April 13, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
April 13 is … Blame Somebody Else Day
GLENN, IT’S YOUR FAULT… ONCE AGAIN.
Yesterday, I am not taking into account the time difference between the mainland United States and Japan, Japanese professional baseball started its season. The start had been delayed for two weeks because of the natural disasters that visited upon Japan, leaving a devastating calling card. The leagues and the season were adjusted to work within the current conditions. One team had to move its home schedule to a stadium forty miles away because their home field was damaged. Baseball-crazy Japan on Tuesday welcomed the start of a new season, more than two weeks behind schedule after the country's biggest post-war natural disaster threw the sport into disarray. There was jubilation in Sendai, which was devastated by last month's 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami, as the city's Rakuten Golden Eagles beat Lotte Marines 6-4 in an away season opener, even as new aftershocks rocked the area. "It was a victory which linked us to the people working hard back home," said Rakuten's winning pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, who turned 30 on the day.
Rakuten manager Senichi Hoshino said his company had given televisions to disaster-hit areas. "I guess children are rejoicing in today's game," he said. The head of the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association dedicated the new season to the victims of the massive twin natural disasters, which killed thousands and triggered a crisis at a nuclear plant. "We'll fight through the season with the feelings of disaster victims on our minds," said the association's president, Hanshin Tigers infielder Takahiro Arai. "We will play our hearts out in chasing the ball -- that way we can encourage people affected by the disaster." Several star athletes in Japan are dedicating their sporting efforts to the victims of the catastrophe, which ravaged the country's northeast coast and has disrupted an array of sports events.
Baseball and sports in general may seem trivial under the circumstances in Japan but it is not. Sports bring people together; children can once again watch and cheer for their favorite player. To many children and on-children, this helps bring normalcy to a non-normal situation. Thousands lost brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, friends, favorite teachers, classmates, dogs, cats and other pets. Now they know the did not lose their baseball teams.
Remember September 17, 2001 when Jack Buck read a poem he wrote during pregame ceremonies before the first baseball game after the 911 attacks. The poem goes:
Since this nation was founded under
God, more than 200 years ago,
We've been the bastion of
Freedom...
The light which keeps the free world
Aglow.
We do not covet the possessions of
Others, we are blessed with the
Bounty we share.
We have rushed to help other
Nations...anything...anytime...
Anywhere.
War is just not our nature...we
Won't start, but we will end the fight.
If we are involved we shall be
Resolved to protect what we know is
Right.
We've been challenged by a
Cowardly foe, who strikes and then
Hides from our view.
With one voice we say there's no
Choice today, there is only one
Thing to do.
Everyone is saying the same thing
And praying that we end these
Senseless moments we are living.
As our fathers did before, we shall
Win this unwanted war.
And our children will enjoy the
Future, we'll be giving.
For Japan, the question and answer are the same. Yes! It helped America; it will help Japan.
The New York City serial killer has apparently reached double digits in victims. Rumors among the investigating squad are suggesting the perpetrator may be a police officer, former police officer or at least some one with police training. He appears to have specific knowledge concerning the concealment of a crime and evidence. I am using the male pronoun since historically, serial killers are male. The number of possible victims of a serial killer rose to 10 on Tuesday after authorities confirmed that two sets of remains found along a New York highway a day earlier are human. Authorities have not definitively linked all the remains found in the past five months to the same suspect, but they have said four Craigslist escorts found in December were likely victims of a serial killer. Police happened upon the first set of four remains while searching for a missing New Jersey prostitute last seen in a nearby community nearly a year ago. That woman has yet to be found.
Police searching late last month along Ocean Parkway discovered a fifth body, which prompted authorities to commence a widespread search involving dozens of officers, dogs, helicopters, mounted units and volunteer firefighters. That effort led to the discovery April 4 of three more sets of remains and two more on Monday near Jones Beach State Park.
Police searching late last month along Ocean Parkway discovered a fifth body, which prompted authorities to commence a widespread search involving dozens of officers, dogs, helicopters, mounted units and volunteer firefighters. That effort led to the discovery April 4 of three more sets of remains and two more on Monday near Jones Beach State Park.
For all of you who can spend hour, upon hour, trying to use up all of your letters for the fifty-point bonus while on a triple word score, this day is yours to celebrate. You’ll be celebrating Alfred Butts’ birthday. Alfred was born on this day in 1899. He grew up to become an architect, but lost his job during the Depression. While he wiled away the hours of unemployment, he invented a crossword puzzle word-game. He and his friends had a good time playing the game, but that’s as far as it went ... until one fateful day in 1952. Butts and friends were at a resort (he survived the Depression) and, as fate would have it, a Macy’s department store executive saw them playing their game. The executive took the game back to Macy’s where it became a successful sales item.
It wasn’t long before the game makers of Selchow & Richter caught wind of the habit-forming board game. They offered Butts three cents for every set they manufactured. Butts accepted and Scrabble went on the assembly line. Thirty-five laborers made Scrabble sets by the thousands; six-thousand sets were coming off the line every week. Scrabble is still one of the best-selling game boards made. Now you can even play it on your computer.
Of his three-cents worth, Butts said, “One third went to taxes. I gave one third away, and the other third enabled me to have an enjoyable life.”
Thanks to Alfred Butts, we have had many, many hours of enjoyment. However, we still wish there were more ‘U’ tiles to go with those dastardly ‘Qs’.
I have never been a fan of Scrabble. I do not think I have ever played a game to completion so I guess I have never been beat at Scrabble.
Although the civil War began on April 12, 1861, it continued for four years. Beginning at 4:30 am on the 12th and continuing until the morning of the 13th, Confederate batteries along the shore of Charleston Harbor fire on Fort Sumter under the command of Major Robert Anderson. Anderson arranges surrender with Texas Senator Louis Wigfall on the morning of the 13th.
Check out the web site below. It is a current picture of the world’s sunlight and cloud cover. It changes with the time and weather.
I try to keep abreast of current events, the news and world affairs. I sure cannot recall any stories about school children dying from eating home-packed lunches. I do recall many stories of children getting ill from mass produced institutional food served at schools; I even recall an unfortunate death or two. Some Chicago, IL bureaucrat who thinks she is smarter than the rest of the world has banned home-packed lunches from the school she runs. A push for healthier school lunches has led one Chicago school to ban students from bringing lunches from home altogether. Students at Chicago's Little Village Academy are required to eat the lunch provided to them by the school -- a policy that has cooked up controversy among parents and educators amid a national debate about the best way to promote healthy eating for children. "Some of the kids don't like the food they give at our school for lunch or breakfast," Erica Martinez, a parent at the school, told the Chicago Tribune, which first reported the story. "So it would be a good idea if they could bring their lunch so they could at least eat something." Little Village Academy principal Elsa Carmona said she banned bagged lunches six years ago because students were bringing junk food to school. She said the meals at school, which are provided by food contractor Chartwells-Thompson, are usually healthier. "Nutrition-wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," she told the Tribune. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent-quality food that they are able to serve [in the lunchroom]. It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception." But Susan Rubin, a nutritionist and founder of the Better School Food program, said lunches offered by large food providers like Chartwells Thompson are not necessarily more nutritious.
She didn't mince words about cafeteria food in most schools. "It's rare that I see a school, especially a public school, that actually serves food that's good," she told AOL News in a phone interview today. "I get physically sick just looking at it, because it makes me sick that kids are eating this processed crap." Chartwells-Thompson did not immediately return a request for comment today. The campaign to make school lunches healthier has become a hot topic in recent years and is one of first lady Michelle Obama's signature issues. In December, President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law, tying increased funding for school lunches to stricter health guidelines for the meals. But some health-food advocates say taking decision-making power away from parents is not the best way to implement change.
Amie Hamlin, the executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, said she supported the spirit of Little Village Academy's lunch policy, but said banning homemade lunches completely was overreaching.
"I see the junk that kids bring in," Hamlin told a reporter by phone today. "But some parents want their kids to eat only organic or vegan meals and those parents should not be undermined. Sometimes meals from home are much healthier."
Hamlin said a policy that banned junk food may make more sense. According to the Tribune, some students at Little Village Academy are in a state of near revolt over the policy. As much revolt as a group of elementary students can muster, anyway. "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!" students reportedly chanted when a reporter from the paper visited the cafeteria one day. The students vowed to bring wholesome food to school in the event of a policy change. Mostly. "Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," Julian Ruiz, a second-grader, told the Tribune, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables." Justin Wilson, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said parents should be able to make choices about what their kids eat. "They're saying, 'Parents don't know what's best for their children, the government does.' "He also said forcing students to eat food that may not taste good to them won't encourage them to eat nutritiously in the future.
"No one likes to eat food that doesn't taste good. This is a recipe for teaching children to hate healthy food," Wilson said.
She didn't mince words about cafeteria food in most schools. "It's rare that I see a school, especially a public school, that actually serves food that's good," she told AOL News in a phone interview today. "I get physically sick just looking at it, because it makes me sick that kids are eating this processed crap." Chartwells-Thompson did not immediately return a request for comment today. The campaign to make school lunches healthier has become a hot topic in recent years and is one of first lady Michelle Obama's signature issues. In December, President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law, tying increased funding for school lunches to stricter health guidelines for the meals. But some health-food advocates say taking decision-making power away from parents is not the best way to implement change.
Amie Hamlin, the executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, said she supported the spirit of Little Village Academy's lunch policy, but said banning homemade lunches completely was overreaching.
"I see the junk that kids bring in," Hamlin told a reporter by phone today. "But some parents want their kids to eat only organic or vegan meals and those parents should not be undermined. Sometimes meals from home are much healthier."
Hamlin said a policy that banned junk food may make more sense. According to the Tribune, some students at Little Village Academy are in a state of near revolt over the policy. As much revolt as a group of elementary students can muster, anyway. "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!" students reportedly chanted when a reporter from the paper visited the cafeteria one day. The students vowed to bring wholesome food to school in the event of a policy change. Mostly. "Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," Julian Ruiz, a second-grader, told the Tribune, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables." Justin Wilson, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said parents should be able to make choices about what their kids eat. "They're saying, 'Parents don't know what's best for their children, the government does.' "He also said forcing students to eat food that may not taste good to them won't encourage them to eat nutritiously in the future.
"No one likes to eat food that doesn't taste good. This is a recipe for teaching children to hate healthy food," Wilson said.
Just as an aside, who pays for the food being force fed to the children and likely wasted? It does not take a village to raise a child. Elsa Carmona should teach the children and manage the school not the student’s or parent’s lives.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
"Without heroes, we are all plain people, and don't know how far we can go." - Bernard Malamud THIS GUY WROTE The Natural
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