iCatching up on the gardens this week we've lots of pics of the plants this spring of 2011. It's good but there's some horticultural editing needed.
Here's a movie review of RIO, an animated film as pretty to watch as too the joyful plot. With an amusing story of a "Blue" bird that visited my own modest backyard.
We’ve got a book review of a book that’s nebulous as to weather it’s fiction or non-fiction. It’s True Crime, the story of a cabal of murder investigators of the highest merit. They solve the unsolved crimes of the era and they’re quite a group. It’s “The Murder Room” by Mike Capuzzo.
Kaitlyn updates with some pics of priceless flea market finds, the tale of Williamsburg, and a story of pee on the porch that will bedevil.
Guest writer Michelle updates about her job and…crickets?
I’ve yet to attend the showing of an animated feature without noticing the resemblance of some of the characters to real and famous people. I could swear the little boy in “Rio” looked like Barack Obama. But I won’t hold it against him or the movie.
A few other characters looked very familiar but I couldn’t put a name to them.
I went to see this movie with daughter and granddaughter. First test, the movie kept the 7-year old interested, was not violent or sexual in any way, had a happy storyline and had the appropriate amount of action scenes as required to keep the young interested, to not lose them in boredom.
Cast overview, first billed only:
Karen Disher ... Mother Bird (voice)
Jason Fricchione ... Truck Driver (voice)
Sofia Scarpa Saldanha ... Young Linda (voice)
Leslie Mann ... Linda (voice)
Kelly Keaton ... Bookstore Customer / Lady Tourist (voice)
Jesse Eisenberg ... Blu (voice)
Wanda Sykes ... Chloe (The Goose) (voice)
Jane Lynch ... Alice (The Other Goose) (voice)
Rodrigo Santoro ... Tulio / Soccer Announcer (voice)
Gracinha Leporace ... Dr. Barbosa (voice)
Jamie Foxx ... Nico (voice)
Will i Am ... Pedro (voice) (as will.i.am)
Phil Miler ... Aviary Intern / Waiter (voice)
Anne Hathaway ... Jewel (voice)
Bernardo de Paula ... Sylvio / Kipo (voice)
These movies are never the stuff of Academy Awards and they are formulaic. There must be a story line, there should be a chaste love interest ongoing, there should be a battle, however smallish, of good versus evil.
The degree to which one such animated movie is better than another is in nuance.
Rio had the most colorful characters of any recent animated movies I’ve chanced to see. First, the movie was about birds living in the heart of South America. Right there you’ve got a treasure trove of colorful and beautiful birds.
As an aside, and as a bit of serendipity which brings a smile to my face, the main animated character in this story is a blue bird named …well “BLU”.
So isn’t husband, who’s hardly any dedicated bird watcher, sitting at the dining room table one day, eating his dinner in front of the sliding glass doors, when he suddenly and with great surprise shouts “What kind of bird is that?” I turned to watch and for 1/100th of a second I saw a flash of deep blue wings.
“The bird was completely blue!” husband shouted with surprise and joy. “It looked just like a cardinal only it was blue!”
Somewhere in my mind the species of that bird was tempting me but I walked away to muddle it through. And I was a bit jealous that it was husband, who never fills the bird feeders which had attracted the bird to begin with, saw it for a much longer time then to rub salt in the wound…”Here it is again!” he shouts, only when I got back to the big window the deep blue bird was gone.
It was an Indigo bunting, this within a week of having seen the movie RIO, which was about a beautiful blue bird which looked a lot like that Indigo Bunting.
Husband becomes a bit insufferable, giving me details on Indigo Buntings, which are related to cardinals, as he informed me in one such info session, thus I should not forget that his first comments were that the blue bird at the feeders resembled a cardinal, only blue.
The week before last husband spotted a pair of Orioles and I heard all about this for a week, but moving on.
For the record, I DID see a flash of those inky blue wings so technically, I saw it too.
For the record, sometimes I wonder if God doesn’t have a sense of humor what with these whimsical things happening, like seeing a glorious blue bird I’d never seen before…me, a dedicated bird watcher, the same week I watched an entire movie about a similar bird.
For the record, God obviously has a touch of satire in Him for giving husband the bigger glance at one of His more beautiful creations.
The love interest involves BLU and a lady bird, as well as a human couple, the female of which is BLU's human owner.
Along with the beautiful birds that lend themselves quite well to color, there were playful monkeys, handsome drooling bull dogs, humans dressed in colorful costumes…the entire movie was as much a pleasure to the eyes as to the mind.
”The Murder Room” by Mike Capuzzo-
So okay, let me say right plain up front, that I loved this book. Add to my joy that it was a selection by my book club and who knew that someone would choose a book about True Crime, my favorite book genre nowadays?
Well hey, even to this day I don’t know if this book was fiction or non-fiction and frankly I don’t want to know. I did find a couple of obvious errors as to the “true” crimes covered in the book, which makes me suspicious.
The Vidcoq society is a group of dedicated crime solvers that spring from all walks of criminal investigation genres.
Frank Bender is a sculptor, a man who “sees” victims, even if given only a partial skull from which to work. In the book, Bender is given credit for accurately picturing one of my more memorable true crime criminals, John List. Bender re-created List as he would look some 25 years after he committed his horrific crime.
List killed his mother, his wife and his two children, methodically and purposefully, one fine day. He then packed his bags and disappeared. According to the book, it was Bender who created the sculpture of how List would look so many years after his horrific murder spree.
Detective Richard Walter is an expert profiler, Bill Fleisher is a federal agent and serves as an organizer of many of the Vidcoq events. There are other members of the Vidcoq society but no one is permitted entry unless they come with an excellent reputation in their investigative field.
And these are real people, the VIDCOQ does exist.
Other famous crimes the VIDCOQ society allegedly investigated include Marie Noe, the woman who had eight babies of all ages die of SIDS. There’s also a famous Pennsylvania crime of a young boy called “the boy in the box” an obsession by most investigators of that era.
I did find what I consider one factual error by the author. In the book, Capuzzo mentions that Ted Bundy was supposed to have buried a victim’s head in his fireplace.
I frankly think I’ve read every word about Ted Bundy and never did I read such a thing. Ann Rule is considered the definitive expert on Bundy, having once worked with him and using Bundy’s murder spree as the launch of her true crime writing career. Ann Rule never mentioned this head found in Bundy’s fireplace.
So I’m not sure if all the detail in Capuzzo’s book is the stuff of non-fiction.
Capuzzo does a terrific job of telling the story of the VIDCOQ society, interspersing stories of the many cases they work to solve throughout the book. There is also a good spread of pictures of both the victims written about in the book and the vaunted members of the VIDCOQ society.
Capuzzo also writes extensively about the grand detectives of the VIDCOQ society, providing clues to what makes them tick.
It’s a good book, tightly written, action-packed, designed to keep the reader turning the pages.
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Kaitlyn’s First Science Fair Project
So it’s Kaitlyn’s first science fair project while I have never done a science fair project before in my life.
I have attended a few science fairs and like to think I am creative enough to design one. In fact I DID come up with a great idea for granddaughter’s science project, not that her mother paid any attention to me or anything.
Kaitlyn’s science project had a goal of proving or disproving that fingerprint ridges are hereditary. As I understand, the ridges of fingerprints are established during gestation. Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints thus fingerprints cannot be hereditary. Identical twins share the exact same genetic structure thus if fingerprint ridges were a genetic thing their fingerprints would be, well, identical.
My idea was also about heredity and was sheer genius, as I say so modestly.
Quite simply a science fair project could prove how two people with blue eyes could NOT produce a brown eyed offspring while two brown-eyed people could produce a blue-eyed offspring. My proposed project would involve four cups filled with paper slips indicating the “genes” of the parent. The project viewer would pull slips from the cups that would determine the eye color of the offspring. Enough selection of these slips of paper would have the blue eyed parents NEVER producing a brown-eyed offspring.
So okay, maybe you have to be there.
============ A Trip Back in American History
It was the first beautiful weekend of the spring of 2011. And everybody in the United States, as it would seem, decided to take a trip away from home, using the interstates to transport them away from their winter cabin fever.
Kaitlyn, her mother, and I gassed up the Jeep at ridiculous prices and at times sat in traffic jams while HOV(high occupancy vehicle lanes) sat empty and unused. It’s what happens when bureaucrats take over the country.
We had a perfectly delightful time, some pics and video below. It was great fun to take Kaitlyn to Williamsburg. At the time there were colonial-clad characters then standing on corners reading proclamations and complaining about the over-reaching of King George. I, of course, complained about Obama and told Kaitlyn that THIS is how Americans felt about some all-important nothing burger thinking he could tell them how to live, what to drink, control them from afar.
It’s the American way and I’m glad Kaitlyn got a chance to see it up close.
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Mother’s Day 2011
Kaitlyn and her mother came down the Friday before Mother’s Day in 2011 in that Year of our Lord. We had a perfectly delightful 24 hours together, including a trip to the movies (RIO), a pajama party that night, and a trip to the flea market, more on this later.
For now, let’s talk about Kaitlyn’s rather bizarre fascination with stepping in pee and what the hell is that all about.
Jo-Ann, my dog, is a well-trained and very clean dog. She does not poop in the center of our yard, but rather goes to the furthest reaches of the confines to do her business. She never urinates in the house and hasn’t since a pup.
She is allowed to pee on the front porch, however, and in the garage should she be confined there as she is occasionally. Both of these areas have concrete floors and Jo-Ann knows she is allowed to pee on concrete floors. Besides, while Jo-Ann can sit by the sliding glass deck door that leads to the back yard and the humans in her surround understand what she’s trying to “say”, it’s difficult for Jo-Ann to tell us that she needs to pee when she’s on the front porch.
Rarely, but once in a while, Jo-Ann will get up and walk to the center of the porch, squat down, and pee. Again, the porch has a concrete floor and it doesn’t take long for the urine to dry up. I’d much rather the poor pup pee and get relief rather than sit and suffer. She is getting just a bit up in years and it’s not so easy for her to hold it as in younger days.
So Kaitlyn’s sitting on the porch swing, I sit in a nearby chair, and her mother mows my front lawn. Jo-Ann gets up and squats down to pee.
Goodness, you’d think the dog performed a most humorous comedy routine as the 7-year-old laughed and pointed at the peeing dog. I explained the situation to Kaitlyn, that Jo-Ann is allowed to pee on the porch, but Kaitlyn’s paroxysms of laughter barely paused.
To add to Kaitlyn’s amusement, Jo-Ann’s pee overflowed the porch floor proper and flowed down the steps leading onto the front porch. This fact gave Kaitlyn more joy and the plot to have her mother step in the pee was hatched.
“When Mommy comes up the steps she’s gonna step in the pee,” Kaitlyn told me in the most conspiratorial manner, her zeal at the impending event that would have her mother unsuspectingly walking through Jo-Ann’s pee as she returned from her mowing chores causing the child to laugh and giggle. I too smiled a bit at such a silly thing bringing this child such great joy but it didn’t stop there.
Because it takes a while to mow the lawn. Kaitlyn swung in the porch swing, constantly checking when her mother would be done to join us on the porch, walking through the dog pee first, you understand.
In fact, at one point my daughter stopped her mowing, turned off the mower, and stood, wiping her brow.
“Mommy, come on up to the porch,” Kaitlyn shouted from her porch swing perch. “You need to take a rest.”
What would appear to all the world as a concerned child pleading for her tired Mom to take a break from her labors was really, as I watched this bit of drama with bemusement, a child who was anxious to have her mother walk through the dog pee before the dog pee dried.
I asked Kaitlyn why the hell she thought such a thing so funny. She giggled. “You don’t think that’s funny?” she asked.
Well no. But then I’m not seven years old. I did think it funny that likely my daughter thought her child was just so solicitous and wanting her to take a break when that daughter just wanted her to walk through dog pee. I had every intention of informing my daughter later that afternoon not to be living under illusions that she had the world’s most considerate child. Heh.
Anyway, below a gem I found at the flea market. Just some frou-frou that sit upon the floor. The dogs’ wooden backs are flat and they lean up well against the wall.
Egad, what Americans will buy.
I think they’re cuter than all get out.
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Drivel: Work Update
It's been awhile since I checked in with you on how the work situation is going, so I thought tonight would be a good time to do that. First, though, I had some folks ask me what crickets sound like, so here's a link: HERE
You may need to copy it into your browser. When the page loads, there's a "Play Audio" green bar. Click on that and your media player should play the sound of a cricket singing to his lady love.
On to work!
The dust has settled and while we still don't have answers to a lot of things, some of it is okay. A bit is even more than okay.
I'm finding I really like my new team. My new Supervisor is supportive, and imagine my surprise when my first one-on-one didn't consist of what I was doing wrong or of her giving me a whole lot more work, but instead was a comfortable give-and-take of information. I was close to shocked when she asked me what was going well, and who she could recognize - either within our team or without - for going above and beyond.
Quite a bit different from that interim Supervisor a long time ago who told me what she really wanted was to get our conversation done so she could get to what she needed to do.
My peers are supportive, too, and patient with me as I ask dumb questions. The language they speak - Large Group - is sometimes very different from mine - Small Group - and occasionally I just don't get it. So I ask. And each and every time, a team member answers me and helps me understand. Usually within a few minutes.
When I met with my Supervisor that first time, she wanted to make sure I didn't feel like I was on an island. Every one of my teammates is in another site, about an hour's drive from my office. The people around me are no longer my team, even though quite a few of them are still friends and we help each other out as much as we did before.
I, too, was a bit worried about that island feeling, because when I was reporting to that site before, that's exactly how I felt. Alone. Uninformed. Outcast, even.
The first few weeks of this new structure were uncertain, but I didn't feel alone. I still don't, and I think it is my new team's support and consideration that are primarily responsible.
One of my new teammates has been assigned . . . strike that. Even the "assignments" are different. Instead of arbitrarily handing out work, my Supervisor offers anything coming in to the entire team. "I have x," she says. "It requires some skill with Word, and working with Legal and Marketing. Deadlines are the 15th of every month. Anyone interested?"
If no one signs up, *then* she'll assign it, but I haven't seen that happen yet. Instead, it's more of a "me first" "no, me" battle as the team decides who will get it. Once, I was still deciding if an item was something I could take when it was already gone.
Backup for SGRS was handled the same way. Christy volunteered, and she's been learning the monstrous Small Group Renewal System ever since. As she gains understanding around the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly tasks, including the 60-item monthly checklist, she becomes more helpful to me. This week, she was manning the "help desk" email box associated with SGRS. I didn't have to step in hardly at all. I have to admit, I was a little lost not having my daily work from that to handle each day. (Turns out this was a good week not to have it, too, as I was so swamped I was in the office at 4:00am one day and around 5:00am for two others.)
Sometimes the work that comes in through that email box is puzzling, too. One knotty problem showed up and Christy and I discussed it. When we were done, she said, "You love this stuff, don't you?"
"Yes," I replied. "I really do."
"That's because there's something wrong with you," she answered.
You know it's a good team when something like that can be said and understood by both parties to be something almost endearing. Hopefully that comes across in this translation, because she not only didn't mean it as something bad, she also has some of that "something wrong," too.
Not only do I really love all that SGRS stuff, I also really like my new team.
We've got a book review for Baseball Fans-George Will's "Men At Work". Yes the man's a Conservative Pundit but he knows a thing or two about baseball. Or a thousand, or a million, things or two.
Couple of TV reviews-For the 2011 season, a "Dancing With the Stars" update as well as what will turn out to be the best season ever for "Celebrity Apprentice". Also, a former Desperate Housewife turns Medical Examiner in "Body of Proof".
Some political tidbits, including a horror story of the gubmint coming to "help" and our terror at same. Some Delaware politics and an update on the Christine O'Donnell book.
Finally, Guest writer Michelle, well she's got a tale about crickets.
It’s a great year so far for this ABC favorite. While the dances are the main focus, of course, it’s the celebrities, such as they are, that are the stuff of intrigue.
This year the season began with the question of whether Christine O’Donnell, the Mike Castle spoiler of the past mid-term November 2010 elections, should dance. She chose not to because, well I don’t know why. She will be putting out a book soon and she swears she has two left feet.
With that intrigue settled, some of the other contenders were interesting.
Kirstie Alley is a dancer. Kirstie’s a big woman, we all know that. It was quite embarrassing when the effort to hold onto her bulk during a dance dip early in the season caused her partner to fall for the load was too much. His partner gamely took the blame but let’s get real; Kirstie was a bit much to hold while dipping and bowing.
Still Kirstie’s doing a pretty good job and she’s hanging in there.
Wendy Williams, a talk show host with boobs out to here and then some, now long gone, was quite the interest. She was hardly a shrinking violet but she was hardly a dancer of any greatness either.
For the obligatory “senior citizen” type we had Sugar Ray Leonard, who was quite good, personable and enjoyable to watch. A 70 year old type will never win this thing but you need one dancer like this for us older viewers.
The ones to watch seem to be Ralph Macchio, yeah, the former “wax on, wax off” Karate Kid. Macchio’s young enough to move without bother of cracking knees, he’s thin enough to move swiftly and fluidly, and he seems to have a knack for moving his feet.
Himes Ward is the obligatory sports guy this season and he’s another one to watch. Football players always astonish me in that they are often amongst the best dancers. There must be something about football requiring smooth movement and fancy footwork, much like the dance, in fact.
The obligatory youthful Chelsea Kane is also doing very well and she’s the female contender to beat. Goodness, the girl is a child, a Disney star, natch, as ABC is owned by Disney.
Finally a dark horse to watch would be Romeo…yeah, that’s his name. His father had evidently been on DWS oncit although I don’t know who his father was. Romeo got some bad reviews by the judges but he’s one who’s making a great comeback. There’s one on every DWS season.
My guess for the winner? Chelsea Kane…first. Macchio-second….Himes…third.
I am almost always wrong when I do such predictions.
Below, a video snippet from the ABC show’s web site.
Dana Delany once lived on Wisteria Lane. Now she lives in Philadelphia where she cuts, probes and examines dead bodies that they reveal how they died and how the details of their deaths will lead to their killers.
So okay, “Body of Proof” is a typical cop type of show, whereby in 40 minutes or so the protagonist must figure out who the victim is, how the hell he or she ended up dead, investigate all the possible perps to end at about that 39th minute with the identity of the perp which will surprise the viewer all to hell.
It’s pro forma but some do it better than others, some characters have a more interesting background story, some storylines are more believable.
As for “Body of Proof”, well first, Delany is a very good actress. She was quite good on “Desperate Housewives” so her move to her own show did not surprise me.
Delany’s character, Megan Hunt, was once a well-respected, vaunted surgeon before an auto accident took away her hands’ ability to perform the delicate movements required of serious surgery. Somewhere along the way Dr. Hunt became estranged from her pre-teen daughter, so much so that Hunt’s ex-husband has custody of the girl.
I do like the show as the time seems right for a Medical Examiner type of show. Last ME show I recall was Quincy the ME .
There’s been and continues to be endless “Law and Order” type shows. An investigative show from the viewpoint of a Medical Examiner is different enough in this day and age to capture an audience.
Dr. Hunt’s relationship with her young daughter should attract female viewers. Sure, all the cop shows have insights into the lives of the investigators but on “Body of Proof” we have a story of a woman who lost custody of her daughter and her struggle to regain her daughter’s love and trust. It’s a great idea, really.
The story lines have been, so far, believable. Hunt’s quite the character. She runs up against her co-workers –fellow medicos and sleuths. In the end, everyone kisses and makes up.
I think this series will be successful. It doesn’t have that kind of long-term success appeal like, say, a “Law and Order”, but it should last for a season or two. It entertains, informs and captures the audience attention.
What more could one want from a TV series?
============ ”Celebrity Apprentice”-Best Season Ever for More Reasons Than the Content NBC Site for this Series
Normally I’d insert the obligatory smirk about Donald Trump’s hair. This year, however, things are mighty different.
First, the teams used for both the women’s team-A.S.A.P. and the men’s team-Backbone- are quite an interesting group. The female team has two very strong members-Star Jones and NeNe Leakes. Jones has a reputation as a bossy, take-charge kind of candidate and NeNe is no shrinking violet.
Then there’s La Toya Jackson, Dionne Warwick, and Marlee Matlin, amongst others, who provide tension and entertainment.
The men’s team, as of this writing down to only three, was also quite the group. Gary Busey could have been a show unto himself. John Rich provides the voice of sanity and reason while singer Meatloaf provides a little bit of screaming and a little bit of intrigue. Lil John is a bit of an oddball, an amusing one, while survivor star Richard Hatch provided plenty of story lines.
In short, it’s been quite an enjoyable Celebrity Apprentice season as of this writing on 4.26.11. It’s easy to predict the winner as it’s plain as the writing on the wall, more on this later.
For now, hey, how about The Donald and his upcoming presidential campaign? Even more amusing, how about how he got Obamer to produce that birth certificate thing?
I don’t think for one minute that Trump’s going to run for President. If he does, I’ll have to really give it some deep thought. Trump doesn’t strike me as the brightest bulb in the lamp. Further, I think he’s very liberal, hardly anybody’s idea of a Conservative.
But I do like the way The Donald’s refused to allow the sycophant media and the ill-mannered Obamer set his agenda. He says things I’d love to hear come from, say, a John Boehner.
I do think Trump’s amusing actions are to promote this very show of which I write. And, indeed, “The Celebrity Apprentice” is quite the successful show, especially this year.
The contenders make this series and this season we have Gary Busey, Meatloaf, Star Jones and NeNe Leakes. Busey is a basket case, Meatloaf has a temper, Star Jones is known far and wide for her bossiness and NeNe Leakes, perhaps not as well known as Jones but quite obvious upon watching the first episode, is one to fight should the need arise.
Like Joan Rivers before her, it’s very obvious that Star Jones is going to win this thing. I don’t know how The Donald has this show scripted, but his formula is very obvious. He gets a very strong personality, one who tends to alienate and dominate his or her team mates. Like all reality shows, you need some tension and conflict to keep the viewers intrigued. It takes a rather loud and bossy contender to achieve this. I think, in return for playing the part of the “bad guy”, Trump agrees to let this chosen one win the grand prize.
Evidence of my theory above was very obvious in the most recent episode as of this writing-4/28/11. Star Jones was Project Manager for the task of creating a brochure to promote the Trump hotel group. While both teams did badly, the women’s team performed the poorest.
Star was in charge of everything on that task. At the board meeting her team crowed about how organized and diligent Star was. The ladies of A.S.A.P. were convinced that under the leadership of almighty Star Jones they were going to walk away with the victory.
It was just the weirdest thing. Any manager with a brain to rattle around in his or her skull would have given Star the boot. There was not a single team member who committed any major error that caused the loss. The disapproval of the females’ presentation stemmed from the very concept, the very unoriginal idea, the snooty butler with white cloth draped over arm, the fancy flowers. The judges thought is was a snooze of a presentation.
In fact, the men’s team, dear Lord, they forgot to put the phone contact or the web site to contact the Trump organization AND STILL THE MEN WON!
Goes to show how awful bad the women’s presentation was.
It was the sort of error caused by poor management, the sort of bad work that should be laid squarely at the feet of the Project Manager.
And it looked like this was going to happen. Except suddenly, in a complete twist, LATOYA JACKSON ended up getting fired. Gentle talking LaToya, who is no ball of brain fire, true, but she’s the last person on the team to have caused that colossal failure.
Something to do with future tasks, as Trump mumbled. I saw it as part of the scripting. The viewer by now probably knows that Star Jones is a serious contender for this thing. This episode teased the viewer by having him or her think that Jones’ victory might not be so certain. “How can she possibly get out of this?” the viewer would ostensibly consider, while sitting on the edge of the seat.
As for the men…John Rich consistently provides the voice of quiet reasonableness. He’d be a likely winner but again, Trump likes the Joan Rivers types.
And he’s got it with a Star Jones.
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============ ”Men At Work”-George Will
So who knew that George Will was such a baseball fan?
I do know that Will is a very good writer and has mostly Conservative political leanings. It wasn’t until my book club choice was Will’s book-“Men At Work”, that I discovered Will’s astounding insight and knowledge of baseball, both as a business and as a sport.
This is not a recent book, make no mistake, having been published in the early 80’s. And I’m no major baseball fan though I have been at times in my life. I am an Oriole’s fan, being from Baltimore and all that. I’ve never belonged to a book club before but think the idea is great, being an avid reader and a writer of sorts.
Thus all three things came together and I found myself sitting down and reading all sorts of statistics and minutiae about baseball that I never thought my mind could handle.
Actually, my mind couldn’t handle a lot of this book in that way I figger, George Will must live life operating strictly from the left hand side of his brain. The brain’s left side is the part that processes at the data and detail of life. Such as emotions spring from the brain’s right side.
Some facts about this book: Will evidently used Tony LaRussa and the Ripkin family for much of the source data. I deduce this based mostly on the fact that Will quotes these folks extensively throughout the book.
Will keeps the book categorized in terms of the Manager, the defense, the pitcher and the batter.
"To understand the primacy of defense, try this. Imagine that the rules of baseball were amended to require four outs to retire a side. What would happen? Scores would soar, games would go one and on and on. A 33% increase in the number of outs almost certainly would result in much more than a 33% increase in runs. But mediocre defense does just that: It gives the other team four-out innings.
The above quote is an example of how the “work” of baseball is affected by one of the four major “jobs” of the team.
Will’s pre-occupation with details, stats and outright minutiae is a bit much for the casual baseball fan. Such as myself.
In fact, since this was my book club’s monthly choice, we did chance to discuss, beyond the book, BASEBALL! The book club member who suggested the book had been a coach of several youth league baseball teams. I chanced to ask him, for whatever reason, just what is a knuckleball and how is it thrown. The former coach then stood up and illustrated the pitch and in a burst of enthusiasm, then showed how many other sorts of pitches are thrown, how to effectively field balls, on to other information that kept me mesmerized, unfortunately, way more than Will’s book.
In summary, Will’s “Men at Work” book was a great read. The casual baseball fan will probably skip through a lot of the detail; the more enthusiastic fan will revel in that same detail.
For I did finish the book thus do not think it detailed a more casual baseball fan into dropping the whole read. But I did skip through a lot of the verbiage, looking for, I think, just how a knuckleball is thrown and how to better field a ball.
That I learned in discussing Will’s book, rather than in the reading.
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Begin With a Smile
Jud Bennett, Pat Fish, & the Delaware Blue Blood Ruling Class Elite
So I "met" Jud Bennett the year I moved here to the swamps of Delaware. He was running for my district's Sussex county council seat. He is a Republican and that year he lost to one of these weird things they had in Delaware, until recently, what I call a Demo-Repub.
Welp we know Delaware is a blue state and for years we elected Mike Castle, also a Demo-Repub, who constantly voted WITH the Democrats that at some point, like the most abused of wives, like the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Libyans, people get sick of being mistreated and treated like the jetsam and flotsam that so bother those with power.
We wanted Mike Castle to vote with the Republicans once in a while is what I'm saying here.
Judson Bennett lives in Sussex county and frankly, though he seems to straddle some kind of imaginary line that keeps one leg in league with the Delaware GOP Ruling Class Blue Bloods but Sussex county, folks, heaven on earth where the inmates are FINALLY taking over the asylum that was the Delaware Republican party, where the Chair of the Delaware party called the duly and fairly primary elected candidate not suitable for dog catcher, where the Blue Blood Ruling Class elite have launched an invective so filled with meanness, nastiness, vile, NOT directed at the Democrats, mind you, but hissed and spitted to the base of the Republican party who are sick of these snotty boogers calling us names, sneering at us, directing us with a Blue Blood sniff to vote for Mike Castle and shut up….well Jud is a Sussex Countian and that brand of insanity never yields to the common senseless of a Blue Blood elite.
Well we didn't vote for Mike Castle last election. We voted for Christine O'Donnell who, for whatever nutty reasons the Lamestream had to excoriate the woman, us asylum inmates down here in Sussex county, which carries the state of Delaware on our tourist-revenue backs….what you think Wilmington is the source of our money?....we felt that unlike Mike Castle, Christine O'Donnell would vote OUR way should she win the senate seat and THAT is why we elect representatives...though the Blue Blood Ruling Class GOP thinks we should elect the snooty of their ilk, no mind how they vote on the issues so dear to us, because they know, heh, what is best. Besides, they like the best offices and perks of chairmanships.
So Judson has his other leg in Sussex county because, even if he'll never admit it, freedom and independence are in his blood. Comes from the clean air down this way.
I like Judson, have met him personally at a few GOP events and chance to ,every oncit in a while, get into an online dialogue with him, whereby I, with very pretty prose as is my wont, educate him, hoping to pull that other leg of his out of the Blue Blood GOP camp.
Since that election that Judson lost by just a handful of votes and which was probably stolen from him by the Democrats because this is what they do, Judson's been a force in Delaware politics, God bless.
Judson publishes a weekly email called "Coastal Network", widely circulated. And I have taken Judson to task before because he tends to lean towards the Blue Bloods and someone's gotta show the man the error of his ways.
So below is the original email via Coastal Network that came into my Ebox yesterday.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jud Bennett-Coastal Network
CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT COMPROMISED BY MYSTERY WRITERS
Mystery writers push agenda in the Conservative Movement
Dear Readers,
Notice how the writer of this e-mail below, which recently came across my desk, does not sign his name. This is typical of "Pigs Fly, The Conservative Caucus, The Grass Roots," and other handles to name a few sent by the same pushers of this conservative movement. They never identify themselves. I know who they are, but they don't want you to know--Silly isn't it and ineffective??? How can you believe or get involved when you don't know who is sending out the revolutionary rhetoric? What are they afraid of? SCROLL DOWN:
========================
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:33:57 -0700
From: newdelaware51@yahoo.com
Subject: Conservative Caucus meeting, 5 April
To: newdelaware51@yahoo.com
"Once again, you are called to sacrifice a bit of your time to join with others of like mind who are determined to put this country back on the right track, a track it has not seen for many decades. We start that journey here at the county level but, make no mistake, it will take us to the state and the national level if we keep the faith and devote our energies to the goals we share!
We have called a Special Meeting of the Sussex County Republican Party, to be held on 18 April in Millsboro. Details of that meeting will be forthcoming later today. Because many of you are on the Executive Committee of the Sussex GOP you will be receiving that meeting notice twice.
In order to prepare for that meeting, we are asking each of you to make every effort to attend a meeting of the Conservative Caucus, scheduled for April 5 at the Sussex East Manor House from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.
We must ensure that all of our Executive Committee members attend the Special Meeting on 18 April or, if they are unable to attend, ensure that they sign proxies that enable another to attend in their place.
Please come and help us ensure another successful meeting!
See you there!
Grass Roots"
=================
I could not believe that Jud was being so snotty to a bunch of folks who are, God Bless America, only exercising their right and freedom to assemble, calling them silly names such as "mystery writers" , well I felt like someone needed to slap Jud alongside his head and tell him issuing an invite to a MEETING is hardly any kind of anonymous thing. Judson's so used to the cowardly Delaware Blue Blood Ruling Class elite that are afraid of their own shadow, who quake at the concept that a nasty word should be said about them by the News Urinal, who reach with polished-nailed hands across the aisles to the Democrat friends, who only become vicious to their own base should they dare to want a say in things.
Below, my response to Judson:
===========
So Jud,
This is my name...PAT FISH. Lest you accuse me of hiding my identity.
It seems to me that the unnamed email you reprinted invited readers to come to a meeting.
MEETING, by its very definition, means....face-to-face, in person. What's wrong with sending such an email under a group name like "Grass Roots" or another such meaningful name?
If the reader wants to know who these people are...they can, just throwing it out there, GO TO THE MEETING!
No one's trying to hide an identity here and your childish rhetoric is just that....childish.
Suppose an email was sent using the name...well Pat Fish, for example? So here's Pat Fish inviting the reader to a meeting and the reader's scratching head and wondering just who the hell is Pat Fish and why should I go to her meeting.
Common sense, not that the Delaware Blue Blood GOP Ruling Elite have any, would deem a more meaningful acronym would make more sense.
As for being "ineffective" hey, Jud, where you been, fishing in Florida?
Come on, this newly formed most innocent of Grass Roots movement in Sussex County like God Bless America meant this country to be, has turned the snotty Delaware Ruling Class Blue Blood GOP on its ear.
Ron Sams...resigned. Tom Ross...almost outta there. In February of this year, for the first time ever, a decent follow-the-rules meeting of the Sussex GOP held, censuring the county chair, ejecting a Rules Chair who didn't know who appointed him, who was on his committee or what his job was, a meeting ran better than anything ever under the leadership of the existing stale leadership.
We're ineffective? Heh.
Go on, keep up your Alinsky tactics of mockery and degradation of your base. Folks like you show your Democratic roots more every day, in a nastier meaner way than you ever worked against the opposition party.
This mocking email is a real stretch of a Blue Blood Ruling Class Elite's imagination.
None of these people involved in an honest attempt to take back their party all fair according to how the game is played, wants to do so anonymously. These people are honest and sincere citizens but you must join your buddies in mocking them, lying about them, casting aspersions upon them.
Makes you look like the sore loser you are.
Go on, publish this, I dare you.
============================
Judson did, God Bless, publish my response, sending it out with a screaming headline (unlike the SCREAMING women that President of the Delaware Federation of Republican Woman-Mary Spicer, heard somewhere in her head when describing the Sussex county inmates at a monthly GOP meeting where, for the first time, order and adherence to rules were the norm) "TAKEN TO TASK BY PAT FISH."
Heh.
Well I'm okay with that.
Angel Clark sent me notice that she was going to read my response on the air-WGMD. Don't know if she did or not because I was at confession where I only got an Our Father and a Hail Mary for penance so I can't be too bad, now, can I?
Eric Bodenweiser once again asked me to marry him even though we are both married to others but what the hell, Eric, we are the heathens of Sussex County. If they're going to give us the name, we may as well play the game.
Heh.
We're winning folks...the Blue Bloods are mad as hell.
Heh.
==============
HELP ME! The Gubmint Showed Up Yesterday At My House! They Told Me They Were There to Help!
I’d gotten the brochure about husband and I participating in some kind of health survey last week. It said that we would be visited by a representative from the National Institutes of Health, Center for Disease Control, and would be asked a few questions. The brochure went on to cite some ancient law that allows the NIH to do this, for the public good, or some such.
A little over a year ago my husband had a brain infection, a weird thing, just weirder than weird. And now the Center for Disease Control was going to show up at my door? The brochure said participants were chosen at random but my paranoid self was very suspicious.
Still I tossed the thing with a shrug. Nowhere did it say that those “selected” HAD to participate and I figgered, Sussex county heathen that I am, clinging to my guns and bibles, hating Obamacare and anything to do with it, fearing the dreaded Death Panels would now begin and husband with his infected brain would be high on the list with this grand prize selection by the gubmint which did, as yon reader can see, set my distrust of liberals and this horrid administration on full alert. I’d just tell the gubmint no and that would be the end.
Ronald Reagan said the most dreaded nine words in the world are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. I intended to tell the gubmint to just go the hell away.
Ah, but the gubmint, well they’re sneaky.
It began late last week when a car pulled into my driveway. Now I have a somewhat longish driveway so if some one was using it to turn around there would be no need to pull all the way up to the garage to back up and turn around. It was an ordinary car, no markings of company name. I happened to be sitting right, live and big, on my front porch. My dog was barking bejeesus cause she’s got a real attitude about cars pulling up in her driveway and just sitting there.
For that’s what this car did, just sit in front of my garage, oh for maybe two minutes or so. I’m sitting there big as life and waiting for this person to announce his or her self. The car sits for a while, then pulls back down and out. I told husband about it later cause damn that was odd. I figured it was the electric company meter reader because they do have transmitters on meters now and can read the numbers from the truck. Way I figured, they had to sit a while to get the reading, pulling up close to the house as the meter is, duh, on the house. I thought it odd that the car had no company name or anything. Our electrical company, while they should hide their highway-robbing selves, usually drives around on a truck with their name on it.
So yesterday I am in my garage, way at the back of the thing where the back door exits onto my back lawn. I had the big automatic door in front open, my Jeep was parked inside. I was using the garage to back of the garage as a shortcut to move leaves from my front yard to my backyard compost pile. I could go through the yard gate and go around the house but this was easier, rolling the garden cart filled with rich, sweet-smelling compost from the garage back door through the garage, on to the front lawn and various gardens. I toss the compost onto my gardens, fill the cart with front yard leaves, then use my garage shortcut to take the leaves to my backyard compost pile.
This car, THE SAME CAR THAT ROLLED INTO MY DRIVEWAY LAST WEEK AS I INSTANTLY RECOGNIZE D IT, pulled into my driveway, all the way up to my garage, engine was turned off, someone stepped out. I’d been working my gardens all morning, I was tired, the last thing I wanted was to deal with some kind of Jehovah’s Witness type. I stood by my garage’s back door, obviously busy with a garden cart full of leaves in front of me, shovel jutting out. I didn’t invite the person into the garage but I didn’t tell her to stay away either. She had to walk INTO my garage quite a ways to confront me, it’s not like she was on the periphery of my property is what I’m saying here.
She holds up her identification that she’s from the gubmint and indicated she was here to help.
I brushed her off, told her I’ve no intention of participating in that survey, expressed my regrets. At which point she should go away, right?
“Oh this will just take a few minutes,” she said to me, pooh-poohing my firm announcement that I was NOT going to do this, talking down to me, she was, after all, from the gubmint and our gubmint knows best.
In fact, get this, the survey, according to the brochure, would not take “just a minute”. The brochure indicated that the National Institute of Health questions would take a minute or so, but the “supplemental survey” would take from 45 minutes to an hour. Which was, of course, another reason why I decided to tell the gubmint to get lost…what? 45 minutes to an hour asking me about my private health issues? I thought the entire thing to be quite audacious and still I thought that somehow we’d been “chosen”, not at random, but on purpose. Husband, for the record, says he doesn’t agree with my paranoia but it does seem a mighty coincidence.
I slammed that shovel onto my garage cement floor with a thud, looked this gubmint bitch talking down to me right in the eyeball, and said with a low and very genuine growl “Go away.”
Except for maybe being gang-raped or tortured and murdered by a serial killer, right in front of my eyeballs I was confronted with one of my worst nightmares, all on a sunny breezy day as I pursued my happiness in my own garage, on my own damn property, being talked down to by a gubmint agent wanting me to sit down and tell her all about my health matters for the better part of an hour.
This woman knew I was mad. No, I wasn’t going to kill her. But I’d every intention, EVERY INTENTION, of calling the police to remove her off of my property and please keep in mind that this woman was deep into my garage, uninvited, quite intrusive when you think about it.
She backed up, shouting that I would now require the gubmint to write me all kinds of letters, imagine that, the gubmint writing me all kind of letters, the horror of it.
And so I went on the NIH web site and did some research on this so-called CDC survey. Folks, it’s the most heinous, nasty scam on earth, being perpetrated on citizens by its gubmint.
First thing I note is that once you are “selected” for this survey, the gubmint will make a preliminary stop at your house, to insure someone really lives there, as the web site informs. Thus this strange appearance of this lady last week. I guess she saw me sitting upon my front porch, all law-abiding and behaving, being a good citizen, and figured that somebody lived there, indeed.
The US Legislature did pass a law in 1957…NINETEEN FIFTY SEVEN!...that allowed the Center for Disease Control to survey Americans about communicable diseases. In 1957, and I was alive then, there was such as polio, Smallpox….I can understand why there might be a need for the CDC to get a handle on all of this. In 1995, while Bill Clinton was busy doing Monica, the legislature added an amendment to this rule, allowing the NIH to ask questions about health insurance and now this thing looks very suspect. What the hell does health insurance have to do with communicable diseases?
But it gets worse.
This so-called “supplemental survey” is, get this, PAID FOR by private businesses!
So here they have an intimidated American citizen. An American citizen that probably wouldn’t sit down with, say, Bayer aspirin for an hour, answering all kinds of questions about their health.
Below is a list, just a PARTIAL list, of all the sorts of things these “supplemental surveys” might involve, copied from the NIH own web site:
-Supplement content includes questions about:
• Cancer screening
• Diet and nutrition
• Physical activity
• Tobacco usage
• Sun protection
• Family history of cancer
Acupuncture
• Ayurveda
• Biofeedback
• Chelation therapy
• Energy healing
• Hypnosis
• Massage therapy
• Naturopathy
• Chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation
• Relaxation and stress
management techniques
• Traditional healer
• Movement therapies
• Natural herbs
• Vitamins
• Homeopathy
• Special diets
• Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong
• Prayer
Vaccination related to:
• Flu
• Pneumonia
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Tetanus
• Shingles
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
The impact of arthritis on the type and amount of work people
are able to do
• The receipt of medical advice to lose weight to improve joint
symptoms
• The receipt of medical advice to engage in physical
activity to improve joint symptoms
• Whether people have had a class to learn how to manage
problems related to their arthritis or joint symptoms
My husband participated in a study for fungus medicine when he was hospitalized. He was not “paid” in that he didn’t get a fee, but all of our expenses for travel and such were reimbursed to us. Companies pay money for these sorts of surveys is what I’m saying here.
BUT….you get a citizen intimidated by the gubmint, the gubmint has the scare power to make said citizen sit down for an hour and answer the questions that this individual would never do without such force behind it….damn, IT’S A BIG SCAM IS ALL IT IS…A BIG SCAM covered by an antiquated 1957 law now totally irrelevant and used by, again, copied from the NIH own web site:
Used by
• Policymakers
• Academics
• Other researchers
• Teachers
• Students
• Journalists
POLICYMAKERS? Translate that to POLITICIANS! Academics, researchers….all a bunch of liberal nothing burgers got no right to my personal health information. Web site with this information.
I’ll end by quoting, again from the NIH own web site, the words that sum up a citizen’s requirement to participate in this exercise of using the gubmint to intimidate citizens into doing something they would not likely do without the scare of some kind of legal action. Also, WHO GETS THE MONEY??? Cause you know the companies engaging in this action in cohort with the gubmint got to pay for it, right?
If it should happen to you, and God knows my torment might not be over yet, we shall see, below the summary of your obligation to do so:
"Participation in our survey is greatly appreciated."
Heh.
===========
As an update on this, indeed, two times now I’ve seen the gubmint lady driving down my street. When I sit on the porch my dog is always with me. I must assume she doesn’t want to walk up to me with the dog there as well she shouldn’t. While my dog wouldn’t bite her, the dog would bark and carry on. Once she pulled into my neighbor’s driveway and turned around to drive off. The second time she just drove on by. We also did get TWO very official looking letters from the gubmint.
On Friday, 4/29/11, she came onto my porch and rang the doorbell. In a foolish move I answered the door. Son of a bitch if the crone wasn’t there, holding her little computer, smiling and introducing herself. I said, once again, that we were NOT going to participate in this thing….DON’T THEY UNDERSTAND ENGLISH?
Here’s my question…could a private business do this?
Could, for example, a Schwann’s home food delivery service send me a notice that I was “chosen” to participate in a survey. When the Schwann rep shows up and I indicate that I do not choose to spend hours with them answering their questions would they have the right to: send me two follow-up letters informing me that I must re-think my refusal to take their survey, that Schwann’s desperately needs my input? Would Schwann’s be allowed to send their rep out to drive up and down my street, stalking me in effect? Would Schwann’s then be allowed to have their rep then come up onto my porch, knock yet again and with a sweet smile, inform me that they are here to take the survey I’d already refused?
Wouldn’t a private business be in big trouble for this kind of harassment after a legitimate refusal?
But the gubmint? The gubmint can do this, evidently.
Remember this folks, cause they haven’t give up, they will stalk me, who knows what else they’ll do to me? Today it’s me. Tomorrow it may be you.
For the gubmint is intimidating me that they get their way and nothing less.
The first 150,000 copies of former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's book will be published August 16, according to publisher St. Martin's Press.
O'Donnell's book, entitled "Troublemaker: Let's Do What it Takes to Make America Great Again," will cost $25.99 per copy, according to Publishers Weekly.
O'Donnell has said the book will include details about her 2010 campaign and her surprising upset of Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary last September. She went on to lose the general election to Democrat Chris Coons by 17 percent
.
In a news release, the book publisher said O'Donnell's book "will give voice to the quiet anger in America today: where it comes from, what it's asking for, and where it's going from here."
"From the moment she upset a heavily-favored incumbent in the primary for the special election to fill the Delaware Senate seat vacated by Joe Biden, Christine O'Donnell made headlines. Though, she didn't win the general election, O'Donnell did win the designation of 2010's Most Covered Candidate. And what people were talking about wasn't just gossip: they responded to a fresh, unencumbered voice that appealed to voter frustration with politics-and politicians-as usual."
O'Donnell has not ruled out making a fourth bid for a Senate seat in Delaware by challenging U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. in 2012.
She has recently formed her own political action committee, ChristinePAC, and is raising money to make independent campaign expenditures for conservative causes across the country. O'Donnell also declined an invitation to be on the latest season of ABC's "Dancing With The Stars."
(EDITOR INSERT-and in a fine example of impartial reporting, the News Urinal has to include the below)
It's also unclear if O'Donnell's book is an attempt to repair the battered public image of a professional candidate for office who made statements in the past about dabbling into witchcraft, condemning masturbation as a form of adultery, that evolution is a myth and that scientists were growing human brains in mice.
===============
========== Crickets
A long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) crickets were medium-sized black bugs we used as fishing bait. The common field cricket, http://bugguide.net/node/view/8007 , was seldom seen but we heard the males singing their courtship song quietly from the yard every spring/summer evening. Most often, the serenade was presented by one soloist, but occasionally a duet would be heard. They were calm, unprepossessing creatures, and I rather liked them.
Then in 1982, I got married and Harry and I moved to El Centro, in southern California. I found a field cricket in our first apartment, not too long after we moved in. The little male was singing in the corner of the bedroom, and while I enjoyed the cricket's song, I would rather it wasn't quite so close. I hunted for the noisy little bug, intending to deposit it outside. When I found it, I picked it up.
It bit me.
I was so surprised, I dropped it. Crickets don't bite, I thought. I'd put many on fishhooks as bait, and not one had bitten me. So I picked up the cricket in the bedroom again.
And it not only bit me a second time, I watched it happen.
The crickets in El Centro bite. They also flood the city every July. What starts as a gentle one-cricket song becomes a symphony of thousands and then a cacophony of millions. As the season fades, black corpses litter the streets and the smell of death permeates places like garages. I remember one night I slept with six singing in the bedroom because I couldn't find them.
That experience was years ago. We moved out of El Centro in 1984 and crickets have returned to the status of soothing, likeable critters.
Late last month, Harry and I traded in our old cell phones and got new ones. We match again, twin iPhones. Well, not exactly. His now rings like the opening to a Rockford Files show, and mine . . . mine has the gentle one-cricket song of a summer evening.
The phone isn't the only place I'm hearing crickets.
I received the letter of authorization for my stress test from my insurance company. It's been two weeks, maybe, since that letter arrived. I thought, Great! The heart doctor's office will call and schedule now.
Only they haven't. Not a peep. Maybe for them it's as stressful working with me as vice versa.
It's just as well. I won't be going back to them anyway. I have successfully arranged to transfer my stress test to a different heart doctor. One of my friends reminded me that we have an excellent heart doctor as a parishioner in my church, and I will be going to his office. They contacted me immediately upon receiving my medical records. It sounds like they have to do a consult, too, first. Ah, well. At least I know I like the doctor.
If I do need something surgical, I wouldn't have been comfortable having that other guy do it. This way, I can follow up on whatever I need to, without added stress.
