Implicit Association Test

After hearing a discussion on (what else?) NPR today, I spent some time messing around with the Implicit Association Test. It's on my link list.

I took two tests. One apparently shows that I'm favorably disposed to Japan and have a mildly unfavorable opinion of China and India.

No idea why I don't care for those two countries. They've never done anything to me, personally, as far as I know. Sure, we're losing our jobs to them, but I don't believe I actually hold anyone in those countries responsible. They're just trying to make a living.

The 2nd test was for black vs white preferences. I scored as slightly preferring those of European descent to African-American, as did 16% of the other test-takers so far.

According to the stats, 27% strongly prefer European, and another 27% moderately prefer European.

I don't know what that reflects, but it was interesting and sort of fun, if you want to give it a shot.

Regular season champs

We won tonight, 16-8, and thus won the league regular season.

Good for us! We finished the regular season 10-2 on Wednesdays. Not bad after an 0-2 start.

I played terribly. Worst game in several weeks, if not all year. It's a good thing we won, or I wouldn't be my usual pleasant self.

and Other

Every day at work I listen to at least 3 hours of NPR programming.

I always learn something fascinating. Today I heard mention of Operation Able Archer, which was a NATO military practice operation in 1983. I got some details from the interview on Fresh Air, then came home and read more about it on-line

It was some unbelievably scary reading. I'd advise anyone who doesn't know about it to check it out.

Here's a (very) quick recap:

1) Able Archer was a major north Atlantic military maneuver that seems to have been a test of our (NATO, primarily U.S.) first strike nuclear abilities.

2) The Soviet Union believed we may use the war games as a ruse to actually launch a first strike.

3) The Soviets acted according to their beliefs and we seem to have come awfully close to a nuclear war.]

I'm not sure why the Soviets would have thought that, unless it had something to do with our president calling them an evil empire, moving 1st strike weapons into Europe, (which was actually a step initiated by Carter) and doing everything possible to rattle the Russians.

Honestly, though I've always been a Reagan-basher, and though the impression I got from a lot of my research was that the scare was largely the fault of his administration, I came away from my reading with a higher opinion of him.

He seems to have made some fairly large blunders in his early handling of the Cold War, but recognized it and adjusted accordingly. During the 2nd term of his administration he held a hard line, as he did in the 1st half, but it seems to have become much more nuanced, which is a lesson it took the current president 3 1/2 years longer to learn- if he's learned it yet.

Softball

First round of the Tuesday night tournament. We won 18-1.

I stayed late enough tonight to know that the last game ended 43-7, so I guess ours was a nail-biter.

We finished 2nd in a 7-team league, so we beat the last place team. The 43-7 game was actually the 2nd round of the winner's bracket, with the regular season champs beating a team that had already won once tonight ( I guess they were either the 4th or 5th place team).

We can win this tournament. We're capable of beating Jock's, who won the league. In fact we did beat them early in the season. But they're definitely better than us.

That will just make it more fun when we win, I guess.

UK QBs

Another arrest for UK football? Wow! What better proof could there be that Kentucky's finally getting the quality athletes that can compete in the SEC?

Season up in smoke?

UK's most athletic player and possible starting quarterback was busted for possessing marijuana.

Big deal? Definitely, as far as the team is concerned. Kentucky's roster is deeper and more talented than at any time in the last 20 years, but they have serious question marks at quarterback and wide receiver.

If Pulley wins the QB spot, his running ability will go a long way to mask the inefficiencies at receiver.

If Hartline (or Fidler, as I think may happen at some point this year) is the QB, Pulley can be used as a receiver. Possibly the best receiver.

Looks bleak. So it's a good time for me to go out on a limb with this prediction:

The University of Kentucky football team will finish the regular season with an 8-4 record.

And they'll start either 6-1 or 7-0. I'm almost, but not quite, willing to go out on the 7-0 limb.

Excitement on a Saturday night!

Apparently, NBC.com has decided my "Heroes" addiction needed an intervention.

Three episodes on Friday was not enough for me, I guess, so this evening I got on the computer to watch another.

But when I got to the proper page and tried to load the next episode, the video wasn't available. Nor were any other episodes of the show. Out of curiosity, I checked some other programs (The Office and Earl), and they are available. So I think NBC was just watching out for me and making sure I don't sit in front of the screen all night.

Thanks!

So I went to plan B, which was pretty nice.

I put two beers and a bottle of water in a little cooler, grabbed a miniature radio, and went to the shag field at Seneca Park. I spent a pleasant hour and 1/2 hitting golf balls while sipping beer and listening to NPR.

I was very glad I brought the water, too, because though the temperature's not too bad it was awfully muggy out.

That was the 2nd time this month that I've been there with a cooler and radio. While there the first time, 2 people told me it was a great idea. Tonight, 3 more did so.

By this time next month, I fully expect everyone who hits balls at Seneca to routinely bring those luxuries.

I'm such a trend-setter.

Cats

There's a small herd of women at work who talk about nothing but their cats. It shouldn't bother me, but after a year or two all the stories about how cute they are, what they jumped on, what they ate, and what they scratched up have begun to grate on my nerves.

What especially bothers me is that they don't just talk about their cats amongst themselves. A couple of them insist on sharing cat stories with me.

As I sit there, half-listening and trying to do my work, my brain screams "DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE?!" over and over again.

Yesterday they caught a feral cat that had been hanging around the building for many months. Seems there had been some talk about Animal Control (or whatever it's called) coming out to get rid of it, and so they decided to catch it themselves and adopt it. I'm sure it'll work out great.

I'm also fairly sure that a couple of the women (but not all- I'm sure the others are very socially-conscious) lose sleep at night worrying about the fate of the poor little kitty but pobably think Darfur is either a yogurt brand or a fabric material.

They're the type of people who wrote letters to Barbaro.

It's not like I hate cats or anything. In fact, I almost have one. I've almost come to regard a neighbor's cat that likes sleeping in the sun by my door- or in the shade of my table on hotter days-as mine. Except that I never feed him or pet him or anything like that.

But when I'm outside reading he likes to wander over and fall asleep on my feet, so I think he must like me okay.

Heroes

I was a late-comer to the the television series "Heroes." Late in the first season the sci-fi channel (I think) ran a marathon of the show, and I got hooked.

It was very addictive. The characters were great, and the plot was intriguing, but the final episode was so disappointing that I refused to watch the second season.

Browsing around on the computer tonight, I visited NBC.com, thinking I would catch up on an episode or two of "My Name Is Earl." Instead I started watching "Heroes," and I'm nearing the end of my third episode in one night.

Damn. Hooked again.

update

In my last post I mentioned that we needed to win tonight and next Wednesday to finish first in the league, so I figured I should post tonight's result.

We won 24-2.

That about says it all, so I won't bother to give a recap.

We play the same team next week- we play them twice in a row because next week is making up for a rain-out.

I suppose I like our chances, since we handled them fine tonight, but I'll share two facts that serve to keep me from being overconfident.

1) The team we rolled over tonight, and play next week, has defeated both the 2nd and 3rd place teams already this season. So they can play better.

2) One week last year we beat the best team in either St. Martha league on Tuesday night, then turned around and lost the next night to a team that hadn't won a game in two years.

Anything can happen. But I still like our chances.

Here's the softball post...

The Yogis won by a bunch of runs tonight, even with three starters on the bench.

We're nearing the end of the St. Martha leagues' seasons, and I assumed we were getting some playing time for lesser talents in advance of the league tournaments.

Assuming that, and knowing I'd played regularly all year, I thought I'd probably sit tomorrow night. I also knew that I have a training class at work tomorrow, and that I don't have to be there until an hour and a half later than normally.

These two 'facts' in mind, I stayed at the ball field until 11:00, with the firm assumption that I didn't have to be at my best tomorrow.

Then I found out that the reason those guys sat tonight was that we were locked into 2nd place on Tuesday regardless of tonight's result. On Wednesdays, however, if we win tomorrow and next week then we win the regular season. But if we lose a game we can fall as far as 4th place. So there's a fair amount riding on the results.

I feel a little like Mickey Mantle, partying long into the night in between World Series games, except for a few small differences- such as the fact that he was a talented athlete and I'm me, he drank all night and still performed well whereas I had a couple of beers and will feel like shit tomorrow, and he scored hot celebrity chicks and I'm watching Letterman.

Other than that, we're exactly alike.

First of two posts. Second will be softball. Anyone surprised?.

I want to amend my Greg Norman comments.

I think my aversion is less to Norman and more to the media's treatment of him. I actually listened to the ABC guys mention- in the same 10-minute segment between commercials- that Greg Norman and Chris Evert had a $2 million wedding, and that Norman's golf career had been unlucky.

Really? There's no firm reason at all for me to dislike the guy. I really did always think he was an ass. But I think I was also influenced this weekend by some resentment, resentment which was fueled by stupid commentators.

The guy won two majors, is filthy rich by any standards- he sold his used yacht to the owner of Blockbuster Videos and the Miami Dolphins, for God's sake, and his new second marriage (the $2 million wedding) is to a famous tennis hottie.

Yep, golf has been very unkind to the poor bastard. He should have gone into accounting or chemistry or something. He'd have been much happier.

Anyway, my apologies to the guy I believe is a jerk. He probably doesn't deserve my scorn, and I hope my negative vibes haven't ruined his probable $5million honeymoon.

Kreacher

Brian is funny, funny, funny!

Am I the only golf fan who really does not want Greg Norman to win the British Open?

Yes, it's a neat story because he's 53 years old.

But Norman's always rubbed me the wrong way. I might be entirely wrong, but in his heyday he always seemed to be a bit of an ass. The fact that he choked in majors doesn't bother me- it has nothing to do with whether he's likeable or not- but he always gave me the impression that he was something of a jerk.

To top it off, though the media this week loves the angle that he and Chris Evert are on their honeymoon, it really bothers me.

Again, I am well aware that I do not have the full story and Norman might not be at all deserving of my suspicion, but it bothers me that he and his good friend got divorced in 2006 and then he married his friend's ex-wife in 2008.

Politics

I listened to President Bush's press conference yesterday and kept thinking to myself, as I invariably do, "What a jackass."

Democratic 'leaders' are finally coming closer to saying the same thing.

For 7 1/2 years the only thing that has come close to frustrating me as much as Bush and his bass-ackwards policies is the snivelling political cowardice of the supposed opposition party.

Now, finally, about 7 years after it could actually have done some good, they're poking their heads out of their shells to see if the coast is clear.

Therefore, this seems like an appropriate occasion to say thanks a lot, guys (and gals). Your nearly complete lack of fortitude and your fanatical devotion to selfish political expediency has truly been an inspiration.

Yogi's win! Yogi's win! Yogi's win!

Not exactly the shot heard 'round the world, and we've got a great record this season so a win isn't exactly big news, but boy, what a win it was!

I wouldn't normally be posting anything at nearly one in the morning, but I was still fairly wound up when I got home- extremely late- and have a few minutes before I'll be ready to sleep, I'm sure.

With a 9:00 game tonight, I intended to stick around for a quick beer and be home at as near-to-decent an hour as I could.

So of course we started at 9:15 or so. No surprise. The last game never starts on time. But then the real fun began.

It was a close game all the way, but we took the field on defense in the bottom of the seventh with a 10-7 lead. Good hitting by our opponents and two absolutely horrible calls by the umpires took the game to an eighth inning, tied 10-10.

We didn't score in the top half, and I wasn't too confident in the bottom half. But they didn't score, either.

We scored 4 in the 9th. So did our opponents, so it was 14-14.

Nobody scored in the 10th. I was especially disappointed with our zero then because I'd had several hits tonight but grounded out this inning.

Finally, we got some huge hits and 4 big runs in the eleventh, and coasted home to an easy 18-17 victory by giving up three runs and getting two outs with the bases loaded. No sweat.

The game ended around 11:15 and my plan for an early exit was pretty much shot to hell.

It was loads of fun. The worst thing about it was that I've been trying really hard to get regular exercise so tonight I decided I should ride my stationary bike for a while before the late game. Great idea, usually, because softball isn't normally much exercise. But this game wore me out. I was fairly busy at 3rd base and spent a lot more time running the bases than I would usually expect, plus the game itself was just so darn intense that I think I'd have been tired even if I was just watching from the bench.

Good night.

State motto poetry; poem #1

I'm still tweeking my non-comprehensive poem, which uses only about half the state mottos.

But here is one which uses all 50, as Brian did. Three comments first, though:

1)"Mountaineers are always free" is a darned tough phrase to fit into any poem that's not specifically about mountaineers.

2)This is the first time I've worked 5 or 6 positive references to God or religion into any piece of writing in more than 20 years. That makes me feel both very old and very sinful.

3) I went to Shakespeare in the Park last night. The following poetry sure as heck ain't Shakespeare.




God enriches friendship, he who transplants sustains liberty
and union, now and forever, one and inseparable; state
sovereignty, national union. The crossroads of America, the life
of the land, is perpetuated in righteousness, strong deeds, gentle words.

I have found it with God. All things are possible if you seek
a pleasant peninsula. Look about you: mountaineers are always free.
Liberty and independence, union, justice, and confidence-
equality before the law.

Thus always to tyrants we dare defend our rights, virtue, liberty,
and independence. Our liberties we prize, and our rights.
We will maintain nothing without wisdom, justice, and moderation.
Under God, the people rule.

The people rule gold and silver, industry, agriculture and commerce.
Liberty and prosperity- the star of the North, it grows as it goes north
to the future. She flies with her own wings ever upward,
prepared in mind and resources.

The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law. I direct all,
for our country, to be rather than to seem united. We stand divided?
We shall fall by the sword. We seek peace, but peace only under liberty,
equal rights, freedom, and unity.

By and by, forward to the stars, through difficulties by valor and arms,
labor conquers all things. In God we trust it is perpetual. Live free or die.

A correction and a weather warning...

1st, I'm very sorry and hope Jim doesn't read my blog regularly, because I erred on my last softball report. We were actually down 2 runs in the last inning and he led off with a double, THEN everything else happened as I reported it.

2nd, I'm planning to attend Shakespeare in the Park tonight. So it's probably going to rain- again! Just like my first 2 tries this year.

Oops

I posted my state motto poem and never reviewed it on the actual blog. Turns out my copy and paste job left my lines a little disjointed.

I deleted the whole thing because it's late and I don't have time to correct it all now.

If you haven't seen it yet, don't fret. I'll have it straightened out at some point tomorrow or Saturday, or Sunday at the latest.

Probably tomorrow, since I have nothing better to do on a Friday night than write state motto poetry.

That sounded pathetic, didn't it?

My social life is not all bad, though. I do have a 1st birthday party to attend on Saturday, and I hear those things can get pretty wild.

Softballlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

We got a very nice, low-scoring 4-3 victory tonight.

We were down by the whoppingly impressive score of 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th, got a leadoff single, a pop-up, then another single (by me) to give us runners on 1st and 3rd with one out.

A deep sacrifice fly tied it and put me on 2nd base, another hit to very shallow right did not score me. I swear it wasn't due to my lack of speed- the hitter almost got thrown out at first, it was so shallow. Then I scored on another hit to win the game.

Great! If you overlook the meager run production throughout the game. I'm more than willing to do so since we won.

Softball

My third post in 1/2 hour. It'll be a short one, since it's 10:55 and I plan on being in bed at 11:00.

My metro parks league team lost a tournament game last night, 9-8. We batted in the bottom of the seventh needing a run to tie and two to win, and went out with a whimper, three up, three down. I started the inning with a ground-out. So it was our own fault. If you can't get a single run when you need it in slo-pitch softball, you deserve to lose.

But at least my Mondays are free now.

The Yogis played two games tonight. We won 1 and lost 1. The loss ended a fairly long winning streak. 8 games, I'm guessing, but I'm not too sure.

I was 0 for 2 with a walk in the first game, which we won 18-6. Then I was 3 for 3 with a walk in the second game, which we lost 16-11.

I'm going to go glass-half-full and say that means I only get hits when we need them.

Oops, my time's up. Good night.

Mark's birthday!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

I am very sorry I did not call you today and wish you a happy birthday in person.

It's 10:30 right now and I've been home for about 15 minutes, and I thought momentarily about calling just now. But I don't have your cell phone number, which is a serious oversight on my part, I figure. And I didn't want to call your home phone this late and risk waking up any innocent bystanding children.


But I typed today's date into my computer at work 97 times today, and each time I did I thought 'it's Mark's birthday!,' followed by one of these two thoughts (depending on my frame of mind at that particular time of day):

"I'm SO LUCKY to have such a FANTASTIC big brother! He's really great!"

or

"Eh. I'll call him later."

But rest assured, the first was the true sentiment. The second was brought on by a work drudgery-induced coma. When I was younger I took such things for granted, but now not a day goes by that I don't think in my head, at least once, that I really have a terrific family.

I invariably follow that thought with '...and Mark's paintings and sketches are really terrific, too. We should form some sort of conspiracy and tell him so, repeatedly, so that he's torn between a swollen ego and paranoia about some sort of elaborate practical joke. That would be neat!"

All jokes aside, Mark, I wish you a very happy birthday and a blessed (said the atheist) 40th year. You deserve nothing but the best.

State mottos

I came across some suggested mottos while looking up the actual ones.

A lot of the ones on the list just weren't funny, but I pasted a few of my favorites below:

Alabama:
Like the third world, but closer

Because SC is a Little Too Progressive for Some of Us


Alaska:
Yeah, but it's a dry cold


Arkansas:
It's Trailer-rific!!!

California:
Silicon Valley in the North, Silicone Hills in the South!

Colorado:
Now 100% John Denver free!

Florida:
Half a Million Cubans Can't All Be Wrong

Hawaii:
Why Does Everybody Think Putting Ham and Pineapple on Something Makes it "Hawaiian"?

Idaho:
Get Your Whites Their Whitest!

Iowa:
Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk

Kansas:
We aren't all that crazy about Newton and his "gravity", either.

Nebraska:
The "N" is for "Knowledge!"

New Jersey:
What smell?

Oklahoma:
We're like the Canada of Texas

Rhode Island:
Yes, we know what a peninsula is

Texas:
With your father as ex-president, all things are possible.

Wisconsin:
Badgers?! We don't need no stinkin' badgers

Canada:
It's only a matter of time.

Godless America

I decided to spend part of my Independence Day listening to archived podcasts of This American Life.

I found a great episode (well, they're almost all great) about the separation of church and state. It's episode 290, "Godless America."

As usual, I found it fascinating, educational, and entertaining.

Sorry, lazy little brother, but I'm technically inept. I keep trying to insert an active link, but each time I do it ends up blank on the actual post. So if you care to hear it you'll have to copy and paste it.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=290

Happy 4th.

Something That Seems Highly Unlikely To Me..

Yesterday's "Fresh Air" featured an interview with German-born jazz and caberet singer Theo Bleckmann. I listened to the entire interview despite my complete lack of interest in the subject.

I do that a lot. Terry Gross must be a good interviewer.

Anyway, there was one little nugget that got me thinking. They touched upon Bleckmann's family and what effect WWII had upon his childhood.

I don't recall precisely which family member did what, but an uncle or some-such lost a leg on the Russian front, and his mom or aunt or somebody was a resister, etc.

I have no reason to doubt his version, or anyone's, for that matter, but I've begun to find something very odd about all the various stories I've heard about Germans during WWII.

Have you ever noticed that every fighting-age German male of that era was either actively involved in the war effort or else resisted on moral grounds? Didn't anyone avoid military service just because they really didn't like the idea of being in the military?

Surely there were some who didn't mind the Jews and didn't want to take over Europe, but were too indifferent to oppose the war, but avoided service primarily as an act of self-preservation. And there must have been a few who sort of liked the idea of 'the master race' and thought it was all a great idea, except that they really didn't want to be bothered to get involved.

I mean, I know political apathy is more rampant today than it was then (rampant apathy? Oh, well, I guess it's no worse than my militant agnosticism), but surely there were a fair number of German men who got out of military service who did so merely because they didn't want to serve.

I think I'll chalk it up to historical whitewashing.

By the way, the tiny picture above is of Kenneth Mars as Franz Liebkind in "The Producers."

Another topic already?

I almost forgot. I watched an episode of Big Bang Theory last night. Two of the characters discussed teleportation. One of them had a problem with the whole idea of it; he questioned the implications of a system that didn't actually transport a person, but instead completely destroyed them and built an exact replica in a different location.

It sounded familiar...

Mark, you don't write for any CBS programs, do you?

Guess what? Softball again

No softball Thursday through Monday, so I promise I'll post something different one of those days.

We stayed on our winning streak with a solid victory.

The field was rock-hard tonight. First time all year for that, and it will help us tremendously. We're a weak hitting and good fielding team, so the tougher the infield the better.

I booted one grounder tonight, but I stand by the above statement. I don't mind missing a ball that bounces off my belly or chest.

And a hard field definitely helps my hitting. I bounced a grounder off the 2nd baseman's chin. I always enjoy that. I (and all the other 'old guys') spend a lot of time telling teammates that if we hit hard grounders, good things will happen. Untimely rain had kept that from being true so far this year, but tonight the field conditions helped a lot.