"IF"

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

ESPN College GameDay Selling Out

You'll find numerous websites and blogs with this headline or one similar, all over the internet today. College Gameday, is a traveling college preview show, which once used to set up shop on the campus of the biggest game of the day. It has now sold out and travels to wherever ESPN's sister network, ABC, is televising the ABC Saturday night game. Yesterday was a prime example. On a day which featured such titanic matchups as Auburn-LSU, Tennessee-Florida, and Michigan-Notre Dame, Gameday chose to go to the LA Coliseum, where Nebraska would be playing USC. How pitiful. ESPN has admitted their change in policy - I like to call it selling out - in a column that Gameday host, Chris Fowler wrote. Below is an excerpt. Find the entire article here.

For 13 seasons, the locations of the GameDay road shows have been editorial decisions based on the college football landscape. The basic principle was to (almost) always come from the site of the "biggest game," or occasionally, "the best story." Several times, we have visited the edge of the radar screen to pay tribute to the Mid American Conference's rise (at Bowling Green), the service academies (Air Force and West Point) or the tradition of the Bayou Classic.

Now, the philosophy has been rethought by upper management. For the first time, the competitive landscape of football programming is a frequent consideration. Serving the needs of ABC's new prime-time package of games is often a priority. The decision on GameDay's site is less a clear-cut "best game" philosophy now and is more complicated, made on a landscape where terms like "synergy" and "branding" live.

For other, more in depth blogs talking about this poor decision, see "Why Isn't ESPN College Gameday Crew at the LSU/Auburn Game This Weekend?"

or:
College Gameday is Officially Selling Out

A nice article from LSU, and here's a good college football blogger's post about it.

You can also read about ESPN on ABC here.

"I believe in Sewanee with all my heart. I do not know of any institution of its size in any part of our country which has done more for the cause of good citizenship than Sewanee has done. As an American I am proud of it; as a citizen I am grateful to it. It is entitled The University of the South, but it is much more than that; it is a University of all America, and its welfare should be dear to all Americans who are patriotic and farsighted, and therefore anxious to see every influence strengthened which tends for the betterment and enlightenment of our great common country."

— President Theodore Roosevelt, June 4, 1907

On the Rocks?

"People who consume alcohol earn significantly more at their jobs than non-drinkers, according to a US study that highlighted 'social capital' gained from drinking." That is according to this article. Here is some more " The study published in the Journal of Labor Research Thursday concluded that drinkers earn 10 to 14 percent more than teetotalers, and that men who drink socially bring home an additional seven percent in pay."

The theory here, is that those who drink, increase their social capital, building up relationships, and consequently more contacts, which inevitably leads to a greater paycheck. I sure would like to examine their methodology. Sounds plausible in theory; however I am skeptical as to the validity and accuracy of this "study." That being said...who wants a cold one?

Quote of the Day

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity"

- Someone awesome

Katie Couric, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked, "What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist?"

The Marine shrugged and replied, "Recoil."

Word of the Day

erudite \AIR-yuh-dyt; -uh-dyt\, adjective:
Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.

In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace or Hagia Sophia are guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors and now offer private tours.
-- "What's Doing in Istanbul", New York Times, February 23, 1997

Joke Time

Recently a routine police patrol was parked outside a bar in
Canon, Georgia.

After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so
intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the
parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing.

After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five different
vehicles, the man managed to find his car which he fell into.

He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the
bar and drove off.

Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a
fine, dry summer night) -- flicked the blinkers on, then off a couple
of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved
the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained
still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patron
vehicles left.

At last, the parking lot empty, he pulled out of the parking lot and
started to drive slowly down the road. The police officer, having
patiently waited all this time, now started up the patrol car, put on
the flashing lights and promptly pulled the man over and carried out
a breathalyzer test.

To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence of the man
having consumed any alcohol at all! Dumbfounded, the officer said,
"I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This
breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," said the truly proud redneck...
"Tonight I'm the designated decoy."

Woman With Perfect Memory Baffles Scientists

This is pretty remarkable. I don't really know what to make of this. Here is the article, with a nice little excerpt below.

Give her any date, she said, and she could recall the day of the week, usually what the weather was like on that day, personal details of her life at that time, and major news events that occurred on that date.
One day when he asked her out of the blue if she knew who Bing Crosby was.

"I wasn't sure she would know, because she's 40 and wasn't of the Bing Crosby era," he says.

But she did.

"Do you know where he died?" McGaugh asked.

"Oh yes, he died on a golf course in Spain," she answered, and provided the day of the week and the date when the crooner died.

TV Reporter Gets Beaten

This is a San Diego news reporter who was beaten up pretty badly while trying to do a story on a real estate scam. A man and wife just get out of their car and start fighting this guy. You can read all about the story here. However, I suggest you click here and you can watch the whole thing on video. This is seriously one of the funniest things I have seen in a very long time.

Ah...So Money Does Buy Happiness

According to this article in today's WSJ, anyway. This article in a way rebuts an older article doubting the impact that money has on one's happiness. Some of this new article's reasoning is as follows:

Top doctors and fresh vegetables help you keep healthy, and they cost money. Hiring a house-cleaner leaves means less fighting with your spouse, and household help costs money. A ski trip with your college friends strengthens those bonds, and it costs money. Giving to charity feels good, and it costs money.

Word of the Day

tintinnabulation

n : the sound of a bell ringing; "the distinctive ring of the church bell"; "the ringing of the telephone";

"the tintinnabulation that so volumnously swells from the ringing and the dinging of the bells"
--E. A. Poe

Having Brothers Increases Gay Probability?

A WSJ aricle reports a study that suggests a correlation between boys with older brothers and homosexuality. Below is an excerpt:

A study released this week tracing some instances of male homosexuality to the "older brother effect" is more than another entrant in the race to find the biological roots of sexual orientation. The mechanism it points to fits with emerging research on the powerful effects of conditions in the womb.

The theory dates to 1996, when scientists reported an odd correlation. For each additional older brother that a boy has, his chance of growing up to be gay increases by one-third. The correlation doesn't explain all homosexuality -- many of the estimated 7 million gay men in the U.S. have no older brothers, and most younger brothers are straight. But if the conclusion is right, a rough calculation shows that "about 1 million American men are gay or will grow up to be gay because their mother had sons before them," says psychologist S. Marc Breedlove of Michigan State University, East Lansing, who studies sexual orientation.

Quote of the Day

A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

High-Flying

The altitude record of a bird is held by a Rüppell's griffon Gyps rueppelli, a vulture with a 10-foot wingspan. On November 29, 1975 one was sucked into a jet engine 37,900 feet above the Ivory Coast in West Africa. The plane was damaged but landed safely.

That altitude is over 7 miles high, and is 1.3 times as high as the summit of Mt. Everest.

An Oldie But Goodie

Sexual Selection

Here's an interesting little thing I recently read in The Economist. I am always fascinated by nature, and more specifically, the intense power and drive of a species to reproduce. Things we never think of, such as a rugged v. effeminate face, are instrumental in promulgating a species.

It is well established that facial features rated as masculine (square jawed, rugged, that sort of thing) are the result of high testosterone levels. There is good evolutionary reason why such features should be attractive, and it is that such faces also indicate a strong immune system.

One of the unfortunate side-effects of being male is a higher death rate, at any given age, than if you are female. Part of the cause of this is that testosterone suppresses the immune system, leaving high testosterone individuals particularly vulnerable to infection. So a man who has made it to sexual maturity despite his high testosterone levels probably has a particularly good immune system, which he can pass on to his children.

Smirnoff Raw Iced Tea

This video is hilarious. As a sidenote, it is part of Smirnoff's new ad campaign for "Raw Iced-Tea" found on YouTube. The fact that this ad is being distributed on YouTube made it into an article in the WSJ, praising the innovativeness of Smirnoff to use YouTube as a means of advertising.

Iowa

I have been in Iowa the past couple days on business, and thought that I would give a little report. I started out in Cedar Rapids, and then drove westward, across vast amounts of land, to the state's capital, Des Moines. The state is pleasant...acres upon acres of corn fill up the land in all directions. The Capital building in Des Moines has a distinctive golden dome, which stands out in the horizon of the land. The land is not quite as flat as I thought it would be - certainly no Kansas. I just missed the Iowa State fair, which has been growing in popularity in recent years. this year, over 1 million people went to the fair. I was a couple days late.

There was an enormous Quaker Oats production facility in Cedar Rapids, which probably employed a fair percentage of the city's population. The mass amounts of corn being produced are more and more being used for ethanol (of which Iowa has over 20 production plants). That's all I have on Iowa.

Need a Friend?

Here is a guy on e-bay, who will be your friend for 30 days...for $19.69 . Here is what you get:

The lucky Winning Bidder and RENTAPAL will exchange unlimited emails for a period of 30 DAYS on any subject that you like. RENTAPAL will provide you with a compassionate ear, good conversation, feedback and advice - the kind that could only come from a close, caring friend.

Amazingly, there is already a bid.