When Beth and I were living in Boston, we were broke. The most economical vacation there is a camping trip. Note to future couples: when getting married consider a gift registry at a camping store. Our wedding gifts (lantern, cooking stove, collapsible water jug etc.) came in very handy. For us, the weekend meant to a road trip to the White Mountains or to Mt. Greylocke in the Berkshires. Vacations meant the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Acadia National Park or Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. These were were great vacations. They had down time, alone time, great books, scenery and memories galore.
Camping in mid-August was a requirement. We needed to be away from the light pollution of the big city so that we could view Perseid's meteor showers in north end of the sky sans telescope. A cloudy weekend was a tragedy. A clear weekend, a victory for geekdom. Now that we live in Vermont, it is only a matter of pulling out a blanket, turning off all the lights and going out in the yard. Our local public radio station throws a star party just for this occasion. Peak time was over last night but you can still catch some if you are patient. I suggest watching the skies tonight, if you are the northern hemisphere, and listen to this show if you can, just follow the link.
Perseid is named for the constellation, Perseus, which it appears near in the sky. It is nowhere near these stars, obviously, because it is passing close to the Earth. The meteors that we see are only tiny stones that are the remnants from a huge comet, the Swift-Tuttle. Some of the meteors, also called shooting stars by some, are as small as sand pebbles on the beach. It is hard to believe something so small can be seen from six miles away on the Earth. When it enters the atmosphere it burns up. We are seeing that burning explosion of gases.
Swift-Tuttle was named for two astronomers that first identified the comet separately in 1862, Americans Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle. They identified it, independently, three days apart. Pisser that they had to share the naming rights. It is an estimated to be close to 17 miles across and almost twice as large as the comet that we believe contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This is one bad-ass comet.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Rangers' Financial Woes
Does it surprise you that a baseball team that was once run by this man is now filing for bankruptcy?
Not only are the Texas Rangers in financial dire straits but this man couldn't even make money when he ran oil companies (Arbusto Energy and Spectrum 7 Energy Corp). It is obvious that he brought his "business sense" to his presidency. As president of the US he started two foreighn wars but neglected to come up with any reasonable way to pay for them. Our first MBA president ran our country the same way he ran his businesses, by increasing spending even though revenues were decreasing. The big difference here is that the decreased revenues for our government was his own making by cutting the taxes of the wealthy. This is old news.
The financial problems of the Texas Rangers are not new either. Some of the decisions that were made back in the 1990's are really hurting them now. A lot of the team's fans blame the current leadership of the franchise (sound familiar?) but a lot of it can be traced back to the 1990's.
For example, they are still paying Mickey Tettleton $1.4 million a year. Who is Tettleton? He is an average player that retired in 1997. Paying a player into their retirement isn't that odd. What is odd is that the Rangers gave him this contract in 1996 when he was 36 which pretty old for a baseball player. If he were a knuckleballer, it might make sense, but he's a catcher. Paying an aging catcher $1.4 million for the next 13 years ... what were you thinking? This is just poor business. Sounds like whoever made this decision might be stupid enough to give one of his golf buddies a job as head of FEMA!
I am not a big fan of the Texas Rangers, but they are one of those underdog teams that I do like to see win. Filing for Chapter 11 may make them more appealing to potential buyers (Nolan Ryan is one that I have heard). Their top unsecured debtors had to be made public. The top six are all players:
Alex Rodriguez – $24.8 million
Kevin Millwood – $12.9 million
Michael Young – $3.8 million
Vicente Padilla - $1.6 million
Mickey Tettleton – $1.4 million
Mark McLemore – $970K
The top four of these are current players, only one of which is currently on the Rangers (Young). The highest on the list, is New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. ARod is suing to stop the bankruptcy. This might just be the only thing that Bush has ever do that makes me happy. ARod could lose close to $25 million if it happens.
Not only are the Texas Rangers in financial dire straits but this man couldn't even make money when he ran oil companies (Arbusto Energy and Spectrum 7 Energy Corp). It is obvious that he brought his "business sense" to his presidency. As president of the US he started two foreighn wars but neglected to come up with any reasonable way to pay for them. Our first MBA president ran our country the same way he ran his businesses, by increasing spending even though revenues were decreasing. The big difference here is that the decreased revenues for our government was his own making by cutting the taxes of the wealthy. This is old news.
The financial problems of the Texas Rangers are not new either. Some of the decisions that were made back in the 1990's are really hurting them now. A lot of the team's fans blame the current leadership of the franchise (sound familiar?) but a lot of it can be traced back to the 1990's.
For example, they are still paying Mickey Tettleton $1.4 million a year. Who is Tettleton? He is an average player that retired in 1997. Paying a player into their retirement isn't that odd. What is odd is that the Rangers gave him this contract in 1996 when he was 36 which pretty old for a baseball player. If he were a knuckleballer, it might make sense, but he's a catcher. Paying an aging catcher $1.4 million for the next 13 years ... what were you thinking? This is just poor business. Sounds like whoever made this decision might be stupid enough to give one of his golf buddies a job as head of FEMA!
I am not a big fan of the Texas Rangers, but they are one of those underdog teams that I do like to see win. Filing for Chapter 11 may make them more appealing to potential buyers (Nolan Ryan is one that I have heard). Their top unsecured debtors had to be made public. The top six are all players:
Alex Rodriguez – $24.8 million
Kevin Millwood – $12.9 million
Michael Young – $3.8 million
Vicente Padilla - $1.6 million
Mickey Tettleton – $1.4 million
Mark McLemore – $970K
The top four of these are current players, only one of which is currently on the Rangers (Young). The highest on the list, is New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. ARod is suing to stop the bankruptcy. This might just be the only thing that Bush has ever do that makes me happy. ARod could lose close to $25 million if it happens.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Prosopagnosia
I like magician Penn Jillette mainly because he is an outspoken atheist. In a nation where many people equate atheism with evil, he is refreshing. He puts a positive face on my belief system (or lack thereof). One day a few years ago, Jillette was going back stage after finishing a performance and was greeted by his mother. She approached him and he didn't know who she was. This is because he has a neurological disorder called prosopagnosia (or more common called face blindness).
People with prosopagnosia cannot recognize faces so if they see someone out of context, like seeing your mom backstage and not at home, they don't recognize them. They might not even recognize you if your facial expression changed. The condition was originally diagnosed in people who had brain damage thought to be caused by head trauma. Very recently a congenital form has been diagnosed. Some estimates are as high as 2.5% of the population. In other terms, if 200 of your Facebook friends were all in the same room, those 5 people who haven't said "hi" may not be rude. They may just have prosopagnosia. Neurologist Oliver Sacks, anthropologist Jane Goodall and ironically, portrait painter Chuck Close all have prosopagnosia.
When I was a kid I watched a lot of television with my dad. Just about every black man he saw on television that he didn't know he would say "Is that the guy from Barney Miller?" and "I'd say, Ron Glass? No, that's not him, it doesn't even look like him." To my knowledge my dad doesn't have prosopagnosia, but he could just be displaying own-race bias. We are simply far more likely to recognize people of our own race over others. The old comment, "they all look a like to me," might just have some legs to it. This is something to ponder if you are ever on a jury and someone from another race is being identified.
People with prosopagnosia cannot recognize faces so if they see someone out of context, like seeing your mom backstage and not at home, they don't recognize them. They might not even recognize you if your facial expression changed. The condition was originally diagnosed in people who had brain damage thought to be caused by head trauma. Very recently a congenital form has been diagnosed. Some estimates are as high as 2.5% of the population. In other terms, if 200 of your Facebook friends were all in the same room, those 5 people who haven't said "hi" may not be rude. They may just have prosopagnosia. Neurologist Oliver Sacks, anthropologist Jane Goodall and ironically, portrait painter Chuck Close all have prosopagnosia.
When I was a kid I watched a lot of television with my dad. Just about every black man he saw on television that he didn't know he would say "Is that the guy from Barney Miller?" and "I'd say, Ron Glass? No, that's not him, it doesn't even look like him." To my knowledge my dad doesn't have prosopagnosia, but he could just be displaying own-race bias. We are simply far more likely to recognize people of our own race over others. The old comment, "they all look a like to me," might just have some legs to it. This is something to ponder if you are ever on a jury and someone from another race is being identified.
Friday, July 30, 2010
The Radius Clause and Lollapalooza
A radius clause is an agreement that business signs where they agree not to open another branch in a given area. It is most commonly used with anchor stores in malls. For example, if Target is the anchor store, they sign an agreement that they will not open another store close to that mall. The radius is usually a short distance from the mall in that potential customers will not be drawn away from the mall with the Target but into the mall with the Target (hence the phrase anchor store).
This makes a lot of sense to me when it comes to retail which are generally stationary and have some staying power. It does not make so much sense when it comes to concert promotion. A lot of the big Summer concert festivals have their artist sign a radius clause. The artist agrees that they will not perform anywhere else near the festivals for a given amount of time. The largest radius in the industry is the 300 square mile for 90 days clause for the performers at Lollapalooza. So if you are a fan of Green Day or The Strokes and you live within the 300 mile radius of Grant Park, Chicago, you better see them at Lollapalooza or not see them at all.
For extremely popular bands like Green Day, this isn't huge deal, but for the 100 or so lesser known bands like Alberta Cross, Metric, Deer Tick or The Cold War Kids (some of my favorites) this is a big deal. Not only for the bands, but for the small clubs that attract these bands. 300 square miles is huge. This means that these bands cannot perform in Madison, Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, Indianapolis and whatever ever market 300 square miles encompasses. This means slim pickings for the Midwest during the Summer concert season.
The Illinois Attorney General is investigating Lollapalooza for possible anti-trust issues. I will be following this. I don't live in the Midwest, but I could imagine what would happen to a town like Burlington VT (near my home) if a huge festival came to NYC, Boston or Montreal and had a radius clause like this one. Our concert scene and our economy would be hurt along with every other little town in New England.
This makes a lot of sense to me when it comes to retail which are generally stationary and have some staying power. It does not make so much sense when it comes to concert promotion. A lot of the big Summer concert festivals have their artist sign a radius clause. The artist agrees that they will not perform anywhere else near the festivals for a given amount of time. The largest radius in the industry is the 300 square mile for 90 days clause for the performers at Lollapalooza. So if you are a fan of Green Day or The Strokes and you live within the 300 mile radius of Grant Park, Chicago, you better see them at Lollapalooza or not see them at all.
For extremely popular bands like Green Day, this isn't huge deal, but for the 100 or so lesser known bands like Alberta Cross, Metric, Deer Tick or The Cold War Kids (some of my favorites) this is a big deal. Not only for the bands, but for the small clubs that attract these bands. 300 square miles is huge. This means that these bands cannot perform in Madison, Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis, Indianapolis and whatever ever market 300 square miles encompasses. This means slim pickings for the Midwest during the Summer concert season.
The Illinois Attorney General is investigating Lollapalooza for possible anti-trust issues. I will be following this. I don't live in the Midwest, but I could imagine what would happen to a town like Burlington VT (near my home) if a huge festival came to NYC, Boston or Montreal and had a radius clause like this one. Our concert scene and our economy would be hurt along with every other little town in New England.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The Mountain Pine Beetle
While visiting the Canadian Rockies recently, I noticed large bald spots on mountaintops many of which were several acres in size. Since I have visited the area in the past, I assumed it was simply clear cutting (non-environmental friendly logging) and I didn't give it much thought. Later in the week, while I was on the white water raft ride, I noticed that these areas were not clear cut because the trees were not gone but were just very thin, many of them dead or dying. This is the work of the mountain pine beetle.
The mountain pine beetle is not only a problem in Alberta and British Columbia but in the American Rockies as well. Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho all have similar problems. The beetle is not an invasive species, it is native to North America. It's population has gone out of control because, historically, it tends to breed heavily in warm years and not so heavily in cool years. Since this past decade has been the warmest on record, the population is completely out of control and it's predators can't keep up with them. Their population is usually controlled by cold weather. Since trees are our planet's greatest source of cooling this is very disturbing news. It seems like cycle that has no chance of stopping.
Nothing in nature happens in a vacuum. Other species are always affected by another's growth. Clark’s nutcracker is a bird that lives off of the white bark pine, the type of tree that is being most devastated by the beetle. The nutcracker's relationship with this tree is a symbiotic one. The bird feeds on the cones thus spreads the seeds. When the trees die, so do they. The whitebark pine relies on the nutcracker even more for if not for this bird, the seeds would not be spread throughout the landscape. If the bird dies off so will the tree.
The squirrels and chipmunks in the area also feed off of the cones. They store them in ground caches. These caches are the main source of food for black bears and grizzlies. Since the recent Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak, grizzly attacks on humans are up because bears are going elsewhere seeking out food. When a bear attacks a human, they are destroyed. Just another casualty of global warming.
The mountain pine beetle is not only a problem in Alberta and British Columbia but in the American Rockies as well. Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho all have similar problems. The beetle is not an invasive species, it is native to North America. It's population has gone out of control because, historically, it tends to breed heavily in warm years and not so heavily in cool years. Since this past decade has been the warmest on record, the population is completely out of control and it's predators can't keep up with them. Their population is usually controlled by cold weather. Since trees are our planet's greatest source of cooling this is very disturbing news. It seems like cycle that has no chance of stopping.
Nothing in nature happens in a vacuum. Other species are always affected by another's growth. Clark’s nutcracker is a bird that lives off of the white bark pine, the type of tree that is being most devastated by the beetle. The nutcracker's relationship with this tree is a symbiotic one. The bird feeds on the cones thus spreads the seeds. When the trees die, so do they. The whitebark pine relies on the nutcracker even more for if not for this bird, the seeds would not be spread throughout the landscape. If the bird dies off so will the tree.
The squirrels and chipmunks in the area also feed off of the cones. They store them in ground caches. These caches are the main source of food for black bears and grizzlies. Since the recent Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak, grizzly attacks on humans are up because bears are going elsewhere seeking out food. When a bear attacks a human, they are destroyed. Just another casualty of global warming.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Rule 8.06
If you were watching the LA Dodgers / SF Giants game a couple of nights ago you were treated to a baseball rulebook gem. In the ninth inning with one out, bases loaded and Dodgers winning 5-4, hitting coach Don Mattingly went to the mound to visit All Star closing relief pitcher John Braxton. Mattingly was acting as the manager because Joe Torre, the Dodgers manager, had been ejected earlier in the game. After advising his pitcher, who wasn't pitching very well, Mattingly stepped off the mound and headed back to the dugout.
This sounds pretty normal at this point. On the way back to the dugout, the Dodgers' first baseman, Jamie Loney, called out to Mattingly. Mattingly stopped and walked toward first base stepping on the mound again and had a quick conversation with his player. The San Francisco manager, Bruce Bochy, protested calling this a double trip to the mound. The umpire, Tim Kurkjian, called rule 8.06 of MLB rule book.
Here is the rule:
A Dodgers relief pitcher, struggling and about to be sent back the minors George Sherrill, was immediately brought in to save the game. He was given his obligatory 8 warm up pitches before the game would resume. Sherrill gives up a 2 run double and the Dodgers lose.
The problem is not so much the obscurity of the rule is that the umpire and the Dodger's manager didn't know enough about the rule that they didn't catch that Broxton should have been able to (even forced to) finish pitching to the batter (Andres Torres) that he had already started pitching to. The spirit of the rule was to prevent managers from stalling giving their bullpen more time to warm up. If Broxton finished to this one batter, not only might he have gotten the batter out but Sherrill might have had time to warm up properly. Not only is a bad year for umpiring, but Mattingly might want to forget trying to get a job as a manager any time soon. He should have known the rule. It is clear that the SF manager, Bochy, knew it better than both of them.
This sounds pretty normal at this point. On the way back to the dugout, the Dodgers' first baseman, Jamie Loney, called out to Mattingly. Mattingly stopped and walked toward first base stepping on the mound again and had a quick conversation with his player. The San Francisco manager, Bruce Bochy, protested calling this a double trip to the mound. The umpire, Tim Kurkjian, called rule 8.06 of MLB rule book.
Here is the rule:
In a case where a manager has made his first trip to the mound and then returns the second time to the mound in the same inning with the same pitcher in the game and the same batter at bat, after being warned by the umpire that he cannot return to the mound, the manager shall be removed from the game and the pitcher required to pitch to the batter until he is retired or gets on base. After the batter is retired, or becomes a base runner, then this pitcher must be removed from the game. The manager should be notified that his pitcher will be removed from the game after he pitches to one hitter, so he can have a substitute pitcher warmed up.
A Dodgers relief pitcher, struggling and about to be sent back the minors George Sherrill, was immediately brought in to save the game. He was given his obligatory 8 warm up pitches before the game would resume. Sherrill gives up a 2 run double and the Dodgers lose.
The problem is not so much the obscurity of the rule is that the umpire and the Dodger's manager didn't know enough about the rule that they didn't catch that Broxton should have been able to (even forced to) finish pitching to the batter (Andres Torres) that he had already started pitching to. The spirit of the rule was to prevent managers from stalling giving their bullpen more time to warm up. If Broxton finished to this one batter, not only might he have gotten the batter out but Sherrill might have had time to warm up properly. Not only is a bad year for umpiring, but Mattingly might want to forget trying to get a job as a manager any time soon. He should have known the rule. It is clear that the SF manager, Bochy, knew it better than both of them.
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Jefferson Bible
I love hearing stories about the American founding fathers. They are some of the most interesting people in history. I can't imagine any of them existing in our current political environment. Most of them would be considered eccentrics, on the fringe of political life, possible not in political life at all. The story I heard today of the Jefferson Bible is a perfect example.
Like Washington and Franklin, Jefferson was a deist. He basically believed that God created the universe but did nothing in the way of intervening with humanity. He respected the teachings of Jesus but only saw him as a prophet and a philosopher but not divine. He didn't believe in the trinity. He believed much of supernatural events in the Bible were added to attract the pagans to Christianity. So he attempted to rewrite the Bible from a deist point of view. He took a razor to his copy of the King James Bible and cut out all the supernatural events in the New Testament. He also put all the events chronological order. He begins with the birth of Jesus (hold the angels) in Luke 2 and Luke 3, then follows with Mark 1 and Matthew 3 etc. No miracles. No son of God.
Can you imagine a modern US politician doing anything like? His/her career would be over the moment they took the razor blade to the book. It wasn't published until after his death, but it was no secret what he was doing during his lifetime.
Like Washington and Franklin, Jefferson was a deist. He basically believed that God created the universe but did nothing in the way of intervening with humanity. He respected the teachings of Jesus but only saw him as a prophet and a philosopher but not divine. He didn't believe in the trinity. He believed much of supernatural events in the Bible were added to attract the pagans to Christianity. So he attempted to rewrite the Bible from a deist point of view. He took a razor to his copy of the King James Bible and cut out all the supernatural events in the New Testament. He also put all the events chronological order. He begins with the birth of Jesus (hold the angels) in Luke 2 and Luke 3, then follows with Mark 1 and Matthew 3 etc. No miracles. No son of God.
Can you imagine a modern US politician doing anything like? His/her career would be over the moment they took the razor blade to the book. It wasn't published until after his death, but it was no secret what he was doing during his lifetime.
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