Once upon a time, I was a regular cheerleader for the sport of Ultimate. Ultimate is a great sport - it's fun, and unique, and generally not populated by a bunch of testosterone-laden assclowns who value winning and belittling their opponents above all other things (although some might argue that I was the exception that proved that particular rule. Whatever.)
I've been involved in Ultimate at just about every level imaginable: player, coach, tournament director, administrator, the board of director of Grass Roots Ultimate, UPA Sectional Coordinator, Regional Coordinator, and chair of the College Eligibility Committee. I even once made up a position for myself, Media Coordinator at Nationals, and managed to pull it off for 2 years straight before someone found out that I wasn't, technically, qualified to do it.
When you tell people you play Ultimate, you get a wide variety of responses, ranging all the way from 'What?' to 'Huh?'. In all seriousness, of course, you do occasionally meet someone who knows what Ultimate is. Most people have never heard of it. The best responses, as always, come from people who know just enough to be dangerous without knowing quite enough to be actually knowledgable.
The response which frustrates most Ultimate players to no end always has to do with dogs somehow. Whether they think that Ultimate is actually a sport somehow involving dogs, or they hear it and say 'oh, I love playing frisbee in the park with my dog!' Making it worse is the fact that the one major media appearance of Ultimate I know of, the game between the Hippies and the Womynists 1994 movie PCU, actually includes the use of a dog as a receiver by the Hippies at one point during the game.
Anyhow, this is by way of introduction to say that my very good friend Tony Leonardo has written a new book entitled Ultimate: The Greatest Sport Ever Invented By Man. Tony is an absolutely wonderful writer, I used to troll rec.sport.disc all summer hoping for some insanely highbrow missive by him from some ridiculously podunk tournament the previous weekend. He also happens to be a really nice guy, although not really much of an Ultimate player, per se. But hey, neither was I, so who am I to judge?
You can order signed copies from the website linked above. They make great presents for those tall, handsome, retired-from-Ultimate bloggers in your life for whom you were searching for the perfect Christmas gift. Especially if you had them monographed 'To O.D., the greatest ever to watch the game.'
As I say, Tony's a really wonderful writer. I viewed a few of the pages that they took screenshots of, and I laughed my ass off. If you are a player or fan of Ultimate, and if you are reading this there's about a 50% chance that you are, you won't regret picking up a copy for yourself.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Gone But Not Forgotten
With AJ Feeley leading the Eagles to a rousing 3-point loss to the Patriots on Sunday night (preventing the cover by a cool 20 points), I don't really understand why there's a quarterback controversy in Philly anymore.
I love Donovan McNabb. I have for years. I've always felt that he was among the top 5 quarterbacks in the league, although his history of injury has really hurt the team the last few seasons. But, for better or worse, he has worn out his time in Philly. He was never perfectly suited to the offense that Andy Reid tried to shoehorn him into, but he usually found a way to make it work, however ugly it was. And, often, it sure was ugly.
But, for whatever reason, his stuff just isn't working anymore. Other than the 50-some points they hung on Detroit in Week 3, the offense has really been unconscionably bad.
I think D-Mac has a lot of gas left in the tank, and he's probably going to go to Chicago, displace Rex, and win a Super Bowl there. But, while I think he's still got game left, it's pretty clearly in the Eagles' best interest to part ways and start looking for the Next Big Thing.
So, take a moment, and raise a pint with me to the only guy who ever managed to get Rush Limbaugh fired from anything, for which, if nothing else, Donovan deserves our eternal gratitude.
I love Donovan McNabb. I have for years. I've always felt that he was among the top 5 quarterbacks in the league, although his history of injury has really hurt the team the last few seasons. But, for better or worse, he has worn out his time in Philly. He was never perfectly suited to the offense that Andy Reid tried to shoehorn him into, but he usually found a way to make it work, however ugly it was. And, often, it sure was ugly.
But, for whatever reason, his stuff just isn't working anymore. Other than the 50-some points they hung on Detroit in Week 3, the offense has really been unconscionably bad.
I think D-Mac has a lot of gas left in the tank, and he's probably going to go to Chicago, displace Rex, and win a Super Bowl there. But, while I think he's still got game left, it's pretty clearly in the Eagles' best interest to part ways and start looking for the Next Big Thing.
So, take a moment, and raise a pint with me to the only guy who ever managed to get Rush Limbaugh fired from anything, for which, if nothing else, Donovan deserves our eternal gratitude.
Karl Rove Makes Shit Up. Also, Sun Rises In East.
In news which will not really surprise anyone, Karl Rove managed to up the bar on the bullshit-o-meter by claiming that the Iraq War was such a poor venture because the Democrat-controlled Congress rushed headlong into war, ignoring the Bush Administration's prudent desire to wait, gather more allies into their coalition, and let the inspectors complete their job.
I don't really know what to say. I agree with the HuffPo article; trying to answer the specifics of these ridiculous charges just plays into Rove's silly game. I will only point out that Olberman had the best retort on his show last night, which is to show a link to a page from whitehouse.gov in September of 2002, stating that President Bush demands that the Congress act quickly to pass a bill on Iraq.
But really - I know Rove isn't working in government anymore, and as a private citizen is totally allowed to have his own opinions. But, to paraphrase Daniel Moynihan, while you are entitled to your own opinions, you're not entitled to your own history.
I don't really know what to say. I agree with the HuffPo article; trying to answer the specifics of these ridiculous charges just plays into Rove's silly game. I will only point out that Olberman had the best retort on his show last night, which is to show a link to a page from whitehouse.gov in September of 2002, stating that President Bush demands that the Congress act quickly to pass a bill on Iraq.
But really - I know Rove isn't working in government anymore, and as a private citizen is totally allowed to have his own opinions. But, to paraphrase Daniel Moynihan, while you are entitled to your own opinions, you're not entitled to your own history.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Whitewash!
Okay, one more thing before I head off to the Smithsonian.
I'm watching Sportscenter on my sister's absurdly large Sharp LCD HD TV, with her Fiber Optic HD cable broadcast of ESPN. Holy crap, what a picture.
Anyhow, the point is I see a highlight of Duke playing in the Maui Invitational. Is it just me, or does Duke have a disturbingly low melanin quotient? I mean, seriously - at one point, when the game was early and still vaguely close, they had 4 white dudes on the court.
It's cute and all, but not a ticket for winning a championship, assuming that it's still 2007 and not 1957.
I'm watching Sportscenter on my sister's absurdly large Sharp LCD HD TV, with her Fiber Optic HD cable broadcast of ESPN. Holy crap, what a picture.
Anyhow, the point is I see a highlight of Duke playing in the Maui Invitational. Is it just me, or does Duke have a disturbingly low melanin quotient? I mean, seriously - at one point, when the game was early and still vaguely close, they had 4 white dudes on the court.
It's cute and all, but not a ticket for winning a championship, assuming that it's still 2007 and not 1957.
They All Stink
I think the favorite quote I ever heard from a sports coach of mine came from Bud, who was my swim coach both when I was young and then again in high school. The fact that it came from Bud, and that it involves swearing, won't come as a surprise to anyone from my family, who undoubtedly remember him well.
The apocryphal story I remember hearing about him has to do with his first practice he ever coached at Skyline, the swim club I swam for as a kid. He showed up and ordered everyone into the pool. It was a May afternoon and both the weather and the pool were in the low-60's, which is pretty cool for a leisurely swim. Some of the kids, joking around, made arguments about imminent hypothermia, balked at getting in, etc.
Bud, who was not known for having a particularly jolly sense of humor, and who was also an undercover cop, reached inside his suit jacket and flipped it open, showing his sidearm in a shoulder holster. Apparently, everyone got the message and hopped in the pool briskly.
Anyhow, this is all as rambling introduction to Bud's quote, which was that 'excuses are like assholes. Everyone has one, and they all stink.'
So, no excuses for being such a bad poster the last couple of weeks. I'm travelling for the holiday right now, so time might be tough to come by, and I spent much of the last week working hard to get ahead a bit so that my absence didn't mess up our already-fucked schedule. I'm actually in DC, and will not be attempting to stalk Ezra or anything. How lame is that?
Anyhow, my resolution for post-Thanksgiving is to get back to daily posting, but for the moment, go eat some Turkey and enjoy your family.
The apocryphal story I remember hearing about him has to do with his first practice he ever coached at Skyline, the swim club I swam for as a kid. He showed up and ordered everyone into the pool. It was a May afternoon and both the weather and the pool were in the low-60's, which is pretty cool for a leisurely swim. Some of the kids, joking around, made arguments about imminent hypothermia, balked at getting in, etc.
Bud, who was not known for having a particularly jolly sense of humor, and who was also an undercover cop, reached inside his suit jacket and flipped it open, showing his sidearm in a shoulder holster. Apparently, everyone got the message and hopped in the pool briskly.
Anyhow, this is all as rambling introduction to Bud's quote, which was that 'excuses are like assholes. Everyone has one, and they all stink.'
So, no excuses for being such a bad poster the last couple of weeks. I'm travelling for the holiday right now, so time might be tough to come by, and I spent much of the last week working hard to get ahead a bit so that my absence didn't mess up our already-fucked schedule. I'm actually in DC, and will not be attempting to stalk Ezra or anything. How lame is that?
Anyhow, my resolution for post-Thanksgiving is to get back to daily posting, but for the moment, go eat some Turkey and enjoy your family.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Training, To Rousing Music!
Ezra points to The Five Worst Fight Scenes Ever Filmed. I'm less than impressed. Sure, they're bad. And the third one probably even belongs on such a list. But it's not hard to find things that suck. There's a wonderful principle of evolutionary theory, which is that very few mutations actually result in an organism that works better than the original.
The idea behind this is pretty simple - organisms are crazy complicated, with hundreds or thousands or millions of interlocking bits and pieces, like an airplane. If you let someone with no mechanical know-how into the guts of an airplane, and they made a change to something, the odds that whatever change they made would improve the plane's aerodynamics, or fuel efficiency, are basically nil. In all likelihood, if they made a major change, the end result would be a plane which doesn't fly at all.
Similarly, there are basically an infinite number of ways to make a fight scene which sucks. There are very, very few ways to make one which is really fantastic. One of the amazing things about people is that they can, with comparatively little experimentation, cut through all the noise and find ways of doing things that actually work.
So, I'm unimpressed with a list of things that suck. I would be much more excited about a list of the best five fight scenes ever filmed. This one is an okay start, but I want video.
But, hearkening back to a conversation with Drew not too long ago, I don't want great fight scenes. I want great training montages.
You know the sort; the character, having overcome many obstacles, is getting ready for the final showdown with the baddie. But first, he must prepare. There's often a guru involved, but not every time; sometimes the hero has to fight this battle on his own.
I wish I could say that this example, from Heroes last season, was a spoof. But Heroes took itself far too seriously to actually be a spoof, unless I am totally misunderstanding the series and it is some sort of meta-postmodern Colbert Report sort of thing, spoofing us with its sort-of seriousness. But anyhow, the Hiro scene linked above is sort-of representative of the genre. Needless to say, the original did not include the Rocky music, that was a jolly addition by whoever posted it to Youtube.
Someday, I will make a montage of the greatest training montages. Yes, that's right - a metamontage! For now, I will settle for the five greatest training montages of all time.
Briefly, here's my off-the-top-of-my-head top 4 countdown.
4) Ras Al'Ghul training Bruce Wayne in the ancient art of sword-fighting on a frozen lake in Batman Begins.
3) Dutch preparing to face the Predator in Predator. The mud smearing, the explosive-arrow production, and of course the preparation of a Rube Goldberg-esque death trap in the form of a huge rock hoisted 30 feet in the air. Topped off with the greatest montage ending of all time, as a mud-smeared Governator stands on a giant log, fires a flaming arrow into the sky, and screams his raw testosterone to the universe.
2) Rocky training to fight Drago in Rocky IV. This is, of course, a lifetime achievement award for all the Rocky movies, who set the bar so high for the training montage concept. But this one, as far as I'm concerned, found the bar set by the ones before, and blew them all away.
1) Neo vs. Morpheus in the training program from The Matrix. The greatest 4 minutes in the history of moviedom. Amazing action, and comically over-the-top great lines. "Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!" "I know what you're trying to do." "Do you think that's air you're breathing?"
Your suggestions?
The idea behind this is pretty simple - organisms are crazy complicated, with hundreds or thousands or millions of interlocking bits and pieces, like an airplane. If you let someone with no mechanical know-how into the guts of an airplane, and they made a change to something, the odds that whatever change they made would improve the plane's aerodynamics, or fuel efficiency, are basically nil. In all likelihood, if they made a major change, the end result would be a plane which doesn't fly at all.
Similarly, there are basically an infinite number of ways to make a fight scene which sucks. There are very, very few ways to make one which is really fantastic. One of the amazing things about people is that they can, with comparatively little experimentation, cut through all the noise and find ways of doing things that actually work.
So, I'm unimpressed with a list of things that suck. I would be much more excited about a list of the best five fight scenes ever filmed. This one is an okay start, but I want video.
But, hearkening back to a conversation with Drew not too long ago, I don't want great fight scenes. I want great training montages.
You know the sort; the character, having overcome many obstacles, is getting ready for the final showdown with the baddie. But first, he must prepare. There's often a guru involved, but not every time; sometimes the hero has to fight this battle on his own.
I wish I could say that this example, from Heroes last season, was a spoof. But Heroes took itself far too seriously to actually be a spoof, unless I am totally misunderstanding the series and it is some sort of meta-postmodern Colbert Report sort of thing, spoofing us with its sort-of seriousness. But anyhow, the Hiro scene linked above is sort-of representative of the genre. Needless to say, the original did not include the Rocky music, that was a jolly addition by whoever posted it to Youtube.
Someday, I will make a montage of the greatest training montages. Yes, that's right - a metamontage! For now, I will settle for the five greatest training montages of all time.
Briefly, here's my off-the-top-of-my-head top 4 countdown.
4) Ras Al'Ghul training Bruce Wayne in the ancient art of sword-fighting on a frozen lake in Batman Begins.
3) Dutch preparing to face the Predator in Predator. The mud smearing, the explosive-arrow production, and of course the preparation of a Rube Goldberg-esque death trap in the form of a huge rock hoisted 30 feet in the air. Topped off with the greatest montage ending of all time, as a mud-smeared Governator stands on a giant log, fires a flaming arrow into the sky, and screams his raw testosterone to the universe.
2) Rocky training to fight Drago in Rocky IV. This is, of course, a lifetime achievement award for all the Rocky movies, who set the bar so high for the training montage concept. But this one, as far as I'm concerned, found the bar set by the ones before, and blew them all away.
1) Neo vs. Morpheus in the training program from The Matrix. The greatest 4 minutes in the history of moviedom. Amazing action, and comically over-the-top great lines. "Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!" "I know what you're trying to do." "Do you think that's air you're breathing?"
Your suggestions?
Monday, November 12, 2007
Indefense Of Mediocrity
In the last couple of days, while driving around, I have been listening more than usual to KBCO, Boulder's homegrown major radio station.
It's an occasionally-infuriating experience. I can get past the obligatory hourly Bob Marley song, which apparently proves that Boulder, despite being a city full of white folks, is...I don't know. Hip? With it? Okay with black people, and their "black culture"? Who knows. Anyhow, I can deal with that.
But, one night, I heard 'Birdhouse in Your Soul', which I'm pretty sure I've only ever heard on a college radio station before. This was followed up by Cake's 'Going the Distance', which made for a truly sublime twofer, at least as far as I am concerned. After that, though, came one of those songs that send a shiver to your soul. I don't know what it was. It sounded like it was someone who wanted to sound like Jamiroquai, only it wasn't Jamiroquai, because it really, truly, sucked. And when I say 'sucked', I mean 'sucked, in such a way that repeated exposure to this song would definitely qualify as an 'enhanced interrogation technique' for the Bush Administration.'
I was a little disappointed, but it led me to thinking a bit. I'm sure that there is someone out there who has a similar opinion about TMBG. For that matter, although I have trouble imagining it, I'm sure there's someone who thinks Cake ought to be used to break Osama Bin-Laden, if ever we catch him. And, probably, since at least one, if not both, of those people have absolutely horrible taste in music, at least one of them probably really liked 'wannabe Jamiroquai.'
And that's the point. Sort of. As someone who fancies himself somewhat of a snob in certain matters (beer, food, coffee), I believe there is a serious downside to globalization and mass commercialization. The single thing that massive corporations seek to provide at every point is a consistent experience. Starbucks wants to give you a good cup of coffee, but almost more important is that, every time you go to any Starbucks, anywhere in the world, you get the same cup of coffee.
That consistency is a major selling point of the big chains, but its also a drawback. The only way to ensure that level of consistency is to aim a bit lower. Obviously, making the best of anything is hard - if it was easy, everyone would do it. So, it takes extra effort, extra money, to be the best. And, sometimes, you'll miss, because it's hard to be the best all the time. And sometimes, the risks you have to take to try and be the best fail horribly, and you end up well below average.
So, to ensure that consistency, you can't aim to be the best.
Sometimes, you can try to be very good. And, indeed, Starbucks makes a fine cup of coffee. But it will never be the very best. For my money, I'd rather visit a local shop. Sometimes, you'll end up with a lousy cup of coffee. But, once in a while, you'll get something truly sublime, the sort of thing you'll never get in a Starbucks.
Much the same with KBCO. They try and be unique, and interesting. Sometimes, their tastes will overlap with yours, and you'll absolutely love it. Sometimes, they'll be completely the opposite, and you'll hate it.
But, considering that the alternative is the direction radio is rapidly heading - a monotonous landscape of dreary stations playing the same, dull, 50-song playlist - I'll take KBCO any day.
It's an occasionally-infuriating experience. I can get past the obligatory hourly Bob Marley song, which apparently proves that Boulder, despite being a city full of white folks, is...I don't know. Hip? With it? Okay with black people, and their "black culture"? Who knows. Anyhow, I can deal with that.
But, one night, I heard 'Birdhouse in Your Soul', which I'm pretty sure I've only ever heard on a college radio station before. This was followed up by Cake's 'Going the Distance', which made for a truly sublime twofer, at least as far as I am concerned. After that, though, came one of those songs that send a shiver to your soul. I don't know what it was. It sounded like it was someone who wanted to sound like Jamiroquai, only it wasn't Jamiroquai, because it really, truly, sucked. And when I say 'sucked', I mean 'sucked, in such a way that repeated exposure to this song would definitely qualify as an 'enhanced interrogation technique' for the Bush Administration.'
I was a little disappointed, but it led me to thinking a bit. I'm sure that there is someone out there who has a similar opinion about TMBG. For that matter, although I have trouble imagining it, I'm sure there's someone who thinks Cake ought to be used to break Osama Bin-Laden, if ever we catch him. And, probably, since at least one, if not both, of those people have absolutely horrible taste in music, at least one of them probably really liked 'wannabe Jamiroquai.'
And that's the point. Sort of. As someone who fancies himself somewhat of a snob in certain matters (beer, food, coffee), I believe there is a serious downside to globalization and mass commercialization. The single thing that massive corporations seek to provide at every point is a consistent experience. Starbucks wants to give you a good cup of coffee, but almost more important is that, every time you go to any Starbucks, anywhere in the world, you get the same cup of coffee.
That consistency is a major selling point of the big chains, but its also a drawback. The only way to ensure that level of consistency is to aim a bit lower. Obviously, making the best of anything is hard - if it was easy, everyone would do it. So, it takes extra effort, extra money, to be the best. And, sometimes, you'll miss, because it's hard to be the best all the time. And sometimes, the risks you have to take to try and be the best fail horribly, and you end up well below average.
So, to ensure that consistency, you can't aim to be the best.
Sometimes, you can try to be very good. And, indeed, Starbucks makes a fine cup of coffee. But it will never be the very best. For my money, I'd rather visit a local shop. Sometimes, you'll end up with a lousy cup of coffee. But, once in a while, you'll get something truly sublime, the sort of thing you'll never get in a Starbucks.
Much the same with KBCO. They try and be unique, and interesting. Sometimes, their tastes will overlap with yours, and you'll absolutely love it. Sometimes, they'll be completely the opposite, and you'll hate it.
But, considering that the alternative is the direction radio is rapidly heading - a monotonous landscape of dreary stations playing the same, dull, 50-song playlist - I'll take KBCO any day.
We're All Going To Die
Exciting news, as the caldera floor of the Yellowstone supervolcano is rising at 3 times the fastest rate that had ever been measured before.
As an inhabitant of that mythical 'Western half of the United States', a.k.a. all that stuff between Chicago and California, I am very excited to wake up one morning and find "inches to feet of volcanic ash" covering my front yard.
If nothing else, it would relieve me of having to complete the 'four year project', otherwise known as turning my front yard into something other than a pile of mulch.
As an inhabitant of that mythical 'Western half of the United States', a.k.a. all that stuff between Chicago and California, I am very excited to wake up one morning and find "inches to feet of volcanic ash" covering my front yard.
If nothing else, it would relieve me of having to complete the 'four year project', otherwise known as turning my front yard into something other than a pile of mulch.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
There goes my $6
I had never heard the story of the 'Original' Super Mario Bros 2 until now, but now that I can play it on my Wii virtual console, I know what I'm doing tonight!
Blogtacular!
Frequent commenter Shane plants his flag in the blogosphere. We'll miss his insights in my rarely-used comments section here, but I'll be sure to let you know if ever he, by analogy to the million monkeys and a million typewrites and a million years, actually writes something worthwhile.
Okay, that's not really fair. His post entitled 'A Return to Reality' makes a good point. It's bad enough that millions of people who are too cool to get their news from any source less hip than Stephen Colbert will have to go without their daily fix while the Writer's Guild of America is on strike. It's much, much worse that the emergency plan for the networks consists of polluting our airwaves with more game shows and so-called Reality TV. Blech.
Okay, that's not really fair. His post entitled 'A Return to Reality' makes a good point. It's bad enough that millions of people who are too cool to get their news from any source less hip than Stephen Colbert will have to go without their daily fix while the Writer's Guild of America is on strike. It's much, much worse that the emergency plan for the networks consists of polluting our airwaves with more game shows and so-called Reality TV. Blech.
God Hates People That Hate Fags
Good news out of Baltimore, as a federal jury awards some-$11 million to the family of a soldier whose funeral had been disrupted by doucheba...errr...congregants from Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, led by none other than Fred 'God Hates Fags' Phelps himself.
Although, honestly, is there such a huge difference between Phelps holding up a sign reading 'Thank God For Dead Soldiers', trying to drive home his message that the military refusing to execute homosexuals on sight (or something like that) is responsible for the death of American soldiers, and Jerry Falwell blaming 9/11 on 'the pagans and the abortionists'? Obviously, I think not, although I am also a pagan abortionist, so make of that what you will.
I doubt that this case will actually shut Phelps up; sadly, in a free-speech state, you simply have to accept this sort of verbal diarrhea and move on with life. But still, if he's entirely bankrupted it must make it a bit harder to pull off.
Although, honestly, is there such a huge difference between Phelps holding up a sign reading 'Thank God For Dead Soldiers', trying to drive home his message that the military refusing to execute homosexuals on sight (or something like that) is responsible for the death of American soldiers, and Jerry Falwell blaming 9/11 on 'the pagans and the abortionists'? Obviously, I think not, although I am also a pagan abortionist, so make of that what you will.
I doubt that this case will actually shut Phelps up; sadly, in a free-speech state, you simply have to accept this sort of verbal diarrhea and move on with life. But still, if he's entirely bankrupted it must make it a bit harder to pull off.
But What About Baseketball?
Matt Yglesias writes the finest post regarding the nearly-inseparable topics of basketball and international relations that I've ever read. This is one of those times when you have to stop reading my drivel, click on the link, and then come back for whatever commentary I can muster. You won't regret it.
Seriously. Go.
I mean it.
Okay, back? Excellent. I don't have much to add to Matt's most-insightful musings, but I will add this. Matt writes
To that end, I can only surmise that Ultimate is the 'give peace a chance' foreign policy represented by a hypothetical world in which President McCarthy, riding high after sweeping the corrupt Nixon administration out of the White House, extracts US troops from South Vietnam, ends the Israeli/Palestinian conflict with the revolutionary 'a shishkebob in every pot, and a cedar in every year' plan, then settles the Cold War over a bowl of borscht and several bottles of vodka with, well, whoever was running the Soviet Union at that point in time. Leonid Brezhnev? Whatever.
Seriously. Go.
I mean it.
Okay, back? Excellent. I don't have much to add to Matt's most-insightful musings, but I will add this. Matt writes
The truth, however, is that an alternative does exist: liberal internationalism or, as they say in the sports world, basketball (hockey, of course, represents a dystopian vision of Canadian global hegemony, I don't know anything about soccer, and cricket is the rotting corpse of British imperialism)I, being the tomato-growing, basil-smoking coutercultural intellectual that I am, am trying to push this metaphor as far as possible.
To that end, I can only surmise that Ultimate is the 'give peace a chance' foreign policy represented by a hypothetical world in which President McCarthy, riding high after sweeping the corrupt Nixon administration out of the White House, extracts US troops from South Vietnam, ends the Israeli/Palestinian conflict with the revolutionary 'a shishkebob in every pot, and a cedar in every year' plan, then settles the Cold War over a bowl of borscht and several bottles of vodka with, well, whoever was running the Soviet Union at that point in time. Leonid Brezhnev? Whatever.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together
I think it's safe to say that, like any good liberal, I think that the American military and the automobile have been two forces with decidedly mixed records in the last 50 years.
On the one hand, they have been responsible for much good. 50 years of relative peace and prosperity for America, western Europe, and much of the developing world. Lots of cool gadgets like the GPS system, night-vision camcorders that let you see through women's clothing, and astronaut ice cream. The American dream of living in the suburbs, the rise of the middle class, and NASCAR.
On the other hand, there have been some decided drawbacks, as well.
In the case of the military, American force supremacy has been primarily good for America. And, I would argue, primarily good for the rest of the world, as well. However, as Robert Wright is quick to point out, we are entering an era where being the biggest kid on the block might just mean that you have the biggest target on your chest. As technologies continue to improve, it is almost inevitable that smaller and smaller groups will have the capacity to do larger and larger amounts of harm and damage. To that end, the current era of American military supremacy is making us more likely to be on the receiving end of terrorist plots. In particular, the use of air power, and its often-indiscriminate effects on civlians, is proving to be a big fat negative, I would argue.
And so, I would recommend that you read Robert Farley's argument for disbanding the US Air Force. Not the concept of air supremacy, but specifically, the idea of an independent branch of the military, whose existence continues to rely on strong arguments in favor of deploying air power in as many situations as possible. Particularly in a future of small force counterinsurgency campaigns, exclusive reliance on air power is not only unhelpful, it is actually counterproductive to drop bombs on major cities where we are trying to win the 'hearts and minds' of the locals.
Likewise, the car, while it has led to some pretty remarkable economic developments (and I, as a city-lover who lives not particularly near any real city, sincerely appreciate the freedom to get up and go to Denver anytime I damn well please), has also had associated downsides. There are the obvious ones, like smog and global warming. There are also less obvious, but I would argue even more pernicious ones, like the serious lowering of life quality for people who spend 2 hours a day commuting back-and-forth to work, the social isolation foisted on us by the exurban lifestyle, and the general amount of common human decency lost when the people around you stop being human beings you are sharing a life with, and instead become obstacles preventing you from getting home in time to catch America's Next Top Model.
And while not all of these downsides can be given an economic value, I think it's important that we internalize some of the costs of our car-dependent lifestyle, and the easiest way to do that is a straight-up carbon tax, such as the one proposed today by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. It's going to be painful for a while, and hopefully it can be phased in to allow people the opportunity to change their lifestyles in adaptive ways. And I'd be all for either making it revenue-neutral by dropping payroll or income taxes to match, or giving out rebates to make it more progressive. But it's the simplest and most straightforward way to reward people for learning to live energy-efficient lifestyles.
On the one hand, they have been responsible for much good. 50 years of relative peace and prosperity for America, western Europe, and much of the developing world. Lots of cool gadgets like the GPS system, night-vision camcorders that let you see through women's clothing, and astronaut ice cream. The American dream of living in the suburbs, the rise of the middle class, and NASCAR.
On the other hand, there have been some decided drawbacks, as well.
In the case of the military, American force supremacy has been primarily good for America. And, I would argue, primarily good for the rest of the world, as well. However, as Robert Wright is quick to point out, we are entering an era where being the biggest kid on the block might just mean that you have the biggest target on your chest. As technologies continue to improve, it is almost inevitable that smaller and smaller groups will have the capacity to do larger and larger amounts of harm and damage. To that end, the current era of American military supremacy is making us more likely to be on the receiving end of terrorist plots. In particular, the use of air power, and its often-indiscriminate effects on civlians, is proving to be a big fat negative, I would argue.
And so, I would recommend that you read Robert Farley's argument for disbanding the US Air Force. Not the concept of air supremacy, but specifically, the idea of an independent branch of the military, whose existence continues to rely on strong arguments in favor of deploying air power in as many situations as possible. Particularly in a future of small force counterinsurgency campaigns, exclusive reliance on air power is not only unhelpful, it is actually counterproductive to drop bombs on major cities where we are trying to win the 'hearts and minds' of the locals.
Likewise, the car, while it has led to some pretty remarkable economic developments (and I, as a city-lover who lives not particularly near any real city, sincerely appreciate the freedom to get up and go to Denver anytime I damn well please), has also had associated downsides. There are the obvious ones, like smog and global warming. There are also less obvious, but I would argue even more pernicious ones, like the serious lowering of life quality for people who spend 2 hours a day commuting back-and-forth to work, the social isolation foisted on us by the exurban lifestyle, and the general amount of common human decency lost when the people around you stop being human beings you are sharing a life with, and instead become obstacles preventing you from getting home in time to catch America's Next Top Model.
And while not all of these downsides can be given an economic value, I think it's important that we internalize some of the costs of our car-dependent lifestyle, and the easiest way to do that is a straight-up carbon tax, such as the one proposed today by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. It's going to be painful for a while, and hopefully it can be phased in to allow people the opportunity to change their lifestyles in adaptive ways. And I'd be all for either making it revenue-neutral by dropping payroll or income taxes to match, or giving out rebates to make it more progressive. But it's the simplest and most straightforward way to reward people for learning to live energy-efficient lifestyles.
Happy Birthday To Me
Congratulations to me, on my 300th blog post.
Here's to 300 more instances of inanity...
Here's to 300 more instances of inanity...
Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Freshly Picked Arugala!
Ezra's not quite right when he writes about the effect of subsidies on how and what we eat.
Obviously, he is right in saying that the subsidies have a big effect on keeping down the price of American meat and dairy products, without concomitant effects on the prices of fresh produce. And I would be completely in favor of shifting some of these subsidies around so as to use price signaling to encourage healthier eating habits.
However, absent some sort of confiscatory or punishment-oriented tax scheme, it's always going to be the case that a good salad costs more than a Big Mac. Or most other processed food, for that matter.
Fresh food is hard to deal with, as a seller. Produce, in particular, has a very high water content, so the food is big, and heavy, and takes up a lot of space on a per-calorie basis. Fresh produce is tender, sensitive to bumps, bruises, and doesn't generally come in convenient square packaging so that it can be stacked on a shelf for maximally productive use of space (although there are exceptions.)
Processed, packaged foods, on the other hand, can be prepared in mass quantities, packaged conveniently, and shipped under any conditions. McDonalds is just the epitome of this system, preparing fries basically in the potato fields in Idaho, then freeze-drying them and sending them off to be reconstituted into food-like items by your friendly neighborhood high school dropout.
So let's not kid ourselves. Almost no matter how we try and build subsidies, it's always going to be easier, faster, and cheaper to eat processed foods. If we're going to change that system, it will have to be through education, not easy economic tricks.
Obviously, he is right in saying that the subsidies have a big effect on keeping down the price of American meat and dairy products, without concomitant effects on the prices of fresh produce. And I would be completely in favor of shifting some of these subsidies around so as to use price signaling to encourage healthier eating habits.
However, absent some sort of confiscatory or punishment-oriented tax scheme, it's always going to be the case that a good salad costs more than a Big Mac. Or most other processed food, for that matter.
Fresh food is hard to deal with, as a seller. Produce, in particular, has a very high water content, so the food is big, and heavy, and takes up a lot of space on a per-calorie basis. Fresh produce is tender, sensitive to bumps, bruises, and doesn't generally come in convenient square packaging so that it can be stacked on a shelf for maximally productive use of space (although there are exceptions.)
Processed, packaged foods, on the other hand, can be prepared in mass quantities, packaged conveniently, and shipped under any conditions. McDonalds is just the epitome of this system, preparing fries basically in the potato fields in Idaho, then freeze-drying them and sending them off to be reconstituted into food-like items by your friendly neighborhood high school dropout.
So let's not kid ourselves. Almost no matter how we try and build subsidies, it's always going to be easier, faster, and cheaper to eat processed foods. If we're going to change that system, it will have to be through education, not easy economic tricks.
Victims Of Their Own Success
For reasons both rational and ir-, I have always taken the side of PC's in the neverending Mac/PC debate. But today, we can all rejoice, as Macs have finally done a good enough job convincing people of their inherent wonderfulosity that they have been hit with their first major Trojan attack.
My bleating, sheep-resembling Mac-user friends and family members can finally be happy, since this means enough people are using Macs that someone found it economically sensible enough to locate and exploit a security hole in OSX. I can be happy because I won't have to hear the aforementioned Mac users bleating at me about Macs' inherent security superiority any long.
Everyone wins!
My bleating, sheep-resembling Mac-user friends and family members can finally be happy, since this means enough people are using Macs that someone found it economically sensible enough to locate and exploit a security hole in OSX. I can be happy because I won't have to hear the aforementioned Mac users bleating at me about Macs' inherent security superiority any long.
Everyone wins!
Sports Rundown
A few random sports nuggets:
First nugget regards The Nuggets, whose season opener I saw on Wednesday. They looked pretty good offensively. Linas Kleiza had the game of his career, bombing 4 straight 3's at one point and looking like the second coming of Steve Kerr, only taller and with less hair and a much sillier name. That probably won't happen again, and they're going to have to get more inside scoring, which shouldn't be too hard since Nene, K-Mart, and Camby combined to go about 2-for-327, from my unofficial recordkeeping. Iverson looked great, racking up like 14 dimes to go with his mid-20's points. 'Melo had an extremely quiet 30-something. He made scoring look ridiculously easy.
But lordy lord, this team really can't play defense. I know that the Suns, in particular, give up a fair number of fast break baskets, because D'antoni preaches not to foul on what is bound to be a successful fast break, as fouls slow down the game and reduce fast break opportunities. But the Nuggets seem to have no such plan in mind, it's more of a 'playing defense is so hard' mentality. I see them easily getting to 50 wins, with an average margin of victory being something like 116-107. But that is just a receipt to get killed by the Spurs again in the playoffs.
Second nugget having to do with Football Armageddon, a.k.a. Patriots/Colts on Sunday. Certainly the most hyped regular season game in quite a while, and deservedly so. The Patriots have been on a mission so far this season to dismantle the rest of the league, while the Colts have quietly put together a completely dominant 7-0 start coming off a championship season. It is remarkable that a defending champ, after starting 7-0, is getting points at a home game (the line opened at Patriots -5), but that's more a sign of how remarkable the Patriots have been than anything. The Colts are the only team in the NFL that would be getting less than double-digits to the Pats by now.
I don't entirely buy into the whole TMQ-style 'Good vs. Evil' plotline for this game. The Pats are certainly grumpy about having their last 3 championships tainted by the fact that they were caught cheating, and are on a mission to show how good they can be. I have no use for Belichick as a human being - he is a bitter, sulking baby who completely lacks confidence and faith in himself, as evidenced by how little class he conducts himself with in the public sphere. Dungy is certainly a better man. But it's impossible to argue with the statement that Belichick is the better coach.
As for the running up the score question, I have no problem with it. When I played Ultimate, and we were getting beat down by a much better team, I expected them to continue to play hard until the game was done, and I expected the same from my team when we were playing someone much better. It's an insult to your opponent to do any less, in my experience.
The way they continue to celebrate unnecessary touchdowns as if they were playoff game-winners is certainly classless, and if the Redskins had started blitzing the living hell out of Brady and taking very physical, maybe even cheap, shots at him, I would not have minded that either.
So, all that said, of course I'd rather have the Colts win. The Pats have taken on Yankees status at this point, where if you cheer for them without being a native, or at least longtime, fan, that is clearly evidence that, while you may still have a soul, it is malfunctioning and should be taken in for a tuneup.
However, in my heart of hearts, I can't predict a Colts win, for one simple reason. In thinking about possible outcomes of the game, I can definitely imagine a close Colts win. I can definitely imagine a close Pats win. I can also easily imagine a Pats blowout (14-plus point) victory, whereas under no set of circumstances do I see the Colts winning by that margin.
So, I would have to say that 'the odds' are absolutely in favor of the Pats.
Third nugget has to do with my contractual obligation to mention the NHL at least once per season, so I will say that it appears that the Avs might be okay again this year, as they are having quite a good opening stretch, particularly at home. Also, I saw on a bumper sticker downtown that the Red Wings suck, so apparently they are not as good this year. I will now not mention hockey for approximately one more year.
First nugget regards The Nuggets, whose season opener I saw on Wednesday. They looked pretty good offensively. Linas Kleiza had the game of his career, bombing 4 straight 3's at one point and looking like the second coming of Steve Kerr, only taller and with less hair and a much sillier name. That probably won't happen again, and they're going to have to get more inside scoring, which shouldn't be too hard since Nene, K-Mart, and Camby combined to go about 2-for-327, from my unofficial recordkeeping. Iverson looked great, racking up like 14 dimes to go with his mid-20's points. 'Melo had an extremely quiet 30-something. He made scoring look ridiculously easy.
But lordy lord, this team really can't play defense. I know that the Suns, in particular, give up a fair number of fast break baskets, because D'antoni preaches not to foul on what is bound to be a successful fast break, as fouls slow down the game and reduce fast break opportunities. But the Nuggets seem to have no such plan in mind, it's more of a 'playing defense is so hard' mentality. I see them easily getting to 50 wins, with an average margin of victory being something like 116-107. But that is just a receipt to get killed by the Spurs again in the playoffs.
Second nugget having to do with Football Armageddon, a.k.a. Patriots/Colts on Sunday. Certainly the most hyped regular season game in quite a while, and deservedly so. The Patriots have been on a mission so far this season to dismantle the rest of the league, while the Colts have quietly put together a completely dominant 7-0 start coming off a championship season. It is remarkable that a defending champ, after starting 7-0, is getting points at a home game (the line opened at Patriots -5), but that's more a sign of how remarkable the Patriots have been than anything. The Colts are the only team in the NFL that would be getting less than double-digits to the Pats by now.
I don't entirely buy into the whole TMQ-style 'Good vs. Evil' plotline for this game. The Pats are certainly grumpy about having their last 3 championships tainted by the fact that they were caught cheating, and are on a mission to show how good they can be. I have no use for Belichick as a human being - he is a bitter, sulking baby who completely lacks confidence and faith in himself, as evidenced by how little class he conducts himself with in the public sphere. Dungy is certainly a better man. But it's impossible to argue with the statement that Belichick is the better coach.
As for the running up the score question, I have no problem with it. When I played Ultimate, and we were getting beat down by a much better team, I expected them to continue to play hard until the game was done, and I expected the same from my team when we were playing someone much better. It's an insult to your opponent to do any less, in my experience.
The way they continue to celebrate unnecessary touchdowns as if they were playoff game-winners is certainly classless, and if the Redskins had started blitzing the living hell out of Brady and taking very physical, maybe even cheap, shots at him, I would not have minded that either.
So, all that said, of course I'd rather have the Colts win. The Pats have taken on Yankees status at this point, where if you cheer for them without being a native, or at least longtime, fan, that is clearly evidence that, while you may still have a soul, it is malfunctioning and should be taken in for a tuneup.
However, in my heart of hearts, I can't predict a Colts win, for one simple reason. In thinking about possible outcomes of the game, I can definitely imagine a close Colts win. I can definitely imagine a close Pats win. I can also easily imagine a Pats blowout (14-plus point) victory, whereas under no set of circumstances do I see the Colts winning by that margin.
So, I would have to say that 'the odds' are absolutely in favor of the Pats.
Third nugget has to do with my contractual obligation to mention the NHL at least once per season, so I will say that it appears that the Avs might be okay again this year, as they are having quite a good opening stretch, particularly at home. Also, I saw on a bumper sticker downtown that the Red Wings suck, so apparently they are not as good this year. I will now not mention hockey for approximately one more year.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Majority Rules
Two out of three liberal pundits agree: stick shifts rock!
It is quite fortunate that my man-crush on Ezra is not dependent on his driving ability...I mean, seriously? Of course you aren't going enjoy driving a stick if you're so terrible at it that you get 10+ mpg less in the city than on the highway.
I consider myself a moderately competent driver - basically never stall out, grind the gears every once in a while when I'm not paying attention. I get about 33/29 in highway/city driving.
Ezra, if you're really getting 30/18, please do the rest of us a favor and stick to the slushboxes...
It is quite fortunate that my man-crush on Ezra is not dependent on his driving ability...I mean, seriously? Of course you aren't going enjoy driving a stick if you're so terrible at it that you get 10+ mpg less in the city than on the highway.
I consider myself a moderately competent driver - basically never stall out, grind the gears every once in a while when I'm not paying attention. I get about 33/29 in highway/city driving.
Ezra, if you're really getting 30/18, please do the rest of us a favor and stick to the slushboxes...
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