My Bits and Pieces
- The first time I heard the phrase "Rolling Ghettos" to describe the town where I work, I thought it was just a joke. I always figured that the northwest suburbs were all nice, otherwise why would Walter Payton live around here? But, now after about a year, I am starting to see that the area actually is kind of ghetto. It's the only area outside of the city where someone has ever come up to my car at a stoplight, tap on my window, and ask for money (by the way, the guy was not wearing a yellow vest that said "Help retarded kids"). Also, yesterday I saw someone hitchhiking for the first time in my life, about a block away from the NG building. Maybe hitchhiking isn't that ghetto, but I honestly didn't know people really did that, outside of movies and books, or on dirt roads in the countryside. So it seemed ghetto to me. Anyways, hopefully Rolling Ghettos is the exception, not the rule around here. P-tine must be where all the action is at.
- I think one of my useless talents is identifying where scrub actors/actresses are from. You know how all these sitcoms, commercials, and movies recycle the same pool of scrubs for the minor characters? I'm pretty good at seeing a face on screen and immediately being able to say "hey, that guy was Chandler's crazy roommate in that one episode of Friends", or "that's the kid from The Sandlot". Hmmm.... yeah, I don't know if my talents get any less useful than that.
- Illini basketball plays their first big game of the season tonight against UNC. I haven't watched any of their games yet this year, but tonight will probably officially kick off the next 4-5 months of Illini madness in my life. By the way, there's a Illini vs. UIC game on Dec. 30th at the United Center. I know from talking to a few people that we could get at least 5 or 6 of us to go, anyone interested, let me know soon and maybe I'll try to get tickets and organize something for that game. For reference, prices are as follows: $40 per 100-level seat, $30 per 200-level seat, and $25 per 300-level seat (I don't think UIC students get discounts for this game). I'm not sure what's still available, but if you want to go, also tell me how much you would be willing to pay, so I know what to get.
- "An apple a day keeps the doctor away". We'll see if this old saying is true. Starting this week, my latest addition to "Joe's daily routine" is a morning fruit break. Since oranges and bananas spoil too fast, and I'm too lazy to go to Jewel all the time to buy more fruit, my fruit breaks will mostly be apples.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Monday, December 01, 2003
Thanksgiving Weekend Recap
- As usual, the Chens did not have any turkey on Thanksgiving. Instead, we enjoyed hot pot. I don't feel like explaining what hot pot is again, so for those who don't know, refer to last Thanksgiving's entry.
- Played mah-johng with grandparents and lost all my money. I honestly don't know what I can do to play the game better, but I always lose to them for some reason. It can't all be bad luck. Oh well, at least I got a t-shirt once for winning a TASC mah-jonhg tournament. It was way back in freshman year of college, but still.
- In my last week of teaching Sunday School for a while, the kids listed things they were thankful for. Most just said they were thankful for their family and friends, as expected. But some of the more interesting ones said they were thankful for "being a boy", "my video game called Crash Team Racing", "my cell phone", and "fish". I think when I was their age, I was most thankful for my Topps 1990 Frank Thomas rookie card, worth $4.50 at the time.
- Did not do any shopping, Christmas or otherwise.
- Did not go out at all, even on the "second-biggest party night of the year".
- Watched "Elf". A good movie, especially if you like Christmas.
- Watched "Home Alone" again on TV. That movie never gets old.
- Had a miserable fantasy football experience. Starters score 2 TDs, bench scores 6. This was not helped by Jeremy Shockey being a cackmaster and Bubba Franks rubbing it in my face for starting the cackmaster over him.
- Played the usual Sunday night cards, came out about even. As always, it was a nice and chill way to finish off the weekend, which, despite having twice as many days, still wasn't long enough for my liking.
- As usual, the Chens did not have any turkey on Thanksgiving. Instead, we enjoyed hot pot. I don't feel like explaining what hot pot is again, so for those who don't know, refer to last Thanksgiving's entry.
- Played mah-johng with grandparents and lost all my money. I honestly don't know what I can do to play the game better, but I always lose to them for some reason. It can't all be bad luck. Oh well, at least I got a t-shirt once for winning a TASC mah-jonhg tournament. It was way back in freshman year of college, but still.
- In my last week of teaching Sunday School for a while, the kids listed things they were thankful for. Most just said they were thankful for their family and friends, as expected. But some of the more interesting ones said they were thankful for "being a boy", "my video game called Crash Team Racing", "my cell phone", and "fish". I think when I was their age, I was most thankful for my Topps 1990 Frank Thomas rookie card, worth $4.50 at the time.
- Did not do any shopping, Christmas or otherwise.
- Did not go out at all, even on the "second-biggest party night of the year".
- Watched "Elf". A good movie, especially if you like Christmas.
- Watched "Home Alone" again on TV. That movie never gets old.
- Had a miserable fantasy football experience. Starters score 2 TDs, bench scores 6. This was not helped by Jeremy Shockey being a cackmaster and Bubba Franks rubbing it in my face for starting the cackmaster over him.
- Played the usual Sunday night cards, came out about even. As always, it was a nice and chill way to finish off the weekend, which, despite having twice as many days, still wasn't long enough for my liking.
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Hold'em Hand Of The Day
Hand #1 - Me And My Two Low Pairs
As part of an ongoing effort to improve my decision making instincts in hold'em, I thought it might be a good idea to keep a log of certain hands on this blog. Maybe any of my poker genuis readers out there can provide their input on what should have been done, what they would've done, etc.
The following was the last big hand I played:
I was dealt 5-7 suited (hearts) on the big blind ($1), with 4 people left in the game and about $25 in my stack. The guy after me folds, then dealer calls the blind, and small blind also calls (I think). I check with my 5-7, half-wishing that someone had raised so I could fold.
But no one did, and the flop came with J-5-7 with a flush draw on the board (2 clubs). I bet out $2 with my two-pair (5's and 7's), and then I'm raised by the dealer, making it $3 more. Other guy folds, so it's up to me.
I think about what the dealer could possibly have on this board, knowing that he is a pretty loose player who likes to buy pots, and figure at best, he paired a J. So, I raise his $3 for another $10, expecting him to fold.
He calls my bet, and the next card on the turn is a club (I think it was an 8). Now if he has suited clubs, he has a flush. I'm still pretty sure that my 2-pairs are the best hand, but since he called my $10 raise last round, I decide to just check now. Then he puts me all-in (he has by far the most chips at the table, at least $60-70, while I have about $10 left).
I think about it for a while, but to me, the decision to call this last bet is pretty simple. The way I see it, there are only three possible hands he could beat me with:
1. He might have flopped a three-of-a-kind on the flop with pocket 5's, 7's, or J's. This was highly unlikely because I already had one each of the remaining 5's and 7's in my hand, and if he had pocket J's, I'm almost positive that he would raise with it on pre-flop.
2. He might have a flush with clubs. This was also unlikely in my mind because that means he put $13 in the pot on the flop with just a flush draw.
3. He might have paired that jack on the flop, then made the 2nd pair with the turn card. This was the most likely possibility of the three.
On the other hand, I knew that he was a loose player, and especially with the most money on the table, he was more likely to make reckless bets. I've seen him go all in with absolutely nothing at the worst situations in the past, and now I figure he's just too involved in the pot that he's desperate to try and buy it at this point by going all-in. My best guess, as I call his all-in for my last $10 or so, puts him on one of the following hands that I can beat:
1. Pair of Jacks, high kicker. This was the most likely situation, based on what kind of player I think he is.
2. Pocket Aces, K's, or Q's. This means he was playing them slow from the beginning to try and trap me, and if this were the case, now was my chance to make him pay for it with my 2-pair.
3. Complete bluff. Not all that likely, but it's definitely a possibility based on what I know about his style of play.
Well, as I'm pushing my chips in, he flips up his cards and there it is, A-9 of clubs for the "nut flush". I think "nut" is a good word to describe it because it definitely felt like a kick in the nuts. Anyways, with only one more card to go, I have to get another 5 or 7 (4 "outs") for a miracle full house on the river, but it didn't happen, and I was officially out.
As I do with a lot of hands that I get eliminated on, I end up replaying the whole thing in my mind afterwards, trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done to avoid it. I think overall, I played that hand pretty well, but in no-limit hold'em, it's those little things you do or don't do, that make you either a great player or just average to above-average. So here's the questions I wonder about in hindsight:
1. Instead of re-re-raising his $3 re-raise on the flop by $10, should I have just gone all-in at that point (about a $20 raise instead)? Chances are, nothing is going to come on the last 2 cards to help my 5's and 7's, so this is probably the best time to get all my money in there, on the re-raise. I did see the flush draw on the board, but I figured that $10 would be enough to eliminate someone staying for that. Actually, I thought that my original $2 bet should've eliminated anybody drawing at a flush, but apparently I was wrong on both counts. Either way, I wonder if he would have called an all-in regardless, considering he called my $10. I'm pretty sure he knows me as a player who rarely, if ever, re-re-raises $10 on the flop without a strong hand. Hmmm... next time I see him I'll have to ask the question.
2. Or, instead of re-re-raising his $3 re-raise, should I have figured he had 3-of-a-kind and just folded right there? I mean, I really shouldn't have been involved in the hand with a 5-7 to begin with, were it not for the big-blind, so maybe I should've just given it up when someone re-raised my bet. After all, I checked to him first, and with the flush on the board, I was honestly going to check on the last card too, if it came to that. But 2-pair on the flop, even though it was the low pairs, is just really hard for me to let go. I've won a lot of big pots in the past with that hand.
3. Should I have called the last all-in, after the 3rd flush card fell? As I said before, this seemed like a pretty clear decision for me at the time. Having already put more than half my total money in the pot, I felt that the odds were definitely there for me to call the last $10 or so. Also, I definitely don't want to be bluffed in any situation by anyone, so making the call hopefully discourages him (or anyone else watching the hand) from bluffing at me carelessly in the future. But maybe this is a case where I should be more careful about calling all-ins, when I could still be beat by so many hands (other than the flush, I think a possible straight was on the board, he could have the 3-of-a-kind as I mentioned, or even a higher 2-pair). After this experience, maybe I won't consider 2-pairs to be as great of a hand in the future.
Just to clarify to anyone reading this long story, I am not writing this because I'm bitter. Also, if I made the other guy sound like a terrible player, I didn't mean to. Even though statistically, it's a terrible play to put in a lot of money to draw at a flush from the flop (I think it's about 33% to hit), he did have a lot of money and could afford it at that point in the game. And from that point on, he played it right and ended up with all my chips, so I can't not give him props at least for that much.
Finally, I know that from my end, I probably didn't play that hand perfectly, so until I someday hone my poker skills into "Johnny Chan-caliber play", I'd be wise take everything as a learning experience. My goals are gonna be to complain less, to take nothing personally, and to hopefully get better along the way.
So, any constructive criticism from you the reader is welcome, such as "Joe you're such a dumbass" or "you suck". Or, "stop boring us with your sob stories, hold'em is for losers". But, maybe if there happens to be some good discussion and interest in my poker entries, I'll make it a semi-regular thing. In which case, I think I already know what my next "Hold'em Hand of the Day" will be. We'll see.
Hand #1 - Me And My Two Low Pairs
As part of an ongoing effort to improve my decision making instincts in hold'em, I thought it might be a good idea to keep a log of certain hands on this blog. Maybe any of my poker genuis readers out there can provide their input on what should have been done, what they would've done, etc.
The following was the last big hand I played:
I was dealt 5-7 suited (hearts) on the big blind ($1), with 4 people left in the game and about $25 in my stack. The guy after me folds, then dealer calls the blind, and small blind also calls (I think). I check with my 5-7, half-wishing that someone had raised so I could fold.
But no one did, and the flop came with J-5-7 with a flush draw on the board (2 clubs). I bet out $2 with my two-pair (5's and 7's), and then I'm raised by the dealer, making it $3 more. Other guy folds, so it's up to me.
I think about what the dealer could possibly have on this board, knowing that he is a pretty loose player who likes to buy pots, and figure at best, he paired a J. So, I raise his $3 for another $10, expecting him to fold.
He calls my bet, and the next card on the turn is a club (I think it was an 8). Now if he has suited clubs, he has a flush. I'm still pretty sure that my 2-pairs are the best hand, but since he called my $10 raise last round, I decide to just check now. Then he puts me all-in (he has by far the most chips at the table, at least $60-70, while I have about $10 left).
I think about it for a while, but to me, the decision to call this last bet is pretty simple. The way I see it, there are only three possible hands he could beat me with:
1. He might have flopped a three-of-a-kind on the flop with pocket 5's, 7's, or J's. This was highly unlikely because I already had one each of the remaining 5's and 7's in my hand, and if he had pocket J's, I'm almost positive that he would raise with it on pre-flop.
2. He might have a flush with clubs. This was also unlikely in my mind because that means he put $13 in the pot on the flop with just a flush draw.
3. He might have paired that jack on the flop, then made the 2nd pair with the turn card. This was the most likely possibility of the three.
On the other hand, I knew that he was a loose player, and especially with the most money on the table, he was more likely to make reckless bets. I've seen him go all in with absolutely nothing at the worst situations in the past, and now I figure he's just too involved in the pot that he's desperate to try and buy it at this point by going all-in. My best guess, as I call his all-in for my last $10 or so, puts him on one of the following hands that I can beat:
1. Pair of Jacks, high kicker. This was the most likely situation, based on what kind of player I think he is.
2. Pocket Aces, K's, or Q's. This means he was playing them slow from the beginning to try and trap me, and if this were the case, now was my chance to make him pay for it with my 2-pair.
3. Complete bluff. Not all that likely, but it's definitely a possibility based on what I know about his style of play.
Well, as I'm pushing my chips in, he flips up his cards and there it is, A-9 of clubs for the "nut flush". I think "nut" is a good word to describe it because it definitely felt like a kick in the nuts. Anyways, with only one more card to go, I have to get another 5 or 7 (4 "outs") for a miracle full house on the river, but it didn't happen, and I was officially out.
As I do with a lot of hands that I get eliminated on, I end up replaying the whole thing in my mind afterwards, trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done to avoid it. I think overall, I played that hand pretty well, but in no-limit hold'em, it's those little things you do or don't do, that make you either a great player or just average to above-average. So here's the questions I wonder about in hindsight:
1. Instead of re-re-raising his $3 re-raise on the flop by $10, should I have just gone all-in at that point (about a $20 raise instead)? Chances are, nothing is going to come on the last 2 cards to help my 5's and 7's, so this is probably the best time to get all my money in there, on the re-raise. I did see the flush draw on the board, but I figured that $10 would be enough to eliminate someone staying for that. Actually, I thought that my original $2 bet should've eliminated anybody drawing at a flush, but apparently I was wrong on both counts. Either way, I wonder if he would have called an all-in regardless, considering he called my $10. I'm pretty sure he knows me as a player who rarely, if ever, re-re-raises $10 on the flop without a strong hand. Hmmm... next time I see him I'll have to ask the question.
2. Or, instead of re-re-raising his $3 re-raise, should I have figured he had 3-of-a-kind and just folded right there? I mean, I really shouldn't have been involved in the hand with a 5-7 to begin with, were it not for the big-blind, so maybe I should've just given it up when someone re-raised my bet. After all, I checked to him first, and with the flush on the board, I was honestly going to check on the last card too, if it came to that. But 2-pair on the flop, even though it was the low pairs, is just really hard for me to let go. I've won a lot of big pots in the past with that hand.
3. Should I have called the last all-in, after the 3rd flush card fell? As I said before, this seemed like a pretty clear decision for me at the time. Having already put more than half my total money in the pot, I felt that the odds were definitely there for me to call the last $10 or so. Also, I definitely don't want to be bluffed in any situation by anyone, so making the call hopefully discourages him (or anyone else watching the hand) from bluffing at me carelessly in the future. But maybe this is a case where I should be more careful about calling all-ins, when I could still be beat by so many hands (other than the flush, I think a possible straight was on the board, he could have the 3-of-a-kind as I mentioned, or even a higher 2-pair). After this experience, maybe I won't consider 2-pairs to be as great of a hand in the future.
Just to clarify to anyone reading this long story, I am not writing this because I'm bitter. Also, if I made the other guy sound like a terrible player, I didn't mean to. Even though statistically, it's a terrible play to put in a lot of money to draw at a flush from the flop (I think it's about 33% to hit), he did have a lot of money and could afford it at that point in the game. And from that point on, he played it right and ended up with all my chips, so I can't not give him props at least for that much.
Finally, I know that from my end, I probably didn't play that hand perfectly, so until I someday hone my poker skills into "Johnny Chan-caliber play", I'd be wise take everything as a learning experience. My goals are gonna be to complain less, to take nothing personally, and to hopefully get better along the way.
So, any constructive criticism from you the reader is welcome, such as "Joe you're such a dumbass" or "you suck". Or, "stop boring us with your sob stories, hold'em is for losers". But, maybe if there happens to be some good discussion and interest in my poker entries, I'll make it a semi-regular thing. In which case, I think I already know what my next "Hold'em Hand of the Day" will be. We'll see.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
- Last month, Jerry Manuel was fired as manager of the White Sox. Yesterday, Bill Cartwright was fired as coach of the Bulls. Next in line will probably be Dick Jauron from the Bears. I never thought this city would see the day when the guy with the most job security is the manager of the Cubs.
- Yesterday I signed on to AIM and saw that there were less than half the normal amount of people on my buddy list that were signed on. Is this because all the college kids came home for Thanksgiving break, or was there some nationwide internet outage that I was unaware of?
- Tonight is the final episode of Real World Paris. Some people say that this series sucked because there was "not enough hooking up", but I thought it was very entertaining. I think this was actually the first season of RW that I watched almost every episode of.
*****
Thoughts on Racism
I hate racism. I think most of the civilized world is pretty much agreed that racism is bad, so there's not much point in writing about why it sucks. Instead, I feel like venting about what pisses me off just as much: when overly sensitive people overreact to certain things and call them racist, which aren't really racist.
Example 1: I was reading an article the other day about the dominance of Kenyans in the marathons around the world. A scientific study was done in 2000 by the Danish Sports Science Institute, to see if there was any genetic correlation of why marathons seem to always be won by Kenyans. The study, which provided conclusive results that Kenyans (specifically the Kalenjin tribe) do have a genetic advantage in adaptivity to long distance running, was immediately met with sharp criticism for being racist. In particular, a former champion from Kenya, Kip Keino, was "incensed" by the study's results for implying that Kenyan success in marathons was not purely due to work ethic.
Example 2: During the past baseball season, Dusty Baker was asked by reporters about whether or not the Cubs' schedule was a disadvantage because of all the day games. His reply was something to the tune of, black people were brought over here as slaves in the first place, because of their physical endurance and ability to handle long days in the sun, so he didn't believe the day games were a factor. His statements were instantly blasted by the media, white and black alike, for being racist.
Example 3: A couple months ago, Rush Limbaugh made the statement as an ESPN football analyst that Donovan McNabb was way overrated by the media, which was desperate to see a black quarterback succeed in the NFL. Within days, Limbaugh was out the door of ESPN and labeled a racist for his opinions on the matter.
Now, I'm not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with anyone in the above examples. That's not really my point. The thing is, all three situations I mentioned involve people being way too sensitive and carelessly using the word "racism" to describe something that, in my mind, is clearly not racist. It just seems like some people are so eager to jump on anything that even remotely implies that different groups are unequal, and make a huge fuss about it.
I think a big part of this is because most of us learned all we know about racism through the public education system, in our elementary school years. All I remember from those days is the constant mantra of "All men are created equal", that slavery was horrible, and that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King were the heroes who made our society so culturally harmonious today. That's all fine and dandy, but I'd have to say that it paints a grossly incomplete picture of what racism is really about.
First of all, even though the founding fathers of this country told us that "all men are created equal", this is obviously not the entire story. If we were all created equal, then why do some of us have darker or lighter skin to begin with? Why are some of us more prone to sickle cell anemia, others to lactose intolerance? Do we all have "equal" amounts of hair, of equal color and texture, distributed in the exact same proportion on our bodies? Even if you just think about those few simple questions, it's easy to see that we are not created equal among races, if only in a sense of physical genetics.
With this in mind, why is it so taboo for people to accept or even discuss something such as the possibility that humans of African origin may have certain advantages when it comes to athletics? I mean, is it really a coincidence that there is such a disproportionately high number of black people in the NBA, NFL, etc.? I understand that a study such as the Danish one I mentioned implies that Kenyans don't win marathons purely because of their training and work ethic, but so what? Facts are facts.
You know, a Korean guy broke the long streak of Kenyans by winning the Boston Marathon in 2001 - where was this highly touted Kenyan work ethic that year, I ask? And on the flip side, doesn't the way the Kenyans responded to the study imply that they think Asians and Whites don't win marathons due to lack of hard work? I should feel insulted! (Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I am too lazy to train for a marathon, so I'll be keeping my mouth shut about that. But maybe Rich or Dennis would have a right to say something, being the marathon trainers they are... now's your time to jump in and give those Kenyans a piece of your minds guys!)
Besides being really annoying to hear the media or "activists" whining about everything all the time, I think this general hypersensitivity of our society towards racism hurts much deeper. When we are constantly calling things racist that aren't real cases of racism, it tends to trivialize the things that actually are racist. It doesn't benefit anyone to scapegoat Rush Limbaugh for the kinds of comments he made, which were, at worst, simply ignorant and misinformed. It might make Jesse Jackson or Louis Farakhan or whoever a hero in the eyes of the public to speak out in this cause, but how would this help the latest victim of a hate crime, for example? How does it help the guy who is about to be passed over for a job, not because he's not qualified, but because he's not white?
Not only this, when people overreact about anything that might remotely be considered racist, it ends hurting everyone more because it stifles any chance of us having a productive discussion on the heart of the subject. And this, in turn, breeds further ignorance and prevents us from ever achieving the one thing that could actually eliminate racism: the ability to fully understand each other and understand the truth.
The bottom line is, whenever the kinds of questions about race come up such as in the examples I mentioned, people should really take the opportunity to think about the situations instead of rushing to judgement. Calling for someone to get fired or demanding a full apology does basically nothing. After all, if someone makes a statement, he obviously must believe in it, otherwise why would he say it in the first place? So what good will firing him or forcefully making him retract it do?
Let's face it, we're never going to get everyone to suddenly stop being racist by simply forcing equality on the entire country. To me, fighting racism isn't about making everyone believe that we're all equal. It's about treating everyone with equal amounts of respect and giving everyone equal opportunities regardless of skin color. And as I mentioned before, the way to achieve this is to promote understanding of each other and of the truth. But if people are so sensitive about the subject to ever talk about or even think about the real issues, then this will never happen. This is why I say that I hate these overly sensitive people just as much as I hate the real racists themselves, because both are responsible for holding us all back from reaching a healthy state of race relations.
*****
Hopefully this entry made some sense. I realize that it is a more intense topic than one might expect on this short week of Thanksgiving, but for some reason I just felt like I needed to get these thoughts off my chest today. And now, it's time for me to go home.
- Yesterday I signed on to AIM and saw that there were less than half the normal amount of people on my buddy list that were signed on. Is this because all the college kids came home for Thanksgiving break, or was there some nationwide internet outage that I was unaware of?
- Tonight is the final episode of Real World Paris. Some people say that this series sucked because there was "not enough hooking up", but I thought it was very entertaining. I think this was actually the first season of RW that I watched almost every episode of.
*****
Thoughts on Racism
I hate racism. I think most of the civilized world is pretty much agreed that racism is bad, so there's not much point in writing about why it sucks. Instead, I feel like venting about what pisses me off just as much: when overly sensitive people overreact to certain things and call them racist, which aren't really racist.
Example 1: I was reading an article the other day about the dominance of Kenyans in the marathons around the world. A scientific study was done in 2000 by the Danish Sports Science Institute, to see if there was any genetic correlation of why marathons seem to always be won by Kenyans. The study, which provided conclusive results that Kenyans (specifically the Kalenjin tribe) do have a genetic advantage in adaptivity to long distance running, was immediately met with sharp criticism for being racist. In particular, a former champion from Kenya, Kip Keino, was "incensed" by the study's results for implying that Kenyan success in marathons was not purely due to work ethic.
Example 2: During the past baseball season, Dusty Baker was asked by reporters about whether or not the Cubs' schedule was a disadvantage because of all the day games. His reply was something to the tune of, black people were brought over here as slaves in the first place, because of their physical endurance and ability to handle long days in the sun, so he didn't believe the day games were a factor. His statements were instantly blasted by the media, white and black alike, for being racist.
Example 3: A couple months ago, Rush Limbaugh made the statement as an ESPN football analyst that Donovan McNabb was way overrated by the media, which was desperate to see a black quarterback succeed in the NFL. Within days, Limbaugh was out the door of ESPN and labeled a racist for his opinions on the matter.
Now, I'm not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with anyone in the above examples. That's not really my point. The thing is, all three situations I mentioned involve people being way too sensitive and carelessly using the word "racism" to describe something that, in my mind, is clearly not racist. It just seems like some people are so eager to jump on anything that even remotely implies that different groups are unequal, and make a huge fuss about it.
I think a big part of this is because most of us learned all we know about racism through the public education system, in our elementary school years. All I remember from those days is the constant mantra of "All men are created equal", that slavery was horrible, and that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King were the heroes who made our society so culturally harmonious today. That's all fine and dandy, but I'd have to say that it paints a grossly incomplete picture of what racism is really about.
First of all, even though the founding fathers of this country told us that "all men are created equal", this is obviously not the entire story. If we were all created equal, then why do some of us have darker or lighter skin to begin with? Why are some of us more prone to sickle cell anemia, others to lactose intolerance? Do we all have "equal" amounts of hair, of equal color and texture, distributed in the exact same proportion on our bodies? Even if you just think about those few simple questions, it's easy to see that we are not created equal among races, if only in a sense of physical genetics.
With this in mind, why is it so taboo for people to accept or even discuss something such as the possibility that humans of African origin may have certain advantages when it comes to athletics? I mean, is it really a coincidence that there is such a disproportionately high number of black people in the NBA, NFL, etc.? I understand that a study such as the Danish one I mentioned implies that Kenyans don't win marathons purely because of their training and work ethic, but so what? Facts are facts.
You know, a Korean guy broke the long streak of Kenyans by winning the Boston Marathon in 2001 - where was this highly touted Kenyan work ethic that year, I ask? And on the flip side, doesn't the way the Kenyans responded to the study imply that they think Asians and Whites don't win marathons due to lack of hard work? I should feel insulted! (Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I am too lazy to train for a marathon, so I'll be keeping my mouth shut about that. But maybe Rich or Dennis would have a right to say something, being the marathon trainers they are... now's your time to jump in and give those Kenyans a piece of your minds guys!)
Besides being really annoying to hear the media or "activists" whining about everything all the time, I think this general hypersensitivity of our society towards racism hurts much deeper. When we are constantly calling things racist that aren't real cases of racism, it tends to trivialize the things that actually are racist. It doesn't benefit anyone to scapegoat Rush Limbaugh for the kinds of comments he made, which were, at worst, simply ignorant and misinformed. It might make Jesse Jackson or Louis Farakhan or whoever a hero in the eyes of the public to speak out in this cause, but how would this help the latest victim of a hate crime, for example? How does it help the guy who is about to be passed over for a job, not because he's not qualified, but because he's not white?
Not only this, when people overreact about anything that might remotely be considered racist, it ends hurting everyone more because it stifles any chance of us having a productive discussion on the heart of the subject. And this, in turn, breeds further ignorance and prevents us from ever achieving the one thing that could actually eliminate racism: the ability to fully understand each other and understand the truth.
The bottom line is, whenever the kinds of questions about race come up such as in the examples I mentioned, people should really take the opportunity to think about the situations instead of rushing to judgement. Calling for someone to get fired or demanding a full apology does basically nothing. After all, if someone makes a statement, he obviously must believe in it, otherwise why would he say it in the first place? So what good will firing him or forcefully making him retract it do?
Let's face it, we're never going to get everyone to suddenly stop being racist by simply forcing equality on the entire country. To me, fighting racism isn't about making everyone believe that we're all equal. It's about treating everyone with equal amounts of respect and giving everyone equal opportunities regardless of skin color. And as I mentioned before, the way to achieve this is to promote understanding of each other and of the truth. But if people are so sensitive about the subject to ever talk about or even think about the real issues, then this will never happen. This is why I say that I hate these overly sensitive people just as much as I hate the real racists themselves, because both are responsible for holding us all back from reaching a healthy state of race relations.
*****
Hopefully this entry made some sense. I realize that it is a more intense topic than one might expect on this short week of Thanksgiving, but for some reason I just felt like I needed to get these thoughts off my chest today. And now, it's time for me to go home.
Monday, November 24, 2003
Frickin' Freezin
This morning was so cold. Why didn't anybody warn me in advance about this snow and arctic wind? Just last week, I was walking around just fine, without even having to wear a light jacket, and thinking about washing my car. All of a sudden, I can't even run from my car in the parking lot to the entrance at work today, without having to stop and check to see whether my ears are still attached to my body, or if they froze, cracked off and blew away.
I dread cold weather because it gets harder to wake up in the morning, and then I feel so much lazier when it comes to leaving the house, working out, and just about everything else in general. I'm the kind of person who likes to use these kinds of things as an excuse to avoid doing all kinds of stuff:
"Hmmm.... I should probably go to Jewel and buy some food. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"The oil in my car needs to be changed. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"I gotta do some laundry soon. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
One thing that the cold weather might actually push me to do is to get a remote starter for my car. I've been thinking about doing it for a long time (even back when I first got the Maxima), but obviously never followed through. Now, I think I could really use a remote starter to warm up my car in the morning while I eat, or after work while I walk through the parking lot, so I don't have to get in and wait so long for it to heat up. If anyone out there is knowledgeable about remote starters, would like to recommend a certain model to me, and/or help me install it, let me know!
Of course, a good thing that comes with the drop in temperature is the Christmas season. I'm a huge sucker for everything having to do with Christmas. People who have read my blog last year around this time would know this, as I wrote a whole thing on the best Christmas songs, movies, etc., and changed all the colors of this site to shades of red and green. I still haven't gotten around to fixing my archives and stuff, but maybe after writing this I will try to work on my template and find last year's entries.
For me, the Christmas season this year officially started last Friday night. Every day for the past 7 months, I've driven past the intersection on the way to/from work where NW Hwy and Hicks split off, and the area looks pretty boring, nothing special. But coming home late that night from the city, I was so surprised to see that same intersection lit up by all these Christmas lights, strung around all the bushes and trees by the street. I didn't even notice there were bushes and trees there before, but I guess I'm just not too observant about that kind of stuff. Anyways, it looked really cool, and instantly put me in the happy Christmas mood. Props to Palatine township.
This was followed up on Sunday after church, when me and my sister watched one of our favorite all-time movies playing on WGN, Home Alone. Later that day, I noticed that it was on TBS Superstation too. I just love that movie so much, it brings back all these great memories and feelings, especially associated with Christmastime. So if the lights on the trees and stuff weren't enough, watching Home Alone definitely left no further doubt in my mind that Christmas season was here.
In the meantime, it seems that Thanksgiving has been forgotten for the moment. But I know that I won't forget it later this week, when I get to enjoy a much needed long weekend. That's the cool part I realized about Thanksgiving since I started working, is that most of us (sorry P) have a built-in thing to be thankful for. That is, getting the day(s) off for the holiday. Hopefully, I will also find myself thankful for Ahman Green running me out to a huge early lead in one of the Thursday NFL games.
As for the snow, well, I hope it won't affect me as much this year, since I don't have to commute from Darien anymore. Although, now I park outside in the driveway, so that could suck. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'd rather see snow covering the ground, than this "light flurries with no accumulation" BS. The way I see it, if it's gonna snow, and wind is gonna blast it in my face, it better at least look nice and wintery outside.
To sum up:
- It's frickin freezing
- Cold weather makes me lazy
- I need a remote starter
- At least it's Christmas season
- I love Christmas season
- But don't forget about Thanksgiving
- Snow a lot, or not at all
*****
Update: I fixed the archives, and the links to my Christmas entries from last year are as follows:
Christmas DBA Nominations
DBA Winners
While looking for these posts, I discovered a cool feature in the new Blogger interface that lets you search for posts containing certain words. I didn't know you could do that, it would've saved me some time trying to find those Christmas blogs in all the weeks before Christmas (it turns out that I posted them the week of Christmas, how wacky).
This morning was so cold. Why didn't anybody warn me in advance about this snow and arctic wind? Just last week, I was walking around just fine, without even having to wear a light jacket, and thinking about washing my car. All of a sudden, I can't even run from my car in the parking lot to the entrance at work today, without having to stop and check to see whether my ears are still attached to my body, or if they froze, cracked off and blew away.
I dread cold weather because it gets harder to wake up in the morning, and then I feel so much lazier when it comes to leaving the house, working out, and just about everything else in general. I'm the kind of person who likes to use these kinds of things as an excuse to avoid doing all kinds of stuff:
"Hmmm.... I should probably go to Jewel and buy some food. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"The oil in my car needs to be changed. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"I gotta do some laundry soon. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
One thing that the cold weather might actually push me to do is to get a remote starter for my car. I've been thinking about doing it for a long time (even back when I first got the Maxima), but obviously never followed through. Now, I think I could really use a remote starter to warm up my car in the morning while I eat, or after work while I walk through the parking lot, so I don't have to get in and wait so long for it to heat up. If anyone out there is knowledgeable about remote starters, would like to recommend a certain model to me, and/or help me install it, let me know!
Of course, a good thing that comes with the drop in temperature is the Christmas season. I'm a huge sucker for everything having to do with Christmas. People who have read my blog last year around this time would know this, as I wrote a whole thing on the best Christmas songs, movies, etc., and changed all the colors of this site to shades of red and green. I still haven't gotten around to fixing my archives and stuff, but maybe after writing this I will try to work on my template and find last year's entries.
For me, the Christmas season this year officially started last Friday night. Every day for the past 7 months, I've driven past the intersection on the way to/from work where NW Hwy and Hicks split off, and the area looks pretty boring, nothing special. But coming home late that night from the city, I was so surprised to see that same intersection lit up by all these Christmas lights, strung around all the bushes and trees by the street. I didn't even notice there were bushes and trees there before, but I guess I'm just not too observant about that kind of stuff. Anyways, it looked really cool, and instantly put me in the happy Christmas mood. Props to Palatine township.
This was followed up on Sunday after church, when me and my sister watched one of our favorite all-time movies playing on WGN, Home Alone. Later that day, I noticed that it was on TBS Superstation too. I just love that movie so much, it brings back all these great memories and feelings, especially associated with Christmastime. So if the lights on the trees and stuff weren't enough, watching Home Alone definitely left no further doubt in my mind that Christmas season was here.
In the meantime, it seems that Thanksgiving has been forgotten for the moment. But I know that I won't forget it later this week, when I get to enjoy a much needed long weekend. That's the cool part I realized about Thanksgiving since I started working, is that most of us (sorry P) have a built-in thing to be thankful for. That is, getting the day(s) off for the holiday. Hopefully, I will also find myself thankful for Ahman Green running me out to a huge early lead in one of the Thursday NFL games.
As for the snow, well, I hope it won't affect me as much this year, since I don't have to commute from Darien anymore. Although, now I park outside in the driveway, so that could suck. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'd rather see snow covering the ground, than this "light flurries with no accumulation" BS. The way I see it, if it's gonna snow, and wind is gonna blast it in my face, it better at least look nice and wintery outside.
To sum up:
- It's frickin freezing
- Cold weather makes me lazy
- I need a remote starter
- At least it's Christmas season
- I love Christmas season
- But don't forget about Thanksgiving
- Snow a lot, or not at all
*****
Update: I fixed the archives, and the links to my Christmas entries from last year are as follows:
Christmas DBA Nominations
DBA Winners
While looking for these posts, I discovered a cool feature in the new Blogger interface that lets you search for posts containing certain words. I didn't know you could do that, it would've saved me some time trying to find those Christmas blogs in all the weeks before Christmas (it turns out that I posted them the week of Christmas, how wacky).
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