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Is Arianna Huffington asking us to “Watch Our Neighbor?”

watch thy neighbor?

Well, I just got my daily email from Arianna Huffington announcing that I could now look into my neighbor’s political donation history. I find this a bit disturbing, some might find it intimidating… even threatening. Arianna is quick to qualify her support of this new system by saying: 

“We’re just using technology to make the public record much easier to access and, therefore, much more public.” However, I am a bit concerned with who and how this information will be used. I am not interested in seeing where the big boys & girls donate… they seem to play all sides.. I am worried about exposing all the little folks. I can just see one of my left wing nut neighbors dropping by with a little chat about my donation to  Rudy Giuliani  or the NRA while they attempt to exert a little neighborly pressure on the ‘incorrectness’ of this or that donation. This is not America. 

Yep, sounds a little like how folks used to watch each other back in the old days, right Comrade? Roger Freberg

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Save the World! …. Eat Ostrich!

hmmmm.... you'd make a fine

My daughter Karen is back from South Africa & with Kristin coming to see us in a few months, I wanted to start preparing some of the South African dishes I have heard so much about. One is called “Ostruducken.” We visited a nearby  Ostrich ranch in Watsonville, California  … and started to look eye-to-eye with possible dinner candidates.  Karen had her own take  on the day at the farm. Jose’ showed us his home made (the best kind) smokers he has for his personal use… fantastic!

I am a fan of these multiple bird within a bird meals, especially  our family favorite “Turducken”  ( a chicken within a duck within a turkey and all with their own stuffing!). The “Ostriducken” sounds like a true feast! Here is a little history of the multiple bird meal:

“The largest recorded nested bird roast is 17 birds, attributed to a royal feast in France in the 19th century: a bustergophechiduckneaealcockidgeoverwingailusharkolanbler (originally called a Rôti Sans Pareil, or “Roast without equal”)…”

As far as the accompanying wine goes, thanks to  Peter May of Pinotage Fame, I am beginning to learn about some of the wonderful wines of South Africa… and “Pinotage” in particular. Some I have bought on-line, some are on order, and some have already been… er… “sampled”.

The male Ostrich in the picture is not tiny, I am 6’4″ (1.93 m) tall… so my Ostrich friend is none too small…. but looks delicious although a bit of a challenge for my barbecue.

However, where there is a will, there is a way.

 

Roger Freberg

PS. Yep, eating Ostrich also reduces ‘global warming’, “saves whales” and “promotes world peace’…well… it couldn’t hurt.

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Do something different, just for fun!

Laura's fun timeI am reminded about an old Star Trek that stated “the more complex the mind, the more the necessity for the simplicity of play.”

For folks whose work is less active, they might find more pleasure if their hobbies and fun activities contain an largely physical role.

Some of my more intelligent and sedentary relatives would spend their non working hours rebuilding their home, painting and gardening… 

As for me, I have always enjoyed doing things very different that my true vocation. Investing my time exploring new aspects of our world has always had an interest.

By the way, speaking of fun, although I am not at all a soccer fan… I congratulate all of Iraq over their recent victory!

On a related note….

“The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest. Difficult tasks are a privilege to them, to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation. They are the most venerable kind of man: that does not preclude their being the most cheerful and the kindliest.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche   

 

Roger Freberg

PS. My wife just finished painting the kitchen…. she had fun doing it… but the important thing was that … I didn’t have to do it!

 

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Public Service Academy? training or indoctrination?

Some ideas just don't want to go awaySOMEONE suggested the concept of a “Public Service Academy”  Hmmm… although it sounds ‘innocent’ enough, I found one quote unsettling:

“I think just like our military academies, we need to give a totally all-paid education to young men and women who will serve their country in a public service position.”

What is of concern is something about a national academy for the training of all those entering Public Service. By te way, what do they mean by ‘public service’?…. & why do we need this, again? I suspect we are not talking just about Americorp or the Peace Corp… but developing ‘leaders’ for local, state and government office … and activists? Kinda like someone wants a ‘farm team’.

In politics today, many political leaders start off on the bottom rungs by volunteering for committees attached to some local political entity… a city or county. Often, many are asked to participate by local political groups, which is neither all that sinister or surprising. Although this is not necessarily a great system to help develop our future leaders, I am suspicious of making the process too streamlined and too easily manipulated & abused.

Roger Freberg

PS. By the way, don’t be fooled, this idea has been around before….

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What should we expect from Coaches?

the one hour workout.... still works

Years ago, I wrote a  small piece for a Track & Field magazine  that ended up being widely syndicated… and created much controversy among the holy clerics of American track & field. It questioned what they ‘believed’, for them , it was a form of religious heresy.

I have met some wonderful coaches who take a scientific approach to all they do & they genuinely care and develope the young student-athletes in their charge… but there are those coaches who have long since failed to think for themselves and trot out worn cliché’s and continue to quote books written by those even less enlightened than themselves.

Some coaches make up for their intellectual short comings with various ethical shortcuts and by throwing their athletes against the proverbial wall and looking for those ‘who stick!’ … and discarding the rest. Many are as ruthless as they are ignorant. There is no excuse for lapses in professionalism or the toleration of poor character in our athletes or coaches. 

It may be hard for a coach to watch a young person ‘dribbling their career down the court’, but this should not be all about the coach’s career. The athlete deserves a prize for playing the game, specifically a real future…. and part of that is an education…. and to leave the university a better person than they entered.

Roger Freberg