My Lamppost

It’s good news whenever anyone tells you they’re having a baby - especially as winter approaches. As we get the snow suits out of the closet, watch the leaves turn to gold, red and orange then drop to their original birthplace and cut that last knot of wood, it’s nice to know that re-birth, like spring, is just a few short weeks away.

To my friend Kevin, a poem from Bernie Taupin that was made famous when put to music by Elton John:

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Peering out of tiny eyes
The grubby hands that gripped the rail
Wiped the window clean of frost
As the morning air laid on the latch

A whistle awakened someone there
Next door to the nursery just down the hall
A strange new sound you never heard before
A strange new sound that makes boys explore

Tread neat so small those little feet
Amid the morning his small heart beats
So much excitement yesterday
That must be rewarded must be displayed

Large hands lift him through the air
Excited eyes contain him there
The eyes of those he loves and knows
But what’s this extra bed just here

His puzzled head tipped to one side
Amazement swims in those bright green eyes
Glancing down upon this thing
That make strange sounds, strange sounds that sing

In those silent happy seconds
That surround the sound of this event
A parent smile is made in moments
They have made for you a friend

And all you ever learned from them
Until you grew much older
Did not compare with when they said
This is your brand new brother
This is your brand new brother
This is your brand new brother

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2004 General Presidential Results

Interesting Election Map depicting Bush’s win over Al Gore. I’m bipartisan and a moderate - didnt vote for either of them - thought this to be an interesting comment.

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A correspondence between father and son

Hello Family:
Time for Baseball Trivia:

1. Regarding the Red Sox inability to beat the Yankees in
pennant races for so many years, do you believe that there really was a curse?

2. Assuming that there was a curse (for discussion purposes) do you
feel that the curse is now over or do you feel that the curse will not
be over until the Red Sox win a World Series?

P.S. Yesterday and in today’s Boston Globe, Dan Shaughennesy
wrote that the curse is still there until the Red Sox won the World Series.

What do you think?

signed,
Babe Ruth
Ted Williams
Joe DiMaggio

1. No and Yes. Technically there was never a curse
but the mindset of Redsox nation (incl players)produced an
attitude that went a long way in contributing to past failures.

(Compare the dour and solemn look of Yaz vs. the love
and confidence exuded by Ortiz)

I think Halberstam compared the Sox to the New
England culture saying that a life was not complete without a
fair share of struggle, sacrifice, suffering, some success, some misfortune. Success was good but too
much would spoil the soul, i.e., World Series win, financial independence.

His implication, I think, was that alot of our misfortune is (was) self-induced … willingly,
both in our culture and on the field of play, and that, somehow, life is ok if the Red Sox fail in the
end. We, as Puritans of the Northeast, get to remain
grounded while our cousins to the South exult in
greed and gluttony, all attributes anathema to
God-fearing peoples.

On the other hand, the Yankees believe they deserve to
be champions and act like they are champions. It’s
their mindset and the mindset of New York. They are
not embarrassed with winning and dont believe that
life has to be a struggle.

Proof: since 1918, Yankees have won 26 championships.
Red Sox have won none. (well, one now but none when this correspondence took place)

2. The curse is over when Red Sox nation accepts
winning the World Series without guilt. I think
the Red Sox need to win the world series which will
enable all of New England to re-evaluate itself. Is it a
curse to lose? Or is it a curse to win? Or is it neither?

Love, Me

Thank you for a well thought out explanation. Quite logical.
It seems to bear out how gullible the “flock” is when a few keep repeating the same message.

My question is: Who had the power or touch to cast
the “curse”? As you say, it was based on a mindset
imposed by a few as well as the fans themselves.

I remind myself of one of my football coaches in
high school who told the players: “In any given
game, the team or individual who wants the win most
will prevail” In other words, are you willing to pay
the price to prevail?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Amore, Papa

I think I have a couple of answers for you:

1. As you said, the flock mentality - most of society
wishes to follow and will allow others to create
truths for them.

If the Times or Globe states it, it must have
credence.

If a journalist writes it, it must be true.

If someone says there’s a curse, then most will
believe it. It’s an excuse for thinking we can’t
control destiny and, after time, becomes convenient
and ingrained. The excuse becomes thought which
becomes energy which translates to action. The action
is borne from the thought.

2. If we believe as a society that we are borne into
sacrifice, challenge and suffering then it would be
easy to accept a curse. Again, fatalism is convenient.

If you ask Jeter why the Yankees lost, he will most
likely answer that his team was not good enough THIS
year. He will not blame the Yankee plight on bad luck,
umpiring (he’d better not!) or curse reversal. This is
why he is a winner and will remain one.

As you said, he knows that to win requires competence
and will, not voodoo.

Love you.

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I have a great birthday gift idea for your kid’s next birthday party. My sister and her husband hired a Mad Scientist here in Los Angeles and he, surprisingly, kept the attention of 20 kids for 2 hours on a hot sunny California afternoon.

At most birthday parties, my sister rents a giant waterslide that is perfect for the summer weather and is a constant joy for both kids and parents. The kids love the slide because they keep wet and bond with each other for hours. The parents love it because their kids expend hours of energy and are easy to get to sleep at night. And the parents get to sit in the shade, talk, eat and sip sodas.

That’s why it was so surprising that the Mad Scientist – www.madscience.org - was able to keep the kids interest. There was no water (other than the water used for his experiments – and the kids didn’t really move around a lot. They sat, instead, wide-eyed for his experiments and jokes, willingly for a long time. Note: they did have a few small pools to get the lids a bit of exercise and lots of food.

The Mad Scientist began with a few jokes and as he got into his experiments explained the details of each. He performed experiments with dry ice (creating fog), with an egg and a beaker glass (using oxygen and lack of oxygen to encourage an egg through a small opening) and taught the kids to make slime (yup, the same kind they used in Ghostbusters (www.fast-rewind.com/ghostbust.htm). The Mad Scientist was funny, told great jokes and even tried his hand as a ventriloquist with Eggbert (the Mad Scientist is, of course, bald himself), the infamous hardboiled egg, as his partner. Each had the kids laughing for two solid hours.

His finale was a double rocket launch where the remains fell back to earth with the help of a parachute.

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