BALTIM0RE, Maryland March 19, 2014 - The steady rain that fell across Maryland Wednesday evening washed away almost all of the accumulated snow. Suddenly, on the first day of spring, it almost feels like spring. Of oourse, everything is still brown outside.
USA Search Plane Said to Find Debris on Radar in Area Where Satellite Images Taken A leading aviation blog in Australia has stated that an American Poseidon Search Plane has found debris on a radar scan while searching the remote Indian Ocean Site where Earth-Orbitting Satellites snapped pictures showing large debris afloat. Ben Sandilands, who pens the aviation blog "Plane Talking" for the large Australian Media Outlet "Crikey," made the announcement at about 5:30 pm Australian time. Meanwhile, a Norwegian ship carrying automobiles, diverted to the search area by Australian authorities, is now on-site. A spokesperson for the company, Hough Autolines, could not confirm a rumor that crewmen on the ship had actually seen the debris. The ship arrived on-site at 8 pm, which is after dark. Spokesman Ben Stack said the crew was anxious to be of assistance.
Russian Problems in Crimea May Just Be Starting; Jihad Threatened by Tatar Supporters, Turkish Prime Minister Threatens to Close Bosphorus to Russian Ships Wednesday looked like a day to celebrate for Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin. Then reality set in. He received a phone call from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, and, according to the Sofia News Agency, Erdogan told him he was outraged that Putin had Russian Troops invade the Crimea. He said he will watch carefully to make sure the Tatar population is not mistreated. Reports say a Tatar leader was taken into custody by the Russians, only to turn up dead a few days later. He said if Putin did not back down on the annexation, he will close the Bosphorus to Russian Ships. Should he take that dramatic action, the Russian Naval Base at Sevastopol would become all but useless. Russian's only warm water port depends on a free and open Bosphorus for its viability. If it becomes impassable, Russia's ships and submarines will not be able to access the open oceans or the Mediterranean Sea. But that wasn't actually the worst news Putin got on Wednesday. Actually, he had heard this one rumored a week ago, if not more. It had to do with the Tatars. They used to be the majority population in Crimea until Josef Stalin deported every last one of them. Stalin said the Tatars were complicit with the Nazis during the Second World War. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. The Tatars fought a long, brutal guerilla war with the Nazis and kept the Crimean Interior away from the Nazis throughout the war. The Nazis occupied the coastal areas using their superior firepower. But throughout most of the war the Tatars drove the Nazis crazy. In recent years the Tatars have trickled back to Crimea, but today they are only 12 percent of the total population. Most of the rest are ethnic Russians, thanks to Stalin, who moved Russians into the Crimea after he booted the Tatars out. Now the Tatars are worried the Russians will treat them terribly again. One of their leaders was taken into custody during a March 3 demonstration. His body, showing signs of being tortured, showed up days later. In the UN Security Council today, a top UN official told the Security Council about the affair. The Russian ambassador said the Tatar's death was due to a sniper. The Tatars are Muslim and they have now called for a Jihad. Putin can only cringe in private. He has to recall Chechnya, a Russian province that has been in open revolt for years. The violence and bloodshed in Chechnya has been fierce and many Russians have died. The last thing Putin wants is another Chechnya. He didn't need Erdogan to remind him about that. Near lunchtime on Thursday in Washington, President Obama placed more sanctions on senior Russian officials and one bank. One of the officials was said to be Putin's personal banker. Putin responded by placing sanctions against American officials.
Another "bad spinoff" of the Crimean picadillo for Putin is the current scuttlebut in Sweden. The Swedes, like Obama, want to believe that international adventurism is a thing of the past and that all problems will be solved with dialogue. Then Putin marched his huge army into Crimea. The Swedes are up close and personal with Russia and they know well how dangerous that can be. Now, just a month or so after cutting their defense budget, politicians of all colors are saying they went too far and are talking openly about ramping up their national defense. Sweden has an industry that turns out very good fighter jets. Poland just spent millions of dollars to by a dozen. It might turn out that the best customer can be seen in the mirror.
Cal Poly Convincingly They are the Mustangs. For most of the long NCAA Basketball season, they were not very good. Even now, even with tonight's first round NCAA tournament win, their record is a dismal 14-19. And yet they play on. It is one of the idiosyncrasies of the way the NCAA conducts its tournaments. The regular season means very little in the conference tournaments that award each conference's (except one) NCAA tournament representative. You win the conference regular season title you get the best seed in the conference tournament, but that is all. If you don't win that tournament you probably are going to the NIT. Cal-Poly finished, what was it?, tied for sixth in the Big West, seven games behind regular season champ UC Irvine. But the Mustangs won their opening round game against UC Santa Barbara, 69-38. Right away you knew something was up with this team. The game before the tournament started was against the same team: UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos had finished second in the conference, one game behind the champion Anteaters. In that last regular season game, the Gauchos annihilated the Mustangs, 71-55. A few days later the Mustangs win by 31. Go figure. The second game of the Big West tournament the Mustangs got the Anteaters. Twice during the regular season the Anteaters had beaten the Mustangs, but if you were paying attention, you could almost see the tournament upset about to happen. On February 1, at Cal-Poly, the Anteaters won, 64-50. One month later, on March 1, the Mustangs went to UC Irvine and lost again, but this time, on the opponent's floor, the final score was 55-48. On March 14, in the conference tournament, Cal-Poly won a thriller, 61-58. In the title game the Mustangs got another team that had played 'not so hot' during the season, only to make a run in the tournament. Cal State Northridge came into the tournament 15-17, but reeled off two wins to march into the title game against Cal-Poly. It was another thriller and the Mustangs won again, 61-59. That brought about tonight's match=up with Texas Southern. are led by 6' 10" Asric Murray, a powerful inside force who averages over 21 points and almost 8 rebounds per game. How good is Murray? During the season he put 29 points on Stanford and 48 points on Temple. He is a very good three-point shooter, who has made as many as four three-pointers in a game. How did the Mustangs handle Murray. Early and often, and with as many players as possible. There were times when Murray had four Mustangs hanaging on him. It did not completely stop him. In fact, Murray scored a whole lot of points: 38 in all. But the rest of the team played terrible defense and not much better on offense. In fact, Murray outscored the rest of the Tigers, combined. The Mustangs played incredible team defense and Chris Eversley poured in 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting in an 81-69 Cal Poly victory. The reward for the Mustangs is a Friday match-up with Wichita State. The Shockers, for the record, are undefeated.
Tennessee Powers Past Iowa in OT In recent years, Tennessee basketball fans have come to expect their Volunteer Basketball team to be jammed full of good players who are up and down most of the season - with some of the downs being real whoppers - but then, near the end of the season, the lads pull together and start to win and then the question becomes, did they mess around too long to get into the National Tournament. This year, the answer to that annual sweating marathon is "just barely." Last night, that was also the answer to the question of whether the Vols would get past the "First Four" and into the Field of 64. They "just barely" did, flipping off everybody's emotional favorite, Iowa, in overtime. The final score, 78-65, doesn't begin to tell the story about a game that Tennessee trailed in from the outset. Iowa had a working lead almost from the start and held on to that lead until Antonio Barton's 3-pointer put the Vols up 59-57 with 3:05 left regulation. There were five lead changes before the Vols' Jordan McRae missed a jumper missed at the buzzer, leaving it tied at 64. Iowa's Roy Devyn Marble, son of the former star, and Iowa's star now, was only 3 of 15 from the field for seven points, matching his season low. But his fade away jumper from 17 feet tied the game at 64 just before McCrae's miss. It was national news following Iowa into the game. The son of Hawkeye Head Coach Fran McCaffery, 13-year-old Patrick McCaffery, was diagnosed with a tumor on his thyroid and underwent surgery early Wednesday in Iowa City. McCaffery was with his son until after the surgery, then flew to Dayton and was on the sideline for the game. The entire Iowa team dedicated the game to Patrick, who, along with everyone else, will have to wait on the results of a biopsy of the tumor before learning whether the tumor was cancerous. Iowa was led by their huge center, Adam Woodbury, who scored a career high 16 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. But Woodbury was unable to stop Jarnell Stokes, the Volunteers' 280-pound big man, Jarnell Stokes, who had 18 points and 13 tough rebounds. It was Stokes who held the Volunteers together down the stretch, making a load of clutch free throws and jamming up the middle so completely that Hawkeye star Marvel couldn't get down the lane at all. Tennessee now has a winnable match-up on Friday with fifth seeded Massachusetts.
This is the second straight day I am including a literature selection:
Under the Greenwood Tree
by William Shakespeare (English, 1564 - 1616)
Under the Greenwood Tree
Who loves to be with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live? the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall we see,
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
The First Letter of Paul to the Romans
Chapter 12, Verses 14 through 21
Chapter 12. Verse 14. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Verse 16. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited. Verse 17. Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. Verse 18. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Verse 19. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Versie 20. No, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." Verse 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I attended a concert on Sunday evening. It consisted of four chamber music works performed by members of the renowned Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. It is part of a series of concerts called "Community Concerts at Second," with the Second being a reference to the location that the concerts utilize, Baltimore's Second Presbyterean Church on St. Paul Street in North Baltimore. The fist piece, "Music for Violin and Harp," was composed by Sergiu Natra. Mr. Natra was born in Romania in 1924, but has lived much of his life to date in Israel. The music was beautiful and is composed in the modern form; the program called it "free sonata" form. The violin is mournful and the harp, by contrast, beautiful, almost unworldly in its serenity. The harp was played materfully by Sarah Fuller. The gorgeous violin was played by Ivan Stefanovic. Interestingly, both musicians addressed the full church first, telling them not to be afraid of modern music. I, myself, was not afraid. I was enchanted. The second piece was the Trio in E-flat Major by Mozart (1756 - 1791). The trio was a violin played by Peter Minkler, a clarinet played by William Jenken, and the piano played by Sylvie Beaudoin. It was beautiful. Third was a world premier performance of a piano trio by Larry Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman, born in 1946, was at the concert. Kristin Ostling was the Cellist who carried the piece in my most humble opinion. Her ability to whisper and warble with the tricky strings made it work and the audience warmly appluaded it. Kenneth Goldstein was the wonderful violinist and Miriam Avalos Tete was the pianist. It was the last selection that brought the audience enthusiastically to its feet. Composed by the Russian Anton Arensky (1861 - 1906), the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Opus 32, rose and swooned with power and beauty. Arensky composed the work in tribute to the Great Russian Cellist Karl Davidov (1838 - 1889), the wonderful, arresting sonority of the work mermerized the audience. When it ended, they shot to their feet with determined applause. As someone who has been attending these concerts for many years, I can tell you such a response is most unusual. Hyun Jung Kim was the fearless pianist. Iani Du was the violinist. And the absolutely superb cellist was Dariuusz Skoraczewski. His cello was singing like a opera soloist. Superb!
I entered the "Billion Dollar" contest sponsored by Warren Buffett, Yahoo and Quicken Loans To win the big prize you must pick a perfect bracket. The best 20 brackets that are not perfect will win $100,000.00. These are my picks for the second round games (which everybody thinks are the first round): In the Florida v. Albany game, I naturally took Florida. In the Colorado v. Pitt game, I took Pitt. In the VCU v. Stephen F. Austin game, I took VCU. In the UCLA v. Tulsa contest, I chose UCLA. In the Dayton v. Ohio State game, I took Ohio State. This is one I think could be ripe for an upset. With the game between Western Michigan and Syracuse, which many wags are picking for an upset, I resisted. I think Syracuse wins and, in doing so, rights their ship, en route to the final four. New Mexico v. Stanford is a tough choice, but I took Stanford. In the game between Kansas and Eastern Kentucky, I chose Kansas. In the game between Virginia and Coastal Carolina, I chose Virginia. I also have Virginia going to the Final Four. In the Memphis against George Washington, I chose Memphis. Another game that a lot of "experts" picked for an upset is Harvard v. Cincinnati. I again resist and take the Bearcats. With Michigan State v. Delaware, I took Michigan State. A tougher choice is Providence v. North Carolina. Both are capable of making a run in this tournament. I take North Carolina, however. With Iowa State against North Carolina Central, take Iowa State. In the UConn v. St. Joseph's contest, I took UConn. With Villanova against Milwaukee, I took Villanova. With Arizona v. Weber State, take Arizona, of course. A very tough choice is Gonsaga v. Oklahoma State. As much as I admire Mark Few, the coach of the Zags, his teams do note fare well in the tournament. That's why I take a more physical Cowboy team. Take Oklahoma in their game against North Dakota. A very tough choice is New Mexico State against San Diego State. I could be talked into taking the Aggies, but I chose alone. Take SDSU. With Baylor against Nebraska, I took Baylor, but this is a tough one also. Take Creighton in their match-up with Louisiana. With Oregon against BYU, go with Oregon. Wisconsin will beat American University. Cal-Poly beat Texas Southern the other night in the first round. They are a fun group to watch. You need to see this one, however, because they lose to Wichita State. Kentucky against Kansas State could be a good game, but take Kentucky. I picked Saint Louis to beat the winner of N. C. State v. Xavier before I saw the first round game. If I could have waited, I would have taken N.C. State in this one. But I took Saint Louis in the contest bracket. An easy pick is Louisville over Manhattan. I took the winner of the Tennessee against Iowa to beat Massachusetts. I really like Tennessee. With Duke and Mercer, I chose Duke. I think Duke will win the national championship. When I first chose the Texas v. Arizona State game, I took Arizona State. Then I changed my mind before I submitted the bracket. Take Texas. And take Michigan over Wofford. My second round picks will come later.
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