Winter Strom #3 is packing some rain, but it drizzles and stops for 15 minutes and then picks up tempo and rains for 15 minutes, repeat. Notice the long North-South cloud tail.

This is typical winter storm formation on the west coast. A weather system "Low" spins counter clockwise and what happens is one of the tails of the "spin" winds up going South to North into the California coastline. West coast weather is a series of spinning bands of water, unlike the East coast. The North-South tail brings the rain and dumps it all over California while it moves Northward into the coast. Then it spreads out a little bit over the valley and slams snow into the Sierra Nevada mountain range. That snow is the water supply of the entire California population (much like Lebanon -- another arid environment that depends on winter storms bringing snow to the mountains just off the coastline.)

Right now (according to the California Department of Water Resources ) the snow pack is about 50% of normal for this time of year, but still only about 12% of the April 1st average. Rain disappears in California after April until November, with rare exception. So these last 3 winter storms are a big help in easing the drought, but California is far from out of danger. We need about 3 or 4 more winter storms to get even close to 75% of the April 1st average.

Let's cross our fingers. We were dangerously close this last summer from water rationing.

This says it all -- despite not mentioning Native American Indians.

This is the second winter storm actually. Here is a picture at 6:25 pacific time.

It's been raining steadily all day since 6 am. It's now 6 pm. It is still raining. The wind is not as bad as it has been in past winter storms, but the rain is intense and steady. I cannot recall a winter storm that had so much rain as this one. We probably got 6 inches or more in a 12 hour time frame.

It's your bad attitude

You have to find a way you have to be the one that says the right things you have to listen when the time comes you have be the one that steps aside lets people go down their path and then be there without judgement if per chance people ask you for advice. Don't tell them what they want to hear although that's really what most people want when they ask for advice they want you to reinforce their concrete mind with soft words that massage the cracks and the imperfections the insecurities the uncertainties the ambivalence about the great unknown.

But ... You should however do just the opposite. You should just tell it like it is state the facts explain your point of view and let the words fall where they may pull apart the crevaces in the paradigm throw the crystal mirage on the floor and let the pieces shatter because there is no sanctuary in a fragile ghost of larceny in which the theft is of the true self the potential in all humanity the possibility of something better something more sustainable and long lasting than the temporary soothing of an irrational artifice.

So step aside while the fools trip over themselves in utter stupidity. Don't laugh have empathy with your fellow humans because after all other people are just like you. They do stupid things sometimes. They make mistakes. Sometimes they got a lot on their mind and yea well sorry shit just happens.

Don't go looking for blame because the constellation of reasons for why things happened is beyond your mortal capacity to fathom in the moment. Maybe one day in the future. Maybe. Maybe you might understand how things just turned into crap but right now right now you are filled with emotion and your mind can't make sense of all the things you think are evidence because actually you are just focusing on whatever invigorates your emotion and you can't see anything else. You are in no shape to be an imperfect observer of all events and details. So calm down. Take a deep breath. Step back and see the bigger picture.

The time has come for me to brag about my fantasy baseball prowess. A small consolation for my tiny little ego. (Yea, right.)

The second league was much more difficult. Only in September did I begin to separate from the pack -- thanks to Jacob DeGrom, Drew Storen, Carl Crawford, Starling Marte, Jorge Soler, and Wilmer Flores.

Let league number one be a testiment to the insignificance of batting average in the modern era. I was last in batting average but still beat the living crap pants off of everyone in the league. Honestly, I'm a little surprised myself, but that's what happened.

And please take notice, you win with pitching.

Greed always undermines the essence or means of existence that enabled wealth in the first place. The studios of Hollywood are filled with dramas and plots involving the self-destructive paths of greedy selfish fools who couldn't see past the inner spirals ending in their demise. People lose millions of dollars trying to gamble at twice the odds, just to make more money; or they spread their investments too thin because they want more and don't have the capacity to stop while they are ahead. Relationships often fall apart because one of the two people wants too much of the other person to the point where that other person feels that they are being taken for granted, or that their love is not being being reciprocated. Greed is the entropy that disrupts a normally smooth functioning system -- because some people want more than others, or have to go faster than others, or have to be the first to get attention, etc. , which tilts the dynamics of the system out of balance.

As such, our modern aristocrats can't see past their own small pecuniary interests and narrow circles of influential patrons. The vast majority aren't interested in developing and investing in a nation, but in making more profits, paying less taxes, and getting some sort of recognition. At least this is the net result of their actual aggragate actions, regardless of the convoluted and lexical political language that is often spoken as cosmetics over the actual intention. They assume themselves to be the pillars of the human race, worthy of privileges by their extreme wealth and self-inflated rank. The foundations and non-profits that they fund are really just organizations that pursue their own agendas. They are not really an investment in society but an extension of their ideology which captures more of the social order within its grasping fingers. Basically, they want to buy a moral statement. It's not charity, but an extension of their pride and authority, a moral authority through which they establish a connection in a paternal sense, another branch of the empire beneath their feet.

Taxing societies members and then paying for certain social opportunities (like college, health care, or police ) out of the collected tax dollars is ALWAYS more effective and efficient than out sourcing this collection of money to various wealthy philanthropists. So when the mega-wealthy and their hired spokespersons always praise charities as the antidote to big bad government, they reveal themselves for what they actually mean.

Once again, I have gone dark for a few months. Rest assured that I have gone nowhere, but I have been spending time doing a lot of research on nutrition that is totally mind blowing (look up Gary Taubes on youtube) of which I will get around to start blogging about sometime soon. That's why I'm really doing this blog post -- to remind myself to do it.

I've also been going through this whole "Common Core" charade that strikes at the heart of the profession I love, which pains me quite dearly. However, I am a hopeless perpetual optimist. I refuse to get stressed about matters of which I have no control, and insist upon viewing the insanity of transition with a positive view towards finding the beneficial nuggets that exist. After all, even a pile of shit has enough nutrients to sustain flies and various species of bacteria, right?

I haven't been wanting to blog my opinions about "Common Core" for a lot of different reasons; but the number one reason is respect for Terra Nova High School and the wonderful school district for which I work. Because truth-be-told, the district is itself amidst a sea of change outside of its control. They are all good people, and I feel fortunate to work with such dedicated, integrity-filled people. Hence, I have no desire to raise contention and ruckus about matters external to the district's control, because I know parents and students may quite possibly read this blog, and I don't want anyone getting the wrong impression about the place where I absolutely love to be working.

And frankly, teaching is always hard. You don't do this job unless you understand the time you work for 36 weeks. 60 times 36 (2160) is the MINIMUM number of hours per year -- which is more than 40 times 50 (2000) weeks. BY 160 HOURS, OR 4 MORE WEEKS OF 40 HOURS.

(YEA, that's right, teachers work at least 4 more weeks per year than the normal 40 hour per week worker who works for 50 weeks and gets 2 weeks of total vacation -- holidays included)

This is why I detest "experts" who have never taught. They think teaching is something that can be mass-packaged and standardized.

Because it's not. Teaching is getting to know 150+ students every year and being able to somehow create a schedule of events and activities that best meet the needs of every single one of those 150+ students. You can't put that in plastic-wrap in sell it, but oh don't let that stop them from advertizing otherwise and using dramatic cinematography to oversimplify reality and make a selling point -- the purpose of which IS ALWAYS the desire to make money. That's why all the big textbook companies (Pearson especially) developed the common core standards.

I better stop. Peace out.

Jamie Womack had been in the minor leagues 13 years and just got his first call up to the MLB as a Los Angeles Dodger. He was asked by Vin Scully whether it bothered him. According to Vin Scully, Jamie's response was ...

I didn't put much emphasis on where I wasn't. I worried about where I was.

--Jamie Womack

UPDATE: The kid (well, he is younger than me) comes up to pinch hit. Vin Scully details the events.

Most people do not know his background. He's certainly well put together. He's 6 foot 2 and 220 pounds.... All those years. All those nights waiting and praying to get the phone call. Well let's see what happens.... And a one hoper, right to the glove hand of the first basemen. Well, you can't hit it much harder than that.

Man will always feel alienated from the environment.

Man took the jungle, the wilderness, the marshlands, and the prairies from the other animals. Mankind altered the environment to suit the needs of the feeding and tbe aggregating of more people. Animals that could be eaten, controlled, or herded were gathered and put in between fences, into pens, and within barns. The other animals were exterminated, one by one, and the effectiveness depended upon the belligerence or protest of the animals in question. Those that were passive remained. Those that were aggressive in their rights, such as tigers, usually lived on the verge of extinction, until the civilization of mankind got to a point where there was no more question as to whom was at the top of the food chain, and then these aggressive species got some sanctimony from humans who wanted to put them in zoos and look at them on Saturday afternoon's while eating popcorn and ice cream with the kids.

Now that mankind has become the creator of the environment, this theft of the Earth by one species has left a void. Yet, the instincts of the homo sapiens have not abated; even if the environment in which we have evolved over millions of years has vastly changed in the last 4,000 years. The theft of the landscape has now inverted, and mankind is now stealing from one another.

Or as Nostradamus once said in a famous prophesy, "...and man will become a man eater."

I heard that line from a movie by Orsen Welles who narrated a film about Nostradamus I saw while in High School. To this day, I still hear the same audio track I hear 30 something years ago.

In fact, I probably repeat myself. I know I've said as much at some point in this blog over the last 12 years.

BTW, yes, I'm finally back after a long absence.

Here's my bold predictions per team