Found Art

Surprise.  A photo I posted on flickr was revisited by a viewer with a new look.  Three hyper-styled teens seen in the Seoul Seoul subway as re-imagined by yearned on her Tumbler site.  The internet and globalization at work.

What I'm Listening To . . .

It has been a while since I've written a what I'm listening to column, but its always an easy way to get me jump started back into the blogging spirit. If you like this column, you'd probably also like some of the earlier installments of it that can be found here, here, and here. So let's get right into it.

Empire - The Black Angels If the Velvet Underground's 'All Tomorrow's Parties' and the Doors 'This is the End' had a baby, this song would be their louche, abandoned love child. Cool and intense at the same time. I never quite figured out why the black angels aren't bigger stars than they are.  They have new album coming out September 14th (check their website for a sample track).  Maybe that will do it.

The Black Angels sound like Acid Rock with a darker, post-1970's feel. Highly influenced by the drug induced music of the Vietnam anti-war era, the Black Angels modernize the sound without losing the feeling. When I listen to this track, all I can think of is Martin Sheen putting his hand through the mirror in Apocalypse Now. I have to think that was intentional.

	The Black Angels - Empire .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Museum of Natural History

To Do List

1. Keep kids alive
2. Keep self alive
3. Don’t get kicked out of the house
4. Don’t get fired
5. Interact with kids
6. Talk with wife
7. Have sex
8. Advance career
9. Figure out what 8 means
10. Take pictures
11. Read fiction
12. Blog
13. Tweet
14. Socialize
15. Everything else

Yoforia Apologizes. Clarifies Position on Tap Water

I was happily surprised to receive a call yesterday from a Mr. JP Kim, the Vice President of Marketing for Yoforia Yogurt. He was highly apologetic about the situation that occurred on Wednesday when my daughter was denied a glass of tap water at their VaHi store. He emphatically stated that it is not Yoforia's policy to not offer tap water, and that the person who was in charge at the time acted unwisely. He also said that they had called all of their locations to clarify the company's policy on water.

Seems like a simple mix-up, and one that could happen to anyone. I appreciate the apology and I intend to enjoy a Yoforia frozen yogurt and a big cup of TAP WATER in the very near future. I would urge you to do the same.

Copy of  Yoforia's emailed statement to me below the break.

Yoforia refuses 7 year old paying customer a glass of water

I am not all that into complaining and I think everyone has a right to run their business the way they see fit. I just also have a right to tell my neighbors when I think something’s not right.

Here’s the story. We went to Yoforia on North Highland Avenue tonight and paid just under $15 for three cups of frozen yogurt. As we were eating my 7 year old daughter got thirsty and we went to the counter to ask for a glass of water. I thought we could use the opportunity to help build her confidence in ordering by herself. My daughter quietly asked “May I please have a glass of water sir?” The very nice boy at the register (it’s not his fault) got a little nervous, stammered, and then turned to me and replied that he was sorry but the store policy was to only sell bottled water. Personally, I think bottled water is a waste of money and the bottles hurt the environment. I’ll buy it in a pinch, but I do resent being forced into it.

Rediscover Yogurt?  More like rediscover rudeness. 

So I politely said to the boy “I’m really not into buying bottled water and my 7 year old is thirsty?” He stammered a little bit and said “Well, um we don’t have cups.” There was a stack of paper ice cream cups right in front of him so I said “Well maybe since we didn’t know this new policy before we came in you could just give us some water in one of these ice cream cups.” He said, he really wanted to and he would check.

It's Raining Oil

last night I posted a photo to Flickr of an oily spot on my hand that I discovered after getting caught in a sunshower in Clearwater on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The light rain left a filmy feel on my face that felt sort of tight. My wife and sister-in-law complained that the air had a chemical smell (I did not smell anything, but I don't smell that well) and we all wondered if the film was oil or dispersant evaporated from the surface of the Gulf and reintroduced from the clouds in the form of rain. In the car about an hour later I noticed an oily spot on my hand.

I thought I was likely over reacting (though it made for a good image) and the most likely explanation was that I rubbed against the car without noticing. Now today on Twitter I discovered this YouTube link to the aftermath of an oilrain in a suburb outside of New Orleans.



In case you think these are exceptions, just query the search term Oil Rain on YouTube or on Google and you'll discover that the Oil Rain problem is widespread.

How big is the oil rain problem, how far will it spread, and what are the long term consequences of oil raining down on civilian populations and agriculture? Impossible to say.

And All This Time I Thought He Was a Blue Dog

According to this billboard south of Atlanta . . . well, I'll let you read for yourself.

I'm not getting in the middle of this one.  My main question if god is not a socialist, then how does an organization called Billboards Against Obama stay afloat?

Virginia Highlands Festival

What I was Listening To, Week of May 10 to the 16th

Who have I been listening to?  Well to start with MIA, MIA, and Diplo (well you know, with MIA), but you knew that if you've been visiting here. But besides her, I do have few more tracks that have been burning out my iPod battery.

Fools Day - Blur



Proving their hipster cool.  Blur releases their first single in seven years via 7" vinyl given to selected indie record stores in the UK.  Damon Albarn (pictured and also of course the impresario of the Gorillaz) is my role model of the month.  I would post an mp3 link, but you can just get it for free from band's web site linked above.

Whirring (Voodoo Friends Remix) and Austere - The Joy Formidable

The Joy Formidable is in the same category of scary cool as the Moggs except that you can actually play them without your friends throwing you out of the room.  Ritzy Bryan's deadly delivery on vocals invites comparisons to Kim Deal and the band to the Pixies or the Breeders.    

New M.I.A. XXXO

The fantastic music site No Genre brings us M.I.A.'s latest leak from her upcoming July album, XXXO.

If you're like me, you'll listen to anything M.I.A. records.  So what do you think of this one? 

Do you get a Bus Transfer With your Ticket?

Seattle Monorail coming out of the Experience Music Project (EMP).

Something to Say

"Oooohhhh, this doesn't 

sound like mindless, 

boring, getting-to-know-

you chit-chat. 

This sounds like you 
actually have 

something to say."


Mia to Vincent 

at Jackrabbit Slim's
Pulp Fiction

Dear Delta

For future cross continental flights you may replace my nasty, worn out, zero back support seat with this.  Also, I am pretty sure I bought a ticket for my legs and feet in addition to my torso.  Next time please find space for these.  You may consider them to be ancillary items, but they are important to me. Many thanks.

Heavy Rotation, Week Ending May 8th, 2010

I am writing this at 30,000 feet somewhere above Missouri, or at least the rout the pilot mentioned earlier. On my way to Seattle for what sounds to be a fancy meeting with fancy people. I’m honored to be included, and that’s not snark.

If you want to picture me, I’m in row eight on the 6:10 PM Alaska Airlines flight from Atlanta to Seattle. Alaska is much more humane ordeal than the onerous Delta that I usually fly. I still paid six dollars for a bag of tortilla chips, but at least I got off handedly got comped an extra vodka soda by the cool like that flight attendant. They haven’t had much to eat, but they run three drink services so I’m happy even though I showed some discipline and skipped the second. Meanwhile, in flight Wifi? You’ve been flirting with me for months now, I’m ready to get to first base at least.

On to Music Monday, a Twitter tradition that doesn’t get nearly as much respect or mainstream play as it should. Here’s what’s been burning up my iPod the last week or so, a little new, little Gen-X, and one that’s little really, really old, but I bet you haven’t heard it.


Born Free - MIA

Yes, I have heard. There is a video. So true. But forget about that because this song absolutely rocks. MIA creates, the industry follows and I’ll listen to whatever she decides to gift us with. You think it’s easy to write a song that gets played in Hip Hop club and a mosh pit? Think about even having the idea to try.

Lens

Lucked into this shot. Its a 50:1.4 Nikkor lens from my 1968 Nikon F. I ought to get some film and try to shoot with it.

35 years Ago Today, The Fall of Saigon

In many ways I feel as though the fall of Saigon marked the end of the Roosevelt era in America. Although Reagan would not be elected for another five and a half years, the damage was done and liberalism in its form from the 1930's to the 1970's was dead. What followed was an agonizing period of energy shocks, inflation and a crises of confidence in our identity as a nation.

For the Vietnamese, April 30th, 1975 means so much more, liberation, frustration, a day of both celebration and mourning for all those who were lost in what turned out to be a long struggle for their independence.

My experience of Viet Nam is wholly secondary, the experiences of watching a father who served there spend a decade trying to intellectualize the experience through close study of the dozens of books that describe the American experience in the war.  My perceptions as a child of a 1970's America in near chaos, and the bizarre national amnesia that we put on like a set of earphones starting with the election of Reagan.

Today, let me just recognize that the there was a day when America was forced to face up to its mistakes, and that those mistakes still influence our national decisions regarding our actions abroad. Let me also pay my humble respects to our servicemen who lost their lives in the war, the over 2 million Vietnamese who died at the hands of US armaments and the millions more Cambodians and Vietnamese that died in the subcontinental chaos that followed our departure.

The possible parallels to Iraq and Afghanistan are legion but perhaps too simple. Today, I'll just remember the past.

Photo Credit: Hubert Van Es , Link is well worth the read.

The Connection Between Antidepressants and Global Climate Change

The Huffington Post recently ran an article arguing that antidepressants don't work for treating depression. Although the article quickly disintegrated into the usual West coast platitudes about how eating enough B12 and omega-3 fatty acids (presumably while taking your daily teaspoon of local bee honey to combat your allergies) will solve all your problems, it still piqued my curiosity.

From most people I know who take them, the reality is that antidepressants do in fact 'work' in treating the anxiety and subsequent depression of modern life, they just work badly and with a large number of adverse and often life-altering consequences. These include the well discussed flattening of creativity and dampening of sex drive, and other more subtle but interesting effects.

The reality is that there is something about the construction of our modern society that leads us to slowly go insane in the form of hyper anxiety and depression. As Gene Orlov wrote in March

Life in the USA gives everyone a pain that is for many people simply not survivable without drugs: either alcohol, pharmaceuticals or illegal drugs.

In other words, antidepressants don't really do anything to cure depression; they just numb you to the painful compromises of life. Now the sensible thing to do in a situation like this would be to alter the nature of our society, closely examine or labor arrangements and social conventions that lead us to work harder and harder even as our society grows more 'efficient'.

It seems obvious, if somewhat heretical, to observe that the only way to really eliminate the anxiety and depression that accompanies modern life in the United States is to fundamentally alter the structure of our relationships, employment, life choices, etc.

It seems equally as obvious that for the vast majority of us, such a reassessment is either too terrifying, too labor intensive, or too economically infeasible to contemplate. As a result we deny the absurdities of our modern existence and simply choose to self-medicate; the rich and upper bourgeoisie with antidepressant medication, alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine, and the working classes with food, methamphetamines, and Fox News. We suffer obvious consequences (loss of engagement with and access to one's own personality, morbid obesity, loss of teeth, the Tea-party movement) but the real changes needed to alleviate our disorder are beyond us.

Global climate change presents similar challenges. We live in a world economic system that axiomatically is resulting in terrifying and potentially catastrophic consequences including famine, resource wars, extinctions, pestilence and disease, drought, all the way to the possible end of human civilization (I'm not exaggerating).

Now obviously, the sensible thing to do would be to change the way we do business. Such change might even be culturally enriching, economically stimulating, and spiritually rewarding. Of course, so is reading a book, and even hard core intellectuals these days are finding it more and more difficult to turn off the Tweetdeck and sit in quiet contemplation (don't even mention the vast hoards watching 'The Biggest Loser' a show that transforms the process of normal self-restraint into a voyeuristic, yet socially affirmed, pornography of calorie self-denial and exercise obsession. Why promote a healthy lifestyle when you can have a 'transformation' and a 'reveal' moment at the conclusion).

But I digress. The point is there is no possible way we as a society are going to alter our economic system in time to combat global climate change. The official explanation for this is that we currently 'lack the political will'. This is a polite way of saying that those who benefit from our current system (the rich in the United States) and those who wish to challenge their supremacy (The Chinese Communist Party) have no interest in allowing change to occur and that the civic society in each nation is insufficiently organized and motivated to demand or create such change.

The reasons we are too lazy, terrified, and disorganized to challenge our governments to address global warming are similar to the reasons we fail to address the growing inequality, and oppressive and unfair efficiency of our economic system. We are exhausted, confused, distracted and diverted, and assuaged by symbolic gestures that help us feel like we are 'making a difference'.

Of course buying a Prius and bringing your own bag to Whole foods is not going to save us from the catastrophe of global climate change any more than eating your daily supplement of vitamin B12 and Omega-3 fatty acids will spare you the gnawing 3:00 am anxiety of modern life.

Just with the 'depression' of modern life, the solution to global warming is a half-step, a technological Band Aid most likely in the form of a sulfur dioxide shield. For the uninitiated, a sulfur dioxide shield consists of annually depositing sulfur dioxide molecules into the atmosphere to simulate the effects of a volcanic eruption, block out the sun and cool the planet.

Will it work? In fact it probably will, but just as with antidepressants, there are some undesirable side effects. The sky will become a slightly different color (ironically blander during the day, more colorful at sunrise and sunset), we won't be able to control exactly how the cooling occurs (what cools where and how this will effect global climatic systems like the jet stream), but yes it will probably work.

However, just like using antidepressants to ease the pain of modern life, the conditions that cause the problem will remain. We will still have billions of tons of CO2 dumped into our atmosphere (using our atmosphere like an open sewer as Al Gore said in February). This will result in Ocean acidification which likely will destroy the marine food chain. Can we survive this? Sure, but expect to see a lot less fish and a lot more marketing pitches for the health benefits of eating algae paste.

Also forget about ever stopping using the shield. You lift the shield and all of a sudden we'll be completely exposed, and the planet will warm violently. Just think of all those mid-40's couples with the kids, the big mortgages, and the private sector jobs who have been on antidepressants since their late 20's. Sure, you could take their antidepressants away, but it won't be a pretty sight.

Avoid the 'Auburn' Hair Dye When Making Your Highlight Choices

M.I.A. makes two points in her new video 'Born Free', avoid the color red when picking your newest hair color, and pop music can still be Rock and Rock.

Punk Rock, in your face, with graphic violence, nudity, and a political message, M.I.A. takes on the casual horror of ethnic cleansing.

Pitchfork Media calls this 'EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND VIOLENT AND NOT SAFE FOR WORK'. Whatever. You're a big kid now and can make your own viewing choices.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Music Monday's, Heavy Rotation for the Last Week

Trying something new for Music Monday. Instead a long list of out of context Tweets, I'm going to just go with a blog post of what's been in my heavy rotation for the last week. When available, I link to an MP3, but if none are available I leave a sample.


World Sick - Broken Social Scene This is the first freebie, teaser from BSS's new album released originally in February. I've listened to it about 20 times this past week. Check out this excellent post on the sublime and amazing Tsururadio about the song and the new album.

The Ballad of El Goodo - Big Star. I am REALLY late to the whole Big Star phenomena. Like I think my entire lifetime has transpired between the year Alex Chilton released this song and I first heard it. Still, from my novice opinion, this is the best track off their best album.

If you think you need some lovin - Pomplamoose. So what exactly is Pomplamoose? A jokey cover band, YouTube sensation? I think both those and more. This song (an original I think) is damn good.



Pay it Back - Elvis Costello An interesting music blog post on the always good For the Sake of the Song reintroduced me to this song. I obviously knew the song, but I'd never heard the Flip City Demo's version and it's catchey. In fact, I just listend to it again.

Jemilia - Caribou I knew Caribou from their near perfect 'Melody Day', but this is the first time I've been back to them since. Need, almost spookie little rift to start followed by song soaring moments in the middle.

It's too Late for Me - Peter Wolf and Merle Haggard. An astoundingly beautiful song that has a timeless quality. It sounds as though it could have been written 50 years ago but in an entirely unselfconcious way. Peter Wolf is best known as the lead singer of the J. Geils band, but is an industry fave to music folks. The always amazing Terri Gross actually turned me on to this song in her recent interview with Wolf which is also worth a listen.

Lightning into Icelandic Volcanic Ash

Don't make me pronounce it, but one thing Iceland's Volcano has created is some amazing photography.

Gorillaz Live Perfromance on the Colbert Report

What's nice about having you're own blog is that you don't have to worry about writing too much preamble.

If I think the Gorillaz performing Stylo live on the Colbert Report last night (with Steven breaking character for once) is worth your attention, I can just post it and head to work.

With that . . .

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Gorillaz - Stylo
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

John Stewart Must Watch Rebuttal to Fox News

A short diary on an important episode in the ongoing feud between John Stewart and Fox News. Last night, John Stewart delivered a scatching, 12 minute, extended slap down to Fax news that occupied the full half of the show. I was literally in head shaking awe at the brilliance, and incisiveness of John Stewart and the Daily Show writing team. This wasn't an ordinarily segment. In typical Stewart fashion he is self-deprecating to a point but then stands up for himself (and by extension us) by giving back to Fox exactly what they have coming to them. There is even a ‘go F*ck Yourself’ choral arrangement. I kid you not.

I don't typically rate something a must watch unless its a giant cultural event. This is a must watch. 'nuff said.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bernie Goldberg Fires Back
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Bumper Stickers and the Raising of Rabid Dogs

A conservative friend of mine sent me an email full of typical anti-Obama bumper stickers today each more offensive than the last.  Ostensibly, these were supposed to make me laugh or serve to prod me as a 'silly liberal' in that condescending tone that conservatives find so amusing.  I don't know what the intention of sending them was.  Likely fun, and an innocent attempt at humor.

What's strange is the reaction these bumper stickers elicited in me and how viewing them made me appreciate how offensive Republicans must have found all the anti-Bush bumper stickers over the last decade.  I certainly am no Bush fan, but I never understood the compulsion to stick ‘Somewhere in Texas a village is missing its idiot’ on your bumper. I generally assume most people have heard the joke already if they are the types to find it funny and if they're not, the sticker is just going to be annoying at best and hurtful at worst.   These little nasty slights we sling at each other contribute the general growing level of mistrust and fractiousness that is shattering our ability to reach group consensus on anything.

Narwhal 1, Unicorn Zero

Score one for the Narwhal. A full breach and collapse on an unsuspecting and defenseless unicorn.

The first surprising thing about this is that Narwhal is spelled 'Narwhal' and not 'Narwhale' like I always thought.  Its like when that movie Memento came out and I was like 'Wait, its with an e?  I always thought it was MOmento.'

The second thing that is surprising to me is that these posts are coming from me.  This will likely require some further explanation. Right now, let me leave it that my daughter has joined the blogging staff here at Uncommon Reaction(s).

Want to see 'behind the magic?' (and yes, that remark is intended to be taken as a snarky chuckle) check beneath the break.

The Epistemology of The Strikezone

Major League Baseball is a sport steeped traditional practices. Other professional sports associations routinely alter the rules of their game to facilitate more interesting play, protect players or both. For instance to start the 1998/99 season, the National Hockey Association altered their rules requiring more space behind the goal to create more scoring chances. Three years ago the National Basketball Association moved its three point line closer to the basket to encourage more perimeter shots, and the National Football League, routinely adjusts rules governing pass coverage, and hits to the quarter-back to allow for a more open, pass oriented game.

In contrast professional baseball stands alone in the deference it pays to its rules. The baseball rulebook is considered with close to the same respect paid great works of western civilization. Baseball enthusiasts often refer to the wisdom of Abner Doubleday, and the near perfect set of rules he recorded for posterity in the summer of 1839. The fact that Doubleday may never have seen a baseball game, and that professional game was actually shaped by the play of the New York Knickerbockers in the late 1840’s does not diminish the power of the myth.[1] Like the US Constitution or the Holy Bible, Baseball’s rulebook is often considered to be a near perfect document. However, sometimes, even the rules of baseball require interpretation to fit the complexities of the modern game. These interpretations are presided over by a ‘Rules Committee’. Like the Hebrew Talmud, changes to the rule book are always merely ‘Case Book Interpretations’, which attempt to explain the meaning of the original text. When voted on by a majority of the rules committee, and ratified by the player’s association, these case book interpretations are woven into the rule book and therefore our understanding of the game.

Evening Sky

A quickly planned by seriously fun party last night on Maryland avenue. My neighbor Chris smoked a 9 pound pork butt for over 24 hours in his Big Green Egg and we all enjoyed carnitas and beer as the sun set. Here's a quick shot I took as the moon was starting to rise.





And a second of the pork before it got devoured.

Music Monday - Disposable Heros of Hiphopricy

Television, the Drug of the Nation circa 1992. This was some crazy stuff when this hit in 1992. The first time I heard it, it was being played as hype music by the sound man at a Jerry Brown for President Rally in Washington Square Park. You can laugh at the knowing earnestness, but the sad fact is bands today don't even try.

Afghanistan 2010 in Photos

The Boston Globe ran a fantastic photo essay of the Afghan War as of January 2010.

This is my favorite image because of the extraordinary colors and creativity of the bus, but click the link above to see all these remarkable photos in full size.

Virginia Highlands in the Snow

It seems like every time my parents visit from Connecticut they bring the snow with them. Seriously, the last three times they have come down we have had snow and yesterday was no different.

Here are a couple photo's of the block covered in snow.

Gigapixel Photography

Incredibly cool gigapixel photography. Short version, you attach an analog film camera to your computer and get hugely high-res. photos.

Read the long version and see more amazing examples here.



The Magical Water Tour in South America

NWA Express Yourself

Gotta lighten it up a little after that last post. Here you go people, Eazy E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and the amazing sample-packed . . . Express yourself. Wonder where the sample came from?


N.W.A. - Express Yourself
Uploaded by youss71. - See the latest featured music videos.

Geekfest: Bootstrapped Credible Intervals of the Mean in SAS

Its not called 'Uncommon Reaction(s)' for nothing. This will be weird to many visitors, but that's ok. If you're not into this kind of thing just move along to the next post. If you don't care for the talky parts, I've pasted the full code without interruption at the bottom.

I wrote a little program to calculate bootstrapped nonparametric confidence intervals of the mean in SAS. Yes, I know STATA users, STATA apparently has a command that just does this, but you know what? I don't use STATA and I don't feel like learning. Besides, when I write it in SAS it reinforces my understanding of what I'm doing.

I've been using this with simulation data, but you could use the same program with observational data. Its not different. There is nothing particularly special about this, I just combined a bunch of different pieces of code from different SUGI doc's. Its just when I looked there was nothing

Here goes (and please feel free to post questions in the comments).

Who's that Girl . . . er, I Mean Bird?

Bird update. After a couple of inquiries, I think we've nailed the identity of our mystery bird as the Carolina Wren.













Here are some interesting facts about the Carolina Wren. Did you know?

The Carollina Wren uses the skin of snakes, hair, feathers and many other materials to build their dome-shaped nests.

They are known to build multiple nests to confuse predators.

It is the state bird of South Carolina.

A group of wrens has many collective nouns, including a "chime", "flight", "flock", and "herd" of wrens.

What do you think? Carolina Wren or something else? I was unsure at first, but apparently the white line on the head is a marker.

The Most Devastating Play

Another football related post? I'm sensing a theme here this week, could it have anything to do with a certain event on Sunday?

As a Giant's, Knicks, and now (since moving to Atlanta 15 years ago) Braves Fan, I'm used to my teams getting so close yet not quite being able to grab the golden ring. This excruciating form of fandom is weirdly satisfying in its own way as there is always the promise of future redemption.

Despite my history with the Yankees, (growing up watching The Goose, Reggie, Lou, and Thurman in the late 1970's and early 1980's, watching the embarrassment of the Great Mattingly surrounded by the likes of Bam Bam Muellens and Kevin Maas, and the redemption and dominance years of Jeter and the crew)I found them very easy to leave especially after they signed guys like Clemens and Randy Johnson.

With the Yankees, the meal was finished. But the Knicks, Braves, and the subject of this post, the Giants, always leave me hungry. Its common for sports fans to celebrate the spectacular. What Giant fan doesn't love to revel in the most incredible play in Superbowl History.

But being honest with myself, its the agony that keeps me coming back for the next meal. There is nothing more boring than being satisfied, and conversely nothing more motivating than coming so close and failing the first time.

In honor of that delicious agony, I present to you the most devastating play I ever witnessed as a Giant's fan.

Giant's Eagles, Dec. 4, 1989: Late in the game with the Eagles pushed back to their 7 yard line, the score tied 17-17, Buddy Ryan keeps Cunningham on the field (an accomplished punter in college) on fourth down. From the back of the end zone, Cunningham blasted the ball 67 yards in the air. The ball skipped by Dave Meggett on the frozen turf of the Meadowlands to travel 91 yards in all. The longest punt in NFL history up to that time. Phil Simms fumbled two plays later, and the Eagles scored a touchdown and won the game.

Here is the best clip I could find:

Why Joe Montana Won’t Even Make My Top Five Best NFL Quarterbacks of All time

By Nick Ronson

Sports writers of the world have seized the occasion of this Sunday’s Super Bowl Game in Miami to debate who is the greatest quarterback of them all.
The argument seems to be that if Peyton Manning leads the Indianapolis Colts to victory, it would be his second at the helm of a Super Bowl champion, and given all his achievements, including four MVPs, he could lay claim to being even greater than, up to this point, the greatest quarterback in history – Joe Montana.

Well, Montana doesn’t even make my top five best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, and here’s why.

Sportswriters get caught up in numbers and narrowly define quarterback’s achievements by what can be totaled on a calculator (by this measure James Dean was a lousy actor because he appeared in only four movies). Quarterbacks don’t have to be just great athletes who lead their teams to championships.
They have to be great dramatic entertainers, magnificent presences on the field, and in the living rooms of the more than 100 million viewers who annually watch the Super Bowl.

And Montana, for all his on field prowess, played small ball, threw short passes to receivers running surgically precise routes in an offensive scheme under coach Bill Walsh that managed to take a game of great brutality, muscle and speed, and turned it into dance troupe (quite a few of them fat) in cleats.
To be a great quarterback you must be a flawed God who can heave the ball downfield to a receiver slashing deep up the sidelines or across the field, and it has to be a beautiful, majestic and poetic thing.

Joe dumped shorties.

Nick Ronson’s Top Three:

Brett Favre: Favre got beat to death by the New Orleans Saints defensive line in this year’s NFC championship game and then took a worst drubbing after the game from the sporting press for throwing an interception that prevented the Vikings from getting a last-second field goal attempt that might have won the game. Instead, they lost in overtime. So. What?

Favre is a gladiator. He plays quarterback as hard-nosed as Dick Butkus played linebacker. He rares back and heaves the ball in defiance of the quick release, put- the-audience-to-sleep doctrine that makes so many NFL quarterbacks as dull as PGA golfers who have beautiful swings and the sex appeal of Sansabelt slacks. Sure Favre made terrific, fatal blunders in his career. So did the Flying Wallendas. But they were great to watch before they plunged to their deaths.

Roger Staubach: Staubach, the Dallas Cowboy quarterback first coined the expression “Hail Mary” for a 50-yard pass heaved desperately into the end zone at the last second of a 1975 Wild Card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. Drew Pearson caught the ball and the Cowboys won 17-14. Stauback was the first NFL quarterback to play out of the shotgun formation. He won two Super Bowls and the MVP in one of them. He earned a couple of nicknames in his career: “Roger Dodger,” for his scrambling, and “Captain Comback,” for leading the Cowboys to 15 fourth-quarter come from behind victories. He’s a Cowboy, and I detest the Dallas Cowboys. But he was a quarterback I couldn’t tear my eyes away from even as he was tearing out my heart.


Terry Bradshaw: Bradshaw’s hands were so large he put his index finger on the point of the ball when he threw his perfect, high-arching deep spirals to Pittsburgh Steeler receivers such a Len Swan who added to the beauty and grace of Bradshaw’s pigskin rainbows by racing under them, taking them in in full stride and gliding into the end zone. I can’t remember a single such Montana pass in a decade of watching him play. Bradshaw, like Montana, won four Super Bowls. But, unlike Montana -- whose coach would sometimes script the first 16 plays of the game -- Bradshaw called his own plays. He threw better. He thought better. He just flat looked better on the field than the onerous, cotton-candy tossing Montana.

Friends and Neighbors

I will be adding some new contributors to the site over the next several weeks as we grow. The first, Nick Ronson Private Eye, certainly knows his way around the keyboard. Shockingly, his real name is not Nick Ronson, and his real profession is not detective word. Still his prose is real and I bet he'll find his way into your imagination. Stay tuned for upcoming posts.

Bird

Guess he's flying back North for the winter, but he indulged me with his presence for a few minutes on Sunday morning.

Situational Statistics or Should You Go For Two?

Our bias towards naive empiricism leads many to falsely believe that consistently reliable predictions can generally be drawn provided data has been gathered from a controlled setting. However, as 'Coaches Still Vexed by Going For 2' illustrates, strategic decision making is inherently uncertain and context specific even in the highly controlled world of NFL Football. Social scientists have no choice but to incorporate both uncertainty and context into their conclusions. The 'takeaway' message from all of this? Beware of 'takeaway' messages.

Here's a quiz from the article. I think even nonsports fans would enjoy the full piece.

Here are 4 situations. Should you go for two?

1. Ahead by 5 at the end of the first half.

2. Behind by 2 at the end of the first quarter.

3. Behind by 10, 12:30 left in the game.

4. Ahead by 8, beginning of the fourth quarter.

Encouraging signs on Health Care Reform

Buried on page 9, column 5 of the NY Times today is this little Gem

That is why the White House and Democratic leaders — despite complaints from Republicans and centrist Democrats — continue backstage negotiations on an unorthodox plan for salvaging a comprehensive health care bill.

Under the plan, the Senate-passed bill would become the principal legislative vehicle. But it would reach the House floor only after the completion of a “sidecar” House-Senate agreement on changes designed to pass using procedures barring a filibuster by a strengthened Senate Republican minority.

Music Mondays: I Left My Wallet in El Segundo

. . . and I have this feeling that I need to get it, I really, really need to go back there and get it.

Circa 1990, Tribe Called Quest

The Taylor Swift Massacre

Does it matter that a mainstream cheese-factory like the Grammy Awards so obviously blew it in awarding Album of the Year to Taylor Swift? I think it clearly does as it reflects our society’s increasing fetish for settling on the safety of possible options even if that choice is the worst of the possible options. We may not agree on which one of Beyonce Knowles, The Black Eyed, Peas, Lady GaGa, or The Dave Mathews Band is the best choice, but surely we should all be able to agree that Taylor Swift was the worst. It’s not a coincidence that in the same month providing Health Care Reform went from inevitable to impossible (in the eyes of pundits at least) because of the loss of a single Senate seat, that the Album of the Year gets awarded to the choice that is most fully denuded of soul, passion, or sexuality. Congratulations Taylor Swift, you were the least offensive. Enjoy your Grammy.

Even if Beyonce and/or the Black Eyed Peas trigger a race panic in you and Lady GaGa makes you feel ‘a little funny’ down there, why pick Taylor Swift over Dave Mathews? Because he’s weed smoker? That used to be a feature not a bug in rock performers. It just doesn’t make sense. Not that the Dave Mathews Band hits my favorites list on my iPod, and obviously I think any choice of Beyonce Knowles, Lady GaGa, or the Black Eyed Peas would be a better choice, but at least the dude has an extended track record, can flat out play, and has a little bit of soul to him.

Yes, I am weirdly finding myself playing the part of Kanye West. How the hell did that happen? But does anyone out there think ‘She Wears Short Skirts, I wear T-shirts’ represents some type of landmark achievement, or even that it’s going to light up throwback stations 30 years from now? There is something wrong with a world in which Stevie Nicks is forced to stand second fiddle while she listens to a girl wanly trying to find the key of her classic ‘Rhiannon’. Gen Y, don’t be a hater here, listen to what that song actually sounds like yourself and tell me if your Tween pop-tartlet lives up to the standard. Yeah . . . I know! That’s the point.

The Manic Hashtagger

The Manic Hashtagger - 'Went to a #restaurant and #ate #steak! #organics #food #health #farmtotable #sustainability #peakoil #p2 #hcr #obesity #meat #vegetarian #tlot #tcot', Nuff said.

Four Types of Annoying Twitter Users

Now that I’ve been on Twitter for all of four weeks, I think I’m qualified to start engaging in a little amateur Twitter anthropology (Twithropology?). There are a bunch of different Twitter types out there and boy its sure fun to name them. I post this not in judgment, but in observation, I’m no Twitter Saint either. Still, who doesn’t love a good navel gazing list, so here we go with the first batch of four:

The Krugelhorn The name comes from a mixture of Paul Krugman and the Flugelhorn. Basically, a Krugelhorn posts links to the most obvious main stream of columnists without the benefit of any analysis or perspective. You wake up on Monday and you read a tweet that says “Paul Krugman of the New York Times on Health Care Reform”. Really? There is a columnist named Paul Krugman? And he publishes a column on Monday’s and Friday’s? Plus he has something to say about health care reform? I did not know that. That guy ought to win the Nobel Prize or something.

Krugelhorns can also be found tweeting, Ezra Klein, TMZ, the DailyKos, pretty much any mega-site that dominates an area of content is going to generate its share Klugelhornian posts. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t tweet these sites, I can be a little bit of a Krugelhorn myself at times, but at least try to read the column first and pull out a juicy part.

The Pugilist – The Pugilist comes out of nowhere and picks an aggressive, in your face “@” fight probably with the intent of increasing their ranking on Twitalyzer or Klout. You’re happily tweeting away, you post something, then all of a sudden you get a tweet saying ‘@Yourname Well of course you realize this reflects your centrist conventionality.’ Or better yet ‘@Yourname This is all a plot to place the head Bristol Meyers Squibb as Secretary of Health and Human Services’ or ‘@Yourname, You know we alll have the responsibility for social justice.’

You get the drift. You’re just sitting there and someone starts messing with you. Weirdly, if you respond the person gets nicer, then they start following you, then they list you in their #FollowFriday and they start acting like your best friends. It’s a weird way to build a network to me, but I guess it must work for some people.

The Freedom Flamer – Usually these Tweets are in all caps or include the word ‘Obamacare’. I’m not saying all conservative tweeters are idiots, and in fact I’ve had nice interactions with a few, but really what kind of audience is there for the 4,000th iteration of ‘READ THE BILL. READ THE DAMN BILL.’ Or ‘OBAMACARE, NO THANKS, I’LL TAKE NOBAMACARE’ (Noticed I combined the all caps and the Obamacare in that one). Are there people out there reading the Tea Party twitter feed thinking to themselves ‘Allright! That FistOfLiberty2012 really has a point there. I need to remember to use the word NOBAMACARE at my next regularly scheduled book burning.’? I have to hope not.

The Flirty Girly – Have you seen this post ‘I’m so sore, you know, down there, from all that … fun, wink, I had last night.’ The profile picture is of a pouty 17 year old using the hand held cell phone to take a down the cleavage shot. The weblink is to a porn site or something. Yes, I know these are mostly spam but some are not. These are really barely over 18 girls trying to make a buck using their cell phone cams and Twitter. I think there was a time back in the Genesis days of the internet when all these posts were exactly what you think they should be, namely some Russian Mafioso spamming twitter to generate traffic to his porn site of beautiful Latvian girls. Now, I sort of believe them and I think at least at times, this sleazy Flirty Girly thing has become a revenue model for real people. It’s not that I’m sex negative, and there are plenty of actual porn starlets (Belladonna, Lexi Belle, etc) who write engaging, humane, intelligent tweets about their lives. What’s sad about this low rent version is the desperation or the laziness involved. I mean you’re selling your ass on Twitter? I’m assuming hitting it big here means making $20,000 a year.

If it's wrong, I don't want to be right

If embedding YouTube performances in your blog is wrong, then I don't want to be right. From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Show, Bono, Mick, and Fergie, Gimme Shelter . . .

Comfort Without Interrogation

Yesterday’s Atlantic piece about Chris Mathew’s “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour” gaffe had me adding Ta-Nehisi Coates to my blog roll and sent me tweeting all day long. I admit, as someone who is neither black nor much of a cable news watcher, I initially thought the controversy was something of a tempest in a tea pot. I had chalked it up to the usual outrage machine that rules much of cable TV and the blogosphere. For emotion junkies, righteous indignation is the cheapest high you can get.

But Coates’ piece is simply brilliant and shows exactly why the Mathew’s gaffe is both important and worthy of discussion. A great column can take an individual incident and reveal the layers of culture that combined to create it. I’ll quote a bit of the piece here, but you really need to go read the whole thing. And even better one makes you see that situation in an entirely new light. Coates’ piece did both. I’ll quote a bit here, but you really need to go read the whole thing.

I think it's worth noting that Chris Matthews wasn't trying to take a shot at anybody. I also think it's worth noting that he was attempting to compliment Obama and say something positive about what he's done for race relations.

[snip]

Ditto for Chris Matthews. The "I forgot Obama was black" sentiment allows the speaker the comfort of accepting, even lauding, a black person without interrogating their invented truth. It allows the speaker a luxurious ignorance--you get to name people (this is what black is) even when you don't know people. In fact, Chris Matthews didn't forget Barack Obama was black. Chris Matthews forgot that Chris Matthews was white.

[snip]
This is why Obama will never be postracial--he can't make white people face the lie of their ignorance, anymore than Jimmy Baldwin could make black people face the lie of our homophobia. It's white people's responsibility to make themselves postracial, not the president's. Whatever my disagreements with him, the fact is that he is brilliant. That he is black and brilliant is pleasant but unsurprising to me. I've known very brilliant, very black people all my life.

"Will", it Has a Power

Knowing the effort and study that goes into these speeches, I wouldn't be surprised if this were intentional. Intentional or not, its a good sign. Before last night the Democratic party was fraying at the edges with is divisions obvious and growing. We on the left side were looking for some backbone, some force or direction . . . ahhh screw it, why not let the picture speak for itself.

Published by the Boston Globe, I present the 'wordle' of Obama's State of the Union Address. Words that appear more frequently are displayed the largest. (h/t: Daily Kos Abbreviated Pundit Roundup)

It Aint Easy Being President

If there is one thing you can count on Barack Obama for, it’s to give a good speech. Last night was no exception as Obama delivered his State of the Union Address with grace, humor, and fight. In his speeches Obama has always shown the ability to connect with his audience without resorting to pandering or gimmicks. Obama never embarrasses his supporters when he speaks. His speeches serve to remind the listener of his best qualities and to inspire the listener to look for these qualities in themselves.

It is perhaps within the ground laid by Obama’s aspiration speeches that the seeds of his problems the last year have been sown. Contrasted against such moving exhortations, the ugly machinations of everyday Washington appear grotesque. Why does a man who seems so engaged and understanding on the stump often come off as remote and out of touch in between speeches? Why does a man who speeches commit him to transformational change in the service of ordinary people so often tactically first turn to business interests when there are problems to be solved?

It’s a puzzle, and the present answers to that puzzle have been mostly unsatisfying. Obama’s most vocal supporters have argued that the President simply plays the game of politics on a higher level than most of us can understand. His biggest detractors on the left describe Obama as a ‘corporatist’, left-wing slang for a sell-out, and argue that his actions simply match his intentions.

There are merits to both these arguments, Obama’s strategic thinking can be dazzling while the results of his strategies so often benefit corporations, I think the answer to the Obama puzzle is simpler. It’s just not easy to be the President of the United States, especially in times like these.

If Obama’s speech last night reminded me of anything it was that its hard to be the President. A president needs to master a huge range of substantive details, build and balance coalitions around each issue, feed an increasingly fickle, undereducated, and irresponsible press corps, and finally find ways to break through the constant chatter of our society to communicate with citizens who often don’t have the time to hear information but are perfectly willing to form and voice their opinions anyway. Anyone who has ever tried to accomplish a single task of modest scope and complexity can understand the difficulty any President must face.

Not surprisingly, like most President’s in my life, Obama had a rocky first year. History shows that most President’s approval falls in their first year in office as they tackle the difficult problems they’ve inherited from the last administration at the same time they and their staff’s learn how to do the job.

Given the vital importance to both the country and the progressive left of a successful Obama Presidency, I am inclined to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and wait and see what his second year will bring. His State of the Union Speech hit the right notes, he confronted the Blue Dogs directly, he gave the marching orders to get healthcare done, he committed to improve jobs and welfare of the working classes and to eliminate of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and (perhaps most importantly) he seems aware of and ready to deal with the potentially civilization destroying problem of peak oil (although he of course couldn’t use those words). Obama might not have had a perfect first year, but right now he’s the best chance we’ve got. I’d suggest the left double down on him for his second year.

Democrats: The Dry Powder Party

I am not a Washington insider and I have no privileged access to information. When the spirit moves me, I can be a close reader and I can draw the obvious conclusions. Today's New York Times article 'Democrats in Congress Say the Pressure's Off on Passing a Health Care Bill Soon' offers a few interesting quotations for consideration.

Take first, the statement of Senator Evan Bayh regarding the use of reconciliation to make minor fixes to the Senate Bill passed just weeks ago by 60 seated members of the Senate:

Mr. Bayh said, “It would destroy the opportunity, if there is one, for any bipartisan cooperation the rest of this year on anything else.”

The same article goes on to quote Republican Leader Mitch McConnell as saying:

“This a clear sign that the administration has not gotten the message, that it’s become too attached to its own pet goals, that it’s stuck in neutral when the American people are asking it to change direction.” He said Mr. Obama should “put the 2,700-page Democrat health care plan on the shelf” and “move toward the kind of step-by-step approach Americans really want.”

Now, while I am not a mind reader, I am able to put two and two together. Any semi-sentient person should conclude that a guy who uses a fully formed statement of opposition, in which every single word has been focus group tested to ensure maximum negative impact (2,700-page, Democrat health plan, step-by-step approach, etc) is not a guy who is going to be interested in forging a bipartisan consensus. But don't take my word for it, the New York Times itself concludes their article with the statement:

Republicans, however, have not come forward with any new proposals, and Mr. McConnell has said he hopes the health care bill is now dead.

So case closed right? Its obvious, or at least it should be, that the Republicans are simply looking to kill the health care bill. That should not be a controversial statement and I think most thinking people on both sides of the aisle would agree candidly with that assessment.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The Republicans are an opposition power. It is, to a large extent, their obligation to the people who elected them to use what power they have to impede the progress of the other team. Just like no one should expect the Colts to act in cooperation with the Saints in the Superbowl, no one should expect the Republicans to work with the Democrats on health care reform. If they were interested in health care reform, they would have tried to pass it themselves. In fact in Medicare Part D, the Republicans did in fact pass exactly the type of health care reform they were interested in passing. We can analyze that bill to see what that tells us another time.

The obvious implication is that if the Democrats want anything they are going to have to fight for it. Again, this shouldn't be surprising or controversial, its just simple reality. If a team wants to win the Superbowl, they better be prepared to come out and tackle, right?

Obviously, thedemocrats need to fight to translate their principles into legislation and if they won't fight for the principle of health care reform, what will they fight for? The question then is will they. While it is important to wait for Obama's speech tonight to hear the details of our plan moving forward, the murmurs I hear from Congress are not encouraging. From the same Times article we have Diane Feinstein.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said Democrats were assessing their options on health care. “It’s a timeout,” she said. “The leadership is re-evaluating. They asked us to keep our powder dry.”

One has to ask when has our powder ever been wet? I will wait hopefully for tonight to see, and I would like to stay optimistic. I would hate to see the Democrats become simply the Party of Dry Power. Let's hope they chose a more vigorous approach.

Battered Spouse

My wife says I have battered spouse syndrome with regards to Obama and the Democratic party.