Opening Stuff:
One of the the great treats during this time of year is that you can always catch a good "Messiah" somewhere.
It's nice that a golf tournament is on TV opposite the NCAA playoffs. When my heart gets beating out of control, I can turn to the golf to slow it down. Better than blood pressure medicine.
One of my pet concerns in our increasingly messy world is the decline of newspapers, a most comfortable way to be informed. Alas, I think it is essentially doomed. Consider that even though people's time spent with news is at an all-time high, allegiance to traditional sources is tumbling fast. And believe it, that includes relative newcomer Cable TV News which has had the biggest audience tumble of all. From the Pew analysis of 2009-2010 (The very latest data), the on-line news went up 17.1%. All of the rest fell -- Local TV (-1.5%), Network TV (-3.4), Newspapers (-5), Audio (-6), Magazines (-8.9) and Cable TV (-13.7%)! Surprised? The crunch for newspapers though is on the ad revenue side. Local TV went up 17% followed by Online (13.9), Cable TV (8.4), Network TV (6.6), audio (6) and Magazines 1.4). Only newspapers went down and that was a fairly high 6.3%. That is the death knell. Hear the bell ring.
I could write an entire Tids on this, but I know you'd rather see a good, bad pun. "During the Invasion of Sicily during WWII General Patton was preparing to take the city of Palermo. His meteorologists told him his selected day would be incredibly rainy. He immediately ordered that the N.Y. Times be brought in and placed under tailgates of the transports bringing in the men to keep feet dry. His staff was mystified why the Times over the Daily News. But they brought in 5 tons of the paper as requested. It was then that Patton issued his famous quote: "These are the 'times' that dry men's soles."
Are my "Beloveds" in danger of becoming the "Despicables"? Maybe, if others think about the Red Sox like Baltimore manager Buck Showwalter. "I'd like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll." He went on, "...That's why I like whipping their butt. It's great, knowing those guys with a $205 Million payroll are saying, 'How are they beating us?'." Do others in the AL feel the same? Will the Sox be in the cross-hairs of the other managers too?" Sorry Gabby.
Let's hear it for Red Sox Japanese pitcher Diasuke (DiceK) Matsuzaka who just donated $1,000,000 to the Japan relief fund.
The Question:
Name the ten colleges with the highest endowments. Which university endowment portfolio made the biggest gain in 2010?
The Headlines:
--Market Futures Up On Strong Showings Last Week; Could Be Tempered By Japan, Libya Issues.--Libyan Rebs Close In On Daffy Stronghold.
--Blasts Rock Yemen Faactory Overtaken By Militants.
--Budget Battle Heats Up As Congress returns.
--Radiation In Japan Seawater May be Spreading.
--No Cola For SS Predicted Again For 2011.
--Pediatricians Worried That FaceBook May be Adding To Kids Low Self Esteem, Depression.
Back to More Stuff:
The more the dangerous debt problem of the US is politicized, the less the people will take it seriously. And the more they will resist solving it. Of course the politicization takes place on all ends of the debate. The arts groups who depend on grants and the manufcaturing industries who depend on defense contracts and other big government stimualtion. The "Aha Moment" came when WWII defeated the great depression.Tthe rallying cry thereafter for recessions was "All we need is a good war." Now we have social wars, cultural wars, financial wars and of course old fashioned bloody wars all demanding an influx of government (Read that taxpayer) cash. So basically the answer to the Debt/Deficit problem is peace!. Understanding among all factions that we just can't create economies any more, because there is no economy left. That if you have something to sell, whether a product or personal knowledge, you are going to have to to do it yourself. And the society at large will recognize its needs.
The ten most important words in the English language are "If it is to be, it is up to me." How simple is that?
Out in the middle of the almost Everglades country are a couple of small towns about 25 miles east of the well-to-do Naples Florida. One is makeshift and the home of seminole indians and migrant workers. The other is a Catholic town with a university, spiffy Main Street, Academy and neat neighborhoods just built by Domino Pizza billionaire Tom Monahan. One skyline is dominated by a giant casino. The other by huge cathedral like church. A tale of two Americas in the middle of nowhere.
It didn't take long for my brackets to crumble like "Galloping Gertie". After Friday I had but Kansas, Florida and UConn left in the eight. But I was long gone well before that. And this morning after yesterday I have but UConn of my original Florida, Ohio State, Notre Dame and UConn. Hope you all did better.
I was out at the paper machine yesterday morn getting my Sunday paper only to find a moderately attractive blond putting in quarters. She looked up as I approached and said, "Would you like a freebie?" I stood silent for a moment. "Oh...you mean paper? I would never do that. You know the paper's are on their last legs..." I started my harangue on the plight of the news papers. She rolled her eyes, took her paper and left as fast as she could. I guess that's too deep for the morn.
Almost Near: Chapter 13 continues. --Tucker plunked the bag on Audrey's desk which startled her out of her editing process. She was ready to blast the intruder, but smiled when she saw Tucker standing there with a stupid grin on his face. "Oh, hi!" She got up and stole a chair from her neighbor and pulled over to Tucker.
"You look industrious this morning," he started. "Hope I didn't break into a key train of thought." She made a motion to minimize the seriousness of her activity. "So what do you have."
"Show me what's in the bag and I'll tell you whether it's worth the information I have." She laughed. "Tell me about why you are here asking about this case?"
"I think I met Mrs. Quimpierre up in new England where I live. It's a long story. Let's eat." Audrey was opening the sandwich. She looked at and smiled telling him it was her favorite because had no veggies.
Tucker detailed in short form the story of Samantha, from his teens to present. Audrey watched him intently. "So this is a mission of intense love," She said looking at him in the eyes. Tucker reddened. He didn't know what to feel before this attractive, intelligent woman. "I like an incurable romantic who will go to the ends of the earth for the woman of his hopes and dreams." She said smiling warmly. Tucker relaxed.
You have to believe that people on our Western and Northwestern coasts are thinking about the possibility of tsunamis. That unyielding wave traveling at jet speed is one ugly, terrifying beast.
With all of the world news dominating, the unemployment reports are sneaking through without much comment. The worst four states are Nevada (13.6%), Cal (12.2), Florida (11.5) and Little Ole' RI (11.2). And RI isn't going to get better until they decide to get smarter about business. I just heard of yet another small RI owned company (one that had just built a brand new factory about a couple of years ago and started hiring for well paying jobs) is packing up to move to Massachusetts. The reason: You guessed it. A tax advantage and economic package too good to resist.
I think those flat brimmed, high crown hats on golfer's look a little too foppish for an athlete. In fact, Ricky Fowler looks like a Broadway chorus groupie. And to those who say, "It is the modern way to look", I say Nehru Jackets!
The Answer:
Harvard is a small country with a $27 Billion endowment followed by Yale at $16 Bil. The three other double digit endowments belong to Princeton, Texas and Stanford. The rest are MIT, Michigan, Columbia and Northwestern. The Texas endowment had the highest percentage growth during the past year.
The End:
In case you weren't aware, Galloping Gertie was the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge that failed due to aeroelastic flutter, a resonance caused by a 42mph wind that cause the suspension bridge to start dancing until it pulled it self apart and fell into the Puget Sound. The films of the collapse have been used in every civill engineering school and the study of that collapse in 1940 led to batter structures today. At the time it was the 3rd longest suspension bridge after the Golden Gate and the George Washington Bridge.
You can get the entire State of the News story at: http://stateofthemedia.org/2011/overview-2/key-findings/
The Government of Syria is killing its protesting citizens. Why isn't the UN moving there?
Anybody who picked all #1 seeds in this new era of super star early departure just doesn't get it. Hey...wait a minute...the Prez picked all number ones!
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