Midnight Oil -------- Ya Dig?

Quote of the Day

Some men are born mediocre, some men
achieve mediocrity, and some men
have mediocrity thrust upon them.



Joseph Heller

Quote of the Day

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything.
I am strongly in favor of common sense,
common honesty, and common decency. This
makes me forever ineligible for public office.



Henry Louis "H.L." Mencken

Quote of the Day

The secret of concentration is the secret of
self- discovery. You reach inside yourself
to discover your personal resources, and
what it takes to match them to the challenge.

Arnold Daniel Palmer

Weakly Demotivator

Human Power!

Students at Texas State University are generating electricity with their exercise equipment. Kind of like hamsters on a wheel, but sweatier. Read more here.

On a related note, Competitor is developing a lane rope that will harness the energy in wave action. Look for it sometime around 2017.

Experts estimate that a week of summer league practices at your local pool could generate enough power to run the suit dryer for nearly three seconds.

Quote of the Day

Take calculated risks. That is
quite different from being rash.



George Smith Patton, Jr.

Quote of the Day

It's innocence when it charms us,
ignorance when it doesn't.



Mignon McLaughlin

Quote of the Day

Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa

what they want and adults pay for it.

Deficits are when adults tell government

what they want and their kids pay for it.

Richard Douglas "Dick" Lamm

Quote of the Day

To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon

verdure is the most perfect refreshment.

Jane Austen

Quote of the Day

Every composer knows the anguish and
despair occasioned by forgetting ideas
which one had no time to write down.



Hector Berlioz

Quote of the Day

Don't spend time beating on a wall,
hoping to transform it into a door.



Dr. Laura Catherine Schlessinger

Weakly Demotivator

Quote of the Day

Few things help an individual more than
to place responsibility upon him and
to let him know that you trust him.



Booker Taliaferro Washington

Quote of the Day

There are only two ways of telling the complete
truth - anonymously and posthumously.



Thomas Sowell

Quote of the Day

If everybody's thinking alike,

somebody isn't thinking.

George Smith Patton, Jr.

Quote of the Day

The government consists of a gang of men
exactly like you and me. They have, taking
one with another, no special talent for the
business of government; they have only
a talent for getting and holding office.



Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken

Quote of the Day

Early in life I had noticed that no event

is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.

Eric Arthur Blair (a.k.a. George Orwell)

Quote of the Day

I merely took the energy it takes

to pout and wrote some blues.

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington

Weakly Demotivator

Quote of the Day

When things go wrong, you'll find they usually

go on getting worse for some time; but when

things once start going right they often go

on getting better and better.

Clive Staples "C.S." Lewis

Quote of the Day

Paralyze their resistance with your persistence.



Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes

Quote of the Day

The eight laws of learning are explanation,
demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition
repetition, repetition, and repetition.



John Robert Wooden

Quote of the Day

A common mistake people make when trying to
design something completely foolproof is to
underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.



Douglas Noel Adams

Quote of the Day

A guy who gives you less than what he has
to give is telling you what he thinks of you,
and telling you what he thinks of himself.



Peter J. "Pete" Carril

Quote of the Day

Motivating through fear may work in the short
term to get people to do something, but over the
long run I believe personal pride is a much
greater motivator. It produces far better
results that last for a much longer time.



John Robert Wooden

Weakly Demotivator

Quote of the Day

There is no security on this earth,

there is only opportunity.

General Douglas MacArthur

Pepperdine Women

University president Andrew Benton is working to save the Pepperdine women's swimming program. Didn't know about that one? Catch up here.

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Friends and Supporters of the Pepperdine Women’s Swimming and Diving Team

FROM : Andrew K. Benton

RE: Response to Offers of Support/Immediate Action Required

DATE: December 1, 2009

Cc John G. Watson, Keith Hinkle

Without going into great detail, the decision to conclude the Swimming and Diving team was a difficult decision. Students associated with that program have been some of the students my wife and I hold most dear. As I have shared many times: I admire so much the family environment that seems to come with those who love to swim and dive competitively. It is actually remarkable to behold.

Having made and communicated the decision (and hurt a lot of students and parents in the process), to offer to rethink our position is perilous and may result in another round of frustration. I hope not. The economy has not improved, the Athletic Department has not even completed its first round of reductions, and no “financial angel” has appeared. A number of individuals have made sincere offers to help and that impresses me a great deal. Whether it will be enough, I do not know; I would like to give it a fair opportunity to work, however. Working through Tom Dekar, a parent, and also one of our former swimmers, Andreea Trufasu, I write this brief memorandum to outline one way to fund the program going forward. It will require the following:

1. Evidence by January 15 of each year that there are gifts and pledges available to provide at least $400,000 per year for each of the next four fiscal years (August 1 – July 31). We cannot recruit top-quality athletes if we cannot assure them that they can compete at Pepperdine for the four years of their NCAA eligibility;

2. The Athletic Director and I do not see re-establishing the program with funds already reallocated to respond to the present – and future – economic challenge presented to the larger University community. The University will help to raise endowment funds that could well sustain the program; and,

3. If we are going to undertake this project, we must do so immediately and with great energy. We can use December to make solicitations and secure pledge commitments. The University will begin collecting contributions after January 1, 2010.1 Representations have been made that there are as many as 1,500 individuals willing to provide annual support. If that is true, our task is relatively easy, especially if there are some generous lead gifts. If not, we must know by the last day of January 2010. If the target of at least $400,000 per fiscal year is not achieved in gifts and firm pledges by January 31, 2010, all gifts will be returned and pledges cancelled and we will conclude our Swimming and Diving program as previously announced.

While I am hopeful, I am also a realist willing to be overwhelmingly pleased and surprised. There is no other area of the University being offered this opportunity, but there is no other area where 35 wonderful young people are so directly impacted.

This is the offer I have discussed with a couple of representatives of those who wish to retain the program. We simply must know if this is going to work by January 31, 2010; I do not wish to offer false hope or to create or prolong another round of disappointment.

I have written this memorandum so that others may distribute it. All gifts and pledges should to be sent to Dr. John Watson, Director of Athletics. John can be contacted at (310) 506-4242 or you may e-mail him at jgwatson@pepperdine.edu. He will guide this process and provide periodic updates on the success of this effort. Meanwhile, you have my admiration for your desire to take on this unusual and admirable project. I sincerely hope it works; in fact, my wife and I will make our own gift to the effort.

Y'all know I have to say this, right?

How about saving the women's team and restoring the men's team at the same time?

Don't tell me it would cost so danged much more to do, I'm not as dumb as I look...

Quote of the Day

The only reason I'm coming out here

tomorrow is the schedule says I have to.

George Lee "Sparky" Anderson

Quote of the Day

That you may retain your self-respect, it is

better to displease the people by doing what

you know is right, than to temporarily please

them by doing what you know is wrong.

William John Henry Boetcker

Quote of the Day

If what you did yesterday seems big,

you haven't done anything today.

Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz

Quote of the Day

The achievements of an organization are the

results of the combined effort of each individual.

Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi

Quote of the Day

Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend,

you should endeavor to understand him.

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás

(a.k.a. George Santayana)

Go Phyllis!

Our friend Phyllis Schlafly starts her latest report with this:

The feminists are going through one of their periodic soul-searching psychological examinations of what the women's liberation movement did or did not do for them, and why they are not happy with the result.

Read more here.

Women's percentage in the labor force keeps rising because of who is going to college and who drops out. Thirty years ago, the ratio of males to females on college campuses was 60-40; now it's 40-60, and women receive the majority of college degrees.

But the feminists are griping because women students choose humanities majors that lead to lesser paid jobs than male students, who in larger numbers choose math, science and engineering. The feminists want government to remedy this gender difference by bribing women with taxpayers' money to make other choices. (Feminists claim that there are no gender differences, but they demand government intervention to override women's choices.)

The feminists push hard for what they call "Title-Nining," using Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in schools and colleges, to force equal numbers of women in all athletic programs. Since this misuse of Title IX was initiated by radical feminists in Jimmy Carter's Education Department, the feminists have forced colleges to eliminate thousands of men's teams, including many championship teams and more than 450 wrestling teams. Now the feminists are Title-Nining science and math departments. Using phony charges of gender bias, they are directing millions of dollars of federal and university money to override women's choices in order to increase the number of women in math and science at the expense of men.

Quote of the Day

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't

take his education too seriously.

Charles Franklin Kettering

While we're on the subject...

...of momentum, think about relay starts for a second.

You should carry as much momentum off the block as possible, right?

How do you build maximum momentum?

Remember that momentum is the product of mass and velocity.

Since there's no way to increase mass while on the starting block, relay starts are all about velocity. A slow arm swing and/or slow step doesn't do the job.

Generate more momentum with greater arm speed and a faster step.

The Texas All Stars show how it's done in this old Floswimming video. Brendan Hansen and Garrett Weber-Gale built plenty of momentum with fast arm swings.

Quote of the Day

Sliding head first is the safest way to get to

the next base, I think, and the fastest. You

don't lose your momentum, and there's one

more important reason I slide head first -

it gets my picture in the paper.

Peter Edward "Pete" Rose

Quote of the Day

No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.



Sir Frederick Grant Banting

Quote of the Day

Learn everything you can, anytime you can,

from anyone you can - there will always come

a time when you will be grateful you did.

Sarah Caldwell

Quote of the Day

When we are unable to find tranquility within

ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld

Quote of the Day

Never fear the want of business. A man

who qualifies himself well for his calling,

never fails of employment.

Thomas Jefferson

Weakly Demotivator

Quote of the Day

Hatred is the coward's revenge

for being intimidated.

George Bernard Shaw

Quote of the Day

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking

part in affairs which properly concern them.

Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry

From The Old Coach

Posted by Toro Chingon:

How I Learned to Mind My Own Business

I was walking past a mental hospital the other day.

All the patients were shouting, '13...13...13...'

The fence was too high to see over,
but I saw a little gap in the planks,
so I looked through to see what was going on...

Some idiot poked me in the eye with a stick!

Then they all started shouting '14...14...14...'

Quote of the Day

He reminds me of the man who murdered

both his parents, and then when sentence

was about to be pronounced pleaded for

mercy on the ground that he was an orphan.

Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day

I will offer a choice, not an echo.

Barry Morris Goldwater

Quote of the Day

My future starts when I wake up every

morning...every day I find something

creative to do with my life.

Miles Davis III

Quote of the Day

It is folly to punish your neighbor

by fire when you live next door.

Publilius Syrus

Weakly Demotivator

Quote of the Day

In the end, you'll know which people really

love you. They're the ones who see you for

who you are and, no matter what, always

find a way to be at your side.

Randal Keith "RK" Milholland