Random connections – or not?  You be the judge…  Among loose change, beer caps and various credit card receipts that I haven’t submitted for reimbursement yet, I found the following in the bottom of my bag…

Exhibit A:  “A photograph of the victims.”  Sorry, a Pee Wee’s Big Adventure movie quote….  OK, once more, from the top…

Exhibit A: A ripped out Outside magazine article with the heading “Which is the most reliable airport in the country?”  The article, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Jan-Dec 2007, says, “Salt Lake City wins the gold star with fewest delayed departures and arrivals of any major airport, as well as the second-fewest cancellations.”  ( I started this post with ‘random connections’ seems Salt Lake City Utah’s airport dosen’t even have any of those…!! )

Exhibit B: Another ripped out article….  This one from an AARP publication (I’m in advertising, OK?) with Center for Disease Control and Prevention as a source.  It’s titled “Puffing Away” and details percentage of smokers in each state (2006) from highest to lowest.  Highest is Kentucky.  Lowest?  Utah.

Exhibit C: Transworld Snowboarding April 2008 issue with article on Jim Mangan, “the man behind king’s crown park and the park city (Utah) all-stars.”  According to the article, “Mangan took his employer from ‘Ski Town USA’ (Park City’s nickname back in 2003 when Mangan first came onboard) to top five in Transworld’s Resort Poll park ranking within the course of one year.”  ( So, why is Alta holding out? )

What is all this supposed to mean?  As Pee Wee said in Big Adventure…

“Supposed to mean? Supposed to mean?! I think everyone here knows what this is supposed to mean.  When you’ve gone over something again and again….and again and again…..like I have….certain questions get answered. Others spring up! The mind plays tricks on you. You play tricks back! It’s like you’re unraveling a cable-knit sweater……that someone keeps knitting…and knitting and knitting…and knitting and knitting
and knitting!”

Another Zinn quote worth pondering (from my recenting readings and subsequent postings) leads me to Part 3… From his 1968 book, Disobedience and Democracy,

“In foreign policy, where once this country was on the periphery of the world’s problems, and could afford to be wrong because we were oceans removed from the core of difficulty – this is no longer true.  We have run out of space and out of time – we are no longer looking on while France, England and other imperial powers collided with insurrection.” 

“Now we are the imperial power in many areas of the world; having crossed all the oceans, our power is smack up aginst the nationalism and radicalism of the Third World, demanding change.  Neither President nor Congress seems to read the signs; they react slowly, cautiously, laboriously, as Louis XVI, and George III, and Tzar Nicholas did in their time.  Vietnam is the tip-off.”

OK, so there wasn’t a revolution - that is forty years old man…BUT dosen’t it seem a little familar to you in other ways?  Is that my grandma’s cucumbers or is something repeating on me?

The odd coincidences continue….

After plugging my ear phones into the sweet Continental Airlines seat back system, I found The Doors first album to listen to.  Like the Beatles album mentioned previously, this was also released in 1967 - just months before Zinn’s book in 1968.

So, continuing to read Zinn’s Disobedience and Democracy, while listening to Jim Morrison, I came across this: 

“Are not nations, operating in this tumultuous world, comparable to gangs inside the nation – seeking to enforce law and order in their own limited sphere, without considering law and order in their relations with others?  When nations ignore international agreements at will, are they not contributing to gang warfare in the world?”

Reminded me of some commentary regarding the “legality” of the Iraq war I heard — and then didn’t hear anymore.

Sounds a little like the view of “responsibility” in a Dead Milkmen song titled Bitchin’ Camaro.  In it, a young driver states, “my parents gave me a bitchin’ Camaro with no insurance to match.  If I happen to run you down, please don’t leave a scratch.”  So with rules existing, the driver operates in his own fashion expecting others to conform to his rules and pay for his mistakes. And, to him, he is right.

In Bitchin’ Camaro (from the Dead Milkmen’s first album Big Lizard in My Backyard) the band refers to The Doors first album song Crystal Ship….

MORE – Part 3: Repeating on Me

I’ve had a book on my shelf – Howard Zinn’s 1968 book Disobedience and Democracy - for years.  I’m sure I picked it up somewhere (contrary to popular advice) because of the title and thought it’d look a bit radical  on my shelf.  I read it recently on flights between Newark Liberty International and George Bush International airports (the irony, the irony).

As I opened the book, the Beatles’ Penny Lane came on over the speaker system (coincidence?).  Penny Lane (lyrics) came out on a single early in 1967 (with Strawberry Fields Forever) and later in November on the Mystical Mystery Tour album.

I mention this only because Zinn’s book was copyright-ed justa smidge later in 1968 – so obviously he was deep into writing it at the same point in time. 

Anyway, I happened to crack the book open the same time the Beatles’ song came on -sort of a “let’s do the time warp again” kind of moment (leaving me with a made me want more feeling)…

The book was written in response to a “current rush back to ‘law and order’” found in a booklet by Justice Abe Fortas of the Supreme Court titled Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience. 

I know dude, that’s the 60’s man.  Forget about it…  some may say/think.  But give me a moment (and please excuse the looong quote) but please, read on and think about this at this particular time of the year/political/presidential cycle…..history often repeats itself…

“The realities of American politics…are different than as described in old civics textbooks, which will tell us how fortunate (my emphasis) we are to have the ballot.  The major nominees for President are not chosen by the  ballot, but are picked FOR US (my emphasis) by a quadrennial political convention….. For months before the convention, the public has been conditioned by the mass media on who is who, so that it will not be tempted to think beyond that list which the party has approved. Thus, by August, the opinion polls will reflect the happy joining of public and party preference.”

Ouch!  So, are you saying that all the YouTube videos, the TV ads, the newspaper articles and all the other social media aren’t really all — real??

“It is one of the ironies of American system that the closer  we get to matters of life and death – that is, to the question of war and peace – the less does democracy function.   Vietnam shows this clearly:  The votes of the American people in 1964 (I wasn’t even born!) went decisively (my emphasis) to that candidate who rejected the idea of escalating the war in Southeast Asia.  He won, and then escalated the war.”

Just something to keep in the back of your mind…. (or the front)

MORE - Part 2: Big Lizard in Our Front Yard

The May issue of Outside magazine has an interesting/depressing article in Milestones section (page 30) about an aspiring big-mountain skiier who died during his first Warren Miller shoot.   A “Micro-Rant” on the page mentions, “Action-sports athletes deserve real insurance….We’re sick of passing the hat at local bars to raise money for their orphans and six-figure operations. Sponsors: Get with the program.”

I recall some fund raising (an eBay acution of pro MTB gear) for an injured downhill racer about eight years ago while I was working with Team Jamis.  More recently Tara Llanes crashed and damaged her spinal cord and is trying to raise money for surgery.  I’m certain these aren’t the only cases….

Back in the day of Hite-Rites, Ned Overend and Joe Murray, one pro mountain biker, Ron Andrews reportedly had a good deal with Fat Chance.  As part of his sponsorship/employment arrangement with Chris Chance – a visionary in more than East Coast mountain bikes apparently – he had health insurance. 

I was lucky because my wife worked for IBM at the time so my insurance was taken care of while I put the pedal to the dirt.  But what about all the other action sports folks… these days, the risks they take are soo much bigger.  Did you see those guys backflipping sleds at Winter X-Games???  YIKES!! 

The Courier-Journal of Louisville, KY reported the other day that Louisville Slugger will close their Ontario, CA non-wood bat manufacturing plant and move production of aluminum and composite bats to China.  Another one bites the dust.

Hillerich & Bradsby is parent company of Louisville Slugger traces its roots to 1884.

Wood bats will continue to be made in the good ole US-of-A, however.  So, there’s one good reason to ban metal bats – US consumers will be more likely to buy wood bats made at home if they can’t use metal ones….

From Shoot magazine’s February 29th issue, “In one TV spot (for the ‘Unscrew America’ campaign)…actor Paul Reubens surprises actress Missy Pyle as she is changing her closet light bult to an energy saving Compact Flourescent Lightbulb (CFL).”  The spot is here on Creativity online.

“A Federal court recently overturned a controversial Environmental Protection Agency regulation requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce mercury emissions,” according to Chemical & Engineering News April 7 issue.

Don’t ask me why the rule was eliminated.  I didn’t look into that…. But, mercury’s dangers are well documented.  So, apparently, now the regulatory heavy (metal) lifting is to be left up to the states instead of the EPA.  Well, that is, according to environmental activists and groups such as National Resources Defense Council and National Association of Clean Air Agencies.  The utility industry however dosen’t agree with that statement.

“Ultimately, EPA may issue a new regulation controlling mercury emissions from power-generating facilities…. the new rule will take years to establish.”  The Congressional Research Service, “predicts that setting the new standards might take as long as three years because the EPA will have to gather new data on mercury emissions and the effectiveness of control technologies.” 

Meanwhile the mercury keeps falling…

Reached into the fridge hoping for a spinach pie (triangular dough stuffed with spinach from my Arabic cook neighbor)… pulled out a baggie and opened it up to find hamentaschen (a triangular cookie stuffed w/ jelly or nuts from my step mother for Jewish holiday Purim).   

Nothing meant, nothing implied, nothing religious, nothing political, nothing noteable about this post – just struck me as odd on a couple levels. 

Oddly, the first registered trademark was a triangle - by Bass Ale.  Guess that leads to another – colonialism/superiority thing.  Nothing meant by that either. 

Man, I just wanted a spinach pie or a cookie (or a good pale ale)…..why’s everything so dern complicated?