There is a sad irony that it is us calling and e-mailing the north as this weather monster approaches. Usually the concerned calls are coming from up there for us.
We're definitely not enured to weather down here despite the close calls and yet, Hurricanes - whether direct hits or not - are always a concern in Florida.
We have done a good job of rationalizing those and our tremendously hot summers by saying , "Yeah, but we don't have to shovel it."
The next two days up north have us on the edge of our seats and we pray for family and friends.
And, that is no laughing matter.
---------------------------------------------------
To see one team blow out another in baseball like the Tigers did to the Yankees and then the Giants did to the Tigers, is truly amazing. Once again we will remind all those sports fans of the vagaries of sports.
We feel sorry for those poor souls who cling to the predictions of their favorite newspaper sports writers, their constantly watched sports network sport analyists, and sports magazine columists - that nobody (that's NOBODY!) really truly knows a damn thing about predicting sports outcomes - in the long run.
Our suggestion, "If you insist on betting - "go with your guts" - instead of the gutless - who will seldom admit in print or on the air that they didn't really have a clue about what they had fearlessly predicted so confidently."
The old standard in the upper left hand corner of the newspaper front page said it all. It showed a picture of Shakespeare's character Puck looking down at us readers and proclaiming: "What fools we mortals be."
--------------------------------------------
If you don't believe that statement then you are surely one of the clueless who are predicting the demise of this great country solely based on who it is we elect in this 2012 Presidential election.
Why? Because you read it or heard it on TV?
Or are you truly one of the few, like friend Harry, who really took the time to analyze both the candidates and their professed beliefs?
http://harry2335.blogspot.com/
Monday, October 29, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
NOT THAT I'VE REALLY BEEN PAYING ATTENTION
Perhaps it's just an oversight on my part.
But, when do you think we'll see the following in the media?:
Strong criticism of the ACLU - sports "experts" standing up to admit they never expected Detroit and San Francisco to end up in the World Series - any article which first lists the amount received by someone in an injury court settlement - followed by the dollar portion they had to pay to their attorney from that settlement -, what the sports media analysis is of what JOPA would have done if it was his grandchild in the shower with Sandusky, etc, etc, etc?
These are basically "off limit" topics - seemingly a sort of an official-unofficial decision as what to publish - or admit to - by many of our news sources.
Not all the failure-to- report subjects are earth shattering or even reliably predictive of where our society appears to be heading.
Sometimes, the omission is as insignificant as to whether or not to report "definitely, there is an official rule in baseball you must attempt to hit the opposing pitcher after he has done the same to one of yours!"
How about maybe even including an analogy of what would happen to you if you took responsive physical umbrage on your neighbor for what you perceived to be a intentional actby him - or maybe just clobbering a neighborhood kid who you think was responsible for what happened to your own kid.
Unfair analogy? You try standing at the plate while attempting to avoid a 95 MPH fastball aimed at your head - if you want to declare a lack of fairness.
Apprently, there are just things you don't write about or report - particularly if the intended target is large enough or powerful enough to ruin your career for life.
Think Senator Joe McCarthy.
No attempt is made here to suggest one more previously undiscovered conspiracy - nor any grassy knoll intended. Just trying to point out certain topics that appear to be sacrosanct or low priority in the hands of the media.
Perhaps someday we will even see a intellectual debate in the media - with no fear of recriminations - where one side makes an intelligent - well supported argument- that this country should revoke any financial support or defense for Israel if they should choose unilaterally to involve the entire world in nuclear war.
Yeah, there are sacred cows. Always were - always will be. Writing about the amount of financial support the Mafia gave to the Catholic Church was pretty much of a no-no when I was a kid.
I also saw nothing in the media recently to suggest, now that the extreme amount of child molestation in the Boy Scouts has miraculously come to light, an appropriate penalty would be for all Eagle Scouts to turn in their medals, and all sites of prior Boy Scout Jamborees be bulldozed over. (Oops, got the ruling body for the BSA confused with the NCAA. Sorry!)
But, lo and behold - I recently saw a glimmer of hope.
Phil Taylor, he who appears to have assumed the duties of Rick Reilly in the "Point After" - the last printed opinion page of Sports Illustrated - has emerged as my hero.
Cantankerous ole Phil had the audacity to write: "NFL You Have A Problem" - before itemizing the stupid and bully like decisions made by the NFL in recent years.
If you haven't yet come across it, I encourage you to read the entire article in SI's 10/08/12 issue - the one with Referee Ed Hochuli's picture on the cover.
Taylor did an excellent job in his itemization of all the ridiculous decisions and practices of the NFLleague in recent years that the media, for the large part, has chosen to overlook or, at the very least, under-report.
As expected, his enumeration of inconsistencies, the dual odors of greed, and duplicity, was done much better than any of those I've attempted to outline in my meager journalistic attempts via previous blogs critical of the practices of the NFL.
Even after the cogent reporting by Taylor with meof what will probably be seen by the league as "an unprofessional whack job", one of his conclusions especially hit home with me:
"It's partly our fault" - he writes and then goes on to support that argument clearly pointing out how WE" allowed this behemoth to come to be.
I prefer not to repeat his comments word for word for two simple reasons:
First, I really have no desire to be sued by one of the many hungry attorneys out there for having repeated - word for word - what he said without gaining permission to do so.
My second reason is that I, again, really encourage you to access this excellent piece of journalism on your own.
Taylor's column serves as an excellent teaching tool on life for your kids or grandkids - whether they're sports nuts like you - or not - and by doing so you would honor a reporter and publication for having the guts to "tell the Emperor that he forgot to put his clothes back on."
So now, Barry's a "Happy Camper" - as my wife would say?
No, not really.
I'd have been even more impressed if the article had, just once, mentioned NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell by name.
Not that I was really paying attention, of course.
But, when do you think we'll see the following in the media?:
Strong criticism of the ACLU - sports "experts" standing up to admit they never expected Detroit and San Francisco to end up in the World Series - any article which first lists the amount received by someone in an injury court settlement - followed by the dollar portion they had to pay to their attorney from that settlement -, what the sports media analysis is of what JOPA would have done if it was his grandchild in the shower with Sandusky, etc, etc, etc?
These are basically "off limit" topics - seemingly a sort of an official-unofficial decision as what to publish - or admit to - by many of our news sources.
Not all the failure-to- report subjects are earth shattering or even reliably predictive of where our society appears to be heading.
Sometimes, the omission is as insignificant as to whether or not to report "definitely, there is an official rule in baseball you must attempt to hit the opposing pitcher after he has done the same to one of yours!"
How about maybe even including an analogy of what would happen to you if you took responsive physical umbrage on your neighbor for what you perceived to be a intentional actby him - or maybe just clobbering a neighborhood kid who you think was responsible for what happened to your own kid.
Unfair analogy? You try standing at the plate while attempting to avoid a 95 MPH fastball aimed at your head - if you want to declare a lack of fairness.
Apprently, there are just things you don't write about or report - particularly if the intended target is large enough or powerful enough to ruin your career for life.
Think Senator Joe McCarthy.
No attempt is made here to suggest one more previously undiscovered conspiracy - nor any grassy knoll intended. Just trying to point out certain topics that appear to be sacrosanct or low priority in the hands of the media.
Perhaps someday we will even see a intellectual debate in the media - with no fear of recriminations - where one side makes an intelligent - well supported argument- that this country should revoke any financial support or defense for Israel if they should choose unilaterally to involve the entire world in nuclear war.
Yeah, there are sacred cows. Always were - always will be. Writing about the amount of financial support the Mafia gave to the Catholic Church was pretty much of a no-no when I was a kid.
I also saw nothing in the media recently to suggest, now that the extreme amount of child molestation in the Boy Scouts has miraculously come to light, an appropriate penalty would be for all Eagle Scouts to turn in their medals, and all sites of prior Boy Scout Jamborees be bulldozed over. (Oops, got the ruling body for the BSA confused with the NCAA. Sorry!)
But, lo and behold - I recently saw a glimmer of hope.
Phil Taylor, he who appears to have assumed the duties of Rick Reilly in the "Point After" - the last printed opinion page of Sports Illustrated - has emerged as my hero.
Cantankerous ole Phil had the audacity to write: "NFL You Have A Problem" - before itemizing the stupid and bully like decisions made by the NFL in recent years.
If you haven't yet come across it, I encourage you to read the entire article in SI's 10/08/12 issue - the one with Referee Ed Hochuli's picture on the cover.
Taylor did an excellent job in his itemization of all the ridiculous decisions and practices of the NFLleague in recent years that the media, for the large part, has chosen to overlook or, at the very least, under-report.
As expected, his enumeration of inconsistencies, the dual odors of greed, and duplicity, was done much better than any of those I've attempted to outline in my meager journalistic attempts via previous blogs critical of the practices of the NFL.
Even after the cogent reporting by Taylor with meof what will probably be seen by the league as "an unprofessional whack job", one of his conclusions especially hit home with me:
"It's partly our fault" - he writes and then goes on to support that argument clearly pointing out how WE" allowed this behemoth to come to be.
I prefer not to repeat his comments word for word for two simple reasons:
First, I really have no desire to be sued by one of the many hungry attorneys out there for having repeated - word for word - what he said without gaining permission to do so.
My second reason is that I, again, really encourage you to access this excellent piece of journalism on your own.
Taylor's column serves as an excellent teaching tool on life for your kids or grandkids - whether they're sports nuts like you - or not - and by doing so you would honor a reporter and publication for having the guts to "tell the Emperor that he forgot to put his clothes back on."
So now, Barry's a "Happy Camper" - as my wife would say?
No, not really.
I'd have been even more impressed if the article had, just once, mentioned NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell by name.
Not that I was really paying attention, of course.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
THINKING ABOUT LIFE & NUMBERS
(edit of previously published blog on another blog site - 10/13/12)
Rumor has it that on Sunday I'll be 75 years old. Of course, we all know the reputation that "rumor" has.
Yet, the number has a significance to me as it was at this age our Dad "Sully" passed away and I'm the first of his male siblings to get there.
It's funny how often we choose the term "passed away" - "gone now" "lost" and
"with God", as opposed to "died", when describing the death of someone we cared for.
Perhaps it's the permanence of the latter reference and the wishfulness of the former that encourages us to do so - as if we were hoping for a Lazarus moment.
In the eyes of many, Dad passed away too soon.In the eyes of a few it may be "up for grabs." This is not unlike the feelings that most of us will engender from some simply by us "Going on to that Great reward". (How on earth did I miss that one?).
We are a culture of numbers. We longed to be a "teenager" at 13 to distinguish us from being a child. We lusted for becoming 16, the age in Pennsylvania where you could legally drive.
We couldn't wait till we reached the age of 21 and could drink legally - or at the very least be carded and finally smile back in confidence when asked to produce proof of our age.
As a member of a significant gaggle of teenage males in my day, I recall there was a quest for another number - as in "#1". that number represented the first time we had successfully deflowered a member of the opposite sex - and now no longer had to lie about the possibility.
Oddly enough, that was not a priority for me. At least, not nearly as important to me as my making the team in one sport or another. Perhaps I was a member of the remedial class.
Some of us are enamoured - or perhaps fascinated is the correct word- with the age at which our parents - particularly our Dad - if we are male - suffered various physical ailments including death.
It was our Mom - who upon hearing from the nurse of my dad's official demise following the removal of all life saving devices - confirmed that death was.
not only "final" but, in the case of Dad, "Poor Dad - he never had vey good luck - and this is the worse. " We refer to it as "Dad's most unlucky experience."
Probably his most fatal flaw - as well.
One of my siblings and I shared our mutual fears not too long ago. As we did so, we admitting sharing a apprehension as we approached the age when Dad had, in order, suffered: a nervous breakdown, his first heart attack, and the loss of his leg.
We were still relatively young when these events occurred - and were searching to see if ther might be a pattern.
All were biggies and deeply etched in our memory as if to say, "Well, by gosh, he sired us - so we're bound to follow in his path."
The logic was flawed. Genes are unlike a Chinese menu where you can choose or refuse items from each column at will.
Let's just use another example to prove that we were not exactly male replicas. We both were quite certain that neither of us could have consumed as much Vodka in one sitting as Dad - and still remained standing and attempting to dominate the conversation.
Another clue was that this was not a search for an eligible liver transplant donor. We were different from Dad who in turn had a life path was unlike that of either his Mom or Dad.
Yet, I recall hearing one day from one of my own kids: "So, when did your back first go out?", as if that would be a reliable predictor as to when they should start stocking up on Aleve.
To the best of my limited biological knowledge Dad's are "perhaps" one-half of the gene pool - and it's a pool that comes from a stream that probably has been running down hill for a heckuva lot of years - with tributaries going off in many different directions.
However, it is not foolish for all of us to become knowledgable about our gene pool and be tested regularly for a negative repetetive gene.
As for me at the age of 75?
I just prefer to look skyward and say, "Thanks!" - and take a wait and see attitude.
Rumor has it that on Sunday I'll be 75 years old. Of course, we all know the reputation that "rumor" has.
Yet, the number has a significance to me as it was at this age our Dad "Sully" passed away and I'm the first of his male siblings to get there.
It's funny how often we choose the term "passed away" - "gone now" "lost" and
"with God", as opposed to "died", when describing the death of someone we cared for.
Perhaps it's the permanence of the latter reference and the wishfulness of the former that encourages us to do so - as if we were hoping for a Lazarus moment.
In the eyes of many, Dad passed away too soon.In the eyes of a few it may be "up for grabs." This is not unlike the feelings that most of us will engender from some simply by us "Going on to that Great reward". (How on earth did I miss that one?).
We are a culture of numbers. We longed to be a "teenager" at 13 to distinguish us from being a child. We lusted for becoming 16, the age in Pennsylvania where you could legally drive.
We couldn't wait till we reached the age of 21 and could drink legally - or at the very least be carded and finally smile back in confidence when asked to produce proof of our age.
As a member of a significant gaggle of teenage males in my day, I recall there was a quest for another number - as in "#1". that number represented the first time we had successfully deflowered a member of the opposite sex - and now no longer had to lie about the possibility.
Oddly enough, that was not a priority for me. At least, not nearly as important to me as my making the team in one sport or another. Perhaps I was a member of the remedial class.
Some of us are enamoured - or perhaps fascinated is the correct word- with the age at which our parents - particularly our Dad - if we are male - suffered various physical ailments including death.
It was our Mom - who upon hearing from the nurse of my dad's official demise following the removal of all life saving devices - confirmed that death was.
not only "final" but, in the case of Dad, "Poor Dad - he never had vey good luck - and this is the worse. " We refer to it as "Dad's most unlucky experience."
Probably his most fatal flaw - as well.
One of my siblings and I shared our mutual fears not too long ago. As we did so, we admitting sharing a apprehension as we approached the age when Dad had, in order, suffered: a nervous breakdown, his first heart attack, and the loss of his leg.
We were still relatively young when these events occurred - and were searching to see if ther might be a pattern.
All were biggies and deeply etched in our memory as if to say, "Well, by gosh, he sired us - so we're bound to follow in his path."
The logic was flawed. Genes are unlike a Chinese menu where you can choose or refuse items from each column at will.
Let's just use another example to prove that we were not exactly male replicas. We both were quite certain that neither of us could have consumed as much Vodka in one sitting as Dad - and still remained standing and attempting to dominate the conversation.
Another clue was that this was not a search for an eligible liver transplant donor. We were different from Dad who in turn had a life path was unlike that of either his Mom or Dad.
Yet, I recall hearing one day from one of my own kids: "So, when did your back first go out?", as if that would be a reliable predictor as to when they should start stocking up on Aleve.
To the best of my limited biological knowledge Dad's are "perhaps" one-half of the gene pool - and it's a pool that comes from a stream that probably has been running down hill for a heckuva lot of years - with tributaries going off in many different directions.
However, it is not foolish for all of us to become knowledgable about our gene pool and be tested regularly for a negative repetetive gene.
As for me at the age of 75?
I just prefer to look skyward and say, "Thanks!" - and take a wait and see attitude.
Monday, October 15, 2012
WHO'S KIDDING?
Who's kidding?
My recent blog talked about the ups & downs of getting older. Note,I did not say "old". As part of that aging process I have kind of displayed little enthusiasm regarding the social media that is so prominent in our country these days.
I joined Facebook reluctantly at the urging of family and friends but, use the medium quite sparingly.
Perhaps it's a privacy thing or just frustration that I seldom get a complete look of the young people in my universe. It seems their attention is devoted to looking down at an object - not completely inanimate - with the object of determining if someone cared for them today.
That is - until I went online today at Facebook's suggestion and noted the number of people who via a memory refresher from that same source, in "some" cases - took the time to congratulate me on my 75th birthday and wish me well too.
So, okay, maybe Facebook isn't all bad. And, maybe there are some insecurities that extend across all age groups. Thanks.
My recent blog talked about the ups & downs of getting older. Note,I did not say "old". As part of that aging process I have kind of displayed little enthusiasm regarding the social media that is so prominent in our country these days.
I joined Facebook reluctantly at the urging of family and friends but, use the medium quite sparingly.
Perhaps it's a privacy thing or just frustration that I seldom get a complete look of the young people in my universe. It seems their attention is devoted to looking down at an object - not completely inanimate - with the object of determining if someone cared for them today.
That is - until I went online today at Facebook's suggestion and noted the number of people who via a memory refresher from that same source, in "some" cases - took the time to congratulate me on my 75th birthday and wish me well too.
So, okay, maybe Facebook isn't all bad. And, maybe there are some insecurities that extend across all age groups. Thanks.
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