The Plantae P.O.V.

Have been anticipating "The Botany of Desire" since promos ran about a month ago, and it was on PBS last night. Truth be told, I've been waiting for longer than that. The program was based on a book by the same title that Michael Pollan wrote a while back. While I was taking the botany course at UConn, one of the teaching assistants sold me on it, and I decided to check it out at the library. I never got a chance. Whenever I looked, it was always taken out. Even the library in town here has a copy that seems to never be on the shelf for long. I guess that if I ever want to read it, I'll need to shell out.

In the meantime, however, the program was excellent, especially with all of the photographs and video in HD.

In a nutshell, Pollan uses four types of plants --- the apple, the tulip, cannabis, and the potato --- to explore mankind's relations with the plant world (I looked on disapprovingly during the cannabis section). Like that old joke about aliens determining that dogs are the leaders of Earth, Pollan asks, 'Who's really in charge here?' We do things for these and other plants. We breed them in mass quantity. We feed them. We perpetuate them in our culture. We think we control them. But, as Pollan notes, by looking from the plant's perspective, one could easily argue that they have power over us.

As I've written before, the botany course was probably the most interesting class I took at the U. I think what hooked me was seeing the green algae Volvox under the microscope the first time. It spirals as it moves through the water, and the formation is just beautiful. Like the flagellate movement of Chlamydomonas, you would almost swear that there is something alive in there with conscious thought. But, alas, there is no brain and its movement is entirely random and acted upon by chemical attractions and environmental conditions. Soon after, though, there's the thought 'What if we're like that?' What if humanity and anamalia are simply creations that do nature's bidding --- entirely controlled by chemical forces whose complexity we don't understand? And I think to a large extent in responding to this last question, we do and we are. Earlier this year came the discovery of "zombie" ants whose brains are controlled by a fungus. Would it be so hard to consider that other animal species could be similarly controlled? There's an argument in there that could cozy up with philosophical Hard Determinism.

Bad Fan

I was never a fan of the Dick Jauron hire in Buffalo. He is an expressionless, ultra-conservative coach in a league that demands action, involvement, and offense. Jauron's unabashed man-love for defensive backs has led to using 60 percent of the last four drafts for secondary players. I'm not going to say that the surfeit of drafted DBs doesn't contribute. Just that their selections come to the detriment of many other positions of need. And these deficiencies are in much more important positions in the grand scheme. Building from the secondary out is a stupid strategy. The fact that the run defense was shredded to bits against the Jets and is dead-last in the league in the 'Yards Allowed' category is a clear indictment of the front-7 and adequate depth. Hurray for the pass defense --- and their only measure of success comes because opponents are all too happy to run roughshod over weak DTs and LBs --- but the Bills can't stop anyone when it counts or put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. In order to be an effective defense, the secondary would have to play shut-down on every wide receiver for 7-10 seconds, on every play. Most teams are lucky to have that kind of coverage five times per game.

Blaming injuries for the problems is a weasel argument --- you have to be prepared for injuries because LBs get hurt often in the NFL; it's just the nature of the position that injuries will happen. Having street free agents at these spots is begging for the position the Bills are in --- namely, getting blasted for 318 yards rushing versus the Jets. Most days, a team is not going to overcome that. What happens when the Bills' defense doesn't get gifted 6 interceptions? Add into it those 'backup' players who are firstly and secondly retained for special teams, and are woeful in normal play. It means our depth is in even worse shape than any other team, right out of training camp. Bobby April, the special teams coach, and Jauron have had too much influence in drafting and roster management. The front office structure, with five VPs and a marketing man as CEO, to put it simply... sucks. If last week's piss-poor win is part of an excuse to keep Jauron beyond this season, I will officially become a bad fan akin to Randy Quaid's character in "Major League" until Ralph Wilson dies. The old man's refusal to fire bad coaches (because he'd still have to pay their full salary) and spend money on good coaches is one of the major reasons for 4 out 5 losing decades. In a time when others are feeling a pinch, Wilson cleared over $30M last year. He refuses to spend to the salary cap, refuses to pay for good coaching and allows a front office hierarchy that is busy staring at its own colon.

The offense doesn't get off easy, either. As big a supporter I was of Trent Edwards, it's apparent from back-up QB Ryan Fitzpatrick's play that Trent is regressing. And, with some time to see it more clearly, it started after the concussion in the Cardinals game last year. Can only imagine what effect the latest concussion against the Jets will have. There have been a lot of young QBs in the NFL ruined b/c they play in bad offenses and behind bad offensive lines. All of those first-round busts came into the league with a lot of talent... and that talent dried up and blew away. They got gun-shy/skittish in the pocket, panicky when holding the ball, and their final death knell was indecisiveness. Trent Edwards is at the panicky stage; that's why he's not progressing his reads and not seeing open receivers, and why he's been so quick to 'check down' to receivers rather than go for passes over 10 5 yards, even when it's 3rd & 18. It's sad that such bad roster management and coaching has led to this. There's not too many quarterbacks that came back from this black hole-like progression --- though the jury is still out on David Carr. "Bust"ing often says as much about the surrounding cast as it does about an individual player.

What I do know is that before the Bills get another QB, they need to build an offensive line and get competent coaches. And, as I've written, there's about a 10 percent chance of this happening while Ralph Wilson is alive. In the meantime, it's going to be shades of futility. Good players are going to come in here and have a high failure rate b/c there is an air of toxicity at One Bills Drive.

(Photo illustration uses images © Mirage / Paramount Pictures, Buffalo Bills)

“All human beings, whether religious or not, are caught in a tragic situation of never fully being able to understand the world we are in.” 

--- Theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg

 "Turn your head away from the screen / Oh, people, it will tell you nothing more"

-- Jeff Buckley "Sky Is a Landfill"

One looks at all the bizarre stuff going on --- from the doings of Islamic extremism to seriously odd weather patterns to the rising rate of everyday stress with which everyone is burdening themselves --- and it leads to so many questions. How did we get here? How can we alleviate this mass hysteria... this mass anger? To borrow from "The Pilgrim's Progress"... How shall we save our souls?

I have become a strong proponent of giving our video screens a break. Don't leave them on all day just to produce background noise, mindless entertainment, and to "be connected" in the most unconnected way ever conceived.

It goes counter to someone who went to J-school, but we need to get away from the news a little. I don't suppose there's anything wrong with watching the evening news and reading the amassed headlines on Google News, but I find that taking a break from all of these stories of hate, death and malfeasance can help a mindset. Looking into the screens too much can lead to what plagued Denethor in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" --- a leader who ages rapidly and gets more depressed and eventually self-destructive as he looks into the palantír stone that told of the Enemy's power (a biased perspective of that power, it turns out, shown deliberately to produce these effects on viewers). The more Denethor looked into the stone, the more hopeless he got, the more determined he was that nothing could be done to avoid the destruction that seemed to be everywhere. Likewise, we look at our screens and it colors our world with all of the bad happenings of the day, natural and man-made. It's no wonder of the stereotypical newsman who drinks himself into oblivion --- it borrows from real life where people forced to read a steady stream of woe develop arm's-length/second-hand post-traumatic stress disorder.

It's important to not get sucked into the belief that all that is happening in the world is tragedy and negativity. It's important to turn off our screens and be reminded of everyday human interaction, and that we each have the power to do our small bit of good works... if we but try!

RIP Jasper Howard

I must have walked by the Student Union at UConn a thousand times while I went there. Each time it was mostly uneventful. After all, this was a town whose nickname on campus was/is "Snorrs, Connecticut." Then came the news yesterday morning that Jasper Howard, a starting cornerback on the UConn football team was stabbed in front of the building in the midnight hour on Sunday morning. It's difficult to register that someone whose joyous post-game quotes I had just read in the Sunday Courant a few minutes before was now dead. What an absolute waste of a human being with so much going for him.

On a broad level, this is subtly being called an old story. Jasper came to Connecticut from a tough side of Miami. His father was not in the picture. His mother worked multiple jobs to support the family. He had a sister with health problems. Jasper was the first in his family to go to college. He was an expectant father. He was intent on playing professionally so he could provide for his family. Sadly, he was taken before his time by the hand of another person. For anyone who follows sports, tell me you haven't seen these same parameters --- literally --- a hundred times before. An old story that lacks not for fresh faces.

This changes the university. It changes the football program. Though not on the scale of the Virginia Tech shooting, you have to imagine there's a bit of the same pallor. The knife also cut into the sense of security on a small-ish, somewhat secluded campus. And yet, determined groups of people left behind do get through tragedies.

The authorities officially do not have a suspect yet, but have evidence that the perpetrator was not a student. This seems to be one of the main patterns in problems UConn has had in several high-profile incidents, mostly notably the annual Spring Weekend. People unconnected with the university invade, take advantage of the school's atmosphere and comely population, drink, make their trouble, then leave. UConn is a publicly-funded school, and therefore, citizens have access to many of its resources, mostly the Homer Babbidge Library. I am not advocating putting Storrs into a bubble. But, on balance, I think it's time for the administration to look into the level of access and more wisely weigh it against the safety concerns of the students.

(Image © AP Photo / UConn Athletics)

"It is good to be without vices, 
but it is not good to be without temptations."
--- Walter Bagehot

Album Review: "Give Up the Ghost" --- Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile officially released her third album "Give Up the Ghost" yesterday. Haven't had a chance to pick it up yet (yes, folks, I'm one of those few people who still buy hard copy CDs. I just like to be able to physically hold things that I buy) but no doubt I will.

What I have heard from free whole-album audio on Billboard's website has left me with some initial impressions. And they're not all good. I've been looking forward to this album for a while now, having kept apprised of some of the new road songs through concert postings on YouTube, etc. There are some good tunes on the new album that suffer in the vocals and instrumentation from the concert versions. The lyrics haven't changed (much). The music simply isn't as good. There are several tracks that don't flow well and don't have good rhythm. It pains me to write this criticism about one of my favorite singers.

I accept that each artist does what they think is right and what sounds right. "Give Up the Ghost" is Ms. Carlile's album. I am a listener. But to my ears, this album could have been much better. Perhaps part of the reason is the time lapse since "The Story" was released. Many of the songs on "... Ghost" have been bouncing around on the road for two years. The band may know them a little too well. Something that worked on "The Story" was that producer T-Bone Burnett took them out of their comfort zone by having them use unfamiliar instruments. As a result, that album had freshness... it had an edge. Similar to something from my college days, when you're taking an exam, you should almost always stick with the answer you gave first. It's when you go back and second-guess yourself that you often run into problems. There has no doubt been pressure to tour as much as the band does in order to build up the fan base, but "... Ghost" should have been done sooner.

Also a small disappointment, the new album should have been titled with the more familiar "Giving Up the Ghost." If you're going to use phraseology, use the phrase that rolls off the tongue. "Give Up..." is stilted, not as natural. What's more, I don't understand the decision to go with command sentence form, as if the listener is supposed to "give up the ghost." Grammatically speaking, the track "If There Was No You" should be "If There Were No You." Ms. Carlile actually dropped out of high school to focus on her music. I'm not generally in favor of this choice, but I also recognize that the broad structure of high school just isn't for some people who are exceptionally gifted in one area of study and exceptionally devoid in other areas. Some people's brains are just not wired for science and math. High school has zero-tolerance of/for this fact. Still, Brandi would benefit immensely from Professor Jambeck's "The English Language" grammar course.

(Image © The Beaumont Club)