THE LONE STAR STATE AND MY CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

You would think that after all this time, I would have put something of educational value on a post or two. Well, okay - maybe there is somewhere among the daily dribble (yeah, I realize I'm using the term 'daily' loosely).

Because I check sitemeter here and there, I notice that there are several hits a day for searches along the lines of "why is it named the lone star state". Since searching "Lone Star State" usually brings up this site in the top few, I should probably give at least some explaination. Particularly because many of those landing here appear to be teachers or students and I surely wouldn't want to let anyone down. So here's Mr. B's help:

Why is it called the 'Lone Star State'?

The short answer to that question is this: After many battles, including that at the Alamo against Santa Ana, Texas proclaimed its independence as a republic in 1836. The lone star, originally gold on a blue background, signified this and served as a reminder of the struggles to gain its independence from Mexico. At the time, folks in both Texas and the United States explored annexation to the US. However, political disagreements pertaining to issues related to the Civil War didn't make the annexation favorable at the time. 9 years later, things were a little different and the Republic of Texas was annexed as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. At this time, the official flag of the republic became the official flag of the state, with exception of the star, which was turned from gold to white. Although I've never varified this personally, it's widely accepted that, in fact, Texas is the only state in the US that reserves the right to legally secede. Economically speaking, it's agricultural, mineral and manufacturing resources make it the single largest contributor to the US economy as a whole.

Bonus fact:

The name Texas comes from the word "Teysha" from the language of the Caddo Indian Tribes. Loosely translated, it means "Friend".

Bonus fact #2:

The University of Texas Longhorns won the Baseball World Series in 2005 AND the NCAA National Football Championship just a few months later in January of 2006. But then, if you've ever read this blog before, you already know this.

Any other questions??? Glad to be of service......

Have a great weekend!!!

REAL MEN OF GENIUS

Are there very many long-running ad campaigns that have been consistantly funnier than Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" (formerly "Real American Heroes" before 9/11)? I don't know who comes up with these but there hasn't been a single one I didn't laugh at. The latest one I've heard is Mr. Jean Shorts Inventor - Ironically, I happend to be drinking a bud light and nearly spit it out from laughing... In a nut shell, here's the ad (cheesy background singer guy in parenthesis):

Bud Light presents Real Men of Genius
(Real men of ge-nius)
Today, we salute you, Mr. Jean Shorts Inventor
(Mister Jean Shorts Inve-nter)
People insisted that jeans were just pants
Apparently those people underestimated your
Out-of-the-box thinking
(A Fashion trail-blazer)
Casual enough for a barbeque
Formal enough for a family reunion
Your multi-dimensional creation handles both duties with ease
(YOU just said “duty”)
And what should we call your ground breaking achievement?
How about “Jorts”
[chorus](We really love your jo-orts)
So crack open an ice cold bud light mister “jorts” inventor!
If fashion’s a war, you’re fighting dirty!
(Mister Jo-orts inve-a-nter)

COMPETITION AND BARRY BONDS

Even if you aren't a baseball fan, or a sports fan for that matter- you can't read the news without hearing something about the woes of Barry Bonds. He's fundamentally painted himself into a corner with regard to his alleged steriod use. I say "alleged" because although most people, including myself, believe he's used performance enhancing substances - it's still not proven in court. The funny thing is that this has been going on for a long time. In fact, Playboy ran an article back in 2004 about an undercover agent who weaved himself into Barry's circle through his trainer and BALCO and witnessed all of this first-hand. It's not really a matter of if he was taking something, but more what he was taking.

Rather than re-hashing what hundreds of sports writers have already written, I'd rather focus on competition as a whole. I'm not really a Barry Bonds fan, although I do respect his spirit of competition and believe that despite his probable poor judgement, he's a good guy. A centered guy. A focused guy. He's the godson of Willy Mays, a baseball legend at a time when being a black athlete wasn't commonplace. Willy was also a true competitor.

So what makes someone a true and good competitor? Well, I'm sure the definition could easily be debated, but in my opinion it's someone who seeks out the best and strives to be better. Those who take the "eliminate the competition" approach aren't competitors - afterall, you can't have competition if your nemisis is eliminated. A competitor is someone who admires the accomplishments of the competition and aspires to raise the bar. Often times there is static and additional hurdles that one must ignore or maneuver around. For old Willy Mays, it was the color of his skin. He adapted and he overcame.

So when does enhancing one's ability to be a better competitor cross the line? Competition happens in every part of our lives whether we like it or not. Personal relationships and business are two of the biggest forums of competition we deal with everyday. Often times we change things about ourselves to be more competitive in these areas and sometimes those changes are not interchangeable with other competitive aspects to life. Plastic surgery or "enhancement", as it's commonly marketed, is something that is growing in popularity these days. Don't like something about your physical features? It's not getting you the physical attention that you deserve? Easily fixable. Will that help or hurt your professional life? If you are an exotic dancer, it can't hurt. If you are a professional, it really could go either way. What about the way you treat your significant other (or best friend) vs. the way you treat your boss and/or subordinates? We all know that treating these two groups of people the same won't make for the best of circumstances. If you treat your loved ones like subordinates, they may not be loving you back for very long. If you treat your subordinates like loved ones, you may find that productivity is breached. That, or you are served with an harassment suit.

Finally, do all competitors have to begin and end on equal footing on a level playing field? The real life answer to that question is that it's completely impossible. People all have their gifts and talents and just like snowflakes, no two people are exactly alike. Some have many physical attributes that make them appealing or competitive and at the same time not much more. Others lack physically but have tons of other appealing attributes that give them an edge. To want to enhance upon what we lack is human nature.

Barry Bonds has had an amazing career. I remember first seeing him play back in the early 90's when he was with the Pirates. I also saw him play on opening day this year, perhaps for the last time, against the Padres- when fans overwhelmingly boo'd him while one threw a syringe at him. These people are not competitors, nor do they understand competition. I have my own ideas about Barry and his (alleged) steroid use, which are irrelevent at this point. His lifetime work, his records and acheivements will always be tarnished and any other punishment will pale in comparison. I can say, however, that despite everything, I've found his composure and disposition to be consistent with what competition is all about.

Now, does anyone know where I can find something to make someone taller and witty?

HAPPY EASTER!

STATISTICS 301

I must admit, if Deal or No Deal is on, I watch it. Usually with my business partners because we work late and it usually comes on while we're still at the office. All of us have business backgrounds with plenty of experience with numbers (obviously, since we are bankers) and statistics. However, we cannot agree on the statistics with regard to this show. It's been over 10 years since I took a stats class, and honestly - I was pretty much hammered that whole semester so to hell if I can really remember any of it. Maybe one of you can help with our argument. In example:

Position #1: When the contestant is down to 6 cases, including his/her own and there are 6 amounts of money still on the board (including the highest amount, for the sake of argument we'll say is $1,000,000), the show puts up the stat that there is a 1 in 6 chance that the contestant's case holds $1,000,000. This is correct.

Position #2: Given the same scenario, the stat of 1 in 6 chance is NOT correct because the case was originally chosen when there were actually 25 cases/amounts on the board. The odds cannot transcend the variable of time. AND the chosen case/amount was determined at the time it was chosen so therefore statistically speaking the chances of that case containing the $1,000,000 prize are much lower than the possibility of one of the other cases containing it.

We are deadlocked on this issue. Any genuises out there want to help settle this?

Anyone?
Anyone?
Bueller?

UPDATE: For the record, my position was position #1. My esteemed colleague seems to be coming around to admitting that he completely overanalyzed the issue. He still hasn't fully admitted he was wrong, but I expect he never will. That's alright though.

THE NUMBERS OF BRUCE WILLIS

I went to see the movie Lucky Number Slevin last night. Not bad. I'd recommend it softly. At least it was a hell of a lot better than 16 blocks. Funny thing is I'm really not a huge Bruce Willis fan. After the movie I was walking to the car and it occurred to me that old Bruce has starred in an irregular amount of movies which referrence a quantity in the title. In fact, other than the numbers 8 and 11, he almost has the first 12 numbers accounted for. Let's see:

1. The First Deadly Sin
2. Look Who's Talking 'TOO'
3. Die Hard 3
4. Four Rooms
5. The Fifth Element
6. The Sixth Sense
7. Lucky Number Slevin
8. (yet to be ID'd)
9. Whole Nine Yards
10. Whole Ten Yards
11. (Not yet ID'd)
12. Twelve Monkeys

Of course this doesn't include 16 Blocks, The LAST Boyscout or ALPHA dog as well as the sequels that would overlap other numbers on the list i.e. Die Hard 4.0.

Coincidence? I think not.

MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR

Yep! It's that time of year again! Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows that there's only one sports team that I love more than the beloved Longhorns. That's right - it's the greatest team on earth, playing the greatest game: The ASTROS!!

Okay, okay. Before any wiseasses comment about the "greatest team on earth" comment, I concede that the comment is based on emotional bias and not actual statistical fact. However, these guys are hungry for a World Series Pennant - as they've proven with the last couple of seasons. Hopefully, this year they'll hit well enough to backup the stellar pitching staff (Chad Qualls not included in the "stellar" group). As of today, they're 5-2, which is a hell of a lot better than they started the first week of last season. With any luck, Roger Clemens will show up on May 2nd ready for duty to help these guys finish the season the way the last season should have been finished.

As for me, I'll be supporting these guys from SD. Hopefully, I'll be able to take the time to actually get to Houston this summer to see some games. My original plan was to spend at least one weekend a month there this summer to get my Astros fix and feed my Texas music addiction. So far, I'm not doing so well on the planning of all that - but I'm hoping to change that in May. We'll see.

Just had to share my excitement. In the mean time, I'll be hitting a bunch of Padres games to substitute (I had killer seats for opening day!).

VIEWS FROM PARADISE - MY SISTER'S WEDDING

Hook 'em horns! (My goal is to take a "hook 'em" pic in as many places as I can this year)


5 minutes married and he's already in the doghouse. Get used to it bro!


Goofy pic of my esteemed immediate family



The Bros and their H... er, I mean gals.


The backdrop. It wasn't painted there. I swear, it really did exsist!


So as you can see, I was with the family for my lil sister's wedding. Surprisingly, about 30 people came out for it from all over the US. If my fuzzy memory serves me correctly, a good time was had by all. If you are wondering how to go to an all-inclusive resort, where drinks, food, and tips are all provided in one price and still manage to spend $500 with absolutely nothing to show for it - just ask me. I'm not saying my answer will be rational or acceptable, but it can somehow be done.