Monday, October 30, 2006
I am back...and apparently pretty safe, too.
I was able to get the modem working on my old computer, so I am now able to go online from home again. However, this being the old computer, it's really not a permanent solution, as Windows ME is NOT the ideal way to go. I've also had to do some updating, as I had to update some of the software on here, especially the Earthlink software. The good news is that I have been backing up my e-mail on this computer just in case of something like this, so I can access all my mail that I might need to refer back to.
Today, I came across the list of the safest and most dangerous cities in the U.S., which listed St. Louis as the most dangerous. When I checked out the complete list, I found that my own city of Coral Springs is #10 on the safest list -- it's also the highest-rated Florida city on the list. Check out the complete list here, but note that only cities that provided crime statistics are included.
Today, I came across the list of the safest and most dangerous cities in the U.S., which listed St. Louis as the most dangerous. When I checked out the complete list, I found that my own city of Coral Springs is #10 on the safest list -- it's also the highest-rated Florida city on the list. Check out the complete list here, but note that only cities that provided crime statistics are included.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Computers Suck
It looks like I'm in trouble -- my notebook is not booting up, and all indications point to a fried motherboard. Theoretically, I should still be OK -- I have my desktop, which is still on Windows ME, but I back up all my e-mail there, and keep it around for just this sort of thing.
However, last week the modem on that computer quit working. The rental office at my complex has a business center, which is how I'm online now, but there are certaing things I won't do on a shared computer, and besides, the business center is only open until 6 pm, so if I work in the morning I can't get here in time.
In any event, I will not be posting very frequently for a while. I may be able to reinstall the driver or replace the modem on the backup computer, but even that will take some effort, as I seem to be having a problem locating the driver. Anyone know where I can get a driver for a 3Com PCI Fax Modem V.90 & V.92?
However, last week the modem on that computer quit working. The rental office at my complex has a business center, which is how I'm online now, but there are certaing things I won't do on a shared computer, and besides, the business center is only open until 6 pm, so if I work in the morning I can't get here in time.
In any event, I will not be posting very frequently for a while. I may be able to reinstall the driver or replace the modem on the backup computer, but even that will take some effort, as I seem to be having a problem locating the driver. Anyone know where I can get a driver for a 3Com PCI Fax Modem V.90 & V.92?
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Hot Blues!
A while back I was talking about The Tube. Last week they played a video of "Sweet Home Chicago," which they listed as performed by Eric Clapton. In fact, in this performance, filmed at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, Buddy Guy is the featured performer, and Clapton is backing him, along with Robert Cray and Jimmy Vaughan.
As it turns out, the performance is also available on YouTube, with a bit of commentary at the end.
As it turns out, the performance is also available on YouTube, with a bit of commentary at the end.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Another Stingray Attack!
Just a month after Steve Irwin became the first person ever known to have been killed by a stingray, another man in my area is barely alive after a stingray attack.
Even more amazing, our local victim wasn't even in the water when he was stung. He was in his boat on the Intracoastal Waterway when the stingray jumped out of the water and into his boat. According to a friend who was interviewed on CNN, the man was trying to get the stingray back into the water when he was stung. Although he was in severe pain, he struggled to get the boat back safely, as he had a young passenger who wasn't able to pilot the boat.
Even more amazing, our local victim wasn't even in the water when he was stung. He was in his boat on the Intracoastal Waterway when the stingray jumped out of the water and into his boat. According to a friend who was interviewed on CNN, the man was trying to get the stingray back into the water when he was stung. Although he was in severe pain, he struggled to get the boat back safely, as he had a young passenger who wasn't able to pilot the boat.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Oops....
OK, so you had a bad day. Maybe you broke a plate. Maybe you even dented your fender. But did you hear what Steve Wynn accidentally did?
Sunday, October 15, 2006
This is NOT football
Florida International University began its football program just a few years ago, and they have already moved up to Division 1-A. Saturday night, the program played what was surely the biggest game in the short history of the program -- a game against the Miami Hurricanes.
One might expect this to be just a typical take-the-check-and-get-blown-out mismatch. FIU plays in the Sun Belt Conference along with such schools as Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State, and Florida Atlantic, which is FIU's natural rival, as the two schools are about 30 miles apart and started their programs a year apart. However, UM's campus is just 9 miles from FIU's, and the vast majority of the players on both rosters are from the local area. UM, a private institution, is far and away the more established program with a lot of local fans, but FIU has a vastly larger local alumni base, being a public university and more than twice the enrollment.
And so the stage was set for what might be a fairly spirited contest. Instead what happened was an embarrassment for both schools, as some unpleasant words turned to pushing and shoving, alleged cheap shots, and finally a bench-clearing brawl that stopped the game, led to the ejection of 13 players, and eventually spread to the stands. I'm sure there are more details than are listed in the story, and which I didn't catch (the game wasn't televised live, and I was watching another game), but one that I did see was a Miami player coming on to the field carrying his helmet and swinging at players in the melee.
As I was driving home, I caught the UM post-game show on the radio, and what I heard just infuriated me. The announcers were bent on blaming everyone not associated with Miami -- the FIU players, the officials, etc. -- while defending even the Hurricanes who left the bench, saying that they would want guys like that who will stand by their teammates.
Worst of all, though, they said that "it's part of the game," because players are caught up in the heat of the moment.
BULL.
If bench-clearing brawls were part of the game, it would happen nearly every week, especially in big rivalries. This was as ugly a brawl as I have ever seen in a football game, and I don't remember EVER seeing anything like this when Miami plays Florida State, Texas plays Oklahoma, Florida plays Georgia, Notre Dame plays USC, or Ohio State plays Michigan, and these are as fierce rivalries as you will find in college football. What's more, I don't care who started it or what was said, you don't come running in from the bench in the heat of the moment. The guy with the helmet should be dismissed from the team, and I wouldn't be shocked if criminal charges were brought for that part of the fight.
Both coaches seem to agree with me, as they have both expressed their outrage and promised to punish their players who took part, although it seems that there wouldn't be too many players left.
During halftime of the game I was watching, Lou Holtz said that the coaches had lost control of the players, and that the players involved had no respect for the game, for their coaches, or for their schools. Lou knows what he's talking about, too -- you may recall that in his final game as a coach, his South Carolina team was involved in a similar fight at the end of their game against Clemson. Holtz also said that was the only such fight any of his teams had been involved in during his long coaching career, so I guess he somehow managed to almost completely avoid that particular "part of the game."
Oh, yeah, and the two teams are scheduled to meet again next October, although it seems that the schools may want to consider cancelling.
One might expect this to be just a typical take-the-check-and-get-blown-out mismatch. FIU plays in the Sun Belt Conference along with such schools as Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State, and Florida Atlantic, which is FIU's natural rival, as the two schools are about 30 miles apart and started their programs a year apart. However, UM's campus is just 9 miles from FIU's, and the vast majority of the players on both rosters are from the local area. UM, a private institution, is far and away the more established program with a lot of local fans, but FIU has a vastly larger local alumni base, being a public university and more than twice the enrollment.
And so the stage was set for what might be a fairly spirited contest. Instead what happened was an embarrassment for both schools, as some unpleasant words turned to pushing and shoving, alleged cheap shots, and finally a bench-clearing brawl that stopped the game, led to the ejection of 13 players, and eventually spread to the stands. I'm sure there are more details than are listed in the story, and which I didn't catch (the game wasn't televised live, and I was watching another game), but one that I did see was a Miami player coming on to the field carrying his helmet and swinging at players in the melee.
As I was driving home, I caught the UM post-game show on the radio, and what I heard just infuriated me. The announcers were bent on blaming everyone not associated with Miami -- the FIU players, the officials, etc. -- while defending even the Hurricanes who left the bench, saying that they would want guys like that who will stand by their teammates.
Worst of all, though, they said that "it's part of the game," because players are caught up in the heat of the moment.
BULL.
If bench-clearing brawls were part of the game, it would happen nearly every week, especially in big rivalries. This was as ugly a brawl as I have ever seen in a football game, and I don't remember EVER seeing anything like this when Miami plays Florida State, Texas plays Oklahoma, Florida plays Georgia, Notre Dame plays USC, or Ohio State plays Michigan, and these are as fierce rivalries as you will find in college football. What's more, I don't care who started it or what was said, you don't come running in from the bench in the heat of the moment. The guy with the helmet should be dismissed from the team, and I wouldn't be shocked if criminal charges were brought for that part of the fight.
Both coaches seem to agree with me, as they have both expressed their outrage and promised to punish their players who took part, although it seems that there wouldn't be too many players left.
During halftime of the game I was watching, Lou Holtz said that the coaches had lost control of the players, and that the players involved had no respect for the game, for their coaches, or for their schools. Lou knows what he's talking about, too -- you may recall that in his final game as a coach, his South Carolina team was involved in a similar fight at the end of their game against Clemson. Holtz also said that was the only such fight any of his teams had been involved in during his long coaching career, so I guess he somehow managed to almost completely avoid that particular "part of the game."
Oh, yeah, and the two teams are scheduled to meet again next October, although it seems that the schools may want to consider cancelling.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Are You Wasting Electricity (and Money)?
I found this interesting story today about how many of the gadgets in your home can be running up your electric bill even you think they aren't running. I will definitel be looking at this, as I can pay FPL almost $200 a month during the summer.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
A Huge Loss for Baseball
I just read the sad news that Buck O'Neil died Friday night at the age of 94.
Buck first came to the attention of many baseball fans in 1994 when he was featured in Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary. He was one of a number of players, sportswriters and other baseball personalities who shared their insights on the game, and was the only person to have a full interview during the program. Most of O'Neil's perspectives dealt with his experience in the Negro Leagues, where he played with some of the great black players of the pre-Robinson era. He also roomed with Satchel Paige when he was a catcher for the Kansas City Monarchs.
Even if you aren't a baseball fan, you had to like O'Neil for his charming personality, his ability to tell a story well, and the fact that he was never bitter about not being able to play in the Major Leagues, although he did become the first black coach in MLB.
Earlier this year, a special committee met to make final judgments on Hall of Fame selection for Negro League figures. O'Neil was considered a shoo-in, but for reasons that aren't really clear, he missed election by one vote. True to character, O'Neil insisted he wasn't disappointed, instead saying how lucky he was to have spent his life in baseball. But in addition to having been MLB's first black coach, here are some additional points to ponder:
Buck first came to the attention of many baseball fans in 1994 when he was featured in Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary. He was one of a number of players, sportswriters and other baseball personalities who shared their insights on the game, and was the only person to have a full interview during the program. Most of O'Neil's perspectives dealt with his experience in the Negro Leagues, where he played with some of the great black players of the pre-Robinson era. He also roomed with Satchel Paige when he was a catcher for the Kansas City Monarchs.
Even if you aren't a baseball fan, you had to like O'Neil for his charming personality, his ability to tell a story well, and the fact that he was never bitter about not being able to play in the Major Leagues, although he did become the first black coach in MLB.
Earlier this year, a special committee met to make final judgments on Hall of Fame selection for Negro League figures. O'Neil was considered a shoo-in, but for reasons that aren't really clear, he missed election by one vote. True to character, O'Neil insisted he wasn't disappointed, instead saying how lucky he was to have spent his life in baseball. But in addition to having been MLB's first black coach, here are some additional points to ponder:
- He was one of the great players of the Negro Leagues. Probably only Josh Gibson, who was sometimes compared to Babe Ruth, surpassed O'Neil as a catcher.
- O'Neil served unofficially as the greatest historian of Negro League history for decades after most other players of that era had passed away.
- As a scout for the Chicago Cubs, he discovered Lou Brock and Ernie Banks.
- Regardless of his official position at any given time, he is always referred to as a goodwill ambassador for baseball, and has done more for the betterment of baseball than many players enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
- This past July, Buck batted in both halves of the first inning at the Northern League All-Star Game, making him the oldest man to ever play professional baseball.
- At the time of his death, Buck served as chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, and also was a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown) Veteran's Committee.
To give you an idea of the scope of O'Neil's involvement in baseball, consider that he saw home runs hit by Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, Bo Jackson, and Barry Bonds.
On a more personal note, Buck O'Neil was a native Floridian, and I'm sorry to say that he was denied the chance to share my alma mater (as well as that of the late Red Barber), as the University of Florida did not admit black students in Buck's time.
Rest in peace, Buck. :-(
I Want My Tube!
Remember the old days, when MTV actually played music videos? And some of them were actually good? And then they stopped playing music, except between 3 am and 6 am, so they came up with MTV2, which was supposed to be all music, all the time. But that didn't last long, either.
But now there is The Tube, which is not available on basic cable in my area. However, one of the local channels shows about an hour of The Tube late at night...and I'm impressed. It's not all rap, boy bands, and the pop tart flavor of the month. In fact, there's a lot of good music from the pre-MTV era. Right now I'm watching "Magic Man" by Heart. Before that it was Bo Diddley playing "Who Do Ya Love?"...and -- is that Ron Wood playing guitar with him?
With more and more channels showing less and less worthwhile programming (I'm temporarily without any cable, and the only thing I'm missing is The History Channel and The Daily Show), I'm thinking I may have to spring for digital just to get The Tube.
But now there is The Tube, which is not available on basic cable in my area. However, one of the local channels shows about an hour of The Tube late at night...and I'm impressed. It's not all rap, boy bands, and the pop tart flavor of the month. In fact, there's a lot of good music from the pre-MTV era. Right now I'm watching "Magic Man" by Heart. Before that it was Bo Diddley playing "Who Do Ya Love?"...and -- is that Ron Wood playing guitar with him?
With more and more channels showing less and less worthwhile programming (I'm temporarily without any cable, and the only thing I'm missing is The History Channel and The Daily Show), I'm thinking I may have to spring for digital just to get The Tube.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
A Tough Road for Joe
With all of the talk about who knew what and when they knew it in the whole Mark Foley thing, one thing seems to be mostly overlooked by the national media: the election in Foley's district.
Since this is really a local story around here, here's a quick rundown:
Since this is really a local story around here, here's a quick rundown:
- Foley's opponent was Tim Mahoney, a conservative Democrat who had been given little chance to win. He was trailing Foley by double digits in the polls, and the district had been represented by Republicans for 25 years, which goes back to the days when most of Florida was solidly Democratic.
- The state GOP has chosen Joe Negron, a member of the state House of Representatives, to be their nominee for the seat.
- Negron had started a campaign for state attorney general, but dropped out. As a result, he has $1.5 million in campaign funds readily available. That sounds small for a congressional campaign, but Negron's campaign will be shorter than most.
- The real problem for Negron is not money, but the ballot. Because Foley dropped out so close the the election, his name can't be removed from the ballot. So in order to vote for Negron, a voter will have to pull the lever (or X the box, or touch the name, or whatever applies in a particular precinct) for Mark Foley. A lot of people may not understand this, and before you ask, I think a portion of this district (albeit a very small portion) is in the area where people mistakenly voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000. And some may just refuse to go through the motion of voting for Foley.
- What I haven't heard yet is who, if anyone, Jeb will appoint to finish out Foley's current term. Since Congress isn't scheduled to be in session until after the election, I suppose it may remain vacant.
- However, Foley's office is still operating, and constituents can still seek help from the staff, which is good for both the people who live in the district and the people who aren't losing their jobs. But it does make you wonder if we really need Congressmen for anything except casting votes.
- The other thing I haven't heard about: Has anyone in looked into whether or not Foley committed similar actions while he was serving in the Florida legislature? Supposedly pages were warned about Foley when he first arrived in Washington. If this is true, did he earn a reputation in Tallahassee?
Why Does This Not Sound Like a Good Idea?
Coming home from work, I heard an ad on the radio promoting a charitable cause. According to the ad, instead of selling my used car, I should donate it to the blind.
That actually would explain a lot....
That actually would explain a lot....
Monday, October 02, 2006
Foley
Since you may be wondering, no -- I do not live in the Congressional District which until Friday was represented by Mark Foley. My district, represented by E. Clay Shaw is just to the south -- at least to the extent that any congressional district can be said to be just north, south, east, west, surrounded by, or hovering in the air above any other district. (BTW, if you want to see some serious gerrymandering, check this out, especially the southern districts. Foley is from District 16, which covers eight -- count 'em -- EIGHT counties.)
However, about a dozen or so years ago, Foley was running for the state legislature in a district where I lived at that time. I tend not to vote a strict party line, especially in state and local elections -- I would estimate the split as being about 60/40 -- and I had a particularly difficult time deciding which candidate to vote for. In fact, when I arrived at the polling location, I still hadn't made up my mind.
As it happened, Foley was at the location (outside the required distance, of course), shaking hands and trying to get out the vote. I took the opportunity to ask Foley why I should vote for him. I don't remember what he said, but he said the right things and sounded sincere, so I voted for him.
I wish now that his opponent had been there instead. Excuse me now while I go wash my hands for a couple of hours.
However, about a dozen or so years ago, Foley was running for the state legislature in a district where I lived at that time. I tend not to vote a strict party line, especially in state and local elections -- I would estimate the split as being about 60/40 -- and I had a particularly difficult time deciding which candidate to vote for. In fact, when I arrived at the polling location, I still hadn't made up my mind.
As it happened, Foley was at the location (outside the required distance, of course), shaking hands and trying to get out the vote. I took the opportunity to ask Foley why I should vote for him. I don't remember what he said, but he said the right things and sounded sincere, so I voted for him.
I wish now that his opponent had been there instead. Excuse me now while I go wash my hands for a couple of hours.
