Little Bit of This...Little Bit of That

Indiana Jones 4 is now titled "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" I mouthful of a title.

Comics for the last two weeks

Buffy #6
Great start with new writer, Brian K. Vaughan and I have to admit it writing was a heck of lot easier to follow. I enjoyed Whedon's work but I thought it was a bit convoluted and it wasn't until I read the wikipedia entry and then finally figured what was going on. I almost think Joss is so familiar with these characters he forgets to fill the rest of us in. Anyway good launching point for Brian...I enjoy the Faith and Giles teaming. Should be a good series.











Uncanny X-men #490
Why can't anyone put together an interesting take on this book? Have all the good stories been taken? Is the x-mythology just too weighted town. Returning to the Morlock tunnels sounded good and it is neat to see Skids again (SHIELD agent?) but why can't there be action, adventure, fun? These plots just don't go anywhere...I just don't care. Girrrr

Colorado Rockies - Week 23

A 4-2 week against the division rivals, Giants and Padres. Two good winning series. Would have been nice to sweep the Giants but we did gain some on the Wild Card standings so you can't expect anymore. It is good to be talking Roxs baseball in September but it will certainly be a struggle down the stretch. The bandaid that has become our pitching staff can only go so far. Dessens and Redman certainly aren't going to take us there. Francis can only pitch every 5 days and Jimenez has done a good job. Fogg is inconsistent and Morales is just over his head. Prime example of this is Hurdle using 10 pitchers (!, tied a major league record for most pitchers for a 9 inning game) to steal a win against the Padres on Friday night...Yikes! Don't think we want to try LaRussa experiment while in a playoff hunt. The Roxs are in 4th place (6.0 behind) and 3.0 behind in the wild card chase. The Roxs currently stand at 74 - 68. Currently 43-28 at home and 31-40 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 721-670 (expected wins is 76 versus historical wins at 66). On pace for 84 wins. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)

Weekly WPA Leaders: Well the relievers were the big winners this week with Corpas and Herges. Helton continues to show why it is too bad he wasn't traded to a real contender. I think Helton would do like Walker during his sole world series appearance, hit the crap out of the ball. Here's hoping Todd makes it next year (alright he still has a chance this year but unless he can go out every 5 days and pitch, I'm not holding my breath!)

One Year in the Books...or Forever Lost Electrons

Yup...one year tomorrow. I've bored myself for 226 posts last year or 62% of the available days. Not bad, pretty consistent. Since I started tagging my posts the "Rockies" have won out at 31 posts, followed by books at 21, and haiku with 14. Favorite posts include the 10/9 rant on NASA, my classic movies, my cute titled post on 1/10, "Apple Newton 3.0", the Captain America RIP post, my Chabon posting on 5/17, and the Monday Roxs feature and finally my Wednesday Haiku. It has been a fun ride so far...and so here is to another good year of posting!

College Football Friday

Air Force visits Utah on Saturday. An interesting series over the last few years. DeBerry played the Urban Meyer teams pretty closely over the years. Alot of heart breakers for AF.

2002 30 - 26 W
2003 43 - 45 L
2004 35 - 49 L
2005 35 -38 L
2006 14 -17 L
2007 ???

I predict a 28 - 24 Win for AF! What the heck, we're due! Good win last week, I was a bit nervous for the Falcons has we had a new coach and new offense. Some things I never expected to read in my local paper, the Denver Post, and I quote:

"However, Guenther (the center) had trouble with the center snaps with quarterback Shaun Carney in the shotgun early in the game...." Shotgun????

"...surprised South Carolina St. coming out with 5 receivers and empty backfield..." Hmmmm...what happened to run, run, pass, punt???

Too bad for Michigan and Notre Dame last week, HA HA...at least we don't have to listen to any national championships. Big games of interest LSU vs. VTech and TCU vs. Texas.

Camping

Went camping this weekend. Living in Colorado you sometimes forgot how close you are to beautiful majestic places. I think I've become dulled to the beauty. A pleasant weekend camping trip was all it took to readjust that attitude! A nice campsite outside of Jefferson, Colorado, named Lodgepoll about 3 miles south of Lake Jefferson. Also right near the Colorado Trail. There is something to be said about leaving the electronic world behind and returning to an earlier time. Very primal and almost surreal. Sitting next to a fire each night watching the wood burn, the flames lick, the embers glow like nature's LED lights. If memories and DNA are related than camping is that bridge to remind us of a time when fire was the most important thing. In addition to being outside the one thing you really notice is the night time sky. The milky way gets blocked out by the city lights but in the mountains it glows with an eerie silence. To sit and gaze into a sky where constellations lose their urban definitions. Although you still can't lose sight of the technology blanket we have as you watch satellites stroll along the stars. Seeing a sky like that is somewhat humbling as the universe is thrust upon you and infinity becomes visual. I pity the city dwellers who never make it out and see the wilderness and sky and realize the world is a much bigger place then the city blocks that surround them.

Haiku Wednesday

Haiku - Remembering

Cubicle's forest
Post-it notes stuck everywhere
They flutter like leaves

Game 138 - Colorado Rockies

Game 138 was another wild ride...felt like I was watching Game 128 but in a different section! One of those games they probably should have lost. Had the bases loaded twice and didn't score (left 11 on for the night). Got lucky with the umpire's ejection of Wilson in the 8th which ultimately lead to Matsui's (!) score tying hit. Kind of hate September baseball with the the deeper bench. It makes the manager do crazy things like managing like he is in an all-star game. Two pinch runners, Stewart pinch hitting in the bottom of the 3rd for Morales (who obviously didn't have it). Then crazy pinch hitting throughout the rest of the game. Atkins looked awful at the plate, can't believe he walked on 4 pitches in the bottom of the 9th which then brought up Atkins and his heroic basehit. All in all a good game.

Colorado Rockies - Week 22

A 3-3 week against the division rivals, Giants and D-Backs. Not a real positive road trip. A good 2-1 against the D-backs and a good win against Webb, but 1-2 against the cellar Giants. Always good to play well against the division. Looking at the expanded standings and it is somewhat revealing. The Roxs are only 26-27 while the division leader Padres are 32-22 against the NL West. Also, all the division teams have a good home record but to be a contender you need a decent road record and the Roxs 31-40 record is below that of the Padres, D-backs, and LA (who have 34 and 35 wins). Looking at the runs scored/runs against on the road (313-319)shows that the Roxs certainly are capable of playing better but for some reason are 4 wins behind where they should be...and would in fact be closer to contending! The Roxs are in 4th place (5.0 behind) and 5.0 behind in the wild card chase. Another important homestand against the Giants and Padres. The Roxs currently stand at 70 - 66. Currently 39-26 at home and 31-40 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 660-647 (expected wins is 72 versus historical wins at 63). On pace for 83 wins. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)

Weekly WPA Leaders:

College Football

Yup that time of year again...when the temperatures get cooler, days get shorter, and Saturdays are filled with college cheer. Air Force is looking to return to competitiveness. A frustrating ending for Fisher DeBerry. His 2006 season was his last and unfortunately he did not go out on top or the way he probably wanted. Unusual that AF forced out the architect of the winningest service academy football team but winning teams put people in the seats and seats filled mean more money for the sports program. I am sure that the AF basketball team certainly hasn't helped. A new coach, a new attack, and hopefully some more wins. The new coach, Troy Calhoun, brings a new pedigree. Having been raised in the NFL under the tutelage of Mike Shanahan, the desire is that AF will always be prepared and ready to win. It certainly is a good hire although will having a graduate has the head coach bring to much pressure? We shall see...

2007 Schedule

The Denver Post, using EA Sports NCAA Football 08 reveal that AF will finish an astounding 2-10! Ughhhhh. It predicts only W's against SC St and Wyoming. I think that is a bit low. I predict an 8-4 season! With their only loses coimng from TCU, BYU, CSU, and Notre Dame. A commander and chiefs trophy will make a return visit for an extended time beginning this year! Go AF, Sink Navy and Ground Army!

Magazine Wrap-Up

The New Yorker

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt published an article entitled "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." The basis of the article is that US really has no strategic interest in supporting Israel. Obviously it is more in depth than that but the purpose of the paper was to stimulate discussion about the lobbying power of Israel and the foreign policy that the US follows in the Middle East (and whether there is a link). The authors, both respected political scientist, have been labeled anti-Semite in some corners which then usually leads to an end of the discussion which is too bad. It is always easy to fall into the trap that there is this big Israeli conspiracy and that the world is secretly being manipulated. Unfortunately too many people assume that this is partially true which is plain ignorant. My opinion is too much of our foreign policy (and for that matter, most of the current policy, is driven too much by lobbying and money. Is it too much to ask for our elected officials to be honorable and do what's right? Am I just naive to think that this is how it as always been and that the dollars changing hands today is just bigger? The sad part of it all is that foreign policy decisions, if they are being swayed by lobbying, are causing deaths to American soldiers and disgrace to our country. I would appreciate a healthy dialogue regardless of labels and I applaud Mearsheimer and Walt for at least trying. Our Middle East policy is in tatters as it is, it would be nice to know that policy is being laid out to benefit our country and ultimately the world.

David Owen puts together a nice article on light pollution. Being a fan of the night sky and seeing the sky from atop Mt Kilimanjaro, I can attest that there is a lot that we don't see! There is a group, International Dark-Sky Association, whose goal is to reduce the night, light signature. I have always thought that the incessant need to put up street lights and light everything up is silly and expensive. Image how much towns could save by making it dark again? The article moved beyond the night sky and launched into a discussion on circadian rhythms. Pervasive artificial illumination has begun to possibly interfere with our biological machinery. One such link is cancer, specifically breast cancer in women in the industrialized world. A researcher on a whim studied the link of nighttime employment and found a strong association between working at night and an increased risk of cancer. In addition migrating birds can be fooled by artificial lights. Finally the need for lighting is supposedly to deter thieves but because of the common place night time light criminals really don't stand out and basically fade into the background. Know imagine if it was dark a flashlight was needed? Interesting article.

Wired

On to a later topic: Standards as in what makes a kilogram, a meter, or a second? Well Wired is telling us:

Kilogram: 215 x 10^23 silicon atoms
Meter: Distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 seconds
Second: The time it takes for cesium-133 atom to cycle 9,192,631,770 times between to specific quantum states