The Explorers' Club
№ CCCIV - The Basilicas (old & new) of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City.









The Victors
bye week
2-2, Big Ten 0-0

The valiant Wolverines had a bye this Saturday, & absent the conqu'ring heroes of the Maize & Blue I found myself in possession of almost no interest in the college football goings-on. I caught a few glimpses of the Nebraska-Wisconsin game, or what the television commentators claimed was the Nebraska-Wisconsin game; I remain skeptical, as the squad they called Wisconsin were not wearing the pesky Badgers' uniforms & the squad they called Nebraska were not wearing the unwelcome Cornhuskers' uniforms. As if it wasn't bad enough when Michigan & Notre Dame pretended to be different clubs when they met in '11's night game, now even as non-historical, no-big-deal games as Wisconsin v. Nebraska require "special" uniforms? College football's goose is cooked. The enterprise is doomed, doomed, doomed.

Go Blue!

Project PANDORA
Miss Mozart continues to initiate contact: last week, she sent text messages; today, she sent an e-mail through the FaceSpace. Either my radio silence has not communicated its intended message (disinterest on my part) or the message has been received & she's decided to persist in the hope of reigniting my interest. In the words of Winnie the Pooh, "Oh, bother." As silence has not spoken as loudly as had been hoped, some manner of confrontation must be in the offing.

Why? Why am I so irresistible?

The Queue
Okay, one more Showcase Presents—returning to a previously-read volume—, & then back to our regularly scheduled literature. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Metamorpho, the Element Man!

Recently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Robert Kanigher & Ross Andru, Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Vol. 1
Mike W. Barr & Jim Aparo, Showcase Presents: Batman and the Outsiders, Vol. 1

Currently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars ***postponed***
Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon, & Sal Trapani, et al., Showcase Presents: Metamorpho, Vol. 1

Presently
Rich Thomaselli, I Love Michigan: Personal Stories about the World's Greatest Team, Fans, and Traditions/I Hate Ohio State: Personal Stories about the Absolute Worst Team, Fans, and Traditions
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Master Mind of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Fighting Man of Mars
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Synthetic Men of Mars
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, The Arabian Nights (specifically, "Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves")

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Hold Steady, "Girls Like Status" from Boys and Girls in America (T.L.A.M.)

Operation ÖSTERREICH
I've taken four pedometer readings, & all four are identical but for a 1.33% variance, which is good enough for government work. Combining these data with tripodometer readings from the Lumi the Snow Queen, motoring a mirror reflection of my route, since of course pedestrians walk against the flow of traffic, & I am satisfied that the length of my daily course is two & a half miles. A suspiciously round number, I admit, but this distance is biased toward the pedometer data, which shows a shorter course than the tripodometer data. It should be recorded as 2.525 miles, but 2.5 miles is easier for my bookkeeping &, again, good enough for gov't work. Bookkeeping? I've kept a log of my daily constitutional intervals using the iCal program on my Macintosh since I resumed the daily constitutional shortly after Labor Day, & now that I'm satisfied with my estimate of the course distance I'm also logging the distance I've trekked, with an eye toward monitoring shoe degradation. (Mrs. Skeeter, Esq. ventured that part of the reason my feet were so abused by Objective FINNLAND back in '10 is that I was shod in worn-out shoes, & I think it a hypothesis worth further examination.)

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Glenn Miller Orchestra, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" from Glenn Miller's 50 Finest (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The lyrics of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" are modernized to the 1940s in this rendition, which is irksome, but that is not to say some of the lyrical turns of phrase are not amusing in & of themselves.

"Uncle Sam will prove he's still the champ,
He'll close up shop & break up camp,
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home."

Freitag, 28 September
Go Sailor, "Fine Day for Sailing" from Go Sailor (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"This is the last time that I'll wish you dead,
I think I've decided to like you instead…"

The Explorers' Club
№ CCCIII - The National Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Koekelberg Basilica), Brussels.







Science!
The B.B.C.'s front page headline for this story is, "Nazi Buddha originally from space." Whomever composed that gem deserves a raise, if not a medal & a cash prize. The more mundane headline accompanying the story is, "Ancient statue discovered by Nazis is made from meteorite;" more accurate to be sure, but less amusing. The Iron Man who fell to Earth: Nazi Buddha-link.

"No, GIR! Those piggies are for science. Science!"

This Week in Motorsport
Indy Rock
The last time "This Week in Motorsport" examined the '12 IndyCar season: Wayback Machine (scroll past "Formula Fun!" & "By Endurance We Conquer").

IndyCar Series
Round 11
Edmonton Indy
Sunday, 22 July 2012

This was the point in the season when I made the decision really to follow the IndyCars, after being put off by the bore of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race & the other oval-track races. The Edmonton Indy was run at a circuit carved out of the municipal aerodrome, which provided a fine track but one eerily devoid of features & spectators. It was as if a circuit had been laid out amidst an enormous parking lot.

Round 12
Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
Sunday, 5 August 2012

My father & I attended the joint American Le Mans Series (A.L.M.S.)/IndyCar weekend at Mid-Ohio. Sooner rather than later I intend to chronicle properly the myriad sensations of that weekend, but for now I shall limit our scope to the race itself. Will Power of Team Penske (Chevrolet) lead most of the race over double series champion Scott Dixon ('03 & '08) of Ganassi Racing (Honda), 'til the last pit stops, when both cars stopped at the same time & Dixon beat Power out of the pits. A lifetime of watching college football has made me only too aware of the peril of any missed opportunity, & with Power locked in a fierce battle at the top of the standings with Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet), I augured darkly that come season's end Power & Penske might rue the ten points they surrendered by finishing second to Dixon instead of first.

Round 13
Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma
Sunday, 26 August 2012

Sonoma Raceway (formerly Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point) saw another missed opportunity for Power & Team Penske. Power was the class of the field 'til a late-race pit stop, when he exited amidst traffic that had slowed because of a yellow flag & the deployment of the safety car. Meanwhile, his Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe was racing around the circuit in clean air, gaining enough ground on Power to dive in & out of the pits just ahead of his fellow Australian. A late race spin by Hunter-Reay seemed to let Power off the hook, but for the second consecutive race Power finished second in a race he probably should have won. Twenty points that should have been his, left on the table. There was much to like about the course at Sonoma, but all things being equal I'd rather they'd been racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, farther south in California, on the Monterey Peninsula.

Round 14
Grand Prix of Baltimore
Sunday, 2 September 2012

I make no bones about it, the Baltimore street circuit is a train wreck. There are train tracks that run across the front straight. Last year, in the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, there was a chicane to slow the cars down over the tracks. This year, there was initially no chicane, as some surfacing had been placed over the tracks. However, in practice the cars were still going airborne because of the bump. Overnight, a chicane was installed, along with an inconsistent number of tire barriers to discourage the cars from riding too far up the curbs. Car after cars was unbalanced by the curbs & set shooting into a concrete barrier. Many drivers recovered, but three or four cars suffered virtually identical shunts. The chicane/wall combo was revamped overnight 'twixt Saturday qualifying & Sunday's race, & throughout the whole debacle the on-the-fly nature of IndyCar decision-making was evident. They seem to be making it up as they go along, instead of playing to a rulebook or established procedures. If Singapore's F1 course is everything a street circuit can & should be, Baltimore's IndyCar course is everything a street circuit should not be.

In the race, Power & Dixon were running comfortably at the front 'til they both make the absolute wrong call; both cars pitted for rain tires at almost the exact moment that the rain ceased, putting them at the disadvantage of running rain tires on a drying track & then the double disadvantage of having to pit again for slick tires. Hunter-Reay elected to stay out on slicks & profited immensely from the Penske & Ganassi teams' miscalculations. Hunter-Reay was super aggressive on several late race post-yellow flag restarts & was soon in the race lead, going on the take the victory.

Power had entered the weekend able to clinch his first IndyCar Series championship, but let it slip through his fingers. He left Baltimore with a seventeen point lead over Hunter-Reay, a lead less than half the size it would have been if he'd won at Mid-Ohio & Sonoma, instead of finishing second.

Round 15
(sponsor) 500*/IndyCar World Championships
Saturday, 15 September 2012

For the last three years, Will Power has entered the IndyCar season finale leading in the championship standings. In '10 & '11, he shunted out of the final race & finished second in the championship. His fate in '12? Exactly the same. All Power needed to do was finish ahead of Hunter-Reay, or even a few spots behind the American. Instead, while trying to pass Hunter-Reay on-track, Power spun out & dashed his car against the wall. He was not sunk at that point, as Hunter-Reay still needed to finish fifth or better, after starting twenty-second. Lap after identical lap passed as the cars endlessly circled the oval track. Cars passed each other, cars shunted out, cars ran under the yellow flag, round & round the indistinguishable "corners" of Fontana, California's Auto Club Speedway. Ryan Hunter-Reay needed to finish fifth or better to claim his first IndyCar championship—he finished fourth. Will Power was IndyCar runner-up for the third consecutive year. After fifteen races, Hunter-Reay bested Power by three points, seven less than the ten points Power would have earned by winning either Mid-Ohio or Sonoma, seventeen less than if Power had won both. My dark auguries from Mid-Ohio bore The Shadow's "bitter fruit." As a side note, the race itself was won by Ed Carpenter, owner-driver of his eponymous, Chevrolet-engined team.

The IndyCar finale as the only five hundred mile oval-track race I've watched all the way through other than the the far-famed Indy 500. Sure, there was the drama of the title fight 'twixt Hunter-Reay & Power, but other than that the racing was as dull as the annual Memorial Day snooze-fest at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The appeal of oval-track racing remains as opaque to me now as it was in the spring of '09, before Le Mans & Monaco cast their spells over me. I'll watch the IndyCar Series in '13, I'm a fan now, but I'll be sitting out the ovals that make up a third of the schedule, including Indianapolis. (I've thrice watched that race, & never once found it entertaining.)

*There is a title sponsor to almost every IndyCar race. The Mid-Ohio & Sonoma grands prix both had above-the-title sponsorship, whilst Baltimore was "presented by" a trailing sponsor. I have absolutely no problem with these sponsors, as I know motor racing is an expensive pastime & only prospers as long as enough enterprises view it as a cost-effective part of their marketing strategy. By the same token, I believe myself to be under no obligation to provide those sponsors with free promotion; thus, I habitually refer to the Izod IndyCar Series as simply the IndyCar Series, & the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio as simply the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. In the case of the five-hundred-mile race that was the finale to this IndyCar season, it had no other name other than the sponsor & the race distance; so, I've deigned to call it the (sponsor) 500. I'll provide the sponsor with free promotion only when given no other choice, as in the case of Red Bull Racing in Formula One or Corvette Racing in the A.L.M.S.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Everybody's Better" from A Jackknife to a Swan (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Everybody's better than I am,
I think everybody's better than me,
And everybody's swell, I guess,
They're doing well, more or less,
And everybody's better than I am…"

This Week in Motorsport
Formula Fun!
Formula One World Championship
Round 10
Großer Preis von Deutschland
Sunday, 22 July 2012

Reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel ('10 & '11) of Red Bull (Renault) finished second, only a few seconds behind double World Champion Fernando Alonso ('05 & '06) of Ferrari, but after the race was penalized twenty seconds for a supposedly illegal overtaking maneuver against '09 World Champion Jenson Button of McLaren (Mercedes). Button inherited second place while Vettel fell back to fifth; Button gained three points in being promoted from third to second while Vettel lost eight points in the demotion. I call shenanigans! Rules enforcement in Formula One is dreadfully inconsistent, with some drivers being penalized when other drivers who execute identical maneuvers are not. In this, F1 is like every other sport in the world: The zebras have a very difficult job, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating when they make an error.

Round 11
Magyar Nagydíj (Grand Prix of Hungary)
Sunday, 29 July 2012

Lots of fun was had around the tight, tortuous Hungaroring, with '08 World Champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren just barely fending off the Lotus (Renault) of '07 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen. Lotus had a very good day, with Räikkönen's teammate Romain Grosjean fending off Vettel to claim third place, the last step on the podium.

After Hungary, the F1 summer break began, with each team compelled by the regulations to shutter their factory & do no development work on the race cars for a full fortnight; whether this fortnight came at the beginning of the break or the end, no work could be done for two consecutive weeks. I hope one & all had a lovely holiday!

Round 12
Grand Prix of Belgium
Sunday, 2 September 2012

This was one of the most exciting grands prix I've ever seen, & the perfect way to welcome back Formula One after the August recess. I freely admit that I am hopelessly biased as Spa-Francorchamps is my very favorite track, but even beyond that this year Belgian Grand Prix delivered pure motor racing gold. A massive kerfuffle at the first corner of the opening lap knocked out the McLaren of Hamilton, the Ferrari of Alonso, the Lotus of Grosjean, & the Sauber (Ferrari) of Sergio Pérez, & thoroughly shuffled the field. Button won from the pole, but behind him Vettel sliced & diced his way through the field from twelfth after the shunt at La Source hairpin to the second step of the podium. There was action everywhere, with six of the top ten finishers having qualified outside the top ten on the starting grid. Spa showed just how much difference a driver can make on a circuit that has room & opportunities for overtaking/passing. Man alive, I wouldn't get sick of Spa if F1 ran there thrice a year!

Round 13
Gran Premio d'Italia
Sunday, 9 September 2012

Like the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is one of four circuits on the F1 calendar that were on the first F1 calendar in 1950. I respect the history of Monza, but in my eyes it suffers in the comparison with Spa. My indifference to the track aside, the grand prix was one I'd like to forget, with both Red Bulls failing to finish, the second D.N.F. (Did Not Finish)of the year for Vettel & the first for Mark Webber. Hamilton won from the pole, the third consecutive pole & victory for McLaren, stretching back to Hungary before the break. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren has gained major ground on leaders Red Bull, Button's D.N.F. being the closest thing to a positive Red Bull could take away from the weekend. The only other good news was that Pérez, in his Ferrari-engined Sauber, passed both Ferraris (Alonso & Felipe Massa) to claim second; the tifosi would have loved to see both of the "Prancing Horses" on the podium instead of in third & fourth. Massa was ahead of Alonso 'til the team ordered the Brazilian to make way for the Spaniard, who tops the Drivers' Championship standings; it warmed my black heart to see the Italians resort to such skulduggery.

Round 14
Grand Prix of Singapore
Sunday, 23 September 2012

In the oppressive equatorial heat (even at night) of Singapore, Vettel pulled away from Button in the dying minutes following the second safety car period to claim only his second victory of the '12 campaign. Hamilton lead from pole, with Vettel in hot pursuit, 'til the Mclaren's gearbox gave up the ghost. Pastor Maldonado of Williams (Renault) started from second, having posted a blisteringly fast time in qualifying, but faded at the start, faded more in the pit stop rotation, & eventually retired with hydraulic gremlins; it was the shunt-prone Venezuelan's first front-row start since his win from pole in Spain, but as in every race since that triumph in Spain Maldonado walked away from the grand prix without scoring any points.

Thrilled as I was by Vettel's win, which moved him back to second place in the Drivers' standings & increased Red Bull's lead over McLaren in the Constructors', disaster struck elsewhere; Timo Glock of Marussia (Cosworth) finished in twelfth, moving Marussia ahead of Caterham (Renault) into the final revenue-sharing place in the Constructors' Championship. Caterham (new to the sport as Lotus Racing in '10, rebranded as Team Lotus in '11 before becoming Caterham for this year), whose season-best finish is thirteenth in the Grand Prix de Monaco, expected to challenge the midfield teams this year, but instead find themselves no longer even reliably the best of the back markers. Egad!

Formula, Too
G.P.2 Series
Round 8
Hockenheimring, Germany
Saturday & Sunday, 21-22 July 2012

James Calado, a British driver I inexplicably favor, won the second, "sprint" race of the German Grand Prix weekend.

Round 9
Hungaroring, Hungary
Saturday & Sunday, 28-29 July 2012

The Hungaroring is a fun track that I wish I got to see in use more than one weekend a year. There are more European racing series available on the website speed2.com (similar to espn3.com), but thus far the "online channel" is not available to me through my internet/cable provider.

Round 10
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Saturday & Sunday, 1-2 September 2012

There was almost as many shunts in the G.P.2 races as in the f1 grand prix, almost but not quite. Calado finished second in Race 1 (the "feature") & third in Race 2 (the sprint). The difference betwixt the two races are these: the feature is approximately one-third longer & features a mandatory pit stop, during which at least two of the four tires must be changed; the sprint is shorter &, as its name implies, has no mandatory pit stop. The cars start the sprint in the order in which they finish the feature, with the top eight finishers being inverted, the feature winning starting the sprint from eighth place & the eighth-place finisher in the feature starting the sprint from the pole.

Round 11
Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy
Saturday & Sunday, 8-9 September 2012

Italians won both races at Monza, Luca Filippi prevailing in Race 1 & championship-leader Davide Valsecchi winning Race 2. There are currently no Italian drivers competing in F1.

Round 12
Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore
Saturday & Sunday, 22-23 September 2912

My father has joined me in watching motorsport (to be discussed in a future "This Week in Motorsport" post, subtitled "Frankenstein's Monster"). Thus, we now record races on the D.V.R. & watch them together on the giant flatscreen television set in the family room, instead of me recording them on my V.C.R. & watching them solo on my old cathode-ray-tube television set in the living room. I would look up races online, finding which races I intended to watch on each broadcasters' website & then setting the V.C.R. for the appropriate time & channel; my father prefers to scan the television listings, or use the D.V.R.'s "search & record" function. Last weekend, he simply failed to record the G.P.2 races, which Speed Channel broadcast directly before the F1 grand prix. He claims that he simply never saw it in the on-screen listings; I have long warned him of the danger of simply missing or overlooking a desired program via his preferred technique. I am chagrined that I was right, for I'd have liked to see the G.P.2 finale in Singapore. *grumble grumble*

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Go Sailor, "Windy" from Go Sailor (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"So go ahead and marry her, and don't mind me,
It's what I get for being blind…

"So go ahead and marry her, it's what you want,
I hope that your forever stays…

"So go ahead and marry her, she's really nice,
She's everything that I can't be…"

Obamboozled
Interesting how President Obama doesn't have time for a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel during this week's United Nations wingding in Old New Amsterdam, yet Mr. Obama always has plenty of time for campaign events, fundraisers, & home brewing. This is how we—the United States—demonstrate that we, in the president's lamentably juvenile phrase, "have Israel's back"?

How have you enjoyed the parade of horrors these last three-plus years? Have enough millions of Americans dropped out of the workforce to be the change you were waiting for?

The Queue
I wanted to hate the ramshackle collection of plot holes that was Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Vol. 1, but there was something cursedly charming about those preposterous yarns of the Amazing Amazon. Darn you, comics of the 1950s, for being such stupid fun!

The queue is a mess, I know, with new material constantly jumping to the top. The Barsoom books aren't quite as much fun with narrators other than John Carter, Warlord of Mars, but more than that I've just been jonesing for the silly fun of comic books. I've had several of these Showcase Presents collections sitting on my shelves unread for quite a spell & they seemed to be just the ticket. The order presented here is how I intend to proceed, refraining from such other Showcase Presents titles as Adam Strange; Aquaman, Vol. 1; & Shazam!

Recently
Steve Matchett, The Chariot Makers: Assembling the Perfect Formula 1 Car
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Robert Kanigher & Ross Andru, Showcase Presents: Wonder Woman, Vol. 1

Currently
Mike W. Barr & Jim Aparo, Showcase Presents: Batman and the Outsiders, Vol. 1
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars ***postponed***

Presently
Rich Thomaselli, I Love Michigan: Personal Stories about the World's Greatest Team, Fans, and Traditions/I Hate Ohio State: Personal Stories about the Absolute Worst Team, Fans, and Traditions
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Master Mind of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Fighting Man of Mars
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Synthetic Men of Mars
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, The Arabian Nights (specifically, "Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves")

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Elvis Costello, "Alison" from The Very Best of Elvis Costello (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I awoke this morning with "Alison" running through my mind, specifically the repetitions of "My aim is true…." That's a pretty good way to start the day.

"Alison, I know this world is killin' you,
Oh, Alison, my aim is true."

The Explorers' Club
№ CCCII -The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (not Constantinople).

The Victors
Saturday, 15 September
(№ 17) Michigan 63-13 Massachusetts
2-1, Big Ten 0-0

The contest betwixt the valiant Wolverines & the epithetless Minutemen of "UMass" went about how such a contest should. Would it have been nice to hold such, & pray pardon the presumption, lesser oppostion to fewer points? Surely, but so little removed from the worst era of Michigan football in living memory we should not be greedy; let us instead be grateful for each & every win, no matter how it comes about. It will be a long, hard road back to whom we once were, & impatience will only make that road longer & harder.

Saturday, 22 September
(№ 11) Notre Dame 13-6 Michigan (№ 18)
2-2, Big Ten 0-0

Those nostaglic for the Rich Rodriguez era were given a treat Saturday night, as our offense struggled in vain against self-inflicted wounds. I'd been invited down to Xanadu to watch the game & announced our doom to my companion as soon as our placekicker misfired on that first field goal attempt. Defeatism!, you say? Nay, dear reader, 'tis just that I've watched college football since I was a wee lad & if all those years of playing coach potato on Saturday afternoons have taught me anything it is that a team that repeatedly throws away golden opportunities is both {a} undeserving of victory & {b} exceedingly unlikely to be crowned with undeserved laurels. The '11 squad of valiant Wolverines were men of grit & determination, but they were not yet supremely talented enough to be able to overcome self-inflicted adversity. There is no reason to believe any different of the '12 squad; I believe the valiant Wolverines to be men of grit & determination, but we must also face that fact that they are somewhat ragtag, & unlikely to prevail on any occasion when they do not make the most or their opportunities, nor on any occasion when they present the foe with multiple golden opportunities. On Saturday, in South Bend, we squandered our own opportunities & made a present to the vile Fighting Irish of too many of our own mistakes.

All that said, though, I doubt that too much praise can be heaped on the valiant Wolverines' defense. To have held the vile Fighting Irish to a mere thirteen points would have been impressive. To have held the vile Fighting Irish to a mere thirteen points in the face of a minus four turnover ratio (the valiant Wolverines commited six turnovers, the vile Fighting irish committed two) is nothing short of astonishing. Our offense was a tremendous liability against Notre Dame, & yet so stalwart were the valiant Wolverines' defense that we still had a chance to win the game until our last, futile offensive possession. When he was hired, Head Coach Brady Hoke quipped that he wanted the defensive mindset at Michigan to be so all-prevasive that "even the water boys think defense." Our "D." looked shaky, even suspect through the first three contests of the '12 campaign, but on saturday the valiant Wolverines put in yeoman's work, doing themselves & the University of Michigan proud. Well done, boys! "Those who stay will be champions."

To paraphrase the old axiom, those who live by Shoelace die by Shoelace (referring to Michigan's dynamic quarterback, Denard "Shoelace" Robinson). On many occasions over the last four years, including every one of last year's improbable eleven victories, the valiant Wolverines were the beneficiaries of Shoelace's unorthodox, improvisational play. On this evening, the chickens came home to roost & the unorthodoxes in Shoelace's game were turned to Notre Dame's advantage. Yet it would be un& ungrateful to place all of the blame on Shoelace's shoulders; we lose as a team & the valiant Wolverines win as a team. "The team, the team, the team." The valiant Wolverines could not have won eleven games last year without Shoelace's eccentric style of play, & they will not win this year without the benefit of those same eccentricities. Would it have been nice if Shoelace had progressed more in four years of play? Surely. Would it have been nice if he'd stopped flinging the ball around indiscriminately & set his feet before attempting forward passes? Absolutely, but I don't know if those mechanical norms could have been achieved without extinguishing the chaotic, improvisational character to Shoelace's game that has been chief offense weapon lo these last four years. That said, a handful of interceptions a personal fumble are horrific numbers; we should expect more out of Shoelace & he should expect more out of himself. Cherish the rest of this season, my fellow Wolverines, for it willbe over before you know it, young Shoelace's eligibility will be exausted, & I promise that we will miss him & his never-say-die optimisim when he is gone.

It is an idiosyncrasy of the college football rankings that the valiant Wolverines dropped a spot, from № 17 to № 18, after the fifty-point besting of UMass. Predictably, after Saturday's trevails we fell out of the Top 25 altogether. This is unsurprising & not undeserved, as the valiant Wolverines' two victories were both over unranked opponents & both of our defeats to ranked clubs were thorough drubbings. We are 2-2 after non-conference play; we are a .500 team. There is almost a fortnight 'til the start of Big Ten play, a road contest against the ill-starred Boilermakers of Purdue. No one reading this is a member of the football club, no one reading this will have anything to do with the preparations for that fateful contest. So, let us take this time not to panic, but to rededicate ourselves to the constancy & stoicism that should typify the Michigan Wolverine. We must, to paraphrase Kipling, be able to treat both Triumph & Disaster just the same, for both are impostors. Glenn "Bo" Schembechler's immortal words, "Those who stay will be champions," is not just the promise of great rewards, it is also a warning, of a kind with Churchill's "blood, toil, tears, & sweat" remarks, that those great rewards will require uncommon steadfastness & struggle. It is not those who come to Michigan who will be champions, but those who stay, those who leave everything on the field, those who put in the tedious hours to better themselves in service of a cause bigger than any one individual. Stay the course, my fellows, for only those who stay will be champions.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "This Briskness (Java)" from Schematics (T.L.A.M.)

Sonntag, 23 September
The Citizens of Hallowe'en Town, "This is Halloween" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: No, the R.B.D.S.O.T.D.'s annual celebration of Hallowe'en is not beginning early this year. However, at Xanadu this morning I witnessed the Hallowe'en decorations already going up, an effort akin to most families' celebration of the Yuletide. I spontaneously began singing "This is Halloween."

Samstag, 22 September
The Puppini Sisters, "Java Jive" from Betcha Bottom Dollar (T.L.A.M.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Ninjas, "Astrogirl" from Platypus (T.L.A.M.)

(Belated) The Girls of September '79
Sincerest apologies to The Watergirl for these belated wishes for her to have the happiest of birthdays this past Tuesday! The Watergirl stands as proof-positive that friends, real friends, need hardly ever agree on anything. She's fierce in the mosh pit & she's fiercely devoted to the University of Michigan. What matters anything else? The Watergirl is also, bar none, the best friend the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. has ever had, far & away the most frequent & eclectic nominator of songs. I am terribly sorry these well-wishes are so tardy, old sport. Happy birthday, Katie!

Obamboozled
Henceforth, the Royal New Zealand Navy is more than welcome to visit the waters & shores of the United States, while the United States Navy remains banned from entering New Zealand's waters, much less visiting the shore: Kiwi-link. New Zealand treats the United States with pompous contempt, regarding our august navy, a beacon of liberty for over two centuries, as little more than a terrorist organization, & yet now President Obama, through Secretary of Defense Panetta, has decided to kowtow to the New Zealanders, affording them every hospitality even as they continue to revile our valiant sailors. I am ashamed, absolutely ashamed to be an American when we are led by men such as these.

This is the hope & change for which so many of you voted in '08? To cozy up to those who shun our sailors & treat them as outlaws? Please, I beg you, if you voted for Mr. Obama in '08 then explain to me why I should not be outraged at this tremendous indignity heaped upon our fighting men. Will one of you, just one, please have the courage of your convictions & defend this outrage?

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Katy Perry, "Firework" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: This is a terrible song that, thus far, I cannot banish from my head.

Mittwoch, 19 September
Josie and the Pussycats, "I Wish You Well" from Josie and the Pussycats: Music from the Motion Picture (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"I wish you well,
Couldn't you tell after all these years?"

Dienstag, 18 September
Katiä, "The Minstrel Boy" from Can't Stop the Love Sled (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Beautiful, Watergirl, absolutely beautiful.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Semisonic, "Sunshine & Chocolate" from All About Chemistry (T.L.A.M.)

Sonntag, 16 September
System of a Down, "Lonely Day" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: If you are even fortunate enough to see the British television series Callan, a delightfully cynical piece of spy fiction, therein is a character, the sidekick of the protagonist Callan, named Lonely. No Christian name, just Lonely, but it is treated as a surname, not a nickname.

"Such a lonely day, and it's mine,
The most loneliest day of my life…"

The Girls of September '79
Best wishes for the happiest of birthdays to Mrs. Skeeter, Esq. (née Skeeter)! Mrs. Skeeter, Esq. is a wonderful representation of why I am so disdainful of most persons. Her mind is so agile, her heart is so black (her own colorful description), her tongue is so sharp, that I see the heights to which a Homo sapiens might aspire, & am repulsed by those who are satisfied with the depths to which they've sunk. Others simply pale by the comparison. Happy birthday, Julie!

The CADMUS Endeavour
Novels to author include, but are not limited to:
The Dismal Science
The Misery Index
Tragedy of the Commons
To Live & Die at Scapa Flow (not Life & Death at Scapa Flow!)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Fountains of Wayne, "Hey Julie" from Welcome Interstate Managers (Michael P.)

Commentary: I know of no reason to resist this particular annual temptation.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Atomic Fireballs, "Starve a Fever" from Torch This Place (T.L.A.M.)

Caution: Ewww. Seriously. Ye be fairly warned.

He's Dead, Jim
My mother & father babysat Where's Teddy? & The Cupcake down at Xanadu last weekend, & seem to have returned with a nasty form of the dreadful sick. Each in turn, they've had it coming out of both ends, explosive diarrhea (Is there any other kind?) paired with projectile vomiting. My father is now on the upswing, though he's still far from one hundred per cent (& railing against the pitiless reality that he's sixty-two-years-old & his body doesn't bounce back as spryly as in more halcyon days). My mother is in the grip of the dreadful sick, having stayed in bed or on the porcelain throne all of today. Paranoia seems a perfectly rational frame of mind in such a sickhouse. I'm keenly aware that all is not well, at least not at nominal levels. I've been burping for hours, though I've imbibed nothing out of the ordinary. As a result of this, I ate dinner very gingerly, taking the gamble that I'd feel worse if famished. Most worryingly, my father reports that he burped frequently & at length in the hours before he started vomiting. My head isn't quite right, almost but not quite as if there's a gauze betwixt my sensory organs & what they sense. My forehead feels warm to the touch,but I'm also aware that my hands are cold due to poor circulation; so, a warm forehead is hardly conclusive. I desire fervently not to fall ill. Beyond the usual arguments against illness, I've a date scheduled for tomorrow night & ambitions of finishing up the house painting this weekend. I intend to retire early & sleep in late, reckoning that maximum rest can only be to my benefit. Of course, I'm no sawbones (though I do play one on television), & that reasoning might be entirely flawed. Either way, we use Napoleon's battle plan, as reported by Casey McCall: "We show up and we see what happens."

All clear! All clear!

Project PANDORA
I've a date with The Bagel scheduled for tomorrow even, if I'm fit & non-contagious. I'm far less apprehensive that I was before last week's date train wreck with Miss Mozart, my first real world date with someone from an online dating website. Miss Mozart sent me several text messages on Tuesday, & this evening she sent a text messaging asking if she might ring me soon (she knows that I prefer telephonic appointments to the usual chaotic system of trusting to the double coincidence of wants for both parties to be free & will to chat at the same moment in time). Fiddlesticks! Silence in this case did not speak volumes, or perhaps it did & this is her last-ditch, go-for-broke attempt to rekindle whatever she thought we had before we met face to face. It's a hassle I don't need, especially as I self-obsess about the dreadful sick, but it's a hassle I brought on mine own head; I put myself out there, & "out there" you have to deal with the other persons out there, unpleasant as they might be. *grumble grumble* On the other hand, Project PANDORA needs data, including data on how to kick a girl to the curb as gently as possible. Again, opinions would be welcome; PANDORA needs data, all data, not just what I discern myself as I grope blindly toward The Last Angry Bride.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Edna's Goldfish, "I'm Your Density" from Before You Knew Better… (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I cannot see the word "destiny" without imagining it replaced by the word "density," & then snickering. Thank you, George McFly, for the immortal words, "I'm your density."

Also, with these two R.B.D.S.O.T.D. it's almost as if SKApril has come early! "Ska, ska, ska."

Mittwoch, 12 September
Rude City Riot, "Victoria" from the Rude City Riot E.P. (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Well, when he came to
There was a pistol, twenty-two,
Cock and pointed right between his eyes,
She said, 'Your money or your demise.'"

Operation AXIOM: United We Stand
Eleven years ago to the day, 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked & crashed four airliners, destroying the World Trade Center in New York City & setting ablaze the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The war they declared is not betwixt Christianity & Islam, nor betwixt the West & the Middle East, but betwixt the forces of civilization & the rule of law & the forces of chaos & the rule of whim. Civilization began to strike back on the day, as the passengers of the fourth hijacked airliner—United Flight 93—battled their captors, resulting in the aeroplane crashing in a Pennsylvania field, not its intended target in the District of Columbia (likely either the Capitol or the White House). Al-Qaeda is a death cult, a remorseless, pitiless enemy without scruples; no tactic is beneath those blasphemers. Al-Qaeda cannot defeat us as long as we remember that our civilization—liberal democracy & the free market—is not the natural, fallen state of Man, but a triumphant beacon of enlightenment erected & maintained by the blood & toil of generations. We cannot be defeated so long as we are willing to fight, to prove as we have many times over the past two & a half centuries that right makes might, not the other way around. Never forget our fellow citizens who were murdered on that day of infamy, eleven years ago today.

Never forget.

The Explorers' Club
№ CCCI - Thucydides's Melian Dialogue & the annihilation of Melos by Athens, 415 B.C.








Operation ÖSTERREICH
I resumed my "daily" constitutional last week after a lapse of nigh-on two months. My intervals were fairly consistent 'til today, when I dropped almost two & a half minutes compared to yesterday's times, & set a new course record. Maybe I'm just getting back into the swing of things? My legs felt like lead in the early stages of this morning's foray, at least in part because I'd done a number of deep knee bends before setting out, but as a result I urged myself to push, to pump my legs ever faster to compensate for what I perceived as my snail's pace. The question is not if I'll take my daily constitutional tomorrow; I've waited a week before mentioning Operation ÖSTERREICH to make sure that my heart was back in the endeavor. No, the question is what kind of interval I'll post tomorrow. Was today's relatively fleet pace a fluke? Time, in more ways than one, shall tell.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Semisonic, "Bed" from All About Chemistry (T.L.A.M.)

The Girls of September '79
Happy birthday to Mrs. Sacramento (née Never Girl)! My policy is simple: If once we were friends—kith, not merely acquaintances, classmates, or friends-of-a-friend—& I am not invited to your wedding, then you must not consider us friends any longer. Mrs. Sacramento ceased to be my friend years hence, when she was still Never Girl. I've included her in "The Girls of September '79" up to this point out of remembrance for how close we once were, & to increase the number of girls of September '79. I think this is the end of all that, & that going forward we shall celebrate the obstetric splendor of that propitious month as a trio, not a quartet. Happy birthday, Lindsay, & at long last farewell.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Puffy Ami Yumi, "Teen Titans Theme" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I enjoyed the Teen Titans cartoon, & was fond of the Teen Titans themselves, but my favorite story was the final season arc involving the Doom Patrol & the Brotherhood of Evil. The Doom Patrol! The Brotherhood of Evil! It is precisely because I am so very fond of so many facets of the D.C. Comics universe that I can no longer stomach contemporary D.C. comics. But I digress.

"When there's trouble you know who to call—Teen Titans!
From their Tower they can see it all—Teen Titans!
When there's evil on the attack,
You can rest knowing they got your back,
'Cause when the world needs heroes on patrol—Teen Titans go!"

The Girls of September '79
Happy birthday to Mrs. Blinky (née Ham 'n' Eggs)! Mrs. Blinky is back in Grand Blanc, living on her ancestral farm, the last farm in the thirty-six square miles that share the G.B. name (divided twixt the township & the city). Good times were always to be had there at the farm, especially the time we were almost stampeded by the cows. Happy birthday, Emma!

The Victors
(№ 19) Michigan 31-25 Air Force
1-1, Big Ten 0-0

As long ago as last season, I cautioned that this year might be tougher than '11. The valiant Wolverines' defense made tremendous strides in '11, putting forth the best defensive performance by a Michigan squad in many years, dating back even before the Rich Rod era. However, the greatest strength of the '11 defense was the defensive line, composed of players who would not be available in '12 due to graduation. Thus, we might take a step backward in '12—experience a "sophomore slump" as it were—before Hoke's first recruiting class are upperclasmen in 2013. I suspect, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I hope, that this is what's going on with the Maize & Blue, because if the shaky efforts against Alabama & Air Force are evidence of something other than just a period of readjustment after the loss of Mike Martin & company, we might have a real problem on our hands. It is yet early days, certainly too early to draw any conclusions. The valiant Wolverines have two more weeks of practice & one more game in which to hone their skills & execution before we face the ancient foe, the vile Fighting Irish. Let us not forget that the valiant Wolverines did win, & of this we should be glad, not disappointed that they didn't win "by enough." We are not yet sufficiently removed from the Rich Rod era to take any victory for granted; we are in the process of restoring our swagger, we should not yet presume that we are yet again the eight-hundred-pound gorilla we once were… & will be again.

Go Blue!

Project PANDORA
There shan't be a second date with Miss Mozart. The paramount cause is a complete lack of any "spark" or "connection" resulting from Friday's date; rarely have I felt such an absolute lack of attraction to an individual of the distaff persuasion. It was with great reluctance that I hugged her farewell at the conclusion of the evening, & then mostly out of a desire to be polite. There were also mechanical problems with the date, though they could have been forgiven if I'd felt any spark betwixt us. She was fully half an hour late. We were to meet at 7:00, & she transmitted a text message at 7:01 informing me that she was having difficulty finding a parking space. More text messages followed, but neither hide nor hair of Miss Mozart was seen 'til 7:30. We met at Conor O'Neill's in Ann Arbor. I came down from Grand Blanc, approximately an hour away; she lives in Ypsilanti, perhaps twenty minutes' travel. I know all about habitual tardiness, but half an hour is egregious. I kept my Kipling in mind ("If you can wait and not be tired by waiting") & kept my cool, but her stock was falling before we even met. Worse was to come. After dinner (I had an exquisite Reuben with blue cheese, the best part of the whole evening) she wished to stop at a Starbucks for a coffee (hot chocolate for me), & instead of walking the town as we'd planned, she insisted that we remain in the Starbucks for hours. There are more dire fates than spending several hours sitting in a fucking Starbucks—pardon my French—, but most of those involve major physical trauma, like the loss of an appendage.

There shan't be a second date with Miss Mozart, but I am uncertain of how best to proceed. I see two options: one, I send her an e-mail informing her as gently as possible that I've no further interest in her; two, I send nothing, wait for her to contact me, & then scrupulously avoid any further 'phone confabs or rendezvous 'til she take the hint or loses interest, whichever comes first. The first option, the direct approach, seems preferable, but I pause out of concern that it might seem cruel. But wouldn't it be more cruel to leave her to interpret silence? To use the clichéd Band-Aid metaphor, isn't it best to remove a Band-Aid in one swift pull & put the pain behind you as quickly as possible? Opinions &, if I might impose upon you, dear readers, advice would be appreciated.

I spied this image on a Doctor Who fan page on Saturday & it hit the nail right on the head. I would have re-posted it on my FaceSpace page, but that would have been cruel since I'm "FaceSpace friends" with Miss Mozart. The message is effective in any event, but it's hilarious if you've seen the episode referenced, "Asylum of the Daleks."



The Queue
Though I hate the hated Buckeyes enough to ubiquitously call them "the hated Buckeyes," I rather wish I Love Michigan/I Hate Ohio State was simply I Love Michigan. I love to taunt the fans of the hated Buckeyes, when I suffer the misfortune of having to interact with those cretins, with their almost fawning obsession with Michigan. Whereas Michigan fans sing in praise of Michigan, T.O.S.U. fans sing not in praise of T.O.S.U., but in condemnation of Michigan. They must spend on awful lot of time thinking about us to sing, "I don't give a damn for the whole State of Michigan," whereas we hardly bother to spare them a few fleeting moments of enmity. Like them, we spend most of our time thinking about Michigan. Thus, though I hate Ohio State, I wish Thomaselli hadn't stooped to their level with the back half of I Love Michigan/I Hate Ohio State. I've an appetite for that sort of book only during the football season.

Recently
Jim Clark, Jim Clark at the Wheel: The World Motor Racing Champion's Own Story
Steve Matchett, The Chariot Makers: Assembling the Perfect Formula 1 Car
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maid of Mars

Currently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars
sundry, Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton, Vols. 1-2 & Superman: War of the Supermen

Presently
Rich Thomaselli, I Love Michigan: Personal Stories about the World's Greatest Team, Fans, and Traditions/I Hate Ohio State: Personal Stories about the Absolute Worst Team, Fans, and Traditions
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Master Mind of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Fighting Man of Mars
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, The Arabian Nights (specifically, "Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves")
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Swords of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Synthetic Men of Mars

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Semisonic, "One True Love" from All About Chemistry (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"In this world (In this world)
I can see (I can see)
Many millions waitin' in the sun;
So, I'd love (So I'd love)
To believe (To believe)
There'd be one of us for everyone,
One of us for everyone,
Enough to go around,
But that's not what I've found."

Samstag, 8 September
Scott Joplin, "The Entertainer" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Aquabats!, "Sequence Erase!" from The Aquabats! vs. The Floating Eye of Death! and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 1 (Captain Thumbs-up)

Happy (Belated) Birthday!
Warmest wishes for a joyful birthday to my favorite sawbones, Doctor Hee Haw! I missed the good doctor's birthday on Tuesday & for that I am truly sorry. The FaceSpace even provided me with a reminder & yet I was still able to overlook the auspicious date, curse my bones! As a tribute to his generosity of spirit, in private communication Doctor Hee Haw has already forgiven my thoughtlessness. Congratulations, old friend, on not dying for another full revolution of the Earth around the Accursed Sun. Happy birthday, Seth!

The Explorers' Club
№ CCC - The convoluted, contrived, & often contradictory history of the "Roman" salute.







This Week in Motorsport
By Endurance We Conquer
Today, it was announced that the American Le Mans Series (A.L.M.S.) & the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series (hereafter, Grand-Am), North America's competing endurance racing series, are merging to form one combined series. They will continue to run separately through 2013, with the new, yet-to-be-named series to debut in January '14, at the 24 Hours of Daytona (the signature event from whence Grand-Am's Daytona Prototypes [D.P.] derive their name). On the one hand, this is undeniably good news. There is an appetite for endurance/sports car racing in the United States & the Canadas, but there has been much doubt about whether there is enough of an appetite to support two rival series. Comparisons have been made to the erstwhile split in American open-wheeled racing. At the height of Indy car racing's popularity in the early 1990s, hubris, ambition, & avarice lead to the creation of two bitterly rival series, the Indy Racing League (I.R.L.) & the Champ Car World Series (it went through many names, but Champ Car was the most prominent). There was not the audience in America to support two such series, & the squabble tarnished the reputation of the Indianapolis 500. This is only one of the many factors that allowed N.A.S.C.A.R. to rise in the '90s to become America's most popular form of motorsport (to our national shame), but it was definitely a factor, as open-wheel Indy car racing used to be on top. The two Indy series reunified as the IndyCar Series in '08, & the audience for IndyCar racing has been building, slowly but steadily, ever since (the author is a recent convert). The I.R.L./Champ Car debacle has weighed heavily on many minds throughout the decade-plus of the A.L.M.S./Grand-Am rivalry. The resources of both series can now be put behind the creation & promotion of a single series, instead of diffused amidst two different series.

On the other hand, the two series have been separate because they embody different philosophies, & the differences are not trivial. The A.L.M.S. favors technological sophistication & innovation, at the inevitable risk of spiraling pecuniary costs; Grand-Am prefers ruthless cost-capping, at the price of artificial competition & technological backwardness. The A.L.M.S. is more genteel, reflecting its European routes at Le Mans; Grand-Am tolerates a lot of "door-slammin' & paint-swappin'," one of the biggest reasons why I for one have never been as fond of Grand-Am as of the A.L.M.S. The nuts & bolts: Grand-Am Road Racing is wholly owned by N.A.S.C.A.R., & the "merger" is the acquisition of the A.L.M.S. & sundry assets, including the Road Atlanta race course, site of the annual Petit Le Mans. Significantly, & ominously if one is so inclined, today's announcement took place at the Daytona International Speedway, ancestral home of N.A.S.C.A.R. & all its evil. To my mind it remains an open question, one that cannot be answered fully 'til the new series debuts in '14, if this will be a true merger, blending the best of both the A.L.M.S. & Grand-Am, or a "merger" in the vein of Daimler-Benz's erstwhile seizing & pillaging of Chrysler. All of the parties have said that retaining the link to Le Mans is a priority, as is forging a productive relationship with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (A.C.O.), the originators & organizers of the 24 Heures du Mans. The A.C.O. has made positive noises in press releases. I should probably find these words more reassuring than I do, but an agreement—any agreement—is only as good as its enforcement mechanism. With the A.L.M.S. now bought lock, stock, & barrel by N.A.S.C.A.R., what is the enforcement mechanism? What are the means & methods of accountability? I am well aware that my habitual reaction to change is suspicion, hostility, & dark auguries; I freely admit this. However, that does not mean that suspicions, hostilities, & dark auguries are necessarily wrong. Plus, in this instance, my suspicions are based on a distrust of N.A.S.C.A.R. Can I really be blamed for flirting with despair when endurance racing on this continent will now be in the knavish hands of N.A.S.C.A.R.? That which is this merger's strength—the unification of American endurance racing—is also its great weakness, for it means putting all our eggs in one basket. If the N.A.S.C.A.R.-dominated board of directors (two-thirds from N.A.S.C.A.R./Grand-Am, one third from the A.L.M.S.) fouls this up, as I am inclined to think that they will, then fans of endurance racing like me will be up a creek. We'll have a paddle, in internet-based coverage of other endurance racing series, like the World Endurance Championship, the European Le Mans Series (if it survives), or the Blancpain Endurance Series, et al., but we'll still be up a creek & forced to row against the current.

On the gripping hand, & my intention is not to appear nihilistic, but it doesn't matter a whit what I think. My opinion has no ability to derail this multimillion-dollar deal. I was a fellow sitting at home watching races on television before the deal was inked & I am a fellow sitting at home hoping to watch races on television after the deal was inked. I'm just along for the ride, so why all the angst? Because the angst is the fun. That hackneyed & yet so very, very true phrase about "the thrill of victory & the agony of defeat." The angst is what keeps me interested, keeps me watching, keeps me caring which massively-expensive race car bested which other massively-expensive race car. So, not being able to play any substantive rôle in shaping events, I shall hope for the best, prepare as best I am able for the worst, & wait to see the shape of the world that's coming.

Whatever else occurs, I take great solace in this: Le Mans remains Le Mans. The ninetieth anniversary running of the 24 Heures du Mans will take place on 22-23 June 2013. Make ready!

Fortitudine vincimus. "By endurance we conquer."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Grant-Lee Phillips, "Mona Lisa" from Virginia Creeper (T.L.A.M.)

Project PANDORA
I have been using an online dating website, OKCupid.com, recommended to me by a pal. I've belonged to the website's community since late 2010 or sometime in '11, but only this past spring did I begin using it in earnest. I've been exchanging flirtatious missives with two girls since June or July (their code names derived from their website user names), Miss Mozart & The Bagel. Miss Mozart suggested an exchange of telephone numbers in late July & since then we've spoken via mobile 'phone, not email. We have in principle made a date for this weekend (roughly 7-8 September), & I am to ring her tonight to work out the details. She lives in Ypsilanti; so, I will be taking the opportunity both to woo her & to revisit my old haunts in Ann Arbor. The Bagel & I have kept our discourse on the website, which suits me just fine as I've never been much of a fan of the 'phone. We have in principle made a date for next weekend (14-15 September), again in Ann Arbor as The Bagel lives in Warren & is a frequent visitor to "Moscow on the Huron." Miss Mozart asked if I was regularly communicating with any other girls through the website & I did not hesitate to say, "Yes;" she seems quite smitten with your humble narrator. There isn't quite the same kind of connection with The Bagel, as we exchange brief e-mails, nor epic nineteenth century love letters. (There are few things I'd like more than to meet a girl with whom I could exchange epic nineteenth century love letters.) My scattergun approach of e-mailing numerous girls fell by the wayside through August's doldrums, but I must make a note to pick up the pace, since it was that scattergun approach that "bagged" both Miss Mozart & The Bagel. It matters not if neither date pans out on its own merits, but will provide valuable data for Project PANDORA just by happening. PANDORA needs data!

The most unpleasant experience I've had whilst using the online dating website was opening up an email of suggestions of users I might wish to contact & finding my old paramour, The Interpreter, amongst the nominees. Egad! A closer look revealed that these were not users to whom I'd been "matched" by the online dating website, but simply new users in my area. Whew! I sent her a text message about our 14% match, to preempt any contact from her on the same subject.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
David Gray, "Kathleen" courtesy The Watergirl (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I've had a song stuck in my head all day, but my efforts to identify it have so far come to naught. It isn't "Kathleen," but she'll more than suffice as the R.B.D.S.O.T.D.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
John Lee Hooker, "Boom Boom" from The Definitive Collection (T.L.A.M.)

The Explorers' Club
№ CCXCIX - The "Treasury of Atreus," so named by the great Heinrich Schliemann.







The Victors
(№ 2) Alabama 41-14 Michigan (№ 8)
0-1, Big Ten 0-0

My initial reaction to the valiant Wolverines pre-season ranking in the top ten? I groaned, knowing we were doomed by ridiculously inflated expectations. I'm sure the first in-season poll will reflect a more sober analysis, if only in Michigan's case.

Why do I hate night games so very, very much? Reasons three: {one} the obliterate the familiar pace & time-tested rhythm of a football Saturday; {two} the nature of the media exploitation for a storied program that has played precious few night games, such as the valiant Wolverines, dramatically increases the chance that one or both teams will debut abominable gimmick jerseys, such as those Michigan wore last year against the vile Fighting Irish or last night against the epithetless Crimson Tide; & {three} the nature of the media exploitation also increases the chance that the night game will be called/ruined by the announcing team of Musburger & Herbstreit, who are like, to use The Guy's memorable phrase of some years ago, "verbal herpes." I am appalled that the valiant Wolverines are playing one quarter of their regular season games as odious night games.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, & I fancy myself a cartography aficionado, that neither the University of Michigan nor the University of Alabama is located in the State of Texas. Why, then, did those two colleges' football clubs contest a game in (New) Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas? Whilst we're on the subject, what business had the University of Notre Dame, located in South Bend, Indiana, & the United States Naval Academy, seated in Annapolis, Maryland, have contesting a game of American football in Dublin, Ireland? School colors are going the way of the buffalo (an outmoded idiom, since the buffalo population is waxing, but you take my meaning) & clubs are becoming geographically unhinged. College football is fast sinking into depravity & nihilism, & will be entirely unwatchable in five to ten years, mark my words.

As to the game itself, it went much as I expected, alas. The preponderance of evidence suggests that I was wrong in my assessment of Coach Brady Hoke's suitability to lead the valiant Wolverines. The '11 valiant Wolverines were the worst eleven-win club I've ever seen, but they still won eleven games. That is no mean feat given that Hoke had largely the same student-athletes Coach Rich Rodriguez could coach to, at best, mediocrity. Pleasantly surprising though Hoke's tenure has been, it was a fool's errand to pit us against the epithetless Crimson Tide of Coach Nick Saban, a.k.a. the Devil. The valiant Wolverines are notorious, under successive head coaches, for getting off to the slow start. That is why a few M.A.C. powderpuffs are scheduled at the beginning of the season, to allow the Michigan club to tune up before the start of the grueling Big Ten schedule & the drive for the conference championship. We stood only the most remote of chances against the Devil's Own, as we all knew based upon the surgical dismantling the epithetless Crimson Tide inflected upon the dastardly Spartans in their bowl game following the '10 regular season. We dishonored ourselves by whoring out our services to Jerry Jones & playing in his den of iniquity, but we did not dishonor ourselves on the field; we were beaten by a superior club, superior in preparation at the very least. The pageant of greed, shameful though it was, is behind us. The real season begins this coming Saturday in the "Big House," Michigan Stadium.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Potshot, "End of the Long Summer" from Potshot A Go Go (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: 'Twas a cruel, hot summer, one I am glad is at last over. The summer was been far from joyless—I am blessed & loved, for all my sins—, but it was both cruel & hot. Will it be followed a long, hard fall?

Sonntag, 2 September
Fastball, "Out of My Head" from All the Pain Money Can Buy (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Was I out my head? Was I out of my mind?
How could I have ever been so blind?"

Samstag, 1 September
They Might Be Giants, "Your Racist Friend" from Flood (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."

Freitag, 31 August
Fitz & The Tantrums, "MoneyGrabber" from Pickin' Up the Pieces (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I began to think of "MoneyGrabber" on Thursday night, shortly after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention. I wasn't thinking of Governor Romney & Representative Ryan, but President Obama & Vice President Biden; "MoneyGrabber" is, after all, principally a song about kicking someone to the curb. The song, of course, is about a malicious paramour, not a political leader (& Fitz & The Tantrums' overtly political song, "Dear Mr. President," seems very pro-Obama), but it remained on my mind as my thoughts rested all day Friday on the prospects of defeating Messers. Obama & Biden this Election Day.

Let there be no doubt that while I like the song "MoneyGrabber," I despise the title "MoneyGrabber." It should be "Money Grabber" or "Money-grabber."