Category Archives: General

General

Were ancient Greek athletes tougher than today’s Olympians?

Fascinating article from Slate Magazine that compares some Olympic scores from ancient Greek athletes to those of modern Olympians.  The results are alternately predictable and fascinating:

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/explainer/2012/07/london_olympics_would_ancient_greek_athletes.html

One of the great “What ifs” of the sporting world is the idea of taking a famous (older) team in its prime and theoretically putting it up against another (modern) formidable team.  Kobe Bryant cracked that window a bit when he made reference to this current Olympic Basketball team being able to beat the “Dream Team” of 1992.  The critics instantly scoffed at Bryant’s statements.  Many of them felt there was absolutely no way that this current Olympic basketball team could win even one game against the 1992 team.

But I wonder.

A few years before he passed away, Jim Mandich, the plainspoken and very entertaining ex-Miami Dolphin tight end and radio announcer noted that while he prided himself for having been a part of the “Undefeated” Dolphin team of 1972 as well as what many consider the even better Superbowl winning team of 1973 (though they did not replicate their undefeated record of the year before), he felt that as legendary as those teams were, they wouldn’t put up much of a fight against modern football teams.

The fact is that with each passing year, modern athletics become more and more of a science.  And thanks to larger financial rewards, many athletes today can spend virtually the entire year conditioning themselves into peak physical shape.  Back in the early 1970’s, it was not uncommon for football players to spent the off season working at other jobs to sustain themselves.  A friend of mine, for example, recalled meeting Larry Csonka, perhaps one of the most famous of those Miami Dolphins, working at a car dealership during his off season.

So, who would win…today’s athletes or those of yesteryear?  In the end, its all theory.

But if someone one day comes up with a time machine and brings athletes from the past in their prime to play against athletes of the present (or more recent past)…Even though I’d love to think that some of my favorite athletes and teams from the past are and will always be the best, I think I’d put my money on more the modern athletes over them.

General

Texas man finds his car 42 years after it was stolen…

Absolutely fascinating article that proves -at least in this instance!- that persistence can certainly pay off:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/16/us/california-stolen-car/index.html

One of those stories that is both incredible and encouraging.  Sometimes, a wrong can indeed be righted.  Hope the gentleman’s recovered 1967 Austin-Healey is in good working order!

General, Movies

Kristen Stewart iPhone ad…

Pretty hilarious stuff:

For the record, I actually like Kristen Stewart, no more so than her turn in Adventureland.  Still, as I said before, this is too damn funny.

General

First Spacecraft to Reach Interstellar Space…?

Fascinating article from Time Magazine concerning Voyager 1, a spacecraft sent from Earth way back in 1977 which may now be reaching the edge of the Solar System…and entering into Interstellar space, making it the first such craft to do so:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/15/voyager-i-may-soon-become-the-first-spacecraft-to-reach-interstellar-space/

What is depressing to consider is the fact that this spacecraft was launched some 35 years ago and is only now reaching the edge of the Solar System, having traveled an incredible 11 BILLION miles.

General

Civil War Photo Mystery…

Absolutely fascinating article I found on The Huffington Post regarding Civil War era photographs found on the corpses of soldiers and the belated attempt to identify the people who were on the photographs.  This would obviously help identify both the victim and the family around them.  It is an admitted long shot given the length of time that has passed since the Civil War, yet one hopes that perhaps some name can be placed with some of the photographs:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/11/civil-war-photos-solve-mystery_n_1585750.html

General

Can Cops use Google to prevent murder?

Fascinating article by Will Oremus and posted on Slate Magazine regarding the possibility of the police using “real time” Google searches to possibly prevent crimes:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/06_could_cops_use_google_to_prevent_murder_.single.html

The first thing I thought about when I started reading this article was the Steven Spielberg directed movie Minority Report.  While not a big fan of the film (I thought the movie’s entire second act was really silly), the concept of crime prevention before the fact was fascinating and quite thought provoking.  The author of this article does mention that film, as well, but notes that while the movie’s science fictional psychics do not exist, it is possible to look in on suspicious Google searches while they occur to then get some idea of the possibility of a future crime.

People may Google all kinds of things, including how to commit various crimes, and it is that which the police, legally, could search for.

The big problem, however, is the same one that Minority Report alludes to: How do you know the person Googling suspicious/criminal things isn’t just curious and would never actually pursue anything illegal?  Further, if searching through real time Google queries becomes common place among law enforcement, there will inevitably be “jokers” out there who make criminal-sounding Google searches just to provoke a reaction.  Of that I have little doubt.

Still, fascinating article and food for thought.

General

Lost British WWII Fighter Plane Found in Egypt…

Absolutely fascinating article about the above with some incredible photographs and from CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/world/british-wwii-plane/index.html

What is so remarkable is the practically pristine shape the plane is in considering it crashed in the desert in 1942.  But the story is also chilling.  There is evidence that Sgt. Dennis Copping, the 24 year old pilot of the craft, survived the crash landing.  He no doubt perished some time later, a victim of the extreme desert heat.

The video presented below can be found on Huffington Post’s article regarding this same story (which itself can be found here):

As I said before, absolutely fascinating stuff!

General, Uncategorized

Fan of sports?

Then you’re probably not a fan of these, the teams with the 50 worst seasons in Sports history:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1170925-the-50-worst-seasons-in-sports-history

Many of them are familiar to me, but there were some very amusing ones I wasn’t familiar with.

Particularly amusing were some of the baseball teams of old mentioned, like the 1935 Boston Braves, who went on to a pathetic 38-115 record.  This team featured a nearly retired Babe Ruth.  Or the 1899 (yes, that 1899) Cleveland Spiders who managed a pathetic 20-134 record and 101 road loses (something that will never be equaled with today’s schedule).

Interesting, and at times hilarious, stuff.

General

Looking for a new car?

Chances are these are among the cars you’re not looking into buying:

http://247wallst.com/2012/05/03/the-cars-americans-will-not-buy/

Fascinating article, which uses a new car’s average length of time in a showroom to determine which ones are among those that sit the longest and, ergo, are probably the ones consumers least want to purchase.

What is even more interesting is some of the comments following the article, especially with regard to General Motor’s electronic Volt (which, by the way, DID NOT make this list).  Of late, Fox news and right wing pundits have made the car a punching bag of sorts, though the only reason I can see for it to be in their cross hairs is because President Obama a) helped the auto industry and b) actually had the temerity to talk positively about the vehicle.

I’m all in favor of electric cars, and hope that the Volt is only a prelude to what’s to come.

General

40 Weird Facts About the United States…

…read ’em all!

http://www.yolohub.com/facts/weird-fact-1

Fascinating stuff…though I admit being most curious about the saddest bits of information, such as:

Fact #2, #4, and #9.  66% of Americans are overweight?!  Supermarkets on average waste 3000 pounds of food each year?!  And we drink on average more than 600 sodas a year?!  All three facts seem to point out that we have an overabundance of food available to us.

Then you get to the equally sad fact numbers #5, #24, and #30.  The notion that 48% of people in the United States are considered living on low income or in poverty is very chilling.  Equally chilling are the later two facts, that 52% of children in Cleveland, Ohio also live in poverty and that of the roughly 313 million people in the United States, 46 million of them are on food stamps (or 15%).

Not all the information presented is depressing, and I could go on, but I’ll conclude on #14:  Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. president born in a hospital!