2.29.2008

Leap Day

As defined by Wikipedia

"The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by four, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

The Gregorian calendar was designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox year is about 365.242374 days long (and increasing), whereas the average year length of the Gregorian calendar is 365.2425.

The marginal difference of 0.000125 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it is now. But in 8,000 years, the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount which cannot be accurately predicted. Therefore, the current Gregorian calendar suffices for practical purposes, and Herschel's correction (making 4000 AD not a leap year) will probably not be necessary."

OK does anyone think that this is all kind of creepy?  I mean it is the 21st century and our entire calendar is based on something created 2000 thousand years ago. I mean I always wondered about Easter and how it shifted but I don't think I ever knew it was based on the moon?  Truly is it any wonder why we are just along for the ride in this mysterious orb hurtling through space and time...

And just for a thing that makes you go hmmmm...this is my 365th post, just think if it had been 366!  Twilight Zone!!!!

2.28.2008

Edgar Rice Burroughs - Princess of Mars

Way back in 1987 I was first introduced to the Barsoom Series. The pulpiness of it all was fascinating. The book presentation was exciting and I gave a few a read. Never really got through them, it was kind of a high school whim and I had other things going on. With my eBook, I decided to revisit the series since all of the books are out of copyright protection and I can load them all up in my reader. Finished the first tale (first published in 1912 as a serial) and the book actually holds up pretty well after all these years. Our hero John Carter could be any modern day pulp hero (or comic book character), the heroine, Dejah Thoris, is a bit submissive (they don't seem to wear any clothes on Mars) but for the time this book was written she is a bit head strong. The adventure is good. A movie was supposed to be coming out featuring our hero but I guess it got stuck in development hell with Disney (?). Right about this time, back in high school (I believe before), I read Heinlein's Number of the Beast which I really enjoyed due to its underlying premise. This premise was that characters had developed a machine that would take them to different dimensions (or universes)and the number of dimensions (universes) was 6 raised to the 6 raised to the 6 (or the Number of the Beast). Furthermore every book, thought, or ideal generated by someone would actually populate on of these universes. So the characters who were named after the ERB characters actually then traveled to the real Barsoom using their device and then also showed up in other early 20th century writers (if I remember correctly, the World of Oz shows up). So anyway as I seem to do one thing begets another and then it seems to circle back. Funny how it seems things interconnect or is it because you are aware of the "connectiveness" of it and it only seems that way?

2.27.2008

Haiku Wednesday

Shoots

The earth awakens
Green magically returns
Uplifting spirits

2.26.2008

Oscar Rant

Another year of the movies...hooray! Unfortunately for this slate of movies, none were terribly compelling in this years best movie race, although I still always enjoy watching the stars come out. Besides Juno, none of the other titles were real barn burners. Good movies but certainly a drab selection (depressing?) and hence the Oscars themselves had very little drama. As usual there was the shocking supporting category. It seems the voters always throw a wrench for this category. And because of this you always get the wackiest acceptance speeches because the winning person really didn't expect to be standing there (hence the Bat suit with nipples reference, huh?). The picture to the left sums up what the Oscar means to me. For all artists, whether they be writer's, actors, and key grips (?)...pretty much any individual that produces something from their brain with the intention to entertain, the most watched talked about award is certainly an Oscar. The Pulitzer is nice, Tony's is swell, but to me the granddaddy of them all is winning for something related to a movie. A gazillion dollar industry that probably is most seen worldwide. Thus to win one of these awards has got to be a satisfying acceptance of what you've tried to accomplish in your life.
In an otherwise boring telecast, my excitement for Diablo Cody winning for original screenplay was most memorable. Here is an outsider, thrown into Hollywood, with an air of indifference (or breath of fresh air) brings some individualistic flair to a mostly boring affair. A real heartfelt win and you could feel it as she made her way up to the microphone. As a blogger myself it is refreshing to see someone make it...and being able to read her daily thoughts makes her seem a lot more accessible and to me, a more believable honest individual (a girl next store). Heck I don't know her, it could all be an act, but with her winning the Oscar I felt like my sister was up there. Rooting all the way and why didn't she smooch Harrison! She will kick herself someday...she could have embraced Indiana Jones and Han Solo in one.

2.25.2008

Rox Talk - WPA Revisited

To put a final nail in the 2007 season, I wanted to compare the weekly WPA numbers I captured last year and compare this to the expected wins and see who really made a difference for the team last year. If you recall WPA is simply I way to look at a player's contribution to a team's success. As a team moves through a 162 game season, each day a player has the opportunity to help or hurt a team. Obviously if you continue to contribute positively you will have a better WPA over the season. So let's start with the starting pitching:

Okay that is a headache of a graph! The blue dots show the expected wins over the season after each day. Obviously winning a bunch of games at the end helps you get to 90 wins! WPA and pitcher's are at somewhat a disadvantage as they only get to improve on their WPAs every 5th day. So one bad start can certainly tank your WPA. Francis was definitely the Roxs pitching MVP especially down the stretch with some help from Jimenez and Morales. Fogg had some good starts at the end but his early pitching woes certainly hurt him over the entire season. Cook was the real disappointment (let's hope the contract extension wasn't too big). Now lets look at the relievers:

Obviously down the stretch it was the Corpas/Herges show. Interesting to see that WPA does in fact mean something in the real world as Fuentes collapsed so did the Roxs right before the All Star Break. And finally the hitters:

I think the big surprise to me was how valuable Helton and Hawpe were down the stretch. Helton especially since he has been beaten down due to his lack of power but he really got the job down along with Holliday. Tulo was a nice additional and although Matsui certainly led the team early in the year he leveled out. Glad we got Yorvit for the handling of pitchers because offensively he ain't it.

2.22.2008

This Week in Comics

Well the first arc is done.  Can't say that it was all that memorable.  Some good points, but a very disappointing story.  I loved the free comic book story and the characters really seemed to be something new and fresh.  Then the story started and plodded along and the characters just weren't the same.  Very disjointed and difficult to really determine what the overall point of it all was.  The art remained decent throughout and I will certainly pick up the next series but really overall for what I hoped this book to be just never materialized, which is always disappointing!

2.21.2008

Indiana Jones IV Update

What a great teaser trailer...what classic montages of the character we all wish we could be.  The hat, the whip, the jacket, the man!  Boy I hope this film gets it right.  It has been a long while since a movie really made me want to go see it.  So from what we can gather...the Commie's are the new bad guys.  Roswell has something to do with all of this and the Mayan's.  Is Spielberg reliving some Close Encounters?  Just listening to John Williams' theme just makes me want to run out and go searching for ancient treasures!

2.20.2008

Haiku Wednesday

Leap Year

Unusual day
It happens every four years
Birthday confusion

2.19.2008

Crested Butte, Colorado

Over President's Weekend decided to head South (?), West (?), or some southwesternly direction to Crested Butte.  Have pretty much been all over the state of Colorado in some form or fashion.  Seen alot of the state but never journeyed to the Butte.  Have to admit I'm bummed it has taken me so long to find my way there.  What a beautiful Colorado setting.  They have gotten tons of snow this winter.  We drove through town and it was like the Artic!  Snow as high as the roofs with people on the roofs shoveling snow off!  The mountain itself was a good little hill.  Much more of a hometown feel and more next store neighbor then the corporate over the top feel of resorts in Summit County.  I had a great two days of skiing and then nice time in the town itself.  Nothing overly expensive...can't wait to see what it looks like in the Summer and even better in the Fall with the leaves changing.

Save the Red Lady - US Energy Corp. owns mining rights for molybdenum on Mount Emmons ("Red Lady") near Crested Butte and as molybdenum prices rise, the town is fighting to prevent a molybdenum mine from being opened.

2.18.2008

Spring Training!

"Today the Times reported the arrival of the first pitchers and catchers at the spring training camps, and the morning was abruptly brightened, as if by the delivery of a seed catalogue."

You know baseball is just plain fun...
Well it has been a while since the ol' Roxs had any expectations. Is this going to be a good thing? Will they hit the ground running or will they start slow and have the doubters start. Ughhh to have a target on your back and teams suddenly gunning for the NL Champions. Heck of a ring to it. To be truthful I haven't been too happy with Hurdle and O'Dowd. They have certainly tried our patience with these last 3 years. But I have to eat some crow and say they have put a pretty good product together. These guys have won together through the minors, they are a "team", not just a collection of free agents trying to win this year. The team has the feel of O'Dowds Indians a few years back. Definitely a potential to run the table the next 2 - 3 years before the dollars come calling. It would be nice to have a hard time getting tickets once in a while. So anyway let's see how it rolls, if Nix and the starting pitchers can get it done then it will be truly magical year and maybe we can get another shot at the mean ol' Sox. Hey maybe Hurdle can win home field this year for the NL and we can get it done!

2.15.2008

This Week in Comics

New Avengers 37
Boring, big yawn...who really cares to read about martial issues in a freakin comic book. Where is the action....this is the Avengers for god's sake, not some freaking soap opera. Come on Bendis, get it together. I don't read the Avengers for heart wrenching drama...this is supposed to be about big throw downs. Yeah you've been building up this stupid skrull thing for like 2 years. At this rate the story will be the biggest let down of all time. Ughhhh, you build a team of bad asses and what to they do...sit around like some bad MTV sit come and bitch....




Fantastic Four 554
Looking forward to a big lead off hit and all we got was a dribbler to short. I realize it is tough to steer a ship that as been around since 1961 but really there was just nothing there. Maybe it will grow into something but it just seems tiring. Shake things up...define your book. That was what was so great with Morrison's run on the X-men. He came in and just reset the mood, the feeling. It made you want to come back just to see what crazy direction he would take. Granted it didn't all work but the body of work certainly freshened the team. Take some chances...stop being so respectful of Stan's characters!

2.14.2008

Vancouver, Canada

Had the pleasure to travel to Vancouver for work. It was my first time to this city and the first time I'd been to Canada in quite sometime (fishing trip to Saskatoon in 1993??). Been to Calgary and Quebec over the years as well. This is the first trip to Canada where I actually took notice. Traveling to Canada is basically going to a facsimile of the US but different...to me it is kind of like how Marvel Comics has Earth 616 to represent the main continuity of the comicverse and Earth 1610 which represents the Ultimate Universe. Basically the same but just a bit different. Like candy....mostly the same but the packaging is just a bit off. Cars seem a bit different...gas was $4.25 a gallon! Customs was clean, Canadians (all the agents were sharply dressed and smiled) seemed happy versus coming back to the States in which all the agents seemed grumpy. The TV channels seemed a bit more lofty, not so much dumb down. I mean they have the Canadian Broadcast Channel!. The downtown was nice. Set on an almost island. The mountains just go from 0 - 60 in no time. All the bars were called pubs. The beer was good. Overall a good experience, nothing like talking to a Eastern European that lived in Louisiana for a time and is now driving a taxi (hybrid no less) in Vancouver wanting to talk to me about American politics especially Obama vs Clinton!

2.13.2008

Haiku Wednesday

Sweets

Savory sugar
Tasty treats, we lust for more
Sin tastes so good

2.12.2008

Diablo Cody - Candy Girl

As mentioned in a previous posting, I ran across Diablo in some magazine or webpage. Went and saw Juno and loved the touching and well written story. Looking into her further, I found she wrote a memoir about being a stripper. Well who could ignore this? So I gave it a read and it was pretty eye opening. Strippers have always fascinated me and it boils down to why? Why isn't there a big market for male strippers? Why do woman do it? Is it degrading if someone chooses to do it? is it empowering? I have no ideal but it is a crazy topic to think about it. From Diablo's view point it was self discovery and trying to move beyond her bland world. What was interesting was how she just want down this path of sexual degradation. She started at a swanky club, then went to lower graded club, then ended up in a peep show setting (which by the way is really wacky...men have some really strange and disturbing needs!). Anyway interesting read.

2.11.2008

Rox Talk

From the news that just won't go away...more steroids in baseball. Thought the Mitchell Report would end it all but it ultimately just opened a can of worms. At the NY Times Opinion Section featuring our friends, the Freakonomics, an article (including the graph to the left) tries to show that Clemens stats over the last 8 years of his career show something fishy. This was somewhat in response to Clemens legal staff that created a statistic treatise of Clemens careers showing how he didn't get a boost from any PEDs. All of this brings to light the world of sabermetrician's which I guess is good but also it brings to light that numbers and statistics can be a slippery slope. Stats can often show what you want by how you present data. In fact other analysis (here and here) show some other thoughts. Even reviewing the comments about this article seem to doubt the curve fitting that was done on the graphs to the left. Anyway interesting article and a decent follow up graph below using ERA+ rather than age vs WHIP.

2.08.2008

This Week in Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #11
Another one shot for Joss although this one does tie in with the bigger Season 8 storyline. Issue 12 then starts another 4 issue mini. This whole Season 8 thing has been a great ideal. The next mini-series is actually being written by someone who was involved with Seasonn 7 of the TV show! What great continuity. Anyway this issue was more Buffy-centric dealing with another of her slayer students. Building on the last issue it really centers on Buffy's isolationism that being a slayer forces her into because it seems anyone close to her suffers because of the relationship. A pretty standard superhero dilemna.




Uncanny X-men #495
Total filler issue. I used to hate these when I was younger...it sort of became a slow down catch your breath issue after some huge major mega event. It is comic book on vacation. Anyway more into the Scott Emma relationship. Cyke seems to be moving more towards a fatherly prof X role. By the way when is the funeral? Seems like no one is willing to come out and say "He's Dead, Jim" Anyway some sort of San Fran event is taking place, I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with all this time traveling? Anyway only 5 issues until the magical 500...and I am sure there will be some sort of blow out for this momentous occasion.

Scud #21
I know nothing about Scud...but I always liked the tagline "Disposable Assassin" so what the heck...I'll give it a try.

2.07.2008

U2 3D

No new albums, no new tours, so what is the next best thing? IMAX 3D! Nothing like seeing a 60 foot tall Bono belting it out on the really big screen! I dragged my two kids with me figuring that one, they would at least like seeing a "movie" and two, they got to have popcorn and candy! What was amazing was how many other adults (in my age group) dragged their kids along too. For me the movie (errr concert) was fantastic. Seeing them live is the best but with the 3D and camera views it really felt like a bird's eye view. Loved the pan shots @ Junior playing the drums. The Buenos Aires crowd was rocking, really added to the overall vibe of the show. My only real complaint was that the sound quality was kind of lame. I thought the sound would be lounder and more dynamic (think Space Shuttle Main Engines!!). The one thing I do like about U2 has a band is that they are always trying new tricks to get their message out. Whether it be Rattle and Hum, the whole Pop Mart debacle, and now this, at least they are trying. Is it any wonder why CD sells are down? It is because their isn't any great rock and roll bands anymore!

2.06.2008

Haiku Wednesday

Love

Say three simple words
Sends hearts a flutter, palms sweat
X O forever

2.05.2008

Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food

Fascinating book.  Basic premise behind it all is why is the Western Diet so bad for everyone?  With all the nutritionist, doctors, and press on what we should and shouldn't eat, why are we still all just fat!  Certainly an eye opener about the fact that the majority of the studies out there are being swayed by farmers trying to push their produce.  High fructose corn syrup I believe is in everything that we eat!  Check out the ingredient list sometime of even your most benign food and I'll bet you it is there.  A real eye opener and it really made me look at my daily intake.  Process food is easy but boy it is just empty calories.  Dealing with some metabolic issues (that is what the doctor diagnosed me with) makes me wonder that the food I've been eating isn't some of the underlying cause.  Way back when I did the body for life diet and I really felt it was a good but somewhat unrealistic. Protein is a real bear to get and one can eat only so much tuna and eggs!  Anyway I think this book is good to read each year just to remind you that you do have a choice in what you eat and that what you consume does matter!

2.04.2008

Super Game

Great game, didn't really care who won. Either way, I was just hoping for a good game, but as the game went on the underdog story kind of took hold. A whole lot more to like about the Giants. In honor of Mike and Mike's Just Shut Up Award, I think last year's winner should be Tiki Barber for ripping the G-Man all season (especially Eli's leadership...who thinks Eli doesn't have any leadership abilities now?). Guess he left too early or perhaps they won because he left, ha. Can we get some love for Coughlin? A real football coach who deservedly won this one. I remember him coming into Denver a few years ago with his J'ville team and putting a big hurt on the Broncos, the year before they won their first super bowl. Big time coach. Why do successful teams go from being darlings to jerks? When the Yankees won for the first time back in the 90s after having a championship drought they were loved, now they are the evil empire. Look is what is happening to the Sox in baseball...the samething. Everyone used to think the Patriots were a feel good story...now they are cheaters. Why can't we love perfection?

Fantastic last quarter, almost like a tied game going into the top of the 9th. The NFL couldn't have scripted it any better. Two potential game winning drives. An award winning scramble from Eli and a fingertip catch. Game winning TD from the man who said they'd win. In retrospect it will be interesting to see what was wrong with Brady...his throws were all high. Why did the Patriots go for it on 4th and 13?

On the lighter side only two good commercials the Pepsi one with Justin and the coke one with the parade balloons.

2.01.2008

This Week in Comics

Batman 673
What is Morrison on?  Love his work, but it really doesn't mean much until his run is done then you can look back and say "Wow" what a run. Unfortunately it just doesn't seem that way from issue to issue.  It is really tough to be pulling out these old themes...great he went back 400 issues ago to dig out some rare plot point but come on, I don't want cliff notes to understand it all!






Captain America 34
The Winter Soldier finally takes the mantle.  Not really a wham bam issue. Thought it would be a bigger in your face, kickin issue.  It almost seemed like a training wheels intro.  Come on, Bucky is the man why can't he just start kicking bad guy butt.  Anyway surprising end more Tony bashing ahead.







Ultimate Spider-Man 118
Bendis and his silly love of old cartoons...Firestar!  Spider-Man and friends is a catchy little run.   Hopefully some lightheartedness and classic Bendis humor with Peter. The last run with Green Goblin was a bit dark.  We shall see...great art as usual, and it now has become  a standard question of where the full page spread will be!  Last page on this one!