Friday, July 22, 2005
Headhunter---T-Ball Style
In what most likely is the worst case of player/coach insanity I've ever read, it appears that "very competitive" T-Ball coach Mark Downs, of southwestern Pennsylvania (land of my birth) paid a player on his team $25 to hit a teammate with a ball so that Downs wouldn't have to play him.
Why?
Because the player was mentally disabled and Downs didn't want to be forced to play him, as T-ball rules stipulate.
This would be disgusting enough if it happened at a pro or college level, but T-ball is for 5-7 year olds, there's no pitching, and it's mostly played to get kids interested in the game. If you've ever watched T-ball in 'action' then you know, there ain't much action. Batters routinely strike out by hitting the rubber 'tee' instead of the ball on top of it. When kids do make contact and the ball dribbles into the shallow infield, it's an even money bet as to whether the kid will run to first or third base. Not exactly the venue for 'Coach' Downs' vision of sports glory in all of it's warpedness.
Words truly fail me here--and that's not easy.
In what most likely is the worst case of player/coach insanity I've ever read, it appears that "very competitive" T-Ball coach Mark Downs, of southwestern Pennsylvania (land of my birth) paid a player on his team $25 to hit a teammate with a ball so that Downs wouldn't have to play him.
Why?
Because the player was mentally disabled and Downs didn't want to be forced to play him, as T-ball rules stipulate.
This would be disgusting enough if it happened at a pro or college level, but T-ball is for 5-7 year olds, there's no pitching, and it's mostly played to get kids interested in the game. If you've ever watched T-ball in 'action' then you know, there ain't much action. Batters routinely strike out by hitting the rubber 'tee' instead of the ball on top of it. When kids do make contact and the ball dribbles into the shallow infield, it's an even money bet as to whether the kid will run to first or third base. Not exactly the venue for 'Coach' Downs' vision of sports glory in all of it's warpedness.
Words truly fail me here--and that's not easy.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
"Show Me" How to be a Slacker
A new study reveals some startling facts--Americans screw off at work far more than was previously thought by HR professionals! I guess none of the folks doing the study must have email, web, or solitaire on their workstations like the rest of us. Truth be told, I've yet to be convinced that this is a bad thing really. I mean, the work we're capable of with just basic Microsoft Office technology is staggering. Think about making a flyer, or a calendar, or even cc'ing a memo in the pre-computer days. I spent weeks making a calendar in industrial design shop class in High School. I could bang out an even better product in half an hour using my computer.
But where has all this technology gotten the average worker? Our productivity has soared but wages have remained pretty stagnant over the last few decades. In essence, we do an awful lot more for similar or lesser pay. Put another way, if we do scads more work in the day than was possible in 1980, and were paid based on the productivity standards of that day, we'd all be really, really rich. But we're not. So human ingenuity comes into play and we learn to play through parts of each and everyday.
As alluded to in the title, it turns out that this study found citizens of Missouri waste more time at work than those of any other state. Though, to be honest, it was pretty close. As expected, the Governor and other reps of the 'Show Me' state got huffy.
"Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt was a little prickly. "Nobody can
match the work ethic of Missourians. This survey, which our busiest
citizens did not want to waste their time on, cannot undermine decades
of experience. Missouri workers are among the most productive in the
world."
I do love how whenever this sort of 'news' hits the local pols and pundits feel a need to get all indignant about it. They go insane picking over the study's methodology with a fine-toothed comb. C'mon, I'm sure not all Missourians are that expert at slacking. But hey, with an average of 3 hours and 12 minutes squandered a day, that's pretty impressive. I think Governor Blunt should take the high road here, the possibilities are boundless. "Missourians--we're smarter than you." or "Missouri--We get more done by 1 pm than you. . . and then we just sit around the rest of the day."
I mean lets make some lemonade here, Mr. Governor. And then while its chilling you can bid for some crap on eBay or check out some internet porn or something. That way you'd be a shoe-in for re-election--a True Man of His People
A new study reveals some startling facts--Americans screw off at work far more than was previously thought by HR professionals! I guess none of the folks doing the study must have email, web, or solitaire on their workstations like the rest of us. Truth be told, I've yet to be convinced that this is a bad thing really. I mean, the work we're capable of with just basic Microsoft Office technology is staggering. Think about making a flyer, or a calendar, or even cc'ing a memo in the pre-computer days. I spent weeks making a calendar in industrial design shop class in High School. I could bang out an even better product in half an hour using my computer.
But where has all this technology gotten the average worker? Our productivity has soared but wages have remained pretty stagnant over the last few decades. In essence, we do an awful lot more for similar or lesser pay. Put another way, if we do scads more work in the day than was possible in 1980, and were paid based on the productivity standards of that day, we'd all be really, really rich. But we're not. So human ingenuity comes into play and we learn to play through parts of each and everyday.
As alluded to in the title, it turns out that this study found citizens of Missouri waste more time at work than those of any other state. Though, to be honest, it was pretty close. As expected, the Governor and other reps of the 'Show Me' state got huffy.
"Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt was a little prickly. "Nobody can
match the work ethic of Missourians. This survey, which our busiest
citizens did not want to waste their time on, cannot undermine decades
of experience. Missouri workers are among the most productive in the
world."
I do love how whenever this sort of 'news' hits the local pols and pundits feel a need to get all indignant about it. They go insane picking over the study's methodology with a fine-toothed comb. C'mon, I'm sure not all Missourians are that expert at slacking. But hey, with an average of 3 hours and 12 minutes squandered a day, that's pretty impressive. I think Governor Blunt should take the high road here, the possibilities are boundless. "Missourians--we're smarter than you." or "Missouri--We get more done by 1 pm than you. . . and then we just sit around the rest of the day."
I mean lets make some lemonade here, Mr. Governor. And then while its chilling you can bid for some crap on eBay or check out some internet porn or something. That way you'd be a shoe-in for re-election--a True Man of His People
Friday, July 08, 2005
Our Man in Tashkent. . . for now
Yes, it seems like you can't turn around these days without somebody talking about the Uzbek capital with a wistful faraway look in their eyes. Oh no. . . wait, that doesn't happen at all. In fact, one rarely hears of Uzbekistan very much, which is sad since its such a fun name to both type and pronounce.
Since late 2001 the US has maintained a major airbase in the central Asian nation that resupplies and supports missions in neighboring Afghanistan. It's also been one of the nations to which we ship off (I'm sorry, "render") suspected terrorists for "humane" interrogations. And why not? It has a very efficient Interior Ministry that has honed its torture craft well during the tenure of Stalinist President Islam Karimov.
For a while it looked like a realpolitik win-win for both the repressive Karimov regime, which longed for legitimacy and western monies, and TeamBush, which touted Karimov's cooperation and allowed Don Rumsfeld to use the existence of such a forward base as a new model of US deployment as a cudgel with which to wallop those candy-ass Germans who dared oppose the Iraq War while financially benefitting from major contingents of US troops on their soil.
But then things started to get a bit dodgy. Karimov's troops attacked opposition protesters with live ammunition in the city of Andijan, and before the violence subsided it was estimated that over 700 civilians had been killed, making it the worst state-sponsored violent crackdown since Tiananmen Square.
Worsening civil rights conditions and further curtailment of already minimal free speech, coupled with the violence, proved too much for even TeamBush to be able to readily ignore. So the US, along with most other nations, called for an inquiry into the deaths in Andijan and the supression that followed.
Oops! Turns out that really pissed off the Uzbek government. Now word comes from Tashkent that the US might have to pull out their airbase. According to Karimov spokespeople the Uzbek understanding was that the base was only to support the ouster of the Taliban, it was never intended to be a long term facility. Oh, and the US hasn't paid all of its landing fees either.
So what is TeamBush to do? Well, we could always invade Uzbekistan. Its not like we don't have troops nearby enough. Maybe we could support Karimov's main opposition (But, alas, they're islamic fundamentalists with little love for the US of A right now). So the options aren't great. A little cash (OK, alot of cash) will probably go a long way to keeping Karimov happy in the short term. But still, autocratic dictators tend to be pretty ego driven nutjobs who don't like being dissed on by the world community, especially when their main ally is also signing with the chorus, however reluctantly.
So for now it looks as if Herman the German might just get to keep his Biergarten filled up with drunken US troops for the next little while.
Yes, it seems like you can't turn around these days without somebody talking about the Uzbek capital with a wistful faraway look in their eyes. Oh no. . . wait, that doesn't happen at all. In fact, one rarely hears of Uzbekistan very much, which is sad since its such a fun name to both type and pronounce.
Since late 2001 the US has maintained a major airbase in the central Asian nation that resupplies and supports missions in neighboring Afghanistan. It's also been one of the nations to which we ship off (I'm sorry, "render") suspected terrorists for "humane" interrogations. And why not? It has a very efficient Interior Ministry that has honed its torture craft well during the tenure of Stalinist President Islam Karimov.
For a while it looked like a realpolitik win-win for both the repressive Karimov regime, which longed for legitimacy and western monies, and TeamBush, which touted Karimov's cooperation and allowed Don Rumsfeld to use the existence of such a forward base as a new model of US deployment as a cudgel with which to wallop those candy-ass Germans who dared oppose the Iraq War while financially benefitting from major contingents of US troops on their soil.
But then things started to get a bit dodgy. Karimov's troops attacked opposition protesters with live ammunition in the city of Andijan, and before the violence subsided it was estimated that over 700 civilians had been killed, making it the worst state-sponsored violent crackdown since Tiananmen Square.
Worsening civil rights conditions and further curtailment of already minimal free speech, coupled with the violence, proved too much for even TeamBush to be able to readily ignore. So the US, along with most other nations, called for an inquiry into the deaths in Andijan and the supression that followed.
Oops! Turns out that really pissed off the Uzbek government. Now word comes from Tashkent that the US might have to pull out their airbase. According to Karimov spokespeople the Uzbek understanding was that the base was only to support the ouster of the Taliban, it was never intended to be a long term facility. Oh, and the US hasn't paid all of its landing fees either.
So what is TeamBush to do? Well, we could always invade Uzbekistan. Its not like we don't have troops nearby enough. Maybe we could support Karimov's main opposition (But, alas, they're islamic fundamentalists with little love for the US of A right now). So the options aren't great. A little cash (OK, alot of cash) will probably go a long way to keeping Karimov happy in the short term. But still, autocratic dictators tend to be pretty ego driven nutjobs who don't like being dissed on by the world community, especially when their main ally is also signing with the chorus, however reluctantly.
So for now it looks as if Herman the German might just get to keep his Biergarten filled up with drunken US troops for the next little while.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Follow-up:
Russkies 1, Patriots 0
Yes, in a score all too familiar to Cold War-era hockey fans (forget Lake Placid, OK?), it seems that the US has again been skunked by The Red Menace. According to The Boston Herald, "[Robert] Kraft . . . will write off the rock as a gesture of goodwill to avoid any kind of diplomatic Russian roulette."
I mean, really, how was he going to get the damn thing back anyway without making Putin look like a fool, which he definitely didn't want to do. So instead Bob offered up a cheesy color-commentary analogy about appreciating "how Putin has Quarterbacked the Russian nation" and moved forward, knowing most likely that the business his ventures would rake in for playing it cool was worth far more than the ring, valued at over $100,000.
And anyway, as the Herald reported, "Sources confirmed the Pats poohbah would get a new Super Bowl ring to replace the one Putin pocketed." So I guess all ends well among the worlds wealthy, powerful, and kleptomaniacal.
Russkies 1, Patriots 0
Yes, in a score all too familiar to Cold War-era hockey fans (forget Lake Placid, OK?), it seems that the US has again been skunked by The Red Menace. According to The Boston Herald, "[Robert] Kraft . . . will write off the rock as a gesture of goodwill to avoid any kind of diplomatic Russian roulette."
I mean, really, how was he going to get the damn thing back anyway without making Putin look like a fool, which he definitely didn't want to do. So instead Bob offered up a cheesy color-commentary analogy about appreciating "how Putin has Quarterbacked the Russian nation" and moved forward, knowing most likely that the business his ventures would rake in for playing it cool was worth far more than the ring, valued at over $100,000.
And anyway, as the Herald reported, "Sources confirmed the Pats poohbah would get a new Super Bowl ring to replace the one Putin pocketed." So I guess all ends well among the worlds wealthy, powerful, and kleptomaniacal.
