Sawdust for Brains

Tigers Regain National Championship Belt

2011-12-04T14:36:00.003-05:00

When the Clemson football team lost to Georgia Tech back in October, they also lost the mythical National Football Championship Belt they had won earlier in the season. Last night the Tigers not only won the 2011 ACC football championship, they regained the National Championship Belt. Virginia Tech had grabbed the Belt when they defeated Georgia Tech in November but was able to defend the Belt successfully only twice.

Clemson will put the Belt on the line at the Orange Bowl in January. Go Tigers!

Veteran's Day 2011

2011-11-11T18:07:00.003-05:00

I can't improve on last year's Veteran's Day thoughts, so I offer this rerun.

Special thoughts for Tommy Rose, George Mims, Robert Walden, and Sam McDowell.

A Disservice to the ACC

2011-10-20T12:01:00.005-04:00

I see by the morning paper that the News & Record has participated in another disservice to the ACC by promoting pre-season rankings in a major sport. Why is this so bad? Because the sportswriters are going to be wrong. How can I say this? Because I remember the pre-season football rankings. Why is this a great disservice to the league? Consider the Clemson football team.

It may all come to a crashing end any Saturday now, but until it does we Clemson fans are really enjoying this season. But just imagine where the Tigers might be if the ACC football writers had been more prescient and seen that this year's team was as good as it is and voted it the favorite for the conference championship instead of fourth. If the Tigers had been pre-season favorites (and perhaps ranked 6th nationally like Florida State), who doubts they wouldn't today be higher in the BCS rankings with a better chance at playing for the National Championship. Oh the injustice!

As Dabo says, the only polls that count are in December, and unless the team is 1-0 every week until then this is all just blah, blah, blah. And don't forget, Clemson still has the National Football Championship Belt. (Where is Ben Holder when we need him?)

At least basketball has a national championship so this same scenario won't play out next March.

Be Careful What You Ask For . . .

2011-10-20T10:30:00.003-04:00

Following up on my "Going Public" post from yesterday, I just talked with Dr. Shen at WFBMC and he has rescheduled my surgery for 7:00 Saturday morning. I appreciate their quick response and extra effort to get to my case. I guess this means I will miss the Clemson-UNC game Saturday, but I'll DVR it and hope I'll want to watch the replay when I get home. Go Tigers.

Going Public

2011-10-19T11:34:00.005-04:00

Radley Balco's The Agitator is one of my daily internet reads, and today he had a post that was of particular interest to me. Late last month I, too, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

I had been having some slight/mild abdominal pain during the summer and when I mentioned it to my doctor, Mark Perini, during my annual physical visit, he thought I should get it checked out further ("We never like to ignore abdominal pain."). I had abdominal x-rays the next day to rule out some obvious things (i.e. kidney stones), and when the x-rays showed nothing of note, he followed up with a CT scan and then an MRI. The CT scan showed an "ill-defined mass involving the body of the pancreas" and the MRI showed a pancreatic tail mass "most consistent with an adenocarcinoma" with "no definite hepatic metastasis".

Dr. Perini immediately followed up with the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest Baptist Health Center (where he had gone to medical school) and got me an appointment with Dr. Perry Shen there. At our 9/30 appointment Dr. Shen reviewed the CT and MRI results and believed the tumor was very "operable" with a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy, procedures to remove the tumor, part of the pancreas (leaving the pancreas head and some tissue to provide some continuing pancreas function), and the spleen (which isn't really necessary for adults. This is the least invasive pancreatic surgery, less severe than a total pancreas removal or a Whipple procedure, which removes part of the stomach, small intestine, and other affected organs as well.

Surgery was scheduled for Oct. 26, the earliest date Dr. Shen had available on his schedule. Since this type tumor is very slow-growing and Dr. Shen wanted an endoscopic ultrasound and biopsy procedure done to make sure of the diagnosis before surgery, it seemed like a reasonable date.

Dr. Shen never used the word "cure" in discussing the treatment, but he did say that surgery followed by chemotherapy or radiation if necessary was the best course of action.

After thinking about the situation over the weekend, I called Dr. Perini on Monday to discuss the schedule with him. I wanted to do the surgery sooner rather than later. He agreed to call Dr. Shen and see if the surgery could be moved up. The next day they called to say it had been rescheduled for 10/20 pending the completion of the endoscopic ultrasound and biopsy procedure. We scheduled that procedure for Tuesday 10/11 and it went off very well.

They gave me the ultrasound results that day as a stage T3NOMX tumor and confirmed a day or so later that the biopsy confirmed the mass was an adenocarcinoma. That day or the next they called to see if I would be interested in moving surgery up to 10/17 and I said I would be.

I haven't talked about long-term prognosis with Dr. Shen, but Dr. Perini tells me that five-year survivability of pancreatic cancer is in the 20% range, so this isn't a good diagnosis. However, if truth be told, I'm not sure I expected much more than five-year survivability when I had cardiac bypass surgery six years ago, so maybe I'm ahead of the game.

From my discussions with Dr. Shen, I expected to surgery to be somewhat like the bypass surgery, with perhaps less risk in the actual operation but a more difficult recovery period. He said I'd be in the hospital for a week or so and have a several-week recovery period afterwards.

I wanted to wait until I had a better feel about the long-term prognosis before I told the world about my situation, so I had only mentioned this to my sisters and my closest friends and asked them to use their discretion in telling others. By last Saturday, however, I realized it would be better for me to tell the story than others to hear by rumor, so I sent out an e-mail announcement to my extended family and some other friends explaining the situation.

On Monday, accompanied by my sister Peggy (and surprised there by my friends Roy and Patsy Johnston), I was at Baptist Hospital at my appointed 11:30am time, expecting to be there for a week of so and then home for recovery. We waited until about 2:00, when Dr. Shen's associate came out to tell us that their first procedure of the day (which they had started at 7:30 am) still had three to five hours to go. He said if I preferred, I could wait and have my surgery when they finished that case, or we could reschedule for a later time. After some discussion back and forth, I thought I'd rather have fresh surgeon than one who had been working 10+ hours already. Besides, I hadn't eaten since 10:30 the previous evening and couldn't have anything to drink before the surgery. So we decided to reschedule. It was quite a let-down, but I'm confident it was the right decision.

When I called yesterday to reschedule the surgery, they said the first time they had available for a first-surgery-of-the-day appointment was November 10. I said I'd take it, but I asked them to see if they couldn't do better since I knew the long wait wasn't going to make my situation better.

After discussing the situation with Dr. Perini, I called this morning re-pleading my case to see what other alternatives might be available to get the operation done sooner (different surgeon, etc.) and I'm awaiting their reply.

If College Football Were "Rasslin'"

2011-09-20T09:41:00.008-04:00

From Tigernet comes the pointer that this week is a big one in the ACC: the National Football Belt is up for grabs in a big game on Saturday--Clemson Plays Florida State with the Belt on the line.

As the web site Collegefootballbelt.com explains (follow the link and click on Belt Description), since college football doesn't have an actual championship game decided on the field, it needs a Championship Belt, like professional wrestling. When the belt-holder plays and wins, they keep the belt; if they lose, it passes to the winner.

Starting with the first college game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869 to the present day, the belt is now worn by Clemson by virtue of their defeat of Auburn last week-end. The Belt is thus on the line again this week when Clemson plays FSU . Will the Tigers retain this mythical National Championship symbol?

I hope so. Go Tigers!

Things Seen and Unseen

2011-09-16T12:17:00.002-04:00

I am familiar with the Broken Windows fallacy, but until this morning I had not read the essay from which comes, an 1850 essay by Frenchman Frédéric Bastiat. Wikipedia prints the full essay here, but a perhaps more readable version is here. It begins:

In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them.

There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.

Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.

The essay has a number of subsections: the Broken Window; the Disbanding of Troops; Taxes; Theatres, Fine Arts; Public Works; the Intermediates; Restrictions; Machinery; Credit; Algeria; Frugality and Luxury; and He Who Has a Right to Work Has a Right to Profit.

I'm not an economist, but this sounds like good argument as to why many government economic measures don't work, particularly public works spending and tariffs.

I found the essay very interesting and worth the time it took to read. I'd be interested in looking at articles debunking Bastiat's thoughts.

Castles in the Sand

2011-06-30T12:00:00.003-04:00

We didn't do any sand sculpting during our vacation at Holden Beach last week, but a couple of years ago niece Cathy and the kids did a pretty good mermaid--nothing professional, but good none-the-less. [Click to embiggen.]

We were a couple of years early. Yesterday, the Blogfather linked to this article in Popular Mechanics on building sand castles, and today the Wall Street Journal chimed in with this article.

Them are some pretty impressive sand castles. It puts us amateurs to shame.

Today In Baseball

2011-05-02T21:08:00.004-04:00

Today, May 2, is quite a day in baseball history.

1876 In Cincinnati against the Redlegs, Chicago's Ross Barnes hits the first home run in the history of National League. The former National Association superstar also has, in addition to his inside-the-park homer, a single, a triple, two stolen bases and scores four runs.

1901 After the Tigers take the lead in the top of the inning at Chicago's South Side Park, the White Sox slow down the pace of the game in hopes the contest will be rained out. Umpire Tom Connolly is not impressed and forefits the game, the first in American league history, giving Detroit a 7-5 victory.

1920 The first game of National Negro Baseball League is played in Indianapolis when the hometown ABC's beat the Chicago Giants at Washington Park, 4-2. Schorling's Park, the home field of the Giants, will be unavailable for another month due to the occupation of the National Guard, stationed there as a result of the The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, prompting the delay of the inaugural season in the Windy City, a huge disappointment for the newly-formed league.

1930 In Des Moines, Iowa, a Western League contest against Wichita becomes the first night baseball game to be played under permanent lights. The unique event, which draws 12,000 fans instead of the usual 600 patrons, is the beginning of a concept which will spread quickly through the minors and spare many organizations from the on-slaught of the Great Depression.

1930 Due to 102 degree fever, Joe Sewell’s consecutive streak ends at 1,103 games when he doesn't appear in a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Indian shortstop, who hasn't missed a game since 1922, is only 204 games shy of the all-time record of 1,307 games set in 1925 by Yankee shortstop Everett Scott.

Nine years later:
1939 Prior to a game with the Tigers in Detroit, Lou Gehrig tells his manager, Joe McCarthy, that he is benching himself "for the good of the team". The Yankee legend's record streak, which began in 1925, ends at 2,130 consecutive games.

1954 In a twin bill at Sportsman's Park, eight-year old Nate Colbert watches Cardinals Stan Musial become the first major leaguer to hit five home runs in a doubleheader. In 1972, as a 26-year old Padres first baseman, he will become the only other major leaguer to repeat this feat.

1984 Don Mattingly's seventh inning single breaks up LaMarr Hoyt's perfect game bid. The lone hit, an opposite field blooper, is followed up by a double play and the White Sox hurler faces the minimum 27 batters defeating the Yankees, 3-0.

2008 Jose Reyes is thrown out at home plate in an unusual attempt to complete the cycle with an inside-the-park homer. The shortstop’s four hits pace the Mets 7-2 win over Diamondbacks, the club’s 14th victory in the last 15 games played against Arizona at Chase Field.

Read these and 28 0ther interesting facts at one of my favorite web sites: Today In Baseball History

Notes on Old Movie Week

2011-04-17T12:24:00.007-04:00

This past week was sort of Old Movie Week at my house. Last Sunday was India Night. I had friends over for take-out Indian food (from the open-under-new-management Tandoor India restaurant on W. Market St) and a showing of Slumdog Millionaire on Netflix DVD. Though a big fan of Indian cuisine, I hadn't been to Tandoor in several years, when it was Nikita. The food was excellent--as good or better than Saffron. We ordered a variety of entrees and shared, buffet style. I particularly liked the chicken shahi korma (made with boneless dark-meat chicken) and the wonderfully garlicky Garlic Nan.

I would not put Slumdog Millionaire at the top of my favorite movies list, but I can see why it has gotten so much critical acclaim. I'm glad we saw it on DVD, though. After watching the first few minutes and understanding little of the dialogue, we turned the English sub-titles on on the DVD and could easily understand the rest of the movie. Without sub-titles, I think we would have been lost for the rest of the show.

This is the second time sub-titles has saved a movie for me. I watched the BBC version of State of Play on DVD several weeks ago, and though it was supposedly in English, I had great difficulty understanding the accents. The English sub-titles on the DVD saved the day. As best I can determine, Netflix doesn't support sub-titles on watch-it-now movies. This could be a problem for some even "English language" movies.

I had missed the new True Grit movie the first time around. (I had even missed the old John Wayne version of many years ago.) Friday night I went with some friends to see it at the Sedgefield Crossings $1 theater. I enjoyed the show but was particularly surprised with the experience. The ambiance was nice though certainly not luxurious. There were more folks in the theater than had been in last half-dozen movies I have seen total. I think this isn't so much a theater as it's a popcorn stand with cheap movies attached. I enjoyed the experience and recommend it for movies you may have missed in their expensive showings the first time around.

Firefox 4 Upgrade Problem

2011-04-05T13:13:00.007-04:00

Following the advice of my tech guru at the Wall Street Journal, I upgraded my Firefox browser the the latest version 4 this morning. Unfortunately that created an unforeseen problem: FF4 doesn't work with my password manager, Roboform (ver. 6). I'd have to upgrade to a new version of Roboform (at $10 or $30 or something--no thanks) So I had to uninstall FF4, find FF 3.6 on the web, download and install it. I couldn't find a downloaded version of FF3.6 on my computer. So this was a reminder to always SAVE a downloaded program rather than just INSTALL it, so I can easily re-install in the future if necessary.

Prior to uninstalling FF4 I tried to use Windows Restore function to take my computer back to before the FF4 install. The most recent restore point I had was a week or so ago (I know, I should have established a Restore Point before installing FF4). Restore was unable to do the restore function, so I was left with plan B. As Roseanne Roseannadanna said, "It's always something."

It's Always High Noon on the Moon

2011-03-19T10:51:00.005-04:00

Tonight will be the (pick one: biggest, brightest, closest) full moon in almost 20 years. A lot of guys will be out photographing it, so I thought I'd offer some advice for getting a properly exposed picture of the full moon. Most pictures of the full moon are overexposed--white discs with no surface detail. To get a properly exposed picture, remember the advice I got from The Nikon School traveling show back in the early 70's: it's always high noon on the moon.

This means that the proper exposure for a full-moon shot follows the Sunny 16 rule: the proper exposure for a sunny day is f/16 aperture and a shutter speed of 1/the ISO setting (1.e. 1/100 for ISO=100). So, for tonight, put your camera on manual mode and set the film-speed/sensitivity/whatever to 100, set the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100 sec. You can, of course, use any equivalent setting.

As was point out when I made this suggestion on The Online Photographer blog several months ago, this is only an approximation. The moon is actually a dark gray color (the color of coal, as the Greensboro Daily Photo pointed out) so the applicable rule is more-nearly the Sunny 13 rule, but in today's digital world, either will get you close enough for your first try. (Do remember that a newly rising moon will be darker than an overhead moon so exposure will be different for each position.) Good luck and good shooting.

Little Things I Learned Today

2011-02-25T11:38:00.005-05:00

What "sestercentennial" means and what a writ of assistance is.

Why "The King's Speech" Lost the Oscar?

2011-02-24T10:55:00.002-05:00

I'm expecting The King's Speech" to win the Best Picture Oscar Sunday night. If it doesn't, this might be the reason: two weeks ago Joe Morgenstern, the Wall Street Journal's movie critic revealed the following story:

With "The King's Speech" gaining the Oscar traction it deserves—the latest boost being an expression of approval from Queen Elizabeth—I can't resist going public with a story that I've relished telling to friends, and to the people who made the movie. Several weeks before it opened, I had a conversation with Rupert Murdoch, who popped a question familiar to movie critics: What should he see?

I suggested "The King's Speech," and, not wanting to spoil it with too many details, gave a shorthand description: Colin Firth as King George VI, who has a terrible stutter, and Geoffrey Rush as a raffish Australian speech therapist.

Yes, he replied, Lionel Logue.

"So you know the story."

Not the story of the movie, he said. "Lionel Logue saved my father's life."

When I responded with speechlessness, he explained that his father, as a young man, wanted passionately to be a newspaper reporter, but couldn't interview people because he stuttered. Then he met Lionel Logue, who cured him in less than a year.

I don't know when exactly the votes were cast, but I can imagine that a lot of Hollywood types would find it very difficult to vote for a movie about a man who played a significant role in Rupert Murdoch's life and success.

Joining the 21st Century

2011-01-26T11:36:00.007-05:00

I joined the 21st century in home entertainment this week. I replaced the 22-yr-old TV set in my den/sitting room with a new internet-capable flat-screen TV and Blu-ray DVD player. I'd like to share several observations:

The Shopping Experience. I'm not much of a shopper. I went to two big-box stores, Best Buy and H.H. Gregg, and got good help and advice from both. Both came up with the same basic suggestions for what I needed and prices were similar. I checked both companies' web sites and was surprised to find Best Buy's web prices seemed to be $100-$200 (on a $1,600 purchase) less than the in-store price. The Best Buy salesman said he didn't work on commission, so I wondered where the difference came from.

I bought from H.H. Gregg. I opted for the 12-mo.-free-credit offer. We'll see if that turns out to be a mistake.

The Setting-Up Experience. In trying to learn about what I needed to do to get my cable service into the 21st century as well, I had a lot of trouble getting in touch with the cable folks ( at TWC). I visited the local office twice in person but both times there was a long line for counter service so I didn't wait. I phoned several times but could never get through to a person. There were several frustrating tries, but that's another story. I finally googled "time warner" and tried one of those ads on the right-hand-side of the screen for something like "TimeWarnerCableSpecials.com" and, after another long trip through voice-mail got connected with a person who could answer my questions and, finally, set up an appointment to install digital cable. Because of the circuitous route of getting to TWC, I wondered if I had fallen victim to some sort of phishing scam, but the installation went off as planned on Sunday afternoon.

The TWC installer was on-time and got the system up-graded with a minimum of fuss. He was quite competent in the TWC equipment but didn't offer much help in other areas: best way to connect the DVD player, how to connect to Netflix or the internet, or other non-TWC direct issues. He gave the barest instructions on using the DVR and none on other features part of the system. After he left I plunged in and tried to make sense of things. Early in the installation he had asked me where I wanted the cable box located and I pointed to the side of the TV opposite where the DVD was. This turned out to be in front of the remote sensor for the TV, which I didn't realize until after he had left and I was working through some or the how-to-use-everything issues. I'd have thought he should have been aware of this problem and warned me of it.

The First Few Days. I had set up the TV using my old cable service prior the digital upgrade, and had come across a couple of issues (the question of aspect ratios primarily), but managing the greatly increased number of channels is still an open question.

I got the system connected to Netflix with a minimum of problems and was able to set up instant viewing through my in-house router without a problem. It took a call to my nephew to solve a couple of non-intuitive Netflix issues, but that system seems to be working well.

I had to call TWC customer service to get help in setting up DVR recording, but they got me on the right path and I was able to test-record several programs on Monday. Playing-back those programs presented a problem when the fast-forward and rewind features didn't appear to work properly (they moved at 15-min increments rather than slowly or by seconds). Another call to TWC customer service couldn't resolve the problem so they scheduled a technician visit for Thursday. I thought that was prompt service.

Continuing issues. I still have several continuing issues:

1. Managing the greatly increased number of possible channels is a problem. (Remember the Confucian proverb "He who has a choice has trouble".) The TWC customer service rep advised that the technician could help me with setting up the Favorite Channels feature (which we couldn't find while I was on the phone with them. I subsequently found it but it seems pretty lame and difficult to set-up).

2. I haven't been able to get the DVD player (actually a "home entertainment reliever") to connect with my computer to access my library of .mp3 music and play-lists.

3. I haven't been able figure out how to connect to Hulu, YouTube, or other internet video sources. Maybe another trip out to talk with the salesman at H.H. Gregg will help. Any other suggestions?

4. I don't like the Three Remotes issue (Cable, TV, DVD). My next step is to try to get the cable remote to operate the DVD. If it will turn the DVD player on and off and control the basic playing functions, that will be a help, but moving from cable to internet and back to cable is harder than I wish it was.

5. The new system presents some new furniture problems. The old entertainment center I had made to hold the TV and related stereo equipment is obsolete, as is most of the old equipment (speakers, receiver, cassette player, maybe VCR player). I look forward to replacing this with a 21st century solution (or maybe an 18th century solution).

Overall the process has been very positive so far. I'm impressed with the quality of the HD picture on the TV channels and with the surround sound of the DVD player. I haven't tried a blu-ray disk yet, but regular dvd's look great! I love the convenience of Netflix instant viewing. I wish there were more choices, but I haven't been able to watch all the ones on my current list so I haven't needed more choice yet. My one-DVD-at-a-time Netflix subscription isn't perfect, but so far turnaround time has been very good: return DVD today and get a replacement in two business days.

I hope the positive experiences continue.

My, How Times Have Changed

2011-01-08T10:50:00.003-05:00

On the 76th anniversary of Elvis Pressley's birth, Scott Johnson of Powerline has posted an account of a notable event in Elvis's life: the day in 1970 he met with President Nixon in the Oval Office.

When I read the story, I was struck by several interesting details in the story, including Elvis giving money to servicemen and Elvis hugging Nixon. This struck me as particularly notable:

"California Senator George Murphy was coincidentally on the flight from Los Angeles to Washington. Elvis sought out Murphy back in tourist to enlist his assistance. . . ."

Can you imagine a US Senator flying in Tourist Class from LA to DC today? That would be almost unbelievable.

What a Crock of . . .

2011-01-04T11:02:00.006-05:00

When the arrest of Thomasville city manager Kelly Craver came to light yesterday, I thought arrest was a significant over-reaction for a minor misdemeanor (Is "minor misdemeanor" redundant?). Today Piedmont Publicus provides more background. This seems like fodder for my internet BFF Radley Balco or a subject for a Garrison Keillor "Worst Case Scenario" where a guy is quietly sharing a joint with a friend at the friend's house and the next thing he knows his is under arrest and out of a job.

I appreciate that we need laws to protect us from miscreants, but one of the reasons we pay police officers and prosecutors is to exercise some judgment in how strictly to enforce "laws". We give them considerable power but expect it will be used wisely. I guess we are lucky that during the time the deputy took to deal with Mr. Craver something bad didn't happen on that 911 hang-up the deputy was investigating.

This is a perfect time for the Thomasville city council to: (1) send Mr. Craver a letter reminding him he should not be committing misdemeanors, even in the privacy of a friend's home; (2) send the sheriff a letter reminding him that his deputies are expected to show some judgment in doing their jobs and pursuing a pot-smoker into his home on the basis of suspecting smelling marijuana smoke is not a good use of police resources; and (3) send the county district attorney a letter noting that there are more important things for the Davidson County justice system to do than pursue citizens committing victimless misdemeanors in their homes.

For the rest of us, it is a reminder of how important it is to practice using the critical phrase for innocent folks when dealing with law enforcement officers: "I do not submit to searches." If you question the wisdom of this advice, consider the case of Mr. Craver.

And a Merry Christmas to All!

2010-12-25T10:10:00.010-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!

Here are some images from the way-back machine: Christmas at the Earle's house in 1949. Does anything look out-of-date about this picture compared to this year's Christmas at your house?

. . . and the 1949 "Earl-e Edition" Christmas card: The 1949 Annual Report of the Earles:

The Cover:

The annual report opened with a message from management and review of the year (click to enlarge each):
followed by a financial statement:

then an In Memoriam and Officers and Directors:

followed by a discussion of Inventories and Affiliates:

This brings back a lot of family memories.

The Man

2010-11-23T14:59:00.004-05:00

I missed Stan Musial's 90th birthday on Sunday, but Paul Mirengoff at Powerline blog didn't. He cited this article "90 Things to Love About The Man" which outlines some of Stan's accomplishments on and off the diamond. I thought this was eyeopening:

#63 • We know where Musial ranks in assorted career hitting categories today, nearly 50 years after his retirement. But at the time of his retirement, he was first in MLB history in extra-base hits, first in triples, second in hits, second in doubles, first in games, first in at-bats, third in runs, fourth in RBIs, sixth in homers and ninth in slugging percentage.

I played golf with Stan at the Duke Children's Classic back in 1985, and I can attest that he is as nice a man as everyone says he is.

Two Great Hitters

Lil and Stan Musial

Instapundit is Wrong!

2010-11-12T16:47:00.008-05:00

And so is physics.org. In a post about how cats drink, the Blogfather links to this article in physics.org. They are wrong. Here is how cats actually do it (well worth sitting through the commercial if it comes up).

A Veterans Day Thank You to "The Real Army"

2010-11-11T16:32:00.010-05:00

I appreciate everyone who has expressed gratitude towards veterans today, but as a somewhat veteran, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the army.

My active duty time in the army was a two-year tour at Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1966-68. I had first been introduced to the army in ROTC starting as a freshman at Clemson in 1960, and I had 4 years of ROTC "Military Science" studies at Clemson before getting my commission as a new 2LT in 1964. After a year of graduate school and a year working, I reported to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. in June, 1968. After a couple of months of army schooling at APG (where they tried to teach me to be a motor pool commander), I was assigned there for a year (I thought) before being re-assigned to a motor pool in Vietnam.

At Aberdeen I worked at what was essentially a civilian job in the Development and Proof Services of the Army Material Command. There were several other 2LTs and a couple of enlisted soldiers there doing basically the same thing as the various civilian engineers were doing, except we wore uniforms. I was in the artillery ammunition section and spent two years managing various test programs for new and improved ammunition components. Some projects were quite interesting: a test of the then-new "beehive" round for close-in artillery battery defense; tests to determine the cause of recent "in-bore prematures" (shells exploding in the gun barrel) in 175mm guns in Vietnam; and reliability tests on WW2 proximity fuses that had been in storage for 20 years and were being withdrawn for use in Southeast Asia. Other projects were more routine: testing new batches of artillery propellant for actual strength so propellant charges could be produced with consistent performance; and firing new types of shells to gather data so the army could generate "firing tables" at the Ballistic Research Labs at APG, one of the first uses of computers begun back in the 1940's.

But the real benefit of my army service wasn't the day-to-day work I did. It was the numerous "extra duties" the army assigned junior officers. Some seemed routine, but all were very educational.

While in school, I served as "duty officer" in one of the companies of enlisted soldiers being trained at Aberdeen for the Ordnance Corps. I served overnight and week-end duties when the regular officers were off duty. One memorable evening included one trooper returning from the enlisted men's club with serious wounds after a fight with broken beer bottles, and another young soldier half-heartedly trying to commit suicide by cutting his wrists (sort-of scratching them actually, but there was still a lot of blood).

Later, I was assigned duty as the Central Post Fund Custodian and supervised two civilian employees who administered all the funds for the non-appropriated recreation activities on post (swimming pool, golf course, bowling alley, movie theater, etc) with a budget of several hundred thousand dollars.

I served as host officer for several days for a group of Mexican Army senior officers visiting the post. That was a fun duty. (I may still have some of the bottle of tequila they gave me--I'm not much of a tequila drinker.).

I served as Survivor's Assistance Officer for a young pregnant widow in southeastern Pennsylvania whose husband had been killed in Vietnam. I attended the funeral with a bugler from the APG post band and then spent a day taking her to the various government offices to make sure she got signed up for all the benefit she was entitled and to ensure there were no problems with any the agencies (VA, SSA, etc.) It was very heartening to see the respect the folks in those various civil services paid to her and to my uniform.

The Army expects its junior officers to perform these extra duties with a minimum of supervision, but there was always someone available to make sure you didn't screw up too much. It was a level of challenge and responsibility that most 24-yr-olds don't get.

I don't know how I could ever have gotten that kind of experience anywhere else. For that I thank the army.

The Real Army

I never got those orders to Vietnam. I spent my entire two years at Aberdeen. I say I was defending Baltimore harbor from the Viet Cong and did a damn fine job. They didn't get within 8,000 miles of the place.

At the end of my army tour there were some two dozen of us Ordnance Corps lieutenants who had entered the army at the same time and had spent our full two-year-tours at APG. We decided to have a farewell party for our civilian co-workers and military chain of command, including the post commander. We arranged a nice cocktail party and dinner at the Officer's Club, and I think a great time was had by all. (There were some adult beverages served.) At the close of the evening, one of my cohorts, 1LT Tom Watson, (an engineer from Oshkosh, not the golfer from Kansas City) stood up and said he wanted to say something about the real army.

Tom said he'd been introduced to the army as a college freshman in junior ROTC. In one of his early classes a sergeant had told his class of cadets to enjoy their junior ROTC, because when they enrolled in senior ROTC and went to Summer Camp, they'd see what the real army was like.

Tom said he had enjoyed junior ROTC. He had enrolled in senior ROTC and gone to Summer Camp. There, on maybe the first night, a captain had gotten all the cadets together in one of the barracks to explain just what was going happen at camp. He told them to enjoy their six weeks there because when they got their commissions and permanent duty assignments, they'd see what the real army was like.

Tom said he did enjoy his summer camp experience, and when he was commissioned he reported to the Basic Ordnance Officer's School at Aberdeen. There, on the first class day, a Captain had told the new lieutenants to enjoy their basic and advanced training because when that was over, they'd get permanent assignments and see what the real army was like.

Tom said he did enjoy his schooling at APG and then got a permanent assignment there as well. Early in his Aberdeen tour he had made his requisite courtesy call on the post commander, as all officers do, and after some polite chit-chat the colonel told him to enjoy his year at Aberdeen because he was going to Vietnam in his second year, and he'd see what the real army is like.

Tom said he hadn't gotten those orders to Vietnam but had spent his entire time at Aberdeen. Now he was going home to Wisconsin, and he could just see it: In a couple of weeks he'd report to his new army reserve assignment. There, on the first night, the commanding officer would call him into his office, sit him down, and say, " I'm glad you're here lieutenant. We've got some work to do. It's just you, me, and 120 new guys out there, and you and I are the only ones who know what the real army is like!"

Is This What a Phish Looks Like?

2010-11-03T13:17:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I got this e-mail from my bank.

I thought it might be prudent to check on my password (which I have stored in a password-manager program so I don't know off hand what it is). When I clicked on the suntrust.com link, my browser vomited:

I closed the link without going further and forwarded the e-mail to emailabuse@suntrust.com as SunTrust requests. I got an automated reply right back but haven't heard a real response yet. I figure it is some phishing expedition, but it did look real enough for me to take the first step to destruction. I hope Firefox stopped me appropriately.

I got a similar warning a couple of days ago when I clicked through on a link in a comment on Volokh.com to a www.freeople.com web site which I just abandoned. Does anyone know if Firefox is just being very picky, or might these sites represent real danger?

You Might Be an Intellectual If . . .

2010-10-30T18:34:00.006-04:00

. . . you read a news article about a plane crash caused by an escaped crocodile and think the most remarkable thing about it is that it contains an ungrammatical sentence construction.
(Check out this item from the most recent World Wide Words e-magazine that Michael Quinion publishes every week.

• Peter Smith read an item on Sky News, dated 22 October (Laurence May found the same piece on Yahoo! News), about a plane crash in the Congo that killed 20 people, including the pilot, Chris Wilson: “Generally viewed as being in a chronic state of disrepair, Mr Wilson had apparently expressed concern about the Czech-built Let-410 before the crash.”

I enjoy the World Wide Words newsletter each week and recommend you subscribe. It's free, so the price is right.

Where Soldiers Come From: Setting the Record Straight

2010-10-07T15:52:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday, Richard Florida with the Atlantic magazine posted an article commenting on a speech Secretary of Defense Gates gave at Duke last week. Florida wrote

"The social divisions of class and inequality have always run through the military. Fighting forces have long been drawn disproportionately from lower-income, lower-skilled, and more economically disadvantaged populations."

I believe this is absolutely wrong! An article from the Heritage Foundation published in 2008 says:

"Based on an understanding of the limitations of any objective definition of quality, this report compares military volunteers to the civilian population on four demographic characteristics: household income, education level, racial and ethnic background, and regional origin. This report finds that:

"1. U.S. military service disproportionately attracts enlisted personnel and officers who do not come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previous Heritage Foundation research demonstrated that the quality of enlisted troops has increased since the start of the Iraq war. This report demonstrates that the same is true of the officer corps.

"2. Members of the all-volunteer military are significantly more likely to come from high-income neighborhoods than from low-income neighborhoods . . . .

" 3. American soldiers are more educated than their peers . . . .

" 4. Contrary to conventional wisdom, minorities are not overrepresented in military service . . . .

"The facts do not support the belief that many American soldiers volunteer because society offers them few other opportunities. The average enlisted person or officer could have had lucrative career opportunities in the private sector. Those who argue that American soldiers risk their lives because they have no other opportunities belittle the personal sacrifices of those who serve out of love for their country."

See the linked article for the parts that were omitted (the . . .'s) in the interest of brevity. There is plenty of data and a number of charts to back up the above conclusions. I'm wondering where Florida came up with his facts from.

I left a comment last night asking if the author could resolve the apparent contradiction between his statement and the linked study, but the comment isn't posted yet. I believe it is still awaiting moderator approval, so perhaps the Atlantic is preparing an answer for me. At any rate, I wanted to post a response to these commonly held opinions that don't seem to agree with the facts.

Fifty Years Ago--My Rat Season

2010-09-09T16:03:00.012-04:00

One of my great adventures in life began 50 years ago this week: I left home for Clemson College. I don't recall the exact date, but I believe it was Saturday after Labor Day since colleges started later then. My mother and sister drove me to Clemson with what of my possessions would fit in the back of our car (I'd shipped a foot-locker of clothes by bus the previous day), and I began my journey to adulthood. (I hope I arrive sometime soon.)

My first surprise on getting to Clemson was to find my roommate was someone I didn't expect. The college had assigned me a roommate, but that fellow had found another roommate, so I had George Sidroney, a Yankee from Metuchen, NJ, but we got along great.

George before Rat Season Started

I knew only one other person at Clemson that fall, a high school classmate, Fred Cleaves, so everyone I met that fall and everything I did was new. Every day was a new adventure. Only for the first week or so in the Army have I had so many new experiences all at one time.

Clemson had a very active "Rat" program for freshmen back then. It began right after each student got his freshman picture made for the school yearbook and lasted, traditionally, until the Clemson-South Carolina football game. Every freshman got his head shaved and had to wear a Rat Hat (beanie) at all times when on campus outside the dorms. Further, each "Rat" could be called on by upperclassmen to lead cheers in the dining hall during all meals. Punishment for Rat infractions was meted out by a Rat Court and could include having a Block C being shaved in whatever hair had grown back on the offenders head since the start of Rat Season.

My Rat Haircut

Fred Cleaves and me in our Rat Hats

Rat Season traditionally ended after the Clemson-USC football game if the Tigers won (and lasted until Thanksgiving if we lost), but 1960 was a problem because that was the first year the Big Game was played at the end of the season (rather than at the State Fair in mid-October), so the 1960 Rats were not happy about the additional several weeks of Rat Season.

Getting Our War Paint on

Ready to defend the campus.

The last Rat tradition of the year was for all Rats to paint their faces and join a student militia defense force to guard the campus before the Big Game with USC. I did my Rat duty and joined in the defense, staying out all night protecting our honor, but I must admit that more than once that night the phrase "Snipe Hunt" crossed my mind.

In the retrospection of 50 years, it is easy to see the good that Rat Season did. In addition to building an esprit from shared sacrifice, it allowed all incoming freshmen to start on an even (bald) field with each other. Without hair as an influence it was much easier to get to know guys as they really were, rather than being influenced by hair style.

We all survived Rat Season. For most, our hair grew back (though for some it was a temporary process), but the spirit we learn in those three months was permanent. I kept my Rat Hat handy for 45 years. I could probably even find it today.

The Old Rat Speaks in 2004

Theoretical Physicst Joke of the Day

2010-09-02T09:48:00.005-04:00

Werner Heisenberg is stopped by a traffic cop who asks: "Do you know how fast you were going?" Heisenberg replies: "No, but I know exactly where I am."

I don't know much about physics, but this made me smile. (From my IBFF, third item). More info here.

The Best Job in the World!

2010-08-23T12:01:00.010-04:00

Jeremy Clarkson has the best job in the world. First, consider this:

"More powerful than a McLaren F1" (2:00); " . . . the fastest road car in the world." (2:30); "It's just a ton-and-a-half of testosterone" (5:14)

Then, there's this:

"Sweet Mother of God this is fast!" (:20) and "Faster than the top speed of an Apache helicopter gunship!" (2:30).

Do jobs get any better than this?

When President Reagan Visited Greensboro Printing Company

2010-08-16T22:23:00.007-04:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Ann Althouse, had a post today about a recent visit President Obama made to her home state of Wisconsin. I was reminded of the time President Reagan visited Greensboro Printing Company (well, sort of). It was a short visit in 1986, lasting only a couple of seconds in each direction on his way between the airport to a speech at the coliseum, but the GPC folks enjoyed the break and the chance to pay their respects. See some old pictures here.

I just had to join the ranks of the infamous AlthouseCommentors.

The Answer is "Chickensh**". What Is the Question?

2010-08-16T13:22:00.006-04:00

Yep.

Best Kicker Headline of the Day: "Of Ire and Brimstone"

2010-08-10T09:10:00.005-04:00

From my IBFF, this: "Churchgoers, strippers protest one another".

Every weekend for the last four years, Dunfee and members of his ministry have stood watch over George's joint, taking up residence in the right of way with signs, video cameras and bullhorns in hand. They videotape customers' license plates and post them online, and they try to save the souls of anyone who comes and goes.

Now, the dancers have turned the tables, so to speak. Fed up with the tactics of Dunfee and his flock, they say they have finally accepted his constant invitation to come to church.

It's just that they've come wearing see-through shorts and toting Super Soakers.

Where All That BP Oil Is

2010-08-03T14:28:00.005-04:00

There seems to be some concern about where all the oil from the BP oil spill/leak in the Gulf of Mexico has gone. ABC News's report is here. I have a thought: maybe there just isn't that much oil to find. I did some figuring this morning. The EPA tells us that the Gulf of Mexico contains 6.43 x 10¹⁷ or 643 quadrillion gallons of water. The spill is said to be 200 million gallons (200 x 10⁶ gallons). By my math, that comes to about three gallons of oil in every 10⁹ (billion) gallons of water. Let's say for the sake argument that the spill area is only a thousandth of the Gulf. That makes the concentration in the spill area about 3 parts per million (ppm). The current legal EPA limit for oil discharge into the ocean is 15ppm--five times this calculated concentration. It looks like there just wasn't much oil in the spill/leak to begin with, so maybe it isn't missing.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

2010-08-01T20:31:00.003-04:00

I finished the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this afternoon. I enjoyed it, and it wasn't at all what I expected. I agree with James Lileks' critique:

What began as a book that was either banal in execution or banal in translation, or both, ended up as a book where these deficiencies didn’t matter at all, thanks to the headlong rush of the story. I also enjoyed the sheer Swedishness of it all, whatever that means.

It did take almost half the book before the plot really took off, but it was well worth the effort. The book does make one wish he knew more about Sweden, particularly the geography. Now to see the movie and see how close the two are.

Extreme Photographic Time Exposures

2010-08-01T19:19:00.010-04:00

My Internet BFF today had an article about some lovely photographic time exposures. I don't do much with time exposures because they generally require a tripod, which is too much trouble to carry most of the time. These are beautiful photographs and you'll enjoy seeing them. For example:

Crematorium
By SergioTudela
This gorgeous sunset over the Mediterranean on Andalusia's Costa del Sol was captured on a Nikon D80 with an exposure of five seconds, creating the delicate fluff of the blurred waves and the deep colouration of the sky and clouds.

On Friday, John Nack of Adobe Systems linked to some time exposures of a different scale. These use a pinhole camera and have exposure times of up to several years.

When I attended the Nikon School thirty years ago, the instructors said the least expensive photographic accessory was film, so they advised taking a lot of pictures. I suppose that is not an option for someone taking a year-long time exposure.

With the cost of "film" today virtually zero, it is easy to take a lot of pictures. Now we must remember the Nikon School advice on the easiest way to be a better photographer: "Don't Show All Your Pictures". It does take some discipline to put the not-so-good ones in a separate folder and only show the good ones, even if they didn't take a year to make.

Always Wear High-Visibility Safety Clothing

2010-07-24T12:49:00.004-04:00

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson shows why an older person (or even a younger one for that matter) should always wear high-visibility safety clothing when driving:

The real action starts about a minute in. (I particularly liked the image of the snail on the track.)

Radly Balko, My New Internet BFF

2010-06-09T12:32:00.006-04:00

I first heard of Radley Balko several years ago when the Blogfather linked to several articles he had written in defense of a wrongly accused man, Corey Maye. I have followed a number of other Blogfather links to Balko's writings, primarily about bad police no-knock drug raids. It wasn't until Prof. Reynolds went on vacation recently and had Balko as a regular substitute blogger that I had noticed his primary blog, The Agitator.

Since then I have been checking by the site regularly and now stop by each day. He always has some interesting non-political links. For instance, several days ago he pointed out one reason the newspaper business might be in such bad shape: there seems to be only one prop newspaper in all Hollywood. Then today he followed up with the explanation.

Further, today there were these click-worthy references. The Agitator is my new internet BFF.

O, Henry

2010-06-08T13:59:00.013-04:00

Last Saturday was the centenary anniversary of William Sidney Porter's death. Today's Wall Street Journal has a nice article about Greensboro's most famous writer: His Writers' Workshop? A Prison Cell. I wrote some time ago about my favorite O. Henry story, "A Man About Town", here. It tells the story of Porter's search around New York to learn just precisely what a "man about town" was. At the end of the story he is struck by a car on the street and sent to the hospital. The story ends:

A hospital nurse laid a hand that was not particularly soft upon my brow that was not at all fevered. A young doctor came along, grinned, and handed me a morning newspaper.

"Want to see how it happened?" he asked cheerily. I read the article. Its headlines began where I heard the buzzing leave off the night before. It closed with these lines:

"Bellevue Hospital, where it was said that his injuries were not serious. He appeared to be a typical Man About Town."

There has always been a little confusion between the name of the candy bar "O'Henry" and the writer "O. Henry". When the Grasshoppers opened the new stadium downtown they had an area called the "O'Henry" something-or-other, and I pointed out to them that was like Baltimore recognizing the great baseball player Baby Ruth. In short order and with a nod to economy, "O'Henry became "O, Henry".

UPDATE:
Here is a photo of O, Henry. Note the reused apostrophe.

Updated Update for 50th High School Reunion

2010-06-04T15:23:00.003-04:00

Lynn Black and I mis-communicated and she didn't get my updated Bio for the Greensboro High School Class of 1960 Reunion booklet, but never fear, here it is for all of you who just can't wait:

After we all got together at high school graduation, I graduated from Clemson University in chemical engineering, married my high school sweetheart Ann Winchester, got a graduate degree from Clemson, worked for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati for a year, defended Baltimore harbor from the Viet Cong for two years while in the Army, and returned to Greensboro in 1968 to work for Dow Corning Corp. In 1971 I joined Greensboro Printing Company and worked there until it closed in 2001. (We zigged when we should have zagged.) After a stint as a salesman(?) with a printing company in Charlotte, between unemployment and retirement, I attended the Fine Furnituremaking Course at Rockingham Community College, and then I officially retired in 2007.

Ann and I were divorced in 1977 with no children. (Ann passed away from MS in 2002). After 13 years of marriage and 13 years of single-hood, I remarried in 1900 to Brenda Brewer and acquired two teen-age step-children. Brenda and I were divorced in 2003 and I have been single since.

As to hobbies and interests, I have been interested in photography since high school and am currently trying to make the transition to digital technology. I have made furniture as a hobby for many years and particularly enjoyed learning how to do it right at the RCC woodworking program. I have traveled extensively in Ireland and Spain and made several other interesting trips to France and Germany, and one particularly memorable seven-day-two-night business trip to Israel in 1998. I have almost given up my dream of winning the US Open golf championship after never
getting my handicap below 15, but maybe there is still hope. And, let's see, seven more years of single-hood then I should be ready to marry again in 2016, if the 13-year cycle holds up.

I look forward to renewing friendships from a half-century ago. High school was a special time for me. (Actually, life has been a special time for me!), I hope we have a memorable reunion.

If Only High School Had Been Like This!

2010-06-04T11:49:00.007-04:00

I'm going to my high school 50th reunion this weekend. I've written before about what high school should have been like here and here . Today's example is here. Those health films could have been much more interesting learning the Heimlich Maneuver and How to Do CPR.

Would You Like To Go To Paris . . .

2010-04-03T11:23:00.005-04:00

. . . but can't afford the plane ticket? Here is the next best thing: an interactive 180º 26-gigapixel panorama of Paris.

"Paris 26 Gigapixels is a stitching of 2346 single photos showing a very high-resolution panoramic view of the French capital (354159x75570 px). Dive in the image and visit Paris like never before!"

For more about the project, go here.

(Another H-T to John Nack.) I bet Tom Lassiter is jealous.

Mayor Knight & Chief Bellamy on YouTube

2010-04-01T22:04:00.004-04:00

For some reason, this YouTube video reminded me of the current spat between Mayor Knight and Chief Bellamy.

Joke of the Day

2010-03-31T07:52:00.002-04:00

So, French philosopher René Descartes walks in to a bar. The bartender asks him if he would like a beer. Descartes says "I think not.", and disappears.

Today is Descartes' 414th birthday.

Spelling & Punctuation Rant

2010-03-30T18:26:00.006-04:00

Some time ago I wrote about an interesting (but NSFW) post on grammar at Language Log.

Today they take on spelling and punctuation. Again, it needs a Vulgarism Alert!

Photoshop CS5: Content-Aware Fill

2010-03-29T10:42:00.005-04:00

Last week Adobe announced the upcoming release of the latest version of Photoshop, CS5, which continues Photoshop's legacy of almost unbelievable photo manipulation tools. John Nack linked to the latest "magic", content-aware fill, with this demo.

Friday he expanded the report on the uses of this new tool:

"Adobe Photoshop again proving everything you see is probably a lie"

What I Learned This Week (or, Sue was wrong, will she admit it?)

2010-03-26T11:30:00.009-04:00

It was D. P. Moynihan who observed that we are all entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts. Last Saturday, sort of in the heat of the moment, Sue Polinsky posted about the alleged cursing of Tea Partiers at the Saturday rally in Washington. By Sunday morning it was noted by a number of sources that those events may not have happened, and I wrote Sue asking her to note that the charges were "disputed" (see comments). She demurred.

On Wednesday, She doubled-down with another post, this one entitled "Socialist. Fascist. Nazi. Fa**ot. Ni**er".

Today she adds another post on this subject: "Our own shattered glass" . This one evokes the German Kristallnacht, comparing last weekend's events to that horror. This is all very good. It's her blog and she's entitled to her opinion.

Earlier this week, the Blogfather had a reference to an almost forgotten anniversary, the German Enabling Act of 1933. I had not heard of that particular act, but then I'm not a historian. The Wikipedia article is here. This was the act that gave Hitler the power to take over the German government and led to WWII and all its horrors. I suspect at the time that very few folks saw these outcomes as a possible result of that act.

An interesting sidelight of this story is the role Ludwig Kaas played in the passage of the Enabling Act and the events of last weekend and the passage of ObamaCare. If you read the Neo-Neocon post, which you should, you'll probably be struck by this:

"I am sure that rings a small, sad bell for someone whose name is somewhat similar (hint: instead of beginning with a “k” and ending with an “s,” it begins with an “s” and ends with a “k”)."

Am I comparing ObamaCare with the Enabling Act of 1933? I am not. Neither do I think last weekend's Tea Party demonstrations have any comparison to Kristallnacht. Dr. Sue is off the deep end worried about events which may have never happened. Will she realize that?

Note: I'm having trouble getting Blogger to translate the HTML in this post porperly. I have that problem often if I try to use their Block Quote function. I'm trying to edit it to display properly so it may change in appearance for a while.

Amazing Rube Goldberg Machines

2010-03-12T11:32:00.009-05:00

Back in 2002 (or so) there was the Honda commercial "Cog".

Then last week an old college friend sent me this link about retired engineers with too much time on their hands.

Today, John Nack added another and made reference to one he mentioned last week that I had missed.

Is Rube Goldberg making a comeback?

Note: That's 12:24 of your life you'll never get back.

The Elements of Good Design

2010-03-09T12:48:00.002-05:00

In my previous life as a printer, I always admired seeing a designer do great graphic design using a minimalistic approach:

1. Simple, uncluttered layout
2. Effective use of white space.
3. Consistant use of font variation (bold/italic/script/etc.), type size, and arrangement
4. Avoidance of All Cap format

Or not.

From Adobe's John Nack.

The Half-Blind Side

2010-03-09T11:48:00.004-05:00

I was happy to see that Sandra Bullock won the best-actress Oscar Sunday night for her role in The Blind Side, but I think one the important issues that has been generally missed is that the movie should really been called The Half-blind Side.

The essence of the more-or-less-true story in the movie was that the Tuohy's (a wealthy Memphis family) rescued a poor struggling black kid from crushing poverty and helped him straighten out his life and become an NFL star. One point of conflict in the movie was that NCAA wanted to penalize Old Miss, the Tuohy's alma mater, for the Tuohy's improper roll in recruiting Michael Oher. In the movie the charges were sort of ridiculed as ridiculous in the light of the Tuohy's Christian charity.

In reality, Michael Oher was an outstanding football prospect when the Tuohys adopted him ("Stevie Wonder could have seen he was a future NFLer.") and the NCAA investigation was much more justified than the movie portrayed it. Oher has distanced himself from the movie, saying last fall that he hadn't even seen it, and commentators are even today ignoring his athletic accomplishments before the Tuohys took him into their family.

I don't know that this diminishes what the Tuohys did at all, but "the rest of the story" does give The Blind Side sort of a Paul Harvey twist.

Things I Learned Today: What do coconut, banana, and twinkie have in common?

2010-02-24T09:31:00.007-05:00

They are racial insults.

If you are a conservative with Latino/Pacific Islander/Filipino heritage, you’re a coconut (brown on the outside, white on the inside).
If you are a conservative with Asian heritage, you’re a Twinkie or banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside).
And if you are a conservative who happens to be black, you are an Oreo (black on the outside, white on the inside

Who Knew? "Oreo" I knew, but not the others. There's a lot to keep up with these days.

What He Said

2010-01-28T11:59:00.002-05:00

Not him, him. Ed Cone had what I take was a positive reaction to last night's State of the Union Address: "Strong". I disagree. I agree more with what Ira Stoll wrote: " What a Phony".

In the Really-Super Bowl, It's Chicago 62, Iraq 3

2010-01-14T13:16:00.007-05:00

The Blogfather points to a thought-provoking article by Victor Davis Hanson:

"There are a number of things we simply no longer talk about. The silence is partly due to intellectual laziness. Or maybe it is because of political correctness—or even attributable to ignorance and the absence of curiosity. In no particular order, I list five propositions that simply have become taboo:

1). Illegal Immigration and California
"Instead, illegal immigration is never much cited as a contributor to California’s fiscal implosion. To mention all this is considered racist. Yet, to take one instance, the cost of incarcerating the state’s illegal aliens alone exceeds the budget of the new UC Merced, a campus intended to serve mostly minority communities of the central valley."

2) Iraq
"We are tired of Iraq and have Trotskyized it out of our existence, given the huge cost and 4,000 dead. But consider: not a single America died in Iraq in December (38 murdered in Chicago during that period); three have been lost this month (24 murdered so far this month in Chicago)."

3) Affirmative Action
"For those who find the above illiberal, I’m sorry, but after twenty-one years as a professor I have never quite seen any American institution so corrupt, unfair, and cynical as the practice of affirmative action."

4) The Ivy League is a Naked Emperor
"By Ivy League I do not mean just Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, but the entire concept of high-priced elite schools like a Stanford, Duke, or Columbia as well. We know a BA from such institutions does not ipso facto any longer, as it once may well have, guarantee knowledge or competence. We know the race/class/gender craze has watered down the curriculum, and ensured therapy and empathy trump recall of facts and adherence to the inductive method. And we know that one’s first two years will probably mean instruction largely by graduate students and lecturers. Had we national exit requirements, I am convinced those leaving a Hillsdale College or St. Thomas Aquinas or St. John’s would do better than the average Yale BA."

5) The “Middle East” is a Fraud
"Sorry—take away three things, and the Mideast “crisis” is relegated to Cypriote status. If there were no oil in the Arab Middle East; if there were no Islamic terrorists; and if there was no endemic global anti-Semitism, we would be as likely to have a “Mideast czar” as we would an “Ossetian Czar.”

As they say, read the whole thing.

Bill Belichick Made the Right Decision

2009-11-18T20:54:00.010-05:00

I wrote last year about football coaches punting too much. Most football fans think that those of us who advocate eschewing punting are crazy (or maybe just stupid). They see New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick's decision to go for first down on 4th-and-two at his own 29 with two minutes to go in last Sunday's last-minute loss to the Indianapolis Colts is further evidence that teams should always punt in situations like this. However, that is incorrect thinking. Belichick did the right thing. See here, here, here, or here.

Money quote (from Bill Barnwell), and the lesson we should take from all after-the-fact analyses:
"The important factor that the cacophony of responses seems to be missing is that you can't judge Belichick's decision by the fact that it didn't work. As we've mentioned more than once in these pages, you cannot judge decisions by their outcome. You have to consider the process that goes into them, and then decide whether they're right or wrong at the moment they're made."
If the goal was to win the game, Belichick made the right decision regardless of the outcome.

Humbling

2009-11-10T11:15:00.011-05:00

Though I'd heard of him previously, I first met John McAlister in 2004 at the first event of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) I ever attended. SAPFM may sound impressive, but it is really just 800 guys who have $35 and a table saw in their basement, and have a serious interest in 18th century American furniture. John had received the 2001 Cartouche Award from SAPFM recognizing outstanding American Woodworkers.He was the second person to be recognized with this award.

John grew up in Greensboro (he is of the Greensboro McAlisters) but spent most of his life in Charlotte where he was in the textile business. He began woodworking as a hobby in 1968 and is entirely self-taught--but boy, is he taught! I had the opportunity to visit John's home last weekend to see some of his furniture and his workshop.

Though he has never sold a piece, he has a large family (two marriages and seven children I believe he said) and so he has given away a lot of furniture he has made to family. I believe he said he is currently working on his fifth grandfather clock, for instance. Even with that, he has a home full of the most beautiful 18th century furniture you can imagine.

John's most famous piece is a copy of the Nicholas Brown tall secretary that sold for $12 million in 1989. Since then a number of woodworkers have made copies of this secretary, but John was one of the first, and he did a great deal of original research to be able to make the plans for the piece.

I've posted other pictures of John's furniture (and some of his workshop) on Flickr here but they hardly do justice to the scope of John's woodworking. I suspect there are very few woodworkers who have two bonnet-top highboys, one in their dining room and another in their bedroom.

Upon leaving John's house, one of the other amateur woodworkers in the group sighed "Boy, was that humbling." He got that right!

Mine Is Bigger Than Yours!

2009-11-06T22:25:00.004-05:00

Joel Gillespie posts a picture of a big tree.

Ed Cone follows up with a picture of another big tree.

Steve Harrison adds his big tree.

John Nack of Adobe raises the stakes.

Game over.

(Be sure to watch the video at the NPR site.)

Oh, Wow! Oh, deer.

2009-10-26T21:43:00.002-04:00

View Larger Map

On my way to supper earlier this evening I saw a large deer standing along Lakewood Drive as I turned left onto Lakewood from Farrar, heading towards Friendly Ave. The deer dove into the woods of Hamilton Lake park between Lakewood and Starmount about opposite 1106 Lakewood. This is the first deer I've seen this far into town. I don't know if it is a resident or a tourist, but I'll be looking for it on my daily walks through this area.

"What a coincidence!”

2009-10-26T10:43:00.003-04:00

After the death of his high school friend Jas Howard, the UConn football player murdered a week ago, Clemson defensive back Chris Chancellor requested he be allowed to wear Howard's number 6 for the Tiger's Saturday game against Miami in his and Jas's hometown. The complication was that 6 was normally worn by Jacoby Ford, Clemson's outstanding wide receiver and kick returner. Coach Dabo Swinney realized that since Chancellor and Ford wouldn't be on the field at the same time (since one was on offense and the other defense) it was within the rules for two players to have the same number so he granted the request.

Chancellor played well in the game, making four individual and one assisted tackles in the game. Ford's play wasn't spectacular; he had two rushes for 16 yards and a first-quarter pass reception for 11 yards--until the last play of the game. In overtime, Ford caught a 26-yd pass for a TD and walk-off win for the Tigers. As fate would have it, #6 was the difference in the game. Coincidence, or the invisible hand at work? (For more details, see here.)

Today In History: Baby Fae

2009-10-26T09:26:00.003-04:00

Today is the 25th anniversary of surgeons implanting a baboon heart into a human infant. "Baby Fae" survived 21 days before succumbing to kidney failure.

Scientists have still been unsuccessful in transplanting a human heart into a banker.

Today is Saint Crispin's Day

2009-10-25T11:03:00.003-04:00

"This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3. Think of it as medieval Veterans Day.

My Trip to the World Series--Memories of Tom Romenesko

2009-10-22T11:54:00.015-04:00

It's been thirty years since my trip to the 1979 World Series so I thought I'd tell the story:

It was a cold winter day in early 1979 when I first met Tom Romenesko. I called on him in his "office" at Memorial Stadium to sell him on Greensboro Printing Company producing the season game programs for the Hornets, the new baseball team in town. Tom was general manager of the new franchise, but as one of a three-person staff he was just about everything else too. His office looked like a converted storage room (I think it was), and the rest of the stadium was just as dilapidated. It look all of its 50 years old. Tom's office must have been heated, but all I remember was that it was damn cold! We talked about baseball, the old Greensboro baseball teams that I had so ardently followed as as kid, and the advantages of his having GPC produce the Hornet programs.

It must have been pretty good salesmanship--we got the order, and over the process of producing the job (and for the next two years, too), Tom and I got to be good friends. Tom was one of the most promotional-minded people I had ever met. He knew he was in the family entertainment business, not just the baseball business, and he worked tirelessly to make sure Hornets games were good family fun. I believe this is more than slightly responsible for the success baseball has had in Greensboro since then.

Tom's zeal for promotions reminded me of Bill Veeck, the great Chicago promoter. (Tom had many good ideas, but one that didn't work out was selling sponsorship of the foul-poles at the stadium to the Holly Farms Chicken folks--foul-poles, fowl-poles, get it? har-har.)

For the game programs, Tom wanted to print "lucky numbers" throughout the program so he could offer prizes to program purchasers to stimulate sales. This was a difficult technical production problem. GPC could only number two pages at a time and Tom wanted eight numbers per program,which presented a big challenge. We found that another local printer, L&E Packaging, a tag-and-label printer and not a direct competitor, could number large 8-page sheets so we contracted with them for that portion of the project and Tom was a happy customer.

The Hornets were a farm-team of the Cincinnati Reds that year and the "Big Red Machine" was in a battle for the National League pennant that summer. As a farm team general manager, Tom got four World Series tickets. He wasn't able to go to the series so he offered the tickets to me and my friend Hugh Morton, Jr. We jumped at the opportunity and planned a great trip to Cincinnati.

And we'd have had a great time, too, except for the fact that the World Series was in Pittsburgh that year. The Big Red Machine lost three straight games to the Pirates in the best of five 1979 NLCS so Hugh and I stayed home. All I have is copies of the tickets to our great seats for games that were 300 miles away.

Tom was GM of the Hornets for three years before moving on to bigger things. We sort-of kept up over the years, but the last time I talked to Tom was in late 2000 I think. The Hornets/Bats/Whatever had new ownership and one of the new owners said what they needed was a GM like Tom Romenesko. Someone then suggested why not get the real Tom Romenesko so they contacted him to see if he might be interested. Tom called me to see what I knew about the new owners and I told him I didn't really know much but I thought a lot of Jim Melvin. I wasn't able to see Tom when/if he came to interview, and in the end he didn't get the job, and I haven't talked with him since, though we've e-mailed a couple of times.

I have suggested too the Grasshoppers that they should have a Tom Romenesko Appreciation Day sometime. It would be a fitting tribute to the person who more than anyone else made minor-league baseball successful in Greensboro.

Here is an article from Sports Illustrated in 1979 with a little about the Hornets and Tom. It brings back some fond memories:

"In the meantime, Nashville cannot rest on its laurels. Greensboro, North Carolina, is suddenly challenging it as the nation's top minor league town. Greensboro had been without professional baseball for a decade when the Hornets arrived this spring, under the direction of a former umpire named Tom Romenesko. The Class A ball club is on its way to drawing 170,000, which would exceed Greensboro's population and perhaps make Romenesko the choice to succeed Schmittou as The Sporting News Minor League Executive of the Year. "

Here is a picture of Tom and his wife Becky (and my friend Jeanne Tannenbaum) from the fall of 1981.

But Can He Spell "Potato"?

2009-08-13T20:37:00.003-04:00

President Obama had a little trouble with numbers yesterday when he was presenting Medals of Freedom to a number of prominent Americans. He didn't get any of Billie Jean King's right. (From Althouse.)

Significant Digits

2009-08-13T11:49:00.004-04:00

Stumbling around the Internet this morning I ran across this post:

"Their findings aren’t all that favorable to those of us with lofty views of Twitter, because as it turns out, 40.55% of tweets are pointless babble."

I didn't click further to see how they defined "babble" or how they determined whether the babble was of the pointless or pointed variety. What stopped me cold was the precision of 40.55%. Not 40% or 45% or even 41%. 40.55%!

One of the concepts I learned in engineering school was that of significant digits. Way too many folks don't understand this important principle. For the innumerate it is the functional equivalent of a grammar error. It reflects poorly on the credibility of the author.

One-third of a million isn't 333,333, it's about 330,000. Any number more precise than that is drivel. There are only one or two significant digits in a million ( between 500,000 and 1,500,000 or even between 900,000 and 1,100,000) so a third of that number has only one or two significant digits.

That's today's lesson in Numeracy. For further reading, go to this book. I recommend it!

The Hurt Locker

2009-08-07T14:57:00.004-04:00

I saw The Hurt Locker yesterday, and I really liked it. It is a realistic, unromantic, austere, intense story of a squad of EOD (explosive ordnance demolition, i.e. "bomb squad") soldiers in Iraq in 2004. Joe Morganstern of the Wall Street Journal had a very accurate review.
Kathryn Bigelow’s film, which was written by Mark Boal, manages to be many things at once—a first-rate action thriller, a vivid evocation of urban warfare in Iraq, a penetrating study of heroism and a showcase for austere technique, terse writing and a trio of brilliant performances. Most of all, though, it’s an instant classic that demonstrates, in a brutally hot and dusty laboratory setting, how the drug of war hooks its victims and why they can’t kick the habit.

I give the movie 4 Stars!

Our Representatives in Congress Are Hip!

2009-08-06T12:45:00.006-04:00

So, Congress has decided to spend the $100 million in savings they recently trumpeted by purchasing three new Gulfstream G550 executive jets for $200 million. This makes Congressfolks hip, as in hypocritical, ironic, and privileged.

"The notion that some lawmakers feel it beneath their dignity to travel with the masses on commercial jets is nothing new. But news of the House plan does bring to mind three salient facts, all of which the Democratic leadership hopes the public does not think of in relation to the jet purchase.

Congress isn't short of hypocrisy. Most of the Democrats and their environmentalist allies are reflexively opposed to private jet travel because of its excessive carbon footprint. Or, at least, they are opposed to private jet travel for others.

Neither does it recognize irony. CEOs of the Big Three automakers were excoriated for traveling in their private jets last year to testify in Washington.

And some have an outsized sense of privilege. In 2007, just a month into the new Democratic majority, Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked that taxpayers provide a jet that could make a nonstop flight to her Bay Area district. She reportedly wanted a luxury, stateroom-outfitted version of Boeing's 757-200 like those the vice president, first lady and Cabinet officials fly on.

And there was a lot of foot-stamping when the Bush White House said no."

Happy Birthday. Good News!

2009-08-03T23:11:00.010-04:00

Sixty-seven years ago today I entered this world. It was front page news in the Good News:

My Other Car Is a F/A-18

2009-07-30T11:02:00.005-04:00

Or is it a Formula One Racer?

Details here. (From Adobe's John Nack.)

On Grammar

2009-07-29T17:09:00.004-04:00

I might have become an English major if the discussions on grammar in Mrs. Hunsinger's 9th grade English class had been this interesting. (Vulgarism ALERT)

Orders of Magnitude

2009-07-29T13:19:00.003-04:00

Today's Rant: I hate it when writers mix up various number denominations (trillions, billions, millions, etc.) in the same article. I believe good writing form dictates writers should chose one denomination and stick with it. For example in today's Wall Street Journal there is an article on the federal government's efforts to institute various cost savings In a Savings Shocker, the Government Discovers That Paper Has Two Sides. In it, Jonathan Weisman writes about a $2 trillion budget deficit, a $100 million savings challenge, and various savings of $52 million, $320,000, $18 million, $5 million, $573,000, $318,000, $47,160, $2 million, $3.8 million, and later, $40 billion.

This is seriously misleading. If Weisman were to pick one denomination, (say, million, since that is the most common) and be consistant, these numbers would be a much more revealing: $2,000,000 million, $100 million, $52 million, $0.18 million, $0.47 million, $2 million, $3.8 million, and $40,000 million. The difference between $2 trillion and $100 million may not sound like much, but the difference between 2,000,000 and 100 is clear.

Is Your Doctor Killing You?

2009-07-28T16:58:00.007-04:00

This month seems to by my "doctor" month: colonoscopy last week, cardiology 6-month check-up this week, and my annual physical next week. I am a "victim" of coronary by-pass surgery as well as a small stroke a couple of years ago, so I'm attentive to my coronary health. As best as I can determine, the one thing I can do to improve my life expectancy is to lose some weight.

But the hard thing is just how does one go about losing the weight. I'm not sure physicians are all that good at telling us how to shed the excess pounds. A year and a half ago I read ("slogged my way through" may be more accurate) Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories which makes a very persuasive case for the fact that the basis for most nutrition advice in this country is wrong, i.e., we should be eating a heart-healthy low-fat diet and should be exercising and controlling the amount of calories we consume. Taubes says the science and the medical research prove that a low-fat diet, which by its nature is a high carbohydrate diet, is precisely the thing that is making us all fatter.

The Good Calories book is a very difficult read. It goes deeply into the physiology of obesity and diet, but I think the results are worth the effort. For someone who doesn't want to invest the couple of weeks of free-time reading the book takes, it is probably worthwhile to listen to Taubes lecture on the subject. He recently did so at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock School of Medicine, available here.

The entire lecture is about an hour long, but if you don't want to spent that much time, forward to the conclusion (click on the "Thumbs" tab in the player window and then click (or double-click) on the antepenultimate slide (third from the last) and listen to the six minute summary at the end of the lecture.

Taubes' research makes a lot of sense. One questioner calls this "the biggest public health disaster in modern history--the epidemic of obesity and diabetes". Most physicians still believe what they learned in school in the past 40 years--that low fat is healthy because everyone knows it's true. Physicians who are not aware of the latest science and research may be killing us with bad advice.

In the 18 months since I read Taubes book I've been following a low-carb lifestyle, and though I haven't lost much weight, I haven't gained any either even though I've paid virtually no attention to the number of calories I've eaten. However, I am influenced by that fat-is-bad image in the back of my head. For example, at lunch I've given up Vienna sausages (0 grams of carbs) and will have a whole wheat sandwich (20 grams of carbs) instead because everyone says the sandwich is healthier. Maybe soon more doctors will realize low-carb is healthier than low-fat and it will become easier to eat a healthy low-carb diet.

Tom Watson

2009-07-18T15:35:00.009-04:00

I've been a fan of golfer Tom Watson ever since he came out on the PGA tour in 1971. I had a good friend in the Army named Tom Watson, and though they was no connection between the two I still always was a Tom-Watson-the-golfer fan. When TWTG came to the 1993 GGO my friend Wade Peoples got the above autograph for me.

About the only resemblance between my golf game and Tom's was that we generally carried the same number of clubs in our bags. I did, however, once make a stroke that Tom would have given a lot of money for. In 1984 I took a golfing trip to Ireland and Scotland with my buddy Roy Johnston. We played one round at Carnoustie in Scotland and it was very memorable.

We had two old guys, John and Charlie, for caddies. Both were life-long Carnoustie residents. John was 67 and retired and had been caddying since his retirement. John was 76 and had been caddying all his life. Both had followed Ben Hogan when he came to Scotland for the 1953 (British) Open tournament at Carnoustie and had several stories about Ben's exploits. After hitting our tee shots on the first hole, I asked Charlie if they played "mulligans" in Scotland. His reply: "Aye, lad, we do. We call them 'three'.".

Roy, John, Preston, and Charlie

Tom Watson won his first Open Championship in 1975 at Carnoustie. He needed five rounds to win that year since he and Jack Newton were tied after 72 holes. In all five rounds, Tom boggied the 16th hole, a 235-yd par three he has described as the toughest par 3 in golf. For Tom, maybe, but not for me. Against Charlie's advice (he thought it was too much club) I rifled a 3-wood shot to about 5 feet from the hole. Of course, I missed the birdie putt, but I know Tom Watson would have loved to have that 3 in any of his five tries in 1975. I even have photo evidence of the shot.:

Does Tom have a chance to win the Open Tournament tomorrow? I don't think so. The USA Olympic Hockey team had no chance against the Russians in 1980, The Jets had no chance against the Colts and the Mets couldn't win the World Series in 1969. NC State stood no chance against Phi Slama Jamma in 1983.

On second thought, maybe Tom can win.

Ted Williams

2009-07-15T20:36:00.009-04:00

As I have written before, I've been a Ted Williams fan since I was a little boy and my father told me he had been in service with Ted. I never met Ted and I was very envious of my friend Hugh Morton, Jr. who had a picture of himself and Ted. Ted has been the news a couple of times today.

In the Wall Street Journal today Allen Barra has a review of the up-coming HBO Special “Ted Williams—There Goes the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived”. I don't have HBO and I hope that some of my friends who do will tape the show for me. (Do you think anyone still knows how to tape tv shows?)

This morning, the right-center field of Bloggerstan was all atwitter with stories about President Obama's throwing out the first pitch at last night's All-Star Game. See here, here, or here. Locally, even Dr. Joe couldn't help piling on. Joe certainly had the cruelest critique: "Obama throws like a girl". Joe also included a YouTube video of pitcher Steve Hamilton throwing his "floater folly" pitch, but Joe doesn't mention one of the early "floater" pitchers, Rip Sewell, and his Eephus pitch.

Ted Williams probably did more than anyone else to make the Eephus famous. In the 1946 All-Star Game, held at Fenway Park, Sewell faced Ted in the bottom of the 8th inning with the National League already behind by nine runs and with two men on base. Rip threw Ted a first Eephus pitch and Ted missed badly, but Rip couldn't stand prosperity. He tried again. On the second Eephus, Rip always said Ted popped it up. Rip said at first he thought he could catch it, and then he thought the second baseman would catch it. Finally, he thought the right fielder would surely get it. Reportedly, the ball landed many rows deep in the right field bleachers, others say it was the bullpen. The final score was 12-zip, the first All-Star shut-out, and the Eefus was legendary.

One of my other favorite Ted Williams stories involves the All-Star Game a decade later. At mid-century, two of the best players in baseball both played in Boston, but they rarely faced each other. Ted's Red Sox were in the American League, and Warren Spahn, a Hall-of-Fame left-handed pitcher was with the Boston Braves in the National League. The Red Sox and Braves did play an exhibition game each spring, and in one of those games, Spahn faced Williams and struck him out with a very tough pitch. After the game, Ted was effusive with his praise of the pitch and told Warren it was one of the toughest pitches he had ever seen. It was almost unhittable. In the 1956 All-Star Game, in Washington, DC, Spahn faced Williams in the 6th inning with the NL leading 6-0. Nellie Fox had singled ahead of Ted, so Warren badly needed to get Ted out. He decided to try his "unhittable" pitch, and Ted parked it over the big right field fence in Grifith Stadium. Rounding second base, Ted looked at Spahn and grinned, and Warren knew he'd been had! He must have lost a little concentration, as Mickey Mantle, following Ted, went back-to-back and Warren was finished for the day. The NL won the game 7-3 but Spahn had learned a valuable lesson about Ted Williams devotion to hitting.

Who Ya Gonna Believe?

2009-07-14T12:01:00.006-04:00

Me or your lying eyes?

Do you see the pink, green and blue spirals? The green ones and the blue ones are the same color. (From frolic with Volokh.)

Buck Earle

2009-06-20T17:21:00.013-04:00

On the occasion of Father's Day of the centenary year of my father's birth I offer this tribute. I was 10 when he died suddenly at age 43 so I didn't know him well, but E. D. Broadhurst, who had a column for the local paper wrote about my father after his funeral in 1952. Much of what I know about my father's personality was in that article. It says some very nice things about Buck.

My father, who was also Elias Preston Earle and named for his father (and grandfather), was called "Buster" growing up, but as an adult this morphed to "Buck", the name by which everyone knew him. Though I barely remember him, he left me with a number of life lessons, some important, others less so.

He taught me to respect books, not just for their content but as books. Even today I find it almost impossible to throw away a hard-bound book.

He taught me to love baseball. I learned to read to read baseball articles in the summer of 1949. He had told me that he was in service with Ted Williams in WW II so I was always a Red Sox fan. Only later in life did I realize "in service with" meant Buck was on a destroyer in the Atlantic while Ted was a Marine aviator in the Pacific. If that was good enough for my dad, it was good enough for me.

He taught me the value of photography as a hobby. After a half-century of saving memories in pictures I realize how valuable this lesson was.

He taught me to keep my knife out of the jelly jar. We didn't have many rules around my house growing up, but if one of us (my two sisters or me) tried to use a knife (rather that a spoon) to reach into a jelly jar, we were sure to be rebuked. Even today I can't use a knife in a mayo jar without thinking of him.

I never heard my parents have a fight or heard my mother, Margaret, say a harsh thing about my father. On one occasion, about 15 years ago, she did mention one night what a spend-thrift he was--that he'd get paid on Friday and if she wasn't careful he'd have spent it all by Monday. She was very careful with money, and that was the lesson I learned. I often think I'd have been happier if I'd learned Buck's lesson rather than Margaret's.

Here is the Broadhurst column, As We See Them, from November 1952. I suspect we all wish we could be as well remembered when we're gone. Click to make it readable.

Start Small

2009-06-15T22:37:00.009-04:00

If the Obama administration wants to manage the US auto industry, perhaps they should start with something smaller and simpler, like the pencil industry. Todd Zywicki cited this essay "I, Pencil" in a post on the Frolic-with-Volokh Conspiracy today.

On second thought, after reading the essay, maybe they should just leave both alone.

"My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors; the growing of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the loggers drink!"

And this is just one small part. Read the whole thing.

Restaurant RIP

2009-06-15T21:45:00.009-04:00

Ed Cone mentions the closing of the Madison Park Restaurant and Ged comments and links to some of his thoughts about restaurants dead and dying.

On a different note, one of my favorite writers, James Lileks, has a regular Monday feature on his blog The Bleat from his extensive collection of matchbook covers.

I've also collected matchbooks over the years and have somehow kept most of the last 30 years' specimens. Some time ago I took the time to scan and organize them and I'm surprised to see there are almost 400 of them. Included are almost 40 from Greensboro restaurants that are no longer with us. Some are greatly lamented, others less so. How many do you remember? As usual, click to see a larger version.

I'm really sorry that one of the unintended negative consequences of the war on tobacco is that we no longer have these wonderful reminders of things past.

Thinking about a Small Car?

2009-05-27T19:35:00.004-04:00

If you're wondering what cars may look like after the new gas-mileage standards go into effect, you might want to look at some small cars of the present and past. In addition to the current Smart car or the Mini Cooper, there are the small cars of the past. Perhaps the smallest, the Peel p50, was tested by the BBC's Top Gear show here. Jeremy Clarkson drives a P50 to work and then takes it to work with him. I love the video of driving around the BBC. More on the P50 here and here.

Cecile

2009-05-26T21:19:00.013-04:00

A half a century ago, when I was in junior high school and had just discovered which sex was opposite, I was badly smitten by the prettiest girl at Central Junior High School, Cecile Mayrand. I wasn't the only one though, as I think half the boys at Central felt the same way. I tried all through the eighth and ninth grades to get her attention but never could.

During the ninth grade Cecile's family moved to Winston-Salem but she stayed in Greensboro to finish the school year. During that summer we palled around some and by the end of the summer she seemed to notice me a bit--at least enough for me to start writing her in Winston.

We corresponded for the full year of the 10th grade. I'd write and wait anxiously for a response. In 1957, for a kid without a driver's license, Winston-Salem might as well have been Timbuktu--that 26 miles was a long way away.

I didn't see Cecile until I got my driver's license the next summer, and my first road trip was to see her. I drove to Winston and we dated several times that fall, but that was also the time I started dating Ann Winchester. After Ann and I began dating, I didn't go back to Winston but once or twice. Ann and I dated all through high school and college and got married when I graduated from Clemson in 1964.

I lost track of Cecile after high school, but I often thought of her. She sort of played the Suzanne Somers role (the mysterious blond in the Thunderbird) in my personal American Graffiti. When I asked old friends, of folks from Winston, about her, no one knew much about her after high school. Someone said they thought she had married a doctor; someone else said they thought she was living in Hawaii. I often wondered what happened to her.

In the late nineties, things looked up for finding out about her when Google came along, but not knowing her married name was a real drawback. Googling for "Cecile Mayrand" brought up a lot of references for various French-Canadians, but nothing about the correct Cecile

Then last year, after Glenn Reynolds wrote about Will Lavender's mystery Obedience, which has a very intriguing prologue (see it here) I tried Google again, and there, thanks to Google Books, was a reference to Phillip Mayrand and his sister Cecile Broadhurst in a book about the history of Topsail Island where the Mayrands owned property. So with a current last name, it was easy to find her current address

I wrote her the first of the year to see if she remembered me, and she did. She answered my letter and filled in some of the details of her life: She had married a doctor, and had lived in Hawaii, but had moved back to NC when she and her first husband separated a number of years ago. She remarried in 1987 and has moved to Topsail Island where she and husband Ed Broadhurst live next to the Gold Hole there).

While visiting some friends in Morehead City over Memorial day, I made a side trip and had a very nice lunch with Cecile and Ed in Topsail Island. We renewed old friendships and talked about our lives over the past 50 years--a very nice day. If Garrison Keillor were writing this, he'd find a nice poignant heart-warming ending, but real life is a little different. It was just a very pleasant lunch and chat. I hope we can see each other again.

Here is another picture of Cecile in junior high school, with some other friends of the period: Cecile, Mike Thompson, me, and Ann Kluttz on the first row and Scottie Troxler, Mike (Tom) Cribbin, Martha Watson, Cricket Conner, Laurie Lamb, and Charles Howell on the back row.

Here are two pictures from this weekend, of Cecile and Ed and of Cecile and me. I don't think either of us has changed much, do you?

"No Larger Nation"– A Tribute to Ireland

2009-03-18T11:15:00.014-04:00

On the occurrence of St Patrick's day just past, I offer this tribute to Ireland. President Kennedy gave this speech to the Irish Parlaiment (Dail) in 1963. It's almost 50 years old, but it still rings true. It's worth the 25-min it takes to listen, or just read the text. Two excerpts:

The 13th day of September, 1862, will be a day long remembered in American history. At Fredericksburg, Maryland, thousands of men fought and died on one of the bloodiest battlefields of the American Civil War. One of the most brilliant stories of that day was written by a band of 1200 men who went into battle wearing a green sprig in their hats. They bore a proud heritage and a special courage, given to those who had long fought for the cause of freedom. I am referring, of course, to the Irish Brigade. General Robert E. Lee, the great military leader of the Southern Confederate Forces, said of this group of men after the battle, "The gallant stand which this bold brigade made on the heights of Fredericksburg is well known. Never were men so brave. They ennobled their race by their splendid gallantry on that desperate occasion. Their brilliant though hopeless assaults on our lines excited the hearty applause of our officers and soldiers."

and

"All the world owes much to the little 'five feet high' nations. The greatest art of the world was the work of little nations. The most enduring literature of the world came from little nations. The heroic deeds that thrill humanity through generations were the deeds of little nations fighting for their freedom. And oh, yes, the salvation of mankind came through a little nation."

Ireland has already set an example and a standard for other small nations to follow.

This has never been a rich or powerful country, and yet, since earliest times, its influence on the world has been rich and powerful. No larger nation did more to keep Christianity and Western culture alive in their darkest centuries. No larger nation did more to spark the cause of independence in America, indeed, around the world. And no larger nation has ever provided the world with more literary and artistic genius.

This is an extraordinary country. George Bernard Shaw, speaking as an Irishman, summed up an approach to life: Other people, he said "see things and say 'Why?' . . . But I dream things that never were -- and I say: 'Why not?'"

When Is a Basketball Lead Safe?

2009-03-15T21:52:00.007-04:00

See Here.

I have never personally seen a game in which a team lost after having a safe lead. In February 1994, LSU led Kentucky by 31 with 15:30 left to play, only to see Kentucky rally for a 99-95 victory. That was impressive, but a 31-point lead without the ball is safe for 12:36. The lead was 81 percent safe. And then this year, LSU blew a 15-point lead to Villanova with 2:59 to go—which, again, is close but no kewpie doll. With 179 seconds to play you need a 13.5-point margin, which means a 16-point lead with the ball or 17 without. The curse of Dale Brown. Actually, I would guess Dale was cursing up a storm when that happened.
My editor, doing his due diligence, found one game in which a team lost after holding a safe lead. On March 2, 1974, North Carolina trailed Duke, 86-78, with 17 seconds to play—a safe lead for Duke. Duke had repeated misadventures in in-bounding the basketball and wound up losing the game in overtime. That was before the human typo was hired to coach Duke, but ... does anybody know where I could get a tape of that game?

Nathanael Greene and the Cat That Started the Civil War

2009-03-15T12:00:00.005-04:00

Ed Cone reminds us today is the 228th anniversary of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Most of us don't know much about General Greene's life and even less about his legacy, particularly his tie to the Civil War. The Georgia Encyclopedia tells us some of his later life.

Greene willingly gave much of his personal wealth to help support the war, even sacrificing his Rhode Island home. To thank him for his service during the war, the Georgia government gave Greene a plantation named Mulberry Grove, outside Savannah in Chatham County. He lived on the Mulberry Grove estate for less than a year, troubled by insecure finances; the plantation did not become profitable. Greene died unexpectedly of sunstroke in 1786, at the age of forty-four. Greene's remains and those of his son, George Washington Greene, lie beneath a monument in Johnson Square in Savannah.

After Greene's death, a young Yale University graduate, Eli Whitney, came to Savannah to take a tutoring job. Whitney began working for Greene's widow, Catharine, and it was at Mulberry Grove that Whitney invented the cotton gin, the machine that revolutionized the production of cotton.

In fact, Whitney met Mrs. Greene on a ship from Rhode Island to Georgia when he was moving to take the teaching job and she was going to remarry. They struck up a friendship, and when he discovered that the pay for the teaching job was half what he had been promised, she offered to let him live at Mulberry Plantation while he decided what to do next.

At Mulberry Grove, much of the evening conversation was about the difficult economic situation plantation owners faced. At that point in US history, slavery was a dying enterprise. Slaves were expensive to keep and there was little profitable work for them to do. The market for local crops, indigo and rice, would not support large plantations, and though growing cotton was a possibility, it was too expensive separating the cotton seeds from the fiber to make the crop profitable.

A few days later, Whitney was in the plantation barnyard watching a cat try to catch a chicken through a wire fence. Each time the cat would reach through the fence for the chicken, all he would bring back was a paw-full of feathers. This lit the bulb in Whitney's imagination and he realized that folks were trying to solve the wrong problem with cotton. The solution wasn't separating the seeds from the cotton fiber, it was separating the fibers from the seeds. He devised a screen-wire basket in which a roller with small picks would pull the fibers through the screen leaving the seeds on the other side. This became his Cotton Engine and was an immediate success throughout the cotton-growing regions of the south. This drove a huge demand for field labor in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and lead to a great transfer of slaves from Virginia and the Carolinas, greatly upsetting slave families and leading to the upheaval that lead to the Civil War some sixth years later.

Had Whitney not seen that cat, who knows what would have happened in American history. This is why a cat should be credited with starting the Civil War.

I Miss W.

2009-03-07T09:33:00.004-05:00

From the Blogfather
“From Election Day 2000 to Election Day 2008, the S&P 500 fell 29.8%. From Election Day 2008 til this afternoon, it’s down 33.3%.”
Bumper sticker here.

A Modest Proposal for The Real ACC Tournament

2009-03-05T11:23:00.005-05:00

Next week we will celebrate the basketball tournament between the all-but-professional athletes representing the 12 schools of the ACC. I think we should have a chance to see which school has the best student basketball players. I propose The Real ACC Tournament!

• Let's plan it for April, after the big dance.

• Let's invite each school to send its 12 best student basketball players: students who are not receiving any athletic scholarship money.

• Each team should be coached by the school's regular basketball coach. We can see who might be the best coach, as opposed to the best recruiter.

• Let them play real rules, with real officials, etc. to keep everything on the up-and-up.

• To save money, we don't need fancy uniforms or anything like that. Let them play in whatever shorts the players prefer, and distinguish the sides by playing shirts-vs-skins. If this tournament is successful and leads to a women's version, this part alone would assure a sell-out in any arena in the area.

• The tournament could be concluded in three days, since the games, without the interruption of TV timeouts, etc., would only take 90-min or so to complete.

• Surely we can find the money required to fund this in the $700.000.000 the government wants to spend on stimulus. I know it would stimulate me.

After Mitch Johnson, What Next?

2009-03-04T11:14:00.007-05:00

I wrote about my thoughts on the Greensboro city management situation here, and offered thoughts as to what the council should do. Last night the council ran right through steps One and Two and landed us directly at step Three. After Mitch, the council must now work to get the city back on track. I offer these further thoughts:

1. We need a strong, professional city manager. I don't know Roger Cotton. Maybe he is the right person for the job. In today's economic climate there must be many professional managers available, even if they do not come from a governmental management background. The city should cast a wide net to find the best candidate. Whoever is chosen should have some sort of employment contract beyond a month-to-month 5-4 vote of confidence from the City Council.

2. We need a strong mayor. Yvonne Johnson isn't it. She seems a competent consensus builder, but she seems unable to lead the council in any direction it needs to go. The Council would do better with her as a member, not as the Mayor.

3. We need a better, less racially-oriented council. Surely there are better candidates in Districts One and Two than we've seen in the past several elections. To TDB Small, everything seems to have a strong racial overtone, whether it is the city manager's performance, the state of sidewalks and curb-and-gutters. or the entrance to City Gardens. The district and the city deserve better.

4. I'm thinking experience may be an over-rated attribute on Council. I have a lot of respect for Robbie Perkins, but it is disconcerting that as late as last night he could not see how poor Mitch was as a manger. If Robbie is bought-and-paid-for by special interests in town, we need better. I have been very impressed with Bill Knight and his approach to city problems over the past couple of years. His perspective as a "numbers guy" is badly needed on council, and he seems to have the proper temperament as a civic leader. I hope he will again seek a council spot in the next election.

5. I don't know that it was necessarily a bad thing that two members of the Pulpit Forum chose to speak in support of Mitch last night, but it is worrisome if Mitch's departure is seen only in a racial light. IMHO, Mitch committed several firing offenses. He improperly painted the "black book" issue in racial terms to "get" David Wray. He badly mismanaged the termination of Wray. He badly mismanaged the Taping of Black Leaders issue. He allowed the witch hunt that resulted in Scott Sanders trial. At the meeting last night, there was a little discussion of the city staff not following the Council's directions (on the Jordan Lake rules). What the staff does is Mitch's responsibility. If he won't get them to follow council policies, he shouldn't be City Manager. It doesn't have to be Racial.

6. We must get beyond the black/white victim/oppressor mindset. Not every injustice and inequity is rooted in racial issues. Sometimes it's bad luck, bad precedence, and incompetence. Thinking all problems are racial is counter-productive.

First-Ladies Gone Wild

2009-03-02T08:50:00.004-05:00

There has been some buzz among fashionistas about Michelle Obama's recent sleeveless stylings. I've seen pieces about this on the Today Show last week and Good Morning America this morning. Both features made an issue of her work-out regime contributing to her toned arms. There is even a blog post on the subject.

All this reminds me of an important exercise principle I learned some time ago: Fat doesn't belong to the muscles around it. You can't lose belly fat by doing sit-ups or lose arm fat by doing arm exercises. You have to lose fat overall to lose fat in any particular spot on your body. Fat comes off sort of in reverse order of how it went on. Arm exercises are good, but they won't cause arm fat to go away.

The Crappiest Generation

2009-03-01T13:57:00.002-05:00

of spoiled idiots

Some Sensible Thoughts on the Housing Crisis

2009-02-26T10:54:00.005-05:00

Ann Althouse pointed to this article "I Bought an Expensive House. My Bad, Not Yours" by Joel Stein in Time Magazine. I think it makes a lot of sense.
"The only people affected by plummeting real estate prices are the ones who bought a house that cost more than they could afford, hoping for a spike in value so they could sell at a profit or take out a new loan based on an increased value. Their home wasn't just a place to live; it was an investment they thought they could liquefy at will. If we're saving these poor souls from the 26.7% drop in their investment, we should give twice as much aid to everyone who has lost approximately 50% in the stock market since its peak."

Thoughts On the Solution to the Mess in Greensboro

2009-02-21T14:44:00.007-05:00

I don't usually write about politics, particularly on a local level. There are lots of other folks who do a very good job of that. I'm making an exception in this post.

An editorial in the WSJ this morning on a different subject quotes federal judge Laurence Silberman: "I have always thought that the most heinous act in which a democratic government can engage is to use its law enforcement machinery for political ends." He was speaking of some of J. Edgar Hoover's actions at the FBI, but it applies to two more recent events, the Duke lacrosse mess in Durham and the Scott Sanders trial here this week. It also applies to the enter David Wray situation.

I've commented at Gaurino's place about this whole mess, and advocated the removal of Mitch Johnson as Greensboro City Manager. But on further thought, I don't believe that is the real solution to this matter. There are cries from lots of folks that we should just move on now, and I don't think that is the right path either.

I'm reminded of a person who, after having some physical symptoms, visits his doctor and finds he has a serious medical condition. The man has several possible courses of action:

1. He can ignore the symptoms and begin to live a better live-style, perhaps eating more healthily, getting more exercise, cutting back on drinking and smoking, etc. These are all good things to do, but none will help his underlying problem. This is the equivalent of the city "just moving on."

2. He can just treat the symptoms, and with the state of medicine today he may well be able to make them seem to go away, but this doesn't cure the underlying condition either. I think this is the equivalent of replacing Mitch Johnson, and perhaps even Tim Bellemy, and maybe even some political leadership, but the basic problem will still be there.

3. He can take whatever treatment steps are required to cure or arrest the condition causing all the problems. These may be difficult and unpleasant, but it the only way to cure the real problem. I don't know what these actual steps are. I'm not a doctor, or a politician, but I believe the people at the head of our city government, the city administration, and the various other groups and organizations that are interested in making this a better city must identify and implement these solutions.

When the Wray Fray first began, I thought it was basically a labor/management dispute over rotating police work schedules. As time went by, there appeared to be a significant racial tint to that dispute as well. I believe it was Sam Spagnola who first proposed the theory that the Fray was a continuation of the Project Homestead problem and the desire of certain powers-that-be to see Project Homestead just go away not be re-opened and examined. Again, there was a strong racial aspect. Other folks have voiced the thought that there is some other yet untold conspiracy orchestrated by some other unidentified group that is behind all this.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that just moving on or just replacing certain management and political leaders is not the right path. We need Leadership – new people with the ability to identify problems, craft solutions, and manage their implementation. If these people aren't currently in the proper roles, we need to find the right people and get them installed. Otherwise we'll still be writing about these problems in five years but to a much smaller audience.

Having Car Trouble?

2009-02-20T17:47:00.009-05:00

Maybe this will help, particularly if the trouble involves fiery explosions. "The guys really like fiery explosions."

Want to Go to the ACC Tournament?

2009-02-17T11:32:00.016-05:00

Over at Ed Cone's he reports that tickets might be available for mere mortals for this year's ACC tournament in the Georgia Dome. This reminds me of one of Preston's Laws: "Just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should." I went to the first ACC tourney in Atlanta (1983, I think) at the Omni Center. Our seats weren't great, but they weren't terrible either.

It could have been worse. Here is the view from the upper balcony:

But this year the tournament is not in the Omni, it's in the Georgia Dome a much larger venue. Here is the layout for basketball. Note that this shows just one end of the field, where the court is located.

I went to the SEC football Championship game in the Georgia Dome in 2007, and here are some views to show what the Georgia Dome interior looks like. The basketball court will be at the other end of the field in this view.

This is the view from our seats in section 132, row 31. These would be pretty good seats for basketball. They could be much worse.

Of course, if the games are exciting and some fans stand up, this is what the view will be like.

If you go to the Tournament, I hope you have a good time. I think Keith has a better idea.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T13:34:00.007-05:00

I was somewhat otherwise occupied this weekend, so I pretty much missed Valentine's day. I missed James Taranto's post about Valentine's Day (scroll down to "Heart Attacks") which references this WSJ article about various protests over St. V's day. Taranto writes mostly about Arab pushback against the Love Holiday and ignores Jewish resistance. On the other hand, at least the blogfather offers an alternative. I hope missing the big day because I was otherwise occupied doesn't disqualify me from the men's version of Valentine's day come March 14.

Happy Friday the 13th

2009-02-16T11:46:00.004-05:00

I don't usually worry too much about Friday the 13th's but I may change my mind. I've been having some medical symptoms. A visit with my cardiologist showed everything OK heartwise, so I visited my regular doctor Wednesday to look into other possibilities and he ordered a number of blood tests. At lunch Friday his nurse called and asked me to come by their office late Friday pm. The doctor wanted to discuss my lab results.

No Problem. Except when I got there, they measured my blood pressure and got a reading of something like 87/44 and everybody got a little excited. The doctor reported that a number of my blood enzymes were out of whack (not his precise medical term, but close) and he wanted to admit me to Cone Hospital to do some tests before I died of kidney failure over the week-end (or at least that's what it sounded like he said). I hadn't seen James Lileks' Bleat column on Friday so I'd missed his warning about kidneys, but the doctor had gotten my attention.

I spent two days getting poked, prodded and punctured courtesy of Medicare and AARP (I hope). Everything was normal (except for some catheter excitement) and they found no significant issues, so we'll continue to look into the "symptoms", and I will be much more respectful of Friday-the-13th's in the future.

News & Record Makes Another Big Mistake

2009-02-16T11:06:00.004-05:00

The News & Record had another big error in a headline this morning. I'm not talking about the page A-1 head about the Cathy Vance surveillance taping, or the B-1 head on the article about the Scott Sanders trial. I'm talking about the C-2 headline "Lawson to the rescue" headline over the UNC-Miami basketball game article.

I didn't watch the game but I did see the highlights (numerous times) on SportsCenter. Ty Lawson wasn't the key to the game; the key was the performance of officials John Cahill, Sean Hull, and Mike Kitts. The key play occurred with 42 seconds left in the game with Miami down one point and having possession of the ball. Tyler Hansborough drew a charging call which gave the Heels the ball and led to Lawson's last 3-pointer.

My friend Sam Croft used to be an ACC referee and I'd kid him that at least he had a 50:50 chance of getting the block/charge call right. He'd remind me it was worse than that. Actually he had only a one in three chance of being right. The third option was "no call".

I don't pretend to know whether the Hansborough call at the end of the game was correct or not, but I do see that UNC made seven of eight free throws, while Miami was only two for two in free throws. This sounds to me like the headline should have been "Cahill/Hull/Kitts to the rescue".

Party Like It's 1993!

2009-02-10T12:33:00.003-05:00

Will Collier at Vodkapundit had an interesting post last week recalling the halcyon days of the early 1990's and the first Bill Clinton term in office:

"After campaigning for a year and a half decrying “the worst economy in the last 50 years”–despite the fact that the mild recession of 1990-91 actually ended in March of ‘91–one of Bill Clinton’s first priorities was to try and ram through (wait for it) a “stimulus package.” Back in those days, politicians hadn’t yet realized that they could add another three zeroes to their raids on everybody else’s pockets, so the Clinton bill was by today’s outlandish standards relatively modest, starting at a mere $30 billion dollars. Most of that was sold as “targeted stimulus,” which meant it was carefully targeted to pay off Democratic grandees and constituencies that had contributed to the 1992 campaign."

and

"The Clinton “stimulus” bill failed, going down to final defeat on April 22, 1993. It was never revived. As we all know, the American economy never recovered–oh, wait, that’s not correct. A year later, despite the non-presence of a federal “stimulus” law, unemployment had dropped from 7.1% to to 6.6%. Tyson’s growth prediction was not quite correct, either; the US GDP positively boomed in the fourth quarter of 1993 to the tune of 5.5%, and rose by 4% in 1994–all without the help of Clinton’s “stimulus” package.

"The boom accelerated in the second half of the decade, with the greatest gains being realized from 1995 onwards–after the Democrats had been swept out of Congressional power, and as a result, Clinton’s penchants for tax hikes and big spending packages were effectively neutered. There were no grand “stimulus” packages from that point on, only good, old-fashioned gridlock that kept the government from raising taxes or spending to outrageous excess."

He concludes "All of this has happened before . . . and if we’re very lucky, all of this will happen again."

"I say let's roll the dice . . ."

2009-02-05T12:22:00.007-05:00

A number of folks have talked about the reluctance of local governments to respond promptly and fully to public document requests. During the Ben Holder Show at the recent city council meeting, Mike Barber addressed this subject with a recommendation that the city should be much more pro-active in responding to requests (see about the 8'30" mark in Ben's first video). Mike talked about the need to be more responsive to document requests and suggested the city take more risk in releasing documents.

On Wednesday the Blogfather referenced an article which lead to this where we learned that King County (Seattle) is facing perhaps nearly a million dollars in fines because it delayed in releasing public documents.
"The state Supreme Court has ruled that a $124,000 fine paid by King County for blatant violations of the state Public Records Act isn't nearly enough, and has sent the case back to Superior Court with a recommendation to increase the penalty."

"In 1997, Yousoufian asked the office of County Executive Ron Sims for copies of studies pertaining to the impact of the proposed $300 million Seahawks stadium. County residents were about to vote on a referendum to pay for Qwest Field."

"Yousoufian's attorney, Michael Brannan, said he'll ask the trial court to impose the maximum penalty: $825,200. That would equal $100 a day for each of the 8,252 days the trial court said the county violated the law."

If there is a risk in releasing documents too liberally, as Mike alleges, there is also a risk in the opposite action. Of course, we're a long way from the Seattle stage as of today, but we're getting closer every day the city behaves ostrich-like in reacting to these document requests.

I thought it was also interesting that during this discussion no one on City Council addressed any comment to the one person who could resolve this matter--the person charged with actually running the city: Mitch Johnson. Everyone on Council spoke in support of "getting the truth out", but no one addressed any comment to Mitch, who seemed to just sit there tar-baby-like.

There was considerable discussion about releasing the content of the tapes, but I believe Ben's primary concern was not the actual content of the tapes but the fact the city has continued to say the taping was part of an overt police investigation when subsequent facts have shown that isn't true, but the city won't admit it. Why not?

Whores

2009-02-03T13:02:00.006-05:00

Folks say that it isn't your enemies telling lies about you that you should worry about, it's your friends telling the truth. I was reminded of this after I read Powerline's recent attack on Tom Daschle. I don't usually read Glen Greenwald, but the blogfather referenced this article which quotes Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi:
"In Washington there are whores and there are whores, and then there is Tom Daschle. Tom Daschle would suck off a corpse for a cheeseburger. True, he is probably only the second-biggest whore for the health care industry in American politics — the biggest being doctor/cat-torturer Bill Frist, whose visit to South Dakota on behalf of John Thune in 2004 was one of the factors in ending Daschle's tenure in the Senate."

Them's harsh words. Whore, indeed!

To their credit, both the New York Times and Ed Cone have called for Daschle to withdraw. I thought that had happened this morning when I saw this headline: "Tax issues prompt Obama nominee to withdraw" but it turned out to be a different Obama nominee.

I saw this store-front last week on High Point Road. It looks like they are selling them in big-box stores now.

I Forgot!

2009-01-31T11:25:00.016-05:00

Sue Polinsky laments having to pay taxes. Doesn't everyone. Perhaps Sue should do what other loyal democrats do: just don't pay them. See Rangel, Geithner, and Daschle for more details.The Daschle case is particularly worrying. According to the WSJ article, he recently paid some $140,000 in back taxes for 2005-2007 that
". . . reflected unreported income from the use of the car service valued at $255,256 for those three years, according to the Finance Committee report. He also amended his returns to cover $83,333 in unreported consulting income for 2007. And he reduced his charitable contributions by $14,963."

Now, that car service averages $7,000 per month which seems pretty ritzy, and forgetting $80,000 in income and fibbing about $15,000 in charitable contributions doesn't seem to be the kind of behavior I'd want someone who is in charge of reforming our health-care mess to exhibit. I'd much prefer an honest man in that position!

Beverly Perdue's Shovel

2009-01-15T10:49:00.008-05:00

Piedmont Publicus blog is a little miffed at Gov. Perdue and the phrase "Shovel Ready". Perhaps he needs to take a look at this:

It's from this blog post, and it isn't what it seems.

Dip, Don't Puff

2009-01-12T09:57:00.004-05:00

In his on-going battle against mis-information in the News-Record's LTE section, Roch Smith can be forgiven if he misses today's letter from Ted Eaves on the health effects of smokeless tobacco compared to cigarettes. While not factually incorrect, the letter's premise is wrong. Smokeless tobacco is much safer than smoking cigarettes. A quick google search brings up this paper as one source on a study of the relative risks of dipping vs. puffing.

"There is no doubt that Western smokeless tobacco products are substantially less harmful than smoking cigarettes (notwithstanding certain recent high-profile statements by a certain high-profile official from this state). Even with the worst case scenario supported by the research, ST is in the order of 1/100 as likely to cause life-threatening disease, and the best estimates for the true value for modern moist snuff, the most popular product, are lower still. Smoking cigarettes is a well established cause of many diseases and is widely described as the largest theoretically) preventable source of premature mortality. ST, by contrast, has mostly been linked to risk for only one relatively rare life-threatening disease, oral cancer. Even that link is tenuous, based largely on a single study by Winn et al. (1981).

"The negative health implications of preventing people from realizing that smokeless tobacco is relatively safe should not be underestimated. Smokeless tobacco users are told, in effect, that they might as well switch to smoking if they find they enjoy it a bit more or it is more convenient. The much larger population of smokers is told, in effect, that they cannot use tobacco in a relatively safe way, a message that is often characterized as "quit or die." It is extremely difficult for anyone to deliver the harm reduction message in the face of the widespread misperception that is fueled by the misinformation. At this point, we can only speculate about how many smokers would take advantage of this opportunity to reduce their risk by two orders of magnitude or more."

Madam Secretary, Not So Fast

2008-11-25T11:00:00.002-05:00

There has been considerable discussion of Hillary Clinton as the new Secretary of State, but I have seen very little discussion about the fact that she may be constitutionally ineligible to be appointed to the post. Eugene Volokh has written about this at the Volokh Conspiracy and there have been references to his articles by several other pundits (Insta- and Vodka-), but I haven't heard anything about this on the TV news. The sticking point is the Emoluments Clause in Article I of the US Constitution: "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time . . .". It will be interesting to see how the administration addresses this situation to get what it wants despite what the Constitution says.

Add a Favorite Word

2008-10-18T10:00:00.007-04:00

Since I'm not a professional writer, hardly anyone ever asks me what my Favorite Word is. (It's sesquipedalian. Interestingly, Blogger lists favorite books, and favorite movies in its View My Complete Profile page, but ignores favorite words.). This morning I saw a new candidate for my favorite word list: antepenultimate. Its father, penultimate, is on my FW list because it doesn't mean what one might suspect, not the best or last of something, but rather the next-to-last. Combined with the prefix ante-, "before", antepenultimate then becomes the third-from-the last of something. The word doesn't seem to have drawn the attention of the folks at Language Log yet.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

2008-10-14T22:42:00.005-04:00

You can't make this stuff up. The What Valley high school? A 15-year-old girl is accused of distributing nude photos of herself to other minors, and one state legislator is questioning whether she should be labeled a sex offender.
The Licking Valley High School student was arrested Friday after school officials discovered the materials and brought in the school's resource officer for a police investigation. After spending the weekend incarcerated, she pleaded deny Monday to both charges: illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a second-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony.

Whole Lotta Remodelin' Goin' On

2008-10-13T17:40:00.013-04:00

There are some changes going on in the neighborhood, Last week I noticed that the Burger King on West Market at Muirs Chapel Rd. was closed for remodeling.

Today I went by and saw what kind of remodeling they had in mind.

It looks like a pretty complete remodel doesn't it? By this measure, there is some more remodeling nearby. Here in the foreground is the remodeled ABC store on Muirs Chapel.

Here's the remodeled Shell station that was at the corner of West Market and Muirs Chapel. Another through job.

Not all remodeling in the neighborhood is so complete. The old Rearn Thai restaurant further out West Market is becoming an O'Reilly Auto Parts store in a less drastic remodel.

It's hard to tell, but I think they just built a metal facade round the old building. I haven't been by there in a couple of weeks to see any progress.

Things are changing along Market Street.