Friday night was a difficult evening for a Sports Couch Potato who dislikes remote surfers being faced with 2 football games (can hockey and Basket Ball be far off). 2 Baseball Games and Olympics all on at the same time. Also complicating the deal is my habit of having a post-prandial nap.
I have downloaded Monday night's Council agenda but will not have any possible opportunity to review the background paperwork until Monday due to the Library's unavailability. Recent experience suggest that the "new main floor" will be once more a great improvement to one of the outstanding municipal libraries in the State. If only Administration at budget time would understand the value of this institution to the community.
A quick glance at the agenda show about 35 Resolutions , 3 Ordinances for second reading but no new ones. There are only 3 items under unfinished business. They are; ShotSpotter update, non-renewed liquor establishments, and status of CFO. What happened to the list recently posted in Plaintalker II ?
Among the Resolutions there are 3 concerning the Bilingual Daycare Center funding, two have to do with the food program. An additional $48,335.00 for the 911 and CCTV Command Center in the Police Station which seems to be the third upgrade since the contract was awarded. There is an additional $26,773.07 for the supposedly completed Watchung Ave repavement that has already been "opened" in several places and seems to be marked for further work.
There also are two Resolutions relating to the Concession Stand upgrade at the Joe Black Baseball field. One is to amend the previous awarded contract and the other is to award a professional services contract to Remington etc. for construction of the Concession Stand. I am confused and hope to read the documentation but I thought that this had been done by 126-12 when the contract was awarded to a Washington State outfit which I believe was done through Recreation.
All this stuff will require background documentation reading which I may not be able to do so prior to this meeting. However there will be a week to review those that will be up for action the next Monday.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
TGIF
TGIF; the Olympics will be a thing of the past and we can go back to watching the Big Bang Theory. It will not be until August 28 when the Republican National Convention starts in Tampa Florida and September 3(Labor day) the Start of the Democrat Convention in Charlotte N.C. (where is that?) before the air waves will be once again full of manufactured hoopla nonsense.
Thank goodness we will only have two months of official campaigning. Those months despite the calls of all factions of the local party to unite and vote the party line no matter who the candidates are will not have any effect on the overwhelming majority of Plainfield votes that will go towards the selection of New Jersey’s electors.
Meanwhile as evident with this coming Monday’s Council meeting Plainfield’s local government affairs will continue to be FUBAR. All the unanswered rhetoric and questions will have been swept under the rug and forgotten and harmony will reign. The City will continue to run; money will be spent, and there will be little public accounting.
Although it was sold to us by Administration to be a turnkey effective system; the ShotSpotter will continue to need tweaking. It has yet to be shown that the response time has resulted in an apprehension of shooters.
Is it possible that as rumored crimes are not being officially or openly reported? Figures do not lie but liars can figure.
The public should have as an agenda item of every Council business meeting an update on all unsettled matters. For examples: The status of the mayor’s suit against the Council including billed costs to date, The Monarch claim, The report on July 4th finances, an investigation if merchants were being shaken down to cover undocumented expenses, the CFO search, the vacant Corporation Counsel office. These are just a few items that certain parties would like to “not see the light of day”.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
WEDNESDAY SUPPLEMENT.
One of the non-prime-time Olympic sports is Field Hockey. It is a little known sport in the USA and in International competition the US does poorly. In fact this year's team results were W1-L4.
Field Hockey's US nexus is with the Philadelphia area. It is a woman's sport and for years was popular with girl's secondary schools and at the college level, especially in the mid-Atlantic states.
Plainfield had a long connection with the sport. In the decades after WWII the Kenyon Gardens; the green strip between Stelle and Randolph along the brook was the site of a Field Hockey field. On weekends there were games between teams from all over the region.
The sport here seem to have declined with increase involvement in Women's Soccer and Lacrosse.
Another unfamiliar sport in this country is "Team Handball". It can be played indoors or outdoors. The teams have six players plus a goalie. The ball is thrown but can be dribbled. No other part of the body can be used to advance the ball. The game can be fast and scoring is frequent.
Field Hockey's US nexus is with the Philadelphia area. It is a woman's sport and for years was popular with girl's secondary schools and at the college level, especially in the mid-Atlantic states.
Plainfield had a long connection with the sport. In the decades after WWII the Kenyon Gardens; the green strip between Stelle and Randolph along the brook was the site of a Field Hockey field. On weekends there were games between teams from all over the region.
The sport here seem to have declined with increase involvement in Women's Soccer and Lacrosse.
Another unfamiliar sport in this country is "Team Handball". It can be played indoors or outdoors. The teams have six players plus a goalie. The ball is thrown but can be dribbled. No other part of the body can be used to advance the ball. The game can be fast and scoring is frequent.
WEDNESDAY
Thank goodness the Olympic madness will be over this weekend. Life in Oz can return to normal. The definition of "normal in Oz" is of course Ozian. Never the less, there will be a Council Agenda session Monday and the business meeting the next Monday night.
Bernice has called attention to unanswered question that have been left dangling and probably will never surface again since we have a United Democrat Party in Plainfield dedicated to reelecting the President. There can never be a question that some of the Local, County, or State candidates would be sub par office holders. The Party comes first.
This week three of my pet problem roads will have been resurfaced. South Ave, Watchung Ave, and Cushing Rd. The municipal line between Scotch Plainsd and Plainfield runs down the middle of Cushing and by an interlocal agreement Plainfield contributed what seems to be a miniscule amount of funds for the repavement which was done by the equivalent of Scotch Plains Public Works Department. Perhaps an agreement could be reached for Scotch Plains to repave Plainfield's Streets since it seems without any figures to go by; that they do it cheaper per mile than in Plainfield's contracts.
When Leland is repaved my car will be in heaven.
Regarding the Olympics, I will predict that The Americans will win the Gold in the Woman's Beach Volleyball. That is a 100% bet; better than Men's Basketball.
Monday, August 6, 2012
DOG DAYS
One heat wave after another punctured by a drop into the 70s, all this accompanied by the late day thunder storm; some of petrifying magnitude. Thus the summer doldrums manifests itself over our thought processes. Originality of ideas gives way to routine boilerplate. The Dog Days are with us.
Anybody who ever had an old-hound dog for a pet and in the summer watched him sleeping in the shade to conserve energy has some idea of the dog days.
Those of us who antedate the Baby Boomers and themselves still wonder how we survived July and August. But somehow without air conditioning we managed. Of course the movie houses were a place of relief since they in the early depression days installed cooling systems.
The first one in Plainfield was the Liberty Theater which boasted of its “Refrigeration” interior. Of course the Liberty was ahead of the other three Reid theaters being the first to play ‘sound movies” using the Videophone system which consisted of records that were suppose to be played synchronized with the picture. It was later that the sound track was incorporated into the film.
But whence came the term “Dog Days”?
The earliest reference probably was in early Egypt when the star we call Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile's flooding, so they used the star as a "watchdog" for that event. Since its rising also coincided with a time of extreme heat, the connection with hot, sultry weather was made for all time:
It was the Romans who referred to the dog days as dies caniculares and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky.
The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.
In Ancient Rome, the Dog Days ran from July 24th through August 24th, In many European cultures (German, French, Italian) this period is still said to be the time of the Dog Days. The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional period of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3rd and ending August 11th, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year with the least rainfall in the Northern Hemisphere.
There are some who insist that the ‘Dog Days” do not end until about September 5th. This is supposedly noted in the lectionary of the 1611 edition of the King James Bible which indicates the Dog Days beginning on July 6th and ending on September 5th
The “Dog Days have been feared from ancient times as a period of increased criminal especially violent activity. Time will tell if this will be one of those years.
Friday, August 3, 2012
IT IS FRIDAY
Friday on my summer schedule is a blogging day. However, I did not take into account that the Olympics would take place through the first two weekends in August and that I may spend too much time with the TV,
I believe that there are some 25 sports encompassing multiple events. Some are weird but all have their dedicated devotees. I learned that "Team Handball" is not played on a hard surfaced walled court but it is a "field game" like soccer only the ball has to be handled by hands. And how-about "Bicycle Sprint Relay" where there are teams of two riders. The race is two complete circuits of the track against time . Two teams of two riders start 180% apart. Both riders in tandem complete the first circuit the the lead rider drops out and #2 finishes the race.
I used to think that all you needed to shoot an arrow was a Long Bow and arrows. That the Crossbow a military weapon could have sighting equipment. But have you noticed all the complicated gadgetry on these competition Long Bows?.
Others are awesome; "Synchronized Diving" is mind boggling. Of course Gymnastics and Swimming are joys to watch for individual accomplishment; the ecstasy of victory efforts and the unfortunate agony of defeat.
Except for basketball which brings out the worst of the professional game internationally, team sports always commands attention due to the need for people to work together.
As usual sports that require opinion judgements as in Gymnastics always raises a question as to fairness. I the Gymnastic events different exercises seem to be scored at a different level. American girls were twice victims of judgements; Jordan received an abnormal low score on her floor routine which cost her a trip to the all around. The all around consists of the top 24 participants yet that girl who was fourth in the trials could not participate because each nation was limited to two entrees.
Gabby Douglas earned. the Gold, but poor Raisman who tied for Third was denied a Bronze because of some new rule dropping the poorest of the four performances. No longer do overall results count.
Of course no Olympics could happen without some scandal like the two South Korean, one Chinese and one Indonesian Badminton teams found to have deliberately lost matches to get a better seeding in the next round.
With the Library close I will not see the Agenda documents before Monday so no post on the before the meeting. The Council meeting is next Monday ,the 13th.
I believe that there are some 25 sports encompassing multiple events. Some are weird but all have their dedicated devotees. I learned that "Team Handball" is not played on a hard surfaced walled court but it is a "field game" like soccer only the ball has to be handled by hands. And how-about "Bicycle Sprint Relay" where there are teams of two riders. The race is two complete circuits of the track against time . Two teams of two riders start 180% apart. Both riders in tandem complete the first circuit the the lead rider drops out and #2 finishes the race.
I used to think that all you needed to shoot an arrow was a Long Bow and arrows. That the Crossbow a military weapon could have sighting equipment. But have you noticed all the complicated gadgetry on these competition Long Bows?.
Others are awesome; "Synchronized Diving" is mind boggling. Of course Gymnastics and Swimming are joys to watch for individual accomplishment; the ecstasy of victory efforts and the unfortunate agony of defeat.
Except for basketball which brings out the worst of the professional game internationally, team sports always commands attention due to the need for people to work together.
As usual sports that require opinion judgements as in Gymnastics always raises a question as to fairness. I the Gymnastic events different exercises seem to be scored at a different level. American girls were twice victims of judgements; Jordan received an abnormal low score on her floor routine which cost her a trip to the all around. The all around consists of the top 24 participants yet that girl who was fourth in the trials could not participate because each nation was limited to two entrees.
Gabby Douglas earned. the Gold, but poor Raisman who tied for Third was denied a Bronze because of some new rule dropping the poorest of the four performances. No longer do overall results count.
Of course no Olympics could happen without some scandal like the two South Korean, one Chinese and one Indonesian Badminton teams found to have deliberately lost matches to get a better seeding in the next round.
With the Library close I will not see the Agenda documents before Monday so no post on the before the meeting. The Council meeting is next Monday ,the 13th.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
HAVE YOU SEEN A LIBERO???
What is a “Libero”? Who knew before 7/28/2012? In fact who cares?
On the other hand perhaps it could be related to politics. This is the month of the National conventions with little to decide except who will be the Vice Presidential nominee. Will Biden want another four years of being nothing? Or will he like the freedom to challenge the soon to be ex Secretary of State Clinton while she prepares for another run for top dog?
Oh yes she has said she has no interest but a Clinton is a Clinton.
The Republicans can produce something of interest at their convention with the choice of the VP. It will not be Christie; too much of a loose cannon. The campaign will hinge on whether they pick a far righter or a centralist. In other words does Romney fear the religious right and Tea Partyers will not vote and reelect Obama by default? Or will he attempt to fold in the large independent centralist vote?
This choice will be crucial for this election.
The economy may be a factor. However it will have to be real bad for it to be crucial.
Most disturbing is the unusual degree of polarization that is dominating every aspect of this race. Those that would be impartial are castigated by zealots in both parties. The greatest danger to the Country will be if this turns out to be a year of racial and religious bigotry rather than political philosophies. “
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”. “Plato” This is indeed most applicable in the local elections.
Oh, I did not forget Libero. It is not an object or a Liberian Zebra.
Like many this weekend I was watching the Olympics and noticed at times a Volleyball player wearing a different color uniform than the rest of the team. In fact he was not always on the floor.
It seemed unlikely that the nation which the teams represented had run out of uniforms (money?) Or that the oddball was a walk on; so I googled Wikopedia and became educated.
The Libero:
In 1998 the libero player was introduced internationally, the term meaning free in Italian is pronounced LEE-beh-ro (rather than lih-BEAR-oh); the NCAA introduced the libero in 2002. The libero is a player specialized in defensive skills: the libero must wear a contrasting jersey color from his or her teammates and cannot block or attack the ball when it is entirely above net height. When the ball is not in play, the libero can replace any back-row player, without prior notice to the officials. This replacement does not count against the substitution limit each team is allowed per set, although the libero may be replaced only by the player whom they replaced. The libero may function as a setter only under certain restrictions. If she/he makes an overhand set, she/he must be standing behind (and not stepping on) the 3-meter line; otherwise, the ball cannot be attacked above the net in front of the 3-meter line. An underhand pass is allowed from any part of the court.
The libero is, generally, the most skilled defensive player on the team. There is also a libero tracking sheet, where the referees or officiating team must keep track of who the libero subs in and out for. There may only be one libero per set (game), although there may be a different libero in the beginning of any new set (game).
Furthermore, a libero is not allowed to serve, according to international rules, with the exception of the NCAA women's volleyball games, where a 2004 rule change allows the libero to serve, but only in a specific rotation. That is, the libero can only serve for one person, not for all of the people for whom she goes in. That rule change was also applied to high school play soon after."
In 1998 the libero player was introduced internationally, the term meaning free in Italian is pronounced LEE-beh-ro (rather than lih-BEAR-oh); the NCAA introduced the libero in 2002. The libero is a player specialized in defensive skills: the libero must wear a contrasting jersey color from his or her teammates and cannot block or attack the ball when it is entirely above net height. When the ball is not in play, the libero can replace any back-row player, without prior notice to the officials. This replacement does not count against the substitution limit each team is allowed per set, although the libero may be replaced only by the player whom they replaced. The libero may function as a setter only under certain restrictions. If she/he makes an overhand set, she/he must be standing behind (and not stepping on) the 3-meter line; otherwise, the ball cannot be attacked above the net in front of the 3-meter line. An underhand pass is allowed from any part of the court.
The libero is, generally, the most skilled defensive player on the team. There is also a libero tracking sheet, where the referees or officiating team must keep track of who the libero subs in and out for. There may only be one libero per set (game), although there may be a different libero in the beginning of any new set (game).
Furthermore, a libero is not allowed to serve, according to international rules, with the exception of the NCAA women's volleyball games, where a 2004 rule change allows the libero to serve, but only in a specific rotation. That is, the libero can only serve for one person, not for all of the people for whom she goes in. That rule change was also applied to high school play soon after."
I hope that this bit of worthwhile information has made you a wiser person.
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