Give me that peace sign!

"...will only get you so far..."

This is something that was pissing off both Anna and I, and hopefully most of the ESPN audience, as we watched Serena Williams advance to Quarters the other night at the Australian Open....

There are a lot of stupid things said by sportscasters. But Mary Carillo's comments of Serena (and in the past with Venus, I hear) bordered on personal hatred. And, OK, we get it, Serena could be in better shape. You've made your point Mary.

But then you bring it up again, and again...

[I'll paraphrase]

Mary: "If she was in better fitness she could endure in this heat."
After a 30+ stroke volley, Serena wins the point.

Mary: "Maybe this will motivate her to get back in the gym."
Serena gets her 9th ace to her opponent's zero.

Mary: "Without top fitness you can only get so far."
Serena advances, yet again, in one of the top tennis tournaments in the world.

And this is where they really loose me, because where, like Mary I can only wonder what Serena's fitness potential really is, but unlike her I take a step back and look at where and who Serena is... Serena has the fitness of a professional athlete because she is a professional athlete, and not only that, she's proven herself to be one of the best in the world, just as she is now.

So get the hell out of Serena's grill! She has an impressive physique, although unconventional(?), and a will to win that cannot be matched. Repeatedly calling her fat on national TV makes you seem jealious and stupid, getting proved wrong so consistently. (Not to mention what it says to the Athlete girls/women of America who are Serena's size [not fat] and already have a hard time justifying their muscle weight.)

I hardly want to watch anymore because when Serena finally does lose out all these announcers be able to say is "Well, _x_th place... Hmmm, just think how well she would have done if she was in any kind of shape."

Sorry for the rant.

Bandwidth Meter

This is kind of fun.

Let's you know how fast you're going on the information super highway...

Did you know that our "High Speed" connections are many times slower and more expensive than in Europe, Asia? There was a great program on MPR about this that I couldn't find, but I did come across this CNN article that goes over much of the same stuff.

Clean Plate Club

How many of you were members?

How many of you still are?

After a conversation I had the other week, I realized that to this day I cannot leave food on my plate at the end of a meal. So even although I haven't received any documentation, I think I must be close to an appointment within the cabinet of this Club's president...

The Club's President.

Ok, but what are the real benefits of being in the Club, or why was this Club imposed upon us?

I do believe that our parents and their parents before them had good intentions in their promotion of this Club. Among them there were two major camps that arose from the depression and pre- depression eras, each supporting the Club's ideals. First there was the health conscious, eco-friendly group, Fortunate to Eat Vegetables Everyday, Really. (F.E.V.E.R.) Then came the more popular, moral front, There Are Starving Kids of Foriegn Origin that Really Cannot Eat. (T.A.S.K.F.O.R.C.E.) I was lucky enough to grow up in a bi-partisan household that allowed for both of these views to flourish - subsequently leaving me as I am now. Aside from never leaving food on my plate, I eat FAST, and I eat TOO MUCH! I feel like much of my generation stands in these shoes (cross trainers, with extra support). And for those out there who either have a poor metabolism, a thicker DNA helix, or an aversion to athletics, hmm... good luck finding clothes that fit if the Club was as ingrained in you as it was/is in me!

As parents across this country pat themselves on the back with one hand while they do the already-mostly-clean dishes with the other, what is more prominent in the minds of their children as they finish their dinner? Not taking so much food next time? Proper diet? Children in Africa?

Or is it, simply, eat that food!

What I'm asking is that parents reinvestigate their motives on this matter. Wasting food might still be a problem, but by blindly following our parents' stratagems - without looking at their results (this generation's gastronomy) - I think we'll end up wasting a lot more.

Davin, you should start your own blog.

But until you do, I'll [happily] keep posting about the cool things you share with me.

MIT OpenCourseWare

This is pretty damn slick. For all of you 'self-learners' out there, MIT (yes, that MIT) is publishing its coursework online for anyone to access, with out registration, payment or anything like that. Just go to the site and click through to the subject and specific course you might be interested in... Once there you'll be able to download .pdfs of the syllabus, many of the readings, assignments, etc. You can also 'Download this Course', and browse through all of the available material from your computer (faster, although still through a web browser). I tried this for both Logic 101 and Introduction to Astronomy. Because the astronomy course required an additional, physical textbook there wasn't as much information to gain immediately (although looking at the completed tests was a good review for me), whereas for the logic course most, if not all of the readings were available in .pdfs and I could feasibly go through the class, assignment by assignment, test by test, gaining everything but the college credit from the course. Wow.

The amount of credible information is stunning. Many of the courses provide external sources for info, and all of the .pdfs that I saw were chock full of bibliographic information. With resources like this people will be able to better trust the information they find on the web.

Dear Mexico,

Thanks for the white sandy beaches, the sunshine, the swimming, the snorkeling amongst the coral, fish, sting rays, sea turtles & barracuda (even though I didn't see them), the sea kayaking, and exploring the ruins, the spelunking with bats, seeing the animals, cats, snakes, dogs, monkeys, pigs, parrots, swimming in cenotes & brackish water, feeling the breeze, eating ceviche, tacos, enchiladas, chiles relleno, chips & salsa, guacamole, peppery Cheetos®, Oreos®, apple soda, fruit, slushies, pastries, reading 4 books in one week, dining at Mexican/Italian/Chinese restaurants, wathcing the sunrises, sunsets, walking, playing games, the evening rains, and the starry starry nights.

Mexico

Alas,

Anna, her parents, our friend Steve and I are all going to Mexico for a week. I've never been, so I'm really excited. And I believe we're staying here! Holy Crap that looks nice!

Hope it snows more while we're gone! (I want to be able to ski this winter!)

Be back on the 11th.
Bjorn

Further Recomendations

I mentioned Inkscape, a scalable vector graphics editor, in my last post, but I forgot about two other important open source apps: the first being Gimp®, a program that is supposed to replicate, if not replace both Adobe® Illustrator® and Photoshop®; the second being OpenOffice®, a competitor for Microsoft's® Office Suite®.

Has anybody tried these? Let me know if you have/do. I think I'll definitely try these guys first next time.... that is, whenever I can afford that Powerbook I've been drooling over for so long...