Odds and ends, 4/1/08

Disappointing news story of the day: Paparazzi are descending on Miley Cyrus, just as they did Britney and Lindsay, and the girl seems to like it. (Warning: This is a link to a CNN video segment).

Here's hoping she avoids the mistakes made by those two train wrecks. Miley's advantage appears to be her father, but the man can do only so much to keep a teenage girl in check. Don't ask me how I know that. I used to have all the answers on childrearing. Then I had kids of my own.

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Al Gore is back, curse the luck.

He plans to spend $300 million on an ad campaign to get something going to fight global warming.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Vice President Al Gore launched a three-year, multimillion-dollar advocacy campaign Monday calling for the U.S. to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The Alliance for Climate Protection's campaign, dubbed "we," will combine advertising, online organizing and partnerships with grass-roots groups to educate the public about global warming and urge solutions from elected officials.

"We're trying to get a movement happening to switch public opinion so that our leaders feel, 'Wow! We really need to make this a top priority issue,'" alliance CEO Cathy Zoi told The Associated Press.

Here's one part I don't like:

The campaign is also working through partnerships with groups like the Girl Scouts. The group's 2.7 million members will take a climate action pledge and the alliance will provide them with kits offering suggestions for projects they can do in their neighborhoods.

Now when an earnest little kid comes to my door asking me to help in the fight against global warming, I will have to tell her:

a. Contrary to what Al Gore tells you, the science is not settled and the debate is not over.

b. No, I'm not buying any of those carbon credits Gore just happens to sell.

c. Come back when you're ready to talk about solar cycles, long-term climate cycles and other things that probably affect climate as much as whether I drive a car that gets 20 mpg or 25 mpg.

d. Thank you, and when she's gone I'll gripe about adults who recruit idealistic kids for political crusades.

Am I the only person not excited about this ad campaign, and am I the only person disappointed in some of the people who have signed up for it? If you need Al Sharpton, Pat Robertson and Newt Gingrich to convince people global warming is a threat that could reach a tipping point within 10 years, I'm not sure those are three people I would want as my spokesmen.

Meanwhile, Gore does not want press coverage of his latest speech.

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And some people in this office think my love of numbers is strange:

ScienceDaily (Jul. 11, 2007) — The average career of a Major League Baseball player is 5.6 years, according to a new study by a University of Colorado at Boulder research team. The study also revealed that one in five position players will have only a single-year career, and that at every point of a player's career, the player's chance of ending his career is at least 11 percent.

Normally, that would be more than I want to know, but I have from time to time wondered about how long an athlete can expect to play.

My favorite one-hit wonder was Billy Bates of the Reds in 1990. No hits during the regular season, then one at bat with one hit in the World Series, in which he scored the winning run in the 10th inning of Game 2. Then he was gone. But for one glorious inning. . .

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Speaking of which, I remember a headline in the Cincinnati Enquirer of many years ago:

Minor league star, major league failure
But in 1985, Alan Knicely had two glorious weeks with the Reds

Maybe two weeks or one at-bat is all a person really needs, if they come at the right time.

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I just saw a photo of the Clinton family, and I felt kind of sorry for Chelsea.

Think about it. If her parents are as lying, selfish, egotistical, manipulative and everything else that people say about them, can you imagine growing up in that household?

And what would it be like having Bill and Hillary as in-laws?