Technology fascinates me.
It could be cars. It could be computers. It could be just about anything.
I am not the person that has to be on the cutting edge of owning all the latest cool tech toys. But I would suspect that I am probably not too far off being an "early adopter" as Seth Godin notes in "The Purple Cow" .
Recently I have been exloring the realm of social media. Most people are at least familiar with MySpace, and maybe you've even heard of Facebook or LinkedIn. Another one of the intriguing social media tools these days is Twittter.
I will look back at this weekend as a time when the over-rated made their true colors known in college football. There are certainly a couple of solid examples. Let's start with the Big 10 and, yes, Ohio State. The Buckeyes are perenially the darlings of the pollsters. You could have 22 freshman lining up and some media hack in the Iron Belt would claim that Jim Tressel would take them to the national championship this year. This year has been no different. Ohio State is, imagine this, over-rated. Again. Beanie or no Beanie, they had their livin' Brutus' handed to them by USC. And, once again, USC is looking like it might be for real - now imagine that - again.
Let's perhaps even extend that to the Big 10 in general. Though they remind us that they have five 3-0 teams in conference, who have they played? Wisconsin only put up 13 points on Fresno State. Maybe Penn State will change my mind, but right now, I doubt it, even though I am a big fan of Joe Paterno.
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.
Usain Bolt,
Michael Phelps.
Lance Armstrong.
What do they have in common? That should be an easy answer. It's certainly not their chosen sports - track and field, swimming, and cycling. These three fine athletes have shown us a glimpse of the levels of human performance that are possible. They have done things in their sports that many thought weren't possible.
Usain Bolt was running with arms spread wide for 30m of his 100m final - and still ran 9.69, a new world record. Then he arrives at what he calls "his event", the 200m, and runs 19.30 - then proceeds to mug with the camera and play to the crowd and run around like a little kid, so carefree and playful.
Having been in Atlanta to witness Michael Johnson's world record in the 200m in 1996, I can only say that I for one thought it would be a very long time before we witnessed another 200m world record. Bolt showed us it could be done.
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.
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.