Exploring the Intriguing
Author: whodeanny
Where are the articles comparing Karl Rove’s book to George W. Bush’s book?
Since Rove seems to have fictionalized some of his account, does Bush correct the story? Are the trouble spots, uh, I mean, decision points, critical ones? Have we already decided that we just don’t care anymore? Never mind. I shouldn’t ask the question if I can’t accept the answer…
FDO
The lack of attention generated in America by World AIDS Day this week was astonishing. It’s a great sign and a horrible indicator all at once. I suggested a couple months ago that Americans don’t have the same level of fear about acquiring HIV since it no longer feels like the death sentence it once was. That’s just fantastic but HIV rates in the US are still MUCH higher than they need to be. While America has done a phenomenal job of reducing mother-to-child transmissions, virtually every other infection route is still clearly common. What I haven’t figured out is why there’s so little effort being made on this front.
There is an estimate that around 20% of people in the US living with HIV don’t even know it yet! More than a million Americans are likely HIV+ and we just seem kinda fine with that. This is a preventable disease! Somehow though, there’s not much public space for outrage, worry or even conversation.
FDO
PS- I was forwarded this post about celebs attempting to raise money for World AIDS Day. The effort was a disaster.
Felix Hernandez won the American League Cy Young award yesterday in what is being touted as a harbinger of a new age of baseball. In this new age, statistical complexity trumps conventional wisdom, and in some ways, the ability to believe what we see. One of the many charms of baseball is the ability to create much of individual games through the standard box score. At bats, runs, hits, RBI. Many baseball fans can get 95% of a game’s flow correct from those four stats in a box score. Any game! We can also determine the success level of players based on those box scores. For some, box scores have been an obsession because they indicate so much about baseball. (Tim Kurkjian writes about this beautifully.)
What sabermetric statistical analysis has done is to de-value what we see in our box scores. Those cherished box scores are only a portion of what indicates a player’s success. Discovering that the baseball writers who vote on Cy Young and other awards are willing to look beyond the box scores and the conventional measures of success really does seem to be an indication of how thoroughly this sabermetric revolution has taken hold.
There are two near certain next steps. One, virtually all baseball television coverage will soon show stat lines that shift during an at-bat. We’ll still see Batting Average, Runs Batted In and Home Runs. Then the scroll will shift to include On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage and On-Base + Slugging Percentage. Then the scroll will shift again to include RC27 (Runs Created per 27 Innings), SECA (Secondary Average), ISOP (Isolated Power) and TB (Total Bases). By 2020, every kid discovering baseball will know those terms as naturally as I do ERA. And when that happens, the second next step will occur. Every computer will have ‘sabermetric’ in its spellcheck.
FDO
My son is 13 and we've decided that after Thanksgiving we'll make him begin using an alarm clock to wake himself. I tried to remember why we've waited so long and then figured out that the problem earlier was the tool. Here's a flashback from a few years ago.
FDO
My kid has a Finding Nemo alarm clock and the tone is legitimately painful! Whatthehell!?!? Why on earth would someone choose to mass produce a children's alarm clock that hurts the ears of everyone in its presence?
Is the intention for people to throw their pillows at it?
Do you think it was designed to annoy parents enough that they’ll stay out of their kids’ rooms? Ish.
Things are fine, really
I’m a little bored
But mostly restless
With lots of pent up energy
Needing release
Sitting at a desk doesn’t help
The light isn’t quite right
And the room is stuffy
Mostly because I don’t have any burning need
To write or sleep
Or even to be awake
All that artistic suffering
Doesn’t amount to much when the fridge is full
And even the rain is warm
© Gayle Force Press 2002
In the last decade or so, I’ve been consistently amazed that so many Americans seem to succeed… by failing.
It’s not always clear failure but, often at least, people get rewarded without rising to the level we would expect to be required. Sometimes it’s about taking advantage of personal relationships while other times, it’s about public perception. Consider that attending (and re-attending) rehab has been the spark plug for dozens of careers in the entertainment industry even though addiction is often a career killer for average people.
Rod Blagojevich was a virtual nobody until he was caught trying to sell a Senate seat. Now he’s cashed in tremendously and has the kind of name recognition that most governors only dream of obtaining. Amazingly, Blago is not only getting rich but he’s still famous, not infamous. Whatthehell?
Harriet Miers almost joined the Supreme Court solely because she was George W. Bush’s close friend and counsel. She was widely viewed as incompetent and it was only the uniformity of this view that kept her from rising to a lifetime appointment interpreting America’s laws. Scary stuff.
Conan O’Brien seems the best current example of this phenomenon. Maybe he’s actually the ultimate late night talk show host and I just haven’t noticed… This week he’s been at the top of the media world having been rewarded with a brand new TBS show, overwhelming public affection and a second giant contract. All this, even though he was booted from his dream job to make way for Jay Leno’s return. NBC would never have made that move if Conan’s audience were as big as Jay’s so in the most direct sense, Conan’s show failed. What is it that could possibly have built so much buzz that Conan is now bigger than he’s ever been?
It seems as though we not only accept failure, we often reward it. Now, if I can only convince someone with clout that my career as a poet has been a disaster…
FDO
I love that people still talk about ‘reading the paper’ even when all their news sources are electronic.
FDO
In another saddening but unsurprising addition to the large and steadily growing library of football head trauma victims add Jim McMahon. The Super Bowl champion quarterback for the Chicago Bears describes the horrifying memory loss he suffers now. AT AGE 51!
It’s amazing that so many of the current generation of players are still resisting efforts to make the game safer. Especially when they see some of their own football heroes, like McMahon, experiencing a clearly declining quality of life.
FDO
Health insurance should no longer be seen as optional. The CDC has released a new report that indicates more than 59 million Americans were without health insurance for some portion of 2009. Adults between 18 and 64 accounted for 50 million of that total. This is another great indication that broader health care inclusion for this country was a real necessity.
Everyone knows that the costs of health care, or worse, the costs of going without health care, are extraordinary. What has not received enough attention is the depth and breadth of the problem. This issue is not about poverty or race or even the recession. It’s about individuals and families being overwhelmed by systems they don’t understand and costs they can’t manage. That is precisely when the government should intervene. The Obama administration should broadcast this report as loudly as possible to help make the case that health care reform is critical and repealing it would be disastrously cruel. Besides, as I recently asked, when Americans begin receiving additional coverage, who among us will want it to go away?
FDO
I’m not that interested in reading what President George W. Bush has to say about the topics he’s interested in discussing. Today is the release date for his book but I have a very different list of things I want to know. Namely, what were his immediate reactions to some of the events that happened while he was in office.
These aren’t the most important things, just important things Bush wouldn’t necessarily have known about it in advance. First responses are always telling. Inquiring minds want to know.
Here’s my list:
The first American has died in Afghanistan
Daniel Pearl is killed
Pat Tillman
Columbia disaster
Saddam Hussein’s capture
Re-election is confirmed (Remember that in the 2004 Election Bush almost lost in a similar fashion to the 2000 Election he won. That year, Ohio could have disrupted the popular vote/Electoral College relationship.)
Colin Powell’s resignation
Fidel Castro’s resignation
Sarah Palin as John McCain’s VP choice
Barack Obama winning Nobel Peace Prize
FDO
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