TBWAIN - AKA Jeff Svare's Blog

Back on 12 July 2018, City Weekly ran a story on the Orem Colonial Heritage Festival called, Breaking Chains, Building Links . It's an excellent piece, detailing efforts to raise the understanding of what life was like in Colonial America. One part of the story brought front and center to me the lousy job we are doing of teaching children about American History. "On Day 2 of the festival, actors playing James Madison and Patrick Henry workshopped their ideas in front of a large crowd, asking how to set up a system of checks and balances to dilute presidential power and how to preserve the rights of individual Americans. Turning their attention to who should be allowed to have a voice in the political process, faux Madison and Henry mentioned that each slave's voice should constitute three-fifths of a vote. A young white girl around 10 years old slid toward the edge of her seat and interjected loud enough that her voice carried above the crowd.  "Slaves should c...

Lots of commentary and opinion has been thrown around regarding the Trump administration's decision to include a question on citizenship in the next census. Lots of people have weighed in on it, and made statements both accurate and inaccurate, but I haven't seen any one of them yet say anything about what's been asked in previous censuses. I'm going to do that here. But first, Why does the United States take a census anyway? Taking of a census is mandated by the United States Constitution, Article I, section 2:     "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct." What's the data used for? To determine the representation of each state in the House of Representatives. The 14th amendment to the Constitution accomplishes several things: It established the basis for citizenship in the United States...

I haven't posted much at all this year, despite having a few things that I seriously considered posting. Not much has changed since last year. American politics is still divisive, the parties are polarized, as is the electorate.  It's really hard to understand how anyone can think that any one group has an exclusive monopoly on good ideas.  Politicians are smart.  The electorate is stupid and has a short memory. Baseball is still a great game, even though it's a business.  The Twins have a new manager, new uniforms, new players, and my daughter's BFF is coming back to play for them.  Let's see if the organization is willing to do what they need to have a winning team on the field.  Spring training is less than 100 days. Pantone has named Marsala the color of the year for 2015.  I don't know why I check this every year, but I do.  It must be one other way for my OCD to manifest itself. Ring out the old, ring in the new .  Happy New Y...

On 24 July the Twins sent Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners in trade. Rhett Bollinger, the MLB.com reporter for the Twins, reported Twins GM Terry Ryan saying this about Morales: "It's disappointing, because he was a good fit." Ron Gardenhire said Morales "was a run producer." I think he was a waste of time and money. Morales produced 12 runs, 18 RBI, and left 70 on base in 39 games. That is not run production. I'm a fan of linear weights, and think they do a great job showing a player's offensive contribution. If you aren't familiar with linear weights, here's a little primer . Linear weights is a simple stat, and I like those. There are a lot of other stats I feel are over-complicated and don't really add that much insight. C'mon, does it really matter how a player bats wearing a colored jersey in day games in outdoor parks with the relative humidity at 84% and an ebb tide? Here's a chart showing Morales...

For years now there's a song that's been stuck in the back of my head, that makes its presence known around All Hallow's Eve . I know I learned it in elementary school, probably in third grade or earlier. So I must have been at Carl Ben Eielson. The old one, not that new middle school they built where the track was. Every time I thought of it, I could only remember the first two verses. It was driving me nuts. Finally, last night, I decided to see if I could find the lyrics on the Internet. And I did. Now so you can enjoy it too, here it is. Hallowe-e-en the witch is flying high. Have you se-e-en her shadow in the sky? So beware, don't you dare to even gloat or ghost will come and scare, if you dare. And it will come and pull... your...hair. The hyphens in Halloween and seen are to help you get the meter of the song. It's just not the same without it. Anyone else remember this?

When I read this, it just made my day. Arthur Dent watched his world die for the last time. The porthole frame made the whole event look like it was happening on TV. An early episode of Doctor Who , perhaps, when the special effects were charming but not so sophisticated. I can almost see the wires , thought Arthur. Eoin Colfer, And Another Thing... p.62 Don't you feel better now, too?