Isn't this cool with images from the sky?

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

You can see this chess board from the sky in Google.

I had not realized that Picasa for Mac had been released. It is still in beta. But, Picasa is much better than iPhoto, IMHO. But, now my Mac is broken.

Ammon Rec Center in The Hill District, re-opens after $600,000 spruce up

A for Ammon! P-G coverage.


They had a party, rally, ribbon-cutting of sorts with sporting superstars and politicians this week up in The Hill District, home of Ammon Rec Center.



They painted the place, put in a new floor, got weight equipment (so I understand). It does look good.

The "A" on the old floor, shown above, is used as a graphic on my wiki, "A for Athlete." The new "A" is blue -- and it had a carpet and podium covering part of it -- so I can't make a simple contrast.

The line up of superstars was long. The men and women were all great athletes -- and still are in the case of #45, D. Blair. However, they all have had a rich life in terms of being helpful to others in recreational and sports leadership. Many are teachers and coaches. All had wild stories.

The program was long. The sound was bad. But, here it is from my camera.



Of interest was the women speaker who said that sports are a way to get a college scholarship and a means to an end. She stressed over and over, "Earn your degree." (at :51.37) Next to speak was All American hooper, #45, Pitt sophomore, D. Blair. He is pulling out of college early, without his degree, to play in the NBA. Was there an exception to her rule and mantra?

Deep into the program, after about a 30-minute introduction, hear from Pitt's coach, Jamie Dixon. My gosh, that was the longest intro ever.

At the end, #45 speaks too.

I hope that Citiparks got good photos of the clebs and had a better sound source for the podium. It might run on cable TV too. That would be nice.

We love the Ozanam Program.

From Public Art

From Public Art

One of the big new attractions of the fix-up is yet to hit home, pun intended. The baseball field is getting a make over too. The Josh Gibson Foundation helped pay for the re-investment.

The swim pool is a gem as well. It is a 50-meter tank, and only the 2nd in the city. I swam there a few times last summer. More programs there, with my help, are very possible. Time will tell.

From Public Art

Speaking of multi-sport and basketball, check out this playground in Amsterdam. The basketball hoop is built upon the framework of soccer goals. To be sure, those are not regulation soccer goals, but rather team handball goals. Clever.

In China, we saw lots of kids with basketballs and lots of courts. Notice the kids on the bike have a basketball in a bike basket. (Click for a larger image.)

From china - bike

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

Courts outside of a university campus. Wonder where the kids at Pitt and CMU and DU go to play basketball? Are there any playgrounds for them to hoop in the open air? Or, is their only option a trip to the food court and ride the merry-go-round?

Our city playground nearest to my home looks like this:

From playground - usa

The problem is routine maintence. They need to spend $600,000 on a total face lift as the facilities are left to weather year after year.

The Ammon situation is a bit different. That rec center was closed by Tom Murphy, when he was mayor. They all closed for some period. Then Ammond would be turned over to a next-door church to operate for a number of years. But, the church is more into saving souls and less into saving sports facilities -- so the facility was given back to the city. Hence, the re-opening and urgent needs to fix up.

I love this image from Beijing 2008 and Adidas. It shows the sports hero, a women basketball player, running in for a lay-up and the people of China are there for support -- holding her up higher and being the support for the hoop as well.

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

IOC opposes moves to restrict news coverage - More Sports - SI.com

In the title bar to this blog, I call myself a "non-credentialed Olympic photographer." This is an important issue then.

IOC opposes moves to restrict news coverage - More Sports - SI.com: "The International Olympic Committee is concerned that moves to restrict media coverage of sports events will erode free speech, former IOC vice president Kevan Gosper told an Australian Senate hearing Wednesday.

Hey, Australian Cricket dorks, take that bat and put it where the sun doesn't shine -- and upload the photos.

From china - bike

"So preposterous!" Lehe: Couch law cramps 'Burgh living

From china - foods

In China, two women sit on a porch couch like this.

The Pitt News - Lehe: Couch law cramps 'Burgh living Behold City Council’s recent commandment: It is now illegal to put a couch on your front porch in Pittsburgh.

The law sounds ominously like the climax of an unlikely slippery slope argument. Imagine: You’re talking to some right-wing militia nutjob about building codes. “Some basic safety ordinances are called for,” you say. And nutjob says, in a fit of paranoia, “Building codes are fine. But before long, they’ll make it illegal to put a damn couch on your own front porch!” You throw up your hands in disgust because the idea is so preposterous.

Understand that Mr. Kraus, on city council, could be called "Mr. Preposterous."

That's a college word, preposterous.

Latin praeposterus, literally, in the wrong order, from prae- + posterus hinder, following — more at posterior

The posterior part is best left for another day or another blog.

And, source 2:

Contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; absurd. See Synonyms at foolish.

More from The Pitt News:

The newspaper coverage and the City Council members themselves make it clear that the ban is to prevent couch burning... I came to a surprising conclusion: You can burn a couch that isn’t on your porch. Clearly, a porch couch can be stolen and burned by someone besides the owner, but I would submit that the City Council instead take the radical step of making theft illegal.

For every infringement on people’s liberty, the extent of imposition has to be weighed against the severity and commonness of the problem the infringement tries to pre-empt... The couch-burning problem is not serious. It rarely happens. Only a dozen or so of the many thousands of couches that sit on Pittsburgh’s porches year round are set afire. Obviously couch burning should be illegal, but the act is not especially damaging either. The porch couch ban is equivalent to putting stop signs at every single intersection in Pittsburgh, because statistically over one year the stop signs might save a life.

OMG. Only a knucklehead would take the city councilman's logic to its next step by suggesting the city put stop signs at every intersection in the city to prevent car crashes. Bruce Kraus has his marching orders now. The volumes of research will be waved in council chambers in the weeks to come -- and we'll have someone to blame beyond the over-reaching legislative folly wizard.

The Kraus viewpoint is disconnected from reality.

Oakland is not burning. All of the damage happened in one night, not all week long. The damage done by couch burning is also negligible compared with the overturned cars, bus stop collapses and bonfires that people set with trash cans and wooden debris, not couches. It is downright amazing what people can burn when they put their minds to it. That’s Yankee ingenuity in action.

Kraus also makes a non sequitur: “One idiot decides to place an accelerant on the wood of that porch, and that whole row of houses could go up.” This is to say that, if someone covers a porch in gasoline and lights up a couch that’s on the porch, then the porch will catch on fire.

Supporters talk about other reasons, such as rodents and insects that infest couches. This is a classic case of a solution in search of a problem. It’s like people who argue for lower speed limits because driving your car fast hurts its gas mileage, which causes global warming and terrorism and supports governments hostile to women’s rights.

No one believes Pittsburgh suffers from serious rodent problems, or that any such problems are due to porch couches. No one was biting their nails over rat problems before the Super Bowl. Besides, the consequences of vermin infestation fall mainly on those who possess the couches.

Show me the upstanding Pittsburghers who shake their fists at fate and cry: “I did everything right! I keep a clean household! But my neighbor has a couch on his porch that rats use as a springboard for swarm attacks on my home.”

Those who say porch couches are a fire hazard forget that this is only true to the extent that couches in general are fire hazards. The danger doesn’t go away inside the house. A couch actually seems more dangerous inside, where it is dry, can burn a long time with no one noticing, and sits among carpets and other fire-prone upholstered furniture. Is a ban on all couches next? This is a silly, slippery slope. Yet, if you had told the average person five months ago about a porch-couch ban to stop rioting, she would have thought you silly then as well.

The important thing about these complaints — couch theft, couch burning, rodent infestations, fires — is that they are already illegal. More people calling the police, and better police response, would solve these problems surgically.

Well written Lewis.

From texture - misc.

Some things just bug me more than others.

Instant Message to Marty Griffin

The Fed dollars that pays for the tunnel under the Allegheny River for light-rail to the stadiums is still OUR MONEY. It comes from the pocket, wallet or purse -- local, state or feds -- but it is still, all of it, OUR MONEY.

Don't build the tunnel because as a FEDERAL taxpayer, it is a waste of money.

Better things can be done with government money.

To win the 'shut it down fight' -- you'll need to get NATIONAL advocates to help. Those in Iowa, Alaska, Calif, Florida, etc., need to help put a fork in it for the benefit of the locals because the local politicians are too drunk to refuse PORK, even worthless PORK.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Obama speech censored in China

Interesting. Read the full article.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Obama speech censored in China 'To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history,' the president said.

Once again, Xinhua included the passage in full in its English version, but the sentence was taken out of the Chinese translation.

Similar changes were made to versions of the speech that appeared on other websites based in China.

And websites were not the only media organisations that struggled to report some of the comments made by President Obama.

China Central Television, the country's main broadcaster, aired the speech live with a simultaneous Chinese translation.

But when the translator got to the part where President Obama talked about facing down communism, her voice suddenly faded away.

The programme suddenly cut back to the studio, where an off-guard presenter had to quickly ask a guest a question.

Censoring sensitive news reports is nothing new in China, where officials go to great lengths to cut critical material.

Day at Ft. Lauderdale

I put a few photos to Flickr from our day in Ft. Lauderdale with Aunt Debbie.



We started the day with a morning workout, on our own, in the ISHOF pool. The swim pool, 50-meters, is owned by the city. So, it is a public pool. But, it is home to a world-class swim and dive program. We paid $10 to enter. The pool complex was set up with 50-meter course, the other 50-meter pool was with warmer water and set up with 25-yard lanes. A dive pool, 25-yards, and a covered swim-lesson pool is part of the mix too. The team, FLA, had practice at 4 pm, but we'd not be done with the days activities to join them. And, Erik is in a mini-taper of sorts. His school championship meet is Wed -- and we were visited on Monday, MLK Day.

Christmas Gift for all Running Mates Blog Readers and Twitter Followers

I wanted to purchase a Christmas gift for all the faithful readers of the blog and the 300 or so who follow on Twitter. But, I was torn at what to get for all of you. And, I'm on a budget. (My W2 for 2008 is going to have $0 income.) Plus, we've got this nagging problem with the global economic meltdown coupled with the news industry/journalism/newspaper meltdown. So, I need to be prudent. Finally, with our amazing trip to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, I felt it would be exciting to bring you back a gift from the Olympics. We did bring back more than 200 gifts for our family and closest neighbors and friends. But, sadly, until now, we didn't have the capacity to share a gift for all the readers and Running Mates.

The other day my wife and I were chatting about the arriving Christmas cards and letters. Then it struck me. She and I were both tickled by Steven's note. Steven is a chef. He wrote that he had been doing some cooking at home to ready his family for the holidays -- while crafting his letter. Cookies were coming out of the oven and rather than sending everyone a dozen cookies, he sent those on his Christmas list the recepit for his cookies. Bam! Within the letter we had the formula for Steven's Christmas Cookies, a wonderful treat.

Perhaps we'll test and then re-gift Steven's gift in the future -- but now on to your gift.

It's a hat.

It comes from Beijing. No instructions necessary. Great when the sun is high and the heat is around 30-degrees C. Works with all different newsprint, regardless of the language -- sorta multi-lingual. Easy to export and import and does NOT require a hologram insignia of a branded logo.

This is the official gift hat of this blog, Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates, given on 2008's Boxing Day -- a day when all 20 of the teams in the Premier League are in action.

The hat is not so good for the next Steelers games. But, other local blogs have that covered. You might find this a splendid hat for watching the next test match of the West Indies Cricket Team now playing in the southern hemisphere.

Enjoy.

Year in Photos. Help with a caption.

From A for Athlete

That one got by. And, she's not so happy about it.

For last minute shoppers feeling like they're up against a climbing wall.

When last minute Christmas shopping is getting you down, you might want to get a pick-me up here, in the middle of this mall. It is a climbing wall with modern tubes and lots of colored lights.

Next to the climbing wall is a half-court basketball area.



Interesting how sports are in the mix within a major retail setting.

Pull up a seat and let's watch the guys splash around the pool

Recap of our trip to Southern California

In early December, my wife had an invite to speak to a group of professionals in Southern California. The whole family went. The event and the resort (hardly a hotel) was in Newport Beach.

We arrived on Wednesday and went to the home of our host. He lives in the hills above Hollywood.

On Thursday, Grant's birthday, we started with a swim in the hotel swim pool and workout in the fitness center. Then, according to Grant's wish, we went golfing. Grant got turned onto the game recently. Oh well.

From Grantman

Thursday night, we took the boys to Long Beach and the Belmont Shore Olympic Pool, right on the beach. They joined in with Beach Swim Club for a workout. They did drylands right on the beach and some running. Then the swimming was in a six lane outdoor pool right next to this indoor, 50-meter pool.

From Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events

From people & vips

Friday, we went to Golden West Swim Club in Huntington Beach at Golden West College. GW is a Jr. College that has a great water polo team. Plus, the coach is a long time favorite inovator, Bob Gillette. Coach Gillette had been in Arizona with his own AZ Sports Ranch, but moved to Southern California a couple of years ago -- to retire. Giggle.

I have some video of Bob from that practice that makes a great lesson on swim meet warm-ups. The team was doing an easy practice as they had a swim meet set-up going on around them for the meet the next morning.

From Grantman

On Saturday morning, we got up and hit the 13-14 Blue practice with Mission Viejo and Coach A'dam.

MVN - Coaches: "Coach Ad'm Dusenbury

The workout was over the top for Grant, but a great match for Erik. The younger MVN kids were at a swim meet.

Warmup was an 800 and then 12 x 100 kicks.

The main set was 16 x 200s on
4 min each.

3 x 200 fly + 200 IM
3 x 200 back + 200 IM
3 x 200
breast + 200 IM
3 x 200 free + 200 IM

The final set was a swim with paddles, 8 x 100s, working on technique.

Erik, Ad'm and Grant at the end of practice. From family - travels

We hit some golf balls into the net on Saturday afternoon and then headed to play on the water in Newport Bay on some kayaks. Grant did a bit of open water swimming. Then we watched USC beat up on UCLA in football on TV. That game was in the Rose Bowl. We toyed with the idea of going to the game, but it would have been too much.

All the swim folks were wonderful. Each club and situation is different. We were honored to participate in the practice and visit. We also got to visit with Karen, owner, of CAS. She has always been a great source of not only equipment, but skinny on the local swim scene.

On Sunday, we flew back to Pittsburgh, via the Twin Cities on MN, and its 4-degree temp. We arrived in town and went straight to the Pittsburgh Music Academy for the first rehersal of an orchestra that will hold a concert for Pittsburgh's 250 in the spring.

Videos to come later.


By the way, Catherine, as expected, was a hit at the event / professional meeting. She gave a keynote and provided a bit of buzz to the meeting. She talked about how to make a good evaluation of published research so as to help clinicians be more insightful consumers of published research / news thereby helping the patients.

Public Art - not very Rustbelt-ish. More to come on Dec. 11

The Rustbelt Bloggers are slated to unleash a number of discussions on public art on Dec 11. You still have time to join us in this shared project about shared works of art.

Amazing: Thai Protests Strand Thousands of Tourists

From thai mix

ABC News: Thai Protests Strand Thousands of Tourists: "Thai Protests Strand Thousands of Tourists
Grounded Tourists Were Left to Sleep on Airport Floors While Demonstrators Held a Rally Outside"

Wonderful read. Check it out.

Democracy is not always a contact sport in Thailand.

From Thai boxing at Lumpinee

Panda attacks man in Chinese zoo

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Panda attacks man in Chinese zoo A man has been attacked by a panda at a park in southern China, after he climbed into its enclosure hoping to cuddle the creature.
The 20-year-old student had ignored warning signs and scaled a two-metre (6.5ft) barrier to get into the pen.
State media say the panda bit him on his arms and legs, and he had to be rescued by the animal's keepers.
Speaking from his hospital bed, the injured man said the panda had looked so cute he had just wanted to hug it.
The incident happened on Friday at Qixing Park in Guilin, a popular tourist attraction in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which houses a small zoo and panda exhibit.

If you want to hug a cute panda, buy one of these stuffed animals.

From china - bike - more

RMU Trips Abroad for 2009

Want to go on vacation and study with RMU in May and June of 2009. Check out this line-up of trips.

See the link under the heading, "Insights" here.

August photos are still being found

Erik, Mark, Catherine, Grant in foreground. In the background is the Olympic Softball Stadium in Beijing and the teams from Japan and Australia are shaking hands after the game. Australia picked up the bronze medal and Japan won in extra innings. Japan then played the USA for the gold and silver medals.

Said this before: Japan is upset that Obama won the election.

Four cities bidding for 2016 Olympics get to make their case - More Sports - SI.com: "It's also the first bid presentations since the election of former Illinois senator Barack Obama as U.S. president, a potential major boost to the bid from his hometown of Chicago.

A video message from Obama, taped since his election victory, is expected to be included in Chicago's 20-minute delivery.

'There's heightened interest and excitement in the presentations,' Hickey said. 'People are wondering if the Chicago presentation will include something from President-elect Obama. It's an added dimension.'

But, Tokyo has its own secret weapon. The Prime Minister of Japan is an Olympian. He was a shooter in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

So, I guess Madrid, Spain, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, must be the ones that are the most mad -- since Obama won the election.

Obama goes into office in Jan 2009, he should still be in the White House and seeking re-election in time for the London 2012 Olympics. If he serves eight years, he'll be in the White House as the 2016 Summer Olympics are staged in his home town of Chicago.

Outfield of women's softball at Beijing Olympics had the Olympic rings. The team with the yellow and green is Australia. They lost to Japan and then got 3rd place -- in extra innings. Softball is due to get the Olympic ax -- as in baseball. Perhaps with the Chicago bid -- we'd get to see softball played at the home of the White Sox -- or the Cubs.

Winter Sports get underway

Mid November -- the start of the winter season for high school athletes. Coaches are getting ready to make cuts. Players are gearing up for their first competitions.

(click for larger view.)

Love the Adidas advertisement / illustration. This poster was part of the ad campaign used in China for the Olympics. Notice the player is walking with the help of thousands of people in support. She is wearing the red and yellow of China. The people are in black-and-white. Such a sea of humanity doing everything from holding the basketball hoop to giving lift to the player's feet over their heads.

This is a sports twist to the theme of, "It takes a village."

Shadowing

Nice photo of The Water Cube in Beijing.

We've got four days of shadowing -- starting today. Grant, 5th grader, is visiting a middle school, Frick, today.

Frick is the same school his brother, Erik, has attended for the past three years. But, Frick is changing next year. Frick moves out of Oakland and into a Reizenstein -- and it becomes a school with grades that span from 6th to 12th grades. Frick is a good school and we're sad to have it change in such a drastic way.

He'll also visit Rodgers, the creative and performing arts middle school on Nov 21. Rodgers isn't going to be where it is today next year either. Rodgers moves downtown and it gets merged into the CAPA High School -- making another 6th to 12th grade school. Grant's first natural talent, violin, won't be put on display there. Rather, he'll go for his other talent -- creative writing.

The present 6th grade creative writing group of students at Rodgers is without any boys. There are 11 slots for next year.

Meanwhile, Erik has a choice to make for schools for next year too. He'll visit Allderdice tomorrow, Nov. 13. Then on Monday, Nov 17, Erik goes to the I.B. High -- Reisenstein -- and tags along with a guy in 10th grade. The present 9th graders are in the basement of Frick Middle School. Next year they'll have a new flux of students at Reizenstein.