Monday, September 4, 2006

Soccer Ohio Northern University hosted a season opening women's soccer tournament over the weekend. I was referee of yesterday's Otterbein v Stevens Institute of Technology match. According to the ONU coach they are the #10 and #15 teams in the nation preseason, and he added, "it'll be a barnburner--going up and down the field." Boy was he right. 110 minutes (that's right, two overtimes), no goals, several opportunities. In the 108th minute they were still kicking the ball long making this "old guy" take yet another 80 yard sprint. Really good game, though. Both teams should do well this season. 9:05:25 AM    comment []

News to go I've used AvantGo for getting news on my Palm, now Treo, for many years. Now, Dave Winer has developed a "river of news" for Blackberry or Treo. You can get NY Times or BBC news now by going to the Web page. It gives a link on the headline and brief excerpt. You can browse headlines or click to go more in depth. Very nice. 9:00:19 AM    comment []

Pinto's Enews Jim Pinto's latest enews is out. He discusses one of his favorite topics--China. Includes some statistics and projections from a "futurist." Interesting reading. But I have issues with projections that are essentially a linear extrapolation of past data (e.g., it doubled in the last 5 years, so I project it'll double in the next five, and so on). Things in nature and society don't seem to behave in a linear fashion. Perhaps it's more cyclic. The French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin envisioned a sort of spiral shape to the curve. It's still interesting reading and a conversation starter, for sure. Pinto also mentions India and Brazil as developing manufacturing economies. The thing that puzzles me is how Brazil is still "developing." In my international studies period from 1967-1969, we often discussed Brazil as an example of the next industrial economy and society. Hasn't happened. Why? Will it ever? Jim, got any ideas? Jim also gets philosophical talking about male/female sides to a person's personality. One thing I have learned from the study of various Asian and other ancient philosophies is the concept of "balance." Each of us (male or female) has some masculine and some feminine characteristics. Some are more one way and some more the other. Ideally, each individual achieves some sort of balance where they don't go too far to one end or the other. It's the same in other areas of life. I know when certain areas of my life get out of balance it's reflected either in a short temper or some sort of illness (usually a cold). Something else to think about. 8:49:13 AM    comment []

Guide to healthy dining Here's a news item from AP that I get on Yahoo News about a Web site under development from the National Restaurant Association that will list some healthy meals at member restaurants across the nation. I eat out a lot, since I travel a lot, but I don't think that a Web site is going to help me. I don't always get to pick, and often the choice is made on the way ;-)  What I need to see are several smaller entres that feature lean meat and, especially, some good vegetables. Too often even at "good" restaurants, all the effort is in the meat and too little thought goes into preparing some good vegetables. Ah, at least it's a start. 8:03:24 AM    comment []