I need to go watch some football

 I can finally see how insanity begins.

 Take a man.

Take him and put him in a cage of any and no particular size. Stick him there for a good long time with nothing else and he very well might start to pace, just to “stay in shape.” Next thing you know he begins to count steps. How many across to here and how few accounting for this and that, just to “stay mentally sharp.” Then, struggling with mid-high school level math skills he starts computing and writing down. And he figures, if only to pass the time, the dimensions and square footage of the cell.

But even that victory fades and he must consider his confinement from another angle – the above and beyond. A new dimension in perception. So now a bit more climbing and counting and retooling the numbers. Quick estimations and the cubic feet appear leading to a consideration of the volume of the air and, as a passing gag, a joke about who pays for it all.

The years resume to refuse to resume and he, that man, stuck in a box, familiar with its every corner and cobweb, in an exercise to keep himself sharp reconsiders the question of cost and the volume of a human breath. He counts his own ins-and-outs, logging his lungs’ work and figuring his annual consumption of air. Bills had to be paid so a going rate, one that made sense considering comps, was established and he began to figure his daily air use in dollars per minute. He WAS sharp. He WAS in shape. He was the old man about the house – ask him any question about his cell and he can tell you a story. Ah, the adventures that that cell and he shared.

Then one day he is released. But where others see freedom he can only see disorder, unpredictability and an overflow of stimuli and no one else seems to notice. He is drowning in all that is happening, weaving uneasily through the street. He needs an apartment and insists on measuring its dimensions and working his numbers as he mumbles to himself.  He wonders aloud about the price of oxygen compared to the rate 24 hours ago and sounds as perfectly reasonable as any man who chooses to go into finance. He cannot interact with anyone, can’t leave his comfort zone and ends up recreating the world with which he is most recently familiar and retreating into that fantasy. He was more free when he was in a cell than when he wasn’t.

And we look at him, homeless, obsessed, angry and constantly shouting random numbers or words, and even prone to violent outbursts – this insanity might be so attractive to the patient because the real world cannot promise the same payoff.

I Can Fly

Over this past weekend, I learned something very important from my almost 3 year old great niece. She reports that she can fly. I see no reason to argue the point as she seemed rather insistent and it was not in anyone's best interest to disagree.

What I found most incredible was the variety of responses to the claim.

1. No you can't

2. How do you do that?

3. Can I fly, too?

only one person asked a really useful question: "Where will you fly to?"

Upon the 100th watching of the Avengers

Marvel Questions:

Why would Captain America's costume ever have a mask on it? The whole world knows he's Steve Rogers, so no one has to hide an identity.

What is a "god" in the MCU version of Norse mythology? Loki was adopted from Frost Giants. How does he get elevated to god stats as the god of mischief? ("the humans think US immortal" but no one thinks Frost Giants are immortal).

At the end of the Avengers movie, how does Thor take Loki back to Asgard? They both hold on to some device and Thir twists one end and they go. Was that via the bifrost? Something else? Did the device call the bifrost? Was it Helmdal? Or what?

Why they hate us

I have been hearing and reading much, this high holiday season, about the dual natures of the day and even the (seemingly) dual nature of our relationship with Hashem. he is both father and king and the two separate roles contextualize aspects of our prayer. More about that maybe later. But first, a note about dual natures.

We, as a people, are driven by our need to reconcile a variety of approaches and ideas. Our pilgrimage holidays are both remembereances of the Exodus and agricultural celebrations. Channukah has both the mirculous oil and the miraculous victories in war. Our sabbath is marked by the obligation both the guard and remember. Even in that relationship to God we start with a concept of "the attribute of justice" and the "attribute of mercy" and then we move to "father" and "mother" (or the aforesaid father and king).

But we, too, are defined by a split nature. We pray for peace. Our daily and holiday texts are filled with wishes for a peaceful present and a messianically peaceful future. We avoid conflict and sing songs about not having to be at war. And the world knows us as its door mat because our history is full of people oppressing us. Only rarely do we fight back, do we assert our natural right to existence. And when we do, we expect to lose so our cultural stories are of surprising victories and unlikely heroes.

However in our historical texts, we are taught to pray for peace but prepare for war. The world needs to stop seeing us as the default patsy and eternal victim, and it doesn't want to. We are so expected to let people stomp on us that when we respond, our actions are addressed as a unique behavior -- we are judged by a separate standard imposed upon as "peaceful people."

Why do they hate us?

Historically, the answers included "because we are different" and "because we did something which was an affront to their religious ideals" and we can add to it "because we are supposed to roll over and yet we fought back."

The DH and why I don't like it

 Recently, I listed my view of the newer rules in baseball (I have opinions about football, but that's a story for a different blog post). I have help strong opinions about baseball rules for a while and one which I have been against for a long time (in either league) is the designated hitter rule. Now that it has infiltrated the National League, I fear that its insidious nature will begin to infect the game as a whole.

Baseball is a chess match, slow and minute. The pace should be comfortable until it needs to be otherwise. The tension is often subtle and a result of the limited roster and the fact that the players play both offense and defense. The direct competition is (or was) highlighted by the face off of the pitchers, one pitching and one at bat, until the situation is reversed. In football, when does the quarteback of one team confront the QB of the other? Football fields two separate teams per side: the offense of one competes against the defense of the other. Offenses never meet, nor do defenses. Two simultaneous games are being played. Two separate quarterbacks are passing in the night (or mid afternoon).

But baseball requires that the players do double duty and see each other on both sides of the ball, and this should include pitchers. All players contribute to both phases of the team's efforts. The designated hitter upsets this balance (unlike the momentary pinch hitter or runner) as in the DH situation, one player is only playing offense and one is only there for defense. So we lose both the interaction between pitchers (I mean, in what sense is a game QB 1 vs. QB 2? It isn't. But when pitchers have to bat, they are more fully invested in the battle) and the full involvement of all players in the entire of the game.

What's next, official pitchers? Dead Fields?

Get rid of the DH and let the players play.

For music creators

I have written a song, with its basic chord progression, a central melodic motif, a counterpoint, a bridge, the whole thing. It is scored a capella with voices doing the "instrumental sections." 

Trick is, each "instrument" is on a separate track. The complete and priced final product is marketed and packaged with an audio app which helps makes editing music easy and making remixes a snap. The song is bundled and users can practice on it, raising, lowering and even eliminating parts while doubling others. All the studio tricks built in. People are encouraged to record their own sections over the selected tracks, replacing, copying or harmonizing with other tracks. 

Even the most beginner will be able to create. And any piece of music using one of my foundational tracks that makes it big invokes an essential clause that the musician has to pay royalties.

My View of Baseball Rules

I'm against the use of a clock -- for pitchers, or hitters...no clocks!

I'm against not allowing the shift.

I'm against metal bats.

I'm against the automatic man on 2nd in extra innings.

I'm against limiting how a manager can use position players as pitchers, or swapping in and out pitchers per batter.

I'm against the DH.

I'm against limits on throws to first.

I'm against the automatic intentional walk.

I'm totally FOR play review, challenges and appeals that use replay to get a call right.

Maybe it would be interesting if we started using some street rules (official catcher who is the way younger sibling of one of the players, ghost runners, and dead fields).