I keep looking around for things post to my page and then realize that I should say stuff with my own words, make my own stories, basicly become a source, not just a collection of what other’s peoples thoughts. Where should I start?

I guess I could refer to a comment that a friend of mine, Dave A., running around the “wonderful” city of Washington, DC, working for AARP, has pondered recently, The elevator conundrum.

Dave had just stepped into an elevator that was occupied by two women in the far corners of the elevator. He chooses to stand in the middle front of the elevator. I’m assuming he’s equidistant from both ladies. His conundrum is should he step off first and buck gentlemanly conduct, letting ladies off first, or shrink to the back wall and let them out. Personally, I would have moved to one of the other corners on the front wall. Corner filling of elevators is quite popular, no one whats to occupy that center space.

I’ve actually had a little fun thinking about what kinds of indepth “research” one could do on the psychological impact of elevators on human behavior. That’s what you get for working for Missouri’s largest public research institutions. One of the things I consider was movement before and after the doors closed. If Dave had gotten onto the elevator and immediatly gone to the back, it would have been preceived as acceptable. However, if he’d waited for the doors to close and then moved, would that have been perceived acceptable. Would the reactions change if the sex of the persons involved also changed? I believe it would. Also some to consider is that the number of people in the elevator affects accepable intrusion into personal space.

Consider the human need for personal space.

“Americans have a pattern that discourages physical contact, except in moments of intimacy. When we ride on a subway or crowded elevator we will “hold ourselves in”, having been taught from early childhood to avoid bodily contact with strangers. ”

“Behavioral study indicates that individuals perceive a distance that is appropriate for different types of messages; they also establish a comfortable distance for personal interaction and nonverbally define this as their personal space. Research supports the hypothesis that the violation of this personal space can have serious adverse effects on communication. Thus, if an individual is to be mutually satisfied in a communication encounter, his/her personal space must be respected. Should an intruder invade this personal space while also trespassing within territorial boundaries he placed himself in double jeopardy and must compensate for the other’s increased anxiety. ”

We haven’t even gotten into the minute body language keys that people give in designating who will get off the elevator first. I’ve observed what happens when there are only two people on the elevator and they are getting off on the same floor. The one that makes the first movements right before the door opens will usually be the one that gets off the elevator first. If both are still, both will either stand still as the door opens waiting for the door to open or both will start towards the door.

In Dave’s conundrum case there was a third option that wasn’t taken into consideration, this is an incident that I’ve witnessed. He could have stepped to the side of the elevator and indicated with slight hand or head movement that the ladies should proceed him. Who knows what the ladies would have done, it really depends on their generation? They might have thought “what a nice boy”, they might have blushed, thanked him, giggled and run off the elevator or they might have just thanked him or they could have said “thanks, but you can go ahead.”

I can’t believe it, at last! Though it is only a Sunday show, I’m excited that the Asylum Street Spankers will be making a pit stop in Columbia, MO at Mojo’s on the 13th of April at 7:00 pm!! I’ve been a fan for about 5 years, as far as I know they’ve only appeared one other time here in Columbia, sometime last year for a fund raising event for the continuted restoration of the Missouri Theatre. They provided the soundtrack for a few silent films. I had a blast because I knew most of the words to the instrumental pieces they played, which made some of the music choices funny.

The Origins of Mardi Gras

Though New Orleans is the city most commonly associated with the Mardi Gras celebration in America, many historians believe that the festival actually originated in nearby Mobile, Alabama.

The celebration, which can be dated back to 1703 in Mobile, was originally called Boef Gras (Fat Beef). The name changed to “Fat Tuesday” as it became a widely known festival in the 1830s and 1840s.

The date of Mardi Gras depends on the date of Easter. Mardi Gras takes place the day before Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40-day season of Lent before Easter. “Fat Tuesday” is the last day to celebrate before the season of discipline and contemplation that leads up to Easter Sunday.

This year, Mardi Gras will be celebrated on March 4.

Source: www.mobilemardigras.com

Learning how to navigate the wonderful world of templates and Cascading Style Sheets.

It snowed last night, I called my mom to get her to stop the snow. I think it might have helped a little bit.

I used to think that pure enjoyment of snow was the indication of the division of childhood from adulthood. When I was little it seemed that most, if not all, adults hated snow and all the kids loved it. This childish love of snow could have been born from the fact that we would often be excused from school to indulge in our enjoyment of this cold, wet and white fluffy stuff. We had the ability to spend the whole day, tumbling down white icy hills at dizzying speed on sheets of plastic without a care in the world. There were no thoughts of wet clothes, icy roads or broken bones that seemed to plague adults. However, if this child’s dream is a reality than I’m not yet an adult. I still want to go sledding, make a snowman or snowangels and go skiing. ah such is life. Now I just have to find someone to drag along with me, it just seems there’s too many serious adults in this town. 🙂

I love chocolate truffles.

oh, it’s so sad when you miss those special events. I just recently missed one… and I was so looking forward to it. I was going to go out and buy a full tank of gas for the occasion… I guess I still need to do that though.
My little red Camry just crossed the 150,000 marker on the odometer, but I didn’t notice it until 33 miles later. How could I have missed that?! I think they should rig up some system that plays a little victory song if you’re car makes it to 150,000 and then it plays again at 200,000!! After that it plays every 10,000 miles or so. I can still remember most of those road trips through Iowa, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Tenn., Kentucky, Illinois, Louisanna, Mississippi… To mark the occassion I’ve offically dubbed the car “Baby Betty” (Lil’ BB) and maybe I’ll give her a bath and a wax this weekend, if it’s warm enough outside.

Nathan posted a important note about an .htaccess file for Movable Type users. He suggests creating a file called .htaccess with a few lines of code to prevent files not ending in cgi from being downloaded.

Upload the file to your cgi-bin and then modify with “chmod 644 .htaccess”.

Sounds like fun.. 🙂 but it works

Senator Robert C. Byrd’s remarks before the Senate during the October 2002 debate of the Senate Joint Resolution 46. The resolution that would authorize the President to use whatever force he deems necessary in Iraq or elsewhere.

“It redefines the nature of defense, and reinterprets the Constitution to suit the will of the Executive Branch. It would give the President blanket authority to launch a unilateral preemptive attack on a sovereign nation that is perceived to be a threat to the United States. This is an unprecedented and unfounded interpretation of the President’s authority under the Constitution, not to mention the fact that it stands the charter of the United Nations on its head.

Representative Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to William H. Herndon, stated: “Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose – – and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose. If, to-day, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, ‘I see no probability of the British invading us’ but he will say to you ‘be silent; I see it, if you don’t.’

“The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.”

If he could speak to us today, what would Lincoln say of the Bush doctrine concerning preemptive strikes?

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war and to call forth the militia “to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” Nowhere in the Constitution is it written that the President has the authority to call forth the militia to preempt a perceived threat. And yet, the resolution before the Senate avers that the President “has authority under the Constitution to take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States, as Congress recognized in the joint resolution on Authorization for Use of Miliary Force” following the September 11 terrorist attack. What a cynical twisting of words! The reality is that Congress, exercising the authority granted to it under the Constitution, granted the President specific and limited authority to use force against the perpetrators of the September 11 attack. Nowhere was there an implied recognition of inherent authority under the Constitution to “deter and prevent” future acts of terrorism.

No one supports Saddam Hussein. If he were to disappear tomorrow, no one would shed a tear around the world. I would not. My handkerchief would remain dry. But the principle of one government deciding to eliminate another government, using force to do so, and taking that action in spite of world disapproval, is a very disquieting thing. I am concerned that it has the effect of destabilizing the world community of nations. I am concerned that it fosters a climate of suspicion and mistrust in U.S. relations with other nations. The United States is not a rogue nation, given to unilateral action in the face of worldwide opprobrium.

A U.S. invasion of Iraq that proved successful and which resulted in the overthrow of the government would not be a simple effort. The aftermath of that effort would require a long term occupation. The President has said that he would overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish a new government that would recognize all interest groups in Iraq. This would presumably include the Kurds to the north and the Shiite Muslims to the south. Because the entire military and security apparatus of Iraq would have to be replaced, the U.S. would have to provide interim security throughout the countryside. This kind of nation-building cannot be accomplished with the wave of a wand by some fairy godmother, even one with the full might and power of the world’s last remaining superpower behind her.

I urge restraint. President Bush gave the United Nations the opening to deal effectively with the threat posed by Iraq. The UN embraced his exhortation and is working to develop a new, tougher inspection regime with firm deadlines and swift and sure accountability. Let us be convinced that a reinvigorated inspection regime cannot work before we move to any next step, and let us if we must employ force, employ the most precise and limited use of force necessary to get the job done.

Let us guard against the perils of haste, lest the Senate fall prey to the dangers of taking action that is both blind and improvident.”

Read the full speech

What is Spirit of the Game? Describe it, what does it mean to you?

In the 9th edition of the Official Rules of Ultimate (see below quote), the UPA (Ultimate Players Association) let’s the individual player define “Spirit of the Game.” To many Ultimate Fan-atics this is the core idea of “Spirit” the individuals ability to self-govern the game.

I find that the hardest part about describing SOTG is that it’s not something you can easly pin down with words, everyone describes it differently. Could the core idea behind SOTG be a respect for the individual and self-government? Do you agree? Am I glossing over too much? and of course my opinion is subject to change.

~~Most Ultimate players care deeply about Spirit of the Game. The organizational challenge for the UPA – the Players’ Association – then, is to foster an environment where the challenge does not become, “to see what I can get away with”. Rather than dictate what Spirit of the Game is or should be, it is up to each player to do so for him or herself within the context of the teams he or she plays with and against.~~
UPA SOTG Webpage.

How to start a league down under style…

this is an article off of Australia’s Flying Disc Assoc. website…

How to make your own league
Piers Truter

Dave was fed up with driving up from the beaches to St Leonards to play frisbee. Actually it is probably more accurate to say that Dave was fed up with driving home at 11pm after being in the St Leonards Tavern. Regardless, instead of complaining, Dave went and started his own league in Manly.

Let me go on record as saying that Dave has done a fantastic job and the success of the new league is a testament to his determination and vision. Eight teams of 10-12 players, only a dozen of the players had ever played before. Each team has an experienced player to teach and lead them. The league plays on a Thursday night and now is generating men?s and women?s teams to play at Nationals. The finals of the league were held last night and there was a sizeable crowd to watch the game. One of the teams in the finals even pulled out a zone defence (to the consternation of the other team).

Having followed Dave?s efforts with interest, it seems to me that the actual process of starting a league and recruiting 100 new players is actually quite simple. If you are organised and you can get the assistance of a dozen mates (and you have the energy to see it through) you too could avoid the late night drive home from the frisbee pub.

You see what Dave did is this;
1) He went out and organized some fields with the local council.
2) He made some flyers and started handing them out at the ferry, on the bus, in the street, basically anywhere he could in Manly. He got his friends to help him hand them out.
3) He talked up the league to anybody he met while playing Sunday ultimate on the beach.
4) When council had a sports day he arranged to have frisbee as part of it right on the main beach in Manly.
5) Once he got the players to the oval with frisbees he ran some basic training, then put them in hat teams and had a mini league.
6) He cut a deal with the Fishos, so that they stayed open on a Thursday night to quench the thirst of the frisbee players. (This was genius).
7) At the end of the hat league, teams formed and a full on proper league started.

None of this was very complicated. All it needed was motivation and organisation. And let me say that the Manly league is the best fun league in Sydney. So hats off to Big Dave and if you find yourself grumbling on Frisbee night because your drive home is so long, talk to Dave, follow the recipe and you could be drinking at your local watering hole in no time.