Back to the Future of Libya

Up until two weeks ago, the only thing I knew about Libya was that if you purchase plutonium from them, in exchange for making a bomb, you damn well better make the bomb, or they will find you.

God, I love "Back to the Future"

Today the situation in Libya is very real. Rebels are rebelling violently against Muammar Gaddafi. What remains of his supporters are killing the rebels.

Who are these rebels?

Wouldn't you like to know.

Somewhere lies a threat to America apparently, because our celebrity president authorized the soft-toss of over one hundred Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya. Those missiles cost over a million dollars each.

One Hundred Millions Dollars worth of weaponry? I call that a War.

But Obama hasn't declared anything except for the Final Four in his bracket (which looks stellar by the way...)

We are assuming that when we assist in overthrowing Gaddafi that we are going to approve of the power that replaces him.

How many wars until America's bloodlust is satisfied? How many countries can we intervene in at once?

I don't know the exact statistics but it's near 700 army bases, near 250,000 soldiers, spread out all over the world. Pointing guns at people, in their homeland and hoping, even expecting they will thank us for it.

Neo-military-colonialism. Awesome!

Somebody cue Lee Greenwood, I feel a song coming on...

The Power of Negativity

I've been thinking about The Power of Positive Thinking, by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.

I've never read it. But I know about it. We all know the basic premise, as well as what have unfortunately become throw-away quotes at this point:

"When life hands you lemons make lemonade"

"Tremendous things happens to the Believer"

"Joy increases as you give it and diminishes as you keep it for yourself"

"The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise then saved by criticism"

I also like his idea that we are not important and that the world will go on without us. It's calming. It's a positive idea.

"As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will opportunity."

A wonderful idea. I'd like to combine this with the idea that "Luck is the combination of preparation and opportunity" which I first discovered in Randy Pausch's book "The Last Lecture"

In math terms,

if

Enthusiasm = Opportunity (Peale)

and

Preparation + Opportunity = Luck (Pausch)

then

Enthusiasm + Preparation = LUCK (Cardoza via Peale & Pausch and math)

All you need to be Lucky is to first be excited and prepared. That's not as easy as bitching into a public forum, but it's not that hard either. You can do it.

When Conan O'Brien left the Tonight Show he had every reason to be angry, and the Top Shelf of public forums to use. He ended with this:

"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism - it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

Big Picture

Captain Ron is the father of a true Friend of mine. He has ties to motorcycle gangs with my uncle (Captain Joe) back in the 70's and was also the meanest king crab fisherman in Alaska for many years after that. He drives big rigs now.

When I was a kid and came to over to hang he would say, very matter-of-factly as I approached:

"Joe Joe was a man who thought he was a loner..."

A recent run-in with Captain Ron left me quite embarrassed. They were fixing his truck and we were catching up.

"Joe, what do you think about Libya?"

I knew the headlines and the skeleton of the story, but not enough to accurately comment on, or discuss it. I apologized that things were a little hectic on the home front these days, and that I'm a little backed up on World Affairs at the moment. He chuckled and let it slide.

But it stuck with me these few weeks. You can't just pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist, no matter how hectic bills and taxes get.

So I took to the People for unbiased news. I took to Wikipedia:

-Gaddhafi has been in charge since 1969.

-In 1979 he relinquished the title of "Prime Minister" for the more flashy "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"

-Assassination. Nepotism. Terrorism. Etc...

The history books paint a pretty clear picture. This statistic sealed the deal for me:

"With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon (June 8, 2009) he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders..."

Anyone who follows sports realizes that streaks like that don't last long once you reach the top. They are more like a bulls eye on your back. Just ask Mr. Bongo.

Muammar Gaddafi, this Bud's for you. It was quite a run. One that I think Captain Ron would admire, in a certain way. I'll have to ask him.

Sports on Radio

I enjoy listening to sports on radio.

Brings me back to driving around with Dad, who probably put it on because it mesmerized and shut me up for a minute.

The fact that these few men can explain a fast paced game like basketball, in real-time, so that listeners create a mental picture many miles away... it always boggled my mind. It's a true talent.

I believe that the medium of Television is ruining this fine art. With many camera angles, replays, and instant access to in-depth statistics, the load once carried by the broadcaster is lessening.

T.V. announcers today are thus simple, cookie cutter, hair-gelled, catch-phrase spewing, cliche machines, reading blindly from tele-prompters while interns dig up statistics and editors create highlight reels.

This does not suffice on the radio.

Sean Grande is the voice of the Celtics and his fine work inspired me to write this. Sean has an amazing chemistry with his partner, Celtic legend Cedric Maxwell.

When Maxwell covered the television broadcast this evening, Grande opted, for the second time, to have his Twitter followers act as Maxwell's fill-in. *Joke about budget cuts at WEEI omitted*

Grande read the tweets (and authors) in real-time as the game went on. I sat in my car for the first half, captivated. Chiming in, hoping to hear my own thoughts read on air.

It's a brilliant idea. I'm not positive it was his, but I assume so.

Regardless, the fact that someone (a mere broadcaster) can be innovative in a field such as Sports Broadcasting on Radio (which most people would think is Dead) is truly inspiring.

R=DT

I took Physics with Mrs. Brigante my sophomore and junior years of high school, ten years ago at this point.

A piece of important information survived the past decade unscathed.

At the time we were all beginning to drive and she used a physics question to hammer home a more serious point.

The question posed to the class was,

"If you are traveling sixty miles per hour on the highway and look down for 2 seconds to change the radio station, how far have you travelled while NOT looking at the road?"

Working out the exact solution to the equation would be tedious, boring, and not nearly Important as the question itself.

I'm a better driver Today because of it.