The Stupidity of Corporate America

So I drove through an industrial park or complex and was amazed at the number of buildings that were empty. About seven or eight total, but what really made me shake my head, was that three brand new buildings were being constructed for businesses moving into the complex.

What is wrong with retrofitting or using the buildings that already exist? This is just asinine and not good practice, both business wise and environmentally. It wasn't like these new building were different from the existing buildings. They were all your typical steel structure warehouse type.

I get that everyone has been conditioned to want something shiny and new. The current global economy and worldwide environmental state, I thought would leads us to better use of all resources, both economical and environmental. Seeing what I saw today, has proven me wrong.

It is just not this one industrial park, drive through any town, any city, and you will see empty buildings not being used and new construction for new business. I can understand that some businesses have a certain need or particular look to promote their commercial enterprise, but you have to think that at some point business schools are going to have to teach that reuse, reduce, refit, is more economical approach and this will lead to a more environmental friendly way of living.

I work part-time in a city and also see the number of empty store fronts, office space, that go years without use. I have been told that building owners will purposely keep the properties un-used for tax write off purposes as a business loss. May be it is time to change the tax structures and close the loopholes and start giving the tax breaks to property owners that get businesses into their buildings and refurbish spaces for use. And place higher tariffs on those that leave structures empty for years. How about moratoriums on new construction until all other properties in the area are being utilized?

Have you ever....

Have you ever had a time with your child when you just laugh over nothing?

I had one of those times with my daughter tonight. Not sure what started it, or what it was all about, but before we knew it we were laughing uncontrollably about nothing. It helps that she has an infectious laugh, and listening to it will just cause you to smile and break out into more laughter.

 I hope these times will continue until I am old and grey. I hope that I will remember them and it will always bring a smile to my face. She says she gets her funny from me and I have always been able to be silly with her. Sometimes to the point that it is annoying to other people, but who cares, it is not about them. It is about us, and that is all that matters to us.

What students may never experience today....

I have spent the last couple of weeks in a classroom and love the fact that Smartboards have become the norm, allowing great diversity in the presentation of lessons to students. Being able to switch from various media (video, internet, etc..), to writing notes and saving them for easy review and distribution. Interaction with students working at the board.

Of course the predecessor to the Smartboard and is still used a lot in classrooms is the white board. The white board took the place of the black/chalk board. The chalk board is just not found in classrooms anymore.

Because the black board is no longer in the classroom, today's student will not experience the chill of the squeak of chalk or someone clawing and dragging their nails across the slate. If anyone needs to be reminded of this sound, I found the following video, enjoy.

Retire #21

Roberto Clemente Walker

Pittsburg Pirates

Aug. 18th, 1934 - Dec. 31st, 1972

A friend put a thought into my head, and it truly got me thinking. The number 42 is retired and is not to be used in professional baseball. He asked about retiring the number of Roberto Clemente, #21.

He is right, Clemente's number should be retired from professional baseball. He is a Hall of Famer, that also broke racial barriers, like Jackie Robinson, being the first Latino inducted into the Hall of Fame. His career statistics are great, with a .317 batting average, 3,000 hits, 240 home runs, and 1,305 runs batted in, playing his entire career of 18 years with the same team, winning two World Series, a MVP, a World series MVP, 15 All-Star nods, 12 Golden Gloves, and 4 NL Batting titles. Clemente's career was cut short and these numbers would probably have been much larger, along with the awards.

I know that everyone has been hagiographic over Jeter and how he has earned so much respect, but Clemente laid a lot of the foundation and set the example for players like Jeter. Clemente's off the field life is what makes him much more respectable then Jeter could ever be. Clement played the game right, both on the field and off, early in his career, Clemente even spent his off season in the military as a Marine Reservist, and of course his charity work.

Clemente's philanthropy and his work established the Roberto Clemente Award, which is awarded to a player each each with great skill and involved in community work, this award has been given out since 1973 (back dated to 1971). A wide range of players have been awarded this prestigious honor, from Willie Mays, Pete Rose, Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett, Tony Gwynn, to David Ortiz and Clayton Kershaw. Even Derek Jeter was honored in 2009.

I support the movement to honor one of the greatest individuals to play the sport of baseball by retiring his number 21. So I have included the link www.retire21.org Go to the website and sign the petition to move this forward.

American League MVP

As the season wraps up today, many will start to think about year end awards. One of those awards being the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. I think that Mike Trout of the Angels will most likely get it, but is he the most valuable player in the league?

I say, with jaundiced eye, that Robinson Cano is the MVP for the American League. Cano left New York and headed to the Northwest to take a team that was 71-91 (.482 winning percentage) in 2013 to  86-75 (.534) in 2014, with one game left and a possible playoff spot. Seattle didn't change much else with the exception of bringing in the second baseman, and have gained a 15 game  (and counting) swing in the team record column. That has added a lot of value and should be recognized.

I understand that Mike Trout had another outstanding season, with a .288 batting average (BA), 35 home runs (HR), 111 runs batted in (RBI), and 115 runs scored (RS), which are outstanding numbers. A field percentage of .992 with three errors

Cano has .316 BA, 14 HR, 82 RBI, and 77 RS. He has a fielding percentage of .987 and 9 errors.

Looking at the numbers, it is easy to pick Trout.

Of course we could give it Derek Jeter, as he has never won a MVP for the league, after all he is batting .256, with 4 HR, 49 RBI, and 47 RS,  a .973 fielding percentage and 11 errors, it would make a excellent farewell gift for him.

Derek Jeter

So this is Derek Jeter's last weekend of professional baseball as a player. He may be back as a manager, coach, or commentator, but he is ending his career as a professional player. Very sad, especially for NYY fans. Of course we will get to hear the Yankee fans regale us with the many Jeter tales of glory days gone by, which is typical, as they can never shut up about the "tradition."

I had a Yankee fan state the other day that #2 of the Yankees was the most respected player of all time, he quickly corrected himself, and restated he was the most respected player of the last 20 years. Really? Someone needs to take off their Yankee tinted glasses and look around baseball.

Did Jeter play the game right? Yes, he was a class act surrounded by Yankees. Was he fun to watch? Yes, again. He did a lot of things that should be done more often in professional sports like, spending entire career with one team, playing for the love of the game, being an ambassador of the game. But we as fans of the game, can all probably come up with a long list of players that have similar qualities.

I believe that part of Jeter's idolization and placement upon a pedestal is where he played. So let's play the "what if" game.

• What if Jeter played his entire career with another team? Maybe a small market team like the KC Royals? 
• Would he be the same player?
• Would he have even stayed with the team his entire career?
• Would he have had the same career stats?
• Would he have had the same All-Star appearances? The championships? The ladies?

Did Jeter make the Yankees? Or did the Yankees make Jeter? The Yankees had a lot of success with Jeter and he helped in that success, there is no denying that. But he was not a one man show playing on Broadway.

Now let us all take off those Yankee tinted glasses and look at who I think are some of the most respected players in the last 20 years of baseball, and you can develop your own ranking. These are mine in no particular order...well I am going to list my leading candidate first. Ken Griffey, Jr., and then the rest, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Tony Gwynn, Paul Molitor, Edgar Martinez, Kirby Puckett, and Bernie Williams. Lets look at just shortstops that played during this time, with Cal Ripken, Ozzie Smith, and Omar Vizquel. And then there is Jeter's other teammate, Mariano Rivera.

So there you have it, respect, but not the most respected in the last 20 years. Is he on the list? Sure why not. Is he #1or #2? (Yes, I know he wears #2) Probably not.

[See, I did not even bring up the fact, that I think he did steroids, and the evidence that his late career injuries are indicative of athletes that have used steroids and growth hormones, and just happened to occur after his teammate was outed for use. Nope I am not going there.]

Good v. Evil

Watching the news lately and reading many friends' FaceBook post, I see the start of the political/religious attacks on Muslims, Christmas (or christians), and nonbelievers. I happen to partially fall into the last group, not that I am a nonbeliever (I believe in many things- see Crash Davis speech in Bull Durham), and being a man of science and because of my teachings, I have yet to see, read, or hear any credible proof of a higher order being outside of natural world. I do understand that there is an energy force that runs through everything and if people simply need to place a name on it, they can call it god, allah, buddha, zeus, odin or whatever.

So here are the question themes that are asked and implied in everyone's day to day lately.

Are Christians better than Muslims or Jews, or any combination of this equation? Are Muslims and/or Christians evil? Do nonbelievers have no ethics or moral base? If you pay attention to any of the talking heads on the heavily biased "news" shows, you can answer yes to any and all of these questions.

So are there good Christians? Yes. Probably a lot of people I know personally, who follow a christian based church and lead a mundane non threatening life and give to charity and do what they can to not harm others could be considered good Christians. I also know Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and others, including nonbelievers that live that same maudlin lifestyle and are very good people. A lot of Christian individuals have done some recognizable good work, like Martin Luther King Jr., Bishop Tutu, the current Pope, Bono, just to name a few. There is also a list of Muslims that have done good work in the world, I know most live a sheltered existence here in the US and believe that all Muslims are secret Jihadists living amongst us in sleeper cells, but that is just stupid to think and believe that. Malala Yousafzai, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Ahmed Zewail as a some that have displayed positive doings. Nonbelievers that have accomplished good ethical deeds, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Clarence Darrow, David Suzuki, Douglas Adams, Katherine Hepburn, Brad Pitt, and Bob Geldof come to mind for me.

So now are there evil Christians? Yes. Many that claim they are religious, but demean others for being of a different race, culture, or have different sexual preferences. One of the biggest offenders in christianity is the Westboro Church. The history of "the church" with the inquisition, Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, Pat Robertson, Davis Koresh, all committed evil in the name of christianity. The same could be said for Muslims, with Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, ISIL leaders, etc... I am sure nonbelievers that have committed sinister acts. While naming famous nonbelievers is a bit more difficult and I can only come up with one and that being Garvilo Princip. I am sure many will try and tie some despots on to this list like Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, Hitler, and/or Milosevic, but they would be wrong as all of these people have had been members of a religious sect.

As some one who is skeptical, does it bother me when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings or whatever? Absolutely not. Am I offended when I sneeze and someone say god bless you? Nope. It is not worth getting twisted about it. Do I offer similar salutations to others? Yes. Do I worry about offending them? No. My gesture is simply being cordial and polite. Once again, not worth getting twisted in a knot about.

So as we approach the high holidays and the winding down of the year, relax and enjoy life and sweat the little things and turn off the media and don't believe the hype.