Vichy Water – Author's Blog Just another WordPress weblog

Follow

A picture of a geometric me, near an old swimming hole, maybe in Alabama, with strange smoke stacks just behind, (I’ve never been to Alabama. ‘Easy Rider’ kept me away) just surfaced like one of those post traumatic stress eye floaters, which I keep following now, as it slowly lifts and drops across my field of vision. Barefoot, wearing an old Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap, a weed of grass hanging from mouth, my feet kick at the opaque water until I’m satisfied that fish and potentially poisonous water snakes have vacated my territorial claims; I jump in, flinging the Dodger cap to a stranger on the shore before immersion.

the way I feel at the swimming hole

The water feels good. “You’re a skinny minny,” the shore stranger calls out. And I wonder who wrote the ‘Book of Love’ and why Major League Baseball just stepped in to take over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thrashing around a swimming hole, I’m not particularly in the mood to ponder another Soviet take over of one of our professional teams or anti-trust ramifications or courts (mc and otherwise).

Not to perseverate, but since I’m all wet, I might as well tell my readers, that I still hate the NCAA; a monopolistic body of strange invisible men, that rule over college athletes as if the kids are on a ‘plantation.’ I didn’t say this. A respected commentator, JW, said this on a recent cable sports show. See how impressionistic I am swimming around? When freshmen college basketball players come to the NCAA, they sign a contract giving the NCAA the right to use their images on clothing, games, posters and anything the NCAA chooses “forever and throughout the universe” without ever compensating the players, no matter how old they get.  Even the cool waters of an Auburn, Alabama swimming hole, doesn’t lower my internal thermometer; I’m still hotly enraged that the NCAA let a college basketball game (Rutgers versus St John’s in a Big East Tournament game. See April 1st and March 11th blogs) be ostensibly fixed, favoring St Johns, by three complicit referees and a league commissioner.

basketball referees and a commissioner

The media is in bed with the NCAA, their meal ticket, so me thinks that’s why no one protested the obvious ‘fix’ very much. The NCAA system is so corrupt that one day it’ll get fixed by Congress or by the athletes themselves, who might finally decide to sit down at mid-court during the NCAA tournament and not play anymore. The ‘system’ doesn’t care about our athletes beginning with their college education and for example, continuing after the NFL, when so many ex-football players become ‘Broken Pros.’ Take a few minutes out and watch HBO and Bryant Gumbel’s ‘Real Sports’ segment about ‘Broken Pros.’

the last minute of Rutgers-St Johns game. A must watch

Bryant Gumbel Real Sports “Broken Pros” video

What are metaphors for?  A swimming hole has me almost drowning in a pond of cerebral input. Thrashing the murky water, I call out, “Help me, I’m melting.” I don’t want to get old. It’s a bad place to be with the likes of Congressman Paul Ryan wanting to pasteurize my generation and future ones by throwing us out to pasture without entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. Now hear this. A battleship just landed in the pond. A sailor threw me a preserver, imprinted with “S.S. Rational Independent Thinker.” No Virginia, there might be a Santa Claus and at this later stage of life’s cycle, I still don’t profess any political party affiliation.

Congressman Paul Ryan

So if I’m picking on Paul Ryan, it’s because I like Ike and Kennedy and preservation causes and don’t like to see human potential abandoned to save budget dollars. So here it is folks. Me thinks there’s a water world of only young people under thirty surviving in a Paul Ryan-esque world.

So the congressman wants to fix Medicare. Does he know that some polls say up to 72% of Americans do not want to fix Medicare and he may be damning his party to a rocky road ice cream cone in 2012?(and that other Wisconsin elected dude who took away bargaining power). And I don’t think Mr. Trump will be running for anything. Jerry Seinfeld probably agrees with me after pulling out of attending Trump’s son’s charity fund raiser in Florida. So Ryan wants to give seniors a $15,000 Medicare voucher and once that’s gone, duh? On a recent ‘Bill Maher Real Time,’ Bill asked Michael Steele, former head of the Republican Party, what would happen to a human senior when Ryan’s Medicare program voucher money runs out, to which Mr. Steele said, “We don’t know.” Ah, to be a senior citizen in a new world order.

In past blogs, I’ve discussed movies which scare me, like “On the Beach” or “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” Michael Sarrazin, one of the amazing stars just passed. That movie is eerily close to this Medicare blog segment. Hint. Now, the movie ‘Logan’s Run’ from 1976 is another scary crystal ball. Imagine a world when you turn thirty (21 in the novel), a palm crystal lights up, and it’s time to report to ‘Sleepshop’ where you are willingly executed. No one over thirty is alive. Nine years ago, I went to a niece’s 21st birthday party in Greenwich Village at Bowlmor Lanes. First ball thrown, I knocked down two pins, and then decided to grab my son and brother-in-law and explore the Village on foot. Wishing upon the first star I saw high above the rows of pricey brownstones, why couldn’t it be 1962, with sounds of early Bob Dylan echoing from nearby clubs. Six blocks from the sounds of pins hitting bowling balls, I observed to my sixteen year old son, there is no one walking around the Village that’s over thirty. My hand was glowing and stomach ached because I was in the world of Logan’s Run; because I was way over thirty and still alive. I took six shots and I was still alive. And I’m still alive now contemplating ‘Ryan’s Run,’ my new story of shortened life in the alabaster future.

There are over five million Alzheimer’s patients now with up to 20 million expected in several decades. Hey Ryan, that’s a lot of resources, funding and cut budget dollars to get ready for. Recently, they’ve simplified new guidelines that establish three distinct stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Pre-clinical dementia is more of a scientific description. There’s some biological or structural brain evidence that the Alzheimer’s process is under way, but the person’s not disabled and the family doesn’t notice any problem.  The second stage is mild cognitive impairment; someone has problems that don’t cause disability, but they’re evident enough that the patient and a family member really notice. Mild cognitive impairment progresses to dementia. The thrust here is to alert people that we need to diagnose the disease earlier. ‘Ryan’s Run’ is a futuristic (and contemporary) view that “Life is for the living, not the aging or infirmed” and “Let’s get them in for a few decades and then get them out; after all, we’re running out of money, water, energy and food.” Rummaging in my basement, I found a pair of old gloves, perfect for covering up my glowing palm, alerting Ryan’s gang that I’m too old to be a valuable contributor to society. More signs of the establishment not caring for human beings while I realized that nature here on earth has been making things right for 4 billion years and only 165,000 years for us sapiens:  It’s always money, ay Ryan? Here in Jersey, I recently read about a 61 year old man who is desperately worried about the care of his 35 year old autistic son when they are too old to take care of him or when they’re gone. The son is one of 4900 priority (because parents are older than 55) cases for housing and services in Jersey on an overall 8000 person waiting list (229 people got removed from the list this fiscal year). Of course the culprit is budget cuts. In addition to the people with developmental disabilities, there are 12,000 homeless people here in Jersey; 20,000 human beings in dire need in the Garden of Eden State.

Back in 1970, the first Earth Day, I was as old as my son is now and didn’t know what to do first; we had so many problems back then. In 1970, it was a great to be alive and involved; the environment, a war raging far away and its peace movement, civil rights unrest here in America. Interrupting my son this morning while he was playing a war themed video game, I regurgitated youthful memories of that Earth Day and realized that nothing has changed except exacerbation; a few wars now raging, terrorism, a rapidly deteriorating environment and civil rights issues still alive and well. With the institution of neighborhood schools growing, we have re-segregation all over. Nearly sixty-four percent of all new movies released have no speaking parts for women, only glimpses of their skin exposed. Environmentally, I won’t over do it now. The gulf oil spill was exactly a year ago: how we all forget. The media helps. Reading a newspaper (soon extinct?) the other day, there wasn’t one article about Japan and what’s happening now. I did read GM is making a car strictly for the China market and there are 19% more jobs (mostly techie) for college graduates.

one of the first Earth Day posters 1970

A brown gulf Pelican covered with BP's oil

Back to the gulf and good old BP. 49% of people last year supported offshore drilling. Now 69% want offshore drilling as gas will go to $6.00 a gallon by a mid summer nights dream. BP set aside $20 billion for gulf clean up. They’ve paid out $3.8 billion to date. Are strippers in New Orleans getting more payouts from BP than fishermen? And if you had a boat that was used in the cleanup and it got ruined by the oil, BP is not going to pay you. What really bothers is all the chemical dispersants they used; all that oil (200 million gallons) and jazz got broken up into infinite parts; it’s seeping into the cells of fish and animals affecting ability to reproduce. And 85% of oyster reefs were lost. And did I read that over 30 billion plastic bottles still get dumped into our landfills every year and it takes between 700 and 1000 years to decompose into nasty chemicals? Somewhere over the rainbow, a government will haul a company head into court and make him/her responsible for deaths incurred by negligence and send them to right to jail. Eleven people died when that rig exploded in the gulf.

For the last few years I’ve felt we’re in this race between technology and knowledge gifting us unlimited life extension versus the deterioration/habitability of earth’s environment. I heard futurist, astro-physicist, genius Dr. Michio Kaku say the same thing recently; that race is on. In the meantime as global climate changes, maybe some brave, caring souls ought to take in the sights before it’s too late. Here’s a list of places to see before. Wadden Sea in Denmark. Congo Basin in Congo; deforestation will take away half of the rain forest. Ganges Delta, India; parts of this delta will permanently flood.

Mississippi delta

Big Sur, California; fires and subsequent flooding also threaten the region’s fragile access roads and infrastructure. Mergui Islands, Mynamar; within 30 years, scientists fear Asia will lose 30% of its coral reefs. Mississippi River Delta; more severe storms.

NYC Battery

Yangtze River, China(this really scares me); China accounts for about a third of the world’s rice production. Roughly 500 million people depend on the river for fresh water. Due to the diminishing of the Tibetan glaciers, the flow of the once mighty Yangtze is dwindling. The Battery, New York City; according to the worse-case scenario, extreme events may occur every four years by 2080, with floods raising water levels by 11-14 feet and paralyzing the whole Manhattan infrastructure.

Tuvalu, Pacific Ocean

Tuvalu, Pacific Ocean; a country of only 10 square miles and 12,000 people and coupled with the expected rise in global sea levels, the entire nation could ultimately become submerged.

This has become a stressful blog. I didn’t mean it. Yes, I did. The good news for me as I wrap this up, an exercise bike and 90 budgeted riding minutes is in my future. Why good news you ask? Exercise may prevent stress on telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that are a measure of cell age and cellular health. Elizabeth Blackburn, from the University of California/San Francisco (UCSF), and colleagues report, that while psychological stress leads to shorter telomeres, exercise may prevent this damage. So get yourself a bike or take a walk in the sun and eat some raisins. A while back I met a neat man in his nineties; vital, funny, cerebral, mobile and not hostile but warm, endearing and enriching lives. I’m glad Ryan doesn’t get his hands on our seniors today. The old man’s aide’s cell phone rang; her daughter, an executive from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ country, called to say hello and so I thought, “What a small world after all.” The other night, I verbally went one on one with my NYU law school nephew on entitlements like Medicare. He didn’t care. He asked why I did; after all, I’m over 55 and not affected. And I said, “I came out of the sixties when we all grew up caring and it’s in my telomeres.” And he said, “what?” And I hugged him and jumped into my American car to head back to Jersey over the Verrazano Bridge with its $13.00 toll for passage over.

Contact info. website:   http://vichywater.net

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

E-mail:  earthood@gmail.com

Book Trailer:            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

Follow

Follow

Sometimes, being a weekly bloggist, I approach a self-imposed deadline by being clueless as to subject matter on the morning of the writing, like right now for example. Calmly, unperturbed with resolve and confidence, I open a yogurt, spoon a few mouthfuls and stare at my desktop wallpaper; the view from a ferry boat on a waterway deep in the heart of Alaska. Then suddenly last summer, the blog miraculously takes form and substance.  Confidence makes me feel as if I could personally make/sew a set of summer play clothes from the drapes of Roth for the seven precocious Von Trapp children. By the way, historically, there were ten Von Trapp children, not seven and Maria married the Captain eleven years before the Nazi takeover of Austria, not just before. The hopeless romantic that I am makes me believe Maria and the Captain fell in love.

The real Maria recounts loving the children and liking the Captain and said, “…so in a way I really married the children.” When the ‘Sound of Music’ opened in 1965, I took a bevy of first dates to see the movie; it was long with an intermission and I got inspired when the family escaped by climbing the Alps at the end. When I took my dates home, after a California burger (I was still eating meat back then) all was still well angel with the world as they rushed in the house and slammed the door. Only now do I realize that perhaps going to see an underground or artsy movie would’ve been more impressive than Julie Andrew’s Maria. Well, now I know what to do with this blog.

One of those first dates was with a girl, Penelope. I was enamored but she was having an affair with a married pediatrician so we just hung out for two years as friends at a ‘Central Perk’ called the Claremont Diner. Finally I moved on after she stood me up to meet ‘him’ but always wondered about her. Lately, I’ve been using the tools of social networking and Google to satiate curiosity. I found that her sister is geographically close by, but strangely, Penelope was not on her sister’s Facebook friends list. Forty years is a long time.

This scenario reminds me of the last scene in ‘Marjorie Morningstar’ with Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly. I wish I could dance like Noel Airman. I think I’ll just get on the bus and leave Noel Airman to fond memories and a Youtube New Year’s Eve song. Suggestion: if it rains on Sunday go to Blockbuster and rent ‘Marjorie Morningstar.’ Oh but, Blockbusters are all falling down.

For some reason, most of the aforementioned first dates lived down the Jersey shore during that turbulent summer of 1965.  And the Jersey Shore has nothing to do with the reality TV show and ‘Snooki’ who was paid to speak last week at Rutgers University (from student funds) and made national headlines because of the amount paid. I suppose being in the media capital fish bowl of the world thrusts Rutgers into the headlight beam for everything; I wish they’d illuminate North Dakota State University once in a while; after all, there’s an awful lot of oil in them there black hills. And North Dakota has the lowest unemployment and the fourth lowest foreclosure rate.

pix of Belmar NJ with my jetty just beyond the pier

As far back as I can remember, (Eisenhower was President) the Jersey shore has been part of my life. I probably was conceived at the old Buena Vista Hotel in Belmar. When I was ten, my parents rented a bungalow in Belmar during August. Some of the best memories were of wide sandy beaches, amusement pinball palaces and boardwalks at Asbury Park and Bradley Beach. The jetty at Shark River was where I learned to dream about the world and my place in it; the jetty was part of my spiritual journey as evidenced in the novel I wrote.  A dream surfaces every year about this time; to find that perfect ten bedroom summer rental with a backyard hammock a block from the beach. I haven’t fulfilled it yet, so I keep dreaming. But there are always day trips with hideouts and secret parking places near the beach.

Last night I went back to school at Rutgers University’s Douglas Campus Center to hear Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News’ chief health and medical editor, talk about “Preparedness, Pandemic and Political Change.’  The lecture was part of Eagleton Institute’s ‘It’s all Politics’ series. Somehow, being in a room with several hundred real students of American Government forces cerebral and toe blood flow which means I was alert and responsive. Dr. Besser was a magnetic speaker, recanting professional experiences at the CDC and afterwards. Bravely, at the question and answer segment, I got up, nervously tripped a bit while walking to the microphone and asked a question about the epidemic in a few decades where 50% of all Americans(not sports related) will be either pre-diabetic or diabetic. Dr Besser agreed and said “it’s a scary thought.” Being with so many Rutgers students and feeling I’m back home again (Thomas Wolfe) I told the assembled that when I was a student at Rutgers back in the mid-sixties, studying Pharmacology, and knowing that all four grandparents had diabetes and four guns were pointed at my forehead, I decided that I’d never be in the mood to get diabetes. So I have lived my life these four decades to prevent it, through exercise, supplements, diet and a fierce determination. The kids applauded me when I attributed my knowledge to a Rutgers education.

Now segue to Food Fight, diet and things which pass through the oral cavity. On Wednesday I read about several New Jersey women suing Campbell soups for labeling cans of tomato soup “low sodium” when they actually have the same sodium content as regular tomato soup, 480mg/serving. And of course the “low sodium” is more expensive. Salt is needed for canned goods (go read labels) increased shelf life. That’s why you keep ‘cans’ of food in your basement bomb shelter; long shelf life because they’re loaded with sodium.

One of my blog missions is to expose evil company pursuits of profit (and taste) over human lives. Remember Scrooge’s ‘decrease the surface population?’ I love when companies label candy (like licorice) as ‘no fat’ when it has enough sugar to wipe out your pancreas over time. Back to the salt mines. Most of us consume 3400mg of sodium a day (and 95% of it does NOT come from the home salt shaker) so therefore most comes from restaurants and supermarkets. We should be at 1500mg of sodium/day. Humans are a cheap renewable resource although some European countries birth rate is so low, in time they could disappear (scary isn’t it?) Let’s tip toe through restaurant company’s tulips. If you go to Ruby Tuesday and order Mediterranean Shrimp Pasta you do almost 4000mg of sodium (which is like 11 large orders of McDonalds fries) Next up: Applebee’s Weight Watchers Chipotle Lime Chicken is billed as a ‘Healthy Entree.’ It has 4990 mg of sodium (that’s the sodium equivalent of 31 servings of Ruffles potato chips) In the mood for Chinese food and P.F. Chang’s Double Pan-Fried Noodles with Pork? This will cost you 7990 mg of sodium (equivalent to 263 Triscuit crackers/ more than 4 boxes).Oh, Chang’s bowl of Hot and Sour soup will cost you 5000mg of sodium. Imagine having both in a row. Hypertensive heaven. You don’t send me flowers anymore.

More food fights. I love fruits and veggies. I eat no red meat. I love crunchy celery. Research showed that a single celery stalk had 13 pesticides, while, on the whole, celery contained as many as 67 pesticides. It has no protective skin. Peaches are laced with 67 different chemicals, placing it second on the list of most contaminated fruits and vegetables. They have soft fuzzy skin, easily susceptible, causing them to be sprayed more frequently. Grapes have thin skins (like some people trying to shutdown our government), allowing for easy absorption of pesticides. And think twice before buying imported wine. The grapes that go into the wine could be coming from vineyards that use too many pesticides. Where do you go and run and hide? Find a cabin at the foot of Mt. McKinley and call it ‘La Hermitage.’

Changing pace a bit, remembering I love white water rafting through streams of consciousness which means I just go with whatever is in my high chair tray like sweet green peas rolling side to side after pounding the tray for more Maypo. Who ate the 1953 cereal? Who remembers it? I want to be your friend. At the end of ‘Ghostbusters,’ Winston Zeddmore says about New York City, “I love this town!” I love anecdotes and antidotes. I recently read about a young woman, Ms.Cohen, an author and professional organizer, who lives in a 90 square foot apartment near Lincoln Center and Central Park. Talk about marveling over spatial economy, utilization of every inch, frugal living and paying just $700/month to live in a part of town where rents average $3,600 per month. I love this city.

I also had no idea (none of us did) how much hot dog vendors pay for the license to have a push cart around Central Park. Some lucky vendors pay the city $176,925/year for the right to hawk snacks and sodas at the northwest corner of East 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. The Parks Department rented out the pricey park property to about 40 pushcart vendors in and around Central Park last year, though the number of carts changes as contracts renew and expire, a Parks Department spokesman said. Should I say if I come back, I want to be a vendor around Central Perk Park?

I love when generals are in helicopters looking down on the battlefield to get a perspective. If Roman generals only had a helicopter brought in from back to the future, they would’ve conquered so much more. My friend Ruth from out west, with special powers, saw me as a Roman warrior before I was a Native-American, fishing and hunting in the virginal woods near the Jersey shore. Right now I’m high up, looking down in my own version of a helicopter (I’d never ever go in one). Mexico just had an earthquake. So did Japan again yesterday (7.1) A piece of space junk almost crashed into three astronauts working on the International space station. I’m glad the Arab League asked ‘the world community’ for the first time to help out in Libya but I wish we knew more about the rebels. I do come from the time when Fidel Castro was a supported rebel. Is it Libya’s large oil reserves which prompt intervention? Of course I wonder how we can ‘legally’ be involved in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq when the Constitution clearly states only Congress can wage war. Why isn’t more being done in the Ivory Coast now? I guess they have no oil reserves? Differences in political orientation are tied to differences in the structures of our brains, University College of London researchers have found. Individuals who call themselves liberal tend to have a larger anterior cortex, while those who call themselves conservative have a larger amygdala, the researchers say. This is consistent with reports showing a greater ability of liberals to cope with conflicting information and a greater ability of conservatives to recognize a threat. Funny thing, I don’t know what I am; maybe just an earthling caring about the earth more than tea, teacher’s tenure, topical anesthetics and tender meat. We don’t hear a heck of a lot about Japan these days. Toyota is going back to making cars for a two week period and then because of a shortage of parts, they’ll stop again. Traces of radiation are now in the milk and seaweed out on west coast. I’m attaching a map of all our nuclear plant locations. If you’re like me you’ve got a few nuke plants that are real close. However there are no nukes in good old North Dakota and only a few in earthquake prone California(smart).

Looking down at Earth from High. I’ve been in a funk these days of turmoil, disaster, revolt, change and governmental shutdown. Best way to describe; it’s a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky but everything is dull. I’ve been going to New York to meditate, riding the exercise bike voraciously, contemplating several busts of Homer, exploring recesses of the universal abscess and beseeching spirits to get me ‘there’ already. What’s it all about, Alfie? I’m High (up) in age and see things in a different light and color. All erratic molecules are coming back to the nucleus. I can see clearly now. Too bad you have to wait all those years to get High in age and understanding. Yesterday the Governor of New Jersey issued a proclamation making a five year old boy, the Governor for the day, thanks to a Youtube video. I think being this High(up in age) right now, maybe it’s time to find a cabin in North Dakota, leave the Garden State, kick off my shoes, dangle my toes in a cool pond, and think about the line from the movie ‘Network,’ “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Or better, perhaps a line from ‘Meatballs, “It just doesn’t matter.”  I like the ‘Meatballs’ line better. I think most of us do.

Contact Info:  website:  http://vichywater.net

Facebook: Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

Email:  earthood@gmail.com

Novel Book Trailer.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

Follow

Follow

For the second straight Monday, I hopped on my favorite train, NJ Transit Coastline, ‘ipodded’ my way back to the 60’s, discovered new smoke stacks and mysterious deposits of  driftwood by the Raritan bay outside my window. I’m trying to figure out how to get to the driftwood by car and perhaps open up a driftwood ‘artsy’ shop in South Amboy. When the train landed in Penn Station, I was purposefully the last to alight; I had an hour before my second meditation class at IMeditateNY( http://iMeditateNY.org ) on Fifth Avenue. I like that prestigious street address and like gathering in an oval floor formation in a large dimly lit room with 22 beautifully diverse people; most (not me) were sitting with legs crossed; blankets kept extremities warm. A small candle on a table below a picture of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar created a warm glow of wondrous anticipation. For twenty five minutes, I drifted like driftwood into a wonderful meditative state for the second week in a row; there’s something about Manhattan ambience and group inhalations and exhalations that facilitate depths of self realization. I love when my cerebral activity is empty, blank and desolate; all I did was concentrate on my chest going in and out while blood pressure precipitously dropped. I wonder if attempting to ‘drift’ when I’m home alone in central Jersey could be as fulfilling. And I’ve just had an epiphany. I need to get to Sweden to hike, explore and absorb every molecule that I can.

A few minutes ago I heard a ‘Subway’ commercial for a foot long sub sandwich, smothered in cheese and nitrated meat, when it hit me, that years ago, ‘Subway’ slithered into our sensibilities when ‘Jared Fogel’ lost all that dramatic weight by eating a super lean ‘Subway’ sub every day. I guess there’s more money to be made by hopping on the obesity subway train these days. If you do have to eat meat, take note: A new study shows that marinating meats in lemon juice — or vinegar — can help greatly reduce the production of harmful compounds linked to aging and chronic disease. All foods — but especially ones derived from animals — contain varying levels of compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These compounds are known to cause inflammation and may open the door to faster aging. Cooking — especially high-heat methods — increases formation of AGEs. New research suggests that marinating foods in an acidic, low-pH liquid — like lemon juice or vinegar — may help slow that formation down significantly. My last red meat meal was 1975. Try this to get off red meat: There’s scientific evidence that making a fist and squeezing may help boost your willpower. In a recent study, squeezing muscles at the moment of decision seemed to help people make healthier food choices. NSS.

Just in: John Travolta is set to play mobster John Gotti and I can’t wait to see it; brilliant casting.

all that cheese and meat

Last night I met a few Rutgers buddies for dinner (they had cheese steaks and I had a Greek salad, hold the olives) then to Livingston Campus Student Center for a lecture on civility (tolerance, understanding and living together without bullying). Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti gave an amazing articulate lecture on how much is involved with maintaining civility in college sports. For me, in the wake of the most horrendous example of un-civility in American college basketball history, two weeks ago, this was a meaningful lecture. To refresh memories (my conspiracy theory); two weeks ago, 3 referees and the head of the Big East conference might’ve decided that it was more important for Syracuse to play St Johns in the Big East tournament than Rutgers (not expected to beat St. Johns) so when Rutgers was poised to upset St. Johns, and the opportunity presented itself, the referees failed to make 7 flagrant no-calls near the end of the game (even walking off the court with time still left) disabling Rutgers upset victory.Video link is last minute of Rutgers-St.Johns game. Please watch.

the last minute of the Rutgers-St. Johns game. Please watch

the 4 'players' in all the no calls against Rutgers

I’ve been watching college basketball for 50 years and I’ve never seen anything so egregious and obvious; no plausible possibility of human error. I wonder if the above could’ve happened to UConn, Duke or Syracuse?  Two days later, at least one ref was back refereeing a Big Ten game. If it was seven bodacious ‘mistakes’ by all 3 refs, it should’ve resulted in their suspensions for a year.  But humans forget and move on and the refs, NCAA and the head of NCAA officials count on that. Besides there’s nobody watching/overseeing the NCAA. I can’t move on.

I was so disgusted with the NCAA and their “blessing” of the Rutgers-St. Johns game; I had to learn more. Grab on to your seats. It’s going to be a bumpy read. My premise/dream going forth: don’t we need congressional investigations (plural) of the NCAA or an overhaul of ‘amateur’ college sports. Too much money is involved. Is the media in bed with the NCAA? If so, the media would never participate in exposing their NCAA meal ticket.  Much of NCAA’s revenue comes from the basketball tournament and do mid-level NCAA executives earn over $400,000/year?(on the  books). NCAA officials usually refuse/decline to reply/comment or be interviewed. Is there a face to the NCAA?  Does the head of the Sugar Bowl earn over $600,000/year?  “Goodness gracious sakes alive,” John Wooden, one of the greatest coaches, used to say this as an expletive. The most he ever earned was $32,000 even with ten national championships.

John Wooden

I heard a commentator say the NCAA is like a plantation. College players (football and basketball) are encouraged to ‘stay eligible’ and just take courses. Are players just useful to play and make lots of money for the NCAA? On a positive note, Rutgers University ranked first in America in APR (academic progress rate) which tracks the academic progress of each student athlete. With all that money coming into the NCAA, do they ever try to develop kids before hand to pursue their education? Back in the 90’s, players were actually going to revolt during the NCAA tournament and just sit down at mid court and not play. Did they feel they’re only an object for the NCAA to make money and they get nothing but rules? I think the NCAA system is corrupt. The Rutgers-St Johns game taught me.

There are rumblings across the land. Eleven former college football and basketball players have joined the former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon in a class-action lawsuit that argues that NCAA should compensate former athletes for the use of their images and likenesses. The lawsuit argues that the NCAA, athletic conferences and member institutions violate federal antitrust laws by usurping the rights of former players to earn royalties when their likenesses and images are licensed by the NCAA for use in television advertisements, video games, apparel and other products. Amateurism rules prevent current college players from earning money from their names or likenesses, but lawyers for O’Bannon and the other plaintiffs have argued that those rules should not apply to former athletes. It’s all about NCAA’s money and power monopoly. The NCAA even makes the kids, when they first come to school to play, sign a release to use their likenesses on clothing, games, anything the NCAA wants(and the kids get  nothing forever). The term length of that contract is “forever and anywhere in the universe.” So a kid twenty years later can see his likeness in a video game and get nothing for it while the NCAA laughs all the way to the bank and their $425,000/year salaries. There’s something really wrong here.

By the way, the rule book the NCAA uses is about four inches thick and talks about amateurism and recruiting. What a crock. The whole athletic world knows about ‘money handshakes’ when alumni of ‘big’ football universities shake hands with high school recruits and slip $500 and say how much they want them to come to his school. The same guys shake hands with the enrolled student-athlete and slips $1000/quarterback sack if it’s a big rival game. What about all the ‘street agents’ floating around, promising to deliver star high school athletes to planned campus visits for lots of cash( that rich alumni come up with)?  The NCAA represents colleges. Who represents players? It seems to me all the NCAA rules are to increase profits. They only have 44 people involved in enforcement; a skeletal crew. There are 1281 institutions. Gosh would I love to see the hidden skeletons. Would I love to know one day an investigation found wrong doing in the Rutgers-St Johns game and justice was served?   Some years ago, in a social setting, a coach told me about a player who transferred down south because his mother was made principal in an elementary school near the campus and the father became ‘involved’ in a fast food franchise. NCAA scrutiny? No!  NCAA money making and going with the flow that allows invisible fat cats to make $425,000 a year with nobody looking down from anywhere. Where’s a good Congressperson or Senator when you need them? Now to segue away from this.

Segue.

As I write, the movie ‘Hoosiers’ is on. I’ve seen it enough; what powerful transporting and flawless movie making (the colorization and sets make you believe you’re back during Eisenhower’s administration). When I’m in mood to escape, ‘Hoosiers’ is a location. I like when a barbershop and luncheonette is in the middle of town, autumn leaves blow around  as a car passes and a lone kid shoots a basketball at the side of a barn.  In the early fifties, the world is bittersweet, innocent and impossible dreams can come true; a small high school of 74 students can win a state championship. Butler University plays in the Final Four on Saturday for a spot in the NCAA title game; coincidentally the last scene in ‘Hoosiers’ takes place at Butler field house. I just mentioned Eisenhower; he may’ve saved us all. In 1956, during the Hungarian freedom uprising against the Russians, he was advised to intervene and help the freedom fighters. If he did, there would’ve been a war with Russia.

Bittersweet and innocent is a bit of a theme of this blog; I long for the innocent days of barbershop quartets, milkmen (I hate running to inconvenience stores at midnight) and rabbit ears on black and white televisions. I don’t want to know there’s been a breach at Fukushima in Japan and we’ve got uncontrollable release of radiation into our environment.  Unit three is supposed to have this breach and it contains plutonium, the most toxic substance on this good earth. A millionth of a gram of plutonium ingested can cause cancer. I want to be back to when six men wearing Texaco hats ran to service my car while it’s filled up with 15 cent/ gallon gas. I can’t find a place for myself these last days; a piece of my cardiac muscular tissue must’ve drifted over to Japan. I can’t conceive; three meltdowns and hydrogen gas explosions. I love when ‘they’ say the west coast radiation levels bear watching. And what if? Is someone going to call ‘Ghostbusters?’ Where are 31 million Californians going? The ocean water radiation by Fukushima is 4300 times past minimum danger level. Did I hear they found radiation in west coast meat and milk?  I love denials of nuke plant dangers by executives of our nuclear plant companies. “It’s strictly business Sonny, It’s not personal.”  Here’s a list which nuclear power plants are located in the most dangerous physical locations, have the weakest relative operating conditions, and would affect the greatest number of people should an unforeseeable emergency occur? And we learned from Forest Gump. ‘Stuff happens.’

#1 Indian Point (24 miles from NYC) 17 million people within 50 miles and built on the Ramapo fault. #2 San Onofre. San Clemente, California(Nixon’s old home) 10 million people within 50 miles. #3 Limerick, Penna. (8 million people and not very safe) #4 Dresden, Illinois(8 million people and was there a leak there for the past 16 years that was ignored?) #5 Diablo Canyon, Calif.(only 1/2 million people within 50 miles) #6 Salem, South Jersey(6 million) “Hey Stella; I’ve got four nuke plants almost in my backyard.” “There’s still time brother.” I feel like ‘Waltzing Matilda” now. #7 Watts Bar, Tennessee( 1 million people)

More innocence: The Mid-eastern world is exploding, bullets loading; so much we’ll never know what goes on behind closed verticals and how power people puppet and marionette things near and dear. Back in innocent days, politicians campaigned from the back of trains. I was playing tennis last night and heard a sad droning train whistle which helped me drift away; the yellow ball whizzed by and I lost an innocent point. I wanted desperately to run off the court, grab a knap sack from my trunk and hop on that freight train going so fast and far away from today; maybe have my grandmother sing “Hobo’s Lullabye” while fanning me with a Newark Evening News newspaper because we were too poor to buy a real fan.

three mile island in the distance. March 30, 1979

Gosh I’ve jumped around. Plutonium. NCAA. Sometimes I wonder where all this ‘blogging’ energy comes from. I can tell you, that much of it is spiritual but too involved and complicated for right now. But part of my energy may be a report published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, that found that college students who had ADHD scored higher on tests measuring creativity than other students. Experts say ADHD symptoms like distraction may be a challenge in normal learning environments, but it may also leave students open to new ideas–a factor that is usually linked to creativity. I come from a time before ADHD was documented or studied. I never knew why I ran to the pantry, played with the dog and bit my cuticles instead of studying biology; perhaps the same reason I run back and forth now to see what’s happening on CNN with Japan and Libya as I grab a handful of whole grain snacks from a different pantry. Whether ADHD or not, some of this blog creativity is a passion, caring, humanity and having the good fortune to occasionally peek at the future (from a few sources). Now I’m waiting to inhale. “The future will be like the present…only longer.”

Contact info. website:   http://vichywater.net

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

E-mail:  earthood@gmail.com

Book Trailer:            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

Follow