November 17th, 2009
Suicides in the US Army POSTED AT 11:20 PM I love our soldiers. I send a care package to one of our soldiers every month. I want them to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as their missions are complete. Suicides in the Army are a problem. But what troubles me is that the media covers Army suicides with no sense of context. CNN correctly reports that this year marked the highest number of army suicides. I don't dispute the numbers. But what needs to be said is that 140 active-duty soldiers killed themselves so far this year, out of ~1,100,000 soldiers in the US Army. 140 soldiers committed suicide last year. That is 0.01%. In 2006, 33,300 Americans committed suicide. That's out of around 285,000,000. So that comes out to 0.01%. Assuming the rate of suicides in the US Army continues for the remainder of this year, there will be around 165 suicides this year. That's 0.015%. Given the estimated numbers being used here, that difference is not statistically significant. The US Army is smaller than it was during the Cold War, so the fact that 2009 marks the highest number of Army suicides is of concern. But the increase in suicide rates is not limited to the Army. The national suicide rate has been on the rise in recent years, and some evidence suggests that the worldwide rate is on the rise as well. I don't discount the reality that this two-front war is heavily stressing our soldiers. It cannot be easy to serve in a combat theatre for long stretches away from families and friends. But nowhere does the CNN articles put the rise in Army suicides in context. Being a soldier, particularly in wartime, cannot be easy, physically or mentally. But Army suicides, while record-setting, are actually in line with civilian suicide figures. Add a Comment
|
|
November 16th, 2009
Avatar POSTED AT 10:49 PM in Movies Much has been made of James Cameron's upcoming film Avatar. Waay too much. After seeing the trailer, some 'sneak peeks' and other interviews, I have surmised this much about the plot: A young warrior seeking to prove himself is transformed to take on the appearance of his enemy. Finding himself in an unfamiliar viewpoint, he comes to understand his once-enemy's viewpoint, even falling in love. He then seeks to right the wrongs he has wrought, even if it means turning against those he once counted as brothers. That's right ladies and gentlemen, James Cameron cribbed the plot for Avatar from Disney's Brother Bear! Welcome to the 2009 movie experience! |
|
November 16th, 2009
New addition to our online gaming line-up POSTED AT 05:41 PM Our team just made a major free agent acquisition for Halo purposes. Here is the new team breakdown, using movie analogies: Vassili Zaitsev: Div - he can kill you from far away. He dislikes Germany.
The Transporter: Dantes Assassin - he will get you there and get out and kill people, often with guile and melee.
Capt. Jack Aubrey: ZeroCool - he will relentlessly pursue the objective, despite mounting death totals.
River Tam: Sab0tron - doesn't seem like she's dangerous, until she goes bat-crazy and massacres everyone.
Peregin Took: The Low Price Leader! - he means well... but man...
Maximus Decimus Meridius: nooree5 - he does well in battle, until he's brutally betrayed by Kalishman, umm, I mean Commodus.
What kind of team member will Z be? Here are a few suggestions.
Or maybe...
Or maybe...
Anyway, who is not excited about this! |
|
November 15th, 2009
Holy Crap... Brandon Jennings... POSTED AT 12:00 AM That kid can ball! 55 points, 7 treys, and 1 million broken hearted NY Knicks fans, who realize that now that he (and not Chris Duhon) could be their starting point guard.
|
|
November 13th, 2009
Harrison Barnes Forgoes Education, picks UNC POSTED AT 05:27 PM Damn it all. If you need me, I'll be watching JJ Redick highlights. |
|
November 12th, 2009
Scoring Point Guards POSTED AT 07:50 PM My brother (and, to a lesser extent, I) love scoring point guards. Recent NBA history has several notable scoring point guards. My brother once wrote an academic paper on the subject of scoring point guards. We're ignoring Steve Nash and Chris Paul, who can both score in bunches, but also lead the league in assists. They are just great point guard, but not scoring point guards.
Sticking with scoring points, Sam Cassell (aka alien-head) is (was) one of them. For evidence of this extra-terristerial origin, one need only look at his head. That guy was a baller, but undoubtedly from outer space.
Another is Steph Marbury, the producer of my beloved $15 Starbury balling shoes and eater of Vaseline. Undoubtedly another strange character, though my brother is always quick to point out, a 20 point 8 dime guy given the opportunity. Of course, my favorite NBA player, Tony Parker Longoria, is a scoring point guard. I profiled him quite recently, so we'll just move on from there. As for the young guys, you could look at Tyreke Evans, who I think will win rookie of the year, but in my opinion is more D-Wade than a point guard. Curry probably is more of a Monte Ellis than a point guard (which is part of the reason that backcourt can't work). When healthy, the best scoring point guard in the NBA is probably Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas, of the Washington Wizards (on an off-topic note, I will probably be forced to adopt the Wizards as my team upon my move to DC, so hopefully they stop stockpiling injury prone guys). He's a career 22 ppg scorer, and between 05-07, he averaged 202 treys each year. So yeah, he can really score the ball. And he's a point guard. A SCORING POINT GUARD! The real problem is that he's played like 15 games in the two years prior to this one. He's back now, scoring well (24 ppg) but he's obviously not quite on top of his game (4.8 turnovers per). He's at about 75%, I think. Anywho, the Wizards had a very high pick in the '09 NBA draft, a pick with which they could have had Ricky Rubio or Brandon Jennings or Steph Curry or whatever. Instead, they traded it to Minnesota for Mike Miller and Randy Foye, who look really nice in their new jerseys.
Anyway, I guess the idea was take some veterans on and try to win now. I wasn't that excited about this move for them, but hey, surely Flip Saunders can make something out of this roster:
Of course, Flip Saunders should have known that this wasn't going to last. Jamison is hurt, Miller is hurt, Foye is hurt, and Stevenson sucks. Here's their actual line-up, as of Tuesday.
So not the best. So bad is that bench that the starters all played 39+ minutes on Tuesday. McGuire managed to make one basket, and that was the ENTIRE output of their bench. Oberto played 17 minutes and somehow failed to record any points, assists, steals or blocks and chipped in just a SINGLE rebounds, despite being the backup center. The Miami Heat put up 15 points, despite the well known fact that the Miami Heat bench players are not good at offensive basketball.
What is clear is that the Wizards need some bench scoring punch.
Earl Boykins spent last season somewhere in Europe, probably playing basketball but I don't have any evidence of that. As far as I know, he could have been riding around Europe on a Europass, checking out cool Italian villas he could buy with his Bobcats money.
So now, he's back in the Association, and my brother's excited reaction was "two great scoring point guards reunited." Reunited? I tried to think back, and my vague foggy memories of the early 00's include some period in which the Warriors may have had Arenas and Boykins, although I'll just trust that my brother is right and let it go.
Boykins is known for three things: being a scoring point guard, being possibly my brother's favorite player, and being really short. How short? This short:
.jpg)  To be fair, Yao Ming and Tim Duncan can make a lot of big people look small. So here is a fairer comparison:
 Allen Iverson (who by the way shouldn't retire but should be in the Bobcats saving Gerald Wallace) is generously listed at 6'0''. I've read that he's closer to 5'9''. So that gives you an idea of how small Boykins is. He's small. REALLY FREAKING SMALL.
But he can also score the basketball really well. He's a career 9.4 ppg guy and he does this in only 20 minutes a game. If you look at his recent years (aside from his mysterious journey to the Continent), he's been especially prolific. Three years ago, he put up 15 ppg in Denver. Two years ago, he scored 5 per in 15 minutes for my wretched Bobcats. But believe, it is really hard to score on the Bobcats. Gerald Wallace knows this.
Perhaps at 33 years of age, Boykins doesn't have it anymore. But there is no risk in a move like this, and he could prove to be a valuable commodity, backing up Arenas, or perhaps playing with Arenas when Flip Saunders tires of Stevenson's horrid shooting.
So welcome back, Earl Boykins. Thank you for making my brother happy.
|
|
November 9th, 2009
Significant Changes to my Fantasy Basketball Squad POSTED AT 06:09 PM Since my last post, the following players are gone:
That's right, 5 of my 12 players are gone. New to the squad are:
That's right, I've gotten rid of all my big men to go even smaller. Plus I picked up my main man, JJ Redick! |
|
November 8th, 2009
Temporary New Computer POSTED AT 09:36 PM Since my beautiful 17" laptop is going on a 6-week (!) vacation to the HP factory, I have purchased a new smaller laptop to use for my exams in a few weeks. This computer will be gifted to my mother at that point, as hopefully my old computer will return by then. So I'm back online! Just in time to see my fantasy football team kick some butt. |
|
