The rules of the road…an endangered species on California’s highways?

I see these up and down the highway, but more and more drivers ignoring them.

At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, as my mom used to say, I have to ask the question. Is there any traffic sign more ignored than this one? Not on California’s highways, if recent experience is any guide.

In the last month I’ve driven round trips from Sacramento to Newport Beach, to Weed (north of Shasta), to Fresno, and to Palo Alto, plus a jaunt from Palo Alto to Fresno, so I’ve spent a fair amount of time on I-5, SR99, and several other highways. I’ve noticed two phenomena that are markedly different from the past: slower drivers don’t yield the left lane (the “fast lane”) anymore, and drivers are using turn signals less and less these days, whether it’s for actual turns or for lane changes.

A Legacy of Philanthropy: The Lannings of Hastings, Nebraska

As a lifelong collector and longtime genealogy lover, one of my favorite hobbies since the advent of eBay has been to find trinkets up for auction that might have some relevance to my family history, then actually be able to make a connection.  This hasn’t happened too often (Johnny Lanning’s autograph was one of the first), but when it does it’s well worth the time and whatever the small cost of the item.

The old postcard that started the search…

Years ago I came across an old postcard on eBay of the Mary Lanning Fountain at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, a town I used to hang out in a bit when I was in grad school in nearby Amherst, oblivious to the existence of the fountain at the time. It turns out various generations of this postcard are readily available on the site on an ongoing basis. However, I knew nothing about the origins of the fountain or who Mary Lanning was, so I bought the card and filed it away as one of my “future projects.”

Random Musings of An Insomniac

Last night was one of THOSE nights. A splitting pain in the right side of my head…Excedrin did nothing for it. A few hours later, more Excedrin. I know, I know…caffeine in the Excedrin didn’t help the sleep issue. But the pain was serious, and Excedrin doesn’t usually keep me awake.

Yeah…these didn’t help.

As the splitting pain gradually subsided, the pressure built behind my forehead. An all-time sinus headache. Excedrin doesn’t cure that, but by the time I realized it was sinuses, I had already popped four Excedrin Migraine tablets. There would be no more medication tonight.

I was awake all night. And my brain was in high gear. It went something like this:

Win or lose, that was a fun Super Bowl. But so frustrating.

FIVE YARDS.

PEDs: Here We Go Again

Yes, here we go again…

Just as the Super Bowl approaches and baseball’s spring training follows closely afterward, sports news is being dominated not by positive, feel-good stories, but by a gaggle of new allegations against NFL and MLB stars for performance-enhancing drugs.

ARod won’t be doing much smiling anytime soon.

First came news from Miami that a suspected PED-dealing doctor’s files contained some big names. Once again we see Alex Rodriguez among the suspected cheaters. No surprise there. Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon, two players whose positive tests and subsequent suspensions made news last season, are also among those named…which certainly doesn’t bode well for the others on the list. Gio Gonzalez, suddenly a 21-game winner last year, and Nelson Cruz, the 2011 ALCS MVP, are also on the list. And, along with these guys, others appearing in the files included the University of Miami’s longtime strength and conditioning coach; a Cuban boxer; and a professional tennis player who has already been suspended from tennis for trafficking in HGH.

Ray Lewis: was his recovery legit?

And at the same time, in a separate story, news broke that Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis’s miraculous recovery this season from a torn triceps may not have been so miraculous.

(Rodriguez and Lewis both attended the University of Miami, though long before the current strength coach was there. So have countless other professional football and baseball players, including major stars past and present.)

While Super Bowl week is now tainted with stories about Lewis’s possible pharmacological aids, the Miami story sure sounds like BALCO 2.0, and it’s only a matter of time before it mushrooms into suspensions, criminal charges, and lawsuits as players scramble for cover and lawyers start revving their engines. And surely it’s only a matter of time before the Yankees try to void the rest of the aging Rodriguez’s albatross of a contract, which will only lead to more dates in courtrooms rather than on ball fields.

A decade ago BALCO blew up, and its stench hung on sport for years, right up to and including this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame voting. Just as it started to fade, finally, the Lance Armstrong debacle hits television and then the Miami story breaks. Here we go again. Is this what sport has become? Doping, rumors, investigations, suspensions, tarnished championships, soiled legacies?

What a shame. What an absolute shame.

Thank you, Palladia

This album from Grace Potter & The Nocturnals is still on heavy rotation in my collection.

Every now and then I run across a significant new artist whose music I’d never find without a prompt somewhere. Back in 2010, Rolling Stone featured the fourth Grace Potter & The Nocturnals album as one of the breakthrough albums of the year, so I gave it a listen and was immediately transfixed, and not just by the big hit on that album, “Paris,” but by the entire album. “Money,” “One Short Night,” “Tiny Light,” and basically every song on the album became staples for me in my car and on my iPod, and still are to this day.

Recently I was flipping channels and caught one of those filler segments Palladia puts before the top of the hour, when one show ends at maybe 10 til the hour and they stick a random video in to fill some time (remember music videos, MTV? VH-1? Or any actual music programming? Yeah, those were the days…).

Can we talk?

I rarely post ‘political’ commentary, either on blogs or on Facebook posts or anywhere else. I’ve become so disturbed by so much of the rhetoric I see, particularly during the recent electoral cycle that seemed to go on forever, that I prefer to educate myself on specific issues and candidates and vote my conscience without necessarily sharing it, debating it, and fighting with others about it.

A flag flies at half-staff on Main Street in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 15 2012 (David Goldman/AP)

However, the events of these past few days, both the Connecticut school shooting and the aftermath, have left me unable to focus on everyday life this Christmas season…yet thankful that’s my biggest issue and that I’m not a resident of Newtown.

Like millions of others, I was stunned and shaken as news of the Sandy Hook shootings broke, and it only got worse as we learned the details…the ages of the children…the heroics of the school staff, both survivors and, sadly, those who perished…the horrific scene the first responders walked into…and the senseless losses that will continue to be felt for generations.

The Philanthropist: A failed drama, but what about a reality show?

Reblogged from Philanthropy Matters:

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I've been seeing commercials for the new Kevin Bacon TV drama called The Following lately, which co-stars James Purefoy as an imprisoned serial killer who has somehow created a Manson-like flock of followers.

What does this have to do with philanthropy? Well, very little...except that I couldn't place where I remembered Purefoy from...until I looked him up. Turns out this is quite a departure from the show he was the lead in a few years back, a 2009 NBC summertime drama called…

Read more… 661 more words

While I can't stand 99% of reality shows, I got to thinking about what a meaningful reality show might look like...and here it is, in a nutshell.