I've been a fan of Formula One racing since I was about 5 years old. I went to my first Grand Prix in 1972 or 1973, and I have been hooked ever since then. Though it may seem hard to believe for many on this side of the Atlantic, F1 is the number one watched sport in the world. Yes, the world. In this country, people speak of NASCAR, but it simply doesn't hold a candle to the level of F1 - in so many areas. Imagine an open-wheeled car weighing a minimum of 585 kg (about 1300 pounds) with an eight cylinder 2.4 liter engine that produces about 800 - 900 horsepower. If you are thinking fighter jet technology, you wouldn't be far off. Designers move from aerospace engineering to F1 because of the technology. With budgets up to about 500 million dollars per team, it is all rather mind-boggling.
So now, the news. Today was a landmark day in Formula One racing. Scuderia Toro Rosso - formerly known as Minardi - scored it's maiden victory at Monza. Their driver, Sebastian Vettel, scored his maiden win in the process. The 21 year-old Vettel became the youngest to win a Formula One race, which is a phenomenal accomplishment unto it's own.
But there is so much more to this story than meets the eye.
The price of crude oil is as high as it's ever been. For months (if not years now), we've been told that the skyrocketing price of gasoline is reflective of this trend. On July 11, the all-time high of $147.27 per barrel was reached.
Now lest we forget, the war in Iraq is about ... well, oil. Oh that's not the official party line, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or petroleum engineer) to figure this out. So while all of this is happening, oil prices have gone up.
But wait! Oil prices have dropped 26% since July. This would be fabulous - if, of course, gas prices were dropping at the same rate. This isn't the case - the current drop being 12%. On the surface, gas prices are dropping, and they have been for weeks.
I grew up a mile away from the United States. If you turned on the television, you found the obligatory Canadian TV stations. You also found the inundation of U.S. television stations - ABC, NBC, and CBS - from locales in New York or Michigan.
Every four years, we bear witness to the Summer Olympics. And every four years, we're subjected to what seems like an exceedingly nationalistic and biased view of the Olympics. Of late, it's been NBC's perogative to show us any sports in which the U.S. might be dominant.
Every four years, as a born-and-raised Canuck, I have an ongoing debate about the seeming lack of medals attained by my homeland - as compared to the treasure trove of medals attained by the Unites States.
So before we go any further, let's put the raw data out there:
That's the question I am asking myself since Sen. McCain selected Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.
Forget about the fact that it took the Republican party 24 years after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro - just a few extra years of learning curve in there to acknowledge the potential of gender in the election mix.
So is McCain's choice intriguing? Or disturbing?
First, the former. It may have been a stroke of political genius to select a woman. There are a lot of Hillary supporters just waiting to jump ship on the Democrats and vote for any ticket that has a woman that will symbolically break the glass ceiling. She's young and tenacious. She's a former Miss Alaska runner-up. She's a fresh voice in Washington. Those are all positive elements. She has some understanding of oil and natural resources from her time as Governor of Alaska. She's married to a steelworker and commercial fisherman - so it would certainly sound like she just might be in touch with the heartland of America.
Week one is upon us - week one of the college football season. It's one of my favorite times of the year, second only to March Madness for, yes, college basketball. Yes, it's fair to say that I like collegiate sports!
This weekend, it didn't pay to be the home team. Well, at least for quite a few Division I schools. Michigan, Clemson, Texas A&M, Virginia, Pittsburgh ... all home teams that lost game one this weekend. Let's put in a quick "welcome" to the first year coaches - Rich Rodriguez at Michigan and Mike Sherman at Texas A&M. Have fun in the Big 10 and Big 12. Add Virginia Tech to that last, albeit on a road trip to East Carolina. All quite unpredictable and surprising losses. Welcome to week one of college football!
Ahhh the beauty of the RSS feed reader!
It's tough to wade through a bunch of websites that you like to read. Sure, you can keep them in your "Favorites" or your "Bookmarks", but it's a lot of web cruising to read them all. I recently discovered the RSS feed reader - which allows you to save all your favorite feeds in one place, and then be able to read all the headlines without the web surfing. It allows you to read so many more cool things in a lot less time.
Today Chris Brogan posted on Blog Day 2008 - which just so happens to be today, August 31. That being the case, let's spread the word on blogs - being one of those bloggers out there that's trying to write material worthy of human consumption!
The goal is to find 5 new blogs and introduce them to the world. Hell, how about introducing 5 blogs that I find entertaining, educational, and intriguing?
So here goes ...
Forget the politics - because this was a moment in history for us to remember.
August 28, 2008. Sure, it was the day that Barack Obama became the official Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America. Sure, it was a groundbreaking day in U.S. history, the first time that an African-American (or whatever the politically correct terminology is these days) had been nominated by any party to do so. Yes, those things made August 28, 2008 important from a historical perspective.
But I don't think that was what was truly important about that 50 minutes of oratory.
For the first time in perhaps decades, and for one of the few times in my generation, a man stood before 84,000 people (also a momentous occassion in U.S. politics!) and spoke of what is truly important about the American dream.
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.