Best blog post of the day

I thought Joe Posnanski’s lengthy post “Writing Off Tiger” was insightful.

Tiger Woods is not a machine. Tiger Woods is not a story. Tiger Woods is not a movie, and he’s not a fairy tale. Tiger Woods is not even the young man who played golf at a higher level than any man in the history of the sport. No. Tiger Woods is a balding 34-year-old man fighting his swing, his putter, his confidence, his past and his history.

I know how to fix the iPhone 4

Really. I figured it out.

I took the bumper off and, as before, in my poor reception house the signal drops to no signal if I hold the phone comfortably in my hand.

But, if I hold the phone gripping its upper two-thirds instead of normal bottom two-thirds, the signal does not drop. That’s because my hand is not conducting the signal from one antenna to another.

There are three antennas on the iPhone. One begins on the top near the headphone jack and goes most of the way down the left side. Another begins at the same place on the top — there is a slim black separator between them — and goes most of the way down the right side. The third antenna curves from the lower left around the bottom to the lower right, again with a separator between it and the others on each side. See illustration below.

Normally you would hold the phone with your hand around the bottom two-thirds. Then if the phone slips, there is a margin to catch it. And it seems balanced that way. But that is where the separators are. And if you hold the phone in a way that conducts the signal across the separator, the signal drops.

It seems to me this could be resolved if Apple put the antenna that’s currently across the bottom, across the top instead. Then the separators on each side would be well above your fingers and palm in a normal grip.

Could it possibly be this simple? (I realize it might require re-arranging the insides.)

What should I charge Apple for my consultation?

route-facetime-20100623.png

Note the three separators: one near the bottom on each side, and one just to the right of the headphone jack on the top. It’s the bottom left separator that — when covered by your hand so that the signal is conducted — seems to diminish the reception.

Redux posts of the day

My good friend Donna is in her hometown of Tulsa this weekend attending the Tulsa Powwow and visiting her Sweeties. We were in Tulsa five years ago and I posted these two items.

Idle thoughts between Albuquerque and Tulsa (and back)

Great Plains — You know you’re in the land of severe weather when you see that the interstate rest area restrooms have signs that say “Men,” “Women” and “Tornado Shelter.”

Small Town America — There are still places in America such as Jenks, Oklahoma, where the fireworks show commemorating the town’s 100th birthday is delayed because the firemen there to oversee the pyrotechnics were called away on an actual call.

Great idea — A kindergarten co-located with a nursing home. (Aside: NewMexiKen was amused while visiting to see a number of very old women in the lobby watching the Spike channel.)

Nostalgia — The Love’s truck stops along Interstate 40 reconstructed their price signs some years ago with space only for $1. (Seems rather short-sighted.) Unable to post $2, they simply post the cents. To the unsuspecting it would appear that gas was 269 cents.

Religious symbolism — The purported largest cross in the Western Hemisphere at Groom, Texas, makes one wonder what the universal symbol for Christianity would be if Jesus had been executed by a firing squad or a lethal injection.

Unfortunate advertising — Showing burgers and steaks with steer horns protruding from them is not appetizing. I prefer to strongly compartmentalize my food thoughts from my animal thoughts.

Slap — Mosquitoes suck.

So hot, it seemed like two suns

Arkansas_River.jpg

That’s the Arkansas River at Tulsa early Saturday [July 16, 2005] — through a window.

Which brings two questions to mind:

1. Why would they build a hotel on a beautiful riverfront and not have balconies?

2. Why was I so slothful I couldn’t go outside to take photos on such a morning?

Redux post of the day

I posted this a year ago, the day after Walter Cronkite died.

I’ve seen a few “celebrities” including politicians, met a couple of former presidents, and seen [five actual U.S. presidents], talked to Lady Bird Johnson more than once, had a meeting in the West Wing, seen Dylan, and Benny Goodman, and Edward G. Robinson playing cards, attended a reception with Edward Kennedy in the crowd, another with John Glenn mingling, went to a movie premiere with two of the Apollo 13 astronauts.

But I’ve always considered two people I’ve seen in person in a class above all the others.

Earl Warren and Walter Cronkite.

July 17th should be an annual national day of mourning

Billie Holiday died 51 years ago today. She was 44.

Considered by many to be the greatest jazz vocalist of all time, Billie Holiday lived a tempestuous and difficult life. Her singing expressed an incredible depth of emotion that spoke of hard times and injustice as well as triumph. Though her career was relatively short and often erratic, she left behind a body of work as great as any vocalist before or since.

American Masters

The cycle

How about that sports fans? The Rangers catcher Bengie Molina hit for the cycle against Boston tonight. That’s a single, double, triple and home run in one game. His home run was a grand slam.

No opponent had gone the cycle in Fenway in 32 years.

I had this game on TV for a few minutes and the Boston announcers were talking about Molina and whether he’d get the cycle. The triple, the hardest, came his next time up. I missed it. Damn.

But say Karen, wasn’t Molina a Giant a few weeks ago?

UPDATE: Molina is only the eighth player since 1900 to hit for the cycle with a grand slam.

He’d had just six triples in 4,998 at bats.

As Robert Mays wrote, “Molina rounded second and made his way for third at the one speed he has.”

He’s a catcher for Pete’s sake, notoriously slow.

I can’t believe I was watching that game and didn’t wait for his next at bat. (The triple was in the eighth inning; the grand slam in the sixth.)

I think this also is a good illustration of sports ultimately as part of culture more than a game. A soccer aficionado might think it fun to see Molina lumbering into third, but only the baseball fan could appreciate how rare the cycle is, how unusual for a catcher to triple, etc. And I don’t mean that makes baseball better than soccer. The same could be true in reverse for the baseball fan watching soccer. I just think it explains why soccer just does not catch on in the U.S. to any long-lasting extent. We have enough sports traditions.

Soccer and Baseball

I think these two stories, taken together, explain — far more than nil-nil ties, or flopping, or endless passes ever will — why soccer has not taken hold in America. (And for that matter, far more than pitchers’ duels and long ballgames ever will.) More than the games, sport is engrained in a culture.

Joe Posnanski: A Soccer Story (I linked to this already, yesterday.)

Hendrik Hertzberg: Out to the Ball Game

Best line of the day, so far

CUPERTINO, CA . . . – At a much-anticipated press conference at Apple headquarters, company founder Steve Jobs defended the performance of the new iPhone today, telling reporters that “it works great except for the ‘phone’ feature.”
. . .

“The most important features of the iPhone, like the app that gives you a robot voice, work better than ever,” Mr. Jobs said.

Andy Borowitz

A blast

At 5:30 AM, 65 years ago today, 120 miles south of Albuquerque, the first atomic bomb was detonated.

A scientist who witnessed the test reported: “We were lying there, very tense, in the early dawn, and there were just a few streaks of gold in the east; you could see your neighbor very dimly. … Suddenly, there was an enormous flash of light, the brightest light I have ever seen. … It blasted; it pounced; it bored its way right through you. It was a vision which was seen with more than the eye. It was seen to last forever. … There was an enormous ball of fire which grew and grew and it rolled as it grew; it went up into the air, in yellow flashes and into scarlet and green. It looked menacing. It seemed to come toward one.”

The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

July 16th

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was published on this date in 1951. It’s sold about 60 million copies since.

Major John Glenn, USMC, set a transcontinental (Los Angeles to New York) speed record of 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds on this date in 1957. Average speed: 723 mph.

Will Ferrell is 43 today; Barry Sanders is 42. And Phoebe Cates is 47.

Two Hollywood greats, Ruby Catherine Stevens and Virginia Katherine McMath were born on July 16th.

We know Stevens better as Barbara Stanwyck, born in 1907, she was a four time best actress Oscar nominee. Anthony Lane wrote an excellent review of Stanwyck’s work last year for The New Yorker.

And we know McMath better as Ginger Rogers, born in 1911, and an Oscar winner for best actress for Kitty Foyle. This from the abstract of a 1995 New Yorker item by Arlene Croce about Rogers.

Ginger Rogers was a star because she was unique and representative at the same time; she was complicatedly iconographic. Her very name tells us all we need to know. First of all, it’s euphonious (those three soft “g”s), and then what the first name specifies–something delicious–the last name, a half rhyme, pluralizes.

Apollo 11 left Florida for the moon on this date in 1969.

Intractable

My girlfriend broke up with me last week. She did it cruelly. She sent me a letter saying she ran away with a tractor salesman. I was devastated. It was the first time in my life I’ve gotten a John Deere letter.

Best redux line of the day

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, brings us up to date on 7-year-old Mack’s training for a triathlon August 9th. [This post is from 2008.]

Today Mack had swim practice for an hour. They worked on the butterfly stroke for the whole hour, which can only help him.

Then he rode his bike home. That was two miles.

As soon as he got home he ran around the block — only .2 of a mile, but I figured one lap was enough.

His stomach hurt, but I kid you not, he wasn’t even breathing hard.

Loving grandpa that I am, I responded that he’d make a good Marine. Jill wrote back.

Nope, I’ve told all [three boys] that they are forbidden from pursuing any career which would lead to people shooting at them.

So that knocks out anything in the armed forces, as well as police officer, security guard, border patrol and working for the post office.

Best line of the day, so far

The word on the street from NHTSA is that it was Toyota that planted the driver error story.
. . .

So apparently this means that if you hold your Toyota the wrong way it has trouble braking unless you put duct tape on it. Wait. Wait. No, that’s not right. Sorry, we got our defective product scandal pedals mixed up for a second there. Sorry! Blogger error!

The Consumerist

Baseball

If you’re up for watching a little baseball on TV, MLB Extra Innings has a free week beginning today. I’ve been watching Rangers @ Boston. At 8 I can watch the Mariners @ Angels and/or Mets @ Giants. There are other games too.

Just something different to do for a few evenings; see the teams, hear the different broadcasters.

No guarantees for your cable/satellite system or if I’m right that it’s for a week. But that’s my understanding.

I’m watching on DirecTV. Fun to see the New England ads. They love their Dunkin’ Donuts.

(I’m feeling yucky — not up to a movie or a book.)

BTW GQ lists The Best (and Worst) from MLB’s Broadcast Booths. Top 5 and Bottom 5 from the TV side.