Archive for December, 2007
« Previous EntriesWow, what happened? Another year slipped by so quickly — Happy New Year!
No getting around it, time goes by faster when you get older. I’ve heard about some psychological studies that have been done on our perceptions of time and the passage of time. It makes sense, what I’ve read — the older you get, the quicker time seems to pass because a month, for example, represents a much smaller percentage of the time which has passed when you are, for example again, 60 years old than if you’re 13 years old.
Make sense to you? Sort of makes sense to me. Personally, I think the clock just ticks faster today than it did when I was 13, or 3, or 2. I swear that must be it. I know one thing, I’m not getting any older. My wife won’t allow me to get older. St. Shirley — I call her St. Shirl for short — is two years older than me. So, of course, she forbids me to feel “old,” because she doesn’t yet feel “old” and won’t have such stuff happening in our family.
All that babbling aside, let me wish those of you out there who hang around with me and my truly wonderful wife St. Shirl, a very Happy New Year for the soon-to-be-here-or-already-here 2008. May it be the best year of your life so far!
Technorati Tags: time perception, old year, new year, aging, Happy New Year, just a guy who reads the papers
Hey, who wouldn’t love this year’s Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow?
I was just reading a story about the sort of “hero worship” aura surrounding Tim Tebow, the University of Florida quarterback who won the 2007 Heisman Trophy. (If you’re not a football fan or not a college football fan, you’ll have to indulge me. And why in the heck AREN’T you a fan??)
Who couldn’t love the kid? He comes from a really nice, happy family, who love him deeply. He was raised to be a humble, hard-working, Christian kid in the best senses of the word “Christian.” He was homeschooled, but apparently became a superhero high school football star thanks to a Florida law that allowed him to play public school football while being homeschooled.
Nice kid. Nice family. Great college football player, who may someday have a highly lucrative career in the NFL. What’s not to like?
I’ve tried my best to be cynical about the kid — as I am cynical about most things sports related — but I like him and wish him and his family only the best.
Technorati Tags: college football, Heisman trophy winner, Tim Tebow, University of Florida, just a guy who reads the papers
Odd zoo story — director admits tiger’s enclosure fence was too low
I suppose I must applaud the honest of San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo — he told a press conference yesterday that the wall surrounding the tiger’s enclosure was lower than “industry recommendations.”
It’s not only disturbing news to hear, it could open the zoo, I suppose, to some serious civil action, i.e., lawsuits, from the families of those killed an injured in the tiger attack.
But Mollinedo’s admission certainly is refreshing to hear. It would have been easy to drag out the investigation for months with no admission of responsibility or failure of any kind. I wish him and his zoo well. I personally have concerns about the usefulness or necessity of zoos these days, but I spent many good times going to zoos in past years and taking my kids to see the bears/elephants/gorillas they would not otherwise see.
I hope the whole tragic story ends as well as possible, given the teenager’s death. Perhaps the San Francisco Zoo and others around the world will take even more care about access to wild and dangerous animals.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: tiger enclosure, zoo death, San Francisco Zoo, just a guy who reads the papers
Bhutto’s assassination leaves Pakistan in turmoil, sparking widespread riots
It’s hard to tell when all the news will come to light regarding the details of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday. Certainly, from the standpoint of someone who has only secondary access to the horrible events, I (most of us, really) am in no position to analyze what happened, who was involved, what the future holds, etc. If you’ve turned on a television today, you’ll know that many other people more qualified than most of us have been doing that all day.
It is crucial, I’m sure, for someone to step in immediately to bring stability to the country in the midst of the chaos surrounding this woman’s tragic death. In case you’ve missed thinking about this so far today, let me be the first to point it out to you: We are talking about a country tossed between military dictatorship and terrorism which just happens to have nuclear weapons. Oh, and they have an ongoing warring relationship with their neighbors, India, who also have nuclear weapons.
Not to push the point, but this seems to me at least as volatile and dangerous as the U.S. v. U.S.S.R. face-offs of the old Cold War Days.
May the world work together at this frightening time to keep the insanity at bay.
Technorati Tags: Bhutto assassination, nuclear powers, Pakistan, India, terrorism, just a guy who reads the papers
Of zoos and tigers — we must remember that these are wild animals
Over the years, I’ve read all sorts of bizarre stories of people jumping into zoo pens/cages/whatever to be with the animals. Not long ago, I think I read of someone dropping into a pen with polar bears, or perhaps it was just black bears (JUST black bears??), or something.
In every case I’ve heard of, I don’t recall a happy ending for the people nutty enough to do such things. Almost always the person is injured, sometimes maimed.
Yesterday’s tiger incident in San Francisco was a bit different. The Siberian tiger somehow got out of it’s habitat, killed one teenager, and injured two others. Police are investigating how the tiger got out of the enclosed, protected habitat, into an area where it could attack anyone. That’s scary to me, the idea that someone would for any reason release a 350 tiger into a public area. But that’s another story.
My biggest concern is this: People who go regularly to zoos tend to forget that these are WILD animals, not pets. They may be conditioned to depending on people to get their food, but they also have innate, inbred instincts to thrive, survive, and behave as wild animals.
I won’t get into all the varied and valid arguments against the whole concept of zoos. I would just say this — pay attention and be sensible when you’re around wild animals. Don’t let yourself or those you love become victims of bizarre zoo horrors in any case.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: zoo death, tiger escapes at zoo, San Francisco zoo death, just a guy who reads the papers
‘Tis the season to be less than jolly about a lot of the day’s news
It doesn’t take long for holiday cheer to turn into sadness, does it? Looking around the Internet and watching TV news today, I’ve seen a litany of violence and horror following yesterday’s Christmas joy: an escaped tiger at a zoo in San Francisco killed someone, a terrible plane crash took the pilot and a father and his young teen daughter, and I just saw a story from Washington state regarding three generations of a family found dead in their rural home.
My wife and I were especially struck by the deaths in Carnation, Washington. When we were first married, many years ago, we lived in the “east lake” area near Seattle, i.e., those communities along and near the east side of Lake Washington. Carnation was probably 30 miles east of us, and my wife taught fourth graders in an elementary school the parents in this tragedy may well have gone to. We now live far away from the Seattle area, but we’re keeping an eye on Internet coverage, with the awful fear the people who were murdered could be names she recognizes.
Most days, the news is just sort of a “downer” experience due to mayhem and madness, but it almost is overwhelming to read such stuff the day after Christmas.
For what it’s worth, I make a motion that the national media folks be required to share only good news the day before and the day after Christmas. Couldn’t hurt, could it? Not that it’ll ever happen.
Ah, well, what do I know. I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: bad news, holiday tragedies, just a guy who reads the papers
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Technorati Tags: New York real estate brokers, New York City, real estate, just a guy who reads the papers
Rude behavior by religious, business leaders? Who could imagine such a thing?
Here’s a reader’s opinion from our local newspaper: He says business leaders and religious leaders are becoming more unresponsive and more rude to those trying to contact them.
There’s a shocker, isn’t it? No, not really. If you include basic “incivility” in your understanding of rudeness (and the man’s letter seems to do that), I think you’re talking about something far more widespread than religion, business, and/or our part of the country. America has become about as polarized as I could imagine. From religion, to business, to politics, to sports and entertainment, there is a lack of tolerance (bipartisanship, if you will) in every area of our culture. And when you lack tolerance or understanding of those with whom you disagree, you have little basis for kindness, civility, or courtesy.
In simpler terms: If people who disagree with you are seen on some level as “the enemy” or “the bad guys,” discourtesy and rude behavior become the norm for dealing with them.
So, what are we to do about it? I would suggest the letter writer I referred to above has the right idea for all of us, whether as individuals, business leaders, religious leaders, or in whatever role we find ourselves:
“It is bad manners, bad etiquette, and I hope and pray that these folks read this and glean something from it.”
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: incivility, rudeness, business leaders, religious leaders, just a guy who reads the papers
Smile, my friends, you may be on FBI’s version of ‘Candid Camera’
Am I giving away my age when I remind you of the old TV series, “Candid Camera”? If you aren’t old enough to remember the original, you may have seen reruns, perhaps?
The show involved someone caught up in an absolutely ridiculous situation by a host and a hidden camera crew. The fun involved watching how “normal” everyday people would react to ludicrous situations. Then at the end, the host would spring the setup on them with a line that usually went, “Smile, you’re on ‘Candid Camera.’” Something like that.
Now I read where the FBI is going to spend $1 billion on a new, high-tech master system of databases which will collect just about everything about us — fingerprints, photos, physical characteristics of every possible kind — all in a single system. This gigantic database of all physical traits (“biometric information”) would be better and bigger than anything used before.
Why, just reading about it makes me realize that finally, FINALLY, we’ll be able to solve all crime, catch all the terrorists, and peace, joy, and love will reign throughout the world.
Or, perhaps, all of us are at risk of losing every last vestige of privacy. Perhaps, as the article mentions, peoples’ worst fears will be realized and our “bodies will become de facto national identification cards.”
Oh, please. Next, we’ll need to worry about airport x-ray machines that show our nekked bodies in all their splendor. Uh, well. Hmmm …
Technorati Tags: FBI database, privacy fears, crime solvers, candid camera, just a guy who reads the papers
Oscar Peterson, greatest jazz pianist of all time, dies at age 82
If you’re a jazz piano fan, you may already have heard the sad news: Oscar Peterson died today at the age of 82.
I only regret that I never saw Peterson play in a live concert. I have probably more than 20 of his CDs, ranging from remastered versions of his older stuff from the 1950s to more recent live concerts in Paris from the 1990s. If you ever heard Peterson, especially if you ever got to watch him either live or on television, you know why I say he was the greatest of all jazz pianists. He dominated the keyboard. He made the keyboard come alive. He played so well and so majestically that it almost wasn’t human — you’d swear as you listened and watched him that the piano had disappeared and the music was coming straight from his soul, through his heart, into his hands and on into your innermost being. His artistry fills you with unspeakable joy that God has created such a thing as jazz piano music.
I swear, watching and listening to Oscar Peterson, that the man must have had at least eight fingers on each hand to totally control the keyboard as he did.
We who loved his music so will sorely miss Oscar Peterson. But, oh the joy, that he played among us and left such a majestic body of music behind!
Technorati Tags: Oscar Peterson, jazz piano, greatest jazz pianist, just a guy who reads the papers
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