1920 Cox / Roosevelt Ticket

James M. Cox was born on this day in 1870.  He was Democratic nominee for President in 1920.  You will recognize his running mate.  He is modern day Cox Communications.  They were soundly defeated by a GOP ticket of Harding and Coolidge.

This pin is 'the flagship', 'the holy grail' of buttons of the American political memorabilia collecting hobby (along with a few other Cox / Roosevelt jugate buttons). (I do not own it).

Giancarlo Stanton - A Reason to Read The Box Scores in 2018

Giancarlo Stanton has amazing, mammoth power. He is an amazing athlete. And to top it off, in 2018 he is a New York Yankee hitting in the line-up just behind 6 feet 9 in, 285 lb. Aaron Judge. 

For a baseball fan, the most exciting play in all of sports is a home run.  The most prized records in all of sports are home run records.  Stanton will make this baseball season most exciting.  He hit 59 home runs in 2017.  He has begun the 2018 season with two tape measure shots in his opening game as a New York Yankee.

Stanton's HR in the first inning of Opening Day measured 426 feet. The exit velocity was measured at 117.3 mph, the fastest for a batted ball at Rogers Centre in Toronto since Statcast began tracking in 2015. The previous fastest exit velocity at the park was held by Judge (113.6 mph).

According to MLB.com, Stanton's first-inning homer also had the hardest exit velocity for any home run hit to the opposite field since Statcast has tracked such things. His homer in the ninth to straightaway center off Tyler Clippard wasn't quite as hard (109.4 mph) as the first, but it did travel farther (434 feet).

Stanton hit 39 home runs in a short minor league season in Greensboro in 2008.  He will definitely provide reason to read the box scores in 2018.  Take a look at his opening day shot here.  Enjoy the summer.  At this point, he is the most Ruth-esque player of our lifetime.

Genetic Testing - Brief Summary

Fascinating is the human genome project and services such as 23andme.  Do we want to know that we have a genetic mutation that predicts Alzheimer's disease, cancers, asthma, obesity, diabetes, etc.?

Genetic testing is the process of having your DNA sequenced and associating your DNA sequence with possible health outcomes.  Genetic testing can predict possible health outcomes for you and your children.

DNA consists of 4 bases: G, A, T, and C. Your entire genetic makeup (your genome) consists of 3,000,000,000 base pairs in a specific order.  All of us are 99.5% identical at the DNA level.  That, of course, means we are unalike related to 150,000,000 base pairs.

As we inherit gene combinations from our parents, and as they are mapped, simple genetic diseases become predictable. But most human traits are multi-factorial. That is, most traits, including many chronic diseases, are the end result of multiple factors. These factors are be both genetic and environment (nature and nurture).

The relative impact of genetic versus environmental factors varies in each case, making many diseases hard to predict from genetic information  Each disease may have both positive and negative genetic inputs: the balance a of your personal genetics, in addition to environmental factors, ultimately determine your risk of disease.

We now know genetic risk factors for many diseases including Alzheimer's, cancers, asthma, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and others. I encourage you to read about 23andme and learn more.  We are just beginning to understand many of the genetic inputs into human disease, but the science has progressed amazing fast due to technology enhancements, and the benefits to managing health outcomes related to what we learn can be huge.

......Another fascinating Elon University Life-Long Learning Class, presented by Elon Professor Dave Parker, PhD., Biochemist and Applied Molecular Biologist (University of Manchester (UK),  University of Michigan, and Duke University).  

Writing Your All-Important Life Story

I feel moved to write a short encouragement to you regarding your personal story.  Do not leave this world without telling people who you are.  I have taken a shot at it.  It, like my life, is a work in progress.

My course at Elon University yesterday (I am in a life-long learning program for people over age 55) was about writing your life story.  It was taught by a past Elon Chaplain who specializes in this subject.  

To get started, he encourages prospective writers to begin by writing paragraphs about memories that matter.  Additionally, he asks such questions as: what places have you called home?  Who were the key people in those places? Who were your mentors and what was their story? What key events shaped your life?....within your family or friends, and what national or world events? Recall a moment when you found your own voice, spoke up for yourself, and in doing so announced a perspective to the world different from your friends or family.

When did your life take an unexpected or unwanted change? Was that change harmful or beneficial in the long run? We're encouraged to explore vocational choices, our faith perspective and core values, skills that enriched our lives, special trips/vacations we took, special interests/hobbies.  He encourages us to reflect upon our childhood, adolescence, adulthood, matures years, our families and professional life, our intimate friendships. We are encouraged to be open and honest and to think about the big questions. Where have we been?  What have we done with our lives?

And very importantly to me, we must reflect on, nearly daily, and make a part of our story, what are we doing with our lives now, and where are we going.  What are our plans and dreams and goals for our lives going forward? How will we continue to be the people God would have us be?  How will we continue to enjoy and enrich our lives, the lives of others, and contribute to a better world?  

Again, I encourage to you to begin this process. Reflect. Maybe begin by telling your story to a trusted friend. There is a great deal of help on google under 'how to write my memoir.'  Happy reflecting. Go tell your story.  Final tips:

Why write about your life?


12. To find you: You won’t know how brilliant you are until you see yourself on paper where you’re honest, not judging yourself and no one is watching.

Write to hear your voice.

11. To find the next step on your path: To consider where to go next, it helps to understand how your past choices got you to today.

Write where you’ve been.

10. Because there is value in remembering: You write, and you remember. Writing pulls from places we don’t visit in our daily lives.

Write to remember.

9. Because you’re bound to learn something: Writing about your life gets you to wondering why something happened, or how you got this way.

Write to dig deeper.

8. To feel better: Your story may have some pain in it. On the page the fear is gone, the sting relieved.

Write to get through the tough parts.

7. Because you have a lot to be grateful for: You’re fortunate—in your family, living in this time, being loved.

Write to tap into your gratitude.

6. To pass on some enlightenment: You’ve learned a lot in your experiences, travels, and relationships. You’re a warehouse of wisdom.

Write to share your message.

5. To show the rest of you: There is more to you than spouse, worker, sibling and friend. You have opinions, feel passionately, and live with your heart.
Write to show your full self.

4. To share the strength and the failures: If you decide to let someone read your writing, (and you don’t have to) you just might spare your reader having to learn the hard way.

Write to share your story.

3. To get your side of things on the record: There is always someone who tells a version of the truth that simply isn’t how you remember it.

Write to tell it your way.

2. To leave a piece of yourself behind: Our writing lives on, is savored and treasured by others and has a depth of connection our loved ones crave.

Write to leave a piece of yourself for someone.

1. Because you can. We are the only species that can communicate this way. Studies prove that the physical experience of pulling our stories, finding our words, and sifting through our memories releases the bliss chemicals, helps center us.