This n’ That….

Go PATS!

It would be fun to gloat, but truth is The Steelers did give it their all. They have a great defense (I think they got the only sack in the game) but the Pats simply had it all together. They are a great TEAM, but to bring it down to QB’s: In three years Rothlisberger is going to be kick-ass, but he just didn’t have the experience that Brady did to fully read the situations fast enough. Anyway the Steelers were honorable foes and I salute them while Congratulating the Patriots!

Now on to roast some bird!

The Telly Got Me!

Having yielded to the siren call of popular culture (O.K. NASCAR) I finally got an antenna for my T.V. and promptly became hooked on “Boston Legal”. What could be another “Law & Order” knock off is quite funny, filled with unique, irreverent and off-beat characters, while tackling some pretty serious topics in today’s society. I give you that it’s not realistic, it’s like M*A*S*H for Lawyers, but it’s entertaining as hell and occasionally makes you think.

Alan Shore’s “Llllllesbian” bit at the start of last night’s show had me on the floor and I particularly liked the last lines exchanged between Alan and Danny over a quiet, friendly drink.

"How do you handle that?" (referring to Danny's onsetting Alzheimers)"
"Well, first you look to God...and then...."
"Fox News?"
"Damn right"
"Damn Republicans."
"Damn Democrats."

:)

Our Place In The World

The ancient Maya believe that human beings were created to be the keepers of memory.

As time flies faster and faster in this hectic world of information overload it hard to keep track of it all. Not only do human events pass before our eyes, entire species are disappearing in front of us.

I am not so foolish to believe that we are “saving the earth” for the Earth’s sake. We could nuke ourselves tomorrow and a thousand years or so, nature will come back swinging. What we are saving is ourselves. Increased levels of cancer, allergies, asthma; it’s pretty obvious that we are creating an environment that is increasingly hostile to it’s creator. But what emotionally drives me more than that is the fact that my children or grandchildren will not know a world without some of the magnificent creatures living in their natural habitats, and in some species cases, without these magnificent creatures period.

I fully understand that some loss is due to natural process of geological evolutionary change, but even the most stolid corporate stooge cannot deny that mankind has seriously screwed up those natural process. Such as in the case of Global Warming, accelerating a natural warming trend that should have taken a thousand years or so into a matter of decades. Species that we hunt, fish or squeeze out of existence create gaps in the ecosystem which creates chaos as various populations lower in the food chain explode, impacting the entire ecosystem, often including ourselves. We’ve monkeyed with the natural order, and in so doing we made ourselves responsible for compensating for the problems we create.

I'm not "Funny Bunny" Tree Hugger. Nature can be unpredictable, deadly and seemingly cruel. "A real Bitch" as my Dad would say. But it is a balm to the soul to know that wild things roam the earth free from the touch of man. A delight to know we share the world with creatures we still do not fully understand. In recent human memory, we have lost the passenger pigeon, two species of Tiger, the Tasmanian wolf, the Buffalo, the Dogo and countless others. In Torah’s Genesis, God created man to be the caretaker of the Earth, not simply to have dominion over it, but if we as a species do not take up that mantle soon, we may only be the keepers of memory of such wondrous beasts such as the Cheetah, the Tigers, Snow Leopards, the Cougar, the Blue Whale, the Great White Shark, Sea Turtles, and many hundreds, possibly thousands of others who while perhaps less spectacular are equally worthy of our attention.

Shadow Divers

I finished reading Shadow Divers about a week ago and I feel myself torn between admiration for their acheivement & solidarity and incredulity at their...stupidity. It's an excellent book and shows not only the dangers, but the work that goes into identifying wrecks. I don't think an accademic institution could have identified it any faster. But three people died while a small group of private individuals tried to keep this wreck to themselves and solve the mystery so that they alone could lay claim to it. What they did was very brave, but the fact they did it on their own strikes me as being rather egotistical. Why wasn’t the state, who could have protected the site and notified an academic institution to mount a real excavation, contacted?

There's being adventerous, there's being crazy and then there's just being dumb. I think these guys crossed the line.