Friends of my heart,

For yet another week the anonymous gunman (everyone seems to believe
it is a male) is running around the Washington area, having decided,
in his infinite wisdom, to singlehandedly remind the 3 million or so
denizens of this region of their mortality almost on a daily basis.
Thank you, gunman, for reminding us that death will be here any day,
and forcing us to appreciate life, people, and nature even more. In
fact a dozen of us went on a hike to the Blue ridge mountains last
saturday, and it was great to get out of the city and be in the forest
after a while.

This week I have reverted back to the usual format, and there are more
questions than answers. Hope you will answer some of them.
Sankar

Random thoughts (22)
10/23/02

1. Watching games on tape serves several purposes. It saves time, you
don't have to watch commercials, you can replay interesting sequences
as much as you like, and when you are really anxious to know the
result,  you can simply rush through the whole thing on fast-forward
and thus reduce the strain on the nerves. And, in case you
accidentally end up knowing the result, you can simply enjoy the game
for what it is instead of the soap opera element.

2. Some elementary numerical facts from watching the baseball
championships: a) When the pitcher is throwing at close to 100 mph,
the ball reaches the bat in slightly less than half a second. b)  When
you are hitting a sacrifice fly, the higher you hit it, the more time
the runner has. If you want the ball to go the farthest, you should
hit it at a 45 degree angle (these two facts need basic calculus for
proving).  (c) If you add up the distances travelled by the ball in
all of Barry Bonds' home-run hits, the total is about 42 miles, the
distance from San Francisco to Napa.

3. I have written, in these pages, about people who do great harm to
others. (famous quaote from Stalin: "If one person dies, it is a
tragedy. If a million die, it is a statistic"). But I have a more
basic question. How does such a person sleep at night? What is this
thing called conscience, and what happens to it in such cases?

4. I never am quite sure when to help others and how much. It is a
question I have been wrestling with a lot, and have never been able to
answer it satisfactorily, except to say, "As long as my intentions are
good, it is okay." Can we ever really help anyone? Many wise men have
said that the only people whom we ever help are only ourselves, even
when we think we are helping others.When does help degenerate into
co-dependency? Is it true that the people who really need help and can
be helped never ask for it? Is it better for the world if everyone
just looks after himself / herself?

5. I was reading excerpts from Kurt Cobain's diary in the Newsweek.
Looks like the kid might have done something bigger had he not fallen
prey to addiction. Certainly some people are more prone to addiction
than others. But what causes it? Perhaps people who are more capable
of pleasure and excitement are also more vulnerable to addiction? or
is it the reverse--people who are more susceptible to depression and
gloominess?

6. Now for some funny quotes:

a) A question that begs a question: The headline for an article by
Bill Reilly on cnnsi.com:"If animals have a bill of rights, don't
sports fans deserve one?"

b) Restaurants are always trying to come up with menus that are funny
and funky. But I thought the menu at Colonial Inn in Leesburg
genuinely funny and funky. Here is one item that I found truly
hilarious: Captain's pleasure--Captain Erik Styveson out of Norfolk
based his sandwich on the design of his 3 level ships. His triple
decker sandwich made of layers of turkey-breast, bacon, lettuce and
tomato....



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