Texting at the Friendly Confines

CHICAGO — It had been roughly 15 years since my last trip to the Friendly Confines. After reading Bill Simmons complain this month that Wrigley Field has lost its old-school baseball experience now that "three-fourths of the crowd is texting or checking their BlackBerrys during the game,"¹ I wanted to see for myself.

Here are my pictures from the game.

Please judge for yourself whether there was too much focus on fans and their BlackBerry/iPhone/Droid/Evo devices. Thank you to Mark for the great seats.

¹Come to think of it, Simmons wasn't really complaining — more like observing.

Why do terrorists hate us?

When Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty this week to plotting to blow up Times Square, he "warned more such attacks would come unless the U.S. leaves Muslim countries."¹

George W. Bush frequently said that terrorists hate our freedom, which never made sense to me. In Shahzad, we have a terrorist telling us in his own words exactly what they hate.

Ironically, the U.S. has a military presence in Muslim countries (Turkey and Saudi Arabia, for instance) only because of the need to defend ourselves from terrorists who are angry with us due to that presence.

I don't advocate that we negotiate with terrorists, but I think it's worth examining our options at stopping terrorism and whether it is more effective to do so with metal detectors and quart-sized PVC bags or reduced military presence in Muslim countries.


¹This quote comes from reporter Donna Leinwand of USA Today.

What matters most in writing: physical elevation

"You cannot put credible newspapers or television stations in the same sentence as tweeters. You cannot lump legit Internet posts with a blog that begins in some guy's basement."
— Mitch Albom, June 17, 2010


"For years I wrote in my basement. More recently I graduated to one floor above."
— Mitch Albom, Dec. 18, 2009

Foot flushing

NEW YORK — As a solution to the problematic hand-washing process in public bathrooms, many people flush with their feet. That made a lot of sense to me until I saw the above sign, which reads: "Please flush with your [hands] not with your [feet]."

Why is it bad to flush with your feet? Granted, the bottoms of shoes are not the model of cleanliness, but there are two reasons that shouldn't matter:

1. If everyone flushed with their feet, no hands would be exposed.
2. The very next thing everyone is doing is washing their hands anyway.