Draw a Picture of a Person Holding a Bird

Or, if you allow me to rephrase it slightly, draw a picture of a bird being held by a person.

Someone I know commented that when a child of some friends was in Kindergarten, the teacher noticed that the child had artistic potential by what she drew.

Here are some entries in the competition:



I'm not quite sure if the misunderstanding in the last one was intentional.

Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

Tears of the Giraffe is the second book of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and the third that I've completed. In addition to the initial book, I've done The Kalahari Typing School for Men.

In short, I liked this one the best of the three. It seemed to have the best blend of detective cases (which is made to seem easier, I'm sure, than it is in real life) and relationships. I'm not sure if I'm getting used to the characters, or if it really was better.

Still, it's more "light" than "heavy" reading, but that doesn't make it bad. Also, if you're interested in the series, I recommend reading the first book first. Three stars out of five.

This News Makes Me Mad

I won't bother to make an effort to expand on these thoughts, but news of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto angers me moreso than just about any news story I've heard for quite a while.

Browns Uniforms

Kellen Winslow made some comments that the Browns would have new uniforms for 2008, and they might be something like what the Denver Broncos currently wear. The assumption is that this is completely false, in part because NFL teams aren't supposed to change their uniforms more than once ever 3 years, and the Browns made minor tweaks for 2006.

But, here is one fan's nightmare concerning what could happen:

(Did Romeo go on a diet?)

And, if the Browns did finally add a helmet logo, I suppose this is the best that they could do:


Personally, I'm not opposed to minor tweaks here and there, as long as they keep a "traditional" look, and they don't look like something that was trendy in the late 1990s. The Browns have been tweaking their uniforms for as long as I've been a fan; I don't see there being one set uniform that they need to keep.

• Even though orange-brown-orange has been more common, I prefer the brown-orange-brown pants stripes:

• I don't mind the occasional orange pants:

• The orange jerseys were OK. I especially like the 3-D block effect on the numbers, and wouldn't mind them adding that to the white and brown shirts.

• Did the Browns ever have white shirts and orange numbers, or is this a colourised version of a b&w photo?

• Check out this apparenly early (1950s?) version of orange jerseys:

vajoe.com 2008 US Presidential Candidate Calculator

From http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html, I got the following. I'm not sure I truse these any more than to say that then can be used to generate potentially interesting conversation. What did you get?

Your Results

Based on your responses, your top candidate for 2008 is below.

Your Top Match
Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) 88.46% match

Your Other Top Matches

Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) - 56.73%
Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) - 53.85%
Arizona Senator John McCain (R) - 50.00%

Middle of the Pack

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson (R) - 49.04%
Businessman John Cox (R) - 46.15%
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) - 46.15%
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) - 45.19%
Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) - 44.23%
Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) - 42.31%
California Representative Duncan Hunter (R) - 38.46%
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) - 34.62%
Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) - 33.65%
Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) - 25.96%

Bottom of the Barrel

New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) - 25.00%
Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) - 24.04%
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) - 20.19%
Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) - 18.27%

Playing With My Camera's "Colour Accent" Mode

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

It's difficult for me to decide what to write about Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI. On the one hand, it's deep, but it's not that deep. There were times where it was difficult to follow while driving in city traffic and not also smashing into the car in front or me, but this doesn't mean that it's too difficult for anyone of moderate intelligence to follow, especially when reading a paper copy. On the other hand, it's also not definitely not light fluff.

The book focuses on the teachings of Jesus from the time of his baptism, until before the triumphal entry. That is, he leaves out the "infancy" narratives, as well as the other "Holy Week" events like the Last Supper, Arrest, Trial, Crucifixion, Resurrection, etc. Benny says that this is because he has been working on this book for quite a while, and has been devoting most of his free time to it. Not knowing how much time (of any sort) he has remaining, he wanted to publish this part now and work on the second volume as time allows.

It's had to say where to begin. The book goes into great detail on subjects such as Jesus' connection with Old Testament Law, his baptism, transfiguration, Sermon on the Mount, parables, etc. For example, the Pope expounds at great length on each phrase of the Lord's Prayer. Two other points he makes are:

• Jesus didn't bring universal peace or prosperity. So what did he bring? He brought God.
• There are correlations between Moses and Jesus, which I won't begin to describe in this review.

As a non-Catholic, I thought it was interesting to hear the Catholic side of things. I may have missed some things, but there wasn't much I would disagree with.

In conclusion, I don't not recommend it, but I also hesitate to recommend it strongly. A Hindu friend of mine mentioned that he read the Gospel of Matthew, really enjoyed it, and gained a greater appreciation of Christianity from it. Regarding the Pope's Jesus of Nazareth, I'm undecided if the reader of this review, my Hindu friend, or I would be better off reading this book of just reading, for example, the Gospel of Mark or Luke. So, while it is pretty good, read the Bible too.

The Pope recommends A Rabbi Talks With Jesus by Jacob Neusner. I plan on giving that one a try.

My 2007 Baseball Awards Ballot

Like last year, it looks like I'm too late to vote in the Internet Baseball Awards. Anyway, here are my votes:

American League Most Valuable Player

1. NYA Alex Rodriguez
2. NYA Jorge Posada
3. DET Magglio Ordonez
4. TB Carlos Pena
5. BOS David Ortiz
6. DET Curtis Granderson
7. CLE Victor Martinez
8. CLE C.C. Sabathia
9. CLE Grady Sizemore
10. CAL Vladimir Guerrero

You can't argue with ARod. It's always a challenge to decide how much to value defence, but if Big Papi played 3B with the same skill as Rodriguez, my vote would still have gone to ARod. My impression was that VMart was the most valuable Indian. Honourable Mention: Brian Roberts, Mike Lowell.

National League Most Valuable Player

1. NYN David Wright
2. ATL Chipper Jones
3. PHI Chase Utley
4. FLA Hanley Rameriz
5. MIL Prince Fielder
6. COL Matt Holliday
7. SD Jake Peavy
8. FLA Miguel Cabrera
9. STL Albert Pujols
10. SF Barry Bonds

Unlike the AL, I'm sure you can argue with Wright. And, unlike the AL, all of the batters listed above have somewhat comparable stats. Even Barry Bonds on-based .480 (wow!) in 126 games. I've heard Holliday considered to be a favourite for the award, but the question is, how much does playing in Denver inflate his stats? But, even if they put up the same numbers in neutral parks, I'd go with Wright over Holliday due to his defensive position. Honourable Mention: Jimmy Rollins.

American League Cy Young Award

1. CLE C.C. Sabathia
2. CAL John Lackey
3. OAK Dan Haren
4. CLE Fausto Carmona
5. BOS Josh Beckett

When it comes to choosing a Cy, I tend to favour high IP and low ERA. Sabathia lead the majors in IP, so that's a good place to start. Is there a correlation between high IP and future arm trouble? Will his arm fall off? Considering October, maybe it already has. It felt strange not voting for Johan Santana, but I had Beckett edging him out for 5th. Joba Chamberlain was almost worthy of consideration, believe it or not, giving up 1 ER while striking out 34 in 24 innings.

National League Cy Young Award

1. SD Jake Peavy
2. ARI Brandon Webb
3. LA Brad Penny
4. ATL Tim Hudson
5. ATL John Smoltz

I don't think many will argue with the choice of Jake Peavy. Webb looks to be an obvious choice for #2. After that, it gets murky. Penny, Hudson, and Smoltz all look pretty close to me, along with Roy Oswalt and Aaron Harang.

The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith

Considering my thoughts on The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, it might seem strange that I picked up the audio version of The Kalahari Typing School for Men when I saw it it the library. I suppose that there is a lot of stuff at the library that I know nothing about, so I thought I might as well go with something I knew wouldn't be horrible, instead of something totally random.

Maybe I'll do that sometime -- walk in and randomly select an audiobook.

Anyway, Typing is number 4 in the series. Rather than focusing on individual cases, Typing focuses more on relationships:

• Mma Ramotswe is still engaged to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni.
• Mma Ramotswe's assistant, the single Mma Makutsi, meets a man who seems too good to be true.
• Mma Ramotswe's main case of the book, Mr Molefelo, is looking to correct wrongs he committed in the past.

Overall, the book seemed to have less of a "life in Botswana" flavour, but had more of a story and was more of a journey with people you know. Though slightly different in focus than No. 1, it was about as likable. I'm surprised I only gave that one two stars. I'll give this one two and a half stars out of five.

Gorilla Warfare

When I was young, I would hear news reports about gorilla attacks on villages in Africa, or bouts of gorilla warfare in various places. This scared me. I mean, what if some gorillas escaped from the zoo and decided to attack my house?

I was reminded of these past fears today when I saw a BBC report that an Indian politician died after being attacked by monkeys.

Primates == Scary.

Another Football Player?

High Temperature Athletic Training

Consistently run, work out, or whatever, when it's, say, 25 to 30C (77 to 86F). Of course, you shouldn't over-exert yourself in high temperatures, or low temperatures for that matter. Then, when the temperature falls to 10C (50F), you may be surprised that you're suddenly faster.

Will You Be My Friend?

My Internet time sink of the week is Facebook. Do you have an account there? I created one and am now up to a massive count of 5 friends. I didn't know I had that many.

And it does seem to have the potential to be an addictive time drain, which is, I assume, what advertisers and Wall Street are looking for. There are numerous little applications that you can add to your site depending on your interests. I'm having fun adding pins on a map listing all the cities and towns in the world that I've visited, though I can't say it's all that productive.

Anyway, I don't expect to do a whole lot with my site, and I won't link to it here. But if you have a Facebook account, go ahead and send me a message through it.

Running a Marathon

I've never run a marathon, and the odds are that I never will. I had never even run the distance of a marathon in a week. Until yesterday, that is. I guess you could say that I completed a marathon in about 164:30:00, with lots of rest, sleep, and work breaks in between. If I run that distance next year in 6 days, and do it the following year in 5, maybe I'll be ready to do it in one day around 2013.

Is it the Mormons? The JWs? Worse, it's the Phone Company!

As I was running last night, I saw a few pairs of people walking around the neighbourhood with information, going door-to-door. They were all dressed in white shirts and dark pants. I wondered if they were the Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses going around. Instead, it turned out to be the Phone Company. Or more precisely, independent contractors trying to get me to sign up for Phone Company services. In my case, their catch was to try to get me to sign up for high-speed Internet service. I thanked the lady for stopping by and asked if she could leave me some literature about the service for me to go over and contact them if I'm interested. Of course, this couldn't be done -- I had to sign up immediately or not at all. This effectively ended our the need for discussion, though we did chat for a while until the nice lady realised that I meant it when I said that I wouldn't sign up on the spot.

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

Someone I know is a fan of Evanovich and will read anything she puts out. So, when I saw one of her works available in the audiobook section of the library, I thought I'd give it a try.

I was not particularly impressed, though it got better as it went along.

The story involves everyone's favourite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. It's nearing Valentine's Day, and her old pal Diesel shows up. A "relationship expert" has been arrested and skipped bail. Diesel makes a deal with Plum: if she fills in for the relationship expert, playing Cupid for her clients so that they'll find true love in time for Valentine's Day, Diesel will let Plum bring her in and get the bounty. So, the possibilities for slightly risqué humour abound as Stephanie travels between lovelorn characters. There's a small bit of a mystery or crime/suspense aspect to the story as well, but not much.

The book is short so I don't see the need for a long review. I hear that Evanovich's "Numbers" books are better and some of her fans weren't thrilled with this one. I'll give it two stars out of five, but I was considering a lower rating.

Have the Stock Markets Been Depressed Since 2001?

I've heard from more than one person lately that the stock markets have not done well since 11 September 2001, that they're afraid of investing in stocks because of the risk of another terrorist attack on the United States, and so on. I certainly wouldn't want to advise anyone to invest in an instrument that they're not comfortable with. However, when I hear such blanket assertions made about the stock market or baseball statistics, I wonder what the numbers really say, and decide to look it up.

I'm going with the most-recognized US market index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

10 September 2001 Close: 9605.85
18 September 2007 Close: 13739.39
Cumulative Annual Growth Rate Over this Period: 6.12%

I used the handy Excel XIRR function to compute this value. I don't think I've been able to compute this kind of math on my own since I was 18.

But what do the numbers show? What should the reader think of a 6.12% annual growth rate? Well, it is lower that the supposed long-term historic average. But on the other hand, I don't think it should be considered dismal. It seems within the expected historic range for a 6-year period, though I am not checking it against 6-year rolling returns. Maybe when my kids are a little older, I can give them assignments like this.

If you want to guarantee a better return than 6%, well, let me know how that can be done.

Cheerleading Pic

On Losing Weight

For better or worse, my weight has been fairly stable. If I make a moderate effort to watch what I eat, I don't easily gain weight. The down side of this is that, like many of us, it wouldn't hurt me to lose 5 kg or 10 lbs (OK, or more...). Unfortunately, losing weight isn't easy for me and I like food too much to make it happen.

I say this because, when seeing relatives like my parents or some siblings that I don't see daily or even weekly, I'll be told that I look like I'm losing weight. Or maybe I'll be asked if I lost some weight. They could have some "large" impressions of me, and seeing me brings them back down to size; I don't know.

Anyway, I had thought that this was just some kind of honest question. However, it's happened so much without corresponding weight loss that I am starting to wonder about it. Is it just some kind of polite greeting? Am I just being told, "You're not as fat as I thought you'd be"? Am I being rude (in my family at least) if I don't ask people if they'd lost weight in return?

Anton's Chekhov's Short Stories

I enjoyed my collection of Chekhov's short stories. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, as he was, after all, my favourite Star Trek character. To me, they seemed to have some of the feel of "real life" to them, which stands in contrast to other 19^th century works I've read. Chekhov isn't trying to answer questions about life. If anything, he's trying to raise them.

This lead to an interesting discussion with a Dickens fan, who seemed to like the structure of a Dickens novel, with its good guys and bad guys, beginning, middle, and end, morality, etc. Chekhov isn't like that at all. And, according to my friend, his style of writing was quite an innovation.

From my brief readings on the topic, there are two types of Chekhov stories: those in which nothing really happens in the end and those on which something does. One story that I liked was The Beggar, which can be read here. I won't say which of those two types The Beggar is. Actually, it isn't clear to me.

I may be forgetting someone, but at this point, I'll say that I think I liked Chekhov's stories better than anything I remember which was written in the 1800s. I recommend his works fairly highly, but I can see how some folks might not enjoy it as much as I did.