Sunday fun day

A scintillating smorgasbord of toothsome tidbits for your enjoyment and edification ...

I'm thrilled that teenage sailor Abby Sunderland has been rescued at sea. But she and her family need to brush up on their PR skills. Abby's first comment was that she wants to attempt her near-fatal solo circumnavigation stunt again. There's a fine line between courage and foolhardiness ... Meanwhile her dad responded to criticism of the venture by declaring that his family are "adventurers," not "accountants." However this was intended, it has the ring of: We want to have our fun, and we don't care who foots the bill. Not the way to win friends and influence people.

Rolling Stone has a lengthy, well-researched article on the oil spill and seems to assign blame pretty fairly. By the way, why don't we have a catchy name for this crisis yet? I nominate "Godspilla."

Less than two years into his term, President Barack Obama has already played more golf than George W. Bush did in his entire presidency. Maybe Obama would have visited the oil spill sooner if someone had told him it was in the Golf of Mexico. Ba-da-boom!

Speaking of golf, Tiger Woods' game is now officially in the toilet, which only makes my magnificent poem "Tigerwoodsias" more timely and meaningful than ever.

Still on sports, the L.A. Dodgers reportedly hired a Russian psychic to beam energy at the team and improve their performance. For his services they forked over a six-figure salary. This sounds flaky even to me.

You want flaky? Alvin Greene is the strangest political story of the year. He had no money, no organization, no advertising, no name recognition, and apparently did no campaigning. He is currently unemployed after leaving the military under a cloud, doesn't own a car, lives with his elderly father in the house where he grew up, is facing a felony charge that carries a prison sentence, and seems painfully inarticulate in media interviews. How the heck did this guy win the Democratic Party nomination for US Senator -- and with 60% of the vote, no less? Does it really come down to the fact that his name was first on the ballot? ... "There is something genuinely mysterious about this whole thing," says former DNC chair Don Fowler. I've got to agree.  

Legendary illustrator Frank Frazetta died in May. Growing up, I was fascinated by his evocative cover art for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar books and Robert E. Howard's Conan series. Along with special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen, who celebrates his 90th birthday later this month, Frazetta helped usher in the current era of eye-popping visual design in movies and videogames.

A movie version of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged was scheduled to commence filming last Friday. It's actually the first in a series of four, count 'em four, movies to be based on the epic novel. The producer is an exercise equipment tycoon with no movie experience. The director is a newbie. The screenwriter has two ten-minute shorts and an unreleased low-budget horror movie to his credit. And the cast? Well, as of two weeks ago they still didn't have a cast ... Again, there's a fine line between courage and foolhardiness. In this case, I'm thinking we may be looking at the next Titanic. I don't mean the movie Titanic, I mean the actual ship.

Comments

[Michael Prescott]

Addendum. The fun never ends on Sunday fun day!

Could this be the most disturbing toy I've ever seen?

tiny.cc/bw0vy

Yes. Yes, I believe it could.

[Roger Knights]

Two birds with one stone (?):

Let Obama play in Woods's spot at Pebble Beach, and let Woods be President for the duration?

(While we're at it, let's outsource our congress-critters' jobs to India. They'll bring some detachment and disinterest to the task.)

[Sandy]

Frank Frazetta was an artist who's work I enjoyed as a kid. I still have a box full of old Eerie and Creepy magazines that often showcased his art. I may even have some of the Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard paperbacks among all the other old scifi books from my childhood. It wasn't the typical stuff little girls read, but I inherited a lot of it from my older brothers. For some reason, I outgrew Betty and Veronica, but I still enjoy those old Creepy magazines.

[Bruce Siegel]

"Still on sports, the L.A. Dodgers reportedly hired a Russian psychic to beam energy at the team and improve their performance. "

Michael, I know about this because I'm an avid Dodger fan. It's the strangest thing, isn't it? I mean where does this lead—to a yearly draft of psychics along with the player draft?

I'm glad the guy has an open mind, but I'd rather he spent the money on pitching.

As to the accountant/adventurer statement, I like it (though I do hear what you're saying). But for context, you have to understand that MY father refused to let me play Little League Baseball—my big, big, dream as a kid—because he said it was too dangerous. Can you see how that would color my viewpoint a bit?

[dmduncan]

I wonder if they are going to shoot John Galt's entire speech to the nation, which should comprise one entire episode by itself?

It'll be very avantre tard. I mean avant garde.

But anything less risks raising Ayn Rand from the dead to feast on the brains of the miscre-entities who unfaithfully presented her work.

Hmmm. Not a bad idea. I think I'd actually like to see that movie.

"The Curse of Ayn Rand."

[Michael Prescott]

Here's a scary article on the worst-case scenario for the Gulf oil spill. It's not especially well written, but the writer seems to know his stuff, and what he has to say is not reassuring, to say the least.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967

[Roger Knights]

Thanks for the oil spill leak link. Here's a clickable version:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967

[dmduncan]

I don't think the oil spill links qualify as Sunday fun day links.

This is nightmarish. I keep thinking of that early scene in "Star Trek: First Contact" where the Borg alter earth's history in the past and we get a glimpse of the changed earth they created where the oceans are a ruddy brown.

[Michael Prescott]

Thanks for the clickable link, Roger. I used to do that, but I just don't bother anymore. As Krusty the Clown once said, "I'm a lazy, lazy man."

Dmduncan, you're right that there's nothing fun about the spill. And if you read the article from The Oil Drum site, it starts to look a whole lot scarier than it already did.

Let's hope that, like most worst-case scenarios, this one never comes to pass.

[Michael Tymn]

I think a better investment for the Dodgers would be to hire someone to do biorhythm charts on the players. Then they could bench a guy when he is due to be down in his biorhythms.

I once did a retrospective biorhythm chart covering several years on my competitive running experiences and found that there was a positive correlation between biorhythms being up and good performances. I'm not into astrology, and find it very difficult to believe that my date of birth governs how I perform on a particular day, but from my own experience and others I have seen I think biorhythms deserve more study, at least in sports.

It just doesn't make sense that so many ballplayers can be hot for two weeks and then cold for the next two weeks or whatever before starting a new cycle.

[Roger Knights]

"Still on sports, the L.A. Dodgers reportedly hired a Russian psychic to beam energy at the team and improve their performance."

Shades of Damn Yankees!

[Sandy]

It may sound silly, but if those baseball players really believe that having a psychic beam energy at them will help them, it probably will.

[Michael Prescott]

The Abby Sunderland story is looking much worse today, with news that her father is broke and had signed a deal for a reality TV show chronicling his daughter's exploits. It starts to look as if the whole thing was a publicity stunt driven by a desire to get on TV and cash in, even at the risk of his daughter's life.

[Michael Prescott]

"if those baseball players really believe that having a psychic beam energy at them will help them, it probably will."

I'm not sure the players even knew about it. From what I can tell, management kept it a secret.

[dmduncan]

MP, I posted that after reading The Oil Drum link. Unfortunately, the author sounds very knowledgeable.

[Art]

Have ya'll all ready talked about the fact that Pam Reynold's has passed away? I'm surprised I haven't heard it mentioned on this blog?

"Pamela Reynolds Lowery, 53, died last Saturdayof heart failure at Emory University Hospital. Her memorial service is at 2 p.m. today at H.M. Patterson & Son, Oglethorpe Hill.

In 1991, Ms. Reynolds Lowery was diagnosed with an aneurysm at the base of her brain. Informed that it was inoperable, she chose to try a novel procedure developed by Dr. Robert Spetzler, chief of neurosurgery at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. To prevent a rupture of the aneurysm during surgery, her body temperature was lowered to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and blood was drained from her brain. Her heart was stopped, and brain activity ceased. Clinically, she was dead."
full story can be read@:
http://www.ajc.com/news/pam-reynolds-lowery-noted-537512.html

[Michael Prescott]

Pam Reynold's passing was mentioned on another thread.

[Roger Knights]

Here's an article that lists the hazardous shortcuts that BP took:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/210063-bp-investigation-suggests-human-error-more-likely-than-equipment-failure

[Mark (Sydney Australia)]

Foolhardiness on Abby Sunderlands part... no, I don't agree Michael. Jess Watson, (http://www.jessicawatson.com.au) just completed a solo unassisted circumnavigation of the globe in a 34 foot yacht. When she completed her adventure and sailed into Sydney harbour a month ago, she was 16 years old. She is an absolute inspiration. When Jess Watson announced she was going to sail around the world it was very easy to say she was too young, too inexperienced, just a girl, but boy, she proved us all wrong (including me). Abby Sunderlands may have failed this time but it takes guts to do what she did and she was prepared for the journey. She lost her mast, yes, but you can do that on a bad day sailing out of Sydney Harbour. She was equipped for the trip and her safety gear and preparations did not let her down. It cost approx $300,000 Au for Australia to mount our part of the rescue... there weren't many people complaining in the press about it after it was completed. Its easy to knock these young kids but take a moment to look through Jess Watson's website and see how she handles herself and her trip. Also, see her interview the day she arrives back in Sydney. http://tinyurl.com/2elohhl

[Roger Knights]

The cost of the rescue may be a bit inflated if it includes fixed costs that would be paid anyway, like salaries. Plus there is some benefit to the rescue services in the form of a training exercise, which they'd need to simulate anyway.

(But mostly I'm on MP's tsk-tsk side.)
-----------

Latest worst-case oil-spill damage estimate: $560 billion

[Shrewsbury]

What's mysterious about the primary victory of Alvin Greene? He is black, most of the voters in the Democrat primary were black, his opponent was white. Unless one is steeped in "We Are the World" ideology, no other outcome was even conceivable.

[Michael Prescott]

"He is black, most of the voters in the Democrat primary were black, his opponent was white."

Okay ... but how did the voters even know he was black? How did they know anything about him at all? He didn't campaign. He ran no ads. He had no signs. He had no organization. He had no name recognition. No one had ever seen him or heard of him.

Yet he won.

I find it very strange.

[Goonch]

Alvin's win is strange but I don't think its as big a stunner as some are making it out to be. Being the first name on the list would be a huge boon if your voters weren't clue'd in to the candidates that are running and/or didn't care.

Just because the other guy got his name out more doesn't mean he would scoop up the votes.

But watching Alvin's interviews on tv or youtube are entertaining if only that it fully illustrates my dislike of the 'get out the vote' movements. Its not enough to simply vote, one needs to know the details of who they're voting for. That last part seems to be conveniently left out most of the time.

[Jake]

Thoughts on this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/books/review/20Gottlieb.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ei=5070&en=340d4589179fd468&ex=1159243200

[dmduncan]

"Thoughts on this?"

It's the New York Times. Nothing but materialism is fit to print.

[Bruce Siegel]

"Thoughts on this?"

I'm intrigued by this statement from Gottlieb's review:

"And perhaps she tells her tale too even-handedly, since readers may be left with the impression that the Society for Psychical Research was on to something."

I get the feeling that Gottlieb thinks that Blum, like Gottlieb himself, is in on the joke that all psychical researchers are deceiving themselves, but that she went out of her way, in writing Ghost Hunters, to to be fair to those silly believers.

My own impression, from reading Ghost Hunters, is that Blum writes about William James and his associates because she finds them to be genuinely heroic characters, who were, in fact, on to something.

One of the reasons I like the book so much is that it addresses with equal care and enthusiasm both the frauds and the genuinely unexplainable. But it's amazing to me that Gottlieb could fail to see that ultimately, Blum and he are on opposite sides of the fence.

Then, of course, maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see.

Anyone else who read the book and the review care to comment?

[Michael Prescott]

After her book's publication, Blum wrote an op-ed piece advocating more research into postmortem survival. She said she was initially bewildered by the fact that smart people like William James could have taken mediums seriously, but as she looked into the subject, she changed her mind and realized the evidence was much better than she'd assumed. I don't think she's ever said she is convinced of survival, but she is on record as saying that the evidence is intriguing and deserves more of a follow-up.

[Sandy]

Bruce, My impression of Blum from reading Ghost Hunters was very favorable as well. I thought she showed a genuine interest in the reasons why people would risk careers and reputations in order to investigate survival.

I liked her approach. I want to know the whole story, not just that parts that fit in with my own opinions of these matters. I enjoyed the book quite a bit.

[dmduncan]

"I don't think she's ever said she is convinced of survival, but she is on record as saying that the evidence is intriguing and deserves more of a follow-up."

And I think that is the LEAST of what anyone would conclude if they look sincerely at the evidence.

Then there are the intellectuals who just KNOW it's all baloney and wouldn't waste their time looking so much as what lies beneath even a scratch of the surface. For them it's just a matter of doing their part to hold back the forces of superstition who want to return the world to the middle ages.

They live a comfy controlled existence inside of a snow globe, and they write not to learn or discover but to reinforce their views among themselves.

There seems to be a storm surge of bigotry among intellectuals who consider themselves "enlightened," whereby they simply adopt the opinions of those they respect without looking any further into matters, and then resort to name calling or ridicule against those who say otherwise.

[Bruce Siegel]

MP, Sandy, DM: Here's what I find so amusing. I enjoyed Ghost Hunters immensely. And though Blum is clearly presenting both sides of the argument fairly, my feeling all along has been that secretly, she's convinced of the reality of psi (and possibly survival), but for various reasons, doesn't want to just come out and say it.

And Gottieb, it seems to me, feels the same way: that secretly she agrees with him!

Of course, maybe I'm just projecting. But at the very least, it's interesting that two people (Gottlieb and me) with very different viewpoints can be so enthusiastic about the same book.

[Roger Knights]

They live a comfy controlled existence inside of a snow globe, and they write not to learn or discover but to reinforce their views among themselves.

There seems to be a storm surge of bigotry among intellectuals who consider themselves "enlightened," whereby they simply adopt the opinions of those they respect without looking any further into matters, and then resort to name calling or ridicule against those who say otherwise.

Posted by: dmduncan | June 19, 2010 at 11:04 AM

Their co-dependents are the "scoftics" and scientwists who misrepresent and explain away anomalous evidence.

(Liked that "snow globe" term.)