The SoapBoxers

This weekend marks the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One.  Yep, the final Potter book is being split into two movies (part 2 due next July) in an effort to maximize revenue.

Honestly, this really isn’t the genre for me.  My favorite writers generally stay in the mystery and suspense genres (although the Preston/Child books swing a bit into the paranormal).  When I get tired of those writers, I have a backlog of classics to catch up on.  Quite honestly, the wizards, witches, and vampires that currently capture the attention of society are really not my cup of tea.  I haven’t read any of the Potter books, and was quickly bored when I saw one of the movies on TV.

Logically, then, you probably think that I’m not a fan of Harry.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

As disinterested as I am in the genre, I am thrilled to see young readers picking up a book – any book.  If the Harry Potter tomes are the gateway books to Shakespeare, Dickens, and Block, then J.K. Rowling is doing society a great service.  Just as interesting is the fact that many adults are getting into Potter – cracking open a book instead of spending time in front of the TV.

Even television – which I occassionally refer to as the “idiot box” has come into an era where there are many educational shows gaining in popularity.  I’ve always been a fan of crime shows (NCIS is my current favorite), and there are a ton of shows on TV that delve into the science of forensics (albeit sometimes in a sensationalistic fashion) as well as the inductive reasoning techniques used by detectives – techniques that can be quite valuable in solving real-life problems.

The upshot of all of this is that the old stereotype of smart people being “squares” and “not cool” is starting to erode, as smart characters take the lead in many popular books, movies, and television shows.  Anything that causes kids to have a positive view of education is a good thing, in my opinion.

The story behind the Harry Potter story is also interesting to me.  J.K. Rowling wrote the first book while on government aid and after beating back clinical depression.  How’s that for a Horatio Alger story?  The money that England spent on Rowling was pretty well spent – imagine how many millions she had paid in taxes over the years!  Additionally, Rowling is involved with a number of charities in Britain.

Last year I penned a “Things I Am Thankful For” article and I thought it would be fun to look back, see what I predicted and was thankful for then, and see if that still holds true today.

Last year I said, “I am thankful for my children. Two wonderful, healthy boys who were not “ruined” by my decision to breastfeed, delay solids until 6 months, baby wear and vaccinate. (I know, a crazy combination!)”  This year, I am thankful for my THREE wonderful, healthy boys. Unknown to me, I was already pregnant with our third child when I wrote that last year. I am still thankful for my children, and while three boys under 5 are quite a handful, I wouldn’t change anything.

I was thankful for my parents and my husband last year. I still am. I am also thankful that after the birth of our third son, my husband and I made the (difficult yet easy) decision for me to leave the corporate world and be a stay at home mom. While things are tight, I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world, either. I am also thankful that this year I am using my college degree while being a freelance writer at home (Suite101, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Mommy’s Recess). While calculating Pension was fun (yes, I know, I’m sick), it wasn’t what I thought I’d be doing with my degree in English. I get to do what I love while spending time with my boys. I am SO thankful for that.

And now on to the reason you love Crunchy. The Politics. Last year I said:

“I am thankful for 2010. This way we can give a nice retirement party to those who will vote for the healthcare bill.

I am thankful that 2012 is only 3 years away. I think Barack needs to spend a little more time in Chicago … as the FORMER President.”

Not to toot my own horn, but TOOT! TOOT! Did I call that one or what? Public option died and while the healthcare bill did pass, the people let their voice be heard and voted a lot of Legislators out. I wonder how all of those retirement parties are shaping up?

This year, I am thankful Americans are not allowing their Government to be hijacked by the uber libs. The House has been restored to Republican power and Crazy Pelosi has been demoted to Minority Leader (I still can’t believe they kept her in a power position). Next step, get the TSA agents under control. I am not a fan of the full body scans and I am against TSA agents depantsing the eldery and taking children into private rooms (without parents) while they stick their hand down the child’s pants. Being a TSA agent doesn’t give you the right to become a molester. Is this the punishment the American public is forced to take because we wouldn’t blindly accept the Administrations wishes? Not cool.

I am still thankful that the “Obamaworship” is WAY down. As of yesterday, only 26% of Americans Strongly Approve while 42% Strongly Disapprove. Finally people have decided that the grass isn’t greener.

I am thankful that President G.W. Bush is still a class act. While Obama has taken every chance to blame Bush, in a recent interview, Bush was asked if he approved of the job Obama was doing. He responded “President Obama has got plenty of critics and I’m just not going to be one.” Total class act. 

I am thankful that 2012 is only two years away. Palin, Gingrich, whoever it may be, will be better than “The Great Fingerpointer” we have in office now. That’s the kind of ‘change’ I’m ‘hoping’ for.

This Thanksgiving, keep in mind those less fortunate than us. But don’t feel too bad about the 64 Democrats who lost their seats (jobs) to Republicans. They brought it on themselves. I saw it coming a year ago. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully you don’t have to fly anywhere.

[Editor’s note: we’re always looking for reporters to give account of the news with a local flavor.  Longtime reader Poch comes to us from the Philippines and gives his thoughts on the recent victory by Manny Pacquiao.  Check out Poch’s web site, Plato Press.]

When my great fellow countryman Manny ‘PacMan’ Pacquiao started dipping his toes in politics, I somewhat lost faith in him thinking he’s a fool. I should know – I risked my life during the EDSA Uprising in 1986 and after all, corruption still reigned.

Then comes this Pacquiao-Margarito fight when PacMan was already an elected congressman after some election failures. When I heard after the bout that his opponent Margarito was 17 pounds heavier, I thought with awe “What more miracle would this man do?”  (When PacMan was the same bantamweight with me, I imagined and itched of fighting with him)

And so now the House of Representatives is preparing a hero’s party for him. “We’ll prepare as best as we can”, the Speaker of the House said.

What PacMan’s fellow citizens are saying (quotes are from the Philippine Daily Inquirer – most were translated from the local language):

• “He becomes a symbol of hope, that one could work hard and be successful”, a kitchen helper said.
• Many are wondering why Pacquiao didn’t knock down Margarito when it seemed easy for PacMan to. “Manny is truly a gentleman”, a female accountant commented. “In the 11th and 12th rounds, he could have knocked out Margarito but he didn’t to avoid making worse the latter’s condition.”
• “I pity Margarito“, a public jeepney driver said. “He tore off PacMan’s photo in a magazine during Solar’s prefight interview… Now it was Margarito’s turn to be torn.”
• The most overheard comment about Margarito’s arrogance: “Serves him right for being so cocksure.”

I still think politics would ruin our dear PacMan and hope that it wouldn’t be so.

[Editor’s note: Check out more PacMan coverage on the Inquirer’s web site – there’s a special section for him.]

Much better weekend of games this week. Good thing I was not on record with picks last week as they would have been pathetic to say the least.

Texas looks like they will not be bowl eligible. Wow. National Title game to no bowl game.

Cam Newton still in the news although it has quieted down somewhat. Biggest football story of the weekend was Michael Vick’s performance in Monday night football. 6 Touchdowns…..who does he think he is? Gale Sayers?

Georgia State @ Alabama (-56.5) – Seriously who cares? Alabama 112,963 – GA State 4

 UCLA @ Washington (-2.5) – Which Bruins team shows up this week. A winning one! UCLA – 28 – Wash – 24

Friday

Fresno State @ Boise State (-30.5) –  Battle of states that don’t exist. Boise Needs style points on the smurf turf. BSU – 45- FSU – 14

 Saturday

Wisconsin (-6.5) @ Michigan – Power running vs small guy fast running. I take power running. Cheeseheads – 35- Mich – 28

Purdue @ Michigan State (-20.5) – Purdon’t covers! MSU – 31- PUR – 21

North Carolina State @ North Carolina (-2.5) – Battle of North Carolina. Give me powder Blue – NC – 21- NC State – 17

Stanford (-7.5) @ California – Andrew Luck for Heisman – Stan 21- Cal – 14

Thuh Ohio State (-3.5) @ Iowa – Buckeyes different on road, but Iowa is seriously overrated. OSU 28- IA 14

Virginia Tech (-2.5) @ Miami – Hurrigangsters different team at home. Upset special. Miami – 17. Va Tech 14

Illinois (-7.5) @ Northwestern – No Dan Persa, No Chance. Illinois 35- NW – 21

Mississippi @ LSU (-16.5) – Bengal tigers good one week not so good next but keep winning. LSU 12- Miss St – 9

Nebraska (-2.5) @ Texas A&M – Taylor Martinez 100%? More like 65% Blackshirts still good enough. Nebs – 31- A&M 21

Oklahoma (-7.5) @ Baylor – Boooooooomer Soooooner, they could still win the South. OU – 31- Baylor – 28

USC (-3.5) @ Oregon State – Ore St lost to Wazoo last week…..wowie. USC -32- Ore St 10

My buddy Lazy Man took a break from thrusting his lance into Mona Vie to take aim at another product, Protandim from LifeVantage.  After a spirited (and a bit strange) debate, one of the supporters of the product took the unexpected leap to the “the IRS is a scam” argument.  At which point, any credibility he had was completely gone.  The whole idea of the IRS not having the right to collect taxes is a myth propagated by a small segment of the population.  The IRS has actually debunked a variety of bogus arguments on their web site, citing relevant case law so that you can look it up if you decide not to take their word for it.

Last week, I read a story about a man who took his computer into a repair shop in 2004 and ended up with a $6 million bill (it’s actually true – here’s the article from the New York Times).  The unethical shop owner told the victim (Roger Davidson) that there was indeed a virus on his computer.  Later, he told Davidson that the source of the virus was found on a hard drive in a remote part of Honduras.  Even worse, it was part of a plot by Polish priests affiliated with Opus Dei – they were trying to infiltrate the US government!  Again, I remind you this this actually happened – it’s not some new Dan Brown novel.

Several years ago, I overheard a lady in the new row of cubicles talking about the unfortunate death of her grandmother.  As it turns out, since nobody else’s name was on her grandma’s bank accounts, they money went “in to the state”.  I nearly did a facepalm as a realized that the grandma had died “intestate”, that is, without a will.  In those cases, the assets are distributed to heirs according to the state’s law of intestate succession.  In general, the closest living relatives get the assets.  You do not simply forfeit your assets to the state if you die without a will.

It seems that people have lost their BS detector at some point.  It’s actually pretty sad, since there are a lot of resources to use when debunking myths.  The venerable Snopes debunks pretty much anything – and is a great site to browse even when you’re not in debunking mode.  Some people quibble with the question of whether or not political debunking sites like FactCheck are unbiased, but the fact of the matter is that they will at least give you a starting point for reasearch.  Want to do your debunking in front of the TV – MythBusters.

I’m not suggesting that you automatically assume that everything is a lie – but take things with a grain of salt.  When you hear something that sounds absolutely incredible, do a bit of research before believing it – even if you hear it from your mom.  In the case of the man with the computer virus from Honduras – take a step back and get a second opinion!  If you take a moment to do a bit of research, you’ll find a multitude of tools that can help you debunk or affirm an argument.

What do you do when you hit a writing block?

Well actually, I haven’t run into a writing block, I have simply not been writing during the effort to write a novel during the month of November. For this article, let’s pretend that I am sharing the problems of not knowing what to write.

First you must find a trigger. It could be something as simple as standing up and looking out the window. Who knows what you will see. It could be your character walking past, or the exact weather you need to describe. Get up and have something to eat. Maybe the people in your story need to eat as well.

If that does not work, perhaps you need a longer break. Take a walk, go shopping or go see a movie. I would suggest avoiding TV or surfing the web as these activities really chew up valuable time, while a movie or walk have definite ending points.

If you are still stuck, try a different writing event. Throw together a quick blog of anything you are working on. If you don’t have anywhere else to post, paste it as a response to my posting.

There is always a topic that you like to talk about, convert that into writing, just to keep the words coming. Eventually, you will drift back to the story that you want to finish.

I still recommend establishing deadlines for yourself, both to keep yourself honest and to drive towards completion. You can use events line National Novel Writing Month, or a short story completion. You may want to make a holiday or birthday as the deadline, especially if you want you story to be a present to a friend or family member. All that we write provides insight and entertainment. Keep writing even if you do not want so show anyone else your work.

After nearly five years of trusty service, my 1999 Ford Taurus began to experience a problem in the spring of 2004.  The speedometer would be accurate up to about 25 mph, but they would bounce wildly between 25 mph and 85 mph, regardless of the actual speed being driven.

At first, this was an infrequent problem, and then became gradually more common.  Of course, the problem never occurred when I took the car into the shop.  One of the mechanics apologized for his inability to troubleshoot the problem.  My response was that I worked in information technology and could fully understand the problem of a machine not reproducing a problem when you wanted it to (computers are notorious for this).

Some online research strongly suggested that the problem was with the vehicle speed sensor – an opinion that was backed up by some car experts in my office.  I had an extended warranty on the car, so the necessary repairs would be paid for, minus a small deductible.

The only problem was that the warranty company wouldn’t pay for a repair without the shop getting a reading from the onboard computer.  This made sense to me – they didn’t want to keep replacing parts until the shop fixed the problem by trial and error.  I continued to experience the problem – except for the times when I took it into the shop.  One time, the problem occurred for an entire weekend, only to cease on Monday when I took it in.

It was during this time that I learned that you really don’t need a speedometer.  You can gauge your rough speed by looking at the tachometer (engine RPMs).  This does vary a bit on hills, but you can make a rough estimate of your speed.  So I was able to drive the car without getting any speeding tickets, which was a small victory.  However, I was unable to use cruise control, which really sucked.

Finally, one weekend, the problem took a turn for the worse.  Not only was the speedometer not properly registering speeds above 25 mph, but the car was actually not moving any faster than 25.  There were some long drives that weekend.

At around 6:00 AM on Monday, I took a long drive down to the Ford dealer.  It was still early enough that the well-traveled road to the deal didn’t have many cars on it yet.  That’s exactly why I choose this time of day, of course – to minimize the risk of an accident.  The dealership opened at 8, so I pulled out a book and read for 90 minutes.

The dealership was able to get the Taurus looked at right away – and the computer was still throwing an error code.  Imagine my “surprise” when it indicated that the vehicle speed sensor was faulty.  A few minutes later, I was back on the road with a fully functioning speedometer.

The elections are over, “the people have spoken,” and as far as I can tell, we’re still a heavily divided country.  Partisanship has reached a fervor not seen in US politics before.  It’s beginning to match the rivalry you normally see reserved for Yankees vs. Red Sox or Duke vs UNC.  Remember the bank bailouts?  They’re once again making near-record profits, and all indications point to them still not making small business loans.  For the last 2 years the Republicans have whined about how the Democrats haven’t been bi-partisan, haven’t reached across the aisle, yet they’ll be even less accommodating in the house for the next 2 years.  Who are the ultimate losers in all this?

We are.

Not the politicians.  Not the corporations.  The average Joe and Jill.

Partisan politics is great for stump speeches, to rally your base, and to be able to point to your record the next time you’re up for re-election, but in the vast majority of elections 40% still voted for the other guy.  When someone is voted into office, they take an oath to serve the whole city, state, or country they serve, not just the people who just happened to vote for them.  It’s gotten to such a level of “us vs. them” that it’s not even an extreme ideology to claim “he’s not MY president” – I’m certainly guilty about saying that of Bush, although that’s as much from me thinking Cheney really ran the country as anything else.  There’s been so much joking about certain southwest states seceding it’s not even a joke any more, and you’d probably get support in the thousands of people in those states (and a larger number in the other 48) of those who would truly and actually want to see it happen.

So what can solve this problem of division?  Well, throughout history a common enemy was always a good rallying tool, but this “war on terrorism” is just another point of contention.  Your average Republican just wants to throw more money at the Pentagon and use fear to get votes.  Your average Democrat is spineless enough to cave into the fear to not lose votes.  Meanwhile anyone perceived as having any kind of ties to anything middle-eastern is seen as an enemy and if they weren’t an enemy before we’re well on the way to making them a new one.  Besides, war should always be the absolute last option, the option you try when you’ve exhausted every other one.  If any politician wants to get my vote on national defense they’d have to outline a solid plan of upgrading the power grid, safeguarding our ports, and setting up a new government agency to deal with cyber-attacks.  I’m sure your average Tea Partier or conservative would decry that as simply more government spending, though, but while making those claims the military would continue to throw billions at aircraft carriers, tanks, and jet fighters.  Because those are so useful against Al-Qaeda. 

Heck, on the subject of “the party of small government” here’s a nice little factoid:  under the modern Republican demi-god, Reagan, the government grew at a faster rate than the Carter administration.  The G.W. Bush administration created one of the largest government departments our country has ever seen.  I guess when you combine that with not putting the cost of Iraq or Afghanistan on the books, they should change that slogan to “the party of small government, except in times of war.”  Oh, wait, they’re the hawkish party too, aren’t they?

The 2 party system is certainly part of the problem.  I sometimes doubt we even have 2 parties, just 1 group of politicians who join one club or the other to help move their career.  We need a viable 3rd party, or even a 4th one but that’s not likely to happen with the way Washington is currently run.  Politics is without a doubt an insiders game, and one of the biggest promises Obama gave was to change that, but it certainly hasn’t happened and won’t as long as campaign funding is allowed in the current form.  The solution?  Make corporate political donations illegal and have a manditory public fund for legitimate candidates.  Lower the cap on individual donations so politics doesn’t remain a rich-people-only club.  Make any kind of political media 100% transparent in terms of finance.

When politics is so partisan that Republican leaders are saying their primary goal is to make Obama a 1 term president, we’re all losers.  We the people should be their primary goal, and we’re all in this together.  When our country is divided, the only winners are the corporations, and as time marches on more and more of them are owned by non-Americans or ship their money overseas.

No picks this week as I want to go around the world of college football.

Coaching changes – Adios Dan Hawkins in Colorado. I guess we all figured out now who the real brains behind the Boise State empire was when you were still coaching there.  Too bad the Buffs athletic department did not figure that out sooner.  The last straw was the 35 point meltdown to the Kansas Jayhawks who rallied from that huge deficit for the 2^nd largest comeback win in NCAA history.

Cam Newton – This gets better every day.  First the $200,000 allegation.  Then the cheating allegation.  Now this morning the money allegation again.  Why does this type of thing always seem to pop up in the SEC?  Are their fans just so rabid that they have spies everywhere on everyone else’s campuses to get an edge when their team is down and some other team is up?  I call it the SEConspiracy theory.  What I still don’t get is how he goes from Florida to a Juco, before coming back.  I mean would sitting out a year somewhere have really been any worse … or … did he really need some academic help meaning the allegations of cheating at Florida could be true? Hmmmmmmmm.  Can’t wait to see what unfolds as this week progresses as news seems to come out daily on the current Heisman Trophy Front Runner.

Heisman – First it was all Denard Robinson’s to lose.  Now it might be Cam Newton beating various raps to keep the hardware.  Of course an Iron Bowl spoiler courtesy of the Tide could change a lot of voters minds in November.  Kind of reminds me of the year Deshaun Foster was running away with it and then got in trouble and suspended … along with his Heisman hopes.  This could be the year of the last man standing wins.

Big XII – The might South Division is struggling.  Bad losses last week by Oklahoma and Texas, well, I have thrown them under the bus for weeks now, more on that later.  Oklahoma State looks to be in control in the South, who the heck would have predicted that to start the year.  Also thanks to the Missouri Tigers who once again show they have no coaching, abandon the running game and get throttled in the last three quarters for a horrible loss at Texas Tech. Merry Christmas Nebraska, you just won the North.

Texas – I have been piling on for weeks, it will get worse.  Does anyone think they are going to stop Oklahoma State this week?  Texas is in SERIOUS jeopardy of not being bowl eligible.  From BCS title game to not even making the Motor City Bowl.  Wow it must really be bad to be a Longhorn fan this year.

Oregon – These guys are Playstation 3 football.  Can anyone hold them under 50 points?  Does anyone want to play them at all?  The weird thing is when you watch them play they really don’t look that good, they just score fast, play fast and wear other teams out.  Wonder when someone figures out how to stop that from happening.

TCU to the Big East – Horned Frog Officials are indicating they want the all or nothing package.  They are not just going to jump ship for football, where they would roll, but they want the mighty basketball program to travel thousands of miles each week to get their butts kicked in the biggest thug ball conference in America.  Good for you for standing up to your beliefs.

This is one of the worst weekends for college football this year.  Due to many traditionally good teams struggling there are not a lot of meaningful games this week.  I will be back next week with picks, but if you want a short list…..Take Oregon, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and until next week, good luck!

Today marks the 500th article I have written for this blog, over a span of two years (kudos as well to the other writers, who have contributed more than 200 articles).  Have I learned anything over the years?  Yep.  My thoughts, after 500 articles.

If you’re thinking about starting, do it NOW.  I neglected my writing for about a decade simply because lack of feedback in the traditional writing model bothered me.  I could never tell how good or bad writing was unless I actively sought out friends to read my writing (and I didn’t feel like stalking people in order to get their opinion).  With the internet, you can throw something out there are see if people like it (and since they don’t know you personally, the feedback can be more honest).  Not sure if YOU want to start a blog?  If you’re thinking about it, do it now.  You can either use a free service, or have a blog at your own domain name.  If you use this link, you can have hosting through Dreamhost for a discounted cost of $36 for the entire first year (full price is currently $119.40 for a year).  Give it a year and see if you like it.  If you aren’t enjoying it, just quit.  There’s no shame in that – there are a lot of abandoned blogs on the internet.  Don’t be surprised if you get addicted. 

Most bloggers are great people.  One thing that I didn’t really expect when I started were the friendships I would build with other bloggers.  Lazy Man and I have been friends for a while, of course, but I’ve also become friends with people like Evan, SVB, and Johnny Sacks (this is not an all-inclusive list – if you’re reading this and feel excluded, rest assured that I probably could have filled the entire article with names).  These three would be an odd trio if they ever bumped into each other – there’s really no single tie that would bind them together.  Each of them resonates with a different aspect of my personality.  Also, when I have asked questions of other bloggers (generally of a technical nature regarding how they achieved a certain look on their site), I have always received nice responses.  Certainly no blogger wants you to rip off their entire theme, but they are willing to show you how certain pieces work.

It’s a team effort.  I started this site as one guy throwing  out random observations (hence the original title “The Casual Observer”).  There came a point where it took a sharp turn and became the dynamic multi-author site you see today.  It really hasn’t been that difficult to get people to write (especially since the only financial benefit they are working toward is the promise of sharing of profits, when those profits occur).  While there has been turnover, it has been manageable. 

Plagiarism sucks.  Luckily, this issue has only come up once, but when I found that a former writer had stolen content from other and attributed it to themself, it was a dark day for me as an editor.  By nature, I am a very trusting person … but since that day, I am less trusting. 

The money isn’t great.  I was hoping that ad revenue would quickly defray costs and make me a millionaire.  Well, help me break even, at least.  Unfortunately, the site is still leaking a bit of red ink.  I’ve made some conscious decisions that prevent me from maximizing ad revenue.  I minimize the ads that are shown to regular visitors and don’t show any ads at all in the RSS feeds.  I’ve also made an effort to weed out ads that I think are scammy, irrelevant (I’m still working on the soap ads, but think I’ve gotten rid of the ads for boxer dogs), or just downright ugly.  I can’t possibly catch all of them, but I’ll catch as many as I can in order to enhance the visitor experience a bit.  Of course, the ads that I feel are a  bit scammy are probably the ones that pay the best.  I’m trying to figure out exactly how much time I have spent on the site over the years – writing 500 articles, recruiting writers, coordinating the schedule, making code changes … it’s a substantial amount of energy.

Political articles are popular.  This is hardly a surprise, as politics is the national pastime of the United States.  For the longest time, I avoided having official political columns (aside from occasional rants from me).  Eventually, I figured out a format that would work – have two writers from each camp, and have them write on alternate weeks.  I wasn’t really sure how well it would work out, but I think it’s fair to say that The Political Observers has been a hit.  I also worried a bit that the tone of comments would get out of hand.  There have been spirited discussions, but it seems that people are generally able to avoid personal attacks.

People like it.  You never know how well received something will be.  We’re far from the most popular blog in the world, but we do have our fans, and the positive comments out-number the negative by a wide margin.  I can count the number of outright negative comments on one hand.  The personal notes I receive via email are a great motivator to continue my writing.

OK, that’s all for now.  500 articles down, 9500 to go!