Weekly Thought Bonanza Sept 27

On Sunday, I produce a column called “The Weekly Thought Bonanza”. The column is based on all of the random thoughts that run through my head all week, and trust me there are a plethora of them. I will try to share as many of these thoughts as I can, so each one of my readers can think just a little bit extra over the weekend.


Does Any Know How to Use Half the Things In Microsoft Office? Why is it so complicated when you just want to make a simple spreadsheet or to type my column?

Coaching children is a very noble thing to do, but it should not be about the coach living vicariously through the children. Whether it is on the soccer field or on the basketball court the games are about the children. Play to win but play everyone, it is the right thing to do.

I hate rain. I know it serves a purpose, but I hate it anyway.

Rhode Island drivers were voted the worst drivers in the United States. I must tell you, I need to stay out of Rhode Island then because if they are ranked lower then Massachusetts drivers, I will never go there again. I want to live, thank you.

Ever see a television commercial for prescription drugs? The list of, “Taking this medicine could cause….” keeps me away from all drugs. Please do not tell me the reactions that it could cause.

Vince Vaughn movies are funny stuff.

The New York Yankees clinched the American League East today with a weekend sweep of the Red Sox of Boston. Red Sox nation will blame everything and everyone as usual.

It might be just me but is Jay Leno’s new show is a lot like his tonight show?

If you are trying your hand at making pies try a combination of pears, apples and strawberries. I do not know why it tastes so good but it certainly does.

It is time to get rid of Indian Mascot names please!

I have a poll up on the website if it is time to get rid of the United Nations from the United States. We let leaders in from all these nations who have done great evils to the United States only to watch them get speaking engagements at one of our colleges. What a country we live in.

Read some of the blog comments about Elizabeth Edwards. People, having your husband cheat on you, father a daughter and make you a laughingstock to the nation while on chemo is enough to give her a pass. Lay up folks.

Police say they believe they have recovered the body of a woman whose suicidal jump from the Tappan Zee Bridge in suburban New York echoed her stepfather's plunge 15 years ago from the same span. State Police Sgt. Todd Parent says they believe the body found on Sunday afternoon in the Hudson River belongs to Anne Morell Petrillo.

Petrillo was the daughter of slain newspaper heiress Anne Scripps Douglas. Stepfather Scott Douglas leaped to his death from the bridge in 1994 after killing her mother. The family founded The Detroit News.

She was struggling financially, hitting the bottle hard and flirting with death in the years before her suicide, family and friends said. Witnesses saw Petrillo stop her car on the bridge and jump Thursday. What a terribly sad story

President Obama, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go. I would wholeheartedly support this if teachers were paid like lawyers and doctors.

The “Weekly Thought Bonanza of the Week” is; People say that 40 is the new thirty. If 40 was the new thirty then why do I have creaky joints, thinning hair and growing everywhere but where it is supposed to and oh yeah the ever expanding waistline if I eat one bad thing during the week. Forty is just plain old forty.

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Reality Bites

I was never a big science fiction fan growing up and I certainly was never into any type of GI Joe, Commando type adventures either. I lived in the here and now. I watched sports, sports and more sports and I played more than I watched. Over the last few years I have found that I am enjoying the Supernatural more and more.

The supernatural or science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science—these stories involve partially true-partially fictitious laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because it then ventures into the genre fantasy.

The plot creates situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. Science fiction texts also include a human element, explaining what effect new discoveries, happenings and scientific developments will have on us in the future.

The science fiction genre, an exciting collection of intellectual and physical adventure, overlaps a great deal with all other genres. As a result, it is very difficult to define the genre with one simple, straightforward definition that clarifies its relation to other genres. In particular, there is great debate about the differences and overlap between fantasy and science fiction. Science fiction fans, even those most entrenched in the genre, often have very strong and very divergent views on what constitutes a science or supernatural fiction work.

In general, science fiction is considered to be a genre that explores the question "what if?". It continually investigates moral, philosophical and technological possibilities by creating new and exciting realities. Expressing the idea that science fiction deals with "scientific topics, space travel, aliens and recognizably Earth-variant worlds or life forms that have not been touched by magic". Time travel is also a common theme in many science fiction novels.

With roots in the nineteenth century, science fiction or the supernatural is often recognized for its long and rich history as well as its intellectual content. It is also recognized for its diversity; within the genre there is great variation in the topics, themes and length of science fiction works. The following is a list of many of the themes that are covered within the genre of science fiction: Hard Science, New Wave, Ecology, Messianic/Religious, Dystopia/Utopia, Apocalypse, Alternate and Parallel Worlds, Time Travel, Time Warp, Lost Worlds, Immortality, Psionic Powers, Space Opera, Galactic Empires, Militaristic, Space Travel, Alien Beings, Computers, Automation, Cyberpunk, Robots, Androids, Cyborgs, Social Criticism, The Superhuman, Women in Science Fiction, Love and Sex, Detectives in Science Fiction, and Science Fantasy.

I read my first Dean Koontz novel about five years ago. I found an old book at a cabin I had rented from 1990 called the Bad Place. I was riveted with every turn of the page and I was a bit scared as my mind raced as I read word after word. From an old football player that is a big admission to make. When I finished the novel I was agonizing over the story for days. Never have I had such an experience after a book. I could not tell immediately if I even enjoyed it or if it was just something that was so out of the norm for me that I had to try another of Koontz’s books. I read about four more of his books and I had the same reaction every time. These books kept my interest and I raced to finish each and every one of them.

Steven King was my next author that I started to get in to, but I found his style to be a bit on the darker side than I wanted to be. Bone chilling is the only thing that comes to mind when I read his work. Horror is not for me. I did not find them to be entertaining and I just brushed aside my curiosity in the Supernatural for a little while and went back to the Jonathan Kellerman and Patricia Cornwell novels.

In the summer of 2005 I started seeing previews for a new television show called Lost. The clips of the show looked interesting enough and I watched the first episode. My god, I was hooked from day one. Every week I watched intently to try and bring some new fodder for all those water cooler conversations I had with colleagues the next day. The show was like a puzzle each week and the harder I tried to solve the puzzle the more frustrated I became. The frustration was absolutely fun for me and I know the show was doing exactly what it was supposed to do; it makes you think about the obvious only to never end up with the obvious.

Another show that has caught my interest is Fringe. An X-file type show, Fringe is a show that stretches the imagination weekly. While the show is over the top some weeks, Fringe is well worth the time.

The Supernatural for me is not about spaceships or about creatures from the Black Lagoon. I want real life situations where the out of the ordinary happens and you are left wondering if what you are seeing can really happen. The Supernatural is a thinking man’s genre and I love to think.

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The Metrosexual

I received several emails from friends and relatives about my intelligent cultured jock column. I was told over and over again that not only am I a cultured jock, I am a metrosexual to boot. The wheels started turning and the search for what this metrosexual is had to begin in my thought filled and exploratory mind.

Times are certainly changing for society in general. Very likely you will not find the changes felt more strongly than among the younger generation of men striving to realize their identities.

For decades, the epitome of masculinity was restraint and simplicity. Back then it was the man's job to earn the money, and the woman's job to spend it. For the most part men were not the ones to go shopping unless it was absolutely necessary and appropriate grooming for men was made up of taking a shower, combing his hair, brushing his teeth, and possibly shaving. When going out men were expected to be presentable and clean, however they were not expected to put in a great deal of time or thought into their appearances.

Fast forward to the present, young men face a similar confusing assortment of choices as well as responsibilities just like their female counterparts. The television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was in reality coined a lot earlier, in a 1994 news paper article.

Now we have the latest coined term; Metrosexual. Very frequently, Metrosexuals are described as heterosexual men who embrace their feminine inclinations. Whether this reflects the actual state of the term, the stereotype of the gay man involves immaculate taste in everything from shoes and clothes to literature and art. Hence, a straight man that displays similar tastes is said to be embracing his feminine side.

Metrosexual Evolution

In fact, Metrosexual is not a new concept at all. Many generations ago, a large subset of male society was impeccably dressed and to a greater extent a connoisseur of exquisite culture. This subset was made up of the wealthy, whose station in life called for rigorous adherence to the elaborate etiquette of the time. It was only the rich who had both the additional income as well as the time to devote themselves to the finer things in life. The Great Gatsby era so to speak.

The idea of the male as self-sacrificing benefactor is in reality comparatively new, at least among the middle and upper classes of society. Only with the drop in large estates that were full of servants, and the ensuing lack of free time, did the rules concerning etiquette, proper dress, and cultural pursuits start to relax. Society changed in a dramatic way during those years as well, with the wartime work ethic of World War II contributing to the counterculture revolution of the 1960s era, and then followed by the 1970’s counter culture era.

I have often wondered why it is that men universally prefer a more feminine woman whereas the opposite (or rather the same while we would expect the opposite) is true of women - they prefer a more feminine man rather than a more masculine one. To our modern sensibilities, that seems archaic, ignorant and unenlightened.

But can I define who is a metrosexual? It’s a question I’ve given thought to for as long as people have tried to convince me that pink is indeed my color. Contrary to common clichés my disregard isn’t a matter of discomfort with my sexuality. My Oyster card simply doesn’t cover the bandwagon.

A broad misconception of the metrosexual is that he is the grey area between the hetero and homosexual male; I find this reasoning unfounded. I am also indifferent to ideas that are heavily anchored by the metrosexual’s fashion sense. Are we so quick to forget the skinny jeans and tight T-Shirts of Grease’s T-Birds, and Danny’s compulsion to ensure his hair was always kept in righteous order? Replace the leather jacket with a cardigan (which Danny eventually did) and we have today’s man. Football players do not do well with those jeans however.

What then is a metrosexual? Well it’s more to do with social evolution than androgyny and knowing how narrow minded we men can be. Would it be so farfetched to pitch that this wave of image consciousness and liberal mind states is all a bid to improve our chances of getting a woman in bed?

The metro’s uniform is of importance and I do not wish to downplay this aspect. Their brash splashes of pastels and flashy accoutrements are arguably as noteworthy to their identity as black apparel is to Goths. The fashion codes may allow you to point out stereotypes and sub-cultures, but it doesn’t provide a clear indication of what they’re all about.

You see, this most certainly is no longer a man’s world, but it would be absolutely no fun without a woman torturing men. The further we drift from the creation of fire, the wheel, and the brilliance of sliced bread, the more this becomes undeniable. The liberal perception of the metrosexual stems from his acceptance of female independence in the Western world. A man’s car no longer holds defining value as it’s now more likely a woman will have her own. If a fight breaks out she’ll have her earrings off and hair tied back before a punch is landed. And what can he buy her that she can’t get herself . . . in the correct size with matching accessories?

It was once our differences that drew men and women together. As these differences have gradually dissolved with men having to seek alternative and less primitive methods of getting into the game with woman. Read my intelligent cultured jock column. Metrosexuality in this case is an expression of the similarities between men and women, simultaneously associating itself with stereotypes of homosexuality. After all, if you can’t beat them join them.

All is not lost for the macho, macho man. You’d lose a fair bit of money betting against a woman’s yearn for a man in uniform, hard hats, or Diet Coke breaks. The metro’s cutting edge is that he picks and chooses from the general consensus of what women want. He can keep the muscles and drop the dirty nails; the Timberland’s are traded in for plimsolls. Modern men, regardless the colors of our shirts are dropping chauvinistic tendencies for more open-minded principles. And no one is waving the pink flag on that one.


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President James Monroe a Genius?

President Monroe an Absolute Genius

     In 1823, President James Monroe played the political card and to what would later be termed the Monroe Doctrine proclaimed, "In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken part, nor does it comport with our policy, so to do."

     Skip ahead to 2009, add the Middle East and Latin America to the quote and you have President Genius Monroe.  Does the United States have to be the Police Captain of the world? I know the argument is that if America does not step up to the plate others will, like the Chinese and the Russians, but can we not find some middle ground?

     The United States spends 37.7 billion dollars of our tax money on foreign aid to countries who despise the United States. Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, all oil rich countries, who need foreign aid like we need more taxes.  Here is a list courtesy of Fox News on just how our foreign aid is being spent:

Much of the foreign aid budget is spent on military, disaster and humanitarian assistance; but some of the spending for 2010 will be heading to countries where dictators rule:

·                          $98 million to persuade Kim Jong-il of North Korea to give up nuclear weapons

·                          $20 million for political prisoners and political rights in Castro's Cuba

·                          $6 million to promote civil society in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela

·                          $500,000 for border security in Muammar al-Qaddafi's Libya

·                          $26 million to help train police in Evo Morales' Bolivia

·                          $56 million to support the rule of law and human rights in Vladimir Putin's

         Russia, arguably one of the world's richest nations

Yet large blocks from the economic aid budget are being parceled out for the Middle East:

·                          $360 million to Jordan to advance political reforms and make local health

         improvements

·                          $250 million for Egypt to push political and economic reforms

·                          $109 million to help foster democracy in Lebanon

·                          $400 million to the Palestinian Authority, which doesn't even represent the 1.5  

         million residents of Gaza

Some of that funding strikes critics as shortsighted and possibly dangerous to U.S. interests.

"I don't think we're really creating security forces for the Palestinians," with that money, said Bolton. "I think we're helping to subsidize an army for a putative Palestinian state."

Other large pieces of U.S. are going to fund objectives that may be of far less use for the U.S., including:

·                          $200 million to integrate Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina into the EU

·                          $177 million to fight greenhouse gas emissions in other countries

·                          $90 million promote energy independence and sound economic policy in former Soviet bloc Ukraine

·                          $62 million to develop a more vibrant civil society in Georgia

·                          $11 million to encourage reunification in Cyprus, which hasn't happened in 35

         years

·                          $28 million on peace in Somalia, where pirates room free, and there is no   government

·                          $3 million for climate change in Jordan

     The United States has to decide as a nation how to make sure that our foreign aid money, our tax payer money, is spent where it will do the most good to countries that actually need it. Who makes the decisions to frivolously spend our tax dollars? Is it the same congressmen claiming that we do not have the money to fight terrorism or to pay for our new healthcare legislation? Where is the accountability?

     Washington D.C is full of thinkers and think tanks, where some of America’s best and brightest hammer out our foreign policy. It is understandable that America needs to protect our interests and our way of life at all times, however we are dropping the ball if we are spending $360 million dollars in Jordan to improve THEIR local healthcare. Was it not the people of Jordan who cheered when our towers fell?

     Time and time again countries have snubbed their noses at America, but have always extended their hands out for need. It is time for Americans to hold our policy makers accountable for how our money is spent. America will always be there and should be there when there is time for real need. Have we ever turned our backs on countries who need us when there is a natural disaster, a drought, etc. etc.. Absolutely not! President Monroe you were a genius. You knew long before our time that America should stay out of the affairs of others.

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Politness and Manners

I have now reached a point in my life where I started to look back at the way I grew up and I want to look at both the positives and the negatives. I have had so many positives and negatives and I hope I have learned from both of them.


As much as it was meant to be a compliment that was given to me in having good manners, there were times of uncomfortable feelings and emotional pain that came along with it. My first notice to this was in the second grade in elementary school, when my teacher thanked me for my good manners in picking up the crumpled paper that one of the other students carelessly left on the floor. The other students made underhanded remarks as though I was a brown- nose.  When I was simply remembering my manners. Kindness, politeness, and common courtesy continued to bring out the worst from my peers, as though I was not very smart or that I was trying to be better than they were.

And the mockery and insults continued into my adult years with name calling such as; mush, insecure, or having some hidden ulterior motive. It wasn't until many years of mistaken pain, that I’d come to a healthy balance. And thank God that I did! - While all along there were some who continued to label and look upon my politeness and manners as a weakness and not as a strength.

After many years of being in this somewhat painful pattern (that I didn’t seem to want to change) - I knew that I had to do something. But what?! So, rather than giving in to the system by toughening up with a different side manner that I didn’t feel or see held any value - Through the years and the mistaken pain, this is what I found that rang true to my heart:

I think that manners and politeness are a virtue in appreciation and consideration. I noticed the admiration and the value I held for others brought to the surface a manner of being more courteous, where as others may see this as false, or as a people pleaser. But truly, don’t we all put our best foot forward in being kind and courteous when we want to make an impression? - Good manners come easily. But the genuine balance comes when we‘re in the presence of others with whom we are not impressed with, or, with even close family members - The best of us tend to take for granted and leave our good manners behind. I began to notice that most everyone does this, and that I was no exception! This was the beginning of truly being considerate - Is what good manners are!

Possibly, being over mannerly towards others sent out the wrong message that resulted in a mistrust of my ulterior motives, is the mistaken pain that I was picking up? Or, that I was looking for a sense of approval? - Which may have been rightly so? Then, perhaps, the pain may have been coming from their mistrust or insecurity: “that I would hold so much more value and consideration towards them, than, they even held for themselves?!” So I began to take a closer look at the kindness and manners from everyone around me. And it was shown through “so much more” from almost every one of our greatest and successful leaders in the world. Aren’t they our role models? I truly didn’t think that their kindness and good manners were carrying a hidden motive with them. Actually, I saw this as the virtue that brought them to a better and higher place where they belonged.

Even though some of the unkind remarks may still continue today, they’re a lot less frequent since I no longer am affected by them. What I learned to do when they are apparent, is to strive even more so for better manners and kindness towards those who appear to have mistaken, or have a lack of knowledge for such a powerful virtue, that having good manners and the kind consideration of others can bring to us.

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Coffee Nerdness

     So many of you have been sending me notes and comments about coffee and my coffee nerdness, I decided to investigate the risks and benefits of coffee and caffeine. What is the verdict on your daily coffee intake? My philosophy is I’ll try almost anything twice and most substances can be used for tribal purposes. It’s the abuse of a substance that starts the problem.

     Did you know that worldwide, 120,000 tons of caffeine is consumed each year? That’s the equivalent of one caffeine-containing beverage per day for each of the 5 billion plus inhabitants of planet earth. Welcome to the most widely consumed psycho-active substance in the world.

     Humans have been using this drug since the Stone Age and our early ancestors used it to elevate their moods, stimulate their awareness and eased fatigue by chewing the bark, leaves or seeds of certain plants.

     Today, we as a society may have refined our tastes but are not much different. We consume caffeine in coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, some soft drinks, and even some drugs. But how much do we really know about the substance whose consumption is rivaled only by water?

     Caffeine is found in varying amounts in the fruit, leaves, and beans of over 60 plants. In the plant world, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide that paralyses and kills some insects that try and feed on these plants.

     Caffeine as a word itself comes from the French term for coffee, café. Your typical morning latte can contain an upwards of 200g of caffeine. A cup of tea averages around 70mg, soft drinks anywhere from 10 to 50mg per beverage, and an average 28g serving of milk chocolate contains about as much caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee. Studies have shown that a complete tolerance to the subjective effects of caffeine can be seen to develop after consuming 300mg of caffeine 3 times per day for 18 days, and sometimes even earlier.

     Caffeine is completely absorbed by the stomach and small intestine within 45 minutes but its effects can be felt after around 15 minutes. And just what are these effects? Well, caffeine is a central nervous system and metabolic stimulant. Because of the norepinephrine released in the brain after ingestion, caffeine increases respiration, strengthens the pulse, raises blood pressure, stimulates the kidneys, temporarily relieves fatigue, and excites the brain, improving mental function. Caffeine and its related substance theobromine (from tea and cocoa) are like sugar in their effects on the body. They stimulate the adrenal glands to release an adrenaline-like substance, which causes the liver to release sugar into the blood stream. This is what gives you the lift you feel from drinking caffeinated beverages.

     Just like alcohol and nicotine, caffeine readily crosses the blood brain barrier. There in the brain caffeine also constricts cerebral blood vessels. If you’re used to drinking a few cups of coffee a day but decide to give it a rest, those blood vessels will dilate, leaving you with one hell of a headache, one of the best known withdrawal symptoms. Other symptoms can include irritability, an inability to concentrate, and even stomach aches. These feelings can appear within 12 to 24 hours if no caffeine has crossed your lips, peak at approximately 48 hours and last from one to five days. It takes the body an average of 7 to 9 hours to process the caffeine in one cup of coffee. Women, however, metabolize caffeine about 25% faster than men unless they are taking oral contraceptives or are ovulating which then increases the time to 10 to 20 hours!

     People hypersensitive to the caffeine found in coffee may decide to drink decaffeinated coffee. This way, they can still enjoy the great coffee taste, yet avoid the caffeine. Coffee can be “decaffeinated” by treating the green beans with solvents called chlorinated hydrocarbons. Once the solvents are removed, the beans are then roasted by ordinary procedures. Most people become accustomed to decaffeinated coffee and do not have to worry about the effects of caffeine.

     Having coffee can help you remain alert but it is the aftermath you should be worried about, the ill effects it has on your health. It is a stimulus which does wonders to your central nervous system by stressing the hormones in the blood stream and keeping you alert and awake whenever you have it. This unnatural way of keeping your body alert takes a toll on your body. The normal way of functioning gets disrupted due to the intake of coffee or any other product which contains good amount of caffeine.

     As caffeine gets into our system it makes us addicted. After knowing the ill effects of caffeine, if you suddenly stop taking coffee, you will face caffeine withdrawal symptoms which can be anything from a headache, irritability, fatigue, constipation, lack of appetite, lack of concentration to even forgetfulness.

     In my view 1-2 cups a day won’t cause you too much harm, but the benefits you’ll achieve by using caffeine only when you need it will far surpass your daily psychological reliance on those cups of coffee. Those wonderful delicious flavored coffees will be too hard to resist for me.

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