Rant #49: Cool Summer Not Too Hot

I live on the East Coast, and we usually look forward to summer as a respite for miserable weather during other times of the year.

Well, this year, the miserable weather has continued ... into the summer.

"Miserable" might be something of a strong word here. I mean, it is sunny out there now, the weather is pretty good ...

But it's not summer, although the calendar says it is.

As of today, we have not hit 90 in my neck of the woods since April 28. The only reason I remember this is that it was my birthday, and I could have sworn that we were going to have a hot summer, with the weather warming up to this level so early in the year.

But it simply wasn't meant to be. Thus far, July is the coolest July on record. We barely get into the 80s on most days. Yesterday, we had rain most of the day, and the high was 71--but that level was reached early in the morning, and for most of the day, it was about 69 or so.

Happily, at least my family got to Florida on vacation, where it was pleasant--in the mid to high 80s--and we were able to swim just about every day.

Back home, we have barely touched the backyard pool, because it is just too darn cold.

Don't get me wrong; I am not one of those people who live for the sun. I hate when it gets too hot, and I hate when it is so hot that you could fry an egg on my head.

But this summer really isn't much of a summer weather-wise; it is more like spring.

Which leads me to wonder ... will fall be like summer? Will winter be like fall?

Rant #48: I Need a New Computer

Well, actually I don't, but my son does, so I am going to have to buy it for him, thus the title of this post.

My son's laptop finally died about two weeks ago. I think it was on life support for about the last couple of months. I have been told by two repair shops that the motherboard is gone, and that to repair this thing would cost me more than $600. It is simply not worth it. I can buy another computer for that amount.

I have done some shopping around, and I am not that happy with what I have seen.

The heralded netbooks--mini laptops that are very portable--are quite frankly, a waste of money. They get you on the Internet, and you can do word processing with them, but you can't burn any disks without an attachment. And they are beginning to cost around the same amount of money as a traditional laptop--which comes with the burning feature--so why would I buy a netbook?

So I will get my son another laptop, but the good ones are pretty expensive, in the $700 and up range. I can get him a cheaper one, in the $400-$600 range, but will it last more than the three or four years his previous computer lasted?

I hate looking for computers because even though I do the research, I don't consider myself a computer expert. I originally thought the netbooks were a good idea, because I thought that they could do what their larger cousins can do. But they can't--at least, not without attachments--and since their cost is getting up there, what is the sense of buying one of these things?

My son will get a laptop, but I don't know how much I will spend yet. At nearly 14 years of age, he really needs a computer, a good one, not a piece of junk.

But again, don't believe what you read about netbooks. They are pieces of junk in my opinion. They are good as second or third computers, but nothing more.

Ah, I harken back to the days when the only electronics parents had to worry about were radios and black and white TVs. I often wish we were back in those days, because it just seemed that things were slower--and cheaper--way back when ...

Rant #47: Goodbye Walter ... And That's the Way It Was

Over the weekend, we all heard the sad news that Walter Cronkite, the face of CBS News for many, many decades, had passed on at the age of 92. Once more, a "hero" from my childhood, although an unlikely one, has died.

His death sparked this notion in me: with his passing, it's as if everyone had a death in the family.

Cronkite was the anchorman of the CBS Evening News from the early 1960s, when it was a 15-minute program and later became a 30-minute show, to the early 1980s, when by this time it had become required viewing for just about everybody. The show had its competitors--Huntley and Brinkley on NBC and Howard K. Smith and a host of others on ABC--but let's face it, if you wanted the national news, you wanted it from the person who was referred to as "the most trusted man in America."

Cronkite started out as a war correspondent, and got his first big TV break when CBS's legendary newsman, Edward R. Murrow, asked Cronkite to join his team in the late 1940s. Cronkite initially turned down the invite, but in the early 1950s, with his young family now his responsibility, he took the job.

For all intents and purposes, Cronkite eclipsed Murrow as the face of television journalism during his career. He covered everything from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the 1969 moon landing, and everything in between, with an aplomb that has never been equalled. If Cronkite said something, you had to believe it. When he broke from his usual demeanor and said that the Vietnam War was unwinnable, President Lyndon Johnson was reported to have said, " If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the nation."

As a hero to me and my generation, Cronkite will be best remembered for two things: his coverage of the Kennedy assassination, and his fervent reporting on the space program, culminating with the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

On the assassination, he came on the air, looking a little ragged, but gave the nation the message that the President had been mortally wounded. His eyes welled up with tears, but he was able to keep his composure, taking off his glasses to pause, then reporting the story as any good newsman would.

His coverage of the space program was fervent, and he was criticized by some, who looked at him as a booster rather than a reporter. But, at least for me, he crystalized the program, made it approachable for everybody in our country, and made the ride both educational and enjoyable. Was there a happier man in the world than Cronkite when we landed on the moon? I don't think so.

In later years, Cronkite was very active, and poked fun at himself in numerous on-screen endeavors. Although he admits that he never understood Woodstock, he became a big Grateful Dead fan. He had a memorable cameo role in a Mary Tyler Moore Show episode, and he still could be seen on TV at a fairly regular pace. I don't think he ever criticized the current way news is covered on TV, but I bet that in private circles he had plenty to say, but publically, he kept it close to his chest.

A few months ago, word got out that he was ill, and he never recovered.

How ironic that he died when we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of our first moon landing?

Here's to Walter Cronkite, certainly the voice of television for my generation ... and that's the way it was.

Rant #46: One Small Step For Man, One Giant Mistake For NASA

The latest evidence that the NASA mission has fallen on its behind is that the agency admitted that several years ago, it erased its original video of the first moon walk because it had a dearth of video and needed to free up some of it for future tapings.

Of course, admitting this information as the 40th anniversary of the 1969 moon walk by Neil Armstrong and then by Buzz Aldrin is bad enough. But for the agency to admit to this major gaffe 20 years after the fact demonstrates, once again, that the agency doesn't have a clue as to what it is doing, or supposed to do.

Happily, other sources have come up with video, and with modern technology, the moonwalk footage looks better than it ever did. I am sure that NASA is kissing the ground that this footage could be retrieved.

But that, clearly, is not the point.

NASA has been botching the space program since the last moon walk in the 1970s. We are today where we should have been 35 years ago. Due the lack of further manned excursions to the moon and elsewhere, the public's interest has waned considerably, and may never be restored.

Sure, it was the time--1969, the year of Woodstock, where we believed that anything was possible--but it was also the mindset. We truly believed that we could do anything if we put our minds to it. If we could walk on the moon, would Mars be far behind?

Obviously, the answer is yes.

I remember as a 12 year old, watching Neil Armstrong in all of his glory on the moon. I was so interested, that I simply would not turn away from the TV, even though the images on our black and white Dumont living room TV weren't really very clear at all. But what I could see fascinated me, and fascinated the world.

We simply don't have that feeling today. Maybe we are more grounded. Maybe we know that everything is not possible, even if we want it to be.

I just don't know. But NASA erasing the videotapes of its greatest triumph simply does not surprise me in the least.

Rant #45: I Love Lucy Quote Riles Some Hispanics

Yesterday, at the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) reference to television character Ricky Ricardo from the classic "I Love Lucy" TV show elicited some harsh comments from some in the Hispanic community related to insensitivity.

I would tell those that were offended to cool it.

Coburn said that Sotomayor would have "a lot of "splainin' to do" after she made a comment that, hypothetically, she might get a gun to shoot him in self defense.

Coburn's remark was said totally in jest; Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent and is from the Bronx, New York, understood that; why are others taking the comment to be something that it isn't?

In fact, I think using that phrase is almost a testament to the strength of the Hispanic community in this country. People forget what a trailblazer Desi Arnaz was more than 50 years ago. He was the first acknowledged Hispanic star on television (there were others who, for whatever reason, did not acknowledge this ethnicity, such as George Reeves, who starred as Superman), and he starred in, and for that matter, created, probably the top TV sitcom of all time. He made many contributions to the craft, including the way TV shows are filmed, guidelines which are used to this day.

The "splainin' to do" quote is one of the most memorable, heartfelt, and imitated quotes from the classic "I Love Lucy" sitcom. It is in reference to his "fractured" English, which was the part of many punchlines in the show. Not an iota of insensitivity was part of these punchlines; they were just funny.

In fact, the stuff that Ricky said in Spanish under his breath when Lucy did something stupid may have been even more offensive, because most viewers couldn't understand it and even more importantly, some could look at those Spanish meanderings as extremely chauvinistic and anti-woman (although I don't; I think they were hilarious even if I could only pick out a few words that I totally understood).

I think if he were alive today, Desi Arnaz, and for that matter Lucille Ball, would be very proud today.

Then why all the uproar?

The politically correct police are obviously active on this situation, but the phrase has almost become part of our national lexicon. I have heard so many people use it--heck, even wrestler John Cena has used it in reference to another character on WWE broadcasts, Vicky Guerrero, having an affair--and it is used not as a stereotypical phrase, but as a mere very slight putdown. Guerrero just happens to be Hispanic, and although this utterance on WWE doesn't make it right, necessarily, what I am trying to say is that Cena didn't use it because Guerrero was Hispanic; he used it because it was funny and fit into the plotline.

I mean, it's not the "N" word.

Also, those that were offended by this, they should be more offended by the line of questioning Sotomayor had to go through yesterday related to her knowledge of Perry Mason episodes and whether she watched the baseball All-Star game or not.

Now, that line of questioning is offensive to me, because it has nothing to do with whether Sotomayor would be a capable Supreme Court justice.

We should actually be offended by the possibility that Sotomayor, by her past actions and references, may be anti-white and anti-male. But, of course, in our politically correct world where Michael Jackson's funeral is given the reverence usually accorded to Presidents, we let stuff like this go.

Why aren't people in an uproar over this?

Rant #44: CBS's Big Brother Watches Over Me

As I said in an earlier post, I don't watch much network TV.

However, I also admit that I do watch the lowest form of television, which has to be CBS's Big Brother. Suffice it to say, William Paley turns over in his grave every time a new edition of this voyeur-fest premieres. It must be successful--he has now turned over in his grave 11 times!

The latest edition features house guests who are split into cliques, like the ones that existed in high school. You have your athletes, brains, popular people, and the ones that just don't fit in anywhere.

And yes, there are the usual petty squabbles, arguments, nonsense and a girl with breasts that are the size of Mount Rushmore (and probably as man-made as that tourist attraction is).

I can't put my finger on why I watch this show, and have watched it since it debuted a number of years ago. I guess there is a voyeur in me, who basks in knowing the personal so and so's of these house guests.

I know that I have always loved show host Julie Chen, ever since she was a reporter on WCBS Channel 2, the local CBS station and the network's flagship. She is noticeably pregnant, even though she is still skinnier than 99 percent of the people on this planet.

I guess I am also interested because it is the summer, and after a hard day at work, I need a respite from all the nonsense I have to put up with there--this is one show that goes in one ear and out the other for sure.

And, of course, they constantly show girls in bikinis, and that has to be listed as a reason. The one girl I alluded to earlier--a bikini model, natch--is a natural for this show (although I don't think she is very natural in any way).

Whatever the case, if you have never seen the show, I am not going to tell you to watch it, because if you haven't gotten involved after 11 seasons of this, you just won't ever get involved.

If you do watch it, please provide me with some other reasons that people take in this voyeur-fest, other than the bikinis and large breasts.

Again, I don't normally watch this type of stuff, but Big Brother has intrigued me from day one--and I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that, although I just did.

Rant #43: Soccer Just Kicks Me Off

I hate the sport of soccer.

I just can't stand it. Kicking a ball around ad infinitum, running around after the ball, and hoping to score a goal is just so boring to me that I can't explain in words, really, what I think about this sport, which is known as football in most places in the world other than the U.S.

Well, the rest of the world can have this sport. As the U.S. continues to make itself a place in the international community, we have tried to get the country interested in this sport. Going back to the 1960s, soccer has been an enigma that the American public has had jammed down its throats, but which it simply doesn't want.

Even the presence of Pele with the New York Cosmos couldn't save the sport, or that league, in the U.S.

When I was in the Florida, the American team played a valiant game against highly rated Brazil, but lost after playing what was called a perfect first half. Who cares? I just wanted to see the baseball scores.

No matter how politically incorrect it may be to say this, soccer is simply B-O-R-I-N-G. And don't tell me I don't understand the game; I do, and it still stinks.

Youth leagues abound in this country, but this participation doesn't translate down the line when these kids grow up. The four main team sports here--baseball, football, and to a lesser extent basketball and hockey--are so dominating that there is little room for a fifth sport. And what's more, sports like bowling, tennis and golf are way ahead of soccer in popularity in this country.

So keep your World Cup, I really don't care. And I am sick and tired of having this game rammed down our throats as if we must love soccer, because the rest of the world does.

It's a niche diversion, nothing more, and it will never be anything more in this country. What's more, I think if the world woke up, they would see it as the same thing we do here in the U.S.: a sham game that really isn't too exciting when you look at it with a discerning eye.

Elsewhere, I believe much of the draw of soccer is that it is more political and nationalistic than our sports can ever be, hence the numerous riots that have accompanied various soccer matches over the years in Europe and other parts of the world.

I would rather watch mold form than watch soccer.