July 2007 Archives
Until recently, I never considered reading the Harry Potter series. It wasn't a snobbish attitude that the books were trash, rather there were just so many other things I wanted to read first.With the hubbub surrounding the 7th book, and some pushy, demanding friends, I finally read the first book: prepare for stunning insights ahead.
The book is good, as a children's book. Judged against fiction such as the Boxcar children or Nancy Drew it's damn good, against the descriptive prowess of Michael Chabon or the action and intrigue of John LeCarre, not so much. It is, of course, unfair to judge with such authors in mind. Transformers was a good action movie, but on an absolute scale would not rate very highly.
If the sputtering plot, uneven action and the formulaic nature of its structure show the author (and I must remind you, this is the only Potter book I have read) at the maximum use of her abilities, I doubt I'll continue reading the next six. (Will add my review below after dinner)
Continue reading Man of the Time.
It looks like Odell Thurman won't be back for any of the 2007 season according to this article. I'm not an apologist for his repeated repeated crimes; sitting out one year was the bright line rule laid out previously. In the usual judicial system you can't add punishment time after the initial punishment time has has been served.
The NFL differs from this approach in that the explicit purpose of a punishment such as Odell's is for rehabilitation (and to rejoin good society). Clearly, someone believed he wasn't rehabilitated enough and decided to add more time. Whether this sort of retroactive fiddling will have the desired effect rather than creating extreme resentment is up in the air.
The NFL differs from this approach in that the explicit purpose of a punishment such as Odell's is for rehabilitation (and to rejoin good society). Clearly, someone believed he wasn't rehabilitated enough and decided to add more time. Whether this sort of retroactive fiddling will have the desired effect rather than creating extreme resentment is up in the air.
For those of you who among the vast readership of this blog who have not seen "Scott Baio Is 45... And Single" I highly recommend it. This former Hollywood hunk is
learning that they aren't all happy days as he tries to take charge of his love
life and realizes that sometimes finding love is just no fonz.
Seriously though, pretty funny show and one of his best friends is the older brother from The Wonder Years, who apparently is a VH1 reality show fixture. I've also seen him in an episode of Hogan Knows Best, pitching an energy drink endorsement to the Hulkster, I give it 2 stars out of 4. Watch it.
Seriously though, pretty funny show and one of his best friends is the older brother from The Wonder Years, who apparently is a VH1 reality show fixture. I've also seen him in an episode of Hogan Knows Best, pitching an energy drink endorsement to the Hulkster, I give it 2 stars out of 4. Watch it.
There was yet another doping scandal at the Tour De France today. You can read about it in the Times if you want. I understand why people use performance enhancing drugs (such a literal compared to our usual euphemisms), but who cares about the Tour de France?
There's a relationship between doping, drug testing (negative), gain (positive), and sport popularity (positive). In the case of the Tour de France, it's a sport that simply isn't very popular here compared to our many American sports, or in Europe to soccer. There has been a semi-rigorous drug testing regime for the past few years, so the answer must be that the gain from using the drugs is simply too great to ignore.
You could question how, facing the same factors, Lance Armstrong was able to win so many Tours de France against opponents who were doping. Assuming a standard rate of technological innovation with regard to these drugs, his decisions would be predicated on the same sort of data that riders see now (and a much lower popularity)...
There's a relationship between doping, drug testing (negative), gain (positive), and sport popularity (positive). In the case of the Tour de France, it's a sport that simply isn't very popular here compared to our many American sports, or in Europe to soccer. There has been a semi-rigorous drug testing regime for the past few years, so the answer must be that the gain from using the drugs is simply too great to ignore.
You could question how, facing the same factors, Lance Armstrong was able to win so many Tours de France against opponents who were doping. Assuming a standard rate of technological innovation with regard to these drugs, his decisions would be predicated on the same sort of data that riders see now (and a much lower popularity)...
After much deliberation regarding my first post, I decided to go old school and share this story with everyone. Unbeknownst to me, and likely most Americans under 30, Jimmy Carter was once attacked by a killer rabbit. The story, and especially the picture in the first link, speaks for itself. However, I will say that truth was certainly imitating fiction as the killer rabbit attack took place 4 years after the release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The 70's were a heady decade for disco, irresponsible cocaine use, and killer rabbits.
The Oxford American Dictionary defines a blog as
a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative,and that will suit me just fine.
