Chapter 79.7: Tending to Your Magic Garden

With the financial world coming apart at the seams and the economy fibrillating like a bad heart, I found this blog post at the Skoll Foundation's site timely and somewhat interesting. It's a how-to piece for tending to your "social network."

Though clearly not among the top stories in terms of importance, the emergence of online social networks (see Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.) as key tools for advancing oneself has been a trend of 2008 — and no, I don't have a Facebook or MySpace page, though I have real-life friends who would like me to have one. But the Skoll item offers a few really good points that shouldn't be forgotten, which I've put into my words rather than theirs: Meet people in real life; give, don't simply receive; keep connected; keep meeting new people; don't wait to start; invest in yourself.

That last one sounds way too "new agey" for my tastes, but it's not a bad recommendation. So, all you financial industry people out there, I wish you luck. We need you to succeed.

Chapter 79.6: Shea Goodbye, Unless...

Today, the last regularly scheduled game at Shea Stadium is taking place. In fact, it has begun. I was fortunate enough to get a call just before I left work Thursday night with a free ticket to the Mets game against the Cubs. Pedro Martinez vs. Rich Harden. Game number 159 in the season.

And at many times during the rainy night, I feared they would lose. Indeed, the Mets never led until they won. It will probably be my last night at Shea.

I'll miss it; it was home of my favorite team. I have many memories: my first baseball game, watching Nolan Ryan almost throw a no-hitter against them, riding the #7 train to meet up to watch the Mets play the Cardinals when Mark McGwire his his 400th homer, feeling the entire stadium shake during the final game of the 2000 NLCS, using a ticket from a friend who died on 9/11 to attend one of the first games after that terrible day, running onto the field during the 1983 Simon & Garfunkel concert, watching Billy Joel at the final concert at Shea. There are so many more.

And there could be at least one more night, because the Mets and Brewers are tied for the wild card, courtesy of a three-hit shutout by Johan Santana yesterday and a Cubs win over the Brewers. If the Mets and Brewers both win or both lose today, then they play each other Monday night at Shea.

But after today's game, there'll be a celebrtion of Shea. Even if the Mets end up not going to the playoffs, I wouldn't miss the celebration. The stadium may be ugly and noisy and stinky, but it's been home.

Thanks, Shea. Citi Field won't be quite the same.

Chapter 79.5: Thanks!

Thanks to those of you voted in my first poll. At this point it remains to be seen who'll be right. Over the weekend, I'll post another.

Chapter 79.4: Mets Continue to Struggle

The Mets keep on struggling, but at least they finally beat the woeful Washington Nationals.

Yet, despite the awful way they completed last season, I don't have the same sense of dread that I felt then. The 2007 team broke my heart. Of course, so did the 2006 team, when I watched Carlos Beltran follow a breaking pitch into the catcher's mitt for an embarassing third strike in the NL Championship Series. Somehow, I don't think Jerry Manuel — my new favorite manager ;-) — will allow them to quit on themselves like the 2007 squad did.

I'm sure this club could end up frustrating me just as much as the previous two teams, but for some reason I don't think it'll happen. For one thing, they have two legitimate shots at making the playoffs — though in both the division and the wild card, they have close competition. The Phillies are the defending division champs and they must be respected, while the Brewers have CC Sabathia, who may just be the best pitcher in the National League right now.

So, I'll use the Mets as a way to introduce a new gadget on my blog: a poll question. What do you think, will they make the playoffs (and, if so, how do you think they will they get there), or will they be playing ping pong with the Yankees?

Vote early and vote often.

Chapter 79.3: Mind Boggling Collapse

We are living through an incredible moment. The utter collapse of U.S. financial markets is like something out of a futuristic tale of apocalypse, except it's happening now, in real time, with real damage.

The Bush administration probably will go down as the worst in U.S. history because of the myriad debacles — financial, military, political, legal — that occurred on its watch. To be sure, not everything has been President Bush's fault; too much has happened to blame it all on one person. But then again, not everything was Herbert Hoover's fault either. That doesn't mean we have warm, fuzzy feelings for him or his term in office.

Looking back at Hoover's Wikipedia entry, I'm a little concerned that he was also considered a progressive and a reformer. In this election, we have a purported progressive (Obama) and reformer (McCain) and the election is looking razor thin. (What is it about extremely close elections in this century?)

To a financial know-nothing like myself (just because I can do math doesn't mean I'm up on economic theory), it appears that the rich were trying to get richer on risky investments and when many of those investments failed, they weren't able to make good on their outlay of cash. They were over-extended. Much like the American populace.

Let's face it, this world lives on credit. It's not just in America — all over the world. Hell, I think they extend credit on Antarctica! And if a bank were to say, "I know we gave you a 30-year fixed mortgage, but we need our money now," (which probably isn't legal, so I'm not too worried about it happening to me) there's no way I could pay it without having to borrow money from someone else for less favorable terms. I think that's, in a sense, what has been happening on Wall Street.

This could well be the beginning of our Great Depression. If, as some speculate, we are experiencing the end of the "American empire," then we should probably pay close attention to what's going on. Our next major decisions — like who we choose to be president for the next four years — are exceedingly important for today and for our children tomorrow.

Chapter 79.2: Richard Wright, Leaving the Machine

Richard Wright, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, has died. He was the organist, and when you think of early Pink Floyd you think of Syd Barrett and the sound of Wright's keyboard.

While I was never a stoner, I always liked Pink Floyd. Sure it was music to get high to, but it was something more than that as well. Like good jazz, Pink Floyd songs start off as musical oddities and then, as you hear them again, they slowly show you other possibilities. You hear the little nuances that had been missed the first time.

For me, a lot of those nuances were played on the keyboards of Richard Wright. I'll be honest, I haven't listened to much Floyd lately. But as the old rockers start heading to that big ol' juke box in the sky, I think we must remember them as key players in an important time in our lives.

Chapter 79.1: But What Publishers Really Want to Do Is Direct

An article in the New York Times about a month ago noted an interesting development in film and book publishing. For years, book publishers weren't getting much if any of the Hollywood rights when books went to film. Now Simon & Schuster is getting a piece of the movie pie.

The book publisher now has a deal with a Hollywood management company, the Gotham Group, which seems to put the movie and book rights in the same hands. All I have to go on here is this article, but it seems that S&S is putting itself in a very risky position. How many of their books can honestly be expected to produce profitable films? And is Hollywood's notorious accounting going to wreck havoc on one of the world's largest book publishers?

I could well be naive, but I can't imagine this "end-in-mind" deal is in place for all its Young Adult books. Indeed, the article suggests that whether a book gets made into a film will now be decided well ahead of the game.

So what does this mean for people who want to option the rights to books? Will there be fewer books that get made into films? (Doubtful.) Will it be more expensive to acquire film rights for independent filmmakers? (Somehow, I don't think most indies are going after the same books as S&S and other major publishers.) And will the writer get more out of this? That's really what I want to know.

Somehow, I doubt the poor schlub writer will come out of this with much more money.

Chapter 79: Anticipating the End of the World

I'm glad that when the Large Hadron Collider is turned on, I should be snoozing away. That way, I'll be right where I need to be when the world comes to an end.

There are some folks who believe that this apparatus, where photons are sent zipping around a 17-mile track, could create black holes. The fear is that that such a creation could blink out all existence on the planet — indeed, the planet itself, Poof! Gone. Interesting little bit of irony: the act of creation leads to the end of existence. I'd like my irony with a nice single malt on the side, please.

While making black holes would essentially prove Stephen Hawking's theory on the subject, the destruction of life as we know it wouldn't help him receive the Nobel Prize he'd deserve. Thankfully, Hawking doesn't expect the world to end tomorrow. I have more faith in his forecast on this issue than the other whack jobs who are predicting death and destruction. Given the proximity of a different anniversary, I could deal without the major loss of life, thank you.

But if I don't hear from anyone after 3:30 EDT tomorrow morning, I call shotgun in the sportscar to oblivion.

Chapter 78.9: Photosynthesis, Anyone?

School's back in session. Earlier this summer, Stanford University released a report that found young students fare better when learning complex concepts using "everyday English."

As a case in point, researchers noted that students learning about photosynthesis need to understand a little bit of Latin, a dash of French, and some Greek. The problem, the researchers said, is that students are getting new words and new ideas at the same time. That can be difficult for children. Ok, they may be right. They're certainly right that a child can learn about an apple before they knew how to say "apple."

But what's so wrong with teaching a kid something difficult? As long as you have multiple ways of getting the point across — reinforcing the concepts — then a good teacher should be able to get the lesson across. I think that what they're doing is pointing out the obvious: a child won't learn a complex concept without being able to relate to it at a certain level.

Perhaps I'm not understanding what's so revolutionary. I'll read it again.