Centerfield

Happy Thanksgiving to the entire Centerfield community! We've all got our differences, but it's a great place to hang out and kibbitz.

I'm going to visit my aunt, who is recovering from knee replacement surgery, and the youngest of her 4 boys (who did an Army tour in Iraq last year).

As for football, all I can say is GEAUX TIGERS! #3 in the country, and would be higher except that we didn't give it all we had way back at the beginning of the season against Tennessee. (Yes, yes, I know Tenn. just lost to Vandy, but trust me, they were good when we played them. We made them work so hard for the win, it took all the energy out of them for the rest of the season...)

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Not travelling here...probably just go to Tgiving Mass and spend the afternoon with friends watching the games. Taking a few days off to spend with my little one...and yes, we'll steer clear of anything involving shopping.

Pat...you guys beat us, so I have to give LSU their due. And, you are absolutely right, back when we beat Tennessee to start out our SEC schedule, we were on top of the world. They actually were a good team for a few weeks there...just fell apart. I'm just waiting for them to start requiring Fat Phil to take some laps around the field.

I'm headed down to Gainesville on Saturday for the Florida/Florida State game. It's not all that exciting this year...miss the days of #1 facing #2 or #3 facing #4. This year it's just two teams desparate for a win. But, hey, add some alchohol to the mix and I'm sure we'll make a good time out of it.

Hope everyone enjoys the Holidays...

Yes, a happy, happy, happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Turkey Day is the best. If I had my way, Christmas would be a repeat of Thanksgiving. No shopping, thank you. Just food, drink and the company of friends and family. This year we're even going out to a restaurant for dinner. Thanksgiving, indeed.

Some of my friends and I observe a great tradition that started back in the 70s (before my time). My high school's football team plays the same rival school every year on Thanksgiving, so some of the not-so-youngish-anymore alumni of the two schools show up at one of the local dive bars for drinks and pork roll sandwiches before the game. I don't think anyone actually makes it to the game at this point. But it's great to be drinking beer at 8 AM on Thanksgiving morning, especially after Thanksgiving Eve, the second greatest going out night of the holiday season.

I hope you all have as much fun as I intend to!

Link.

“Moderate Republicans are enjoying a powerful renaissance these days, as their votes have become crucial currency for House and Senate leaders to move the Republican agenda,” the Baltimore Sun reports. “With President Bush's popularity waning and energized Democrats holding together on critical votes, Republican leaders are reluctantly recognizing the center -- and with the 2006 elections coming up, the odds are that lawmakers in the middle of the road will continue to be the key constituency.”

Already had thanksgiving with my daughter, my mom and her two sisters in town due to my grandmother's passing.
Looking forward to painting the house and hanging out with the girlfriend.

As for moderate Republicans....what the eff took them so long? I already know some in Denver who couldn't wait and have switched to democrat or independent. I think the GOP lost a lot of moderates permanently, and not just because of the neoconservative agenda but also disgust at the profligate spending, the lack of accountability and the scandals, both ongoing and upcoming.

Does this sound like a familiar pattern?

Movie recommendations

Pride and Prejudice - even rednecks will like it

Yeah, it's a familiar pattern. Happens every half-generation or so. Don't count on the "lost permananently" bit, though. The pendulum swings. But I can't say I'm in the least sorry to hear that the GOP is finally noticing that the center will not hang around forever while the wingnuts drive the social agenda and the fiscal/governance agenda gets nothing but lip service.

The more voters the parties drive into the indpendent center, the more I smile. The fewer people that quit trusting the parties and start thinking for themselves, the more I smile. They don't have to think like me. Just thinking is good enough. :-)

Oops. "The MORE people who quit trusting the parties and start thinking for themselves..."

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody, or as it's increasingly known,
"Happy Holiday Kickoff to the Real Holiday, Which Must Be Known as Christmas or Bill O'Reilly Will Throw A Hissy Fit And Claim Christians Are Being Persecuted."

At least, that's the way it used to be. Now Halloween is taking over that function and it looks like Thanksgiving will be lost in the midde.

By the way, I found this oldie but goodie from our friend Ayn Rand, on "Why Christmas Isn't Commercial Enough."

Hey, that's not from Rand! That's from that dissident Objectivist Peikoff. I knew it wasn't from Rand as soon as I clicked it--the download wasn't 55 pages.....

Things look pretty good here football-wise. Texas (#2) has its annual grudge match against the Aggies, and the Profesora's Texas State Bobcats are in a conference playoff against Georgia Southern.

BJ...I love it! Thanks for sharing.

And, by the way, not only will Bill O'Reilly throw a hissy fit, but Jerry Falwell will sue your ass! (I need to find that link, just in case you haven't seen it...might be on Raw Story...that he's threatening to sue companies who require "Happy Holidays" in lieu of "Merry Xmas." Oops! Sorry, now I'm facing a lawsuit...it's "Merry Christmas.")

Interesting personal note for what it's worth...I grew up on the extreme right side of the religious right--further than most can even imagine. We started out celebrating Christmas, but my parents eventually abandoned it as came to view it as a "materialistic, secular holiday." What's funny is that (as liberal as I am today), I actually agree with them. I don't see anything wrong with giving gifts and having fun, but I refuse to participate on a broad scale. I see parents go way overboard on their children, and I've had to enforce my point of view when it comes to my own child. (His mother loves to lavish gifts.) I don't participate in the "buy a gift for everyone you know because they might get you one" craze. It's just silly to me. I just enjoy seeing my son get all excited about Santa (who was the devil incarnate to me in my childhood) and watching him open a few gifts.

Nmatter how many manger scenes you may see, the modern celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. The fundamentalist's attempts to convince the rest of the world that Christ would approve of this materialistic approach is at best simply amusing. What's particularly ironic is that their heroes--the Puritans of old--couldn't have been more opposite in their approach to this particular holiday.

Unfortunately, it will be a not so happy Thanksgiving at our house this year. We canceled our travel plans after learning on Monday that our dog has heart and lung cancer. Our other dog died of cancer 3 months ago. The kids reactions were interesting. My son (6) cried his eyes out and shouted "I hate that cancer thing." My daughter (4) shrugged and asked when we will get a new dog.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Although this is not going to be a great week, life is good generally and we have lots to be thankful for here.

Nmatter how many manger scenes you may see, the modern celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with the birth of Christ.

Here's a suggestion that would probably get me in trouble with my wife - Instead of giving material gifts, make charitable donations on behalf of friends and family. That would put the Christ back in Christmas.

Instead of giving material gifts, make charitable donations on behalf of friends and family.

I think that's a great idea. And, it doesn't have to be something that only Christians can do. Anyone, regardless of faith (or lack thereof) can celebrate the end of a great year by giving to those in need.

Here's a little mathematical diversion. This problem was posed to me by one of my co-workers. He said this was a problem used on an entrance exam for engineering school in India, and that the requirement was that it be solved in one minute or less. Here's one hint. I'm not going to use any numbers. As it turns out, the actual numbers are irrelevent.

Two trains are speeding toward each other at different speeds on the same track. A bird is on one of them. At some point, when the trains are some distance from each other, the bird flies to the other train. How many times can the bird fly back and forth between the two trains before they collide? The assumptions are that the bird is ideal, in that it can instantly reverse direction at full speed. The bird also flies faster than either train. (Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a problem to figure out.) If it makes you feel better, pick arbitrary speeds for the two trains and the bird, and an arbitrary distance between the trains when the bird starts, and solve it based on them. (Or ignore this completely if you like.)

Hey, that's not from Rand! That's from that dissident Objectivist Peikoff. I knew it wasn't from Rand as soon as I clicked it--the download wasn't 55 pages.....

LOL, Tully! Please forgive me; I saw it was from her institute and assumed she wrote it. Peikoff could have given her lessons on "How To Get To The Point", otherwise known as "Brevity." ;-)

No football predictions this year; the Wildcats delivered a win for Coach Snyder on his last game, so for K-State fans, the holiday came early. Even though I'm a born Missourian, I'm glad he could go out on a winning note.

I'm glad you liked the article, Abel! I'd love to see that thing on Jerry Falwell if you've got the link. Some people like Jerry Falwell (and Bill O'Reilly, and assorted others; I'm sure there are those on the left, but they're not as noticible right now) can turn a peaceful sentiment of universal merriment into a declaration of discrimination. It cracks me up to see the same people who fervently condemn Cupid in Jesus's name are glad to endorse cupidity in Jesus's name.

Thanks for sharing some family memories. SANTA=SATAN? Yes, I've run up against those before. Scary. Sounds like you're raising your son right, though I can understand your wife's point of view. Maybe y'all could give him one big present and a few little ones; that's what my folks did.

Happy Holidays! (There. Now, we'll both get sued, and we can pass the popcorn in the courtroom. ;-)

Todd; sorry about your dog. There are a lot of kids' books on dealing with a pet's death, if you'd like me to recommend some.

WHQ: I'm going to ignore that one, if you don't mind. I'm still recovering from a holiday party where they served some kind of cranberry liquer mixed with vodka. Why make cranberry sauce when you can get sauced on cranberries?

Peikoff could have given her lessons on "How To Get To The Point", otherwise known as "Brevity." ;-)

He tried--that's how he became unwelcome. :-)

There's a joke there somewhere about getting bogged down with cranberry liquors, but I think I'll give it a miss.

"Holidays" is suit-proof even from the disgruntled atheists, it's been generic usage long enough.

Jean, here's the link. Rev. Falwell is putting everyone on notice that, when it comes to Christmas, "you are either with us or against us." If you happen to be against the man, he'll sue ya. Nothin' like a little Christmastime Christian love.

LOL. Put me down "against." Not Xmas, but Falwell.

Would my math problem be more interesting if we assume the bird is a swallow gripping a coconut by the husk?

WHQ, African or European swallow?

I did give your problem quite a bit of thought yesterday, but I'm stuck. I know the differing speeds bit is a diversion, because together they are closing the distance between them at a constant speed (the combined sum of their two speeds). I read closely to confirm that the trains were approaching each other on the same track, and it wasn't a trick question type of deal. I can't figure out a simple solution that doesn't depend on how much faster the bird is going than the trains. I used to be good at algebra and trig and geometry and what not, back in high school. Then I took up the law and addled the math part of my brain forever!

moderate iraq exit strategy from the Christian Science Monitor. Worth taking a look at. Maybe worth making a post out of it -- for those with posting privileges.

We got tix to the 1-AA playoff between TX State San Marcos and Georgia Southern. It'll be on ESPN2 at 2:30 on Saturday, so no excuses for not watching. ;-)

Yeah, WHQ, I though the same things as Pat. Fixed amount of time, so number of trips is a function of speed. Ideal bird, so not a trick question, bird doesn't get smashed or sucked into vertex.

And I also wasn't compelled by the notion of a Xeno's paradox-type deal where, because there's an ever-diminishing distance to travel, each trip takes less time, so there are an infinite number of trips possible. I didn't buy that, especially because it's an engineering class question, not a math theory class.

Is the idea that you look for the real world answer becuase of the engineering. A real bird would probably be in deep shit if it tried to fly off a train, as soon as it opened its wings. But again, you said ideal bird. So I assume that means it can do whatever it needs to, like fly off a train without getting caught in a downdraft or immediately hurtling out of control.

So enlighten us.

And I also wasn't compelled by the notion of a Xeno's paradox-type deal where, because there's an ever-diminishing distance to travel, each trip takes less time, so there are an infinite number of trips possible. I didn't buy that, especially because it's an engineering class question, not a math theory class.

Actually, that's what I came up with. Since the bird is faster than either train, it will always reach the train toward which it is flying before the other train does, regardless of how little time or distance remains. The sum of the series of the durations of the trips converges on the time it takes the two trains to reach each other. I couldn't remember the name of the paradox. Xeno's is the tortoise-hare deal with the tortoise getting a head start, right?

And a couple of other points I didn't mention. The bird and the trains are points, so the bird doesn't get squished or anything. I guess if it could, the problem would be to figure out how many times the bird could go back and forth before the distance between the trains was less than the length of the bird. It is an utterly idealized problem. At some point, as an otherwise real-world problem, the bird would be violating the laws of quantum physics. Those trips get pretty short just before the trains collide.

That's an interesting question, WHQ. Why a bird would want to do such a thing is an even more interesting question. ;-)

ROTHFL, Tully. Reminds me of the Roman joke in the MST3K series, about the Goddess of Brevity, which Rand certainly wasn't. I know you can come up with a good pun about cranberry bogs, but thank you for sparing me; I feel bogged down enough already.

Yes, you can put me down in the anti-Falwell camp, too. Thanks for the link, Abel! That was fun; reminds me of this one from Pandragon about Donahue's pro-"Merry Christmas" crusade against Wal-Mart.
(Apparently, D is one of those guys who just won't take "Yes" for an answer.)

Yes, Pandragon is one of those "lefty" blogs, but I love the way they look at things. Check out the "Phoenican In The Time Of the Romans" parody song; it's hilarious.

The paradox depends on the assumptions to be a paradox at all. The assumptions include the physically impossible, i.e., they try to state the paradox in terms of physical objects, but assign non-physical non-quantized infinite and dimensionless properties to the objects. Once you actually formulate the equation and tack in dimensions and quanta to test, it's a simple matter of converging series--the limits of y as x approaches infinity. A generic concept in calculus.

It is indeed a Xeno's paradox variant, but an engineering student should have enough knowledge of basic calculus to formulate a converging series. It's a sucker question to see if the student approaches word problems with calculus, or gets suckered off into the impossible. Engineering's supposed to be a practical field.

Not being an engineer, after I thought about it a bit I wrote the generic equation out and actually started running sample numbers through it and comparing limit curves. Then I realized I was missing the point, that the numbers WERE completely irrelevant, it was the demonstrated application of basic concepts that counted. I definitely failed the one-minute test in thinking about it too long before going for the calc.

Jean--I've already got Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, I just can't play it much at home until the kids are a good bit older...

The song really is entitled "Merry F***ing Christmas," and the lyrics are accurate. You can get the Mr. Garrison action figure too! And Mr. Hankey can help you find your car in the mall parking lot...if he isn't stolen before you get back.

I don't know, Tully; I think the kids would probably enjoy "A Christmas Poo", depending on how old they are. How your wife would react is another story. ;-)

What??? I thought Garrison Keillor wrote that song! Another illusion shattered. Sigh....Still, I'm glad to hear that there's a recorded version available, so I sing along on those roadtrips through the Kansas prairies. Thanks!

And thanks for finding the Mr. Garrison action figure for me too! My Ken has been lonely since Barbie ran off with my brother's GI Joe; at least we know that Mr. Garrison will like to wear Barbie's dresses. ;-)

I'm tempted to get the Mr. Hankey car finder, but my dad would probably insist I get the car washed and then I'd lose it. I'll have to stick with the old way of finding the car; it's the only one whose lisense plate says "UFF DA." ;-)

Don't have the CD cover handy to check the liner notes, but I'm pretty sure it was the cartoon Garrison...my kids WOULD learn all the album lyrics in no time and insist on singing them repeatedly. Everywhere. Which is why they don't get to listen to it.

Yeah, they don't sell those Barbie/Ken sets anymore, do they? [insert previously referenced obscene Barbie/Ken joke here]

"Uff Da" is so wonderfully multi-purpose.

LOL! Quite true. And losing one's car in a vast parking lot is the ultimate "Uff Da!" moment.