11.30.2007

Friday Frivolous Findings

An unexciting post I must admit...long week, busy weekend ahead so I will keep it short.


One of my favorite authors wrote a blog at the NY Times...where was I?


What happen to Ain't It Cool News?  It used to be a great movie source now it just seems tired and sold out.


This is a great wacky art site...sometimes a bit distressing but mostly fun!


I want to stay here someday


It's an Academy thing...


The best book store in the world...a place you could seriously spend the entire day

11.29.2007

Lemony Snicket - The Wide Window

Book 3 in the wild ride that is Lemony Snicket. Why I decided to read these is beyond me but the series looked interesting if not kind of kooky. I needed something kind of goofy to keep me sane while I travel. Of the first three I thought this one was the creepiest (leeches anyone?) and meanest (pushing Aunt off the boat to her death!). All in all you have to feel for Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. Three books in and now I will have to read until the finale just to see what happens!

11.28.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Candlelight

Flickering shadows
Flame Dancing to its rhythm
Mesmerizing light

11.27.2007

William Gibson - Spook Country

Book 2 in what I will refer to has the "Blue Ant Crawl" trilogy (although Book 3 has yet to surface and Gibson is 59, I'm thinking there will be a third). This book like the previous book, Pattern Recognition, is some of his best work since Neuromancer (the in between trilogy never worked for me). I actually find it hard to believe that Pattern Recognition was written in 2003! Four years later Gibson is back at it with a new set of characters and one being prodded by Mr Bigend (recurring character). This book reads like a SF Ludlum spy thriller although it isn't as intense or dense as you'd find in a Ludlum. The intertwindness of the plot and the characters are well defined and the neat tidy ending makes for a well written tale. I have found that you don't really read Gibson so much for the story but for the concepts, the metaphors, and the underlying hipness. Reading the book makes everything he says "cool". I finish his novel and a feel a bit more attuned to the future, a little hipper, and maybe a bit more like I just came down from a drug induced high. Good quotes:

"Cities, in Milgrim's experience, had a way of revealing themselves in the faces of their inhabitants, and particularly on their way to work in the morning. There was a sort of basic fuckedness index to be read, then, in faces that hadn't yet encountered the reality of whatever they were on their way to do." - page 260

"...daytime photograph of the New York skyline, complete with the black towers of the World Trade Center. These were so intensely peculiar-looking, in retrospect, so monolithically sci-fi blank, unreal, that they now seemed to Milgrim to have been Photoshopped into ever image he encountered them in." - page 97

Magazine Updates

The New Yorker - 11/5/07

"One of the most frequently discussed difficulties is that of copyright. A conservative reckoning is 32 million (books), Google believes that there could be as many as a hundred million. It is estimated that between five and ten percent of known books are currently in print, and twenty percent-those produced between the beginning of print, in the 15th century, and 1923-are out of copyright. The rest, perhaps 75 percent of all books ever printed, are "orphans," possibly still covered by copyright protections but out of print and pretty much out of mind."



Rolling Stone - 11/15/07


Bill Maher, "People say to me, "Why are you so cynical?" And I say, "I wouldn't be so cynical if you weren't so fucking stupid."

Jon Stewart, "There's no way to fool-proof the world. You cannot out-engineer crazy."

William Gibson, "In a world of superubiquitous computing, you're not gonna know when you're on or when you're off. You're always going to be on, in some sort of blended-reality state."


Lisa Randall, "For one thing, science is difficult. Things like string theory and climate change are complex: People need a little more patience with uncertainty. We live in the era of the sound bite, and, on the whole, science doesn't lend itself to sound bites." and


and

"People not thinking."

11.26.2007

Rox Talk

"Finishing second is only bad in a gunfight." - Clint Hurdle

Well good thing the Roxs weren't in a gunfight as we finished as bridesmaids in the manager of the year, rookie of the year, and MVP awards. Hardware is nice but my guess is that the three involved (Hurdle, Tulo, and Holliday) wouldn't trade their end of season wild ride for any of these awards as the winners (Melvin, Braun, and Rollins) all got sent home as we beat two of them in the NL playoffs! Bottom line is these individual awards really shouldn't mean all that much if the individuals care more for what the team does. Plus Tulo shouldn't be all that bummed, his first baseman lost out to a Japanese Pitcher who isn't even in the bigs anymore (should Japanese players really be considered rookies?).

Hot Stove Anyone?

Rockies re-signed catcher Yorvit Torrealba to 2-year deal and also appeared to resign Matt Herges to a 1-year deal. reports seem to indicate that Kaz Matsui will either sign with the Cubs or Astros. Roxs will need to decide to slot a home-grown talent into 2B (Carroll, Barmes, Stewart, or Quintinilla) or find someone serviceable. None of these four really deserve to be everyday starters (Stewart is a corner guy) and have each had the opportunity. My guess is that Spring Training something will come out in the wash. Looks like Hawkins is probably going away as well. No big loss...decent playoff run, but falls into that dime a dozen relief pitcher. I truly believe that all you really need is a decent closer and then just a couple of hot arms throughout the season. You can't really predict how a closer will do from season to season. Just too random. Finally the Roxs will need another starting arm or two. If last season was any indication it is few and far between that the 5 guys you leave Spring Training are still pitching in October!

11.23.2007

College Football

A satisfactory first year for Calhoun as he restored some pride to the AF football team. A great 9-3 record with the only real disappointment being a loss to Navy and the possible return of the Commanders and Chiefs trophy. Of AF's 3 losses, two were very winnable and the only game they had real no shot at was the BYU game. A 11-1 record was certainly there but 9-3 is good and one win better than I predicted. A second place conference finish and a bowl berth to the Armed Forces Bowl on 12/31 has capped off a great season.
Stats

Points Scored: 353
Points Allowed: 232

Offensive: 41 TDs 418.9 Yards/Game 120.4 Pass Yards/Game 298.5 Rush Yards/Game
Defense: 26 TDs 357.2 Yards/Game 226.2 Pass Yards/Game 131.0 Rush Yards/Game

Rushing: 3582 Total Yards
Passing: 1445 Total Yards
KO/PR: 959 Total Yards

AF Heisman Trophy Candidate: Chad Hall
Rushing: 1415 Total Yards (led team)
Receptions: 488 Total Yards (led team)
Kick Offs: 425 Total Yards (led team)
Punt Returns: 176 Total Yards (led team)
15 TDs

For those math wizards out there Chad accounted for 41.8% of AF offense for the year! Yikes!

11.22.2007

This Week in Comics

New X-men 44
Chapter 4 in the Messiah Complex.  Okay so I figured out what is bugging me about the New X-men.  The art has been so cartoonish that I can't really differentiate between characters. Difficult to get on board if the characters don't carry over.  Of course there is like 12 "new" x-men.  Anyway the cover of this made me realize that I do like these characters but the way they have been drawn as made it difficult to follow.  Got the Days of Future Past going again.  And of course the age old story of young ones flaunting their elders to make up for past mistakes...




Captain America 32
Story keeps getting better...you'd think after Cap got shot things would go down hill but Brubaker keeps things moving.  Bucky (can't say Winter Soldier, sounds goofy).  So it looks like Sharon is pregnant with Caps kid, she is still fighting with herself and sort of helps out Bucky.  And to top it off Bucky gets to meet his nemesis next issue...Iron Man.







Powers 27
Bendis's best work keeps moving forward.  Have to admit I miss the days of Deena and Pilgram doing cop work...not for sure if this whole gaining power thing is really working out for the two of them.  I miss the early work but at least the characters are growing and I guess it would have sucked if it had done a "Moonlighting" thing.  Really to be honest the one reason I still read this is for the letters page.  His letter winner got to answer this month's mail and her response below made me laugh, "Superman would still be superman if hadn't landed in Kansas.  Unless he landed in Mexico.  Then he would be Fabulosohombre."



Umbrella Academy 3
Good wacky fun but wish the story was a bit less chaotic. Hardly know the characters and the story just seems to be shotgunning all over the place. Difficult to follow, might have to wait until all six issues are done and go back and read it again.  The characters are fascinating but the dynamic is tough to read as you don't really know what they do.

11.21.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Twinkle

The night sky beckons
They shimmer and wink at me
Old friends say hello

11.20.2007

Ebook Readers

With the announcement of Amazon's Kindle, the electronic book debate begins again. I am somewhat torn because the ideal of a book reader that can hold thousands of books is appealing but on the other hand I like how a book feels and I like to look at my book marker and track my progress. Can you really take an ebook anywhere? What about the beach?
Anyway the Kindle to me is the 2.5 generation ebook reader. The 1st generation is pictured to the left and was the Rocket Ebook. This came out in the early 90s and proved to be noteworthy. The fact the the company gave up and sold its assets to a third party clearly indicates it was not ready for the limelight. Next up is the Sony EReader, which came out a couple of years ago. It is already in its 2nd edition. Finally as mentioned, the Kindle is the latest and greatest. I call it Gen2.5 because there really isn't anything different from the Sony product but it does have the always "online" attribute which clearly is a step above other ebooks. Not having to have a computer is good thinking, nickel and diming you and not allowing pdfs? Well that is just bad product development. Judging on how quickly Amazon "supposedly" sold these indicates that others out there thought it worth their $400! So what to think? The ebook has been out and about for about 15 years. There is clearly a niche market out there because you can certainly obtain ebooks at all the major online book retailers and you can get these as pdfs, microsoft reader, and some other standards. The single biggest drawback to all these methods? Yup, the digital age ball and chain which is Digital Rights Management (DRM).
Okay I understand that alot of money is laid out to obtain a publishing right, or an author, or even a movie and/or band and that these corporations don't want freeloaders but why all the sudden is "digital" become the second coming of Satan? Last time I checked VCRs could record (TV and DVDs!), double cassette decks could make perfect copies (of cassettes, CDs, or vinyl no less!), and books could be purchased then dumped at a used book store or even borrowed from a library. Why did the issue change? Did Napster just make too much news? Honestly everyone with just a tad bit of knowledge has borrowed stuff and not paid for something. It is not like an author is getting any money when I walk out of a used book store. Why aren't these stores being sued and closed down? So back to the ebook...assuming you buy a book in some of the many formats you essentially never own it. If the reader or software or hardware go away suddenly you are stuck with books you purchased but never truly own. Why isn't that you can't just resell the book once finished on an online used book store? Why are you still paying almost full price for a book of electrons? Last time I checked electrons don't cost anything and as anyone thought to ask an electron if they want to be part of this...will they go on strike like Hollywood writer's? My point is until the DRM issue is solved no ebook reader will ever take off. It will always be a niche for the geek reader. I totally support authors and there desire to get paid but honestly the paper version will always trump an electronic version. If you have written something worthy (or written a good album or made a good movie) honest people (the majority I believe) will be willing to paid for it.

11.19.2007

Rox Talk

Here, here, and here were my preseason picks or thoughts. Basically I used the stat predictions that were theorized by Chone, Marcel, and ZiPS and placed the numbers into the spreadsheet and came up with 89, 81, and 86 wins with an average of 85. I predicted 83. The Roxs surprised us all with a whopping 90 wins (heck Vegas only gave them 74.5!). Looking at the opening day roster we certainly had some dead weight that we shed early in the season to include Brian Lawrence, John Mabry, and Steve Finley. We tossed Martin later in the season and Ramirez was hurt. Also hurt through the season was 3/5s of the starting pitching rotation with Lopez, Cook, and Hirsh all going down mid-season. So ultimately a pretty stable offensive team with some shaky pitching (can you say Denny Bautista 2 inning outting in Philly in Game 145?). We filled in with the likes of Spilborghs, Sullivan, Herges, Speier, Jimenez, and Morales. At the mid-way point, I had updated the predictions based on play time of the new players and had the team at 83 but the Roxs mid-season numbers projected them at 76 wins! Yikes what a great finish. See the historical winning percentage and Pythagoras winning percentage versus 2007 numbers:

So that was what was projected...how did it all finish up? Offensively the average from the predictions indicated 5,684 at bats and 847 runs (from the 8 position players and six bench players). Overall the Roxs had 5,691 at bats and 860 runs (or run every 6.6 at bats, interesting stat?). Below is a table indicating in purple the average runs from the prediction with a one standard deviation error bar shown. The white blocks serve as the actual runs scored. The 8 starters accounted for 72% of the at bats and 78% of the runs scored. Adding in the six bench players you then account for 89% of the at bats and 94% of the runs.

So what does this say? Well offensively we had Torrealba, Matsui, Tulo, Holiday, and Hawpe have outstanding above predicted years and Helton, Atkins, and Taveras below predicted. Hopefully next year the offensive can keep pace.

Pitching is a bit more difficult to predict as injuries can effect numbers more. Thirteen pitchers had starts for the 2007 season. Francis led the team with 34, then Fogg at 29, Cook at 25, Hirsh at 19, and Jimenez at 15. These 5 accounted for 75% of the starts and 51% of the innings and 53% of the runs. So from a prediction standpoint it is much easier to get the offensive down. Although I think it is the pitching that really defines your won/loss record (can this be proven in some way? Have to think about it...a later post). Pitching was not a strong point this year for the Roxs and with any sort of stability next year with Morales and Jimenez both having a partial year under their belts and the further stability of Francis and Cook I think pitching is key for next year's team.

Next year will be tough one for the Roxs. How will they handle being the NL Champs? Can they build on this year or will they buckle? Hard to say but I'll refine the numbers again next year and see if we can get back to the playoffs.




11.17.2007

Connie Willis - Bellwether

Reading the Denver Post couple of Sundays ago and came across an article of Connie Willis. Never really entered my radar screen as an author I'd might like but then started to read the article and discovered she lives and writes in Greeley and has won 9 Hugo and 6 Nebula awards! Yikes being a fan of scifi why haven't I read her? Well she writes more in the Ursula LeGuin mode of scifi writing which I generally don't think of as scifi. Little more character and situation type writing. Personally I am a fan of the outer space type sci-fi like Niven. Anyhoo I read her novel Bellwether as it was one of the few books of hers I could find and one that seemed accessible. In this case about a scientist who studies fads (how is it that I find these books...this was simply an outcrop of the non-fiction Tipping Point that I read). This book also tries to wrap the scientific buzz word for 1996 into the story...i.e. chaos theory. Decent book some interesting points on scientists who made great discoveries in odd ways and interesting chapter headings listing fads that have come and gone. Henri Poincare first proposed the idea that chaos and significant scientific breakthroughs were connected. Chaos theorists say that Poincare went through a chaotic period that created a far-from-equilibrium situation in which unconnected ideas shifted into new and startling conjunctions with each other and tiny events created enormous consequences. Poincare believed creative thought was a process of inducing inner chaos to achieve a higher level of equilibrium. Is there a bellwether in chaotic systems? That triggers an iteration or serves as a catalyst to bring forth order? Chaotic systems create feedback loops that tend to randomize the elements of the system and allow for items to sync with different items which can sometimes bring a new level of order rather than more randomness. Anyway good read but the term "bellwether" was new to me. In this book it describes a sheep in a flock that unknowingly is the one sheep that others tend to follow. Obviously for our heroine in this book who searches for trends she is always looking for that trendsetter or bellwether. 

Anyway looking up the term bellwether at wikipedia. And determined an interesting fact:

"In the United States, Missouri, often referred to as the Missouri bellwether, is considered such a region, having produced, beginning in 1904, the same outcome as the national results in every presidential election save that of 1956. The American bellwether states are:

Missouri - 1 miss (1956) from 1904 on, perfect since 1960
Nevada - 1 miss (1976) from 1912 on, perfect since 1980
Tennessee - 1 miss (1960) from 1928 on, perfect since 1964
Ohio - 2 misses (1944, 1960) from 1896 on, perfect since 1964
Delaware - 2 misses (2000, 2004) from 1952 on, perfect from 1952 to 1996

11.16.2007

College Football

A big 41 - 24 win against Notre Dame. Not that Notre Dame is any good and with back to back losses to service academies, I am guessing life isn't too grand in South Bend these days. Chad Hall continues to play well and is getting some Heisman talk. Our final regular game is this weekend with San Diego St coming to town. We first played San Diego University (I assume this was San Diego St) in 1956. We hold a 17 - 9 lead in the series. We used to dominate them but lately they have had our number. At 8 - 3, AF can put a nice end to a good season...a loss makes my prediction good but I will be greedy and go for one more! Plus I tend to think we play San Diego better here in Colorado and I predict this to be an easy one. AF wins 35 - 14.

2000 45 - 24 W
2001 45 - 21 W
2002 34 - 38 L
2003 3 - 24 L
2004 31 - 37 L
2005 41 - 29 W
2006 12 - 19 L
2007 ???

Games of interest this weekend...Ohio St and Michigan for the Rose Bowl. Kentucky vs Georgia might be interesting.

Last's weeks games of interest, Illinois at Ohio St., yup State looked past the Fighting Illini. Florida at South Carolina...will the 'Cocks and Spurrier be able to find some magic in Columbia? A resounding no! And the under the radar game for the week? USC at California. Go USC

11.15.2007

This Week in Comics Part II

Astonishing X-men 23
Whedon astonishing run continues. Good storytelling is such a rarity and with this book each month (or two) the story continues to be awesome. Classic Emma line, "I am, by definition, my own best friend." And guess who ain't dead...yup Cyke is still kicking and has his powers to boot! Kaboom! Or has Wolverine said, "Damn, Summers." Obviously Cyke is my favorite and Whedon just nails him...perfect characterization...and why Cyclops is by far the definition of an X-men. You might have flash, you might be unbreakable, have armor, have claws but when it comes down to a fight, I'd take Scott watching my back.


P.S. My fanboy rift for the year!

X-men Messiah Complex Chapter 1

Well this looks to a cross-over worthy of discussing. The set up is compelling, the first new mutant born since House of M (ughhhh finally 2 years later we are dealing with the ramifications of Bendis's little atom bomb). A race to get to it first. Art looks good...hopefully this will shake up the books and make them readable.





Uncanny X-men 492
Chapter 2 in the Messiah Complex. Is it any wonder why comics have such a hard time getting into books or at least coming back into them. I appreciate the history and all but boy who are the acolytes, what is up with Sinister and the Marauders, and where did Predator X come from? Or is Predator X just a blatant attempt to create a foe for Wolverine to do some good ole beat down on in future issues. And why is Prof X acting so funny? Will he go mental again and how will Magneto play in all this? Anyway good issue and it appears all the X-books are on board so each week is presenting a running chapter. Hopefully this will lead to something..

X-factor 25
Chapter 3 leads off with the worst x-team. If any team has no direction this is it. I tried to get on board but nothing is worthwhile. Once the original X-team moved back to being mainstream there was no reason to continue this book yet it has! Can't editors just say no? Anyway it looks like X-Force is coming back so maybe the Factor will be done. Anyway the multiple man goes into the future and his Layla goes with. What does "46664" on her shirt mean? Anyway these first couple of issues are just the prologue setting the tale. I'm thinking the New X-men will be making a splash this go around.

11.14.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Feast

Homeless, cold hungry
Hot food, warm plate and smile
A bountiful thanks

11.13.2007

This Week in Comics Part I

The New Avengers 115
Okay so Bendis finally got around to explaining the whole "carnage/venom" happening and it seemed to me that it was just a potential plotline that might have been interesting but ultimately didn't get Bendis' attention and so it was cast off. Which kind of made things a bit lame. Also I am tired of Yu drawing this book...it looks half done, half scribbled. His women are awful. It does not complement Bendis' style at all. Oh and the Mighty Avengers just let the criminal Avengers go? Ughhh be consistent. Have to admit there was one good line between Luke and Jessica "Logan's having words with her.," "Really?," "Oh, Really.," "Words or Claws?"



Buffy The Vampire Slayer 8
Kind of a filler issue for Vaughan...not quite the bang of his first two issues. All the same a good plot continuation. Somewhat surprised the Buffy confrontation occurred so early...thought it might be drawn out. Also this is Vaughan's next to last issue so it looks like his 4 run series was a "Faith" aside. Good character developments. Will miss Brian's writing.







Ultimate Spider-Man 115

Bendis, bendis, everywhere. Okay can someone please change Kitty's uniform? Ughhh what the heck is she wearing and how in the heck can she see? Also the outfit reminded me of another character's spandex...I thought it was Darkhawk but no it was the cover to X-factor 35. The Orphan Maker...yikes that goes way back. And then is she trying to bring back the ghost of Psylocke with that sash? Kitty doesn't have a costume! There is a reason for that! Anyway good issue, good Parker cracks and great full page spread about midway throught the issue of Spidey doing his thing. Good ending too, one I think every comic book issue should have. Fantastic cliffhanger wanting more!

11.12.2007

Rox Talk

Baseball Reference is a fantastic site. It is a one stop shop for baseball statistics. I happened to be looking up some past Rockies information and reviewing the names was like going through a box of pictures found in your attic. For a team that isn’t too old a lot of people have worn the purple over the years. Reviewing the names reminded me of another website, Alex Reisner, who put together a fantastic history of the NY Yankees. I thought it would be fun to put together a Roxs history. Attached is what I came with. Obviously it doesn’t have every player but I tried to put together the ones that played a significant amount of time at each position. This is a draft but I am pleased with the way it came out. Hope it brings back some memories.


11.09.2007

College Football

Fantastic 30 - 10 win against Army. Army isn't any good but we won and went to 7 - 3. Chad Hall had a terrific game with 275 yards beating his previous best of 256 yards. Now we go into Notre Dame and are favorites by 3 points! I believe this to be the kiss of death. Good golly when was the last time any service academy went into South Bend as a favorite. Two more wins and a very respectable season for the Force. Air Force trails the series against Notre Dame 5-22. We first played Notre Dame back in 1964. We did have a 4 game winning streak in 1982. What can you say, Navy just won for the first time in 43 tries. I predict this isn't going to be easy, I predict an AF loss 21 - 20.

2000 31 - 34 L
2002 14 - 21 L
2006 17 - 39 L
2007 ???

Games of interest this weekend...Illinois at Ohio St. Tough one at the Horseshoe, will State look past to Michigan? Florida at South Carolina...will the 'Cocks and Spurrier be able to find some magic in Columbia? And the under the radar game for the week? USC at California.

11.08.2007

Harpoon IPA

The origins of India Pale Ale (IPA) dictate its flavor profile. As a result of needing a beer that could withstand the trip from England to India via unrefrigerated sailing vessels, the English brewers took advantage of two natural preservatives: alcohol and hops. So there is the official designation of this fine type of beer. IPA is a personal favorite...I like the strong hoppy taste and finish. Found this beer about 2 years ago and loved it. Can't find it here in Colorado but did recently enjoy it while traveling in the South last week. Their UFO (Unfiltered wheat Offering) was a good taste too.

11.07.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Candy Corn

White - yummy nibble
Orange - big time sugar goodness
Yellow - best for last

11.06.2007

Baseball Weekly

Just some random stuff I came across...from Dave Smith of Retrosheet.org (I believe) who was asked to determine winning percentage (of the Dodgers specifically to celebrate 50 years moving to LA) from 1958 - 2007:


NL records 1958-2007

Team W L T Pct
LAN 4252 3692 6 .535
CIN 4152 3783 9 .523
SLN 4146 3783 12 .523
ATL 4125 3802 11 .520
SFN 4117 3826 6 .518
ARI 818 802 0 .505
PIT 3984 3942 10 .503
HOU 3652 3672 5 .499
PHI 3884 4052 7 .489
WAS 2980 3204 4 .482
NYN 3496 3816 8 .478
CHN 3768 4159 17 .475
FLO 1112 1251 0 .471
COL 1114 1254 0 .470
SDN 2870 3322 2 .464
MIL 719 899 1 .444

AL Records

NYA 4427 3502 15 .558
BOS 4178 3761 3 .526
BAL 4163 3760 8 .525
CHA 4043 3888 15 .510
OAK 3979 3963 6 .501
MIN 3937 3998 10 .496
TOR 2428 2469 3 .496
DET 3933 4009 7 .495
ANA 3690 3794 3 .493
CLE 3889 4035 6 .491
KCA 3003 3176 2 .486
MIL 2200 2367 3 .482
SEA 2315 2582 2 .473
TEX 3491 3975 7 .468
TBA 645 972 0 .399


http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/11/digital_archive_a_step_back_in.html

Today the Guardian and Observer take a giant step backwards as their newly digitized archive - which will contain every article from their first issues in 1821 and 1791 until 1975 - is opened for public search.
And in the lighter side of things...from Onion Sports
"BOSTON—Although Colorado players, managers, and coaches said they would not issue a formal complaint about the playing conditions in Boston, the Rockies have gone on record as saying the "thick, soupy sea-level air" in the city made it unusually difficult for them to play baseball. "Seriously, I can barely push my bat through this stuff," said Rockies slugger Matt Holliday, who collapsed and had to be administered less oxygen after Wednesday's practice. "I was hitting them as hard as I could out there and the ball was still returning to the earth. We might as well be playing in quicksand." Other Rockies players were equally vocal in their criticism of the hostile atmosphere in Boston, with Kaz Matsui claiming he found it hard to slide through the viscous air and Willie Taveras aggravating a recent thigh injury while attempting to stand up quickly."

11.05.2007

Charlotte, NC

In Charlotte for a conference and just thought it was an interesting city. Having grown up in Atlanta, I imagine Charlotte to be a distant cousin. What is also interesting is that Charlotte really never enters the Civil War picture so the city itself is pretty young (i.e. wasn't burned down by Sherman). Even though it is young it is interesting how quickly it has grown and the fact that it has a NBA and NFL franchise. Other than that, pretty city, a little too new, not too much old style.

11.04.2007

Comet Holmes

Great return for a comet. An amazing brightness change going from 12 to 3 magnitude within hours! Too bad there isn't a great tail. Go out and be a part of astronomy!

11.02.2007

College Football

Tough loss at New Mexico, 31-34. Hopefully we can win one against the other service academy. Not a big fan of losing both to Army and Navy during one season especially for someone who never lost to Army or Navy while at the Academy. Air Force leads the series 28-12-1 (that is .663 winning percentage against our service academy teams 53-26-1). We first played the Army back in 1959 (while Army was still good and started with an auspicious tie 13-12). Since 1989 we are 16-2!. I predict a close one at home tomorrow with an AF victory - 28 - 14.
2000 41 - 27 W
2001 34 - 24 W
2002 49 - 30 W
2003 31 - 3 W
2004 31 - 22 W
2005 24 - 27 L
2006 43 - 7 W
2007 ???

11.01.2007

Gregory Maguire - Wicked

Parallel Literature...a new term for me...is how this book is described. Telling an adult tale using the famous Oz characters from Baum's classic child's novel, Maguire leads us to a new "revisionist" tale of the infamous green witch. Obviously I am reading this having seen the play. Guess I am sucker for cross marketing! First off before the book, I have obviously seen the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz, and of course then I saw the play. So before reading a single page you sort of have a feeling like you know the characters. And basically because of this you get incredibly frustrated reading the novel. Which I guess is good but it really is tough. Fascinating how the author reveals a much deeper and politically intriguing world of Oz (now of course I will have to read the Oz books to see if such a back story is warranted). The book is a biography of sorts of the Green Witch with the story essentially trying to define what "evil" is and whether the Green Witch deserves such a title. The play was more simple in that it simply showed an alternative tale and makes the viewer wonder if Wicked Witch of the West was simply misunderstood and that the real evil was Glinda the Good Witch. The book isn't as cut and dry. I also found the writing to be very blunt. Not for sure if it was a male author writing a female character or perhaps how "male" the Green Witch is written. One does feel for the Wicked Witch but throughout the novel I found I still saw an "evil" streak in her. Her sharp biting teeth has a baby, her joining a terrorist organization, her dealings with her lover, her absolute non-motherly way with her son, and finally her triumph of murdering her old school supervisor. But then in the end she starts to questions "evil" and how evil surrounds here yet she does not seem to see her lack of passion. An interesting quote about religion and the need for evil to make religion work. Overall a good book, lots of big themes, almost felt like I was back in school because the book made me think.