Brave[s]heart

Following up on a previous news item...

The two rock-solid leaders on the 2008 Atlanta Braves were shipped off together to DisabledLand today in a symbolic move intended to quelch any remaining hope within the hearts of Braves fans that their team might pull off a late-season comeback. To drive home the point, GM Frank Wren cracked a genuine Native American tomahawk over his knee, then impaled a geniune Native American on the splintered remains, all the while muttering something about "rebuilding".

In the history of baseball, has there ever been a more depressing roster move than "Chipper and Hudson to the DL, making room to call up Morton & Sammons"?

news in the information age

About 12 hours ago, a Qantas 747-400 lost cabin pressure over the Pacific Ocean and successfully diverted to Manila.

Already, BBC has video footage shot by a passenger during the emergency. People take for granted that news is instant in the information age. But every once in a while, isn't it amazing to step back and think, wow?

Now, if we can just remind people that evaluating the cause of such an incident isn't as instantaneous as reporting it.

You really CAN get anything on eBay!

You know those annoying sponsor links that you sometimes find in the middle of a legitimate news article on the web? They're usually double-underlined, and provided by one of several advertising companies that offer keyword-linking. When you mouse (cursor) over them, you sometimes get a little pop-up preview of where the link will take you.

Well, below is a screenshot of one that I came across this morning on the Jerusalem Post website. I guess you really can get just about anything on eBay.

Waxing Poetic, Part II

"To buy or sell?" Frank Wren was perplexed.
At home they could win; on the road they were vexed.
Then in came the Nats
And took some big hacks,
I guess this is adios, Tex.

Waxing Poetic, Part I

I haven't written much of late
My readers' appetites to sate,
So here's a new way:
A lim'rick each day,
'Less I'm too lazy to create.

The Boy didn't sleep much last night,
Making Mom & Dad's rest also slight,
Though I shouldn't shirk,
It's a quiet day at work,
A quick office nap would seem so right.

Thanks

Thanks.
Thanks.

I think it takes me approximately one second to type that word. Sometimes I change it up in written communication - the occasional Thank You or Muchas Gracias or Much Obliged.

All of this takes a minuscule amount of time and energy.

Why, then, do so many people include "Thanks" in their standard email footer? It certainly doesn't feel so genuine, especially when the footer is in a different font/size/color from the actual written email. Rest assured, every time you see the following at the end of an email from me, I typed it just for you.

Thanks.

Flipper

McCain was once cool.

There was a time that John McCain would've had a chance at getting my vote. Back in the "agents of intolerance" days, when he had the guts to stand up to the Christian Right's take-over of the Republican Party.

Of course, since that time he's had his spine removed, making it easier to bend over backwards to kiss the butts of the likes of Pat Robertson.

However, I came across one additional proof point that McCain was once, dare I say it, cool. When he was held and tortured by the Viet Cong, they demanded the names of his squadron-mates. Giving in under what he humbly calls "physical pressures that were put on me", he finally provided them with some names... of the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line.

[via Deadspin]

Seth Godin: Is it worthy?

Seth Godin is a marketing guru and the founder of Squidoo.com. He also writes a marketing blog, one of the world's most-read blogs.

Today's post is excellent and extends will beyond product development and product marketing - it's something that anyone could benefit from reading.
Read it here.

Excerpt:

Is cutting corners to make a buck appropriate when you consider what you could have done? What would someone with a bigger vision have done instead?

Is being negative or bitter or selfish within reason in face of how extraordinarily lucky we were to have been been born here and born now?

I take so much for granted. Perhaps you do as well. To be here, in this moment, with these resources. To have not just our health but the knowledge and the tools and the infrastructure. What a waste.

Hypermiling

If you aren't familiar with the subject of this post, it's a new technique that green and/or frugal drivers are employing to extend their fuel economy. Examples include very gentle acceleration, moderate highway speeds (wind resistance decreases fuel economy dramatically above 60mph or so), and more extreme measures such as drafting behind trucks or shutting off the engine whenever conditions permit coasting.

I confess, I've engaged in a sort of novice hypermiling from time to time. I've intentionally reduced the briskness with which I pull away from a stop. I've even been known to occasionally shut off the engine when coasting up to a stoplight - but only when it's a long-cycle stoplight that I'm familiar with, and traffic is light, and the weather is conducive to sitting a minute or two without windshield wipers, heat, or A/C. I don't encourage (or perform) this on a frequent basis - it really takes a toll on your alternator and starter if you stop-and-start your car dozens of times per day. (Hybrids, on the other hand, are designed with a more durable starter motor and are programmed to shut off the internal combustion engine whenever it's not in use.)

How far has hypermiling gone? Well, that bastion of energy conservationism, the tree-hugging organization known as NASCAR has embraced it. Or at least, they've awkwardly patted each other on the back.

For years, drafting behind another car has been standard practice in NASCAR, as you might remember Tom Cruise depicting on the thigh of his ex-wife in Days of Thunder. But last weekend, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway by making his gas tank last an unheard-of 55 laps, while all of his competitors pitted to take on more fuel. That's 110 miles on the standard NASCAR tank of 17.75 gallons, or a little better than 6mpg. Not exactly a Civic Hybrid, but pretty good for an 850hp V-8.

And how did he do it? Extreme hypermiling, of course:

[Crew Chief Tony] Eury told Earnhardt to shut the engine off and coast whenever he could under the caution flag in a desperate effort to save more gas.

The misery of flying

As if there weren't enough hassles associated with flying commercial airlines these days, United and American have found perhaps the single most efficient way to increase the misery of flying exponentially.

You've probably heard by now that both airlines will soon begin charging $15 to check a single bag. (And $40, total, to check two.) Sure, it hurts to be nickel-and-dimed for such goofy things, after they've taken away pretty much everything but window shades over the past few years. But frankly, the $15 isn't what I have a problem with.

My issue is how severely this policy will impact the flying experience. What will be the #1 result of this? Passengers trying to carry-on everything they own. What does this mean for average Joe Traveler?

• Slower lines at security, as more luggage needs to get screened
• Slower boarding at the gate, as everyone tries to find a nook for their 40lb suitcases
• A less comfortable flight, since you'll doubtless need to store your own carry-on items in the measly footspace under the seat in front of you once all the overheads are overloaded
• More flight delays due to the plethora of carry-on bags that need storage, and likely about half a plethora that need to be gate-checked

Will they charge for bags that get gate-checked? If not, seems like an obvious loophole. And if they do charge for those, what's it going to do to departure times if they have to collect $15 from dozens of passengers on every flight?

For these reasons, I will avoid American & United like the plague in my own future travels. It may seem illogical to pay $100 more for a ticket on an airline to save a $15 fee - but the difference, in my mind, will be more-than-made-up-for by the savings in hassles and delays outlined above.

If these fees are AA's & UAL's strategies for survival, maybe it's indeed time for some of the legacy carriers to disappear. I, for one, won't miss them.

New ballpark, please

In my lifetime, I've seen baseball games at eleven major league ballparks.

• Atlanta Fulton County Stadium
• Turner Field
• Fenway Park
• Yankee Stadium
• Oriole Park at Camden Yards
• Wrigley Field
• "New Comiskey" Park (officially US Cellular Field)
• Safeco Field
• RFK Stadium
• Nationals Park
• Busch Stadium (the new one)

Two of those are no longer used by MLB teams, RFK and Atlanta Fulton County. Next year, Yankee Stadium will be decommissioned, too. In fact, next season, the following will represent the distribution of major league ballparks by age:

1910's: 2 (Fenway, Wrigley)
1960's: 3 (Dodgers, Angels, Oakland - representing the rise of California baseball in that decade; note that Oakland plans to move into a new stadium in Fremont by 2012)
1970's: 1 (Kansas City)
1980's: 3 (Twins, Marlins, Blue Jays - the former two with new stadiums in the works to open in 2010-2011)
1990's and beyond: 19 (all the rest)

Essentially, by 2012, no baseball teams will play in a concrete bowl, cookie-cutter multi-purpose stadium. At that point, the distribution will be even further skewed, with only 6 teams playing in stadiums that predate 1990. Has the rash of new stadiums been worth it? There's certainly a strong argument to be made that it's revitalized the sport and contributed to urban renewal in many cities. On the flip side, the construction of all new MLB stadiums built since 1990 (including Tampa's multi-purpose stadium and Atlanta's Olympic stadium, but not including the ballparks currently in the works or Toronto's $570 Million SkyDome, which opened in 1989) have cost a little over $5.5 Billion.

It's a false comparison since the dollars are not inflation-adjusted, but just for kicks: Fenway (1912) and Wrigley (1914) combined were built for around $670,000.

My dream car.

I admit, I've always had a thing for Porsche 914/916's. They're a dorky pseudo-sports car built in the early 70's by Volkswagen. Only in the US was it sold as a Porsche - the rest of the world knew this car as only a VW.

There's something about the low-slung, tidy lines and tiny footprint that just says "street-legal go-cart". I've lusted for a 914 for years, and only self-restraint has prevented me from shelling out a pretty modest amount of cash for one. (One can be had in decent running condition for less than $5000.)

Of course, the problem with a car such as this isn't the purchase price; it's the maintenance costs. 914s are notorious for rust, especially on and around the battery tray. In addition, the mid-engine layout makes it difficult and expensive to do any significant engine work. The engine is located very low, just behind the seats - there are storage trunks both fore and aft, with only a small hatch granting access to the top of the engine for things like adding oil.

I'm happy to report that someone -- MIT engineers, no less -- had the vision to complete the perfect Porsche 914. They removed all the internal combustion bits, and converted this 914 to be 100% electric.
After a five hour charge from a standard wall-socket, this electric 914 would have a range of about 130 miles and a top speed of around 100mph - the latter probably as good or better than the original boxer-4 engine.

I think I'd have a hard time convincing MIT to gift this car to me, and being one-of-a-kind, I doubt it'll show up on eBay anytime soon. But if you, dear reader, have any connections at MIT, feel free to submit my name when they eventually look to dispossess this fine automobile.