As we all know, the first day of spring is when the Red Sox equipment truck leaves Fenway Park to drive to Fort Myers, Florida for the beginning of spring training. That day was today. So, despite the fact that I have enough snow in my back yard to make Shawn White happy for a month, it is spring, because it is Truck Day, which should really be a national holiday.
It should, too. Shut up.
In other news, Billerica, Massachusetts native Tom Glavine retired from baseball. Glavine won 305 games over 21 seasons, mostly by throwing low, outside fastballs and watching hitters pop them up. Glavine, who also loved hockey as a youth, is going to work for the Braves organization, where he spent most of his career. He seems like a classy sort of gent. Baseball will miss him.
Author John Feinstein penned a pretty good book about Glavine and Mike Mussina called "Living on the Black". I recommend it.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
What's The Buzz
So Google has introduced Google Buzz, which appears to be a sort of Facebooky Twitter, or a Twittery Facebook. Experts are calling it a "Facebook Killer", but I'm not so sure. See, I'm on Twitter, and on Facebook, and on Friendfeed, and on Buzz now, too. I mostly use it as a platform to evangelize the utter greatness of this blog which you, as my longterm readers, are already well aware of.
I know we're all in the content delivery business now, and you are your brand, and blah blah blah blah blah. But I just can't seem to find a focus these days. Everybody says blogs are supposed to be super focused, but I can't seem to either stop blogging, for one thing, or figure out what I want this to be about, for another thing.
I know I like reading the words and links of smart people, and there are loads and loads of them out there. But it seems like every idea has been done, every angle has been explored, every everything has been done better and faster and cheaper. I don't want to really write about my life because my life is even boring to me, and I'm the one living it! I can't seem to write full time about sports, or politics, or books, or anything-because I get sick of any topic after a while.
So I guess my message to you is thusly: I'm on Buzz, if you want to find me there. Feel free to hook up on any of those other services, too. So to speak. But until I start having strong feelings of one platform being superior to any other, my musings will continue to be reflections of the brilliance, wit, and sheer poetry you have become used to finding here.
I know we're all in the content delivery business now, and you are your brand, and blah blah blah blah blah. But I just can't seem to find a focus these days. Everybody says blogs are supposed to be super focused, but I can't seem to either stop blogging, for one thing, or figure out what I want this to be about, for another thing.
I know I like reading the words and links of smart people, and there are loads and loads of them out there. But it seems like every idea has been done, every angle has been explored, every everything has been done better and faster and cheaper. I don't want to really write about my life because my life is even boring to me, and I'm the one living it! I can't seem to write full time about sports, or politics, or books, or anything-because I get sick of any topic after a while.
So I guess my message to you is thusly: I'm on Buzz, if you want to find me there. Feel free to hook up on any of those other services, too. So to speak. But until I start having strong feelings of one platform being superior to any other, my musings will continue to be reflections of the brilliance, wit, and sheer poetry you have become used to finding here.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Darkness Visible
Velvet's new 100 word challenge this week is "Darkness".
You can't see it, but it's there. It's doubt. Fear. Loneliness. Anger. It's cynicism. It's snark, and spite, and denial of the rationality of those who oppose you. It's rage, and violence, and destruction. It's separation from light, goodness, trust, hope. You can see it in the path you've chosen, and you can see it reflected in the embryonic psyche of your child. You never wanted them to find it, but they know it now, and they will learn the contours of the insides of the fog soon enough. It's there, and it's growing, and it pulls at your ankles.
You can't see it, but it's there. It's doubt. Fear. Loneliness. Anger. It's cynicism. It's snark, and spite, and denial of the rationality of those who oppose you. It's rage, and violence, and destruction. It's separation from light, goodness, trust, hope. You can see it in the path you've chosen, and you can see it reflected in the embryonic psyche of your child. You never wanted them to find it, but they know it now, and they will learn the contours of the insides of the fog soon enough. It's there, and it's growing, and it pulls at your ankles.
Another Fascinating Thought from Dan Carlin
Podcaster and gadfly Dan Carlin has a very interesting answer to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Carlin believes, and I have to admit he is right, that, constitutionally, Citizens United was correctly decided. The way, Dan thinks, to prevent a few megaphones from overwhelming everyone else's voices in the public square, is a simple one. It appears to be constitutional to require parties to disclose the names and amounts of their donors. Therefore, you let parties raise whatever monies they wish. However, you give government matching funds to the other parties so that they may spend on the same level. You're not limiting anyone's speech-you're just making sure everyone can speak at the same volume. Third parties? Let's say anyone who receives more than 1% of the vote in a Federal election gets the same funds. So the Democrats raise $500 million, and the Republicans raise $450 million. So the Republicans get $50 million, and so does the Green Party, and the Constitution Party, and the Independent Party.
Carlin's proposal limits the appeal of corporate donations-why give money to the President when you know his opponent gets the same amount. dollar for dollar.
Cost too much? How much is wasteful Federal spending on bailouts and subsidies now?
This is impossible, of course-just like health reform, there are too many well entrenched interests who are passionately involved in keeping things exactly as they are.
Good food for thought, though, as always.
Carlin's proposal limits the appeal of corporate donations-why give money to the President when you know his opponent gets the same amount. dollar for dollar.
Cost too much? How much is wasteful Federal spending on bailouts and subsidies now?
This is impossible, of course-just like health reform, there are too many well entrenched interests who are passionately involved in keeping things exactly as they are.
Good food for thought, though, as always.
Riddle Me This, Quizmaster
A very distressing Slate Political Gabfest this week, forecasting deficits as far as the eye can see.
The President's 2011 budget forecasts a 1,145 billion (1.145 trillion) dollar budget deficit for 2011. Granted, this is only his proposal. Granted, all forecasts are provisional. But let's just take it as a given, for discussion's sake.
All those of you who want the government to limit spending, listen up. Let's pretend we have a line item veto, and let's zero out discretionary spending. Nothing. Kill it all. NASA-gone. School lunches-it's over. Job training-forget about it.
You know what your deficit is then? 1,145-530=615 billion dollars.
Until we cut Social Security, Medicare, and the Defense Department, we're not going to get the budget under control.
We're never going to cut those programs-it is politically impossible.
So if you're worried about deficits, explain how you're going to tell seniors that their checks are going to be cut in half-because if you're really serious about cutting spending, that's what you have to do.
(And if any seniors are reading this? Please dispense with the "I paid into it" argument. Your money that you paid is gone-it went to your parents. You're now spending my money. Just thought you ought to know that.)
The President's 2011 budget forecasts a 1,145 billion (1.145 trillion) dollar budget deficit for 2011. Granted, this is only his proposal. Granted, all forecasts are provisional. But let's just take it as a given, for discussion's sake.
All those of you who want the government to limit spending, listen up. Let's pretend we have a line item veto, and let's zero out discretionary spending. Nothing. Kill it all. NASA-gone. School lunches-it's over. Job training-forget about it.
You know what your deficit is then? 1,145-530=615 billion dollars.
Until we cut Social Security, Medicare, and the Defense Department, we're not going to get the budget under control.
We're never going to cut those programs-it is politically impossible.
So if you're worried about deficits, explain how you're going to tell seniors that their checks are going to be cut in half-because if you're really serious about cutting spending, that's what you have to do.
(And if any seniors are reading this? Please dispense with the "I paid into it" argument. Your money that you paid is gone-it went to your parents. You're now spending my money. Just thought you ought to know that.)
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
On Death and Dying: "Good Grief!"
This is a really tremendous article about death and dying, "Good Grief" from poet Meghan O' Rourke, which I learned about from the always interesting Slate Cultural Gabfest podcast at Slate.com.
"Perhaps the stage theory of grief caught on so quickly because it made loss sound controllable. The trouble is that it turns out largely to be a fiction, based more on anecdotal observation than empirical evidence. Though [Elizabeth] Kübler-Ross captured the range of emotions that mourners experience, new research suggests that grief and mourning don’t follow a checklist; they’re complicated and untidy processes, less like a progression of stages and more like an ongoing process—sometimes one that never fully ends."
Complicated and untidy. Just like life.
"Perhaps the stage theory of grief caught on so quickly because it made loss sound controllable. The trouble is that it turns out largely to be a fiction, based more on anecdotal observation than empirical evidence. Though [Elizabeth] Kübler-Ross captured the range of emotions that mourners experience, new research suggests that grief and mourning don’t follow a checklist; they’re complicated and untidy processes, less like a progression of stages and more like an ongoing process—sometimes one that never fully ends."
Complicated and untidy. Just like life.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
When people say Republicans are stupid....
....this is what they're talking about.
Research 2000 polled self identified Republicans and asked them a series of questions. A number of the responses are disturbing on many levels (such as 39% believing the President should be impeached, and 31% believing that contraception should be outlawed), but the one that caught my attention is the following:
36% of those surveyed believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
I'm sorry, if we can't agree on a simple fact like this, I'm not sure if we can agree on anything at all. The fact that the President was born in Hawaii is about as close to being nailed down as a fact can be, barring the fact that we weren't actually in the room as it happened.
Really? Seriously? 36%?
Research 2000 polled self identified Republicans and asked them a series of questions. A number of the responses are disturbing on many levels (such as 39% believing the President should be impeached, and 31% believing that contraception should be outlawed), but the one that caught my attention is the following:
36% of those surveyed believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
I'm sorry, if we can't agree on a simple fact like this, I'm not sure if we can agree on anything at all. The fact that the President was born in Hawaii is about as close to being nailed down as a fact can be, barring the fact that we weren't actually in the room as it happened.
Really? Seriously? 36%?
Ah Forgetted to Remember to Forget
The lovely and talented Novelista Barista hosted a brief screed of mine over on her front porch at novelistabarista.blogspot.com.
If you're absolutely determined to collect everything I ever writtened, you can find it here. If you are so determined, you also really need to get your head examined.
If you're absolutely determined to collect everything I ever writtened, you can find it here. If you are so determined, you also really need to get your head examined.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Bob Feller on Life (and Baseball) (Which as we all know is really the same thing.)
"I threw just as hard. The ball just didn't go as fast."
-Bob Feller
I think I have my new motto.
-Bob Feller
I think I have my new motto.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tough Week To Be A Wordsmith
Word broke across the Twitterverse today that JD Salinger, the author arguably more famous for his decades of reticence than for his prose, is dead. Honestly, I haven't read him in quite a while. It will be interesting to see, if I reread him, if his work resonates differently with me after all these years.
***
I finished Michael Chabon's "Manhood For Amateurs", and I really enjoyed it. Chabon is a marvelous writer, and the book consists of essays arranged around the general topic of manhood-fatherhood, and his life as a child. There are a couple of frankly sexual sections, but it would make a great Father's Day gift for literate leaning husbands out there.
***
I finished Michael Chabon's "Manhood For Amateurs", and I really enjoyed it. Chabon is a marvelous writer, and the book consists of essays arranged around the general topic of manhood-fatherhood, and his life as a child. There are a couple of frankly sexual sections, but it would make a great Father's Day gift for literate leaning husbands out there.
Monday, January 25, 2010
A Cowboy Looks At Thirty
Yet another 100 Words, inspired by the wondrous prose stylings of Velvet Verbosity, on display aqui.
What is Thirty?
Thirty is when “I'm gonna be” becomes “I used to think I was gonna be”.
when “ACTIVE-Will Play” becomes “DOUBTFUL-Hamstring”.
when “I'll meet you there” becomes “I have to be up early tomorrow”.
when “Why not?” becomes “Do you think it's worth the effort?”
when “Yes, we can” becomes “Do you really think that's wise?”
when “I saw them play downtown” becomes “I've never heard of that band.”
when “I will do what I want” becomes “I'll do what is best for them.”
What is Thirty?
Thirty is when “I'm gonna be” becomes “I used to think I was gonna be”.
when “ACTIVE-Will Play” becomes “DOUBTFUL-Hamstring”.
when “I'll meet you there” becomes “I have to be up early tomorrow”.
when “Why not?” becomes “Do you think it's worth the effort?”
when “Yes, we can” becomes “Do you really think that's wise?”
when “I saw them play downtown” becomes “I've never heard of that band.”
when “I will do what I want” becomes “I'll do what is best for them.”
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sad, and somehow, funny
A sad, and somehow funny, post from the Bloggess, the immortal, and immoral, Jenny.
I May Be Wrong
They say it takes a big man to admit when he's wrong. And those of you who have met me in person know I am nothing if not a big man.
I may be wrong.
Senator Elect Scott Brown may be the wisest man since Solomon, and a legislator to rival Daniel Webster. Tying the Obama Administration in knots may be the key event that saves America from the Red Menace. Stopping people from being able to see their doctors when they are sick may have just prevented us all from having to dress the same and carry the President's autobiography around with us everywhere we go. Torture may be a key element of the war on terror, and climate change may just be some loony plot cooked up during a hash reverie at The Nation magazine. Saving corporations from having any restrictions on political spending may be the key that unlocks the new American Arcadia.
Charlie Pierce does not agree.
Maybe Charlie and I are wrong.
But I doubt it.
I may be wrong.
Senator Elect Scott Brown may be the wisest man since Solomon, and a legislator to rival Daniel Webster. Tying the Obama Administration in knots may be the key event that saves America from the Red Menace. Stopping people from being able to see their doctors when they are sick may have just prevented us all from having to dress the same and carry the President's autobiography around with us everywhere we go. Torture may be a key element of the war on terror, and climate change may just be some loony plot cooked up during a hash reverie at The Nation magazine. Saving corporations from having any restrictions on political spending may be the key that unlocks the new American Arcadia.
Charlie Pierce does not agree.
Maybe Charlie and I are wrong.
But I doubt it.
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