Morning in north Las Vegas

Flew out to Las Vegas yesterday on a Southwest nonstop from Albany NY. A 5 hour flight in which you received a couple small bags of junk food and a beverage or two. (Ah, but my bags flew for free!! My mother-in-law points out regularly "it's not free, its included".) For the first two hours it was mildly bumpy, so the crew had the "buckle up" signs lit. Visiting the loo was a treat because it normally took 4 trips out of your seat before you managed to beat the competition. Nobody could stand in line, so the race was from the starting blocks, I mean seats.

Since we're headed to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, we chose to stay for a night up by Nellis Air Force Base. Definitely not a vacation spot, but its a different perspective of the Vegas area, as previous trips have kept us on the "strip".  At any rate, it's got great coffee and its near interstate 15, so the two major needs were met.

The big debate this morning as to whether there will be either cell service, WiFi and/or TV at the north rim. Doesn't matter if you've got a good book for after dark.

More later. Maybe.

Talk About Stoopid!!!

New York City has now supposedly and allegedly passed a legal limit on portion size for sodas and other "sugary" beverages in food service establishments.  Talk about DUMB!!And DANGEROUS!!

First, Mayor Bloomberg claimes it is a step in the fight againest childhood obesity. Who is he kidding? He'd be better off, and more helpful, pushing for more physical activity among kids, both in and out of school. Limit expenditures on interscholastic athletics, and bring back intramurals, where all can participate. Get'em off their butts and away from computers, gameboys, TVs, etc.

Second, if  this isn't knocked down eventually by the US Supreme Court, the court might as well disband. For any government at any level to regulate portion size of a ginger ale is absolutely Big Brotherish. Not for the soda itself, but for the discovery of how easy it was to enact. What's next? Mandatory portion control at Ruth's Chris?

Get real Bloomberg. And get realistic and effective, too. And, while you are at it, fire your Board of Health for rubber-stamping your idea.

New (Republic)?

For years I have been a subscriber to The New Republic. The thing I liked most about the magazine was that it didn't use glitz and glamour to lure people to its articles.With almost no photos or graphics and very few ads, TNR clearly tried to meet its fiscal needs by attracting readers using just the quality of its written word.
Three years ago I became a Kindle user. Skeptical at first, I slowly was hooked, and greatly hooked when I was recovering from eye surgery. (Find me a book in which you can change font size!)  I subscribe to the Kindle version of the  New York Times, which is just OK for its content, but great for its portability.

The TNR and Kindle: what a great match.
This week I received an email saying I could access TNR at no extra cost on an Ipad. Not a Kindle. Just an Ipad. Great.

A long time ago, when I learned that the Ipad, with no external ports or drives for media, was merely an umbilical cord to the Apple company, I vowed to purchase Apple no more. I guess I'll be stuck with the paper TNR.  For a while...

As it is, the new majority owner of TNR is one of the founders of Facebook, another digital entity I have vowed to stay away from. (When I think of Facebook I think of lemmings.)  He was quoted in the papers as saying that most TNR readers will be reading  digital versions in 5 to 10 years. I hope they expand beyond Ipad by then, or they will have lost a steady reader.

Unless, of course, the Facebook politics change TNR from what it has been for years: one of the best written publications on the planet.

Thank-you, Time Warner (Maybe?)

This is the opening week for NFL football. The Giants have already lost, but that game was extra early due to Obama's speech at the convention. The real deal begins this weekend.

The second week will begin next Thursday night. I am not sure who is playing (without checking the schedule) but I know I won't watch it on TV. The game is on the NFL Network, which does not appear on our Time-Warner cable network.

TWC has taken a stance with the NFL Network which I personally wish it had taken with about 300 (maybe 400 or more) other channels. TWC does not want NFL has part of its basic package, which I guess is where the NFL wants it. I suppose TWC is still trying to calculate the losses possible by people leaving for a carrier that carries the network, vs people who leave or do not join because of a higher rate. The one guarantee is that if and when TWC does carry the NFLN, people who receive it will see an increase in their cable bills.

I only wish TWC would poll its customers on the issue, and/or let them do the negotiating with the NFL Network.

Do facts matter?

In a discussion with some liberal-minded friends of mine, it was mentioned, by one of them that our 55 mph speed limit law had been brought into law in the Carter years and overturned in the Reagan years. The subject quickly changed when it was pointed out that the law had begun during the Nixon years and repealed in the Clinton years.

Easy Rawlins'

Just saw the 1995 movie "Devil in a Blue Dress", based on a book by Walter Moseley. Seemed to have more gratuitous violence than a typical Moseley book, but since I haven't read it, I'll have to know.

Hand Washing at the Track?

In the last two weeks I had the opportunity to make a few cash donations at the flat track in Saratoga (the August place to be, or maybe the august place to be, I forgot which).  Naturally, during the three and a half hour time it took to see and wager on 7 or so races, there were a couple of times when I had to wash my hands. That was when I wish I had three arms and hands.

The wash room on the upper level in the grandstand has sinks with the automatics water shut-offs. No hot water at all, but every time you turned the water on you had a guaranteed one-thirds of a second to get the job done. That's it.  The guidelines for hand washing generally specify 20 seconds minimum of vigorously washing with soap AND WATER.  These sinks turned off so fast that if they were in Vegas the water would evaporate before it hit the bottom of the sink.

I used to think the attendant sitting at a table collecting money for handing men paper towels that could have been obtained from the dispenser was the strangest thing about the restrooms at the track. No more. The strangest thing now is trying to wash your hands, or, even better, watching other guys try. Some are real cool, going through the motions then actually shaking their hands over the sink as if there was excess water on them. Others bend over and try to do an elbow hold on the faucet lever. (I wanted to video them, but I think someone would have gotten the wrong idea if I had taken my cell phone out at that time.) They don't realize at first how hard it is to have your hand in the flow of water while using the elbow from that arm to keep the water turned on. Some guys just curse. The sorriest thing is that many don't even try. (Make sure you never touch a men's room doorknob on your way out after washing your hands: the last 5 guys to touch it probably didn't wash their hands.)

There are about two weeks to go at the track. Go try the grandstand men's room sinks.

For a primer on hand washing, click here.