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Monthly Archives: September 2008

First Presidential Debate Reaction

28-Sep-08

http://cathedral-lonavala.org/dscn0419/        I will confess that I enjoyed listening to the debate – I found both men refreshingly intelligent.  McCain oozed competence and experience, in a way I found impressive (he’s been to Waziristan?!), and even surprising, after how intellectually dishonest his campaign has been.  In fact, in all, I think McCain “won” – he sounded […]

The Strange Recurrence of Failure

28-Sep-08

Qoryooley             The desire for success is one of those traits that seem natural enough to a human being, and I have been convinced that this desire is laudable in myself because I have baptized it, by defining success as service to others.             And yet I find in my life a continual thwarting of it, […]

A New Statistic: Secondary Slugging Percentage

28-Sep-08

            Whenever I tell someone about my idea for a new baseball statistic, the answer is pretty much the same: it’s not possible.  Every statistic that could possibly be gathered and compiled already is.  And yet there is a very useful statistic which, in fact, is not gathered, not by ESPN, not by the Elias […]

Galilaean Idol

28-Sep-08

Galilaean Idol: The Search for the Mother of God               In 5 B.C., in accordance with the long-range plan, the chief executive officer of heaven, God, convened a meeting of heaven’s board of trustees.              “As you know, gentleangels,” God said, “we’re running out of years before Christ, and it’s time to set in […]

Put Strategy Into Playoff Matchups

24-Sep-08

Several people have complained about how the wildcard has diminished the importance of baseball’s regular season. More often than not, at least one wildcard team has made it to the World Series, often doing better than the team that beat them out for the division title.  Given one badly timed three-game losing streak (or even […]

Magna Graecia

24-Sep-08

Steinbeck in Salinas.

24-Sep-08

Upon a wall in the National Steinbeck Center is a map of the Salinas valley, over which are inscribed the following words of the author: “… the valley I have known and never loved.”  When presented thus with this map, the first thing that strikes you is the simple fact that Steinbeck did, in fact, […]