Sobering Thoughts |
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Comments on politics, the culture, economics, and sports by Paul Tuns.
I am editor-in-chief of "The Interim," Canada's life and family newspaper, and author of "Jean Chretien: A Legacy of Scandal" (2004) and "The Dauphin: The Truth about Justin Trudeau" (2015).
I am some combination of conservative/libertarian, standing athwart history yelling "bullshit!"
You can follow me on Twitter (@ptuns).
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Stuff (Twice-as-big Halloween edition) 1. Gizmodo has a not-to-be-missed "25 Best Geek-o'-Lanterns in the World." 2. Yahoo! has "The 13 Most Iconic Villains in Horror History." Iconic doesn't mean scariest or best, but I don't like the order on this list at all. 3. AOL has the grossest Halloween candy from Zit Poppers to Garlic Mints. They missed candy corn, which is not conceptually gross, but tastes disgusting. 4. Horror Blips asks horror bloggers to reveal what horror tropes they don't like. 5. Wall Street Journal has a story about campy horror films. 6. I don't think Spongebob Squarepants makes a sexy costume. 7. At BlogTO, Jonathan Castellino has pics and brief summaries of supposedly haunted abandonments in Toronto and beyond. 8. A do-it-yourself squirting blood effect. 9. Wired.com has top ten Halloween movies for kids. And you'll want to serve them a Count Dracula Coffin Cake -- here's the recipe. 10. The trailer for Halloween. Four and down (four games to watch) 4. New York Giants (5-2) at Philadelphia Eagles (4-2). The NFC East is a tight division. The Giants have lost two in a row and haven't lost three in a row since November 2006. Eli Manning is looking hesitant, which I assume is due to his plantar fasciitis. Last week, the Arizona Cardinals defense pressed the Giants and the Eagles D can be expected to do the same thing. The Eagles have had their own problems. They lost against the Oakland Raiders and a pigeon two weeks ago and their four wins come against the NFL's cellar (Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins), so although they are statistically comparable to the Giants, their numbers are built on the backs of weak teams. This is a vital game because of the importance of head-to-head match-ups as a tie-breaker at the end of the season. Victory comes down to last possession. I'll flip the coin and it comes up Philly. 3. Denver Broncos (6-0) at Baltimore Ravens (3-3). At some point we have to stop saying, when will the real Broncs show up. At 6-0, they are real. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that the Broncos would have the better defense at week eight? The Ravens have allowed nearly twice as many points (130 compared to 66). In fact, the Ravens are a middle of the pack defense now. Denver's Kyle Orton is an extremely efficient quarterback and very effective in the red zone. According to Cold Hard Football Facts the Broncos are 3-0 against Quality Opponents, the Ravens are 0-3. Denver continues their streak, but the game will be close. 2. Atlanta Falcons (4-2) at New Orleans Saints (6-0). The Falcons are a diverse offense with a competent defense that keeps them in games. They need to win to keep pace with the Saints in the division and to remain part of the wild card discussion. They lost last week in Dallas and never appeared in the game after a great early drive. Their secondary has injuries and was exposed by the inconsistent Tony Romo so it could be frightening what Drew Brees does against them. The Saints have the second most potent offense in NFL history through seven games and is on pace to break the single season points record established by the 16-0 Patriots in 2007 and perhaps the only question is whether the Saints will continue their six game streak of double-digit point victories. Brees is part of any conversation right now on the question of who is the best quarterback in the league. Six players have a rushing TD, six players have a receiving TD, and the defense has scored four times. Last week, the Saints were losing 21-3 with a minute left in the first quarter. They came back and won the game 46-34. The Saints are simply the best team in the NFC right now and probably the NFL (just ahead of the Indianapolis Colts). Saints win by a handy margin by dominating in the second half. 1. Minnesota Vikings (6-1) at Green Bay Packers (4-2). It's Favre Bowl II and the Packers want revenge. This game is both over-hyped and the best game of the week. It may not have warranted the media attention it has been given since Brett Favre signed with the Vikings in late July, but it will still be a great and important game. Green Bay has the third best passer rating differential (45.70) in the NFL, an important predictor of who wins games, while Minnesota is in the middle of the pack (11.86). Both QBs are having good seasons but Aaron Rodgers is better: second in passer rating, first in yards per pass, an 11:2 TD to interception ratio. (That said, Brett Favre is having an unusually low pick year, with a 12:3 ratio.) Vikes have the best red zone defense, so Rodgers needs to do something he has had difficulty doing over the past two years: turning yards into scores. While the Green Bay O-line has given up 25 sacks thus far this season, eight were against the Vikes four weeks ago and I can't imagine they'll let Jared Allen have his way again. The Packers defense needs to put more pressure on Favre and I predict they will, although by doing so they will open up lanes for RB Adrian Peterson. Packers edge the visitors to the satisfaction for Favre-hating Green Bay fans. Friday, October 30, 2009
Stuff 1. Divine Caroline has photos of cool-looking 1970s playground equipment. Fun and (in some cases) a little dangerous. (Loved Giganta.) Nannying safety nazis wouldn't allow most of these today. 2. Russia has 11 time zones, but that might soon change if one politician seeking to bring disparate parts of the country closer together economically gets his way. Gennady Lazarev, a United Russia deputy and rector of the Vladivostok State Economics and Service University, wants to cut the time difference between Moscow and Vladivostok from seven to four hours. 3. At the Wall Street Journal, Christina Brinkley writes about world leaders and business executives who wear denim. 4. The African Film Library. Tyler Cowen comments. 5. Go go Trudeau by Les Sinners. Fromage. Pointing the finger at Washington pols Russell Roberts, an economist at George Mason University and blogger at Cafe Hayek, testified before Congress on the issue of limiting executive pay: Americans are angry about executive compensation.There's more. The sense of entitlement is ... predictable Liberal MP Hedy Fry on the need for a special swine flu vaccination clinic on Parliament Hill for politicians and their staffers. Thursday, October 29, 2009
Four and down (amazing stats edition) 4. Last week, Cincinnati Bengals QB Carson Palmer had more touchdowns (five) than incomplete passes (four on a 20/24 day) against the Chicago Bears. 3. Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers doesn't get any respect. He is second in passer rating (110.8) even though he has a league-high 25 sacks. 2. Carolina Panthers coach John Fox said he is sticking with Jake Delhomme despite the quarterback throwing 18 picks in his last six regular season and post-season games. He has also given up four fumbles. Over that same time, he has five TD passes. Five touchdowns compared to 22 turnovers. Over the summer, Delhomme signed a five-year deal (through 2014) worth $42.5 million ($20 million guaranteed). 1. Despite Delhomme's turnover troubles, the Carolina Panthers ran 46 passing plays and just 25 running plays, in their 20-9 home loss to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. And, oh yeah, the Panthers have one of the best running combos in the game in Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. Delhomme threw three interceptions. Three and out 3. Cliff Lee and Chase Utley, not the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Yankees 6-1 last night. Lee was basically untouchable until the ninth. Tonight it should be a different story. As Craig Calcaterra notes at Circling the Bases: "The 2009 version of Pedro Martinez, however, is merely good at his best, eminently hittable if he's off. And that's when he's not facing the Yankees, who have basically had his number over the course of his career." 2. It isn't quite exaggeration when Jon Paul Morosi writes for FoxSports.com that the Yankees are at a crisis point. Before the game, the Yankees Baseball Prospectus playoff odds of winning the World Series was just a shade under 60% (59.87%). Today, the Phillies odds at at 59.3%. Winning game one is extremely important. 1. Darn Cliff Lee is good. Complete game is impressive, as is the fact that not a single Yankee baserunner made it to third until the ninth inning. I don't care too much about not allowing an earned run because I don't make too much of a distinction between earned runs and unearned runs, but surrendering just one run to a team that averaged nearly six per game is excellent. But this statistic is amazing: ten strikeouts and no walks. The Yankees win because they get on base and work pitch counts. A big part of that is taking walks. And as impressive as the stats are, it still doesn't capture how dominant, how control and how cool he was throughout the game. He nonchalantly snagged a grounder behind his back, made a basket catch of a pop up and never once looked like he was any less than in complete control of the game. Reuters is reporting the National Post will go under on the weekend Details here. My first reaction is that it is one less paper to read. My second reaction is that I've been reading about the death of the Post for nearly a decade and it is only 11 years old. And there's a prize to anyone who figures out where the balance is Keith Neuman, group vice president-public affairs at Environics, wrote earlier this month in Green Business magazine about what Canadians want from the Copenhagen confab on climate change: It is not that Canadians are ready to cast aside domestic self interest to support any level of CO2 reduction targets, or endorse restrictions that would undermine key sectors of the economy. But they do realize, and accept, that every country (especially wealthy developed ones like Canada) has a responsibility to the world community. Canadians as a whole will likely to be most comfortable with a negotiated outcome on climate change that falls somewhere between what environmentalists say is necessary and what their opponents believe is appropriate.Of course, there is a large swath of policy landscape between those two positions. Good luck finding it. Coming. Liberal. Crackup. Or, Rare Liberal who recognizes party is in serious trouble A few days ago, I noted that: [I]t seems that Canadians have come to accept/tolerate Stephen Harper and his Conservatives or have turned their back on the Liberals. Or a bit of both. Furthermore, this is not necessarily a new phenomenon. It is time to recast the narrative of Liberal defeat in 2008. It wasn't all about Stephane Dion and his incompetence. To some degree, it was about Canadians turning their back on the Liberal Party, not just the party leader.Andrew Steele, a Liberal Party flack who works with StrategyCorp, writes at length about his party's problems for GlobeandMail.com, and he seems to agree: Heaping the blame for the current state of the Liberal Party on any one person (recent beneficiaries include Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, David Herle, Stéphane Dion and Ian Davey) is hardly honest or productive. The problems are deep and multifaceted. Fixing them requires the understanding that no one person is to blame and no one person is going to fix it.I don't think replacing chief of staff Ian Davey with Peter Donolo is going to right the Liberal ship. As Steele says, no one person is going to fix it. All that said, I think the Liberals have had terrible leadership since Jean Chretien left the political stage: Paul Martin was Mr. Dithers, Stephane Dion was too much of an academic and not political enough, and Michael Ignatieff has had trouble reconciling his past life as a public intellectual with his desire to be an elected public servant. However, the problem with the Liberals is not merely the leadership. It is no longer the Natural Governing Party and Liberals can't grasp that. But they cannot rebuild until they get over their collective arrogance. Steele has a 12-step program to rebuild the party and a lot of it makes sense. Number eight is the most important: With the lopsidedness of the Liberal caucus, it is critical that the party look to its future and not it’s present. Too many questions about fishery policy or the Toronto Transit Commission and the Liberals will be a regional rump like Reform or the Bloc. Determine key areas for growth: southwestern Ontario, GTA shadows, Montreal suburbs, Vancouver suburbs, Northern Ontario, Winnipeg. Focus on these areas and what unites them.The Liberals are a collection of regional rumps; they are no longer a national party. The Liberals represent urban elites, teat-addicted Atlantic Canadians, a diminishing number of minority immigrants, French Ontarians, and federalist Quebeckers unwilling to make the jump to the Tories. There is a lot of work for them to change that. Hypocrites or con artists Investor's Business Daily editorializes on green fascists: By terrifying the public over climate change, the left hopes to rid the developed world of objects it finds offensive: comfortable houses, larger cars, unfettered travel, hearty meals, any conspicuous symbol of prosperity. In the left's handbook, if everyone can't have the biggest and the best, no one should — no one, that is, except for the elitists who'll make the rules. Mad about trade Daniel Griswold, author of Mad About Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization, was interviewed by The American Spectator Online. The whole interview is worth reading; he debunks the argument that America has traded high paying manufacturing jobs for low paying service jobs, defends consumption (trade is not about producers or labour, but consumers), notes that trade is the best anti-trust policy, and argues that free trade is closely connected to liberty. Key paragraph in which he defends consumption: The trade debate in Washington is all about producers. They have the trade groups and lobbyists. We impose tariffs on steel, socks, or tires, in a misguided attempt to protect "our" producers at the expense of "their" producers. Lost in the political equation are consumers, who are always the front-line casualties in any trade war. Consumption is not a dirty word. Without it, we would all be starving, naked, homeless, and quickly dead. Our paychecks do us no good if we cannot translate money into tangible goods and services. Protectionism is really about working harder for less. Alternative energy (Nordic edition) "The bodies of thousands of rabbits culled every year from the parks in Stockholm’s Kungsholmen neighbourhood are being used to fuel a heating plant in central Sweden." That's from The Local and I wasn't sure it was real, but Spiegel Online also has the story. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, New Scientist has a story on Danish scientists who are trying to turn pig excrement into green energy. Stuff 1. Mental Floss has "The Origins of All 30 NBA Team Names." 2. "The 25 Most Baffling Toys From Around the World," from Cracked.com. Many are from the the Orient or Russia. 3. Popular Mechanics has "six of the most prescient proposed items" by a task force to deal with the California water crisis. As Craig Newmark notes, "Not one of those six proposals includes allowing the frickin' price to rise." 4. At the Huffington Post, actress Natalie Portman compares meat to rape. Lucy Jones of the Daily Telegraph replies. 5. Rent-a-Ruminant: a Seattle-based company that rents out goats to clear brush. There is a YouTube interview with owner Tammy Dunakin, before-and-after pictures, and below a video of the goats at work. Wednesday, October 28, 2009
World Series analysis I don't have nearly the time to do the in-depth analysis I would like to do, so here are some bulleted comments. 1) As good as the Phillies offense it -- it led the National League with 5.06 runs per game and 224 HRs -- the Yankees are better, leading all baseball with 5.65 runs per game and 244 HRs. The Yankees are as dominating a team as they were in the late 1990s when a World Series seemed the birthright of all Yankee fans. Why are they so dominating? Only one Yankee regular has a VORP (value under replacement player, a Baseball Prospectus metric that measures a players offensive value relative to an readily available minor league or waiver replacement) under 27, CF Melky Cabrera (14 VORP) and he bats ninth. There are four players in the Phillies lineup, including their leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins, all of whom have a VORP under 20. Of the nine Yankee regulars, only one has an EqA under 292 (a BP metric that measure total offensive which equalizes for league and stadium effects, with 300 being roughly equivalent to a 300 hitter) while the Phillies have five such players. While the Phillies have a quartet of players that hit at least 30 HRs, only two Yankee regulars did not hit at least 24 dingers. The Yankee lineup is loaded with just one player a seemingly easy out (Cabrera who hit 274/336/416 with 13 HRs in the ninth spot). Three Philly starters have a lower OBP than Cabrera's. 2) I think the Phillies give away way too much by batting Jimmy Rollins -- 296 on base percentage -- in the leadoff position. Yankee leadoff hitter Derek Jeter has an OBP 110 points higher. 3) I don't care that Cliff Lee has a 0.74 ERA in three post-season starts or that Alex Rodriguez has a 1.516 OPS. I don't care that Nick Swisher is batting 125/222/156 with 11 Ks or or that Mark Teixeira has hit just 205 with one HR in October. These are small sample sizes. If anything, regression to the mean will help the Yankees considering that 5/9ths of their lineup are underperforming. 4) The Yankees have the better rotation. As good as Lee has been, the Philly advantage in his start is negated by having to face Yankee ace CC Sabathia. Interestingly, they are the last two winners of the American League Cy Young, when they were team-mates with the Cleveland Indians. While both teams will put a pair of southpaws on the mound, the Yankee splits aren't that bad with both left-handed hitters, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano, able to hit lefties (976 and 876 OPS respectively). Meanwhile Ryan Howard resembles Albert Pujols against righties and Omar Vizquez with a flu and blind-folded against lefties. Advantage Yankees who are likely to use CC Sabathia and Andy Pettite in three of the first four games and, if necessary, five of seven in the series. A.J. Burnett is prone to bouts of wildness, but he is also capable of dominating opponents. What the Yankees probably get is a pitcher who keeps them in the game. Ditto for Pettite. The Phillies are more questionable after their ace: Pedro Martinez is old and fragile and the late October/early November weather could affect his game; Cole Hamels who has struggled in 2009 after leading his team in the post-season last year; Joe Blanton a perfectly average pitcher or J.A. Happ, a terribly streaky rookie pitcher whom manager Charlie Manuel prefers to use out of the bullpen. The unknown in this comparison is how the Yankee starters do on short rest because it appears the team will use a three-man rotation. In the wild card era, 86 times pitchers have started on three days rest and they average 5.4 innings per start with a 4.59 ERA. Sabathia, however, has a decent track record on short rest and the Yankees have a deep bullpen. 5) The Yankees bullpen is hands down the better bullpen. Brad Lidge has been stellar in the post-season but he is still the closer who blew 11 saves in the regular season with a -3.26 WXRL (a BP relievers metric), a MLB history record low. The Yankees have three relievers with a WXRL over 2.50, the Phillies have none. While the bullpen got hammered in the first two series, David Robertson, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera can dominate opposing batters. Brian Bruney was added to the roster and he can get Ks. The left-handed relievers are a mixed bag (Phil Coke is very good in his role, Damaso Marte has been very awful all year). Phillies skipper Manuel is adept at leveraging his bullpen by using his pitchers in situations were they are likely to succeed rather than merely relegating relievers to defined roles. 6) The Yankees have the better and more diverse bench, especially now that they replaced pinch runner Freddy Guzman with corner outfielder/corner outfielder Eric Hinske. The bench gets better -- although the lineup suffers -- when Jose Molina starts behind the plate when A.J. Burnett starts because Jorge Posada is available. Utility player Jerry Hairston and speedy outfielder Brett Gardner have their pluses as pinch runners, defensive replacements and aren't incompetent at the plate if they remain in the game. When they are in Philly, Matsui will be a potent pinch hitter. In the NL games, all four Phillies bench players have batting averages under 250, three of four have OBPs under 310 and none have a slugging percentage over 380. 7) The weather in New York -- cold with wind coming in from the leftfield -- probably helps the Yankees. It will keep the ball in play and increase walks. The Yankees are slightly less dependent on the long ball and are much more patient. 8) Yankee skipper Joe Girardi over-manages while Charlie Manuel doesn't make many mistakes because he generally doesn't put players in a position where they are likely to fail. Advantage to Manuel. Conclusion: the Yankees have almost every advantage, especially if they can maximize using left-handed pitchers against Howard. That said, both teams have the kind of bats that turn a game around in a hurry. I wouldn't be surprised if the Phillies won, but I'm predicting the Yankees in five. Tuesday, October 27, 2009
My social conservative blogging Will be posted at Soconvivium, the new blog of The Interim. Check it regularly throughout the work day. Great deal on Buffalo Bills tickets I have two tickets to this Sunday's game between the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. Game is at 1pm. The tickets are in the first few rows of the top tier, with a great view of the entire field and the field of play, as well as the scoreboard and giant video screen. (You can make out players and numbers -- that is they are not just tiny specks on the field.) The tickets are regularly $51 each, but I'll sell the pair for $50 and throw in a $5 parking coupon. Contact me by email at paul_tuns[AT]yahoo.com in the next few days to work out details if you are interested. Coming. Liberal. Crackup. The Ipsos Reid poll released says the federal Conservatives lead the Liberals 40-25 nationally. That replicates the results in other public and internal party polling. But this comment in the introduction to the poll has to sting the Grits: Indeed, support for the federal Liberal party has weakened so much that, were an election to be held today, Michael Ignatieff would lead his party to a worse showing than his predecessor, Stephane Dion, did last October.Lower. Than. Dion. The Ipsos Reid poll has the Liberals closer to the Tories in Ontario than other recent polls (41-32 for the Conservatives) but this results from Saskatchewan/Manitoba either spells big trouble for Ignatieff and his party or raises a lot of questions about this poll: Conservative 60% (-7), Liberal 14% (-5), Green 14% (+11), NDP 13% (+3)I don't know if I entirely buy into a poll that shows a three-way tie for second in the Prairies for the Liberals, NDP and Green, but if it is true, that spells serious trouble for the Grits. Regardless of the accuracy of this or that individual number, the trend has been clear; it seems that Canadians have come to accept/tolerate Stephen Harper and his Conservatives or have turned their back on the Liberals. Or a bit of both. Furthermore, this is not necessarily a new phenomenon. It is time to recast the narrative of Liberal defeat in 2008. It wasn't all about Stephane Dion and his incompetence. To some degree, it was about Canadians turning their back on the Liberal Party, not just the party leader. Three and out 3. The New York Yankees will play the Philadelphia Phillies. These two teams met in 1950 in the World Series and the Yanks swept the Phillies. This season, the Phillies won the interleague series 2-1, played at Yankee Stadium. I will have an analysis up on Wednesday but here's my short take: The team who scores the most in more games will win the series. That is probably going to be the Yankees but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Phillies. Much more analysis tomorrow. 2. Mark McGwire is back in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform and while I'm glad to see him back in the game, I'm not sure how good he will be in his new role of hitting coach. Often the best hitters don't make very good coaches because they had some natural ability -- or perhaps in McGwire's case, unnatural ability -- that simply can't be taught. I also think he will be a bit of a distraction and that any success batters under his tutelage will be tainted by unfounded suspicions that they are juiced. 1. At Baseball Analysts Patrick Sullivan provides his short takes on three recent hires: Jed Hoyer as general manager of the San Diego Padres, Manny Acta as manager for the Cleveland Indians and Mark McGwire being named hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals. Sullivan likes the McGwire hire, noting his high walk rate is an indication of his patience at the plate, which is something that can be taught. Maybe, but a lot of those walks were pitchers trying to avoid giving up the homerun. Here, though, is Sullivan's bottom line which I entirely endorse: "The common thread in these three personnel choices is that there is a progressive approach that Hoyer, Acta and McGwire take in their respective roles. Hoyer is a Wesleyan grad who has worked alongside Theo Epstein his whole career in baseball, Acta speaks openly about sabermetric principles and McGwire's patient approach over the course of his career reflected many of these same principles. Baseball continues to evolve." Save the planet, kill fido The Toronto Star reports that according to a new book (Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living by Robert and Brenda Vale) large pets such as cats and dogs have a larger carbon footprint than cars. The Star reports "According to their figures, feeding a medium-sized dog for a year has twice the environmental impact of driving a luxury SUV for 10,000 kilometres." I don't buy it, but it could be fun to be a spectator in the battle between pet owners and greens. Not that everyone needs to ditch their dog; the article suggests that owners can share pets. Insert your own joke about cat owners and Chinese neighbours. Paragraph of the day In a Washington Examiner column, the Cato Institute's Gene Healy writes about the fact that not only do most politicians not read the legislation that they vote on, few act like they have ever read the constitution. I quite enjoyed these lines: Legend has it that Caligula also made his favorite horse a senator. Considering how lightly most of our legislators take their constitutional obligations, you could probably do worse. Stuff 1. "The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters," from Cracked.com 2. "A Unified theory of Superman's Powers," by Ben Tippett. Tippet says: "In this paper we propose a new uni ed theory for the source of Superman's powers; that is to say, all of Superman's extraordinary powers are manifestation of one supernatural ability, rather than a host." 3. Mental Floss has a cool quiz: "Who Said It: Dictator or NFL Coach?" 4. New Scientist reports on the Quantum to Cosmos confab at the Perimeter Institute, in Waterloo, Ont., where a panel of physicists were asked to respond to this question: "What keeps you awake at night?" Hence, "Seven questions that keep physicists up at night." 5. The Kea is the world's only carnivorous parrot. The BBC series The Life of Birds has some footage of them hunting a baby bird, but in this fantastic documentary from Natural History New Zealand Ltd., there is amazing and disturbing footage of the birds eating sheep alive, in the fourth clip at the two minute mark. British green advertisement designed to frightens children This is simply wrong. Here is a re-telling of the story that is more explicit about the anti-capitalist desires of green monsters. (Note: Offensive language at end of clip) Four and down 4. Patrick McManamon, a sports columnist with the Akron Beacon Journal, says the Cleveland Browns made a mistake hiring Eric Mangini as coach in the off-season. He says, "professionally, he has done nothing with this team except make it worse." That is true, but McManamon doesn't do a convincing job explaining how the shortcomings of the team are mostly Mangini`s fault, although he insinuates one (the Browns defense is overly predictable on first and second downs when they blitz with their safeties, making the team vulnerable to big running plays early in each set of downs). Writing last month in Sports Illustrated, Joe Posnanski explained why Mangini was probably the worst coaching hire ever, and the reasons are listed on page two of that article, but it mostly comes down to this: "Mangini had just been fired in New York, where he had done a terrible job. He had a losing record. His team had collapsed down the stretch, he had alienated his players, he was a pain in the neck to deal with. Point is: He'd already PROVEN how much damage he could do as a coach." 3. There are about ten teams that are truly and probably irredeemably hopeless this season. They are awful to watch. I'm looking at -- or trying not to -- the Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans and maybe the Carolina Panthers. They are as close to a gimme as as possible, even if the Raiders beat the highly favoured Philadelphia Eagles last week. They also create headaches for bookmakers, as Matt Youmans of the Las Vegas Review Journal reports. He says at one point: "The bookmakers and odds makers need to 'aggressively adjust' the numbers, [Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay] Kornegay said, so we might soon be seeing 17- or 20-point favorites in the NFL." 2. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins 27-17 in the nation's capital and while most of the narrative about this game for the past week was about Sherman Lewis now calling offensive plays rather than coach Jim Zorn, the Skins lost not because of strategy but execution. Jason Campbell threw two picks, almost fumbled a direct snap, and was sacked six times. He was absolutely horrible and one might legitimately question whether he is an NFL-calibre quarterback. But it wasn't completely his fault, because he played behind an O-line that simply didn't do its job. The six sacks don't tell the whole story because it seemed every other time he was throwing he was under immense pressure. 1. ESPN begins each Monday Night Football game with a song by Hank Williams Jr., and every week there are lyrics unique to the two teams that are playing. In this week's Eagles-Redskins game, Williams had this line: "They are going to pass more than laws tonight." MSM death watch New York Times Media Decoder blog: "CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks." That's behind Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN sister station HLN (Headline News). I don't quite understand this, from Times blogger Bill Carter: "CNN has steered opinion hosts like Nancy Grace to HLN, while maintaining more news-oriented shows on CNN itself." CNN is non-stop opinion. A headline on an Associated Press story: "US newspaper circulation down 10.6 percent as rate of decline accelerates amid rising prices." The AP reports: It's the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade's steady decline in paid readership -- a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don't charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.According to Editor & Publisher, 21 of 25 daily papers have seen a decline in circulation; one has seen a slight increase in circulation (the Wall Street Journal grew circulation by 0.61%) and three have seen no change. Of the 22 that lost readers, none declined by less than 5.3%. Monday, October 26, 2009
Stuff 1. The Sunday Telegraph reported that the United Kingdom's National Health Service has endorsed Nintendo Wii Fit video game. 2. Two news stories from ScienceDaily.com that make the 'Duh files': "Women Outperform Men When Identifying Emotions," and "'Difficult-to-treat Asthma' May Be Due To Difficult-to-treat Patients." 3. Writing in the November issue of Reason, Jesse Walker looks at the (unintended) consequences of the PBS program Sesame Street: it led to a revolution in children's entertainment which empowered parents and provided a substitute/compliment to state schools despite early assurances that it would do no such thing. 4. Foreign Policy has an article on the popularity of Ayn Rand in India. 5. From MoreNewMath.com:  In the spirit of Ontario's new anti-cell phone law Not safe for work and not for those offended by sexual content. Four and down 4. In a weekend of great plays in the three games I watched most closely, this might be the best: Tony Romo dodges three defenders to hit Patrick Crayton in the end zone to put the Dallas Cowboys ten ahead of the Atlanta Falcons. Thought for sure Romo was going to be sacked. 3. Six teams won their game by at least 28 points yesterday: Colts over Rams 42-6, Packers over Browns 31-3, Patriots over Buccaneers 35-7, San Diego Chargers over the Kansas City Chiefs 37-7, New York Jets beat the Oakland Raiders 38-0, Cincinnati Bengals take the Chicago Bears 45-10. I wouldn`t have bet on either the Jets or Cincy winning by such a large margin, and as bad as the Browns are, the Packers O-line hasn`t been able to keep Aaron Rogers vertical often enough to beat even bad opponents by 28. The Colts won their 15th consecutive regular season game, the Rams lost their 17th consecutive regular season game. The Patriots halved their margin of victory from last week. 2. The Buffalo Bills beat the Carolina Panthers to win back-to-back games and improve their record to 3-4. The Panthers saw their two-game winning streak come to an end. Big reason the Panthers lost was that DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined for a mere 114 points against a defense that ranked 32nd against the running game. Bigger reason is that Jake Delhomme threw three picks -- bringing his six game total to 13, and if you include his last game of the 2008 season (a playoff game) he has 18 interceptions in seven games. Another reason for the Bills victory is that Trent Edwards didn`t play. 1. The Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was every bit as thrilling as one could hope for, as the video highlights attest. It was the first time that Brett Favre and Ben Roesthlisberger faced each other. The defense of the Steelers was stellar, scoring 14 points, forcing a pick and containing the usually dynamic RB Adrian Peterson to 69 yards on the ground. Santonio Holmes made a run that amazing to watch, dodging the first five tackles, for a 45-yard play. (That also involves some great blocking.) I also have some good things to say about Brett Favre, who has been greatly diminished as a football player and person over the past two seasons. He showed great leadership by example in this game and I`ll provide just three examples: he blocked a defender after passing off the ball, attempted to tackle a returning defender after giving up a turnover and he jogged downfield to see how Percy Harvin was when he appeared hurt and wasn't getting up. Like I said, leadership by example. Also, Vikes receivers Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice made several nice catches -- highlight real catches -- that were as thrilling to watch as it was frustrating to see them get against the team you are cheering for. But great football is great football. In one, Rice was being pushed out of bounds when his toes, a play that happened so fast that two officials blew the call; Brad Childress challenged the call on the field which was rightly overturned. The game was probably the most exciting NFL contest since the Super Bowl. Something to think about Gregg Easterbrook writes a longish column about football and politics (not the intersection of the two, but alternating between the two topics) for ESPN and in last week`s piece he includes these lines about finding intelligent life from another planet: Has anyone given thought to how society will respond to the first contact? ... Think of how first contact -- even peaceful contact -- with another intelligent species would disrupt life.In recent years I have given this some thought* and the short answer is simple: it would probably change everything. The long answer is complicated and unknowable. Easterbrook says the world`s religions will be challenged. That`s probably the biggest change. Of course, the chances of communicating with creatures from another planet is incredibly small, so in all likelihood, we wouldn`t learn much from them, or them from us. * I think the chances of discovering intelligent life from another planet -- or being discovered by them -- in the next 1000 years is less than 3%. Three and out (Bring on Philly edition) 3. Seconds ago, Mariano Rivera struck out LA Angels pinch hitter Gary Matthews Jr., sending the New York Yankees to the World Series for the first time since 2003. They have a chance to win their first World Series since 2000. It feels fantastic. 2. That Rivera closed the 5-2 victory with a K seems fitting. It was his post-season record 37th save. That Andy Pettite gets the win is fitting. It was his post-season record 16th win. That Jorge Posada was behind the plate was fitting. It was his 103rd post-season game. It`s the 1990s all over again, and for Yankee fans, that is a good thing. 1. Alex Rodriguez, who will probably end his career as one of the four or five best hitters of all time, is making his first trip to the World Series. In ten playoff games he has hit 429 BA and 548 OBP with five HRs and 12 RBIs. For all the talk about last winter`s high profile, high-priced free agents getting the team back into the World Series, the Yankees are where they are because of A-Rod. Sunday, October 25, 2009
Four and down 4. You want parity, I'll give you parity. There are 32 teams in the NFL. Going into this weekend, four have perfect 6-0 or 5-0 records. Two more teams have but one defeat (one at 5-1, another at 4-1). At the other end of the spectrum, there are three 0-6 teams and three 1-5 teams. The vast majority (20 of 32 teams) have records of 4-2, 3-2, 3-3, 2-3 or 2-4. Those records are relatively close, although a handful of the 2-4 teams (the Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills) are not as good as their records would indicate and should be counted on to lose many more games than they win. It is still too early to make many judgments, but the fact is most NFL teams sport records that are at 500 or are within a game or two of 500 football. That probably won't last, which is precisely the point: it is silly to worry about what appears to be a disproportionate number of teams that have no chance or that have it locked up already. The season is always in flux and no doubt there are teams that look mediocre now that will be the playoff hunt come late December. 3. Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn is going to survive the season says Washington Redskins executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato. Can you say lame duck. Word is that the high profile coaches often mentioned for the job (Mike Shanahan and Bill Crowher) didn't want to take the job mid-season under the interim label and that Jon Gruden is contractually obligated to ESPN for the season. The way Zorn has been treated, especially with having offensive play calling duties stripped from him last weekend, has been horrendous. The question I have is why Zorn didn't quit. It has been painfully obvious that Zorn was made a head coach prematurely but taking play-calling duty away from him is a cruel slap in the face. 2. Just for the record, I dislike regular season games being played overseas. It involves a lot of travel that can affect the two teams` play for weeks, takes away a real home game from one of the teams, and is of dubious benefit to marketing the NFL abroad. So, according to NBC, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is hinting that there will be two games in London next year, four games a year by 2012 and possibly eventually a franchise. 1. Stinker game of the week is the New York Jets at Oakland Raiders. Statistically it features two terrible QBs (Mark Sanchez for the Gang Green and JaMarcus Russell for the Raiders) that rank 34th and 35th respectively in passer rating out of 36 qualifying quarterbacks. Sanchez has 10 picks, tying him for the league lead, and Oakland has solid cornerbacks, especially Nnamdi Asomugha. The Jets have lost their last three games because their opponents ran the ball. Oakland`s running game ranks 28th in the league. But the Jets have lost NT Kris Jenkins for the year due to a knee injury making their rush defense even worse. But the Raiders will be without second-year RB Darren McFadden. Teams generally do poorly after traveling cross-country. This game could be a low-scoring game with mistakes and sheer incompetence preventing either team from advancing the ball or a high-scoring affair with picks returned for points and defenses that contain the offense. But either way, it promises to be extraordinarily ugly. Maybe even Cleveland Browns-Buffalo Bills ugly. Stuff 1. Reuters reports that "traditional South African leaders" will slaughter animals prior to the 2010 World Cup to "bless the stadiums." According to Zolani Mkiva, one such leader, "It’s all about calling for the divinity to prevail for a fantastic atmosphere." 2. Virginia is so vain. According to Book of Odds, 1 in 26.15 registered motor vehicles have vanity plates, which translates into nearly 9.3 million or 3.82% of the nearly 243 million registered cars in the US. Virginia has the highest vanity plate penetration at 1 in 6.18 (16.1%). The next five are New Hampshire (1 in 7.14), Illinois (1 in 7.45), Nevada (1 in 7.8), Montana (1 in 10.2), and Maine (1 in 10.21). The state with the lowest percentage of vanity plates is Texas, with only .56%, or 1 in 178.3 registered cars. 3. Three researchers say that coin flips are not 50-50 propositions because what side the coin is flipped from can affect the outcome. Persi Diaconis, Susan Holmes and Richard Montgomery used high speed video photography to study coin flips and their paper is entitled Dynamical Bias in the Coin Toss, and it finds that "biased to come up the same way they started." (HT: Chris Blattman) 4. Listverse has "15 Bogeymen From Around The World." 5. The Eye to Eye Wearable Hummingbird Feeder sells for $79.95. Clicking on the "Two Minutes of Hummingbirds feeding, inside and outside, nice shots" video near the bottom of the website is worth the effort; it is more impressive than the YouTube video below. (HT: BoingBoing) Saturday, October 24, 2009
Four and down (Best non-division games of the weekend) 4. Arizona Cardinals (3-2) at New York Giants (5-1): Both teams have what it takes to win, but the Giants have more: a top-ranked defense despite surrendering 48 points last week against the New Orleans Saints. I'm curious to see how the G-Men respond to their brutal defeat seven days ago. Warner and company will put on a show but the Giants eke out a victory in the Sunday night contest. 3. Atlanta Falcons (4-1) at Dallas Cowboys (3-2): It is the first day game at the House that Jerry Built. Boys coach Wade Phillips said it is the biggest game of the year for his team because if they fall to 3-3 they'll have to "keep fighting our way back up." The Falcons have one of the most complete offenses and a defense that can keep games close. The Cowboys appear to have all the parts of their running game healthy at the same time (Marion Barber, Felix Jones, Tashard Choice) and the receiving targets falling into place (Miles Austin had a breakout game last time and Roy Williams returns from injury). It might just down to whether QB Tony Romo can get passes to his receivers down the stretch, which he didn't do in the late-game collapse against the Denver Broncos two weeks ago. I think the explosive speed of Jones, third-down bursts of Barber, and the off week all contribute to a narrow Dallas victory. 2. New Orleans (5-0) at Miami Dolphins (2-3): I think this will be a fantastic game to watch for two reasons: Drew Brees and the diverse offense of the Saints is always a sheer joy to witness and I'm curious to see how the improving New Orleans defense handles the Wild Cat offense of the Dolphins. I don't think the Fins win unless the Saints throw the game away, but it should be an exciting game that is kept fairly close. The narrowest margin of victory thus far for the Saints was a 24-10 win over the New York Jets on October 4; Miami will do better than that. 1. Minnesota Vikings (6-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2): The Steelers have the best defense against the run which will challenge Adrian Peterson and force Brett Favre to make more passes. The poorly rated Steeler pass defense gets a boost with the return of safety Troy Polamalu precisely when they need it. The Vikes have one of the best defenses in the game, like to blitz a lot and will probably get to Ben Roethisberger who likes to hold onto the ball longer than makes sense against this Viking defense. Could easily be a classic. I think the Steelers win this one, if for no other reason than they are tough to beat at home. Three and out 3. Some of the decisions by managers in this post-season have been baffling. So have many calls by umpires. But nothing was as baffling as watching New York Yankees reliever Phil Hughes shake off Jorge Posada twice while facing Vladimir Guerrero in the seventh inning on Thursday. Posada has been behind the plate in 1490 games (and more than 12,000 innings). Hughes ha pitched in fewer than 200 innings in 72 games. What the heck was Hughes doing? Why didn't Posada go out there and give him a serious talking to? Guerrero is a free-swinger and looked ridiculous flaying at a low curveball. So what did Hughes do? He threw a fastball about waste high. And what did Guerrero do? He smacked a game-tying single. I don't get the third-year pitcher with minimal experience (pitching in just his eighth post-season game) shaking off Posada. Incredibly nuts. 2. I've already noted Yankees manager Joe Girardi's odd handling of the bullpen in game four which (probably) directly led to the Yanks losing. That set up a narrative in which every pitching decision Girardi makes is second-guessed. So when A.J. Burnett went to the mound to pitch in the bottom of the seventh when the Yankees had a 6-4 lead, the colour commentators on both Fox and the international broadcast criticized the Yankees skipper for keeping the starter in the game instead of going to the bullpen. But Burnett was great after the first inning in which he surrendered four runs. He had largely maintained his speed and control and there was no indication that he was about to run out of gas. Girardi kept Burnett in the game which might or might not have worked out. It didn't. Burnett allowed a single to catcher Jeff Mathis and walked SS Erick Aybar and then Girardi moved quickly to bring in his left-handed reliever Damaso Marte. Let's say Burnett was lifted for a reliever and whoever came out of the bullpen gave up a single and a walk; then Girardi would be condemned for not sticking with his starter. Girardi made a defensible decision (not the one I would have made) that simply backfired. Win some, lose some. It looks more like a bone-headed move only because of the bone-headed decisions Girardi made in the previous game. Now every pitching decision he makes for the rest of the playoffs will be placed under the microscope and found questionable whenever the opponents get on base or score a run. 1. The Yanks need to win game six, and not just to avoid a stressful and losable game seven. The American League winner will have home field advantage in the World Series, but if it goes to seven games, the Philadelphia Phillies will have an advantage no matter who they face. They will have rested Cliff Lee, by far the best starter in the post-season, and in a position to start three games. The Yankees are planning to start CC Sabathia in game seven or start him in game one if they wrap it all up today (game six). If the ALCS goes to seven, the World Series rotation for the Yanks will be sub-optimal and Sabathia would only be scheduled for games three and six, putting them at a huge disadvantage. Tonight, the Yanks should play like their season and World Series depend on winning this one game -- because in many ways it does. Friday, October 23, 2009
Washington DC and the married man/woman A Pew Research Center study on marriage rates in America finds: The District of Columbia ranks well below all states in its share of men and women currently married -- 28% and 23%. Washington, D.C., is more like a city than a state in its characteristics, so it may not be appropriate to compare it with the 50 states.In most states, a bare majority of men and women over the age of 15 (odd age to measure from but that's another issue) are married. The lowest rates are in Rhode Island and New York -- 43%, so Washington DC's rates are exceptionally low in comparison to even the least married states. What could cause this discrepancy? Probably a lot of things. As Pew notes, it is more like a city than a state. Actually, it is a city and is not a state. So comparisons to Washington should be made with other cities. As a city, Washington has more young white professionals, more homosexuals and (disproportionately) more blacks. Blacks marry at lower rates. Gays can't marry in the capital. And the young whites professionals are probably even more career oriented than singles in other cities (with perhaps the exceptions of New York and Los Angeles). Four and down 4. Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher wore an Indianapolis Colts jersey at a Nashville charity event while introducing former Colts coach Tony Dungy. Adding insult to injury, Fisher said he did so because he wanted to know what it felt like to wear the jersey of a winner. Fisher's Titans are 0-6, while the Colts are 5-0. The New York Times Fifth Down blog reports that some locals weren't happy: "The reaction outside the room was more mixed. Fisher was soon apologizing -– sort of — on his weekly radio show after a caller questioned him about it. 'I was introducing Tony, just having fun with it and I really apologize if I offended anybody, but if you’re offended over the nature of that type of thing, then I think you need to rethink things,' Fisher said, according to The Tennessean." I agree with him, but he shouldn't have apologized -- not only because he doesn't have anything for which to apologize, but because he essentially followed up his apology by telling those he might have offended that they are stupid. 3. Odd piece in the Wall Street Journal about teams that play home games in domed stadia. Darren Everson and David Biderman start by saying such teams are dominating opponents this year, but later note that the lowly St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions (combined record of 1-11) play home games indoors, too. What do the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and Indianapolis Colts have in common? They are all perfect so far this season and they all play under the dome. The Atlanta Falcons, another dome team, is a perfect 3-0 at home. But when you take into account the Lions, Rams and middling Seattle Seahawks (2-4 overall and 2-2 at home). When I look at the Vikes, Saints, Colts and Falcons, I don't see teams that play under the roof, but rather teams that are well-constructed. Here is an insight about good teams: they are well-coached and have good players. In short, the management assembles the talent needed to win. The Colts and Saints have assembled teams with incredible aerial attacks, a good running offense and competent or better defense. The Vikes have put together a team with a dominating defense, a rush centered on the best running back in the NFL (Adrian Peterson) and the arm of Brett Favre who can make things happen and keep opposing defenses honest. The Falcons have a very good second-year quarterback that has three superior offensives weapons to utilize in Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White and Michael Turner, and a defense that keeps Atlanta in the game. With one or two exceptions, the Rams and Lions have few players you'd want on your fantasy team. It is isn't the dome, it is the team. 2. Speaking of horrendous teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who do not play under a dome (but do play in front of a prop pirate ship), are comprehensively awful. After starting 2008 9-3 they have lost ten consecutive regular season games over December 2008 and all of '09. Peter King at SI.com says: "As the Buccaneers GM, Mark Dominik, told me the other day, they're staying the course, and what's happened shouldn't be too surprising when you see they've gone from being the third-oldest team in the league in 2008 to the fifth-youngest in 2009. If I were a Bucs fan, I'd want to see the two kid quarterbacks, Josh Johnson and Josh Freeman, play about equal time in the final 10 weeks. That's the most important thing that can come from the rest of the season -- seeing what you have at quarterback entering 2010." The problem with the Bucs is that they began the year not realizing they needed to rebuild. During the off-season they denied they were rebuilding and insisted the transition they were going through with a new 30-something rookie coach and revamped roster was a "re-tooling." It is one thing to suck and be 0-6 when you are implementing a plan to be a better team for the future. The Bucs weren't. They saw themselves as competitive and thus they traded for Cleveland Browns TE Kellon Winslow to improve the offense. They drafted a quarterback in the first round (Josh Freeman) and then signed veteran backup QB Byron Leftwich to start while Freeman carried the clipboard behind Leftwich and Luke McCown. The fact the team went from one of the oldest to one of the youngest was evidence of rebuild not re-tool. Until the Buccaneers are clear about not being a contender in 2009 (and possibly 2010), they won't do what is necessary to be competitive in the near future. Again, shoddy team construction and not meeting the organization's needs, is what ails most teams. 1. Troy Polamalu's Pittsburgh Steeler team-mates talk (among other things) about how great he is. One says: "You can easily call him the best player in the game right now." I would disagree with "easily" but the proposition is defensible. (Full disclosure: Polamalu is by far my favourite player in the NFL today.) The video features some amazing highlights. Stuff 1. The Wall Street Journal reports on a real-life Dawn of the Dead -- the Zombie Walk at a mall in Monroeville, Penn. Regular folk dress up as zombies and walk through the mall. Favourite part of the story: "Derek Thompson, a machinist from Carrollton, Ohio, had one of the more extreme costumes. He bought maggot-like worms at a pet store, and attached three of them, still writhing, to his face with pins, tape and liquid latex. 'People get a kick out of the worms, especially when they touch them and didn't know they're real,' Mr. Thompson said." The Toronto Zombie Walk is this Saturday. 2. Cracked.com has "If Aquaman Comics Knew How Much Aquaman Sucks." (Warning: swearing.) 3. Listverse has 10 stunning images of outer space. 4. Bryan Caplan has "Seven Guidelines for Writing Worthy Works of Non-Fiction." I'm not a fan of Hemingwayesque writing so I don't agree with #5, I don't totally agree with #1, I do totally agree with the second part of #6, and think #7 is great advice that makes for an infinitely more interesting book. 5. AC/DC performs Back in Black. Thursday, October 22, 2009
Obama's executive pay cut The New York Times reports: The plan, for the 25 top earners at seven companies that received exceptional help [bailout money], will on average cut total compensation this year by about 50 percent. The companies are Citigroup, Bank of America, American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler and the financing arms of the two automakers.I find this defensible -- receive government money and government gets to set the rules. The problem isn't the attack on executive salaries and bonuses, the problem is government involvement in the companies in the first place. But put that aside. What are the ramifications of this policy? Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution: There is no way this will work as advertised. If the administration actually follows through, most of these executives will quit and get higher paying jobs elsewhere. Executives not directly affected by the pay cuts will also quit when they see their prospects for future salary gains have been cut. Chaos will be created at these firms as top people leave in droves. Will the administration then order people back to work?Unintended consequences cannot be overcome by socialist intentions. I thought Iggy was supposed to be super duper smart Toronto Star headline: "Ignatieff gets his facts wrong in Arar case." Michael Ignatieff, brainy academic from Harvard, told a British newspaper that "Canada sent Maher Arar to Syria," where he was tortured. Problem is it was his adopted country of America, not Canada that sent Arar to Syria. Celebrating homosexuality as economic stimulus Wonder Woman: From the same crowd that sends forth the hue and cry whenever a new Walmart location is proposed within the city limits, World Pride is all about the economic benefits to the city... Wednesday, October 21, 2009
New Interim website is up It has been a long time coming but The Interim's redesign is complete. The blog -- Soconvivium -- has a post explaining the new website and the blog. It will probably be a day or two until I begin blogging there because it is production week at the paper. Here are a couple of the most interesting articles that have been published in the months during the paper's web hiatus. My April editor's desk column: "Canada’s New Keynesian Government: The problem with 'pragmatic' conservatives." Relatedly, there is my review of Gerry Nicholl's Loyal to the Core: Stephen Harper, Me and the NCC. Rick McGinnis' column on Mad Men. Our August cover story on the "Changing pro-abortion rhetoric." Our October cover story, "40 things for which the pro-life movement can be thankful." Our September editorial on Corinne Maier's, No Kids, 40 Good Reasons Not to Have Children -- "Promoting childlessness, celebrating selfishness." A pair of Rory Leishman columns: "Ending abortion necessary to ease cost of aging society" and "Green crazies seek to cut an already-low population." A thorough history of the lead-up to the legalization of abortion in 1969. We also have most old editions online. Right now we have everything from the paper's inception in 1983 through 1994, plus 1996, 1998 and 2006 through the present. I'm not sure what happened to 1999-2005 because all that was online before the redesign. There are still plenty of bugs, but it is great to have the paper online again. Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Three and out (All things Yankee) 3. Here is the YouTube video that supposedly shows New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera spitting on the ball, thus convincing ignorant ball fans that the great closer is actually a cheat and a fraud. Nuts to that. Will Carroll explains why: "When I first saw the video, I had to laugh. Nobody would load their spitball by actually spitting on it. Running the video frame by frame showed that Rivera was spitting off to the side of the mound and if you follow the spit, you can see it pass the ball as the transition to the Angels dugout is occurring. There any many ways to load up a spitball, or the scuffball, but I’ll focus on the spitter. None of them include standing on the mound in front of the world and depositing an enormous amount of spit on it." The whole Carroll post is worth reading as it explains the mechanics of the spitter. 2. Game four of the ALCS tonight is insane with what has become typical this post-season: blown calls and strange miscues on the basepaths. But what strikes me as particularly odd is Yankee star Jorge Posada's game. An aging catcher, he got a stolen base. Then he fails to come home from second on a Melky Cabrera double off the outfield fence. Then he gets caught in a rundown when he gets back to third but strays off the base whilst the catcher and team-mate (and fellow baserunner Robinson Cano) stand just feet from him with the ball in his hand. (Both Posada and Cano are called out (the correct call) but then the umpire reverses the Cano out.) Later Posada heads back toward the dugout after the second out -- while an Angel was on third. Only explanation is the guy is on drugs. Wasn't he caught by the TV cameras using smelling salts early in the game. 1. I know there is a lot of criticism of Yankees manager Joe Girardi's game three decisions -- his baffling management of the bullpen and questionable ninth inning defensive change that cost the Yanks their DH in a tied game. There were numerous strange bullpen changes, including replacing RHP David Robertson who had thrown 11 pitches in the tenth and eleventh innings with RHP Alfredo Aceves who promptly surrendered the game-losing run to the Los Angeles Angels. Robertson was healthy, not tired and has superior stuff. As a friend of mine said, it all reminded him of when Montgomery Burns was a baseball manager -- although at least Burns was "playing the percentages"; I'm not sure what Girardi was doing. Tim Marchman has some thoughts that are worth reading, specifically that Girardi is probably not going to be the special manager some expected him to be and he has three theories to why the skipper did what he did last night. I like the one that managers, like presidents, try to avoid making the same mistake that their predecessors made. Joe Torre was a bullpen-by-numbers manager and Girardi has resolved not the make the same mistakes that his predecessor/mentor made. Are Wall Street executives ingrates? The story by David Kirkpatrick at the New York Times begins: The Wall Street giants that received a financial lifeline from Washington may have no compunction about paying big bonuses to their dealmakers and traders. But their willingness to deliver “thank you” gifts to President Obama and the Democrats is another question altogether.But read on a few paragraphs and you find that a half dozen are planning to attend a swank fundraising dinner at the cost of $30,400 per couple. Others are avoiding the event to avoid rewarding the president and Democratic politicians who provided them with taxpayer money. Others, still, are upset at the anti-private enterprise policies and rhetoric of Congress and the administration. In short, the story is much more complex than the opening would have the reader believe. Personally, I'm surprised more aren't going so they can try to influence Democratic leaders and the president to be gentle in their treatment of the finance industry. Stuff 1. New York magazine has the 12 most powerful people in The Big Apple -- after Nurse Michael Bloomberg -- including Rupert Murdoch, Al Sharpton and Anna Wintour. 2. Professor Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University explains how innovators think in an interview posted at the Harvard Business Review blog. The key line: "questioning turbo-charges observing, experimenting, and networking, but questioning on its own doesn't have a direct effect without the others. Overall, associating is the key skill because new ideas aren't created without connecting problems or ideas in ways that they haven't been connected before. The other behaviors are inputs that trigger associating — so they are a means of getting to a creative end." 3. ABC News has the "10 poorest cities in America." 4. Tyler Cowen lists his favourite guitarists in various genres. Cowen observes, "In general guitar is an instrument which works relatively well on YouTube." 5. Which puts me in the mood for Johnny Winter performing Jumpin' Jack Flash. Monday, October 19, 2009
P.J. O'Rourke on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize P.J. O'Rourke in the Weekly Standard: The peace prize committee members have achieved what Buddhists call satori. Enlightenment came to them through contemplation of an ancient Zen koan, "What is the sound of one American president doing *$@#-all?" The answer is "ka-ching"--a $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize.Two previous sitting presidents received the prize -- Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt started the Spanish-American War but was recognized for stopping a war that already ended. Wilson got the U.S. into the war to end all wars but was recognized for the Versailles Treaty although that treaty created the conditions that eventually led to World War II. Diplomats Aristide Briand and Frank B. Kellogg won in 1928 for getting the major powers to sign a pact that forswore the use of war to settle conflicts. Even the so-called "worthy winners," explains O'Rourke they went to individuals who negotiated peace "when there was nothing left to negotiate." In other words, who cares whether Barack Obama won a cheesy and meaningless award? I'd call it worthless, but it does come with nearly $1.5 million in prize money. Reducing government is an economic stimulus Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson looks at various stimulus schemes -- past and proposed -- and concludes: A middle way would be to scour government for policies that discourage job creation. Stuff 1. The November issue of The Atlantic has "27 brave thinkers." Glad to see Freeman Dyson on the list. 2. Cracked.com has "How 7 Iconic Movie Characters Would Do In a Zombie Attack." Good to know Kevin (Home Alone) McCallister's fate. 3. The National Air and Space Museum has "photographed, scanned and catalogued much of the museum’s collection of over 1,300 posters at the Paul E. Garber Facility’s collections processing unit this summer." The blog post about the project is here. The posters can be seen here. 4. An essay by William Cullerne Brown at NewScientist.com on future ownership of the moon -- and whether the Antarctica experience might be instructive. 5. Fitness magazine has "Germ and Bacteria Hot-Spots: 12 Things You Should Know." (HT: Newmark's Door) Notable fact: "The average desktop has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet bowl." And relax about the billions of bacteria in your pillow; they're usually harmless. Four and down 4. A lot of punditry will be committed over previously strong-looking teams that have lost two or three in a row -- I'm specifically thinking of the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens almost beat the Minnesota Vikings and I wouldn't be too worried if I was a Baltimore fan. But the Jets looked pedestrian in their loss to the Buffalo Bills and Mark Sanchez has had three terrible weeks, not being able to hold the ball (unforced fumbles) and being picked apart like a zebra carcass on the Serengeti. The Cincinnati Bengals defeat at the hands of the Houston Texans is also likely to ignite a chorus of criticism that the Bengals were a fraud and now they are coming back to Earth. 3. Just as it is too early to write off a 3-3 team, it is too early to talk about Super Bowl favourites. But I will say this: the New Orleans Saints looked like a team that could win the Super Bowl. They dismantled the New York Giants 48-27. Drew Brees was incredible: 23/30, 369 yards, 4 TDs, no picks. More importantly, he looked positively Peyton Manning-ish, routinely making great play actions passes and making them look easy. The Saints also had three rushing TDs. They did all this against a team that came into the game with the top rated defense. In New York's defense: they did score 27 points and Eli Manning was playing through a foot injury. This was an immensely enjoyable game to watch, with the Saints playing a fast-paced, pleasing, multi-dimensional game. 2. The New England Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans 59-0. Fifty-nine to nothing. The Pats were wearing throwback jerseys from five decades ago, but were playing like the Patriots of 2007. The Titans were playing nothing like the team of 2008, looking about as bad as a team can look. Tom Brady threw an NFL-record five second quarter and broke a team record with six touchdown passes in the game. The Titans looked confused by the snow, low temperatures (39 degrees American at the start of the game) and flea-flicker passes to Brady. But 59-0? I know I sound like a broken record but this is the effect of losing not DT Albert Haynesworth but defensive co-ordinator Jim Schwartz (who left to coach the Detroit Lions). The Tenny defense hasn't been as aggressive and it has hurt them. A lot. 1. I'm not sold on the Atlanta Falcons defense, but they do have a nice array of offensive weapons and they know how to use them: RB Michael Turner, WR Roddy White and TE Tony Gonzalez, with sophomore Matt Ryan looking mature and capable. They should be able to keep it close to the Saints in the NFC South and stay in the playoff picture 'til the end. They have a pair of games against the Tampa Buccaneers, one against the Buffalo Bills and four against NFC East teams including the Washington Redskins. They beat the Chicago Bears 21-14 in the Sunday night contest. Sunday, October 18, 2009
Stuff 1. I didn't much like the Boston Globe's "50 scariest movies of all time." I haven't seen the foreign films, but I wouldn't rate Dawn of the Dead as one of the ten scariest movies of all-time -- one of the best, yes, but not one of the scariest. The 1975 movie tops the Boston Globe's list the "Top 20 Zombie Movies of All Time." 2. World's manliest name? 3. Headline on a story at the Chicago CBS affiliate report asks, "Why Did 1 In 7 Girls Get Pregnant At Robeson High?" 115 out of the 800 girls at a Chicago high school are knocked up and I bet it isn't something in the drinking water. 4. Mental Floss has pictures and commentary of the the Mojave Desert’s airplane graveyard. 5. Captain Lou Albano, RIP -- an appreciation from TAS Online. He was a great talker which made him a great entertainer. Sure he made the WWF more cartoonish, but that is what made 1980s WWF wrestling fun. (I preferred the wrestling of the NWA but enjoyed the spectacle of the WWF.) Four and down 4. Four teams that desperately need to win: Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2) host the Cleveland Browns (1-4) and if they don't win this gimme match, they will fall to 3-3, digging their hole a little deeper; Washington Redskins who have another easy game, this time against the Kansas City Chiefs and coach Jim Zorn probably won't survive a loss to the lowly Chiefs who have won just two games of their past 30 games; Carolina Panthers can scratch their way back into a playoff picture by moving up to 2-3 against the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers; the 2-2 San Diego Chargers must win at home against the 5-0 Denver Broncos to maintain any chance at winning the division. 3. You want to know why the awful-looking Jacksonville Jaguars are ten point favourites over the winless St. Louis Rams? The Rams are averaging just seven points per game (and have been shutout twice) while surrendering 29 points per game. The Rams are playing worse than the Detroit Lions did last year. That might not mean they will go 0-16 -- they still have to play the Cleveland Browns (1-4), Oakland Raiders (1-4), Detroit Lions (1-4) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-5) -- but they are a mind-bogglingly terrible team. And I don't care if Marc Burger or Kyle Boller is starting under center. 2. I'm looking at the standings and I can't believe this stat: the Seattle Seahawks have given up 82 points while the Baltimore Ravens have surrendered 97. The Pittsburgh Steelers have given up 98 and Minnesota Vikings, 90. At some point this will correct itself, and I understand that points scored against isn't necessarily the best measure of defense, but it was surprising to see. 1. Incredible stat I came across at the Fifth Down: the Buffalo Bills "had more sacks in one game (six, against Miami) than the Jets have had this season." Missed opportunity? The Toronto Star has a story about India's economy and the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the world's largest democracy and second largest market. The Star reports: Canadian monthly direct investment in India has averaged $2.4 million (U.S.) since 2000, according to India's ministry of commerce and industry. By contrast, the U.S. has averaged $64.5 million. Belgium, Sweden, even tiny Bermuda have all outpaced Canada.In fact, we rate 23rd in direct foreign investment, behind Mauritius (surprisingly, the top investor country), Cyprus and Australia. These statistics do not damn the Canadian government as much as they damn Canadian business. Investors shouldn't need Team Canada tours to know that India, with its 300 million strong middle class that has disposable income, might be an attractive place to invest. I don't buy the reason reporter Rick Westhead gives: "Canada's lack of support for India's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council." I don't care how "personal" Indian officials take political slights, that doesn't explain it -- or fully explain it. The problem is not political, is not rooted in Canadian policy and therefore it is impossible to blame Stephen Harper and his government for this. Go deep enough into the story and there appears to be a rational reason for the apparent Canadian corporate negligence of India: over-regulation, protectionist barriers to trade and investment, a lack of transparency, and a culture of bribes. Not that the Star mentions this, but according to the 2010 Doing Business Report, India ranks 132 in ease of conducting business transactions. India has a long way before Canadian investors will find the country a welcoming place to invest; what Ottawa needs to do is press India to liberalize more of its economy. What the federal government doesn't need to do is hold corporate Canada's hand in making special, taxpayer-subsidized deals the way Jean Chretien's Team Canada Trade Missions did. |
