Who Can Really Say?

Via Jeff Jarvis, I took a look today at a collection of blogs put together by Forbes Magazine. Last night a friend of mine I'll call Jon contacted me with some questions about blogs. The Forbes list is a handy starting place to take a look around at a wide variety of blogs -- not just the political/news junkie sort of sites I usually read. Have at it, Jon!

But that's not the point of this post. One of the sports blogs on Forbes's list is Yanksfan vs. Soxfan, and Forbes clued me in to a post there on plans for the new Yankee Stadium, announced last month. Although I'd seen an exterior architectural rendering and read about how that exterior design is faithful to the original Yankee Stadium dating to 1923, I hadn't seen a good view of what the inside of the Stadium might look like until visiting Y v. S. I don't like it. In fact, I think it stinks.

Here's the problem -- designing the exterior to appear remniscent of the original Stadium is a nice touch but IMHO it's worth about 10% of the overall design. Fans don't watch games standing outside the stadium -- the experience inside the park is what counts. One of the rare features of either the original Stadium or the rebuilt 1973 version (and today it's probably a unique feature) is the degree to which the middle and upper decks hang over the lower deck. Especially with respect to the upper deck, it means the fans in those seats are closer to the field than in any other park I can think of. I've never seen a measurement, but I'll bet if you took the distance from the front row upper deck seats even with 1st or 3rd base to those bases, you'd find those seats are closer to those bases than in any other park in the majors. And if the first row is closer, so is the second, etc. I'll bet that distance is well on the way to being doubled in the new design, because there's no longer an overhang of any sort.

Add to that the fact that overall seating capacity is reduced by a few thousand seats, and that the upper deck is smaller and seats fewer, and you've got a serious depreciation of the fans experience. True, this is a benefit to fans in lower deck seats that can now see the sky, but (and this is a guess) many of those lower deck seats are also further away from the field than they are now.

The "look and feel" of the proposed new stadium's interior neither looks nor feels like either the old or the renovated Stadiums. The design doesn't even seem to mimic, in any sense, the famous facade, that swept around the top of the Old Stadium and which was at least referenced at the back outfield wall in the renovated version. But that's ok, I guess, because the outside is spectacular, right?

A word to BoSox fans -- whatever the gripes might be with Fenway, DON'T LET THEM TEAR IT DOWN AND BUILD SOMETHING ELSE.

[Linked to the Beltway Traffic Jam.]

Posted by Peter at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Big Brother is watching (via Instapundit). Only it's not really Big Brother per se. Just a lot of little Big Brothers.

I don't consider this in the same way as the random searches started last week on the NY Subway. From a privacy standpoint, I think they're two different animals. Whether a good or useful idea or not, the subway searches are dictated by a sense of need. The databases are dictated by a sense of possibility.

And it's technolgy that has made this information possible, and therefore public. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, there were no digital databases. No phone number databases. No social security number databases. No credit card numbers. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Well, ok -- maybe 40-50 years ago there weren't any. Oh, there were local directories of all sorts, but they mostly had only phone numbers and addresses, weren't linked to each other, and weren't globally available. That has changed slowly over time, and more recently, much more quickly. We have few laws or policies in place to maintain the expectations we hold based upon experiences created in an era when these things weren't possible. But the longer we go without them, the less likely it will be, I think, that we'll create any.

Posted by Peter at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Instapundit get's it wrong.

REST IN PEACE, JAMES DOOHAN. I'll raise a glass of Saurian brandy to him tonight.

While Scotty could drink like a fish and indeed enjoyed his alien brandys, I think it more appropriate to raise a glass of his native drink, of which he was most proud.

From the Trouble with Tribbles:

Scotty: When are you going to get off that milk diet?
Chekhov: This is vodka.
Scotty: Where I come from, that's soda pop. This is a drink for a man.
Chekhov: Scotch?
Scotty: Aye.
Chekhov: It was invented by a little old lady from Leningrad.

And then there's this:

When a gang of super beings who?ve taken human form hijack the Enterprise, Kirk decides to undo them by appealing to their new-found human sensations. Kirk goes for the seduction (natch), McCoy employs his powers of irritation and Scotty brings into play his own special strength?he tries to drink one of them under the table.

"Lad, you're gonna need something to wash that down with,? Scotty says, strolling over to where the alien Tomar eats. ?Have you ever tried any Saurian brandy?" Tomar shakes his head no and they repair to Scotty?s quarters for an interspecies drink-off. They drink every bottle of brandy Scotty has on hand, which is saying something because Scotty was apparently stocked up for a very long drought. Tomar is hanging in there like an Irish uncle and Scotty decides it?s time to go for the big guns, dragging out his treasured bottle of Ganymede Scotch. Talk about self-sacrifice. Tomar inquires, "What is it?" All Scotty can squeeze out is, ?Well, it's . . . um . . . it's green." (Data would repeat the exact same line when he produced the bottle in the aforementioned encounter with Scotty.)

They tuck into the scotch and just before they polish it off Tomar takes a dive. Scotty, his job done, takes a little nap himself seconds later. Humans: 1 Super Aliens: 0.

Well, maybe that doesn't prove anything. I don't think there is such a thing as Ganymede Scotch, but I've got a bottle of 15 year old Laphroaig that will take a hit for Mr. Doohan tonight.

Linked to the Beltway Traffic Jam.

Posted by Peter at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well now, where were we. Oh, right.

Being now a bit over 50 years and one week old, I need to wrap up my birthday story. I can't do it justice, which is part of the reason for why it's taken so long to finish this.

I always loved the fact that within a few weeks of the end of the school year I'd have a birthday. To me, nothing beat not having to go to school on your birthday. So I take the day off if I can, and I could on the first. Friday morning, my housemates C&K sat me down around mid-day and gave me some very nice gifts -- mostly grilling stuff like cookbooks and some sweet suede gloves for handling hot stuff, and a rotisserie to boot. Considering they get to eat what I cook, it was a smart call on their part. ;> But then I was asked to close my eyes and they made a sort of joke about whether the last gift would be a cat to join the newest member of the family, something that I'd strongly hinted asserted was not on my list.

I was stunned when they revealed my gift -- they presented me with my 1966 Schwinn Varsity 10 speed bike, which had languished untended in a succession of dusty basements for 25 years, but now fully restored and ready to ride. Wow! I had tears in my eyes. It was all cleaned up with new wheels and rubber, new cables and brake pads, but the derailleur, brakes, pedals, chain, seat, etc. were all the original. Wow again!

Back then (in '66) my brother Mike sublet part of his paper route to me -- I was too young to be a paper carrier directly -- and I needed a better bike to ride the hills, etc. But buying a 10 speed adult bike was not what 11 year olds did much, and I have to say it's one of the best consumer decisions I ever made. It's the last bike I ever bought, and it's a year and a half shy of 40 years ago that I bought it. Cost in 1966? $69.95 plus 3% sales tax, bringing the total to $72.05. I paid for it with money from the route, and I'm guessing it was 4 or 5 years later before I spent that much money on anything else. I put a couple of thousand miles on the bike before I got my drivers license at 17. No, it's not exactly my Rosebud, but man, it's sweet. The only downside is that we had to leave within the hour to drive up to C's parent's house in Westchester County, NY (about 2.5 hours away). Our bike rack won't fit my car, and the car the rack fits doesn't have A/C. Sigh.

I expected to spend the weekend of the 4th with her parents, who are also my very good friends. They have a great old home, part of it dating to the Revolution, and C's sister and two of her four kids would be there too -- a picnic/party was planned with the parent's "tennis group", a bunch of their friends I've met numerous times before -- on Saturday afternoon, poolside. I helped them get ready for the crowd a bit (which of course included tapping the keg), and offered to cook the beef tenderloin on their grill when I heard the blasphemy that they were planning on putting it in the oven. I was preparing the beef when the wheels fell off my concept of the party and the day. First, my sister-in-law poked her head around the kitchen door -- then my older brother Mike, then two nephews and my younger brother Rob, who travelled 5+ hours to be there. Uh-oh.

To make a too long story short, I was SURPRISED! And for the next two hours, at 15-20 minute intervals, and in no particular order, a dozen plus friends from NY showed up, plus my sister Kathy and her two kids, and finally, my college roomate Glenn and spouse arrived from Fairfax, VA(!) only to be shortlty joined by my good friend from work, Steve and his oft-mentioned wife who I'd never had the chance to meet. I was flabbergasted. As they say, a good time was had by all -- the food was great (thanks to Rob taking over the grilling chores) but the company was better.

It would be enough, I suppose, to be flattered by seeing so many travel so far to celebrate my 50th. But what really really made the day for me was this -- so many of these folks had never met each other before, and to a one, each of them have told me since how much they enjoyed the others -- how wonderful C's parents were -- how nice it was to finally meet the family they'd previously only heard of from me -- what great friends I have in Glenn and Steve, and on and on.

We drank and drunk, and somehow I avoided being tossed in the pool although I made sure the digital camera stayed out of my pocket just in case. But what a wonderful day. And thanks to digital photography I've got probably close to 200 pics of it, instead of a few dozen, not counting the video clips.

In The End it's said, the love you take is equal to the love you make. Well maybe so, but at this point in my life, I've gotta wonder if there isn't a serious problem with the count.

Posted by Peter at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't know how this will play out, but Gov. Rendell in PA is making a similar claim with respect to the 111th Fighter Wing stationed at Willow Grove NAS.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich put the Pentagon on formal notice Monday that he will not approve its proposed move of F-16 fighter aircraft from the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield to Indiana.

In a letter sent to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the governor argued that under federal law if he does not consent to the realignment, the change can not legally be made.

Via Brian Noggle through Instapundit.

Posted by Peter at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was something sublime about being a Steelers fan in the 1970's. But this is ridiculous.

Posted by Peter at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Arrived home today around 1:00, exhausted from a wonderful weekend, and with the Herculean task ahead of me to thank my dearest friends and family for the Surprise(!) Birthday Party thrown in my honor on Saturday. But we're still in net-limbo here -- Comcast was out twice last week and my housemate C has done the good and hard job of pushing our complaints through and up the ladder of their support system. More visits and tests to follow this week but who knows when it will really be fixed.

So when this get's posted, I don't know, but there will be more to follow as soon as our connectivity stabilizes. And, as soon as I wake up from my nap.

Posted by Peter at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is my 50th birthday. Or to euphemize, it's the 21st anniversary of my 29th birthday.

Happy birthday to me
Now allow me this plea
Don't send anymore junk mail
From the A-A-R-P

Eh hem. Birthdays with an "0" on the end of them, from 30 through 60 at least, tend to get a lot of attention. "What's it feel like to be old?" -- you know, stuff like that. Once we reach 70 and beyond, I think everyone's just greatful you're not dead and that stuff stops. My response to those questions is always the same: I'd rather be alive and 50 than dead at a younger age. The way I see it, those are the two choices, right?

Last week, for reasons that had nothing to do with the birthday then on it's way, my mood went from bad to foul to worse, and the result (among other things) was no blogging. I'm looking to recharge over the long weekend and when I get back from a short trip, I'll maybe even have something to say about this.

Posted by Peter at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)