In 1929 if you wanted to fly from New York to LA, you would hop on a TWA flights (then TAT) and it would take you 48 hours with 10 stops and cost $351.94 one-way.  I’m not feeling a lot of progress here…

My Colon.

That’s right, I’ve come to that [certain] age where I get to know my colon a bit more intimately.  All is well and that baby is clean as a whistle now.  The 24-hour fast before the procedure is a great jump start on a diet.  Isn’t this what blogs are for?  Posting your most inner doings….?

The Sheer Size of the US Economy

I sometimes forget the sheer size of the US economy.  This map from the US Mayors Annual Report shows that 37 of the top 100 economies in the world are US Cities/metropolitan regions.  Boston is the 40th largest economy in the world, Dallas is larger than Argentina’s economy.  Which just proves that size still does not trump quality…

My favorite Amherst Police Log of the week…

“Oct 1 1:27am - Officers issued a verbal warning to more than a dozen residents, both men and women, who were found outside the Presidential Apartments complex wearing only undergarmets and dancing to Madonna music.”

That’s my town!  

The Euthanasia Coaster.

I *so* love when form and function come together to create great design!

Julijonas Urbonas has designed his Euthanasia Coaster.  The 3 minute ride involves a long, slow climb for 1/3 of a mile that lifts one to a height of more than 1,600 feet, followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and placed loops.  The final descent and series of loops take all of one minute, but the gravitational force - 10Gs - at 223 mph in that single minute is lethal.  

According to Ubonas, the Euthanasia Coaster is engineered to humanely - with elegance and euophoria - take the life of a human being.  Urbonas sees the coaster’s ability to deliver both an intellectual and artful departure from the world, one that isn’t about the paperwork and medical issues of the current euthanasia system where it is legal - like Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Oregon and Washington.

“There is no special ritual, nor is death given special meaning except that of the legal procedures and psychological preparation.  It is like death is divorced from our cultural life…”, Urbonas writes, “But if it is already legal, why not make it more meaningful?”

Amen, brother!  But first we’ve got to make it legal in the other 48 United States!

Well.

You had to admit, it was exciting.  Bottom of the ninth, two outs and two strikes on the LAST-PLACE Orioles’ Chris Davis and one of the best closers in the game on the mound for the Sox.  Tampa Bay was losing 7-0 in the 8th inning.  Finally the world order was righting itself after a month of desolation.  

I’ve been watching baseball since my first Washington Senators game in 1970.  Became a true Sox fan after first seeing the green of The Fens in that cruel year 1978.  But this past month of following the Sox, culminating in those 30 minutes last night, well, I will now forever be reminded that anything, just anything can happen in this game.  After having been in 1st place on September 1st and a 9 game lead to make the playoffs, the Sox will be playing golf this October.

The calculus was stunning.  As Nate Silver, the political statistician, points out, the odds of this happening were stupendous, or just stupid, at 278,000,000-1.  On September 3rd the Sox had a 99.7% probability of making the playoffs.  Papelbon facing Chris Davis (of the LAST PLACE Orioles) with two outs and two strikes had a 98% probability of sealing the win.  The Rays were down 7-0 in the 8th inning, giving them a 99.6% probability of losing.  Then, then, down 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth, they send up Dan Johnson to pinch hit, who was hitting .108 this year.  Just let that resonate for a bit.  Their only hope at this point was pinch hitting with a .108 hitter.  And he takes TWO strikes.  TWO.  And then promptly hits a home run to tie it.  My brain can’t even contemplate the probability of that, but it must lie somewhere in a zenith.  Silver says all that adds up to a 278,000,000 to 1 probability of those events unfolding.

When I saw Alison this morning [who truly understands the zen of the Sox and whom I met in Fenway Park] she just looked at me and let out wonderful laugh.  She smiled and said, “Of course they lost, silly, what did you expect?”

And you know what?  Even though we just witnessed the most historic regular season meltdown in baseball history [truly - no other team in 150 years has had a 99.7% probability of making the playoffs and blown it - we just took that title from the ‘69 Cubs], as midnight neared last night and I sat glued in place for that 30 minute span of twilight zone baseball, my thumb flipping back and forth between those two games, the gods were summing up for me why baseball is so fucking great.  It ain’t over till it’s over.

US Army Soldier serving in Iraq Booed by Republicans at Debate.

Just unfuckingbelievable.  And NOT ONE of these asshat candidates stood up for that soldier.  They should have stopped and said, “As commander-in-chief I will protect your rights as you are protecting our freedom.”  

This soldier is in HARMS WAY in the middle of a fucking WAR in Iraq - and these Republican ASSHOLES in the audience actually BOOED him.  They BOOED a soldier talking to them from the WAR.  What the fuck is the matter with these people?

Stephen Hill, US Army - Thanks for serving your country, no matter how fucked up it can be.

Sweet Jesus, who ARE these people?

media coverage:
Daily Mail
Examiner
Huffpo

Is he innocent?

139 US death row inmates have been exonerated and released since the death penalty was brought back to life in 1973.  How many more were actually innocent and killed by the state, as Troy Davis claimed with his last breath?

I just don’t understand how conservatives talk of removing the “chains of bondage imposed by the state” out of one side of their mouth, while saying we need to guarantee the state’s right to kill its citizens out of the other side of their mouth.  Hey folks, it’s the same inefficient, prone to failure and mistake government in both cases.

Check out the LIST of those who were sent to death row and lived to tell the tale [except, of course, those who were exonerated posthumously].