Hope vs. Calvin

Yesterday, Hope College defeated Calvin College 79-76 in basketball, their 167th meeting. Hope and Calvin are rivals (easily the fiercest in NCAA Division III) and have been featured by ESPN. In 2005, ESPN named the match-up as the #4 rivalry in all of college basketball.

If you live in West Michigan, are of Dutch heritage, or belong to a RCA or CRC congregation, you have probably have an awareness about the schools and the game. I don't, I'm not, and I'm not, but I learned to root against the Calvin Knights as part of the Dew Crew, Hope's orange-clad student section. Think of it as a D-III version of the Cameron Crazies. Now, I take pleasure in the suffering of the Knights on the hardcourt.

In recent years, alumni from the two schools have gathered around the country to watch the game together. We took pictures. So did other people, but their photos are not online - yet.

Go Dutch.

PS: Hope's mascot, the Flying Dutchmen, was coined in 1958.

Green Thursdays

In my high school, every Thursday was "Green Thursday" -- a chance to express one's...horniness. This could be enhanced by eating green M&Ms. Dannation's chief correspondent, Mrs. Nation, has learned that this Valentine's Day, green is the new red. In a press release dated Thursday (!), January 16, Mars Snackfoods US announced:

"...green the new color of love this Valentine's Day as the brand celebrates the myths, rumors and innuendo surrounding green M&M'S® Chocolate Candies. In support of this bold and fun declaration, retail establishments across the country will display limited edition all-green M&M'S® amidst a sea of traditional red and pink products. Consumers can find the all-green M&M'S® in packages from January 2008 through the Valentine's holiday."

The press release even shares stories behind the myth:

"Legend has it The Green Ones® are an aphrodisiac; rumors of their special
powers have been circulating since the '70s. In fact a certain perm-bearing
early '80s rock star had it in his contract for three pounds of Green
M&M'S® Chocolate Candies backstage for, uh, 'inspiration.'"

Gene Simmons could not be reached for comment.

Zdeno on hockey

Zdeno Chara is taller than many basketball players (6'9" without skates), but he prefers ice to the hardwood. He'll be in Atlanta this weekend for the all-star game. (He's also a great defenseman to pick up in NHL video games.)

Why reporters should stay in the press box...

Michael Benzie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution learns the nuances of hockey fighting in this instructional video. His teacher: Scott Pearson, former NHL player. Guess who won?

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/content/multimedia/video/index.html?clip=58479 (2:15)

(Tried to embed, with no success.)

Alien diamond?

UPDATE: "Dave" has found Area 51 and the softball diamond.


View Larger Map

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Area 51, Nevada's top secret military base, has a softball diamond. Naturally, spokespeople for the military have no comment.

Apparently, this softball diamond can be seen on Google maps. (Could someone share a link?)

PS: This reminds me that the town of Rachel, Nevada is home of the A'le Inn.

1990

While buying cake ingredients last night at McNally's, I noticed the "We ID" calendar. People born in 1990 are turning 18, able to buy cigarettes and smut. (I suppose they can vote and serve in the military, too, but the "We ID" calendar made no mention of those actions by 18-year-olds.) This means the first children of the 90s entering adulthood.

This is a sobering discovery, along the lines of the annual Beloit College Mindset List. This also means that a brand new record for 1990, They Might Be Giants' brand new album, Flood, is now an adult, too. (This may explain why the world is in love again, why we're maching hand in hand, and why the ocean levels are rising up.)

Is LSU Number 1?

According to Kenny White, COO of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the answer is no. He claims that his company could have created a more competitive BCS (of course, you could, too) and that OSU had as much team speed as LSU.

Read more at the Las Vegas Sun:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/18/s-spread/

Wow = Rick Nash

Rick Nash, superstar of the Columbus Blue Jackets, makes what Sportscenter has called the "Goal of the Year". This goal, scored with 25 seconds left, defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3.

Nice work, Rick.



PS: Click here for a nice story about Rick's charitable work in Columbus.

The value of humanities as a discipline

Uber-smart faculty-rockstar Stanley Fish discusses the value of the discipline of the humanities on his blog this week:

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/the-uses-of-the-humanities-part-two/

I agree with much of his argument. The industries that have grown around key literary and historical figures serve little to our society at-large. (Really, who needs a "Reagan" scholar?) However, I believe the true benefit of studies in the humanities is cultural enrichment. My abilities to listen and contribute to conversations are enhanced by knowing a little about many things. I can ask questions that allow others to enlighten me and introduce me to new works, new artists, new ideas.

How has studying the humanities benefitted you?

UPDATE on HLV...

(from their website): "HLV Community Schools serves the towns of Hartwick, Ladora, and Victor, Iowa, and comprises 126 square miles of Eastern Iowa's fertile crescent. "

It's good to know that Eastern Iowa has a "fertile crescent." (If you know what I mean...)

When rural Iowa school districts create webpages...

...the results can be quite amusing:

(all photos courtesy of HLV Community Schools in Victor, IA - http://www.hlv.k12.ia.us/.)

The School Board!


The bus drivers! (Note the camouflage pants and trucker hats.)


The custodians! (I think the overalls have a slimming effect, don't you?)

The kitchen staff!

The Principal!

The Columbus Dispatch

Here's an interesting 4-day timelapse of Nationwide Arena in Columbus:

Columbus Blue Jackets (hockey) to Trans-Siberian Orchestra (concert) to Harlem Globetrotters (basketball) back to Columbus Blue Jackets.

View the movie (I tried to embed it, with no success).

UPDATE: Dispatch now has an embedable version:

Iowa Caucus 2008

Sara and I attended the Democratic Caucus in Grinnell (Ward 4 at Davis ES) earlier this evening. Here are some observations from the caucus:

• We arrived at 6:20 to register, 40 minutes before the registration doors closed. We parked a block away from our caucus site, Davis Elementary. The registration line stretched through the cafeteria.


• I saw my first Chris Dodd for President supporter.


• Dennis Kucinich supporters outnumbered Dodd supporters.


• Obama supporters were the first to chant. Hillary Clinton supporters were quick to respond with a chant of their own.


• An Edwards supporter taped Edwards signs to a broom, to "clean up the mess".


• Clinton supporters were overwhelmingly female, roughly 10-to-1.


• Edwards and Obama had more representative supporters, with more balanced numbers of men and women. Obama skewed slightly younger than Edwards, though both had college students.

When the doors closed at 7 p.m., our precinct captain announced that 250 people had registered. Informally, friends who attended the 2004 caucus said this was twice the number at the 2004 caucus. This meant that candidates would need 38 people (15 percent) to be viable. Only three candidates - Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama - initially met viability. Supporters for Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, and Bill Richardson wooed each other. The three viable candidates also courted the supporters of the unviable candidates. Both Edwards and Obama offered Kucinich supporters a delegate at the county convention in exchange for support of their candidates.

Once people redistributed themselves, Obama won the caucus with 105 supporters (8 delegates), Edwards had 87 supporters (7 delegates), and Clinton had 59 supporters (4 delegates). Edwards and Obama benefitted more from the nonviable candidates than Clinton. After announcing the results, each group chose delegates and alternates for the county convention. A motion to adjourn passed and at 7:44 p.m., we were done.

It was democracy in action, and we participated.

PS: I agreed to serve as a delegate for Edwards at the Poweshiek county convention, March 15 in Malcom, Iowa. I will post more about that later...

PPS: Two websites for results:

Democrat: http://www.iowacaucusresults.com/

Republicans: http://www.iowagop.net/

A clean start to the new year...

I will try not to visualize this image as I caucus tonight:

(It's a neti pot, used to perform nasal irrigation.)