The link above is to an article on the American Thinker website. The author of this piece believes that the Republican Establishment is still out of touch with the rank and file Republicans. I have to agree. I’ve felt that way for about 20 years now, going back to the election of 1992, when I voted for Ross Perot. I still have not decided who I am going to support 2012. I am disappointed that the Republicans do not have a stronger field. It is possible that I will vote 3rd Party in 2012, but right now I don’t see any viable 3rd party candidates.
Key quote:
While it is true Republicans control only one chamber of one branch of the federal government, the change the American people sent them to Washington to effect has not happened. The frustration that led Tea Partiers to demonstrate in public squares and dominate town halls around the country has not been alleviated. The debt limit battle was lost, the economy continues to stagnate, and the GOP establishment is once again pushing a candidate that fails to inspire hope that he can actually make real change happen in Washington.
Unlike many of the Occupy Wall Street movement protestors, the Tea Party conservatives had businesses to run, and jobs to return to, but the frustration and anger they felt is still very real. They are tired of sending people to Washington, Republicans claiming to be the party of fiscal responsibility, only to see things continue to get worse.
The second installment of UFC on Fox will present 3 fights instead of 1 and all three of those look like they have potential to be very good fights. Of course, the HW fight in UFC 1 on Fox, pitting Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos, looked like it could be a classic and it lasted about one minute, as a result of a Dos Santos KO punch that destroyed Cain Velasquez. The quick KO’s of that kind seem to happen more frequently in the HW fights, but they can happen in any weight class, although that kind of outcome seems a lot less likely for any fights tonight.
Light Heavyweight: Rashad Evans (16-1-1) vs Phil “Mr Wonderful” Davis (9-0)
A lot is on the line in this LHW battle. The winner will probably next face LHW Champ Jon Jones. Evans is the favorite for this fight. Both fighters are very accomplished former NCAA Div I wrestlers. Evans has been in the MMA game longer and has developed a more well rounded MMA skill set at this point than Davis. Evans has good striking skills and I don’t think Davis can match him in that department. Davis is probably the better athlete, but not the better pure fighter right now. Davis may challenge for the Belt at some point in the future, but not yet. I think Evans wins by TKO/KO in the 3rd Rd.
Middleweight: Chael Sonnen (26-11-1) vs Michael “The Count” Bisping (22-3)
Sonnen is the heavy favorite and should win this fight in my opinion. Bisping, a very cocky Brit, is a very good striker and has a puncher’s chance of winning with a KO. However, in order to get a KO Bisping will have to keep this fight standing and that will be very difficult for him to do. Sonnen, a world-class wrestler, has proven he can take down anyone in the UFC and there is no reason he won’t be able to take down Bisping, who will then be subjected to Sonnen’s relentless ground and pound attack. Sonnen wins by submission in the 2nd Rd.
Middleweight: Demian Maia (16-3) vs Chris “The Hangman” Weidman (7-0)
Weidman is the favorite here, despite having much less experience. Weidman also comes from a wrestling background and has been impressive so far, but I’m not so sure I would take him in the fight. Maia has world-class jiu-jitsu and judo skills and is considered one of the the best fighters on the ground in all of MMA. Moreover, Maia has improved his striking skills markedly in the last couple of years. I think Maia wins by submission in the 2nd Round.
Today (27 Jan) is Mozart’s birthday, which reminded me of Milos Forman’s brilliant film about the musical genius. This is one of my favorite scenes from the film….
Here are a few links to articles that I have read recently and think are interesting. That does NOT mean I necessarily agree with authors of these articles in part or full. The same goes for links that I post via my Twitter account. A ReTweet does not equal an endorsement. For the most part I post links to articles and essays that I think are well written and I am in agreement with, but again, that is not always case. However, if I do strongly endorse the views of a particular author or organization I will state that. Most recently, I did that with the IBD editorial in opposition to SOPA/PIPA.
I went hiking at the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in San Diego a couple of months ago and shot some video of a few portions of the hike, which I have posted below.
Ocean View at Torrey Pines Reserve
I have hiked at the Torrey Pines Reserve at least a half a dozen times before and it is one my favorite locations in the San Diego area for hiking and photography because of the stunning views that many of the trails in the Reserve provide. The Reserve is located on the coast, immediately to the north of the famous Torrey Pines Golf Course and just south of Del Mar. The size of the Reserve is 2,000 acres and it is one the few places on the coast of Southern California that remains undeveloped. It is an interesting place to visit because it gives visitors a good idea of what large parts of the Southern California coast must have looked like prior to the arrival of man. There are eight miles of trails that crisscross the Reserve, including several that bring you to Torrey Pines State Beach.
Stairway to Torrey Pines State Beach
I made the trip to the Reserve on this particular occasion because I wanted to shoot some video using my Steadicam Smoothee, which is a hand held rig for small video recording devices such as iPhones, iPods or Flip video cameras. I purchased the Smoothee last year and used an iPhone 3GS with it to take these videos. The Smoothee helps stabilize the video and enables the user to move about on uneven surfaces, walking or running, and shoot fairly stable video. It takes practice to use the rig effectively, but it does work. The videos below are among my first made using the Smoothee and I need more practice with it, but I had fun out there. On the second video posted below I also used the stabilization tool that is now included as part of the You Tube video editing tools.
I am really looking forward to the NFL Conference Championship games this weekend. Both games have the potential to be classic battles. I also think any combination of the remaining teams will produce a very interesting and competitive Super Bowl.
New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens. The Patriots are -7 favorites.
Location: Foxboro, MA
After watching the Patriots destroy the Denver Broncos last week and then watching the Ravens struggle against the Houston Texans, with their rookie QB , it would be easy to predict a fairly easy Patriot victory. I do think the Patriots will emerge victorious, but I don’t expect this game to be easy for NE. Baltimore’s defense is not as dominant as it was a few years ago, but it is still one of the most formidable defenses in league and they should be more disruptive to the NE offense than Denver’s D was. However, I just don’t think Baltimore can neutralize all the offensive weapons that NE has, especially TE’s Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. But again, I don’t see a rout here. Ravens QB Joe Flacco is viewed by many as the weak link of the Baltimore offense , but he should not be underestimated imo. Flacco has a pretty impressive resume for a QB at this stage of his career, with multiple playoff victories under his belt. Flacco’s stat’s were unexceptional this season and his QB rating for the regular season was only 80.9. However, if the Ravens offensive line can protect him the Patriots may have some big problems with RB Ray Rice, who is a run/catch threat and . Baltimore’s capable group of receivers. Both teams have exceptional head coaches.
Patriots 31 – Ravens 23
San Francisco 49ers vs. New York Giants. The 49ers are -2.5 favorites.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Gosh, this is a tough game to call. I’ve been going back and forth on it all week. Rain is predicted in SF during the game so the field conditions may not be ideal and that probably works in the favor of the 49ers because it might slow down the Giant receivers, but that works both ways. The 49ers probably have the best defense of 4 remaining teams and their offense is not bad. QB Alex Smith has improved markedly this year. He is not an elite QB, but he has proven to be effective this year, under the guidance of Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. SF RB Frank Gore and TE Vernon Davis are two other players that can do a lot of damage. The Giants must control those two. As I noted in my NFL post last week, I am a Giant fan from way back so I am a little biased when it comes to the Giants, but I do think they are a slightly better team than the 49ers right now. These two teams met during the regular season a few months ago in SF and the 49ers won, 27-20, but the Giants actually won the time of possession battle by about 10 minutes and came close to winning despite not playing with a few key players. One big difference this time around is that the Giants will have starting RB Ahmad Bradshaw, who did not play in earlier game. The Giants are 8-1 this season in games in which they rush for 100 or more yards. Still, I expect time of possession to once again be controlled by the Giants and I expect them to win, which will set up a classic Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots.
I totally agree with this IBD editorial about SOPA and PIPA.
Key quote:
The Internet, perhaps as much as the first printing press, has freed the minds of men from the tyranny of those gatekeepers who know that if you can control what people say and know, you can control the people themselves.
Some suggest SOPA and PIPA are the equivalent of smashing the Gutenberg press, often called the “Internet of its day.”
Well, I’ve had better weekends in terms of picks, but I must say those games were a lot of fun to watch. I went 3-1 picking game winners in the 2nd Round, but only 1-3 for picks vs. the spread. I’m glad I didn’t put money down on any of these games, but that may be part of why I went 1-3 vs. the spread. There was at least one game that I picked with my heart and not my head, which was Denver losing by only 7 to New England.
49ers over the Saints 36-32: I got this one right. I thought the SF D was strong enough to slow down the prolific NO offense. Well, I guess holding the Saints offense to 32 pts is slowing it down. The surprise was how well SF QB Alex Smith played. Prior to this game if you told one team in this game would score 36 pts and the other would score 32 pts I surely would have assumed that the Saints rang up 36. Rookie Head Coach Jim Harbaugh has done an incredible job with the 49ers, who were just a .500 team last year. Is there any doubt left that he should be Coach of the Year?
Patriots over the Broncos 45-10 : I really should known that this game had blowout potential written all over it. In retrospect I was way too influenced by the Bronco victory over Pittsburgh and a desire to see Tim Tebow do well. The Broncos played the perfect game against the Steelers and it was unlikely that they would be able to repeat that performance against the Patriots in NE.
Ravens over the Texans 20-13: Ravens won, which I predicted, but only by 7 and the spread was 7 1/2. The guys in Vegas really know how too set those lines. This game pretty much went as expected, but the Ravens offense was disappointing. From here on out the Ravens will have to put more points on the board in order to win.
Giants over the Packers 37-20: A classic example a game featuring one team that is peaking and hitting on all cylinders vs another team that appears to have peaked a month or two ago. The Packers needed a flawless performance from their offense to win in order to compensate a defense which was less then exceptional all season and they didn’t get it. It was strange to see such sloppy play from the Packers on offense. The GB receivers dropped a heck of a lot of balls. However, the Giants had a lot to do with that and I have to give credit where credit is due. Coach Coughlin has done a masterful job with this team and Eli Manning is playing the best ball of his career. At the beginning of the season Eli declared that he was an elite QB, up there with Brady. I thought he rated himself too highly at the time, but he has truly has performed at an elite level this season, so he deserves that tag.
Now that all the wild-card teams have been washed out of playoffs we can get down to real business with the division winners. With the exception of the Baltimore vs. Houston game I think all these games are pretty tough to call vs. the point spread. It should be a great weekend of Playoff football.
San Francisco 49ers vs. New Orleans Saints.
After destroying the Lions the Saints are -4.0 for this game. I’m taking the points and going with the 49ers. I don’t think the Saints vaunted offense will be quite as dangerous playing on grass and outside the friendly confines of the Superdome. The 49ers have one the best defensive units in the league, but it will take the 49ers best effort to win this game. I see the 49ers winning a very close one here.
New England Patriots vs. Denver Broncos. Patriots are -13.5
I think the Patriots are going to win, but not by two TD’s. Pure leap of faith here. I’m counting on Denver and Tebow figuring out a way to keep this close. If Denver can limit the turnovers and keep Brady off the field they have a chance to keep this game close and maybe even win. Patriots by 7.
Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans. Ravens are -7.5
I cannot see Texans winning this game on the road with a rookie QB. The Ravens should win by at least 10 points.
Green Bay Packers vs. New York Giants. Packers are -7.5
This is a very tough call for me because I like both teams. I grew up near the Meadowlands and I have been a big Giant fan since the Phil Simms/Lawrence Taylor era. I can’t help but admire this Packer team. They are simply the best team in league and in Aaron Rodgers they have the best QB. The Giants are playing well and I expect them to test the Packers, but I don’t think the Pack will lose in Green Bay. I think the Pack wins by 10 points.
I was originally going to title this post “Group II – West Coast” or “Group II – California”. However, upon review of my pictures taken during 2011 I decided to simply title the post “Group II – San Diego”, because that was more accurate. The vast majority of the pictures I took in California during 2011 were taken in the greater San Diego area. In past years I have made trips to other parts of California and other parts of the West, but for a variety of reasons I didn’t leave the San Diego area too much during 2011, aside from my East Coast vacation. I did make a couple of trips up to LA last year, but did not take too many pictures up there last year due to less than ideal conditions related to the weather. Hopefully, I will have better photo taking opportunities in LA and elsewhere in 2012.
Here are my 10 San Diego area pictures that made the cut for 2011 :
1) The First Avenue Bridge, Bankers Hill, San Diego, CA
This bridge was built in 1931 and spans Maple Canyon, in the Bankers Hill section of San Diego. The steel arch bridge is 463 feet in length and 104 feet tall. I love the 1930’s era character of this bridge. They simply don’t make’em like this these days. On a clear day bridge provides good views of San Diego Bay, Coronado and Point Loma.
The First Avenue Bridge, Bankers Hill, San Diego
2) Santa Fe Station, San Diego.
3) Downtown San Diego. This shot was taken from the parking garage next to the new Hilton Bayfront Hotel.
Downtown San Diego
4) The San Diego Blackout.
September 8th, 2011. This blackout caused the lights to go out in a large part of Southern California, as well as parts of western Arizona and northwest Mexico. Fortunately, the blackout only lasted about 12 hours, but it did bring normal life in the area to a screeching halt. I took this picture at the upper end of Laurel Avenue, on Bankers Hill, facing west and looking down on San Diego’s main airport, Lindbergh Field. The airport had emergency power available for the runway, but not the passenger terminals, so flights came to stop as well.
The San Diego Blackout
5) Blue Angels 5 and 6 head for take-off.
I took this picture at the annual Air Show held at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar during October. The Blue Angels are comprised of 6 F-18’s and at the beginning of the show Angels’ 1,2,3 and 4 line at one end of the runway, while 5 and 6 line up at the opposite end of the runway and take-off separately. I have seen the Blue Angels perform at least 5 times now and they always impress. If you have an opportunity to see the Blue Angels in person I highly recommend it.
6) The beach at Cardiff by the Sea, CA.
There are many towns along the coast of San Diego county that are very picturesque and Cardiff by the Sea is one of my favorites. This picture features the view north, toward Encinitas. I liked this particular picture because of the beautiful meeting of sea, sky and land here.
7) The Holiday Season at Ocean Beach.
Ocean Beach is one of several beachside communities in San Diego. Like many sections of San Diego, Ocean Beach has the feeling of a small town, separated from the larger city. If you blow up this picture you can see the Christmas Tree set up on the beach.
8) The Pier at Imperial Beach.
Imperial Beach is the most southern town on the California Coast. The pier is 1,491 feet in length and provides views of Mexico to south and San Diego to the north.
9) The Silver Line Trolly, Downtown San Diego.
In the fall of 2011 the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System stated running this vintage trolley, aka Streetcar 529, on weekends. It travels on a loop of downtown San Diego called the Silver Line. Streetcar 529 was originally built in 1946 and was recently restored to original condition. I happened to catch the 529 standing still here as it was waiting for a traffic light to change at the intersection of 5th Avenue and C Street.
10) The Surfing Madonna mosaic in Encinitas, CA.
This unique mosaic was installed by under a train bridge in Encinitas, CA back on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2011, by a group of men disguised as construction workers. The mosaic became highly popular, but was taken down by the city after a few months and because it installed without permission from the city. There are plans to reconstruct the mosaic and put on permanent display right off an intersection a few blocks away from the bridge site, but final approval from the city and state has not yet been granted, but hopefully that will happen.
gmf journal 