Games are such an important part of our lives, we must have a game gene. we even start playing games within hours of being born; our fist game is called peek-a-boo. During the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, 28 different games were played. An additional 5 games will be included in the 2020 Summer games.
Each Olympic game is represented by an International governing body or Federation and the International Olympic Committee determines which games will be included in the events. For any game to be part of the Olympics, they must be widely practiced in at least 75 countries, spread over 4 continents.
All sports are considered games, but not all games are sport. The difference being sports have an athletic or physical element. While I watched the various Olympic events, I realized many of our favorite games include playing with a ball. There are probably more, but here are some I thought of:
baseball, soccer, basketball, football, golf, tennis, ping pong, catch, doge ball, jacks, bowling, jai alai, croquet, billiards, soft ball, la cross, cricket, field hockey, and water polo. One thing leads to another and I thought about how we use sticks to play: golf, fishing, baseball........ENOUGH ALREADY !!!!!
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
My Latest
My latest food fad is Mediterranean pita bread. I get the pita rolls from a restaurant that bakes there own. The round flat rolls are larger than a saucer, and have to be cut open for filling. They are so good I often eat them without cutting them open and stuffing them with left-overs.
My latest preferred TV commercials are the Lincoln ads with Matthew McCaughey telling his dogs they can't have barbeque for supper, and the Capitol One ad with Samuel L. Jackson.
My latest read is a book by Laura Bates, Shakespeare Saved My Life. Its a memoir reflecting the author's recollections of her experience teaching Shakespeare to prisoners in solitary confinement for a period of ten years. She describes how the prisoners lives were changed and how her life was affected thru working with prisoners.
The author completed her PhD at University of Chicago. Although her academic training was Shakespeare, she taught introductory level classes in English Literature to inmates in a maximum security prison in Chicago. Earning a reputation for her work with prisoners, the Indiana State University Correction Education program arranged for her to teach Shakespeare to prisoners in solitary confinement in the maximum security unit at Wabash Valley, Indiana. The 2 hour class was held one evening a week.
The prisoners, ages between 20 and 35, were locked in individual cells. The doors had waist high apertures for passing food and handcuffing. Voices could be heard, but their faces were only partially visible if they crouched down at the aperture. During the class, Laura sat alone on an improvised chair in the corridor, the prisoners in cells on each side of the corridor. The prisoners, considered the 'worst of the worst' had been in solitary for various lengths of time; one had been in solitary for ten years.
Amazingly, the prisoners were attentive and always polite as they shared opinions and carried on discussions about the emotions characters in the plays experienced, especially those in Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello. They told how they related to Shakespeare as the author and the various characters. They analyzed their own lives and even translated the plays into their street language.
My latest preferred TV commercials are the Lincoln ads with Matthew McCaughey telling his dogs they can't have barbeque for supper, and the Capitol One ad with Samuel L. Jackson.
My latest read is a book by Laura Bates, Shakespeare Saved My Life. Its a memoir reflecting the author's recollections of her experience teaching Shakespeare to prisoners in solitary confinement for a period of ten years. She describes how the prisoners lives were changed and how her life was affected thru working with prisoners.
The author completed her PhD at University of Chicago. Although her academic training was Shakespeare, she taught introductory level classes in English Literature to inmates in a maximum security prison in Chicago. Earning a reputation for her work with prisoners, the Indiana State University Correction Education program arranged for her to teach Shakespeare to prisoners in solitary confinement in the maximum security unit at Wabash Valley, Indiana. The 2 hour class was held one evening a week.
The prisoners, ages between 20 and 35, were locked in individual cells. The doors had waist high apertures for passing food and handcuffing. Voices could be heard, but their faces were only partially visible if they crouched down at the aperture. During the class, Laura sat alone on an improvised chair in the corridor, the prisoners in cells on each side of the corridor. The prisoners, considered the 'worst of the worst' had been in solitary for various lengths of time; one had been in solitary for ten years.
Amazingly, the prisoners were attentive and always polite as they shared opinions and carried on discussions about the emotions characters in the plays experienced, especially those in Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello. They told how they related to Shakespeare as the author and the various characters. They analyzed their own lives and even translated the plays into their street language.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Championships
I've been watching Olympic games. Only the worlds best athletes compete for Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. The games are very exciting to watch, and one has to admire the ability of the participants even when they lose. The contestants determination to win, plus rivalry between countries create nail biting moments in each sporting event.
There is another Olympiad where 'Mental Athletes' also compete for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Set up as a sporting event, the tournament consists of memorizing exercises in individual competitions. The top 8 contestants go on to the championship round.
The American Memory Championship was started in 1997 by Tony Dottino, president of Dottino Consulting Group after he met Tony Buzan, a British educator who started the first Memory Championship in London in 1991. There are now established championships in a dozen countries, including China, So Africa and Mexico.
There are two kinds of memory. Internal, the kind we are born with, and External, the memory stored outside our brains. Medieval scholars memorized sermons and plays; Roman Senators memorized speeches. After Gutenberg invented books, we supplanted our own natural memory with an elaborate external system of preserving everything we consider valuable such as literature, music, law, politics, science and math. It was no longer necessary to practice memorizing. Its more important to know where and how to find history stored in books, photos, museums, digital media, etc.
Memorizing has become a curiosity trick, but Championship tournaments are rescuing the ancient art of using mnemonics in memory exercises that anyone with an average memory ability can practice. There are many web sites on the net that teach and explain how to practice mnemonic techniques. Journalist Josh Foer in his book, "Moonlighting With Einstein" tells in some detail how to create a Memory Palace, an imagined space wherein strings with elaborate encoding are imprinted on one's memory simply by engaging one's spatial memory in the act of remembering. A string of numbers, a shopping list or a long poem are retrieved as visual images that had been arranged in the imagined space.
The 19th USA Championship was held May 7th, 2016 in Hershey Pa. There were 3 events.
There is another Olympiad where 'Mental Athletes' also compete for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Set up as a sporting event, the tournament consists of memorizing exercises in individual competitions. The top 8 contestants go on to the championship round.
The American Memory Championship was started in 1997 by Tony Dottino, president of Dottino Consulting Group after he met Tony Buzan, a British educator who started the first Memory Championship in London in 1991. There are now established championships in a dozen countries, including China, So Africa and Mexico.
There are two kinds of memory. Internal, the kind we are born with, and External, the memory stored outside our brains. Medieval scholars memorized sermons and plays; Roman Senators memorized speeches. After Gutenberg invented books, we supplanted our own natural memory with an elaborate external system of preserving everything we consider valuable such as literature, music, law, politics, science and math. It was no longer necessary to practice memorizing. Its more important to know where and how to find history stored in books, photos, museums, digital media, etc.
Memorizing has become a curiosity trick, but Championship tournaments are rescuing the ancient art of using mnemonics in memory exercises that anyone with an average memory ability can practice. There are many web sites on the net that teach and explain how to practice mnemonic techniques. Journalist Josh Foer in his book, "Moonlighting With Einstein" tells in some detail how to create a Memory Palace, an imagined space wherein strings with elaborate encoding are imprinted on one's memory simply by engaging one's spatial memory in the act of remembering. A string of numbers, a shopping list or a long poem are retrieved as visual images that had been arranged in the imagined space.
The 19th USA Championship was held May 7th, 2016 in Hershey Pa. There were 3 events.
- Spoken Words. Contestants had 15 minutes to memorize 200 words organized numerically in 5 columns, with 20 words per column on 2 pages. Starting with number 1, remember as many as possible consecutively. 15 seconds to answer.
- Three Strikes You're Out. contestants had 15 minutes to listen and review written facts about 6 different people, their names, date of birth, where they lived, their pet, favorite 3 hobbies, favorite car, favorite 3 foods. After retention period, 15 seconds to answer.
- Double Decks O'cards. Contestants had 5 minutes to memorize 2 decks of 52 playing cards, identical, previously arranged in the same exact order, but not mixed and with different colored backs. After the memorizing period, there was a 2 minute hiatus prior to recall, and 15 seconds to answer.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Dancing
Well! What do you know? I'm learning to samba. Well....not really...just the basic steps...so far. During the Olympics when the samba was introduced, I was amazed when the camera focused on a very young boy dancing the samba. His footwork was remarkable, and from time to time, the camera focused on him would breakaway and pan the stadium to highlight various dancers, many of them doing very fast advanced steps.
I thought physical agility was required to do the dance, but the body movements seem to flow naturally once you learn to bounce and move the hips as one's weight is shifted. The dance steps look complex, but its easy to learn the basic steps. I went to a web site teaching 'samba in 4 minutes'.
Samba music is very fast, and it takes practice to do the steps fast. Good samba dancers do the advanced steps and can twirl and strut without missing a beat. I have no illusions about my becoming a good samba dancer. I'll probably never get much further than the basics, but I'll have fun practicing. And, who knows, maybe if anyone reading this is interested, they too can learn to samba from a YouTube.
I thought physical agility was required to do the dance, but the body movements seem to flow naturally once you learn to bounce and move the hips as one's weight is shifted. The dance steps look complex, but its easy to learn the basic steps. I went to a web site teaching 'samba in 4 minutes'.
Samba music is very fast, and it takes practice to do the steps fast. Good samba dancers do the advanced steps and can twirl and strut without missing a beat. I have no illusions about my becoming a good samba dancer. I'll probably never get much further than the basics, but I'll have fun practicing. And, who knows, maybe if anyone reading this is interested, they too can learn to samba from a YouTube.
Sunday, August 07, 2016
Home Made
An acquaintance recently brought me a big pot of gumbo. My friend is from Louisiana where they make the world's best gumbo. When I suggested she could make some real money selling her gumbo to local catering services, she laughed and told me her Mother's gumbo is even better than hers. I encouraged to think about it seriously as a side line to her regular accounting work.
I told her about Mom's success at selling something home made. It had come about quite by accident. Mom had b baked a pie for someone. A day or so later, a woman, who had eaten a slice of the pie, came to Mom and asked her to bake one for her. The woman was giving a special dinner and wanted to serve a pie like the one she had eaten and would gladly pay for it. Mom agreed and the woman arranged to pick it up on her way home from work. The next day she phoned Mom and said how everyone raved about the pie and would Mom bake another. Within a couple of days, Mom was taking orders from several of the woman's friends.
Requests for different pies, apple, berry and cream pies began to keep Mom busy in the kitchen and Dad began to help her. It wasn't long before half the morning was used in baking pies. Mom was so pleased to know that people liked her baked pies, and, she liked having the extra spending money. The word spread and orders for Mom's fresh baked pies increased. The hours of baking started earlier and earlier each day and began stretching well into the afternoons.
It wasn't long before baked pies covered the kitchen counters, the dining table and some makeshift counter space, The baking of pies became labor intensive and I stepped in to help. At each days end, after all the pies had been picked up, Mom, Dad and I would heave a sigh of relief and complement each other on how well the day had gone. But, eventually, we began making off-hand remarks to each other that selling pies wasn't as much fun as it had been in the beginning. Mom began having second thoughts about running a pie business, and decided to close up shop, She stopped taking orders.
Before the pie business started, she and Dad had been talking about taking a trip with Aunt Bessie. After closing the pie business, they did take the trip. Mom, Dad and Aunt Bessie drove from California to Florida.
I told her about Mom's success at selling something home made. It had come about quite by accident. Mom had b baked a pie for someone. A day or so later, a woman, who had eaten a slice of the pie, came to Mom and asked her to bake one for her. The woman was giving a special dinner and wanted to serve a pie like the one she had eaten and would gladly pay for it. Mom agreed and the woman arranged to pick it up on her way home from work. The next day she phoned Mom and said how everyone raved about the pie and would Mom bake another. Within a couple of days, Mom was taking orders from several of the woman's friends.
Requests for different pies, apple, berry and cream pies began to keep Mom busy in the kitchen and Dad began to help her. It wasn't long before half the morning was used in baking pies. Mom was so pleased to know that people liked her baked pies, and, she liked having the extra spending money. The word spread and orders for Mom's fresh baked pies increased. The hours of baking started earlier and earlier each day and began stretching well into the afternoons.
It wasn't long before baked pies covered the kitchen counters, the dining table and some makeshift counter space, The baking of pies became labor intensive and I stepped in to help. At each days end, after all the pies had been picked up, Mom, Dad and I would heave a sigh of relief and complement each other on how well the day had gone. But, eventually, we began making off-hand remarks to each other that selling pies wasn't as much fun as it had been in the beginning. Mom began having second thoughts about running a pie business, and decided to close up shop, She stopped taking orders.
Before the pie business started, she and Dad had been talking about taking a trip with Aunt Bessie. After closing the pie business, they did take the trip. Mom, Dad and Aunt Bessie drove from California to Florida.
Thursday, August 04, 2016
Olympics
I'm looking forward to watching various athletic competitions in Rio, and I anticipate a spectacular opening of the games. The traditional torch lighting and the parade of contestants is always exciting. I find some of the sports more interesting than others. Synchronized diving, swimming races and diving contests are my favorites. I like curling, but it seems to take a back seat when more dominate sports take center stage.
Recently PBS showcased the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. As a child, the only thing I knew about the Olympics was that Jesse Owens won a gold medal which annoyed Hitler, who believed the superiority of Germans would excel. I learned from the PBS program the detailed history of agreements and plans for the games in Berlin, including the proposed agreement that Jews would be prevented from participating. Eventually, after threatening to cancel the games, Hitler allowed one, a German woman to be part of the German fencing team.
Hitler used the games politically to foster his ideology of German superiority. The stadium was the largest ever built for the games and the opening ceremonies more spectacular than those of previous games. Ever since the 1936 games, each host country has emulated Hitler by building bigger and better facilities, and presenting grander openings; each succeeding one more awesome than the last.
Recently PBS showcased the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. As a child, the only thing I knew about the Olympics was that Jesse Owens won a gold medal which annoyed Hitler, who believed the superiority of Germans would excel. I learned from the PBS program the detailed history of agreements and plans for the games in Berlin, including the proposed agreement that Jews would be prevented from participating. Eventually, after threatening to cancel the games, Hitler allowed one, a German woman to be part of the German fencing team.
Hitler used the games politically to foster his ideology of German superiority. The stadium was the largest ever built for the games and the opening ceremonies more spectacular than those of previous games. Ever since the 1936 games, each host country has emulated Hitler by building bigger and better facilities, and presenting grander openings; each succeeding one more awesome than the last.
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