One For The Books

Wow! The evenly-matched teams fought a close game into the fourth quarter. Then it appeared Carolina had it sealed, holding a 23-12 lead with less than 5 minutes to play; but the Rams, led by running back Marshall Faulk's inspired rushing and receiving performance, quickly moved the ball down to inside the Carolina 10 yard line — only to be held there for five plays—and more important, for over two minutes—by a strong Panther defensive effort.

Finally, Faulk managed to score on third and goal, and the Rams succeeded on the two point conversion, closing the gap now to only 3 points with 2:39 left in the game.

The desperate Rams had no choice but to attempt an onside kick — which the kicker himself managed to recover! I think if the Rams had won, this might have been remembered as the critical play, but instead, it's what the Rams didn't do on their critical possession that will be second-guessed for some time to come.

Again, they moved the ball smartly downfield, quarterback Marc Bulger seemingly able to complete medium-range passes at will. But bizarrely, having just completed a pass to give themselves a first down on the Panthers' 15 yard line with 39 seconds remaining, instead of going for the win, Rams coach Mike Martz elected to allow the clock to tick down to just 3 seconds remaining, then went for the field goal, which Jeff Wilkins nailed, sending the game into OT.

Carolina won the coin toss, and again it appeared they were about to win the game — they moved the ball down to the Rams' 20, setting up a 40-yard attempt by the Panthers' excellent kicker John Kasay. Kasay's kick was good — but unfortunately for Carolina, he'd let too much time elapse before starting the play; the kick was negated, and Kasay had to try again, this time from 45 yards. Although he'd been perfect in his last 16 attempts, this time he bounced it off the left upright, giving St. Louis another shot.

It soon appeared the Rams had it in the bag, as again they moved the ball with seeming ease, but the Panthers' defense halted them right at the limit of Wilkins's range. His 53-yard attempt looked straight and true, but the thunderous roar of the home crowd fell silent as the kick dropped just short of the goal posts.

The crowd's roar forced Panthers' QB Jake Delhomme to resort to an easily-predicted snap count, which the defense were able to anticipate as well. Carolina managed to reach the limit of Kasay's range, but the Rams forced the Panthers to punt by throwing them for a big loss as they attempted to center the ball on third down.

The Rams, starting with lousy field position, once again were able to move the ball, again reaching kicker Wilkins's outer limit, but when they tried to move a little closer, rookie cornerback Rickie Manning, Jr. intercepted Bulger's pass!

Carolina struggled to move the ball on their next two plays, the crowd noise again foiling any hope of offensive unpredictability. The first overtime period ended.

The teams changed ends of the field and on the next play, a very tired Jake Delhomme connected with Steve Smith, who blazed past his pursuers for 69 yards to score the winning touchdown!

I don't usually gush about sports, but not only was this the Carolina Panthers' first playoff road win ever; this was one of the most exciting professional football games ever played.

Next for the Panthers will be the NFC Championship Game next week, against the winner of Sunday's match between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. The last time Carolina made it to the playoffs, in 1997 (only their second year in the league), they lost the NFC Championship to Green Bay. Still, Panther fans will be cheering for the Packers tomorrow: if Green Bay wins, we'll play them for the championship in Charlotte; if the Eagles win, we'll have to play them in Philadelphia.

I'm tempted to stay home and watch the game tomorrow, but I think instead I'll see whether I can still climb a cold, snowy mountain. I feel inspired.

Posted by Me at 21:14 link

He Promises the Moon and Mars...

Senior administration officials say President George W. Bush is planning a permanent science base for astronauts on the moon and, more than a decade from now, human voyages to Mars.

[full story]

Around here, it's all very mellow. School started yesterday. The Spanish instructor gave us a "preview of coming attractions" for the semester; seems to me that we could cover all the material he outlined in half the semester or less. I don't think I'll learn nearly as much as I'd originally hoped. Sigh. I guess I'm a little down. Neither of my course substitution requests were approved, so I'll (allegedly) be learning Microeconomics and Business this semester.

Today was to have been the first session for each of those, but the college saw fit to cancel classes because of half an inch of snow. I e-mailed both instructors asking which books I needed, but neither has gotten back to me yet. I did order the books for my other two classes (Object-Oriented Programming and Database Concepts), and saved incredible amounts of money by getting them online instead of at the bookstore. Well, not so incredible that I can fast-forward straight to retirement or anything, but over 50% off.

My Friend is back from whitewater rafting (and hiking, and rock climbing...) in Chile. I think it's wonderful that she went, I'm glad she had a good time (and that she came back safe), but I'm also feeling keenly aware that I didn't go, and of how little I did (and how inconsequential it was) over the same period. Yeah, I know that's lame, but I also realize that it's a perfectly normal feeling — inevitable, actually.

Music In My Head

• Rolling Stones — "19^th Nervous Breakdown"
• Queen — "Bicycle Race" (okay, and "Fat Bottomed Girls," too!)
• Chris Isaak — "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing"
• Bruce Springsteen — "I'm On Fire"
• Georges Bizet — "L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle (Habanera)"

Fat and (Un)Happy

The Worldwatch Institute says more than 25% of the world's people now enjoy the style which used to belong to the rich.

But it says rising obesity and debt, and increasing pressures on time, are reducing many people's quality of life.

....

The institute's president, Christopher Flavin, said: "As we enter a new century, this unprecedented consumer appetite is undermining the natural systems we all depend on, and making it even harder for the world's poor to meet their basic needs."

The US has more private vehicles on the road than people licensed to drive them. New houses in the US were 38% bigger in 2000 than in 1975, although average household size had fallen.

Yet only about a third of Americans described themselves as "very happy", the same share as in 1957 when US citizens were just half as wealthy.

[full story]

Almost always, when I hear someone speak reverently of the American Way of Life, I think to myself that they must mean the rights and freedoms we're guaranteed by our Constitution, and I feel a surge of pride and gratitude that Thomas Jefferson and the rest of our Founding Fathers set into motion a process that has led us to all that we have today; I'll start to agree with the person making the statement, but by this time they'll usually have added something to indicate that the Way of Life they're speaking of involves their family, a mortgage and a two-car garage. Then I have to suppress a feeling of despair, because if my neighbors are willing to send young men—not their sons, per se, but men from "less fortunate" backgrounds of the same age—to die for their "right" to drive two blocks to work every day, solo, in a GMC Yukon, then what hope do we have?

Posted by Me at 21:26 link

Do They Think We're Idiots ?

WASHINGTON — A dozen or more congressional Republicans will gather at a resort in balmy Phoenix this week to hear the legislative wish lists of Western coal, power and mining companies — and raise money from them.

The four-day conference begins today with a $1,500-per-person round of golf and private dinner, dubbed "Mulligans and Margaritas." The money raised from industry officials will be divided among the re-election campaigns of the lawmakers, most of whom serve on committees that oversee the mining and energy industries.

Members of Congress often take privately sponsored trips. Such trips are allowed under ethics rules if they are primarily for fact-finding or other official business.

But guidelines issued by the House ethics committee warn the chamber's members "to avoid even the appearance that solicitations of campaign contributions are connected in any way with an action taken or to be taken in their official capacity."

[full story]

In other news, after months of fruitless searching, Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been located.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go bang my head against a brick wall.

Posted by Me at 23:20 link

You Gotta Believe!

That's a real shame, not only because Mr. McGraw was a delightful person, but also because his phrase finally has an application even more worthy than its inspiration, the 1969 New York Mets' "miracle" season.

I'm talking, of course, about the upcoming peace talks between India and Pakistan.

When the buzz surrounding these talks first started up a couple of weeks ago, I didn't pay much attention. After all, India/Pakistan peace talks are like the celebrity marriages of international diplomacy. I figured that in a few days, one of the countries would make a snarky remark about the other, and soon we'd be back to Business as Usual, with each side blaming the other for the rising tensions and increasing numbers of troops staring each other down across the Kashmiri border.

But this time seems different. Maybe both sides are tired of staring down the barrel of a nuclear gun, maybe it's the promise of billions in trade dollars (rupees, whatever, you get my point), or maybe it's the tug of a common history which, after all, stretches back literally thousands of years. Whatever, I'm hoping that this time is for real. I gotta. Maybe if enough of us believe, it'll really happen this time. Might as well try. After all, it worked for the Miracle Mets.

Meanwhile here in Statesville, I'm enjoying the very last of a very long break. This evening I went to a brief orientation session for my database (Access) class. Though the schedule says attendance is required at these things, I probably could've blown it off. I've taken 6 Internet classes before, and before tonight, I'd not gone to a single orientation session. I've always just e-mailed the instructor that I was sorry I'd missed it and it was no big deal.

This time, I figured why not? After all, this is my last semester; I figured I might as well soak in as much as possible (yeah, I'm bored). The session was pretty much worthless. The instructor handed out a paper copy of the syllabus, which is also available online. Then she read the syllabus to us. Then we went home. The end. I did speak to a couple of fellow students, which is always good. And I got a little practice using a bike pannier as a school bag, which works, if a little awkwardly at this point. I'll get plenty more practice starting Thursday, when classes begin.

I called my advisor this afternoon, but apparently she'd already left for the day; I still don't know if either of my course substitutions has been approved. Maybe I'll find out tomorrow.

In the extremely unlikely event that anyone gives a rat's ass, I'll tell you how my headlamp tests worked out. Turns out Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries don't last as long as I'd thought they did. I'd thought they lasted over 3 times as long as alkaline batteries. In fact, 2000 milliamp hour (mAh) NiMH AAs last only about 1.25 times as long as standard alkalines (which is still pretty good; plus you can recharge them about 1000 times, and they work fine down to about -20° F).

My Petzl Zoom headlamp wore out a set of NiMH AAs in just under 12 hours, whether I was using 3 AAs with the 4.5v bulb or 4 AAs with the 6v bulb. I'll use the significantly brighter 6v bulb if I do any cold weather night hiking with my "new" homemade headlamp — and I'll carry an extra set of batteries.

[added January 8 at 22:45] I'm not very happy with the test results from my new Princeton Tec Matrix II LED headlamp, either. Turns out a set of 2 AA NiMH batteries will power it for just over 8 hours, a lot less than the manufacturer's 17-hour figure for alkaline batteries. I'm guessing this has to do with the lower voltage of NiMH batteries (1.25V as opposed to 1.5V for alkalines). This doesn't pose a problems with "analog" lights, such as incandescent or halogen bulbs (as voltage decreases, they get dimmer, but keep burning for a long time), but LED lights are "digital" — they're either on, at full power; or they're off. Period. And it appears the voltage supplied by 2000 mAh NiMH batteries becomes insufficient after about 8 hours. Drat. Still, 8 hours is pretty much an entire summer night, and if I carry an extra set of batteries, I won't have to worry about becoming stuck in the dark, even on a multi-day backpacking trip. For winter night hikes (with snow and moderate cold in the mountains now, I feel a night hike coming on!), I'm going to use the Petzl.

Stop the Presses!

And, lest I forget — Happy Epiphany to one and all!

Posted by Me at 21:11 link

Hey — want to see some ads?

For those of you fortunate enough not to be obsessed with politics, this is a contest, judged by famous people, to create a 30 second political video ad aimed at ousting Bush in the November election. MoveOn activists have now selected 15 finalists out of 250 videos submitted. Check them out here. (Requires free QuickTime plug-in.)

My only objection to the whole campaign is that focusing on Bush seems to me a mistake. Since our minds don't process negative messages correctly, our minds tend to turn the message "Don't vote for Bush" into something closely resembling "Vote for Bush." Eek! (If you doubt the phenomenon, please for the love of God, whatever you do, don't think of a circus clown now.) For this reason, our professor taught us in Intro. to Radio, Television and Motion Pictures (an actual class I took at UNC) to avoid including competitors' names in our ads (among other things, we wrote ads). So instead of "Bush sucks! Don't vote for Bush!" I offer you "Human Rights Rock! Vote for Howard Dean!"

Back in December, I started to review some of the original 250 entries, but finding myself overwhelmed by the sheer number of ads, I gave up. Fortunately, hardier activists have picked some excellent videos. The celebrity judges (including Moby, Michael Moore, Margaret Cho...) will take it from here.

This video from Amnesty International also caught my eye recently. (Requires free RealOne player.) It highlights many of the successes—and challenges—in the vitally important work they do. They warned me I'd cry, but I didn't believe them. Relax: they're good tears.

Posted by Me at 23:37 link

Book On A Shelf

Now, retired, she doesn't seem to know what to do with herself. Many of her circle have died, the rest she seldom sees. She has a sister, some nieces and nephews and their kids, but I don't think she sees them very often. She's become almost shockingly frail; she says that by herself, she doesn't enjoy eating much. She no longer takes her evening walk. She hasn't even been going to church, something else she always found time to do.

I found myself wondering: What does she do? The dinner was all right; she seemed at the beginning of the evening like someone who'd been living deep underground suddenly brought up into the light. As we ate and talked, I watched her come back to life a bit, felt again the warm glow of her sparkle.

Back at Mom's over coffee, she seemed almost completely herself again: smart, funny, perceptive, the sort of listener who always somehow makes you say more than you'd intended to say.

As I followed her glances around the living room and considered how it might look through her eyes (Is that a dead fish in the fish tank? So many cats! She didn't have to make such a production of the coffee....), I couldn't help wondering if this is how I would end up if I stayed here: a book, just sitting patiently on a shelf, just growing older, only coming to life when occasionally read.

When I took her home, I invited her to join Mom and me at the YMCA (even though Mom seldom goes anymore); she said she'd consider it. As I drove back here I reflected on small town values, how a place like this exalts the mediocre and ignores the priceless. The handsome young man in the shiny new car with the big new house never eats alone, even though he's a dreadful bore and cares only about himself; the frail—yet brilliant—old woman, who essentially gave her life to make this town a better place, is left to rot on her shelf.

Posted by Me at 22:51 link