"Ex-post Facto Tech Wokeness"

     https://anildash.com/2019/07/23/20-years-of-blogging-what-ive-learned/

     Having grown up with rotary phones, black and white television sets, and cars which didn't come with standard air-conditioning, you might think I was a Luddite if I went on a rant about technology. You would more than likely be wrong.

     I happily came of age before most of the worst by-products we now commonly associate with our over-dependence upon technology: obesity in our young children and suicide in people over the age of 65. Those in the middle are riddled with angst, anxiety, and a feeling of a lack of connectedness to our society at large.

     I am not anti-technology but I am pragmatic and can see for myself how we need to spend more time talking to each other and less time allowing technology  like email, text messaging, and social media to act as surrogates in the management of our lives.

     Take a moment now and turn off your phone, laptop, gaming console, and TV. Go outside and listen to the sounds on your street. Take notice of the weather and the people in the area. This is how people have  lived for thousands of years, without ear buds, smart phones tethered to their wrists, and the feeling of missing out if they weren't connected somehow via the Internet. I bet it feels pretty good, and reminds you just a little that we are all in this thing called "Life" together.

   

Men On The Moon 50 Years Later

     Fifty years ago two men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, were on the moon. We all watched on TVs which were tiny by today's standards and were by in large black and white models. Color would truly captivate the consumer market beginning in the 1970s, with sizes which were still tiny in comparison to the big screens which took over the market in the 21st century.

     If one didn't have a color TV to view the moon walk and the pictures they brought back, you have only hazy grey recollections like mine. Even now I remember the hours we spent in front of the TV following the feats of these astronauts without color. Later when the pictures appeared in the color magazines of the day, like Life, could  I truly appreciate the enormity of what had been accomplished. Thousands of women and men had collaborated to send men to the Moon and return them safely to Earth. Just saying it now still seems amazing to me.

Ridgewood Barons

     I believe it was the summer of 1973 when Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four, and former big league baseball player with the NY Yankees pitched on the diamond at Veteran's Field in Ridgewood. He died yesterday at the age of 80.

     In those days, before the proliferation of travel teams for eight-year olds in every conceivable sport, there were summer baseball games played by adults. These ball players fit into one of three categories: those who either aspired to play in college, the professional minor leagues, or just for the love of the game. They literally payed a nominal sum to play in these leagues. Most towns had teams and as a promotional stunt they invited Ridgewood resident Jim Bouton to pitch for them. He drew a small crowd and I was lucky to find a spot in the bleachers to watch his iconic windup and pitch which always included his hat falling off his head.

     He ends his book with these words which I find to be spot on:

“You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball,” he wrote, “and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”

Women's Soccer

     Soccer only started coming into its own in these United States when I was in grade school, and this was only for boys. Glad to see some long overdue parity has entered our lives with the US Women's team taking the latest World Cup in London. They did it with excellent play and a dash of style. The team's tea drinking mime after scoring a goal and Megan Rapinoe's iconic salute to the crowd showed that these ladies were performers as well as athletes. Now they deserve the same pay as men, as they have the ratings and all the flair anyone could ask for or any group of men could provide.

July 4th 1939

Most people have seen the Gary Cooper film, Pride Of The Yankees. It was completed shortly after Lou Gehrig passed away in 1941 from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease (MND) and now mostly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. This photo from 1939 captures the moment better than any film and can't help but make you pause to wonder. The original recording of his speak is mostly lost due to the technology available at the time. What remains are the opener — “For the past two weeks, you’ve been reading about a bad break” — leads into the “luckiest man” declaration. How on earth he could call himself lucky has always baffled people who did not know him. They look at the facts that he had no pension, not much money and massive health care costs. This was long before people sold their souls for a little cash. I can only surmise that he called himself "lucky" because he had a wife who loved him, friends who supported him, and a treasure trove of memories which no disease could take from him. That ought to be enough when you know you are going to die soon, right?