Behind the Carl: A Birthday Celebration
Channel: LIVING SOCIOLOGY
Date: 2019-12-11

First Person, Plural on CFUV-fm, Victoria, BC 
Originally aired November 21, 2002

Traditions of celebrating the day when a person was born date back thousands of years and are tied up with beliefs about the spirit world and the effects of the stars upon our lives. In contemporary times, there is great variation in the ways in which birthdays are honoured. North American children endure spankings equaling the number of years they have lived plus one more "to grow on." Children in Argentina receive pulls on their earlobes, one for each year. A traditional Irish birthday includes "birthday bumps" - a practice in which the child is held upside and their head is gently bumped on the floor - again one for each year with an extra bump for "good luck." Today, November 21st, is Carl's birthday and I've put together a special show celebrating his day. Okay, I'll admit that I thought about spanking him, pulling his earlobes or bumping his head gently on the ground 37 times for yours and my entertainment, and, of course, cultural edification. However, I weighed the practical problems of attempting such feats along with the fact that these things would be more fun to watch than to listen to and decided that to celebrate his birthday by rerunning two of my favourite segments by him.  

E-Bay was going to be America's Garage Sale.  Cyberspace was the new frontier of the weekly consumer ritual.  But E-Bay has grown into a complex market with much higher stakes than the front yard and it has developed a culture of its own.  This culture is becoming increasingly suspicious and hostile as more players figure out ways to break the trust needed to make such a market work.  We examine the place of social trust in commerce and how the breakdown of trust means the breakdown of commerce.  

When baseball fans discuss baseball they use statistical records, RBIs (runs batted in), ERAs (earned run averages), on-base percentages, number of homeruns in a season and so forth.  These numbers lead to the assertion that one player is worthy of more attention than another because they are compared over time to other players.  But can the numbers from players in the nineteenth century really be compared to players in the twentieth century?  At what point can one say that "modern baseball" began?  Some say at the turn of the century.  Some historians say 1871, 1876, 1901, or 1920.  Carl makes a case for the late 1940s when the colour line of baseball was broken when Jackie Robinson became the first recognised African American in the previously white leagues.  

copyright: Carl Wilkerson and Pattie Thomas

http://sociologylegacy.pbworks.com/w/page/93416246/Episode%2026%20Behind%20the%20Carl%3A%20A%20Birthday%20Celebration