#china 2009 saturday

[umseb]

sebastian vettel in the paddock on qualifying day, china - april 18, 2009 📷 charles coates / motorsport images

[umlewis]

lewis and anthony hamilton in the garage on qualifying day, china - april 18, 2009 📷 hoch zwei / imago

[batsplat]

id be very interested in any post of yours on the vale/jorge dynamic!!! and as a marc fan first human second i think this would also shed more light on how exactly 2015 became what it did… vale is, as we know, very bad at forgetting and extremely bad at forgiving

(this post is now posted) I do still have a few more open-ended asks in my inbox about this rivalry that I'll get to at some point, but I just wanted to quickly have a crack at this one specifically. you can kindaaaa read between the lines of the post I linked to if you want to know where I stand on this issue, but I don't say it explicitly and I might as well actually do that lol. and my stance on 2015 is that the valentino/jorge rivalry... really does not feature all that heavily. absurdly little, given they are the ones having an actual title fight. they retroactively remember to get mad at each other once all the drama has actually happened - and then suddenly you do get their history worm its way through the cracks. like, actually 2016 is way more interesting for their interpersonal relationship than 2015 is!! but 2015 is... well, it's just not that relevant. by valentino standards, you don't even really get the sense he's motivating himself through the power of spite or anything. he literally just wants his tenth - jorge being his title rival is only relevant insofar as that's his teammate

I don't actually think the maxim of valentino being bad at forgetting and forgiving really holds in this specific relationship. I've banged on about this distinction a few times by now, but to me there really is a substantial and noticeable difference between how valentino approaches the marc/sete rivalries and the way biaggi + casey/jorge get treated. the former camp involves rivals valentino was friends with, blokes he was genuinely fond of on an interpersonal level before they really butted heads competitively - and as a result there's a relationship to burn down. as a result, valentino is hurt by what happens. that's the basic precondition valentino needs not to forgive and forget: he needs to feel like a friendship has been betrayed. with jorge, there's none of that! they never had anything remotely like a close relationship with each other; if anything it's a fair bit colder than the casey dynamic is pre-2007. which means there's really nothing to forgive and forget! valentino gets over the entire 2008-10 dramatics comically quickly... like there's still a bit of needle in 2011 but once he realises there's no real competitive justification, he just kinda goes *shrug* eh, whatever. he's still bickering with casey in 2012, but those two did seemingly get a weird kick out of their squabbling and valentino also dropped that completely around mid-2013 (casey ofc did Not). like these people said some nasty shit about each other... but with both jorge and casey, valentino is extremely willing to drop it when he doesn't really think there's a point any more. as a result, valentino and jorge get on better in valentino's ducati years! it'd really only been a brief period where they're properly at war - but that period is so memorable it's how that teammate relationship gets remembered these days

basically what I said in the jorge/valentino post:

and this maybe deserves a more in-depth post... but of course it's worth pointing out that in their second teammate stint, they once again take their sweet time getting to the actual drama. 2013 they're being perfectly cooperative and honda's cute little internal war is hogging all the headlines, 2014 is basically fine with a bit of corporate espionage for flavour - hell, even 2015 is okay until, like, the very end. they're asked about their relationship every single week that year, to the point where valentino starts making gags about how him and jorge have been keeping relationship diaries and will release them at the end of the year. (drop the diaries, kings.) there's also a very sweet 'ooh you've learned so much from valentino' jorge moment that very much thematically follows on from the 2008-10 post:

Lorenzo explained an incident where, ahead of the season-finale race in Valencia, he approached a journalist to request a specific question was asked to irritate Rossi. "At the airport I told her that at the press conference she had to ask me if Valentino deserved the title,” Lorenzo said.  “For me it would not have been deserved. I wanted to put pressure on him to feel inferior.  “I also created that rivalry through the press."

which... good on you, jorge, but. what. and also... why

point is, even in their actual title fight in 2015, a bunch of different factors conspire to ensure that valentino is focused more on marc than he is on jorge. one big, big reason is that valentino + jorge basically never actually cross paths on track that whole year for more than like, a minute, which is one of the things that made that season so funky. it's maybe a little unsatisfying to go 'that long post I wrote isn't actually super relevant as backstory' and it doesn't not matter, but in a way the really interesting bit is... you'd kinda think it'd matter MORE. their history should be more relevant than it is to this story!! it's weird that it played such a small role! and, again, it does come back into the picture in 2016... they were proper mad with each other then! I reckon they did get to the point where they even managed to hurt each other, where that was something reciprocal! which is fun and compelling, but even there they do manage to mostly Get Over It at some point that very same year. in the end... despite all this history, despite this intense three year stint as teammates the first time round - somehow we ended up with another title fight between the pair of them with a super controversial finish but that interpersonal relationship is very nearly irrelevant. quirky innit

[jasfhercallejo]

The National Museum of Korea is the most representative and extensive museum in Republic of Korea. The museum holds an immense collection: it has more than 410,000 historically valuable and highly aesthetic relics ranging from the Paleolithic Age to the early 20th century, and more than 12,000 masterpieces of its collection are always on display in its permanent exhibition hall.

The museum also houses a Children's Museum, where visitors can learn more about the nation's history through educational programs and experiences. The outdoor grounds feature pagodas and other stone artworks too large to be on display inside. In addition to galleries with a wide array of national and international pieces, the National Museum of Korea is a stage for a number of cultural activities related to collection, preservation, research and analysis, social training, academic publications, intercultural exchange programs, concerts, and more.

The museum has six galleries: Prehistory and Ancient History, Medieval and Early Modern History, Donated works, Calligraphy and Painting, World Art, and Sculpture and Crafts Galleries.

The National Museum of Korea was established in 1945. In 2005, the museum extended and reopened on a site of 307,227㎡ (building area: 45,438㎡) in Yongsan, Seoul. Since its rebirth as a “cultural complex,” the National Museum of Korea not only to preserves and exhibits precious relics, but also provide various educational programs and cultural events.

The National Museum of Korea has a number of important cultural materials related to Silk Road (both land and maritime) from Central Asia, East Asia, and Korea. In particular, its unique collection of Sinan Undersea Relics which is a valuable source of information for study of ancient trade between China, Korea and Japan. A sunken Chinese trading ship was discovered in 1975, in the Korean southwest coast near Sinan, Jeollanam-do Province. The ship, carrying trade goods produced on orders from the Kyoto area, sank on its way to Japan from Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, China in 1323. About 30,000 maritime Silk Roads objects were excavated; they are 14th century Chinese goods, including celadon wears, coins, metal artifacts, medical artifacts, and many other types of objects.

Visitors can appreciate its vast collection; numerous national treasures of Korea are exhibited including Pensive Bodhisattva (a Korean National Treasure), Goryeo Celadon Openwork Burner, Ten-Story Pagoda from Gyeongcheonsa Temple Site, and Gold Crown from Silla.

In addition to the programs and contents respects mentioned above, the National Museum of Korea would be one of the best museums in the world, in terms of the size of the museum (biggest one in Asia and sixth in the world), the annual attendance figures (1st in Asia, 10th in the world in 2009), additional facilities (a theater, a cafeteria, a museum shop, education hall, conference rooms), and digital services for the exhibition (PDA, MP3 and kiosk system).

Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Sunday : 10:00 am ~ 6:00 pm (Final entrance at 5:30 pm); Wednesday & Saturday : 10:00 am ~ 9:00 pm (Final entrance at 8:30 pm)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

On SEPTEMBER 24th, I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

#20yrsago AnarchistU, Toronto’s wiki-based free school https://web.archive.org/web/20040911010603/http://anarchistu.org/bin/view/Anarchistu

#20yrsago Fair use is a right AND a defense https://memex.craphound.com/2004/09/09/fair-use-is-a-right-and-a-defense/

#20yrsago Bounty for asking “How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?” https://web.archive.org/web/20040918115027/https://onesimplequestion.blogspot.com/

#20yrsago What yesterday’s terrible music https://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/09/open-mike-likely-to-close-out-legislators-career.htmlsampling ruling means https://web.archive.org/web/20040910095029/http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002153.shtml

#15yrsago Conservative California legislator gives pornographic account of his multiple affairs (including a lobbyist) into open mic https://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/09/open-mike-likely-to-close-out-legislators-career.html

#15yrsago Shel Silverstein’s UNCLE SHELBY, not exactly a kids’ book https://memex.craphound.com/2009/09/09/shel-silversteins-uncle-shelby-not-exactly-a-kids-book/

#10yrsago Seemingly intoxicated Rob Ford gives subway press-conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbcETJRoNCs

#10yrsago Amazon vs Hachette is nothing: just WAIT for the audiobook wars! https://locusmag.com/2014/09/cory-doctorow-audible-comixology-amazon-and-doctorows-first-law/

#10yrsago Dietary supplement company sues website for providing a forum for dissatisfied customers https://www.techdirt.com/2014/09/08/dietary-supplement-company-tries-suing-pissedconsumer-citing-buyers-agreement-to-never-say-anything-negative-about-roca/

#10yrsago New wind-tunnel tests find surprising gains in cycling efficiency from leg-shaving https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/the-curious-case-of-the-cyclists-unshaved-legs/article20370814/

#10yrsago Behind the scenes look at Canada’s Harper government gagging scientists https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/federal-scientist-media-request-generates-email-frenzy-but-no-interview-1.2759300

#10yrsago Starred review in Kirkus for INFORMATION DOESN’T WANT TO BE FREE https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cory-doctorow/information-doesnt-want-to-be-free/

#10yrsago Steven Gould’s “Exo,” a Jumper novel by way of Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit, Will Travel” https://memex.craphound.com/2014/09/09/steven-goulds-exo-a-jumper-novel-by-way-of-heinleins-have-spacesuit-will-travel/

#5yrsago Important legal victory in web-scraping case https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/web-scraping-doesnt-violate-anti-hacking-law-appeals-court-rules/

#5yrsago Whistleblowers out Falwell’s Liberty University as a grifty, multibillion-dollar personality cult https://web.archive.org/web/20190910000528/https://www.politico.com/magazine/amp/story/2019/09/09/jerry-falwell-liberty-university-loans-227914

#5yrsago Pinduoduo: China’s “Groupon on steroids” https://www.wired.com/story/china-ecommerce-giant-never-heard/

#5yrsago Notpetya: the incredible story of an escaped US cyberweapon, Russian state hackers, and Ukraine’s cyberwar https://www.wired.com/story/notpetya-cyberattack-ukraine-russia-code-crashed-the-world/

#5yrsago NYT calls for an end to legacy college admissions https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/end-legacy-college-admissions.html

#5yrsago Purdue’s court filings understate its role in the opioid epidemic by 80% https://www.propublica.org/article/data-touted-by-oxycontin-maker-to-fight-lawsuits-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story

#1yrago Saturday linkdump, part the sixth https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/09/nein-nein/#everything-is-miscellaneous

The paperback edition of The Lost Cause, my nationally bestselling, hopeful solarpunk novel is out this month!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.20 (after 1940)

1942 – World War II: Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace. 1943 – World War II: American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies. 1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms. 1944 – World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers. 1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll. 1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League. 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy. 1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate. 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes. 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts. 1968 – The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing. 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert. 1979 – An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java. 1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years. 1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. 1991 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters. 1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. 2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others. 2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout. 2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack. 2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago. 2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers. 2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services. 2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

[emilieautumnarchives]

In Which: Asylum Book Pages Are Up For Auction

Posted: November 11, 2009 Archived from BonnyTymePyrate’s Journal Archives

Dearest Plague Rats,

So much to tell…bras thrown onstage (for Veronica), the police being called on me onstage (for supposedly starting a “riot”), Basil & Sir Edward joining me onstage (best night of my life, courtesy of Young Master Timothy who retrieved them for me from my cell – who says good help is hard to find??), and endless, endless more, but, at this precise moment, I must away to packing for Germany (you are all coming to see me there this Saturday for the book reading, right?), then washing corsets in preparation for the 2nd leg of the N. American tour (‘cause dirty crumpets smell bad and we sure as fuck don’t get to wash this shyte on the road). I promise to use my plane flight of eternal length to document these shocking experiences for you so that I may post again once I reach my far-off destination.

I DO however have one bit of heart-bursting happiness to announce, and that is the following: I have only just received the very first hard-bound, complete, finished Asylum book! Your copies are being printed at this very moment over in China, but allow me to assure you that it is beyond anything you could possibly imagine, and I know this because it is beyond what I myself imagined. It is huge, it is heavy, it is epic. It is Everything. You think you know. But you have no idea…

Because I will now be able to read the story to you from this bound, final edition, I will no longer have to read from the lovely yet unbound test-print copy I’ve been mixing up the pages from as I attempted to read you bits during the VIP book readings on this tour. Thus! I have given the test-print copy I’ve been using to the Asylum, which has divided up the pages and is offering them, signed and personally notated, to you. Here is the first set:

Boohaaaah!! First Asylum book prints ever!!

This auction is only up for ONE DAY as I want to get items shipped off to you before I leave on the 2nd leg of the tour, so be fast or miss it. This highly educational “Leech” page is one of my favorites, and the other side of the page features the leech painting that is now printed on those lovely pink tees being sold at our tour merch stand (come on babies, you know I’m doing my god-damndest to get you out of black, why must you fight me so?).

Now, before I scurry off, let me say a quick quick quick thank you to my N. American Muffins, BECAUSE!!! You. YOU! You told us you were waiting for us in N. America, but the European Muffins took such good care of us that it took a long time to convince anyone on the biz end that we could come home and have an audience here as well. Honestly, nobody had very high expectations, except, of course, for me. I was betting on you, and you showed up in droves. You sang bloody loud. You got fucking crazy. You packed theaters in the middle of places we’d never been anywhere near before. You didn’t give up on us coming back to you, and so we have given you the very best we have, our hearts, our souls, our “tea,” Veronica’s boobs, everything. You proved me right, and everybody else wrong, and that makes a suicidal girl very, very, very happy. You are the reason why a second leg needed to be added to the tour – because everybody believes in you now. We did good, PRs. The hard part is over, and nobody will ever divide us again, not ever. You are soldiers now, and I’m marching beside you because you have earned the right to fight for the Asylum and all its inhabitants. Let’s train, Muffins, because there is still much work to be done if we plan to spread the Plague to the rest of the known world and beyond. There is no rest for the wicked;)…

With Love & Bloody Crumpets from the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Block B, Cell W14, Inmate A, EA

P.S. The Plague: Get it. Feed it. Spread it. Sluts.

P.P.S. The Asylum Army: Are You Committed?

[tom-viscom]

D&AD - Gaming Inital Research

The average number of hours spent globally on playing video games is 8.45 hours per week,5 and this is not taking in to account social media, movie and video content and social app usage.

Younger age groups are at higher risk: 6- to 7-year-old children are five times more likely to be myopic with heavy screen use. 

YouTube last year reported that over 10 billion hours of game play was watched on the channel; children are not just playing games but also spending time watching others play games.

Children who use screens for more than three hours per day are almost four times more likely to be myopic.

Extended screen time has also been linked to eye strain, headaches and dry eye syndrome in both children and adults.

Gaming addiction may include issues such as social withdrawal, loss of relationships, poorer educational outcomes or career opportunities or negative mood states.

China has recently outlined a new national policy limiting the hours children under 18 can play online games. Gaming for children is now restricted to between 8pm and 9pm, on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and on public holidays.

A study in 2009 evaluated symptoms and oculomotor changes in children aged 5-16 years after 30 minutes of VR viewing. In the 9-16 year old participants, symptoms of "feeling tired" occured in 43% and "feeling sleeping" in 40%, while just under 20% reported "sore/aching eyes" and "difficulty concentrating".

There are no known long-term eye development effects from VR. However, there is a potential risk potential between too much screen time and myopia progression.

VR can cause myopia in kids just like a TV or computer would if they spent long hours close to the screen.

Some argue VR actually may be better for preventing myopia than traditional screens. VR makes the users field of vision change inputs on the peripheral retina, and also bright illumination close to the eyes could possibly provide a positive stimulus, both of which could potentially protect against myopia

Sources:

https://www.visioncenter.org/blog/is-vr-bad-for-your-eyes/

https://www.myopiaprofile.com/articles/could-virtual-reality-be-better-for-myopia-than-screens

https://myeyewellness.com/is-vr-bad-for-your-eyes/#:~:text=There are no known long,growing concern for health professionals.

https://www.optometrists.org/childrens-vision/healthy-eyes-for-life-8-ideas-to-teach-children/can-gaming-cause-myopia/#:~:text=Children who spend a significant,distant objects to appear blurry.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/playing-video-games-may-cause-eyestrain-3421596#:~:text=Summary,eye strain from video games.

https://www.myopiaprofile.com/articles/restricting-children-gaming-myopia

[brookston]

Holidays 11.25

Holidays

Blasé Day

Carers Rights Day (UK)

Catterntide

CNSO Day (India)

Day Against Domestic Violence (EU)

Don’t Utter a Word Day

Evacuation Day (NYC)

Family Day (Palau)

Global Family Business Day

Hari Guru (a.k.a. Teacher's Day; Indonesia)

Homeland Security Day

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (UN)

International Hat Day

Mangé Yam (Yam Festival; Haiti)

Meh Day

Monkey Buffet Festival (Thailand)

Moquegua City Foundation Day (Peru)

Mousetrap Day

National Day (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

National Don't Utter a Word Day

National Lap Dance Day

National Natural Fibers Day

National Play with Dad

National Rugby Day

National Shopping Reminder Day

Pig Day (French Republic)

SAK Meatless Day

Shopping Reminder Day [1 Month 'till Xmas]

Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence begins [ends 12.10]

Vajiravudh Memorial Day (Thailand)

White Ribbon Day (Australia, UK)

Women's Merrymaking Day

World Safari Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Egg Fried Rice Day (China)

National “Eat with a Friend” Day

National Parfait Day

4th & Last Saturday in November

Canadian Craft Beer Day [Last Saturday]

ClauWau begins (a.k.a. Santa Claus World Championships; Switzerland) [Last Saturday]

Holodomor Remembrance Day (Ukraine) [4th Saturday]

International Aura Awareness Day [4th Saturday]

Minnesota Pint Day (a.k.a. MN Pint Day; Minnesota) [Saturday after Black Friday]

Saturday after Thanksgiving (US) [4th Saturday] (a.k.a. ... 

Buy Nothing Day (UK)

Small Business Saturday

Swine Time Festival (Climax, Georgia)

Turkey Leftovers Day

World Day of Giving ‘Last Saturday]

Independence Days

Duaktoserija (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Ongal (Declared; 2014) [unrecognized]

Statehood Day (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Suriname (a.k.a. Srefidensi; from the Netherlands, 1975)

Feast Days

Bitterness Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Catherine Labouré (Christian; Saint)

Catherine of Alexandria (Christian; Saint)

Elizabeth of Reute (Christian; Saint)

Erasmus (a.k.a. Elme; Christian; Saint)

Gazpacho Soup Day (Pastafarian)

Isaac Watts (Lutheran Church and Church of England)

James Otis Sargent Huntington (Episcopal Church)

Lucy the Australopithecine Discovery Day (Pastafarian)

Maurice Denis (Artology)

Media Autumnus IV (Pagan)

Persephone (a.k.a. Kore; celebration for the Goddess of Vegetation; Ancient Greece)

Richelieu (Positivist; Saint)

Tom Turkey (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Premieres

Aladdin (Animated Disney Film; 1992)

Anticipation, by Carly Simon (Song; 1971)

The Artist (Film; 2011)

The Beatles: Get Back (Documentary Series; 2021)

The Bodyguard (Film; 1992)

Brooklyn (Film; 2015)

A Bug’s Life (Animated Pixar Film; 1998)

Caveman Inki (WB LT Cartoon; 1950)

Creed (Film; 2015)

The Croods: A New Age (Animated Film; 2020)

Ferdinand the Bull (Disney Cartoon; 1938)

Frozen: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Album; 2013)

Gentlemen Jim (Film; 1942)

Geri’s Game (Pixar Cartoon; 1998)

Giantland (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

The Good Dinosaur (Animated Film; 2015)

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (TV Special; 2022)

Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne (Novel; 1864)

The Last Waltz (Concert Film; 1976)

Lego Scooby-Doo! Knight Time Terror (WB Animated Film; 2015)

Let It Go, by Idina Menzel (Song; 2013)

New Wave Hookers (Adult Film; 1985)

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (Film; 1987)

The Princess and the Frog (Animated Disney Film; 2009)

The Saint Steps In, by Leslie Charteris (Novel; 1943) [Saint #25]

Sevens, by Garth Brooks (Album; 1997)

Slide, Donald, Slide (Disney Cartoon; 1949)

Spotlight (Film; 2015)

Three Men and a Baby (Film; 1987)

Tintin in Tibet, by Hergé (Graphic Novel; 1960) [Tintin #20]

Walter Woolfe, or the Doom of the Drinker, by Thomas Dunn English (Novel; 1842)

You Always Hurt the One You Love, by The Mills Brothers (Song; 1944)

Today’s Name Days

Katharina, Kathrin, Katja (Austria)

Kliment, Klimentina (Bulgaria)

Erazmo, Katarina (Croatia)

Kateřina (Czech Republic)

Catharina (Denmark)

Kaarin, Kadi, Kadri, Kadrin, Karin, Katariina, Kati, Katre, Katri, Katrin, Triin, Triina, Triinu (Estonia)

Kaarina, Kaija, Kaisa, Kaisu, Katariina, Kati, Katja, Katri, Katriina, Riina (Finland)

Catherine (France)

Katharina, Kathrin, Katja, Jasmin (Germany)

Aikaterine, Aikaterini, Katerina, Merkourios (Greece)

Katalin (Hungary)

Caterina (Italy)

Kate, Katrīna, Trīne (Latvia)

Germilė, Kotryna, Santautas (Lithuania)

Kari, Katarina, Katrine (Norway)

Erazm, Jozafat, Katarzyna, Tęgomir (Poland)

Ecaterina (Romania)

Katarína (Slovakia)

Catalina (Spain)

Katarina, Katja (Sweden)

Caitlin, Caitlyn, Carina, Caryn, Catherine, Cathleen, Cathy Kaitlin, Kaitlynn, Kara, Karen, Kari, Karina, Kate, Katelyn, Katelynn, Katharine, Katherine, Kathleen, Kathryn, Kathy, Katie, Katrina, Treena, Trina, Trinity (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 329 of 2024; 36 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 47 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ngetal (Reed) [Day 26 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Gui-Hai), Day 13 (Ding-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 12 Kislev 5784

Islamic: 12 Jumada I 1445

J Cal: 29 Mir; Eightday [29 of 30]

Julian: 12 November 2023

Moon: 97%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 21 Frederic (12th Month) [Richelieu]

Runic Half Month: Nyd (Necessity) [Day 15 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 63 of 89)

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 4 of 30)

[rippleon-blog]

Rippling with Lobo Legend Coach Ray Birmingham

I was so excited that Coach Birmingham agreed to come on the podcast. I have been a big fan of his as he is a legend in college baseball. I just knew if we could have an opportunity to visit, he'd share some of the incredible wisdom he's acquired throughout his career and boy was a right. This episode is pure gold and is chalked full of great stories about motivating and leading that everyone can learn from.

  Plus he is just one of the kindest and most thoughtful men I think I've ever met. Although I knew him through his social network presence, the conversation with him was so easy to have. He made me feel like he and I have been friends for years. He's a Rippler through and through.

  Here's a bit more about Coach:

  At UNM, Birmingham has the second-most wins in program history with 402 to his credit as the Lobo skipper, earning his 400th DI Career win on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021 versus Air Force. He also initiated and had led the ongoing development and execution of the $3.65 million expansion of Santa Ana Star Field as well as UNM’s first privately-funded building on campus – the R.D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Clubhouse that was completed in December of 2016.

For his overall career, Birmingham is in exclusive company having won over 1,000 games. Entering the 2021 season, Birmingham will have coached in parts of six decades dating back to the late 1970s. Birmingham is also the winningest coach in the state’s history as all 1,220 of his victories have come coaching for teams in his home state of New Mexico (College of the Southwest, New Mexico Junior College and UNM).

In 2015, Birmingham was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2011. He also currently serves on the College Baseball Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

Birmingham has also coached or spoken at numerous clinics throughout the United States and South America. He has been published in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Journal and worked professionally for the Cleveland Indians, Oakland A’s and Kansas City Royals.

In 2004, Birmingham led the NJCAA all-star team to four wins in five games over the Chinese All-Stars in Beijing, China. In 2007, Birmingham was selected as the head coach of the NJCAA all-star team when China returned to the United States to play the U.S. team. Birmingham also coached the NJCAA West All-Stars to a three-game sweep over the East All-Stars in the summer of 2009.

In the summer of 2014, Birmingham served as the hitting coach for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, which was made up of the top collegiate players from around the country. Team USA played games across North Carolina before traveling to the Netherlands to participate in Honkbal-Haarlem Baseball Week. The CNT won the international tournament by outscoring its opponents 34-6 over its final seven games. Birmingham helped guide Tennessee’s Christin Stewart to “Best Hitter” honors at the tournament and Albuquerque’s own Alex Bregman of LSU was named Honkbal Baseball Week MVP. Team USA concluded its summer with five games in Cuba, finishing with an overall record of 18-8-2.

In his 43rd year of coaching, Birmingham has been a part of 22 championships. All the college baseball programs Birmingham has coached have reached the top 25 in the national rankings at some point. Between University of the Southwest, New Mexico Junior College and New Mexico, 167 athletes have gone on to play professional baseball with 39 coming while the head coach at UNM. Additionally, under Birmingham at UNM, 40 athletes have earned All-America honors and 10 have been freshman All-Americans as well. Birmingham was also the coach of NMJC’s first basketball conference championship team – a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country.

Ready to get your Ripple On? Check out the latest episode of The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper!

[umseb]

sebastian vettel on qualifying day, china - april 18, 2009 📷 glenn dunbar / motorsport images

[umlewis]

anthony and lewis hamilton in the garage ahead of qualifying, china - april 18, 2009 📷 hoch zwei / getty images

[thesportsbay]

The Ballon d'Or is no longer important to me - Lionel Messi

Messi has won the Ballon d'Or a record seven times in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2021 followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with five.

Argentine superstar, Lionel Messi has declared that he is no longer interested in winning the prestigious Ballon d’Or. The 2022 World Cup winner made this known while being interviewed by Chinese media on a Chinese stream platform to talk about the World Cup, the Ballon d’Or and Pep Guardiola. Messi arrived in Beijing, China by private jet on Saturday and was greeted by hundreds of jubilant…

[how-to-write-and-where]

What's wrong with Balloons?

So, as we may or may not be aware; China had sent a balloon into U.S. airspace, and it was shot down on Saturday February 4th, 2023 by the U.S.. The Biden Administration suspects that this balloon was actually a spy balloon; much like the spy balloons sent by the U.S. over China and the Soviet Union back in 1956. But we (the U.S.) called them ‘weather balloons’ so it was okay, right? I mean, we were doing so “in defense,” in case either one of those countries decided to pull a surprise attack on us while we were in the Vietnam War. 

It’s also extremely understandable that the U.S. government would be suspicious about the purpose of these balloons too; according to The Intercept “America sent spy balloons exactly the same size over both the Soviet Union and China in 1956 — and made exactly the same claims as China is making today about what we were up to.” 

While the US balloons were about 20 stories tall, or around 200 feet, reports indicated that the Chinese balloon is also believed to have been up to 200 feet tall. So, there’s a lot of similarities between these balloons; or at least that’s what they’re telling us. It could be exaggerated though; who knows? 

Also, the president of the U.S. at the time was Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, who was part of the Republican party; for those of us who didn’t know that. He was also a Jehovah's Witness; which I just found pretty interesting. 

At a news conference on February 7, 1956, Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, engaged in a lengthy, hilarious prevarication about the spy balloons. First, there was outright deception. “The information that is being sought,” he said, “is not essentially or even at all military information.”

The question here is, what was the US goal with all these balloons? “They are gathering an extraordinary amount of new and useful information about these jet stream air currents. … [it] is a part of a project which has worldwide significance.”

I bring this up because the archivist of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, David Haight, produced a 2009 article titled “Ike and His Spies in the Sky.” In it, he writes, based on records of White House deliberations, “Eisenhower authorized aerial intelligence ­collecting programs in order to better assess the military capability of the Soviet Union, China, and other Communist ­bloc nations to launch a surprise attack on the United States.” In other words, the U.S. saw its balloon and U-2 programs as being essentially defensive. So, I think it’s very much plausible that China could be thinking in a similar way, if their balloon was in fact, collecting information. Because if the U.S. did it, then why can't they do it? 

In any event, it's unclear what can be learned from the current balloon mania. However, other people think that a balloon revolution is just around the corner and that this is what some believe could be the beginning of a "balloon war."

I'd love to hear your opinions on this!! Feel free to reblog, comment; whatever! Have a great day.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

On THURSDAY (June 20) I'm live onstage in LOS ANGELES for a recording of the GO FACT YOURSELF podcast. On FRIDAY (June 21) I'm doing an ONLINE READING for the LOCUS AWARDS at 16hPT. On SATURDAY (June 22) I'll be in OAKLAND, CA for a panel and a keynote at the LOCUS AWARDS.

#20yrsago Neuromancer jacket-quote https://memex.craphound.com/2004/06/16/neuromancer-jacket-quote/

#20yrsago Vatican reduces Inquisition’s atrocity-count https://web.archive.org/web/20040621234858/http://www.iht.com/articles/525118.html

#20yrsago Orin Hatch to make “counselling infringers” a crime https://web.archive.org/web/20040621210922/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001631.php

#15yrsago China backs off on mandatory spyware https://www.crn.com/blogs-op-ed/the-channel-wire/217900033/china-caves-says-green-dam-software-is-optional

#15yrsago EFF kills another stupid internet patent https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/06/16

#15yrsago Kids lose their summer break due to impenetrable bureaucratic mess https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jun-16-me-summer16-story.html

#10yrsago IRS won’t fix database of nonprofits, so it goes dark https://web.archive.org/web/20140715041700/https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/terminate.html

#10yrsago Father’s Day: Groucho sings “Father’s Day” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Dt9q8bkqg

#1yrago Conservatives are fringe outliers – and leftists could learn from them https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/16/that-boy-aint-right/#dinos-rinos-and-dunnos

[female-buckets]

By Jeff Metcalfe

Penny Taylor doesn’t need to be in the driver’s seat.

She’s one of the great wingmen in women’s basketball – with Diana Taurasi on three Phoenix Mercury WNBA championship teams and more broadly in life and Lauren Jackson for their native Australia at the Olympics and World Championships.

Not that Taylor isn’t comfortable behind the wheel too. She was Most Valuable Player at the 2006 World Championships, when Australia broke through to win its first and still only major international gold medal. In a professional career that began when she was only 17, Taylor often was the go-to player whether at home in the WNBL, Italy, Russia, Turkey or China.

“You have to be the man in Europe,” Taylor says. “You have to score a lot of points and you were responsible for whether a team won or lost. I liked that too.

“My goal was always to try to be good all the time and not have those up and down (seasons). It was always about doing my job consistently. Then I got to play with Diana so I never needed to be the main person. I never had all the attention on me. I got to fly under the radar and do my thing, be aggressive and be competitive, yet she had all the pressure.”

Taylor’s 19-year, best-of-both-worlds career carried her far beyond what she could have imagined growing up in suburban Melbourne and now into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

She is part of an eight-person induction class that includes Becky Hammon and DeLisha Milton-Jones. The ceremony is Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee, with Taylor joining Michele Timms (2008 inductee) and Jackson (2021) as Australian Hall of Famers.

Taurasi, who turns 40 Saturday, will be in attendance, taking a red-eye flight after the Mercury’s home game Friday. She and Taylor married in 2017 and are parents of two, 4-year-old Leo and Isla, born during the 2021 WNBA playoffs.

“When she got the phone call, she goes, is this a big deal?” says Taurasi, whose own Hall of Fame turn is a certainty once she is the required three years past her playing retirement.

Taylor allows, “To be honest, it’s not something I ever thought of. It’s very special because I’m in a country that isn’t my own and they value what I did. When you look at the list of people in it, it feels very surreal in a way that you’re in a list with those people. I feel like Australians have a lot of respect in the basketball world so for me to be able to continue that lineage of respect that they’ve earned is special to me as well.”

‘Smile then break your face’

Taylor, 41, played through 2016, her 13th season in the WNBA and her third Olympics.

Ankle and knee surgeries in 2009 and 2012 took an ongoing toll although in 2014 she was integral to the Mercury’s greatest team and made the All-Star Five at the World Championships, when Australia won a bronze medal.

Only Taurasi and Taylor played on all three Mercury title teams, peaking with a 29-5 regular season record and 7-1 playoff run in 2014. It was further back for Taurasi that 6-1 Taylor “kind of changed the way the game was played.

“When (Paul) Westhead came here (2006-07), he said Penny is going to play the 4 (power forward). It really changed the way the game looked. She was the first stretch 4 if you think about it.

“She was just a competitor. Anyone who’s played with Penny and against Penny knows she’ll smile then she’ll try to break your face. To go with that, she was just so skilled. Once again, I think she changed the game with the way she drove to the basket. They always talk about Manu (Ginobili) on the men’s side. I think Penny brought that to the WNBA where no one had really seen that before.”

Taylor’s WNBA career didn’t begin in Phoenix although now few recall her three seasons with the Cleveland Rockers. She was No. 11 overall pick in the 2001 draft. In 2003, the Rockers lost 2-1 in the playoffs first round to eventual champion Detroit only for the franchise, a WNBA original, to fold when a new owner was not found.

The Mercury, coming off a league worst 8-26 record in 2003, altered their future and that of the two women in 2004, taking Taylor No. 1 overall in a dispersal draft then Taurasi No. 1 overall out of University of Connecticut in the regular draft. Add in Brittney Griner, drafted No. 1 overall in 2013, and the Mercury are more often than not a WNBA top-four finisher.

I’m forever grateful to (then Mercury general manger) Seth Sulka for choosing me to come here,” Taylor says. “Not only because now it’s my home. We won, we had some great times. God who knows where I could have ended up. I appreciate that he valued what I did, and I feel like it all worked out.”

Titles common denominator

Michael Taylor and Denna Noble were both English.

Michael’s father, a scientist, sailed to Australia with his family for a job in the Sixties.

“My father was traveling the world and met my mom, who was also traveling the world,” says Penny, the middle of their three children.

“I grew up in a very hilly bushland environment (in Mount Waverley, outside Melbourne). We were always outside as little kids. That was a natural progression to going into sports. I don’t really remember a time when I didn’t play basketball (she started organized play at 4). It just kind of snowballed.”

Phil Brown recruited Taylor to train and play for the Australia Institute of Sport, a natural progression she says even though it required a 400-mile move to Canberra at age 14.

“I was very driven and that to me was the next step,” Taylor says. “I didn’t think too much about it. It was just obviously the next step. I don’t even think in this day and age you could do it anymore, nor maybe should you. But for us at that time, it was the exact right thing for me to do.”

By 1997, Taylor was playing in the WNBL, first for AIS then to start her pro career for the Dandenong Rangers. She was WNBL Most Valuable Player in 2000-01 and by then ready to expand her basketball horizon to the U.S. and Europe.

“There were times where she was the best player in the world, hands down,” Taurasi says. “She was (World Championships) MVP in 2006, and that was the stretch where there was really no one who could match up with her. You put a guard on her, too small. You put a post on her, she’d go by them.”

Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird also remembers Taylor as a “match-up nightmare. The style in which she played, how strong she was, her ability to get into the paint and draw contact and hit the 3 from the outside.

“There was also a mental toughness there. She was always the difference maker for Phoenix. There was a period of time where they won then she came late or was injured and they didn’t win. Then she comes back, they win. There’s a common denominator, and that was Penny.”

Finding happily ever after

Guards Bird, also 41, and Taurasi are still playing, a longevity Taylor knew she wouldn’t manage.

“The injuries came because of what I did and the way I played,” says Taylor, who still has knee cartilage issues today. “I sacrificed my body. I put a lot of my body on the line, and it was never going to last.”

What endures in Phoenix is the trio of titles and a relationship with Taurasi that she says has kept the WNBA career scoring leader still playing through some significant injuries.

“There’s always a foundation you think is maybe just friendship or you get along or you have great synergy, and it just turned into more than that (in 2009),” Taurasi says. “We’re friends and then we’re more than friends. Penny just really has a grounded way about herself, a very honest way about herself. I’m definitely the lucky one in the relationship.”

Taylor was married previously — to Brazilian volleyball player Rodrigo Gil in 2005 — for three years. But happily ever after doesn’t always materialize on the first try, and Taylor waited almost a decade until marrying Taurasi on the eve of the 2017 WNBA season.

“We’d always been great friends,” Taylor says. “How do you explain when you have a connection with someone? You just do or you don’t. I will say it was a little complicated with my (first) marriage, but it was something that we’d always had a connection and a great foundation of friendship to build on.”

Bird, one of Taurasi’s best friends going back to college, says: “I think for Dee, Penny has definitely brought a calming presence into her life. The ways they interact especially now as parents. It’s been really fun to see from a friend all the wonderful things Penny has brought to Dee’s life and vice versa I’m sure.”

Neither of Taylor’s parents lived long enough to share in Penny’s Hall of Fame achievement or to meet her children. Denna died of ovarian cancer in 2012 and Michael of lung cancer in 2014. But other family members are coming for the induction, and Penny and Diana spent two months in Australia after the 2021 WNBA season.

“You miss them near every day,” Taylor says of her parents. “But especially when you have kids and you not only need the help but you want to reflect on your own childhood and they’re not there. When did I walk, when did I talk, all those milestones you can’t ask about. Leo’s at an age where he asks where are your mom and your dad.

“Diana and I think about our families being the center of our universe. I’m really thankful we have that similar mindset and we get to go through this together.”