Dimly Lit

You know, before startign this I remember reading several blogs that had moved away from Blogger due to various problems. I thought that it wouldn’t apply to me since I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have much of a readership so it would be no big deal. I have to say though that it is very frustrating to encounter problems when trying to post or even log in about 75% of the time! One reason I haven’t updated as often as I might like is that posts get lost when I try to publish.(Of course there are many other reasons that I haven’t been posting very much, I’ll get into those some other time). In fact, I’ve lost a few posts over the past week or so that are too long to even attempt to recreate.

Maybe I’ll actually have to see about moving to something else as well. I don’t see anywhere near as many complaints about Moveable Type, b2 or Word Press.

Ready for a little off-the-cuff vent?

Let me start this post by saying that I am somewhat of a sports fan. I played several sports growing up and have often enjoyed watching games on a Sunday afternoon. All that notwithstanding, I’ve been wondering lately what the consequences would be if professional sports essentially just faded away. The NHL cancelled this season and right now next season looks questionable - and most people didn’t even blink. And this is in a hockey town like St. Louis! Pro basketball has so devolved into a league of thugs and one-on-one play that it barely resembles the original game. Baseball is called before Congress (rightly or wrongly) because of drug use, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see another strike or lock-out season in the near future. Football isn’t far behind basketball in it’s idiocy rate and if anyone thinks football doesn’t have a steroid culture…

I’m not sure what all of that is supposed to be saying, but I’m feeling pretty cynical of the whole pro-sports culture. It’s just another facet of this entertainment crazed society that has gone far beyond any principles of moderation and into the business of king making. No, there is nothing inherently wrong with entertainment, but I do have the feeling that there is something wrong with most major professional sports.

Am I just feeling cynical today and venting it on pro-sports? Probably. Yes, I would miss Major League Baseball if it ever folded, and the NFL and fall are somewhat synonymous for me, but I do wonder if we would be better off if the major professional sports would just collapse under their own weight.

…for some. Click on the picture to enlarge

clocky 

Yet more evidence that coffee is good for you! How Functional Coffee Can Help You Attain Fitness and Weight Loss I tell you I’m feeling better all the time. Although I’d have to admit that I was even happier to find out a couple years ago about the health benefits of my other favorite darkly colored elixir - Guinness. As one of their old add campaigns used to say - “Guinness is good for you!”.

Anyone out there that is a baseball fan and has watched the rise and fall of Rick Ankiel - this is a great article that goes a long way toward shedding light on what happened to this kid. The article is from 2001, but it’s very relevant.

It’s a shame, but no longer a surprise after reading this.

About all I can say right now is … Wow…

CRUX MAGAZINE has an interesting article listing ten films that “make you want to rethink your life”. Interestingly enough, the article starts out by saying that The Passion is not one of those films at least in part because “it opted to portray instead of probe.”

I haven’t paid as much attention to college basketball as I did a few years ago, but I still try to keep up with what’s happening. March always brings a little bit of extra excitement with it, so here’s a look at the potential bracket for the NCAA tournament. I have to admit, I was glad to see Illinois get beat, you have to wonder what that does to their confidence going into the tournament - I could see it working either way. Looking at the bracket right now I think I’d go with the following final 4: UNC, Illinois, Oklahoma State, and Kansas. I think Illinois is tired, but can still make it to St. Louis, Oklahoma State may just be Big 12 loyalty, but I have really liked their play and think they could pull some upsets, and Kansas is just that good, Bill Self will have his team ready to go.

For pure drama, I’d like to see UNC and Kansas in the final game with Roy Williams beating his old school for a UNC win.

Not to be cynical, but is this really news to anyone?

I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Truly a fascinating book. Told through the eyes of a 15 year old autistic boy as he sets out to solve the mystery of a dog’s murder. The narration is almost disorienting as you are taken into the mind of this autistic boy. I was reminded to some degree of Faulkner’s narrator in The Soudn adn the Fury - “a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing”. Exept in this case Christopher (the narrator and main character) is far from an idiot. He does however see and experience the world very differently than most.

All in all a very engaging read that I would highly recommend.

Now starting Augustine’s City of God. This is one of those that I’ve read excerpts of, I know I should read, but I’ve never gotten around to actually reading. I’ll let you know how it goes…