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	Sunday, November 16, 2003

THG Mark my words. Only one or two things have to fall into place and the THG doping scandal will be the biggest story in sports for the past 25 years. Today's late breaking story on the suspension of four Oakland Raiders for THG use, is just one more piece of the puzzle falling into place. BALCO labs, the suspected THG developer/progenator is located in the Bay Area. The Raiders are of course, a Bay Area team. And Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi are Bay Area or former Bay Area athletes. Both have been subpoened in the BALCO tax evasions investigation. And most tellingly, the body types of both athletes have dramatically changed in the past five years. And only a Pollyanna would think those changes were the result of a weight lifting program. There are those that think the whole steroid thing is overblown. That juice use is not that rampant - especially in baseball. Well open your eyes and look around. 9:19:17 PM    comment []

Why I Like Cold Weather My blog buddy, Robin, thinks I'm weird because I celebrate when the temperature plummets to five degrees F. Well, I do get all happy when the temperature drops - as long as there is snow. There is nothing more miserable than frigid cold and no snow. Very dry, very dusty, and very tough. Anyhoo, to get to the point, below are my top seven reasons, in reverse order, why I like cold temperatures: The Critters. The animals are very active on cold days - they need to gather up lots of fuel to stay warm. So, when it's cold (but not super cold, i.e. 20 below), there's lots of animal activity, moose, birds, squirrels, etc. Crunchy Snow. The snow makes the most excellent crunchy sound on cold days. Frozen Nose Hairs. How can you not love the way your nose hairs stick together when it's really cold? Alpenglow. This time of year, the sun is quite low in the sky (for the 5 hours it's actually up). The low angle creates a kind of pink light - alpenglow. The snowy white mountains actually turn a radiant pink. True alpenglow only appears on clear (hence cold) days. The View. In the winter, the temperature plummets when there is no insulating cloud cover. So, when it is cold, the sky is a clear, achingly brilliant blue. The views across the Inlet are stunning - the mountains and volcanos never look as sharp as they do on a cold day when they're bathed in a soft Alpenglow. Northern Lights. Well, you can't see the Northern Lights in the summer because it never gets dark. And if it's a warm winter's day, it's a cloudy winter's day. And, of course, you can't see the Northern Lights if it's cloudy. So, the only time one gets to see the Northern Lights is in the winter, on a clear, hence cold, night. Alive. As long as you're appropriately dressed, cold weather kicks you alive. It's an intense experience of beauty and sensation that lets you know that you live in the world. 4:08:49 PM    comment []

The 9/11 Terrorists' Real Weapon An excellent short essay by Bruce Schneier on just what the real threat is when it comes to airplane hijacking. Bruce is a brilliant and pragmatic security analyst. Too bad the Bush Administration doesn't take advantage of his skill set. We all know that the new airline security procedures are silly. Baggage screeners taking away pocket knives and box cutters doesn't improve airline security, even after 9/11. People who think otherwise don't understand what allowed the terrorists to take over four planes two years ago. It wasn't a small knife. It wasn't a box cutter. The critical weapon that the terrorists had was surprise. With surprise they could have taken the planes over with their bare hands. Without surprise they couldn't have taken the planes over, even if they had guns. And surprise has been confiscated on all flights since 9/11. It doesn't matter what weapons any potential new hijackers have; the passengers will no longer allow them to take over airplanes. I don't believe that airplane hijacking is a thing of the past, but when the next plane gets taken over it will be because a group of hijackers figured out a clever new weapon that we haven't thought of, and not because they snuck some small pointy objects through security. 3:28:58 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Stephanie A. Kesler. Last update: 3/5/2005; 8:38:22 PM.