Rox Talk

Another 4-2 week against the Giants and White Sox. Hey its interleague...the Roxs are a closet AL team. The Roxs currently stand at 28-41. Eight and half games back from division leading D-backs in the cellar Currently 16-16 at home and 12-25 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 291-355 (expected wins is 29 versus historical wins at 32). On pace for 66 wins with 683 runs scored and 833 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey). Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):

Playing well but have they dug themselves too big of a hole to climb back into this thing?

Natural Selection in a Lab?

Fascinating science in this article. A Michigan State biologist has been growing E. Coli in the lab since 1989 following over 40,000 generations studying natural selection. In a parallel read in the most recent New Yorker an article about cave paintings suggested that "since recorded history began, around 3200 BC with the invention of writing in the Middle East, there have been some two hundred human generations (if one reckons a new one every twenty five years.) Future discoveries may alter the math, but, as it now stands, forty-five hundred generations separate the earliest Homo Sapiens form the earliest cave artists, and between the artists and us another fifteen hundred generations have descended the birth canal, learned to walk upright, mastered speech and the use of tools, reached puberty, reproduced, and died" Just a reference, in the lab in about 20 years we have 40,000 generations and in 5,200 years we have 200 human generations...just an interesting time scale in the world of natural selection...

Haiku Wednesday

Solstice

Sun shines the longest
Marks the first day of summer
Downhill to winter

Downfall of Hillary

Okay so again I don't like to pontificate on politics because it really isn't my place but as a purviewer of life I figure I should throw out my thoughts on this political season. Bottom line was that Hillary had her flaws (doesn't everyone) but I really thought she got an unfair shake. Granted Obama was a runaway train (much like Hillary's husband) and I don't think there was anything she could have done to make a difference. I guess from my perspective is the fact that we had a black man and a white woman going at it for the nominee. In over 200 years of presidential politics we finally reached a point where the white male is finally moving on. What a great time in America of course you can look at the flip side and ask why did it take so long? In the future Hillary will be looked upon has a great step forward but presently I am amazed by the hostility of it all. Granted I believe we are all sick of anyone named Bush or Clinton and the last thing we needed was Clinton part II but why such the disparity in opinions on a woman candidate? I mean you talk to woman and they can't stand Hillary, you talk to Republicans and they lick their chops at having such a polarizing candidate, you talk to men and they just raise their eyebrows? What is it with Hillary? Would any other woman have gone through this? Is it because she is slimy like her husband? Why did the media and most of her friends back stab her? Why did she fight a losing battle? Is it simply ego? I guess I am just amazed at how the media simply took things that really didn't matter in a candidate's leadership ability and made it an issue. I guess in the end the power's at be would rather still have a man, even a black man, then a woman in the White House. Wow amazing such inequality still exists in the good old boy network. Are us men really that insecure? Makes you think but hey there is an entire religion out there that makes woman second class citizens so is our putting the woman down all that different?

Rox Talk

A 4-2 week against the Dodgers and Brewers. Some life at least with the pitching and maybe some offensive. The Roxs currently stand at 24-39. Ten games back from division leading D-backs in the cellar (thought the D-backs would come back to Earth or perhaps they aren't playing their chumps). Currently 14-15 at home and 10-24 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 262-332 (expected wins is 25 versus historical wins at 29). On pace for 62 wins with 674 runs scored and 854 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).

Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):

Ho hum the inconsistencies of this season are simply maddening. Win some, lose some. When Tulo, Barmes, and Holliday all return will the offense kick into gear? Ughhhh

This Week in Comics

Buffy Season 8 #15
Thankfully this mini story is over. To me this was just so un-Buffy. The whole lesbian business, Xander and his being the man-servant, Willow's stupid questions and all of it. Let's move on!

Iron Man #2
Good second issue. Usually a let down but I thought Fraction carried it off well.

Secret Invasion #3

Kind of a let down issue, nothing really exciting. Tony Stark was certainly the focal point...his he a skrull or not? I don't think so but I think he will be tortured and I bet him and Fury get some redemption.

Celtics Lakers Redo

A return to the old days for the NBA. I am certainly not an NBA fan. I find the basketball they play to be distasteful and a knock on all the great players of the past. But regardless I do remember the good ol days before MJ took over the league and Stern created the current monstrosity. Probably the last great NBA finals when Magic and Bird faced off. Great teams great history and great personalities. Certainly a different brand of b-ball. Although this series certainly won't remind me of the good days perhaps the reshowing of past greats will rekindle some interest when the NBA actually played basketball. But let's hope they don't return to short shorts!

Haiku Wednesday

Flags

Patriotic sight
The fabric of our country
More than just symbols

By the way this marks the one year anniversary of the "summer" haiku contest that the Denver Post has put together. I survived and put together 52 of them...whoopeee

Piers Anthony - Spell for Chamaleon

High school redux for me at least. The Xanth novels were big fantasy novels back in the mid 80s. As a geek I read my fair share of fantasy stuff (Lord of the Rings, Belgariad, and Shannara) and well was always looking for that next big series. Xanth books could fall into this stuff but for some reason I never could get into the first book. I tried but maybe when you looked at the map (come on, all good fantasy books have a very detailed awe inspiring map that makes you feel like you are venturing there...heck I even tried to trace Frodo's journey!)and you simply see a picture of Florida then perhaps it doesn't really stimulate the imagination like you think it should. So anyway 20 years later was in the used book store and thought what the heck why not try to get through one just to see. Well I survived. The book was generally good although I don't know if I will go on to read the next 26 books or so or more? (Yikes!). The dry goofy humor got a bit old. The characters were good. I have always enjoyed Piers "Diary of a Space Tyrant" but they were more hardcore sci-fi. His wittiness on the Xanth book was kind of silly. Anyway perhaps I will read Book 2...we shall see

Rox Talk

A 0-7 (!) week against the Phillies and Cubs (two divisional leaders). Two teams that really are playing well...or really playing well against a team that is not very good! The Roxs currently stand at 20-37. Twelve games back from division leading D-backs in the cellar. Currently 12-14 at home and 8-23 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 240-314 (expected wins is 22 versus historical wins at 26). On pace for 58 wins with 682 runs scored and 892 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey). The road record is abysmal with the Roxs on pace to win only 21 games on the road, the worst since 2003 when they only won 25.

Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):
Nothing...you lose 7 straight games and there is nothing good to report. Helton seems to be awakening but with all his toddlers on the DL it would seem that he is the only one still around! Also this marks the first week (I believe) that all the WPAs numbers are in the negative. The bullpen was holding onto a slight positive but after last week's blown leads in Chicago they dipped below.