China - give me a fork

The Chinese people have a reputation as being a very intelligent people. But I'm not so sure. Just look at the Chinese restaurant. They start you off by bringing you tea. That's great , but when you pick up your cup you burn your hands! "Why" you may ask, "do you burn your hands"? I'll tell you why. Because there are no handles on chinese tea cups! How can a culture be around for 4000+ years and not invent a cup with handles? Or at least copy off of some other culture? Surely someone in the Ming dynasty should have said "hey, look at what those Etruscans are doing with cups these days. I think we can knock those off pretty cheaply". At least they could have come up with something like "tea gloves" to protect their hands. Maybe they just prefer callouses on their fingers. Cups without handles are not the worst feature of the Chinese restaurant, however, that distinction goes to chopsticks. How smart an idea is it to pick up your food with two miniature spears? They aren't even attached. You have to work them independently in the same hand. These tools are similar to those found with Neanderthal man 30,000 years ago. it may be time for some updating. Some people just have to use them to enhance their Chinese food eating experience (or so they say). I think they just like to show off. Face it Chinese people - Forks kick chopstick ass any day. Their easier to use and far more efficient. If you didn't clump your rice into sticky balls you would probably starve to death. So maybe Chinese people aren't so smart . Although they did come up with the egg roll. A perfect food that doesn't require any utensils at all. H'mm - food for thought.

The evils of blogging

Part of our brave new world is ,of course, the internet revolution. The ability for people from around the world to communicate freely and easily has changed the world. In recent years blogging has become an important piece of our internet age. People can freely express thoughts and ideas to others without needing traditional venues such as newspapers, magazines, books, and radio and TV shows. Editors and publishers kept many thoughtful, intelligent people from publishing . Sometimes because the writing may have been inadequate, sometimes because it wasn't profitable. And sometimes because facts were incorrect, or nonsense was being presented as fact. There was at least some oversight for what was presented. Speech was free, but access to the public was limited.
Recent expansion in the number of cable channels started to change this by giving rise to "smashmouth television". This is a show format that is especially prevalent in pseudo-news shows - that is shows that present themselves as news and/or current events shows that are actually entertainment. Where unfortunately most viewers get what they consider actual news. They are simply getting aroused by obnoxious moderators. This draws more viewers and so ratings go up , thus encouraging cable stations to increase the number and obnoxiousness of these shows. The profits are far better than actual fact containing news shows. These "smashmouth" shows are more like the popular "professional wrestling" shows.
The internet and blogging has continued and accelerated the changes started by cable TV. Now everyone, myself included, can present their thoughts for the whole world to read. While it is nice to be able express opinions to the worldwide audience it is imortant to remember that the people writing these blogs may not be reliable. I would say that most people have been conditioned since childhood to place more credence to written pieces. Mainly because over the years published writers have had to display talent and intelligence or they probably would not be published. This is not to say that nonsense never got published and that hateful opinion pieces never saw the light of day, but it certainly was not common place. But bloggers are another story. They(we) may be unstable. They may be hateful. They may be fools simply parroting words they've heard elsewhere. Maybe they just want the attention (and in their mind , the glory) that can come from putting their name on a written piece. Some may have the society's best interest at heart, but not the capability or understanding of an issue that is important to them.
Now more than ever we must be careful and analytical of what we read. This great new forum of public expression is a double sided expansion of our freedom of speech. While on one side there is more access for great thoughts and world improving ideas, on the other side there is room for bad intentions and divisive, hateful plans.
So, remember when reading blogs that aren't mine - BEWARE.

Michigan = Doormat

Michigan getting crushed by Oregon is almost as good as losing to Appalachian state.
0 and 2 and heading down. What could be better?

Me for president

I'm not entirely happy with my choices for the next president of the United States. We seem to have the usual array of candidates ranging from phony, to stupid, to bought and paid for.
Since I'm not phony, stupid or bought and paid for, I am , without doubt a better candidate.
So, I am now announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.
Please write me in on your ballots next year.
I will be glad to discuss my views with anyone.

The problem with Football

Pro football is the 2nd most popular spectator sport after auto racing - if you can call auto racing a sport. So the NFL probably doesn't need my advice - BUT, they're going to get it anyway.
The games are too goddam long! 45 seconds between each play is way too long. The networks love it. Plenty of time for more commercials. But let me tell you when you have to listen to overly excited fat guys yelling during the 4 replays of each play it gets a little tiring. A replay of a great play is okay. But these guys replay every single play multiple times. Hey, most plays are no big deal. Some of them actually suck. I don't really need to see these plays over and over. From the strong side, from the weak side, from the blimp and from the running back's left testicle. No , I don't need it. And then to hear the analyst screaming with excitement - "Wow, if the linebacker had lined up 8 inches to his left he would have been able to avoid the block and make the tackle". That's the first replay. The second replay goes like this " Watch the left guard turn his head, if the nose tackle had been looking he could have jumped on top of him and drawn an illegal procedure". Now the third replay well that's the really important one. It goes "If the running back had looked back to his left he could have stopped, done a 360 and cut back through the 6 inch opening between those 2 325 pound guys and then it's clear sailing to the end zone". You know what. I don't give a crap. The guy ran for a 2 yard gain. Just shut the hell up! You know it is ok to have an unexpressed thought.
So here's what the NFL needs to do to get me back and enhance the experience for you many millions of fans who don't know your being needlessly bored.
Ready?
Reduce the amount of time between plays from 45 seconds to 25 seconds. It shouldn't be too hard. We're dealing with top professional athletes who are mostly in their 20's. I think they can get back to the line of scrimmage in time. If they're tired maybe some of rarely used back ups can play.
Just 20 seconds - that's all I ask.

BP update

BP said they may decide against the extra dumping in lake michigan. The next day the state of Indiana approved BP to emit double the allowable amount of soot into the atmosphere. Who's payroll are these Indiana guys on?
The boycott continues!

Michigan loses to Hadley school for the blind

Mighty 5th ranked Michigan lost to Appalachian State! This is a school that is so obscure I'm not even sure I spelled it right. They're not even a division 1 school. Yes there's joy in Illiniland. Maybe not quite as much as if Illinois actually went on say a 1 game winning streak or even 2 big ten wins in only one season, but still the pleasure of seeing 100,000 fans filing out of a stadium in shock and disbelief shedding their blue and yellow tears is hard to top. I suppose if you really want to understand the feeling you can ask an Illinois born and raised Michigan fan. Although extremely rare there is one in the northwest suburbs. I don't want to say his say his name to save his family from embarrassment and scorn. I guess I can disguise his name to Clark Feinstein.
Anyway , I just wanted to enjoy the fact that Michigan suffered what may be the most embarrassing defeat in c0llege football history.