarian hotspot Reason.com to the benchmark of the Left, DailyKos.com. The visitors from all of these sites disagree on so much: health care, guns, war, butter, etc. But, comments like these frequently occur:

AP is literally a propoganda outlet.
Just remove the AP listings from your Yahoo page.
I urge the AP to appoint an independent panel to investigate...
Headline: The Media's Conspiracy to Make Hillary Look Competent

These quotes come from sites leaning from far-left to far-right. The point being, it's doesn't matter your political beliefs, one thing most of us agree on: We think the media is lying to us. (For fun, name the site each comes from.)

I think this is a relatively new belief. Thirty years ago, we looked to the opinions of journalists like Woodward and Bernstein for the truth that our government wasn't telling us. Halberstam could do no wrong. One generation later, we turn to Drudge before we crack a newspaper. What happened?

The Compass In Your Nose

2008-09-04T12:53:00.003-04:00

It has been suggested that I may have been less than honest when I told acquaintances in the past, "there is a compass in your nose". Let me debunk that allegation.

When I was in highschool working at Waldenbooks, I recall seeing a book on the shelf titled The Compass in Your Nose: and Other Astonishing Facts About Humans, published in 1989. I can remember only the title entry which stated (and I paraphrase): human beings have a small amount of iron in their nose that acts like a compass; men being, by nature, larger than women contain more of this material and, thus, have a better sense of direction.

If one googles "nose compass" or something to that extent, you usually find this entry:

Some years ago scientists at CALTECH (California Institute of Technology in Pasadena) discovered that humans possess a tiny, shiny crystal of magnetite in the ethmoid bone, located between your eyes, just behind the nose.

Magnetite is a magnetic mineral also possessed by homing pigeons, migratory salmon, dolphins, honeybees, and bats. Indeed, some bacteria even contain strands of magnetite that function, according to Dr Charles Walcott of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, "as tiny compass needles, allowing them [the bacteria] to orient themselves in the earth's magnetic field and swim down to their happy home in the mud".

It seems that magnetite helps direction finding in animals and helps migratory species migrate successfully by allowing them to draw upon the earth's magnetic fields. But scientists are not sure how they do this.

In any case, when it comes to humans, according to some experts, magnetite makes the ethmoid bone sensitive to the earth's magnetic field and helps your sense of direction.

The Cal Tech work is cited in nearly every version of this on the internet, but searching a journal database (such as Web of Science) shows no work from any group at Cal Tech concerning "magnets" or "human anatomy", etc. Writing for Anthropology.net, the author of the hyperlinked post says that Stephen Juan, an anthropologist in Sydney, writes about this Cal Tech work but

Again, I don’t have much evidence to support this, other than Juan’s comments[.]

It would appear that the Cal Tech work, unless otherwise verified, is actually a bit of a internet myth or urban legend.

Still the "compass in your nose" isn't dead. Support for the hypothesis can these days be found (through a link at Wikipedia) in a 2007 Neuroscience paper, "Evidence of a nonlinear human magnetic sense" by Carrubba et al. The relevant parts from the abstract:

Human subjects respond to low-intensity electric and magnetic fields... We tested this hypothesis by examining electroencephalograms from 17 subjects for the presence of evoked potentials caused by the onset and by the offset of 2 G, 60 Hz (a field strength comparable to that in the general environment)... [M]agnetosensory evoked potentials (MEPs) in the signals from occipital derivations were found in 16 of the subjects (P<0.05 for each subject). The potentials occurred 109–454 ms after stimulus application, depending on the subject, and were triggered by onset of the field, offset of the field, or both... The occurrence of MEPs in response to a weak magnetic field suggested the existence of a human magnetic sense.

Or in layman's terms, they hooked the subject up to a machine, put electrodes on their head, presented a magnetic field and noted the response in the subject. Conclusion: humans possess an ability to detect magnetism.

It was known already that certain animals, such as homing pigeons, possessed this ability to detect the Earth's poles. Recent studies also show that maybe cows can do it as well. So is it truly that farfetched that humans could detect the weak magnetic force of the Earth? Science is now telling us, it's more fact than science fiction.

Best blog day ever? or Welcome to the Accidental Visitors

2008-09-03T13:18:00.004-04:00

I noted that my blog got a lot of hits yesterday, atypical to say the least. On a typical day, I will average around 5 to 10 unique visitors, around 10 to 15 visits total (so my average visitor comes one to two times per day). Yesterday brought nearly 50 visits, with 30 being unique viewers. I was floored, had I suddenly increased in popularity? (And why didn't any of them post?)

Further investigation showed that near coincidentally the page Spaghetti in the Atlantic had been viewed 45 times. Clearly it was the source of interest, but why? There should be a million pages like this. So I checked out the analytics about that page and note that 31% of the click pattern was hitting on the word "Spaghetti" in the title. Very neat but still not the answer. Google must have a thousand pages about spaghetti.

Next, I looked at "Entrance Keywords" and the pattern starts to take shape -- "hurricane hannah spaghetti models", "hurricane hannah ngps", "hannah speghetti paths", etc. And I notice one thing they all have in common. Hannah. As in the misspelled name of the hurricane.

So I've gone through the pages and corrected my error. But a part of me was reluctant to do so since it'll kill my traffic. Who knew, an error in spelling would be my best advertisement?

Hanna Update

2008-09-03T08:22:00.003-04:00

As of this morning, most models still have Hanna hitting the Carolinas. All models have the hurricane making landfall at some point along the Atlantic coastline, with the exception of the BAM models. A general description of these models was given in the previous hurricane post but more specifics are listed here.

BAM stands for "Beta and Advection model", where 'advection' is defined as 'the transport of a substance in a moving fluid'. For meteorologists, this substance of interest might be temperature or moisture being transported by the wind. Advection is a function of two factors in this case: (1) wind speed (how fast the temperature and moisture are transported) and (2) the relative angles between the direction of the wind and the isolines (of, say, temperature or moisture).

Anyone who's look at a temperature map with all the 70s, 80s and 90s each in their own color has seen an isoline. It's the border between different temperature. So, if the wind blow across that isoline, the temperature (or moisture) will move from say the region of 80 degrees to the 70s. But if the wind blows parallel to the isoline, clearly no mixing between the two temperature regions will occur.

The term "Beta" in the BAM model refers to the beta effect of the earth. Imagine the hurricane is sitting in the Atlantic with no other winds acting on it. Due to the Coriolis force of the earth rotating, a hurricane moving westward would drift north if it were located north of the equator and would drift south if it were located south of the equator.

With all of this in mind, we can return to BAM. Since part of its calculations involve the movement of winds across isolines, researchers must decide which winds to use. For this they break the atmosphere into three parts: deep (BAMD), medium (BAMM) and shallow (BAMS). These layes are defined as 24,500 to 47,000 feet (deep); 10,000 to 24500 feet (medium); and 5,000 to 10,000 feet (shallow). Selection of this sub-model depends largely on the size of the storm -- BAMS for small, undeveloped storms steered by low-lying winds up to BAMD for large, well-formed storms.

Currently all three BAM models show no landfall. The problem with the BAM model is that it's not the best in the short range (1-2 day). So while the general path of the model is correct, the initial direction (say, today and tomorrow's locations) is off which makes for a false prediction of no-landfall. Like all hurricanes, we'll just have to wait and see.

Should we ask for directions?

2008-09-03T07:36:00.002-04:00

To be honest, I don't get lost very often. And even when I do start to get nervous about my choice of roads (like the last time we went to the mountains), I have no problem asking for help at the first general store we pass. But, for the record, I've never been so lost that I've arrived at the wrong football stadium in the wrong city.

So picture this. You're sitting at the Duke-James Madison game, watching the athletes stretch and run through drills before kick-off. What's that in the sky?

Wow. A skydiver at the football game, you clap (just like the fan in the foreground). But since the parachutists typically show up with the ball at the start of the game and when the field is empty, something is amiss. The problem? They landed at the wrong field.

Eight miles away in Chapel Hill, they were waiting for two skydivers to arrive with the game ball so they could kick off their match against McNeese State. But the skydivers never arrive. At least in Chapel Hill. Apparently the explanation is that bad weather almost scrubbed the planned skydive. But at the last minute, the plane found a break in the clouds, they spotted a stadium (hey it's gotta be the right one, right?) and they pushed the two men plus football out the hatch. They got the general area correct, heck, even the right conference. Wrong game, wrong city, though.

I'll remember this the next time my co-travelers are yelling at me that we're lost. I've taken the long way before, I've gone the wrong direction on a road. But I've never once delivered a football to the wrong city. At least not yet.

EXIT QUESTIONS: At some point in freefall, do they look down and read the large letters in the endzone and realize they're in the wrong place? Knowing the stadium won't be prepared for them, do they consider landing in a nearby field but think, we've got this ball, might as well take it to someone? Who gives parachutists a lift if they land at the wrong stadium? Is the other stadium one ball short the rest of the day?

Football in the rain

2008-09-02T11:39:00.004-04:00

Hurricane Hanna (or what's left of her) is on its way to North Carolina this weekend. Current plans are to catch the North Carolina State football match against visiting William & Mary, weather permitting. Oddly enough, should we go to game in spite of the rain, it wouldn't be my first trip to Carter-Finley during a hurricane. In 1999, while in undergraduate studies, the Gamecocks came to town to open up the season. Ah, Lou Holtz, thanks for the memories. Anyway, Hurricane Dennis also decided to drop in for the game, whipping us with 25-mile-per-hour winds and dumping seemingly a foot of rain. The Gamecocks lost 10-0 rather predictably:

The USC defense stuffed the Wolfpack in the first half, allowing only two first downs and 48 yards of offense, but the Gamecock offense had its own troubles by fumbling six times, losing three. NC State got on the board with a field goal late in the first half following a Phil Petty fumble deep in South Carolina territory. The game's only touchdown came early in the fourth quarter when NC State's special teams blocked a Carolina punt and returned it for a touchdown. The Gamecocks outgained the Wolfpack, 232-96, but five turnovers and seven penalties helped keep Carolina off the scoreboard.

There is no describing how miserable we were at this game. Several friends from the dorm and my department and I went to catch this game; I, partly as a South Carolina ex-pat, but also because we were college kids with free tickets. Within minute of leaving the cover of the stands and finding our seats, we were drenched. I can still recall the blinding rain and wind and the utter inability to see some of the action taking place on the field. By halftime, I was freezing and miserable. By the end, I couldn't care less who won. Perhaps it's no coincidence that (if I recall correctly), I've gone to Carter-Finley only once since then to watch football, even though I've had scores of free tickets as a student. And it was to see Clemson, so clearly I'm scarred and damaged by Dennis.

As Hanna makes her way to NC this weekend, I'll be honest: I'm not looking forward to it. I've gotten lazy in my football passion, preferring instead to watch games from the comfort of my own home, near the fridge, near a clean restroom. Instead of devoting six hours to going to the nearby stadium to watch The Wolfpack play, it means that sometimes I'm able to watch more than one game on a Saturday. Sometimes I don't, what with family responsibilities. But as I get older, I'm less attracted to the drinking and cavorting that goes on at a typical tailgating session, I don't like standing in the stadium sun for hours, and I certainly don't like watching football in a hurricane.

Spaghetti in the Atlantic

2008-09-01T16:47:00.008-04:00

Hurricane season is upon us. This morning Gustav came ashore in Louisiana as a Category 2 -- I'm sure in the coming days, the damage will be assessed and hopefully the news is all good. But in the lead-up to Gustav, one couldn't help but notice the various colored lines known as Spaghetti Models, that forecasters used to describe the predicted path of the hurricane.

For example, spaghetti models for the next storm heading toward the U.S., Hanna, can be seen at this site. Each line represents a prediction of the path of the hurricane where one variable has been changed. If all of the various predictions point in different directions (thus, looking like a plate of spaghetti) then the lack of agreement in the models suggest the future path of the hurricane is hardly known. Conversely, when the "noodles" begin to align, this suggests a future path of high confidence.

Some common models:

XTRP -- this is not so much as model, but rather an extrapolation of the current path and velocity of the storm
HWRF -- Hurricane Weather Research and Forecast; the newest model from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), uses data from satellites, buoys and aircraft
GFDL -- Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Labratory which is run by NOAA, this is a baroclinic model (where density is a function of temperature and pressure)
LBAR -- a barotropic model, so density is a function only of pressure (note the significant difference in predictions between GFDL and LBAR in the link above)
NGPS or NOGAPS -- a model developed by the Navy
GFS -- The main meteorological service for the U.S., the National Weather Service Global Forecast System
BAM -- Beta and Advection (meaning, transport of a substance in a moving fluid); this model uses GFS combined with wind speeds from various altitudes: BAMD (deep), BAMM (medium) and BAMS (shallow)

There are other models but it is not for us to list them all here as it is more important to understand that the power of these models lies in their convergence. Hanna is expected to make landfall (if at all) next weekend. Where? The models shown here have landfall from the eastern shore of Florida all the way north to the Outer Banks. One model predicts no land fall. This is a rather large calculation error.

As the hurricane approaches the shore, we'll watch these models begin to zero in on the same solution. It is the generality of mathematical models and the scope of our understanding of meteorology that allows us to begin the preparations and evacuations a week in advance. But it is the minor unforeseen errors that prohibit us from predicting that town or city along the coast who will take first impact. Hopefully faster computers and better science will one day shrink that uncertainity.

That time I agreed with Kid Rock

2008-08-27T14:56:00.002-04:00

Had Newsbusters not carried this story about Kid Rock, I certainly would not have found it. I don't frequent People magazine too often -- I know, hard to believe.

From the article:

"I truly believe that people like myself, who are in a position of entertainers in the limelight, should keep their mouth shut on politics."

Couldn't agree with you more. But I'd go so far as to say some people actually in politics should refrain from talking about politics. Continuing on . . .

"I'm good at writing songs and singing. What I'm not educated in is the field of political science. And so for me to be sharing my views and influencing people of who I think they should be voting for ... I think would be very irresponsible on my part."

I don't necessarily think that a degree in political science is the prerequisite to talking about politics, but I think the premise is correct: media outlets shouldn't be in the business of asking singers or rappers for political advice. Who they're gonna vote for is probably too much as well.

This echoes the whole idea of who people look up to as role models. Athletes, movie stars, rockers are all (for too many reasons to list here) idolized by the public and their opinions about public policy, pop culture and politics carry, in my opinion, too much weight.

But what Kid Rock says in the second clip ("I think would be very irresponsible on my part") is only half the picture. How we as a public form our political beliefs is of concern as well. If we look to rock stars for voting guidance, that's also irresponsible on our part as voters. We should be looking to sources with more credibility, sources with nothing to gain from advising us, sources with years of research and study and advanced discussion about policy. Certainly not actors and musicians.

The Silent Killer -- Wind Power

2008-08-27T08:18:00.003-04:00

Last week, I placed in the sidebar a story on the unseen (and "unheard") effects of wind power. According to the article,

Pierpont's findings suggest that low-frequency noise and vibration generated by wind machines can have an effect on the inner ear, triggering headaches; difficulty sleeping; tinnitus, or ringing in the ears; learning and mood disorders; panic attacks; irritability; disruption of equilibrium, concentration and memory; and childhood behavior problems.

Wind power's deleterious effect on bird populations is already extensively documented as well. Combining the large sweep area of the turbine blades -- which are by definition placed in locations with high wind -- and the overlap of bird migration patterns leads to certainly countless bird kills per year. (Admittedly this number is well below the number of birds killed by automobile windows.)

New research suggests that, along with humans and birds, bats are at risk by wind farms as well. Bats navigate by using echolocation, the process of emitting a pulse and receiving and responding to the echo. Naturally, this makes it easy for bats to navigate around stationary man-made objects.

Wind turbines present a different problem. While the support column is stationary (and thus easy to locate for the bat), the motion of the turbine blades is the real danger. As the blades rotate, they create a drop in pressure -- like the drop in pressure that occurs at the leading edge of an airplane wing, giving rise to lift. This drop in pressure is undetectable by bats since there is nothing physical off of which the echo can reflect. Thus, bat are oblivious to the blades, say as they chase insect prey, leading to a collision with the blade (similar to bird deaths). Additionally, according to the article, the actual drop in pressure is destructive to the lungs of bats which are constructed similarly to humans as balloons or sacs -- the drop in pressure causes the sacs to expand and burst. Birds don't share this trait.

There is an attempt to outfit wind turbines with a device that will deter bats by emitting an annoying ultrasound signal. Like all fixes though, it creates its own side effects since the sound would be audible to birds and dogs. Would it affect migratory patterns? Would it drive the neighborhood dogs crazy? But then again, knowing what we know now about wind turbines' effect on humans, maybe it's for the best if no one lives near them.

This the inherent problem with alternative energy forms: they're new. So while all the advantages and benefits over traditional fossil fuels seem exciting, they come with a whole new set of problems. And as this new research shows, the negative effect isn't always to humans. As we employ new fuel forms, we have to be mindful of its effects on the rest of the world, all animals big and small.

Poor solution for 440

2008-08-25T19:54:00.011-04:00

For those of you readers that are unfamiliar with Raleigh, the city (like many big cities) is surrounded by a bypass, I-440. Technically, with the addition and expansion of I-540, there are almost two loops around Raleigh, but the latest loop doesn't get nearly the miles that the inner loop (440) does -- essentially any place in Raleigh you want to go, to get there you use the 440 loop.

So, imagine a city represented by a clock face with the bypass traveling around the edge of the clock. (It's not a perfect circle, but it suffices for our thought experiment.) To get from A to B, as things stand now, one is forced to imagine where A is, say 9 o'clock, on the face of the clock. And where are you going? Say, B is at 2 o'clock.

Now, the quickest way to get from 9 to 2 on a clock is to go clockwise. And since Americans drive on the right side of the road, if you want to go clockwise around the city, this means you want to drive on the side closer to downtown, also known as "The Inner". You want to drive on the side going counterclockwise and farther from the city? That's "The Outer". Does it take some thought? Sure. But the penalty for guessing wrong is you go around the loop the wrong way. And since Raleigh's not that big, it means at most (if you really screw up) an extra 20 minutes. That's the great thing about loops, this distinct advantage over lines -- guessing wrong means only a couple extra miles.

Now, I don't have a problem figuring this out while driving. Because 1) I can imagine Raleigh as a clock with various places like numbers on the face -- i.e. 3 o'clock is New Bern, 6 is Garner, 9 is Whole Foods, 11 the mall and 1 the new mall with California Pizza Kitchen -- and 2) I've seen a clock before. The old one with the hands on it, remember those?

But clearly, people are having trouble with this concept. So after 12 years of the Inner/Outer concept, Raleigh is relabeling the loop. Now, drivers on I-40 through Raleigh will face a different challenge. In the past, I-40 and I-440 overlapped (in name only) from about 4 to 7 o'clock on the clock face -- that entire portion will be called I-40. The remainder will be 440, meaning the loop is no longer a "loop", but more of a bypass -- except here is problem one, the bypass portion actually is longer and goes around more of the city than the main thoroughfare, I-40. So that, if someone tells you to take the bypass around Raleigh, the only thing you're bypasses is the shortest route possible.

Of second concern, instead of Inner/Outer, I-440 will be labeled "East" and "West". So, instead of visualizing a clock, you will visualize going east or west across the city. Fine if you're going from New Bern to Wade Avenue, that's certainly west. But what if you're traveling down I-40 from Fuquay and you'd like to go to Poole Rd, that's a couple miles northeast as the crow flies. But you'd have to take the West loop. On the other side of the city, same problem -- you get on at Cary or Western Blvd and want to head to the mall, which is north. Gotta go "East"? Doesn't make sense.

This attempt to "fix" the loop isn't a fix at all. It's a different problem altogether. Raleigh gets rid of the "clock face" method of driving and, in return, applies a 1-dimensional label (East or West) to a 2-dimensional road (a circle). What's really the problem here is that people in Raleigh could never wrap their minds around the whole "clock face". Why? Have they never seen a clock? Sure, some of them specifically haven't, but certainly a lot of us have. Instead I'd guess it was just people's overall lack of a sense of direction. Is "sense of direction" dying out? Do people literally not know anymore where they are?

Seinfeld vs the Mac guy

2008-08-21T10:07:00.010-04:00

The last time we saw Jerry Seinfeld do a series of commercials was the hilarious American Express ads. (Note the voice work done by "Seinfeld" actor Patrick Warburton and the cameo from Louis Mustillo who played Phil in The StrongBox episode. I digress of course, but for me it's easy to do with Seinfeld -- I found the show that interesting.

Microsoft is banking on just that as reports surface of a new $300 million ad campaign aimed at revamping the Microsoft image. In recent years, Apple has run a series of "Mac vs. PC" ads attempting to paint Microsoft as corrupted, stodgy, old -- basically unhip -- and while Windows still dominate sales, Microsoft wants to work on its image.

According to the article, although the use of Seinfeld is still unknown, the first goal is a PR improvement of Vista. What's interesting is that criticism of Vista is largely misplaced. From the link:

The subjects were put on video, asked about their Vista impressions, and then shown a "new" operating system, code-named Mojave. More than 90 percent gave positive feedback on what they saw. Then they were told that "Mojave" was actually Windows Vista.

I completely believe this. I received Vista with the purchase of my latest laptop and I have no problems with it. Certainly, I haven't used all the applications and services Vista provides but I've done a fair amount of things with my new laptop (watch videos, DVDs, surf, blog, file maintenance) and I can say I've had no problems whatsoever. The new layout for the start menu is intuitive, accessing folders and directories goes quicker. Plus, I love the new window switching capability -- it's kinda cool looking.

I hope Microsoft finds success with the new PR blitz. They deserve it. I think, like a lot of big companies (i.e. McDonalds, Walmart), they suffer criticism that may not always be reasonable -- just people not liking the big company or what's cool or whose on top. If the commercials are anything like Seinfeld's previous Amex work, you know at a minimum they will be funny to watch.

Where our news comes from

2008-08-21T08:48:00.004-04:00

Nielsen has released its July finding for the top 30 current event and global news destinations. It reads like a snapshot of who surfs the internet: why and where.

From the article, the top ten (unique visitors in millions, sessions per user):

Drudge Report 3.2 20.8
Fox News Channel 11.5 8.2
CNN 32.9 8.1
AOL News 22 7.9
Daily Kos 0.87 7.7
Yahoo News 35.2 7.2
ksl.com 0.973 6.9
Google News 10.7 6.3
Netscape News 1.6 6.0
MSNBC 37.5 5.7

For starters, I find it no surprise the top ten in terms of unique visitors is dominated by the big three: MSNBC, Yahoo News and CNN. Every user that sets Yahoo as its home page, uses Yahoo to surf, etc. is going to see news stories from Yahoo. I'm only surprised by the fact that it (barely) beats CNN, my news source of choice. As for MSNBC, I don't use it but I imagine it serves other surfers the way CNN serves me: I visit a couple times a day, check the headlines, read one or two stories and move on.

Next in line is AOL News. I'm convinced these are the people who still use AOL email and instant messenger and thus frequent aol-dot-com. I don't, but I haven't had much need for AOL as my ISP either. Similarly, Google News has reached 10 million unique visitors, due mostly to the ubiquity of Google. Soon, they'll own the Internets. These preceding five news sources are everywhere. They're easy, they give you the news in pretty layouts and often-time tabbed format. They require little work to get to what you want. Sometimes I'm that lazy when looking for a story.

As for the remaining five, their purposes vary. At number two, Fox News is clearly the source for right-leaning surfers. Netscape News, I have no use for, but that's because it's teamed with AOL (see above). The oddest of the top ten, ksl.com, is a Utah news source who must attract the most ardent one million people in the world interested in Utah-based news -- count me not in that group. Daily Kos is the blog of choice for the left of left. Looking at their numbers alone suggests they have a central core of users (certainly less than a million) who frequent the site almost every day. That sounds like the numbers you would expect with a passionate group of users whose common thread is a specific political ideology.

And last (but really first), Drudge. I absolutely detest that site. His "sources" are often wrong and his hyperbole has no bounds. But I keep coming back like the moth to the flame. That millions of unique users visit every month, that we visit basically once a day does not surprise me at all. That's how I use the site -- at least once a day to see what story is breaking (that detestable alarm light, ugh).

But the numbers don't lie. Just looking at the top five tells us what the internet looks like: We're partisan left and right. We like big stories right when they break. We need news and lots of it.

Sounds like me.

EXIT QUESTION: Your news source of choice? Your opinion of Drudge?

Did Hot Air rip me off?

2008-08-19T22:02:00.008-04:00

Earlier today I posted the following item to my sidebar: "Dude, man passes 9-foot(!) tapeworm?". For about 15 minutes, the story actually ran on my main page as a post but I ended up moving it to the sidebar -- mostly because I didn't want to get into a discussion about tape-worms. I mean, seriously, the idea that they can grow up to 50 feet!! Gross.

After moving it to the sidebar, I chose not to erase the post; I simply changed it to "draft status". I've done this in the past with other posts. In my Posting tab, I have some posts that never made it out of draft status: one in particular was an entry about standing under roller coasters which I wrote two days after the boy in Atlanta was killed. For whatever reason, I chose to "draft" it even though I thought it was a decent post.

So, the original "Tapeworm" story looked like this:

Written shortly after 2 pm, it tells of the man who ate bad fish and PASSED a NINE-FOOT parasite. To which I could only write, "Dude."

Apparently, Hot Air thought that was a great response as well. Did they rip me off (of course not) or it that the natural response to this story?

Free wireless at Starbucks

2008-08-19T15:44:00.008-04:00

Last week it was reported that Starbucks throughout Canada will begin offering free internet service. This follows on the heels of increasing internet availability at U.S. locations. One issue holding up internet service at all the locations was a dispute between Starbucks and T-Mobile, the wireless provider to Starbucks. This dispute was resolved and Starbucks visitors now have a choice between three providers: T-Mobile, AT&T (for current AT&T subscribers) and an in-house offer.

Until reading this article, I was unaware of this new "in-house offer" which apparently debuted two months ago. From the article:

In June, the coffee-shop giant began offering customers prepaid Starbucks Cards for two hours per day of complimentary Internet access at stores across the United States. To qualify, Starbucks customers must purchase a Starbucks Card worth $5 or more and join the coffeehouse's rewards program.

More information can be found at Starbucks' website:

Complimentary Wi-Fi for Starbucks customers When you register your Starbucks card and use it at least once a month, you'll receive two consecutive hours a day of complimentary Wi-Fi, courtesy of AT&T.

This news should have received more attention. In the past I have attempted to work on the road and normally the only wi-fi signal availability is at the local coffee shop or bookstore and typically, this is a Starbucks or Barnes & Noble. Until recently, I would be stuck paying the T-Mobile mugging (up to $10 a day). Those kind of charges make me less likely to want to sit there and work.

Looking back, I have slowly evolved to doing more work at independent coffee shops (i.e. Cup of Joe or Helios). Reading this news forces me to reconsider: did I change to other coffee shops for the coffee (not likely, my prefered coffee is Starbucks) or the atmosphere or did I gravitate to these other stores because the wi-fi (which my job requires) was free? I'm certain it's the latter case and I'm sure that Starbucks has made the right decision in offering internet (mostly free) across the U.S. Simply hearing this makes me feel like checking out a nearby Starbucks' connectivity and I'm sure I'm not alone.

EXIT QUESTION: If you frequent coffee shops or one in particular, what is it about that spot that makes you return?

New link and Save Mister Rogers

2008-08-18T08:04:00.008-04:00

I wanted to draw attention to the fact that I added a new blog listing, Annecdotally, to the sidebar at right. It's good to see you back at blogging, Ann, even if so far your first blog was about 'oh, I still have this?' and the second was about Mister Rogers. Those two posts alone still probably make it better than half the blogs on Blog*spot.

I also wanted to give the link here for the other website included in your blog post, Save Mister Rogers' Neighborhood -- a site dedicated to the preservation of said show. I applaud your work, now having intimate knowledge myself of the typical shows offered on childrens' television. One question I was unable to answer at the site -- what was PBS's reason for the change in the first place?

In the meantime, welcome back!

The NY Times finally covers the big story

2008-08-15T16:29:00.006-04:00

While the John Edwards scandal was kept brewing for months by the National Enquirer and some select blog spots, the NY Times was silent. I mean after all, to quote the standards editor Craig Whitney, the Edwards-Hunter scandal was “classically not a Times-like story”. Fair enough. So what kind of story is "classic Times-like" then, that would get the NY Times out front?

The NY Times is on the scene for two Georgians purporting to have the remains of Bigfoot. According to the "classic Times-like story", they will be presenting the evidence and video to prove it at a hotel in Palo Alto, California. Supposedly the pair of Bigfoot-afficianados bagged the hairy one in northern Georgia where nearby several other Bigfoots could be seen. Or throw rugs with Halloween masks. It's hard to tell the difference. (Neither Harry nor the Hendersons could be reached for comment.)

What is most disturbing about all of this is not the soon-to-be-disproved Bigfoot, which is more than likely a weird ape or gorilla or discarded rugs. But rather it seems as if the journalism world has turned upside down. Throughout the Edwards scandal, the Enquirer was really the only "news outlet" tracking down leads (eventually Fox News looked into it as well). MSM, on the other hand, crickets. Today's Drudge headline? "Kremlin Warning: Poland Takes The Shield", a reference to the recent Poland-US anti-missile shield treaty. Above this splash, minor headlines covering the ongoing Russia-Georgia conflict. CNN today around 3:25 pm? Live news conference covering the Bigfoot story. What is going on here?

If media ever needs to understand why no one watches morning or evening news any longer; why the newspaper industry is falling apart; and half of us think they're biased. I submit this post up as Evidence A.

UPDATE: Nope, not ape or gorilla -- 96% opposum. Only in Georgia.

When life imitates (really bad) art

2008-08-14T08:53:00.007-04:00

The first time it happens, I consider it a mere coincidence. But now for the second time in the past week or so, life has imitated art. And not even good art, like Willy Wonka -- I mean, really, a land made of candy, rivers of chocolate, drinks that make you fly, can you imagine it? I would just move in ... sorry, I digress. No, instead this time life imitated some of our worst art ever made.

Unless you really like the Olympics (and this doesn't include me, which could be its own post), you know what's going on in nearby Asia. Massive former-communist country invades. Tiny neighboring country. Oil line getting bombed. Tiny country leader begging for help from world Superpower. Sound familiar?

Yeah, it's the plot of the 1999 James Bond stinker, "The World Is Not Enough". I was suckered into this movie by the inclusion of the alluring Ms. Marceau, who was downright awesome in "Braveheart" and seductive in "Lost and Found". (I know you liked that film but don't want to admit it, that's ok.) Anyway, we bought the movie on VHS years ago, it was a crap copy that wouldn't play (it was Walmart after all), so of course that made me want to see even more. When it finally was old enough to be played on cable television, TNT ran it one afternoon and I had to wait no longer. Boy, did it stink. Nonetheless, the plot: Electra King is the old heiress for a tiny country which is installing a competing oil pipeline; Renard, the evil terrorist, is trying to kill her; Bond comes in to protect her. Eerily prescient of today's conflict, wouldn't you say? And of all the Bond movies to copy, why not Goldeneye, now that would rock. A huge satellite hidden under a lake? A scantily-clad Onatopp character? Sounds awesome. Get to work on it.

It was then reported yesterday at Wired dot com that Boeing had successfully tested (earlier this month at Kirtland Air Force Base) a plane-based laser system. So imagine that, a C-130H -- in its normal capacity, used for carrying nearly 100 troops and 12 tons of gear over long distances-- is modified with a laser, flown about 5 or 6 miles up near a hostile target and with a couple of zip-zaps knocks tanks, missile launchers and machine guns out of commission.

Or check this out: what if we focused it on a house, and more specifically, a pile of popcorn in a house and all the popcorn popped and filled up a house, swallowing the bad guy in buttered fun? Wouldn't that be hilarious? No, it would be the plot to the 1985 yawner, "Real Genius". Not exactly Val Kilmer's best work. But then again, what was.

Time for life to get some new material. Maybe a remake of The Running Man or The Men In Black. Now, those I would welcome.

College is a waste of time

2008-08-13T16:04:00.010-04:00

Today's Wall Street Journal article from Charles Murray touches on one of my favorite topics of debate: college education. And more importantly, college education as a complete waste of time. I say this even as a person who has spent 1/3rd of his life in college, with a Bachelor's Degree, a Masters and an all-over-but-the-shouting PhD, all in the field of engineering: college (for most people) is a waste of time.

There is a laundry list of things I don't like about the current college education system, including the Harvard Effect, the rising (and usually unwarranted) cost of a bachelor's degree, tenure's effect of the quality of teachers/professors, the course requirements for the degree, etc. But all of this is precluded by the fact that for most people, the accomplishment of a B.A. has no bearing on their ability to function in the job that they will be hired for.

(I will say here that, as Murray notes, the exceptions are the sciences and the B.S. degree whose course requirements typically bear some resemblance to the graduate's future job.)

Murray envisions someone assigned the task of creating the college system if it did not exist:

First, ... educational success ... will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward (a job) to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge ... people who do not possess adequate ability to ... achieve the goal (graduate), wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn't meet the goal. We will call the goal a "BA."(emphasis mine)

Written like this, it sounds insane but it's what we have in place today. I've seen it time and time again in my professional and personal life. As a researcher and teacher, there are students who have no place being in my classes (intro to engineering), much less being in college at all. When students are repeating the same course multiple times, we (as teachers) begin to wonder, is it the course discipline that is specifically troubling the student or college in general? Many times, it is the latter case.

As for personal experience, I am surrounded by people whose degrees bear no connection whatsoever to the profession they are in. A liberal arts degree but working in the financial market? This happens only in a society such as ours when employers don't care what your degree is, only that you proved you could sit still for four (or more) years. Murray proposes, why not enact a CPA-style test? For example, employers looking for entry level workers for their mortgage firm could use a universal, ETS-standardized test for all applicants, questioning them on money and market knowledge. Isn't that more appropriate than requiring them a degree which included film study and stage lighting techniques?

And of last note, this would also solve the current problem our older workers are experiencing. Workers in their 50s grew up in an age before the BA or BS was (unnecessarily) required for employment, they spent 20 years at a job and when the economic slowdown hit, they were let go. With today's environment, it is nearly impossible to get re-employed -- they have experience by the boatloads (years more than the fresh college grad), but they have no degree. So, if you were designing today's hiring society, would you do this:

Take all applicants and put them in a pile. If the applicant has no degree, immediately discard. Make a preference for those with more degrees, even if this implies the applicant has been sitting in a classroom rather than working in the field. With the remaining applications (even though they are probably educationally overqualified), select which has the most experience in the field, discard the rest. Interview this handful of applicants.

Sounds ridiculously backwards, doesn't it? But it is what we have today -- sitting in a classroom studying European history is valued over work experience in the job at hand. I'll let Murray close this up:

Our obsession with the BA has created a two-tiered entry to adulthood, anointing some for admission to the club and labeling the rest as second-best. (emphasis mine)

Old Media is the problem

2008-08-11T09:02:00.012-04:00

Almost daily, Rasmussen Reports releases a new poll. These polls are certainly about politics; for example, state-wide head-to-head matchups between candidates, opinions about VP choices, opinions of Congress. Sometimes the polls are a little less politics-oriented -- opinions about drilling for resources, the economy or gas prices. At one point or another, Rasmussen has asked the question you've wondered.

Today's poll caught my eye since it reminds me of a post here on The Resort back in July. As I wrote back in Death of a Paperman,

the S.S. Randolph Hearst is going down -- but for today at least, I feel some pity for the rats.

The truth is (as I confessed recently to Tim), most days I don't have pity for the downsizing media is currently experiencing -- and I say that at the risk of Ann's wrath who only today did I see had replied on the previous post. As she pointed out in her response, the industry is dying off because of choices that it made: unwillingness to embrace the internet, overstaffing, etc. But I believe there's more to it, as the Rassmussen poll presents today: 55% say media bias bigger problem than campaign cash. I'd go so far as to say that Rasmussen could have just written, "55% say media bias big problem". Full stop.

I was reminded of this throughout the Edwards scandal -- from Wiki's refusal to include the incident(s) in Edwards' entry to main-stream media outlets just flat-out refusing to talk about it. All of these media "blackouts" taken separately are largely innocent but taken as a whole seemed coordinated. After Edwards spilled the beans to ABC, the icing-on-the-blackout-cake came from NY Times columnist David Carr who told CNN :

I was taught when I was a young reporter that it's news when we say it is. I think that's still true -- it's news when 'we' say it is. It's just who 'we' is has changed.

I'd like to think that those days are changing. Even though I worked in press for a while, I never thought of myself as the gatekeeper of news but more as a conduit. There has been a revolution in media over the past twenty years, a seemingly limitless number of "outlets" to be found at the click of a button. Old Media turned their nose up at this New Media and they're paying the price (as even Carr seems to be acknowledging). Reporters by the boatload are losing jobs, papers are cutting back. But when I re-read the quote above, I find once again, I have little pity for them.

As he astutely points out, "we" is changing. No longer can the NY Times and WaPos of the world dictate what is news and what isn't. But, my anger at this statement is that "we" should have never changed in the first place. We, the readers, decide what is news, not Old Media. Newspapers can print words all day long, but if no one reads them, were they really printed at all? Death came to Old Media when we, everyone of us with access to a computer, remembered we had the right to free press and began to spread the news ourselves.

As an aside, I'll repeat what Ann posted earlier (almost perfectly echoing what Tim said to me when we met last), "Thankfully, though, in rural America, the weekly is still the No. 1 way to get news." We should remember this and encourage it, the return of news to its closest source: the people writing about those they live amongst.

Support your local paper.

That guy whose voice you recognize

2008-08-08T15:25:00.004-04:00

Some nights we forgo watching Adult Swim's Family Guy lineup at 11 pm to catch Tru TV: Forensic Files. Real crimes, most of them recent and always in the U.S. and only 30 minutes -- so easy to digest and right before you go to sleep, like a bad bedtime story. But I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that another (perhaps major) draw to the program is the voice-over. So clear, so precise, a two-second search led me to the wiki entry for Peter Thomas, career narrator.

For fifty years, he's been narrating the shows and commercials you love but before that he was a WWII pilot, taking part in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He's decorated with a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and a Croix de Guerre, among other awards. Who knew? I thought he was just that guy whose voice I recognized from TV.

After the war he did a short stint with CBS in New York but then turned to narration full-time. He received an Oscar for work on the HBO documentary, One Survivor Remembers. Apparently, narration runs in the family, his son Peter Thomas Jr. does it as well. Thomas is always in demand for commercials, like Coca-Cola, IBM and Yoo-hoo. So, what's his latest gig (other than Forensic Files)?

This.

I've seen that commercial several times but failed to make the connection to Forensic Files. Now you know.

Boo at the Zoo

2008-08-05T08:22:00.007-04:00

I had been holding off posting this for a few days, expecting that by now the ol' Internets would be awash with complaints about this year's 2008 Riverbanks Brew at the Zoo. The 3rd annual beer tasting was held at the big zoo in Columbia (I refuse to link it at any point in this post out of sheer ill-temper) this past Saturday night and the missus and I joined my parents in Columbia to try it out.

Reviews of last year's event were fairly positive. It was estimated that over 2000 patrons showed up -- at $25 per zoo member, $35 for non-members that's a lot of money going to fundraising. Compare that to 59 designated driver entries sold. People came to drink and with over 200 beers (albeit alot of Anheuser-Busch products), there was plenty of beer to be had.

Now to this year's event. Review: It stunk.

Despite claiming (on their website) that a limited number of tickets were being sold, tickets were still available for purchase at the door on Saturday. So it was dead inside then? Nope. Immediately through the door you were handed a tasting glass (one of only two positive things I can say about the event) and you were slammed in the face with the sheer size of the crowd. Thinking that it was only because people hadn't spread out yet, we headed around one side of the park (admittedly toward the buffet building) and we were greeted with line after line at every booth. 7:15, a mere 15 minutes after opening, every booth was a minimum 25-people deep. So we went to eat, turning in our meal tickets for armbands into the German-style buffet room. Mark it up as positive item 2 of 2. The food was decent for German buffet (those that know me know I don't say this lightly), there was plenty of iced beverage and water and the atmosphere (and perhaps the temperature) was 180 degrees different from the park outside. Having filled up, we went to find some beer.

We went to the back section (called the Safari). By this point, half of the 6 or so beers in this section had run out. We stood in line for a Affliger and it ran out while we inched forward. The pourer, trying to be nice, stole some Paulaner from the line beside him and my wife and dad were the last to get it. The running-out would become the theme of the night. We headed to the carousel section, standing in line for Lion stout and Wildberry, both of them nice with Lion the hit of the evening. Turned around to get some Weihenstephan, ran out before we made it halfway through line. Turned to the left to stand in a LONG line that took about 30 minutes to cover, got to the top -- it was Carib. Like being punched in the gut, you might as well just laughed at me and gave me no beer -- it would have hurt as much. Got in the next line, Thomas Creek was it? Don't know, it ran out. So we headed toward the front of the park and jumped in the line for R.J. Rockers, a local SC brew. Nice red from them, decent wheat. Next line, Sierra Nevada and Shiner, made it about 2/3rd this time before it ran out. While in this line (our last before giving up at 9:15 pm, 15 minutes before the event was officially over), we heard the story of the evening. Whether it's true or not, who knows. A fellow beside us said he entered the park at 7 pm, walked straight to the back Safari, got in line for Guinness, and before he could get through the line at 7:30, they had run out. Don't know how true his story is but I can verify that by 8 pm when we passed the Safari, it was out. At most, ONE HOUR worth of beverage was on hand, but maybe as little as 30 minutes worth. Utterly and completely pathetic.

So I was a little caught off-guard when I looked around the internet and found no blogs filled with complaints. No beer review sites bemoaning the pathetic event. So, to those seeking a review of 2008 Riverbanks Brew at the Zoo, here it is for Google: Other than the company I came with, the food we ate and the nice glass --

it stunk. Riverbanks, you failed.

616 stores will close and you won't notice

2008-07-18T12:47:00.005-04:00

A follow-up to my mention of Starbucks a few posts back:

Starbucks released today the list of 616 stores slated to be closed by the start of 2009. Of course, a large percentage of these stores will be in California (88), Florida (47), Illinois (25), New York (28), and Texas (45). {These are my counts from the listing here but it looks like five states make nearly 40% of the closings.}

Most of the stores which are closing are relatively new on the block -- around 70% opened within the past three years. So if you're a long-time Starbucks fan, your local spot is probably safe. But, once again I'm reminded of my trip to San Francisco and my daily trek from the hotel to the convention center. I would exit the lobby door, turn roughly west and walk about 3 blocks. In that space, two Starbucks sat on opposite sides of the street from each other and one could be found inside the center. If I was willing to walk two blocks north out of the way, I could find one in the big Square. I'm sure I missed others in hotels. They were everywhere. Near Coit Tower, the piers, everywhere. Someone here did a pictorial I find interesting.

So if two Starbucks (count them) in all of San Francisco close, who will notice? Or in NY where 20+ will close but 250 will stay open -- will you miss the one on the fifth floor of Macy's? Likewise here in NC, no one will notice. We're slated to lose all of ten stores in the entire state. None in Raleigh. The closest closing is over in Chapel Hill so all of my spots are safe. South Carolina is even better off where they'll lose ONE in the entire state, in Spartanburg. YAWN.

The point being, Starbucks had clearly expanded too rapidly in the past few years. First, if you can cut two dozen stores in a state and it's a blip on the radar, you have too many stores. Second, if you can step out a store and see another franchise of the same name across the street, you have too many stores; shutter one of those. And last, if your company image is based around the idea that people will be willing to pay extra to hold the logo of your cup, that what they're buying is that image first and the coffee second, then maybe you make it a little bit harder to find a store. If every overweight Southerner with three kids shopping at Walmart wants to hold your cup, you've lost the coolness factor and cutting-edge customers will go looking elsewhere.

I have faith Starbucks will be ok. I put them in an elite group of businesses like McDonalds (the Atkins craze) and Coke (bottled water craze) that can take hits every once and a while and be fine. If I'm wrong, it'll still be interesting to watch, the collapse of a mega-company such as this hasn't been seen in years if ever.

Another bike post today. Sorta.

2008-07-17T14:13:00.007-04:00

I know this breaks my pattern of one post on/one month off, but I'm reminded (by the preceding post) of bikes, which of course reminds me of Fat Tire.

One might think that an avid beer-drinker and homebrewer such as I would look fondly toward a trip inside the local beer store. Imagine, a wall of beers labeled for a individual sale, beers light and dark, from California to Delaware, Reinheinsgebot-approved and not. But inevitably, I leave the store, six-pack in tow, just a little bit depressed because time-after-time I'm invariably disappointed: Fat Tire from New Belgium Brewing Company has yet to make it to the Carolinas.

It has been suggested that perhaps my desire for this beer above all others is unreasonable at this point, that perhaps I want it only because I can't have it. Now I will admit, my first taste of it came at a party at the house of a colleague who had just returned from Colorado having smuggled a six-pack in his suitcase. Needless to say, travel and temperature had not been kind to it. But a few years later, I was in San Francisco for a conference and, trying to unwind from the flight across the U.S., wandered around for miles it seemed only to end up at the bar next to our hotel which had Fat Tire on tap. After the first taste, they could have raised the price to $10 a pint, I would have gladly paid. Sadly to say, I could never find a unrefrigerated six-pack to smuggle back myself; so it's 20 months and counting since my last pint of it.

We came home from the beer store this past Sunday (sans Fat Tire) and I tried not to cry as I surfed around for a trucker, bootlegger, Burt Reynolds, anyone who could (in the face of federal law forbidding it) ship me a case. What I found was more exciting (and slightly less illegal):

New Belgium set to ride into North Carolina
New Belgium beers now available in Tennessee

So, within the past few months, Fat Tire has reached Tennessee and has plans to be within the state in less than a year. Here's a picture of New Belgium availability:

Slowly but surely NB creeps eastward. See that finger of Tennessee pointing right at us here in North Carolina, presumably pointing right at me?

That's the Finger of Progress.

Take back the slogans

2008-07-17T12:39:00.008-04:00

It's July so that means it's time for my second favorite world-participation sport: Le Tour de France. (It trails the World Cup only until I see some better German riders.) And if it's Tour time, that means it's time for doping stories.

Ironically enough, this year's slogan for VS. channel's coverage: Take Back The Tour. From the main page (punctuation mine):

Screw the dopers, politics and critics. The false allegations and the fairweather fans. They ripped the soul out of this race. But the tour doesn't belong to them. We're the ones grinding every mile, pushing past the limits of pain and exhaustion. The most grueling competition in the world -- it belongs to us. We're masochists. We're believers. And it's our time. Take back the tour.

Then mere hours before race time, two-time stage winner Riccardo Ricco is busted for doping, his team Saunier-Duval voluntarily withdraws from the tour, thereby removing the top two riders (Ricco and De la Fuente) from the King of the Mountain standings -- the end result being the new King (formerly third place) goes out to the road sans Polka Dot Jersey because there wasn't enough time to get it to him.

Ricco, who tested positive after the Stage 4 time trial, won Stage 6 to Super-Besse a few days later. I remembered watching that stage as he took off up the mountain when simply no one could stay with him. And it felt eerily reminiscent to last year when Michael Rasmussen shrugged off every mountain only to be fired by Rabobank mid-race, while wearing the Yellow Jersey, days from handily winning the tour. Not that Ricco was going to win overall, but he was well on his way to winning the Polka Dots at least.

There a strange catch-22 about all of this. Certainly, no sport is tougher on their athletes' drug use than cycling: teams are fined if one of their members is busted. In some countries (say France and Greece), get caught doping and being ejected from The Tour is the least of your worries: they hand you over to the police because it's a felony. But in the effort to clean up the sport, they also keep these stories in the limelight. Which would you rather have -- (A) a sport that's relatively clean but marred by negative press or (B) MLB-level credulity?

Death of a Paperman

2008-07-07T11:13:00.007-04:00

To paraphrase Twain, "the rumors of print journalism's demise have not been greatly exaggerated."

The Boston Herald is slashing jobs this summer. The New York Times will as well. As jobs go vacant, no one will be hired to replace the departing reporter. Or two editing jobs will be combined as one. The obvious reason is serious loss of revenue: newspaper revenue is down 7% the past year alone. No one (relatively) reads a newspaper any more. I blame Drudge. (I'm only half joking).

Of course the news of print journalism's demise actually brings joy to some people. [Kind of like the way people get happy Starbucks is closing 600 stores and 12,000 jobs -- they were too good for Starbucks anyway but don't understand that means their local Tim Horton will now be swamped with ex-Starbucks customers and their venti-way of ordering.] Anyway, cries of joy can be heard from those on the Right as the MSM gets hit by layoffs -- "couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of cretins", "the faster [newspapers] die the better", and the direct "f' em". I'm torn, of course, (why else would I write this?) because I understand the Right's distrust of MSM (ref: the thunder of silence coming out of Iraq, remember that war?) but I also know a lot of people in journalism that this affects directly.

When I was in high school, I worked for a local weekly and then during my first year of college worked for the competing paper in town. All my friends were print journalists, many of them still are. And we all started at the same point, writing barely-read local interest pieces about town council meetings or a Div I-AA Friday Night football game. At some point, maybe sheer luck, I took the PhD hard science track but alot of them stayed in. They now work at the Miami Herald covering adult entertainment conventions, they work in DC covering education in the South, they run locals in the Low Country of South Carolina. But I think they would all agree with the statement one fellow journalist said on the phone this weekend when asked how were things at work: "Not bad, just watching my industry die."

Think about that at your job today. We sit in an economic stagnation right now but I bet for the most part, what you do for living, your profession, will be there tomorrow. Are you in banking? Not going away any time soon. Are you a librarian? A lawyer? A scientist? Those job fields are secure for a long time to come. But if you're a journalist, the writing's on the wall. So my friends start to look for a new line of work but we're heading toward 40. Do they go back to school, a wife and kids at home and start over so late in the game? Do they become politicians? (We'll always need them.) I don't know what they'll do but I do know, I'm glad it's not me. The rats are jumping ship because the S.S. Randolph Hearst is going down -- but for today at least, I feel some pity for the rats.

Cats and Dogs living together

2008-06-30T10:09:00.004-04:00

#1021 image that doesn't seem right:

Standings at the halfway-point of the 2008 MLB season. Tampa in first? Finally, I can wear my Rays gear in public without fear of snickering. At least for another week or two.

Mail blows. Fax it to a friend.

2008-06-09T11:38:00.006-04:00

I went to get the mail today which, for most people, isn't all that newsworthy. For me it is, for I seem to open that box as if it were poisoned and booby-trapped. Truth be told, our mailbox is cracked seemingly twice a month. Certainly our postman curses us under his breath every time he arrives (promptly at 11 AM) at the group of boxes near our house, opens ours and the mail nearly falls out on him. Leading to the not-so-subtle hint one time of finding a plastic grocery bag in our box, assuredly put there by the postman to help us cart off the ads and junk mail.

Today found me behind an old man who complained to the postman about all the junk mail and wondered, how could he stop all of the crap from coming? To which the postman replied, You can't. Of course what ensued was straight out of the funny pages, I bet if I mailed it back -- Well, they'd just send it back to you -- Maybe I should make some calls then -- You do that.

Of course this is practically a live staging of "The Junk Mail" episode from Seinfeld (stolen from The Seinfeld Scripts):

Kramer, entering Jerry's apartment: "Well... I've had it with these jackbooted thugs!"
Jerry: "'Pottery Barn'?"
Kramer: "I got three 'Pottery Barn' catalogs in one day. That makes eight this month."
Jerry: "Why don't you just throw 'em out?"
Kramer: "Oh, no. I've been saving them up here in your apartment. And now, it's payback time. 'Pottery Barn' is in for a world of hurt."

Which leads to Kramer taking the catalogues back to the store and bricking in his mailbox only to find that the post office delivers the junk to Jerry's box instead. Kramer tries to cancel his mail and we get the great Newman quote:

Newman: "All right, it's true! Of course nobody needs mail. What do you think, you're so clever for figuring that out? But you don't know the half of what goes on here. So just walk away, Kramer. I beg of you."

Eventually Kramer gets kidnapped and placed under the klieg lights for an interrogation from Wilford Brimley:

Postmaster General: "In addition to being a postmaster, I'm a general. And we both know, it's the job of a general to, by God, get things done. So maybe you can understand why I get a little irritated when someone calls me away from my golf."
Kramer: "I'm very, very sorry."
Postmaster General: "Sure, you're sorry. I think we got a stack of mail out at the desk that belongs to you. Now, you want that mail, don't you Mr. Kramer?"
Kramer: "Sure do!"

I look through the mail today and the sum total is: 9 ads/solicitations/coupons, 11 bills/statements, a magazine I'm not completely sure I signed up for. Absolutely nothing for me that I needed or couldn't have paid online. I can't tell you the last time I sent a hand-written letter. But will the mail system ever die? Probably not, only because people aren't aware of the laws that govern them or assist them. I never hear anyone talk about Rowan v Post Office, but then again maybe that's because if you do talk, you don't talk for long. Because I remember how the Seinfeld episode ends for Newman:

Kramer, seeing Newman walk into the office with a bucket on his head, escorted by a security man: "Geez. Newman?"
Newman, whimpering: "Tell the world my story."

Nature shots

2008-06-03T14:55:00.011-04:00

Here are some nature shots I have taken recently in our travels.

A group of small black fungi (?) growing on a dead log in the woods near Falls Lake.

Flowers on a bush at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC.

Flat red mushroom growing in the woods around Falls Lake.
Small bullet-shaped mushroom found near the trail.

If any amateur mycologists want to help identify the species above, I appreciate the help. Ever since reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, especially the chapter on foraging, I've been interested in mushrooms. But even with a handbook in tow, I find I'm not good at telling the difference between a button and the death cap.

273, 274, 275, yep all here

2008-05-22T08:07:00.007-04:00

Currently, the House is working on constructing and passing a $300 billion Farm Bill. There's plenty to debate in this story: farm subsidies in general, pork, bipartisanship, etc. But that's for another day and, most likely, another site. Instead, a quick back story: House passes "bill", President vetoes, House easily overrides. Or did they? Think about this poor fellow the Washington Post refers to:

The problem came when a House clerk mistakenly dropped a whole section dealing with trade policy from the 673-page bill before it was sent to the White House. Republican leaders argued last night that the House had overriden a veto on legislation that had never actually passed the House and Senate. For the sake of legislative integrity, Democratic aides said, Congress is likely to start the whole process again.

Oops. A 673-page report, how is the last thing you do not count the pages? (I'm reminded of the old playing card joke about counting to see if you have all the cards, 1, 2, 3, well they must be all here, they're right so far.) So, how does this guy show up for work the next day? Not only is he the guy that made Congress revote a bill (you mean I gotta say Yea or Nay agAIN?! Well, I oughtta...) but what if it doesn't pass this time? What if calls from the conservatives for Republicans to back away from the pork-trough actually work and the GOP turns down the bill given a second opportunity? Will farmers march on this guy's house? (Or shared condo since he's probably an intern). Just to be safe, this guy probably shouldn't show up at any state fairs or 4-H conventions for the next few years.

UPDATE (11:47 AM): It was brought to my attention by Jeff that maybe there were other reasons for the blunder -- say, on purpose! Think about it, if you were a clerk, how much power do you have? This is your chance to cause mayhem. (Some kind of clerk gnome?) Or if you're the President, could you just pull out random pages and claim they were never sent?

Blogging The Bell Curve -- Part 1

2008-05-15T11:17:00.002-04:00

I am slowly working my way through the 800-page behemoth that is The Bell Curve by Herrnstein and Murray (see right column). For those unfamiliar with the work, it argues two points (at least so far in the first 100 pages) that are summarized on Wiki:

1. Intelligence is a better predictor of many factors including financial income, job performance, unwed pregnancy, and crime than parents' socioeconomic status or education level and 2. Those with high intelligence . . . are becoming separated from the general population . . . and that this [is] a dangerous social trend.

I won't touch on these at this moment but leave them merely as placeholders for what may be a future discussion (or discussions as I alluded to in my blog title). The point of today's post is how close to home one section of the book is. On page 40 (Part 1, Chapter 1), the authors cite a study of the SAT-Verbal Score distribution for all high school seniors in 1962. The distribution is a distorted bell shape, heavily weighted to the high end. The average score for a senior not going to college was around 320 (out of 800) while the average verbal score for a Harvard attendee was near 700. The College Entrance Examination Board (who conducted this study in 1961) and Seibel (in 1962) chose as their representative for a large state university my own site for study, North Carolina State University.

In 1962, the average SAT-Verbal score for incoming freshmen at NCSU was approximately 440. At the time, the number of students enrolled at NCSU was approximately 9,000-10,000 (1966 numbers), so freshman probably numbered around 3000 or so. How does that compare to today's freshman class? Currently NC State, the largest in-state public school, has over 31,000 students (with at least 5000 freshmen). The trend, supported implicitly by these numbers, is that college is more accessible these days (due to travel, loans, scholarships, etc.), allowing a broader range of students to receive a post-high-school education including those that, 40 years ago, would not have attended college, electing instead to work in a mill or stay on the farm. The theory then is that SAT scores should have remained (at best) the same as 40 years ago or (at worst) actually declined as colleges were opened to lesser quality students.

The opposite is true. SAT-Verbal scores for incoming freshmen at NC State (found at College Board) show the middle 50% fall between 510 and 610 for an average of 560, a 25% increase in performance since 1962. So, more students are getting in BUT they are actually of a higher quality (at least in regards to verbal performance). So, the theory was wrong (but also partially right). Many students in 1962 who were college material were electing not to go to college but rather take a more blue-collar approach. Where the theory failed though is that this non-college-bound group included MANY students of high performance ability who instead were opting for carpentry or ditch-digging or other jobs that did not require a college degree. Thus, we can infer in 2000 that these traditional blue-collar jobs are now losing high-verbal-performance workers to the college route and therein lies one premise of the book (listed at #2 above): the separation of society along cognitive-ability lines.

Are you out there, Pops?

2008-05-13T11:24:00.003-04:00

When I first got into blogging years ago, I took some time to surf around blogspot using the 'Next Blog' option up at the top of the page. It used to be neat to do this. Nowadays, half the sites you land on are advertisements, the other half are in Portuguese (not that there's anything wrong with that...) and 0.0001% are actual interesting accessible sites. Try it now, you'll be disappointed. (Or maybe you won't and you'll send me the link.)

One site I visited very early on was Pops' Bucket, the ramblings of some stay-at-home wannabe-writer with a couple of kids (I guess his wife worked or he was independently wealthy from running the Nigerian Letter scheme) out in California. He was very diligent about posting, nearly everyday, and many of his running gags were humorous: Movies I Have No Intention of Seeing blogs, where movies were judged on a scale of 1 to 3 heads of Elisabeth Shue from "Adventures in Babysitting"; ending each post with a 1 to 10 on the Narcissus Scale ; and a series of Microsoft Paint artworks. Good times.

When I was posting heavily back then, I remember the joy of first making it onto Pops' blogroll. Looking at the right column and seeing under "Lives More Interesting Than Mine", there was Last Rick's Resort. What an "honor". So, needless to say, I wondered (probably more than I should have) what would become of my listing on his page when I failed to blog last year. Would he be quick to pull the trigger and delete my site from his blogroll the first month (July 2007) that I didn't post? Or would it be after 3 months or 6? I now know, my "fear" was unneccesary.

Last June, Pops stopped posting as well. Had I not been so wrapped up in musing about Bob Golic and found a minute to look at The Bucket, I would have known this. He left the world of blogging to try and become a "real" writer. The comment board went nuts with the requisite "Say it ain't so!" clamorings and then a few "You bastard, how dare you do this to me!" You know, the usual stages of grief. As of late March, some near 10 months after declaring the end, visitors were still posting on his comment page. That's dedication. The well is dry but they keep bringing up the bucket to check.

So with that, I leave this blog open-ended. What makes us give up blogging? What makes us come back? Who's really does the blog exist for, the blogger or the commenters? And most importantly, where the hell is Pops and what's he up to?
In honor of Pops. The post on a Narcissus scale: 7.7

A Really Good Meme

2008-05-09T14:14:00.010-04:00

From another blog:

Open the nearest book to page 123
Post sentences 6, 7, and 8 from that page
Tag five others

From Goldberg's bestseller, Liberal Fascism:

Eleanor Roosevelt, too, believed that a "benevolent dictator" might be the only answer for America. And it was hardly lost on liberal intellectuals swirling around in the Roosevelt administration that the enormously popular Benito Mussolini had used the same methods to whip the unruly Italians into shape. After all, the New Republic -- the intellectual home of the New Deal -- had covered the goings-on in Italy with fascination and, often, admiration.

Since it's hard for me to find five others, I'll pick Emily and Jeremy and leave it at that.

A yellow flower in the park

2008-05-08T15:51:00.008-04:00

Nothing too outlandish today, I just wanted to post a picture to share with you. My guess is it's a type of daffodil (Narcissus) known as Sacajawea, which typically flowers in March. This one was shot in the mountains of NC in late April in unseasonably cold weather. In the left corner, there appears to also be a different type, possibly a Winifred Van Graven.

Adventures in Bureaucracy

2008-05-06T11:16:00.005-04:00

Typically we think about 'bureaucracy' as having to do with government, the endless waste of time and money we toss into those nebulous state and federal establishments. But, WordNet also defines 'bureaucracy' as: "[A]ny organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape." Let me offer for your consideration our campus gymnasium.

I received an email two weeks back that stated essentially 'you have an outstanding balance at the gym, we are about to start charging you for it'. Hey, turn in your towel by the end of the semester, kid. So, I dutifully took my gym equipment up to the checkout desk on main campus.

I presented my card to the man at the desk and asked him why the email. The gist of our conversation went like this:

I need to see the gear.
So I showed him the lock, shirt and towel I had rented from the gym. He looked at the computer as if was written in gibberish and asked, When did you check this gear out?

Well, I don't know the exact date.

I don't need the exact date, a month ago? A year?

Sure, years ago. I've been a student here almost five years.

He looked at his co-worker conspiratorially. Well, it's yours now.

Huh?

Yeah, you paid for it.

When?

Probably after the first semester you had it. You have to recheck it every semester.

So, basically, at the end every semester I have to walk up to the counter, pull my checked-out towel/shirt/lock from this bag, hand it to you and you hand it right back?

Yes.

I can hardly think of a bigger waste of time for a campus of roughly 20,000 students and supporting faculty and staff, many of whom use the gym every semester, year after year. How much trouble could it be to connect the gym checkout system to registration and allow roll-over of checked-out equipment for students pre-enrolled in the next semester? Certainly easier than making thousands of students bring their equipment to a window and say, here it is, see you in four months when we do this again.

The irony? I probably didn't pay for it, my department did out of my stipend. But then again, I've more than earned it in exchange for a PhD.

Am I that old?

2007-06-29T08:49:00.001-04:00

So I'm watching Saved By The Bell: the College Years today. (Yeah, that's right. You got a problem with it?) In this one, Zack is jealous because Kelly is going out with her ex-professor, Lasky. Zack pulls out the oldest trick in the book, telling his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend that Lasky's too old for her: "He's 32! He's ancient!"

I'm reminded of this every once in a while while playing online. The standard a/s/l questions always come out and when asked how old I am, I tell the assuredly 14-year-old fellow gamer, "Oh, I'm old". How often the response is, "what are you, like, 30?"

It's easy to write this off, d@mn kids! Hooligans! I'm not, as Zack accused Lasky, going "through some mid-life crisis", I don't want to sit around "and watch Matlock". Well, maybe the last part is slightly true. 32 is a great age to be today. Old enough to appreciate Columbo reruns, young enough to enjoy cartoons.

And here's a picture of a Golic to brighten your day:

Carolina vs Carolina

2007-06-06T10:25:00.000-04:00

This week, Carolina plays Carolina in baseball. Impossible, you say? Will a black hole form and sweep up all the players involved? Will no team win or lose? Will all the fans' chants get jumbled together? Okay, maybe that last one might happen.

Technically, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks men's baseball team will be traveling to Chapel Hill, NC to meet in the NCAA Super Regionals the University of North Carolina Tarheels men's baseball team. That's a mouthful, certainly. So, what most fans of these two teams do, just like they do for the other sports, football, basketball, etc., is to call their local team "Carolina". But who really owns this phrase?

Both schools are old by United States standards. For the record, UNC-Chapel Hill is the second oldest public (edited) school in the U.S. (UGA received its charter four years prior), but UNC held classes first. USC-Columbia began twelve years later in 1801. For these two schools to have celebrated bicentennials in the U.S., it is certainly the exception, not the rule.

As for the schools' athletic departments, both have had success. The term "Carolina" is more likely known throughout the nation as a term for UNC-Chapel Hill, due in large part (or maybe all part) to the success of the basketball team. It's not that the Gamecocks have trouble competing with Chapel Hill's success on the hardwood, it's that 99% of the teams in the U.S. have trouble competing with Chapel Hill on the hardwood. But it's a different story in other sports. South Carolina has certainly had more success in football since the late 1980s, playing in several bowl games, some on New Years and playing in the tougher SEC East; meanwhile, Chapel Hill's football postseason history is scarce. Both schools fair well in baseball, USC being the national runner-up in 2002, Chapel Hill runner-up last season. South Carolina has won several conference and division titles in the past ten years in baseball. On the other hand, Chapel Hill excels at lacrosse and soccer, two sports probably considered second-tier at the nation level.

It would appear that from the outside looking in, USC-Columbia and UNC-Chapel Hill are pretty evenly matched as far as athletics. Clearly, this is not the case of comparing Binghamton to Notre Dame; the disparity between the two Carolinas is minimal at best.

But, back to the main question: who is "Carolina"? With all this talk about who deserves the term "Carolina" more, it might stand to reason that one of the schools has a hold on it. A trip to the United States Patent and Trademark Office settles that debate: the term "Carolina" is an offical trademark of a company selling primarily Caribbean food, beans, tomato and vegetable paste, etc. Carolina doesn't mean Garnet & Black or Carolina Blue, doesn't mean the Gamecocks or Tarheels, North or South. Nope, Carolina stands for canned beans.

Kyoto Protocol -- Should we or shouldn't we?

2007-02-28T09:59:00.000-05:00

Background: backed by the UN, officially took effect roughly two years ago (Feb 16 2005). Divides all countries into one of two categories: Annex I and Non-Annex I, or "developed" and "undeveloped" countries, respectively. For Annex I countries, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) must be reduced to 5% below 1990 levels for the years 2008-2012, reduction targets expire in 2013. Penalties for not meeting the reduction target can be enacted. Annex I countries can also purchase GHG credit elsewhere, say by funding projects in non-Annex I countries -- these non-Annex I countries would get carbon credits.

Reasons to follow the protocol: Clearly, if you believe raised CO2-levels are leading to global warming, cutting these GHG emissions would reduce the warming trend. This protocol is a UN-backed multinational solution to that problem with financial benefits and penalties. Also, adherents to the Precautionary Principle would support this plan.

Reasons not to follow the protocol:

1. The Kyoto Protocol is a thinly-veiled attack on industrialized nations. For the US to move away from oil-based economy to alternatives by 2012 would require about $400 billion in economic losses plus millions of lost jobs, in the meantime, we would be discarding technology (power plants, gas-guzzling cars) that still had life left in it. Some estimates show the cost of the KP would be $716 billion, with the US covering approximately 2/3rd of the cost. (see Requiem for Kyoto: An Economic Analysis of the Kyoto Protocol by William D. Nordhaus and Joseph G. Boyer) Or seen from another country's point of view, since Japan is one of the most efficient, least polluting, highly industrialized nations in the world, their involvement in the protocol would be to simply purchase Carbon Credits, once again moving money from developed to undeveloped countries.

2. Most studies show that adhering to the Protocol would cost more than not adhering to it and the overall benefit of the Kyoto Protocol would be marginal at best. (One reason for this would be the large amount of new trees being planted to offset emissions, leading to a reduction in wetlands and temporary increase in CO2 due to soil disturbance and new forest growth).

3. Reduced demand in Annex I countries would drop prices of oil/gas/coal to levels such that non-Annex I countries (which have NO GHG reduction targets) could just buy more of it, with no incentive to reduce emissions.

4. Does not include two of the top five polluters, China (#2) and India. China is expected to pass the US in a few years.

5. The KP does not take into account per capita.

6. The choice of 1990 is deemed by some as unfairly favoring Europe and Russia, due to extremely bad GHG emissions for those countries during those years (Cold War, fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany).

7. Last but not least, the Kyoto Protocol will run out soon and probably be replaced by the G8+5 agreement in ~2009, making the KP moot.

Fresh Spinach, anyone? Anyone?

2006-09-18T15:53:00.000-04:00

Is it too soon to be blogging on the Fresh Spinach Disaster of '06? Are the wounds still too fresh? I worry that I'll touch some sensitive subject here, that one of you Faithful Readers will respond, "hey, my mother had a bagged salad last night, ran a fever like all get out, how dare you!"

Still, I must admit, there's a disturbed part of me which finds a little humor in the fact that it was spinach cursed with an outbreak of E. coli. Certainly this is a bad enough hit, I mean, think of all the Ruby Tuesday's that must be sweating. But really, could you imagine a less-vaulable food product to be infected? What if, instead of spinach, it had been apples or onions or, heaven forbid, POTATOES?!? Literally, thousands of people would have been infected, as opposed to 109. Or maybe, worst case scenario, somehow it gets into our Kraft Mac & Cheese supply chain. Day-cares everywhere would be shut down.

And I also find it not coincidental that the states which have seen outbreaks are 1. near the source point (California) and 2. NOT IN THE SOUTHEAST. Because let's be honest, we're not eating salads all that much and when we do, our definition of salad involves three pieces of iceberg topped by a 6-inch-high mound of boiled egg, three different types of cheeses, bacon bits, chick peas and pre-cut ham under a sea of ranch dressing. Or as they call it at Golden Corral, "your second trip".

So, honestly, do we have anything to worry about here in North Carolina? Here in the South? Natural Selection Foods recalled 34 of its brands (none of which I've ever heard of) and today, the FDA warned consumers to not eat ANY fresh spinach. Alright, now THAT'S a cause we can get behind.

College Football comparison

2006-09-10T15:33:00.000-04:00

A little perspective for my friends in Columbia after Saturday's loss to Georgia. We spent yesterday afternoon here in Raleigh at the Fairgrounds, which coincidentally is next to the football stadium (similar to Columbia). Across the street, the Wolfpack were hosting the Akron Zips. The same Akron of the Mid-American Conference with riveting matchups like Buffalo (how that's Mid-America, I don't know), Kent State, Miami of Ohio and Western Michigan. These teams aren't exactly rattling the BCS-No playoff system each year. The same Akron Zips who last year, despite losing to Army 20-0, powered their way to a 7-5 record, earning them the Motor City Bowl. This is who NC State lost to yesterday. And they gave Akron everything they had.

On the other hand, SC played top 20, perennial SEC East powerhouse Georgia, who last year finished in the top ten, won the East and played in a BCS bowl game. The Gamecocks held the Bulldogs to 18 points and were mere yards from two TDs of their own. This game was no rout; it was inches from being a nail-biter. But that's the problem with playing in the SEC, the toughest conference. It chews up teams and hopes every week. And I'll take that performance last night any day than this laugh-fest up here in Raleigh. Minutes after the game, you could already hear the fans calling for Amato's head. See, we can tell that, even though State lost by one, they stink. And likewise, even though the Gamecocks lost by 18, they are a much better team than their record shows.

Things I'm Looking Forward To

2006-04-04T10:03:00.000-04:00

1. The Billings (Montana) Gazette runs a story about two kids going head-to-head for 25 rounds in what may be the longest spelling bee ever. The winner (finally) gets an all-expenses-paid trip for two to DC in late May for the National Scripps Spelling Bee. That's right, less than 2 months still my annual National Spelling Bell blog entry.

2. The Masters starts this Thursday which, if you've read any of my blogs in the past, you know that's the real start of spring. The Masters in April is THE event. Football is far away, NCAA basketball is done, Hockey and NBA finals are next month and MLB has barely started. This year, Tiger is the odds-on favorite at the again-lengthend (155 more yards) Augusta National, but will he be there?

3. Lost on Wednesday should be exciting as we move toward the season finale in May. I think we reached a note-worthy point in TV history last week and, as you know I love TV, I don't say that lightly. Last week's episode featured a black-lit drawing/map on the blast door. It remained in view for a second or two but today, one week later, it has been as thoroughly studied as the Shroud of Turin. High-definition television combined with TiVo and video-to-computer recording and Photoshopping techniques have given viewers the ability to thoroughly consume a show, something I believe the writers and directors of Lost play into. Certainly they know the level to which every episode/line/frame is discussed, they must have known how completely that drawing would be batted around on the internet. I think this show represents how thin the distance between show and audience is becoming. Check out these two pics to see what I'm talking about -- Drawing as it was aired, Drawing as it was dissected mere hours later.

4. There's a small part of me hoping to see Bonds go ballistic, jump in the stands and beat a fan with their own "*"-sign. Yesterday, a "fan" threw a needle-less syringe on the grass in front of Bonds, who picked it up and moved it off the field. Sure, a million jokes could be made about how Bonds certainly knew how to handle that syringe, but funnier would have been if he had climbed into the stands and beat the fan with it. I dislike Bonds as much as the next guy but sometimes fans cross the line with their belligerent shouts and unsafe props.

5 Things I Expected -- But Still Surprised Me

2006-04-02T19:38:00.000-04:00

What a weekend, here's some news:

1. Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct II grossed only $3-$4 million this opening weekend. Look, I thought it would lose out to Ice Age because why pay for old beaver when you can see young squirrels and mammoths. But, for the love of rednecks, tying with Larry The Cable Guy? That's downright pathetic.

2. George Mason was handled easily by Florida in the semifinals. You knew their run would end one day, but I never thought the game would be so boring. On the flipside, I thought UCLA would be the one getting blown out by LSU. I agree with Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, I hope UCLA doesn't win the championship because I despise the boring kind of basketball they play.

3. Apparently, someone in San Franscisco hates Barry. Yep, they ponied up the cash for a billboard outside Giants' stadium (video link), reading simple "TRADE BARRY". In the entire US, you'd think he'd have some sanctuary there. And no, I didn't do it, but I wish I had.

4. It seems, ESPN wants us to believe that dominoes is the next big thing. Yep, the little tiles with white dots, you're going to watch this (willingly) on ESPN2 at 1:30 am. I knew ESPN had jumped the shark years ago (Outside The Lines, Around the Horn), more recently they circled around and jumped the shark again with all the poker crap. Now this? Please. If they show dominoes, it'll be the best thing that ever happened to my serious work endeavors.

5. Herb Sendek is leaving NC State, taking a job with ASU. Good for him, here's what I want for NC State's basketball program over the next ten years: a record of 120-150, no NCAA tourney appearances, play-in games for the ACC tournament and three coaches over that span. This is what the school deserves for their outright lack of support they showed a coach who had a winning record, 5 straight NCAA appearances (school record), played for the ACC tourney championship, had a Sweet Sixteen appearance last year and was all-in-all a very good coach. But, don't beat Duke or UNC around here and you get castrated. Funny, none of the critics care to mention that Duke and UNC beat everyone, not just NC State. Good luck, Herb, you're better off in Tempe.

Something to celebrate

2006-03-29T16:11:00.000-05:00

A short post today about the NFL. The owners passed several new rules today, most of them involving player safety (like horse collaring and hitting QBs below the knees). But surely the one new rule to get the most press will be the limitations placed on endzone celebrations.

New legislation allowes for spikes, dunks, Lambeau leaps, spins, solo dancing and some simple celebrations (what these are apparently is up to the on-field ref). Out are the excessive and prop-filled productions: cell phones, boat paddling, proposing to cheerleaders, golfing, etc. It seems like a majority of sports journalists are against the new rules, that they take the fun out of the league and I can certainly understand their opinion. There becomes a point when too many rules stifle the enjoyment of the athletes themselves.

What disturbs me most is the quote from celebrator-extraordinaire Cincinnati Bengal Chad Johnson, who said that he and others (Keyshawn, Terrell) will have their own committee to "come up with creative ways to celebrate touchdowns." I think this hits at the heart of the issue and does more to validate the NFL owners' position than to engender support from me (the common fan) for Johnson's plight.

Football should be about football: taking a ball from the QB into the endzone by some means while the other team tries to stop you. Now that's football at its base form and it's a tough job facing a skilled defensive front, so I certainly understand the level of joy that the WR or RB or whomever feels when they score. But when props begin to enter the field of play, when choreographed performances show up, when WRs consider forming committees to determine how they might celebrate a TD that has not happened yet, spontaneity is gone, replaced by deliberate premeditation. At this point, the game is not about football, it is about the celebration and I think that this is what the NFL owners hope to avoid. They want to make sure that the NFL is still about the teams and the history and NOT about the players and their antics. The NBA suffers from this problem currently: a league centered on individual players and their on- and off-court antics; and the league's interest and viewership suffers for it. The NFL owners are trying to stop this before it gets out of hand and I, for one, applaud their effort.

NIT Update

2006-03-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

After SC eliminated Cincy tonight, none of us have any teams left in the final two (or champion either). I still have two teams in the Final Four (MICH and LOUISVILLE), but like a genius, picked them both to lose. That said, the scoring is over. Final tally: Emily 30, Andy 29, Mom 29, Jeff 25. Great job, Em. See ya next year.

*Edit : in a story over a CNNSI, two Cincy players were declared ineligible two hours before the game. Can I switch my pick to SC now?

I give up, I'm hooked

2006-03-23T12:08:00.000-05:00

On 360.yahoo.com or even here on Blogspot, I list a bunch of TV shows that I like to watch. Let's not kid ourselves, I watch ALOT of TV. For instance, in an average week: Simpsons, Family Guy, Free Ride, King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother, CSI Miami, According to Jim, Scrubs, Sons and Daughters, Lost, The Office, CSI (Vegas), The Soup, Best Week Ever, Monk, SNL, Mad TV, etc. In between, my TiVo saves all the other shows I need: O'Grady, Mythbusters, Good Eats, Anthony Bourdain, Showbiz Show. And plenty I've forgotten. Hmmm, it's actually scary to see it in print like this.

But although I love most of these shows and I truly look forward to them, there's only one show I NEED. Like, my wife and I talk about it all week long, we complain when there's reruns, ok, we bitch. We make coffee and sweets and look forward to it like it's not just a show, it's an event. Of course, I mean "Lost".

I know I've said this before, I think over at Pops, I didn't watch a single episode of Season One. Still, I caught on quick with Season Two and the nice wrap-up episodes. And also, I read the Season One summaries over at Lost Forum, which is where I spend WAY too much time each week, reading theories, looking at spoiler pics, listening to others bitch during the three week hiatus. The one time of week I can't get on the site is right after new episodes, like today, because the site is flooded with users discussing every minute point of the show. And here's the deal: only members are allowed on during these high-traffic moments.

Now there's a simple solution to this -- register to be a member. But that's like admitting you have a problem. Sure, you can come home from work and drink until you're smashed every evening and spend all weekend at the bar, but that's just a guy who likes to drink. One AA meeting and suddenly you've got a little problem. Next, people are whispering, talking behind your back. You have to resort to watching Lost privately, just you and a pint of Ben & Jerry's you've become to attach to, maybe you call him Earl. (Oh yeah, I forgot, that's another show I TiVo.) Then, you create your own site, www.iheartsunonlost.com, and you fill it with 487 pictures of the hot actresses from the show, which isn't so bad, because it gets you away from looking at online Julia Louis-Dreyfus pics 22 hours a day. Your laptop background is Sawyer in the sunset and your myspace account audio is Jack asking, "who brought us here?" Next thing you know, you're showing up at the LostCon '06 convention, dressed up as John Locke with a 5 o'clock shadow, a fake scar on your face and a noticeable limp; you debate a fat man who calls himself Hurley and screams at you (between bites on a Pay Day bar) that the Dharma Initiative IS Oceanic, you f*ckin' MORON!

No, no, that's not for me at all. I'll wait for the riff-raff to clear out over at Lost Forum and sweet, normal, it's-just-a-TV-show Last Rick will check out what theories all the wackos with real problems are discussing.

In the meantime, if you want to discuss any theories here, go right ahead. I'll humor you.

The best game so far

2006-03-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

Well, the clock has officially started for the NCAA Tourney. You say you're the best tournament, show me a game better than tonight's NIT matchup between FSU and South Carolina. One of the best games ALL YEAR. Period.

NCAA Tournament, you've been served.

It's Groundhog's Day, again

2006-03-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

At some point in my undergraduate career, I moved out of the dorms and went to work for the summer as a handyman for a housing subdivision outside of Greenville, SC. The work was interesting, certainly the most blue collar job I had ever done (still to this day): plumbing, carpentry, painting. Uggh, the worst was definitely replacing the mesh part of screen doors. I do not recommend that at all, just let the flies in, it's easier to deal with.

My buddy called me from Raleigh and invited me back, said I could stay with him and work at the theatre, maybe it's theater, it wasn't that swanky. I left eagerly and moved in with him in this dump which still stands in Raleigh at the corner of Avent Ferry and Centennial. Kinda looks like an old hotel because it was. For a while we shared a crappy studio and two months later (after sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag for several weeks), we upgraded to a one-bedroom. I slept in there on a bed with mattress and box springs but no frame. My buddy slept in the living room on a couch he had bought from a Salvation Army for $25 bucks that was probably infested with something. We lived like that for a year or so. Unbelievably good times.

We bought a doormat that said 'Feliz Navidad' so that we wouldn't get broken into (although thinking back, we were poor as hell, what did we have?) and we used to make casseroles with ritz crackers. We went to the Golden Corral every Wednesday for Steak and Shrimp night. I never was too keen on the questionable steak "meat", so we called it "And Shrimp Night". We played NTN trivia and hung out at a wine bar in Chapel Hill with women way out of our league -- I learned the value of a red pea coat for a woman. Matt and I sat around playing Barenaked Ladies songs on guitar (I always wanted to be Steven). And most of all, we would watch Groundhog Day. Over and over and over.

Hard to believe that movie is 13 years old now, I still know it backwards and forwards. Part of my lexicon was influenced by it -- "Just put that anywhere" came from (one of) the diner scene(s). It's so smart, simultaneously funny and poignant, you can watch the movie as either thought-provoking or meaningless humor; there are just so many levels to that movie. And recently, I was able to watch Groundhog Day again, except this time as the version dubbed in German (with English subtitles, how odd): Und taeglich gruesst das Murmeltier. Originally I thought, how could Germans understand this movie, do they celebrate Groundhog Day as we do here in the US? Apparently, the folklore of the shadow was German and French in origin, so I guess they get it. And the movie was good too, even dubbed from English to German (and then obviously back to English subtitles). It was like watching the movie for the first time, again.

But that's the great thing about Groundhog Day, the movie. Just like the holiday, every viewing is pretty much the same, you know what's going to happen before you even get into it. But it's still fun, it's still a movie I could watch over and over and over and . . .

Those Dang Duke Boys

2006-03-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

St Patrick's Day, right? But I walked out the house not wearing any green at all and I wonder, do thirty-something people in cubicled-offices pinch each other? . . .

Recent news has the Duke Boys in hot water again with Roscoe. Or at least, Tom Wopat is in trouble. For those that never RTFA, he was busted for DUI and reckless driving. Now I think we can all agree, we all saw "the reckless driving" part coming a mile away. I always wonder too, when Jeff Gordon goes to church, does he have to fight the urge to drive there at 140 mph?

Back to Wopat, at first I was upset: DUI is no joking matter, bust him to the fullest extent of the law (you dipstick). But then I remembered my days in Pascagoula, Mississippi, working in the shipyards. And we would come back to the hotel/barracks we were housed in and almost every day without fail, a six pack of PBR from the store inside the barracks, a call-in pizza from Papa Johns and re-runs of The Dukes of Hazzard. I wonder, could I have gotten through three months in Mississippi (or reruns of TDofH) without beer every day. And then one time, we accidentally ended up in the suburbs of Atlanta the same time a General Lee convention was in town. I thought alot about drinking then, too. Thousands of men with long hair and no teeth and women in tank tops. I almost need a drink right now thinking about it. Now you try be a Duke Boy actor and having somebody yell, Hey, Luke!, every time you go to Applebee's. You'd feel like drinking too.

So, here's to you, Duke Boys. I know it's gotta be tough on you every day and maybe we should cut you guys and Mike Brady and Gary Coleman a break every now and then. But not Ricky Shroder, nope, screw him.

Let's go, Flash.

March Madness -- Wednesday (almost there)

2006-03-15T11:31:00.000-05:00

Opening round of the NIT is done, with my mother leading all entrants at 5 of 8. The rest of us are tied for second with 4/8. Which reminds me again of two truths: 1. knowledge of sports is not always required and 2. Flipping a coin to select winners would work just as well as using logic.

Thankfully no money is involved, I would be out of money quick if so. Which is totally opposite of those around me involved in NCAA betting pools, usually at five bucks an entry. And that alot of money, given that an estimated 28 million people are expected this year to fill out an office bracket and pony up some cash (always cash, people, no paper trails). Even if you trick yourself into believing these people fill out on average two entries, you're talking about a two-week period of betting that runs somewhere around a quarter billion dollars. That we know of.

And the kicker to all of this is that it's illegal. Since 1961, as a matter of fact, but most people partake of it and speak openly about it. Virtually no one hides in closets swapping money and brackets, while an eagle-eyed buddy keeps watch for the Feds. There's essentially no fear of indictment. And mostly, I blame sites like ESPN and CBS. Not only do they provide us with instantaneous brackets for download and printing, they give you non-stop coverage, in-depth analysis and suggested "expert" picks such that any Joe off the street think, maybe I could win this, I know as much as the next guy.

The problem I have with betting on March Madness is partially the legality of it, but mostly the immorality of it. We're not talking about an event that would pan out regardless of us, the audience, watching it -- like, for instance, betting on the chance the sun rises in the east tomorrow. Instead there is real danger of that the games themself could be at risk from our betting. Need I remind anyone of the Black Sox scandal?

So while you partake in the madness the next two weeks, remind yourself: why do you watch? Is it because you actually care about who wins the UNC/Murray State matchup? Or is it because you know you have UNC going to the Elite Eight in seven of your eight brackets and UNC losing would take about 40 bucks off you? Shouldn't the NCAA basketball games be about the athletes again and the chance to make their dreams come true, instead of the yours?

March Madness -- Tuesday

2006-03-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

Apparently, yesterday's post wasn't the only criticism of the NCAA selection process. After the field of 65 was announced on Sunday, TV personalities Billy Packer and Jim Nantz took the selection committee and its chairman to task about their selections. Just some of their griefs:

1. The omission of Cincinnati who had an RPI of 40, strength of schedule of 5 and 19 wins.

2. Syracuse seeded as a 5. A week ago they are on the bubble and are a last-second McNamara 3-pointer from going home early from the Big East tourney. This week, they are seeded above teams with better records and more consistent play.

3. Inclusion of teams like Air Force or Utah State instead of Michigan and Missouri State with much better RPIs.

4. Tennessee as a #2 seed which is better than SEC regular-season winner LSU and tourney champ Florida.

5. George Washington, the #14 overall team and with the best record in the field (26-2) as a #8 seed, leading to a second-round matchup with a #1.

6. With the new pod system, geographical seeding plays more of a role. Yet, Boston College, who played for the ACC tournament championship, was sent out West, the only Eastern Time Zone team in their sub-bracket. All other ACC teams stayed closer to home with UNC an 8-hour drive away and Duke only a hour from Durham.

7. Last, but not least, the percieved basis toward mid-majors. The ten-man committee breaks down as follows: one each from the Southwestern Athletic, Ivy League, CAA, Horizon, Mid-American, Mountain West and WAC (all non-BCS) and one each from the SEC, ACC, and Pac-10 (BCS). No Big Ten, Big 12, or Conference USA reps. Is it a coincidence that some of the biggest "bubbles" bursting on Sunday were Michigan (Big Ten) and Colorado (Big 12)? And could Cincy's omission be mid-major reps refusal to grant yet another Big East team at the expense of say Bradley (the textbook mid-major, MVC)?

I don't know who gets it more right, college football or college basketball. Football at least gaurantees you, the best two teams will play for the championship or if not that, two of the best three or four will play. At most, one team gets slighted but they'll get a huge chunk of money to go play in another BCS bowl. Still, the little guy has essentially no chance at a title, which is where basketball does it better. Sixty-five teams means that cinderella club at least has a chance. But at whose expense? Realistically, at the expense of a major conference team who would beat down Cinderella with her own glass slipper 9 times out of 10.

The other March Madness

2006-03-13T09:05:00.000-05:00

You have to hand the editors over at CNNSI some credit; usually they lag behind ESPN a little when it comes to sports coverage. That's not to say this is totally a bad thing, I mean, let's be real, ESPN gives probably 120% more than you need. Actually for that matter, how much sports does one person really need? Anyway.

What gets us going the most this month is March Madness and the lead-in, Selection Sunday (with is actually lead by Saturation Saturday, ad infinitum). Implicit in "March Madness" though is that only one tournament matters: the NCAA. And that wasn't always true.

The National Invitation Tournament, or NIT, started in 1938 (predating the "other" tournament by one year) and, as the NCAA tourney didn't allow its teams to accept invites to the NIT, there was (in the past) real discussion about which tourney winner was the "national" champ. That's certainly no longer the case -- my South Carolina Gamecocks won the NIT last year but outside of SC (the state) or little blurbs on ESPN, there was no mention of this. And that's a shame, not just because I'm a Gamecocks fan, but because the NIT is a really good tournament in the final rounds.

I have many problems with the NCAA tournament and not enough web space to go through them. But I will say this: I think the NIT does a better job selecting teams. The NCAA tourney wraps itself up in two horrible guidelines: 1. Each conference winner gets an invite. I think this only encourages smaller teams to join or create conferences whose sole purpose is to get an NCAA bid. These teams get beat up by larger Division I teams all year and then after one week of a conference tournament, they decide who will represent them -- the regular season for these conferences is pointless. And 2. I don't think the best 34 at-large teams are chosen, period. There is no person of right mind that can tell me an at-large team from the MEAC Conference could beat a mid-level team from say the ACC. There's is way too much emphasis on mid-majors in the NCAA tournament.

The NIT doesn't get wrapped up in that. You look at the NIT bracket and it's filled with teams that for the most part have 18+ wins. This year, Cincy, FSU, Miami (FL), Michigan, Creighton, Vandy, Maryland, Colorado and my beloved Gamecocks all had respectable seasons but were passed over by the NCAA for either one of the two above-stated ridiculous guidelines. And you know, kudos to the NIT, they have some great matchups looming: Cincy/Wake, FSU/SC, Michigan/Vandy. Sure the NCAA tournament will eventually give you Duke/UCLA, but think of every UNC/Murray St matchup you'll have to watch to get there.

Anyway, back to CNNSI. Kudos to them. I looked all over ESPN's main page and as of this morning, nothing, zip, no mention of the NIT. You have to go to the men's college basketball subpage to find any mention. But not CNNSI, they put it right there on the front page. Ok, it's below the big "ticket" picture of the NCAA and below the story about the Puerto Rico/Dominican WBC second-round matchup. But it's there, and it's where I'll be too for the next couple weeks. See you at Madison Square Garden.