Google define a curveball as,
A pitch thrown with a strong downward spin, causing the ball to drop suddenly and veer rot the side as it approaches home plate.
It’s a good enough definition, I guess. It’s not true. Or, at least it’s not completely true.
I’ve heard that when the movie Titanic came out, some people left the theater crying.
“I didn’t know the boat was going to sink!”
I think those stories may have just been over excited journalists looking for a hook. We all knew the ship was going to sink. In fact, it’s the whole reason there’s a movie to be told. Still, we each made the decision to suspend our disbelief and watch the story. Knowing the ending. . .the ultimate ending, didn’t diminish the enjoyment of the storytelling.
Sometimes we don’t, or won’t suspend our disbelief. Today’s Mariners game started at 2:00 PM. I couldn’t watch it. But, I decided I should save it for tonight when I would be writing in my office. The problem was that I couldn’t get to the game without first seeing the score.
Believe me, I tried. Nope. Phillies beat the Mariners 4-2 in Seattle. Guess what I didn’t do this evening? Right, I didn’t watch a game that I already knew the outcome of.
Even thought the game was decided hours before I attempted to watch it, so long as I could suspend my disbelief, I was willing to watch. In fact, I was looking forward to watching.
The curveball is a lie. What’s make a curveball such a devastating pitch is that it refuses to follow the laws of physics. The ball is on a predictable trajectory and then it suddenly veers into a completely different direction. Almost as if someone pushed it.
Candy Cummings invented the curveball in the 1870s. The pitch was not natural. And in fact was banned for a time. Today, it’s one of the most devastating pitches in baseball. It’s the reason that Michael Jordan gave up on his dream to play Major League Baseball. He couldn’t hit it.
Star Trek even had an episode that featured a curveball. Data, the android, was on the holodeck playing a game of baseball. He strikes out on a curveball. Riker says, “It’s an optical illusion.”
That’s also not true.
Curveballs only work because a baseball has raised stitches, 216 of them to be exact. When a pitcher throws a curveball he flicks his wrist on the release to give the ball a very fast spin. That spin is so fast that air gets trapped around the ball. The ball, for a short amount of time acts like it’s a perfect sphere rather than a sphere with raised stitches. Eventually the ball slows enough that the stitches catch the air. It’s at that moment that the ball “breaks.” And it can break by as much as 6″ off it’s expected trajectory. Enough to make big league ball players look foolish swinging at empty air.
Lyman Briggs, a scientist and baseball fan figured out the physics of the curveball in 1959, about 80 years after it was first used. Prior to that (and for many people after) the curveball was thought to be an optical illusion.
Pitchers, even modern pitchers, probably don’t care about the science of the curveball. They simply know that if they grip it a certain way and throw it a particular way, the ball will dive across the plate.
Suspending our disbelief is not required to appreciate a curveball. But, it is a deliberate choice on our part when we go see a movie, or when we watch a sporting event on “tape delay.”
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Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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Last weekend I replaced the thermostat in my lovely wife’s car. (I Wasn’t Sure That Was Going To Work.) When you replace the thermostat, (it looks like this, BTW)
You have to drain out most of the radiator coolant. The Yukon my lovely wife drives takes 18 quarts of antifreeze. That’s four and a half gallons. I didn’t have to replace all of it, but I certainly needed to replace several gallons.
Antifreeze comes in two flavors and two strengths. The two flavors are green and orange. Generally Japanese cars take green antifreeze. American cars typically take orange. Those are BROAD generalizations. Not every car follows that rule. But, if you are replacing, or even topping off the anti freeze, you should check and figure out which flavor your car needs. It’s not a good idea to mix them.
The Yukon takes orange antifreeze.
The two strengths are “diluted” and ‘full strength.’ If you buy the diluted strength you can immediately add it to your car. It costs about $14 per gallon. If you get full strength, you have to dilute it. Literally you cut it 50/50 with water. And not just ANY water. Tap water is TERRIBLE for your radiator. There’s minerals in tap water that will clog up your radiator.
So, I had a gallon of full strength orange antifreeze and a gallon of distilled water. I also had an empty antifreeze container.
Question: How to ensure they are evenly mixed?
The question would have been easy if the antifreeze containers had a spot on the side to show how full they are. Some antifreeze containers have that. And all containers of oil have it. Unfortunately mine did not.
I could guess, right? I pour “about” half the antifreeze into the empty container and then top it off with water. But, I’m not going to be exact. Chances are 50/50 that I’ll put too much antifreeze in one container and then realize it when I go to fill it up with water. I would be stuck at that point. I would have diluted antifreeze that I couldn’t correct.
I suppose I could have poured the water into the empty container, then poured half the antifreeze into the opaque water jug.
I came up with a different solution that didn’t involve quite so much pouring back and forth.
I poured slightly less than half of the antifreeze into the empty container. Then, I poured exactly half the water into that same container. I then “topped off” that container with antifreeze. Since I knew there was exactly a half gallon of water and the container was a one gallon container, I didn’t have to measure the antifreeze. I just had to make sure there was less than half a gallon when started.
It’s not quite the riddle from Die Hard. But, I felt pretty pleased. (And the car no longer was overheating, so that was a bonus.)
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Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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In fact, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work.
My lovely wife drives a 2005 Yukon. It’s our “big” car while I drive a 1994 Toyota Corolla. When we are running errands together we take her car. Last week it was overheating. Just driving around, the coolant temperature would spike. It even started displaying COOLANT HOT in the display screen.
Do you know what you do when your car overheats?
First you check the coolant level. If that’s okay, the second thing is to replace the thermostat.
So, Saturday morning, it was off to the parts store to get a new thermostat and then to Walmart to get orange antifreeze.
PRO TIP: Don’t buy your antifreeze or oil at the auto parts store. You’ll save a lot of money by making a second stop at Walmart.
Every auto repair has three stages
- Disassembly
- Repair
- Reassembly
And the quickest of the three is the actual repair. I pulled off air filters and disconnected radiator hoses and just to get to the thermostat housing. It has two bolts. Once it’s out, then it’s a simple job to clean up the area where the seal sits. And replace the thermostat.
Then, it’s reassembly. That’s is sometimes the longest part. After I got it all put back together, I started the engine and let it run.
I was actually surprised when the temperature went to 220 and then didn’t budge.
Maybe my mechanic knew what he was talking about.
I’m just glad it worked.
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Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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I noticed a girl sitting on the sidewalk outside my house. It was unusual. I’d never seen her there before. She was probably about 14 years old. And she was using chalk on the sidewalk.
After a while she got up and left. I still didn’t know what she was doing or why she was there.
Later I went out to see what it was she had been drawing.
It was this.
It’s pretty, right? It’s more than that.
Why was she sitting at that particular spot on my sidewalk?
If you look in the direction the young lady was facing. You see this.
This is our “Fairy Garden.” My granddaughter loves to play with these.
I kind of wish Brynn had stuck around. I would have liked to thank her for our graffiti sketch on my sidewalk.
It should last until the next rain storm.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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(WARNING: Baseball post. . .with some basketball thrown in.)
His name doesn’t immediately scream “Baseball Great!” It’s Shohei Ohtani. If you don’t follow baseball you’ve probably never heard of him. He’s Japanese. And he’s probably the best all around baseball player in the past 100 years.
Even if you don’t follow baseball you’ve heard of Babe Ruth. What made Ruth so special was that he could do it all. Baseball players are judged on five “tools.”
- Hitting for power
- Hitting for average
- Speed
- Fielding
- Throwing
A player who is good at all five is called “a five-tool” player. But, it only applies to position players, not the Designated Hitter or the Pitcher.
Babe Ruth could obviously hit for power. He held the record for most home runs in a season and most home runs in a career for many years. Babe Ruth had a lifetime batting average of .342. That’s 8th all time. (Out of more than 15,000 players over 140 years.) He lost speed later in his career. Even early in his career, speed was never his strong point. You don’t need a lot if you hit home runs. And later in his career, he’d stop running on a home run between second and third and just walk the rest of the way. Fielding and throwing he was strong but without stats, it’s hard to quantify it.
But, Ruth is often considered the best player in history. And while known as a hitter, he holds some pretty impressive pitching records, including a career .87 ERA in the World Series. I know, it’s a geeky baseball stat. But, it’s an AMAZING geeky baseball state. That means if Ruth were to pitch an entire 9 inning game, he allowed on AVERAGE .81 runs. Right, he gave up less than 1 run for every nine innings pitched. And he was in the World Series A LOT. He pitched 31 innings. That puts Ruth at #5 all time for best pitching ERA in the World Series.
In fact, Ruth was an exceptional pitcher. But, as a starting pitcher, he would typically only play every fifth game. The Yankees needed him in the lineup more often than that, so he switched to playing the outfield.
Ohtani doesn’t have that issue. Because MLB changed the rules for him.
Sports are supposed to be the great equalizer. The field where each competitor gets to pit their skill against another equally motivated competitor. But, sometimes, once in a generation, a player comes along that is so much better than the rest, the league has to change the rules.
Shaquille O’Neal: Shaq was such a dominating force that teams couldn’t guard him with a single player. But, there was a rule against playing zone defense. The league finally got rid of what was called the illegal defense rule. Teams were allowed to play zone.
W.A. “Candy” Cummings: Okay, you’ve never heard of this guy. Neither had I. And I’m a baseball geek. But, Candy did something that is still impacting the game today. Candy threw the first curveball. You might think that calling a pitch a curveball is just hyperbole. Balls can’t really “curve” in the air. . .can they? They not only can, they do. A curve ball flies straight for a while and then it just “breaks.” For years it was considered an optical illusion. It was only within the last several years that physicists explained that the raised stitches on a baseball cause it to create a different environment. As it slows down the stitches catch the air and the ball breaks. Anyway, Candy invented it. And it was briefly banned. It’s now an important part of the game.
Michael Jordan: Jordan never became a major league ballplayer because he couldn’t hit the curveball. But, he could play basketball. In fact, he could play basketball better than anyone. He was so good that it was impossible for most defenders to stop him driving to the basket off the dribble. Jordan was just too quick. The league decide to allow hand-checking, where the defender was allowed to place a hand on the offensive player. Jordan still dominated the league, but at least it gave the defenders a chance to slow him down.
Wilt Chamberlain: Chamberlain was a phenomenal basketball talent. He was tall. Over seven feet. And he could move. But, he wasn’t a great free throw shooter. Rather than stand at the line and shoot, he would simply jump from the free thrown line and dunk the basketball. The league eventually banned that. And today, there’s a rule that the shooter must stay behind the freethrow line until the ball hits the rim.
So, what’s that have to do with Ohtani?
This year in Major League Baseball there’s an Ohtani rule. Baseball has what’s called the designated hitter (DH.) That’s a player who doesn’t play in the field. He just hits. But, there can only be nine hitters. So, the DH takes the pitchers spot in the batting order.
That’s a problem for the Angels, Ohtani’s team. Also, if a player leave a baseball game, he can’t return. On days Ohtani is not pitching he can be the DH. But, on days he is pitching he normally wouldn’t get to hit. But, he can just bat for himself, right? That’s allowed. But, what about when he’s replaced as a relief pitcher? Normally he’d have to leave the game and the Angels would lose his bat.
The Ohtani rule says that the pitcher can choose to stay in the game.
When your league makes a rule just for one player, that’s a pretty special player.
Shohei Ohtani is a special player.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I don’t know why it has stuck with me all these years. It’s funny the bits and pieces of literature we collect from our childhood, like a random junk drawer. Nothing too important, but each thing we at one point thought was useful to keep.
I kept two lines from a poem I heard in school years ago. I’m not even sure how many years. It could have been 8th grade. It could have been earlier or later. The lines were,
the others respect him
and go slow
. . .
are they their guts or their brains?
It’s a poem about an alien watching cars. Like I said, a random bit of text in my literary junk drawer. Eventually I decided to try to find it. Google can find anything, right?
Right.
The poem is called Southbound On The Freeway by May Swenson. Here’s the entire poem.
A tourist came in from Orbitville,
parked in the air, and said:
The creatures of this star
are made of metal and glass.
Through the transparent parts
you can see their guts.
Their feet are round and roll
on diagrams or long
measuring tapes, dark
with white lines.
They have four eyes.
the two in the back are red.
Sometimes you can see a five-eyed
one, with a red eye turning
on the top of his head.
He must be special
the others respect him,
and go slow
when he passes, winding
among them from behind.
They all hiss as they glide,
like inches, down the marked
tapes. Those soft shapes,
shadowy inside
the hard bodies are they
their guts or their brains?
It’s apparently a very famous poem. There’s plenty of analysis on the internet. At the time I’m sure I was mostly caught by the clever misdirection of showing respect to the five-eyed creature. And, of course, the last line of guts vs brains.
Now that I look at the poem, I see much more. The poem is written in free verse. That means the author didn’t attempt to use rhyme or meter. I disagree with Robert Frost who famously said,
“Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
– Robert Frost
Swenson created 13 two line stanzas. But, unlike traditional verse, she chose to not capitalize the first letter of each line. It makes the reader unsure if the poem is an actual poem or an essay.
The poem itself is masterful. On it’s surface it’s whimsical, silly even. And yet, it forces us to step outside ourselves. We are forced to consider how we and our action look to outsiders. Why do we do the things we do? How does that look?
I had some wonderful English teachers growing up. Ms Thomas, my Freshman and AP English teacher was especially good. I remember things she taught me. And yet, I don’t remember if Southbound On The Freeway was one of her lessons.
Whoever introduced it to me managed to get it stuck in my literary junk drawer. I’m glad I finally took it out and displayed it on the shelf.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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You know when you do everything right and it still goes wrong?
My son and his friend helped me move rocks on Saturday. My son knew what I was asking him to do. We were going to work for an hour or so. He invited two friends. He told one friend what the plan was. The other friend he just said they were going to ‘hang out.’
One friend had other commitments. One did not.
Not surprising which one chose what.
His friend showed up to ‘hang out’ dressed in typical teenager fashion. It was not rock moving fashion.
“If you’d just asked me to come help, I’d have been happy to help. I just would have worn different shoes.”
He’s a good kid. They all are.
Anyway, we worked about 90 minutes and moved 60 rocks. That might not seem like a lot. But, we estimated each rock weighed on average 75 lbs. That works out to about 4500 lbs or just over two tons of rock. Some of the rocks were over 150 lbs.
These 164 rocks will eventually extent the existing rock walls
The pile should be bigger given there are 12,000 lbs and 164 rocks
My son made it through the entire process without a scratch. His friend skinned his knuckles. I didn’t fare so well.
It’s a minor injury as injuries go. But, definitely painful. And colorful.
Yes, it hurt. . .a lot. No, I didn’t cry. . .not that there’s anything wrong with that
People asked me what happened and I explain that I stuck my finger literally between a rock and a hard place. And the rock weighed about 75 lbs.
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Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I had plans.
There was a Mariners baseball game at 6:10.
I missed it.
I had a writers meeting at 7:00.
I missed it.
Instead I had something more important to do.
I’m pretty good fixing cars. But, only the metal parts. I don’t really do the electrical part. My neighbor does. He’s really good at it. That’s probably why I never really learned much about it.
For months we’ve been trying to find time to get together to do work on my lovely wife’s car. As I pulled into my driveway he let me know that,
We’re going to be doing some soldering this evening.
Did I mention he’s doing this as a favor?
So, my other project were put on hold.
We did a couple of different repairs on my lovely wife’s car. First, we rewired an add on taillight strip. My neighbor had helped wire it in originally. But, the first time, I only wired it to the Reverse gear, so that lights would come on when the car was in reverse. For the rest of it, I just plugged it into the trailer lights connector.
My neighbor suggested at the time, that we wire it into the electrical system. I decided not to.
And then the wiring broke.
I didn’t have time to do it right, so now I have to have time to do it over
The second thing we wired was a backup camera. I bought it over a year ago. It needs to be wired into the Reverse gear. Now it is.
More to do, of course. I now have to configure the camera. But, I”m grateful to my neighbor of his help.
And the Mariners lost 0-3 to the Astros.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Flash fiction is typically stories told in less than 1000 words. Here’s a story in 600 words.
“Dad, this isn’t working.” Diane knew he was dying. Why wouldn’t he admit it? Because he was stubborn. He always had been.
“I’ll be fine.”
“No, Dad. You won’t be. You aren’t.” Diane reminded herself to stay calm and remain seated on the old plastic chairs in her father’s kitchen. “You fell in the garage.”
“Workshop,” he corrected her.
“And that’s another thing. You’re too old to be running those power tools. What if something were to happen?”
“I’m not finished yet.”
“This place is too big for you. And since Mom passed I’m worried about you here by yourself. What if you couldn’t reach the phone? Dad, this is the third time I’ve had to come by this month. And it’s not even the 15th.”
“Janie is going to be eight. It’s an important birthday.”
Diane rolled her eyes. There he goes again. More and more lately he would suddenly lose his train of thought in the middle of a conversation. “Dad, you need to move to somewhere where you have people around to help. Please will you let me call Sunnybrook?”
“I wouldn’t have my tools.”
“Argh. You’ve been dragging them around for years. They are just useless junk at this point!”
Her father looked at her and his eyes spoke volumes.
“Dad, don’t be like that. You know I just want what’s best for you.” She could tell that she’d pushed too hard. Maybe Mark was right. He had practically begged her to allow him to draw up the papers to have her dad involuntarily committed.
“You better get going, sweetie. Mark and Janie will be worried.”
“Okay, Dad. But, I’m worried. Will you at least consider it?”
“I have to get back to work.”
Diane knew he would be headed back out to the garage as soon as she left. He’d putter around with his routers and table saw and the rest of his woodworking equipment. His hands were scarred from years of his woodworking hobby. There was a time when he had made cabinets and desks; bookshelves and various other odds and ends. But, his health was declining fast.
“I’ll be by tomorrow with dinner. Do you have enough leftovers for today? Maybe I’ll bring Janie.”
“Yes. I should be finished by then.”
And again he was off on a wandering trip in his mind. As Diane walked out to her Subaru Outback she could hear the sander start up in the garage.
The next day the house was suspiciously quiet when she pulled up at 4:00. She’d gotten Janie from school and then picked up the casserole she’d made the night before.
“Janie, stay in the car.”
“But, I want to see Papa.”
“Maybe later. Now I need to you stay here and hold the casserole. Just for a minute.”
The door opened easily at her touch.
“Dad?” Her voice echoed through the empty house.
She found him where she both knew and feared she would. He was seated as if asleep. His chisels laid aside as if to be picked up again after a brief rest.
Her tears sprang unbidden. The door to the house swung shut behind her as she descended the three steps in the garage. She took his hand and kneeled down beside his chair. The hand was cold. Sawdust clung to his faded blue jeans. It was only then that she noticed what he’d been working on.
In the middle of the garage, surrounded by bits of wood and the ever present sawdust sat the chest. Three feet long and about half that tall. On the lid was carved the letters J-A-I-N-E above a simple carved heart. Below it was the word H-O-P-E.
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Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Much has been made of how to give feedback. Every manager knows, or should know, that there are rules when you give feedback. First one is:
Praise in public
Criticize in private
You don’t embarrass your team members. Another important rule about giving feedback.
Tell your team it’s all about you
Tell other people it’s all about them
A leader who gives away all the credit invariably gets viewed as a deserving much of the credit.
One other essential rule is called the “feedback sandwich.”
Start with praise on what they are doing right
Follow up with feedback on what you want to see improved
Finish up with more praise or confidence in their ability to achieve
There are entire books devoted to the topic. I’ve read enough of them that I recognize when someone is using these techniques on me. It doesn’t bother me, but it’s like being reminded that the actors in the movie is just a bunch of people reciting other people’s words.
But, what about when you get feedback? How do you want it delivered?
It doesn’t matter if you know someone is using “good management” feedback techniques on you. They are good because they work. And because they work they are good.
But, if you are aware of the techniques, you MIGHT be self aware enough to realize what they are supposed to accomplish. And if you realize that, you could also skip the softer parts.
Should you?
I had a writing mentor. We were fast friends and I had the utmost confidence in his ability as a writer and in his support of me. Dave could have told me anything. And the more brutal the feedback, the more I would appreciate it. Why? Because if Dave gave me brutal feedback it was absolutely true.
Would I feel bad?
Sure. But, because my writing was bad, not because I thought *I* was bad.
Now, just to be clear, Dave didn’t give me brutal feedback. He gave me very encouraging feedback. It was also specific and actionable.
But, would I have preferred weaker feedback with a gentle hand or more brutal feedback?
I think I would prefer the brutal feedback. I’m a pretty confident person. I won’t be crushed by someone telling me an unpleasant truth.
I wasn’t always like that. Early in my career I had a horrible manager who scarred me for years to come because he was such a bad manager.
Recently I had a bad manager at a previous company. I had learned. I had improved. I had become tougher.
So, it’s important to give feedback carefully. But, you should also consider how you receive feedback.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved