redmoddata/lines_train_2M · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 1 330k
>> b = java.lang.Double('0.10000000000000001')
b =
>> a==b
ans =
>> java.lang.Double(0.1)==java.lang.Double('0.1')
ans =
8. Oleg says:
As of R2016a the core of matlab.internal.webservices.toJSON() and matlab.internal.webservices.fromJSON() are in mex, hence very fast.
9. Mariusz Zaleski says:
Is there anything that would work in C# parsing JSON to MatLab native types? (MWCharArray, MWNumericalArray etc)
Leave a Reply
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Doing the 'finished the first draft' dance...
Finished the first draft of my tell-it-all script The Dark Room tonight. It came in at 98 pages which isn't bad. It definitely needs some work, but at least it's finished and I can put it to one side for a bit and hopefully come back to it with fresh eyes in a week or so. Overall I'm really happy with it - it's probably been the most difficult script I've written to date but, contrary to what I might have said about second drafts in the past, I think in this case it was the first draft that was the hardest and now that's done the rest should be a bit easier. Or so I'll keep telling myself.
I always want to celebrate when I've finished the first draft of a script, have a drink and a smoke like James Caan in Misery, but given that it's half-twelve on a school night and there's not a drop of alcohol in the house I'll have to save my celebrations for the weekend. By which time I might have read back through the script and not be feeling so good about it. Maybe I will just ban myself from reading back over any of it for at least a week. I'll see how it goes - I am also eager to have a couple of people read it as soon as possible and it needs to be in way better shape before I can do that.
Completely missed this before, but there are a load of new Ten Dead Men videos on YouTube. Some are quite pointless (I'm really not sure why you'd want to watch the end credits of the film, unless you're in them, like me, and even I think it seems a bit pointless) and most if not all will be on the DVD which you're obviously all going to buy when it comes out. But if you want to see my actual face doing some actual talking I'm in the EPK (although it's not as good as the hour long documentary Brother Pete did, currently showing on some random TV channel in Ireland):
No comments:
Borovsky, A., & Creel, S. C. (2014). Children and adults integrate talker and verb information in online processing. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1600–13. doi:10.1037/a0035591
Children seem able to efficiently interpret a variety of linguistic cues during speech comprehension, yet have difficulty interpreting sources of nonlinguistic and paralinguistic information that accompany speech. The current study asked whether (paralinguistic) voice-activated role knowledge is rapidly interpreted in coordination with a linguistic cue (a sentential action) during speech comprehension in an eye-tracked sentence comprehension task with children (ages 3–10 years) and college-aged adults. Participants were initially familiarized with 2 talkers who identified their respective roles (e.g., PRINCESS and PIRATE) before hearing a previously introduced talker name an action and object (“I want to hold the sword,” in the pirate’s voice). As the sentence was spoken, eye movements were recorded to 4 objects that varied in relationship to the sentential talker and action (target: SWORD, talker-related: SHIP, action-related: WAND, and unrelated: CARRIAGE). The task was to select the named image. Even young child listeners rapidly combined inferences about talker identity with the action, allowing them to fixate on the target before it was mentioned, although there were developmental and vocabulary differences on this task. Results suggest that children, like adults, store real-world knowledge of a talker’s role and actively use this information to interpret speech.
Sarah Creel
Arielle Borovsky
Language Acquisition and Sound Recognition Lab
Since 30 November, three certificates of review have been filed at CAAF — with the time for the filing of another certificate extended through this Friday. This bumper crop of certificates led me to take a look at the data. As usual, my research period extends back to 1999 — the first complete calendar year for which CAAF’s daily journal is available on its web site.
Question # 1: How many certificates of review have been filed in the 9 years minus 13 days in the study period? 42.
Question # 2: What is the service breakdown? Army = 13; Air Force = 7; Navy-Marine Corps = 16; Coast Guard = 6.
Question # 3: How often does a certified issue lead to reversal of the CCA’s opinion? 54% 20/37 (5 certified issues remain pending) (This 54% figure is somewhat skewed because certified issues led to 5 carbon copy reversals of NMCCA opinions during the Campbell/Green changeover in urinalysis law and similar certified issues led to 2 combined reversals of ACCA in Alexander and Vandershaaf, 63 M.J. 269 (C.A.A.F. 2006).)
Question # 4: In how many of the 42 certified issue cases had the government prevailed at the CCA level? 2, both certified by the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. United States v. Rodriguez, 60 M.J. 87 (C.A.A.F. 2004); United States v. Byrd, 53 M.J. 35 (C.A.A.F. 2000).
Question # 5: How many cases were certified more than once within the study period? 1: United States v. Gutierrez, which has been certified by the Judge Advocate General of the Army twice — once for each of ACCA’s opinions ruling for Gutierrez.
2 Responses to “WWBJD III: The certified issue”
1. Jason Grover says:
How many of the certified cases had cross-issues granted? I had two of those cases, Long (with Charlie Gittens) and Quintanilla.
2. Jason Grover says:
More on Question #4,
In United States v. Long, the government prevailed in the sense that the conviction was affirmed. CCA found error, but found it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The government certified because CCA found a reasonable expectation of privacy in emails on a government computer. But the government won at the CCA level in the sense that the conviction was affirmed.
Introduction To Sacronology©™
Sacronology ©™ is the study of the ALIVENESS and ‘sacred’ everywhere and in all things while integrating that knowledge into daily life.
Housed within all systems are both tangible (measurable; body) quantities and intangible (not-measurable; thoughts or emotions) qualities. These systems are whole within themselves, yet can be reduced to smaller parts. For example, in the complex organism of the body, metabolic energy transforms fats and sugars, bioelectrical energy influences the heart and brain and bio-photonic energy is located in the cells. How these various energies are interwoven, not to mention the emotional and spiritual energies, are not considered in modern medicine that views the body as a machine with gears and parts to be replaced, replicated and removed or repaired rather than as a whole system. In mathematics, the number ONE can be divided into ½’s of ½’s and will always be a part of the original ONE no matter how many times it is broken or divided.
These whole systems also have the ability to interact with other whole systems running parallel, intersecting, nesting, influencing and interacting with each other. These infinite interactions are what form diversity. HOWEVER, Sacronology demonstrates that it is the INTANGIBLE qualities of life in the universe that are more abundant, pronounced, prevalent and influential than those that are seen, observed and measurable. The intangible is process and invisible while the tangible is crystallized and stagnant.
Aliveness Factor
The fundamental principle of life is ALIVENESS. Without it, organic matter would cease to exist. This aliveness, spirit or invisible energy is the driving, divining force of the universe. As a child, Daria Brezinski wondered what the edges of the universe looked like; how the universe begin; what the true nature of God is; why was the anthropomorphic God both kind and vengeful; why did God allow children to suffer and die or be in pain; why was life unfair; where do we really go when we die; why are we here on earth?After a personal journey, traveling and researching the globe for solutions to personal, professional, educational, medical and spiritual dilemmas, a multitude of non-conventional alternatives presented themselves. Profoundly simple and effective in resolving the issues that affect daily life, a new perspective on God, the all-that-is and the way the universe works, became clear. The unknown and the unknowable are capable of being understood as long as a non-anthropomorphic (not described in human characteristics like emotions and thoughts) perspective to the macrocosm and microcosm as well as the mesocosm is acknowledged and appreciated.
Russian Nesting Dolls
The difference between Sacronology and other theories is that the latter are based on ‘nesting’ patterns like the Russian nesting dolls or an onion one layer inside the other. In the Living Energy Universe, Drs. Gary Schwartz and Linda Russek state ‘it is possible to organize the entire universe in terms of nested levels of systems, from micro to the macro”. However, Sacronology recognizes that there is a romantic dance going on in the universe. Systems are not closed like nesting dolls. Human interaction and interweaving all the time from every direction and every angle. When we interact with others, for example, our opinions or beliefs or feelings are influenced, altered or maintained depending on a variety of factors.
Sacronology is the study and application of these interactions, processes and classifications attributed to the ‘aliveness’ of all living things with unending reverence to those things invisible. Modern society and culture has opted for materialism, dogma, capitalism, mechanistic ideologies and principles which predominates in the Western world. In the process, humanity has lost its soul and spirit to the secular. Yet, it would appear that the intangibles far outweigh the material.
The Keys
Vibrant Living
Alternate Perspectives
Q² Quantum Intelligences©®
What is your favorite chocolate?
Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by generalfelino015, Nov 12, 2014.
1. Tell me what your favorite chocolate is dark ? or milk ? or nuts ? Tell me in the comments what kind of chocolate is your favorite .
Example I like to see in the comments:
• My favorite type of chocolate is black chocolate.
Examples I do not like to see in the comments:
• My favorite is chocolate with nuts since nuts are the best , the others suck !
• I do not like chocolate, chocolate is bad . I hate it .
2. White Chocolate is bae!
3. I lean more towards Mint Chocolate.
4. 85% dark chocolate.
5. The more coco, the less sugar, the better I like it.
Of course, my other answer, is the kind of chocolate that has the jellied alcohol in it...
Eating a load of that always hits the spot!:eek:
6. Milk chocolate, but my favourite is either Cadburys or Galaxy. So nice gargles
7. I get this odd image when I think of someone gargling over food lol.
nfell2009 likes this.
8. That video has really made my day xD
Well.. the only chocolates I like are Tootsie Roll Chocolate and White Chocolate. Both in extreme moderation.
10. dark chocolate
11. Hershys cookies n creme
rock00888 and Agent_Creeper23 like this.
12. Cookies and Cream are da Bomb! :O
colepuncher and Luckypat like this.
rock00888 and generalfelino015 like this.
14. Chocolate, to me, is disgusting. It makes me want to vomit when I eat it >.>
For the record; Twixes and Crunchies. I haven't eaten those in a long time, though, so... ._.
15. Pretty much anything with Cadburys name on it! I am a chocoholic without a doubt! :)
16. What part of...
17. Kinder chocolate :D to bad i live in america and cant buy it
18. I can't think of any chocolate I have ever had that I did not like. By itself I prefer the darker stuff. When combined with other things everything works for me except maybe chocolate covered cherries. It would be hard to pick a favorite.
One thing I have missed is chocolate covered coffee beans. A little store near here used to sell them. I used to go there and buy those and Jelly Bellies by the scoop to take to work. They were pretty common in this area for a couple years then everyone stopped stocking them.
generalfelino015 likes this.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Winning is an odd thing. I know we are not supposed to take too much notice of it, and we are meant to tell our kids that winning does not matter as long as they tried hard/did their best/gave 110%/whatever. But our kids don’t buy this. They know when they win and when they lose, they keep track of every goal they score, even when playing each other in the yard (actually, this brings out the worst, competitive monsters in them).
Children are naturally competitive and I don’t think this is wrong. It’s a tough world out there. As long as being competitive does not blind you to the joys and benefits of cooperation, or make you so anxious about losing that your ability to play suffers, I think it is part of us. Of course it has to be tempered with reason and not take over our lives just as most instinctive reactions do.
When I was a competitive rider I always liked a blue ribbon best but a red or a yellow was pretty sweet too. Sometimes though, I wanted that blue and nothing else would do. Sometimes I got it and sometimes I didn’t but I never lost my ability to enjoy the ride. The competition was why I was there that day but it was the riding that kept me coming back.
I want my kids to win because it makes them feel good. Why do a competitive sport unless you are out there to win? But I want them to lose too so they learn how to handle it and that no matter how hard you try, life doesn’t always go your way. I am lucky in that my children can handle losing after the initial sting goes away. They have the love of playing the game firmly embedded in their personalities. I will celebrate with them when they win and comfort them when they lose but I will never tell them not to win or that it doesn’t matter because they would know that was a lie.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Potty Training
I did not want to be the team manager but must admit, having an excuse to set up a notebook and use a pencil case (one of those little plastic ones with three holes that go right in the binder—high school in the 80’s anyone?) was appealing. So far so good, able to make it to most games, have not forgotten anything important (yet), acceptable attire fits my general “sporty bag lady” look, but sometimes…
Since I have a three year old who gets dragged to every field on the East Coast, I knew there would come a time when potty training interfered with my duties as totally-in-control-of-it-all team manager. The boys are lined up-kicking shin pads, and showing cleats (like horses at the track in the starting gate but with a little less bucking and rearing), the ref is looking around for the roster and ID cards to prove we are who we say we are, and where am I? Nowhere near my cute notebook with everything in it. No, I am at the car holding a toddler with one hand and dripping wet pants with the other. A twisting, squirming, shivering, half-naked toddler, and really, really wet pants.
I manage to get him half-dressed (which is as good as it gets most days), run back to my notebook, run across the field and sortof throw everything at the ref. Luckily, the coach is able to find and distribute the cards (pencil case!) and we are off. I think we won that day too.
The beginning....
As I parked next to the three or fifteen late model, dark slate Honda Odyssey mini-vans identical to my own I knew I was in over my depth.
It all started a few years ago when I discovered that having four boys means they require constant exercise to keep them from chewing the house down. What better sport than soccer? Lots of running. Fun to watch (sometimes). Acceptable to my English husband. It just seemed the natural choice. Who would know it would grow into an all-consuming, finances draining, anxiety (on my part) producing obsession that will probably only get worse. To be fair, I quite enjoy watching my boys play. They look great on the field, they love it, they do well, they are outside, they are healthy and fit. Perfect.
After several years of this I have collected quite a few amusing tales and thought I should share them here.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Passanger
“Hey auto, stop!”
Tapan is about to press the accelerator when a person almost jumped and slide within the auto in the seat just beside the driver. Tapan took speed and soon like a swinging river overtook two cars and one new Euro-II bus and in joy and bit of unknown ecstasy uttered “Sala..”
It is almost evening. In this month of February all traces of cold has gone now and now its time for the soultry summer, the horrible summer of the tropicals. The road is busy now. Tapan while driving thought that three more up down trip today from Gariahat to Behala and then he would pack up for the day. He again glided his auto through the busy avenues of New Alipore and then has to stop as the signal is red.

>> b = java.lang.Double('0.10000000000000001')

b =

>> a==b

ans =

>> java.lang.Double(0.1)==java.lang.Double('0.1')

ans =

8. Oleg says:

As of R2016a the core of matlab.internal.webservices.toJSON() and matlab.internal.webservices.fromJSON() are in mex, hence very fast.

9. Mariusz Zaleski says:

Is there anything that would work in C# parsing JSON to MatLab native types? (MWCharArray, MWNumericalArray etc)

Leave a Reply

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Doing the 'finished the first draft' dance...

Finished the first draft of my tell-it-all script The Dark Room tonight. It came in at 98 pages which isn't bad. It definitely needs some work, but at least it's finished and I can put it to one side for a bit and hopefully come back to it with fresh eyes in a week or so. Overall I'm really happy with it - it's probably been the most difficult script I've written to date but, contrary to what I might have said about second drafts in the past, I think in this case it was the first draft that was the hardest and now that's done the rest should be a bit easier. Or so I'll keep telling myself.

I always want to celebrate when I've finished the first draft of a script, have a drink and a smoke like James Caan in Misery, but given that it's half-twelve on a school night and there's not a drop of alcohol in the house I'll have to save my celebrations for the weekend. By which time I might have read back through the script and not be feeling so good about it. Maybe I will just ban myself from reading back over any of it for at least a week. I'll see how it goes - I am also eager to have a couple of people read it as soon as possible and it needs to be in way better shape before I can do that.

Completely missed this before, but there are a load of new Ten Dead Men videos on YouTube. Some are quite pointless (I'm really not sure why you'd want to watch the end credits of the film, unless you're in them, like me, and even I think it seems a bit pointless) and most if not all will be on the DVD which you're obviously all going to buy when it comes out. But if you want to see my actual face doing some actual talking I'm in the EPK (although it's not as good as the hour long documentary Brother Pete did, currently showing on some random TV channel in Ireland):

No comments:

Borovsky, A., & Creel, S. C. (2014). Children and adults integrate talker and verb information in online processing. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1600–13. doi:10.1037/a0035591

Children seem able to efficiently interpret a variety of linguistic cues during speech comprehension, yet have difficulty interpreting sources of nonlinguistic and paralinguistic information that accompany speech. The current study asked whether (paralinguistic) voice-activated role knowledge is rapidly interpreted in coordination with a linguistic cue (a sentential action) during speech comprehension in an eye-tracked sentence comprehension task with children (ages 3–10 years) and college-aged adults. Participants were initially familiarized with 2 talkers who identified their respective roles (e.g., PRINCESS and PIRATE) before hearing a previously introduced talker name an action and object (“I want to hold the sword,” in the pirate’s voice). As the sentence was spoken, eye movements were recorded to 4 objects that varied in relationship to the sentential talker and action (target: SWORD, talker-related: SHIP, action-related: WAND, and unrelated: CARRIAGE). The task was to select the named image. Even young child listeners rapidly combined inferences about talker identity with the action, allowing them to fixate on the target before it was mentioned, although there were developmental and vocabulary differences on this task. Results suggest that children, like adults, store real-world knowledge of a talker’s role and actively use this information to interpret speech.

Sarah Creel

Arielle Borovsky

Language Acquisition and Sound Recognition Lab

Since 30 November, three certificates of review have been filed at CAAF — with the time for the filing of another certificate extended through this Friday. This bumper crop of certificates led me to take a look at the data. As usual, my research period extends back to 1999 — the first complete calendar year for which CAAF’s daily journal is available on its web site.

Question # 1: How many certificates of review have been filed in the 9 years minus 13 days in the study period? 42.

Question # 2: What is the service breakdown? Army = 13; Air Force = 7; Navy-Marine Corps = 16; Coast Guard = 6.

Question # 3: How often does a certified issue lead to reversal of the CCA’s opinion? 54% 20/37 (5 certified issues remain pending) (This 54% figure is somewhat skewed because certified issues led to 5 carbon copy reversals of NMCCA opinions during the Campbell/Green changeover in urinalysis law and similar certified issues led to 2 combined reversals of ACCA in Alexander and Vandershaaf, 63 M.J. 269 (C.A.A.F. 2006).)

Question # 4: In how many of the 42 certified issue cases had the government prevailed at the CCA level? 2, both certified by the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. United States v. Rodriguez, 60 M.J. 87 (C.A.A.F. 2004); United States v. Byrd, 53 M.J. 35 (C.A.A.F. 2000).

Question # 5: How many cases were certified more than once within the study period? 1: United States v. Gutierrez, which has been certified by the Judge Advocate General of the Army twice — once for each of ACCA’s opinions ruling for Gutierrez.

2 Responses to “WWBJD III: The certified issue”

1. Jason Grover says:

How many of the certified cases had cross-issues granted? I had two of those cases, Long (with Charlie Gittens) and Quintanilla.

2. Jason Grover says:

More on Question #4,

In United States v. Long, the government prevailed in the sense that the conviction was affirmed. CCA found error, but found it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The government certified because CCA found a reasonable expectation of privacy in emails on a government computer. But the government won at the CCA level in the sense that the conviction was affirmed.

Introduction To Sacronology©™

Sacronology ©™ is the study of the ALIVENESS and ‘sacred’ everywhere and in all things while integrating that knowledge into daily life.

Housed within all systems are both tangible (measurable; body) quantities and intangible (not-measurable; thoughts or emotions) qualities. These systems are whole within themselves, yet can be reduced to smaller parts. For example, in the complex organism of the body, metabolic energy transforms fats and sugars, bioelectrical energy influences the heart and brain and bio-photonic energy is located in the cells. How these various energies are interwoven, not to mention the emotional and spiritual energies, are not considered in modern medicine that views the body as a machine with gears and parts to be replaced, replicated and removed or repaired rather than as a whole system. In mathematics, the number ONE can be divided into ½’s of ½’s and will always be a part of the original ONE no matter how many times it is broken or divided.

These whole systems also have the ability to interact with other whole systems running parallel, intersecting, nesting, influencing and interacting with each other. These infinite interactions are what form diversity. HOWEVER, Sacronology demonstrates that it is the INTANGIBLE qualities of life in the universe that are more abundant, pronounced, prevalent and influential than those that are seen, observed and measurable. The intangible is process and invisible while the tangible is crystallized and stagnant.

Aliveness Factor

The fundamental principle of life is ALIVENESS. Without it, organic matter would cease to exist. This aliveness, spirit or invisible energy is the driving, divining force of the universe. As a child, Daria Brezinski wondered what the edges of the universe looked like; how the universe begin; what the true nature of God is; why was the anthropomorphic God both kind and vengeful; why did God allow children to suffer and die or be in pain; why was life unfair; where do we really go when we die; why are we here on earth?After a personal journey, traveling and researching the globe for solutions to personal, professional, educational, medical and spiritual dilemmas, a multitude of non-conventional alternatives presented themselves. Profoundly simple and effective in resolving the issues that affect daily life, a new perspective on God, the all-that-is and the way the universe works, became clear. The unknown and the unknowable are capable of being understood as long as a non-anthropomorphic (not described in human characteristics like emotions and thoughts) perspective to the macrocosm and microcosm as well as the mesocosm is acknowledged and appreciated.

Russian Nesting Dolls

The difference between Sacronology and other theories is that the latter are based on ‘nesting’ patterns like the Russian nesting dolls or an onion one layer inside the other. In the Living Energy Universe, Drs. Gary Schwartz and Linda Russek state ‘it is possible to organize the entire universe in terms of nested levels of systems, from micro to the macro”. However, Sacronology recognizes that there is a romantic dance going on in the universe. Systems are not closed like nesting dolls. Human interaction and interweaving all the time from every direction and every angle. When we interact with others, for example, our opinions or beliefs or feelings are influenced, altered or maintained depending on a variety of factors.

Sacronology is the study and application of these interactions, processes and classifications attributed to the ‘aliveness’ of all living things with unending reverence to those things invisible. Modern society and culture has opted for materialism, dogma, capitalism, mechanistic ideologies and principles which predominates in the Western world. In the process, humanity has lost its soul and spirit to the secular. Yet, it would appear that the intangibles far outweigh the material.

The Keys

Vibrant Living

Alternate Perspectives

Q² Quantum Intelligences©®

What is your favorite chocolate?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by generalfelino015, Nov 12, 2014.

1. Tell me what your favorite chocolate is dark ? or milk ? or nuts ? Tell me in the comments what kind of chocolate is your favorite .

Example I like to see in the comments:

• My favorite type of chocolate is black chocolate.

Examples I do not like to see in the comments:

• My favorite is chocolate with nuts since nuts are the best , the others suck !

• I do not like chocolate, chocolate is bad . I hate it .

2. White Chocolate is bae!

3. I lean more towards Mint Chocolate.

4. 85% dark chocolate.

5. The more coco, the less sugar, the better I like it.

Of course, my other answer, is the kind of chocolate that has the jellied alcohol in it...

Eating a load of that always hits the spot!:eek:

6. Milk chocolate, but my favourite is either Cadburys or Galaxy. So nice *gargles*

7. I get this odd image when I think of someone gargling over food lol.

nfell2009 likes this.

8. That video has really made my day xD

Well.. the only chocolates I like are Tootsie Roll Chocolate and White Chocolate. Both in extreme moderation.

10. dark chocolate

11. Hershys cookies n creme

rock00888 and Agent_Creeper23 like this.

12. Cookies and Cream are da Bomb! :O

colepuncher and Luckypat like this.

rock00888 and generalfelino015 like this.

14. Chocolate, to me, is disgusting. It makes me want to vomit when I eat it >.>

For the record; Twixes and Crunchies. I haven't eaten those in a long time, though, so... ._.

15. Pretty much anything with Cadburys name on it! I am a chocoholic without a doubt! :)

16. What part of...

17. Kinder chocolate :D to bad i live in america and cant buy it

18. I can't think of any chocolate I have ever had that I did not like. By itself I prefer the darker stuff. When combined with other things everything works for me except maybe chocolate covered cherries. It would be hard to pick a favorite.

One thing I have missed is chocolate covered coffee beans. A little store near here used to sell them. I used to go there and buy those and Jelly Bellies by the scoop to take to work. They were pretty common in this area for a couple years then everyone stopped stocking them.

generalfelino015 likes this.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Winning is an odd thing. I know we are not supposed to take too much notice of it, and we are meant to tell our kids that winning does not matter as long as they tried hard/did their best/gave 110%/whatever. But our kids don’t buy this. They know when they win and when they lose, they keep track of every goal they score, even when playing each other in the yard (actually, this brings out the worst, competitive monsters in them).

Children are naturally competitive and I don’t think this is wrong. It’s a tough world out there. As long as being competitive does not blind you to the joys and benefits of cooperation, or make you so anxious about losing that your ability to play suffers, I think it is part of us. Of course it has to be tempered with reason and not take over our lives just as most instinctive reactions do.

When I was a competitive rider I always liked a blue ribbon best but a red or a yellow was pretty sweet too. Sometimes though, I wanted that blue and nothing else would do. Sometimes I got it and sometimes I didn’t but I never lost my ability to enjoy the ride. The competition was why I was there that day but it was the riding that kept me coming back.

I want my kids to win because it makes them feel good. Why do a competitive sport unless you are out there to win? But I want them to lose too so they learn how to handle it and that no matter how hard you try, life doesn’t always go your way. I am lucky in that my children can handle losing after the initial sting goes away. They have the love of playing the game firmly embedded in their personalities. I will celebrate with them when they win and comfort them when they lose but I will never tell them not to win or that it doesn’t matter because they would know that was a lie.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Potty Training

I did not want to be the team manager but must admit, having an excuse to set up a notebook and use a pencil case (one of those little plastic ones with three holes that go right in the binder—high school in the 80’s anyone?) was appealing. So far so good, able to make it to most games, have not forgotten anything important (yet), acceptable attire fits my general “sporty bag lady” look, but sometimes…

Since I have a three year old who gets dragged to every field on the East Coast, I knew there would come a time when potty training interfered with my duties as totally-in-control-of-it-all team manager. The boys are lined up-kicking shin pads, and showing cleats (like horses at the track in the starting gate but with a little less bucking and rearing), the ref is looking around for the roster and ID cards to prove we are who we say we are, and where am I? Nowhere near my cute notebook with everything in it. No, I am at the car holding a toddler with one hand and dripping wet pants with the other. A twisting, squirming, shivering, half-naked toddler, and really, really wet pants.

I manage to get him half-dressed (which is as good as it gets most days), run back to my notebook, run across the field and sortof throw everything at the ref. Luckily, the coach is able to find and distribute the cards (pencil case!) and we are off. I think we won that day too.

The beginning....

As I parked next to the three or fifteen late model, dark slate Honda Odyssey mini-vans identical to my own I knew I was in over my depth.

It all started a few years ago when I discovered that having four boys means they require constant exercise to keep them from chewing the house down. What better sport than soccer? Lots of running. Fun to watch (sometimes). Acceptable to my English husband. It just seemed the natural choice. Who would know it would grow into an all-consuming, finances draining, anxiety (on my part) producing obsession that will probably only get worse. To be fair, I quite enjoy watching my boys play. They look great on the field, they love it, they do well, they are outside, they are healthy and fit. Perfect.

After several years of this I have collected quite a few amusing tales and thought I should share them here.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The Passanger

“Hey auto, stop!”

Tapan is about to press the accelerator when a person almost jumped and slide within the auto in the seat just beside the driver. Tapan took speed and soon like a swinging river overtook two cars and one new Euro-II bus and in joy and bit of unknown ecstasy uttered “Sala..”

It is almost evening. In this month of February all traces of cold has gone now and now its time for the soultry summer, the horrible summer of the tropicals. The road is busy now. Tapan while driving thought that three more up down trip today from Gariahat to Behala and then he would pack up for the day. He again glided his auto through the busy avenues of New Alipore and then has to stop as the signal is red.