2019 NCAA ACADEMIC BRACKET

I may have missed last year's Academic Bracket, but here is this year's.  Visit this site for the story accompanying the bracket, and fore an image that can be enlarged.

A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

 

This past weekend we attended the "Hippy Bluegrass Church" at eTown in Boulder.  Classic Planet Boulder with the message being "guilt free gospel" with one bluegrass song's refrain being "You go to your church, I'll go to mine."  Lots of good music, and here is one of my favorites tunes of the day, with a gospel and bluegrass version:

Each day I'll do a golden deed
By helping those who are in need
My life on earth is but a span
And so I'll do the best I can

Life's evening sun is sinking low
A few more days and I must go
To meet the deeds that I have done
Where there will be no setting sun

The only life that will endure
Is one that's kind and good and pure
And so for God I'll take my stand
Each day I'll lend a helping hand

Life's evening sun is sinking low
A few more days and I must go
To meet the deeds that I have done
Where there will be no setting sun

While going down life's weary road
I'll try to lift some traveler's load
I'll try to turn the night to day
Make flowers bloom along the way

Life's evening sun is sinking low
A few more days and I must go
To meet the deeds that I have done

Where there will be no setting sun

PANCHO AND LEFTY

I love playing this song with friends.  Previous video disappeared....so

Living on the road my friend was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron and your breath's as hard as kerosene
You weren't your mama's only boy but her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye and sank into your dreams

Poncho was a bandit boy, his horse was fast as polished steel
He wore his gun outside his pants for all the honest world to feel
Poncho met his match you know on the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dyin' words ah but that's the way it goes

All the Federales say they could've had him any day
They only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose

Lefty he can't sing the blues all night long the way he used to
The dust that Poncho bit down south ended up in Lefty's mouth
Day they laid poor Poncho low Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go there ain't nobody knows

All the Federales say they could've had him any day
They only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose

The poets tell how Poncho fell and Lefty's living in a cheap hotel
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold and so the story ends we're told
Poncho needs your prayers it's true but save a few for Lefty too
He only did what he had to do and now he's growing old

A few great Federales say could've had him any day
They only let him go so long out of kindness I suppose

A few great Federales say could've had him any day
They only let him go so long out of kindness I suppose

LIFE EXPECTANCIES

One of my many cousins recently commented on the longevity of the Plank/Aschliman clan, and it got me to think about how longevity data are presented.  We generally hear about the "average" age of lifespan/death for males and females in the US, which is the mean.  However, I was interested to find out the median, the age at which half of the folks are alive and half are dead, and the mode, the age at which most people die.  I found such data at this website, some of which are below:

So with regard to lifespans:

Mean life expectancy would be the average age at death,
Median life expectancy would be the age which 50% of people will die prior to reaching, and which 50% of people will live past, and
Mode life expectancy would be the most common age at death.

Here is the frequency of male deaths by age

Thus, from this chart we can see the infant mortality is significant, that the average/mean age at death is 76, the median age is just past 80, and the mode is 86.  As would be expected, if you reach a certain age, say 60, these number shift to the right a bit - if you make it to 60, the average/mean becomes 81.5, the median becomes 82.5 and the mode becomes 89.  And the numbers for females are several years higher.  Of course these shifts to older ages have a finite limit since everyone dies sooner or later!!!

CUMBRE VIEJA

Lots of folks like to envision "the big one" in California and all of the destruction that would ensue, but not too many think about the effect that Cumbre Vieja, or the "old summit" on La Palma in the Canary Islands, might have on the eastern US from the northeast to Florida.

The fear is that the Cumbre Vieja might fail, and if it does so in one complete collapse, the crumbling mountain falling into the ocean would cause a mega tsunami that would quickly spread across the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is a simulation of the tsunami:

So, not too worried about this here in the Rockies!!

THE APOSTATE'S GREED

 

There was a bit of a kerfuffle a while back at the funeral of President George H.W. Bush.  President Trump and Melania declined to read along with the recitation of the Apostles' Creed while all of the other former Presidents and First Ladies joined in.  I thought it a bit odd at the time, and awaited to see what the responses might be.  I expected the hard-core, evangelical right wingers would be quick to give a pass, and I was not let down.

Franklin Graham compared Trump’s failure to recite the creed (which declares belief in God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit) to his own unwillingness to sing in church.

Robert Jeffress opined "There are times in my own church services when I fail to sing the hymns or recite the Scripture because I’m distracted by my own thoughts. I imagine the leader of the free world has a few things on his mind, as well."

Good old boy Ted Nugent claimed "The president participated in a public ceremony in his capacity as head of state, not as a Presbyterian.  As such, he has no obligation to declare those theological truths, or any others, aloud in public."

And Jesse Lee Peterson, a far-right radio host and Christian pastor, has a defense for Trump’s seemingly un-Christian characteristics. According to Peterson, the Creed is a “phony act” that is not a “Christian thing to be reciting.”

But the video below takes the cake.  It's worth watching the whole thing, but is essence, Melania has recruited The Donald to join the Remnant Catholic Church who claim to be the only true Christians. And as such, they cannot participate in any church rituals other than of the Remnant Church.