Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

March 22, 2005

Golf Improvement Through Books

Filed under: Golf — Bunker @ 9:26 am

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t read golf books or magazines to improve my mechanics. I find that most are simply repeats of the same information, presented in a different fashion. And sometimes the advice is simply bad. Learning from a book is often the best way to gain an insight into the skills required for some activity, but the golf swing requires a second set of eyes to see what is going on. Even when you feel like you’re “in the groove”, your senses are very deceiving.

With my iron play being what it has been of late, I’ve been thinking of going back to all irons in my bag for a few weeks like I did last summer. Then, I was hitting my 1-iron farther than my playing partners were hitting drivers, and all my iron shots were crisp.

I also think I’ll go back and do some reading on the two books that have actually helped me in the past:

The Nicklaus book is very well done, and written when Jack was at the top of his game. It is simple, and has beautiful illustrations. My game has always improved after I’ve gone through his lessons because my swing thoughts settle down and I play smarter golf. Nothing more exotic than that. No drills. Just good advice.

The second appeals to my analytical side. It is, to my knowledge, the only book on the golf swing based on solid research. For any beginner, this book is the perfect gift. And for old duffers like me, it brings the basics into focus with simple explanations about what is actually happening during those two short seconds of the swing. While this book is great for any beginner, the Nicklaus book would be more appealing to the youth golfer because of the artistic presentation. of course, they’ll get some laughs when they see 1970s golf attire. Well, so will some adults who actually wore stuff like that!

After mentioning the analytical side of the golf game, I have to point out two heavily researched books on the scoring part of the game:

Dave Pelz spent years charting shots by PGA tours, and has worked with some of the best on tour to improve their short games. Lee Janzen, Payne Stewart, and Phil Mickelson are just three who benefitted from his advice. Dave presents statistical evidence of where good scores come from, and how best to take advantage of that information.

That’s where I’ve lost a lot of strokes, and balls, lately.

McCain Again

Filed under: Government,Politics — Bunker @ 7:58 am

Ryan Sager is the go-to guy on hypocricy on the Campaign Finance Reform front. Once again, this time at Tech Central Station, he his trying to follow the money in the push for “reform” by people like John McCain. I have to say, again, that I once admired John McCain. No more.

When blogs are being looked at by the FEC, and assurances that we aren’t being targeted don’t appear to be very heartfelt, you must be concerned about what the final outcome will be. And what is the final result the “reformers” want.

That’s because campaign-finance reform is not a “movement” as its proponents have claimed, it is a lobby — funded and orchestrated by eight very liberal foundations which fooled Congress and the American people into believing that the front groups they set up were grassroots organizations.

I don’t care whether the groups are liberal, conservative, or Martian. The First Amendment gives a guarantee of freedom of speech to individuals, not groups, or foundations, or 527s. Yet those are the groups which want to limit an individual’s rights.

I’ve still not heard back from my “representatives.” Time for another message, and one to the White House for good measure.

Prose

Filed under: General — Bunker @ 5:50 am

Jim and I spoke about writing last night. He put together a wonderful piece on his visit to Astros’ Spring Training with other Corpus Christi media.

Writing is a craft which requires not just skill with words, but the ability to see a story in your mind and tranfer that to text. Some can write without being able to tell a story verbally, and some can spin tall tales around the campfire yet are unable to piece together a shopping list. Someone like Sam Clemens could tie the two together. Few of us reach that level.

I used to write using a grid paper pad. The spacing was just right for my handwriting, and it was more appealing to my engineer’s eye than standard ruled paper. Once complete, I would bang out the words on a typewriter (you do remember those, don’t you?) and later a computer. As I transcribed, I edited. Transition sentences. Overview paragraphs. Summary paragraphs. All that important stuff. I even used a thesaurus on occasion!

Now, I simply sit at the keyboard and pound out text. My writing has suffered. I wonder, is the blogosphere to be the undoing of great writing? I certainly don’t spend the time I should making sure my thoughts are coherent and the grammar is correct. I think I should probably begin doing so. Francis does, and his prose shows it. Jim did in his latest post.

Patience. Not one of my stronger virtues.

March 21, 2005

Comments

Filed under: General — Bunker @ 6:17 am

Well, the comments got screwed up during my upgrade to WP1.5 and reversion to 1.2.2 due to template incompatibilities. I’ll have to work on that this evening. In the interim, email any comments you might have and I’ll add them tonight.

****UPDATE****
Comments now functional again, and the v1.5 upgrade complete. Not too painful when I did it myself rather than with Fantastico. Some tweaking yet to be done, and the “Pages” and “Themes” functions will be nice–once I figure them out.

March 20, 2005

Terri Schiavo

Filed under: Government — Bunker @ 4:21 pm

I have not posted at all on Terri Schiavo. I know too little of the facts to be able to sift through all the blather from all sides. The best I can do is say that it appears to me her husband decided long ago to let her die, and spent the money which was supposed to be dedicated to her medical care. I believe those to be facts, although I can’t be certain.

Another issue is her medical status. (Why is this a Democrat-Republican issue?) She is not in a coma. Nor has she ever been. She is not being kept alive by any medical equipment. She breathes on her own, and her heart continues to pump blood without assistance. She cannot swallow or ingest food normally, so is fed through a tube. This is not a situation where they unplug the life-preserving machines to allow someone to die with some semblance of humanity. She is being denied food. She will die by starvation.

The third issue is the Federal Government’s involvement. I have never really understood why suicide is a crime. If someone chooses to die, what allows a government to step in and prevent it? I would think that is as personal a decision as there is. The crux here is whether Terri, indeed, wants to die, and we can never be certain. She cannot make her desires known. So, her husband makes the decision. He, of all people, should be the one to make that decision. But his actions since her decline have put him under suspicion as to his motives. Again, who among us can really judge?

What this case really comes down to in my mind is a woman who will never be able to function on her own, and her husband who wants the burden lifted from him. Her parents have offered to take that burden, yet he declines. Again, painting himself as insensitive and having hidden agendas.

So, what is the answer to this dilemma? Does Terri Schiavo have the personal right to end her own life? Does her husband, as her next of kin, have that right?

Do any of us have the right (excluding religious beliefs) to end our own life? Why?

That question will not be answered in this case. And it shouldn’t be. That is a very personal decision, and the kind I don’t want government making.

March 19, 2005

Naught’s Solved by War?

Filed under: General — Bunker @ 2:03 pm

From Russ…

Naught’s Solved by War?

A flickering dawn lights Islam’s hills
A faint emerging light.
Can the torch of Lady Liberty
Flare away Medieval night?
How fitting our bold symbol
Of all that’s good and right
Eyewitness to the Jihad’s wrath,
Stands forefront in this fight.

Her torch is not mere sculpted bronze,
To those in Mullahs’ chains;
But a lamp held high against the sky
Showing them that hope remains.
Their feudal sheiks view us with scorn,
So obsessed with earthly pleasure;
But one thing they fear that we hold dear,
Is that Bill of Rights we treasure.

We drove a tyrant from his throne,
Brought his people free election.
Think it concerns them overmuch,
WMD’s escaped detection?
Just behold those blue-stained fingers,
Like the Lady’s torch, held high,
So proud of their brave turnout,
Putting Liberals to the lie.

How say you now nay Sayers?
What of your dire predictions?
Like fools you swore naught’s solved by war,
Another of your Liberal fictions.
But now you face a hard clear truth:
A truth that you forswore:
This aborning Bush Democracy
Was midwifed by his war.

Within the womb of Islam,
Freedom’s heart so feebly beats.
Is it up us to make it thrive,
To birth it their streets?
What say you disbelieving Libs,
How now shall this thing go?
Shall we execute your exit plan,
Or stay and help it grow?

Russ Vaughn

March 18, 2005

Blog readers are shockingly influential

Filed under: General — Bunker @ 2:10 pm

This is pretty impressive. I don’t put too much trust in polls or surveys. There are just too many ways for data to be either manipulated or in error.

Regardless, this must say something significant.

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