Sunday, October 30, 2011

Dig deep, find nothing

I read this morning an article about a study by researchers in New England that teens who heavily drink soda are more likely to be associated with violent acts using a knife or gun. Other than the fact that someone actually thought this was something worth studying, I have a few thoughts on the matter.

First, as stated above, who thinks this is even worthy of studying? Not having statistics before me I would hazard a guess that eighty percent of teens drink at least one or two sodas per day. Now you have to decide what constitutes heavy drinking. If it is anything like alcohol studies, three per day would mean you are a raging alcoholic. I would guess that based on those types of research, three cokes per day constitute heavy use. I personally don't believe that constitutes heavy use.

Now, there are two things that can be said when you begin to study things that can happen. You either are above the line of a supposed norm or are below the line. Unless there is a significant swing either way, there is not much that can be said to draw a conclusion. I think too often studies proclaim one way or another a correlation that has little statistical significance. (The article I read did not say what the statistical significance was). One could make an argument for virtually anything if you look deep enough.

Another thing that comes to mind is the saturation of this product in American society. Soda is so prevalent it would be extremely difficult to determine it this was a predominant factor. I could pick any number of products that have this type of saturation and proclaim some similar statement. I proclaim that teens who heavily listen to music on iPods get average grades in school. Well, what does that mean? Some would make the correlation that iPods have a detrimental effect on teens. But, more likely iPods don't have that effect but teens simply put off doing the studying they should be doing. That effect could also be attributed to television or video games or any other number of tech devices.

Unfortunately this type of study does nothing but find a small and meaningless statistical aberration concerning two unrelated items. It could also mean that teens that heavily drink sodas also drive faster than those that drink orange juice. It means nothing except to those who proposed this study because they now don't have to go out and find meaningful work, and I'm sure my tax dollars got mixed in there somewhere.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

That's a wrap II

Tonight I ended my 15-year career as the public address announcer for Pickerington High School soccer, having spent 6 seasons at the now-former Pickerington High School (now called PHS Central), and the last 9 seasons as the voice of the Soccer Panthers at Pickerington North.

I have voiced both boys and girls matches in separate seasons at PHS, and in my time at North I did both squads, whichever team was at home that particular night.

It started when Dearest Kelley was but a frosh and playing on the JV team, and no one was set to announce the games. I asked at a boosters meeting if anyone ever did the JV games, and was told no. I said I would do them, which then lead to doing both JV and Varsity matches the same night. When Handsome Son began playing at PHS, I switched over to the boys team and did their matches, as Kelley had by then given up sports to cram extra courses into her Junior/Senior year so she could graduate a year early, which she did.

When Handsome Son graduated I figured my p.a. days were over, but that was the year the new school opened, and several of the moms whose daughters were transferring to the new school asked me to announce the games for the Lady Panthers. Since I ran the scoreboard and kept stats as well, I told both the boys and girls coaches I would do their home matches as long as they could find someone to do their stats at away games. I did JV and Varsity for several years before concentrating solely on the Varsity squads the past 5 years, thus saving my knees and back some wear and tear, as I needed to be standing the entire time while doing the matches.

I always knew I would know when it was time to hang up the mic, and various factors each played their part in leading me to conclude this would be my final season.

It was fun and I will miss it, but a still-growing family and all that it entails will now be more of a focus than it was.

Robert T once gave me the moniker The Voice of God for hearing me all the way over at his house when the breeze from the stadium was just right.

So after tonight TVOG is resting, having made his traditional final call, "Thank you for coming out this evening, ladies and gentlemen. Please have a safe drive home."

Monday, October 24, 2011

Our little world

I think most of us live our lives in a relatively small cocoon, at least that's what we believe. We live in a small world of daily and weekly occurrences, the majority of them repetitive. In our worlds, we affect only a small amount of people on a regular basis.

When I started this blog I really didn't know what to expect. Who would read it? Where would they log on from? If others had the same thoughts as I, we would be thankful if our circle of readers would be slightly more than known acquaintances. The longer we have continued to post on this site, it seems the larger our audience has become. The 'stats' button shows how many hits we get and where they come from. I use another statcounter that tracks things as well. I don't take it very seriously but it is fun to watch.

North and I now have what seems to be regular readers in Russia, Australia and Europe. It is hard to track them as IP addresses change. We have had regular hits from Indonesia and occasionally the Middle East. We also have regulars from across this great land. It is humbling to realize we have touched someone enough to make them regular visitors.

All I can say to that is...
Большое спасибо
Thanks mate
Thank you very much

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Father goes to war

I am not what one would normally call a family historian. Although I am interested in where I come from and who came before me, I have never been one to do the research. I recently have begun a small project, that hopefully doesn't turn into a big one.

Beloved Father was never one to speak of his experiences during WWII other than an occasional funny story, and none of us ever pried into this part of his life. Perhaps it didn't occur to us or perhaps it was simply how we were brought up. One didn't question your parents on much and digging into their past never seemed an option.

Beloved Father has now been over the rainbow for almost twenty years. I had a thought while on the computer one evening and looked into how easy (or difficult) it might be to get hold of his service records. My idea was simply to see what units he served in and what path he took. From what I think I know he came up through North Africa and into Italy. I believe he served mostly in the supply side of the war but I don't know that for a fact. Baby Sis was able to supply me with his service number; why she knew this I haven't the foggiest.

Hopefully my initial inquiry will yield some solid results and some sleuthing may get underway. If it doesn't, my search could be over before it starts. If that's the case, a new challenge may be set before me. I hope I'm up to the chase.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Age is just a number...

Recently, Wonderful Daughter told me of some questions her son had asked of her, regarding her age. WGGS#1 is almost 5, and his questions were as follows:

"How old are you, Mommy? Are you 50?"
She told him she was younger than that; she is 30.

A few days later he again asked her her age. "How old are you, a hundred?"
Fortunately, she is not.

A few days after that, he politely asked her if she saw Jesus nailed to the cross!
She told me she needs a serious dose of wrinkle cream if that is the case.

Her slightly older cousin, however, apparently looks considerably older than my daughter, at least according to her own children, as one of them asked, "Did you ride dinosaurs to school when you were little?"

Ah, the mind of a child!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The science of God

The other day I caught the last hour or so of the movie 'Angels and Demons'. Based on the novel by Dan Brown it involves a plot to assassinate the Pope and destroy most of the Vatican. It was a decent movie but it got me to thinking not so much about the plot but the characters within the plot of the movie itself.

The most intriguing part for me comes at the end when a priest is exposed as having developed the entire episode. His premise was that science was essentially taking the place of God. Science was on the door step of explaining creation. If that would happen, what is left for God, he explained. Even the most learned and intelligent individuals sometimes can't see past their own beliefs. We see it mostly in the political world but it happens in all walks of life. The battle between religion and science is nearly as old as religion itself. Sometimes the it's the ones you least expect that hold the most polarizing views.

How is it that we are so sure our viewpoints and beliefs are the only way things can be? Are we so intractable we can see no validity in another point of view? As we grow older we generally find out the world is not always so black and white. I have always believed that science is simply another way of discovering the miracles God created. The more we know, the more we can appreciate the natural world and how it came to be. Never stop learning, never stop growing.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Popcorn anyone?

We all make choices in life that help to place us where we are as we either grow older or learn how life works. Us from the slightly older crowd hopefully have learned the lessons of life and make better choices as we age because we should better be able to foresee the consequences. Sometimes, the younger generation does not fully come to terms with consequences as they make life decisions.

In Ohio there is a lawsuit filed by a death row inmate that has altered how the prisoners are fed. Due to the lawsuit, pork has been completely eliminated from the menu. The lead plaintiff says this product does not conform to his religious beliefs. There are other inmates that have as well joined the suit. The problem I find is this; if you are on death row, likely you have not followed the tenets of your religion or you wouldn't be in the position you are. That being said, eating a pork sammich at this point in your life isn't likely to affect the outcome of your final place in the after-world, whatever that happens to be depending on your particular religion.

The second problem I have with this is that once convicted and sentenced to incarceration, I believe you essentially have no or should have almost no rights to say what happens to you. Should you be physically punished (by that I mean beaten or tortured) at any time? No, this is America and that doesn't happen, at least by the state. What happens between inmates is another matter. As for the judicial system that keeps these lawsuits alive, that is another ramble all together.

Inmates aren't going to starve in American prisons. You decided to make a choice in your life and that choice caused serious harm to another or others. You must live with the consequences. If you don't like what you are served at meal time, don't eat. That's another choice you have. Make it a good one.

Monday, October 3, 2011

What color was your dress?

I saw online today an excerpt from the news conference after yesterday's Philadelphia Eagles football game. A 'reporter' (and I use that term lightly) asked Michael Vick how he felt after losing yet another game. (The Eagles are now 1-3 and much ballyhooed going into the season, and on a personal note, I don't really care for Vick). This reporter asked Vick how he felt after losing this game.

If that is the best question you can offer on a national level as a reporter, you have no business being there in the first place. "How are you feeling?" Really? Who are you, Barbara Walters? Did someone just get divorced? Did someone just get outed on something? This is a football question and answer session. Get involved with the game, fella.

I guess the first question I have is, does this person know the first thing about football? Too often these Q and A sessions are nothing more than players and coaches giving canned answers week after week after week. I don't watch them but they are the same from team to team. At least these questions should be something about the game itself. What happened on this play? What defense were they in or why did you audible out of the play on the goal line?

I think if The Shield insists on having these absurd sessions, every reporter must submit questions beforehand to be screened. Any question that stupid enough should be cause to have the reporter suspended from these sessions for a period of three games, or until one can prove they are man enough to get out of touch with their non-football side before they enter the locker room.

At least Vick had the sense to ask the reporter if he was serious. "You really want me to answer that question?", was his response. If I were the reporter's boss, he would be reassigned to the Society Page where his sensitive side could be explored.