28 Saturday Jan 2012
After reading the recent MillersTime post of Sally Jenkins’ articles on Joe Paterno, friend and Penn State grad David Stang wrote a letter to Sally.
No reply from Sally, but if you have one or thoughts about what Dave wrote, please feel free to add your thoughts in the Comments’ section.
David’s letter:
25 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Go Sox
The Yankee I always feared the most made it official yesterday as he announced his retirement.
It wasn’t only that bloop single off Pedro in the 2003 that made me ‘hate’ him, tho that is still one of the more painful examples of what he could do to the Sox.
Jorge didn’t have as much talent as Derek, Mo, or ______ (put in any one you choose). You always (almost) knew what Mo would do to you in the 9th. And you knew that Jeter would always get on base when he needed to. You didn’t know how Jorge would beat you, but too often he did something to hurt you.
He had grit. Had he been on the Sox, he would have been one of the “Dirt Dogs.”
I can’t think of any better compliment to make about a ball player.
If you didn’t see his retirement announcement in its entirety yesterday, check it out below.
Tek, are you are there?
23 Monday Jan 2012
Posted in Go Sox
WaPo photo
Virtually every news source has articles about the death of Joe Paterno and opinion pieces about his legacy, about how he will be remembered, and, particularly, about how his handling of the Sandusky outrage has or has not affected how he will be judged.
Paterno only gave one reporter, Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, an interview. He spoke to her from his house and his bedroom over a two-day period just before he died.
If you want to see what Paterno himself said, the two Jenkins’ articles (one came out just before he died and then second one came out today) are linked to below.”
If you only have time for one of them, perhaps read the one that was published today.
Jan. 23rd article: After a life of wins and losses, others will judge Paterno’s legacy.
Jan. 14th article: Joe Paterno’s last interview.
21 Saturday Jan 2012
Posted in The Outer Loop
Bill Moyers is back.
He is two weeks into his new show, Moyers & Company, and it is quite similar to his previous shows. He takes one or two guests for an hour and let’s them discuss what is happening in our society, in our system of government and politics.
I’ve embedded his second show below. It’s 56.47 minutes in length. He lets his guests (David Stockman and Gretchen Morgenson) talk. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are spared, as the show lays out how we have arrived at a system that is not so much broken as it is ‘fixed.’
If you’ve got the time and are interested in trying to understand what is happening in our political and governmental system, click on the link below. (Disclaimer: I didn’t know, until I watched it, that at the very end he suggests folks go to an interview with Ellen Miller).
20 Friday Jan 2012
Posted in Family and Friends, Go Sox
We’ve been doing some renovation in our house, and although I’m not sure exactly how it relates, my wife got me to clean out my closet area.
Don’t tell her the following:
18 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in The Outer Loop
If you spend much time at all on the Internet, you no doubt have seen something about the controversy over these two bills that are in Congress.
Proponents of SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) say the legislation is needed to preserve copyright infringement and to stop illegal downloading and other forms of web piracy.
Opponents say these laws, if enacted, could end the Internet as we know it.
Hyperbole?
18 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Family and Friends
The Rialto. The Bellevue. The National. The Orpheum. Keith’s. The Savoy. The Opera House. The Paramount. The Metropolitan.
If you grew up in Boston, and depending upon your age, then these names probably mean something to you.
17 Tuesday Jan 2012
Posted in Family and Friends
11 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in The Outer Loop
I know it’s pretty much ‘accepted wisdom’ that the last year has not been a particularly good one for our country. As is too often the case, what seems to grab media (broadly defined) attention tends to be more problem oriented, more negative stories than positive ones.
But I came across the following blog post where writer Andrew Sullivan steps back a bit and sees 2011 in a much more positive light.
Check it out, including the second YouTube link, and see what you think.
Comments, respectfully made, are always welcome.
10 Tuesday Jan 2012
Posted in Family and Friends
I returned Sunday night from a weekend in Las Vegas with my daughter Elizabeth. And what a wonderful weekend it was –- Cirque du Soleil, Garth Brooks, World Class Driving, white truffles, hours and hours of black jack, the sports book, spas, wonderful dining, and an ending too good to be true?
But first, two stories, one from more than 50 years ago and the second from 37 years ago.
04 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in The Outer Loop
Well now that 122,138 Iowans have settled everything (or not?), now that we have been told why winning is losing (or is it losing is winning?), and now that all the pundits have told us why they were really right (or not?), we can sit back and wait for the next round, NH in a week, then SC two days later (or not?).
In the meantime, here is an article that doesn’t pretend to know everything but points to three issues that “could affect the outcome of the election, even though they have nothing to do with the campaigns themselves.”
Katrina Vanden Heuvel, writing in the Washington Post yesterday pointed to these three factors as being key to understanding this campaign and this election and “to seeing just how far we have to go to reclaim a democracy that is driven by the people themselves.”
Click Here to read the entire, short article.
04 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Go Sox
MillersTime/GoSox contest contributors are not doing so well so far.
Of the 35 predictions of what would take place during the Hot Stove league, 19 have already proven not to be true, 11 have yet to be decided, and only five have come true.
Here’s where we are so far:
03 Tuesday Jan 2012
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
A friend recently asked what films I would put in my top ten for 2011.
Generally, I tend to resist doing top tens (tho I’m told it’s good for driving traffic to one’s site), but since I went back and reviewed my mini-reviews for this friend, here is the list and the links to the films I rated four-five stars in 2011. There’s probably not much difference between five and four and a half stars; the four stars are a notch below, however.:
31 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
First, much thanks to all of you who took the time and patience to recall the books you’ve enjoyed this year. There are 59 of us, almost evenly divided (31-28 in favor of the females), who sent in 272 titles and comments.
Second, please forgive my endless reminders, tho the results, I believe, may have been worth the nagging. (Late additions will be posted as they arrive, without any snarky comments from the editor.)
There is a rich diversity of titles, and some of the most intriguing are those that were only mentioned once. How, for instance, can one not pay attention to Dixon Butler’s “The most important book I’ve read in years,” or Bob Thurston’s “one of the most surprising, amazing books I’ve ever read…really worth tracking down and reading”?.
The breakdown in fiction/non-fiction favored fiction 55%-45%.
A few non-fiction titles kept popping up, particularly Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, Eric Larsen’s In the Garden of Beasts, Walter Issacson’s Steve Jobs, and Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
In fiction, Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, Julie Orringer’s Invisible Bridge, Helen Simonson’s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, and Kathryn Stockett’s The Help (a repeat from last year) were popular.
Folks are still reading the Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Triology and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. And Jo Nesbo appears to be the ‘go to’ writer for those looking for a replacement for Stieg Larsson.
I have starred (*) titles that occur more than one time in the list.
The list will take time to peruse, but I think it gives all of us suggestions worth considering for 2012.
Finally, just a reminder that this list is not meant to be ‘the best books of 2011,’ but rather what the title of this posting states – ‘The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2011.’
And, of course, I take responsibility for any inaccuracies or mistakes in the posting of the titles, authors, subject matter, etc. as MillersTime readers rarely make grammatical mistakes in their submissions.
Enjoy.
21 Wednesday Dec 2011
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
And goodnight gadgets everywhere.
