Last year the Republican and Democratic national committees laid down the rules for when states could schedule their primaries. Florida and Michigan both decided unilaterally that they were not going to wait until after Super Tuesday and scheduled their primaries early. Both states were tired of the races being over before they got their say, and felt states like theirs with important voting blocks should have a say in the primary outcomes.

Both committees threatened sanctions against the states, and neither side backed down. So now we stand mired in a quandary: if the committees stand firm they risk alienating large voting blocks; if they give in, pandemonium will ensue next primary season as every state ignores the committee guidelines. Face it, coverage of the last several Democratic primaries have all had similar themes -- "this is the first time West Virginia has had a say in the primary..." States dig this opportunity, and at the local level this gets more people interested in registering and voting.

I don't know how this will play out for this year. (Personally I think every registered voter who wants to vote should be able to do so, and that vote should count.) For next time, though, I propose a solution before the problems start.

• Let Iowa and New Hampshire go first, they'll have a fit otherwise. As every parent knows, sometimes you just have to let the little ones have their way if you want any peace.
• For the rest of the states, schedule primary dates for Super Tuesday, not so super Monday, etc. so that you have the right number of total primaries.
• Hold a lottery draw to fill in the slots for those primaries. This way, Montana and South Dakota and New Mexico won't always be the last ones -- they could luck into a Super Tuesday slot!

Food for thought... Anticipate the problem and come up with a solution BEFORE it rears its ugly head.
 

The latest issue of Time carries the story "Is it time to invade Burma?" They describe the devastation of Cyclone Nargis as it slammed into the Irrawaddy Delta last week, and the inability/unwillingness of the military junta to embrace international aid to their stricken populace.

Is the answer here to "force" assistance? Is the answer to render aid in spite of the wishes of the Burmese government? This is a hard one to swallow. On one hand, the humanitarian perspective says "it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission." On the other hand, the "rightness" of forcing our values and sense of justice on a sovereign nation is at the core of the current opposition to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

It isn't easy being the good guy... 

Democrats raised holy hell back in the presidential election of 2001, where voting irregularities in Florida were cited as evidence that not all votes were being counted. It's somewhat ironic that the same issue has once again raised its ugly head in this year's primary season, only this time it's Florida and Michigan voters that are being disenfranchised. The main difference, of course, is that a large portion of the Democratic faithful (those who pull for Obama) are the ones being accused by a different large portion of the Democratic faithful (those pulling for Hillary) of ignoring the will of the people.

Amidst this ongoing tempest, it's interesting to see that in yesterday's Guam primary the difference between winner Barack Obama and loser Hillary Clinton was a scant seven votes. SEVEN. That's like a few friends who decided to vote before going to a movie.

I guess every vote does count, as long as you don't live in Florida or Michigan. 

I read an interesting article this morning on the UW Oshkosh website entitled "Publishers: Professor Drive Up Book Prices" that had me laughing out loud.

A regional manager from a major textbook publisher claimed that "the high cost of paper and fuel also contributed to a rise in text prices but said millions of dollars in profits are lost because professors practice book buying." Now I know this manager -- she's a very nice person, but I can't believe that she really believes the profs are at fault here.

A bit of background... A typical sales rep calls on hundreds of professors over the course of a semester, which is probably way too many to give each of them really good sales service and attention. So, the industry practice is the begin the semester selling season by shipping out thousands -- yes, I said thousands -- of free textbooks that their profs might be interested in. These are books that the profs probably haven't asked about, or for. They're just shipped out, thousands of books for free, so the sales reps can subsequently contact the prof and fish for the sale.

The cost of shipping these free books (called desk copies) is factored into the initial pricing decisions. In other words, the textbook publishers know beforehand that they will forego hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales by sending these textbooks out for free.

Now comes the fun part. The prof, who never asked for the book to begin with and may not even think it's any good, gets asked by a third-party book buyer if s/he has any textbooks they want to sell. When was the last time you were in a prof's office? It isn't like they have lots of room for these unwanted books, so they say sure. (They were probably going to be thrown out anyway.)

So suddenly the professors are at fault for cleaning unwanted, unsolicited textbooks out their office?

One of the things I learned in business classes is not to blame your customers for your own problems. It doesn't help you solve anything, and you run the risk of alienating your customers. Perhaps the textbook publishers ought to refresh their business sense with one of their own textbooks.

I drink alot of coffee, perhaps too much. (OK, not perhaps. Definitely too much.) Anyway, had to laugh at this story on BBC about animal dung coffee being sold in London.

First of all, I'm appalled that anybody would put anything into Jamaican Blue Mountain. It is the best coffee I've ever had, and should not be spoiled with any sort of mixer -- not cream, not sugar, nothing. Drink it black to enjoy the flavor. Anyway, they mix it with Kopi Luwak beans (of which I've never heard before), which are apparently really good.

So where does the animal dung come into play? According to the article, the Kopi Luwak beans are eaten by the Asian palm civet, which only eats the best beans. The civet's digestive system breaks down the flesh of the fruit, leaving the bean undigested when it is "passed".

The "passed" beans are harvested and, in a critical processing step, thoroughly washed. The cleansed beans are then roasted, mixed, brewed, etc. yielding what must be one mean cup of Crappuccino.

No animal dung is harmed in the making of this coffee. Still, some people will drink anything, I guess. 

My brother brought his digital SLR camera to Tampa, and told me he bought a new lens. Wow! It's a 100/400 zoom, and it looks alot like a small thermos. Hook it up to the front of your camera, though, and you can count the catcher's nosehairs from the centerfield bleachers.

Joe must have taken about 300 shots, many of which were guys taking pitches or swinging and missing. He did catch some interesting poses and subjects, and I've been endeavoring to post some up here.

Check the Spring Training folder under the list of my blog entries to see such highlights as Billy Crystal's "Shot heard round the coffee table" and Ryan Howard's unique take on the Presidential election... 

The players play on, but my time among them is done. I boarded a plane yesterday evening for the long flight home, and this morning am back into the swing of things. (A bit bleary eyed to be sure, but back.)

I've done this spring training thing a few years now, and it's always been a great way to recharge the cells and remind me of the great times I had playing ball and watching games as a kid. Life tends to get more serious as we get older, despite our best efforts to the contrary. Trips like these, though, can help us push back against that trend, even if only for a short time and for only a little bit.

He's hosted the Oscars, starred in movies, and sold out stand-up comedy shows, but over the last couple of days Billy Crystal has lived his lifelong dream. Since his first trip to Yankee Stadium as a kid (as he relates in his movie City Slickers), he's wanted to be a New York Yankee. Yesterday afternoon, he finally got his chance.

Granted, he just turned 60 today and was never a great athlete. Still, he worked out with the club, did his stretching and running and fielding and batting practice just like the other rookies. (I think probably Yogi was the only Yankee in camp who could actually call him "kid"...) When his turn finally came as leadoff hitter in the game, the crowd gave him a rousing ovation through every pitch, as if encouraged just by his temerity to stand there. Sure, he struck out swinging, but not before he knocked a good shot foul down the first base line. Lost in the reporting, though, was this accomplishment: in true recent Yankee fashion, he worked the pitcher and made him throw six pitches to get him out.

Billy didn't smack a homer, or even get on base. Still, the effort and preparation was enough to cement the day in his mind for years to come. He reminded us of the value of dreams, and to never give up on them. It was an honor to sit in the stands and watch him strike out.

I'd pay alot of money to get the same chance, and I have enough confidence in my own abilities to be sure that I, too, could get up there in the batters box and strike out...

Hell, I'd pay alot of money just to listen to Billy and Yogi talk...

Forgot to mention this the other day.

In addition to the wonderful sights and smells and feeling in the air, there are some great things to listen to at the ballpark. (Apart from the Discovery channel pair I described two days ago...)

Most fans chat about the game, their favorite players, the chances their team has this season, and how much they hate their rivals. Occasionally, though, you get a snippet of humor intermingled with the banter.

Case in point: two people joking with each other over the course of the game. At one point the man asks: "Who's pitching?" The woman responds: "It's the guy standing on the mound, don't you know anything about this game?"

Priceless. 

Watched the Yankees and Rays battle it out today with a hit batter, several ejections, and a bench-clearing incident. (In fact, Shelley Duncan got thrown out twice in one play -- once trying to stretch a single into a double, and once for sliding in high and sparking a near-fight.)

Still, the incident that stands out in my mind also happened near second base, but a couple of hours earlier. During Yankees batting practice, Yankee coach Stump Merrill was chatting with players near the second base screen when he got hit accidentally with a thrown ball. Help was immediately called in, with concerned players milling about as medical techs took him away on a stretcher. Batting practice wass resumed, and the game played on.

Just checked through the local broadcast news and ESPN, both of which covered the "fight" but neither of which seemed to acknowledge the Merrill story which had more of an injury to report. In fact, I didn't even know it was Stump Merrill or the circumstances of the incident until two days later.

We may at times treat these games as the most important thing in the world, but it's incidents like this -- the Stump Merrill one, not the "brawl" -- that put it in perspective.