VAI

1984: All over again

Tim ONeil — 2012-02-12T12:11:31-06:00

The marketing slogan for the new 4,000,000 cameras installed in London to help security at the Olympic Games: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

Thank You and Good Night

Tim ONeil — 2011-12-12T20:53:08-06:00

If you are not a baseball fan, you don't get this post. My St. Louis Cardinals have lost the best player I have ever seen in my life. Sure it takes 25 guys to make up a team but Albert was special. We had a great time watching him play over the last 11 years. And now that is done.

He is moving to LA to play in for the Angels in the American League. Good move on his part, he can play longer with the stupid DH rule and he will be the biggest star in LA sports history. He can put the Angels on the map as LA's baseball team and replace the struggling Dodgers, who recently died in divorce court.

But I will miss watching him play for us. He is no longer a Cardinal. And it is a sad day for Cardinal fans everwhere. There is no joy in Mudville, the Cardinals have struck out.

But pitchers and catchers do report to spring training again in a couple of months, almost time to start again. But this time without the big guy, Albert Pujols. So thank you and good night!

Play ball!

June 11, 2011

Tim ONeil — 2011-06-11T13:37:21-05:00

Thích Quảng Đức June 11, 1963 Vietnam

June 11, 2011

Today is the anniversary of the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thicj Quang Quc in Vietnam. He was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the then regime of Dinh Ngo Diem in South Vietnam. That regime would later be toppled by an army coup and we know what followed, the ever escalating war in Vietnam that would end in 1975 and cost an estimated 1 million combatants and another 1 million civilian causalities including the lives of over 55,000 young Americans.

When you witness the Vietnam War Memorial wall in D.C. and it’s list of our fallen, you have to ponder, was Vietnam vital to the interests of the US as Secretary of State Dean Rusk so vehemently argued for many years. Our failure in Vietnam would bring a domino effect in Asia communist takeover, and possible war with China and/or Russia.

Fast forward to today:

We had to go to war in Iraq, it was vital to our national interests, we had to destroy their Weapons of Mass Destruction threat. And that war would only cost us $40 Billion too. Well, there were no WMD’s and our war in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 has cost our country over $3 trillion dollars*, not including the human toll that will take a generation to recover from.

So today, on the anniversary of Thicj Quang Quc’s event, let’s ponder the words of another influential Buddhist, the Dali Lama, who says that war is an outdated concept for mankind. Let’s change our approach to war. What we are doing now is like driving an old gas guzzler from the 60’s, lots of power, high emissions and 10MPG. Not sustainable.

Our long term outcomes can only improve.

*washington post 9/11/10

Happy Trails Marshall Dillion!

Tim ONeil — 2011-06-03T15:56:56-05:00

Marshall Matt Dillion from Gunsmoke pasted away today! I remember spending many nights with the Marshall in Dodge City, hanging out at the Long Branch with Miss Kitty, Doc and Chester. Those were the good old cowboy days, the good guys won, and the bad guys got what they deserved. It was truth , justice and the American Way on black and white TV. Happy Trails Mr. Dillon. And what was Chester's last name?

By the numbers: 50 112 11

Tim ONeil — 2009-11-18T10:39:11-06:00

By the numbers: 50 112 11

I have returned to swimming. I try to swim every day now, or as often as I can. I cant run due to a balloon knee, and I like swimming. Makes me feel good and I feel like Johnny Weismueller AKA Tarzan when I am gliding in the water, free from the day to day grind.

I had to be some where the other day, but I took the time put in a good 50 laps. I was in the locker room and I was feeling good about myself and my effort. As I was getting ready to go a little kid walk into the locker room. He said he was not feeling too well and decided to leave his swimming practice early. How many laps did you do son? Only 112 today. I'm not feeling well.

And how old are you? 11.

In the words of Tarzan ...un guh wah.

Baseball is like Marriage. It is a long season....

Tim ONeil — 2009-10-13T10:12:19-05:00

To all the fans in Boston, Denver, Minneapolis and St. Louis:

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

Now that your team has been rudely eliminated from the playoffs and we all face a long cold winter until it is time to head to Florida for Spring training in March. I want to offer my condolences and say a race well run. So let's gather round the hot stove and talk of things to come. I offer you the famous thoughts for one in 1883, that knew then what we know now, that it wasn't meant to be.

So I share the famous poem of Casey at the Bat: ANd I know we will return next spring anew and start a quest to make up for our bad fortune this past year.

CASEY at the Bat

The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

The Nina

Tim ONeil — 2009-09-17T16:28:10-05:00

IN 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue...goes the old poem.

I had the occasion to visit the replica of the flag ship of Christopher Columbus. It was amazing. It was hand built in Brazil, no power tools, using the same 500 year old. building techniques. If you have ever sailed, it was hard to imagine how a crew of 25 could have set out in hope of finding the new world, not knowing where they were going, and thinking the world was flat. It was loaded down with supplies and livestock, and the crew had to sleep when and where possible on the deck. You really had to be on the ship to get the full impact of this historic feat. On top of that, the most important piece of equipment was the long boat, which sits top side and is the only link between the boat and land. Without this transportation, any cruise is doomed.

Looking at how the ancient rudder and tiller were set up, I was thinking of the brave crew using that to to steer this vessel, especially in a stormy sea. And there there was the story of how the Nina, was the flagship of a 17 ship flotilla going back to the new world on the second voyage. When all the other ships were lost at sea, except the Nina during a hurricane in 1495. There were 100 survivors from the 16 other ships, and those people and the Nina crew, 127 people were crammed on this one little vessel and they made the voyage back home to Spain together. What a trip that must have been.

It made me pause and be proud. Proud to be a part of the human race, part of such hardy stock that would even attempt such a voyage, and be successful.. The spirit of humankind, to push on, to explore, to take risks and face challenges and untold hardships. We are still part of that spirit. We need to rekindle that spirit today. We need to continue to reach out and find me worlds and re embrace man's innate sense and need to explore and find new worlds. It has always been, and I hope it will always be. Where could we be and where will we be in 500 years from now? Get on the deck of the Nina, and your thoughts might surprisee you.

The Tale of Two Cities. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Tim ONeil — 2009-08-06T21:17:31-05:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst off times. August 6, 1945.

Harry Truman was aboard the the US Cruiser Augusta, coming home from the Potsdam Conference, with Stalin and Churchill, when he was informed the US had just dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. He was exultant. It is said he traversed the entire ship going person to person, officers and crew alike, telling them the great news, like a town crier. "This is the greatest thing in history".

This watch belonged to Kengo Futagawa. He was riding his bicycle to work across the Kennon Bridge, about a mile from ground zero, at the time of the blast. He jumped into the river terribly burned. He made it home that day, but died on August 22 from his injuries.

Best guess is around 318,000 people died from that bomb drop. 70,000 people died instantly as a result of initial blast, heat, and radiation effects. This included about twenty American airmen being held as prisoners in the city. By the end of 1945, because of the effects of radioactive fallout the Hiroshima death toll was over 100,000. The five-year death total exceeded 200,000, as cancer and other long-term effects took hold.

The world war would end shortly afterward.

It was the best of times and the worst of times.

The world still lives in fear of nuclear weapons getting into the "wrong" hands to this day.

Where are the peacemakers?

Summer of 69

Tim ONeil — 2009-07-20T13:50:11-05:00

Summer of 69.

It was quite a summer to remember, if you can.

We landed on the moon.

There was Woodstock. Three days of fun and music.

We were knee deep in Vietnam with 500,000 soldiers. We had a draft going to supply the army. My draft number was 235. Did you have one?

Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew were in the White House.

A first class stamp was $.06 cents

It was quite a summer, when we look back 40 years later from a historical perspective. And we have covered a lot of ground, and many things have happened since.

I think the most interesting thing though is that if you look back forty years and use yourself as your telescope. Think of all the things you have experienced in the last forty years, if possible. All your successes, all your failures. All the things you learned and all the things you were able to un learn.

A forty year slice of human history can look like a heaping super sized dessert helping, but it really is not.

And why aren’t we living on the moon 40 years later?

We are knee deep in another war, that is oddingly remote and unreported by the media.

There is no draft right now, so our soldiers pull multiple tours of duty.

We have our first black President and stamps are now$.44 cents.

External change never ends. Make sure your internal changes keep pace. We need to move on to a new frontier for our kids and their kids. The population has almost doubled since that summer of 1969. Wealth has become more centralized, not more wide spread, and the number of people starving has increased geometrically.

Let’s keep our eye on where we are really going, and not get bogged down in how we get there.

And as the late Walter Cronkite used to say every evening as he signed off,,,and that’s the way it is

The Pope Rocks G-8

Tim ONeil — 2009-07-10T13:52:03-05:00

The Pope Rocks.

As the G-8 Summit convened in Italy, the Pope had a message and issued Caritas in Veritate “Love in truth” Encyclical letter.

Now I am not a catholic. I grew up protestant. But it is does not matter your current belief system to be impressed with the Pope’s CARITAS IN VERITAT. It has a powerful message for all people at this point in time. Here are some of the highlights.

First: Love

Caritas or Love is the extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace.

Second: Truth

Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalized society at difficult times like the present.

Third: There must be truth in Charity

Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite.

Fourth: Our current opportunity:

The process of globalization, suitably understood and directed, open up the unprecedented possibility of large scale wealth on a world wide scale.

Fifth: But be careful:

Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.

Sixth: We are all connected

Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in society: the common good. It is the good of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them. And really do you really think that all human beings are not connected. There is no us and them, just us.

Bottomline:

If the pope was running for office he would not be elected. And that is why we have our division between church and state. But until we effectively weave ethics and the good will of others into the world business model, and evolve beyond profit only as the key drivers, there will be no world wide prosperity, much less food for the hungry. And folks there is no excuse for fellow human beings starving to death in this day and age.

And the funny thing is that when the system adjusts its self to the common good, business will be better than ever....Keep rocking Pope.