I’m not a huge Elton John fan. I found his later, over-the-top Liberace-style phase off-putting — but I think his early work is really, really good. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters is one of my favorite songs from that era, with its beautiful melody and cryptic yet evocative lyrics. Even now, I can’t walk into a subway station without singing to my inner self: “Subway’s no way . . . for a good man to go down . . . “
Posted in Music, Music videos | Tagged Elton John, Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters, Music, Music videos | Leave a Comment »
We all know about leap years, but did you know that there are “leap seconds” — and that scientists are arguing about whether to keep them?
Leap seconds exist because the Earth doesn’t rotate with absolute precision. It speeds up and slows down as it spins, making some days a few milliseconds faster or slower than others. The problem is that these little spurts and slowdowns put the Earth out of phase with the precise measurement of atomic clocks. Leap seconds were added in 1972 to try keep Earth and atomic clocks in sync. The leap seconds get added here and there, whenever the discrepancy reaches .9 second.
The randomness of the leap second poses problems for systems that require a continuous time reference, like navigation and telecommunications systems. So, some countries — like the United States, Japan, and France — want to get rid of it. Others, like the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada, want to keep it because they don’t want the Earth and atomic clocks to get too far out of phase.
After vigorous debate, a typical modern resolution occurred: we’ll just defer a decision until 2015. Seems fitting to delay a decision about time, doesn’t it? In the meantime, enjoy well those magical leap seconds — whenever they occur.
Posted in Science | Tagged clocks, Leap Seconds, Leap Years, Science, Time | Leave a Comment »
Tomorrow the Buckeyes play the Michigan Wolverines at the Schott. The winner will stay atop the Big Ten. The loser is, well, the loser.
Michigan has a good team this year. Tim Hardaway is one of the Big Ten’s best offensive players. Jordan Morgan plays a tough inside game. Trey Burke has been a huge help at point guard and has brought some scoring punch. Zack Novak is the three-point specialist who is the heart and soul of the Wolverines.
This is a game with lots of intriguing matchups. Who is going to guard Hardaway, and who is going to guard Deshaun Thomas? Can Aaron Craft stop Burke? Can Morgan play even up with Jared Sullinger? Which William Buford will show up? And is a Wolverine going to be unconscious from outside, like Brandon Paul was when the Buckeyes played Illinois earlier this year?
I went to last year’s OSU against Michigan, and it was a tremendous atmosphere. The student section, called the Nut House, was ear-splitting all game and obviously made it tough for Michigan to communicate during timeouts. I thought the crowd helped to pull the Buckeyes through to a win — and I’m hoping that tomorrow afternoon we see more of the same. I know the Nut House has some new head cutouts — including Urban Meyer — that we’ll see during the game.
C’mon, Nut House! Time to get loud and proud!
Posted in sports | Tagged Aaron Craft, Big Ten, Buckeye Basketball, Deshaun Thomas, Jared Sullinger, Jordan Morgan, Michigan Wolverines, Nut House, Ohio State, Schott, sports, The Schott, Tim Hardaway, Trey Burke, William Buford, Zack Novak | 4 Comments »
I wasn’t sure I was ready to see Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close. Even though 10 years have passed, 9/11 still is a very raw and difficult memory.
The film is about a New York City family’s response to a 9/11 loss that leaves a gaping void in their lives — but it is about a lot more than that. The story is told from the perspective of Oskar, a bright boy who suffers from obsessive/compulsive tendencies and related emotional problems. His father tries to connect him to the world through games and challenges. When 9/11 sweeps his father from his life, Oskar tries to make sense of his loss while at the same time keeping his father’s memory alive, and his mother tries to help Oskar as she struggles with her own, overwhelming grief. Oskar decides to accept a new challenge that ends up also causing him to interact with his fellow New Yorkers — all of whom also are attempting to cope with their own issues. The script manages to explore the emotions of 9/11 without being cheaply exploitative.
I thought Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close was a unique, intensely powerful movie. Thomas Horn makes his acting debut as Oskar, and he turns in a stunning, riveting performance as Oskar wrestles with feelings of loss, curiosity, and guilt. Tom Hanks plays Oskar’s father with customary deftness, and Sandra Bullock delivers a quietly moving performance as Oskar’s mother. The film is filled with many fine performances, including John Goodman as the doorman of Oskar’s apartment building, Max von Sydow as the mute Renter, who communicates through notes, tattooed “yes” and “no” on his palms, and facial expressions and body language, and Viola Davis as Abby Black, one of the people Oskar encounters.
An event as momentous as 9/11 deserves appropriately powerful cinematic treatment. Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close delivers.
Posted in America, Movies | Tagged 9/11, America, Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, John Goodman, Max von Sydow, Movies, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Viola Davis | Leave a Comment »
It hasn’t been easy for the Chevy Volt. Announced with great fanfare as the electric hybrid, alternative energy car of the future, the Volt has had problems getting traction with consumers.
The most recent news is that some Chevrolet dealers don’t want to take their allotment of Volts. The sales of the car have been disappointing — only 7,671 were sold last year — and there have been some concerns about the risk of fires in the Volt’s battery packs, which led to a government investigation that concluded the cars weren’t at a greater fire risk. Whatever the reason, dealers are balking at accepting lots of Volts and devoting precious showroom and on-the-lot space to a car that most consumers apparently don’t want.
Some people hoped that the Volt would lead General Motors back to profitability. The Volt hasn’t filled that role. And dealers are pretty reliable barometers of consumer demand. If hordes of potential buyers were flooding dealerships demanding a Volt, the dealers would be perfectly happy to sell them. The fact that dealers don’t want even a modest allotment of the cars is a strong indication that America isn’t quite ready to be an electric car nation.
Posted in America | Tagged America, GM, cars, Automobiles, Hybrid cars, Chevy Volt, Capitalism, Chevrolet | 2 Comments »
I was reminded today of the Great Blizzard of 1978. It was a devastating Storm of the Century, but I remember it fondly — and, I suspect, other Ohio State students of that era do as well.
A photo of an Ohio house during the Blizzard of '78
The Great Blizzard struck on January 26 and 27, 1978. It blanketed Ohio with huge amounts of snow, followed by fierce winds and enormous drifts. Fifty-one people died during the storm. Traffic was paralyzed. The National Guard was called out. Businesses closed down, and people were stranded for days.
None of that mattered one bit to me. I was a student at Ohio State University, and what I recall is that the Great Blizzard resulted in the ultimate of “snow days” for all OSU students. The storm hit on a Thursday, and classes were promptly canceled for Thursday and Friday. A four-day weekend, with no new assignments, at the start of a quarter! We bundled up, bought all the beer and chips and snacks from all of the convenience stores in the campus area that were open, and settled down for a very long party. There were colossal snowball fights just about everywhere. People in my apartment complex who barely knew each other hung out listening to music, drinking whatever there was to drink, and then moving to another apartment for more.
When OSU finally opened again, and we trudged across the snowbound campus, I remember one of my friends saying he was glad that school was back in session because his liver needed a rest.
Posted in College, Columbus, Ohio, weather | Tagged Blizzard of 1978, College, Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State University, weather, Winter | 1 Comment »
If you are a married man, you’ve probably experienced this scenario. You and your wife are friends with a couple. You innocently mention to your lovely bride that you are going to have lunch, or a beer, or play golf with the male member of the couple. When you return home afterward, your spouse bombards you with questions. How is Mike’s mother adjusting to the new iron lung? Has little Elroy accepted the riflery scholarship to Duke? How is the family dealing with the mysterious, apparently voodoo-related death of the family cat?
You sheepishly admit that you didn’t talk about any of that stuff — or anything else of significance, besides. And your wife, arms crossed, fixes you with a withering glare of disbelief — causing you to shrivel inwardly with intense embarrassment, realize for the first time the full and tragic extent of your brutish insensitivity, and vow that you will finally become a decent, nurturing member of human society.
Well, we all know the last part doesn’t really happen. After your wife gives you her amazed reaction, you actually think: why would I want to talk about any of that stuff that when I’m playing golf? Still, the encounter with your wife was somewhat unpleasant, and it would be best to avoid similar occasions in the future. But how?
Here’s a suggestion. The next time, spend the first five minutes exchanging high-level family information with your friend. Nessie has been named citizen of the week at the juvenile detention facility! Sally’s aunt has developed a powerful rash of unknown origin! The Jones family had a grand time at their bullfighting camp! Seize on those drab nuggets of personal information and lock them away in the recesses of your brain, because they will be your lifeline when you get home. Then, turn to more interesting conversational areas — like sports and which episode of Seinfeld was definitive.
At home that night, when your wife asks the inevitable questions, you can retrieve and the casually throw out the stored personal information, perhaps with a little embellishment. Sure, your wife will have countless detailed follow-up questions that you can’t possibly answer. Don’t even try. Just shrug and say that Ken said he didn’t know — and then add, with a hint of sadness, that you sensed that he really didn’t want to talk about it, and you didn’t want to intrude into what might be an area of intense personal concern for him. Who knows? Your wife might actually conclude that you are making progress as a human being and now possess more sensitivity than a gnat.
Posted in Family, Humor | Tagged Family, Humor, Insensitivity, Marriage, Men, Seinfeld, Sensitivity, Women | 7 Comments »
My name is Penny.
This week I had the best day ever. The Leader had a big bone. She could have kept it all for herself. That is what I would have done. But the Leader gave the bone to me. That is why I love the Leader!
When I get a bone, I start at one end. I bite it and chew it and lick it and tug it until the end falls off. By then, the end is very wet and chewy, so I eat that part. Then I bite and chew and lick until I have eaten everything but the other end. Then I do it all over to that end until it is gone. By then, my stomach is so full! Even though I am sad the bone is gone, I feel good.
When I get a big bone, it takes a long time to finish. I carry the bone with me everywhere, even when we go out for walks. I can’t stop looking at it, either. I take it to bed with me, too. I don’t even go to sleep right away, because eating that bone is so much fun.
There is nothing better than chewing on a big bone — except food.
Posted in Dogs, Humor, Penny | Tagged Dogs, Humor, Penny, Rawhide bones, The Penny Chronicles | Leave a Comment »
I didn’t watch the President’s State of the Union speech earlier this week. It turns out I’m not alone.
According to the New York Times, 37.8 million viewers watched the President’s speech. That’s down from 42.8 million in 2011, 48 million in 2010, and 52.3 million for the President’s 2009 speech to Congress. In short, 15 million people who watched the President’s initial speech to Congress have just stopped watching. And it’s not as if they lacked the opportunity to do so — the speech was carried on 14 different networks.
I’m sure those 15 million people have stopped watching for lots of different reasons. I stopped because I think the State of the Union speech is stunningly boring and I hate the stylized standing ovations given with robotic predictability by the Members of Congress of the President’s party. I’m sure others have stopped watching because they thought this year’s speech would be repetitive of last year’s speech, and some probably didn’t watch because they have just tuned President Obama out. For those formerly hopeful people, perhaps, the bloom is off the presidential rose after three years of a bad economy and widespread joblessness, despite massive federal spending and huge budget deficits.
The falling viewership for the State of the Union speeches must be of concern to the President and his reelection staff. In America, we vote as much with our channel changers as we do with the lever in our voting booths. And, if I were the President, it’s the last group of non-viewers that would concern me most. If Americans have given up and tuned out on President Obama, how can he turn around their negative perception of him?
Posted in America, Politics, The Economy, TV | Tagged America, Politics, President Obama, recession, State Of The Union speech, The Economy, TV, Unemployment | 1 Comment »
Ohio State pulverized Penn State tonight, 78-54. The Nittany Lions were just overmatched, as Ohio State improved to 6-2 in the Big Ten and 18-3 overall.
It was a good victory for the Buckeyes, who have won their last three games resoundingly after a tough loss to Illinois. Tonight, the Ohio State offense was clicking, and for the third game in a row the Buckeyes’ defense held an opponent to 20 points or less in the first half. The Buckeyes pulled away early, led by 20 at halftime, and Penn State never made it close during the second half. Jared Sullinger scored 20 points and was unstoppable inside, William Buford and Aaron Craft also hit double figures, Deshuan Thomas chipped in 9 and had some fine assists and rebounds, and the Ohio State bench got plenty of playing time as a total of 10 players scored.
The Buckeyes currently are tied for the Big Ten lead, but their challenges gets tougher starting now. Six of their last 10 Big Ten games are against three ranked teams — no. 11 Michigan State, no. 22 Michigan, and no. 25 Wisconsin. Those just happen to be the three teams vying with the Buckeyes for the Big Ten lead. In that stretch Ohio State also plays Illinois, which knocked off the Buckeyes two weeks ago, as well as always tough Purdue. This is the stretch of games that will determine whether the Buckeyes are contenders or pretenders.
The first big game is Sunday, when the Michigan Wolverines come to the Schott. Playing the arch-rival Wolverines is motivation enough — but Michigan also just happens to be tied with the Buckeyes for the Big Ten lead.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aaron Craft, Big Ten, Big Ten basketball, Buckeye Basketball, Jared Sullinger, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, sports, William Buford, Wisconsin | Leave a Comment »
Earlier this week the Supreme Court decided an interesting case that begins what will be a long process of determining how the criminal justice protections of the Constitution apply to knotty issues raised by our increasingly linked-in, networked, mobile device-oriented age.
The case raised the question of whether prosecutors could attach a GPS device to a suspect’s car and track its movements for 28 days without getting a warrant. The Court ruled, unanimously, that such conduct constituted an unreasonable search and seizure. However, the Court split on the question of the nature and extent of the constitutional violation. The majority opinion focused on the fact that prosecutors had physically attached the device to the suspect’s vehicle without consent. The concurring opinions, however, raised broader questions of how the government may apply electronic surveillance to suspects in an age where people carry cell phones and send unencrypted text messages and cars broadcast their locations. Do we have as much of a reasonable expectation of privacy in such information as we do in, for example, documents kept in a file folder in a locked desk drawer in our homes?
The Supreme Court’s latest decision is an example of how the law often has to follow, and respond to, technology. The Fourth Amendment language on searches and seizures and warrants was written in the days of travel on horseback, flintlock pistols, and communication limited to face to face conversations and written letters. The Supreme Court has had to revisit how the Fourth Amendment applies with the development of the telegraph, the telephone, and the automobile, and now it will need to do so again in our mobile information age.
I’m glad the Court came down, unanimously, against a warrantless attachment of a GPS device on a car — but that seems like a pretty extreme case. The closer cases will tell the tale. And one of the fundamental questions is likely to be: does the prevalence of mobile devices, and the abundance of personal information we routinely carry and communicate to just about everybody, make it more or less reasonable for us to view that information as private?
Posted in America, crime, Technology | Tagged America, Cell Phones, crime, Criminal Justice, Fourth Amendment, Supreme Court, Technology, United States Constitution | 1 Comment »
It’s amazing that Newt Gingrich has been able to depict himself as a “Reagan conservative” and surge to the top of the Republican field. After all, soon after he left public office he began to do “consulting” work for Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant at the center of the housing crisis that crippled our economy. Freddie Mac paid Gingrich’s consulting firm at least $1.6 million from 1999 to 2008. It’s not the kind of resume that you would expect to find in a Tea Party favorite, given the Tea Party’s disdain for the cash-soaked, insiders culture of Washington, D.C.
Gingrich’s firm has now released one, but only one, of its contracts with Freddie Mac. The contract covers only one year, which is curious. Has the Gingrich Group really misplaced the other lucrative contracts? If so, what does that tell you about Gingrich’s managerial abilities? And if he really has misplaced the other contracts, why not just get copies of them from Freddie Mac and produce them all, so we can see what the entirety of the arrangement was?
The article linked above reprints the one contract that Gingrich’s firm produced. It’s not scintillating reading — few contracts are — but it reveals that Gingrich’s firm reported to the Freddie Mac Public Policy Director, whom the Post article identifies as a registered lobbyist. The firm was paid a retainer of $25,000 a month, which means its compensation wasn’t tied to how much work it actually did. The description of what Gingrich’s firm was supposed to do is found in Exhibit 2, which states only that the firm was to provide “consulting and related services, as requested by Freddie Mac’s Director, Public Policy.”
However, Section 2(b) of the contract says that Gingrich’s group was to submit “an invoice that includes a detailed description of the Services performed” in order to get paid. I hope a reporter somewhere is using public records requests and other methods to try to get those invoices, which might shed light on whether Gingrich really acted as a historian, as he states, or as a lobbyist and influence-peddler, as his opponents contend. Interviewing the people that Gingrich reported to, and who requested the “consulting and related services,” would be a good idea, too.
I suppose it is possible that Freddie Mac paid more than $1.6 million for Gingrich to serve as a kind of historian. After all, Freddie Mac was not exactly a paragon of fiscal responsibility, so it may well have spent $25,000 a month for unspecified historian duties even though its business involved mortgages, not histories. Or, perhaps, Freddie Mac paid the former Speaker of the House to do other things. It would be nice to know where the truth lies.
Posted in Politics | Tagged Politics, Republicans, Tea Party, Lobbying, News, Freddie Mac, 2012 Republican presidential race, Newt Gingrich | 1 Comment »
Life can be difficult if you approach it with high expectations. You vote for a new President expecting him to live up to his promises, for example, and inevitably you are disappointed. That’s not a problem for me, because I grew up with Electric Football.
Electric Football was a toy, but its ads portrayed it as more than that. You would be a 12-year-old coach of a team of hardened football players. You would put them on a beautiful green field of gridiron glory. They would run plays that you designed, that pitted your football prowess against that of your opponent — tough up-the-gut fullback plunges, all-out blitzes, and the occasional, beautiful breakaway sprint down the sideline to the end zone. This was a toy that UJ and I had to have.
We finally got it one Christmas. We opened it, found the beautiful green field of Electric Football Stadium — and then found a bunch of cheap, flimsy plastic football players. The football itself was made out of lighter-than-air pink foam. We tried running a few plays, which meant placing your players on the field and then turning a switch to start the Electric Football Excitement. The field would throb with an annoying hum, the surface would vibrate, and the players would rattle around. No matter what the call, be it Cleveland Browns sweep, tight buttonhook, or long bomb, every play ended the same way — with every player moving randomly on the surface, some toppling over, and most eventually clustered on the sidelines, facing outward.
What a rip-off! We quickly realized that there was no true gridiron glory to be had with Electric Football, so we decided to make the best of it. We designed grossly illegal formations like the flying wedge or the ultimate volcano, in hopes a getting a player to the end zone. When even that got boring, we gave up, put the Electric Football in the closet, and promptly forgot about it.
So, when it comes to our politicians, my expectations are low. I anticipate random activity, I’m happy if they aren’t too lightweight and their humming isn’t too annoying — and I’ll gladly forget they exist after too many disappointments.
Posted in Growing Up, Humor, Politics | Tagged Electric Football, Growing Up, Humor, Politicians, Politics, toys | 1 Comment »
The Chicago Sun-Times has announced that it will no longer endorse particular political candidates for election.
The Sun-Times concludes — accurately, in my view — that people don’t pay a lot of attention to newspaper endorsements anymore, that there are lots of other sources of information available to voters now, and that many people just view endorsements as a tangible sign of claimed bias. The newspaper will continue to publish news articles about the races, as well as the candidates’ responses to questionnaires and video of the newspaper’s interviews of the candidates.
This development shouldn’t come as a surprise; the Sun-Times is just ahead of the curve. Newspaper endorsements used to be crucial to election campaigns and were touted in campaign advertising and pamphlets. But in the golden era of newspaper endorsements, there was no internet, there were no cable TV and political news channels filled with opinionated talking heads, and there weren’t thousands of bloggers and “fact-checkers” and political websites. In the modern media world, newspaper endorsements have been lost in the din. Indeed, the stodgy, sober, platform-based appraisals of the competing candidates that tend to characterize newspaper endorsements are at a decided disadvantage in an age when people seem to crave loud, shouting, over-the-top praise and denunciation.
I’d rather see print journalism stop endorsements altogether than try to compete in the shrillness department with the likes of MSNBC and Fox News commentators.
Posted in America, Politics, TV | Tagged America, Chicago Sun-Times, Fox News, MSNBC, Newspaper endorsements, newspapers, Politics, TV | 1 Comment »
The Clarmont, one of Columbus’ landmark restaurants, unexpectedly closed its doors today. The announcement ended 65 years of serving food and drink to hungry and thirsty central Ohio patrons. No reason was given for the decision.
The Clarmont was one of the anchors on High Street in German Village. From its dated, Jetsons-like sign, to its highball drinks and traditional steak and seafood menu items, the Clarmont screamed “old school.” That was one of the charms of the place, and made the Clarmont a restaurant landmark. It was a place to have a drink after work or, for some people, to have a “power breakfast.” I recall going there for lunch a few times, but I haven’t been there in years. Perhaps the clientele that appreciates old school restaurants has just dwindled to the point where the restaurant was no longer profitable.
The closing of the Clarmont is a reminder that many of Columbus’ former landmark restaurants aren’t around anymore. The kitschy Kahiki is gone. The Jai Lai (“In all the world there’s only one”) is long gone. Jack Bowman’s Suburban Steakhouse is gone. The Top is still here, and the Florentine, and perhaps one or two others — but there really aren’t many of the landmarks left.
Posted in Columbus | Tagged Columbus, German Village, Jai Lai, Kahiki, restaurants, Suburban Steakhouse, The Clarmont, The Florentine, The Top | 1 Comment »
