Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. ― Yogi Berra Baseball season officially started a week ago, and the Atlanta Braves have already exceeded my expectations by winning six of their first seven games. Of course, the season is long, but after management traded away most of the team's existing stars in the offseason, my expectations were set extremely low. I never expected the Braves to get above .500 after the first game of the season, to be brutally honest. So in honor of the start of baseball season, I thought I'd dig up a couple of quotes from the immortal Yogi Berra, notorious for his verbal gaffes and malapropisms, who allegedly also said that, "Ninety percent of the game is half mental" and "I never said most of the things I said." Quotes like those cause me to wonder if Yogi might have started playing baseball before the catcher's mask was invented. After all, his more memorable utterances sound as if they came from someone who had one too many foul tips bounce off his skull. … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2015
A pleasant surprise
Of my six published books, none have inspired more readers to offer negative feedback than my Counterargument for God. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I routinely offer a free electronic copy to every atheist whom I encounter online -- not in an attempt to antagonize them, but with the sincere hope that my book might inspire future conversation. If there is a viable alternative to rather stupendous good luck to possibly explain our existence without invoking a supernatural God, I'd like to know what that alternative might be. I appreciate fair but constructive criticism and value it as much or more than positive feedback because I believe it is important to learn from my mistakes, so that I won't be doomed to repeat them. As an author it's always nice to know that someone took the time to read what I consider to be a labor of love, even if they agree with me. Naturally, I was quite pleased to receive the email below from C. W. Bobbitt, a retired professor from Mississippi State University: John, I read your book Counterargument for God, some parts several times. It's hard to believe that two people so separated in space and time could have thoughts so nearly coincident on a given subject. No doubt about it, we're on the same page. I would not presume to tell you why you are wrong because I don' know that you are wrong (although I call my paper a hypothesis, and I think that name is defensible, I really see it as a scenario---it could have happened this way.) I need to state up front that my analysis of this subject is based on two propositions which I … [Read more...]
The Pearl: 13 April 2015
A fool and his money are soon elected. -- Will Rogers Hillary Clinton announced her campaign for president in 2016. She is widely expected to "win" the Democrat nomination for president without facing any serious competition within her party. Conversely, Jeb Bush has opposition for the Republican nomination from Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, as well as from Governor Scott Walker, the current frontrunner. However, once Jeb declares his candidacy, the conventional wisdom says that he will attract the lion's share of Republican campaign contributions, from people who want to see another Bush in the White House. My question is, why? Also, who is funding these candidates? Between them, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush occupied the White House for 12 years in total. While I think Jeb was a pretty good governor down in Florida, that doesn't mean he'd make a great president. I think Jeb's wrong about immigration and Common Core. Besides, enough is enough. In between the Bushes, Bill and Hillary Clinton had 8 years in charge. If you think Hillary had no power in Bill's administration, your memory needs jogging. Before Obama gave us the "Affordable" Health Care Act, Hillary basically tried to nationalize health care by giving us the Health Security Act all the way back in 1993. Furthermore, no one in modern times has done more to destroy the moral fabric of American society than Bill Clinton, who had an affair with an intern, lied about it, and was disbarred for committing perjury while in office. Hillary enabled Bill's clinging to power, … [Read more...]
The Pearl: 12 April 2015
I'd rather be two strokes ahead going into the last day than two strokes behind. Having said that, it's probably easier to win coming from behind. There is no fear in chasing. There is fear in being chased. - Jack Nicklaus I have a confession to make -- I once hated watching golf on television. I thought golf was boring. It usually put me to sleep. Then I happened to watch as Jack Nicklaus come from six strokes back over the last nine holes to win the 1986 Masters with the greatest comeback in golf history -- perhaps the greatest comeback in sports history, period. Maybe I never liked golf because I never knew how to play the game. Because I play left-handed, no one seemed to be able to figure out where my swing would go wrong. But it would... I used to admit that I owned golf clubs, but avoided using them because I couldn't hit even a half decent shot to save my life. The game frustrated and infuriated me. If by some miracle I did hit a straight tee shot right at the flag with an iron on a par three, I'd somehow manage to blow the sure par by three-putting from less than two feet. I truly sucked at golf. In epic fashion. So I stuck with playing tennis, until my left arm became so injured I could no longer play. When I did try to play golf, my driver never left the bag -- I didn't trust anything except my seven wood on longer holes, even the par 5s. One time I was playing so poorly that my friends deliberately aimed me 45 degrees from the flagstick in the tee box. They said that my slice was so bad, that angle ought to put my ball in the middle of the … [Read more...]
The Pearl: 11 April 2015
I think that Pebble Beach is my favorite golf course to go to. I think Augusta is my favorite place to go play golf. - Jack Nicklaus There are four tournaments that comprise the Grand Slam of golf -- the British Open, the U. S. Open, the PGA championship, and the Masters, the only one of the four held on the same golf course every year. And considering the fact that Jack Nicklaus won the Masters a record six times, it's certainly understandable why he would say that particular tournament was his favorite, even if it weren't the most prestigious of them all. There's something special about the Augusta National golf course, which was designed by golfing legend Bobby Jones. … [Read more...]
