Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Catch up baby, catch up with my dreams

Yes, that's a lyric from a song with the word "Tuesday" in the title.  Can you figure out which song without using Google?  To be fair, I have to admit I used Google, but only to make sure I was quoting the lyric correctly (I was).  Tomorrow might be a bit more difficult to find just the right lyric.

Lightning struck the Vatican after the Pope announced he was retiring.  A message from his boss?  Some speculate that it is.  I have no opinion one way or another.  I just think it is a good thing that he's decided to retire.  Not that he needs to step down or has done something wrong, that's not it at all.  His predecessors over the past 600 years or so didn't retire when their health began to limit their ability to do the job.  When you're the leader of an organized faith that has 1 billion members, you have a responsibility to step aside when you can no longer fulfill the duties of your office at peak performance. 

It's like a baseball player who continues to play past when it is time to retire.  He might still hit the occasional long ball, and win a game.  However, his defense probably suffers if he's a National League player.  Even if he's in the AL and able to be a designated hitter, when the average goes down and those game-winning clutch hits become fewer and fewer, it's time to recognize one's limitations.

That's a really hard thing to do.  To give up the adulation of the fans, the thrill of being paid to play a game you love and to know that once gone; it can never be regained.  I know it's a hard choice.  Emotionally I understand why players, and popes, go on past the point where they should have stepped down.  I laud the current pope for making a decision that's good for the faithful.

Before I ponder this morning, let me share a link.  It's to an article I've written about movies made from novels written by Nicholas Sparks.  http://t.co/SW0yAcOk

Now, today's non-papal ponderings.  Wait, one more that's partially papal pondering.  Why in the world will Cardinal Roger Mahony, disgraced for his involvement in the cover-up of molestation by priests, get to vote for the next pope?

Christopher Dorner was shopping for scuba equipment at a Torrance Sports Chalet and suddenly we are learning he was part of a special Navy underwater unit.  That fact should have been revealed upfront.  He's not a SEAL or some super trooper.  He was an intel weenie who happened to serve in a Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare unit.  They are a unit that provides security to navy operations from a port or beach.  Just catch the guy and stop trying to make him into SuperSailor.

Why didn't I know my niece is a really talented writer?  I know she's going to Baylor and that meant she's a very smart person in and of itself.  But until I found out by accident about her blog and pried the URL for it from her, I had no clue.  I'll follow it now. 

Lean Cuisine is recalling ravioli because it has glass shards in it.  Hey, beef ravioli or cheese ravioli are great.  Glass ravioli...not so sure.  How the heck did glass get into the ravioli?

Boxer and Philippino Congressma Manny Pacquaio is saying thumbs-down to holding his next fight with Juan Manuel Marquez (it would be their fifth match) in Las Vegas because 39.6% of his purse would go to Uncle Sam.  He could earn $25 million in Vegas but after taxes would get only $15 million.  If the fight is held in Singapore or Macau, he'll only get $20 million but there's no tax on that.  His choice to fight overseas is not only costing the Las Vegas economy the huge revenues a big fight generates, but will also cost the Pay-Per-View people around $35 million and a like amount will be lost by his promoters.

I loved the documentary "Sound City" and my review of it will go up on www.TailSlate.net in the next day or two.  I posted the rough draft here on my blog.  It's definitely worth seeing.  But I have to admit I'm a little surprised that it's $12.99 to watch online.  That's a little more than I'm used to paying for Video On Demand.  If I decide to see it again, I'll catch a bargain matinee.  I do want to see it again, although it won't be as much fun without a seriously buzzed Dave Grohl doing a Q&A afterward.



This Date in History:

On Feburary 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Indiana (no, he wasn't born in Illinois).  That belongs above the other historical events of this date.  There are some other pretty signifcant births on this date, but they can wait.

On this date in 881, the Pope crowned Charles the Fat as King of Italy: Holy Roman Emperor.
On this date in 1502, Vasco de Gama set sail from Lisbon for his second voyage to India.
On this date in 1593, 3,000 Korean fighters repelled the attack of 30,000 Japanese invaders at the famed Siege of Haengju.
On this date in 1832, Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands.
On this date in 1909, the NAACP was founded.
On this date in 1912, the last Emperor of China abdicates.
On this date in 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is exiled from the Soviet Union.
On this date in 1999, President Bill Clinton is acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial.
On this date in 2004, San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Famous folk aside from President Lincoln born on this date:

Kujo Yoritsune, Shogun of Japan
Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player (the Petrov Defense is named for him)
Charles Darwin (needs no introduction)
Louis Renault (did you know that Renault's Le Car had a Le Tow Rope as an accessory?)
General Omar Bradley
Ted Mack
Lorne Greene
Forrest Tucker (I miss "F Troop")
Charles Van Doren
Arlen Specter
Costa-Gravas
Bill Russell
Joe Don Baker
Ehud Barak
Michael Ironside
Arsenio Hall (the dog pound goes wild)
Josh Brolin
Chynna Phillips
Darren Aronofsky
Christina Ricci